Rosario+Vampire Review

Rosario+Vampire Review


When I first picked up the manga Rosario+Vampire, I was immediately drawn to the story. It opened up a supernatural world that was different from what I've seen in other books and movies. After seeing adult monsters, what were their teenage years like? Akihisa Ikeda's manga helped with that answer.

Rosario+Vampire is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda that tells the story of Tsukune Aono, a human high school student who is accidently sent to Yokai Academy. He quickly finds out that it's a school for monsters! Worse yet, any human who sees it is killed on sight. One his first day there, Tsukune has a run in with Moka Akashiya, a beautiful vampire who quickly befriends him after sucking his blood. As the story goes on Tsukune meets other supernatural creatures including a succubus, a snow fairy, witches and a werewolf. Being the only human in a school full of monsters makes it hard for Tsukune to fit in, but with the help of his friends, he doesn't have to worry about being alone.

I've watched the anime in Japanese and enjoyed it just as much as the manga. The characters in the anime matched the personalities that Akihisa Ikeda wrote in his books for them. I couldn't wait for it to be dubbed in English. The aforementioned company is well-known for releasing anime favorites such as Soul Eater, One Piece, Sekirei, Hell Girl, Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Dragon Ball sagas. When it comes to picking the right actors for dubbing, Funimation doesn't disappoint.
Alexis Tipton voices Moka Akashiya, the beautiful vampire who befriends Tsukune Aono on their first day at Yokai Academy. She does a wonderful job of bringing out Moka's kind-hearted nature with a soft spoken voice similar to Orihime from Bleach. Reading the manga, this was the voice that makes sense to read her lines: a warm kind personality such as hers deserved an actress to match. Alexis' best known roles include Mizuki Himeji in Baka and Test, Emi Kizaki in Linebarrels of Iron, Musubi in Sekirei, Black Butler's Queen Victoria (Young), Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos- Julia Crichton.

Moka's vampire or "Inner" self is voiced by Colleen Smith Clinkenbeard. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and series, most notably, Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece. Most of the characters Colleen voiced are usually high voiced and excited characters like Luffy or Matsu, so it was interesting to hear her express the darker demeanor of Moka's prideful vampire self.

In the Japanese version of the anime, Moka's voice actress is Nana Mizuki, who is also responsible for performing the theme songs for both anime seasons.
Todd Michael Haberkorn voices Yokai Academy's lone human Tsukune Aono. I imagined Tsukune awkward and nervous in this unique twist on the classic high school coming-of-age story. Not only does he have to keep his grades up but he also has to contend with keeping the fact that he is human secret from the monstrous students of Yokai Academy. However Tsukune's biggest problem is keeping the cute girls who have taken a liking to him from killing each other.
Todd's voice acting with Tsukune is very entertaining especially with the situations that the character is thrust into. His other roles include Hell Girl - Ren Ichimoku, Sekirei - Hayato Mikogami, Soul Eater - Death the Kid, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Yun.

Moka isn't the only girl infatuated with Tsukune, however. Our hapless human soon has a run-in with Kurumu Kurono, a cute and busty succubus who seduces Tsukune to get back at Moka for ruining her plan to turn all the male students into her personal harem. At first, Kurumu is spiteful and conceded but soon changes her ways when Tsukune saves her from Inner Moka. Since then she has chosen Tsukune as her "mate of fate."
Brina Michelle Palencia is the voice behind Yokai’s seductive succubus. Given her other roles (Dragon Ball Z Kai - Chiaotzu, Puar Hell Girl - Ai Enma, Sekirei - Yukari Sahashi) it was no surprise that she would bring out the arrogant, spiteful personality edge in Moka, as well as her ability to be gentle and caring.

Yukari Sendo is a young witch who was skipped a couple grades because of her high intellect. She tormented and played pranks on Tsukune and other students using her magic. It wasn’t until Tsukune came to understand her loneliness that Yukari atoned for her pranks and joins the group.
The young impetuous witch is voiced by Monica Jean Rial (Dragon Ball Z Kai - Bulma, Sekirei - Miya Asama, Soul Eater - Tsubaki Nakatsukasa). Some of the characters Monica plays are just excitable as Yukari so her performance works well.

With a love sick succubus, a wily witch and the school’s hottest vampire hooked on his blood, what else could happen in Tsukune’s school life. How about that chilling feeling of constantly being watched? Mizore Shirayukiis a snow fairy who has developed a crush on Tsukune through the articles he writes for the school paper. After a fashion, Tsukune befriends the shy snow fairy.
Tia Lynn Ballard puts the icy chill in Mizore’s soft spoken voice. Other roles include Sekirei – Kusano and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Xiao Mei. Mizore’s quiet cool demeanor is brought out nicely by Tia.

Since attending Yokai Academy, Tsukune has longed for the chance to return to the human world. His chance comes during spring break when the Newspaper Club gets an assignment to write about the human world. There, he and his friends meet a witch named Ruby Tojo. After a confrontation, she makes a return appearance to help the Newspaper Club when they get in trouble.
The eccentric Ruby is voiced wonderfully by Leah Clark who has also voiced Sekirei - Homura, Soul Eater - Blair, and One Piece - Coby, Paula, Pukau (young), and Wyper (young).
Ginei Morioka is a second year student at Yokai Academy and Chief Editor of the Newspaper Club. He is a shameless peeping tom. Though his affections lie with Moka, he has no second thoughts about trying to impress other girls.

