30 Second Anime Review

[Death BOO Z]

I'm going to put my 30 seconds on an anime called Shuffle.
it's a romance comedy anime from the hermen genre (one lame guy that all the hot chicks like for an unknown reason), so you basically know what to expect.
the main dude is Rin, who, as usual in this genre, has no special attribuities whatsoever, beside the mystry attribute of being 'Kind', go figure. the girls around him are the girl he lives with, Keade, who takes care of him and whatever he needs. a demon girl called Nerine and a heaven girl called Sia, both of which have met him eight years ago and have been hot for him ever since.
there are a couple more girls around, but I'll leave them out for now.

the main problem of the show is that it has a really, really slow start, up until the middle (episode 12 or so, out of 24) nothing basically happens. and what's worse - not one of the girls seems to care about the other suitors (basically, everybody's good good friends with everyone else- BORING!), in other words, no conflict or a driving force.
it changes once we reach the 2nd half, each girl is revealed to have some dark past. While most of what we see was done before, it's never bad to see a pretty girl go nuts, isn't it? beside, one of the charecters drops a knife vertically and almost kills another charecter, which is a scene that must be watched, over and over again!

in the end, Shuffle manages to be dark enough to be fun for adult viewers that don't like hermen animes, and has lots of pretty anime girls for those who do.
sure, it's no elfen lied, but how many animes are? give shuffle a try, and enjoy the nastiness of jealousy and disturbed females. it's allways fun.


Fansubbed by froth-bite. 24 eps, 2004.

[Ryllharu]

Hyper Police: This series was a real surprise for me. It's a world where humans have become an endangered species after the World of Monsters and the human world became intermingled. The main character is a catgirl with [insert cliche random powerful ability] who is a bounty hunter. I'll get right to it, this series is full of cliches. But what makes it stand out is that despite all the cliches, it manages to be entirely original. They change the order of where cliches appear in the story. The "I've lost the will to fight" cliche appears within the first 6 eps, instead of towards the end of the series. Huge sweeping changes happen quite often to the characters in the series, their demeanor, their role in the series, and the circumstances they live in. There is also a hidden maturity to the series. The city is filled with people who are mostly half of some animal or another, and there is an entire eps where the entire city is in heat.

A series that uses every cliche in the book, but manages to completely defy convention.

25 eps total.

[TruthofMistake]

Aoki Desetsu Shoot!: This is an anime following the Kakegawa High School soccer team. Kakegawa High's team is brand new being formed only a year before the three main characters show up at the school. It was formed when a soccer prodigy named Kubo started to attend their school wanting to build a team of his own. Despite how new they are there's a lot of talent on the team. I personally love this anime. It deals with the characters making tough choices and getting through hard times. Because it's an older show the animation isn't the best so if your in it for the eyecandy this is probably not the show for you. The characters aren't all that original either but they fill their rolls well enough that you don't really notice.

Legend of Condor Hero: Well, I'v been preaching about this show for a long time, and for good reason. Although it is fairly new (made within the last 5 or so years I think) the drawing style doesn't really show it. The draw is the plot. It's an action/romance following a rebellious boy and the current master of the Old Tomb school of Kung Fu. The would be couple faces numerous challenges throughout the series. It's pretty orginal as a whole, at least I haven't seen anything like it, and remains in my top 10 favorite anime series of all time.

[David75]

Ayakashi:Japanese Classic Horror Show.
This anime started this year, is to date a collection of 11 episodes, split in three different stories animated from Kabukis.

The first story is about Oiwa, a young bride that is abondonned by Iemon after he became a ronin in every possible meaning of it. We witness the transition of Oiwa from a bride to a devil spirit and the curses accompanying her.

I have to say this first story let me mixed feelings. I liked the artwork very much, all about the atmosphere too, the edo era life and so on. Something interresting: With each ep, some subbers make a pdf to explain parts of the story and history, so that we are not completly lost.
I liked some of the tricks and the particularly malicious end (I mean the very end) that can potentialy make you unconfortable
I disliked the slowlyness of the story at some points, and sometimes some caricatures of people... but I can't be more precise.

Second story:
It's about forgotten Gods that feed on humans to remain alive (pretty much in the same fashion as the Wraiths in Stargate Atlantis ).
A young maried Falconer will share buds love with the Forgotten God Master who happens to be quite beautifil in her own way, although she looks different. The story is about their impossible love and consequences they'll have to face.

