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New Game! is the story of the most idealistic production cycle known in video game history. The long hours don't really affect the characters dispositions, everyone generally gets along, and there are very few hiccups along the way that make the team feel like their game is not going to be a success. This isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you, but from the minor glimpses i have seen of video game development I think I could hazard a guess that this is not exactly what you would call the norm.

Of course this anime isn't trying to be realistic on the trials and tribulations ... of video game design. The focus of this anime is definitely to be a "cute girls doing cute things" type of show. Considering also that this was based off a yonkoma (4 panel) style manga, an in depth look at whatever the subject matter wasn't really going to be possible.

As much as I understand what the anime was going for and where its origins comes from, I do believe that this safe approach does hamper the series a bit. Comedy is birthed from pain and struggle, and there wasn't that much to be had during their production cycle. There was no earth shattering change to their game that made them frantically play catch up. There was no glitch that they had to spend a decent amount of time trying to correct. There was no spy trying to gather information about their game for another company. There wasn't even the sense that there was a harsh deadline that everyone was scrambling to get too. Each one of those ideas off the top of my head and more could have lent itself to far more fulfilling comedic moments and give a more realistic insight into the production cycle of the game, and I don't think it would have hampered the "cute girls doing cute things" angle. Again however, considering its based off a Yonkoma, there is only so much an anime can do to liven up a plot like this.

As such I'd say the plot was above average for a moe' anime, but it didn't go much farther than just having a different location than usual to make me really sing its praises.

The character designs were quite appealing. As with a lot of moe' though, they don't quite look the age they claim to be. There are 18 year old anime characters, and then there are "18" year old anime characters if you catch my drift. The main character is very much in the later category, and even her comrades don't look that much older than her. This just comes standard with the moe style, but it is a bit jarring when you compare it to other anime where the characters are supposedly the same age if not younger than moe protagonists. Nothing in the art department really ventures into new territory, but I do appreciate the glimpses of the game in development that we got too see. I could totally see myself getting in line to buy Fairy Story 3.

Their personalities are nothing really out of the ordinary when it comes to moe anime either. If you are familiar with the typical roster of personality tropes in this type of show then you are going to be able to spot them fairly easily within the first few seconds of meeting them. Much like every other aspect of this show, while it is enjoyable they don't stray too far from the safe zone in this department. There isn't anything that deep about any of these characters save for some standard background story shots. In this regard it does make the show harder to watch if you are thoroughly versed in the moe style and can predict how everything goes. Not to say they weren't likable, but when you've seen this same character archetype with the only real difference being new hair styles it can get old.

Overall the show just slinks above average for me. If it were truly a cookie cutter anime I don't think I would have been able to make it through the whole thing, but the change in location and the premise behind it gave it just enough life for me to take in the whole season. Beyond the game development angle though, this anime suffers from the safe moe tropes that far too many slice of life anime lean on now a days.

It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't stray from the formula, and you never feel like there is any real conflict in the story. Its just another cute girls doing cute things show, but with game development. If you like that type of show I don't think you are going to be too disappointed with it. However I do feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities with the premise that could have bumped this show from being just above average to being really good.

Watch it if you really like calm slice of life moe anime, but temper your expectations if you think the game development angle is going to add that much to the uniqueness of the series.

In the same vain as the graphic novel Maus, Cat Shit One aka Apocalypse Meow seeks to tell a pivotal moment in history with anthropomorphism. While Maus dealt with the Holocaust, C.S.1 is basically a well written documentary of the Vietnam War. If it were not for the fact that the characters are humanoid animals it would almost be too realistic and factual to be really be enjoyable, as evidenced by one of the side stories at the end of volume one involving actual humans.

10/10 The art is outstanding with effective use of screen tone and painstaking detail to the background and tools of ... war. The characters themselves look like cute animals, but in a very realistically drawn sense. In fact it has almost none of the usual trappings you would find in a typical manga, such as speed lines or giant sweat drops.

9/10 The characters are your typical soldiers. They party with the local women (which in this case are cats) and engage in shoot outs with the enemy. What is interesting is to see what country is represented by which animal and the dry humor jokes about this through out the story (like a local Vietnamese cat asking a G.I Rabbit if he wanted a carrot)

All in all an interesting and engaging read. 10/10

Mahou Sensei Negima was a decent series. Decent, but with the admonishment that it could of been better. I do adore some characters in this series, including Evangeline, a 600 year old vampire who probably was the strongest character in the entire series (save for ultimate baddie of course). I also think that I would of loved the characters even more if it were not for a few short comings.

The first big problem with it was it did not know what it wanted to be. Starting out as a seemingly harmless harem anime with a dash of magic in it, and then ... it whiplashes you with a drastic turn in direction. Characters that were worrying about school girl crushes were fighting in harrowing battles in the span of a few chapters. While I did enjoy the new flavor of the series, but I couldn't help checking the title now and again to see if I was reading the same manga.

The second problem is the trolling the writer did. While I wont go into details I warn you that their will be times when your staring at the pages/screen saying

"RESOLVE ONE OF THE QUESTIONS I HAVE, JUST ONE!"

Its like I was a donkey and the series held out the eternally unattainable carrot. Just when I think its going to give me something, a long exposition is delivered that reveals a whole knew set of questions that distracts you so much that by the end of the series you look back and realize they never answered the stuff that got you reading in the first place.

The third is what I would like to call "The DBZ complex"
This is when a series starts to do the following things
Transformations involving glowing hair and eyes
long bouts of training and learning new transformations for even longer glowing hair
Dues ex freaking strong character *Eva-chan in this one instead of Goku*
martial arts tournaments
and absolutely no consequences for everything from death and mass destruction

Its not that I don't like DBZ or Negima, its just that without consequences the journey and the fights become meaningless. Why would you worry about someone when the next chapter they are good as new like Wylie after getting smashed with the anvil.


and the fourth, usually a deal breaker for me, is copious amounts of fan service (not even the good kind). One achoo and their is clothes flying, school girls find new reasons to be naked around each other, and a host of other *sometimes very creepy* moments that make you want to turn the page faster




I don't regret reading it, there were laugh out loud moments, shocking plot twists (that at times can give you whip lash), and character development that makes you want to cheer characters on. If they do another series though, I hope they learn to edit and make it an even better read.