Season overview part four Shoujo and tell

Once up a time there was a thing called shoujo manga which you could find in bookstores and there was also anime shows adapted from those shoujo manga. To tell the truth there are still shoujo manga and adaptations of those manga because in the group of shows that I am quick reviewing today.

Blue Spring Ride (Ao Haru Ride)

Futaba had a crush on a boy called Tanaka two years ago before he moved away. Then she found he had returned only to find he had changed in several ways including his name.

Blue Spring Ride is a fairly basic and standard shoujo anime from it's first glance. It's good enough that if you like the genre at all or want to know what shoujo anime is like watching this show is well worthwhile.

DRAMAtical Murder

In the future on the island on Midorijima there is a virtual game called Rhyme and a prevelence of gangs. Aoba is a young man who works at a junk store who tries to stay away from these things but is drawn into them.

DRAMAtical Murder is a strange sort science fiction show with shades of BL (homosexual content for those not in the know). It probably isn't a show for everyone but I found it more tolerable than some of the older Yaoi anime as Aoba is a pretty normal guy who is simply friends with all the pretty men instead of being the whiny uke of yesteryear.

Hanayamata

Naru is a shy girl who one day runs across a strange girl who runs across a strange put pretty girl who wants to dance with her. Next day Naru finds said girl is a new transfer student who want Naru to join her dancing club.

Hanayamata looks like it will be the cute girls doing things show of the season. As it also looks like it where all the animation talent that made No Game No Life from Madhouse is going this season it looks like it will be a pretty show as well

Monthly Girls Nozaki

Chiyo is a high school girl who is in love with Nozaki who is actually a manga artist. Chiyo confesses her love to him but he mistakes it as appreciation of his manga and tries to make her his assistant.

Monthly Girl's Nozaki is a light parody of shoujo manga that I found rather funny. Like most good parodies it works best when you have some understanding of what it is parodying but unlike real shoujo manga most of the enjoyment doesn't depend on the viewer finding the main male hot.  

Season overview part three Holy Excrement

I know it is always unprofessional to blame others for one's own failings but crunchyroll had a bit of a server snafu which led me to be a bit late in my season overviews. Better a couple hours late than never especially given the shows that I have seen recently. There are a couple of shows that were honestly much more interesting than I would originally would have expected them to be. It just goes to shows that trying various stuff can pay off every so often.

Akame ga Kill

Tatsumi is a young man who wants to make his fortune at the imperial capital. He soon finds out that the place is rotten to the core. As a twist of fate he ends up joining a group of assassins bent on revolution.

At first glance this show looks like a standard shonen action show with a fantasy flavoring. That is until the later half of the show airs and the show turns really dark and bloody. It's a perfect show for those looking for a less kiddy feeling shonen show.

Aldanoah Zero

It has been fifteen years since the war between Earth and the Vers empire. Yet it seems that the fires or war may blaze once again.

Now this is how you have a first episode of a show. It looks like this will be a show with the split perspective and seems like it will be a well thought out show. 

Rail Wars!

In an alternate world where the government has nationalized the railways there is need for railroad security to handle problems. This is the story of team of such security personnel.

Rail Wars is a show that is a combination of action and fan service. It is a decent enough show that I wouldn't drop it immediately but I have to say that it looks to be only decent. 

Summer 2014 season overview part 2 crystal of the wind redux

I know it has been a quite a while since this has happened but sequels and reboots have become quite popular as of late. There are many possible reasons for this phenomenon but honestly I think people don't like new things as much as they say they do. Anyways what I have seen here is a couple of worth additions to their respective franchises.


Sailor Moon Crystal

Usagi Tsukino is a bit of a flake of a middle school girl but one day she meets a strange cat with a crescent moon symbol on her head. That night it talks as tells Usagi that is actually the pretty guardian Sailor Moon.

The first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is a pretty faithful retelling of the first chapter of the manga with really pretty animation. I can't imagine anybody that is even nominally on board with the very idea of this show expecting

Sword Art Online II

One year after he came back to the real world from the virtual realm of Aincrad Kirito was contacted by the police; who wanted help with a strange set of deaths that are connected to Gale Guns online a new MMORPG.

Although this first episode is entirely set up information and exposition I still have a good feeling about this show and it could be better than the second half of the first Sword Art Online. Apparently there will be light saber action in this show. 

summer 2014 season overview part 1 let slip the chickens of war

So after my semi hiatus I am ready to get back into the anime blogging saddle and bring a new set of really short one episode anime reviews. To sum up everything in a sentence there are four shows in this batch which all range from being serviceable for there genre to being rather lackluster. This is very much to be expected as I have rarely seen the first few shows to be the classics of the season. So strap in everyone this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Argovelion

To make a long story short there is a war between the countries of Arandas and Ingelmia which has just taken a bad turn for Arandas but luckily for them they have just developed a new prototype robot.

From the looks of the first episode this looks like it is a fairly bog standard mecha show.There isn't enough time to really develop any characters worth caring about but on the good side the visuals are pretty decent.

Bakamatsu Rock

In an alternate history the music that is allowed is the heavens song sung by government approved singers. Enter Ryoma Sakamoto and his wild and passionate rock music.

