Reviewed this week: Allison and Lillia 4-5, Amatsuki 4, Chi’s Sweet Home 14-20, Itazura na Kiss 4-5, Kaiba 3-4, Kurenai 5, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 3, Nabari no Ou 1-5, Real Drive 3, Toshokan Sensou 1-3, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 13

…and in manga: Bokurano 48-52

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (1) – the end of the series has left me in despair! <-complete!
2. Chi’s Sweet Home (2)- Chi
3. Kurenai (3) – Murasaki
4. Kaiba (4) – memory chip
5. xxxHOLiC Kei (5) – wow, it’s actually good
6. Wagaya no Oinari-sama (6) –fox trap
7. Nabari no Ou (-) –ninjas are cool again <-new!
8. Real Drive (7) –Meta-Real
9. Himitsu (8) – President Reed is dead
10. Soul Eater (10) Bones does shounen
11. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (9) – family frenzy
12. Persona Trinity Soul (11)- I really should catch up with this
13. Toshokan Sensou (-) –library wars <-new!
14. Itazura na Kiss (14) – everything at or below this line is generic
15. Amatsuki (15) – the new Shounen Onmyouji
16. Allison and Lillia (13) – dogfight

SLOW RANKINGS

1. Shion no Ou (-) – demoted to slow
2. Tetsuko no Tabi (1)- is this ever going to be subbed?
3. Gunslinger Girl- Il teatrino (2)- kaleidoscope
4. Himawari!! (3) – needs less plot
5. Love GetChu! (4)- light entertainment
6. Shounen Onmyouji (5)- end in sight?

Allison and Lillia 4-5: What with all the emphasis the first three episodes put on finding a treasure that could end a war that’s been raging for generations, I think we could all be forgiven for thinking that that was going to be the main plot for the Allison part of the series. As it turns out, however, everything is done and dusted by the end of episode four, which starts with a dogfight that, while not spectacular, was quite nice simply as a change from the generic ground-bound scenes (although like Hanners I was bemused as to how the enemies that were shot down somehow recovered all their HP for a second attack). Unfortunately, the second half was so poor that I can’t even call it laughable, as our heroes find a mural that magically ends the war in the space of about 2.5 seconds, whilst a set of random villains also looking for the treasure are crushed in a convenient rockfall.

Anyway, episode five brings us onto a new arc as Wil and Allison meet up again in the frozen north, only to get lost in a snowstorm and end up staying with a suspicious old lady. Unfortunately, despite Wil’s alleged smartness and Allison’s military training, neither of them notice that their ‘herbal tea’ is actually drugged, whilst Allison’s attempts to ask Wil to move in with her are painful in their clichéd nature. I must continue watching the series for the sake of completion and also in the hope that the Lillia arc will be an improvement on this half of the series.

Amatsuki 4: Our heroes have finally reached the Princess’ shrine, but it’s time for an unnecessarily long and involved stand-off when the resident shrine maidens decide that they must be ayakashi. Cue the emergence of bishie tengu Bonten, the inugami that dwells within Kuchiha, Toki’s “geass” powers and a princess living inside a puppet; enough to ensure you won’t get bored, but too much to make a structured and focused episode out of. At this pace, are we really going to get anywhere before the series ends?

Chi’s Sweet Home 14-20: It’s playtime for Chi, but whilst she loves to experiments with everything from plastic bags to Dad’s work tools, when she gets toys of her own, she isn’t quite sure what to do with them. And then when Mum shouts at her for knocking over a vase, Chi decides that the great outdoors is a better place to employ her talents- at least until evening comes and she realises that she’s all alone. Is it wrong to want to reach into the computer, bring out Chi and hug her? How can this series be so cute without ever being saccharine? Could this actually be the series that will bring anime to the masses? Answers on a postcard, please.

And this week on The Making of Azure Flame, we reveal how we publish posts.

Itazura na Kiss 4-5: I don’t know why, but somewhere deep in my soul I’ve come to despise beach, pool and swimsuit episodes, so it’s unfortunate that episode four sees Kotoko and friends take off to the pool to enjoy their summer vacation (naturally, Irie ‘just happens’ to be there too). Fortunately, after this rather lacklustre instalment, episode five is at least slightly more entertaining, as looming finals force all of Class F to knuckle down and start studying- with some help from genius Irie. It’s still generic stuff, but even though I don’t much like either Kotoko or Irie, I’m quite interested to see how their relationship progresses.

Kaiba 3-4: Three episodes in, and Kaiba is becoming ever more compelling; this time around, Kaiba (still in the inflatable hippo) lands on a planet and ends up befriending a girl named Chroniko. Poor Chroniko is about to sell her body in order to finance her family, but in a predictable fashion, she gets doubled crossed by said family, losing her memories and self in the process. It’s a story that’s plainly visible a mile away, but Kaiba still manages to execute it well, whilst adding extra layers to a world where bodies and memories are just commodities to be traded, no matter how precious they are to their owners.

Meanwhile, in episode four, Vanilla’s interest in Chroniko becomes so overbearing that on their next planetfall Kaiba switches back to the hippo, only to get involved in the lives of a lighthouse keeper and her two grandchildren. Again, the lesson is that life is as cheap as it is precious, and that one person’s junk is another’s treasure.

Kurenai 5: This week it’s time for Murasaki and Shinkurou to take a trip over to Yuuko’s place, but while Shinkurou and Yuuko do a little sparring, Murasaki plays with Yuuko’s sister- and promptly succeeds in breaking both her doll and her DS. Even though it isn’t perfect, there’s just something about this series that makes me love it, but we’re reaching the point where a series either continues in excellence or makes a sudden fall from grace (fingers crossed for the former). On another note, I’m impressed as to how Murasaki has learned so much from cooking shows- even though I watch them, I don’t retain most of the recipes.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 3: When Yuuka’s sister continues her hate campaign, the rest of the family decided to pitch in with their own frenzy- and even though Yuuka wants to solve her own problems, no one says no to Kyouka-sama. I must admit that this series isn’t turning out to be quite as good as I once hoped, but in the realms of light entertainment it performs admirably.

*NEW* Nabari no Ou 1-5: After Naruto made it all about orange pyjamas and never-ending filler arcs, was there anything that could make ninjas cool and respected again? Well, it was touch and go for a while, but finally Nabari no Ou has come along, and everything is okay again. Featuring an apathetic lead who contains the ultimate wisdom within his body and those who variously try to protect and pursue him, Nabari no Ou isn’t without its faults (namely the inherent flaws of the battle royale format and a tendency to switch too quickly from drama to comedy), but nonetheless it’s made a strong start with some slick action scenes and memorable characters. It doesn’t hurt that there’s plenty of parody potential there as well- not to mention the fact that our lead is rather reminiscent of Ritsuka from Loveless.

Real Drive 3: Things start to make that teensiest bit more sense in this episode, in which Haru is approached to become an official Metal diver- the only problem is, he keeps failing the test simulation. In true anime fashion, however, Minamo telling him that he needs to be safe and relaxed is all he needs to succeed on a dangerous real mission to rescue a brain-downed diver, securing his position for the rest of the series. Meanwhile, it seems the main plot is not too dissimilar from the Cursed Wave of .hack, but all I want to know is who thought that making a virtual reality like a deep, dangerous sea was a good idea.

*NEW* Toshokan Sensou 1-3: In a future that might just come to pass, censorship has gone mad- and the only people who can oppose the seizure and destruction of precious books are the Library Forces. Enter one young girl whose enthusiasm far outweighs her competence, and the stage is set for a fairly standard adventure with the same library gimmick that always makes us come back for more.

*COMPLETE* Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 13: Zetsubou shita! The ending of this series has left me in despair! Anyway, this time around we cover unwanted strays, the origin of Meru’s silence (and an attempt to rectify it with real-time dubbing of her voice) and the dangers of assumptions. It’s good stuff, and it serves to highlight just how much a third season is needed- but until it comes along, Tuesday Rumble will be keeping the spirit of despair alive with a brand new feature, hopefully to be unveiled next week.

MANGA

Bokurano 48-52: It’s the long-awaited next release of Bokurano, covering the arc of the person no one thought was contracted- Kana. Although these chapters reveal that some of the things I thought were anime-only (Tanaka being Jun’s mother, Machi not being from this earth) actually came from the manga, even the bitter taste of the anime cannot reduce the addictiveness of this manga.

Reviewed this week: Aria the Origination 3, Clannad 14, Gunslinger Girl- Il Teatrino 2, Kaiji 15, KgNE Next Season 1, Minami-ke Okawari 1, Mokke 8-10, Moyashimon 7-11, Persona 1-3, Shigofumi 1-2, Sketchbook 7-10, Spice and Wolf 3, Aquarion OVA 2, Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations 2, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2

…and in manga: Bokurano 43-7, Mushishi 12, Spice and Wolf 1-4, Tenshi Nanka Janai 30-1, Tsubasa 180, Yotsuba& 51-2

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Aria the Origination (1) – the Single life
2. Spice and Wolf (2) –invest in apples, trade silver coins
3. Shigofumi (-) – the dead never lie <- new!
4. SaiMono II (3) – close those eyes!
5. Kaiji (4) – zawa, zawa
6. Moyashimon (5) – cute microbes <-complete!
7. Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (6) – first rumba, then tango
8. Sketchbook ~full color’S~ (7) – lots of cats
9. Minami-ke Okawari (-)- not quite the same <-new!
10. Persona Trinity Soul (-)- Mushi-Uta’s successor <- new!
11. Gunslinger Girl- Il teatrino (8)- Pinocchio
12. Clannad (9) – the world is made of invisible harps
13. Shion no Ou (10) – tournament time
14. Mokke (11)- magical cat

Aria the Origination 3: I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I adore Aria and I want to go and live in Neo Venezia immediately. Okay, now that the ritual is over, I have to admire how the series made a good episode out of heart-shaped chocolates and a one-off character, but somehow it managed it, transporting me to the far-off world of Aqua for a lesson on the packaging of chocolates (don’t use glass, boys and girls). In the meantime, President Aria seems to be taking his role as a Dragon more seriously when he starts reading the newspaper and taking an interest in construction, whilst Akari is growing up and new undines are set to appear next week.

Clannad 14: Kotomi’s arc comes to an end in this episode, and despite promising us a ‘theory of everything’ in the title (which I was hoping to steal and submit as a PhD thesis), it turns out that her parents had actually bought her a teddy bear. Anyway, after helping out with yard work, Tomoya and the others try to make Kotomi’s miserable life a bit more bearable so that they can put her aside and move onto the next arc. I’m sure I’m supposed to feel more emotional about all this, but all I could think was that Kotomi didn’t really the teddy bear in the first place.

Gunslinger Girl- Il Teatrino 2: After last week’s disappointment, this episode, whilst still not up to the level of the first season, is at least something of an improvement. Sadly, this may just be because the episode was almost entirely devoted to starting Pinocchio’s arc, and therefore had just a single scene with the girls at the end. I’m still highly disappointed by the animation, but the background music is beginning to grow on me, and this arc should provide plenty of story to distract from the presentation.

Kaiji 15: The long trek across the beam has come to an end, but unfortunately only Kaiji survived it, and thanks to his plea for the power to be switched off a couple of episodes ago, he won’t be getting any money. Instead, he must enter the next gamble, another card game involving three different types of card, in the hopes of finally making enough money to clear his debt. It’s strange- at this point in the series I still love the GAR MANLY w1n of it all, but at the same time the games themselves are pretty simplistic, and all this talk of cards puts me in mind of Yu-Gi-Oh (albeit a more badass Yu-Gi-Oh) once again.

*NEW* Kimi ga Nozomu Eien ~Next Season~ 1: As a Mitsuki fan, I was happy with the way KgNE ended, but by putting aside my irrational love for the TV series, I was finally able to watch and enjoy the first episode of the OVA. Under these conditions, the episode was quite enjoyable- Haruka seems a little more ‘with it’ than before, the visuals are nice and the runtime is pitched at the right length to prevent boredom. I’m actually looking forward to the next episode.

*NEW* Minami-ke Okawari 1: The time to move onto the second season has arrived, and as with so many things, it has proven to be a little difficult to adapt to the changes in visuals and atmosphere, so that whilst there are still moments when I laugh out loud, it just doesn’t feel quite the same. Even so, some Minami-ke is better than none, and I don’t have any intention of giving up just because of these alterations.

Mokke 8-10: The Mokke catch-up continues with three more episodes completed; first Mizuki must cope without her sister and grandpa on a field trip, then Shizuru befriends a girl who is obsessed with the other world, and finally Mizuki spends time with a weasel who is trying to learn how to use the sickle power of his clan. There’s nothing particularly wrong with these three episodes, and indeed they are enjoyable enough, but I can’t help feeling that this series is just a poorly disguised rehash of stories I’ve seen before- it really doesn’t offer anything unique or interesting enough to differentiate it from the bronze tier crowd.

