Review Upotte

Girls that are guns

Seishou academy is a very special school in that the students there are guns in human form. One day a new language teacher (who is unamed) arrives at the school and quickly meets the Belgian made FNC assault rifle (who is called Funco) and gets shot when he embarrasses her. However this is only the beginning of the story with Funco and her friends.

No this is my yuri pairing

Upotte is a slice of life comedy show about girls who are somehow guns (this manifests as the girls being able to draw their guns from nowhere). The show incorporates a surprising amount of trivia about military firearms and manages to work it into the show is somewhat amazing, you might learn something.

Stop, hammer time

This show manages to have more of a plot than the usual slice of life show has, as girls that are somehow guns allows for some pretty good action sequences. Needless to say the show is usually better and almost always different than the first episode so don't let that episode turn you off of the show. The show isn't full of underwear jokes, I can tell you that.

overall I found Upotte to be a slice of life show with a gimmick that works just well enough to make the show entertaining.

 Rating the bronze Hetzer (Girls und Panzer) for being a decent cute girls and military show.

Review Gugure Kokori san

Doesn't everyone have a shoulder mounter little girl?

One night a lone girl named Kohina was playing Kokori san (a game a lot like an Ouji board) and actually summoned Kokori san the fox spirit. Kokori was surprised at the girl and how she said she was an emotionless doll who needed only cup noodles. Kokori san resolved to take care of Kohina but that is only the beginning of the supernatural hijinks that the two of them will share.

Excellent logic and fan service

Gugure Kokori san is a twelve episode long comedy first and just about anything else second. Like most pure comedy shows there is little to no plot except for whatever framework there is for the set of gags there are at the moment. There is also the reoccurring plot thread of Kohina coming out of her doll persona but (spoilers) nothing much comes of it.

Inugami the Yuri version

Although most of the main cast is attractive men I don't feel that the show is so slanted toward a female audience that anyone should avoid watching this show because of it, comedy comes first in this show. I found a couple of episodes to be weaker than the others but that is the case in most comedies.

You can always add more cute characters in school uniforms

Overall I found Gugure Kokori san to be a fun comedy for girls, boys, emotionless dolls and gender confused dog spirits.

Rating the bronze mesousa (pani poni dash) for being a comedy where anything can happen even if most of it has to deal with mythological Japan

Review Monthly Girl's Nozaki

sailor suits, not for everyone

Chiyo was a high school girl who had a crush on one of her classmates, Nozaki. One day she gathered up the courage to confess her feelings to him. However her confession came out a bit off and she ended up learning for that Nozaki is actually a popular shoujo manga artist and he thought that she was simply a fan of his work. Chiyo is quickly drafted into being one of Nozaki's assistants and learns about the strange little world that surrounds him.

Some times this show is a real wild ride

Monthly Girl's Nozaki is a comedy that parodies shoujo manga (comics that have teenage girls as prime demographic). Like most good parodies the show works best if you know a bit about the genre and itself isn't too hard on it's source material. In fact if you kind of tired of the whole jerk with a very well hidden heart of gold trope that exists in many shojo anime you might find this to be a good alternative.

the blandest bento

There is a fairly broad cast of characters in this show and since of them has their own quirks the show does come with a fairly broad range of jokes. Most of this centers around three would be couples so there is also a good variety in episodes. There are only twelve episodes so don't expect the relationships to go anywhere.

Overall I found this to be a really funny shojo satire show that has a wonderful cast of characters.

Rating the silver host club (Ouran) for being a really nice shoujo flavored comedy.

Review Sabagebu!

Cute girls shooting cute animals

At first glance Momoka was just another high school girl going to an all girls school. One day she caught the notice of the ultra popular girl Miou who just so happened to be the president of a club in need of members. After some hi jinks and pressuring Momoka agreed to join Miou's survival game club which is all about simulated military combat. As it turns out Momoka is well suited for this club.

Nico Nico douga has invaded this show

Looking at it Sabagebu might look like another onet of those cute girls doing cute things sort of slice of life show. However looks can be deceiving as this show is all about comedy and the plot is entirely subservient to trying to make the viewer laugh. Most often an episode is sliced up into three segments which are just long enough for a complex gag and little else.

Miou does it gangster style

As for the quality of the humor I found the show to work mostly off of a slightly dark form of humor that largely comes from the main character. Perhaps the biggest twist to the show is Momoka and the fact that she is one the most self and twisted main characters in anime, especially for a show that is a set of cute with the activity du jour. However even if a certain segment doesn't work just like the girls in the show it dusts itself off and has another go.

so much for Urara @notyourshield

Overall Sabagebu doesn't try to do anything more that try to make the viewer laugh but sometimes that is all that it takes

Rating the bronze notebook (Death Note) for a nice show that stars a deliciously twisted main character.

Review World Conquest Zvezda Plot

Don't drop the show, you will make her mad

When Jimon Asuta decided to run away from home he quickly found out he had no place to turn to. That was until he happened upon a little girl named Kate Hoshimiya. Kate has plans to rule the world and as it turns out her plans are a lot more credible than anyone would expect. So Asuta finds his new

 place in life as Dva one of the soldiers of Zvezda under the leadership of Venera, Kate’s alter ego.

