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Sep 24, 2015
Surprise surprise, another slice of life anime this season! Apparently I first knew about Himouto! Umaru-chan before it came out when I was browsing the pre-order listings in a certain anime shop, and I found this anime through a cute Umaru nendo. The owner said that it would surely be famous when it airs, so I decided to check out the series. The synopsis seemed interesting (although at the time, it was vague) so I decided to put it on my watchlist for this season.
The story revolves around Umaru, a girl all-so-perfect-in-every-way in school, but she has a deep secret which totally tells a different
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side of her - slacking like what a hikikomori would do, reading manga and watching anime, eating junk food, etc. She has to hide this secret towards her friends for her own good and keeps her perfection still. She lives with his working brother, Taihei, who just does not like her attitude at home since he finds it annoying and irritating. Being a slice of life anime, well, one would expect your typical slice-of-life-ness. But this anime shows more of what one person with two sides would do. You see how Umaru manages to hang around with her friends, while still being a total hikki at night-time. Of course, his brother will find her quite annoying and usually argues over her hikki-state, and some many find it annoying too when she whines like a little sister who demands everything. Nevertheless, the story is captivating if you like to see how one handles two sides.
I really like the comedy that plays out well in the anime. There are great hilarious moments as well as many references that one can spot within a few episodes. There are also segments that focuses on other characters that are pretty good. Honestly, who would just want to see Umaru being the only focused character of the anime? Some of these segments may have show more of the characters’ personality and they are pretty chilling or heart-warming to see. Overall, the whole story is very nice and maybe if you can stand the bitterness of Umaru’s little sister devil, I think it is worth a shot.
The anime portrayed Umaru’s two sides well. Her character of being too perfect may be a bit boring or uninteresting for people, and perhaps her character of being an annoying little sister can piss people watching the anime off, but I find them quite interesting and it might take a while to get used to this thing. She seemed to develop quite a while, being more open to her friends and trying to do things on her own, but in the end, she is still almost the same.
The cast has not only the Doma siblings (Umaru and Taihei), but also Umaru’s friends and their siblings, and a few minor characters. Ebina is Umaru’s neighbour and classmate who come from a different province. She is shy and self-concious, that actually makes most of the viewers happy, proclaiming the best girl indeed. Kirie is another classmate of Umaru’s who although may look menacing to the people around her, she is actually shy. She admires Umaru greatly and treats Ebina as her affection rival. Sylphynford is also another classmate of Umaru who likes to compete with her, but in the end hangs out with her. All of these three actually have a nice development as they changed while being around Umaru for a while. It is really nice of how the story manages to give them some focus.
For a slice of life, it is normal for the anime to look nice and pleasing. I mean, let’s be honest - looking at chibi Umaru is cute, despite how annoying she can get. Her character designs, both as normal and chibi, is nicely shown and cute as well. The other character designs are good-looking as well, and I really love the facial expressions the anime brings. The sceneries are good and I like to see how the references being placed as well.
The opening song is so catchy and great to listen. I think it is a great way to bring the excitement of what the anime will show. A great cheerful song sung by Umaru’s voice actress Aimi Tanaka. The ending song, sung by the four voice actresses of the four girls in thr anime, has a different mood compared to the opening song - a much more light-hearted relaxing song to listen. The soundtrack is great to listen, a normal thing to say. The voice acting is done pretty well for the many voice actors/actresses who are relatively new to the voice acting scene. How they express their emotions to the characters is a job well done.
All in all, Himouto! Umaru-chan is an enjoyable anime, one that struck out this season and one that can quite memorable for a long while. It is one great slice of life anime that not only shows the life of a two-sided person, but also around her peers with different thoughts too. It is one that also shows how we can be as similar as her when it comes to being alone watching anime, so some can pretty much relate to her. I personally would like a second season, but seeing that Dogakobo would never want to do a second season, the manga (and the OVA coming soon) is suffice for now.
So, give it a try. It is a nice watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 21, 2015
Sigh.
I like idol anime.
I expected better things from this anime.
But when I saw that their episodes are four minutes long, I feel that the story will not as great as I expect that it will be. And after eleven episodes (I expected twelve but never mind), the anime is just... horrible. If only the episodes get longer, if only there's more character development, if only this kind of idol scene get expanded, I would have enjoyed it. But nah, a lot is lacking. I wouldn't mind continuing cheering for the idol members that are in this anime, that is if they would continue the project.
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I don't even know if there is a second season, but I doubt so anyway. The art looks poor, especially on how bad the 3D animation is. The songs the idol sang are okay, but honestly I don't feel that great.
So don't watch this unless you have some time to kill, instead there's idol anime like Idolmaster or Love Live. Longer episodes, better development.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 20, 2015
Ah, Joukamachi no Dandelion. I actually wonder how would monarchy be like in Japan, but instead this anime turned out to have an interesting royal family. Produced by Production IMS, which also did ‘Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu.’, it is a slice of life anime that is pretty enjoyable because of these short stories of each sibling trying to do their best.
