Spring... The seasons where you could see life flourishes after the long winter. No Sakura here, but it's a beautiful sight nevertheless. Even the anime of this season itself gets back to its toes after a mediocre winter line up. Only 1 anime from last season I've continued. The spring anime itself is rather good. I've enjoyed most of them. Not the best this year had to offer, but really satisfying regardless. Before I go on, let me apologize for taking so long. I've been really busy for the past few month. Later on, my computer had to get reformatted which added salt to the wound. So, I'm really sorry for posting this very, very late. But ehhh... better late than never. Here we go.
"It must be the work of enemy's stand". That's pretty much sums up the the third arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is the one anime filled with overly muscular super humans, flamboyantly stunning poses, and over-the-top battles that are sure to fill your battle shounen needs. I've been telling you guys to watch it several time before in the previous review without much hesitation, since this is one of the best over the top anime I've watched.
The story is all about adventures, where a group of muscular bros are travelling together to Egypt to confront their ancestral enemy. This time, they are continuing their journey to Egypt, and finally reaching to an end of this arc. The plot are pretty straightforward, where each episodes are accompanied by enticing battle scene, sometime expanded to several episodes. Each of them are unique in their own way, as each characters try to discover the right way to defeat their opponent, sometimes ended in a comedic sense. Speaking of comedy, the humour makes the anime feels rather light in the own way, even with all the gore and violence included. The pose and one liner makes it more epic in their own way, to a point it feels almost satirical sometime. The soundtrack is really good, but feels kinda repetitive.
Character wise, JoJo features one of the best shounen line up. On the good guys side, we have the Jotaro Kujo, a serious, cool protagonist, with rather cliche personalities but that's what makes him awesome. His serious attitudes can lead to a rather humorous result sometime given the situation. Then we have his grandfather Joseph Joestar, the one who try to be cool but always keeps spouting english remarks like "Oh no!" and "Hory Sheeet". Accompanying them is Mohammed Avdol, an Egyptian man that have this wise guy aura, Polnareff, the clown in the group, Kakyoin, a sleek and intelligent young man and finally Iggy, a lazy ass dog with 'don't give a damn attitude but can be really reliable sometime. On the enemy side we have a variety of villains, all lead by the one of the most enigmatic and badass villain of all time, DIO. To be frank, all of the characters are very diverse in their own way, and I never feel bored watching them.
The main character, Bell Cranel is a guy who initially a very weak character but with huge potential, and later on become a guy who could essentially cannot be beaten by anyone without him even realising it. Kind of a Gary Stu kinda character but he has his own belief and watching him interact with other characters and fighting the enemies is really enjoyable. Hestia on the other hand, she is this one girl who made a ridiculous impact even on the anime community as a whole in a very short amount of time. She is what you called a loli boobies character, where her boob string thing become a booming trend. Hestia has a very cute demeanour but sometimes his affection toward the protagonist fells rather too much to handle.
If I must choose one word to describe Etotama, it would be "fun". For a moe-themed anime, they managed to make it really enjoyable. The story revolve around the life of one particular individual named Amato Takeru, where he meets a cat-girl by the name of "Nya-tan", sending Takeru on a journey on her goal to become one of the twelve members of the zodiac. The plot itself is rather straight forward, but they managed to make each episode very unique and diverse, where Nya-tan will try everything with sometimes random challenges to get the seals required for her to attain her goal, from Shogi, a horserace, kick the can, and even just straight up bribery on several occasions. The comedy is absolutely hilarious, with random fourth wall breaking occasionally. They do sometime try to be serious, but most of the time it feels rather comedic anyway.
Art and animation wise, this anime delivers a rather colourful colour palette that is pleasing to the eye. But where this anime shine the most is the battle scene. The anime transcend from an okay anime to a awesome anime from just the battle part alone. The way they masterfully use CGI and flashy moves for the eto-musume (zodiac girls) battle really entices me. I had to give credit for this underrated studio for delivering such a great battle animation, and wished that any anime studio should followed Etotama example in doing CGI animation.
