Death’s Notes and Thoughts

Posts Tagged ‘review’

Chiko, who had been leading a lonely life because of her parents death. Together with the Phantom Thief Nijū-Mensō (20-Faces), she sets out on a journey into the real world. She gradually changes as she encounters new friends and places. But strange events start happening revolving around the mystery of “Legacy of the 20-Faces”. So Chiko has to move forward, regardless on how checkered her life will become. (the plot descroption is taken from AnimeNewsNetwork) It was a good anime. They builded up the mood pretty good, especially Chiko’s stepmother was made very good. She really builded up hate against her and her actions in me, and that was definitly needed to get into the mood. It wasnt a fail hate more a “go just die and leave our Chiko alone” hate. Many other animes that attempt this raise more a “u fail” hate in me then the kind of hate and angery they want to archive. Also the drama was good distributed over the series, not all in one point but rather spread over the series and so it felt more as part of the whole instead of beeing the whole. What I dislike on many other animes where some chars u learned to like die is when the complete drama focus on one point, and before that all happyness. That kinda plot feels too much artifical to me. If we would have one or two anime using such a way of initating drama, it wouldnt be bugging me, but many does it, so it does bug me. But lets go back to the point, this one here definitly doesnt do that. It kept a good balance between drama and action parts spiced with some nice (funny?) scenes. But its not focused on fun, thats a side part and like i say just a spice to make it intresting and let u relax for a sec. The characters as stated earlier build up a good mood, and take u into their world. You really feel along with Chiko often and not getting this “dow~ why dont she do this, why dont she do that” feeling, which u sometimes get when characters get the ultra opportunity but don’t take it. Its a bit dark mood-wise, so if one prefer happy anime maybe u shouldnt try this one. For all others, give it a try and hopyfully enjoy it as I did.

Opening

Its a pretty much relaxed and calm op, but dont let it fool you.

Source: YouTube

-Death

Based on the visual interactive novel by Minori, featuring character designs by Nanao Naru. The story revolves around the protagonist Hirono Hiro, a poor high school boy who draws shoujo manga for his living. One cold Christmas night after meeting a very strange woman in a church, who tells him that he’s going to meet someone he has to meet, his bike gets stolen by another strange girl. He runs after her and finds her collapsed on the street. Her name is Miyamura Miyako and her bag got stolen by a man on a motorbike. Soon after, they start hanging out together, enjoying highschool life. Miyako falls for Hiro pretty quickly but naturally finds a rival in his childhood friend, Shindou Kei, who has been dictating Hiro’s life since ever. [stolen as usual from AniDB] Well first i got a sense it could end up like Shuffle what means for me that it is half or even three-quarter of it comedy and the from out of nowhere begins the drama. But it wasn’t like that. More its like having 3 seperate little dramas that are connected to eachother through different ways. You might think they end up weaved together but that isnt given, they get a bit together but are still not weaved. While watching i felt often like having a déjà vu. For example when Hiro have Kei piggyback i was instantly thinking of Honey & Clover, where Mayama is having Yamada piggyback. *giggle* Also the name of Hiro-sempai made me think and ToHeart popped up as there our protagonist is also called Hiro-sempai, or Hiro-chan (but there coming from Hiroyuki). There is also more to be found in that direction if u know some stuff. I don’t think its intentional but it’s for me to think back on stuff i enjoyed. Through I thought of it as a drama and it feels until the last episode that way it ends somehow still happy what disappointed me a bit as at least one of them could had have a drama end (one of them as one of the stories). The one with Chihiro was perfect to have a dramatic ending, but well… considering the anime as whole i say it’s ok. The end is always something where I’m pretty picky so lets put that aside.

Trailer (Fall ‘07 Preview with eng subs):

Opening:

This song is called “euphoric field” and is from Tenmon feat. ELISA. At the end of Episode 12 u have this song but as japanese version. I left out the ending as there are multiple (5 different songs).