*COMPLETE* Moyashimon 7-11: Moyashimon is finally complete, and what a strange, microbe-filled journey it has been. The series certainly had its fair share of enjoyable, thoughtful and even crazy moments, and yet overall something didn’t quite click for me- for all that I wanted to, I couldn’t quite connect with the characters. Even so, the microbes were fun, and a more detailed review will follow in due course.

*NEW* Persona Trinity Soul 1-3: Even though I intend to someday, I haven’t played Persona 3 yet, which puts me at something of a disadvantage when watching this sequel anime. Nonetheless, and in spite of the fact that most RPG adaptations are completely awful, Persona is actually proving to be enjoyable, offering as it does a Mushi-Uta mix of high school life and a bizarre alternate world of battles, monsters and secret organisations. There’s also some solid parody potential here- look out for a dedicated post soon.

*NEW* Shigofumi 1-2: When I first previewed it, I said that Shigofumi felt as if it would be the new Shinigami no Ballad- and as it turns out, I wasn’t far wrong. Instead of a shinigami and her cat visiting people, we now have mail carrier Fumika and her talking staff delivering letters from the dead (the titular Shigofumi), and so far, this new combination has proved to be more enjoyable than SnB was in animated form. The first two episodes cover an arc which begins when a girl’s father dies and Fumika is instructed to deliver a shigofumi to her lover, a role which her best male friend decides that he must fill. What looks to be a sweet tale of friendship and romance is soon turned on its head by the end of episode one, however, as the tale takes a darker and more twisting turn that proves you shouldn’t assume anything. Even though episode three has been altered for TV broadcast in case the evils of anime corrupt more innocent young minds, I’m looking forward to seeing more.

Sketchbook ~full color’S~ 7-10: The eternal process of catch-up has finally brought me to Sketchbook, with four more cat and art filled episodes bringing me up to date with the subtitled releases. Although there is still that air of trying too hard to accomplish what Aria and the like can achieve effortlessly, Sketchbook is still enjoyable enough in its own tranquil way, even weathering the introduction of the typical blonde foreign girl. And with episode eleven promising another feline bonanza, there is all the more reason to keep watching.

Spice and Wolf 3: I hope no one will mind if I fangirl about Spice and Wolf every week from now on; after all, if you’ve been reading this blog for any significant length of time you should be used to the fangirling by now. Anyway, I cannot help but love this series, from the atmospheric OP, through the beautiful setting, likable characters and story filled with financial twists and turns (don’t ask why, but I’ve had a taste for this sort of thing ever since I took a course in financial physics at uni), all the way to the delightfully nonsensical Engrish ED. This week, Horo gains a taste for apples and negotiation, whilst Lawrence continues to pursue the potential for profit when the silver purity of a particular currency is altered. I think I’ll have to send both of them into the Tuesday Rumble Dragons’ Den at some point.

*COMPLETE* Sousei no Aquarion OVA 2: After an uninspiring start, the Aquarion OVA makes up for its issues with a worthy second episode packed with action, story twists (that won’t surprise any TV series viewers) and an ending that means it does indeed tie into the original as a prequel. It could have perhaps done with a bit more orgasmic gattai with which to help us recall the original, but overall this turned out to be a worthy OVA that has reminded me why I love Aquarion so much.

*OVA* Tokyo Marble Chocolate 1-2: Many thanks to both Necromancer for recommending this and Hige for writing such a positive review about it, although to be honest this is the kind of thing I would have watched on the strength of the title alone. A double episode OVA that covers the same day from the perspective of its two protagonists, Tokyo Marble Chocolate tells the story of a young couple- each of them has had an unlucky time with the opposite sex and it may be that this relationship is about to go the same way, unless the intervention of a mini-donkey can change things for the better. A charming tale about romance with a whimsical and beautiful visual style, Tokyo Marble Chocolate scores another hit for Production I.G., whilst reviving my faith in the power of the OVA.

Tsubasa Chronicle ~Tokyo Revelations~ 2: It’s rare that I prefer an anime adaptation to the original manga, but I have to admit that this OVA episode actually cleared up some of the more confusing aspects of the manga, and even though various plot holes remain gaping open, at least I understand the whole clone Syaoran thing a bit better now. I could actually watch more of these OVAs.

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2: The insanity continues in the second episode of Zoku SZS, starting with half an episode of complete randomness with puns, incoherent talk and a guy who likes opening things (stop opening it all! Some things must stay closed!), before moving onto a discussion of ostentatious decoration and the importance of the old- everything from old friends to Old Mother’s Day. It’s at times like this when I don’t know if I adore a series or have merely just had my brain fried by a cocktail of drugs and flashing images, but at the core of it, Zoku SZS seems to prove that there are people out there who can reach the same bizarre wavelengths that I sometimes tap into. I may be random and completely crazy at times, but I’m not alone!

MANGA

Bokurano 43-7: At long last I have some more Bokurano to get my teeth into, although of course it is never enough. These chapters cover Kanji’s arc as he goes into battle against an enemy with long-range capabilities, forcing him to come up with a unique and painful strategy to overcome it. Meanwhile, more details on who signed the contract are revealed, alongside indications that one person may not be all they seem. Give me more, now!

Mushishi 12: At long last I have a new chapter of Mushishi to look at, and although it just covers the same material as episode eight (the tale of a man who cannot let go when he loses his wife at sea), Mushish is such a great series that I can be exposed to its stories over and over without complaining.

*NEW* Spice and Wolf 1-4: Having fallen in love with the anime, the logical next step was to immerse myself in the manga as well, and whilst these chapters cover much the same content as the first two episodes, I still enjoyed them immensely. With a beautiful art style and an improvement in the scene where Horo shows Lawrence her true form, it is clear that the manga has much to offer- all I need now are the original novels.

Tenshi Nanka Janai 30-1: The generic shoujo-ness of this series is pushing all my buttons at the moment, and not in a good way. Just as Midori angsts over Akira’s absence, he phones her up to say that he must settle things with Masashi before he can come home and live happily ever after. The predictability of it all has become so trite and sappy that I almost don’t care anymore; however, since I’m on the penultimate volume I shall see it through to the end.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 180: Never before has Tsubasa stretched ahead into infinity like this, for apparently, unlike the Syaoran-clone, the Sakura-clone had a copy of the original’s heart as well as her body- and if she gets destroyed, Fei Wong can just make another one and start the whole feather scattering over again. Nonetheless, real Syaoran wants to save both real and clone Sakura, but Yuuko will once again require payment- hopefully her price will be the immediate cessation of the Tsubasa manga.

Yotsuba& 51-2: It’s time for the culture festival at Fuuka’s school, and Yotsuba is looking forward to sampling some cake- but will she be impressed with simple pound cake? And once that’s over, a typhoon sweeps into town- what better time to brave the rain and go outdoors? As always, all I can say about this is that it’s as amusing as ever- long may Yotsuba’s reign continue.

Part II: Shu

Liu Bei: A youthful lover, effeminate to the point that no one really knows his (or her) true gender. Despite his lack of experience, his uncertain sexuality should please those who like to experiment.

Zhuge Liang: God’s own son, a master in the bedroom. Few have seen him “tackle out”, and it will take someone very special to get the full HARD GAY treatment from him.

Guan Yu: A rough and direct lover, consumed by the Lord’s Sphere to the extent of becoming violent in the bedroom.

Zhang Fei: Similat to Guan Yu, only even more lacking in finesse.

Zhao Yun: A skilled and secretive lover, he likes to laugh at any partner inferior to him. Only those able to keep up with his swift technique need apply.z

Part III: Wei

Cao Cao: In any other world, Cao Cao would be refined and effeminate, but as it stands he is more masculine than the other kingdom leaders. A man who prefers unpredictability and bondage in the bedroom, a night with him may be exciting, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

Cao Ren: A rough and boorish lover, not recommended except in the most desperate of circumstances.

Zhang Liao: A quiet lover, prefers to remain submissive in the background.

Xu Zhu: Likes to cosplay as a Man in Black- bring your nurse and maid costumes for a fun, kinky night with him.

*NEW* Dragons’ Den: Death Note

Welcome to a brand new feature based on the TV program of the same name, in which anime characters try to market their great idea to five fat cats of anime! President Aria made his fortune in the gondola industry of Neo Venezia, and is now CEO of a well-known company. Mikoto started her business in the capital of Wind Bloom, and is now a trusted advisor to the queen, with business partners scattered across the world. The Admiral‘ first business venture was to invest in a Chinese restaurant, but a meteor threat to Earth saw her buy shares in ground and space based defence technology, which she currently administers with her protégé “The General” (aka Shogun). Mr Tibbs started his career as a tea cat for the bank, but his sound grasp of finance saw him rise up the ranks until he became one of their most prominent managers. Finally, The Cardinal is the world’s most powerful fat cat, with a wide range of business interests that ensure that he has a paw in every pie (often literally, depending on his appetite). These five cats represent some heavyweight investment clout in every sense of the word, but is any deal attractive enough to get them to roll off their backsides and shake paws with a budding entrepreneur?

First into the Den is Light Yagami, looking to secure investment in his new innovation, the Death Note.

Light: Hello everyone, I’d like to present my business idea- the Death Note. Basically, you write down a person’s name whilst picturing their face, and then they will die of a heart attack or other specified cause. Using this, you can quickly eliminate your business rivals and increase your profits.

Cardinal: Hmm, and how will this be better than the system I’m already using?

Light: It’s no mess, no fuss- instant killing!

Admiral: Can I ask you something? Did you actually come up with this idea yourself?

Light: Uh, no- it actually belongs to the world of shinigami.

Admiral: So any shinigami could come down to Earth and put one of these on the market?

Light: Hmm, I suppose so…

Admiral: That’s it- I’m out.

The Admiral has declared herself out already, and Light is in for more bad news when President Aria has his say.

Aria: Punyu [this sort of thing goes against my morality, so I'm out].

Aria is out, but could Mr Tibbs be about to throw Light a lifeline?

Mr Tibbs: So, Light, have you any proof that this thing can actually make money?

Light: Well, the Yotsuba group used it to great effect.

Mr Tibbs: But they were caught, weren’t they?

Light: I’m sure you’re smart enough not to get caught.

Mr Tibbs: Well, quite.

Cardinal: Would it be possible to perhaps take this product in a slightly different direction? I mean, killing people is all very well, but what if I just want to teach them a lesson? Would it be possible to make a sort of Punishment Note that just gives them an electric shock or something?

Light: I’m afraid it’s death or nothing.

Cardinal: In that case, I’m out.

Mr Tibbs: I’m going to declare myself out too.

Tibbs and the Cardinal are both out; now all of Light’s hopes rest with Mikoto. Mikoto has remained quiet throughout the negotiation, but now she is about to reveal her hand.

Mikoto: I’ve been listening to all this, and I actually like the idea. You see, there are a lot of annoying characters in Mai-Otome, and so far there’s been no way to kill them off. With your Death Note I could change all that, so I’d like to invest.

Light: I’d like to accept your offer. Hail Kira!

After a tough time in the Den, Light has walked away with the deal he wanted, but will he write the names of the Dragons down in the Death Note? We hope not, or there’ll be no follow up to this feature!

Bokurano

“I am the Bartender, here to mix you your destined drink.”

“Look, I don’t have time to go over my life story so you can decide what that drink is- just get me plain old water.”

“I’m really into shogi ever since I watched Shion no Ou!”

“Do you think I could take my shogi board business into the Dragons’ Den?”

As far as dialogue goes in this sort of situation, this has to be the worst line ever.

Gonzo reveals their next plan- a spin-off studio called Sagonzo.

Poor guy- tired out from too much HARD GAY.

“I know I said I’d given up HARD GAY, but I couldn’t resist!”

“They’ll get their Liangs out no matter how much you try to stop them.”

Yes, there’s a lot of things you can’t do when you’re dead- say stupid lines, for one.

HARD GAY corner: Atelier Iris

As an alchemist, Klein Kiesling was well versed in using his “cane”, but unfortunately, he just couldn’t seem to shake off the interest of women. At last, however, he found an older and more experienced lover in the form of Delsus, before later catching the eye of expert “swordsman” Arlin. Unfortunately, Arlin was so obsessed with his ex-lover Mull that he frequently went off for Hyper Self Pleasure instead of committing to his new partner, forcing Klein to confront Mull in battle in the hopes of removing him from the equation entirely and winning Arlin’s heart. He was even undeterred on finding out that Arlin was just a Pleasure toy created by Mull- after all, androids are programmed with multiple techniques.

This week in Anime

Hands up who remembers Quantum Leap.

“What the f*ck do you mean, I’m not allowed to f*cking swear!?”

Brown dog plots revenge for its fallen comrades.

“It would become this big!”

Is that Kyo from Fruits Basket lurking in the background?

The secret base of the tomatoes is discovered.

Advertising, anyone?

“Oranges, fresh from their traversal of the Antarctic wastes.”

“Don’t you like my new girlfriend?”

Apples find a new champion.

Mini-editorial: Do we stop being ourselves the more popular our blogs become?

When we start blogging, it is usually in a sea of obscurity- no one knows us, hardly anyone reads us, and the anonymity afforded by the net enables us to rant about what we wish without fear of reprisal on the dreaded Letter Bomb Night.

