"Kotoura-san" and "Sasami-san@Ganbaranai" Episodes 1-7 Thoughts

First off I want to reiterate how sincerely sorry I am for being so lazy on posting here the past couple of weeks. I have been hammered (not the good kind) with projects at school and I went home last weekend for my birthday so I have really been putting these off. I will be resuming my schedule of posting at least one thing a week starting this week.

So two anime that I have kind of left in the dark, Kotoura-san and Sasami-san@Ganbaranai have recently hit the halfway point for this anime season at episode seven. I simply adore everything about Kotoura-san but still find myself on the fence with Sasami-san@Ganbaranai.

So good stuff first; Kotoura-san!!! I have been in love with this show ever since the first episode aired even if the first episode had a completely different tone than the rest of the show. I could go all fanboy on you and just say, “Alasdfkjdklj  it’s so awesome blababla” but I rather give you some concrete reasons to why it’s a good show. First things first; what the hell has been going on? The show follows Haruka who for some reason was born with the ability to read people’s minds. As she learns to harness this power however, she unfortunately blabs about every little thing she hears so she ends up telling everyone everything about each other (keep in mind she’s like five or six years old so she doesn’t know any better). These actions result in her losing all her friends and even causing her parents to divorce (ouch). All hope seems lost until she meets Yoshihisa who seems to turn her world around. Yoshihisa doesn’t mind that Haruka reads his mind and over a small period of time, their circle expands to the ESP club at their school. Within the club, Yoshihisa and Haruka meet Daichi, Yuiko, and later on Yoshihisa’s childhood friend Hiyori joins. Essentially the show quickly evolves into a “What’s the club going to do today?” sort of format. While this might provide a boring atmosphere for some viewers, it’s the character interactions that keep me coming back for more. The perverse Yoshihisa provides some hilarious moments between him and Haruka since she can pretty much see every dirty thought he has (even about other women). The show is also very slapsticky so if you are not a fan of short punchline jokes then stay far away from this show. 

On the technical side of the show, the animation is kind of hard to explain. On one hand it looks very simplistic but on the other its color template and how light reflects off of characters and objects make it look very appealing. I guess you can say it’s a generically awesome looking anime. Sound wise I love the opening song as well as the ending. Music during the show is pretty good but not Aria great. Voice actors seem to be doing a good job so no complaints there. 

Overall the show is just a blast to watch each week and with some foreseeable plot devices coming to light, I can only hope that it will continue to get better and better.

Lastly we have the very strange Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. At first I only kept watching this show for two reasons; the unique looking animation and the WTF factor. The only anime I can think of to compare it to is Humanity Has Declined. It’s odd way of presenting the information, humor, and plot is something almost straight out of Humanity Has Declined but instead of being placed in a post-World War w/e timeline, the show takes place in what appears to be a modern day Japan setting. To quickly catch you up to speed, the show takes around four episodes to actually tell you wtf is going on and why Sasami is so damn important. Sasami is essentially part of a cult (ran away but we all know that wouldn’t work out in the end) that glorifies the women and transfers superpower like abilities to them. Oh they also treat the men of the clan/cult as slaves. Sasami seems to be able to change reality around her unknowingly so that’s why Tsurugi and her gang of misfits are around to keep the piece. Other than the fix up gang and Sasami, the only recurring character is Sasami’s brother Kamiomi who she seems to have a tsundere like attitude towards and seems to also have a somewhat sexual attraction to (GEEZE NEVER SEEN THAT TYPE OF CHARACTER BEFORE -__-). Each episode seems to be somewhat self-contained and does not need any real prior knowledge to watch (other than the first couple episodes) so feel free to jump in anywhere if you want to see if you like it. If you do, make sure you then go start at episode one so you get all the little things. Technical things aside, the plot of the show is just…strange and for me not enough to keep me interested. It jumps around a lot and some episodes will take almost the entire length to see wtf is going on. But in my honest opinion you are only sticking around for the weird and also the awesome animation.

Like I stated previously, the animation in this show is quite unique looking and just very appealing (to me). Colors are bright, character models are defined but not at the same time (just like Humanity Has Declined), eyes look awesome (love me some great eye animation), and the set pieces are pretty awesome. Now that I think about it some more, this show shares a lot more things with Humanity Has Declined than just the slapstick humor. The animation style is very closely related from how the character models are drawn to even the way the eyes look. So if you liked how Humanity Has Declined looked then you are in luck here. The animation is great even though you should already know that since SHAFT are the ones animating it (Nisemonogatari, Bakemonogatari, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, need I bring up more awesome looking SHAFT anime?). Oh yeah sound; it’s good I guess?

