Site Reviewer Recruitment Drive - Apply Here!

[KiraRin]

Sorry about the delay, everyone has been very busy recently with the up and coming database. I'll get your reviews flagged up with the rest of the reviewers for consideration :)

H.

[Redruum]

indeed, arigato for the response. . .

[RandomCL]

Are you still taking applications for this? I have an English BA and currently out of work (I am still going to school; first semester of my master's is what I am currently doing), so I have a lot of spare time. I'd love to get involved.

[Bones09]

Me too....are you guys still taking applicants? I can whip up a review in no time.

[KiraRin]

Hi Bones,

The drive is still open, but I will have to give the guys looking after this a kick as I don't think they've looked at this thread in a while!

H.

[sothis]

vivafruit is no longer able to help run this, so it's looking like we're going to hav eto go back to a model of people submitting community reviews. so for anyone interested, just submit community reviews as you'd always do, but in site format, and site reviewers will check them out when they have a chance.

[Redruum]

how terrible, waste of a good idea.

[papcorp]

Soo if I get this right you "don't want" more official site reviewers?

if that is right maybe edit the site and delete/hide the "JOINT THE TEAM/APPLY NOW!" section and button?
if not could you check some of mine reviews? i do some from time to time.

i must add that i do english translations for a living from time to time and I DO use proper spelling grammar and "very hard and uncomprehensible" words if i must (yeah yeah i was having english lessons since kindergarten, i got some papers and certificates and i use it like my 2nd lang). but sometimes i just need to " buzz off and chill"

and cause of this i try to make my reviews "funnier" (k, at least i try :P ) more like emotions, what a person would feel when watching certain anime, and i want to know maybe if the community is interested in this kind of reviews:)?
so plz just check them and ignore the errors (i mostly done the reviews in 1 sitting with no checking)

KANOKON

ATTENTION: EXPLICT WORDS IN THIS REVIEW. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 OR EASILY OFFENDED DON'T READ IT.

STORY

Ok.. episode 1.. load..push play...(anime starts playin).. Oh here we go!

[...]

(25 minutes later)

[...]

LOL! WTF?!

That's actually the whole encapsulated in these two acronyms. Why LOL? It's funny like hell:) The ecchi moments in this anime are hilarious, pure perfection of ecchi. It's not soo erotic as you would expect from ecchi anime, instead all the erotic stuff is presented in such form that it's not erotic anymore. And my GOD, there is a helluva erotic scenes in it. In most ecchi comedies what do we get: underskirts all the time, panties sniffing, cleveages and boobs flashing, underwear flashing. What do we se here?

The very first episode expose the whole anime's ecchi side right away. Main female character tries to get to the 3rd base with the main male as soon as possible! What is more, we can se her whole naked. There is no lame "object blocking" or "object imitating" scenes like in Mel Brooks movies. No, her boobs and ass are clearly exposed. NOW THAT IS ECCHI. I would say more than ecchi. I said earlier what we usually see in ecchi. It's not hentai either, so there should be one genre that is in the middle. And Kanokon would be the very example of this genre. We can call it HARD ECCHI or MILD HENTAI (although we never see sex, only intensive foreplay).

I explained the "ecchi part" of the series, but there is also some plot believe it or not (almost a poem..)! I won't giv u any intense details so no spoiler alert here (after reading this you will be informed as if watching the first episode), what is funnier the very first episodes explains the whole series plot right away :D

Plot: Animal spirits are living among us in real world. They are disguised in human form. Main female is one of this spirits and she fell in love in her kohai (younger student of the school). Oh yeah i forgot- most of the time anime takes place in the school. END OF THE PLOT.

There is nothing more to it :) Ofcourse the plot gets wider and bigger (but remember anime is only 12 eps long) but it doesn't evolve into anything big. There are also some plot elemnts which remain unclear. I would really want to know why they the main male character is being the target of the "love gun", what is the story of the main female's family, who the ****ed fights with them, how many people in this school are spirits?

Lots of questions and no answers (maybe the manga tells more I dunno).

Overall the plot is the WTF part mentioned earlier. The more you watch it the more bizzare it gets. And the more bizzare it gets the more funnier it gets. Belive me, it's stupid like a cow asking for a job in McDonalds but if you like ecchi at least a bit you will laugh like hell.

I'm talkin how great the story is but to be fair I'm not satisfied. I would like more exposition and describing stuff. But despite that drawback I must raise the points for STORY a little bit high because as I said: it's funny and it's really something new. Adding fantasy stuff to ecchi? When I started watching this I thought "oh my god another school-ecchi-perverted anime" but when I saw the girl changes to her spirit form.. "WHOAH... That is some impressive crazy **** going out there!"

