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May 11, 2015
Space brothers is about two brothers' journey to space. Its a feel good comedy about reigniting your passions in life and chasing dreams you thought were impossible.
Namba Hibito is cool, carefree and about to become the first Japanese person on the moon while his older brother Mutta is down on his luck, having been fired from his job designing automobiles. He gave up on his dreams years ago but a little nudge from his little brother starts him on the journey to realise his childhood dream of joining his brother in space.
So first off this is not a show about adventures in space. There is
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of course some space travel but it is more of a character driven comedy that showcases a lot of training as well as the grueling selection process on the road to becoming an astronaut. But even though that may sound boring it does manage to keep interesting plots happening most of the time, and its a pretty funny show so I think that makes up for it. It has a bit of a lull around the 25 episode mark but if you keep going it ramps up again, it is a very fun series and will make you (in the words of the opening song) feel so good.
So as I mentioned this is a character driven show. There are a lot of great characters. I particularly enjoyed the cringeingly awesome parents, and Lowry the American Weeaboo astronaut who is always misusing Japanese phrases but the whole cast is pretty colourful. Our hero Mutta is a loserish 30 something year old with hidden talents. He is the perfect hero for people in their thirties (or late twenties like me) who want to start dreaming again. It is a bit more mature that a lot of the anime out there but still has those awesome Japanese elements I love like a celebration of lofty dreams and the determination and resolve to realise them.
As for the art I felt like this wasn't a focus for the creators. The individual pictures are a bit more on the realistic side and while they mostly look ok on their own the animation itself is often stilted and awkward. After a while I stopped noticing it most of the time but every now and then there would be some really awkward movement, for example there is a particular dance scene that looks borderline creepy. But for the most part you are just watching simple animation and it does the job.
One negative thing I will say for this show is that although the ending is good it kind of ends in an unsatisfying place. The last episode was exciting and resolved stuff and didn't feel rushed, but you will see when you get there (if you watch it) that it doesn't end where you want it to end. I do sort of hope they start the anime again because even though I liked the ending there were some things I wanted to see happen.
This show is incredibly feel good. It has some more real moments but overall its the kind of show that is always a bit warm and fuzzy. They are basically a bunch of lovable space nerds fulfilling their dreams, and triumphing thanks to determination and hard work. So yeah if you are turned off by things that are too happy, or where things work out too well for the cast you might find that annoying. Personally I found it suspended disbelief really well. However it did have the unfortunate side effect of making me wish I was an astronaut. So be warned.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 16, 2015
Maou Sadao is a model employee at McRonalds. He is diligent, capable and SUPER keen and he is also the Lord of all things evil who gains power from suffering, Satan himself. It's a pretty fun premise and the anime plays out with a fun comedic vibe. Sadao finds himself living in modern Japan with his right hand man from another dimension, the slightly melodramatic Ashiya Shirou, who falls naturally into the role of frugal housewife and much hilarity ensues. Its a little bit of a shame that the women in the story aren't as interesting. There is the legendary hero living under the alias
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Yusa Emi who despite being some legendary hero of justice or something is just your typical needlessly confrontational tsundere who spends more time being embarrassed that everyone seems to think she is dating Sadao then she does doing anything particularly hero-like. No spoilers but her personality makes even less sense once her backstory gets developed. Then you have your typical cute junior at work complete with pigtails and G-cups who just desperately wants to make Sadao food all the time, Sasaki Chiho. She does archery too but only in the credits, it's never mentioned in the show which is kind of weird. They kind of complement the antics of the guys nicely but Emi (like most tsunderes) is quite annoying and I get the feeling Chiho is just there so they can make flat chest jokes about Emi. No, I am being unfair to Chiho, she is ok but just a teensy bit boring especially compared to the guys, her thing is pretty much being girly and in love with Maou. There are some other fun characters but I wont spoil them.
For those of you who are curious the art is quality. The first episode features some fight scene eye candy that made me wish it was actually an action anime. But even though it isn't so the rest of the show has a modern nice feel to it. It isn't particularly unique if that is what you are into but other than that it is pretty good. The character designs are fairly standard, as I mentioned before the women in general aren't particularly original; long red hair on the tsundere, orangy/brown pigtails on the cute junior and long dark hair on the emotionless girl in the traditional kimono. It's been done before but it looks quality so its ok. To be fair Maou's design also looks pretty standard for a comedy with harem tendencies.
I always put in a note about fan service because I personally don't really like it. This series starts out with not that much except an ending credit animation that is basically all fan service, but toward the end it gets a bit more. Mostly its in the form of the occasional boob joke, it didn't really bother me and if you aren't looking for it you wont really notice it. If you are looking for it you will get a few chances to see the girls in their underwear, even Maou gets some underwear scenes in this show. Anyways this show has something of a harem happening so naturally a few scenes where the girls forget to wear pants walking around the house is to be expected.
