Thanks, I’ll take two.

Reviewed this week: Allison and Lillia 13, Antique Bakery 2, Blade of the Immortal 1, Hidamari Sketch x365 2, Itazura na Kiss 14, Koihime Musou 2, Natsume Yuujinchou 2, Persona 13-17, Ryoko’s Case File 1, Someday’s Dreamers ~Summer Skies~ 2, Telepathy Shoujo Ran 4, Wagaya no Oinari-sama 12-13

…and in manga: Ayu and Mayu 1, Bartender 4-6, Claymore 81, Elfen Lied 86-8, Gunslinger Girl 51-6, Minami-ke 32-3, Nodame Cantabile 120, Sketchbook 8-12, Tsubasa Chronicle 193

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Chi’s Sweet Home (1)- Chi plays
2. Kaiba (2) – who am I?
3. Soul Eater (3) – best exam ep ever
4. Hidamari Sketch x365 (4) – 365 times the fun
5. xxxHOLiC Kei (6) – typhoid Himawari
6. Natsume Yuujinchou (5) – Book of Friends
7. Nabari no Ou (7) – change of side
8. Wagaya no Oinari-sama (8) – hot springs
9. Slayers Revolution (10) – Dragon Slave
10. Persona Trinity Soul (9) – catch-up, start!
11. Koihime Musou (11) – Guan Yu has more breasts and less beard
12. World Destruction (12) – cats
13. Real Drive (13) – chat program
14. Someday’s Dreamers ~Summer Skies~ (15) – slooowww start
15. Ryoko’s Case File (-) – superintendant <-new!
16. Amatsuki (14) – Kuchiha
17. Antique Bakery (16) – super gay demon
18. Telepathy Shoujo Ran (17) – predictable
19. Himitsu (18) – faceless
20. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (-) – secret otaku
21. Blade of the Immortal (-) – immortal worms <- new!
22. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (19) – kyouran kaizoku
23. Itazura na Kiss (20) – dislikeable cast
24. Allison and Lillia (21) – Travas-ty (sorry, Hanners)
25. Chocolate Underground (22) – chocolate is forbidden

Allison and Lillia 13: Maybe I’m just getting old, but between this and Itazura na Kiss, romance and its recent depiction in anime has really angried up the blood. Hardly the bastion of worth at the best of times, the final episode of the Allison arc rejoins our protagonists now that they are living together- although aside from the wedding rings you’d be hard-pressed to realise they actually had a relationship. Still, Allison and Wil seem happy enough, until Major Stork (or whatever his name is this week) decides that Wil should join his intelligence agency, which will necessitate leaving Allison and changing his very identity. What’s a guy to do when a suspicious mass murderer with lax parenting values tells you to leave the love of your life? Apparently, you should go along with it- and worse yet, Allison supports Wil’s decision, even failing to tell him that she’s just found out she’s pregnant.

So, after saying “I love you” for the first time as he leaves on the train, we flash forward fifteen years, where Allison is now living with her daughter Lillia, and going out with one Major Travas- who happens to be Wil with different coloured hair. So, if he could be Allison’s boyfriend, why did he have to leave forever? Why couldn’t he have just said no and got an academic job at the university or something? It took Allison long enough to get Wil to go out with her, so why did he have to be taken away? Or was such an emotionally stunted man even worth it in the first place?

Antique Bakery 2: The strawberries of doom seem to have taken a backseat this week as former boxer Eiji joins the Antique team- but despite being hired as a receptionist, his love of cake sees him train under HARD GAY chef. Although not quite as parody-worthy as the opening instalment, there’s still potential amidst the banter, not to mention a scene in which our protagonists pipe cream into holes in choux pastry.

*NEW* Blade of the Immortal 1: Giving an action series to Bee Train is like asking a three-year-old to paint the Mona Lisa- you just know that what you’re going to end up with will be a mess that bears very little resemblance to what you asked for. Anyway, in this series we meet a man who has worms inside him that grant immortality (no guffawing, please), but due to his past as a killer, practically everyone is after him- forcing him to kill again and again. Unfortunately, since straightforward action might strain the animation team at Bee Train, everything has to take place either off screen between still shots, or in a darkened room so that a minimum of detail needs to be shown. It’s not terribly interesting, but the series is short enough that it shouldn’t become another El Cazador de la Roots.

Hidamari Sketch x365 2: After last episode’s prequel to season one, we jump ahead to the end of the school year, with Sae’s sister Chika taking entrance exams and everyone else reflecting on how much has happened since they first came to the Hidamari Apartments. It’s another worthy dose of slice-of-life, although I wonder whether we’ll be jumping back to familiar old territory next episode or seeing everyone moving up to the next school year.

Itazura na Kiss 14: And now to the second romance fiasco of the week- the legendary wedding episode of Itazura na Kiss, in which all the development that didn’t happen in the first half of the series is crammed into one episode. Despite having been a complete bastard who treated her like dirt for half a series, Naoki can’t bear the thought of Kotoko marrying Kin-chan (and who could, really), and so he takes it upon himself to propose to her- because despite a large body of evidence to the contrary, he actually does have feelings for her. I assume I’m supposed to sigh and say ‘how romantic’, but come on- shouldn’t they at least go out for a while before getting engaged?

As if that wasn’t enough, however, Naoki’s mother decides it’s too dangerous for them not to get hitched straightaway, and even though a wedding costs about £20-30,000 on average, it somehow all gets arranged within the space of a week. Unreality aside, what happened to “marry in haste, repent at leisure”? Shouldn’t people get married because they want to, rather than because their mother forced them into it before they changed their mind? How can we enjoy such a poorly paced relationship? Isn’t Naoki just a bastard no matter how you look at it?

Oh, for goodness sake- get over yourself.

Koihime Musou 2: The great thing about Koihime Musou is that even though nothing momentous is ever going to happen, I love the Three Kingdoms and the character designs, I can have a fun time spotting them. This week, our heroines link up with the slightly HARD YURI Zhao Yun and Gongsun Zan in order to bust yet another den of generic looking bandits. I get the feeling that this will be the pattern for the series, but if we get to see all the Three Kingdoms favourites as beautiful women, who cares?

Natsume Yuujinchou 2: The returning of contracts is going well enough until a tiny shrine gods shows up to ask for his back, only for Natsume to realise it is stuck to another page in the Book of Friends. Since ripping the pages apart would be damaging to the spirits named within, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei must instead track down the other spirit so that they can both be released at the same time. There’s still a feeling of ‘why does it have to be this way?’ about the whole series, since it seems there must be easier ways for Natsume and Nyanko-sensei to achieve their goals, but the episode is nonetheless a solid one that builds to a decent conclusion- and let’s face it, Nyanko-sensei in cat form is worth the price of admission any day.

*NEW* Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 1: Although it sounds a lot like Kare Kano, I was immediately drawn to the idea of a ‘perfect girl’ who is a secret otaku- is it something I can identify with (well, apart from the fact that I’m far from perfect and my love of anime isn’t a secret)? Unfortunately, this episode isn’t really as exciting as I hoped, featuring a male lead who cooks for his two slobbish female flatmates for some reason, and naturally ends up discovering the perfect Nogizaka Haruka’s secret. His first job as her ‘accomplice’ is to return a manga magazine to the library after hours- hardly a terribly interesting start.

Persona Trinity Soul 13-17: During the first half of the series, I was fully prepared to accept that Persona would improve later on, but now that I’ve made inroads into the later episodes, I can’t say I’m entirely convinced. Although I admit that there are little details that would probably stand out as foreshadowing were I to go back and watch earlier episodes again, apart from Ryou’s undisclosed fate, not a great deal has actually happened. It just all feels too bland to care about- I’m more interested in buying the original game than anything this anime can offer.

*NEW* Ryoko’s Case File 1: Meet the typical detective odd couple- the beautiful and near flawless woman with a harsh personality and her loyal, long-suffering male aide. Together, they solve supernatural cases, and although there’s a lot of visual style to their antics, so far there has been little substance. In fact, aside from a humorous exchange between Ryoko and her rival, this episode wasn’t terribly interesting in terms of content- it’s only the characters that’s going to keep me watching for now.

Someday’s Dreamers ~Summer Skies~ 2: I have to admit that this is an improvement on the treacle slow first episode, but even so, there’s a lot of padding in this new series of Someday’s Dreamers- let’s face it, I don’t need to look at Photoshopped landscapes and listen to insert songs. When it gets to the story, however, this season is decent enough, with Sora attending her first magic class and meeting the usual line-up of characters- seemingly uncaring young man who probably has an ill sister, dead parents or some other family tragedy; rival magic user who aims to be class rep and top of the class and of course the amiable best friend type. There’s nothing her we haven’t seen before, but if the series can provide actual content, it should be solid enough, if not a patch on the original.

Telepathy Shoujo Ran 4: I’m beginning to think about parodying this series, and only the fact that the queue already contains several other series is putting me off. This time around, our heroes go on holiday to a village where something seems amiss- indeed, they even comment that something doesn’t seem right after the villagers threaten them with pitchforks (you think?). Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the suspicious village arc, so we’ll have to wait until next week to see the thrilling conclusion.

Wagaya no Oinari-sama 12-13: It’s another double bill of predictability for Wagaya, starting with the obligatory hot springs episode in which everyone kicks back and relaxes, leaving poor Tohru to get menaced by a demon, and then proceeding to the equally obligatory culture festival. Fortunately, in the latter episode we do at least meet up with a new fox- a silver one nicknamed Tama-san who I’ve been waiting to see ever since I glimpsed them in the OP- whilst Sakura’s obsession with being the only woman for Noboru continues to be highly entertaining.

MANGA

*NEW* Ayu and Mayu 1: I think we all know by now that I pick up manga based on titles that have even the vaguest connection to things I’m familiar with, and indeed, this series was chosen because of Ayu and Mayu from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (who have absolutely nothing to do with this manga, might I add). In fact, the series is more like Chokotto Sister II, featuring an older brother who tracks down two girls- one of whom is his long-lost little sister. Whilst he tries to figure out which is which, we’re treated to the usual rounds of fanservice and light entertainment, and whilst I can hardly call it good, this is a decent enough “brain lite” opening chapter.

Bartender 4-6: Although I feel I’m losing something through an imperfect translation, the Bartender manga continues to deliver what the anime couldn’t- tranquil enjoyment. First off, Ryu is asked to placate a foreign architect before he cancels an important job, but will even the promise of the oldest liquor in the world be enough after Ryu criticises the design of the bar? Next, Ryu’s friend decides to get close to the mysterious cabaret girl Akiko, but there is more to this strong and lonely young woman than meets the eye. Finally, a legendary bartender stops by Ryu’s bar, but will he be impressed with the young man’s talent? All of these chapters are calm, pleasant character pieces, with Ryu having far more personality than his more polished anime self did.

Claymore 81: Raki is back, and his newfound maturity has made him more likable, but why is he travelling with Priscilla? And what’s more, why has Priscilla forsaken eating humans to the point where her body has shrunk to that of a child, putting her at the very limits of hunger? Meanwhile, after encountering this strange pair, Claymore number six- Rene- heads off on her way, only to fall into a trap set by Awakened Beings. Thank goodness Claymore is improving all the time, whetting my appetite for more.

Elfen Lied 86-8: As volume ten ends and eleven begins, Nana is reunited with her Papa, but after Evil Scientist feels a rare moment of remorse and releases Barbara from his control, she turns on him and immediately heads off to dispatch both of them. Meanwhile, now that Main Villain has Lucy in his custody, he is free to do the obligatory explanation of his plans, telling her how the Diclonius are merely the resurgence of the powers his family once had- powers they lost and then attempted to regain by breeding near a radioactive lake where the mutation rate was high. He wants Lucy to bear his child and become the Eve of a new race, but all she wants is to go back and live with everyone. Now that the end is in sight, the pace is ramping up, but what will the outcome be? Whatever the case, there’s bound to be violence aplenty.

Gunslinger Girl 51-6: With Angelica gone, Triela knows that her time is running out- a fact that Hilshire is also well aware of. Desperate not to shorten her lifespan any longer, he takes on the next job alone, but when Triela finds out what she has done, she runs off into the night- and only the intervention of some old friends stop her from falling foul of the mafia. Now the time has come for Triela to finally learn of her connection to Hilshire’s past, but how will knowing the truth change their relationship? These are tragic times for one of my favourite characters, and it’s unlikely that there will be any sort of happy ending, but no matter how depressing it gets, Gunslinger Girl is still as excellent as ever.

Minami-ke 32-3: First up, we have the familiar segment in which Kana tries to get Chiaki to sleep in by making her stay up late, only to have them both babble for hours before falling asleep in the living room- it’s an amusing segment, but an uncomfortable reminder of how much I hate having my sleep interrupted. Next, Takeru comes over and manages to find all sorts of hidden items simply by dropping a pen in a straightforward yet utterly hilarious instalment. More of the same, please.

Nodame Cantabile 120: Whilst Chiaki spends his time practising with Rui for their upcoming performance, not being able to see him has hit Nodame hard- but at the same time, these feelings of despair might be just what she needs to bring out the best in her Beethoven. And with exams just around the corner, everyone’s going to have bring something special to their music if they want to stay in Paris- but who will succeed, and who will fail? Will this manga go on forever? Will I even mind if it does?

Sketchbook 8-12: Even though it doesn’t seem particularly long, these chapters complete the first volume of Sketchbook with more 4-koma goodness and plenty of cats; not only is this one of the most consistently funny 4-koma series I’ve read, but it also outmatches the anime by keeping things light and amusing instead of trying to inject some forced thoughtfulness. Here’s hoping for even more cats in the next volume.

