Komirai

There are two responses I get, without fail, every time I try to get someone new to watch this show. "I don't like the art style," or "I've seen the dub - NO THANKS." I'm guilty of both of these myself. But if there's one thing I need to stress before even getting started on this review, it's that the 4Kids dub is NOT One Piece. For the love of god, PLEASE do not think it is. If you've suffered the misfortune of seeing some of the 4Kids episodes, just erase them from your mind and start fresh. They butchered it, there's really no other way to put it. They cut episodes, changed the... See full review

Usually I'm not the type to watch romantic comedies, only because of how cliche most are. This anime isn't an exception. Although what most rom-coms try to do is have a unique characteristic that separates from the normal. 

Story: 6
The romantic comedies I've seen always has a typical setting for it's story. You've got your typical male somehow attracting people of the opposite sex to do your dirty work for you. Okay, that's a bit of an overstatement but you know what I mean. You have a new student who comes around and takes advantage of our main character Eita. He is entirely... See full review

The problem with creating a historical anime is frequently similar to that of adapting a manga or video game: oftentimes, the author has to resort to filler or fan-service materials to clumsily meet the airing requirements for shows. However, an axiom that directors ought to familiarize themselves with is that quality is invariably better than quantity.

Thankfully, this inference only applies to certain aspects of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, a recent adaptation of the original light novels under the same name.

Set in a time period of gruesome wars to political corruptions, Maoyuu depicts a fantasy... See full review

Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion takes place in the Bleach universe, as the title may suggest. It focuses mainly on 10th squad captain Hitsugaya Toshiro, so if you're a fan of him, you'll enjoy this movie, and if you're not, you might not find it interesting. If you're neither of the former, like me, you'll probably enjoy it too.

The story isn't the most original story you'll see, as it follows the theme of revenge based off of a grudge from the past. Said revenge will be executed by obliterating everything. So there's nothing special in that department. Toshiro gets involved in this act of... See full review

I'll admit, I had a blast watching this movie! It has a lot of cool fights and an interesting plot. The plot isn't all that unique though, that's the only part that is disappointing. If you've seen the anime Bleach, then you know how their 'arcs' go. Bleach tends to do the whole "someone gets kidnapped, Ichigo has to go fight a ton of people and then save them! The end." That's exactly what happens in this movie too.

It starts off with a somewhat of a flashback to when Ichigo fought Ulquiorra back in Hueco Mundo when he turned into a crazed hollow. That caught my attention because I... See full review

Bleach is one of the three so-called "mainstream shonen animes"; together with Naruto and One Piece these three are immensely popular, and the topic of endless comparison among their fans set out to prove that their favorite is the best out of them. They simply refuse to exit their fanboyism to view the series in an objective light, which is a shame, because they are probably missing out on great adventures, which is the case of Bleach in many ways. If you want my review short and good, give Bleach a try no matter what people have said, as it, despite a lot of shortcomings, presents a most... See full review

Title: Nishi no Yoki Majo ' Astraea Testament

Manga/Anime/Novel: Nishi no Yoki Majo's original incarnation was an eight-volume, three side-story novel series done by Noriko Ogiwara. The manga incarnation, which keeps Ogiwara on the story and puts Haruhiko Momokawa on the art, is currently running in Japan, began being serialized in Comic Blade on July 9th, 2006, and currently has five volumes released. Tokyopop has picked it up, and will release it under the title Good Witch of the West ' Nishi no Yoki Majo's literal translation ' this October (2006). The anime itself ran from April 7th to June 30th... See full review

Kaze no Stigma is a fun anime if you're interested into this genre. Battles, magic, comedy, kick-ass moments, KnS has it all.

Story
The story is fair, not really impressive since for me it was predictable towards the end. The "main" plot starts later in the series as the first 3/4 is filled with random missions and somewhat fillers like hotspring episodes and so on. Even though the lack of main plot overall disappointed me, I found the story overall satisfying.

Art
The characters are very nicely drawn, you can clearly see this is a 2007 anime. Effects are good, from flames... See full review

The story revolves around a junior-high student. Keita is your average, easy to relate to guy struggling to get his grades at a certain level, so he can go to the same school as his sisters. Yeah, his twin-sisters. Actually, they aren't blood related, but their parents married while they were still young. Now normally that wouldn't be much of a problem, but this time both are madly in love with him. Throughout the anime, they both try to win his heart, often causing him to fail at what is trying to. As the story continues, he gets more and more interested in them, and that even results in a few spicy... See full review

Kodomo no Jikan is a heavily controversial title, and with good reason. But like most controversial titles, its subject matter is not exploited in vain, and the end result is something that can be credited, at the very least, as a decent series in its own right.

