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Exciting, if sometimes mind-bending, Sci-fi series with a ton of action.

PLOT: Noein is a series that while it contains many clichéd elements, still manages to be highly original and memorable. It tackles complex ideas like the multiple-world theory and the fluidity of the future and wraps them up in a very accessible and human story. There is always the danger when dealing with sci-fi that its all going to get very talky and incomprehensible and the characters will get caught up techno-babble and end up feeling aloof and unapproachable – such is thankfully not the case in Noein. Even the scientist characters remain human and ... mostly likeable. The character development is superbly done – Noein has a large cast, but all are given adequate time and are fairly well rounded at the end. Haruka is a great heroine – very grounded and believable, and her friends in all their incarnations are also well developed. The only character I have issue with is Yuu – he’s such a whiney brat for most the time that by the time he actually stops his emo-ness and does something I just no longer cared about the character. His alternate future self, Karasu, on the other hand; is a wonderful and complex character and the central figure of most the action scenes in the series.
There is so much I’d like to ramble about as Noein provides great food for thought, but if I go on much longer this will turn into an essay rather than a review! So I’ll just say that Noein’s plot was great with lots of interesting ideas and a well developed world and likeable characters – it looses some marks for slightly odd pacing and an end that’s a touch too neat with a couple of plot-holes, but those are minor quibbles and don’t really much affect my overall enjoyment.

ANIMATION: Unorthodox and experimental, Noein makes for a unique visual experience. The character designs are definitely not the norm and the animation is almost messy in its execution. However this style works very well for the subject matter – the action scenes are jaw-dropping as the messy, sketchy style allows for a lot of freedom of movement. Its not pretty, but it is eye-catching. I have issues with the CGI though – a lot of it is poorly done and doesn’t mesh with the other animation at all, the only place this actually works well is with the Shangri-La things as it enhances the feeling that these objects really are from a different time-space. Plenty of recycled animation too, notably shots of Haruka’s house and her activation of the Dragon Torque. The animation quality is also very inconsistent; at times it’s striking, detailed and has lots of movement and at others its completely bland, static and the characters look deformed! Still I appreciate that Noein offers something different and quite visually striking.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The score is excellent – all the BGM is wonderful and has lots of variety. It’s a really rich soundscape. The OP was pretty and I didn’t skip it all that much, the ED was quite forgettable though. Voice acting was excellent – Karasu, Haruka and Atori stand out in my mind as particularly well acted as these are the characters that have the biggest range of expression over the run of the series. However as a whole the cast is wonderful.

So all in all Noein is one of the better and more original sci-fi anime I’ve seen, I’d definitely recommend it.

A very pretty and detailed OVA but the plot is too disjointed and confusing.

PLOT: I liked the premise of the plot and the setting of the action, but felt that the execution could have been much better. The scripting just feels random and it's almost like there are huge chunks of exposition cut from the final edit. I did like the realistic approach to warfare and the fact that there is no mecha – its all fighter jets, but I did feel that they went overboard with the techno-jargon as all that just went straight over my head! The central characters are no where near ... well developed enough, a bit of backstory on Jack and Rei would have been nice – but considering this is a 5 episode OVA with a massive cast they have done quite well in the character development department. My corrupted brain decided that there was definitely some BL undertones in the relationship between Jack & Rei, and it really wanted some sort of confirmation of that…….but that’s probably just me! The aliens could have done with a bit of development as well, as it is they remain as mysterious at the end as they were at the start. But all in all for a short OVA series the plot was interesting, if not solely there to link together the fabulous battle scenes.

ANIMATION: The animation in this is absolutely 1st class! Wonderful use of CGI throughout great detailing in the backgrounds, well executed and choreographed fight scenes and attractive character designs. Lots of colour – loved the green skies of the planet Fairy (kind of had DBZ Namek flashbacks though) and the colour displays of the JAM aircraft – it’s all very visually appealing and most of my enjoyment of the series stemmed from the brilliant graphics.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: I did not like the OP at all – seemed very discordant and random on the ear. Also the ED was a decent track but didn’t seem to fit with the tone of the show, as it is a bit too upbeat. The BGM was excellent though. Voice acting is quite solid, although Rei is a wee bit too soft spoken and depressed sounding, to extent he comes across as extremely emo.

