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…)

School and friendship animes seem to go together like corned beef and mustard (and I find horseradish mustard works best for that). This offering, “Ao Haru Ride” (“Blue Spring Ride”), treads familiar ground, but in a different way.

Futaba Yoshioka (second stamp from left) wants to change up her life, leaving behind her previous school and reputation. You see, in junior high, the girls ostracized Futaba because too many junior high boys liked her. That was only half the problem, as the only boy Futaba liked (and I mean REALLY liked), Kou Tanaka, moved away before she could tell him how she felt.

That was then. Now in high school, Futaba is determined to be unladylike (well, more tomboyish) so her new friends will not become jealous of her. While living her new life contentedly, she meets Kou again, but he now uses the name Kou Mabuchi (and he is the far left stamp) and has a cold attitude, not only towards her, but to a lot of people. He tells her that he liked her as well in junior high, but feels differently now. That was then. (more…)

I always have a problem when a show can’t seem to decide on a title. That usually means confusion in how to best present it. “The World is Still Beautiful”, also known as “Still World is Beautiful” (“Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukush”, “Even So, The World is Beautiful“) does somehow manage to avoid most of it, but not completely.

In this world, Nike Lemercier, the fourth princess of the Rain Dukedom and one who holds the power to call forth the rain, travels to the Sun Kingdom to marry Sun King Livius Orvinus Ifrikia (Livius I) for her country, despite her own reluctance. She soon discovers that the King, who conquered the world in only three years after his ascendance to the throne, is still a child, both physically and emotionally. And being one of those ‘my way or the highway’ types, he potentially has never been told ‘no’ in his life. Well, Nike is going to break that record.

Also, as you can tell by the names of their countries, it rains a lot in the Dukedom (think of Seattle, but without good coffee shops), and hardly ever at all in the Kingdom (think of Phoenix, but without the Sun Devils football team). The story details the twin relationships of them trying to get along (the “Battling Bickersons” come off like lovey-dovey compared to these two) and external forces that didn’t really want this union to exist at all. (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…)

Oh, my, my. Another romantic comedy; what a surprise. Well, I can’t help myself, although this one has an interesting premise to start out with.

“Kamisama Hajimemashita” (or Kamisama Kiss”) tells the tale of Nanami Momozono (our wide-eyed maiden up there). She has a hard life. Dad has run out on his gambling debts and on his family as well. Mocked by classmates and eventually evicted from her apartment, as she is destitute, she rescues a man who is terrified by dogs (even though the dog was nothing to be afraid of). Mikage, the rescued man, to show his thanks for her help and assist with her plight, lets her stay at his house, but there are provisos. Hidden provisos, as is always the case. Even a starving man will eat scorpions.

Mikage is actually an Earth Deity. Tired of the whole responsibility of being one, he transfers all his power to her, so now Nanami is the new Earth Deity. This sadly ticks off the familiar that resides at the house (which is actually a shrine), Tomoe. He is a rather sour and cranky type of fox familiar (more…)

Ritsuka (dark hair) and Sobei (light hair.. but this rave isn’t really about him)

Loveless is just one of those anime I could watch/read a thousand times and never get tired of it; I absolutely adore it. I have spent hours of my time (which I don’t have a lot of anymore since school started) watching and reading this particular anime/manga combo. Loveless has slowly but surely taken over my heart. I suppose one could say that is a normal reaction for me seeing as I have I have said same with multiple anime but I am insisting still, that Loveless is a special case. It has secured its spot in my list of addictions (which includes One Piece, Naruto, Ouran High School Host Club, and a bazillion others) because it has taken the word “neko” to an entirely different level, it speaks the importance of keeping memories, and its characters left me spellbound.

Now you may be wondering what I mean’t by ‘it has taken the word “neko” to an entirely different level’. In the anime/manga all of the younger characters are cat people. Now I suppose you’re wondering why only ‘younger characters’… well it’s because they haven’t been in a “serious” relationship yet. In other words, they haven’t done anything promiscuous. (Thank God, seeing how the main young characters are twelve!). Most people don’t necessarily think of stuff like that when they decide to create a new manga. Normally it’s based off of one of the more popular topics like Giant fighting robots or zombies. It’s quite unique that they would put so much detail into such a topic. (more…)

This started off as a rather odd show. It is “La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia”, (Italian for “The Story of the Arcane Family“) and it tells the tales of this group of people above me who have made contracts with Tarot cards to gain special abilities, which allow them to protect the Island of Regalo from the true forces of evil. It’s a pretty capacious cast, so left’s run them down from left to right:

• Luca is the personal butler to Felicita. His contract is with Temperance (harmony, balance and health).
• Debito (Mr Eyepatch) runs the casino and he is with the Hermit, which means he can make himself invisible.
• Pace (Specs) eats way too much lasagna. He is aligned with Strength (discipline and stability).
• Felicita is the only girl of the group. She is the Lovers and this allows her to reads people’s heart and feelings.
• The guy with his back to us is Jolly and he certainly is not. Second-highest ranking member, he signed on with the Moon, which allows him to draw out memories, forcibly if he must.
• Nova is the Captain of the Holy Grail. Assigned to Death, he carries with him a dark secret.
• Green eyes is Liberta. He is The Fool, a spirit in search of experience, but certainly brave.
• Dante is the Head Captain and the Emperor, with the ability to remove and/or manipulate memories. (more…)

If Kyo is the cat who is Tohru holding? 0__0

I hate this…no wait, actually this is the greatest thing ever.

Seriously why couldn’t I stand this the first time around?

Ever go from hating to loving something? It happens to me a lot when I hear a song I dislike too many times and it grows on me, but rarely do I find this happening with television. However, Fruits Basket is an exception to this rule. It was one of the first anime I watched after my initial induction into anime. I’d decided that I wanted to watch something light hearted after watching a lot of shows with dark storylines. So I did a little research and Fruits Basket was a good choice. It was comedic and had romance, but there was also a really unique and fascinating story I could get into. People turning into animals when they hug the opposite sex? That’s so interesting!
So I started up good ol’ Netflix…and was really turned off by the show by the time I’d hit episode 3 or 4. By the end I was hating it. It was just THAT bad. Initially I gave the show a 3/10.

Now I give the show a 7/10.

In case you don’t know, recently orphaned Tohru Honda is living on her own in the woods until she finds herself in the house of the Sohma family. This family possesses an ancient curse- whenever they hug a member of the opposite sex they turn into a member of the Chinese zodiac. Tohru is given the opportunity to live with the Sohma family as their housekeeper. Soon she befriends the two handsome students who live there. (more…)

Certainly in the Halls of Anime, Romance Wing, Kaichō wa Maid-sama! (The President is a Maid!) garners high marks for the tale it tells, and what a tale it is.

Seika High School, once an all-boys school notorious for its wild students and for generally being a terrifying place for girls, has recently become a co-ed school. With the female population still a minority and living in fear of the over-the-top antics of the males, Misaki Ayuzawa (the fair one at the left) takes it into her own hands to reform the school and allow the girls to feel safe in the rough environment.

As the first female president, she has to take a very harsh stand against the boys to allow the girls to feel safe enough that they can thrive. This has, however, earned her the enmity of the boys for her dictator-like stance on things. But this façade is threatened when Takumi Usui (the fair one on the right) discovers her secret: she works at a maid café one town over to make ends meet.

But Takumi never spills the beans on her little secret, but this acts as a kind of ‘obligation’ that she owes him and she never wants to be in the debt of a man for any reason (partly derived from the circumstances that forced her to work at the made café). (more…)