Ichigo Mashimaro Review

Watched 11/2016

Type: TV
Completed Episodes: 12
Aired: Jul 2005 to Oct 2005
Premiered: Summer 2005
Producers: TBS, Movic
Studios: Daume

Ichigo Mashimaro is a manga adaptation originally by Barasui.

Gold

This anime has been described as tooth-rotting sweetness. It’s an apt description. This is about five girls, one who is 20, smokes and is in university (Itou) and four who are still in primary school and are best friends. Itou watches over the four young girls and their antics which often breed trouble. The four girls have fairly distinct personalities which mesh together well.

It’s cute, well designed and the animation is well done. I’m actually quite curious about the manga now because of the story itself. They are just silly little skits but they are very entertaining. There is a standard on about going to a festival, but there are also ones about finding jobs and losing weight.

Miu, in particular, is a strange mix of adorable and annoying. She’s extremely energetic and random. Which basically means she gets into the most trouble and is often the centre of attention. She does have a soft side too and gets lonely on occasion when the others don’t cater to her madness. Doesn’t stop the watcher wanting to strangle the girl at times but meh.

One thing which is amusing is the use of cigarettes in the programme. Itou smokes and it is an ongoing thing that she needs a part time job to pay for them and borrows money off her sister. In some ways, it makes it more realistic because people do smoke but I can’t imagine it happening in modern anime.

So it’s cute, has a good plot line and has good animation. Plus I enjoyed it lots. So Gold.

Aldnoah Zero Review

Aldnoah Zero

Completed 2015

Type: TV
Episodes: 24/24
Aired: Jul 6, 2014 to March 2015
A Manga adaptation, written by Pinakes

Aldnoah Zero is not a bad anime. But it suffers from some fatal flaws. The anime has a dramatic and sober air to it. With a plot that had potential to be something great but then something happened and I’m not sure what. It dropped. The action became generic. More generic than normal for an anime which involves one boy being able to defeat aliens no one else can. The plot as well went from very interesting, to a tale which we have all seen before in one shape or another.

The art was bland. Nothing special, the same crisp lines we have been seeing for a while. I was actually expecting it to be by the same director/designer of Owari no Serph but it is not so. There are occasional when I feel you could have copy and pasted the characters into each others stories and it would have had little effect.

Characters, like the art are your standard breed. Like someone just looked up what characters do you need in an Mecha anime. The Princess is bathed in a white dress, blonde with a heart as big as her green eyes. She loves everyone she meets but there are forces working against her. Spends much of the anime in cryogenics.

Her lady in waiting is a young girl who is naive and scared of everything. With the other girls, despite being soldiers they remain high school girls pretty much. Unable to do much, Even the main guys sister who was in the army from the beginning wails pathetically when things aren’t going right. No character growth at all. Ignoring one girl who is a plot point, but even her growth is your standard *yawn* seen it a million times.

The story is spilt between the two sides. Earth and Mars. Mars is a monarchy and as such is all proper and prim. No feeling and lot of multiplication and backstabbing. We watch as earth born Slaine finds to find his place in the Mars army to help his beloved princess. Facing discrimination along the way for being terran born. Slaine rarely showing emotion other than towards his princess and is very resourceful.

On the Earth side we watch Inaho, an emotionless boy who has fallen for the princess, fight to protect his friends and survive. All stoic and endlessly brooding. Knowing things that no one seems to understand. Either the characters nor the audience. I assure to give him some kind of mythical untouchable air. It makes a change from the cheeky rascal we are usually given except, with Slaine personally being so similar…

I only have one question for this anime. What happened to the originality we saw in the first season? This turned into another carbon copy which I would not recommend to anyone. So Bronze

Nichijou Review

Nichijou (My Ordinary Life)

Watched 2015

Type: TV
Episodes: 2/26
Aired: Apr, 2011 to Sep, 2011
Producers: Kyoto Animation, Lantis, Kadokawa Shoten, Movic, Rakuonsha,

Just your typical anime about everyday life for a bunch of atypical characters. It has a similar set up to lucky star in that in the two episodes that I watched, not a lot actually happened. The characters are terribly normal in there not-normality. Dull and not really well formed in my opinion. Its random but that it. Nothing to really pad out the randomness. I can see this working a comic strip and even as a week by week anime to pad out action. But watching this is one day just wouldn’t work

Maybe one day I will return to it when I’m a little less slice of life animed out. But this was just kind of boring for me. So Stone.

