Category Archives: Anime Reviews

Yozakura Quartet – Anime Review

By | February 9, 2009 at 3:10 pm | 4 comments

The Essentials

Yozakura QuartetName: Yozakura Quartet
Genre: Action, Supernatural
Episodes: 12
Released: October 2, 2008 – December 18, 2008
Based On: Yozakura Quartet manga by Suzuhito Yasuda
Director: Kou Matsuo
Produced By: Nomad
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Hime Yarisakura: Misato Fukuen
Akina Hiizumi: Yuuki Kaji
Kotoha Isone: Miyuki Sawashiro
Ao Nanami: Saki Fujita
Enjin Hiizumi: Tomokazu Seki
Kyousuke Kishi: Daisuke Ono
Eiji Shinozuka: Hideki Tasaka
Rin Azuma: Ai Matayoshi
Yuuhi Shinatsuhiko: Sachi Matsumoto
Mariabelle: Rie Tanaka

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 5/10 (x 4 = 20 pts)
Music: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 6/10 (x 5 = 30 pts)

Total: 140/190 (73.7%)

Review

Yozakura Quartet is about, surprisingly, a quartet of teenagers who use their power to protect the town of Sakurashin – the only town in the world where youkai and humans can live together – from anything that threatens it.  The quartet includes two youkai: Hime, who is the mayor of the town, and who has super human strength, and Ao, who can read minds; one half-human, half-youkai: Kotoha, who can make anything appear just by saying it’s name; and a human: Akina, who has the power to “tune” Youkai, which sends them pack to the youkai world, which has run through his family for generations.

One day, a youkai arrives in Sakurashin and starts making trouble.  However, Akina and Hime soon find out that it is a demon named Enjin who has possessed the body of one of their best friends, Gin.  Akina and Hime either have to find a way to separate Enjin from Gin’s body or send both back to the youkai world before Enjin destroys the town.

Overall, I thought that the story in Yozakura Quartet was rather needlessly drawn out.  The story about Enjin seemed more like a story arc that should have taken up about half the time that it did in the show, instead of drawing it out over the entirety of the 12 episode series.  As a result, it seemed like the story was spread a little thin.  I think the story in of itself was fine, at least in concept, it was just long and it made the series overall kind of boring, bland, and single-minded to me.

The same can’t necessarily be said about the animation quality and music, both of which I thought pretty good in this series.  The animation looks overall pretty well done, though one might expect that for a production company which handled such shows as Honey & Clover and Rozen Maiden.  The music was a mix of nicely done instrumentals and background-rock music which gave the show some much needed life.

Despite all this, unless you watch a show just for eye and ear candy – things which help boost the overall score of the show – I’m not sure what much else there is to watch, unless you don’t mind watching a story which probably should be told in 4 and maybe at most 6 episodes get drawn out over 12.

First Watched: October – December 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No

Myself; Yourself – Anime Review

By | August 7, 2008 at 10:00 am | 2 comments

The Essentials

Name: Myself; Yourself
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Episodes: 13
Released: October 2, 2007 – December 25, 2007
Based On: Myself; Yourself dating sim by Yeti
Director: Yasuhiro Kuroda
Produced By: Dogakobo
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Sana Hidaka: Shinnosuke Tachibana
Nanaka Yatsushiro: Ami Koshimizu
Syūsuke Wakatsuki: Takehito Koyasu
Syuri Wakatsuki: Yukari Tamura
Aoi Oribe: Tomoko Kaneda
Asami Hoshino: Mai Nakahara
Hinako Mochida: Ayumi Murata
Yuzuki Fujimura: Megumi Toyoguchi

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)

Total: 150/190 (78.9%)

Review

Myself; Yourself is about a boy, Sana, who returns to his hometown after being away for 5 years to attend high school. Before he left, Sana was friends with Nanaka, who was a gifted piano player and whom Sana liked, Syusuke and Syuri, who are twins, and Aoi, his cousin. When he returns, he finds that many things have stayed the same with his old friends, but that many other things are different, especially in regards to Nanaka.

Myself; Yourself somewhat suffers from a split personality, and on multiple fronts.

First off, while some parts of the story were well written and executed very well, other parts of the story just seemed to be stuck in for the sake of being stuck in, and story arcs had a tendency to end with plot twists, which is nice as it keeps one on your toes and doesn’t make thing predictable, but having so many twists creates the tendency to have each twist outdo the last, causing them to become increasingly over the top. Also, more plot holes than I would have liked were left open in the end.

Second, while the animation is, generally, OK, the character designs are, to put it simply, bad. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what’s wrong, but I just didn’t like them.