Tsubasa Chronicle 193: It’s flashback extravaganza again this chapter, as Syaoran’s week with Sakura slowly draws to a close. What will happen when he goes back and Sakura finishes purification ceremony? Do we even care anymore?

This week, we have “not enough time and inclination to watch all the anime that was released edition”. Enjoy.

Reviewed this week: El Cazador de la Bruja 25-6, Clannad 3, Dennou Coil 17-18, ef 3, Genshiken 2 3, Gundam 00 3, Higurashi Kai 15, Kaiji 3, Mokke 2-3, Shana II 3, Shion no Ou 1

…and in manga: Akagi 6, Bartender 3, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 11

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Dennou Coil (1) – the best of the best of the best, sir!
2. Oh! Edo Rocket (2) – I love this show!
3. Kaiji (5) – nice gambling boat
4. SaiMono II (3) – art thief
5. Baccano! (4) – eternal life
6. Genshiken 2 (9) – Comi-Fes
7. Minami-ke (8) – Ichigo Mashimaro II
8. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (11) – I’m in despair!
9. Shion no Ou (-) – it’s a trap <- new!
10. Moyashimon (12) – cute microbes
11. Mokke (10)- seven flowers of autumn
12. Sketchbook ~full color’S~ (13) – lots of cats
13. Clannad (14) – sad girls in springtime
14. Gundam 00 (15) – double balls
15. Rental Magica (17)- episode seemed to go on forever
16. Koutetsu Sangokushi (18) – pure HARD GAY
17. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (20) – Takano meets Hitler
18. ef- a tale of memories (16)- tomorrow’s me won’t be the same
19. Shakugan no Shana II (19)- harem+1
20. Romeo X Juliet (23) – what’s the point anymore?
21. El Cazador de la Bruja (24) – it’s over!! <- complete!

El Cazador de la Bruja 25-6: At long last it’s over and we’re free of the boredom of El Cazador, although it wasn’t about to go down without a fight. Episode 25 is the actual conclusion to the plot (such as it is), with the dull final boss fight against Rosenberg, whilst episode 26 is an excruciatingly boring epilogue in which Ellis and Nadie are living quietly until the HARD GAY guys from the first few episodes (now grossly overweight) show up and spur them to start travelling again- this time for the sake of it. What an underwhelming ending to the world’s most incredibly dull series.

Clannad 3: Since I just mindlessly take the advice of commenters, I watched Clannad episode three subbed, and whilst it made some of the humour easier to pinpoint, my lack of need to concentrate as hard rendered large sections of it quite dull. In this episode, Tomoya and Nagisa make some small effort to re-establishing the drama club, Fuko gives Tomoya a wooden star, Nagisa’s mother gets upset over bread-related matters again and comic relief Sunohara is once again the target of amusing violence. The only moment that really hit home as being better in the subbed version was the opening scene about the girl and her mechanical robot.

Dennou Coil 17-18: It’s been a while, so let me start by reaffirming my love for Dennou Coil, one of the few series that can shake off the general apathy I have been feeling towards anime lately. Anyway, this double bill continues the excellence as we inevitably knew it would, as Isako tries to use her kirabugs to create an encode that will open a portal to the mysterious other world- the place where the souls of Kanna and her brother may be trapped. Mere words cannot express how much I love this series and its central mystery, but I desperately need more, and even when the series is over I shall crave fresh exploration of its imaginative world.

*HIATUS* ef- a tale of memories 3: The somewhat distractingly extreme aspect ratio of this episode aside (seriously, what was up with that?), I’ve decided to move ef to the backburner for now- I’m struggling to fit in all this anime as it is, and after this episode, I’m in no hurry to follow this series up. Although the first half, which focused once again on Renji, Chihiro and the subject of memory loss, wasn’t too bad, once we switched over to Hirono and the other characters, I swiftly lost interest. This latter aspect of the series is not only turning into generic harem, but it is hard to see how it can possibly develop. Since the series is only 12 episodes overall, I will probably get back to it some day, but for now there’s no need to clutter up my schedule.

Genshiken 2 3: The Comi-Fes arc comes to a worthy end in this episode, as we see our intrepid team selling their doujinshi with the aid of cosplay and even some crossplay. It’s an enjoyable ‘seller’s take’ on the Comic Festival, but the preview for the next episode promises even better things to come.

*HIATUS* Gundam 00 3: What am I doing, even pretending to be a Gundam fan? I won’t deny I haven’t enjoyed selected episodes of certain series, but to religiously follow a Gundam series week by week is a step too far- especially when this instalment was so boring that I can barely remember what happened. I think I’ll let a good lot of episodes build up before I get back to this one.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 15: As I’d hoped, we cover more of Takano’s back story in this episode, explaining how she escaped the clutches of the generically cruel orphanage and came to live with Doctor Takano Hifumi and study Hinamizawa Syndrome. Although she was quite a sympathetic and hard done by character in the past, however, it does nothing to change the fact that in the present she is a villain of gwakaka class, whilst Hinamizawa Syndrome can never be anything other than ridiculous.

Kaiji 3: Poor Kaiji- no sooner had he formed a group of three to fight the odds together than one of his new allies tries to cheat him, although as it turns out he fails and Kaiji lets him rejoin. It seems, however, that this desperate situation has honed our hero’s tactical ability, and through the fog of desperation the slimmest thread of hope appears- but will it be enough to overcome the odds? Since Kaiji is the hero, we can assume he will indeed win the star chips needed to get off the boat, but never before has the build up to a game of rock paper scissors been so absorbing. Bring on the next episode.

Mokke 2-3: Mokke continues to entertain in these next two episodes; first an instalment in which Mizuki is possessed by a being claiming to be a god- and whatever he is, he certainly seems to want to help. Next up is an instalment in which Shizuru gets worried about a being she can see attached to her best friend’s brother- both tales are fairly standard and predictable, but with a touch more thoughtfulness than the average series would give them.

Shakugan no Shana II 3: Laziness caused me to watch this episode subbed after all, but sadly it did not really enhance the experience. Hecate-a-like Konoe has joined school as a new transfer student, and whilst she immediately takes the role of shy and clueless harem member, Shana becomes determined to see if she is indeed an enemy. Naturally, all evidence points to Konoe being no more than she seems, which as we viewers could have guessed, is all part of a clever plan. I still feel compelled to stick with this series through franchise loyalty, but it will probably go on hiatus soon.

*NEW* Shion no Ou 1: In the memory of Hikaru no Go, I’ve decided to whet my appetite for Asian board games with Shion no Ou, the tale of a mute shougi genius who witnessed the bloddy deaths of her parents seven years ago. Although it doesn’t yet seem to be certain as to whether it wants to focus on the murder mystery or straight up shougi playing, this is still good enough to warrant a fair chance, especially with such unique characters as a trap who is trying to become a female pro (apparently faster than becoming a male pro) to earn money for his sick mother.

MANGA

Akagi 6: Akagi continues to dominate against Ryuuzaki, but there’s a nasty surprise waiting in the wings- rep player Yagi. Will this first time player be able to stand up to a yakuza pro, or will he crumble and cause the series to end prematurely? Well, it’s hardly difficult to guess what’s coming, and reading in small graphically inferior chunks isn’t as satisfying as marathoning 26 episodes of anime, but a little bit of Akagi here and there will help keep the GAR meter ticking over.

Bartender 3: The eponymous Bartender returns for a third outing in this chapter, in which two very different people show up at his bar- one a hard-working office lady, the other a young man who has tried and failed to get into the acting scene. Could it be that the same drink will help them both find their path in life? Yes, it’s that simple, but it is the straightforwardness and brevity of this chapter that makes it far more enjoyable than the animated version was- these are just satisfyingly short vignettes rather than painfully drawn out experiences.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 11: Another short chapter, this time about tanabata wishes, prompting Sensei to reflect how they may as well write down their most hopeless desires. It’s not the nest chapter I’ve read, but again this series needs to be read in more than one chapter chunks.

Reviewed this week: Baccano! 7, El Cazador 24, Clannad 1, Darker than Black 24-5, Higurashi Kai 12-13, Mononoke 9, Mushi Uta 11, Oh! Edo Rocket 16-18, SaiMono II 20, Seirei no Moribito 24

…and in manga: Bartender 2, Chokotto Sister 45, Spiral Alive 8-10

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Dennou Coil (1) – the best of the best of the best, sir!
2. Oh! Edo Rocket (3) – I love this show!
3. SaiMono II (2) – four men in a closet
4. Baccano! (4) – eternal life
5. Mushi-Uta (5) – best episode yet
6. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (6) – I’m in despair!
7. Mononoke (7) – incense
8. Darker than Black (8) – it’s over <-complete!
9. Clannad (-) – sad girls in springtime <- new!
10. Doujin Work (9) – this is becoming a guilty pleasure
11. Koutetsu Sangokushi (10) – pure HARD GAY
12. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (11) – evil uncle
13. Seirei no Moribito (12) – the egg must hatch
14. Romeo X Juliet (13) – what’s the point anymore?
15. El Cazador de la Bruja (14) – the end is in sight

Baccano! 7: It’s a change of pace this week in Baccano, as we jump back in time over 200 years, to a stormy night in 1711 when a bunch of seafarers eagerly awaiting alchemist Maiza’s attempt to summon a demon and thus gain the knowledge of the Elixir of Life. Although it doesn’t really help me with unravelling the plot in the present, it’s good to have an episode where I can actually follow what is going on, as we learn of the truth behind the immortality elixir, as well as Szilard’s origins and the reason for the ‘incomplete product’ of earlier episodes. It’s somewhat odd that what I thought was going to be a straightforward historical series has now taken such a definite turn into the realms of fantasy, but I’m all for it if the result is good.

I should also remember this time around to comment on the show’s music, which has some good tracks mixed in.

El Cazador de la Bruja 24: The time has come for Nadie and Ellis to confront Rosenberg in the shootout of all shootouts, in an action-packed episode filled to the brim with gunfights and tension…but then again, we could just have a dull exposition-filled exchange before Rosenberg goes off to have HARD GAY with LA and set him up to kill Ricardo (if you’re in any doubt as to which option was chosen, you clearly don’t have the first inkling about this series). I have to admit the first part of the fight between LA and Ricardo had the one tiny piece of decent action we’ve had all series, but once again it was a struggle to sit through the entire episode without wanting to resort to self-mutilation.

*NEW* Clannad 1: Since I randomly felt like watching this raw, the first episode of Clannad has been watched, and whilst it didn’t wow me on any front, it was entertaining enough to warrant continuing with. Although not as visually accomplished as Kanon or as blessed with good story as Air, Clannad gets off to a reasonable start with some light-hearted content (and hints of not-so-light-hearted back story), as well as the new fetish food of the season- anpan (throw out that taiyaki and those choco cornets).

Yay, a cat.

*COMPLETE* Darker than Black 24-25: It came in with a bang and out with a whimper (get your minds out of the gutter, people), but now Darker than Black is over, and for me, it was a journey not unlike that of Noein (without the ridiculous wait for episodes to be subbed). For the first few arcs, I adored this series, but in due course all its “1337er than 1337” seeped away, leaving only “duller than dull”. Call me foolish, simplistic or unaccomplished for not appreciating the second half of this so-called masterpiece, but it truly did waste its potential (ironically after FUNimation announced the license), dragging itself over the finish line in such a way that made me cease to care about the characters and the world they inhabited. Better luck next time, BONES.

“Don’t mind us, we’re naked.”

The Naruto cosplayers are out in force.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai 12-13: I think my enthusiasm for Higurashi can be plainly seen by the way I acquire episodes and then forget to watch them for at least a week, resulting in these staggered double bill reviews. Anyway, in between bouts of laughing at the ridiculousness of ‘Hinamizawa Syndrome’, I made it through another two episodes, in which Takano reveals herself to be a shallow gwakaka-class evil, before everyone dies…again. I guess this whole arc would have been more interesting if I hadn’t read detailed spoilers beforehand, but there you go.

“Gwakaka, I am evil! I bet you didn’t see that one coming!”

Mononoke 9: The incense arc concludes in this episode, in which the medicine seller must unravel the mystery of the mansion, with a few twists that you may or not guess before their revelation. This has truly been my favourite arc so far, and it’s at times like this that it seems a shame that Mononoke only clocks in a twelve episodes total- unlike Ayakashi, it had the potential to go on for a lot longer.

Mushi-Uta 11: It’s the penultimate episode (of the first season, at least), and Mushi-Uta isn’t about to hold back in putting its lead characters through hell, as Rika finds the odds stacked against her at GARDEN, Shiina meets up with the ‘Voracious Eater’ who helped to create Hosts and Daisuke reaches his limit. It’s a bold move for a series that’s secured another season, but it does make for some good action and drama, with a few revelations about the origins of Hosts and an evil bishie thrown in for good measure.

