NarkyOtic

This was the worst thing I've seen all year and I fucking loved it. FML.

There's not much to speak of in terms of analysis for this series of short web presentations. In various settings within mini-stories, the original Sohoku team go through a series of 6 common-sense rules for safe and practical cycling. It's not a bad collection of clips, featuring chibi characterisations and breaking the fourth wall, with some cute original content drawn from various parts of the series and featuring other prop and secondary characters in support. At only a minute apiece, you can't really go wrong if you're a fan of the series and just looking for a contextual breather.

*Anime-Planet Secret Santa Review* Story I gotta admit, after the first three minutes I was about ready to jump off a bridge. After having my trust completely shattered sitting through 90 minutes of hell, being greeted with a similar strain of 80s style animation nearly tipped me over the edge. I hung on. I was pretty certain I'd hate this, but I'm pleased to say that I was proven completely wrong. Opening with some common tropes of ditzy girls and daddy issues and some serious fuck-off mecha thrown in, it wasn't looking good... See full review

*Anime-Planet Secret Santa Review* Story Guys... guys... guys...  This. This is… absolute, unadulterated, untreated, unpasteurised, bacteria-ridden faecal matter that has been fermenting in the bowels of an industrial farm waste bin since 1996. Despite this being a newer production, my other SS pick aged a bajillion times better than this one. No bones about it, it is hands-down THE worst anime I have ever seen. And I sat through both Oreimo AND Popee (blessed be His name). I even mildly enjoyed Diabolik Lovers due to my... See full review

Story: Just when I was getting all excited about Miaka maybe finally being able to grow into her own skin a little more... this happened. The third FY OVA centres upon the pregnant Miaka (already making her a billion percent more vulnerable) being seized and rendered completely immobile by the deranged jealousy of a young teenage girl who has become completely obsessed with Tama. Somehow, the girl manages to wrangle her way into the old Universe of the Four Gods and sets about trying to use Suzaku's power to steal Miaka's babe in-utero, and also Taka. I didn't have high expectations of this OVA, given... See full review

Story: I was optimistic about this OVA, especially after OVA 1. After seeing that this would be based upon Miaka and Tamahome being complete strangers, I have to admit I was a little deflated, as if all the hard work going through the 50+ episodes highs and lows would all be for nothing. I'm pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised. As was probably intended, I felt the voiceless heartache as these two central characters with so much history interacted as complete strangers. Watching Miaka... pretty much regress into her... See full review

Story: So, we're fresh from finishing the FY series and still keen to see more of Miaka and Tamahome's seemingly ironclad partnership. The FY OVA 1 situates itself back on Earth... but of course, it would be folly to think that it would stay this way for long. The hapless couple choose to visit the Byakko and Genbu Priestess' graves, which is clearly a very good way to stumble back into the weavings of supernatural forces that they only just managed to escape. Tamahome manages to incur the wrath of a mysterious being, and is unceremoniously whisked off right under Miaka's nose. Here we go again... With... See full review

Story: This was an interesting anime for me for a number of purely superficial and also personal ways. Most signficantly, this wasn't your average soft-core yaoi for the fans. This anime addressed issues I've never seen examined so unapologetically in my anime viewing so far. This anime portrayed same-sex relationships from a number of angles, tackling serious issues such as domestic violence, self-denial, homophobia etc. It was excellent to see. There are some parts that could have been done better, but I would call it a step in the right direction. The plot itself is standard enough; with your... See full review

*SPOILER-FREE REVIEW* Story: When looking at the story it's important to note that this is based on an ongoing manga, and only covers the first chunk of chapters (1 - 25). Unfortunately, you really feel it, especially toward the end. On the plus side, the base of the plot itself is solid enough (see the synopsis for more details). The story is intriguing and while sometimes a little too pompous for its own good, the development of the characters alongside the maturing of the plot lends sufficient intrigue and keeps the viewer hooked on for the next piece of the puzzle to be revealed. The 'pompousness'... See full review

Story
I have to admit first that I'm a total sucker for visually-stunning school-life anime with Bishōnen angels and bad-boys. Urequited love, torturous dalliances, differences and sacrifices between two gorgeous young people who just can't seem to catch a break... Bluntly, I'm seldom not an absolute mess for this stuff. That being said, Vampire Knight was almost a foregone love-clusion for me before I'd even finished the first episode. It begins with the tender visions, half-remembered voices and distant sensations of a fragmented mind, steeped in a horrifying blood-soaked trauma that... See full review

Story
This is quite similar to the review for Vampire Knight, but applicable for context, nonetheless...
I should include the disclaimer again: I have to admit first that I'm a total sucker for visually-stunning school-life anime with Bishōnen angels and bad-boys... so that's always going to be a huge drawcard for me. From the first series, where the context and character development begins to swing faster and wider as the story cements itself to begin cutting into the roots, we should revisit and expand on Yuki's and Zero's situations, as outlined in my review of the... See full review