Nonetheless, as the blog draws attention from readers, aggregators and fellow bloggers, there may well be a tendency to abandon the plain-speaking of the earlier days and adopt an outlook more suited to fitting in than expressing ourselves. If all our contemporaries like Lucky Star, then how tempting it must be to either agree with them to avoid being called an insensitive idiot, or to deliberately provoke them with flaming about the series- all regardless of our actual feelings about the show.

Aside from the occasional flame-baiting by the usual suspects, however, does this sort of thing actually happen as our readers turn from faceless generics into named characters? Do we start conveniently sweeping our dissenting opinions under the rug so that everyone will like us? Do we conveniently fail to admit the guilty pleasure found from sneakily watching certain series? Or do we go the opposite way, and try to antagonise other bloggers for the sake of hits? If people want to do such things, who are we to dictate what they write on their blogs? Perhaps all we can do is respect those brave enough to sit alone at their computers and post their true opinions under an alias.

Reverse Harem of the week: Akane Motomiya (Harukanaru Toki no Naka De)

A character so useless that even in the original game all she could do was use Cheer to motivate her AI controlled party members, Akane managed to make men fall in love with her for no apparent reason.

Harem

Tenma: The possessive wife-beater, and most likely to become Akane’s boyfriend. He becomes extremely paranoid and jealous whenever she as much as looks at another man.

Shimon: The good natured and optimistic shota- voted most likely to love Akane from afar for all eternity whilst serving as Tenma’s whipping boy.

Inori: The hothead young man who initially claims to have no interest in girls.

Tomomasa: The seductive older man with an eye for the ladies.

Yasuaki: The gentle mystic whose cold professionalism hides an innocent heart.

Yorihisa: The honour-bound samurai.

Takamichi: The scribe with a mother complex- most likely to become a family man in later life.

Eisen: The gentle and innocent musician.

Akram:The demon and main villain of the piece, he has an unhealthy fascination with Akane.

Rivals

Ran: A rival priestess and Tenma’s long-lost sister.

Shirin: A female demon who adores Akram and tries to seduce Takamichi.

Sefuru: A young male half-demon who befriends Shimon.

Amusing Search Terms

“fate/stay night” anime continue: No, it must never continue!

gay yaoi: Is there any other kind?

childhood in victorian England: can be best researched on an anime blog.

Amusing Spam

“Topless Putin: Russia goes ga…

MOSCOW: Few could have predicted the squall of gossip and speculation that would follow after Russian President Vladimir Putin stripped…”

This made me laugh so much.

“POWELL…

To much to shallow. This just sounds to liberal for me. Kinda brings back some memories of dating sites….”

So sorry- let’s keep things conservative for now.

“slave porn…

free sex slave training…”

Free, you say? Hmm…

It’s been a year of ups and downs, of anime gems and utter disappointments- a year when I’ve alternated between craving more and feeling utterly fed up with the continuing deluge of episodes that take no account of the fact that people might have other things to do than stay in and watch all day. Nonetheless, in true years-end tradition, we must review all the new series in an Annual Round-Up, a project which I meant to periodically update through the year but ended up writing at the last minute again.

As always, red titles are those which were dropped, and blues are the picks of the year. Come back on Tuesday for the New Year Rumble, in which we take a look at the year in the life of Azure Flame.

STILL RUNNING FROM 2006

Asatte no Houkou

The beginning of the year saw the end of Asatte no Houkou, a series that had started as a strong character drama and slice-of-life piece, but lost it somewhere with its slow pacing and plot contrivances. Ultimately, the series was a ‘curate’s egg’, good in parts but sorely lacking in others.
Final words: The series may have been called ‘The Direction of the Day After Tomorrow’, but sadly the plot sometimes lacked direction.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

Last year, I labelled the emerging Iroha as a tentative pick of the year, but in retrospect, it was more silver than the gold tier it seemed at first. Despite remaining generally enjoyable throughout, the series got mired in a repetitive storyline, numerous historical cameos and an ending that defied sense and explanation.
Final words: Good for those who like action or historical series, but sadly not worthy of entering the hall of classics.

Busou Renkin

Ah, Busou Renkin, a series replete with cheesiness, ridiculous special abilities and Shounen Jump clichés- on the surface of it, hardly something worth writing home about, and yet an important series in its own right. A prime parody candidate, every week of Busou Renkin brought more hilarity than the creators had ever meant to include as Kazuki found himself torn between the worlds of HARD GAY, STRAIGHT and BI.
Final words: I wouldn’t actually watch the series ever again, but parodying it was a lot of fun- blogging hasn’t been the same since.

Le Chevalier d’Eon

At the end of last year, Chevalier was going strong, and it lost very little of its appeal as it moved into its closing episodes. Yes, the ending didn’t make a great deal of sense on close inspection, but with strong characters, worthy action scenes and an unfaltering sense of historical atmosphere, Chevalier remained enjoyable throughout.
Final words: Good enough to parody twice.

La Corda d’Oro

Last year, I had an optimistic view of Corda; this time around, the tale of a Neoromance reverse harem would surely have decent characters and some kind of a plot- or so I thought. Unfortunately, it was not to be- whilst our lead cheated her way through the music competition with a magical violin, the shallow supporting characters and slow pacing did nothing to disguise the general lack of substance.
Final words: Another game adaptation hardly worth writing home about.

Death Note

I enjoyed the Death Note manga, but in anime form, it wasn’t a series that could work for me- the long exposition scenes never seemed suited for an animated format, and attempts to bring the story to life only made Light seem overly theatrical under his red spotlight. After many episodes of thinking “well, the next arc will be better”, I decided to terminate my relationship with the series.
Final words: It didn’t flourish in animated format.

Kanon

As we must all know by now, after the first few episodes, Kanon failed to do much for me- Yuuichi was always too sarcastic and cruel to the girls, who were in turn too one-dimensional to do anything about it. Despite the series’ attempts to tug at the heartstrings, overall it failed to ignite for me, ending up as only another excuse for parody.
Final words: Sad girls in snow don’t make me cry.

Mai-Otome Zwei

Most trainwrecks have the grace to stop and let the rescue crew hunt for survivors, but not Mai-Otome- it just keeps rumbling on. Aside from one or two good action scenes, this whole OVA proved to be a waste of time, introducing a pointless enemy and filling every spare moment with character cameos and fanservice. There was no real reason to expect anything else, but why do I keep getting sucked into this franchise?
Final words: Why do I already know I’ll be watching the next sub-par Otome OVA?

Red Garden

Despite attempts to make its mark with a distinctive art style and a New York setting, Red Garden managed to utterly fail at either the horror or character drama it was presumably aiming for. With four angsty leads who spent most of their time whining or crying and a mystery that dragged on into a totally ridiculous conclusion, Red Garden was a largely dull experience that never rewarded the patience of those who dared to persevere with it.
Final words: Don’t bother with it. Really. It doesn’t get better later on.

Saiunkoku Monogatari

On the strength of its first season, SaiMono established itself as one of my favourites; far from the reverse harem series it first appeared, it actually proved to be an absorbing tale of intrigue, politics and character interaction as one woman chased her dream of becoming her country’s first female official. Of course, the attractive character designs don’t hurt, but to consider this series shallow just because of that would be to do it a great disservice.
Final words: I don’t see why anyone reading this blog wouldn’t have watched SaiMono yet, but if you haven’t, get to it now.

Shounen Onmyouji

A fairly generic tale of a young onymouji being sent to fight the strongest demons just because he happens to be the main character, Shounen Onmyouji was often pointless and rarely very good, but somehow managed to retain interest by having twelve spirit summons who were gradually introduced over the course of the series- and with many of them having little more than a basic appearance, the series even seemed to demand a second season in which to adapt more of the novels.
Final words: Large casts usually work against a series, but in this case it was a draw for an otherwise average series.

WINTER 2006/7
Winter is traditionally a slow month for anime, but could the fledgling 2007 break the curse of the cold months? Sadly, with only a couple of worthy series that were worth following to the end, it seemed that it could not.

Deltora Quest
Despite numerous failures, I’ve always kept my eye out for decent fantasy series, but sadly, Deltora Quest was not one of them. Despite being so packed with cliché and unintentional hilarity that it could have made a good parody candidate, the fact that the series needed to resort to budget saving flashbacks and stills as early as episode four was far from a good sign, and when the next episode proved to be even more dull and uneventful (consisting as it did of answering riddles), the series was quickly shelved, never to be touched again.
Final words: Classic fantasy in anime needs drastic reinvention.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight
School comedies have always been hit or miss for me, and Manabi Straight struck right out in its first episode. With an energetic and clueless lead who somehow becomes school president, Manabi Straight didn’t do a great deal for me, and was quickly assigned to the Recycle Bin.
Final words: Not for me.

Ichigo Mashimaro OVA

Basically a continuation of the TV series, the Ichigo Mashimaro OVA offered three more episodes of Nobue and the girls’ everyday adventures. Despite dragging a little in the second episode, overall the OVA was as entertaining as the TV series, with apt observations and polished delivery and timing turning basic activities into a source of amusement and entertainment.
Final words: A nice coda for a strong TV series.

Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette
As an attempt to adapt the original novel to a fifty-episode series aimed at the younger audience, Cosette seemed determined to make life hard for itself, and the results were appropriately unspectacular. With its emphasis on the Cinderella-esque life of Cosette, the series dripped with twee sentiments and overused plotlines to the exclusion of the good parts of the story.
Final words: Almost painful in its execution.

Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA

Prior to this OVA, I liked MariMite- despite all the angst, it managed to deliver a worthy tale of school life with a sprinkling of HARD YURI. Unfortunately, it was not a format that could make the transition to fifty-minute OVA episodes with any grace- everything became terribly long, drawn out and dull, whilst the HARD YURI content took advantage of its newfound freedom to reach new and unforeseen heights.
Final words: I’ll still be trying season four, but this OVA was a major setback for the franchise.

Nodame Cantabile

The only real noteworthy TV series from the winter season (aside from Hidamari Sketch and Himawari!!, both of which I still need to start), Nodame Cantabile promised to be ‘Honey and Clover with music’, but instead became tantalisingly inconsistent. At times, its insights into its two leads- one a technical genius, the other an intuitive talent- made it compelling viewing, but all too often the off-kilter humour and wacky side characters ruined the mood, whilst an air of Shounen Jump “let’s level up and make the strongest orchestra!” always lurked in the background. Despite these flaws, however, Nodame was overall a worthwhile investment of time, and with the manga still ongoing, a second season would be welcomed.
Final words: Snatches of greatness kept the series appealing even as the wackier elements suggested switching off would be the way to go.

SPRING 2007
Spring is usually the best season for anime, and indeed there were lots of promising contenders right out of the gate. When it came to the long haul, however, which would make it to the finish line, and which would run out of steam?

Bokurano
As readers may know, I love, adore and worship the Bokurano manga, and so I was delighted to hear that it was going to be adapted into an anime…right up until the moment I heard Studio “adaptation trainwreck” Gonzo would be handling it. Nonetheless, I went into the series with an open mind, only to find disappointment with major story changes and a complete lack of tension in the pacing- worse yet, the director himself claimed that he didn’t even like the original! I took his advice and chose not to watch any more.
Final words: If someone tries to pretend this anime even existed, I shall stick my fingers in my ears and sing loudly.

Claymore

I’ve managed to upset many Claymore fans by not rating the manga very highly, but let’s face it- faults aside, I’m still reading after seventy-four chapters and I do want to know how it’s all going to turn out. The same could not be said for the anime, which bucked me off like a recalcitrant horse after a mere eleven episodes thanks to uninspiring characters, dull fight scenes and a washed out colour scheme.
Final words: Give me Berserk any day.

Darker than Black

During its early episodes, I had the highest of hopes for Darker than Black- it seemed slick, well directed and packed with the perfect mix of exposition, mystery and action. Unfortunately, despite such a strong start, the series soon began to flounder, adopting a pacing more suited to a fifty-episode series as it introduced minor characters, packed in last minute explanations and generally failed to live up to those early days. Even Yoko Kanno’s work on the music didn’t seem up to her usual high standard, ensuring that no aspect of the series really lived up to its potential.
Final words: Darker than Black it may be, but it wasn’t better than good.

Dennou Coil

Ah, Dennou Coil, how much more can I praise you? I accept that this series wasn’t perfect, but if you’ll excuse the lapse into informality, it was damn close. Never before has a series so deserved to be lavished with internet praise along the lines of 1337, awesome and w1n, all thanks to an intriguing setting and story, combined with memorable and well developed characters. Mere words alone are not enough to praise this series, which was surely the best offering of 2007.
Final words: I worship at the shrine of Dennou Coil, and encourage others to join.

El Cazador de la Bruja

Better known as “El Caza-bore”, this third instalment in Bee Train’s girls-with-guns series did indeed contain girls and guns, but not in any combination that produced action. Instead, what we got was the most dreary road trip through a version of Latin America that contained only cacti, roadside diners and various other dusty clichés. Just watching all twenty-six episodes was an effort in itself, and one I only pursued for the sake of creating a superior parody version of events.
Final words: You haven’t experienced boredom until you’ve watched El Cazador.

