Episode reviews: Kanokon 03 and 04
Episode 3:
Ok, the fanservice does settle down somewhat in this episode, but that doesn’t mean it is less disturbing. Basically the contents are getting worse and worse. This time Chizuru and Nozomu continue their battle over Kouta with their cooking skills. Since Kouta doesn’t decide whose lunch he likes better they keep making more extravagant and horrible dishes. The class rep gives Kouta some love advice about scolding a girl or else the situations will only get worse. Meanwhile there is some commotion about Nozomu and Chizuru breaking the rules because they get to close to a human, but the confrontation ends in tapping off the oil from the frog spirit to heal Kouta with their oiled bodies. The episode ends when Kouta scolds Chizuru and she is in for a punishment.
Episode 4:
Chizuru is confused how to win Kouta’s heart. Her brother brings the idea up for a love potion as a joke, however Chizuru takes him seriously and they end up looking for one at the forbidden storage room. Chizuru finds a bunny costume that promises to tie her to the ones she loves. But when she tries it on, she discovers that she cant take it off. It causes some commotion at the school while the teachers investigate how to undo Chizuru of her clothes. The next day however she ends up at the nurse office because she fainted. It seems that the clothes have a life draining demon inside who is trying to revive herself using Chizuru’s body. Of course in the battle with this demon it is all about clothes, or maybe the non existence of them.
episode review: Macross Frontier 2-4
Well, needless to say the nasty cliffhanger situation from the opening episode gets resolved, but not without a good handful of minutes full of suspension, action and tight spots. And just when everything seems safe again, some of the enemy forces have decided to remain behind to renew their attack, by hiding inside the space colony…
Various storylines are set out and explored in these opening episodes, and eventually they become entwined with the main story arc: there’s the academy pilot Saotome Alto, who ends up joining a group of civilian military fighters after circumstances force him to pilot a Variable Fighter; music also plays a big part in every Macross series, and in Frontier this is done by pop idol Sheryl Nome, who more or less crashes into Alto’s life (or rather, the other way around). Then there is Ranka Lee, a young girl with a traumatized past, linking her to the alien attackers; at the same time she catches Sheryl’s attention as a promising talent, and tries to look her best in the colony’s annual idol-contest.
So far so good, and I’m still curious to see where this goes…
Episode reviews ToLoveRu - Trouble 03 and 04
Episode 3:
Rito and Lala go sight seeing in town. After some weird events involving Lala’s dress mode to disappear, they ran into Haruna. They decide all to go to the aquarium together. Here Haruna confesses her love for Rito while in the meantime Lala is playing with the fish.. naked. All in all they had a fun day and Rito is in good spirits. But when the next day they meet up with Haruna before school, Rito trips and falls awkwardly onto Haruna, thus causing a new misunderstanding.
Episode 4:
Lala is totally impressed by the Japanese kitchen. In return she wants Riko to taste some food from her home planet. It turns out horrible and Rito, who has been terrible scared by the fact that in the future he would have to fight intergalactic wars, uses the fact that Lala cant cook to send her back to her home planet.
Episode reviews: Allison and Lillia 03, xxxHolic Kei 03
Allison and Lillia 03
Allison and Will manage to successfully enter the military base and to find the old man that is kept prison. They think he is an enemy spy that holds some state secret. However Allison is a clever girl and manages to lure the soldiers away from the cell, giving the old man a chance to escape. Unfortunately the two get caught by a superior officer that Allison calls captain love letter since he confessed his love to her once. However they also manage to escape and they meet up with the old man in the underwater passage way which is a shortcut to the hangar. The man tells Will the location of the treasure and they borrow an airplane to head for the treasure. What they do not know is that the soldiers are on their tail.
xxxHolic Kei 03
There is panic when it turns out that Zashiki-warashi is kidnapped to somewhere far away. Her guardians ask for Yuuko’s help and Yuuko sends Watanuki and the pipe fox with them to save the girl. It turns out that the girl is kidnapped by the spider woman whose minion has taken Watanuki’s right eye. Watanuki has to learn a lesson the hard way before he can save Zashiki-warashi and to have any chance of getting his eye back.
Review: Clannad
Story: 6.5
When I heard there was going to be another anime by the same makers a Kanon2006, I knew I wanted to watch this. And even though I think the story from Kanon was better, I wasn’t disappointed by this series, far from. Like Kanon, this series is build up in different arcs that focus on one character. Tomoya is the male lead and there are several female students in his surroundings who he somehow manages to become friends with. As he gets involved in their lives, he comes across as really helpful to aid these girls whenever he can. Each of these girls has their problems or insecurities to face and Tomoya lends a helping hand. The main story line which ties all the characters together is about Nagisa whose dream is to re-start the drama club at their school. There isn’t really going on much plot wise in this series since it is mostly the character development that makes this series interesting. It is a pity though that some characters didn’t get as much screen time as others and it left me wondering what could have been their motives.
I am personally a huge fan of the animation style used in this series. I really like the big eyed girls and their hairdos. Because of the detailed backgrounds and the vivid colors this anime was a joy for the eye. I feel there isn’t much more to say about this point since I can’t really find anything bad about it.
From all the songs of this series I like the one that closes up Fuuko’s arc the best, but the opening theme is also very beautiful. The rest of the soundtrack delivers a good quality of songs which I actually enjoy listen to on its own. The Dango theme sounds like a lullaby which is interwoven with the whole series. The voice actors also do excellent jobs on personalizing the characters and like the animation I really have nothing to complain about here.
