In the last few weeks I’ve noticed that due to my own set of values I have a serious problem with female characters that try to steal the male protagonist from their female counterpart .Ume Kumurizawa, (image above) is one of those characters. Hailing from the anime/manga Kimi Ni Todoke, she shows herself to be a “Kikyo” type character and if you saw my first post ever, you know about my intense dislike for her. Ume tends to have an “I’m the most perfect person in the world” attitude because of her beauty and is extremely irritating. She even stoops so low as to manipulate everyone into thinking she’s the perfect angel when she’s everything but that.

Now most anime characters are beautiful; it’s just a fact you have to accept. It’s when the character knows that they are beautiful, and unscrupulously uses it as a way to entice and deceive people that it gets on my nerves. While its true most characters who are aware of their beauty don’t so this (Tamaki Suoh from OHSHC, Kyohei Takano from The Wallflower, etc.) Often enough you get that particular character who uses their beauty as a weapon, and Ume is that character. For instance, she has convinced all of Kazehaya’s followers (Protagonist who she madly falls in love with) that he was made for everyone (i.e, share him), so that she could have a chance to get closer and clutch him into her grasps. It’s this type of manipulation places her at the top of my ‘anime characters i despise’ list. (more…)

This is half of what could be best called a brother-and-sister series. They are related in the fact they occur in the same town (Academy City) at about the same time and the characters do cross over and slightly interact, but that’s about it. They are independent of each other in what they wish to accomplish.

This one is “A Certain Magical Index”. Now, Academy City, a technologically advanced academic city located towards western Tokyo, which studies scientifically advanced superhuman students with powers, is also set in a world where magic is real. Our hero up there is Tōma Kamijō, a fairly average student but a flop when it comes to esper talents and abilities. In this town, your esper abilities determine much in your life and he is at the bottom, possessed with the worst luck ever.

The only thing he has going for him is his right hand, which he calls the Imagine Breaker, which has the amazing ability to negate magical and psychic powers. But since it is only considered an ability, he gets a Psychic Level of…..zero. He might as well be selling hot dogs from a street vendor wagon. (more…)

This is more along the lines of an advisory, but if you haven’t seen “Attack on Titan” yet, there is something you should be aware of.

Now, the show has not really reached a conclusion of sorts. Sure, we’ve passed the 13-episode mark, but it is far from even a coupler point, so a full review will be done at a later point (and don’t worry, there will be a review for this show).

I have been catching this on Anime Season, a pretty decent website, but they have a couple of ‘specials’ that I want to warn you about, and the bottom line is: don’t watch them yet. I will explain.

Specials differ, in my opinion, from OVAs, as they have a real bearing on the show, whereas OVAs are either tales that were too hot to put in (like for “Ikki Tousen” and “Ladies vs. Butlers”) or a tale told long after the series closed out (like Mahoromatic’s “I’m Back”). “Girls Und Panzer” has both of them and they use the specials as recap shows or a meet-and-greet for those just coming to the show and want to know if they should watch.

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I usually do not do reviews of shows that have been out there for a while. I am either going to merely join the praising chorus and agree with reviews that have gone before me of how fabulous of a show it is, or I will be a maverick and strike out into territory where I decry the wretched nature of this show and condemn anyone who has the temerity to like it.

Now, this is the kind of show I detest, as it has….wait for it….giant fighting robots! And the first two season of “Full Metal Panic” presents itself as hard, harsh drama as our combat hero, Sousake, has to struggle with balky machinery and his mental limitations to be able to remain in his mercenary force.

I am here to discuss the third season, “FUMOFFU”. Now, this violates every law of anime, in that you have completely changed the pitch and tone of the show, until the only thing it has in common with the previous seasons are the characters. Yet, this works and is the most consistently hilarious, off-center romantic comedy out there. Well, maybe not a real romance.

OK, let’s bring the rest of the people up to speed. (more…)

It is hard to believe that this show is already at the two-year mark with little sign of slowing down. Nor has it encountered the malaise that sometimes beset long-format shows.

Now, we have the Main Story. This is Toriko’s special training, as he is eventually going to search for GOD (no, not the guy with the beard, but the ne plus ultra ingredient that is the cat’s meow). So, he does all this strenuous training that exercises both body and mind and promotes teamwork. And Torkio’s boss, Ichiryū (who looks like a reject from the Village People) has also managed to coerce the other Heavenly Kings (you see two others up there) to also do this specialized training. There is something more going on here than just being able to go into the Lost Forest, so one had best be prepared for it.

Then, there is a sub story that all the great chefs in the world are being kidnapped. For some odd reason, Komatsu (the REALLY wimpy one up there) has not yet cracked the Chef World Top 100 list. Odd; you would think the chef who brought back Century Soup would merit something, as EVERYONE comments about it, but it’s just not good enough and since he also works for a mere Six-Star restaurant, I might as well eat something at Barney’s Beanery. (more…)

You really are, aren’t you?

