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What makes anime such a fantastic medium is that directors aren't subjected to the confines of reality. In other words, they can manipulate the scene as much as they please to create symbolic effects: patterns imposed on silhouettes, a character's eye moving on a white surface, and distorted colours just to name a few. Personally, I can't see how live-action cinema can take those techniques and apply them to the actors without making it feel weird and awkward.

Ef: A Tale of Memories stretches the artistic boundaries of anime by making you ask yourself "What just happened" at the end of every episode but also leaving ... you dumbfounded by the exquisite imagery. Ef follows 2 stories: the tale of Hiro the up and coming shoujo manga artist and the journey of Renji, a normal high school student with a passion for writing. Being a romance driven anime, Hiro is set up with Miyako, a frequently-absent girl with a mysterious past, and Kei, his childhood friend. On the other path, Renji encounters Chihiro, the twin sister of Kei, at an abandoned train station. He takes a fascination in this girl and soon meets up with her everyday at the same train station. As he gets closer to her, he realizes that Chihiro has a strange condition that throws a wrench into their relationship (hint: like One Week Friends).

Being that the anime follows two stories at once, it was confusing keeping track of whose story belonged to whom but as I grew closer to the characters, it was not difficult to follow. The story takes you on a wild, psychedelic rollercoaster ride. What I mean is picture your favourite feels story and on top of that, add Picasso's cubism artwork. In a way, the art serves as the main driver of the story and without it, the romance would have been like any other love triangle story.
The romance elicits the tears, the cheers, and the throwing-laptop-across-the-room feelings. However, although I enjoy watching stories with love triangles, Hiro's love triangle is not one that is very original. On the other hand, Chihiro's story is the one that will have you wondering where that onion-chopping ninja is hiding.

Ef has a solid cast of characters. All of them struggle to find their desires and inevitably, they find out that the process is gut-wrenching. My favourite character would have to be Miyako because I found her backstory the most appealing and also the most supportive of why she acts the way she does. Compared to the animation and background art, the character designs do feel underwhelming but nevertheless, they are very attractive to the eye.

The animation. Where do I begin? Shaft did an incredible job. If you showed this anime to someone who has only seen post-2010 shows, they wouldn't have guessed Ef: A Tale of Memories was made in 2007. Shaft's animation is similar to ufotable's action sequences: smooth, crisp, and meaningful. The only downside to Shaft's unique animation is that it is not for everyone. It is abstract and perhaps steals the spotlight from the story. If you prefer your anime to be very realistic, Ef is on the opposite side of your spectrum. Either way, you will remember the animation for a very long time.

The music was decent and the OP is pretty catchy. I would say the voice actors did a good job conveying the emotions of the characters, especially during tender, heart-breaking moments.

Overall, Ef: A Tale of Memories is a great anime. It's an anime whose art will always be remembered as bold and whose animation is modern. For any fans of romance and as well as anyone who appreciates great art, this is an anime to watch.

Gosick has something for everyone. Romance? Check. Drama? Check. Mystery? Check. Action? Check. Ecchi? … Well, I guess not.

It is 1924 and Kujo "enrolls" in a study abroad program to attend St. Marguerite Academy, which is located in the fictional European nation of Sauville. Nicknamed the "Grim Reaper" for his black hair and (conveniently) black school uniform, Kujo struggles to fit in amongst his classmates until he goes into the school library and meets a rather short girl named Victorique De Blois. Little did he know that he will soon become Victorique's manservant. Victorique doesn't go to class but she reads books all day ... in a Hogwarts-esque library. So, she is constantly bored and she begins to nag Kujo to bring her interesting stories. With her self-proclaimed "wellspring of wisdom" and Kujo's adventurousness, the tag team begins to uncover convoluted mysteries in Sauville that some people have thought were unsolvable.

Saying anything more would deprive you of the epic rollercoaster ride that is Gosick. This anime has many interesting twists and turns that keeps you on the edge of your seat. However, Victorique seems to have unraveled the mystery before it even begins. It doesn't seem like any of the mystery is a challenge to her and perhaps those of you who are searching for a slightly less over-powered main character may be disappointed. The anime does have many dark elements to it: grisly murders, ghosts, and overzealous cults. Thrilling as they may be but if you are someone who watches scary films with a pillow in front of your eyes (like me), avoid watching Gosick at night.

Although Gosick is listed as a romance anime, the romantic aspects don't come through until the latter half. However, this allows for the writers to meticulously build up the relationship between the main characters and have it all release towards the end. This is one of the aspects that the script got it right. Many times, the romance seems to pop out of the blue or poorly expressed but Gosick takes a very logical approach to developing the romantic dynamics. While the romance cannot compare to drama/romance anime, it is nevertheless very satisfying to experience.

There is a lively cast of characters in Gosick and there is not one character who seems to be out of place. As he proudly calls himself, Kujo is the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier. He is pretty light-headed but when his partner Victorique can't think straight, he picks up the slack. For me, Kujo is an annoying character because he's like a fly in a room. He aimlessly wanders about and gets himself into trouble despite Victorique warning him. Thankfully, he's brave and stubborn because that gets him out of many situations.
Victorique is the female lead and she is a fascinating character to watch. She has the personality of a rock but when given candy, she can turn as cute as a puppy. Her character development can be neatly described as peeling an onion. Every episode of Gosick is peeling off one layer of Victorique's character until we get to the very end. Indeed, what's at the center of the onion is very delicious.
Grevil De Blois is an inspector who is very well-known in Sauville for solving seemingly unsolvable mysteries. Of course, we all know who his consultant is. He sports a narwhal hairstyle and is pretty much arrogant all of the time. But similar to Victorique's character development, we get to eventually see his true personality.
There is also Avril, who is one of Kujo's classmates and is jealous that Kujo constantly spends time with Victorique. She is mainly there for comic relief but she does get involved in a mystery.
There are many more characters but they are gradually introduced in the story. This is what makes Gosick very exciting: new characters constantly join the party.

