Reviews

Canaan Review

by Kal on February 7, 2012

Canaan

Title: Canaan / カナン
Type: TV Series, 13 episodes
Genre: Action, Mystery
Themes: Girls with guns, Terrorism, Biological warfare
Year: 04.07.2009 till 26.09.2009
Producers: P.A. Works
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. She works as a cameraman when she reunites with a girl named Canaan in Shanghai, China. A gifted assassin with synesthesia, she is under orders from an unknown organization for a yet unspecified mission.
ANN

Review:
Canaan was on hold to watch for quite a long time, I first stumbled upon Canaan when I was looking for something like Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop, although I can say it’s totally not similar to them but on one aspect, that it involves girls with guns. The first episode had a fast pace of action which I liked, bullets coming from an unknown directions, and random people getting killed in a Chinese local festival in Shanghai and from there the story starts to build up. Canaan is also a work of Type-Moon and you can notice their touch on the characters design. The plot is pretty much unique nowadays in the anime industry, but wished if it was told more mysteriously, although the way it was conveyed was all right but pretty easy to predict.

canaan the anime カナン

The way I see it, voice acting is the hit for the series. Canaan, the main character, voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (Yomi Takanashi from Black★Rock Shooter / Celty from Durarara!!) Miyuki is great and I believe Canaan was one of her best performances. Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi Kanzaki from Escaflowne / Mari Makinami from Evangelion / Shiki Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai) who made numerous great characters look even greater with her voice, she did Alphard Alshaya in Canaan and she was totally a mean villain. Moreover not to forget Hiroaki Hirata who’s voicing for a supporting character in Canaan called Santana, Hiroki’s best role ever was Kotetsu from Tiger & Bunny. That’s a huge cast, and certainly should not missed.

Canaan - CanaanCanaan - CanaanCanaan - Alphard Alshaya

Canaan, is a short series with a good storyline plus an excellent voice actors. It’s definitely not boring to watch yet its easiness to predict what’s going to happen is setback, but yet worth watching.

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

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Thermae Romae Review

by Kal on January 29, 2012

Thermae Romae

Title: Thermæ Romæ / テルマエ・ロマエ
Type: TV Special, 3 (6) episodes
Genre: Comedy, Historical
Themes: Bathhouse, Ancient Rome, Modern Japan
Year: 13.01.2012 till 27.01.2012
Producers: DLE
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older

Plot: In 128 AD, Lucius is a bathhouse architect in the Ancient Roman Empire. When he loses his job, a friend takes him to a bath to relax. There, he is transported to a bathhouse present-day Japan.

Review:
Thermae Romae is a kind of anime you wished it’d last longer. This is a very short series, more or less to promote the upcoming live-action film on April 28th starring the hilarious Abe Hiroshi. There’s nothing to review really, it’s a very simple show with its low budget (look) animation, which I liked a lot and I found it very funny.

Thermae Romae animeThermae Romae animeThermae Romae anime

Lucius expression when ever he discovers about a new innovative way to develop the bathhouses in the Roman Empire is just priceless. Ryo Ono (FROGMAN), Lucius voice actor was surprisingly amazing, somehow he has the same pitch level of Abe Hiroshi’s. The classic soundtrack of the series accompanied the simple yet realistic art pretty good.
So, if you could spare some time and you don’t know what to watch, then Thermae Romae is your best bet, it’s short, funny, and a great promo for Abe Hiroshi’s upcoming film.

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

 

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Ben-To Review

by Kal on January 29, 2012

Ben-To

Title: Ben-To / Ben-Tou / Bento / ベン・トー
Type: TV Series, 12 Episodes
Genre: Comedy, Action
Themes: Bento, School
Year: 09.10.2011 till 25.12.2011
Producers: David Production
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older

Plot: Sato Yo is a high school boy who likes SEGA games. One day, he enters a grocery store to buy some food for dinner. When he tries to take a bento box, he loses consciousness. He comes around to find all the bento sold out. He notices there is a war game going on at grocery stores and players called “Wolves” compete for the half-priced bento. Yarizui Sen, the leader of the Half-Pricer Club, forces Yo to join the club and he enters the bento war.

