Just found a lil bit time and settled down to watch Summer Wars. I watched it from Frostii, and also I took the chance to give the new 5.1 surround system a try. I can just say it was great, it’s quite a while ago since a movie managed to take me along on such a journey through great drawn world and a intelligent aswell as good story. First of all I like to mention I really enjoyed the whole scenery and also the design of the real world, but also the unusual and colorful design of the virtual world Oz, where our anime takes also for about 50% of the time place. Jabe, I forgot to give you a description. My bad, here it comes: Kenji, a eleventh-grader math genius who works in the summer as a part time computer technician for the virtual world of Oz (imagine facebook a handful of decades in the future), is invited by the most popular girl at his high school to her expansive family’s home for a summer job. In the middle of their trip, a hacker infiltrates the network and takes control of Oz, plunging humanity into absolute chaos. Hosoda Mamoru continues where Miyazaki Hayao leaves off in this film loaded with action and emotion that combines beautiful tradition and humor with one of the season’s most imaginative creations: the luminous world of Oz. Virtual rabbit-like heroes take on monstrous shadows in this indisputable summit of anime. [like usual stolen from anidb again^^] It have a very high detail, making it worth the 1080p it comes when u get the blu.ray, which I can only suggest. What I have here is a rip of it and it looks awesome. What was different from what I’m used to is the fact that they used real brands and designs, not fake names like you have in many other animes. It was somehow fun, like when I saw their TV-set in the living room, I got instantly WTF, my Pannasonic stands there. It really totally looks alike ^^. Also you find other known things like iPhones, or even Dr. Pepper Cola. But enough of that, no, also I totally loved the design of the house of the family head. They really put a lot of effort into it, and one can see it. All the little things such a old house is supposed to have but also the modern life items are not missing and fitting just right into the whole picture. I mean lets think of other animes that feature more traditional japanese houses, I mean after seeing this they kinda look unnatural empty to me, even if I would remove the modern day things. Anyway, lets move on… (but well, yes, I took really a liking in the design) our characters are also something. We got here a lil’ love story, combined with family events (drama would make it sound too onesided), and also the big thing behind to conenct it all. I must say it was well made up, since when you thought “dow~, thats a blow”, they give you another atop, but just in the right way. It is not to simply drown the viewer but to give the whole a bit more impact, or simpler, they don’t aim for cheap and fast drama to cover shit. Rather it is used as a effect to strengthen the power of the message this anime will tell us pretty much open once you got the idea. The idea, or let’s better speak of the thought-provoking impulse is here pretty much open and all of you watching should figure it easily out. It is something you probably already knew from other movies, books or any other source, but they made it good up. I also like the involvment of the family factor, again not just for drama, but more to show what a family can pull off. I usually feel uneasy with the idea of a japanese family structure with the family head, branches and such. But here after a while my view of those things relaxed, since it got shown in a more positive light then in the usual, kinda dictatorship style u find in other anime. They drew a picture of a family where even I as westerner can see myself in and thats probably why I liked that part either. Also this anime supported my theory, something I always say t o the people: “Whatever humans create, humans can also destroy it!”. What I mean with this in terms of this anime I leave here open, so you can find it out ourself (if you’re intrested that is) when you watch it! Enough words, by now you probably should have figured if you want to watch it or rather not, so enjoy~.

Trailer (eng subbed)

Source: YouTube via HIFF Spring Showcase

Trailer HD

Source: YouTube

Have fun with it.

-Death

Johnson, a worker for a futuristic trade-company, got woken up on a Sunday morning by his robotic maid, Ben. Ben suggested that Johnson go to the Trip Movie Corporation (T.M. Company), a company that lets its guests experience a dream as if it were real. Johnson asked to be the king of Harlem, surrounded by beautiful women, and commanding a battlestar. In his dream, Johnson as “Cobra” explored space with his partner Lady Armaroid. Cobra wielded the “Psychogun” and fought off monsters from other planets and most of all the Pirate Guild, the leader being Captain Vaiken whom he let loose. Vaiken distributed Cobra’s picture to all the other pirates making him a wanted man. When the dream ended a women asked Johnson how the dream was, Johnson responding, and the woman correcting to the fact it should have been about him being the king of Harlem.

