Bleach

Naysayers will naysay, but one cannot deny that along with Naruto, Bleach is the second most known anime out there. One Piece doesn’t count since its only really known in the Asian countries. Naruto may have rekindled my love for anime, but Bleach was the one that made me look for more. Sure, the fillers are pretty stupid, boring, pointless, shit, etc etc etc. But the story itself is pretty original and fun. There have been so many epic moments its hard to count. Granted, even in the manga, the story has gotten pretty stale. This shows in the anime as well. The last arc animated was pretty…lackluster. Still, thinking back on all the “OMFG” moments over the years, I can’t help but smile. 

Who knows when the last arc will be animated, but I hope they do a good job and stick to the script. The last episode proved how awesome Bleach is if they just do their job and don’t try any funny business.

Score - 9/10
Bankai, bitches.

Btooom! Review

Gaming keeps getting more and more surreal.

Genre - Action, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Seinen

Length – 12 Episodes

Run - Oct 4, 2012 to Dec 20, 2012

Animation Production – Madhouse Studios, Sentai Filmworks

What do you get when you mix SAO and The Hunger Games? You get Btooom!, a twisted mix of those series, and then some...

A popular online game has spread by the name of Btoom! The game doesn't use guns nor knives, but focuses instead on bombs (hence the name) and strategy. Ryouta Sakamoto is ranked tenth in the world, and considered the best Japanese Btoom! player. His life is nothing to be jealous about for he is a NEET. He has no social life, his relationship with his parents is beyond repair, and he lacks any sense of responsibility. Indeed, Btoom! is his only escape. But as he soon realizes after waking up in a tropical island in the middle of nowhere, his escape has now become his worst nightmare.

I recall watching The Hunger Games and thinking to myself how barbaric a game it was. Making people kill each other for the sake of amusement, convincing the players that the lone survivor will be freed. Then I stumbled on Btoom!, and realized what The Hunger Games could have looked like had it been taken up a notch. Senseless killing, psychological traumas, rape, and to top it all off there are kids in the mix.

 Suffering from extreme psychological problems.

Btoom! starts out rather typical and seemingly predictable, but throw any assumptions you had to the side. Predictability is half assed in this anime, sometimes you will be right and others you will not. It made for an interesting watch, and overall made the show more realistic. Art-wise it was good, nothing amazing, it was on point and nothing else. The OST was also on point. Nothing really stood out at me though. Character development was decent albeit; Ryouta is a very confused character that doesn't realize you have to kill to survive until late in the anime. Himiko, an obviously foreign looking girl at first glance, is another main character that has major problems, but her problems are justified if you ask me. Ryouta's confusion (or lack of will) was indeed a frustrating thing to watch, but the shows biggest problem is the lack of care for the laws of physics/nature. You cannot expect me to believe that a bomb thrown less than a foot away will not harm you. This was seen all throughout the anime. Unless it was convenient to the plot, none of the characters were seriously harmed. We are expected to believe the people surviving on the island are nothing more than ordinary people, but when they start surviving unbelievable circumstances, well, the sensation of punching a wall or two sets in. It is never explained why the characters of the show are stranded on the island and forced to play the deadly game they are playing. There were some hints here and there as to why the game was developed, but nothing was formally explained. It's best to not assume anything until the manga gets ahead.

Regardless, Btoom! is an enjoyable anime that makes the viewer think about humanities inner darkness. If you can live through the blatant attempt to throw the laws of physics out the window, then Btoom! will make for an interesting watch.

Art - (8/10) Sound - (7/10) Plot - (8/10) Enjoyment - (8/10)

Overall
7.75/10

Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!

Dear god, this was such a good show. The anime itself was a bit… disturbing for a couple of reasons. Everyone who watched this knows what I’m talking about. But its no big deal. 

In any case, this was a very original series. Due to something that happens in the second episode, the guy you see in the pic above ends up getting custody of the girls you see above. He is blood related only to the little girl holding the dog. The other 2 are family but not they are not blood related. For once we have a lead character show some balls, and not act like a worthless pile of trash. He was a fucking man, and he attends college. Why is the last bit good? Because dear god, I’m so tired of all these anime/manga series being in a high school setting. MC in college is a breathe of fresh air, and its something I could relate to. Unfortunately there wasn’t much exposure of his college life. I also wanted the other characters in his club to have some more development. Mainly Raika. She reminds me of someone…

Miu was a bit too mature for a ten year old but, eh. She brought some lulz, and that’s what counts. I enjoyed this show so much I’m willing to overlook the little things that bothered me. I highly recommend this series!

Score - 9/10

Rinne no Lagrange 2 Review

Here we have another sequel to another surprisingly popular enough anime to get a second season. If you read my first review for this series, you know I pretty much liked the anime despite its flaws. The second season pretty much continues from where the previous left off, and my opinion of the show hasn’t changed…

Its been almost a half year since the incidents of the first season, and the people of Earth are pretty much aware of the extraterrestrial presence that almost destroyed Earth. Relations between Earth and the alien nations are for the most part friendly. Some aliens have migrated to Earth, living and working amongst their human ancestors. Madoka has continued her sweats club duties while juggling work and all her other shenanigans. Laffinty and Muginami are another story, but telling their story would spoil the plot of the first half of the season. Related to their story however, a dire situation looms over the alien nations, a situation requiring the help of our main character Madoka once again. Alas, this is where the story begins.

I’ll be blunt, the story was going in different places. I really don’t think the anime staff had any real idea as to where they wanted the story to go, but since the DVD sales were good enough, they just had to bring out another season. Despite having a rocky and nonsensical story progression, I freaking liked this anime. Its one of those series you just can’t hate because your love for it overshadows whatever hate and negativity you have towards it. If your that type of person, go ahead and watch this. If not, don’t even bother…

Score - 8/10

Zelda U Trailer

I still get chills when I watch this because I know it's going to be one epic game. I love the new art style. But to be honest, I would have preferred a realistic Zelda game like the one shown in 2011's E3. Tech demo or not, that would have made me buy a Wii-U day 1.

Rinne No Lagrange

This show was all about aliens (whom ancestors originate from earth) from other planets duking it out on earth for the sake of getting that green mecha you see above. There are 2 other ones but those are of lesser importance. Put together they have the ability to either destroy or create. I can’t really remember, but it was something along those lines. The aliens base their reasoning behind an ancient legend regarding these 3 mechas. This anime was way better than I thought it would be. It’s centered around Mecha’s, and I’m usually VERY picky when it comes to Mecha. Granted, there were things unanswered, but it seems like its getting a second season. It should have been a 20+ ep series from the start but w/e.

Aside from the amazing artwork, there really is nothing outstanding about this anime. It lays out what seems to be the beginning of an epic adventure, which would ultimately, take them into space. Or something along those lines. I mean you would just assume there would be battles in other planets or infiltration of some intergalactic spaceship. But no, you see none of that. All the fighting takes place in the small town near the beach our cast resides in. This show’s saving grace, aside from the art, and what really kept me watching, were those three girls up above. You just can’t help but like them.

Score - 8/10

Shinsekai Yori Review

Into the new world.

