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Over the last few days i’ve been thinking that the spring season is almost at an end. There’s more or less only a month left for every anime to either wrap up and come to an end or to get the viewers so riled up that the powers that be have to be off their rockers to not allow them a second season.

Now as you should already know I try to keep my anime list organised here http://myanimelist.net/, and one of the requirements that I have set for myself is that I rate each and every anime that I have had the pleasure of watching. This one is no different, currently it has an ongoing score of 7 but I’m strongly considering moving it up to a notch. It may not seem like much but to me it’s a big deal. The difference between a show rated 7 and one rated 8 is a hell of a jump. So now the question remains… How good is this show? Well, for one its good enough for me to be considering a 9.. And how good is that you might ask? Pretty damn good. The only thing that might make its score fall and remain as a 7 is if the producers decide to screw up the momentum as we approach the end.

This week’s episode for instance was a perfect example of why Ano Natsu de Matter deserves such a high score. We have Remon approaching Tetsurou’s older sister with a proposition, one that her busybody nature would not allow her to turn down To catalyst the ongoing struggle for love going on between each of our protagonists. To that effect we have the usual ‘test of courage’, now I believe I need not explain what that is nor what each protagonist hoped the outcome of this excursion would be (all can be inferred from image on top right).Continue reading

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I am always pulled in by clever or interesting titles. “Ladies vs.Butlers” certainly scored high on the list, but you kind of knew what was going to happen halfway through the first episode. I mean, there were really no major plot surprises….almost, but that’s something else

Akiharu Hino has transferred intoHakureiryōAcademy, a school that not only gives an education, but also trains students to be butlers and maids for the snoots of high society. Because Akiharu looks like a delinquent and has the worst spate of bad luck since Joe Btfsplk from “Li’l Abner”, the ladies of the school (of which there is an overwhelming majority) fear the worst of him. Of course, it does not help his cause to knock them over accidently, then grasp upon their prodigious bazooms. And what is it about an anime guy who runs into a lady, knocks her down and finds something soft and squishy amid his hand and when he sees it is some terrified lady’s headlights he is squishing, continues to squish them?

Akiharu, bad enough he is fleeing the female portion of the school, then runs afoul of Selnia Iori Flameheart (whom he calls Drill, owing to that ridiculous hairstyle) and proceeds to humiliate her by….squishing her breasts. A woman of her status and money should not have to suffer these indignities! Yet, it is a constant battle between these two. Aiding things along is Tomomi Saikyō. Theoretically a childhood friend of Akiharu, she spends a lot of time manipulating events and pulling pranks on them, although things start to turn rather mean and vicious.Continue reading

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This was another show that got a lot of buzz. It just came off as no different when the AC kicks on and you hear the hum. A lot of noise for minimal results.

The plot revolves around Natsuru Senō, your typically clueless dense anime male. He wakes up one morning to find that he is a girl (the blue-haired one). What? How could this have happened? What gives? He is told by his stuffed tiger toy that he is a “Kampfer” (German for ‘fighter’) and that he has to fight other Kampfers. On his way to school, managing to regender himself, he meets Kaede Sakura at the bus stop (blondie, dead center). An old and dear childhood friend, suddenly, they are set upon by some mysterious red-tressed woman who tries to kill Natsuru. Fleeing the scene, he manages to switch back into his female form and defeat said fighter.

At school, things get worse. This might as well be the East Berlin School of Academics. Another girls-only school that went recently went co-ed, it is separate but equal. The guys are on one side, the gals on the other and there is a massive concrete wall, topped with barbed wire and packed with guards, to keep the boys away. In the library, Natsuru hooks up with Akane Mishima, the shy, bespectacled librarian…who tried to kill Natsuru. Yes, when she transforms, she becomes an Alpha female, packing a black Springfield M1911A1 .45 pistol and a mouth on her that would make Nixon proud.Continue reading

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I remember a few years back I was going to a friends house when I saw this little poodle in the opposing yard, being as small as it was it slid through the bars of the gate and came into the road barking at me. Being no stranger to dogs I calmly took a step in its direction and shouted BOO! It immediately ran back into the yard, and shot to the back of the house as fast as its tiny legs possibly could and while I stood there literally dying of laughter… I saw him/her coming back with Butch (the name implies all).

