For most anime that’s based off of something, I am unaware of the original source material beforehand. In Kannagi’s case, I had read the first 10 chapters of the manga before I knew it was going to be made into an anime. So will this help or hinder my enjoyment of the series or will it be a moot question in the end?

Final Series Score: 8/12 B+
Rewatchablity: very low
Pros: Good production values, at times it was funny, had a very good ending song, sometimes it could be as good as it’s potential was
Cons: Tried too hard to be too many things, gratuitous fan service added to “improve” on the source material, character development was lacking and thus the characters either felt cliché or mere sketches of characters, would introduce characters or plot lines for no apparent reason and would often forget about them later

Awards given to this show by this blog

• none

Story

Our main character, Jin, is a typical high schooler except for his strong spiritual sense. As a young boy he saw the local land god. For his art project he decides to carve a statue out of a hunk of wood to match how he remembers her. Turns out this hunk of wood comes from the sacred tree at the temple of local land god (they were demolishing the temple area to build a sub-division or something) and when he finishes his carving – it turns into a human body that enshrines the local land god. The land god, Nagi, decides to live with Jin and continue her work purifying the land.

Thoughts and impressions

I think reading the manga beforehand initially hindered my enjoyment but in the end, it didn’t matter because I would have realized the faults of this show anyways.

I was looking forward to this show for two reasons, The first was the very minimal amount of fan service in the manga. This told me that the Kannagi manga wanted to make it on it’s story and characters and not through the use of fan service. Always a good sign. The second was the director of Kannagi was going to be the guy that lost his job directing after episode 4 of Lucky Star. I figured he’d take everything he learned while at KyoAni and having reflected on why he was unsuccessful with Lucky Star make sure the first job after Lucky Star would be success. And when I rewatched Lucky Star, I realized the first 5-6 episodes where much better the second time around now that I knew the characters.

The first episode of Kannagi started and the only significant difference from the source material was inserted fan service scenes. Likewise in the next couple episodes, the only thing that was added to the show was fan service scenes. I couldn’t help but wonder how the director decided that the best way to improve a show was by adding fan service. I wonder if he’s ever watched Spirited Away and thought to himself that he could improve upon it using a similar approach.

And it wasn’t just gratuitous fan service, it was detrimental to the story. For example, in episode 2, a scene was added where Jin is seen sniffing the bedding that Nagi used the previous night and later on Jin is shown answering the door holding Nagi’s panties. Later that same day (and only a few minutes later in real time) we’re shown a scene where a pair of baby kittens have died from starvation because the mother cat was killed in traffic. Jin realizes when he sees the dead mother cat that the babies are in danger so he rushes home only to see Nagi absorb their dead bodies into her own. It should have been a very touching scene but how are we to take it seriously when the show is trying it’s best to be a mindless fan service show. It can’t have it both ways.

Another problem I had was how the show introduced Nagi as having to purify the land by killing impurities but after the first few episodes nothing is done with this fact for the next seven or eight episodes. Nor is anything done about the father’s request to Jin about getting another god, Zange, removed from his daughter’s body. The show leaves us hanging on that issue totally. Instead the show tries to turn itself into a slice-of-life comedy and shows that KyoAni did the right thing by canning the director from Lucky Star because he’s still not ready to be a director.

The show did have some redeeming qualities. It was funny every now and again and it had good production values but after watching A-1 do Birdy over the summer – I knew they would make the show look good. The show was at it’s best when it was more serious and thus I finally started getting into the show towards the end when it veered into more serious territory. If the ending had happened around the midway point and had condensed the boring fluff into only a couple of episodes at the beginning, it might have turned out to be a better show.

I really can’t recommend this to anyone. If you’re looking for comedic shows about goddesses living with humans then I’d suggest the vastly superior Oh! My Goddess. If you want a slice-of-life show about Japanese gods check out Kamichu instead. If you want a show dealing with Japanese gods that has comedy, drama, and good characters check out Wagaya no Oinari-sama.

Essential Information

• 13 episodes
• genre: harem, comedy, supernatural
• animation studio: A-1 Pictures
• director: Yutaka Yamamoto
• OP: “motto Hade ni ne!” by Haruka Tomatsu
• ED: “Musuhi no Toki” by Haruka Tomatsu
• Seiyuus of note: Haruka Tomatsu, Hiro Shimono, Kana Hanazawa, Mai Nakahara, Miyuki Sawashiro, Tetsuya Kakihara

Here’s the opening and ending songs together:

Posted in anime, series review

I’m got a few hours before I have to worry about Santa showing up so lets try getting my weekly anime review written today. I have the feeling that I won’t be able to find the time to write this tomorrow: Feast (including homemade kolbasz) + Mom’s Christmas cookies + Awesome gifts (already got two interesting books from my sis and brother-in-law) + anime = No desire to do serious blogging, much less moving around.