Genre - Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Length – 25 Episodes

Run - Sep 29, 2012 to Mar 23, 2013

Animation Production – Aniplex, TV Asahi, A-1 Pictures, Pony Canyon, Sentai FilmworksL

Describing an anime like Shinsekai Yori requires tremendous analyses. To fully understand the undertones and overall message of an anime like this would require multiple viewings. Everyone has their own opinions on the matter. Shinsekai Yori is an anime that messes with your thought process. I will try my best to convey my thoughts but because this is such a complex anime I'll have to just write down whatever comes to mind.

On one hand you have a seemingly average looking anime about high schooler's living their lives 1000+ years in the future, in what would be best described as a dystopian society. While the next minute you’re thrown into the conspiracy of their lives. Psychics, spirits, demons, ogres, rat looking humanoid creatures, all sorts of shenanigans occur in this anime. At first glance it seems out of place and random. For example, why is there a glowing mini unicorn looking creature walking around and talking like a person with a superb level of intelligence? Why are there flashbacks of the past civilization (us) thrown into mix? However, as the story progresses everything starts to get carefully explained. The history of humanity and what led to its downfall. The rise of a new civilization bent on creating a perfect human race. The rise of an odd world filled with ridiculous made up lore meant to scare and control people. All these of these factors are brought up again and analyzed. Psychics and psychic powers are a central theme to this anime. We get to see all sorts of cool powers and what people are able to do with them. Don't expect "Super Saiyan" level type stuff though, people do get sent flying and things do get blown up, but this is by no means "DBZ".

There be sneaky rats afoot!

The main characters shown in the picture at the beginning of this review are basically what you will see throughout the anime. The anime centers around them and the world they are growing up in. This is not a kid's show; there is violence, blood, some gore, and adult themes thrown into the mix. Love, sex, growing into adulthood, loss of loved ones; these are all things Shinsekai Yori touches on. The viewer is shown a world hostile to its inhabitants, mainly humans. Our main characters discover why the world is the way it is and how to keep surviving despite their struggles.

To be honest I felt like I should drop the anime going into the first 3 or so episodes. It was very confusing; it seemed typical but confusing at the same time. After watching more episodes I was glued. It really was a blast to watch this anime. Really thought provoking and one of a kind. The art is good, it works with the way this series is meant to be presented as. There are some really gorgeous backgrounds and moments where the art is out of this world. The character designs are standard though some standout more than others. Not much can be said about the BGM other than it was on point and some key pieces will be remembered.


My only complaint was the initial pacing but it's easily dismissible once the story really starts to kick in. This is one of those anime that is simply hard to explain with words. I loved it, most people did, and I recommend anyone reading this to watch it. The dark and mysterious atmosphere of this anime will intrigue you to no end.


Art - (9/10) Sound - (8/10) Plot - (9/10) Enjoyment - (9/10)

Overall
8.75/10

Note: I wrote this review back when the anime finished last year, never posted it here though. I would have loved to add more to it but I sadly remember very little about this anime now.

Daily Lives of Highschool Boys

NO THIS IS NOT YAOI ಠ_ಠ

 Glad I got that outta the way. Now then, this anime is about a group of Highschool boys and their daily happenings. Its like the male version of Nichihjo, but without the robot and loli scientist. It starts out really funny, but gradually loses that initial impact it. I’m not saying it isn’t funny anymore, but the second half doesn’t amount to the first half. Regardless, I very much liked it, and I would recommend it for a lazy day you just wanna have a couple of good laughs.

Score - 7/10

Inu x Boku SS

"What in the f’ing hell did I watch"? 

I'm sure others have thought the same when watching this series. I’m not really sure as to how I should describe the plot. There were just so many things wrong with this series. SO MANY. Its like they literally threw in every genre they could possibly think of just to appeal to as much people as possible. Basically, teenage girl leaves home to live by herself in order to find herself or something like that. Shes a Tsundere with horrid social skills, nuff said. Now, this apartment houses people just like her. What do I mean just like her? Well shes like part demonic…. or something along those lines. All the residents living in that apartment are part demonic and have to have a secret service agent follow them around in order to protect them from other demons that walk the night? That part really confused me to be honest. 

That’s the basic premise, but there’s so many things that continue to disturb me as well. I mean really, shes 7 yrs younger (main girl) and is a high-school freshmen. Damn it Miketsukami (her SS agent) you sick bastard stop trying to get in her pants…

It gets a 4 just because I liked the main girl and there were some lol moments. Aside from that I don’t recommend this…

Score - 4/10

Girl's Generation TTS - Holler

SNSD's past 3 or so Korean comebacks are questionable, and the reason for that is SM has given them sub-par productions compared to their Japanese releases. TTS is SNSD's musical savior. I'm not sure who the genius was behind the idea, but I applaud that person. TTS's funky style is what sets them apart from other unit groups, along with their powerful voiced and visuals.

God bless Seohyun tbh.

Mirai Nikki

Mirai Nikki is about a group of people who end up getting caught up in this game to be god. They are given these cell phones that have different functions. These functions can range from gaining the ability to see your future, to making more phones with special abilities. The game dictates that they have to eliminate each other because only one can be granted the title of god and rule over space time. It is a very dark anime and there will be some plot twists along with unexpected scenes you wouldn't expect to see in an anime. What makes this series shine is the characters, minus Yukki. Yuno is clearly the star of the show, and for good reason. Watching her antics is enough to amuse and perhaps disturb you, the viewer.

I give it an 8 mostly because of its originality. It was very entertaining, but what really made the series good was Yuno. Yukki can go to hell, hes just another useless main character. Though to his benefit, he had some shining moments of glory.

Score - 8/10

Jormungand: Perfect Order Review

Picking off where the first season left off, Koko Hekmatyar continues her duties as an arms dealer. At first glance not much is different from the first season honestly, its the good old gang back once more; kicking ass taking names like always. But things are escalated to a much grander scale. The viewer starts getting hints at what the main plot of the second season really is, and the revelation is more surprising than anything you could have imagined. New villains emerge, and old villains lurking in the shadows make themselves known.Tensions rise, and relationships get strained. This was the driving force of the season season.

My only gripe with this season is that it left the ending open. The series ends right before Koko starts her "plan" and ends right then and there. True to its ways, the anime leaves the viewer wanting more.

Overall I really enjoyed this sequel. Seeing the characters again and the crazy action that goes on wherever they go is always enjoyable. 

I recommend watching both seasons of Jormungand, really good series.

Score - 8/10

Tari Tari Review

    

Took me a long while to finish this one, and no, its not because I was busy…
Tari Tari begins as a very cliched but also very interesting anime "apparently" about music. Tari Tari follows 5 high school kids with some problems here and there, who form their own choir club due to the main character, Konatsu, being unable to “Shine” in the original music club. The main plot revolves around each of the main characters providing a look into each ones goals and life ambitions and the problems they face in achieving these goals. 