Review:
That’s why I love anime, it turns any incomprehensible story into a thrilling action in a funny way. It’s about a bunch of students fighting over half-priced Bentos.. that’s it! But, mixing up, comedy, action, and a little bit of ecchi is a smart way to get my attention or any other otaku’s attention. Yarizui aka “Ice Witch” is a fierce fighter when it comes to get her food and she’s the one whom Yo is looking up to. Yo got the title of Hentai because he always ends up involving in embarrassing incidents and always got caught red handed in awkward moments. Ayame Shaga aka ”Beauty by the Lake” is Yo’s half-Italian cousin, and she’s well-known for using chopsticks in battle.

Ben-To

The fights were epic and they’re the most noticeable element in Ben-To plus the cutest girls featured in 2011. Music wasn’t a big hit but the animation art suited the action and the cute girls in Ben-To, moreover is the voice acting perfectly done. 

Ben-To is not one of those a must to watch anime but it’s one of those put a smile on your face during the whole show.

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

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Kekkon Dekinai Otoko Review

by Kal on January 23, 2012

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko 結婚できない男

Title: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko / 結婚できない男 / The Man Who Can’t Get Married / He Who Can’t Marry
Starring: Abe Hiroshi, Natsukawa Yui, Kuninaka Ryoko, Tsukamoto Takashi, Takashima Reiko
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 12
Year: 04 July 2006 to 19 September 2006

Plot: Shinsuke Kuwano, a successful architect at 40, enjoys living by himself. He’s an eccentric who loves his routine but hates people. After an incident he meets two women who become part of his life.

Review:
After wataching Hero, Abe Hiroshi immediately became my favorite actor. Thus, I watched Dragon Zakura (which I’ll be reviewing soon) and it was not so bad but it wasn’t a comedy series, where Abe best fits. A dear Twitter friend (Minori) recommended Kekkon Dekinai Otoko for me to watch, and I enqueued it on my list as a must to watch soon, and I’m glad I did. Kuwano Shinsuke (Abe Hiroshi) is a rude, cruel, and a sarcastic person, who doesn’t even like to smile but instead he smirks to either his closed ones or strangers. Yet, he enjoys designing and building beautiful houses for them.

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko

I haven’t watched much of Japanese dramas, but I can say this, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko is the best series I’ve watched so far, and Abe Hiroshi’s best role ever. His acting was flawless when he deals with his feelings and not showing any to others, and it was perfect when he’s being sarcastic to hide his emotions specially to Dr. Hayasaka Natsumi played by Natsukawa Yui who was the perfect match for Abe and sometimes you get the feeling that he wouldn’t be that great without her “Natsukawa Yui”, as she was the best supporting actress for Abe. Nevertheless, the whole cast was amazing, and each one fits nicely around Kuwano Shinsuke’s unbearable personality.

Abe Hiroshi’s professionalism as an actor was at its best, and that’s can’t be missed.

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Kara no Kyoukai Review

by Kal on January 20, 2012

Kara no Kyoukai

Title: Gekijouban Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners / The Garden of Sinners / 劇場版 空の境界
Type: Movie, 7 Movies
Genre: Mystery, Horror, Action, Thriller, Romance
Themes: Super Power, Magic
Year: 01.12.2007 till 08.08.2009
Producers: Ufotable
Rating: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: After spending two years in a coma caused by a traffic accident, Shiki Ryougi awakens with amnesia. Inexplicably, she finds, in turn, that she has also obtained “Mystic Eyes of Death Perception” in which she can see the invisible lines of mortality that hold every living and non-living thing together. Working for a small independent agency, Shiki attempts to unravel the baffling mystery behind a series of abnormal, horrifying incidents, but are they a foreshadowing that leads to something even more tragic and ominous? Things are not what they appear to be on the surface, but what dark revelations lie underneath?
Aniplex USA

Review:
Movie series and OVAs always have a sophisticated plot and more exquisite art than anime series. Kara no Kyoukai has those with a complex story telling to comprehend at first, unless you’re really paying attention to when that chapter took place. It’s adapted from the Japanese novel series with the same name written by Kinoko Nasu of TYPE-MOON and published in KODANSHA BOX series. The novel has seven chapters and each corresponding movie directly covers one of the original seven chapters. At first, I thought it was dull and boring with long dialogues, and it kept jumping from past to present so I was kind of lost, BUT, what makes it a joy to watch is its unpredictability, you can’t tell when a brutal fight is coming or an incident tells more about one of the characters’ background; so it’s like a filler mixed with a very well-told story plus a top-notch action.

