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Gundam Build Fighters is a prime example of turning a lame idea into something worthwhile. I really was not expecting it to be this good. Even with it's strange premise, it manages to reach outside the box of its genre and become something more than I ever imagined it could be.

The idea of special particles only reacting with the plastic of model Gundams is retarded, to be quite frank. That overarching property is applied too many times to the reasoning of things that happen during the show, but it is masked by emotion and epic battles, so you gradually come to not care anymore about ... how dumb the idea is. It is never fully explained how Arian and Earth are connected and how Reiji and the PPSE president are able to be there. Those 2 things aside, Gundam Build Fighters is fantastic in every other area. The story, while a little uninspired, takes flight thanks to the awesomeness of the fights and the characters.

Let's move on to the characters now. Sei is your run of the mill young shounen protagonist who loves something so much, but he's not great at something in it. Incomes Reiji to save the day with his piloting skills. Not much else can be said about him, he's not very impressionable besides his awesome Gundam building skills. Reiji on the other hand, is hilarious to watch with his "no fucks given" attitude and epic fighting technique. Unaware of his strong connection to Aila, who is bae as fuck I might add, it's hilarious to watch that relationship grow, and at the end when she returns to Arian, with him, you know they'll work it out. Some other notable characters are Fellini and Nils. Both awesome in their own ways, Fellini is just a big baller shot caller, while Nils is intellectual and witty. One more I'd like note is that Rinko is a fucking goddess and I want her to sit on my face. Everyone else has decent contributions to the series, and I can't name one terrible character.

Here's where this anime really shines though:
The visuals in this anime are striking and beautiful, even compared to today's animation quality. The fights are beautifully animated and wonderfully choreographed.

I can't say enough about the soundtrack. The timing is perfect with the background music, heightening your emotion at the right moments and really making you feel great about watching the show. The 2 OPs are fucking excellent as well.

Overall, Gundam Build Fighters has to be one of the most underrated anime in recent memory, and clearly goes beyond what most would think is a "kids' show". 9/10

At first glance, Elfen Lied is a cheap shock and awe type anime that tries to seem deep by using unnecessary amounts of gore, but if you look closely, you'll find a well developed story of tragedy, betrayal, and forgiveness. While there is no definitive ending, the anime ends on a "guess what happens next" feel which actually fits the show. I found the underlying implications of the story to be quite interesting and tragic.

The characters were very interesting to be quite honest. Scarred by their pasts, Kohta and Lucy both suffer selective amnesia, which you don't notice at first, but as the story moves ... on and you see the flashbacks, you see why they act they way they did. Delving deeper you'll find that Nana's story is sad too, and even more so with Kurama and his daughter, using Nana as a replacement. Mayu and Yuka were the only really generic characters.

The art and animation received a boost thanks to my new TV (heehee), but they're really nothing special. I guess you could make a case that Elfen Lied has the best drawn organs and bones out of any anime ever. lol at that guy who had to watch his own heart explode in ep 1.

The Opening theme was subsequently the theme song of the whole show and was quite beautiful and fitting. Anything else wasn't very noticeable.

Overall Elfen Lied is an anime classic and worth the watch. I would steer clear of it if you don't like intense gore though.
7.8/10
Best Girl: Lucy

Coming into Princess Lover!, I only expected generic SoL bullshit. While I did get some of that, the anime surprised me by making shit actually happen.

Spoilers below:

The story itself is a bit overdone, with the main character's parents dying and him coming to be crazy rich because he was adopted by his grandpa all in the first episode. From there, the show takes a nice little slice of life detour for a couple episodes, which develops the relationships between most of the girls and Teppei, and between each other. Then, ABDUCTION, BOMBS, GUNS, CONTROVERSY. With our little female lead being captured, Teppei and the ... rest of his girls rush in to save her and his grandpa. Of course, only after succeeding will she be taken again. Hartmann's rags to riches story is touching, but he ruins himself. In the end, the story concludes just as you think it would, happily. The only bad part is that no one gets picked (though it's somewhat obvious Charlotte is his #1).

Spoilers end here.

As for the characters, this show sports THE HOTTEST HAREM CAST IN ANIME. Not one girl in the harem is ugly. All of them have bangin bodies, trust me. While the main girl, Charlotte Hazelrink, leaves a lot to be desired in intelligence, she does show signs of maturity at times (not only in her ass and tits). So she becomes a tolerable lead who is nice to look at. The real star of this show is his #2, Sylvia van Hossen. Now, we all love badass chicks, especially when they're as hot as Sylvi. A strong swordswoman, a fun personality, and a hot body makes her shine brighter than the rest. Unfortunately best girl takes a backseat to Charlotte in the show. That's ok, it's what the OVA is for, hue. Yuu, the maid, is also a somewhat surprising character. She is the first maid girl in anime I've seen that isn't an annoying cockblocking fucker. She also is very attractive and a sweet girl. Seika has the slimmest body of the harem, but she is still very hot. She is our tsundere of the show, but a mild one. Very tolerable. She is actually underrated. Overall, all the characters take strides away from their designated archetypes, which is why in my opinion, this is one of the best harems in anime.

Art/Animation is excellent in this show. The girls just look great, obviously. The action scenes are fluid and nice to look at. You wouldn't think this show was made in 2009.

Soundtrack is good, but doesn't stand out that much. It does it's job as the background stuff when you need it. The OP and ED are OK.

In the end, Princess Lover! is a solid watch, and I would recommend all of you see it.
7/10
Best Girl: Sylvia van Hossen

Rosario to Vampire is a very generic fantasy ecchi/harem anime that rushes through every plot point too quickly and expects us to believe in the romance between the two main characters by default. The characters kind of make up for its failures, as Inner Moka steals the show over and over again. Kurumu is hot and fun to watch, while Mizore is interesting to say the least. The only main girl I didn't like that much was Yukari because she is a glorified sexualized loli for no reason and has no relevance to the story besides her one episode love interest and helping save the ... other witch girl. Oh, I should mention the generically weak and dense main male character who has absolutely no reason to be doing what he does, and of course the girls fawn over him because of his love of his "friends" and his passion to save them even though he cannot do anything himself. The plot itself is difficult to even find until the last 2 episodes and by then it's too late to save itself from failing. The ending was, as expected, a "happy" one, but to achieve this they form a plothole in how all the students magically changed their minds about Tsukune being human. It could have been done a lot better, but that remains to be seen in the next season.