Spring 2011 Anime May...ish Review Part 3: AnoHana, Enma-kun and Summary Score

Ok, wow. I've never heard Tomatsu Haruka like that before.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi we Mada Shiranai

So what I've feared finally came; the gang starts to second guess Jinta's ability to see Menma, and thinking that's it's his own bullshit all the while. Aside for the fact the Menma's so coporeal, it also bugs me that the gang trust Jinta (somewhat) so easily and had made so much effort because Jinta claims to be able to see Menma. Well, now that Menma proves to be able to communicate with the gang after all (you only realised now?), we'll be able to see the story pick up the pace. But hey, it's nice to see that whatever Menma's wish is, it's already somewhat fulfilled now that the gang has been meeting up for a while now.

Dororon~ Enma-kun Meramera

It was only until around 4 episodes that I realised that I'm watching a fanservice show. It doesn't seem like any kind of plot is going to take place, and most likely the monster-of-the-week and its various ways of exploiting the female characters fomula would carry on until the end of the series. Well, at least it wasn't completely boring; the presentation can very incredibly lazy at times, but the unique style (old-school...) of the show and creative fanservice allows it to be a good way to pass time time <.<

Summary Ranking & Score

1. Hanasaku Iroha - A+
2. Anohana - A+
3. Ao no Exorcist - B-
4. Tiger & Bunny - C+
5. C - C (not trying to be funny, but...)
6. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - C-
7. Enma-kun - C-
8. Deadman Wonderland - D

Spring 2011 Anime May Review Part 2: Hanasaku Iroha, Tiger & Bunny, Ao no Exorcist

Uguu~ The most emotional scene in the show season so far.

Hanasaku Iroha

I'm not gonna talk about how we came to expect too much out of the first two episodes anymore, because even if the other episode isn't as dramatic as we thought it would, Hanasaku Iroha has proved to be an extremely entertaining show. In fact, I totally love the show for what it is now. The studio have a very precise and subtle way of expressing the characters, like the scene where Ohana cried in the pic above. I can't find a better example where the scene really allows the audience to put themselves in the character's shoes.

And it's not just the emotional parts of the show that are good. The show had inject a lot of flavour into the minor characters as well, and I love their sense of humor while they're at it. I didn't enjoy Minchi's episode that much, but Tomoe is full of win.


Actually, if you're still expecting an all-out drama because of the first couple of episodes, it would be pretty unfair to the series itself. It's no doubt that various shows would try to make an epic introduction so as to secure viewership, and Hanasaku Iroha did a fantastic job at that. Perhaps too fantastic, which results in the unmet expectations. But seriously, watch the OP and you realise that it's trying to say that the show is a Working at the Ryokan story, not so much a High School Girl Drama story.

Ao no Exorcist

Like Deadman Wonderland, I pretty much got into this because of the awesome manga. Unlike DMW, it hasn't disappoint... yet. The story has been a snooze even until the 8th episode, but I enjoyed the characters, especially the twins Rin and Yukio with very different personalities.Rin is brash and rude most of the time, but he easily shows his nicer side to people that appreciate people's efforts and talents. Yukio calm demeanor and talent outclassed Rin, but they had excellent chemistry and it really shows when they are bickering or even fighting together. The fact that they are twins makes them complement each other very well. And of course, there's Shiemi, voiced by my goddess Hanazawa Kana. She's a moe overload as she is now, but I still can't wait to see her in regular school uniform.

Unfortunately, the animation could use a lot of improvement.

Tiger & Bunny

T&B had impressed me early on the with the concept and production values, but lately I've came to find the show a bit boring. I guess the main plot would be Bunny-chan trying to find his parent's killer, but the progress is awfully slow and frankly the fillers are way more enjoyable. The fact that the hero's approach to every conflict never changes makes it worse. I know that Kotetsu's goofy appearance is one of the selling points in the show, but he's been like this for every single battle for past 10 episode and well, he needs the change, doesn't he? And he should had tried harder to make it up to his daughter too.

And there's also that car-off-the-bridge scene in episode 10 that I can't ignore. Wild Tiger's stuck in the same spot for at least a minute and the miniguns can't tear him up? It looks like it all missed anyway. What the hell.

AND we need moar Huan Paolin (Dragon Kid). Because she's plain awesome. Who doesn't think so?

Spring 2011 Anime May Review Part 1: Deadman Wonderland, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, [C]

I figured this monthly review could be a regular thing for me as well, since episodic reviews ain't really my thing but I would like to at least write something for the shows I'm watching anyway. But what should I call it? "Retrospective look" (Random Curiosity)? "Roundup" (Cart Driver)? "Summary" (Starcrossed)? Bah... "Review" will suffice.

Deadman Wonderland

I've mentioned in a previous post that the poor production values are screwing up the potential of the show. It wasn't quite as obvious if you've never read the manga, but if you do you'll see the many shortcuts they've taken to adapt this. The latest episode felt extremely rushed and didn't conclude the Minatsuki arc as well as it should. You probably won't think of Minatsuki as a pretty girl if you haven't seen the manga illustrations of her too. The over-the-top story won't have been so obviously ridiculous if they've executed it right. Yeah, I'm blaming everything on the studio's poor direction because I'm so thoroughly disappointed.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

I think I got it figured out. Denpa girls sells because they're weird unique, and "unique" also defines the relationship they had with the main protagonist. I mean they had a good excuse for harem setting we ended up with right now. It doesn't matter if they had a story now, because the show now is all about "Weird girls doing weird things", similar to the logic of "cute girls doing cute things".

...is probably what they'd like to think. I find that the concept itself is a hard-sell, but the direction isn't anything unique. It wasn't even Shinbo-unique (although the presentation definitely is). Denpa Onna has became a weekly mindless entertainment, but that also means that it would never register itself as one of the better series out there.

[C]

I think we can all tell where the story is heading as early as three episodes into the series: Kimimaro, the only guy the in financial district with a conscious, would proceed to take out everything in the financial district, as well as everything in the real world build on Midas money. That's like half the world as we know it. Even if entire countries starts to disappear, I figured it would be implied as a good ending since that would put people's future back in the hands of the owner, which is how it all suppose to be in the first place. I'm not doing a lot of guess work here; it's practically what the OP tries to imply with Kimimaro attacking Mikuni.

The concept is unique, but the story is nothing original. [C] didn't go much beyond putting the protagonist in an entirely new and unknown environment, giving him new powers, and the protagonist would slowly learn to be responsible for his newly acquired powers. That's a formula half the anime series out there runs on. And since the entire story's practically laid out for us to see, I find it hard to look forward to the next episodes.


I must say that I do enjoy [C], I enjoy seeing Mashu's character, her growing relationship with Kimimaro, and some of the battles are pretty exciting (particularly Mikuni vs Kuchiki) but the series didn't add much to the shounen fighting genre other than replacing magic and swords with money. I would have dropped the series if series is not pretty much ending already.