I think the main reason is I just don’t have the time anymore. Work takes up 12.5 hours of my weekdays, if you include getting ready and commuting, and then I do need to go to sleep at times. Obviously I need to take time to eat (lol), and I’m finding that I’m gaming again on a more regular basis, as I’ve returned to WoW and Dark Souls has clocked up a considerable amount of hours over the last week or 2.

So normally each Season I pick up 6-7 animes a season, and this month was no exception, except one thing, I watched the 1st episode of them all, and haven’t had a chance to watch episode 2 of any, except the above and Shana no Shakugan III [Final]. This leaves me with 3 shows to talk about this season, which in my opinion isn’t great, so either I need to get some time to watch the rest, or really stretch you penny out. I haven’t decided which yet

C³ – Cube×Cursed×Curious

I’m quite enjoying this anime. It’s pretty and has cute girls in it, which is almost always a most for any show I watch. The plot is somewhat odd though, if I’m honest. The main character, Fear, is a cube (yes, a cube, like a Rubic Cube) who is able to take the form of a human. What you learn is that Fear has a dark past and that she, as an object, became cursed due to the sins that were committed with/by her. As a result this curse causes her to have the power to become human, but her owner will also suffer a curse for possessing her, in her case making them insane and using her for her intended purpose.

The anime starts off looking nothing like a show that’s going to become bloody, with the artwork looking very bright and cheery. Light hearted jokes and panty shots. a served arm later and a couple of character deaths and I’m starting to think this is not the show I was expecting, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’m enjoying it, and i wouldn’t be making the effort to make sure I watch it as soon as I can after it’s aired unless I wanted to, especially with what little time I do have at the moment for anime.

As well as Fear you have Konoha, a similar cursed object, however she is a sword. I’ll leave your imagination to work out how she would be useful in combat but I’#m pretty sure it’#s not hard to work out. There’s also the male protagonist of the show, Haruaki, who’s immune to curses wouldn’t you know (damn you plot conveniences).

I’m not entirely sure where this anime is headed, and I haven’t looked far into it, but if you look cute girls, panty/eechish shots, love triangles, and tsundere characters, give this one a go.

Boku Ha Tomodachi Ga Sukunai

Translated to “I don’t have many friends”, and a suitable title for the anime, well for the fist couple of episodes. Enter Kodaka Hasegawa, a normal high school male who happens to have no friends. Mainly due to the colour of his hair, which he gets from his English mother, people have the impression that he’s some kind of thuggish character to be scared of. I’d hope people have noticed that in anime, if a male has blonde hair their often seen as a either a bully or delinquent and that’s exactly what happens here. Add this with people always misunderstanding what he’s saying, for example wanting to trade items in a game turns into theft of their item and his reputation as a reputable member of society are lost.

Anyway, one day Kodaka is going back to his classroom, when he see Yozora Mikazuki chatting away to some unseen person. He can’t get a good view, so can’t see who, but after braving it walks in, to find… She’s alone. Like Kodaka, Yozara has no friends and so instead is confiding in her imaginary one. All kinds of Social awkwardness no. This, somehow, leads to Yozara to create a club, the Neighbours Club, where her idea is so that they can make friends. Obviously Kodaka has no choice but to join and the story unfolds.

This anime actually reminds me of Haruhi in this way, although Yozora doesn’t have the power of God, it is veruy similar to a Kyon and Haruhi relationship, and with characters being added (all female mind), the rest of the team may just pop up. I’m pretty sure an Asahina character joined in episode 04, but I haven’t watched 05 yet.

This shows art is very similar to Denpa, and I’m sure for those that have watched it will see the resemblance in the above image and I quite like the art style.  The show itself it’s fun to watch, just like Haruhi to be honest. I actually picked up the anime because it was advertised in Dengeki G’s October Magazine as the girls looked cute again, (should I really be admitting that?), but this isn’t the reason I’m watching it anymore. This is definitely something I’d recommend and I expect more would prefer this over C³. The club activities are fun to watch, with them playing Monster Hunter, an eroge, and of course the swimming pool, a gamer and guys dream no less.

Aliens that are just like catgirls? Or rather cats in humanoid form? Instant win or miserable fail?

As a animal girl lover I have to say that I enjoyed watching this. I don´t remember all the names. I rememeber the main heroine Ellis name and that is just about it. I don´t remember the main guys name. But he was not worth remembering so.

That an alien life form visits earth with the intent to befriend and bring prosperity to earth is kinda nice. But I can´t but think about the problems this would bring. If we could get hands on the advanced weponry that the aliens have then it would be bad since we are a race of war lovers.