Oh! Edo Rocket 16-18: It’s time for another welcome triple bill of Oh! Edo Rocket, and with the series well into its second half, our characters are about to learn that some secrets cannot be kept forever. Naturally, the status quo (such as it is) is turned entirely upside down when Ginjiro’s identity as a Man in Black and Sora’s true form are revealed, but how will our eclectic cast react to these discoveries? Will Akai and the blue monster turn over a new leaf, or is any act of kindness on their part just a means to an end? Will Seikichi lose heart, or is he still up for finishing that rocket to the moon? Will the magistrate ever bother to update his review blog? Find out all this and more on Oh! Edo Rocket, the only show that can bring you action, drama, comedy and some darker moments, all wrapped in one well animated package.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 20: After all the drama and seriousness of people dying, SaiMono is plunging straight into a lighter arc, involving fake paintings, our new characters, and a reminder to Shuurei that career may not be the be all and end all of life (even so, the last thing I want is for her to give up her ambitions). Although much of the humour cannot be appreciated at my low level of comprehension, no translation is needed for a hilarious scene in which Ryuuki, Shuuei, Seiran and Kouyuu all end up in a small closet together. Parody was born for moments like these.

Seirei no Moribito 24: Since my harsh words on Seirei last week upset David, I’ve decided to present my views in a more euphemistic way this time around. This week, our leads spent a solid amount of time in reasoned and stationary debate, before proceeding forth to find Chagum and La Lunga before the poor boy gets ripped apart. Unfortunately, there are still more details to be revealed about the nature of the egg within Chagum, and when it seems as if it will be problematic no matter what, Torogai must decide what to do next. In the meantime, the flowers that made a brief yet important appearance in an earlier episode now prove to have some relevance to the main story, which would be a nice touch if this were two hour movie and not twenty-six episodes of measured pacing.

MANGA
Bartender 2: It’s been a while, but I finally have another chapter of Bartender to read, and happily it remains a lot better than the animated version. In this chapter, our eponymous bartender must try to guess the favourite drink of a particularly hard-to-please customer, who wants it made just like “the master” used to. Well, it’s the same old formula, but at least here the bartender isn’t invincible, and the conclusion is rather amusing.

Chokotto Sister 45: It’s crunch time in this chapter as Haruma’s cousin teases Chitose by pretending to be his pregnant lover, leading an exasperated Makoto to tell the rather dense Haruma that Chitose has feelings for him. Once again, it’s standard fare, but at least the story has inched ahead here.

Spiral Alive 8-10: Rio shows up in this triplet of chapters to assist Kousuke with his investigation into the murders, but how will Ryouko fee; about being left out of developments- even if it is only to protect her? Meanwhile, Kiyotaka is finally properly seen “on-page”, but as always- what is his master plan? With so many familiar faces now in play, the series has really picked up momentum, and the next chapter is nigh essential.

I can now exclusively reveal that the reason my blog is so HARD GAY is because I have Lui chained up in my basement.

As the days became depressingly short and winter tightened its grip upon the land, I had the great idea of summarising all the 2006 series I watched in one great ‘Annual Round-Up’; hardly an original idea since everyone likes to do it, but nonetheless a course I became determined to take. Little did I realise that such an innocent decision would lead to a massive fifteen page document that took over a month to compile; in fact, if I had any sense, I would take the lazy route of posting this over several days in order to avoid having to write anything else for a week or so. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your perspective), I’d rather just include it all in one guide so that I can get on with writing newer and more interesting things to spice up the inevitably dull and grey January.

I shall also take this opportunity to thank necromancer, whose screencaps made many parody posts and Tuesday Rumble sections possible, as well as my blogging ‘sempai’, who can identify himself if he wishes.

For once, red is not for generally poor series, just for the ones I dropped before the end of their run (mostly because they were generally poor). Series in blue are my top picks for the year. Links lead to earlier reviews, rants and parodies of the series in question.

STILL RUNNING FROM 2005
I’m only including series I was still watching in the New Year; several others had long since been dropped by this point.

Ginga Densetsu Weed
A bloodier canine version of a shounen action series, Ginga Densetsu Weed follows the adventures of young dog Weed as he recruits allies to fight evil dog Hougen. It ranges from dull and predictable to laughable and predictable, but the parody potential and novelty of having dogs as the main characters conspired to keep me watching this right through to the end.

Final words: It’s not good to be a generic brown dog; you always get killed.

Jigoku Shoujo
When it first started, Jigoku seemed like a compelling series, the tale of people driven to such extremes that they would accept eternal damnation in order to remove their tormenters. Unfortunately, it all became a little ridiculous and far too repetitive after about four episodes- not only did the basic concept of each episode lose a lot in the execution, but there are only so many times you can watch tales of revenge before getting thoroughly bored.

Final words: Revenge is a dish best served sparingly.

Karin
Karin is a strange series; it’s too tasteless and generic to even be mediocre, but at the same time it feels like it could be good- only I can’t really quantify just what is needed to make it better. The tale of a ‘blood-making’ vampire and her slow romance with a human boy could at least have made for light entertainment, but the inclusion of irritating supporting characters and the gimmick of having blood spurt out of Karin’s nose with alarming regularity are more than a little off-putting.

Final words: No, just no.

Mai-Otome

It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when I thought Mai-Otome was actually going somewhere; an illusion that was soon dispelled as the series moved into its closing episodes. Despite the numerous flaws of this series, it somehow remains memorable, burned into the brain by hype, wasted potential and the presence of fat grey cat Mikoto.

Final words: Fat cats may improve a series, but even their furry bulk cannot compensate for a lack of plot.

Mushishi
Although I took my time starting on Mushishi, I’m glad I finally got around to watching it, since it turned out to be one of the better series of recent times. An absorbing and atmospheric folk tale-eqsue collection of stories featuring the laid-back Ginko and the myriad strange phenomena he encounters, Mushishi is recommended viewing for anyone with even a passing enjoyment of fantasy, drama and slice-of-life.

Final words: If your memory is bad, blame it on the mushi.

Noein
When it first swept onto our screens, Noein seemed to be the sci-fi series that we had all been waiting for- a mixture of complex storyline, grandiose action scenes and alternate worlds that would surely only improve as it went on…or would it? Unfortunately, the studio was so busy spending money on CG house shots that it forgot that the series actually needed a proper plot (not to mention decent animation), and so by the end, Noein became little more than a pretentious but ultimately empty series that never lived up to its early promise.

Final words: The quantum mechanics of Noein is not clever- if you want clever, then come to some theoretical physics lectures.

Rozen Maiden Traumend
Given the excellence of the first series, another season of Rozen Maiden was highly anticipated, but somehow it just couldn’t live up to what had come before. Rearranging and diverging from the manga material led to some continuity issues with the first season, whilst the plot itself had numerous pacing problems. Despite promising that the battle royale Alice Game would be getting underway right from the start, it took nine episodes to get down to business, after which the writers chickened out of going the whole way so that things could be left open for a third season. Even the new characters introduced in this season were less than inspiring, although overall the series was not a bad experience, just one that did not live up to expectations.

Final words: If you thought dolls were scary before, wait until you watch this.

Shakugan no Shana

A tale of swords and sorcery mixed with high school romance and comedy, Shana proved to be a solid enough source of light entertainment, but unfortunately turned out to be lacking beyond that. Disappointing villains and a story that proved to be flawed on close inspection ultimately prevented the Shana from reaching the heights it initially promised- whilst by no means a bad series, it was certainly in need of improvement in key areas.

Final words: urusei, urusei, urusei!

WINTER 2005/6

Ayakashi
A collection of three separate folk tales collected across eleven episodes, Ayakashi promised period horror, but in the end, it brought only contemporary boredom. What would have been perfectly enjoyable as a three episode OVA became drawn out and monotonous in TV series form, so much so that watching it was something of a struggle.

Final words: Rap OPs never work- no really, they don’t.

Binchou-tan
Having convinced myself that Binchou-tan would be sickeningly cute, I avoided watching it for a while, only to predictably regret that when it turned out to be far better than I had imagined. A series that really does embody ‘simple and sweet’ Binchou-tan is a delightful slice-of-life tale that really needs more episodes.

Final words: Unexpectedly worthy.

Ergo Proxy
To be fair, I only watched a single episode of Ergo Proxy, but I never could bring myself to continue with it. Despite the echoes of Texhnolyze, the fact I neither knew nor cared what was going on in the first episode was not much of an incentive to continue- the animation may have been slick, but that could hardly make up for the lack of comprehensibility.

Final words: When people say ‘hard sci-fi’ they must mean pretentious, nonsensical crap.

Fate/Stay Night

Admit it, you want a Caster figure too.

There was a time when Fate seemed filled with potential; yes, it had a spiky-haired hero, but it also had the incredibly worthy Rin, not to mention the prospect of a hard fought battle of wits and strength between legendary heroes and their Masters. Unfortunately, Fate never lived up to its promise, instead turning out to be a combination of insipid characters, flimsy story, and Shirou’s harem exploits.

Final words: I will make ‘True Fate’ one day.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
A short and sweet hospital-based tale of drama and romance, HanTsuki was an almost overlooked series that turned out to be a hidden gem. Within its six episodes, the series managed to weave a tale that was bittersweet, heart-warming and entirely worthy.

Final words: Natsumi is evil.

Meine Liebe Wieder
Despite promising something in the way of a plot this time, the second season of Meine Liebe turned out to be an inferior rehash of the first, featuring increased angst, more HARD GAY, additional characters and Beruze’s latest puppet duke attempting to take the throne of Kuchen. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been so much more.

Final words: Ludwig-sama is an A-ranked bishie.

REC
An oddly addictive series about the romance between a voice actress and a salaryman, REC is enjoyable while it lasts, but is over all too quickly. In retrospect, it was perhaps a bit too angst-filled, but it made for an entertaining experience while it lasted.

Final words: Umai-ki!

Shinigami no Ballad

Yet another brief series, this time about a pure white shinigami and the people she meets, SnB was filled with character pieces, but was oddly short on death. Whilst it never really had the impact that it could have done, SnB was an enjoyable series that didn’t overstay its welcome.

Final words: The RPG episode was the best one, but the series overall gains points for the winged talking cat.

Pale Cocoon
Having been told that Pale Cocoon was somewhat incomprehensible, I went into it expecting not to understand anything, only to be pleasantly surprised at how much I could actually grasp (of course, the accompanying pdf file helped). A brief yet worthy glimpse into the far future, Pale Cocoon may be short on explanations, but is nonetheless a worthy snapshot of a distant era.

Final words: Watch it now, it won’t take long.

Hellsing Ultimate
It was the event that all Hellsing fans had been waiting for- a more accurate adaptation of the manga material that would surely blow them all away. Unfortunately, having realised that I really didn’t like Hellsing all that much, this wasn’t something I was inclined to keep following.

Final words: When are we going to get a good vampire show?

SPRING 2006

.hack//Roots
Hard as it is to believe now, I was actually looking forward to .hack//Roots- I was in the middle of my Item Completion obsession phase, and somehow I convinced myself that it would be a series that married the addictive qualities of SIGN with the action and faster pace of Legend of the Twilight. After several episodes of deluding myself, however, I came to realise that Roots was not so much a case of a train wreck as of the train simply not leaving the station in the first place. Characters came and went, but the plot never arrived- in the end, it was just too boring for me to watch anymore.

Final words: The origin of the screencap parody format.

Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa
I’ve said it on more than one occasion, but a second season was just too much for the Ah! My Goddess- how much can you actually squeeze out of a harem story about a regular guy living with goddesses? Admittedly, it did seem like a bit of harmless light entertainment for the first few episodes, but it soon fell into the realms of the utterly boring, especially when Peorth arrived.

Final words: Sometimes, less is more.

Air Gear
I have to admit that Oh Great’s artwork is good, but since I’m not particularly interested in nipple shots, ridiculously oversized breasts or Bob Makihara’s penis, the actual content of his manga does very little for me. An unholy fusion of Tenjho Tenge, Ikki Tousen, Beyblade and Shaman King, Air Gear is the tale of spiky-haired Ikki, his buxom companions, and the rollerblading sport of Air Trak- or to put it more succinctly, it’s complete dross. No matter how much curiosity compels you to watch this, take my advice and give it a wide berth.

Final words: With breasts like that, those girls must get backache.

Aria the Natural

The first season of Aria was excellent, but Natural goes one better by doubling the episode count and giving us a full 26 episodes of sweet and heart-warming gondola life on the planet of Aqua. From the beautiful setting to eponymous fat cat President Aria, everything about the series is right on the money in terms of creating a simple yet absorbing world. Bring on season three.

Final words: Punyu!

Disgaea
Since RPG-based series are rarely worth watching, I wasn’t really planning to investigate Disgaea- at least until I watched the trailer. An ironically hilarious take on the RPG world, Disgaea’s trailer promised much, but the actual series itself delivered all too little. As it turned out, the reason the trailer was so good was because the entire series budget had been spent on it- meaning that the episodes themselves were poorly animated cyclical repeats of the same tired and worn jokes.

Final words: Pizza in the face? Excuse me while I try to force a laugh…oh wait, I can’t.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid Tessa OVA
Much as I like Tessa, this OVA didn’t really do much for me; aside from a select handful which hit the mark, most of the jokes fell completely flat. It’s something you watch for completion rather than enjoyment.

Final words: Dull, dull, dull.

The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas
The tale of the Yoshinaga family’s animated stone guardian, Gargoyle may seem like a kid’s show at first glance, but it is nonetheless a highly entertaining story. In Gargoyle’s hands, everything from battles between stone monsters to talking to flowers takes on a new vitality. It’s funny, off-kilter, and eminently worthy.

Final words: All hail Gar-san.

Gintama
I only watched the first twenty-five minutes of Gintama, but what I saw didn’t really click with me. Apparently it’s meant to be a tongue-in-cheek approach to Shounen Jump, but I just couldn’t force myself to pay attention to it.