Kara no Kyoukai shiki

The seven chapters that the movie series adapted:
Chapter 1: Thanatos. (Overlooking View)-September, 1998.
Chapter 2: …and nothing heart. (Murder Speculation Part A) -1995
Chapter 3: ever cry, never life. (Remaining Sense of Pain)-July 1998
Chapter 4: garan-no-dou. (The Hollow Shrine)-June 1998
Chapter 5: Paradox Paradigm- November 1998
Chapter 6: Fairy Tale. (Oblivion Recording)- January 1999
Chapter 7: ……not nothing heart.(Murder Speculation Part B)-February 1999

Kara no Kyoukai shiki

The voice acting was good, except for Shiki Ryougi which was excellent, voiced by Maaya Sakamoto who’s been in enormous main roles and most noticeable as a tough girl like Alphard Alshaya (Canaan), Mari Makinami (Evangelion 2.0, Evangelion 3.0), Deunan Knute (Appleseed), and the cute Hitomi Kanzaki (Escaflowne). The music was epic with its traditional Japanese tunes mixed with a symphonic sense. My favorite parts were the first, the third, the fifth, and the seventh, but the fifth movie was insane, filled with action, the three main characters Shiki Ryougi, Mikiya Kokutou, and Touko Aozaki were involved in some how or another against some tough villains with a hard case to solve.

Kara no Kyoukai shiki

I didn’t read the original novel but from what I grasped from this movie series I’d say it’s been conveyed perfectly. Sometimes I felt it’s a bit lacking but there’s always something else make it up for me, it was fulfilling with its dark atmosphere as I’m an easy prey to dark themed anime.

Art: 9/10
Storyline: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
OST: 8/10

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ThunderCats 2011 Review

by Kal on January 17, 2012

thundercats 2011

Type: TV Series, 13 Episodes
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Themes: Cats
Year: 29.07.2011 till 25.11.2011
Producers: Studio 4°C
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older

Plot: The kingdom of Thundera has been attacked by an army of Lizard people. Lion-O and the Thundercats are set on a quest to obtain the Book of Omens to help restore their kingdom’s peace. The team will have to face numerous villians that stand in their way including Mumm-Ra & Slythe. With the Sword of Omens in Lion-O’s possession, he’ll be able to use it’s powers to fight off the evil that stands before him on his quest.
ANN

Review:
When I first heard the news about the ThunderCats remake I was jumping up and high with joy, and when I first saw the art I was like yeah not bad except for Panthro whose revamped look doesn’t look good compared to the badass and mean look he did have in the original series. Anyway, the art isn’t the issue of the new ThunderCats, we’re talking about Studio 4°C after all who made and produced Steamboy and The Animatrix, the thing with the remake is its story, yes the plot sounds good, but it didn’t go well through the whole 13 episode, despite the fact I had fun watching it.

lion-o thundercats 2011

What bugged me the most at first was the background music, but then I accepted the fact that it’s a cartoon so it has to be playing in the background forever. The art was great, I loved it, and it’s gradually getting even better. Surprisingly the voice acting was not too bad, I liked Will Friedle as Lion-O, Matthew Mercer as Tygra was one of the best, but there was one particular character which appeared only in one episode and he was flawless, that character was The Drifter voiced by Stephen Root.

I enjoyed watching ThunderCats as a kid in my childhood and now ThunderCats 2011 as an adult, as for the story I wasn’t really satisfied and the whole thing seems a bit lacking but that reminisce feeling was worth watching the 13 episodes. As for the second season of ThunderCats 2011 there’s no official statement yet but it’s currently under discussion, I hope there will be one and will feature the rest of the characters like Bengali, Monkian, Jackalman, and Leah.

Art: 8/10
Storyline: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
OP/ED: 7/10

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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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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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