Series Review: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (9/10)

Instant summary: Two social recluse, one incredibly violent and one incredibly studious, falls in love.

Can I say... faith in shoujo genre restored? Well, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun proved that the genre doesn't have to be exceedingly formulaic and full of generic characters. At least that's true for the manga scene, and I'm glad the anime scene doesn't have to follow it.

The shoujo genre quickly becomes stagnant when they only care about squeezing in cool moment after cool moment, and main duo always seems to be stuck in a perpetual state of uncertainty towards each other, that makes me want to just plant their faces into each other yell "JUST F*CK ALREADY!". Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun was very, very different. It was an emotional roller-coaster that almost completely escaped the trend; the characters are frank with each other right at the beginning, and it's their unique personalities that brings their relationship to its highs and lows. And it wasn't a long, boring ride; the highest and lowest point of this roller-coaster can happen within the span of one or two episodes.

Speaking of unique personalities, I believe that's the primary reason Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun became something awesome. Let's begin with Shizuku, who is the complete opposite of a dreamy high-school girl desperate to fall madly in love. In fact, she unique enough to be one of my top bishoujos of the season. Icy, gritty and cynical, she's unfazed at the obscenely loud personality of Haru, including his violence, despite her tiny frame. But at the same time, it takes a man like Haru to get under Shizuku's shell, and actually got her to fall helplessly in love. He's both extremely predictable and unpredictable at the same time, and for a fun character, I couldn't ask for a better one. Together, they made things exciting. A term you never seem to hear for a shoujo title.


And it's often very, very funny. The anime is strangely energetic most of the time as well. In some ways, I guess it even broke the norms of a romance title.

I guess my problem is that it never got too exciting. The ending was extremely mellow; and while you can call it a good ending, it's also somewhat inconclusive. I guess it's a drawback for staying faithful to the source? I wish they could have ended on a more exciting chapter. It would be more impressive, and more importantly, more memorable.

Plot/Concept: Broke the limits of the genre into something fantastic!
Story Style: Uniquely energetic, funny, and moving!
Audio/Visual: Great
Value: 9

Series Review: Girls und Panzer (8/10)

Instant Summary: A bunch of girls joins the tank club and takes part in a tank battle competition.

When I started to look forward to Girls und Panzer in pre-season, I had no idea what I was in store for. I don't think anyone really did, too. Most people expect something on the lines of Upotte! where literally "girls are guns". Meaning they're the moé anthropomorphism of weapons. It's one of the anime titles where they pair a subject with cute girls and try to run a profit, usually with a crap storyline and half-baked production quality. That was what I'm going for, actually, because Upotte! turned out way better than I expected, and I hoped that Girls und Panzer would be something like that.

But no, Girls und Panzer exceeded expectations by leaps and bounds. What I got was a really exciting, addictive battle anime produced on a pretty decent budget. In a way, it's very close to the common sports anime with a lot on emphasis on clever tactics, growth of ability, and challenging opponents. But we have the very unique tank battle as a sport, and we had the impossible combination of masculinity and femininity with the tanks and cute girls. It's a epic win!

The producers probably didn't expect a big success as well, because the anime still possess the weaknesses you kept seeing in small projects; very forgettable characters, and very little character development. At least they did compensate with real military tactics, traits and jargon. Having been in the army (in a tank company, no less), there's a lot of things I'm familiar with and can relate to.

Now if only the main character (whatshername) would go out of character in the ending and punch her sister in the face, the anime would have the impact to be something truly epic and memorable. Damn, I wish they would be a little more daring.

Plot/Concept: What supposed to be a cheap concept turns out really well-received!
Story style: Exciting battles, forgettable characters.
Audio/visual: Good
Value: 8

Series Review: Minami-ke Tadaima (9/10)

Instant Summary: Three sisters live without their parents and their friends (from middle, junior high and high school) visits probably way too often.

OKAERI Minami-ke! Finally, we have a competent studio in charge of the anime. I recall that Asread did such a horrible job that even their promotional material looks awful. I had honestly thought that they ruined all hopes of any sequel, because their last botched job was in 2009. Thank god for studio Feel! And I guess it's lucky that people loved the franchise enough to warrant 4 seasons.