The music was very good. The background music was similar to listening to symphonies: lots of strings and brass. The OP was solid and the first ED was very catchy. You probably would find yourself singing the first few lines whenever it starts to play. The voice acting was also very well done, especially Victorique's voice actor. The feelings that were heard through her voice in the last few episodes were amazing.

The art and animation was well-done as well. The background scenery were incredibly detailed and all the characters had their unique style. Bones did the animation and they also did Noragami, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Soul Eater. Indeed, they can produce some solid art.

Overall, this anime kept me wanting to know what happens next until I was very disappointed to know that I had reached the final episode. If you are looking for a solid anime, give Gosick a try! Perhaps the only people who wouldn't like Gosick would be those who hate plot twists. Also, it would be very interesting to see what happens if the characters in Hyouka, especially Oreki, met Gosick's cast. Oh how many more mysteries will there be?!

Let me know how you thought of Gosick! Did you have a favourite mystery? I would love to hear from you!

Love should be a two-way street but this anime, Itazura na Kiss, believes that it can work on a one-way as well.

Itazura na Kiss follows Kotoko who is a very devoted high school student not to her studies but to one smart and good-looking boy named Naoki Irie. Rather than being the usual shy girl, Kotoko hands Irie a confession letter hoping that he would accept it but obviously he doesn't. So, she embarks on a journey to win Irie's heart and conveniently, a rather small earthquake destroys her home and she ends up living with Irie.

The plot follows a very standard shoujo formula: ... normal girl likes really attractive guy, guy may not like girl (in Irie's case, detests Kotoko), but guy eventually warms up to the girl, and everything is rosy. What makes Itazura na Kiss stand out, in a bad sense, is the second part of the shoujo plotline: guy may not like girl. While it is interesting to see the guy abhor the girl from the start, it does not logically make sense even after their relationship deepens that Irie still despises Kotoko and that Kotoko is alright with Irie being that way. If I was Kotoko, I would leave Irie to go for a man who cares about me and understands my feelings.

It is unfortunate that this anime is frequently brought up with Clannad: AS. Without spoiling too much, Itazura na Kiss does have a similar story trajectory as Clannad: AS but it fails to live up to the thematic elements masterfully expressed in Clannad: AS. Although I have yet to see the other anime recommended, I believe that Itazura na Kiss is unique for the way it handled the relationship between Irie and Kotoko.

There is a lively cast of characters in Itazura na Kiss. In fact, I would say that what prevented Itazura na Kiss to be an utter flop is its side characters. They lead interesting lives, come from different backgrounds, and seem to be more human than our two lead characters.
The two leads are Kotoko and Irie. Kotoko is your usual clumsy shoujo female lead. She is very stubborn in her feelings but I am wary if such a personality is inspiring in real-life compared to the 2D screen. Ladies: if a guy doesn't like you, please don't try to force him to like you. There's a fine line drawn for how passionate you can be for someone. The main male lead is Naoki Irie and he is a very cold man. He is brilliant at his studies, but his relationship IQ is pretty darn low. He emotionally hurts Kotoko many times and although Kotoko is okay with that, I do not forgive him. Like most of the other characters in the anime, I can't quite picture what Kotoko sees in Irie.
Kotoko, like any other shoujo female lead, has her entourage of a pretty and vain girl, Satomi, and an ugly girl, Jinko. However, they get little development in the story. If they did, my ear drums would hate to hear more of Jinko's hoarse voice.
Along with that entourage is Kinnosuke, a devout lover for Kotoko. Ironically, he is portrayed as a clueless guy at the beginning but yet he eventually becomes, in my opinion, the most mature character of the entire cast. He loses Kotoko to Irie but he does not lose sight of his goal to open his own restaurant and starts a new life without Kotoko. He understands how to let go, a notion that the main characters seem to not have registered.
The other interesting side characters are: Sudou, a fervent tennis player, Nobuhiro, a boy with kidney problems, Keita, the Jacob Black of Itazura na Kiss, and Matsumoto Yuuko, an attractive and potential rival to Kotoko. Their unique stories lend the spice that made Itazura na Kiss bearable.

Given that Itazura na Kiss was released in 2008, the art is not very pleasing to the eye if you prefer artwork from those released in 2010 and after. However, even for its time, I would say the anime's artwork is not particularly outstanding. The colours are faded and the background art seems to be lifeless.

The soundtrack is forgettable but the second ending music was very catchy. The anime caught me by surprise when it inserted a Japanese rap song in an episode. That was very interesting but perhaps the anime needed that injection of power or else the show would fall off the map. The voice actors were solid but once again, Jinko's voice can shatter mirrors across the galaxy.

Overall, Itazura na Kiss is an alright anime if you don't look too deeply into the characters. As a fan of romance, I wouldn't rate it very highly but if you enjoy watching anime that takes the relationship beyond high school, then you will enjoy this anime. If you prefer anime with deeper and more human relationships, you may find yourself a hard time getting into Itazura na Kiss.

Did you like the relationship between Kotoko and Irie? Let me know! I would love to hear from you!

*Note: This is a review of Season 1 and some aspects of Season 2 of Chihayafuru*

Passion. Determination. Conviction. Those ideas can carry the human spirit to great distances. But sometimes, just having those in your mind are not enough. You also need talent. As someone who has competed in sporting and music competitions, I know firsthand how it feels when you carry passion for the thing you're doing but compared to someone who is talented, you will never be the best. Indeed, it can dampen your spirits but at the end of the day, it's always a great feeling to know that you gave it ... your best shot.

