REIDEEN 01 raw
Saiga Junki is a normal high school student. One day, he hears that his father, an archaeologist missing for the past 10 years, was found dead in ruins located at Iwate Prefecture’s at Mt Kurokami. Junki blacks out while in the ruins. Upon waking up, he finds a gold bracelet left beside him with the inscription, "The Great Reideen." At that time, a meteor falls from the sky and a large mechanical beast appears out of a lake..."
Remake of the 1975 series Yusha Reideen.

Robots anime

Realistic-looking settings. 3D is good but dizzying camera angles. The hero had the same dream over and over in the past but when the vision becomes reality all he can say is "what's going on"? He's supposed to be a genius! Oh well - probably intended for kids... but with an adult-looking hero.

Keitai Shoujo ep 01 raw
Guy and girl see each other at school, and also use phones to communicate. Ramance doesn't go well in real life, but the cell phone saves the day. Medetashi, medetashi (so wonderful, so wonderful).

Romance with cell phones.

Very short. The OP and ED are longer than the episode itself!
Black uniforms? Even the sport uniform is black. Those must feel very hot in summer.
The cell' screen colors are ugly and use bad English. Ugh...
Animation is a bit stiff.
The girls in the ED are cute tho.

Idolmaster XENOGLOSSIA - 01 raw
Idols being recruited, meet on the train while going to Tokyo, little strange events happen elsewhere... what is going on?

Sci-fi with idols.

Haha. It starts with a boring presentation, shy new idols being selected, talking about trivial things, with a dumb ambient soundtrack that drowns the girls' conversation. Yawn. I was about to give up on this anime. But then, the key locker each girl received starts to behave strangely from time to time while on the bullet train. Then while visiting Tokyo the girls see strange walls in the streets... At the end, we have a set of giant mechas roaming about with HQ in a panic! And still nothing is explained, altho I can somewhat guess what's going on. I'm not sure if the enemies are aliens or rival idols, tho. Maybe both?

Hitohira 01 raw
"A transferred student Asai Mugi is a painfully shy girl. She is so shy that she can’t speak when she becomes seriously nervous. However, for some reason, she is spotted and recruited as a member of the drama club."

Schoolgirl trying to overcome shyness and become a princess in the limelight.

Lots of reds and pinks. Art/animation is okay. Acting of the characters comes a bit forced, like if they are playing in a drama already in real life. The only ones with a personality are the girls, the (very few) boys are mostly props for the girls to use on the stage. Shoujo.

Seirei no Moribito 01 raw
Every 100 years, a Water Fairy puts an egg into a person who is to become the Guardian of Fairies. This time, the egg is given to the young prince of the New Yogo Kingdom. But they are people plotting to have him killed. A travelling female fighter, Valsa, happens to witness the event...

Ancient Japan(?) fairy tale, with realistic settings.

Beautiful, detailed scenery, using seamless 3D at times. 2D art is very detailed. Story was a bit on the heavy side, with all these old polite phrases and ceremonials, but looking at the preview it seems that it's gonna be more about the tribulations of the inexperienced prince in enemy territory.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 01 raw

Boy with a giant drill and his AWESOME older brother live in an underground cavern.
The old chief doesn't want them to try to leave because there's nothing above ground and imprisons older brother.
The boy finds glowing a drill-shaped key and giant robot in a tunnel.

Giant monster and woman (with large gun and large chest) falls into the cavern from outside, they defeat it with the giant robot and the aid of the older brother's totally wicked sunglasses.

Major FLCL complex. Major clock show. Major sunglasses. Major fanservice.
http://img.waffleimages.com/be973a6377c5805e080b917dbe27eb6578af039b/bitchinsunglasses.jpg
http://img.waffleimages.com/33b3d3dbeabcba6334c1aa95390e1b76934c9ffd/ttglboobs.jpg
http://img.waffleimages.com/ce48a5fa28ee3b4c01fc7f6e3dfe0a74ed32d2be/the%20drill%20is%20a%20phallic%20metaphor.jpg

Hayate the Combat Butler 01 raw

Highly competent adaption of Hayate the Combat Butler; I don't want to explain the plot due to it being 4 AM.
Preponderance of flat-chested girls, and also the female lead is a little girl with thighhighs. They are very moe.
Male lead looks like a girl but that is just a style thing.

Frequent narration by everyone's best friend Norio Wakamoto. It makes the anime sound like a Sound Horizon album.

Anyway, I am very good at complaining about things, and there is nothing to complain about here. I would say it's excellent, but I just watched Gurren Lagann, which is less visually impressive but has more burning courage.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 01 raw

This show is all about drills, giant glasses and even bigger faces. This is a recipe for pure awesome.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - 01 raw
Story: Since immemorial times, people have drilled their homes down deep in caverns. In one such village, a boy named Simon happens to find an ancient artefact while drilling. He goes to tell Kamina, an older boy who believes in the fairy tale that there is another land above. But suddenly an earthquake occurs, and the ceiling collapses, followed by a big monster and her hunter in hot pursuit, Yoko...

Genre: Three puny humans go out of their cavern to tackle a world where giant monsters roam the surface.

Review: Gainax. Lots of non-stop crazy action. The girl is cute, but I'm not sure yet if to like her voice.

Hayate the Combat Butler 01 raw
Ayasaki Hayate was the fastest delivery boy, till he was fired after his employer found out that he was underage. Returning home, he learns that his parents ran away and sold him to the yakuza. Escaping, Hayate decides to kidnap a young girl, Nagi Sanzenin, for ransom money...

Comedy.

I don't like the manga on which the anime is based but this first episode was entertaining enough.

Heroic Age 01 raw
Answering the call of the Golden Race, all sentient races launch into space. The human race, aka the Iron Race because they were the last ones to launch, is under thread of total annihilation by the Silver Race. To save Mankind the Queen sails out toward a far-off galaxy's planet with her people, following the prophecies. There, she finds a boy called Eiji. But the Silver Race has caught up to them and the battle begins.

Sci-fi, mecha, superpowers.

Smooth animation, good art. Nicely thought up, detailed universe. The only thing that doesn't fit too well is the mechas - they can reenter the atmosphere without protection, holding a rifle in their hands? It should have been morphing mechas, with plane/humanoid shapes, or at least the rifle should have been secured for reentry. Even better, why not make the rifle part of the frame? Like this it feels like toy makers altered the original story for ease of manufacturing.

Seto no Hanayome - 01 raw
While visiting his hometown, junior high school student Michishio Nagasumi almost drowns but Seto San, a mermaid, saves his life. However, her family is part of a merfolk mafia, and they abide by a strict rule: if a mermaid is discovered by a man, either he dies, or the mermaid dies. The only exception is if the man becomes a member of the family.

Gag anime.

I liked the manga (well, at the beginning; after a while it petered out) but I couldn't stand this first episode, too manic for one thing. Scenes get dimmed somewhat randomly, not sure why but it's annoying. And the characters don't come off as very sympathetic, except maybe for the mom: it was funny how she fell for the cool yakuza at first sight. Dad must be really useless. They have only one child?

GeGeGe no Kitarou (2007) 01 raw

Kitarou, and his dad who is an eyeball, and his friend who is a catgirl named Catgirl, and his friend who is a, uh, rat guy named Rat Guy, and a talking konnyaku, and some anthropomorphic toilet paper are all youkai (spirits). They go and fight other spirits for being evil.

In this one they fight some kind of water guy, which was fairly entertaining, but it's a kids' show.
Nobody outside Japan cares about this show. Not even torrented. Won't be subbed.
Good song though:
http://astrange.ithinksw.net/fat_nerd/GeGeGe%20no%20Kitarou%20OP%20(1280x720%20h264).mkv

>>14

>Nobody outside Japan cares about this show.

What?

Well, besides us, I mean.

I want to see at least 1 episode...

GeGeGe no Kitarou (2007) 01 raw

More scary and less silly than the original series, which I only caught the one subbed episode of. Overall very entertaining for a kids' show. Also, that guy is not a talking konnyaku, he's a nurikabe!

PS: Ginko = Kitarou.

GeGeGe no Kitaro (2007) 01 raw
"Kitarou, a ghost, spends his afterlife helping humans in need of his skills."

Fighting ancient monsters in modern Japan.

(Video is 1280x720 x264, I couldn't get the video to keep up nor the sound to keep in sync on my trusty but old Pentium 2.4Ghz, even with all post-processing off in MediaPlayer Classic. So I watched it like a slideshow.)
Chara designs pleasant to the eyes, except when the charas go in youka(monster) mode, in other words the horror is toned down overall. Still plenty of horrorific moments tho. Comedic relief is provided occasionally by Kitaro's dad, an eyeball with arms and legs.

El Cazador de la Bruja - 01 raw
A girl, Elis, is wanted for a murder and a large bounty is put up for her capture, dead or alive. A bounty hunter, Nady, finds her in Mexico, but other hunters want the bounty too. Nady decides to help Elis...

"Noir" in Mexico.

I didn't recognize it until they started the music. Then I saw it all: the two-team girls, one girl with a special ability and no memory of her past, the easy gunning, the almost identical music... even the ED is a copy of Noir's ED. So far it's an inferior copy to Noir tho. The new "Mireille" is too clean, the new "Kirika" is too bland, the villain too plain. Another Madlax?