If they could solve the food problem and such it would be great. And having a assistdroid would be sweet. But also dangerous. If you would get a droid that would do you bidding and get you what you wanted at anytime you wanted you would probably get pretty lazy. And we have enough weight problem as it is.

But back to the show. Ellis is cute and getting high on cat nip was so cute. Searching for a mate from another species though seems kinda fishy. It doesn´t take long for her to want to get into the main guys pants. Why she thinks that hidden magazines are rulebook are also out of my mind. If I was asked if I wanted to be her mating person I wouldn´t say no though :p

I didn´t like that only certain races seemed to been allowed to make new contacs. And in reality I think that cats would be more agressive than dogs and not as shown in this series that the dogs are the main villains.

It was also fun to see the reactions when Ellis appeared. Everything from complete love to disgust in her apperance.

Are aliens supposed to have a certain look? Are we that feeble in our minds that we need to decide a certain look on aliens? Even if it is just a anime show I don´t like the idea.

The storyline was pretty dumb. Ellies arrives to learn more about earth and to have fun. But then we go into her wanting a mating partner. The love square between Ellis, her two female earthling rivals and Kio, the main guy of the show.

It feels as if they don´t know which direction they want to take the show to. The result is a mix of loads of stuff that basically just allows the creators to show of a lot of skin and breasts clothed or with minimal clothing. Not that I mind but man. They had something to work with and turned it into a multi category ecchi show? WHY?

Animation quality on the other hand is golden. Great stuff!! I love the setting, the colors and everything about the animation. It´s just the content I´m not satisfied with. But it works.

The end of the show was boring. Main villain defeated and Kio isn´t one step closer to which of the 3 girls he intend to date and marry. But he wants to be usefull to them all. It was also quite fun to see him as a catguy. He somewhat looked good like that.

A show of many contents and not suited for everyone. But I could recommend it for the quality animation. But not for the storyline.

Sorry for the wishwash of content of this post. I just wrote everything that came to mind down with out any real goal. Will get better for next week.

Fortune Arterial

The show I actually wanted to see this season. Made from the same company as Crescent Love I had to see what they were able to pull of this time.

Hasekura Kohei, like a migratory bird has moved from place to place all his life. Never staying at the same place long enough to even remember his classmates names or faces. This time he is going to attend the Shuchikan Academy.

While climbing the stairs to the school he is greeted by the vice president Sendo Erika and she wants to welcome him. As they are about to hold eachothers hands Erika does a 180 and becomes flustered, falls down and is blushing. With no apparent reason this is giving the viewer a shock.

After this we get some oridinary stuff when starting at a new school. A same year student, Hachimandaira Tsukasa is roped into showing Kohei around the school and introducing him to the various people that he will be living with for the next years of school.

Let´s just say that I enjoy the animation, this is quality and everything is good looking. If I had to snar at one thing it would be the way the other girls are introduced. And the form after which they are molded as to say. But still. This is a show I´m going to watch and follow.

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

A squid from the bottom of the ocean has decided that enough is enough. The humans of the above world will have to pay for destroying the seas. So she sets out to conquer the above world.

Problem is, she is like a little kid and the only squid like about her is her hair. Which works and looks like tentacles. Which she can use for speed, power and such.

Her first mission, to astablish a base. The choice? A bar at a beach. End result? She starts working there…

I don´t know. Just something about this show just made me want to skip watching it. I´d like people to tell me I´m wrong and give me reasons for why I should watch this.

A Certain Magical Index 2

I enjoyed watching a Certain Magical Railgun. Biribiri lights my fire one could say. But Index? If there is a more egoistic spoiled brat then be sure to point my in her direction so I can watch her act. I dislike Index. The first season was meh, it was good sure when stuff happend. But when Index herself was on screen it was just boring.

And from the looks on things this season will be much of the same. Touma is not handling school well so he has to study, Index being the little bitch she is wants Touma to play with her and Sphinx… end result is that Touma´s hard work gets ruined.

I don´t know about this show either. I might get into watching it when the full series is released and I can sit trough it in one sitting. Otherwise I don´t know.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Oohh, a show about a cafe right? I love this kind of shows where food and enviroment are well done and gives a good feeling so I can relax while watching!!

What I get on the other hand is a show where the cafe only has one maid and she doesn´t know how to welcome people. And the cafe shows nothing of fun or anything.

