Do you remember the movies “50 First Dates” or “Blank Slate”? These films involved people with some kind of mental aberration that causes them to forget what had happened during the day. This offering, “One Week Friends” (“Isshūkan Furenu”) is a bit different, as she resets every week.

Because of this affliction, Kaori Fujimiya, (Madame Profile) does not make friends, as she cannot honestly remember who they are and so it gives the impression that she is stand-offish or conceited or rude, so she stays by herself. Into her life come Yūki Hase (The Sweater), who wants to be her friend, but doesn’t understand her situation. He slowly comes to figure out a way that she doesn’t forget people that she met and things she did during the week, but suggests that she keeps a diary of what she did during that time, aided by a poster in her room to remind her to read her journal every Monday. (more…)

OK, it’s another sports anime. “Haikyuu!!” (“Volleyball!!”) takes us into the marvelous and interesting world of…..volleyball! Oh, yeah! I can hear you stomping your feet and pounding the table. Serve it up! Sorry, it’s Men’s Volleyball and done inside (Sure, if this was Ladies Beach Volleyball, that would be COMPLETELY different).

OK, it’s another sports anime. This one tells the story of Shōyō Hinata (the carrot top near the right). He watched this student athlete play called “The Little Giant”. He was short, short, short, but managed to dominate the game big, big, big and became a real force to contend with.

OK, it’s another sports anime, so we see the trials and tribulations as the divergent members of Karasuno High School start to come together and form the team into not only a cohesive whole, but try and revive the greatness that this school once had. (more…)

It seems to be some kind of unwritten law that if you have a fan-service heavy romantic comedy, you need to follow it up with a fan-service heavy OVA.

When “Maken-Ki” completed its first season, they had these rather silly ‘exercise’ videos as their OVA, which were nothing more than a thin excuse to look up skirts, down blouses and notice cleavage.

The second season of “Maken-Ki” abandoned everything from the first season to let us drool over the very athletic and toned ladies. The OVA discards anything like ‘plot’ and ‘story’ and ‘character development’ to let us now gaze upon their toplessness.

Yes, dude, I am talking NO errant clouds of steam, NO bizarre shafts of light. NO black bars of despair. You get to see their mighty mounds as if you are nose to nose with them. One shot of them looked like a view of the Grant Teton (that’s a French term; go look it up and see what I mean). And it’s RIGHT THERE! And the ladies don’t seem to mind at all, as they coo and purr and make other odd sounds. (more…)

This is one odd fish series, and not just because it is estrogen heavy, but how we embrace that girl assassins are cute and charming….right up until they kill you dead

Welcome to Myojo Academy, one of those massive educational edifices, where you can attend here from pre-school to high school graduation. “Riddle Story of Devil” (“Akuma no Riddle”) looks at the infamous Black Class, where thirteen girls are enrolled in it. Twelve of them are assassins; the 13th is the intended victim, Ichinose Haru (second from left, for a quick reference). Certain protocols have to be adhered to in regards to the job, but, if any one of them succeeds, they will be granted any wish they desire. However, if they fail, they are expelled from the class. One of the assassins, Azuma Tokaku (far left), develops feelings for Haru and defects to her side, resolving to protect her from the other assassins.

Now, if you are going to be an assassin, it helps not to have morals or scruples or regrets and these ladies are the most amoralistic bunch of psychotic killers to ever populate a classroom. Ahh, but don’t think that Haru is all sunshine and light, either. As the series progresses, we learn all of their dark secrets and it makes one wonder if any of them deserve to live. And here is where the oddity comes in: do they actually die? (more…)

You kinda knew that there would be a sequel to this show, as much was left undone, so the parent company gave us “Date A Live 2”, which is both a continuation of what went down the first season with newer complications, one of which is a shorter season.

For those playing catch-up (and those who haven’t read the review of Season 1), the world has been bedeviled by these spacequakes, which are discovered to be caused by these space maidens (called “spirits”) entering our dimension. They cause untold damage and people are killed (think of an earthquake, but far more devastating). It was determined that if these ladies could have their powers sealed, this would cut down on problems. To this end, the standard anime male schlub of Shido Itsuka is used to get these ladies to fall in love with him, so he could kiss them and seal the powers.

Second Season has more ladies showing up, especially the Troublesome Twins of Kaguya and Yusuru (those bodacious gingers at the far right). You see, it’s kind of like spinning plates on small sticks. We add more and more plates, but you still have to tend to the plates you already have spinning. Now, this may come as a bit of a surprise to many of you, but girls tend to get jealous when you say you love them, but are seen by them in the company of another girl or girls. Since Shido has 10 plates spinning, I mean, trying to deal with 10 girls at once, who get jealous that he is spending time with other ladies, he has his hands more than full and things get out of hand. (more…)

Let’s see. It’s a harem romantic comedy ‘move-in’ show, with shades of drama sprinkled on top, like something you get at the ice cream store. True, this does have a nice twist into the proceedings, but at the core, it is all the aforementioned. Oh, a ‘move-in’ show, is one where the main character comes to a new town or a new school or a new dimension and ‘moves in’ to an apartment or housing complex or the slave’s quarters to start that new life, but then gets more than they bargained for. It’s just it appears this is the latest fad/plot device in anime.