Ian Sinclair is a joy providing Gin’s smooth-talking, womanizing personality. He has also voiced for Bamboo Blade - Toraji Ishida, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Liam, and One Piece - Ian.
Akihisa Ikeda has created some interestingly entertaining characters in Rosario+Vampire as well as a fascinating storyline. The English Dub anime is just as humorous and charming as the manga and Japanese anime. Tsukune reminds us of that awkward first day at a new school some of us can relate to. Moka and the other girls just may have been the friends we had in school. And the outrageous situations Yokai’s lone human is thrust into—other monsters threatening to kill him or getting him to join a gang (in the manga)—might’ve been similar to an awkward moment we’ve all had…minus the teeth and claws of course. Rosario+Vampire English Dub DVD gets 4 out of 5.
Brian M.

What is Berserk: Golden Age Arc?

Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka
Production: Studio 4°C
Writer: Ichirō Ōkouchi
Music: Shirō Sagisu and Susumu Hirasawa
Release date: June 23, 2012

An action horror manga spanning decades of serialization; Berserk stars Guts, a man cursed since birth to live only a life of war and battle, and focuses on his life through the years he was a member of an elite mercenary group. Started in 1990, and still running, the manga has been reworked into several other forms: novelization, several video games, and an anime. To this day, the biggest complaint fans have had regarding the games and anime was that there wasn't enough of it; these additions to Berserk’s main story only follow one arc from the story, and that there hasn't been any new material to keep their fancy since the PS2 game released in 2004. Well, the long wait is almost over, and it was totally worth it.

In September of 2010, it was announced that a new movie project, titled "Berserk: Golden Age Arc" would be released as a trilogy, covering the back story of Guts in glorious high definition and superior movie production quality. On February 4th 2012, Part 1 was released, and many a fan watched in euphoric bloody joy at the cinematic opening to Guts' life. Many others who didn't know what "all the hoo-haa" was all about suddenly found themselves clearing the manga stores out of their back issues to catch up on all that they missed. The real wait, however, is for the 23rd of June when Part 2 is released in Japanese theaters. While Part 1 served as a nice opening and introduction to the characters and back story, Part 2 is the heart and crux of the legend, where the plots of the future are established and the points of notoriety are made. The release date for the conclusive Part 3 has yet to be announced, aside from "later in 2012", but suffice to say that after the record-breaking sales in movie theater tickets expected this summer, that everyone will be on the watch-list for the fall showings.

Coming soon to Japanese theaters: Berserk: Golden Age Arc 2

Berserk: Golden Age Arc 2 trailer

J1 An-Ex 3 breakdown.

J1 An-Ex 3, the J1 Studios Anime Experience

It's October now, the month for putting on costumes and running around like children. There is a culture out there that supports this activity, and an event that panders to that culture, but it isn't All Hallows Eve (Halloween) that I'm talking about. It's the J1 Studios Anime Experience! In it's third iteration as an official anime convention, the An-Ex was fantastic and the fans couldn't be happier with the growth! The Hawthorne Recreation Center was filled with tons of anime fans and nerds of all kinds on the eve of Friday the 7th. 

The Main Event hall was as always a major attraction for the evenings. All available tables were filled with vendors selling everything from original art to costume accessories to baked goods and even some BBQ ribs for whoever got hungry (they were good). The head table was there as well, with an energetic Mario acting the host and chatting up anime with everyone that passed. A crowd of cosplayers passed through during the traditional Cosplay Competition, and their custom threads were fantastic!

It's-a me, Mario!

The Game room was another recurring location with the usual free-play of various games and this time an unusual twist. An official Mortal Kombat 9 tournament was held! Many people participated, but only one was the ultimate winner, though 3 of the participants were able to walk away with a fabulous victory prize for their fighting prowess, and everyone had a good time. Adjacent to the Game room was another familiar sight, the Card room, where the room was packed wall to wall with card game enthusiasts, playing impromptu matches of Magic and YuGiOh, and even a showcasing of J1 Studios own fighting-game-style trading card game VTF, the Virtual Tornament Fighter! 

Winner of the Mortal Kombat Tournament

An-Ex also had a Video Room with back to back Anime for the growing audience, including a showing of the new Bleach movie 4: Hell Chapter!

All in all, there was quite a lot to do in the few hours of the Friday evening at a certain Rec Center in South Philadelphia (1200 Carpenter Street). Many people had a good time and many more have promised to return, which they should, because the An-Ex is a growing convention that you know will only get better!

'Ben

PS:
Pictures can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/j1studios

What is Usagi Drop?

Usagi Drop
Writer - Yumi Unita
Director - Kanta Kamei
Production - Studio Fuga
Music - Suguru Matsutani

Going home from his grandfather's funeral, thirty-year-old Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a younger lover. The rest of his family is equally shocked and embarrassed by this surprise development, and not one of them wants anything to do with the silent little girl, Rin. In a fit of anger, Daikichi decides to take her in himself. As Daikichi nurtures Rin, he started to understand the struggle while at the same time the joy of parenting.

