Kemeko Delux (Ended): What the...

This is one of those animes that truly makes me speechless, literally. The whole series has just been a big blur. Not only it was packed with action, it was also filled with ridicules. It is best to be describes using the phrase "Pure Nonsense". If you feel like watching such an anime, then you should pick up Kemeko Delux. Otherwise, I recommend you not to waste your six hours of life for this anime.

Final scoreboard (out of 5):

Drama: 3 (Kind of...)

Comedy: 3.5 (Little bizarre, but some parts are funny)

Action: 3.75 (Kind of interesting)

Art/Animation: 3 (Can't stand Kemeko's style...)

Sound/Music: 3 (Not too bad)

Character: 3 (Not much of it)

Plot: 3 (There is one?)

Ending: 1 (That's not an end)

Re-watch value: 1 (I wouldn't recommend you to watch it first time)

Overall (not average): 3 ~ Nonsense

Recommendation: Don't. Unless you're really in the mood for wasting six hours of your life on some pure nonsense.

Ef ~ A Tale of Melodies (Ended): Emotional Ride

With the conclusion of Ef ~ A Tale of Melodies, all lose ends from previous series has been tied up. I have to say these two series are two brilliantly made stories. Even that one year break between these two series is perfect because it put the audience into a vaguely familiar place at the start of the second series and slowly draw them back in the world of Ef.

Ef presents a set of stories about intangled fates and the will of those involved. What separates Ef from other similar animes is the feeling of watching a fine art being crafted right in front of you. This is definitely the most artistic anime I've seen in 2008, so I'll go ahead give it the

Most Artistic Anime of 2008

On top of that, I'm also going to award it with:

Best Short Season Drama Anime of 2008

and

Best Sequel Anime of 2008

Final scoreboard (out of 5):

Drama: 5 (Quite some)

Comedy: 4.5 (For the very little it had, it's pretty good)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 5 (Artistic)

Sound/Music: 5 (Heart pounding)

Character: 5 (Entangled fates)

Plot: 5 (Very well designed)

Ending: 5 (Bitter Sweet)

Re-watch value: 4 (I think it's still interesting for the second round)

Overall (not average): 4.95 ~ Emotional

Recommendation: Just look at the award I had just handed out above, do I really need to tell you this is a "must watch" anime? If you have heard about these two series but haven't watche it yet, you should finish up what you're watching and watch these two next. If you haven't even heard about this series, well, that means you don't know enough about animes and you should go revoke the "anime fan" status for yourself. This one will definitely be a contender when it comes to the time for me to hand out the No.1 anime of the year.

Hyakko: "Face"Ball

Currently finished: Episode 11

It was just too funny not to make a comment on the most recent episode. Somehow when they said P.E., I knew they're going go play dodgeball. And when they started playing, somehow I knew every hit is going to land on someone's face. This episode is just too funny. If you like a good non-sense comedy, make sure you don't miss this one.

Ga-Rei Zero (Ended): Brutal

I didn't comment much on this series, because there wasn't much to comment on, until the very end. What's really good about this anime is that the whole series is just a big death trap. It's just so much more exciting to watch when you have no clue who is actually safe from death. Everybody, including those seemingly very important ones, is a potential target of sudden death.

Just like Yozakura Quartet, there is a key decision change of one of the major character caused the story ended the way it did. Since I just finished ranting about how terrible they did in Yozakura Quartet, I'd like to add that Ga-Rei Zero did a much better job with a similar situation. At least you can see why the new decision was made.

Overall, I think they did a superb job on both the layout and the story itself, therefore I'm handing it:

Best Short Season Action/Drama Anime of 2008

(The Best Long Season Action/Drama Anime of 2008 is still held by Shakugan no Shana II)

Final scoreboard (out of 5):

Drama: 4.75 (Quite a lot)

Comedy: 4 (Not its focus, but good enough for what it had)

Action: 4.5 (Very Good)

Art/Animation: 4.75 (Common, but nicely done)

Sound/Music: 5 (Great Theme Song, Great BGM)

Character: 5 (Depth, varity, and lots of death)

Plot: 5 (Cleverly made)

Ending: 4.9 (Bitter Sweet)

Re-watch value: 4 (I think it's still interesting for the second round)

Overall (not average): 4.9 ~ Brutal yet Moving

Recommendation: When I hand an award to an anime, you know the recommendation for that anime would be a "must watch". This is one of the most action packed 12 episode series I've seen lately. So whether you like drama or action, or just want to have some stir in the emotion, you would love this one.

