review Nanoha the movie 2nd

Hammer time!

It is about six months since Nanoha had her first adventure and finally she gets the chance to meet Fate again. Quickly enough a new threat appears in the form of four warriors hunting the magic of other mages. Their motives are unknown at first but they connect to their relationship with a young paraplegic girl named Hayate.

Don't worry he only mauls some of the children

The Nanoha 2nd movie is the movie adaptation of Nanoha A's. As you can't break a thirteen episode series down to less than half it's length without some cuts the movie can feel slightly disjointed at times, even more so if you haven't seen either the first movie or the original Nanoha series.

Never mess with a nine year old devil

However what this movie wants to deliver to the audience is high intensity battles with lots of energy beams, explosions and little girls and it does it very well. There is also a decent amount of character development in the movie, particularly the antagonists, who have one of the more memorable motive deconstructions in anime. However this is sandwiched in between the four extended fight sequences in the movie.

Overall Nanoha the movie 2nd is a nice action packed magical girl movie that has a bunch of bright imagery and good characters.

Rating the bronze

review Magical Warfare

This show has to resort to threats to get viewers

Takeshi was a boy who lived in a broken home and longed to get away from where he was. His wish was granted by a girl named Mui who introduced him to the world of magic and enabled to not only use magic of his own but study magic in a magic school in a magic world. As luck would have it his two best friends also gain magic and are able to study alongside him. However this is a dangerous world with two factions of wizards battling and Takeshi could easily get caught up in the conflict.

Not so badass, are you?

Light novels adaptations are pretty much a staple in anime these days and just from looking at it Magical Warfare is clearly one of those shows. Even the main girl feels like she was she is just Shana from Shakugan no Shana just aged a bit and given a gun instead of a sword. This also has the problem a lot of speculative fiction suffers from; front loading a lot of world information in the first few episodes.

This is not to say that this show is entirely without merit. However most of this comes in the form of crazy magic fights that become increasingly common as the show wears on. Also I found the side characters to be a bit more compelling than the group of four main characters but no real stand outs.

However in the end there are only little bits of the show that are good and this overstuffed genre has many sweeter fruits so to speak.

Overall I found Magical Warfare to be a very generic modern fantasy show that can work if you are looking for a brainless action show

Rating the tin Melon bread (Shakugan no Shana) for being the bare minimum of an urban fantasy light novel adaptation

Personal metrics 2 the good and bad of ninja scroll

It has been some time but I have felt that it has been to long since I posted a personal metrics post. It is partially because I think these posts make my usual reviews more worthwhile and partially because it gives me something else to post about other than reviews and the seasonal preview.

A long time ago there was a time called the nineties and everything was extreme to the max. Anime was new and one of the few anime movies we could get from a mystical place called a video rental store (it was like a redbox you could walk into) was a movie called Ninja scroll. It was a movie with a bunch of sex and violence and a bare-bones plot. It was the beloved classic of everyone's inner teenage boy. Then years later there was a thirteen episode television show done about ninja scroll and that tv show wasn't so well beloved. The question is why.

My belief is that ninja scroll was never really anything significant in terms of plot or character and was never intended to be. The difference in a movie is only about an hour and a half long and it only needs enough plot to string fights together. The pacing of a television show simply can't work with the simple diet of adrenaline the way a movie can as television has the natural cool down point that an end of an episode is. However as fun as a movie that is mostly only battles with a little plot for glue might be I tend to only give out bronze awards to them. 

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.

Fall season overview part eight Gotta try everything

While the post title isn't entirely true I am clearly above two dozen titles tried out for the season and this should be my last post of the season (only eleven weeks until this whole thing starts again) because I need to actually stop watching new shows so I can watch the new shows that I enjoyed watching.

A good librian is a good shepard

is a boy who never really paid attention to school functions but always loved reading more than anything. He gets drawn into some happiness project and it might turn out that he is the school's chosen one. This show feels like your bog standard harem show with a slight library flavoring to it.

Gundam build fighters try

Seven years after the first season the school gunpla club is down to only one member. Cue the mysterious transfer student looks like a dead ringer for Reiji to show up. This show feels as thought it could be a show as good as it's predecessor and even then it was a show that depended heavily on gundam fandom and being ridiculous in a funny or amazing way.