The word of the day here is "Sentimentality". Familial controversy and comedic gags related to her legal status as his 'aunt' are put aside early to make room for the real purpose of the story, which is "Child Raising". Daikichi knows nothing about raising a little girl and he must learn, frequently through last minute desperate endeavors, how to do so. Rin on the other hand is a 6 year old girl, not even in Elementry school yet, who is trying to understand the death of her real father while adapting to life under her new bungling guardian. Through all the little firsts and experiences and trials experienced by the duo, a very real father-daughter love begins to blossom. The show really does focus on the little things, to such a degree that it might be taken as an "idiots guide to child raising". Little things you wouldn't think about normally, like immunization shots, enrolling in primary school, grocery shopping, or the troubles of co-habitation.

The animation quality is difficult to swallow at first. The first moments of the first episode lend to the thought "how could something this grainy possibly be good or entertaining?" That thought quickly disappears as both story and animation smooth out into a near-real life quality. The background music is phenomenal, adding to and sometimes setting the sheer emotion that permeates through the entire series.

I still cannot believe how addictively entertained I was by this show. Maybe it was because of the nature of the drama, but soon in I was wrapped in the warm blanket of platonic romance and crying for precious more seconds of familial love. For being the most real-life fiction I have ever encountered I give this show an unprecedented Perfect 5 out of 5.

'Ben

J1 Culture Force Anime Event in detail...

J1 Culture Force Anime Event!! A first time spectacle for J1 Studios’ fans that love anime and manga. It was held at the Hawthorne Cultural Center: on 12^th and Carpenter in South Philadelphia. Mrs. Theresa Williams, the Director of the facility and Mr. Windle, one of the supervisors were delighted to have such a multi-faceted, cultural event held at a center that thrives off diversity. The event was broken into segments for trivia, musical performances, and home movie premier of “Sword of the Stranger.” All the while artists were seated at their commission table; gamers had their fill of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 via Playstation 3, and a space for Yu-G-Oh fans to dual each other. The event was graciously catered by Maru Global with an assortment of their famous pancake balls known as “takoyaki.”

            For the trivia, participators were placed into groups of five that numbered in Japanese. Example: Group one was “ichi” and group two was “ni.” This portion of the event started off a little disjointed but became quite rush once the questions were being asked. The trivia proved to be a challenge only after eight or so questions though, the age of contestants ranged from 13-26 years old. Ultimately, group “San” became victorious after they trudged through an array of tie-breaker questions. The group members of team “San” are part of the Community College of Philadelphia’s Anime Club. They won the first three manga volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo and Wayne P. Lammers Japanese-English Translation Book.            

            Agumon Scarf was the musical talent for the evening with rousing support from family and friends. The band consists of five young men that are all still in high school. Even their manager, Basheer, known as Bazie, still attends high school. They showed no fear, as they were pumped full of energy during their performances. The band played the second season opening of Narurto, “Haruka Kanata”, as well, as originals songs like “Kenturo” and “Zach Fair.”

            The artists at the commission table were busy interacting with each other and who ever stopped by to see their creative talent in action. Their skill leveled ranged from silly cartoon characters to very detailed drawings that you commonly see in American and Japanese comics. For some if not most, it was the first time they have exposed their talent to the public. The gamers showed off their flare for card games with a few matches of Yu-Gi-Oh or their skill with a PS3 game controller when dueling on MVC 3. Others displayed their liking for Japanese pop fashion and anime with their cosplay outfits or usual clothing attire.

            Though the night was winding down, those who were able to stay watched “Sword of the Stranger.” Directed by Masahiro Ando, the featured filmed surrounded a swordsman with no name and a golden-haired assassin as circumstances draw them toward a mysterious young boy. If you happen to be a fan of Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin then, this movie is a must-see. Others who managed to stay longer and did not watch the movie, conversed with members and guests of the event.

            Mrs. Williams was so taken by the festivities that she was inspired to design a bread bowl that represented the crazy excitement the event brought to the center. Also, she and Mr. Windle were honored to allow J1 Studios use the recreational center as its permanent home to host further anime events and the like. All members and fans are allowed to use the facilities of the center during hours of operations after first, consulting a time frame with either Mrs. Williams or Mr. Windle.

            Interesting enough, guests were still arriving even up to the very end. The all around support from members, fans, and guests encourage more fun-filled times to arise. Overall, the event was a success for its first running but there is always room for improvement.

To see more photos click HERE.

Spring Anime Review (Part 1)

There is 4 times a year that the Japanese release new Anime, correlating with the seasons. Of the 4 seasons, Summer and Winter are typically filled with filler anime, titles that are cheep, easy, and not very important, in order to fill the timeslots with so-called "new material", until the important big-named titles can be released in the Spring and Fall seasons. Within that pretext, the Winter season (released in January), the season of Transition where kids graduate school and people get new jobs, is the season that collects some of the worst Anime's of the year. Not counting a few gems that persisted, this last winter season managed to live up to that image with overused concepts and poorly executed ideas and terrible production budgets.

