"Kotoura-san" Anime Review

Well it’s finally over. I hate to say it but I had such high hopes for this show after seeing the opening episode but while Kotoura-san is energetic, beautiful to look at, and full of interesting characters, it falls far short of what I feel it was striving for.

Story: 5/10

This anime takes many steps forward in trying to make this drama/slice of life interesting but unfortunately falls down the stairs one too many times. The show opens up in such an amazing fashion; Haruka is a very young girl who was born with the ability to read peoples thoughts. Unknowingly she spreads out everyone’s feelings and soon finds herself all alone at a very vulnerable stage. She also in the process ruins her parents’ marriage by babbling out their personal plans with some not so ok people. She ends up at rock bottom with no one to turn to except her grandfather. Flash-forward a couple years to high school and she is still very shy and scared of reading people’s thoughts. Just when she is about to give up all hope, she is introduced to Yoshihisa who takes a liking to Haruka despite her ability to see and hear every one of his thoughts. So this premise is freaking awesome right!? The first three episodes had me completely hooked because the premise was interesting and it felt like it was going to be a semi-serious high school drama. Well though luck kids because this show runs down stale lane after about the fifth episode. What the show turns into is your typical “This is what our club (the ESP society) did today” which don’t get me wrong isn’t a bad thing for some shows. Why it doesn’t work in Kotoura-san is because there was this big whole setup to make me think this show could be more than a romantic comedy. Speaking of comedy, the slapstick style humor and running gags in this show were funny the first time they were introduced but when the main gag of a show is the main character thinking of really pervy stuff and getting slapped for it…like every episode, it gets a little boring. With crap airing right now like Da Capo III and Little Busters, I was really hoping this was going to be that somewhat awesome drama that Maoyuu Maou Yuusha also could have been (I found out that show was just all about boobs). After revising all the airing anime this season, I have to unfortunately agree with the rest of the internet in saying that there was just way too much moe stuff this season.

Animation: 7.9/10

Grr this is a tough thing to talk about because the animation in this show is both really basic looking but also fantastic…all at the same time. There really isn’t a lot of work done on the character models and in typical anime fashion when a comedic scene pops up, the facial expressions on the characters turn extremely basic looking for an added effect. Why I also fit in fantastic as an adjective is because the lighting, quality of the backdrops, and how the eyes were animated was just so…awesome. “What this guy is giving a good score based on eye animation?” Yes, yes I am because like I said in my Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo review the show has a “normal” feeling towards it but the little elements make it shine. The animation while a little too cartoony for my tastes was still unique and very pretty to look at. It would have scored even higher but I didn’t find some of the character models very appealing.

Started out awesome

Then turned into this...

Sound: 6.5/10

The sound design was in my opinion pretty average in this anime. I did enjoy the opening theme quite a lot as it was both catchy and the instrumentation was to my liking. The voice actors also did a pretty good job but I got so fu#$ing annoyed with Haruka saying in her high pitched voice “Ewww Manabe!” over…and over…and over again. Also the music used during the show was very generic and just not very appealing.

Characters: 6/10

The problem with the characters in Kotoura-san is that the ones that are interesting and unique don’t give you a reason to like them and the main characters (Haruka and Yoshihisa) annoy the fu#$ out of you. So see the problem here? Yuriko and Daichi are both interesting but Yuriko’s hidden agenda and true feelings just make her feel no remorse on my end and Hiyori is just an annoying tomboy third wheel. I do have to say that all the characters had good chemistry and created some funny and interesting moments throughout the season but as individuals not one of them stood out to me in an overly positive way.

Overall: 6.4/10

Yeah a 6.4 sounds just about right for this show. The only noteworthy things I can praise this anime for was the amazing opening episode, catchy opening theme, and the unique art style. Believe me I REALLY wanted to like this show but it really did fail on me. God I really hope there is some new unique anime coming out soon because while I like a romantic comedy just as much as the next person, I don’t want like five of them like this season. Go watch this though if you get bored because…well it’s better than watching School Days right?

