This is another idol show, along the lines of “AKB0048” and “Long Live Project” and it follow more or less the same arc, although presentation is a bit different. The full title is actually “Wake Up, Girls – Seven Idols”, but, like them, we’ll truncate it to WUG.

We have to start with not the girls, but the group that supports them, which are the two ‘adults’ (I’ll explain later).

Green Leaves Entertainment is a tiny production company on the verge of going out of business. It is located in Sendai, the biggest city in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region, in a rather questionable office building that could double as an auto repair shop. Not particularly inspiring. The agency once managed the careers of magicians, photo idols, fortune-tellers, and other entertainers, but its last remaining client finally quit. In danger of having zero talent (literally and actually), the president, Juynko Tange, (she’s at the end there) hatches an idea of producing an idol group. On the brash president’s orders, the dissatisfied manager Kouhei Matsuda heads out to scout raw talent. (more…)

This is a strange series, as you really are left in the dark for most of it. We are telling a story that has no real purpose as to why we are telling it, but it needs to be told. I’ll explain as we go along.

“Haibane Renmei” (“Une fille qui a des ailes grises” and/or/either/both, “A girl who has grey wings”) has us look at angeloids in a different way. I mean, no one ever says the word “angel”, but they have wings and a halo, but if we took away those two features, they are no different than you or I. There are male ones as well, but the whole mythology behind it seems confused.

OK, I watched it, as it was On Demand and I needed something to see while I did the ironing, and it was there. It’s a show with a lot of promise, but it stagnates to the point where we are just going through the motions.

We are in the city of Glie. Although the time feels modern, there is still something kind of backwards about the town, as I don’t recall ever seeing a TV set, for example. And there is a huge stone wall that surrounds the town and environs. It appears that no one ever leaves the town, and certainly the haibanes can’t at all. (more…)

“Chronicles of the Going Home Club” is another in a long series on ‘nothing’ shows, although they eventually decide to do ‘something’. Closer aligned with “Joshiraku” and “Nichijou”, it tells the stories of five girls who just want to have a good time.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the “Going Home Club” refers to students who do not belong to any club, ending up going home to study or read anime or take a trip to Akihabara. But for this series, the Going Home Club is an actual club. Sure, they may play video games or eat snacks, but they eventually talk about stuff, things that have a bearing on their lives. So the first three or four episodes are spent setting up things, so nothing happens and what they talk and do is disconnected. So there is no real direction. But someone decides they need to have some degree of focus and that’s when the show really takes off.

Our Slacker Sisters are (left to right):

Sakura Domyoji, president of the club and the ‘ordinary’ one.
Karin Tono, supervisor and a tad of an airhead (more…)

I recently gave a review regarding “Princess Lover”, a rather standard romantic comedy anime. It was a fan-service heavy eroge game, which became a fan-service heavy manga, which became a fan-service heavy anime. OK, the above picture never happened in the anime, but it skated pretty close to it.

They later came out with two OVAs. The first one was a six-episode offering. If you didn’t have the time to invest 300 minutes to watch the entire series, you could cough up 16 minutes to get an overall sense of the show, but not get a good feel for it. Look, if you don’t have the time to watch anime in its entirety, then go watch something else, like “Schoolhouse Rock” or “Foul-Up, Bleeps and Blunders”. Anime does require your attention.

It was the second OVA that bothered me. Now, I have seen a lot of things in anime that bother me, but this one really sticks in my craw, as it doesn’t make any real sense. The second OVA is a two-episode excursion into hentai. (more…)

OK, this is another standard entry into the Wonderful World of Romanic Comedy anime. Now, this started out as a fan-service heavy eroge game, to become a fan-service heavy manga to arrive at a fan-service heavy anime. “Princess Lover” tells the story of Arima Teppei (Mr. Akimbo in the center). He is just your typical high school student with two standard parents. Or so you think. Sadly, Mom and Dad are killed in a car-jacking and the real truth comes out.

Mother Kanae is actually the daughter of Isshin Arima, president, CEO, COO, LSMFT of the Arima Group, potentially the most powerful corporation in Japan. Mom was slated to take over when Isshin became worm food. Well, that got knocked into a cocked hat, so gramps adopts Teppei and sends him off to Shuuhou Gakuen, a high school only for wealthy students, so he can learn to take control off the company when the time comes for him to take control of the company.

However, on his way to the presentation dinner in his honor, he has to stop bandits from trying to hijack a….horse and carriage? Really? What does the calendar say it is? The person he saves is Charlotte Hazelrink (the one grasping his arm), a princess from the principality of Hazelrink, who just happens to attend Shuuhou. At the party, Teppei meets the girl that he is betrothed to….much to the shock of both parties. That is Charlotte van Hossen (off his left arm) who is very skilled with a sword (short blondie next to her is her little sister, Maria). (more…)

Another magic show, this one takes a different approach to things as we are not interested in levitation or flying a broom, but justice, justice for all.

