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Baccano! comes to an end, Bleach introduces us to some bounts, Sky Crawlers is misunderstood, Black Cat the Viridian collection is punish fun and Happily Ever After throws things in your face! Get the lowdown on what’s good, what’s not to be missed, what will be missed, and which one is live action!

Baccano! took the anime world by storm and now, in volume four, it proves that all good things must come to an end. Sad, isn’t it? I think so. It had a huge cast of extremely colorful characters that, though their interests overlapped (three mob groups? Seriously?), their personalities never did. Each character was an individual unto themselves - though Firo, Ladd and Miza were all mobsters, only one of them was a killing machine, only one had been alive for hundreds of years, and only one held a torch for a homunculus. That said, all three had snappy hats. I half expected, throughout the series, for the character diversity to become an issue - how to portray characters differently enough to keep them from blending together and yet not so differently that tying them all together at the story’s end is possible? Baccano! walked that fine line better than any acrobat, and left us as happily gobsmacked at the end as we would any truly death-defying high wire act. There is hideous violence, staggering and phenomenally done (none of it, not a single drop of blood, was shed superfluously), some utterly gorgeous fight scenes, spectacular laughs and so much information that your brain will go into happy, happy overload. Though the plot does go a little bit wayward with the introduction of the mechanic mini-Ladd for two episodes, it comes back around and actually ties together in an extremely satisfying way. I look forward to watching Baccano! over and over again, and maybe one of these days I’ll get it all.

Probably not.

Assassins, super-powered little girls and clumsy bounty hunters with James Bond gear (and Don Johnson’s Miami Vice wardrobe), Black Cat has more cat themed puns than any other show ever. Also? It’s funny, action-packed and a fantastic watch. Black Cat was the first anime I reviewed for popsyndicate, and as such, it holds a special place in my heart - the excellence of the show didn’t hurt, either (or Brandon Potter’s voice. The first time Sven opened his mouth a voice crush was born, one that spanned School Rumble, Darker than Black, and Aquarion). The story of assassin Train Heartnet, better known as Black Cat, who decides to stop killing and go on the road with Sven, a bounty hunter (who are called sweepers, in this world), Eve, a genetically engineered bio weapon in the body of a young girl and Rinslet, world class thief and al around hottie who pops in and out of the group whenever she likes. After Train and Eve is the bad guy (and one of Train’s former fellow assassins, now on a power-hungry, maniacal, god complex-fueled world domination bender) Creed Diskenth (which just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?). There are so many sides to the show - magical, comedic, tragic, action-packed, etc. - that it’s an all-around good watch. The Viridian set isn’t your typical box set, in that it’s not a box but a larger than normal case with four discs (that’s twenty-four episodes) inside, though the cover art is quite lovely. There aren’t many bonuses, but it’s still a recommended watch, if not own.

Bleach. Just saying the word makes me happy. With the American release of manga volume twenty-seven (but that’s another post) and now volume seventeen of the anime out, Bleach is, as it has been for so long, on top of the world. Volume seventeen is the second disc into the Bount filler arc (kind of; volume sixteen introduced us to the three new mod souls, and while seventeen continues this story, it wasn’t until this disc that we actually clamped eyes on a bount). We don’t quite know what they’re up to yet, but we know they’re bad, they steal souls and they really piss Ichigo off. Then again, what doesn’t? Filler arcs have a bad rep, yet if it weren’t for filler, we’d be plunged into an abyss of no Bleach whatsoever. And who wants to see that happen? Not me, that’s who. Also, Ichigo finds out there’s a kink to his bankai, which is kind of annoying because it lowers his badass-ometer rating, you know (as every fan of Bleach knows) he’s going to kick back up on the ratings as he gets his bankai back. The secret Uryu has been hiding from the group comes out, and we get some mod soul stuffed animal love.

Yukie has a problem. She works day-in day-out at a noodle shop, while her husband, an ex-yakuza named Isao lazes around in pachinko parlors, restaurants, or anything else he feels like. And did I mention his affinity for flipping over tables? Yep, it’s Happily Ever After, which unlike the other DVD releases here, is live action - but fret not, good people, it is based off a Japanese comic and released by Viz, the good people behind Bleach, Naruto and more awesome manga than we can count.

Yukie is loved by many people, all of whom think she should leave her dirt bag husband. But Yukie loves Isao, and as the film delves into their pasts, we know why. Though the hooker storyline is a bit odd (what is it with Japanese films and hookers right now? Between this and Ramen Girl, there’s all kinds of hooker weirdness) and her lonely childhood is sad, it’s the here-and-now part of the film that is truly appealing and interesting - especially all the table flipping slow-mo action - in a silly and fun kind of way. Happily Ever After goes to a few odd places, and may throw some viewers because of it, but I kinda liked it, in a rent, don’t buy, way.

Lastly, we have the anime film, Sky Crawlers. The story of a group of pilot hot-shots fighting in a seemingly never-ending war, Sky Crawlers has gotten mixed reviews (despite the monumental stack of awards, nominations and amazingly talented and well-known Japanese voice talent), but I found it fascinating, beautiful to look at and a wonderful story. In an alternate Earth, a young pilot named Yuichi is transferred to a new air force base. He is a Kildren (as in children who kill, or children to kill), a race of genetically engineered people who never grow out of adolescence, designed specifically to fight in the war. With little memory of where he’s been and little care as to where he’s going, the audience is immediately set at unease with the world he lives in. As Yuichi learns more of his world, experiences more at his base, he finds out some unsettling truths about war, about his kind, and about the needs of people, whether they be Kildren or not.

The film has a steady pace - not slow, but methodic. Even in action scenes, the pace does not speed up or slow down, and in this it is singularly well crafted. The ill-ease the audience feels with the world we are presented drives us to learn more, and to watch more. The art is beautiful, and the 3-D animation (done by the same people who did the second Ghost in the Shell) is also very skillfully done. In the characters, though, there is a special kind of magic. They remind me of a Hopper painting, in which the people are all gathered in the same room, but none of them together. They are distant, each alone in their togetherness, no one able to fully connect with anyone else. Is it the nature of their existence, or something else? And what happens when two Kildren try to connect? The answer is both sad and beautiful.

There is a good amount of story here, and the film is not short - a little over two hours, including the little bit at the end of the credits (which you should watch). I cannot recommend this film enough, but only if you have an attention span that can handle it, because it is a movie that deserves to be watched with patience, respect, and attention. It will reward you well.

(Amanda Rush is an anime junkie and certified funny by @funimation among many others. Follow her on twitter: @brokenamanda)