Jeoffrey

My-HiME is an interesting mish-mash of different themes, ideas, and clichés combined in a relatively fresh way. It is a bit like when you take some leftovers from the fridge and mix them up into something new and delicious. Although I was not too keen on it at first, it only took me two days to get through the first seven or so episodes. From the eighth episode onwards, at the end of each episode, something new and interesting happened, and due to these twists and new revelations, it made me want to really start getting into it. They suggested that the show’s narrative was not simply a crazy mix of some old ideas the anime’s creators had previously rejected and abandoned as they were not so good. Rather, they were well-thought-out episodes with a sophisticated setting and narrative. Plus, the last third of the season (from about episode eighteen onwards) is just an absolute treat. This show has action-packed twists, suspense, relationships, a psycho, a little romance here and there, just everything a viewer could want. If it had that kind of drive from the start, I would have awarded this show five stars and put it in my Top Ten right away, so it is a shame it did not. As for the characters, they also start to gain another dimension with new revelations and become more and more interesting as time goes on, plus they slowly develop as well, so I was more than satisfied. My favorite characters in the first half were the clingy and ever-hungry Mikoto, the overly-serious Natsuki, Yuuichi, and the white-haired Nagi, who is an enigma to all and capable of biting remarks. Towards the end, the Fuka Academy Student Council president, Shizuru, the goofy teacher Midori, and even Mai are good. Another positive thing is there are some fascinating lessons that My-HiME offers us, so you learn that even a nun is just a woman really, how to know true love and many other interesting things. The soundtrack is perfect, although I rarely notice the music in anime series and I usually only notice it when it is bad and distracting, however, the music in this show is not intrusive, so it is great. It is perfectly in sync with the story and adds a new dimension. The animation is rather average, although the fight scenes were pretty good. Because of the gripping conclusion, which really got me and almost made me forget my initial uncertainty, this anime series deserves a strong four stars from me.

So I waited and even SpongeBob SquarePants managed to disappoint me. I quite like an absurd and crazy sense of humor, but there was not a lot of it here. Sure there were a few good jokes, like when Plankton had to put Patrick to sleep with a fairy tale, or SpongeBob claimed that Patrick was a valid member of the team because he was loyal. In general, however, I was only occasionally amused, which is not good for a SpongeBob SquarePants movie. Even the story did not have the enthusiasm of, say, the previous movie or the TV series, and the bit on the land had terrible 3D animation, which did not suit the movie. Sure it was nice to have Antonio Banderas play one of the characters, although honestly, David Hasselhoff's five minutes in the role of a lifetime in the first movie put Burger Beard in the shade with ease. There was not even a crazy song (like The Goofy Goober Song (I'm a Goofy Goober, Yeah!)) or a moment that drew me in or dazzled me in any powerful way. So to sum it up, this is definitely the weakest offering from Bikini Bottom so far, for which it earned only an average rating from me for the first time because this is not worth any more than a 5/10, in my opinion, even for die-hard fans.

When I was still in high school, we had a biology class on evolution. The teacher explained that humans and chimps share a surprising ninety-eight percent of their DNA. Some species of primates supposedly have a propensity for possessiveness and violence encoded in their DNA, and therefore so do we. To prove her point, she showed us a documentary about chimpanzees, which showed fights over territory plus disputes between males over females and others. Interestingly, she mentioned that there are also Bonobo chimpanzees who are not aggressive at all. These chimps hardly ever fight among themselves and solve their disagreements with sex. In the same way, they also strengthen relationships within their community and the family, and this behavior is associated with fear and other stimuli. The professor made an interesting point at the time that if we were genetically closer to Bonobo chimpanzees than to other representatives of the primate/ape species, humanity would live a much healthier and more peaceful life without wars and other tensions. Already back then I thought that such an idea was interesting. However, it is not very realistic from a practical point of view, and I do not think such a society could successfully thrive and gain a privileged position among other species. I remembered these moments exactly from my school days while watching this anime series, and I must say that I enjoyed the storyline and how the theme of the "ideal society" is presented in this show and the other interesting issues raised by this show. It was slightly disturbing at times, and the crazy and incomprehensible change, thanks to the time jump, that came in the eighth episode, when I could not stop rolling my eyes at what all had changed out of shot, off-screen, will especially be remembered for a long time. I could not award this anime series a full score because even though I understood that they were different from normal kids, I often had quite a big problem with the characters' behavior. Even though this show is very rich and also very clever and hilarious, at times, I was extremely surprised, shocked, and in denial about the characters' logic, so I had issues enjoying it properly. The quality of the concept of this show makes it worth the five stars, in my opinion. However, since my ratings are mostly subjective, I am only awarding this 8/10.