Final words: I liked that large white animal, but nothing else drew me in.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament
When it first started, Good Witch seemed to be the fantasy series we had all been waiting for; a fairytale of intrigue and romance set in a magical kingdom. Unfortunately, within the space of a few episodes, Good Witch had become so bogged down with different plotlines that it was difficult to tell where it was supposed to be going. After continuing in this manner all the way to the end, Good Witch left viewers with plenty of story threads, but not much in the way of coherence- maybe the manga is better, but I’m not about to risk wasting money on it.

Final thoughts: It’s the sample book of plot directions.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
It may have started as a tense psychological horror, but after the first few episodes Higurashi’s main draw was its sheer gore factor. A somewhat inconsistent series that mixed moments with greatness with more pedestrian sections, Higurashi may have only covered six of the eight game arcs, but spoilers revealed that the solution to the mystery was too obvious to be satisfying.

Final words: “It wasn’t me, I am not evil or suspicious at all.”

Hime-sama Goyoujin
Truth be told, I shouldn’t really be writing about Hime-sama- I only saw about eight minutes of the first episode, and I had so little clue as to what was going on that I couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore.

Final words: Utterly confusing.

Jyu-oh-sei
One of a rare few series which I picked up months after dropping it, Jyu-oh-sei made good parody material, but had little worth as far as entertainment went. The bulk of the series, which saw cycle-wear model Thor stranded on jungle planet Chimera, was average and predictable, but was nonetheless sheer excellence when compared to the laughably ridiculous ending. A rushed story with a nonsensical ending- if I hadn’t wanted to parody it, I would never have watched past episode four.

Final words: If you want to attain at least a shred of credibility, magical DNA is not the way to go.

Kamisama Kazoku

At first glance, Kamisama Kazoku looked to be the spiritual successor of Kamichu- a sweet and simple series about a youthful god. In fact, to borrow a phrase from a lecturer of mine, Kamisama was a very different animal- a series that ranged from juvenile to infantile in its fanservice laden lack of hilarity. After struggling all the way to the third story arc by virtue of the show’s worthiest character- Tenko- I realised that I simply could not take anymore and crumbled a mere four episodes before the end.

Final words: Look, Mama is naked in an apron!

Keroro Gunso: the Movie
Series-based anime movies are as formulaic as they come, and unfortunately the Keroro movie is no exception. There are a few entertaining moments, but not really enough to justify spending an hour of your life watching a story that has been done a thousand times before.

Final words: Giant Keroro is the worthiest aspect of this movie.

Kiba
Like Tokyo Underground, Kiba is one of those series that just seems like an inferior amalgam of numerous other series- there’s industrial word, pastoral world, summoning of destined monsters, and numerous other ideas that have been done better many times before. Roia was truly the only worthy aspect of this seemingly never-ending series- in fact, is anyone even watching it anymore?

Final words: Series and games ripped off by Kiba include Tokyo Underground, Ergo Proxy, .hack, Yu-Gi-Oh!, YuYu Hakusho, Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Hunter X Hunter Greed Island OVA, Mai-HiME, Dynasty Warriors and Suikoden.

Love GetChu!
Due to slow subbing, I have only watched four episodes of this series so far, but it has already proven itself a worthy source of light entertainment. The tale of a group of young girls trying to become voice actors, Love GetChu! does exactly what Kiba failed to achieve- it takes ideas used in earlier series, and combines them into a worthy whole. There’s a ditzy lead, standard personalities, a Maison Ikkoku style apartment and a hint of romance, but somehow it all comes together to make something enjoyable rather than tiresome.

Final words: Please sub more, or I’ll have to start on the raws.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Once an obscure series of novels, Haruhi catapulted to fame after its first episode captured the fandom, but as the series progressed, opinions became divided. Although there now exists a small but vocal “yay Haruhi great lol” group, still others (myself included) concluded the series with a more sceptical view on the whole franchise. The characters were insipid, the stories were disappointing and not at all helped by being aired in a random, non-chronological order, and the humour had all but dried up after episode three. It may have gained cult status, but I can’t help wondering why.

Final words: I did actually like the fourth novel.

Nana
The tale of two very different girls both named Nana, Nana was an interesting shoujo drama in manga form, but unfortunately the transition to anime turned it into something far more dull and boring. With the bulk of the series’ focus falling on ‘Hachi’, the less interesting of the two Nanas, Nana failed to engage the attention, and was eventually indefinitely put to one side.

Final words: Less Hachi, more Nana.

Ouran High School Host Club

The delightfully over the top story of one poor girl and six rich guys running a host club at the prestigious Ouran High School, Ouran delivered standard jokes with such infectious enthusiasm that it was impossible not to laugh at them. A fewer weaker instalments and too many episodes focusing on twin brothers Hikaru and Kaoru prevent this from being a pick of the year, but it is certainly worth watching.

Final words: Kyouya is god.

Ray the Animation

Ray is another series I dropped after a single episode, but unfortunately it didn’t really seem to merit any more. As someone with various family members in the medical field, ridiculous conditions like tumours that retreat into the heart when operated on are a bit too much to swallow, and thus this medical-themed series was not fated to last long.

Final words: Monster remains the only decent medicine-related anime.

Saiunkoku Monogatari

At first glance, SaiMono looked to be yet another period series featuring a girl and her attendant bishies, but how wrong I was. SaiMono is leagues beyond the likes of Fushigi Yuugi in terms of quality- this isn’t a reverse harem romance, it is an absorbing tale of political intrigue in the fictional country of Saiunkoku, blended with the the story of Kou Shuurei, a young woman dedicated to improving her country through breaking precedent and becoming a government official. Every episode of SaiMono is like an addictive drug, leaving you desperate for your next fix.

Final words: I need more! More, more more!

School Rumble Nigakki
After thoroughly enjoying the first season of School Rumble, I was looking forward to the continued antics of Tenma, Yakumo, Eri and the rest, but unfortunately, Nigakki failed to deliver. With its crazier humour and lack of plot progression, Nigakki soon grew stale, especially when it meandered into the realms of filler during the latter half of the season.

Final words: Please, let it end.

Simoun
I was actually looking forward to Simoun before it aired, but upon actually watching the first episode, all my expectations for the series were shattered. A poor woman’s HARD YURI version of Last Exile, Simoun features ugly snail-like craft that are not only powered by the pilots getting out of the cockpit and kissing whilst in mid-air, but also have special abilities like drawing pretty lines on the sky. With no discernible plot whatsoever, the series had to be dropped.

Final words: HARD YURI power is an eco-friendly solution to dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.

Tsubasa Chronicle season 2
Whatever it was that made Tsubasa season one so enjoyable (and in retrospect, was it really all that enjoyable?) seemed to have vanished by season two, which devolved into a slow and dull mix of lacklustre adaptations and mediocre filler, all animated in Bee Train’s trademark “stills only” style. When each episode started featuring no fewer than three insipid insert songs, it was time to put the series to rest.

Final words: Go, you filler bus! Drive along that road, carrying your passengers!

Utawarerumono

It started as a pastoral fantasy, only to slowly reveal its flaws and turn into a harem series with ill-fitting sci-fi elements, but nonetheless, somehow Utawarerumono merited its own addiction phase. The series itself was lacking, but it led into the game, the mini-game, the parodies, and sparked many ideas simply due to the potential the setting contained. Not a pick of the year, but notable for being integral to the life of this blog- even now “gwakakaka” is still going strong.

Final words: Karura and Touka are all.

xxxHOLiC
I love the darkly stylish xxxHOLiC manga, but when the time came to turn it into an anime, something seemed to go terribly wrong. The high contrast art style became a washed out version of its former self, stories were slow and filled with dull exposition scenes, and the overall result was none too tantalising. I completed the series out of loyalty to the manga, but in retrospect I would have been better off not to do so.

Finally words: This could have been so much better.

Yume Tsukai
At first glance, I thought that the story of three dream masters would be a touching slice of life piece in the vein of Kokoro Library. At second glance, I awoke to the fact that this was not the case; instead, this was a poorly animated and poorly constructed series of tales in which one of the main characters has a fetish for underage girls. Shrine of the Morning Mist simply blows it out of the water.

Final words: It could have been good, but let’s face it, it wasn’t.

Zegapain
Sunrise, when will you learn that churning out endless mecha series doesn’t necessarily mean that any of them will actually be worth watching? Apparently Zegapain improves later on, but the starving man’s Aquarion vibe given off by the first couple of episodes (not to mention the unnecessary nudity) was enough to ensure that I never actually reached those episodes.

Final words: The apples that appeared in episode one were the best characters.

SUMMER 2006

Binbou Shimai Monogatari
The evening before watching the first episode of Binbou, I read sixteen chapters of the manga, almost all of which began with a variation on “Mother died; Father ran up gambling debts and disappeared.” In case you hadn’t guessed, that is the setting for this anime about two sisters living in poverty, which is perhaps the most lifeless and half-hearted slice-of-life series that I’ve encountered. An angst-filled example of how poor the genre can be, Binbou went through the motions, but achieved nothing more.

Final words: I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but Mother died and Father ran up debts and disappeared.

Bokura ga Ita
One of the first ever series to feature in my Weekly Round-Up, Bokura ga Ita’s tenure in my viewing schedule was nothing if not brief. A poor man’s version of Kare Kano, Bokura ga Ita featured all the angst and drama, but completely neglected the elements that would have made the series enjoyable. After struggling through a dull episode populated by dislikeable leads and a Nagato Yuki clone, I gave up on it.

Final words: Not my cup of angst.

Le Chevalier d’Eon

Despite treading perilously close to the realms of cheese, Chevalier consistently manages to deliver an absorbing historical fantasy despite its lack of much in the way of accuracy. The tale of d’Eon, a French knight who not only gets drawn into a shady underworld of magic and manipulation, but also ends up housing his sister’s soul, Chevalier’s only inconsistency in its animation, which starts well but soon goes downhill.

Chocotto Sister
Haruma has always wanted a little sister, and one Christmas, Santa delivers just that. Choco, as Haruma names her, is entirely devoted to her big brother, but unfortunately she is so completely lacking in life skills that she has to refer to a notebook. This could have been a passable slice-of-life series, but unfortunately it chose the route of excessive fanservice instead- when a series needs to use police tape as a censor, it is never a good sign.

Final words: What, you don’t like naked aprons?

Coyote Ragtime Show
Aside from its infamous turn as the “Great ANN Ad”, Coyote Ragtime Show is a series best forgotten- even the name serves a warning. A tale of MANLY men and gothlolis for every month of the year, Coyote Ragtime Show lacked anything even approximating worth; I went into it with low expectations and was still disappointed.

Final words: ADV licensed this? They think it’s good? Where is Kurau!?

FLAG
Years ago, when my supply of anime was less plentiful, Gasaraki happened to be one of the few series that I had access to. Despite appearing to be quite bland and boring on the surface, I forced myself to keep watching the series until I finally gained something of an appreciation for its intricate politics; with that in mind, I was determined to give FLAG- a similar series from the same creators- a fair chance. Unfortunately, once the novelty of having the story told through monitor stills and the lens of a camera wore off, FLAG proved to be a dull series with bland character designs and ugly mecha. I feel slightly guilty for not giving it as much of a chance as I did for Gasaraki, but then again, there’s more to watch these days.

Final words: Gritty realism with issues relevant to today’s society? Take it back, please, and come up with a phrase that’s less overused.

Hanoka
No matter how poor it was, I was confident I could sit through a series where each episode was only five minutes long, but as Hanoka went out of its way to demonstrate, that wasn’t the case. Animated in Flash, Hanoka looked like an amateur piece, complete with a generic storyline to accompany its unimpressive looks- in the end, it had to go.

Final words: Five minutes of boredom is five minutes too many.

Honey and Clover II
I loved the first season of Honey and Clover, and perhaps it was because of that that I was secretly sceptical about a second season; the last thing I wanted was for my high opinion of the series to be ruined, but unfortunately, that’s just what happened. Although it did indeed have its moments of excellence, H&C II lost points for focusing on minor character Kaoru before turning into some kind of “who gets Hagu?” dating sim (with added “Mayama the stalker”). Yes, I understand the deeper arguments behind the resolution and the characters’ choices, but it was simply handled too flippantly for me to enjoy it.

Final words: One word- disappointing.

Innocent Venus
Innocent Venus may have looked vaguely promising before it aired, but when it turned out to be a poor rehash of ideas from numerous different series (not to mention completely unable to retain the attention), the adventures of Jo, Sana and Jin had to be put aside. Thanks to this series, however, there are various unwelcome images that will forever be burned into my mind- the irritating pirate captain and his busty first mate; the Last Exile psycho killer team; blood pooling out of a man’s smashed faceplate and those ugly, ugly mecha. After the series finished airing, I did consider giving it another chance, but happily I think I’m over that phase.

Final words: I already posted this list way back when I was watching the series, but let’s refresh our memories as to the series IV ripped off- Last Exile, Wolf’s Rain, Kurau, Hunter X Hunter, Burst Angel, Mahou Shoujotai, Arc Twilight of the Spirits, Stand Alone Complex, Gasaraki, .hack//Roots.

Kemonozume
If appreciating Kenozume’s artwork is supposed to indicate some kind of superior taste, then I’m happy to call myself inferior; yes, technically it has its strengths, but on purely visceral grounds, I find it hideous. The tale of a clan of demon hunters, one of whom falls in love with demon, the relationship between Kemonozume and I was destined to be short from the moment they showed a man losing bowel control onscreen.

Final words: Sex and defecation- how mature.

Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique
With its nine brightly coloured bishies, Angelique was clearly never going to be marvellous, but I went into believing that it would at least offer up some light entertainment. Unfortunately, what I got was an insipid mess with even less plot than its sister series Haruka 8; unless watching a dull lead wandering around a castle and chatting to bishounen sounds exciting to you, be sure to avoid it.

Final words: It’s like a computer game in which you can’t ever leave the hub world and actually play a level.

Night Head Genesis

Featuring a pair of brothers pursued due to their unique psychic abilities, NHG had the potential to be a chilling and compelling series that would have been the spiritual successor to Kurau, but as it turns out, reality was far less kind. A barely comprehensible string of scenes that seemed to thinly disguise a HARD GAY propaganda piece, NHG become downright painful by its fourth episode, and was thus swiftly removed from the viewing schedule.

Final words: Give me Kurau and Christmas any day.

Otogi-jushi Akazukin TV
It was always abundantly clearer that Akazukin was aimed at a younger audience, but in the early days it nonetheless exuded a simplistic charm that was enough to keep it watchable. Unfortunately, as the series progressed with no hint of a plot outside of our fairytale-based heroes fighting magical monsters of the week, it all started becoming a little tedious. I haven’t actually dropped it yet, but I’m only a hair’s breadth away from doing so.

Final words: I hate those damned Sweet Phones.

Tsuyokiss
Tsuyokiss was one of those series I watched just because the name got stuck in my head after the “Great Tsundere Debate of 2006”. Unfortunately, after assembling a cast that was generic beyond belief, and throwing in some awful scenes about a drama club, it managed to drop into the red after just one episode. I had originally intended to watch a little more of the series, but when the subs dried up, so did what little enthusiasm I had for the series.

Final words: It may be Cool X Sweet, but it tastes more like Generic X Dull to me.

Welcome to the NHK
Just prior to watching the first episode of NHK, I finally started on the manga, and was instantly amused at its bleak comedy. As I well knew, however, Gonzo are not the best at adapting manga series into animated form, and indeed, no amount of optimism could disguise the fact that they messed up with NHK, somehow sucking out all the humour and turning it into a bland romance instead. Apparently the series improves in its second half, but I really didn’t have the will to keep watching past episode eleven.

Final words: Damn you, Gonzo, for messing up ultimate moe!

Zero no Tsukaima
Although the novels are quite entertaining, Zero no Tsukaima takes what could have been an interesting (dare I say Harry Potter-esque?) story about an Earth boy interacting with the students of a magical school and turns it into insipid, fanservice-ridden fluff. This was yet another series that I briefly toyed with picking up again, but when every cell in my body rebelled against it, I was forced to abandon that plan.

Final words: Guiche is no Tamaki.

AUTUMN 2006

Asatte no Houkou

Despite the fact that I have yet to watch the ending (which sounds quite bland from what I’ve read), I’ve tentatively given Asatte ‘Pick of the Year’ status for the ease in which it drew me into its world. It does have its flaws, but the series certainly deserves points for taking the age-old idea of having a child suddenly become an adult (and vice versa) and turning it into a compelling drama instead of playing it just for laughs.

Final words: The manga just sounds scary.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
The final title to earn ‘Pick of the Year’ status, Bakumatsu was not a series I could easily get into; trying to penetrate just exactly what was going in the first few episodes was pretty much beyond me. Over time, however, it began to exert an irresistible lure; from the beautiful OP and general atmosphere to the refreshing novelty of a series set in period Japan that isn’t an action or Shounen Jump title, there is much of worth here.

Final words: Like Chevalier, it takes the cheesy and transforms it into the highly worthy.

Bartender
When I first heard of a series about a bartender who helps his customers by finding their ‘destined drink’, I knew I had to watch it for the novelty alone- and I was secretly hoping that it was one of those series that sounded laughable but actually turned out to be worthy. As it turned out, Bartender was the kind of series that leads only to boredom, fidgeting and irritation- especially when you try to swallow the fact that a mere glass of a particular cocktail can radically change someone’s entire life.

Final words: I don’t even like alcohol, so I should have known I wouldn’t like this series.

Black Blood Brothers
“Oh dear” is all that can be said to the prospect of yet another series featuring a moody bishounen vampire and his unhelpful sidekicks fighting against generic evil vampires, and indeed, BBB had nothing to bring to an overworked franchise. By the third episode, it proved entirely impossible to concentrate on what was going on, and so the series had to be abandoned.

Final words: I played Go through much of episode three.

Busou Renkin

Upon learning that Busou Renkin was from the same creator as Kenshin, I was actually looking forward to it- little did I know that where Kenshin was solid and sound, BR was the dumping ground for all the mangaka’s strange and twisted ideas. A standard shounen series filled with everything from the terrifying (Papillon’s thong) to the bizarre (Moon Face), Busou Renkin is far from great, but I watch it partially for Tokiko and mostly for my parodies.

Final words: I pinned all my hopes on Moon Face, but his special technique is a big disappointment.

Code Geass- Lelouch of the Rebellion
The latest stage in the search for that elusive good mecha series, Code Geass turned out to be yet another product from the dango-addled minds at Sunrise. Despite boasting CLAMP character designs, Geass proved to be little more than Gundam Seed Destiny Remix, complete with Kira, Athrun, Lacus, Flay, Lunamaria and more (not to mention added rip-offs from various other sources). Had I known from the start that it was going to be fifty episodes, I wouldn’t have struggled with it for as long as I did.

Final words: How many times am I going to have to say that the cat was the best part of a particular series?

La Corda d’Oro

Despite my bad experiences with fellow Neoromance series Haruka and Angelique, Corda’s focus on music made it seem worthy and so it was duly tried. Despite the extreme predictability and the fact that giving the lead a magical violin amounts to little more than cheating, Corda is an enjoyable series which mixes brightly coloured bishies with an actual plot.

Final words: Behind every good natured lead are multiple bishounen backing her up.

D. Gray-man
Although there was a brief period in which D.Gray-man looked like it might be the one shounen action series I followed this season, this poor man’s FMA blew it early by killing off its most interesting character (unsurprisingly, a fat cat which I have named “Big Boss”). The series never really recovered from this loss, and by the third episode, it was clearly time to put it aside and focus on shounen series which could at least be parodied.

Final words: Why is it called D.Gray-man anyway?

Death Note
Despite my quibbles with the second half of the series, I did enjoy the Death Note manga, and therefore it might seem quite odd that I always seem so negative towards the anime. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that the battle of wits between Light, a student with a notebook that can kill people just by writing their name in it, and L, the detective appointed to stop him, is simply too exposition heavy to succeed in animated form. Excepting those laughably theatrical moments when Light and L seem to phase into a coloured ‘Justice Mode’, Madhouse have done the best job they can with the material, but this is really a series that needed to be told through straight prose, not animation.

Final words: Justice Mode, engage!

Ghost Hunt
In case you hadn’t already guessed, Ghost Hunt is about hunting ghosts…or at least, standing around and arguing over what to do about said ghosts. Featuring the by now familiar ‘eclectic bunch of heroes’, Ghost Hunt seemed to be nothing more than the autumn’s Ayakashi- a series that made mediocre stories even worse by playing them at 1/3 speed.

Final words: Generic by name, generic by nature.

Hataraki Man
When I first read about Hataraki Man, it sounded like it could easily become a pick of the season- what could be more enjoyable than the tale of an overworked journalist? Unfortunately, my hopes for a superior slice-of-life series were instantly shattered by the first episode, which portrayed the main character as just the sort of ‘I need a REAL MAN’ woman that I really dislike, and surrounded her with a group of dull and generic supporting characters. A single episode turned out to be more than enough.

Final words: It’s strikeout time for Moyoco Anno.

Kanon [2006]

Given how much I loved Air, I was expecting Kanon’s ‘sad girls in snow’ to elicit the same feelings of enjoyment, but unfortunately, after the first couple of episodes, it was clear that Kanon just wasn’t in the same lead. With an overly sarcastic lead whose main pastime seemed to be verbally abusing all the girls around him whilst they smiled and asked for more, Kanon proved that its main worth lay in parody.

Final words: Yuuichi is one of the foremost villains of the era.

Mai-Otome Zwei
Like the very dango that Sunrise subsists upon, Mai-Otome may not be good for the health, but an unhealthy fascination draws one back to it. The first episode of this OVA sees an evil Shadow Otome start petrifying and absorbing various main characters, whilst Queen Mashiro and Meister Arika’s bond is tested to the limit in preparation for the angst, forgiveness and destiny phases later on.

Final words: At least we got to see some fat cats.

Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA
I enjoyed the first two seasons of MariMite, but having been expecting this OVA since around March, I had pretty much lost enthusiasm by the time it finally rolled around. Episode one sees Yumi accompany Sachiko to her summer villa, only for her week of HARD YURI to be spoiled by general apathy and evil lesbians. The next episode looks like it will be better, but this one was far too standard to truly entertain.

Final words: Onee-sama!

Negima!?
Although the idea of a ten year old boy teaching a class of thirty-one junior high students was never really one that appealed to me, Negima is one of those big name titles that you have to try just to say you have. With my progress into the manga going slowly and my knowledge of the first anime season basically nonexistent, this new series seemed like an ideal place to start. Unfortunately, our relationship was never destined to be a long one- the animation may have been good, but the story left far too much to be desired. With too many insipid characters and a divergence from the very manga arcs I was interested in, Negima!? had to go.

Final words: That ferret is creepy.

Pumpkin Scissors
Gonzo series must always be watched in case they turn out to be the next Last Exile, but as Pumpkin Scissors demonstrated, most of them have no hope of ever entering the same league as Claus and Lavie’s tale. Another FMA-lite tale, this time with Blonde Heroine 10658 at its head, Pumpkin Scissors failed to inspire to such an extent that it was abandoned after the first episode. It will, however, be making a comeback in parody form.

Final words: The Pumpkin Scissors must cut through the pumpkin-esque layers of corruption like a pair of scissors. I’m not kidding.

Red Garden
Another Gonzo effort, Red Garden is effectively ‘Gantz with girls’, featuring four teenage girls who have been revived after their deaths in order to fight slavering men. Despite being drenched in angst, Red Garden looked to have an interesting mystery at its core, but with each passing revelation the truth behind it all becomes ever more laughable and ridiculous.

Final words: KEITO! KULAIR! ROSU! RACHERU!

Rozen Maiden Ouverture
Great visuals and average story were what I expected from Ouverture, and predictably, that is just what this two-part special delivered. The tale of Shinku first met Suigintou and turned her into the psychotic witch we know and love, any enjoyment Ouverture had to offer was simply overshadowed by the amount of plot holes in the Rozen Maiden story.

Final words: More explanations, less ‘wtf’, please.

Shounen Onmyouji
After a poorly subbed first episode, my time with Shounen Onmyouji seemed destined to be short, but fortunately Yoroshiku saw fight to pick up the series, and it was a given a second chance. As the title indicates, Shounen Onmyouji covers the adventures of youthful onmyouji Masahiro, grandson of Abe no Seimei. Together with his destined powers and sidekick Mokkun, Masahiro set out to battle evil foreign demons from the West, but can he prove himself worthy of being Seimei’s successor? A surprisingly fun series that is, if not gold, at least parody silver.

Final words: Imagine how good it could have been if Bishie-Seimei was the lead, and Guren wore proper clothes.

Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi
Yet another in a long line of period series, Ayakashi Ayashi is about…well, I actually can’t recall what it was supposed to be about. The only images burned into my brain are those of a disturbingly HARD GAY male bathhouse scene and a fight between two monsters, one with a head shaped like a wang, and the other which looks like three wangs joined together. With that in mind, is it any wonder I chose not to watch past the first episode?

Final words: I should have known that a series with ‘Ayakashi’ in the title was to be avoided.

Tokimeki Memorial
As the doyen of all dating sims (not to mention the one that gets parodied most often), it seemed only right to watch Tokimeki’s long overdue anime incarnation. After just a single episode, however, all such feelings of duty had long since evaporated in the face of the fact that this series was completely and utterly crazy and random- and not in a good, Pani Poni Dash sense. Apart from the chick in the first episode, there seemed little to recommend this makeshift collection of scenes, and so it was quickly swept under the carpet.

Final words: I think I’ll stick with Ukidoki Memorial.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na ~Crescent Love~
If you discount the sex scenes, H-game CGs always look good. Anyone got any from Jingai Makyo?

A series that I wanted to watch purely on the strength of some promo artwork, YoakeNa follows the romance between earth boy Tatsuya and Feena, princess of the Moon. Admittedly, it did start out as light fun, but as the weeks passed both the animation and story quality deteriorated to the point where each episode was more an excuse to take a nap than anything else.

Final words: I dislike the series, but I need that figure.

Looking Ahead to 2007
I had planned to try my hand at the obligatory ‘winter season preview’ post, but when I realised that my three paragraph effort would be a firefly as compared to the moon of Hung’s multi-part season preview posts, I quickly abandoned that idea in favour of putting a few words at the end here.

To be honest, the coming winter season doesn’t really look that exciting- do we really need more episodes of Angelique, FLAG and Kamisama Kazoku, much less a remake of Ikki Tousen? Despite the danger of not enjoying the most hyped series, I can’t help looking forward to trying the Ichigo Mashimaro OVA and ‘Corda but better’ Nodame Cantabile; I’m also slightly curious about Les Miserables, although fifty episodes of that does seem a bit much. The likes of ‘chibi-HiME’ Venus Versus Virus and anything dating sim or virtual girl based will most likely be avoided.