On Johnson’s way back home, he crashed into a man speeding in his car. He recognized the man, who looked identical to Captain Vaiken. Johnson started explaining how he looked like Vaiken right in front of him, thus making Vaiken think he knew something about Cobra. Johnson unconsciously lifted his right arm as if he had a gun. Johnson shot a ray out of his hand, killing Vaiken. The shot blew up his arm, revealing the Psycho-gun. Johnson hurried back home, where Ben noticed his arm and Johnson realized that he did not remember anything from the last three years that he had lived in his house. Johnson looked into a mirror, which he turned a nob to reveal a secret room behind it, which he looked inside to see his revolver which he used in his dream. Lady Armaroid came out from hiding within Ben. Johnson started to remember more, and at that moment many people were recruited by the Pirate Guild to come in and kill Johnson. Johnson killed the recruited people and started to remember that he is Cobra and he was wanted by the Pirate Guild and he was sick of fighting them off. In order to get away from them, Cobra surgically altered his face and had his memories erased. Lady Armariod told Cobra that Trip Movie triggered his sub-conscious and instead brought back old memories. Once more, Lady Armaroid and Cobra set off to all the adventures that come forth.

Cobra later meets Jane Royal, one of the Royal sisters, in a bar. Jane Royal teams up with Cobra and Lady to find the other two Royal sisters, whose tattoo maps lead to the greatest treasure in the whole universe. [taken from Wikipedia this time]

This one is for people who love space adventures anime that always have some fun elements in it and end in a dramatic way. It is parodising a lot other space adventure anime and also invoke the usual prejustice about pirating aka he always get the woman. Through your Cobra is more the good natured pirate, as he don’t unnecessary kill and helps the helpless woman in a pinch. What I liked a lot was also that he think of sometimes funny ways to get out of a situation or to get into it *giggle*, nah, I mean to get into the target. Also this enemys are not the usual overpowered bunch but rather it’s resonable how their power comes to. What I want to point out is that they are not just your random superhuman that got genetic enhanced but here they rather set on cybernation to gain over the norm powers, or just be alien through they dont overused the alien card in this play. Just it’s fun to see that the most involved people are woman (good and bad), and the usual anoymous Trooper (kinda reminds me on Star Wars and their troops), all wearing a mask and the same suit. But thats ok, the usually die fast either (poor dudes) :p. It was again one of those refreshing parodising 80ies ones u can watch through in a day and just feel satisfied. Can’t wait to find the time to see the newer OVAs/series, just hope the keep the style and way the story goes working. Also they need to keep Lady’s zynical comments, they’re also very good placed.

Opening

Source: wat.tv

Ending

Source: YouTube

Enjoy, Death-chan

Taisho Yakyuu Musume is a title with a whole lot of Japanese in it, and it doesn’t really tell you much about the anime, does it? To explain real quick, and thus give you an idea of what this anime is all about, the Taisho era dated from 1912-1926, while “yakyuu” is the Japanese word for baseball — and “musume” means “girl” or “daughter,” depending on the context. So, here we have a series about Japanese girls in the 1920s playing baseball. What’s not to love about it already? Originally this was a light novel and got not too long ago turned into this nice anime Im blogging here about. It is a sports, baseball, middle school and seinen anime. The anime revolves around the story that one of the girls get provoked by a baseball playing guy and try to get a team together, so she can show them what real “Girl Power!” is. We follow them in their up and downs, them learning the game and also surely getting their rebounds but also getting a good satisfying end. [parts used from Destructiod] What was intresting about it is definitly the time in which this one play since it’s a time where the people are still pretty stiff if it comes to girls doing things beside housework, playing a “good wife” and just staying home. This girls rather step up and fight for their wish. The anime have a decent development speed very good matching up with the way the story itself flows. The girls developts skills, and in the end manage to archive their goal, desprite the limits that the society tries to enforce on them. Also to my liking was that some parents are shown as more open to the new opinions and beliefs that were swashing over from the west (or should I say europe?^^). It is a time of change, and gets portraited as that, which is also probably a point that helped me to enjoy it. Those following me know that I dislike anime where people gets treated differently as in king and subjects, and similar. Also a reason why I dont watch really much historical setting anime ;). Also a good point about it is that it dont require in depth knowlage of baseball or intense intrest in that sport, since the game here is more just a stylistic method to transmit the real thing behind. It rather focus on the relation between the girls and also on the rebellion against the earlier described limits of society. It’s also spiced with some kinda comical parts and some where you fear they could not make it. All together its just great.

