Anime Review: Mononoke

As noted back in my Library War review, despite the fact that I'm a big fan of the noitaminA timeslot there are quite a few shows from it that I've never seen and I really hope to change that this year by giving those shows a bit of priority on my to-watch list. So I went for a title that is both well-known and not; well-known amongst some circles of fans for being one of Kanji Nakamura's shows (Gatchaman Crowds was actually his first show to not air in the timeslot) and a pretty interesting one just to look at, and yet not that well-known at all since the series has never been licensed or even streamed legally in the US, bother!

Mononoke

Anime Review: Kamisama Kiss

Continuing along with the just finished fall series (although I only had three, one-cour series this time, just about everything is carrying over into the winter but that's the subject for tomorrow's post), I had actually heard of this series before the annoucement since Viz Media has licensed the manga over here in the US (under their Shojo Beat imprint). So I tried reading some of it, kind of got into it but not really into it so I was pretty excited for the anime and hoped that it would just flow a bit better this way. Sadly the anime ended right where I stopped reading the manga so it didn't cover any new material, really wish I had planned that better but oh well.

Kamisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita)

Summary: Nanami lost her mother at a young age and now her father has run away from his gambling debts and all their assets have been seized leaving her with literally nothing. She's determined to do something about it but before she can think of anything she finds herself helping a man get away from a dog and he offers her a place to stay in return. What he didn't mention was that his place was in fact a dilapidated shrine and in the process he just made Nanami a god.... 

The Good: Since there's no good place to mention this otherwise, the title translates more or less into "I Became a God", best guess for why that was changed for English is for alliterative reasons/American idea of god is pretty different. Moving on, this show almost feels like it was based on a story from the early 2000s since it's so, clean in some ways. No fanservice (unless you count fox boys with long hair and all their clothes on fanservice), the romantic pairing is established pretty early on, no gimmicks, the characters never have too much trouble overcoming the problems placed before them, it just has a cleanness to it that I don't see that much these days (or maybe I'm not reading as much shojo so I'm just not coming across it as often, also totally possible). Funny enough, considering how they share a director, I think this show has the potential to be to a lot of early high schoolers what Fruits Basket was to me and my friends, a gateway anime which I think is a good thing (although my inner cynic says it probably won't work out that neatly).   

The Bad: When the director (Akitaro Daichi) was first announced I said I was a little worried since I just didn't like how he did parts of Fruits Basket (and it's no secret in the fandom that he and the manga-ka disagreed so much that that's why there's no second season) and yeah, again I didn't like the ending he had here. As I said earlier, I had read up to this point so I remembered a bit so I went, checked, and yep, not only did he squish in parts from the next arc (and they only had two episodes to wrap up!) but a lot of the stuff I didn't like (Nanami running away) was anime original. I'm guessing he felt like there wasn't enough drama already and wanted to add in more but I thought it was a poor choice. But mostly my problems lie with the source material, while there are some underlying plot threads throughout the entire story (which were brought up here, and ended up going no where since they haven't yet been resolved) the story has a ton of silly side stories and I do wish it underwent Cerebus Syndrome to an extent, or at least had fewer side stories (hell, I was starting to wonder if the anime was making up filler for some unknown reason).

The Audio: I might get pelted by the fans for this but, I didn't really like neither the opening song nor the ending. There wasn't anything wrong with either of them (Funimation translated the lyrics so I can say that they matched the show well enough) but they both had the wrong tone for me, they were too girly and simpering and I just wanted something a little more upbeat (or at least a more upbeat opening and make the current opening the ending). Didn't have any trouble with the voice acting however, every one sounded good 

The Visuals: I don't know what it is but Nanami's design just doesn't quite work for me. It's almost there, and I like around 75% of the other character designs in the show, but there's just something a little off. Maybe it was the color scheme, that also seemed oddly bright and cheerful and I would have liked it to have been a little more muted, although looking at the manga book covers I can say that I can see where they got the general scheme from.


So I give this show a three or a three and a half out of five and I'm not sure if I plan on buying it. I probably should, and probably will, since obviously the only way to convince Funimation to license more shojo (yes, even thought Viz had the manga Funi has the anime) and I'm sure they'll dub it well as well, it just fell a little flat with me in the end. Thankfully it does seem to be doing well in Japan (apparently the streaming numbers for Funi were either the best or among the best they've ever had for a simulcast) so we *might* get a second season, it would be a shame to leave the few things they set up just hanging, although if not there's always the manga (although sadly not on the VizManga site yet).

