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Sep 15, 2011
Usagi Drop is one of 2011 summer's Noitamina shows and it is one damn good show at that. Based on the manga of the same name by Unita Yumi and produced by Production IG, Usagi Drop is a slice of life show that brings a somewhat realistic touch to what faithful parenting should be about.
What can go wrong when a 30 year old businessman adopts his grandfather's illegitimate grandchild? One would think 'a lot.' A 30 year old man taking in his 6 year old aunt? Not something you hear everyday. Thus begins the journey of Kawachi Daikichi and Kaga Rin as they live together,
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cry together, and eventually love each other as a family.
The progression of the story doesn't involve great dramatic climaxes or severe character trauma. It simply tells us the every day life of two people living in a world that's flipped upside down for them (Daikichi in particular). Daikichi is a selfless man as he takes care of Rin. Yet he is as straightforward as he is compassionate about those around him. He strays far from the stereotypical high school male lead who's dense and stupid most of the time. Rin on the other hand, is as mature as a young child can get. At only 6 years old, she thinks for herself and asks questions that even Daikichi sometimes are flabbergasted at. But of course, she is still as naive and curious as a 6 year old is. Together, it makes Rin as dynamic a character she can be.
As each episode passes, Daikichi learns something new about parenting. Rin learns to open up to the world before her after her father's (who she decidedly calls 'grandfather' instead) death. With each passing, these two grow closer together and develop a one of a kind relationship between a surrogate guardian and his 6 year old companion.
Of course this doesn't just occur without the introduction of a supporting cast that leads Daikichi in his revelations as a father figure. Two of the central supporting are Nitani Yukari and Nitani Kouki, a mother and son duo who befriends Daikichi and Rin. These two are crucial in both Daikichi's and Rin's characters as they grow into a sort of whole family. Daikichi not only is attracted to Yukari simply for her beauty, but for her efforts as a single mother as well. Rin and Kouki, well, they're both the same age and end up in the same school and class; they'd of course end up as childhood friends. Not only do they grow closer to their familial counterparts, Daikichi pretty much becomes a sort of father figure to Kouki and Yukari a mother figure to Rin. Together, it's almost as if they complete a whole family themselves. Add in several other support characters such as Daikichi's parents and coworkers, you have an all around cast that lends their hand in assisting Daikichi in growing as a father figure to Rin.
The story and characters are only one part of what makes Usagi Drop so pleasing. It's the aesthetic value of the show itself. The art consists of light water colored backgrounds and character designs. The characters break into some hilarious faces as the show goes on but never as annoyingly obnoxious like other shows can get. It adds a great mellow and lighthearted feel to the show. It's simplistic yet dynamic in its presentation.
The music is not flashy. It's not loud or obnoxious. It's simple melodies really add to the airy flair of the show. The little piano jingles perk up the scenes in light comedy and lightheartedness. The voice acting is great as well. The characters are not met with obnoxious sterotypical loud voices like typical loli voices but with realism. Matsuura Aya is simply astounding voicing Rin and Tsuchida Hiroshi pulls off Daikichi with near perfection.
The show may seem slow throughout the course, but it's a steady character driven piece that delivers consistently. Normally I'd pass up shows like this but I am always anxiously waiting for an episode every week. Usagi Drop is a breath of fresh air among all the loli harems and shounen action as of late. It's simplistic, it's homely, and it's soft presentation just draws you into the lives of these characters. Although the anime ends prematurely in comparison to the manga, Production IG has made a grand decision in ending the anime where it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 28, 2010
Wow. Just wow. Jamming such a story as vast as Fate/Stay Night into two hours is not a good idea. It definitely isn't. Fate/Stay Night TV Reproduction is basically a summary of the 2006 series. While it includes most of the important bits, so much of the much needed dialogue and scenes were just missing. This is not meant to be seen before the TV series.
Story [6]: Not good. While it does somewhat convey the overall storyline, it still leaves many things unanswered. So many plot points have been removed that it just doesn't feel like the story was really engaging at any point. Scenes
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will just jump around and you will be left wondering how this or that happened. For example, Shirou and Saber are recovering from a battle and then in the next scene, they're fully healed and already in a completely different location fighting another battle. What happened in between? How did they get there? Why are they suddenly healed so quickly? These are questions viewers who has not seen FSN yet would ask.
All the fight scenes have been shortened as well. Fights that were suppose to be at least half an episode's length has been reduced to nothing but a few short minutes. This is truly an extremely condensed version of the story.
