07 Ghost

Action, Fantasy, Supernatural, Magic, Military

Teito Klein is a former slave sent to attend the Barsburg Empire’s military academy due to his ability to use Zaiphon, a type of supernatural power. The ability is rare, and thus highly prized. Teito is an amnesiac and doesn’t remember anything of his origins — what he does learn of his past comes from his recurring and often traumatizing dreams.

After a year at the academy, Teito takes the graduation exam; it is notoriously difficult, with a pass rate of twenty in five hundred. Teito and his best (and only) friend, Mikage, pass easily. That night, in their shared dorm room, they each promise to help the other at any cost. The next day, Teito is delivering papers to a professor when he overhears his name. He stops to listen and realizes that the speaker, a man named Ayanami, is the man who killed his father in his dreams. Teito is found eavesdropping and tries to attack his father’s murderer, but is quickly brought down by one of Ayanami’s subordinates and sent to prison. Mikage comes to help him escape, only to find that Teito has managed to fight past the guards by himself. The two flee the building, but are cornered on a balcony. Teito pretends to hold Mikage hostage, threatening to kill him; however, he whispers to Mikage, “We’ll always be best friends, right?” After Mikage replies “Of course,” Teito jumps off the balcony onto a waiting hawkzile (a kind of flying motorcycle) to escape.  Teito carries the Eye of Michael, the powerful artifact that his home country, the Raggs Kingdom, was ransacked for. The tragic death of a loved one catapults him into his quest for revenge against the Barsburg Empire and knowledge about his past, while he becomes entangled with the Gods, Verloren, and the 7 Ghosts.

His best friend’s fate spurs Teito into trying to master the Bascule — a powerful weapon that can harness and focus his innate power. Friends become enemies and rivals become allies as Teito begins to fulfill his destiny, and protect his fallen country from the minions of his former masters.

  The YaoiGyrl in CAG First Impressions:

Crazyanimegyrl really tried to sudue me!  But I have taken over and will be writing this blog.  Wah-ha-ha-ha!

I thought this first episode was interesting.  All male dominated cast… no females.  However, I cannot tell a lie… my shounen-ai senses were beaming all over the place!  It has all the elements of being a shounen-ai series.

   CAG’s Impressions:

Now that I gotten a hold of that chick, I have put her back inside where she belongs!  I have to be open; to look at all sides of the coin and write a subjectedly blog about 07 Ghost.  So that being said, I’ll be writing a more comprehensible blog after a viewing a couple more episodes.  I am guilty as charged… cannot stop my senses from tingling about the first episode.  For right now, it was a pretty good episode.  I can definitely see much action and the storyline was easy to follow.  Recommend this series because it has some of the elements that I like in an Anime Series:  Supernatural, Fantasy and Military.

Seriously though… this is one of those series that I [personally]  have to watch a couple of episodes before I can say I will continue with, or drop.  

Please don’t think too badly of me…  but I do tend to watch more episodes and for those that I watch, I will blog about.

Rating: 7.5/10

Off to do other webbing stuff now.

Laters!

 

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Asura Cryin’

Where is this Series heading?

The semi-serious school action story revolves around Tomoharu Natsume, a boy who has been haunted by a ghosty girl who was a childhood friend.

   CAG’s Impressions:

Okay, as part of the 2009 Spring Releases, I decided to pick up Asura Cryin’ .   It has pique my interest when I read the previews.  So, after watching Ep. 1, I came to this conclusion:

I seriously have to watch more episodes…

When the episode opened up to Natsume Tomoharu laying in a hospital bed questioning who he was and what has happened and his childhood friend Misao who was a ghost was hovering over him,  I was definitely all over it!   I thought it was going to lead up to something more; something exciting.  Well… what can I say after watching the episode:  Mediocre.   After the first 10 minutes I have to say I was a bit on the disappointed side.   I thought there would be more of a mystique behind the storyline. 

To be quite honest (and for some reason, I feel this is going to lead to a comment fight, I kept seeing To Aru Majutsu no Index and Monochrome Factor and  a tiny bit of Shikabane Hime: AKA, written all over it.

From the seem-like holy war between light (who wants the suitcase and it’s content Asura Machina)  and darkness (which states that it belongs to Tomoharu) and the Yazkuza(?) who wants to possess the suitcase as well, To Aru Majutsu no Index;
The comedic storyline of boy and ghost (minus the shounen-ai hints and the ghost being a girl), Monochrome Factor
A brother who travels the world doing unseemly things and have a Agent ‘go between’ for him and Natsume bearing the gift of a metal suitcase, Shikabane Hime.  Now that I typed that, Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka just popped to mind as well — the secret agent parents’ part.

 I won’t say that it didn’t keep my attention because it did — epecially the Mecha popping out of the strange and mysterious suitcase at the end; it’s just that I was really expecting some kind of hype to the first episode. 

Conclusion

13-episodes… I’ll keep watching this until I can get an overall concensus of it and then I’ll determine if this will be a series that I’ll watch entirely, or drop after some episodes [mainly the first 6].

Rating: 6.0/10

 

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Bakemonogatari

Comedy, Supernatural, Romance

Category:  TV
Year:  July 3, 2009
Studio:  SHAFT
Episodes:  Ongoing

Summary
~From Wikipedia~

Bakemonogatari centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate named Hitagi Senjogahara, who infamously never talks to anyone, falls down the stairs into Koyomi’s arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs next to nothing, in defiance of physics. After being threatened by her, Koyomi offers her help, and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a middle-aged homeless man who helped him stop being a vampire.