Opening

Source: YouTube

Ending

Source: Mommo*

I liked the OP/ED a lot and nearly always watched it, instead like usual skipping over them after 2-3 episodes.

Trailer

Source: DailyMotion

Watch this one and have fun with it!

Your Death

The summer of a man’s boyhood memories continue. Still on the cusp between childhood and being a man, he has linked with the ghost of a young woman from the World War 2 era. She, and the ghosts of other young ladies from that time, continue adventures alongside their linked partners, learning more about each other and travelling through time via their supernatural connection. While he struggles to see his crush on her come to fruition, meanwhile his friend- a girl his age, pretending to be a boy- seeks his attention as well. [taken from ANN] Well, to say it in short words they go on where S1 left off. Hajime still fails hard to realise that Jun is a girl. Even after seeing her basically naked he still fails… the is so bold. Poor Hajime. But there is even more to laugh and a lots of new parodies on older animes everyone knows. And as far as I can tell we probably get also here a S3 since the summer dont end with this season. But also we get to see chibi Arashi, she is so cute <3. If u enjoyed S1, you will definitly luv S2.

Opening

Source: YouTube

Ending

Source: YouTube

Have fun,

-Death

Kanuu and Chouhi’s group rescue a mysterious girl, who is actually the real Ryuubi, her name and heirloom sword stolen after the events of the last season. The group sets off to recover Ryuubi’s sword. At the same time, a group of street performers, the three Chou Sisters, are given a mysterious magic book that may be more trouble than they think. (taken from AnimeNewsNetwork) It’s bascially a continuation of the ways and the story that begins in S1. In this one we get a hint that we get a S3, since pretty early the introduce a character we see later again and that truns out to be evil, but not getting beaten in the end. Well, if they keep it like that I don’t mind to see more. They gave us more boobies, more sexy scenes and a lot of fun scenes again… I liked the episode with the boob-contest the best^^. I mean I dont remember any other animes where they tried to catch eels with their… oh well, I shouldn’t spoil the fun. So, if you like ecchi, and enjoyed S1, go for it. I dont have really much more to say^^.

Shin Koihime Musou OP

Source: DailyMotion

Shin Koihime Musou ED (uncut)

Source: DailyMotion

As far as I can tell, the difference between the 2 versions of the ED is that the cut have a row of houses behind the chibi’s. Dunno, I liked it better that way. Have fun with Koihime~.