Heroic Age
A series about a character named Age rather than an age of heroes, Heroic Age tried to create an epic setting involving space battles, legendary tribes and the like, but somewhere along the line it all became a dull universe populated by rejects from other Xebec series. With even the cameraman opting to stay well back from the action, there seemed little reason for anyone else to try to examine it closely.
Final words: Another average offering from Xebec.

Hitohira
A series about a shy girl who gets so nervous that she can’t speak (yet somehow gets into the drama club due to her occasional ability to shout), Hitohira was something I stuck with for a mere two episodes, before deciding that it wasn’t going to bring me anything particularly worthy. With forgettable characters and hints of HARD YURI, Hitohira seemed to patch together elements of other series like Tsuyokiss and Gokujou Seitokai- hardly a recommendation.
Final words: Like its lead, Hitohira remained quiet and unnoticed.

Koutetsu Sangokushi

As a fan of the Three Kingdoms era, I was looking forward to a series that would surely present it better than the forgettable 1990s effort- but sadly, despite superior production values, Koutetsu Sangokushi was not to be that series. Although Koutetsu should be praised for focusing on the kingdom of Wu, it loses points for its extreme levels of ridiculousness, from a super-HARD GAY gender-confused cast to the inclusion of special sentai powers for the main characters- somehow I just don’t remember these things happening in the original novel.
Final words: As far as historical adaptations go, this one is just laughably ridiculous.

Lucky Star

A series that attracted both hate and adoration in adoration, Lucky Star did very little for me; I didn’t despise it, but for me it just did very little- episodes would pass by and I would sit in front of them, almost completely indifferent to them. Occasionally I would laugh, but much of the series was just white noise.
Final words: Ichigo Mashimaro and Minami-ke make everyday life amusing, but Lucky Star just rambles on and on.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
The first two seasons of Nanoha weren’t great, but they won me over with their attractive character designs and worthy action scenes; sadly, the first thing StrikerS did was to introduce new characters to an already bloated cast and throw out actual battle in favour of training against robots. Whilst the leads were forced to wear limiters to remove their God Modes, everything was left in the hands of the newbies, whilst what had once been a simple world of magical girls fighting evil became tied up in pointless bureaucracy. It may have improved later on, but after six episodes, I bailed out.
Final words: No more Nanoha for me.

Murder Princess
An OVA from Bee Train, Murder Princess told the tale of a princess and a bounty hunter who rather randomly end up swapping bodies, but unfortunately, what looked like it would at least be a mildly entertaining fantasy series was ruined by ridiculous elements such as a mad scientist and his two loli androids. In the end, even a mere six episodes of this seemed like too much.
Final words: Nice character designs, shame about the rest.

Oh! Edo Rocket

With its low profile and childish-looking character designs, Oh! Edo Rocket initially didn’t seem like something worth watching- but how wrong I was. After some positive recommendations, I reversed my position and took the plunge, and it was eminently worth it. A series so crazy that you cannot help but love it, Oh! Edo Rocket is nominally about a fireworks maker trying to create a rocket that can go to the moon, but there is much more packed into it- from secret ‘Men in Black’ with special powers to aliens, monsters and a metric ton of pop culture references. It’s crazy, hilarious, sometimes a little dark, and a cut above pretty much every other anime that relies so heavily on humour and parody.
Final words: If Dennou Coil is the best series of the year, then this one must deserve the silver medal.

Romeo X Juliet

Adaptations come from many sources, but could anime really make something out of a Shakespeare play? Whether or not it could, Gonzo was determined to try, and in their usual fashion, they glanced at the original, threw it out of the window, and created a version that involved magical trees, flying horses and an aerial city that just happened to be named Neo Verona. Despite the general lack of similarity to the original, the series started well enough, and seemed as if it would go down as inoffensive light entertainment; unfortunately, as it progressed, the plot became ever more lacking and ridiculous, whilst the leads hardly inspired one to care for their plight. In the end, it found its greatest worth in the parody arena.
Final words: Romeo X Juliet? More like Ridiculous X Joke.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II

After such a strong first series, was it any surprise that I wanted more SaiMono? Unfortunately, with subs having dried up, I had to go it alone into the domain of raws, which for such a dialogue-heavy series meant relying on Impz and usagijen to help me through. Unfortunately, this approach distances me a little from the action, so that whilst I still enjoy the series and think it is good, it just doesn’t hook me in as it did before. Is it the complex web of storyline that I can’t follow in raw, the introduction of a few too many new characters, or the decision to slow down the pacing a bit to accommodate the fact that the series is catching up with the novels?
Final words: I love it, but I want to spend more time exploring the main characters- maybe a full immersion in the world of the series is what is needed.

Sakura Taisen New York
Having enjoyed the first two Sakura Wars OVAs and the TV series, I felt it was high time to branch out into the later OVAs- only to discover that with New York, I had chosen a poor place to start. With a brand new lead and his harem of shallow girls, this failed attempt to recapture the original Sakura Taisen magic completely and utterly fell flat, forcing me to abandon it by its second episode.
Final words: The original cast cannot be bettered.

Seirei no Moribito

It had the most beautiful of settings, but after a strong early start, that ultimately seemed to be all Seirei no Moribito could offer. Although its slow and tranquil pacing satisfied some, for me it was a case of being a series where not only did nothing ever happen, but it took a long time about not happening. There were a few worthy action scenes, but the rest of the series was drenched in sitting and talking- and so many episodes of static conversation can grow stale.
Final words: Instead of making anime, let’s just sit and talk about it.

Shining Tears X Wind
RPG adaptations are renowned for not being up to much, and when the source material is reputedly “the worst RPG ever” (and its sequel), you can’t really expect much. Even so, Shining Tears somehow managed to achieve new levels of awfulness, with its pointless and forgettable leads, incongruous elements (tanks and lasers in a fantasy kingdom) and general lack of anything that can be praised. I once considered Disgaea to be the worst anime ever, but this series has taken that spot.
Final words: It was a pile of Shining Tears X Wind.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica

Despite having encountered disappointment with the likes of YoakeNa, I still found myself drawn to eroge and visual novel-based series with worthy character designs- hence my brief relationship with Polyphonica. Unfortunately, even the lovely Corticarte could not disguise the fact that Polyphonica was pretty much entirely pointless filler- and when a beach episode appeared as early as episode three, I knew it was time to bail out.
Final words: Have I learned my lesson this time? I hope so.

SKULLMAN
Skullman, Skullman, does whatever a skull can…sits motionless, on a shelf- well, you get the idea. Based on a retro manga and series, SKULLMAN was not a series well-adapted for life in the twenty-first century, and by its first episode it was already floundering. With spoilers on wikipedia recounting a miserable background and fate for the eponymous anti-hero, it hardly seemed watching any more.
Final words: He’s a man… with a skull for a head! Bet you couldn’t guess that from the title, eh?

Victorian Romance Emma Second Act

The first season of Emma was highly enjoyable, but the fact that it only covered two volumes of the manga left the story hanging. With that in mind, a second season seemed a true blessing, although ultimately it was not one that was handled as well as it could have been. Despite having a further five volumes to cover and only twelve more episodes to do it in, Second Act began with a filler episode, before proceeding to cut out large chunks of the story (although admittedly the manga storyline of Emma being kidnapped and taken to America had seemed a little farfetched at the time). All in all, it was still a highly worthy series, just not as good as it could have been.
Final words: You can’t go wrong with Emma, but this still didn’t quite live up to its potential.

Wellber no Monogatari ~Sisters of Wellber~

The tale of a thief and a princess trying to flee one country and make it to another before a deadline, Wellber was another of those series that didn’t seem to bring anything original to the table, but nonetheless appeared entertaining enough to watch. Unfortunately, elements such as predictable storylines and a talking tank conspired against it, but overall it just managed to pull through as a piece of light entertainment- not least because of the unintentional hilarity that cropped up in most episodes.
Final words: Mildly entertaining.

SUMMER 2007
In principle, summer is when everyone is enjoying themselves in the great outdoors- and so why bother to air much in the way of good anime? Still, given the poor showings of summer 2005-6, 2007 might just have the edge over them with its single digit selection.

Baccano!

With a wealth of named characters and a timeline that jumped back and forth through early 1930s America, Baccano was never the easiest series to follow, and indeed, even now I cannot say I had much of a clue what was going on throughout large chunks of it. Even so, the sheer enthusiasm and attack which the series brought to our screens was so infectious that one could not help but enjoy it- whether it was a tense shootout or just Isaac and Miria getting up to their usual antics, Baccano was always entertaining- and with many more novels left to adapt, hopes for a second season are high.
Final words: Every season needs a good historical series, and this was the summer’s candidate.

Doujin Work

A short series focusing on a young woman who believes she can make her fortune drawing doujinshi, Doujin Work was never going to be anything very special, but despite the budget animation and predictable jokes, it was somehow entertaining. And with the actual episodes running at only fourteen minutes (the rest of the time slot was taken up with a live action guide to making doujinshi), it isn’t a huge investment in time either.
Final words: Light entertainment done right.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai

After the first season, Higurashi had generally failed to impress, but having embarked upon the franchise, I felt I had to carry it through- a feeling that eroded with every week of watching Kai. Everything just felt so drawn out and over the top, especially Satoko’s situation (I would applaud the series for at least having a go at tackling the difficult subject of child abuse, but then again, is that something I really want to watch for entertainment?). Even the introduction of Hanyu to the mix couldn’t save the plot, and in the end I decided to leave the citizens of Hinamizawa to their miserable fate.
Final words: It fails in the execution.

Mononoke

Having been largely bored by Ayakashi, I approached its spin-off with caution- what if it was more of the same excruciatingly slow pacing? Nonetheless, having watched and enjoyed Requiem from the Darkness right before it started to air, I decided to take the plunge, and although Mononoke did indeed have its weak points, it turned out the be the right decision. With an intriguing lead character, unique art style and slicker direction than its predecessor, Mononoke managed to hit all the right notes for supernatural fantasy. A second season would not go amiss.
Final words: It succeeded because it didn’t have ‘Ayakashi’ in the title.

Mushi-Uta

Call me shallow, but the whole reason I wanted to watch Mushi-Uta was because the title seemed to label it as the bastard son of Mushishi and Utawarerumono. In fact, aside from a masked character who resembled Hakuoro, it bore very little resemblance to either, but after a shaky start, Mushi-Uta finally came up with the goods. Although the mixture of giant bug battles and high school life was often confusing, and in spite of the fact that I could barely get a grip on the characters’ names, the story slowly drew me in, to the extent that I even cared about the fate of a minor character. As with several other series this year, it needs a second season.
Final words: Sometimes randomly picked choices can work out well after all.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Since the blogworld once had its own Hopeless Sensei, this anime seemed almost destined to be watched, and happily it was a series well suited to SHAFT’s randomness. A classroom comedy with a twist of bleak despair, Sensei was much like any other comedy- funny when it hit the mark, but somewhat random and a little tedious when it didn’t. Coupled with a distinctive high contrast art style, it made the series memorable and unique, but not always for the right reasons.
Final words: Somewhat inconsistent, but with some highly worthy moments.

Tetsuko no Tabi
It’s hard for me to really appraise Tetsuko no Tabi since out of thirteen episodes I’ve only seen a badly subbed version of the first one, but nonetheless I’ll include it for completeness. A series based on actual train journeys, Tetsuko no Tabi had an interesting enough first episode, but without more material to work with, I can’t really form a proper opinion on this.
Final words: Won’t anyone sub this?

Zombie-Loan
DearS never looked promising, and Peach-Pit had already disappointed me with Rozen Maiden, but nonetheless for some reason I just had to try Zombie-Loan. Unfortunately, the series proved to lack much in the way of appeal, coming across only as an inferior version of xxxHOLiC and Tokyo Babylon.
Final words: CLAMP already did it better.

AUTUMN 2007
Like the spring, the autumn is meant to be replete with series worth watching, but let’s face it- Autumn 2007 was a big fat disappointment. Yes, there were some good series, but somehow the preponderance of mediocrity combined with circumstances in the outside world ensured that anime enthusiasm reached new and previously unexplored lows.

Aria the OVA ~Arietta~
For those of us who needed more Aria to keep us going, this brief OVA would have to make do between the long-finished second and upcoming third seasons. There’s not much to say about it, really, other than that it was another gentle and tranquil half-hour of life in Neo-Venezia, and in fact proved to be so worthy that I sat and watched it without even wanting to disturb my concentration by taking screencaps.
Final words: Punyu!

Clannad

I enjoyed Air and disliked Kanon, so it seemed likely that Clannad would fall somewhere in between, and indeed, so far it has. With a more likable lead than Kanon, it immediately scores over its predecessor, but unfortunately there seems to be a limit to the number of “sad girls” stories one person can swallow before becoming a little blasé about the whole thing.
Final words: It’s not bad, but I just can’t fangirl over it.

ef- a tale of memories
Whilst Owen and the others raved over it in their multi-post extravaganza, ef for me was a title that needed to be put on hiatus after episode three- the idea of someone being unable to retain their memories for more than thirteen hours was intriguing, but watching ef felt like following three different series, of which only one was worth following. I shall one day go back and watch the rest of the season in one go, but it wasn’t something where I wanted to put the effort of watching weekly.
Final words: I’ll get back to it…later.