Story
I picked this series up, expecting a kind of Evangelion 'splodey fest with more flesh and blood-based focal conflict carriers in place of mecha. At first, I wasn't sure about it. The first third of the series is largely introductory, in a sense. We meet many characters, many subplots and many personalities in a myriad of different settings. It can be a bit of an ask first up to keep one's undivided attention on something that may simply end up as obligatory posturing for superficial intrigue. By episode 5, I thought I'd had this pegged as a 'battle arc' anime where the story flows along a... See full review

Story
A pretty standard School Life anime - almost entirely based in a school, funnily enough. Quite a novel and amusing premise, with a school functioning entirely upon streams of ability which determine the quality and prestige (or lack, thereof) of their study spaces. Battles using test scores across standard subjects and summoned mini avatars of the students provide the meat of the viewing, which brings an 'active' edge to the rather mundane idea of plainly comparing test scores written on paper. Typically, we focus upon class F. The worst in the school. We follow their trials and tribulations as... See full review

Story
I must preface this review with the admission that I barely made it through this series. It was an effort of sheer willpower and stubbornness that saw me through to the end of these seemingly ENDLESS 24-minute stretches of NOTHING. If not only for the sake of actually having it as a completely watched series in my list, I also desperately wanted to dig in deep and try to find what all the fuss was about over this anime. The reviews were mostly glowingly favourable, at a glance, and the rating is relatively solid... so what was I missing? Well, the only conclusion that I can draw is that... See full review

So, here we are again, in the post Chihayafuru wasteland... Thankfully, this time I must qualify that there is at least a little stirring of the long (looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong) neglected sub-plots, developments, character relation and forward momentum. It's still a pretty simple formula of a high school student's journey through trials and tribulations with a passion/skill and determined goals, centred wholly around the card game, Karuta. If you find Karuta boring, then stay the sweet flying shit away from this anime; Karuta is not only the central focus (again) it's also... See full review

Story
This is a shoujo series from the mid-90s that was adapted from the 18-volume manga series Fushigi Yûgi by Yuu Watase, but with subtle (and some not-so-subtle) variations from the manga plot. Having read the manga first - and started watching the anime while reading vol. 15 -, my main drive for wanting to watch the anime was firstly, and mainly, because I was enjoying the manga so much that I was spurred to watch the anime version. I had a real hankering to see how the characters moved when brought to life, which is a very positive thing that indicates just how invested... See full review

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Meh. Not going to spend a whole lot of time dissecting this one; it's a series that some will love and others will not. My reasoning is pretty clear on why I wasn't overwhelmed by the viewing experience in this case... Sharp animation, well-cast VAs, but was a bit like a threadbare rug by the end IMO. The initial premise was interesting, as an Otaku theme it had a lot of potential, and I did see good things in this... but the sister-loves-dodgy-eroge thing was stretched to cracking point in every direction to maintain the image of cohesion, but the... See full review

Story It's a pretty simple formula of a high school student's journey through trials and tribulations with a passion/skill and determined goals. Chihaya is a beautiful high school student, who is perceived to 'ruin' her beauty when she opens her mouth to speak and reveals herself to be a little less dazzlingly intelligent than her beauty might complement. Despite this, she is painted as always being up against this image - which never sat quite right with me, as her character was never particularly stupid, and I thought this consistent reinforcement cheapened her character a little, which dulled a... See full review

A short review, as this isn't a series that really needs to be picked apart, as it really is a 'what you see is what you get' kind of production. But finally, a tsundere-esque lead I didn't instantly want to punch! And this helped me to relate to the main protagonist's struggle to embrace her burgeoning sexuality and the unavoidable emotional growth that adds an innocent, accessible charm to a pretty 'all-or-nothing' journey. They went with 'all', and it was done very well. As long as you can accept that a normal, 15 year old girl would have such lofty ambitions to have 100 'sex friends' as the catalyst... See full review

Story - 7.5/Characters - 7
If you've seen the series, OVAs or other movies (although this is the first), then you're pretty well versed in the usual plot devices that the Ranma 1/2 package usually employs. We're greeted by the usual rascally perverted (mildly criminal) behaviour from Happosai, the incurably female-obsessed martial arts master and founder of Anything Goes Martial Arts. His opening sequence 'panty raid' is used as a haphazard and faithfully predictable flowing introduction for most of the usual cast members, who are often casting their ire toward Happosai's antics - and this... See full review

Story - 9
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (Rainbow for short), as the synopsis tells us, is set in Japan a decade after WWII ended. The longer-term effects of war are apparent everywhere; from abject poverty, broken families - from both post-traumatic mental illness and death - to the desperation of many being exploited by the heartless few. We see all of this in Rainbow, it is an extremely well-rounded account of how lives can be affected by war. However, it's not all doom and gloom, and that's one of the strongest features of this series; we are also shown hope, resilience and the... See full review