-Death

Based on a shounen manga by Takashi Shiina, serialised in Shounen Sunday. In the future, people with ESP are becoming more widespread. The Japanese government has hired three of the most powerful ESPers in Japan to work for B.A.B.E.L. (Base of Backing ESP Laboratory), but all three are ten year old girls with questionable attitudes. [taken from AniDB] Well, what should I say, it was kinda entertaining but the end sucked for me since it leaves pretty much all open like there should be a new season, but they didn’t got that far until now, so uguu~…. The chars are definitiv have potential for fun. Kaoru is our telekinesis specialist, and also make very often use of that power. Often to punish not only the bad guys but also Minamoto (their guardian and supervisor), pressing that poor fellow into the next wall or throwing him across the room. To add some funfactor to her already pretty much impulsive behavior she acts like an old man when it comes to girls/womans, means she is kinda perverted. Groping and pantsu watching is nothing unusual for her (poor Oboro-san). Next in line comes Aoi-chan (my favorite), she have a bit more refined behavior then Kaoru and has the ability to teleport herself and also things around her. She has a  kansai flavored way of speech which u can reconise from her characteristic habit of using -han instead of -san when she speaks of Minamoto, but that makes her just cuter. Dunno, but her voice is just wonderful and quite a good match for her character, its kinda outstanding thats why I write about it here. She thinks more then Kaoru and isn’t that impulsive like her, rather a bit cautious. But she let get herself often dragged along with the others. Yea, and there is our lil’ evil Shiho-chan. Her ability is named psychometry, means she can read thoughts from things human touched aswell as read your throughts when she touched you. She has that habit to dive into the dark of the human soul, and in some episodes she even tortures her opponent with that a bit. Also she always tend to have the most weird weapons like needles or a teaser at hand, through quite often she also makes use of a pistol to defend herself. Coming from her ability to read thoughts she can get quite forceful on others since “she have the knowlage”^^. Since the girls keep together like a team, you can imagine what comes out from that. What bugged me in the later  course of the series is that we first get one (evil?) organisation, named PANDORA. Ok, here we have our bad guys, lead by our major. So far so good, and they stay the bad guys (most the time, sometimes they also help The Children cause the major have a liking for some reason in Kaoru). But then around 12-14 episodes before we come to the end another even more evil organisation appears, named Black Phantom. What sucks about that is that cause of the 2nd evil organisation they never come far enough to make an end to the whole thing that makes sense. Thats whats bugging me, when the series end no of both organisations is destroyed. Ok, PANDORA is laying low at the end but still… also that idea that they age around 2(?) years at the end, or more specific in the last episode also was kinda fail. I mean first u get to know them when they’re around 10 years, and they keep more or less that look during the series. But then suddently in the last episodes they look at least 2 years older, and suddently graduate. It even more feels like a provoked preparation for a new season. And speaking of provokation, I can’t help myself but some of the jokes in the series are quite lame and very provoked. They lack the suprise moment and u can see them pretty well coming, which rob me of some funfactor. Still it’s a series dealing with a esper scenartio in a good way and providing some nice ideas about such, so its not that bad either. Thats why I said earlier I found it entertaining but it lacks some essential points to get a “good” rating from me. If you’re not sure if it suits your intrests, give it a try and watch at least 10 episodes, then u should know if u want to go on or not. Yea… and if you dont like the loli topic too much, u should let it be since they play with that at some ends quite much.

Zettai Karen Children Opening 1

Source: YouTube

Zettai Karen Children Opening Live Version PV

Source: YouTube

Since I didn’t found a version of the ED but came across a live variant of the OP I added this instead for the lulz. If u like the live version, digg a bit on youtube and u come across a full length pv.

-Death