The story follows a royal family in Japan, but instead of their fancy castle on the riverside, they live in a typical house that fits everyone in. It was an idea thought out by the father, who is the king of his fine country, and
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that way the siblings live on as normal citizens would be. An election to vote for the next king is coming by, and the siblings are trying their best to gain support through their own means. There is also a twist to this family, and it is that the siblings have different super powers. These powers may prove to help the citizens or themselves, and may help in gaining more support.
It is easy to follow indeed; it is not like there is a complicated political trope that everyone needs to understand, it is just a damn slice of life anime. Most of the episodes have segments that focuses on a sibling either trying to find ways to gain support or letting us know more about him/her. Nothing special or very tragic happened in the anime, but it is worth noting that each story can be pretty engaging for the viewers. There are a lot of comedic value in the anime, especially moments that make everyone laugh. Sometimes, there are moments where the siblings reflect on and striving to do their best. So, I do believe that it is nice watching at how they grow.
I do not really dislike a particular scene in this anime, hence the story is entertaining as a whole. Many claimed that the ending of the anime has to be one of the best in this season, and I may think so too. For a slice of life anime, it closes well and certainly there is nothing left out.
Most of the cast are the members of the Sakurada family, a fine royal family led by the king and father, Shouichirou, the only child of his parents. A total of nine siblings from as young as a cute kindergarten kid to as old as a third-year high schooler. As I mentioned before, they live as normal citizens, hence they are cool hanging around with their friends and other fellow citizens, although some of them show more respect. As how the story goes, the shy cutely-dense Akane seems to be the focus of the whole anime. She hopes to become king just to remove surveillance cameras which she never likes being aimed at. It is quite ironic that she needs more attention from the citizens in order to get more votes, but nevertheless she is really trying hard. Another few siblings are also focused, such as Kanade, Aoi, Shuu, Misaki and Hikari. They have their own reasons of wanting to be king and they went through many ways to gain supporters. I would say that they have their own unique story that are interesting to watch.
Not every character has their deserved character development, and due to the 12-episode length, some of them have their own development which is fine. The characters, although they are nice to watch, do not stand out as very special characters. When you think of it, their personalities are as similar to other anime characters you might have watched. But hey, it is still worth watching them.
The art is simple and not really unique. Yes, the character designs are cute and nice, but it is still not outstanding. If you watched OreTwi, you should know that the studio both produced these two anime, as well as the same original character designer. You may also know the studio for its infamous ‘quality’ in animation in OreTwi, and this disease may have also been caught on Joukamachi too, sadly. Not that it is concerning, but it can leave a bad mark on the studio. The sceneries looks like your standard slice of life anime, and the facial expressions are good-looking and sometimes goofy-fun.
Both the opening and ending songs have a certain charm, which is that they are both lovely and exciting. I can’t count how many times I replayed the previews but they are awesome! They do match how it feels like in this anime, and so I do give props to Yui Ogura and Kaori Ishihara, who are also both voice actresses in the anime. The soundtrack does not really stand out at most, but they are comforting as what you hear in other slice of life anime. The voice acting is great, especially for Kana Hanazawa for her work with Akane. A few of them are relatively new to the voice acting scene, such as Aina Suzuki who voices Shiori. Indeed she played the role really well, and I hope to hear more from her in Love Live! Sunshine.
Overall, Joukamachi no Dandelion is an anime which I fell in love watching throughout the series. It is sad that there would not probably be a second season for it, and I do not know if the manga is fully translated, but it was a fun ride. This is one of my most enjoyable anime this season, and so I recommend this anime to everyone for the fun.
However, there is one question: how is the mother be able to have these siblings at this kind of span? Insane.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 27, 2015
I was really hyped for this anime before it aired since it was going to be produced by the studio I adore so much and also because of the staff and cast the anime gets which I was surprised to see.
Welcome to this futuristic city in Plastic Memories, where humans live together with androids that have typical human characteristics - physical, mental and emotional - named Giftias. Produced and managed by the SAI Corporation, they are able to live up to 81,920 hours, and problems arise when they are expired. So, its Terminal Service department are responsible for collecting soon-to-expire Giftias, where their memories will
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be erased. The story follows Tsukasa, who is offered a job into the department, and her partner Isla, a Giftia who does not seem to know what she is supposed to do.
At first glance, you might think that “oh, we will probably some work from these service people in the story”. My short answer is “yes, you will”, but my definite answer is that the focus in the story has been shifted from one place to another as it progresses. There are indeed retrievals shown in the anime, while a few are ‘interesting’. However, they are usually riddled with plot-holes, where you may not understand the situation well or how it panned out from start to end. This does not mean that they are not enjoyable, depending on the outcome and how the viewers feel, I think that they are good to watch. The idea of Giftias in the story is great - knowing for the fact that they do not survive, we can see how the human owners react to, and of course the emotions it portray. One usually feels sad whenever their companion leaves the world, right? Sometimes, their emotions took over and they want to escape with their Giftias, hence the “’interesting’ retrievals” part comes to play. But so what? I feel that the idea of Giftias still lacks - some questions left answered - hence the ‘sci-fi’ part of the anime needs more work.