ANIMATION

Animation is good, cells art is very fine, the details are not very high but there aren't any detail-needed objects or backgrounds. Things are drawn the way they should look. BUT WHY!!! OH WHY!!???? all the young characters don't have noses? I mean all of them! I think only a few times I saw a itteh-bitte-tinneh-black-spotee that supposedly was a nose! All the adult characters have them! Is there some old saying that young people in Japan don't have noses? I can only belive in a theory that author had a "vision" of how he wants the characters (NOTE to myself: check manga for noses). It's not really a must for the characters to have them but it makes the anime look more satiricall all the time (like always in anime when something stupid-funny takes place the chara desing became simplistic). And even though I sit thru the whole series and enjoyed watching it, to the very end I was disturbed by that lack of noses!

Also the "nuditiy details" were erased. We see boobs with nipples pointing thru the blouse, but when the blouse is taken off the nipples disapper:( (ok ok it can be magic, afterall they are magical spirits right?) Not that I must see them but it's kinda lame.. The anime is so hardcore ecchi, petting, nuditiy, and all these stuff (there is even spanking scene when the girl screams stuff like "spank me I'm a bad girl!") but hey were afraid to show nipples? Not that I need to se "lower part of the woman" details but at least nipples!

You like big boobed anime? This is for you! I don't like huge, enormous boobs waving and randomly jumping side to side front to back all the time. There aren't many that kind of scenes but they carved into my mind and I don't like them (they look so fake, immature and stupid). But I must admit these in Kanokon are not too big. They are very big but not as big as the characters heads (thank god), it's just the jumpy-wavy thing that annoyed me from time to time.

Last and I think the biggest CON is the main male character. All the characters are in high school but only him looks like a 4th grader and has the voice of a little sissy girl. All his friends and classmates look ok. AGAIN WTF ARTIST? First you remove all noses from teenagers, now you make him look like a 4th grader? I really don't get it, so just pass it by (keep in mind to lower the score).

They did great animation/art job on everything else, characters backgrounds are all fine, except those frikkin noses and one male! WHY ONLY THIS? (must check manga again).

SOUND

Nothing much to say, there is some music but not very good. Why? because i don't remember it at all. The opening theme is watchable but not my style, ending on the other hand bored me right at the begining and I have never seen it to the end (not a great loss). I can trash about lack of good in-anime music but this kind of anime doesn't need to be improved by music (ofcourse if it would have some great OST I would raise the music score to the very top). Voice acting is good, except main character (too much girly, WAYYY too much).

CHARACTERS

Everyone is ok except the main character again... I mentioned that he looks like a 4th grader. What is more, he acts like one!!! Everytime he sees a boob or some ass he gets nervous like a young kid he bought his first Playboy. I agree that Japanese kids are more strict and shy and every physical contact is somehing "wow" but this is far too much. He is obiously prepared to lose his virginity but is scared and cries like a baby everytime. Closing eyes, crying, "shy-whisperer-talk" it's sooo frickin annoying!

But I see one good point in this. In ecchi it's always the boy who is trying to have sex. And the girl is always like "yiiiiiikkkeeesss!!! go away go away!!!". Here is a complete oposite. The girl tries to (let's not be afraid to say it) **** our here. I said ****ED because she purely just wants sex, not "make love...", just pure sex. She walks to him on the street and say "Kouta (male's name)! I want to have sex with you now!". And she strips him down in the middle of the street trying to **** him. What our hero do? He tries to ran away or cry and wiggle like a little girl under the big-breasted girlfriend.

The question is: WHY HE ACTS LIKE THIS?

Other characters? They are good. there isn't much of support cast (they just are but they don't play a big role, the whole anime is about 4-5 main characters) but hey doo exist. Watching ecchi comedy you can't expect much character development but I must say there is some pretty nice development there! It's all about sex but when the characters start to discuss about love and everything that comes with it something changes them. It was interesting to see them thinking about what is love and how it works for them. I was really fascinated by the slow action love scenes and characters monologues and dialogues about what they feel how they feel and what they want.

It really surprised me that this anime can change its own character even for just a brief moment.

