As a bother-in-arms companion piece to “Denkigai no Hon’ya-san”, we have “Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun” (“Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun”), which tells the tale of a manga artist who is somewhat successful in his endeavor.
High school student Chiyo Sakura (red head up there) has a crush on schoolmate Umetaro Nozaki (the one off her left). When she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually the renowned manga artist Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let’s Fall in Love, they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories. (more…)
Denkigai no Hon’ya-san (“The Electric Town’s Bookstore“) is one strange fish of a show. Having worked at Tower Records, when both Tower Records existed as a store and you could buy records and the like, I enjoyed this series thoroughly. All of these strange and eccentric characters are not only tolerated, but wanted, as, believe it or not, they know their stuff. But, on to the show.
Welcome to Akihibara (well, I think it is, as for the caliber of insane nonsense goes on in that place) and the store Umanohone (The Horse’s Bone; that what the strange logo on their apron is). This is a most magnificent manga store, covering four or five floors. I assume there are hordes and hordes of employees, but we contend ourselves with these seven, from left to right:
Fu Girl (her real name Koharu Yatsu) is a 16-year-old high school girl who is obsessed with zombies and even has prepared if one day there’s a zombie outbreak. Sensei is an aspiring manga artist, working under the name “Jonatarou”. She dresses haphazardly, as she is not confident with her appearance and “girl meter”. Umio, newest employee here. Normally used as the ‘straight man’, he prefers 2D girls to 3D girls and has passionate discussions about it Kantoku, the shift manager. He often records his employees on his video camera, thus his nickname (“Director”). He has a boob and underwear fetish. Hiotan is a part time clerk who doesn’t know that much about manga, but is drawn to boy-boy love books, although is loath to admit it to anyone. Sommelier is that hulking guy. He never speaks but has a profound knowledge of manga, and can match people to the suitable manga for them to read. Kameko (means ‘turtle’) always has a camera with her and takes constant pictures, but will not let her picture be taken. Oh, and don’t take off her hat, OK? (more…)
When I say that “Orenchi no Furo Jijō” (“The Circumstances in My Home’s Bathtub“) is a real fish out of water show, I ain’t kidding!
It tells the story of Tatsumi, who is a high school boy living by himself. One day, something happened to him in the ocean and he went under, rescued by Wakasa, who pulled him to safety. Yup, he’s a merman (and one problem that I had; the incident just mentioned is alluded to in the credits, but no specifics). Tatsumi brought him home to recover in his bath tub and that was that. Wakasa is not moving out. To make things worse, some of Wakasa’s friends come a-calling and also sit a spell. They include Takasu, or Octopus Boy; Mikuni, the jelly fish; and Maki, a sea snail (Maki is much smaller than that; otherwise, you’d never see him).
The tales revolve around how Tatsumi puts up with all of these moochers (and, yes, they are a caliber of mooch), as he figures out what to do with them and his life. The problem I had is that the guys (with the exception of Mikuni) are really good looking. I mean REALLY good looking, with wispy eyes and strong jaw lines and that metrosexual ideal. The staff tried to make this a caliber of Yaoi, as they are all in firm shape and have devastatingly fabulous looks and are potentially hunkalicious. (more…)
This show, “Gurure! Kokkuri-san”, is strange in that it tries to pull in from many genres and almost succeeds, but got too cute for its own good. The term “Gugure” is a corrupted term, meaning ‘go figure it out’ or ‘go Google it’ (depending on who is doing the translating for you).
Kokkuri-san is that fox spirit front and center. But Kokkuri-san is also a game, much like ouija boards, where you can summon spirits. You see that girl atop the noodle cup? That is Kohina Ichimatsu, an almost-expressionless elementary school girl who lives alone, proclaims herself to be a doll, and eats nothing but instant noodles. One day, she plays the game by herself and summons the fox spirit Kokkuri-san who, upon seeing her unhealthy lifestyle, takes it upon himself to become her guardian and raise her properly. Thus starts Kohina’s new life of being haunted by various unique spirits.
You see, he feels that she is not really worthy enough to be haunted by him and wants to bring her up a notch or two to really make it worth his time. Now, as to why she lives along is ever made clear, except for her catch-phrase “I’m only a doll”. And certainly the square eyes add to this (although there are rare circumstances when she becomes a real person). As if Kokkuri didn’t have enough on his plate, along come two moochers. (more…)
This was a show that took me over a year to watch. I had it on disc and I would pop in two episodes when I couldn’t access anime by any other means. It was another show with a great deal of initial promise that lost it along the way.
“Princess Resurrection” starts out simply enough: Sawawa Hiyorimi (the maid at the far right) has gotten a job working for a benefactor in Sasanaki City. Sawawa has asked her younger brother, Hiro, (that hopeless dude in the center) to come over. As he is walking the streets, he sees a long cool woman in a black dress and a short servant carrying a huge pile of purchases. Overhead is a hoist of I-beams that manages to break free. Hiro pushes her out of the way, but dies in the process. In the morgue, this woman bestows the Flame of Life on Hiro, but there are conditions.
The woman is Hime (the princess; her real name is Lillianne von Phoenix, but she detests being called that) and the servant is Flandre, a caliber of robot. Flan, as she is called, suffers from the Pikachu Syndrome, in that she can only say one word (“Huga”), but it manages to explain a plethora of thoughts and ideas. Now, Sawawa is completely oblivious to all the supernatural events at the house, hired more for her gigantic cups….of tea! Hime enjoys what she can brew up. (more…)
OK, as you know from a previous review, I walked away from “Yowamushi Pedal”, as I felt everyone were pricks. I got a message from a fan of the show who felt I was too harsh in my initial review and I should give the second season, “Grande Road”, a test drive. (Huyk! Hyuk! Gotta love those puns!)