On the other side of that coin is the Spring season. Spring, the season of new beginnings (April, when the School year starts) is typically the season that gets the very best titles to be expected throughout the year. With that in mind, it is with high hopes that I dive into the budding premier season of new Anime.  In the previews, there were quite a number of big titles to look forward to, and the others had interesting premises, but a preview never does the title justice one way or another.

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Battle Girls - Time Paradox

2 out of 5

Gurk! It's bad! That has to be some kind of a fluke! Well, it's not the worst anime I've seen yet, but so far I can only hope that this one was made intentionally bad to help prop up the majesty of the titles to follow.

A high school girl named Hideyoshi (after the famous general from the warring states period of 16th century Japan) accidentally gets sucked back in time to the very same period by her Teacher, who in turn tried to go back in order to change history in another warlords favor. While in the past, Hideyoshi meets and teams up with all the famous lords of the period (who are all sexy young women) and ends up changing history anyway as she is swept along by the creation of it.

The purpose of this anime seems to be to teach Japanese History to its' viewers, and in that regard it is a success. Names, dates, places, and events are all kept historically accurate, except where the anime deviates, however they take the time to properly explain what "really" happened in order to add to the tension of that event having been changed. The characters, too, are all very colorful and memorable and pleasing to the eye.

This is where the show falls apart. The modern girl falling into the past idea has been used too many times before (Inuyasha, Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth to name a few), and Hideyoshi is the worst of the bunch in how she seems to not even notice. You'd think that the lack of electricity, paved roads, cars, or buildings made of anything but rice would tip her off, or that maybe she'd be a little understanding when everyone around is wearing armor and wielding swords and killing each other but doesn't seem to understand what a "cell phone" is. The historical badasses being represented by sexy ladies thing was done before, too (Ikkitousen in this case), but the presentation is another failure. All the characters are sexy women, but their looks are never exploited. Not a single panty shot, no attention given to busts, no bath scenes, but plenty of bulky armor and baggy clothing around to protect their modesty.

The action scenes were almost nonexistent, consisting of an old movie trick to make a character look badass (appearing through a fire) and nothing else. The rest of the time was spent in dialogue or an expose about how terrible Hideyoshi thinks her life is. Katanagatari proved that Dialogue can be the winning formula of a ragingly successful title, but Battle Girls proved that it can be quite the opposite, too. Dialogue was simple, repetitive, poorly acted, and many times so out of character that I began to wonder if this wasn't in fact written by a lousy fanfic author?

The character designs are appealing enough, and I like the history lesson involved, so I can only hope that the rest of it can catch up. 2 out of 5.

SKET Dance

1 out of 5

FOWL!! I Cry FOWL!  SKET Dance is such a blatant and unrepentant rip-off of PCP (Perfect Crime Party) From the manga Bakuman. If you haven't read that far into Bakuman, first of all: Shame on you. Second: let me break it down.  PCP is about these three kids (two guys and a girl, one of the guys wears glasses and has cell-phone accessories) who perform amateur crimes (and gets away with it). SKET Dance is about these three kids (two guys and a girl, one of the guys wears glasses and has a computer) who perform amateur anti-crimes (helping people...and gets away with it).

A major difference is the protagonist of SKET dance, who is this plain, ordinary, shy, and nerdy Transfer student who get's sucked into the SKET clubs antics.  This guy is so plain and ordinary that I nearly blanched the very first moment I saw him, and did blanch on the second and subsequent moments. It's like they took the nerdiest dweebs to ever be bullied and blended them into a nearsighted twerp so pathetic that *I* want to bully him, and I abhor bullying.

The first episode consists of this one expose into the thoughts of the protagonist: "I'm a nervous shy kid who transferred into a new school and doesn't know anyone. On the first day however, the cool kids came up to me and invited me to be cool with them in the volunteer club! :-)" Need I say more? I shall. The art is ordinary and plain. The acting is half-assed like the Seiyu (voice actors) just didn't give a damn and weren't being paid enough. The character designs are overused and blend into the background (not to mention the sheer blaspheme of copying PCP so directly). The girl was rather pretty I'll admit, and she talked so openly and invitingly with the nerd (Shock!) but everything else just falls into the pits of failed plagiarism.

I rarely give a title 1 out of 5, but this one really deserves it, even if you discount the "ripoffness". The only reason I didn't give it a 0 out of 5 is because the characters spend a lot of time doing random acts of insanity out of boredom, which I wholeheartedly approve of.

Nichijou (My Ordinary Life)

5 out of 5

My Ordinary Life is exactly what the title says. The daily ordinary common occurrences around the life of some high school students, and some people in the neighborhood. Kinda like Lucky☆Star, Azumanga Daioh, and Minami-ke.  That is to say, if accidently bumping into someone on the street causes 25 megaton nuclear explosions and Marching on Washington in violent protest because someone voiced disapproval at riding a goat to school is normal.

Nichijou could very well be a skit from Who's Line is it Anyway brought to anime life. Certain every day logics like Going to School Every Morning and Eating a Variety of Foods to be Healthy are maintained, but everything else is taken to the very extremes of exaggeration, and then treated seriously. The aforementioned nuclear explosion literally threw the two bumpers to the other sides of the city, and debris managed to land in a suitably comical way on the head of yet someone else.