And I must say, studio Feel probably took it further than studio Daume had in the first season. Minami-ke's slice-of-life comedy is pure and mellow, but at some point it almost became stale. Feel had overcomed that weakness, and everything feels livelier and funnier than ever. They even had a really good ending! Who the hell actually saw that coming?

The anime has a huge and entertaining cast with, like, three whole sets of characters from three different schools, and the special thing about them is they're still unique and distinguishable. I won't even doubt that there's still plenty of profit to bleed from the franchise, and hopefully it'll still be studio Feel to do that.

Plot/Concept: It's the same, familiar and likable cast, as always.
Story style: They kept it simple, and they kept it funny.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 9

Series Review: Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (4/10)

Instant Summary: A shut-in (hikikomori) has the power to alter reality.

Sasami's screencaps are pretty boring. But at least they reflect the anime well.

Despite being a big fan of "Shinbo-style", we all know studio Shaft bombs every now and then. For this anime, unfortunately, that becomes very clear by the third episode. But even among the titles that has very little success like Natsu no Arashi, I've always enjoyed the unique presentation of Shinbo. That is until Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. This anime kinda proved that while "Shinbo-style" animation may be the life of many titles, it can also wreck a show.

That is because Sasami actually had good story. It even has a good concept that puts the traditional Japanese gods in very unusual characters, and the "absolute power over all creation" becomes a very interesting element of the show. But the "Shinbo-style" seems to be in constant conflict with the story. In the first three episodes, I had a hard time telling whether the show is trying to be serious or comedic, because it seemed so absurd that everything could just wrap up as one big joke. That, and it's really hard to take the Brother's ridiculous voice seriously. It's actually pretty enjoyable during the comedic or slice-of-life sections, but the story always feels like a big mess.

The killer would be how it gets so very irritating over time. The conflict between the serious and comedic atmosphere is one. The Brother's voice is another. And there's the poor animation combined with excessive posing, probably to saving money on animation. And there's the rapid-fire conversation delivering huge chunks of information over loud, melodramatic and annoying BGM. That is a new low for Shaft.

Sasami gives me the constant vibe that it's trying to be something unique and spectacular. But throughout the show that's all it'll be; trying to be something it's not. Either the lack of budget or laziness screwed the show over, and made it the worst Shaft title yet.

Plot/Concept: Great potential...
Story Style: The style took the story to all the wrong places.
Audio/Visual: Poor
Value: 4

Series Review: Kotoura-san (7/10)

Instant Summary: Kotoura, who's an outcast because of her psychic ability, found a guy who accepts her for what she is.

Kotoura-san is the underdog of the season. It's designed to be the underdog of the season. Despite the incredibly cheap character designs and simplistic concept, the anime achieved something that many ambitious projects didn't: it's funny, it digests easily, and it's easy to connect to the characters.

Well... for the most part, anyway. It's adapted from the 4-koma where most of the content is about the burden of her ability, and the precious friendship she made with the rest of the cast. It isn't easy spinning a story out of this, and the outcome is an incredibly predictable plot and ending. Thankfully they didn't dramatize it too much; the story became the weakest part of the show, and it would be painful if we have to focus on it any more than that. The light-hearted and comedic ending might really be the best way to go.

There's a lot of mixed reviews online. I'm just not sure if everyone had set the correct expectations for this title, based on the source and the obvious limits of its budget; Kotoura-san never had the potential to go very far, and being average is about the best that it should be doing. And I feel that it managed to do more than that.

There's a million things that could be improved about Kotoura-san, right down to the god-awful animation. But it is meant to be a really low budget project working on a really simple source. There are no highlights, but there are no real flaws as well, and that is somewhat a feat in itself. It's a forgettable, but enjoyable one.

Plot/Concept: Incredibly simple, but remarkable enjoyable.
Story Style: A extremely straightforward style turns out to be pretty effective after all.
Audio/Visual: Subpar
Value: 7

Series Review: Yama no Susume (7/10)

Instant Summary: A mountain hiking enthusiast (forcibly) introduce a friend into the hobby.

Everyone could appreciate a bit of slice-of-life every now and then. The problem is that 25 min episodes become a drag for most people, unless it's chock full of comedy or fanservice, although it's hard to call it a slice-of-life at that point. So make it into a 3 min episode! As I've said many times before, the idea is utter genius.

The educational part about this anime makes it more interesting too. And rising star Asumi Kana really brought a lot of life into the title.

