“My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy (“Ore no Nōnai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Rabu Kome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru”), also known by the abbreviation “Noucome”, is a show with a rather original concept and situation. Our hero, Kanade Amakusa, (dead center guy) has a terrible condition. He’ll be riding on the Freeway of Love in his pink Cadillac when, out of nowhere, he will be given two choices. Now, neither of these choices is all that swell, but he has to choose it and do it, otherwise, he gets a blinding headache for not choosing and STILL has to choose it and do it.

Many of these ‘choices’ are weird and/or perverse. As a result of his actions, he has tainted his reputation with his classmates and other people around him. Needless to say, this makes getting a classroom buddy difficult, so getting a date is very difficult. One day, a choice he makes on his way home from school causes a mysterious, beautiful young girl to fall from the sky and land RIGHT ON HIM. Amakusa discovers that she, Cocolat, was sent from the God World to assist him in completing a series of missions given to him directly by God himself. After completing these missions, the “Absolute Choices” curse will be lifted from Amakusa; but should he fail in completing any of the missions, he will be stuck with the curse forever. (more…)

“Kin-iro Mosaic” (“Kin’iro Mozaiku”, or “Golden Mosaic”) also appears to be a caliber of nothing show, as we follow these five friends in a year of school.

The story actually begins five years earlier when Shinobu Omiya (second from left) spent some homestay time in England with Alice Cartalet (to her left). Much to the surprise of Shinobu and other folks in the school, when Alice is fifteen, she joins her at her school, accompanied by Alice’s friend, Karen Kujo (can you find the other blonde up there? Good).

We also meet Shinobu’s friends, Aya Komichi (long pony tails) and Yoko Inokuma (red head).

We follow them through a year of understandings and misunderstandings as they try to overcome language barriers and cultural differences. (more…)

This is certainly a stunning example of a ‘nothing’ show. OK, things do happen, but they are not of great or grand designs, as least not in our lives. But such is “Non Non Biyori”. The title is a bit confusing, as it means “Non non weather”, but then that means we are mixing language (‘non’ is French for either ‘no’ or ‘not’, so I read this as Not not weather? Should there be a hyphen? But I digress).

Greetings and welcome to the countryside village of Asahigaoka. Being where it is, like, not even on the map, many conveniences are several miles away and the school consists of only five students, each of whom come from different grades of elementary and middle school.

Hotaru Ichijo, a fifth year elementary student from Tokyo (the tall number on the far right), transfers into the Asahigaoka Branch School and adjusts to countryside life with her new friends. Taking role call: (more…)

Another demon show, “Strike the Blood” tells the tale of Akatsuki Kojou, who was a regular kind of student, until an incident turned him into a vampire, as well as the Fourth Progenator. He lives on an artificial island complex where all caliber of monsters, demons and other mystic types reside in peace and solitude. However, dark forces are afoot (don’t these guys have any place to call their home? They are always afoot, causing mayhem and driving up the insurance rates) as they seek to unleash horrors and terrors unimagined….like a Miley Cyrus tour.

As the Fourth, he is viewed with a great deal of suspicion from the other Three Bosses. Just his mere presence is enough to tip the balance of power and the other three feel it would be best if he was dead. Akatsuki? All he wants to do is go to high school and be left alone; he wants no part of this craziness. Well, he doesn’t get a say in the matter. Since it helps things if he was pushing up daisies, the Lion King Organization dispatches a Sword Shaman, but she is to observe the Fourth and then decide to dispatch him, should he prove a danger. That happens to be Yukina Himeragi, who is a mere 14 years of age, but as tough as they come. (more…)

If you have seen “FLCL” (AKA Fooly Cooly), you will enjoy this show. If you have not seen FLCL, well, I would suggest you go and see it, as it will prepare you for “Kill La Kill”. They share quite a lot in common: a rather free-wheeling art style, loose association to a plot (although this one is defined better) and a huge, take-no-prisoners, no holds barred, anything-goes approach to the entire show.

Welcome to Honnouji Academy, one of those academic islands in many animes (“Eiken” was set up like that). But this is more of an Educational Mountain, as everything ends up at the top and the school sits upon the pinnacle. The Academy is ruled over with an iron fist and the steel sword of Lady Satsuki Kiryuin, (the grumpy one on her head with the sword), and her elite four (to the left; more on them later).

