Weekly Anime Review

Steins;Gate 2nd Half

thenitebuffet — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:53:00 -0600

Let’s rewind time a bit and go back into Steins;Gate for the second half of the best series of 2011 so far, in my opinion. This part of the series deals with the consequences Okabe and his group must face, all caused by their meddling with time. Most of the wonder and exploration that is central to the first part is gone, replaced with a sense of desperation as Okabe works with the Future Gadget Lab members to undo all the changes they made to save one of their own.

I hate dropping major spoilers, but the death of one of the lab members is pivotal to the plot for this half of Steins;Gate, and therefore unavoidable. The series picks up with Mayuri being killed by Moeka Shiina, a lab member that appears in the first half who was looking for the same rare computer the group was tracking down. She comes to take the group, their research and the time leap machine, revealing she is a spy of SERN. As the situation turns desperate, the group is saved Suzuha Amane, the part-time worker of their landlord. Using the opening, Okabe jumps back in time by sending his consciousness back in time as data.

From here, Okabe tries to save Mayuri, but continues to fail no matter how many times he goes back. Consumed by despair, Okabe confesses to Makise that he has been time traveling to save their friend. With their two genius minds, along with the help of a time traveler from the future, John Titor, they discover they must cross to a “Beta World Line” by altering time so dramatically that Mayuri’s death is no longer a fixed event. Thus begins Okabe’s tedious journey slowly dismantling all the changes they have made, to not only save his friend but also to prevent a World War fought over time travel.

Okabe’s quest to figure out how to revert the events they changed in time is compelling and heartbreaking. As he goes back step-by-step to each message they sent, he struggles to stay convinced he is doing the right thing. His friends must relinquish the changes that have made them happy in order to save their friend. The characters in this part are further developed and I started to emphasize with every one of them. To give up something in your life that is important, even though you can never remember not having it at some point since it was in another time line, is truly the hardest thing I can think of anyone having to experience.

The series does a very good job of keeping the story interesting by mixing the plot of saving Mayuri while answering the mysterious that are brought up throughout the series. John Titor is revealed, the leader of SERN is unmasked, the motivations for Moeka being a spy are explained, Suzuha finds her father and a few other mysterious I can’t remember are laid out by the end. Some of the revelations are surprising, while a few are predictable, but even so they do not diminish the quality of Steins;Gate’s story. In fact, this is one of the few series that I can say I was perfectly satisfied with the resolution, because every piece of the story fit together by the conclusion.

Steins;Gate is an immensely character driven story. The pacing may be slow to some, but to me it moved fast because I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I’ve watched a few other series, which I will be writing reviews for shortly, and most of them are older, while some were at the recommendation of a friend. A few I couldn’t get into, and I told my friend this and his response was that he was going to stop recommending slower shows to me. I don’t think speed is the problem, though. Steins;Gate is a long, mildly paced show, but the story is so refreshing and the characters are skillfully developed I couldn’t stop watching. With so few series these days that strike me enough to want buy them, Steins;Gate is definitely one that is going on my wish list.

Chaos;Head Review

thenitebuffet — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:41:00 -0600

After getting halfway through Steins;Gate, I had to play the waiting game for the final 12 episodes to be released. In the meantime I decided to watch Chaos;Head, a series based off a visual novel game by the same company that put out Steins;Gate. Though the character designs for Chaos;Head were a bit more blasé, in line with more stereotypical anime fare, added with seemingly heavy harem tones, the story at least sounded interesting, focusing on delusions similar to Steins;Gate time travel. Yet, like many ideas that sound good on paper, Chaos;Head suffers from bad implementation of an interesting concept.

Takumi Nishijō lived a secluded, hikkikomori lifestyle as he attends school in Shibuya. He suffers from delusions, most focusing on an anime character name Seira, and lives in a storage container on the roof of the school. Takumi repeatedly states he has no interest in real girls, much like Keima in The World God Only Knows, but these statements are mainly in the beginning of the series, where most of the plot building takies place. This aversion to girls, as the series progress, dissolves into a strong attachment to many girls Takumi interacts with, especially Rimi Sakihata, a girl who he is completely terrified by at the beginning of the series only to have her eventually becoming the person he cares most for.

The first half of the story focuses on the New Generation murder events. Takumi, who after surfing a message board, receives pictures of a murder that has yet to occur. The next day he stumbles upon the same murder scene he saw, a new part in the murder series. The girl he sees is a pink haired girl staking a man to death. The next day, the girl, Rimi, is at his school and acts like she has no memory of the murders and claims she knows Takumi, yet he has no memory of her. From here, the plot spirals around unraveling the New Generation murders and Takumi’s dwindling grip on reality.

In the second half, the series begins to fall apart as it become more action oriented. A large, evil corporation called NOZOMI is orchestrating in the shadows to create a device, named Noah, which can alter people’s reality and make delusions real. There are a group of people trying to stop them called Gigalomaniacs, who can produce a weapon called a Di-Sword by altering reality with their delusions. Most of these individuals are girls, except for Takumi. The plot progresses with some pretty decent twists and turn that lead to a big battle at the end to stop NOZOMI from activating their device.

What really turned me off to this series was the sword fighting in the latter half. There were plenty of great story ideas using delusions as weapons and altering reality to fulfill personal desires, but when the sword fighting kicked in I pretty much tuned out. I was expecting a much lower key series, like Steins;Gate, but instead found myself watching mediocre action sequences coupled with stereotypical “don’t give up” final battle moments. If Chaos;Head had ended with a full on delusion battle, comparable with great psychic battles scenes similar to series like Akira, I would have been thoroughly impressed.

I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy Chaos;Head, but it just wasn’t memorable. The series could have been redeemed by being consistent with the delusions theme. Instead, the Chaos;Head derails into numerous sword battles, but it does thankfully seem to stay enough on the tracks to make it watchable to the end. For a 13 episode series, I’ve seen worse, but I’m disappointed by the unfulfilled potential Chaos;Head has going for it with a great story concept.

Steins;Gate 1st Half

thenitebuffet — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:12:23 -0500

I haven’t seen many animes that come from visual novels. Most anime that is released is either adapted from manga, video games or light novels. The only series I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve watched that came from visual novels are the Higurashi and Umineko series, both by the same company. Steins;Gate, made the by the same companies that made Chaos;Head (which I have yet to see), is a visual novel dealing with time travel on a very minor scale. This quirky, slow paced series is now on my list for completely original animes, with very cleverly written characters and a story that kept me coming back episode after episode, just to try to figure out what the hell is going on.