The art style is simple, which sometimes slips into grainy as the tension of the moment calls for it. For a comical title, the art is perfect. Breezy enough that nothing absurd would necessarily be considered out of place, but solid enough that the absurdities in the art itself can be treated as intentional, such as the wooden blocks used to tie up that one girls hair. The voice acting as well lends itself to the casual air of the style. Most characters sound like the extremes of the "moe" archetype, but pull off real emotion and shock as the scene calls for it. The Background music is probably one of the best features. Light and flimsy, like the comical orchestration behind a Loony Toons cartoon, but performed with the sheer quality of a Disney product. It does wonders to noticeably enhance the mood without synching up to the action like a musical.

The only problem I've had with this anime so far is the pacing of the gags. The gags are great and somewhat unexpected, but they concentrate on only one gag at a time. The show has the potential to literally flood us with absurdities, but they seem to want to pace themselves, and that lends to the feeling of the episode being somewhat short and unfulfilling.

All in all, considering the amount of real effort and time that went into the production, as well as the exploitation of what is such an open potential for any kind of gag, I give Nichijou a 5 out of 5. Seriously, I haven't laughed that hard since Family Guy.

Doronron Enma-kun Meramera

6.5 out of 5

 

Go Nagai! Go Nagai! Go Nagai! From the mind of Go Nagai, the man responsible for such cult classics as Devil Man, Cutey Honey, and Mazinger.

Monsters are coming to the human world from the Hell in order to get human spirits. As people's minds are getting dirty, being attracted by the dirty spirits, the monsters break the rule to go to the human world. Tsutomu, a boy who goes to Yokai Elementary School, is suddenly assaulted by monsters. Those who save him from the monsters are Enma-kun, the son of Enma, Yukiko, a snow woman, and Kappaeru. They are members of Monster Patrol that are sent to the human world to arrest monsters.

It is hard to pin down the target demographic for this title, other than "fans of Go Nagai". The overall feel is "for kids", if you didn't mind your children watching a show with penis fencing and bared breasts being stretched across the room. The visual gags (risque stuff not withstanding) are too simple to target an adult audience, yet the jokes would fly over the heads of someone who hasn't graduated college yet. Ultimately, I may have to say that the show is designed to target specifically "Fans of Go Nagai", but fear not. It will make fans as surely as his other works did.

The animation quality is something astounding! We're talking about a high budget production movie level of graphics and quality! I have never seen anything longer than a 6 episode OVA boast of such quality of picture, and most of them tend to pale in comparison! The art style may take a little bit to get used to for the uninitiated, but everything from the motion of the characters to the shine emerging from the windows in the background screams *Expensive*! Much like Akira Toryama, Go Nagai is one who stubbornly sticks to his style like a belligerent child no matter how much it may detract from the story, but unlike Toryama his style manages to somehow fit the radical change in genre.

The story felt a little rushed. A cursory mention of a ghost in the school is given, a quick introduction of recurring extras going to the school, then BAM! Everyone has their face's stolen and the surviving girl begins the madness associated with meeting, being introduced to, then following along with the actions of the Monster Patrol. A little more time spent fleshing out the other extras might have been nice, but Go Nagai has never been one to take his time, no matter how much we might have sometimes wanted him to. That aside, the main characters had more than enough time to show off themselves and introduce their personalities and quirks.

For the guts to make a title however the hell he wanted to hell with the target audiences, and to fund the work himself (since there's no way any animation studio would devote that much capitol towards a single title) I give this show a 6.5 out of 5. They say that there is power in names, and Go Nagai proves this by having an entire 2 points added to the score on the power of his.

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4 titles so far. 2 of them really really bad, and 2 of them uncharacteristically good. It's hard to say how the rest of the season will pan out with such a radical shift in quality to be among the first seen, but if that's the trend then I give my stamp of approval! Admittedly, I can be biased when it comes to titles associated with certain famous members of the industry (Masami Obari, Go Nagai, Rumiko Takahashi, and CLAMP to name a few).

Stay tuned for introduction reviews to other spring titles.

'Ben

Heartcatch PreCure! Heartfelt Review!

Heartcatch PreCure!

Director:                   Tatsuya Nagamine
Production:               Toei Animation
Original run:             07 Ferbruary 2010 - 30 January 2010
Episodes:                 49

Tsubomi Hanasaki is a 2nd year middle school student who loves plants. One day, she dreams of a mysterious flowering tree that wilted, causing fairies to disappear. She also saw two mysterious people fighting, one wanting to destroy the tree and one protecting it. When she transfers to Myodo Academy, the fairies that she saw in her dream appear. They beg her to become a Pretty Cure to protect the Great Tree of Hearts, but she refuses. However, a mysterious enemy called the Desert Messengers came, and the Heart Flower of her new classmate, Erika Kurumi, is stolen. To save Erika, she has to become a Pretty Cure and fight.

It's hard to get more magical girly than the Pretty Cure franchise. All of the key elements set forth by such predecessors as Sailor Moon and Mermaid Melody are there. Cute little animal mascots? Check. They even have their own catchphrases. Inane transformation items? Check. A perfume bottle that's utterly useless except for the spraying on of a new outfit. Color coded hair and outfits? Check. Not necessarily the colors of the rainbow, and how pink was used twice, but the sentai is still there. Powerful evil bad guy dudes bent on destroying the world? Check. Though at least they have a reason why they need to only operate in the same city as those blasted meddling kids. Recycled final attack always used to hurt/destroy the monster of the week? Double check. Though, to their credit, they don't use big hearts or musical notes, instead being bent towards a more violent method of purifying the beasties. 