Overall a solid OVA that has excellent graphics and an interesting plot, but suffers from bad pacing and a confusing structure. This may have worked better if it was fleshed out more as a longer series or if it had of been trimmed right back to movie length.

An excellent mystery anime but extremely confusing at times.

PLOT: I’m having severe difficulties reviewing this show as its fairly random at times, and I didn’t really know what was going on half the time! It takes a similar structure to Baccano!, in that it consists of a large cast of characters and the timeline jumps about the place to cover their stories, and often shows the same scene in different perspectives. Its also similar to Paranoia Agent as the viewer doesn’t really know what’s going on for much of the time and its full of quite strange characters. Another show that I could compare Boogiepop ... to is Ghost Hound as it covers a lot of strange phenomena and has psychological elements in it too. Strangely all this makes for compelling viewing and I have a feeling that if I re-watched the series everything would fall into place immediately. Also for a show with so many characters most are surprisingly well developed.

ANIMATION: Madhouse was behind the animation and its quite good. A very basic colour palate is used, almost sepia for most of the series and character designs are on the more realistic side of the spectrum. Normally I’m not a fan of series that are animated in such dark colours, but in this case the darkness really enhances the atmosphere of the series and the sense that you aren’t getting the whole picture at anyone time. Quite often the screen seems almost entirely black, except for the area around the character that particular section of the show is concentrating on. It’s very well done.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: I loved the soundscape of this show. It’s got such a strange mix of sounds ranging from classical to electro to chanting – everything very carefully selected to match the visuals and enhance the atmosphere. I also really liked the OP, which is by the same person who provided the OPs for xxxHOLiC, and has that same jazzy feel to it. The ED was also quite good, although I found it fairly forgettable.
Voice acting was great throughout – there are a large number of creepy children and troubled teens in this show and the seiyuu’s all did excellent jobs voicing their descent into insanity.

Overall a very interesting show, but difficult to review properly since it would spoil the mystery element.

Polar Bear Café (Shirokuma Café): A charming, puntastic show filled with memorable moments – 9/10

PLOT: Polar Bear Café is about the daily lives of a bunch of animals who frequent a café run by the titular Polar Bear, including a panda, a penguin, a llama and a sloth (among many others). There are a few random humans thrown in there too – the perma-smiling Sasako, the bumbling zookeeper Handa and the panda obsessed florist Rin-Rin, but the cast is mainly animals. Animals that no one bats an eye at when when they’re casually wandering about town buying groceries, or working in a bakery or running ... a bar – they’re fully integrated into society. And yet there is a fully functional zoo where a number of the characters actually work! You kind of take this strange setting for granted after a few episodes – it just works.

Polar Bear Café is a show I couldn’t watch without a smile on my face (trust me I desperately tried when watching the later half of the series on my own in public, being caught grinning and giggling like an idiot when there’s pastel renditions of wild animals emitting showers of sparkles and hearts on my screen is not fun); the show just thrums with feel-good vibes. It’s also consistently hilarious, and displays excellent use of puns, parodies, basic comedic timing and the usual tsukkomi/boke routines. The series uses all the run-of-the-mill s’life situations (festivals, onsen, road-trips, all the holidays you can think of) but simply having the characters be animals puts an interesting spin on things, as they have a unique outlook on things. I don’t usually get on well with s’life shows, but I adored Polar Bear Café – it just balances the mundane with wit so well.

The characters are probably what kept me coming back to the show so much – the central quartet of Polar Bear, Penguin, Panda and Sasako just have superb chemistry and play off each other brilliantly. The side characters are also wonderful and all get their own episodes to shine – my favourites have to be Polar Bear’s long suffering childhood friend and bar owner Grizzly and poor overlooked but utterly charming Llama.Polar Bear Café also has “The Feels” in spades – it just gets under your skin and forces a reaction out of you with alarming frequency. After 50 episodes these characters feel like old friends and I was desperately sad to see the series end, I do hope we get more at some stage.

