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It’s time for some action! Whether you like your action in the form of guns, swords, or just plain old thuggery, Funimation has some excellent titles (Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Blood+, Claymore, Afro Samurai and Baccano!) to rock you in to spring. From yoma to chiropteran, steampunk to super assassins, this group of titles will empty out your pockets while it brings you bounties of hot babes and hard action.

Darker than Black is, undoubtedly, the most exciting new title for a lot of anime fans. Super assassins with special powers - otherwise known as contractors - rule this dark, futuristic world where everything has changed for humanity because of a mysterious anomaly known as Hell’s Gate. Among the general populace are contractors, people with special powers and no emotions. They work for governments or the highest bidder, and the only constant among them is that they have skills no ordinary human could possess.  Hei, who can control electricity, is our protagonist, and when he has his bullet proof trench and mask on, we know that something seriously fun is about to go down. At the beginning of volume two, Hei and his cohorts have acquired a contractor who was once a vicious killer but now has lost her powers. Her name is Havoc, and Hei thinks she knows what happened to someone very close to him - his sister. So how does Hei get info out of someone, you might ask? Breaking fingers, naturally.  The info he gets leads him to Hell’s Gate, where Havoc just might get her powers back. And that’s a bad bad thing.

The next two episodes, “The Sweet Scent of Gardenias Lingers in the Summer Rain” takes us into the world of a very jealous widow of a perfume magnate. In this set of episodes, we watch the action not just through Hei’s perspective but also that of a private detective, voiced by the oh-so-delicious sounding Brandon Potter (as if it wasn’t enough that we had Jason Liebrecht doing Hei’s voice).  We also get to learn a lot more about the smart assed talking cat, Mao. The last set of episodes on this disc are “The White Dress, Stained with the Girl’s Dreams and Blood” about an old friend of police gal Misaki, the woman who heads up the division investigating contractors. Misaki gets pulled into a mob coup and learns a little too much about her old gal pal and a bodyguard with some unusual powers. Oh, and Hei gets to do some truly cool fighting in this set of eps, but really, how is that any different from the others?

Watch Darker than Black. I cannot say it any way else: watch this show. With music by Yoko Kanno and produced by Bones, the studio that brought the Cowboy Bebop movie (need I say more? Okay, how about this: they also brought us Fullmetal Alchemist. Booyah).  This show is brilliant, fresh and can make five episodes fly by like it was five minutes. 

On the more horror-ish side, Claymore chapter three brings us back to Clare, fighting madly to avenge the death of her protector, Theresa of the Faint Smile. At the end of chapter two, she was caught up in a battle to the death with an Awakened One - a guy, no less. She and three other Claymores do battle, and almost end up finished off themselves. A little after battle pillow talk (or, in their case, sword talk) leads to the realization that they’re all outsiders. Can anyone say defiant ones? Here’s hoping.

But eventually (after A LOT of yammering), the four part ways and Clare meets up with Raki once more, who has been continually told that Clare should be assumed dead. Though they have a happy reunion, it isn’t for long as Clare falls into a trap of sorts - she’s sent on a mission with one of the top five ranked Claymores, a particularly bloodthirsty gal named Ophelia. Ophelia loves games, and when she tries to play one with Clare, the result is alarming - well, disarming, actually. Clare loses her right arm. But a savior comes in right in time, and Clare is brought to a safe place by a familiar face, one of the Claymores sent to dispatch Theresa - Irene.  Though she tries to teach Clare the quick sword technique, Clare doesn’t quite take to it, and Irene makes a decision that will allow Clare to move on. Now separated from Raki once more, Clare begins to continue her quest, but Ophelia isn’t done with her just yet - she’s awakened and back for Clare’s innards.

Claymore is one of the more visually stunning action animes right now. The world has a silvery, almost watercolor like tone - except for blood, that is. Whenever blood is spilt, it is so vibrant that it almost pops off the screen, and the end result is something beautiful. The action sequences are amazing, and though the swordfights can sometimes move just a little too fast, they’re always something to behold.

But perhaps you like your monsters a little less yoma-ish and a little more chiropteran-like? Blood+ volume four has some of the best Hagi moments yet - and my, how Hagi does make the ladies swoon. After the battle with Diva’s chevaliers (isn’t that just a beautiful word?) Saya and company move north, to Siberia. They’re searching for a man who has info on Diva’s whereabouts, but a new member of their gang gets killed and a chevalier takes her place in order to get close to Saya. During the night there’s a bit of a bloodbath, and in the action several people - Saya and Hagi included - get thrown from the train. What happens next is one of the most beautiful episodes yet - Saya wakes in a tent, Hagi at her side. From the very beginning, something isn’t quite right with these two - they’re more informal, closer, than normal. In the morning they hike to a nearby town, once home of the infamous Rasputin himself. They’re taken in by a young girl with an instant like for Saya, and after a glorious scene in which Hagi is half naked, they find out that she is, in fact, the Rasputin. So the fighting begins, and Saya is a bit more on the ball than the trembling, uncertain Saya we’re used to. She and Hagi fight Rasputin in a child’s form, and by the battle’s end, Saya is in Hagi’s arms, whispering to him as he holds her sweetly. The moment is almost too much, and then Saya wakes up. She thinks it’s all a dream at first, and then realizes the truth - it’s a memory.

The rogue chevalier in their friend’s form finally reveals herself, telling Saya things she can’t bring herself to hear. Saya is told to go to ‘The Zoo’ for all the answers she seeks, and she leaves, Hagi in tow. At the disk’s end, she and Hagi are hitching a ride and Diva - well, Diva woke up. And she’s cranky.