Chihayafuru is an anime that explores those ideas. It is a story about (competitive) Karuta, a Japanese card game. The rules are pretty simple: the players listen to the card read by a reader and attempt to be the quickest to capture that card on the mat. The first player who clears their side of the mat wins the game. Although it sounds simple, participants must be able to memorize all (or mostly all) 100 poems used in Karuta.

The story starts off with a beautiful girl (who we learn her name is Chihaya) putting up a poster in her high school (Mizusawa High School) advertising the competitive Karuta Club. However, her beauty is not supported by her manners as she frequently acts like a tomboy. While sitting on the grass one day, Chihaya meets her childhood friend, Taichi, who is attending the same school as her. They mull over about the days when she, Taichi, and one other friend, Arata, were playing Karuta together and participating in team tournaments together. The world seemed rosy to Chihaya until Arata had to move away. As a result, the dream team was disbanded and the boys started forgetting about Karuta. However, Chihaya continued to pursue her dream as being the Queen of Karuta. Seeing her passion for the game, Taichi decides to pick it up again and that brings us back to the scene at the first episode of the anime: Chihaya putting up a poster advertising the competitive Karuta Club. The first season of Chihayafuru is mostly about Taichi and Chihaya building the team to 5 players. The second season highlights how each player on the Karuta Team realizes their inner potential and displays it on the competitive stage.

What makes Chihayafuru really engaging is that there are multiple lenses you can use to appreciate the story. It is a story about growth, about teams, about passion, and about determination. There are so many elements that give Chihayafuru its flare that my review cannot do it justice. So I will only touch on the aspects that popped out for me.

The story in season one is paced very well. It captures the passion that the players have for the game. However, the anime reveals that passion for the game comes in many different forms, aside from passionately playing it. Ooe, a girl who joins the club, is passionate about the poems in Karuta. For each card, she sees a different shade of emotion and she uses those meanings to guide her to victory on the mat. Komano (or lovingly called Desktomu) is interested in analyzing player patterns and the statistical side of Karuta and he uses his niche to help his teammates play smarter and realize the strengths and weaknesses of their game. Karuta is more than a game of speed and memorization. It is a game where everyone can find a thing they can like about it.

Being an anime about a competitive event, it does fall trap to the endless monologues during games. It gets even more excessive in season 2 as the story starts providing endless backstories for each team and for each player. Although we get an opportunity to understand the other players, it got to the point that even the anime made fun of itself for providing a flashback for a minor group of characters. This sort of writing puts the story back a few steps as you start pleading the anime to finish the match as soon as possible so we can see more Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata moments.

There is also a romantic storyline in the anime. If you are seeking an anime with lots of moments where characters are confessing their feelings for each other, Chihayafuru does not do that. The anime portrays romance as a driving force that pushes our characters towards their goal. Though as the audience, we can see that the romance is heavily implied. Hence, the sprinkled romance provides the spice to the show but is not one of the foundational tastes.

Although there are only 3 main and many more supporting characters, there are no useless characters to the anime. I can almost describe the cast as an actual team where everyone is doing something to help the progression of the story. Despite the great chemistry between all the characters, the main characters are still in the spotlight. They are Taichi, Chihaya, and Arata.
Taichi is your typical high school heart throb. He's smart, handsome, and everything else a girl sees in her ideal boy. He is pretty good at Karuta but being around brilliant Karuta players, he doubts his playing ability. He also has this thing for Chihaya but, without spoiling too much, let's say that like how he sees his Karuta ability, he needs to have more confidence in himself.
Arata is another heart throb in his own way. Armed with his glasses and snake-like reflexes, he snatches cards off the mat like they are his prey. He's a Karuta prodigy but he is also Chihaya's first teacher. So, he becomes immortalized in Chihaya's mind as a Karuta deity. Despite being a top player, he is not at all arrogant. In fact, neither Taichi nor Arata are. They are both humble men who are passionate about their sport.
Chihaya is the story's central figure. Aptly nicknamed "a beauty in vain," Chihaya sports the beautiful looks but doesn't have the "female charms" to make her the Queen of her high school. However, her charm comes from her passion for Karuta and her relentless pursuit of perfection. She defines the word obsessed because Karuta is food and water for her. It also helps that she has a knack for Karuta but still lacks the final touches to make her the best in the game.

All three characters develop very well by the end of two seasons. However, out of the two male MCs, Taichi develops the most as he is given the most screen time. He develops from being a boy who has almost given up on Karuta, to playing it but doubting his playing abilities, and finally to being able to recognize that he can play his style of Karuta as successfully as any of the top players. On the romantic frontier, as a child he saw Arata and Chihaya as his friends but once he gets into high school and starts the Karuta Club with Chihaya, his feelings towards Chihaya change. What makes him a complex character in this respect is that he realizes how Chihaya sees Arata and he must struggle to decide how he can convey his feelings for her while still being friends with Arata. Arata becomes his rival not only on the playing mat, but also in the war of love.
Due to the fact that he has limited screen time, Arata is not shown much development. However, he does overcome his reason for not playing Karuta and once he picks it up, he excels at it. The main struggle that he faces while playing Karuta is that he only plays individually and the only time he ever played as a team was with Taichi and Chihaya. He is the character who questions what is the purpose of a team, and how is playing as a team different compared to playing individually?
Chihaya's development is focused on how she develops as a player, moving from form to form and realizing her unique abilities that can help her win matches. Throughout both seasons, she experiences many losses and as a viewer, it gets frustrating to see our favourite female lead lose matches but as a character, she grows from those experiences to become a great player. Another interesting aspect of her development centers on how she sees Arata. Being her first teacher, she respects him but gradually, her respect grows into admiration and possibly into worshipping Arata as a God. The anime begs the question: what sort of love does she have for Arata? It is a fact that she adores him as a friend but is it to the level of romantic love? Her image of Arata is very complex and the anime leaves it to the audience to decide how they want her to see Arata.

