Rating systems are always odd, as it is someone else’s opinion as to what that threshold is between being a child and being an adult (of sorts). It also varies by country so what is OK for one land is verboten in another. I bring this up, as this is kind of the plot of “R-15”. (more…)

There is always a problem with having a large cast in an anime, in that everyone needs to be there all the time. However, for this show, “Yōkai Apāto no Yūga na Nichijō” (“Elegant Yokai Apartment Life”), it actually works in its behalf not to showcase them all at once. You see, there are a few key people who need to be there, but the rest can come in and go out, as it befits their character and the plotting. (more…)

Calloo callay! Our favorite demon bureaucratic wonk is back for a second season of marvelous mayhem in “Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 2” (“Hōzuki no Reitetsu”). (more…)

Another Japanese obsession I cannot wrap my noggin around is the theme café/maid café fetish. OK, I have never been to Japan and I don’t even do the Maid Cafes that pop up at anime conventions. It’s a bit of a culture clash for me. And though this show doesn’t define it any better for me, “Blend S” (“Burendo Esu”), was fun to watch. (more…)

It has sadly gotten to the point where I am tired of NEETs or hihikimoris or shut-ins or whatever you want to call those people who willingly shut themselves off from the real world to pursue a virtual one. However, this offering, “Netojū no Susume”, (subtitled “Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life” or “Recovery of an MMO Junkie”) does something a bit different than just locking us inside a darkened room, the glow of the monitor giving us companionship. (more…)

When you were in high school, there was a ton of stuff to worry about: getting into college, being popular, seeing your name in the school newspaper. But the most important one was having a girlfriend. And if you didn’t have a girlfriend, what’s wrong with you, man? Well, I have a girlfriend, but she doesn’t know she’s my girlfriend. *sigh*. Yeah, we’ve all been there. But what if you got one of the popular ones? Such is the thought behind “Hajimete no Gal”, (“My First Girlfriend Is a Gal” or “Hajimete no Gyaru”). (more…)

Slapstick is a harder genre to master than one thinks, as you have to balance the mayhem with the results. It doesn’t succeed as well as it should, and so “Aho-Girl “(“Aho gāru”, or “Stupid-girl”) kind of dissolves into sit-com madness. I say ‘kind of’, as it doesn’t grasp the elements correctly and comes off as more vicious than it needs to be. Let me explain….. (more…)

Untethered OVAs, for me, are a bother, in that I end up getting plunked into the middle of something and since there is not going to be anything to come home to or go on from, it is merely a way to spend a half-hour, looking at the problems of others. Such is the case with “Rescue Me”. (more…)

More Japanese weirdness. OK, sure, this is another “Girls Who Save the World” tale, but what they are doing is saving their city from neglect. Huh? Wha? Eh? This is more of a way to promote the virtues of your particular city, and this is done via ‘action heroines’, some superhero girl who battles the baddies, while extolling some aspect of the city she represents. Well, everyone wants to get in on the act and Hinano City is no different. Thus we have “Action Heroines Cheer Fruits” (“Akushon Hiroin Chia Furūtsu”). (more…)

In one sense, this reminded me of “Daily Lives of High School Boys”, in that it is a series of events and actions where, at the end of the day, nothing really happens. That is not a bad thing, as we see the blush of youth, trying to understand love and getting it all bass-ackwards. Welcome to “Tsurezure Children” (“Tsurezure Chirudoren”). (more…)