Touka Gettan 01 raw
"To regain his/her memory, the main character goes to the Momoutadai academy." [from the jp wiki]

Romance.

I couldn't keep my interest up in watching sequentially. Something about people in ancien Japan who died in a flash of light and are now reunited in present Japan? Carnelian chara designs so the girls are cute and sexy. But everything happen is slow motion, I can't make much sense of the story, the girls' voices grate on me, the guy has a female voice. Maybe it's shoujo? Or disguised shoujo-ai(girlXgirl)? The voiceover at the beginning and the end is an old lady's voice, she made me laugh with her bored, flat tone of voice, kind of "what the heck is this?"

>>20

It's part three of the director's trilogy that started with Noir and Madlax, apparently.

CLAYMORE - 01 RAW
In this world there are demons who eat men's flesh(youma). To fight against them, humans have created special warriors who are half-demon, half-human. They are the Claymore, from the name of the sword they wield, roaming the countryside.

Dark medieval tale of swords and sorceries.

Young boy falls for the killing machine in the shape of a pretty girl who he thinks saved him, and follows her around. As she spends her time hunting vicious monsters and he is a mere human, it doesn't look like this first love is going to end well for him...

Wellber no Monogatari ~Sisters of Wellber~ 01 raw
Since the war between Wellber and Sangatrus ended, there has been peace. But a new war is brewing. The King of Wellber tries to quell the tensions by giving his daughter, Princess Litta, to the Prince of Sangatrus. When the Prince tries to possess her, Litta runs away with Tina the thief.

Light-hearted RPG-style adventure.

About everybody is despicable here. ^^; Litta is clueless, the prince is a boor, the kings are too, the boyfriend of Tina is useless... The thieving Tina is about the only one with a sense of honor(!)

Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo~Youkosou-gumi Ryou e~ 01 RAW
South of the mainland there is an isolated island. On that island, there’s a factory and a school. The factory decided to stop its operations. That leaves only the male protagonist and a few girls living there to go to school.

Harem anime.

Everybody sounds and acts retarded... yawn. Is there even a story?

Touka Gettan 01 RAW

This show does not make sense. Sense is entirely the opposite of what this show stands for. Characters appear without being introduced and change names unexpectedly. Lots of cherry petals fall around and the maid is suddenly magical and people get stabbed in the eye with MIND BULLETS for no reason.

I am assured that this is not an artifact of raw-watching in any form; there is no continuity to this story and Japanese speakers have no help to offer.

The old lady narrating is apparently on loan from Mushi-shi.

MURDER PRINCESS 01 raw
In the 4th of Month of Jade, Cyndina Era 672, a coup d’etat broke out in Foreland, forcing Princess Arita to flee the castle. Outside, she bumped into the strongest bounty hunter in history and their souls exchange. Thusly, the strongest (and bloodiest) princess in history was born.

Swashbuckling and rock'n roll.

'Love the hard metal music. I liked the manga, and the anime is even better. Gimme more.

Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica - 01 (RAW)
Humans rely on the miracles of fairies in their lives, and the fairies live on the music played by humans. This is the story of the fairy Conticarte and the human Phoron, who live on the Polyphonica continent.

Boy meets tsundere(cold&hot) fairy.

Aw, too mawkish, I couldn't bear to watch much of it. >_< At first I thought it was a Demonbane clone (competent pretty boy is being picked on, variable-size loli/babe has superpowers) but no giant robot, just a transforming motorbike/synthetiser. And what with the old style phones? The synth has hightech light displays but the phones have cogwheel numbers? BTW a synth player for fairies is called a "Dantist" here. Ouch! ^^;

Kissdum -ENGAGE planet- - 01 (RAW)
In 2031, strange life forms called Hardians appear, begin to multiply and assault the population. Mankind creates a special group, the NIDF, to investigate the Hardians. Rurika Yuno, one of Earth's foremost scientists, hears rumors about a certain "Book of a Dead Man". Is this the key everybody is looking for?

Mecha or horror anime? 'Dunno yet.

"I can't see a thing, Captain!" Very dark. This episode reminds me of that other Gundam OVA episode where there is an cataclysm and everybody is running around in the dark but we don't know who is who, the characters have not been introduced yet. So far I don't have a clue why I should care for this anime. On the plus side, we got to see a flying car, woot.

OverDrive - 01 raw
Clumsy schoolboy Shinozaki Mikoto is asked “Why don’t you join our bicycle club?” by a girl who happens to be his secret crush. But he doesn't know how to ride a bike. So he must learn it in secret, and fast.

Boy and bike love story.

Eyeshield-21 clone. Girl is cute, guy is so useless it's painful to watch. ^^;;; But he'll probably attain Super-Sayaijin level, get yellow hair and pass the speed of sound on a bike in a couple of episodes. ^^; Winning is not about hard work and fine tuning, it's all about love magic?

Nagasarete Airantou 01
A 14-year-old boy, Tohoin Ikuto, quarreled with his father, and ran away from home. He fell out of the ship he embarked on and woke up at an isolated island where the locals are all strong possessive females and have never seen a man...

Fast-paced comedy.

Manga awesome, anime awesome, need more episodes.

Romeo x Juliet 01 raw
On the flying city of Neo Verona, tyranny reigns after the Montague assassinated the previous Capulet ruler 14 years ago. Romeo is the son of the new ruler, Juliet is the last of the Capulet and lives in hiding, masquerading as a masked, caped man who defends the oppressed.

Tragic love story.

Pretty scenery and art. Nice 3D flyby around the fortress' walls. Chara design is a bit plain but well animated. I have a little problem with the way the characters behave, it's not very exuberant like Italians are, I feel it's too reserved. I would have envisioned Romeo as someone who is more aware of his good looks, his best friend as more pushy, his assigned girlfriend as more secure, and Juliet less of a pushover... or something. Basically, I didn't feel for the main characters in this first episode. I liked better the performance of that buxomed actress who lost her blind date. ^^

Gigantic Formula - 01 raw
2035, Mankind is recovering from a recent cataclysm. A mecha fight has been proposed by the UN to decide which country will rule the world. Japan finished building their giant robot, and is holding a virtual game at the Tokyo Dome to decide who is the best pilot. Another country decided to play dirty and sent their robot to destroy the Dome with all the pilot candidates in it. A 13-year-old boy who was playing from a remote location is the only pilot left. Incidentally, he was also the best pilot. But foreign men in black are zeroing in on his location...

Mecha fighting.

Yuck, faces are ugly. Rotoscoped animation? Or are they trying for a "realistic" look? But blushes are represented by big unnatural red circles that appear instantly, so it's more likely that it was rotoscoped, or based on 3D models. Mechas aren't very pretty either. Besides, how come the mechas can regenerate? And why do countries have to fight for total domination? Is there an alien threat, or is it just bad writing?

Oh Edo Rocket - 01 raw
In the 13th year of Tempo, people in Edo are ordered to stop living extravagantly and luxuriously. But Tamaya Seikichi doesn't want to abandon his dream to make beautiful fireworks. The next day, Sora, a mysterious and beautiful girl, asks him to make a firework that can reach the Moon.

Historical Japan fantasy-comedy about fireworks.

Reminds me of Gintama, a bunch of eccentric characters doing dumb stuff and running away from the law. Based on a popular manga? The art is clean and the animation is okay, but I'm not very familiar with life in ancient Edo, so I'm probably missing all the jokes.

Darker than Black 01 raw
In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, people with paranormal powers also appeared. The police is faced with violent psychics they have a hard time to put under control. A special agent, Hei, who can deal with such creatures is sent to Tokyo to stop the rampage.
By Studio Bones.

Supernatural thriller.

Nicely animated, nicely directed, a small touch of humor. I'm thinking Hei is a kind of Batman who doesn't hesitate to kill. I'm thankful that the anime didn't rub the nasty scenes in the face of the viewers too much, tho. ^^;

Kotetsushin Jeeg ep 01 raw
50 years after the original Jeeg defeated Evil, a giant clay robot manages to escape its rocky prison thanks to an earthquake. A high school student, Kenji Kusanagi, who is also a bike racer, is told to ride the superbike hidden deep in a shrine. But now the giant robot is going after him - can he outrun it?
Original creator Go Nagai.

Defeating Evil in a retro giant robot before lunch.

Lots of explosions, good animation, clean designs, simple plot. The 3D bikes use a nifty trick, the faces are done in 2D. Did they tone down the fan service? The girlfriends of Tsubaki Tamaki, the main character's love interest, refer to Kenji as a hopeless "sukebe"(lecher), but he isn't anything of the sort. His passions are bikes and food, he isn't even showing any interest in the girl, only her lunchboxes.

Saint Beast - Kouin Jojishi Tenshi Tan - 01 raw
A long time ago, Zeus, the great god, created a hierarchy of angels, although they were supposed to be equal. Also, Zeus appointed 6 angels as Saint Beasts who govern the animals of Earth. The six fulfilled their tasks faithfully. However, Zeus is becoming increasingly tyrannical...

