Chibi Reviews

Pages

• About
• Forum

Categories

• Bento
  • Boxes
  • Onigiri
  • Vegetarian
• Episode Review
• Introductions
• Manga
  • Action
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Romance
  • Shojo
• Reviews
  • Action
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Magical girl
  • Mecha
  • Music
  • Romance
  • Slice of life
  • Super-natural
  • Vampire
• Synopsis

Archives

• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008

Links

Meta:

• Login
• RSS
• WP

Credits

• AtPictures
• Anime 2 Manga
• bladegirl

Episode review: Bus Gamer 2

Things continue with the first game and how the group manages to finish it. Then they leap forward in time and show the 6^th game. The opponents have become tougher and of course it is mr. useless who gets in trouble again. This time he finally shows some skill though, in this case with electricity and he shoots a guy in the shoulder. After the completion of the 6^th game, the high school kid goes to some arcade to play video games and happens to take on a female cop in an arcade fighting game. However after they were talking a bit outside, he sees his team mates and he waves enthusiastically, dropping the contents of his high school bag, with amongst them a gun. The three are taken to the police station.

This series seemed promising; however this episode was a bit disappointing. There is no character development whatsoever and the story feels rushed and is full of holes so far. I will finish this series since it only has 3 episodes. Hopefully the last one will be good.

Episode review: S. A 1

Hikari’s dad trained her to be a pro wrestler when she was just a little kid. She was able to beat everyone and her self confidence was over the top. That is until a boy from the same age named Kei defeated her with ease. Hikari decided that she would do anything to beat him. She even went to an elite school just so she could be in the same class as Kei. She manages to get in the top rank class of her school, which they call Special A. However she is still ranked number 2 and Kei doesn’t let an opportunity slide to rub this in, to Hikari’s dismay. Even though the two doesn’t seem to get along, they know when they have to set their differences aside and co-operate. Because when some regular students insult Hikari and try to steal the answers to tests in the school computer Kei and Hikari form an astonishing team to kick their behinds.

This series kind of reminds me of Ouran high school host club. It is not as over the top, however it is still about the 7 top students who form a close group of friends, even though they are very different from each other. Further I think this will be a high school romance comedy since it is already clear that Kei admires Hikari almost from the start, because she works so hard. It is on my watchlist for now, I just hope it doesn’t get boring in the long run.

Manga: Aishiteruze Baby Vol. 2

Warning: This document contains spoilers!

Story: 8
In this volume Kippei continues to take care for Yuzuyu, however when he tries to combine that with starting a serious relationship with Kokoro, he forgets to make Yuzuyu lunch or to collect her from school. Yuzu feels that she has become a burden to Kippei and decides she is going to take care of herself from now on. She tries to walk home by herself but she ends up being lost.

I find this volume as strong as the first. It continues on the same serious tone. This time there aren’t negative influences from the outside, but it is all about Yuzu’s insecurities to lose Kippei to someone else. Kokoro plays a bigger part in this volume then in the last and more of her background is revealed.

A fun bonus is an extra chapter where the readers see Kippei when he was Yuzuyu’s age just before his brother was born, and how he too was afraid to lose his place to his brother. The selfish feelings from the 5 year olds come across as very realistic.

Art: 8.5
The artwork stays of the same quality as volume 1. In my opinion Yoko Maki manages to get the emotions of the characters across to the reader. Further I don’t have anything to add in order not to repeat myself.

Characters: 8
Yuzu gets a letter from her mother and therefore she is reminded how much she misses her. Now there is the chance that Yuzuyu has to share his attention with Kokoro, and Kippei keeps making mistakes in taking care for her, Yuzu feels she has become a burden. She wants to be a big girl so that Kippei doesn’t have to worry about her and can spend more time with Kokoro. However since she can’t make it home alone from school, she only ends up worrying Kippei and the others more.

This volume concentrates more on Kokoro. The reader gets to see a part of her past. Also the relationship between her and Kippei develops in this series; however they both realize that Yuzuyu needs Kippei the most right now and they break up again.

Volume 2 wasn’t as endearing is the previous one. It is clear that Kippei finally is ready for a serious relationship, however it is hard to combine this with the care Yuzuyu needs. I, as reader, could clearly feel how he wants both and tries to juggle to get it, but ends up needing to give up his wishes for Yuzuyu. It also comes across how hard Kippei finds this to do.

In the end of the volume Yuzu’s mother pops up, but there isn’t much revealed about her yet, except what she writes in her letter to Yuzuyu.

