Reviewed this week: Antique Bakery 8, Detroit Metal City 2-3, Gunslinger Girl- Il Teatrino 8, Hidamari Sketch x365 8, Itazura na Kiss 21, Koihime Musou 8-9, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 18, Love GetChu! 11, Nabari no Ou 20, Natsume Yuujinchou 9-10, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 9, Ryoko’s Case File 9, Sisters of Wellber Zwei 5, World Destruction 9-10, Xam’D 8

…and in manga: Doubt 14, Elfen Lied 105, Emma Bangaihen 11-12, Minami-ke 37-9, Sketchbook 19-22, Slayers Revolution 4, xxxHOLiC 164

ANIME

CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS

1. Chi’s Sweet Home (1)- cuteness overload
2. Hidamari Sketch x365 (2) – 365 times the fun
3. Soul Eater (3) – Krona
4. Xam’d- Lost Memories (5) – Humanform
5. Natsume Yuujinchou (4) – can a fat cat get too fat?
6. Detroit Metal City (6) – I’m gonna f***ing raep you!
7. Wagaya no Oinari-sama (7) – pure white oni
8. Nabari no Ou (8) – tranquil aid to meditation
9. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (9) – cliché
10. Slayers Revolution (10) – Dragon Slave
11. Koihime Musou (11) – Sun Shang Xiang
12. Antique Bakery (12) – father
13. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (13) – Fantastic Voyage
14. Someday’s Dreamers ~Summer Skies~ (14) – magic can’t do everything
15. Ryoko’s Case File (17) – attack of the killer mangrove
16. Itazura na Kiss (18) – dislikeable cast
17. World Destruction (19) – some stuff happened
18. Chocolate Underground (21) – chocolate is forbidden

SLOW RANKINGS

1. Tetsuko no Tabi (1)- is this ever going to be subbed?
2. Love GetChu! (2)- voice acting isn’t easy
3. Gunslinger Girl- Il teatrino (4)- Claes
4. Sisters of Wellber Zwei (3) – love triangle
5. Himawari!! (5) – needs less plot
6. Real Drive (15) – demoted to slow
7. Himitsu (6) – demoted to slow
8. Allison and Lillia (-) – demoted to slow

Antique Bakery 8: It’s time for an unexpected revelation and evidence of STRAIGHT as a young girl gets fed up with her mother and asks to stay with her father for the night- that father being Chikage. As it turns out, Chikage fathered a child because one of Tachibana’s friends wanted to beat the biological clock, creating a soap opera style situation that is only exacerbated by the fact that the daughter in question is a 10 year old with the body of a high school student. It almost makes you long for the days when the series was plain, simple HARD GAY.

Detroit Metal City 2-3: After covering the rest of the material from the special, DMC is finally ready to forge ahead, as Negishi tries to keep Krauser in control whilst his agent decides to visit his home and help him lead the bona fide death metal lifestyle. By all rights, this series should be puerile and offensive, but I have to admit I find the mismatch between Negishi and Krauser to be rather entertaining- I just have to make sure I watch this when no one else is around.

Gunslinger Girl- Il teatrino 8: They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it even applies to anime, making one actually look forward to a rare episode of a mediocre series. This episode is basically an expanded version of a manga chapter about a day in the life of Claes, roping in minor cyborg Beatrice (who appeared very briefly in manga volume four) as she undergoes tests, plants her garden, reads her book and has her erased memories stirred by a visit to the firing range. Unfortunately, this season is never going to be able to live up to the manga, so it’s a bit of a waste of time for anyone who’s already read it.

Hidamari Sketch x365 8: In the long overdue next instalment of Hidamari Sketch, it’s time for Sports Day, which for some reason in Japan always involves throwing balls into baskets, cavalry battles and so forth. Of course, we’ve all seen more than our fair share of anime sports festivals, but when it’s Hidamari Sketch, you can’t complain because it’s just as much fun as ever.

Itazura na Kiss 21: It’s taken 21 episodes, but Naoki’s stopped acting like a complete and utter jerk- so that someone else can take his place. As I predicted, ill pop star Nobuhiro is indeed the same Non-chan who Kotoko and the Iries once befriended in hospital, but the years have transformed him into the kind of selfish and spiteful bastard this series seems to specialise in. It’s a shame that no story arc in this series can be constructed without this kind of hateful character, but at least we’re near the end- just stop Hanners if he tries to test his theories of what would happen to someone who watched the whole series in one go.

Koihime Musou 8-9: Episode eight introduces another new party member in the form of Sun Shang Xiang (aka Sun Ren), the latest in a long line of lolis that tag along with Aisha/Guan Yu. No sooner has she joined, however, than the group become embroiled in an assassination plot and have to save archer Huang Zhong from murdering the feudal lord’s new husband by rescuing her daughter from some generic archers. After this is resolved, it’s time for the obligatory hot springs episode- except that the hot springs have dried up, forcing Aisha, Cao Cao to compete against each other to find a new spring whilst Yuan Shao bumbles about looking for treasure. I am slightly confused, however- does Liu Bei play any part whatsoever in this series?

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 18: Given the kind of poor fare this series serves up, this episode didn’t actually seem too bad in comparison- at least at first. Ouka has fallen ill with a cold, and so Kyouka takes it upon herself to organise the household to compensate for his absence, only to get bored and go on an Indiana Jones style adventure to rescue an artefact that could cure him. Naturally, this only makes the situation worse, ultimately seeing the family make a Fantastic Voyage into Ouka’s brain in order to destroy an invading nanomachine. I can’t deny there were some amusing moments earlier on such as Kyouka squeezing lemons and Hyouka breaking the bath taps, but the episode packed in so many changes of direction that by around the 15 minute mark I just wanted it all to be over.

Love Getchu! 11: Now that our leads have skipped ahead of basic training, the time has come to apply for a proper voice acting role- but can Momoko and the others make an impression with just the line “I’m sorry- goodbye”? Naturally, Momoko has to go through the usual angst and finding her own path route that most main characters undertake, but loses out in the end anyway because the anime’s original creator wants a different actress (if that was the case, why didn’t he say so before they held auditions?).

Nabari no Ou 20: It’s been a while, but now more Nabari has come our way, as Miharu and Yoite decide to find Oda (yes, I thought she was out of the series, but it seems the plot needed her once more) so that they can communicate with the Shinrabanshou and find out how to use it. Unfortunately, not only does the Shinrabanshou have a personality and agenda of its own, but Kairoshuu have sent the Tategamis out to eliminate Yoite. Yes, things are actually happening now, but it’s still hard to see how the series can fill up six more episodes with content.

Natsume Yuujinchou 9-10: Natsume has been pretty much alone in his ability to see spirits, and even when he meets someone else who can just about see them, he doesn’t like to admit the truth. This time around, however, Natsume finally meets someone who not only realises his secret, but who wants assistance on a particular case. This change in pace injects some variety into the series, but the ending is nonetheless fairly predictable, whilst the high point is discovering that Nyanko-sensei has become so fat that he has to go out on walks, lest his moving around at home gets mistaken for an earthquake!

Unfortunately, episode 10 has much less Nyanko-sensei, but it does provide another interesting variation as Natsume gets possessed- by the spirit of a woman! Asagi wants just one more chance to play her koto, but can Natsume help her fulfil her dream even as his friends wonder why he seems a little more girlish than before? This series could easily go to 26 episodes, so why is it ending soon?

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 9: Now that Yuuto is working with Shiina to help out with the school festival, he has less time for Haruka- so naturally, she jumps at the chance to help him pick out reference material for the cosplay café their class will be putting on- even if it means breaking a promise to her father. Aside from the threat of further craziness from the father and a cliff-hanger ending that will almost certainly turn out to be a misunderstanding, this was actually a rather pleasant episode, plus I’m now in a position to appreciate the Onegai Teacher reference in the preview.

Ryoko’s Case File 9: When Ryoko disappears, poor Jun’ichiro is like a dog without a master, even going so far as to wait on Ryoko’s rival. Worse yet, the press has begun attacking Ryoko for her practice of poaching ex-police officers for the family company just when she isn’t around to defend herself. As it turns out, however, this episode is just a rather dull prelude to a longer arc that may actually prove to be more worthwhile than anything involving enlarged lizards, sentient plants and suicide-inducing bugs- although I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up.

Wellber no Monogatari ~Sisters of Wellber~ Zwei 5: Despite his general lack of personality, Galahad has managed to end up at the centre of a love triangle as both Rita and Tina develop feelings for him (you fools, you’re meant to be HARD YURI for each other!), but since he can only reciprocate the feelings of one girl, how will it all end up? Meanwhile, Greedom and Wellber’s kings have a laugh together and Sherri falls ill, necessitating an RPG style trip to find a cure.

Love triangle summarised

Tina: Broke up with Jin because she loves Galahad, tries to confess but quickly changes what she said after blurting it out so he doesn’t realise. Later tells Rita her feelings for Galahad.

Rita: Loves Galahad, but becomes unable to admit it after Tina admits her feelings. Rejects him for Tina’s sake.

Galahad: Loves Rita and ultimately confesses to her after angsting about how Jamil was his one true love last season, only to be rejected. Has no idea about Tina’s feelings for him.