After school special meets brutal crackdown

World conquest Zvezda Plot is a thirteen episode long show that mostly a rather zany comedy although it can be a bit more introspective at times. It comes across as a parody of the usual black and white morality action shows and when it is more thoughtful the show can be a rather insightful commentary. This show might feel somewhat random at points but all the loose ends tie themselves up in the end.

the tsundere minion

The characters in Zvezda plot are rather endearing and quirky and become rather well developed as the show progresses. There might be some concern about fan service given some of outfits some of the characters have, especially Kate's, but after watching the show I have found the show doesn't try to sell itself on sexual exploitation and there is little else to be concerned about.

A little girl fighting a giant robot

Overall I found World Conquest Zvezda Plot to be a quirky and somewhat unique show that has been kind of overlooked.

Rating the silver menchi (Excel Saga) for being such a wonderfully crazy show

Review D Fragments

Main  female character in Chibi form

Kazuma was a delinquent who was just entering highschool. One day he meets a girl giving out fliers for the game creation club. When he enters the game creation club he finds the truth behind the club, that all of the girls in the club are a bit crazy and end up roping Kazuma into the group because they are a member short. However the game creation faces other threats to its existence. Can both Kazuma and the club survive?

Main female character as a morally shady child

To put it simply D Fragments is a hyperactive gag comedy show that can even have the odd gag action scene. I find the humor in this to a bit hit or miss but I find that this show has an energy that I cannot deny. As for the humor it tends to contain a couple of video game references although they aren’t common enough that they show is ruined for a viewer if they don’t get them.

The second time the protagonist has been kidnapped

Being a straight up comedy show plot isn't all that import to D Fragments but oddly enough there is some sort of strange continuity to it. As for characters this show has a large number and to the last they pretty wacky but don't go into this show looking for endearing or very likable characters.

The best girl (even if the picture doesn't show why)

Overall you might take or leave D Fragments but it might make you laugh but don't expect it to do anything else.

Rating the bronze Mesousa (Pani Poni Dash) for being a show where anything can happen as long as it is for a joke. 

Review Love Lab

Someone is paying attention to us?

In Fuji Girl’s school the most popular student there is no student as popular as the student president Maki Natsuo. She is that perfect and elegant princess of the school. That is until one day that another student Riko Kurahashi finds out that she is really a love struck goofball. Maki swears Riko to secrecy and also has her join in her Love Labs or training on how to find boys. Maki is especially interested in learning from Riko who is a love master or at least that is what she accidentally tells Maki and doesn’t have the courage to admit she is as clueless about boys as Maki.

This pic makes this show seem way more erotic than it really is

Love lab is a thirteen episode comedy series. In my opinion this is a really well constructed show and a general joy to watch. While it is a simple slice of life show on the surface there are several subtle qualities that make it superior to many shows of its kind. A big reason for this is that the characters are not only well constructed but all play off of each other well. Not only is this a show about cute girls doing cute things but there is a delicate web of character relationships. This gives the show a weight and grounding that many slice of life shows don’t have while still having a lighthearted atmosphere. 

Nothing brings despair to little girls like milk.

Another point that I first realized through a post on Fantastic memes is how this show deals with the concept of female sexuality. Unlike many slice of life shows Love Lab actually deals with the fact that teenage girls usually have an interest in boys; this is the demographic that allows Justin Bieber to be popular after all. Love Lab does this without shifting focus onto whatever male characters show up on the screen.

Overall I found Love Lab to be a good little show that just does all of the little things right. It is a fun and underrated show that you should watch. 

Trust me Riko is Awesome

Rating a silver detachable twin tail (Azumanga Daioh) for all around goodness in a slice of life show.

Review chronicles of the going home club, aka Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku

Review Chronicle of the going home club

                                                                    It's so cute when they can't do stuff

Natsuki and Karin are new high school students and like all high school students is pressured into joining a school club. Natsuki says she wants to join the going home club (the going home club is a Japanese euphamism for not joining a club). Much to her suprise there is an actual going home club and like all clubs in anime they are eager to get their roster up to five members (which of course having Natsuki and Karin join would bring their total amount of member to). The other members of the club are, Botan who is a very powerful martial artist and lover of video games, The obscenely rich Claire, and Sakura, who is quite normal. What does this club do? Various activities that the members would think are fun.

                                                           take that vastly more popular show

The Chronicle of the going home club is a very obvious gag comedy anime where there is little to any plot or character except to make a joke. In fact most episodes are broken up into  I find shows like these hard to grade or review as everyone has a slightly different sense of humor, but overall I found the show's humor to be somewhat tepid. For a show that tries to cover everything, this show has an annoying habit of going back to a few jokes repeatedly. Particularly bad offenders in doing this are jokes about the ending song starting too early and a limited amount of character based gags. This is not to say that there aren't good episodes, episodes three, five and seven tend to stand out as good episodes in my opinion.

Overall I found The chronicles of the going home club to be a show that is not really bad but just isn't good enough to honestly be considered good. This show feels like such a giant pile of nothing (I stand by my adding paradoxes in my reviews) that I couldn't work up the energy  or motivation for a proper review.

Rating  The tine daddy hat (Azumanga Daioh) for being a mildly enjoyable but ultimately rote gag comedy show.