Genshiken II
I enjoyed the first season of Genshiken, and so it seemed a foregone conclusion that the second would strike gold as well- after all, it had the rest of the original manga to work with. And indeed, Genshiken 2 quickly launched back into familiar territory, with familiar situations, character development and the sad realisation that many of our favourite personalities were graduating and moving on.
Final words: Now onwards to the manga.

Gundam 00
After Seed Destiny, my relationship with the Gundam franchise hit something of a rocky patch, so much so that it would take something far better than the usual Sunrise fare to repair it. Sadly, Gundam 00 wasn’t about to do that for me, and after a few episodes of pointless factions and a group who planned to enforce world peace by instigating wars, I decided to put the whole series on the heating element behind the normal back-burner.
Final words: Watching it can wait until 2008.

Hero Tales
With a name like ‘Hero Tales’, it was pretty obvious that this series wasn’t going to be up to much- even the FMA mangaka couldn’t really weave a good story about a boy with a destined sword. After watching an episode to assess its parody potential, I decided that even the gods of parody couldn’t expect me to watch something so boring in aid of a few laughs, and so it was put aside.
Final words: As original as its title.

Kaiji

Series dripping with GAR MANLINESS aren’t usually my thing, but having enjoyed Akagi so much, it seemed only logical to see what Madhouse could make of one of the mangaka’s other works- ‘Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji’. Whilst Kaiji is more emotional and less cold than Akagi, the twists and turns of his story are still worthy viewing- although one cannot help feeling a little sorry for poor Kaiji as his mammoth efforts in trying to win games dreamt up by sadistic yakuza only seem to result in him getting ever more in debt. I fear that twenty-six episodes won’t be enough for this series.
Final words: This series should be shown to everyone who finds themselves in danger of incurring debt.

Minami-ke

Keen for an extra dose of Ichigo Mashimaro, I went forth into Minami-ke, a similar tale about the everyday lives of three sisters. Despite trepidation that it would turn into another Lucky Star, Minami-ke had the required wit and delivery to make it entertaining rather than dull, and already a second season (albeit a retelling rather than a sequel) is set to air this January.
Final words: Forget choco cornets, melon pan and taiyaki, this year’s in-food is cream stew.

Mokke

Ever since enjoying Shrine of the Morning Mist, I’ve been on the lookout for the next entertaining silver/bronze tier supernatural series, and Mokke seems to be it. It may not be anything special, but the episodic tales of a pair of sisters- one who can see spirits, the other who gets possessed by them- has largely proven to make for enjoyable viewing, and the addition of a cat with special powers is just the icing on the cake.
Final words: Bronze tier entertainment.

Moyashimon

As the latest series to air in the vaunted noitaminA block (I know it’s ‘Animation’ spelt backwards, but it still sounds like some kind of vitamin or mineral to me), Moyashimon had a lot to live up to, but fortunately, all it needed was its uniqueness to make it a hit. Unappealing as a series about microbes may sound, when you take into account the fact that to our lead these microbes look rather cute, the whole thing takes on a new dimension; in fact, you wouldn’t go far wrong if you were to watch the series for this novelty alone. Fortunately, the rest of the content is solid enough, even if the characters are a little wacky.
Final words: I never once thought I’d say that I wanted a plushie of Aspergillus oryzae, but I want one.

Rental Magica
Where the search for supernatural light entertainment brought some successes in 2007, it also racked up a few failures, and Rental Magica was one of them. Populated by rejects from other series, Rental Magica seemed sure to at least mildly interest with its episodic tales of a company of magic users solving problems, but apart from a master of cat shikigami, there was little to engage the viewer.
Final words: Something to go back to when you have absolutely nothing else to watch.

Shakugan no Shana II

Even though I enjoyed it at the time, in retrospect the original Shakugan no Shana had a lot wrong with it- not least of which were the pointless and uninspiring villains. Even so, a second season would surely forge ahead into interesting and unknown parts of the novel series- or maybe not. For instead, Shana II decided to diverge into an uninteresting game-based tale that seemed determined to shake off all but the most devout of fans. With last season’s confession revoked and the love polygon once again taking hold, it seemed as if this was one series worth bailing out of.
Final words: There’s completion, and then there’s masochism- watching Shana II was surely the latter.

Sketchbook ~full color’S~

Every year needs a good slice-of-life series, and whilst Sketchbook was not to be in the Aria/YKK class, it was still an enjoyable series, not least because of the high volume of cats and fat chickens contained therein. Although it times it seemed as if it was trying too hard to capture a calm atmosphere that should just come naturally, Sketchbook was still worth watching, and after initially thinking little of the shy and quiet lead, after a while I began to identify with her- all too often I end up thinking a lot more than I actually end up saying (but no more! Now I shall never shut up!).
Final words: Full of cats.

And so, 2007 has shown us both good and bad (much like every year, really) and all we can do is await 2008 and the offerings it shall bring us. See you next year!

Anyway, the advantages of attending dance lessons are as follows-

• Women will always, always outnumber men at the lessons. That means you get your pick of single ladies (note: do not try to compete with the good looking male instructor).
• Women will be impressed if you can dance, since it’s a rare skill among men.
• If all goes well, you’ll know how to dance in plenty of time for your wedding.

Ideas for Phantom Brave 2

I know manga disagrees, but I enjoyed Phantom Brave, and yet the basic system was also in need of some improvements. Here are a few suggestions for making Phantom Brave 2, without simply answering “Makai Kingdom”

• Bring back ranged attackers; seriously, what was with the lack of gunners and proper archers (I can hardly count an archer who only has a bow attack when unequipped).
• Add riding animals such as horses for characters to get on and increase their range/attacks.
• Make it easier for a character to extend the number of turns they are on the field through levelling up.
• Encourage use of Putty and Owl types by creating optional maps where only those classes can be used.
• Increase the number of available Boar type classes.

Bokurano: Gonzo endings predicted

By now, we all know that the Bokurano director doesn’t want to permanently kill off all the children, and that as long as it doesn’t involve magic, the mangaka doesn’t mind if the ending is changed. With that in mind, let’s try to guess at how it will turn out.

• The prize for winning the game is to reset the world to how it was at the beginning, or to revive the players (who cares about dead generics).
• When the players signed the contract, they actually fell unconscious and were put into a VR simulation. At the end, they all emerge from pods.
• There is a parallel universe where they are all alive and living happy lives.
• Everyone is just unconscious and sealed inside Zearth until the end.
• It was all a dream Kokopelli had in the shower.

Ayakashi Ayashi

Generic #1 expresses his HARD GAY preference.

“Attractive as you are, I won’t give in to my desire!”

“Could this be a rare woman?”

“Nope, I’m a man too!”

“You can upgrade your Rod as much you want, but it won’t improve your HARD GAY.”

“Usually you just get straight down to the Pleasure.”

The first enemy, Giant Wang, appears.

Monster Pleasure begins.

Giant Wang faces off against another enemy, Multi-Wang.

“Is he our destined HARD GAY partner?”

Monster Pleasure gets taken to the next level.

“I must join in with some Cannon!”

“I told you no good would come of this sort of HARD GAY!”

Giant Wang is defeated.

Multi-Wang strikes again.

Random Thoughts: Shion

This week, we talk to Shion from the Xenosaga games. Shion, can you explain how you got to be a first-class scientist when you seem to be largely incompetent?

Head scientists don’t need to be competent *laughs*- we just let our underlings do the work and take credit for it. Anyway, I initially got my job because my character design was much less generic than anyone else’s.

How do you explain how your character design shifted so much?

Jealous, aren’t you? I just spent some skill points on levelling up my appearance.

Did you create KOS-MOS just for HARD YURI?

No, no- of course not! …How did you know? Did you find the photos? I swear I was only trying that bondage gear on!

Do you ever wish the games had been created as they were initially envisioned, in six spacetime-spanning parts?

No, because then I would have only been in the first game, and I would never have got the appearance upgrade.

And finally- are hot pants the answer to the Xenosaga universe?

Yes- yes they are.

This Week in Anime

“Mmm, good apple.”

“Crispy and sweet.”

Oranges find a new guardian to protect their stronghold.

Don’t like oranges? Try some lemons.

Forget Cup Noodle- try some Cat Noodle.

“I shall prove myself worthy of these olives and meat buns!”

“So I just put it in the backside here, right?”

The Pizza Hut era in Darker than Black begins.

Fruits band together to make an assault on meat.

“Looks like the horse is ready and waiting.”

July Anime Awards

The “Best Anime Ever” for Consistent Quality in the Face of Declining Standards Elsewhere goes to Dennou Coil, the new best anime ever.

The Darkly Comical Award for Finding Amusement in Suicide Attempts goes to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for its bleak humour.

The ER Award for Longest Medical Arc goes to Saiunkoku Monogatari II.

The “Where are the Answers?” Award for Frustrating Lack of Plot Development goes to Darker than Black.

The “What the Hell is Going On?” Award for a Complete Lack of Sense goes to Mushi-Uta.

The Rail Adventures Award for Train Otaku goes to Tetsuko no Tabi.

The Predictably Amusing Award for Mild Entertainment goes to Doujin Work.

The Insomniac Cure for Dullness is shared between Seirei no Moribito and El Cazador de la Bruja. Watching the former before bed the other night was a good way to induce tiredness.

The On the Rails Award for Standard Adventures goes to Romeo X Juliet and its mining arc.

The HARD GAY Award for Effeminate Males is still held by Koutetsu Sangokushi.

The Inoffensive Award for, well, Inoffensiveness goes to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

HARD YURI corner: Kaleido Star New Wings

Having lost her HARD YURI lover, Sora has to resort to Hyper Self Pleasure until Kalos arranges for her to have STRAIGHT with a new performer, Leon. Unfortunately, Leon decides that rival May is better at STRAIGHT, and Sora is left to continue her Self Pleasure. In desperation, she returns to Layla and even tries Yuri as a partner, but despite her continuing cheerfulness, she cannot land a permanent partner. After much training, however, she is finally worthy of Leon, but choosing him will mean giving up HARD YURI forever in favour of STRAIGHT…

OST spotlight: Fantastic Children

As excellent as the series it accompanies, the Fantastic Children OST uses haunting piano and cello themes alongside some Celtic-style tracks to weave a melancholy and poignant atmosphere. Even if you haven’t watched the series yet (and if you haven’t, why not?), this OST is a must-listen.

Notable tracks: Voyage (Cello version), Befort no Kodomo-tachi, Helga, Helga no Zensei, Helga (Cello version), Sentou, Mizu no Madoromi

Mini-editorial: Acquisition above enjoyment

There comes a stage in every collector’s life where you find yourself buying items at a rate faster than you can appreciate them, be it manga, anime or games. When this happens, one has so many unfinished games, unwatched DVDs or unread books that it isn’t hard to lose interest entirely- after the brief flicker of getting something good in the post, the item in question is merely tossed into the nearest shelf and abandoned. Is this phase inevitable, or will we always end up in a state of buying things to have them rather than to use them? Can we ever recapture the old feelings, even if it means a break from that hobby? I know this factor contributed to the close of my first gaming era, and so in this era, I’m only going to buy games once I’ve finished or definitively abandoned the ones I have.

Harem of the week: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7)

A man of few words and so few accomplishments that he had to claim his best friend’s memories for his own, Cloud nonetheless exuded some kind of pull over women.

Harem

Aeris: The quiet and innocent flower girl with mystical powers, predisposed towards Cloud due to her attraction to Zack.

Tifa: The childhood friend with large “melons”.

Priscilla: The young animal lover who instantly vows to marry Cloud.

Jessie: The chirpy freedom fighter with a penchant for disguises and fake IDs.

Yuffie: The headstrong teen ninja with a flippant attitude.

Barret: He may be a man, but you can go on a date with him at Gold Saucer. He may or may not like giving Cloud “gun”.

Don Corneo: Can be enticed to pick a cross dressing Cloud to spend the night with him, and may even try to land a kiss on him.

Rivals

Zack: Basically Cloud!Original version, he got the girl long before Cloud ever got his hands on her.

Fashion Police: Laharl

Sorry, Disgaea, but the time has come to send the Fashion Police into the Netherworld, and their first target is none other than demon Overlord Laharl. Although a flowing scarf can be used to compensate for a multitude of sins, nothing can completely erase Laharl’s crime of fabric (or rather lack of it). Yes, taken on their own the shorts and shoes are not too bad, but when reconciled with the fact that there’s a lot of skin showing and not really much else to the outfit, the time comes to declare that the heat of the Netherworld is nothing compared to looking well turned-out and presentable.

Fashion sense: D

Amusing Search Terms

You toube is back! I feel as if I’ve been reunited with an old friend.

azure alternative: Offering an alternative to Azure Flame- not reading Azure Flame.

pink toube: Only pink videos allowed

romance, words, thoughts: “I love you”

nanoha parodies: Always wanting more parody.