World Destruction 9-10: There are two kinds of World Destruction episode- the mediocre and the forgettable. Episode nine is definitely the latter, featuring a stop at a town where humans and beastmen live in harmony, Morte angsting over past and present, and very little else (or, if there was anything else, I can no longer recall it). Episode ten is slightly more memorable, featuring a town of robots that was clearly inspired by Wall-E, but ultimately it dragged on for so long that I had to split my viewing into two halves, separated by many hours.

Xam’D- Lost Memories 8: With the help of his newfound allies, Akiyuki manages to make it to his meeting with Haru, but whilst she still believes him, Furuichi feels otherwise. Having been cast as the anti-hero, Furuichi has no qualms about turning against the friend who believes betrayed and abandoned them, but even he is just another cog in the machinations of the authorities, who are currently interested in a giant green soulstone.

Really?

MANGA

Doubt 14: After dragging it out for as long as possible, the wolf is finally revealed, but just why did they kill everyone anyway? With his life literally hanging by a thread after he gets tied to the top of the staircase, Yuu’s only chance of survival may be to understand the motives that drive the murderer, but can anyone think straight under these circumstances? Now we’ll have to wait again to see what happens next.

Elfen Lied 105: With the realisation that she is dying, the remains of Lucy/Nyu begin lashing out at everyone around, with only a small portion of her consciousness left to protect Kohta. Can Kohta fulfil his promise to kill Lucy now that she has lost control? If so, he’d better hurry up, as the series is rapidly drawing to a close.

Emma Bangaihen 11-12: In this two-part story, we take to the theatre to follow the careers of three young singers- George, Allen and Louise. I can’t recall how or even if this relates to the original Emma characters beyond them going to the theatre at one point, but as always it’s so worthy that I wish these characters had their own series.

Minami-ke 37-9: Volume two draws to a close with these chapters, which fit in a bit of the ‘Banchou’ storyline before sending the Minami sisters off to beach with Takeru and some friends. The most amusing segment, however, is an omake chapter set in Chiaki’s school in which crossed wires lead to one boy in class getting the wrong idea about how far his female classmates have gone. An old joke, perhaps, but still amusing in the right places.

Sketchbook 19-22: It’s time for more random fun with Sketchbook, complete with the introduction of a character everyone should remember from the anime- English girl Kate. It’s not all (or even mostly) about her, though- there’s still time for oddities such as a plush screwdriver, a calendar that starts on Wednesdays and other quirks that will bring a smile to your face.

Slayers Revolution 4: The manga is quick to catch up with the anime once again as it strips away the fluff and skips straight to Lina and co having been captured by Xellos and sent to Gioconda’s castle. What follows is basically the same as episode nine, although I must say it’s easier to digest in 30 page rather than 25 minute chunks.

xxxHOLiC 164: I felt as if I was reading a cookery book in this chapter as Watanuki explained how he taught his new client how to cook potatoes (wait a minute, even I can cook potatoes), but when Doumeki gives the food the all-important taste test, something seems amiss. Am I really supposed to take Doumeki’s food criticism seriously in connection with spiritual and supernatural issues? Then again, in Ryoko’s Case File, bad cooking caused explosions, so who’s to say what imperfectly prepared food can do?

Reviewed this week: Allison and Lillia 14-15, Hidamari Sketch x365 3-4, Itazura na Kiss 16, Kaiba 10, Love GetChu! 9-10, Nabari no Ou 16, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 2-3, Persona Trinity Soul 21, Real Drive 12, Ryoko’s Case File 2-3, School Rumble San Gakki OVA 1, Slayers Revolution 4-5, World Destruction 3, Xam’D 1-2

…and in manga: next week, I promise!

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

SLOW RANKINGS

1. Tetsuko no Tabi (2)- is this ever going to be subbed?
2. Love GetChu! (3)- light entertainment
3. Gunslinger Girl- Il teatrino (4)- licensed
4. Himawari!! (5) – needs less plot

Allison and Lillia 14-15: The Lillia arc has finally begun in earnest, and it’s an excuse for more stupidity and copied storylines as Lillia and Treize (son of Fiona and ‘how much facial hair can I grow?’ Benedict) head go on holiday, only to be targeted by forces of evil. In the ensuing sequence of events, an innocent pilot gets left behind as a hostage, another man loses his car to our heroes and there’s a plane crash in the middle of nowhere. Hmm, that hasn’t happened before.

Hidamari Sketch x365 3-4: It’s time for more random fun with two more episodes of Hidamari; first one in which Yuno and Miyako head to a shrine in order to do some drawing, followed by a two part episode which features both a fat cat and a follow-up to last season’s culture festival episode. Whilst it’s all good, light fun, naturally the fat cat segment wins out over the rest, proving that obese felines are the way forward in anime, just as I’ve always said.

Itazura na Kiss 16: I know I harp on about this, but I really hate all the characters in Itazura na Kiss, and I especially despise the portrayal of their relationships. Having decided to switch to a nursing course, Kotoko promptly fails her exam, but she’s determined to pass next time in the hopes that Naoki will reward her with a date (wait a minute- aren’t they married? Doesn’t that imply that they should want to go on dates with each other in the normal course of things, and not just for a treat?). Meanwhile, Chris continues to pursue Kinnosuke and wear him down, whilst Kotoko briefly believes she is pregnant, which makes you wonder which is worse- the possible offspring from this hideous union, or the thought of Kotoko and Naoki getting intimate. I must rant about this series with all due haste.

You’re married! Dates shouldn’t be some kind of rare and special treat!

Kaiba 10: It’s time to fill in a few blanks as we learn how Kaiba-Warp and Neiro came to meet and develop feelings for each other, and how it resulted in Neiro’s first death. It’s good to have this gap in the past story covered, although at the same time there are so many twists and turns in this anime that I’m going to need to watch it all again in order to appreciate everything that’s going on.

Love GetChu! 9-10: At long last I’ve watched two more episodes of Love GetChu, starting with an instalment in which the girls face a promotion exam- but will Momoko’s jealousy over Yurika and Atari’s growing friendship get in the way of her work? As it turns out, Amane is the one to get the promotion, but when she still seems lacking in something, the other girls are sent to help her at a special event. Unfortunately, having taken the bold step of having one of the girls move ahead in episode nine, episode ten is basically an exercise in giving everyone enough EXP to level up, although perhaps the fact that they can now apply for actual voice acting roles will help the story step up a bit.

Nabari no Ou 16: The Banten kinjutsu scroll is the last one that Kairoshuu needs, so you might think that they’d put all their efforts into finding it- or not quite yet. First, everyone needs to talk about what they’re going to do, with Aizawa explaining that he’s an immortal desperately hoping to regain his mortality, and Miharu going on a date with Yoite. I’m not entirely sure how the story can even stretch across another ten episodes.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 2-3: Now a conspirator in Haruka’s secret, Yuuto finds himself dragged around Akihabara with her, before visiting her well-appointed mansion and taking the fall when a Natsucomi booklet nearly gives her secret away. It’s reasonably entertaining, but there’s a feeling that this is the kind of the series that belongs in the early 2000s; by this point in the decade, it just feels a bit old and clichéd.

Persona Trinity Soul 21: Sadly I only managed one more episode of Persona this week, but I swear to make an effort to complete it over the weekend. In the meantime, this episode sees the Marebito take Jun in the hopes that he can use his persona calming abilities- but with Yuki in control, the persona can’t be summoned. There’s not much more to say, really, except that the end is near.

Real Drive 12: It’s a fairly calm episode of Real Drive this time around as Minamo befriends Amy, a blind girl who has just had her sight cybernetically restored- and who, of course, ‘coincidentally’ turns out to be both an absent classmate and the Metal artist that Haru has been tasked to search for. Although it is interesting to wonder if Amy is really better off for suddenly being bombarded with images from her newfound sight, in all honesty if I want to sit down and think about this, I don’t need an anime episode to encourage me to do that. I was also disappointed at the wasted potential to discuss synaesthesia (the condition, not the band) in relation to Amy’s art.

Ryoko’s Case File 2-3: Episode two concludes the story seen in the first arc with a mixture of exploding cookery ingredients (you don’t see that on Masterchef), evil scientists and giant snakes that I couldn’t really make head nor tail of- except to decipher that I probably wasn’t missing much. Although nothing spectacular, episode three is at least slightly better than its predecessors, starting with Izumida getting a day off and ending up with Ryoko gate crashing his evening as an attempt to lead some paparazzi a merry dance. I thought something clever was going to happen at the end, but ultimately it didn’t- probably an indication of how this show is going to be throughout.

*NEW* School Rumble San Gakki 1: Well, actually this is labelled “San Gakki 25”, but since episodes 1-24 don’t exist, all we have is this underwhelming two episode OVA to work with. As per the preview at the end of Nigakki, I was expecting the next part of School Rumble to be animated would be the England field trip, but instead we’re treated to a dull segment involving a class marathon, Tenma’s depression at being unable to confess to Karasuma and various other dull relationship issues. How can anyone even like Karasuma, who has the personality of a chalkboard? Does anyone really care who ends up with who at this point?

