Tsunami.No.Anime

After having watched Shakugan no Shana, I really wanted to watch more of it, especially more stuff like the omake. Thankfully, a sequel to Shana was made and had the same characters, the same basic plot idea, and even the same voice actors. The difference? The title, Zero no Tsukaima. Spoiler: Louise is actually 16.

Zero no Tsukaima is a short series about a boy and a girl. The girl, Louise, is a failure at being a magician but has to summon a familiar because she is a sophomore at her magic academy. Unfortunately for her, and for Saito (the boy), she summons him from Japan by accident and he becomes her familiar. Hilarity then ensues.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about Zero as it was a show made for hilarity and not exactly for plot. There is an underlying plot as you are told at the beginning at the Saito is a special familiar but aren’t told till near the end exactly why. The love story grows subtly and there are moments of actual tenderness interwoven into the tsundere relationship. There is also some political intrigue and some personal growth on behalf of some of the characters, but really this show is about comedy, boobs, and romance and not about an intricate story line.

When I say this show is Shana, I mean it. The voice actors for Louise and Saito are the same for Shana and Yuji. The voice actor for the princess is the same as Yoshida. Both Louise and Shana are the same personality as are Yuji and Saito. Both shows have a big breasted woman who turns from being a sloven whore to a softer.. skank.. Shana had a talking book, Zero has a talking sword. Louise likes Saito but wont admit it just like Shana and she has a rival in Siesta as Shana does in Yoshida. So from all outward appearances, the shows have the same characters. The major difference is that Shana was all about drama where has Zero was all about the funny.

The comedy in Zero is pretty good. There are a LOT of boob jokes (notably about Louise having none). There are also several situational comedy moments as well as out of character jokes. Personally, I laughed a lot at this show and couldn’t help it.

Perhaps the only insight I got from the show was the on going theme in anime of nobles versus commoners. This seems to be a running plot throughout animes I’ve been watching and, while not specific to Zero, it certainly played a vital role in its plot, comedy, and characters.

Overall, Zero no Tsukaima was very entertaining and kept me happy the whole time I watched it. While the plot was weak and you can see through the foreshadowing like a window, the humor of the show definitely made up for it. My only complaint was it was too short. Thankfully though, there will be another season sometime in 2007. So, overall, Zero no Tsukaima gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Rating:

The past few days have been rough. Life has been good, but I watched Otogizoushi. I originally wanted to watch it because I read the synopsis on anidb.net about it being a period anime set back in the day. Had it actually delivered on that, who knows what would have become of it. Regardless, Otogizoushi was a definite waste of my time. Spoilers: Good art does not make up for bad story.

Otogizoushi is set in Heian Japan, some 1000 years go. The capital has been thrust into turmoil and the emperor sends the famous archer Raikou to go and collect the 3 missing magatama (scared jewels) and return them. Raikou though is struck with a widespread disease and can no longer go, so his sister Hikaru disguises herself as her brother and sets off with the servant Tsuna to take on the quest. They soon discover a plot deeper than they imagined that thrusts them into the position of saving the capital by themselves.

The art in this show is simply amazing. While there is a bit of weirdness associated with Otogizoushi’s art (such as the characters never blink), the detail and style make up for it. Characters, clothing, and weapons all are vividly detailed and are done in a realistic style. Eyes are normal sized compared to other anime. The backgrounds are great too. Reflecting the period the show is set in, they are done in mostly watercolors or charcoal. The serie’s poster, to the left, is what drew me into the show. Note the actuate period dress and lifelike face in the art. Had everything been this good, the show would have been truely epic.

The period stuff was pretty good too. The historical setting and accuracy, from what I can tell as only having limited knowledge of ancient Japanese history, is pretty spot on, minus the magical stuff. It was refreshing and interesting to see how the ancient Japanese society worked and interacted through the anime medium.

Unfortunately, thats all there is good to say about this show. The characters simply never change. Once you meet the characters and understand their personalities, thats it. There is no real growth or change in them at all. They all felt hollow and empty and at no point did I feel an attachment to them. In the second arc, there was an attempt to add back stories to some of the characters, but these seemed extremely forced and very cheesy.