The overall problem is that any concerns that were endemic in the first season will potentially continue through to the second and worse ones may crop up. They did.
The first problem is that the original idea of the show, letting us see how otaku Sakamichi Onoda (specs in the middle) transmogrifies from a ‘weakling pedal’ (the English translation of the show) to a determined person, has been discarded, so that he is a supporting player in his own series. He gets left behind as we examine, in painfully minute detail, the lives of everyone to show that they did not all start out as pricks, but unhappy events and foul circumstances and missed bus connections MADE them into the revolting piles of poodle-doo that they are now. (more…)
As we know, theme and amusement parks can give you the time of your life. But what if the enjoyment you have actually saves another person’s life? Thus is the idea behind “Amagi Brilliant Park”.
Seiya Kanie is a good looking, perfectionist boy (that guy dead center) who is forced by the mysterious Isuzu Sento (the red coat to his left) to visit an amusement park named Amagi Brilliant Park, which is in serious difficulties and about to be closed forever. Forced is right. Seldom do you start a romantic comedy anime with having a blunderbuss shoved in your face and ‘asked’ to come along on a date. Are things really that tough in schools in getting a guy?
The park is actually staffed by refugees from a magical realm called Maple Land, and the park is a facility for harvesting magical energy from visitors while they’re having fun. As such, the park is the only way the refugees can maintain their existence in the human realm. Yup, those characters that look like they are in costumes are not costumes, but real magical creatures. Even the Elementarios (those fairies to the left and back three rows) are, well, real fairies as we imagine them to be.
This is another show that started off with a good idea and then did nothing with it. It suffered from the first problem, in what is the name of the crfapping show? The search has it come up as “When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace” (“Inō-Batoru wa Nichijō-kei no Naka de”), but it is also known in Japan as “Inou Battle Within Everyday Life” and “Inou-Battle in the Usually Daze.”
We are in Senkō High School’s Literature Club, who is reading “Hunger Game” or “Divergent” or “Fifty Shades of Gray”. The story focuses on its five members (from right to left) who are: Tomoyo Kanzaki, Hatoko Kushikawa, Jurai Andō, Chifuyu Himeki and Sayumi Takanashi. They have all developed superpowers from a strange and bizarre incident. These superpowers (such as they are) have now become a part of their everyday lives, as they battle against others wielding similar powers.
The sixth person, Mirei Kudō, is not part of the club, but the Student Council president, who also has obtained these powers. It’s just that the powers seem a bit limited. Slow down time or manipulate the basic elements or create matter or space. Then, once they figure out how to use these powers, they…………do nothing with them. They have a hard time understanding these powers anyway, but what do you do with them? There was an old “Saturday Night Live” sketch, “The Interesting Four”, superheroes with marginal powers, like Weather Woman, who can raise or lower the temperature in a room by 17 degrees. These folks are kind of like that. (more…)
Now, when “Chaika – The Coffin Princess” came to its conclusion, I knew a second season was in the offing, as the main plot wasn’t resolved. Well, the second season “Chaika – The Coffin Princess; Avenging Battle” does just that, but this is the third series I have encountered this year with a 10-episode second season. Oh, and a revelation uncovered from the first season is completely buried under for this run.
Well, our heroes (left to right) Toru Acura, Chaika Trabant and Akari Acura are still hunting for the remains of the Emperor Gaz, who ruled the land with an iron cudgel and people were glad he was turned into shish kabobs, as he was really, really evil, worse than an IRS auditor. Adding to their consternation, Red Chaika is ALSO hunting for body parts as well and can seemingly get to them faster than White Chaika is able to. Their goals are still the same: a decent burial for Daddy-san.
Plus, we still have the Kliemann Agency, the government-sponsored group, also in active pursuit of them, with the intent to capture and stop this foolishness. Remember, the body parts still carry strong and dangerous magical powers and if we bring them all together, it’s Armageddon, or at least Fresno in the fall. A new sojourn, added to the rather capacious list of Things To Do, is to find Gaz’s Fortune, which is on a mysterious island that no one knows about, as it is hidden and mysterious (although we can find it; it’s just takes two episodes to do that). The show heads to a conclusion that I had not predicted, as we were all unaware of the Black Chaika (and we learn the full history about that as well). (more…)
This is another of those ‘move-in’ animes, but done with a lot more interest and characters. “Invaders of the Rokujyōma!?” (“Rokujōma no Shinryakusha!?”, “Invaders of the Six-Tatami Mat Room!?”) starts off with Kōtarō Satomi (can you find the studly stud?). He decided that he wanted to live on his own when he began high school, and chose Room 106 of Corona House because it was cheap. (Dude, beware of room rents that are way too low. He’s paying 5000 yen a month! Look what happened!) Unfortunately, Kōtarō soon discovers that numerous otherworldly and supernatural girls also want his room for various reasons of their own. Well, he isn’t going to give it up ($50 a month? You can’t even get a storage shed for that!), and the ladies equally aren’t about to back down. As a result, Kōtarō and the girls find themselves forced to live together as they try to settle just who ends up with the room.
Let us meet all of the players, eh? From left to right:
Theiamillis Gre Fortorthe. Called Theia or Tulip, she is an intergalactic alien princess from planet Fortorthe. She must capture the room and subdue Kōtarō to prove her worthiness as a successor to the throne. Shizuka Kasagi. She is the landlady of Corona house and had all the participants sign a contract regarding the room competition. Yurika Nijino. She is a genuine magical girl, but a bit clumsy. The room contains high levels of magical power that she needs. Kotaro. (more…)
