• Title: S.A. ~Special A~
• Studio: GONZO x AIC
• Genre: Shoujo/Romantic Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥½
• Overall: ♥♥♥ (Mmm, endless competition makes for great foreplay.)

Thoughts:
Special A is the tale of Hikari, who has spent a significant chunk of her 16-year-old life attempting and failing to beat classmate Kei at…well, anything. She convinces her parents to let her enroll in the same school as Kei attends, where he’s the #1 student, and she quickly becomes student #…2. He even begins to refer to her as “ni-san,” or “#2.”

Unbeknownst to the otherwise sweet and friendly Hikari (but made completely obvious by the end of the episode) Kei has a major crush on her. Which is good, because I otherwise would have hated him, even if he IS voiced by Jun Fukuyama (aka Lelouch). I like an arrogant assholes in some contexts, but when he’s the female lead’s crush in a shoujo, I tend to hate ‘em (see also…). Fortunately, the revelation that Kei does see and appreciate Hikari’s various charms puts him back on my “okay” list. (And Fukuyama’s voice doesn’t hurt.)

If you were ever put off of xxxHOLiC by its “noodle people” look, you may have trouble with Special A, which features people of similarly long extremities. Other than that it’s pretty decent in terms of visuals. I also like the overall style of the show, which goes over-the-top in such a…casual way, it’s kind of hard to explain. It just feels fun and not too heavy or dramatic or contrived– less dramatic than Lovely Complex, but not as out-and-out goofy as Ouran High School Host Club.

It seems to be my theme to say that there’s “nothing really new here,” but I think it’ll be a good romp nonetheless.

• Title: Vampire Knight
• Studio: Deen
• Genre: Shoujo/Drama

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥

• Animation: ♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥ (Totally forgettable OP, but the ED is pretty sexy, though the visuals for it are a little odd.)
• Overall: ♥♥♥½

Thoughts:
Let me say from the beginning: I adore the shoujo soap opera cliche trash bag that is the Vampire Knight manga. And I know plenty of you do too, boys and girls– yes, BOYS and girls. Actually, a remarkable number of dudes have ashamedly admitted to digging Vampire Knight to me. I’ve even seen people trying to justify that VK isn’t shoujo because there’s supposed to be “action” later on. So let me just say: it’s a-okay to like shoujo, guys. Just like it’s fine for chicks to dig shounen. IT’S ALLOWED.

That said, the plot: Yuuki Cross is the adopted daughter of the administrator of the Cross Academy, a 24/7 school where, during the day, the “Day Class” takes its lessons. At night the Day Class returns to its dorm and the Night Class goes to the campus buildings. The Night Class consists of a bunch of people (particularly men) who are so attractive that the two campus guardians have to hold the Day Class at bay and escort the Night Class to school.

Yuuki is one of the two guardians, along with Zero Kiryuu, another sort-of adoptee of the school admin’s. But the guardians know a secret that the Day Class doesn’t know: the Night Class actually consists of vampires, and the guardians are there to ensure that the Day Class is kept safe should any of the allegedly pacifistic vampires slip.

The adaptation of Vampire Knight has a stellar voice cast– Mamoru Miyano as the troubled vampire hunter Zero, Yui Horie as the sweet pacifist Yuuki? Yes please! –but not such stellar visuals. Mangaka Matsuri Hino’s art is well-known for being detailed (sometimes overly so), dark, and striking. VK’s aren’t bad, but they’ve definitely lost the majority of Hino’s style. An added distraction for me is the lack of defining lines in the style, particularly on people…in fact, almost entirely on Yuuki. She winds up looking kind of like someone did a color-by-number but then removed the lines to separate the sections, if that makes sense. Here’s another cap:

I found it a little off-putting. All in all, I really hoped that this series would be a bit more big-budget looking, but we’ll see, I guess. As I mentioned before, the OP sequence is entirely forgettable, with pretty boring music and standard visuals. The ED “still doll,” on the other hand, is incredibly sexy– produced by Mana and performed by Wakeshima Kanon. Love it! The visuals for the ED are a little odd though; most of it is a still shot of Yuuki looking all broken doll-like, which is fine, but there’s this random chunk that features Yuuki spinning around as a ballerina. But not as a ballerina doll like in a jewelry box or something, but as a regular human ballerina doing spins. It’s very odd and out of character. But the song is so hot, I kind of don’t care.

Overall: if you’re up for hot and heavy shoujo cliches, complete with smexy emo vampires, this could be a fun ride. Sort of the Interview with a Vampire of the anime world. But if that dramatic gothy style doesn’t attract you…yeah, you should probably stay far away from this one.

