Death’s Notes and Thoughts

Posts Tagged ‘series’

This is the first year of high school for the four girls, looking for that very special club. The healthy and energetic Tainaka Ritsu (club president, drums) decides to join the school’s Light Music Club, only to find out that the club is about to be closed — due to the lack of members. Without much ado she drags along her childhood friend, the shy, mature, and sensitive Akiyama Mio (bass). That leaves only two more members, required to keep club from closing. Luckily the gentle, calm, warm, and cute Kotobuki Tsumugi (keyboard) stumbles into the club, only to be “convinced” by the pleading Ritsu to stay. The last member, the easily distracted klutz Hirasawa Yui, can only play castanets, even though the club needs someone on the guitar, but she is “bribed” — with cake — to stay anyway. Will Yui be able to learn to play the guitar — the special one she just bought and loves so much — before the four girls graduate? [stolen from AniDB] I must say unlike many other animes with the genere music/band I liked this one and enjoyed it. It wasnt focusing too hard on just the band-thingie but also featured some life outside the band, making it more balanced. Also the characters are something one can enjoy as they sometimes a bit typical but also have their own cute behaviors. Funny was definitly Tsumugi (Nickname: Mugi-chan) with her big eyebrows, a very unusual attribute for a girl in anime (and reality aswell?). Normally I would expect her to be some bad-ass angry something, but its more the other way round. A bit quiet but lovly person. Through my favorite unlikes the masses opinion is still Yui, as she is just so wonderful clumsy, but also is just great when she is set on something. Its like she goes on fire but well… she lacks a bit planning ahead sometimes so… u can imagine what comes out^^. Mio is nice, and have a good makeup for a moe-char that pleases the masses (shy, easy to scare, easy to embrass, nice body). Ritsu is the impulsive and a bit hyperactive one of the quartet, but the same amount she is hyperactive she is lazy at other times and keep forgetting her forms for things (bad bad ritsu), and so causing Nodoka (the representative of the student concil) pain. At some points I feared it might end up in some worse drama (I cant stand drama stuff too much currently, having too much IRL drama around me) but thankfully they didnt choose that way. It always just was some lil “panic” event that get resolved within an ep. Also fun was their club supervisor, which i would call “metal teacher sawakawa”. Boy… she was definitly evil, also have this nice cosplay fetisch. (why i call her metal teacher sawakawa, u have to find out yourself, i already spoil too much^^) If this all is to your liking, watch it. The only thing I would have liked to be different would have been the amount of songs. 1-2 more songs would have been nice, but well, you can’t have everything, right?

Trailer

Source: Youtube

Opening

Source: Youtube

Ending

Hopefully u enjoy it as much as I did. I suggest to watch Frostii’s version.

-Death

On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later… Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash. (the description comes from Production I.G themself) In fact this anime is sounding weird, but its great. Those who enjoyed already Honey & Clover, especially their animation styles and ways in that anime, will already have something they will love about this one. It features a similar animation, through the story is much deeper and serious. But dont think a serious anime cant be funny, it always have something to laugh about. Surely the beginning have more but still, i liked their balance act. Also the way how Saki gets dragged into all this mess is good made up, in some other animes they’re pretty weak with finding a way to drag the char in the story events in the beginning. Its not the perfect way but its definitly one of the better. Also to my liking was the bigger idea behind the phone and the money which get slowly revealed as the story goes on. What should be said is that this series is a kind of a cliffhanger, the prequel for the movies to come (its three in total). I understand it that the series tell us how all begun and prepare us for the coming events, while the movies will keep the real deal, and have the highlight of the whole thing in em. Maybe I’m wrong but that will we find out once we saw the movies. But if u ask my opinion from all I watched about higu so far, I say it will be good. So if u like conspiracy, spiced with a splash of love and some crazy characters combined with great animation and some fun parts, u found your anime. But like always I say, give it a try even if u say “wtf is this??” as it confuse one a bit until u begin to get bigger picture.

