Halo 4

Novemeber brings us a lot of good things such as Thanksgiving, hot new movies such as Skyfall, or in the case of this November, the next game in the well known series called Halo. Halo 4 was released Tuesday, and video game lovers from all over were anticipating the release of this game, many with high hopes. So, did it live up to anticipation?

In some ways yes, in some ways no.

The story still centers around our silent hero, Master Chief and his A.I companion, Cortana, and their quest to save the galaxy once again. However, his companion is having issues with an A.I degenerative condition called Rampancy, a condtion known to sging A.I where they think themselves to death. While Master Chief is trying to save Cortana, the Forrunners are making their presence through the galaxy and Master Chief must save the galaxy as well.

Story wise, if you have not read the books (which I have not yet) the story on the Forerunners will be a complete mystery. They could have easily done more with the story of the Forerunners or at least expanded on the story or had them tie in with Cortana's story. Cortana's story was great due to the fact that they help expand on the A.I and their workings and Master Chief's relationship. However, I am not satisfied by the end of the story. I will not spoil anything, but they should have made a better ending and intertwined the stories and made them more fleshed out. I hate super long games due to a short atttention span, I would have gladly accepted a few more hours to the campaign rather than have the end.

For me, the graphics were the best selling part of this game. Requiem, the planet where most of the game takes place, is amazingly beautiful. The trees were well detailed and the other places the game takes place is bizarrely beautiful. The new enemies, the Prometheans, have unique designs. The Crawlers looked like insect dogs and the Knights, although hard to kill, had something interesting going for them. Cortana's design was also updated, giving her more of a bobbed haircut and you could see the circuitry in her design where her clothes were supposed to be. Chief's armor has also been updated again, making it a bit more detailed. Along with  hat, they have made the gameplay seem like it more through the point of chief, giving the helmet interface and when Cortana starts to go a bit rampant, they show the red in the visor, which to  me scored points in my book. (In case you're wondering, Chief looks sexy in 1080p.)

 Sound wise, the OST is amazing. I will admit to buying the OST before playing the game, but the real test was could the match the OST with the mood of the game. Honestly, they mixed it very well and the music matched the mood of the moment very well. I will give them credit, I was very surprised when they brought back some of the first Halo music. It was nostalgic and made me happy from the bottom of my heart.

Overall, I am a little dissapointed by the game, but it makes me want to play Halo 5 and Halo 6 ironically. Maybe it's the quest to know what happens next, or maybe it's the wanting to know more about Master Chief, who knows.   I will admit, the game had its good points, but also its bad, but for good or bad, I enjoyed the game.

Special thanks to Mike who did campaign with me and for lending me the book Cryptum!!

Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzoo!!

For many of use, turning into animals has been a dream. What it would be like to lay around, have fun all day long and escape life's worries. For Riko, Rimu, and Nagisa, along with Ken, it is not a dream, but rather a reality for them.

Our story starts off with twins Riko and Rimu finding a little pocket toy after chasing a cat in their house. It turns out that the pocket toy is a kirumin, and it allows them to transform into animals, namely Riko into a cat and Rimu in a rabbit. They then get their older sister, Nagisa, into it, and then they start their adventures as animal detectives. They later drag in their two friends, Inomata Ken and Kijima Tamao into their activities and the kids have fun trying to solve mysteries with animals.

Now, I'll admit to being all over this anime but had to wait for it to be subbed. I will admit the story might not have been that strong, but the story was at least cute. While cutesy, it does tend to be overly so cute and might be a bit redundant, it got more serious as the anime went on, even to the point of question moral ethics. By the end of it, I felt dissapoint and wished that they could have extended the story, and explained some more of the stuff that was explained early on. 

The art for this anime was it's strong point. It's overly cute and fluffy, and well done. The transformation scenes were well done, and the sound effects made it even more cute. The "costume mode" was well done, but the transformation sequences, like all "magical girl" series (I'm using this term lightly here), took too damn long. But the animations for it were amazingly pretty, and well animated, and I'll give them credit for keeping up the art over a 50 episode series.

The characters could be looked at as strong or weak, depending on your point of view. We have the stereotypical stubborn hothead, Riko, and also Ken could fall into this catagory as well. We have the overly shy, potential "library girl," Rimu. Along with that, we have the level headed Nagisa, who serves as the voice of reason in most cases when she isn't being pushed to the side by her younger sisters, and then we have Tamao who serves as the tech and brains of the group. As a side character who appears way too often, we have Kanon, who is able to turn into a bat and who also has her own set of ideals. The characters are bearable, but I will admit, they really grate my nerves due to the fact they barely change until the last few episodes.


Overall. I'll admit it was worth the wait for this thing to get subbed. It might not be everyones cup of tea for various reasons such as too cutesy or too long, but if you can make it past that, then you potentially have found your self a diamond among anime.

Return to Ravnica

As all of you Magic the Gathering players already know, the start of a new block started: The Return to Ravnica block. It brings us the joy of the gold standard block, meaning there are many multi-colored cards with a golden border along with new mechanics along the way. This set, you can choose between 5 guilds: Selesnya, Rakdos, Izzet, Azorius,and Golgari, each with their own schemes and mechanics.
First we have the Conclave of Selesnya, the green/white guild of Ravnica. They value the Oversoul, nature, strength in numbers, so naturally if you play a token generator, this is the guild for you.To aid your token swarm, there is the new mechanic, Populate, which allows you to produce a copy of a token you already have. With a land becoming an 8/8 token, and token generators from previous sets, (Increasing Devotion I'm looking at you) your token generation gets even faster and more powerful. Like with green/white, there is life gain installed somewhat in it, but in my opinion, there needs to be more. True, the legendary creature, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, gives you life equal to creature's power when it enters the battle field, other than that and a few other cards, life gain is few and far between. Over all though, I'll admit to liking Selesnya on a whole due to the fact it's everything it either token generation of life gain. Now, I'm waiting for them to reprint Soul Warden or Essence Warden.

On the contrast to nature loving Selesnya, next we have the mean, party loving red/black Cult of Rakdos. In this set, they have creature destruction, and even a card that allows you destroy planeswalkers(Dreadbore) along with burn spells to help summon the guild leader, Rakdos, Lord of Riots. He is a 6/6 flying trample for two black and two red, but someone has to take damage before casting him, but with the Rakdos mechanic of Unleash, which allows players to put a +1/+1 counter on the creature in exchange for it not being able to block, damage comes easy to those creatures. Honestly, the unleash mechanic is weak just due to the fact that next turn the opponent could have a creature as strong as the one you unleashed, and the fact that they don't have haste. If they made it a bit stronger, then Rakdos could potentially dominate standard more.

Next we have the scientists of Ravnica, the Izzet, led by Niv Mizzet, the smartest being on the plane of Ravnica. While blue/red might seem like a contrast at first, once you delve into the Izzet guild, you'll find that these colors provide for a wonderful counter spell deck with a hint of burn. The Izzet mechanic of Overload makes it so that a spell that only affects one creature, affects each creature that either you or opponent control, depending on the effect of the card. Niv Mizzet, Dracogenious provides for pinging your opponents for a damage while yo draw a card. I'll admit that that he is not as powerful as his counterpart, Niv Mizzet, Firemind, but still provides for interesting gameplay.