Book Review: Spirit's Princess

 (Apologies that this is late, moving into a new apartment and all that whatnot) Another book I got from Random Buzzers, this time through a visiting author on their forums (I have no idea how this one works, do the authors choose who gets a book? The mods? Is it random? Based on the question asked? Doesn't really matter for me, I can always get the books later if I don't win one there, but I am curious) and I've been interested in this author's works for a while now (probably because one of her protagonists shares my name) and was happy to finally get a chance to read them. Like the other books she's written this one will be a duet and is based on a real, historical female figure from ancient times and I suppose I should just get to the review at this point.

Spirit's Princess by Esther Friesner

Summary: Himiko is the daughter of a chieftain in third century Japan and ever since her birth some people in her village have believe she was destined for greatness. She feels drawn towards the path of village shaman but encounters resistance from her father because of his own past experiences. Despite that however she's determined to learn even more and starts to realize that her destiny lies outside of her small village after all.  

The Good: It may be an odd detail to point out but I think this is the first time I've ever seen a polygamous relationship portrayed in a positive light in fiction and, considering the popular culture in the US generally makes it out as something terrible that will never work, I just liked how it was included and felt rather natural in the story. I also loved the setting, despite all the anime/manga I consume I rarely find anything that's set more than a few hundred years ago and certainly nothing almost 2000 years ago which made the setting here fascinating and it managed to feel real through it's details (and even some of the weirder ones, like creating sake through chewing rice, I've encountered elsewhere so I know that's a real detail). And it really was those details that let me enjoy the story, they helped the story stand out and they made the setting work (and I do consider the setting the most important part of the story for it's overarching effects on every character and their actions, which it did wonderfully here).  

The Bad: Himiko, despite all of her character development comes off as just a bit flat at times. Hopefully as she continues to grow in the next book she'll feel a bit more rounded (I think the problem is that most of her complaints are too reasonable or can be written off by the fact that she's rather young, she's almost too normal in a way) and she certainly wasn't a flat character, just not as rounded as she could've been. I do wish they had touched more on the spirit world in this volume, there were only a few scenes focusing on it which left a lot of things unanswered, but again I expect that to come up in the next book so I'm not overly worried about it.


A solid read but not one where I'm dieing to read the next book immediately (thank goodness since this was an ARC, the hardback is out by now but it's going to be a little while before the next volume is out), although it has reminded me that I need to go check all of my libraries again and see if they have any of Friesner's previous works in, they've certainly had enough years to do it!  

Anime Review: Nastume Yuujinchou Shi

Apologies that some of my recent reviews have been a bit on the shorter side, I've finally hit exam time so I've been juggling a bit more work than normal and haven't quite had the energy to make as detailed posts. That aside, I suspect that even if I had more energy this particular post would still be on the shorter side since I've already talked about the first three seasons and hate to repeat myself which leaves me with a bit less to say here.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi

Summary: Takashi Natsume is a high schooler with the ability to see yokai (spirits) and possesses other immense spiritual talents, inherited from his maternal grandmother Reiko Natsume. While this used to bother him and cause all kinds of trouble he has since gotten used to it and now enjoys the company of a number of yokai, people with talents like him and the ordinary people in his life.

The Good: The series has slowly become more and more ambitious and wastes no time getting into the thick of things with a two parter opener and the series first three episode arc rounding off the series. In general I prefer the more plot heavy, multi-episode stories and enjoyed all four of those arcs quite well and was even happier to see that one of those arcs and a stand alone episode both focused heavily on Natsume's past (and even happier one dealt with his parents a bit, it's about time we heard something about his family!). Even the one obligatory anime original episode (featuring a very odd choice this time, the backstory of another exorcist who has appeared a few times) was well done this time and I don't think there was a single episode I didn't enjoy.

The Bad: I have come to the conclusion that it is for the best not to think of this series as a show with four, distinct seasons but rather a show with 52 (!!! never thought we would have so many) episodes. While I liked the two parter that opened the season it just wasn't the right episode to open with and we're starting to have a problem where side characters will appear often one season but barely at all the next which feels a bit odd. Also, again this is given my preference for the more plot heavy arcs (and this is a problem carried over from the manga) I do wish the series would finally give us more information about Natsume's family. This season does clear up a few things about his parents (and Matoba dropped an interesting hint about Natsume's mother) but I think nearly every fan wants to know by now just what happened to Reiko.