A well-written editorial detailing why anime sucks and its fans should have their reproductive rights revoked (or something) has appeared, and it’s always fun for me to read these, because the people who write them know so little about anime.

For example, this quote: “…stuff like Dragonball Z is nothing more than a glorified cartoon about trading cards.” Now, I don’t defend DBZ. I’ve always thought it was a crappy show. But “about trading cards”? There IS a DBZ TCG, but at least the anime was based on a manga that was developed on its own, as opposed to, say, a series that was developed as a toy line first. Or, you know, another one. Or another one.

Moving along…he then says that anime fans always bring up Miyazaki as a Deus Ex Machina to close down any anti-anime arguments. But you know, I wouldn’t– I’d offer up Paprika, by Satoshi Kon, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

The writer finishes up by chastising us for having a Miyazaki collection and a copy of Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend and encourages us to “get out of the house and meet some real, normal people with hair and eyes in proper proportion to their heads.” Like guys who waste their time trying to prove that all anime fans are “social outcast Neo-Goth types”? I don’t think so.

But you know, for a guy who talks about how gleefully he bought the Animatrix, and who has actually watched enough Dragon Ball Z to know how bad it is, and actually knows of Urotsukidoji, and seems to have seen Akira and 3×3 Eyes as well…hey, wait a sec. You’re one of us!

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ♥

• Title: To LoveRu
• Studio: XEBEC
• Genre: Shounen/Romantic Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥½

• Animation: ♥♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥½
• Overall: ♥♥½ (Not bad, will have to try again.)

Thoughts:
In some ways, To LoveRu is as much a throwback to Urusei Yatsura as Itazura na Kiss is to Marmalade Boy, except that To LoveRu is a currently-running series and Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura finished up in 1987.

Still, the plot similarities are striking: a boy who has a crush on a classmate finds himself suddenly engaged to a hot alien princess and has wild adventures. In the case of To LoveRu, though, our hero is a little more appreciable– Rito is a good kid with a bad reputation (as opposed to UY’s Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous chaser of females). It remains to be seen whether our alien princess Lala– who also has the added bonus of being an impressive inventrix –will prove as possessive as UY’s Lum, and her outfit is certainly way less sexy, but we can work with it.

Moving along…the animation is pretty standard, not particularly bad or good. The OP and ED are cute but also not particularly outstanding. The only thing I gave the show a slightly higher-than-average credit for is the characters, largely because Lala is independent-minded and a good inventor, which is kind of cool. And also because Rito is actually an interesting character with his own problems…or at least, he’s not a complete wuss like Kanokon’s lead (or a dozen other shounen romance heroes).

The show is pretty heavy on the fanservice, but unlike Kanokon, it’s sprinkled here and there instead of everywhere. When they do go for it, though, they put the pedal to the metal– just wait until you see Lala’s transformation scene. Rawr.

So, the short version: cute, fanservicey, but not amazing. May be worth a second look when the next ep is released.

• Title: Itazura na Kiss
• Studio: TMS Entertainment
• Genre: Shoujo/Romantic Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥½
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥½
• Overall: ♥♥♥ (It’s a nice little throwback, but nothing all that amazing.)

Thoughts:
Liked Marmalade Boy? Then Itazura na Kiss is your cup of tea, practically guaranteed. Kotoko Aihara is in the F-class at her school, also known as the “leftover class”– the lowest achievers of the school. Naoko Irie is the top of the A-class, i.e. the smartest guy in the school, and also a pretty hot guy. In spite of the disparity between their classes, Kotoko falls for Irie at first glance and confesses to him via love letter. He rejects it without even looking at it, and later explains that he hates stupid girls. Sounds like a real winner, doesn’t he, ladies?

So! Later that night, Kotoko and her friends go to her house, which is brand-new. Then an earthquake happens and the brand-new, poorly-constructed house falls to bits. When her dad’s friend offers to let them stay at his house, her dad accepts…and then, if you didn’t already guess, it turns out that Kotoko’s dad’s friend is Irie’s dad. I.e. she’s moving in temporarily with Irie. WHOA!

Irie welcomes her by getting his little brother Yuuki to humiliate her in front of the adults with her poor kanji skills, by the way. Why does anyone like this guy, exactly? So to sum up: Kotoko has to live with the guy who rejected her, who is a total douche. I, for one, am hoping to god that she actually starts to show some redeeming character traits and tears him down a few dozen notches. (Though going by Marmalade Boy, the notches would be minimal.)

Another reason for the Marmalade Boy comparison is that it’s a contemporary of this show’s original manga; Itazura ran from ‘91 to ‘99, when creator Kaoru Tada passed away suddenly, and MB was ‘92-’95. As such, some of the shoujo stylings are similar, particularly pointier features and clothing styles. However, the animation is perfectly modern, and the manga’s style is adapted, so the show doesn’t look or feel particularly out-dated.