Art [8]: The animation is pretty much remastered footage from the anime. It's still crisp and clear and it conveys the what is supposed to be colorful characters in the anime. The various noble phantasms are still excellent quality but unfortunately, cut short so many times.
Sound [8]: The OP to this work features a new version of the original anime's "disillusion" by Tainaka Sachi. The music from the VN and the anime are still here. A nice blend of mellow tunes that kind of fits into the shortened disjointed scenes but lacks to really draw us back in to the world of Fate/Stay Night.
Character [6]: This is where this two part summary really falls. So much of the dialogue between the characters and their developments were removed for the sake of time. Barely any characters had any development whatsoever. The only characters to even get a sliver of development were Shirou and Saber but even that was just nearly non-existant. The dialogue between all of the characters was what made them great but alas, without it, we don't really care much about them at all.
Enjoyment/Overall [7/6]: While I enjoyed immersing myself into the world of FSN once again, the disjointed and heavily cut direction really distracted me from keeping up with the story. The scenes were just jumping around so fast that they don't let you absorb what had actually transpired then. This is a poorly made summary recap of the original FSN. While it will remind you of most of the important things that happen, it doesn't really pull you back in the world of FSN. If they really wanted to do a summary, DEEN should've at least made an effort to reedit the script and change the animation enough to have it flow better instead of just cutting and pasting a bunch of the same footage together. This is definitely not made to be a standalone work. You'll need prior knowledge of FSN to really understand what actually transpired in the recap.
And where the fuck was my "People die when they are killed" line? Terrible. Just terrible.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 18, 2009
Kampfer... A series that everybody could've expected to be generic and full of fanservice right from the poster art. And it is exactly that. A show full of nothing but flaming lesbians attempting to battle it out against each other and greater beings called Moderators. Did they actually beat these said Moderators? No. Absolutely not. Barely anything happened, if anything actually did happen.
Story [5]: The story stars Senou Natsuru, your typical loser of a main character who is in love with a girl named Sakura Kaede. One day, Natsuru receives a stuffed doll and magically transforms into a girl. Natsuru then runs into the other
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characters of the show and what actually ensues? Fanservice... some more fanservice... some lesbian antics. That's pretty much all that really happens.
The series promises some kind of plot where Sangou Shizuku, another Kampfer, claims they will fight the Moderators and get to the bottom of this ridiculous Red vs Blue war. Does that actually happen? Not really. The pacing is ridiculously horrible. Most of the episodes just has all these different girls fighting over Natsuru. Only towards the end do we get some minor plot movement... some very minor plot movement. So minor, that the series closes without any real questions answered. Even if it is adapted from an on-going manga, you'd think they'll at least put in some filler ending for closure unless they plan on dealing out a second season, which will probably end just as badly as this.
Art [8]: The only thing this show has going for it is the animation. Adapted from the manga, the character designs are nice to look at but nothing too spectacular. There are plenty of shredded clothing, plenty of bare chests, and plenty of fog covering those bare chests. The show does certainly pull out a few risque moves with all the full frontal censored nudity and groping that goes on throughout the episodes.
Sound [7]: The characters are all voiced by top class seiyuus ranging from Inoue Marina voicing both Natsurus to Horie Yui voicing two completely different and distinct personalities. The soundtrack however, is nothing to rave about. Chippy happy music runs through most of the show. Nothing too serious or dramatic in its pieces.
Characters [6]: Natsuru is dumb. Plain and simple. He is as dense as main characters can be. His head? Hard as a rock. He's busy being infatuated with one girl while completely oblivious to the fact that he has three other girls fawning over him. Mikoto is the generic childhood friend, and Akane is some generic bookworm girl who turns into a mildly hilarious violent psycho gun wielding redhead. Then we have the annoyingly selfish flaming lesbian Kaede. All she does is fawn over female Natsuru constantly and bitches at whoever inches too close to her. The only character really worth mentioning is Shizuku. Not only is she awesomely manipulative, she is one of the few girls in any anime to be bold enough to make moves on the man. Her antics make this show slightly bearable.
Unfortunately, the character development going on this show is pretty much non-existant. Everybody sticks to their archetypes and barely nudges. There's like only one character in whole that develops a bit, but saying anything more would be spoilering. Natsuru is too dense to think of anything by himself, Kaede is too busy being a complete lesbian over female Natsuru, Akane is too busy giggling or shooting stuff, Mikoto is pretty much non-existant, and Shizuku, as awesome as her devious plans are, develops the generic harem love for the main character.