Trailer (eng sub by Frostii):

Source: Youtube

The opening is a great song by the british band oasis, it fits the anime perfectly and if u can get your hands on the video of the song in the “Higashi No Eden” version, watch it. Its 200% better then the original music video, but sadly they decided to keep this version a japanese only thing. Sigh, sad but true. Anyway, here we have the opening for your and after that a lil parodie on the trailer, Higashi no Eden feat. Borne Identity.

Opening:

Source: Youtube

Higashi no Eden feat. Borne Identity:

Source: Youtube

The Quality of the fun trailer is a bit sucky but still its lulz. All together, watch it .

-Death

Magician’s Academy revolves around Takuto Hasegawa, who attends a magic academy that is not marked on any map. During a summoning spell exam, he accidentally creates a girl named Tanarotte, who happens to hold enough magical power to destroy his country, but fortunately Tanarotte professes undying loyalty to her “creator.” The universe separated in three worlds: Heaven, Human World (Earth), Demon realm. The Gods & Demons are not seen fighting among themselves in the human world and try to keep their existence a secret from them. The human world is only source of entertainment and enlightenment to both the demons and the gods to the point of smuggling human goods to both realms. (taken from Wikipedia, and shortend to remove spoilers) Also it should be said that this anime is based on a game for the Playstation 2. Its really a feast of catgirls and cuteness, it begins with Tanarotte and goes on with the other girls. I also to a big liking in Falcé, especially when she is in the “small” mode. She appears later on and follows Takuto around, often in form of tools like pens and stuff. And there is that scene in the cafe where is she a small chibi sipping some kinda soda. Its so damn cute~. Its not much special about this one besides the pretty high catgirl/nekomimi and animal ear appearence. Take that away from it u get a more or less normal anime with the topic “magic” spiced with some small potions romance and some parts school. The romance part is more used as a base for jokes and fun then beeing too honest with it, so it dont become annoying as in some other anime. It fits my latly intrest in more comedy/fun orientated animes, and so u shouldnt expect anything “special” or “great” from it. Also some may say it contains a lot of loli, that a point where I say NO. That isnt what I call loli, at least not in the terms when loli gets used as “bad” attribute. hmm… but stop, one thing is a bit outstanding here… I actually never saw the higher ups from the demons and angels going along, where the Gabriel is a goth loli and both are hardcore otakus for anime and stuff. OK, so I should correct here my further statement it lacks something special, but its maybe still something not everyone consider great. Anyway, I could tell u more about the other chars that are part of the regular play but that would kill off the fun factor for u. There is quite some parodise in it. I add some pictures to show a few scenes i refered to in the review earlier. So, those who search for something to have fun with, and not for a great honest romance story or something other more “real” thing, should enjoy it.

Trailer

The chibi Falcé (bottom of the picture)

Gothic Angels and the Deamons

hm~ this cube is somehow familar, dont something run in the cinema these days….

Anyway, lets end it here. I really suggest if u dont have a problem with loli and like fun stuff to watch it. There is so many stuff that everyone probably find something for himself.

-Death

Padudu is a young girl who travels to Sweetland, from her own land, Sea Heaven. Once there, she competes with many others, in ranging from winning simple contests to fights. These earn them ‘Hanamaru’, which are simple designs from a stamp, and when enough are collected, the girl will get the right to become a Magical Girl on earth. (plot summary taken from Wikipedia) I must say a weird but somehow fun series. What i should tell u from the start, it have no real ending, at least not in terms Padudu finish her task or something. In that sense it follows Mahoujin Guruguru which also lack a real final ending where they finish the task they’re assigned to. Anyway, if u’re ok with some a bit random fun anime without any end, this one is one u will have lots of fun with. It features a bunch of also unusual fellows like that girl named Myumyu, which have two cats as clothing (which is a reason for fun, since Padudu is having a fish as her partner). Most of the characters feature some animal as “partner” for life and as helper that support him in some way. Uokichi (Padudu’s partner) is used by her as cloak and also as foot supply (also something that get parodised later in the series, but we wont spoil the fun, don’t we ?). It’s a fun concept as this not get used every magical girl series, more the normal give some animal as instructor along (we remember here negima with that hermit, or maybe some of u know Nanatsuiro Drops, where the instructor is a stuffed animal), so its also one of the points i liked. Also they as earlier stated make up many reasons for fun. The temper and targets of the individual characters do their addition too. All together it seems a bit random at time but not in a too annoying way. Its also pretty short, the individual episode is around 8 to 9 minutes plus a 29 minutes 3d OVA. The 3d ova is not really something i enjoy, since it feels so unnatural to see anime characters (2d) in a game-like optic (3d), but if u can get along with that factor, it isnt too bad, through altogether the series was better. Ah, and before I forget, the OP/ED is wonderful wacky music… I just loved it, it goes straight into your head and becomes an earworm. So becareful! With that it’s up to you to figure out if u wanna watch it or not.