All in all its a pretty fun watch. It kind of fizzles something serious in the very last episode but the rest of it is entertaining and kept me watching all the way through. Its a fun way to spend some time, it won't rock your world or anything like that but it was fairly funny.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 17, 2015
Yahari Ore is a bit of a parody but it is also the kind of romantic comedy which takes an unpopular antisocial guys then gives him his pick of two girls who are attractive in different ways. Yukino is beautiful and intelligent, in fact she is so perfect that she is ostracized out of jealousy. While she comes off cold has a warm spot for Yui and our hero Hachiman, the latter which she expresses in fairly typical tsundere style. Yui is not an outcast like the other two but she tries too hard to make people happy and that sometimes leads to her being
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taken advantage of by her so called other friends. She is warm and sincere and sometimes a little clumsy she is the person who brings the whole group together. All three of them are in a club called the "service club" where they basically help random people with their problems.
As the name suggests this show derives a lot of its comedy from the main character comparing his life to the tropes of romantic comedies however it doesn't break the fourth wall. One of the problems that I had with this show was that a lot of the comedy is presented as witty banter between Hachiman and Yukino and honestly I think a lot is lost in translation. It can be very wordy and at least my translation (which I think is the official one) it was occasionally difficult to follow. Sometimes they would make counter arguments that quite simply didn't logically follow the statement before. I think maybe this is just a subtitle issue. I almost exclusively watch subs but I was thinking half way through maybe I would have been better off with the dub. There are also times where I feel they try to parody romantic comedies as a genre. Sometimes it works but sometimes it kind of misses the mark and ends up not really being much of a parody at all and just feels like a standard member of the genre.
I did like the characters though. One of the nice things about this show is they do have a few characters you wont find in every anime ever. The main character is in many ways fairly standard but he wont always do what you expect. Likewise Yukino although she can fall into the tsundere cliche you can usually see where she is coming from and I buy her as intelligent. I think Yui is the most atypical of the main cast and I ended up liking her a lot more than Yukino as we get to know who she really is. There are also a few surprises in the supporting cast but I wont spoil it for you.
In the end I gave it five, its basically a solid anime but it's still a comedy that is not all that funny. The characters feel real and the art is really nice but I just couldn't give it any more than that because I just don't think it was enjoyable enough, it's a little bit boring. But it might just be the subtitles, if you go both ways maybe try the dub?
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 17, 2015
Decent enough time killer but it has a few problems.
So Kamisama Dolls is kind of a Meca action/drama with a bit of harem thrown in for good measure. Some of the characters are "seki" which means they can control the meca with their minds. The premise is reasonably interesting and the action kind of proceeds how you would expect but the show does have a few issues.
Well first of all one of the things this show does well is the sound. The background music was pretty good as well as the cool singing that the mecha does when its fighting. I personally enjoyed the intro
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and ending song and the intro animation was one of the highlights of the series for me, kind of simple but symbolic and punchy. Although if the intro is a highlight it doesn't bode well for the rest of the show.
The art is a bit on the boring side. Its modern and all that so those of you just looking for accuracy will be happy enough. It has maybe two or three cool moments in a couple of key scenes and I will admit the mecha seem different to your average mecha. But the human characters are a little boring looking and they haven't tried to do anything interesting with the art. But like I said those of you looking for decent quality modern animation will be happy enough with the show.
Essentially for me this anime suffers from being married to the harem conventions. For example the conventions that state that the male insert character must be boring. I don't hate him, but he is the main character in an action anime but he just spends most of the series not doing anything but being turned on by his incredibly busty love interest. If you choose to watch this show it will become very obvious that the writer is a boob man and all the risque situations involving boobs and other nudity sometimes undercuts the drama of key scenes. It is hard to take it seriously when the characters are more worried about seeing her underwear than the imminent danger, but not only that the boobs themselves are somewhat comical I did have a hard time getting into the story. Then of course there is that Japanese classic that gets a little "lost in translation": the little sister love interest. In this she is literally his little sister and it is quite hard for those of us who trying to pretend its not there because she keeps calling all the girls her rival.
But despite these problems it is a reasonably entertaining way to spend a few hours. It only has one season and it is hard to tell if that came as a shock to the writers because the ending is quite abrupt. Perhaps it is supposed to be left implied and unsaid. It is hard to tell, one thing is for sure, if you need closure in your anime you might need to think twice before starting this one.
All in all I gave it a five by which I mean its not a bad way to spend time but its also not something I would go out of my way to watch. However this rating would definitely increase if I was more into harems, so if you are a boob man (and I mean really big) maybe put it up to a 7.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 13, 2015
This is one for fans of highschool romcoms. Its not a bad show but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are particularly a fan of the genre or really in the mood.