Overall the show is just random so if you are into that kind of thing give it a shot. Animation is quite good and the noise it makes isn’t distracting.

"Katanagatari" Anime Review

Katanagatari is an anime that I have had to watch a couple times in order to fully pull my thoughts together. The first time I watched it I was very interested in the relationship between Shichika and Togame but the ending left a very bad taste in my mouth. After recently finishing it for the third time however, I have a revitalized liking to the show because after carefully deducting the plot, I am at peace with the ending.

Story: 8.8/10

A basic run down of the plot is that Togame (a self-proclaimed strategist) travels to hire Shichika in order to help her collect the twelve deviant blades that were left behind in the previous war. Unlike typical anime that have a runtime of around twenty minutes per episode, Katanagatari runs about fifty minutes per episode. When it first started airing, it only provided one episode per month so this pacing really made it a unique experience that both worked well and hindered the plot and sequence of events. Just a fair warning if you do not like excessive dialogue and the typical “I’m going to name all my attacks and tell you exactly what is on my mind at all times” speeches then steer far away from this anime. The very clever and witty dialogue between all the characters never gets boring or excessive in my opinion but to someone who is used to watching very cut up and short scenes, they might begin to lose focus. Everything about this anime feels like it’s continuously flowing on and never stopping or backtracking. Also the way each episode feels like a self-contained story focusing on one sword per episode is an example of how the runtime helped the anime feel more enjoyable. With all that screen time however there are some issues that affected me personally. While most of the dialogue is enjoyable and relevant to the story, in the earlier episodes there is quite a lot of rambling that honestly I think was put in to fill up some time. Also the real eureka moment where everything falls into place and you receive all the pieces of the puzzle doesn’t start formulating until around the ninth or so episode so while the earlier on episodes are entertaining on their own, I felt a little left out of the picture. These two negatives are the only reason I gave this anime less than a ten on the story section; it is a very well written story that’s ending will pull on your heart strings and also feel very rewarding for sitting through.

Animation: 8.7/10

A first glance at the animation will make you think it looks “cheap” and “plain” and you are completely right in a sense. The animation style is very simplistic but yet at the same time very unique and beautiful. The backgrounds, character models, and fight scenes are all very quality work. It is also apparent that as the show progresses, the animation quality does in tandem. It still retains its style and presence but we see better reflections, more color depth, and much more fluid fight scenes. Each character we run into looks very refined and unique. The anime tradition of including obscure camera angles of certain lady parts comes into play in the later episodes but it is by no means ecchi. Overall it starts out a very unique looking anime and by the last episode, it blossomed into a truly beautiful work of art. It’s just too hard to score it higher when compared to other great looking anime (Fate/Zero, Nisemonogatari, Redline, ext).

Sound: 9/10

I have to say that from a total music geek’s perspective, Katanagatari COMPLETELY caught me off guard. While most people will watch this anime and not really notice the score backing the show, it was very apparent to me from the beginning that the music not only set the moods perfectly but also as standalone musical tracks sounded great. The anime offers a very diverse offering of music ranging from pop and synth heavy parts to some of the best orchestral arrangements I have heard in a show. The music in the last episode really impressed me to a point that during my previous watch I grabbed my guitar and starting playing while watching the show. Not only is the music well done but also the voice acting of the Japanese staff. Since this anime relies on long drawn out conversations as a means to introduce different plot devices, it is very key to have voice actors that can bring out their character’s personalities and quirks. Each character in this anime was voiced very well and was distinctive from everyone else. I felt like this show really nailed all the acoustical elements needed for any form of film.