Overall: 8
This volume continues on the same level of quality then the previous one. I still enjoyed the story very much, however I liked the previous volume a tad better, and that is why I rated this one a bit lower. But it is still a great series and I’m looking forward to buy volume 3!

Episode review: xxxHolic Kei 1

Watanuki and Doumeki manage to anger a spider because they destroyed her web. This results in Doumeki’s eye being patched up with a spider’s web. Watanuki thinks it is his fault because he got stuck in it first and does something more terrible to the spider so that the grudge of the spider would avert to him. This works and Doumeki’s curse is lifted, however in return Watanuki’s right eye is now blind. Doumeki is angry at his turn and is trying to find a solution to cure Watanuki in the temple library.

This episode was filled again with random stuff brought by Mokona and the two playful spirit girls, whose names I cant recall. The three bring a humorous tone to the serious events that are happening in the series. Watanuki’s temper is a bad as ever and he still manages to get himself into trouble with his impulsive actions. This episode ends with an Alice tea party at Yuuko’s shop with Watanuki crossdressing as Alice, to his dismay.
I think this is going to be another intriguing season of a great series, so keeping this on my watchlist for sure!

Manga: Rozen Maiden vol.1

Story: 8
The first volume basically follows the same storyline as the anime. (Or the anime is true to the manga, but I watched the anime first) It focuses mainly on Shinku in this volume and it is the introduction to a strange story about dolls that have a mind of their own. This volume is only the beginning of things to come and there isn’t too much going on yet but it surely makes the reader curious because it does let on that there is much more going on then is revealed. In the last chapter of the volume Jun and Shinku are entering the N-field, a place where many worlds are connected, for the first time and it ends meeting the mysterious hare.

If you have seen the anime already, this volume won’t tell you anything new. However since it was long ago I did see the first season of Rozen Maiden I didn’t mind reading it again because it still stays an intriguing story.

Art: 9
The artwork is very detailed and beautiful, particularly the characters. Costumes are also an aspect of attention. They use negative space on a frequent base, especially in the N-field. The background aren’t really detailed but since the foreground already is, using too detailed backgrounds would make things crowded to my opinion. All in all the manga is really eye-catching and there isn’t anything I could find that brings down the quality.

Characters: 8
As stated before this volume is mainly focused on Shinku and Jun. The personality of Shinku is one like a lady that has high standards and peculiar wishes. She sees Jun as her servant but Jun is not amused and this causes many quarrels. Yet they as the volume progresses they start to care for each other. Even though they continue bickering, they also start to appreciate one another.

Suigintou also makes her appearance in this volume and she and Shinku fight for the first time. However backgrounds and details aren’t revealed yet, except for the fact that Suigintou and Shinku have a deep rooted hate for each other.

Nori, Juns sister, is the last character I want to point out. It is instantly clear that she cares deeply for Jun but that he doesn’t appreciate that much. Nori is a very caring and acts like a substitute mom since their parents are living elsewhere. There are some other characters introduced but there appearance is so brief that I won’t say anything especially about them here, since they don’t play any parts yet, like Hina-Ichigo’s owner and the hare.

Overall: 8.5
This is a must read for anyone who hasn’t watched the anime! The unique story and characters are one of a kind. There is a good mix between humor, cuteness, action and mystery and therefore appealing to a broad audience. Even if you have seen the anime already, it is still worth getting because it is really no punishment to read everything again. However don’t expect anything new, at least not in this volume.

Episode review: Hatenkou Yugi 2

The travelers get in trouble when a little kid who is chased by the police runs into Rahzel. They get all arrested since the police thinks the traveling party are helping the boy. In prison, which is famous for not letting their prisoners out ever again, the company finds out that the boy want to take revenge because the owner of the prisoner has executed his dad for no other reason then to make room for new prisoners. The party manages to break free of their cell and are trying to escape, dodging some cleverly set up pitfalls in the progress. They end up at the fighting arena and they of course have to fight their way out to survive.

This episode was totally different then the first one. While in the first episode things seemed rather innocent, this one was rather violent. Yet, these changing themes interest me and I’m curious what the adventurers will encounter next. The music accompanying the fight scenes rocks!

