Kuromi As Cupid

Yes, Onegai My Melody (Kuru Kuru Shuffle) is not as good as the original series, but every once in a while there are flashes of quality. Here are two examples of Kuromi as Cupid. Yes, that Kuromi, and yes, that Cupid.

Sora No Manimani (Season 1) Episode Guide

Sora No Manimani is the story of a high-school astronomy club and the relationships among the characters in the club and the club’s relationship to the school (and later on, to other astronomy clubs). There are a few standard characters, but most are unique. The plot isn’t as smooth as it could be and most of the motion in it comes from romantic interpersonal conflicts, but when it works, it works well.

1 — Eh. I want to like it, but there’s this one bit of sexual stuff that pretty much ruins it. The characters are kinda interesting and the romanticization of the stars is cool. The music is unexceptional, but the animation quality is better than average.
2 — Eh. It’s better than ep 1, but it’s too spazzy and shallow. There’s just no real depth here.
3 — Boring, static. The ending song is alright.
4 — Ok, it finally gets interesting.
5 — This one isn’t bad. It’s kind of a harem series at heart. The relationships are deepened slightly. We learn more about Fumin.
6 — Again, nothing particularly special, but it’s not bad. Some funny scenes with Hime-chan. The series is reaching its stride as a rather typical high-school confusion of love kind of thing. It’s not as good as True Tears, but it’s in the same vein.
* 7 — This episode is actually pretty good. This series is rare in anime` that it gets better as it goes along. Saku’s feelings of confusion are mostly realistic; the plot grows tangled and emotionally effective, and there’s this whole heartfelt emotionality that wasn’t present before. No trash.
* 8 — Same as 7. Very good.
9 — Slightly less good than the previous two episodes. The heart is still there but the execution is a bit rough. A few profanities and some stereotypical spazziness. On the plus side, a positive mention of God. We see some character development in Saku, and Hime, and even Roma (the president). Ouma is interesting; though she has a great elan, she’s not altogether good — she is deceptive and cuts off Saku when he’s talking. The whole plot is interesting — several high school Astronomy clubs coming together to stargaze for an evening.
10 — About the same as 9. A handful of profanities, a stereotypical plot, and very little character development. The high point reached in 7 and still present even in 9 seems to have been forgotten altogether.
11 — A semi-return to form. It’s not breathtaking, but it is better than average. There’s quite a bit of cool character development with Hime. There’s only 12 episodes, which feels rushed to me.
12 — It ends well. The initial part has some stupid stereotypical risque` stuff with the public baths. The romance of the stars is played up to effective emotional results. Roma and Ouma graduate. Mihoshi is the president of the club in the new year. A lot is left unresolved, but that’s ok as season 2 is on the way.

Sora No Manimani grows on you, and by the middle episodes, I was looking forward to the next outing. The characters are what carry the day, even when the plot stumbles, and despite some of the stupid risque` material that surfaces from time to time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as bad as in Toradora! but it’s not necessary and the best episodes don’t have it at all. It did rekindle my interest in stargazing, though, and I did learn stuff about the stars (and this was done seamlessly as part of the plot, not as though the plot existed just to teach). On the whole, it’s an easygoing anime` that occasionally pulls at your heart strings. It’s generally not bad and it’s probably worth watching, though I doubt I’d buy the DVD if they were subbed.

Enjoy the excellent Koharubi subs here.

Fall 2009 Anime Season (Updated 10/18)

No-one has created a collection of cool previews like they did for this past summer’s anime` season, so I guess we’ll just have to download stuff at random to get an idea of the good shows. Anime News Network has a list and some reviews, so at least we know the names of the shows, or at least most of them.

Here’s the usual OO breakdown, with the bolded series ones I’ve actually seen.

