Let’s get something straight- I hate Valentine’s Day.

I’ve decided to make this short little post a sort of “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” and, in celebration of a truly evil day, I’ve compiled a list of my top 5 anime couples. Because a) I like lists and b) what’s sweeter than when two anime characters fall hopelessly in love with each other? *Sigh* Of course if you’ve read my other posts you may know by now that I’m still pretty new to anime so I don’t have a lot of shows to choose from, but here are the 5 couples who have caught my eye thus far.

(Um, spoilers I guess. Sort of.)

Number 5: Taiga and Ryuuji from Toradora!
They say opposites attract and if any couple was proof of that, it’d be this one. Ryuuji meets Taiga, the takes-no-crap girl whose small stature but hotheaded personality earned her the nickname palmtop tiger. At the start of the anime the two of them, not even friends at this point, are struggling desperately to confess their feelings to their school crushes. When Taiga accidentally reveals to Ryuuji who she loves (she gives him the love letter she’d written), they agree to help each other. Of course they form a closer bond than either of them had thought possible. Taiga’s sharp, cruel remarks mixed with Ryuuji’s patience and compassion makes for a hysterical dynamic, and although Ryuuji may have feelings for another girl, even he can see that she may be just a little too vanilla and he needs a sprinkling of salt. (more…)

A brief description of this show could be “Japan’s answer to ‘South Park’”.

“Crayon Shin-Chan” (or just “Shin-Chan”) follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara (the guy getting his cheek pulled) and his parents, Hiroito (Hiro), Misae (Mitsi), baby Himawari (Hima) and Whitey the dog, their neighbors, and friends and is set in Kasukabe. Not that it matters. It might as well be in “South Park”.

Shin is the kind of boy that you would fling into a pile of poodle doo…except that he might like it. He is rude, brash, crude, disgusting and perverted and lives in the realm of his tiny world, oblivious to those around him.

The art work is intentionally bad. If you tried ‘traditional’ animation with the writing that is presented (and it is some of the best writing I have heard for a show, as they have dropped all pretenses that this is a ‘cute’ show), it would not work. The art work needs to be as crude as the topics and their presentation.

This is a show where you can give a review, even if you haven’t seen the end, as it is a series of vignettes about their life together, such as it is. The arc where they have to live in a crummy apartment complex while their house is being rebuilt is pretty funny, as all their neighbors are at least as crazy as they are, if not more so. (more…)

There are two kinds of space aliens out there. The first one will rip out your lungs, Jim, as they are mean, cruel, vicious, ugly, primal and oozy. The second are cute, cuddly and busty. Talk about the moons of Mars!

“UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie” follows the story of Kazuto Tokino (the guy in the brown outfit; I hope you can find him between all this femininity) and the alien Princess, Valkyrie (the blonde on both the left and the right). Yes, both of them are her. It seems that while trying to escape a forced marriage, Valkyrie accidentally crashed her spaceship into Kazuto’s family owned public bath house and killed him. In order to save him, she gave up half her soul. The splitting up of her soul turned her into a child, but whenever she kisses Kazuto, Valkyrie returns to her adult form for a limited time, and regains the use of her special powers.

OK, please note the key word up there: bath house. You are guaranteed a tremendous amount of fan service, and right from the get-go. I did not even know if I was a fan before acres of skin were presented to me, plus a stunning transformation sequence (more on that later).

Anyway, a rival of Valkyrie, Hydra (the blue-haired mop up there), followed her to Earth, because she knew that if Valkyrie ran away, she would have to take her place at the wedding, which was not something she wanted to do. However, since cute space aliens cannot pilot their ships, she crashed into a temple. The shrine maiden there, Akina Nanamura, (to Hydra’s left) placed a barrier on her and sealed away HER powers, so she is also eight as well. (more…)

So as usual I’ve been watching naruto shippuden and recently I’ve noticed that I’m no longer simply bearing with each episode.  In fact I’ve found that I have actually been looking forward to each one.

I remember some time back complaining about the filler that started in the middle of the great ninja war arc, while the interruption was indeed annoying the filler was actually pretty good. It could’ve made more money as a movie though, but hey,  I’m not complaining.