Which brings me to the main blunder in Otogizoushi. The first arc (1-13) takes place in Heian Japan. Had it stayed there, the who probably would have been a lot better than it was. At the start of the second arc, for no explained reason, the entire cast has been reincarnated in modern day Tokyo and is inexplicably living in the same house with Hikaru as the landlady. From here on out, the show plays more like a bad Scooby Doo rip off as the gang tries to find out why mysterious things keep happening to Hikaru and where her brother went. As the viewer, knowing the events of the first arc, you know pretty much why and how these things are happening and what the final resolution will be by the second episode of the Tokyo chapter, but the show drags on like this for the next 11 episodes. The second chapter completely ruins the show in terms of anything that it gained in the first arc.

The only good episode of the whole show was the very last one. While chronologically it should have been between the arcs (just as episode 25 should have been) you have to see the second arc to understand it. The whole episode is a philosophical look into the main protagonist who turns out to be an immortal. The one show is an introspective look into how he views the world changing around him for the last 1000 years. It was interesting to watch and think about, but it was far too little, far too late.

Overall, Otogizoushi had a lot of promise and a lot of opportunity in its story to make it a great epic. However, due to its bad story, characters, and its tragic decision to make half the show take place in modern day, the show ended up falling flat on its face. Art and style can’t really make up for the mistakes made. Otogizoushi gets a 1.5 out of 5 stars. The second opening will make you cringe, avoid it like the plague.

Rating:

Once again I am led to the conclusion that if you start a franchise off with novels instead of manga, the end result will most often be fantastic. In this case, Shakugan no Shana is the franchise in question and it delivers a great story with great characters in a great way. For an anime I had never heard of and decided to watch because I saw a picture on 4-chan of Shana and thought she was cute with a sword, this turned out to be a true diamond in the rough. Spoilers: Yuji is dead and red is not her natural color.

Shakugan no Shana is the story of a boy and girl. Except in this case, the boy happens to be dead and the girl happens to be a warrior under contract of a king from an other universe to kill creatures who devour existences. Yuji meets the Flame Haze, known only as the Slayer with Flaming Hair and Blazing Eyes, when he is about to be (re)killed by a denizen who eats human existence. He is told after being rescued that he is a torch, a replacement being brought to life for a short time to replace a human and that gradually fades out of existence to lessen the impact on the world. The rest of the story revolves around Yuji’s acceptance of this fact and his growing relationship with the girl with no name who he calls Shana.

The story behind this anime is pretty good and unique. Kings from other universes, creatures who feed on existences, replacement beings who are supposed to fade out to lessen the shock of having things simply vanish, and of course pseudo-loli girls with swords who kill things. Throughout the show, I tried very hard to second guess what was going to happen, but always found myself being pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. The plot is not a “save the world” type plot. Instead it is a slice of a war that has been raging for centuries and we only see the battles relevant to Shana and Yuji.

The characters in the story were all great. All the characters grow to some extent, and some a lot more than others. Yuji proves that he is not simply another torch by putting others before himself and wanting to protect Shana even though he is well aware that he is nearly powerless. Shana, while being close to Yuji, turns from being a callous warrior to showing a lot of her human side to him and his friends. Margerie Daw, another Flame Haze, develops from being a berzerker type fighter to gaining friends in her “henchmen” she acquires while in the city. Every character in the story that you meet ends up surpassing themselves by the end of the show.

One of the best aspects of the show, and I’ll even admit this, is the relationship between Shana and Yuji. Differing from normal high school love dramas, this relationship is unique in that Shana was never told what love was and therefore has no idea how to react to the feelings of closeness she has for Yuji and that Yuji is dead and also a hunted individual who can not form normal relationships with anyone else now that he knows the truth. The series shows Shana battling with her feelings and with her rival for Yuji, Kazumi Yoshida. The relationship triangle reaches a fever pitch in the second half when Shana has to decide if she must put her human side or her Flame Haze side first in regards to Yuji. For several straight episodes I had no idea how things would work out, or even if they would as it wasn’t just “Should I leave him?” it was “Should I kill him?”