The series tends to introduce only one new heroine per chapter, each involved with a different “apparition”. The events of the previous chapters play an important role in the subsequent ones. The series primarily focuses on conversations between characters; it contains a fair number of parodies of other series, as well as Nisio Isin’s trademark wordplay and metahumor.

  CAG’s First Impressions:

I was sooooooooo not prepared for it!  LOL  When it first opens up, there was a wind blowing panties scene and I thought to myself… Awww shyt… another ecchi!  Don’t have anything against ecchi because I watched some of those series too.   Since I’m the type that always give the first lookie at something that interest me, I kept watching.  It had an interest opening where you saw characters to come in different phases: fighting, blood, gore and I’m getting all perked up.  At first, I thought I had downloaded a preview. 

As the story goes along, I began to take in the ‘artsy’ scenery. And the trip begins in a downhill motion. Like I said… what a ride!

 So… our main character Araragi-kun catches a falling girl who felt almost weightless. Araragi takes an interested in her, he began talking to the class Iinchou about her and then he takes his leave to go see Oshino and no sooner than he leaves the classroom, Senjogahara catches him with a blade in his cheek, threatening him to mind his business about her and then on the other cheek inserts a stapler! Just to make sure he paid heed to her warnings, she stapled his mouth… [blew me away!]

Not ready to give up on her, he chases after her and she comes out with a barrage of school supplies ready to do battle!  All these pointy pencils, pens, scissors, staplers… you get picture.  But, Araragi feels he could help Senjogahara.  He shows her the inside of his mouth where the wound has healed already.  He tells her that he was a vampire that was return to being a human, but he had a side affect: he still had immortality in him.  He tells her of Oshino, the guy who saved him and he could help her too. 

Oshino informs her that she encountered a Weight Crab, a god-like spirit that took her weight away.

The more I watched, the more I’m like yeah!  This is right up my alley.  Now I’m getting excited.  When it was over, all I could say…. WHAT… A… RIDE!  It was a good first episode.  Now I know I shouldn’t be blogging on new series when I’m trying to finish up ones that I’m still watching.  But as always, and you the viewer, can agreed I’M NEVER ON TIME WHEN IT COMES TO BLOGGING ON ANIME!  LOL!!!   Always two steps behind.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 

This is one series I’m definitely planning on blogging about.  It was off to a good start.  I’m such the lover of the “weird and obscure.”  The head trips are the most enjoyable rides.  LOL  Totally recommend giving this series a “first lookie.”

 

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Denpa teki na Kanojo

A story about a belligerent delinquent named J?zawa and a strange girl named Ame Ochibana who suddenly vows complete loyalty to him. “Denpa teki na Kanojo” or literally, “electromagnetic girlfriend,” refers to the denpa-kei sub-genre of stories imply that bizarre behaviors are caused by electromagnetic waves.

Based on a light novel series authored by Katayama who also wrote the light novels that inspired the Kure-nai manga and anime series. It is a mix of both, as the main character Juuzawa finds himself ’stuck’ with a cute little follower who devotes herself to him completely. But the city that they live in is darkly troubled by a number of ’serial murders’ who stalk the night and appear to be unstoppable.

When their class prez is attacked one night, Juuzawa and Ame decide to try to track down one of the killers ……

The 40 min anime will be ship with the third volume of the Kure-nai manga on May 1, 2009.

  My Impressions on this:

thought this was pretty good.  I’m totally into the psychological horrors, thrillers, etc. genre and I enjoyed this.  Had it’s funny moments and it’s twists.  Interested?  Click on the download link provided below.

Rating:  9.0/10

This is supposed to be a 3-part Ova.  Looking forward to the next subbed ova.  Yosh!  Back to webbing go I.

Download Link:

Denpa teki na kanojo

 

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Examurai Sengoku

Less than 15 minutes of unadulterated action!

The Examurai Sengoku anime production depicts the members of the EXILE group as futuristic samurai that are transported back in time to Japan’s sengoku (warring states) period. The anime character renditions of the EXILE members were designed by manga creator Hiroshi Takahashi (Crows, Worst).

I was all over this!!!  I thought the first episode was great!!!  It was action-packed and being that it was less than 15 minutes long, it was a thrill ride [my opinion about it anyway].  Episode starts off with Hiro a samurai on a ship in a storm that got struck by lightling and it sunk.  Next screen takes you to the outlaw town of Yasaka, where in an restaurant, there’s fighting and Master Onikibado who is the gang leader, wants to be entertained, and the entertainer has run away because he was tired of being in the outlaw town.  As he’s escaping on a boat, Hiro comes out of the water and passes in the boat.  The entertainer takes him to a hideaway shack where he gives him a bottle of saki and some buns and tells Hiro not to stay around too long and then leaves.

 As he tries to escape again, he is caught by Master Onikibado and his hencemen.  One of the hencemen was about to strike him down, he all of a sudden he gets hit in the face with the saki bottle that was thrown by Hiro.  Hiro asked the men did they know where to get a refill of saki.  Master Onikibado forewarns Hiro not to come any closer and pulls out a pistol.  Hiro unsheaths part of his sword as M-Onikibado pulls the trigger.  The sword blocks the bullet and Hiro cuts the nozzle off of the gun.  The entertainer thanks Hiro profusely for saving his life.

