Azure Flame Reloaded

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

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

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

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

Continue Reading »

Star Ocean has taken over my life; it seeps into all the cracks and leaves me with no time to do anything else. Nonetheless, I shall get on top of this addiction, even if it means playing all three games (four if you count Blue Sphere) to death. In the meantime, Bakumatsu 7-8 will be covered next week since my birthday cut into regular anime viewing time.

Reviewed this week: Asatte no Houkou 9, Code Geass 10, La Corda d’Oro 5, Death Note 11, Kanon 11, Keroro 70-73, Red Garden 10, ROTK 33-5

…and in manga: Bokurano 33-7, Chevalier 1, Chokotto Sister 37-8, MariMite 21, Pani Poni 1-7 Continue Reading »

Under the new, harsher regime, I’ve decided to drop a few more series that I haven’t watched lately, but have no desire to get back to. This means that Chocotto Sister and FLAG are gone from the anime line-up (I hadn’t even realised that FLAG 3 was released last month, which shows how closely I’ve been following the series), and Melty Blood is dropped from the reading list.

With the influx of new anime, I’ve largely given up on the OP/ED impressions section for now, simply because they all seem to be so similar and dull. I’ll probably phase it back in when I hear something I like, or alternatively, something so awful that is has to be pointed out.

Reviewed this week: Busou Renkin, Chevalier, D.Gray-man, Death Note, Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Kanon, Keroro, Negima!?, Red Garden, ROTK, SaiMono, Shounen Onmyouji, Tokimeki Memorial, Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC

…and in manga: Chokotto Sister, Nanoha A’s to StrikerS, Tsubasa, Utawarerumono Continue Reading »

Another week, another round-up, another persistent feeling that I really am following more series than the handful I seem to be covering. This week seems to be an oddly unbalanced one, featuring a select handful of gems amongst a desert of tiresome, forgettable dross- some of it from series I highly praised mere months or even weeks ago. Apologies if the words ‘tedious’ and ‘dull’ have been overused.

Reviewed this week: Black Blood Brothers, Chevalier, Hanoka, Higurashi, Keroro, Mai-Otome DVD Special, Ouran, ROTK, SaiMono, School Rumble, Utawarerumono, NHK, xxxHOLiC

…and in manga: Chokotto Sister, Mai-Otome, Mushishi, REC

Continue Reading »

Volumes 1-4

Haruma Kawagoe always wanted a little sister, but when his mother miscarried and lost the ability to have children, it seemed like a wish that would never be granted. As it turns out, however, some years later, Santa herself stops by at the now college student Haruma’s apartment to drop off a rather unexpected Christmas present- Choko, his long-awaited little sister! Unfortunately, Choko may be an enthusiastic and loving sibling, but she is also so naïve and clueless as to need to continually refer to the guidance of a notebook. Can Haruma hope to impart some common sense to his little sister, or will it be too one task too many for a man attempting to not only handle the attentions of his eclectic neighbours, but win the heart of the girl he likes?

Continue Reading »

Marie Antoinette explains the principles of advanced disguise.

If not exactly sparse, this week sees a few familiar names absent from the roster (but undoubtedly waiting for the flood of releases that I sense will occur next week). In the meantime, I’ve finally made good on my promise to catch up on a few more manga series and have also fit in all 20 episodes of Twin Spica, which will be written about when I can be bothered in due course.

Reviewed this week: Chocotto Sister, Ginga Densetsu Weed, Hanoka, Higurashi, H&C II, Kemonozume, Keroro, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, ROTK, Tsubasa, Utawarerumono, NHK (School Rumble will return next week)

…and in manga: Chocotto Sister, Erementar Gerad, Furuba, Hunter X Hunter, Mai-Otome, REC, Twin Spica, Utawarerumono Continue Reading »

To celebrate the fortnight anniversary of the Weekly Round-Up (or rather, because I just thought them up), this week sees two new additions to the format-

1. Series in red are on Zero Tolerance, which basically means that they have 1-2 more episodes to impress before being dropped entirely.

2. Whenever a series introduces a new OP/ED, I will try to specifically comment on it. For now, I won’t be extensively ‘back-commenting’ on existing OP/EDs.

Reviewed this week: Aria, Chocotto Sister, FLAG, Good Witch, Higurashi, H&C II, Innocent Venus, Keroro, School Rumble, Tsubasa, Shadow Warrior Chronicles Utawarerumono, NHK, xxxHOLiC, Night Head Genesis

…and in manga: .hack//4Koma, .hack//GU+, Furuba, Mai-Otome, Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC, Yotsuba& Continue Reading »

Today marks the start of a new blog section that I intend to make into a weekly feature for as long I can keep it up. Contained within are short reviews of the ongoing anime and manga series that I’ve watched and read over the course of the week (by ongoing I mean recently subbed/translated even if in some cases they aired some time ago).

Reviewed this week: Higurashi, H&C II, Ouran, Keroro, NHK, xxxHOLiC, Kamisama Kazoku, Utawarerumono, Good Witch, Chocotto Sister, Bokura ga Ita, ROTK, School Rumble, REC

…and in manga: Tsubasa, Furuba, SaiMono, .hack//GU+, Otome, Higurashi, Kamisama Kazoku Continue Reading »