December 2011

Top 10 Anime of 2011

by Kal on December 31, 2011

2011 came to an end and what a year it was, in this post I narrowed down my top 10 anime shows of 2011, they’re the ones I enjoyed the most although 2 of my favorite titles for this year didn’t make it to the list but they definitely worth watching, and they are (Tiger & Bunny / Hanasaku Iroha).

Note: Picture above is a great fanart of Tiger & Bunny for an unknown artist. 

Titles didn’t make it to list:

Great shows still ongoing:

  • Mirai Nikki
  • Guilty Crown
  • Persona 4
  • Chihayafuru

Supposedly good titles I missed:

  • Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
  • C
  • Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san.
  • Kimi to Boku.

What I’ve dropped this year:

  • Phi Brain
  • Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
  • Mawaru Penguindrum

And here’s the top 10 anime:

Ben-To

Ben-To is the reason why I love anime, the story is so awkward but the characters, the action, and the fights over half-priced bentos were really fun to watch, plus it has one of my favorites character for this year, and she’s Sen Yarizui because she looks like Rei Ayanami!

Kamisama no Memochou

If you loved Durarara!! then you should watch this one. Young unemployed teens investigating cases without the involving of the police.
Read the full review of Kamisama no Memochou.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Erio believes she was abducted by aliens, and her cousin trying to make her get over it and grow. Erio’s mother, Meme, and Maekawa were the funniest characters in this show. Read the full review of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko.

un-go

Yuki, the “defeated detective”, solving mysterious crimes, almost impossible to solve with the help of his partner Inga. Read the full review of UN-GO.

Level E

I’m so grateful for this show, it brought back the 90s memories by its art and humour. A show about an alien prince who’s running away from his planet and came to earth. Read the full review of Level E.

Usagi Drop

Daikichi a thirty-year-old man who discovered that his grandfather had an illegitimate child with a younger lover, he found himself obliged to look after her. A great slice of life anime about family. Read the full review of Usagi Drop.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

A tragic drama about a group of childhood friends drifts apart after one of them dies. Years later she appeared to their leader Jinta.

Fate/Zero

Although not much was offered during the first season, and the second season will be aired in April 2012, this title will be an anime legend for sure.

GOSICK

Yet another mysteries solving series, but this one has Victorique a cute little girl who’s also called by others as the ”Golden Fairy in the High Tower” and the “Gray Wolf”. Why GOSICK is the 2nd? The story was fulfilling, the plot’s scenes attached to each other amazingly, well-written, and great charaters.

Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate been on my mind as the top title for this year ever since I finished it. It’s the best telling story about a time machine. The characters are the greatest ones of 2011, the plot was flawless, I didn’t like the art at first but now I can’t see the work other than the way it was done. It’s extremely a must see anime. Read the full review of Steins;Gate.

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Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko Review

by Kal on December 30, 2011

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Title: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko / Electromagnetic Wave Woman and Adolescent Man / 電波女と青春男
Type: TV Series, 12 Episodes
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction
Themes: Aliens
Year: 15.04.2011 till 01.07.2011
Producers: Shaft
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older

Plot: Makoto Niwa is a high school boy who, since his parents are away on business, lives with his aunt’s family. It is there he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Erio Touwa—who happens to tie a futon around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn’t remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighbourhood wrapped in the futon.
ANN

Review:
This is a show where nobody watched or heard about, and that’s a big pity. I was really skeptical about watching it, so I delayed it for ages, and when I played the first episode I wind up playing the 12 episode with no sense of time! I loved it! I watched the whole series in one day and that’s I don’t do much; It was the second funniest show along with Level E this year. The plot is pretty simple and not so interesting to know much about, but how it’s been told via a great funny characters was the way I guess that hooked me up. The small variety of characters must be the success of the show, although it’s not that successful as I said, at least for me it was. Meme Touwa, Maekawa, and Makoto Niwa are the funniest characters, Meme is Makoto’s aunt and Erio’s mother, and she’s always teasing him by seducing him with naughty things. Maekawa is a tall girl and she gets dizzy when she raises her hands over her head, she’s awkwardly wearing weird cosplay during her part-time job even when her boss didn’t ask her to.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

In terms of the anime art, it was not so bad and not so good, ranking as a moderate anime art. The music was definitely matching the theme of the series, The opening theme is “Os Alien” performed by Erio o Kamatte-chan and the ending is “Ruru” performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru.

So, if you got some time to spare and don’t know what anime to watch, then I hope you’d give Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko a chance. It’s not a must see series but it’s a cute show and one of the funniest in 2011. As for me you can tell that I really enjoyed watching it and looking forward for the 13 episode, is a special which will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in January 25, 2012.