Set in Akihabara, Steins;Gate follows self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintarō Okabe who heads up a “Future Gadget Laboratory” with his long time childhood friend Mayuri Shiina and hacker guru Itaru Hashida . During a conference, Okabe meets Kurisu Makise who explains they met 15 minutes ago, even though he doesn’t remember it. Soon after, he discovers her dead, followed by everyone disappearing. More strange events follow, such as a text message showing as being sent a week ago after it was just sent and the conference Okabe attended presumably being canceled even though he was there. This leads to the discovery that a microwave the group owns, which causes bananas to turn to gel, is in essence a time machine that is able to send text messages to the past.

Okabe, through experimentation, begins to gradually understand how his time machine works. As more and more people in his circle of acquaintances find out about the machine, more messages are sent back altering the past and present. Also, Okabe discovers he is able to retain his memory through the shifts, referring to the ability as “Reading Steiner.” Another group, named SERN, associated with the Large Hadron Collidor, have also been attempting time travel of their own and seem to have Okabe’s group on their radar.

One thing I’ve noticed with animes based of visual novels, which is present in Steins;Gate, is how well written the characters are. In this series, everyone has a very distinct and well thought out personality, and no character I feel is left out more than the others. Sure, Okabe and Makise are the leads, but every other character is developed as their own individual. Okabe is extremely quirky, as he often talks to himself on his cell phone as if he is talking to a secret organization, and Shiina always introduces herself with a little tune. If anything, the characters drive the story in Steins;Gate, unlike in most series where the plot just moves forward and the characters get dragged along and react.

The setting of the anime has its own personality as well. Most of Akihabara that is shown is shaded, as the tall building create shadows in the alleys that are most frequented by the characters. The sounds of the city and locales feel natural and add to the somber and realistic tone of the series. When things change in the city, due to the groups’ time meddling, you can almost feel the loss Okabe experiences because the area he lives in is so well presented and a constant, conscious part of the series.

I’ve only watched halfway through the series and I ended on a cliffhanger episode, which I regret doing, but there was no way for me to know there would be such a shocking turning point halfway through such a quietly presented series. I mentioned that the pacing is slow, but it makes Steins;Gate excellent. Not much happens in the first few episodes, and the story really doesn’t start to become clear until around episode four or five, but getting there felt fast. After the first episode finished, I asked myself, “That was it? That wasn’t 20 minutes!” In my desire, I quickly moved on to the next episode, then the next, and so on. When the series is done, you can look for my review of the 2^nd half, because I assure you I will likely blow through it so fast it’ll feel like I just jumped forward in time.

Catherine

thenitebuffet — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:53:00 -0500

It should go without saying that someone like me, who watches a lot of anime, also plays a lot of video games. I’m much lazier about beating a game than I am about burning through a series, but I do attempt to complete what I have. Sometimes, I get a game that I just speed through right after I buy it; either because it’s fun, it’s easy or I’m just in the right mood to play it. Catherine fell into all three of these categories. At its core, Catherine is a puzzle game where you push and pull block to get to the top of a tower as fast as possible. On a deeper level, the game is a well thought out story of a man trying to figure out who he is and what to do with his life, all revolving around the choices you make.

Catherine is made the Atlus and is loosely tied into the Persona series. The protagonist, Vincent, makes a brief and nameless appearance in Persona 3 Portable. I have to assume they threw him into this version, being the last made of Persona 3, to get people interested. The game is the first current generation game made by the company, and in some respects seemed to be made to show off their new shiny. Atlus, know for decent game play and pretty interesting stories, did not hold back with Catherine, as you might expect from something experimental.

The story follows Vincent, opening with a nightmare where he has to climb a bizarre tower. I think it was a smart choice to open with the actual game portion instead of the social aspects, because it definitely made me want to play more. Moving blocks is fun, enough said. Anyway, Vincent is getting pressured by his girlfriend, Katherine, to become more committed and less childish. Under stress, after a night of drinking, he ends up waking next to Catherine, a sexy blonde who he has no memory of meeting. The story progresses from nightmare to evening socializing at a bar, as Vincent makes choices that either lead him to be pure or impure.

The social aspect I felt was off at times. To be pure, I found I had to be super nice to Katherine, but completely bitchy to Catherine. I never thought being mean to someone would result in a “good” choice, but the game takes it as such because you are cheating with Catherine, so you need to be negative to her. Also some of the choices when talking to the others climbing the nightmare tower seemed irregular as well. I’d listen to what they’d have to say and make a choice I thought was good, only to have my purity knocked down. The game seems pretty black and white regarding these choices, and that always annoys me in games. Real life has a gray area, so choice games should too.

I did my first play thought on easy, just so I could get used to the game play, and I noticed the level progress is unbalanced. There were a few levels in the middle I had trouble with, only to get to the boss level and find it completely easy. I don’t know why they didn’t arrange the levels so the game progressively gets more difficult instead of just randomly, but other than that the climbing levels are really fun. Sometimes I did get frustrated and have to look up solutions online, but I found the main problem was that my mindset to tackle the puzzles wasn’t the right one so I’d need to see it done to change how I looked at it. This isn’t the game’s fault, because there are numerous hint techniques given throughout the game; it’s just hard to keep track of them all.

At the end, Catherine has a lot going for it, including replay value due to the multiple endings and other difficulties. It is also nice they added the feature to bypass puzzles if you ace them so you can run through for the different endings. Quite honestly, I enjoyed this game very much, but it had me hoping for a new Persona RPG soon on the PS3. Catherine is a nice distraction while I wait.

Short Hiatus

thenitebuffet — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:26:58 -0500

Sorry for the short hiatus on the reviews peoples. I’ve been dealing with some personal things, but I can assure you there will be a new review up of the 1st half of Steins;Gate by the end of the week. I will also likely be putting up a review of Catherine, since I’ve just recently beat that game and it’s heavily anime influenced. Keep any eye out!

Blue Exorcist Part 1

thenitebuffet — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:58:38 -0500

Sometimes there are series that come out of the gate strong with great paced storytelling, promising a large build up of narrative till the climactic finale, but end up switching over to lighthearted, episodic adventures that hint at an overall arc that has yet to be introduced. Enter Blue Exocist, which opens with a bunch of priest dying, being burned alive by blue flames. It isn’t explained till later what is happening in the opening sequence, but talk about hitting a home run off the bat. The series continues at a good pace, until around episode six, when things become mundane and the story is derailed from its tracks.

