You knew this kind of series was coming: it’s a magical girl show, set in a school, with guys trying to figure it all out and witches who seem to have an upper hand in things. CUTE witches (none of that old crone with a warty nose junk). But “Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches” (“Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo”) at least tries to put a new spin on old things.
Ryu Yamada (Mr. Shrieky in the upper left) is known as a delinquent in his high school; he has become bored of classes after one year of attending school. Wow, life can’t all be “Die Hard” or “The Expendables”, right? One day, he accidentally falls from a flight of stairs onto Urara Shiraishi (blondie in front) the ace student of the school. Yamada wakes up to find that he has swapped bodies with her. The two try to reverse the change and discover that kissing triggers the body swap.
On the suggestion of student council vice-president Toranosuke Miyamura, they revive the Supernatural Studies Club. The supernatural phenomenon-obsessed Miyabi Itō soon joins the club. The club encounters other “witches” with different powers that are activated with a kiss. A transfer student, Kentarō Tsubaki, becomes a part of the club after nearly causing a fire to the old schoolhouse. The show is an attempt to understand the seven witches that populate it, what their powers are and what their actual purpose is. (more…)
As always, with the conclusion of the first season of “Nisekoi” (“False Love”), none of the original questions were answered, new characters entered and the plot was complicated by Ichiro’s faulty memory, so the real question was how long we would have to wait for the second season. With a couple of bridge OVAs to keep us interested and fill in some gaps, we now have our second season, but it is more of a conduit, as we further complicate matters with, uh, further complications.
We had best run down the now capacious cast.
Upper left photo (left to right): Chitoge Kirisaki and Marika Tachibana Upper right: Fuu, Seishiro Tsugumi and Paula McCoy Lower right: Haru Onodera (sister to Kosaki) and Raku Ichijo Lower left: Ruri Miyamoto, Kosaki Onodera and Shu Maiko (more…)
This particular comedy “Ane-log” (“Sister Log”, or the complete title of “Ane-log: Moyako Nee-san no Tomaranai Monologue” which is “Moyako’s Never-Ending Monologue”) is strange in that it has a fundamental flaw, but that doesn’t prevent us from having a lot of fun with it.
Many, many years ago, let’s say 10 years earlier or so, Akira told his slightly older sister Konoe that he wanted to marry her. Now, at this very point in their lives, Moyako is wholly, solely convinced that Akira is a grand pervert who wants nothing more than to physically and emotionally subjugate her into being a sex slave. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but Moyako’s overheated imagination runs rampant and even the slightest gesture or comment sends her reeling. SHE is the big pervert and nothing can rein in her unbridled thoughts.
The above scene comes from when Akira spilled coffee on himself and Moyako thinks he is going to use this as an excuse to strip down and flaunt his goodies before her. So what’s the flaw? Why is it now? Why is all of this coming to fruition at this juncture in time? (more…)
Just after “Your Lie in April” concluded, out came their OVA. This is a rare OVA, in that you have to see the series all the way through before you can honestly watch the OVA. The entire OVA is referenced throughout the series and it makes a caliber of sense when you see this, as you were given all the clues. I am assuming it is about four years earlier, so everyone is 10 or so, although the picture may give an indication of being eight. It’s hard to tell. We have the three main players on that bench, each noshing on their favorite treat.
Left to right, Emi Igawa, Kosei Arima and Takeshi Aiza, are all the same age and are all tremendously gifted pianists, but everyone takes a back seat to what Arima does. He is the Human Metronome, in that he plays the music perfectly. There isn’t much color or spark in what he does (unlike his rivals), but the judges look for technical perfection and Arima has that in spades. Here’s the funny thing: Arima is in competition against himself, trying to win over the love of his dying mother, who is as rough as they get. Emi and Aiza are chasing Arima and always coming up short. For the most part, there are your medalists, so to speak, as the rest of the competitors are left with scraps. (more…)
I actually had a chance to view this about six months earlier, but the capsule description seemed a bit uncertain and I’m not a fan of music shows. I find they are in the area of sports shows, where we end up focusing too much on the performance and the show loses something about the people. But then I heard that this was a really romantic series, the best in the past few years. On Free Comic Book Day, one of the offerings was a manga sampler, of which the first chapter of this tale was shown. Well, with all these promotions, I had to see it.
The show is “Your Lie in April”, known in Japan as “Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso” (“April is Your Lie”) and tells the story of piano prodigy Kousei Arima (glasses up there). He dominated the world of piano competitions and became famous among child musicians. His mother, who was also his instructor, was a very tough taskmaster. She died and he had a mental breakdown while performing at a piano recital at the age of eleven. As a result, he was/is no longer able to hear the sound of his piano even though his hearing is perfectly fine, and he completely disappeared from the scene. (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…)
Certainly one of the more intriguing ‘school’ shows I have seen, “Assassination Classroom” (“Ansatsu Kyōshitsu”) is an odd duck of an offering in anyone’s book.
One day, the world wakes up to find that 70% of the moon is gone, completely vaporized and now is in a permanent crescent shape. The alien who did it states to the Japanese government (good, YOU losers deal with it!) that within a school year, Earth will also be destroyed by him, but he offers mankind a chance to avert this fate. In the 3-E Class at Kunugigaoka Junior High School (where all the slackers, dummies and other losers end up), he starts working as a homeroom teacher, where he instructs his students not only in regular subjects, but also in the ways of assassination. The Japanese government promises a reward of ¥10 billion ($100 million) to whomever among the students succeeds in killing the teacher, whom they have named “Koro-sensei”, as for some reason, he (we assume it’s a he; it’s the tie) doesn’t have a name. However, offing him has proven to be an almost impossible task, as not only does he have several superpowers at his disposal, including the capacity of moving at Mach 20, but he is also the best teacher they’ve ever had.
There are about 30 students in the class, leading with (around the clock, starting at upper left) Nagisa Shiota. Now, this person is a guy (a joke later played out in the show). Not particularly strong, he is blessed with keen insight, as he tries to figure out the best way to exploit Koro’s weaknesses (and he has a load of them).
Next is Karma Akabane, a slacker in every sense of the word, he is also thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to being a homicidal maniac. Class is now interesting enough for him to attend; otherwise, he’s probably downtown, mugging folks and causing numerous degrees of mayhem. (more…)
The OVA for “Assassination Classroom” is, quite simply, the worst OVA I have ever seen, as there is no real reason for it. Now, a full review will follow when the show actually concludes, but, for the nonce, the plot revolves around Koro Sensei (that smiley face up there). He is a space alien and has personally blown away 70% of the moon. He gives the earth nine months (until March, in the anime) to have this classroom of slackers and losers try and assassinate him or it’s bye-bye big blue marble. It’s a lot harder that you think.
The series just dropped us into things with a rather thin background in regards to the initial events, and I was hoping the OVA would be a kind of Episode #0 or #0.5, to pre-explain things better, but no such luck. It is, in fact, a compilation of Episodes # 7 and #8, but with no real rhyme or reason. I mean, I can WATCH Episodes #7 and #8 in full and get what I need and not have this Cliff Notes version trotted out. OK, the art is a little different and the version I saw used an alternate font for the subtitles, and there is a slightly new take on things, but, overall, it’s those two episodes done again. And since this OVA came out just after #8 was released, it’s even more perplexing. And if you just decided to grab the OVA, then you are tremendously behind the curve, as you are, in effect, coming in about mid-season and no amount of catch-up is going to help. (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…)
So, with the conclusion of the second (and potentially, final) season of “Chaika, the Coffin Princess”, it is now time to trot out the OVA, so we can tell a story that otherwise would not have fit into the full run of things. The OVA is actually two half-episodes, where the Red Squad and the White Squad come into contact with one another while avoiding the Kliemann Agency (more or less), but this is done more to be goofy than any real import, much like “Darker Than Black” Episode #26, which was goofy and silly and funny and completely out of character with the show’s original dark and dismal run.
In this outing, the guys and gals are still looking for the parts of dismembered Daddy and come to a location to hunt them down, not knowing the other team is there. The tone here is far lighter, as they have to work together to escape the situation they are in, but it is not done as dramatic or intense as seen in the series; more like a minor inconvenience or annoyance, like bees living in your head. And when Akari has to flatten David twice for doing the same perceived pervy thing twice, well, it’s all for giggles and laughs. (more…)
