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Tenkuu no Escaflowne 4/10

A few days ago I remembered an anime I used to watch when I was a kid (9 or 10 years old), "Vision of Escaflowne". My memory of it was hazy to say the least. What I did remember were those characters with the long noses, the pretty guy with long blond hair, and a very memorable soundtrack. So I had a strong urge to re-watch it, and I did, unfortunately the result was, my memories of this fairy-tale like anime were shattered.

Escaflowne starts promising (girl travels through worlds, meets knights and royalty, can use magic, some interesting adventures) but ... the more episodes you watch the more plot holes appear. Things often made no sense, or they simply ignored important details, added or just changed rules for convenience (to get out of a tricky situation for example). Don't even get me started on the lazy, repetitive dialoges, or how many times a character yells out another ones name to make things 'dramatic'.
Most characters were annoying, mainly because they were walking stereotypes. The antagonist role wasn't really explored, his past, his plans, his purpose (except he wants to destroy the world as we know it and mess with faith), just what was going on in his head? Van's brother suddenly became a good guy and all was forgiven (this could have worked out better if they didn't rush his development, it only took one episode for him to do a 360).
Many elements just got smashed together here; fortune-telling, robots and all kinds of machines (whose origin never was explained), luck enhanced soldiers that defied logic (lack of logic in general), magicians, atlantis, faith everywhere, shoujo romance, and the climax - utter disappointment.
Let's talk about the romance. Three (or more) failed love-triangles, which had ineffective build ups and were executed poorly (I just didn't care anymore at one point, it was too much). The main characters never even showed they really liked each other until we were reaching the end, which was a mistake if that couple was supposed to be the main selling point of this anime, it wasn't believable and I couldn't root for them. And then once Hitomi realizes who she loves (and it was all faith), she leaves his world forever because...? They don't explain that part either, so much for true romance.
Art? Well it's an anime from 1996, so I can't complain, it's actually a pretty good production. The world the director created looks beautiful, that's the one thing my memory hadn't failed me at. As well as the epic soundtrack, it might be the best thing about Escaflowne (later found out it was done by Yoko Kanno) - but nothing can save an anime that has so many inconsequent story lines such as this one, and it's sad because it had potential.

Well this summer season of anime had some really good shows and some really big disappointments. 'Shounen Hollywood: Holly Stage for 49' though was the biggest surprise for me. A nice slice of life with a lot of J-Pop 6/10

I'm genuinely impressed with the show, it doesn't mind telling you straight out some of the negative aspects of show business (especially how Japan produces their Idols) they have some profound lines here and there...I'm not a big fan of J-Pop so the music isn't really why I enjoyed watching this (and I'm sure with less of it I would have given it a higher score), ... there's also no yaoi even if you would assume that by having an all male cast!
We follow our characters in what they're doing in their everyday life as well as their training to become Idols. Kakeru is a high-school student that was scouted, Ikuma the oldest member used to be a delinquent, Kira has always been in show business as child actor, Shun wants to become a musician, Daiki is an orphan and fan of the original Shounen Hollywood...so a colorful bunch that got together under 'Shachou' (former member of Shonen Hollywood) who manages the guys. We find out more about each ones backgrounds and dreams later on.
What I appreciate is, that you don't only see those characters having the time of their lives and saying things like 'This is great, I'll fulfill my dream of becoming an Idol...blah blah' sunshine and rainbows. No. They actually say things like 'I don't want to do this' or 'this is ridiculous and embarrassing'. They are holding a mirror on male Idols and what they have to go through. This show is more realistic and less melodramatic than other anime in the same genre, and partly responsible for that is the experienced manager, who tells Kakeru how it's going to be for him in the future. His friends won't be his friends anymore once he's famous, they'll probably sell private story's about him (whether they are true or not), the media is merciless and you won't make it with just talent or just hard work, and getting a fan base takes time. The manager already went through that, so he knows show business is never a save career. All those uncomfortable subjects are processed and I think 'Shounen Hollywood: Holly Stage for 49' is refreshingly different. So even if you don't like J-pop like me, this show has a lot more to offer than just hot guys and music. The members want to accomplish something out of the ordinary (maybe you have dreamed of performing on a big stage one day too), they're still young and inexperienced and many times lose hope and want to quit. The character development is well done, and so are the dialogs, and the pace of the anime is relatively slow, which I always prefer in slice of life.