 
Almost every episode has a feel-good story. The main characters (the Precure) walk in on someone being depressed about something, find out what it is, then run around like it's their life's purpose to rid the person of their woes. Fashion club? Maybe they should rename it to the volunteer club! What a pity it is then that they are never able to actually resolve a single issue themselves. It always turns into the badguy's using the person's depression to create a rampaging monster, and the magical buttkicking layed upon the monster is what actually manages to cheer up the person, but the sentiment is still there. Girls find people who are upset, and at the end of the day that person is happy again. If you manage to ignore the violence, then Pretty Cure is sweet on an injecting frosting directly into your bloodstream proportions. 

Then again, the violence is still there, and redeems the show in the eyes of another target audience entirely. 



A concept employed but never detailed in previous magical girl series' is the empowerment of the magical girl transformation. When transformed, these otherwise innocent, frail, and entirely human children can suddenly jump across rooftops and be crashed through a building without being hurt. To them however, instead of reveling in these new abilites, they decide to only blast a single recycled magical attack to hurt or destroy the monsters every time. Not the Precure. The first thing the Pretty Cure notice when they first transform is that they are suddenly super strong and super fast. The second thing they notice is that there is a giant, rampaging monster over there tearing up the landscape. Therefore, they fall on the very human response to the situation of a nail needing hammering, and beat the monster up. Punches, kicks, throws, Who cares if they accidentally crush that apartment building with a monster shaped projectile? It's the monsters fault for existing! Then once it's weakened enough they can resort to the recycled magical attack sequence to finish it off.



Actually, the fight scenes that occur in every episode could be attributed to Street Fighter in content, where the recycled finishers are considered the super moves. One cannot win a fight with a single super move from the beginning of the match. The enemy has to be beaten up and weakened alot before that could happen. Therefore, while the super move finisher is visually the same every time, the entire fight leading up to it is unique. They even throw in random flashy special moves in a truly non-recycled fashion! 

The Character designer/art director is Ryuutarou Masuda, so the series shares the same style as works Ojamajo Doremi and Street Fighter Alpha. Namely, slightly more simplified, more cartoony than would otherwise be common among Anime. The rounder shapes and flat but more colorful images serve as a boost to the overall quality of the show. Scene continuity isn't as necessary, so character development occurs faster. This makes for improved sentimentality, one-shot characters who's plights we can better understand, while still allowing time for the other stuff. The fighting also improves because they can afford to be flashier without having to resort to rotoscoping (animation style where real life footage is traced onto an animation cell. Outlines are squiggily and the art looks terrible, but it allows to seamless fluent motion and is easier to animate). 


Recurring characterizations are a stark improvement over previous magical girl shows, especially with the bad guys. Instead of mindless manifestations of evilness, the bad guys are pretty much Human in personality. They are all of them fully aware of, and approve of, the methodology and expected result of their actions, so they cannot be dissuaded through words or exposure to love or some other thing (and with that level of action, who would want them to?), even though they are perfectly capable and willing to sit down and discuss their reasons. In addition, they show an ability to argue and hold conversations, and partake in things like hobbies and activities. At one point, a desert messenger said "I'm bored, so I think I'll try and beat up the Precure today!", which leads to a noteceable lack of urgency on their part. Because of that lack of urgency, it leads us as viewers to wonder why they even bother to begin with? The show needs not be a full year-long if so much of it feels like filler. 

Sweetness and Violence don't really go together. It's like oil and water. You cannot make soup with oil and you cannot deep fry with water, so it's difficult to make a singular dinner with both. The Sentimentality is sweet enough for the girls to put up with the violence, and the action is good enough for the boys to suffer through the sweetness, but both parties still encounter a full half of the show that they can't like, so I have to give it an even steven 2.5 out of 5. Bonus points for having an actual history and previous generations of magical girls, including a still-living grandmother who was the previous incarnation who herselfdefeated  the main bad guy some 50 years beforehand. 


*Note* - The video clip below shows off the typical quality of fight scenes, however it contains heavy spoilers.




- Ben M.

Katanagatari.... reviewed.

Katanagatari

Writer:                     Nisio Isin

Director:                   Keitaro Motonaga

Production:               White Fox

Original run:             January 25, 2010 - December, 2010

Episodes:                 12.

Yasuri Shichika is the 7th generation heir to the Kyoutouryu sword less, sword fighting style, who spent 20 years isolated on an island in exile with his family. 20 years after the war, a girl named Togame beseeching his help approaches him. Togame is a stratagem for the Shogunate (Japanese Empire) who was tasked with finding and collecting all 12 of the perfected deviant blades created by the ancient legendary sword smith Kiki Shikizaki. She needs Shichika's help because his sword less sword fighting style would allow him to collect the various swords without succumbing to the poison that the blades inflict on whoever wields them.

