I remember about a month back, before this whole Check-In started. Me and Guuzen actually had this idea for a podcast version of this check in. Somehow the idea fell through and it got converted to this written Check-In instead. It was then that we decided that we’d do this Check-In pretty informally, with some posts being essay length reviews, with others having just screen captures and others just have one liners.

Week 1 was pretty rushed for us, not knowing how to make the layout of this and all. Week 2 was busy for me. Week 3 Guuzen was busy but I had wayyy too much idle time, which led to an unbelievably long post. But, it was then that I decided that a post of that proportion is unsustainable. I wouldn’t be able to commit myself to that many series and to write that many reviews/impressions in 1 week. It is pretty exhausting, having to watch some shows twice.

Anyway, what this means, is that 1) We’ll only be covering the following series, (after the break), on a regular basis. 2) The following series, will be reviewed by either a long-post, short-post or picture-post style. 3) Any other series, will be covered on a block basis. That means to say, we’ll be reviewing the other series, if any, by each story arc or by a certain number of episodes, just not weekly. With that, enjoy this week’s check-in.

This week, we are covering:

A-Channel (Episode 4)
Ao no Exorcist (Episode 2)
Astarotte no Omocha (Episode 3)
Bleach (Episode 319)
C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (Episode 3)
Deadman Wonderland (Episode 2)
Fairy Tail (Episode 77)
Hidan no Aria (Episode 3)
The World God Only Knows S2 (Episode 3)
Nichijou (Episode 4)
SKET Dance (Episode 4)
Tiger & Bunny (Episode 4)
X-Men (Episodes 4)

A-Channel (Episode 4)

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I’ve realized how hard it is to write out the events of what happened in each episode of A-Channel. Why? Because there are so many mini-events that even I have a hard time catching them all. I laugh at each gag and before I know it, we’re on to another gag. As such, this will be the first of a few series that I’ll stick to a pure image captures format.

Tooru: “OBJECTION!”

Run: “REJECTED!!!!”

Yuuko: “Eto……”

Yuuko: “IM NOT A GHOST. DON’T IGNORE ME” (in Kansai-ben)

Tooru: “Hmmmm….”

Tooru: “SORYAAAA!!”

Rub A Tooru for Good Luck #1

Rub A Tooru for Good Luck #2

NICE BODY!!!

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Ao no Exorcist (Episode 2)

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Yet another stellar showing from one of this season’s gems. This week’s Ao no Exorcist continues directly from last week with Rin and his father running from the minions of Satan.

It was a helluva crazy ride, what with ghouls/zombie dogs, Holy Water bombs and enchantment barriers. A truly exhilarating ride Episode 2 of this series was. If all action is not your thing, there is serious story progression in this episode as well. If you’ve been paying attention to the promotional posters of this show, you might have noticed that a large number of the main cast are well, still missing from the main show. Which is true. The end of episode 2 marks the end of this ‘arc’, and transfers the whole show to a ‘whole new world’.

Anyway, back to the main story of this week first. Astaroth, the demon from last week makes yet another appearance again in this episode, chasing down Rin and hoping to bring Rin back to hell. A crazy battle ensures between the demons of Gehenna and the exorcists of Assiah(our world) and when it looks like the exorcists had finally won, the true final boss, Satan, shows up. Let’s just say that the end result isn’t pretty, but it does move the story along to it’s true storyline. So yes, the last 2 episodes have been some sort of prologue, but it was a kickass prologue.

On a side note, this episode also introduced the katana that Rin has been wielding in all the promos. It’s name is the Kurikara and within the blade lies Rin’s power. Needless to say, for the story to progress, Rin accessed his true powers during the course of the episode and became a true demon, but at the same time, saving Assiah.

Oh, there was also a new character introduced at the end this week. Mephisto Pheles, a representative of the Japan branch of the True Cross Knight Order. From the next episode preview, it looks like that Knight Order is somewhat an exorcist school for teens so yeah. The show’s about to get a lot more interesting from here on out.

To end off, here are some screencaps of the battle in the Church.

Holy barrier at work

Holy Water! By the Gallon!

This so reminds me of FMA.

I CHOOSE YOU!

SCARECROWMON!!! VS MUSHROOMON!

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Astarotte no Omocha (Episode 3)

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A pretty WTF episode with shocking revelations and unbelievable plot holes. That being said, there was no ecchi content this week which is a win. Another win, character development for Lotte and Asuha. This show doesn’t seem all that bad anymore if you can ignore the plot holes and revelations. Anyway, here are some screencaps.

Her face upon seeing the arrival of the over enthusiastic Asuha

Part 1 of flashback to why Asuha was at the castle. I know, my reaction was the same as well.

Part 2 of the flashback. And yes, this was my initial thought as well. Naoya looks as young as Hayate (Hayate no Gotoku reference)

Naoya’s Current Age – Asuha’s Current Age = Shameless Naoya?! No seriously. He was 13 when she was born?! Am I the only one who sees a problem with that? Morality issues man.

Some beautiful father-daughter time

Hmm. I guess supporting your child is still father-daughter points I guess

He looks….. subdued.

Omigod?! NO PAN?!

Asuha: “NO PANTSU DESU!!!”

Spot the outlier in the image. Hint: It’s Pink

Asuha: “Tsukamaiaeta!”

She looks pretty subdued too, just like Naoya

One last one for the random win. This…. is a human.

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Bleach (Episode 319)

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3rd Week into this arc, which is named the Gotei 13 Invading Army arc (or just Clone Wars to me), the action gets pumped up way high. For those who complained in the last 2 years that Bleach was nothing but long speeches and unbelievably long staring matches but still stuck along to watch it, you should watch this. I kid you not.

The action sequences, in this episode especially were top tier. From the fight that Ishida has with the new villain Inaba, to the heart pumping action of Rukia/Ichigo/Yourichi v.s. the Clone Army, it was way cool.

It’s also pretty good that the action scenes and this overall arc so far has animation quality on par to some of the series’ best. Which begs to wonder why more is spent on animating a filler than say, properly animating a canon-manga arc. But that’s not the main issue at hand.

Anyway, the long story short in this episode, is that the new villain of the series Inaba, has somehow managed to make a clone army of the Gotei 13 captains and vice captains by trapping them in the Dangai(Precipice World) and replacing them with Reigai(Clones). Pretty impressive feat. That’s not all.

His Zanpaktou, Raiku, seems to wield some kind of time-space displacement power that totally owned Ishida’s Hirenkyaku(Quincy Shunpou). That ain’t even the cherry on the top of the cake yet.

Because the Reigai possess the same/slightly higher power levels than the originals, it is assumed by Rukia that in order for Inaba to control them, Inaba first must possess Reiatsu(spiritiual power), at a level far greater than all of them in order to keep them under control. Geez, another Aizen that early?

To wrap up, this week’s episode is pretty awesome. The arc is pretty awesome. Go catch it now. Ending off this part with some awesome screens.

This is the clone army by the way.

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C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (Episode 3)

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This week’s C was very informative with a new character, Satou, taking center stage. An agent of the IMF, she was tasked with reporting on every detail within the Financial District after suddenly getting an invitation to it 2 months back. Having had 11 deals prior to the main storyline, she still considers herself a rookie Entre.

There were many theories and facts passed around during this episode. For instance, it was suggested by Satou that through some stories passed down, the Financial District may have been around even during the Middle Ages. Also, much like Mikuni, she seems to believe that Yoga will have a serious impact on the Financial District.

As for the facts, she has been trying to find out as much about Mikuni as possible, except that she’s been getting nowhere other than that Mikuni has a lot of influence and has a posting just about anywhere.

Details of the battle system in the Financial District were also revealed. Assets can’t move without the commands of their Entre. Assets attack using flations in three forms; Macroflations, Mezzoflations and Microflations. The attacks have an attack cost of 10mil, 1mil, 100k each. The idea is, the higher the cost, the stronger the attack. But you need the money to perform those attacks.

And that’s the theories and facts part of the episode. There is also character development this week for Yoga. He learns that his father was also involved in the Financial District and in the end went bankrupt and hung himself without informing anyone. Pretty serious stuff.

The episode starts off with Yoga’s 2nd deal and too, ends off with Yoga’s 2nd deal but we never actually get to see it cause lots of this week’s episode was made up of flashbacks and character development events. Next week would be a good time for action.

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Deadman Wonderland (Episode 2)

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Following up exactly after last’s week ending where Ganta used his new found strength to prevent that giant boulder from smashing him and Shiro, this week’s episode introduces him to more of how the prison works as well as new people.

The new person would be someone who was introduced briefly in last week’s episode but never did get a proper name and all.

Takami You. Good guy? Nah. It’s apparent that he is working for the bad guys that run the prison. Think of him as the snitch. Speaking of the guys who run the prison. Last week I introduced the warden, now here’s the guy that seems to be the one pulling all the strings.

Tsunegana Tamaki. He is the one who represented Ganta in court and as such, was the person who framed Ganta into looking guilty. Not much is known about him at the moment, but I predict things will be revealed in due course.

As I mentioned, much about how the prison is run was revealed in this episode. For one, the inhibitor collars on each convict’s neck slowly feeds poison into the convicts’ bodies. The only way to remedy that? By ingesting a special antidote candy every 3 days. Here’s the catch. Each candy piece costs 100,000 CP. The only way to earn the CP? By participating in activities at Deadman Wonderland of course.

One such activity, as highlighted in this episode, is the Dog Race. Which top prize is 100,000 CP. It isn’t an easy race though. Think Ninja Warrior except totally deadly. Despite looking totally useless, Ganta makes it through to the end of the race with Shiro’s help.

The race was a good point to showcase the brutality of the prison and the overall show. So far, the show has done well showing that there are a large number of jerks in the prison. Looks like things are going to be more interesting in the weeks to come.

For now, enjoy the OP that started this week:

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Fairy Tail (Episode 77)

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This week’s highlights:

* Gajeel complains that he is the only dragonslayer without a cat
* Elfman and Mira visit the church as it’s near Lisanna’s death anniversary

* More details of Lisanna are revealed
* Mystogan returns with a shocking surprise
* The concept of Edolas and Earthland are explained briefly
* Anima is explained briefly
* The entire guild, save for Happy, Wendy, Charles and Natsu get transported into a gaping hole in the sky

This week’s episode left a lot of questions unanswered, such as why is there Anima, why is Mystogan’s secret as such and why the cats were left behind. Of course, that is unanswered if you have not read the manga. But I will say this much, next episode will be a shocker. Truly. Anyway, enjoy some screencaps.