As for the character, we have the protgonist, Amato Takeru who I think serve more to a plot device rather than an actual main character. His unfazed reaction each time someting bizarre is shown and his interaction with Nya-tan and the other Eto-shin (Zodiac God-alike) is kinda plain. Then we have Nya-tan, the real star of the show. She is a very dynamic character, attempting to find a character-type for herself so that she can shine. She's selfish, greedy, sometimes smart, sometimes helpful, determined, lazy, all sorts of adjectives. That's what makes her a very memorable character. As for all the other Eto-shin in the zodiac, they are all very diverse and colourful, each with their own unique albeit one sided personality, ranging from a perverted cow, a traumatized horse, a rooster with a three step memory, a sheep nurse, and the exposition pig with the sesame oil addiction along with teh other casts.
I never thought I would enjoy Etotama this much, but each and every episodes never fails to make me smile, laughing at all those random scene and cheering at Nya-tan everytime she battles the other Eto-shin.I highly recommended this anime for those who enjoy slapstick humour mixed together with intense battle.
Before you watch this anime, I highly recommend you to watch Grisaia no Kaijutsu and Grisaia no Meikyuu (OVA) first so that you could better understand and appreciate the storyline. The Grisaia series as a whole is one of my favourite visual novel adaptation. I still haven't finish up the visual novel yet up to this point, so I'll just tell my review as an anime watcher instead.
The story of Grisaia no Rakuen directly continues from the Grisaia no Meikyuu OVA, where it's split into two main part, "Cocoon of Caprice" which portray the life of the protagonist; Kazami Yuuji during his time with his mentor and in the military academy and "The Seed of Blanc Aile" which return back to the present time where Yuuji and the other cast of Mihama Academy settles their matter once and for all. It is has a much more linear storyline now compared to the first season, which is make it ultimately better as the flow of the story moves much smoother. I also love how they balance the theme and mood of this anime where we darker, moodier tone of some of the story would later on complemented with a more spirited and brighter tone as the story progress.
Each of the characters in Grisaia itself is very likeable. We have Yuuji, where having a robotic personality and distinct poker face, the way he interact with the other characters is really enjoyable to watch. This time especially, his past is explained with a much greater detail compared to the second season, which make the audience appreciate him more and understand as to why he behave in such a way. The other members of the Mihama academy is also the highlight of the second part of the story,Makina being an awesome loli sniper, to Sachi being Crappy Maid, to Yumiko being the rational and logical strategist, to Michiru being... Michiru. Each of them with their own unique way try to help Yuuji so that all of them will reach a happy ending, or their 'Eden'. The other character include Yuuji's mentor, which is a badass but kind to Yuuji and give him his reason to live his way, JB which is the women who is there to support him, his sister which play a big role in the story itself and also his friends at the military academy where Yuui form a strong bond with. Art and music wise, Grisaia managed to deliver it exceptionally well. The animation is smooth and pleasant to the eye, and the classical music accompanied by a upbeat music for the scenes is great to hear.
As a final thought, this season of Grisaia is a huge leap forward compared to the previous season. The way they managed to cramp the visual novel into a 10 episodes anime is exceptionally well. The way the story progress left the audience to anticipate what will come next, until finally the end had reached. One of the best anime this season, and I highly recommend to watch it.
The first thing that is on my mind when I try to watch this anime is that it is probably just another K-on. But KyoAni proves me wrong. It is not just another anime where a bunch of high school girls happily playing music and enjoy their daily live. It is more than that.
Hibike Euphonium follows the Kitauji High School Concert Band, a group that sounds fairly mediocre, and follows their journey as they grow both as musicians, finding their own song and as people in their efforts to truly accomplish what they before just claimed as a pipe dream: make the nationals of the Kansai Band Competition. The story itself was rather straightforward, but it's filled with great story writing. The amazing thing about this anime is how well they managed to do the character interactions between the members of the bands. It's not a story about an individual or small group of people, rather it's a story of how a considerably large group of people can together achieve something great despite their own differences and problems.