Slayers Revolution 4-5: Episode four finally carries us as far as the second chapter of the manga, with Amelia and Zelgadis befriending Pokota right before Lina and Gourry try to lure him out with a mage tank. In episode five we finally catch up with him, only to discover that he’s a prince of a lost country whose inhabitants are resting in crystal- by one Rezo. Now, you might recall that both Rezo and his copy were defeated in season one, but apparently if he was dead, the seal would have broken, so rather disappointingly he may somehow still be alive. In the meantime, however, Xellos has teamed up with the minor villain team of Super Armoured Tiger and Redhead Marquise- come on, Xellos, you can do better than these losers.

World Destruction 3: I haven’t made time for episode four yet (some may say that’s a good thing) but I did manage to catch the third episode of the increasingly tiresome World Destruction, in which our heroes get thrown in prison, only to plan a jailbreak that was totally unnecessary because one of the guards was prepared to bust them out anyway. I suppose the anime is at least achieving its goal of making me slightly interested in the game.

*NEW* Xam’d- Lost Memories 1-2: At long last we have a decent new series to offset the mediocrity, in the form of a new Studio Bones series that seems to be cross between Eureak Seven, Last Exile, FLCL and Fantastic Children. A normal high school student ends up with the ability to transform into a bizarre monster and thus ends up on the 2008 version of the Gekko-Go, ready for all kinds of new adventures to no doubt befall him. I have high hopes for this series, so with any luck it will deliver.

It’s a week of improvement in the anime world, as the good series remain good, and the poor ones struggle all the way up to mediocre. Can this upward trend continue, or will it all go downhill again soon? Either way, some new series should be joining us soon when the summer season gets underway.

Oh, and Dennou Coil needs more love- if you aren’t already watching it, start now or face the wrath of obese felines.

Reviewed this week: Darker than Black 9-10, Dennou Coil 5, Cazador 11, Love GetChu 8, MariMite OVA 4, Nodame 20, RxJ 10-11, SaiMono II 11, Seirei 10-11

…and in manga: Akagi 1-3, Chokotto Sister 40-1, Tsubasa 157

ANIME

Darker than Black 9-10: Going without any DtB for a while has been a struggle, but maybe it was worth it to be able to watch both episodes of an arc back-to-back. Unsurprisingly, the series remains on top form in this double bill, which focuses on police chief Kirihara Misaki as she investigates the murders of members of Wang Shaotan’s criminal syndicate- an investigation that leads to a reunion with Alice Wang, a high school friend and Shaotan’s daughter. Once again, the story is solid, the action is superlative and the characters are interesting- especially the reinforcement of how Contractors can seem like normal people one minute, only to turn into cold-blooded killers the next.

It may be false advertising, but the next arc seems set to deal more with the mysterious Gate that precipitated all these events- I can’t wait to delve deeper into the mystery.

Dennou Coil 5: Dennou Coil remains as good as ever in this episode, which sees Isako take Daichi’s group out to find metabugs (naturally she has some ulterior motives), whilst Yasako, Fumie and a surprisingly interesting new character decide to trail them and find out just what they are up to. The mix of real and virtual worlds is just as compelling as ever, with such interesting points as the boys’ virtual bodies starting to break down when they lose wireless signal, and a bus that has decayed in the real world, but still looks pristine in the virtual world because its status hasn’t been updated. Even the jewel-like glow of metabugs (which can contain images and sounds) prove absorbing in this world- let’s face it, I’ve become a complete Dennou Coil addict.

El Cazador de la Bruja 11: After the intense boredom brought on by the last few episodes, I was hardly expecting much from this week’s instalment, but to my surprise, it was much improved over its predecessors. Whilst it would have been mediocre in any other series, the hints of main plot turn this episode into something far superior to its peers, making the tale of yet another generic village and its issues reasonable rather than hellish torture by utter monotony.

Love GetChu! 8: It’s Amane’s turn to get the character spotlight in this episode, as her father decides to forcibly remove her from voice acting so that she can play his on-screen daughter in an upcoming movie. Sadly, this turns out to be another of those irritating ‘eccentric family’ episodes, which sees our heroines running around in a house filled with traps and ninja guards in an attempt to rescue Amane from the house’s basement prison. The jokes are weak, the story has been done before, and unlike earlier episodes, the aura of light enjoyment is completely absent. Even so, I’m reasonably confident that this is just a blip in a largely enjoyable series.

Maria-sama ga Miteru OVA 4: After the bizarre ridiculousness of episode three, the fourth episode of this OVA could only be an improvement, and whilst it is hardly good, it is at an easier fifty-four minutes to sit through. Since the Lillian girls never seem to actually do any schoolwork these days, they come right off the back of the Hanadera festival and go into their own sports festival- although it isn’t like any sports day (Japanese or otherwise) that I’m familiar with. Instead of the usual range of track and field events that one might associate with a sports festival, at Lillian, sports day mainly consists of throwing balls around (possibly because of a lack of balls on normal school days), as well as strange events such as the centipede race and borrowing race.

On the character side of thing, whilst the HARD YURI continues to become more overt, Yumi tries to arrange a reconciliation with the fickle Kanako, whilst Touko is clearly repressing her own desires for Yumi. Who will end up as Yumi’s petite soeur?

Nodame Cantabile 20: After a couple of lacklustre episodes, Nodame is back on form in this instalment, which sees the Rising Star orchestra put on another performance, whilst Nodame concentrates on the preliminaries of the competition she has entered. As befits her type of genius, Nodame’s playing can transcend that of her peers when she is in the right mood, but when the harsh memories of her past haunt her, it all goes off balance. I love the deeper undertones that can be read into Nodame’s character in situations like this, and for the first time I am actually regretful that there are only three episodes left- it feels as if we’ve barely got started.

Romeo X Juliet 10-11: Juliet gets to prove just how low-level she is in episode ten after Tybalt leaves her to her own devices, causing her to lose HP from a slap, a cat and even rain. After realising how useless she is, a convenient rescue sets her on the path to running away with Romeo in episode eleven, which offers us a nice tour of the local scenery, but little else in terms of interesting material. Worse yet, Romeo lets Cielo go to be with a wild female Pegasus- how can the series proceed without HORSE?

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 11: Dangerous as it would be to catch up with the novel at this point in the series, my impatience at wanting to see what spoilers couldn’t tell me wants me to urge the story on, even as the pace slows down to prevent that from happening. In this episode, Shuurei confronts the men who want to kill her for causing the disease, whilst in a nice touch the women are busy getting everything done behind their backs anyway. It’s nice to see Ensei continue to come into his own in his role of protecting Shuurei, whilst the young girl Shuuran not only reflects Shuurei herself as a child, but shows that Shuurei has finally come far enough to help people, just as she always wished. Sadly, the slow pacing means that this episode is a little weaker than its predecessors, however, and to add insult to injury, there’s no new episode this weekend.

Seirei no Moribito 10-11: There’s been a lot of sitting and talking in Seirei lately, and to no one’s surprise, there’s even more of it in episode ten. With Chagum still acting too polite and reserved to pass as a commoner, Balsa decides to send him to spend the day with “ugly teeth” Tohya, who teaches him how to haggle at food stalls, as well as introducing him to a gambling game. After Tohya loses his money, Chagum notices that the game may be fixed, and decides to do the heroic thing and confront the man in charge. Oddly enough, even though much of this episode’s action revolves around sitting down and waiting for coins to come up heads or tails, it is somehow more interesting than the last couple of instalments, with Chagum continuing to prove himself likable and intelligent.

Sadly, however, eleven plunges everything back down again, as Saya’s soul goes on walkabout after learning of an arranged marriage to a merchant’s son (how many times have we seen that sort of story before?), forcing Tanda to attempt the risky procedure of sending his own soul out after her. Aside from a few dramatic and atmospheric moments as Tanda tries to get back to his body, the episode feels generally dull and unnecessary, with a resolution that feels all too convenient.

MANGA

*NEW* Akagi 1-3: Ever since watching the anime, I’ve wanted to try Akagi in manga form, and finally that chance has come. Although the artwork lacks the technical accomplishment of the anime (leaving only ugliness), the anime was clearly very faithful to the original material, and so this is another chance to relive the beginning of Akagi’s legend- even if these three chapters do not get very far. Hopefully more will be forthcoming soon.

Chokotto Sister 40-1: Volume five comes to an end with these two chapters, in which winner of the Mew Mew Dance contest and newbie idol Odaeri decides to skip out on a TV appearance, instead ending up in Choko’s neighbourhood. I’m getting a little tired of this whole Mew Mew Dance arc, but the dullness of chapter 40 is saved by some character development for Makoto in 41.

Tsubasa Chronicle 157: The event from some chapters ago finally makes sense, as we see that the Fye in the tower was approached by Fei Wong’s magic CCTV projection and told that he could save one of the twins from their wretched existence. He chooses Yuui (does this mean my suspicions that the Fye we know isn’t Fye are correct), but once again, we must wonder why, if Fei Wong already has such powers, he needs the ability to cross dimensions.

This week in anime, action takes a backseat to sitting and talking, or in the more daring of cases, standing and talking. At least we have the combined excellence of SaiMono, Dennou Coil and Emma to wash away the pain, especially during the wait for non-HD Darker than Black (not that the new computer can’t play them, but the old instincts remain).