Since there is the romance genre in the anime, it is pretty obvious that Tsukasa and Isla are in a relationship. Like I said, the focus shifted. Without spoiling, I can say that their romantic development is quite slow, since they took their time to think about their feelings. Eventually, at one point of the story, one of the two confessed and they became romantic buddies. tfw I would not have this kind of story in my workplace. As many claimed, their relationship is also interesting to watch. In fact, that is clearly the main point of the story. The development steadily improves towards the climax, and that is where more feelings developed. One might argue that it is clichéd and I can agree, but it is pleasing for many.
The cast involves partly from this special Terminal Service full of great people of different personalities. Apart from Tsukasa and Isla, there are a few who have more prominence than the rest, and they usually support the pair for the greater good. What I really love about the story is Isla’s change from being shy and dull to being more open and happy, hence her character development is lovely. Tsukasa has some moments, but he also changed gradually. With the support from his colleagues, his approach towards Isla gets better. Hey, isn’t that sweet? The rest of cast are side characters, which most of them appear for retrieval jobs. There are some that has good backstory to share, trying to move with the viewers, while others are okay.
The animation for this anime is pretty. The futuristic setting around the city looks great, achieving a nice ‘hi-tech’ feel. But even so, there are some locations that look normal and yet still looking nice and fresh. It is nice that some of the sceneries are referenced from real-life places. Overall, I like the sceneries done, with a nice colourful palette as well as the lighting that portrays the mood of the scenes. The character designs look okay, but the facial expressions are a charm. They are able to capture a lot of emotions from happy to sad, whether they are exaggerated or not.
The opening song, sung by Eri Sasaki (a newcomer), captures something special for this anime. The instrumental makes up this emotional feeling, and the vocals are powerful. The ending song, sung by Asami Imai (remember Chihaya?), is nice to hear and that is because of her beautiful voice. I like the instrumental as well, but if you want something with more impact, the opening song is a better choice. The soundtrack is impressive, thanks to Masuru Yokoyama’s compositions, who also helped out in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso and Rolling☆Girls. The tracks manage to fit it the mood of the scenes perfectly. The voice acting is well-done, especially of how some of them who express their characters’ emotions brilliantly. Special mention for Yasuaki Takumi, who voiced Tsukasa, for the great work.
Sure, not many people will like Plastic Memories because their expectations or impressions go different as the anime progresses, and I can totally understand. Thus, it should be noted that this anime focuses more on the relationship between a human and a Giftia, who are both partners at work. It is quite weird (or heart-wrecking for some) to read the previous sentence, but the development truly captures the essence of the anime. I can say that I am quite satisfied with the story, except if the writing can be better, hence I enjoyed the anime very much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 26, 2015
Since when is the last time you watched an anime that is so much wacky and nuts that you pretty much gave up your soul to Satan? Well, if you have not seen this anime yet, you are going to miss the experience of getting sucked into Satan’s chamber. At the same time, no spoilers in this review.
So, Etotama popped up this season. I did not know what to expect when I first heard about it, since I came to put in on my watchlist because of the voice actresses involved. But upon watching the first episode, I just find out how insane it is.
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Produced by Encourage Films, it revolves about Nyaa-tan, a cat who has an amnesia, and she aims to be a member of the Chinese zodiac through her silly methods. She meets Takeru, a high-schooler who lives in Akihabara, and decides to become a freeloader in his house. In order to reach her goal, she has to battle off against the twelve main zodiac characters and obtain their “Sol/Lull seals”. To explain about this battle system, it will have to take some time (probably a few episodes from the start) for a viewer to understand it fully. Even I had some trouble understanding about it, but after a while it came clear. It is a simple “collect all tokens, reap your rewards” kind of battle. Do not worry as there are eye-catch cards with a piece of information about the battle system during the middle of an episode. Back to the main story, usually in each episode, it introduces one or a few zodiac character(s) and how they will carry forward the story. The synopsis may sound quite clichéd, since there are many other anime with a similar one. It started out a bit weak, but as it progresses, the amount of pleasure into watching the anime grows, with more understanding and development. However, having this fast-paced, some parts of the story can be seen as rushed. The comedy is one of the high points in the anime - there are so many hilarious moments such as how meta it goes. There are also a few emotional scenes, especially during the last two episodes, but I do not think the staff is serious in most of them, since they break into more comedy afterwards. The zodiac is something unique since I never heard of other anime that played zodiac as a part, hence it is good to have a bit of originality here. Overall, it is a nice story to follow up on with extra hilarious comedy.
You have twelve zodiac characters, Nyaa-tan, Takeru and maybe two more side characters that are not important as the cast. About Nyaa-tan, the main focal character, she may be dumb and crazy most of the time, but sometimes she understands the situations she face and gets on working to solve them. Maybe a few people will find this daunting, thinking that once she goes back being her usual self, the mood of the story gets ruined. But I felt quite the opposite, since I never want the emotions of the anime to develop further to become forced drama. Her involvement with Takeru is very big, in that case he is like her support. However silly she tries to force him into giving support, he usually does it whenever it is needed. I do not know if there is a lesson learnt in this, but I find it nice. For the other characters, I can say that they definitely have different personalities which have similar anime tropes. As I mentioned earlier, one or a few of them gets their own spotlight in each episode, but I feel that the spotlight do not necessarily be bright. The range of their involvement depends, so while some do have something, others are treated more as side characters who probably make people laugh. Character development is minimal, or I think it was not noticed enough.