The Audio: This is one of the few series where I consider the music to be more important than the visuals, possibly because the original manga is a bit sparse in design, and the music here continues to hit all the right notes and add to what are already emotional scenes. The voice acting continued to work just fine and while I didn't like the opening and ending songs as much as I did the ones for the third season they worked fine here (and as a bonus I did enjoy the ending song from the start, unlike the first two seasons where both of them took a while to grow on me).

The Visuals: Like the third season it seems like the fourth season had a bit more budget, the lines look cleaner, the colors bolder, and there are some nicely animated scenes throughout. I've always thought that while the character designs aren't necessarily plain some of their outfit choices were (I cosplay, I look for these things!) but this season introduced some more elaborate outfits (which caused the fanart community to go nuts) and it was nice to have a bit more visual flair in the series.


So far there aren't any plans for a fifth and sixth seasons (geeze guys, calm down! The show has always been split cour, which requires six volumes of manga and the 13th volume just came out as the fourth season started) but I do hope the show continues since I would love it to continue all the way to the end (and for the series to end in a conclusive fashion someday but I might be in the minority there). All four seasons are streaming for free on crunchyroll for a variety of countries and NISA has announced that all four seasons have been licensed for a US release, more information coming hopefully soon. 

Winter 2012 Anime Reviews

So it's that time again, a new season of anime has started and there's all sorts of stuff to try out. Only one post from me this time since, as is usual for winter seasons, there isn't a ton of stuff that interests me but there are still a few shows that caught my eye. I've seen the first one or two episodes of each series, for once all of these shows are legally being simulcast so I might be a few days behind some of them, but normally my opinion doesn't change too radically from my early impressions so onto the mini-reviews!

Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer): High school student Kirishima Kaito is expecting to have a laid back summer shooting a movie with friends but then he apparently gets crushed by an alien space ship. Oops. So far he hasn’t remembered that detail but since the offending alien, and the one responsible for bringing him back, has now transferred to his school, agreed to help out with the movie and somehow moved in with him while his sister leaves for the summer, it might not be so quiet after all. Ignoring how much of that sounds like Birdy the Mighty Decode (since there have been plenty of shows with a similar arrangement of tropes) I was surprised at how much I liked this one. It took some classic romantic tropes, such as the mysterious and hot new transfer student moving in, and actually played around with them and made them funny again. Sure there were still some facepalm worthy moments when things became too clichéd but so far I think the writers stand at good chance at making this a fun little show.

Ano Natsu is streaming on Crunchyroll and has been licensed by Section 23

Another:26 years ago, a talented student who was beloved by everyone died. Yet her classmates pretended that she was still alive up to graduation and there seems to be even more to the story than that. Fast forward to 1998 and Kouichi Sakakibara has moved to the small town of Yomiyama and will be attending the same middle school while his father is off researching in India. He spends some time in a hospital first however and from there the story starts creating an atmosphere that “not everything is as it seems!” and by creating atmosphere I mean beating you over the head with all the shots of people looking uncomfortable, shots that drag out way too long with “creepy sounds” played, and too many close-ups of people’s eyes dilating dramatically. The show does sound interesting and a like a lot of it but after two episodes I just can't take the "this is atmosphere!" moments seriously and I just become too annoyed at the show. I might pick it up later but for the moment the show is dropped.

Another is another show streaming over on crunchyroll and is another new show licensed by Section 23.

Bodacious Space Pirates (Mouretsu Pirates): …..I am never typing out that title again if I can help it. Contrary to the title however, this isn’t a fanservice show (or at least not yet)! In the future there have been many planets that have been colonized and one of them, the Sea of the Morningstar, gained it’s independence from it’s mother system only 100 years ago with the help of privateers, space pirates who attack enemy ships with permission from the government (a “Letter of Marque”). This is all fairly unimportant for Marika Kato, an ordinary high school student who is very active in her school’s space yacht club, until she learns that she is the only living descendant of the captain of the ship Bentenmaru* and therefore is the only person who can be the next captain. Marika isn’t so sure about all of this pirate stuff but I definitely be checking out a few more episodes since this one seemed like a fairly fun show and I liked Marika a lot as well, she seems fairly sensible so I’m curious how they’ll convince her to become the captain. The show also has had the sense not to rush Marika into her new position, even if it’s clear to the audience that she’ll be the next captain, and I’m really enjoying the world building build up right now.

Space Pirates is also streaming on Crunchyroll and also been licensed by Section 23.