The other two aspects that this story excels at is the sounds and arts. Being a music focused anime, it came to no surprise on how excellent the music is. Every time a classical music is being played, they gave you a certain epic feeling to it. Each instrument has their own charm, and when played together creates a work of art. Speaking of the art, the level of art design in this anime is amazing. Each of the scenery is intricately shown, making this one of the most beautiful anime this season. It's wonderful on how a slice of life+drama anime have such wonderful arts and animation design wise. The attention to details are just amazing. A beauty to behold.
This anime deserve more than just 13 episodes. Though not really a masterpiece, it's really close to it. Kyoani really exceed my expectation this time, and I wish they continue to do so. Highly recommended anime for spring season.
Kyoani always find a way.
- Danna ga Nani o Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2-sure-me
Who wouldn't like a story of a daily life between an otaku and her normie wife. While it's a very short anime, they managed to be very entertaining. Quality aside, the way it's being light hearted and rather relaxing suited this anime.
The story follows Hajime Tsunashi and her wife, Kaoru Tsunashi together experiencing comedic mishaps and shenanigans that the couple find themselves dealing with on a day to day basis. Because of his status as a otaku, one can expect the story to use him as a conduit to channel meta humor and direct references to other licensed anime series and franchises. For those who gets most of the reference, this show will prove really amusing and humorous at time. But for the others, just enjoying these couples along with their eccentric friends and family interact with each other is enough to fill your weekly 3-minutes slice of life needs.
Nothing to say much really for the anime. The art and style is nothing special, along with its music and all. But for those who watches the previous season and enjoyed it so, one can expect to experience it again. Overall, it's is a very nice and wonderful short anime.
- Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation
Not really worth to watch to be honest. Dropped it at the third episode. The story feels kinda bland. The animation looks kinda funny. The fight scene looks cool and all, but even that is not enough to redeem it. Character design looks ridiculous, at least for me, and the setting is redundant.
I can't say much since I didn't manage to finish it, and wouldn't recommend people to watch it either. But ehh... if you like gun blazing and stuff, you might want to try it.
Kekkai Sensen, or Blood Blockade Battlefront is a unique and distinct anime. If I could describe it in one word, it's nonsense. The fact that I still don't fully understand the plot for the anime makes it look bad, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Rather, on of the theme is about all the nonsense going around the setting and how the characters thrive in it. It's not a sin to enjoy it without understanding the plot, since you may as well enjoy the fun little moment each episodes had to offer.
The story follows after a breach between Earth and the netherworlds has opened up over the city of New York, trapping New Yorkers and creatures from other dimensions in an impenetrable bubble. They've lived together for years, in a world of crazy crime sci-fi sensibilities. Now someone is threatening to sever the bubble, and a group of stylish superhumans called the Libra is working to keep it from happening. Leonardo watch, supposedly an ordinary human was dragged along and the story tells how he and his fellow colleagues cope with the daily life of a hella crazy city of Hellsalem Lot. The setting is itself very refreshing and stylistic at time. The chaotic events happening now and there seem like a norms to the people there, to the point it seems amusing.
Two of the main highlight for the anime series is the characters and the music. The cast is very entertaining to watch. My favourite is Zapp, a cool, naughty and happy go lucky guy, essentially the mood maker of the story. He is very entertaining to watch, and it's fun to see him interacting with the protagonist and the other members of Libra. Overall, they have a rather solid cast. As for the music, it is really impressing. The opening song has a certain charm to it, and the ending song feels very happy go lucky. The background music used manages to capture the feels of the city, accompanied with jazz and retro song making it very stylistic.
This sort of anime require an acquired taste to enjoy. You will not be expected to grasp the plot at first, but little but little you will get the setting and it will all comes together at the end. Mostly. Would be a very great anime if not for the last episode where they delay it for a long, long time, but thankfully it's a 40 minutes special last episode. If you enjoy anime like Durarara and Baccano, I suggest you have a go at Kekkai Sensen.
Honestly, how long does this anime will keep on going. It's already the fourth season and there's gonna be another one next season.Watching this anime is like an alternative to weeds. There is absolutely no plot. None.