OVERALL

If you love pure ecchiness chances are you will like this anime. Also it's something new and different among all these school based ecchis. I mentioned many bad things about it in this review but the truth is I really enjoyed it. It was fun and I just couldn't wait to see every new episode (if only I had time I would watch it during one sitting). Beside the ecchi stuff that is also a great comedy and as I mentoined I can see some good "slice of life"? Maybe that is too much to call it "slice of life" but there is something more than just sex in our relationships and the characters in this anime from time to time prove it. The biggest drawback of this anime is the main male character:) Throwing him out of the character rooster would raise the scores in someway but maybe also lower them? It's pretty interesting how such a bad anime can be such a fun.

CANDY BOY

STORY

I picked this series after reading a recomendation on a website where I watched this anime (and many others). When I saw the tag line "incest love twin sisters and their everyday life problems" I was like WOW. "This is what I have been looking for! At last some good slice of life anime withc a little addition of ecchi love and humour". Finally some good anime right?

Boing!

Wrong wrong wrooooooonnnggg..

This anime had such a great potential in story but the authors just ruined it all. The story is boring, When I watched this anime I was bored like I never have been before and confused too. Although I must admit I only watched 5 out of 7 episodes so far and now I'm waiting for the translation of the last two. Why I decided to write a review of an anime I have not watched fully? Well I watched more than half of it by now so there must be a mirracle to change my mind about it now (to be fair.. I woudl not expect a mirracle from this anime now).

Back to the story. One of many things that bothers me is how the sisters act. It seems that the writer of the dialogues was a 10 years old girl (with all your respect ladies..). Therefore the twins act like a 10yo girls but what I got from the anime is that they attend to some art college? I admit that I party a lot and most often act immature at college but the way the twins act is way too far. They are shy, they blush, they get embarassed because of stupid girly things and they talk childish. I think that the authors made a bad decision when they picked their behaviour:)

What is more they childish acting is really poor. They are dull, empty and they lack of emotions. They are in love or not? Well it's obvious that the girls "like each other very much". To be hones they even say it to each other in first ep I think, they literally say "I LOVE YOU". And I have a big family but I have never heard this kind of "I LOVE YOU" from anyone of the members:) So yes, the girls really love each other although they don't want to admit it? Or maybe it's what I saw. That is one of the other problems - I don't know when they are telling serious stuff and when it's something unimportant. Once again, it's because the acting is dull, empty and completly emotionless. Whereas they should overflow with emotions and touchy moments.

There is one thing I found funny in this "emotionless acting". All the other characters are acting the same. They are sisters in love (incest for me nothing more nothing less :P) and their friends see it, even their family see it and yet everyone act cool. It's nothing unusuall for them? In JPN it's common for incest twin sisters? Man! I'm breaking my piggy bank and 1 ticket to JPN please! Once again the writers failed, I think the series would be more interesting if other people would not accept this kind of relationship. A little conflict would be nice, some drama and love. EMOTIONS that is what lacks the most in this anime. But if you are looking for that..find another series (Ai Yori Aoshi I suggest).

Give us emotions writers!! To be fair and square, there was one scene in one of the episodes (don't worry I won't spoil by even telling you what episode:)) that had some emotions in it. To be more precisely, it was an emotion flewing from one of the characters. It was this one, magical moment when I felt a little tear gathering in my left eye. When I saw that moment I took a deep breath and said to myself: "FFS.. finally!! Some emotions in this borring anime. Now it's going to be all right, they found what they have been missing in it". The moment I finished the sentence in my mind was the moment of the "emotion scene" ending.. 4 seconds to be accurate. They finally added some emotions and all of the sudden they get rid of them right away. I start to think that maybe the director and writer of the anime are afraid of their feelings?

One more thing that bothers me in this series. Episode 1 was 14 minutes long (including title card intro and ending theme), 2nd episode was 9 minutes (the same stuff), 3rd one was 11 minutes. It is just impossilbe to compress so many story in that little time, not to mention only 7 episodes. Let's recap, they are at college, they are having forbiden love, typical everyday life problems and what is more other girl is having a crush on one of the twins. Well that's a lot and what is more funnier? You get to know all this in first episode. It looks like the writers just took a plot, stretched it out how much was possilbe then fold it up and wrap it in a tinfoil. Too bad it did not worked well.

Ofcourse I will watch the last two episodes ASAP and modify this review if needed:)

ANIMATION

At least that was good! Yeah that is the first thing that breakes into my mind when I think about animation in Candy Boy (btw, what's with the title? If you know what it is Candy Boy please write to me). Both characters (even those in the backgrounds) and backgrounds are done pretty well. The level detail quite surprised me. I expected high detail from main characters but random people in the street? That is what I like in anime/manga, keeping the details so high that I could tell where the girl from anime bought that blouse. If it amused me so much why only 7,6? I think the action was a little static for me. I know it's not action anime or anything like that but all in all I did expected a little more life from everything. Details are good and lots of them but the "animation" is not so good. To be honest it is good but the overall storyboarding was a little stiff and makes the anime look more like a manga (or maybe it's just too late for me ;) ).