That said, it’s no Love*Com or Ouran High School Host Club in terms of being fresh and a bit different, but it’s a nice throwback to the kind of shoujo show we haven’t seen in ages…especially now that the romantic comedy anime genre is flooded with shounen moe shows.

• Title: Kurenai
• Studio: Brains Base
• Genre: …Not really sure yet. Drama, I guess?

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥½

• Animation: ♥♥♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥½

Thoughts:
Orphaned (or at least living alone) high schooler Shinkurou Kurenai has some kind of awesomely-adjusted body such that he makes ends meet working as a “negotiator,” a task which seems to largely involve taking down random punks. He gets his jobs via a woman named Benika, who one day comes to him with a seven-year-old girl in an expensive kimono and asks him to protect her. He, hoping to make more money (and feeling sympathy for the girl, who seems as alone as he did at her age), accepts.

Now, Benika and her assistant Yayoi actually sprung the girl, Murasaki Kuhouin, from her incredibly gilded cage. Details haven’t been fully offered yet, but apparently the women of the Kuhouin family are kept under lock and key in an “inner sanctuary” and aren’t allowed to leave it. Murasaki was desperate to get out and I guess somehow arranged to do so with Benika.

This isn’t quite one of those “big burly dude gets taken down a few notches by a little kid and they become inseparable” comedies per se– Kurenai is nowhere near burly, for starters –but it does have certain elements of that genre so far. The two have a little argument in which Murasaki refuses to believe that someone can live in a one-room apartment like Kurenai’s. The next day he leaves her in the apartment and goes to school, only to have her disappear before he gets back. He chases her down and apologizes for making her lonely. Yeah, you know the kind of thing I’m getting at.

But let me say, the visuals thus far are top-notch. The animation is fantastic, as is the character design…though something about Murasaki makes me think of Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. I think it’s the nose.

The OP and ED songs are semi-forgettable, but the animation for each is fun and highly stylized. The OP appears to be a flash animation with stylized versions of the characters dancing around and it’s really cute and fresh looking (though I’d like it if they moved in more different ways– it’l make sense when you see it). It’s incredibly cute. The ED is also brightly-colored and artsy.

Speaking of colors, I couldn’t help but notice that they’re playing with them bigtime in this show. Kurenai’s life is pretty colorless: his school uniform is black, his apartment dark and dingy, and his jobs largely taking place in dank alleyways. Murasaki herself wears a bright pink kimono and beautiful obi and other accoutrement; meanwhile the Inner Sanctuary is mostly animated with dark golds and reds.

Overall, I’m interested in the plot, particularly why Murasaki and the other Kuhouin women are locked away. And I’m definitely interested in Kurenai’s mysterious body. I suspect that the plot will involve a lot more of the Kurenai/Murasaki bonding than anything else, though, so we’ll see how it goes. (But it’s soooo pretty!)

• Title: Code Geass ~Lelouch of the Rebellion~ R2
• Studio: Sunrise
• Genre: Mech/Drama

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥½

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥½
• Overall: ♥♥♥ (I’m confused, but I’m so in love.)

Thoughts:
Anyone who’s been reading this blog long knows that I adore Code Geass for its fun characters and crazy over-the-top soap opera plot. Season two promises to have more of the same, starting with an enslaved bunnygirl Kallen, a mysterious new younger brother named Lolo (Roro/Rolo/Loro/whatever), and a restless, memory-altered Lelouch.

I’m a little confused about this memory-altering thing. I mean, Suzaku hasn’t turned Lelouch in, and I can fathom that. But Shirley hasn’t either; has her memory been altered too? Why does Lelouch have a brother now? Where’s Nunnally? What the fuck?

Yes, it all adds up to delicious insanity, if you ask me. And if you didn’t catch season one, don’t worry; the first ep of R2 will get you up to speed pretty easily. And handily enough, the first episode of R2 mirrors the first episode of season one almost perfectly in content, as many other people have pointed out so far. If it wasn’t for Euphie’s awesomeness in s1, I might even suggest that the first season might become unnecessary. (But Euphie WAS awesome, so s1 remains epic.)

So, to sum up: if you liked season one of Geass, you’ll definitely want to score you some R2. If you didn’t watch Geass, now’s a great time to start. And if you hate Geass, you suck! ♥

• Title: Kanokon
• Studio: XEBEC
• Genre: Shounen Romance/Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥½
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥ (Oh, god, haven’t I seen this before?)

Thoughts:
Your first warning, Gurren Lagann fans: this show will absolutely destroy the awesomeness of the word “Gattai” (Union).

