snivets

This was a trainwreck of an anime. All-around epic fail. The one exception was the character design, which was simply sumptuous and was the only thing that kept me watching. Utimately, the art was completely a waste given the content. Wait, was there even content? But I digress. Story: The story didn't make sense at all until the last episode, and even then it made hardly any sense anyway. The characters were flatter than cardboard and about as flavorful. The main character was a nameless airhead and couldn't even make a decision without relying on the (male) characters around her. Characters... See full review

I refuse to spend more than three sentences telling you why this anime was terrible and a waste of 30 minutes; occasionally I watch things like this just to remember what I'm not missing. The premise was juvenile, the voice acting worse than nails on a chalkboard, the characters wholly uninteresting, and the story nonexistant except to cobble together some stereotypical and unimaginative ecchi scenes. It gets 1 point only because the timeline was coherent and the animation was decent.

As far as two episode romance OVAs go, this one was not bad. Story: It was fairly typical. Girl moves to remote town. Boy falls in love with girl. They go out. She has to go back to Tokyo. Well--that's the basic back story, which we get flashbacks to during the "real" story, which is that boy is on a school trip to Tokyo and is trying to meet up with girl. Unusual for an OVA, there's a lot of meat in the story here, including boy's previous romance with another girl from the same small town, as well as main girl's family issues. What could've been melodramatic (a la True Tears) wasn't, instead... See full review

I almost gave up on this one because of the characters' propensity for making long-winded speeches about Exodus/Genesis/time travel/twisting logic/bizarre Shakespeare references. Ultimately, I would consider Zetsuen no Tempest very, very average. The characterization is fairly strong, but the particulars of the world ending are annoying vague and feel contrived. Too much in the story exists because you know the author thought it was cool. Take it or leave it: it's not a drop-it-like-it's-hot show, but neither is it a must-watch show.

Although I only gave it a slightly higher-than-average score, there's plenty to be entertained by here. Story: A high school girl, Marika, finds out that she has the chance to inherit her father's Letter of Marque and become a pirate aboard the pirate ship Bentenmaru. After accepting the position, she goes on various adventures, and the story basically takes place in a series of problem-arcs. One of the things I really liked about the arcs was that they alternated between her pirate life and its problems and her high school life and its problems. I thought that this set up made for a much more believable... See full review

Btooom! is a lot like the move Saw. It is (yet another) video-games-become-real-life story, and the premise is that "bad people" are chosen by someone who knows them to get dumped on an island for a life-or-death survival game wherein everyone is armed with bombs. Except that Saw took the scenario to an uncomfortable extreme, thereby much more interestingly making a point. I'm not sure Btooom! even had a point to make. Story: Anyway, the story was weaksauce, containing no clear thematic direction, and coming to very little resolution at the end. We supposedly see the main character come to grips... See full review

I first encountered Busou Shinki when a Japanese friend (who loves mecha) brought me a Murmeltier as an omiyage from one of his visits. He said something like, "She had an eyepatch and a hat with cat ears, and was kind of gothic and cute, but also robot and weapons. She's like a cross between you and me!" You certainly could take this anime adapation of a game and toy line as a thinly disguised ecchi show watered down to be appropriate for "children" and pandering to doll-joint-loving-otaku by creating and perpetuating an image of women as dumb, weak, helpless because of their... See full review

I keep waiting for a confession, but Chihayafuru 2 is a big huge tease. The focus, as in the first season, was on the competitive karuta aspect--making it more or less a sports show--with just enough hints of developing relationships between characters to string you along and leave you wanting more. Gah! Story: Chihayafuru's story is typical of any other sports show, highlighting aspects of training and spending a lot of time battling weird opponents. The only distinguishing feature (and the feature that puts it solidly in the shoujo category) is the romance, but it's so light it's barely... See full review

I almost dropped this show after the first episode, due to Sakura's exceedingly awkward behavior. What this show had going for it was the whole "limits of justice" theme, and I was hoping it would develop more strongly in that direction. After all, first episodes are tough to pull off (a good example of a good first ep would be Ouran HSHS). Story: Well, I definitely wished I had dropped it early on (and the only reason for continuing was hope and the fact that the subbers released it during my few slow days for the season). What a crock of crap. In fact, it was so hokey and fakey and... See full review

There were a lot of things about this short that I liked, and I think it would make an awesome TV series or movie, especially since the end sort of left me hanging. Story: The story shows us a few events in the life of Mako. First, we see her discussing college entrance exams with her friend at a robot-run restaurant. Then, an app, which her father has been working to develop, warns them of an earthquake. Immediately following the quake, Mako receives a phone call that her father has had a heart attack. When she gets to the hospital, she finds out that he only has five years left to live because of a... See full review