Samurai Warriors is not a bad show. It has a pretty good historical setting, and the destiny of the two brothers, with whom fate is merrily playing, is also quite interesting. There are a lot of characters, but most of them, unfortunately, did not get under my skin. There are also many action-packed scenes, which made this anime series worth watching for me. However, I feel that it is pretty average, and since it does not offer as distinct and appealing characters as Sengoku Basara, I think it is only worth three stars.

Even though I have not played Dofus or Wakfu, it was easy to get my head around this show. It took me a while to get used to the animation style, and whereas I cannot say it was unappealing, it does look a lot like Angry Birds, although why the hell not? The narrative was relatively easy to understand. Even though I have seen a few shows about a disparate group wandering around full of adventure and fun, I still enjoyed this. As far as the fantasy setting is concerned, there is a lot to applaud. It is very diverse and colorful, and you can see that the anime’s creators had a really rich imagination. They also often use references to various well-known movies and, in some episodes, even PC games like Super Mario Bros or Pac-Man, which I appreciated. As far as the characters are concerned, they were all good, the main male protagonist being a very nice chap indeed, and Princess Amalia is again very pretty to look at. The greedy Ruel also has his charm, although I liked the most the slightly indiscreet hero Sir Percedal of Sadlygrove and the incredibly interesting Evangelyne. All in all, this was an enjoyable romp with a bit of suspense and fun that is easy to watch, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This anime series is a remake of the 1977 show, although I have never seen it, and it is indirectly related to Yatterman Night, which I am watching now. I have to say that it is a pretty good and wacky romp with heroic themes, fairly interesting characters, a simple plot, and crazy ideas. There are parodies of various events and famous (but not only) historical figures. At times, I found it quite amusing and did not mind the mecha so much. However, the main male protagonists were not very interesting, so I ended up rooting for the bad guys instead because Doronjo, in particular, was just delightful. 5/10.

Why am I awarding this show five stars? Well because this show mainly features an incredibly interesting group of unique characters where almost everyone is a little different than they first appear. The main male protagonist secretly creates a very successful shoujo manga, even though he has no personal experience with love and seems unromantic in real life. Mikoshiba is so delicate and gentle that many girls would envy him, although he ineptly tries to mask it by looking like a delinquent. The idol of the school for most female students is a girl who acts the lead male role, usually that of a prince. And there is an idol with an angelic singing voice who is a tactless, rude, and tomboyish girl. The interactions between these characters are often incredibly entertaining and elevate this otherwise fairly decent shoujo, at least in my view, to a great experience I was looking forward to. I, therefore, have no choice but to give full marks to the originality. Because I was right royally entertained, I did not even mind that it did not really go anywhere during the twelve episodes.

The Tatami Galaxy is a unique and original anime series with a very interesting animation style. If I were not familiar with Kaiba, Steins;Gate, and Haruhi Suzumiya, I would have been able to get into this a lot more. However, I have seen enough narratives about parallel universes and time travel, stories accompanied by pompous inner monologues and thoughts of the main protagonist, and even stories with original and novel visuals before, and I would say at a higher standard. Nevertheless, this is still an above-average show that combines these themes masterfully, and even the main idea of this show is more than interesting. Another positive thing is the very interesting characters, and the episode with the "irresistible heroine" Kaori was great. Plus, the fact that the anime's creators dealt with this kind of love gets another significant plus point from me. 8/10.

Isuca is another ecchi anime show, and I really do not know what to write anymore, so I do not repeat myself. All of the shows in this genre from this year's releases seem to be the same to me. Furthermore, they often contain the same old clichés. For example, I have seen the back-washing scene in the shower at least three times this year, each unsatisfying. But okay, there is a mediocre story, a "comedy" that does not make you laugh, a couple of quite interesting characters (tsundere Sakuya and that goofy cat-eared girl Tamako), a bland and pathetic main male protagonist. Extremely bad censorship makes the sexy scenes a complete farce, mediocre animation, and a tolerable soundtrack. So here is my take on it; half a star for the story, half a star for Sakuya, and half a star for Tamako. 3/10.

It is probably logical that this is still primarily aimed at girls, fans of bishies, and of intense love stories. The main female protagonist is still pretty awful in some ways, although in my opinion, in a quite endearing way. Tomoe stands out all the more for lovingly helping her all the time. Plus, the story, revolving around Kirihito, who is quite interesting in my opinion, kept me interested as well. It is still just as goofy and cheers me up at times, and I still find it quite entertaining. I think this show is still worth four stars, although perhaps the second season is a teensy hair better than the first. Maybe when I get tired of overusing the word “still” I am going to stop enjoying this one too, although so far, it still has not happened.