Male bonding fantasy.

Animation is sub-par, fights are lame. Not a single girl in sight. Uses famous VAs, like Suzaku from Code Geass, Lelouch, Kyon from Haruhi, etc. For the fangirl.

Sola 01 raw
Absent-minded guy who likes to take pictures of the sky and sun, meets girl in the night who avoids the sun, drinks tomato juice and sleeps in a church during the day.

Slice of life, romance.

Nice clean chara designs, but the main character's sister(?) looks too much like Nemu from "Da Capo" for my comfort. Like Nemu she seems to enjoy hitting people around her a bit too much. Also she, along with his other sister, seems to be overprotective of him. Where are the parents? Anyway, the title: I suspect it's a pun on sora(sky) and sola("lonely" in Latin). "Tomato juice" drinkers are usually outcasts. ^^; I didn't care much for the characters, so I was kinda glad the "Highlander" guy showed up at the end to kick some reality in this slice of pretty boring, unhealthy life. ^^;

Kamichama Karin 01 raw
Polyphonica 01 raw

Both of these shows really suck a lot, a whole lot, and you shouldn't watch them.

Kamichama Karin at least sucks like Touka Gettan for a while, which was interestingly bad, but cleans up its act and is just terrible afterwards.

Polyphonica is just really boring. Only good detail is the phones, which are EVEN MORE BASE THAN BASE 16! Awful character drawing and moe-super-twintails design.

To Terra 01 raw (Terra e…)

Guy at school in the future has psychic episodes, is taken away by evil police, who then let him go again for no reason. He runs off to a park and has more psychic episodes.

This episode's not so hot, but I can forgive it this time because I know there's more plot coming up.

http://animeworldorder.blogspot.com/2007/03/anime-world-order-show-51-timeliness-is.html

Koutetsu Sangokushi - 01 RAW
Alternate version of the Three Kingdoms China, with a much coveted magic cube added in the mix.

Manly blood and tears on the battlefield.

Luscious artful designs. Battles are not too bad, altho skimpy. The uke(submissive male) hero moans, whines and "ah!" and "ooh!" too much for me to enjoy the story -- oh wait, that's probably intended. ^^; The seme(dominant male) guy comes across as a manipulative bastard. In short, there are no character I would want to like here.

TOWARD THE TERRA 01 raw
Earth is now a distant memory. Stories tell of a planet that was ravaged by an uncaring Mankind. Science stepped in, and computers created a new world where everything is provided. This comes at a price: anything that can disturb the peace has to be removed. Children are artificially created, and at the time of their "adult examination" their memories are taken from them. Those found to be unfit, the MU, are disposed of. Wisdom is that the MU are dangerous people who'll use their powers to destroy the new world.

Sci-fi.

The happy-happy-joy-joy dialogs at the beginning were really grating on my nerves, good job!
The chara designs are also grating on my nerves... good job(?)
The computers are running the Happyville show but they are also people watching everything on monitors all day long? The computers make unhappy faces? The guy became a psychic the day he turned 16? ... bad job?
I smell cheap writing coming up...

Blue Dragon 01 raw
The story follows Shu and his friends as they find themselves able to summon powerful shadows. The main cast will set off on a grand journey that'll determine the fate of the world.

Blue DragonBall without the Z.

Simple chara designs, altho effective enough for the storytelling. Not a masterpiece but entertaining enough. Sponsored by XBOX360.

Shining Tears x Wind 01 raw
Two school mates get teleported to a different world. Now they must fight their way out.

Adaptation of a fantasy role-playing game.

Ugh, people move and behave so unnaturally it's painful to watch. And the fighters are waiting their turn to attack like in the game? On the plus side there is a catgirl. But the wolfman claws out at her chest and not a shred of clothing gets shed? Is this an anime intended for export or what?

Kamichama Karin 01 raw
We meet orphaned this 12-year-old girl named Karin Hanazono. Her beloved cat recently died, she’s getting horrible grades and is forced to live with her mean aunt. One day, Karin meets a boy named Kazune Kujyou, and discovers that her mother’s ring has the power to give her god-like powers.

Cute magical goddess fights evil.

Pita-Ten designs. Cute. Animation uses quite a few shortcuts, but it's not too too bad. The problem is... the soundtrack! Very unfitting background music, IMO. Some sound effects are missing, too. Ruins the Cuteness Overload experience.

WHERE IS NANOHA???

Instant Reviews
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Same cr*p as before. For loliconners.
Saiunkoku Monogatari 2nd Series Same crap. For chicks.
Sakura Taisen 5th OVA New York NY Same crap. For g4merz.

> Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Same cr*p as before. For loliconners.

Man, I highly disagree. But I haven't got a good raw yet.

But anyway.

Shining Tears x Wind 01 Raw

What >>46 said. This entire episode was about as bad as the in-a-game episode of Xenosaga.

On the plus side, there is an amazing catgirl ass shot in the ED.

Gigantic Formula 01 raw

G Gundam was an excellent show. Therefore, this may be an excellent show, since it is the same thing as G Gundam.

Unfortunately, some kind of evil government seems to have killed all the contestants in the first episode.

Robots are done in 3D CG. Strangely, faces seem to be too; they don't move like animation cels and they don't quite follow the heads. Also, enormous gigantic eyes.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 01 Raw

I can't produce an objective review of this, and I could easily write an essay on it, but anyway.

Nanoha S1 started as a somewhat boring CCS clone, then quickly stopped and became a weird sci-fi show written by someone who'd played too many JRPGs. The writers then made Nanoha A's, a perfectly-formed piece of fan pandering.

For this one, they've completely abandoned being CCS and have made up actual backstory and settings, and it's turned into some kind of very moe military thing. This first episode covers the new characters' training exam, and nothing else beyond one piece of the backstory. Not much excitement, but nevertheless I can safely say that this and Gurren-Lagann are Shows of the Season™.

It is slightly worrying that some elements of the show are getting silly. Specifically, the two new characters this episode centers on don't have talking intelligent devices. One of them has a rocket punch and magic rollerskates. The other one has a gun. This is somewhat unfair, even if it is a magic gun.
But it's all just them messing with convention, so it's forgivable.

Oh, yes, and Nanoha and Fate are now adults.

Oh, and, uh.

Koutetsushin Jeeg 01 raw

This season's Go Nagai giant robot anime, kind of like New Getter Robo, except not so hardcore.
Guy races bikes with people, enemy appears, incredibly ugly old professor* summons all of guy's friends (who are all somehow secretly in the military) to fight it, guy runs around a lot until his bike transforms into STEEL JEEG!

Then he wins.
I much preferred the older and completely psychotic pilots of New Getter, but this one should suffice. Good calligraphic text everywhere.

Opening is a JAM Project... rap?

LOVELY COMPLEX 01 raw
Risa is taller than the average girl. Otani is shorter than the average boy. They are known as the comedy duo, they're always arguing. Although they have a big height difference, in any other way it seems they are perfect for each other. Can this love work out?

Romance from a girl's point of view.

Lots of funny faces. The animation is effective, and this first episode was good dumb fun. There's no real plot tho, I wonder how they are going to drag this story for several episodes.

Lucky (unicode star) Star 01 raw

Kyoto Animation comedy 4koma adaption. Mysteriously young girls in high school, etc.
Draws are that one of them is an otaku and that they're really moe.
This first episode copies the comic dialogue word for word, and the visuals are executed okay, I guess.

Problem is, they never shut up for a single second in this show. There is no lull that you can go back and think about previous lines. The OP is more dancing and shouting things. And I don't like the 4koma nearly as much as anything Kiyohiko Azuma.

Hopefully future episodes will have less talking. If not, it's going to be a well-intentioned failure.

Lucky ☆ Star 01 raw
Story portrays the lives of several school girls with a very loose humor. The main heroine is Konata Izumi, an athletic and intelligent girl but very lazy so her grades are bad. She only likes anime and video games.

Gag anime with cute characters.

OP is very win.
Ouch, non-stop talking... I need to see this subbed, but I think the funny is that they are looking fluffy and innocent, while talking about things that are gross -- not sure, tho.

Instant Reviews
Bokurano 01: Same author as NaruTaru, more children killing sick crap. I'm not going to even bother dling this.

Bokura no 01 raw

Some kids go to the beach. Since this is a Mohiro Kitoh story, one of them tortures a crab to death with a fiirecracker because kids are evil.

They go into a cave where an old guy signs them up to a game about saving the Earth. Then two giant robots appear, old guy pilots one of them and destroys the other.

(SURPRISE PLOT TWIST: You die after you finish piloting the robot!)

Staff include a lot of retired people from Ghibli for some reason.
Since this is a Gonzo show, the robots are in awful 3D CG which is a major distraction from the scenes. This was a very good manga though, and those certainly weren't the important parts.

Instant Review: Reideen eps 1-2

I'd watch this if there was nothing better on.

Instant Review Omake: Reideen eps 1-2

If that guy's going to have his clothes disappear every time he pilots the robot, it's gonna put a dent in his wardrobe budget.