The next day riding an Elephant, enters Atsushi.  Onikibado men tell Atsushi that Master Onikibado wanted to have a talk with him and Atsushi agrees to the meet.

End of episode.

I really like the first episode.  Didn’t get the blood and gore like I thought I would get, but the storyline and action was awesome and I recommend this series.

Rating: 9.5/10!

 

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GA:  Geijutsuka Art Design Class

Comedy, School Life

Category:  TV
Year:  July, 7, 2009
Studio:  AIC PLUS
Episodes: Slated for 13

Summary
Follows five first-year senior high students in an art focused school as they play and learn. Offers some basic art information and color theory, with color pages spaced throughout.

   My Impressions:

I felt like I was in “Art Class: 101″ with cuteness!  LOL  Anime adaptation from the manga [Mangaka:  Satoko Kiyuduki], it follows the five girls through their first year in high school in their art classes.   I got a kick out of the informational side of the first episode.  Hey… if I watch this series through the end, who knows?  I may just become an Accomplished Artist! 

Reviewing episode 1, I’m getting a bit of knowledge, and being amused by the little quirky things they did.  Like for example:  Kisaragi and Noda chan making a  soft pudding model out of thicken paint and then getting chastised by Namiko chan.  And then there’s the imaginary Color Warriors Irodorangers dreamed up by Noda chan, when the girls got stumped on an art project.  The Color Warriors was supposed to save the day… ummm no.   Reminded me of the Power Rangers… slapstick Anime style!   It’s just so darn cute!  I’m not really into ‘cutesy’ anime series per se; however… I’m really taken in by this Series thus far.  I can clearly see me watching to the last episode.   Not only will I get some art tidbits, I’m going to be entertained at same time!

If you don’t mind getting a bit of education in art, I recommend this series or at least give it a first lookie.  It looks like it’s going to be quite comical.

Rating:  9.0/10.

 

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Guin Saga

Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Shounen

Synopsis:
Based on the longest continuing single-writer’s work in the world (currently 124 volumes), this fantasy tells the story of the mysterious warrior Guin, who has a leopard mask magically affixed to his head.

“The seal will be broken after many years”. In the land of Nospherus, four heroes embark on a patch of destiny that will weave a new legend. The story follows Guin, a powerful swordsman with a leopard head, the adolescent royal twins Remus and Rinda, and the young and ambitious mercenary named Istvan.

The Guin Saga is an epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard’s Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred manga books strong, Guin’s saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan.

Plot Summary:
The ancient kingdom of Parro has been invaded by the armies of Mongaul, and its king and queen have been slain. But the “twin pearls of Parro,” the princess Rinda and the prince Remus, escape using a strange device hidden in the palace. Lost in the Forest of Rood, they are rescued from Mongaul soldiers by a strange leopard-headed man named Guin, who has no memories except for the word “Aurra.”

  CAG’s Impressions:

What initially made me ‘gravitate’ to this Series was the actual preview picutre.  After viewing episode 1, I can clearly say that I’m hook 100%!    This series seems like it’s going to be an awesome one.  Vividly captivating, action was on point, and the storyline thus far is good.  It’s really good.  If you’re into fantasy epic tales, then I totally recommend this series.

First episodes starts off with Rinda, having a premonition that their kingdom of Parro was under attack from the Armies of Mongaul.  Waking her twin brother Remus (later the two will become known as the “Twin Pearls”) they first the blast of the invasion.  The King and Queen their parents, were killed.  Just as they were about to be slain, the eldest brother saves them.  It seems that he was killed as well.  (I say that because… well afterall, this is an epic tale and anything can happen)  The two escapes with the help of a Palace Aide.  He takes the children to a tower called Janos, a teleport device.   They were supposed to be teleported to their Aunt.  Things go awry when the coordinates were off and the children were teleported into the woods of Roodwood deep in the Mongaul territory.

The children were found by a Mongaul platoon and were saved by Guin, a powerful swordsman who has a leopard mask magically attached to his head.  He has no memories of who he is or why he was in the forest other than knowing of a place called “Aurra” where he believes that’s where he’s from.  As night time began to fall, the dead platoon was consumed by ghouls, and they came as zombies and attack the Guin and the children.  They escaped by diving into the water and submerging in another part of the Mongaul territory.  Just as they were about to figured out what their next move was going to be, they realized they were surrounded.

End of episode.

Good first episode.  Totally recommend this series.

Rating:  9.5/10

 

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Higashi no Eden

Sci-fi, Drama, Action, Lost Memories, Romance

The series begins on November 22, 2010 with a missile strike against an uninhabited area of Japan, claiming no victims. This apparent terrorist act is referred to as “Careless Monday” and disregarded by most people. Three months later, in the United States of America, a young Japanese woman named Saki Morimi is visiting Washington D.C. as part of her graduation trip. When she gets into trouble, a mysterious Japanese man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, helps her through it. The man appears to have no memory and is completely naked, carrying only a gun and a cell phone charged with 8.2 billion yen in digital money.

  CAG’s Impressions:

Kenji Kamiyama – Director
Honey & Clover Manga Artist Chika Umino
Original Series

What does this summed up to, a promising Series.

