OK, this show has genuinely the longest title of an anime I have ever encountered. I saw it as “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon?”(“Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka”), but also known as “DanMachi” for short, and with English subtitle “Familia Myth”.  It is hard to classify this show, as it wants to be both dramatic and comedic and that doesn’t usually work out well for either approach. The initial idea is strange enough as it goes.

The story takes place in the fictional world of Orario whose main feature place is the Dungeon, which contains an assortment of monsters from goblins to dragons. Adventurers visit the dungeon to defeat monsters and take their shards (which look like crystals), and are used to craft magic items, among other treasures, and are also exchanged for the world’s currency. But this dungeon goes both up and down, so it is more like a huge tower (of which you see a bit of it in the back), plus those dangerous lower levels, where the aforementioned nasties reside. (more…)

Now, I have never seen anything regarding “Cardcaptor Sakura”, although I am aware that it is a CLAMP project, so that means it fits in to the other CLAMP worlds and that this Sakura is somehow related to the Sakura from “Tsubasa Chronicles”. (No, that’s OK; you do not have to outline the universe for me. It would probably wash over me, anyway.) I did want to see if I could watch this movie (“Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie”, “Gekijōban Kādokyaputā Sakura”) with little to no understanding as to what it is about or what it all means. At best, it was a partial victory.

We open the film with Sakura Kinimoto, struggling to capture the Arrow Card, which she is able to seal, with a little help from her friends. That night, she has a strange dream about these ribbons that bind her and take her to see a very elegant Chinese lady (that is the woman up there and, yes, she is a degree of displeased). Sakura then magically wins a Winter Break trip to Hong Kong and she takes along Tomoyo Daidouji, her best friend and support team, her worthless brother Toya and his best friend Yukito Tsukishiro (whom Sakura has a crush on). Also coming along for the ride is Sakura’s guardian, Kero-chan (hanging on Sakura’s shoulder) and he is more than he seems, but for the film, he’s in that form. (more…)

This is a show that I refer to as “We’re getting the band back together”, as it involves a sojourn of truth and having to find the necessary components to make it all work. Kind of like “Akatsuki no Yona”, but everyone knows everyone directly and not by inference. Such is “The Seven Deadly Sins” (“Nanatsu no Taizai”).

Ten years earlier, a group of knights known as the Seven Deadly Sins were disbanded after they supposedly plotted to overthrow the Liones Kingdom. Their defeat came at the hands of the Holy Knights, but rumors continued to persist that they were still alive. Now, the Holy Knights staged a coup d’état and captured the king, becoming the new, tyrannical rulers of the kingdom. Let me get this straight: you saved us from one type of tyrant to install yourself as another kind of tyrant. Nifty. The third princess, Elizabeth Lyonesse, (cutie pie to the far left) starts out on a journey to find the Seven Deadly Sins and enlist their help in taking back the kingdom. (more…)

I was honestly not expecting a second season from this quarter, but we have “Mushi Shi: Next Passage”. For the first season, I felt they were just tales of the weird and of these odd creatures called Mushi. It wasn’t until the second season that I saw it for what it really was: a caliber of horror. But it is done in a deliberate way, and not relying on gore and dismemberment and other bloody tropes that bedevil many horror shows. Intellectual horror? That’s a good term.

Ginko is still wandering the countryside, trying to help people in regards with their Mushi issues and always working to expand overall knowledge of them. The opening credits show a variety of Mushi. Take note, as you will be seeing most of them throughout the season. This also had something that I never thought I would see: Ginko lose! One thing that bothered me throughout the season is that Ginko seemed surprised. Look, if he has been a Mushi master for 15 to 20 years (how old is he, anyway), nothing should come as a surprise. I will let you get away with “I have never encountered this before”, as it is a big world out there, but he should never be shocked or surprised or perplexed…except the episode where he loses (Episode 17 – “Azure Waters”). (more…)

Oh, like you didn’t even comprehend that “Kamisama Kiss” (“Kamisama Hajimemashita”) would have a second season? Really? Let’s look at the closing line from my review of the first season: “And with the coupler end (and a pair of OVAs out there), this show is far from being over.” I win! I win! I….*ahem* Let us proceed.

It’s been about a year since Nanami has taken over the shrine and there is to be a Gathering of the Gods, the Divine Assembly. Think of it like a giant anime convention, but without the vendor’s room. Well, she is the Earth God and needs to go, but there are all kinds of troubles with that. Who is going to ‘mind the store’, as it were? (And that opens the door for some delicious humiliation of Tomoe). Once there, Nanami makes a huge discovery about the Gods: they are a lot of preening prats. There is not a whole lot of god-like behavior from these folks, more like shore leave for a bunch of sailors. It is an amazing arc, as Nanami really grows as a God and her understanding of those around her. Also, that they are not any different than regular people: shirking work, sleeping in late, pigging out, inappropriate actions. Maybe it’s more a political convention, eh? Anyway, this series of adventures (including an excursion into the underworld) takes up half of the season, but it doesn’t feel forced or imposed. (more…)

I used to complain (and still do) that anime was always about the future, but this one, “Junketsu No Maria” (“Maria the Virgin Witch”) takes place in the past, the far past, like the Hundred Years War past (1337 to 1453). I think this one takes place during the Caroline War segment of it, so we can put it between 1369 and 1389. Above us is Maria the Witch (and her two familiars in their owl form, left to right, Priapos and Artemus). She helps the people of the nearby village with medicines and other kind of support.