The first thing to notice about this show, which makes it so alike to it's artful sister series "Bakemonogatari", is that it is Dialogue-centric. The majority of every episode is spent in conversation. Unlike other shows which claim vastly more dialogue than anything else, Katanagatari doesn't limit it's banter to "I'm strongest more than you! No you're not! Yes I am! Are not! Am to! Are not! AM TO!!". Every conversation in this show is masterfully done, and deserving of the best in the oxford debate club. Characters intelligently pose their opinions, support it with short but detailed elaborations, listen to each other, ask questions for clarification, and post insights and arguments and counter opinions. Also, like the conversation over tea about the taste of the cookies that could sway the difference between life and death in the next upcoming war, the conversations are loaded down with many subtle layers of deeper vocal conflict and double, triple, and quadruple entendre. We foreigners tend to miss most of those layers, because we don't speak the language and most of it is lost in translation, but mostly because we be too stupid to see anything but the most clear-to-face and obvious meanings to everything, and therefore require long, lengthy paragraphs of constantly repeating words that describe what we are already looking at before we can get it. What I'm saying is, this show isn't a Tits and Explosions kind of action. It is a show for intelligent people to listen to the words and try to understand the various meanings behind them. If you're not that kind of viewer, then the anime is pointlessly long and frustratingly boring. If you are one of those intelligent types, then the show is a never-ending crux of engaging conversations and inspiring concepts.

As a compliment to the dialogue, is the length. Unlike a 23 minute per episode show released every week for exactly 1/4 of a year (13 weeks), This show is OVA style, each episode being 45 minutes long and released only once a month for an entire year. 12 months, 12 swords, you can see the pattern. This isn't an OVA (that is a really one long movie broken into 3 or so smaller parts). Each episode is an independent episode, and the end product is such that it is unimaginable to try and picture a compressed version for the usual half an hour lengths. None of it gives off the impressions of being too jammed packed, or even delay tactic filler material. The pacing is perfectly gentle, allowing for proper dramatic buildup.

And what a dramatic buildup it has. Not only does each episode work its way slowly from a calm beginning to a catastrophic crescendo, but each episode builds upon each other in a symphony of intertwined plots to make for a reverberating tension you just can't rush into. The individual sword plots are somewhat predictable in the results, but as the sword capturing comes closer towards the end, we all sit there waiting for the other shoe to drop, with a big difficulty in imagining just what that other shoe is going to be. I personally couldn't predict what could possibly be more exciting than episode 4, what could be more different than episode 5, what could be more absurd than episode 6, what could be more dangerous than episode 7... and yet it did get more exciting, more different, more absurd, more dangerous, and continues to do so, right up to the end.

The action is severely lacking at the best of times. For a 45-minute episode of a show about a legendary swordsman fighting off the worlds best swordsmen in order to collect the most exotic swords, quite frankly the action sucks. The real fight scenes are limited to maybe some quick buildup followed by the climactic moment. Heck, the only fight worth its weight in time was the only one that didn't actually involve any swords. That's not to say that the show is in any way slow(er than previously mentioned), but the whole project could have served just as well as an elaborate graphic novel for all the motion that was involved.

The graphics, too, are another point that might be taken against the overall quality of the show. Like any good 4-letter comedy or a quack experimental anime, the art style itself tends to change rapidly. From photo realistic to stereophonic to shoujou pretty-boy to video game sprites, there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind anything visual. If anything, I might have to say that the purpose of the visual shift is as a shortcut. The few action scenes are all broken up or hidden by odd angles, styles, or after effects. Even setup scenes that require the visual aid to support the plan or reason is left to the simplest or most repetitive style available. That's not to say the art is bad, it's just wildly different and expertly used to hide the purpose (animation shortcut). It could even be surprised that what action we do get is a bonus, because the art is nothing more than a means of keeping our eyes from getting bored while we concentrate on the dialogue.

The characters are colorful, and all of them original. From the animal themed Maniwa Ninja, to the Kaleidoscopic princesses to the sharp sword owners, to even Shichika's changing Oak patterned life, there is not a single named character whom you could look at and say "he/she looks like a rip-off of _____". Instead, all of them would each make for an instantly recognizable cosplay at any convention, one flooded with awes on the difficulty it must have been to tailor the costume.

Due to the existence of the Howard Stern Syndrome (you either love it or you hate it, but there's no in-between), I find it difficult to properly rate this show. It all really comes down to the dialogue. If you are the kind of person who can follow and appreciate it, then Katanagatari rates a whopping 9 out of 10, held back only by the annoying shifts in art and the existence of a better precedent (Bakemonogatari had, mysteriously enough, much better dialogue and much more appropriate radical art shift). If you need more explosions and cleavage in your sword-fighting, then the show drops to a miserable 2 out of 5 for hiding all the good stuff and boring us all with big words, saved only by the originality of the characters and the concepts of persona la badass. Penalty points taken for replacing the episode shaping up to be one of the most epic swordfights in the history of ever with a side story, bonus points given right back for that same side story being totally worth it!

-Ben

The World God Only Knows... REVIEWED!

Original Manga by:  Tamiki Wakaki

Written By:             Hideyuki Kurata

Director:                Shigehito Takayanagi

Production:            Manglobe

Original Run:          October 6, 2010 - to - Current

Episodes:               26?