The main supporting characters are those involved in Mizusawa's Karuta Club: Ooe, Komano (Desktomu), and Nishida (Porky). These characters do not get much development as they primarily serve as guides who help point Chihaya and Taichi in the right direction. As mentioned earlier, Ooe is passionate about the poems and Komano is a Karuta stats guru. They help show that Karuta is more than a game of memorization and swiftness. I could not see what Nishida brought to the story other than being the other good Karuta player in the club.
In the second season, the club adds two additional members named Sumire, and Tsukuba. Sumire joins Karuta for the mere reason of getting closer to Taichi. As a result, if you have not recognized that Taichi has the hots for Chihaya, Sumire points it out for you. Tsukuba is in the story for comedic purposes as he makes his signature creepy face when playing games. The character juggling in the second season starts to get out of hand as the anime treats any character who has a line as a supporting or even as a main character. There are just too many backstories to tell that I want to say to the anime that it's alright if we don't know Player #5's onion-cutting tale of their path to success because they will not appear again.

On the technical side, the art in Chihayafuru is fabulous. Madhouse did a fantastic job of drawing all the characters to reasonable proportions. Chihaya is drawn very beautifully and makes her stand out as the female MC. Taichi is also well done in that he has realistic body proportions rather than the outrageous arm and leg lengths seen in typical shoujo anime. The colouring is also fantastic. Madhouse used very luscious colours especially when it came to the background scenery and the kimonos. The hand motions of the Karuta players were also drawn very realistically and it is evident that the studio did their research on how Karuta players move in game. Chihayafuru is definitely one of my favourite anime when it comes to the art department.

The sound was also well done. The OST of seasons 1 leans on strings and brass, giving it a very grand atmosphere to the show. However, it does get repetitive after hearing the themes over and over again. The OP and ED of the first season were also very good. The OP is upbeat with a soft voice leading us to the episode while the ED had that ancient and classy mood to it. Second season's OST started to become unnoticeable but the OP and ED did not drop in quality at all.
The voice actors also did a fantastic job. Taichi is voiced by Miyano Mamoru who also did our favourite mad scientist Okabe Rintarou from Steins;Gate and he did not disappoint at all (but no evil laugh this time). Chihaya is voiced by the lovely Seto Asami who also did Matsuyuki from AnoHana and also the ED for both seasons of Chihayafuru. She portrayed Chihaya very well, capturing her quirky, erratic, but yet very passionate personality. Arata is voiced by Yuka Terasaki who did a very good male voice, capturing Arata's soft nature.

Overall, Chihayafuru is a very good anime. If you are looking for a romantic tale with a sports backdrop, you may be in for a disappointment. You may also feel underwhelmed if you are going into Chihayafuru thinking it's a "certified fresh" story. However, if you are into a good tale, with very good artwork, and don't mind learning some Karuta and Japanese poetry at the same time, definitely give Chihayafuru a shot!
In the first few episodes of the first season, I was inclined to give it a 10/10 due to the great storytelling but the anime began to slow down and lacked the "pop" it had at the beginning. Because of the high bar that season 1 set, season 2 felt slightly underwhelming (primarily because of the flashbacks) but nevertheless still told a great charming tale. I would give season 1 a 9/10 and season 2 an 8/10.

Thank you for reading my rather long review! Chihayafuru is a very good story and I would love to hear your opinions about it!! Are you a Team Taichi or Team Arata fan? Has the anime gotten you into Karuta (not me yet but I would love to play an English version of it using English poems)?

Everyone has a different love story to tell. Perhaps you fell in love through sheer persistence. Maybe it took you multiple tries (and many heartbreaks) to find the person just right for you. Maybe your love was unrequited. Or even better, you were just a bystander to the war of love.

Kimikiss Pure Rouge is an anime that tells the tale of three different love stories with each different in the way the couple approach their relationship (hint: the storylines are similar to my opening paragraph). Although I say "different," I mean that the romance is different but all the characters are friends with each ... other. The story of the anime begins with a very pretty girl, named Mao, coming home to Japan after spending a few years in France (though we don't get to hear her speak French at any point in the anime). Because her parents are still overseas, she returns home and lives with one of our main male leads, Kouichi, who is her childhood friend. Without sacrificing too many episodes, the anime plants each character into their own love ship: Kouichi and his high school crush Hoshino the librarian, Mao and the rather quiet jazz student Kai, and Kazuki (a friend of Kouichi) and the quiet and seemingly emotionless Futami. The ships sail in relatively calm waters but given that Kouichi and Mao were childhood friends…well I'll leave it there. On the other side of the sea, Kazuki and Futami's ship is hindered by the strikingly athletic soccer player Sakino and it is up to Captain Kazuki to choose either to throw Futami into the shark infested waters and welcome Sakino aboard or leave her aimlessly drifting in the sea clinging on nothing but her small lifeboat.

There are no overarching themes or explicit obstacles to overcome in the story. Kimikiss is purely a romance story. It focuses on how the characters change over the course of the story, highlighting their realizations as to what they seek in a relationship. There is a small comical side story of Narumi and Nana, two first year (?) high school students, who are on their quest to make the ultimate bowl of udon. Their quest is not particularly enticing except for the Grandpa who helps them in the process (try counting how many lines he says in 24 episodes). As long as you do not invest yourself too much in a particular ship, the ending of the anime is quite satisfying. You may find yourself choking up on the last two episodes.

A significant portion of the drama in the anime revolves around the group film project that most of our characters help develop (except for Futami and Sakino). The film they make is about two childhood lovers who come to realize their feelings for each other. Without spoiling the main actors in the student film, the writers were pretty smart in having the characters tell their true feelings for each other while as fictional characters.