After the bizarre opening sequence of a temple worth of priest frying from internal combustion, the story jumps to Rin Okumura defending pigeons from a bunch of thugs that are attacking them for fun. Rin is under guardianship of a priest, Father Fujimoto, and lives at a temple, which clashes with his personality when considering how big of a hot-headed he is. He has a brother, Yukio, who is patient and intelligent. In fact, he is introduced as he is packing to leave for a prestige school he has received a scholarship for.

The thugs from previously come back after Rin, and he goes with them where their leader becomes demonic and attacks. Father Fujimoto jumps in and saves Rin, explaining to him that the thug was possessed by a demon who is hunting Rin because he is the son of Satan. Returning to the church, a battle ensure where Rin unleashes his demonic powers to fight of the demons. Rin is forced to go to the only person his father trusted, Mephisto Pheles, and requests to be trained as an exorcist so he can get revenge on Satan. Mephisto agrees and sends him to the same school as Yukio, because in reality it is also a school for exorcists.

There are a few episodes at the beginning when Rin first arrives at the school that keep up with the pace and storytelling from the previous episodes, until there is an episode about a cooking demon in the brothers dormitory. From here, the episodes are individual stories and have very little to do with the main plot. It’s a complete gear shift that’s pretty jarring. Had it been for one or two episodes, I think the series could have gotten away with it, but the story doesn’t get back on track until episode 12, and I’m assuming the second half is mainly dealing with the larger plot, but will not know until the series completes its airing and I watch the end episodes.

The opening and closing to Blue Exorcist are pretty standard. They are nothing amazing, but the ending does a have a catchy English line that I’m sure most people will be repeating after hearing it. I know I was. The animation is on par with most series today and doesn’t ever take a dip. The fire effects for Rin are great throughout the series, especially the subtleties of his ears and fangs grown slightly larger when his power is unleashed. Also, Yukio has a few moles on his face, which is the first time I’ve seen a lead character marked as such in an anime, save for Tomie. The different classes of exorcists are interesting as well. One class is especially interesting, as they must memorizing prayers to kill demons instead of fighting.

Even though the individual story episodes are senseless, having little to do with the main plot, they are still fun to watch. The characters are interesting, there are some funny scenes thrown in and generally the show feels fresh even though it is following many tropes. My favorite character so far is Shiemi Moriyama, who is the exorcist shop owner’s daughter. She knows all about medicinal plants, but calls them by names she seems to have made it, which is really cute and amusing. Yukio is also a good foil to Rin, and I think most shōnen series lack suck a character, at least in the beginning. Either way, I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series in a month or two when it’s done.

Deadman Wonderland

thenitebuffet — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:33:00 -0500

I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching Deadman Wonderland. The manga is written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou, who wrote and illustrated the Eureka Seven manga together. Other than that, I prepared myself for a standard shōnen action series that had a hot albino girl in it. What I got was a series that should be classified as seinen, with brutal fights and high levels gore, on par with such series like Gantz. Deadman Wonderland is fast paced in its story progression right off the bat, but slows down to bring more action to the series as it builds to its finale. An amusement park festival for one’s senses, the series runs its 12 episodes hot and fast, making me hope there are more on the way.

Ganta Igarashi’s story begins when his entire class is murder by a man in red with mysterious powers. He is the only one left alive, leading authorities to believe he is the murder. After being condemned in the public eye, thanks to a leaked video, he is sentence to death and imprisoned at Deadman Wonderland, a privately owned prison built on the ruins of Tokyo after a great earthquake demolished the city. There he meets Yō Takami, a thief who befriends him for dubious reasons, and Shiro, an albino girl that randomly wanders the prison and seems to know Ganta from some forgotten past.

It is soon clear that the prison is a front from something more sinister after the red man, referred to as the Wretched Egg, appears before Ganta during his imprisonment. Ganta uses a strange ability, likely powered by a red shard the Wretched Egg shot into his chest the first time they met, to little effect. After his awakening, Ganta hears rumors of the red man in a hidden part of the prison, and upon investigating discovers another with abilities like him. Here, the true purpose of Deadman Wonderland is revealed as a place for those with blood powers, referred to as Branches of Sin, to battle for others amusement and research.

As soon as I finished watching Deadman Wonderland, I immediately went and read what there is of the manga so far. I can honestly say, the only time I’ve done something similar before is with Love Hina, which is one of my favorite series. The series ends at a decent point, but a lot of focus towards the end goes into building up the Deadmen escaping from the prison, which really left me wanting more. I needed to see what happened next. The anime does follow the manga well, aside from a character or two being left out, and for a 12 episode series based on an unfinished manga I thought Deadman Wonderland was one of the better done animes I’ve seen in a while.

Deadman Wonderland’s character design are pretty distinct. There is a hint of insanity in everyone’s eyes, which speak volumes for the amount of terrible things that the Deadmen have to go through. When each character has their breaking moment, the story goes back to explain it, usually in flashback. While I found that it would have been better to have these pieces brought up earlier than in the moment, they did not detract from the pacing. There is also a part near the end where Shiro is animated with erect nipples, which I felt was distracting and pointless considering it never happens in the rest of the series. The sound, including the opening and ending, is well done. The opening was very bizarre to me, as the shots are mainly close ups of the characters with some light metal music for the theme. Overall, I was impressed with the series and its presentation.

Depending on its popularity, since the Deadman Wonderland manga is still running I’m sure there is a possibility for a second season once there is enough source material to use. I find it disappointing that the US manga was being released by Tokyopop, which went under, so now it’s up to another publisher to pick up the series. I think this is one series I might have bought the manga for, if it was still running, as it feels very original and fresh while still using staples that make the genre great.

All caught up

thenitebuffet — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:51:46 -0500

With my last review I’m finally caught up on the series I’ve watched. I’d like to blame Acen and the post-con fatigue/catch up as the reason I’ve been so behind.

Next up will be Deadman Wonderland, which I am currently watching, followed by a yet to be determined series. I have a huge list of stuff to watch, but I try to stay with what has just recently aired. I will not usually start an incomplete series, but will on occasion if the series seems interesting, hence the reason Gosick was split into two parts.

If you have any suggestions on what I should watch next, go ahead and hit the inquires link to the right and I’ll take it into consideration. Remember, you best hope is if the series is recent and finished. If it is on my list of “To Watch” I may just pick it next. If it’s not on my list, sorry. I usually research what I want to see and add them to my list, so if it’s not there it’s unlikely I’ll watch it. Maybe I’ll post that list on here at some point for reference.