Reviewed this week: Cazador 10, Claymore 11, Dennou Coil 4, Koutetsu 8, Love GetChu 7, ROTK 45, RxJ 9, SaiMono II 10, Seirei 9, Polyphonica 2, Emma II 7

…and in manga: Gunslinger Girl 28-30, Tsubasa 156

ANIME

El Cazador de la Bruja 10: Each week I say that El Cazador cannot possibly get any more boring, but somehow, each week it proves me wrong. This time around, our heroines stop off at an Amigo Tacos diner to help a generic man with a shady past that is about to catch up to him- really, it’s getting harder and harder to even pay attention, let alone begin to think about caring. Is there ever going to be any hint of a plot? Why am I even asking?

*HIATUS* Claymore 11: After barely paying attention to this episode, I have decided to put Claymore on hiatus until I come to parody it- it just isn’t engaging me enough to continue with. In this episode, Clare and the others realise that they were assigned to the team because they are the problem children of the ‘organisation’ (so shady and evil that it should be called an Organisation); cue twenty-five minutes of necessary exposition before the group splits up and goes their separate ways for the next arc; likewise, Claymore and I shall go our separate ways for a while.

Dennou Coil 4: I never thought it could happen, but Dennou Coil 4 is so good that it makes the first episode look merely average in comparison. Having introduced herself as a second Yuko, Yuko-Isako’s (Isako becomes her nickname) cold attitude in school soon earns her the ire of Daichi and his gang, who soon plan a series of pranks. What makes the episode so great is seeing Isako effortlessly foil their plots with her advanced techniques, offering yet more insights into the workings of these glasses, and raising yet more questions. Is the fact that Yasako and Isako have the same full names more than coincidence (possibly not, since the kanji are different)? Did the teacher notice or care about the pranks in class, or are her glasses just normal lenses? To what extent does a person’s self exist in the data world instead of the real one? When can I see episode 5?

Koutetsu Sangokushi 8: The HARD GAY continues in this episode, as Wu is forced to decide whether to ally with Wei or go to war with them (let’s just check the history books whilst we’re waiting shall we?) and Zhuge Liang promises to come up with an effective plan that will enable Wu to go on the offence without endangering its people. Nothing much happens in this episode, but it still proves fertile ground for parody with such lines as the transvestite Liu Bei telling Sun Quan he looks girlish.

Love GetChu! 7: I know I keep promising to watch the rest of the series raw, but in the time I haven’t been bothered to get around to it, this series from last Spring has finally had another episode subbed. It’s Yurika’s turn in the round of character development episodes we seem to be having, and with her childhood friend Atari having made his animation debut, she is more desperate than ever to become a voice actress- so much so that she ends up leaving Lambda Eight to join another company. Of course, it doesn’t take much brainpower to predict how it all pans out, but I wasn’t expecting Yurika to also be interested in the male lead, setting up a potential love triangle. Meanwhile, in the next episode we’ll finally get to Amane.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 45: Thanks to the lengthy delays, ROTK has lost what little appeal it once had, but now that we’re so close to the end, it hardly seems worth dropping it. In this episode, we finally reach the sequence where Pang Tong ‘joins’ Wei and convinces Cao Cao to chain all his ships together so that the Wu fire attack can spread more easily. It’s hard to believe that it’s taken us so long to get to this point, leaving only two episodes for the actual fire attack at Chi Bi to occur.

Romeo X Juliet 9: The Capulet resistance has properly come together, but Francisco speaks for Gonzo when he says that it is best not to move the plot too quickly- instead we must move slowly, with plenty of angst as Montague disapproves of Romeo and Juliet tries to be more useful than her low swordsmanship skills can allow. It’s not the best episode of the series so far, but it is at least solid enough, with parody potential still high.

Saiunkoku Monogatari II 10: After the excellence of episode nine, ten struggles to live up to it, as Shuurei deals with the responsibility of overseeing the doctors and coping with the fact that she is being blamed for the disease. Fortunately, she has Ensei by her side, a character who has really come into his own over the course of the series (even if it is at the expense of Seiran’s screen time). Other scenes of note include Doctor You “shaking his booty”, and a Kourin scene in which nothing more than her appearance and bearing indicates how resolute and mature she has become.

Touching back on last episode, does Yougetsu’s coming out shorten Eigetsu’s life simply because Eigetsu isn’t in control at that point, or does it actually deplete his life at a faster life (for example, if Eigetsu had had the original twenty years and Yougetsu came out for ten, would that be Eigetsu ten, Yougetsu ten, or something like Yougetsu ten, Eigetsu eight?). Also, when Yougetsu said he would only come out when Eigetsu drank alcohol, was that a conscious choice of trigger that he chose to obey, or did he become bound to obey it, even when it isn’t in Eigetsu’s best interests for him to come out?

Seirei no Moribito 9: Whilst Balsa sends Chagum out to play with some generic children so that she can sit and talk with Tanda, in the palace, Shuga spends his time sitting and talking with people, Prince Sagum included. Sadly, any hint of action has long since departed, with even the Eight Evil Men taking a short holiday in Ireland, leaving only bland dialogue as the plot gets stuck in a stagnant whirlpool. Did it all go wrong because I prematurely labelled the series a ‘hit’ on my Production IG review?

Here we see two entries in the beard competition- the long, thing version for stroking, and the overkill five-point Dumbledore deluxe.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica 2: As feared, Polyphonica is already starting to go downhill in this episode, in which the team investigates a house where a pervert spirit may be spying on the owner whenever she undresses. Although I am compelled to keep watching by virtue of the character designs, the series is already beginning to resemble Yoake in content, a clear indication that light entertainment is about to become dull fluff- especially as we already have a beach episode next time.

Victorian Romance Emma Second Act 7: Provoked by his unexpected yet brief reunion with Emma, William decides to break off the engagement with Eleanor, provoking rumours from all corners ever before the announcement is made official. More so than in the manga, I cannot help but feel sorry for poor Eleanor, hurt as much by William’s indecision and inconsistency as by the fact that her love for him will never truly be returned. Then again, that is what makes this series so good- the fact that it can make you care about the characters in this way.

MANGA

Gunslinger Girl 28-30: The sixth volume of Gunslinger Girl gets off to a flying start in this chapter, which delves into the back story of Jean and Giuseppe before heading off on a new arc about the second generation of cyborg children. Unlike Henrietta and her peers, this group will have lighter conditioning and a complete change of appearance, and it is left to prospective handler Alessandro to pick the girl who will become the prototype for this new generation. As I said in my review of volumes 1-5, the manga continues to show no signs of slowing down, and I simply cannot get enough of it.

Tsubasa Chronicle 156: Thanks to the brevity of each chapter, I have only the vaguest idea of what Tsubasa is trying to convey in the latest chapters, in which we learn about the back story of the ‘cursed twins’ Fye and Yuuhi as they endure abandonment in a cruel empire that blames them for its adverse circumstances. Did young Fye try to kill his brother (or vice versa)? Is the Fye we know now really his brother? I have to admit that I’m more than a little confused on these points.

A while back, I mentioned wanting this figure, but as all too often happens, I’m beginning to change my mind- why have him when I can have this guy (his HARD GAY lover?) instead? I know the colour scheme isn’t as good, but the detailing on the clothes looks a lot better, even if the poor guy is bleeding to death after improperly performed HARD GAY.

Reviewed this week: Busou Renkin 22, Corda d’Oro 9, Kanon 22, Love GetChu 6, Nodame 7, Red Garden 19, ROTK 42

…and in manga: Emma Bangaihen 7, REC 28, School Rumble 215, Shana 10, Spiral Alive 3, NHK 35, Yotsuba& 44

Due to laziness with regards to parodying them, Chevalier 15-16 will appear next week.

ANIME

Busou Renkin 22: Whilst Kazuki’s party reach Newton Apple Girl’s School for an extended cutscene about Victor’s past, the black Kakugane and the possibility of a cure, the alchemic warriors that completely failed to harm Victor before go back for a second try, alongside their FMA armour/Avu Kamuu using leader. It’s rather pointless since we know that only Kazuki and his main character powers can possibly defeat Victor, but

La Corda d’Oro 9: As we fall into the dull, Haruka-esque pattern of exploring every bishie, this episode goes to Shimizu, the perpetually spaced out blonde shota who seems to be subsisting entirely on Sunrise brand dango. In between the unexciting glimpses into his life, Hino realises she must get over her fear of performing in public before the second selection begins. All in all, a generally inoffensive (if uninteresting) episode, with a cliff-hanger ending that promises a tediously painful wave of angst to come. I know I should get out now, but somehow the character designs and musical focus keep me going.

What more is there to life, really?

Kanon 22: To give you an idea of how enthralling I found this episode of Kanon, I must reveal that I paused it twice- once to take a bath, and again to watch my sister play Harvest Moon. Yes, watching someone else play a farming video game was a more interesting prospect than this exceptionally dull episode, in which Nayuki enters a depressive state over her mother’s car accident, and Yuuichi tries to cheer her up even as he remembers his past with Ayu. At least the end is close now.

Love GetChu! 6: It’s a bit sad that a series from last spring has had fewer episodes subbed than some from the winter, but whilst I continue to contemplate watching the rest raw, another episode has come along. This time around, the focus is on tomboy Tsubasa- her preference may be for male roles, but this latest lesson requires her to play the part of a girl on her first date! Fortunately, she can get some practice by going on a real date with a recently graduated seiyuu who she just happens to have feelings for. As always, it’s light entertainment and fairly predictable, but unlike some of its peers it remains enjoyable.

