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Yeah, yeah, art is decent, nice effects, cool references, awesome voice acting... Let's get to the main part:

This show made me want to kill myself - and that's a good thing.

You see, any emotional impact is great, especially after all these junkfood romcoms and absolutely forgettable shounen garbage.
I've finally felt something.

WataMote tries to be a comedy, and there are a couple of occasional chuckles here and there but for me, personally, it's a haunting, gloomy and the most depressing drama, for it's a freaking rollercoaster of losing, failing, being completely devastated by awkwardness of circumstances.

Man, it's so actually sad I can't wrap my head around ... it.
Ok, let'me put it like this:

If you've been at least once in a situation which Tomoko faces every day - then you would find your yourself on the same wavelength as this most brave and positive girl.

Why's that?

Well, what makes Tomoko an absolutely amazing and unique human being is that after all these mishappenings she doesn't burst out in tears or go postal (what would any sane and normal person do after what she's been through) - but she keeps on trying, giving life another chance. When I would just hang myself in a closet or put a bullet through my temple - she keeps on waking up, going to school, sitting in a class surrounded by people who don't give a flying f whether she's here or not.

And here brother is the meanest and most aggressive brat ever seen - but still she's willing to get along with him!

It's depressing, it really is - this show captures the feeling of loneliness and urge to be love so good I'm about to cry like a little girl.

But you know, now matter how lost or forgotten you may feel - just think of Tomoko. If she can do it (not right away, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed she'll find what she's looking for) - then you most certainly can too.

9/10 and Johnny's seal of approval.

As Vladimir Putin has once said, "I'll be brief".

I stumbled upon this anime after watching "Chobits". I was quite familiar with CLAMP and some of their works, so I decided to fill this particular gap in my aсquaintance with this series.

People often say "No regrets", but I DO regret watching Tsubasa Chronicles.
Why? Well, let me tell you.

First - the story is your basic and "favorite" GONNA CATCH 'EM ALL!!11 (sad smiley) type of stories. Our heroes travel through different worlds trying to find Sakura-hime's feathers in order to get her memories and personality back.

The premise is kinda promising, but the execution is very poor ... - the worlds are unimaginitive, plain and boring as cows. Or sheep (they're actually quite funny and cute, so I'll stick with cows). There was one TV-show called "Sliders" (sadly with living human beings), which had a similair premise with much better execution. In other words, the idea is not so unoriginal, but it could have been done better.

A few words about art & sound. I think the animators' salary was something about a bowl of rice, because graphics in this show are very dull and greyish. No bright colors, no decent animation, the show looks very cheap. Hell, I've seen some hentai drawn better than that!

Sound is little better, but it's still just average. The same musical tracks are repeated over and over, even when they don't fit the scene at all. Hey, but who cares? The animator guy ate the last bowl of rice, so our composer will have to work for an "arigatou".

One thing that made me hate this show is the characters. Yeah, Kurogane and Fai are nice fellows, but Syaoran and especially Sakura made my dinner go out of my mouth every time I saw them on screen. Syaoran is one of the most dull and uninspired shounen heroes of all the time. I think he has no personality, just this blind and exaggerated loyalty towards Sakura, who says nothing but "SYAORAN-KUN!" ALL THE TIME. Hell, in one episode she shouted it for about 9 times, on some occasions - FOR NO REASON. Yep, that's all she does in this show - being a helpless and a mentally challenged damsel in distress. It's not quite and makes you want to protect her, it's simply pathetic.

The story feels like it should've been made in 12 episodes, the plot moves sooo slow and it's too predictable. There's a glimpse of an intrigue in the last story arc, but it is resolved undescribably silly.

Just like the whole show - it's not fun, it's not original, it's not curious. It's just silly.

And boring, as a result.

One of the main problems of romantic anime is that you can always predict how it will end. Just look at the DVD-cover and read the title and you don’t need to watch it. So the plot itself is not what we watch romantic anime for, we watch it for interesting characters, their development and feelings.
But “Suzuka” was rather unusual experience for me; it kind of reminded me of “Macross”, because of the complicated love-triangle. First, we have Asahina Suzuka. You may call her tsundere, but the way she acts, thinks, feels makes her very realistic. At the times she can be very cold (her ... name actually means “Cold wind”) and uneasy to handle with but her warm, caring side is very touching.

Then you have Yamato Akitsuki. There is nothing special or unique about him, just your simple shounen hero. Luckily (for him, maybe) he manages to be not so stupid and irritating as other male heroes, like the ones from “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”, “School Days” and “Elfen Lied” for example. Speaking of “Macross”, Yamato reminded me Hikaru, the way he couldn’t handle his own feelings was sort of the same.

Honoka, the second main heroine of the “Suzuka” is a caring, kind and cute girl who had a crush on Yamato for a long time. I can’t say that she is unusual type of character, but I glad that they didn’t make her as clichéd as Suzumiya from the “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien” (yes, I’m talking ‘bout it again and, yes, I don’t like this anime).

At first, I have to say one thing and don’t mention it again: sports theme plays no big role in “Suzuka” except the last 6-8 episodes.
The show starts rather slow and weak because nothing really happens; it’s like a long introduction to the characters. There are some times when romance goes completely away and we watch a typical mediocre shounen slice of life. But the second of the anime is just brilliant. We get to know Suzuka much more and Yamato changes dramatically.

What I liked the most about “Suzuka” is that every character behaves naturally. The way their feelings for each other were developing was almost life-like. Yes, it’s of course not perfect, but it definitely was great to not see in “Suzuka” any standard and over-used romantic clichés and exaggerating. And I must mention one more thing: usually, a main hero’s friend in this kind of show is an air-headed fool who thinks only about girls and tries to give stupid advices. But Yasunobu is nothing like that; he is calm and seems lot more mature than Yamato. In fact, in general all supporting characters were well-made.

This all good, but one of the main flaws of the series is a lack of those things which make you “feel” the show more: good music, animation and graphic. The animation of the show is quite poor: sport sequences look rather bad due to low budget (not sure, but I got a feeling that it IS a low-budget anime) and the whole visual style of the show is simple. I took a look at the manga and I think that black and white pages look much better. And the soundtrack is uninspired and mediocre. There are some nice tunes (like the second ending), but that’s just not enough for me. I can’t say anything about the opening because I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it even for a single time.

Still, all these flaws didn’t ruin the entertainment. The last 6-7 episodes of the show were very interesting and breathtaking; I was completely in to the story. I think that “Suzuka is a great example of how romantic anime should be made in terms of character development and depiction difficulties of their relationships.