Just In Time For Halloween... A Review More Depth Look On Higurashi

Rika Will Make You Submit..

This review is an updated more thought for the entire Higurashi series "this will cover the visual novel and anime". This review does contain spoilers so if you really hate that sort of thing.. all I have to say is, just deal with it

This series originally came from a visual novel adaption from 7th expansion which first came out in comiket 62 august 10th 2002, and the squeal arcs where released up until 2006 comiket 70. There is a full English adaption out for this visual-novel from manga-gamer and as of now you can also purchase the first arc for your Ipod/Iphone and Ipad via I-tunes for .99$. If wish to play the p.c. version the head over to manga gamer to buy a legal copy or can download a free demo for the first arc. " I also highly recommend you getting the sprite hack for the visual novel, this makes it much more bearable to look at."

What an I say about this series that makes me flinch. Well one thing comes to mind is that the series animation is done by "studio deen" which is known for quailty works. It's also quite obvious where the animation falls flat on ass, which sadly do cut away from the serious tone the series is trying present. However the series as a whole is picked back up with it's plot/story/characters and sense of mystery with horror elements that happen to kick all of that out the window. So I am able to handle some drops in the overall quality in the animation. One thing I wanto to point out is that if you are not fan gore or are squeamish in any-way please avoid the t.v. anime and read the visual novel.

This series starts off with our male lead Keiichi Maebara who has moved to the country side with his parents in small town called Hinamizawa "this is the usual set up for the typical harem anime and slice of life series however I was proved wrong within the first thirty seconds of episode one." The village that keiichi moves to is in the rural country side so he is in for a bit of cultural shock as well since he is from the city after all "Again I do realize this is cheap set up however it fits the series just perfectly" One other thing I love about this show is that it takes place in the early 80's so there is no chance of DNA evidence to prove who done it "this is a mystery/horror series after all"


Keiichi adapts pretty quickly since he had a reason for wanting to leave his old home town but I will not spoil that for you. He makes friends with one of the main heroine's "Rena Ryugu" who has a fascination with cute things no matter the gender or what kind of toy it is. I also wish to add one of the biggest anime quotes happen to come from rena-chan which is " I am going to take it home". Since the town has such a low population "around two thousand or so" all of kids go to the same school/class not matter what grade you are in, "adding more to reality that the characters do live in rural country side". 

So Keiichi is friends with mainly just "females characters such as Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko and Rika" but this does not  fall into the harem territory unless you really want it to. " I really thought it was going to be an harem anime at first..I was proved wrong, majorly wrong by the end of arc1.  Keiichi unlike most male leads also helps teach his younger/older class mates, due in part his education is much higher since was learning at a higher level from at his previous school. Even with all of this Keiichi is still a newbie at there afternoon school club where you play card games or old board games and have you have to suffer from a batsu punishment if you loose.

The Village of Shirakawa, Gifu In Japan
This is what Hinamizawa was based on

The other main focus of the series is on vast range of serial murders that have been happening for five years that take place from 1978-1983. Everyone thinks this is a curse from the local deity Oyashiro-sama for wanting to leave/tear down the home land during the dam war "this would flood the whole town and force everyone to move". The curse revolves around some one dying and some one disappears from with-out a trace. Is this truly the work of god/goddesses or is it something more major "you will have to come to that conclusion on your own". However if you wish use the old bastard Ooishi or the detective in the series as medium to gather clues.


Hinamizawa it's self dipped in traditional Japanese culture all over the place, from the festival of departed souls to main head family and being ousted for what your family did even though your child. Even with all of these barriers it is still very enjoyable to watch "although it's not for the faint of heart". There is even use for old Japanese torture devices from the Sonozaki family use to keep sin/punishment in order "you could relate them to yakuza if you wish, due their power they hold in the village". They are even to be suspected behind the murders at one point.. maybe they are or maybe it's some one you are least suspecting "I did not see the reason why, how or who at all and neither will you until arc four or five". Another thing that did surprise me was around arc four you realize no only a few people die..everyone in the entire village does, but how or for what reason???

You Fu**ed bro

Overall Higurashi is a good example of Japanese style horror that will keep you edge of your seat asking what the hell just happened. However  If you have a problem with gore or even "child abuse",  which does happen in some arcs then avoid this series at all cost. Something else that might bother a few is the fact the story "re-sets every arc after every five to six episodes" This will really confuse some at first however it is essential to show or set up different perspectives from other characters, if you hate that type of writing the just avoid the series. However unlike many shows this anime/visual novel has a true/happy ending that is worth fighting for which is obtainable through miracle in the second season kai or answer arcs.

Noting like some bernkastel wine.. " do you get the joke?"

Another huge plus for this franchise is the creepy music it uses to set the mood. This helps establish when something major is going happen "such as some-one being killed or closing in the culprit."  The t.v. anime does a wonderful job on this level with the bone chilling op from season one that even to this day makes me cringe. Higurashi overall does something very important for the mystery genre. They do established who done it and how they done it. However the cover the most important part which is WHY they done it. 