Art: 8/10
Storyline: 6/10
Characters: 8/10
OP/ED: 8/10

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Level E Review

by Kal on December 28, 2011

level e review

Title: Level E / レベルE
Type: TV Series, 13 Episodes
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction
Themes: Aliens
Year: 11.01.2011 till 05.04.2011
Producers: Studio Pierrot, David Production
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Tsutsui Yukitaka is a freshman who moved out of his parents home to live on his own. Hoping to pursue a baseball team position at the new High School he’s attending. When he arrived at his new apartment however, he discovered that someone else was already inside. A young man who claims to be an alien and is suffering from amnesia.
ANN

Review:
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a great art, it reminds of the mid 90s animation art, and when I researched more about the series I was right about it, the manga was first serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump from 1995 to 1997 for a total of sixteen chapters, and thank god they produced the anime that way. Baka Ki El Dogra or (Prince Baka) is character you can’t see nowadays, he’s smart, handsome, a prince of a whole planet, strong, and awkwardly funny. Although he wouldn’t be that funny without his body guard Kraft, that guy is a different story, he’s always on rage and has a grudge against Prince Baka, and when ever Baka is around you’d see a lot of popping veins from Kraft.

Level e kraft and prince baka

Voice acting for the whole cast was really amazing but once again those two characters (Prince Baka voiced by Namikawa Daisuke, and Kraft voiced by Koyasu Takehito) were very notable, precisely during the funny moments. Nevertheless, nothing could be that perfect, the most enjoyable and the funniest episodes were only the first 3 ones, the rest of the show was alright but didn’t amuse me as the first 3.

I’d love to see more from Prince Baka and Kraft, I wouldn’t give it a second thought to watch a second season, a film, or an OVA. Level E might not be the best show in 2011 but it’s one of the funniest and most hilarious series, and the 90s animation touch put the same smile as Kraft’s (picture above).

Art: 9/10
Storyline: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
OP/ED: 8/10

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UN-GO Review

by Kal on December 27, 2011

UN-GO

Title: UN-GO / アン ゴ
Type: TV Series, 11 Episodes
Genre: Mystery, Supernatural
Themes:  Detective
Year: 14.10.2011 till 23.12.2011
Producers: BONES
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: With the help of his strange assistant Inga, “defeated detective” Shinjuro Yuki solves crimes in a near future Japan still suffering from the ravages of war. Problem is, the credit always ends up going to super detective Rinroku Kaisho.
ANN

Review:
Shinjuro Yuki can’t fight the desire to reveal the truth no matter how ugly it could be and even if it hurts others’ feelings, and his partner shares the same interest with him. Yuki’s partner, Inga, a mysterious handsome boy who always been seen with Yuki where ever he goes, and specially to crime scenes where he’s investigating a case, and nobody knows the reason, and who he really is. Yuki is well-known as the “defeated detective” although he is a genius detective, because in the end all the credit goes to another brilliant detective Rinroku Kaisho, and Yuki has no problem with that as long as the truth was revealed.

UN-GO

The plot was strongly supported by the unsolvable mysteries of the cases that Yuki handled. They’re pretty good and can’t predict the outcome with all the hints you’ve seen, and it gets more and more intense with each episode. At the beginning, I thought Inga was the only hit Un-Go had, he’s well designed, weird, and a mysterious boy indeed, plus he transforms to a more mysterious scary woman who asks a question and people have no choice but to answer that question. Therefore, I assumed Yuki is no genius detective since he’s using Inga to complete the puzzle of any given case. But that was an illusion to us, viewers, Yuki is a clever detective and he can solves any case he has, but there was some strange bond between the two of them, and apparently they made a deal that Inga can ask the suspect by eating his soul instead of killing him; by that she’s eating the truth.

The art wasn’t that great but decent enough, and the music wasn’t so bad either. The only problem with Un-Go is, it was short! Yes, I really liked it and wished if it was kind of longer, there are still a lot of unanswered questioned that both Yuki and Inga has to reveal to us, it needs at least another season for a proper closure.

Art: 7/10
Storyline: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
OP/ED: 7/10

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Rurouni Kenshin New Manga in May 2012

by Kal on December 26, 2011

Rurouni Kenshin manga

That’s must be so thrilling to wait for, lately Rurouni Kenshin was mentioned a lot in blogs, twitter, and facebook due to the news of the live-action film and the OVA. Now a “reboot” manga series from the creator of the original manga Watsuki Nobuhiro will debut in the June issue of Jump Square, on sale May 4th, 2012.

Via: ANN

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Kamisama no Memochou Review

by Kal on December 26, 2011

Kamisama no Memochou

Title: Heaven’s Memo Pad / 神様のメモ帳
Type: TV Series, 12 Episodes
Genre: Mystery
Themes:  Detective, Yakuza
Year: 02.07.2011 till 24.09.2011
Producers:   J.C. Staff
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Narumi Fujishima is an ordinary high school boy who remains isolated from his fellow classmates. One afternoon fellow classmate Ayaka Shinozaki invites Narumi to join the gardening club and introduces him to a reclusive detective named Alice. Alice hires Narumi as an assistant and puts him to work solving the strange mysteries of Angel fix, an illegal drug. Little does he know it could put him and Ayaka in serious trouble.
ANN

Review:
Don’t make that poster fools you, despite the fact that there are kawaii girls featured in the series, it’s definitely a seinen anime. Alice, the girl in the poster above, is the brain of NEET detective team, she’s a genius hacker and a clever detective too. She solves mysterious cases with her so many PCs and a laptop without stepping out of her room. When Narumi met Alice, he found her a little bit weird, and Alice sensed his devotion and how smart he is. Without any thorough description of the team’s duty, he was assigned as an assistant to Alice and as a member to the NEET team. And from there different mysterious cases were emerged and solved by the young NEET team members, and each time Narumi found himself attached more to the team and every case handled as a personal matter by him.

