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Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Airing of first episode: April 14, 2011
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

After ‘Erased‘ this is only the second Japanese anime series I’ve seen. The two series are from the same A-1 Pictures studio, and they are about of the same quality, so how they compare to others I wouldn’t know. Like ‘Erased’ ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ deals with friendship and loss, this time featuring on a group of six high school friends.
In the first of eleven episodes we learn that Teenager boy Jintan, who has dropped out of school, is troubled by a childish blonde girl called Menma, but it turns out he’s the only one seeing her. Soon we learn that Menma is dead, and that she was part of a group of friends led by Jintan when they were kids. After her death the group fell apart, but Menma is back to fulfill her wish. Unfortunately, she herself doesn’t know anymore what her wish was…
Menma’s unknown wish is the motor of the series, as the friends slowly and partly reluctantly regroup as they are all needed to fullfil Menma’s wish. On the way we learn that each of them had a particular relationship to either Jintan or Menma, and they all have their own view on the day of Menma’s fatal death. And what’s more, there are more traumas to overcome.
‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ is surprisingly similar to the later ‘Erased’: there’s a jumping from the now to the past (although in Anohana these are flashbacks, not real jumps through time), there’s a supernatural element, there’s a group of friends, and one important mysterious girl who’s dead.
The first episode contains enough mystery to set the series in motion, but the show progresses painfully slowly, and at times I got the feeling Mari Okada’s screenplay was stretched over too many episodes. Especially episode five and six are of a frustratingly static character. In these episodes Jintan, the main character, is particularly and annoyingly passive, hardly taking any action to help Menma or himself, while Menma’s continuous cooing sounds get on the nerve.
The mystery surely unravels stunningly slowly in this series, and only episode seven ends with a real cliffhanger. Even worse, there are some serious plot holes, hampering the suspension of disbelief. Most satisfying are episode eight and ten, which are both emotional, painful, and moving. In contrast, the final episode is rather overblowing, with tears flowing like waterfalls. In fact, the episode barely balances on the verge of pathos. To be sure, such pathos occurs regularly throughout the series. In addition, there are a lot of unfinished sentences, startled faces, strange expressions, often unexplained, and all these become some sort of mannerisms.
The show is animated quite well, with intricate, if unassuming background art. Masayoshi Tanaka’s character designs, however, are very generic, with Menma being a walking wide-eyed, long-haired anime cliché. Weirdly, one of Anaru’s friends looks genuinely Asian, with small black eyes, while all main protagonists, with the possible exception for Tsuruko are depicted with different eye and hair colors, making them strangely European despite the obvious Japanese setting. For example, Menma has blue eyes and white hair, while Anaru has hazel eyes and red hair.
In all, if you like an emotional ride, and you have patience enough to watch a stretched story, ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ may be something for you. The series certainly has its merits, but an undisputed classic it is not.
Watch the trailer for ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ and tell me what you think:
‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ is available on DVD
Directors: Donovan Cook & Bob Hatchcock
Airing Date: July 6, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

The final episode of season three sees the return of Duckman’s arch nemesis King Chicken, not seen since ‘Color of Naught‘, episode four from the same season.
This time King Chicken is not behind some evil scheme, but simply turns out to be the father of Tammy, Ajax’s new girlfriend, whom Duckman, Aunt Bernice and Ajax are visiting one night. During the episode we never see Tammy, but the visit turns out to be surprisingly interesting.
For this finale episode the creative team once again returned to comedy based on the personas and their mutual relationships, and the result is rewarding. The awkward visit proves to be much more interesting than mindless absurdism of the previous two episodes. The team even manages to make the ending a particularly poignant one, ending the series on a surprisingly emotional tone, at a time I thought they were forgotten how to do that.
Watch ‘Cock Tales for Four’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 42
To the previous Duckman episode: The Amazing Colossal Duckman
To the next Duckman episode: Dammit, Hollywood
‘Cock Tales for Four’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: John Eng
Airing Date: June 29, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★
Review:

In ‘The Amazing Colossal Duckman’ Duckman grows taller each time he has a temper…
It’s hard to say anything positive about this episode, which feels not only uninspired, but even desperate in trying to squeeze some sort of story out of the Duckman character. How one now longs to the deeper and more complex character depictions of season one and two! I’m baffled that after episodes as this series got even another season…
But luckily, the next and last episode turns out to be a much more interesting affair.
Watch ‘The Amazing Colossal Duckman’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 41
To the previous Duckman episode: The Longest Weekend
To the next Duckman episode: Cock Tales for Four
‘The Amazing Colossal Duckman’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Raymie Muzquiz
Airing Date: June 22, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★
Review:

The decay of the third Duckman season continues with ‘The Longest Weekend’ in which Duckman’s street goes at war with the neighboring Dutch Elm Street.
The episode is as talkative as it is pointless, and even the numerous war film references fall flat. At this point the only attractions left are Klasky-Csupo’s idiosyncratic character designs and background art, which both remain interesting throughout.
Watch ‘The Longest Weekend’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 40
To the previous Duckman episode: Exile in Guyville
To the next Duckman episode: The Amazing Colossal Duckman
‘The Longest Weekend’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Jeff McGrath
Airing Date: May 25, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★½
Review:

‘Exile in Guyville’ is another example of how the Duckman series started to run dry as the third season progressed.
This episode, which incidentally shares its title with a 1993 Liz Phair album, is framed as a story told as one of the Duckman fables Told by a mother to her son in the far future. The ‘fable’ itself is a rather forced and surprisingly stale fable on male-female relationships, drawing on almost every cliché one can possible find on men and women. When the nation divides literally, Fluffy and Uranus turn up as unlikely guards of the dividing wall.
The framing bedtime story has its charm, but the best part may be just before this divide when general mayhem is illustrated by e.g. some random live action footage. Nevertheless, these cannot rescue an episode that was already outdated when it first aired in 1996.
Watch ‘Exile in Guyville’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 39
To the previous Duckman episode: The Road to Dendron
To the next Duckman episode: The Longest Weekend
‘Exile in Guyville’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Peter Shin
Airing Date: May 11, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

The opening credits of ‘The Road to Dendron’ make immediately clear that this episode at least partly is a parody of the ‘Road to…’ film series starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour from 1940 to1962.
This episode only stars Duckman, Cornfed and Ajax, who are on a bus trip to Dendron, Sudan. And indeed, they even burst into song in a tune that is surprisingly catchy. Once arrived the episode unashamedly delights in bringing up a cliché version of Arabia, as depicted in 1001 Arabian nights, and as seen on the animated screen since ‘Mickey in Arabia‘ (1932). Thus there are a snake charmer, a sultan, a veiled princess, as well as numerous baskets that seem to have come straight from ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’. Moreover, some of the designs are clearly inspired by the Disney feature ‘Aladdin’.
The adventure plot makes very little sense, and the film makers know it, never trying to hide this fact. Highlights of this unpretentious episode are the ‘musical’ finale and the ridiculous acts that Duckman and Cornfed perform in order to try to prevent the Sultan and the Princess from drinking some poisoned wine.
Watch ‘The Road to Dendron’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 38
To the previous Duckman episode: They Craved Duckman’s Brain!
To the next Duckman episode: Exile in Guyville
‘The Road to Dendron’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Donovan Cook
Airing Date: May 4, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★½
Review:

‘They Craved Duckman’s Brain!’ is one of the less inspired episodes that started to fill the third season more and more. This episode has a rather aimless and rambling story, which tries to say something about the medical industry, with little success.
The story features a mad surgeon called Dr. Craig Erlich and a frustratingly pointless villain. As this is one of the most talkative Duckman episodes, most of the humor comes from the dialogue. Like when Ajax asks Dr. Erlich after the latter’s introduction whether he’s related to Dr. Dre. The best gag in that respect is when the whole family starts an argument about Star Trek while being captured by the surgeon.
Note the painting in the director’s office, which looks like Gauguin’s ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching’, but with a white woman instead of a Polynesian one.
Watch ‘They Craved Duckman’s Brain!’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 37
To the previous Duckman episode: Aged Heat
To the next Duckman episode: The Road to Dendron
‘They Craved Duckman’s Brain!’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: John Eng
Airing Date: April 27, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★
Review:

Even worse than the disappointing ‘The One with Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role’ is ‘Aged Heat’. With this episode the Duckman series hit rock-bottom.
The whole episode revolves around the age-old trope of a criminal doppelgänger. This time a female criminal called Agnes poses as her lookalike Grandmama, terrorizing the Duckman family. The result is terribly tedious and boring.
It’s a pity the story and its execution are so weak, for John Eng’s direction is admittedly quite interesting. ‘Aged Heat’ can boast some very interesting and off beat camera angles, like the viewpoint from Duckman’s perspective, when Aunt Bernice hits him in the face. Moreover, there’s quite some animated background art, especially during the birthday party scene. Unfortunately this remarkable cinematography cannot rescue the dragging story, which is the least inspired Duckman episode thus far.
Watch ‘Aged Heat’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 36
To the previous Duckman episode: The One with Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role
To the next Duckman episode: They Craved Duckman’s Brain!
‘Aged Heat’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’