Lucky ☆ Star 01 subbed:
Okay, there is no funnies in the dialogs at all, it's just girlie chitchat. The one funny is at the end with the super-idol dropping her cutiepie mask to discuss serious business - money! Problem is, I was already completely drowsy from the prior nonstop yapping so it barely registered on my laffing-o-meter. ^^;
This type of anime is probably best served in small slices, like between other stories. Currently it's a snore fest.

Touka Gettan 02 raw
Still making no sense. And what happened to the guy the girl kissed at the train station in ep01? Only girls in this episode.
I heard a rumor that the episodes are done out of order -- if true, it was badly done.

Seirei no Moribito subbed
Small:
Great animation and action, good plot and realistic characters, setting: historical japan, Go watch it if you have time.

Lengthly:
An Excellent first episode for an anime set in historical Japan, usually they bore you to death with these historical animes by emphasizing on traditions and crap so much, but here the story matters.
The protagonist is a spear wielding woman, WAIT! continue reading! its not a loli ninja, its a 30 year old woman, her character so far comes as strong willed, something like a modern independent woman in old times. I wont say more about her character, it'll be spoilers.
There is some very neat 3D-2D background mixes that make the show look much better, but its not like those lame 3ds that pops out to you, its casting 2D backgrounds paintings on 3D geometry which allows for a certain amount of freedom for the camera rotation, usually this is not done in low budget animation.
Also, there is 2 action scenes so far, perhaps, much more to come, but its meaningful action, not mindless. not blood spilled so far.

Kissdum -ENGAGE planet- 02 raw
Ok, we got a little explanation of what's going on. Also we got some daylight for a short while before going back into nighttime + anti-epilepsy dimming effects (btw bright lights weren't the reason kids went down when watching that pokemon episode, it was because it alternated blue and red at a specific high frequency that is well-known in the cinema industry to induce discomfort/pain to viewers; so this bright-lights-dimming rule is most likely quite pointless.)
A better episode, altho I'm still not sure the writing to come will be solid. So far the anime seems to like laying thick the emo/angst. I like the girl taking a leisurely stroll on the battlefield in her bikini, tho.

Instant reviews
Wellber no Monogatari 02 raw: Boring. I still don't like the characters. Nice 3D when the talking tank shoots, but that scene lasts only a few seconds.

Romeo x Juliet 02 raw: Those JxR romnntic scenes get on my nerves: Juliet looks so useless, while when she's being Zorro she's so dashing. Next ep hopefully there will be more Zorro-Juliet and less lovestruck-Juliet.

OverDrive 02 raw: ha, super-sayajin already, he can fly with his bike now. ^^; I'm only watching this for the babe anyway.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica 02 raw: Looks like they will be doing police work mainly. This ep was a few notches less silly than the first one, and there were a few fine touches here and there.

GeGeGe no Kitaro 02 raw: I'm not a fan of the supernatural/horror generally, but this ep was remarkably solid in its execution. Thumbs up.

Nagasarete Airantou 02 raw: I love it!!

Kaze no Stigma 01 raw
Guy got kicked out of his fire Clan because he had no talent. 4 years down the road he comes back to Japan and has now power to manipulate the wind. But there has been a murder and the clan accuses him of doing it.

Magical fighters.

Dunno if it was my copy but the episode is sorta blurry and over-exposed. So far I'm not impressed. The kid is a crybaby, the guy is overdoing it when using his new ability (problably to compensate), the girl is more interested in blaming the wind for uncovering her panties than blaming herself.

Monster Princess 01 raw, aka Princess Resurrection.
Guy is killed while trying to save obnoxious magical goth princess, ends up as her slave for life.

Supernatural comedy.

Ali Project music in the OP/ED. That's bearable, the problem is that it's also used during the show. :(
No blood. In the manga he was feeding on her blood, in the anime she materialises colored blobs out of thin air and drops them onto his chest. Slow paced, sounds like this show is intended for slow kids. People don't behave naturally, the voice acting is uninspired, the sister is a total retard, the guy has his eyes too close of each other, the background soundtrack is weak, the animation is minimal... On the plus side, the chara design for the princess is nice. I'll check one more episode before I decide if I should drop this.

Ookiku Furikabutte - 01 raw
"Mihashi moves on to high school convinced he is a lousy baseball pitcher. There he meets the catcher Abe and the team manager Momoe who together work to make Mihashi and the team shine."

Baseball anime.

Total wimp gets enrolled forcefully by big breasted team manager. That overbearing matron enjoys squeezing the juice out of oranges (and young boys) way too much... ^^; Not my kind of anime.

Instant reviews
El Cazador de la bruja 02 subbed
So damn boring... slow as molasses... Are they are going to pull another "Avenger", aka "there is not enough animation material so let's stretch everything and hope no one notices"? Also, Ali Project music within the show is a boner killer. I'm dropping this show.

Oh Edo Rocket 02 raw
Pace picked up a little, it became borderline interesting. There is a potential that it could become better. But TV sets in Edo times and no electricity? Electronic calculators and no batteries? Most of the tima these anachronisms are the earmarks of a bad show.

Sola 02 raw
Cool action at the beginning. Then it was back to the original premise of "pretty people behaving retarded". :/

Kamichama Karin 02 raw
Cute people acting retarded, bad guys waiting for others to finish their lines... it's not an anime to watch for the story but for the cute. One amusing moment when she named her move with a nasty-sounding name. >:)

Koutetsusin Jeeg 02 RAW
Not as good as the first ep. One funny moment when the hero fights the butchy girl.

Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula 02 raw
The robot fights are nicely gripping, but the humans interacting parts are real lame.

DARKER THAN BLACK 02 raw
Pretty good episode. Body count is high tho. ^^;

AIKa R-16 Virgin Mission 01 raw
Aika is a smart and athletic high school girl who just got her deep sea salvager’s license. She put up ads in her school to attract clients. This attracts the ire of Erika, the leader of the Treasure Hunting Club...

Ecchi(softcore) comedy.

This first episode was a bit stiff, hopefully it'll improve. But then with all those panties shots maybe stiffening was intended. :P

Darker than Black 01 raw & 02 sub

Ayakashi Ayashi was terrible! E7 was good!

Darker than Black is good!

THE END

Sisters of Wellber 01

Somewhat comedic RPG-game-style fantasy. I somehow manage to hate every character, especially the talking tank.

The guy who looks like an Avatar reject is alright, I guess.

Anyway it's bad.

Lucky Star 02

Well, this one is better, but this show is really too inward-turned.
You should watch an anime instead of watching an anime of people talking about anime, I think.

LS 02
It was so great, Konata becomes my favorite character in anime ever!

Konata's hair is about the right length IMO.

The Skull Man ep 01 raw
In post-war Japan, Hayato Mikagami is a freelance journalist in Tokyo who learns of a mysterious “skeletal man” who has been committing a series of murders in his old home town. Hayato hasn’t been back there since he left home seven years ago. Entrance into the town is strictly controlled, but...

Wannabe-cute thriller.

Studio Bones. Solid realization. The smoke animations especially impressed me. The sidekick girl annoyed me with her wannabe-cute cross-eyed looks, the mysterious biker girl was more my kind of girl. Skullman appears to be just yet another Kamen Rider clone turned evil. It seems to me that everybody is mysteriously interesting but Skullman. ^^; Maybe he's a creation of the mind of the townspeople?

Seirei no Moribito 2 - 4 sub
Maintains its excellent animation and story, new characters are introduced with plot twists. would like it more than the first episode .

Dennou Coil 01 raw

This is an exciting show about a girl and another girl a third girl* and a boy and their nonexistant Internet dog.

Concept is unbeatable. Show will probably be excellent.

• moe :argh:

> another girl a third girl

"and a third girl"

Denno Coil 01 raw
The year is 202x. Sixth grader Yasako Kokonogi moves with her family to Daikoku where her grandmother lives. Yasako, along with her sister, walks in Daikoku's streets, looking at the surimposed virtual world which can only be seen through special computerized glasses. With those one can surf online, look up maps, etc. But they encounter a strange creature and things start to go wrong...

Slice of future life.

The trailer was way more exciting and mysterious, this episode was a bit on the slow side especially at the beginning. And I didn't feel much sympathy for that scraggly, mangy dog when bad things happen to him, even if the animation was top notch. The other virtual pet was even worse: it's a hairy old dick(or a radish?)! >_<; Maybe the music used had a weak score for those action scenes as well, I dunno. On the plus side, the creature chase was exciting... for the couple of seconds it lasted. 'Need more episodes before I can form an opinion.

Dennou Coil 01

Up until now this season was entertaining but uninventive. Now it's a lot more inventive, too!

Also this is a show by a person, and as such it is worth watching.

Dennou Coil 02 raw
I have a love-hate relationship to that show, probably because it hits too close to home. WHY OH WHY isn't there a firewall on that darn pet??

Finished shows:

• Rocket Girls (raw): very unequal. Some eps were epic, but most eps were so-so.
• Keitai Shoujo (raw): ends abruptly at ep6(?)?? We were introduced to the girls then it's over. And the last ep shows the cell-girl going away... but when did she ever arrive?
• Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny (sub): the story development wasn't too bad, but the animation was stiff. I didn't care much for the characters, too impersonal. Prolly too many characters. First season had more warmth.