Based on a shoujo manga by PEACH-PIT, serialised in Nakayoshi. Everybody at Seiyo Elementary thinks that stylish and super cool Hinamori Amu has it all: But nobody knows the real Amu, a shy girl who wishes she had the courage to truly be herself. Changing Amu’s life is going to take more than wishes and dreams–it’s going to take a little magic! One morning, Amu finds a surprise in her bed: three strange little eggs. Each egg contains a Guardian Character, an angel-like being who can give her the power to be someone new. With the help of her Guardian Characters, Amu is about to discover that her true self is even more amazing than she ever dreamed. [taken from AniDB] The Description is from the first season, cause the so called “2nd” season is basically a seamless continue, so I consider them as one and also review them here as one long series. First of all, I must say I was kinda surprised that the anime isn’t as low and stupid like I first thought when  a friend of mine, Asakomi, said to me I should give it a try since I could like it. It too a few episodes until it begun to unleash it’s fun potential, but then it definitely catched me. At first it seems it’s the usual kids series that run later on your local station at lunch time to entertain the kids, but for people who knows their anime is a lot to see present. Also unlike other series that follow this stereotyp I descriped here our characters undergo a development in behavior and feelings. It’s not like often that in the start she is having a crush on him but never during the series there comes a conclusion to it, no, sure here is nothing final yet as the manga still continues but still one gets a good idea whats coming up. Also she is quite tricky, maybe not intended but the result is what counts, when it comes to men. I mean later on she have a kind of harem around her, just that she don’t take the big advantage of that fact^^. It’s fun to see the harem-game in a different variant from the usual. But well, lets not forget about her lil’ fellows that aren’t bad either. Ran (red/heart)) is her sporty and a bit hyperactive self, causing our dear Amu often problems since she is quite impulsive and so takeover her every now and then. Then we got Miki (blue/spade), the artistic self, through she tries to act a bit reserved later on she melts and gets more social/livly. Also she is a bit of a collector when it comes to male shugo chara’s, kinda the Amu of the shugo chara’s^^. I mean during the series so far (up to episode 102) she had a crush on nearly every male char, and did collect a lot of pictures of them. Then there is our parodie shugo chara, at least I would title her like that, Sue (green/clover). Those of you, who saw Rozen Maiden, may agree that she is a friendly parodie variant of Sueseseki, her looks kinda remind me, also her habit of always adding “-desu” and her clumsyness. It’s just that she is the counterpart of Sueseseki in terms of behavior, as she is friendly with friend and foe. Dunno, she was often a reason for me to lol a lot. It has definitly a reason why she have a kind of repair ability ;p. But yea, there are also the fellow characters of Amu, with their own Shugo Charas. First she meets the so called “Guardians” which are her first fellows, and begin to fight the evil X-Characters. But intrestingly here we don’t kill our enemy but rather put them in a corner and then pyschologically finish them off. The X-char result from a depressed and lost heart, so she have to make them believe in their dream again. I like this alternative way of solution a lot, since often they have to kinda “kill” the enemy but here they clean them. But then again, when I think over it, the main reason to watch it for me was the funfactor the shugo chara’s produce, since they hit often the bulls eye with their comments on Amu’s behavior, make her going angry (which is kinda cute), and also the fact the character’s develop. Also a positive aspect was that here it don’t play out the school life/scenario card. Often you also see the bunch in private clothes (and those change!, a rare ocassion), and during their free time. I must say I took a liking in Amu’s style which I would descripe as “light gothic”, through she also sometimes wear more “normal” clothes. Another thing which surprised me was how they integrated the trap-topic (trap => a boy dressed up perfectly as a girl or other way round). It’s not giving me those eerie feeling like other series did, for example Happiness!, which I call for a reason rather Trappiness! *creepy~*. Also this series have a rather positive message that gets delivered to the viewer during watching, like “Continue to believe in your dream!” and “Go for your dream!”. All together I had much fun, and also didn’t felt like they filled up somewhere (through they probably did as they’re ahead of the manga, hence that Shugo Chara Party crap running now), since all fall into it’s place, it may take time until one see it, but then it gets visible. So give it a try and have lots of fun like me!