RPG maker beyblade sprites: Once you mention it, Beyblade never fully goes away

Added a new parody movie to the movies s: Did you? Good for you.

rpg maker xp resources blood: Actually, I did work on some blood splatters a while ago.

virtual sex: Let’s all have a good laugh

watch tenchi forever online: I know they mean the film Tenchi Forever, but it amuses me to think that they want the ability to watch Tenchi indefinitely.

techniques to give a gay man pleasure: As I said before, he likes it from behind.

.hack// incest: Also known as Legend of the Twilight.

anime having sex: Anime can have sex now? Is manga its partner?

“foreign demons”: damn those foreign demons.

what is the code for azure flame: Use the secret knock to gain access to our headquarters.

yuri sora festival: What is this?

toki packaging: Packaging for a clock?

great doctor in romance three kingdoms: This makes me think that Doctor Who is going to visit the Three Kingdoms era…actually, that’s not a bad idea.

anime desire angel: Heavenly Pleasure.

touka broken utawarriors: How can Touka be broken?

gundam seed gay: You know the reason Kira never touched Lacus was because he wanted Athrun.

manga art large boobs: Tenjho Tenge.

gay bold: Better than gay italic.

runner: how does this simple one word search reach my blog?

• Kureha: despite the unfortunate association with Shining Wind, I cannot help but want this.
• Himawari: I didn’t want this at first and it’s not normally the style of figure I like, but she’s just so brightly coloured, cute and energetic.
• Shenhua: the big ears are distracting but I love the costume and pose.
• Fasalina: Okay, so the boobs are totally unrealistic but I must have it- nothing shall come between me and getting this figure.

Emma parody dub: extracts

With the news that Emma has been licensed and will be released in sub only boxsets, it becomes clear that there is room for something else on the DVDs- a parody dub. Let’s take a look at what those crazy US companies might just include.

William: Yo, what’s up, Emma my girl?

Emma: Yo Bill, not much. Wanna hang out down at Crystal Palace later?

William: Sure thing, honey.

Hakim: Discount sale at Kwik-E-Mart!

Eleanor: This is such a bummer- my Bill has eyes for some maid!

Annie: Let’s teach her a lesson, boss.

Eleanor: Right on!

Bokurano alternate universe spin-offs

Welcome to a new moneymaking scheme designed to milk as much out of Bokurano as possible! In each spin-off, we focus on what might have happened in the lives of the characters if they had never become Zearth pilots.

• Waku: experience the thrills and spills as he hones his soccer skills in a desperate attempt to get into the major leagues. Will he ever play in the World Cup?
• Kodama: Now several years older, Kodama is the ruthless owner of his father’s company. Can his cruel streak ever be softened by his beautiful secretary?
• Daichi: Join him as he struggles to support his siblings through an increasingly intense schedule of assorted part-time jobs, all the while trying to get an education.
• Nakama: Can she get her fledgling needlework business off the ground, or will it all end in disaster?
• Kako: Now an adult, Kako is a lackey for the Yakuza- can he break out of the criminal underworld, or is this his ultimate fate?
• Chizu: Also an adult, Chizu must struggle with bringing up her child as a single mother whilst working in a police department designed to help women who have been the victim of rape.
• Moji: Explore the love triangle between him and his childhood friends as the trio grow up and find themselves at the same high school.
• Maki: Experience her adventures as she and her little brother get into all sorts of scrapes and mischief.
• Kirie: In the future, Kirie has put his past behind him and reinvented himself as a suave and successful playboy, but will the truth of his school days catch up with him?
• Komo: Join her as she attends music college and gives it her all in an increasingly difficult set of competitions.
• Anko: Anko has finally managed to become an idol, but is the life she dreamed of all it is cut out to be?

Shining Tears X Wind 7

Souma arranges a schedule for TANK.

“Ah, this is the life- two women to service me and I don’t even need to stir from my oversized chair.”

Somehow, Souma has earned his own office.

He’s even up to the level of mediating disputes.

Even so, it pays to have a backup job, such as playing Naruto’s understudy.

Who fancies some giant Cannon?

“This Sword is absolutely not here to compensate for any Ezo I may or may not have.”

“Oh, okay, maybe it is.”

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica 2

“If you won’t join us for group Pleasure, I’ll give you a painful hand job!”

Random Thoughts: Akidzuki

This week we get up close and personal with Akidzuki from Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto! Akidzuki, did you ever feel that you were short-changed as the main character due to a general lack of dialogue and development?

Of course I do, although I was lucky enough to earn myself some fangirls anyway, so even though my part in the series wasn’t much of a stretch beyond the action scenes, it wasn’t a total loss in terms of raising my profile. Now that the series is over, I might as well admit that scriptwriter Soutetsu did offer me a bigger role, but only if I promised to give him BI- which of course I wasn’t prepared to do.

We know that much of the series saw you looking for a HARD GAY partner- why didn’t you give in to BI more easily?

I did have BI a couple of times over the course of the series, but it always seemed to end in disaster. In the end, I think it’s best to stick to your principles; even if it means you have to go without in the short term, it’s better in the long run.

How can you justify the ridiculousness of the series finale?

Soutetsu was always one to leave turning in the next episode’s script until the last minute, and in the end I think he was just casting about for ideas that would fill a few pages, regardless of how much sense they made. I just showed up and played the part I was given to get paid- you’ll have to talk to Soutetsu if you want to know more.

What are your plans now that you’ve set sail for Europe?

To get as much HARD GAY as possible, of course- and maybe star in another historical series if I can.

And finally, what do you think of plans to create IrohaWarriors and Iroha Tactics games in RPG Maker?

I’m in favour of it, although I hope I get a decent role.

This Week in Anime

Bank of Scotland becomes moneylender of choice for the modern anime character.

Domino’s Pizza launches counterattack against Pizza Hut.

How about a lovely cup of tea?

Apples make their move against humanity.

Persimmons patiently await their turn in the spotlight.

Anime World Tour: Angelic Layer/Chobits

Welcome to the world of Angelic Layer, the near future with a twist. Buy your own angel and accessories and compete in Angelic Layer tournaments, then let your imagination set the limits as you telepathically control in a fight for victory! Feel the intense pride and honour of beating 4-11 year olds at a children’s game! You know you want to!

Alternatively, travel a little further into the future to avoid the Angelic Layer craze and pick up on even more advanced technology in the form of the persocom. She looks like a girl, but she’s packed with high end operating systems- you’ll never have to choose between laptops and women again!

OST spotlight: Victorian Romance Emma Second Act- Memories

If you liked the first Emma OST, then this one is a must, offering as it does more of the same. With its range of melodic piano and beautiful folk and Celtic style themes, Emma is always easy on the ears, and even the tendency to remix the main themes cannot detract from its quality.

Memorable tracks: Silhouette of a Breeze (Celtic version), Curiosity, Rondo of Lilybell (Harpsichord version), Molders, Rondo of Lilybell

Mini-editorial: Are paid for download services ever going to catch on?

Services such as iTunes may have revolutionised the legal music downloading scene, but when it comes to anime, can it do the same? Will we one day eschew the humble DVD and its successors for hard drives filled with anime, all obtained legitimately- or is that just never going to happen?

For the more hardcore of anime fans, the prospect of paying to download must surely jar with the knowledge that if they look hard enough, they can probably get much the same thing for free, and probably several months earlier at that. Aside from those motivated by conscience, curiosity, or fans who remain blissfully unaware of the shadier side of “acquisition”, there may well be little genuine, long-term interest in such services.

Even those of us who are willing and able to buy legitimate copies of our favourite series may simply not be satisfied with just having copies of the file sitting on our computers. If you’re going to hand over money, there’s a desire to be given something tangible in return, which is where DVDs come in. Even now, I prefer to have an actual CD than a mere downloaded album, and the same goes for DVDs- if I’m paying for it, I want something I can hold in my hand, preferably with some nice cover art and an insert booklet to go with it. Yes, there are issues of storage once the collection gets too massive, but that’s something that can be dealt with one way or another.

Harem of the week: Isurugi (801 TTS Airbats)

His secret shame was that he was an otaku, but when he got transferred to an all-girl squadron, none of the lovely ladies seemed to care.

Harem

Miyuki Haneda: One of the two main rivals, tries to act like a demure lead girl but can easily roused to argue or compete with Mitaka.

Arisa Mitaka: The hot-head and second of the two main rivals, not afraid to say her piece.

Yoko: The young and slightly eccentric one.

Sakura: The older woman and calmest of the group.

Fashion Police: Maru

Apologies for the small, low-resolution picture, but give the state of Maru’s dress, the Fashion Police simply could not spend any more time looking for better photographic evidence of his crimes. A prince of a distant land who somehow ends up living in a forest, Maru may own the opposition when it comes to his archery skills, but his dress leaves a lot to be desired. Aside from the fact that he is effectively half-naked, the baggy shorts are most unflattering, and the mask he occasionally wears should have been throw away when Halloween was over. The item bags aren’t exactly high fashion either, but at least it explains where he puts his items, a change from most RPG characters.

Fashion sense: F

Amusing Search Terms

bishounen troll: beauty and the beast in one package

ＡＺＵＲＥ Coherent: A coherent wave of azure light.

final fantasy 7 yuffie materia annoying: Isn’t it just?

gender bender doujin: Always with the doujins.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Oil Painti: You can’t move for oil paintings on this blog.

saiga rifle performance: His rifle performance is pretty solid.

“keep me hanging on” cicada: Cicadas can now be trained to chirp out songs.

final fantasy 7 hi res npc: high resolution NPCs? Shouldn’t you be more concerned with the main characters first?

mai otome yuri scene: “Shizuru bent down and lightly nipped Natsuki’s ear. ‘Stop working already,’ she huskily whispered into her lover’s ear, ‘and come and show me a good time, hot stuff.’”

novastorm historical setting: Join the Novastorm blog as it goes back in time on an exciting adventure!

spiky character Shonen Onmyoji red hair: Suzaku?

Rumble fight hacks: er, yes…

jouya kanou: ???

gay azure: Azure is a colour, I don’t know if it can be gay. “Sorry, red, but I’m attracted to other shades of blue.”

gay chibi: There are chibis for everything.

BeyBlade Friendship between Tokyo &: There is no Tokyo! Only America.

mai otome doujins: I’m only interested in the fat cat ones.

ANIME GAY TV: A whole channel devoted to HARD GAY.

lesbian yuri: What other kind of yuri is there?

beyblades season 3 kai: You write one article about Beyblade, and suddenly everyone thinks you’re an expert on it.

what busou renkin character are you?: Generic Bystander #3.

spoiler for episode 26 of vampire prince: If you mean Vampire Princess Miyu, then [XXXX] turns out to be the villain.

Each week, the Sunday News Bites team (aka Karura) is joined in the studio by an anime or game character to give their opinion on the week’s news. To kick off, we have gone to the Netherworld and brought back Generic Prinny.

Tsubasa Chronicle, now in OVA form
We got bored to death with the second season of the anime, and we don’t have a clue what’s going on in the manga, so what could we possibly want more than a Tsubasa Chronicle OVA? Set to be released one episode at a time across three volumes of the manga, Production I.G.’s Tokyo Revelations will keep us occupied across the long autumn and winter nights, but will it actually be any good?

Prinny says: Dood, when Laharl and Etna aren’t bossing us around, we like to tune into some anime, so we’ve all seen a bit of Tsubasa. I have to admit it got dull pretty fast, dood, so I’m not expecting much.

Bokurano anime director hates the manga
Who do you choose to direct the anime adaptation of a popular manga series beloved by almost everyone who reads it? How about a director with a passion for his work, determined to make the best adaptation possible? Don’t be ridiculous- it’s far more sensible to choose a man who doesn’t even like the manga and thus wants to change it as much as possible. It’s rather unfortunate for fans of the manga who were determined to give the anime a fair chance, but even the director himself has told us all not to watch it; he doesn’t want children with dark back stories dying one by one- he wants sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Even the ending is to see them all come back to life, possibly because it was all a dream/simulation in the first place.

Prinny says: Haha, we laughed about this news a lot in the Netherworld, dood- this director guy wouldn’t make a very good demon.

Xenosaga licensed?
Remember a few weeks ago when ADV said they couldn’t license B & C ranked titles because it was pointless from a business perspective? Whilst we were all sitting on the edge of our seats wondering just what A-grade titles of pure excellence that they were going to bring us, they went ahead and solicited the DVD release of…Xenosaga volume one. Yes, that lacklustre anime adaptation of the first game that was actually worse than the movie made from the in-game cutscenes is, by ADV’s standard, an A grade title. Well, I suppose it will go well on the shelves of people who like Samurai Gun and Coyote Ragtime Show.

Prinny says: No other RPG adaptation can be as good as Disgaea! Hey, why are you hitting me? What do you mean, “The Disgaea anime is a pile of something unmentionable”?