The Azorius serve as Ravnica's justice system, and what better to control the people than blue/white? Azorius uses the mechanic of Detain, which prevents target creature from activating activated abilities or from attacking or blocking. While the mechanic might sound amazing at first, you then realize that it's only for a turn that they're detained only for a turn, and next turn they're up and going again. I honestly don't like the mechanics because it just slows the opponent down, but if you can't keep up the detainment, then you will die. Isperia, the legendary creautre, just detains creatures whenever she attacks, but other than that, compared to the other legendary creatures, she is severely underpowered. Azorius is good to slow the game down, but if you're looking to play aggro, then Azorius is not for you.

Lastly, we have Golgari, the green/black guild that believes that in in death, there is life. They run on a mechanic called scavenge, that allows the player to pay the scavenge cost when the creature is in graveyard to put +1/+1 counters on a creature on the battlefield equal to the power of the creature being scavenged. The creture being scavenged is then exiled. Honestly, I'll admit, I hate Golgari with a passion. True they work on graveyard grab so that you can't truly kill them, but I just hate the way it runs. Maybe I just don't value my stuff in the graveyard and prefer to keep my creatures alive as long as possible.

Overall, I am impressed with the Return to Ravnica block so far. It provide a different balance than Avacyn did, but it can still be used in different decks. Personally, I think standard just got a bit more fun, and this provides good chances for people to make multi-colred decks. Now, if only Gatecrash would hurry up and get here.

Accel World

We all have those moments where we wish to escape reality, and just become a part of a video game. However, what if someone told you that you actually could? That you could visit a world that is like a game, where you can fight and level up and become the best of the best? For Arita Haruyuki, that becomes his reality.

Our story starts off with Arita Haruyuki, or Haru, who is miserableat school, who during his breaks at school  indulges in video games to help him escape reality. However, one day, he meets Kuroyukihime, one of the schools most popular girls, introduces him to a mysterious virtual reality game named Brain Burst, where people fight to the death in order to gain points and level up. As Haru gets drawn in deeper in the Accel World, where the game takes place, he learns that people are not always the same in a game as they are in real life.

Personally, I love the story for this anime.As a gamer, I think this story is epic due the fact that they can actually get involved with a video game. True, they fight to the death, and they get hurt when they take damage, but it still intrigues me as how far the technology has come in order to allow them to play a virtual reality game almost anywhere due a special device on their necks.

The characters were very relatable in my opinion. Haruyuki is a guy struggling with his own self worth, a problem that a lot of us go through on a daily basis. I will admit Kuroyukihime was that one chick that is a bit too perfect, but she slowly fades from the picture near the middle and near the end. Chiyu is of course the female lead that does nothing, i.e.Sakura from Naruto.

Overall, this anime is what you make it. On the surface, it is a sci-fi anime that deals with video games, but it could also be looked at as a guy's sturggle to find his own self worth. If you haven't checked this one out yet, it should be on the to watch radar due to the fact that the series is just so epic.

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

As you might have figured out, I love ecchi anime to no end. When the anime Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai was announced for this anime season, naturally I jumped on the chance to possibly see another great ecchi anime like High School DxD. Was my wish fulfilled? In some ways, yes, in some was no.

Out story begins with Kaga Ryousuke, a normal healthy teenage boy who is a big more open about his horniness than most. One day, he meets Lisara, a reaper from the world of Grimwald, and then she tells him he only has a few weeks left to live, but then she forms a temporary contract with him so that he can provide her with energy to keep her sustained in the human world. His energy, however, comes from his horniness. As they try and prolong his life, he meets many other interesting girls along the way, including the beautiful Iria and the slightly loli Quele.

Now the story its self sounds amusing from the fact that the energy comes from him being horny, and if she takes his energy he can't get horny anymore. For some reason, just the fact that the whole anime revolves around him being horny is hilarious, and it provides for many ecchi moments. Although people might say that I'm a bit too big on ecchi  and that ecchi doesn't have a story, in this case, your wrong. There are tits and all and it still has a story, and a passable story at that.

The art kind of reminded me of High School DxD, with the main chick the guy is pursuing having red hair and the flat chested loli and a big busted girl who is close to him. True, they aired this anime uncensored, so of course there was an abundnce of boobs, and they if course were well drawn. The background art was nothing to take note of, except when they went to Grimwald, and that just had a green overtone along witha  sort of gothic feel, but I almost expect nothing less from the demon world.

The characters all fell into stereotypes, I am sad to say. Ryousuke was your typical harem lead, except for I will give him credit: he was a lot more open about his perverseness than the rest of the harem leads I have seen. Lisara was a tsundere at times, but was basically the girl he sought after. Mina was the childhood friend and sought after Ryousuke. Iria was our super maniac pixie dream girl, and like all super maniac pixie dream girls, she annoyed the crap out of me. Quele was basically there as the loli/little sister character, but I will admit, she also kind of annoyed me.

Overall, I will admit I liked this anime. It provided me with a senese that my ecchi needs had been completed. While the characters might have been stereotypes like no tomorrow, I still somehow found them enjoyable. I would like to also thank my friend, Mike for watching this with me.

Borderlands

In case you shooter fans did not know, in the coming days, Borderlands 2 is going to be released. Now while the game the proceeds it, Borderlands, has been out for a few years, it was not until recently I had a chance to play it. I will admit, I did not have high standards when starting the game, but I will admit, it left quite a good impression on me, and now, when I need to relieve stress, I can simply turn to this game and just let my worries go.

Our story follows your character on the planet of Pandora (Avatar nerds, don't get your panties in a bunch) searching for the Vault, a rumored trove of glory that only opens every 200 years, though no one really knows what's in it. You can pick to be Lilith, the siren who is proficient in SMGs and elemental attacks, Mordecai, the hunter who rocks at the sniper rifle, Brick as himself, who can use the rocket launcher and shot gun like no tomorrow, and Roland, the soldier who likes to use combat rifles and shotguns. Along the way, you are guided by the Guardian Angel, who communicated to you through the ECHO communication device.

The story it's self sounds promising, but in actual game play, it can be easily disregarded until the very end. It basically becomes a hack and slash shooter midway through, beating various enemies for missions, but the first real cut scene comes at the end. But although the story might be weak, I didn't really play the game for the story, I played mainly for the fact that it was an easy way to relieve stress through a shooter.

The charatcers, like the story, are just there. You have your character, who is like almost every first person shooter character: just a set of hands or a gun. Along the way, you meet various enemies, such as 9 Toes (he has three balls too!) and Commander Steel, and Sledge (p.s. He's not your friend.) The comical relief character Clap-Trap is always present, but he doesn't really add much to the story except at the beginning.  There aren't many "good guy" characters, but the bad guys make the game worth while.

The game play is a basic first person shooter. You start out with the weapon your class is most proficient at and you have one slot open to switch weapons. Later on in the game, eventually the number of weapon slots expands to four. The quest mechanic is also solid, using the waypoint and compass mechanic. Personally, the game play to me is awesome due to the fact I can sit back, relax,and kill some skags.