The fear and unexpectedness I felt at that moment reminded me of this episode, whereas episode 6 was like that little poodle, it needed to be there to have this grand, final explosion which we call episode 7. We confirmed that Kaori’s sudden feelings for Kaito was partly.. PARTLY! due to her recently having a breakup with her boyfriend and in fact she only made the trip to Okinawa to help her get over it. Of course after having been shot down last episode she decided to be very mature about it and move out of Kaito and Ichika’s way.

Even Arisawa (finally remembered her name) as forceful as she is had to back off when she saw what was going on with Tetsurou and Mio. With that said I feel I should give Mio some recognition, she not only confessed her secret (of being a nudist) to the person she loves and a (semi) stranger and rival, she confessed her love to Tetsurou even while knowing what his answer would be all in one go. I’d say that takes some guts so hats off to you my dear Mio and Good Job.Continue reading

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There is a scene in “The Mummy Returns” where one of the minions, Jacques, goes “It is cursed! It is cursed!” That is how I feel about C³. That stands for “Cube x Cursed x Curious”. Now, I gave an overview comment of it a while back; this is the full review and it is another Frankenstein’s monster, in that it is made up of bits and pieces from other shows.

Yachi Haruaki lives by himself, as his father is always away on these buying sprees, where he finds rare and unusual objects. One day, another of these trinkets arrives, this one being a cube, black and heavy. Since he gets all kinds of weird objects, he thinks nothing of it. Later on that night, he is awakened by noises to find a naked girl, in his kitchen, noshing down rice crackers.

It is discovered that she IS the cube. Given a name, Fear Cubrick (Ice Blue on the right), we learn that she is a cursed tool, used for centuries to torture and kill thousands of people. She has been sent here in the hopes of purifying her and removing her curse. And for some magical reason, Yachi seems to be curse-resistant and the house is located in a kind of No Curse Zone, so nothing affects them (except a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you.)

Sadly, there are those that wish to destroy Fear and she is almost immediately under a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you. Peavey Barowoi tries to kill her, as Fear is mean and evil and vile and does terrible things to kittens and puppies. Coming to the aid of Yachi is Konoha Muramasa, a childhood friend. She and Fear are at loggerheads, as Fear constantly refers to her as ‘cow udders’.Continue reading

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This week’s episode of Ano Natsu de Matteru was pretty interesting develomentwise but overall I found it to be a tad disappointing, as i’ve said before the thing I loved the most about Ano was its unexpectedness. I’m sure that you all can agree that each romantic comedy has a few cliché elements that well, gets a bit repetitive. As ‘The Droid’ Noted in his post Not a Big Fan of Fan Service

I can pretty much guarantee that every romantic comedy will have at least three opportunities for fan service: a day at the beach, an afternoon of clothes shopping and a night at the bathhouse. Three guaranteed sessions!

 Well today was that guaranteed beach session, I do give though that they tried their best to mix it up somewhat by adding the even more cliché fateful encounter with a childhood friend (who just happens to love you unconditionally) but it just felt somewhat lacking. Maybe its just me for having such a high expectation for the show but hey, lets wait and see.Continue reading

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I always feel badly when I give up on a show. To me, it is a caliber of failure that I can’t tough it out to the end, but it then violates my Third Rule of Anime. (“If you feel the show is not going to get any better, leave it. It will NOT get better.”) Sometimes, the show is taken away from me. I watch a lot of Comcast/Xfinity On Demand and it seems they are always having an argument with the Funimation Channel. Someone calls someone a slob and the show line-up gets yanked away (which may have happened with “Case Closed”).