Another high point in this anime is the 3D animation. This anime has a fair usage of 3D animation, and most of it is used during the battle scenes. I loved the transformation scenes, the sceneries where two characters battle out, the action and visual effects when they fight and also the cute chibi character designs. Everything there is perfect, and I do not think I have any complains in their 3D animation at all. For everything else, I say that it is normal - nothing really stands out from the rest of the anime this season. The sceneries look nice, the character designs look great, and the facial expressions are funny.
The opening song, sung by the voice actress of Nyaa-tan, is quite catchy and nice to listen to, if you are into this sort of music. The ending song, sung by all the voice actresses, oppose towards the opening song. It has a much more emotional feel and the vocals are good and they match to the instrumental well. There is one original soundtrack during the transformation scenes that I like, which fuses one type of genre into something more Asian. For every other tracks, I think that they are okay. Voice acting is good - yet again, nothing special. I appreciate Rie Murakawa for voicing Nyaa-tan since she did a great job as acting out with that kind of personality.
Etotama is an anime that I found myself to be very high whenever I watch the episodes. Thanks to the comedy, the awesome 3D animation, Nyaa-tan herself, and some of the other characters in the anime, I pretty much enjoyed it a lot. Sure, there are some flaws along the way, but they are just unnoticeable if you do not care at all. And now that is over, I really hope there is another anime next season that fills that spot similar to the anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 23, 2015
Y’know, school is fun. You have friends to talk to, activities to take part with and other stuff that seem ‘fun’ to enjoy. But having watched Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku (Mikagura School Suite), their definition of ‘fun’ has gone a lot wackier. By entering the school, you would probably go nuts with whatever activities they have. This Vocaloid project is based on a light novel.
Eruna spends her life at home playing games, and has yet to decide on which high school to attend. Her decision finally came about when her cousin Shigure gave her a pamphlet for Mikagura Academy, where she catches her attention on a
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photo of Seisa in it. When she attends to the academy, she finds out that it only has cultural clubs, and a battle system which club members with special powers fight one another as representatives.
The story pretty much goes how the characters take action, in that case it revolves around Eruna more. There is no clear goal of what she wants to do in the academy, since she is more of a character who goes with the flow. Nevertheless, the story is quite easy to follow as she gets to know more about the academy, and meet and interact with other students. Hence, there is no need to understand the story at a much deeper context, such as the battle system or the super powers. What is so great about the story is the comedy. Each episode never fail to make me giggle like an idiot at some scenes, so it did a good job of making me enjoy the anime. There is also this sub-plot about Seisa’s past which is a bit more emotional, and it tends to show more in the latter part of the anime. I do not have any problem with the sub-plot, although I wish that it can be explained better. I also hoped that there is something much more exciting than just battle on every episode, and aside from character interactions and mysterious to unfold, I still wish for more. In summary, an easy-to-follow comedic piece of work that needs a bit more surprise.
The cast has a variety of club members and each of them has a typical anime personality on their own. Having Eruna as the main focal character of this anime, it spills lots of fun to everyone, whether to the other characters or even the viewers. Do not worry, she is not 100% that way. Sometimes she shows her concern or thoughts to whoever she gives them to, and unless she is having thoughts of yuri fantasies to Seisa, or being dumb, she goes on what she wants to do with lots of determination. For the other cast, some of the characters have a backstory which appears in the anime once in a while. It depends on how it is being told or how the characters related to them is going to follow up, and neither of them is boring to hear. Especially for Seisa, her backstory forms as the context of the sub-plot I mentioned earlier. Character development is minimal, but it still works out fine for all the characters.
For me, the artworks, such as the sceneries and the character designs, are simple. I do not think the staff has ever crossed over the line which they lazily draw out the whole episode. Sometimes there are drawings of background characters that are not even coloured, but I am not annoyed by them still. However, it is cool that the palette gives off a nice bright colourful feel. In battle scenes, the animation is decent enough - not very spectacular. It is nice that there are different types of super powers these students can use them to fight off with one another, giving a variety of battle fights. I wonder if that is a budget problem, or maybe Dogakobo used more money for their other anime. Either way, it does not really matter.
This anime definitely shines bright on the opening and ending songs, which are sung by respective voice actresses. Houkago Kakumei is something I can grove for hours on loop, as its energetic pump-up music get the excitement going every time an episode airs. The individual ending songs are covered from its Vocaloid songs, and in comparison to both the anime and Vocaloid versions, I say that the quality pushed up way higher in the anime version, although the Vocaloid version is still good to hear. Overall, the three have different genres that fit the style of the characters, and they are great. My favourite is definitely Esoragoto Spiral. Finally, the main ending song is less catchy but still nice to listen to when you are feeling happy. Sadly, the soundtrack is not that memorable. If I can recall on my head, I probably think that the battle music is good and fitting. The voice acting is absolutely well-done. I give my appreciation to Eruna’s voice actress, Kimura Juri, who also voiced Miyamori Aoi from Shirobako, for giving her best efforts in voicing the wonderful Eruna-chan the viewers adore. I also appreciate the others for giving their best efforts too.