Enjoyment/Overall [6/5]: Shizuku pretty much makes the show watchable. Other than that, it's just a complete waste of time to watch the girls constantly bicker over each other like little girls over their favorite Barbie doll. The show's pacing is so terrible that the actual plot ends prematurely and the last episode ends up being a completely useless filler episode about body switching. Even if they ended it on an open note so they can continue onto a second season, that will probably fail just as much as the first season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 18, 2009
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is a breath of fresh air amidst all the crazy ridiculous shows filled with giant mecha, deadly monsters, hot chicks, and moe guitar plucking girls. It takes a seemingly normal life of a bratty teenager and literally shakes up her world as she confronts the very face of humanity.
Story [9]: Mirai is one of those bratty teenagers who is entering that stage of life where they just simply hate everything and anything. Being dragged to a robot exhibition by her younger brother Yuuki, in Odaiba, a catastrophic earthquake hits Tokyo and the city falls into chaos. The story follows Mirai's journey home
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as she is accompanied by her brother and their guardian, Mari. It slowly paces itself through 11 episodes as Mirai and co. meet new people, and face the reality of such a life altering event. The pacing does seem slow at times, and there were certain events that could've been handled better, but it comes to a strong end as she reaches her destination.
Art [7]: The animation is definitely not the strong point of this show. The character models were mediocre at best, and there were parts where it was just simply full of QUALITY. The backgrounds however, were designed quite well plus a mixture of CGI models interacting in the background gives it life. The OP and ED were done well consisting of montages of a ruined Tokyo. For a show that's not focused around sexy looking chicks or big bad explosions, the artwork by BONES is acceptable.
Sound [8]: There wasn't a lot of memorable music in the show but it does the job. The BGM is calm and serene as it is sharp and chaotic, and fits most of the scenes well. It's not like you really need some jarring suspenseful action music when you see buildings falling into pieces and such.
The voices fit the characters well. Mirai sounds like how a teenager should sound. Yuuki and Mari's voice job was done well too. They should like their own age, unlike some other characters in other shows where 16 year old girls would have deep silent voices, etc.
The OP, done by abingdon boys school, doesn't exactly get you pumped up and excited, but rather brings a sense of melancholic urgency. The ED fits in where it should be. An ending theme of everyday life as Mirai and co. look forward towards their destination.
Character [9]: There wasn't a huge cast nor was it centered on many characters. The show reveals how humanity can react in such a crisis. There will always be the rash unreasonable people but there will always be the shining lights of hope who will assist you when you need it most.
Mirai got the brunt of all the development that was there in the show. She started off as a bratty teenager who rejects everything around her, like a prepubescent teenager should be, and slowly changes through the show as she faces the harsh reality that she's in. Yuuki is pretty much the catalyst in all of her development as he's the basic opposite of Mirai's initial personality. Yuuki was your typical happy kid. As the show progresses, we see a more mature face to his chippy exterior as he traverses through the desolate Tokyo city. Mari was their faithful guardian as she led them through the ruined city, in search of her own family. Mari started out as the cool, responsible, and protective character but as she finds out the whereabouts of her family, it is revealed that she is human just like everyone else.
Enjoyment/Overall [9/8]: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is not filled with giant beam shooting mecha. It doesn't have scantily clad magical girls. It has no moe school girl clubs nor giant tentacled monsters. It is a slice of a possible life that faces Tokyo in the modern day. The show may have its setbacks, but it is a show that reveals what realities we take for granted. It takes the everyday lives of regular people and turns their world upside down in the aftermath of an event that can happen to us all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 25, 2009
Isshoni Training, or rather Training with Hinako, is supposedly meant to be an OVA to encourage shameless otaku into exercising whether it be actual exercising for them or just a good old hand workout.
Story: What makes it even more hilarious is that there's an actual plot to it, if you can even call it that. The OVA actually starts off with a real life girl watching TV when she is suddenly sucked into it and is transformed into an anime character (Hinako). Of course we don't find out why this happens nor does it really matter. Not to mention Hinako is also a supporting actress
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in some mahou shougo anime as depicted in the ED.
Art: The animation is simple. Nothing groundbreaking needed to show off a girl doing exercise while her breasts are jiggling up and down. Most of it is just loops of her doing the exercise but several of the loops at least have a different variation of clothing from her regular top and shorts to school gym wear (including bloomers no doubt) and her doing squats in her bra and panties. There are also closeup of her breasts at the end while she's doing some hopping shit.