But what’s the problem? The lack of music. Each character practically gets their own arc detailing their “problems”. So what’s the problem with the problem? They get solved in like 2 episodes so that the next character gets their turn to show the viewers their “problems”. Most of these problems are so simplistic it makes my eyes roll, and wanna skip ahead. And that’s what I did most of the time, skip ahead. But again, wheres the music? Its basically all a giant copy & paste formula used a million times over. Difference is the production value on this one is much higher. The art is gorgeous, and you can tell they spent a lot of time on just that, the art and not the story. Its around the last 3 episodes that we go back to the topic at hand which is the music. Everyone comes together in the middle of a crisis to do what they like to do best, sing. If it wasn’t for those last 3 episodes I probably would have given this anime a much more negative review. I probably will never watch this one again…

Score - 6.5/10

Natsuyuki Rendezvous Review

Death, we all think about it. So many questions, and no answers. The most commonly used theory is that there is indeed life after death. Be it energy, plasma, a soul, cultures from all around the world have tried explaining what lies beyond. Natsuyuki Rendezvous is about a love struck man named Hazuki determined to get the attention of his local flower shop owner Rokka. Somewhat of an anti-social character, Hazuki decides the best way to get closer to his crush is to become an employee at the flower shop. What Hazuki doesn’t know is that there is another man in Rokka’s life, a man no longer of this world…

Interesting plot no? And it is. For the first three episodes or so we are shown Hazuki’s slow and careful attempts at seducing Rokka. All seems to lead Rokka could finally pay some romantic attention to Hazuki, that is until Hazuki encounters Rokka’s husband, or should I say, deceased husband. You see, Shimao, husband of Rokka, is dead. He died three years ago due to a disease presumed to be cancer. Rokka has moved on but not as much as she would like others to think. Her love for her husband was so strong his soul became attached to the material world. She cannot see nor hear him, but Hazuki can. And here is where the real story begins, a love triangle between a living man who loves Rokka, and a dead man who loves Rokka. 

After the first three or so episodes, a certain event happens. This event should have lasted for about 2-3 episodes, but was instead dragged on beyond belief. I understand this was supposed to be a romance anime, but there really was no need to drag that certain event anymore. I supposed it served a purpose, but I felt there was just no point to making it so long, right till the very end. Overall it was a good anime, it had good romance, some nice character development, gorgeous art, but this event I keep speaking of just ruined my overall enjoyment to the point I can say I will never willingly watch this anime again.

Score - 7/10

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! Review

A picture is worth a thousand words. What you see above is what you get, a harem. But this isn’t your typical harem, no, it comes with a twist. The main character Mikadono Shougo has just lost his father, the president of a very important and powerful company in Japan. He is now the future heir, and in order to complete that transition he must find and marry a girl. The goal behind that is that a married man is leveled headed and more responsible. The twist here is that at the day of his fathers funeral, Mikadono hears a girls voice calling out to him. This girl says she is his sister, and that she will marry him. Yes, marry him… Japanese people lol.

Anyways, the anime was supposed to be about Mikadono finding his future wife, but instead becomes an anime about finding out who this mysterious illegitimate sister is. In the journey to find his sister, he encounters various girls and gets in to some very unconventional situations, harem ftw? The show is full of twists and turns, and it keeps the entertainment value high despite being very cliched and essential full of fanservice to the max. If your ok with fanservice and want an interesting story, this show is for you.

Score - 8/10

Oda Nobuna no Yabou Review

I’ll get right to the point, this was a great anime. We have an anime set in a pseudo version of Japans Civil War, depicting a female version of the historic Japanese figure Oda Nogunaga. Her name is Oda Nobuna, and her aim is for Japans unification. Now, our main character is not actually Oda Nobuna, but a high schooler sent to the past for reasons unknown. His name is Yoshiharu Sagara, and he is your typical ballsy character with a love for woman, and video games? Yes, video games. That is what this anime is mostly about, Sagara trying to set and or prevent things from happening he played in a game called “Nobunaga’s Ambition”. He can essentially tell what the future has in store, and uses this knowledge to help Oda and her clan.

Art wise this anime was alright, nothing amazing but just alright. Where the anime shines is the story as well as its characters. No pointless episodes with this one, all episodes are enjoyable and no less important than the previous. I don’t know anything about Japanese history, but it seems to portray historic events very well. My one complaint was that it was never explained, or even attempted to explain Sagara’s time travel experience. Judging by the ending it seems a sequel is in the works, so hopefully an explanation is given then…

Score - 8/10

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate Review

Starting off, I went into this anime expecting nothing good. I was surprised though, this anime turned out better than I had expected despite being a VN adaptation. VN adaptations tend to be either good or bad, and most of the time they are bad. From what I heard this is one of those cases in which its bad, but since I never played the VN I can’t make any comparisons. In my case I thought the story was interesting. We have the main character trying to win an election to be student body president so his club would not be disbanded. But as the series progressed, they started to give us a deeper look into the election, and a number of darker and more serious things start to surface…

In many levels this entire anime is unbelievable. The Japanese seem to love High School, and they also seem to like the idea of having students practically run the school with little to no adult supervision. Such is the case with this series, the entire school is run by students, for the students. The student council serves as the government, separated into different branches just like any Democratic government is. As any government would, there are internal power struggles, and elections are coming up. This is the basis for the plot, but we also have a sub-plot occurring involving the male lead, Oojima, and the various girls around him. At its core, its a harem, but it doesn’t go all over the place with the girls as most harems do. For this I commend the staff. There was good character development and good plot progression as well. If I have any complaints its that the series was too short and sometimes felt rushed. Overall a good anime.

Score - 8/10

IO Review

Here we have a rather original and interesting manga. IO is a manga revolving around the sea, scuba diving, ancient ruins, and mystical happenings that set the tone for the story. We have our main character Taiyo Nakabiru, a happy go lucky guy, and somewhat of a womanizer, encountering an apparent old friend on his way to Okinawa. This friend, Shibuki Miyara claims he killed her mother. Taiyo, dumfounded by this claim by someone he doesn’t remember, continues his trip to Okinawa. Here he meets Shibuki once more, as well as her sisters Nagisa and Mio. This meeting is what sets the story in motion, and why Taiyo must unravel the mystery behind the sisters, the ruins near them, and his past…

IO is one of those stories that starts out really cliche and somewhat unappealing. As the story progresses however, you see how well crafted the story is. Being a fan of the paranormal and conspiracies, this manga hit my sweet spot. Ancient ruins, a mystic white whale, government conspiracies, psychic power manifestations, romance, comedy, drama, IO had it all. What starts out as a simple trip to Okinawa ends up as a global treasure hunt that could possibly lead to the main characters deaths. Our characters are well defined, and sometimes completely unpredictable. And that’s another thing I liked about IO, it was unpredictable till the very end. Taiyo seems like the typical male lead at times, but surprised the heck out of me several times with his actions. The Miyara sisters were also very surprising, hell, everyone was just surprising. I forgot to mention, the art is just amazing. Its hard to draw water, and its even hard to draw whats under the water. IO being a manga revolving around the sea, it had several underwater scenes that were very well drawn with just amazing detail.

If I had one bad thing to say about IO, is that some things revolving around Taiyo’s family was never fully clarified. I don’t like being left confused after the story is done. Aside from that, it was a great manga, and I highly recommend IO to anyone.