The downside is that while enjoyable, the characters and anime itself become forgettable, unlike many of the best slice-of-life titles out there. But that's ok, so does most of the characters in 3 min titles, with perhaps the only exception of Nyaruko (also voiced by Asumi Kana)

It's not something I would look forward to, but I certainly won't mind seeing more.

Plot/Concept: An awesome combination.
Story Style: Little originality to speak of, but nonetheless enjoyable.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 7

Series Review: Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (4/10)

Instant Summary: The most powerful human being unexpectedly works with the most powerful demon for a chance to end the endless conflict between the two species.

Right at the beginning, we have an attractive and comical heroine paired up with a gung-ho, insanely powerful but likable male lead. The mood is light, fun, there's huge potential for character development and relationship between the two. We're off to a really good start.

A little too good, in fact. So much that I wasn't prepared for the mess that followed soon after. It was disappointing that the two things I always look out for, character and relationship development, are painfully absent from the show.

Instead, they focus heavily on "macroeconomics", whatever the fuck that means. I'm not exactly opposed to that; I'm big on slice-of-life, and I can digest Spice and Wolf quite well. Sadly, they forgot to tie that into the things that we actually cared about: the characters. No one reminded them that this is an anime, not a freaking economics class. Their idea of a mini-climax was something like: we were selling wheat at $20 in the morning, but demand has suddenly gone up, and now we're selling at $30. HOLY SHIT!

And, their supposed theme is pretty darn confusing as well. It's easy to see what's going on, but it's hard to see why. It feels like they're constantly throw new stuff into the mix and hope it fits itself together. Without seeing the why, it doesn't give me a reason to care.

By the midway point, it became clear that the show is going nowhere. I began to expect less and less from the show, but the big surprise is that it still delivered less that what I expected in the end. Because there was no end. What's going to happen to the war? What's going to happen to the Gate City? What is going to happen to the human world and demon world? What is going to happen between the two? I don't know. There are no answers.

The bigger problem is that I don't even care anymore.

Plot/Concept: It has the potential to be something pretty darn amazing, but we'll never know now.
Story Style: They lost control.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 4

P.S. Seriously, why the stupid maternity dress.

Series Review: Senran Kagura (6/10)

Instant Summary: Five well-endowed high-school ninjas encounters and fights similar ninjas from a different school.

Senran Kagura is one of those titles that doesn't pretend it is something high-quality; even the game it spawned from is all about clothing damage and huge jiggling breasts. Once you move past the unrealistic expectations, it becomes something you can, er, actually enjoy.

Titles like these banks almost entirely on the character designs. The huge success of the games proved their appeal somewhat (I even put up Hibari as one of the most likable characters of the season). Character like Yomi, Yagyu and Katsuragi are also pretty popular on the net. It's a pity one of the most well-received characters (and one of my favourites), Hikage, never really got a chance to shine.

It may be a good thing that no one expects any kind of story at all, because the anime actually managed to surprise us with some reasonable plot. True, having the bad guy revealing his plans at the worse moment possible, losing all his allies and doubling his enemies are evidence of shitty storytelling, but hey, when the "bad guys" put pressure on the heroines in the first part of the story, they really had something going on there. No one would have predicted that it could actually be exciting, at certain parts of the story.

They actually had a good ninja vibe there with the stealthy tactics and hidden doors and stuff, but they also ruined it with stuff like bulletproof umbrellas, ninjas that dress like they're going to a ball, hidden miniguns and fighter jets under a shirt, a giant fluffy summoned rabbit, and the girl who never wears a bra, never buttons up her shirt, and jumps around the most. Why did they even go for the ninja theme?

Oh, and she wears a skirt, and all her attacks are kicks.

But it's silly to complain about the theme of Senran Kagura. People who would even approach this already knows what and what not to expect. There's a thousand and one things that are stupid or pointless, and the fans got what they want, and they the producers made a lot of money off it. Who's gotta complain?

Plot/Concept: ...Interesting
Story Style: It's a lot more engaging that I would expect on first glance. Still no wow factor, though.
Audio/Visual: Mediocre
Value: 6

Series Review: Tamako Market (10/10)

Instant Summary: A girl lives in a mochi shop in a shopping arcade.