I might add that the director of Kimikiss Pure Rouge, Kasai Kenichi, also did other notable anime such as, Hachimitsu to Clover, Nodame Cantabile, all three Bakuman, and a few episodes of Toradora!. That's a pretty impressive resume but the story of Kimikiss Pure Rouge doesn't live up to the good stories of those other anime (possibly he ran out of gas after doing Nodame Cantabile as this anime was aired soon after Nodame).

The characters of Kimikiss Pure Rouge fall into the standard romance archetypes: the childhood friends (Mao and Kouichi), the quiet librarian (Hoshino), the vibrant athlete (Sakino), the "sidekick" who in this case is extremely dense (Kazuki), and the also quiet but emotionless genius (Futami). Kai is the guy who doesn't fall into a category in my book at least. The anime does challenge these standards but not so dramatically that the characters feel entirely fresh. My only concern with these characters lie in Kazuki, who seems to have contracted a severe case of "dense MC." While he was at a clinic with Sakino in one episode, the doctor forgot to issue him a prescription to deal with this deadly syndrome.

On the technical side, the art was alright. If you have seen Amagami SS, then you will find the artwork to be very familiar (perhaps you'll recognize a few characters). The art was done by the same studio who brought us Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ but the art in Kimikiss lacks the charm and colour of Amagami SS. Most of the character designs are solid but Kouichi's face often seems disproportionate. What I mean by that is the distance between his eyes feel awkward, giving him a very stupid-looking face (I don't believe it had significant literary meaning to it…).

The sound is pretty decent. The OP is pretty upbeat and light compared to the emotionally heavy second ending. That second ending is really good and was well-suited to the drama that was happening in those episodes. The OST is not memorable except Futami's theme, which they happen to play it very loudly during her scenes. The voice actors were decent but not memorable. Doing a search of their resumes, I found out the voice actor for Hoshino, Koshimizu Ami, lent her voice to Holo of Spice & Wolf. Unfortunately, she was not as charismatic in this anime as she was in Spice & Wolf.

Kimikiss Pure Rouge doesn't do much to the romance genre but it's not a story that should be thrown in the trash. If you like watching pure romance anime, then I believe you would enjoy it. If you like your romance to have some sort of greater themes enveloping the story, then Kimikiss may fall off your radar.

Let me know what you think of Kimikiss Pure Rouge! Who did you ship? Did you think everyone ended up with whom they should end up? I would love to hear from you!!

In a world full of strangers, full of people who hate you, no matter which way you turn, you can't trust anyone. Even if you reach out to someone, they will only end up using you or simply outright betray you.

Sukitte Il Na Yo, or Say I Love You, builds upon that premise with an added twist: what if the first person you begin to trust is your first love? This is quite a daunting situation because trust, as well as listening to each other, and spending time together, is an important element to a healthy relationship. It is similar to being forced to ... run before learning how to walk. You just can't do it without knowing the first steps.

This is the situation that our main female character, Tachibana Mei, is in. Having been bullied and excluded by friends during her childhood, Mei has withdrawn herself into her own cocoon as she enters high school. One day, the most popular guy's friend, named Kenji, pulls Mei's skirt, provoking her. Extremely pissed off, she ends up roundhouse kicking Yamato, who is the most popular guy in the school. It seems that her kick struck a chord in Yamato and he ends up seeing Mei as a love interest. I can't speak for all guys but, to all girls out there, kicking us guys, if we don't know you, will probably not make us fall in love with you. Anyway, "Say I Love You" follows a pretty typical shoujo plot: girl has problems, girl meets prince, prince changes girl's life, girl falls in love with prince. But this is not an anime where they get together and head off into the sunset riding on a white horse at the end. In fact, Mei and Yamato get together very early in the anime. What this anime shows is how they come to understand each other while being in a relationship. The situations that the couple was placed in were very interesting, especially the first couple or so, because given Mei's lack of trust in general, you get to experience her emotional turmoil as she struggles to understand what it takes to be in a relationship. However, as the anime approached the end, the situations were falling more into the generic Shoujo situations of misunderstandings and the like.

While the primary storyline of the anime is the relationship between Mei and Yamato, there are a few subplots running about, especially near the end. I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out how those plots tied into the main story but they tie into the bigger themes of bullying, trust, and friendship. I would say the anime does a good job of weaving these small stories into the anime without having them end up feeling like fillers.

There is a relatively large cast of characters and unfortunately, most side characters don't get much development. I would say Aiko and Asami get a gradual development over the course of the story while the others seemed to just get a quick exposition and no more development afterwards. This is not a bad thing since I am seeing Sukitte for the action between Mei and Yamato but at the same time, the side characters were pretty interesting people that I wanted to understand more.
Aside from the side characters, our two main characters are pretty good. Out of the entire cast, Mei is my favourite. Mei starts off as a really insecure character but as she grows in the relationship and climbs out of her cocoon, she reveals herself as a really good and passionate person, and in my opinion, a great girl for any guy to have. Yamato is a decent guy. Like most other shoujo anime, he is a heartthrob who can claim a girl's heart simply by breathing. Although he can go overboard with his desire to help everyone, he loves Mei with all his heart. His development is mostly stagnant throughout the entire anime and he mostly serves as developing Mei's character.

The artwork in Sukitte is very good. It takes a more realistic approach with, of course, the usual characteristics of a shoujo anime: long armed and tall guys and (much to a guy's dismay) flat-as-a-board female MC (anyone get the reference to another great shoujo anime?). The colour palette showcased dim, perhaps even washed-out, colours. I thought it complemented well to the relatively quiet nature of the entire anime. The animators deserve a lot of credit as they depicted the facial expressions of the characters very well. I recall in one scene where there was little dialogue but the facial expressions and body language effectively conveyed the tense and confusing atmosphere of the situation.

