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Card Captor Sakura is an anime based on CLAMP's manga of the same name. It is a about a girl with magical powers name Sakura, who strives to retrive a set of magic cards that she accidentally sets free.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Story: The anime is "episodic" in nature, usually consisting of single episode stories that most often serve to develop the characters and their relationships with one another, as well as Sakura coming in contact and attempting to "capture" one of the lost cards. Being a long series however, it can begin to feel very repetitive after only a short period of time. Although I ... think the overall concept of the story is good, I feel as though it could have been executed better, with more emphasis placed on the cards. In some episodes the cards have a very little role, sometimes being captured very quickly. A few times a card doesn't even show up at all.

Animation: The animation is good overall, a few scenes are reused at times, but I have no major qualms.

Sound: Like with the animation, the sound was done well. There are a few songs I liked, and a few that I didn't. The voice acting was done well, with voices that suited the characters nicely.

Character: I really felt that the characters were developed nicely throughtout the story. The Love triangle involving Sakura, Yukito and Li developed and resolved itself in the end, giving a feeling of closure after so long. The develop of characters and their relationships felt very natural to me as well. Their actions rarely, if ever, felt forced or out of character.

Enjoyment: If you are a fan of shojo or "magical girl" anime, and can stand a little bit of repetitivness, I would say that Card Captor Sakura is a must see for you. I personally enjoyed it thoroughly despite a few lulls hear and there.

School Rumble Ni Gakki, along with its predecessor, is a school/comedy/romance anime adapted from Jin Kobayashi's manga of the same name. It continues the story of a group a students from Yagami High School who learn the ups and downs of life and love, in front of a humorous comedic backdrop.

Story: Compared to the first season, the story starts off slowly with a bunch shorter stories that don't seem to develop the overall plot as much. It isn't until the mid to second half of the anime does it seem to really get back to the main storyline. The story is mainly about the characters ... chasing after the people they are in love with only to have their attempts fail leaving them to come up with another angle of attack (metaphorically). This anime is a nice follow-up to the first season and overall it continues the plot well.

Animation: Like most anime comedies, there are a lot of visual jokes, so being well animated is quite important. Studio Comet does a good job fortunately and the visual humor comes across quite nicely. Some of the funniest moments I can recall come from the character Harima's reaction to certain things and situations.

Sound: Nothing much to say on sound. The seiyuu do a good job and the music fits the anime overall. I like the opening and endings.

Characters: In most romance/comedies and in this one as well, there are multiple love webs that exist and are the main motivations for the characters. In the first season of this anime, most of the focus is on the protagonists, Harima and Tenma. However, in the second season the scope seems to widen and greater focus is given to other characters which seemed to have a smaller role in the previous season. I like this expansion, as it makes the plot more complex and intricate.

Enjoyment: School Rumble's (both the first season and the second) use of random, sometimes absurd comedy and good utilization of the parody help it to stand out in its genre and create many memorable moments. I dub this show a must see for comedy fans. This was one anime where I basically enjoyed every moment.

NHK ni Youkoso is an anime based off a novel and manga of the same name by Tatsuhiko Takimoto. It is a story about a hikikomori and NEET (Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training) named Tatsuhiro Satō who struggles with who he is and just getting through daily life.

Story: The main plot is about Sato receiving special training from a girl named Misaki Nakahara on how to break free from his hikikomori ways. Overall there is quite a depressing tone and it convey's realistic internal conflicts and struggles that the characters face. From start to finish it never seemed to stray from its ... purpose, which was among other things, to paint a picture of the hikikomori lifestyle.

Animation: Although the animation is generally good, there are a few cases during the series (entire episodes) where the quality of animation really goes down. Other then that it is good and consistent.

Sound: I very much like the music, the opening and endings are very enjoyable and background music is very fitting and keeps up with the overall depressing tone of the series. None of the voice acting really stands out, it is well done and the voices match the characters rather nicely.

Character: The characters all seem very realistic. They all have problems that they have to deal with and many of them are not above selfish desires. Many of the characters take advantage of Sato's trusting, even naive nature, which often leaves Sato in predicaments. I believe that keeping the characters in this anime realistic is important for it to deliver its message, and it does so very well.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed watching this anime from start to finish, it is quite unique and it was interesting to see if and how Sato could overcome the problems he faced. Fans of the drama and slice of life genre's should really check this out I think, although there is some comedy it isn't a primary genre.