Trailer (english)

Source: YouTube

This trailer shows nicely shots from the 2d (series) and the 3d (ova) versions of the anime. Enjoy,

-Death

The series is a parody of Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which the entire cast of the original series are now everyday students going to junior high school together at Tokyo-3. The series features three “Rei sisters”: one is a child younger than the rest based on “Rei 1″, the second is based on “Rei 2″ (the Rei seen for most of the normal series), and the third Rei is actually based on the hyperactive and klutzy “Alternate Rei” seen in the alternate-reality dream sequence from the final episode of the original series). Further, Evangelion Unit 01 itself is one of their classmates, but this time as a human-sized robot who acts as something of a class bully. Even the Jet Alone robot is re-imagined as a character on the series.(took it from wiki) My comment about “…if u can accept it that is…” in the title is meaning that some ppl see this series as insult to Neon Genisis Evangelion. Thats a point where I rather say, its just another insult in a long row of already existant failures. To me is anything that came after the original series not original anymore. Even the movies altered the course of action already, since they couldnt accept it that the ppl have their own way of interpreting this series, and that it could perhaps a different image from what the author imagined. But exactly that is what makes NGE so great for me, that everyone have to find his own interpretation of the events that happend. But lets go back to the present time and this series we got here ;). My idea’s about NGE and stuff i will lay further out when I do the movie reviews, thats more suitable for that. In fact when u’re like me and go say whatever… they already trashed it so lets have fun, its a good one. The chibi design alone is fun but having Gendo doing the school principal that hardly leaves his desk… its so… matching ? Dunno, it was an image I can accept since he is the kind of guy. Also Unit 01 is fun, sometimes he is your nice guy another time he is a kinda punk guy. Its a really fun mix out of the main chars from NGE in a relaxed school enviroment. There is also evidence that there is a game to this series (i prefer call it a series even if some pages might say its considered as OVA, i mean a 24 part ova ? noooo), on the Nindendo DS but I think it will be like always that it wont make it out of Japan. The only thought it left in me is “i wantz more…….”. Also great about it was it that there are not really subtitles needed since they dont “speak”. When they “speak” its like back in the days with the teacher of Charlie Brown (some might remember that), where u know she says something but its not meant to be understood. So the only subtitles i would like to have (throught they’re not essential) is for 3 scenes where something is written, but thats all. So if u can get a hold of it somewhere, just grab it and have fun with it. Normally i would have a trailer here but thats impossible since all i found was the series parts and a DS trailer which not really shows much (well… 15 sec CM, what do I expect?), so we have to pass on that. On the other hand that means u just can open your prefered video page and watch it probably there complete as the individual episode is pretty short, and so they will get uploaded to all kinda places.

