Sadly, the most fanservice you’re going to be getting out of this show.
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Oinari-sama. Settling in our Home. We start the episode meeting the brother’s father, who’s apparently perfectly fine with keeping a demon as a pet. I don’t know if I should laugh or be mildly disturbed by it. Kou seems to have no idea of how to react to the new social environment she’s been thrust into. [...]
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Reviewed this week: Amatsuki 1-2, Chi’s Sweet Home 13, Himitsu 2, Kaiba 2, Kurenai 4, Real Drive 2, Wagaya no Oinari-sama 3, xxxHOLiC Kei 4, Zoku SZS 12 ..and in manga: HxH 275-8, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 13-20 ANIME CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (3) – the state [...]
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Oinari-sama, the seal is broken. The story follows two boys of the Mizuchi family and the patron Deity that protects them. Tooru and his older brother Noboru are called out to the family shrine because a demon is after their lives. Fortunately, the brothers are as clueless as us, which opens up for a some exposition [...]
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Okay, we're three episodes into the spring anime season and I have to declare myself. At least I have to stop watching some shows so anime doesn't take all my time.My favorites? Nijuumensou no Musume, Kurenai, and Macross Frontier. None of these are reaching the level of True Tears, Ef, or Blue Drop for me, but they have a chance.I find myself especially eager to see each episode of Nijuumensou no Musume, and not just for Hirano Aya at her best. The pacing is perfect so far, never so fast that it loses emotional sense, nor so slow that I start looking at the slider. All the characters seem to have something inside them: they are people, not just images of people.I like the way secrets are revealed gradually, but without making a fetish of them. There is always something more to be revealed. And quick moments tell a lot, such as the The animation here is actually stellar, although at first it looks quite plain. Chiko's movements in episode 4 when she is cleaning the floor and a window are really something, as is the way her body sways as she gets up onto the seawall carrying a heavy basket. A poster on 2channel said that it looks like a rerun of an old show, and it does. But someone else pointed out that it uses modern techniques to give it this retro feel. Retro plus.The two groups subbing this in English give it two different names: Live-Evil calls it The Daughter of Twenty-Faces, which is a translation of the Japanese title. Sudo calls it Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief, as Anime News Network does.Kurenai captivated me from the start. A seven-year-old girl who has been a virtual prisoner in her aristocratic family's home is rescued by her minder and hidden in the apartment of a young bodyguard called Kurenai, who has a killing blade implanted in his arm. The bold tsundere character of the little girl and the walk-on-eggs caution of her new roommate continue to make for a fascinating relationship.Once again, the direction and the portrayal of character and relationship are what make this show tick. And the voice-acting is continually excellent, especially that of Sawashiro Miyuki as the 16-year-old bodyguard and that of former child actress Yuuki Aoi -- who is actually 16 -- as the little girl.The show is directed by the director of Red Garden, and appears to use the same unusual technique of recording the voices before finalizing the animation. This allows for some very natural conversations, with voices running parallel or interrupting each other. Great effect.I had never seen any Macross show, and I went into Macross Frontier thinking it would be mainly mecha. Instead of that, I get some interesting characters and even romantic relationships, as well as space battles and friendly and unfriendly aliens.I am a total sucker for the shoujo staple of the apparently incompetent girl who will show her strengths as we go on. And newcomer Nakajima Megumi as Ranka's VA intensifies the effect. Endou Aya (Miyuki in Lucky Star, Angie in Neo-Angelique) is suddenly blossoming this year and makes the big singing star Sheryl into another fascinating character.You can add Nakamura Yuuichi's Alto to the list of good performances in this show. Alto was trained to play women's roles in kabuki, and is still called "Princess" by his friends. But his ambition is to be a fighter pilot, defending the Macross space colony. So we get complexities of romance, relationship, and gender. And a huge colony-city in space, making its way from Earth toward the centre of the galaxy.I am also enjoying Vampire Knight, which is a top-notch vampire show, in the league of Tsukihime and Tsukuyomi, and maybe even approaching Hitsuji no Uta, but with a shoujo tinge. It's wonderful to hear Horie Yui playing the young girl protagonist. But equally good to hear Miyano Mamoru as her (unrelated) elder brother and Kishio Daisuke as the aristocratic vampire who once saved her from another vampire.The animation here is not as detailed as in the first three shows, but it is very stylish. And I find the angst of the story quite persuasive. Hocchan's Yuki is strong, good, daring, and an attractive personality all round. Mamo-chan's Zero is a young vampire hunter with a secret.Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is my surprise hit. Its combination of madcap humor and sweet relationships is entrancing. And there is some great character-creating voice-acting by Fujimura Ayumi and Hirohashi Ryou, among others.My guilty pleasure is Kanokon, which may be the most outrageously sexual fanservice show I have ever seen. Even people who like fanservice are saying it goes too far. And Kawasumi Ayako shows yet another side of her multifaceted talent. The other main fanservice show of the seaon, ToLoveRu, doesn't interest me as much, but the wonderful Yahagi Sayuri is at her best as the hero's real love-interest, Haruna.I expected Neo-Angelique Abyss to be another guilty pleasure, but it is in fact more than that. The new staff (largely from Corda D'Oro) that is producing this iteration of Angelique is giving it better animation, better dialogue, and a plot that is working so far, despite the monsters. Endou Aya is making this her big season, with another sharp performance as the sweet girl who is the strongest mage around, and ends every battle emitting powerful light that flushes away the monsters. And the character design is terrific, including Angie's outfits and zettai ryouiki, and her bevy of real bishounen. Like Vampire Knight, this show gets its bishounen fanservice right, perhaps because the main staff people in both cases are women.Many people would consider any Da Capo show to be a guilty pleasure, but I don't. This second season of Da Capo 2 is starting off much better than season one, with romantic complexity and glimpses into the feelings of the participants. And Yoshiyuki's denseness has not yet gotten out of hand. Add Takagaki Ayahi (Noe in True Tears) as Otome, and you really have something.Real Drive is yet another Production IG/Shirow Masamune tale that I can't help enjoying even when I don't understand what is going on. Production IG's surrender to the commercial usefulness of fanservice has produced some interesting panty shots of the unusually plump heroine. Great animation and character design, as usual.Naisho no Tsubomi has captured my attention, too. It is based on a health education manga for girls, but has been made into an enjoyable slice-of-life anime. The first episode showed the travails of our young heroine as she had her first period, completely unaware of what was going on. The relationships with friends and family are beautiful, and so is the voice-acting, especially by Nazuka Kaori and Koshimizu Ami as the two main girls. Even if this show weren't such good slice-of-life, I might be watching it just for the beauty of those two voices.Allison and Lillia started well, but has become less interesting for me as it goes on. It is seeming too far-fetched and rushes through things that should take longer. We'll see how ep5 shapes up. The character and relationship of the protagonists are what count.Library Wars seemed to have some of the relationship goodness of Planetes at first, and may still, but ep3 was a bit meh for me -- except for the cliffhanger ending.My enjoyment of Itazura na Kiss waxes and wanes. Not a great show, but a great story -- which is the reason why it has come to anime after having already been a manga and two dramas. Maybe the fact that I saw one of the dramas makes this less interesting to me.Net Ghost PiPoPa is another surprise hit for me. It and the new season of Blue Dragon appear to be the most-watched new shows on Japanese TV. The clean look and good adventure story for young kids both remind me of Otogijushi Akazukin. Not something I'll watch every week, but enjoyable for what it is.There are lots of other good shows this spring. Almost everything is watchable. Soul Eater is visually wonderful, but the surface brilliance and humor aren't enough for me -- especially since monsters generally turn me off. I've never been a fan of Code Geass, despite its great cast. And Zettai Karen Children is just finding its feet. More of the emotion behind the characters and less of the stereotypical battles might please me.Wagaya no Oinari-sama has two good things going for it: the characters played by Yukana and Hayami Saori (Momoka in Touka Gettan). Yukana is the female aspect of the fox god who is brought in to protect the household. Hayamin is the clumsy but powerful young priestess who is there to help her and keep her under control. Hayamin, at 16, is growing fast as a seiyuu. Her singing of the ED is already top professional quality. But the story and writing are limping.Golgo 13 has real masculinity: a square-built sniper hero who shows zero emotion as he takes out the bad guys in a show whose dark colors and deliberate direction make it feel classic. Mnemosyne continues to combine atrocious violence with yuri in an over-rich but tasty soup. And Noto Mamiko and Kugimiya Rie sound great.Crystal Blaze, Himitsu: Top Secret, Monochrome, and Tower of Druaga all have strengths, too. Despite the fact I haven't had time to watch more than one episode, I suspect that Amatsuki could develop into something, as well. And Junjo Romantika is true yaoi, with strong fanservice and relationships. Kyou Kara Maou and Nabari no Ou just didn't do it for me after one episode, so I haven't had a chance to watch more.This season may not have the overwhelming excellence at the top that some other seasons had, but it is deeper in good shows than any season I can recall.