The scores:

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 11 – 11/12 A+

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 8 – 12/12

Kannagi, episode 11 – 10/12 A

Chaos;Head, episode 10 – 11/12 A+

Kurozuka, episode 9 – 12/12
Kurozuka, episode 10 – 12+/12

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 9 – 12++/12
Ga-Rei Zero, episode 10 – 12/12

Earl and Fairy, episode 10 – 10/12 A

Mouryou no Hako, episode 6 – 11/12 A+

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 19 – 12/12

Toradora!, episode 12 – 12++/12

Clannad S.2, episode 12 – 12++/12

Kemeko DX, episode 10 – 11/12 A+
Kemeko DX, episode 11 – 10/12 A

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Shikabane Hime: Aka – It’s been hard to come after Gurren Lagann but it has built itself into something different and still interesting

Down – nothing this week

Thoughts and Highlights

For this weeks upward momentum series, I figured it was about time to recognize Shikabane Hime: Aka. If Gainax’s name hadn’t been attached to it then I think it would been received better then it was. Too many people seemed to want this to be another Gurren Lagann and when it failed to deliver on that level at the beginning, they dropped the show. I think I successful separated the two in my mind because I’ve been okay with the lack of full-on crazy action that’s found in many Gainax series. My problem that hasn’t allowed me to fully enjoy this series has been ‘Why is Oori the main character and not the monk and Makina?’. As I get further into the series, the answer seems to be that Oori is being moved to the point where he gets his own Shikabane Hime. It almost happened in this episode and I think it’s only a matter of time before it happens. If this is the case then there’s a good chance that the series will shift to a more action orientated series. Also if this is the case then I will have to applaud the makers for taking the time to convincingly show why a high school student becomes the hero.

This weeks best episode is episode 9 of Ga-Rei Zero even though Toradora and Clannad came really close. Ga-Rei Zero has walked a very tight string and so far they haven’t fallen off. The ending of the series was essentially given in the first two episodes and all the episodes since have been working to this ending. This type of structure didn’t work for me in the case of the Star Wars prequel movies – I knew Anakin was going to become Darth Vader and the movies did nothing to make me feel sorry for him or even to particularly care. On the other hand, the makers of Ga-Rei Zero have made me care about Yomi and sympathize with her situation so when, in episode 9, Yomi is tempted to become evil – I understand why she did it and still feel bad that she fell to the dark side.

I don’t know why I’ve been connecting Kemeko DX and Kannagi in my head, maybe because there both comedies or they begin with ‘K’ but I have been. Watching both this week, the thought came to mind: Kemeko DX > Kannagi, just like that. In Kannagi’s case, this week’s episode finally seems to be pointing the series in the direction it should have gone many episodes ago. Looking back the series appears more like the director’s second try at making Lucky Star then the story of the local land goddess being incarnated in the form of Nagi. In Kemeko DX’s case, it knows what it is and plays to it’s strengths. Consequently, it’s been more enjoyable to watch – not high class, but fun nonetheless.

And finally, there’s a few brief comments I wanted to make:

• Toradora and Clannad continue to be the best shows of the season. Episode 12 of Toradora shows that Ryuuji appears to have let his own father issues cloud his judgment and set Taiga up to be very disappointed. Episode 12 of Clannad featured Tomoya’s proposal to Nagisa among other things. She said yes, obviously . And I think it’s safe to say that the next episodes of both will be epic.
• The other shows continue to putter on at the levels that they’ve set for themselves.
• Finally, if you’ve been watching Clannad you know that December 24^th is Nagisa’s birthday. It feels a bit odd to wish an anime character Happy Birthday but I’ll do it anyways since she’s one of my favorite characters. As my present I’m going to repost a nicely done pic I found on the animesuki forums below. (click for the big version)

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

Pushing this back a couple of days changed a couple of the winners and caused a few more categories to be added included one award that is my first award named after an anime - The Gurren Lagann Memorial Body-Count Award. I thought it was appropriate and I did make a comment a few weeks ago essentially promising to make this category.

Best Action

Winner: Soul Eater

Runner-up: Kurozuka, Ga-Rei: Zero

One of the problems with us humans is that we take so many things for granted when we shouldn’t. It happens in real life and it happens with our entertainment; in this case, after two cour (seasons) of Soul Eater – I was taking Soul Eater for granted and I feel bad that I was. I’d become complacent about the show and it took episodes 35 and 36 of Soul Eater to remind me that even Kurozuka and Ga-Rei: Zero can’t match this show in terms of action.