After the amazing final battle of the series there are several issues left unresolved but I was able to get over it because of the way they handled it. Not giving anything away, certain tensions are reset, akin to beginning round 2. Thankfully though, I had the three omake episodes and the OVA to watch afterwards. The omake, which feature prominent scenes of the show redone with Shana in chibi form, were absolutely hilarious. The one with Hacate in the same fashion was doubly funny as it took a few scenes where, as a viewer, you had some joke in your head about that scene being sexual and redid them as such (with chibis).

Overall, Shakugan no Shana delivered action, romance, characters I loved, and humor in proportions that kept me excited and ready to watch more. Im thrilled there are novels coming to the states and a movie (even though its just a redo of the first book or eps 1-6) coming out in April. For being so fun and exciting to watch, Shakugan no Shana gets 4.5 out of 5 stars. Urusai urusai urusai!

Rating:

I spent my friday evening this week watching the highly rated anime Starship Operators. After watching all 13 episodes of the beautifully animated space opera, I’m still left with a burning question in my mind: was it worth it? Spoilers: If you like a character, they will die.

Starship Operators is the story of a crew of cadets on their final exam aboard the Kibi guard ship, Amateras. During the shakedown flight, their home-world is conquered by the Kingdom of the Planetary Alliance and they ordered to surrender the ship and disembark. Unwilling to do so, the crew of cadets decided to buy out the warship with aid from the Galactic News Network in exchange for the rights to air their battles and take on the kingdom themselves to free their world.

The animation in Starship Operators is absolutely amazing. A lot of detail and hard work went into making the show come out as superbly animated as it did. There is hardly a frame without an abundance of detail presented to you in the form of consoles, equipment, or warships. The CG of the show was seamlessly integrated into the traditional animation style to provide a true feeling of realism.

To add to this, the show utilizes even more realism in the form of real physics. Nearly all of the Amateras is under a zero-G environment except for a spinning section where the crew quarters are. This is the first anime with space ships that doesn’t have pseudo-artifical gravity throughout the ship. Weapons are made to follow physical rules as are the ships themselves. The ships maneuver as they would in a real space environment (i.e. no stopping on a dime or constant thrust = constant velocity). Surprisingly, when a ship explodes, there is no sound except for the admitted injection of a sound effect by the GNN producer.

The show also has some really great politics and strategy. From the get go, the crew is viewed as traitors by the Kibi government and also by the Kingdom. They bring on board the former prime minister of Kibi and declare themselves to be a government in exile in hopes that sympathetic nation planets will aid them. The politics play a major role in the end when several coup d’etats happen all at once and it gets a little confusing if you’re not used to such manipulation. The war strategy as well was pretty good. The executive officer, Shinon Kouzuki, makes nearly all the strategy decisions and usually through unconventional tactics that are impressive.

Unfortunately, the good of the show ends about there. While the characters of the show are very realistic in terms of their reactions to each other and to the situations they are in, they were also very shallow. At no point during the show was I able to connect to any one of the characters. The show didn’t allow for any character development outside of the transition from wishing they weren’t in a war to accepting their fight as it was. I was struck as how many characters (especially Shinon. See picture.) seemed artificial.The only characters the show let develop over the course of one or two episodes predictably ended up dying. The only character I ended up liking at all was the character of the crew as a whole.

The beginning of the show seemed to show off a lot of the strategy and tactics that, had they kept that approach, made the series look pretty awesome. But in the middle of the show, characters started to pair off in what seemed like forced relationships on the part of the writers. Injecting love stories, even if they are predictable for cadets, to add to the psychological make up of the crew, normally leads a series to pot really quick. Thankfully, they abandoned this line of story before the end and went back to strategy and politics. The ending of the show redeemed itself from the mess of forcing character development too late in the game.

Overall, Starship Operators was a very good war anime and a reallistic but botched character story. Had it picked one or the other it would have lived up to its expectations but it tried to be both and left me with a “meh” taste in my mouth. I appreciate the very realistic settings and reactions, but the relationships thing kinda killed the mood. For the great realism and strategy, Starship Operators gets a 3 out of 5 stars.

Rating:

Nyaa! Tsukuyomi is something that I originally watched as it was coming out last year but lost interest in about episode 8. Hounded by my brother to watch the dvd special episode 26, I drug the series back out and watched it from the beginning. I’m really glad I did because it ground my original feelings about the show into the dirt and made me appreciate neko mimi a whole lot more. Spoilers: Everyone ends up wearing cat ears at least once.