What an exceptionally good first episode!!!!  I love when there is a Original Series in the lineup of Series Releases.  You don’t know what’s going to happen and there’s no manga to reference.  Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) first episode did not fall short at all.  I was pretty amazed at how good it was.   The best part was the English speaking lines.  The cab driver (scene where he drops Saki-chan in front of the White House) actually had a D.C. accent!  I was like, whoa.  Anyhoo, Saki-chan was so cute.  I was amused at how she thought that she could throw the coin and it would actually reach the waters of the fountain.  Ha!  So cute.

The scene progresses to her being accousted by two Officers and it scared her to death.  She was saved by a Naked Guy!  I will admit, that took me by surprised too.  So much I couldn’t stop laughing.  Here enters a naked guy waving a gun and holding a high-tech cell phone.  His whimsical happy-go-lucky persona made the scene!   At one point realizing it was bad that he was waving a gun, he escapes over a wall when a truck drove by and the Cops took off running in the direction of the truck, thinking he had hopped on the side of it.  Revealing himself to an embarassed Saki, it was so hilarious how her eyes ‘zoomed’ in on his “package.”  Thanking him for getting her out of that sticky situation, she gave him her hat, scarf and coat and he suggest that she leaves the scene before taking off himself.  Imagine a now semi-naked guy running down the streets with a girl’s coat on.  Really laughable.  Hiding behind a car, he figures out how to use the cellphone and his contact, a female who identified herself as Juiz informs him that his memory was wiped clean and that she didn’t have any intel on him, but directs him to his residence.  Off in flight he goes.  Meanwhile Saki realizes that her passport and wallet was in her coat pockets and she takes off in the direction of the guy.

She catches up to him and was shocked that he had talked a man into giving him his pants.  [I cracked up because there was a part where he flashes the guy and the guy is all happy!]  Happy that he finally had some bottoms, he continues on his journey to find out where he lives.  Coming to his residence, he enters and asks a guy what floor he lived on.  Entering his apartment, which was a dump, he’s a bit bewildered that he lives there.  After putting on some boots, he goes into the closet and finds a case of of weapons and comes to the conclusion that he’s a terrorist. Also in the closet, he come accross multiple passports for himself.   In the middle of changing his clothes, Saki rings his doorbell.  After opening the door, Saki explains to him that her passport and wallet was in the pockets and she asked for them back.  Leaving her outside, he hurries back to her coat and looks at her passport and then at the passports he possessed,  he settles on one password that had the name Akira Takizawa and decides that’s who he will become and puts the other passports into the toaster to destroy them.  While waiting for Akira to come back to the door, a policewoman who had spotted Saki earlier outside of the building, heard on the patrol car radio that there were two suspicious people in the vicinity.  Pictures then were printed out of the two that were taken by security cams outside the White House.

The Policewoman followed Saki into the building.  Just as she was questioning her, Akira exits the apartment.  They were stopped and Akira was asked to show his ‘Johnny.’   Too happy to drops his pants for the police officer who blushed like a little school girl and compared the now showed-off johnny to that of the picture.  Seeing there was a difference, she let them go.  Akira makes a comments that it was cold outside,  [Shrinkage] and that’s what made the difference.  Akira asked Saki when she was going back to Japan and she replied today.  Asking her for cab fare, they get inside a cab, and he ask the driver to take them to the police station where apparently he filed a report that they were robbed so that they could go to the Japanese embassy and get plane tickets back to Japan.  At the airport, Akira swipes his passport, and it was authentic.

The rest of the scene they talked as they went through the terminal.  Saki even questions herself was Akira going to be her prince.  At one point, on a big screen tv, they saw the news of a area in Tokyo that was attacked by terrorists.

End of episode.

There is so much promise that this is going to be a good series.  I really doubt that it will be disappointing.  Slated for 11 [thus far] episodes, I feel that it’s going to be one whirlwind of a ride.  Totally recommend this Series.

Rating:  9.5/10

 

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Higepiyo

Comedy

Higepiyo (literally “Mustache-Peep”) revolves around Hiyoko, a “surreal” bird that happens to have a mustache. Hiyoko can talk with “Piroshi” — Hiroshi, the human boy who convinces his parents to buy him at a fair — and the two become tight friends. In fact, Hiyoko teaches Hiroshi how to win brawls in elementary school, and he sometimes fights a bullying boy on Hiroshi’s behalf. (Hiyoko is actually an experimental test subject that escaped from a laboratory.)

  CAG Impressions:

What can I say about this “chick-thingy?”   Downright funny!   My first glance at Higepiyo, I knew it was going to be surreal humor.  Is it a chick, no wait… it has a mustache… huh?  what?… okay, I’m drawn in.  Let me download and have a lookie. So glad that I listen to myself.  This first episode had me cracking up!

A street fair  is going on, and one of the vendors is selling baby chicks.  While there’s a crowd oogling and ahhing over the chicks, one of these chicks stand out like a sore thumb.  It’s blah-se attitude and the persona of being bored to death, made one question what in the world?  Not only that, it has a mustache and sitting by a sake bottle!  The Vendor tried his best to persuade the oogling and ahhing crowd that the chick was cute and it was worth the 500 yen it was selling for.  The crowd wasn’t buying it and disburses, leaving the poor Vendor all alone with the chick-thingy and the other chicks. 

