gearheadofmeh

First off, I'm male, and that is obviously not the target audience for this show.  Although I do enjoy a good romance (such as Jane Austen's Persuasion) and I think some shoujo comedies are hilarious (Ouran High School, anyone?), this show just didn't do it for me.  Sure, I guess it's cute.  Well, the entire thing is designed to be cute.  Every single line.  In fact, Kazehaya, the male lead, is the most perfect bishounen I've ever seen anywhere.  He's even insecure and nervous in all the perfect ways.  While his character design is not strictly bishounen, since he actually... See full review

Ah, the new Fullmetal Alchemist.  You had such promise.  The first thirty episodes of this are amazing.  Bar none, the best story I've ever seen in an anime.  It was intense, it was epic, it had twists and turns.  Nobody knew who the true enemies were, what was really going on, and it was getting revealed little by little in the best way possible.  The action was great, the script interesting, the characters fascinating.  But...things wound down.  I got bored.  I think it's just the nature of this kind of story.  Once everything gets revealed and there's not... See full review

I seem to be one of the few who takes a middle ground on this show.  It was very, very, good.  Incredibly high level of execution.  I just had a few problems that we'll get out of the way here at the start.  First off, I didn't actually like the first Clannad.  It bored me out of my mind.  I didn't like any of the girls, although I did love Tomoya's awesome sense of humor.  So I dropped that around episode 15 and skipped to After Story, which I'd heard such great things about.  After Story is much, much better.  It starts off with a couple arcs of actually... See full review

Shigofumi is strange.  It mixes an interesting premise, very dark themes and mental disorders with a touch of goofy humor.  It's episodic and yet has a coherent, overarching plot that gets developed in every episode.  It shouldn't work, but it really does.  Weird stuff happens, a lot of it.  But it still works somehow.  The format of the show is a quiet tough girl delivering letters from the dead to somebody in the living world.  Sometimes it focuses on the situations created from the letter, or the events that caused the letter to be sent.  Most of them are very... See full review

Oh man, where to begin with this one.  Ok, the story.  For the first half, as others have said, this anime was pretty bad.  Well, only the first few episodes were genuinely horrible, what with the ecchi and mahou shoujo elements.  But once you got used to the mahou shoujo and they let up a bit on the ecchi, things settled into a tolerably watchable comedy.  Then things start to get a little trippy, what with some people dying and the conspiracy theories heating up, along with a few WTFBOOM explosions.  Then Mai-HiME plunges headlong into deep melodramatic tragedy, which is... See full review

While I didn't really like the story of this movie, the execution was brilliant.  I'm not much of one for the love-at-first-sight thing, or the "you're the only possible one for me forever" thing either.  However, the storytelling was inspired, the art was interesting, the script was brilliant, the characters popped off the screen.  Music was fine, but nothing great.   I loved the two supporting characters.  The devoted follower and the skeptical cameraman, representing the two extremes possible to viewers.  The cameraman kept the film from taking itself too... See full review

Welcome to James Bond glasses girl edition!  Seriously, that's what this show is.  Everything reminded me of a classic 70s spy thriller, from the music to the action.  The only difference was superpowers replaced gadgets.  And instead of the suave, womanizing master spy, we get a typical clumsy, book-obsessed, curvy glasses girl.  Only in anime.  For those who love those spectacles and spaced-out personalities, this is your show.   The story is lifted straight out of James Bond, I'm not kidding.  All you really need to know is that these dudes are trying to destroy... See full review

Man, I look at the other reviews and I actually see people taking this show seriously.  How do they do that?  This is the most awesomely ridiculous show I've ever seen in my life.  Every single action scene had me roaring with laughter.  The entire thing is one impossibly over-the-top ball of cheese.  I just had to laugh whenever Simon fights.  He starts losing, then "No!  I believe in myself!  HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH....GIGA DRILL BREAAAKEERRRR!!!!!!"  And then he blasts through everything and everything in the entire universe explodes.  I seriously... See full review

Man, this anime was sooo close.  It was good.  It was really good.  The animation is fun, the characters are enjoyable and decently developed, the soundtrack's good too, the setting is fascinating, and the plot is pretty cool.  Thing is, in my book the thing separating an excellent show from a good one is emotional impact.  It's got to reach out and grab me, shout in my ear, "Feel this way!"  And this show never quite made it.  Sometimes it would get close to getting my empathy, but it would always fall short at the last moment, usually with some cheesy lines or... See full review

The story of this show was impressive.  All the main plot points come from economics, and it's somehow gripping.  I'm not even sure how this anime makes you care about business dealings.  But it does.  I found myself immensely interested in Lawrence's buying and selling and merchant-manuevres, even if they're not the main draw of the show.  But more on that later.    The animation is very nice to look at.  Backgrounds and scenes were gorgeous and detailed.  The character designs were fun while being mostly realistic, with the exception of Horo, of course.  I... See full review

This show is...important.  It actually had something to say.  But the show itself is so minimalist that it never smacks you in the face with it.  So obviously there's a few interpretations on what that message is.  Find out for yourself what you'll take out of it.   Now more on that minimalism.  The art is pretty bleak and realistic.  This anime adds nothing and takes away nothing from the horrific reality of the violence these girls are perpetrating.  The script is very understated and emotions are rarely spelled out, but every episode packs a serious emotional... See full review

This is the probably the only anime I've truly enjoyed just because it looks freaking sweet.  Everything else about the show is fine, nothing really detracts from it, but nothing else stands out other than the beautifully crafted race/action sequences.  They're absolutely gorgeous.  The premise itself is pretty weird.  A robot crossed with a motorcycle being ridden by a world-class ballerina?  But it works.  Somehow, it really works, because Ogata Rin looks so fine on a RideBack.  During some sequences, my jaw physically dropped.  That's amazing, considering that... See full review

This is a character-driven action show.  That said, the story of the anime isn't its strong point.  While the plot is actually pretty cool, involved, and interesting, it doesn't all make sense until the very end after you've thought about it for a while and made all the connections.  The setting is never fully explained, so it can all be pretty confusing if you're not willing to think about it.  So why the 9.5/10?  Because everything else about this show is pure gold. The animation looks great, with some sweet character designs and creative monsters/spirits.  The world is... See full review

This anime was just fun.  I loved how I couldn't predict the plot, and in fact, that's basically the only reason I watched the show.  It was a thrill ride.  Everything else about it was fine for a mecha, the characters were a bit flat, the script wasn't the best and the technological advancement was ridiculous, but the plot blew my mind.  And the ending was just great.  This is still one of the best anime endings I've ever seen.  

I wouldn't say this anime is perfect, but it's probably my favorite anyways.  Great characters, script, pacing, comedy, setting, and really everything.  What it doesn't have is action sequences.  If that's all you're looking for out of a show, (i.e. Bleach) then this is obviously not your cup of tea.  It's not a gripping or thrilling story, at least until the last few episodes, but it's a very...satisfying one.  At least for me.  One of the main themes of the show is the disconnect between ideals and reality.  Another is the nature of capitalism and how it forces some... See full review