• 11 Eyes — I didn’t expect much from an eroge game. I guess it’s faithful to the original, but who cares about another T&A series?
• Asura Cryin’ 2 — More ghost panty-shots. Blech.
• Book of Bantorra — An awesome concept, but the animation is like watching an edited-for-TV softcore porn movie. How many slow-mo boob shots can you fit into one show, guys?
• Kampfer — The concept is about a guy who transforms into a girl and the girl he has a crush on is a secret lez. No thanks.
• Inuyasha: The Final Act — I’ve never liked this series, so I didn’t bother.
• Kiddy Girl and… — A poor man’s SF series with the emphasis on bouncing boobs and guess what?
• Kimi no Todoke — It’s interesting. It’s a romance, but it’s also emotionally gritty and real about h.s. I’m not sure if it works or not.
• Kobato — It’s ok. It’s a magical girl/wide-eyed innocence sort of story. The dog is way too harsh, which makes it feel disjointed.
• Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 2 — I saw an episode or two of the first series. This is more of the same. Pervy h.s. trash.
• Nyan Koi — Awesome idea (guy cursed to hear what cats are thinking), but porno execution. Cuss words every twenty seconds don’t help. Geez. Typical anime` fail.
• Queen’s Blade: Gyokuza no Tsugumono — More hentai.
• The Sacred Blacksmith — A decent medieval-esque idea, but the execution? You guessed it: panty-shot time.
• Sitokai No Ichizon — This is your typical pervy school harem series. Nothing that you haven’t seen before in Shuffle, School Days, or a thousand others.
• Shugo Chara Party! — A train wreck of live action, super cuteness, and 12-year-old attitude. I feel like I lost a significant portion of my IQ by just watching it.
• Tegami Bachi — I’m not usually a fan of shonen series, but this one has some depth. It has a steampunk vibe to it, too. Tasty!
• To Aru Kagaku no Railgun — Pervy school/superhero mix. Again, nothing interesting here.
• Trapeze — An anime` that tries to channel David Lynch and fails miserably. The problem is the source material, which is unoriginal, although the mixture of animation styles don’t work well, either.
• White Album 2 — More horrific Wuthering Heights-esque emotional torture where there’s no-one to root for.
• Yumeiro Patissiere — Looks pretty good. It’s a school series where a girl follows her dream of being a patissiere — a designer of sweets.

So out of all the new series, Tegami Bachi and Yumeiro Patissiere look like definite wins, Kimi no Todoke is interesting, and Kobato is a maybe.

Taishou Yakyuu Musume (Taisho Baseball Girls) Guide

Taishou Yakyuu Musume (Taisho Baseball Girls) official site (in Japanese) has all the ingredients that make a great show: pastlove (it is set in the 1920s), girls striving for their best in a suffragette sort of way, not a feminist sort of way (think Little Women), and it’s a coming-of-age thing. The plot? In an age of modernization, a guy tells his fiance` that she has no business doing anything but staying at home and raising children. To show him what she’s really made of, she vows to best him in baseball. She has two problems, though. One, she knows nothing about the game. Two, she needs eight other players.

The usual short guide follows, with outstanding episodes starred.

* Ep 1 — In a word, charming. If the series sticks with this humorous and tender approach throughout it will be something fantastic. Here’s hoping.

Ep 2 — It’s still cool, but it loses some of the historical sheen here. Some funny parts this time. The ending theme song rocks. Intro a lot of new characters.

* Ep 3 — A good one. They fill in the positions and have their first practice game against the boy’s middle school. The outcome? It’s not what you might expect, if you’re used to Western animated series. It’s emotionally consistent and funny.

* Ep 4 — Another good one. Character development with Akiko, and Koume grows a bit (though some of this borders on the unrealistic). More humorous bits than last time.

* Ep 5 — Good, but a bit lower-key than last time. Intro the ninth player.

* Ep 6 — Yes. There are some funny parts here and there are parts where the show could have gone in a pervy direction, but it didn’t. Restraint and class? Wow, that’s almost unheard of in a girls’ series, so mad kudos to the writers. Koume`’s life gets very complicated at the end. They find their first opponents and completely suck, but there’s a lot of learning and growing with many of the characters.

* Ep 7 — Another fantastic episode. Very funny and more character distinction. The only drawback is that it is a bit episodic, as there’s no mention of Koume’s husband, Saburo, which you’d think she’d be still freaking out over.

Ep 8 — Not as polished and taut as 7, but there is quite a bit of character development. Saburo shows up and he inadvertently declares his feelings towards her; she is oblivious. There’s some humor as the role that Koume` ends up doing in a movie is totally misunderstood, and the ending bit with Kogishina is charming. More about the magical ball, too. Lower-key.

* Ep 9 — A solid episode with a lot going on. I fear what will happen in the next episode as it looks like it will take the admiration that Koucho has for Tomoe in a hentai direction.

Ep 10 — It’s semi-cute overall, but there is one scene that implies Koucho is a lez. The end of the series though seems to imply that is some kind of immaturity. Is this some kind of cultural thing?

* Ep 11 — A return to form. This has a splash of humor, but it’s mostly serious and tense as the game starts.

* Ep 12 — A beautiful ending, shot-through with failure and success. It’s one of those rare stories where the good guys don’t totally destroy, but they prove themselves worthy opponents, which is no small feat. It’s human and it’s real. The ending bit is totally charming and captures what the series is all about.