Everyone knows what to expect from Tamako Market even before it aired. Kyoto Animation's on a roll and churning out the cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime ever since K-ON became a smashing success and that their moéblobs literally oozes money. Plus, Tamako Market is an original; meaning they had free reign to stuff moé into the show in any way and every way possible.

So is it a cheap strategy that banks on a recycled stereotype? Shockingly, not at all. The gargantuan budget allowed superb production quality and a fair amount of creativity as well; the moéblob of the season, Tamako, proved that there still could be something new for this archetype. She's bubbly, but not clumsy. She's energetic, but not loud. She's mellow, but not air-headed. She's friendly, but not insensitive. She could have carried the whole show by herself.

Not that she has to. There's also the ridiculous obese talking bird of royal heritage, which is half of what made the show so funny. There's also the friendliness and homeliness of the shopping arcade, Tamako's quirky friends, the childhood friend that has a crush on her, and the tsundere dad. I ended most episodes knowing that nothing important has actually happened, but those factors made sure I never had a boring time.

And while endings has always been a weakness of these plot-less titles, Tamako Market has managed to end things on a surprisingly enjoyable high note. If I had to complain about something, it would be that their pinafore-styled uniform made then look like elementary students. Maybe that's actually the intention?

Once again, KyoAni delivered. Damn it, man. They're setting the bar too high for me to enjoy the other stuff. Giving something like this a full score makes me look stupid, man, but even if I try, I can't see it deserves any lower.

Plot/Concept: KyoAni + Moéblob = Peanut Butter & Jelly.
Story Style: Energetic, bubbly, and fun.
Audio/Visual: Excellent
Value: 10

Series Review: Robotic;Notes (5/10)

Instant Summary: The Robotics Club uncovers and stops a plot to destroy the world.

Right... so this is not a mecha anime. I was honestly expecting a Gundam-style battle right up till the end, but no. Despite being all high-tech and stuff, the "robots" are the same chunky, dumb and awkwardly moving pieces of metal you see every now and then on the 9 o'clock news. This is a show meant for robotics enthusiasts.

So, Production I.G. on a noitaminA slot, it ought to be good right? Not even remotely. In fact, it smells like the shit they cooked up exactly one year ago. Well, it wasn't that bad, but aside from the excellent production quality we expected from the studio, there's nothing positive I can say about Robotic;Notes. Except for Furugoori Kona, which may be one of the most interesting characters I've seen yet.

You won't have guessed it, but Robotic;Notes turns out to belong to the mystery genre. It started out like a ambitious high-school club anime or a romance drama, but the core of Robotic;Notes is actually mystery.

The problem is that the tiny bits of clues give us almost NO IDEA what the actual "mystery" is all about. The mystery that was supposed to be the core of the story. And if it affected the character in no way right until the very end, why are we supposed to give a fuck about it? Midway through the series, I honestly believed that the writer gave up and tried to do the ambitious high-school club/romance drama instead. It was the point where I thought that they really didn't have a clue or care anymore.

But no matter what, an anime will always pull through with good characters. Not Robotic;Notes. I've never seen a lead character that's quite as passive as Kaito. Aki has near non-existant sex appeal. Furugoori's potential is under-utilized outside of her episode. The other two club members didn't even need to exist. Misaki has the answers too all the questions in the anime, but is completely useless other than being a cheap villain.

I have a lot more things I could complain about, but I've already showed you a recipe for failure. I waited 5 months for an idea of what's going on, but the answer is a shockingly simple, mind-numbing and disappointing twist. The last couple of episodes were good and it ended well, but it certainly isn't worth pushing through 20 episodes. Hell, it isn't even worth 10. Take everything good about this title and boil it down, I'd give you 5 episodes tops. This is such a waste of time.

Plot/Concept: Such a mess.
Story Style: Such boring characters.
Audio/Visual: Great
Value: 5

Series Review: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse (9/10)

Instant Summary: A Japanese-American pilot of giant alien-killing mechs transferred to a Alaskan Military base, and goes under the command of another Japanese elite pilot.

The Muv-Luv title begans with an eroge, and the very brief trailers and promotional pics leave only one impression: that the title is full of girls with HUGE tits in skin-tight jumpsuits. Naturally, I had the impression that this is a fanservice title with a mecha twist.

