C³~CubeXCursedXCurious~

It is a given that every season needs an anime with a loli in it. It is almost undeniable fact. In the Winter 2011, it was the loli, Fear, who brought love to our hearts. Her story is unusual, for being a type of yandere loli, as well as a bit of tsundere. Her past is dark and bloody, and her friends' pasts seem to be equally so. C³ is a tale of despair, curses, magic, and perhaps some blood shed.

The story starts out with Yachi Haruaki, your normal teenage boy, living at home (because kids seem to do that a lot in Japan now a days), just living the normal life. One day, a package arrives from his father, a cube of some sort. He puts the cube in his house, only the next morning to discover a naked girl has now taken the cube's place. She seems to know nothing of how the world works, though she is trying her best to learn the ways of the world, even if it leads to her destroying the house in the process. One of Haruaki's friends, Muramasa Konoha discovers the girl, and rivalries ensue, of course in a harem like fashion. As it turns out, along with Konoha and Fear, it seems that sometimes curses take human form. It is revealed that Konoha can transform into a sword and is able to be used by Haruaki in order to defeat the bad guys, and Fear is the human form of the Black Cube, a torture device, and her weapon is the cube of which she is named. She can use over twenty different torture devices, but wishes to be rid of the curse. The anime follows Fear, Haruaki, Konoha, and later Ueno Kirika, the mysterious class president, in their adventure of cursed objects, and protecting, and hoping ridding the objects of the curse.

The art in C³ is actually rather quirky, but in a good way. Sometimes, the color shades will change on you, just like in a SHAFT production or like Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. With that, the art work also tends to shift to what they are talking about, like when Fear mentions the fact Konoha has bigger boobs than her, they show her boobs in a way that is sort of mocking. Also, they tend to handle the serious situations with serious art work, and the light hearted ones with lighthearted artwork, such as flowers and over expressionate faces.  The art work, with the mood and quirkiness, is very consistent and fluid.

As basically a harem anime, each girl sort of fell into a stereo-type. Haruaki is one of these male leads that had some unknown power that seems to draw the girls in, and looks like just like every other male lead in existances: Brown hair and brown eyes. Konoha takes the role of the child hood friends, and also the sort of the main girl that Haruaki would pursue. Kirika is the definite tsundere, being that some of the stuff that Haruaki does kind of turns her on, but it comes out as fustration. Fear is definite tsundere, but she is a loli tsundere, meaning that, like Kirika, she get turned on in the same way, but she is too adorable about it. Also, she is sort of a yangire, due to her dark past and the fact she is a torture device.

The characters I think could have done with a bit more development. For example, I want to know more back story on Fear, and i thought I could see some more, besides the fact she was a machine used for killing and torture, but they kept adding new characters, like Sovereignty and Shiraho. It seemed as with the case with Sovereignty, even though her arc was done, I still felt incomplete with her character, and the characters that were introduced at the end hardly had any development. For a character cast like this, they probably needed to extend the anime to twenty-four episodes, or perhaps a second season. But as the loli of the series, Fear was very funny, where as the other characters were amusing, but didn't have me laughing like Fear did.

On the musical side of things, the first opening theme was amazing. The way Fear sort of danced at the beginning was super cute, and well coordinated. The same goes for the second opening, though with Kirika was more elegate than cute, but all the same, well coordinated. The songs for both will most likely end up on my iPod due the cuteness of the first, and the darkness of the second. Also, the voice acting was well done, especially Fear's "I'll curse you!" is super cute.

Overall, it is an excellent watch, despite what people might say. Lolis, cursed objects, and some what of a harem make this an excellent anime, though thankfully they don't concentrate too much on the harem aspect, just mostly the cursed object. Also, a word of advice when watching this anime: Watch until after the credits, some hilarious stuff happens then.

Un-Go-The Tales of the Defeated Detective

In a world ravages by war and terrorism, and the crimes that may arise from such destruction, only one duo can solve them. One man, one boy, out to solve all the crimes, using wit, flair, and perhaps a bit of supernatural abilities. Yuuki Shinjuurou, and his mysterious partner, Inga, are out to solve all the msyteries that arise, and perhaps learn a little about the world around them in the mean time.

Un-Go is a n anime original anime produce by Bones, as you may know, also produced anime such as Gosick and Darker than Black. As usual, my interest perked when I found out that who it was animated by, and thought that perhaps that this would be a good one, though I was a bit hesitant at first, due to mystery anime not being in my particular favorite genre. Little did I know, I made the right choice in picking up this anime.

At first, the anime is episodic in nature, in the means that it is one mystery for each episode. Yuuki Shinjuurou is a detective, though no ones knows about him due to the fact Kaishou Rinroku has been taking all the credit. His mysterious partner, Inga, can force the truth out of anyone for one question, and they cannot lie when they answer her. Together, they solve the mysteries, piece by piece, though the pieces do add up eventually.