Best Comedy

Winner: Toradora

Runner-up: Clannad

The comedies of the season, like Kemeko DX and Kannagi, have not been nearly as funny as they should have been – Kemeko DX has been more weird then funny and Kannagi has suffered from the director’s desire to prove that he shouldn’t have been fired from doing Lucky Star. This allowed shows that aren’t true comedies like Toradora and Clannad, that only use comedy inside of a larger story, to sneak ahead. Of these two, Toradora’s humor has the slight edge because it’ll make me laugh when I least expect it and the humor has a broader range.

Best Story

Winner: Chaos;Head

This is one category that the slower paced release of subs for Mouryou no Hako makes me worried that I’m passing it over for a lesser anime. From what I’ve seen of Mouryou no Hako (5 episodes worth) it’s has a very intriguing story that still seems to have many mysteries left for us to uncover. But I got to use what I got and the story of Chaos;Head has been a very good one as well. I like a show that can create and maintain a sense of suspense about itself as Chaos;Head has done. I also like the idea of being able to use some sort of electromagnetic wave to make people see things that aren’t there. Throw in a strange string of deaths, strange earthquakes, and a main character with only a vague hold on sanity and Chaos;Head has one of most interesting stories of the year.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Michiko to Hatchin

Runner-up: Kurozuka

I’ve always been a fan of post-apocalyptic worlds for some reason but if you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. On the other hand Michiko to Hatchin takes place in a really unique and colorful place – Brazil. I’ve never had the chance to visit Brazil to know if the shows portrayal of the country is even close to reality but it does feel different from the standard Japanese setting. The colorful palette, the people that we’ve met, and the poverty and suffering that’s been seen all work to really set this world apart from other shows.

Best Seiyuu

Male: Hikaru Midorikawa as Lord Edgar from Earl and Fairy

Female: Yui Horie as Minorin and Rie Kugimiya as Taiga from Toradora

I was slightly surprised when I realized that I would give Hikaru Midorikawa best male seiyuu for his role as Lord Edgar from Earl and Fairy. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, he does, but what surprised me when I started trying to separate the voice from the character was that I realized that if he had done a poor job voicing Lord Edgar, then the show wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. The entire show hinges on Edgar being royalty and Hikaru Midorikawa does a very good job convincing us of this. He also does Yusuke Yoshino’s voice, the electrician from Clannad that Tomoya works with.

The absolute hardest decision of all my picks was deciding between Yui Horie and Rie Kugimiya for best female seiyuu. On one hand, Rie Kugimiya has been one of my favorite voice actors and yet her work as Taiga has easily surpassed all of her other works. She has been able to make Taiga’s wide range of emotions all sound authentic and believable and is one of the reasons why the show has been as good as it’s been. Then on the other hand, Yui Horie has been nothing short of god-like as Minorin. Every moment she’s been onscreen literally makes makes me giddy with pleasure. In the end, I decided that I couldn’t really separate the two so I should just give them both the award.

Best OP

Winner: Clannad

Runner-ups: Index, Michiko no Hatchin, Toradora

For all my liking of KyoAni’s adaptations of Key, I don’t normally like the OP/ED that much – AIR’s opening and Clannad’s first closing being the only ones I really liked. Imagine my surprise then as the opening for the second season of Clannad started and I found myself instantly liking it. The song is my favorite new opening song of the season and because I already know the characters, the animation has more impact for me. It beat out many other good openings including both shows from J.C. Staff (who almost always makes good OP/ED) and Michiko no Hatchin – who had the most visually interesting opening of the season.

Best ED

Winner: Kannagi

Runner-ups: Soul Eater, Chaos;Head

I’ll be honest, I find it harder to enjoy a slower paced song in a language I don’t know then an upbeat one. As a result, I find myself likeing more openings then closings since many anime shows follow the format of having an upbeat opening and a more relaxing ending. Sometimes, though, I find myself instantly liking a slower paced song and that happened with Kannagi’s ending. For all the clamor over it’s opening, there was a something ethereal about the ending that I felt fit the show perfectly.

If Chaos;Head’s ending song had made a little more sense – maybe the Japanese won’t understand how nonsensical it sounds but I do – I would have given this award to it. I like many aspects of the song but the lyrics just kill it. I know the artist that sang it has talent, Seira Kagami, because she also did Kaiba’s opening and closing so I’m going to fault the record people on this one.

Best Overall Music

Winner: Clannad

A show’s background music truly has to be spectacular for me to remember it. If it’s just mediocre, I probably won’t even remember it enough to think it was mediocre. In Clannad’s case, I remember the music clearly. It’s gotten to the point that for some songs all I need is to hear a few bars and I have to start fighting the tears back.

