When I heard that this show had reached its coupler point, I line-jumped eight other reviews I had in front of it to get the news to you:

“Attack on Titan” is the MUST-SEE anime of 2013.

Now, I do not allow myself to be overtaken with hyperbole and CAPITAL LETTERS to get your attention on what is out there. Many shows come out every year that are worthy of your attention, but “Titan” is head and shoulders above the rest (no pun intended). The last time I was this jazzed about an anime was “Death Note”, and they both share similarities, the biggest being that it cannot be pigeon-holed into what it is and must be experienced to see what the buzz is all about.

OK, enough of my drooling, mouth-panting excitement, let’s get down to brass tacks.

It is the year 845. For the past hundred years, giant humanoid creatures called Titans have forced humanity to retreat into a system of concentric walls known as Wall Maria (outermost), Wall Rosé, (middle), and Wall Sina (innermost). Inside these walls, humanity has lived in peace. These are massive walls, at least 50 meters tall and potentially 10 meters thick, maybe more. Mankind survives, but at what real cost? One day, they are attacked by a 60-meter Titan (as he can look over the wall to see what’s happening) and some armored-skinned Titan who breaches the wall and allows the other Titans to enter and attack. (more…)

OK, you should pronounce this show “Vivid Red Operation” and not run it all together to be “Vividred”, (despite how it is presented in the credits).

It is the future and this future works. On the island of Izu Oshima, Kenjiro Isshiki has invented the Manifestation Engine. This structure (which I cannot determine how big it is, but think of Three Mile Island in its design) is a power plant that powers THE WORLD! It pulls energy from the sky (shades of Tesla!) and distributes it around the planet. However, even in paradise, there are always snakes.

In this world, they are these strange creatures called The Alone (and why must they have such odd names? Have you noticed that? The Noise. Them. Harvest Beasts. Sheesh!) Anyway, it appears that the defense force of this island cannot fight against these creatures. Ahh, but Kenjiro, the classic mad scientist, has come up with the Vivid System, which allows people, who have the key and can get into the system, to fight these Alone (I mean, they are fighting the creatures, but they are not fighting alone. Well, initially she is fighting alone, but gets help so she is fighting Alone together. I mean, that is, what I want to say…….ah, forget it!) (more…)

OK, I will admit that this was an experiment. I wanted to know if I could watch “Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone” with little to no knowledge of it, as I have not seen the TV series and know only what I have picked up over the years. Sure, I would be the first to admit that it makes little to no sense for me to watch a giant fighting robot movie, as most of the people who read my reviews are fully aware of my dislike of giant fighting robot shows (and having ripped a few of them apart here), but, I was at Anime Expo 2013 and the opportunity presented itself, so I was not going to let this slide past.

Since I had seen practically every other movie or show that was considered a landmark or major player in the anime game (“Akira”, “One Piece”, “Bleach”, “DBZ”, “Naruto”) and people were losing their minds over this particular offering, I felt that I should, at the very least, make a visit to see what all the noise was about. For me, it was much ado about nothing.

For those nine other people in the world who have never seen or heard of the show, it is the year 2015. Tokyo 3 stands, but most of the world’s population was destroyed after the Second Impact. Strange space beings, called Angels (and how ironic is that. Why not call them Devils? Anyone? Nope? I guess they all got destroyed in the Second Impact) are bent on the total, complete and thorough annihilation of the human race. The only thing that stands in their way is EVAs, the world’s answer to these alien invaders. (more…)

“Hyakka Ryōran: Samurai Bride” is actually the second season of this show, but it really didn’t matter to the telling of things. Sure, I probably should have watched season one, but I thought THIS was season one. Besides, they explain the characters well enough that I didn’t think it was necessary to watch “Samurai Girls” to get up to speed.

The series takes place in an alternate version of Japan called Great Japan, in an alternate timeline where an alternate Tokugawa shogunate remained active and has remained isolated from the rest of the world. The male lead, Muneakira Yagyu, has come back from training to find that the dojo is in such a bad financial state that the only way to save it is to turn it into a maid café. The crew of trainees/maids consists of, from left to right:

Hanzo Hattori, the one who already looks like a maid,
Yukimura Sanada, the one with the fan in her hand,
Mitsuyoshi Jubei Yagyu, red-head with the pan,
Matabei Goto, nearly pantsless,
Sen Tokugawa, brown hair at the end.
One who is missing from this line-up is Kanetsugu Naoe. (more…)

On the surface, this show, “Michiko e Hatchin” is just another ‘journey’ show, not much different than “Noir” or “El Cazador”, although potentially allied closer to “Samurai Champloo”, as least in attitude.

The tale takes place in ‘Alternative Brazil’; although it is never named, there is enough to imply that we are in South America. Michiko Malandro (that rather bounteous babe astride the scooter) is a felon, having run with Monstro Preto, a rather notorious gang, and has spent the last eight or so years in prison. Michiko is tormented endlessly, both physically and emotionally, by Atsuko Jackson, the police officer who arrested her. Here’s the odd thing: they grew up in the same orphanage, but obviously took different paths. By her telling Michiko that her daughter, Hana, is living with a foster family, Michiko breaks out of an ‘escape-proof’ prison to rescue Hana.

Hana (yes, that boy is really a girl; it’s just the presentation) is in a Cinderella-like situation, in that her foster family is those pretentious and insufferable religious types that we like making fun of. Dad is a priest who uses the position to feather his own nest, mom is a social climber and the kids are bratty beyond belief. Michiko steals the scooter, busts into the house, rescues Hana (whom she now calls Hatchin) and thus their journey begins to find dad, who Michiko knows is not dead, despite reports to the contrary. (more…)

The other half of the brother-and-sister series is this one, “A Certain Scientific Railgun”. We are still in Academy City, where people who want to get the best education (and have esper powers) go to. Our missy to the right, Mikoto Misaka, is a Level 5 Esper, of which there are only seven in the entire city, and, of this septet, is the most powerful, or at least, the most feared. She can conduct electricity and what she does is flip a 100-yen coin into the air. When it comes back down and it about to pass the ecliptic, she uses it to shoot her electric bolt out and cause some serious damage.

She attends Tokiwadai High School (an elite among elites) and people have heard of her. Her roommate Kuroki Shirai (the purple one in back) has a SERIOUS fetish for Mikoto and is constantly looking for ways or opportunities to be physically intimate with her (which never works; this is a big running gag) . She also works for Judgment, a public service group that maintains peace and order in the City. She is a Level 4 Telekineticist and uses nails to pin her perpetrators to the wall, as well as teleport in and out of situations.

Kazari Uiharu (flower headband, far left) attends Sakugawa Middle School, a rather ‘normal’ school. She works in Judgment with Shirai, but more as logistics. She is a Level 1 Heater, having the ability to keep things warm at a constant temperature. Our last lady is Ruiko Saten, who attends school with Uiharu. She is a Level 0, but annoys the stuffing out of Uiharu, as she will flip up her skirt to see her underwear and comment about the pattern of the day. (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…)

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…)

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…)