It has been four years since the ladies of West Genetics have graced our screen, but we now have the second season. “Freezing: Vibration”, however, has taken a page from the “Maken-Ki II” playbook. For those of you who have forgotten (and who don’t want to take the time to read my original review for “Freezing”), the world is beset by these strange creatures called Nova. They are as large as a Gundam and wherever they land, they cause untold destruction.
There are these special women, called Pandoras, who have the power and ability to fight these aliens with their Volt Weapon. They have a male limiter who can project an energy field that ‘freezes’ the Nova in place, allowing the Pandora to dispense a huge amount of damage.
The conclusion of the first season is now called the 10th Nova Battle. Although we secured a victory, many Pandora were killed (as is the nature of war). To combat this personnel problem (as only about 2% of women worldwide are even compatible with the Stigmata that give a Pandora her abilities), Chevalier, the organization that oversees the Pandoras, has come up with a series of experiments that could make even common women able to be Pandoras. The “E-Pandora Project” is taking place in their secret base in Alaska, where the world’s Pandoras are sent to help with this experiment. (more…)
“Rail Wars” is a terrible title for this show. The problem is that anytime you have the tag “…Wars” in your title, everything gets back to “Star Wars” and this show is nothing like that at all. Perhaps if they called it “Tales from the Rails” or “Getting on Track”, it would be closer aligned with what this series is about. Hey, why don’t we use the subtitle of the manga? “Japanese National Railways Security Force.” Too dull, I guess, for someone. Let’s look at part of the capsule description for this show: “This is in a Japan where the nationalized railway system was never privatized…..” Was that really that BIG of a deal? “What if Rome never fell?” is something of much greater of an import, not this. OK, let it go and discuss the show.
Naoto Takayama (Mr Salute) is an ordinary high school student who aspires to a comfortable life working at the JNR, being an engineer. He ends up working as a security force trainee, where he unwillingly has to deal with his strange colleagues as well as RJ, a group of extremists who are fighting to privatize the railway. And the strange colleagues are (Clockwise, this time): (more…)
This is a rather odd show, in the fact that they go to all of this trouble, but in the end, “Unbreakable Machine Doll” is just a glorified “Pokemon”.
It is early in the 20th Century. Science and magic have been facts for many years and have created a technology that allows both to merge together in making Makinot, circuits made from spells that were put into an object to bring them to life and even gain a personality. It was developed as a military weapon and has now spread throughout the world. One of the best places in the world to learn this happens to be in Liverpool, England, the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart. Uh oh, this is a bit of trouble. A quick look up of Walpurgis tells us this is a traditional meeting of witches and warlocks. It’s kind of like going to Armageddon High.
Into this mix comes Raishin Akabane (far left). He has brought with him Yaya (to his left), not only a very fine doll, but created by the famous and mysterious Karyuusai Shouko (that busty vixen in red more towards the right). Alas and alackaday, Yaya is what is known as a ‘banned’ doll, in the fact that she was made with both mechanical and organic parts (organic parts? You mean parts from people? Shhhhh!) The problem with a banned doll is that they are far stronger than a regular doll, so it is both a moral dilemma and unfair advantage in all of this. It could be seen as using steroids obtained from orphans (not like that would deter a lot of folks). (more…)
It seems to be a rule of anime that if you have an idol show, there MUST be a second season and “Love Live II” is no exception. We follow our nonet as they decide to put on the gauntlet again and try for stardom. But they bring in a lot of artificial problems to force them to fish or cut bait.
The first problem is that Honoka Kōsaka (in the lead spot) is now Student Council president and doesn’t have the time for this. The second is that Love Live is now doing regionals and their group would have to beat A-Plus to move ahead. The third is that three of them will graduate by the end of the school year, so this would be the last time the original members could perform together.
What should they do? What can they do? What will they do? Any suggestions? Yeah, like you couldn’t see through that. Of course they forge ahead, ready and willing to sing like there’s no tomorrow (and, in a sense, there isn’t). It’s just that the second season seems pasted together and a lot of the ‘problems’ aren’t real problems, more along the lines of having to surrender parts of your youth to move ahead into the world of adulthood. (more…)
This is another of those “Girls Who Save the World” shows, but with a bit more tragic results, potentially closer aligned to “Gunslinger Girl”. Welcome to the world of “Black Bullet”.
It is the year 2021. Mankind has been decimated by the Gastrea, a parasitic virus, and is forced to live within this ring of Monoliths, which are created from Varanium: a metal that is able to subdue Gastrea. (And where did we discover this metal?) Soon, children are born with the Gastrea virus. They have superhuman abilities as a result, but people are so terrified of them, they are dubbed “Cursed Children”. Because the Gastrea threat is still out there, the Cursed Children (who are all girls) fall under the jurisdiction of the Civil Securities. You now have a pair of fighters: the Initiator, (the child) and a Promoter, (the guy). We follow the adventures of Rentarō Satomi (the guy with the gun), a high school student who is also a Promoter in Tendō Civil Security Agency owned by his childhood friend Kisara Tendō, along with his Initiator, Enju Aihara (red head), who try to prevent the destruction of the Tokyo Area and the world.
OK, so we will take a break so you can take this all in. It’s quite a lot. (more…)
“Nanana’s Buried Treasure” (“Ryūgajō Nanana no Maizōkin”) is a good action-adventure-ghost show, as there are layers upon layers and everyone has a hidden agenda. Oh, and this also is a “move-in” show.