Best Animation

Winner: Mouryou no Hako

Runner-ups: Clannad and Michiko no Hatchin

Like I said earlier, I’ve only seen the first 5 episodes of Mouryou no Hako but even if the animation quality dips later, it would feel wrong to name another show as having the best animation. This show is just drop-dead gorgeous to look at and it needed to be to beat the stiff competition from Clannad and Michiko no Hatchin.

Top Animation Studio

Winner: Madhouse

This was one of the easiest awards to give out. Exhibit A is Mouryou no Hako, Exhibit B is Kurozuka, and Exhibit C is Chaos;Head – case closed.

The Gurren Lagann Memorial Body-Count Award

Winner: Ga-Rei: Zero

I won’t spoil who exactly dies in Gurren Lagann but there was more then one of the main and side characters that die in it over the course of the show. When I decided to give Ga-Rei: Zero an award for the sheer number of characters that they’ve killed off, I wanted to convey that the people killed were not just nobodies – cannon fodder – but real characters so I had the idea to link the popular Gurren Lagann with the award. So, Ga-Rei: Zero is the first seasonal winner of this award and it’s most deserving of it. Even if the show was a dud, it would still be memorial for this aspect.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m always interesting in comments so if you liked or disliked my picks, feel free to post your thoughts. In a week or two, I’ll be posting my top five shows of the fall season. My 2008 overall award posts will come out sometime in the middle to late January so I can have time to write my impression posts of the new season, catch a couple series I missed in 2008, and allow the slower sub releases to hopefully finish up the 2007 series so I can make an accurate list. (Any subbers reading this – I’m not complaining, I realize stuff happens that can slow you down – I just want to give my rationale for waiting since many blogs do theirs at the end of December.)

And to end on a sad note, the sheer number of anime blogs going on hiatus lately almost made me do a ‘Favorite Blog That’s Going on Hiatus Award’. You don’t have to worry about me but if I was paranoid, I might think some sort of conspiracy was afoot.

Posted in anime, awards      

I was hoping to get this out on Monday but I ended up putting up the Christmas tree instead, which can see pics of over at my personal blog.

As we’re nearing the midpoint of the season, it’s getting to be that time when I get to look ahead at the next anime season and reflect on the current season. Due to the high number of quality shows, I think it’s prudent to wait a few more episodes before posting my reflections but I hope to write my winter preview this week. Right now it’s time to look at the scores.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 31 – 12/12
Soul Eater, episode 32 – 12/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 6 – 10/12 A
To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 7 – 9/12 A-

Kannagi, episode 6 – 11/12 A+
Kannagi, episode 7 – 10/12 A

Skip Beat, episode 5 – 10/12 A
Skip Beat, episode 6 – 12/12
Skip Beat, episode 7 – 12/12

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 4 – 11/12 A+
Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 5 – 11/12 A+

Kemeko DX, episode 5 – 11/12 A+
Kemeko DX, episode 6 – 10/12 A
Kemeko DX, episode 7 – 11/12 A+

Earl and Fairy, episode 5 – 8/12 B+

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 6 – 12/12

Kurozuka, episode 5 – 11/12 A+
Kurozuka, episode 6 – 12/12

Chaos;Head, episode 5 – 12/12
Chaos;Head, episode 6 – 12+/12

Toradora!, episode 7 – 12+/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 14 – 12/12
Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 15 – 11/12 A+

Clannad S.2, episode 7 – 12/12
Clannad S.2, episode 8 – 12++/12

Hyakko, episode 5 – 8/12 B+

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 4 – 11/12 A+

Yozakura Quartet, episode 7 – 9/12 A-

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 9 – 12++/12

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Kannagi, Kemeko DX : Both shows seem to have gotten their acts together.

Down – To Aru Majutsu no Index : It lost any momentum that it had when it decided to reset the show at the end of the sixth episode.

Thoughts and Highlights

I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that To Aru Majutsu no Index continued it’s downwards momentum. I’ve totally given up on my initial thought that the Shana-group of J.C. Staff had finally learned how to adapt a light novel properly. It’s still an enjoyable series and as long as Yoshida’s clone doesn’t show up – it still might end up a better series then Shana. On the other hand Kemeko DX and Kannagi have been gaining momentum by making the story more compelling , fleshing out it’s characters, and making the viewer laugh more.

The best episode of this bi-week period comes from Somedays Dreamer’s Season 2 though Clannad gave it a good run. One reason for it’s placement above Clannad this week is, whereas Key’s story twists aren’t as surprising as they once were (not that I’m complaining), Somedays Dreamer’s actually shocked me with it’s twist towards the end of the episode. Too many people, it seems to me, judged this show early based on it’s art style and not on it’s content. With each episode my estimation of the show increases and I’m getting to the point that deciding between Natsume and Somedays Dreamer’s is becoming difficult.