Sound: Uh... the bgm is simple enough? There's also some music playing for a half ass'd mahou shoujo ED. Hinako has the typical squeaky anime girl voice. They do have bouncing sound effects for her breasts if that counts for anything.
Character: Hinako was sucked into a TV and transformed into an anime character when she was in middle school. Now she's 16 years old and is an actress. She totally digs exercising too and she's pretty hot and stacked for a 16 year old.
Enjoyment/overall: Epic lulz factor is pretty high for this. Unless you're seriously intending on exercising while watching this, this is nothing more than blatant fanservice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 29, 2008
There will be no comparison between this anime and the manga
Kannagi is a 13 episode series that drives its plot through comedy and character interaction. When the fall season started, I originally wasn't going to watch this show since the whole goddess popping out of nowhere fiasco has been done numerous times. Once I saw the OP however, I decided to take a look at the first episode and I was definitely glad that I took this up. It takes the conventional "boy meets girl" theme and builds it up with plenty of interaction, parody, and drama.
Story: The plot starts off rather strong and fast
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with our protagonist, Mikuriya Jin, encountering a goddess called Nagi that has taken its vessel out of a carving Jin made from the local shrine's holy tree. The plot contains no action packed scenes of Nagi trying to banish great evil impurities but it instead drives the plot with comedic devices. The comedy is the show's main driving force. The interactions between the characters are all amusing even if they're bickering over the simplest things. The pure randomness of the humor adds in the extra feel that makes the comedy even all the more funnier.
The original plot unfortunately gets lost in the middle of the series with several episodes dedicated to nothing but comedic interaction between the characters but it ends with a strong finish in the last two to three episodes.
Art: The animation is not exactly the most crisp and clear cut state-of-the-art work but it's the way the animation flows seamlessly together that makes it great. Each scene has many small intricate movements such as a flick of hair waving about or background characters that actually move to even the sleeve of a shirt moving about in the wind. This makes the scenes appear to be natural and alive, not stiff and lacking.
Sound: The soundtrack is not a great memorable collection of BGM that'll have you scrambling for the OST. The high points of it would have to be both the OP and ED. Both of them shows a sharp contrast in how the anime is driven. The upbeat OP details the slice of life and comedic moments while the mellow ED details the seriousness and melancholy of the show.
The VAs are great too in bringing out the emotions in each scene, whether it be comedic or serious. Tomatsu Haruka not only does a great job at both OP and ED, she truly brings out the character of Nagi straight off the paper.
Character: There are only very few characters who actually receives an ample amount of development but the great supporting cast just brings everybody together. The various dialect between the characters just seem natural and it shows a lot of personality to all of them even if they don't have any large amount of development given to them.
And not to mention the main male character is actually pretty damn normal (except for his strange ability to see impurities). He's not a hot-headed brawns-over-brains idiot. He's not an annoying arrogant bastard. He's not a self-righteous piece of shit. He's just a completely normal guy who goes to high school. Nagi is a great character herself. She may appear to be slightly arrogant but the way she goes about doing things is just pure hilarious. She'll go off on how she's a great goddess and doesn't get all bitchy when Jin will occasionally smack her upside the side.
Kannagi has a great cast of supporting characters too. The supporting characters have some of the best lines in the whole show. From Akiba's "It's a Sony" line to Takako's karaoke concert, the supporting cast gives great development towards the main characters.
Enjoyment/Overall: Kannagi may have had its plot get lost somewhere in the middle, but its comedy more than fulfills its part. It's supported by a great cast of different characters and the different little scenarios they get themselves into is great. Kannagi is a fun little show with some very lulz moments and is able to deliver a strong finish too with its plot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 5, 2008
OMGZ ANOTHER BLEACH REVIEW. At least I'm not giving out mostly 10s for some strange reason! *Chapter 355 is the latest chapter, excluding all sidestories such as the Hitsugaya sidestory and the Pendulum Arc*
Bleach is an on-going manga by Kubo Tite. It is part of the holy trinity of never-ending shounen manga (along with Naruto and One Piece). I haven't read One Piece but I believe Bleach is superior to Naruto in many ways. It does not feature orange jumpsuits or straw hats but a black robed GOD OF DEATH AKA a Shinigami.
The anime is mediocre at best but like every other show based on
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never-ending manga, this show has its fair share of fillers.