Our hero, Juugo Yama, (fourth from left) comes to the “Special Student Zone” on the artificial island Nanaejima. Strapped for funds, he moves into an apartment, with the strange proviso of all the rent for a year up front. The reason? It is haunted by a previous tenant who was murdered there. This is Nanana (the one in the trunk) and she spent her living days hunting down strange and unusual treasures.
It has been 10 years since she was killed and the cops are no closer to finding her murderer today than when it happened. Juugo is determined to find her killer, but also unlock the hidden treasures that are about the island. Part of this is to help her move on. Another is the lure of treasure. Now, for a ghost, Nanana is both lively (playing video games all the time) and hungry (devouring pudding, but preferring a rather expensive brand). And when she wishes it, can physically manifest herself (as she wrestles Juugo often for apartment supremacy). (more…)
This can be properly categorized as a ‘witch show’, but this is no ‘magical girl’ show. It might be closer aligned with “Black Rock Shooter” in the caliber of despair that it generates, but I get ahead of myself. This is an unhappy show. Not a sad show. A sad show is like “Air the Series” or “5 Centimeters per Second”. This one is unhappy is that everyone…it looks like I’m taking the chute back to Square One, as I’m getting ahead of myself.
“Brynhildr in the Darkness” (“Gokukoku no Buryunhirude” “Extreme-Black Brynhildr”) is an odd cat of a story, mainly because it doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Ryouta Murakami is head of the astronomy club. They even have this far out observatory to use. (No, I mean far out; he has to take a couple of bus lines to get to the thing) Too bad there isn’t a single other person in the club. I mean, what gives? I know if there was an astronomy club at my high school, I’d be there (we had a chess club. If I had joined, I’d be called ‘Carpet’, as I’d have been laid out the entire time.) (more…)
In a sense, this is another ‘move-in’ show, but it takes a slightly different tack for it. “Engaged to the Unidentified” (“Mikakunin de Shinkōkei”, “Unconfirmed & In-Progress”) tells the tale of Kobeni Yonomori (far left). She is a high school girl who lives with her mother and older sister Benio (next to her). Upon turning sixteen, Kobeni is shocked to learn that, due to an arrangement by her late grandfather, she is engaged to a boy named Hakuya Mitsumine (far right) who, along with his little sister Mashiro, (next to him) come to live with Kobeni. Talk about a move in, they not only come into the house, they come into the school and right into her class room (like you didn’t see that one coming, eh?). As Kobeni spends time adjusting to this new family, she learns there is more to Hakuya and Mashiro than meets the eye.
Kobeni has enough problems in her life, as sister Benio is The Most Popular Person at School, smart as they come, Student Council President, perhaps runs the World Bank in her spare time and anyone would do anything for her. It’s that now we have Hayuka transfer in (a man of little to no words) and Mashiro (who is a bit overcute for me. Look, look, her uniform is too large so you never see her hands! Awwwwwww!) In a sense, Kobeni is under attack on three fronts and has to place this all in perspective. Adding to the concerns, she kind of vaguely remembers Hayuka, but a childhood accident robbed her of her memories of that time. (more…)
This is one strange fish of a show, in the fact I think it is intentionally designed not to make any sense. “World Conquest Zvezda Plot” (“Sekai Seifuku: Bōryaku no Zvezda”) confuses you right from the start, as the entire series is told as a giant flashback.
We are greeted with a scene of absolute destruction and devastation. Is anyone left alive? Is the Starbucks razed? A lone figure wanders the shattered landscape, pondering the nature of world conquest and the people who do it. We are then transported back in time, to when things were sunny and clean and colorful and it all worked (sort of). Oh, and there IS a Starbucks.
Asuta Jimon (he’s that S&M looking type, second from left) has run away or been thrown out of his house by his father. As he walks the streets, he is told to get inside fast, as marshal law is being declared. He flees the police and ducks into an alley, where he meets Kate Hoshimiya, (dead center) who is looking for her doll (yeah, that hideous pink bunny. Those are pointed teeth). She also calls herself Lady Venera, the leader of Zvezda, an organization with its eyes on world conquest. Asuta is eventually cornered by the military, but is rescued by Kate, who welcomes him to her group. (more…)
The title for this show is a tad misleading, in that “Blue Exorcist” does not approach exorcism as you think it should. Sure, these folks get rid of demons, but they do not necessarily possess people as much as they are free-form rovers that cross over and need to be sent off to the afterlife.
We start off the show with Rin and Yukio Okumura (second from left and far right, both in front row) and their overseer Father Shiro Fujimoto (the guy with the cross eyeglass danglers). They learn that they are both the son of Satan, but it appears that Rin inherited all the power. Father is an exorcist and has been taking care of them since they were born. Well, since they are both now teens, they get those yearnings and itches…..to be on their own! What did you think I meant, pervert? However, Rin rebels against Father at a bad time and Father gets possessed by Satan, who is looking for an earthly vessel. Father takes care of that matter, but not in the best way for everyone involved.
It is determined that Rin and Yukio should go to True Cross Academy, to learn how to become a real exorcist. The school is taken care of by Chairman Mephisto Pheles (that really happy dude in the back row), but he’s a bit of a jerk. That’s the biggest problem with the series: everyone is a caliber of jerk. In any case, he takes a special exorcist course, where he meets other people who want to become exorcists. The rest of the classmates, from left to right are (more…)