Currently Watching Anime (Feb. 2013)

So it’s finally March which means…SPRING BREAK!!! I will be going to Mexico with some family and friends this coming week so don’t expect any anime posts for the duration. So far this anime season has provided some surprises and I am proud to say that I have not dropped anything…yet (I don’t count Initial D Fifth Stage because of its weird release dates). Here is what I am currently watching:

Kotoura-san 9 out of ?
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai 8 out of ?
Mondaiji-Ji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? 8 out of ?
Chihayafuru 2 8 out of ?
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi go Shuraba Sugiru 9 out of ?
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 9 out of ?
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT 8 out of ?
Little Busters! 21 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 20 out of ?
Da Capo III 9 out of ?
Initial D: Fifth Stage  

Currently Watching Anime (Feb 2013)

Wow so it's already February which means that we are pretty much at the half way point for the currently airing anime. I started out with only two newly airing anime but have somehow expanded that to eight. There are some that I wonder why I haven't dropped (Da Capo III and Little Busters) but other than those examples this anime season is not even close to how bad I thought it was going to be before it started. There is a lot of cute moe stuff (Kotoura-san, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi go Shuraba Sugiru, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (kind of), Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (kind of), and Da Capo III (yes but crap)) and not a whole lot of action stuff but they are still pretty decent. I am looking forward to Kotoura-san, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi go Shuraba Sugiru, and Mondaiji-Ji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo the most but Chihayafuru and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai are proving to be just as good as their previous season's work.

Kotoura-san 7 out of ?
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai 7 out of ?
Mondaiji-Ji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? 7 out of ?
Chihayafuru 2 7 out of ?
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi go Shuraba Sugiru 8 out of ?
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 8 out of ?
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT 7 out of ?
Little Busters! 20 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 20 out of ?
Da Capo III 8 out of ?
Initial D Fifth Stage 4 out of ? STALLED
Seto no Hanayome 10 out of 26 STALLED

"Da Capo III" Episodes 1-3 and "Little Busters" Episodes Who Cares-14 Thoughts

Well today’s post is going to contain the two currently airing anime that I honestly do not care for very much. Each season has their own generic and boring anime; this time it’s Da Capo III and by some miracle Little Busters is still airing…

So let’s talk Da Capo III first; it’s a high school harem that really has not provided any shred of excitement so far. It has three episodes out as of this post so it is kind of mean to poke at it so early on but what bothers me is that a lot of people actually like this show. It is apparently a product of a long running anime series since there are multiple OVAs and tv seasons before this installment. From whom I have spoken to they say this is the best one yet…which makes me feel very scared to even imagine how awful the previous installments are. This anime seems to have the same problem Mashiro-Iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers had; it’s just boring. There have been no plot elements introduced so far that have shaken up the characters or caused some sort of event/conflict. Yes there is a rivalry between the “legit” newspaper club and the “other” newspaper club but the characters in both clubs are just boring. If you have boring characters, no one will give a s#!t what happens to them. Even the main characters (you know, the ones that we are supposed to be rooting for) are generic, big boobed boring blobs. I hate just ranting on how boring it is but if an anime causes me to fall asleep…MULTIPLE times then I am sorry something is wrong. The animation is…ok and the voice actors seem pretty good…Yeah those are the positives. I’m not sure if I am going to stick this series out or drop it…just taking up space on my hard drive.

Now for an anime adaptation based off of a pretty enjoyable visual novel to be generic is quite a bold statement to make. Unfortunately this is the case (for me at least) for Little Busters. While the anime is following pretty closely to the game, it just does not have that “spark” the visual novel has. The anime’s characters seem like a shadow of what they are in the VN and the main character Riki is almost unbearable to listen to. His high pitched voice just makes me want to watch this anime on mute. But then I would miss out on one of the actual good things about the show, the music. The music is taken straight from the game which is a very nice touch. It’s a mixture of light piano songs with some orchestral stuff thrown in. It helps make the anime feel relaxed and carefree. Another positive is SOME of the supporting cast. Masato, Yuiko, and Haruka pretty much make the show watchable. Their interactions with Riki are the only highlights of the show with the other characters really bringing down the overall experience. Other than the sound and very few good characters, the anime falls very short of the VN (so far). I will stick with this series since I loved the VN so much but I’m not expecting the ending to bring this anime back from the dead.

Currently Watching Anime (Jan 2013)

It's the new year which means new anime!! So far the only new anime I have picked up is Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (man what a mouth full) but I will be researching the other newly airing anime. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, Initial D Fifth Stage, and Little Busters! are all continuing on (looking forward to Initial D and Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo but I am not sure about Little Busters though...). I have picked up Dog Days and Guilty Crown due to some recommendations by some users on Anime-planet. Hopefully they turn out to be worth the time.