So Special A is everything you expect from a romcom, a bunch of affluent highschool students hang out with a single poor student, one of them is very popular with the ladies but hopelessly in love with our plucky but unaware heroine. We see them get places in a series of romantic situations but she just can't seem to get it. Some laughs are had along the way and I don't want to spoil
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anything but everything works out pretty well int he end.
In this series the extravagant private school they characters attend has inexplicably decided to devote considerable resources to giving the 7 top students an impressive glass greenhouse where they basically drink tea all day. Part of their gifted and talented program to encourage the top students to slack off all day I am sure. But somehow they all manage stay on top, and when I say on top I mean on top. They are the best at literally everything, boxing, PR, athletics you name it! Except for the occasional bad cooking gag they are pretty much perfect but its actually not too annoying, once you get used to the ridiculous premise that is.
It's not a bad show, don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable. It can be funny at times, sometimes I was laughing with it sometimes I was laughing at it, but that's not always a bad thing, I did actually enjoy myself. I found the art style quite annoying. I got used to the weird long limbs but the male lead has these really weird eyes. He looks really cool in a single episode and I thought maybe things were looking up but maybe they just had a different artist, or maybe it was the black suit. In any case if you are particularly sensitive to art and that sounds like it could be annoying maybe just do an image search.
One thing I will say for Special A is that unlike other shows of its genre the characters lives don't revolve around the female lead. The supporting cast has their own stuff going on and occasionally I found it even more interesting than the what the lead characters were doing. It felt a bit more interesting and full that way, and I quite liked that about this show.
It's the kind of show that you will enjoy if you enjoy watching plucky heroines and the rich boys that love them and kidnap them lovingly in their private helicopters. That's the kind of show it is and its a solid addition to the genre. But it doesn't stand out, and if it doesn't sound like your thing I would give it a miss.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 13, 2015
What can I say about Gintama, it's amazing! It has to be my favourite anime comedy of all time. It's just one of those shows that assaults you with funny but still manages to pull of a lot of genuinely cool stories and characters.
Gintama is a gag anime so they do spend a lot of time parodying other famous anime and making other popular culture references, sometimes I have never seen them and I don't really get it. If you are thinking you might not find it funny because of that, I highly doubt it. It is very funny. It's the kind of comedy that
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takes something a little bit funny and then keeps building and building on it until you are laughing out loud, its very easy to enjoy even if you don't get the references. Gintama has the occasional dud episode but I would say that by and large when you sit down to watch an episode of Gintama you are almost guaranteed to be in for a pretty good time, it stays consistently funny and awesome right up to the end at episode 260. It takes a couple episodes to get really started I would say so make sure you watch a few before deciding that I (and the rest of its huge fanbase) just have bad taste.
But its not just a comedy. One of the secrets to its longevity has got to be the interweaving of traditional shounen battle scenes and themes. Gin is the shonen hero for those of us who, like Gin, are a little too old to still be reading Jump (popular manga magazine for young boys). When he is lazy he is lazy but I have to admit, when he is cool he can be pretty damn cool. With too many awesome supporting characters to list this is a gag anime and a shounen but with more depth than the average of those genres.
So Gintama is long but you will not be happy when it ends. For me, watching Gintama was a special time that cheered me up almost no matter how bad I felt and I cannot wait until the next series starts in April this year. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't like it, unless you really don't understand Japanese comedy at all. Otherwise do yourself a favour and start watching!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 13, 2015
Soul eater is the kind of anime I wish I could have made. I love the stylised art and the unique soundtrack and even the characters stood out in the very crowded field of fighting shounen heros.
If you like all your anime to look a little bit special then soul eater satisfies, its got this awesome chunky style with a little bit of a Halloween/Adam's family twist. It's low on detail, high on impact and is just shonen done right. Even the soundtrack is pretty interesting. To be honest its not really my favourite style but what I loved is the way the art style,
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the story and the music all fit together. This wasn't cobbled together with whatever is popular but it was consider as a whole and I really appreciated that.
The characters are great, they have a good mix of them, they all play off each other to make this a really funny show and I loved watching them work together and get stronger. Even their more ridiculous traits are sold well by the solid story telling. I have to confess I am a tiny bit of a feminist:P Even though I know shounen is primarily for boys, as a female I get a little excited when the female characters got to work along side the guys and get stronger. The point isn't that this is somehow a feminist work, it's REALLY not, the point is even the women characters are interesting and move beyond their stereotypes. Particularly of course the female lead. This is a show where the characters work together in really interesting partnerships which is interesting when contrasted to the Krillin effect where characters are cast aside as the lead character gets stronger. Its the heart and soul (no pun intended) of this show and for me makes it stand out amongst all the shonen I have watched as one of the better ones.