The one part of the series which I think helps left it up more than others is the depth of the characters and their interaction with each other. While the behavior of a couple characters was kind of annoying (Aoi in particular), most of the main characters behaved in a way which made the series better.

Ultimate, I think this series is generally worth watching, as it has a uniqueness which separates it from other shows like it. However, I think Myself; Yourself is a bit of a hit-or-miss show.

First Watched: October – December 2007
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes

Kamisama Kazoku – Anime Review

By | August 6, 2008 at 10:00 am | 1 comment

The Essentials

Name: Kamisama Kazoku, God’s Family
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Episodes: 13
Released: May 18, 2006 – August 10, 2006
Based On: Kamisama Kazoku light novels by Yoshikazu Kuwashima
Director: Kimitoshi Chioka
Produced By: Toei Animation
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Tenko: Ami Koshimizu
Samatarou Kamiyama: Daisuke Kishio
Kumiko Komori: Ai Maeda
Osamu Kamiyama: Masashi Ebara
Venus Kamiyama: Nanaho Katsuragi
Misa Kamiyama: Yumi Touma
Meme Kamiyama: Akemi Kanda
Shinichi Kirishima: Hiroaki Miura
Suguru: Yasuhiro Takato
Fumiko: Mariko Kouda
Ai Tachibana: Mamiko Noto
Lulu: Ryou Hirohashi
Lulu (child): Tomoko Kaneda

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 5 = 35 pts)

Total: 143/190 (75.3%)

Review

Kamisama Kazoku is a story about Samatarou, the son of God, and his guardian angel Tenko. Samatarou is currently living on earth in order to train to know what it’s like to live along with humans so that he may become a better god when he grows up.

Samatarou and Tenko are childhood friends, but are rather confused about how they feel about each other. Their feelings are tested and prodded as the pair have to work through several situations, such as a girl arriving in their class whom Samatarou falls for, as well a mysterious girl who shows up on their doorstep who grows several years in age every day.

Kamisama Kazoku is a reasonably good comedy, which is able to keep up a pretty good pace of new material to keep the story fresh. One issue I had with the story, however, is that it’s one of those shows which establishes the central “problem” right off, and then the problem just spins it’s wheels through 2 or 3 story arcs until it’s suddenly resolved at the end. I guess there may be sort of a feeling that the events of one story arc lead into another, but it isn’t necessarily obvious.

The biggest minus to this series – unless the fansubs were just made from bad raws – was the animation, which I thought was generally sub-par for a series released in 2006. The music was good, however.

If you’re looking for a different type of series (how many series deal’s with god’s family?) which has some laughs, but don’t really care if your anime has some flaws, then you may very well like Kamisama Kazoku.

First Watched: July 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes

X – Anime Review

By | August 5, 2008 at 10:00 am | 1 comment

The Essentials

Name: X
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Episodes: 24
Released: October 3, 2001 – March 27, 2002
Based On: X manga by CLAMP
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Produced By: Madhouse
US Distribution By: Geneon

Major Japanese Cast

Kamui Shirou: Kenichi Suzumura
Fuuma Monou: Junichi Suwabe
Sorata Arisugawa: Mitsuaki Madono
Arashi Kishu: Ryoka Yuzuki
Satsuki Yatoji: Houko Kuwashima
Nataku: Motoko Kumai
Kakyo Kuzuki: Yuji Ueda
Kusanagi Shiyu: Masaki Aizawa
Princess Hinoto: Aya Hisakawa
Kanoe: Kaho Kouda
Subaru Sumeragi: Tomokazu Sugita
Seiichiro Aoki: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Karen Kasumi: Yoko Soumi
Yuzuriha Nekoi: Kumi Sakuma
Yuto Kigai: Michiaki Furuya
Seishiro Sakurazuka: Otoya Kawano
Kotori Monou: Mamiko Noto

Major English Cast

Kamui Shirou: Steve Cannon
Fuuma Monou: Crispin Freeman
Sorata Arisugawa: Rafael Antonio Oliver
Arashi Kishu: Lia Sargent
Satsuki Yatoji: Karen Strassman
Nataku: Mona Marshall
Kakyo Kuzuki: Terrence Stone
Kusanagi Shiyu: James Lyon
Princess Hinoto: Bridget Hoffman
Kanoe: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Subaru Sumeragi: Dave Lelyveld
Seiichiro Aoki: Steven Blum
Karen Kasumi: Wendee Lee
Yuzuriha Nekoi: Philece Sampler
Yuto Kigai: Ethan Murray
Seishiro Sakurazuka: Dave Mallow
Kotori Monou: Michelle Ruff

Scores

Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 7/10 (x 2 = 14 pts)
English Dubs: 8/10 (x 1 = 8 pts)
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 5 = 35 pts)

Total: 161/200 (80.5%)

Review

X is about Kamui, a boy who is fated to determine the fate of the world. Kamui returns to Tokyo after a 6 year absence after the death of his mother. He soon meets up with two old childhood friends – Fuma and Kotori Monou – but attempts to keep them at a distance so that they don’t become involved in things.