Also, I’ll be at Anime Iowa coming up in a little over a week, so no new reviews will be posted then. I do promise to be more diligent after the con then I was after Acen though. In the meantime, stay out of the heat. Maybe watch Durarara on Adult Swim, because we need more people watching main stream anime if we want it to survive. Plus, it’s a good series, so you’ll thank me later for recommending it.

The World God Only Knows

thenitebuffet — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:39:58 -0500

The World God Only Knows has a pretty epic title, considering the series is about a kid obsessed with video games, specifically dating sims. I watched the first season a few months before I started this blog, and found it entertaining with a few good laughs here and there. The great part about this series is you don’t have to watch the first season to get into this series, but it is always advised. Anyway, if you like parodies of tropes, then you might be in for some fun with this series.

Keima Katsuragi is a high school student that spends all of his time playing dating sims, even at school. He is referred to as the “God of Conquest” on the internet because he supposedly can beat any dating sim, or conquer all the girls in any game. After receiving an e-mail contract to help with a conquest, which he accepts, a demon named Elsie appears and says he has to help her catch loose souls that have escaped hell. The souls hide in people’s hearts, mainly girls, and it’s his job to fill the hole in each girl’s heart to push the souls out. This is the basic premise of the show and each girl’s conquest takes two to three episodes for each arc.

The second season of The World God Only Knows follows the same formula from the first season and only has minor references to the first. There is a bit at the beginning where they begin to explain the show’s basic premise, but Keima jumps up and basically tells Elsie to stop because the audience should have seen the first season. Inside jokes to other anime and to tropes regarding dating sims are numerous in this series. I’ve never really played any dating sims, but most of the jokes they bring up are funny, nevertheless.

I think the most brilliant part of the show, which is why I was interested, is that Keima, who lives inside a gaming world, now has to put his skills to use in the real world, which he hates. He is constantly referring to girls by what type they would be in a game, also referencing flags for each girl, which are points of change to build the relationships. There is a hard balance between obsessed gamer Keima, who is studying each girl just finish the job of winning their heart to release a soul, and “God” Keima, who actually seems empathetic and interested in these girls at points. Usually, Keima spends most of the series as his bastard self until right at the end when he is close to winning a girl, in which he truly does become a “God of Conquest.”

The series is somewhat formulaic, as series with a simple plot like this tend to be. I mean, just look at the original Dragon Ball series. Go on quest, get all the dragon balls, have wish granted, rinse and repeat. Each season is only 12 episodes, but the last episode is always a throwaway about Keima’s gaming. The end of season one announced season two, but there was no announcement at the end of that, so who knows the fate of the series. If there was another season made, I’d definitely watch it because it’s simple fun.

Both seasons are up on Crunchyroll and I recommend giving The World God Only Knows at least three episodes to see if it’s your thing. The girls in the series are pretty cute, if you like eye candy. Elsie is adorable and Keima’s mom is pretty hot, even though she rarely shows up. I will say the thing that kept me watching is Keima’s abominable personality at times, which is hilarious. He is the extreme poster child for what overly obsessed otaku looks like, and if otaku can’t laugh at themselves, then what’s the point.

Gosick Review (2nd half)

thenitebuffet — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:29:50 -0500

The second half of Gosick goes further in depth on many pieces that are brought up in the first half, tying most of them together to make a single story. If you haven’t read my first review, I would recommend doing so because I’m not going to backtrack on the minor details. Everything that is mentioned regarding Victorique’s past, her mother, her father, Brian Roscoe, the Village of Gray Wolves, WWI and predictions relating to WWII all come into play in the second half. Because of this, the series could have ended very messily, but instead manages to wrap itself up decently, except for an extremely rushed ending.Gosick opens strong in the second half, after the few throw-away episodes prior, with Victorique solving the mystery regarding the legend of an alchemist named Leviathan, who served the King and Queen of the country. After this, Victorique’s father, Marquis Albert de Blois, who is the Minister of the Occult drags her to a island convent with Kujo chasing after. After the events unfold on the island, more details emerge regarding Albert’s quest to undermine the Minster of Science, headed by Jupiter Roget. Further back story is revealed regarding Victorique’s mother, Cordelia Gallo, and her relation to Brian Roscoe.

The last big mystery solved in the series is the death of the queen, whose body was discovered at the palace while her head was in the countryside. The series then moves to close quickly with Albert successfully undermining the Ministry of Science and persuading the king to side with Germany in the upcoming war, likely based on his predictions. Things began to fall apart for him, though, as Cordelia and Brian Roscoe move to circumvent his power and control on the country. Victorique flees and the series ends with her meeting with Kujo in Japan, where he is just returning from fighting in the war.

I must say, I liked the first half of Gosick better. The little pieces that were put into the story leading up to the second half were brilliant and the pacing was just right. The second half of the series feels more and more rushed with each arc, until the very end where everything is moving along at high speed. It made me entirely confused, like I was watching a series with pieces missing. It reminded me of the Armitage III: Poly-Matrix, which is a movie adaption of a four OVA series. The first part of the movie followed very closely with the episodes, but the rest was rushed through, so I felt like I need to watch the individual episodes anyway to get what was going on.

Besides the rushed storytelling, there was also a lot of information to go through for the 12 remaining episodes. The back story of Cordelia, Brian, Albert, the King, the Queen and Leviathan all were told, along with having to fit in a conclusion to the series. The light novel series the anime is based on ended a little after the anime was finished, which begs the question on why they didn’t pace the story better, and then just follow up with a movie or OVA to round out the series. Personally, I hate when they make up an ending for an anime that is based off an unfinished story. The end always seems hasty and haphazardly put together, when all it would take to make it better is careful planning and input from the author of the source material.

All in all, Gosick is a good series. You may differ from my opinion and end up liking the second half more than the first, but most of the detective stories are in the first part and are done with careful pacing and good storytelling, which is why I liked it better. I find it odd that a 24 episode series would suffer from a rushed ending that plagues most 12-13 episode series, but I guess that just goes to show that a good thing can be ruined with terrible planning. The full series is still up on Crunchyroll if you feel like giving it a shot.

Black Rock Shooter Review

thenitebuffet — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:31:49 -0500

What do you get when someone draws a character, then a band makes a song and music video based around that character, then they decide to turn it into an anime? Well, you get Black Rock Shooter for starters. The story behind the OVA is that artist Huke created the character designs, which inspired Ryo of Supercell to make a song titled “Black Rock Shooter.” From there, the whole thing exploded and became extremely popular, so they made an OVA. There’s even a game coming out, but that’s beside the point. The OVA has high octane action set in an alternate world, clashed against the backdrop of a normal junior high school girl’s life. This short, 50 minute OVA is beautifully animated and has great music, but suffers from slow pacing and unnecessary reverse-chronological storytelling.