A look at the other end of scale displays the potential difference between two shows, Hyakko and Earl and Fairy, that scored the same. In Hyakko’s case, I was positive that after the fifth episode, I could safely drop it and know that I wasn’t missing anything; instead, the episode was much better then I hoped and gained the show a week reprieve from being cut. On the other hand, after the horrible fourth episode of Earl and Fairy, I’m not sure that I can get back to enjoying this show as much as I initially was. The fifth episode was better but I currently don’t have much interest in watching the sixth but probably will, only to give the show one last chance before dropping it.

One of the things that I hoped to show when I did my ten most influential animes was to show that I end up having many different types of shows that I enjoy. I point this out because it feels kinda wrong to give both episode 32 of Soul Eater, an Excalibur episode, and say episode 6 of Kurozuka the same score but both excelled at the type of show they are.

And finally, there’s a few brief comments I wanted to make:

• Michiko to Hatchin seems to be shaping up to be a more serious show then what I was expecting. One thing that has struck me so far has been it’s very realistic portrayal of pain and hardship in the characters. My gut is telling me this series could end up being one of the top shows of 2008.
• Yozakura Quartet continues to be enjoyable but at the same time it feels like a lightweight when compared to the other shows.
• Chaos;Head is starting to prove that it has more to offer then just being a poor mixture of suspense and harem elements
• Skip Beat seems to not be impressing many that know and love the manga but for a first-timer like myself, I’m really enjoying it. For some reason, I’m already wondering how they plan to end the anime series. On one hand, we all want to see her get her revenge but on the other, once she does – is there any reason to continue the series? If I know anime, they’ll probably create some sort of small milestone that she has to accomplish in the episode count that’s been allotted.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

I really really really should be sleeping now orz

Ah well, just a few updates on the anime I’ve watched/ am watching. As usual. No pics I think :\

First of all, I finally completed Hunter x Hunter, TV series and OVAs and all. The manga’s still running, but I hear it’s pretty slow and the mangaka just keeps taking breaks. There was this long hiatus from 2006 to 2007, it seems, and then from then on it just went on and off, but now it’s serialised weekly in Jump. Then again, if this is considered bad, I sorta don’t know what to say to the faithful D.N.Angel manga followers. How is it now, really?

I also picked up this really random old anime called Legend of BASARA. Sure, Sengoku BASARA is the more popular of the BASARAs now, but this anime wasn’t too bad, I hear it’s really similar to Fushigi Yuugi. *And if you’ve realised by now, I haven’t watched that many of the so-called “classic must-watch animes”. I think my reading shoujo manga somewhat helped me tolerate the obvious traditional shoujo manga art style being animated. I’m not sure how hearing somewhat familiar voices such as that of Inoue Kazuhiko or that of Chopper (One Piece) affected my experience, but I think the plot was really quite decent. Another thing I’m really bad at is recommending anime to others, but if you like romance and uh. Epicness? Heroic anime, or other anime similar to Fushigi Yuugi, you might just want to give this a try.

Oh. Just a note, the ending is really unsatisfactory. It just ended really really abruptly and the moment we (the viewers) were all waiting for just didn’t happen. In Japanese, I’d say 悔しいぃい～～！なんでやねん、こんなエンディングなんていらねーぞ or something like that. 

I am currently watching Fullmetal Panic!, and I must say it is pretty interesting. It’s another “classic must-watch”, isn’t it. Sure there’s quite a bit lot of panchira and fanservice, though of course not comparable to the likes of Kemeko Deluxe, but the character dynamics more than make up for that. I’m not a mecha anime person, I suppose, since more than too often they center around a lot of politics due to GOODMAN influence, but sometimes I make exceptions. Like Code Gayass Geass. Darn, I really need to get rid of that bad habit of mine, but KL-chan’s fanart really isn’t helping.

Speaking of GOODMAN, I am transferring a large amount of data to do with the latest GOODMAN #00 first season to my external harddrive at the moment, from unknown sources. I may or may not watch it in the end, but I may just try. If you are wondering why I am doing so when I could so much more easily watch it streamed, I shall reply that I have had enough with this ’streaming’ education system here in this tiny pea nation googling a series with two seasons and a huge market based on mecha otakus just like Sagara and hoping that there are good streamed videos was entirely wishful thinking on my part. Or maybe I just did it on a whim |d I sort of get the feeling that I will not come to like most or any of the Meisters though :\\

&More details here: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/shadowangellz. And yes, I did realise that 86.7% of my Currently Watching anime list comprises of anime that are currently airing.