Kotoura-san 3 out of ?
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai 3 out of ?
Chihayafuru 2 3 out of ?
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi go Shuraba Sugiru 3 out of ?
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 4 out of ?
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT 3 out of ?
Initial D Fifth Stage 4 out of ?
Little Busters! 16 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 15 out of ?
Da Capo III 4 out of ?
Seto no Hanayome 10 out of 26
Guilty Crown 22 out of 22 FINISHED!!!
Dog Days 13 out of 13 FINISHED!!!
K 13 out of 13 FINISHED!!!
Oda Nobuna no Yabou 12 out of 12 FINISHED!!!
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun 12 out of 12 FINISHED!!!
To Love-Ru: Darkness 12 out of 12 FINISHED!!!

Edit: I have now also picked up K (no idea how I missed this one last anime season...) and Oda Nobuna no Yabou which is surprisingly fun to watch.
Edit 2: Finished K, Oda Nobuna no Yabou, and Dog Days. I enjoyed all three and plan on reviewing them. Also picked up Seto no Hanayome because a lot of people have said it is uniquely funny. Kind of stalling on Guilty Crown but I intend on watching some more over the coming weekend. Just a heads up school is starting up again so there might be periods of time where I will not be able to get content out. Don't hate!
Edit 3: Just picked up Kotoura-san and Sasami-san@Ganbaranai; both look like they will be very interesting to watch. Kotoura-san especially got me hooked within the first ten minutes.

Currently Watching Anime (December 2012)

This past month has been absolutely hectic with finals finishing up. Not only did they mess up my anime posts but also my life in general. I have had barely any time to work on music, play TOR, or even hang out friends -___-. But hey with 5 weeks off from classes coming up I cannot complain. Here is what I am watching at the moment:

Initial D Fifth Stage 2 out of ?
Little Busters! 10 out of ?
To Love-Ru: Darkness 9 out of ?
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun 11 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 12 out of ?
Sword Art Online 24 out of ? Finished!!!
Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne 12 out of ? Finished!!!
Kamisama Hajimemashita 6 out of ? Stalled
K 1 out of ? Stalled
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 1 out of ? Stalled

Sword Art Online is starting to get a little...ehhh along with Little Busters. I have still yet to know what the main focus of Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne is and where the hell did Initial D Fifth Stage go!!?? Oh by the way Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun and Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo are amazing so go watch them now.

Winter Season Update

I'm not really sure if I have any returning "fans" or readers but the past couple weeks have been extremely busy with school, music, and job searching getting in the way so my posts have suffered. I have been keeping up with my watching schedule but I have been quite lazy in jotting down my ideas. Look for some posts on Sword Art Online, To Love-Ru: Darkness, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, Little Busters, and possibly a review of Otome Youkai Zakuro this weekend.

P.S.: Finals suck -___-

Anime Currently Watching (November 2012)

Wow it's already November; this past semester has blown by so quickly. Here is a list of the anime that I am currently watching:

Initial D Fifth Stage 2 out of ?
Little Busters! 7 out of ?
To Love-Ru: Darkness 6 out of ?
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun 7 out of ?
Sword Art Online 20 out of ?
Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne 7 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 6 out of ?
Princess Lover 12 out of 12 Finished!!
Kamisama Hajimemashita 6 out of ? Stalled
K 1 out of ? Stalled
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 1 out of ? Stalled

I really wanted to start watching K and Haiyore! Nyaruko san but for various reasons I have decided to put them off for now. Sword Art Online and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun are my favorites by far while Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo and Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne may be turning into the underdogs for this anime season. Have some different posts lined up so check back every now and then for some updates.

"Little Busters!" (Anime) Episodes 3-4 Thoughts

So since my last post on Little Busters! I have found out that it is indeed based off of a visual novel; one made by Key in matter of fact. So this means that the creators of the anime will have a lot of freedom when determining who the main character will pursue. This also means that since it is derived from a visual novel, it is a romance…-___-. Now I do not have anything against romance anime or anime based off of visual novels but I was kind of hoping this was going to be a slice of life anime that was not going to be centered on finding love.

After my dreams were crushed, I hoped onto everyone’s favorite web site, Google to find out more about the visual novel. It had some very favorable reviews so I decided to give it a shot and was mildly entertained.Not as good as the Maji de Watashi ni KoiShinasai!! visual novel but not horrible either. So I can say after completing a few of the routes in the VN that I cannot determine Riki (the main character) is going to choose in the anime. I’ve been told the common route in the game leads to Komari but I haven’t seen enough of the anime to say who he is leaning towards the most.