The 'story' is about four tennis club members doing random stuff each episode. It supposed to be a tennis anime, but it seems like that concept were thrown away long, long ago in the deepest of the void. You'll either be laughing from the sheer speed and absurdity that is crammed into every second of each 2 minutes episode, or your eyes will be narrowing as you exclaim "What is this I don't even...." It's fun and whacky, but too much for human understanding at time.
Teekyu is essentially anime drugs. Wanna get high and do it in a legal way? Go watch it. If you want to live a happy, normal human life, avoid it.
Smoke Teekyuu everyday, people.
I write this review assuming that you've alreday finished the first season already. And in my humblest opinion, the first season was really great. Then there's the second season. The second season of Nisekoi disappoint me. Not much progress had been made between each of the characters. It feels more like a filler rather than an actual series. A 12 episodes OVA if I must say.
The season continues the life of Raku Ichijou, as he try to hunt for the key to his heart and locket and find the fated girl he made a promise with in the past. Except that this time, there is little if no progression towards his goal. The original casts are back, along with additional cast including Kosaki's younger sister Haru, which supposedly the main highlight this season. She apparently got a bad impression about Raku as rumors described him as perverted monster of a person. The premise sounds interesting and all but Haru is not introduced until late in the anime, which basically means that you would not lose much even if you skipped most of the earlier episodes. Then again, you can't really blame the studio itself since they had to faithfully stick to the original source material.
The only reason I manages to watch the whole series is because of he eye-dazzling art and beautiful music. The animation is distinct and beautiful, and i had to give praise to the studio for maintaining their quality. Music is nice, especially when they have several different ending music, giving a nice and unique touch for each episodes.
Overall, if you enjoy the whole series or an avid Nisekoi manga reader, you might want to watch the anime to see the series beautifully animated without actually care much about the plot. If not, you could still watch the anime or just skip it, hopefully waiting for season 3 to come out and for the story to finally advance.
Plastic Memories is a rather nice, slow anime, with a pretty sad theme overall. While not really a tearjerker, it does manage to capture their character's emotions in an acceptable way.
The plot is rather straightforward. After failing his college entrance exams, 18-year-old Tsukasa Mizugaki is offered a position at the renowned SAI Corporation due to his father's connections. SAI Corporation is known for its production and management of androids that possess human emotions called "Giftia." Tsukasa's position is in the Terminal Service Department where their main job is to recover Giftias that are close to their expiration—it is a graveyard department in every sense. To make matters worse, Tsukasa is ordered to work with Isla, a female Giftia who was never given any responsibility other than serving tea to her co-workers.
When I first started watching Plastic Memories I was very impressed by it because the first episode was simply amazing. It forecasted an original anime with beautiful artwork, an ambient atmosphere, likeable characters and a lot of tragic drama. But, as the story progress, it turns out that the show is mostly a cute and light-hearted slice of life comedy with quite a lot of romance in it. But that doesn't mean that this anime is bad by any mean. It has it's own good moment, and it does have some potential just the execution is rather poor.
The characters are very generic and forgettable. Most of them are just a range of archetypes, from your tsunderes to your beta-male characters. But the good thing is that the art and animation manages to convey each characters expression exceptionally well. The sound was also well presented, where suitable background music manages to create intended mood for important scenes.
Overall, it was a rather underwhelming experience. It has so much potential, but done poorly. Do I enjoy it? Yes I do, since it was not a bad anime at all. The ending is nice but so much more could be done. You could watch it if you think you want to have a taste of melancholic anime now and then, but again, you won't miss much for not watching it.
Owari no Seraph or Seraph of the End is a drama+action anime with a cool looking setting, but as the story progress, you would realise that this anime is just an amalgamation of all popular anime troupe into one series. It feels rather mediocre, which is really underwhelming considering the popularity of this anime.
The anime starts with everyone dying. Well, almost everyone. One day, a mysterious virus appeared on Earth which killed every infected human over the age of 13. At the same time, vampires emerged from the world's dark recesses and enslaved mankind. Enter Hyakuya Yuuichirou, a young boy, who along with the rest of the children from his orphanage, are treated as livestock by the vampires. He dreams of killing all the vampires. This overused post-apocalyptic setting is kinda overused, with a spice of vampire and demon weapon to make thing interesting and arguably nonsense at the same time. The pacing itself is really slow, with not much happening. Thankfully, it's just the first cour and hopefully the second cour would pick up the pace.