Characters: 8.2/10

For a show that introduces a lot of characters, I felt as if most of them were given ample amounts of time to have decent character development presented. There were essentially three “factions” in this anime; Togame and Shichika, the Maniwa Corps (a faction of ninja that broke away from the government), and Princess Hitei and her servant Emonzaemon (there is also another character that acts on his/her own accord but I don't want to ruin the surprise). All three of these groups play major roles of who controls what swords and information. While some of their intentions are not shown until very late into the show, you could honestly side with any of them. There really wasn’t a “bad guy” presented until the very late stages of the show. Each group had rational reasoning for their actions so you felt more inclined to their cause. Another thing that I really like about the characters in this anime was how the Maniwa Corps was represented by different animals. Each member was symbolized by a different animal and their techniques mostly resembled their animal counterpart. Overall each main character performed very well and had a lasting impression on me. There were however some characters (mostly the Maniwa Corps members that had almost no screen time and a couple of the sword owners) that really did nothing for me. They just had no awe inspiring personality and in some cases were left out almost completely. One BIG example was the swordsmen Hakuhei Sabi who took the sword made out of glass. His character was described in such a way that made him sound like the most badass sword fighting character in recent anime history and when the episode came that they would fight him, I was completely stoked...except that they didn’t show it AT ALL. So that I don’t want to spoil what really happened during that episode but as for the fight between Shichika and Hakuhei, they just skip over it entirely and in the final minutes of that particular episode they briefly go over the fight and just say how close and amazing it was. But they never show it; it really pissed me off.

Overall: 8.7/10

This show has gotten to a point where when new anime watchers ask what they should dive into first, I usually recommend this one first. It is just such a unique watching experience that I have never felt before. While I wish the plot was more prominent in the beginning and that some of the characters were explored a little more, this anime did more than offer an interesting adventure; it crafted a unique tale that had the best sense of growth that I have seen in recent anime. The ending ties up a very interesting plot that honestly caught me off guard. This anime has all the action, fighting, and beautiful set pieces you would expect from a high quality studio that made other great anime such as Steins;Gate. White Fox did an amazing job and I hope one day you will take the time to watch these brilliant twelve one hour episodes.

"Kamisama Hajimemashita" (Anime) Episodes 1-3 thoughts

Kamisama Hajimemashita is part of a genera of anime that I usually stray away from because it has never really appealed to me in the past. This genera, shoujo is made for and directed towards young women so why in the hell would I bother with it? So what happened within the first three episodes that caused me to feel so strongly about this anime?

Well first is the amazing animation. With shows like Fate/Zero and Nisemonogatari pushing such amazing quality of animation, one might think that nothing would come close to topping them. Kamisama Hajimemashita so far has itself coming very close to the visual appeal of Nisemonogatari for two main reasons:

1. They both share a somewhat abstract way of presenting scenes. Examples of what I mean are how the close up shots transition and how the overall uniqueness of the animation sets it apart from other shows.
2. They both share amazing lighting techniques. It seems as if every possible frame of animation is lit brilliantly.

The animation is just...wow. TMS Entertainment is really outdoing themselves; I hope they can keep the quality up throughout the entire season.

So back to the weird part...a shoujo...Why would an adult male like myself chose to like a show that is directed for women? The strange thing is that I find the main character very interesting. Nanami is left with literally nothing in the first minutes of the show's beginning but she continues on. After becoming one of the gods, she at first denies her responsibilities but once she finds out how much she (the god) means to the people that put their trust in her hands, she tries her hardest to make their wishes come true. She is a very strong lead and is by no means a pushover. Her servant Tomoe is at the moment, bearable. I do not like him but I also do not loath him; his personality is very off putting but since his views do not match up with Nanami's it provides some good chemistry.

I can already tell from the openings that more male characters are going to be introduced so the show is bound to turn into a romantic comedy with the men fighting over Nanami. I'm not really looking forward to that but god...I could sit through all that crap in order to enjoy that beautiful animation.

Real Talk: "Wakfu" Season One

In my quest to find new exciting anime to watch, I stumbled across something great that looks like a typical anime...but is french. Wakfu is a show that follows our rag tag team of heroes mainly focusing on the super child Yugo and his quest to meet his real father. Not only is Wakfu a very popular french cartoon, it has spawned a turn based MMORPG that takes place in the realm of Wakfu ten years before the anime. There is also a manga adaptation to the show as well.

So what makes the show so great? The most predominant characteristic of the show is the unique and beautiful animation style. While the scenes are not as crisp as say Nisemonogatari, it is still very clear, vibrant, and beautiful. Its actually pretty hard to explain why it is done so well so here are a couple screen shots:

And a video:

So not only is the show brilliant to look at, it also sounds very appealing to me. Now it might just be because I love the French language so much but the characteristics and vocal mannerisms of the voice actors are very easy on the ears. The characters range from a headstrong but good kid, a smelly and mysterious old man, a sassy and needy princess, a reserved bodyguard, and a goofy womanizer. This cast however really work well with each other and you really get a sense of the adventure because everything clicks so well between everyone. By the end of the first couple episodes, our little group of heroes are off on their quest and I was more than happy to come along.

