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.
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.
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?!
Lemon Angel Project Review
Story: 7.5
It has been a long time since I watched a series where music was a main part of the plot, so when I read the synopsis I decided I would watch it. This story has more to it then meets the eye. The first half concentrates on forming a new formation of the Lemon Angels. It will take the viewer through the auditions and rivalry. When the formation is formed the viewer gets to see what hardships a new band can get especially if there are some people out there to boycott the new formation on purpose. And there are even darker secrets untold.
Colorful is a keyword for this anime. The character designs are all to match the personality of the different band members and this concept works in this case. It’s like they kind of created the Spice girls in anime form, or at least it looks that way. The colors match and the costumes are cute. Further the animation wasn’t that spectacular. It is guilty of using stills and the backgrounds are all very basic. However the thing why it still deserves a 7 in my opinion is because of the dancing scenes. The animation there was fluent and synchronized and those were very fun to watch.
I always rate a series where the theme is focused on music more critical then I would normally do. I think that when you focus your plot around music in a series, you must be able to back it up with a more then decent soundtrack to make things appealing and realistic. This series has a lot of vocal tracks apart from the opening theme and ending song. The songs are typical J-pop ones which were meaningless to me at first. But the songs did grow on me because they matched the story well. However the soundtrack still isn’t as good as some others from the genre. Mostly the soundtracks of anime with the music theme are great to listen to on its own, but with this series this isn’t the case for me.
As stated before the new band members are selected on type. They have different characters that cause them to clash occasionally. The strong point of the series is the fact that each character has an episode that is dedicated to her. It contains things like background or personal issues, insecurities or scandals. It gives the characters more depth and it makes it easier to empathize or relate. Even though the characters are very stereotypical I did enjoy the way they interacted and grew from rivals to a close group of friends.
This anime is surely enjoyable. It has a decent story, an ok soundtrack and fun characters. In the whole it is an anime which is easy to get into and it is realistic. However there are better series in this genre therefore this anime with its current quality gets no further then decent.
Shigofumi review
Story: 8
Sometimes I just pick a random anime out of a list without looking up the info about it and I watch it without knowing its genre or anything else that is to know about anime nowadays. This sometimes results in finding an enjoyable series in a different genre I normally prefer. This was the case with Shigofumi, a series which I wouldn’t normally have watched if I had looked up the info beforehand, but I did now.
I was a tad disappointed by the animation of this series. Most characters have a simple design, a bit too simple to my opinion. They used mostly pale colors and several grey tones, like clothing you washed the wrong way. All though the movements were fluent, the overall impression felt a bit off. It is a pity that with such a great story the animation is of lesser quality.
The opening song is from Ali project and therefore it doesn’t really fit my tastes. Personally I like the mellow ending song far better. Of course there are orchestral tunes used to set the atmosphere in the series and they manage to capture this very well. The voice acting on the other hand was decent. The voices fit the characters and I especially liked the voice of the talking staff Kanaka.
There are a lot of characters in Shigofumi, however it only involves around a few of them. A lot of characters are only in 1 or a few episodes so after their story is over they won’t come back, this leaves little room for development, however you often see those characters at crossroads in their life. This makes it very interesting to follow the characters story.
Story wise this is one of the better animes out there therefore it is a pity that the makers didn’t pay so much attention to the other aspects of the anime, like animation. If they would have put a little more effort in, this would have been the best anime of its season, however now I can’t rate it higher then a seven, which is still a good watch but not as good as it could have been.
Episode review: Bus Gamer 1
Three guys with a total different background have one thing in common: They need a enormous amount of cash. They all react to the same ad which involves playing a game to earn this sum of money. To make this happen they have to form a team and co-operate. They have to steal a secret data disk from the other team or protect their own. This sounds easy enough, but as they will soon find out; every game that involves gambling is about taking risks. They have entered a world where everything goes, but will putting their lives on the line be worth it in the end?
H20 - Footprints in the sand review
Story: 6
Now this is a series that started out really promising. The first episode did contain a lot of fanservice however things were still interesting. The 2nd episode did contain a lot less fanservice and it still seemed promising so I decided to watch the anime further from then on. Well lets just say that this series kept amaze me. On moment the story was so touching and deep that I would think it could become one of the best anime of the season and the next moment everything was thrown overboard because a completely random episode was thrown in and I thought it would become a major flop. One thing is certain: with this anime you never knew what to expect. It could be that you were totally amazed and touched when an episode ended or you were left frustrated and confused.
The animation overall is cute. There are bright colors used most of the time and the nature backgrounds are really pretty. However there are some odd things in the animation as well. Some movements being a bit off, like Hayami’s hair moving in the wind still felt kind of static and unnatural. This is a pity because if they would have paid more attention to such details, the score would easily have been an eight because I did like the overall feel this anime has.
