Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun: Girl vs. Succubus

Currently finished: Episode 2

It seems that once a while the "succubus" girl completely loses control of her power and she acts like a curious kitty. On top of that, the student body president is also into Ninomiya. And being a sccubus, losing control also means that she become a mean girl towards anybody that tries to get close with Ninomiya.

I don't know what it is about this anime, it just feels so relaxing and enjoyable. I really couldn't tell what it is better over some other comedy animes. I just like it.

New rating (out of 5): 4.6 (net gain: 0.1)

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho Tou 2nd Act: Another Unfinished Business

Just like the first series, Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho Tou 2nd Act ended without a complete resolution. I know the story itself is long. I'm kind of glad that they didn't just make a 50+ or 100+ episode series becaue I'm not sure I can hang that long. I do however have problem with them ending the second segment of the series in episode 10 and then throw in 2 review episodes. If the segment ends at episode 10, let it end at episode 10. But don't throw out two random worthless review episodes so the time slot can be filled AFTER the series has ended. There are plenty of places I can think of in the middle of the series that those two review episode can be put in. But they chose not to, instead, dangling them at the end of the series.

Having said that, my score card is not going count the last two episodes as part of the series. I will rate it base on the first 10 episodes:

(Full score is 5)

Drama: 4.5 (Interesting story, more so than the first one)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 5 (Just great)

Art/Animation: 4 (It's not the style I like, but still good)

Sound/Music: 4 (Matches the animation quite well)

Character: 4.5 (Good character development)

Plot: 4.8 (Very well planned out plot development)

Re-watch value: 4 (Loses some of the surprise elements, but still good)

Overall (not average): 4.8

Recommendation: Highly recommended, but you'll need to see the first series first. (I know the English sub is slow or even impossible to find. But definitely keep an eye on it. If nobody is subbing it anymore, well...let's just hope ADV Film (the studio licensed first series) is putting the second series out as well.)

Mushi Uta: A Dream, Very Confusing one

It ended. That's it. I didn't feel much of anything towards the ending. What seemed to be a somewhat spectacular final battle really isn't that good. Also, from the reaction of some of the characters, it seems that a plan has backfired. The problem? We never really quite understood what the plan supposed to do at first place. That's only one of the many unanswered questions. Nothing from this anime left any lasting impression for me. Soon, it'll be complete forgotten.

So, the score card:

(Full score is 5)

Drama: 3 (Nothing really stands out)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 3.5 (Somewhat interesting action, not whole lot though)

Art/Animation: 3 (It's not the art style I liked, and the contrast is way too low)

Sound/Music: 3.5 (Not bad, but nothing exceptional either)

Character: 3.8 (Somewhat distinct personalities, but nothing deep)

Plot: 3.8 (Only if they can clear up what the original plan was...)

Re-watch value: 2 (Unlikely anybody would want to watch it twice)

Overall (not average): 3 (Not bad enough for me to throw away half way, but close enough)

Recommendation: Better off spending you time elsewhere.

October 2007 New Anime: Moyashimon

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1116.html

Genres: Comedy / Supernatural

I've watched: 1 episode

Art style: noitamina / common

Special note: Noitamina (!!!)

Recommended to: People liked Noitamina's animes

Recommendation level: Not sure yet

Summary: It's a story about a guy that has the ability to see germs and bacterias. He sees them as small living creatures that have emotion, and can talk. (WTF!!!) He is now attending an agricultural university. On the first day of school, he started to run into weird things.

Richard's rating - first impression (of 5): 3.8 - Ok, but didn't quite meet my expectation

Personal comments: At first, I didn't recognize it being a anime from noitamina. Then comes the openning theme. Immediately, I recognized it as Noitamina's trademark style openning theme. Not quite convienced (because the art style is a bit... normal), I looked it up. It really is a new anime that is produced by Noitamina. The bar of expectation is now much higher than before this discovery.

Maybe Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile had set too high of a standard, it did not come anywhere near what I'm expecting. It doesn't have the outrageous comedy, and the art style is way too "normal". Hopefully, it'll get better as it goes.