Overall why I liked this show so much was that even though the plot seem to...well disappear in the middle, I still hung around because I could not wait to see what trouble the gang would get into next. The animation is by far one of the greatest things I have ever seen in a long running show, and the clarity of the French voice actors is something to behold. I cannot wait to move onto the next season so that I can see what other troubles and adventures the team gets themselves into. I won't lie to you; it is a major pain to find this show on the internet at the moment. You might have to risk doing some illegal streaming to get a hold of the episodes so please when it becomes readily available, please support the staff by buying a copy. This show is a MUST WATCH so make sure you do not miss out on it.

"Fate/Zero" Anime Review

***This is a spoiler free review***

Fate/Zero was an anime like many others I put off watching due to some preconceived notions that it wasn’t worth my time. The first reason being that most people say that Fate/Stay Night (its successor) was a poorly done show. After recently seeing a review for Fate/Zero, my interest was piqued so I thought what the hell one episode won’t hurt. What I learned thirteen episodes later was that it would secure a spot at the top of my all-time favorite anime list.

Story (7/10):
I’m not going to lie, the flow of the plot and the plot in general are one of the few issues with this anime. Essentially the story revolves around finding and obtaining the Holy Grail. The Grail itself chooses seven mages and those seven mages summon a servant (usually a historical figure) that will fight for them in order to receive the grail. The issues are that the first episode (a forty-five minute episode) is entirely a, “Hey here is this guy oh and don’t forget about this women” type of thing. You are bombarded with backstory for the main characters in the anime. Second issue is that for this first season the plot doesn’t move very much after the initial episodes. After a while it just seems like filler content until around episode ten. Last issue is that from my perspective it was painfully obvious that this whole season was meant only to set up for the following season. Like my previous point stated, the show doesn’t move on very much and as soon as it’s over it seems like it has just started ramping up. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed the story I just wished they cut out some content.

Animation (9.5/10):
The show’s overall animation is quite astounding to behold. The things that struck out to me the most were the very unique lighting during the fight scenes as well as how detailed the character models were. Each character model was stunning to see over and over again throughout the entire anime. Also even though each of the servants were from different time periods, they all had a unique way of presenting themselves that I felt was pretty awesome. Overall I think this is one of the best looking anime I have seen (second to Nisemonogatari).

Sound (9.5/10):
Another great aspect of this anime was the sound that accompanied all the episodes. Voice acting was astounding as well as the background music. Each character’s emotions had a pretty well matched arrangement of music that seemed to fit in every situation. In the fight scenes you hear some pretty awesome choir arrangements that seem to be present in every action fighting anime. So yeah thumbs up to the staff on creating such a great sounding anime.

Characters (9/10):

It’s tough to put a number grade on the characters because while there are a couple great and memorial characters, there were a few that either did not have thought provoking motives or were just not enjoyable to see. Rider, Saber, Lancer, and Waver were all very well written characters that when on screen, stole your attention whether you wanted to or not. Rider (biased off of Alexander the Great) was by far my favorite character because he not only assessed each situation for the audience, but also because he was always cheerful and upbeat. The characters that really dragged the show down however, were Kirei, Kiritsugu, Assassin, and Ryuunosuke for various reasons. Some had no real motive that made me want to like or hate them (Kirei and Ryuunosuke) while others just turned out to really ruin my expectations (Kiritsugu and Assassin). Overall however, this anime’s characters will grow on you and will more than likely stick with you to remember later on.

Overall (8.8/10)
This anime really surprised me; after watching the first couple episodes I just could not stop watching it. It consumed me so much that I ended up watching all of it in one sitting (something I haven’t done since the first three arcs of Bleach). The idea surrounding the grail, the amazing visuals and fight scenes, the great sounding arrangements and voice overs, and above all rememberable characters made this anime one of the best that I have seen in my entire life. If you are looking for an epic adventure anime that won’t take up too much of your time, look no further because here it is.

"Nisemonogatari" Anime Review

***This is a spoiler free review***

Oh boy reviewing Nisemonogatari is a difficult task because it varies so far away in tone and execution compared to the first season Bakemonogatari. What this season lacks (IMHO the sense of tension and excitement) compared to Bakemonogatari, it makes up for in visuals and overall casual enjoyment.