Score - 8.5/10

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity Has Declined) Review

 

In the world of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, the human population is dismal. It is never explained why, but I assume some sort of catastrophic event happened, causing humanity to revert back to the rural lifestyle of old. Our main character is essentially nameless, and plays the role of the sarcastically smart character. She is a mediator for the U.N, providing a link between humanity and the “new humanity” called fairies. The role of fairies in this anime can be seen in two ways. The first would be to consider them what they are, fairies. The other would be to see them as the creators of the anime wanted them to be seen as, symbols of what modern humanity has become. In the series, the fairies care nothing more than eating sweets, playing around, excessive and irrational multiplying, following the latest trends, and ignoring what happens to the environment around them. Sound familiar? The entire series takes a satirical approach to humanity. The dark humor hits the right spots, and makes one think about the future and what it will look like. In essence, as ridiculous as this anime is at times, it paints a possible future for humanity.

The anime itself doesn’t follow standard anime norms. There is no love interest, and there is no plot. There are also more holes in the plot than Swiss cheese. Rather, what we have is a central theme, that being humanity doing the best they can to survive. There is also no beginning or end. Our main character does her job, and sometimes gets into odd situations because of it. Sometime around the middle of the series, the anime becomes a flashback. We are shown the events that led to the main character becoming a mediator. This all nice and everything, but I wanted to know more about what led to humanity’s decline. What happened? How did fairies come about? The very last minute of the series dropped a hint that perhaps there would be a sequel, in which case I’m ok with the unanswered questions. But if not, that just makes me mad. Regardless, this was a very interesting series. Expect lots of “WTF” moments, and enjoy the satirical main character.

Score - 8/10

Robotics;Notes Review

5pb is known for making some very interesting Visual Novels. The anime however, tend to be a hit and miss. Chaos;Head was a good example of a good Visual Novel being adapted into a poorly executed anime. Steins;Gate was different, the anime was generally well received by both the anime and Visual Novel communities alike. I personally consider Steins;Gate as one of the best anime if this century. Hence, my expectations for Robotics;Notes was high. After Steins;Gate, how can you possibly go wrong? Well, it appears you can go very very wrong...

Robotics;Notes in paper sounds very promising. The story is set a decade or so after the events of Steins;Gate. The world has changed for the worse as solar storms seem to have become a yearly occurrence. Robotic engineering has become a popular profession, and robots are becoming the norm. Our characters Yashio Kaito and Senomiya Akiho are regular childhood friends in high school with a disturbing past. Both suffered from a terrible "supernatural" attack on a cruise leaving them with odd illnesses that distorts time for them when severely stressed. Their school has a robot club where the main goal is to build a giant robot. Akiho is obsessed with robots, and aims to build a robot that will surpass her sister's work. Akiho's sister seems to be a very important character despite showing very little of her in the first half of the show. Her true role is revealed later on, as well as the reason for her odd behavior towards her sister and Kaito. Kaito is obsessed with robots as well, but his obsession leans more towards playing with them through video games, which is a recurring thing throughout the series. 

At first glance this seems like a slice of life portraying the typical teen plight, but it goes way beyond that. Just like Steins;Gate, conspiracies are afoot, and the world is grave danger. A mysterious character named Kimijima Ko is the main focus. This person's actions and legacy drive the main plot. Overall this anime showed strong promise for about the first 10 episodes, but something happened after that. For whatever reason the anime started becoming too complicated for its own good. Like I said, on paper it seemed promising but seeing it in animated form turned out to be completely different. The show turned up the "doomsday" meter making it seem as though the fate of humanity rested on the shoulder of our main characters and their friends. There was no need for this, the world was in no real danger. The show started becoming too unbelievable for its own good. Worst part is the robot fights. What were they thinking at the studio? I felt trolled, very much so. The animation overall was great, so were the character designs. Character development was decent, the saving grace for this anime was how great the characters were. Had the characters been boring or stagnant I no doubt would have dropped this show. 

If you go into this anime thinking your gonna watch another Steins;Gate or something better, I hope you prepare yourself for a huge disappointment. The characters are fun to watch, the animation is great, but the story lacked heavily after the first 10 or so episodes. I would not recommend this show for serious anime watchers.

Score - 7/10 (being lenient because of my love for the characters)

Binbougami ga! Review

Finally a comedy after a long while of watching teen melodramas and sci-fi adventures. I’ll be blunt, this is by no means anime of the year material. It brings nothing you haven’t seen before in a slapstick anime. You have your parodies and references of other shows, and the occasional self awareness of it being an anime. You have the perverts, the girl whose personality is a bit over the top (girl in pink, though her real hair color is gray), and the girl who tries to tie her down (the blonde). The story is very simple, Sakura Ichiko is a young rich girl with too much good luck on her side. The gods of misfortune become aware of this and decide its time to share some of that good fortune around as Ichiko has such an odd abundance of it, and has been subconsciously sucking the good fortune of those close to her. A god of misfortune is sent to earth to suck up some of that abundant fortune, her name is Binboda Momiji. This being a comedy, you can imagine what the entire series is about then after…

Starting out I wasn’t all that into the show. The comedy wasn’t all that appealing, and the story seemed very simple. However, after getting to around the third episode I realized what a great show it was. I wouldn’t call it the best comedy I have ever seen, id say shows like Strawberry Marshmallow and Kodocha are much much funnier, but it is with a doubt now in my top ten. The art is standard, nothing amazing there. The music is decent. What makes the show shine is the characters. Momiji has become one of my favorite characters in anime. Shes dark and serious one second, funny and ridiculous the next. Ichiko has her moments as well, but the show is stolen by Momiji in just about every episode.

Overall the show was great with some great parodies and overall great comedy mixed in with some nice character development.

Score - 8.5/10

Kokoro Connect Review

    

Kokoro Connect began as one the most interesting and unique anime to air from last season. We are introduced to the cast above, thrown into a crazy plot involving personality/soul switching, internal desire realization, and shifting between ages. If you haven’t watched the show the plot probably seems confusing but interesting. Hell, its why I watched it in the first place. The first arc involving “personality switching” sparked and maintained my interest. The human emotions and real life situations drew you closer and closer. The characters learned something, and so did the audience. Come the second arc involving “desire outbursts”, that’s when I realized the grave problem with this series, regurgitation. To be more specific, melodramatic regurgitation. You see, as I said before, the show portrays human emotions and situations to make a connection with the audience. If you, the viewer, feel like you can connect with the characters, then the job of the production team has been realized, as the entire point of the anime is just that, emotional connections. But what happens when you start repeating the same things over and over? Does that connection stay, or does it sway? You can only tolerate so much of the same thing before your eyes begin to roll, and that’s what happened to me. 

On one hand I love the series for what it is, on the other I am beyond annoyed for what it is. Its a love/hate thing, but the love portion slightly outshines the hate in this case. Despite its overuse of melodrama, it sparked enough interest in me to keep watching, and ask some questions. For example, who really is Goto? Who is #2? Will we find out when the rest of the episodes are released next year? Furthermore, will I even care when the time comes?