Yuri Kuma Arashi Review

Yuri Kuma Arashi

completed 2015

Type: TV
Episodes: 12/12
Aired: Jan, 2015 to Mar, 2015
Producers: Frontier Works, FUNimation Entertainment, Media Factory, Mainichi Broadcasting, Movic, Gentosha Comics
Studios: Silver Link

Yuri Kuma Arashi was an original anime project written by  Kunihiko Ikuhara, though the manga written for it was published before the anime was released.

In the beginning we hated you so

In the beginning we must have loved you to

And so we wanted to become true friends with you. To cross the wall

I’m not really sure how I am meant to feel about this anime. I guess a silver? I’m not likely to forget the plot and I think I enjoyed it. It’s very surreal. Like a strange cross between xxxholic and utena. With added Yuri, cannibalism and less guys.  This is a story is about the love and bonds we share and how the world likes to destroy those bounds. I called it cannibalism however its bears eating humans, admittedly disguised as humans but still the same.

We don’t really see any blood, but this anime is definitely NSFW. Containing a lot of suggestive scenes. Even in the opening there are a few moments of ummmm. Toe biting? Yuri in genre is not a genre I enjoy, and it was only because of my weekly challenge that I watched this. That and the artwork is not moe and has decent proportions. Unlike most things Silver link makes – thank god! I do have a limit with ecchi stuff and the appearance of the characters. Not to stay the artwork is pretty. Its very shoujo, almost CLAMP like. Big round eyes and long legs and bodies. The story is one with twists and deep symbolic meanings. This story is laced with symbolism and if you think this anime is as simple of bears wanting to eat humans, you would be wrong. If anything the idea of an ‘invisible storm’ is proof of this. Those who don’t fit in and conform to society’s ideas are excluded from the herd and left to be eaten by the bears. Not literally from the school, but rather from the herd’s events etc. Sound familiar? Just think of your own friends who are LGBT or simply not the standard model, how much they have to face from people. Society is not forgiving to those who stick out.

Love is more times than not in anime over sexualised. It’s refreshing to see any anime about love being more true and honest. Kureha is in love with Sumika. Even after she dies, she is determined to not spoilt that love, or friendship. Declaring for a while afterwards that she doesn’t want to make any more friends. Sumika is her only friend. Not that it doesn’t stop the others from trying. The storm taking more than one form once someone has been removed.

The bears, for reason of their own, wish to protect Kureha. Because one loves her due to the kindness showed to her once she was young. Refusing to give up on love. Eating girls who become a threat to Kureha, Jealousy. Love. Determination. Also lost chances. This anime covers the complexness which is love while keeping it sweet and innocent. For the most. But not only love itself but the fight people have to face against society’s view of their love. How people choose to get in the way of love. Because they don’t agree with it, or because they want it themselves.

Basically, this anime is deep. Very deep. With hidden means and a fantastic story line. Don’t be put off my the fact it is yuri or the fact it is surreal. It is a gem in the dust which likely deserved more attention that it got.

‘Is your love true?”

“Will you eat humans, or will you become invisible?”

So many deep references I’m not going to even begin because you could write papers on this anime!

For people who enjoyed this, I would recommend Utena. I did some researching and it turns out they are both directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara which explains the similar feelings between the two.

Ai Yori Aoshi Review

Ai Yori Aoshi (Bluer Than Indigo)

Watched 2009 roughly.

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 24/24

Aired: Apr, 2002 to Sep, 2002

Producers: J.C.Staff, FUNimation Entertainment, Movic, Fuji TV, Pioneer LDC, Cosmic Ray

Ai Yori Aoshi is a manga adaptation originally written by Kou Fumizuki

This anime is not one I remember much to at all, which makes my rating low anyway. I remembered it was about a normal guy who suddenly gets a traditional Japanese wife/fiancée. I didn’t remember they were childhood friends. I also remembered this anime gave me a similar feeling to Chobits/dearS but pretty much nothing else. Oh! Also that he is estranged from his family and thinks this is a set up.