Now what I don't like so much is the animation, compared to other anime it's really nothing special. The bands performances weren't spectacular, sometimes it was rather cringe worthy. And some moments were simply dull. But I was always waiting for the next episode because I wanted to know if they will become successful Idols, and if in the end that was what the boys really wanted. The journey of them becoming the next big thing looks pretty exiting.

- Edit
Season two for 2015 confirmed ^^

Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai/ Yugami doesn't have any friends. 8/10

This manga made me laugh quite a lot, so I thought I should write a review to bring some attention to it ^^

We meet Yugami through Chihiro who just moved to a new city and is a transfer student at Yugamis school. At first glance he seems to be really nice and helpful, but that impression doesn't last very long. They both not only end up in the same class, Chihiro also sits next to him now. She tries to become friends with him but her attempts are shattered by him either saying something ... weird, rude or simply ignoring her, although it's not really his intention which makes those situations really funny (for example 'could you please eat somewhere else, I don't want to to be seen eating with you'). Most students in class try to avoid Yugami (hence the title) because of his eccentric behavior, and warn Chi not to get too close to the weirdo, but Yugami is absolutely fine with it. He turns out to be the schools baseball ace, and baseball is the only thing he actually likes, next to precisely planning his days. The baseball team doesn't necessarily like him (nobody knows what's going on in his head), but they need him to win games, so bare with him.
Chihiro watches some baseball matches and later starts helping out the female manager, hoping she could become friends with her. But at the same time she has to deal with bizarre Yugami, who tries giving her ridiculous life advises, telling her she should try harder at finding friends, stating theories and opinions (which are sometimes surprisingly good) when no one around him wants to hear them, but because of that he actually starts talking more and more with others. We just follow Yugami's life and all the challenges he has to overcome, like friendship, love letters and baseball. But self centered Yugami has good sides showing up as well, whenever he sees that Chi is having trouble he's trying to help her out, well by giving silly advises and buying rare curry bread for her. He is a funny guy, but not very sociable (he's more comfortable alone), he has trust issues and thinks everything can be done by himself. He may didn't realize it yet, but despite trying to keep a distance from everyone, Chihiro seems to become his first real friend after all.

A manga by Jun Sakura full with comedy and two hilarious main characters, I'd definitely recommend it to people who want to read something light and funny.

Baraou no Souretsu 9/10

You like manga and William Shakespeare? Well look no further, this time Aya Kanno shows us her skills by taking on the classic play "Richard III" and accompanies it with beautiful illustrations, which make reading and looking at "Baraou no Souretsu" pure joy. It has all the darkness of Shakespeare's play, dirty games of/for thrones, a little love, a little religion, a little scandal, some mysteries - what is Richard? I just love this play, so to be able to read it as manga is amazing. If you aren't familiar with Richard III, it's fine, in the manga the story gets explained ... well enough. I couldn't stop reading once I started, it's profound as it should be (but also has some light moments) and all those great characters, constantly we are forced to ask ourselves, if this person in front of us, for doing what he does - is evil or just a human like everyone else, aren't we all doing evil things, what is evil anyway?! A soldier that kills to protect someone else? A parent that can't love her child, because she is scared of it? A woman tortured and punished for wanting something seemingly impossible? A story about life, hope, death, loneliness, revenge and so many other things.
If you would like to read something that comes close to perfection, it's Shakespeare's Richard III, a piece of literature, which many other great artists have made plays or movies about (some good some bad) or used as inspiration, but rarely did I enjoy literature that comes in manga format, so Aya thank you for this well done piece of work, something different from typical shoujo or shounen manga, which hopefully won't end too fast :) As a matter of fact, now I want to search for more mangas that are based on Shakespeares plays.

Strange+ 9/10

Don't say the title didn't warn you lol
This anime truly is a blast for all comedy fans. I enjoy their parody's of other detective or action animes, but if it would be just that, I wouldn't love this show so much. Strange+ has a lot more to offer, yes it's a funny, silly gag anime, but at the same it's their amazing main characters (who always make everything worse), that make this show unique, ridiculous and hilarious! Most of the time, you have no idea what the hell is going on, things just happen, but it's fine, because the show delivers, it's full of ... surprises, references to really old animes and weird twists, introducing new characters like it's nothing, explosions, random weapons, magic, "traditional traps", villains who disguise themselves as maids, what ever, you name it, this show has it, it doesn't have to make sense, it always makes me laugh - the WTF moments are pure gold and the characters reactions to them as well. To me it's never too much, because the episodes are only about 4 minutes long, so you can watch the entire season in less than one hour. Short animes FTW!