Tsukuyomi is about a photographer named Kouhei who, while on assignment in Germany, meets a vampire girl named Hazuki. Hazuki tricks him into letting her “kiss” him and become her servant. For some reason though, Kouhei is not effected by Hazuki’s bite and refuses to be her servant. Regardless, he rescues her from the castle she is in and she ends up living with himself and his grandfather. The remainder of the story is about Hazuki’s father’s attempts at getting her to return to the castle and Kouhei and cast’s refusal to let that happen. But mostly the show is about how many cat jokes a series can get away with.

I really enjoyed watching this show. The atmosphere of the show is one that varies between seriousness and then on to absolute silliness and back again. Throughout the show you are met with hilarity and then some moments of very troubling scenes. The flow from one to another is gradual over the course of an episode but even during the most serious scenes there is always the chance to throw in humor.

The style of humor for Tsukuyomi is basically three things: tsundere, puns and pans. Hazuki herself provides most of the tsundere humor. Her situation and personality make her transitions from being cute to being outrageous pretty funny and set up a lot of jokes for the rest of the cast. Later on, other characters take the role up as Hazuki gradually grows out of it and into a more mature character (relatively speaking). The show also has a TON of puns. The opener is nothing but a string of Japanese jokes and plays on words; most of which I didn’t get. Everything has cat ears as well. At some point in the show, every character wears cat ears at least once. The pans thing I still don’t quite get. Most awkward situations end with someone getting hit in the head with a pan or teapot. I still haven’t worked out what exactly it means, but its pretty funny regardless. There is also the (what I see as) very Japanese joke pattern of three repetitions of a tense statement, each time getting more serious with the last one ending in a non-sequiter. I found this to be very funny.

The plot of the show as a whole was kind of thin. I basically already spelled it out for you in the synopsis and it doesn’t deviate from that track. The love story part of the show is really the only thing that you end up trying to second guess. There are few real twists in the story and a few plot holes and unresolved issues exist which make watching it for story a bad idea. However, the characters make up for it.

Hazuki’s character development is really the major focus of the show I think. She starts out as a spoiled brat living in solitude in a castle with only her guardian to talk to. After living with Kouhei she learns to rely more on herself and less on her powers of manipulation as a vampire. She makes friends with her potential rivals and develops a great personality by the end of the show (minus the childish outbursts). This is very evident at the conclusion of the series where she helps a close personal enemy escape her own solitude and become part of the family. Her relationship with Kouhei develops from one of assumed mastership to one of admiration and the beginnings of romantic love.

Throughout the series I was left with a continual sense of “OMG Hazuki is absolutely adorable!” I don’t think I’ve wanted so bad to hug a character simply because of their cuteness. The cat ears make it all the better. One thing that did bother me was the obvious age difference between Kouhei and Hazuki when a portion of the plot is devoted to their growing relationship. So is this loli? I don’t know. Ages are never giving in the show so we can only guess. Kouhei’s mother left 14 years ago and we are left assuming that is when Hazuki’s mom left as well. Hazuki was old enough to talk and understand her mother was leaving when she left so she was around 2-4. Based on that I think it would be safe to assume Hazkui is around 16 while Kouhei is probably 20. Of course, we don’t know how vampires age so who knows.

Over all though, even as some things went unanswered and the plot was thin, Tsukuyomi makes up for it with its great cultural humor and adorable cat ears. So if you are going to watch this series, make sure you expect to be entertained and to develop an appreciation for cat ears. As such, Tsukuyomi gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Nyaa.

Rating:

Over the summer, when this show came out, there was another series staring another Haruhi. There was much to do about the other Haruhi and not much said about this one. Thats unfortunate given this show’s great humor and cast of characters, both of which should have stood out more against the competition. Spoilers: This show will make you gay.