Overall, for anyone that likes to shoot stuff and not too much story, then this is the game for you. Sure, Call of Duty has all that, but Borderlands does it in a fun fashion and with a random gun generator hat can generate over 17 billion guns that provides for a lot of versatility. If you're ready for a bunch of guns, adventure, and pure hack and slash shooter, then head down to your local game store or steam and get it.

Chipotle Rounding

One of my favorite places to it is Chiptole. I'll admit, I am not a big fan of Mexican, but there is something about Chipotle I have to love about them. Their burritos are very good, and I get to choose what goes on it, and what doesn't, and they have very good meat that goes on it. However, some people can't enjoy it as much as I do due the fact that some penny pinchers are complaining about the rounding that Chipotle has engaged in recently.

I will admit, I am not rolling in money, so I have to conserve a lot of money. I will try to save as much money as I can, but this is ridiculous. People are complaning about how they are adding a penny to the total in order to move the line faster. While I disagree with adding money to the total, I do agree with rounding a few pennies.

Where I am at, a steak burrito costs $6.98 with tax included. Now if I'm not using a debit card, then taking out exactly six dollars and ninety eight cents is annoying so usually I'll just give then seven dollars and keep the change. Why? Because honestly I don't feel like keeping two pennies in my pocket just for me to loose later.

This really brings up the question: Do we need the penny? While you may be wondering what this has anything to do with the issue at hand, I have to say that this is almost the whole issue at hand. In the cases of rounding, it was by a penny or two to the nearest five cents. They claimed they did this to move lines faster so that their cashier didn't have to fondle for change in the register, especially pennies. What is a penny or two difference going to make?

The penny is nearly worthless now, due to the fact that the cheapest thing I could probably find is fifty-cents at some thrift shop, and even then, they're more expensive. I must ask you, have you seen anything for a penny? Have you seen anything for less then seventy-five cents at a store? No, you have not. That is how worthless a penny is. It's one-hundreth of a dollar, and in order to get a candy bar, you need a hundred of them. Honestly, I think the Chipotle issue could push more restaurnats to do rounding to nearest five cent, and if more and more do it, I can honestly see the penny being abolished.

Now, if you you say rounding is wrong, and cheating you out of money, I wil say this to you: They round by a penny or two. They were not rounding $6.52 to $7. That's wrong. Rounding $6.24 to $6.25 is not. They were only making a penny at the most, and like I have stated before, almost worthless. So please people, calm down, and relax: loosing a penny won't kill you.

Summer Season Anime Halfway Report

Ah, who doesn't love summer? Time off from school, the pool, hanging out with friends, and for me, a whole bunch of anime. This summer brought me one of the most massive anime seasons I have ever done, with a grand total of ten new airing series, in addition to the one continuing from last season. 

Arcana Famiglia 

The scenario for this anime not unique, but the way it is done sort of is. Felicità is the daughter of the head of the organization Arcana Tarocco, a group of people bestowed special powers by the tarot cards. However, her father is going to retire and the next person to lead the Arcana Taracco will decided by a few duels. Not to mention, he threw his own daughter as a part of the prize, and the winner has to marry, into the mix. She is not alone, because with her two friends, Nova, and Libertà, who refuse to marry her if they win, and together, they have to face the other family memebers.

The scenario is, at the core, a case of the girl not wanting to marry a guy because the father proposed it. Along with that, they decide to throw in a reverse harem, which adds for bishounens everywhere. With that, the art is very pretty, making the guys the main attraction. I hope for good things from it, but right now it seems they are just dealing with side quests. 


Binbougami ga!

We all have that one friend who is super lucky because they have good looks, talent, brains, and excels at everything they do. Sakura Ichiko is that girl, but she has so much luck that the world is being thrown out of balance. That's where our hero, Momiji, our Goddess of Misfortune, comes in, trying to take Ichiko's luck and restore balance to the world. 

Honestly, I like this anime a lot more than I thought at first. It has a lot of slap stick comedy, false fan service, and is just plain funny. It's a different pacing than ecchi comedy, and it had had me laughing. The characters are well done, and the art is vibrant. Honestly, this has exceeded expectations so far, and I keep hoping to have those expectations broken.


Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

Ryousuke is your typical high school guy, hormones raging and is horny as a guy can be. However, when Lisara, a girl from the world Grimwald, comes to him needing energy to sustain her self in the real world, she comes to him and uses his energy. The catch is though: he looses his sex drive. 

I will admit, I picked up this anime due to the translation of the title: Therefore I can't Fuck. I'm not kidding, and the fact that the plot sounded interesting. The anime lives up to expectations, but in different ways. I will give them credit: they air it uncensored (tits or GTFO) and to boot, the air is good. May the perverseness continue, and hopefully this anime doesn't pull what High School DxD did, and have a crap ending. 


Dog Days' 

The summer also brought us some sequels, and one of them is the second season of Dog Days. Cinque (or Sink or Shinku, depending on subs) returns to the other world, along with his childhood friend, Rebecca and his cousin, Nanami, where they all become heroes and fight alongside each nation in the art of war.

Honestly, this should have never been made. The whole set up of "war" in this anime is not even portrayed correctly. it's like a game, and they need "heroes" to help bring them to victory? No, they just need a tribute really good game show contestant. Despite all this, the art work is good and the music is just barely passable. The characters, like in the first season are decent, but there is honestly just too many. It's twelve or thirteen episodes, we don't need fifty characters!


Hagure Yuusha no Estetica 

We have all seen what goes on when a hero rescues a princess, the hardships he goes through, but what about after the job is done? What is the hero supposed to do? For Ousawa Akatsuki, this is his delima. He has the princess, Miu, and he is living happily ever after in a world where there is nothing but girls, girls, girls.

This anime is basically all the ecchi adventures one guy could ever have. Between helping a girl try on a bra, to swim suit snatching, Ousawa has it lucky. This anime, like Dakara, is aired uncensored, and it provides for some laughs. Honestly, I don't know why this was made, but I like it.


Jinrui wa Sutai Shimashita

In the near future, humanity is dying off, being replaced by a superior race called the faeries. These little guys are adorable, chibi, and honestly, I don't know how they replaced humanity. The main girl in the series, who we just know as "I"or "Watashi," serves as a mediator between the faeries and the humans, even to the point she has a few living at her house.

Why was this even made really? From episode one, it has been one of the weirdest things I have ever seen, and I have seen my fair share of weird things. Episode one brought us the bleeding bread scenario, followed by the buzzing chickens in episode two.  The art for this series is washed out color, similar to Usagi Drop, which isn't a bad thing, just makes the anime different. 


Joshiraku

We all have those days where the original conversation and the ending conversation are not the same thing. In the anime Joshiraku, the girls have random conversations, from moon viewing to how the moon looks like inappropriate things. 

If you're in the anime of "cute girls doing cute things," then you have hit paradise. Coming from the author of Sayonra Zetsubou Sensei, it is an amusing watch. The girls don't really do anything beside sit around for amusing conversations. The art for this anime is top notch I'll admit. Honestly, I hope for a lot for this anime.