Bakamatsu Rock is a show with two main draws to it; being a bit crazy and looking at shirtless men. You probably need to be interested in the later to have this show be worthwhile in the long run

Glasslip

Touko is a girl who wants to be a glass artisan.

I have some high hopes for this show being the latest in the PA works original anime series. Unfortunately I didn't find the opening episode to be as strong as Tari Tari or Hanasaku Iroha.

Locodol

This is the story of Nanako who becomes one of the idols of the town.

This is another idol type of show and to be utterly honest I would rather spend the time catching up on other shows of the genre than to watch this.

Review Un Go

Seductive stuffed animals

It has been a while since the war but Japan is still feeling the aftereffects. Shinjurou Yuuki is known as either the last great detective or the defeated detective depending on who you ask. Even though he does have a formidable wit he also has a secret weapon, his partner, Inga who can force anybody to answer just one question.

 

sorry but no real yuri in this show

Un Go is a eleven episode mystery show with a science fiction twist. As with most shows of the genre it is quite episodic although it does have some lingering plot threads. There is also the theme of how society is affected by terror threats and how a government can subtly undermine people's freedom and thoughts through fear.

 

The main character and his deus ex machina

As interesting as a show like this seems there is also some serious problems with Un Go which keeps it from being a great show. First and foremost is Inga who often derails mystery plots by using her power in a deus ex machina fashion. There is also the deal that Inga (as well as one other character which appears later) is rather out of place in a science fiction setting, and this incongruity isn't even really central to the show's themes.

Overall Un Go is a show that really tries to be thought provoking but feels like it trips over it’s own feet half the time in doing so.

Rating the bronze Hayate (Hayate the combat butler) for having way too many supernatural elements in a genre that needs or even suggessts (if you go by knoxs rules) none.

Memoirs of watching a One piece marathon

In an effort to do something else with my anime watching than to view an endless stream of thirteen or so episode long shows and review them one after another I decided to watch a big block of One Piece. Namely the first one hundred and thirty episodes or the first two major arcs in terms of plot progression. I did this over the course of four weekends watching about twenty six episodes the first two weekends comprising the East blue arc of the story and thirty nine episodes the second two weeks covering the Baroque Works arc. The following is my experiences with this experiment.

I noticed that trying to marathon one show to such an extent created sort of an anime burn out with me watching other shows. Even when I had the free time to watch other shows I had little desire to do so. Hopefully I will recover by the time that the season ends and I will have a decent amount of season end reviews. If not you now understand why.

I watched the episodes in English from the Funimation dub. Even though I usually watch my anime subtitled I found that it is easier to marathon a show if I am watching it in English.

I have already read the One Piece Manga to the end of the Water Seven Arc (which would probably require me to watching another four or five weeks of One Piece anime at the same pace I had been watching to reach) so the anime contained almost no plot suprises for me as I have consumed all of the material before in another format a couple of years ago. However One Piece is a show that depends on emotional appeal more than intelligent plotting so It is worth reviewing every so often.

The one plot addition that the anime had over the manga was the Apis arc which is something just confirms my distaste for anime filler be they single episodes or entire plot arcs. If you haven't had the misfortune of watching this particular group of episodes it is about a little girl and her old dragon friend. The dragon is supposed to be sympathetic but fails to be so probably because it sits there for the most of the time it's on screen like a lump on inanimate matter.

Even with it's bad points One Piece is a good show overall. A couple days after the Apis arc I managed to make it to the Drum island arc and watch it in one night. The result is that One piece is now of the shows that has made me cry.

About the Alabasta arc I think it is one of those high points that every shonen manga aspires to and usually hits maybe once in it's run. It has a bunch of the shonen tropes including one I think that everyone who at least tolerates the genre loves, the part where everyone in the main cast pairs off when a corresponding antagonist and there is a series of fights. The other main point that I would like to make about this story arc is the amount of denouement that it had, as it had three episodes between the defeat of the main villain until the time that the characters left for their next adventure. It is almost as if One piece is not a single anime of manga but a series of such shows with a good leaving off point every so often. The end of Alabasta is one such point so I feel fulfilled in my watching experience even if I decide to take the show up again at a future point.

Review Dream eater Merry

Powerless before donuts

Yumeji was a boy who could see the auras of people's dreams. He was also haunted by nightmares about being hunted by dream demon in the shape of a cat. Fortunately he was saved by Merry, a girl who could enter people's dreams. The reason is that she comes from the dream world and enters into a contract with Yumeji so they could fight dream demons and find a way for Merry to get home.

 

Don't hurt the black mage

Dream Eater Merry is a thirteen episode shonen show that seems to be a hybrid of a magical girlfriend type of show and a more action oriented shonen show. This causes it to be a bit pale as both genres are concerned. While it doesn't lose itself in fan service or harem antics the show's relationships are a bit thin. On the other hand there are no tournament arcs or an ungodly amount of characters to remember but the action scenes are rather mediocre.

In fact serviceable but not outstanding is pretty much a fitting description for almost any facet of this show. It is a decent show with decent characters and a decent plot that you can't really put your finger on but makes you feel like you watched something just like it before.

Overall Dream eater merry might have a picture of it next to the word mediocre but at least it is somewhat entertaining.

Rating the bronze Jewel shard (Inu Yasha) for being a decent but unremarkable monster hunting shonen show.