“If Her Flag Breaks” (“Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara”) is also one of those prophetic shows, where everything is laid out before you, but you have to assemble the pieces, muck like putting together a bicycle on Christmas Eve using those instructions. It initially doesn’t make any sense, (“Adult must be side as of legal place of being”), but as it slowly comes together, you can make it all work…..sort of.

Our hero is Souta Hatate, the guy on the roof, who has this strange and rare gift: he sees flags. Well, they are more like pennants, but they sit atop your head. He is able to define what it is you are after or what a situation might be and he sometimes steps in to change the current reality to change the direction you go in to, in a sense, cheat fate. (more…)

Although I should have expected a second season of “Silver Spoon”, it was one of those shows that could have easily stood on its own just as it was, as Yugo Hachiken (the guy with glasses, if you forgot), learned quite a lot about himself and others.

It’s just that it was decided to ‘up the stakes’, as it were, and, this time, it’s double the prizes and double the risks.

The first story arc is the Yezo Agriculture Festival. Now, remember, this is an agricultural school so, by its very nature, is located way the stuffings out in the boonies, as it HAS to be the boonies. Yugo has ideas to make the festival the best one ever, but that means he has to take on more and more tasks and more and more responsibilities. This leads to two more story arcs.

The second is that he belongs to the Equestrian Club and has major problems with his horse (yup, that arrogant nag up there), but he still wants to put on a performance for the Festival with a jumping event.

That leads to problems at home, as Dad is as big an arrogant nag as his horse and Dad wants him to quit this nonsense and come home (so he can be as big a loser as his loser older brother? Just asking). (more…)

“Chronicles of the Going Home Club” is another in a long series on ‘nothing’ shows, although they eventually decide to do ‘something’. Closer aligned with “Joshiraku” and “Nichijou”, it tells the stories of five girls who just want to have a good time.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the “Going Home Club” refers to students who do not belong to any club, ending up going home to study or read anime or take a trip to Akihabara. But for this series, the Going Home Club is an actual club. Sure, they may play video games or eat snacks, but they eventually talk about stuff, things that have a bearing on their lives. So the first three or four episodes are spent setting up things, so nothing happens and what they talk and do is disconnected. So there is no real direction. But someone decides they need to have some degree of focus and that’s when the show really takes off.

Our Slacker Sisters are (left to right):

Sakura Domyoji, president of the club and the ‘ordinary’ one.
Karin Tono, supervisor and a tad of an airhead (more…)

OK, this is another standard entry into the Wonderful World of Romanic Comedy anime. Now, this started out as a fan-service heavy eroge game, to become a fan-service heavy manga to arrive at a fan-service heavy anime. “Princess Lover” tells the story of Arima Teppei (Mr. Akimbo in the center). He is just your typical high school student with two standard parents. Or so you think. Sadly, Mom and Dad are killed in a car-jacking and the real truth comes out.

Mother Kanae is actually the daughter of Isshin Arima, president, CEO, COO, LSMFT of the Arima Group, potentially the most powerful corporation in Japan. Mom was slated to take over when Isshin became worm food. Well, that got knocked into a cocked hat, so gramps adopts Teppei and sends him off to Shuuhou Gakuen, a high school only for wealthy students, so he can learn to take control off the company when the time comes for him to take control of the company.

However, on his way to the presentation dinner in his honor, he has to stop bandits from trying to hijack a….horse and carriage? Really? What does the calendar say it is? The person he saves is Charlotte Hazelrink (the one grasping his arm), a princess from the principality of Hazelrink, who just happens to attend Shuuhou. At the party, Teppei meets the girl that he is betrothed to….much to the shock of both parties. That is Charlotte van Hossen (off his left arm) who is very skilled with a sword (short blondie next to her is her little sister, Maria). (more…)

“Maken-Ki Two” is another series that completely abandoned its first season to put out a second season that bears almost no resemblance to its first season.

It was bad enough that the ladies in Maken-Ki are, for the most part, very bounteous and that the boobs got in the way of things. The plot was, in some form, Takeru Ohyama’s arrival at Tenbi Academy to learn how to hone his special powers. At the end of the first season, they defeated a shadow group, but there was the threat that they would be back, so Takeru has to learn to get stronger and refine his abilities.

The second season has thrown that all aside. I will absolutely kill off the first episode, but the rest of the tales that follow aren’t much better or different.

Tenbi is an educational institution that people with these ‘maken’ powers go to, so they can how to properly control them. It’s like Hogwarts, but without dragons. However, some of the students decide to use their powers for mischief and mayhem. To combat this, the Disciplinary Committee is formed. It consists of nine students; two guys and seven ladies and six of the ladies are ‘out there’ Look at the artwork above. ALL of those ladies are in the series. (more…)