Who knows…

Score - 7.5/10

Hyouka Review

Man I’m really plowing through these anime from last season. Next up on my list was Hyouka, an anime centered around the characters you see in the picture above. Hyouka focuses on solving mysterious, some small and some big. There is no real story progression, rather we see some minor character development instead. The basic structure of the entire anime is presented at very first episode. Chitanda, the girl you see with long black hair, gets interested in something that seems odd. Oreki, the dead looking guy in the middle, uses his supreme logic to get the center of it all. The characters at the ends, Satoshi and Mayaka act as supporting characters if you would, but I personally think the story was interesting mostly because of them…

The problem Hyouka has is the stagnation of Oreki and Chitanda’s characters. What you see in the first episode you see throughout the rest of the series till about the last 3 episodes. Whereas Satoshi and Mayaka evolve throughout the series. They are much more dynamic characters, portraying human emotions more realistically than Oreki and Chitanda. Sadness, jealousy, love. Satoshi and Mayaka are this shows saving grace as they show these emotions with ease. By contrast, Oreki and Chitanda keep hitting the replay button on their personalities, which gets boring after a while. Overall Id say the show was enjoyable, but I wish our real main characters developed more.

Score - 8/10

Zettai Karen Children THE UNLIMITED - Hyoubu Kyousuke Review

Every season has to have a crazy anime that puts all the others to shame. ZKCTU-HK is exactly that anime. Being a "spin-off" of the 2008 anime it was initially hit with some criticisms as the 2008 anime Zettai Karen Children was not well received. The manga seems to be a different story.
ZKCTU-HK is all about psychics and the world around them. The world is not particularly fond of people with ESP and have laws that ostracise those with ESP. The story revolves around Hyoubu Kyousuke, a seemingly young looking man who is actually old enough to be our grandparent. Kuousuke was born during the last World War and developed his powers in the battlefield. After his time in the military he forms a group called P.A.N.D.R.A. The group consists of psychics Kyousuke met on his travels. This group deals with all sorts of things ranging from terrorism, assassinations, and just about anything considered illegal. But behind the guise of P.A.N.D.R.A. Kyousuke has a much more ambitious plan, one that would change the world in an instant.

What makes this anime so great is the fact it doesn't hide behind the conventions of modern anime. The main character has faults but doesn't fall under the current mold of what a main character should be. Kyousuke makes the show what it is. He is an incredibly cold and calculating person who wants nothing more than to have himself and psychics all over the world be accepted by society without fear. Sure, his methods towards achieving this are questionable. His actions are not entirely justified, but all oppression always leads to a rebel wanting to change the way the world works. Despite being hindered by an opposing group named B.A.B.E.L., Kyousuke goes on and shows us all what it means to fight for what you think is right. In his case, he takes things a bit to the extreme, especially when he reveals his true intentions towards achieving his goals. But alas, the creators of this anime made Kyousuke such an appealing character that you forget his dirty deeds and root for him to kick ass and take names.

The animation here is top notch. The fights, the scenery shots, everything. What makes this anime so awesome aside from its main character is the action sequences, especially those involving Kyousuke. All the characters in this show serve an essential role, no useless character is found. The characters are all likeable in their own way, character development was good. My only gripe was the length of the show. This could have easily been a 24 episode series, possibly more. I do hope a second season is being planned, this anime deserves it.

Score - 8.5/10

Yuru Yuri 2 Review

  

Yuru Yuri 2 is the sequel to last year’s hilarious Yuru Yuri. Based on the manga of the same name, the story follows the daily shenanigans of Akarin, Yui, Chiantsu, Kyko and their friends. Each character has their own unique personality, which keeps the show fresh and entertaining. The anime can be considered slice of life, but is main genre is definitely comedy. Compared to other comedic anime such as Azumanga daioh or Strawberry Marshmallow, it falls short, but delivers in the right spots. Perhaps its the Yuri aspect of the show that makes one wanna give in to a giggle or two. And yes, there is girl love, but not romantic girl love. Its mostly all just comically portrayed. 

I found little to no dissatisfaction with the first season, but found some of it with the second. Compared to the first season, the comedy level seems to have dropped a bit. I honestly feel like the staff didn’t know where to go with the anime, but pulled through good enough to deliver something enjoyable for the viewers who enjoyed the glorious first season. Scenes such as this…

 

 are funny for reasons viewers of thee first season would know about. I can’t help but lol everytime I see it XD

Overall it was an enjoyable watch, and recommend watching both seasons.

Score - 8/10

Nine Muses - Prima Donna (Brief Album Review)

Tracklist:

1. 프리마돈나 (Prima Donna) (intro)
2. 건 (Gun)
3. 세치혀 (Rumor)
4. A Few Good Man
5. Last Scene
6. 천생여자 (天生女子) (Just A Girl)
7. 미스 에이전트 (Miss Agent)
8. Time's Up
9. 몰라몰라 (OMG)
10. 핑 (Ping)
11. 아님 말구 (Don't Come)

What a year this has been for K-Pop. The ladies of Nine Muses are back with their third album and comeback titled Prima Donna. Prima Donna is their first full-length album consisting of 11 tracks as listed above. I hold Nine Muses on a high pedestal because their releases have been consistently good. It's hard for a Korean girl group to manage a solid release one after another. There are various reasons for this but listing them would take too long and mostly K-Pop insiders care for that sort of thing, anyways...

Beginning with their 2011 release of Figaro, 9Muses have distinguished themselves as a retro pop group. They have been sticking to their retro pop concept which seems to have worked for them as they have gained popularity with each comeback. Starting with the first song titled accordingly, "Prima Donna", we are given a brief 1:07 intro as to what the theme of the album will be like. Like their previous releases, Prima Donna continues the retro pop sound they are now known for. Their alliance with the famous Korean producers "Sweetune" has once again hit another home-run.

Prima Donna has some very good songs and then some rather weak songs that still manage to make you listen to them rather than discard them. Very few idol groups out there can manage this in my opinion. Most of the time it's the title track and maybe two or three songs in the album that you like and the rest are just there. Gun is the title track and it's a very good one at that. It reminds me of some classic surf and turf songs you hear on 80's movies. I very much like the retro 80's vibe the album gives off overall. Some songs are more retro than others. "Don't Come" and "Miss Agent" are perfect examples, it's like listening to a modern version of an 80's pop song. Both are really great songs to listen to, you can't help but tap your feet at the catchy beat and addicting melodies. 

I think Sweetune is the best thing that ever happened to them to be honest, just about everything they make together is golden. If I had to give the album a rating it would be 9/10 because it really is a solid album. I don't hate any of the songs, though I do have favorites such as "Time's Up" and "Last Scene". "Last Scene" in particular is great for several reasons. One of the most important being it shows the main singers of the group can actually sing, such as Sera, Hyuna, and Hyemi. "Last Scene" is also a great song because it's such a soothing song. "Times Up" is more upbeat, I would compare it to "Action" from their previous album "Wild". Both songs are my absolute favorites from both albums as they are catchy and the reason why Nine Muses is such a complete group. I'll be ordering my physical copy asap to support the girls for having such a great album.

 I wish I could have provided snippets of the songs in this brief review but I cannot because of the format I chose to write this on tumblr. Hopefully all you who cared to read this give 9Muses a chance if you haven't heard of them before. For those who know them, support our girls! Buy their album and vote for them on music shows!