I’m going to sum up most of the plot in my review, so if you want to skip the spoilers, jump three paragraphs ahead. Black Rock Shooter begins with two girls battling in an alternate reality. No names are ever given here, except for Black Rock Shooter herself at the end of the OVA, so if you don’t look them up you’ll never know, so I had do so. The battle is between Black Gold Saw and Black Rock Shooter. There is never a reason given for this fight, and there is no correlating character for Black Gold Saw in the real world, and I’ll explain that later. Black Rock Shooter loses the battle and gets scarred.

The OVA then cuts to a girl waking up in bed. Mato Kuroi is preparing for his first day of junior high. There, she is intrigued by a girl in her class, Yomi Takanashi, who is driven to school. The two end up becoming friends, and their school life is intercut with action sequences between Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master. Mato resembles Black Rock Shooter while Yomi resembles Dead Master. As their school days progress, they become closer friends.

The story jumps forward to the second year of junior high where Mato and Yomi are now in separate classes. Yomi become depressed and jealous of Mato’s friendship with her basketball manager, Yuu, and vanishes. Mato becomes withdrawn at the disappearance of her friend, until she receives a message from Yomi and goes to meet at their special place. This leads to the appearance of Black Rock Shooter, who merges with Mato to save Yomi who has become Dead Master. Jump to the end of the battle with Dead Master, and Black Rock Shooter rescues Yomi from her possession of dead master. The OVA ends with the two girls walking in the real world, while Yuu stops and lets them walk on, which leads to the assumption she will disappear too from jealous and become Strength, the other character shown briefly in the alternate world.

Black Rock Shooter is an interesting anime to watch. I loved the action sequences in the alternate world, but I felt that since most of the story takes place in the real world, where the pacing is slow, it really brings the anime down. Also, the parts in the alternate world are all chronologically after most of the parts in the real world. It’s an interesting way for the two stories to meet up, but is slightly confusing. It seems to me this was done so they could inter-mix the action and alternate world story early on to keep the audience interested, because the fan base is mainly around Black Rock Shooter and her world. I wish they had found a better way to do so, because it feels forced.

I’ve only seen one other anime that I can recall that is based around music, which was basically made to promote a band. It was pretty terrible, but Black Rock Shooter was enjoyable to watch. The action was good, I do love the character designs, and the high school story was moderately interesting. If this had been a series I think it might have been better executed because more detail and information could have been put in about the alternate world, which is where the fan base lies. All in all, if you have 50 minutes to kill, Black Rock Shooter is totally worth seeing.

Level E Review

thenitebuffet — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:25:32 -0500

Originally, I heard about Level E through one of ANN’s preview guides, which I use to decide what news series I’ll be watching. I kept pushing the series to the back of my pile, mainly due to the animation style and the fact I thought the show was going to be a straightforward tale of an alien living with a high school student. Honestly, I should have read closer, because this show is hilarious. I’ve never seen such a quirky, well thought, comedy series such as Level E and I have a feeling I might never again.The series begins with Tsutsui Yukitaka moving to a new town, where he has been drafted to play baseball for the high school team. When he gets to his new apartment, a blonde man is already there claiming to be an alien that has lost his memory. From here out, the blonde man torments Tsutsui as he tries to convince him that he is indeed an alien. He plays current news footage of a crashed alien craft and a weird device he has, which Tsustui plays with causing the craft to explode in the distance. The alien then starts to torment Tsutsui by saying he killed people at the crash site.

The alien, who is actually a prince, is known throughout the galaxy as Prince Baka, because he is very intelligent, has a terrible personality and loves to torment people for his own amusement. Level E is told in small, multiple episode arcs that always contain the prince. This does make it hard to keep interested in the series, because the audience doesn’t have stable characters to relate to, but there is always the prince. As the series progress, the prince’s horrible personality continues to escalate, which is the driving force behind most of the comedy.

Level E ends back where it started with Tsutsui and the prince involved in one of the most brilliantly written and executed cons I’ve seen. I truly mean that. At the end I had to pause for a moment and think everything over from the last few episodes. It was a completely mind-blowing, hilarious and amazing ending. I’m actually quite glad they ended the series the way they did, and that it was only 13 episodes. If Level E had been any longer, I think it would have lost its appeal.

I highly recommend Level E to anyone who likes alien comedy, or really annoying characters that set up most of the jokes. The prince’s annoying level is right up there with Excalibur from Soul Eater, which I found works best in small doses. There’s also a bit in the middle of the series that involves color rangers and RPGs in the same arc, which was my favorite part of the entire series. Level E is a very ridiculous series and may not appeal to everyone, but if you like smart comedy sometimes, like I do, then it’s definitely well worth checking out. You’ll just have to find it on your own, though, since it’s not streaming here.

Freezing Review

thenitebuffet — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:39:03 -0500

When Onemanga.com was still a free site, I’d spend hours reading manga series there. Some were series I buy that I couldn’t wait for to be released, and others were entirely new to me. It was a place to get into series to see if I wanted to buy them. A series I really enjoyed was Black God by Dall-Young Lim. I loved the action, the artwork and the story so I started checking out other works by him, such as Freezing. Despite some fan service, the series was decent and had good action. When I found out there was an anime being made, I was interested, even if I had a feeling the Korean art wouldn’t transfer well to animation; such was the case of Black God. Never would I image an anime to completely divert from the manga by show copious amounts of nudity for no good reason.

Kazuya Aoi is a limiter who enrolls at West Genetics, a school for Pandoras to train. His sister was a heroic Pandora who sacrificed herself to save others by defeating a powerful Nova, which are invaders from another dimension. Upon arrival, he screws up a student’s, named Satellizer el Bridget, battle. Satellizer is the second-year’s number one fighter known as the “Untouchable Queen.” She is not bothered by Aoi’s touch and he insists on become her Limiter, which is a partner that helps in battle by using a freezing ability. There is a lot of back story and concepts related to Freezing that are brought up slowly in the manga, but are all introduced in the first episode of the anime to save time.

The anime series is okay at following the manga, but there are two major differences. One, which I believe is to assist the second, is that the Pandora mode that the girls can activate is no longer a battle suit. In the anime they glow and their hair turns white. The second is that during battle the girls’ clothes are constantly destroyed, leading to a lot of nude breasts bouncing around. By far, this is the most nudity I’ve seen in a non-hentai series ever. In fact, most ecchi shows are usually more tasteful. It is completely jarring, pointless and does not happen at all in the manga.