Story: 5/10
Now re-read my last sentence up there ^^^^. Note that I stated "casual" enjoyment; this refers to how drastically different this show feels compared to Bakemonogatari. While Bakemonogatari was witty, full of tension, and loaded with brilliant character development, Nisemonogatari takes an entire 180 degree turn. Nisemonogatari comes off as a bunch of comedic and ecchi scenes that while executed very well will disappoint most people who enjoyed Bakemonogatari. The easiest way to understand the differences is to think of Bakemonogatari as a $500 bottle of wine and Nisemonogatari a can of your favorite beer. There is nothing wrong with beer (actually not my fav) but its target audience is much different than those who enjoy wine. This is why most of the episodes in this season feel very fillerish. The overall seriousness of the first season is replaced by laidback and comedic scenes with a fairly large emphasis of ecchi content (episode 8....). The recurring themes that seem present are Koyomi’s bonding with his sisters (who we did not get to know very well in the first season) and his will to remain loyal to his girlfriend. Koyomi’s sisters are for the most part the main focus of this entire season. As for the other characters, they are introduced every now and then but overall their screen time is very limited. The whole season is spilt into two main arcs, each focusing on one of his sisters. This leads into something that I feel that has improved from the first season, the comedy and character development. In the last season the only character I really felt developed during the season was Hitagi. In this season, we see Koyomi’s sisters personality and physical appearance change throughout the season. There are some insanely funny parts as well as some very serious ones that had me laughing throughout all the episodes. Overall the story was very enjoyable but unlike in Bakemonogatari, I felt like this season was mostly a filler and not completely necessary.


Animation: 10/10
I didn’t think I would ever consider something “perfect”, that was until I saw the animation in this show. The animation in this anime is very well done. It’s not only the quality of each scene but also the angle of the shots, the transitions between text to shot, the lighting, everything is just so well done it’s very hard to understand how well the animation studio did. Each scene is drawn and produced so well that if seen from across the room you might think it was on par with a budget of a movie rather than an ongoing show. Each character is very appealing to watch and even the very action orientated scenes flow smoothly. This is by far one of the best looking anime’s I have ever experienced.

Sound: 9.3/10

This anime is about talking (some of the conversations literally last 15 minutes) so you're going to want to enjoy what you are listening to right? Good thing Nisemonogatari has your back. The opening and closing themes are all very enjoyable to listen to as it ranges from j-pop to jazzy songs (I especially liked Tsukihi's opening). The voice acting is also very well done as all the characters had corresponding voices that seemed to fit correctly with the main star being Koyomi's voice actor. He once again brings out Koyomi's every emotion flawlessly without it coming off as fake or forced. For a show that relies so much on just character interaction, the voice acting really helped these long conversations shine. Overall the sound for this anime was well above par.


Characters: 8/10
The recurring characters personalities are just as enjoyable as they were in the previous season. In this season, we are introduced to Koyomi’s sisters and get to know the vampire Shinobu much more in-deph. Koyomi’s sisters range from an athletic tomboy who fights for what’s right to a very clever and masochist girl. I especially loved Karen as the minute we were introduced to her I knew I was going to love her character. Each gets a plethora amount of character development time to fully develop. The vampire Shinobu plays a much bigger role in this season. She also has a masochist like personality that likes to play tricks on Koyomi. The new characters introduced this season are very well written and a joy to watch interact with Koyomi. If only the returning characters played a bigger roll in the plot; oh well hopefully in the upcoming movie we can get the best of both worlds.


Overall: 8.1/10
While Bakemonogatari will remain one of my all-time favorites, Nisemonogatari will remind me that something so different can be just as good. It just goes to show that even if the plot is dragging the show down, great characters, amazing sound, and beautiful animation can help it shine. The easy going nature and almost harem storytelling of this season to some may seem unnecessary and unwanted but to me was very enjoyable and a blast to watch. Unlike the previoius season where you watched the show for the tension and well written dialogue, this season is just a kick back and relax kind of watch. With the characters written so well, animation being perfect, and voice acting exceeding my expectations, this is an anime you do not want to miss out on. I do however strongly encourage watching Bakemonogatari first as you might be very lost not doing so when starting Nisemonogatari.
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Nisemonogatari was so different than Bakemonogatari yet I still liked it...weird...