-Deathy

And finally i managed to finish off el cazador. Third installment in Bee Train’s “girls with guns” trilogy El Cazador is the story of a girl named Ellis, who finds herself on the run from the so called Hunters of the underground society due to being a suspect of a murder. She meets up with a bounty hunter named Nadie who offers her help and guidance to pursue the truth of her past. But now she’s also being targeted by the Hunters and so their quest for the truth begins. [description taken from AniDB as usual] If u watched Noir and Madlax u also should enjoy this one. It have more relation to Madlax then to Noir as we here have a girl with some special “abilities”, not like in Noir the perfect assasin. But on the other hand this one is more clear then Madlax at the end and u can follow the story easier. Also the music made me often think of Noir as there are some tunes that i suspect beeing identical. Also nice is this time the place where the story take part. Its not future, city or similar, no, this time it take place in a desert environment. As it plays in the US (considering the later data) i would say somewhere in Texas probably. This is a quite unique environment compared to the usual ones. It gives the anime a fresh and not so worn-off taste in case of the scenario. Our characters also get linked together more and more while the story goes on and the end is somehow more relaxed then i had imagined but that should not mean its bad. It was ok and the last episode also made me laugh a bit as they reuse some characters in it u might have forgotten over time while watching this anime. Also it was again intresting to see how much a character can tell one without using words. I can only say Lirio fascinated me. I was a good character design, i liked it. As I said the people who enjoyed Noir and/or Madlax should have fun on this one, and who dont know any of these at all could use this and try if he can have fun with such stuff.

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

I didnt added the op/ed this time as it not show much of the anime it self but rather shows different stuff. Different as it is like it tells a own story or show something thats meant in a brought forward meaning (i hope it gets through what i try to say). At least the ending do.

Deathy

Its the first series i spend the time i found in my week off from work on. It is based on a light novel series by Sanda Makoto, illustrated by pako. Itsuki Iba is the cowardly president of a ‘for hire’ magic company called Astral. Always in need of money, Itsuki’s company rents out magicians to perform misc jobs. His company features many magic schools such as Solomon (Demon Magic), Shinto (Prayer Magic), Onmyodou (Spirit Magic) and Celtic (Ritual/Paper Magic). Not the only company out there looking for work, but Itsuki’s company has an ‘ace’ in the hole which happens to be Itsuki himself. If things become more than they can handle, Itsuki will remove his eye patch. As a side note, most of these people are grade schoolers and 2 of them happen to be classmates of Itsuki’s. [description stolen as always from AniDB.] It was a good anime but with a little weak ending (sadly). What i quite liked was that we here got not only the typical japanese “magic” but also western stuff like Honamis Celtic Magic, which also is a type of magic i dont remember seeing before in any anime i watched. Also new to me was Adelicias Solomon magic, which is basically a type of demon magic but still different to the usual type. Through she need to have a special item i rather woudn’t it call demon magic but summoning magic as she calls her servants as she needs them. Also u get a little love triangle in this series but i guess that is used to add a little spice and comedy to this series. I hope they give us a 2nd Season as i still have some stuff that i want to know, most of it small things but well. The end was a bit weak to me as it was rather short and not well prepared enough as the story reveals. It feels a bit too sudden.

Trailer (net version):

Opening:

Ending:

I choose the net trailer, as it is longer and so shows more of the actual show.

-Death

Based on a manga by Fujishiro Takeshi, serialised in Monthly Shounen Gangan. Ikuto Touhohin just had a fight with his old man, one that led him to make a rash decision to run away from home. He boards a ship, deciding to take a vacation, but the ship is suddenly hit by a huge storm – one that sends Ikuto overboard! When he regains consciousness, he realizes he is still alive… on some island. An isolated island. An isolated island with nothing but girls. Beautiful girls. Stranded on an island with only girls, no electricity, gas, radio, television… like he was back in the stone age. [stolen as always from AniDB] Its a quite funny anime out of the harem/comdey/romance genere. I had at first my probs, since it felt like some overdone harem anime that get unnatural (like Ichigo 100%, it was so… artifical and dumb… *shiver*) but after some episodes this feeling was gone and the fun really begun. Also the setting through it feels old is unusual and i must admit i never had such a scenario for a harem/comedy/romance before. Still i cant get a rid of the feeling i had something like this already… guess i don’t remember that anime anymore. I had the most fun on Suzu and Machi-nee. Suzu for just beeing cute and lovly, and Machi-nee for her evil behavior. She is quite wonderful in her ways of beeing evil^^… poor Ayane (her lil’ sister). But there are more characters that have their own intresting points like for example Chikage and her obession with research everything. The chars also grow slowly, not in a physical way but in a mental way and also as lovers (through they never actually said they loved each other the for the whole series^^). Also funny is the fact that they can communicate with the animals, and many of them have their friends. Like Suzu and the pig Tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is a quite funny one and looks like a ball with a face and 2 ears. But that not all, but for the more u have to figure out for yourself. Also what i digged up was the sweet stuff that Suzu goes nuts for as i was intrested in what this is. Its named Mame Daifuku and consist of a soft, chewy dough surrounding which covers small sphere of sweet red bean paste. I must say i never got the chance to taste it myself so i took the discription from the blog where i also found the recipe how u can make it yourself. You can find the recipe along some pictures in akatsuki talks rot’s blog entry “mame daifuku”. Also i found later a second guide how to make Mame Daifuku at the “To Short Term Memories” blog, which is a bit more detailed and also includes pictures of the process. It sounds quite yummy and make me understand why Suzu loves it so much through it looks a lil bit weird in reality. So all together we can say that Nagasarete Airantou is a funny and entertaining anime just i have to say that i dont like the final solution for the prob of his lil sister in the end, but i wont say more ’bout this as it would spoil too much. See for yourself, i just say they could have solved it better.