So I’m going to stop bringing up the VN for now because I want to talk just about the show; not how different of similar it is to the source material. Episodes two through four introduce pretty much the main cast of the show (minus one we haven’t met yet). These new characters are Haruka(the mischievous loud mouth), Kud (the Loli favorite), and Yuiko (the cold fighter).  Haruka was my favorite character from the VN and her personality seems intact in the anime while Yuiko is somewhat desirable in the anime. The story so far is the formation of the baseball team and the recruitment of the remaining players for the team. There have been some funny moments so far but overall the show is starting to feel a little stale. While the plot is moving (somewhat) it isn’t being presented very well. Most of the episodes don’t have a lot of “pizzazz”. Hopefully once we get to the meat of the story it will open up and become more interesting because at the moment it just isn’t very interesting.

"Little Busters!" (Anime) Episode 1-2 thoughts

Little Busters is an anime that when I first saw the synopsis, I kind of shrugged off and decided I would return to in the future. After a couple of weeks though, the internet provided some arguments on whether the show was cleverly interesting and cute, or just generic. I don't like relying on others opinions to help form my own so I decided to go ahead and pick this series up so that I can formulate my own thoughts while not allowing outside sources to sway me. At first glance, this anime does feel and look generic because the first episode follows suit and does only one thing; introduce the characters in a boring fashion. We are handed each character for an amount of screen time, there is a flashback, nothing special here. The second episode introduces Komari who if I may make a foreshadowing attempt, will become Riki's love interest. Now I have no idea if that is even close at all because I have not researched the source material (I think it was a game first?). But yeah characters; other than Riki we have, Masato (muscle guy), Kyousuke (the brains...kind of), Komari who I just mentioned, Kengo (opposite of Masato), and Rin (the introvert school idol). So far, the characters actually seem pretty interesting and not so cookie cutter personality wise. My favorite character so far by a long shot is Rin because while she is the school's idol and extroverted around her friends, seeing her struggle with day to day conversations with other students is fun to watch due to her reactions.

Next on the list is animation; its pretty dang good. The characters models are defined well enough but one thing I have noticed that really sticks out are the facial expressions. The one-on-one scenes between Riki and Rin are especially apparent because the expressions Rin gives draws out her honest feelings. It sounds weird and I just may be giving the show too much credit but when I first watched the second episode, the scene where Rin is outside with the cats was a really well done scene animation wise.

Sound so far is what you expect for a modern day anime, great voice actors that have been recorded fairly well. The background music has done its job because while I don't notice it over what is going on, it doesn't steal my attention away from the plot. It's not amazing but it does it's job well.

Other than what I have already said, this anime looks like it has potential to be my sleeper pick this season. I cannot comment on the plot because well..its only been two episodes but I hope it flourishes into something unique (which seems to be very hard for modern day anime and manga to accomplish).

Anime Currently Watching (October 2012)

Its October which means Halloween is close by! I don't know about you but Halloween is the only holiday where college students have just as much fun as they did as a child. Anyways going to be watching a lot of different anime until I find some that I like that have just started airing. This is what I have so far:

Little Busters! 4 out of ?
Kamisama Hajimemashita 4 out of ?
To Love-Ru: Darkness 4 out of ?
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun 4 out of ?
Sword Art Online 17 out of ?
Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne 4 out of ?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 3 out of ?
K 1 out of ?
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 1 out of ?
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity has Declined) 12 out of 12 Finished!!
Gintama (2011 season) 16 out of 51 Stalled
Hyou-ka: You Can't Escape 1 out of 22 Stalled
Yuru Yuri (season 2) 12 out of 12 Finished!!
Tari Tari 8 out of 13 Stalled
Sket Dance 2 out of 77 Dropped

I have been VERY lazy with Tari Tari and Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita because I am very close to losing interest in them and I do not know why. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita was quite funny but I feel that the complete lack of a flowing plot is making me put it off while Tari Tari is just boring. Yeah its really sweet, looks and sounds great, and has great characters but I just feel bored when watching it. No matter what though I will finish them so I can at least put my thoughts down. Please recommend any new airing anime because I really haven't research what is coming out.

Edit 1:
Dropped Tari Tari because I have literally no urge to finish it. Also the anime version of Sket Dance proved to be quite boring but the manga is very well done. Picked up To Love-Ru: Darkness, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, and Hyou-ka: You Can't Escape because they all look like they have a lot of potential to be interesting shows. In addition to these shows, I decided to start trying to finish the 2011 season of Gintama. I absolutely love Gintama but when I was watching it awhile back, I just burned myself out.