I can not stress enough the reason why is one of the most important branch in a mystery series/novel.This helps gives the reader/viewer a chance to see through the killers eyes and understand what's going on through their brain. It also helps/set up an understanding why a person could kill over two thousand people just to obtain their goal no matter how deprived it may be. Personally even I felt sorry for the person that was doing the heinous acts towards the end, However I think that is the point in covering why the done it in the first place. 

Well I could go on but there isn't any need for me to. There is no longer anyone that holds the anime licensed in America so if you want to download it then be my guest, however the visual novel and manga is here to legally own. If you ask kindly enough then maybe I will post links to download the anime if you wish but I will not provide links to download the game or manga "please do support the legal means of supporting the series if you can". That's all she wrote on this one, just leave me some feed back and tell me. Now do you have what it takes to solve the mystery or will you just let two thousand innocent people die???
 
-Cecilthedarkknight
 
Animation 4/5
 
Music 4.5/5
 
Story/Plot 5/5
 
Characters 5/5
 
Overall Total 4.5/5

Age Rating 17+

Buy Legal Copies Of The Visual Novel

Arc's 1-4 

Arc's 5-8

Buy A DVD Set "beware of price gouging"

Season One DVD Set

..Is this really necessary .. A Review of R-15

Light Novel Cover

R-15 as stated in the pic above, is a light novel series written by Hiroyuki Fushimi with illustration from Takuya Fujima. The first volume of the the light novel was Kadokawa Shoten in July of 2009 with eight volumes currently out and still ongoing as of now. The series also has a manga adaption "which I highly recommend at this point in time" which started in June 2010 that is illustrated by Hayato Ōhashi, with a total of two full volumes out from the same creator/publisher. The anime adaption Is being handled by Studio Aic, that started to air July 2011 on six major t.v. stations in japan. One thing i do wish to add is that two T.V. stations in Japan pulled the show before airing which has me thinking.. wow is this going to be good or what? 

So yet again, another anime series based off an light novel. These seem to be a dime a dozen in this day age, not that it is a bad thing, it just feels over used at this point in time. Oh well at  least it's good exposure for people to see a series that would have only been available in printed text in Japan.. but is this a good thing this time around ??? To be blunt with with you I like the idea and premises of this series "which still baffles me..". Sadly some of the the execution for the series, the current t.v. airing/streams with huge amount of censors, drag it down greatly. This even brings it down from being a guilty pleasure for many people, which includes me as well.

MY EYES, THEY BURN!

So what the initial plot in R-15?? ... Well it's about our male lead Taketo Akutagawa who has a genius talent for writing erotic novels, due to this he has go to private school for other geniuses with talents in music, photography, drawing and so forth. Epiosde one starts during the middle of class with Taketo having a dream/Idea for one of his novels. It's after school with the sun going down.. hmm I see where this heading... you see a random high-school female about to get boned by her teacher... whoa.. ? wait, really.. wat? What kind of person has those types of dreams in the middle of day.. oh wait he is only a freshmen in high-school so it makes sense.

After his dream..Taketo's teacher properly wakes him up..then we see one of our female leads Meiki who plays the role of our classic tsundere.Meiki loves to take photo's of Taketo when he goes in his "writer mode" because of his beastly side... heh I sense a closet masochist as well. Taketo also works for the news paper club, where he tries to get scoops for the president only to be referred to as chief...she has to be one the biggest sadist I have seen In a while as well. She just loves to cause trouble for other people and has fun time getting off to other people's misfortune...I think that I'm love, Oh feel free to watch the op below

R-15 OP

The only other character worth mentioning is Narukara-san due to her calm nature. She is a music prodigy at the school that that usually keeps to herself. Taketo happened to walk up where Naurkara was practicing, happening to see her extra reed .. so what does he do?? He tries to eat it like it was food... thus causing an awkward misunderstanding to commence, such as Nakukara telling other students that Taketo tried to eat it. So if you haven't figured it out, they are mostly likely going to the be the OTP or "only true paring" for this series. I might be wrong for calling it so early but I have seen way to harem series to know where this going to head. To be honest I prefer the pop idol from epiosde two but that's just a personal opinion.

So with all of this originality, story setup, plot why is the anime one of the worst for 2011?? Well for starters it's the horrible amount of censorship used in the t.v. broadcast. Personally I am really sick, tired and frustrated of fuc*** solar flare beams on the screen, just to cover up a damn panty shot or cover up a naked ass... but at-least let there be an option to air in un-cut online. Listen I understand that that shows have to abide by certain guidelines and so-froth but this is an insult the animators, to the director, hell to everyone that worked on the project. Even if your not a fan of these types of shows, think of what Naruto, Bleach, FMA ect, would be like with half of the fighting cut-out due to violence. To those that have complained there is no un-cut version anywhere so this is a DVD/bluray sales pitch that will work, but it's highly unlikely that we will ever see it here un-cut.. legally that is.