Kono Naka Hitori ni, Imouto ga Iru!

Shougo has just lost his dad, and now he has to attend a new school, which is stressful enough as it is already. However, as it turns out, his younger sister also attends the school, but he doesn't know who the sister is. In his search for his sister, he meets a lot of girls along the way. 

Oh, dear lord, this reeks of incest. Along with the fact that he has to meet his illegitiment sister, she also wants to get married, and since his sister can beany girl at the school, the probability for incest is high. Other wise, the characters are semi likable, but they also seem rather flat also. The art work is decent, but otherwise, this anime just seems generic in almost every way it can.


Sword Art Online

As technology develops and advances, there is one thing they have seriously looked over in the gaming industry: virtual reality. However in Sword Art Online, they have developed it to a point that they have not only got virtual reality games, but it is so real that death in the game is actually death in the real world. After Kirito and a whole bunch of other people get trapped in the game, they must not only beat the game to get out, but they must be careful not to die in the game because the virtual reality machine will kill them in the real world. 

Interesting concept for this anime, I  must admit. It's almost every gamer's dream, if not worst nightmare. One of the things that I have found weird about this anime is the fact that it paces out so weird. In one episode, they might cover ten floors, and in the next, they hardly cover two. Another weird thing is they don't seem to take the death thing too seriously. Almost every episode someone dies, and they don't seem to show that they care too much bout auxillery characters. The art is good, the scenries almost look like real world scenarios, and the characters are well drawn. I can only hope they even out the pacing and work on some things (like actually caring that the characters die!). 


Yuru Yuri ♪♪

Like Dog Days, Yuru Yuri also received a sequel. WhileI was more thrilled about this sequel being announced, in the actual series, I feel let down a bit. While we still mainly follow our main four characters, it seems that there is a different feel this season. Maybe it's due to the fact we are seeing more of the the side characters, such as Himawari and Sakurako, or maybe it's the fact they seem to be leaving out Akari a lot more than usual.

The art for this series is as good as the last season. One thing that was a let down for me was the opening and ending themes. In the last season, I could barely get the song out of my head, and this season, I barely notice them honestly.
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All in all, I feel like this season has it extreme good points and the extreme bad points. However next season should not be a let down, and I look forward for more anime to come

I have to thank Mike for watching Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai and Brendan for watching Sword Art Online with me. 

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

When people are in a pinch, they do desperate things. Some file for bankruptcy, some take out massive loans, and some decide to open up a business. When Recette Lemongrass , a young girl who lives at home by her self after her father went on adventure, is faced with his debt, she decides t open a shop with the faerie loan shark, Tear, who is in charge of the debt in order to help pay it back. Recette, Tear, and their adventurer, Louie, a poor young boy, go through dungeons to collect items to sell for profit in the shop.

The story is simple, and in fact a bit too unrealistic. Ignoring the fact there is a faerie and dungeons to go through to get free items, just the circumstances are just bit too unrealistic. Recette is does not appear to be a legal an adult, and it seems a bit too unfair for her to be paying back her father's debt. Another problem I have with the story is the fact it just seems to be capitalism propaganda, even to the point of Recette saying "Captialism, ho!" I feel like if it was less centered on capitalism and paying her father's debt, then the story would succeed more in the catagory it was meant for: Fantasy.

The characters in mind are just flat as flat can be. Recette is your typical cheery girl in poor circumstances girl. The only time she shows an emotion other than ridiculously cheery is when she gets a bit down over a bad sale, and eve then, she quickly recovers. Tear is this emotionless business woman, fitting into the stereotype so badly. The other characters barely appear in the game, but even they fit into a stereotype. Aloutte, Recette's competition is a typical rich girl, and she even has a few tsundere traits.

The art work for this game is good and bad, depending on which part you're at. The upclose drawings of the characters are nicely detailed and look like anime characters. To be honest, that is what drew me into the game. However, the over world sprites were just just little chibis. Honestly, if they were a little bit better drawn, then the art for the game could have been amazing

Overall, even though I may complain about the game, I honestly enjoyed it. Yes, I nit pick at it to no end, but to be honest, it was a short indie game that I came across on Steam. The voice acting is actually in Japanese, which won me over a bit more, but the English translations could have been a bit better. All in all, this is a good game, and highly recommend it to any J-RPG player.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

I will admit that loosing someone close to you is not an easy thing, especially at a young age. It leaves a scar that is very hard to heal, and the memories of that person will most likely haunt a person for a while. It's even harder loosing a person your own age, especially when you're all at an extremely young age. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, or AnoHana looks back on the death among a group of friends, and how one summer, it changes their lives forever.

Our story follows Yadomi Jinta, a normal truant high school student who seemingly does nothing. However, the ghost of his childhood friend, Honma Meiko, or Menma appears in front of him, asking him to fulfill her ast wish she she can go to heaven and be reborn. Jinta gathers all of his other childhood friends who were close to Menma in order to help her. However, they have all gone their separate ways, and getting them together might take a little bit more work than he had anticipated.

The story was almost set up for drama, and perhaps a bit of tear jerking parts. Menma was probably around the age of seven to ten when she died, and it just is a good drama story, even though it was rather depressing. Although I am not that fond of straight drama, but this anime was the acceptable type because it was profound, and it deals with a subject that eventually will hit all of us. The execution of the story was also well done, even though some parts made me want to facepalm, such as the end. Also, the story could almost be told in two parts: the presnet day and the past, and sometimes, that line becomes very blurred.  The story is very drama heavy, so those looking for the action, this one is not for you.

The characters were the strongest point of this anime, due it being character driven drama. Jinta is our main protagonist who just bums around his house, truanting from school until the ghost of his childhood friend, Menma, comes and visits him. Jinta's other friends, Anjou Naruko, Hisakawa Tetsudo, Matsuyuki Atsumu, and Tsurmi Chiriko, all have gone their separate ways, but yet, have not really changed that much from when they were kids. The characters all have distinct personalities, such and Anjou's tsundere character and Tsurimi's library girl like character. The characters' interactions were what really made this anime work, and you could actually feel some of the tension between them while they were trying to figure out Menma's wish.

The art for the series also very well done. The back grounds were vibrant and colorful and the characters were well designed. Perosnally, I think Menma was the best designed character due tot he fact she had white hair and for the fact that it was simple. Each characters' art work had a different vibe about them, however, they all still emulated the theme of loss and memories.

Overall, for any drama loving person, or even those that are just looking for any tear jerking anime, this one is the one for you. It had its ups and downs, but overall, this series was well rounded and generally down to earth.

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan

Bread is a staple of life for most parts of the world. It can feed many, it can give us energy in order to carry out everyday tasks, and it can even make someones day. However, baking the bread might become a coping mechanism into order to deal with certain illnesses, such as lost memories. In the case of Shining Hearts: Shiwase no Pan, bread and the making of it becomes an escape for Rick and his fellow companions in the bread shop.