The image was shattered with the first two episodes. Total Eclipse is a bloody, gruesome title with tons of violence, blood and actual character deaths. So yeah, it's way darker than the name and promotion suggests. But at the same time it's what made the show fantastic. The level of violence is on par with some of the top mecha titles, and they actually made the battles and actions look really pretty, although the aliens can look awkward sometimes. There's a lot of emphasis on serious combat and realistic strategy, so yeah, you're not going to expect a fun-and-games Bootylicious Space Pirates. Which was shit.

To be honest, the early episodes kinda sucked, because we know little to nothing about the most important characters (like Inia and Cryska) and everyone is a complete dick to each other. The good thing is that the characters and story soon flowed to what Muv-Luv is really all about: harem, fanservice, blushing heroines, uncontrollable teenage romance (although none of them are really teenagers anymore). The amount of character development is a little surprising because no one really cares about it anymore these days. Together with the kickass action, it all makes a fabulous combination.

And there's surprisingly little focus on the fanservice. Well, they're not totally pandering it anyway. But they did make almost all the girls extremely HUGE and clad them in the skin-tight suit half the time. I suppose you'll call it subtle.

With a bit of research, it seems that the universe and story of Muv-Luv Alternative is as big as their bre- I mean, pretty fucking huge as well. I can't wait to see their next installment of Muv-Luv Alternative, even if they're heading for another side of the story.

Plot/Concept: Huge, expansive and a fabulous combination.
Story Style: An old-school harem development that actually worked out really well.
Audio/Visual: Fantastic VA work and action scenes. Animation can get a little wonky at times, but forgivable.
Value: 9

Series Review: Binbougami ga! (4/10)

Instant Summary: An unusually lucky girl meets a God of Misfortune.

There are three words that would sums up all of Binbougami Ga!... and that would be bland, annoying, and one-dimensional.

Why did they cast Hanazawa Kana as the incredibly annoying main character Ichiko in the first place? She actually sounds awful in the role that rambles endlessly, which is a stark contrast to moeblob characters she became so famous in.

Binbougami Ga may be a comedy, but most of jokes runs on a single subject: the two round things on Ichiko's chest that's suppose to represent her "famed" tits (which also gave her the nickname "tittyko"). For something that's supposed to represent her main (and only) selling point, they look horrible. The animators that has no idea how to draw anime tits spawned the two awkwardly round balls that completely defied the laws of gravity and created breasts pockets in whatever pieces of clothing she wears. If there's ever an award called the "Worst tits of the year", it has to go to Ichiko.

What the fuck are these?

And unfortunately, every other joke in the title are just as bad as their boob jokes. Every episode is a constant, rapid stream of highly-exaggerated action recycled catch phrases. The over-the-top feel would have worked with varied and interesting characters, but the unlikable characters and poor animation are killing it.

The precious bits of comedy that actually works becomes the titles's only saving grace. There just isn't anything else about the titles that makes it worth watching.

Plot/Concept: A rehashed and recycled formula we've seen a thousand times.
Story Style: Small bits of working comedy with a great deal of annoyance.
Audio/Visual: An extremely irritating HanaKana. Subpar animation.
Value: 4

Series Review: Teekyuu (5/10)

Instant Summary: A bunch of very random girls in a tennis club, doing stuff that's mostly not related to tennis.

3 min shorts aren't new anymore, but this is a little different; the length is just half of that if you cut away the annoying theme song (I'm don't even want to call it an OP). So, 12 episodes of 90 animation, how does it work?

I'll give it to you straight, this is trash. Despite the time frame, they wrote 3 mins worth of material anyway, so the whole episodes is a rapid, constant firing of jokes that become an endless blabbering between the characters that gave no pauses between them. The animation has also reached a new low I've ever seen in a anime. More than often, the characters are just two-frame animation moving around the screen, and sometime it's just a huge picture with zero animation scrolling across the screen. This is the bare minimum of what you'll call animation. Talk about micro-budget.

But. Everyone has 90 seconds to spare any day. That's where Teekyuu comes in for me anyway, and it's even easier than the 3-min shorts. There are no real joke material, but I'll say that they're about as amusing as an average day on 9GAG (or any other joke site). So give and take a little, and there's like no real difference between the time spend on these two.

And so, even if this is by no means a definition of good anime, I guess I enjoyed it a little.