ANIMATION: The animation is by Studio Pierrot and is very simple but serviceable. The animals are well drawn and surprisingly expressive given many of them lack the usual facial features humans rely on to determine emotion (just where are Penguin & Panda’s eyes anyway??). The over all look of the show is quite soft and pastel, and there is creative use of sparkles, bubbles, hearts, flowers and sweatdrops to punctuate gags or emotion. On the flipside the humans in general are actually terrifying in their inexpressiveness – Sasako in particular has completely dead eyes that are rather unnerving. The show also experiments with unusual visuals in its many EDs – stop-motion, live action, shadow-puppets and paper cut-outs all get a turn, and it is clear that the staff had a lot of fun making this series.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The cast of Polar Bear Café has to be one of the most star-studded I’ve ever encountered. Everyone seems to be a noteworthy name – the central quartet consists of Jun Fukuyama, Takahiro Sakurai, Hiroshi Kamiya and Aya Endo – but the extended cast reads like a who’s who of popular seiyuu! They all seemed to have lots of fun working on this series as well, as the chemistry is brilliant and the acting is really excellent on the whole. A few actors even voice a number of different side characters giving them completely different voices and displaying their range well.

Another thing of note is that there are a lot of different EDs for this series and each of them is an image song, sung in character by the seiyuu – resulting in some truly wonderful songs. I particularly loved Panda’s ‘Bamboo Scramble’ by Jun Fukuyama and Llama’s ‘Llama Mambo’ by Daisuke Ono, but all the song are special in their own way. Even the OPs are pretty damn good, but I’ll always like the first OP best.

Overall I just have to reiterate who utterly charming this show is – it’s a wonderful show to watch if you need cheering up (just avoid watching episode 44 for that purpose – it’s a proper tearjerker). When I first picked up the series last Spring I never would have imagined it turning out to be this good – always a joy when that happens. So yes Polar Bear Café is a show I’d highly recommend picking up – it deserves much more love!

A mixed bag, but a great setting and interesting concept.

PLOT: Letter Bee is a strange series and therefore difficult to review. It’s very slow paced, fairly episodic and stuffed full of filler for being only 25 episodes – but it’s hard not to like the show. Some episodes are wonderful; others are among the worst single episodes I’ve ever seen. Some characters are excellently put together and developed, others are paper bags or extremely irritating. However despite its rather inconsistent nature, my overall impression of Letter Bee is very good.

The world setting and concept are what drew me to the series to start with – ... and the sense of mystery that surrounds the central plot is what kept me interested throughout. It’s slow, but there’s enough hints dropped that you don’t lose interest. The end of this season is a cliffhanger though – you have been warned! There us a sequel though, so the vast majority of this series is scene setting and character development. Letter Bee makes good use of its filler episodes to further establish the world and develop some of the characters further (although there are a few fillers that are just godawful!). Saying that, when Letter Bee is good, it’s very good – the highs of this show are characterised by a melancholic atmosphere and some very touching scenes that just warm the heart.

In terms of characters, Lag is a complete cry-baby. Not a single episode goes by where he doesn’t cry about something. It’s annoying sometimes, but Lag really got lots of development over the run and his cry-baby nature is part and parcel of his identity. Niche turned out to be a really fun character – her innocent presence kept the mood from being too heavy or melancholy and she’s both the source of comedy and action. Some of the side characters could do with a bit more fleshing out, but overall they’re quite well done and provide a solid support for the main characters.

ANIMATION: The character design and colour palate is the other thing that attracted me to Letter Bee in the 1st place and Studio Pierrot turned out a very attractive show. The animation is wonderfully consistent and everything is just pretty! Amberground is a world of perpetual twilight, and the primary colours used in the series are purples, blues and white – it’s striking and very visually appealing. The use of CGI on the Gaichuu was a bit obvious, but not distracting.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The soundtrack to this series is wonderful. Both OPs & EDs were excellent (the 1st OP & ED in particular made it onto my most played lists) and the score itself is also very well produced. The voice acting was also excellent – although Miyuki Sawashiro’s portrayal of Lag could be a touch on the whiney side occasionally. The supporting cast is peppered with great names who brought a lot of personality to their characters.