The story was proposed to be about Kaguya, a young girl who washed up on shore with no memories, and Rick and his fellow companions find her and take her in. They go about their regular duties, keeping an eye on Kaguya, making bread for her, and those in the community. However, as it turns out, Kaguya is no the first person to wash up on shore with no memories, and the quest to find the answers begins.

Sounds epic, right? Wrong. The story is actually more about Rick and his companions, Airy, Neris, and Amile, making bread for those around them, and when it seems there is any break through behind the characters or the story, they just go back to making bread. If they stuck more to the mystery to why so many people washed up on shore, with no memories, then this anime would be epic. Instead, they brush off that and just focus on making people happy with bread. 

The characters were very weak for an nime that tried to focus on the characters. Rick had so much potential to be a great "harem lead," but they pushed him to the side, and when he could have shone, they didn't really do anything with it. The girls at the shop were so bland that they didn't even have a stereotype such as a tsundere or library girl, they were just there. Kaguya was proposed to be the center piece of the anime, but she was relegated to a minor roe. Xiao Mei was almost this shows saving grace, but she was pushed to the side once again.

The art and music was the best part of this anime to be honest. The art was fluid, and the characters were artistically distinguishable, but only artistically. The backgrounds were also well designed, and everything was vibrant in color. The opening theme was slow, and made me feel like the theme of lost memories could be prevalent, but it was also mello and relaxing. The end theme was actually pretty good, even though it was about baking bread. It had an upbeat tune, and very, very catchy.

Overall, I say avoid this anime like the plague unless you just want to watch making bread and them making people happy. It has a lot of potential, but the execution of it is poor. I do realize it is based off a game, but even then, they could have done a lot more with this anime.  

Ao no Exorcist

The belief of demons exists universally through almost every culture and many, if not all religions. They are portrayed as trouble makers, and they even portray straying from the path of righteousness. There has also has been a need to get rid of, or exercise, these demons by people called exorcists. Ao no Exorcist incorporates both of these devices, and sometimes, the line between good and evil is hardly distinguishable.

Our story follows Okumura Rin, the son of a priest and an exorcist, and his twin brother Yukio. However, it turns that out that Rin is the bastard son of Satan himself. But when Rin finds this out, he does not join Satan, but rather decides to become an exorcist in order to defeat Satan in order to live up to his adoptive father's expectations. After deciding to become an exorcist, he then goes to a school for exorcists and while there, strange events one after another happen, and Rin discovers the truth behind what it means to be an exorcist.

The story's premise is a unique one, if not partially controversial among the Christian community. The son of Satan in the Christian community would of course be put to death immediately, but in the story line, he is portrayed as a hero. Personally, I liked the unique spin on the whole issue, and they handled the the ostracizing of Rin from the community very well. The story also held my attention for all of the twenty-five episodes, and I wish there was a second season to expand on the story.

The characters were enjoyable to watch because in some ways, most people can relate to Rin in the fact that he was not accepted by the community, and he had a perfect little brother that everyone adored. By the end of the story, the ones you would be expecting to root for, the church, ended up to be the jerks who wanted to ruin everything, and somehow, they made Satan sympathetic, and weird as that sounds, they managed to do it in a way that made sense. The students at the school were also relatable, and they were there for their own purposes, though I wish they could have been expanded. One character I wish they gave more attention to is Mephisto, the schools head. He looks like he has an interesting background, and a story to tell.

Theart for this series was well done in my mind. The transformation that Rin under goes when he goes into the blue flame more is awesome, though sometimes his ears stays a bit pointy while as a human. The character designs were each distinguishable, and the back grounds and sceneries were well done.

Overall, I wish this anime was a bit longer, or a second season focusing more on the other characters, and definitely Yukio. Granted,, there is a movie coming out, I doubt that will do the justice I need. Other than that, this anime was amazing in my eyes. I honestly could not stop watching it, and although some stuff was not clearly explained, the other parts of this anime were done well enough to where I can forgive that.

Upotte!!

Although guns might not be the most modern invention, they have been the most crucial to modern warfare. They can take down armies with out them, and even armies that have guns, the ones with the more powerful guns win. Now, imagine of the most used guns of a country were made into girls. You have to wonder how would they act, if they would all be aggressive since the nature of using a gun usually is, or how relaxed would they be. Upotte answers that question, and even provides some insight on the specs of the gun.

The story for Upotte!! is almost slice of life, except the girls are going to a school for assault riffles, and the after school activities revolving around target practice and the such. There is the arc of the tag team battles, which revolves around teams of two going out and trying to win the competition and the arc with the school trip. Both arcs were surperb, but I wish they went a bit further with the anime story wise, so we could meet more of the guns of the world.

The characters were the highlight of this anime, due to the fact they were all assault riffles, such as the M16A1 from America, whom they called Ichiroku (Lit. one, six) and F.N.C or Funko, from Belgium. Also in the main cast was SIG550, or Shigu, from Switzerland, and L85A1, or Eru, from England. True, there are other guns in the cast, such as the M14 and the AK47, but these guns don't play as big of a role in the anime as the four main guns. These girls have distinct personalities based on not only how the gun works, but also where they come from as well. For example, the M16 tires out quickly on cleaning duty due to the fact she has a three round burst, and she has to keep her self in order due to the fact that if the M16 has the slightest little problem, it will jam, but also she is loud mouthed like the stereo types for America. The L85 gets sick a lot due to the fact it is not a sturdy gun and the magazine will fall out sometimes.

The art for this anime was actually pretty good. It had some elements of the moe-blobstyle, but also the girls had well defined features. The guns that the girls were able to with draw looked very similar to the real life guns to even the point they were identifiable. The girls them selfs were drawn a bit rounded and shapely but for this anime it worked.

Overall, I liked this anime due the Hetalia like nature of it, although it was bishounsn but rather girls. Although it was aimed at military otaku as well those fans of moe. I recomend this to everyone and I will be the first to admit thatI learned a bit about guns from this anime, such as the M16 has a three round burst and the SIG550 was a long distance assault riffle. It's a good, comedical way to learn about guns and how they work.

Also would like to thank my gun fanatic friend for watching this with me :D

Holy Knight

Many of you have figured out that vampires are now a huge trend in the literary world, from anime to manga, to even novels. Some are very blatant about the fact that the work is about vampires, and the other is just very subtle, or it pushes it on to you last minute. Holy Knight is the latter example, but it pulls it off decently.

Our story is a bit unclear from the beginning, but Mizumura Shinta is an ordinary student, but one day, he meets Kishimoto Lilith, a Romanian half-vampire, half human girl, who he bumps into on day while walking to school with his child hood friend, Chizuru. Lilith makes obvious advances on Shinta, such as wanting to have sex with him, and even to the point that she wants to have his children, due to the fact he has a special bloodline of vampire hunters. 

The story for this OVA is not that good, but it had the potential to be a great story. I think they could have easily made this OVA longer, or even into a full anime T.V series, but I think the OVA was supposed to be for fans of the manga, who already know the story, or perhaps even get people to buy and read the manga. It might have worked, because I might pick up the manga just to figure out what happens next with Chizuru and Lilith, and if Shinta and Lilith ever get together. 