On the scene comes Hiroshi and his parents.  Hiroshi sees the chick stand and wants to buy a chick as a pet.  The chick that Hiroshi picks?  You guess right… the bearded one!  Hiroshi stated that the chick reminded him of a yellow bird he used to own that had passed away.  Looking upon the bearded chick, the Father stated that it reminded him of his own Father that had passed away.  Whereas, the Mother, stated that the Vendor reminded her of an old boyfriend that was still living!  [LMAO]  To which the Father had to remind her she got it all twisted wrong.  Ha!  Hiroshi gets the chick as a pet and names it “Higepiyo.”

Upon having the chick in their house, the parents tries their earnest in psyching themselves into believing this chick was absolutely cute!  Such a hard thing to do being that it had the traits of a human.  I tell ya… too funny!  The highlight of the episode for me was at dinner time and Higepiyo wants second and while beating the plate for seconds, the Vendors calls, the Mother picks up the phone and the Vendor states that even if it wants seconds of curry, it was still a chick and quickly hangs up!  Hilarious… okay? 

Less than 12 minutes long per episode, I totally recommend this series!  You will get your laughter fix and the world will be alright with ya!

Rating:  9.0/10

 

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Kanamemo

Comedy, Yuri

Category:  TV
Year:  July 5, 2009
Studio:  Feel
Episodes:  Ongoing

Summary:
Nakamachi Kana is a junior high school girl. Her grandmother passed away and she was left all alone.   She finds a newspaper carrier station and starts working as a live-in carrier. Her room has a hole on the wall. Other female workers living next door comes in through the hole and start a wild merrymaking.

  My impressions:

Couldn’t help it… I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF!!!

This Yuri, Loliconess  first episode (Alone for the First Time)  was funny!  Once again, another series of the Summer Releases has taken me by surprise, and I’m being drawn in… again!  Ha!  Didn’t think I would find a subbed version being that this series is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.com.  I just so happened to luck out!  Amazing what you will find when you’re doing a search. 

Anyhoo…

Kana is a junior high school student who just recently loss her grandmother.  Her parents died long ago, and she’s literally left alone to fend for herself.  The house she used to live in was sold and she had to go out into the world to find somewhere new to stay.  Walking down the streets, she sees a sign in a the window stating “Help wanted and possible boarding.”  Little do Kana knows what’s behind the ‘closed doors.’

The place is a newspaper delivery shop that’s run by a Supervisor (Saki) who’s an elementary student and the other employees (who are females of different ages) calls her “Dairi.”  One of the employees in particular Haruka, she’s a college student who drinks a sake concoction she makes and has a great “fondness” for fondling Dairi.  O_-  Then there’s Yuuki and Yume who displays their fondness for each other and Hina who only wants to work a little bit, but wants to take a whole lotta breaks! 

Now… Standing outside the shop reading the help wanted poster, Yume and Yuuki comes out with their bikes and newspapers and bid each other farewell follow by a kiss.  This display of affection shocks the heck out of Kana who decides to look elsewhere for boarding.  Not coming across any, she’s sitting outside where a cat is keeping her company.  Deciding that no matter what, she’s going to be okay, she walks down the street singing a tune, “I’ll be okay” until she’s hit by Yume on her bike.  Yume  takes a knocked out Kana back to the shop where the girls patiently waits for her to recover.   Haruka, who is glad that she does, begins to ‘fondle’ her chest.  (can’t stop laughing as I type this! )  Kana makes a dash to the door when she realizes it’s the place she had stumbled across earlier in the day.

After having dinner, she asked the girls if she could stay and in return, she would work hard and cook their meals.  Dairi agrees to let her stay.  The girls are estactic, and thus the adventure-comedy-story begins…

End of episode.

Conclusion

Hilarious… downright hilarious.  The first episode tickled my funny bone.  I’m so-so on Yuri, definitely not into Lolicon (Haruka seems to like ‘em young), but this one is a keeper!  I do plan to blog on this series.  Totally recommend it.  Let’s just hope I’ll continue to find subbed episodes !

Rating: 9.5/10

 

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Kuruneko

Comedy

Category:  TV
Year:  July 5, 2009
Studio:  Dax Productions, Inc.
Episodes:  (?)

Summary
Based on a popular manga blog in Japan revolving around a woman who is completely devoted to Sake and her Cats.  This series is approx. 2 minutes long.

 

  My Impressions:

Must be my day to preview cutesy anime…

When I first started reading up on Summer Releases 2009, don’t know why… but this series caught my attention.  I guess anime will be the closest I’ll ever get to an actual cat.  You defintely don’t want to see me in the Reel World when I’m around a live cat… not a pretty sight.  O.o  LOL 

The first episodes finds the woman going to a pet shop oogling over the Cats in their showcasings.  One cat in particular kinda scare her and the saleperson tries to ’sell’ her on the cat.  She abruptly leaves.  At home, she can’t help but to think about the cat.  She wondered if it would find a good home or not and if it did, would the cat be disposed of.  She goes back to the pet shop and notices that the cat has gotten thinner.  Here’s the funny part:  the woman and cat communicates with one another.

Seeing that the cat has gotten thinner, she buys it along with accessories and neccesities and bring it home.

End of first episode… short; isn’t it?

I found it to be cute.  I will continue to watch this.  It appeal to my quasi-quasi side.  Recommend it if you like Cats!