Should you watch it? Probably. It's funny, they fight, they get stronger, they pose and look badass, what more could you want?
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 13, 2015
I would recommend this show even if you aren't a fan of the romantic comedy genre. It is an incredibly fun show. Even if you aren't super keen on reverse harem this show doesn't take itself seriously enough for that to be a major issue. There is of course a fair bit of romance for those of you who are looking for that but for me this was a show that was more comedy than romance. It has a really nice mix of silliness with a touch of sweet.
This isn't a show that will blow your mind with art. I found the style a little
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dated, but for me that is never really a problem, the poster should give you a good sense of whether it is a problem for you. It is typical shoujo style really, big eyes, lithe framed men. Similarly the music is pretty standard and unremarkable.
The story I found to be enjoyable. It's more situational with episodes revolving around their daily antics, until towards the end where things build nicely to what I found to be quite an amusing ending.
But this is not really a story driven show. It's a show you watch for the crazy situations, the overblown stereotypes and the ridiculous factor particularly of the male lead. Just on him, he confused me at first because they claimed he was the "prince" type. For those of you unfamiliar with the term it basically describes that perfect guy who is good at everything, has a slim build, super popular and a bit of a charmer. But I found him in reality to be quite different. He is more of a parody of the ridiculousness of that ideal, and kind of an idiot, so in the beginning I didn't know what to make of him. As time goes on though I really came to enjoy him, he is actually really likable and I like a leading man who you can laugh at. To me that is what makes Ouran Highschool Host Club stand out; the way that it laughs at itself.
So bottom line? If you like shoujo romcoms or reverse harem this is a must see! If you don't but you think you are open to watching one this would be the one to watch. If you can't stand shows about highschool and romance then I wouldn't watch it but trust me you are missing out!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 6, 2015
Powerful, intricate and stunning this series completely came out of nowhere for me and made my jaw drop again and again. Shin Sekai Yori tells the story of Saki, a girl in a mysterious future where humans have developed telekinesis, but don't let that make you think its been done before, this series will take you to new places.
What makes this anime so good? Firstly its the mood. It keeps this eerie surreal mood all the way through with an amazing soundtrack and stunning surreal imagery. This anime moves through a variety of emotions, it is heart wrenching, sometimes genuinely scary and it even has
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its own kind of warmth but through it all it all is this beautiful ethereal quality that kept me watching and made me truly glad to have stumbled upon this series.
Secondly its the story. This isn't some written by the week manga (even though I like those); this story has been planned right down to the last episode, which I found to be immensely satisfying. The first episode will whet your appetite with hints at whats to come in the but don't be fooled, this anime becomes more complex and beautiful as the series goes on. It's one of those stories that just keeps surprising you and getting better.
It's not a happy story, not for those moments when you want to feel good about the human condition but it neither is it indulgently sad; it has a hopeful tone about it.
But I do feel I have to warn potential watchers about something. There was a point where I was concerned it might become an excuse for paedophillic fanservice, its NOT! It's definitely not that kind of show. It has a fairly awkward stage around about the time the characters are going through puberty, but just like puberty it is fleeting and well worth sticking out. You may even enjoy these few episodes as I read many comments of people who did.
All in all this is one of the best anime I have watched in a while. If you feel like you are in the mood for the kind of anime with a mature and carefully written story that challenges you, or if you appreciate stylised imagery and a bit of subtlety in your anime then this would be a good anime to watch, I highly recommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 28, 2015
It's a familiar tale. A writer writes a really good story, and it is successful. There are people who want to keep milking the story and the world for all its worth so they write a spin off series. But as with so many spin-offs the writers of this spin-off completely fail to understand what made Madoka Magica good in the first place.
First off they condense the interesting and lovable characters of the first series into their most simplistic forms so they can be really dull background characters to the new characters. Honestly the new characters are kind of boring and dry, I found it
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was difficult to pick a favourite magical girl from the original series but with this one I don't really feel like I care about any of them.
Then there is the story itself. The story in the original was what made it so good for me. As more of the premise is revealed everything ties in really well. It feels really sincere and even the explanation of entropy (which as a scientist made me chuckle a litte) suspends disbelief. This series has none of that. We already know how the world works in this one and instead a new "twist" is contrived. When you find out what it is you wont feel satisfied, its just a really forgettable story that adds nothing to the world.
Look to be fair Madoka magica has made its comment on the magical girl genre. In the end that was made it make my jaw drop with awesomeness. In order to do something like that again you would probably need to create a new world, so in a way that is fair enough. Orika Magica is unfortunately forgettable but if you just came to see another story in the same world or were desperate to see more of the original characters in any capacity you can go ahead and watch it. Although I will warn you I left feeling angry that they had missed what made my favourite characters so great, but maybe you will agree with how they interpret the original cast.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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