There’s really only one fly in the ointment here, and that’s the major subject matter of episode 10. It’s one of those things that seems grafted-on for some sort of shock value, or perhaps to lampoon the silliness of it all. Then again, maybe it’s some cultural thing. I don’t know, but the series would have been excellent without it.

Anyhow, as it stands, this is a very good series with quite a few standout episodes. The profanities are rare and there’s no other objectionable content. Themes are mutual sacrifice, the value of hard work, commitment, and teamwork. There’s no real theology here but there’s nothing blasphemous either.

It’s worth watching and worth keeping, because I doubt it will ever be translated and dubbed. I can’t imagine how they’d do a sequel either, so this is probably it. Grab the fansubbed versions while you can, courtesy of Saizen and Tw-rev/Doremi. Get the first episode by Saizen for lots of cool historical notes!

For your downloading pleasure:
Saizen and Tw-rev/Doremi

Taishou Yakyuu Musume (Taisho Baseball Girls) Ending Theme!

I looove this series! The ending theme is one of the best I’ve heard in anime`, so I decided to make it available for everyone. The heavy lifting of course, was done by the excellent fansub groups Twrev (Twilight Revolution — no site guys?) and Doremi. Here’s the ending theme in full English-subbed glory. The song is “Yume Miru Kokoro,” by Kanae Ito. Mmm! Tasty modern rock!

Sorry I can’t embed it, but it’s only 20 Mb or so in MKV…here.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Breathtaking Excellence

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is the story of how three people survive in the wake of a devastating earthquake. It’s not an action series; it’s an emotional series, that fuses the horror of societal breakdown, heroism in desperate times, growing up, and the fragility of society into a crushing, although short, series. All of this is done with just a handful of profanities scattered across eleven episodes and no other objectionable material. The writers don’t often connect their themes to relevant spiritual themes, though, and that’s probably the only shortcoming of the series.

The usual short guide follows, with standout episodes starred.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

* Ep 1 — Excellent artwork, nearly photorealistic, but the characters don’t stick out from it, avoiding the problems that Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto Natsu no Sora had. The characterization is top-notch, and you can feel Miari’s alienation and pain. This is achieved without a single profanity, which demonstrates even more the ability of the writers. It draws you in on silken threads and before you know it, the episode is over. The ending song is pretty good, as is the opening song. I’ve heard Abington Boy’s School before, so the quality isn’t disappointing. However, it does end on a complete cliffhanger.

* Ep 2 — Oh my geez awesome. Tense, emotional, skillfully characterized, and faintly horrific as you see the scenes of destruction and think on what a slender thread modern civilization hangs. I’m beginning to think that this series is why anime` is good.

* Ep 3 — Still good, just not as good as 2. The horror of crowds, and some more tension as you realize that where they are is an artificial island. One by one, the methods of escape are shut off. The last scene with the wave feels kinda overly-dramatic, though. Miari is well characterized. She can’t hold out with the tough-I’m-an-adult mindset forever and she starts to break.

Ep 4 — Eh, this is kind of an off episode. Two profanities. Although it’s realistic what happens to the Tokyo tower, the last 3/4ths of the episode are drawn out too much. Still, the fragile and sometimes violent nature of people in the aftermath of a disaster is expertly displayed.

* Ep 5 — Oh man. Slower-paced, but heart-breaking. The sympathy of Miari towards others leads to her maturation. The feelings of being somewhere familiar that is made alien by disaster seep into your skin. You can breathe in the isolation, the desperation, the frustration, and finally, at the bottom of it all, the hope.

Ep 6 — Eh, another episode where there’s not enough dramatic tension. It’s lower key and there’s just not enough plot for the whole episode, so it feels threadbare and a little forced. Mari has anemia? Really? Meeting up with Aya at where Mari works was cool, though, so that was a high point. The flashbacks are what feel forced. It gets better on repeated viewings though.

Ep 7 — A lower-key episode like 6, ends on a total cliffhanger. It seems like the plot is wandering a bit lately, though there’s still some character development in Yuki and Miari. So it’s not bad, just not as good as say ep 1.

* Ep 8 — An emotional heart-wringer. Miari matures even more; the world is made alien by disaster yet again, and a bit of horror pricks you.

* Ep 9 — Awesome. Very emotional, but very realistic. They reach Mari-san’s home and look for her child and her mother. At the end, Miaria and Yukki set off to make the final leg of the journey themselves.