Don’t get me wrong, I properly should re-watch this before reviewing but considering how much I remember of other series I watched at the same time, it doesn’t really give me a good enough incentive to try again. It suggests to me that I didn’t really enjoy this anime, or well, I enjoyed it enough to complete it but not enough to retain much about the story. Give its age and its genre types, its not really the sort of program I would watch now. Maybe in summer I will give it another change but not for the moment.

Sorry any fans of this anime, and I do encourage people to watch it themselves due to my lack of memory but bronze.

Inu x Boku SS Review

Inu x Boku SS (Inu X Boku Secret Service)

Watched 2015

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 12/12

Aired: Jan, 2012 to Mar, 2012

Producers: Aniplex, Square Enix,Mainichi Broadcasting, Movic, Sentai Filmworks

Inu X Boku SS is a Manga Adaptation, orginally written by  Cocoa Fujiwara.

Honestly, I’m not sure what happened with this show. Given the manga, it had the potential to be the next fruits basket with a cast of interesting and well developed characters and relationships. But the anime just does not measure up at all. The manga ran from 2009 to 2014, so while it was made before the manga was finished, there was still a good portion of the manga written in order to make this a good show. Its only 12 episodes after all. Maybe they were hoping for a second season but Inu x Boku SS was a fairly mundane and uninteresting anime. Entertainment at the minimum, all the jokes and potential there but not quite carried off.

We have a show about rich demon descendants who live in a apartment with their bodyguards and all the antics that brings. A girl named Ririchiyo Shirakiin moves into the Ayakashikan hoping for some peace and quiet. Instead, she finds herself with the service of the Secret Service agent, Sōshi Miketsukami who loves her very very much. Seriously Miketsukami is like a puppy when it comes to Ririchiyo. Willing to do anything to stay by her side. But it gets a little tiresome to be honest. Actually that word pretty much sums up how I feel about a lot of the characters ‘tiresome’. All their indivudual character gags are played so much and so little development the comedy fast becomes yawn worthy. Its not surprising only one season was made.

This anime just doesn’t seem to want to know what it is. Its got supernatural creatures who can fight, trying to live fairly normal lives with all the normal things that happen in a dysfunctional family. However it just is boring. The fights aren’t interesting and have no real purpose the majority of the time. Other than to declare, ‘hey remember we have powers! look at us!’. And the ‘normal’ everyday stuff often feels out of place. Like its not normal. Not even for them. Something is missing. I just can’t put my finger on it, other that a lot of the elements in this anime as lacking in entertainment value. It tries to be dark and funny at the same time and just doesn’t pull it off.  It’s not good enough to just give characters issues and throw in some gags for entertainment.

So. Bronze. It had all the ingredients were there but failed to make anything particularly good. Just your standard pretty show.

Kuroshitsuji Book of Circus/Murder Review

Kuroshitsuji Book of Circus/Murder

watched 2015

Circus:

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 10/10

Aired: Jul, 2014 to Sep, 2014

Producers: Aniplex, A-1 Pictures,Square Enix, FUNimation Entertainment, Mainichi Broadcasting,Movic

Murder: 

Type: OVA

Completed Episodes: 2/2

Aired: Oct, 2014 to Nov, 2014

Producers: A-1 Pictures, FUNimation Entertainment

The Book of Circus is the third season for Kuroshitsuji. But it is not a follow on from season 2. Season is a bullshit (noncanon) season which was no where near as good as the actual Kuroshitsuji story. The book of Circus is another Arc from the manga, as is the book of Murder. They are pretty early Arcs. It is truly a shame Kuroshitsuji couldn’t have been given an anime a year later but the producers made the correct decision in making these two arcs anyway. If you want to see my opinions on the first season, click here. 

Lord Ceil is back. With Sebastian and everyone else in co. This time he is investigating the disappearance of children when a certain circus act come to town. Cutting just a little too late into that wound of his. Welcome to the Circus and let the show begin! With old characters who are still brilliant, we are introduced to a whole new cast as Sebastian and Ceil go undercover at the circus to uncover the truth. The latest edition is brilliant and as clever as the first. Better in my opinion, though there is quite a gap in between me watching the two seasons. So the new characters.

