So im finally up to date on Hunter x Hunter (2011), and while the series does not look like its anywhere close to an ending, I feel I’ve seen enough to give a fair review. As a remake of the 1999 original series, I knew it was going to be good and I was not disappointed. For the first 70ish episodes it followed the same arcs as the previous version (Hunter Examination arc and Greed Island Arc) and besides a few minor changes in character wordings and character expressions I’d say they were pretty much identical.

What completely caught me off-guard was that like its predecessor, I expected the show to come to a close at the end of the second arc. Instead of  doing so we see a third arc opening up! For those who have seen the original series if you are not the type to re-watch anime you are free to skip to episode 75 and simply think of it as a continuation…

There have been alot of mixed feelings around the internet saying that one version is superior to another and to be completely honest I do prefer the original version. Why? Simply because (more…)

As of late, I have seen a lot of shows based on or associated with on-line gaming, like “Sword Art Online” or “Accel World”. Even “Tower of Druaga” felt like a videogame, although that kind of took the mickey out of itself.

“BTOOOM!” is another such show. Now, the online game of “BTOOOM!” is like Halo, except the only weapons you have are bombs. You have to figure out ways how to blow up the enemy team. Your overall scores are rated, but individual effort counts as well.

Ryōta Sakamoto (the one in black to the right) is an unemployed 22-year-old, potential hikikimori or NEET, who lives with his mother. In the real world, there is nothing special about him, but online, he’s one of the world’s top players and the only Japanese to be in the Top Ten of Btooom! One day, he awakens in what appears to be a tropical island, though he has no memory of how or why he has come to be there. (more…)

Well, this is an interesting series about an Arms Dealer who is a genuine contradiction with a title that initially does not make any sense, “Jormungand”.

Let’s talk about her. The potential albino (or perhaps she doesn’t get enough sun; hard to tell), white on white, is Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, an international shipping corporation that secretly deals in the arms trade. As one of the company’s unofficial weapon dealers, she carefully sells weapons in many countries while avoiding the local authorities and law enforcement agencies as most of her work is actually illegal under international law. But money is where you find it and she has no reluctance to sell to anyone, but has a caliber of conscience.

Most of the people up there are her bodyguards and have extensive military experience, so let’s run them down (it is a rather capacious cast, both on this side, plus those forces that wish to do her harm): (more…)

It’s the past. (The past? How did that happen? Anime is about the future!) The year is 1931 and we find ourselves in Shanghai. There is a great build-up of forces from Japan, which threatens to engulf the area in war, as the need for conquest and land acquisition looms. Into this volatile mix is flung a group of people, collectively known as the Sakurai Agency, but they really are a spy ring. But they are more than they seem. They are, from left to right:

Aoi Miyoshi, Kazura Iha, Yukina Sonogi and Natsumi Kayiga. Not pictured is their boss, Shin’ichirou Sakurai. But these people are no ordinary spies; they have special abilities that aid them in their investigations. Their powers are, respectively, telekinesis, teleportation, telepathy and tele-clairvoyance. (OK, I couldn’t help myself). He is also an excellent sniper.

Together, they battle the Kwangtung army and its mysterious leader, Isao Takachiho, who is bent on the idea of Pan-Asianism, and will use any and all means to achieve it.

Now, if you put aside the special abilities folks seem to have, this is a series with loads of intrigue, from the era of pulp novels and detective work. It is a very good-looking series, as you really get a feel for Shanghai of the 30s. The fact that we know the eventual outcome for all of this does not detract from the agency’s attempt to prevent it. (more…)

“Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero” is a rather odd submission in the swords-and-sorcery genre. Whereas most of them have our erstwhile hero taken from his warm bed and friendly confines and getting  plunked into a situation where he has to catch up pretty damn quickly or become worm food (“The Familiar of Zero” is one like that), this one starts at the end.

Akatsuki Ousawa, the hunky hero up there, has come back from the land of Alayzard, having defeated the demon lord of that land. As his dying wish, that lord wanted Akatsuki to take his daughter Myuu (can you find her up there? Hmmmmmmm?) back to his land so she could live a normal life. They both enroll in Babel, which is a training school to help harness these magical people and their powers, so that they can be used for good.

Now here’s the funny thing: Akatsuki has no magical powers. Everything he does is both sheer will and his experience. Myuu has some degree of powers, but they are unfocused. Now, they all wear wristbands that help harness their natural powers to conform to their abilities. (more…)

When the first season of “Medaka Box” came out, I really like the tales of this rather extraordinary girl believing that she could help all people, despite how craven or churlish or selfish they were to begin with. I got a bit concerned regarding the season-ending arc with Unzen (he’s the runty white-haired guy with the evil grin at the far right), but the promise of the second season seemed bright. Promises, I guess, are meant to be broken, and “Medaka Box: Abnormal” makes sure there aren’t any pieces to pick up.