Looking further into the year, we have the disappointing news that Bokurano’s anime adaptation is being handled by ‘let’s mess up the story’ Gonzo, as well as a Spring debut for the third season of Nanoha, now with less loli. And regardless of whatever else there is to watch, there’s always more Otome Zwei and MariMite episodes- what fun…

Join me again on Tuesday for the New Year Rumble.

I hate resizing images. Picture heavy posts are always tough and tedious work, because up until now I’ve been resizing them manually. It was only last night that I finally discovered the power of the batch resizing program, a device which shall make my life infinitely easier. No longer shall I spend hours at my computer painstakingly editing images- now I can go out and live (or more likely, stay in and spend time at the computer doing something else).

Reviewed this week: Asatte no Houkou 4, Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 3-4, Busou Renkin 5, Bartender 2, Code Geass 4, Death Note 5, Hecatan 1, Kanon 5, Keroro 63, Chevalier 9, Negima!? 4, Otogi-jushi Akazukin 15-16, Red Garden 4, ROTK 29, SaiMono 20, Shounen Onmyouji 2, YoakeNa 5

…and in manga: Furuba 133-4, GITS 1.5 1, Gokinjo 33, Otome 33, Spiral 17-18, NHK 32, Haruhi Suzumiya novel 4.4

ANIME

Asatte no Houkou 4: It’s up to Shouko and Karada to convince Hiro that they really have swapped ages, but can he be persuaded to believe that his little sister is all grown up? Apart from some touching moments towards the end, this episode wasn’t quite up to the level of the previous three, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless (not to mention far ahead of most other recent releases). I really can’t recommend this series enough, and am almost considering promoting it to the hallowed ‘top ten’.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 3-4: As Bakumatsu forges ahead, I continue to have less and less of an idea what’s actually going on, but somehow it remains entertaining. From the excellent FictionJunction OP to the atmospheric setting and slick action scenes, the series’ presentation comes together to such an extent that the story itself doesn’t really matter. It may sound like a case of style over substance, but it isn’t so much that the substance is absent, just that I’m finding it a little impenetrable.

The Millennium Eye from Yu-Gi-Oh makes an unexpected return.

Busou Renkin 5: It’s standard shounen all the way as Kazuki and Tokiko face off against the third general of evil, the eagle homunculus. Unfortunately, the fast pace that characterised the first few episodes is now slowing down, and there are a few too many “only the destined hero can do it”-style clichés, but the series still manages to remain watchable.

*DROPPED* Bartender 2: I can’t say that I’ve ever felt fidgety and irritable after watching an anime episode before, but somehow the second episode of Bartender managed to achieve just that. I want to like the series, but I just feel divorced from the events of the episode due to the presentation; the narrator’s voice sets my teeth on edge and the incessant piano playing that passes for background music intrudes too much on my consciousness. This episode saw a woman come to the eponymous bartender in the hopes that he could identify a drink related to a story of her past- unfortunately, it is impossible to care about her tale when the characters seem so lifeless.

Code Geass- Lelouch of the Rebellion 4: With Suzaku having been arrested for the murder of Prince Clovis, Lelouch decides to don his ‘Zero’ mask and rescue his friend- cue lots of running around from people with brightly coloured hair. Whilst not as appealing as the previous episode, Code Geass (aka Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Geass) still manages to hang on by virtue of being fairly entertaining.

Death Note 5: It’s a turning point for Light this week, as he goes beyond merely ‘judging’ criminals and starts using the Death Note against those attempting to catch Kira. Now that events are moving, the quality of the series improves as we are given a respite from the lengthy exposition scenes. The background music is also worthy of note for its simple yet atmospheric style.

That being said, I must digress here in order to air a mini-rant about an annoyingly sexist part of this series (and yes, it was in the manga as well).

Perhaps five screencaps is a bit excessive to make one minor point, but even so- “Woman, you are now my chattel and must cease having any kind of life or identity of your own; instead, get to pumping out and raising strong sons whilst I go off and do MANLY things.”

Itadaki no Hecatetan 1: The follow-up to Shakugan no Shanatan, this instalment takes the series of short extras to new and disturbing places. As the title indicates, Shanatan is joined by the chibi Hecatetan; potentially interesting as this may seem, all it does is lead to a special filled with HARD GAY and penis fondling. Unless you have a strong stomach or an unnaturally strong urge for completion, avoid at all costs.

Normally I would have to take this out of context to make it HARD GAY, but let’s just say that this time any alteration to the original intent is unnecessary.

Kanon 5: Despite being advised not to do it, I just had to start watching the old Kanon series this week, and as someone who hasn’t played the game, I’m finding it more enjoyable than the remake. This week sees Yuuichi enter new levels of evil as he tightens his hold on Makoto and begins pursuing Mai and Sayuri; once again it just feels that the development is spread too thinly around all the girls.

Keroro Gunso 63: Season two continues to slowly improve with this episode, which features Keroro coming into school (in Pekopon suit) to teach Fuyuki’s class, followed by an impromptu visit from Keroro’s father in order to announce an arranged marriage for his son. The first half of the episode isn’t particularly inspiring, but whilst it lacks in originality, Keroro’s attempts to convince his father that he is already engaged to Natsumi are reasonably amusing. Of course, I’m a sucker for Keron-style resonance, so the ‘Natsunatsunatsu” scene immediately won points for the episode.

Le Chevalier d’Eon 9: The Russia arc gets into full swing as the Four Musketeers apply their skills to foiling a plot to assassinate Empress Elizabeth. Despite a drop in animation quality, the content remains as good as ever; the only trouble with Chevalier is that one episode at a time is never enough.

Negima!? 4: I don’t greatly enjoy watching Negima, but as before, I’m sure that next episode will win me over. This time around, Negi must combat an encroaching darkness that may be related to the theft of the power Star Crystal; the shoutacon obsessed girls and naked transformations are disturbing, but I can get through each episode by virtue of the visuals alone.

Otogi-jushi Akazukin 15-16: Since Hansel, Gretel and Randagio have lost so many times, episode 15 sees Cendrillon decide to send out mecha-witch Trude, the next recurring enemy. After turning most of the party into wooden dolls and thus trapping them in another dimension, Trude stands around waiting for the heroes to save the day, but from the looks of things she’ll be back many times despite her limited repertoire. Not a particularly enthralling episode, but one that marks a bit of a turning point for the series by adding some variety to the standard formula.

Episode 16 takes our heroes to Ibara’s home land in order to give the sleeping beauty some much needed backstory; it’s an interesting episode by Akazukin standards, which finally answers the question of why she falls asleep so often.

Red Garden 4: The only reason I’m watching Red Garden is to answer the question “why have high school girls been revived in order to fight slavering men?”. I really couldn’t care less about the development of the annoying and dislikeable leads, and hence episodes like this one fail to capture my attention. It is quite possibly more realistic to have them whining and crying all the time, but sometimes realism must sacrificed for the sake of entertainment; until these girls get their act together, this is going to be a painful ride.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 29: The end of Guan Yu’s stay with Cao Cao seemed to promise a reduction in HARD GAY hilarity, but fortunately ROTK stays in form this episode as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei reunite. Unfortunately, poor Sun Quan only gets a “and by the way, Sun Quan exists” mention, which is something of a blow for Wu fans, but otherwise it remains as unintentionally amusing as ever.

Saiunkoku Monogatari 20: Shuurei and Eigetsu are off to Sa Province, but before we get to their adventures it’s time for some back story. Focussing on Seien/Seiran and Ryuuki’s formative years and the Saiunkoku civil war, this episode may not further the story much, but it does a good job of filling in some of the blanks. To put it simply, SaiMono is always highly enjoyable, and this episode is certainly no exception.

Shounen Onmyouji 2: With decent subs, SO immediately upgrades from “what the hell is this?” to light entertainment; it may still be a poor man’s Tactics, but now that the dialogue is no longer cobbled together from Google translations, it becomes an enjoyable series for fans of fantasy and action. This episode sees Masahiro pay a visit to the Minister of the Left after his coming-of-age ceremony, complete with Mokkun’s backchat, introduction to female lead and a monster-of-the-week for our hero to face.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na ~Crescent Love~ 5: It’s the obligatory swimsuit and summer vacation episode this week, as Tatsuya and his harem take to the beach. Whilst this is somewhat more entertaining than last week, the series is still some way below the “light fun” level it initially promised.

There’s been a lot of HARD GAY this week, so here’s some HARD YURI to even it out.

MANGA

Fruits Basket 133-4: As Fruits Basket grinds slowly towards an ending, Tohru’s classmates discover that she is now dating Kyo, leading Hanajima and Uotani to demand that they accompany Tohru and Kyo on their first date. With lines like “it could take ten years” and “this is just the beginning”, it is hard to imagine the series ever actually finishing (although apparently chapter 136 will be the end of it all).

*NEW* Ghost in the Shell 1.5 1: I probably won’t be reviewing the rest of this, but having read the first chapter, it seemed a bit pointless not to include this in the Round-Up. This first chapter sees Togusa assigned to a mission involving a potential ‘zombie’ under remote control; the story isn’t bad but the artwork is a little too rough and cluttered.

*OMAKE* Gokinjo Monogatari 33: Having thought that I’d already finished Gokinjo, I was surprised to see the release of this extra chapter, but it actually turned out to be the ending the series needed. Taking place somewhere between the events of Gokinjo and ParaKiss, the series ties up the adventures of one set of protagonists whilst introducing their successors. Even if you’ve only read Paradise Kiss, it’s worth looking at this chapter for some interesting back story.

Random trivia: Arashi of ParaKiss is the son of Gokinjo’s Risa; apparently she got pregnant whilst still in school, presumably just after the series ended.

Mai-Otome 33: In the aftermath of Mai’s attack, the real Mashiro and Sergey plan further evil, whilst Manshiro, Arika and the others retreat for now with help from Mimi (yes, Mimi is back, and she actually has a better design in the manga). Very little actually happens in this chapter; it’s more an excuse to show off various cast members and remind us that while the fanservice has been in abeyance of late, it’s never too far from the page.

Spiral 17-18: I had pretty much given up all hope of ever being able to read more Spiral, so to have not one, but two additional chapters is a welcome boon. Those familiar with the anime will recognise these chapters as corresponding to the mid-series arc in which Narumi competes with Kousuke and Rio for both Hiyono’s freedom and a tape implicating the Blade Children in a murder; as expected from the series, it’s an absorbing ride which ends too soon.

Welcome to the NHK 32: Although I’m sceptical about how long it will last, this chapter actually looks like a turning point for our heroes, as Satou and his sempai work out their feelings for each other, and Misaki contemplates her future. Could this be heading towards a conclusion, or will they just rollercoaster down into a new wave of depression?

NOVEL

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya vol 4, chapter 4: Given the way I keep writing about these novels, you’d be forgiven for thinking I was a big fan of the series instead of someone who has written two rants about it. This chapter sees Kyon travel back in time once again as part of his attempt to repair the future; despite the headache inducing number of ‘temporal variants’ I’m still enjoying this volume and not particularly looking forward to the series reverting to standalone stories in volume five.

Aria: Gondola Battles

Many thanks to Necromancer for adapting this picture.

Ever wanted something different from the sweet and gentle world of Aria? Perhaps you’re just spoiling for a fight and don’t care about the details. Whatever the case, the new game “Aria: Gondola Battles” is for you. Three mafia companies- Aria, Himeya and Orange Planet- are vying for control of Neo Venezia, and they’ll do anything to get it. From sabotage and ambush to outright brawls, no measure is too extreme if it sinks your rivals!

Teams

Aria Company: The smallest organisation, Aria has a long way to go if it wants to control Neo Venezia, but with flabby feline President Aria at its helm, it has the potential to go far. His sinister ‘punyu’ has sent many a wrongdoer to the bottom of the canal.

Himeya: A middle-sized organisation, Himeya’s drive and motivation are second to none. Their methods may be harsh, but their effectiveness cannot be denied.

Orange Planet: The largest organisation, Orange Planet may have a lot of territory at the beginning of the game, but they’ll have to work hard if they want to hang on to it. Their story mode begins with a search for a successor to their recently deceased President.

Jigoku Shoujo: the plot to send viewers to hell
At first, it seemed like an absorbing series- the tale of people driven into such desperate circumstances that they had no choice but to accept eternal damnation in exchange for sending their tormenters to hell. On second thought, however, perhaps it wasn’t that good; after all, every episode followed the exactly same pattern, and how many times could you be entertained by near-identical stories of revenge before it all became rather tedious?

Despite this, however, Jigoku Shoujo somehow earned itself a second season, and it was only then that the truth behind the series was revealed. Jigoku had never been intended to entertain anyone; instead, its hidden purpose was to send the viewers themselves to hell. By creating something so utterly dull and monotonous, the director’s hope was the viewers would literally die of boredom. Fortunately, I was able to escape this fate by dropping the series after episode 14, but to anyone still watching it, I must give this warning- your next episode could be your last.

Short parody: Bartender Episode 2
A random female customer enters the bar.

Bartender: Hello, I’m the main character, although I don’t even seem to have a name.

Woman: You must be the legendary bartender with the Glass of God. Please listen to my life story whilst some annoying piano music plays.

Bartender: Of course, for I am so legendary that my bar is always empty.

Woman: It all began many years ago, when I accidentally broke a bottle of drink that could have reconciled my father and grandfather. Thanks to that one act, our family was ever divided, and now my father is dead.

Bartender: And I should care because…? Sorry, I mean please let me help you in any way that I can.