I’ve read many reviews about Freezing, like on Anime News Network, and all have been negative, which I completely understand. Here is an anime series designed to peak male interest without any taste or subtlety. Fortunately, I only had to suffer through 12 episodes. There is so much nudity I had to go back to the manga and make sure there wasn’t any there, as it had been a while since I read it and I wasn’t positive. Sure enough, I read the chapters relating to a battle in episode seven, which has boobs popping out left and right, to find there was none in the manga. To state simply, “I am disappoint.”

Freezing, as an anime, does not work. Whoever got it into their head to make it with tons of nudity is an idiot. The manga is a beautifully drawn, interesting, fun story with girls kicking ass. I’d say it’s almost on par with series like My-Hime. I don’t read a lot of manga, but I will say on this occasion I’m glad I did. It is so much better than the anime, and I don’t think I can come up with a similar series that was so damaged by its anime counterpart. I know the Freezing manga isn’t out in America, but if you can find it online I do recommend it. It’s at least worth a read. If you think you can stomach the anime, or just want to see a lot of boobs, you can watch it through ANN.

Beelzebub Review (1st half)

thenitebuffet — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:31:00 -0500

I hate to say it, but I’ve seen a lot of anime series revolving around juvenile delinquents. I love Cheeky Angel, as the thug Genzo’s facial expressions are hilarious. Series like Air Gear are Tenjho Tenge are full of great shōnen action with some gags thrown in. When I heard about Beelzebub, I thought a series about a delinquent with a baby that is the devil’s son might be good for some laughs. What I should have realized is how one-note this concept is and stayed away from this bland, boring comedy.

Beelzebub follows Oga Tatsumi, a first year at Ishiyama High, a high school with all delinquents. This was a pretty funny concept, when done in Cromartie High School, but none of the students at Ishiyama are as quirky or bizarre as the characters in Cromartie. Oga is the strongest kid in his year, and after beating down some attackers ends up being presented a baby, named Beelzebub, by Alaindelon. Alaindelon is a dimensional transfer device that is sent from hell to find a strong guardian for Baby Beel to raise him to be the demon king. Also, he looks like Freddy Mercury, another trope that was already done in Cromartie.

Oga is joined by his companion Takayuki Furuichi, who is hot for Beel’s nurse Hildegarde, a blonde loli-goth from the underworld. From here, hilarity ensure, as every time Beel cries he electrocutes everyone in the vicinity. If this were an occasional occurrence, it might be funny, but this happens every episode. In fact, it seems most of the gags are surrounding Beel hurting others because he is upset, or something from the demon world, like a toy, is acting up. After the first two episodes, Beelzebub gets extremely repetitive and predictable.

As for the main plot of Beelzebub, Oga continuously tries to find someone stronger than him so Baby Beel gets attached to them and leaves. The only parts of the series I like are when Oga is challenged by someone strong, only to smack them down. The first half of the series he kicks the crap out of two of the four most dangerous kids in school. The third, Aoi Kunieda, the leader of the girls in the school, falls for Oga, which I found to be the funniest part to the series.

So far, I’ve only seen half the series. I’m hoping that the second half gets into a major plot and uses the tired comical devices of the first sparingly, but I’m pretty sure it won’t. Series like Beelzebub usually stay one-note all the way through, and there are usually enough people who like the comical repetition to keep series like this running. I guess I’ll find out either way when I watch the second half, but for those of you who are inclined to check it out now, the full series is available one Crunchyroll.

Gosick Review (1st half)

thenitebuffet — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:37:13 -0500

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m a fan of detective shows. I used to stay up late watching Detective Conan when it ran on Adult Swim, even though it ran during the latest block of programs. Usually if I read a synopsis about a series and it sounds like a decent detective show, I’ll end up checking it out. Such is the case with Gosick, a series based off light novels following the exploits of Victorique de Blois, a young girl with an incredible level of intelligence that she uses for solving crimes.The series is set in the fictional country of Sauville in the early 1900’s, after WW1 but before WW2. The protagonist, Kazuya Kujo, is a Japanese student studying abroad at St. Marguerite academy. His fellow students label him a “reaper” from an urban legend. The school seems to run on urban legends, including one about a golden fairy in the library tower. While visiting the library, Kazuya stumbles upon Victorique in the tower, attached by her golden hair shining in the light from above. From here, Kazuya gets dragged along a murder investigation when police detective, Grevil de Blois, requests assistance from Victorique.

Victorique is very gothic-lolita in appearance. In fact, when Kazuya first meets her he believes she is a doll. Her temperament is that of a demanding child, with bits of tsundere thrown in for good measure. Kazuya’s personality relates mainly to his reasons for studying abroad, but in most cases he seems to be a vehicle for the audience to experience Victorique’s crime solving. I do admit, their friendship is an integral part of the series and many of the cases that are solved use their bond in various ways.

Most of the episodes are cases spread out over two or three episodes. I enjoy when series have arcing episodes because they keep the audience coming back and prevent the series from become episodic. Toward the middle of the series are a few episodes that are character building throw-away episodes, but they are a welcome break from the constant crime and drama. Also, by far this series has one of the best opening sequences I’ve seen. The style of the animation reminds me of a set of tarot cards I’ve seen and is very fitting for the tone of the series.

I have only watched halfway through, and as of yet there is no major plot for Gosick, but it may show in the second half as most series take this approach. Please stay tuned for my review of the second half of Gosick. In the meantime, you can watch the full series on Crunchyroll.

Tegami Bachi Reverse Review

thenitebuffet — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:20:00 -0500

Picking up right where the first season left off, with some minor retelling of the end scene, Tegami Bachi Reverse (Letter Bee Reverse) throws the series right into full story mode. Each episode has to do with the main plot of this season, which is the organization called Reverse. Reverse’s main goal is to take down the government and “reverse” everything back to the way it was before they can into control. The second season is a battle of the Letter Bees trying to halt Reverse’s advances, while trying to not be swayed by the arguments of this counter organization.

Reverse is actually mentioned in the first season in minor increments. The last few episodes deal specifically reverse, especially the cliffhanger ending that has Lag Seeing’s confrontation with Noir, a reverse member. While Noir’s identity is not really a secret, I will not ruin the surprise form those who haven’t watched the series. In fact, I can’t describe much of the plot without spoiling quite a bit, but I will try to surmise what I can to provide a general feel for what the season is about.

At the end of the first season, Noir confront Lag to steal his letter. This is one of Reverse’s objectives and is the reason why they are attacking Letter Bees. The second season deals with Noir’s identity and Reverse’s motivation for reverting control of the world out of the government’s hands. At time, the Bees also are conflicted after hearing incidents from Reverse members about what the government has done. All this leads, naturally, to a final battle between the Bees and Reverse.