Classic Type A Tsundere

One other problem that is worth pointing out in the series is the drops in animation quailty in certain parts. Now I am not one to speak for watching Higurashi/Umineko after all but at least I am willing to admit it, the drops are just so noticeable and bad.. they have a budget why not use it, there are some nice characters designs there.Who knows maybe I am wrong about the quailty drops due to nearly being blinded every four to five God da** minutes from blinding lights but.. okay.. enough ranting about that. Now I will give R-15 props for having a  male lead not being A-typical, he is a wimp but he knows how to turn the ladies on with his writing, although most just think Taketo is a pervert..but of course. On a plus note, in epiosde two he got a pop-idol to strip from his words alone.. that takes some massive skills man.

   

So is  the music for R-15 anything special?? Hmm... Well now there happen to be some catchy bgm music. This anime also a pretty nice op/ed but nothing really stood out to me besides the opening. So is this anime really that bad?? .. Well it depends on what your taste, standards or view of censorship is. There is a story with room to grow, characters that can develop over time, however it might be to much for some to handle. Even though I am writing a review for this show .. this is the only one this season I am dropped this season next to twin angel. Until a un-cut version becomes available. I just can-not watch it at this point in time with the amount of distractions etc. The real sad part is I want to watch/enjoy this show. Well that's all on this, I will be giving this anime two scores as well and if you really want to watch it go for it.

-Cecil The Dark Knight

Age Rating 16+

Censored Fan Haters: 1.5/5

Normal Fans: 3.5/5

Nico Nico Stream

Crunchy-Roll Stream 

Another Generic Romantic Comdey?? A Review of Mayo Chiki!

Mayo Chiki is an on going Light-Novel written by Hajime Asano, Illustrated by Seiji Kikuchi. The first was released on November, 21st 2009 and is still ongoing to till this day with eight volumes out total so far who are published by the company Media Factory There is also an ongoing manga written by the original creator Hajime and illustrated by Niito. The manga is being published monthly in the seinen magazine "Monthly comic alive" from Media Factory as well. The TV. anime is only slated to have twelve episodes as of now, this show started airing July 8, 2011 and is being broadcasted on "TBS" station in Japan.

This Is One Way To Wake Up

This anime is about our unfortunate male lead Kinjiro Sakamachi that lives at home with his little sister Kureha Sakamachi that has a lovely habit of beating the shit out of him every morning just for the hell of it. "I fell kind of sorry for the poor bastard." Their parents are over-seas working so there isn't any "parental figure" this time around either. "Now at least they where up front about it in the first five minutes into the episode." Our male lead is a second year high school that goes to a seemingly normal school.. with the one exception the school's principal's daughter Kanade Suzutsuki who throws off the "Rich-Girl Persona" with her own personal butler Subaru Konoe. who has a deep personal secret to keep from everyone in school.

Kinijro decides to go the empty part of the school building to use the rest-room, in order to 
calm him-self down after a near fatal exposure of his biggest secret. Which is the fact  he suffers from a unique condition called gynophobia or fear of the opposite sex. "It's so bad that he suffers a nose-bleed if he even touches a female". After Kinjiro washes his face and goes into what he thinks is an empty stall, what does he happen to see?? A pair of kitten printed panties on attached to the leg of the head butler for Kanade.

"Why don't people ever lock the damn door in Japan, I understand old houses but not the bath-room stalls??" So what does Kinjiro decide to do after seeing this?? He just walks off after shutting the door trying to pretend/forget what he saw, but of course it's not going to be that easy for him. Subaru comes out of the stall mad as hell "in a typical a typical tsundere hijinks" by asking Kinjiro if happened to see it or glimpse of her pantsu.

What do we have here?

So being the huge idiot that Kinjiro is of course he says with out realizing .. "If you haven't guessed that Subru's a girl then I feel sorry for you". So she happens thinks that secret that needs to be kept from everyone in order to stay a butler has been reveled. "why in the world they force some-one to do this is beyond me." Then comes in the obligatory one-sided fight, but it seems that for once a male lead can hold his own. It wasn't until a dramatic pause to where a "frog in the jar.. no I am not even kidding you", was going to fall on Subru's head" that Kinjiro shows his true skill by undoing her shirt, belt buckle, and pulling them open/down with in only a two second span, he accidentally squeezes her breast and realizes that he is finally a girl. Subaru laughingly flips out and smacks him upside the head in with a fire hydrant and we cue to the half-way minute mark. 

Well that's enough on the first episode if you don't want to watch it by the summary I have given you then I don't really can not blame you. It sounds oh so funny and has been done for much better over a ten year period of time. The only thing that really seemed to amuse me was Kanade's S/M play a thing for Kinjiro and Subaru. Kanade's wonderful sadist nature peeks a few guilty pleasures with in me as well which kept me watching the entire episode.

Rape Time??

The animation character designs are also very nice to look at, with only a few drops in overall quality  Everything seemed to flow pretty well and there was only a few notable drops in quality here or there, but not to the point that it would be really low key. The music however is just plain/generic, with nothing really new or surprising here with the expectation of few piano pieces to liven up the mood. The op is done quite well to where it shows vast different array of emotions with a nice catchy beat as well.