I did not really expect that a lot of people would enjoy this anime. But again, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku is another anime which fell under the radar from other popular anime this season. I cannot blame the other audience, but I must say that they should give this anime a watch too. Personally, it is enjoyable because of the comedy and the characters that make the story good to watch. Maybe it is one of the few unique anime this year, since the story and Eruna are somewhat original to me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 21, 2015
Rock and roll, it is always a genre that lots of people get excited about. But what if I were to mash rock and moe? We probably have some anime that got this kind of crossover, one example being the famous K-On series. This season has one anime covered for this crossover, and you may like it a lot if you are into both things.
Show By Rock!! is based of a rhythmic video game aimed for the male audience. Its anime is produced by Bones, which was honestly shocking when I researched on its production staff months ago. I never thought that Bones has done
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moe before (or maybe they did, I just do not know yet), so this might be an interesting take. The story sets in Midicity, a city that never sleeps and always up for music, and revolves around an aspiring rock band of four band members Plasmagica. One of them is Cyan, who is sucked into this world from Earth. Her introduction to Midicity makes a big notice to many - having to fight a “dark monster” and afterwards she is found by the president of Banded Rocking Records, which manages Plasmagica and Shingan Crimsonz, called Maple. From then on, the band has a wonderful experience rocking out together, meeting with more-famous bands along the way and a fun journey ahead. But as they enjoy their fun times, danger looms around Midicity.
The story is pretty much episodic, usually dealing with problems that came about either through themselves or a band. Apart from that, there is also a sub-plot which I looked forward for the most about these “dark monster”. I found the overall story is nicely-executed and it is quite simple to understand the context of it. The story is comedic most of the time, with a lot of cute moments to feel happy about. Sometimes, it can get quite dramatic when there is a fallout and I do not think it is forced. The anime has no major problem with flaws such as plotholes or pacing, although I think the last episode has a lot of things happening - it is something that many anime suffer, but what can you do anyway? I must say that it is a great original anime done well.
Plasmagica may look like a very weird rock band, but after watching the anime, I feel that the band possesses something unique, despite how ordinary they might be in terms of music. With guitarists Cyan and Chuchu, bassist Retoree and drummer Moa, they make an interesting combination to look out for whenever they perform. Since they are the main focus of the story, they are the main characters of the anime. They have different personalities that are similar to other anime characters, however still enjoyable to watch because of their interactions. Each of them have developed along the storyline, especially for Cyan, who used to be shy in her real life counterpart. The cast has also other bands such as Shingan Crimsonz - a male rock band with a theme I could not describe, Trichronika - which is introduced in the first episode, and more. A few of them look like opponents to Plasmagica, but nevertheless all of them give a push for the main band’s progress, and it is nice to see that. There is also the antagonist of the anime who is related to the “dark monsters” and he plans to take over Midicity with the help of someone.
I want to stress that 3D animation does not mean the anime looks like poop. The anime has a fair usage of it, and that is during performance or battle time. You probably encounter this kind of animation on every episode, and it does not take more than 30% of an episode. My thoughts: I really love it a lot. The 3D character designs feature the band members in chibi form and the animation is so fluid, which goes along well with nice visual effects. Hence, 3D animation is not necessary bad for some anime, and it can be used if there is intention to do so. Onto everything else, most of the sceneries come from Midicity, that portrays similarly to a busy downtown with lots of flashy colourful lights and billboards, and music blasting out from place to place. They look great, but it annoys me that the sky is always dark. I wonder how the characters tell time. The character designs are nice and cute, all of them look great in their own way. Each of them has an animal trait that goes along with their design.
Being a music anime, I am glad of the music of the anime is being offered. It is nice that some bands have a unique trait with their music like that one band which fuses rock to Asian tunes. Since there are a lot of bands, expect a huge song collection from this franchise. The opening and ending songs, sung by Plasmagica, are very enjoyable and great for singing as well. The opening song is very addicting that I kept it on loop sometimes, while the ending song is more catchy. I personally did not care about the soundtrack much, but I have faith that they are nice. I love the voice acting. Being a seiyuu fan myself, I always adore these seiyuus for acting their very best in their own respective characters. Inagawa Eri’s first role is Cyan, so I like to give mention for her great voice acting and I hope to see her in future roles.
I do not understand why someone does not like this anime, and I feel that it deserves more recognition. It is one of those anime this season that has little mention but has a great quality overall. I personally enjoyed this anime a lot and I constantly asked for another episode every time a cliffhanger is dropped. I do not mind seeing more of Show By Rock!!, but I do not think there will be a sequel. Maybe a side story depicting another band is nice.