SOUND

I don't find it annoying but I don't find it entertaining either. I don't even remember if there was any music in this anime. And if I don't remember then it means there was no music at all or it was poor and unappealing. The sounds are OK (you can't demnad much of sound effects from romance anime) and the voices are well done and picked just right for every character.

CHARACTERS

What can I say more? I think I covered the characters section in my STORY section. If the story is bad it means that the acting characters are bad. There is nothing more to say but if you want I can repeat myself and say once more that they are boring, dull and emotionless. The characters act unreal for me, that is a big disadvantage when you try to make a "slice of life" anime. Longer episodes and more emotional feelings and emotions exposition would work miracles with the characters and the series.

OVERALL

If this anime would have more episodes (similiar to the already existent ones) it would be marked as DROPPED in my list. I don't think I could whitstand this great ammount of emotions lacking, dull dialogues in a bigger series. That is the only reason why I have decided to watched it to the end, If I start something I want to finish it properly to have full spectrum of opinion. Despite all this talk, I really don't recomend it. I like romance, slice of life, drama anime but this one was not good enough for me. Although it is not very bad it might bore you like me.

Feel free to comment or argue:)

my other reviews are at my profile. feel free to check them if u want.
once again plz dont spam me with stuff like "bad grammar/syntax/passive active is wrong.." (if i want i can check these reviews and fix them but thats not the point)
i just want an opinion on the style:)

EDIT:
and yeah i dont much discuss on forum board (well not on this at least:) )

[tunaroll]

Hi. I'm tunaroll and I'm going to attempt to write a review. They're probably not long enough though, so bear with me.



Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (6 out of 10)
Black Cat (8 out of 10)

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Story: 7/10

Anyone who has heard the name Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has probably heard the word "violence" uttered right after it. Higurashi is the nightmarish tale of the unfortunate boy Maebara Keiichi in his new home of Hinamizawa, where he meets a group of adorably wide-eyed young girls. Everything appears to be peaceful and warm, radiating what one would immediately recognize as hospitality. Suddenly though, Keiichi is swept into a cycle of endless and brutal violence. Insanity grows as murders in Hinamizawa are replayed over and over again, much to his horror. The goal of the story is to solve the mystery of Hinamizawa. That is if you can stomach the endless gore-fest, I'm not the one for horror, but the story concept is extremely intriguing.


Animation: 5/10

The animation is cutesy and sweet when it comes to animating the young schoolgirls and Keiichi in their sane moments. But when they snap you're instantly greeted by death-glares and nasty jagged-toothed smiles as they laugh maniacally at the innocent soul they're mutilating. It's not the highest-quality of animation you've ever seen, but it definitely gets its point across while you're staring at a silhouette that's bringing a bat down on some poor civilian's head with a sickening crunch.


Sound: 9/10

The voice actors play their parts to the letter. They have great talent for playing nutty characters. I can still hear Rena laughing her head off in the many remixes of the show I've seen on YOUTUBE. Brilliant work, just brilliant. But it does induce headaches while watching the show.


Characters: 6/10

The characters all share the same personality: insane. There is no differentiation throughout the characters introduced. I just wanted a normal character, is that too much to ask? It actually arrives to the point where you've listened to these characters so much you're just about ready to check yourself into the nearest psych ward.


Overall: 6/10

I've rated some parts higher than this, but the anime as a whole isn't worth anything more than this. Honestly, someone who wants an endless gore-fest will be more impressed than someone just looking for a psychological thriller. Approach this one with caution. If you need me, I'll be hiding under my bed, just in case Rena shows up.



Black Cat
Story: 9/10

If you had gotten one friend to read the Black Cat anime, and one to read the Black Cat manga, then asked them to give a synopsis, you'd get two very different sides to the story. It's true, and it's disappointing that the anime didn't stay true to its original manga, but it does prove to be an interesting story nonetheless.