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The show is slowly picking up, in terms of interesting-ness and awesome-ness. Didn’t expect to see even Hocchan in this show, much more as Miyako, the siblings mom at that. I just can’t see anyone with Hocchan’s voice as a mother. Really. Especially when she’s using that normal, Hocchan voice of hers. The main star of [...]
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Macross Frontier and probably Code Geass top the list of most posted-about new shows on 2channel. Macross is at almost 87,000 posts. The most popular new shows in TV ratings, however, are Blue Dragon 2 and Net Ghost PiPoPa. I'll get to TV ratings later in the article.Unfortunately, it's hard to know the 2channel popularity of Code Geass, since the threads have just continued on from the first series. It is now up to 578,000 posts, overall.Coming after Macross's 87 threads (86,000+ posts), way down at 20 threads, is Zettai Karen Children, which apparently took over Hayate no Gotoku's popularity when it took over its TV timeslot.Kurenai, Soul Eater, and Library Wars follow, at 13 threads each. ToLoveRu has 12.Kamen no Maid Guy is at 8, and Blassreiter and Kanokon are at 7 each. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki has 6, and Nabari no Ou and Wagaya no Oinarisama both have 5.Allison to Lillia and Vampire Knight are at 4, and there is a long list at 3: Golgo 13, Itazura na Kiss, Mnemosyne, Neo-Angelique Abyss, Nijuumensou no Musume, Penguin Musume, and Special A.Chi's Sweet Home and Crystal Blaze are at 2, and Bus Gamer at 1.It's hard for me to tell about XXXHolic 2 and Da Capo 2 SS, since they both may have just continued threads from their first series, as Code Geass seems to have. But I don't have access to the 2channel archives to find out. XXXHolic is at 20 threads and Da Capo 2 SS at 9.This list simply shows how interesting shows are to people who post on 2channel. It is quite diferent from general popularity as represented in TV ratings. For those, check out Siegel Clyne's posts in the "Anime TV Ratings in Japan" thread in the AnimeSuki forum.In TV ratings, family anime like Sazae-san and Chibi Maruko-chan had 18 and 14 percent of the TV audience in their time slots in the week ending April 20. Anime like One Piece, Detective Conan, Gegege no Kitaro, and Naruto were around 6-8 percent.Then there was a group around 5-6 percent: Naruto, Major, Precure, Keroro Gunso. And Gintama was just under 5 percent of the audience.Between 3 and 4 percent came Blue Dragon, Bleach, Shugo Chara and Net Ghost PiPoPa. As far as I can see, Blue Dragon 2 and PiPoPa were the highest-rated new shows.Then, just under 3 percent of the audience, we have a batch of new shows: xxxHolic Kei, Toshokan Sensou, Golgo 13, ToLoveRu, and Code Geass.Between 2 and 2.5 percent were Onegai My Melody Kirara, a rerun of Prince of Tennis, Macross Frontier, Soul Eater, Real Drive, Itazura na Kiss, the late show of Soul Eater, and Zettai Karen Children.Figures are not available for all shows. And some shows will be missing from the 2channel list, as well, since I only took shows that were among the top 100 recently posted about.
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  This time Kuu-chan goes to school.Today the spring term starts and the Takagami brothers have to go to school.Tohru has to go to his opening ceremony and Kuu is curious about what exactly is this “school”.Tohru’s explanation was pretty vague thus it only raised more questions. The world’s worst maid This is my favourite hobby =3 Miyako is [...]
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I like cute pink bunnies too.
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