Now lets get to the main problem of the series which be the huge heap of tropes/cliches that has been rinsed/repeated for nearly ten years now. If you can personally list off the number of cliches into a small list just from my review then just don't even bother with this series. If you are a guilty pleasure fan such as myself then you may actually the first episode for this series and will continue on with the series. As of now there is now legal stream for this series so you have to look around for decent fan-sub group to watch the show. 

-Cecil The Dark Knight

Age Rating 16+

Animation 4/5

Music 3/5

Story 2.5/5

Characters 3/5

Overall rating 3/5

Another four girl anime?? Imperssons on Yuru-Yuri

I will state this for the record as of now, Personally I have nothing against female only cast anime nor do I hate the seinen genre either. However I do feel like they are making to many anime adaptions as of late thus over saturating the market. Now is Yuru Yuri a bad show?? That depends on how many of these shows you have seen before or even if your fan of moe~ anime then don't even bother with this series. I did state earlier that I was only going to review one moe~ anime but due to fact that it has been licensed Yuru Yuri will fill in that gap as of now, due in part that I need something sweet and nice to watch during my summer season. 

Yuru Yuri is about or main female leads Akari, Kyoko, Yui, and Chinatsu that go to an all girls private school. "where have i see this set-up before??"...Nope can't think of thing but this aside it starts off with our main female lead Akari getting woke up by her two senior class-mates Kyoko and Yui. The character introductions are short/quick which is something I really like for the genre of anime due in part it's the jokes/interactions that make this type of show watchable. Now there is a pretty dark joke early one where Kyoko walks into Akari's older sisters room "after she forgot to put on her out-fit for her first day of middle school', and well.. It was pretty damn funny  to see Kyoko's reaction.

Kyoko Walks In And See This

This Is Her Reaction to it.

Later that day or in the second half we get introduced to our other female lead Chinatsu who is in the same class as Akari but she didn't come to their club, "gee what a surprise". Chinatsu came to join the tea party club but it was disbanded due to lack of the members so Chinatsu decides to join their amusement club for the time being which has nothing to do with music by the way..."I swear I have seen this some where before..or maybe it's just me..." Well moving on from that I will say Kyoko happens to be one the better characters out due in part of how flamboyantly gay she is for Chinatsu " Hence the Yuri element/name". This plays off pretty funny in some of the skits where Kyoko tries to get Chinatsu but is always being cock-blocked by Yui..so you can tell where that's heading.

As for the main female lead Akrai?? She happens to be one the most plain, boring and ditzy characters out there and they are even willing to admit. Now per-say is she a bad characters?? No not really just your a-typical innocent/naive girl that always pops up in every anime now and then. Personally I don't hate her character what soever, but maybe it's due in part that it takes a-lot for me to actually hate an anime character. Fitting a stereo-type alone is not enough for me to hate a character it's how the director decides to play off that character in their role.

Yuru Yuri Op

I will also give props for the opening song for Yuru Yuri as well.. It's been a long time to where I actually had a song stuck in my head and the OP doesn't disappoint in that department. The rest of the music also plays off on the mood quite well while it's also not anything foreboding or overwhelming either, just a calm laid-back soundtrack. A bit of the down side is the the art-work, nothing really original or even groundbreaking here, however it is very pleasant to look at so at least my eyes aren't bleeding as if I was watching Twin Angel again.

That's about all I can add or say for this anime, if you like k-on, lucky star, azumanga daioh, a-channel, kana-memo and so forth you will like this show. If you hate anime with an all female cast or are not into to "cute girls doing cute things" then don't even bother with this series. There is no action, no fighting or save the world from an impending doom story. All Yuru Yuri happens to be is noting more than a slice of anime with huge yuri over-tones which as I sated before if it's not your thing, don't even bother. Peace out every-one and until next-time catch you later.

Cecil The Dark Knight

Age Rating:13+

Music: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Story: 3/5 

Animation 3/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

 

Legal Stream

First Impressions On: Twin Angel Twinkle Paradise

 

You know what I don't have a damn good to say about this so called anime, so if you hate people "ditching" on your new "favorite show, you know what"??  Though shit is all I have to say, I am not going to force you to read this, but maybe I should force you to watch this anime  while using it as a sadist too for torture.. Okay trailing off into my personal life that, some of you don't need to know about. As of now I don't even think that the series is worth finishing off but perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps on a slow such as Sunday  I will watch some it here and there but as of now I would rather not drink my-self to death.

Twin Angel or know as Kaitō Tenshi Twin Angel - Kyun Kyun, Is based off of two ova's that came in out in 9/28/2008. This series much like Rio Rainbow Gate due in part that it's is based off a series of Pachinko-Machines with the same character designs on the machines. Personally I think this is lazy but Rio Rainbow Gate was still fun to watch and no where near as tedious. The story mainly revolves around our two main heroines Aoi and Haruka that are just your normal/average middle schoolers by day but then turn into magical crime fighters by night. 