Moa for best girl!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 31, 2015
Yuri relationships and bears. What are you thinking? One could say this is one of anime’s weirdest creations, but I think it’s one of the greatest, this year in fact. It is one of the first few anime that aired this year (and season) and as well as the one which focuses on girl-on-girl relationship.
Yuri Kuma Arashi was probably picked up by many because it was directed by Ikuhara Kunihiko, the director of the well-famed Mawaru Penguindrum. To give some background of the story, there was a planet Kumaria that exploded on space which showered around Earth. This caused the bears to become violent
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and start attacking and eating humans. So to prevent any more attacks, the humans build up the ‘Wall of Severance’ between the two and things calmed down. One day, two bears, Ginko and Lulu, disguised themselves as humans and transferred in a class where Kureha and her love Sumika is. While Kureha have been eyeing for Sumika, the bears eye towards Kureha. Then, tragedy ensues on that same day. First of all, many regarded the anime as one which has a lot of symbolism. Some have linked this anime to lesbianship in Japan, while others have their own other opinions about the topic in general. But even if there is symbolism, I think that this anime can be watched without caring about it. It is something that one should not delve into if he wants to watch an anime without thinking critically and just enjoy what is there in the story. Nevertheless, feel free to express your own thoughts linking with the story.
The first few episodes can definitely throw everyone off because of the confusion behind the story. I do not know if some have dropped it because of this specific reason, but if you are one of the person, I suggest picking this anime up, because it gets better after episode three. To summarise what has been going on, the progression of the story is so clear and well-done. It is like piecing the puzzles to form a completed timeline, which means that the anime jumps in and out of flashbacks a lot of times. Trust me, it cannot be very annoying since you will be able to understand more about the story as well as the characters. Also, there can be a number of cliffhangers at the end of most episodes which leaves the suspense high for the audience. Overall, the story was written well with good sense of direction. It not only focuses on love, but also bullying and the society that have a general view on these topic. There are some funny moments to brighten up the dramatic mood of the anime and eventually there are also some fan-service moments that tickle the fantasies of many people. I am satisfied by how the story went by, and I really loved the ending so much that brought the story to great closure.
Ah, the characters. The story revolves around these three girls, a human and two bears. Aside from their differences, they are fairly interesting characters to look at and quite likeable. I would say that Kureha is this girl that is affected by many things in the past, hence that was how she was in the beginning of the anime. As you bring the bears to play, she has gotten more active and is at first not willing to be with them. However, these bears are trying to change her for the sake for something, and towards the finale, something major happened for these characters that might move you emotionally. It was a nice character development for these girls as they get to understand more about one another and with a clever idea of flashback, we can see how these girls made it towards the end. I was pleased by how they think and understood by how they feel, so as I mentioned before, they are interesting.
I like some of the side characters too. The anime got a whole lot of people to make Kureha suffer a lot, and it was nice how she kept herself strong, although she really never hung out with them in a long time. In fact, there are very few with an interesting twist, however easily spoilt through their names. With the three alluring court bears, two past-time lovers and many others, the anime holds its charm for having a good cast.
Stunning visuals. At first I thought this was made by SHAFT, but nope, studio Silver Link (what a surprise) decided to direct this original anime, and I am sure only one (or very few) staff member working on the animation has links to involving SHAFT’s anime. The sceneries are great and have finer details in them, making them visually pleasing. Sometimes, there are scenes that usually throw in some symbolism and make it so abstract, so beautiful. I think the anime pushes to be this unique and I think this is perfect. The character designs are fine and quite simple - they look perfect in themselves. In bear form, I swear I could not stop awe-ing by their adorable figures. The fan-service is pretty nice and lewd, but at least it did not bring over towards the ecchi level, meaning that the anime does not throw in naughty fan-service anywhere to make the audience pumped up.
When I first heard the opening song, I was moved by the emotions played in it. It was so calming, so beautiful that it is great. I love the vocals of its rich smooth high-toned singing, and apparently this is the singer’s, Bonjour Suzuki, first anisong. I never heard of her other songs before (if there is any), but I do welcome her to sing more songs to make her shine better. Meanwhile, this ending song sung by the voice actresses of the three main girls has this nice electronic beat that makes you groove. A nice touch for the simple animation behind, with a bear doing a cute dance. The background music is loveable, I hear a nice variety of choice in it. The voice acting is a job well-done indeed. The three voice actresses for the main characters are not-so-well-known yet they are great for putting the emotions into power with the characters, as well as defining what their respective characters are.
Hell, Yuri Kuma Arashi is a bloomed lily flower over many other flowers in a garden. It definitely stands out by its wonderful and creative direction, however it does not really stand out much in terms of popularity. To say that the anime showed up at a wrong season is a possibility, but I would say that the anime is certainly the best among the rest of this season’s anime. I enjoyed the anime so much that I was hoping for a real-life time-skip to start a brand new episode each week, because of the cliffhangers. Now, will this anime be recommended by all? Not all, unfortunately. But it is a worth of try. Yuri fanatics are welcomed to start this show right now, and those who like to ponder over symbolism too. Everyone else, give it a try. You would not feel sorry.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 27, 2015
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata is a nice surprise of the Winter season. It is one of these anime that always made me lose my patience when an episode finishes its airing. It is something that I want more. So far, I could not find a translated manga or light novel source, so it remains a mystery after the anime unless I bought its non-translated ones and find a translator.