I actually quite like the opening theme of the series. It is catchy, yet not too happy or hyperactive. A lot of scenes are accompanied with suiting orchestral background music, which set the right mood. The voice acting is ok as well, all though some girls do have high pitched voices, the voice actors manage to lay a lot of emotion in the characters. Kudo’s for Harumi Sakurai who voiced Hayami. The ending theme is quite good as well, so nothing to complain about audio wise.
The character development faces the same issues as the story basically. In the beginning of the series the characters develop really well and the series mostly focuses on one character in an episode. This concept worked for the first half of the series, and then randomness kicks in. When you expect a character would develop a certain way, things turn around and things go in a total different direction. It is good to make some unexpected twists however these twists didn’t make sense at points and it looked like the makers just threw them in at random, making development forced, unbelievable and unreal. Especially in Hirose’s case his development felt rushed in the last episode, like they wanted him to end somewhere but didn’t have enough time to make it look natural.
This series starts out in a good way and the first half is really enjoyable to watch, however the series feels unnatural after that because of the many random twists and forced development stated earlier. The series could have been a brilliant one but turned out to be a flop due to the bad decisions of the creators.
Episode review: Hakaba Kitaro 1
My impression of the first episode from Hakaba Kitaro was odd to say the least. Someone who works in a hospital comes across a dead body. That isn’t anything unusual in a hospital except for the fact that this dead person is still alive. The guy is asked to find the cause and the lead ends at the temple next to him where happen to live new neighbors.
The neighbors are a pregnant couple; however they are both not under the living and part of the ghost tribe which is on the point of extinction. In fact they are the only one left and suffer from a terrible disease. This is why they came to ask for help in the hospital. The guy is very scared and wants to report his neighbors but before he is able to do so, both of them die, leaving a newborn son with one eye in this world. The male mummy ghost however manages to give one of his eyes a body and to look after his son. The neighbor eventually decides to take the last living descendant in to raise him; however he is not aware of his real father still being there as well. The story continues when the boy named Kitaro is somewhat older and creepier. He visits some place every night and his adoption dad wants to know where he went. He manages to get a ticket and follow his adopted son, who warned him not to go. The guy doesn’t listen and ends up in hell. Unfortunately he only has a one way ticket….
Manga: Kimi wa girlfriend
Story: 7
This one shot comes from the same mangaka as
The artwork is appealing the eye and fits the shojo genre. Big eyes, cute character designs are the trademark here. This is accompanied by typical sparkly backgrounds but don’t have too much detail. Expressions are drawn somewhat exaggerated to add some extra comedy here and there. Like in S.A there are no huge flaws in the artwork and she remains the same quality in this work.
This one shot mainly focuses on the two main characters and how they differ from the other people who go to the same school. They are each others opposites and this fact makes certain events that happen very entertaining. Because it is a one shot there is only so much development going on but the female leads character changes gradually over the chapter, however she still remains her rowdy self at times. The male lead didn’t develop so much to my opinion. The thing that develops most is the relationship between the two of them.
This is an entertaining little story from a different point of view. It is funny to see how stereotypical gender behavior gets done by the opposite gender. The artwork is good and the story is enjoyable if you skip the ever repeating introductions. It isn’t a must have, but it isn’t a waste of money either.
Manga: Aishiteruze Baby vol.1
Story: 8.5
Kippei Katakura is notorious for his playboy behavior around girls. He spends time playing around and takes nothing in life seriously. But when his 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu comes to stay in his house and Kippei is appointed to take care of her, his life changes in a drastic way.
The artwork is really gorgeous. Everything is drawn in a cute way but still realistic. I really liked the background panels filled with cute things like strawberries and flowers the enchant Yuzu’s cuteness. They also used darker panels for the lesser moments in the manga, like when Yuzuyu gets bullied. This adds to the whole atmosphere of the story. In short: Cute character designs, realistic and matching background panels, make this manga eye catching.
The characters are very loveable almost right from the start. Especially the little Yuzuyu is really adorable. She refers to herself as Yuzu which is really cute. Kippei on the other hand comes across as shallow in the beginning, but in the course of the story, Kippei starts to care for Yuzuyu and he tries his best not to disappoint her, even if this is in his own clumsy way. Of course the bond between Kippei and little Yuzu grows stronger over time and in the progress Kippei manages to gain the respect of a classmate Kokoro, who disrespected him at first for his carefree behavior.
This is one of the better shojo manga out there. It actually has a realistic story that differs from the majority of this genre. It really drew my attention and I had to finish it in one go. The artwork is awesome, it has a realistic story and the characters are very lovable. What more would you want?