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

 

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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