InuxBoku Secret Service: Ririchiyo is the newest tenant of the Mansion de Ayakashi, a super exclusive apartment complex where each person is assigned their very own Secret Service person. Ririchiyo, who moved in to try and work on her habit of covering up her true emotions by speaking disdainfully to people, doesn’t want her assigned Secret Service man but Soushi might wear her down yet. I read some of the manga for this series before this and it took me a few chapters to get into the swing of it and I feel like that might be the same case here. It’s kinda interesting but not a very gripping first episode, I did like the OP though which was nice since I haven’t liked most of the OP/ED I’ve seen this season.

 Take a wild guess who is streaming this one and another guess who licensed it.

Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne (Rinne no Lagrange: Flower Declaration of Your Heart): Madoka seems to be a fairly ordinary student, abet one who helps out everyone who asks and because someone asked her she ends up piloting a robot in the fight against alien invaders (she does object when she finds out this wasn't a one time thing however). It certainly feels like a lot of mecha/space/sci-fi-ish shows this season (this, Aquarion Evol, that pirate show, Senki Zessho Symphogear, Ano Natsu to a degree), I guess this is the accidental theme of the season (and perhaps the year) just like young girl detectives were the theme last year. I didn’t like the first episode that much, it felt bland and predictable, but I started warming up to the show in the second episode as Madoka and some of the other characters started to get a bit more fleshed out and there was a small twist on the monster-of-the-week style episode I was expecting. The show is (split) two cour so it has time to build up and I really hope that’s what they’re doing right now.

Rin-ne has been licensed by Viz and is being streamed on hulu since Viz doesn't have their own player.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi: You really shouldn’t be watching this show if you haven’t seen the previous three seasons and if you’ve seen them then you already know the drill here, Takashi Natsume can see spirits and inherited the Book of Friends from his grandmother who could also see spirits and decided to release all the names contained within it. He gets into trouble a lot however and mostly unrelated to the book such as the trouble he gets into in the two-parter that starts off the season. I like the more serious arcs of Natsume myself, especially since we might even get some back story on his parents this season (it popped up recently in the scanlations), and the theme of the season so far seems to be Natsume actively helping out yokai, but regardless which way Natsume goes I’ll be sure to keep watching.

Same as the previous seasons, Natsume is streaming on Crunchyroll (and all four seasons have finally been licensed for the US by NISA).

In case you guys couldn't tell, Funico have been surprisingly mum about their pick-ups for this season, so far they only announced the DxD boobs show and honestly there aren't many other series this season I'm curious in trying. Possibly The Daily Lives of Highschool Boys or the new Aquarion Evol show but for the moment I'm good. I have 5 continuing shows, at least 5 new shows, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, MLP:FiM, 3 Nozomi shows (although the last episode of Emma streamed yesterday and the last episode of Antique Bakery streams next week), plus a few other things to watch so it's not like I'm getting bored anytime soon.

Soooo, what is everyone else trying out that they absolutely adore so far? 

*whose name keeps reminding me of a mash-up of Bettenou from Un-Go and Bishamaru from Kyosougiga, which is a pretty funny image 

Anime Review: Natsume Yuujinchou San

More Natsume! And there will be even more next year since the fourth season has already been scheduled for the Winter 2012 season which makes me and I'm sure all the fans who buy the DVDs in Japan (it's Studio Brain Base's second biggest title, their number one title is Durarara!!) are thrilled about this as well. Actually, there was a similar gap between the first two seasons (the original was in the summer and Zoku was in the winter) so I wonder if San and the next season had been planned as a split 2-cour from the beginning and that's why there was a few year gap between 2 and 3. I think split cour shows are a pretty good idea myself, the gap gives the animators time to get ahead again and have enough time to work on everything, gives fans a chance to save up for more merchandise later on and it gives people who either didn't know about the show from the start or got behind in watching it a chance to catch up and then see the next part as it airs. 

Natsume Yuujinchou San (Natsume and the Book of Friends Three)

Summary: Ever since he was young, Takeshi Natsume has been able to see yokai (spirits) and it's only when he moves in with his current guardians that he learns that his grandmother Reiko had the same power and many of the same hardships. Thus he inherited her most precious belonging, the Book of Friends which contains the names of the yokai she befriended/defeated in a fight and Natsume is trying to return them all. And as time goes by Natsume finds himself interacting with more and more people and spirits and finds that he's making friends as well.