Nodame Cantabile 7: Hino may think she has it tough with her magical violin, but her struggles are nothing compared to those of Chiaki as he struggles to get the best results out of his orchestra in time for their performance. Once again, the shounen-like elements are in force as the underdogs find the key to working together whilst Stresemann’s orchestra inevitably falls apart. A rather predictable episode overall, but at least it kept me entertained.

Red Garden 19: Despite previous experience with other series, it is still customary to expect something to start happening by this point- although unfortunately, Red Garden has other ideas. With the bulk of this episode taken up by such fascinating character development moments as “Rachel chats with Luke/Rook” and “Claire chats with Ewan”, it all remains rather dull and tedious until the closing moments, when Kate is captured by her enemies after rather sensibly standing right outside their headquarters. It should also be noted that the two useless and ineffectual policemen have now been killed, begging the question as to what the point of including them in the first place was.

“His name was Mario.”

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 42: It’s been a while since I last saw a new episode of ROTK, but at last the slow crawl to the finishing line continues. This episode sees Cao Cao send an old classmate of Zhou Yu to the Wu camp in order to persuade him to surrender, but since Cao Cao is a bumbling villain of chaos, it naturally fails to work.

MANGA

Emma Bangaihen 7: Have you ever thought “Emma is such a great manga that it would still be good even if it turned into a series about a squirrel”? If so, then this chapter is for you- the tale of a boy who loses his squirrel on a trip, the chapter follows the fraught night spent by both boy and squirrel. Apart from the surprise of having a panel in which we see the squirrel relieve itself, this actually isn’t bad, even if we are straying further and further from the original story with each passing side chapter.

REC 28: As a refreshing change from romantic complications, this chapter focuses on Aka’s work as she realises that she doesn’t really have what it takes to play her current role. Fortunately, this is more of a learning experience than an excuse for angst, and the series would certainly benefit from more chapters like this one in place of the usual “someone’s threatening our relationship” fare. As if to remind us of the mangaka’s predilection for adult scenes, however, we are also treated to Matsumaru’s tentacle fantasy (NSFW link).

School Rumble 215: In recent chapters, we saw 2-D filming a movie starring Eri and Harima, only for Eri to take both Tenma and Harima’s manga and ask him to choose between them (naturally, Harima chose Tenma and the manga got ripped up). In the aftermath of these events, Harima must deal with the loss of his manuscript and decide what to do next, whilst Yakumo breaks down in front of Sarah as the stress finally gets to her. The good news- it finally feels as if an end is in sight (even though it probably isn’t).

Shakugan no Shana 10: Whilst Yoshida steps forward as the second member of Yuji’s harem, Shana and Yuji discuss what to do about Friagne- and readers can only hope that someday something will happen. The artwork is also starting to get a bit lazy in places; close ups are fine, but anything slightly complex usually ends up with washboard figures, whilst Shana has a disturbingly small head.

Spiral Alive 3: For Imari, it’s all about confessing to the boy she likes, but Sawamura is more interested in tracking down Amanae. Meanwhile, in the wake of the music box killings, the police decide to turn to the one person who has a chance of solving the case- Kiyotaka Narumi. A comparatively slow chapter which is more about setup for the next stage than accomplishing much in its own right- I’m now eager to get cracking with the main story.

Welcome to the NHK 35: Why is it that every time someone seems to be getting better in NHK, it only causes everyone around them to become that much worse? With Megumi’s brother having recovered enough to face the outside world again, everyone else is plunged further into despair, especially the by now irritatingly dishonest Misaki. Yes, I know she has problems- so does everyone else in the series- but that doesn’t induce me to like her.

Yotsuba& 44: Given that this episode is called “Yotsuba& the farm”, you might rightfully expect our pint-sized heroine to do something along the lines of visiting a farm, but unfortunately, it is not to be. With her continuing fascination with milk leading to talk of cows, Yotsuba’s father plans a trip to the farm, but when Yotsuba gets overexcited and ends up with a fever, it has to be called off. It may not be the series’ finest hour, nor really what I was expecting from the title, but a solid chapter nonetheless.

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

ANIME

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 11: I completely and utterly failed to notice this last week, but now that its existence has been pointed out to me, it has duly been watched. After revealing Nakaiya Form 2 (new hairstyle, same old laugh) and putting some pieces in place for the next arc, this episode sees our troupe (rehearsing for a rather unsubtle play in which they all play themselves) get attacked by mysterious fog warriors who are the series’ equivalent of Avu Kamuu- slow, stupid, and seemingly invincible until their easily exploitable weakness is found. This isn’t one of Iroha’s finest hours, but it will tide me over until the next episode appears.

Busou Renkin 17: Why must Busou Renkin get released so quickly? Whilst Kazuki and Tokiko prepare to hunt for a way to reverse Kazuki’s “victorisation”, the FMA rip-off team (complete with commander who uses fire attacks) arrives to hunt him down. Despite its lack of much to recommend it, I was somewhat relieved at the lack of traumatic images in this episode- right up until the point where Papillon showed up in a swimsuit. ‘Manservice’ may be the lifeblood of the parody, but I fear it may cause me some kind of long term damage.

Death Note 15: Another episode, another bout of ‘Justice Mode’ for Light, who has come to believe he has found an easy way to defeat L, and thus of course must be foiled at every turn lest the series end prematurely. The series is finally heading into more interesting territory, but given its track record, the anime may turn everything into a slow-paced “Justice Light” vs. “Justice L” effort.

Light decides to take action after L reveals he is HARD GAY.

Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas 8: Another episode of Gargoyle so soon after the last feels like a special treat, and thankfully, this instalment is as enjoyable as ever. Thanks to a mix-up whilst he is being charged up with a new ability, poor Gargoyle accidentally gets taken away by some delivery men, only to end up stuck on a snow-covered mountain with a family who resemble gender-reversed versions of Futaba and Kazumi. As well as giving us a long-awaited look at our leads with their ‘proper’ genders, this proves to be another episode of pure fun- hopefully the next one will appear just as quickly.

Kanon 17: Although the writers of Kanon seem to have forgotten this point, it’s hard to care about a sick girl who never shows any signs of actually being ill- if anything, she must be rather hardy to endure sitting outside in the freezing cold at all hours of the day and night. Nonetheless, Shiori’s arc must continue onwards, whilst Kaori angsts quietly in the background and longs for more screen time; all we can hope for is that it will be over soon.

Love GetChu! 5: Waiting for a new episode of Love GetChu to appear is hard, but as we’ve come to learn, becoming a voice actress is even more difficult. Even staying in the studio all the time isn’t an option, since our leads have no choice but to compete in the annual Lambda Eight relay race- something which Rinka, for one, is definitely not looking forward to. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out whether Rinka will skip out on the race or show up at the last minute to save the day, but despite the predictability of this series, it remains enjoyable; even if it’s just due to the rarity of release, I do look forward to every episode.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 40: Now that the episode count is in the forties, the end is in sight, but thankfully, the HARD GAY (and now BI) is still going strong. Since the sun shines out of his every orifice, it is not hard for Zhuge Liang to manipulate Sun Quan and Zhou Yu (who is depressingly average looking here) into agreeing to ally with Liu Bei against Cao Cao, slowly setting the stage for the actual battle of Chi Bi.

Saiunkoku Monogatari 27-9: If an episode of SaiMono is excellent on its own, it becomes that much better when taken as part of a mini-marathon, as this triplet only reaffirms. Shuurei and the others may have won against the mid-bosses of the Sa clan, but with Sakujun now pulling all the strings, their trials are only just beginning- can allies both old and new pull together to outwit his plans? This brief paragraph isn’t really enough to do the events of these episodes justice, but suffice to say that we are continuing to get drawn into the Sa clan arc, and that every minute is more satisfying than the last. Three episodes may have been more than I dared hope for in the space of a week, but it still isn’t enough (yes, I know I say this every time, but that’s the way SaiMono is- once you get some, you just want more).

MANGA

.hack//4Koma 5: Although it still isn’t greatly humorous, now that 4Koma has settled into it stride, it is becoming lightly amusing instead of just being complete drivel. Unlike previous instalments, this chapter sticks to just the one theme- Kite vs. Haseo, with Atoli and BlackRose in tow. It may be the weakest link in the chain of .hack manga, but at least it’s slowly improving.

.hack//GU+ 6: Pai’s breasts seem to have reached new proportions in this chapter, which sees the aftermath of Endrance’s defeat, Haseo in his usual moody mode, and a significant amount of exposition. Moody Haseo is always irritating, but the rest of the story is interesting enough to keep going with.

.hack//XXXX 2: The addition of ‘mysterious new boy’ has changed the story somewhat, but nonetheless Kite must forge ahead in his attempt to save Orca. This chapter sees a confrontation with Balmung and an angst phase as Kite wonders if he should drag BlackRose and Mistral along with him on his journey- before realising that he cannot possibly manage alone without someone to cast Rip Maen on him.

Bokurano 38: I love Bokurano, but could one chapter possibly be enough? Not really, but since it is better than nothing, the first chapter of Anko’s story must be read, covering a girl who longs for the attention her parents never give her. Meanwhile, knowledge of Zearth has moved into the public domain, and someone has leaked the names of the children- what consequences will this spell for the remaining pilots?

