Reviews

This is one of my favourite animes, as it combines comedy with drama incredibly effectively. It focuses on "otakus", a Japanese subculture made up of people who obsess over anime, manga & video games. It provides an insight into their lives as comparative outcasts without mocking or parodying them as often happens in American shows about nerds, etc. There is some subtle criticism, and personal quirks are shown without flinching, but the characters never become "ultimate nerd"-type caricatures, their humanity is never sacrificed.

There are several characters that make up the club for otakus in a college that this anime's about. The hardcore otaku Hanarobu Madarame, the cosplay(dressing up as anime/manga characters) maniacs Souichiro Tanaka & Kanako Ohno(introduced later). Ohno is surprisingly beautiful & well-endowed for an otaku, but ironically she's one of the most obsessive. There's the artist Mitsunori Kugayama, and the video-game otaku Makoto Kousaka, who is strange in that he is handsome and not the typical misfit you'd expect an otaku to be, and has a girlfriend- Saki Kasukabe-who isn't an otaku in any sense of the word but is forced to hang out with Genshiken because she's attached to her boyfriend. Saki is violent & bad-tempered but also kind and slowly begins to understand the otakus & even help them out, subtly changing them, making them more socially acceptable and less reclusive. The interaction between the fashionable & popular Saki and the otakus is a relationship at the very core of the series in terms of how interesting it is. Also, there's Kanji Sasahara, the most normal otaku, who is initially in denial, but slowly accepts his otaku-ness.

It's highly critically acclaimed & completely brilliant, but is meant for the more discerning viewer, so if you though "Dragonball Z" was complex, turn away.

I saw this movie a bit later than most, so I already had a host of superhero movies to compare it to, especially "Batman Begins". THAT comparison made me hate it like hell. The script was cheesy and clichéd, and the "intros" for each character with background music and larger-than-life acting resulted in me denouncing it as a piece of utterly crappy film-making. Ben Affleck was as usual boring and wooden, while Colin Farell was crazy, neurotic and had a sickening costume redesign to look like a biker instead of an assassin. The "can turn anything into a weapon" gimmick was impressive at first but using PENCILS beggars belief. It was short, a relief as if it had continued in that vein I'd have broken the TV. Bad casting, bad acting, film-making and butchering of story lines.

They say that if you combine a great character with a great actor, you're halfway to a great show. "House M.D." seems to do that with most of its cast, but especially Gregory House and Hugh Laurie. House is a snarky, sarcastic, occasionally callous but adorable jerk. He is also the most brilliant yet least well-adjusted doctor at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Around him are three junior doctors, all three of whom have varied but interesting personalities. There is also his only friend, James Wilson, an oncologist and his superior with whom he has a rather antagonistic relationship. House involves strange, rare and complicated cases with no easy diagnosis, resulting in the spouting of some mind-numbing medical terminology(which I thought was a brave and successful attempt at retaining some reality)and often character-driven story lines. "House" has the best writing for any show in America, if you don't believe me just check the "quotes" section for samples of dialogue. House had an infarction in his leg, resulting in it becoming painful and near-impossible to move, which made him addicted to a painkilling drug known as Vicodin., which proves to be the source of many problems. House is, for all his imperfectness, a genius, a master of observation which is depicted in his clinic cases as he can instantly detect either and environmental cause for the disease/problem or find some the patient themselves do not know about. He is a deep character, though, and flawed, but likable, making him a cornerstone for this shows incredible success with the critics, though mainstream audiences prove less receptive and prefer to tune into pseudo-romantic, unintelligent trash like "Grey's Anatomy", a classic example of catering to the mainstream resulting in distaste from most critics. Why have not even FIVE ratings come for this show? Please rate it, even if your opinion differs to mine, rate it!!!!