Story: The story flows through two main arcs, with several smaller arcs in between. The first arc, called the Soul Society arc, introduces the readers to the world of Bleach and its many supporting characters and lore. It pits our protagonist characters against the denizens of Soul Society in what seems to be a rescue mission with an ulterior motive by some of the other central key figures.
The second main arc (which is still going on) however, seems like a rehash of the first arc but there is yet to be seen if some huge plot twist will occur or not.
The pacing of the story at times can get dragged on but that is to be expected in a shounen manga that has yet to end. There is plenty of dialogue and sometimes there's too much of it. Same can be said of the action. Countless battles one after another gets a bit tiring but it's acceptable once Kubo Tite inserts a twist here and there.
The story basically stars Kurosaki Ichigo, who at an early age, can see spirits. He gets attacked by a corrupted spirit called a Hollow and is saved by a Shinigami named Kuchiki Rukia. With a little help from Rukia, Ichigo manages to become a Shinigami himself. His Shinigami influence gives birth to unique latent powers to two of his friends, Yasutora Sado (Chad), and Inoue Orihime. Along with the Quincy (a group of humans who possess supernatural powers now nearly extinct) Ishida Uryuu, the four of them enter Soul Society to rescue Rukia after she was questionably imprisoned by the Soul Society government.
Art: The art in this manga is probably some of the best I've seen. They have a unique appearance that is quite recognizable and the characters are very detailed on their own. From huge bulking muscles on the body of the old Shinigami commander to the large chested females running around, each character has their own distinct appeal. Not to mention Kubo Tite really likes to draw large chested women... not that it's THAT bad of a thing.
Character: Like every other never-ending shounen, Bleach has a very large cast of characters. The manga focuses mainly on about 5 or 6 of these characters but the other supporting cast gets a fair amount of screentime when the moment comes. In the more recent chapters, several of the supporting characters are finally getting their 15 minutes of fame in battle.
There is quite an amount of development for many of the characters in Bleach. There's pretty much every character archetype possibly found in Bleach. Whether you like the short tempered guy who always starts the fights, or the arrogant looking guy that doesn't say much, to the flirtatious endowed women, there is enough personality to go around.
Enjoyment/Overall: Bleach is one of those shounen manga that gets the heat for being generic and never ends with crappy plot or ridiculous characters. Even if that may be true to some eyes, Bleach is also a manga that caters to the fans. It's filled with action (although somewhat dragged on sometimes) and it has its fill of dramatic and emotional moments. I enjoy Bleach much more than I do Naruto because it simply catches on for me with its artistic style.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 29, 2008
Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.01 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE is the first of 4 movie adaptations to the Neon Genesis Evangelion series. The movie series is not to be taken as a complete retelling of the original NGE series as it will eventually contain new content never before seen in the original. The first movie starts off relatively similar to the first few episodes of NGE up to the 6th Angel's battle.
Story: Ikari Shinji is the 14 year old son of Ikari Gendo, the commander of NERV. Shinji arrives at Tokyo-3 to find out he will be piloting Eva Unit 01 to fight off against the
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Angels. He questions why he is doing this but pilots Eva anyway in an attempt to find the answer to his question. The movie ends with the decisive battle against Ramiel, the 6th Angel.
The story removes plenty of excess interaction Shinji had in his school in the original show. The story still flows well though, all the important scenes are still in place. Ramiel's battle had the most change when compared to original battle. Operation Yashima was lengthened and more refined. It definitely gave the movie a worthy finale battle. The movie ends with the introduction of Seele and Kaworu (who was introduced late in the original series), to open up a more refined transition to Rebuild 2.0.
Art: The art was completely upgraded with today's animation and there are several small changes that brings the life of Evangelion through even more. The movie makes use of subtle CGI effects and makes the animation seem more natural when flipping through the CGI scenes. The scenery is much more apocalyptic looking to really drive in the world of Eva.
Sound: Most of the NGE music can be found in the movie as well as new tracks. The music playing during Ramiel's fight probably stands out the most for me. The movie also included Utada Hikaru's Beautiful World as its theme.
Character: Shinji once again returns as the emotional and distraught young man along with Rei and the original cast. The relationship between Misato and Shinji is shown more apparent and earlier than the original series did. There didn't seem to be too much of Rei interaction in the movie though as compared to the original.