Gajeel pissed that he has no Neko-nakama

Happy with a fish for Charla

Then again, Stuck Up Kitty says NO!

Cue Mystogan

Wendy, shocked at his Big Reveal.

Meanwhile, back at the guild, this happens.

Fire V.s Ice

THE SKY IS FALLING!!!

Guild is fading away!!!!

The aftermath. No more guild. A shocked Wendy.

The survivors of the Anima attack

Not forgetting the stuck up Neko

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Hidan no Aria (Episode 3)

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Kinji and Aria go on their first mission, saving a bus full of Butei’s from the Butei Killer, who placed a bomb under the bus which explodes if the bus slows down.

Wow, Speed much? That plot has been reused so many times I’m not even sure if this was intentional. That was part 2 of this week’s episode by the way. Part 1 is way more light hearted so I’ll talk about it only at the end.

The whole mission was so that Aria could see Kinji’s true abilities, aka. his Pro mode. In that made he attains S-Rank Butei abilities above Aria but at the same time, his personality changes into a true douchebag, which is probably why he’s constantly reluctant to change to that form. What’s more, as was seen in Episode 1, he needs to be… ‘aroused’ in order to activate that mode. Long story short, Kinji did not enter that personality and ended up letting the day get saved by a new character, Reki, The Super Sniper.

It was pretty meh the entire episode. There’s nothing new we haven’t seen before in another series so yeah, this loses points for originality. The only saving grace? Part 1’s light hearted moments at the arcade, as would be told via screencaps.

The day starts off at a game center

Funny. The arcades around my place don’t look so bright and populated with that many females.

o.o What has gotten Aria salivating for.

Nekopyon?!

Oh yes it is!

About to fail

The starting stack

The ending stack. You know, when I play these games, this always happens as well.

Wtf? 2 In 1? Spot the 2 In 1 catch!

Here’s your prize if you found it.

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The World God Only Knows S2 (Episode 3)

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The Haqua arc begins this week and I must say, things are looking interesting.

Haqua was classmates with Elsie back at their academy for loose souls and apparently, she was top of her class, unlike Elsie. And in the current timeline, she is the section chief while Elsie is merely a member of a section. Pretty impressive aye. Well, Elsie was impressed. :D

That aside, this episode has to deal with the introduction of Haqua and Haqua’s mess. As it turns out, Haqua made a mess of her first loose soul capture and it escaped to the school where Keima and Elsie are at. Not wanting to lose face and admit her mistake to Elsie, she sends Elsie away from her and enlists a reluctant Keima’s help to help find the loose soul.

It is then, an interesting revelation is revealed. While Haqua was laughing about Elsie having 5 loose soul captures, Haqua lied about having captured 10 loose souls when in actuality, she has captured none. Brilliant.

The result of that stubborness to work together with Elsie and her pride? The loose soul grew real big and at the end of the episode, formed some type of cocooned mess.

Well, that’s what this episode was about. The first non-human girl arc. Pretty impressive stuff, but I did wish they’d move on to my fave character already, who has a spot later this season.

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Nichijou (Episode 4)

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For some reason, this week’s Nichijou seemed to move at a really slow pace. As usual, there were moments where I went LOL and laughed uncontrollably, but most other times I couldn’t help but yawn.

Anyway, I figured that for a series like Nichijou, it’d be best if I just highlight the key points through screencaps.

o.O Is that steak and wine in school?!

o.O. Big guns

Hmm. What has gotten Yuuko so shocked about?!

:-o Who is that?!!

Mai-chan desu~

Are?!?!?! INAI?!?!?! MAI-CHAN WA DOKO DA?!?!?!

::shock:: (what’s going on?!)

O_O!!

Double :-o

Sakamoto-san, tsukamaiaeta!

To end off as usual, here’s this week’s Jan-Ken-Pon clip:

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SKET Dance (Episode 4)

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As usual, there were 2 chapters worth of content packed into 1 episode. Not surprising because the pace of each chapter is actually quite fast. And thankfully they didn’t stretch each episode or it would have been a snoozefest.

Anyways, this week’s 2 chapters are the Saotomoe Roman chapter and the Chiaki ‘CAPTAIN’ Takahashi chapter.

In Captain’s chapter, she requires the SKET Dan’s help in locating a prize-winning Pelolilpop Candy wrapper that would be able to redeem a Pelolin plushie. Apparently the plush reminds Captain’s younger brother of their dead mother. So Captain bought a whole bunch of Pelolipop candys in order to try and win the plush. Touching story right? These guys below seem to think so too!

Hahaha. One Piece style crying. Anyways, this chapter also recycles Jougasaki, an antagonist from Episode 1. In this chapter too, he once again becomes an antagonist when he realizes that the plush can go for up to 100,000yen on online auctions. So yeah, the SKET dan put him in his place, only to realize much later that…..the wrapper Jougasaki found was not the one Captain one was looking for, and that Captain had already found hers. >.< So yes, Himeko kept the wrapper, as seen below.

Now, the Roman chapter I felt, was way more eventful. It all started out one day in the rain where Roman saw a bishounen picking up a stray dog on the roadside and as such, enlists the SKET Dan’s help in locating him. However, she has this Otome Filter that distorts reality for her. Pretty trippy stuff.

Not to mention, her drawing skills suck too. As can be seen by her impression of the ‘Hilltop Prince’ she met that day in the rain.

Anyway, the chapter ends when the group heads back to the same street to try and find more information, only to find out that Bossun is the Hilltop Prince. LOL! Yeah. Like I said, the Otome Filter is trippy.

That aside, it was a pretty eventful chapter, enjoy the rest of the screencaps.

Yes. This is still SKET Dance

Example one of Otome Filter at work. Guess who the bishounen is?

Eien ni Jyu-nana sai desu!

Roman sketched her Ouji-sama down

Switch guessing what the drawing would look like. :-o

Time for the big reveal

TADA!!

The crowd’s overwhelming response!!

Back on the street where the Hilltop Prince was spotted. Oh wait. What’s that in the background!!!

Bosssun!!! SAVES THE DAY AND THE GIRL

Reassuring Roman, after the traumatic experience.

But this is what Roman sees through Otome Filter

Roman’s impression of a Cat!!!

Himeko Style!!!

Switch Style! Not bad if I must say

And the winner of the cat drawing contest. BOSSUN!

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Tiger & Bunny (Episode 4)

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This week’s episode was focused on Blue Rose/Karina.

The focus shed some light on characters other than the titular Tiger and Bunny characters which is good, because aside from Tiger, Blue Rose is my 2nd favourite character of the series. Not to mention that she’s voiced by the voice-sexy Kotobuki Minako. Mm.

Karina, in her civilian life, is still a student, who apparently has a teacher that knows her secret identity. Her friends however, are not privy to that information. What?! That’s like Spider-Man telling J.J.J his secret identity but not telling say Flash Thompson. That just ain’t right.

The episode also showed how Karina joined her company’s hero program in order to use it to catapult her debut as a singer, her real passion. This was highlighted briefly last week when she performed in the bar with a piano. The juicy bit of the episode is when Tiger explains to Karina what a hero is all about, that it isn’t just about the glamour, but about saving lives.

Also in this episode, Karina had to make a choice. Her civilian job or her Hero obligations. While initially choosing her civilian job at the bar, in the end, she came to the rescue of Tiger, Bunny and Rock Bison when they were about to be crushed by a clunkering heap of metal.

The episode is one of the better ones, showcasing a ‘With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility’ theme in the backdrop. Excellent stuff. Anyways, enjoy more Blue Rose fan shots.

Oh and one really random shot.

Pew Pew

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X-Men (Episode 4)

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Remember last week, when we were left with a cliffhanger on the fates of Hisako and Emma? Well, X-Men savants would have seen this coming long ago, but for those new to the franchise.

Tada! Presenting Emma’s secondary mutation:

DIAMOND EMMA! No, that ain’t the official name. :( But it is her diamond form. Invulnerability the form provides but at the cost of her telekinetic powers. And yes, she is able to change back and forth her 2 forms whenever she likes.

Emma’s diamond form saves Hisako from a remnant U-Man, which gives the rest of the X-Men time to scramble him up before he could kill the other young mutants.

After the incident, the whole team heads back to Weschester (where the X-Mansion is located) to find out more about Emma’s secondary mutation and to vaccinate Hisako from manifesting it. However, back in New York, it is discovered that the Cerebro block on to Tohoku region has not been lifted yet. This probably means the X-Men will be going back to Japan pretty soon.

Ah well, that’s about it I guess. There was that mini-fight scene en route to the X-Mansion against a berserk secondary mutated mutant but the fight was so messy I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it.

Anyway, I noticed something interesting while watching the ED this week. There are images of Juggernaut, Stryfe, Mystique and Magneto in the ending. That many enemies and with only 9 episodes to go? Get out of here. It ain’t happening. Just wondering why they’re there though. Oh wells, till next week.

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Till next week!

This week, we are covering:

A-Channel (Episodes 1 – 3)
Ao no Exorcist (Episode 1)
Astarotte no Omocha (Episodes 1 – 2)
Bleach (Episodes 317 – 318)
C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (Episodes 1 – 2)
Deadman Wonderland (Episode 1)
Fairy Tail (Episode 76)
GOSICK (Episode 13)
HenZemi (Episodes 1 – 2)
Hidan no Aria (Episodes 1 – 2)
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi (Episodes 1 – 2)
Kaiji (Episodes 2-3)
The World God Only Knows S2 (Episodes 1 – 2)
Maria+Holic Alive (Episodes 1 – 2)
Nichijou (Episodes 1 – 3)
Ore-Tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (Episodes 1 – 3)
Seikon no Qwaser II (Episodes 1 – 2)
Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (Episode 2-3)
SKET Dance (Episodes 1 – 3)
Softenni (Episodes 1 – 3)
Steins; Gate (Episodes 1 – 3)
Tiger & Bunny (Episodes 1 – 3)
X-Men (Episodes 2 – 3)

A-Channel (Episode 1 – 3)

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Well if I had to summarize this point into 1 sentence, it would be this: “This season’s K-ON! S1 for me”.

A-Channel features 4 girls: Nagi, Tooru, Run and Yuuko. Nagi, Run and Yuuko are the classmates while Tooru is the kouhai (underclassman), overprotective of ditzy Run. In just 3 episodes, I’ve already grown attached to most of the main cast.

