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Sword Art Online is the most anticipated Virtual Reality MMO game in recent history and people are clamouring to be the first to dive into the virtual world inside the giant floating castle of Aincrad. Advances in technology have lead to special hardware that allows the gamers to control their avatars with their minds, adding to their immersion into the game.

The story of SAO is not a complicated one, but it was interesting enough to grab my attention mostly because I play MMORPGs and I quite enjoy them. This puts me directly in the target audience for this show. The ... story begins with the successful launch of a new Virtual Reality fantasy MMO, and things immediately go to hell on the first day. The game's creator removes everyone's ability to log out and sets their gaming hardware to kill them when their avatar's hitpoints reach zero or they disconnect. You die in the game (or tamper with the hardware), you die in real life. The only way out is to conquer the bosses on all 100 floors of Aincrad (the game world). The story concept isn't bad. My only complaint is that it seems to derail itself almost immediately. It hops back on track long enough to remind the viewer that people are being killed in this game before careening off somewhere pointless and coming back just in time to finish off the bad guy. The romance portion of the story between the two main characters is at times the only thing holding it all together and even that isn't always enough.

The characters of SAO are a bit of a sore spot for me, specifically the two main characters, Kirito and Asuna. The world of SAO had a lot of potential for some great characters, but instead we have Kirito who is about as plain as you can get. He's a bad ass solo player who's more powerful than any other player in the game (which doesn't happen in any MMO I've ever heard of) and other than that, he really doesn't have much of a personality nor does he seem to develop one through the course of the show. I understand that the reason was to make him easier for viewers to identify with, but that doesn't make it right (a certain series about sparkly vampires did the same thing with the main character and that wasn't good either). As for Asuna, I really liked her when the show started. She was a competent, capable female lead, but her character quickly degenerated to tsundere and then later to a plot device/tentacle bait by the end of the show. The rest of the cast gets very little attention and only make brief appearances to move events along with the exception of Leefa, from the show's second half, who steps in to fill the role left open by Asuna. Leefa, despite some glaring flaws of her own, was probably the one character I liked. (who ever hasn't already stopped reading, likely stopped right there.)

The music for SAO was pretty good. Yuki Kajiura composed the score and though it doesn't quite match up to some of her other works, it is still quite pleasing to listen to. Each piece compliments the events on screen quite well be it a quiet melody in a darkened inn room, high energy percussion for combat scenes, or choir for epic raid battles. I also quite enjoyed the opening theme, Crossing Field by LiSA, from the first half of the series.

The artwork and animation was quite good. The character designs were detailed and pleasing. The backgrounds varied but some were truly quite good and did an excellent job of portraying the vastness of the SAO world. My personal favourites were the platform landscapes in episode one and the free-fall scene in episode seven. The action and combat scenes however, are where SAO shines. The fight scenes were executed very well. The animation was fluid and though there were some slow-motion sequences, they were not over-used and did not take away from the excitement of the battle as they so often do.

My final thoughts:
SAO is one of a handful of shows that has achieved an almost complete polarization of opinions among those who have seen it (and even a few who haven't). I also realize that the current popular thing in the anime community is to trash this series. The truth is that SAO is not a bad show, but it's not a great one either. I enjoyed it mostly because it was a concept targeted to people like me who played MMO games. I could get excited watching the boss raids, understand a lot of the terminology, and know what Kirito really meant when he said "having someone good tag along makes this easier..."

Sword Art Online is kind of like the cheeseburger value meal at your favourite fast-food joint. It's not gourmet, it never will be, and comparing it to the main course at Chez Fantaisie-Pantalon is just plain pointless. But that doesn't mean that it can't be tasty. I went into SAO understanding it for what it was, I enjoyed it, and I recommend it. If you are an MMO gamer, or an anime connoisseur capable of putting down your Grey Poupon and picking up a chicken nugget, you will likely find some enjoyment in this show.

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia is a dark mystery romance that will grab you, make you laugh, cry, and occasionally groan and roll your eyes. It's a "boy meets ghost" love story with some mystery and horror elements, some psychology of urban legends, and lightly seasoned with comedy.