Rose of Versailles 8: Many months after I read the first volume of Rose of Versailles, another chapter is finally available, in which Marie Antoinette meets her beloved Fersen before deciding to take an ill-advised ride on a horse. Apart from being a little faster paced, this is much the same as the animated version, so whilst I’d like to read more, there’s no rush (just as well, as it seems to have taken the best part of four years to translate eight chapters).

Fersen likes to look at the naked bodies of other men.

Spiral 19-22: Concluding the arc that ended the first half of the anime series, chapters 19-20 keep up the pace as Ayumu tries to retrieve the tape, keep Hiyono safe and prevent the explosive device around his neck from exploding- all within the time limit. As always, the series offers an engaging battle of wits, with each side laying traps and counter-traps in an attempt to outwit the other. The next two chapters deal with the aftermath, with Eyes returning to the stage and new character Kanone sure to follow. The next arc looks like it will be more well developed than it was in the anime, so I look forward to reading more (let’s hope that this faster rate of release will continue until the whole series is done).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: Revenge is a dish best served sparingly.

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

Final words: No, just no.

Mai-Otome

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shakugan no Shana

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

Final words: urusei, urusei, urusei!

WINTER 2005/6

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

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

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

Final words: Unexpectedly worthy.

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

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

Fate/Stay Night

Admit it, you want a Caster figure too.

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

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

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

Final words: Natsumi is evil.

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

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

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

Final words: Umai-ki!

Shinigami no Ballad

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPRING 2006

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

Final words: The origin of the screencap parody format.

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

Final words: Sometimes, less is more.

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

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

Aria the Natural

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

Final words: Punyu!

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

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

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

Final words: Dull, dull, dull.

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

Final words: All hail Gar-san.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: Utterly confusing.

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

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

Kamisama Kazoku

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: I did actually like the fourth novel.

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

Final words: Less Hachi, more Nana.

Ouran High School Host Club

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

Final words: Kyouya is god.

Ray the Animation

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

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

Saiunkoku Monogatari

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

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

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

Final words: Please, let it end.

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

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

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

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

Utawarerumono

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

Final words: Karura and Touka are all.

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

Finally words: This could have been so much better.

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

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

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

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

SUMMER 2006

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

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

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

Final words: Not my cup of angst.

Le Chevalier d’Eon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: One word- disappointing.

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

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

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

Final words: Sex and defecation- how mature.

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

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

Night Head Genesis

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

Final words: Give me Kurau and Christmas any day.

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

Final words: I hate those damned Sweet Phones.

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: Guiche is no Tamaki.

AUTUMN 2006

Asatte no Houkou

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

Final words: The manga just sounds scary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Busou Renkin

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

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

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

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

La Corda d’Oro

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: Justice Mode, engage!

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

Final words: Generic by name, generic by nature.

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

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

Kanon [2006]

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

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

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

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

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

Final words: Onee-sama!

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

Final words: That ferret is creepy.

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

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

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

Final words: KEITO! KULAIR! ROSU! RACHERU!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Join me again on Tuesday for the New Year Rumble.

Last night, I suddenly thought it would be a great idea to create a secondary blog for non anime and manga-related material, completely ignoring the fact that a) I may not even have the time or stamina to maintain it and b) anything posted to this blog will probably be pointless ramblings devoid of anything resembling quality. Nonetheless, it exists now, and will probably continue to do so for as long as I want to ramble about Lost and Stargate.

Meanwhile, on the anime side of things, I have decided to adopt a new, harsher policy for tackling the autumn season. Instead of subjecting myself to the usual three episodes of pain for a substandard series, I will aim to drop it after 1-2 episodes.

Reviewed this week: Chevalier, D.Gray-man, Higurashi, H&C II, Love GetChu!, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, Ouran, Pumpkin Scissors, ROTK, SaiMono

…and in manga: Kanon/Air, Mai-Otome, Mushishi, Natsu no Arashi, REC, SaiMono, Suzumiya Haruhi novel

ANIME

Le Chevalier d’Eon 4: Chevalier continues in strong form as the Four Musketeers accept a mission from the King, whilst d’Eon grapples with whether or not to accept his main character destiny and allow Lia’s spirit to use him. Hopefully it was just my imagination, but the animation seemed a little weaker in places this time; other than that, however, this was another worthy episode.

*NEW* D.Gray-man 1: I wasn’t too enthused over the prospect of watching the next incredibly generic and potentially lengthy SJ anime, but after the awfulness of Pumpkin Scissors, I thought it might seem watchable. This “poor man’s FMA” series of Exorcist Allen Walker, meganekko Moore and the weekly Akuma they must combat isn’t particularly enthralling, but I can see myself watching this to fill up the gaps until something better comes along.

OP impressions: Oh dear, the late eighties are back.

ED impressions: A lightweight dance piece that becomes somewhat half-hearted in its latter stages.

*COMPLETE* Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 26: It’s time for a showdown in the school when Rena takes her classmates hostage and somehow figures out how to set a bomb. Like the rest of this arc (past Teppei’s death), this episode didn’t do as much for me as many of the earlier episodes, and the ending smacked a little too much of the “power of friendship can make all things right”, but I’m already looking beyond the anime now, and looking forward to delving into the intriguing world of game spoilers.

*COMPLETE* Honey and Clover II 12: From fervent praise to outright ranting, my feelings about Honey and Clover have really run the gamut over the course of this second season, with this final episode taking the middle ground. The ending didn’t come anywhere near provoking the emotion I felt at some of the series’ finer hours, but nor did I feel particularly disappointed- it was simply a quiet, slightly bittersweet experience.

Love GetChu! 4: It seems as if fortune is smiling on Momoko when she gets a chance to work as a stage hand for an event featuring her beloved Minato- but naturally, when things are going well for a main character, it can only mean that disaster is sure to follow. It’s predictable, and a touch annoying, but for the most part, it’s good fun.

Otogi-jushi Akazukin 11: Our heroes make a brief stop at Shirayuki’s old magic school, and whilst Souta and the others end up taking part in the school play, Ringo decides that she no longer wants to be completely useless. Naturally, it isn’t long before the villains show up for their doomed weekly attack, and in short order everything proceeds in the usual predictable yet mildly entertaining fashion.

*COMPLETE* Ouran High School Host Club 26: In order to prepare for disappointment, I had convinced myself that the ending of Ouran would be one of the series’ weaker moments. As it turns out, however, this episode was extremely satisfying, seeing the Host Club’s dramatic and well-animated attempt to save Tamaki from the clutches of his decision to dissolve the Host Club and marry Éclair. The only real weak point is Éclair herself, as a dislikeable and undeveloped one-shot character, there is hardly much incentive to feel any sympathy for her, even when the plot seems to demand it.

*NEW/DROPPED* Pumpkin Scissors 1: Every time a Gonzo series like this comes along, I know deep down that it will most likely disappointment, but I have to watch anyway, because “you never know, it might just be the next Last Exile”. Unfortunately, to compare Pumpkin Scissors (a title that puts me in mind of a Rozen Maiden spin-off) to Last Exile would be a feat beyond the wildest of imaginations- this tale of war, tanks and chemical weapons has generic Gonzo stamped all over it. The first episode introduces a spunky blonde girl and a scar-faced man with berserker abilities who come together to track down a vaccine for some infected generic villagers. Since I could barely bring myself to care about what was going on in this episode, I won’t be continuing with it.

OP impressions: Vaguely Ali Project style, but the singer doesn’t quite seem up to the pace. The video shows off the leads and generic allies.

ED impressions: A cheerful song with a video of the series’ resident canine- unimpressive and out of place.

Am I the only one who associates “Pumpkin Scissors” with something more akin to these images?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 24: My worst fears have come to pass- the hilarity of the ROTK subtitles is down by over 90%, and there are still 23 episodes to go. Happily, the hilarity of the episode itself more than compensates for this new lack; when you’ve got generics half-heartedly slashing at each other and Zhang Fei trying to lure a general out onto the battlefield by get his men to shout out “you’re a coward!”, any added grammatical errors are just the icing on the cake. Once again, I must highly recommend this to anyone curious to see how “it’s so awful it’s good” can be raised to an art form.

Saiunkoku Monogatari 18: No matter how many vases he broke, Sai couldn’t escape the fact that he was too fat, bald and generic looking to be more than a minor villain. This episode seems to spell his downfall (or at least a good chunk of it) whilst Shuurei rushes to get to the enquiry on time and Kijin is challenged to remove his mask. It’s not quite up to the level of earlier episodes, but since this is SaiMono, it’s still a fair way ahead of most other series.

MANGA

Kanon/Air 2: This isn’t so much a review as a plea for help- I really need guidance in the world of Kanon and Air manga, and nowhere more so than with regard to this bizarre fusion. The chapter I read seemed to consist of Makoto eating meat buns and little else.

Mai-Otome 30: To no-one’s surprise, Sergey is revealed to be an ultimate villain of evil in this episode, with catgirl Mikoto and the real Mashiro by his side. Can Manshiro and his harem of Justice stand against this new threat? As usual, it’s nothing special, but there are some well drawn scenes.

Mushishi 10: This extremely satisfying chapter of the Mushishi manga corresponds to the excellent twenty-first episode of the anime, in which a woman gives birth to a strange green gloop, only to find a succession of babies under her house over the ensuing years. To say much more would be to give away a few of the twists that make this chapter so compelling, but suffice to say that even by Mushishi’s high standards, this is an extremely worthy instalment.

