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Hourou Musuko starts with questioning what little girls and boys are made of. It illuminates the role of sex in the construction of “natural” or coherent sexuality and gender, and the disheartening repercussions that the individuals, who fail to conform to what is socially accepted, experience. Further, the plotline sensibly uses the onset of puberty to intricately and realistically show that in this socially constructed world, we are bounded by to what has been “normalized”—boys must wear pants and girls must wear skirts. Together with the simple clean art and easy melodies, this series is crafted in a remarkably sensitive and moving way.

Nitori and Takatsuki ... are the two main characters, who both struggle with gender crisis. Nitori is feminine by nature but trapped in a male body, same with Takatsuki who is masculine by nature however ensnared in a female body. Both clearly demonstrate the challenges of having binary sex system or the society's practice of heterosexuality. The plot visibly shows that the supposed blatancy of sex as a natural biological fact indicates to how intensely its production in discourse is concealed. For instance, Takatsuki agonizes girlhood because no matter how hard she flattens her chest, she cannot avoid wearing a bra for she can never stop her breast from growing. Likewise with Nitori, he vacillates boyhood because as soon as his body hairs grow, it’ll be harder for him to wear skirts and dresses. Moreover, the predicament of the storyline exists not just because of characters’ inner conflicts, they are also suffering overtly from being alienated and discriminated because their desired sexed bodies and gender roles are beyond what is “naturalized” by the society. In these scenarios, I like how these dilemmas are beautifully illustrated by the characters’ portrayal of genuine human emotions.

I recommend Hourou Musuko for those who want to see a simple storyline but yet complex depiction of transexualism, and question humanity. If you find this subject offending, then this is not for you. Also, when watching this anime, try to perceive as if you’re sexless and genderless to fully discern how society materializes bodies to create boundaries and differentiate what is accepted from not.

Of the entire Winter Anime list, Fractale instantly caught my attention, perhaps because of all the words written on the list, “fractal” is the term that I have encountered several times. I enjoy this show because it has some in-depth meanings on how technology impacts humans and apparent socio-political implications. Also, I find it unique and refreshing in its own simple ways.

In terms of character design, I find them pleasing but not really fantastic. However, you can surely recognize the character development. I particularly like Nessa, I thought she is going to be annoying doppel--data or memory that interacts like human, who will screw up ... on everything, but it turned out that she is lovable, and despite her age I find her more intelligent and sensible than Phryne. As for Cain, I truly enjoyed his character, I witnessed how he grows up from being immature young boy to a mature young man. Overall, at the end of the series I sensed that the characters grew into me, because even the secondary characters like Sunda and Enri are worth mentioning when you talk about Fractale.

Artwise, it has nice and friendly ambiance. However, I find the color tone and setting somewhat old-fashioned, but I guess that what makes it unique and easy to follow. The setting is supposed to be futuristic however they incorporated farms, valleys and plateaus, perhaps that's why they used that "classic" a ambiance.

On the other hand, I almost lost my enthusiasm after seeing the first episode; the show seemed to be too shallow and carefree for me—that time I wanted to see something that is extremely thought provoking and emotion driven. Little did I know, behind light ambience is where the irony hides. It is good that I did not drop it right away and stick-around until episode three, because that is where the story begins to unfold.

A quick snippet of Fractale is it tells the story of a young boy named Clain. One day, he saw a temple girl named Phryne being chased by three armed people. Eventually, Phryne managed to get away from her chasers. After seeing her wounded, Clain brought her home for treatment and also helped her to hide from those who are trailing her.

The incongruity and the bulk of the story is in the title itself; Fractale system pledges a life of pure relaxation and technology-driven lives. However, due to the overly convenient lifestyles, people do not talk to each other and do not work for a living anymore. Further, the extreme dependency in technology is turning people into less “humans”. For instance, families in Fractale System do not live together anymore, and people just spend their days stagnant.

Now, if we are going to look at the definition of fractal, it means rough, fragmented geometric shapes and reduced-size exact copy of the whole—opposite to the symmetric and smooth lifestyle that Fractale system offers. We can see that Indeed, Fractale system is the provider of the “whole package” of convenience to its citizens, however this supposedly “whole” is actually in a form of the reduced-size of the real thing. Aside from that, instead of being part of the entire picture, people continuously sprout out as isolated entities of the picture, or simply the petite-sized reset of the Fractale system.

I truly believe that the author successfully incorporated the characteristic and symbolism of fractal in the story.

*mild spoiler ahead*
The last episode is kind of rushed. I really think it's a pre-mature last episode and it's not the type of ending that I'm expecting however it didn't disappoint me. This is just purely my opinion though. Now it's up to you to find out what you think about the Fractale.

Forget about the whimsy, pleasant, and archetypal mahou shoujo series, Mahou Shoujoi Madoka exemplifies the evolution of “magical girls” anime. As expected, the plotline involves magic plus transformation, and features school girls with supernatural abilities who are committed to fight evil. Like any typical mahou shoujo anime, friendship and fulfilling a sole wish are the main reasons why Madoka and the other heroines chose to make a deal with Kyubey to protect humanity. However, don’t be deceived by the emblematic majokko and flashy sweet natured vibe of this series, as there is something apparently dark and serious behind the seemingly generic plot.

In the beginning, ... I tried extremely hard to avoid this series, for I’m not fond of fantasy based animes. However, after watching the first episodes of almost half of the new animes, of all, I was taken aback by Mahou Shoujo Madoka’s high-quality audio-visual and mind stimulating themes. Truly, nothing is more effective in stealing my attention than the permutation of symmetry, labyrinths, and fractals mixed with evil candy canes, cakes, dollhouses and obscurity. Also, the sensible used of cool soundtracks to soothe the mood, added to the reason why I suddenly found myself considering the plot as a background.

Nevertheless, I can’t just simply ignore the plotline. There’s unexpected horrid and mystery behind the relaxed colours and wide-faced characters, which successfully created a positive deception and negated the familiar viewers’ perception about Mahou Shoujo Madoka.

Likewise, I love how death is used effectively to chain actuality and idealism. It certainly deviates the viewers’ discernment about the show and clearly separates this magical girl series from its predecessors, where usually heroes always escape death—as Gregory House mentioned “almost dying changes nothing, dying changes everything”.

One thing is for sure, prejudice is detrimental because the series that I tried so hard to disregard is now something that I look forward.

I really enjoyed this manga. I just started reading GF only this summer, because I'm not really into yuri. But then after reading it, I fell in love with the characters and how realistic the plot is--from friendship to lovers. It may sound such an overrated plot, but, I assure you that this manga offers more!Simple things like Mari and Akko's simple conversations, lipstick/fashion talks, mixers, and boyfriend hunting are perfectly illustrated in a way that readers (mostly females) will feel that the whole situation really exist at some point somewhere in their lives.

What I like about the most in the story is the yuriness ... of its plot. I like how Milk Morinaga realistically reminds us that female-to-female relationship is such an unusual love. She have shown that this kind of is dramatic and problematic but then because of that the characters become more exciting. Also, I guess for most readers, they can surely see themselves in one of the characters.

I highly recommend this manga if you're open minded and seeking for realistic plot. Also, this is easy to read because the drama and seriousness are perfectly mixed with humor. For sure, you will end up smiling and hoping this series will never come to an end (you might also look for other Morinaga's works).