Yuuko has that sexy kansai-ben and NICEBODY. Not to mention, she exhibits the timidness of Mio-sama(from K-ON!).

Tooru kinda reminds me of Chiaki (from Minami-Ke) mixed with Azusa (from K-ON!). She has genius level intellect to boot.

Nagi is unique I would say. She’s a joker, playing pranks on the group, especially Yuuko. Kinda reminds me of Ritsu (from K-ON!).

Lastly, Run. This is perhaps the character I’ve totally no connection for, plainly because she reminds me all too well to Yui (from K-ON!) which I totally couldn’t stand. Reallll ditzy.

The seiyuu cast is pretty mellow, with Yuuki Aoi, Fukuhara Kaori and most notably Kotabuki Minako who does an awesome job projecting a kansai-ben.

The art has been decent so far and the jokes, while there were hits and misses, the overall experience after 3 episodes has been good. A nice show to watch to distress on a lazy Sunday.

Here’s the OP to end off:

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Ao no Exorcist (Episode 1)

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This is 1 of 3 shows I was eagerly awaiting coming into this season. This show has been severely hyped up by my friend in Japan who kept watching CMs of it during Star Driver’s run. After watching the CM myself, I became ecstatic.

And how did the first episode go? Splendid and awesome.

Okumura Rin is the main protagonist who at the age of 15, does not want to study and want to work instead. However, he tends to find himself in trouble, as seen very clearly in the first episode.

This is a far cry from his brother, Yukio, who is extremely studious and won a scholarship.

They both grew up in a church with their father who is the priest and exorcist.

But all this ain’t even the brunt of the story yet. Long story short and spoiler free, strange monsters start appearing in town and Rin is shocked at their existence. At the end of the episode, he learns a shocking revelation.

The animation is perhaps one of the better works of A-1 pictures.

Truly awesome. can’t wait for the next episode.

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Astarotte no Omocha (Episode 1 – 2)

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Sigh. 2 episodes into Astarotte no Omocha!, I’m seriously thinking of dropping this for good.

The plot is about Astarotte-hime, who is a Succubus and needs to form her….harem as for her to survive she needs to ….. suck the life essence of men. Sounds pretty kinky no? Problem is, Astarotte is a 10-year old girl. Yeah. While I get that because of her age, that would definitley be nothing NSFW, but that isn’t the point. It’s just wrong and morally disturbing to watch the ecchi scenes if any. Heck. First episode in there was a bathhouse scene which was well, disturbing despite censors.

Well, if anyone wants to look for a saving grace, the show has a pretty stellar main seiyuu cast with Yukarin, Rina Satou and well, Kugimiya Rie.

Here’s the main cast:

Astarotte hime (Seiyuu: Kugimiya Rie)

Touhara Naoya (Seiyuu: Rina Satou)

Touhara Asuha (Seiyuu: Yukarin)

Here’s the OP to end things off:

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Bleach (Episode 317 – 318)

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Moving away from the canon material of Kubo-sensei, Bleach has yet again moved into another anime original ‘filler’ arc. I am however not complaining. It is usually tiring for one to blog about shounen series, such as Bleach or OnePiece. However, I decided to limit my exposure to just this arc alone and see how things progress.

This new arc is pretty interesting. From the get go, the new OP is pretty spoileristic, showing many Taichou vs. Taichou action scenes as well as Ichigo vs. the Shinigami in Soul Society. Sounds familiar? This sounds like the very best of the Invasion into SS Arc. More fast paced battles like in the OP would be highly appreciated.

2 episodes into the arc, I am still hooked. My first shout out, is that the story seems to borrow from Marvel Universe’s Secret Invasion storyline where the heroes on earth were replaced with Skrull imposters. In 2 episodes, it is clear that some of the Shinigami in SS are no longer who they were before, displaying new personalities and new power levels.

What’s more, Ichigo is being pursued by SS, for attempted attacks on 2 Taichous. Wow. There really is no fair trial, innocence until proven guilty in SS is there. More than once this ‘doohickey’ has happened and Ichigo just takes it as time well spent. -.-

There’s also this mysterious new girl, exclusive to this arc, which seems to be on the run from the main antagonist. Pretty exciting stuff as Kon is the one protecting her while Ichigo is stuck in SS.

To sum up, this new arc is a keeper. Just hoping that it isn’t dragged out intentionally just so they can prolong catching up with the manga. If need be, make a new story arc after 6Months because a filler arc that’s longer than 6months is just asking to be jeered.

Anyway, here’s the new OP. It’s pretty awesome:(Sorry, it’s been mirrored for copyright reasons)

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C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (Episode 1 – 2)

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The 2nd one of the 3 shows I was seriously looking forward to this season.

When I first read the synopsis of C, I couldn’t believe it. It was as if they had taken Money & Intelligence (one of Ashirogi Muto’s works from Bakuman), and turned it into a real anime. While in Bakuman the plot wasn’t covered fully, the title of C clearly caught my attention.

1st episode in, I was enthralled with the visually appealing work of Tatsunoko Productions.

Also in the 1st episode, after being introduced to The Financial District, we get introduced to the main lead, Yoga. Yoga is a dead-broke university student, working 2 jobs after school just to make ends meet. His dream? To graduate and have a steady job in the government sector and lead a normal life. But we can’t have that now can we. One day, Yoga ends up with a mysterious ATM card that lets him borrow money in exchange for his future possibility.

While initially refusing to go on the path, he manages to get lured into the Financial District. In the 2nd episode, he meets his Asset, Myusu. An asset is like the human’s familiar while in the Financial District. They used them to battle much like how Pokemon does it. The stakes at hand? Win and you win big. Lose and you go bankrupt and lose the future possibility wagered.

At the end of 2 episodes, Yoga wins his first Deal in the Financial District and meets up with Mikuni, a veteran who apparently like Yoga, won his first Deal despite being a total novice. The plot thickens as more deals are to be expected.

Summing up, the show has not led down my expectations yet and I suspect it won’t. Honestly an interesting show to watch and I urge everyone to watch it.

Anyway, to end off, here’s the OP:

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Deadman Wonderland (Episode 1)

- M -
Mm. This show is weird. I guess because it’s only been 1 episode, but I honestly don’t get what’s going on.

In an un-elaborated plot point, Tokyo became uninhabitable and some private corporation decided to build a prison/theme park in Tokyo to revitalize the area. The protagonist would be Igarashi Ganta, who becomes sentenced to death for his mass slaughter of all his classmates. But was that what really happened?

In the first few minutes of the anime, we see Ganta in class with his classmates, when a mysterious man in a red hood suddenly massacres everyone in the class but Ganta, but not before blasting some sort of seed into Ganta’s chest. However, the cops don’t see it that way and through some twisted events and a corrupt lawyer, Ganta gets sentenced to death in Deadman Wonderland.

In it, he meets his other inmates and jailer. The chief jailer, Makina is a brutal woman, not hesitating to slash the prisoners square in the chest should they retaliate.

Another interesting person Ganta meets would be Shiro, a girl totally clad in white who appears to know Ganta, but not the other way around.

As I’ve said earlier, I’m still pretty foggy on what’s happening in the show but if my gut is anything to go by, it’s about to get more and more interesting.

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Fairy Tail (Episode 76)

- M -
This would be the 2nd shounen series I’m covering this week. Fairy Tail is one of my favourite shows, what with the dynamic, diverse cast and the well paced story arcs.

Entering Episode 76, it marks the prelude into the new arc that was strongly hinted at in the OP. This episode features the introduction of Gildartz into Fairy Tail. Gildartz is the strongest mage in Fairy Tail, strongly hinted in the manga that he is more powerful than Erza, Mystogan and Laxus combined.

Having left 3 years earlier to complete a 100-year quest, Gildartz came back to the guild, missing out lots of the key events that happened since Lucy’s arrival. He came back, having failed the 100-year quest but not without bring a specific piece of news for Natsu. He met a dragon. A black dragon more specifically that caused Gildartz to be severely injured.

The episode was also heavy on Lisanna, Mirajane and Elfman’s sister. Having read the manga, I already know what’s happening next, but the whole episode gave off a very strong foreshadowing vibe on the events that would happen after this episode.

All I can say, the new arc starts next week. Those new to the show, this would be a good time to join in.

Enjoy the new Fairy Tail OP:

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GOSICK (Episode 13)

- M -
There really isn’t much to talk about GOSICK when you think about it. There isn’t much of a place to start because of how fluidly the story flows. But, Episode 13 would be a good place to start I guess.

As Guuzen mentioned 2 weeks back, Victorique does wear the same lilac-colored dress. It’s nice really. Not so gothic-loli like her original dress. The week’s episode embarks on a new story. One about the legend of Leviathan, the alchemist.

Kujo and Avril, caught a movie about Leviathan during the last day of their Summer holidays only to realize that the movie was based on a fable of the school. Victorique too, becomes entangled in this matter through a book she found that came with a challenge from Leviathan.

All I can say is that the Leviathan story arc looks promising. While the last story we had, the one about the girls for sale, was lackluster without Victorique going puffy every 5 seconds, here’s the hoping she will play a bigger role during this story.

Oh, there’s a new ED starting Episode 13.

And did I mention how much I went WTF went I saw Grevil in this episode. HILARIOUS!

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HenZemi (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
Blogging about HenZemi would be wrong because there are just certain boundaries you can’t cross when publishing stuff online. HenZemi is one of them. 2 Episodes in, I finally understood the meaning of the title. HenZemi = Weird Seminar. It is a bunch of weirdddd kids with a weirddd professor and they have weird experiments.

There was one where one of the girls, Matsutaka, recounts a weird experiment of hers when she farts underwater, leave it for a while and smell it. Oh yes, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Even with each episode at 12 minutes wrong, it still feels weird watching it, what with all the scat-themed jokes. So yes. This is dropped. Especially after that whole pee masquerading as tea incident at the end of Episode 2.

Just so that you see how weird it is, here’s an example. The words ain’t pretty.

Yeah. Nuff’ said.

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Hidan no Aria (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
So what does Hidan no Aria, Fairy Tail and Astarotte no Omocha have in common? Plot? Nope. Characters? Nope. Seiyuu? Pin Pon! Welcome to Hidan no Aria, the 3rd home of Kugimiya Rie this season.