Woman: If only I could identify the drink that I smashed, I know everything would be fine.

Bartender: Okay, let’s play my favourite game- Drink Charades! You give me vague clues about the drink, and I will use these prompt cards, er, I mean my amazing deductive skills to work out what it is!

Woman: Well, it’s alcoholic, and it comes in a bottle…

Bartender: Yes, I know exactly the one you mean- and I have a bottle of it just here! You may as well have it for free since I’m not trying to run a business or anything.

Woman: Thank you! My family is saved…even though it’s all fairly pointless now that my father is dead.

The woman takes the drink to her grandfather.

Woman: Grandfather, this is the drink that could have saved our family!

Grandfather sips it.

Grandfather: Yes, I understand now- everything I believed throughout my entire life was wrong, and now I shall mend my ways!

The Bartender fixed it for this unhappy family- can he fix it for you?

One Piece: The HARD GAY competition

Zoro and Sanji start arguing over who has the more impressive manhood.

When your opponent won’t be convinced by words, all you can do is show him proof.

‘Lizard’ is the new code name for wang.

As far as Luffy is concerned, either will do.

Each man judges their own prowess by different criteria.

Some things just cannot be verified without actual HARD GAY.

In the end, an independent adjudicator is called in to settle the matter.

Bonus round: remember last week’s crossover?

Further evidence of the One Piece-Mushishi crossover is seen.

Weekly Awards

“Damn you!” of the Week: No series will ever beat Romance of the Three Kingdoms when it comes to characters uttering “Damn you!”, but that won’t stop them from trying. This week, Gundam Seed enters into the ring as a contender, backed by Destiny, which was not so much about characters saying “Damn you!” as provoking the audience to say “Damn you, Sunrise, why did you make this series?”.

Most needed plushie of the week: As a minor collector of the world’s most huggable plushies, it seems to me that there are many anime pets and mascots who need to be released in this form. Not so much an award as a wish list, the selection of candidates includes life-sized Baron (Noein), Moo-chan (Tactics), President Aria (I’ve seen a photo of his plushie but it doesn’t appear to be available anywhere), The Admiral (Stratos 4) and some alternate cat Mikotos (the existing one is good, but a fatter and more accurate one would be even better).

Magatama honourable mention: Although it appeared too late to run for Magatama of the Week, the briefly glimpsed Magatama towards the end of Shrine of the Morning Mist deserves a mention.

More like this, please- rediscovering old favourites: Although I have not started rewatching it, I recently began some fanart of Haruka and Kantarou from Tactics, which has reawakened my love for the series along with the search for its successor. To that end, Shounen Onmyouji shall be resumed, but other suggestions are welcome.

OST Spotlight: Berserk
At its best, Susumu Hirasawa’s distinctive electronic themes are compulsive listening, and for the most part, the Berserk OST is able to achieve this level. The simple yet energetic themes capture a mix of action, mystery and emotion, combining seemingly discordant elements into a strong whole. The Engrish lyrics for the OP and ED do leave a lot to be desired, however.

Notable tracks: Behelit, Forces, Tell Me Why

Worthiness: Whilst it isn’t quite as consistent as Hirasawa’s work on Paranoia Agent, it is required listening for any fans of his work.

In Your Reflection
This week we have a four-way head-to-head between two teams of female mercenaries- the Burst Angel girls and the BGC 2040 heroines.

Priss + Jo: The taciturn lead type, both are front line fighters who are disinclined to talk about themselves much. Both have secrets in their past, although where Jo doesn’t remember hers, Priss merely keeps quiet about it.

Linna + Meg: Least experienced secondary characters who seem to share some HARD YURI undertones with the lead. Unlike Meg, however, Linna is actually useful.

Sylia + Sei: Both fall into the older woman and head of the group category, masterminding the plans of the team whilst keeping their cards close to their chest. Both are usually content to remain in the ‘mobile pit’, although Sylia has been known to go out if necessary.

Nene + Amy: The youthful and annoying computer hackers, both necessary to the plot but neither very good in actual battle.

Amusing Search Terms

t: holding firmly to its position in the chart. If -his con-inues, I shall have –o remove all ins-ances of -he le—er ‘-‘ from my blog.

you toube: again…

your toube: your toube, your roules.

Time of Rave Master(2006): I have no idea what you’re trying to establish, but you won’t find it here.

love of tomomasa for akane: he doesn’t love her, for he is HARD GAY for Takamichi.

romance in .hack roots: only in the HARD GAY version, I’m afraid.

haru glory sprites]: none here, I’m afraid.

naka frie ball: I wish I had a clue what this was, although I expect it wouldn’t enrich my life to know.

good manga: I recommend Aria, Bokurano, Kare Kano, Mushishi etc.

fai.d flowright shrine: I just Googled this, and I’m on the first page…

Busou Renkin doujin: you write about one doujin, and suddenly all sorts of searches are linking to you.

a-three doujinshi: see above comment.

It’s all change behind the scenes this week, as Wordpress brings out a new dashboard; I think it’s supposed to be an improvement, but I have to admit that as far as actually managing the blog goes, I prefer the old one.

Hataraki Man has been put on hiatus until I feel motivated to watch it again.

Reviewed this week: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 2, Busou Renkin 4, Chevalier 8, Code Geass 3, Death Note 4, Kanon 4, Keroro 62, Red Garden 3, ROTK 28, YoakeNa 4

…and in manga: Bartender 1, Hataraki Man 1, Mozart Doesn’t Sing Lullabies 2-4, Phantom Dream 2, Solanin 6, Tactics 7b, YoakeNa 2

ANIME

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 2: Bakumatsu is an odd series; I don’t really know what’s going on, but I’m still able to derive some enjoyment from it anyway. This time around, our destined lead aids the acting troupe in their quest to get revenge on production line bad guy Genba Hario. It’s a reasonable episode with some good (if brief) combat scenes.

Busou Renkin 4: The earlier generals of evil were dispatched quickly, but the pace slows down here as Kazuki and Tokiko’s search for the papillon mask creator leads into final boss confrontation part one, followed by a lengthy exposition scene and the return of the third general of evil. As always it’s nothing special, but for now it continues to be averagely entertaining.

Le Chevalier d’Eon 8: Russia has finally been reached, and it seems as if everyone there is plotting some scheme or another. Whilst the series justifies its parody fodder status by including a special cross-dressing masquerade ball, various threads are set in motion for what will hopefully be a top quality story arc.

Code Geass- Lelouch of the Rebellion 3: Killing his half-brother Prince Clovis is all in a day’s work for “I have a special eye” Lelouch, and so he goes back to school to continue his normal life- albeit with a familiar-looking new student in his class. Focussing more on the characters than mecha battles, this is the best episode so far, making me actually want to watch the series instead of merely thinking that I must see the next episode at some point in order to find out what’s going on.

Death Note 4: My earlier comments about the Death Note anime still stand, but nonetheless I’m continuing to watch; where NHK was “how could they do this to the story?”, Death Note is more of a case of “it’s a good series, it just doesn’t need to be animated.” This episode sees Light enact a plan to snare the agent who has been following him of late; ideally I’d like to see the series move onto the events of around volume three, but for now I’ll take each episode as it comes.

Kanon 4: Much as I want to enjoy Kanon, episode four follows three’s trend of just not hitting the right notes for me. Once again, the series seems to be switching between too many girls for me to really care about any of them; Makoto is irritating, Ayu is lolimoe overload, and the other girls haven’t had enough development yet. I do feel slightly sorry for Nayuki, however, for being the default “only concentrate on when no one better is around” character.

Keroro Gunso 62: The ‘slightly better than before’ trend continues in episode 62, as Keroro’s second season moves ever forward. In the first half, Momoka, Natsumi and Mois attempt to steal a painting being guarded by Fuyuki, Keroro, Tamama and Giroro, whilst the second half sees Keroro fill the house with a breathable water atmosphere for some swimming fun. It’s nothing special, but it is reasonably entertaining.

Red Garden 3: Red Garden becomes slightly more interesting this week, as the girls discover more about the true nature of their predicament. I’m still not feeling much for any of the characters, but the story continues to leave unanswered questions that compel me to continue watching.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 28: Those who have read the novels or played “Guan Yu’s escape” in Dynasty Warriors will already be familiar with the content of this episode, which sees Guan Yu chop his way through several gates guarded by Cao Cao’s minor generals in order to make his way back to Liu Bei. Whilst not up to the level of episode 27, this is nonetheless an amusing instalment that continues to make the series watchable.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na 4: I want to continue saying that this series is light fun, but unfortunately “light nap” would be a more apt way of describing my feelings after episode 4. The episode begins with a tiresomely predictable sequence in which Feena attempts to rescue a drowning dog, before moving on to a bizarre and ridiculous section in which the leads overreact to a few bugs flying around in Tatsuya’s father’s study. At least the animation has stabilised a little; an increased use of chibi mode means that the characters can at least look decent in their normal forms.

MANGA
To demonstrate how astute and on the ball I am, I have to admit that I went to Entropy-manga’s site the other day and realised that not only had I completely overlooked chapter 2 of Mozart Doesn’t Sing Lullabies (released in August) but that Caramel Milk Tea only has four chapters, and that I have been waiting in vain for the nonexistent chapter five. Ah well, live and learn (or in my case, live and continue to make the same mistakes).

*NEW* Bartender 1: The first episode of the Bartender anime was marred somewhat by its oddly staged presentation, but fortunately the first chapter of the manga brings us the story of that episode as it was meant to be. In this version of the tale, not only does the eponymous bartender have an actual personality, but rather than serving at a legendary bar, he is looking for a job just after returning to Japan. When combined with the faster pacing of the manga, these little changes help to make the series more effective and enjoyable in manga form.

*NEW* Hataraki Man 1: If I enjoy an anime, I want to read the manga, and if I don’t enjoy an anime, I want to read the manga anyway (after all, it may be better). Since Hataraki Man falls into the latter category, it is fortunate that the manga does improve on the anime a little bit; the lead seems like a slightly stronger personality, and Tanaka gets more exposure. Nonetheless, many of the flaws seen in the anime remain, but I’ll give the series a little longer in which to prove itself.

Mozart Doesn’t Sing Lullabies 2-4: Following the death of a local sheet music shop owner, Beethoven and his student Czerny find themselves drawn deeper into the mystery surrounding ‘Mozart’s Lullaby’, but just what kind of sinister secrets lurk beneath the serene surface of the world of music? Building on the strong start made in chapter one, Mozart Doesn’t Sing Lullabies offers an absorbing blend of music, mystery and character drama, not to mention the appealing historical setting and aesthetically pleasing artwork. It’s hard to say when the next chapters will be available, but I’m eagerly looking forward to reading more.

Phantom Dream 2: When Tamaki and Asahi meet a boy with a strange affinity for butterflies, they realise that he is gradually being overcome by an evil spirit- but exorcising it could kill him. As an early work from the Furuba mangaka, Phantom Dream isn’t short on drama and emotion, but unfortunately it is also a bit rough and confusing in places, especially as the character designs show little variation. A promising series, but not up to the level of pre-decline Furuba.

Solanin 6: The leads take a backseat in this chapter as the focus moves to their friend Ayugawa. Now in his sixth year at university (shades of Mayama, anyone?), he ends up on a dinner date with a fellow student where they discuss their shared love of music. It may be short and simple, but it’s an enjoyable tale nonetheless, although it’s now hard to see where this series is headed.

Tactics 7b: It’s been a while since I read the first half of this chapter, but finally the conclusion to the tale of a sick fortune teller and her sister is available. Whilst the ending is a little rushed, and Kantarou is as dislikeable as ever, this is an enjoyable chapter overall; it’s refreshing that the anime and manga have the same premise, but different individual stories.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na 2: Whilst still not particularly good, the second chapter of YoakeNa seems to be slightly better than the first in terms of artwork and content, covering Feena and Mia’s arrival at Tatsuya’s home. Hopefully the series will pick up further once the story actually gets going.

Bartender Re-imagined
He tends the bar! He mixes the drinks! He serves the customers! He is….the Bartender!

For those of you who wanted to see a more action-orientated version of Bartender we are proud to present Bartender: Shounen Mix. Join our spiky-haired hero as he aims to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become the legendary bartender with the Glass of God. Friends and rivals will never be far away as he puts all his skills into mixing the perfect drink and claiming victory in the bartending arena- but will hours of training under the world’s strongest bartenders be enough to defeat his ultimate rival, a rich semi-bishie trained from birth in bartending techniques?

The Future of the Mai- franchise Part Two: Mai-Nekotome

Last week, Mai-Musume was covered, but now it’s time to outline another possible future Mai series- Mai Nekotome. In case you can’t guess from the title, Mai-Nekotome is all about cats, specifically, the fat grey ones of Mai-Otome. Find out more about the special powers of Mikoto, Jubei, moon-Mikoto, Z-Mikoto and the other Nekotome as they serve their Shinso-sama (human Mikoto). If you thought humans were in charge in the world of Mai-Otome, think again, because behind the scenes, these obese felines are keeping everything running smoothly.

Mini-Parody: Hataraki Man 1
Lead: I am hardworking, but is that really enough? I must angst and long for a REAL MAN, for my boyfriend is never around.

Minister: Gwakaka, I am a politician and thus corrupt and evilz! I am also fat!

Lead: I will expose your evilz with the power of Justice!

Lead writes an exposé article for her newspaper, but it backfires when a secretary is blamed.

Lead: Oh noes, all my hard work has backfired! I must sink deeper into angst, especially as I have no REAL MAN to rely on!