Just boring to watch. I don´t know why either. Usually I can give these shows a better try before discarding them. Might come back to it later if someone on the blogsphere gets my attention up for this show. You can also say that when I first saw the opening screen and what followed afterwards I was dissapointed. If I do not get my hopes up the next time I watch this show I might get a better impression.

The World God Only Knows

The “God” of visual novels, Katsuragi Keima is so confident that he can claim any girl he wants with little effort. This gets him attention from people all over the world. So when he is asked if he can get any girl he responds with a vivid yes.

You can imagine his reaction when he is greeted by a mysterious girl calling herself Elucia de Lut Ima, or in short Elci that demands that he woes certain girls that are possessed by loose souls so she can capture them.

Quite good laught, Keima is so fixated on the 2d world that he has no interest in the 3d world. So when he has to apply his trixs to the real 3d girls he doesn´t always get the result he wants. And yes, I find it rare that the trixs used in visual novels to get a girl works in real life. But hey, this is the real world in anime so it has to work. It´s fiction and thus you know :p

I will definately follow this show. I need to.

Yosuga no Sora

There is a lot going on in this show. Siblings move to their old town after their parents have died. The sister seems to be afraid of meeting new people. But the brother doesn´t have that problem. It also seems as if they are in love with eachother or deeply attracted to the other.

I did say earlier that I wanted someone to point me in the direction of a more egoistic girl that Index. And sure, Sora might have what it takes. But still, she allows her brother Haruka to leave her side.

But how she reacts when or if he falls for another girl is unknown.

I like the animation and the characters are interesting. Sure they are from the usual mold for characters but they still are interesting.

There is as said loads of stuff going on. Will be interesting to see how everything turns out later on.

Summary
We have both good and interesting shows and some real dull ones. But after watching trough most of this new season I have to say that I find this season being one of the best in a long time. Espacially if you look at how many of the shows I want to follow.

Star Driver

So we have a school on a island that have 4 maidens. 1 for each direction, north, south, east and west. The south maiden is engaged to a rich boy. But one night when they were out talking they find a person on the beach. Not giving it any extra thought the maiden gives mouth to mouth.

Things go as they usually do. This newcomer is pretty sturdy, otherwise you wouldn´t swim over a lake just to get in time for entrance day.

Then after about half the episode it goes weird, a secret organisation on the island wants to brake the seal that the 4 maidens are upholding.

Our main hero is a goody two shoes that will do what he thinks is right and is apparently “Galaxtic Pretty Boy” with a transformation sequence that would make most guys ask if if this boy isn´t gay.

I don´t know about this show. I can´t see myself listening to this type of person for a long time. I´m feed up with this doing what he thinks is right type of main character.

Ore no Imouto ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai

I got a big grin on my face as I watched this. I knew nothing about it beforehand. I thought it would be a basic sister loves big brother show but oh how I was misstaken.

Nice animation, a tsundere galge loving little sister that keeps her hobby hidden from everyone. Untill her big brother finds a game hidden inside a dvd case. A R18 game at that.

So we get a sister that is good at everything and the brother that is not so good at everything.

But then we get some nice moments while the sister is explaining why she loves games with little sisters in them…

Also, big brother seems to fall more and more in love with his little sister thanks to her constantly having him play that kind of game.

I´m going to watch this without fail I hope. All depending on how this turn out. It isn´t erotic like KissXSis but I can see something happening here :p

Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector

As I said on twitter after I watched the show: Mecha show, will watch

I haven´t had that much interaction with the Super Robot Taisen OG series. I have one DS game and that´s it. The game itself is good and I just wish I could play it more than I do.

But for this anime we seem to have the type of mecha that I like, a long with a angelic one that probably can make real feathers for some reason.

Along with good graphics and nice mechas(and some cute girls) I´d say I have to watch this how. Can´t do without this type of show sometimes.

First Impressions of the new anime season is hard to do. We tried to do them together but now with everyone studying and working I´m basically left alone. So this time I´ll try to write up partial posts for the new season.

For this post I´ll write about MM!, Panty & Stocking & Garterbelt and Iron Man

Iron Man

I´m not much for either animation or live action movie making based on comics. Not when it´s from Marvel comics since what they have done so far regarding this with real people acting out the roles they have failed miserably. But that is my opinion about that and let´s just end it there.

This is anime we´re talking about and I´m a anime fan. So it was with a tiny tiny bit of interest that I actually wanted to see this. I can easily say that this will be predictable and much so even from the OP. Hm we have 2 Iron Man fighting in the OP. Cue story about either clone or new Iron Man suit that gets stolen and the original have to fight to defend the city.