Typically, the characters are what make the show and Dusk Maiden has some decent characters but, with the exception of Yuko, they seem a little flat at first. Of the main cast of four, Yuko outshines them all. As she should, really. She is the focal point of the story after all. The remaining ... three are made up of Teiichi who seems be more like the generic lone male in a harem show rather than the lovestruck hero trying to solve a mystery. The remaining two main characters are the other female members of the club whom I will refer to as Tsundere and Comic Relief. Teiichi is one of only two characters who can see Yuko and he is the only person who can actually touch her. This leads to several opportunities for some truly touching moments between Teiichi and Yuko (see what I did there...), but instead it is often used as a device for fanservice. That aside, their interactions with each other are quite amusing. Especially when Yuko is doing her best to toy with him.

The story focuses on Yuko for much of the series, her loneliness, her growing relationship with Teiichi, and their journey to uncover her past. Despite essentially being a ghost story, the show takes a step back as The Paranormal Investigation Club uncovers the often innocent roots of urban legends and ghost stories. A recurring theme of the show is human perception, how it can be influenced, and the dramatic effects that fear can have. Some deep stuff. The story also takes a couple of light-hearted side trips to allow the viewer a moment to breathe and have a laugh. My only complaint is that these side trips often interrupt the flow of the series. There will be a deep realization about the power of fear or a particularly poignant moment between Teiichi and Yuko, then suddenly it's boobs, bento, or a festival. Occasionally, the show seemed to forget what it was doing and devolve into a generic harem series. The story does eventually get back on track after each detour, but it is a dangerous thing for a 12 episode show to do.

The artwork is quite good and remains fairly consistent across all episodes. As most of the show takes place between sunset and sunrise, the lighting and backgrounds use a lot of soft reds, orange, and yellows making some of the darker scenes seem so much more so. Of course there is some fanservice, but it typically fits the scene and it's not excessive. The opening and closing animations are are quite well done and they change slightly with each episode as a way of shadowing what is happening in the story.

The music for the show seemed to do well in setting the tone for each scene, but there really weren't any stand-out pieces. The opening song, Choir Jail, sounded like J-pop pretending to be gothic metal, but it wasn't terribly painful to the ears.

Overall, I enjoyed this series. I've watched it twice, if that says anything, and I will likely watch it again one day. My only wish was that the romance element between Teiichi and Yuko had been handled a little better and perhaps if the music were a little more memorable.

I would recommend this show if you have a hunger for a dark romance and aren't put off by the thought of it dipping into harem territory for a couple of episodes.

"...take a pilgrimage to the past with me..."

This line of text in an email accompanied by a short sound file are all it takes to change the life of Mireille Bouquet, a most trustworthy assassin for hire.

Noir is a story about an assassin operating out of Paris by the name of Mireille. She's good at what she does and lives a pretty relaxed lifestyle. Until one day, she receives an email from a Japanese student named Kirika. Kirika posesses a link to Mireille's past and though she cannot remember her real name, she is quite adept at killing people. The two ... strike a deal that Mireille will help Kirika recover her past and, because her past appears to overlap Mireille's, kill her when all is said and done. The two begin operating as an assination team under the codename "Noir".

The story itself is quite interesting in that it dives into the histories and mythologies of various organized crime groups (mafia, yakuza, triads, etc.) as well as a variety of secret societies and tries to create a new underworld where one massive organization is controlling them all. All of these connections are laid out as Mireille and Kirika take on more and more jobs in their hunt for Kirika's past. My only complaint is that the story is often bogged down in filler and because of the numerous side-jobs that Mireille and Kirika take up, the story occasionally loses its momentum and degrades to an episodic "girls with guns" show before eventually slapping itself back on track.

The artwork is rather plain and can be inconsistent at times. The first few episodes were fairly well done and the artwork was hit or miss beyond that. The style also seemed to not fit the story in that it was often very bright and colourful when the story itself was taking a darker turn. This sometimes gave the events happening on screen a more cartoonish feel. Another item of note is the lack of blood and gore. It was quite literally "pop-pop" and bad guy falls over dead. Mireille is frequently commenting on how messy Kirika's kills are, but the viewer never sees it.