The anime has its ‘special’ episode aired a week before the anime series started airing. It contains fan-service galore, so if you do not want to ruin your experience in watching, I suggest you watch it after
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the anime. But if you do not mind, watch it before, both works for different people.
We all have dreams that we want to pursue. At least, that is how the protagonist Tomoya wants to. He is a typical high-school otaku who works part-time jobs to pay for anime merchandises. One day, he gazed at a beautiful ‘heroine’ on top of a hill. He realised that she was actually a classmate in his class, Katou, but from then on he wants to achieve something - making a visual novel with Katou being as the heroine. He had several connections such as childhood friend Eriri, who secretly makes H-doujins and Utaha, who writes well-sold novels. They formed up a doujin circle for the purpose of making this light novel Tomoya wanted.
Now, this is not an ordinary anime where you will see a group of people making progress, and in the end they finished it and sell it in the event they chose. No, that is too boring to watch. I would say that the developing of the visual novel is not the main focus in anime, but rather how Tomoya is going to get his own circle to work without any conflicts. From time to time, there is a situation that a character gets quite emotional and Tomoya approaches to be with her for a while. Indeed, one episode by another, the visual novel is being developed but it is not direct to show the viewers.
What makes the anime interesting is the funny comedy. Generally, the anime plays a number of tropes from the Japanese pop culture like visual novels and manga. They were never forced as the comedy coming from the characters’ interactions flow by. At least, the anime knows how to separate funny and emotional moments. Yes, sometimes there are a few emotional moments which are not rushed at all.
I do not really spot any problems in the story, but the ending towards the anime is too open, making the story quite incomplete. Overall, the story has nice pacing and development without any hiccups. It is relatively easy to understand the story and characters, since the story has not pull ‘deep symbolisms’ behind, so it is a good story for everyone of different interests to watch.
The characters, despite having similar characteristics from your everyday harem anime, are interesting to look at after a while. For starters, they do not really force themselves to act like the counterparts. There are times when they feel differently of their personalities as well. So far, we got the tsundere Eriri who was a childhood friend with Tomoya for quite a long time, a cold-headed Utaha who just speaks so maturely in front of him, and a plain Katou that has no outstanding qualities yet win the hearts of a large part of the audience.
There are some character development in most of them, generally on the times when Tomoya is with a certain character. Even Tomoya has some as he learns more about the girls. But eventually, I would love to see more since the ending was too open. The story also shows the characters’ pasts and how they are being influenced into their personalities now.
The animation has been quite a charm in this anime. It may sure seem normal to you, but there is a finer detail that the studio has given to make the anime more real and beautiful. The sceneries are nice-looking and great for settling the mood. I love the vibrant colourful palette they use to show a bright and happy feeling. There is one place that I like to mention which is Tomoya’s room, where there are a lot of real references through posters, novels and figurines. The character designs are very gorgeous, like they stand out a lot from the rest of this anime season. Quite a number of details have been added to the designs to make it real. Also, the facial expressions are well-done, whether on comic relief or not.
The fan-service is classy. For once, I do not think that it was not forced to ruin the story. I had started to realise that there were more of it towards the second half of the anime, but I must say that the scenes are perfectly done and have made a lot of the audience feel happy.
Yet again this anime has proven to have awesome songs. I definitely loved the opening and ending songs which are one of my favourites this season. Luna Haruna sings Kimiiro Signal in the opening to portray a more cheerful feeling the anime has, while Miku Sawai sings Colorful. that has a more emotional but positive mindset. They have a meaning behind, I swear. The background music is great, I like how different varieties of tracks are used to bring effect of the mood in the scenes. Voice acting is well-done, since I love how they try to match the characters’ personalities well.
Saekano is one anime that everyone should totally watch because it is has a great story, great characters and nice animation. I have certainly enjoyed the anime from start to end, and I really hope there is a second season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 26, 2015
Kantai freaking Collection. How does it feel trying to find your best ship in the anime? How does it feel to be sucked in a world with moe anthropomorphic boat characters doing boat stuff? Well, I hope you managed to enjoy yourself watching the anime. However, there have been mixed opinions about this anime throughout and after its airing. Although many, whether they played the game or not, have actually enjoyed the anime, others are disappointed over the story’s direction. Indeed, there are a number of flaws in the story which I feel that need to be addressed.
Fubuki is the protagonist of the anime who
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brought herself to the naval district. There was not any clear goal she had until she tried out her first battle with her fleet that she wanted to be stronger and be with Akagi’s fleet. Yes, this is all in the first episode of KanColle. From then on, we see not only the progress of Fubuki’s goal but as well as a ton of ships interacting one another and living their normal lives in the naval district. But danger looms in these girls’ eyes and they have to face their worst.