Score - 9/10

Accel World Review

Going into Accel World, my initial thoughts were mostly positive. The premise was nice, the main lead was non conventional, and it just seemed like it would be one of the anime to watch this year. But alas, Japan throws us another teen melodrama revolving around a virtual world that allows them to escape their “harsh” reality. And that’s it, that’s what the entire anime is mainly about. Slowly but surely, the main characters learn to cope with their “traumatic” experiences in life and learn to accept what has happened while fighting in a virtual reality game called Burst Link. Shows like Clannad and Kanon portray teen angst and plight perfectly, because they do it in a way that is realistic and nonsensical. A show like Accel World, I just can’t take seriously. The main thing everyone has in common is having been bullied in school. Well shit, I think everyone at some point in their school life has been bullied. If the creators had expanded this plight even further, for example, making each character have a severe emotional scar such as having alcoholic parents, living near poverty, or having been raped, this all would have fit nicely and had made the melodrama fit in nicely. There was none of that however, just your standard school bullying. Its really hard to take that serious =/

Moving on, the fights were great, and its what mainly kept me watching. Overall id say this series is passable, but its not the worst anime this year.

Score - 6.5/10

Psycho-Pass Review

For a while I thought "Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke" was last season's king of show, but after watching this beauty I realized I had to drop it down a notch. Psycho-Pass comes at you with a rather original story set in the near future. The story is set in a futuristic Japan where In the future "it is possible to quantitatively measure a person's emotions, desires, and every inclination. In this way, it is also possible to measure a person's criminal tendency factor, which is used to judge criminals. This is the story of a team of policemen dedicated to maintaining public order. Some of them work in the Enforcement Division, responsible for the apprehension of criminals, while others belong to the Supervisory Division which oversees their colleagues in Enforcement. The story centers around the "enforcement officer" Shinya Kougami, who is tasked with managing crime in such a world."  

Or so you would think. Despite the official description saying Kougami is the main character, Akane Tsunemori comes off as the main character for a nice portion of the anime. Afterwards the spotlight tends to shift around. Psycho-Pass is a beautiful dark (pretty much cyberpunk) anime that begs the question about what is true freedom in this world. How are we supposed to live our lives? How are we supposed to interact with each other? All of this guided by the Sybil system. A twisted network of information (not to be confused with the internet) that immediately judges a person and can determine their fate. Everyone has a Psycho-Pass, a new form of ID that if clouded with inpure thoughts, could lead to retention and possibly death. Just imagine us living in such a world. The idea isn't really that far-fetched. The anime deals with philosophical themes all throughout.

I loved each and every character. Akane comes off as naive and unrealistic, which is necessary for her development. She gradually changes and becomes a loveable character who has brains and a strong conviction for duty. Kougami is right of the bat a needed character in anime. He is the opposite of early Akane, they essentially compliment each other. Kougami also has as strong sense of justice but his idea of this slowly becomes skewered as he encounters a character from his past. The series antagonist Makishima Shougo is that character, and he is by far one of my favorite villains in anime. His superior intellect, his way of doing things, his charisma, and the fact that he loves to quote famous literature are all reasons that make Makishima a great character. He is the perfect opposing force for the characters of this anime, especially Kougami. Makishima wants to destroy the things that bind humanity and set them free. This obviously is done by doing many illegal things that he always seems to find amusing. All in all every character in this anime is just a joy to watch.

The only issue I had was that I wish the background of some of the characters had been fleshed out a bit more. The animation was solid. The music was great, first time in a long while (since watching CCS) I actually enjoy the soundtrack in an anime. I think it's because it fits just right and isn't the typical forced music recycled in all modern anime. I would highly recommend this anime to anyone.
Be warned, there is much blood and some gore in this anime.

Score - 9.5/10

Sakamichi no Apollon Review

     

Amongst the horde of cliched anime that airs every season, there is always one that manages to shine. Such is the case with Sakamichi no Apollon. Taking place in Japan 1966, Sakamichi no Apollon brings us the daily lives of Kaoru, Ritsuko, and Sentaoru. Kaoru is your typical bookworm who has recently moved from Tokyo to a suburban city god knows where. Because of his wealthy status he has never been able to properly make friends and has had to move a lot during his childhood. He sticks to playing piano and develops a social anxiety that prompts him to leave in nerving situations. This begins to change when he meets the class hooligan, Sentaoru. Like all good hooligans, Sentaoru has a reputation all over the school, and even in other schools. He is your typical brawler with a good heart that looks out for those he cares about. The person closest to Sentaouru, and the person Kaouru befriends first is Ritsuko. Ritsuko is Sentaoru’s childhood friend and stick together most of the time. Ritsuko’s family owns and operates a record store. Beneath that store there is a basement with musical instruments. Sentaoru has a strong love for Jazz, which quickly rubs on Kaoru. Together, they begin to play music and develop a friendship that will take them to unexpected roads in life.

This is basically a slice of life. The story itself isn’t groundbreaking nor the epitome of originality. Regardless, the way it was presented, the way it developed the characters, the plot twists, the unexpected turns the story took, that, is what made this series amazing. Oh, and the marvelous Jazz music is another thing that adds to this amazing story. Were there cliches in this anime? Sure. But the entertainment value is just too high that it overshadows any early assumptions the viewer develops. Granted, the final episode is both a hit and miss, and the manga’s ending is much much better in contrast, but I haven’t seen such an entertaining anime since watching Chihayafuru. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for something different among the sea of cliched anime that airs every season!

Score - 9.5/10

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia Review

  

Here we have an anime that dwells in the paranormal. Its your typical ghost story, with a slight twist. In normal ghost stories, the ghost is usually evil or something along those lines. In Tasogare Otome x Amnesia, Yuuko, the ghost, isn’t evil. In fact, she’s the exact opposite. She behaves like a normal high school girl. The problem is she’s a ghost (no duh), and no one can see or hear her. That is, until a boy stumbles upon her presence, causing him to see her existence, and befriending her. This is where the story begins, and where it stays…

The series has everything it needed to be a considered a good paranormal story. Good background story for the ghost, the main guy and a secondary love interest who can see the ghost, the guys friends (they’re all part of a paranormal club that solves paranormal happenings in the school), and the person who tries to screw up everything. The pacing was well done and the characters were developed well for the majority of the series. There was a nice blend of comedy, drama, romance, ecchi, and mystery. However, as soon as episode 8 hit, it all went to hell. I assume the reason for this is because the manga is still on-going, and they needed to finish the anime in their own way. From episode 8-12 I felt I was being trolled. Too many inconsistencies and the story was going in circles. 

The ending was just beyond stupid. You feel like the series finally has closure, and then at the very end that closure is completely destroyed. It was entertaining, but I think I’ll go ahead and start the manga just because I hate half assed adaptations…

Score - 8/10

Mysterious Girlfriend X Review

                 
Another show that tries to do something new. Mysterious Girlfriend X slightly succeeds where other series from the past season *cough* Sankarea *cough* could not. The show revolves around saliva, and the the odd shenanigans between the two main characters. Urabe, the main love interest, is the new girl in school. Shy, awkward, and with a weird haircut, she quickly becomes the talk of the classroom. She sleeps during class, all the time. Tsubaki, the male lead, pays no real attention to Urabe until seeing her after school sleeping in the classroom. Tsubaki notices her drooling, and this becomes the catalyst for what happens shortly after. 

