Archive for the English Anime Category


Maria Watches Over Us Anime , Season 4 Disk 2 (English)

July 2nd, 2010

You know you think a story is good when you know perfectly well that everything will work out, and you *still* get tense watching it all crumble.

On Disk 2 of Maria Watches Over Us, Season 4, we’re in a carefully suspended moment before several things start to crumble.

And with some deft writing by Konno Oyuki-sensei, not only are we allowed to enjoy that precariously suspended moment, we’re given an opportunity to laugh until our stomachs hurt – even knowing that soon our stomachs will hurt for an entirely different reason.

I am, of course, talking about the Kendo shiai, and the introduction of Arima Nana. After the Souer Audition tea party, Yoshino has to fess up to her rash promise made to Eriko. And now the chips are down and she doesn’t have a soeur to introduce to her! So, Yoshino does what anyone might in that situation- she lies bravely and tries to make a run for it. :-)

But after the laughter, we’re set up for tears. The series turns – rather reluctantly, it feels like – to the issue of Touko and Yumi. Because there is *so* much between them and because so much of it cannot be expressed by either of them, those of you who hate Touko will see only what is on the surface and will continue to hate her. There’s nothing I can say to make you look beyond that. So – hate away, my friends, because it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Here’s to clenching our fists and watching over them, until the logjam breaks. And break it will. But for now…we have to watch it all crumble before it can be built up again.

Art – 7
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 2
Loser Marimite Fan – slightly more than a million, and climbing
Overall – 9

More Sei, Youko and Eriko. More, more!





Maria Watches Over Us Anime, Season 4, Disk 1 (English)

June 25th, 2010

In Maria-sama ga Miteru, Season 4, it’s time for the Lillian school festival and once again, the Student Council, known as the Yamayurikai, is putting on a performance. This year, because of the unusual resemblance Fukuazawa Yumi has to her younger brother Yuuki, the play that is chosen is the Torikaebaya Monogatari, a play that deals the with two siblings who switch gender roles in the Heian court.

But Yumi is only half worried about the play, because it comes to her attention that Touko has had some trouble with the Drama Club. In typical Yumi fashion, she resolves the issues by being irresistibly sincere. And to top it all off, Yumi and Sachiko finally learn the truth of Kanako’s issues with her father. The story is both much, much more horrible and much, much less horrible than we could have imagined.

Yumi and Sachiko don’t celebrate their one-year anniversary, for perfectly good reasons, but I still think Sachiko ought to do *something* nice for Yumi.

And Sei and Youko make an appearance that reminded us of just how wonderful they are. I’m glad to have been able to read the novels to enjoy all of their future appearances. I also admit to having been fascinated with the way Youko’s blouse was drawn. There was a lot more attention to detail in the way that buttoned shirt lay against her than probably was warranted. :-)

At the end of the disk, Yumi, having been commanded by Sachiko to find a soeur and Yoshino, pressured by a rash promise made to Eriko, set out to hold an “audition” for the open positions. This is, possibly, the novel most chock-a-block filled with zOMG amazing plot points, that the anime couldn’t hope to do more than scrape the surface, but damn that surface is awfully busy. :-)

The one striking this about this 4th season to me was that there was no way you could start with the first disk of this season, and start to watch. Quite often with anime series that continue for a few seasons, the first episode summarizes what has gone before, at least enough for a relative newbie to sit down and watch it. Not so for this. If you had no idea who these people were or why they were doing the things they were doing, it would be a slightly befuddling story. And, of course, the real in-jokes would be lost. There would be no way to appreciate just *how* much Sachiko had changed when she proposes the double gender switch for the play if you did not know what kind of person she had been. As a staunch obsessive fan, it kind of felt good. This anime is not for the off-the-street, “who is this? what’s going on?” person. It’s for *us.* :-)

The DVD includes the “Maria-sama ni ha Naisho” and liner notes as extras. The physical extra for those pre-orderers among us is a fetching writing pad.