Oh! The new characters. Such a tragic story they hold. Performers who were saved from a workhouse who are under the control of their mysterious benefactor. From Joker, the ring leader to Hansel and Greta. These new characters are a close family with one desire. Or do they? They kidnap the children on orders of their benefactor who have their ‘brothers and sisters’ hostage at the workhouse. So they work hard to protect them all and let them have a bright future. Unlike the poor souls who they have kidnapped. The benefactor who saved them from dying on the streets and paid for a doctor who give them prosthetics limbs to replace the ones which were lost to them.

Nothing is as it seems in the circus as it becomes increasingly apparent. I enjoyed meeting all these characters and though the story which was told was inspired. The ending was very sad for me, and almost heart breaking as Ciel laughs in the ruins of it all. Declaring that’s what it means to be human. Sebastian looking slightly lost for words. The season isn’t all gloom and doom though and there are plenty of comedy moments. Including Grell getting jealous as he see a soul having sex with Sebastian as he is watching her life. Also Ciel gets restrained from leaving his house several times, thanks to the nature of his housekeepers.  Oh and this moment.

All in all a marvelous edition to the Kuroshitsuji family. Which leads on to the Book of Murder. A two episode Ova which takes place directly after the book of Circus. Where we have a cluedo like mystery of a killer in the house during a storm. With Arthur Wordsmith (who is based of Arthur Conan Doyle) as a character.

Sebastian is an amazing character and these Ova’s only reiterate that. Ciel’s acting is tested many times as the Queen, unhappy with Ciel’s dealing of the circus case, has him set up for murder. Except they manage to prove him innocent. After all, he was not the killer. The book of murder was a wonderfully spun together mystery plot which had me on the edge of my seat trying to work out who the killer was. Sebastian and cats though! Too cute! Plus Ciel’s reaction is priceless. As is the servants when they realise Sebastian isn’t dead. (Spoilers? Not really. He’s a demon, he can’t die that easily). I loved these Ovas to pieces and hope they decide to make season 4, which should be the titanic arc.

Also at the end of the book of Murder, Ciel gets a new servant, who shall remain a mystery here. Go watch! Gold.

Kuroshitsuji Season 1 Review

Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) 

Watched 2010 roughly 

This is only for season 1 because of the gap between be watching season 1 and the book of circus/murder. Season 2 does not exist to me.

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 24/24

Aired: Oct, 2008 to Mar, 2009

Producers: Aniplex, A-1 Pictures,Square Enix, FUNimation Entertainment, Yomiko Advertising,Mainichi Broadcasting, Movic.

Kuroshitsuji is an manga adaptation written by Yana Toboso.

Last week is seemed the generator was telling me to review all the reverse harem video game adaptations I have watched. This week, it appears to be giving me animes which were made before the manga was finished. Not to say the ending to this was not well done. Black Butler 1 was an excellently made anime. Though one known for being slightly dodgy due to the artwork and the fact the author is known for drawing Yaoi. But this is very unique anime.

Set in Victorian Britain, 12 year old Lord Ciel Phantomhive works as the Queen’s guard dog. Fixing the problems the underworld of the British empire causes without anyone knowing. How? With the help of his demon butler. Sebastian. As Ciel works, he seeks to understand and unravel the plot behind Ciel’s parents’ murder, and the horrendous tragedies which Ciel was focused to experience at the age of 10. He was a slave and sacrifice for a ritual. He was torture enough that he had enough hatred to summon Sebastian. The contact is simple, Sebastian can eat Ciel’s soul when Ciel has found the people responsible for the travesty.  Ciel has a crest in his eye which when revealed lets Sebastian see where he is. To stop him practically and also to save him when needed, and given Ciel’s job, that happens more than often your normal teenage boy.

Ciel is a young teenager noble. He’s stuck up, bratty and traumatised. His family is gone and the only family member he has left after all this, he ends up having to remove. All he can count on is a demon butler who while dutiful, likes to play games. Which Ciel is fine with because he plays games back. Ciel is one of those characters you can’t help but like, though you find yourself half to time wanting to slap him and the other half wanting to hug him.

Sebastian is suave and extremely skilled. He can fight, defy the laws of physics and is devoted to being the perfect butler. He also loves cats. Something which is very amusing when Ciel is allergic to them. He can charm anyone, and in true demon fashion can terrify anyone as well. His and Ciel’s relationship is one of Master and servant. Sebastian will go out of his way to ensure his Lord’s needs are met but Ciel is just food to him. He is just watching as Ciel’s soul falls deeper and deeper into sin. And Ciel’s mentality does seem to decrease as the anime progresses, however arguably that is due to the dark and gory events he endures every day. He is, after all, a child. Something which erks Ceil greatly as no one takes him seriously as result. Something which he does occasionally use to his own advantage.