* Ep 10 — Starts off slow but the unease builds and builds until the dread conclusion. Is this another dream? A total mind-melt. I went back and watched bits of three previous episodes.

* Ep 11 — This will make you cry; it’s emotionally devastating. They missed a golden opportunity for Miari to thank God for Yukki’s birth; she thanks Yukki, which doesn’t make much sense. Still there’s an oblique reference to Heaven at the end. Mirai’s emotions, her resolve, and the determination by the residents of Tokyo to pick up and keep moving forward is shown even through the end.

What can be said about this series without sounding like overweening praise? Only this — that it is excellent and a reference point for all anime`s in the years to come.

The message that it leaves us with — appreciate those around you for they will soon be gone — is timeless and poignant. It is a lesson that our fast-paced world would do well to heed, for at some unknown moment that will feel all-too-soon, we will also be no more.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kokou (Quiet Country Cafe`) Guide

This is a series (the “new” OVAs released in 2002) that would be simply, impossible to make in America, unless you had a guy who was financially well off as a labor of love. Yes, I know a lot of anime` falls into that category, but this one exceptionally and especially so. Why?

The series is a very fragile, wistful, yearning, slow-paced slice-of-life story that requires you to be patient. It’s that last part that really strikes me; it’s like going tubing on a lazy river in slow motion. But it’s not plotless and you are rewarded for your effort. That’s the problem with many so-called slice-of-life series; there is no plot and there’s no payoff. Here, there is — if you are willing to wait and find the treasure in small things, that taken together, say much.

The story revolves around a robot maid who is keeping her owner’s cafe` going while he is away. The setting is after a world-wide war in the near future; humanity has endured but now lives quietly admist the ruins instead of rebuilding. Some artsy nudity in the second half is really about the only objectionable material here, and that’s not really objectionable.

The first episode is great; the second, not-so-much, mainly because there are things which are never resolved. It doesn’t help that two episodes are all they produced. Oh well. The first episode is good and about half of the second one is. It makes you wish that there were more. In all, it serves as a teaser for the manga, which I think was probably the point of it all.

The Clock Stops For Pandora Hearts

Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more annoyed or abandoned by anime` along comes another wolf-in-sheep’s clothing series, Pandora Hearts (official site in Japanese). I don’t have the effort to bother summarizing what it is because it’s not consistent in what it is. Is it gothic? Is it light? Is it pervy? Is it innocent? You can see how each episode compares below, but it’s not worth your time. The few standout episodes only leave you feeling like more of a sucker when the series takes a turn for the dumpster.