The art is a mix of old school anime and new. This makes people like me, who grew up with 80’s and 90’s anime, quite happy. Series like these aren’t for everyone as it has an unconventional story line. For me, this is what saved the show. The male lead is your typical spineless pervert. If Urabe had been the person the show focused on, I probably would have liked it more. As the show progressed, I noticed it was going nowhere. The relationship between Urabe and Tsubaki stayed the same, it didn’t develop at all. I mean sure, they upped the ante now and then with their daily saliva routine, but the whole show was basically about how awkward each person was with each other. The Japanese seem to have a problem creating realistic romantic situations. Instead, they continue to cling to the now typically awkward, childish, and unrealistic portrayal of a romantic relationship. I mean for gods sake, Tsubaki couldn’t even get a hug without Urabe taking out her panty scissors (yes, I said panty scissors) and cutting up something close to Tsubaki as a way to warn Tsubaki never to touch her without her permission. The show was all about saliva, and that’s what it stuck to. Was it a waste of my time? Hard to say really. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t watch it again. If it had fixed the problems I laid out, it would have been a show with great promise.

Score - 7/10

Sankarea Review

  

Sankarea, like most of today’s anime, defies innovation by simply copying and pasting past ideas together. Did people really think the whole zombie thing was original? No. That’s wishful thinking. Is it something we see in anime often? No. You would think the latter would be an advantage, but it wasn’t, not at all. The first 4 episodes led me to believe this show could be a winner. The characters were entertaining, the art was amazing, the plot seemed interesting. Yet, they completely messed the entire up midway through the series. The cliche’s that plague current anime began running rampant. There were signs that the main characters were being properly developed, but that went nowhere really quick. 

The show is about a dude in his teens and his obsession with zombies. Piles upon piles of zombie movies, along with toys, and pretty much anything zombie related, litter his room and life. What’s funny is that his father is a priest, and they live right beside a temple. I suppose his father and his work had the opposite effect on his upbringing. His sister seems to have embraced the temple life though. Pretty much Wanko, the childhood friend, as well as the main character’s sister, were this show’s saving grace. Fanservice? There was plenty of that. No nudity however. The manga is a bit more risque, but kept the cliche’s at a low. Worst of all, the anime ended with a cliffhanger. This is understandable as the show caught up to the manga very quickly, but I personally think they should have ended the series instead of leaving the door open for a sequel. I really don’t think people like the show enough to want a second season. This is simply another case where the manga > anime adaptation.

Score - 6/10

Denpa teki na Kanojo Review

  

This 2 episode OVA series is about a girl (look at pic above) who thinks a certain guy is her master from a previous life. Yeah, I know…

For the first 20 mins of the first episode that’s all you see. After that it becomes somewhat of a detective type thriller. You have a bunch of murders and whatnot going on, and its up to our two main characters to find the culprits. The second episode sets the same pace as the first, but this time around you don’t have a serial killer. Rather, you have a group of people pulling pranks here and there that eventually escalate to something more serious, and once again its up to our main characters to find the ring leader and put a stop to it all. The whole thing started out really vague but the whole point of this 2 episode OVA series started to slowly reveal itself. Twas good, though it was never explained if the main girl was actually insane of if there was truth to what she was saying. It was too short and I wasn’t very fond of the character designs.

Score - 7/10

Birdy: The Mighty Decode Review

This is by no means a groundbreaking series when it comes to story telling. We have an intergalactic police officer sent to Earth on a mission to capture a wanted alien criminal. This leads to Birdy, the main character, having to live on Earth as an earthling and adapt to human life. You see? Typical. But as she comes close to her objective, she accidentally kills a high school student by the name of Tsutomu Senkawa. Not so fast! Poor Senkawa is not completely dead. Birdy absorbs his consciousness and sends his body to be repaired. Naturally, this creates a sticky situation. With both of them sharing the same body, the real story starts, a story about love, mystery, and death...

My first reaction of this series was mixed. On one hand I read several reviews praising its art work and characters, on the other there was mention of the story dragging and other nonsense. I took the bait and went ahead to watch it. Turns out its everything everyone mentioned. Id like to think of Birdy as one big giant mess that fits in so nicely your willing to overlook the mess. For example, you have the first seasons storyline which kind of goes all over the place but manages to fit in nicely at the last moment. Ironically, the second season is also somewhat of a mess, that just so happens to fit in with the mess season 1 was. Its one big giant mess of awesomeness! 

Birdy is a series that drops foreshadowing hints now and then. Its not until the last episode that all these hints fit into place, and creates a nice "omg that's what that was!" moment. The artwork is generally great, but some might say the fight scenes should have been polished more. The naysayers are mostly referring to the fight scenes in season 2, as they are so fast paced that the artists had to go for a "sketchy" type of art work. Personally I think the "sketchy" art work during such intense fight scenes were just right. It captures the intensity of the moment and made the fights more impactful. The fight scenes in Birdy are just amazing, it gets the blood pumping and makes for a great feast for the eyes. 

The characters in Birdy all have a role to play. The main characters all develop nicely, including our main male lead Senkawa. He starts out rather cowardly and shy but gradually matures and takes initiative. The lives of all these characters are linked, and these links make much more sense in season 2. Music-wise, Birdy has a nice OST as well. The OP & ED songs for both seasons are catchy. Throughout the series the composers made sure to place the right music at the right times. Overall very pleased with that. The romance is just right that it doesn't become all mushy and nonsensical. Senkawa has his moment, but so does Birdy. I liked how the love interests for both were separated by season. This creates less confusion in my opinion. 

One small complaint about Birdy is the fact that Senkawa's personal life gets pretty much forgotten come the second season. The show becomes 70% about Birdy and the 30% Senkawa. I liked the balance the first season had, but oh well. Birdy is a great series that I highly recommend!

Note: Potential viewers, keep in mind this series has violence, and tons of it~

Score - 9/10

Psycho Busters Review

           
Its been a while since I've watched or read anything, so please excuse my sloppy reviewing on this one lol. Anyways, Psycho Busters starts as a rather interesting manga. The story revolves around a group of 4 psychic teenagers who escaped an evil research facility that holds psychics captive. The reason for them escaping, aside from wanted their freedom, is to meet up with a boy named Kakeru. According to the leader of the escaped group, Joi, Kakeru is vital to saving the world from destruction. The reason for this, and the world's impending doom is not revealed until later on.

Kakeru is a very typical teenage boy, the type you always see in anime and other Japanese media. Shy, rather timid and feminine, little self esteem, you know, that sort of thing. When his mom and sisters go on vacation and leave Kakeru home alone, Kakeru hopes for some excitement in his life, and boy does he get it. A naked "ghost girl" appears in his room asking for help. At first glance Kakeru is wary but decides to investigate. He arrives at an abandoned building where is mistakingly attacked by one of the 4 escaped psychics. In that building he meets the psychics who ask for his help in helping their leader who is in a deep sleep. This sets the gears in motion, and turn Kakeru's boring life into a life and death adventure leading up to the destruction of the world...

