Tuesday, April 30, 2013

[New][April 2013] Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 2000%


Japanese title: うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ マジLOVE2000%
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12711/Uta_no%E2%98%86Prince-sama%E2%99%AA_Maji_Love_2000
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/uta-no-prince-sama
Genres: Reverse Harem / Musical
I've watched: 2 episode

Summary: The story of legendary all boy pop group "Starish" continues...
   
First impression score: 83 - More Pretty Boy Pop Music

Personal comments: I was a bit afraid to start this series because I actually liked the first series of this show and did not know how this is going to turn out. After seeing the first two episodes, it seems that it's more or less the same show except now it's in a record label training school instead of pop idol school... (-_-')

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

[New][April 2013] Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san



Japanese title: 波打際のむろみさん
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16910/Namiuchigiwa_no_Muromi-san
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/muromi-san
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 2 episode

Summary: A guy fished up a mermaid named Muromi...
   
First impression score: 84 - Strange looking, but somewhat interesting

Personal comments: I see some similarity of this and Squid Girl--both are just mostly mindless comedies that are very fast in pacing. Normally I'm not too fond of this kind of pure comedy that are just mindless and pokes fun at random. I'm rather picky when it comes to comedy, but sometimes I could also be attracted by some most random weird comedies out there. This apparently is one of them that scratches me on just the right spot. Though that may change down the road if they repeat the same ol' tactics too many times, I'd be tired of it.

[New][April 2013] Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.


Japanese title: 俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない。
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/13659/Ore_no_Imouto_ga_Konnani_Kawaii_Wake_ga_Nai.
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Drama
I've watched: 3 episode

Summary: Our favorite siscon story is making a return :-)
   
First impression score: 84 - Still Intriguing

Personal comments: In my opinion, this second season of Ore Imouto so far looks way better than Tomodachi compare to their first season. One thing I've noticed about this second season, is that Kyouseki seems have regressed on his maturity. My impression of him from the first season is a highly reliable mature big brother, where in this second season, he seems to be less reliable, less mature, and doing some pretty stupid stuff. Does anybody else feel the same?

Monday, April 22, 2013

[New][April 2013] Hataraku Maou-sama


Japanese title: はたらく魔王さま!
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/15809/Hataraku_Maou-sama!
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Fantasy / Slice of Life
I've watched: 3 episode

Summary: The daemon king is losing his war against the hero (oh, here we go again >.<), when he tries to escape through the portal, he arrives at earth in Tokyo Japan.
   
First impression score: 87 - Something Different

Personal comments: It's kind of interesting, but at the same time, hard to image demon king would just lose his "evil"-ness so easily. Why was he the daemon king to begin with?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

[New][April 2013] Suisei no Gargantia


Japanese title: 翠星のガルガンティア
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16524/Suisei_no_Gargantia
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/gargantia-on-the-verdurous-planet
Genres: Scifi / Mecha
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A mecha pilot during a space battle had some problem while traveling through a wormhole where he ended up in a planet unknown to him.
   
First impression score: 88 - A sudden shift from space combat to something different

Personal comments: Even though most of the first episode is space combat, this does look rather interesting.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

[New][April 2013] Shingeki no Kyoujin


Japanese title: 進撃の巨人
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16498/Shingeki_no_Kyojin
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan
Genres: Action / Fantasy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: In a city that is constantly being attacked by "titans"--a giant looks somewhat like human except much larger (and uglier) who eats human, people are desperately trying to find out what these titans are.
   
First impression score: 86 - That's something different

Personal comments: I've read some of the manga, which looks quite interesting. You can tell from the look that the massive budget of Production I.G. is backing this project. This is definitely a keeper.

[New][April 2013] Photo Kano


Japanese title: フォトカノ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16397/Photokano
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/photo-kano
Genres: School Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A dude got his farther old SLR camera and decide to start learning photography. Then he's recruited by the school's photography club.
   
First impression score: 72 - Looks pretty dumb

Personal comments: It seems they're trying to add panty shorts every chance they've gotten. It just looks really...dumb.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

[New][April 2013] Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru


Japanese title: やはり俺の青春ラブコメはまちがっている。
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/14813/Yahari_Ore_no_Seishun_Love_Come_wa_Machigatteiru.
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/my-teen-romantic-comedy-snafu
Genres: Romance / Comedy
I've watched: 2 episode

Summary: A guy who is somewhat narcissistic and doesn't have any friend is forced to join a club where the sole member is another girl who's almost just like him. 
   
First impression score: 84 - Intriguing at the moment

Personal comments: There's a familiar vibe here I feel as I did in Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai or Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai or Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko. For all likelihood, this is going to one of those animes that is extremely similar to them.