Chief: Lead, just write what is in your heart and everything will turn out okay.

Lead: Thank you, Chief…I equip Pen of Destiny! Now everything I write will turn to gold!

Narita: By the way, did I mention I’m not interested in women? Yes, even this series has HARD GAY.

Busou Renkin episode 2 parody

Kazuki likes his wang so much that he even wants to give it a name.

Like most men, he has an inflated opinion of its size and importance.

Tokiko brings him back down to earth with the cold hard truth about his ‘lance’.

Kazuki’s friend worries that their HARD GAY relationship is threatened by Tokiko.

Nonetheless, Kazuki’s sister cannot believe that he would forsake HARD GAY in order to spend time with a woman.

Friend is still convinced that he has been dumped in favour of Tokiko.

Weekly Awards

Neoromance series of the Week: With Haruka 8 being a painful procession of angst and Angelique proving to have no discernible storyline whatsoever, there is an easy win for La Corda d’Oro in this category. With an actual plot and a female who seems able to do more than just ‘Cheer’, Corda d’Oro has a significant head start on the competition.

Cheesy J-Pop theme of the Week: It wouldn’t be right not to mention Hikaru no Go at least once a week, and this time it scoops the prize for this category with its first OP, “Get Over”. I’m also developing an appreciation for the second and third OPs, “I’ll be the One” and “Fantasy”.

Commiseration Prize for Worst Masked Man: Some time ago, awards were given out to the top masked men of anime, but now the time has come to hand out a consolation prize to the man who had to don the only mask left in the wardrobe. Yes, it’s the leotard-wearing butterly-mask villain from Busou Renkin, a man who wanted to be HARD GAY but took it to terrifying new places.

Manga that could go on Forever: With Furuba supposedly coming to an end this year and thus out of the race, the remaining contenders are left to battle it out amongst themselves. Ignoring the SJ series which I largely don’t read anymore, the prize must be shared between Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC, School Rumble and NHK.

OST Spotlight: .hack//games perfect collection
Unfortunately, the US release of the .hack game OSTs is a ‘digest’ version, so for completists, only the Japanese version will do. What this does mean is that you get every possible remix imaginable, and even an entire bonus CD of the in-game sound effects (entirely negligible unless you have a hankering to listen to a grunty belching). Nonetheless, based on the actual musical content, this is one of the better game soundtracks out there; it may be filler, but it’s also filler done so well that it actually becomes very good.

Since .hack strays away from the classic RPG style, it isn’t as constrained to the usual required set of themes as the other game soundtracks mentioned here. Instead, the synth-heavy tracks take on a more mystical and ethereal feel (except for a few weaker ‘cheerful marching’ style tracks) that naturally evolve across the CD from the root town themes, through field and dungeon to boss battles and dramatic cut scenes. With the soundtrack arranged in such a progression, however, everything blends together into an atmospheric whole, so it’s hard to point to a handful of single tracks as standing above the rest.

The side effect of this is that there are sections where you’ll find yourself listening to more, and more, and more of the same, such as the Eight Phases, eight consecutive remixes of the same theme. The more you listen, however, the more you’ll become attuned to the subtle differences between each remix, making the weaker sections less of a slog.

Notable tracks: Delta Server Mac Anu, Loop 1-4, Aura’s Theme

Worthiness: An atmospheric collection that is worthy even if you didn’t think much of the .hack games.

In Your Reflection
Today we explore an entire family of anime relations as we look at Haseo’s family tree. The son of Tsume (Wolf’s Rain), Haseo was a promiscuous man who fathered no fewer than three children (that we know of) with different mothers. His relationship with KOS-MOS led to the birth of T’elos, his time with Tabby conceived Hideo, and his illicit affair with a grunty created Haseo Grunty.

->

+ =

+ Tabby = Hideo

+ =

Amusing Search Terms

The hilariously misdirected

dojin breath of fire cg game: does a doujin BoF game even exist?

A-Three doujinshi Evangelion: Yet another item I am not familiar with and have never mentioned on here.

The confusing

t: now back for its fourth consecutive week. Come on, someone, search for r or s instead.

You toube: to anyone still searching for this, I must at last enlighten you- it’s spelt “YouTube”.

you toube movee: even the classics must evolve if they wish to stay relevant.

fate/stay night tone: ?

The terrifying

None this week- what is the world coming to?

Honourable mentions

takamichi gay: at last, someone else noticed.

ginga nagareboshi gin anime blog: apologies to everyone searching for this, but episode 1 was as much as I could manage.

ouran ending disappointed: Hopefully this searcher was disappointed by the fact that Ouran was ending rather than by the last episode itself.

If there’s one thing I’m not too keen on when watching fansubs, it’s mkv format. According to its proponents, mkv is new and ‘1337’ whilst avi is old and outdated, but the fact remains that mkv is a pain to play. The picture gets stuck, it uses up more CPU resources than I’m willing to give it (I like to run a lot of programs simultaneously), the softsubs can be problematic, and VLC media player doesn’t like them. I may get comments here telling me that mkv is good or to use a different media player, but that’s not going to stop me ranting about how annoying it can be.

Aria, Death Note, Emma Bangaihen and possibly Ayakashi Ayashi will be covered next week.

Reviewed this week: Bartender, Busou Renkin, Chevalier, Code Geass, Corda d’Oro, D.Gray-man, Ghost Hunt, Hataraki Man, Kanon, Mushishi, Negima, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, Red Garden, Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na

…and in manga: Mai-Otome, NHK, REC, Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC

ANIME

*NEW* Bartender 1: When I first learned of the existence of an anime about a bartender, my initial thoughts were, “hmm, I can probably give that a miss”. Nonetheless, as often happens, the title got stuck in my head, and over time I began to wonder if it might actually be quite interesting. Fortunately, episode one did indeed prove to be worthy, as the eponymous bartender helped a weary businessman past his hatred of bars. The presentation wasn’t perfect, and I could have done without the sections where the protagonists sit by themselves and talk directly to the audience, but this could be an interesting customer-of-the-week style show. Then again, it could equally turn into a Jigoku Shoujo, “same story every week” series, but for now I’m content to keep watching.

Busou Renkin 2: Under the new, harsher regime, I probably should be dropping this about now, but Busou Renkin was actually a big improvement on the first episode, in that I actually felt compelled to pay attention to it instead of playing Go whilst leaving the episode running (yes, my dark secret is out- I often do this during a boring episode). Even so, I have to admit that Tokiko is the main reason I am watching, so I am less enthused to see that she’s going to be out of action whilst spiky-haired lead trains and presumably defeats the arc one enemies.

Le Chevalier d’Eon 6: Although I had assumed our heroes would be heading to Russia in this episode, I forgot that the obligatory ‘nothing happens but we’ll file it under character development’ episode had to come first. In that vein, it can hardly be said that this was Chevalier’s finest moment, but I’m confident that things will get back on track once Russia is actually reached.

*NEW* Code Geass- Lelouch of the Rebellion 1: CLAMP character designs and mecha- even with Sunrise and their sweet potato dango getting involved, it seemed worth a try. The series sees noble Japan invaded by the cruel, tea-sipping Britannia Empire as led by Mars Cubehart Prince Clovis. Naturally, there is a terrorist group fighting against the oppressors, and in due course our hero, now imbued with special powers, will no doubt join them. Not a particularly outstanding episode in and of itself, but there are enough interesting threads set up to make watching episode two a necessity.

*NEW* La Corda d’Oro 1: Since this is yet another series based on a Neoromance game (albeit one that was itself based on a manga), it isn’t surprising that it features a girl who meets lots of bishies. What is different, however, is that Corda d’Oro not only takes place in a music school, but it also has something in the way of a plot. The first episode sees non-musical lead get chosen to participate in the school’s music contest- now the next stop is to actually learn to play. An enjoyable opening episode for a series that will hopefully not be obscured by angst later on.

*DROPPED* D.Gray-man 3: After episode two, I thought that D.Gray-man would prove an interesting diversion for at least four or five episodes, but when I found that I could barely concentrate on this one, I knew it was time to put at end to any further pain. Allen’s FMA: Shounen Lite adventures have outstayed their welcome, and it is time to put them on the drop pile where they belong.

*NEW* Ghost Hunt 1: In case you can’t guess from the title, Ghost Hunt is about hunting ghosts, not that much of that happens in the first episode. This opening instalment is basically about introducing us to more characters than we can possibly hope to remember, and setting up something for them to do next time. I can’t say that it was particularly interesting, but as the plot hasn’t really got going yet I’m going to stick with it for now.

*NEW* Hataraki Man 1: Damn you, tj han for making this sound like something I would really enjoy, because in actual fact this didn’t do a lot for me. Oh look, another angsty shoujo heroine who pretends to be strong and masculine whilst being frail, weak and in need of a REAL MAN deep down. Even better, another group of generic office workers borrowed from the supporting character cloning factory. I’m just not connecting with any of the characters here, and because of that, the entire thing falls down for me.

Kanon 2: As Yuuichi settles in and prepares for his first day at his new school, Kanon proves to be highly enjoyable in its second episode- it’s still lagging a little way behind Air, but the slow and sweet storyline is proving to have the same oddly addictive quality. There have been complaints about the pace dragging a little, but I’m content with the way it’s going so far.

*COMPLETE* Mushishi 26: Although it is with a pang of sadness that I realise that there will be no more Mushishi, I’m also glad to finally be able to put the series on ‘complete’ status. Mushishi is always good, but this episode is one of the series’ stronger offerings, telling the tale of the developing friendship between the heir to a mountain and a young traveller. Ginko barely appears this time around, but his scenes as both a little boy and a full grown man provide a nice resolution to the story. A worthy ending to an excellent series.

Negima!? 2: At this stage, I’ve come to realise that I couldn’t really care less about the plot of this series- I barely know a handful of the girls, and the storyline doesn’t exactly inspire me with its originality. The only reason I’m watching is because I really love the character designs; it’s just a shame that a good portion of the animation budget is concentrated on just a handful of scenes, meaning that the rest has to make does with stills and simplistic sequences.

Otogi-jushi Akazukin 12-14: Yes, the triple bill situation has occurred again, although this time it was somewhat to the detriment of my enjoyment. Episode 12 sees Randagio forced to summon a mediocre monster of the week after an alliance with the Lycans (werewolves) fails to emerge- observant viewers will notice that the former king of the Lycans was called Valhan, and realise that this can surely be none other than Val.

13 is the weakest of the trio, featuring some annoying villagers who worship a dragon god, complete with yet another monster of the week and the destined powers needed to defeat it. Fortunately, 14 proves to be slightly more interesting, covering Gretel’s ill-fated attempts to defy the plot and defect to the side of good.

Red Garden 2: Our four leads were living normal teenage lives- right up to the point where they found out they were dead and that their continued existence depended on fighting slavering men at night. Unfortunately (if not unpredictably) this could only mean an excess of angst and screaming, although Claire wins points for keeping her cool. I can’t say that I particularly like any of the characters here, but it’s the kind of thing that keeps you watching just to find out what the hell is going on.

*NEW* Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na ~Crescent Love~ 1-2: The only reason I wanted to watch this series was because I liked the promo artwork, but as it turned out, this H-game adaptation proves to be a refreshing dose of light-hearted fun. The series follows the adventures of Feena, princess of the Moon, after she comes to live with lead Tatsuya and his two sisters on Earth. Both setting and characters are a fairly predictable high school/harem/comedy mix, but the series is nonetheless entertaining, and I’m looking forward to the promised cooking showdown in episode three.

MANGA

Not that I’ve ever mentioned it on this blog before, but I’m dropping Future Hero Retro Story (a prequel of sorts to Outlaw Star). It’s the kind of manga where you don’t really know what’s going on, and nor do you care.

Mai-Otome 31: The death of Nagi has been a long-awaited event in the Mai- universe, and this time it finally seems to have happened (hopefully he won’t return like he did in the HiME manga), freeing up Nina to make a contract with Manshiro and rejoin his harem. Amazingly, Nagi is actually likable for the few panels before he breathes his last, whilst the Otome robes remain more aesthetically pleasing than their anime counterparts- apart from that, this is an average chapter which spells the opening of the Dark HiME arc.

Welcome to the NHK 27-30: It seems as if every named character is now descending into the pit of their own fear and depression as NHK leaves black humour behind in an attempt to see just what kind of hell it can put its protagonists through. With so many threads now being followed, the breakneck pace is slowing up now, almost as if the creator is stalling for time before deciding whether or not to bring Satou and the others out of the abyss they have fallen into.

REC 17: REC seems to have reached the point where it isn’t really going anywhere- I want to see Matsumaru and Aka’s life together continue to develop, but instead the series seems to be stuck in a cyclic rut. This time around, rumours are flying about Aka having an affair with a colleague, prompting her to wonder (for the fiftieth time) if she should reveal her real relationship with Matsumaru.

Tsubasa Chronicle 132: Whilst Fye argues with the others about heading out to back up Sakura, our heroine manages to make it all the way back by herself- and that’s about the sum total of what happens in this chapter. Unfortunately, the scanlators only seem to have a limited grasp of English, so the tone of the characters’ “voices” is obscured by a complete lack of grammar.

xxxHOLiC vol 9, chapter 6: I know that another group has released more up to date chapters of xxxHOLiC, but since the chapter numbers are different in the magazine and tankoubon releases, I thought I’d just stick with the BWYS release and avoid any potential confusion. Anyway, this is another brief chapter which sees the real Syaoran stop by and have Yuuko send him to meet with the Tsubasa party.