Value: 5

Series Review: Busou Shinki (5/10)

Instant Summary: These Figma-like action figures are actually sentient and possess real destructive powers.

Being a title that base itself on a line of action figures and primarily meant to boost sales... I guess that instantly puts itself out of everyone's radar. Titles like these got a bad reputation of using nobodies to create an extremely simple show with bare minimum story and graphics. Although, if you're already a collector, it won't matter to you anyway. I guess nobody seriously expect any boost in sales to be significant enough to put in a serious amount of budget in titles like these.

Well, I'll start by saying that it wasn't as bad as the premises made it out to be. At the very least, I didn't have to force myself to finish the title.

I actually enjoy the combat segments a lot. While there are room for huge improvements, the fairly fast-paced duels between Shinkis of different combat styles and capability managed to get me excited every now and then. I actually found their armors and weapons pretty interesting, although I don't know why they didn't get rid of the ball joints altogether. Do they actually regard it as a moé attribute?

Aside from that, a huge part of the show is actually slice-of-life, meant to feed the fantasies of people that would pretend that their Shinkis are sentient. They do stuff like cooking meals, laundry, cleaning, etc... various household chores. I'm a a fan of the genre, but these segments bore me. Not completely, but more often than not. They do went on a bit of adventure every now to mix it up a little with a bit of drama, but it never helped.

The weakest part of the show is that the owner of the Shinkis (Master) is the most boring character that would ever exist in anime. He's a goody-goody, soft, super nice, useless, and otherwise nondescript character that probably didn't have any friends, or life at all aside from his Shinkis. Though I must admit it would be pretty cool to have fiercely loyal and cute flying companions, these Shinkis are like slaves to the owner's boring-ness.

This would be a pretty good show if it has greater emphasis on action, but I guess it was never meant to be.

Plot/Concept: It could be kind of interesting...
Story Style: Boring outside of the duels
Audio/Visual: Flat; Plain, and uninteresting
Value: 5

Series Review: Kamisama Hajimemashita (8/10)

Instant Summary: A homeless high school girl takes over the role of an earth deity in an abandoned shrine. Which comes pre-packaged with a super hot bishounen demon fox.

I feel that I rarely get to see a shoujo title done right. This didn't seem very impressive on first glance until psgels sang praises for it, although it sometimes feels like he's the only who gave a hoot about the show.

So, we have a perky, energetic and somewhat comedic female main character. Like Kaichou wa Maid-sama, this scores a lot of points for me already, just by not having a boring, empty shell of a main character that represent the fujoshi audience that are constantly being charmed by the manly actions of uber pretty boys. Also, the main character is not constantly trying to get laid, which is something so pervasively common in shoujo titles.

What we do get, though, is something simple that is strangely endearing and enjoyable. You won't be wrong to say that is runs on cheap jokes and cliche gags, but you won't be giving credit to the cheerful and cute atmosphere that it runs so well on. The characters themselves are easily likable, and despite the many overused traits of shoujo titles (like blush scenes), the very simple love story worked out great with a huge amount of good comedy. In fact, I'll like to see this more as a comedy than anything. Also, it has definitely one of the most satisfying endings that season.

And since there are some loose ends, I'll definitely like to see a season two.

Plot/Concept: Simple, but effective.
Story Style: A good mix of comedy keeps things lively.
Audio/Visual: Fairly good animation with a really lovable opening sequence. (Love her poses)
Value: 8

Series Review: Baccano (biting off more than it can chew)

Instant Summary: A bunch of characters in a bunch of separate, but related events in 1930s America.

Well, there's no other way to put the summary. Baccano! is unique in that way; you can't represent it with a single event or story, and you can't name a main character. Everyone share the spotlight, some more than the others.

I never re-watch anime, but I had to give Baccano! a second look to understand what it was trying to be. Well, Baccano! has a huge and interesting cast that could each be a protagonist in their own right. Instead of having a story of their own, the Baccano! is a series of events over a few years with roles for each of these characters. Simply put, it feels like a eloquent showcase of characters.

And it's hard to call it a story. A number of these characters, like Czes and Chane, have a huge amount of screen time, but other than giving a little insight into their personality, they have no real role of impact on the overall plot. And except for a few like Firo and Ennis, I don't feel that there's a proper climax in the other characters's accounts. I've no knowledge of the source material, so either they're terribly bad with the transition, or there simply isn't the intention to have much of a story.

