It is rare, in my opinion, to see an anime about ordinary people. School animes are not all that ‘ordinary’ and some push it into the realm of supernatural or fantasy or fan service gone berserk. (I remember when I was in high school and I NEVER saw ladies that….uh….hefty. Yeah, that’s a good term).

“Servant x Service” takes us into the exciting world of…..public service, revolving around the daily lives of employees in a government office building in the fictional city of Mitsuba in Hokkaido.

The story starts off with the three newest members of the team, and they are, from left to right, Lucy Yamagami (more on that later), Yutaka Hasebe and Saya Miyoshi. They want to fit in and be part of the team, but it gets difficult with shenanigans both in front of and behind the counter.

Miyoshi gets teamed with Mrs. Tanaka (she is the old-fashioned lady in the center. No, she is nowhere that tall and robust, but this was the best picture I could find of all the players. She is more like four-foot-nothing, OK?). Mrs. Tanaka comes in practically every day and drones on and on and on about her life and her son-in-law and that Saya needs a good husband and that she could find one for her. (more…)

Another one of those very long titles, we have “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU” also known as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru. (“My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected.“). This one is a caliber of nothing show, but things do happen, just very slowly.

Hachiman Hikigaya (the sweaty one, second from left) is a caliber of loner and a pure cynic. He feels that youth is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites, born from the ashes of past failures. Well, he is not going to get on any popularity lists. Yukino Yukinoshita (dead center, flowing black hair) is president of the Service Club, a group that helps out people in distress. Sadly, she is the only member, so has to blackmail Hikigaya into joining, much to his irritation and distress. He doesn’t need to belong to any club. Well, he does belong to one, but it’s the going-home Club. And then he is pressed into service to do something he has never really done before: be helpful! (more…)

“My Little Monster” (“Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun”, also translated out to “The Monster Sitting Next to Me”) could potentially be described as a nothing show, as it starts off that way. It takes a little while for the plot to get moving, as we have a rather wide-ranging cast, but it is a good entry into the romantic comedy genre. Shizuku Mizutani (pencil near mouth, holding book) is focused on one thing only: studies. She studies morning, noon and night, all weekend long, around the clock and through the seasons. She has no time for frivolities if she wants to get into a prestigious university. One day, she is asked by the teacher to deliver handouts to a slacker student, Haru Yoshida, (dude with the rooster) to his house, as he has been absent a huge amount of time. Because no one has ever been this nice to him, especially a girl, he starts to come to school, much to the consternation of others. (more…)

As a major shonen fan there are not a lot of cute romance type anime, however in my pursuit to give fair chance to everything there are some that I have watched all the way through without becoming bored of the mushy storylines and love triangles. Generally those with comedic value are the ones that keep me interested the best, and to this effect I find myself increasingly drawn to the cuter side of the romantic comedy anime.

Let’s start with Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) which was reviewed in much more depth already, but which I feel deserves as much mention as any other, even if it means mentioning it multiple times. This is actually an anime that was recommended to me, had it not been I probably would have never sat down and watched it as the synopsis was not something which overly appealed to me. I’m glad I watched it in the end; the story starts with Tsukimi Kurashita, a girl who loves jellyfish but in typical shy nerd style is uncomfortable with just about everything else. This character lives in a house full of other, similarly bizarre characters such as a talking afro with a love of trains.

Things change drastically for everyone involved when a beautiful, stylish young woman suddenly makes friends with the jellyfish obsessed nerd, accept that this woman is actually Kuranosuke Koibuchi; a male cross-dresser. It shouldn’t take long to understand the comedic value here (nerds that struggle around men and beautiful people, a gorgeous cross-dressing man – it just about writes itself). (more…)

2013 was a pretty good year for anime lovers around the world; so many new series released, so many getting started and some new releases from series’ we all loved in the past. One thing that I have particularly enjoyed this year is the number of special Christmas releases; which have been an enjoyable return to shows that I was certain were over for the year.

Other than those I happened to notice on Crunchyroll I have not watched that many of the new series, which I am a little disappointed about, having spent much of the year catching up on some of the older classics I missed, so I will instead be offering reviews on some of the few I have seen, as well as reviews of other anime I happen to have completed this year.

One Piece:

One Piece is one of the biggest shonen anime there is, the three big names in this genre are of course One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. While I have seen the others in the past One Piece had never really appealed to me in the same way, but in spring this year I decided I would start it. To be honest it took me a little while to really get in to it, the beginning didn’t go as quickly and energetically as I was expecting but it didn’t take long and soon enough I was hooked. (more…)

Opportunity is a strange thing, as it just manifests itself and you have to decide to open the door or hide near the torchiere and peer through the curtain, to make certain they have gone away.