Plot: Never mind

Characters: Oh man...how do I even begin? In this strange world there are 4 strange detectives, Takumi - a very confident attention loving bishonen blue haired boy who likes to cross dress, and the 'boss' of the detective agency they all work at, Kō - his younger brother (although he looks like the big brother), who is nothing like him, he's probably the least strange character - every gag anime needs a 'straight' guy, then there is Masamune, the strong, for some reason African looking, guy who you would accept to save the day, but like everyone else, is not as competent as you might wish and last but not least a female character, eye-candy Miwa, who's loyal, weird and super hot but that is mostly ignored. Then there's a bunch of side characters (villains/allies) that make the show go round, sometimes they appear once and then never again, sometimes they return by just popping out of nowhere to take revenge or something, who really cares? It's hilarious.


I'm glad to hear that there will be a second season! I want to watch much more of this this really strange anime, although the art is nothing special the voice actors did a great job :) I had a lot of fun with it so I gave a very high rating. (I could list some great quotes from the show lol, but it's so much funnier if you just watch it yourself)

After I read the reviews for this anime (effectively agreeing, what crap this show was), I couldn't resist watching this myself, and I'm so glad I did. XD

If I would have to rate this seriously: 2/10
But I just can't ignore how much I loved this overdone 'crap' so: 6/10

First of all let me say, if you don't want your eyes and ears to bleed while watching this, I'd suggest you to stop taking 'Mitsu x Mitsu Drops' serious (although the show takes itself quite serious). The best thing would be to turn off the function of your brain that's asking, BUT WHY...?. I watched this ... thinking of it as a comedy show and that way was having a BLAST! There were so many unreasonable dramatic scenes that became unintentionally funny, because of the outrageous ridiculousness...I simply couldn't control myself from laughing anymore. At some point I was thinking maybe, just maybe there is brilliant mastermind behind this, yes this must be a parody of some kind, but no, they're serious till the end!

Worst storyline ever? - Possibly. I'm not even going to put in the effort trying to explain what the fu## this show was about (because most of it doesn't make any sense whatsoever). It's all over the place with no goal, no introductions, no emotion. Forget the dialogs, forget about the sexual harassment, forget common sense damn it!

Were really all characters awful? - Yes indeed (especially the main character, baka honey). Disgraceful portrayal of a woman.

Sound/Art? - Although the characters were good looking, bad.

So why on earth did I enjoy this so damn much?!
It's simple, I love to laugh! Even if that wasn't what the writers wanted (I don't know what the hell they wanted). Of course a lot of people are totally pissed of by this nonsense (understandably), but to me... man I was really having a good time.

One question remains though...What idiot/genius approved of this and financed it?

Shinsekai yori/From the New World 9/10

Writing a review about this anime is a bit difficult for me, because I can't possible describe in words, what I felt watching this. I'm also afraid you won't understand what I'm talking about, you will have to watch this great anime yourself ;)

1000 years from now in Japan. Every 'human' has mantra and can use telekinesis (imagining things and then make those things happen). For example they look at white paper and paint a motive without using paint, or break a bottle and then put the broken shards back together, without touching anything. It's all done with imagination - ... which is an important message during the whole anime - anything is possible if you can imagine it.