I know that Baccano! is popular and highly rated, but here's what I differ from the other opinions: I don't see how it all paints a bigger picture. While the events are related one way or another, I can't see how it ties together, mostly because the development and conclusion are in completely different directions, with zero impact on each other whatsoever. I get that all series of events as a whole helps draw a conclusion for each of the characters, but that kills the impact for me. It's literally a quantity over quality here, no?

So, I didn't really enjoy Baccano. It's pretty unique and interesting, and it's a rare but certainly not new method of telling a story, but perhaps Baccano! isn't a very entertaining example.

Plot/Concept: Debatable...
Story Style: Boring
Audio/Visual: Poor
Value: 7

This has got to be one of the hardest reviews to write...

Series Review: Rinne no Lagrange 2 (by the power of friendship and flowers)

Instant Summary: An excessively helpful Mary Sue saved the universe with the power of MANLY GAR POWA friendship and flowers.

Pretty visuals and an ambitious setting can often give an impression that a title is worth more than it actually is. That is perhaps the effect Rinne no Lagrange had on me, as I was so impressed with the first season. Of course, with the second half of the story came the increase emphasis on the plot, and then the weakness began to show.

A whole lot of concepts weren't as crystal clear as I hoped it would be, especially with the alternate reality of Rinne, and what the Vox really are. The series made no real effort to do that anyway, after all, the title really is all about friendship and flower power. Please take my Instant Summary literally.

I kept thinking how good it would be if they actually blended Yurikano's story (in the manga) better, or made the friendship between the girls harder to blossom. A story full of twists and climaxes isn't always required in the presence of a fantastic concept, but Rinne no Lagrange simply doesn't have very much to go on at all. I'm not exactly praising the concept either; the yuri and friendship power thing is pretty interesting, but it gets overbearing after a while, when it seems like it's the only thing fueling the finale. I see that the optimistic and cheerful atmosphere is a huge selling point of the anime, but it's weird to think that these girls actually killed shitloads of people, and it's not like they felt particularly bad about it (or even anything at all).

And there's the surprisingly lack of action for a mecha based anime. It turns out that whatever deadly forces the mecha can unleash are totally irrelevant; they served only as in instrument for space flight and channeling the power of friendship into the power of flowers, which is literally capable of anything from planet-wide surround sound to moving galaxies to alternate dimension transition to time reversal. Holy shit! Respect the blooming mother nature, kids.

And with unlimited power comes the opportunity for as many crazy experimental CG they can churn out. I think I talked about that before...

So yeah, this is a cleverly disguised deus ex machina ending. Well I'm not all that disappointed... it's just all for all the things I hope Rinne no Lagrange could be, this is all there is to it.

Plot/Concept: Fair
Story Style: Awesome!
Audio/Visual: Excellent!
Value: 7

Series Review: Tari Tari (a drama with too little drama)

Instant Summary: A bunch of people forms a choir club... and high school drama.

...maybe I'm too literal with the summary, but there's really no point going further than that. I'll explain why.

Well, I going to compare this to Hanasaku Iroha, like everyone else. Being HanaIro's "spiritual successor", both titles have a lot in common, even if the premises suggest otherwise. To simply put, they are original storylines produced to work for the very unique storytelling associated with studio P.A. works. I had a different opinion than most people though, because while I loved HanaIro, Tari Tari ended to be a bit of a letdown for me.

HanaIro has its really boring segments, but it has its moments. Tari Tari on ther other hand, seems to be intentionally straying away from opportunities to create such moments. Why didn't they go for an epic dramatic fight for the festival? Why didn't they create a dramatic battle for recognition? The chances are definitely there, any writer can see it. Taking the chances would make the plot a little more predictable than they like, but Tari Tari needed the impact, because that's what it sorely lacks.

The style of Tari Tari, (and HanaIro) uses very different dialogue from other anime, a more "realistic" method of storytelling that relies on the lack of exaggeration, and the little details in actions and words to make it work. They probably think that that gives them the excuse to refrain from the twists and tropes that creates the necessary impact, but I had to disagree.