Rating:  7.5/10

 

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Majo Saiban

Suspense, Legal

Quick Summary:

Toru is a young part-timer who has no interest in social issues. He gets called in as a juror in the trial of a woman labeled as a “witch”, charged with a murder over an enormous inheritance. Though it appears that she is definitely guilty, one by one the jurors begin casting their votes for “not guilty.” From the shadows, there is a mysterious organization buying control of the jury. At the same time, strange events start happening around Toru. When another juror is threatened, Toru is determined to save her. However, Toru’s girlfriend, a newspaper reporter, seems suspicious of their relationship. And so, Toru begins his lonely fight for the truth.

 My Impressions:

This was a good series!    Arigato TOMAlicious for subbing.  When I first took a “first Lookie” at episode 1, I thought to myself, Legal… can’t get away from it!  Being that I work in the Legalese field, I found myself becoming quite interested in the new Lay Judges in Japan.  In the US you have “Jurors” who decides the fate of the accused.  Lay Judges reminds me of the Jury System instituted in the US.    Anyhoo… you have one of the main characters Toru whom has this happy-go-lucky persona that sells these Tee-shirts with the words Think Twice on them.  [Personally speaking, I want one!]   He’s running late to the official appointment of being one of the potential Lay Judges. 

The trial is set around this woman who is accused of murdering her husband.  The husban is super rich, much older and she’s accused of killing him for the money.  Once it becomes known to Toru that the woman is named “The Witch,”  he refers to her by that name.  The whole series takes you on a rollercoaster ride, because from the very beginning, there’s an organization choosing key lay judges that they could blackmail into giving the verdict they want them to give.  How this organization goes about their blackmail scheme is so wrong!  LOL  They believed in finding out your weakness, or deep secrets and exposing it to the lay judge to get them into submission.  Toru, who was one of the lay judges they targeted, gave them a run for their money.  He didn’t fold easily, but went after the truth and tried to help others along the way. 

One of the storylines that made this series quite interesting, was the Witch herself.  She turn Toru’s girlfriend into a complete insecured mess by playing a mind game on her.  She insinuated that Toru was having an affair with another lay judge.  Girlfriend went off her rocket. 

One of the things I like, you really didn’t know which way to turn…  meaning, as the story progress, you had one way of thinking and then something will happen causing you to change up and in the end, you a surprise.  I did not expect the ending that the series gave.  It was a shocker; because I knew in my own reasoning, I picked the right culprit.  Wrong!!!  Majo Saiban definitely lived up to be a true suspense drama.  Each week, I was faithfully looking for the next episode and was angsty when I had to wait!  LOL   

I recommend this series if you haven’t seen it or one is looking for a good Asian Drama to watch.

Rating: 10/10 — because it’s really that good. 

 

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Oruchuban Ebichu (Ebichu Minds the House)

Comedy, Risque Mature Content

Category:   TV – Due to mature content, was only shown on Japan DirecTV
Year:  August 1, 1999 – October 1, 1999
Studio:  Gainax
Episodes: 24

Summary (~Wikipedia~)
A talking hamster devoted to her oft-indifferent owner, who is only identified as OL (”Office Lady”), a single 28-year-old (this is her age in the original manga series while she is 25-year-old in the anime series) who doles out cynical commentary and the occasional beating on the rodent. Ebichu tends to take this in stride with endless praise and compliments. Such abuse is usually caused by Ebichu’s almost disturbing lack of tact or propriety, which often embarrasses her master in front of other people.

My Impressions:

Like the title of this post, I think I broke my laugh box from laughing hysterically this morning watching this series.  Tears streaming down my face, stomach cramping a little bit and I’m in such a better mood now, that this day is definitely alright with me!    This series is a mood changer.  It’s so funny, so cute, and totally outrageous with the risque mature content!  Ha!

Ebichu was a delight.  This hamster really stole the show by embarrasing the crack out of her owner and making snide remarks to her Owner cheating boyfriend which he was referred to as Kaishounachi [worthless man] in the series.  I got a kick out of the way he would always get himself out of a situation when he got caught!  Whether it was from lipstick on the collar or leaving directly after the ‘act’, OL-chan would falls for his chessy lines, get some action and she’s alright!  Ha!  And the poor hamster would be in awe at her dumbness!  When I thought it couldn’t get any funnier, in walks Maa-kun, a friend of OL-chan’s boyfriend who’s falls for the damn hamster!  There’s a name for that type… Yipping? I think?  Anyhoo… Maa-kun has Ebichu on the brain and when he goes home one night from playing Mah-jong with the couple and the hamster, he “serves up his girlfriend… well!

I’m in complete humor hysterics now…  had to ask myself… do I dare continue?

*Sigh*  and I did.

After that point, I was introduced to

Ebichuman:  Your sexual savior…
Motto:  You will have a orgasm this very night! 

See, Ebichuman would fly around the city looking for the  ”depraved” who haven’t [look at the motto for the key word] that night.  The person would hear a voice and in swoops Ebichuman saving the night!  This skit is to die for… literally with laughter that is…

What more can I say about this series…  eto, eto… completely and emphatically funny!  It was definitely a picker-upper to my soul this morning.

And like I said before, the day is alright with me now.  Gosh I Anime!  Always saves me when I need to be in a “happier place.”  Totally recommend this series if you haven’t seen it.

Rating:  10/10 — for the therapeutic side:  laughter!