(Spoilers ahead)
The story involves 6 friends, (Saki, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, Shun, Reiko) who were born and raised in a tranquil town, Kamisu's 66th district, they go to school together and are one group. We learn quickly that the school system is pretty cruel, all the weak and dangerous kids get killed, everyone in town (students, parents, teachers) know about it and find what they do is acceptable and necessary to protect their utopia world from collapsing. It kind of reminds us how our society works and treats outcasts. No one cares about the weak ones among us, and at the same time we are scared that somebody else could become stronger than us, and they could do us harm (terrorists). That's also an important theme in Shinsekai yori - FEAR.
So we follow this 6 friends, watch them grow and experience all the pretty and all the dangerous things of life, we learn about creatures other than humans - queerats (we find out more about them as the story goes on), and why humans now can use telekinesis also called "cursed power" or the "gods' power".
Later what everyone is afraid of happens, one of this group's weakest gets killed by impure cats (humans don't kill humans, because it would cause them to die as well, death feedback), then another one becomes a Karmic Demon, a fiend, how the residents of district 66 call people, who lose control of their telekinesis power and kill everyone that is in sight. Those demons are exactly what humans are most scared of, so the "government" decided it would be best to kill the boy and erase everyones memories about him, also the remaining 4 friends can't seem to remember what his name was, what he looked like and so on, but they know something is very fishy about this situation and want to find out the truth, which brings them into more trouble. Now the government is after friend 4, Mamoru, and sends cats after him, but he's able to flee. The others of his group go look for him and find him. Maria decides to leave the town (that all of them started to hate) with the runaway, which later turned out to be a big mistake. Again many similarities happen between our world and theirs.
We see a lot of time skips, things seem to happen rash, I wish they would take some more time to explain and explore, but everything makes sense in the end, so be patient. We get very attached to the characters, after seeing them grow up with those cruel rules, and how desperate they are, because they can't find another way to deal with their dangerous supernatural powers (they don't have enough knowledge, because so much is forbidden to talk about). Technically all of them could become Karmic Demons and erase humanity, that's why they 'the government/residents of the town' have to be careful and take care of the problem kids early on. And at the same time, it's such a cruel thing to do, simply killing your own children, because they could potentially become Karmic Demons, although they are still normal kids/average students, there's no mercy.
Big time skip - To be honest I don't want to explain what happens next, if I write more I will REALLY ruin the show for you guys. All I'm going to say is, shit gets real and the queerats history gets explained. Please give Shinsekai Yori a try, it's a show that demands all of your attention, you will be surprised by the twists, I enjoyed this much more then I expected!

The animation actually can be breath taking at times, but at other times the characters look like scribblings, it has a funny effect though and fits well in the story. There's no opening for this anime (I don' know if I have ever seen that before lol) but there are two different endings. The soundtracks we hear are mostly by an orchestra or a children's choir, that give you goosebumps like crazy! Again it fits perfectly to the story, no Japanese pop music to be expected here ;)

The characters are...awesome and thankfully realistic. The girls kick ass, the parents aren't preaching, the boys make out with each other and that's perfectly normal, the government sucks, like in real life, and the queerats have balls! I was so happy that this anime didn't turn out to be one of those, that have a good plot, but terribly stereotypical acting characters! Like I said before there are a lot of time skips so the characters grow and change after every few episodes, but that is what's so awesome about this show. This could have gone really bad, rushing through important steps of life, but Shinsekai yori doesn't miss the important steps, no, everything you see matters, even those small things you wouldn't even dream of to be the slightest relevant, are relevant for the story, big props to the writer of the novel 'Shinsekai Yori' (in the U.S. also knowns as 'From the New World') that this anime was adapted from, Yusuke Kishi. Great message that makes you think about our society, and all the things, we could do better. It's pretty depressing actually...humans are cruel animals, but we can change. Yeah, that's my conclusion.

Gintama 10/10
How should I start by explaining what Gintama is…Just Do It! Do it do it doitdoitdoit…