Overall I’d recommend Letter Bee, but would also have to warn you of its inconsistent nature too. It would probably be less annoying to anyone marathoning it though, watching it weekly just seemed to highlight the fact some episodes were rubbish!

A pretty standard shoujo series, but has wonderful character development.

PLOT: Typical shoujo girl falls in love with boy, but he’s an aloof prick type show – but what makes Itazura different is that it follows this couple for 10 years! We get to see Kotoko & Naoki’s life from high school to parenthood and it’s a very enjoyable ride. The middle section dealing with University is a bit slow and seems to be trying too hard to be interesting, but the high school and post uni arc’s are good. Itazura has some brilliant characters and an excellent supporting cast – I think my favourite has ... to be Naoki’s fangirl mother, some of the best comedy is provided by her. Kotoko is an idiot who doesn’t know when to quit, but a likeable idiot nonetheless. I had difficulty liking Naoki though, he can be an utter bastard at times and his little brother is irritating as well. Overall the strong point of Itazura is its character development. By following the same people over 10 years it gives plenty of time to let the characters mature and its this point that made this shoujo romcom stand above the competition for me.

ANIMATION: Oh dear – the animation is in a word, ugly. Terrible character designs – Kotoko never ages, Naoki is meant to be gorgeous but isn’t bishie at all and everyone is shapeless. The budget on this show is obviously minimal as backgrounds are plain and everything lacks detail. Colours used are also dull and washed out looking, animation quality is not the best here.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: Did not like the OP much, and the EDs were OK for the genre. Didn’t notice the BGM much so it was neither good nor bad. Voice acting is great though. Since the characters are what made this show worthwhile for me all the seiyuu did wonderful jobs bringing their characters to life.

All in all a shoujo romcom that while it suffers from bad animation and a flabby middle section, is a very good watch with great fun characters and lots of development.

Slightly confusing but absolutely stunning animation and brilliant action scenes.

PLOT: Well the plot is both complicated and simplistic. Complicated in that there is quite a lot of side stories going on and simplistic in that the main plot exists only to link together extended action pieces. That being said I enjoyed the show a great deal, although I sometimes found myself more interested in the actions of side characters rather than the 2 central conflicting forces. This is mainly due to the fact that Eiko & Otoha are usually too busy fighting to talk much! As an action series this series excels but has ... enough interesting characters to keep those who like a plot happy. I watched the 6 episode OVA version rather than the movie compilation version so don’t know how much they differ.

ANIMATION: This is the 1st thing that strikes you about this show and is its main selling point IMO. This is a gorgeous piece visually – CGI is used perfectly in the action scenes, blending nicely with the 2D animation. The action scenes are beautifully choreographed and the backgrounds are rich and detailed. I loved the character designs too and there was so much blood!!

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: Voice acting was great, Karas has an excellent cast – although if I have one complaint its that some of the leads do not get nearly enough lines. The music is also top notch – a nicely put together score that highlights the action and drama set pieces perfectly.

Overall Karas was a good show – it loses a few points for being a bit confusing at times and lacking in development for the main characters as well as having a pretty generic villain.

Beautifully produced and interesting concept, but has a lot of faults.

PLOT: Allowing 45mins to explore the political intrigues of the Heian period is not nearly enough time and as a result the plot becomes extremely fragmented and disconnected – like a series of short snapshots of Kintoki’s life. The characters are not given enough time to develop so there is no real emotional connection to them and they remain shallow throughout. This is a pity as even in their basic form they do hold promise if only they were given some time to develop. It is confusing, but there is a defined plot here and ... I did find it interesting. Don’t expect a Samurai action flick from Kai Doh Maru though as its much more about the political background than the action set pieces.