For me, this anime was enjoyable in characters department. Inga and Kazamori are by far the most interesting of the cast. Kazamori is a Robot Artifial Intelligence, or R.A.I for short. These two are the most crucial part in helping Shinjuurou solve his cases. Inga can force the truth out of anyone, and whether or not they want to tell the truth, they will tell her the truth. At other times, when she isn't in the "final" form of "Give me the truth," she takes the form of a child, though whether or not it is a boy or girl we are not sure, though I'm betting its a tomboyish girl. Kazamori can hack into any computer systems and can send data over any electronic device. It usually takes one out of two forms: a small stitched up doll that travels around in Shunjuurou's pocket or a loli girl, because all anime has to have fanservice somewhere.



The story is alright, though at the beginning, everything did not flow together that well. But if you think you can skip episodes, you are actually quite wrong, because all the episodes add a bit of character depth to the cast, as well characters to the already extensive cast. Each episode has twists and turns that you would not expect, keeping on me on edge about what was going to happen next. Although episodic in nature, all the points do flow together eventually.

The art UN-GO is fluid, though I will admit it is a bit odd in a way I cannot explain. Shinjuurou's hair is one thing that is kind odd to me, for being in sharp, unnatural edges, and even in a mullet like style. The place where they really excelled in the art was the child form of Inga, basically wanting to make me give her a hug. Her hat thing, where she usually keeps her hands, is also adorable, and also made me wonder for a brief period of that was attached to her hands. Kazamori's loli form is very, well, loli-ish and probably will appeal to those loli fans out there.

Overall, this is a good detective story, and must watch for all mystery fans. At every twist and turn, this anime will grip your attention with it clever plot. Also, a must watch for any Bones fans, and just the general anime audience. 

Fall 2011 Anime Season:Impressions

Every new season of anime brings forth for me joy and excitement. It allows me to kick back, enjoy some cartoons that aren't meant for children, and provide me with entertainment when I can't sleep. Though the season is only half over, I feel it necessary to review some of the series that are airing because honestly, some of them are actually pretty good this year. True, there is ecchi, which is anime soft core porn, and maybe a bit of mystery, they bring me entertainment none the less. 


(Note: Done Alphabetically) 


Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 

I'll admit, the first thing that attracted me to this anime was not only the theme, which is something kind of close to me, but also the moe-like art. It follows a boy named Hasegawa Kodoka, a half-British transfer student who makes all the wrong impressions due to his hair color and expressions, thought the thing he really wants is friends. Mikazuki Yozora is in a similar boat, though she is not misinterpreted as molesting the female student body, though she has an imaginary friend to compensate for lack of friends. Kashiwazaki Sena is the girl who appears popular, but has no true friends. The anime revolves around Kodaka joining the club Yozora created in order to help people make friends.  Along the way, genius, perverted girl Siguma Rika, and girly-boy Kusonuki Yukimura join, all in order to try and make friends. They all get along pretty well,though Sena and Yozora have a love/hate relationship, tending more to the hate, I think deep down they're very good friends. 
With this anime, I'm impressed I'll have to admit. The art style is fluid and happy. The comedy is funny, like Sena's idea of making friends is making friends with the virtual girls in games. (Hey, Kami nomi anyone?) Also, Yozora constantly calling Sena "meat," referring to her noticeably larger chest size, is also funny. For any one that wants to kick backa nd watch an anime bout how friendship works, and for a bit of moe and comedy, I highly recommend this one. 


C³ 
Who doesn't love a loli? A loli with a history of torturing people, just turning up on your doorstep, mailed from your dad? Well, thats what happened to Yachi Haruaki, average boy, suddenly thrown into a world of cursed object because a cursed cube that can take human form named Fear showed up on his door step. Now, at first Fear seems normal, barely managing house chores while Haruaki is at school, though when angered she can use her cube to use about thirty different torture devices. Muramasa Konoha, a girl who can change into a sword, and Ueno Kirika join the cast and form, you guessed it, a harem. 
With this anime, I honestly don't know whether or not to be impressed. The art style and story presentation is very similar to that of SHAFT, basically a mind fuck/trip. The story is progressing a bit too slowly as well, but since there is a loli, i think I can manage. Also, I want to know why the objects are cursed. Over all, a good watch (for the loli).


Chihayafuru
Karuta, the game of one hundred poems. This anime follows the story of a girl trying to become the world master at karuta, because quite frankly, no one outside of Japan played the game. She makes a club for it, and it trying to get people to join it, though its a rough journey. Her goal is to play with a boy named Arata, the boy that taught her how to play. The story has not progressed a lot, though it is holding my interest.
What attracted me to this was the art. It's very shoujou, and very happy. Also, the prospect about learning about a new game also enthralled me. However, I will complain that most of the stuff in the anime makes no sense to me, though I think that the Japanese are considering that Americans are watching the anime, because bit by bit, the game is being explained. But, the thing I'm wondering is how exactly  do you play? They have been shown throwing cards around, and all. Seriously, how the hell do you play this game?