Just do it? Asks the confused person who has never watched an episode of Gintama before.
I think this is going to be a long one. Yes, there is nothing average about this show, the main character is a sugar addict, who does anything for money, kinda criminal, fights with a wooden sword, a little perverted, is a bad influence to everyone around him, even you, yes you the audience, is sarcastic, had a terrifying childhood, although we don’t know too much about that, which isn’t much of a problem ... to the plot of Gintama - since there practically is none (and they don’t give a flying fu## about it), you see the truth is the mangaka and the anime creators took it as their mission to constantly conceive their fan base with fake movie announcements and so on, but we forgive them all lies and all last episodes, because Gintama does it brilliantly. The execution of the comedy bits are top notch, very rarely there’s an episode that I didn’t fully enjoy. The pretty, young, 'foreign heroine' spits, curses and is inappropriate in every possible situation, the straight guy with his signature feature glasses has to endure all kinds of insults, has a sister complex, is in love with an idol (worst idol ever), usually has to clean up after the mess his two friends leave behind, but still all three of them are best buds and stick together like gum in your hair.
Then there’s the Shinsengumi, worst police officers in the world, with a gorilla boss, who’s stalking his love interest and has a preference to being naked in public, a pretty looking sadist who tries to kill his superior officer - who is a proud mayo addict, chain smoker and has to deal with the insanity of both, his colleagues and his enemies.
Oh yeah, then there are aliens, terrorists, robots, prostitutes, random perverts, old friends, brothers and sisters and fathers and grandmas…Geez there are so many characters and different story’s in Gintama, some more important than others, which make this show super colorful, rich in variety, and I don’t think I exaggerate in saying, make this is the funniest anime of all time, anything is possible (I don't know what is going on in the depths of Hideaki's mind)
Besides having a good sense of humor, there’s plenty of drama too. Don’t expect something really deep here, but Gintoki and co. can get very emotional and protective of their loved ones, and I like the ‘oohhh’ moments of the show as much as the ‘WTF’ moments.
AND did I mention this is all happening during the ‘Edo-Period’? Yes, yes, old Japan, when women wore kimonos and men…did too lol So if you like interesting but redundant information’s about that time period, Gintama brings some of them up from time to time, you will also see them do heavy parodying of many other shows (probably some of your favorites) and they are reckless in making fun of famous Japanese personalities, hell even of their own producers, and again it’s all forgiven because it’s so well done, and they make fun of themselves too. I guess I’m done with praising this show, if you’re still not interested in watching it (some say you need to at least watch 10 episodes to fall in love with Gintama, to which I say BS, I fell in love with this show after three minutes) I don’t know how to convince you, that you will find a soul mate in Sakata Gintoki, the samurai with white natural perm and a high sugar level, who makes dirty jokes, who knows how to get out of a tricky situation and look cool while being beat up…yeah he’s not your typical protagonist in a shonen jump manga, but by being this different from others, he’s unique and special like the show itself.
The openings (Gintama has one of my favorites) and endings are creative and usually they pick catchy songs for them. While the animation is pretty average, not bad, not outstanding, another thing that I want to mention and compliment on are, the seiyū. No matter if for Gin-san, Kagura, Shinpachi, Hijikata, Kondo or one of my personal favorites Ayame Sarutobi, the voice actors are awesome, of course with the material they are able to work with, they’re hilarious nonstop as well.

Neon Genesis Evangelion 10/10

Often imitated but never equaled!
NGE is one of my favorite animes of all time. Although I once read something funny and quite fitting; NGE is not an anime, its a philosophy paper in disguise.
I remember the first time I watched it, it simply blew me away, even after re-watching it 5 times, I still love this show no matter what people say about the end, to me it's great. I'm not going to pretend that this anime has no flaws (but nothing is perfect).
The story, the characters, the art, sound, action, mystery, drama, psychological mind fucks - everything is well done. I'm ... not the person to over hype things, but there aren't many animes that made me feel like this. It influenced so many other writers and animators and you can see that influence in countless other shows, which tried to do what Evangelion was able to accomplish. Every episode sucked me more and more into the story (it was pure joy to watch it), you can't help but wonder what's really going on?, who is behind this mess? and so on. Yes, the end is a little confusing and seems rather weird (some questions don't get answered), but once you understand it all (I recommend to watch the movies for that, although the movie is a little pretentious) you'll understand the plot better. What's really special about NGE is that it's high class in all three important points that make an anime a hit or miss - its animation (for 90s standard), story, and character development - in Evangelion it all works.
What could I write that hasn't been written yet in other reviews? (I don't want to describe the long complicated plot like many others already did lol) It's an amazing anime that deserves all the praise, and although I understand some peoples frustrations with it, you shouldn't miss this classic show because of that, watch it then decide yourself whether it's a masterpiece or not.

No reviews yet? Here I come!
'Yoiko' is a classic, hilarious, ecchi anime from the late 90s. The story is about Fuuka, an elementary school student that looks like a hot 20 year old. So of course everybody mistakes her for an adult, which brings her into one funny situation after another. Her female teacher wants to look like her, the young boys in her class fall in love with her, and then theres her perverted cousin (I think) Jiro who involuntary shares his bedroom with her, and feels cursed by the god of masturbation. Fuuka's mind sure is one of a child! Her unusual ... ideas and her naive soul is essential to the comedy of Yoiko.
The animation is nothing outstanding, but you do get some fan service, well mainly Fuuka in lingerie or naked under the shower lol I just laugh through all episodes, every character is crazy and so is their behavior (especially the teacher's) and all of them make this show a happy meal for the audience, the eps. are rather short (10-12 minutes), but because the show is so funny it feel's more like 5 minute episodes! So if you don't mind old school anime art (which I love), you will probably enjoy this too. And although I say this is an ecchi anime, it's far away from being dirty. What else is there to write... give it a try 8/10!