Welcome to the End…of NHK
Once, it seemed like it would go on forever, but happily, the NHK manga is about to get out of its rut and finally end next month. I dropped this manga a while ago after getting bored with the lack of progression for the characters, but with a definitive end planned, then I might make the effort to read the remaining chapters, regardless of how poor and inconclusive the finale may be.

Prinny says: Dood, do you think all the characters will kill themselves and be reincarnated as Prinnies?

It’s not Gundam Pizza Hut
My prediction about the next Gundam series seems to have been incorrect, as rather than being a tale of warring fast food restaurants, we instead have Gundam 00, complete with a team of four destined bishie pilots. Apparently their bishiness is meant to help the show appeal to female fans, in which case I have some better advice- how about including a few female pilots who are not so completely incompetent that they get killed or humiliated the first time they step into a mobile suit?

That issue aside, should we really expect that much from this new Gundam series? Destiny must surely still be etched into all our minds as an example of Flashback Modes and pointless cast members gone wrong, but can Sunrise pull out of their rut and produce a good Gundam series as opposed to an excuse to sell more plastic models? Sadly, I think not, for over the years the studio’s propensity for creating worlds far too vast and complex to be explored within the required number of episodes has only grown, causing the writers to usually lose all will to create a coherent plot when a pointless mishmash will do.

Prinny says: Mobile suits, dood! The Prinny Squad would like to buy some model kits, but our flippers prevent us from assembling them properly.

Whilst the new domain picks up steam, what are people looking at over on the old Wordpress blog? Naturally, the Uta game FAQs remain popular (you’d think everyone who wanted to would have played the games by now), but Winter Cicada is also getting a lot of views. Does hard yaoi have the staying power over mere HARD GAY?

In other news, my new laptop has arrived; not only is it the laptop of the gods but it’s also one of the few that doesn’t force Vista on you straight out of the box.

Reviewed this week: Aria 24, Iroha 25-6, Bokurano 4, Cazador 6, Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 2, KouSang 5, StrikerS 6, Nodame 16, SaiMono II 6, Seirei 6, Emma II 2-3

…and in manga: Bokurano 42

ANIME

Aria the Natural 24: It’s a rainy day episode of Aria this time around, as our three undines to be hold a study session in Aika’s room, and learn a few unpleasant truths about how generics can become jealous of accomplished named characters. Whilst hardly the most exciting or memorable episode of Aria, this instalment is still as soothing and sweet as it should be, with some nice President Aria moments.

*COMPLETE* Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 25-6: After many erratic bursts, the subbing of Iroha is finally complete, and we can look back on a series that started out as incomprehensible, before turning compelling and then throwing it all away in a somewhat laughably ridiculous denouement. In these final two episodes, Akidzuki enters the contrived and senseless final boss castle to face Kakunojo and Soutetsu. It is certainly gold in the parody arena, but unintentionally amusing as the finale was, it does bring into question the point of the entire series. Oh well, it was a fun ride, if a far from perfect one.

Bokurano 4: Zearth’s second pilot, Masaru Kodama, is a pragmatic boy- his father is a corporate tycoon, and he has learned from him that life is divided into the chosen ‘haves’ and the unimportant ‘have nots’, whose very lives are unimportant. And when the time comes to step into battle against the latest enemy, this perspective is surely going to colour the way he fights.

At the risk of repeating myself, I have to admit that the pace remained slow in the first half, and it was only in the second half that it truly picked up and became gripping instead of feeling like a slow recap of what I’ve already experienced. Of course, as a reader of the manga the big reveal at the end wasn’t news to me, but knowing what I know now about the true nature of the enemy made certain parts of the episode more poignant than they would have been to the uninitiated. Nonetheless, I may put the anime on hiatus for a while, as it doesn’t bring me anything the manga cannot offer in less time and with more impact.

El Cazador de la Bruja 6: In principle, it should be a welcome change to have an episode that differs from the normal routine, but when it comes to trying a new story, Cazador somehow manages to mess it up even more. In this episode, Nadie runs into Miguel, an ex-boyfriend of sorts who once double-crossed her, and having learned her lesson in the past…she promptly lets herself get tricked by him again. Unfortunately, what the writers have failed to grasp is that in order for such a story to be believable, you have to build up a strong relationship between the people involved, whereas Miguel and Nadie seemed to be barely acquaintances, and I certainly couldn’t swallow that she had deep feelings for such a one-dimensional sleaze ball. In short, it was a disappointingly out of character episode for Nadie, and like Kanon, I probably wouldn’t still be watching this if not for parody.

On a more positive note, however, the animation actually looked a lot better this week, although that may be because I’ve switched to a monitor that isn’t breaking down.

Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 2: It’s time for another round of pointless yet somehow addictive antics with the IM gang, and whilst this episode seemed even more random and slightly less compelling than usual, it was still another dose of inexplicably enjoyable entertainment. I was hoping the salesman segment from manga chapter 31 (my favourite chapter) would feature, but hopefully this will feature in the next OVA episode.

Koutetsu Sangokushi 5: It’s time for another round of Three Kingdoms style cheese in this episode, although at least some of the worst elements like arrows from nowhere and generic purposeless enemies are gone, ensuring that this episode is at least an improvement on its predecessors. Unfortunately, there are still some questionable decisions going on (why does Liu Bei look like a little girl with a pink afro, for example), but the series has at least settled down now, and I’m quite looking forward to seeing what happens next.

*DROPPED* Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 6: In this laughably pointless episode of Nanoha, the New Characters undergo some more training, Evil Scientist does some vaguely evil things and an infinite array of side characters appears for no real reason. To be fair, it was less excruciatingly dull than some of the earlier episodes, but then again, so is waiting for a bus.

Nodame Cantabile 16: Whilst Chiaki and his orchestra practise an oboe concerto, Nodame’s teacher desperately tries to get her to stop skipping his classes- but can these two conflicting personalities ever get along? Whilst there were a few too many magical changes of heart in this episode, overall it was a solid instalment, and I hope that we’ll see Nodame learn and grow as a pianist from now on.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 6: It’s conversation heavy episode even by SaiMono standards this week, as Shuurei meets up with Kai You, and Eigetsu visits Hei Taishi to discuss a method of preventing the mysterious illness. It is clear that Eigetsu’s time draws near, and although I have basked in spoilers this past week, there is still more I need to know and see in anime form. In other revelations, it turns out that Doushu was actually a genius doctor, but he gave that up to go and work ‘in the field’, so to speak, whilst Kai You was Eigetsu’s guardian for a time. Kai You has turned out to be something of an amiable ladies’ man- I have to admit I had anticipated him being more cunning and disagreeable, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Seirei no Moribito 6: Seirei continues to draw me in with its lush settings, although luckily it’s still proving that it has the content to back up the visuals. In this episode, Balsa and Chagum begin their flight from the Emperor’s search teams, but with the Eight Evil Men chasing after them, how far can they get? All in all, this another strong instalment that seems to indicate that Seirei will easily be making it into the picks of the season.

Victorian Romance Emma Second Act 2-3: Although it initially sounded unfamiliar, at least some (and perhaps all) of the scenes in episode two proved to be from the manga, as we see Eleanor and the Jones family visit the Crystal Palace, whilst Emma continues to settle into her life at Molders’ House. Even though episode one was hardly bad, this still managed to be several degrees above it; at the point where Emma started crying over William and the life she left behind, I couldn’t help but feel for her in a way much more genuine than the level of emotion most series are able to invoke.

Even so, episode three manages to raise the bar yet again, using some superbly placed music and sound effects (I always notice and love the sound effects in the best series) to really bring the world of Emma to life. In this instalment, Emma and her mistress go to visit a certain ‘Mrs. Trollope’, who also happens to be William’s mother, whilst William himself is finding it hard to get on with his life with the memory of Emma so fresh in his mind. Any lingering doubts I may have had about whether the series would succumb to ‘second season syndrome’ are totally erased in this episode, which perfectly drew me into its world and left me desperate for more- despite having already read the manga. Bokurano, Death Note and the rest take heed- this is how you do an anime adaptation.

MANGA

Bokurano 42: The anime may still be near the beginning, but at the cutting edge of the Bokurano story, Anko’s tale is coming to an end. In this poignant wrap up to the arc, the fight with the enemy is concluded, even as we see the distance between Anko and her father, and how desperately she wanted to close the gap. This is the point I hate, however- the wait for the next chapter, and ultimately for the ending, whatever it will be.

May has arrived, and that can only mean that the time for pruning many of the series picked up in April is at hand. In the meantime, visit this thread to learn about the world’s most hilariously awful book.

Reviewed this week: Bokurano 3, Cazador 4, Chevalier 22-4, Claymore 5, Darker than Black 4, Heroic Age 5, Nanoha StrikerS 4, Murder Princess 2, Nodame 14, ROTK 44, SaiMono II 4, Seirei no Moribito 2-4, Sisters of Wellber 1

…and in manga: Nothing this week!

ANIME

Bokurano 3: Just as I feared, Bokurano is beginning to feel slow-paced compared to the manga (although truthfully I have to reread the earlier chapters to refresh my memory), and so whilst there is nothing really wrong with this episode, it just couldn’t grab my attention as much as I would like. The episode deals with the aftermath of the first battle in Zearth and Waku’s subsequent death, and as with Death Note I can feel myself thinking “well, it’s a bit slow now, but the next arc will surely be good”. Yes, it’s the same old reaction, but will it be the same outcome of dropping the series partway through?

El Cazador de la Bruja 4: Every episode I hold out hope that the irritating cross-dressers will not return, and each time they dash my hopes by showing up once more for no better reason than that Bee Train doesn’t seem to have come up with any better minor antagonists. This week, Nadie and Ellis take shelter from the cross-dressing bounty hunters in a convent, whilst Rosenberg acts evil and Blue Eyes provides more exposition scenes than are healthy for a single episode. I suppose the best thing that can be said about it is that the episode is more tolerable than the first three, but it still isn’t great.

*COMPLETE* Le Chevalier d’Eon 22-4: I’d already watched these three episodes in raw, but the chance to pick up on any little scraps of information I missed first time around could hardly be ignored as one of my favourite series of recent times officially draws to a close. It may have been far from perfect, and it certainly teetered on the edge of cheese more than once, but at the same time Chevalier was a compelling and addictive experience, weaving a tale of dark mysteries set in an appealing historical setting. Now, if only there could have been more arcs…

Claymore 5: As I’d hoped, Claymore takes a turn for the better as we finally begin the patented Flashback Mode arc, in which we learn how a Claymore named Teresa once found herself reluctantly taking a girl named Clare under her protection. If I was ever to break out words like “1337”, “w1n” and “awesome”, it would surely have to be for Teresa, for whilst she is hardly the most appealing or complex of characters ever to grace an anime, her cool personality and prowess in battle wins her many points for sheer style.

Darker than Black 4: Darker than Black continues to rank highly as the second two-part story draws to a close, in which we learn that Mai is a Contractor ‘in moratorium’ (a state in which the Contractor does not have to fulfil their contract, but cannot control their power), a condition that is a result of her father’s research into suppressing a Contractor’s powers. Once again, the story is an absorbing mix that perfectly blends action and exposition, whilst protagonist Li/Hei seems ever more like Seishirou as he switches between friendly ‘student’ and calculating Contractor.

Heroic Age 5: There’s only so long something can remain inoffensive before it becomes downright boring, and it seems that Heroic Age has finally reached that point. Whilst Age (now oddly endowed with girly eyelashes) fights another Nodos, the Argonaut is kept occupied with a space insect attack and the declining animation proves that the budget is being spent on Age’s transformation sequence. I don’t even know if I’ll watch next week’s episode, but I’ll leave the option open for now.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 4: If ever proof was needed that Nanoha is not a series that should be given 26 episodes for a season, then it was this episode, in which it takes no less than twenty minutes just to give the new characters their weapons (I hear that next episode is all about transformation scenes). Why are we subjected to these pointless new characters? This was supposed to be about Nanoha all grown up, not Nanoha all grown up and taking new underage lovers.

In other news, hilariously Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Vita and Signum all have limiters on their power to stop them owning the enemy too quickly (the excuse being that so many high level mages wouldn’t be allowed in the same unit otherwise), whilst the new characters have special limiters that give them a smooth levelling up curve. Why not just define a nice levelling up curve in RPG Maker and be done with it?

*DROPPED* Murder Princess 2: You know how it is with OVAs- you tell yourself that since the episodes will be released more slowly than a TV series, you’ll be able to handle even a mediocre series by virtue of watching it slowly. Unfortunately, this is simply not always enough to erase the waste of time that some OVAs end up being, and whilst Murder Princess isn’t wholly awful, I just don’t fancy devoting another two hours of my life to watching the last four episodes.

In this instalment, we are subjected to some twenty or so minutes of dull non-events as Faris takes the place of Alita and prepares for her coronation, whilst the real Alita adopts the role of her maid Milano. Only at the very end are we given some action, and whilst it may be good when compared to the rest of the episode and Bee Train’s usual standard of action scenes, it cannot be said to be more than mediocre in the general scheme of things (and it is rather disheartening to see Doctor Dull and his two loli-robots back again). The only good point about this episode is that Faris actually respects and listens to Alita- based on the first episode I expected her to just do whatever she liked and force poor Alita to desperately make herself heard.