[New][April 2013] Devil Survivor 2


Japanese title: デビルサバイバー2
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16512/Devil_Survivor_2_The_Animation
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/devil-survivor-2-the-animation
Genres: Fantasy / SciFi?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: There's a website supposedly can show the moment of anybody's death by uploading their picture. Two guys did that, and they received the video right before the exact event happened to them. Then some weird stuff start to happen.
   
First impression score: 82 - Exciting

Personal comments: Devil Survivor is a Megami Tenshi series which has some resemblance to the Persona series. If you are familiar with any game or anime in the Megami Tenshi universe, they you're probably going to be at least familiar with the setting of the story.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

[New][April 2013] Karneval


Japanese title: カーニヴァル
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16035/Karneval_%28TV%29
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Fantasy?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Some...weird stuff...going on...and the country's defense organization is called "circus"...
   
First impression score: 88 - Weird, but interesting

Personal comments: Ok, weird anime count 4 out of 5 so far...

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

[New][April 2013] Aku no Hana


Japanese title: デート・ア・ライブ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16201/Aku_no_Hana
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A high school dude, secretly admiring a girl in his class. One day, he forgot his book at school, when he went back to class to get it, he found her PE clothes are left alone in the classroom...
   
First impression score: 70 - Eh, That's Weird

Personal comments: It seems this is the season of extremely weird stuff. First we got Crime Edge with weird bizarre hair cutting people, then there's Date A Live, where some dude has to date the spirit to keep peace. Now we have this bizarre looking, strange story... I'm not sure I'm going to follow this one, because the art style alone is enough for me to just leave it...

[New][April 2013] Date A Live


Japanese title: デート・ア・ライブ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/15583/Date_A_Live
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Scifi?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: In a world that is plagued with space-time quake which destroys everything it touches, a guy is caught in one of the quake. He then found out the cause of the quake is a female spirit. Now he has to date (?!!!) the spirit in order to prevent future disasters...
   
First impression score: 80 - W.T.F.

Personal comments: This...is about one of the most ridiculous ideas I've seen lately...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

[New][April 2013] Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge


Japanese title: 断裁分離のクライムエッジ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16355/Dansai_Bunri_no_Crime_Edge
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A dude who's obsessed with cutting people's hair accidentally met a girl that carries a curse where her hair couldn't be cut...
  
First impression score: 84 - The Fuuu...

Personal comments: This is just too weird. I have no clue where this is heading. I'll have to see more to figure out what they're planning to do.

[New][April 2013] RDG: Red Data Girl


Japanese title: RDG レッドデータガール
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/14921/RDG:_Red_Data_Girl
Download available through: http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Izumiko is a girl who destroys any electronic device that comes in contact with her. One day, his uncle brought his son in as a servant of hers.
  
First impression score: 81 - Not Sure What's Up

Personal comments: The first episode is somewhat confusing. Everything was moving pretty slow, and I did not have a good first impression for Izumiko.

[Ended] Litter Busters!: Where are the answers?!


While I've always been a fan of Key's work, lately, I think they're running out of fresh ideas. While the story is good and interesting, there are just way way way too many subplots that are literally yanked from some of their other works. The biggest thing of Key, I think if you have seen more than one of their work, is the use of forgetful people. Almost every subplot has something to do with people forgetting something important from their past. Abusing such concept would make the story boring as every time something comes up, the first thing you would think of is somebody has forgotten something important, which later it turns out to be exactly that. Predictable story is never too interesting.

I guess my biggest problem, is the fact they built things up with some mysterious thing that seems like we may get an solution in the end of the season. But instead, it's the announcement of the second season. I really really really really hate the way they handled this.

Without the second season, I really don't have much good to say about this. So I'm going to leave it and come back do a review as a whole once the next season is complete.  

[Ended] Bakuman 3: All Good Story Has To End


Like a good meal, a good story has to end. And just like a good meal, a proper ending at a proper moment is very important. Missing either one could leave you with a bad aftertaste. Even though the proper ending of this series has more to do with the original work than the anime adaptation, it is nevertheless still a very properly good ending.

Tracing all the way back to season one, I would not have thought a story about people want to be mangaka could be interesting enough for an entire season. To my surprise, not only one long season, the entire run of all three long seasons of Bakuman were all so interesting, that I've never stopped in anticipating for the next week's new episode.

Even though the story itself is very fairy tale like, it felt real. The degree of realism is further enhanced by having the character to deal with real life problems, not just fictional problem, but real down to the earth problems that many people have.