Black Cat is the story of Train Heartnet, a twenty-something-or-other ever-hungry secret assassin/bounty hunter, along with his gentlemanly friend Sven Volfield. In the anime, you first met train when he is still a member of the Chronos Numbers, roman numeral thirteen (thus the name Black Cat for being unlucky). He meets a quirky kimono-clad woman named Saya (who's last name has been lost in secondary-character land), who changes Train's life and forces him to be a kinder person, even going so far as to spare the life of one of his victims. Along the way he meets Sven and a nano machine enhanced super weapon named Eve (who has the appearance of a twelve year old girl). Eve and Sven eventually coax Train into joining their group of Bounty Hunters. Along with ally Rinslet Walker, a notorious and attractive young thief-for-hire.

Even Train's enemies (a group called "Apostles of the Stars" led by the villainous cretin Creed Diskenth), have an array of personalities, ranging from the lovable bi-polar, fire-wielding schoolgirl Kyoko Kirisaki, to the bug-loving creeper (whose name escapes me) who's always wearing robes covering his face. These characters are sure to entertain.

Animation: 7/10

The characters are drawn entirely different from the manga. I read the story first before watching the anime, and I can't help but focus on how the eyes are fifty times bigger on the T.V. production by Gonzo Studio. Kentaro Yabuki, I'm sorry your characters now have to deal with unusually heavy eye disorder.

Sound: 10/10

The opening theme is undeniably catchy. Daia No Hana or Diamond Flower is a great opening for an anime of this caliber. The voices are well done, especially for Eve, who starts out as an emotionless creature. The sound overall is great, I have no objection.

Characters: 9/10

The characters of Black Cat are wonderfully quirky. I always laugh at Kyoko's obliviousness to every situation, and her obsession with our doughnut-shaped plate-wearing hero Train. As an interview of the manga clearly stated-"The interaction of the characters is brisk and funny." I feel this holds true for the anime as well.

Overall: 8/10

Black Cat. Out of all the stories I had decided to start with the manga instead of the anime, this probably was the worst. But even with the differences, the characters hold their personalities and still remain enjoyable to watch. I could recommend this anime to just about anyone looking for a good time and a great adventure.

[tonycassidy]

This is my first time doing this...so bear with me and laugh if it's wrong
I accept all critizicm.

Mirage Of Blaze (6/10)

Probably not one of the most watched or reviewed but I felt it deserves some recognition.

Story 7/10

For those who probably never heard of the series, it's based on a short novel that was released in 2000. It's about a regular----somewhat a rebel-----high school student named Takaya Ohgi who spends most of his high school days being the friend-----and protector of Yuzuru Narita. That is until a chance meeting with Yoshiaki Tachibana-----who is a "possessor," or a soul that is re-incarnated over the passing of time-----tell Tayaka that he is really the the reincarnation of Kagetora Uesugi---A powerfur warrior in time of feudal Japan. After some revelations the dormant powers in Tayaka are awakened to battle the forces of the Feudal Underworld------Bound warrior souls bent on taking over modern-day Japan.

Animation 6.5/10

The animation has late 80's written all over it. But it is fluid in it's attempt to bring the characters of and the story Mizuna Kuwabara to life. Adaption from manga to anime really has no sort of difference to me.

Sound 7/10

I'm a sucker for rock----and the opening theme kicks ass definetely. And the American voiceovers for the characters actually match the Japanese adaptions of the personalities of the characters. Most of the BG music didn't change in translation.

Characters 6.5/10

The characters are enjoyable to watch and associate with. Some characters come off as crass and annoying at times but they still interact with the main story.

Overall 6/10

Probably one of the animes that I enjoyed outside of the mainstream series that are out there. The re-watch factor is somewhat high-----if you're into Japanese history and re-incarnated souls and demons.



Grrl Power OVA 5/10

Now this kind of anime isn't really my cup of tea, but since i've seen it......i'll review it.

Story 5/10

Basically it's about three elementary school girls----- Ao, Sora,and Umi ,who does all sorts of weird and odd jobs, in order to one day have their island. But they come to their biggest job yet------to convince a young boy named Rikku to stay in school after troubles convince him not to go back.

Animation 5.5/10

Yeah. The animation is cheesy enough for your little brother or sister. But you'll have your own opinion after giving it a look-see.

Sound 4/10

As you can expect from something that's geared toward younger children.....the pratfalls, the releasing of the bodily gases, etc,etc. Some of the sound effects will make you smile, the rest will make you turn the show off.

Characters 5/10

Only your little brother or sister can relate to these characters. But if your reflecting on how you were when you were that young, you might a warm sensation.

Overall 5/10

Of the all the accolades that this OVA recieved, it's mainly for children. If you're just a collector of anything anime, it really is one to pick up for your collection. Re-watch value-----pretty low.