Ouran High School Host Club is the story of a young man named Haruhi who, while a commoner, attends the prestigious school mentioned in the title. While trying to find a quiet place to study, he finds himself in the third music room which happens to belong to the Host Club, a club devoted to charming the socks off of girls. Haruhi, in a state of shock and awe and the sheer absurdity of those present accidentally knocks over a vase and is suddenly indebted to the club for reimbursement. To work it off, they make Haruhi into a host and tell him he must get 1000 customers before the debt is repaid. Trouble is, Haruhi is actually a girl. Hilarity thus ensues.

The story itself for this show at first seemed pretty shallow. The premise of the show is set up in the first episode and it doesn’t deviate from it till the end. Most of the first half is basically “OMG Haruhi is a girl pretending to be a guy” related jokes and situations. The second half delves more into the personalities of each of the club members and how the club and Haruhi has affected each of them for the better. Even so, the show is extremely episodic and, at most, there is a very subtle threat that ties the episodes together. Regardless of these irks, the show gives off a lot of warmth as the club often goes out of its way to bring happiness to others dispite any concieved inconvenience.

The characters don’t develop much in the first half other than the general getting to know them and their quirks. Nearly all of them are silly most of the time and then it turns out they have another serious side to them that you didn’t know about. It seemed kind of cliche to begin with. But in the second half, when you learn about how the club has become their family each of them didnt have before, you begin to connect with them a little bit more. While I can say I did like all the characters a lot, I can’t say I connected with any of them on a personal level.

This brings us to an interesting view. The show is about a commoner being in an ultra-rich school. Because of this, the first half tended to show how ridiculously well off the other club members were and how they seemed to have it easy all the time. Haruhi even calls them “rich bastards” several times. In the second half though the tables are turned. The rich club members begin to love being with Haruhi in commoner settings and doing commoner things. (The first half had a hint of this when the club started drinking a marvelous new drink — instant coffee) Haruhi also begins to see how being in rich and prestigious families isn’t all about roses as each of the characters reveals the hardships they face living up to the families’ standards.

Thankfully, the show did not have much of a love story. If you are expecting Haruhi to fall for one of the guys in this series, you’re out of luck. This is a plus because it lets you see the subtle changes she brings out in everyone rather than her focusing on a single person. It also would not at all have fitted her personality to have fallen for one of the guys by the end of the show as she is much too strong willed and independent. Dont be discouraged though, there are hints of some of the guys genuinely falling for her at the end as well as hints she might be interested back (though nothing is shown beyond that).

Overall, Ouran kept a smile on my face the whole time I was watching it. While not an impressive story or extraordinarily unique characters, it does have a lot of originality built into it. The friendship the club has seems extremely genuine as does any feelings anyone has in the show. Being upbeat, friendly, believable and unique, Ouran High School Host Club gets 4 out of 5 stars. (Oh, and this Haruhi could beat down Suzumiya any day of the week. And she’s cuter.)

Rating:

So today I watched all of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (When Cicadas Cry). I have to say that after watching all 26 episodes I think my brain is going to explode, and more than likely my friends will end up blowing it up for me. Spoilers: everyone dies… at least once.

When Cicadas Cry is an anime based off a series of detective games by the same name. It transpires in the June of 1983 and centers around the goings on in the remote town of Hinamizawa. The story begins with Keiichi Maebara moving into the town and befriending his classmates in the one room school that he attends. His friends consist of a troupe of four girls: Rena Ryuguu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Houjou. Soon we learn of a tragic case of murder that happened four years prior because of protests of a dam project which threatened to flood the town. Every year since then someone has died and someone has vanished on the night of the annual Cotton Drifting Festival.

Being based off a series of detective games, the show is split into several arcs: question arcs and answer arcs. In each, the characters are the same and the setting is the same, but the interactions and outcome of the plot always differs. The following may contain spoilers.

The first arc, spanning the first four episodes, introduces all the characters and the backstory for the rest of the arcs. In this arc, Keiichi becomes convinced that his friends are behind the curse of Oyashiro-sama and that he is the next victim. This arc is probably the most terrifying as you don’t know who to trust and the only perspective on the story that you see is Keiichi’s.

The second arc, spanning episodes 5-8, introduces Mion’s twin sister Shion. Shion and Keiichi end up becoming a bit of an item much to Mion’s chagrin and at the festival they decide to break into the main shrine with an amateur photographer and a historian. Soon though, the latter two end up dead and Keiichi and Shion find themselves in the midst of an intricate plot which threatens everyone’s lives.