The art for this anime was superb, I will admit. each character was well drawn, and of course the lingerie on Lilith was well drawn.The backgrounds were well drawn, and it was colorful where it should have been, and dark where it should be. Of course, the boobs on the chicks were big as ever, since this was an ecchi OVA, and that's the main selling point.  The only character design I saw as weird was the exercise instructor that Chizuru was doing a work out to.

The anime characters creates more questions than it answers in my mind. Lilith, a half-vampire, half-human, wants to have a vampire hunter's babies, and my only question is what was she thinking? I don't think going up to someone saying that you want to have their babies is a great pick up technique, but hey, in this situation it almost worked. Also along those lines, since Lilith is Romanian, why is her last name a Japanese one (Kishimoto)? Another question that the anime created was about his child hood friend, Chizuru, who is shown to heal unreasonable fast, and that is never explained. Otherwise, for the OVA, you can get a basic grasp of how the characters are supposed to work, but I'm hoping for a full T.V. series to fully explain the characters.

This anime has left me with the impression that if I ever made a drinking game of how many times this anime made me derp, then I'd honestly be dead. Not because I have crappy alcohol tolerance, but because seriously, this anime made no sense at all. I enjoyed it for what it was worth, but I'm hoping that this is just a pilot series, and the real T.V. series is coming later. 

Anta Nante Okotowari

On my shoujou manga reading spree, I came across a shoujou manga that was only four chapters, perfect for my short attention span. The plot was eye catching, and the length perfect, but once I started reading it, I couldn't stop, and it left me craving more. Yes, thats right, this manga's name was Anta Nante Okotowari.

The plot for this manga was a simple one. Yui has a huge brother complex, and at the wedding, she meets a boy crying.She later moves intp an all guys dorm, where she meetd the boy again, but he is the dorm head, and his name is Naruse Kaoru. As ber adventures progress in the dorm, so does Kaoru's and Yui's relationship.

The story for this one was dimple: a girl moving into a guys dorm to get over the crush on her brother and the adventures that ensue there after. True, this manga is short, and that does not allow for many adventures in the dorm, but for the four chapters that were done, it was amusing, and funny at times, and a bit heart warming and touching at others. The story could have easily been slower paced, or perhaps longer, but I think I would still be fine with that fact.

The characters did not have much time to develop, but for such a short manga, they developed nicely. Our heroine, Yui, has a huge brother complex, and Kaoru has, presumably, a sister complex, and these add up nicely, and eventually,they can learn to accept each others differences. The rest of the dorm in the story is not really introduced, except for the dorm assistant head, Mika, who has a crush on Yui. The characters were funny, and they had their own quirks, which I found very pleasing.

The art for this series was nothing special. It was clean and fluid like manga art should be, and each character was distinguishable, but that's probably dueto the fact there was only two main characters you needed to keep up with. The back grounds were also well drawn, and over all, the art for this series was pleasing.

Honstly, I wish that this manga had been longer. It could have been expanded to include more characters, and more humour in general. Kaoru and Yui had a chance to be some of the best characters in manga out there, but since it was so short, that potential was not achieved. But overall, I liked this manga.

Peter Pan Syndrome

I bet that everyone has had dreams of flying at some point in their lives. The thrill of being able to soar above the population below has long enchanted writers and even with the invention of the airplane, it seems that it is a popular topic through literature. Manga is no different, and Peter Pan Syndrome follows the thrills of a girl who has the ability to fly.

Our story follows Hasumi Kohaku, a girl who can fly at night, or when it is raining or snowing, or just plain over cast. She moves into town to find her mother who dissapeared when she was very young and her search leads to  her meeting Tachibana Yuuro, a young arrogant boy who is supposed to be next hospital head, though her using her flying abilities to save his life. Will she find her mother, and her happiness in this town or was moving there all in vain?

The story for this has a simple beginning because it is something that we have all have seen before: a young girl in search of a missing parent. The addition of the super power was a nice addition, I'll admit, but of course in shoujo manga, there is the romance part of it. The story does take a somewhat dark turn, but not overly dark, and it still fits with the theme of shoujo manga. 


The characters were sort of well developed for a ten chapter manga, but I felt like the manga could have been a bit longer to fully explain the events that happened in the past, and still held my attention. Kohaku was yur typical shoujou heroine, even though she could fly, although about mid way through the series, you realize that she has a rather dark past. Yuuro is our typical love interest that acts a bit cold towards to the heroine at first, but gradually warms up to her. Eventually, we meet Touko, who is a potentional love rival for Kohaku. Yuuro's brother, Kyouri, really doesn't really do anything for the story in particular, he just acts as a foil for Yuuro.

The art work for this manga was decent and personally eye pleasing. The characters were well drawn in that shoujou fashion everyone either loves or hates. Yes, that does mean the eyes take up abOut half the face, and every boy is a pretty boy. All characters I cod tell apart from the others, even in black and white.

Overall, for such a short manga, it was well done. I liked the characters, and personally, I hope for sequels to tell the story after the end. J
My only complaint about this manga is just the fact the end seemed a bit off, and there was some room tO definitely continue the story.

Hanaukyo Maid-Tai

It seems that sexism has become a big part in the world that we live in today. In anime, they like to poke funat the sexism by making one sex unable to be around the opposite due to some condition, such as androphobia or gynophobia (fear of men and women respectively) or even some even more bizarre instances. Hanaukyo Maid-Tai, or Hanaukyo Maid Team follows yet another one of these odd scenarios.

Our story follows Hanaukyo Tarou, a young boy who is sent tonlive with his grandpa after his mother died. Little did he know that his grandpa also owns a large team of maids, and they all are told to serve him. There is one little problem with this scenario: it also turns out Tarou is allergic to girls.

Now if that doesn't provide for fan service like no tomorrow. Yes, the maids try to help Tarou with every day life, and most of the time they get in the way, but we all know its not to follow some newly found rich boy and the maids failing at helping him. We know that this anime's selling point, and the story, is the fan service. There is no escaping it due to the fact there is a bunch of girls and one dude. Luckily for us, the fan service only comes in fourteen minute bouts, for each episode is only fourteen minutes long.

The art for this series, in my opinion, is not that good. True, it is old style might work a bit for this series, but it seems there is three main designs: Mariel, Tarou, and everyone else. I honestly feel like none of the characters are distinguishable from the others, and their names even less so. True, the main character is a typical harem lead, and thus looks like one, but even the harem girls, who are supposed to be the best part, and the best drawn, are poolry drawn,and the quality was just dirt poor.

The characters in this anime were almost as bad as the art, to be quite honest. Our "harem" lead is just bland. They could have done so much with the allergy to girls, but they didn't really do much at all. Sure, he turned colors when they touched him, but that's bout it. True, the maids are there, but they are 2-D, and it seems that the maides only appeared in one episode a piece, save for the head of the maides, Mariel. This could be such a character driven anime, but this anime's characters were all over the place and just plain bad.

Overall, this anime has to be one the worst attempts at a harem I have ever seen. This anime had the potential to be a semi-unique harem, and perhaps there was to be a cure for the amlergy to girls, and there could have been less maides, but more character depth, that would have. Een excellent.