The sound was well done as well. Although the soundtrack doesn't reach epic status, the music in each scene was well selected. I also enjoyed the relatively quiet OP as it complements Mei's personality and perhaps her relationship with Yamato as well. The voice actors also did a very good job. Mei's voice actor, Kayano Ai, was also the voice for Menma from AnoHana and Ibara from Hyouka while Yamato's voice actor, Sakurai Takahiro, was the voice for Matsuyuki from AnoHana (nice complement there), Suzaku from Code Geass, Jin from Sakurasou no Pet, and (for laughs) Tentomon from Digimon. Props to both of them for bringing great chemistry to Mei and Yamato.

Say I Love You is a decent anime. It is not just a story about love but also about opening up to others. Sometimes, just putting yourself out there can do wonders. Definitely give this anime a watch if you are romance fan or looking for an anime where you see how the relationship develops throughout the course of the show (rather than simply seeing the couples get together at the end)!

Let me know what you think of Sukitte Il Na Yo! I would love to hear from you!

*Note: this is a review for all 3 seasons. There may be minor spoilers but I'll warn you if I'll be mentioning one. I have also finished the manga as well so there might be some manga influences in my review (I will try to only focus on the anime though).*

After watching three seasons of The World God Only Knows (TWGOK), I'm left with one thought: I wish I have Keima's pick-up skills when he is conquering a girl. Maybe I should try picking up dating sims.

Having watched a few romance anime (and also a fan of the romance genre), it gets tiring to see ... a relationship just between two people, or occasionally a love triangle. Harems are the answer to that but it's tricky to write a good story juggling so many characters. Then, we have TWGOK. This anime combines elements from the couple relationship and the harem structure to create a grand act of conquering individual girls at a time. If you came looking for many types of ladies, TWGOK has them all.

The story in the first two seasons are relatively simple. Keima is a good-looking video game God, or rather specifically, a God of dating simulations. Romance is his oxygen and he gets it by breathing in dating simulation after dating simulation. Despite his Brad Pitt-like looks, he adamantly believes the best girls are found in the 2D world. One day while conquering a 2D girl, he is forced into a contract with a demon, (no, not like Death Note demon but a rather much cuter one) named Elsie, to extract wandering souls that have taken refuge inside a human. In order to extract the hidden soul, he must "conquer" a girl or, in other words, make her fall in love with Keima. The catch is that each girl he conquers has her memory erased of the conquest. Although there are many girls to conquer, Keima is not short of unique ways to win her heart. So strap yourselves in your seat. You will be taken on one fast romantic ride.

The story in the third season takes a different approach than the first two seasons. Due to the difference, I'll be marking things about the third season as a light spoiler because perhaps you don't want to know how the story changes. So, feel free to skip down to END LIGHT SPOILER marking. However, I will not spoil anything about the third season.



---BEGIN LIGHT SPOILER---

The third season marks the beginning of the shift in the story. Keima is still conquering the ladies but rather than being all light-hearted like in the first two seasons, this season highlights much more character development for Keima. The story has many more "feelsy" moments and more supernatural elements to it. At this point, it definitely shows the writer's own story rather than continuously poking fun at other romance stories. This defining aspect is a reason why the third season is the highest rated out of all three seasons. To provide a little teaser for/incentive to watch the third season, I will say that having conquered so many different types of girls, he is bound to find someone he admires.

But the bad thing about the third season is that it skips crucial story information. So before starting the third season, I strongly suggest reading the manga, in particular, after you finish season 2, start on chapter 41 in the manga and you can either go all the way to chapter 113, the start of season 3, or watch the OVAs "Yonin to Aidoru" (chapter 54-55) and "Tenri Arc" (chapter 57-65) and start the manga from there. The manga is a really fun read and covers even more interesting characters that the anime does not.

---END LIGHT SPOILER---



What makes TWGOK stand out for me is that the writer is not afraid to use the standard character types: the quiet type, the athletic, the Tsundere, etc. In fact, there is little to no outstanding characteristics about each of our characters. Further, the anime has a great time poking fun at the romance anime that stretches for, say, 12-24 episodes when the actual romance/action can actually be condensed into 2 episodes. Indeed, TWGOK is a parody of most romance anime out there.

Like I previously mentioned, the characters aren't particularly outstanding, except for Keima and perhaps Elsie. Keima is a relatively normal high school student who plays tons of dating simulators. But when he is on his courting A-game, he becomes a smooth-talking Channing Tatum minus the muscles. I am not sure if I can apply his methods to 3D girls (well, maybe but with a restraining order at the end) but it is damn entertaining to watch.
Elsie is a fun but mostly clueless demon partner. What she does is basically identifying where the wandering demon is hiding and securing it in a bottle. Of course, since these demon partners are visible to all mortals, Elsie pretends she is Keima's sister and lives with him. How Keima's mother doesn't mind, well it's pretty comedic, but it's not really important because Elsie is a great cleaner and she is an awesome sister as well.

We do not learn much about each girl except for some surface details, which is a bummer. They are pretty interesting people if you continue with the manga but probably due to production issues/time constraints, the anime was not able to develop their interesting aspects. So if you are going to stick with the anime, each girl will either be a hit or a miss for you. Nevertheless, the anime does a good job of highlighting the particular traits of each girl.

On the technical side, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the artwork. Keima has a relatively simple character design while Elsie gets a floating pink scarf (a.k.a. a hagoromo) and a cool skull spirit detector as a "hair pin." The what I call "derpy moments," or funny moments, are comically drawn. If you have seen a lot of romance anime, you would know what those climactic kiss moments are like and TWGOK is not lacking any of those. If you do not know what I am referring to, it is basically the moment when the male protagonist takes the hand of the girl and pulls her into his arms in slow mo for that eventful kiss. It's super cliché but it's sure darn funny to watch.