What caught me by surprise was that the whole thing is in Japan. And Tony Stark being the Don Juan he is tries to lay his hands on all the females he encounters. Cue for female reporter… but hey at least she is good looking.

And yes, Tony goes to Japan to promote his new free energy source that uses plutonium as raw material. The minister of Defence is happy that Tony Stark will grant Japan this new energy source. Since it will bring about world peace…

But given the grin on that guys face he does not intend to use the energy for peace but for war. It´s written all over his face.

And yes, the new suit “Dio” gets stolen and the trained pilots are killed. Or at least 2 out of 3.

If I want to waste some time I will keep following this show. But otherwise this show is dropped. To much given away in the OP about the show and with this type of storyline I can´t really bother with it. Seen it to many times.

Panty & Stocking & Garterbelt

Weirdest show I´ve watched in ages. Toilet humor, sex crazed angel and her partner, a sugar addic angel. Their names Panty & Stocking indulges what part of their clothing they use for their “holy” weapon and they fight of evil to gain “Heaven”, a coin type of medal received when finishing the bad guys.

Thanks to it being so weird and if they can keep this up without getting repetetive and thus boring I will certainly watch this show for as long as I can.

And above all, the mixup in animation quality is ok. Espacially when they use stuff like this

Instant watch show

MM!

Lelouch as a masochist? Instant win and at this point the show of the season

But man, just wow. Our main hero has a dark secret, he is trying to hide it but he is a fully grown masochist. Thus he enjoys getting kicked, punched, stepped on, talked down and what not by females and in fact it turns him on more than anything. You could say that he is a pervert :p

He asks for help to cure him of this and one of the main heroines accepts. Her cure? Beat the living crap out of him so that he will understand that he will be killed if he keeps it up. Apparently it´s the same voice actor for Azu-nyan, but who cares? The main focus is Fukuyama Jun and his acting as the main character.

Animation quality is gold, lots of fun stuff going on. And just basically all characters in the show seems to have a hidden perversion that they don´t want the public to find out.

So loads of laughter and great animation. A must watch of the season.

Couldn’t come up with anything snarky.

If you have been living under a rock for the past couple years, the Rebuild of Evangelion movie compilation is a remake of the 1997 anime series Neon Genisis Evangelion. If you don’t know about Neon Genisis Evangelion, go look up the rest on wikipedia because I’m not going to spend time educating you from the 4th grade.

I actually watched the original Evangelion series when I was 11 or 12. I had originally read about it before hand because the setting new to me, and was greatly disturbed by how the series ended (movie ending, and original TV ending) but was strangely interested in the sexuality involved. I read abit of the manga (which still hasn’t ended to this day) I watched it dubbed, and was greatly confused by the TV ending. Watched the movie (End of Evangelion) and stopped halfway because it was getting too weird for me to handle and I already had heard about the macabre ending to that.

Of course my interest in the series did not entirely die. I think for a period of time I was angry at how the series progressed because it relied on the viewers input too much. But I think I was more annoyed at the lack of a solid ending.

Enter 2006-2007 when the Rebuild was announced as a four movie retelling of the series. I was not very excited because I felt that “retelling” could mean alot of things. But I was intrigued because the Rebuild promised a new ending to the series. This of course, is what I still want, as it gives hope of a new solid ending.

So I kept up with the dates somewhat. I watched part of the DVD release in 2008 but never managed to finish it. Finally I finished it this week (only 2 years late right?).

Review begins here

So there are two ways I can review this.
1. Comparing it to the original series
2. Review it standalone

So I’ll do a little of both.

Review REALLY begins here

Ok so……….Lets examine some problems I had with the original series and how well they are addressed in this first movie

1. Sense of other people

Evangelion takes place in Tokyo 3. The original series never showed anything that gave hint of another human being in the city. Of course, this can be seen as symbolic of loneliness (if you don’t feel lonely after watching the series you are a monster), but it irritated me because the main character is piloting a fucking robot to stop mass destruction and mass death (or so we are led).

The movie addresses this by showing a few things. They have more cars in the city, one of the bomb shelters is shown full of people, there is more sense of civilization overall.

2. Shinji being upset

Not much needs to be said here. Rebuild’s Shinji is very much toned down from the original. I was worried that I would have to go through 9 minutes of “I MUSN’T RUN AWAY”, but it looks like smart direction changed that.

Back in 2008, Kurogane noted that Shinji seemed less “illogically emo” more like a “boy thrown in to a bad situation.” Which serves the point further, Shinji is much better in rebuild.

