I haven’t been sleeping well for a while, like the last three years, so it is not uncommon for me to pop awake and lie there, and I dislike doing that, so I get up and do SOMETHING.
I decided that I would get to the Expo early, as the taste of the defeats the day before left a bad taste in my mouth. It was rather soothing to walk about the venue, as there were a few people there and it was a physically cool place to be, which would belie the chaos that would be following.
I got there early, as they were showing some series on the modified schedule and I wanted to catch them. One was “Nyarko-san”, as that was more a reminder of what it was (I am working on a review for that), then “Love Hina”. I tried to watch it a few years ago, but found only a spotty version of it on line that wouldn’t stream properly, so I left it behind. This let me see three shows of it, but they are certainly handling things a bit differently than the manga. I know there will be a shift, but they are really playing down the fan service and upping the amount of physical abuse the male lead absorbs. (more…)
On the surface, “Senran Kagura” is like any other kind of fighting girl show. Akin to “Maken-Ki” or “Freezing” or even “My-HiME”, it follows the tale of girls with special abilities and the training they need to go through to learn how to use their powers best to defeat the forces of darkness and evil and cruelty and icky things.
Now, the big question is “Are they Shinobi or Kunoichi?” Shinobi is a term used for a covert agent or spy ninja who engages in unorthodox warfare. Kunoichi is a term for a female ninja. Well, to be honest, it really doesn’t matter, as whatever ninja skills they might be learning is completely inundated by unrelenting fan service.
Let us run down the cast of characters. From left to right we have:
Asuka, the leader and a second year, she barely passed the promotion exam and is carrying on the ninja tradition from her grandfather Ikaruga, a third year, very serious about being a ninja as her brother was bypassed to give leadership of the clan to her Katsuragi, a third year and a touch of a pervert. Yagyuu (but that spelling changes on who’s doing the subbing). A first year, she is a prodigy and uses an umbrella as her main weapon. Very protective of Hibari. Hibari, also a first year and new to the group, she is both child-like and cutely clumsy. (more…)
A caliber of post-apocalyptic, much of what we learn about the new world order is done in retrospect. All you need to know is that our story takes places about 1000 years after the collapse of society, when people with ‘special abilities’ tried to take over the world.
In this utopian society, everyone is born with special abilities and they learn how to use their ‘cantus’ (their term for it), to best help people. The village, Kamisu’s 66th District, (which looks a bit silly to have on a t-shirt), is the kind of place we all dream of. But dreams can always go sour. We follow the five people in Group One, who are:
Shun Aonuma, Satoru Asahina, Saki Watanabe, Maria Akizuki and Mamoru Ito. They go to these schools and academies to learn how to channel and focus their telekinetic powers and learn about the world they live in. (more…)
One of the hardest things is to find a good entrance anime, to get people interested in the genre, without scaring them off. I mean, you don’t open with “Elfin Lied” or “Baccano!” or “Gantz” and then be surprised when they run screaming into the sunset (or sunrise, depending on the time of day).
“Squid Girl” (or also known as “Invade! Squid Girl”) tells the story of Squid Girl (Whew! What a relief. If she had some other name…..) who is the forward force of an invasion. She is bound and determined to conquer humanity, who have polluted her waters and made life miserable for her and her kind. To this end, she comes ashore in some part of Tokyo, (I assume, no name is ever given, so I have to make a guess it is) and decides to take over the Lemon House, a yakisoba snack bar at the beach, to use as her base of operation. (more…)
OK, I’ll be honest: I had ZERO intention of reviewing “Rosario + Vampire Capu 2”, as I did not feel it warranted a review. I still feel it doesn’t, but I have not seen a show go so overboard from one season to the next as badly as this one. But when your daughter nips at your heels like a demented Chihuahua, demanding to see it with you for some ‘bonding time’, you get trapped.
All I can tell you for certain is something happened over class break. By the time the whole gang gets back to school, Yokai Academy has changed its name to “Upskirt U”. If the dresses were any shorter, they might as well be a long shirt. It got so bad, I starting counting the number of panty shots. Even “Colorful” (the TV series, not the movie) wasn’t this bad and it was strictly about panty shots.