I picked some op’s and ed’s from the ones, otherwise it would get too much. Why the weird border is present, beats me, but those where the only HQ variants of the OP i came across…

Shugo Chara Opening 2

Source: YouTube

Shugo Chara S2 Ending 2

Source: Youtube

Shugo Chara S2 Ending 1

Source: YouTube

Enjoy!

-Death

I got me my own christmas present a bit early this year but whatever. I couldnt wait anymore, so I got it, and I must say I just love it. He works perfectly fine together with my TV (a Panasonic TH-42PZ80EA Plasma TV) and together they make a lovly picture on my japanese documentation blurays. The picture looks so real, so colorful that u actually think u can just grab into the picture and touch the objects. Also he not only does great on playing back bluray but also do a wonderful job upscaling my dvds to 1080p. The dvd player I used so far (Panasonic DVD-S54, codefree) is nothing compared to this scaling capacitys, he is now in my bedroom so I can watch TV there (currently I just have an 17 inches screen there, so its ok). Also he features nice features like YouTube, News, and Picasa (more will come according to Panasonic), but that I consider as bonus. It wasnt a reason to buy the big one. Some might argue this one is more or less identical to his lil’ brother, the Panasonic DMP-BD60, and I got to say “Yes, that’s right!” here. BUT this one feature a better audio circut, giving him the ability to work with DTS-HD Master/High audio and decode it or send it to your reciever via HDMI (bitstream), which the small one can’t do. Also (well I dont depend on it) feature a complete 7.1 decoder, so u can directly hook up your amp, if it dont get along with HDMI. That was the reason, the more abilities in the audio sector, that made me buy the big brother and buy a lot more. A lot more u ask? Well, yes. In the regular stores the difference is around 100 bucks, but for me it was some more. The reason for that is that the choice of stores was limited by the fact that I wanted a codefree BD player, that dont care about BD region or DVD regions. Also I wanted a hardware mod, that can’t be killed by some software upgrade or make me depending on the modders will to hack the new update and the time it takes. I got me one with the so called ICOS modification, that gets sold by bluraymods.com. I didnt buy at theirs, but at a partner store of them as the model of choice was cheaper there, and also s&h was for free^^. But back to the ICOS mod, I can only say it’s working and it’s great. I already upgraded my player from FW 2.0 to 2.1 without having any problem. And its very easy to switch regions, just turn it into stand-by, press a key from 1-3 to set em to a region between A and C, then turn it back on and the region is set. Also nice is, that DVD goes automatic, so there he complete not care^^. Also good was that they (Panasonic) gave u a 1 GB SD card along for free, it’s required for BD Live stuff, as it acts as cache memory, so if u get my or the smaller model, make sure to insert it. It probably works also without but then it will I think take longer to load up. You may read on some pages that they player have big response times, but as for the wake-up time people forget that it have a 2nd modus of stand-by, where he goes up faster BUT also use more energy during stand-by. If u use the default mode (I must cause of my modification, but would use it anyway), it consume just 1 Watt compared to 6-7 Watt in the fast stand-by mode. So, those around 20 sec I have and I can get along with. Also later on he could may be slower but I also saw worse, the speed currently is acceptable and I think Panasonic may increase even more the reponse time in the future. Also I cant say I experience any problems with him so far, and I used around 40 discs in him. Its a damn fine high-quality model for a great price. For my in the regular stores u pay around 280 Eu, which is ok. If u say I’m ok with the small one, you’re at 199 Eu. I also liked that u can switch the IR code set, so that if u got multiple Panasonic Devices u dont control them all, like could happen when u dont have the possiblity to switch those. What I was noticing is that no HDMI cable is included, just a cinch one. Thats the only that makes a bit meeh, but well, most players regardless the maker have that. I just wonder, since if they make their player 10 bucks more and include one, I dont think anyone would rip off their heads. But all together definitly a great choice for people having a Panasonic TV and also for those who not. Also he plays back without whining back your AVCHD DVDs with subtitle and multiple audio (insiders know what I wanna get on^^). Funny thing was, that the store where I bought included some sweets. I liked that, helped to stay calm cause when I get a new toy I go all excited^^.