My first impression of the world of Hidan no Aria was a pretty good one. Beautiful animation and excellent pacing. Great J.C. Staff work. Story wise, I could see this work out well. After all, the butei(most of the characters in the show), are mercenaries for hire. Give it 3-4 big arcs over 24 episodes, we could have another Shakugan no Shana in our hands.

But then I learned that this was only scheduled for only 1 cur, so that had me pretty down, cause this was probably going down the path of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, rather than SnS. What a waste really, because the chemistry between Aria and Kinji felt good. Oh well, let’s just see how the rest of the season pans out slowly.

Here’s the main cast:

Aria

Kinji

And as usual, I’ll end off with the OP for the show:

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Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
Ahh, the visual novel harem anime of the season. It is after all based on the game of the same name by feng. We have Hoshino Kazuma, the misunderstood protagonist who will most probably, by the end of the season, snag the hearts of 6 girls. I kid you not, that’s how all these shows pan out.

Boy moves to new town, accidentally kisses girl. Girl’s best friend gets enraged at him for taking advantage of friend. In the end, enraged girl falls for the boy. Sound familiar? Yeah, cause this was how Princess Lover turned out as well. Well, it’s not really surprising that things panned out this way really cause it’s a tried and tested formula that works. No reason for game makers to up the ante and revolutationze the industry at the expense of failing now is there.

Anyways, I will not be actively covering this because well, I more or less can guess what’s happening in the show before it happens, so there really isn’t much excitement to share.

Anyway, Here’s the main cast as of now:

Kazuma, the main lead

Ui, the princess-like girl of this show

Ibuki, the overprotective friend

Here’s the OP:

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Kaiji (Episode 2 – 3)

- M -
Ah Kaiji, the loveable loser. By the way, remember that picture of a girl in this segment 2 weeks ago under the Kaiji banner? Yeah. I still have no idea who she is. Anyway, on to the story.

Episodes 2 and 3 cover the Underground Chinchirorin game that Kaiji joins while working in the underground area after finding himself in more debt from the Teiai company. The game is pretty easy actually. Roll 3 dices. The objective is to get either a) A pair + any number (winning number is the highest number aside from the pair) b)A triple c)4.5.6

These are the only 3 type of dice rolls you need to get in order to qualify for something. Well, you would figure that in normal life this game wouldn’t last longer than 20 minutes right? You’re right. It does not. Yet, this is the world of Kaiji after all. It is not a gambling scene without the ‘Zuwa, Zuwa’ sounds and without the intense long glances and epic faces.

I wouldn’t call this psychological per se, but it would keep you guessing how Kaiji would do each round. Watch it to believe it.

Oh, the Underground Chinchirorin game is still going after the events of Episode 3. After reading the manga, I predict the match will last till around Episodes 5 or 6.

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The World God Only Knows S2 (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
Finally, Kami nii-sama and Elsie are back!!

I started off reading the manga back around ‘09 and fell in love with it. When S1 came out, I was ecstatic. When the special announcement of S2 came at the end of S1, I was burning in anticipation. After all, my 2 favorite captures were missed out in S1.

2 episodes in, they started and finished 1 arc already. Pretty fast pacing but it’s all good. Before I continue, a reintroduction to the characters are in order. And the 2 of them are:

Katsuragi Keima (KAMI NII SAMA!!)

Elucia de Lute Ima (ELSIE!!!)

Also, this was HI-LARIOUS!

A quick look on the 4 heroines of last season

Anyway, S2 kicks off right off the bat by starting on a new arc. And who better to start off with, than Kusonogi Kasuga-sama. KYAAA!!

The heir to her family dojo, she hates everything cute and weak. As such, she desires to rid herself of everything that is cute and weak and as with this show, whenever something like that happens, you know for sure Elsie’s kaketama sensor is gonna go beeping off the roof. True enough, a kaketama formed a house in Kasuga and Keima embarks on his quest to clear the route.

2 episodes later, he gets Kusonogi to understand that she can be both cute and strong all at the same time. Cue the magical kiss and Kasuga is free from the loose soul, but not before forgetting everything that transpired over the past few days.

Well. It’s sad that Kasuga’s arc was so short. But then again, there wasn’t much that could have possibly happened. Ah well. We might get to see her again sometime in the future. Anyway, the end of the episode had a snippet that acted as a lead in to the next arc. HAQUA desu!

New OP:

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Maria+Holic Alive (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
I must say, I’m disappointed. Maria+Holic used to be funniest thing during its season. Yet, coming into this season, it is clearly outclassed by shows such as Nichijou and SKET Dance.

I’m not sure if it’s the lesbian jokes running old already, but the entire show’s premise is just plain ridiculous. Also, why does Mariya’s role this season seem so…. small. It’s like we don’t get to see enough of Mariya. The main reason S1 worked, was because Mariya and Kanako were a comedic duo with Mariya being S and Kanako being M.

Ah man, I’m disillusioned. Oh well, here’s the only saving grace after 2 episodes in. Special Cameo!

Tada!!

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Nichijou (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
Mm. Nichijou is funny. It ain’t over the top funny like SKET Dance, but it’s funny in its own ways. The show works by having 3 mini episodes in one, with small micro episodes between each mini episode with side characters.

There are 2 batch of characters: 1st batch being the combi of  Yuuko, Mai and Mio.

Mai’s the quiet one,

Yuuko the flamboyant one and

Mio the one caught in the middle.

2nd batch of characters are Nano and Hakase. I would say that out of the 2 main batches, Nano and Hakase are my fave. Why? The mid-episode mark clip, where Nano and Hakase play Jan-Ken-Pon. Hilarious.

There’s really not much I can say about the humor aspects of each Nichijou mini episode without spoiling the story, so I won’t. I honestly recommend Nichijou. Well worth a watch to satisfy your comedy fix.

Instead of the usual OPs, here’s something better. The mid-show Jan-Ken-Pon:

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Ore-Tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
Hmm. A tale about 3 different young men who on their life journey are changed by girls in their life. Yea. I got that from wiki. The 3 main leading men are: Shuusuke (the freelance writer), Hayato (the one who can never keep a proper job) & Takashi (the schoolkid).

I’m going to level and say that I’m pretty confused on the plot. There’s this TV thing that switches channels showing the different scenes of the 3 main characters. Then there’s this DJ Condor radio that pops up every now and then. And while we are told that all of this happens in 1 city, I’m not exactly seeing how the 3 main leads are connected to one another. Maybe this is just one of those series where you have to watch it all at one go to get the story, but I don’t know. For now, I am shelving this for other shows.

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Seikon no Qwaser II (Episode 1 – 2)

- M -
Seikon no Qwaser is back!!! Now, truthfully. How many of you actually watched S1 and finished it. Next question, how many of you actually waited for the crappy quality but uncensored version each week for S1. Pinpon!!! I’m one of those people.

The storyline of the first Qwaser is actually pretty good, if you can ignore all the ’soma extraction’ scenes. But yeah. If you actually watched S1 with a censored stream, I would suggest you grab the uncensored version. Cause seriously, the censored version cut out wayy too many scenes that made it unwatchable. S2 fixed that problem by making censorship much less apparent, utilizing smoke and muting the volume of moans instead of just shifting the whole screen.

2 episodes in, we see Sasha being split up from his main partner Mafuyu and his maria Theresa to infiltrate a new all-girls school with his new maria, Hana. If you recall, Hana was the irritating masochistic girl working for Katja in S1. Because it’s an all-girls school, Sasha has to cross dress into a girl. Yea. Pretty disturbing I know, but it somehow works I guess. But then again, ITS A TRAP!!

In S1, Mafuyu was the main target as she had 1 of the 5 elemental circuits and she was already identified. Now in S2, another circuit, the Magadalena of Thunder has been located in the new school and it’s up to Sasha to well…. protect it. The quality has improved since S1 but I have just 1 main gripe. Where is Mafuyu and Katja?!

Anyway, you hardly need any knowledge of S1 to watch S2. Just read up a wiki on the main characters of S1 and you’re set.

Here are the new-new characters:

Seta Miyuki; victim of Sasha, the SOMA SNATCHER

Tsubasa, the holder of the Magdalena of Thunder

Back to OPs again to end things off:

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Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox (Episode 2 – 3)

- M -
Episode 2 covered how Hideyoshi made her spot on Oda’s army. By redecorating her room in an outlandish style, by dancing around like Sun Wukong. It was hilarious. However, by the end of the episode, nothing much progressed regarding her passage back home. However, we did see a familiar face in Date that popped up near the end of the episode.

Episode 3 covered Hideyoshi meeting Ieyasu and Yoshimoto to help Oda retrieve a piece of the Red Armor that would help Oda conquer and unite the lands. It was a pretty hilarious episode that did not have any violence. Both sides played Recreation to help determine who would control the piece of Red Armor in Yoshimoto’s control.  In the end, Oda’s side won, but not without Hideyoshi and Ieyasu blasting off into the sky.

I know it sounds pretty ridiculous here without the actual video, but that’s about all that happened. There were just so many Recreation activities that the most obvious would be the last 1, the Kite Fighting one which led to humans being tied to kites and fighting in-air.

The show is still pretty hilarious despite my initial jabs at it. However, until there is significant happenings, there is nothing much to write, so I may or may not cover this weekly.

Anyway, I don’t think I showed all the characters before (other than Hideyoshi), so I’ll just do it now:

Oda Nobunaga… with tits.

Akechi Mitsuhide.. without the killing aura. Damn

Date Masamune with oppai desu~

Yoshimoto-dono that ain’t an old jiji

Ieyasu…. kawaiii

It’s OP time:

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SKET Dance (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
The 3rd show I was really looking forward for coming into this season.

SKET Dance is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name that has been running since 2007 in Weekly Shounen Jump. Unlike the BIG3 of the WSJ, SKET Dance opted to go for the more comical route, rather than stick to a pure battle setup. And in a way, it works. Just like how To-Love Ru~ and Bakuman aren’t battle oriented, SKET Dance is another in those leagues.

The SKET dan are the main characters of the show with Bossun as their leader, Himeko as the muscle and Switch as the brains. Oh, did I mention? Himeko has a kansai-ben. :love:

Unlike Haruhi’s SOS Dan that moved only with supernatural incidents, the SKET Dan helps anyone and everyone regardless of the request. Episode 1 was based off the one-shot in which they helped the new transfer student. Episode 2 handled 2 requests. First being the Kendo Taichou needing help winning and the 2nd part helping the Cheerleader look after her pet monkey.