Clannad After Story: He Said It, Finally

Currently finished: Episode 12

I've been waiting for him to say that in last three episodes, now he finally did, in one of the most depressing moment of this series. Say what you ask? That, I cannot tell you because it'll spoil the plot. I will never spoil any plot in my blog, ever. So, you just have to find out yourself. Once you reach episode 10, I think you'll have the same frustration as I did, and you'll know exactly what I wanted him to say for the two episodes coming.

Well, now since he finally said it, and we know the grand finale from the movie, it seems that things from this point on have nowhere to go but downward. Hopefully, we will get a proper tragedy.

Yozakura Quartet (Ended): Unnecessary Troubles

It's an interesting little story with interesting settings and character, though there are some obvious flaws: The second half of the story, are mostly caused by the indecisiveness of one guy. That, by itself is not a problem. However, when it came down to resolving the final conflict, there was no obvious reason why he would have acted differently, he just did. Essentially, you know from the beginning how the whole story is going to end because it's a story follows the typical drama happiness curve, and you only watch it unfold to find out why it'll end that way. But when it's all over, you realized they didn't bother to tell you what you want to know, instead, they just jumped to the conclusion that you already know. I really hate that.

It's really hard to get my point through without spoiling the plot, so you'll just have to take my word for it until you actually see it, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Final scoreboard (out of 5):

Drama: 4 (Dramatic towards the end)

Comedy: 3 (Not its focus, but good enough for what it had)

Action: 4 (Not the best out there, but not bad)

Art/Animation: 4 (Not quite fond of it in the beginning, but I slowly learned to like it)

Sound/Music: 4.5 (Love the music and songs)

Character: 3.75 (Inconsistent)

Plot: 3.8 (Bit inconsistent as well)

Ending: 3.5 (Everybody saw that coming miles away)

Re-watch value: 2 (I don't see why you would want to)

Overall (not average): 3.5 ~ Missing Some Critical Elements

Recommendation: It's a wild goose chase that ended up where you knew it's going to end up without any explanation on why. If you're really bored, it does have some amusement value. Otherwise, I'd say skip this and spend your time elsewhere.

Kuragane no Linebarrels: Why Didn't They...

Currently finished: Episode 10

It's a common occurrence in the typical "save the world" or "good vs. evil" animes where a plan goes wrong, but at the last second, some hero manage to pull out some better plan and save the day. The biggest problem with that kind of plot, is the question "why didn't they do that to begin with?" In most cases, the plan someone pulled out in the last second is usually a lot easier to execute and less prone to errors and mistakes. Obviously, they need the plot device and the hero needs to be hero to save the day. But the story writers for this kind of plot really need to work on a more convicining plot so when this kind of thing happens, it doesn't leave the audience thinking "why didn't they do that to begin with?"

Kannagi: LOL

Currently finished: Episode 10

You know an anime is completely not taking itself seriously when it grabs things from Lucky Star and try to make fun of it. I knew they're going to do something to Lucky Star as soon as I saw the first scene, but I never thought they'd actually directly put a cut scene in the middle of the episode. That got me laughing for next 5 seconds. Because of that, I'm going to give it:

December 2008 Comedy Anime of the Month

Ef ~ A Tale of Melodies: One Down, One to Go

Currently finished: Episode 10

I was jumping and cursing after I finished episode 9 because I thought they had just turned a perfectly cruel and tragic plot into a happy ending. Then there comes episode 10. To my surprise, they did not just replay the similar happy ending like the first series did. Without spoiling it, all I can tell you is that the ending of one of the subplot is somewhat satisfying to me. Although it's not nearly as cruel or tragic as I would have done, it did end up on the other side of the neutral line. Now all we need is for the other subplot to end tragically...

January 2009 New Anime Season Preview

2008 is nearly over, so are many anime series. Soon I'll have a post for 2008 in review. But now, let's see what awaits at the dawn of 2009. As usual, all gundam animes, sequels to something I've already rejected, sports animes, and yoai animes are automatically filtered from my previews.


Hetalia - Axis Power
http://hetalia.com/top.htm

It's a story about personified countries from the world...I have a feeling that many people will be offended by this anime...

Forecast: I like offensive stuff, so, I think most likely it'll be good...

Genji Monogatari Sennenki
http://genji-anime.com/

The oldest Japanes novel, now made into anime. There might be some culture barrier to understand this anime though...

Forecast: We'll have to see...

Sora o Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai
http://www.munto.com/

This supposed to be the alternate retelling of Munto II. That reminds me Munto is still among my unfinished backlogs...

Forecast: Um...I'll tell you after I finish Munto...

Slayers Revolution-R
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/slayers_revolution/er/

More slayers, yeah...