With that we end, have fun with it, Death

Based on a series of light novels written by Tanaka Yoshiki and illustrated by Kakinouchi Narumi. The story revolves around Ryouko Yakushiji, a 27-year-old multilingual investigator that graduated from Tokyo University’s elite Department of Law, and the bizarre cases she faces while working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Yakushiji not only has to deal with supernatural beings in her line of work, but also her rival Yukiko Muromachi, another equally talented and beautiful police investigator. (from anidb) I really enjoyed this one, it’s long ago since i last had such a good detective anime. Also enjoyable was that little touch supernatural they added to it, it gave this anime the spice. Also the Characters was quite colorful and had a good presence. They’re have all their own identity, and some… personalitly i would say. While Ryoko is more a wild, powerful and straight forward woman (i mean it wordwise, straight forward!), is Izumida more the her counterpart. He is more cautious, and not as reckless as Ryoko, still he can be straight if the situation calls for it. Another intresting pair in this series was the maids of Ryoko which not only played a side role, they 2 french maids (yea, frenchy, Ryoko speaks french with them^^) but not only that, they’re also experts in weapons and various other things (dont wanna spoiler further^^). There are more characters but i keep it at this to not kill the fun of watching it for oneself. The scenarios are intresting, some feels like “i saw similar” but also u got some innovative stuff. Also some stuff u knew from earlier gets reused later, which give the individual episodes a good relation to each other. All together an enjoyable, action filled detective anime.

(if i dont forget it i add later a trailer here, youtube fails on that topic… not even an op/ed to be found…)

-Death

On the planet Aqua lies the watery city of Neo Venezia, a tourist hub in which people travel around in gondolas. Professional gondoliers known as Undines are well-revered as they act as tour guides for the people. Akari Mizunashi is a gondolier in training and also an employee of Aria Company. She gets to meet all sorts of people as she takes them on the gondola rides, from friendly mentors to special individuals, all this admidst the beautiful scenic backdrop of the entire city. (description from anidb for S1, it shall give u an idea how the story begins) Its actually a wonderful series with a real nice scenery and lots of intresting characters u meet along the way to the target, becoming a gondolier. One get pretty fast dragged in the world of a futuristic city of venzia. I really enjoyed the italian flavor of the series and i must admit i never check but i think most of the imporant places they name in the series are really existing places, aswell as some of the feast. Not all, at least some of them. Also the topic for this anime, its something really out of the usual but still they managed to turn it into a calm but intresting story with many fun moments. From the President Aria with his flabby belly, over the girls, the people of the City to the seniors of the girls, u get many different and unique characters. Its a nice anime for relaxing and having fun, without romance drama shit and stuff. Also whats good for you as viewer is the fact, that with three seasons and one ova the series is completed. So u can enjoy it from the beginning to its end. I really can suggest to watch it.

Trailer for “Aria – The Animation” (its coming on dvd from ADV soon, thank u ADV!)

Trailer for “Aria – The Natural”

OP for Aria – The OVA (Arietta)

OP for Aria – The Orgination

Enjoy, Deathy

Due to family troubles, Ren Uesugi and his sister, Mihato, leave their home. They end up moving to the city but find themselves with a lack of money. Somehow they are able to find work in the form of the Kuonji family’s mansion, being employed as servants to the three sisters of the Kuonji family: Shinra, Miyu, and Yume. Being a servant also associates Ren with the mansion’s additional servants and the Kuonji sisters’ friends. (taken from ANN) To say it in short words, it was great. Its one of the less butler/maid animes, where i can say its good. Most the others got too centered around one character, too long or just dumb and perverted. No, this one have a funny staff, 3 intresting masters, and aswell a entertaining group of friends. Mii (a friend to our masters) is a good example for beeing different, as she always asks for getting slapped and stuff as she is in S&M. Or from the masters,  Miyu, she have a loli complex (yes, this is no joke, a girl with a loli complex). But its not only that, there is more, like a bit (not too much) of romance. A forbidden fruit, a relationship between master and servant. They never admit it open but its there. Hatsune-nee is also a unique considering how much tools she have hidden on her body (she calls it “onee-chan’s 100 hidden tools”). It makes a great anime, also they elaborate good the problematic father-son relationship. They make up a resonable and good solution to that, not an agressive and violent like other series sometimes have. I really wish for more of this series, it was nice and had the ecchi parts integrated in the flow of the series without beeing annyoning like many newer series. Its nice to see the daily adventures of Ren and the rest of the gang. Alltogether a nice series to watch.