The Blood: The Last Vampire spin-off is well made, well written, well scored. If anything is amiss here, it’s Saya’s initial weakness - but we are on her hero’s journey, so we know it can’t last. Though the action sequences aren’t as fast and furious as Claymore, it does have a lovely old world - almost Victorian - feel to it, one that gives depth to the story. Blood+ is definitely recommended, action with a story, monsters with secrets.

Then again, Blood+ can be a little heavy for someone looking for a good time - and have I got a fun, yet violent show for you! Baccano one of this year’s newcomers, has action and laughs in spades.

Assassins, thieves, mob wars, magic and more bombs and bullets than a person can count, is it any wonder Baccano translates to ruckus? Even the characters are confused; as the show opens, we meet an editor and his young assistant trying to figure out how to piece together the story that revolves around a train, the Flying Pussyfoot. When it becomes clear that they’re at a loss (which conveniently tells the audience to pay close attention, or they’ll get lost), we board the train with the biggest group of moral black holes, petty criminals and total psychopaths that have ever been assembled in multiple heists gone all kinds of wrong.

There’s a group of alchemists on a hit, three separate mob families (some of whom, including Luck Gandor and Firo, two mob guys from two different families who happen to be buddies, are also immortal, having had a run-in with the alchemists), though my favorite of the mobsters is Ladd Russo, the closest thing to an anime incarnation of the Joker. In one part, Ladd is approaching the dining car when he hears shots. “Are those gunshots?” he asks, and begins to skip. “I love guns. Ooh, are those automatic guns? I love them even more!” Ladd is a Psychopath with a capitol P, and as such, tons of fun. There are the thieves, hilariously and gleefully naughty Isaac and Miria, who don endless costumes to spice up their heists.

Chaos and madness with a healthy dose of all-out insanity and humor makes Baccano! one of the best action animes on the market right now. Low on cash? Don’t know what to buy? Buy Baccano!, and enjoy. Unless, that is, you like your violence hard core, filled with breasts and guns and more swearing than a sailor on shore leave. If that’s the case, then you might want to check out the last two animes in this all-out action review, Afro Samurai: Resurrection or Black Lagoon Season One.

Anime Insider said that Black Lagoon “Simply kicks all kinds of butt”. That sentiment is so accurate that it irks me that I didn’t say it first. Revy, aka Two Hands, Rock, Benny and Dutch are the crew of the Black Lagoon, delivery boys for the underworld in Roanipur, a fictitious city of no law, like an Asian Deadwood.  Roanipur is run by multiple mobs, but most notably Hotel Moscow, a Russian mob cobbled together from ex-soviet soldiers and led by the tough-as-nails (or, rather, tough as a mithril tank with nuclear powered weapons) Capitan, Balalaika (incidentally, one of my favorite names in anime right now. Rolls off the tongue beautifully). Originally a manga by Rei Hiroe, Black Lagoon kicks in the teeth of other action animes, bringing everything from nuns who sell guns to Nazis getting slaughtered just because they pissed off Dutch and Revy (and don’t we all wish we could shoot up some Nazis?). There is more violence in Black Lagoon than Scarface, and it is deeply, deeply satisfying. Season one comes in an utterly lovely metal case with the holy grail of anime - a bonus disc, packed with more goodies than a piñata’s ass. The season set is the way to watch the show, and with the second season set on its way soon, we can thank God (or Funimation, as it were) that this is one of the shows that jumped the pond and made its way here.

That said, who can doubt the dead cool-ness of Afro Samurai? His katana may not say “Bad mother. . . “, well, you get the idea, but Sam Jackson makes for one hard core bushido brother. Every aspect of the original series is back with a vengeance in this new version. The RZA make it one of the coolest sounding animes out there. The art is at the same genius, visionary and completely original style. The characters - even some of the dead ones - are back, and they’ve got some new playmates who can wreak just as much havoc as those we’ve already come to love - well, maybe not love, but we certainly wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark ally.

Afro has the number one headband, but he isn’t using it and so the world descends into even more chaos and destruction than before. Sio, one of the girls in the group under Afro’s teacher (you know, the one he killed for the number two headband) is all grown up and busting out of her clothes in all the right places. Now she has a vendetta against Afro, and has dug up Kuma (my absolute favorite character, if we’re going on character conception. That teddy bear head of his makes for a visually astounding sight). So, how’s a girl with a rack to kill for and some seriously jiggly junk in the trunk (not to mention the voice of Lucy Liu) going to get Afro’s attention? Simple, really. Kick the shit out of him and take the remains of his dead father to be reanimated and tortured. Girl is brilliantly evil. And H-O-T.

How’s a samurai to respond to that? Easy. Dig up Ninja-Ninja (sweet. Seriously, sweet.) and sharpen his sword. What follows is all-out warfare that’s not to be missed. Afro Samurai Resurrection seems like it could be a disaster walking (a sequel that has the best of the dead characters from the original almost seems like it’s asking for a good, deep mocking) but it not only succeeds, it knocks you back with just how incredibly cool and utterly hard core it is.

Funimation has knocked themselves out with the anime action lately, and its just the beginning. With Black Lagoon season two, more Baccano! and Darker than Black on its way - not to mention Shigurui Death Frenzy, which almost makes a person wet themselves with anticipation (Funimation describes it as “One of the most beautiful, disturbingly violent and shocking samurai tales ever animated“ - yes, please!) - March looks to be a mighty fine month for action.