*DROPPED* Natsu no Arashi 2: It’s not often that I drop a manga series so close to the beginning, but it would be no exaggeration to say that reading this chapter literally gave me a headache. I still have little clue as to what the story is supposed to be about, and in fact, I am beginning to doubt whether Jin Kobayashi has any idea either; if anything, he seems to be just making it up as he goes along and hoping for the best. School Rumble or not, promise of white-haired Yakumo look-alike or not, this one has to go.

REC 16: Eccentric anime director Sekigahara makes an unwelcome return in this chapter, which sees him inadvertently let slip that Aka has a boyfriend on national radio. Cue another “can our relationship survive” moment as Aka’s reputation as an ‘immaculate idol’ seems destined to be shattered. This ranks amongst REC’s angstier segments, and as a result is not one of its better ones.

Saiunkoku Monogatari 4: Why did no one tell me I could get this file from IRC before I joined the scanlation forum and made over 25 posts? Anyway, even though this is just covering the early episodes of the anime, the long-awaited file proves to be worthy enough to justify the wait, although the artwork seems a little off in a few panels.

NOVEL

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya vol 4, chapter 2: Kyon should really be happy about being in a world where Haruhi isn’t attending his school, but instead he’s desperate to get things back to normal. This chapter sees him making the acquaintance of the alternate Nagato, a version with enough personality to be able to smile. I have to admit that volume 4 is proving to be the most enjoyable part of the franchise so far.

After the sparseness of last week, everything seems to have returned in full force in readiness for the Round-Up’s one month anniversary. In light of all the drops of previous weeks, I’ve picked up a number of new series on the anime front, although unfortunately there are still many backlogged manga chapters waiting patiently for my attention.

Reviewed this week: FLAG, Ginga Densetsu Weed, Gokinjo Monogatari, Hanoka, Higurashi, H&C II, Kemonozume, Keroro, Mai-Otome DVD Special, Ouran, SaiMono, School Rumble, Tsubasa, Utawarerumono, NHK, xxxHOLiC, Otogi-jushi Akazukin, Love GetChu!

…and in manga: Erementar Gerad, Fate/Stay Night, Fruits Basket, Tsubasa Chronicle, Utawarerumono, xxxHOLiC

ANIME

FLAG 2: What I should probably write here is that FLAG is “an interesting and subtly nuanced portrayal of conflict” with phrases like “gritty realism” tossed in for good measure, but let’s face it- this episode was just plain dull. I was hoping that we’d get to know the HAVWC team, but instead we’re treated to a tour of their hardware and facility, before Shirasu gets left behind whilst everyone else goes on a mission. I can’t really say that much of this episode held my interest in any way whatsoever, but according to the preview Shirasu will be going to the front lines next time, so I’m going to stick with it for now.

OP impressions: The song is forgettable, but I like the montage of photos.

Ginga Densetsu Weed 25: In the days of yore, reaching the penultimate episode of a series meant some kind of urgency on the plot front, but no longer is that the case. This episode is more a breather before the end, featuring lots of dogs running around in the snow prior to the inevitable final boss confrontation. Nonetheless, its worth as a parody source remains undiminished- and with just one more episode to go, I must find something new to take its place (I’m considering ROTK, but please direct any alternate recommendations to the comments box).

*DROPPED* Gokinjo Monogatari 3-4: I’m not entirely sure why I tried to watch Gokinjo, but the manga improved after a slow start and so the anime had to be given a chance too. This time around, Mikako and Tsutomu make up, Tsutomu continues to spend time with new girlfriend Body-ko, Mikako gets annoyed, they argue…*yawn*. I’m also distinctly unenthused with the artwork- the character designs have all of the flaws of Yazawa’s work whilst retaining none of the charm; the backgrounds are chiefly a lifeless white; and what colours are used are horribly grimy, not unlike the sort of shades found after the contents of a paint box are mixed together by a small child.

The world must see just how bad the animation is.

*NEW* Hanoka 1-2: After reading about this, I can’t say I was expecting a great deal, but since the first episode is only four minutes long, it didn’t seem too much of an investment in time to try it. After you cut out the OP, there’s only two and a half minutes of actual episode, so understandably very little happens- our heroes appear, some giant monsters get blown up, to be continued. I’d like to say the graphics look interesting, but so far it’s more a case of amateur and flat.

Episode two is slightly better (and a whole 53 seconds longer), featuring the obligatory hero angst before Hanoka realises that as a destined main character she has little choice but to fight.

OP impressions: A decent OP overall, with a catchy instrumental beginning and end- a nostalgic reminder of my gaming days.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 20: Another superior episode of Higurashi, featuring all the violence and madness we’ve come to expect from Shion’s continuing instability. This time around, the ‘answer arc’ lives up to its name by providing us with insights into the Watanagashi arc and what it means to be “demoned away”. With so many of its counterparts falling by the wayside in terms of quality (Uta, Ouran, SR, ‘Holic, I’m looking at you), Higurashi remains the one spring pillar of consistent strength.

Honey and Clover II 8: With any other series, the excellence of episodes 6-7 would have left me worried that the standard could not be maintained, but not so with H&C. I was entirely confident that this episode could live up to live up to its predecessors, which is unfortunate, since it fell some way short. To be fair, the scenes devoted to Hagu’s storyline were very powerful and moving, but before we could even get to them, we were treated to a misplaced ‘humorous’ section about Mayama’s trip to Spain and his latest stalking techniques. The episode also fits in a rather anticlimactic end to the Morita story, in which the company is bought back from its stereotypically evil president. Overall, some hints of greatness, but a hit-and-miss episode overall.

*NEW* Kemonozume 1: I think I set my expectations too high for this one, and a result it came off as somewhat disappointing. The series follows the exploits of flesh eating demons and the warrior family committed to hunting them, with the typical “demoness and human fall in love” occurring towards the end of the episode. On the surface, the story seems promising, but the lengthy exposition scenes, uninspiring characters and flat art style all serve to put me off. I have to admit that the action scenes are well executed, however, even if the best one involved a bizarre and annoying monkey.

OP impressions: An average jazz track accompanies simple, high contrast stills- slightly reminiscent of the Bebop OP. Could be a good song if the vocals were absent.

ED impressions: Spinning flowers and an average song- this time the vague resemblance is to the Texhnolyze ED.

Keroro Gunso 53: Another solid if not outstanding episode of Keroro, but I have to ask- when is Giroro coming back? The first half sees Keroro, Tamama, Fuyuki and Kururu visit various historic monuments in the hopes that they were built by aliens for the purpose of invading Pekopon, whilst the weaker second half heralds the return of Angol Mois and another botched invasion plan involving cherry blossoms.

*NEW* Love GetChu 1-3: I already gave this a rambling and poorly constructed post of its own, but I may as well mention Love GetChu here for completeness. I’ve yet to venture into raw territory, but the three subbed episodes have made for an enjoyable opening to the series; by all rights, this should be a hackneyed rehash of old clichés, but instead Momoko’s quest to become a VA is turning into an enjoyable tale.

OP impressions: A bit too cute for my tastes, but energetic and catchy nonetheless.

ED impressions: A walking rabbit plush and some J-dance/rap = instantly forgettable.

Mai-Otome DVD Special 8: Why, you may ask, given all that I have said about Mai-Otome, would I want to subject myself to another DVD special? To be honest, each time I watch one I wonder that, but I’ve come too far along the path of Mai- to give up now. This time around, we see Natsuki and Mai’s reunion at the episode twenty-three hot springs, together with a recap of Mai’s past and how she ended up in the Black Valley. It’s a lot less interesting than it sounds, especially as most of the story is told against a backdrop of silhouetted stills.

*NEW* Otogi-jushi Akazukin TV 1-6: After familiarising myself with the OVA episode, I’ve finally got around to watching the first five episodes of the TV series, and I have to admit that it was a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting. A fusion of magical girl and fairy tale with a touch of harem, the series tells the tale of destined main character Souta and his encounter with the three Fairy Musketeers Akazukin, Shirayuki and Ibara as they attempt to protect him from the forces of evil and their monsters of the week. Yes, it’s aimed at children, but the brightly coloured character designs and energetic music bring back nostalgic memories of retro gaming- a good choice for some straightforward and light-hearted fun. The only thing that I dislike is the Sweet Phone; it looks like the kind of plastic toy you buy for two-year-olds and seems a particularly pointless addition to the TV series.

OP impressions: An energetic and catchy start.

ED impressions: Not too bad compared to the usual run of ending themes; the song is oddly reminiscent of the Chrono Trigger Guardia Millennial fair music.

Ouran High School Host Club 18-20: Episode 18 sees the introduction of Honey’s brother Chika, and a flashback look into Honey’s transition from the demon captain of the karaoke club to the loli shota of the Host Club. A solid episode overall, which is only marred by the appearance of Renge at the start (sigh), and a few too many lines for the dull Mori- since there isn’t really time to develop him, I’d rather he just remained in the background.