The characters aside are very generic and forgettable. Well, except for Rinoa. Rinoa is the reason I watched this anime. Her smug playfulness drew an interesting contrast with her serious attitude on the field. But that's about it. I do like the costume design and the colour palette for both faction. Speaking of the art, it's fairly decent. The animation was fluid, especially when it comes to battle scenes. The music was great, and I really enjoy the opening and ending songs. The ost for battle scene was also fairly decent, giving epic vibe at some ocassion.
If you like action filled anime and just want to kill time than this anime is good for you. It can be fun to watch, but this is far from groundbreaking. Very, very mediocre at best. Hopefully, the second cour will finally expand it more. Let's hope it would end all well.
A simple anime with no dramatic plot or storyline. The story is rather forgettable since the casts is rather generic. Well, the human casts at least. This is an anime about ghosts and spirits. Is it a horror anime? Not at all, it's actually a happy, slice of lice anime.
The main protagonist, Amami Hibiki is a girl who can see ghosts and other supernatural phenomena in her surroundings. The stories follow her daily life with both her friends and the otherworldly. The story is simple and charming. The fact that how Amami interact with the ghost is really interesting to watch, as the ghost seems to respect and act really nice to her. All her other human friend feels more like an extra, save for the tsundere twin tail girl. The main star of this show had to be the ghost themselves. They were really entertaining to watch. The story can feel rather mundane in a long run, but it's not all that bad for this nice, slow anime.
Art and animation wise is okay. It's all good and fluid, but mediocre at best. It's fitting for this anime so it's not a big deal. Music was also very happy. I enjoy the opening song since it gives me Magikano vibe for some reason. The ending song was also very cute and fun to hear. The voice acting is great, and the background music is decent.
Re-kan doesn't have a lot of depth in its plot, and other than the fact that the ghosts will deliberately spook people out, there's a lack of conflict. It's a nice, slow and happy anime. Tuning into Re-kan this season for a breather is a good idea, especially if you've just watched something with a deeper plot.
- Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku
The second season of Oreigaru. The best way I could describe this anime is 'genuine'. Those who would enjoy this anime is people who can relate themselves with the main protagonist, Hachiman Hikigaya. This anime is the one you need to carefully understand each characters point of view and how they cope with each other, since it's a heavy anime in my point of view. This mainstream high school life setting gave us something more realistic event of how the high school student reacts in society. They show us the bitter and painful sides that we can encounter for being a high school student. The story is the continuation of the season 1, so even if it's from a different studio you must go and watch it if you haven't for character development.
So exactly what's going to happen when Hachiman Hikigaya, an isolated high school student with no friends, no interest in making any and a belief that everyone else's supposedly great high school experiences are either delusions or outright lies, is coerced by a well meaning faculty member into joining the "Services Club". Our protagonist uses his risky method that eventually will start an argument against Yukino, who's smart, attractive and generally considers everyone in her school to be her complete inferior, that think all problem must solve in a most appropriate method without taking a risk. Hachiman believes that a perfect, genuine place is a place that no one is suffering. To accomplish this perfect place, He's being a dense to himself and forget that He's still a human being. He's continuing to sacrifice himself or using himself as a scapegoat just to solve the problems that has nothing to do with him. No wonder people relate him to Batman.
The presentation of a simple conversations turns out the greatest scene in this anime. An avid reader would enjoy each beautifully written dialog with witty remarks. The main character Hachiman could possibly have been one of my favorite slice of life leads of all time and the main reason I watched this show. He is misanthropic without being perverted and unlikable. He has flaws but they’re endearing. He reads the situations, also he's able to read between the lines. He spends a chunk of the show allowing himself to be led around by other characters. We also have returning casts from season 1 like Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, but their presence are less apparent for the first half of this show this time, which is in my humble opinion to be really refreshing.