No series has dared to tell the story KoJikan tells and gotten away with it, but for all the underage fanservice it provides, the heartwarming drama beneath the disturbing ecchi comedy ultimately shines. Had KoJikan been solely about the fanservice, this series would deserve all the negative criticism it has received, but there's a heavy... See full review

If you want an anime that induces a nosebleed once every ten minutes, Koe de Oshigoto! maybe that show you're looking for (even if it's only an OVA). Just make sure you're watching either: 1) alone 2) with people with the same tastes or 3) knowing how to mute the show in less than one second. Because believe me, if there are people "around" you who doesn't know what you're watching, you might as well be watching hentai (in their mind, at least).

Story: 8/10

The story's very straight-forward; Kanna just turned 16 and is asked by her older sister to work as a Voice Actress in her... See full review

Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and senile, but it seems that the more anime I watch, the less sense they seem to make. You could imagine my confusion when I started watching Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? "Why is the zombie weak to sunlight but not the vampire? Why the hell is he in a pink frilly dress? Why is that monster a giant lobster?" In exasperation, I put these questions to a good friend, and I found that his reply turn out to be a very apt one-sentence summary for my review.

He said to me: "I dunno lol, who cares? It's fucking hilarious!"

Everything in... See full review

Many criticize the harem genre of anime for its overly formulaic approach and execution. And Ladies vs. Butlers will probably not change the opinions of these critics, since practically every convention common in harem anime is crammed into this show.

The premise behind Ladies vs. Butlers is simple yet predictable. The main character, Hino Akiharu, attends a school for upper-class ladies that is also dedicated to instructing maids and butlers how to function in high-class society. The story basically details Hino interacting with the various girls at the school and the various ecchi situations he... See full review

Story- When people look at Myself; Yourself's cover, they usually get the automatic reaction that its a typical harem anime with predictable outcomes, which is not true. Of course, if you totally dislike school life - romance animes then you shouldn't bother wasting your time watching a genre you do not like. Back on topic, the story basically revolves around friendship more then relationship between opposite sex, and let me make this clear again... THIS IS NOT A HAREM!

Art- I seriously liked the artwork in Myself; Yourself, not because the girl's were fairly pretty designed but the background and... See full review

One of the problems that faces all studios, regardless of their medium, is how to build on success. The most obvious solution is to create a sequel, however as most people know, the sequel is rarely on par with the original, and it's unfortunate that following the success of the Sakura Taisen game and the OVA Ouka Kenran, the follow-up anime is guilty as charged.

Released in 1999, Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran is set between the first two games and follows the lives of the members of the Imperial Assault Force - Flower Division. The Demon Wars have ended, and the members of Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi... See full review

It's highly ironic that my most recent review was for Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran. At first it may seem that the two shows have very little in common aside from involving the supernatural and artistic performances. This isn't where the similarity ends though, as both Gouka Kenran and Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S suffer from almost exactly the same problems, and for almost identical reasons.

The first series followed the lives of the employees of the Tsuge Divine Music Players Office, in particular, Tatara Phoron and his contracted spirit Corticarte Apa Lagranges (Corti). Crimson S, on the... See full review

"A series with splendid animation and soundtrack but poor storyline."

Many many things have happened in the first season which was loosely based on the manga original, so logically we are expecting the storyline of Capu2 to continue from where season one left off. In fact, many many things do happen in Rosario + Vampire Capu2. They include the very exciting and daring (in the sense that they are pissing off the fans) censored fan service, more censored fan service, and still more annoying censored fan service. In terms of actual Rosario + Vampire story coverage, Capu2 literally got close... See full review

"Side tracked from its original story and ended up being a half-baked series."

Before we begin, let me drill this into your mind. Fan service; Fan service; Fan service; Fan service; Fan service! That's the theme for this anime so don't start having high hopes for an amazing story or what not (at least nothing in comparison to the manga original). Rosario + Vampire, like many manga-to-anime adaptation series, made fans screamed with joy at first, but only to have their hopes and dreams shattered bit by bit as the anime progresses. It is true that the anime's story plot deviates from its... See full review

I went into viewing ChäoS;HEAd without a great deal of expectations. Having read through many of the reviews and hearing some firsthand accounts on it I got the impression that it was going to be an average at best experience. However this was a show that I had been very interested in seeing since it started airing. For me it’s a great example of not believing everything you hear.

The story starts out as a pretty interesting mystery involving a number of grisly murders and a high school boy who believes he has witnessed one of them and is being fed information about future killings before... See full review

Finally an anime where the protagonist is not some lame fool, with his balls cut off. No weak as jokes where the male lead is a pussy and only has cheesy one liners. This has all the elements of the best animes. School life, fantasy, some elements of a harem, fighting, etc. with the lead as a handsome physically fit male, strong and confident, awesome girls, magic, fan service that has some depth. Great personalities among supporting roles. The only let down being that animes that are particularly awesome in most regards tend to have short life spans. Its strong story may reach past 13, and it has room for... See full review

“Nothing ventured nothing gained” That is one of the quotes that came to my mind after starting this anime. The main protagonist Yuuki Oojima has the option to run for an election to save his precious club, he starts his election after hearing similar words from people around him.

