Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Episode 01

Now, chances are, if you’ve taken a look around the blog, you probably know that I’m a huge Higurashi fan (*looks up at the banner*).  As such, Umineko no Naku Koro ni was easily the most anticipated anime (for me) of the season (maybe even year).  Although I didn’t get a chance to announce it, I did decide to blog this show come hell or high water.  With such high expectations, I was setting up the perfect trap for myself to be dissapointed.  Thankfully, that never happened.

Clannad ~After Story~ OVA – Kyou’s Story

Okay, you’ve heard me praise After Story enough, so did you seriously think that I WOULDN’T blog this? To be fair, I’m not even compare this OVA to the main series.  Instead, my baseline for comparison is the Tomoyo Arc adaptation in the Clannad OVA.  Both adaptations were crammed into 1 episode.  Both arcs were romance based, so adapting it in the Nagisa-centered anime, was impossible. Most importantly, both adaptations dealt with characters that were just as, if not more than, popular than Nagisa.  So without further ado, my thoughts.

Spring Finales: Eden of the East

When it came out, I billed this show as the clear cut winner of the spring anime season.  11 episodes later, where does it stand?  Well, Eden of the East was definitely the most unique anime of the season, heck, it had probably the most unique story of any anime in recent history.  The story is supported by a great main character and very well crafted setting.  However, about half way in, the narration gets complicated… almost too complicated.  Certain side characters and relationships ended up being left underdeveloped.  

Hanasakeru Seishounen Episode 3

Hello friends!  Here I am again with another episode of Hanasakeru Seishounen.  Sorry it’s been so long.  In this episode we continue to plumb the bizarre depths of Eugene’s suicidal tendencies and Kajika’s…attachability?  Li Ren is pissed at Eugene and locks Kajika up to keep her from seeing him, some weird business stuff is going down in Malaysia, Eugene plots to get Kajika out, Li Ren sets the entire NYPD on them, Eugene is an exceedingly sad panda, Li Ren calms the fuck down, Kajika goes to Paris.  There’s your summary.  For bitchin’, continue on.

Check it out guys, I used VLC this time, now the collage is all pretty

Winter Finale: Toradora!

Toradora! started out as a light-hearted slice-of-life anime with good comedic moments and turned into a darker dramatic slice-of-life anime with good comedic moments. That is to say, even though the tone in the series turned much more serious sometime after episode 17, it did its best to retain the original comedic feel. The show did a good job of telling the story and showing us how the characters grew.

K-ON! – Episode 03

1 Sentence Summary: “Yui Fails School… almost”.  Episode 3 was less about music, more about the Yui’s study habits and how it’s a disaster waiting to happen.  Once again, it’s scary how I’m able to pinpoint an aspect of my personality in one of these 4 girls (except that I’m a guy).  This time it’s procrastination aspect.

Basquash! – Episode 02

I’ve really gotta stop expecting the second episodes to be as good as the first ones.  The first episode is designed to be flashy in order to draw potential viewers in, while the second episode kicks the story off.  No difference here.  This episode was a lot slower, and a bit more standard for a shounen series.

Toradora: Episode 25 (Finale)

I’m going to start this review off with a deep, (semi-)sincere apology for not actually typing this up until about a month after the actual show ended. I would like to say that life got in the way, but I do think that if I had put out a little more effort, this would have appeared on the site a lot sooner. In any case, here is the review….better late than never, right?

Hanasakeru Seishounen Episode 2

I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to watching this episode and writing about it, since it was so much fun last time.  Actually, though, Episode 2 wasn’t nearly as full of wtf as Episode 1 was.  We meet Mystery Man #1 (or #2, if you count Li Ren), we learn a little more about Li Ren and Kajika’s relationship, we hear a little more about the relevant parts of the business world, and we get a better sense of just how batshit insane Kajika is.  Yeah, Kajika?  Totally nuts.

Now with more pets reincarnated as potential boyfriends!

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom – Episode 02

[Again, I haven't confirmed that I'm gonna blog this series... this episode review is just in case I choose to, so that I don't fall behind.] So Phantom was one of the biggest surprises to me last week, probably because my expectations were low.  Nonetheless, it grabbed my attention as potential winner.  Episode 2 wasn’t quite as intriguing but that’s not its job.  With the hooker (episode 1) done, it’s time for the story to start building up.