Toonami and the Future of American Anime

As all you insomniacs might have noticed, last night was the re-release of the anime block known as Toonami. While I, unfortunately,could not watch, I am sure a lot of anime fans did to see the English premier of Casshern Sins and Deadman Wonderland, along with the return of anime such as Bleach and Cowboy Bebop. So, what does this mean for the future of anime in America, with the return of a well known anime block?

I say it is the return of big time anime in America. I remember when Naruto and Bleach and all the other anime that used to air on Toonami used to be all over stores such as Hot Topic and FYE, but they slowly gave way to crap like Twilight, and worse yet, Justin Beiber. Once the demand for merchandise catches on, I think stores will cater to the otaku more, rather than just pushing all of the anime merchandise in the corner of a store. (I'm looking at you FYE) Hopefully, they will sell more items corresponding to anime, such as keychains, cell phone charms and perhaps even cosplay.

Also, I say that this could lead to a wider of variety of anime being dubbed over and aired on T.V. True, even after Toonami went off the first time, anime were still being licensed every season by the masses by different companies such as Funimation and Sentai works, but I think now there will be reason for companies to get hold of these anime and dub them. It might be an incentive for companies to make better dubs as well, because let's be honest here, most dubs suck because the actors can't act and some of them are monotone. This also might bring back the need to release DVDs for anime after release on TV, similar to what they do in Japan, due to the fact the companies would not feel the need to batch up the releases in series sets like they have been coming lately. In other words, they could release multiple DVDs and just have four or five episodes a piece and still make a lot of money.

Honestly,I just hope that this can bring back anime to the main stream culture. True, anime has gained a lot of popularity due to fan subs and streaming, but usually the only people who were able to find these anime were those who were looking. With the addition of an anime airing block, other than the infamous Adult Swim, hopefully anime will catch on to the other channels, and hopefully, more varieties of anime will be aired on T.V. While the dark psychological thrillers like Death Note and Code Geass and Deadman Wonder land along with the shounen anime such as Bleach, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist are good,I think they should air more comedy and maybe ecchi(yeah right) stuff along with it.

Toonami has brought people together for anime once again. With the return of the famous airing block, I'm honestly hoping that this could make the anime culture in America stronger and perhaps bring back the love for anime like it once was.

Hellsing

In Popular culture today, there seems to have been an increased interest in vampires(specially of the sparkley variety)and for some reason they intrigue us. Perhaps it's they ability to live forever,or quite a long time, or maybe its because they can suck human's blood. Whatever the case may be, they are intriguing things. However, in the anime Hellsing our vampire is like a standard vampire,before they became the fasionistas of the word, but he is used by the humans, in order to hunt and to kill his own kind.

Out story can be split up in two main parts: the part about Alucard, the vampire, and the other about Sera Victoria, a human police girl. Our vampire, Alucard, is being kept by the Hellsing Organization that hunts vampires, and when things go badly, they call in Alucard to kill the vampire, despite being a vampire himself. He meets up with Sera Victoria as she was held hostage by an enemy vampire, and turned into a vampire by Alucard and she herself joins the Hellsing Organization to hunt vampires, just like her Master, Alucard.

The story is actually half way decent for this anime, though it felt incomplete at the end. They did well with the screen time they had,but Expectation wise,the story did not live up to the rumours I have heard about how epic Hellsing was, and mostly I blame that on the loose ends of the story, but in many other areas as well.

The art for this series was old fashioned, so honestly I didn't know if i liked it or not, but the three major characters, Alucard, victoria, and Integra Hellsing's charactr designs were distinguishable from the others, who honestly were not drawn that well. The art also seemed whited out to some extent, but since the anime was made in the early 2000's and that would e acceptable at the time that this was made. Granted, Alucard was the best drawn out of the characters, but I feel like they tried to make Victoria equally as appealing but the way she was drawn is absolute fail.

The characters for this anime are almost so bad they're decent. We have the big boobsd police girl who is just shooting things with a bazooka. I think she's supposed to be the main character in this anime, and even though she takes up a lot of screen time, I couldn't help but to feel she was a side character. The show was mainly dominated by iIntegra and her "servant" Alucard, who mainly seemed like he even dominated her at points. He mainly came across as the best guard dog who couldn't do anything without his master's permission. He was an awesome character, and I wish it was more about him and not about Seras and especially Integra. The rest of the character only appeared in only one episode, or in the case of the Hellsing squad, looked the sams as every other squad member.

Spring Anime Season: Halfway Report

It's here: the Spring Season, filled with blooming flowers, chirping birds, and of course, lots and lots of anime, This spring, the anime industry brought anime fans a lot of various anime, from Idol Moe, to High School romance, to even Zombies. No matter the genre, the spring anime season has brought a lot of good anime, and I honestly hope for some of these to be anime classics soon.

Accel World 

Personally, thus far in the anime season, this has to be one of my favorites I have picked up. The story follows a plain old boy named Arita Haruyuki, who meets up with the school's princess, Kuroyukihime through an online game. She then introduces him to "Brain Burst," which enhances the mind to enter the world known as Accel World, where people fight each other with avatars. Haruyuki becomes Silver Crow, and together with Kuroyukihime, they fight the enemies and hopefully become the strongest.

This anime has great characters, great story line, and is well planned out. The characters are memorable, even though the main character is a bit on the chubby side, and the girl is a bit too perfect, but those quelms aside, they are probably some of the best characters I have ever seen. The Accel World so far is pretty well explained, though a few things still remain unaswered, but as seeing we are only on episode 6, I can forgive that. Along with that, the animation is fluid, and polished and very pleasing to the eyes. I can only have high expectation for this anime, due the promising start, and I pray it does not crash and burn like some anime.


Acchi Kocchi 
The story for this anime is simple but sweet: Tsumiki has a bit of a crush on her classmate, Io, and Io has some feelings for Tsumiki as well, but neither one is aware of the other's feelings. Their friends try as hard as they can to get the two together, but so far, it has been failing. Hopefully one day, these two will realize each other's feelings, and get together.

I have a confession to make about this anime: I fell in love with it in the first five minutes of the first episode. The art style was adorable, and Tsumiki is such a loli, and she kind of reminds me of Konata from Lucky Star, but that's not all: the opening song was absolutely adorable, It's catchy, upbeat, and probably will give you sugar shock. Besides that, the characters are great, the animation is fluid, and the situations they get into might be a bit slice of life like,but still hilarious.


AKB0048

Imagine a future in which all music is banned. Secret idol groups have to give underground concerts, and those who are caught giving or attending these concerts are subject to punishment. The story follows an idol group called AKB0048, who give concerts, and the young girls who attend their concerts in hopes of joining the group.

One thing you should know about this anime is the fact it is based off an real-life band based in Akihabara called AKB48. I have never heard of this band before watching hte anime, but knowledge of the band is not needed in order to understand this anime. Since this is a musical anime, of course they put high emphasis on the music, and they do well with that. The artwork is super moe, and the little hilights in the hair are hearts, which I find adorable. The story outline is a bit dark, but they do put light into it, such as when the police show up to fight the group, their hairbows and stage props are actually weapons. Overall, can't wait to see more.