 

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Orthros no Inu

Drama, Suspense, Mystery, Supernatural

Category:  JDrama
Year:  July 24, 2009
Network:  TBS
Fan Sub:  Nya!Fansubs
Episodes:  Ongoing

Synopsis

Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses a “God Hand”, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient, is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the “Demon’s Hand”, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the demon meets the God, a fatal battle begins…

Detective Hasebe Nagisa gets caught by the criminals during a deep cover operation. Ryosuke, a man she does not even know comes to save her and she witnesses his “Demon’s Hand” in action. Thereafter she discovers by coincidence the existence of Shinji’s “God Hand” and brings the two together. Little did she know that this would cause great disorder to the world and even to her own life.

 

  My Impressions:

What made me want to take the first “lookie” was… hey c’mon; one guy can kill with a touch and the other can heal with a touch…  that’s enough right there to pique my interest!  Orthros no Inu first episode “The Devil’s Hand and The God’s Hand” was quite interesting.  An hour long, I sat glued to my seat watching it.  It has the formula of: mystery, and the makings of a good supernatural drama!  The twist on this series, is the fact that the dark guy or bad guy,  has the healing powers whereas the  squeaky clean-good samaritan-on the geeky side Sensei of an all girls high school  has the power to kill.  Usually it’s the other way around… great twist!   

Ryosuke [ good guy, killing hand], his character is soooooooooo squeaky clean that it was really interesting when he used his powers the first time.  It was something he always had and was warn by his Mother in childhood not to get angry with anyone because bad things happens.  So it appears he lived life to adulthood being that guy who “turn the other cheek,” and became a passive, submissive person.

Whereas Ryuzaki [dark mysterious, healing hand], ten years prior killed three males and is in prison for life and is being used by the Warden for his own personal gain.  

Detective Hasebe Nagisa has this ‘over zealous’ nature that was somewhat a bit of a turn off for me… however, I’m hoping it will tone down as the series progresses.  Because of that overly zealous nature, she tends to do things as a one woman show and it causes her to get suspended from the job.  But that does not stop her for getting information from an fellow Detective.    After witnessing Ryosuke using his powers, she becomes obsessed with it.  Upon learning about Ryuzaki, she figures he’s Ryosuke’s opposite, visit him in the prison where Ryuzaki asks her to bring Ryosuke to him. 

Only wanting to see Ryosuke,  the Warden brings him to see Ryuzaki while Hasebe-san waits in the Warden’s office pissed off that she was not invited to the meeting.  Both men trade off what’s it like to have the powers that they have.  Ryuzaki convinces Ryosuke to help him break out of jail by killing the Warden and he promised that he would bring him back to life.  Naive Ryosuke goes along with the plan, and Ryuzaki assaults him, and escapes by jumping one of the prison guards, stealing his clothes and walking out of the prison.  Hasebe-san catches up to him and hesitates about shooting him because she herself has someone that she wants healed: her daughter who’s an asthmatic.  Ryuzaki over powers her and takes her gun and disappears into the shadows.

Really don’t want to give too much of the 1st episode… don’t want to spoil it for others! 

The first episode also dealt with characters that gave an inkling of what’s to come.

For example:

You have a politician that’s running for office and secretly, she’s in bad health.  The public doesn’t know and if it gets out, her political career will be over. 

Then there’s an ex-cop who’s now a derelict but knows about Ryuzaki.  He does not believe that he has “God’s Hands” but rather, a  pair of “Devil’s Hands.”

I tell ya… the makings of a good  suspense-supernatural drama!

This series has promise.  There’s even an online community created for it:   Orthros no Inu Livejournal Community and one can go there for downloads of episodes.  Note:  1st episode – large file.  The community site has the episode broken up into pieces.  [Something I haven't learn how to do yet   ]

Conclusion

I like the first episode.  I thought it was tastefully done, and the storyline already has my wheels turning!  Totally recommend this series.

Rating: 9.5/10 — not bad of a rating for the first episode. 

 

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Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~

Action, Drama, Romance

A spate of mafia assassinations occurs in America, the work of the mysterious organization named Inferno. “Phantom” is their most strongest and capable assassin, however a lone tourist witnesses Phantom’s latest act of murder. He unwittingly exposes the top assassin’s true identity, a young girl named Ein. Witnesses are usually killed, but the man is captured and taken to be brainwashed into “Zwei”, Inferno’s newest assassin, with no memory of who he is. From this point on, Zwei is drawn into a world of conspiracy, deceit and violence.

  CAG Impressions:

After seeing the first episode, I had to question, where have I seen this before?  Ahhh!  Phantom the Animation (3-part OVA (2004))  It all came back to me when Phantom gave the erased-memories guy the code name Zwei.

It started off exciting.  Zwei, driving a pink Cadillac Convertible looking so smooth and suave.  Next a scene ripped from Scarface (well done job!) and bodies everywhere and then we catch our first glimpse of Phantom in a maid’s uniform.

Like the ova, the first episode tells the story of how the Japanese tourist was kidnapped, had his memories erased and force to defend himself when the Scythe Master sics Phantom on him to awakening his inner abilities.  To which, it was a success.  It goes back and forth [pass and present] to show the awakening, to being named Zwei by Phantom to the present of being an efficient assassin.