The sound is actually quite good. Gunshots are accompanied by the sound of shell casings ringing to the ground and small-arms don't sound like cannons. Death grunts are reused a lot, but it doesn't distract too much. The soundtrack was composed by Yuki Kajiura and has some truly excellent pieces in it, from choir, to orchestral, to electronic, to some really interesting tunes that I swear must incorporate every instrument she could find (and it turned out great!). The majority of the score incorporates a music box tune which was the attachment to the email that started the whole story.

Noir essentially only has one main character and that is Mireille. Though the story is about the two women as they wade through Europe's underground societies in search of Kirika's past, the viewer really doesn't learn a whole lot about Kirika. Mireille is the one who grows and learns more about herself through her involvement with Kirika and Kirika seems to only be there as some sort of emotionless plot device. Other characters pop in and out of the story, though their personalities are thin and their roles are small. They typically only serve as either filler or to teach the viewer something new about Mireille.

Did I enjoy the show? Yes. Enough that I've watched it through a couple of times. It's one of those light mystery thriller series that you hang onto for a rainy day. The music and the story make up for some of the inconsistencies in the artwork however, the abundance of filler is the suffering point of this series. Noir could have easily been a 12-episode show.

This show is probably one of the more misunderstood series and one that suffers from a fate rampant in the anime world... filler overload. Also, this show was actually part of a much MUCH larger story and unless the viewer were invested in all of it, SIGN would seem like a very boring show.

This series was part of a larger package called "project .hack" and included a four-volume Playstation2 game series and accompanying four-volume OVA. The idea being that the show was the prelude to the games which happened concurrent to the OVA. It was an ambitious idea, but had the ... unfortunate side effect that despite the series having a conclusive ending, there was still a lot that was left unexplained... until you play through the games.

This is probably one of the first series to introduce the idea of being "stuck" inside of an MMO game. Because it was intended to be more of a seamless lead-in for the rest of the franchise, when viewed separately is unfortunately where things fall apart. The viewer has to have bought into the .hack// universe and continued the storyline for any of it to make sense. The show follows a single character, Tsukasa, a caster character who cannot leave the game, and different groups of players who are either out to help Tsukasa, or they believe he is the key to some secret event within the game.

The artwork is pretty consistent throughout the series and outside of a few key locations, there isn't a lot of detail in either the characters or their backgrounds. What is notable is the contrast between scenes depicting the game world and the real world. The game world is always bright and colourful, while the real world is shown in varying shades of grey with some very muted colours.

The heart of the show is in the characters and its a shame that they don't get the attention they warrant. Mimiru is one of the main characters and one of the first to reach out to Tsukasa, but by the end of the series you know nothing about her. The others get some slightly better treatment, the paraplegic, the travelling businessman, the estranged father, the aging model, the annoying middle-school student, and so on. Don't get me wrong, there is some character development, it just seems to be bogged down in filler or left to be "discovered later".

The sound for the show is actually quite good. SIGN is among the list of shows where I sprung to buy the soundtrack. Yuki Kajiura provides the music as well as the opening and closing themes. The music ranges from some beautiful piano pieces to more celtic-sounding tunes.

Despite what my review seems to say, I did enjoy this series. A big part of that enjoyment came from having immersed myself in the .hack franchise. By the time I had gotten around to watching this anime, I had already completed the games and the accompanying OVA. The result being that I already had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Would I recommend this series? Yes, as part of the .hack// package. Otherwise, if you have no intention of playing the games and watching the OVA, .hack//SIGN would be a long boring trek.

This series is one of the very few shows that I have watched again and again just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

It's set in the Macross universe somewhere between Macross 7 and Macross Plus. The premise is that humans have just recently survived their first contact with alien life forms and to avoid detailing the events of the original Macross saga, we'll just say that humanity was brought to the edge of extinction. To ensure the survival of the species, humans have left earth in giant self-sustaining city convoy ships with the goal of colonizing other planets. However, there is another ... species that is threatening the existence of the human race. Frontier is one of the massive convoy fleets and the setting for this show.