ANIMATION: Now this is where the majority of my enjoyment came from. The animation is done in a style I haven’t seen before – almost like an animated scroll painting in its watercolour, pastel glory. Everything is pale coloured with simple lines, but things like trees, leaves and grass are extremely detailed. Character designs are also very simple and quite generic but fit well in this setting. Movement is very natural and fluid – the few action scenes are well choreographed with bright red blood making for a striking contrast to the otherwise pale colour palate. CG rendering is used to great effect as well on things like wagons and falling snow – it’s a very visually attractive piece of animation.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: Music is done in a period style with a hint of a modern twist – very fitting for this anime. Voice acting is mostly unremarkable, there is not a lot of emotion on display and the seiyuu’s didn’t seem to have much of an emotional tie to their characters.

Overall it’s a pretty piece of animation, but they tried to cover way too large of a story in too short a time. Given a bit of extra time Kai Doh Maru could have been excellent, as it is its merely average and confusing.

Fun and very entertaining mecha series with a brilliant soundtrack.

PLOT: Same premise of most Macross series – J-Pop saves the universe! However its so much more than that, as Macross Frontier has lots of nicely written dialogue and well thought out plot progressions. Sure its got a heap of clichés, a rather standard love triangle and I could spot many of the plot twists coming a mile off thanks to my familiarity with this kind of series; but despite its faults Macross Frontier never failed to be interesting and entertaining. I loved the characters – they did start off fairly generic, but there was lots ... of character development and they are all very memorable. It’s the kind of show that just wants to entertain you and I was definitely entertained.

ANIMATION: Its obvious that Macross F had a huge budget – there is not a single scene that isn’t animated beautifully. Tons of work went into this series; the animation is fluid, the character designs distinctive and well thought out, and the background detailing breathtaking. The action set pieces are something else – massive Valkyrie battles with ridiculous amounts of beam spamming just leapt out of the screen and demanded your attention. Yay for explosions! Use of CGI was extensive, but this is a rare example of how the use of CGI enhances the animation to perfection – its an extremely pretty anime.

MUSIC: Thankfully for a series based on J-Pop the soundtrack is nothing short of brilliant. I’ve both OSTs downloaded and they feature quite highly on my playlists – although I generally prefer Sheryl’s songs to Ranka’s. The songs are used to great effect in the show, enhancing fight scenes and adding a musical quality to some of the more s'life orientated scenes. The background score is also fantastic. The ever-changing OPs & EDs are great and I don’t think I ever skipped over the OP & ED for any of the 25 episodes!

VOICE ACTING: One of the 1st things I actually noticed was the stellar cast this show has! So many well-known seiyuu in one show was just the icing for the Inner Fangirl; I mean you’ve got Tomoya, Kamina, Watanuki, Tieria, Miyuki, Kagura and Belldandy all in one show!!

In case you haven’t noticed by now I loved this show – granted I’m quite biased as I really like this genre, but Macross Frontier really is a great example and I’d quite happily rewatch it!

Quite an interesting and dark series, but has a very annoying lead and pacing issues.

PLOT: I wasn’t overly impressed by the premise and found the characters irritating – especially Yuri who did not stop yapping for the entire flipping series! But I really liked the atmosphere of this show. It immediately put me in mind of Boogiepop Phantom and the better parts of Narutaru, as Alien 9 can be extremely dark and disturbing at times. At other times I was bored out of my mind (the duration of episode 3 had this effect on me). Its a mixed bag which isn’t really a good thing ... considering this was only 4 episodes – it felt a lot longer due to the tedious pacing. Again I was strongly reminded of Narutaru, which was unfortunately not a good thing. The last episode was strange, disturbing and it felt like nothing was resolved – which further added to my annoyance with this OVA.

ANIMATION: The animation is good as expected from JC Staff – not a fan of the character designs, but I liked the contrast between the cute little girls and the creepy ugly alien designs. The action sequences are smooth and well choreographed, with innovative use of the borg’s abilities.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The OP & ED are not the best – I skipped over them after the 1st listen, but the background music is excellent at creating a good, tense atmosphere. Voice acting was unremarkable throughout.

Overall I wasn’t overly impressed by Alien 9 – granted it was nothing like I was expecting. I was fully bracing myself for a manic, comedic action series when I read the summary – it delivered something unexpected and dark. I would have scored it higher if the pacing was better, there was actual plot resolution and if the characters more likeable.