The Good: Like the second season, the third season of Natsume has a few two-parters (and other episodes where multiple chapters were compressed into one episode) and it's nice to have some variety since this is an episodic show to the core. On the subject of individual episodes, the one showing how Natsume met his current caretakers was one of the best of the entire series, from the pacing to the characters (even if some of them were more rounded in the manga) and hit all the right emotional notes. This season also introduced a reoccurring side character, Matoba (who was mentioned in the second season) and his character is an interesting contrast to Natsume's. He's also the most villainous character so far, someone who really only thinks of yokai as tools to be used, which makes him even more interesting. All of the other reoccurring characters feel very well fleshed out by this point and it's great to see some of them (like Taki and Tamuna) get more and more involved with Natsume (especially since that helps to show Natsume's own growth). 

The Bad: Even though some of the individual episodes were very strong and the whole season was rather enjoyable, I didn't feel like it was as strong as the previous seasons overall. Both of the previous seasons seemed to have an overarching theme (Natsume opening up to people and then starting to open up to yokai more) but this season seemed a bit all over the place. It did focus more on Natsume's past than the previous two seasons but the season lacked a theme that it need to tie together everything in it (which is the danger of being an episodic series, you need a strong overall theme or the story risks falling apart).

The Audio: This is the first time I've liked one of the ending songs from the start so it's my favorite out of the three so far and the opening song was good as well. I wasn't as fond of the visuals in the opening (showing clips from the past two seasons seemed a bit cheap to me) but the song sounded nice (another case where crunchyroll hasn't been able to translate the songs) so I was happy. The show has some very distinctive background themes by now and I was happy to hear a lot of old ones come back and was happy about their placement.

The Visuals: It looks like the show might have gotten a slight budget raise since since the art looks a bit crisper than before, or perhaps that was because I was watching this version in 720p on crunchyroll instead of standard definition. It's a subtle change though and the art still looks the same way it always has, like a cleaned up, slightly cuter version of the manga art and everything still looks consistently on model with appropriate color schemes.

Not my favorite season of the show but it's still one of my favorite shows and I do wish it would get licensed over in the US (or Australia or the UK so I could import it). So, Nozomi, NISA? Could one of you guys license this in a nice fancy package with extras? Heck, I wouldn't mind if Sentai licensed this as a slightly over-priced sub only deal, I just want a physical copy of it with subtitles!

Summer Anime 2011 Reviews: Part two!

And here is the second half of the reviews, sorry it's up later than I said but apparently the time that crunchyroll will air Dantalian ≠ the time NicoNico streams it (CR is streaming it a week delayed) so that threw me off. Lesson learned, simulcasts are weird, don't try to predict them. XD

Mawaru PenguinDrum:

When Ikuhara announced that he would be working on a new anime, his first one since Utena, part of the internet went nuts and, after the trailers came out, promptly showed them to the other half of the internet to convince them to try it. The first episode alone involves death and revival of a character, invisible to normal people penguins, a magical girl transformation sequence in reverse and possibly incest (actually, considering Utena, make that incest for sure but, again considering Utena, it probably won’t be portrayed as a good thing). Plus plenty of colorful artwork, lots of background detail that will probably make for a fun second viewing and it seems to introduce a central plot thread all in the first episode. Unfortunately this one doesn’t have a simulcast so you’ll have to hunt down fansubs for it but I think it’s worth a look by everyone who enjoys more surreal things/bored with mainstream/loved Utena or who is just plain curious about what the hubbub is about.  

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian (Dantalian no Shoka or Bibliobeca Mystica de Dantalian):

The final show of the season that looks an awful lot like Gosick but, like the other two shows that also bear some resemblance, the show itself seems rather different. Huey, a former fighter pilot (from what looks like World War I^), has inherited his late grandfather's estate and belongings which include a ridiculous amount of books and a young girl who looks like a girl, Danlian. She is quick to inform Huey that his grandfather's death was no accident, as he had already suspected, and then reveals that his library houses some very dark and very magical books and it seems like Huey is now in charge of guarding and binding those books. I checked out a few chapters of the manga and really like the anime designs better (the way Danlian's hair and face are drawn make her much cuter) but for some reason Ginax uses photographs with a cheap photoshop effect over them for backgrounds in places which is a bit odd. The placement of the music also seemed a bit strange at times but honestly the strangest thing about this show is the live action ending that seems to have absolutely no connection to it. The show is streaming both on crunchyroll (with a one week delay for everyone, even subscribers) and on NicoNico without commercials (but I think only for the US).   