Art – 8 for Youko’s button-down shirt
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Yuri – 1
Loser Marimite Fan – slightly less than a million

Overall – 9

In this life that I have created that focuses so much around anime and manga, this series, Maria-sama ga Miteru, along with Sailor Moon, has profoundly affected my life. I really just want to say thank you to Nozomi/RightStuf for allowing me the pleasure of seeing this series in English.





Shin Koihime Musou Otome Tairan Anime (English)

June 13th, 2010

Koihime Musou, and Shin Koihime Musou were evidently popular enough to spawn another sequel, Shin Koihime Musou Otome Tairan.

In this third season, the main players of Ryuubi’s camp take to the roads once more, traveling around, taking lots of baths, fighting, eating, performing in plays, meeting random challenges and misunderstanding basic bodily functions in ways that give rise to seedy, embarrassing innuendo. Just like the other two seasons.
It’s almost amazing when the story bothers to actually take on a chapter of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms because it so much prefers to be doing something else. Anything else. However, where the second season and the OVA pretty much threw out the original formula of a mix of service and Romance for all service and little story, this third season has recaptured three of the qualities that made the original not intolerable.
1) The sense of humor. In many senses there are two senses of humor on display during this season – the sophomoric, isn’t it *hi-larious* when girls trip and we see their underwear kind and the “god, this is so dumb that I might as well throw myself into it and make it work” kind. The former is on display with every episode, and the latter shows through every once in a while and usually makes me laugh out loud.
2) Fighting. It’s hard to remember, in the middle of all those baths and breast jokes that these characters are meant to be the great military heroes of the age. (I weep for Zhang Fe every time Rin-Rin talks.) We’re getting a bit more fighting in this series than I remember in the last one and I, for one, approve.
3) Yuri. You knew that had to be here, or why would I bother writing this review, right? In Season 1, Chou’un/Sei was very gay and Sousou/Karin had a thing for Kan’u/Aisha. In Season 2, I think there was a teeny bit of Sousou and not much of of anything else.
This season we had a nice episode of Sonken x Ryomou (approved) and also a very silly reason for Gien having feelings for Ryuubi. Chou’un seems to care more about bamboo shoots than girls this season, but there’s always time. And Koukin and Sonsaku are an item, which is less awful than it sounds. :-)

What amuses me most about this season is that it pretty obviously has been altered for a broadcast, non-DVD release. Bathing suits are drawn on, as are fog, steam, bright lights and other clever but obvious ploys to cover the nekkid women. This amuses me and annoys.  It reminded me of the last Tenchi series showed on Cartoon Network, where they sat in a bath and drank, like orange juice, with painted on clothes. It was so lame and obvious.

Because this is Koihime Musou, for every scene in which there is a fight, there are three where they bathe and two where they sing or dance or play dress up; you have to watch this with pretty low expectations. Do that, and you’ll find that this anime is basically ice cream sundae level of bad for you – not so bad every once in a while, but you wouldn’t want too much at once.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – as high as 7 from time to time
Service – 9

Overall – 6

What actually galls me about this kind of series is not that the girls get naked all the time, but that it’s always played so coyly. If we’re going to look at breasts and crotches fine, but does it *have* to be so peeping tom-ish? Can’t we just looks at breasts and crotches and have done with it?




Aria the Origination Anime + Arietta OVA (English)

June 6th, 2010

Aria The Origination Dvd Collection (Tv Season 3 With The Ova Arietta)It’s not often that the final season of a series is better than the first. In the case of Aria The Origination (Season 3 + Arietta OVA) this is undoubtedly the case.

The animation hits level of sublime, rivaling Venice itself for breathtaking light effects. The colors are deep, vibrant, practically alive in their own right, and the little details are so lovingly depicted that, in some cases, they actually surpass the original.

And while such loving detail is paid to every brick, stone and tree, the story itself moves away from lingering glances at Neo-Venezia’s beauty and looks – for the first and last time – firmly at the Undines who roam it.

Aria has always been a story about people – about their dreams and fears, their motivations and joys. It’s always been a story that revels in the absolutely smallest things it can find to have fun with – the anime equivalent of the taste of chocolate melting on your tongue, the smile of a beautiful woman, the sound of music across a deserted plaza.