Ongoing shows, notes
o iDOLM@STER_XENOGLOSSIA 07: whoa, I can't sense any direction here. I feel like it's rambling.
o Toward_the_Terra 06: that annoying "Jomy" is gone and a new character has appeared, thanks heavens. This ep06 was decent.
o Nagasarete_Airantou 06: the awesome animation from the first eps is gone, it's dragging now. :/
o The_Skull_Man 03: I'm growing disinterested from the show. The witty banter from eps01-02 seems to be gone, it's just senseless murders it seems.
o Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 07-08: darn those endowed ladies transformation sequences, forcing me to somehow glance at the show. :) They look like naked dolls, tho. :( Oh and those two trainees should be fired on the spot, they are too dangerous for combat.

Wangan Midnight 01 raw
The protagonist, Asakura Akio, finds a Fairlady Z at a car junkyard, and is fascinated by it. He restores the Z, and drives it on the capital freeway. A Porsche 911 Turbo called the "Black Bird" comes to challenge him and he accepts... What he doesn't know is that his car has a deadly past and was called the "Devil Z".

Vroom vroom! Fast and furiously crazy.

Whoa, that Z shakes its tail on acceleration way too much for my tastes... ^^; while the Porsche doesn't shake at all... I wouldn't trust that Z. And wasn't that a stopped police car we saw? Why don't they stop them? Driving fast in the city is a bad idea... Earlier, the guy was even challenging the Porsche with 4 persons in his car... an even worse idea. :/ Then, later the road narrows from 3 lanes to 2. The guy tries to push away the Porsche to fit in. Why not brake a little and use the extra lane? We are not in a mountain range anymore like in the older series. Bad, baaaad driving...

ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!!

ICE ep 1

This show has the single worst seiyuu ever to appear in anime. The rest is also hilariously bad, but nothing quite lives up to the sheer badness of this "Erena Ono" person.

ICE OVA 1 sub
2010, all men have died off due to a dramatic change in the environment and an unknown contaminant. Now only the women are left alive and battling bioterrorists who want to destroy this world without hope left.

Scifi.

Main girl has a stuffed nose voice, a bad cold? Many of the VAs are very bad at acting, but then they are killed right and left so by the end it's not so bad. Animation quality varies, sometimes very bad, sometimes decent. Strange it's not a 16:9 screen ratio... also the animation style feels old. But Animenfo says it's from 2007. At one point the screen of the computer is an ugly bright green from the sixties, then suddenly it's a modern, crisp display. The scifi bit about animals becoming plants to help Nature is typical sixties/seventies, while the girl deciding to blow all up with a rocket launcher is more modern (the nineties) "no future" scifi. It feels like an old, forgotten project that got pimped up for a 2007 release.

Devil_May_Cry_01 sub
Dante is a demon killer on hire. Today he's asked to babysit a future rich young girl for a day...

Demon buster horror.

Style over substance? It doesn't feel as deep as a Hellsing. I got flashbacks of BlackCat, hopefully it will have a better structured storyline. The animation is very in-your-face, trying to scare the viewer... that means you! Boo! ^^;
So far, Dante isn't very interesting as a character, but then it's the first ep.

>>91
ever played the games? It won't pick up. It's all "style".

Nanatsuiro Drops 01 raw

The magical girl mascot is a goat. This should not be seen as an endorsement.

f

Instant reviews
Nanatsuiro Drops 01 raw: So dumb... What's the intended audience, five-years old girls? I feel like I lost a whole bunch of brain cells.
Tetsuko no Tabi 01 raw: YAAAT, Yet Another Anime About Trains. Ugly character designs ripped from "Nodame Cantabile" worst moments.

>>95
There's more anime about trains? tell me more

>>96

• Galaxy Express 999 + OVAs + movies
• Galaxy Railways
• Galaxy Railways II
• Undersea Super Train: Marine Express
• Take the X Train
• Midnight Sleazy Train [H]
• Groper Train [H]

etc etc.

Doujin Work - 01 raw
Girl discovers the world of doujinshi.

Simplified "Comic Party" clone.

Short, only 13 min. Slightly different from the manga, but better. The first joke in the manga didn't make me smile, but made me laugh in the anime (the anime transposed the characters in a train, with everyone listening intendly ^^). ED music is nicely lively. Pleasant, improved chara design.

Doujin Work 1

Pretty cool. Should watch it.

Some Kinda Long Name Umisho 1

Lots of fanservice effort here (constant in fact), but none of it counts 'cause no nipples. If you don't mind that might as well see it.

Comedy but not a good comedy. Bit above is main appeal.

ZOMBIE-LOAN - 01 raw
Loner Kita Michiru is a shy girl who is used as a lackey by her "friends" at school. At her home things are even worse. She meets Pretty Boy A and Pretty Boy B who seem to be nice to her, and she decides to see the ring of death on their necks with her special gift, the shinigami eyes, to see how long they have left to live. But she finds out they are dead already...

Shoujo. Soft thriller with a reverse harem.

Horrible OP music, like cats being scorched alive as voiced by humans. Creepy mood, alternating normal and weird scenes, very confusing. I can't find a single sympathetic character in this mess... but then, I'm not the intended audience.

ZOMBIE-LOAN 01

Some attempt at shounen fighting and Hitohira at the same time, with everything they could stolen from Tsukihime + Death Note.

Random scenes try to do experimental animation and fail at it. Humor added all over the place where it's not wanted. Not good.

CODE-E 1

Electronics break whenever the main character is upset. This is 100% of the time; she isn't a person, just a whining and cringing machine. Nothing even like a dynamic character here.

Nobody is appealing and the art is awful, thanks Studio DEEN.

Tetsuko no Tabi 01

Nonfiction anime about a manga about drawing a manga about a guy who visited every JR train station. Surprisingly good, even though the stations are pretty boring. Wild and competent overacting by Nobuyuki Hiyama, using slight variant on his Madarame voice.

>>101
Where can I download Tetsuko no Tabi? Sounds interesting.

>>102
http://www.datorrents.com/torrents-search.asp?search=tetsuko&cat=0&cat=0&incldead=0

CODE-E ep 01 raw
18-year-old Ebihara Chinami emits electrical waves. All electronics go berserk near her. The more nervous she becomes, the worse the situation gets. Her power forces her to transfer schools frequently. Today is the day she moves in a new school...

Romance with a twist.

Good stuff. But if I was Chinami I would be proud of my "curse". All those people yapping empty words in their cell phones in busses and trains are damn annoying. And here they even allow cells with flashes in classes? All these unnecessary electronics should be banned. Go Chinami, go!

Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho - 01 raw
Kaname Okimura joined the school's swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdos, so he never learned. One day, a happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa who was transferred from Okinawa joins the club. Her extraordinary underwater speed and unorthodox swimming style surprise every club member.

Love comedy.

Retarded girl joins retarded club. Retarded laughs ensue.
The art is nice, but the storytelling is lame. I was bored to tears.

School Days 01 raw
For Makoto, Katsura Kotonoha is merely a student in the next class, a student who uses the same train line. There is a legend amongst the students "If one changes the background image on his cell phone to a picture of whom he secretly loves, and if nobody discovers it for three weeks, one’s love will be fulfilled." So Makoto changes the image on his cell phone to a picture of Kotonoha. But Saionji Sekai, a classmate interested in him, happens to see the picture, thus ruining his plan. As apology, she offers to fix him up a date with Kotonoha…

Bloody love drama.

The story of a two-timer asshole, with its dramatic consequences. The girls are cute, but I can't identify with that idiot so I'm probably gonna pass on this one.

"A legend?" From the ancient days of cellphones from centuries past, no doubt. Lawl.

>>106

It's only bloody in some endings that might not show up. Everything else about School Days is deadly dull.

Shigurui 01 raw

Feudal-era TEXHNOLYZE.

(This is 100% accurate in every way.)

>>108 You think it's gonna have a happy end?

Well, only two endings were that bad, and showing them on TV would require R-16. But maybe.

In terms of getting what they deserve, the "good" ending is actually the one where Sekai stabs the main guy to death. Everyone hates him.

Mushi-Uta 01 raw
In Japan's near future, parasites called "Mushi" appeared. Their human hosts, the "Mushitsuki", are feeding them with their dreams in exchange for special powers. "Tokkan" is an organization that hunts them down. Kakko, the organization's top killer, receives the mission to infiltrate a school where a resistance group fighting against Tokkan, the "Mushibane", is rumored to be hiding.

Creepycrawlies, pretty girls, big guns and massive damages.

Very dark, plus I'm not into bugs. But then, the girls are cute. And I'm curious about the story of that girl who escaped from Tokkan's jails and is in the ED.

Sky Girls TV 01 raw
(Same plot as Sky Girls OVA.)

In 2084, lolitas rule the skies.

Are they going to stretch the OVA into 26 episodes? Ep1 shows the girls being recruited for the project. Well animated, but I found it too boring. Next episode, they'll see the planes. Then, training for 20 episodes, or?
And what about science? In 2084 they still have pickup trucks with wheels running on fuel? Old jet planes? Big fat iPods and PDAs? Medium tower computers with mouses? Incandescent light bulbs? And that slow boat that connects the islands, why is it not a hydrofoil?
Ok they have flat 1-page greyscale ebooks, but why -give- the ebook over? No wireless connections?