 

Natsume Yuujincou San (Natsume and the Book of Friends III):

To all the people who are complaining that Brains Base hasn’t made Durarara 2 yet, shut up. Natsume was their biggest seller before DRRR and I love it more/been waiting longer for this.

Ahem, not much has changed between seasons of this show (except that it looks a little better here, a little cleaner, so it might have a slightly higher budget) which continues to follow Natsume’s episodic encounters with the local yokai and people which help him grow and mature. This first episode also revealed more of his grandmother Reiko’s background and the contrast between her ultimately tragic life and Natsume’s growing happiness/security with the normal world is heart-breaking, which is of course what you except from an episode of this show so clearly it’s doing it’s job right. You can’t stop me from watching this show (streaming on crunchyroll as everyone expected it would be), when is this thing going to be licensed! (I don’t care if it’s in the R3 or R4 markets, I need this thing on DVD with subtitles some day!)

No. 6:

The other noitaminA show this season, set in the far off year of 2013 after a nuclear war devastated half of the habitable area of the planet and the remaining areas where divided up into six sections, Sion is an elite among the elites. Recognized for his high IQ he’s lived the life of luxury with his mom since he was a toddler but even he can see that there is something not quite right with this city. This is confirmed when Nezumi (Mouse/Rat) come bursting into Sion’s room one night with a gunshot wound, a violence chip implanted in him by the government and no desire to burden Sion with the truth. So, it’s sci-fi, it’s a utopia that’s actually a dystopia, I’m game! And to everyone who is complaining about all the “BL”, shut up, grow some ovaries and if you can’t take two guys holding hands (yet find two girls hugging cute) then yeaaaaah, I have nothing polite to say (seriously, if I have to read one more  “ewww, BL ruins all the good series” BS I will start drop-kicking people through the internet). And for anyone who was unnerved that Sion and Nezumi sound waaay too old for 12 don’t worry, there is a timeskip (judging by the preview it’ll be right at the beginning of the next episode), it looks gorgeous (this is BONES after all) and should have the plot to back it all up. Crunchyroll is streaming the show but just for the US/Canada (on that note, Funimation isn't streaming either of the noitaminA shows this season which seems strange, especially since they just had a panel at Anime Expo promoting the brand of sorts).

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (Nurarihyon no Mago: Sennen Makyo):

I saw most of the first season last year since I really enjoyed the manga but I had to give up by the end, it was just doing things so differently from the manga and I just didn’t have any motivation to watch it (also, there was too much Kana in it, believe me this was actually a problem). So I had no intention of watching this until I saw a few other people who had dropped the show try the first episode and say that the new staff seem to be doing much better than the first group. And yes, this is better so far, heck, they FINALLY animated the very first chapter of the manga which is set four years earlier and completely explains why Rikuo feels the way he does about the yokai. It’s not the most ground-shattering revelation but, as the first season got more and more muddled (and had flashbacks to the silly thing) I always wondered why they didn’t just put this in. Beyond that, it looks like they’ll be skipping a minor arc or two (hopefully not the semi-major one) to get to the series really big arc, the Kyoto Arc, so fans of the manga who dropped the first season should go ahead and check out the first few episodes here (streaming on hulu by Viz again) to see if it’s worth picking back up.

So, right now here's what my watching schedule looks like (in addition to watching some live action tv and older anime from the library):

Sunday: Nura*

Monday: Natsume

Tuesday: Steins;Gate

Wednesday: Blue Exorcist*, Furuba Radio Drama

Thursday: Blood-C*, Bunny Drop, No. 6

Friday: PenguinDrum (yes I know it comes out Thursday but the subs take a little while), Dantalian*

Saturday: Tiger and Bunny

All the shows with a * on it means I'm watching it now but if it doesn't stay at least decent I'm dropping it. Technically No. 6 should have one as well since I didn't like the pacing in the second episode but I haven't dropped a noitaminA show yet, just ranted about it. On that note however, I've seen a lot of people who liked the pacing/didn't mind the pacing in the second episode so I suppose that means this story is working as an adaptation (that said, I like what one of the reviewers suggested on ANNCast, think it was Rebbecca, when she suggested that it just have longer episodes, that would really well in this case I feel).

^oh dear, maybe this isn't so different after all, pleasedon'tbringupWWIIIohpleasedon'tdothatagain. 