In this final season, we get to focus a bit, not where the Undines are looking, but on the Undines themselves and their friendship and love for one another. Each mentor is cast an in entirely new light, as we learn just how *much* they care for their protégés. At the same time, we watch each of the trainees struggling with the transition from student to peer.

This is simply a beautiful series, animated and voiced with the abject love of every single member of the team. If you weren’t absolutely sure that every single person who worked on it is in love with it, after you are done watching the extras, you will have no doubts whatsoever. Aria was a group effort, by the mangaka, the voice actresses, the animators and musicians. And, also by the folks at Right Stuf, who cared enough about Aria to bring all of it to us with the care it deserved. With lithographs and toys and papercraft and every other thing they could throw at us.

There is no Yuri, of course, there never has been. We’ve made it up in our heads since the beginning and nothing anyone is going to say is going to stop us now. :-)

Aria has always been beautiful and relaxing and gentle. With this final volume, it becomes timeless, as well.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 1

Overall – 9

I do have one criticism, but don’t want to ruin the mood. Let’s just drop it for now. ^_^

Many, many, many thanks go Okazu Superhero Dan P, who sponsored today’s review!





Hidamari Sketch x 365 Anime Complete Collection

May 30th, 2010

Hidamari Sketch X 365: Complete Collection (3pc)Hidamari Sketch x 365 is one of the best-named anime out there. It is indeed a snapshot of the entire year, laid out in a crazy paving of random days in the life of a student at an art school and the women with whom she shares a dorm. Like many 4-koma heroines, Yuno is a reliable, pleasant and energetic young woman. She shares her dorm with a pretty typical selection of characters – the crazy one, the butchy one, the one who worries about her weight obsessively…but, in this case it all works.

I never reviewed the first Hidamari Sketch anime series not because it was inherently unworthy or anything, I just couldn’t sit through it. The animation style made me a little queasy. This reboot was much easier on my eyes. We do get a glimpse of Yuno’s first days at Hidamari and her meeting with nutty Miyako, talented artist and writer Sae, motherly Hiro, Yoshinoya-sensei of the no boundaries and the depressed landlady of the Hidamari apartments.

The 4-koma style suits this anime, in little day-to-day vignettes. The series is at its strongest when it’s not trying to do gags, but just let’s the slice-of-life style slide by naturally.

Yuri is both really obvious and completely non-existent at the same time. Everyone comments that Sae and Hiro seem like a couple. Yuno even goes as far to say that they seem like the Dad and Mom, and Yuno and Miyako like the kids. She’s only kidding, but there’s no doubt that that dynamic seems spot on. The problem is, that while Sae is butchy and cool and Hiro is a wonderful wife to her, they really aren’t a couple. It’s maddening because they should be – they obviously are, I mean come on! The problem most likely isn’t Hiro, who never reacts with surprise at the suggestion that they are together. It’s Sae, whose denial is exceedingly irksome. From time to time you really want to slap her. We must console ourselves with the belief that one day she will start thinking about graduation and about the possibility that she and Hiro will separate and become desperate to not be parted from her and clue in on the obvious.

Sae’s obtuseness is particularly annoying because they could have played Hiro and Sae like Haruka and Michiru in Sailor Moon and it would have worked. I doubt that fans would have complained. However, I’m just being grumpy.

Another student in Sae’s year, Natsume, is said to like Sae and so acts like an ass throughout. I don’t get the appeal of the “I like you so I’m mean to you” past 5 years old or so, so I guess if you want to see her as liking Sae that’s fine. I don’t particularly.

The random days of the year format allows us to visit all the typical key days of school life in Japan, but with no particular order. In one sense it’s refreshing and in another sense it means everything sort of melds together in a purgatorial eternity where nothing ever changes and time never moves on. :-)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8 (I favor Miyako, because her madness had method)
Yuri – 1 or 8, depending on how you read Hiro and Sae, and Natsume.
Service – 2, on account of expository bathing.

Overall – 7

Once more, my sincere thanks for pleasant hours of entertainment go to Okazu Superhero Ana M, for her kindness and generosity in sponsoring today’s review!