Maji de Watashi ni Koi ni Shinasai
Two words are sufficient enough to describe this anime: Mind Fuck. Yep, that's what this anime is. It starts off serious, but then degrades to penis jokes. In fact, the "synopsis" is very misleading. It should be shortened to "We start off serious but don't worry boys, you will get your fan service plus a bunch of penis jokes." But otherwise, the art style is good. You have some girls with big boobs,a nd some with out the boobs. Also, the personalities of the girls are well diversed, from the quiet one, to the one that likes to beat people up. The main guy, Yamato, is a laugh. At one point, he basically whips it out, and makes a girl faint. He is actually thr source of the humor for me, not the girls( for once).




Maken-ki

If Maji de was Mind Fuck, then Maken-ki is mind rape.It's about this boy who get into a school for basically magic users, except he can't use it. (Maburaho anyone?) The girls all kick ass, and he is the defenseless one, except the girls need protecting against his perverted-ness. They fight with these things called "Maken" which I have no idea what the hell they are. Are they a spirit, or they a part of the soul? Also, what are the different classes that they keep mentioning? Also, it's another case of the females falling head over heels for the male lead for no apparent reason, even though he has zero personality, besides being a pervert. 
Character wise, I actually like none of them. Takeru is a pervert, and an ugly one at that. Seriously, who designs characters like that? Inaho, the big boobed fiancee that pops up at the beginning is annoying. Yes, I like kitty mouth face, but her face seems to be stuck in one. its ugly, and old. Himegami has the most personality in my mind, in fact she kind of has none. She's not fighting directly for the guy, but she is still part of his harem. Basically, she's the tsundere of the harem. Haruko is the child friend essentially, so I think she will automatically win. To be honest, the design of the characters is ugly, because in my mind, the girls have too much curves and boobs. Here's the rule for anime: If it looks like a D, it's an A. 


Mashiro-iro Symphony: Color of Lovers
A guy at an all girls school that recently went co-ed. Could this produce laughter, seriousness, or could it produce a train wreck of a mess? Honestly, even at the mid-way point of the season, I still don't know what to think about this anime. Since it's an eroge adaption, I was expecting basically a flop due to those types of anime being usually a flop. But, with this one, I'm not sure. The art work is fluid, but the story is sort of not there. True, it's a slice of life where the male lead is trying to win the hearts of the of the girls, or more or less make the girls accept him, due Shingo being male. But, it seems that is lost somewhere along the line,. 
Honestly, for this anime, I was praying it would be funny co-ed, like Seitokai Yakuindomo, though I am sort of disappointed at the humor. It has its cutesy moments, though it it just mainly just the journeys of the cast and their interactions with the main characters. To be honest, it's just another anime, though its just a good way to kill time.  


Shinraku?! Ika Musume

She back, and invading land for those stupid humans polluting her waters! That's right! Ika Musume is back, and still hell bent on invading land. The squid girl never succeeds in any of her plans, but it's still fun to watch her try. In the second season, we follow more of her daily journeys. True, while she doesn't succeed in invading land properly, she does end up learning about humans, and what we do. True, everyone finds her adorable, but warning: shes still out to invade land.
The art style is that of the first season, so not much change. The humor, though sometimes is lost on me. Some episodes make me laugh, while others were like, ok whats the point. The opening theme actually grew on me a bit. At first, I was opposed to it, as a lover of the original opening, but then I recognized that the second one is just as catchy.   


UN-GO

In recent times, I have actually enjoyed detective anime. They provide thriler, suspense, and usually very good art. seeing the newest series coming from Bones, I got really excited due the fact that that it was produced by them, and their previous detective anime, Gosick, was epic. I will admit, the story is odd in Un-Go, for its about the "Defeated Dective," due the fact that the the head detective guy, Kaishou Rinroko, is credited with solving all the cases. Shinjuurou Yuuki, and his assistant, Inga, go about solving the cases in unusual ways, due the fact Inga can force the truth for one question out of one person. However, Kaishou recieves all the credit.
This anime to me is basically a modern version of Kuroshitsuji. Where as Kuroshitsuji is set in Victorian Era, UN-GO is set in modern times. Also, UN-GO so far is very strange because right now, I want to know where Inga comes from, and why can't she stay loli? 


Working'!!

Most of us who are old enough to work have jobs that are arduous, and that grind our nerves. Those annoying co-workers, the stuff that doesn't go right, the horrible and rude customers, those all components of a job. However in Working'!!, the co-workers seems to all get along, and there aren't any rude customers, and while not everything goes right, it seems moat thing do go right. In the second season of Working!!, it follows the same slice of life/comedy as the first season. Inami Ahiru is still scared of men, Takanashi is still fond of cute things,and only pays attention to only loli, and none to the girl that has affections for him, Kyouko still doesn't do anything except eat through the restaurants food stock; Souma is still in everyone's business, and  Satou is still torturing the underlings. 
The comedy style is much like the first season, though I wish they would get on with it. Seriously, hurry up Takanashi and realize that Inami likes you. Hopefully this can provide me with more laughs in the future and get on with it. The one other thing I will praise Working'!! on besides the humor, is the opening song. The song from the first season was catchy, and they somehow mangaed to make it catchier in the second.