Nodame Cantabile 14: Graduation is over, but Chiaki’s troubles are only just beginning when his uncle calls him back to the family home- once a place of music and enjoyment, but now pervaded by a tense and stale atmosphere. Whilst not an episode that is particularly imbued with the things I like best about Nodame, nor does it contain any of the elements I tend to complain about, resulting in a solid if not outstanding effort.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 44: It’s just as well that ROTK is coming to an end soon, because now it’s beginning to drag. With only three episodes left, it hardly seems as if the Chi Bi arc can be done justice, although expecting a series where Liu Bei is good and Zhou Yu has a twitching eye to do anything justice may be pushing it a little. Let’s just get it over with and learn a valuable lesson- no more watching this sort of retro cheese.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 4: This week on SaiMono, oranges take on a heretofore unseen plot importance, whilst Kurou gets more lines than ever before and Reishin continues to skulk around in the background. Although solid, this wasn’t my favourite episode of the season so far, although it was entirely worth it for Hyou Riou’s first meeting with Shuurei at the end- he was immediately compelling and terrifying in equal measure.

On another note, I’d also like to see Reishin finally reveal himself to Shuurei since his skulking is getting a bit old now, although at the same time that would be an additional plot thread to deal with when there’s already plenty going on right now.

Seirei no Moribito 2-4: From its solid beginnings, SnM has turned out to be one of the strongest picks of the season, weaving an interesting story into its beautiful setting. From the hints of magic, mystery and intrigue, to action scenes so well-executed that they set a new standard for animated action, SnM has proven to be far more than it first appeared, and I’m all too eager to be taken along for the ride.

In related news, the SnM parodies will be on hiatus, since I feel there are other series in more urgent need of immediate parody attention.

*NEW* Wellber no Monogatari ~Sisters of Wellber 1: Although I wasn’t particularly planning to watch this, I ended up thinking ‘what the hell’ and trying it anyway, although I can sense that my relationship with the series may not be a long one. It’s not that the series is particularly bad, just that I already cannot bring myself to care much about what’s happening on screen as our fugitive princess and female thief set off on their journey.

There still seems to be too much anime to keep on top of, with only dull and infrequently released OVAs thus far being worth the chop. Still, I must try to keep on top of it, for matters will only get worse if I get horribly behind.

Reviewed this week: Bokurano 2, Cazador 3, Chevalier 21, Claymore 4, Darker than Black 3, Heroic Age 4, Koutetsu Sangokushi 2-3, Nanoha StrikerS 3, MariMite OVA 3, Nodame 11-13, Romeo X Juliet 3, SaiMono II 3, Sakura Taisen NY 2, Emma II 1

…and in manga: Bokurano 41, Cazador 1, Meine Liebe omake, REC 29, SaiMono 6, Tennai 25, Tsubasa 151 (I successfully resisted the urge to download School Rumble)

Since I’m lazy when it comes to text parody, Seirei no Moribito 2-3 will appear next week.

ANIME

Bokurano 2: One problem with watching any anime adaptation of a well-loved manga is the inevitable impatience, you want it to get to the ‘good stuff’ now, but the ‘good stuff’ always seems to be the next arc. This is just a general comment, but it should be noted that it may affect my impressions of the Bokurano anime in the future.

Getting back to this episode, I’m still torn between wanting to enjoy it and being scared to be too optimistic, with this instalment offering evidence for both sides. The first half seems a little slow paced, and Dung Beetle’s voice isn’t what I imagined it would be (although I can and will adapt to his actual voice), but once the action kicks in and the children fight their first proper opponent, the lure of the original manga becomes evident- and this is only the least developed character’s turn at the robot. Hopefully pacing issues won’t mar my future enjoyment of the series.

El Cazador de la Bruja 3: Cazador continues onwards in its own spectacularly dull way in this episode, which sees Nadie and Ellis stop off at an abandoned house during a rainstorm, with bounty hunters and the mysterious L.A. on their tail all the while. Much like Roots, this series seems to be more about promising that something will happen in the future than ensuring that it happens in the present, and so my interest remains low.

Le Chevalier d’Eon 21: When Teillagory reveals his true allegiance and supervises the capture of d’Eon for Orleans, it is left to Robin to rescue him, but with almost everyone now following their own secret agenda, his task will be far from easy. Despite some inconsistencies in the goals of the various antagonists, this is a solid enough episode which delivers on the action whilst setting up various threads for the finale.

Claymore 4: After leaving Claire in critical condition, the Yoma decides to withdraw until later in the episode, allowing our lead to scan everyone in the cathedral in case the Yoma is within them (why wasn’t this done in the first place?). Naturally, the beast shows up later on and battle begins, resulting in an episode that felt more contrived than it was interesting- although next time Claire’s back story arc begins, which will hopefully see an upsurge in quality. I’m starting to think about parodying Claymore- feedback on this decision would be appreciated (as in “yeah, do it” or “don’t bother, it won’t be funny”).

Darker than Black 3: Darker than Black turns in another compelling instalment in this episode, which starts a new two-part story which sees Li encounter a girl and her estranged father. Of course, there is much more to it than that, and in short order we are drawn back into the world of Contractors, mysterious powers and darker than black talking cats. Apart from SaiMono, which resides in a class of its own, this must surely be the best entry of the season.

In DtB, as in life, cats are in charge.

Heroic Age 4: As Heroic Age continues on its own inoffensive way, I don’t really care much about wherever the story is going (although I am glad to see Age wearing actual clothes even if his shirt remains open), and so apart from the emergence of some potential generals of evil, there isn’t much to say about this episode. In the future, I may look back and wonder why I wasted my time with this, but as with last week it remains watchable for now.

Koutetsu Sangokushi 2-3: Our hero of destiny Lu Xun is back for two more episodes, starting with an instalment that somehow manages to combine the monotonously dull with the utterly ridiculous. If we’re not stuck in a tedious conversation scene about minor plot trivialities, then we’re watching Lu Xun somehow magically fly through the air setting fire to thousands of physically improbable arrows. Meanwhile, episode three follows plot conventions by having the named characters undergo a trial of strength against Taishi Ci before being allowed to join the Wu army, whilst the duty of forwarding the plot is left to Zhuge Liang. Many of my early hopes for the series have already been dashed, but thanks to its parody potential it must continue to be watched.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 3: Although it still can’t be said to be particularly worthy, the third episode of StrikerS is at least free of the complete and utter monotony that permeated its predecessor. This time around, we have a fairly standard instalment that sees the dull and pointless new characters begin their training whilst the more interesting returning personalities are sidelined yet again. The action is at least more like what I want from Nanoha, although the animation has taken an unwelcome downturn, and I’m annoyed that the characters I actually like are clearly never going to get the development they need.

Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA 3: Ah, another fifty minutes of blatant HARD YURI (it may have been implied in the TV series, but no longer) – who could resist? I have to say that whatever attracted me to the TV series is long gone by now, with this episode split between Yumi getting followed by an obsessive first year who thinks men are more dangerous than lesbian stalkers and a visit to the terrifyingly bizarre Hanadera Boys’ School culture festival. In fact, aside from some unintentionally hilarious moments such as Sachiko running towards Yumi in a panda suit, this is all about as subtle and enjoyable as getting hit with a sledgehammer.

Nodame Cantabile 11-13: Since I didn’t realise that episode 11 was out until the amusingly named “HARD GAY fansubs” released episodes 12-13, it’s been a Nodame triple bill this week, which perfectly illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the series. Starting with Chiaki’s performance in the school festival concerto and Stresemann’s subsequent departure, Nodame turns in a rollercoaster ride of both good and bad moments, much like the rest of the series so far. There are times when I’m utterly captivated by the flashes of brilliance in the character insights and development, but unfortunately there are also moments when an irritating supporting character or an over the top piece of attempted humour will just ruin the mood. I’m also oddly distracted by the CG hands seen when Nodame and Chiaki play the piano- there’s just something fundamentally wrong about them.

Romeo X Juliet 3: RxJ shows previously untapped parody potential this week, as Romeo tries to get some quiet HORSE above the city, only to be interrupted by everything from his father crushing grapes to Juliet appearing in various guises. The series still remains entertaining, but now more than ever it seems to be begging to be put on the parody backburner.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 3: Whilst Shuurei awaits the arrival of governor Kai You (and getting exasperated with Ryuuren in the mean time), back in Sa Province, Eigetsu is having difficulties of his own- there’s a mysterious cult who counts Lin Senya amongst its members (probably the real one rather than Sakujun), a plague, and if Yougetsu is to be believed, Eigetsu’s own time is short. As always, SaiMono delivers an episode that proves to be absorbing even when I barely know what is going on, although this week I have wonder how someone with a wanderlust as strong as Ryuuren’s can ever be expected to be a stable clan leader. Hyou Riou’s actions must also be closely observed- could he even be responsible for the snow fox that seems to be spreading the plague?

*DROPPED* Sakura Taisen New York 2: Even with franchise completion nipping at my heels, I couldn’t make it past the halfway mark with this episode, which throws the light entertainment of ST out of the window in favour of throwaway harem style fun with hideously insipid characters. Let us never speak of this dire OVA again.

No, Gemini, men can’t get pregnant outside of parody and Star Trek Enterprise.

*NEW* Victorian Romance Emma Second Act 1: Finally, what all Emma fans have been waiting for is here- a continuation of this excellent series in anime form. At the end of season one, Kelly’s death saw Emma take the train back to her hometown in an attempt to leave William and their impossible romance behind forever; now, a month has passed and she has found employment as a maid for the Molders family. Oddly enough, although this season has up to five volumes of manga material to cover (the first season managed only two), it chooses to begin with a filler episode about the ladies’ maid of the house stealing items in order to keep her boyfriend interested in her- only to pin the blame on new girl Emma when she is in danger of being caught. Although it didn’t seem quite up to Emma’s usual incredibly high standards, this was still an enjoyable episode, and a solid start to the new season.

MANGA

Bokurano 41: The cameras are rolling on Zearth’s latest battle, but Anko finds it hard to put on a good show against this enemy- not only do they have the ability to fire acid filled darts, but the lasers just aren’t responding. When it proves to be all Anko can do just to defend against her opponent’s attacks, it seems as if Zearth’s hopes of winning this battle are slim indeed. As always, Bokurano delivers another gripping chapter that makes me want to have the rest of the series here with me right now.

*NEW* El Cazador 1: I don’t know how diligently I’ll follow this manga, but it must be said that only for a Bee Train series can static black and white images have more action and movement than the animated version. A compressed version of episode one, this chapter features all the blood, action and fanservice that the anime couldn’t show (Nadie even gets naked at one point), whilst taking significantly less than twenty-five minutes to get through.

Meine Liebe vol 2 extra: Concluding the second volume of Meine Liebe is this extra chapter which sees Orphe take Erika out for the day whilst the other bishies prepare a birthday surprise. Somehow, Erika fails to realise that it is for her own birthday, and assumes the surprise is for Orphe, and although it all works out in the end, I do have to question her intelligence after that. Also, since I selfishly want this manga to be finished, I must point out that Kagami need scans and a new translator in order to continue this project.

REC 29: Matsumaru has a new Nekoki picture book to show Aka, but when he gets caught short on the train and there’s no toilet paper available, he is forced to rip out the last page in order to use instead (I’m not joking here). Naturally, Aka finds the torn up picture book in the park the next day and starts reading it to a conveniently placed crying child, but what will she do when she gets to the ending? I guess you have to give the mangaka points for coming up with a storyline that you don’t see every day, but seriously, is this series ever going to swap the lowbrow and near-hentai moments for some actual story development?

Saiunkoku Monogatari 6: It feels somewhat odd to go back to the very first arc of the series at this stage, but even so, who cannot help but love SaiMono just as much the second time around? This chapter sees Seiran confront Sa Taiho whilst Ryuuki heads off to rescue Shuurei, with the only real complaint being that the artwork seems a little rushed in places.

Tenshi Nanka Janai 25: In the world of shoujo, what happens after you break up with your One True Love and try to go out with your Childhood Friend? Naturally, even though Childhood Friend is devoted to you and completely devoid of the troublesome secrets and emotional baggage that One True Love carries around, you just can’t develop feelings for him, and so it is that in this chapter, Midori breaks up with Ken shortly after developing a bad reputation at school for two-timing Akira. As before, it’s all standard stuff, but it’s still enjoyable in an easy on the brain fashion.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 151: Thought Tsubasa was pointlessly convoluted enough already? Welcome to chapter 151, in which the group learns that Sakura went into the dream to find feathers in order to avoid collecting the ones in Fye’s home world Celes, and that Syaoran-clone will be joining her to assist in the search. Meanwhile, Fye decides to offer Yuuko the sight in his right eye in exchange for being sent back to the very world he spent 151 chapters running away from, effectively rendering him blind until his left eye is recovered. Poor Fye, he’s now a blind cursed vampire…can things get any worse for him?