The first couple of volumes were rather exciting, typical but exciting. Lots of action and some rather nicely used humor made for a good read. However, as I kept reading I started caring less and less about the main characters, the reason for this is the lack of development. There was some hints of romance, but nothing ever really happened beyond that, which is a shame because it would have strengthened the bonds between the characters, and would have overal just made the story better.

         

The story itself was pretty well done, like I already mentioned, lots of action, as well as some plot twists here and there. The artwork was pretty nice, nice crisp lines and character designs were on point. My only gripe is character development, had that been better this manga would have been so much better. A decent read regardless.

Score - 7/10

Sword Art Online Review

SAO, quite possibly the most popular anime of 2012. Was all the hype worth it? Was SAO really that great of an anime? Well, in my opinion I suppose that sort of thing is generational. Older anime fans will have mixed views, while the newer fans will most probably gobble SAO up like there was no tomorrow. I'm part of the older generation, I grew up with 90's anime and have seen more anime than I can count. I have in essence "seen it all". But there was something different about SAO, something that drew me in instantly. I consider myself a gamer, but I wouldn't say that was the only aspect about SAO that drew me in. No, SAO had that "something" that clicked with everyone at first sight. Its the reason why it was so popular before even debuting. The LN is quite popular but even then, LN readers are a minority, that wasn't enough to hype this anime up. What made this anime click with people was its production value. Yes, most people won't even consider that when thinking about what made SAO good, but this anime's high production value played a huge role. To properly animate a story centered around an MMORPG (VRMMORPG to be more specific), you have to have everything from scenery's, character designs, music, and VA cast on point. And indeed, SAO had all of that. And yet, it didn't mesh in well enough to be considered a classic...

This anime is all about a popular virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG) called, Sword Art Online (SAO). In the anime, virtual reality helmets are the norm among young people. People dive in to the different worlds they want to, when they want to. It really is like a different world separate from this one to those people. Upon the release of a hugely anticipated game called Swort Art Online, our main character Kazuto is somewhat of a gaming prodigy and immediately buys SAO upon its release. Going into the game he meets a couple of people and begins playing like everyone is doing. But something goes wrong, he nor anyone is able to log out. The gamers gather at the town square where they have been summoned by the game master (admin, owner, etc). He tells them that the game is no longer a game, but is now part of their reality. They cannot log out, they cannot escape by any means. The only way to get out is to win the game, which means completing all 100 floors of the huge tower in the center of everything. 

Dying in the game means dying in real life, and thus, the events of SAO unfold and we are introduced to various characters such as Asuna who along with Kazuto, are on the front lines to complete all 100 floors and be rid of their nightmare. 

The rest of the anime is basically what you would expect to see in a game. Character interactions, missions, fighting, cheating, death, pretty much everything that makes a game, a game. But because SAO is an anime, it has to take things at its own pace. It attempts to construct a story as it progresses. I say "attempt" because even though it has mini time skips that force the viewer to ask what happened during that time skipped, it does construct a decent story for about the first 10 episodes. After that however, everything becomes one huge mess. Inconsistencies, plot holes, conveniences, SAO is plagued by obvious attempts to fix mistakes made in previous episodes by the production team. The second half of the anime is the biggest indicator that the production team had an idea of how to properly transition this part from the LN, but went to hell along the way. But to be fair, it wasn't really the story people watched SAO for, it was its amazing action.

If SAO excels at one thing, is its action sequences. My god, such amazing sequences have not been seen in anime for a long while. It was the main reason I kept watching, and pretty much the saving grace for the show. The character development was also done nicely early on, but went into recycling mode in the second half. What I mean by that is that the anime didn't continue the development of the characters from where they had left off, but instead opted to start their development over again. I suppose the reason for this is obvious if you know what starts in the second half, but it still doesn't sit well with me. It was like watching the first half all over again, like I said, recycling. The introduction of Kazuto's sister was refreshing because the show was now focused on a different character and her story, but at the same time I couldn't help but think she was basically replacing Asuna and her early character mold. Again, recycling. 

My verdict on this anime is simple; It had potential, an immense amount of it to be exact. This could easily have been the anime of 2012, but failed early on its execution thanks to the inadequate attempt at animating the transitioning of the arcs in the LN. Instead of focusing on the action part of the second arc, it tried to once again "attempt" to continue what the creators thought was, to them, a "story". To lay it down in a much more simpler way, this is another case of an adaptation gone wrong because it didn't follow the source material properly. Was this enjoyable to watch? Sure. But if your a veteran in anime like me, you will probably have more than one bone to pick with the creators. Watch this anime for it was largely watched for, the amazing action sequences. Do that and it won't be so bad of a watch...

Score - 7/10

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Review

Leaving your childish tendencies can be hard, but its part of growing up. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai revolves around "8th grade syndrome", a fake syndrome that happens to socially inadequate 8th graders who swim in their thoughts and never fully grow up to meet social standards. Our male lead, Togashi Yuuta suffered from such a syndrome but hopes to put that behind him now that he is in high school. He purposely goes to a different high school than everyone in his 8th grade class, and be rid of his "Dark Flame Master" memories. His first day at school seems normal but he meets Takanashi Rikka, a classic textbook case as calls it, of 8th grade syndrome. Rikka believes she is the wielder of the "Wicked Eye" which holds tremendous dark powers. She also believes Yuuta is her partner in crime from a previous life. As such, the crazy shenanigans brought forth by Rikka introduce us some more characters to the story such as Nibutani Shinka, another like Yuuta who once suffered from 8th grade syndrome, and the story itself unfolds and leads to some unprecedented situations and revelations. 

Going into the show I realized what kind of show this would be. Most times these shows end up being very easy to read, and this being an anime aimed at an "obvious" fan base, I was right on the mark most of the time. Regardless, the crazy action sequences and turns the story took were rather interesting and surprising. I have no doubt in my mind I enjoyed the show. My only concern was the way the ending took place. I feel its okay to let another indulge in their fantasies but in a typical story, you expect the person suffering from such delusions to finally grow up. I suppose in a way there was some of that, but the blatant relapse shown in the end was frustrating enough to lower my score on this anime. In the real world, you either deal with your problems, move on, grow up, or gtfo. The message the anime gave at the beginning was nice, I'm all for believing in my dreams and being somewhat of a child at heart. But as you grow up you can't continue believing in your childish delusions, that's just not the way the real world works, and its my main issue with the ending of this anime. 

Moving onto the artwork, it was top notch. The lighting, the colors, well, everything, was top notch and of obviously high production value. The show was visually stimulating, and I guess that was what the staff were going for to set the mood of the show. The OST was decent, this wasn't as heavily focused on as the artwork. The character development was well done but again, the ending killed it for me. This show was comical, I enjoyed the interactions between Nibutani and Dekomori (Rikka's "servant") as well as the interactions between Touka (Rikka's sister) and everyone she came across. I wish Touka had more screen time, her character was awesome!

Despite its flawed ending, I think this show should be watched. It does give a meaningful message for the first half of the show, and is overall entertaining to watch.

Score - 8/10 (Lenient)