The main female leads of course go to an rich private school, have the typical cute mascot and there is even the long transformation that shows off pretty rainbows.... um yeah. So what went wrong?? The main problem that anybody can point is the fact that they are trying to damn hard to mimic other things and not trying to be it's own Individual show. "I do realize  this is next to impossible in this day and age but it can still be done". Magical Madoka did it but that went to dark for some, hell even Milky Holmes was funny if not for the reaction faces/comedy in the show.

I personally don't hate magical school girl anime quite the contrary really. I personally love Card Captor Sakura, Pretty Cure, Sailor Moon, Moe-Tan, MagiKano, and Magical Madoka. I just hate lazy attempts at anime that try to parody these shows and just end up falling flat on their ass in doing so. Even the lame attempt/blatant rip-off of Tuxedo-Mask called the Misty Knight who happens to show up in the nick up time to save our ladies with roses. Parody's for magical girl shows can be done right however this is not case in Twin Angel. please go watch some cheap anime from the 90's instead.. oh wait a minute..

Sadly I could hardly find any-thing redeeming what so-ever for Twin-Angel. Hardly  if any of the characters seem likable expect for the ninja butler and even then that was corny. Not even the music or art work is worth mentioning for twin angel and the OP sounds like shit, however I will admit I did like the ED due in part that tusndere queen "Rie Kugimiya" sings in it however that's enough enough to even keep some away. She is also in the show as well as the white angel called , but hasn't made an appearance as of yet. 

Perhaps I am being a little to harsh on this Twin Angel but in all honesty I really expected better from J.C.Staff, I know they are capable of doing better than this. Toradora, Index, Rail-gun, Excel Saga, Hayate, Shana, Familiar of Zero, The Worlds Greatest First Love are all decent so it's in the realm of possibility after all. I will not post a score yet until I see two three more epiosdes and perhaps I will be a little less harsh by then. As of know I am really close to dropping this anime but if I can get hold of some liquor maybe it will help.

Usually I do not go by first episode for any thing to determine if a show is worth a damn or not, but when I am able to list off nearly twenty bad cliches right off the bat somethings wrong .Okay if anyone is offended by my preview for the first epiosde then just take up it with Frederica Bernkastel. Peace out everyone and look forward to more previews soon. Summer is shaping up to be good so far, now excuse me while I go hit my head against the wall for twenty minutes due in part that it will cause the same amount of brain damage.

-Cecil The Dark Knight

Age Rating: 16+

Nico Nico Legal Stream 

Crunchy Roll Stream

Characters: 2/5

Animation: 2/5

Music: 2/5

Plot: 1/5

Story: 1/5

Overall Rating: 1/5

First Impressions On Ro-Kyu-Bu!

The Entire Time~

If your read or referred to my other post for my Summer Watch List then this was on the bottom But of course Japan chooses to air this one first. In no way is this a review just a opinion on how I felt after watching the first episode of "Ro-Kyu-Bu" I do want to make this clear. Also I have a thread started on Crunchy-Roll for the impressions for the show as well, so if you have an account there feel free to post there as well. The only other thing I do wish to add is the fact this anime is not going to be for everyone so if you hate Loli or Moe~ Stuff, then just don't even bother with series I don't want to hear you bitch and don't say it's the end of anime either.

To sume up this series in a nutshell it's about elementary school girls playing basket ball with help from a high school coach.  Subaru Hasegawa or male lead has to become a coach for the elementary girls basket ball team because of this older sister. This was due in part that the last coach was fired for being a suspected pedophile . All of the characters happen to go campus ground due in part it's rich private school. So Subaru is put into hard position due in part that he has given up playing basketball himself but maybe one of the girls will re-kindle his spirit!

The first episode overall just goes over Subaru being a temporary coach for girls by the usual introduction of all characters, what they are good/bad at and why they like to play basket ball. Overall the first episode get's the job done right by laying down what the series will be about so you will not be disappointed at all. I also happen think that Tomoka Minato is the most talented player they have on the team.

One of the high notes for the series is the soft pallet of colors, animation and artwork used for the characters. It's nothing groundbreaking by any-means like madoka magica or stein's;gate was but it's overall pleasant to look at. Another high note is the music which is overall soft but does pick up when tensions are high in a basket ball game. This does add more to the series and gives me some hope that it will be worth watching from start to finish.

I am also get a huge felling/vibe that this will be a series with harem undertones as well, due in part that the younger girls are going to look up to subaru as an older brother. As creepy as this sounds. Also the girls love teasing him by dressing up as maids..he thinks that he is in the wrong club by asking him you don't like little sister maids??" That is one way to give a first impression. It seems that the  girls were just a little to eager to please Subaru, however this not  not going to be easy for his everyday high school life.

Obligatory Shower Scene

I am not going to lie there is also a tad bit of ecchi as well that will drive-away quite a few people/fans away due in part of how young some of the characters look/happens to be. Look at the pic above for a good example of  to see what I mean. I happen to like loli or lolisque characters as well so this isn't going be a bad series for me but I thought this will be the only moe~, anime I watch this season just due in part how sweet these shows can be. To much eye candy on person tends to be just bad as eating a bag sugar which causes the same effects if your not careful enough.