Especially after reading other reviews of this show, I am conflicted. I think my confusion reflects the conflict inherent in a show that is trying to bridge two very different genres of anime. Story: The first half of the show seemed to develop a normal atmosphere that pandered to low-level otaku: a club is created in the name of solving the mystery of the school ghost. The creators did a decent (yet somewhat obvious) job of sneaking in hints that something darker was going on. The second half saw the happy-go-lucky-boobie ghost girl lose her marbles, and then delved into her split personality and... See full review

AO will never escape comparison to the original season of Eureka 7. As I tried to stand it on its own and evaluate it, I really didn't get far, and I actually came away with a better opinion of the original (despite that show's propensity for dragging things out way longer than was enjoyable for me). Overall, I thought that AO's "plot" was much less coherent and its characters less quirky and lovable, with the notable exception of the main character. A lot of my dislike of Eureka 7 stems from how downright obnoxious, whiny, angsty, and pathetic Renton was throughout most of the show. Ao was much... See full review

Despite the fact that KyoAni never intended for Free! to be anything more than a 30-second studio promo, I think they did an excellent and interesting expansion of the original clip. After the attention it got online they'd've been dumb not to take advantage of what was clearly a potential market--but it's still great to see a studio delivering such a grand product purely because the fans asked for it. Brief Summary: Childhood friends Haru, Nagisa, and Makoto realize that their other childhood friend, Rin, is back from Australia. Rin doesn't seem to want to relive their glory days of swimming... See full review

Shinsekai Yori really surprised me by developing some pretty heavy themes throughout the last two seasons. If you're a sci-fi fan, read on. Story: Set in a utopian/dystopian future (depending which species you belong to, I suppose), it is about a girl named Saki growing up, being confronted with problems of her society's own creation, and then piecing together the truth of her people's history while solving the various issues that crop up. The issues start small and ramp up, and the foreshadowing and doomsy, creepy vibe seeps into every nook and cranny of the story as it progresses. The storyline is... See full review

This is Ghibli the way I like it best, sans weird fantasy monsters (I'm looking at you, Ponyo), and heavy on the historical slice-of-life, which always rates high in my book. Story: I liked the story. I've seen some complaining that the drama wasn't dramatic. I guess if you're over-focusing on the romantic drama, that's true. "OMG we're siblings but we're in love?! Ooops, just a misunderstanding," is admittedly not anything revolutionary, however, I would argue that because Shun's adoption occurred on account of historical events, it's not as fluffy as it would seem. Remember how the adults... See full review

Action-driven yet human-focused, Teppou Musume does a fantastic job of keeping the tension high in this tale about a group of part-human, part-beasts who are terrorizing Edo. The story is fairly basic, driven by a hunter girl who moves to Edo to join her brother. There, they participate in the hunt for the "Fuse," half-human, half-dog beings who are eating human beings. Along her journey, she inadvertantly makes a connection to one of them. I thought the story was good, yet sparse, and not terribly deep, but certainly interesting in a "touching-on-themes" type of way. The characters... See full review

Despite appearances to the contrary (particularly the OVA, which made me very very nervous), this anime was anything but typical, and even enjoyable. Unless you take it at face value, which I would encourage you not to do. I'm not quite sure why--maybe due to quality banter, timing of gags, use of irony, nontypical reactions/endings to episodes--but the series added up to more than the sum of its individual parts, which, when dissected on their own, seem fairly normal/boring/pandering/weak/bad. But it's a great show, so let me tell you why I like it.

Story: Kodaka, a transfer student, shows up at a... See full review

I watched this show because it is the top recommendation for Kimikiss. I enjoyed Kimikiss, but I didn't enjoy Hatsukoi all that much. While they both fall into the romance genre, Hatsukoi amounts to a lot of fluff and very little substance with too much mindless ecchi content. Story: The narrative came off as cobbled together and disjointed, probably because the story focused on too many characters in not enough episodes. The development of relationships wasn't very natural or romantic, and I didn't like how certain things were left unresolved until the very end, with not much development in between. I... See full review

This is a cool show I watched a loooong time ago, and for some reason today I discovered that it wasn't on my AP list. The following review content is edited from a review I wrote on Crunchyroll. I would like to start by mentioning the fact that I find Japanese history to be convoluted and generally boring, involving rice, taxes and land laws. This show, much like any other historically-based show, made me wish that I had paid a little bit more attention to my History of Japanese Civilization class because I would find it much easier to follow. You probably haven't heard of this show because it is one... See full review

When I heard that there was going to be an anime adaptation for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I was pretty excited. I'm not sure if the phrase "cult classic" is quite right, but people seem to really like it, and as I've said before, I'm not a huge manga reader. Anyway, I figured if everyone liked it, so would I. Well I didn't. And I tried. I finally ended up dropping the show after realizing that I was watching it out of a sense of obligation to a well-known thing. I'll admit I feel bad about not finishing it, but I just couldn't make it through. Here are my reasons: Reason 1: It looks like a... See full review