This, no doubt is the

Long Season Drama of the Season for Fall 2012 Season

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 94 (Exciting)
Comedy: 91 (Brilliant!)
Action: N/A
Art/Animation: 89 (Slightly strange, but I'm used to it by now)
Sound/Music: 93 (Great theme songs)
Character: 90 (Unique individuals)

Plot: 97 (A fairy tale of mangakas)
Ending: 100 (Just great)

Re-watch value: 80 - I would still watch it again

Overall: 96 - Great Story with Perfect Ending

Recommendation: This is simply one of the best stories of this type. If you've seen the first two season, I don't need to urge you to watch this one. But if you haven't started Bakuman, you should.

[Ended] Maoyuu Maou Yuusha: Not Spice and Wolf


After finishing the entire season, I can tell you this is definitely not like Spice and Wolf as so many people trying to sell this as. True, there's economics involved, but it's not the type of economy in S&W. If you ask me, this feel more like a strange version of Legend of Legendary Hero with special emphasis on politics and economy.

The story takes reference blatantly from history. In fact, it's literally a story of medieval history with fictional country name and daemon world, be it religious revolt, or agriculture revolution, or technology advancement. Come to think of it though, Spice and Wolf kind of did the same thing, except it's not nearly as apparent since everything in that story are dealt in a micro scale, whereas Maoyuu is a macro view.

Because of this macro approach, I think it made it far inferior than Spice and Wolf where I think that's actually where would like to be. The problem, as I see it , is that by using too much history, it reminds people too much of the history, except this isn't history.

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 87 (Fair amount)
Comedy: 83 (Little bit)
Action: 85 (Some fighting, not too much)
Art/Animation: 85 (Could be better)
Sound/Music: 85 (So so)
Character: 81 (A bit over powered individual)

Plot: 82 (A bit loose)
Ending: -- (Not)

Re-watch value: 60 - Eh

Overall: 84 - Definitely not Spice and Wolf

Recommendation: Clearly, much like Spice and Wolf, there's more of the story. But whether this first season sells enough for the second season to come may still be questionable. This is an average plus series that even it's not a must watch, I think it's still worth a while. 

[Ended] Zetsuen no Tempest: Masterpiece


Despite having handed the long season anime of the season award to Shinsekai Yori, for last six months, aside from Bakuman, there is only one other anime I waited week after week for the next episode. It is Zetsuen no Tempest.

At first glance, the presentation was rather strange, as throughout each episode, almost the entire episode is accompanied with a symphonic background music in a rather depressing tone. Then as the story slowly progresses, I find this BGM is quite fitting as the entire first half of the story is in a very depressing mood.

Surprises are among one of the biggest selling points of the story. Watching it the second time through would clear up some details that weren't caught first time, but it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable as the first time through as so much of the excitement are from the suspense and the unknown.

Often, the characters refer themselves as characters from Shakespeare's work, more specifically, Hamlet, and yes, you have guessed it, Tempest. The reference made in such a way that you'd probably appreciate it if you have read them, but would still get most of the reference even when you haven't read them. The residual effect of such is that after watching the series, I got a very strong temptation to go read them.

There's a very interesting dynamic where one main character is simply wants to avenge against the world about her sister where his best friend who is helping him every step along the way has one of the biggest secret that he could not tell him. It is even more interesting that a character that has been dead for two years plays as an important of a role as those who are alive because the story constantly cuts back to flashbacks where the memory of her words greatly influences the course of actions of characters presently.

The entire story is very intricately constructed where it kept very important facts hidden until very late. Story drops many hints, but they were careful enough that these hints found along the way could never reveal the big secret itself. And when you look back after the secret does finally reveal itself, you'd find that all those hints are very supportive of the conclusion.

There is however one thing the story couldn't cleanly escape: the paradox of cause and effect. It seems ok on the surface as they properly address them with the use of "magic". But if you look further, the causality paradox in this case is just unfixable.

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 97 (Grand)
Comedy: 91 (Second half)
Action: 95 (Magician's fight)
Art/Animation: 96 (Very well done)
Sound/Music: 100 (Great and fitting)
Character: 98 (Very interesting)

Plot: 98 (Intricately constructed)
Ending: 95 (Proper)

Re-watch value: 75 - Catch more detail, but lose the surprise factor

Overall: 98 - A Masterpiece

Recommendation: The second half of Tempest did not feel as strong and powerful as the first half. That's why it is Shinsekai Yori who I gave the long season anime of the season award to. However, it is still one of the best series from last fall and I'm going to give it

Action Drama of the Season for Fall 2012 Season

award.