3. Angels ARE NOT robots

Ok so only 3 Angels are shown in this movie. Let me analyze anyway.

The angels are much more fluid than in the TV series which is good because they are not supposed to be robotic in anyway. In the TV series you could probably dub over lines about the Angels being enemy machinations sent from Russia/China/ and so on and now one would know (people wouldn’t care about the blood, it’s red fuel).

Sachiel still has that creepy skull thing going on for her (it’s a she, look it up), so thats fine.

Shamshel actually manages to be SCARY. Expaning more on it’s shellfish-esque design it features a mollusk vagina dentata which fits oddly well in the Evangelion mythos. The original fight between Shinji and Shamshel was….underwhelming to say the least, I couldn’t help but feel that Shinji was overreacting to a silly looking creature.

Ramiel actually has a very cool design change from the original, mostly compromised of transforming dimensional shapes. Instead of deploying a drill from below his floating body, he turns the lower part of his body into a drill.

This may seem really insignificant. But I enjoyed these changes alot because they add to the mystery of what the Angels are. As opposed to having them be another type of robotic thing.

4. NERV, what the fuck do you do?

Ok, a real problem with the TV series was that it was always emphasized that NERV was “safeguarding the world.” I didn’t buy it cause all it looked like was a bunch of scientists and interns operating equipment.

There are a couple scenes in which Misato and Ritsuko are riding in military vehicles. This does three things that I like.
1. It implies that the two have authority over the military.
2. It makes Eva alittle bit like part of a military drama.
3. From the preceding two points, it makes Nerv’s role more believable as a specialized organization.

Presentation

Ultimately since the movie is well…..a movie, the small glimpses of the characters (major and minor) allows you to refresh your opinion of how well they are developed. I can’t say much on this aspect because I should wait until all the movies are released, but it’s definitely worth looking into. Rei is mysterious (as always), and since they chose to end the movie where episode 6 ended we get a good impression of her.

Review ends here

With all these changes, I’m confident Rebuild of Evangelion will make it on my “favorite anime movies” list (opposed to general favorite anime list). Even though I’m not a huge fan of Evangelion I do acknowledge that it is a very unique and stunning anime (even if the original series was mixed in my view).

Thanks Rebuild. This is how restructuring should be done.

Yes, I know this is the french cover.

Rather than this being something I like, I consider it legitimately amazing.

Mamoru Oshii is best known for directing Ghost in the Shell (released in 1995); four years later Jin-Roh was released, part of the “Kerberos Saga”, which was his own creation (dating back to 1987).

What is the Kerberos Saga?

The Kerberos Saga has one of the most complicated plots I’ve read about. Jin-Roh (which I finished last week) is the only actual part of the saga I’ve seen.

The general story of the saga goes as such. Japan loses a very different version of World War II (they lose to Germany). After Japan recovers it is met with internal conflict and terrorism that threatens to destabilize the nation. To combat this, the nation’s police force is restructured to separate the Self-Police (regular police) from a Capital Metropolitan Police Division which holds control over the “Special Unit” (aka Kerberos Unit).

The Kerberos Unit becomes well-known for using awesome skill, heavy technology, and brutally efficient tactics to combat terrorism. For reasons never fully explained, they become disliked by the Self-Police and are put under pressure by the government that created them. As such, the Kerberos Saga focuses on the turmoil of the Unit as it becomes increasingly hard for them to survive.

The Opening of Jin-Roh

Jin-Roh sets the mood instantly by showing us that there is no real “good” in the conflict. The Self-Police not once use brutal tactics against a riot (full of napalm filled molotov cocktails) and are instead blown half to smithereens by a satchel charge.

The Kerberos Unit, without permission from the Self-Police authority, run into the sewer and confronts the terrorists. There are maybe eight terrorist, and at least fifteen Kerberos.

Here we see the how the unit inflicts fear on the terrorists, the red eyes and gas-mask show no humanity. These are “good” guys, though they are brutal, they are just as brutal as the terrorists they fight.The Unit gives one warning. There is a long pause right before one terrorist panics and the Unit then responds by opening fire with their MG42s and killing everything.

As a young female terrorist tries to escape, she is met with one Kerberos who orders her to stop. She refuses and begins to pull the bomb on her satchel charge. The Kerberos, despite shouts from his nearby comrades, refuses to shoot her, and instead asks “Why….?” The bomb goes off, yet the Unit is unharmed.

The remainder of the film focuses on the aftermath of this incident, which is used to try and bury the Unit for “incompetence.” Our protagonist becomes the Kerberos from above, Fuse Kazuki, I’m tempted to say more, but since it’s such a great film I recommend you see it yourself.