Firstly, I feel that this anime is unfortunately not geared towards a group of audience who do not play the game. The anime contained humour mostly known for those who played game and knew more about the ships through many sources, whether official or not. To be honest, having watched the anime, I learnt a lot of such humour, and I was amazed by how the fans reacted to them through Twitter. I do not know if many who never played the game will understand the humour, but I think they will just pass it off. Speaking of humour, most of the time they are funny and cute. At least you are given some moe time in the anime.
The major problem of the anime is the lack of setting details. I know that there are two sides fighting each other, the Kanmusu and the Abyssal, but what are they fighting for? Land? Resources? What are Abyssal? The story basically lacked about what the girls are fighting against. Also, the timeline can be confusing. I think that the timeline is based on a modern year, however the fighting between the two sides are loosely based on the sea battles during World War II, which the Imperial Japanese Navy fought against the United States Navy. I really hoped the writers can expand this whole event in detail so it can be a lot more understanding. The anime has a lot of potential throughout then which blew all away.
Inconsistent pacing can be another problem in the story. Many complained for rushed scenes, especially towards the ending. Sometimes the battles felt rushed because something terrible happened, and things need to be taken cared of. Also, I do not really like how the composition plays within the story. At one moment, you see girls having a lot of fun, then later enemies fly past and a few them might have gotten themselves in trouble. The mood gets ruined and there is just too much emotions running at once.
Many have tried predicting the story through major events in World War II, however the writers pretty much ‘baited’ a lot of people into seeing who dies in the anime. Many passed it off as a one-time thing, but another bunch think otherwise. Anyway, the whole World War II was just a loose adaptation. Strategic plans in the anime are okay, although the faults lie on the ships’ decision.
Adaptation-wise, I would say it did not work out well. However because of the limitations the game has, it cannot be helped but to break them. It’s not really a big issue but it can certainly be frustrating for some people who watched the anime and tries the game afterwards only to know that they can’t do certain functions.
You should know that Kantai Collection has a massive collection of ships that takes their names and abilities from past-time Japanese warships. Hence, the anime has a very huge cast of ships. Apart from Fubuki, there are focal characters as well from episode to episode. Of course, with a large cast, this means it is hard to know all the ships, especially for people who never played the game yet. I know most of them, which is a relief.
Fubuki, being the protagonist of the story, has a nice steady character development that managed to get the goal she wanted. Throughout her stay in the naval district, she learns a lot from various ships who support her into becoming strong. Despite being moody at times, as well as saving whoever’s life on stake and getting herself in trouble instead, I think she is a nice character to watch. Indeed, she has grown stronger from start to end.
Not much character development I see in all ships but Fubuki. Some of them drive Fubuki’s development, while the rest are just for the character interactions. I feel that some of the characters should have a more detailed background story which probably make the story more interesting. Also, there are a very few characters that just show up for something without any depth.
I have to be honest here but I really do not like the admiral (many fans call him teitoku) in this anime. He does not get a physical appearance and also his actions are just merely bad or confusing. It is just bland.
Being one of four Diomedea’s anime that aired this season, budget can be a main concern. But looking at this anime, I must say that I am impressed by how it looks as compared to its other anime. But this does not mean the animation is outstanding. As per normal, there are nice sceneries to look at. I like to see how the sceneries matches the mood of the scenes, for example during most of the battles, there is a stormy atmosphere on top. The character designs follow mostly as how it looked like in the game, since the game have different designers working on different cards, at least this anime is standard. It is cool how they don their own equipments, although one can complain these equipments are too heavy for a girl.
The action scenes are awesome to look at. A lot of CGI is used in many action scenes and I think it is great since it gives the animations nice and smooth. However there are times when CGI should not be used, such as interactions of characters during battles. I like the visual effects that they made as well.
I really love the opening and ending songs a lot and they are one of my favourite songs of this season. AKINO came back after AmaBuri’s Extra Magic Hour with Miiro, a very energetic song which is great to rock at. A newcomer, Nishizawa Shiena, performs Fubuki which I find it really emotional to hear. At first I was not fond by hearing it but after a while, it just clicks to me. I shall be expecting more of her voice in the future!
The background music is okay, not too outstanding as well. I like some of the battle tracks that makes the battles more interesting to hear. Basically the background music has a wide variety of tracks from battle music, to slice of life music, to emotional music. Finally, I really want to give praise to all the voice actresses, especially Sakura Ayane and Touyama Nao, for voicing a lot of roles in the anime. The voice actress roles in the anime are as identical as the game, so there should not be any worry.
So, did Kantai Collection live up to my expectations? Not really, but I’m just disappointed with the story as I wish it can get better at some point. Meaningless to say, I also enjoyed most of the anime, mostly being comedy and cute ships doing cute things. I have also been shipping quite a number of ships lately, and I know Ooi and Kitakami is one of the best shippings ever.
A sequel was announced after the final episode ended, and I’m not surprised to see that. It’s obvious that Diomedea and Kadokawa wants to milk more money from us viewers. I really hope the sequel gets better. And certainly, with this season, there can just be more KanColle players in the game, so I really hope they are enjoying themselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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