Slayers is a comedy/adventure/fantasy anime directed by Takashi Watanabe (directer of Kino's Journey and Boogiepop Phantom) and in many ways it can be seen as a parody of conventional RPG video games. it revolves around Magician Lina Inverse, and Swordsmen Gourry Gabriev as they travel around meeting new people, fighting demons and monsters, and getting into various predicaments along the way.

Story: In my opinion the best aspect of Slayers. The events flow nicely into one another and they frequently recall past events, making it feel as though nothing watched early in the series was a waste of time. Although the plot is quite linear, it ... is still very enjoyable. Reversely however, the atmosphere in many places is compromised by the shows non sequitur and random humor. So at times when the mood is serious, it can be quickly destroyed with a random crack about Lina's chest size. Additionally, although in many cases genuinely funny, there are alot of times when it feels like they are trying to hard in getting a joke across.

Animation: Being a few years old, the animation of Slayers reflects that. Although overly it is good. The anime has a medieval setting and the characters apperances do a good job to match the setting.There are a few parts with recycled animation, like when a character is casting a spell or attacking. On downside is that, although they have a numerous amount of magical spells, many of them have similar animations to one another. Only things like "Fireball" and "Dragonslave" get unique animation. Alot of the Shamanist spells used by Zelgadis just look like bright white light.

Sound: Nothing really spectacular about the music. Seemed to match the anime well and I enjoyed it. No major complaints.

Characters: The characters worked well with the story, but they either didn't really stand out or were fairly generic. Lina is a quick to anger and selfish female lead (think Bulma from DBZ). Gourry is your typical slow yet powerful male lead (I don't think an example is really necessary). The other characters seem pretty bland that way as well.

Enjoyment: I did enjoy it overall, however, it wasn't anything all that spectacular. There was a time during the middle where the plot lulled a little and it got a little boring, but the beginning and end were very interesting and fun to watch. check this out if you like the fantasy/adventure genre. Definatly not something to watch if you are looking for comedy primarily.

A comedy/romance based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma 1/2 revolves around the arranged marriage of Ranma Saotome, a boy who has been trained by his father in martial arts since childhood and Akane Tendo, an average girl who is also a martial artist, living with her father and two sisters. Although their relationship starts off rocky at first, over time they begin to grow close to each other, but not without complications brought about by many of the other characters.

Story: The premise of Ranma 1/2, that makes it unique to other comedy/romance anime, are the many Jusenkyo springs which, if fallen into cause ... the person to be cursed. Ranma is cursed and turns into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water, and is changed back to a boy when splashed with warm water. The story focuses on the many love webs between the numerous characters, with most of them being in love with either Ranma or Akane. This leads to various conflicts which are usually resolved through martial arts or other supernatural elements. Although the first few seasons introduce new characters and elements, the latter few become stale and repetitive and fail to rap up many of the plotlines. You could almost say that nothing much drastically changed from season 3-4 to season 7

Animation: Hard to comment on the animation of an anime from the late 80's early 90's. However I have to say that it seems very well done for its time, The character's appearence are consistant and the fighting scenes, like I said, for its time, seems well done. Although in some instances they seem to come off a little choppy or with recycled animation.

Sound: The sound is fitting to the tone of the show, music for battles scenes come off as both serious and silly at the same time, which many of the battles are. The opening's and ending's also fit the show very well and were enjoyable. I watched the show in japanese, and although the voice acting was average, it gets extra points for having the great Kappei Yamaguchi as male Ranma, and Megumi Hayashibara as female Ranma.

Character: The anime feature various characters, alot of which have feelings for either Akane or Ranma, and spend alot of their time trying to wedge them apart and win the favor of the one they love. Like Ranma, many of the characters also have Jusenkyo curses and change their form, some curses include a cat, duck, pig and panda. There are also many minor characters who appear only a few times, usually they present some type of martial arts, or perhaps supernatural challenge.

Enjoyment: I was disapointed with the way the repetitive plot and shallow ending, but overall I did enjoy it. Many of the situations were very humorous as well as the over the top personalities of alot of the characters. If you are a Rumiko Takahashi fan (although if you are you have probably seen this already) or just like overly silly comedy/romances with quite a bit of action then I would have to recommend this to you.