October 2007 New Anime: Jyushin Enbu

Link: (Official) http://www.jyushin.jp/ (Torrents only available through http://www.baka-updates.com/)

Genres: Fantasy, somewhat / Martial art

I've watched:

Art style: Realistic, somewhat

Recommended to: People like martial art fantasy anime

Recommendation level: Follow along

Summary: In this world, there are seven people that is chosen by destiny. There is a sword that is kept in an temple, which legend says the one who could pull it out of its sheath will become the king (Hm...I think I've heard about a similar story, oh yeah, Excalibur). One day, an army come to the temple and tries to take the sword.

Richard's rating - first impression (of 5): 4 - Better than expected

Personal comments: I remember reading somewhere online that the manga, which this anime is based on is inspired by a Chinese online novel. The setting of the story looks like ancient China. The author of the manga is the author of Full Metal Alchemist, so the art works are very similar to Full Metal Alchemist. The voice of the main character sound extremely familiar, so I looked it up. It turns out that he's voice of one of th twin from Oran Koukou Host Club.

October 2007 New Anime: Prism Ark

Link: (Official) http://www.p-ark.tv/ (Torrents only available through http://www.baka-updates.com/)

Genres: Fantasy

I've watched:

Art style: Fantasy

Recommended to: People like fantasy (knights, magic, etc.) animes

Recommendation level: Follow along for now

Summary: It's a world with kinghts and magic. It's a fight between good and evil. Of course, there's always romance in this kind of plot as well. Everything is still a bit confusing at the moment, but it seems to be the fight between a kingdom and evil crusaders. First villain seem to be somebody called "Sister Hell" (!), who can summon evil "Angel"(!).

Richard's rating - first impression (of 5): 4 - Not bad

Personal comments: This is the first anime in a "true" fantasy setting in the past several seasons (I don't consider Zero Tsukaima a true fantasy setting). The meta plot, though, seems to be based on the medieval crusade, portaiting crusaders as the evil party.

October 2007 New Anime: Shion no Ou

Link: http://http//www.animesuki.com/series.php/1115.html

Genres: Drama / Mystery / Shougi

I've watched:

Art style: Common

Recommended to: People like murder mystery and don't mind some shougi

Recommendation level: Recommended, for now

Summary: Shion's parents were murdered right in front of her when she was really young, but for some reason, the murderer spared here life. Because of the emotional trauma, she couldn't talk anymore. The neighbor, who is a 8 Dan professional shougi player, adopted her and trained her to become a skilled shougi player as well. Her parents' murder case was never solved. Seven years later, that murder seem to start to haunting her again.

Richard's rating - first impression (of 5): 4.25 - Very good

Personal comments: When I heard about this anime, I thought it's going to be another one just like Hikaru no Go, which everything evolves around learning go. Surprisingly, that's not the case here. Shougi, for the most part, is only the "glue" that holds everything together. The anime itself, seems to be more about solving the mysteries behind her parent's murder than playing shougi. While it does have some amont of shougi play in the anime, it is nowhere near what Hikaru no Go is. Becaue shougi is not the main theme, the anime makes no attempt to try to get audiance to be interested in shougi like Hikura no Go does.

October 2007 New Anime: Kaiji

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1102.html

Genres: Gambling / Drama / Psychological thriller

I've watched: 2 episodes

Art style: Hard edge / Long face / Hook nose

Recommended to: People interested in gamble psychology (In a sense, game theory)

Recommendation level: Somewhat

Summary: Some guy is deeply in debts. One day he got an offer to go on a cruise to participate a gambling game. If he wins, all debts are wiped out. If he loses, he'll be doing hard labor for next two years. He accepted the offer. Now the unusal gambling game begins.

Richard's rating: 4 - Surprisingly good

Personal comments: The animation art bothers me. It bothered me so much, I was ready to throw it away before I wathed it. Luckily, I scanned through the episode and saw something really interesting. So I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Despite how much the art work bothers me, I actually find it very very interesting. So interesting that I went ahead to fetch the second episode and watched it right there.