Themes

The core theme of Jin-Roh is the question of humanity, Fuse is emotionless for most of the film, and when asked why he joined the Unit, he replies with “I just felt comfortable there.” His existence as a “wolf” remains resolute, though throughout the film he has many opportunities to just leave the military/police and become “human” once again.

What is… and yet isn’t touched upon much, is the nature of how the terrorists are treated in terms of humanity. There is clear implication that they aren’t treated as human. The warning that the Unit gives the terrorists in the opening is thrown into question when it was revealed the soldiers were given orders to eliminate the terrorists, showing that perhaps they knew the terrorists wouldn’t surrender.

I really love how the film does not take sides, of course we are intended to root for the Kerberos (I do at least), but since it is never made clear what the terrorists are fighting for, we can not judge the righteousness of their cause.

Concluding Thoughts

The atmosphere of this film is thoroughly depressing and dark, but if you can bear that, it serves as an excellent introduction to the Kerberos Saga. I’ve been trying to find anime that can be considered more artistic, and I am happy to add this to my collection.

Love this anime or hate it. You have to admit it’s has a presentation that many anime do not. The original light novel is by Nisio Isin, also the creator of Bakemonogatari. The similarity is apparent from the use of wordplay, crazy characters, self-referencial humor, and lots of conversation. I’m not gonna post a summary, cause that’s easy to find anywhere.

Katanagatari uses a plot that many would describe as “shounen-esque”, as it has a “We have to collect all A of the B” type story (A is number, B is a special artifact). In this case, the main characters must collect all 12 of Shikizaki Kiki’s deviant blades.

However, this shounen feeling is kind of overshadowed by the philosophies introduced in each chapter as well as the general seriousness of the story that is reflected by the violence of post-Sengoku era Japan.

Presentation

A lot of people have a problem with the amount of talking in the series. Whilst I understand that, I rather like the talking because it separates the it from other action anime. When the fighting does happen, it is well animated.

The story features a narrator to comment on some aspects of the story, though this generally does break the flow in any way.

Characters

The relationship between Togame and Shichika is probably the most intriguing part of the story in terms of character dynamics.

Togame is surprisingly open with her feelings most of the time, but other times she hides them when factoring logic into her strategies (best seen in episode five). Shichika is dense, but not dense to people’s feelings which is a funny twist on his character type.

The fact that they are working together despite knowledge of their ancestry (Shichika’s father killed Togame’s father) demonstrates a attractive bond, or perhaps rather intentional ignorance on their part. Either way it shows that they don’t care about the past when confronting their enemies and continue to move forward.

Other than Shichika and Togame who make the main cast. Each chapter features a character wielding one of the twelve blades as well as the Maniwa Corps. Almost none of these characters are portrayed as 100% villainous.

Episode 1 has Maniwa Koumori who is arguably the most “evil” character shown, but he does nothing evil enough to be hated. He rather just serves as an introductory antagonist.

Episode 2′s Ginkaku is shown as reasonably angry for the lack of support that the Shogunate shows to his land.

The Maniwa Ninja here (Shirasagi) is killed off so fast that we don’t get to know anything about him except that he talks backwards.

Episode 3′s Meisai is the first good natured blade-wielder, as she is using her blades to help heal orphaned girls. Her death is most chilling, because it shows us that while Shichika can be good natured, he feels almost nothing when killing Meisai.

The Maniwa Ninja here (Kuizame) is once again killed off fast, but remains likeable because of his shark teeth and willingness to enjoy the nickname that Shichika has given the Maniwani. Though earlier he is shown killing indiscriminate people without hesitation.

Episode 4 does not show us the battle with the blade wielder, but everything we know about Sabi Hakuhei shows that he would be a reasonably badass stoic protagonist (SPINOFF NOVEL PLEASE)

The three Maniwa (Kamakiri, Chouchou, and Mitsubachi) are more sympathetic than Nanami who slaughters them like…..bugs (they’re named after bugs after all).

Episode 5′s Kanara is likeable and has a tragic background. Hell, I was praying for him to survive this episode (which he does). His novel illustration is above.

No Maniwa are killed here. But we are introduced to their de facto leader Houou who manages to be most polite, funny, and morbidly obsessed with agreements.

