Azure Flame Reloaded

Mother died, and father disappeared…why do I feel I’ve heard this somewhere before?

It’s funny how obsessions come and go- earlier this week I was briefly addicted to the children’s Flash site Club Penguin, but a mere two days later I had exhausted all its possibilities and found it quite boring. What will next week’s obsession be?

Reviewed this week: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 19, Busou Renkin 26, Chevalier 18, Claymore 1, Gargoyle 13, Heroic Age 1, Hitohira 1, Nanoha StrikerS 1, Nodame 10, ROTK 43, SaiMono 37-8, Shounen Onmyouji 15

…and in manga: Bokurano 39-40, Lucky Star 1-4, School Rumble 219, Shirley Madison 1-2, Tsubasa 148-9 Continue Reading »

It’s not unusual to have a stone ornament in the front garden, but in the case of the Yoshinaga family, theirs is a little different- it can actually come alive! Known as Gargoyle, this intelligent gatekeeper was created by alchemy, and his duty is to keep the Yoshinaga family safe from all the other weird and wonderful characters that infest the local neighbourhood.

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It’s a week of episodes not quite living up to their predecessors in this Round-Up- is it just the after-effect of trying to watch some Gundam Seed Destiny, or a sign that the viewing schedule needs an injection of fresh blood from the spring season? Either way, I’ve decided to drop Les Miserables and La Corda d’Oro; they’re both too dull and predictable.

Reviewed this week: Iroha 17-18, Busou Renkin 25, Chevalier 17, Gargoyle 11-12, SaiMono 36, Shounen Onmyouji 13-14 (15 will be covered next week)

..and in manga: Emma Bangaihen 8, Oniisama E 1-9, School Rumble 218+b49, Spiral Alive 5, xxxHOLiC 10.4

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I need to take a moment to discuss this figure of Eri. It’s not a figure I like, and I wouldn’t have given it a second thought had ANN not written a surprisingly positive review about it. Am I the only one who dislikes this figure? It doesn’t capture the essence of Eri for me at all, and even if I had no idea who she was, the only thing I would like about it is the skirt.

Reviewed this week: Aria 20-21, Iroha 16, Busou Renkin 23, Chevalier 15-16, Deltora 4, Gargoyle 10, Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 1, Kanon 23, Nodame 8, SaiMono 34

…and in manga: MariMite 22, School Rumble 216, Tsubasa 146, xxxHOLiC 10.3

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After all the oblique references to real life, interviews and the like, it turned out that my application to a research degree that I thought was a sure thing turned out to have been rejected. Oh well, this must be what they call a ‘character building’ experience. Now off to learn about teamwork and problem solving…

Reviewed this week: Asatte no Houkou 12, Busou Renkin 20, Gargoyle 9, Kanon 20, Les Miserables 2, Nodame 5-6, SaiMono 31-3

…and in manga: REC 27, Spiral 27, Tsubasa 143-4

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L decides to get experimental in the bedroom.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m actually beginning to understand the lure of dating sims, and it’s all thanks to Harvest Moon. There’s just such a profound satisfaction in getting your chosen girl up to red heart level (even if all I did was give her flowers every day); in fact, my only disappointment is that you can’t woo all the girls into joining your own personal harem. I know Anton would like nothing better than to have a harem to do the day to day work on the farm whilst he lives the easy life.

Due to my method of writing the parody whilst watching the episode for the first time, I haven’t had time for Shounen Onmyouji 10 this week. It should appear in the next round-up.

Reviewed this week: Iroha 11, Busou Renkin 17, Death Note 15, Gargoyle 8, Kanon 17, Love GetChu! 5, ROTK 40, SaiMono 27-9

…and in manga: .hack//4Koma 5, .hack//GU+ 6, .hack//XXXX 2, Bokurano 38, Rose of Versailles 8, Spiral 19-22 Continue Reading »

Reviewed this week: Asatte no Houkou 11, Busou Renkin 15-16, Chevalier 13, Corda 7-8, Death Note 14, Deltora 1, Manabi 1, Gargoyle 7, Kanon 16, Nodame 2, ROTK 39, SaiMono 26

…and in manga: Fate/Stay Night 5, Higurashi Oni Sarashi 1, Tsubasa 141, Yotsuba& 43

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After what seems like an eternity of waiting, the fact that my blog got into the fabled 9rules can finally be announced, which of course furthers my plans for world domination is good news, given that I randomly submitted just to see if this relatively new and unknown blog could indeed make it. And of course I should say congratulations to all the other anime blogs that got accepted this round.

On a completely different note, Otogi-jushi Akazukin has been officially dropped; may it never be spoken of again.

Reviewed this week: Iroha 9, Death Note 12, Gargoyle 6, Kanon 13, ROTK 37, SaiMono 24, Shana Special, Shounen Onmyouji 9.

…and in manga: Emma Bangaihen 5, Homunculus vols 1-7, Shinigami no Ballad 1, Tsubasa 138, Yotsuba& 41-2, Haruhi Suzumiya novel 6.3, SaiMono novel prologue. Continue Reading »

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.

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The cast of One Piece decide to search for the missing backgrounds.

With December now upon us and the festive season on its way, it occurs to me that I do something clever like an “Anime Advent Calendar” for the month; however, since I only just thought of that idea about ten minutes ago, it will have to be the necessarily basic idea of just posting a different image in the sidebar every day. Is there any point to doing this? Absolutely none whatsoever.

Reviewed this week: Asatte no Houkou 6, Busou Renkin 7-8, Chevalier 11, Code Geass 7-8, Death Note 8, Gargoyle 5, Kanon 8, Keroro 66, Akazukin 18, Red Garden 6-7, ROTK 32, Shounen Onmyouji 6-7

…and in manga: Nanoha StrikerS 2, REC 18-19, Haruhi Suzumiya vol 5-6

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