Miriani Reviews

Metallica: 2 of One (1989 Video)

Definitely one of the most apt yet disturbing videos of it's time.

[19 August 2003]

In a time of big hair and flashy stadium piece videos, Metallica's first entrance into music videos is a wild departure. A song about a man crippled during a war, the song's lyrics fit well with the footage from a movie dealing with the same issue. Also included is the shortened form of the video which was created under the band's protest.

Rumic World: Fire Tripper (1986 Video)

Good, some interesting parallels to Inuyasha

[23 March 2003]

I had seen this and read the manga, and then years later saw some curious parallels with one of her other manga, Inuyasha. Both dealt with a modern girl transported to the distant past, and falling for someone in that past timeline. A good show, though.

Phantom Quest Corp. (1994–1995)

Definitely Hilarious

[20 January 2001]

This show is definitely one of the funniest anime series made in a while, yet one of the least known. It was only four episodes, yet each one had it's quirks to them, from an anemic vampire, to a group of greedy monks working to shut out the Corporation. The only thing to dislike is that it was only four 30 minute episodes long. One can only hope that perhaps with the flood of TV series remakes of older OAV series, the Phantom Quest Corporation could get some more of their oddball cases.

BattleTech: The Animated Series (1994– )

Could have been better, but cut short.

[10 September 2000]

Despite it's contradictions with the original source, the Battletech Animated Series is a decent enough representation of the series fiction, even drawing upon events from the books (such as the involuntary evacuation of Victor Davion from a battle). The major crippling point was that it was canned just at the end of the first season, leaving the series perpetually at a stand-still. If someone could get the rights to it, I think it would be a good thing to bring it back, especially if using animation similar to that used in Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, or several of the computer animated series out today. Especially with the popularity of the computer games spun off from it, such as Mechwarrior 3 and 4, and Mech Commander 1 and 2.

Earthworm Jim (1995–1996)

Miss it a lot.

[4 September 2000]

The only time I ever got to see it, in all honesty, was on video, of which I only ever saw four 2 episode tapes out of about 25 or so episodes. There's a show that needs to be brought back. It was incredibly silly, but everyone needs silliness. But it was the Pythonesque quality of the comedy that I loved so much. What other show could host a megalomaniacal fish, a Princess named Whats-her-name, and a falling cow, and still be coherent? It's not just the jokes and gags, it's the delivery of them all. Not a dud in any of the episodes I've seen.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

One of King's, and possibly one of the, best.

[10/10 · 20 January 2000]

I read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption as part of Stephen King's Different Seasons, and loved the story.. to see just how much one person can go through, and not only remain sane, but keep his morals about him, even in the purgatory of a corrupt prison. The book was incredible. But the movie took it one step further, with incredibly well chosen actors and a beautiful sense of the book that is hard to set to a movie, as well as lines that I still remember at the drop of a hat. Incredible, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

Vampire Hunter D (1985)

Cool stuff, though waiting for the Remake.

[6 January 2000]

I remember this being one of the first anime movies I'd seen (right after Macross Plus and Tenchi Muyo in Love). The animation may not have been the quality of the former two titles or other movies, but it was decent enough. However, the storyline is very well done, and leaves you wanting more and wondering about things.

One thing I do want to see, however, is the remake. I've already seen a couple pictures from it, and the animation quality seems definitely a hop, skip, and mile-high-jump better.

Final Fantasy VIII (1999 Video Game)

Beautiful Interweaving, Steep Learning Curve

[9/10 · 19 October 1999]

Coming off somewhat of a disappointment after Final Fantasy VII, I had high hopes for Final Fantasy VIII. And it definitely did not disappoint. The storyline was incredibly well written, and the graphics were perfectly fluid, smoothly slipping between the gorgeous FMV and the very good in-game graphics. Many have considered some of the music not to be one of Nobuo Uematsu's best works, but I was enraptured by the final music and the opening song, Liberi Fatali. The rest of the music, throughout the game was quite fitting.