* Ep 1 — At first blush it seems to be another adventures of a young lord sort of thing, but once the MC discovers a gold watch, things get eerie and disturbing. Ok, it’s piqued my interest.
Ep 2 — It’s worth watching, but it has good points and bad points. Excellent music, and a growing sense of doom. The way it works out is unexpectedly tragic. The ceremony is semi-Christian which brings to mind shades of D-Gray Man. I like it because it does reference Christian symbolism, but of course, I am concerned that people will not look deeper. Anyhow, there’s a fighting-in-church scene which really annoys me, because that reflects a lack of reverence. The characters are odd and unusual. The ending is cool.
Ep 3 — Alright. The Abyss is cool. Oz’s moral weakness is revealed: he’s a sucker for a pretty girl, and as a result he gets used by them again and again. A handful of unnecessary profanities. Alice’s skirt is ridiculously high. The ending is unexpected.
Ep 4 – It’s Ok. One profanity, but the episode is almost unwatchable because Break is so obnoxious. Seriously, I want to throw things at my computer monitor because he’s such a turd. I’m really getting concerned that this will turn out like a typical anime`: begin with great promise and peter out into nothing. Alice is foxy, ok, but there’s one shot that’s virtually pornographic. Is the manga like this, too?
Ep 5 — Ok. Some of the gothic heaviness remains, but it’s filled with stereotypical interpersonal fighting that we’ve seen a thousand times before. Lots of profanities. The animation quality has taken a dive. Seems like the end is in sight already.
Ep 6 — Ok, I guess. Way too many flashbacks. Some of the gothic heaviness; a little more than last time. A cool revelation, but the animation quality just sucks now. A few cuss words. Some relativistic morality.
* Ep 7 — Good to very good. Starts off kinda slow but gets creepy and disturbing and emotionally satisfying as it goes on. This is almost as good as the first episode. We see a few more nods to absolute truth, though Oz still says he doesn’t believe in absolutes.
* Ep 8 — Quite good. Taut throughout with only a few moments to lighten the mood. Consistently odd, off-center. Some translation probs with the Mochi sub, and some profanities that they didn’t translate (not that I mind personally because even the great C1 misses them from time to time, but the purists will be unhappy).
Ep 9 — Forgettable
* Ep 10 — Nearly perfect. This is what the series should be throughout — this heavy, emotionally, and showing all the connections between the characters. A few profanities, but they are used when the characters are at their wit’s end, so it is at least realistic.
* Ep 11 — Doesn’t have the emotional ups and downs of the previous episode, and most of it is a flashback, but it is shot through with eeriness and unease. One profanity.
* Ep 12 — Another winner. Some humorous back-and-forth, but not too much. A cool reunion with Oscar. A lot of hinting about Alice’s past that whets your appetite for more. No profanities, but you’re left wondering what the relationship between Vincent and Echo is.
* Ep 13 — Taut, intriguingly complex, and leaves you hungry for more. One or two untranslated profanities (in the Saitei version). The atmosphere is thick and unsettling.
* Ep 14 — It’s still good, but it feels a little drawn out. The atmosphere is unbroken from before.
Ep 15 — Pretty good, but not great. The drama slides over into cheeziness a few places and it ends on a huge cliffhanger.
Ep 16 — It’s decent and emotionally consistent throughout, but it’s more focused on intrigue and less on gothic horror. By this point in the series I think they’ve figured out how to balance the lighter moments with the serious moments so that everything blends well.
Ep 17 — Below average. Ada is drawn like a ho. The ending dialog about heroism and self-sacrifice is cool, though. The rest is just too much silly drama and/or stuff that’s been done before. The poison? We just saw that when Sharon was kidnapped. The next ep looks good, though.
Ep 18 — Forgettable.
Ep 19 — Boring. The transformation of Oz from careless anti-hero into hero is a bit too preachy and sudden. I’d have written it differently or just not done it at all.
Ep 20 — This is all I can stand, really. Most of the episode focuses on the main characters getting drunk and Alice stripping. For bonus lameness, there’s porno sound effects. The last fourth tries to return to form but it’s really too late. The strong start of the series is wasted by a descent into typical anime` cliche`s and perversity. The whole mood of gothic doom is gone. The characters have lost their spark. The plot is predictable. It’s over.

Welcome to the graveyard, Pandora Hearts, and screw you for wasting my time and my emotions.

Gundam 00: Oh Wow, Neat, Another Mecha Series!

I tried to like Mobile Suit Gundam 00. I really did. I watched four episodes of the second series, courtesy of Awesome Toons. However, all that I’m left with is emptiness.

First, there are a bazillion characters, and even after four episodes, I can’t name them all. Second, every freakin’ episode has either a new mecha or a new weapon introduced and at least one flashback to four-to-five years ago to explain why the characters are doing what they’re doing. Third, the pace of the show is fast, so there’s very little time spent exploring the characters’ personalities. It’s all plot, plot, plot.

So even after four episodes, I don’t feel like I know any of the characters and only have a general idea as to what’s going on. It’s not emotional. The deepest part of the show are the episode titles. It’s yet another mecha series that salivates over gee-whiz battle scenes and uses excellent artwork and above-average animation to compensate for the fact that the show is about machines and not people. In short, Gundam 00 is soulless.

Welcome to the graveyard, Gundam 00.

Curioser and Curiouser: The Alice Academy

There are some anime` series that I really don’t get. The Alice Academy (Gauken Alice) is one of them. Although it’s spazzy and bubbly, the undertones are bleak to the point of nihilism. Take for instance the main character, Mikan. She tries to pursue a friendship with a girl who never, ever returns it. This is heartbreaking in itself and not really funny unless you’re a fan of cutting black humor; admittedly that is occasionally entertaining, but to have it thrown in your face over and over again is dispiriting.

Ok, let’s say that you can handle that much, but things get worse for our heroine. By episode two, she finds herself in a school comprised of elitist bullies who take delight in tormenting her in embarrassing and typically true-to-life jr. high/high school ways. Maybe I’m just too emotional for my own good, but I sure remember junk like that. Mikan never gives up, but that’s a bit unrealistic; by this point, a lot of people would be crushed. However, she still hasn’t endured enough. Her friend finally comes to defend her, after admitting that so doing results in her sacrifice of being honor student of the year and insults Mikan, publicly.

The Alice Academy pretends to be funny, but what it holds up as comical is all-too real. I really couldn’t continue watching it after two and a half episodes.

Welcome to the graveyard, Alice Academy.