Episode 3 moved on to assistance of the Baseball Club as well as dealing with Momoka-chan who had impersonated Himeko’s old moniker, Onihime.

As can be seen, there isn’t much of a recurring theme or arc that occurs in SKET Dance, probably until the ‘antagonists’ show up, but I don’t expect them till later. Overall, if you want something to laugh at with over the top humor and gags, this is the show to go to.

Here are the characters:

Bossun aka. LEADER

Himeko or previously known as Onihime.

Switch. yo yo!

Enjoy, SKET Dance’s awesome OP. Sorry about it being reversed though.

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Softenni (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
Gosh, I never really liked Sports-themed anime. Mainly because it tends to center around a fixed area and there isn’t much that can happen in the 1 same area. The 2 exceptions were Bamboo Blade and Saki. Both had intense ‘battle’ scenes that kept me going. Not to mention, they both had kawaii girls in their teams which was a plus point.

Now let’s talk Softenni. Softenni is about a group of 4 girls (later joined by another in Episode 2), who are in their school’s Softenni club. In case you didn’t know what Softenni is, it’s Soft Tennis. Tennis with soft rubber balls instead of the normal circulation type used in Wimbledon.

Now on to the main episode. I’m not sure if they’re trying to appeal to as big of as audience as possible by lumping every possible genre into Softenni but it’s mix of moe-nudity-pervese jokes just does not work.

In episode 1, Asuna’s jokes were hilarious, adding some twisted humor into the show. By episode 3, it was old and seriously a hindrance. We have not even seen them play a proper game yet! This is just ridiculous. Oh did I mention how ridiculous the show is with its need to highlight nudity whenever possible? Cause that happened in Episode 3 where a whole scene was blacked out due to extreme NSFW. Brilliant.

I don’t know about you, but tennis is my favourite sport and it wouldn’t do me well to watch a show like this that does not take it seriously.

Anyway, here are the ridiculous characters of this show:

Asuna. The perverted farmer girl

Kotone. The karate prodigy

Chitose. The eternally hungry buuchou

Kurusu. The pro.

Elizabeth. The gaikokujin.

Softenni’s OP is here: (sadly, this too is inverted)

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Steins; Gate (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
I actually watched the 3 episodes twice each in 1 day to try and make some sense of the show. The end result? A jumbled mess in my head. Yeah.

I’m probably not intellectually prepared for a show like Steins;Gate because really, I’m not seeing how anything is flowing. In the first 3 episodes, there were talks of SERN(aka. CERN), Time Machines, Alternate Realities, Dystopias. It was all confusing.

It didn’t help the fact that the lead character seemed like a whack job. However, I do appreciate that the show isn’t the run of the mill brainless action flick. I actually did enjoy watching it and getting lost in the mystery that is Steins;Gate. Well, it’s way better than Chaos;Head if that’s one way of putting it I guess.

Overall, I don’t think it be productive for me to check-in this series weekly, but maybe I’d do a post about this when the show is complete.

But for those who want a lil’ more information. Here are the ‘main’ characters that will be appearing throughout the series.

Okabe Rintarou (our resident eccentric scientist, Future Gadget Research Establishment Member #001)

Shiina Mayuri (Future Gadget Research Establishment Member #002)

Itaru Hashida (Daru, Pro Hacker, Future Gadget Research Establishment Member #003)

Makise Kurisu (Famous Scientist, Future Gadget Research Establishment Member #004)

Suzuha Amane (Worker at Mr Brown’s shop)

Yuugo Tennoji (Mr BROWN)

Moeka Kiryuu (Weird Girl)

Ferris

Urushibara Ruka (It’s a TRAP)

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Tiger & Bunny (Episode 1 – 3)

- M -
The most unexpected winner of this season. Much like how I did not pay Star Driver much attention last season and it turned out spectacular, the same thing has happened with Tiger & Bunny. For the first 3 weeks it aired, I chucked it one side for it’s bulky mecha that looked more like Super Sentai monsters and megazords.

The moment I watched Episode 1, I was hooked. The storyline, ‘Heroes for hire’-esque, Heroes run by Major corporations. Oh yes. In T&B, plain ol’ superheroes fighting for the good of humanity are no more. Everyone now fights for a paycheck by their endorsement company of choice. I know, I know. I’m supposed to be repulsed by this. But when you see a hero endorsed by Pepsi being endorsed by a hero of USTREAM, you know you have gold.

Episode 1 covered the 7 main heroes of the city and how they compete in a Hero GP, earning points for doing different tasks to inflate their sponsor company’s stock. Each of the heroes are a special type of human known as NEXT. Simply, they are mutants who aren’t feared by the general public. At the end of Episode 1, Wild Tiger is bought up by another company and teamed up with a brand new hero, Barnaby (Bunny) to form the city’s first crimefighting duo.

Episode 2 covers their first mission together as they save the town from a rampaging giant statue that moves around the city. The episode highlights include Bunny saving Tiger’s daughter when he was almost too late to do so, as well as Tiger calming down the perpetrator of the statue incident; a small NEXT boy confused about his powers.

Episode 3 covers 2 key points. The first would be an expose of the city’s newest hero pair by means of a video diary of a day in their lives. The second part hovered around a bomb ploy to terrorize a new building in which Tiger & Bunny save the day.

As you can see, the plots are pretty fluid with 1 clear goal. That makes the storytelling very constant and steady which is good. The pacing is good. Animation is above average and the characters are likable. A true win.

Tiger(Softbank) & Bunny(Bandai)

Sky High (USTREAM)

Blue Rose (PEPSI NEX)

Rock Bison (Gyu-Kaku)

Dragon Kid (Calbee and DMM)

Fire Emblem (FMV)

Origami Cyclone (.ANIME)

Another awesome OP that this season has:

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X-Men (Episode 2 – 3)

- M -
Episode 2 covered the X-Men’s continued search for Hisako and it eventually leads them to the U-Men facility. They tend battle a berserk mutant who had been genetically modified beyond repair. The group made the hard choice in putting him down. At the end of the episode, they find Hisako but not before finding another person, Emma Frost.

Episode 3 centers around 1 objective. Getting Hisako out of the U-Men facility and saving the other captive mutants. Through battles with the odd U-Men, the team safely managed to extract Hisako and everyone else out from the building, as well as destroying the Cerebro-blocking mechanism over the area. However, shocked revelation at the end, Hisako is about to be blasted by a remnant U-Man when Emma step forward in front of her, fate unknown.

As I’ve said before, I’m a pretty big X-Men fan, so my review would be pretty biased. That being said, the pacing is still nice, but I do question the villains of choice. The U-Men. Really? They couldn’t have used the Brotherhood or the Acolytes? The U-Men were a horrible part of the New X-Men comics. Ah well, it looks like the U-Men will stick around the rest of the season, will just have to see how the rest of the show pans out for now.

And because I did not share this 2 weeks back, here’s the awesome OP:

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Anyway, next week’s issue would not be that big as I have a pretty clear idea now on which shows I want to talk about. So yes, till next week. :D

This week, we are covering:

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Hanasaku Iroha

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

- Guuzen -

This anime came as a pleasant surprise for me. I was pretty happy with Hanasaku Iroha satisfying my Drama/Slice of life needs, and then this came along. This season is starting to look better and better.

Ano Hana focuses on a group of kids who were best friends when they were little. But as time passes, each of them changed whether its interests or character. As a result they drifted apart and went on their own ways. However one of their friend, Menma, was a little strange. In the past, everybody could see her and play with her. But now it seems like only Jinta is able to. It was revealed later in the episode that Menma was actually dead and Jinta, being the closest to her when they were young, probably took the news the hardest and so was either hallucinating or the only one who could see her spirit. With that in mind, Menma’s death could be the main factor of the kids’ separation.

The first episode dived right into the middle of the action, where Jinta was reaching breaking point and decided to cast his hallucination of Menma away for good. Afterwards Jinta felt empty without “Menma” around so went and look for her in their so-called “headquarters” where they always hung out when they were young. There was a small flashback of their past showing how tightly bonded those kids were and also revealed Menma’s death for a brief moment.

I honestly can’t wait to watch the next episode. As much as I want to find out what happened exactly and the process of their separation, I am also interested to see what lies ahead for these kids. I am looking forward to the drama and the steps that they are going to take to reach the (hopefully) inevitable reunion.

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Hanasaku Iroha

- Guuzen -

As mentioned above, this is the other Drama/Slice of life show that I am watching this season. Three episodes had been released so far but I have only watched two and I enjoyed it a lot. I will be following Hanasaku Iroha closely this season.

The story centers around Matsumae Ohana who has been sent to her grandmother’s inn by her extremely irresponsible mother who ran away to live with her boyfriend. This turns out to be Ohana’s nightmare because her grandmother is really strict, telling her that she had to work in the inn if she is going to live there.

It’s not just her grandmother who is giving her a hard time. The inn’s staffs are not exactly easy to get along as well, probably due to her grandmother’s strict personality. Throughout the series we can probably expect to see Ohana coming into terms with the staffs there and then her cold grandmother will probably show some warmth and kindness. I really can’t wait to experience all the drama in the upcoming episodes.

For a show that is 26 episodes long, the art is exceptionally good. I was reminded fondly of Clannad as I watched the water glisten in the sun and the beautiful evening color palette. To have 26 episodes of such quality visuals really made my day.

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Tada! My new Phone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Zen Boss guessed that it was a Nintendo 3DS. Nope. Still way out of my price range, that gizmo. Until it drops to below $250SGD for 1, I’m not even considering touching it. Now, I do not actually have any original image of how my phone looks, primarily because I’m now using my new phone as my primary camera, so I scoured the web for a decent looking photo of it and found 1.

Front

Back

Props to AusDroid for the superb shots of the phone.

My previous phone before this was the Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson’s first entry into the ever-expanding Android scene. It was decent at launch, what with it’s fine 8.1MP camera, 4″ screen and what not. But it suffered greatly in terms of OS upgrades and the god-horrible speakers that were so soft, headphones were a necessity. With my Arc, most of my problems encountered with the X10 have been fixed.