On top of two very well developed characters we have some excellent side characters. All four Phantomhive servants are incompetent at their jobs but amazing at killing people. All having been hunted down by Sebastian to serve on the household. Apart from one who is the oldest servant and is completely unfazed by everything which occurs. We have  grim reapers, who hate demons. Grell is my favourite. Grell is your flamboyant gay character who is slightly obsessed with death and Sebastain. You can’t miss him, he’s the one all in red with a chainsaw as a unlicensed scythe. And many more. So watch it and fall into the deep dark depths of the Victorian underworld. Fall of politics magic and murder.

This anime is a little piece of gold in my eyes and I was very sad when I finished it. I looked forward to the 2 season and was greatly disappointed.

Ookami to Koushinryou Review

Ookami to Koushinryou (Spice and Wolf)

Watched 2010 roughly

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 13/13

Aired: Jan, 2008 to May, 2008

Producers: Imagin, FUNimation Entertainment, Victor Entertainment,Pony Canyon, Movic, Kadokawa Pictures USA, Kadokawa Pictures Japan

Spice and wolf is light novel adaptation written by Isuna Hasekura, and drawn by Ayakura Juu.

Spice and wolf is one of those animes that if you would describe it to a friend, they were properly say ‘That sounds boring’ but its not. Spice and Wolf is one of those anime’s which take you an adventure and not one you first expect.

Travelling merchant, Kraft Lawrence is wandering from town to town with just his horse and cart when one night Lawrence finds a wolf goddess asleep in his cart. Horo, who takes the form of a beautiful girl with wolf ears and a tail. Horo was once the local harvest god however with the spread of the church and as time as once on, the villagers have forgotten there agreement with her. Leaving her bonded and weary. They strike up a bargain between the two of them for Horo to lend him the cunning of “Horo the Wisewolf” to increase his profits in exchange for taking her along on his travels.

But having Horo alone for the journey is no easy matter when the church is tightening its power in the region and country is falling into disrepair. This is set in a country where the golden age is over and the world is beginning to change in a way with will make life harder for people like Lawrence and for beings like Horo. The two of them working together to survive and see the world.

The tale is a refreshing on and doesn’t rely on fan-service or beach scenes to make the plot. Instead it is very unique in its take on life and how the world they reside in works. There is no ever lasting goal in this anime, what this is is a simple story about people. Just one of them is a wolf god who loves apples and is very curious about the changes in the world she has last seen it.

I don’t think I have done nearly a good job as review this anime as I could, but I do love it. So Platinum. 

Amnesia Review

Amnesia
Watched 2014

Type: TV

Completed Episodes: 4/12

Aired: Jan, 2013 to Mar, 2013

Producers: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Frontier Works, Brains Base, Movic, AT-X, DAX Production,Sentai Filmworks, Showgate

I wanted to like this. It was pretty. Visually, Amnesia was stunning, which some of the most unique designs I had seen in a while. I would also like to comment at this stage that I watched Amnesia soon after getting back into anime again. This almost made me stop and back out.

The only way I can justify this is that it works better in a game format when you are playing the Heroine instead of watching her. Most of the boys are dicks to her. Also Shin killed sort of killed someone. No he didn’t. There is so much angst in this anime! I imagine that is the reason it is so popular with teenage girls. To me, its honestly just grating.

 

 

The girl is having memory problems and none of them notice. Wait a tick! The girl you love isn’t acting her normal self? None of you notice? She barely specks up for herself. Something which again I assume is to do with the fact this was adapted from a game where you would pick the responses. I hope. Its hard to tell if people actually think girls should act like this or if its just a bad character design they like to use.

The mystery element is the Heroine’s memory. Kind of. There is more to it then that. I actually guessed what was happening and looked it up. The plot for the mystery is not bad at all. But the crappy attempt at romance, and a flimsy led female character just made this almost unbearable to me.

So to me. Stone. Its not even worth a bronze in my eyes. I know people will disagree but this is my opinion. I shall now continue to live my life.