Sky Girls 1 raw

Girl goes to become a test pilot after beating her father in a kendo match. Stuff.
The present has already beaten this show's sci-fi, they're using a PDA with a stylus? Get an iPhone!

MELL OP.

Mushiuta 01

Some bug fighting and then a boring part and then some camera tricks. Uses vocoders, always a plus.

Both shows require 3-episode test, might suck.

Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai 01

Recap episode. No clue which arc/plot/thingy it's attached to. Police wander around destroyed Hinamizawa talking about aliens. Then they interview ADULT RENA (MOE~) about and she acts crazy.

Maybe I should wait until I've finished watching this to review it?

I can review Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei without even watching it, just by typing the character names

Itoshiki Nozumu
Fuura Kafka
Kitsu Chiri
Komori Kiri
Tsunetsuki Matoi
Kimura Kaere
Sekyutsu Maria Tarou
Kobushi Abiru
Hitou Nami
Fujoshi Harumi
Otonashi Meru

Those are some great names there. I can't even begin to explain why though.

Maybe easier to understand with the kanji?

Potemayo 01 raw
Shy boy Sunao Moriyama find in his fridge pudgy little creature emitting love-me pheromones. He decides to name her Potemayo (potato + mayonnaise, his breakfast that day) and ends up bringing her to school, where everybody falls in love with the cute thing.

Love and cute comedy.

So absurd it's funny. I admit I laughed a few times...

Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei 01 raw
Story about a depressed teacher whose attempts to commit suicide are constantly foiled by his unusual students.

Tragicomedy.

Animation by the PaniPoniDash team of one of the works of that mangaka who always does these disturbing low-humor comics that look like drawn by a 5-year old... the name escapes me. Of course now the art has been tremendously upgraded in the process. But it has also been PPD-ed, with constantly changing scenery, nudity covered by ugly dude mugs, etc. It's a work of art slashed with mud, pretty and disgusting at the same time. Lots and lots of talking and Japanese puns galore, I feel tired already after just 1 episode..

>>118
Have you ever actually read Kumeta's comics besides the first issue of Kaizou?

And stop with the trip code already.

>>118 Ah, I found the name of that mangaka I was thinking of, KIMURA Tahiko ("My Name Is Zushio"). But apparently "Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei" is not by him but by someone named Kôji Kumeta, which I never heard of.

Moetan 01 raw
Ink Nijihara looks like a kindergartner, but she is actually in high school and has top grades. She has a crush on Nao, a classmate with bad grades, but she's too shy to confess to him. One day, a sleazy duck expelled from the magical kingdom enters her life, Ah-kun. With his help, she transforms into Pastel Ink, the magical teacher girl...

Pedomoe magical girl anime.

Huh, the charm of the Moetan teaching books was the horrible Engrish("My ultimate weapon is the China cannon attached to my groin!"), but the only English we get here is 1 sentence after the ED, and it's not even funny. The anime itself is not funny either.

>>121
I think more fun than the horrible Engrish was that practically every sentence was an otaku ref to something or other (the ridicule of Senkousha in your example)

BACCANO 01 raw
1930s, New York, various people's fates are about to become intertwined, and this includes immortal alchemists who left the Old World, and other "things" like killer ghosts who roam trains from the New World.

Thriller.

Animation seems of quality, altho the "old pictures" brown color takes time to get used to, and masks too much details for my taste. Lots of talking so I would need to see this subbed to judge on the plot. I stopped watching when the mannered gentleman made noises when drinking his tea (in Japan it means one deeply appreciates one's tea, in the Western world it means one is a pig with no manners).

Mononoke 01 raw

A hotel owned by black people has ghosts in it, which are dispelled by Link, who has a sword and is dressed as a gay pirate. Show is animated in watercolor with parallax clothing. Too exhausting for me to watch it.

BACCANO 01 raw

Norio doesn't even care anymore! The first five minutes are just him talking in his real voice. Also some guys get shot and survive since they're immortal.

Baccano works by introducing 3000 characters and having them all come towards the same plotline through coincidence, so I can't follow what's going on even though I mostly understood it.

>>123 [continued]
Okay, I saw BACCANO 01 subbed, but I still don't know what to think about it. It's quite confusing and not much is explained of what's happening. 'Needs more episodes.

Saishuu_Shiken_Kujira_-_01-02 (ONA (Original Net Animation), 4 min. each)
Ep 01
A boy wonders why there's a whale floating in the sky. A girl is laughing at his face and concludes he must be from the countryside.
Ep 02
Same boy marvels at his younger sister's body in the morning.

Labelled as "absurdist adventure game".

Washed colors, art looks nice. Story and people seem stupid. A dumbed-for-anime h-game adaptation, apparently.

MOONLIGHT MILE 2nd -Touch down- 01 raw
Continuation of the first season. More unprobable disasters strike the astronauts. It's like "Baywatch" in space. Babes and ships, yeah!

Kodomo no Jikan OVA 01
3 elementary school girls go about the city.

Daily life.

Nice art, good animation, original manga dramatic story discarded for a lolicon's dream fest instead. Innuendoes galore. Barf.

BAMBOO BLADE 01 raw
"Ishida Toraji is an advisory teacher of the Kendo Club. He is dull and so poor that he finds it hard to make a living. However his life changes dramatically, when a teacher asks him to have a competition with Ishida’s girl’s team..."

Sports anime.

Kamina voice!... but casted as a loser. ^^;
The manga was incredibly boring, full of technical terms and "you can't do that"'s. The anime seems to try to liven it up with focusing on the girls and kendo antics but I don't know how they'll pull it out with such a weak base material.

Sketchbook ~full color's~ 01 raw
"The story revolves around a group of female high school students. The main characters is a young shy girl named Sora Kajiwara who is unsure of what club to join in her school, but before she knows it she gets dragged into the art club and becomes a member."

Anime about drawing(?).

Shy(low sugar?) wannabe-artist girl goes around the city, trying to sketch a cat, meets people on the way, runs away, goes to school, runs away, the end. Well drawn but incredibly sloooooooow.

D.C.II~Da Capo II~ 01 raw
"Sakurai Yoshiyuki wakes up one morning after dreaming again about a girl confessing to him in front of the large sakura tree. Realizing how late it is, he rushes out of his room and nearly runs over his sister Asakura Yume who wants him to make her some breakfast since their older sister Asakura Otome had to leave early today..."

Romance with a touch of magic.

Yet another iteration of that pseudo-incest erogame adaption. The male character comes off as a nasty player. I'll pass.

ChocoMimi 01 raw
JDrama, not anime.

>>131

Didn't we get this once already?

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth 01 raw
"Mysterious events unfold in the now-devastated, old capital city of Tokyo where inhabitants still remain. Young boy detective, Mayuki Hyouga, sets out to uncover these mysteries in the city, now known as “Labyrinth”."

Thriller.

Studio Deen. Looks good, but too much verbal exposition, I'll need to see this subbed before I can review it properly.

Night Wizard -The Animation- 01 raw
"This modern-day fantasy pits Emulators, who have invaded Earth from a demon world, against Humanity’s newly awakened Wizards."

Magical anime.

Ahaha! Very funny! Poor guy is always trying to go to school but can't because he has to go and fight all kinds of monsters first. :)

Myself;Yourself - 01 raw
"Sana Hidaka returns to his home town five years after moving out to Tokyo, and finds that much has changed in both the place and his childhood friends."

Romance.

Generic, slow harem anime. Moe, tsundere, genki, dojikko, the usual gang is there. Yawn. One of the girls has a VERY annoying voice -- argh!

BLUE DROP - 01 raw
"In 1995, all inhabitants of an island mysteriously disappear in a single night, except for one girl named Mari, who lost all her memories. Four years later, Mari moves to a school dormitory and meets the school idol, Hagino. Hagino, however, has some dark secrets of her own."
Gonzo.

Mystery, scifi.

Weird, dark and trippy. I like the scifi bits but the rest is so-so so far. The first ep was about a girl being bullied in her new school by an invader/alien(?) disquised as a "sweet" schoolgirl.

Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro - 01 raw
"Yako’s father was murdered in a locked room. She then meets a man named Neuro Nougami who is a demon from Hell who eats “riddles.” He forces Yako to act as a detective so he can solve mysteries. Neuro longs to eat the ultimate mystery."

1 flat-chested girl, many pretty guys = shoujo.

Comical horror shoujo? I'll pass.

Mokke 01 raw
"Shizuru and Mizuki are sisters born in a family with spiritual abilities. The elder sister, Shizuru, is able to see spirits; the younger, Mizuki, is easily possessed by them."

Slice of supernatural life.

I didn't recognize the manga... the manga was nice, humoristic and anecdotic, the anime looks like a sappy horror movie. Also the art was crisp and clean in the manga, while washed out in the anime. The soundtrack feels out of place. A failure?

Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro = Comical Horror Shoujo? From what I've seen the manga I can't really say that (the mangaka can't really draw that well), it's more of a horror detective story or something... kinda hard to explain.

>>141 Yeah.
Majin = devil/demon
Tantei = detective
Yes, it's a detective story. But goofy /and/ gory. The girl just wants to eat good food. The demon wants to eat good riddles. He walks on her ceiling. He makes her have funny faces. The bad guy transforms in something ugly, the demon becomes a /duck/ to fight him... Comical horror, or horrible comic?

Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun 01 raw
Guy is afraid of girls and is getting bullied at school. His sister is an even bigger bully and forces a deadly female succubus on him to get her to overcome her fear of men, for the money...

Light-hearted comedy.

It's not really funny (too much dark overtones, and the soundtrack doesn't fit a comedy), but it's entertaining. The good part is that the guy is trying to not be a pushover. And that the anime is nicely avoiding the usual clichéd reactions so far, altho they are basking in the usually tricky male-female situations. And the girl is not bad looking.

Dragonaut -The Resonance- 01 raw
"Faced with impending doom from a huge asteroid, humanity created a weapon called a Dragonaut after the discovery of a dragon egg under the ocean..."

Sci-fi.

Guy to go to space but rocket explodes, years later same guy(?) still alive but people looking at him like some kind of monster/celebrity, then a real, killer monster appears, etc etc... not much is explained, it's quite confusing. It looks like that the anime wanted to show off all the cool visuals first. Hopefully it will calm down in the next episode. Right now I don't give a damn about any of the characters.

Clannad 01 raw
Tomoya Okazaki is a student branded as an outcast. Mother is dead, father is an alcoholic. Nothing seems to be getting better in his dull school life until one day when he meets a strange girl, Nagisa Furukawa.

Romance and drama.

Nice scenery, nice animation, "Jay Leno" chara designs for the girls... another Kanon?? Argh. Oh well, I'll watch a few more episodes until it turns into yet another sad sentimental soup.

Shakugan no Shana Second 01 raw
Shana and Yuuji continue their fight to keep the balance of the World.

Fantasy, mystery and romance.

Yes! The one title this season I'm looking forward. Great music, with a mystery right off the bat like I like them. Urusai urusai urusai!

>>145 well it is a product of Key, so one would expect a passing similarity to their other works.

>>147

>a passing similarity

• Guy is socially nasty
• Guy has a weird friend
• Guy has a virtually non-existent family
• Girl seems to be afflicted from mental retardation
• Girl oozes "I'm barely alive and will die soon."
• Mother of girl is an airhead and makes crappy food
• One girl is a barely-speaking martial artist with superpowers
• etc etc.

"Passing"? ^^;

You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle 01 raw
"Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa patrol the streets as female law enforcers from the Bokuto Police Precinct. They, along with their co-officers, go off in wild and sometimes comedic adventures to bring down felons to keep Tokyo safe."

Police anime for kids.

Ep01 was a car chase. Looks like the anime tried to get back to its roots, with Miyuki stopping the car with her feet, but this is a VAN, not a small patrol car like in the original. And then, when Natsumi escapes, the truck is blocking the bad guys' way... but the next second, the truck is not in the way anymore?? Miyuki does a roll in mid-air when jumping off a bike... And so on and on. Also people time reaction is quite slow. Obviously targetted for kids with not much observation skills.

>>149 Ah, I meant "Natsumi stopping the car". s/Miyuki/Natsumi/ and s/Natsumi/Miyuki/.

>>148 LOL... it's so true.

Kanon was good though, and Air was good, and therefore through association anything else based on a Key game which ends up being animated by Kyoto Animation must be good.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 ep01 raw
"With the age of fossil fuels gone, the three superpowers have build their own energy generation systems. Constant warfare around the globe for fuels lead to the formation of a private military organization, called "Celestial Being", dedicated to eradicating war."

War anime.

I can never understand how gravity works in the Gundam universe. It seems that people sticks to floors in space, and that inertia doesn't apply to Gundams. Also, if they have such superior weapons, why not use its technology to solve the energy crisis instead of fighting? Fighting war with war only brings more wars.
Anyway, nice animation, nice girls, nice updated "retro" look in the chara designs (the humans, not the red-white-blue Gundam). The plot doesn't make too much sense (why to show off Gundam superiority to the 3 superpowers if the bad guys were terrorists?) Oh, and those guys need badly a haircut. How can they fight with so much hair in the way?

KimiKiss pure rouge 01 raw
"Follow the lives of the young heroines of Kibina High during the springtime of April, the perfect season to for chance encounters and budding romances."

Slice of school romance life.

It's a kind of washed out "To Heart 2", with childhood friends being reunited, and falling in love with other guys/girls in the school... Not bad, and it flows okay, but the quality of the art seems to fluctuate already after a few minutes. The too-far-apart eyes bothered me too much, probably because there's not much happening. Meet a girl, see friends, go to school... Kiss a girl being the highlight of the episode. I want to say this is shoujo (anime for girls) and that's why it's so boring (for me), but there are too many girls so I'm not sure. Anime for sensitive guys?

ef - a tale of memories 01 raw
"Hirono Hiro is a poor high school boy who gets by drawing shoujo manga. On a Christmas night, he chases down Miyamura Miyako, the girl who stole his bike. With the chance encounter blooming into a friendship, will Hiro’s childhood friend, Kei, just watch idly by the sidelines?"

Encounters in the town.

Existentialist anime. Reminds me of Da_Capo (violent jealous sister, pigtailed blonde, art style), mixed with Black_Cat "artistic" storytelling (cutout characters, extreme zooms...) Well, the scenery is pretty, I guess. Lots of clouds. ... I'll pass.

　　ボク　サッチー

  　　γ⌒ヽ　　　　　　　(〒) 
  　　| ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) 　　　　　　　　＼ 
  　　|　屮　屮　　　　　　　　　＼ 
   　 ﾉ　： 8│　　　　～(〒) 　　　＼ 

ε＝　（＿＿_,ﾉ 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　。

Shugo Chara! ep 01 raw
"Little do the students of Seiyo Academy know that the “spice princess” Amu is actually a softie deep inside. With her wish to break away from this mask of coolness comes the birth of Amu’s three “Shugo Charas” (Guardian Charas) who are said to represent her desired personalities (or is it..?)."

Magical girl anime.

I could tell within seconds this is a toy-sponsored anime. Multiple characters animated in the street, smooth animation, different backgrounds in rapid succession, the anime has a budget.
Ep01 was entertaining to watch, even tho it's the usual same "chosen girl has to save the world with magic" routine.

Kaiji 1 (sub)

This is the best show.

CLANNAD 1 (sub)

This is still somewhat Key dating game. However, Clannad has no supernatural occurrences, passable original art, and a realistic family setting, so it might actually work. It's somewhat different from the horrendous and inhuman writing in AIR and Kanon.

Main character is a guy doing a Tomokazu Sugita impression since Sugita is off doing terrible Gonzo anime.

an Clann as Dango/Dango daikazoku is a really good song for some reason.

Sketchbook 1 (raw)

This is a slice-of-life show, well known to be the worst anime genre. The character direction and sense of comic timing are so bad (characters go into :3 and SD faces randomly without a scene cut or change in proportion) that it's nearly unwatchable, but the background art is okay. If you're a plebeian and not a cool guy like myself you might be able to watch it.

Rental Magica - 01 raw
"Due to his father’s disappearance, the cowardly Itsuki Iba takes over their magician-dispatching company, Astral. As he leads a pack of magicians in carrying out requests from clients, he uncovers his powers and unravels mysteries of his past."

Magical harem anime.

Looks like a straight adaptation from some ero-game. 1 wimp with hidden superpowers all the girls are in love with, 4 girls, 1 cat-loving asexual priest in the exorcism company. Plus all the other girls in the class, the soft girl, the haughty rich blonde, etc... no other guys. For the fan.

Minami-ki - 01 raw
"The three Minami sisters (Haruka, Kana and Chiaki) live together, taking care of each other. With nobody to answer to but themselves and each other, the three sisters get up to some very odd shenanigans."

Slice of slice of sliced life.

Animation is more fluid to the expense of details and shading.
Three dumb sisters making big drama out of small nothings? I'm bored already within the first few minutes of viewing...

Night Wizard

This is half comedy and half some slightly incoherent RPG fighting thing.
Animation is TV class but okay. It feels like they're taking direction cues from StrikerS even though it's terrible…

There's an echoing piano music effect that sounds exactly like it came out of Chrono Trigger.

PRISM ARK - 01 raw
"Preicia and Hyaweh are aspiring knights-to-be of the Rozenberg Knights Academy, who find themselves caught up in a devastating war..."

RPG anime.

Haha, I remember that ero-game, it had good-looking babes... too bad they hide the nudity in the anime. ^^;
Whoa, Simon's VA... but he's also the voice for some secondary characters, I heard one soldier yelling using his voice. ^^;;
I stopped listening to the dialog when the girl said some cliched "It's not like (I love you), I do this for the Kingdom" to the guy. The bad girl's lines were also similarly corny. ^^;;;
For the fan.