That's all I have to say on Ro-Kyu-Bu! If you have any interst in the seires at all feel free to leave a comment below. If these type of series turn of you off or are not your cup of tea then I really do highly recommend not watching any of it. I will keep you all updated if the series gets picked up for a legal streaming license later down the road, catch ya'll later~

Legal Stream

-Cecil The Dark Knight

Age Rating 14+

Characters: 3/5

Animation: 4/5

Music 3/5

Story: 3/5

Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating 3/5

This Is Science and Dr.Pepper.. A Review of Steins Gate

Free Wall-Paper

So what the hell is a Stein's Gate?? Well let's just say you will need to drink a lot of Dr.Pepper to figure this one out. Like most anime in this day and age It's adaption based off of a visual novel developed by 5pb and Nitroplus that our came out for the Xbox 360 on October 15th 2009. A PC version did come out a year later on August 26, 2010, which I am happy to announce, is getting a fan translation which will complete before the year is over. I also wish to add that Funimation added steins gate to their list for a domestic DVD/Bluray release. The anime is being done studio white fox which is a new comer to the stage on a project like this with music from Takeshi Abo

I do realize that the series nearly over now but hell I feel like it's better late than never to do the review for the series, also don't mind the publish date I just did a time-leap to do it is all. I will say one thing this series, based on the premise alone was enough to have me asking... What?? "Sending Text Messages To The Past" but it has blown my expectations out of the damn water, just like Clannad and Higurashi did when I first watched them. I will admit I didn't expect much from this series but it's what a good Sci-fi series should be. Also all of the roles in the series are filled by characters that actually look/act their age as well.

Behold AHAHAHAHAHA

Steins Gate revolves around our main lead Okabe Rintarō who quite frankly has to be one of the strangest male lead I have seen in a really long time. "Mainly his habit of talking on a cell-phone about the evil origination sern and drinking D.R. Pepper." The first episode starts off Okabe going to class about time travel with his child hood friend Mayuri Shiina who is off buying a coin slot item which she happens to loose by accident but it's worth a cool 100,000 Yen "Just how rare was that Item??"  Mean-while Okabe is debating the theory and relativity of time travel Kurisu Makise or CCCHHHRRRIIISSSTTIIINNNAAA as okabe calls her with his trad-mark laugh. Kurisu also happens to swear that she met Okabe fifteen minutes prior but he has no memory of it.. 

A little time passes and while going upstairs he finds that Kurisu has been stabbed covered in blood so he then texts one of the other male leads Hashida Itaru. After sending the text, everything get's all damn trippy where you see Okabe walking down the street alone even though he was just talking Mayuri. When Okabe awakens from this surreal dream he learns that the class room that he was hit by a huge satellite. It's later that Okabe discovers while he is talking to Itaru on a elevator that the texts he sent him about Kurisu was some-how sent a week ago. However the biggest mind-fu** at the end of the episode is the fact Kurisu is still alive and well, then that's it for the episode one.

So Tsun.. So Tsun..

I will admit that Steins Gate is a series that is really hard to follow, despite this flaw once you catch on to the main focus it's one of best series for 2011. The characters, story, they way it's being handled is just something I was not expecting for a series like this. Stein's Gate genially makes you care for each character, always keeps you guessing what's going to happen next and the twist they have done so far I didn't even some coming from a mile away. Another worthy note is the art style and music they choose for the series. Okabe himself looks like he really is an mad scientist with the beard and lab-coat, the focus on facial features for each characters and the back-ground are really above par as well.

One thing I love the most is the theory of time-travel the are using for this series. Mainly the use of world lines or the possibility of every small choice can change our outcome in life, even our gender if we are not careful enough. Small changes like this however are not enough to fully split the world in A to B lines. Something so drastic such to split the world lines for example what if “September 11^th never happened or if Y2K did affect our computers”. I personally sit around pondering these what if scenarios all the time.

It needs to be something to drastic that it changes everyone’s life not just yours. The other fascinating thing is that later on when a main character is killed; despite Okabe’s best efforts he can not change her fate. This is due in part that she is meant to die no matter what they would need something like I just mentioned to make sure it doesn’t keep re-occurring but at what cost?? This could be linked to a theory called the butterfly effect, however I don't have the time to explain that here and I am sure for many of you this theory is way over your head.

Now for a series being based off of visual novel can go either way and they really took the high ground with this one. The music is just wonderful with a great Op and Ed that still even personally give me chills every-time I see them. One funny thing to point out is the random product placement of Dr. Pepper in the series. Okabe loves to mention the fact that this soda/drink is only meant for high intellects such as him-self. Well I could go on and on about this series but there isn’t a point I just want to get this review out of my way. If you haven’t caught this show yet you really need to, it’s worth your time and you will not be disappointed.

Edit/Update: After completing the full series I wish to add it has one of the most satisfying endings that I have personally seen in a long time. Most if not all the questions are answered and doesn't leave any logic error's lingering around. There is also an ova floating around the net that adds a little more to the series but nothing major. I do hope however that funimation will have this along with their release later next year.