Unfortunately, 19 does not fare so well; perhaps watching two episodes of over-the-top comedy in a row (and with rather mediocre subs) adversely affected my opinion of the episode, but it came off as quite a weak instalment. The overdramatic nature of the series means that it always walks a fine line between hilarious and tiresome, and unfortunately this episode fell into the latter category. The episode sees the return of the ever-annoying Lobelia Girls’ School after the Zuka Club abducts Haruhi to star in their latest performance- the only real highlight here is ever cool and calm Kyouya.

Fortunately with 20, the series is back on form, giving us an insight on the twins’ past and how they came to join the Host Club. I have to admit I was wary of what seemed to be yet another Hikaru+Kaoru focused episode, but it turned out to be a well-executed character piece that was largely free from any painfully over-the-top moments.

Saiunkoku Monogatari 10-16: To have one episode of SaiMono to look forward to is always most welcome, but to be shown the way to the rich vein of Shadow Dreams fansubs (thanks again, Impzie) is as much as anyone can ask for. Episode ten sees the surprisingly abrupt conclusion of the Ensei arc, providing us with some insights into his past but leaving further questions that will hopefully be explored later on. Before getting stuck into the next arc, we’re given a couple of side stories in the form of episode 11, which sees Shuurei’s Bishie Host Club rally together when she comes down with a fever, and 12-13, which introduce child prodigy To Eigetsu.

With that out of the way, the story continues in earnest as both Shuurei and Eigetsu pass their national exams and earn appointments as minor officials; unfortunately, with so many generic officials displeased at seeing both a woman and a thirteen year old pass the national exams, they end up having quite a difficult time of things.

If I liked SaiMono before, then this mini-marathon has greatly increased my appreciation for the series- I find myself increasingly drawn into the characters and storyline, with each episode building on the last to weave a complex and fascinating tapestry. And as an added bonus, I now have enough screencaps to work on a parody version.

School Rumble 20-1: There have been quite a few times this week when I’ve been left thinking “what the hell is this!?”, and this School Rumble double bill was most definitely one of them. First up is episode twenty- a tedious three-part side character extravangza featuring Imadori, Ichijou and her brother playing Dojiboron, minor characters discussing relationships, and cyborg Tenma in ‘Police Force Rumble’. All-in-all, a rather uninspiring selection, but as nothing compared to the follow-up episode twenty one- a painfully unfunny magical girl parody topped off with a basketball section that had absolutely nothing to do with School Rumble whatsoever. Over the last few weeks, my faith in the series has been slowly crumbling, and now I have to admit that it has been completely shattered, to the point where I wish this had ended at 13 episodes after all.

Tsubasa Chronicle 39: After the monotony of last episode I can’t say I was looking forward to this, but like a bitter pill, it had to be swallowed. The conclusion of the ‘bus world’ story, the episode brings us more stills, more dull vehicle and ‘road gang’ scenes and yet another time-filling sequence involving an insert song. The only consolation is that next episode sees a return to the main storyline; for a time I was worried that we’d be stuck on endless episodes exploring the bus route and the generic characters that travel on it. That being said, Bee Train are probably producing the first episodes of Bus Chronicle even as we speak.

Utawarerumono 21: Due to lack of resources, I have yet to see episode 20 in either raw or subbed form, but with episode 21 more readily available I decided to forge ahead anyway. Unfortunately, Kuuya and her rabbit-eared clan were something of a disappointment, with the whole thing once again coming off as slightly laughable and not terribly engaging.

Welcome to the NHK 6: I need to break free of this morbid fascination I have with the ED- I find it disturbing, and yet on some level I actually look forward to exposing myself to its horrors each week. Anyway, with that digression aside, this episode sees Satou take to the classroom on a mission to discover if Yamazaki has a girlfriend; it’s slightly painful and not as bearable as episode five, but the series continues to hang on in the red zone for now.

On a related note, watching this makes me feel as if I am now capable of writing my own game scenario- perhaps I have at last found my true calling.

xxxHOLiC 19: At long last, the gods of anime have heeded my fervent prayers, because this time week the animation is vastly improved; distance shots still aren’t great (and I doubt they ever will be), but close ups are aesthetically pleasing for the first time in a while, as the animators discover lost arts like “colour”.

Story-wise, the episode sees Watanuki, Yuuko and the rest participate in a very unique snowball fight; apart from the sight of a giant snow-Mokona it’s strictly average, but not dull enough to be sleep-inducing.

MANGA

Erementar Gerad (Elemental Gelade) 18-20: With Rasati’s story coming to its end in chapter eighteen, our heroes board a boat to another continent in preparation for the Viro arc (sigh). Nineteen brings us the obligatory pool chapter, before the action kicks off in chapter twenty with the long overdue arrival of Greyarts; even at this early stage, both Greyarts and Viro seem a lot more interesting than their anime counterparts. All three chapters are what we’ve come to expect from EG- light-hearted, fun, and fronted by some stunning artwork.

Fate/Stay Night 3-4: Despite not enjoying the anime that much by the end, my quest into the manga continues. This time around, the manga covers episodes 3-4, with Kirei explaining the rules of the game to Shirou, and Ilya and Berserker making their first attack. I’m not too impressed with the artwork- the line work is solid enough but the shading relies too much on screen tone and lacks the contrast and character it needs.

Fruits Basket 121: Another gap-filling chapter, in which Tohru and Kyo confess their feelings for each other- for once, I have few complaints and in fact very little to say.

Tsubasa Chronicle 126: I was happy to see CLAMP take a risk with a character and turn Fye into a vampire forced to feed off the blood of his prey Kurogane, but guess what- if he can get his left eye back, everything will return to normal. Not that I don’t expect everything to turn out well in the end, but it ruins the drama of the chapter somewhat to create a get-out clause so soon.

*NEW* Utawarerumono 2: Apparently chapter 1 wasn’t worth of being scanned, and if it corresponds to the Japanese chapter I’ve seen then it’s just a few pages of Eru, Aru and not much else. Chapter 2 sees Haku, Oboro and the harem wander the mountains in search of a fabled hot spring; I’m assuming that the creator was aiming for a tongue-in-cheek parody, which is unfortunate as there was precious little actual humour to be found. The artwork isn’t too bad, a cute chibi style that comes in a few grades below the original game art.

xxxHOLiC vol 9 c2: As it turns out, the events at the end of last chapter were just a premonitory dream- one that Watanuki inadvertently bought from Himawari. In this chapter, Yuuko takes Watanuki to a place where he can sell the dream, complete with a few extremely vague hints about Himawari, and a cliffhanger revelation about Doumeki. This is xxxHOLiC back on top form- interesting story, striking artwork, and even a glimpse of black Mokona.

Random trivia: Doumeki’s given name is Shizuka.

Many thanks to Hinano for alerting me to the existence of this series.

I wasn’t going to do much more than write a paragraph about this for my Weekly Round Up, but after realising that a) this series needs more attention and b) I need an excuse to show off screencaps and talk about the characters, it seemed only right to give Love GetChu an entire post of its own.

The story is simple enough- aspiring voice actress Ichihara Momoko (age 18) has just moved to Tokyo in order to pursue her dream, which is entirely founded on a desire to meet the male star of her favourite anime. Along the way, she meets up with the usual run of supporting characters- fellow trainee VAs, eclectic neighbours, and the obligtatory male lead. All of the characters fall into the standard types that we’ve met a hundred times before, and herein lies the contradiction that sits at the heart of Love GetChu- the series is filled with predictability and near-cliché, but somehow that makes it none the less enjoyable. Perhaps it is the upbeat and light-hearted tone of the series, the likable characters, the novelty of learning about voice-acting, or even the bright character designs- whatever the reason, Love GetChu is able to overcome its shortcomings and provide an entertaining experience.

Characters

Momoko: everything you’d expect from a lead, chirpy and optimistic but more than a little ditzy and clumsy. She has a glass-shattering voice, a cute plush rabbit named Usamaru, and a crush on the male lead from her favourite anime.

Character match- Sakura Shinguji (Sakura Taisen)

Atari: (blue-hair) the quiet bespectacled type who works at an animation studio with his cheerful best friend™. Naturally, Momoko ends up mistakenly calling him a pervert and causing trouble when she tries to help him.

Yurika: the ‘best supporting female’, generally confident and free of the problems that befall the lead. She wants to become a VA since it is more prestigious than just being an idol.

Rinka: the shy meganekko who stutters in front of the mike but wants to become a VA anyway.

Character match- Lettuce Midorikawa (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Tsubasa: the athletic tomboy who only wants to perform male roles.

Character match- Mikoto Suoh (School Rumble)

Amane: the cool, composed idol who hopes to use her looks to get ahead in voice acting. Not only does she have her own limo and red carpet, but she even gets a personal maid.

Character match- Zakuro Fujiwara (Tokyo Mew Mew)

The Maison Ikkoku side of the series: quiet landlady, sports instructor, drunken older woman, lead male, student and fashion-obsessed ‘best friend outside of work’ type.

The President of Lambda Eight, the company that the girls want to work for- predictably she’s both talented and extremely harsh on auditioners, but not above giving named characters a chance to prove themselves.

Also on the roster is the girls’ voice acting coach, an extremely strict older woman. Who wants to bet she has a heart of gold underneath?

Special bonus- series that ‘influenced’ Love GetChu: Rec, Sakura Wars, Animation Runner Kuromi, Tokyo Mew Mew, Maison Ikkoku, Ginban Kaleidoscope