This anime is reeeeeally Japanese and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. It has layers and layers of meaningful levels, is full of references to parts of Japanese culture that the average international viewer wouldn't usually know about (including myself--I could often tell there was a reference without knowing exactly what it implied), and it bases much of its humor off kanji and wordplay. If you watch Joshiraku and all you giggle at are the girls' antics, you're probably missing half of it. Story: Not rated because there really isn't one, just a series of sketches. Animation: Pretty... See full review

To add to my bafflement over this series, I heard today that a sequel has been green-lighted. What the actual fuck? (Unless it's a sequel that is actually a prequel, in which case it should have come first, because this show was confused). Story: The "plot" was an absolute fustercluck. It's like Nanamine from Bakuman got in on the scriptwriting, along with 50 of his internet advisors, and then everyone also had caffeine-induced ADHD on top of it. It felt like someone tried to throw in everything that was cool into one place, stirred the pot, and then spun it around in circles. From the... See full review

Although I only give this 6.5/10, I really did enjoy watching Kamisama Hajimemashita and would love to see a sequel that goes into more detail about the previous shrine owner and what his motivations are. Story: Nanami loses the house she lives in after her father disappears. While contemplating her situation in the park, she saves a treed man from a dog. He gives her his home as a thank-you gift, but that home turns out to be an abandoned shrine. Nanami must work to gain the trust of Tomoe, the shrine's pretty main familiar with a tragic past, and you have the beginnings of a supernatural love... See full review

This will just be a brief review to kind of collect my thoughts about Kin-iro Mosaic. Light on content (a la K-On or Tamako Market), thin on plot, and heavy on high-pitched moe and friendship, Kin-iro Mosaic is a fairly average show. There's no overarching plot except developing the girls' friendships, but even that seems light and full of silly jokes. I think my biggest complaint though, is that I never really believed that Alice and Karen were from Great Britain. Sure they had blonde hair, but they never really acted like Europeans. I can't criticize this point too much, because the show never... See full review

The world of BL is filled with manga/anime like this one: a shallow story with flat characters, numerous-and therefore difficult-to-accept-as-realistic coincidences, low-quality animation, and drama for the sake of drama, otherwise known as one of the lowest forms of entertainment: melodrama. Story: Barely existant, the first episode consists of Riju's father, Chisato, trying to scare away his friends because he's paranoid that they're out to have sex with Riju and then Riju's friend Shunsuke confessing his undying rabu for Chisato. In the second, Riju is revealed to have  a boyfriend, then everyone... See full review

I'd never heard of this when it popped up on one of my viewing sites and the title, translating to "Stars Stuck Together," struck me as kind of cute. Kuttsukiboshi is a yuri anime. There is girl-on-girl action, and a brief shot of incestuous het action-interrupted, but aren't nudey parts showing, and the story (otherwise) focuses on the development of relationships. Just so we're clear about what you're getting into. Story: Kiiko has developed telekinesis and other mind powers following a car accident. Her friend, Aaya, knows this and encourages her to strengthen them. Then one day when Aaya... See full review

Love Lab is pretty average in terms of characters and production values, but it is quite a cute show. This will just be a brief review. Brief Summary: At an all girls' school, Maki, the student council president, is secretly interested in how to attract a boyfriend. Riko discovers this secret, and is forced to join the student council because of a misunderstanding: Maki thinks Riko is a "love expert." Story: The story itself isn't anything new or unusual, but the misunderstanding about Riko's "love expertise" persists until it becomes a roadblock for the characters' relationships with... See full review

Marie & Gali is about a young girl who finds herself transported into Galihabara, a magical land where famous scientists of days past are alive and thriving. She meets Galileo, Madame Curie, and others, learning about science in order to go home. Story: The story provides a frame for Marie to learn about some scientific principle or another. Usually involving a ridiculous problem which must be solved, the comedy manages to be both clever and stupidly slapstick. Don't watch this one for a complex plot. Animation: I gave this a slightly higher score because I love love love Pet and Marie's character... See full review

As far as shorts go, this one was decent. Story: There wasn't really much of one, the short being only 10 minutes long. As Marimo's classmates recount stories of times she saved them, a group of 5th grade deliquents enters the classroom and challenges Marimo to a duel. Having just heard her say she doesn't like fighting, Marimo's friends attempt to stave off the fight, but she ends up having to save them anyway. After defeating the main boss, she suddenly remembers that she has to water the school flower bed before the end of lunch, and her friends dash off to help her. What I liked about the... See full review

Mayo Chiki is about a boy who is afraid of touching women who discovers that the butler of the richest girl in school is actually a girl masquerading as a boy. He is forced to keep their secret, and ends up growing closer with both girls. Story: Not terribly original, standard fare, typical run of beach/school festival/hot springs/etc episodes. The plot is never annoying, and what really keeps you going is wondering if Konoe and Jirou will ever confess to each other. Animation: Nothing special, nothing terrible. Characters: Very solid and entertaining. Definitely the driving force of the show. In... See full review