Enjoyment/Overall: I am not a huge Eva fan as a lot of other people are. I personally did not find NGE super amazing but the movie does well in transitioning a decade+ old show into the new age. I will be looking forward to Rebuild 2.0 and hopefully there will not be as much inner-soul-seeking-distraught-emotional-journeys as the original series had in its final episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 6, 2008
Negima!? is not to be confused with Mahou Sensei Negima!. They're part of the same universe, but are completely different stories. Negima!? is produced by SHAFT, and their crazy experimental presence is definitely noted in this show.
Story: Negima!? takes a completely different direction from its counterpart, deviating from the manga storyline. The first episode opens up with the final battle between the Thousand Master and Evangeline McDowell. Evangeline gets turned into a loli form and we then start the story with Negi Springfield. Negi starts his teaching career over at an all-girls school. The crazy mischief starts when it's revealed to his students that Negi
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is really a magician.
Note that this show is for comedic purposes, and should not be taken in serious comparison to the manga storyline. The plot paces itself fairly well and we get a lot of insight on the lesser known characters in each episode.
Art: SHAFT's strange art style is presented in the form of Negima!? The character designs are crisp, the art is fluid, and we get some colorful environments all around. Some of the characters look a tad bit different than their counterparts in Mahou Sensei Negima! but it still works in perfection.
Not to mention they make some excellent work of Asuna's hair.
Sound: The soundtrack of Negima!? is nothing too special. It has some nice quirky music during the episodes and transitions nicely when it gets to the 'dramatic' parts. What stands out the most is the OP of Negima!? The song is sung by the various voice actresses of all the students and has several different variations. Not to mention a full length song of the OP was in episode 19.
Character: Unlike the Mahou Sensei Negima! anime, Negima!? gives plenty of screen time to all the girls in the class. For such a large cast of characters, we get to see everyone participate in the anime. We also get introduced to some new characters in Shichimi and Motsu and a few others. From Shichimi's strange body contortions to Motsu's epic "...in a good way" line, this dynamic duo is probably the highlight of the characters.
Enjoyment/Overall: Some people hate this series because it's not part of the Mahou Sensei Negima! line or it's crap because SHAFT ruined everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed this series because it has its funny moments and because it's a different approach to an already on-going series.
Unfortunately, subs are nearly non-existant as Mahora Academy simply reduced subbing to one episode per 7 months after episode 20. Whatever the case, we're down to waiting for these slowpokes or for Funimation to release their DVDs. Hopefully they won't trash Negima!?'s dub... in a good way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 31, 2008
Dragonauts is another anime done by Gonzo. This show shows some promise, but due to certain presentation of its characters and style, it pretty much falls back quite a bit.
Story: The beginning of the show starts off with a young Kamashina Jin as he witnesses his family's deaths as their space shuttle gets blown to bits by a mysterious falling object from space. The main plot then follows an older Kamashina Jin as he gets thrust into a world of government secrets concerning "dragons", envoys sent by a living asteroid... thing called Thanatos floating around the remains of Pluto. Enter the Dragonauts, an elite team
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of humans paired up with their own artificially born Dragon. Jin and the Dragonauts are on opposing sides at first, but a government conspiracy eventually leads them to the same objective. The plot progresses at a fair pace and even has a nice short timeskip to compliment its mid-climax.
Art: The character designs are done by the very same man who did the designs for Witchblade... so you can definitely expect lots of women with unnatural proportioned bodies. The show also makes use of CGI for its dragon battles. The CGI is not very good looking as it clashes with its 2D counterpart if you even dare to compare them. The dragons themselves all have unique looks to them but it is hard to determine if the dragons are suppose to be organic beings or some kind of bio-mecha. Other than that, the art is decent except for weird proportioned women but you can never forget Sieglinde's 6th finger. Good job, Gonzo.
Sound: The music in the show is nothing special. All the tracks are not memorable enough. There are your generic suspenseful themes and romance themes and of course your action themes. I can't even write anything about it since I forgot what music the show even had.
Character: Never has a show made me hate so many characters before. I will say that the main characters have their fair share of development but the supporting characters don't shine much.
Jin is one of those "I-don't-want-to-fight-anymore" guys that does nothing but tries to talk his way out of life and death situations and Kazuki is one of those annoying cretins that just keeps coming back to kill our beloved hero blind to the fact that he's a complete asshole. I hate Kazuki as much as I hate Kururugi Suzaku. Other than that, everybody just seems... completely flat.
Enjoyment/Overall: I had hoped this show redeemed itself constantly especially through its character department but is still fairly disappointed. If you focus solely on the story, you might enjoy it some but other than that, everything else just completely ruins a potentially decent shounen show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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