The third arc, spanning episodes 9-13, finds Keiichi comforting Satako since her brother’s disappearance a year prior has left her lonely this June. He soon learns that Satako’s uncle has come back to town to care for her, but is, in fact, abusing her. Keiichi makes it his mission to save Satako from her torment. This is probably the most depressing arc.

The fourth arc, spanning episodes 14-15, takes us back to the events four years ago involving Mion’s family and the dam building project. It is the first arc to be told from someone other than Keiichi’s perspective (it is told from the perspective of the investigator). This is the last of the question arcs where all were presented with is a jumble of information.

The fifth arc, spanning episodes 16-21, is the longest arc of the series and also the most disturbing. From this arc we begin learning what is actually going on in the town. This is a direct retelling of the second arc from Shion’s point of view and focuses on her infatuation with the disappearance of Satako’s brother Satoshi a year prior right through the end of the events of arc 2.

The sixth arc, spanning episodes 22-26, is the last arc of the first season but only the second of the answer arcs. In this arc we are shown Rena’s decent into madness and her friend’s attempts to bring her back. We are also given juicy clues as to how all the arcs tie together.

Really, this show should be treated as several different shows (hence all the synopses). Spoiling one of the question arcs will not effect any other arc, but obviously spoiling an answer arc would give things away. So I will try to do neither and merely review content.

The story of When Cicadas Cry at first seems to be extremely broken. After the first arc there is a kind of bewilderment that the show seems to restart and have another go with a different outcome. Even so, the plot seems to be very intricate and even more so when you learn how the arcs all might be linked together. Unfortunately, the end of the season does not answer all of the burning questions that the first four arcs pose. Given its detective background, we are never shown true introspective of anyone other than the main character of that arc. We are never shown the whole picture and thus we never know truly what’s going on.

The presentation of this series though is excellent. Not since the original Village of the Damned have I seen a show where I cant trust anyone but the main character and are actually afraid for his life. The first arc itself is something that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud. After this, the next few arcs become depressing and confusing rather than terrifying. There is very little gore ever shown, but there is a lot, a LOT of blood.

Probably the most horrifying part of this show is that fact that all the violence takes place just off screen and all you can see is the culprit’s eyes and the screams of the victims. The characters also are always happy and carefree at the beginning of the arc, but by the end, at least one of them have transformed into something horrific. The worst part is, the way they transform and the reasons they do are completely believable.

At the end of the series though we are left with a few burning questions:
Spoilers ▼

Hopefully, the new season will answer these questions by giving us the last two answer arcs.

Overall though, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni was a refreshing break from normal anime and a welcome chance to try to figure out what in the world is going on in that small town. I have also learned some valuable lessons:

• Do NOT trust cute little girls.
• If you live in a small rural town that has dark superstition surrounding it, your WILL die.
• Give dolls to the right person.

Other than that, the story, believability, and the mystery all lend this series to a 4.5 out of 5.

Rating:

Ah, Nanoha, how happy you make me. Seriously, the Nanoha saga just got better with the second season “A’s”. With this new season, Nanoha breaks down the stereotype of what a magical girl show should be like and what a magical girl can be.

A’s is completely about a single story arc: the Book of Darkness. A lost logia, like the items Nanoha was searching for in the first season, the Book of Darkness is an artifact of technology long since wiped from history. It’s purpose is to fill its pages with the power of mages and by doing so, gain nearly unlimited power to be used by its master. Its master in this case is Hayate, a paralyzed girl whom the book chooses and to whom is presented 4 guardians who are supposed to steal magical power to fil the pages. Hayate wants nothing to do with it and instead turns the guardians into her only family. They in turn, seeing how the book is sucking her life out of her, decided to disobey her and fill the pages of the book so as to save her life. Thus the story is about their struggle to complete the book and Nanoha’s (and the Bureau’s) struggle to stop them.