• Camera is still 8.1MP but it now has ExmorR mobile, making shots look way nice.
• Video Camera is still untested at the moment, but have heard mixed reviews about it.
• Sound is a big improvement from the X10. But my biggest gripe is that the speakers are located right behind the phone and not at the side like my X10. This proves to be a problem when I’m streaming music out of my phone and I don’t really like the idea of placing my screen on my table to get the sound out. As such, I’ve used one of my old figma stands as a makeshift prop to elevate my phone off the table.
• Screen is slightly bigger at 4.2″. Not much of a leap here but I think any bigger, the phone would cease to be a phone, and just become a tablet.
• Video playback is pretty archaic with support only for MP4 files. There are apps that allow software decoding for MKV and AVI files but it’s pretty choppy, so yeah, think I’ll continue watching shows on my desktop.
• OS is now 2.3, Gingerbread, which is the latest mobile iteration of the OS. Here’s to hoping SE doesn’t make the same mistake of forgoing OS upgrades for their customers.
• Flash 10.2 comes with the phone which i’m mighty pleased. I can now watch anime streams on my phone. Wahahaha. It’s a mighty experience. I watched Hen Zemi Episode 1 via my usual streaming website and while it usually looks grainy on my 22″ monitor, it looked perfect on my phone. This is perfect when I want to watch new releases and just want a day away from the PC.
• HDMI output is untested
• Weight of the phone wasn’t really a deciding factor for me, but after holding the Arc, I must say. Hell yeah. The arc is obscenely light and thin. At it’s thinnest point, it’s perhaps the thinnest phone in the world. (Don’t quote me for this). Hell, it makes my X10 look like a rock paperweight.

All in all, I’m pretty impressed with my phone now. Wish I had pre-ordered it a week before I bought though, cause the Arc does not come with a leather pouch like the X10 had and after scouring the web for a decent looking pouch, the cheapest I saw was a $30USD 1. >.<

Anyway, I shall end my post with some test shots from my phone.

the HDMI to Micro-HDMI cable that came along. Probably gonna be untouched.

LBP bookends

00-Quanta

Light snow camo? Nah. It’s just the dust piling up.

Yea. I should probably clean the plastic casing every once in a while.

Kagamin!~

and lastly, the view from my room.

Guess I’ll end off with an unboxing video. Once again, not done by me as I lack the time.

All right, that’s all. Till my next loot.

So what we’re gonna do here is post about anything we want, that happened in the last week. It can be a lengthy rant on life, or maybe upload a screenshot of Rose having a really moe moment. Hell, we may even post something totally random like this.

Now, not all writers will be appearing on this every week. We want to keep this free and easy and not something that we feel responsible to. We really hope this will give some sort of freshness to the site and that you guys will enjoy reading it!

Lastly, our weekly check-in posts will be launched every Sunday and as such, for the context of each post we will be covering content from last Sunday up till the Saturday before the post goes up. With that said, enjoy, Check-In #1.

This week, we are covering:

ANIME

Ah! My Goddess Movie
GOSICK
Kaiji (Episode #1)
Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (Episode #1)
X-Men (Episode #1)

GAMES

Killzone 3
Yakuza 4

Ah! My Goddess Movie

- Guuzen -

I remember watching this movie in early 2000 and it’s quite ok. Not sure if I can recommend it to people but Ah! My Goddess fans should definitely not miss it! Here is a PV that I have liked for a VERY long time. It is one of my favorite AMVs till now!

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GOSICK

- Guuzen -

I have watched a few new series this week, but I think Victorique has took the spotlight! She changed from the usual black dress to a purple one! Look at her sheer beauty and cuteness in the magnificent sunlight XD.

Episode 13’s preview has her wearing this same purple dress so this is probably her new look for the second half of the season.

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Kaiji (Episode #1)

- M -
Ah. How I miss Kaiji. That vice-addicted loser that he is. Watching Kaiji, you wanna cheer him on because he’s the underdog, yet you can’t help but laugh at how much dung he finds himself in. But the most ‘WTFLOL’ moment of the episode, and perhaps this entire Check-In post? This:

Oh god, after a whole season of bishoujos from Infinite Stratos, I can’t take this. Hahahahaa.
I’ve honestly no idea who that is though. Kaiji’s girlfriend? Does he even have one? His cross-dressing persona? Guess we’ll find out in due time. Or if anyone knows, do comment. :D

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Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (Episode #1)

- M -
Disappointed I am really, at the abysmal presentation that is Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (or like I just call it SengokuOtome for short). Having watched Hyakka Ryouran only just recently, I had pretty high hopes for yet another take on Japan’s warring period with generals being turned to overly busty and outrageously strong girls.
Imagine my disappointment when I saw that wee lil’ girl that was supposed to be the representation of the great Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Heck. She looks like this:

Forget SengokuOtome, she looks like she belongs in Mahou Shoujo Madoka. Well, I just hope the next few episodes pans out well, or I’m dropping this completely. Oh. Did I mention how pissed I am at how Date is portrayed in the show? How did this:

become this:

Sigh… Guess I need to give myself more time to warm up to this show.

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X-Men (Episode #1)

- M -

Purely breathtaking, was what I thought when I watched Episode 1 of X-Men. I’m a pretty big fan of Anime in general. A pretty big fan of the X-Men too. Having an X-Men anime???? Sensational. I can’t really compare this to the American animated takes because the 3 American X-Men takes I’ve watched went on completely separate routes, much like how the Anime chose to use the aftermath of Dark Phoenix saga as their starting point. Not judging, but I felt there were a lot of other places to start from, considering Hisako’s involvement. Where’s my X-23. :(

That being said. Still pretty impressed.

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Killzone 3

- Guuzen -

Well another week of Killzone 3 with Zenical and her group of GameAxis buddies. This week’s matches were pretty good, though lost more than last week =(.

I think I have found my ideal sitting position while playing Killzone! I will slant my body slightly to the right and then rest my right arm on the chair’s armrest. This will allow the right side of the controller to be more stable allowing me to have better aiming! =D Not sure if this works for everybody though… =/

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Yakuza 4

- Guuzen -

I’m nearing the story’s end for this game, but I stopped right before that to do some unfinished business (trophy business). I’m aware that I can do it even after completing the game, but I want to finish as many before that.

Right now I’m working on Akiyama’s hostess club, getting all the girls to become the number 1 hostess so that I can get the last 2 or 3 hostess business card =D. After that, it’s off to fishing, golfing and many more >.<.

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Shows that aired in Winter 2011:

Bakuman
Beelzebub
Bleach [Arrancars Arc]
Cardfight Vanguard
Dragon Crisis
Fractale
FREEZING
GOSICK
Haiyoru! Nyaru-ani: Remember My Mr. Lovecraft
Hourou Musuko
IS: Infinite Stratos
Kimi ni Todoke Season 2
Kore wa Zombie desu ka?
Level E
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Mai no Mahou to Katei no Hi
Mitsudomoe Season 2
Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara Ne!!
Rio – Rainbow Gate
Star Driver
Suite Precure
To Aru Majutsu no Index II
Wolverine
Yumekui Merry

Out of the 20 shows that aired this season, we will be covering around 10+ shows, as well as some of the other series that ended in the Winter 2011 season (e.g. Bakuman, Star Driver, Index II)

____________________________________________________________

Bakuman

- M -

A truly enjoyable insight into the world of mangakas. That is how I would describe Bakuman. The plot is pretty central, following the lives of Mashiro and Takagi as they try to get published in Weekly Shounen Jack. ‘Cameo’ appearances by Bleach, OP and Naruto are often seen in the Shounen Jack office and on the magazines. Ending it’s run only this season, I must say Bakuman is highly enjoyable.

Even though it wasn’t that long since I started to read the manga, the show seems to pace the episodes pretty well, with only about 1-2 filler episodes. Then again, the fillers didn’t really feel that absurd as a filler as it helped build character development for characters in which weren’t as developed in the manga.

The art style is generic but the manga drawn in the show is just awesome. The intricacies of how a manga looks in an anime is just wow. They even spent the 3rd to last episode, doing Vomics for a fraction of the Golden Future Cup arc. Truly magnificent.

Honestly can’t wait for Season 2 in October. If you’re leaning on the fence cause this is based off a shounen manga, don’t. There aren’t ridiculous fights here. Just passionate characters constantly drawing and plotting their next manga storyline. On a side note, the manga is still on-going at present, but I personally do hope that there is an end to the series in the coming future, just so we see how Mashiro and Miho end up together.

Season Rank: 2nd

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Beelzebub

- M -

The winner of the 4th Golden Future Cup is Beelzebub and it finally got itself an anime adaptation.

The art-style is very shounen-esque and the plot is pretty straight forward: Demon King sends his baby son to Earth to destroy Earth. Delinquent Oga picks up the Baby and becomes the ‘foster father’ of Baby Bel, to nurture the baby’s inner demon. Hilarity ensures as Oga tries to prevent doom from befalling Earth.

The characters are pretty detestable actually, considering they’re all Yankees. They do become admirable later on in the series but up till where the anime has aired so far, they’re still antagonists.

I must say that the anime adaptation does fall short of the energy the manga brings. Also, as a shounen series, it does not have the oomph that most current shounen series has. Then again, even One Piece, Bleach and Reborn had pretty crappy first seasons, so here’s to hoping Beelzebub redeems itself after coming back from its 3-week hiatus.

Season Rank: 14th

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Bleach [Arrancars Arc]

- M -

The long-running Arrancars arc started its anime run in January 2007. At the end of Feburary 2011, the arc finally ended. Now…. how long is that??? 4 years? Yeah yeah, we’ve had fillers in between, but this arc is seriously long. Anyway, this season brought about the end of the long running arc and I must say the final battle was pretty impressive.

I was impressed when I first read it in the manga and became further impressed when I saw how well the final battle was adapted. My main gripe is that they intentionally lengthened the battle with never ending gazes by the characters. That apart, it was nice to see an ‘era’ pass. For most Bleach regulars, the end of Episode 310 also meant the departure of Bleach from their schedules from a while. With the manga not having much story built up yet, Bleach will probably be in filler hell for the better part of 2011.

Season Rank: 8th

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Dragon Crisis

- M -

How would I rate Dragon Crisis? Poorly. Why?  Cause it feels like an eroge when it’s not. Cause it feels like an action series when it really isn’t much of one. Cause ‘Ryuji!! Suki, suki, suki!!’ sounds pretty annoying? Yeah. I think all 3.