The art and animation is a step up from season 1. All of the character design had their own visual update, which may feel unfamiliar at first but over time you will start to enjoy looking it. It's brightly coloured and very detailed, making the show to be much solid when coupled together with the storyline. Sound is decent, with some recycled from season 1. The voice acting is great, fitting each characters.
Just watching Hachiman in this anime is so entertaining. There might be much better shows for romance and much better shows for realistic drama, but this show had its own charm that makes people to keep watching them. Perhaps the witty remarks, or just how Hachiman do his thing. I do highly recommend watching this anime, along with it's first season and hopefully we will see a third season sometime in the future.
- Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo
It is a great anime this season, with amusing storyline. Having to kiss someone to have powers are not really the most original idea (I'm looking at you, Negima). However, this show manages to execute it really well with great story presentation and hilarious comedic value. I must praise the studio for following closely to the source material.
The story follows Ryuu Yamada, known as a delinquent in his high school. One day, he accidentally falls from a flight of stairs onto Urara Shiraishi, the ace student of the school. Yamada wakes up to find that he has swapped bodies with her! The two try to reverse the change and discover that kissing triggers the body swap. On the suggestion of student council vice-president Toranosuke Miyamura, they revive the Supernatural Studies Club. The club encounters other "witches" with different powers that are activated with a kiss! At first glance, this might feels like a generic harem anime, but rest assured, that it is not like that at all. To save you from spoiler, let just say that the character's romances are more focused, gradually building up making the ending to be very satisfying. The anime doesn't take itself overly seriously. It knows when it should be a lighthearted comedy, and it knows when to be a more serious, supernatural mystery story. Overall, the plot is interesting and is delivered well, but just to highlight that it is by no means a masterpiece.
Because the series is condensed into 12 episodes, the development happens much faster and sometimes feels awkward and forced. It face paced, but you could still enjoy it nevertheless. There is fan service at times but it wasn't annoying. Fan service is only frustrating if it interferes with a narrative, and considering this anime's narrative is pretty much as absurd as it gets, it's not an issue.
Animation is decent with the colors that are typically bright and pop out. The character designs are pretty good, designed uniquely and are easily differentiated from each other. All the characters are designed in a way that makes them hard to forget, and they are all unique from the other students to signify their importance to the story. The soundtrack was for the most part good but forgettable; thankfully it doesn't affect the show as much.
Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo was a fun watch and had me laughing at times. It was a good experience, and I can happily say that it is most likely worth your time. It's no masterpiece, but it's a great show to watch. If you need a deep, plot driven drama, like Oreigaru, then this might not be for you. However, if you need a lighthearted romcom with supernatural elements, check out Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo. You won't be disappointed.
Will be continued on Summer 2015
Since all these anime were not finished yet on the current season, I will make a full review on them later on. For now, I will give a general impression and list which one I will follow or drop for the next season.
The Heroic Legend of Arslan is an adventurous tale of how a young prince is driven out of his own kingdom, and how he must become a man worthy of leading his people to reclaim his kingdom. The whole series is about war and its stratagem. The anime is great so far, and makes you want to go for more. Picked up.
- Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu
The way I describe this story is that it is a moeblob anime to cater the needs of Nagato fan. If the Suzumiya Haruhi series is new to you, then this will be little more than another Slice of life with some drama aspects to you and there are lots of those out there that do a better job. As a fan of the original series this could easily go both ways. On hold on episode 10.
This anime is a miss at least for me. The animation is bad, the soundtrack is repetitive and the story is predictable. I don't know about you guys since I've only watched several episodes, but it's not for me. Dropped after episode 3.
Ore Monogatari!!, also known as My Love Story, is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a story about love between two hugely contrasting main characters – Takeo and Yamato. A very nice, slow romance anime. Picked up.
One of the top tier anime this season. Shokugeki no Souma is not only foodporn, but it is food and some 'porn'/ecchi. This anime is a hell of a ride and the entertainment value of the show is right up there. Definitely picked up.
- Ninja Slayer From Animation
You either like this anime or hate it very much. For those who have watched Inferno Cops, you will enjoy this anime for sure. It's not taking itself seriously and the animation is supposed to be "bad." It's an "art". Picked up.
That's it. See ya next season!
By Otaku, for everyone.