So, the plot: Kouta is a high school boy who looks like he’s six years old. He keeps getting hit on by a busty bitch named Chizuru. She gives him a love letter and then reveals herself to be a fox demoness, then tries to rape him. Her brother stops her and yells at her for revealing herself to a human, and she performs a “gattai” with Kouta to prove that he at least doesn’t hate her, and they beat up the brother. Then she succeeds in raping him.

Visually, you can imagine the show’s aesthetic as looking a lot like Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! (which is ufotable, not XEBEC, for the record) but with a shouta boy for the hero. He even gets turned into a catboy. And the show is apparently trying to rival Rosario to Vampire for fanservice (even pantyshots), except that everyone in the show looks pre-pubescent (except that some of them do have boobs). The animation and art quality are fine, but waaaaay not my style for a show this pervy.

There is absolutely nothing to the characters that we haven’t seen a billion times before: Kouta is sort of a wishy-washy nice guy, Chizuru is a pushy but sweet type. Chizuru’s brother is a fun guy except for the serious moments, and there’s a bitchy class president and a few other archetypes as well. All in all, the only thing this show does that I haven’t seen in a show of its type before is the sheer amount of fanservice. They don’t shy away on the kissing front, either, which is something I would appreciate in a different show, I think.

So, yeah. If you dig Key shows but wish they were zanier and more perverted, here’s your show. Not really my thing, though, so I doubt I’ll move forward with the second episode.

For all that its pacing was horrendous– the first and last episode in particular dump metric shit-tons of explication on the viewer –I really enjoyed the Hatenkou Yuugi anime, mostly for the sharp dialogue and good voice acting which made for awesome banter.

BUT! The anime was only 10 episodes long. And it just ended. With a giant cliffhanger-ish thing. Surely– surely! –that means that it’ll get a sequel, even if it was overall a bit lackluster (and I’m sure downright uninteresting to many), right? RIGHT?!

If you want to blather with me about the last episode, feel free to do so in the comments. I’d love to have someone to whine with.

For details on the different resolutions and stuff for these GONZO online releases, check here.

• Title: BLASSREITER
• Studio: GONZO
• Genre: Action/Horror

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥

• Animation: &heats;♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥ (ED only)
• Overall: ♥♥♥ (What can I say? I have a zombie fetish.)

Thoughts:
I was kind of amused that the episode almost started out like a Law & Order episode, with a couple of dumbass cops coming across a dead body. Except that it had a twist I’d LOVE to see in an L&O episode someday: the body turns into a monster, fuses with a bunch of stuff around it (including surgeon’s knives and the ambulance), and kills a bunch of people. Who wouldn’t love to see Jerry Orbach (may he rest in peace) deal with that shit?

Right, anyway. These monsters are known as “Demoniacs,” and no one knows where they came from, but there’s a special team to deal with them. Unfortunately, this particular Demoniac appeared at an ambulance next to a race track, and it interfered with the race, fusing with a motorcycle. It got into an accident with Germany’s top racer: Gerd Frentzen, who survived but lost the use of his legs. Fired from his team and dumped by his girlfriend, Gerd only gets bromantic comfort from his old pal and former racing student Hermann, who is a member of the team that handles Demoniacs, XAT.

Then suddenly a hot female doctor-type appears and hands Gerd some free medicine, which he decides to try out. If you couldn’t guess that he somehow become a badass (complete with legs) and trashes a Demoniac, you haven’t been around anime for long, have you?

On a more technical note, if DRUAGA’s characters look a bit like Romeo X Juliet’s, BLASSREITER’s share more with Dragonaut’s– though decidedly less ridiculous and boobalicious. Though the aforementioned hot doctor had pretty goofy hair. The art style is a little bit lighter-colored and less vivid than Dragonaut though, which seems kind of odd for an action series like this.

The action is all rendered in CG, a little over-CG’d in my opinion. I dunno, I’m not very into the oddly smooth feel of most CG action, so that was a little off-putting for me. The actual content of the action scenes was pretty awesome though, and I think we can expect plenty of badassitude from the show.

On the audio front: I like the occasional jazz riffs you hear in the background music, even if they sometimes seem kind of randomly placed. The ED theme was a nice, catchy R&B tune– there’s no OP in the first ep, but I’m hoping it’s awesome. Maybe sort of along the lines of Darker than Black’s op, abingdon boys school’s “Howling.”

Anyway, I’m curious as to where we’re going to go with the series, so I’ll be picking up episode two fo’ sho’. I don’t know about you, but I’m already anticipating finding out that the medicine Gerd took being related to whatever makes Demoniacs to begin with. ♥