Is there a plot? Much like Lindsay Lohan’s career, it has completely evaporated. The cast of characters (and for those who don’t remember, we’ll run them down for you) are from left to right: (more…)
This is another long-form anime. We are at 52 episodes and there is apparently no end on the horizon, but this is not a “Houston, we have a problem” kind of issue. This is a story that takes a long time to tell and needs practically every episode to do it. Much like preparing to go into space, you can’t slap it together and hope for the best.
The Space Brothers in question are Mutta (to the left) and Hibito Nanba (to the right; the dog is Apo). They have always been interested in space and its exploration, but feel that their circumstances at birth set their fates in motion for the life they now lead.
Mutta was born on the day that Japan lost in the World Cup preliminaries (for those keeping score, October 28, 1993). Hibito was born when Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter in US Major League Baseball (September 17, 2006, for the record).
Despite being the older brother, Mutta has always trailed his younger brother, especially when he got into space first. Mutta became a car designer instead. We now flash ahead to 2025. At his career, while on the job, Mutta’s boss makes an injudicious comment about Hibito, so Mutta head-butts him (a la Zidane) and gets fired. Unable to live as he had, he has to move in with Mom and Dad, who needle him endlessly about his job status. (more…)
This has got to be the oddest coupling for a show I have ever seen. “Girls und Panzer” exists in some weird parallel dimension or alternative universe world where this is OK and fervently supported.
Miho Nishizumi (dead center) has transferred to Ōarai Girls High School, as they do not have a tank program. She is attending classes and meeting friends and having a good time, when we learn that the academy may be closed down unless it gets more students. So, they revitalize Sensha-dō (“Way of the Tank”) and decide to take on the Big Boys…..uh….Girls of other schools that have tank programs. What, the Flower Arranging Club was all full?
Since Miho comes from a long line of tank girls (and this is revealed through the run of the show), she is pressured to join the club. Here’s the weird thing (oh, and girls in tanks isn’t weird enough?): they live on an aircraft carrier. It has been kind of terraformed, so it looks like a regular little village or town, but they are out at sea about 90% of the time, coming to land to reprovision and have their tank battles. (more…)
So im finally up to date on Hunter x Hunter (2011), and while the series does not look like its anywhere close to an ending, I feel I’ve seen enough to give a fair review. As a remake of the 1999 original series, I knew it was going to be good and I was not disappointed. For the first 70ish episodes it followed the same arcs as the previous version (Hunter Examination arc and Greed Island Arc) and besides a few minor changes in character wordings and character expressions I’d say they were pretty much identical.
What completely caught me off-guard was that like its predecessor, I expected the show to come to a close at the end of the second arc. Instead of doing so we see a third arc opening up! For those who have seen the original series if you are not the type to re-watch anime you are free to skip to episode 75 and simply think of it as a continuation…
There have been alot of mixed feelings around the internet saying that one version is superior to another and to be completely honest I do prefer the original version. Why? Simply because (more…)
As of late, I have seen a lot of shows based on or associated with on-line gaming, like “Sword Art Online” or “Accel World”. Even “Tower of Druaga” felt like a videogame, although that kind of took the mickey out of itself.
“BTOOOM!” is another such show. Now, the online game of “BTOOOM!” is like Halo, except the only weapons you have are bombs. You have to figure out ways how to blow up the enemy team. Your overall scores are rated, but individual effort counts as well.
Ryōta Sakamoto (the one in black to the right) is an unemployed 22-year-old, potential hikikimori or NEET, who lives with his mother. In the real world, there is nothing special about him, but online, he’s one of the world’s top players and the only Japanese to be in the Top Ten of Btooom! One day, he awakens in what appears to be a tropical island, though he has no memory of how or why he has come to be there. (more…)
The long-waited sequel to “Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2″ is finally here….. The handsome knucklehead ninja makes yet another comeback in”Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3!”
Now as we left off in the defeat of Pain in the “pain ark” way back in storm 2 and with the confusion on Storm Generations that left most of us in a wave of confusion and disappointment, Storm 3 makes up for it all.
The game starts off with the hidden leaf village being attacked by the pugnacious nine-tailed fox while being controlled by a “Masked Man” using the sharingan. Action flowing left to right as you are first controlling the 3rd hokage in this blazing epic boss battle with the nine tails that leaves you in a wave of excitement, wanting to play more of it with every minute of gameplay and honestly that’s a game totally worth playing.