Anime Review: Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou (rewatch)

As I said yesterday, despite how much I love my plot-heavy stories there are a few shows I watch specifically because they are more episodic and character-focused and Natsume Yuujincho is one of those stories. 

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume and the Book of Friends Continued)

Summary: As in the first season, Natsume is the owner of the Book of Friends, a book containing the names of dozens of spirits that he has power over, and is constantly being haressed by spirits who either want the book all for themselves or who want their names back (and most of them think that he's his long dead grandmother, Reiko, the creator of the book). But this doesn't bother him as much as it used to since, even though he's distrustful of many people (human and spirit alike) he's begun to grow closer and trust some of them. 

The Good: This season season gives us our first two parter (two of them actually) and a couple of the characters either pop up a few episodes early or simply make more appearances which add some nice continuity to the story. Even if the story is episodic, each episode should build on the previous ones and having little reminders of previous episodes (such as reoccurring characters) is a nice way to do it, also adds more rewatch value to a show. The one anime-original episode this season (the one concerning a spirit whose name was tied to a tree 50 years ago instead of being put into the book) was much better than the previous season's episode and it's interesting to see that both of them focused on Reiko a good deal. There's another episode focusing on Reiko which gives her some much needed character development (and some backstory) and also provides a bit of background for Natsume's caretakers as well. 

The Bad: The episode focusing on Reiko, as good and useful as it was, does bring up an important question however, will the story ever say more about who she was (or about the rest of Natsume's family) or will the story only talk about her every now and then? While at first glance it doesn't seem like her story has much to do with Natsume's, the title of the story is Natsume and the Book of Friends, not Takashi (his first name) and the Book of Friends so the story is about him and his family. Partially I bring this up since, as the story goes on, more and more characters recognize Reiko's name and have even met her so shouldn't someone know what happened to her? One character is even surprised that Natsume doesn't know what happened to his grandmother so, while it's not completely needed, more backstory concerning some of the other characters in this series would be an amazing thing.  

The Audio: Once again the opening and closing themes are left unsubtitled, although it's easier to find translations for these than it was for the first season's songs. However, the lyrics to the ending song don't seem to match the images (singing about leaving someone as more and more people appear in the ending) and the lyrics to the opening song are just rather strange. A lot of the background music is re-used from the first season but, considering how well it worked there, this isn't a bad thing at all (also, more continuity!). And once again, the music in this series does an amazing job at setting the mood and tone of a scene and it's the music that makes you just as likely to tear up at the end of a happy episode or a sad episode, it's perfectly placed and knows exactly how to mess with the watcher's emotions.

The Visuals: As with the first season, the anime art style is cleaner and smoother than the manga art style  but this time around the ending theme is drawn in the manga art style and it looks rather good in that context. Since this season is set in winter the colors are a bit more muted than the first season (not that the colors were especially vibrant then either) but, like the music, the color scheme help contributes to the overall mood of the show and in a story involving spirits and the otherworldly it's the art that helps keep the story grounded while it's the music that really draws the watcher in.

Apologizes that this is up so late, just had trouble writing this review since I do love the show so much and really want to do it justice. That said, I'm a bit sad that the third season probably won't address the backstory problem I have since I believe I've read all the manga that the next season will cover (in fact, if anything, based on what one character says this new season will raise a whole new set of questions about one of Natsume's other relatives and not the one I was expecting). Regardless, I'm still eagerly awaiting the new season and who knows, maybe I missed something the first time I read it (for some of the chapters it would have been a while) and I'll be surprised!

Anime Review: Natsume Yuujinchou (rewatch)

I’ve seen both seasons of this show before when I was still new-ish to anime and decided to finally get around to re-watching them with the third season coming out this summer. I didn’t need to do this, the show is slice of life so the order of the episodes almost doesn’t matter and there’s no myth arc in the first two seasons but I really do love this show and just wanted to see it again. I think this was the first slice of life show I really enjoyed and now I really like slice of life shows so I suppose I have this one to thank for that.            

Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume and the Book of Friends)

Summary: Takeshi Natsume is a high school boy who can see spirits and has always resented this ability because of how it always distanced him from other people. But, after he’s been passed to yet another distant relative to live with, he discovers that his grandmother Reiko could see spirits as well and collected the names of those she defeated in fights in her Book of Friends. This book is now in Natsume’s possession and he’s about to find himself interacting with even more spirits than usual, both those who just want their names back and those who want to kill him for the book's power.