Episode 6 has Konayuki who is just plain adorable and ends up being saved by Shichika after killing perhaps the only remaining unlikeable Maniwani. Houou is still morbidly obsessed with agreements and kills off another Maniwani in order to settle an agreement (much to Togame’s horror)

Music

The music is funny. Part of it can be quite anachronistic, featuring slow beat rap style songs. This is actually rather fitting with the style of the series which features similar anachronisms such as cigaretts or puns that wouldn’t make sense in the feudal time period. Other times the music shifts between being simply dramatic or actually fitting the time period.

My favorite track is Bahasa Palus which is composed of chanting and rap, though I think I prefer thetrailer version of the song. You can find samples here.

Concluding thoughts

Despite being skeptical about Nisio Isin because I had only heard of his Death Note and xxxHOLiC novels (both are series I feel are lacking). The anime of Bakemonogatari and Katanagatari have increased my desire to read his works (though to date I have read exactly none so far).

I will see Katanagatari through to the end. I have been given a few spoilers, but the presentation will likely still surprise me.

P.S.

I graduated from Highschool today. Woot.

Learn history!

Production I.G. has always been a relatively fine studio to me. They make high-quality material, most notably: Ghost in the Shell SAC, however I failed to be massively impressed. Eden of the East, however was very intriguing and I hope to watch the movie sequels soon so I can review it accordingly. They also made Blood+ which I haven’t seen, but apparently is considered one of their best.

Back in early 2009, they made an anime adaptation of the game series Sengoku BASARA which is apparently a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the Warring States era. Filled with power-levels, battle aura, mecha, GARness, and screaming people’s names. This manages to be quite entertaining.

The story has no clear main character (this is the Warring States era after-all), but of course features Oda Nobunaga as the most imposing war-leader. The story primarily focuses on the OH MY GOD, LOOK AT HIS STRENGTH-relationship between Date Masamune (a favorite of mine, because his army could crush anything in Sengoku Rance) and Sanada Yukimura (whom I hadn’t heard of until now)

Admittedly, I have only started watching this now. But when I first heard of it I was intrigued by the idea of Production I.G. doing a half-action-comedy series, and the result is quite pleasing.

Characters

Yukimura is voiced by everyone’s favorite battle-screaming seiyuu, Souichiro Hoshi. Most notable for voicing Keiichi in Higurashi and Kira in Gundam SEED. Which makes him perfect for acting out a naive but loyal character.

Masamune is voiced Kazuya Nakai, someone I haven’t heard often. But his voice is badass and makes perfect engrish (yes, they spoke engrish in feudal Japan, BASARA DOES NOT LIE) and reflects the lax and powerful traits of the character.

So from these characters we can grasp something. Whilst Sengoku BASARA may not be an amazing show, it is a show that generates it’s generic (but funny and cool) character archetypes better than other shows. Need more examples? Norio FUCKING Wakamoto voices Nobunaga!?!? You do need no other example than that.

In addition to the large male cast. There are some female characters of note: such as Kasuga (voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani whom I was 100% sure was Ayako Kawasumi at first), Oichi (voiced by Mamiko Not), and Nohime (Yurika Hino).

Then there’s Uesugi Kenshin, who is voiced by a woman and is given an ambiguous gender. Historically Kenshin is known as a man, but there is a legend (backed up by a few sources) that he was a woman. So BASARA gives him an effeminate face, soft armor that hides his gender, and the voice of Pakku Romi. His/her relationship with Kasuga has also been noted by others…. (hint read the the title of the blog).

General Hilarity

Name one anime where you can see:

1. A one-eyed man riding his horse with no hands like stunt biker and saying to a group of ragtag soldiers “HEY BOYS ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?”

2. Seeing a famous general ride his horse VERTICALLY up a wall

3. Japan getting hit by explosions nearly four-hundred years before World War II

Other Thoughts

A sequel season to this is coming soon. So I’m doing my best to finish up the first season. I’m usually not a fan of streaming shows, but for the sake of convenience I’ve been using FUnimations subbed version on Youtube.

Anyway, any fan of mindless action should check this out. It’s not too bad.

B Gata H Kei

Avisch:
Back when I was watching Katanagatari, there was a small voice that said “Damn. Why can’t Yukari Tamura star in more shows with her character acting cute all the time?” So apparently this was the answer that was given to me. Yukarin voices Yamada, who is desperately into the hobby of the love battlefield. It relies on gag humor most of the time, but with the good voice cast and Yukarin I will stick with it.

manga:
A anime where it´s actually the girl who wants to jump and fuck around with guys? I´m not sure if my head can comprehend this kind of show. Being in love, finding love, getting to love someone is ok, but setting a goal to find 100 fuck buddies?