If the first Nanoha redefined what a magical girl anime could be, A’s shattered it. From start to finish, A’s delivers nearly nonstop action and fun. At the beginning, Nanoha is faced with a new adversary who is using a different magical technology, one that boosts her power to incredible levels for short periods of time using condensed magic cartridges. Nanoha is easily defeated and he stick needs rebuilt, this time with the same shotgun-loading style power as her enemy. This new power up is a very good explanation of gaining new power and passes the suspension of belief test as well as being a fairly original idea. Because of this, the fights in A’s are intense and very powerful.

Consider this: remember Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura? Remember their gay attacks and silly “weapons”. Check this out:

That is not a toy. That right there delivers serious firepower (while still retaining the girly pink that shoujous have to have). The whole series in fact has basically the same set of attacks as the first season only with the added boost of the cartridge system. The enemies too are not your normal shoujou style enemy. With Sailor Moon you had retarded monsters of the week that were ridiculous looking. With Card Captor Sakura you had.. cards. But with Nanoha, you get this:

Even though fighting is the main focus of this season, character development is still there. Fate struggles with having real friends and whether or not to allow Lindy to adopt her. She also goes through some pretty cruel stuff at the hands of the Tome as well. Nanoha finally decides what to do with her life. But the most development is with Hayate and her family of once evil warriors who soften due to her kindness. Hayate herself breaks the mold of “that cute girl in pain who always smiles” near the end of the show when she gains the power of the book thus giving her a realistic side.

Something else that I didn’t notice until A’s was that Nanoha breaks the episodic nature of shoujou. Most magical girl anime will be one episode per “quest” or enemy. With the first season, Nanoha was only episodic in that it skipped around a 6-10 week period. A’s on the other hand is a seamless story thats only broken into 13 parts. There is no monster of the week, there is only the story.

Finally, lets put this to bed. Nanoha is NOT loli. I figured that with the little loli I saw in the first season that A’s would have a lot more since it is loved by 4chan. But really, aside from the opener, there is very little loli; just transformation sequences. So unless featureless forms of shiny transforming 8 year olds get you going, there isnt any loli in Nanoha.

So, Nanoha A’s is a really good anime. Plain and simple. It has fighting, story, characters you like and can believe, and it has the power of friendship.. or something. I’m thereby giving Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s a 4 out of 5 stars. Here is looking forward to even more kick ass magical girls in StrikerS.

Rating:

P.S. A’s also has the one thing no other anime has: the happiest magical tome in the whole wide world.

With such a shady and mixed reputation this show has how could I possibly turn down my brother’s demand that I watch it? Going into this anime I knew only two things: magical girls and pedobear approves. Fortunately, I discovered that only one of these is really accurate.

Just like as happens in most magical girl anime, Nanoha is a 3rd grader in school who comes across an injured ferret on the way to cram school one day with her friends. The ferret turns out to be some dude from another world and needs her help in finding jewel seeds. Of course, he also provides a magical jewel that transforms her into the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and gives her a giant ass-whoopin’ stick. Now at this point we have the same story for nearly every other magical girl show ever made (well, except for the ferret). Thankfully, Nanoha delivers more than just the same old thing.

The loli issue aside, Nanoha is actually a really good show. I hate school/shoujou anime and would have bypassed this one too had my brother not harped on how awesome the fight scenes were. True enough, the animation quality of Nanoha makes it stand alone in the shoujou world. In the first two episodes some of the most grandiose animation takes place, not in a fight, but at the dinner table. Intricate movements of just a dinner discussion are captured and show how much care the animators were going to put into the rest of the show.

The one thing Nanoha has that most shoujous don’t is a plot. Yes, Nanoha was getting jewel seeds. It turns out though that she wasnt collecting them for some fantastical reason of mythical ancient legends foretelling of her coming.. or whatever. She originally was just helping the ferret but then decided that she actually wanted to collect them because of the danger their presence on earth caused. Then it turns out that the jewels aren’t even the ferret’s. He just happened to find them and lose them and felt he was responsible for getting them back. Instead a universal organization comes into the picture and claims they are the ones who are supposed to be keeping them. So right there you have more plot than 90% of the shoujous out there *cough*Sakura*cough*

Nanoha also has depth. The presence of Fate-chan alone is a ton of depth. Shes the normal “quiet” character. But once you find out why shes quiet and reserved you suddenly realize why Nanoha is so different. Name the last shoujou you saw where a main character of 8-10 years old is tortured by her mother. The main jist of the story isnt even about jewel seeds, its about how Nanoha’s constant concern for a stranger ends up saving both their lives and redeeming the lost Fate-chan.