&! One line (or two, three for rants and rambles) for each other anime I’m watching that I haven’t really mentioned yet: 

Skip Beat! is actually getting interesting! And Kannagi filler episode wasn’t that bad, gaiz. More Nagi needed, though, and Less Over-Obsessed Nagi-Otaku Plz. Casshern SINS is kinda reminding me a lot of Kaiba with the same production studio and uh. story flow? Whaddya call it? I mean they both have some 記憶喪失 (amnesiac) guy getting around and trying to make sense of the world around him and on the way they meet people and stuff. NEED…MORE…EVE NO JIKAN. Haven’t been catching up on Gintama but slow subs are slow, too, even though Tudou would do just fine for me? GSZS is good as usual. Earl and Fairy is cheesy but the sappiness is teh funny. Kemeko was actually kinda funny the last time I watched it, I was quite surprised, but the fanservice and random Kemeko just don’t always work for me. Kuroshitsuji is getting better, some of the previous episodes really didn’t interest me much, I just want the plot to thicken. Michiko e Hatchin is… above-average, but I want a little more ….direction? Nodame is pretty good as usual. I can’t help thinking of Sagara now when I hear Chiaki speak, though. One Piece is pretty darned OMFG-WTFHish these days, but kinda in a good way. Just, someone remind me how many litres the average human has? The whole Strawhat Crew is inhuman, even those without the Devil’s Fruit. Looks like Luke is gonna grow up soon in Tales, but he’s still freaking getting on EVERYONE’s nerves already just about now. Toradora! is funny as usual. Still hate the parrot. I only like Taiga as a Tenori Tiger or when she’s actually violent and/or angry for logical reasons, Ryuuji’s too nice sometimes, and Kawashima is really really annoying.

….

AFA ‘08’s coming real soon, gaiz, but first there’s a 20% off promotion going on at Kinokuniya from tomor today~!

And someone keep me away from pixiv, I could spend ages and ages there going 素敵♥！, followed by a loud wail directed at heaven complaining about how talentless I am, a million times at the billions of great budding artists there. In effect, wasting another few hours of the holidays I already happen to be wasting.

      

A bit late, but I haven’t been posting. That’s an unavoidable, inexplicable fact. I write more often on Lang-8, and that’s in Japanese, mind you. And I update Poupee more than I update this site |D Speaking of poupee, I found some guy who actually posted stuff there and dressed up his poupee and shtuff. *trauma trauma* And then I just LOL’d.

I’ll be talking about games I’ve picked up/ have wanted to pick up, as well as the anime I’ve picked up and dropped.

I figured I should try and use my holidays to play some game that I’d wanted to play, so I did. I’m playing Pi Story now, but I lag up in dungeons/ maps/ whatever you call the places the pi bring you to because the connection’s pretty bad for some reason. I don’t usually like to team up with strangers, so it’s quite horrible for me when all the monsters spawn like crazy (i.e. Petite Forest, with the dang orbs). I’d play Mabinogi, but I don’t live in North America. I tried the bypass thing but uh I kept getting problems. So I gave up. ._.u I considered the Japanese server but I couldn’t be bothered in the end.

RO2 is coming soon. I’m not sure I should join or not with my grades in the gutters already.

I’ve also picked up some new anime, such as Skip Beat! (quite horrible, but oh well the manga was good I heard and I can’t be bothered to read the manga) and Garei Zero (the plot kind of goes nowhere though ep 4 was funny, but I just had to watch each episode to get to the bottom of it but I’m at my limit and gonna drop it damyou). *Edit, I’ve dropped it. Although Kemeko’s not that bad, it’s just not my taste (Fanservice aka ’saggy bwbs’, and Crazy-with-barely-any-logic-nor-meaning?!), so I’m watching it with little enthusiasm. I’ve picked up Tales of the Abyss (just because it’s one of the ‘Tales’ and I liked the cheagles and Luke didn’t irritate me as much at first and I have no means of getting my Tales of Symphonia for my Wii since I’m broke), Kuroshitsuji (the butler’s pretty much the only character who prevents me from dropping this), Clannad After Story (I don’t quite mind KyoAni works), Toradora! (despite whiny tsundere Al-gone-wrong, the duo are funny) and Michiko to Hacchin (this has potential I believe) although none of these shine quite as much as Kannagi does. Do I have to add in a ‘Kya’ or ‘Squee’ to show just how much I love it? Kya~! Squee~! (I don’t normally do this, you know.) I just love the puns, the tsukkomi, most of all the comedy duo themselves, etc., so that might be my weakness, but the bottom line is I just love this anime. Also, Nagi, tsundere as she might be, doesn’t irritate me much since she’s more like Kana from Minamike than a tsundere. Kugyu voices too many tsunderes already, and I don’t even like her that much :\ 

I dropped Hyakko (bad art and bored me despite a Kana-like character, sorry Jazzu), Yozakura (average but boring too), DMC (too vulgar and way too random for me, dropped quite a while ago, although I did enjoy Gag Manga Biyori) and Index (average and reminding me of Mx0 but ohwell, nothing special). 

My gut tells me that at least 99.9999% of the people who bothered to visit this page just went ‘tl;dr’ as usual and to those who actually know me in real life, this post probably wasn’t relevant to your interests (I don’t really post about my life here so please do look somewhere else where I do if you can even find one in English |D). I wrote a lot of run-on sentences today orz. And I probably abused the parentheses a little too much.

In any case, to sum up, please do watch Kannagi if you haven’t/ don’t plan to |D ! Especially if you love funny anime

*Technically, the above image was a highres scan that I had to tweak a little in Photoshop in order for it to look better.

      

The fall season continues to wow with even more awesome shows this week. I might be biting off more then I can chew by trying to watch them all but I’m willing to try. Also this week, I was able to finish one my favorites from the spring season.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 27 – 12+/12

Toradora!, episode 3 – 12/12

Kemeko DX, episode 2 – 8/12 B+

Clannad S.2, episode 2 – 12++/12
Clannad S.2, episode 3 – 12++/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 2 – 12+/12

Kannagi, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 2 – 12/12

Maid Guy, episode 12 – 9/12 A- (end)

(previously reviewed)

Kurozuka, episode 1 – 12/12

Skip Beat, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Mouryou no Hako, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Thoughts and Highlights

As you can see in the scores, I was able to finish Maid Guy this week so I’d like to thank the joint effort from [Yakuza T-K] in doing this great series. Expect my series review soon. This final episode was of the type that signaled to the viewers that a second season will be forthcoming if they think it will make money. Therefore, this episode didn’t have any sense of closure and we were even introduced to a maid that looked like a worthy adversary to Maid Guy. I like the idea of someone on Maid Guy’s otherworldly level but I’m really ambivalent about another season. For the episode itself, it contained enough Awesome Kogarashi Moments to keep me happy.

The best episode of the week was actually the pair of episodes from Clannad. It’s like KyoAni was psychic or something – how else can you explain how they knew to start off the season with a baseball episode and then go into an arc about my favorite character – Sunohara and his younger sister, Mei. As an aside, if Mei doesn’t finish in the top 8 for Saimoe next year – I’ll be supremely surprised. So far Clannad has been delivering that perfect blend of comedy and drama that so epitomizes a Key/KyoAni show.

There really wasn’t a disappointing episode this week. The lowest scoring show of the week, Kemeko DX, was because the show took the time to do character introductions and not the comedic craziness that the show is promising. It’s always important to take the time to introduce and flesh out a character but this episode didn’t quite charm me like I was hoping it would. I still have relatively high expectations for this show so I’ll keep watching.

Soul Eater continues to keep me on the edge of my seat. This episode we got to see Justin fight and more of Crona being awesome. Another bad guy (actually a woman with really freaky eyes) appears and Stein continues to battle his temptation to give into the madness. Also, while, I wasn’t really impressed with the seconding ending, this new ending is awesome. The song is perfect – upbeat and snazzy – for the animation and the animation fits the feel of the song and even takes the time to showcase more of the main characters. On a side note, if how Death the Kid’s way of holding his guns bothered you, I was watching a show on History Channel that showcased a few of the great trick shooters living now and it included a guy that held his shotgun like Death the Kid holds his guns – so it is possible.

The pair of J.C. Staff shows, Index and Toradora, continue to be very good. We got character building in Toradora and they were able to make it interesting. Even though Rie Kugimiya’s Taiga is in many ways very similar to her other tsundere roles there is differences that make Taiga a much more likable character. It makes it hard not to root for her. In the case of To Aru Majutsu no Index, we get an awesome fight that shows off Tohma’s null-power right hand as well as his intelligence in finding ways to win. I have the feeling that the guy Tohma fought really isn’t a bad guy but one that has a temper and is more concerned about the safety of magic books then their carrier – Index.