Into this cauldron of resentment and travesty comes Ryuko (or Ryuuko, depending on who’s doing the subtitles). Her father was killed by Satsuki and she wants answers, but she cannot battle her. You see, those who Satsuki deems worthy is given a Goku Suit. It is imbued with Life Fibers that enhance your abilities. But it comes with a double edge: It makes your abilities better, but it also fuels and increases your arrogance, your condescension, your disgust of those beneath you. (more…)

I was drawn to this sports anime, as I had not seen one with swimming as its core. For this show, “Free!” is both a noun and an adjective, but first, some background for the plot.

Some years earlier, our four friends used to swim for the Iwatobi Swim Club and participated in the Medley Relay, which they won readily. However, one of their entourage was moving to Australia and this would be the last of it. Flash forward to the future. Three of them attend the same school and learn that the swim club they spent their youth at is being torn down. They go to look at it and bump into their old friend, who has enrolled in a different school, one that is a swimming powerhouse (Samezuka Academy), while these guys go to a school that no longer has a swim club. This is a show about revival and what it means to be free. (more…)

Of all the sports out there, baseball seems to be able to generate the best metaphors and symbolism in a reflection of life:
Clear the bases
Three strikes and you’re out
Caught looking
Batting 1.000

And animes pick up on this, as we can track how a person grows and matures under these arduous, unforgiving situations….for the most part.

“Ace of the Diamond” follows in the tradition, but it has problems when it fell into old tropes and clichés. But first, the plot:

Eijun Sawamura (big grin in center) is a fairly good pitcher, but he is erratic and lacks control. But he makes up for that with a zeal and passion that fires up everyone else and makes them help the team in the town of Nagano. He gets scouted by Rei Takashima for Seidou High, a perennial powerhouse in high school baseball. He is reluctant to leave his friends behind, but they all feel that he stands a better chance of reaching his dreams by going there than staying here. Win for us, as they send him off to his future. (more…)

This is a sports anime and the second strangest one I have encountered (“Girls und Panzer” wins that race). “Walkure Romanze” takes place in Germany (they never say it, but you see enough text and print to be able to determine this) at Winford Academy where, on the agenda, is jousting. Forget metal shop here, we’re going after some really heavy metal here!

Now, it is supposedly for both male and female knights, but we only focus on the ladies. Our male hero is Takahiro Mizuno. He used to be a knight but suffered an injury to both body and mind and has now relegated himself into being a begleiter (and you pronounce it like you are trying to bum a match for your cigarette: beg lighter). His job is to offer support and guidance to whomsoever the knight is. (Much like what Burgess Meredith did in ‘Rocky’).

Mio Kisaki is at this school (the one holding the helmet), but not in the jousting section. However, she runs afoul of Celia Cumani Aintree (big busty blonde) who challenges her to a joust. This is bad, as she is a jousting prodigy, is Student council president and has never lost a round in her two years here. However, Mio does well enough to want to get into the jousting program. The series is her attempts to better herself, trying to get Takahiro back into the jousting program and all the other concerns and machinations within the jousting program. (more…)

Another one of those very long titles, we have “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU” also known as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru. (“My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected.“). This one is a caliber of nothing show, but things do happen, just very slowly.

Hachiman Hikigaya (the sweaty one, second from left) is a caliber of loner and a pure cynic. He feels that youth is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites, born from the ashes of past failures. Well, he is not going to get on any popularity lists. Yukino Yukinoshita (dead center, flowing black hair) is president of the Service Club, a group that helps out people in distress. Sadly, she is the only member, so has to blackmail Hikigaya into joining, much to his irritation and distress. He doesn’t need to belong to any club. Well, he does belong to one, but it’s the going-home Club. And then he is pressed into service to do something he has never really done before: be helpful! (more…)

“My Little Monster” (“Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun”, also translated out to “The Monster Sitting Next to Me”) could potentially be described as a nothing show, as it starts off that way. It takes a little while for the plot to get moving, as we have a rather wide-ranging cast, but it is a good entry into the romantic comedy genre. Shizuku Mizutani (pencil near mouth, holding book) is focused on one thing only: studies. She studies morning, noon and night, all weekend long, around the clock and through the seasons. She has no time for frivolities if she wants to get into a prestigious university. One day, she is asked by the teacher to deliver handouts to a slacker student, Haru Yoshida, (dude with the rooster) to his house, as he has been absent a huge amount of time. Because no one has ever been this nice to him, especially a girl, he starts to come to school, much to the consternation of others. (more…)