I liked the artwork very much too. Although in some scenes I felt it was not as good as in other, particularly proportions and so on. Probably because it's a multiple hands work.
The story is well paced, it's very interresting to switch from very peaceful sceneries and scenes, to a lot more violent ones. The best of the 3 stories, eventhough its scenario is a bit too simple.

Third Story:
I was particularly bored watching that one, didn't like the artwork too... It's not that bad, just not my thing. I won't try to sum up the plot, as I may spoil the whole story.

Overall: It's a nice way of spending a good time.

PS:
The opening theme is particular, at first it's very agressive and anachronical I could write...
but in the end, you can bear it and even enjoy it. Why is that? because it matches the clip very well, the artworkd is sometimes magnificient in these 3 openings, matching the 3 stories. My advice would be to try it, and then switch off sound... just to be sure you won't miss the artwork in the openings. The ending song is more peaceful, something you'll listen with pleasure.
PS2:Sorry for the long review, but it was a 3 in one. Hope it was "readable" and you'll enjoy this anime at least as much as I did... Hope you were not disgusted from watching it because of my poor skills at english

[Death BOO Z]

Kagihim Eykuu Alice Rondo (13 eps, Froth-bite subs).

tags: magic girls, transforming girls, alice stories, brother complex.

the story is about a boy named Arthur (Aruto) who has a strange fetish with alice (in wonderlan, in the land of mirrors) stories. one night he sees a girl jumping between rooftops with a bunny suit and he followes her, and finds out that she fights other transforming girls to take away their 'stories', parts of memories said to create the final alice story. they join together to complete the quest and read the book.

In between, we have the annoying little sister with the brother complex, the annoying girl with the shota complex, the annoying smart older girl, and lots of annoying people in the middle. basically, it's really annoying.

Personally, I'm not too excited about this anime, it's got nothing new to show, it's not done in any special way and the charecters are total overuse, it's got "Rozen Maiden" wrriten all over it, just without the funny parts, or the intersting parts. Also, there's far too much pesudo-plot in the series, and even the music, which is usually a strong point in those kinds of anime, is suprisingly weak...

and on a special note, be it good or bad in your opinion, they show the girls gainning bigger breasts when they transform into thier combat modes..

Numberic score: 60 - you aren't missing anything, but you won't suffer misreably.

[Zati]

Just finished watching Hikaru No Go, and this is one of my fav series now. I been watching this since back then, but stopped for a long time because too much animes and tv shows to watch. I finally finished it, and it's one of the great sports/game kind of series I've seen, if you can put it in the genre of sports. I think a lot of other people agree this is a good old series, but didn't have the best ending. The game of Go is really great, and this anime got me interested in it. Watching Hikaru grow up was great, him meeting new people, how he got better and better, and how Sai was always there helping and teaching him. Shindou, Touya , Sai, all great characters! Let me play Sai!

Great anime! Try a few episodes and see.

[Mae]

Di Gi Charat (original series)

I thought I'd review this briefly since Kraco mentioned it. I haven't seen the new series, but it sounds completely different from the original wacky comedy. The original is centered around two characters (Puchiko and Dejiko) that started out mascots for a gaming store and due to their popularity ended up stars of their own series.

In the show the two are aliens that crash on earth and end up working for the gaming store. It's doesn't have a lot of plot but mainly has the two of them blowing up fanboys with their eye beams, fighting giant monsters, going on picnics, feuding with a wannabe idol (Rabi en Rose), etc. Very silly, often somewhat bizarre, kind of like Excel in a way with its fandom in jokes. It's been about 5 years since I've seen it, but I remember liking it at the time. Something to watch if you want something random, weird, and not at all serious.


Black Blood Brothers [some mild spoilers]

For a vampire anime, you might want to try this series. It's about a conflict between two groups of vampires. The first are "Black Blood" vamps that are an old, powerful group divided into "families" that are based on members originating from one single powerful vampire. They prefer to live quietly and don't have to kill humans when they bite them. They only make new vampires if the human drinks vampire blood. The second are Kowloon children, descended from a new type of vampire that changes anyone they bite (even other vampires) into crazed monsters which in turn infect everyone THEY bite.

The series is set in a modern city that is a sanctuary for Black Blood vampires. Jirou, a vampire famous from the fight with the first outbreak of Kowloon children, travels to the city with his younger brother, gets into trouble, and ends up dealing with a new outbreak. Much ass-kicking ensues. This series is short (12 eps) and seems to cover the first part of a larger story (it's based off a book) but where it ends makes sense, and it's enjoyable enough just for what it is. I hope there's a sequel.