Without more words, here we have some pictures I took while I unpacked him and hooked him up:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

On one of the later pictures u also can see my lil’ setup. My TV, my BD player (below tv/in the middle), then we have there also a T-Home IPTV reciver (left), and my Xbox (right). On the left side, next to the stand of the tv is my Popcorn Hour A110, a great lil’ multimedia box that keeps the promise that it makes. It features easily beats a PS3 and many many of those other cheap multimedia boxes/hdds even from brand makers. If u still need one, I suggest it, through u should buy the follow up modell C200.

For those who wanna know more about my BD player, u can see here some info, and there is also the panasonic webpage on it.

Both videos are from PanasonicUK, so copyright and stuff goes to them.

Homepage of the DMP-BD80. I took the UK page as I have the euro model. And we have also the lil brother, the DMP-BD60.

If you get one of them too, I hope you will love it the same as me and enjoy it! And if you want your friend codefree, and be willing to spend a bit more for that, go for bluraymods.com.

-Death

The Yomota family is small and typical: father Kinekuni (42), mother Tamiko (38), and son Inumaru (17). One day, a beautiful girl appears at their front door, calling herself “Maroko Yomota,” granddaughter of Inumaru who travels back in time with a time machine to visit her ancestors. Even with Tamiko’s strong objection, Kinekuni and Inumaru welcome her to stay with them, and the structure of a happy family has begun to collapse. [coming from AnimeNewsNetwork] Well, where should I begin? It’s a really weird anime. The motivation to watch this OVA at first was that it features Kenji Kawaii aswell as Mamoru Oshii, both are people that brought us numerous great animes including Ghost In The Shell, Patlabor, Avalon, and more… But after the first episode it got me and I because curious how it goes on. Before it was looking really weird and I was kinda unsure but it dragged me into its world. It begins with that weird time machine storyline and then later envolve into some kind of family drama where the family falls apart. But later on as if this move was just to confuse the viewer they let the family merge again and live on until a point where Maruko vanish again. Its not done at that point and still goes on for a bit. So far I understand it as parody of some sort spice with some hints to think about the concept of family and bloodrelations that gets served with a drop randomness. I definitly think I have to watch this one serveral times to fully get it or at least get a further idea about the intent of the creator. Also intresting was the way they made it up, hence the title of the entry. They made it up like a theater piece, a piece with just a handful of actors. It’s not that much present in the first episode but later on it gets more clear, when u have scenes in a very theater like manner with spotlight on a character and the others around in the dark (or complete not visible). Also u have that songs inserts made up in a funny and sometimes dramatic made up, which also remind me much on a theater. Another fact the viewer might figure is that the characters seems to have “joints”, not fully drawn out but indicated as if they’re puppets. It gives an additional intresting feeling to the whole thing which develops pretty hasty but gains from the speed and the confusion it sometimes causes. Also people who knows Kenji Kawaii’s works from other animes can hear out very nice his “flavor” out of the background music pieces, it was something I noted with joy as I personally like Kenji Kawaii’s works very much, and this one is definitly a one of his. I probably stated this earlier but he has this great ability to deepen the mood the scene bring with his music and to give it a unique touch I dont find in other animes/movies/series. I wouldn’t go too much in the story and the chars as the description gave u a fair idea of them and to go into the story may spoil it. Also anothe r reason is to me that I’m not sure yet to have it fully understood, but if you like a animes that is a bit different with an intresting fully setup this is one for you. Also I was wondering alone with a friend (Marcus), if they got payed for the constant advertising of Coca Cola, since u have in every single episode multiple appearances of Cola cans, sign and other stuff. Also one can note other big brands. I think after all its meant as some parody on them, but I’m not entirly sure. Maybe it is just that we’re very used to them obfuscate the brands, like making McWonalds out of McDonalds or Risa out of Visa (through one still can figure the original most the times when its international stuff). Kinda reminds me on Black Lagoon, where they changed Heineken (a beer brand) to Heireken, but kept the original can design and all^^. Anyway, enough of those memorys, if u liked my description of it, or found it at least intresting, pay Frostii a visit and grab your copy to watch it. Just keep in mind that u should watch it when u have time so u can think about it afterwards.

Opening

Source: YouTube

I was lucky to find this one, the rest of the “videos” on tube just consists of the music from the individual episodes.

-Death

Anime adaptation of Chunsoft’s visual novel mystery game 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~. Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. Now working as a cameraman, she reunited with her friend Canaan in Hong Kong. Canaan is an assassin gifted with synesthesia, and she’s being targeted by the terrorist squad Snake. Meanwhile, numerous groups converge on Hong Kong, all after either Canaan or Maria. [taken from AnimeNewsNetwork] It was a good one. The anime may use some scenario points the regular anime watcher may already reconise but still they manage to give it a fresh and new touch as they found a pretty intresting explanation of the way things started. Sure one can argue we had already viruses and biological weapons (Venus VS Virus, Black Cat, and many more) but yet I liked the way this one works and what its side-effects are. Its was enough to get me into a good mood and the anime kept the promise of beeing intresting through sometimes I got a bit lost in the specific types of the “affected people”, also it also take a while until they fully explain things. But thats not the main point the anime wanna get on, its just a mark on the way to the real point which they kept good until the last 2 episodes. Some may figure out the deal earlier then those but I don’t think it will have a bad effect on the overall experience. Also the anime was also pretty sarcastic in some way which I would descripe as pretty harsh but still we shouldn’t forget it’s not your daily school girl anime but a rather violent (but not overly) one. It says what it means through non-sugarcoated pictures, a point which I also liked about it. Especially since latly I often feel like they over-/missuse violence and sex appeal to cover that the story and scenario behind is extreme weak. Something I find rather discuthing so this one was compared to those a refreshing one. It wasnt too long and not taking side walks to fill gaps in the storyline. Another rare thing I found in this one was the really good drawn picture of the psychotic submissive follower thats so blinded by her love for her “nee-san” that she fail to see the reality anymore. Unlike other animes did she kept it up until the very end, even going as far as enjoying to get killed by her loved. Thats a point where most other animes let the char turn love into hate as they feel betrayed. Thats something that is one possiblity but it got overused and so as for me lost impact. Here I was rather suprised that his didn’t happend and I must say it was a match. The character was perfectly acting out his ill-love along with the sardistic tribes. It made me reminding Perfect Blue somehow, where they also drew the picture of the psychotic sardistic stalking lover. All together I must say I liked it, through like stated earlier it was for me a bit confusing at some points of the storyline.

Trailer

If someone wonder why it says music video, its the offical promo trailer for the Comic Market 75. Source: YouTube

Opening

Source: YouTube

Ending

Source: YouTube

-Death