The involving of Yakuza is one thing I liked about this series, it’s been a while since I watched Yakuza get mentioned in an anime. Moreover, Kamisama no Memochou took place in our real life and the depiction in the artwork of our daily life is brilliant, that was one factor that led back to the similarities to Durarara!!. The plot wasn’t as solid as the characters were, but both of those two elements helped me to carry on watching it till the end.

Narumi sharing Sake with Soichirou to join the Hirasaka group

Kamisama no Memochou was a lot of joy to watch specially after the big disappointment of Deadman Wonderland, and I if you loved Durarara!! then you’d love Kamisama no Memochou. The art, music, characters were pretty good although the plot was the weakest chain in the series.

Art: 8/10
Storyline: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
OP/ED: 7/10

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[Time-Lapse] Gundam Returned to Odaiba

by Kal on December 26, 2011

Gundam Returned to Odaiba

After almost 28 months, the 1/1 scale Gundam returned to Odaiba. The life-size statue is being rebuilt at Diver City Tokyo, a complex under construction on the island by Mitsui Fudosan and Fuji TV. Darwinfish105 “Gundam videographer” posted several other videos chronicling the reconstruction process.

Details:
Camera : Pentax K-5
Lens : Pentax DA15 F4 ED AL Limited / Pentax DA18-55mmF3.5-5.6AL WR
Camera : Panasonic DMC-GH2
Lens : Limux G Vario 100-300mm
Music : Broken Star by LukHash(SH music)


[YouTube Link]
Recommended to watch in full screen HD.

Via: Darwinfish105 Blog

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Eureka Seven Sequel Announced

by Kal on December 23, 2011

Eureka Seven Ao

BONES the creator of Eureka Seven announced on Friday that there will be a sequel for the mecha anime. Eureka Seven Ao is the title for the new anime:

The “real mecha epic” will center around a boy named Ao who set ‘destiny’ in motion again when he held the ‘power.’

Artist Yuichi Kato is drawing the manga based on the original story by the anime studio BONES. Shonen Ace magazine announced a manga sequel to the Eureka Seven television anime series, will launch in the next issue on January 26.

The anime will be released in April 2012, and a new official site was launched for the project: Eureka Seven Ao

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Deadman Wonderland Review

by Kal on December 23, 2011

Deadman Wonderland

Title: Deadman Wonderland / デッドマンワンダーランド
Type: TV Series, 12 Episodes
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
Themes:  Post-Apocalyptic, Super Powers
Year: 17.04.2011 till 03.07.2011
Producers:  Manglobe
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Ganta Igarashi has been convicted of a crime that he hasn’t committed, and sent to a new, privately owned and operated prison, where the inmates are the main attraction in a modern day twist to the gladiatorial coliseums of ancient times. Throw in a healthy dose of weird little girl, some new-found super powers, and a little conspiracy theory, and you have Deadman Wonderland.
ANN

Review:
I’ve never seen so much blood in one series like I have seen in Deadman Wonderland. Ganta, the main character, after he was sent to prison, he discovered the power he possesses but he doesn’t know how to activate it or control it. That power is using his own blood as a deadly weapon by cutting himself and transform the stream of blood. Ganta didn’t have such a power till the day of the massacre when a weird Red Man brutally killed his classmates, but spared Ganta’s life and embedded a red crystal shard in Ganta’s chest.

The anime had a great potential to be one of 2011 best series, but sadly enough it wasn’t done the way it supposed to be. The plot could have been a lot better, but it’s never been coherent during the 12 episodes, the scenes weren’t solidly attached to each other, it’s more like going with the flow of the events. The art of the anime was OK, and the character design had a touch of the 80s, 90s, and 00s altogether. Then, music, which was a mess, the heavy metal part wasn’t bad, and the opening was good, but most of the time it didn’t fit nicely with the scenes. However, the most successful factor of Deadman Wonderland was the characters, besides Igarashi Ganta’s great confused kid persona, Shiro, Kiyomasa Senji, Nagi Kengamine, and Karako Koshio were all fantastic characters.

The anime could have been one of the best animes, and for the first time I wished for more fillers to build a solid background for the characters, because you’re just guessing their past the whole time. It left a lot of unanswered questiones and jumped from one event to another with no apparent explanation for the previous one. I hope there will be an alternative version to make up what they’ve missed. So, if you’re into brutal action scenes, and don’t care much about the basics of a great anime, then Deadman Wonderland is your thing.

Art: 7/10
Storyline: 5/10
Characters: 7/10
OP/ED: 7/10

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Saber & Saber Motored Cuirassier Now Open for Pre-Order

by Kal on December 22, 2011

Saber & Saber Motored Cuirassier

1/8 Saber & Saber Motored Cuirassier is now open for pre-order.

Get yours now from: HobbyLinkJapan / Hobby Search

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