For the most part, the church tolerates her (barely), but when war comes to this part of the world, she gets on her broom and conjures up spirits to send the English packing. Well, this does not bode well for her, either with the Church or with God. No, He doesn’t make an appearance. Besides, who would do the voice? Chris Ayres? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Seriously, Archangel Michael comes down to threaten Maria not to use her magic in public, as it is an affront against God. He sends a minion of his to watch over her, Ezekiel, a rather slight girl, to do what she has to do to stop Maria, up to and including dispatching her, if necessary. (more…)

This isn’t necessarily a ‘girl who saves the world’ anime, but “Akatsuki no Yona” (“Yona of the Dawn”, also known as “The girl standing in the blush of dawn”) certainly embraces a woman who goes from wallflower to being front and center (that’s her, front and center).

We start off in the kingdom of Kouka, with Yona as your typical pampered princess, whose biggest concern might be chipping a nail (actually, it’s her flaming red hair; she hates it). Along with her bodyguard Son Hak (off her left shoulder) and childhood friend Soo-won, they live a happy, sheltered life….until on her 16th birthday celebration, she sees Soo-won kill her father, King Il, and engineer a coup. The reason behind it, the king was weak and deserved to die. Well, that’s been a pretty good reason to kill rulers since we’ve had rulers. Yona and Hak escape, as Hak is the Thunder Beast and can use that blade of his to devastating results. Sadly, both of them fall to their deaths from a high precipice while being pursued by the palace forces.

That puts a major crimp in things, as Soo-won was going to marry Yona, to give legitimacy to what he wanted to do as king. He can (and will) still proceed, but it just makes things a whole lot tougher. However, our demoralized duo is not dead, but has taken refuge with an oracle of some ilk, Ik-su. Offering his young apprentice, Yun (far right), as a guide, they have been instructed to hunt down the Four Dragons, as they have pledged their fealty to the King of Hiryuu castle. Wait, but she’s a girl, so she’d be queen, right? Shhh, it’s the emotional import. As the rightful heir and eventual ruler, she gets their support. Oh, and they aren’t real dragons, with scales and a forked tail and breathing fire, but they have the attributes of a dragon. In my picture up there, you see all four of them (I’ll break down that cast a bit later). (more…)

Another Studio Ghibli release, “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” (Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) is 95% of a marvelous film. A rather cheap-out ending mars an otherwise magnificent effort, both in story-telling and animation approach.

A bamboo cutter named Sanuki no Miyatsuko lives high in the mountains, plying his trade. One day, while doing his rounds, he discovers a glowing bamboo shoot. Inside is a tiny, tiny girl. Believing her to be a divine presence, Miyatsuko and his wife decide to raise her as their own, calling her “Princess“. The girl grows rapidly and conspicuously, marveling her parents and earning her the nickname “Takenoko” (Little Bamboo) from the other children in the village. Sutemaru, the oldest among Kaguya’s friends, develops a particularly close relationship with her. (more…)

There are times that you like a caliber of blind-side anime and this one, “The Testament of Sister New Devil”, ( “Shinmai Maō no Tesutamento”) certainly delivers in that category, as it starts off like any other blended family anime.

Basara Tojo (that lost male youth up there) is a first year high school student. He and his father, Jin, live in Tokyo, just the two of them (as mom died a few years earlier). Out of nowhere, Jin announces that he got married, is going on some business and son is to take care of his new step-sisters, Mio (redhead) and Maria (silverhead) Naruse. A bit after they arrive, we discover that they are more than they appear (although a lot was given up during the opening credits). Mio is a Demon princess and heir of the former Demon Lord, Wilbert. (Wilbert? What kind of demon is named ‘Wilbert’? That doesn’t sound too scary to me). Maria is a succubus and is Mio’s follower and guardian. They aren’t true sisters, but emotionally they are.

They actually try to force Basara from his house, using mind control and other demonic curses, but then we learn HIS truth: he was a member of a hero clan (which explains all the scars they have. Like dad and son went to the tattoo parlor to get matching tats?) and wields great powers. Dad and son eventually speak, Dad advises him on the task set before them all and tells them that they are now all family, or at least more than total strangers. (more…)

With the conclusion of the second season of “Log Horizon”, there has to be a third season to wrap it all up, considering the bread crumbs they left. Bread crumbs? More like an entire bakery, but on to the plot.

The first season contended itself with how these people, or ‘adventurers’, trapped inside this video game, can grow an entire civilization. The second season looks at personal growth and it loses a bit of steam on that account. When Shiroe has to contend himself with bureaucracy, wow, the excitement is palpable.

Look! As he signs legislation
Gasp! While he settles land ownership issues
Shiver! When he makes proclamations

OK, I am being snarky, as there are some new issues that arise, but the show feels like it was running in place. The overall concern is that there is something going wrong with the server or the AI or general gameplay, as things are going wrong. Shiroe has to go on raiding parties to try and figure out how to get more funding for the projects he has in mind. Thant means he is away and someone else is in charge. Then when a crisis arises, Enheart Nelreth comes into the city and starts killing people, those left behind seem unable to handle the situation properly. They have to wait for Shiroe’s return to finish the task. (more…)