As every fan knows, we are back in the ninja war arc and Naruto, along with killer bee are heading towards the front lines. To be more specific, last week was the encounter between Naruto + Killer Bee vs Itachi + Nagato. While it was a pretty cool episode I kinda dislike how soft Itachi is being portrayed at this point. He was kinda better when we all thought he was a cold, unfeeling, yet badass bastard. Sigh, but seeing as his intentions were always good (as we recently found out), I guess seeing this side of him was inevitable. (more…)

You have read my comments on short-run shows (series that have 11 or less episodes), but I am running into short pull episodes. Now, “Hetalia” is the King of this, with over 100 episodes, but not one of them gets to the six-minute mark.

As of late, I have seen a huge uptick in the amount of short-pull shows.

One is “Chitose Get You” (pictured above).  Chitose Sakuraba is the elementary school gal in the middle who has a terrible crush on Hiroshi Kashiwabara, who gets a bit paranoid about her coming around and hanging about. However, thwarting her plans is the evil, evil, evil homeroom teacher Asako Fuji, who ALSO has a crush on Hiroshi. Which of these two will marry him first? Rounding out this troupe is Misaki (the cheerful one to the left) and Hinako Hiiragi (far left; don’t let her poise fool you; she is one weird bird).

The episodes are usually one event or tale and they don’t last more than four minutes a pop.

Other short pull shows out there include:

“Gokicha! – Cockroach Girls”. An anthropomorphized cockroach girl who wishes to become friends with humans, but is often treated with the appropriate response. This one ran about 10 minutes and with another girl in the offing (Chaba), more is to be expected.

“Wooser No Sono Higurashi” (“Wooser’s Hand-To-Mouth Life”). Wooser is a yellow blob. Is he a rabbit? Not certain. He lives with twin sisters Rin and Ren, but don’t let that cutesy animation fool you. He is one mean character, and there is a caliber of cruelty akin to “Happy Tree Friends and Friends”, but without the pointless violence. Even with all that, the stories are really lacking. Again, nothing over four minutes. (more…)

“Binbo-gami Ga” (“God of Poverty”) is a goofy show about goofy people in goofy situations. Everyone is missing a few necessary enzymes, so all bets are off and anything goes.

We follow the life of Ichiko Sakura. She has everything: piles of money, fabulous looks, great brains, nice headlights and good fortune beyond compare. And that is her problem. She is a kind of Good Luck sponge, so she slowly siphons it off from everyone else. If your fortune was a house, she is the Empire State Building. This puts the universe out of whack, as the imbalance prevents thousands of other people from being happy.

To this end, Yamabuki, the Head Honchess in the Gods Realm, sends down Momiji (the ragged-looking one) along with her familiar (whom you don’t see. It’s Teddy and he looks like a ragged Teddy bear) to take away some of her fortune and give it to those who need it…but not without a fight. Each has met their match in the other, as both are tough customers that will not give up in what they want.

The series follows the personal growth of both of them. For Ichiko, what it means to have a friend and to be a friend. For Momiji, it’s the same thing, but her path is slightly different.

Adding to the confusion and mayhem are:

Momoo Inugami. He is a dog in human form, but is a bit S&M. If, in his dog form, you beat him too hard, he transforms. He is rather useless. (more…)

It is the future (not again! Why is it always the future? Why not have something a tad closer to us in time?) At the start of the 21st Century, an interplanetary war broke out. Earth’s ecosystem was severely damaged, and humanity was forced to flee the planet. In several planets of this new society, things that “disturb the heart” like music and art are forbidden. 48 years later, the legendary idol group AKB48 (and this is a REAL J-Pop group, OK?) is resurrected as the interplanetary troupe AKB0048, made up of girls who carry on the title and spirit of the original members. Held as heroines by some and labeled as terrorists by others, they must take up arms to bring their music to their fans wherever they are. The story follows a group of young hopefuls as they train to become the next generation of AKB0048. (And you though Simon Cowell was a big jerk. Well, he is, but I never saw him come to the shows armed to the teeth to shoot the contestants.)

Now, since they are recruiting all the time, we see the efforts of the 77^th Generation (implying this fight has been going on for 77 years), plus those that have gone on before. It is a rather capacious cast, but we will focus on those we see up in the splash panel.

From left to right:

Suzuko Kanzaki, a quiet fourteen-year-old girl with glasses who knows a lot about the history of AKB0048. She is met on the talent ship

Makoto Yozomizo, a timid and easily scared sixteen-year-old girl, who often worries and thinks negatively. She is also met on the talent ship.

