THEM anime reviews has posted their top 20 anime series, movies, and OVAs of the last decade (2000-2009) and 2 Central Park Media titles are on the list. They name Cat Soup number 16, and Alien Nine number 5. They write "(Cat Soup) is a banquet of the bizarre, more impressionistic than spectacular. It's more apt to weird you out than give you a visceral thrill, but it does serve as a reminder than anime is much more than the fairly limited range of things fans like to obsess over." And they write, "Despite its unassuming exterior, Alien Nine was by far one of the most troubling anime produced this decade... but as a deconstruction of the magical girl genre and an allegory for the traumas of growing up, it's surprisingly effective...it is a worthy watch for those to whom the material isn't toxic."
To read the rest of their top 20 list, and a more detailed explination as to why these two titles were chosen, please go to THEM Anime Reviews website (link below). Both Cat Soup and Alien Nine were released on DVD multiple times by CPM and are currently out of print (although Alien Nine can still be bought through Rightstuf). CPM also released the manga to Alien Nine.
Animation Runner Kuromi 1 and 2, which were released by Central Park Media on DVD, made a different "top 20" list by another reviewer on the site. They are listed as number 12.
http://www.themanime.org/editorials.php?id=26
http://www.themanime.org/editorials.php?id=25
While I generally dislike THEM's reviews, they did do a decent job on (both) listing the 20 anime of the last decade. I'm not sure if I'd include any of the CPM stuff though. While good, I don't think they would have made my top 20. Loved "Animation Runner Kuromi". They did plan a third OVA, but it never materialised. Think I liked "Cat Soup", but I don't think it made much of an impression me. Still have to watch "Alien Nine" as well as numerious other CPM DVDs I bought just after they died.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm the opposite here. I'm a huge fan of THEM's reviews, and I think they do a good job a lot of the time. I like their really in-debth style of reviewing stuff, not by explaining stuff. And their raiting system is great. And personally I'd rank a lot of CPM's titles on the best of the decade ;). Although that makes sense, since I created this blog lol. Sadly I have yet to see "Cat Soup", that's one I'm dieing to buy. Huge fan of "Alien Nine" and Animation Runner Kuromi though. When you get the chance, you gata give "Aline Nine" a watch there's a lot there. Quite the little show. Thanks so much for the post tho!
ReplyDeleteI think CPM released a fair wack of really good stuff, just not much from the last decade. Other companies had a jump on them I’m afraid. However they cannot be faulted for bringing some of the best stuff from the previous two decades; Utena, Patlabor, Votoms, Black Jack, Record of Lodoss Wars, Project A-Ko, plus a bunch of stuff on VHS that never made the leap to DVD.
ReplyDeleteActually I have “Alien Nine” in my pile. My backlog is around 20 months now (meaning I'm watching stuff I bought 20 months ago). I should be watching it around April or May (but the ratings period has stated again on telly, and Doctor Who and other shows are coming back, so it might get pushed back a bit…)
Yeah that is true, they did lose out a lot on the last decade. Many other companies got the jump on them. By the time the 2000's rolled around, license costs skyrocked and I don't think John wanted to get involved in the insane bidding wars that could never turn around a profit. This of course meant, passing on some "big" titles (probably a wise move when you hear what happened to Geneon from ANN podcast, how much did they spend for Heat Guy J? OACH!) and thus losing out to the other guys. ADV, Geneon and later Funi would always be a step ahead of them. Also without new sales of A titles, it might have made it even harder for them to even get their foot in their door, because the licenses were just too much. But the few titles they did bring out from the 2000s were golden in my eyes. So although they might not have gotten any "big" shows, the quality was there in my eyes. Niche shows for sure, but still very good.
ReplyDelete"Alien Nine" has a lot there, breaming under the surface. Very deep and emotional, and kinda gross and disturbing. I wasn't blown away by it as THEM was, but it's an excellent title. I read the manga that came with the DVDs, it's good too. But I like the anime even more. The dub is also one of my all time favorites from CPM. Make sure you give it a listen.
As irony would have it, the two writers of the list above are not affiliated with THEM anime other than being colleagues from other sites who we invited to make their own lists.
ReplyDeleteFor editorial #25, we invited Jason Huff, the sole review writer for The Anime Review (www.theanimereview.com) and #26 is written by Chad Clayton, formerly of Anime Jump (www.animejump.com).
THEM's own lists are editorial #23 (Tim), #24 (me), #27 (Robert Lu) and #28 (Bradley Meek).