The fights, like I said before, are pretty spectacular. The powers each mage possess are within believable limits and the fact that the “magic sticks” they have are really computer aided magical focus mediums make the attacks more believable. The fights are pretty violent for a kids show but this makes them more believable. Characters actually get hurt and at times there is actually blood. For a shoujou that’s pretty special.

As for the whole loli thing, yes it contains a lot of loli elements. Specifically, Nanoha’s transformation sequence is pretty high on the loli spectrum with her being completely nude. Thankfully, this sequence only happens like 4 times in the whole series. The other transformation sequences are all done in “real time” meaning she transforms in like 2 seconds. As for the fan-service that was supposed to be in the show. It was there, but I doubt I would have seen it had I not been aware it existed before hand. The most I saw was in the first 2 episodes when I was consciously wondering where the loli was. So pedobear may approve, but hes not getting much out of it.

Over all, I think this was a pretty good show. A few loose ends need tying up, like Fate-chan’s future and how Nanoha’s normal friendships are going to turn out now that shes dashing all over the dimensional plane and skipping school (which makes me wonder why her family actually let her go off to who knows where without much debate on the subject (though I’ll give them props for actually being the first magical girl anime to address that issue) ). But at least there is the sequel, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s to look forward to. All in all, 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Rating:

If you’re expecting another gushing review of anime from be after Juuni Kokuki then I suppose you are going to be disappointed with this one. But on the other hand you cant really expect anything I watch immediately after such a masterpiece to stack up all that well. Regardless, Black Cat delivers some classic entertainment and keeps you on your toes until the very end.

The story of Black Cat focuses mainly on the life of the assassin Train Heartnet and his transformation from coldhearted killer to lovable comedic warrior. Through his meetings with the other main characters and his self reflection after he gains his first real friend he changes his character completely. In doing so, Train breaks the heart of his long time partner Creed who views him as a kind of god on earth. Not wanting to let Train become a soft human, Creed vows to kill him to show how much he really means to him.

Of course you can also argue that the main character throughout the whole series was not really Train at all but instead the bio-weapon he was sent to destroy: Eve. Eve is a 14-ish year old girl who was engineered to be a nano-tech bio-weapon. Train is sent to kill her but through the efforts of Sven decides to spare her life and end up protecting her instead. Eve and Sven are really the two driving forces for the series and without giving too much away I would say that Eve is probably the most influential character of them all.

Really, the interaction between Eve and everyone else is the part of the show that kept me intrigued. Having no family or friends and being introverted (and totally moe), Eve becomes the center of attention. Her humor is always off base and unexpected. Her calm demeanor softens the friendship between the three main characters while her rare shows of emotion seem to be some of the more powerful parts of the series.

After watching this show I still had the urge to see more, which is always a good sign of a great anime. However several things kept me from declaring this series a complete success. First off, the Chronos numbers seem far too invincible even for suspension of disbelief. Obviously some must be defeated by Train and Creed for them to be “the best” but the enormous difference in power is kind of hard to stomach. Second, Creed is insane, we get it. Probably the most annoying part of the show is Creed’s insane infatuation with Train. Its not that its a gay relationship from Creed’s perspective because its more of hero worship than anything. Its more that we are reminded every episode that Creed wants to kill Train because he loves him. Over and over. The third thing was the last episode. Without giving anything away, the last arc of the show wraps up in the last episode. Actually, to be more accurate, it wraps up in the last 10 minutes. So the arc wraps up and then the story itself wraps up and the character’s futures are hinted at all in the last 10 minutes. After watching for 24 episodes and getting to know them all it was kind of a disappointment for me to have it end so abruptly.

Anyway, with the very very last scene in the show you can see how strong the character development was for Train and how he has matured throughout the experience. Black Cat was a very enjoyable anime for me and while I don’t see a sequel coming ever, I wouldn’t object to seeing more of these cool characters. So, for Black Cat, I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

Rating: