It seems to be a rule of anime that if you have an idol show, there MUST be a second season and “Love Live II” is no exception. We follow our nonet as they decide to put on the gauntlet again and try for stardom. But they bring in a lot of artificial problems to force them to fish or cut bait.

The first problem is that Honoka Kōsaka (in the lead spot) is now Student Council president and doesn’t have the time for this. The second is that Love Live is now doing regionals and their group would have to beat A-Plus to move ahead. The third is that three of them will graduate by the end of the school year, so this would be the last time the original members could perform together.

What should they do? What can they do? What will they do? Any suggestions? Yeah, like you couldn’t see through that. Of course they forge ahead, ready and willing to sing like there’s no tomorrow (and, in a sense, there isn’t). It’s just that the second season seems pasted together and a lot of the ‘problems’ aren’t real problems, more along the lines of having to surrender parts of your youth to move ahead into the world of adulthood. (more…)

In a sense, this is another ‘move-in’ show, but it takes a slightly different tack for it. “Engaged to the Unidentified” (“Mikakunin de Shinkōkei^”, “Unconfirmed & In-Progress”) tells the tale of Kobeni Yonomori (far left). She is a high school girl who lives with her mother and older sister Benio (next to her). Upon turning sixteen, Kobeni is shocked to learn that, due to an arrangement by her late grandfather, she is engaged to a boy named Hakuya Mitsumine (far right) who, along with his little sister Mashiro, (next to him) come to live with Kobeni. Talk about a move in, they not only come into the house, they come into the school and right into her class room (like you didn’t see that one coming, eh?). As Kobeni spends time adjusting to this new family, she learns there is more to Hakuya and Mashiro than meets the eye.

Kobeni has enough problems in her life, as sister Benio is The Most Popular Person at School, smart as they come, Student Council President, perhaps runs the World Bank in her spare time and anyone would do anything for her. It’s that now we have Hayuka transfer in (a man of little to no words) and Mashiro (who is a bit overcute for me. Look, look, her uniform is too large so you never see her hands! Awwwwwww!) In a sense, Kobeni is under attack on three fronts and has to place this all in perspective. Adding to the concerns, she kind of vaguely remembers Hayuka, but a childhood accident robbed her of her memories of that time. (more…)

This is a slightly longer short-pull show, in that the episodes are about 15 minutes each. “The Comic Artist and Assistants” (“Mangaka-san to Ashisutanto-san to”) tells the tale of Yūki Aito, who is a manga writer and artist. But he has problems, in that he is always pushing deadlines for his currently serialized “Hajiratte Cafe Latte” story, and so he is given help with assistants, who at least do the inking to speed things along.

His ‘staff’, as it were, consists of (left to right):
Mihari Otosuna, Yūki’s editor, often scolding and beating him for his shortcomings. She and Yūki were once classmates.
Sahoto Ashisu, 19 year old assistant. Serious on her own work ethic yet very down-to-earth. She is often the target of Yūki’s mischief.
Sena Kuroi, also 19. Due to her small, childish stature, Sena is usually mistaken as a child and, at times, acts like one, especially when she is drunk.
Rinna Fuwa, again 19. Despite being an assistant, Rinna knows nothing about drawing manga, as she was hired by Mihari due to Yūki wanting someone who is cute. (more…)

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…)

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…)

This is another idol show, along the lines of “AKB0048” and “Long Live Project” and it follow more or less the same arc, although presentation is a bit different. The full title is actually “Wake Up, Girls – Seven Idols”, but, like them, we’ll truncate it to WUG.

We have to start with not the girls, but the group that supports them, which are the two ‘adults’ (I’ll explain later).

Green Leaves Entertainment is a tiny production company on the verge of going out of business. It is located in Sendai, the biggest city in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region, in a rather questionable office building that could double as an auto repair shop. Not particularly inspiring. The agency once managed the careers of magicians, photo idols, fortune-tellers, and other entertainers, but its last remaining client finally quit. In danger of having zero talent (literally and actually), the president, Juynko Tange, (she’s at the end there) hatches an idea of producing an idol group. On the brash president’s orders, the dissatisfied manager Kouhei Matsuda heads out to scout raw talent. (more…)

This is a strange series, as you really are left in the dark for most of it. We are telling a story that has no real purpose as to why we are telling it, but it needs to be told. I’ll explain as we go along.

“Haibane Renmei” (“Une fille qui a des ailes grises” and/or/either/both, “A girl who has grey wings”) has us look at angeloids in a different way. I mean, no one ever says the word “angel”, but they have wings and a halo, but if we took away those two features, they are no different than you or I. There are male ones as well, but the whole mythology behind it seems confused.

OK, I watched it, as it was On Demand and I needed something to see while I did the ironing, and it was there. It’s a show with a lot of promise, but it stagnates to the point where we are just going through the motions.

We are in the city of Glie. Although the time feels modern, there is still something kind of backwards about the town, as I don’t recall ever seeing a TV set, for example. And there is a huge stone wall that surrounds the town and environs. It appears that no one ever leaves the town, and certainly the haibanes can’t at all. (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…)

“Beyond the Boundary” (“Kyōkai no Kanata”) certainly starts off strange enough. High school student Akihito Kanbara (blonde guy in middle) goes to save his fellow schoolmate, Mirai Kuriyama (red glasses) from committing suicide, as she is standing on the other side of the top-floor fence of the school building. Following his pleas not to hurl herself into the stratosphere, Mirai suddenly stabs Akihito with a sword formed out of her own blood. She is shocked to discover that Akihito is an immortal “half-youmu”: the offspring of a supernatural creature called a youmu and a human. Mirai herself is a Spirit World Warrior; a specialist who protects humans from being affected by youmu. She is also the last surviving member of her spirit hunting clan.

The series is how their lives become intertwined, as Akihito seeks to help Mirai gain the confidence to kill youmu…so that she may stop attempting to kill him as practice.

They are currently located in a photo shop that doubles as the exchange house and information center for the Warriors. You see, when you defeat a youmu, they leave behind what looks like a jeweled rock. That is worth money and (more…)