As stated before this series involves around Tomoya who does anything for others as long as he doesn’t have to go home. I really like his sarcastic character and I think it is one of the best male leads I have seen in a series. As with all Key adaptations, Clannad has a huge side cast. There are several girls that get in touch with Tomoya somehow. I do feel that there are a bit too many characters in Clannad because as mentioned before some characters didn’t get the screen time they deserved. However the characters that did are likable characters with interesting tales to follow.
I would defiantly recommend it to anyone who liked the other Key adaptations. This one is more realistic then Kanon and Air however it still has the same quality and charm. I found it a good watch even though some things remain unexplained in the end.
Episode reviews: S. A 2, xxx Holic Kei 2, ToLoveRU 2, Allison and Lillia 2
Special A episode 2
I wonder why they feel the need to do introductions in every episode. I know it was like that in the manga too (every chapter that is) and I find it really annoying.
xxxHolic Kei episode 2
In search for a solution to fix Watanuki’s right eye, Doumeki is reading through old books his grandfather left. Watanuki drops by to bring Doumeki some dinner and decided to help. Watanuki then finds the book with the exact solution by accident, but just as Doumeki starts reading it, a bookworm comes out of a book Doumeki borrowed from Himawari, and starts eating the text from the ancient book. Watanuki manages to trap the creature when Yuuko and Mokona suddenly appear, saving the day. However the solution to recover Watanuki’s eye is lost in the progress.
The next day Watanuki finds out that there is a battle going on for his eye and if he won’t find a solution soon, his eye will be lost forever.
ToLoveRU - Trouble episode 2
Rito and Lala are now engaged according to the laws of Lala’s planet. However Rito actually likes Haruna but every time when he tries to clear things up between them, Rito gets interrupted by some random event. Things get even worse when Lala comes to school one day and Rito and her end up being chased by jealous classmates. They end up having to use Lala’s warp ring, however since it warps at random and only living flesh, they end up naked in a locker together and happen to be spotted by Haruna, making matter worse. Rito wants to stop the nonsense and tries if there is a way to cancel the engagement. However since Lala is a princes this isn’t an easy task. But then Rito learns of the cool off period.
Allison and Lillia episode 2
When the duo tries to rescue the kidnapped man, they run into some resistance. They end up busting the airplane they borrowed and they are now in the other country that is at war with their own. Will gets hurt in the progress and Allison carries him to what seems to be an abandoned house. However there is an old lady living there. She agrees to take care of the duo but she resents air force soldiers because the war has cost her 2 sons. However as she learns more about the whole background story she decides to aid the duo in more then one way.
Manga: Love*Com vol. 1
Story: 7
The manga is very similar to the anime (or the other way around, but I happen to watch the anime first) but it has some extra elements in the story the anime cut out. I feel that events are better explained in the manga and it all feels less rushed. The absurd humor still manages to get across to the reader. The height problems Risa and Otani face are funny and the way they tease each other with them is hilarious.
I wasn’t expecting too much because the anime went with a style that was rather unique but not really eye-catching, however I was glad the manga was much more stylish. The character design is much more detailed and cuter. It still has the weird facial expressions I loved about the anime, but it didn’t really have the overhand. A lot of time has been spent on designing the outfits of the characters who did wear all kind of different outfits for a change. It was a nice detail I liked because in most series characters seem to wear the same clothes all the time.
Risa and Otani are really fun characters. They first dislike each other but after they join forces to go after their crushes, they start to appreciate each other more and they even become friends. This of course still doesn’t go without some insults or fights. I like the fact that they aren’t plain characters without weird quirks, it’s rather the opposite.
Even though I recently watched the anime, the manga still managed to amuse me a lot. The over the top comedy between Risa and Otani is still very entertaining. The manga brings across that point as well as the anime does. The story follows along the same line still and therefore I should rate it the same as the anime. However since I really liked the stylish artwork much better then the animation the anime used, I rate this a bit higher.
Episode review: Allison and Lillia 1
Will is a genius student who is asked to help out during supplementary classes. While teaching lessons outside, an airplane crosses over and a blonde girl named Allison disembarks. Will and she are childhood friends but they don’t see each other often because Allison works as a pilot. They keep in touch with letters though. Now Allison had to run an errand close by and they spend this opportunity catching up. On the way back to Wills dorm, they encounter an old man who is famous for his made up story to impress the students. He asks for a lift home and Allison and Will stay over to drink some tea.
Episode review: Kanokon 2
I thought the fanservice couldn’t get any worse, but this episode proved I was mistaken. It starts off with a very clingy Chizuru, tossing her boobs all over the place and especially in Kouta’s face. When Kouta tries to get away from Chizuru he meets another girl at a spare rib shop. The next day it seemed that the girl called Nozomu transfers into his class. She is also a spirit, but of a wolf family. Now the hunt for the affection from Kouta has begun.
episode review: Macross Frontier 1
Back when VCRs still existed, one of the first anime tapes I purchased was “Macross II”, a direct sequel to the original Macross/Robotech series from the 80s, of which I’ve sadly only seen a few episodes.
In the original series, the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross was an alien warship which had crashed to earth; with this odd intruder, mankind united under one rule and progressed rapidly due to the alien vessel’s advanced technology. Eventually the vessel is restored to its former status, just in time as its owners are about to arrive and they don’t look friendly..