October 2007 New Anime: You are under arrest: Full Thottle

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1103.html

Genres: Action / Police

I've watched: 1 episode

Art style: Common

Recommended to: People like outrageous actions that completely disgard laws of physics in an anime

Recommendation level: No. And if you do like it, you shouldn't be taking anime advices from me any more, ever

Summary: About two traffic policewomen. Sequel to previous series.

Richard's rating - first impression (of 5): 3 - Not bad, but I'm not going to recommend it

Personal comments: There has been at least two series before this. I've tried to watch the original series once upon a time, but gave up before I even finished the first series. I guess my biggest problem is that while the setting is normal world, the actions are just way too "abnormal". For example, one of the trademark of the show is that one of them always tries to use her foot to slow down a car that is going at about 60 mph to a stop. I happened in the first episode of both the original series and this new series. Action scenes in it are just ridiculous. If it occurs in a fantansy world, or scifi world, or maybe an unusual setting in a normal world that the laws of physics can be bent, that's fine. But what they're trying to portrait is a normal world where the normal laws of physics would apply to everything. Yet they're pulling all these crazy stunts completely ignoring them. I really cannot recommend the series to anybody.

Verdict: Off my drive.

October 2007 New Anime: Shakugan No Shana II

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1093.html

Genres: Supernatural / Drama / School

I've watched:

Art style: Common / Loli

Recommended to: People liked original series; you need to see the original series

Recommendation level: Highly, for now

Summary: Our favorite Flame Haze, Shana is back. But they seem to have lost their memories, and everything seems to be repeating itself. Yuuji seems to be the only one that remembers everything.

Richard's rating (of 5) - first impression: 4.5 - Excellent

Personal comments: Very interesting start. Jumped right into the action. Feels even more interesting than the first season.

Special note: J.C.STAFF has produced quite a few animes that are in the top section of my favorite list, including Ai Yori Aoshi, Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, original Shakugan no Shana, Shingetsutan Tsukihime, The Melody of Oblivion, Daphne in Brilliant Blue. Now, Shakugan no Shana II which is also produced by J.C.STAFF is exceptionally good as well.

So, J.C.STAFF is now my preferred production studio: I would hang on to an anime that is produced by J.C.STAFF longer than others that I do not have a good first impression. It also means my rating towards animes produced by J.C.STAFF would be slightly higher than an anime normally would, because I have higher expectation on its future potential. At the same time, my expectation of the quality of the anime is also raised for this studio, which means any sub-standard anime produced by them would get my harsher-than-normal criticism.

My only other preferred production studio is GONZO. However, due to its recent track record, it's getting close to be crossed out from my preferred list.

October 2007 New Anime: Kimikiss Pure Rouge

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1109.html

Genres: School Drama w/ Light Comedy

I've watched: 1 episode

Art style: Common / Rectangular shaped eyes

Recommended to: People interested in high school drama

Recommendation level: Anticipating

Summary: Kouichi's (male) childhood friend (female) has just returned from France and now living with him now. They happened to be going to the same high school, except she's one grade higher than him.

Richard's rating (of 5) - first impression: 4 - Very good

Personal comments: The openning plot reminds me much of Ichigo 100%. But it's not completely the same. For one, it seems that the plot does not only evlove around a single character. Normally, this kind of art style (the shape of the eyes, to be exact) bothers me; but not this one. The characters are very...likable. (When I say "characters", I usually mean female characters. I don't usually care about the male character much). So far, this is the best one I've seen in this genres among all October new animes.

October 2007 New Anime: Rental Magica

Link: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1108.html

Genres: Supernatural / Drama / Detective

I've watched: 1 episode

Art style: Common

Recommended to: People interested in supernatural events/ magic related anime

Recommendation level: Follow along

Summary: Astral is a magician dispatch service, solves cases that involves supernatural powers.

Richard's rating (of 5) - first impression: 3.2 - Average

Personal comments: It's too...um...plain. Nothing unusual, nothing too exciting, nothing grabs me. Overall, it's not bad, but, at the same time, it's not very good either.