At the Sandbox Academy, there is the mysterious Class 13, which is filled with Abnormals: people with very special abilities. With Unzen in hospital for a while, there is a vacancy in the class (man, what a tough school) and Abnormals who haven’t attended class since the Hiroshima Carp last won the World Series decide to show up and help push forth the Flask Plan. This is a plan to create the perfect human being (yeah, we all know where that ends up. Hasn’t succeeded before, won’t succeed now. PS, the Carp went 61-71 last season).

In order to put a stop to this, (uh, the Flask Plan, not the Carp) Medaka and Crew (the three in the lower left) seek out advice from Meguro Kurakami, Medaka’s…..older brother? Why hasn’t he made an appearance before this? (Blue hair, upper left). Aside from learning of the existence of an older brother (who is a major pervert and has a sister fixation), we also learn that he was an early administrator of the Flask Plan, but no longer believes in it, so left it all behind. (more…)

So, it ended up being another giant fighting robot show, but it started out with better promise, so I stayed with it.

“Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse” (and that is a mouthful of a title) looks at an alternative universe of our world and it starts in 1967.

The moon has been colonized (thanks to the Japanese) but is set upon by the BETA (Beings of the Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race). This is the best we could come up with? Anyway, we spend six years battling them on the moon, but to no avail. They make landfall in Europe in 1973 and begin a methodical destruction of the world, moving east. We leap ahead to 1998, when Yui Takamura (far left), attending the Kyoto Royal Guard Academy, is training to be a TSF pilot (Tactical Surface Fighter).

Things turn dire as Korea is overrun and the BETA makes a play for Japan. Despite their best efforts from all involved, Yui’s crew is wiped out and Japan falls.

It is now three years later and Yui is a Lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Guard. She goes to Alaska with a new weapon to defeat the BETA and train new pilots. One of them is Yuuya Bridges (that guy) who dismisses his Japanese heritage. He is a good pilot, but has a chip on his shoulder, owing to the abuse he absorbed because of his mixed heritage. Joining them from Russia are the Scarlet Twins, Cryska Barchenowa and Inia Sestina, who have a secret all their own. (more…)

OK, for a person who dislikes giant fighting robot shows, why did I watch another giant fighting robot show? Well, call me a hopeless optimist, but I am genuinely wishing that I can find a giant fighting robot show that works. Like an honest lawyer, I know there’s one out there, but I haven’t see it as of yet.

OK, it’s the slight future (2016) and Kouichi Hayase (Mr. Intense up there) is bullied and set upon by other students, as bullying is both a Japanese tradition and an anime trope. One day, after school, feeling lost and forlorn, he takes a short cut through the nearby forest and manages to get a GFR to crash into him (not like he is there with semaphore flags, P-L-E-A-S-E L-A-N-D O-N M-E). He awakens to find a naked girl next to him (that’s the clothed one up there, Emi Kizaki). He takes her home and learns he has partial amnesia. Then, other GFRs attack the town. He discovers he can pilot this one and uses it to defeat the enemies. Nest, he learns the shocking truth: he is dead. The machine revived him, but now the two of them share control of this robot. (more…)

“Eureka Seven AO: Astral Ocean”, takes place about 14 or so years after the conclusion of the first part of it. Ao Fukai (our hero, dead center) is a 13-year-old boy living in the year 2025 in Okinawa, on the island of Iwato Jima with Dr. Toshio Fukai, ever since Ao’s mother disappeared 10 years ago. When a mysterious organization attacks the local Scub Coral, Ao somehow gets mixed up in the battle and manages to activate an enigmatic robot called the Nirvash while it is being transported by the Self-Defense Forces. Later, Ao finds out that the Nirvash belonged to Eureka, his mother, and embarks on a journey to find his mother and learn the truth about his origins.

Or so we hoped.

Because he is able to pilot this ship, he is conscripted by Generation Bleu, an organization dedicated to fighting Secrets, and joins Pied Piper. OK, let me explain. Every time there is a Scub Burst, these transforming robots/ships called ‘secrets’ come down to destroy the Scub. But they also take out the surrounding area, so there is a huge amount of collateral damage by them. Ao joins Bleu to get to the bottom of it all, but runs into more misconceptions and deceptions than ever before. A lifelong friend, Naru (the lovely lady in the upper right) suffers from a condition caused by the Scub but eventually has to turn against Ao. (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…)