The Good: One thing the anime does better than the manga is that it takes a number of background characters (like Natsume’s classmates) and makes them reoccurring characters which helps link the episodes together a bit more and really gives Natsume a chance to connect with other people. The whole point to the story is Natsume beginning to understand people better, both humans and spirits, so having characters that he can build a relationship with over a series of episodes is a really good thing.

The Bad: The only episode that feels a bit weak is the one with the train ticket (about halfway through the season) and not surprisingly that’s the only non-manga story in the anime. There’s simply something that’s a little bit off and the information about Reiko in the end feels a bit odd as well. Also odd is just how quickly Natsume begins to open up to others again, especially spirits since he's always blamed them for how they separated him from other people (poor Natsume's gift is so strong that he's not always sure what's real and what isn't). The whole story is about him connecting with others again but it seems strange that he still is willing to connect in the beginning, he was less open in the manga as I recall. 

The Audio:  Neither the opening or ending songs are translated on crunchyroll but the ending sounds a little bit like a sad ballad and the opening has one or two parts that sound sad as well. The rest of the show has a number of good and distinctive themes and all the voice acting is solid as well (special props to Nyanko-sensei’s voice actor who I believe does both of his forms, that’s an incredible range).

The Visuals: The original manga artwork has a sketchy style to it the art in the anime looks much cleaner and smoother. The palette of colors is a bit muted, not even the spirits are done in excessively bright colors, but the colors really fit the calm and more introspective feeling of the series. There is a bit of stock footage used for when Natsume returns a name but it’s very pretty footage, can’t be more than 15 seconds long and isn’t used in every episode so most people shouldn’t mind it at all.

Heh, I wrote this yesterday and just forgot to post it until now, so much for my planning skills. And yes, there will be a review of the second season up soon as well, I could have put both seasons in one review but decided that, since I've reviewed seasons of the same show separately before, to continue with this approach instead.

Anime Review: Otome Yokai Zakuro

When this series showed up on the fall anime chart it looked cute but I wasn't expecting, well, anything from the series. As much as I enjoy shojo, their romances are hit and miss with me and this one looked pretty romance heavy. To my delight however this one made the romantic pairings clear from the start and then focused on all the characters developing relationships with each other, hurray for the worst cliches averted!

Otome Yokai Zakuro

Summary: In an alternate history, the Department of Spirit Affairs is a newly created division in the Japanese government meant for dealing with affairs between humans and spirits. On the human side we have three young, good looking soldiers and on the spirit side we have four young, cute half spirit girls. All of them are paired up and deal with various problems concerning spirits and humans, as well as figure out their feelings for each other.

The Good: Like I said, the characters are paired up the way fans would've paired them up (romantically) anyway and it's clear from the start that they all have good chemistry and so there isn't much "will they or won't they?" in the series. The characters also grow into these relationships so by the end of the series it feels perfectly natural that they have feelings for each other and the whole group feels nicely balanced out as well.

The Bad: Had some issues with the ending, to keep it as spoiler free as possible, it involved a lot of emotional build-up that was tossed away in a comedic manner in the end and that always annoys me. And, to be completely honest, even though the show was fun to watch while it was airing, it's not a very memorable show. Sure I remember the plot and everything that happened, but it's hard to remember why I liked the characters so much or what the spark that made it good was. It just really doesn't do enough to stand out from the crowd and in the end it didn't particularly make me want to go out and find the rest of the story.

The Art: Like I said above, it was the cute looking art work that drew me into the series and it's a nice adaption of the screentone heavy original manga art. Actually, if you look at the opening in the first episode and check a few episodes later you'll notice that they added in extra details to the girl's outfits to make them more like their manga counterparts. No reason to do it (they also changed the shot of the villain after their reveal) but I love little details like that.


The Music: There were multiple ending songs song by the different pairs but, since crunchyroll didn't translate them, I really don't have an opinion on them. Actually, they didn't sub the opening either and since I can't find subs of the song I don't really have an opinion on that either. They all sound rather pretty but not knowing what a song means really takes away from it. There was one super short insert song (technically a chant) that the girls sing before a fight (basically it's asking if they are humans or demons, a question that the rest of society is grappling with) that CR did sub and that one fit them perfectly. Short, sweet, and subbed, good all around!

So, with Squid Girl I could see myself buying that and watching it again/loaning it out to friends, but I can't see myself watching this again. Maybe someday I'll have the urge to watch it again and hopefully it'll still be on crunchyroll but for the moment I'll keep my fingers crossed for licensing announcements for other titles instead.