The alien species that humanity now faces is very much like Blizzard's Zerg and they plague Frontier and other convoys. The show revolves around several characters as they struggle to survive and find their paths.

This is the 25th anniversary series of the Macross saga and Macross Frontier is essentially a 'tip of the hat' to all of the other Macross shows and movies. That being said, the story is an excellent stand-alone salute. The viewer need have no prior knowledge of the original series, but it does add an extra level of enjoyment. It's a mecha anime in the same way that an old western is a horse movie. Unlike some other mecha shows, the Valkyrie and other machines are presented as nothing more than flashy tools that are used to overcome some trial rather than being part of the cast. The story is a simple one and doesn't bog the viewer down with complex terms, sub-plots and sub-sub-plots, or massive loads of tech jargon that nobody cares about. For this reason, it's very easy to pick up and fall in love with. It also helps that the first three episodes are absolutely incredible and will have you glued to the screen.

The characters follow a similar pattern to the original Macross saga. The protagonist is the stereotypical hot-head pilot who doesn't know what to do with himself, the older mentor, the bossy lieutenant, the grizzled veteran captain, the bridge-bunnies, and the protagonists two love interests (it wouldn't be Macross without a love triangle - it's even celebrated as the opening theme song, Triangular). The show has a huge cast and is remarkably able to pull it off, letting you get to know each one and their motivations through the course of the show without doing massive shonen-style info dumps.

The artwork is fantastic and carries through from the intense combat scenes to the more simple, daily life shots. The animation is very fluid through most of the show and the use of CG animation for the mecha is well done and rarely offends the eyes. There are a couple of action scenes where the level of detail and animation drops, almost as if those scenes were forgotten and added in after the fact.

The sound... this is where the Macross series always shines and Frontier is no exception. May'n and Nakajima Megumi perform most of the vocals (as well as voicing Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee) and the rest is made up orchestral score and other instrumentals. This is one of very few series for which I purchased the soundtracks. Macross saga has always been heavily grounded in music and it shows through in Frontier.

If you haven't already figured it out, I very much enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it. I would almost recommend this show as a primer to the rest of the Macross series as there are so many little bits and pieces of all of the Macross titles that preceded it sprinkled in.

This was a series that I had stumbled upon by accident and I was glad I did.

Shinsekai yori is one of several series that seems to just glide under the radar of the majority of the anime viewing community without really being noticed (or noticed, but for the wrong reasons).

The show is set a thousand years in the future. Human civilization has been destroyed several times and people now live in small isolated villages surrounded by barriers to keep out mutants and worse that roam the wilds beyond. Humans have also developed the power to manipulate their environments with ease and ... materialize any object they would need with a thought, rendering technology obsolete.

The story centers around a group of friends growing up in one of these villages who accidentally learn the truth of their origins and follows them as they uncover even more sinister truths about the world they live in.

The story itself is quite good, though there are some parts that feel like they were just thrown in for the sake of adding a little more action, the show never assumes that the viewer is an idiot. Any complex points of the show are given just enough description that the viewer can figure the rest out on their own as the story progresses.

The art style varies throughout the show with some of the mutants appearing more comical than terrifying. Whether this was an artistic decision or a budget-driven one, I doubt anyone will ever know. The animation is equally inconsistent with some scenes having very fluid animation while others are not.

The characters are what make this show. The core group are quite fleshed out and you can't help but become more and more attached to them as time goes by. Their relationships with each other are handled very well and fit with the universe they live in. Some of the main cast are openly gay and rather than exploiting that as an avenue for low-brow comedy, the writers portray these characters as normal people engaging in normal relationships. I found this to be a refreshing change from the blushing, flamboyant queens. Naturally, this made some viewers uncomfortable.

Overall, I really enjoyed this show and recommend it to anyone who is looking for something a little different and can handle the occasional punch in the guts that this show delivers. Great story, great characters, lightly seasoned with action and suspense.