Trailer (raw):

Opening:

And as for the Mame Daifuku, here u can see some pictures i took also from akatsuki’s blog:

Mame Daifuku on a plate

Mame Daifuku on a plate cutted open so u can see the inside

So, thats all, i hope u enjoyed it.

Your Death-chan

Kasumi Kogen, the so called Village of Mist, is a town located somewhere in a tasteful and rural place in Japan. In this town, there is a training school. Surprisingly, it is the Sinobi Gakuen, a training school of kunoichi, or the female ninja. It gathers competent students from all over Japan to train them to become kunoichi. Needless to say, the villagers are alumni of the school, and they run and jump, appear and disappear, as if the whole town were a big ninja house. To this strange town, there came a girl and a man. The girl is Himawari who wants to be a ninja and respect “Ichikawa Raiso” as her master, and she came here to enter Shinobi Gakuen. The man is a new assigned teacher Marikoji Hayato. He was deceived into paying money and came here to repay his debts. They encounter in this Village of Myst. Whether their encounter is by chance or inevitable? A teacher and his student. Forbidden Love? Other students like Azami, Skimi, Himeji, Yusu wait and see their situation secretly. Whether can Himawari become a full-fledged Kunoichi? Whether can she protect her master? Well i must say usually i dont like ninja animes too much but this one was just hilarious. The mix between the characters is pretty good done as u have the stupid one, the “superpower” ones and the victim that gets targeted by the stupid one^^. It reminded me somehow on 2×2=Shinobuden! where u had a bit similar constellation (a ninja setting, a complete failed ninja, etc). Its quite enjoying to see what Himawari will undergo to please her “master”. I think if u like the ninja comedy type this should me a nice funny series. There is also a 2nd season coming as the first one i here speak about have 12 episodes and much stuff left to make fun of. Sadly it seems that the english fansub group that have picked the 2nd season dont really make progress… sigh. Well lets hope and see. Here is the opening since i couldnt get a hold of the promo yet, but it should help to give u an idea how the chars look like and stuff.

Enjoy, Death

Here it is finally after i watched the last episodes (i NEVER will touch GG, go Oyasumi!). Pani Poni is a gagmanga like Azumanga Daioh (we all know and most probably love this one) or Sensei no Ojikan. It’s the first commercial manga by Hikawa Hekiru who was previously active in the doujin scene. The 11 year old Miyamoto Rebecca becomes the new teacher of a classroom which is full of weirdos. Despite her cute looks she`s a little beast and can be pretty sarcastic and offensive. The school is not safe anymore now that she`s in charge of a class and her students, Himeko, Ichijou, Rei and a white rabbit who took a liking to Rebecca help her to rough up the school and the neighbour-class with its teacher “ojiichan”. Join them now in their daily life full of gags and nonsense. [stolen from AniDB] I had really much fun with this one. Its an intresting mix of characters we got here, they’re more intensive in their ways than Azumanga Daioh. Also we got the always a bit angry but genious kid teacher Becky, she is lovly ^^. Nah, this no loli or typical school one like u get at every corner. They make fun of fucking much stuff, its extreme much. Also its not only limited to anime and manga but to all u can integrate into a manga/anime.  Thats also why i was pretty thankful to ADV for include their so called “AD Vidnotes” cause u really need these references to understand some jokes/parodies. Also what made me pretty happy was they also included all the signs and stuff in the background. They not only integrated them but also gave them a styling, a design, not the always used Tahoma or Arial. I can really suggest getting the US DVD if u liked this one, its worth the money what u get! If u maybe know the scanlation u notify the Anime use a slight different character design but i dont consider this bad, cause they took over the way of behave from the characters which is more important. Rei is still the class whitch and Himeko is nuts like before (damn i really love this 2). Give this one a chance and u will get really a lot stuff to laugh about, i always cry tears of laughting when i rewatch it.