Sonata Shinonome, a ten-year-old girl, who failed the first round of auditions for AKB. She sneaks aboard the talent ship heading towards the second round to try again. She is very supportive of her older sister, Kanata.

Mimori Kishima, a sexy seventeen-year-old who loves to boast about her rich lifestyle, proportions and height. She and Kanata share a connection as part of the 75^th Generation (more…)

I am wondering if this is the era of the odd relationship for anime. This isn’t as weird as “Mysterious Girlfriend X”, but it is a very off-beat kind of romance. “Acchi Kocchi” (or “Place to Place”) follows the friendship of five classmates.

The three on the left are: Sakaki Inui, Mayoi Katase and Hime Haruno. The story really revolves around the other two: Tsumiki Miniwa (who is very neko; when you first see her, you think she IS a cat person) and Io Otonashi. They have a peculiar relationship in that they deeply care for one another, but don’t really show it and kissing is something left for fish to do.

This is also a ‘nothing’ show, in that nothing really happens and we are seeing episodic adventures in the course of about 16 months of calendar time. This is not that big of a problem, as they do not fall into the standard romantic comedy tropes. Things are just askew enough to allow for surprises. The episodes themselves are broken into two tales, Part A and Part B and they are not all that dependent on the other. The stories do proceed in a time lineal manner, but you can miss an episode and not have it impact on the next one, except you would miss some of the strangeness.

There is another feature of the show, and that is pictographs. Some of the action is defined by arrows rotating in circles (as you can see above) and the players could be identified by arrows moving across the screen. This just adds another layer of oddness to the show. The tales themselves are light (fun at the arcade, Valentine’s Day, cooking class, summer break) and you are never worried about things, but you really want to see more of their relationship. It is as if they know what to say, but cannot find the words or the right time to say it, or present it in a manner that is easily understood by all. (more…)

And now for something completely different…..a school-based anime. Here comes another one, just like the other one.

Welcome to school! This is Haroniwa Academy, also known as Sandbox Academy. Medaka Kurokami is elected Student Council President, despite her being a first-year student, with 98% of the vote. She institutes a suggestion box, dubbed the “Medaka Box“, for her fellow academy students to make suggestions and requests. Together with her childhood friend Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, (spikey head at the far right) Medaka is determined to address any kind of request by the students, from finding lost dogs to cleaning up club buildings and even fixing personalities. During the course of the series, Kouki Akune (that luscious manly hunk at the left) and Mogana Kikaijima (glasses girl) are also recruited by Medaka to become part of the Student Council. (the dorky-looking dude is Misogi Kumagawa, VP of the student council).

Oh, keep in mind that the shot of Medaka does NOT do her justice. She is certainly the most boobilicious character to come down the pike in the last 20 minutes. I HIGHLY recommend episodes 5 and 6, as they take place at a swimming pool. Roll your tongue back inside, prole!

The first season (yes, there is a second season, which just started) looks at how Medaka tries to answer all the problems that are presented to her, reforming those who need to be reformed (like Kikajima, who is a money-grubber) and giving opportunities to others to improve or at least not be as big a pain. However, the season-ending arc has her running afoul of Myouri Unzen. (more…)

One thing I have noticed lately are ‘informational’ animes. If we were to call them ‘educational’, you would run away screaming into the night. One is “Spice and Wolf”, which tells, in a rather oblique manner, the laws of supply and demand and how economics work. Another would be “Upotte!”, which gives a history of modern weaponry and the history behind some more popular arms.

“Koi to Senyko to Chocolate” (also known as “Love, Elections and Chocolate”) is another of these, which gives an inside view into how the election process works in general, and school elections for our tale.

Welcome to school! We are at Takafuji Private Academy, a large school with over 6,000 students. Yuki Oojima (the focus of everyone’s attention above) is a member of the Food Research Club, along with seven others, including his childhood friend Chisato Sumiyoshi (the buxom number in the 1 o’clock position). Let’s run down the rest of the crew:

Nozomi Edagawa, 3 o’clock. She is younger than everyone, but was skipped grades as she is a girl genius (or mad scientist).

Mifuyu Kiba, 5 o’clock. Although she is a year older than everyone, an ailment held her back a year. (more…)