My first title to review is a new one that people on this site especially can appreciate. It's about a gamer who uses his "m4d g4m1ng sk1llz" (mad gamer skills) to solve real world issues!

Katsuragi Keima is a hardcore gamer. Known online as the "Capturing God", Keima is without question the worlds best Galge expert, capable of capturing any girl in any game through any scenario. In responding to his thousands of fans' e-mails, he is presented with an e-mail that seems to challenge his skills at capturing girls. In responding yes to the challenge, he accidentally signs into a contract with a devil, one where he must use his skills to capture the hearts of real girls in order to drive out evil escaped spirits that are hiding in them. The big problem with this is that Keima hates the real world, especially real girls. In real life, he is a reclusive gamer who is perpetually made fun of by his class and peers, but besides that he genuinely wants nothing to do with the real, in favor more of playing games. However, the contract has his life as collateral for failure to perform, so he begrudgingly attempts to make the select girls fall in love with him.  Elsie is a cute, young, and somewhat naive devil assigned to Keima to direct him to the girls that need capturing. 

In my eyes, there are two things that stand out the most about this show so far. First, with the vibrant colors (the school uniform is bright red), the physics gags (Elsie's broom is capable of destroying a city block with a single sweep!), the frequent superdeformity, and overall lack of any blatant oversexuality and pointless fanservice, this is by far a prime example of the concept known as an Anime. Embarrassment is glossed over with absurdity, running gags are frequent but tasteful, Visual effects are appropriate to setting mood, and drama is paced and presented in order to establish the characters without us getting too attached to them. In other words, there are zero major turnoffs, everything potentially bad left moderate enough to tolerate in favor of the potential goods. An all around feel-good more than watchable anime that doesn't take itself too seriously or resort to cheep gimmicks or fan services in order to draw in viewers. 

The second thing is that this anime proves that Evangelion, in fact, did Not ruin anime. Unlike the angst-wridden zenophobic bumbling nerds that Otaku are usually portrayed as, Keima is both confident and capable. He chooses to ignore the jidings and proddings of his peers because he deems them beneath him. When motivated enough to look away from his PFP handheld game system long enough to do anything (very difficult to do. He plays even during class or while taking a bath) he can look a girl in the eyes in public and confess in the corniest way possible without even blinking. Add to that a calculating genius that would embarrass Lulouche (of Code Geass) and earn a 'Well Done' from Light (of Death Note), you will find yourself watching, not to see if he succeeds, but instead to see how he succeeds, and to laugh at all those pathetic plot obstacles that naively try to stop him. That's not to say that he is athletic in any way, or that he won't throw a temper tantrum any time he doesn't get his way, but it's a pleasant change to see a male lead in a romantic comedy that isn't an emo "so and so". 

Despite the wonderful lack of pointless fanservice, there is still a measure of gimmick that feels frivolous or outright pointless. Keima apparently needs a contract with a devil in order to use his mad skills. Said devil herself is a cute, young, and naive girl who clearly isn't the least bit evil. The closest association to a denizen of the netherworld that Elsie could be associated with is Fallen Angel Flonne, who isn't even a devil to begin with. Even her presence feels pointless and time-wasting. She shows up cutely, does some gags, points out the girl, then it's all Keima all the way. Also, with her ability to fly and her translucent 'robe' that can be shapeshifted into anything, she seems to come off as a sort of broken cheat code, used to push the story along instead of lingering on superfluous character development. 

Yes, I know that I contradicted myself there, but I first said "Cheap gimmicks" that the lack of is a plus. I'm holding out on the hope that the whole devil thing is exploited as a plot device or a story arc later on. Until then, though, while still a gimmick, it does the job in setting up the real meat of the show. 

As of right now, only 2 episodes in, I give this show a 7 out of 10. Good and watchable, entertaining, with a character we can really appreciate right from the begging, but loaded down with devices that could truly make or break the show later depending on how they are presented or expanded upon. 

I happen to be a reader of the manga, and am more versed in Japanese than most other american fans, so there are a couple of things I feel I need to point out that the fansubbers got wrong. First of all, Keima's nickname among his classmates isn't "Dweeb". it's Otamega, which is a contraction of the words Otaku (obsessed fan) and Megane (glasses, or Foureyes), and also happens to be an alternate spelling of his proper name. Keima is notorious enough among his school that he deserves his own derogatory name, so one should use it. Secondly, Elsie's "robe" is a Hagoromo (divine raiment), that accurately looks like a flowwy scarf that floats around her shoulders. Hagoromo doesn't translate. It is a noun all its own, that also could be described as a footnote if they even felt they needed to. Trying to translate Hagoromo is like saying that someone is wearing some clothes when they are wearing a Kimono. Accurate in the broadest sense of the word, and absolutely reeking of laziness or ignorance on the part of the people I'm trusting to translate. 

On one final note; this show has already been signed for a second season starting in April. If nothing else, it means that the producers feel that the show is destined to be popular enough to warrant it, before it's first run even went anywhere. That shows promise. Even guaranteed successes like A Certain Magical Index had to wait a couple of years before it was signed for a sequel. 

The World God Only Knows trailer


-Ben M.