Pet Shop of Horrors – Anime Backlog

hey lumberjacks*I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! We are about to enter the festive season of the year, but Samhain is always on my mind. If you want to know what I’ve been up to lately, check out the Fall Manga Guide , the Fall Light Novel Guide , the Korean Manga Guide , and be sure to read the upcoming Otaku Holiday Gift Guide , coming soon ‘s Homebody’s Holiday Gift Guide.

This is my life from now until mid-January, but honestly, I really enjoy making this column. It gives me that unique dopamine hit that makes me “get it done” (you know, like when you finish that home project on your to-do list that you’ve been putting off for three months, but once you Done, it only took about 20 minutes.

*(Does this work? Can we create this?)

Note: This column often contains spoilers. Readers are advised to use their own discretion.

Why is it important?

I realized I had a surprising amount of madhouse Anime is in my backlog. I picked it up Sentai movie works Horror Pet Shop SD The Blu-ray version was released almost a year ago, and last month seemed like the perfect time to release it. this is not a media. instead, madhouse produced this adaptation Akino Festivalcomics dedicated to TBS wonderful! 1999 program block. They vowed not to show it to anyone and to follow the guidelines set by D.

Pet Shop of Horrors’ staying power in North American fandom is curious; it may be a case of being in the right place at the right time. For a long time, short one-off home video releases have been common on the market (remember The fledgling detective team and elf princess wren? Horror Pet Shop Easily juxtaposed with visually similar dark adult fare dark side blues and Vampire Princess Beautiful Tour. Its comic counterpart is tokyo pop‘s starting catalog, supported by Akino’s gorgeous artwork.

Before Sentai movie works‘ release, Horror Pet Shop Anime series is part of the now defunct city ​​visiondirectory. The company may now be considered a “boutique” licensor, as much of its inventory is focused on founders Yamamoto Mataichirorelationship with madhouse. Before closing at the beginning of the year, city ​​visionThe distributions include Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Goku: Midnight Eye, evil cityand other similar fares. Horror Pet Shop Its setting is also very suitable for newcomers to American animation; I like it gunsmith cat and other OAVs of that era, Horror Pet Shop The story takes place outside of Japan (in this case, Los Angeles!), so it offers all the anime aesthetics for a late ’90s audience with less of a cultural learning curve.

Horror Pet Shop director Toshio Hirata He may not be well-known to Western fans, but he is well-loved in the industry. Affectionately known as “Pon-san,” he is a friend to industry veterans Sugii Gisaburo (touch, Lupine the Third: The Secret of Twilight Gemini), Masao Maruyama (Founder madhouse and map), and Rintaro (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, X, Metropolis). Hirata’s works span a variety of genres, but have a clear preference for realistic drama and reflections on war, ranging from barefoot generation arrive Star Trail – A true story of children and war in between his more all-ages film work.

Hirata used his working relationships to complete the project and brought in Rintaro Leading the opening sequence, Hisashi Abe (Joe Bit, gunslinger girl) design characters, and giant robot director Yasuhiro Imagawa Write an episode about a killer rabbit. However, except Youtube After uploading, you will not be able to see the opening of the Horror Pet Shop in the official version. It makes extensive use of live-action footage of the opening theme band legendwhich I suspect creates a more complicated situation for licensing.

Does it live up to its name?

Horror Pet Shop It’s an anime that’s easy to get hooked on if you watch it for a long time, and I watched it in its heyday. It functions like a space similar to the following Hell Girl and Vampire Princess Beauty Tourtwo other series I’ve watched (and re-watched). It has a tight-knit cast: Count D (who was in the service before it was really culturally cool), arrogant police officer Leon Orcot, and a few appearances by fellow police officer Jill. Each episode loops around a different pet store customer who is more than willing to purchase a potentially dangerous animal if only it would fill a current void in their lives.

Horror Pet Shop Not terrible in the classic sense. It insists on a mature sense of tragedy and grotesqueness. These episodes are also morality tales, which gives them a Grimm fairy tale quality. The first episode is easily the weakest, offering a crude warning to doting parents and an outdated view of drug addiction. (I could also find zero information to support the idea that rabbit kittens are eaten from their mother’s womb). The two films in between, though, are creepy, featuring a vengeful bride turned siren and a lizard woman who bonds with her owner, a washed-up actor struggling to find work. The final episode is the craziest (an achievement in a series that includes a girl who is actually a pack of rabbits) as we meet a unicorn who facilitates the rise of Hitler and Truman as well as the body-swap plot. Episode four was a cliffhanger that begged for one more episode to wrap it up. The animation is frustrating in that sense, but that only illustrates what I want more its.

Sentai movie worksThe Blu-ray version is standard definition, and it shows. There are currently no high-resolution adapters on the Japanese market, so I can’t say it’s possible Horror Pet Shop Will get one or if its raw materials are available for high-end, but it needs it. The anime’s art is gorgeous, but it can’t be fully appreciated here, as it often looks muddy rather than moody. The timing of the voice acting in the Japanese version is also inconsistent, with lip movements more like suggestions than actually matching the performances.

Horror Pet Shop To me, it’s a very special kind of longing, even if it doesn’t feel “complete” in any way. Luckily we received a new version of the comic seven seas entertainment Soon enough, it did its job, enough for me to learn more.

View or delete?

If all the other anime I’ve mentioned in this column are your favorites, watch it, then join me in hoping for a cleaner transfer and pre-order the manga volume.

Final Verdict: Yes.