The final show I wanted to talk about was Kannagi. In my impression post for episode 1, I mentioned that a lot of fanservice was added to that episode and I didn’t think it was warranted. This episode once again adds in needless, and definitely implausible, fanservice. Implausible because if the main character is worried about people seeing Nagi’s underwear, why does he walk to the front door, holding them, where she is obviously talking with someone. Needless because I think in an episode that’s meant to be more serious with a mother cat and her two baby kittens dieing – the fanservice cheapens their deaths and frankly I wonder what the director was thinking. I have already seen the next episode and liked it more so maybe I’ll end up liking this anime a lot.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review, youtube      

Busy week of anime – between the couple summer shows finishing up and the many new shows to catch, there was hardly time for much else. I’m pretty happy with the autumn season so far; many of the shows are starting off very well and there’s been a few that have even been able to surprise me.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 26 – 12+/12

Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 13 – 12+++/12 (end)

Ryoko’s Case Files, episode 13 – 12++/12 (end)

Toradora!, episode 2 – 12+/12

Hyakko, episode 2 – 8/12 B+

(previously reviewed)

Kannagi, episode 1 – 7/12 B

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 1 – 12+/12

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 1 – 12/12

Tales of the Abyss, episode 1 – 04/12 C

Yozakura Quartet, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

Kemeko DX, episode 1 – 10/12 A

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 1 – 9/12 A-

Chaos;Head, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Thoughts and Highlights

Let’s start with the only holdover from the summer season that I watched this week – Soul Eater. I was impressed by this episode a lot. I think the set episode count of this series is causing Bones to eschew the typical structure of a shounen show. After letting the Demon God go, I would have expected this anime to show the main characters training to power themselves up (like after the end of the Soul Society arc on Bleach). Instead this episode shows that some of our characters getting dispatched to the next trouble spot. The other reason that I liked this episode was that we got a lot of Crona, who is fast becoming one of my favorite characters. I feel odd saying that but then again, Sylar on Heroes is becoming one of my favorite characters especially lately with the writers making Hiro act stupid beyond belief.

Slice-of-life shows don’t, by definition, have a convenient plot structure that allow them to have an “ending” but it’s nice when some sense of closure can be given the viewer. I was really curious how Natsume would end, especially with the second season starting in the winter – would they try to give the show an ending or just act like the show was going on hiatus for a season? I wouldn’t have minded if this season didn’t have an ending but was happy that one was given. Having the chance to meet many of the ghosts and people one last time from the show was the perfect way to end one of the year’s best shows.

Ryoko’s Case Files’ last episode was likewise the perfect way to end the show. I hope this gets a second season, it really deserves it. If any of the fansubbers of [AonE-AnY] read this, thank you so much for providing a high quality fansub with a super-small file size.

Finally, onto the fall shows that had their second episodes this week – Hyakko and Toradora. The first, Hyakko, didn’t really impress me again. I want to like this show but I can’t quite figure out what it’s doing wrong or what’s wrong with me. I’m not even holding the drop in animation quality of episode 2 against it. On the other hand, the second – Toradora – was very awesome. This is definitely shaping up to be a more original show then I imagined and they haven’t even introduced the fifth main character that shows up in both the opening and ending. Also, Toradora is reminding me of another of J.C.Staff’s wonderful shows – Honey & Clover; I don’t know if this is intentional or just something I’m reading into the show that’s not there.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

Time for more anime impressions. This time it’s Kannagi, one of the titles I was particularly looking forward too. This show had the distinction of being the only one of the season that I was familiar with the source material. Will that help or hinder the anime adaptation in my mind?

Rating: 7/12 B

The answer is, at least for now, that knowledge of the source material is a hindrance.

It’s not because the anime changed the manga around because they remained pretty faithful to it. The hindrance comes from being able to compare the anime to the manga and see the differences. If you remember the director of this show -Yutaka Yamamoto -is the same person that, as director, was removed by Kyoto Animation after the fourth episode of Lucky Star. I really feel for him, it must of hurt badly to have something like that happen. Therefore, as his first project after Lucky Star I’m rooting for this show to work out but I’m troubled with the amount of fan-service that got added to this episode.

In the manga, when Jin turned on the tv, it was already on the magic girl show and not on the (what I’m guessing) Victoria Secret’s commercial. Also, there was no scene where Jin gets an eyeful of Kannagi’s unmentionables in the laundry basket or where he goes to the store and buys Kannagi a spare set of clothes, undies and all. Then there’s the scene where Jin answers the phone. In the manga he’s fully clothed, and the joke is that he mentions the reason why he wasn’t in school was because his art project is ugly and is trying to fix it. Nagi is right there and takes offense and puts Jin in a headlock. In the anime, the joke was that the phone call was right when he was bathing and thus had to answer it with only a small towel partially covering his nudeness.

I’m not against fan-service in all cases; there is a time and place for everything. However, the time spent on needless fan-service is much better spent on getting us to like the characters more, especially for the first episode when I’m deciding if the story and characters are good enough that it’s worth sticking around.

On the other hand, the animation was top-notch. A-1 Animation even did a pretty credible imitation of KyoAni’s sun beams through leaves as seen during the Tomayo OVA. The opening was different in a good way, but that can be expected from the guy that gave us the Lucky Star opening and the Haruhi dance. I’ve still have hope that this series will turn out to be a good one but the clock is now ticking.

Posted in anime, first impressions