I had a marvelous chance to see “Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22: You Shall (Not) Advance” with the family in tow. Now, I initially argued against seeing it, as I did not really enjoy “1.11” and since they were so behind the curve on things, I was afraid I would be spending huge amount of movie time explaining things. If you thought I was bad coming into this film, they were even worse, but they said they would take the chance.

They lost.

I had to explain about the Second Impact and what these angels were and trying to do and what the EVA units were and trying to do. Now, not a lot of time has passed between the films, so we still have Shinji Ikari, who is more determined than ever to stop being a pilot, partially aided by the fact that Rei Ayanami is back to some degree of health and can reshoulder the burden.They also are given the ‘present’ of a new pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu. Despite her heritage, she is considered American, which means she is brash and rash. Oh, and also has boobs. She takes care of EVA unit 2 and we see all three of them work together to attempt to take out an angel, trying to fight as a cohesive unit. (more…)

This is one of the odder school romance anime shows I have seen, mainly because the main thrust of it doesn’t make any real sense, but, being a comedy, I guess it’s not supposed to make sense, as we have to make the story work, more or less.

“The Pet Girl of Sakurasou” (“Sakura-sō no Petto na Kanojo”) tells the story, initially, of Sorata Kanda (that stiff guy three in from the right). He attends Suimei University of the Arts (often shortened as Suiko), but he is a ‘problem’ child. He is a problem as he took in an abandoned cat, in the hopes of finding a new owner for it. Well, that didn’t happen, and pets aren’t allowed in the dorms, so he was ‘transferred’ out (read that as ‘hit the bricks, bozo’), as he wouldn’t surrender the cat, and into the Sakura Dorm. In this world, it’s like a one-way bus ticket to Cleveland: you go in, you never come back out to the normal world. I hope you enjoy seeing Lake Erie catch on fire. (Well, actually it was the Cuyahoga River, in June of 1969).

Now, these people in the dorm (and it doesn’t house that many; only about six. In a school this size, there are only six problem students? Really?) are all very creative and highly intelligent, just a tad on the addled side. Thrown into this mix is Mashiro Shiina (to Sorata’s right). She is so addled that she cannot even dress herself in the morning and needs a handler to help her. OK, who gets the job of being her handler? Who haven’t I called on in a while? That right! Sorata gets this dubious job. Feed her, dress her, get her to class, bring her home, help her pass her tests, etc., etc., etc. (more…)

OK, how many people remember what happened at the end of “Senki Zesshō Symphogear”? Did anyone do the homework assignments over the break? Anyone? Fine, I want two scrolls on my desk by tomorrow morning. To recap, the Noise was defeated, but we blew a crater in the moon the size of Texas, which now makes the moon look like Saturn.

“Senki Zesshō Symphogear G” starts up about three months after that climatic battle. The good guys (or gals, in this grouping) are, from right to left:

Tsubasa Kazanari. Half of the group Zwei Wing, her partner, Kanade, died but passed her relic on.
Chris Yukine. A bit of a loose cannon, she was an enemy who became an ally.
Hibiki Tachibana. She is trying her best to be a good fighter, but she has merely a shard in her, not a full relic.

They are supposed to protect Dr. Ver (a mad scientist type) and (more…)

When is a movie not a movie? When is a series not a series? Why can’t you ever get a good answer to questions? Did you remember to turn off the iron?

I bring this up, as I am uncertain how to approach “Mardock Scramble”. If it is a movie, why isn’t it presented as such? At three hours, it is a bit long for a movie (especially an anime one), but it could have easily been broken up to be a first season of a show (a 12-episode run). I am going to call this a ‘special’, as it works best in that configuration. So, let’s get to the story, eh?

It could be the future, but it is certainly an alternate universe of Tokyo….I mean, Kamina City, Rune Balot is a 15-year old prostitute, who goes on a ‘date’ with the notorious Shell Septinous. Shell has a bit of a problem, in that he is a psychotic killer. He has sex with these underage ladies, and then murders them. Rune is no exception, as she is left to die in a burning car which explodes. However, she is rescued and transformed into a cyborg by the rather mysterious Dr. Easter. An Artificial Intelligence life form (more…)

Although ostensibly a school romantic comedy, it is the setting that makes it a bit different from your regular school animes.

“Silver Spoon” tells the story of Yugo Hachiken (the guy in glasses). He comes from Sapporo, but had no real idea what he wants to become. He also wanted to get away from a demanding father and a slacker brother, so he enrolls in Ezo Agricultural High School. He is the only one there without a goal, a purpose or a reason to be at this school, as everyone else is involved in some aspect of agriculture (dairy, livestock, horse racing, cheese making and the like).

He becomes tops in the class overall, as he excels in the regular stuff (math, history, writing), but he bites mightily when it comes to the other aspects of the school, like the agricultural part. I hope he didn’t miss that ‘agricultural’ is part of the school’s name. His other classmates are: (more…)