Opening:

Ending:

(ah and yes, its based on a h-game as far as i can tell^^)

-Death

The Series original script and the concept base on a work by Sakaki Ichirou. Twenty years from now, in early summer at Amizawa Village… 18-year-old Ebihara Chinami emits electrical waves when she becomes distressed. Due to this, she cannot use electronics such as PCs and cellphones very well. Her power is so strong that it nearly crashed the plane her family was on by causing instrument malfunctions. Her power leads her to transfer schools frequently. As usual, on the first day of school, Chinami is a little nervous, causing her classmates’ cellphones to glitch and electronics to react to her. The more nervous she becomes, the worse the situation gets, so she begins to take notes on where and how badly the electronics react to her. She eventually meets Kotaro from the science club, who is interested in experimenting on her; Yumi, a classmate and shrine maiden with the same power as she; and Sonomi. They refer to the power as “TYPE-E.” What they don’t know is that a secret organization is after Chinami’s power. There will be a moment when many lives will be saved by Chinami’s power. However, at the same time, someone will be watching her… [taken from AnimeNFO] Its again one of the more unusual type of series, at least i dont remember a series with a main character emitting EMP waves. The viewer here follows the main character Chinami and see her finally getting a hold of her power, or at least control it until a certain point which enables her to make some friends which knows about her ability. Later they mix in some secret agents, thankfully in a way thats not annoying, means they dont take up all the attention and steal away the lead role from Chinami. That is a problem i see in some other animes from time to time, when those “secret groups” comes into play and take away the lead role from our supposed to be main character. Also ok was the amount of romance in this series, which plays a role but is moderate of importance. I’ mean its not one of these typical harem-type series we often got latly, as we have only like 2 parties intrested in the guy. It affects her ability quite a bit but that also makes it intresting (remember, the more nervous or emotionally chaotic she gets, the more she emits the waves^^). All together it makes up a fresh feeling and enjoyable anime, which is maybe a bit short but gets continued these days as Mission-E (i give u a trailer  a bit below).

Trailer

Clean OP

I like the music of the opening, it reminds me on those agent movies like James Bond and stuff.

Mission-E (Code E 2) Trailer

Enjoy it,

-Death-chan

If u enjoy or know at least a bit about RPGs (rollplay games), and looking for a nice parodie then this is the right one. Story begins with “heroism obsessed father” forcing his own son to become the “Hero” to save the world from the Emperor of Evil. He says that he himself wanted to be hero once, but it was too peaceful era and had no world to save! Well. Of course the son whose name is Nike (it is pronounced Nee- Keh, not Nike although his name is intentionally came after the brand name), refuses, saying that he’d rather be a wizard because it is a cool profession. His mother, disagrees and says “Whoever says whatever, the main character of the story is the Hero. It is a highly competetive profession, but once successful, it is THE job to have!” …and presents the chart titled ‘Asked to 100 village people!’ which has the reasons why being Hero is cooler than anything else…. Well. That is how the story starts. PS : Nike means “Victory” in greek. Nike is the name of the goddess of Victory. Can Nike and Kukuri truly become hero and heroine? Follow their journey and find out! [stolen from aniDB] Its a funny and not a bit boring anime, through that Kita-Kita dancer gets annyoing at some point … anyway enough spoilering^^. I liked pretty much all this little rpg parodies that are in the series, for example on Diablo 2 and the exp-drink u get in it, u find pretty much similar stuff. Also its kinda cute how Kukuri follows the first somehow hated but later beloved hero Nike. Also the always call him “yushasama” (it sounds like that, please dont smack me for writing it wrong), which means as much as hero. She also make a cute lil deamon, as she turns into one in the 2nd season sometime. It made me feeling nostalgic and remember when i played a lot of rpgs back in the days aswell as on some fantasy novels. The only thing that disappointed me a bit was that they never finished their quest, to destory the evil. But if u can live with that fact, its still a quite funny anime that fills some hours with a entertaining story. The Anime constist of 2 seasons (season 1 is 45 ep, done by a-keep; season 2 is 38 ep, particular done by a-keep (yet), the rest u get ripped) and one movie (done by a-keep). So its quite something to watch .

Season 1 OP:

Season 1 ED:

There are more OP/EDs but u should still enjoy them when u watch the series . These are for giving u a idea of the characters and the series.

-Deathy