It was a good first episode.  What I would have like to have seen like in the OVA, was how Phantom and he first encountered each other.  But there are 12 more episodes to go, so it may just popped up.

If you’re into action, violence, assassins, then I totally recommend this series.

Rating:  9.0/10

 

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Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Drama, Slice of Life, Tragedy

Category:  TV
Year:  July 9, 2009
Studio:  Bones, Kinema Citrus
Episodes:  Ongoing [Slated for 11]

Summary
The series is set in Tokyo after an earthquake measuring a magnitude 8.0 on the Richter scale shakes the city’s foundations and landscape, resulting in the Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and other noted landmarks falling.   The story will center on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo’s artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yuki at the start of summer vacation.   With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yutaka strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.   Newscaster Christel Takigawa makes an appearance as herself, reporting on the earthquake and assuming the role of a “navigator” during the series.

   My Impressions:

First, and foremost, I have to give a round of applause for the ‘realism’ of this series!   Couldn’t sleep last night so I marathoned all 5 episodes that’s currently running.  Starting from episode 2, I don’t think I had a dry eye to the end.  o_O  Some of the scenes just felt so real.  

So here you have Mirai, a teenage school girl full of teenage angst and seems like the world along with her parents are to blame.  Then you have Yuki, her little brother whom has a great happy-go-lucky outlook on life and Mirai finds it a bit irritating at times.   

The parents are your typical everyday ones that both works to support their family.  But in an teenage angst’s mind, it’s their fault for having to work to support the family and have a somewhat comfortable life.  They have a nice home, food to eat, and it’s not enough…

Episode 1 gives you an insight on their home life.   It’s the last day of school and the girls in her class are talking about going away for the summer.  One girl asked Mirai were she and her family going away and she reply they didn’t make any plans.  At home, its their mother’s birthday and instead of buying a whole cake, she brought slices.  Mirai shows unhappiness about this because she [Mirai] like round cakes.  The mother leaves to go meet a client.  Yuki drew a picture of the family for their Mother’s birthday.  Mirai tries to bring down Yuki’s level of happiness because  the only thing she was seeing was the fact that their mother brought slices of cake instead of a whole one and it’s the mother fault that she’s unhappy.  The father comes home tired and hot and after taking a shower, Mirai starts on him about family vacation.  Minutes later, the Mother comes home and they have a small little spat about the time and dinner had to be started.   Realizing that they were not going on vacation, and the argument pisses Mirai off and she yells at her parents before stomping off to her room. 

The story takes off when Yuki wanted to go to this Robot Exhibition and their mother volunteers Mirai to take him.  Mirai has a fit.  But she has no choice but to take him.  During the whole trip, Yuki is having a good time and tries make Mirai partake in it too.   Yuki wanted to buy a present for their mother, and they went to the gift shop and see this flower comb they though was pretty.  Just as Mirai was about to reach for it, it was taken by Mari, who politely gives the comb to Yuki for him to purchase when she sees that it was something that the childred had their eyes on.  While taking a break from the exhibit, Yuki goes to the bathroom and Mirai goes outside to write a complaint blog on her phone about how she’s feeling and then said something that changed everything:  She wished the world would change, and it did — but not in the way she had hoped.

Mari, who I really have to say is a true god-send to these siblings,  is quite awesome in her character as she makes a pact with them that they would return home safe.  Mirai with her distrust of adults,  slowly begins to warm to Mari.  As the trio goes along their way, they experience aftershocks, sadness and the will to believe that they will reach their destination and the hope that their families are safe.  [My interpretation as I see it thus far.]

This series is thought-provoking and riveting.  After each episode I found myself asking what the hell would I  do if an earthquake hit NYC?  Second original series that I find outstanding.  Kudos to the writers, animators and directors of this series.  Highly recommend it if you haven’t taken that first lookie.

   Rating:  10/10.  Hands down, this is a good series. 

 

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Yurumates

Comedy

Air date:  April 29, 2009
Fan Sub Group:  Frostii

Summary
Based on Saxyun’s 4-koma comedy manga about  Yurume, an 18-year-old ronin — a high school graduate who has yet to be accepted into college. Yurume moves to the outskirts of Tokyo to study for the next entrance exams. She ends up living in Maison du Wish, an apartment complex full of aimless “veteran ronin” who have been out of school for years.

  My Impressions:

Ova full of short episodes that shows the life of Yurume and the other Ronins.   Overall, I thought this ova was funny — especially the skits where it shows that a Cicada had moved into the Maison du Wish as well.  Just a one frame shot that gives  insight on what the Cicada does and then there’s the tenants are funny.

You have:

• Sae Kawano — kind of go with the flow persona
• Matsukichi — he seems like the more responsible one, except that he’s a ronin…
• Kumi Tanaka — complete airhead!

Put all these characters together, and you have one cute and funny ova.  It’s kind of an off-beat type of comedy where some may find it  not funny, but on the boring side.   I liked it… definitely appealed to my Quasi-Quasi side.  I can see this being a standard 13-episode series.  But that’s just me though.  I’m probably a bit  off myself!     Hopefully, more OVAs will follow. 

It’s worth a first lookie.  Really surprised that it got picked up by a Fan Sub.  Arigato Frostii! 

And this is my short review for today… and it’s only because I’m procrastinating… doing some webbing today and I’m slow to get moving.

For all that’s interested in taking a first lookie, here’s the link:

Yurumates

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