“Wizard Barristers” takes place in an alternate universe. It is 2018, in Tokyo. Wizards are an established fact, now and in the past. We have humans and wizards trying to live together. Police continue to protect order in society, but wizards (known as Wud, but that is never made clear WHY they are called that) are tried according to magical law through the Magic Prohibition Law, in special courts, defended by wizard barristers via the Court for Magic.

Wizards (and I am not going to call them WUD; that’s the sound 1960s Batman made when he hit criminals) are prohibited from using their magic and barred from certain public positions (and if you wish to draw any real-life analogies to this discrimination, take your pick). (more…)

Part of the problem with magic shows is that everything is eventually going to link back to ‘Harry Potter’, and “Witch Craft Works” does have some touch-and-go moments to Harry, but it can’t fully commit to what it wants to be.

Takamiya Honoka is a regular student at Tōgetsu High School. He is a standard, typical anime male, in the fact that not only is he clueless, he pines on endlessly for the Most Popular Girl in the School. He also lacks the spunk or the desire or the lead in his pencil to speak with her. The person in question is Kagari Ayaka, the school’s “Princess”. She is everything you want your girlfriend to be: she’s pretty, she’s smart, she’s adored, she’s tall and (although you can’t see it in this shot), build like a brick chicken house. They have never spoken to each other and any small interaction between them immediately results in her fan club beating him for his insolence.

One day he is attacked by a quintet of oddly-dressed girls called the Tower Witches, who had been covertly making attempts on him. However, the attack is thwarted by Ayaka, who turns out to be a Workshop Witch and has been protecting Honoka for quite some time. No longer having to hide her mission, Ayaka decides to become friendlier with him, though their relationship earns Honoka the ire of a lot of his class mates. She also decides that he needs to become her apprentice so he can at least learn how to defend himself from these almost daily assaults. (more…)

What if “Romeo and Juliet” met “My Bride is a Mermaid”? You would end up with “Nisekoi”, a quite entertaining romantic comedy, although one can argue the use of the term “romantic”.

“Nisekoi” (“Fake Love” or “False Love”) tells the tale of high school student Raku Ichijo, the son of a leader of the yakuza faction Shuei-Gumi. A new kid is on the block, yakuza faction Beehive. There is that gang/turf war confrontation and this can only lead to bloodshed and unwarranted police interest. Into Raku’s life leaps Chitoge Kirisaki….literally. Blondie jumps a wall to find Ichijo there and knees him in the face. Ooooops! However, this little incident causes him to lose his locket (you can see the monstrosity hanging from his neck). He discovers she is a transfer student into the school and forces her to look for the locket. Their deep and abiding hatred foments at this time.

Upon returning home, Raku learns that the Shuei-Gumi and Beehive gangs have agreed to settle their feud….by pairing their leaders’ children. Raku learns that his girlfriend-to-be is none other than Chitoge. For the next three years, they must pretend to be in a relationship to maintain peace between the gangs. If they fail at any point, the truce is off and everyone dies! No pressure, right? (more…)

OK, this particular ‘romantic comedy’ is a real workout, redefining what is meant by ‘comedy’ and how much perversity you are willing to except.

The initial concept for “Recently, My Sister is Unusual” (“Saikin, Imōto no Yōsu ga Chotto Okashiin Da Ga.” “Lately, My Little Sister’s Been Acting A Bit Strange, But.”) is simple enough.

Yūuya Kanzaki (guy at the end) lives with his father, as Mom has been dead for many a year. Suddenly, Dad meets widow Kyoko and before you can say ‘yakisoba’, they get married. Kyoko brings to the family her daughter, Mitsuki (short black hair), who is potentially 16 (they both possibly are. They never say an age, but that’s a usual age for this stuff) and is upset at the recent turn of events. She is cold, stiff and stand-offish from Yuuya. Well, too much is happening too fast for her.

One day, on their way back from school, as they cross a pedestrian bridge, Mitsuki suddenly faints. When she awakes, she discovers she has been possessed by a ghost, the flirtatious Hiyori Kotobuki (can you find the wings? Good!). Here’s the trick: Hiyori was killed near this bridge (and isn’t that always nice to have in a romantic comedy) without professing her love for her ‘big brother’ Yuuya. She has to get to heaven, so she needs to construct these golden steps to get to the gate (no, those wings are as useless as a politician in winter). (more…)

Now, let’s drop the pretense. “I Wanna Be the Strongest in the World” is just a really thin excuse to show off female wrestlers and their body parts. The plot of the original story was practically transparent but the OVA drops everything.

There may be more than three shorts I ran across (about five minutes each), but you get to see all that you want to see.

Somewhere in the bowels of the Berserk Gym is a special room, a room filled with mud, so the ladies can learn all there is to know about mud wrestling. Is this an Olympic event or is Hooters hiring? So the ladies learn that mud is slippery and, in trying to acclimate themselves as to what to do, costume tops gets pulled down and the boobies come out, unfettered and uncensored. There is squealing and not caring that one is topless amid other topless ladies as we slop about and slide through and roll hither and thither. (more…)