At first I thought Choi to Senkyo to Chocolate would be your typical school club romance type anime. For me it ended up becoming so much more. It starts out with a dramatic event that honestly makes hardly any sense until you get quite a ways into the anime. Once things start to make sense though this anime... See full review

Ah yes. Mysterious Girlfriend X. When I heard that the manga was getting an anime adaption, I looked forward to seeing other people's reactions to the synopsis almost as much as the show itself. Perhaps a fair few WTFs amongst viewers who've never read the manga?

The story is simple. Boy encounters transfer girl. Boy deliberately tastes girl's drool on a desk. Boy falls in love with girl after that. Um, yeah.
The drool. If there's anything in this series that would turn off those who watch it, it'll obviously be the various saliva-swapping scenes. Personally, I don't think it's that bad. If it... See full review

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. Even that title alone may convince some viewers to watch this series. But what you may least expect would be a ghost troll (a hot ghost troll if I may add) hanging out with the main protagonist on a daily basis doing cute little things here and there.

The story covers the Paranormal Investigation Club, a club that deals with the supernatural. From there, we have the other members starting with Teiichi Niiya, probably the only normal member of the group. He maintains an unusual relationship with our ghost troll Yuuko in which despite her flirtatious and mischievous attempts... See full review

While I was watching this anime, I couldn't help but compare it to another girls' love anime I watched once: suffice to say, it's one that it kept me away from the GL genre for a while for having too much fan service and too little plot. Well, as it turns out, Maria†Holic fits that description a lot better.

You'd think the plot would be centered around the cross-dresser Mariya and her reasons to do so. It's not. The moments in which this is developed in the plot are few and far in-between. In fact, the plot is basically non-existant: the whole series feels like a bunch of random scenarios... See full review

What can we expect from a title that says Romeo x Juliet? Probably a cheesy and draggy remade version of the original story that has no dept whatsoever.

But I was utterly wrong. Simply bear in mind that this is the Anime Version of Romeo and Juliet, and expect what you'll expect from most anime for eg, fantasy. I'm no fan of Shakespear's work but I do know the general outline of the story and the important scenes such as the balcony which audience will get to enjoy during the course of the series (although I'm guilty of laughing at that part).

Story wise - Firstly, I'm very impressed by... See full review

Compared to the first season in which I did really like, the 2nd season was less climatic and actually more 'peaceful', yet I kept watching it till the end, probably just to see a resolution to the story or maybe just due to liking the main characters.

Animation: This is what I shall always be critical about, I have never liked BeeTrain's style which tends to drag the story and make everything slower paced than they are supposed to be. Noir and Madlax have been a snore fest for me, Tsubasa Chronicles although having a manga to backup, had almost the same pacing with characters wearing static... See full review

Tsubasa RESERVoir Chronicle (TRC) - the anime - showed a lot of promise from its very first episode. However, because of the fact that TRC is aired during the children's hour in Japan, which limits exactly the kind of content they are allowed to put into this anime, as a result, have disappointed many viewers thinking they would be witnessing a story that was close to what was written in the manga by CLAMP. However, despite all of that, Tsubasa Chronicle still shapes up to be a relatively enjoying series, if you can get through a couple of the more slower arcs and horrendous fillers.

First of, in... See full review

I really am trying to not become one of those cynical anime watchers who think the best has already come and never will again, but you’re really trying my resolve this year Japan. Hidan no Aria was a show that for whatever reason I had a great deal of excitement and anticipation for. I was won over by the early pre-production artwork without knowing really anything at all about what it was going to be about or the source materials. When I learned the seiyuu cast and the plot synopsis I was pretty sure what I was going to be in store for. In that sense I probably shouldn't have been disappointed at... See full review

Even at first glance, Fortune Arterial seems... shakey... generic. Whoever said "don't judge a book by its covers" probably didn't look in the right book section because, indeed, Fortune Arterial is shakey and very generic. The experience of watching Fortune Arterial is comparable to eating rotten food (not that you would ever do it voluntarily)- the experience is horrible for the first half, then after eating it for a while your taste buds already dead so you feel that it's passable. After you finish eating all the rotten food, you look back and ask yourself "what the hell just... See full review

Animation (8/10)
Quite nice and steady animation. The character designs are a bit on the simplistic side, but they are nice to watch. Funny scenes are drawn very well, and there are quite a few of them. You will find a lot of ecchi (especially panty shots and the "top part") in this series, but not just light stuff. In my honest opinion this series does touch the border of hentai with some scenes...

Sound (9/10)
Now this is something that raises the overall rating of the series by quite a fair margin. The opening tune is average, but the ending done by YURIA is something that makes... See full review