Stein's Gate ED The Twelve Time-Governing Covenants

Age Rating 16+

Animation 5/5

Story 5/5

Music 5/5

Characters 5/5

Overall Rating 5/5 "PERFECT"

-Cecil the Dark Knight

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Growing up Is not that easy.. A review of Hanasaku Iroha

Look At That Smile

With the series nearly over I feel like it's time to review one of the better slice of life anime series for 2011 thus far. Hanasaku Iroha is a sweet done to earth, coming of age series, being animated from the small company P.A Works. This series is being done for P.A.'s year anniversary of being in the industry, although they are not big player in series like J.C.Staff or Studio Deen they mainly just do side work from big studios like I have just stated. The only other series worth mentioning they have done is Angel Beats, but you would have to be living under a rock not to know what that series is. There are also two different manga series in production from P.A.Works as well but from two different writers so who knows how each manga series will end.

Hanasaku Iroha main plot focuses around our main heroine Ohana. She is just an average high-school girl that lives an ordinary care-free life going to school with her child-hood friend Ko-chan that does want a change in her life "however she isn't going to expect a huge change like this". Her life was normal until her Irresponsible mother Satsuki, decides to run off with new boy-friend "without Ohana of course" thus forcing Ohana to abandon everything she has every known to live with her grandmother, giving Ohana the change in life she always wanted. Howeveris this the kind of change Ohana can handle or will fall under the pressure??? 

Our Three Leading Ladies

Ohana not once in her life has ever once meet her grandmother due to some circumstances between her lovely mother and grandmother .. "Oh gee I wonder why..." It's also due in part that her grandmothers lives in the countryside running a hot-spring inn called the Kissuisō, which happens to greatly resembles one from Taishō period. . Before Ohana leave's she has a long talk with Ko-chan and then he does something that most male leads hardly ever do..."He Confesses the love he has for her" Sadly Ohana is to startled by this news to give a answer right away and when she does later on "it's a tad to late.. or is it?" Now when Ohana gets to her new living accommodations in the countryside   she sees some weeds "or what she happens to think might be some"and decides to pull them out, then another one of female leads comes along Minko with a dark look on her face and just tells Ohana to die, due in part that where herbs not weeds "Still that's really harsh"

  

Sadly Ohana also discovers that she will not be living at the inn for free either. She will have to earn her stay by working there. Her Grandmother or Madam Manger has a very strict nature about her but given her age I can understand that, but still bitch slapping Minko and Ohana is a tad much for making a small mistake, however she does come from a time period where serving the customers and keep them happy is always right. The other character worth of mentioning is the quite/timid female waitress Nako-chan who started to work at the inn part-time in order to change her personality and become a stronger person "she also seems to have a crush on Ohana..". The last character worth mentioning is Toru-san who is a twenty three junior-chief that mainly helps prepare the meals and helps coach Minko to become a chief like himself "There is a love triangle here later on.. but that's something you'll find out on your own".

Aww Ohana and Ko-Chan

For a anime that that has already aired over twenty episodes, I am simply amazed that the quality of the animation, music and depth of character has kept up really strong. Now there are some drops epically in episode three due to another resident there being an "ero-wirter" but the series brushes it's self off and moves on past that with great coming of age story for Ohana, getting used to her new life. A great example of this would be when Ohana had to took charge over the Inn when her Uncial's Girl Friend was wrecking everything and chasing off customers. This happened when her grandmother got sick and had to go to the hospital to rest. Ohana was able regain some customers by following her grandmothers strict instructions in her manual for repeat guest thus proving she can do a good job when push comes to shove.

One other thing I wish to point for the series is the amazing animation that is on par if not above movie quality animation, if there are any drops in the over all quality it's not noticeable from me. The animation just flows fluidly  from one scene to another making it very pleasant to look at. Personnaly I have not seen any anime flow or be this well done since FLCL and that's an entirely different type of genre/series.The music for Hanasaku Iroha gets a worthy of mention although the OP and ED are just a little to unique for my taste. Now just like most shoujo series the bgm music plays a huge part for the series. People really don't realize how important this really is but this series flows it out beautifully to set up the mood, play off characters feelings when they don't speak or show their reactions to certain situations at hand. 

Do I Have To Choke A Bitch?

Some people might find Ohana an annoying/flaky character due to her indecisive attitude she has through out the series. "a great example of this would be when she finally meets back up with kou but is just unable to confess her feelings for him or when she is sick in bed and thinks that no one needs her." This will break for a lot of people form enjoying this show in general or even giving it a second glance or make people want to watch to see what's going to happen next. If you can-not connect to the main female lead then I am sure you can find another character in the series. Ohana ironically would be my character given her nature and despite her only being sixteen and female. I can just connect to her character on some level because of what she is going through in her life and that's what a decent narrative should do.