I'm full of praises for the show early on for one reason, and that same reason allows me to enjoy the show right till the end. It's the characters. In fact, I'll say that Tari Tari would be un-watchable without characters like these. I had to point this out even though the story style I mentioned above is literally about how the character worked. They were especially successful with the character Okita Sawa, which is why she appeared 7 times in this post, although it's still hard to point out why this character is so interesting. She's a mature, go-getter, fun girl with a sense of humor and huge tits and the spiritual leader of the group. And damn, if any girls actually smiles like that, I'll fall helplessly in love with her.

You can't see it, but she has already fired her moe beam. Taichi knows what I mean.

Tari Tari is one satisfying ending short to be one of the most memorable titles I've seen. Remember that before the season started, people were complaining about how generic the premises were? While that would have worked with the story style, they never escaped the drawbacks of it. Right up to the end, the story strayed away from all the paths I wished it would take. Like, damn, why can't they give us the couple, even if they've just shipped it for one episode?

Plot/Concept: Upsetting...
Story Style: Awesome!
Audio/Visual: Excellent!
Value: 8

P.S. Finally had a chance to create a proper pic for Sawa in the top 3 bishoujo post!

Series Review: Moyashimon Returns (where are my microbes?)

Instant Summary: Dude can see microbes.

I haven't ready any other opinions on the net so I don't really know what other people feels about this sequel. But I don't think I need a second opinion, because I've already made up my mind on this; that Moyashimon Returns really failed to deliver.

I know the need for the storyline to make the series less stagnant, and perhaps that's what they really tried to build on this time round. But it's apparent that they aren't terribly exciting story writers. We see a huge amount of screentime dedicated to the search of Hasegawa in France, but there so very little going on. While I waited patiently for more, we have a sudden new character introduction in the form of Marie, and with that comes a side story of her failing winery bullshit. It's a bad timing. Why would I care about new character with no links to the main cast, while there's so little going on in the main plot?

But that's a minor issue, since the first Moyashimon's success didn't actually bank on the story anyway. It's all about the microbes, and like the title says: Where are my microbes? I mean, okay, we see them every now and then, but they became so rare and so irrelevant in face of the story. Sawaki, despite being the main character, never ever mattered for the show; it's the cute mascots that sells the show the whole time.

They went for less mascots and more story, and I think that's a really bad move.

Plot/Concept: Disappointing
Story Style: Boring
Audio/Visual: Very Good
Value: 6

Series Review: Strike Witches 2 (please handle this anime with caution)

Instant summary: A bunch of girls fight aliens.

Welcome back to the world of Strike Witches, where girls doesn't wear pants. Actually, whatever you see as underwear here are considered pants. Throughout the very first OVA and the first season, I've always thought that it was because they needed most of their legs in the magic flying machines (Striker units), and that gave them excuse for their brazen lack of proper clothing (to our standards, anyway). Well, until I saw that granny who also bares her bottom half. And since she had no business with Striker units (only teenagers can use magic), I realized that they never had an excuse for their fashion choice; the creator shamelessly designed this to be the social norm.

Now that we established that fact that the creator is probably totally shameless, I should note that the anime isn't holding anything back at all. In fact, they seized every possible opportunity to flash the girls' underpants as much as possible, and every now and then they would have a fast action scene that would directly shove the girl's crotch in your face.

Meet Lieutenant Gertrud Barkhorn.

It made the first season look tame. The fan-service doesn't stop here... there also seem to be a whole lot of bathing scenes that bares the top as well. Coupled with the HUGE improvements in animation quality, this is lolicon's gold. "Awesome" is the word I have that I'm not sure where to put, because I'm struggling with the pedophilia nature of all this. These girls are pretty bloody young.

I'm going to talk about the story, even though there's not supposed to be a need to. Strike Witches doesn't need a story, it just needs something for the girls to dance to. But for someone who looks for a good plot in everything, Strike Witches actually gave more than I bargained for. Don't expect an epic plot twist, but the story had plenty of insight into the various characters, some development, and even a climax that got me genuinely hooked. In the first season, I truly felt that they solely exist for their ass. This time round, I'm surprised that I felt them exist as a full character.

Strike Witches is something that would bring out the lolicon in you. But save that problem for later. Watch and enjoy this first, then fight your inner demons afterwards.

Plot/Concept: (I'll let you know when I conquered my inner demons)
Story Style: Great!
Audio/Visual: Great! (Surprisingly)
Value: 8