It isn’t a detestable anime. It has big names like Yukana and Kugimiya Rie as well as cameos by Horie Yui, so the casting wasn’t the problem. The characters while many weren’t really much of a problem. The problem I guess would be the pacing. Every 2 episodes, we’d get intro-ed to a new character and a new arc. Maruga’s arc didn’t last more than 2 episodes. Ai’s arc didn’t last more than 2 episodes. For a 12-episode series, the show should focus on 1 minor arc for character development, and 1 major one to conclude. Not throw a flurry of arcs to introduce new characters, only to make them disappear for a couple of episodes after their arc concludes.

Overall, do watch this when you’re bored and have free time.

Season Rank: 10th

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FREEZING

- M -

Violent, bloody, NSFW. Those are just some of the more common tags for FREEZING. It is a very action paced series, that rivals the action in most shounen-anime these days. Having read both the manga and watched the anime, I must say that the anime falls prey to a lack of character development.

Another thing I’d like to note, is that I did watch Episodes 1-9 in 1 stretch and somehow, each episode only felt like 10minutes to me, instead of the usual 20minutes. I noted that it was probably the fast paced action that made an effect on me, but it’s pretty evident on how much action there is in the series. Even in the first 5 minutes, we already had blood splattering everywhere.

The art style is very much Korean-ish, considering it was drawn by a Korean. Much like Kurokami, it is pretty good.

Overall, I would recommend this if you’re looking for something fast-paced pumped with action in every episode.

Season Rank: 7th

- Guuzen -

This is another show that I have been following closely every week. Now, we have seen this kind of setting many times in anime: there is a fictional school located in this fictional place teaching their students how to fight against fictional enemies in some fictional war.

However, I find that FREEZING was pretty refreshing to me. I like how instead of giving each students some sort of crazy power, males and females are required to work together interdependently. Add in drama and some romance, and this became quite a compelling series for me. Also, it is nice to see Mamiko Noto portraying such a violent character instead of the usual fragile and soft spoken characters.

Oh yeah, the uncensored version of FREEZING was broadcasted on AT-X, so you guys should know what that means. But I have to say, despite all the fan services the series did a great job on helping the viewers focus on the seriousness of certain situations.

FREEZING left me wanting for more, and I believe more is what we will get in the future.

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GOSICK

- M -

Victorica!!!!! Yeahhh. The mystery-based hit of the season. The stories are well conceived, with every 2-3 episodes being about a brand new case where Victorica and Kujo will solve. Can’t help but feel reminiscent about Tantei Gakuen Q and Kindaichi when I’m watching this.

The art style is pretty common style I guess, nothing spectacular about it. The characters are a smash hit though. Victorica is the shining star of the characters with her puffy cheeks and her tantrums. Kujo and Grevil are the other 2 main characters. Kujo is the typical knight in shining armor, always willing to risk his life for Victorica and Grevil, well, he’s just the dunce cop that gets all the credit.

If you want a decent murder-mystery anime, this is the show to go to.

Season Rank: 3rd

- Guuzen -

GOSICK is probably the most unique show that I have watched this season. It is so different from the others, which is good! It helps to add some variety into the Winter line-up. This is a murder mystery show set in fake olden Europe. Similar to M, I was reminded fondly of Tantei Gakuen Q and Kindaichi. Shinrei Tantei Yakumo was pretty good as well, though that show was more on the supernatural side.

GOSICK is still an ongoing show as it contains 24 episodes. We are at the halfway mark now and I have to say I am still really interested in it. The murders are not as cunning as those found in Tantei Gakuen Q or Kindaichi, but they still manage to keep me entertained. Each few episodes consist of a new mystery for Kujo and Victorica to solve, while slowly uncovering the stories of the main characters.

I feel this show has done well to keep viewers entertained in the first half of the season. The pacing is nice and it has the luxury of a 24-episode season to develop the characters properly. I am personally interested to see what lies ahead for the duo.

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IS: Infinite Stratos

- M -

Hmm. Honestly, I wouldn’t know how to rank IS as a whole. The characters are nice and appealing but 5 girls to introduce in 13 episodes alongside with a proper plot and introduction to all that IS tech seems a little messy. Which is actually the case for this show. You could honestly sense chaos in the plot when Cecilia was clearly antagonistic against Ichika in the first episode, only to have her personality flip 180 an episode later. Same thing happened with Laura.

Then there’s the fact that because there are 5 girls always fighting for screen time, you can’t help but feel cheated when your favourite ’ship’ does not get much airtime alongside Ichika.

All that aside, the redeeming factors of the show lie in the  beauty of the IS machines and of course, Charlotte Dunoa. :D

Season Rank: 9th

- Guuzen -

Infinite Stratos started out strong for me. I was interested to find out what the hell’s gonna happen to Ichika, the only male in this special all-female school teaching students how to operate these mech suit called IS. But as the series progress, it feels more like some sort of typical harem anime. I was never really a harem fan, so this is more of a personal turn-off.

The series took its time to introduce each of the 5 female protagonists and even threw in a fan service beach episode. I usually wouldn’t mind that, but this is a 12-episode long series! I would have preferred they remove that and replace it with something more useful to the main story. Oh and similar to a number of harem series, the male protagonist is extremely dense. A naked girl can be hugging him in the bath and he’ll be like: “nah this is totally fine, we’re just friends!”.

As the series boil down to its final few episodes, the story starts to pick up but by then I found myself unable to take it as seriously as I started it. I’m guessing there will be a season 2 in the future, but I’m not sure if it is on my watch list. Seeing these 5 girls fighting over Ichika from the get go is really not appealing to me.

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Kimi ni Todoke Season 2

- M -

For Kimi ni Todoke veterans, KnT is back but in half swing. Compared to it’s first season that ran 2 cur, this season only runs for 1. The plot still chases around the main cast of Sawako, Kazehaya and their friends. I must comment that the plot is moving a lot slower as compared to Season 1, which isn’t good.

The art is good though, maintaining the same style used in Season 1.

For those new to the series, go catch Season 1, cause honestly, you won’t understand the bonds and links that the characters have formed.

Season Rank: 12th

- Guuzen -

Kimi ni Todoke had a promising season 1. It made me so interested in the series that I went on to read the manga. With that in mind, I already knew what was gonna happen in season 2. Compared to the first season, season 2 was extremely slow in terms of story progression. It wasn’t too bad for me to wait for a new episode every week because I already knew what was coming up. But for those of you who did not read the manga, it can get pretty darn frustrating.

Season 2 was geared towards the development of Kazehaya and Sawako’s relationship and how problems get resolved by two extremely dense characters, of course with some help from their friends. Since there are only 12 episodes (season 1 had 25 episodes), it was probably really difficult to pack in anybody else’s story. I’m not saying season 2 was a total disappointment. This is still a really awesome and relaxing series to watch or read.

For those of you who are into romance, I really recommend this series. The chain of events that happened are quite typical for a romance story, but it’s the characters that kept me attached to it.

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Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?

- M -

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? is a pretty enjoyable series if you ignore all its loopholes. The character designs are nice. The random humor bits are hilarious, and the Masou Shoujos. Epicness ensures.

On to the loopholes, there are so many factions that the different character belong to (e.g. Vampire Ninja, Masou Shoujo, Necromancer, Zombie) that you kinda get lost. Even in those factions, there are further sub-divisions.

The power levels demonstrated on the show are also pretty damn ridiculous.

Plot wise, there wasn’t really much of a plot till Episode 9 where the actual plot kicked in.

The characters are a really diverse lot. Out of the main characters, there ain’t a normal human in there. Yea. Kyuketsu Ninja, Tensai Masou  Shoujo, Nceromancer and Zombie.

Overall, the show is a good watch if you have the time to pass. If not, you’re better off leaving it in your backlog.

Season Rank: 13th

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Mitsudomoe Season 2

- M -

Mitsudomoe is pure win. The Marui triplets are just awesome in every way. Mitsuba reminds me of my inner sloth and greed. Futaba just loves oppai. And Hitoha. Kyaaaaa. Hitoha is so win that words can’t describe her.

This season follows up the smash hit that was Mitsudomoe Season 1. The second season falls short on the number of episodes, but not on laughter. Oh no it doesn’t. Seriously, I can’t remember when I laughed that hard watching anime. Go catch Seasons 1 and 2. Truly recommended.

Season Rank: 1st

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Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara Ne!!

- M -

Oh dear god, I’m not sure what I’m more pissed about this series. The fact that they wasted Episodes 10 and 11 on some anime original crap or that the censoring in this anime was just too absurd.

For anyone that watched this series, please tell me you’re disturbed by the penguins and cats flying over half the screen to block out pantsu. Even K-ON!! had pantsu and this incest-esque show can’t? Speechless.

Characters wise, we have the Non-blood-related sister, the childhood friend and the sexy kuropantsu classmate. Wow, where do I even begin. The sister found out that she’s not blood related to the brother, of which the brother knows nothing about, and she thus decides to sexually tease him at any chance she gets. The childhood friend tries to whore herself out to him the entire season and the kuropantsu classmate loves BL. What a stellar cast.

Oh, there are other characters other than the 3 main heroines. They would be the A.G.E Explorers. A really commendable and believable group of friends and their quest for their mecca of lewd magazines and the eventual Eden.

Plot wise, there isn’t much of a plot is there? For a 12 episode series, they took 2 episodes out for an anime-original arc and 4 more for character introduction. That leaves…. 6 episodes for character development and plot development? That ain’t enough. So yeah, it was a complete mess.

The only redeeming plus point would be…….. none. Yea.

Season Rank: 15th

- Guuzen -

I really can’t take this show seriously… Which is exactly how this show is meant to be watched! If you jumped in hoping for some sort of plot progression or character investment, man are you in for a big surprise. This show is just for pure fun, joy and laughter and then you can pretty much forget about it when the new season starts.

So after introducing the 3 main girls in this show, every episode was like a random situation and then they will play around with the characters’ fetishes to see which combination is more silly. This show is perfect for people who are bored and do not want use their brains much.

I ended up finishing the show and it went something like this: “Well… That’s over. Welcome Spring 2011!”.

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Star Driver

- M -

To be honest, I did not watch this at all till about a week ago. Having rushed 24 episodes in a span of 3 days, I must say, I really did underestimate the show. I was initially skeptical this show would last, what with the weekly ridiculous super sentai transformations into the Ginga Bishounen.

However, much like I’ve told Guuzen, taking out the zero-time fight scenes that fill a fraction of the episode, leaves a very nice story about friendship, personal desire, the island and three-way love triangles. The character designs are splendid with almost everyone of the main cast looking as bishounen and bishoujo as an anime character can get.