The OST is nothing to rave about except maybe for the opening theme of all three seasons. They are sung in English and executed very well. Sung in a monastery style, it definitely reflects the fact that we are watching an episode of God in action. I always watch anime subbed so for the first few episodes of season 1, my ears could not believe that I was listening to an OP sung in English. But I eventually ended up liking the OP, especially the one for season 3. The ending theme was also well done.

TWGOK is one fun ride. It has the laughs, the romance, and most importantly, it has the God. I think I may have picked up a thing or two about getting a girl to like me. Hopefully I didn't miss any disclaimers about the anime, like "Don't try this at home." Anyway, this anime may not be for you if you absolutely loathe cliché character types but if you like romance and comedy, or a light-hearted anime, definitely give TWGOK a look (and its manga as well)!

Let me know what you thought of TWGOK! Which girl did you think was the best? Do you have a favourite character type? I would love to hear from you!

P.S. For those who have seen all three seasons of the anime (no manga characters), this is my list of best girl:

1. Ayumi
1. Taylor Swift, whoops!, I meant Kanon
3. Chihiro
4. Shiori
5. Jun
6. Tenri

Can love really transcend time? Is it that magical? In my 21 short years on this Earth, I haven't fallen in love so I am not really sure what a real romance entails but after watching 5 Centimeters per Second, perhaps my wonders have been answered.

5 Centimeters per Second is a relatively short animated movie with a run time of 63 minutes. It is divided into 3 chapters with each one depicting a different stage in Tohno's, our main character, life. For a brief summary, the first chapter is about his childhood and his first love, Akari. The second chapter explores how distance affects a ... relationship but also presents an opportunity for a second chance, Sumida. Finally, the third chapter is mostly about the aftermath and potentially reconciliation.

The best description I can think of for this movie is that it is like a poem. There is almost no extraneous chit-chatter and Tohno basically delivers his narration through many symbols. It seemed that the script writers were carefully selecting every word of dialogue that Tohno and the other side characters would say. At times it gets cryptic, especially the imagery, but it's meant to be dissected upon completing the movie. But even then, you still might end up scratching your head wondering what exactly did that dialogue or monologue meant. It's definitely a change from the mainstream romance anime where the meaning of certain lines can be spread across multiple episodes.

Since to me 5 Centimeters per Second is like a poem, it is pretty open as to what you take out of the film. In fact, how the movie will speak to you will be based on what kinds of relationships you have developed during your life. If you are like me who has not been in any sort of relationship, you may find yourself wondering about any missed opportunities where you could have told someone how you felt. For me, the second arc was the most touching. It echoed my past and made wonder: what could have happened if I confessed my feelings? For others, it may be the first arc where you are in your first romance or maybe the last arc, where you have ventured deep into a tunnel and are trying to find the light at the end. 5 centimeters per Second touches on many issues and how you relate to them depends on the things you have experienced.

It's difficult to describe the characters as there was not much emphasis highlighting the characteristics of each one. The characters are almost subservient to the story crafted for them, especially Tohno. However, I would say Akari is the one who breaks out of her role and takes charge of her own destiny.

On the technical side, the art is stunning. The falling snow is very realistic and definitely captures the ruthlessness of nature. One thing that I found particularly interesting was that there were very few scenes that were brightly coloured. Most of the time, the characters were huddled in darkness or walking under a sunset sky. The character design is very simplistic, highlighting the fact that there is not a huge emphasis on the character. Overall, the imagery is absolutely a feast for the eyes.

The music is very soft and mostly provides background "mood lighting." I particularly enjoyed how the sound directors chose sounds from everyday life: doors closing, PA announcements, tubs falling over, and trucks passing by, just to name a few. This atmosphere places the audience in a very realistic world. The highlight track is the final song that plays at the end. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful texture, it was simply a beautiful song for a beautiful final sequence.

That all said, I think I would have enjoyed this film even more if I had more experience in romantic relationships and life in general. My life resumé is pretty dull so I still have a long journey to go. Like many kinds of red wine, this film will probably taste better as it ages.

I would recommend this film to any slice of life fans and possibly romance fans as well (it may depend on what kind of romance you like). If you enjoy strong character development, or a story strongly centered around the characters, or a film with high drama, 5 Centimeters per Second may disappoint you.

Very good anime. I will definitely watch it again in the future and see if this film actually speaks to me.


Thank you for reading my review! Let me know what you thought of 5 Centimeters per Second! I would love to hear your story!

*This is a review of both Season 1 and 2.*

Did you know: the quote "Fiat justitia ruat caelum" is Latin for "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." It is most commonly used to state that justice should be achieved regardless of the cost. Quite a noble statement if I do say so myself. Surely, having an anime rally around such powerful words shouldn't be too harmful, right? Well, to summarize my feelings about Aldnoah.Zero, I would say the story fell before justice was even done.

Aldnoah.Zero places us in a world where there is one faction of humans who have left Earth to go ... to Mars (or a.k.a. Vers in the anime) after the discovery of a powerful technology called the Aldnoah. Just like how Forerunner technology is worshipped in the Halo franchise, the Martians establish their social hierarchy around who can activate this Aldnoah. Of course, due to the fact that Mars is, as we know it today, an inhabitable planet, the Martians decide to conquer Earth. Sounds like H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds… Anyway, enter Inaho, a poker-faced high school student who just needs a pair of shades to complete his poker-face wardrobe, is tasked, along with his friends, to face the all-mighty and clearly superior Kataphrakts (the name of the giant robots) of the Vers Empire. Will he succeed? Why of course not…right…?

This is where I believe the story begins to fall apart. While I do respect Inaho's wits, after the first few episodes, it gets repetitive. While this structure may be good if you watch each episode a week or a few days apart, marathoning Aldnoah.Zero would reveal how dry the action sequences get. Live. Destroy. Repeat. Further, you will most likely end up thinking "Oh my, I wonder how this evil dude will get finished off" before the battle even starts.