In some instances, I take this as a sign to give up on it (I did this with “Piano” and “Gundam Seed Destiny”). This show, I walked away from it, as nothing was happening over and over again. I got to Episode 10 before I said enough was too much. A typical show plays out like this:

Our victim (usually a girl between the ages of 14 and 24), is put upon by some horrible older person (mostly a man, but not exclusively). They do some heinous act and nothing can be done to bring the swine to justice. In their despair, the victim either remembers the Hell Girl site or hears about her by a conveniently passing person. You can only access this site at the stroke of midnight and when you do, you will type in the name of the person who needs some discipline.

Upon sending the name, Ai Enma, the Hell Girl, magically shows up at your place, which is creepy enough. I mean, it’s past midnight and I am in my darkened lair. I have done this deed and she is there mere seconds after the dispatch of it. Brrrrrrrr! She then launches into her spiel:Continue reading

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I feel your pain Junichi

Pretty sure one can tell from when I finally got around to writing this that I’m really not interested in this arc. Since the previous season she was a bit too soft-spoken and shy for my liking and everything progressed so slowly. In fact there was no progression, the guy simply felt sorry for her and joined the tea club. On the bright side we see more definite proof that that Junichi is just as pervy as his guy friends but we still have to bear with Sakurai’s annoying self-consciousness about her weight.

So after grinding through those two episodes, you what happened? Absolutely nothing, was a dud up to the end. True, she confessed.. wait.. no she didn’t, he did, but it was so stretched out and annoying when it came it was like more of ‘good riddance’ than ‘awwwww’. Sigh, why on earth did i decide to pick up this show this season. Could have picked up Nisemonogatari, HighSchool DxD or even Poyopoyo Kansatu Nikki.

I really hope the last 4 arcs are better or at least half as good as the first arc was, and with that I’m ending this here.

Sakurai Arc, an expected disappointment

nuff said

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There’s nothing like the fresh summer air to make one really appreciate the gifts given to us by God, the trees, the clouds and most of all the women. Episode 5 reminds us that we are not watching a korean drama but instead a very well scripted (and animated) anime. I dont believe it was ever the point of focus before but in this episode we bore witness to quite a bit of oogling from Kaito at Ichika’s 92-58-88.

But enough on that, its now summer and believe it or not things are starting to progress even faster (don’t worry, nothing is compromised with the blazing fast pace). The filming starts and I would swear Remon knows Ichika’s identity because she gives her (and Rimon) the perfect role to play…. herself (themselves). Unfortunately for Kanna, due to the fabricated feeling of security the filming allows she finds herself more and more frustrated as it enables the romantic pair (Ichika and Kaito) to freely express themselves emotionally. Sad to say we got a glimpse of her true colours and it was not anything like what Cyndi Lauper imagined.

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I resisted this one for a while, as the title initially put me off. “The World God Only Knows” sounded like one of those megalomaniac shows, where some power-hungry fiend wants to take over the world. No, it is a delightful romantic comedy that isn’t really all that romantic, but is quite funny, and a rarity that the second season is better than the first.

It tells the story of Keima Katsuragi. He is a caliber of NEET, in that he shuns all human interaction. Oh, he goes to school and gets amazing grades, but his entire focus is on conquering the hearts of ladies. He has, in fact, conquered 10,000 of them……..too bad they are all VIDEO GAME girls. He is so good, that he has a title, The God of Conquest. Everyone comes to him to ask for help in how to beat the latest dating Sims games. He has played them all, on all platforms and has almost every copy of them. (His room could be a caliber of museum, as he has every gaming system. I am sure there is an Atari 2600 in there).

One day, while going through his e-mail, he gets an oddly worded challenge, daring him to take on the task on wooing girls who have a void in their hearts. He takes the challenge, not knowing what it all means. The letter has come from the Demon World. It seems, owing to some bureaucratic bungle, souls have escaped from Hell and they need his help to recapture them. Demons, however, are not the sharpest bowling balls on the rack and they somehow thought he has conquered 10,000 REAL GIRLS. Also, he has to take on an assistant, the rather ditzy and clueless Elucia de Lute Ima, better known as Elsie (who has spent at least the last 300 years as a maid).Continue reading