english trailer (by adv):

japanese trailer (without subs):

german fandub trailer:

So, get it and enjoy it (i suggest japanese dub/english sub, their voices in japanese are definitly matching the char better ).

-Death

There is this wonderful written article on their webpage you really shouldn’t miss. I laugh a lot but still on the other hand it worries how much truth probably is in it. We will see about it, and i hope they’ll be wrong.

Anyway, i wish you all a happy and lucky new year.

Your Death

This is another future that the Cold War has continued for 140 years. The earth is divided into two worlds, the East Block and the West Block. Under the false peace keeps its balance by the meanance of nuclear, two worlds continued their war. What does Mylene Hoffman see in the conflicts of spies living in bloodless world? [taken from AnimeNFO] Lets get straight to the point, 009-1 is supposed to be an agent anime but it hardly feels like one. It starts with the design of it, its unusual. I wont say its bad just not suited in my eyes for a series and especially not for a agent/spy series. This kinda design would be intresting for a movie with some kinda deeper message and that kinda story, that looks first weird but if you think some on it become clear. Aside from the design of this series is the story a bit disappointing. I was expeciting some kinda thrilling episode story and maybe if we’re lucky a bigger thing behind that gets solved at the end or maybe is supposed to be a open end for another season. But actually we get some action but without the thrill, its not even a bit exciting, more its predictable what will happen or how it will end. Also the end wasnt too good, they tried to raise the speed and give the story a “BAM”-element to make a great end but the outcome was a merge “plop”. Sure a thread to human kind can make a intresting thing but still it gets kinda lame if the hide-and-seek and the big endfight are missing. No, this anime is definitly not what one would expect of it, so i suggest to leave it away. :getlost:

The trailers are maybe nice looking but the real thing isnt half as good, for those who like this kinda genere i suggest watching Detective Agency Q or Dirty Pair. Those have what they promise!

-Death

Based on the original work by Ken Akamatsu the creator of Love Hina, produced by XEBEC the studio who brought us err.. Love Hina. This anime is not sharing anything in common with the title I just mentioned before except probably character design (watch out for Naru and Tama). In order to protect Japan from mysterious alien invasion, a defense force team has been assembled. But there are no heroes, not even look like one. They are all grade school kids and most of times they caused more troubles than finishing their jobs. But why the defense party even bother to assemble this cute defense force team? Ssst.. It`s because the chief of defense party, Onigawara Rikushiro`s, has his granddaughter placed on the defense force team. Onigawara Mao (ground defense), Chikusima Misora (sky defense) and Maruyama Silvia (marine defense), three of them make the defense force team and they all look alot like cute miniaturize Love Hina`a characters (I told you before). When three of them combined together, they can unleashed great power. Add Mishima Kagome as the commander of the team, can they really fight against mysterious alien? [so far stolen from aniDB]

Well… its a rather short anime (26 x 12 min) and… its kinda dumb… it makes fun but that vanish over time cause there is nothing really new after a few eps. also i thought the whole series long: well… type 2 gear… when do they show us type 1 or 3 or whatever else there is… answer: NEVER. Also why do the downloads of their gears (acutually handeld by some alien stuff) cost the cabinet money ? i accept the fact that the defence barrier cost money considering the damage they inflict everytime using it to their enviroment but… the dowload eg. their “work” clothes ? thats a real laugh… to make long things short, this series is really something i wouldnt even show kids, cause its too dumb for them. And a word for Ken Akamatsu fans: search further for better works of him, this is definitly one of his not really worth watching ones.

-TheDeath