Stepping away from all the action, the writers do attempt to incorporate some forms of drama between the characters. But much like watching a burlesque dancer reveal part of her thigh, I get seduced, however, if I make any advances, I will only get bitch slapped and rejected. In Aldnoah.Zero, I wanted to see certain characters get together and much to my pleasure, the writers were leading me on. But all I was lead to was a dead end with 1000 slaps to the face and a kick from behind as part of the completion reward. Before I passed out, all I heard from the writers was that "What were you expecting?"

Aside from the drama, you would expect that given such an epic justice quote (remember that one?), the anime should have a good rallying theme. Nope. You don't get that with Aldnoah.Zero. The story struggled with itself in trying to incorporate that theme. At times, the story was forcibly trying to insert themes of achieving justice by any means but that was just said and done. Eventually, I think the writers saw it as a lost cause and abandoned it for some more in-depth character development. It's such a pity because it could have been so much more. Looks like the quote is used only to make the anime sound epic: "Let justice be done though heavens fall." It does have a nice ring to it.

The characters are alright at best. My favourite characters are Inko, Lt. Marito, and Rayet simply because I thought they were the more fleshed out characters. They had their desires, strengths, fears, and hate, while everyone else was just a blank slate.
While Slaine is not one of my favourites, he gets a lot of development in the second season, which was good to see.
Inaho was just plain cold. His personality was the main reason that I dropped the show after 4 episodes (I only picked it up again because I thought I should finish what I started). While I am certain there are people who are very calm under stress, I don't think it is impossible to feel absolutely zero emotion for your teammates or make a decision purely on logic. Inaho might as well be an android for all that matters.
Princess Asselyum, while she has a warm heart, she does not have the necessary characteristics to lead an entire nation. She is simply too naïve to the ways of the political realm. I want to talk a little bit about her character at the end so if you haven't seen the anime yet, skip down to the END SPOILER marker.




-----SPOILER WARNING!!-----

And that ending…the writers just had her emotionlessly throw her feelings out the window and leave the story to end at that. While I can make out the political motivation for her marriage, the story offered very little guidance as to how she arrives at that decision. It was the anime's version of a bitch slap.


----END SPOILER----




On the technical aspect of the anime, the graphics were pretty stunning. I am not a huge fan of mecha anime but I don't by any means dislike it. Giant fighting robots are pretty damn cool. Coming from that perspective, I was pretty satisfied with the cool Kataphrakt designs and battle sequences. As for the character designs and colour palette, I didn't have my socks blown off but I wasn't terribly disappointed either.

The sound is definitely a huge highlight. From the composer who brought you the epic track of Attack on Titan, Sawano Hiroyuki's score definitely impressed my ears once again. His music was basically the glue that held the entire story together. Without it…I don't even dare imagine. And as an added bonus, Kalafina (from Fate/Zero second season opening and ending of Fate/Stay Night - UBW) performs the opening to the first season. One does not simply skip a song by Kalafina.

Overall, once I got past my despair that the characters aren't going to get anywhere, Aldnoah.Zero was entertaining. It had an easy-to-follow storyline, the eye-candy, and the epic music to accompany all those explosions. Dare I say, I would recommend this anime to anyone who watches a mecha anime here and there. If you are looking for interesting characters or simply good character development, I'm afraid Aldnoah.Zero does not have those items on the menu. Please go to the store next door titled [insert a better mecha anime here].


Let me know what you liked or disliked about Aldnoah.Zero! Do we have a similar perspective on this anime or just absolutely polar opposite? Do let me know because I would love to hear from you!

*Note: Spoilers will be riddled about. This review is coming from the perspective of a fan of the Pokémon games. I haven't watched much of the anime.*

*Also note: This is a review of the English version that came with Pokémon: The First Movie*

Are you ready for a short overloaded with cute Pokémon? Are you ready to see an episode where Pikachu becomes a babysitter? Are you ready to witness Ash's (probably lv 100) Charizard get helplessly stuck in a tube only to be saved by a Cubone??

Presenting: Pikachu's not-so-relaxing Vacation!!

Prepare yourself as we watch Pikachu and his friends spend a day away from their trainers ... only to find themselves using Surf to compete in swimming contests, Swagger to protect Togepi, and Strength to pull out a helpless Charizard. So basically, they set up the framework for the Pokémon Contests that happen in Gen III.

Watch Bulbasaur use Razor Leaf to pick an apple from a tree, Vine Whip to sing the first ever Bulbaby, and Confuse Ray to defeat a Snubbull while his counterpart Squirtle resorts to Scary Face instead of Attract to comfort Togepi and even loses a swimming competition to a bloody Marill. Thus, Bulbasaur proves that it deserves to be the first Pokémon in the Pokédex. After, witness Pikachu replay Jesus walking on water and then one-shotting a Weezing, Meowth, and Arbok with Extremespeed. Can Pikachu get anymore OP??

Finally, scream at an Onix that is incapable of pulling out a helpless Charizard that is less than half its own weight. Seriously, all that Onix needs to do is lift its entire body up and Charizard will be free. But it's probably thinking, "Bitch, please."

In all seriousness, I admit, despite all those Pokémon inconsistencies, this was one fun short. It successfully and humourously captures all the great things about Gen I Pokémon. Having not watched it for 10 years or so, I had a huge grin across my face all the way until the end. Gen I Pokémon gave me such a fantastic childhood. While not a must-watch (and overshadowed by the epic Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back), if you haven't seen it in a while, or anything Gen I for that matter, go back and take a look! It's just good ol' fun.

Who is your favourite Gen I Pokémon? Let me know!!