Under Channel: AnimeFirst Impressions: Ano Natsu de Matteru9by saitohama 132 days ago When I first saw the announcement of Ano Natsu de Matteru, of course I was anticipating Nagai Tatsuyuki’s experience in directing the fantastic Ano Hana series to pull out a similar romantic comedy, but I was shocked to see just how similar the latter is to the prior. The obvious tip-off would be the character design, but even the lead—wild hair, brown eyes—possesses an uncanny similarity to Ano Hana’s male lead, Jintan.
Under Channel: AnimeFirst Impressions: Zero no Tsukaima F12by saitohama 134 days ago After nearly four years since the airing of its third season, Princess no Rondo, way back in 2008, Zero no Tsukaima is back with the much of the same old ecchi flair and familiar dynamic love polygons. To avoid starting the season blindly, I took the time to watch the latest season as a refresher, but unfortunately the breathtaking Fall lineup kindly wiped clean my memory. . .again.
Under Channel: AnimeGuilty Crown Mid-series Impressions28by Night 141 days ago Guilty Crown attempts to encapsulate several genres at once and in doing so never manages to be particularly good at any of them. Overall it is the slice of life scenes which play out the most convincingly. Whilst that genre in itself is usually generic and predicable, the series manages to bring enough flair and good humour to make for an enjoyable viewing experience. However in the end all of the high school scenes should have been the stepping stone for Shu as he becomes part of Funeral Parlour, not filler for whenever a new character must be thrown in or the writers need an excuse for a beach episode.
Under Channel: AnimeThe Best Anime of 201115by YoU 144 days ago 2011 is almost come to an end. As a signal, we won’t get some of our favorite series in this week or next. Maybe it’s a time for all of us to take a rest and recap what happened during the year. We had a similar poll last year to help us find out what were our readers’ best pick series during 2010, and thus we are going to do the same this year.
Under Channel: AnimeChihayafuru EP 12 – Set These Forbidden Fields Aglow0by saitohama 152 days ago This week it appears that the major plot took the back seat while the karuta club was given its final ‘developmental’ debut. What continues to surprise me is that despite this brief (and welcomed) deviation, Chihayafuru never missed a beat.
Under Channel: AnimeChihayafuru EP 11 – The Sky is the Road Home3by saitohama 159 days ago We’re getting close to that final episode (or are we?!), but I could honestly say that this week easily packed enough start-to-finish action, subtle yet remarkable character interaction and a considerable amount of character development—especially within the Mazusawa karuta team—to qualify for a stunning finale, of course there are still a few loose ends to be resolved.
Under Channel: AnimeChihayafuru EP 10 – Exchange Hellos and Goodbyes0by saitohama 165 days ago Looking back, I have to mention being greatly struck this week with the near-flawless fashion in which Chihayafuru has unravelled development-wise, from the budding dreams of a girl learning to play karuta to what is now a composition defined by surprising depth and extension of genre—in fact, I would hardly even call it josei at this point.
Under Channel: AnimeChihayafuru EP 09 – But I Cannot Hide6by saitohama 173 days ago This week I found myself getting quite absorbed into the depth of the story, with so much development to give remark concerning the conclusion. And with they’re fifth member, Nishida, joining the team last week, the karuta club is finally eligible for official club status—approved at the beginning by the ‘witch-like’ Miyauchi-sensei.
Under Channel: AnimeMirai Nikki EP 04-05 Roundup2by Wantei 175 days ago Mirai Nikki sure packed a lot of unexpected twists into these last two episodes. For starters, we are now getting to know how much deeper, darker and more evil the plot is becoming. Though many explicit scenes have been depicted as well, all are censored, blurred or darkened. Let’s pick up where we left off in the last review starting with EP 5 (“Voice Memo”).
Under Channel: AnimeChihayafuru EP 08 – The Sounds of the Waterfall1by saitohama 180 days ago Now that we’ve picked up some noticeable momentum with these last few episodes, one last variable in the equation remains—the fifth member! Oddly enough, Chihaya spots a prime candidate right off the bat while scoping the food court, as who else but glutton Nishida Yuusei is spotted stuffing his face with pork buns.