It’s is quiet rare to see a series, such as Tegami Bachi, that is close to all one continuous story. Longer series usually suffer from episodicness at the beginning, and save all the main plot points till the end or latter half. Tegami Bachi’s first season only has episodic stories in the middle, but they do not detract from the main story or the direction it takes. This second season is perfectly scripted and thought out, incorporating back story with action from both the Bees and Reverse to progress the plot and provide character depth. There is even back story regarding Nichi’s origins which directly relate to the actions of Reverse. Everything is seamless in execution, except for the end.

The end of Tegami Bachi Reverse is, as one would expect from a series based on a manga that had not yet ended, slightly disappointing yet fitting. There is definite effort made to wrap up the series coherently and naturally, but I’ve yet to see a series do it properly. Endings for series taken from manga always seem rushed and sometimes slightly forces. They also usually have a very bittersweet ending wishing for more. At the very minimum, it sparks interest in the manga, since they are usually never finished. Either way, the anime ending for Tegami Bachi is decent, but not as good as it could be because it’s not what the author planned.

I would personally rate Tegami Bachi as the best longer running series I’ve seen, above series like Soul Eater and Cheeky Angel. My main reasoning is because Tegami Bachi has a continuous story and it sticks to it. Most series, even if they are running one story, usually end up breaking the series apart into awkward pieces. A lot of series that are around 26 episodes suffer from lack of direction for the first half, and then have all the plot point in the second, like Witch Hunter Robin, which leads to a mess of a story.

Tegami Bachi is a nicely animated, well scripted series that is consistently good throughout both seasons. A rare gem of an anime that any age group can enjoy and will appeal to my different types of fans, this series shows that anime can produce a long series with a single storyline without detracting from the quality or stability of the show. Being such, it’ll be the first series I’ll give an actual rating to: 8.5 out of 10. The first season’s on Crunchyroll, but you’ll have to dig for the second.

Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) Review

thenitebuffet — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:19:25 -0500

Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) is an series I heard about near the end of last year, mainly from the announcement that its sequel, Tegami Bachi Reverse, had begun airing. To be honest, I ended up watching an episode somewhere in the middle of the series (why I didn’t start with the first episode escapes me) and couldn’t really get into. Coupled with the fact that I knew the full series was a whopping 50 episodes, I quietly tucked away the titled to the back of my head and left it there.

Fast forward to Acen this year; I met a person who was cosplaying from the series later, so I ended up attending the Tegami Bachi cosplay shoot and thoroughly enjoyed the cosplayers’ discussion of the series. At this point, I decided to finally start tackling the larger series I had been putting off and began with Tegami Bachi, and I must say it was one of the best choices I made in a while.

Tegami Bachi follows Lag Seeing on his quest to become Head Bee, which is the highest title of a letter bee. Letter Bees, are as the name implies, postal carriers who have animal or human companions called Dingos that travel with them. With their Dingo, the Bees traverse the dangerous outland of AmberGround, fighting off giant, mechanical bugs called Gaichuu. The only way to defeat the Gaichuu is to shoot inside it using Spirit Amber, which is activated by using a piece of one’s own heart. Ironically, the Gaichuu are attracted to heart, such as letters, which is why Letter Bees must protect them.

The series begins with a young Lag as a letter, being delivered by Gauche Suede. This three episode back story gives meaning to Lag’s quest to become the best Letter Bee he can, as he clearly idolizes Gauche. Five years later, Lag is grown up enough to become a Bee himself, so he heads off on his quest. He meets a girl who is marked as a package and decides to deliver her, because of the semblance to his situation with Gauche as a child. The girl eventually becomes Lag’s dingo, who he names Niche, because that’s where he found her. Also accompanying them is a creature Niche refers to as Steak, because picked him up for a traveling snack.

Lag becomes a Letter Bee and Lag discovers what happened to Gauche, meets with his sister, Sylvette, and ends up staying at the Suede household. From here, things become a bit episodic, as Lag delivers letter after letter and AmberGround’s bleak landscape takes shape, lit by an artificial sun over the exclusive and mysterious capitol. Most of these episodes develop Lag’s character, portraying his desires and reasoning, while also exploring those of the Bees he works with.

In the end, the show finally returns to the main story, but ends on a cliffhanger which leads directly into the sequel. I felt it was slightly unnecessary to break the series into two parts, especially since it seemed like the second season was already planned, but after watching the other season it seems more like a well thought out marketing move than a botched attempted at a single run series. Also, the first season is definitely light hearted and fun, while the second season is much more dramatic.

I have to say I loved the beginning and the end of Tegami Bachi. These parts are well paced storytelling of a boy on an adventure to become man, in a fashion. The only problem I had with the series was the middle, where things became episodic. I will be the first to admit, though, this was one of the few times I really enjoyed an episodic series. The individual stories were well done and added to the main characters’ development. It reminded me much of the episodic nature of Mushi-Shi, which was also good. All in all, even though the middle portion was not as good as the rest, the series was extremely entertaining, fun and could easily reach a many different types of anime fans.

So, anyway, now I’m on to deliver my review of the second season, Tegami Bachi Reverse!

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Review

thenitebuffet — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:20:16 -0500

For any of you anime fans who haven’t been living under a rock, Haruhi Suzumiya is a series that you’ve likely heard of. Whether you only know of it, seen it and loved it or watched it with utter loathing, Haruhi has been very large in the anime realm’s public eye ever since the first season of the anime was released back in 2006. Three years later a second series was released, followed by last year’s movie. The film, “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya,” is basically a retelling of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Kyon in George Bailey’s role, but without any disappointment regarding his life, which obviously leads to his panic and confusion when the quirky life he knows no longer exists.

Set in a month after the school’s cultural festival, in the series time frame, “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya” starts out showing a general school day for Kyon, the series narrator and protagonist. The film basically introduces all the characters of the SOS Brigade in this opening day, but provides little else in background info. There is a heavy feeling from the start that the film is only for an audience that is already familiar with the series, which is why I believe the first day breezes by with little back story, leaving those unfamiliar with the characters confused and put off.

The very next day, Kyon wakes up to find the world changed, noticing subtle differences at first, such as a cold epidemic at school that has been going on for a while, to larger changes, such as Ryoko Asakura appearance in his class as if she never left. Again, if the audience had not watched the series, they would have no idea that Ryoko was gone from the school. As much as I usually enjoy films just for the fans, I also hate to see newer audience members completely left out without any effort to include them.