Jyushin Enbu - HERO TALES 01 raw
Taitou, a young man living in ancient China, is the prophesied seventh star of the Hokuto (Big Dipper). He must travel with his companions to retrieve a sacred sword that was stolen.

Supernatural, superpowered fighting anime.

It reminds me of "Legend of Condor Hero", with better animation. I'm not a big fan of the historical Chinese hero genre, tho. It's basically: get beaten up, walk a lot, find a master (preferably a babe), get trained, defeat original bad guy, the end (get the babe).

Maple Story

This show is for 5 year olds. If you're a five year old who can speak Japanese I guess you can watch it.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/894/maplestoryhe0.jpg
I think it's the guy from the Big Dogs shirts.

>>159

Oh also the main character has a lisp. A LISP! Is that an approved moe defect?

Quick reviews
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth 02 raw: still haven't seen this subbed. Still a lot of yapping going on. Looks like the hero is gonna be a kid solving adult problems (Conan clone?). I'm starting to get a bad vibe from this anime...
BAMBOO BLADE 02 raw: good kendo fight episode, then it faded into molasses.
Sketchbook Full Color's 02 raw: still dumb. I feel getting stupider watching this...
Myself;Yourself 02 raw: not even a slapping in this episode. OTOH it's more realistic that way, I suppose.
Genshiken 2 - 01 raw: the usual gang. I need to see this subbed to see if it lives up to the earlier season. So far it doesn't look good, lots of talking heads in this episode, no action whatsoever.

Quick reviews 2
Dragonaut 02 raw: more explosions "because it looks cool", more unnecessary use of violence. I guess we shouldn't pay attention to the (bad) script and just look at the visuals (and the girls bosoms).
Mokke 02 raw: still using this weird, washed, childish, almost ugly art style. Apparently the anime will focus on the younger sister daily life, with the big sis relegated in the background. IOW, an anime for kids... A shame, the manga was so nice.

Genshiken_2 01 sub
"Genshiken follows the lives of a group of college students drawn together by their shared hobbies, and the trials and adventures associated with being otaku."

Slice of real life.

The club decides to produce a doujinshi. The episode was quite heavy, technical and talkative and dealing with commercial sharks and professional authors, instead of the funny antics from season one. Doesn't look like a club-for-fun anymore, more like a budding business venture. Not a bad episode by itself, but there was a radical shift on the atmosphere.

Kodomo no jikan 01 raw
Daisuke Aoki is a new teacher at Futatsubashi Elementary School. But his class is rebellious, and the leader of the pack is a precocious young girl named Rin Kokonoe with a dark past, and who plays on his weaknesses.

School life comedy. Based on a manga for adults.

lol, heavily censored, even for stupid things. ^^; It looks like the TV networks want to play it down as safe as possible.
Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this one. The difficulties a male teacher has when he tries to teach a class of unruly preteens coming into adolescence is an interesting (and thorny) subject, but I'm not sure I want to sit through it.

Moyashimon - 01 raw
"Story of a college student who can see bacteria/fungus, an ability which lands him often in troubles."

Agricultural college life.

The intro is a must-see, animated 3D bacteria dancing around in the real world. Nice original concept, well-implemented for most of the episode. At the end it gets repetitive, with that S&M slut repeating over and over "I can't accept this" - who gives a damn about her opinion. I wonder if this is turn to be an "Arjuna", a well-intended ecologist/green anime with a good first episode that turns out sour at the end. We'll see.

Quick reviews
BLUE DROP 02 raw again, 'like the scifi parts, 'hate the murky female-female(-robot? -alien?) relationships.
Clannad 02 sub I was bored to tears and kept skipping forward. The only part I liked was with the guy announcing to the whole class the tough girl was bisexual, and all the idiots believing
it. Give me more "Monty Python"-nesque scenes and less dull dumb drama.
Night Wizard 02 RAW not as funny as ep01, but still watcheable.
Gosyusho-sama Ninomiya-kun 02 RAW Ahaha! I found this ep incredibly hilarious, but probably for all the wrong reasons.

>>170
Fuck, so the Japanese gyp us from having a good anime, and the Americans gyp us from having a good manga.

I hate you both.

>>173

Perhaps it is time to own up to the fact that that manga is just not very good. All it really has is fanservice for the pedos.

Shion no Ou 01 raw
The violent murder of Ishiwatari Shion’s parents at a young age made her lose her voice forever. The only evidence police found was a shogi board and one piece, "the King". As the years passed, she improved her shogi (shōgi=Japanese chess), and ended entering the pro shogi scene. But coming in the open may be her demise...

Horror thriller + cerebral sports anime all in one.

Quality in this first episode varied wildly. It looks like if two animations teams worked on the episode, one quite good team and one quite bad one. Script quality also was going up and down -- like if someone with no talent got hold of a tight thriller by a reputable scriptwriter and tried to make it accessible to 5-year olds and below. The result - as well as my opinion of it - is quite equivocal -- I liked the tight parts, I hated the dumbed-down parts.

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth - 01 subbed
"Mysterious events unfold in the now-devastated city of Tokyo where few inhabitants still remain. Young boy detective, Mayuki Hyouga, sets out to uncover these mysteries in the city, now known as "Labyrinth"."

Mystery/detective(?) anime.

Boy? "Mayuki"? That's a female name, normally.
Okay, so the "boy" can solve police cases at a distance using some supernatural power? Good for the police, but I don't see what so exciting about it. But then there is that super-girl trying to find some immortality artefact in the "boy"'s house and fighting super-"dolls" which is not yet explained. I'll probably watch a few more episodes to see where this goes.

Yattokame Tanteidan 01 (The Appearance of The Old Lady Detective Group) raw
An old lady is running a mom-and-pop candy store downtown in Nagoya City. Various mysteries are solved with the help of her elderly companions and children from the neighborhood.

Tales of the elderly, solving crimes from afar.

Simplistic anime style, casting a crude light on the reality of the daily life in Nagoya. Heavy dialect. For the fans.

>>175

> Perhaps it is time to own up to the fact that that manga is just not very good. All it really has is fanservice for the pedos.

Isn't that a good thing?

Quick reviews
All the eps 02 are of the same vein as the eps 01, so nothing to add here, save for
PRISM ARK - 02 raw: The flashbacks have stopped, story have gone back at the beginning of the conflict.
One thing I noticed: there are some cartoonish fast movements (not even flashing or bright lights), and those scenes are heavily darkened/desaturated, even way prior to the actions. A new form of censorship? Was there something in the news about some guy going berserk after seeing some fast movements, or what?

>>176

> Script quality also was going up and down -- like if someone with no talent got hold of a tight thriller by a reputable scriptwriter and tried to make it accessible to 5-year olds and below.

I'm not sure if you could judge this raw; it's not that easy.
The character design is completely worthless, it ruined the animation entirely. I can't stand to watch it at all.

other Afternoon shows:

Mokke (1 raw)

This is kind of like Mushishi (in fact it seems to be Mushishi) except more modern times. Also, instead of Ginko solving problems, the little girl whines and faints until other people solve them for her!

That means it sucks. Very good technical quality though.

Moyashimon (1 raw)

This show is great.
http://www.riuva.com/?p=763

Ghost Hound 01 raw
Taro, Makoto and Masayuki are junior high school students. Because of a traumatic childhood experience, the three can travel to/experience the spiritual world...

Drama, school life.

One school boy has frequent OOB (out of body) experiences and a (creepy) councellor is called in to "cure him". I suspect things will go very wrong... Hopefully it won't turn into an horror movie.

GunxSword

• It's Bebop and Trigun combined! With mecha!

Take it as you will.

That's not March 2007+ at all.

yeah... Gun X Sword is 2005. Old!

Gunbuster

A girl called Noriko is at a School for mobile suit pilots, though is bottom of her class. She gets into a fight in her mobile suit, with a girl who has been teasing her. In this fight, which is witnessed my many, including her coach, she shows great promise, for which she is chosen to travel to space with the school's top student to defend the earth from creatures known not other than 'space monsters'.

This is a mecha that will definitely eventually become a classic. It's six episodes in, but don't let that put you off.

Gunbuster

Vintage: 1988

>>162
Night Wizard is based off a Japanese tabletop game, Think it was sorta like Shadowrun or RIFTS.

Ghost Hound 1 sub

This is complete plagiarism of Serial Experiments Lain!. The audio production and at least four of the shots (one repeated constantly) are exactly the same!

Same terrible character designer as Jigoku Shoujo; she's good at everything else but her character art is so bad I find it practically unwatchable…

>>190

Same director, same scriptwriter.

>>191

And everyone else, too, I know. But that doesn't mean they can reuse backgrounds.

Minami-ke

First three eps I've seen quite solid. Ichigo-mashimaro-style deadpan humor slice-a-life comedy with three sisters elementary, middle, high school. Good seiyuu and some quality animation from a young, but promising studio.

>>193
except for the hard fucking language. someone sub this fast

At least two groups are subbing it already.

Is evaluated high in this term in Japan.

Damn the Chinese work FAST! Two subs out already.

China is so taking over the world.
These guys own.

Clannad 01, 02 (sub): Pretty much everyone is an asshole.

Star-ghost-tan isn't an asshole.