It's got to be twin tails

Soji is a boy loves girls when they wear their hair in twin tails fashion (what we call pig tails in the USA). One day he is approached by a mysterious woman who asks him to become a hero to save the world's twin tails. This show is ridiculous and and a bit fan service oriented but it clearly knows it is being ridiculous. Also the fact that the loli type heroine character is actually a guy makes me smile in an odd way.

Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha

Yuna and her friends are the members of what is known as the hero club. One day they are whisked away to a strange land and are made to fight monsters as magical girls. I can't tell much about this show from the first episode but I liked the visual cues in the show as well as the alternate world which felt kind of like a pastel version of a bones mecha show.

Parasyte the maxim

One night Shinichi is attacked by a creature from space and his hand is infested by an alien parasite. He soon finds out that there are other alien creatures and they are murderous. I found this show was a bit bloody but it didn't feel as gratutous as some other shows. I also like the character of the alien in the main character's hand. 

Fall 2014 season overview part 7 Hulu world

If you know me and this blog by now you know that I start with the crunchyroll shows first and then start reviewing the funimation shows about a week later when they start being available to non subscribers. It gives me some spacing so I am not overwhelmed (even when my timing is a bit more on point). I found some interesting shows in this batch that I hope you might like.

Rage of Bahamut

This is world of fantasy and in that world there are bounty hunters like Leone Favare who are out to take any adventure that offers them enough money or hot women. I saw the first episode of this and it felt like a good action movie with really nice animation. I feel this is for the people looking for another Samurai Champloo or Space Dandy.

Lord Marksman and Vandis

Tigre is a nobleman who is phenomenal with a bow but even is skill wasn't enough to keep him from being captured. However instead of a life in a cell he caught the attention of his captor the war maiden Ellenora. This show is a fan service laden fantasy show but one with enough action and characters to make this more than just a show with boobs.

Selector Spread Wixross

Ruko thought she was going to get her wish with her last Wixross battle but things went horribly wrong. Still she is saddled with her fate as a selector. When just about everyone first looked at Wixross they dismissed it as a Madoka clone but it was at least passable show. With a second season I wonder where this show will take viewers.

In Search of the lost future

Sou was a normal high school boy who had feelings for a normal girl Kaori.  One day Kaori gets hit by a bus but then the hands of time reverse and Sou is holding some strange naked girl. I know the ending of the first episode was supposed to hook me on the show but the characters felt incredibly generic and the show leaned on Cg way too much for no real reason except to be cheap.

Fall 2014 season overview part six pieces of the past

As the season overview wears on I start grouping a bunch of shows in that I think even remotely sort of look interesting. I can't really think of a theme to this group except for fantasy but I already used that this season and there are a couple more fantasy shows that I plan to look at in the next group. It must be the flavor of the season like the anime equivalent to pumpkin spice or something. Anyway as for my feelings I think there are two show I will not be following, a sequel that I probably will and another show that has caught my interest.

Hi-scool Se ha girls

This is the story of three anthropomorphic sega game systems who are going to a video game school. This is a twelve minute long show that revolves around jokes and references to old sega games. Not to mention the show is entirely done in CG so this is easily not a show for everyone.

Chaika Avenging battle

It has been a month since Chaika and her companions had their battle in the floating fortress and they are continuing to search for the remains of Emperor Gaz. Anyway this is pretty much the same Chaika that anybody who has watched the first season has come to know and you should probably know by now if you want to follow through with a second season before you watch it.

Akatsuki no Yona

Yona is a sixteen year old princess who has no bigger problems then her unruly hair and who she was going to marry. However her peaceful life is about to be turned upside down. This show is a fantasy show with set in an Asian world (it appears to be a blend of Japanese and Chinese elements) although there aren't any supernatural elements in the first episode. Many of the characters that aren't the main character are attractive men so feels like something in the vein of Fushigi Yugi. It looks like it could be an interesting show so I will be following it for a few episodes at least.

Girlfriend Beta

This is the story of several girls in high school including Kokomi who is in the gymnastics club and spends most of episode one trying to return a photograph to a french exchange student. Honestly other than looking at the character designs I have trouble seeing the point in a show like this as it lacks even the simple humor that even most slice of life shows usually go for. The thing is shows of this genre are about a dime a dozen and you will probably find a few better shows for one's ten cents worth.