The main change which sets Kyon reeling is the absence of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon scrambles to find previous members of the SOS Brigade, such as Mikuru Asahina and Yuki Nagato, only to discover they don’t know him at all. The only clue he has is a bookmark he finds left by the Nagato he remembers, leading him on a journey to gather the brigade members of the world he now resides in. I won’t go further with the plot, but I will say the movie plays out like a who-done-it mystery as Kyon tries to discover the person responsible for changing the world.

Fans of the Haruhi series I think will find “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya” to be a refreshing change of pace after the redundant endless eight of the second season. In my opinion, even the back story concerning the filming of the SOS Brigade’s cultural festival project could have been removed to make way for a more structured second season. The first season’s quirkiness, combined with the out-of-chronological-order airing, made for a really interesting and fun series. While the film doesn’t quite achieve the level the first season set, it is much better than the second season and adds to many characters’ development and the overall universe.

“The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya” is a very welcome addition and a step in the right direction for the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. The film is crispy animated and all the characters and backgrounds stand out in a way they never did in the series. Also, in the alternative universe Haruhi has long hair, which I think is pretty hot. When I first saw the runtime of two and half hours, I was kind of put off, but the story flowed naturally at an even pace so I never really noticed that time was flying by. I honestly don’t think this story could have been done as a series considering how very quickly and linear everything progress, so I’m glad they made it into a film. All in all, I hope the series continues, and at this level of quality.

Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro Review

thenitebuffet — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:49:47 -0500

One of my favorite types of genres is detective shows. I’m a big fan of Detective Conan and would stay up late at night to watch it when it was on Adult Swim, so when I heard about Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro (Demon Detective Neuro Nōgami) I was right away interested. A series about a demon who eats mysteries and solves murder cases was too much for me to resist. While I generally enjoyed the series, it did not live up to my expectations. With its Scooby-Doo like reasoning for figuring out the criminals and bizarre character transformations that make little sense, Majin Tantei is very hit or miss for anime fans.

Yako Katsuragi is high school girl who is contracted with the demon Neuro to help him find mysteries to eat, since he has eaten all in the demon world. He comes to her after her own father is murdered in a close room, leaving the case unsolved. They open a detective agency where Neuro makes Yako solve cases, basically by stating the culprit and saying it’s what she said, to increase the agency’s fame and get more cases. Also working in the agency is Shinobu Godai, a former finance criminal who uses his connections to help on cases, and Akane, a corpse in the office’s wall that basically is a moving hair braid.

Majin Tantei is extremely episodic in the beginning and rarely deals with the overall plot, which relates to a supernatural killer, Phantom Thief Sai. The second half is better and moves the plot forward with episode strung together leading up to a climax with Sai and Yako discovering her father’s killer. The cases in the beginning are somewhat interesting and provides back story into Yako’s father’s case and how Godai joined the agency.

The standalone episodes in the beginning, that are extremely formulaic, as Yako is dragged by Neuro to crime scenes, where they usually encounter police detectives Eishi Sasazuka and Jun Ishigaki. The detectives are almost useless to the progress of the series, except to provide an actually law enforcement presence in a series dealing with murders. Neuro goes about observing, says his catch phrase, then make Yako point out the criminal. As he explains the way they went about the crime, which a viewer could not figure out during the episode (like Scooby-Doo), the criminal usually goes berserk and transforms into a monster, which is utterly pointless and distracting.

The most entertaining part of Majin Tantei is how Neuro tortures poor Yako and all the hideously inappropriate, yes hilarious, faces he makes. As a series, it really is take it or leave. I enjoyed watching it, but it is nowhere near as good as Detective Conan. In the end, I got a few laughs out of it thanks to Neuro himself, but I did feel the ending was rushed. The series, of course, leaves it open for a sequel, and the manga is still running, but I don’t think it’s likely going to be renewed, especially since it debuted in 2007 with very little buzz. If you’re interested, I say give it three to six episodes to decide if it’s right for you.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Review

thenitebuffet — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:29:00 -0500

It’s rare to find a quirky, niche, pandering anime series that I actually like; yet Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (Is this a Zombie?) manages to combine gore, moe, magical girls, bizarre comedy, random nudity, imagined sister worship and some harem themes together into a pleasant potpourri, instead of the ass salad one would expect.

The series begins with our zombie hero, Ayumu Aikawa, who, in the opening scene, is hit by a car and propelled through the air. In this moment, he reflects and tells the audience that everything is ok, because he’s a Zombie. Ayumu looks normal, but sunlight affects him, turning him into a dried out husk. He’s also close to indestructible and is mutilated many times over, only to be put back together like a human ragdoll. Living with him is Eucliwood Hellscythe, or Eu, the necromancer that revived him after he was murdered. Her character design is reminiscent of a cross between Saber from Fate/Stay Night (because of the armor) and Angel from Angel Beats.

The duo is soon joined by Haruna, a magical girl, who hunts demons called Megalos. She gets her powers taken by Ayumu when she tries to wipe his memories, so he ends up with her magical girl powers. The final girl to join the harem is Seraphim, or Sera; a vampire ninja who is seeking Eu. The series follows these four on their misadventures. There is an over arcing plot, based around Ayumu trying to find his murderer, but the series is slightly episodic in nature. I feel that the charm of the show is the strange, slice-of-unlife that it portrays; while the main plot is there just to give the series some direction and closure.

The females in Zombie are very moe in appearance; not quite as nauseating as Kanon or Air, but similar in design to Angel Beats. Sera, the most mature of them, actually is one of my favorite female anime stereotypes. She is the badass, long-haired, busty, brunette samurai girl. Other examples of this are Kaori Kanzaki from Toaru Majutsu no Index and Saeko Busujima from High School of the Dead. There needs to be more series with this type of girl, but that’s just my personal preference.

Zombie is a series that is definitely enjoyable to watch, has just the right amount of fan service and has enough good jokes to keep me coming back. While part of me wishes that there was more to the series, I’m not disappointed that there are only 12 episodes. The last episode is pretty much a fan service, throw away episode, which I usually hate, but it’s a very bizarre and fun episode like the rest of the series. Plus, the fan service is excellent without taking things too far.

An adaption of the light novel series by Shinichi Kimura, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? is an extremely visual show. Considering the gags and gore I’m unsure how well the visuals can be achieved the books, but it was obviously good enough to warrant an anime series. Unfortunately, it seems Zombie didn’t get the ratings it needed to be renewed for a second season. Then again, it has to be hard to market a show that has a mixture of so many different clichés.