Hell no! Give me back my innocent views of the anime girls and I pray to God that there are no real life girls that are like this or think like this.

For bonus points: Good comedy and “cherries” taste good I´ve heard. If I can get over my “no way not these kind of girls in my anime” period I´ll probably enjoy this.

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou

Avisch:
The plot sounded interesting, though as most light novel adaptations go…I wasn’t expecting much. But the first episode was not half-bad. It was like a mix of Kampfer and Asura Cryin’ (both mediocre but semi-entertaining shows), so I guess I liked it. The voice work is relatively impressive, I felt the female lead’s voice was attractive and unique (despite her character-type, I love the righteous-loyal characters).

manga:
I don´t know where you got Asura Cryin’ from Avisch nor Kämpfer but I can say that the show is a load of fun.

I love seeing a guy getting missunderstood when it ends up with ecchi in some shows. This is one of the few shows that I can enjoy without feeling guilty. Maybe I should call this the guilty pleasure of the season?

A must watch. I need to know what the weird mark/scar under his eyes are. This I need to know NOW!!

Heroman

Avisch:
I don’t like BONEs much as a studio. Everything by them that I’ve watched has fallen short. Animation wise they are fine, but story/writing wise I find them horrible (as per my opinion of Xam’d, Eureka 7, and DtB, crucify me if you want). However their first episodes have managed to rope me in a number of times, and this was no different. So the first episode was cool, but if subsequent episodes fail, I won’t be surprised. Then there’s the topic of Joey, who nearly manages to out-moe the female lead. Is s/he a boy…..or a very nice looking reverse trap. “HIIIRO MAN!!!!”

Update: After watching episode 2 This show isn’t worth talking about anymore. It’s nothing more than bad comic.

manga:
So boy is treated like shit, spoiled idiots that treat the boy as shit trashes a much expensive toy. Misstreated boy fixes the expensive toy, lightning strikes and love and behold the toy is expanded, bigger, badder and can only be controlled by a weird device that attached itself to the wimpy boys arm?

And the earth is soon to be invaded by insects wanting to harvest the natural resources?

As a bonus: Hideyoshi from Baka Test was a sure giveaway that he has no gender. This boy named Joey Jones looks and acts like a girl but is supposedly a guy? Oh lord.

Dropped, and can´t be dropped fast enough. Cute love interest sure but that alone doesn´t make the story or the telling interesting.

Angel Beats

Avisch:
After being disappointed by CANAAN (also by PA works) I did not expect much from this. The first episode wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really make much sense to me. The second episode actually managed to impress me with a good opening theme and some comedic moments. I can’t really tell if this will do well. Animation is good (it’s PA works….what did you expect), voice work is fine, and the Haruhi comparisons throughout the internet will make anyone lol.

manga:
Key visual novel is a must see. And I don´t know why, but getting killed, experiencing the pain and the resurrecting doesn´t sound that bad to me. I´d like to at least experience it sometime.

Cute girls, great soundtrack from the band playing in the first episode and lulz for getting stabbed 100 times with a spear and covering the whole floor with blood.

Yes I have a sadistic part in me. That few shows allow me to enjoy. Lately there has only been Hellsing Ultimate and that´s it.

Choice of voice acting could have been better to make it less Haruhi compared but still. A good show and I´ll follow it.

Mayoi Neko Overrun!

Avisch: This at first looks like the usual “boy and his female childhood friend get a new addition (ie. eccentric girl) to their lives”, but this oddly enough is able to break some of the cliches. Sure the Fumino (the childhood friend) is tsundere, yet I can’t help but feel her TSUN TSUN is downplayed. Usually in shows like this all the focus is drawn towards the eccentric girl (Nozomi), but here she’s just another character. What I like about the show is the rich loli Chise who infact does not consider herself above others and simply is used as a parody of the usual rich female characters.

It’s not a brilliant show. But for what it’s worth, it’s entertaining. Though Hiroyuki Yoshino (voicing Ieyasu) really shouldn’t have taken the role of the otaku.

manga:
Wow, we start of with panties, the classic shimapan. Then comes the usual grudge holding against the guy. Even though the girl herself showed him…

A girl that only lies unless she is really angry and truthful and the guy who made her that way by encouraging her when they were younger. Yes childhood friends. Flag raised.

Mix in with a kendo training guy, a 2d maniac and we got ourselves a pretty fun bunch to be around. Yes there is a loli in it as well.

The main attraction for me enters at the very last minute of the first episode, a catgirl

Need to have at least one catgirl in the shows that I watch so this is obviously on my must watch list.