Forecast: When is this going to end...
Rideback
http://www.rideback-anime.jp/


Girl and her robotic motocycle? That sounds like an interesting concept...

Forecast: Looks very elegant, could be a good one...

Kemono no Sou-ja Erin
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/anime/erin/

Not sure what it's about, but I don't like its art style.

Forecast: I'd give 2 episodes...

Chrome Shelled Regios
http://anime.webnt.jp/regios/

Not entirely sure what it's about, but looks somewhat interesting.

Forecast: could be good...

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode:02
http://www.birdy-tv.com/

Sequel to the first series, which I thought was ok.

Forecast: Probably ok...

The Tower of Druaga: the Sword of URUK
http://www.druaga-anime.com/

Sequel to the first Tower of Druaga series, which was way below Gonzo's normal standards. Hopefully, they're doing something good with the second series.

Forecast: Not so good...

Kurokami
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/magazine/yg/introduction/kurokami/

Not sure what it's about, but I do kind of like its art style.

Forecast: Could be good...

Asu no Yoichi!
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/yoichi/

Looks like a modern day sumari boy story.

Forecast: I'm not entirely interested in this type of anime, so it's all depends on its quality...

Viper's Creed
http://viperscreed.jp/

Some futuristic mecha action anime, directed by the director of Appleseed, and Appleseed Ex Machina. It could be interesting, but as a mecha anime, it'll start off with a slightly lower rating than other animes just because I don't like mecha animes in general.

Forecast: It could go either way...

Zuko Natsume Yujincho
http://www.natsume-anime.jp/

If you followed my blog, you'd know I LOVED the first series of this anime, and gave it the most heart touch anime of 2008 award. I would expect no less from this second series.

Forecast: This is definitely a keeper.
Sora Kake Girl
http://www.sorakake.net/

Looks like some space thingy involves girls. Also looks like it'll contain some significant amount of fan service.

Forecast: Totally unsure...

Maria Holic
http://www.mariaholic.com/

Animenewsnetwork.com has too good of a plot summary, I think I'll just quote them:

"The story centers on a sophomore named Kanako who enrolls in all-girls school because she has a phobia of men and wants to find her destined yuri partner. She meets a captivating freshman named Mariya who fits her criteria — except her seemingly ideal mate happens to be a cross-dressing sadistic boy."

Forecast: If it really is what the plot summary says, it ought to be interesting.

White Album
http://www.whitealbum-tv.com

This was originally an visual novel created by Leaf, the company created To Heart series. To be honest, I wasn't really impressed by either To Heart or To Heart 2. This may just be another mediocre love anime.

Forecast: Though it could be mediocre, generally, this type of animes are keepers for me.

Maria Sama ga Miteru 4th Season
http://www.gokigenyou.com/index2.htm

This is one of the very few ultra shoujo anime that I follows. I call it "ultra" shoujo because this is pretty much as shoujo as anime could become. Generally, shoujo anime are interesting to me at the beginning, but I lose interest in them soon after. But Maria Sama ga Miteru somehow managed to hold its place.

Forecast: I think it'll be good

Akikan!
http://www.melomelomelon.com/

About a guy met a girl that transformed from a can of melon juice (?!). One plus for this series is that the original illustrator is the artist for Shuffle!.

Forecast: I think it has 50/50 chance to go either way.

Shikabane Hime: Kuro
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/shikabanehime2/

This obviously is the Shikabane Hime: Aka's sequel. Though the production quality of the original is below average, it's still interesting. Since I'm already dragged into the story, I most likely will follow the second series as well.

Forecast: I think it'll be ok as long as it's no worse than first series.

Telepathy Girl Ran: Childish

Currently finished: Episode 20

It started off pretty interesting. Slowly, it become more of a detective story, but it was still intriguing. But recently, the story has been getting increasingly childish. While it doesn't really bother me too much, it just increase the boredom meter every time I watch it.

It really has been a slippery slop every since the first two major sub stories. It has gotten to a point that I don't feel it worth the 20 minutes of my time per week. But, since I've already invested so much time into it, I guess it wouldn't be too bad to put up with it a little longer for the remaining six episodes.

Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka: Boobs, Extremely Bouncy Boobs

Currently finished: Episode 8

So far it's been just a typical hentai game converted anime. I really don't have anything to say about it, except in the most recent episode, there's something just completely defies physics.

Maybe it's been there for a while I just didn't notice it, there are some extremely, I mean EXTREMELY bouncy boobs in episode 8. I know anime in general, especially hentai game converted anime tend to have boobs that are unreal, but I don't think I've seen a pair that moves so much. I don't even think water balloon this size would bounce this much.