Hyouka

This anime's story can simply be described as slice of life with mystery. Our story follows Oreki Houtarou, a high schooler who was ordered to join the literature club by his sister in order to keep it alive, even as a ghost member. When he arrives at the club room, he finds a first year girl named Chitanda Eru asks him to solve the mystery of why the club door was locked. From there, when ever she asks about a mystery, he usually solves it, with the help of his friends.

Where to begin with this....the animation is fluid, cute and the sceneries are well designed. The story, the characters, and all...not so good. The set up for this anime is very episodic, though there is a continuing underlying continuing story. The mysteries in this anime are mundane, but yet the solutions to them are always pulled out of Oreki's ass. To  make matters worse, his solutions are always taken as the right solution to the "mysteries." I guess I can hope that the anime will get better with time, but I can only hope.


Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Of the Dead

This anime is pure shenanigans. The characters are pure crack, the situations even more so. We have the return of our lead zombie, Aikawa Ayumu, along with the masou shoujo Haruna, and the adorable, but silent necromancer, Eucliwood Hellscythe, and the vampire ninja, Seraphim. The new situations they are put in are nothing short of funny, and what new adventures await them this season?

This is a continuation off the first season of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? and whteht or not I'm amused is really up in the air. I love the characters, sure, but I think some of that odd-ball effect has sort of run dry due to the first season, and perhaps the fact they have almost run out of jokes. For some reason, I was hoping for a more serious side of it, like the first season was just exposition, however, what ever the case may be, I still enjoy this anime for all of its guilty pleasures.


Kuro Majo-san ga Tooru

Our story here is simple, but yet complex: Kurotori Chiyoko, an young girl interested in the occult, is asked by her classmates to summon the angel of love, Cupid. However, due a stuffy nose, she accidentally summons Gyubid, a black witch who engages Chiyoko in training to become a black witch.

Personally, I think this anime is actually pretty good, even though each episode is only seven minutes long. They manage decent character development, and make me laugh in that time span. The opening song is also catchy (not Acchi Kocchi catchy though) and animation is actually pretty decent. I honestly cannot wait for more of this anime, alhtough I wish they would make it longer.


Medaka Box

For some reason ever since The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, there has been an obsession with making the main girl a god-like figure. The case still remains here in Medaka Box, even down to the point they both follow a club, or a student council with this girl in said group, and he cohorts helping her make everything the way she wants it. With Medaka Box, however, it is directly implied that she might a bit too perfect. Our story follows Medaka in her running the student council and making everything right as she sees fit.

Overall, this anime is not bad, but it isn't good either. The art work and animation is fine, and the characters are ok as well, but something about it irks me. It feels incomplete, which I blame on the format of the show; which divides each episode into two mini-episodes. Usually, due to my attention span, it works for me, but with this anime, it actually epically fails because they cannot get anything established.


Nazo no Kanojou X

We all have our addictions in life, whether it be alcohol, drugs, caffiene, and perhaps even stranger stuff. But, imagine if you're a man, and then somehow got addicted to a girl's saliva. That's exactly what happens to Tsubaki Akira when he he stays after school one day and finds the mysterious transfer student, Urabe Mikoto drooling on the desk. Curious, he tries a sample of the spit, not knowing that her saliva is somewhat addictive, and after getting sick for a week, she reveals to him that he was going through withdrawals and that  he had to have some everyday, or else they would happen. As the relationship  that started based off a boy trying a girl's saliva, romance will surely develop, won't it?

This anime, even though it has an oldish art style that would usually distract me, it works for me. The scenario is a bit weird, but they know how to make the best of the situation that is. The characters are also developed nicely, and each character has a distinct boundary so far, and with some of the other characters being introduced so far, I can only hope for a good end.


Saki-Ageha-hen-Episode of Side A
Remember a while back there was an anime about mahjong named Saki? Remember how good it was? Yeah, they decided it was so good they decided to do a spin off on it, centering around a group of girls Nodoka used to hang out with when she was younger, and their journey to the national championships.

My only response to this anime is basically why do you exist?! Seriously, if you're gonna do a spin off, least do one of the more threatening schools, or least have more interesting characters. The animation is the anime's strong poimt, and even that is average, due to the fact that none of the girls really stand out looks wise. The characters are so flat, I can't even remember their names honestly. Honestly, this is not worth the watch, and because I have a policy about dropping anime...forward we go.


Sankarea

It seems lately, Hollywood has become fascinated with zombies, and that trend is actually catching on in anime. When Furuya's cat, Babu, dies, he attempted to resurrect it using a potion he found in a book. While trying to resurrect his cat, he meets a girl named Sanka Rea, who is a seemingly perfect girl, except for the fact that she wishes to die and be reborn as someone else. With Furuya's help, it might be possible to obtain her wish.

Although this anime might seem a bit strange at first, I like it personally. It has good characters, and good character designs, ie, Furuyua looks like an adorable cat. The characters are also pretty good, and the cat's meow is unique, but adorable. Rea probably has to be the flattest of the main cast personality wise, but either way, she is still an excellent character.


Sengoku Collection
In anime, there seems to be a fascination with the era of the warring states in Japan like there is WWII fascination in the West. It seems there is a bunch of anime having to deal with the warring states of Japan, and lately, they seem to be marketing them as if all the leaders were school girls, instead of men. Sengoku collection follows some of the leaders as they somehow come to the modern day world, and their journey of trying to get back to their home.

Since my knowledge of this time period is limited, I can't properly judge the historical accuracy of this anime, but judging by characters and such, I'm a bit mixed about this. the art style looks low budget, and its mediocre all around, but it seems pretty decent far.


Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan

Our story for this is simple: Kaguya is washed up on shore, not remembering who she is or any type of emotions Rick, along with his baking assistants at the local bread shoppe try and help her remember who she is and help her regain some of her emotions.

Ok, basic slice of like with a bit of amnesia, things I actually like in an anime. How wrong can this anime go? Answer: very.Kaguya doesn't even come in until the third episode, which I would forgive if it was twenty-four episodes or so, but this anime moves way too slow, and with the amnesiac girl being a promised main character, and with most of the anime focusing around bread, this is a let down.The only slightly redemption for for this anime is the end song, which is adorable.


Upotte!!
Imagine if a gun was a person. What type of personality would it have? Hpw would act around others who were also guns? And finally, what if they all went to school together? Such is the situation in Upotte!!, each girl is the personification of a gun, such as the M16A1 from America, FNC from Belgium, L85A1 from England.

This is my guilty pleasure. Of course with making all the guns chicks, they add moe and all that stuff. However, this is not meant for kids; its meant for basically military/gun fanatic otaku, and mostly for men (see episode five). The art style is great, and the characters fit not only the stereo-types of the gun, but also nationality. For example, the M16 is a hyper girl, like Americans are stereo-typically portrayed, and she tired are a short time, due to the three round burst limit. According to my military friend its very accurate portrayal of the M16.

Overall, this season has brought its share of good anime, and bad anime but regardless the case, I highly recommend you to check these out.