Overall this is a really decent coming of age anime that nearly anyone of both genders can enjoy. However I do wish point out. If your not a fan of shoujo/romance or slice of life series then don't even bother with this anime it's just not for you. It's heavily focused on these sub-genres in general so I just don't want to waste anyone's time is all. Personally I am really waiting to see how this series ends and I just hope it's going to have a decent ending. I could go on but that's all I have to say for this series, if you haven't decided to watch this series as of yet please re-consider in doing so. Well I will catch you all later and just ignore the post date.. I just did another time-leap. "Yes another cheesy Stein's Gate Reference"

No Context Needed...

-Cecil The Dark Knight

Rating: 4.5/5

Age Rating: 13+

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Review on my 2nd anime for spring 2011 "Nichijou/My Ordiany Life"

Nichijou (日常 Nichijō^?, lit. Regular Life), or know as "My Ordinary Life" in English. This is a anime adaption based on manga written by Keiichi Arawi first published in 2006 by "Kodokawa Shoten" in their manga magazine "Shonen Ace". The manga is a simple 4 panel comic like "Azumanga Daioh" or "Lucky Star" so you can already guess what the anime is going to be like.  Another slice of life/comedy anime which is something that I happen to personally love. However this is a genre that still gets mixed reviews so I will do my best to present a fair/equal review that anyone will be able to understand.

Now this something that is really hard to review not due the fact the show is bad it is due to the fact this show has a huge barrier of entry. Okay now follow me on this one  take shows that have panty shots or nudity for example. No matter how good the story nor how matter they develop the characters people will not watch it. It's the same for this show, the humor is for a niche market or certain kind of fans there for some will just hate because of that. Setting up culture boundaries between people to where you have to look up the jokes online is also hard for mainstream fans to do, cuts out time/enjoyment from the show thus some people will be turned off. Due to this fact I will be giving this show two scores in order to represents where I stand and where mainstream fans please try to understand this.

Alright now on to the summary for the first half of the show or what could be seen as the "main plot". It focuses on a group 3 high school girl freshmen by the names of Mai Minakami, Mio Naganohara and, Yūko Aioi who have the biggest personality differences between anyone I have seen in a long time. This usually deals with the daily antics they get into with each other such as Mai purposely doing things to mislead Yuko and make her do things that she wouldn't normally do. Now on to the other half show which would be about a young 5 year old "Professor, her robot caretaker "Nano" with there talking male cat "Sakamoto-san" who just show off more crazy/bizarre routines but what makes it so interesting is the fact that the professor actually acts like a real little girl instead of an grown up character wanting to screw the male lead."I will talk more about this more clearly in later post"

There are other characters that I will mention as well, like a junior named Kōjirō Sasahara "who has a fascination with riding his goat to school",  Misato Tachibana " she has an weapon arsenal that could make the NRA jealous and keeps Sasahara in check." and my favorite random character Tsuyoshi Nakanojō "who has the best animated Mohawk ever and it's known why due to fact his hair doesn't grow on the sides...WTF?" The characters In this show are just random hit or miss as well. Meaning that you will either like or hate some of the characters from the get go but this can be said for nearly any form of visual medium.

That's I can really say  for the story to be honest with you. It just a random collection of scenes with running gags put together that seem to work flawlessly for me since I am such a hardcore fan but this will not work for all. The only real life show I can compare this to is "Seinfeld" so if you liked that show you will love this anime. Okay now onto a high point for the series which happens to be the animation. Just the smooth flow off the screen flawlessly to a point it feels makes me feel as I am doing a paint by numbers in real-time.

Everything is just so clean, clear and crisp thus making everything nice to look at. As I just stated above the hair animated in this show is probably some of the best rendered hair that I have seen in the past ten years" cromotie high school was the last". Hell even watching this show on in low quality still looks better that most anime series that where put out in the early turn of the century. The only chink or flaw in the animation is that it's to cutesy for some, thus driving shonen fan-base away.

Okay moving on to my favorite part of this anime is the music which I absolutely love. Yeah that's being hugely biased on my part but I don't give a shit. What surprises me even more is the fact that "Hyadain" a well know flash musician that  has made videos from old games like Final Fantasy IV or Super Mario Bros Did the OP for the show called "The O-o-o-one-sided Love of Hyadain - C", as seen above.

It seems that his music has had such a hit with mainstream people it caught on enough for him to do a record deal which is fine with me. Now that's all well and good but rest of the music is also what makes the series just plain enjoyable to watch. From the high funny piano music to the low key soft music that could help anyone some fall asleep. I do know one thing I will be buying this soundtrack when it does come out.

 

Overall as a series this is just a fun anime to watch to mellow out if your having a bad day. Now there is a hit or miss for a few people and even some episodes for some. If you love this sorta show I highly recommend that you watch it but if the barrier is to hard for you to get through just don't I do not want you watch something you will not like. That's all I can really say for the show nothing major happens no plot to destroy the world or ground breaking material here just wacky fun for all. You can fine the show legally at crunchy roll for simulcast this season.

Age Rating 13+

My Ordinary Life Legal Steam

Music 5/5


Animation 4.5/5


Plot/Story 3/5


Characters 3.5/5


Overall Rating 4.5/5

-Cecil The Dark Knight