Episode review: ToLoveRU - Trouble 1

The series starts off with an escape scene in space. Various space ships are pursuing a young girl who finally manages to escape to earth.
Rito is a shy boy who can’t seem to get to confess to the girl he likes because things like elephants are getting dropped on him. He is not very comfortable around girls to begin with. When he sits in the bathtub over thinking that day’s failure, out of nowhere a girl appears in his bath with him, naked of course. It seems that she is called Lala and the girls who we saw escape before. She explains Rito that she is being chased. Again out of nowhere Lala’s self made robot appears and she transforms in something for her to wear. It is not long after that her followers appear and Rito shows some courage to shoot a soccer ball in the faces of the guys.

Then a chase scene begins and Rito’s crush happens to see Rito running on the rooftops with Lala. At one point the guys have Lala and Rito pinned and a space ship appears with the leader to take Lala home. Rito then finds out Lala is a runaway because her father wants to get her a marriage arrangement. The scene ends with Lala summoning a giant vacuum cleaner which sucks his followers up and that was the end of that, or so we would think. The next day when Rito finally is greeted by his crush and he actually tells her how he feels, Lala pops up with a marriage arrangement because she wants to marry Rito, to his surprise.

The intro is already dripping of fanservice. And the maker felt it was also necessary to let Rito grope Lala by her overly huge breasts as soon as she enters the bathtub. Of course this fest of fanservice wouldn’t be complete without a useless transformation scene when Lala’s robot becomes a costume. Apart from that is did have some humoristic moments. I’m guessing this is going to be an over the top romantic comedy dripping of fanservice. Not my first choice to watch but at least it has some actual humor.

Episode review: Itazura na Kiss 1

Kotoko has been in love for two years with the school genius Naoki. When she finally has gathered the courage to confess to him, he rejects her instantly because he hates dumb girls. When her friends come to Kotoko’s new build house to cheer her up, the house collapses due to a minor earth quake. Kotoko and her father are invited to stay at a friends place as their house gets rebuild, however Naoki happens to be the son of this friend.

A typical romantic high school comedy, I think. Some of Kotoko’s friends have awful character designs, especially for this time. It is noticeable that this series doesn’t have a high budget. I’m not sure if I will keep following this one. Maybe if I don’t have anything better to watch, but it certainly wont get a spot amongst the better series of this season.

Episode review: Hatenkou Yugi 1

A girl Rahzel is kicked out of her home by her dad in order to see the world. Rahzel is not impressed the least and starts out her journey. Soon she meets Alzeido in a back alley when he tries to rob someone. She states that she will make Alzeido’s life interesting. Since Rahzel disapproves that Alzeido is stealing from others, they are taking on a job as spirit hunters from the richest man in town.

Later it seems that the spirit was waiting for that same guy for twenty years because he made a promise to her that he didn’t intend to keep. After some quarrelling between the spirit and the hunters, they agreed they would get back at the land lord together by pulling him a prank to scare him. After this succeeds the spirit travels on to the afterlife.

I have to say that this anime looks interesting. There is plenty of action and original ways to solve the problems the characters come across. There are hints to painful pasts of the main characters. The animation of the series is also very fitting with deep blues and purples as main colors and beautiful scenes where magic is used. The opening theme I find very catching. So this one might actually stay on my watch list if it continues being interesting like now.  

Episode review: Kanokon 1

You know.. there is fanservice and there is FANSERVICE. The main character, Kouta, who meets Chizuru, a fellow student, on his way to high school, finds his head in between her too huge breasts with the first 10 seconds of the episode. Of course this could be because they guy is like more then 1 head shorter then his female counterpart and he is a high school student, what’s up with that?!

Then they get to school and the girl tells the chibi guy to meet her after school in the music room. It is obviously she wants to confess to him, which she does and then they kiss, with drool O.o After they kissed the girl transforms into a fox deity, but this forms no problem to Kouta. Chizuru gets so enthusiastic that she starts to undress herself and pushes him down to consume their new found love, however they are abruptly disturbed by her mad brother who is against love between foxes and humans.

Chizuru doesn’t care the least and wants to prove their bond is strong so she possesses Kouta’s body by kissing him again and producing a huge flame together, blowing up a part of the school building. After this affair, Chizuru reappears, naked of course. And she wants to get further where they left off before. This is where the episode ends.

Well to be honest I’m not a big fan of fanservice. And this series is nothing but that. However I do like fox deities. I have doubts about this one, especially since a well developed (body wise, not mind wise) lady goes for a stumbling grade school student look a like who doesn’t seem to have a backbone. Her choice for him is beyond me. But maybe it will reveal itself in a later episode, or maybe not, because I don’t really expect this series to have such a deep story. So I might watch another episode, or I might not. This anime has surely not impressed me yet.