Recently I started watching Death Note (one of the few anime I have yet to watch). Now, I’m not completely done with the series but I’ve watched enough of it to be able to identify my favorite character. As of the moment, this would be Light Yagami. He has a very interesting view of wrong and right; has solutions for the problems that occur during his revision of the world; and is probably one of the most independent characters I’ve seen.

Light, also known as Kira (which is probably how I’ll refer to him), uses the Death Note to create a world based on his sense of right and wrong. He writes down the names of people who have done something morally wrong (so basically murderers, rapists, and/or thieves) and considers it justice when they die forty or so seconds later. In the process though, he is technically killing people; which by his standards is something wrong. This makes me believe his judgement is something along the lines of “do as I say, not as I do”.  While he is my favorite character, his righteousness will eventually get on my nerves. (more…)

When an outsider, aka those “normal” people who don’t watch anime because they’re “too old for cartoons”, thinks of anime a few things come to mind. Things like well-endowed women, giant robots, and obnoxious teenage boy protagonists. And, well, they’re probably right to an extent. Those of us who are well adapted into the anime world know that there’s much more to it. Yet, it seems that no matter what we’re looking at, be it anime, movies, television, or video games, we are obsessed with grouping everything into categories. For video games we have fighting games, RPGs, puzzles. For movies or television there’s action, fantasy, comedy, etc. Within those groups, we have tropes that are associated with them. The wise old wizard belongs to fantasy, the funny roommate who’s kind of a womanizer belongs to comedy. With anime this need to categorize is certainly evident, but I have found that Usagi Drop is in a category of its own.

If you’ve seen this short but loveable series, try to think of one trope that it really fits into. The main character is a bachelor, but he’s not a skirt chaser, or the chosen hero. He’s just a typical thirty – something man. Usagi Drop is considered a slice of life anime, but the setting isn’t a school filled with peppy teenagers. It also can fall into the very rare josei genre, but doesn’t focus on romantic relationships like they so often do. I would argue that Usagi Drop would fall into the “other” genre if there was one in anime. This is what makes the show so special. It doesn’t have any of the clichés that anime are always associated with. It’s a breath of fresh air, really. (more…)

Crime has never been so odd and criminals never so odder. “Cuticle Detective Inaba” initially follows the standard crime drama trope. Our hero, Hiroshi Inaba (dead center), used to work for the police department, but got tired of being bossed around and thwarted in what he could accomplish, so he struck out on his own, as he feels he can do more without the restraints of police protocols and his annoying partner. And that’s where the standardness ends.

You have noticed the ears, right? Well, that isn’t some rockin’ hair style, our detective is a genetically-engineered werewolf and he can determine EVERYTHING about a person by tasting their hair. OK, it’s not as bad as licking drool, but still….

He will need all of his skills as a new villain has come to Tokyo, Don Valentino, a Mafia crime boss who is going to bring Japan to her knees with a daring series of bank robberies. He will amass all the money in the land…..so he can eat it. Yes, that guy IS a goat. Aiding Don is his fight is Fernando, that burlap-bagged guy who looks like a refugee from “Resident Evil”, Dr. Noah (the purple-pigtails. Yes, Woody Allen did that joke in 1967 with “Casino Royale”) and Gabriella, that scowling maiden at the far left, who is simultaneously the best and worst assassin ever. Oh, she can hit her mark….but it’s usually Don. Right between the eyes. (more…)

OK, Season Two is upon us for “The Neighbor’s Club” (or, the new title “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT), where we build on the good will and storytelling of the first season to expand up our little entourage and see them grow and mature into the adults of the future. Sorta.

Part of the problem with a second season is if you do not have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish, you are just retreading, or following the same path or sticking with that which worked, rather than expanding outwards. And this is exactly what happens. It is as if they got to a point they feel good with and left it at that. The only one who is trying to move forward (of sorts), is Rika, the mad scientist, who goes through a transformation to be something else, so she looks really different.

We still have the verbal fisticuffs between Yozora and Sena, as well as the battles between Kobato and Maria, but Kodaka is still just as clueless on things, even when aspects of his past are brought forth. The injection of conflict into this show seems kind of artificial. I am also amazed as to what people remember from their youth. I have foggy notions and nothing truly concrete, but these folks recall it like it was earlier in the day. (more…)

I just am not certain what gives with all the ‘nothing’ shows. Sometimes it works, as with “Joshiraku”, but a lot of the time for a lot of the shows, it is a head-scratcher. You are not even certain if you like or dislike the show, as there really is nothing there to grab ahold of to determine whether you like it or dislike it. It reminds me of going to Denny’s: I can get something to eat, but it has no lasting impact on me. Did I even really have food? “Minami-ke Tadaima” is that kind of show, as we watch these three sisters who live on their own and the problems they face in everyday life, with their friends at school and at home.

The three sisters are, left to right, Kana the headstrong, Chiaki the youngest and Haruka, who is the eldest. There is no explanation as to why they are on their own, but Japan seems to have more absent and/or dead parents than even in the Disney Universe. They are getting along and trying to understand what life is about and what growing up entails. At least, that is what you are hoping for. (more…)