The conclusion of the series was beyond epic. How do I put it, it was like I was watching the most exciting episode of Gundam 00 mixed in with Gurren Laggan. It was just that epic.

Overall story throughout remains great and fluid throughout. DO watch it. KIRABOSHI!

Season Rank: 6th

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To Aru Majutsu no Index II

- M -

The sequel to the first To Aru Majutsu that ran between 08 and 09. Index II kicks off with full steam last season and this included. While the first season had a lot of terminologies to learn, Season 2 does not suffer from much of that problem.

Instead of dealing with issues like what the A.I.M. field is, Season 2 dives into the important issues: The battles against the Roman Catholic Church, the impending war of Academy City and the main cast of To Aru finally convening. Oh yes. If you’d thought the main cast consisted of only Index and Touma, you’re dead wrong.

Mikoto and Accelerator are also main protagonists in the storyline and I’m sure many fans are just glad to have more onee-sama around. I know a certain boss surely is.

With 2 arcs airing last season and 2 airing this current season, the pacing of the show is good. The action and fight scenes are a marvel. The characters are truly enjoyable. Just wish J.C. Staff would adapt more of the Light Novel more quickly.

Currently awaiting news on a 2nd season of To Aru Kagaku for more SATEN-SAN!!

Season Rank: 4th

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Wolverine

- M -

Marvel’s 2nd attempt into the anime season is wayyyyyyyyyyy better than it’s first run. God how awful was Iron Man. Did anyone honestly complete it? If you didn’t already know, Wolverine has had several Japanese links in his past (e.g. Lady Deathstrike, Silver Samurai), so it was pretty convincing to see him traveling to Nippon.

The plot is very straightforward which can be a problem for critics, but I’d say, the simpler the plot, the easier to understand and enjoy. The plot centers around Wolverine’s desire to rescue his girlfriend that was ‘kidnapped’ by her Yakuza father for an arranged marriage. And he travels all the way to Japan to rescue her. Simple aye?

Art style wise, I must say it isn’t top notch, but it is fitting. They didn’t completely change Logan’s design which will be a plus point as this will be aired in the US as well. Characters wise, marvel cameos include Omega Red and Cyclops which is always welcoming. Even the original characters (e.g. Kurohagi, Kikyo) are pretty fit for the series.

The conclusion, much like the entire premise of the show was straightforward and to the point but didn’t really echo the same continuity as the main Marvel timeline. Nonetheless, it’s still a good watch filled with a flurry of emotions from start to finish.

Season Rank: 5th

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Yumekui Merry

- M -

It’s beautiful, the artwork in Yumekui Merry. J.C. Staff did a great job adapting it. Plot wise, I had a hard time catching on to it. Purely because the first episode put the main male lead, Yumeji in some dream-world filled with Cats. Yeah.

Aside from that, the story and pacing did get much better as each episode past. Along the way, we got introduced to the true heroine (Merry), other side characters, as well as the ‘final antagonist’ of the series.

To sum it up, it’s pretty easy to get lost with this series but once you understand how the plot devices work, it’s a pretty enjoyable watch.

Season Rank: 11th

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With that, I’ve come to the end of LookBack (Winter 2011 edition). Hope our input would help some people catch some of the series they’ve missed this season. Please do post your comments if you have an opinion on any of the series covered.

Do look out in the Spring 2011 season, as Guuzen and I have something planned as well. Till then.

First and foremost here are the release details:

JP Release: 3rd March 2011
NA Release: 22nd March 2011
EU Release: 25th March 2011

As you can see, the game’s been release in Japan already. Unlike the first iteration of Dissidia, which there was a 8-9 month gap in the releases due to localization efforts, those efforts seem to have been doubled here, with Duodecim being release in Japanese and English within the same month. Well done Square Enix. Now if only FFXIII-2 and Versus XIII will enjoy the same effect.

Plot wise, the game is a direct prequel to the first Dissidia: Final Fantasy. In the first game, the events of the 13th War was covered. In this game, it covers the 12th war. Further plot details of the story have been revealed by those who have played the JP version, but I choose to not play it, mainly because I would be lost in translation 70% of the time. Besides, with the english release that close, I chose to wait.

I did however, play the JP version of Dissidia Duodecim Prologus. It says it’s a prologue, which it is, but kinda acts more like a demo which I paid for. Nonetheless, we get to use Lightning in it, which is always a plus point. Lightning plays pretty well, might overthrow my usage of Warrior of Light and Squall. If you have Prologus, it will unlock Aerith from FFVII into your main Duodecim game. Yea. So the money spent on Prologus is pretty worth it. Just treat it as DLC.

The gameplay remains largely the same Dissidia song and dance with the additions of the EX Mode and Assist.  Think of EX Mode as a power boost and Assist as well, assists, and you’ll be fine. The assists does add a whole new element to the game.

An RPG mode has also been added to the game which is well deserved. Finally feels like a real FF game now. It has been mentioned that the RPG mode will include elements of the first Dissidia as well, making the total gameplay time somewhere around 60 hours. Sounds way more gameplay than what FFXIII promised me w/o the grinding. I’m sold.

Characters wise, here are the new additions:

Kain – FF IV

Gilgamesh – FF V

Tifa – FF VII

Laguna – FF VIII

Tuna – FF X

Prishe – FF XI

Vaan – FFXII

Lightning – FFXIII

Desperado Chaos

Pretty large list of characters now, which is awesome.

To end off, here’s a localized trailer:

Enjoy the game!!

Yea. The 00 Quanta is from the Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer movie, the hax-gundam that Setsuna used. The 00 Quanta was first on sale when the movie first screened here last year but because of the crazy price tag back then and the ridiculous ending of the 00 movie, I decided to pass on it then.

Then came AFAX. It was on sale at a slightly cheaper price but I decided to buy the MG-Figure Rise Strawhat Luffy instead.

And then came the last week of 2010, just after Christmas. It was a boring week. There were no TV shows on, no Animes to watch, finished reading my backlogged manga already, so I decided. I needed to build something. Went down to my local Gundam-store and bought it. I didn’t actually knew that the 00 Quanta was Master Grade. All along I thought it was 1/100 only, so I kinda freaked when I saw that the price tag was like $90SGD.

Managed to get it at a discount and brought it home only to realize that it was MG. Delighted. Note, this is my first MG Gundam and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

It took long (approx. 7-8 hours spread across 2 days), but I finally completed it last night, along with something else. Here are the pictures:

GN-Sword + Cluttered Tools

00-Quanta: “Rarhhh!!”

00-Quanta: “Needs LED in chest. :( “

oooo

Starlightto Breaker?! haha. The GN-Rifle is bleddy heavy, cause the joints of my 00-quanta to loosen very quickly

Revised Shield

00-Quanta: “Bang!”

and a little something extra.

Yeah. That’s my last loot for 2010. The last 1 was a gift. Haha. That’s all for me.

The Hayate no Gotoku!! movie was announced during the 300th Chapter of Hayate no Gotoku at the beginning of December but because I hadn’t had the time to check it up till now, I figure it’s better late than never.

Oh yes. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m psyched for the movie. Why? Cause from how Season 2 ended, it’s most likely that the movie will encompass the Athens Arc of the manga, which of course, is one of my favourite arcs as it features Aa-chan or better known as Tennosou Athena.

In a totally unrelated news to the movie, if there’s anyone going down to Comiket 79 the following Wednesday, there will be a special iPhone4 casing for sale with Hinagiku as the back illustration. Sounds real tempting to me but I don’t own an iPhone so yeah.

Anyways, get psyched for this film! Oh, and read the manga if you have not, tons of hilarity ensures. That is all.

Title: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes / Denestsu no Yuusha no Densetsu
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Comedy, Action, Adventure
Duration: 26 Episodes – 30 minutes each
Main Seiyuu Cast: Daisuke Ono, Jun Fukuyama & Ayahi Takagaki

Quick overview of the plot

Basically, the series is set in a continent made up of multiple countries, each with their own form of magic. Wars break out every now and then in a bid to ensure stability for one’s own country by flaunting supremacy against all the other countries.

That’s basically the overview of the series. A giant chessboard, with each chess piece holding different kind of abilities. But wait…. there’s more. You didn’t think that would be the entire plot of a series that uses the word ‘Legend’ twice now would it.

Yes. I’ve left out 2 key element that separates this show from the others.

1. The deception & sneakiness that hovers around the entire series once you get past episode 6-8.
2. The search for Legendary Artifacts – Weapons that grant users crazy abilities.

Characters

Name: Ryner Lute

Ryner is the aloof hero. He isn’t your usual pumped to go guy. His favorite pastime is to take an afternoon nap whenever he can. Despite his air of aloofness, he carries with him a great power, the Alpha Stigma. It’s power lies in his eyes, and when he evokes it, it allows him to analyze magic his opponents are using and be able to use it as well.

Name: Ferris Eris

I may have taken a wrong screen capture of her here, cause she actually does look calm and amicable in this shot. I assure you, she is not. Ferris is a beast. Even without using any form of magic abilities, her raw skills enable her to go on par with large group of opponents, even able to put fear into Legendary Artifact users. Oh.. and she loves Dango.

Name: Sion Astal

The legendary hero who ’survived’ the ambush battle he and his classmates were sent to a few years back. Back then, he was still a nobody, keeping his illegitimate royal blood a secret. Too bad for him, the nobles caught wind of it and sent his entire squadron into an ambush against a rival army. Only 2 others, excluding him, survived that day.

Sion is the calm and hardworking king that every citizen loves because everything he does always benefits the middle and lower classes somehow, something that drives the nobles totally mad.

Why You Should Watch This

It’s just magical. Granted that the first few episodes seem a little dull, but it’s all in the name of building up a plot and its characters, creating linkages, linking every character one by one.

I wouldn’t say that the show’s darkness, deceit and sneakiness is unique to the show alone, but the presentation of it is excellent. As you would know, no kingdom is flawless. There are always the extremist who always want things a certain way and let’s just say that there is one such person on Sion’s personal guards that would try to take things to an extreme.

Another reason to watch would be the adventure. Every episode seems to throw me into the world of LOL-Heroes and watching each plot unfold is just breathtaking. While there aren’t super page turner scenes, it’s still a good watch.

So why should you watch this? Because it’s better than half the shows being shown in this season. And also, it’s currently at Episode 17, so there’s a good 9 more episodes to go, so catching up won’t be that bad.

I give LOL-Heroes 4.5/5 stars

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