Soon, members of the Dragons of Heaven – a group of 7 people who are fighting to protect mankind – and members of the Dragons of Earth – a group of 7 people fighting to destroy humanity in the name of saving the planet – arrive to persuade Kamui to join their side.

Kamui is cold towards both sides, but soon the friendliness of the Dragons of Heavan, and especially of Sorata, ultimately leads Kamui to choosing sides with them. However, this leads to Fuma being “chosen” as the leader of the Dragons of Earth as, unbeknownst to either of them, Fuma was destined to lead whichever group opposed the side Kamui chose. And thus, the apocalyptic battle between the Dragons of Heaven and Dragons of earth begin.

This is an interesting series for me to try to review. First off, this series seems to have almost everything: Lots of action. Lots of angst. Lots of story. Stellar animation and music and a good dub to boot. However, despite all of this, I never could get very much into this series. Yes, it was entertaining and I didn’t really bored watching it, but…it just didn’t work for me. And I’m not sure if I can put my finger on exactly why either.

I’m generally a fan of serious drama like X, but in this case, it just seems that it perhaps lasted too long and had too much angst as compared to the action. I guess another way to explain is the fact that, here we are, everything seems to be set for the battle for the end of the world to start but nothing is really happening on that front. Yeah, people are fighting, and Kamui is being angsty and we’re learning about the characters, but after a while I was kind of like “so, when are they going to start fighting for real and stuff?” It just seemed like most of the fighting was people being like “I guess it’s time for us to fight now, even though there is no real apparent reason for it.”

It just seemed that the Dragons of Heaven were sitting there like “what are we going to do” for 23 episodes and then finally the final battle happens in like 10 minutes (if that) in the last episode. Maybe I just missed a lot of what was happening since a lot of stuff, especially at the end, seemed to come as a surprise to me in a “oh THAT’S why this other stuff was happening” way – stuff that really shouldn’t surprise you that late.

Now, after spending 3 paragraphs on that, I’ll reiterate that this is overall a pretty good series to watch for many reasons, and there isn’t anything really fundamentally wrong with it and that my feeling just happens to be one of those things were a series just doesn’t hit right, so for that reason I still would recommend this to people because a lot of people would enjoy this series.

First Watched: October 2007 – July 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes

Spice and Wolf – Anime Review

By | August 4, 2008 at 10:00 am | 1 comment

The Essentials

Name: Spice and Wolf
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 13
Released: January 8, 2008 – March 23, 2008
Based On: Spice and Wolf light novels by Isuna Hasekura
Director: Takeo Takahashi
Produced By: IMAGIN
US Distribution By: N/A (licensed by Kadokawa Pictures USA)

Major Japanese Cast

Holo: Ami Koshimizu
Craft Lawrence: Jun Fukuyama
Nora: Mai Nakahara
Kuroe: Kaori Nazuka
Zeren: Daisuke Namikawa

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 6/10 (x 5 = 30 pts)

Total: 138/190 (72.6%)

Review

Spice and Wolf is about a traveling merchant, Craft Lawrence, and the harvest wolf god Holo. Holo had always blessed the wheat crop of the country area called Yoitsu, causing good crops, but over time, as better ways of growing the crops were developed, the people of the area stopped relying on Holo’s help, and so she escapes the area by hiding in Lawrence’s wagon.

While Lawrence doesn’t appreciate the company to start with, Holo has a keen eye (and ears) for a good – or bad – deal, a trait which Lawrence eventually starts to appreciate. In return for this, Lawrence agrees to eventually agree to travel with Holo to return her to her homeland in the north.

The primary thing that drives this show along is Holo and her personality and interactions with Lawrence – especially since they are largely the only two major characters in the entire series. While Holo is indeed an intriguing character, it’s hard for a single character to carry an entire series, and that ends up being the case here. I think Spice and Wolf would have been good had either more gone on or the length of the show was cut in half or so, but a show about economics dragging on for 12 or 13 episodes just doesn’t work that well. Oh yeah, and Holo being naked half the time is kind of annoying to me.

The technicals of the show – the animation and music – are good enough, I suppose, and this may be a worth series to watch if you’ve already seen everything else, but there are just so many other series out there which are better and more entertaining to watch than this.

First Watched: January – March 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No

Page 7 of 291...3456789101112...Last (29) >