MithraPride

Spring is here and a new batch of anime series arrives. I'll be aiming to watch the first episode of all new anime I can find (that won't take a week to download). Few new titles have started already.

X-Men - From the guys that brought you Iron Man and Wolverine comes the third (and final I think) super hero collaboration with Marvel. Art style is very much the same only women do look a bit better now I feel, they also changed Wolverine's design so he's more Wolverine-ish and less bishie with a mullet, Storm is a real cutey (with big breasts naturally). Main characters should be somewhat obvious; Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and Beast with appearances from the Hellfire Club and Jean Grey (possessed by the Phoenix Force). The series starts with a show down with the X-men and Phoenix being controlled by the Hellfire Club, it's implied that Jean sacrifices herself to save the rest of the X-men. One year later Prof X reassembles the team to investigate mutant kidnappings in Japan (yes as usual we have to base the series in Japan ). If you liked the other two you'll probably like this, should be quite a good series.

Nichijou - Translates as regular, normal, everyday etc. but it's anything but. If anything I'd compare it to Azumanga Diaoh, it's just plain crazy with the same high school settings with some additional characters (child professor and android she made). If you liked Azumanga Diaoh, Lucky Star, GA Geijutsu Art Design Class etc. you'll probably like this one too

Dog Days - Err yeah. So from what I understand there's a war going on between two nations (dog people and cat people from the look of it) except wars are conducted in a manner more fitting of a school sports day, people don't die or get injured they just seem to turn into giant plushie cat heads. The dog people (whatever they're called) need a great hero for the war and basically abduct a Japanese middle-schooler voiced by none other than Light Yagami... I mean Tamaki Suou... I mean Setsuna F. Seiei... I mean Mamoru Miyano (he does a LOT of voices ) to be their hero since he's naturally athletic. The fact that Mamoru is voicing the protagonist might be the only thing that'll keep me interested in this anime, just seems overly cutesy and probably aimed at a younger audience.
Episode 2 has caught my attention more with some fan-service (character even admitted at being too much fan service when her armour got smashed off and surrendered) and a nice bit of action and visual effects so think I probably will stay with this one.

That's all so far, more to come when I see 'em

Edit: Dog Days episode two info.

Hanasaku Iroha - The story centres around a 16yr old girl called Ohana Matsumae. Ohana's irresponsible mother runs away with her boyfriend (he's in debt and got into trouble or something) and sends her to live with her grandmother who owns a hot spring inn. The grandmother disowned her mother and therefore thinks little of Ohana by association and puts her to work in the inn as an employee. First impression is that it's a little dull, maybe the story will develop more over time and it'll turn into a warm fuzzy feel-good anime but at the moment it is a little slow.

Edit: Up to episode 3 now, I'm liking this series more

I read that the animation and art are excellent, but the plot is uncommon to anime although popular in Japanese lunch hour soaps.

It sounds like it is aimed at attracting people who usually don't watch anime.

The artwork is nice, it's very "cute" and the animation is good too. I thought about mentioning them but you won't stick around purely for the animation I was tempted to classify it as a drama but there's not an awful lot of drama to it at the moment, anime soap a good way of describing it I think

Tiger & Bunny - Ho boy, don't let the name fool you it's actually a superhero anime with a twist. Imagine if superheroes weren't born or made but were rather "marketed" and that's the general premise behind the show. I'm not sure if it's true for all the superheroes but it seems like their sponsors essentially create them, give them their super powers or their super suit so every superhero will have advertisement pasted on their suit much like Captain Amazing in Mystery Men but not as much On top of which there's a TV show that exploits crime and disasters that essentially makes it a competition between all the superheroes (200 points civilian saved, 500 points criminal arrested) so basically superheroes are an entertainment business. The story seems to revolve around two superheroes in particular, a veteran called Wild Tiger (sponsored by SoftBank) and the new kid on the block called Barnaby Brooks Jr. (sponsored by Bandai) the only hero to reveal his identity and as such doesn't actually have a superhero persona. I won't delve too much into the story and just point out that at the end of the first episode Wild Tiger is forced to partner up with Barnaby (dunno where Bunny comes from that but oh well ). Though it's probably obvious I'd classify this as an action/comedy.
The art and animation is great, outlines are brown rather than black and there's also heavy use of CG for wide-shots of the city and most of the superheroes. I'd say it's very similar to the recent Macross Frontier movie and wouldn't be surprised if done by the same studio
Episode two has shed a bit more light on the superhero situation. Basically not everyone can be a superhero, the ones that can are called "NEXT" and develope their powers kinda like mutants do in X-men. The corporations just make suits or whatever to make best use of their powers as well as capitalize and profit from them.

Battle Girls - Time Paradox - Probably obvious by the name but this appears to be a mainly female affair set in the same kind of era as Sengoku Basara and the like. It's a bit like a cross between Inuyasha and Koihime Musou as in there's the main character accidentally travelling back in time and scantly clad girls swinging around big swords and such. And that's essentially the plot except these legendary warriors aren't women in the history books (which is pointed out). Funny, bit of action and a fair bit of fan-service, if you're into that then you'll probably like this. The art-style is nice, kinda cutesy too.
Episode 2 explains that it's not just the past but an alternate reality of the past where only women exist, when the main character asks how babies are born she's told they're delivered by storks and such.

Edit: added info on Tiger & Bunny.
Edit 2: Battle Girls ep2 info.

Steins Gate - Might have to see more to get a grasp of this one. Seems to centre around an eccentric self-proclaimed "mad scientist" and his group (somewhat ditzy girl and fat hacker). Steins Gate was mentioned but hasn't been explained yet, seems like time travel is going to be the theme of the show. Think will need to see more to see where it's going.

SKET Dance - Somewhat a cross between Ookami-san, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Spiral. The Sket-dan is a school club that essentially helps out people in trouble, consisting of three members: the boss aptly nicknamed "Bossun" who wears a red devil hat and goggles and appears to be good at solving mysteries (hence the Spiral comparison), a blonde bombshell ex-yankee that's rather violent and good with her hockey stick nicknamed "Himeko" (hime - princess, ko - usually ending for a girl's name) and the brains of the bunch named "Switch" who always carries around a computer with him and even uses it to talk, very good at collecting all sorts of data.
Artwork and animation is simple but effective, reminds me of another anime about an astronomy club. First impressions is that it's a very fun anime, funny with a bit of action and intrigue, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes these light-hearted kind of shows

Toriko - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toriko#Anime
As soon as I saw it had something to do with One Piece I turned it off and deleted it, do not like that art style at all

Maria Holic Alive - Second season of the anime, I now have the first and after watching the first two episodes I highly recommend watching it first. You can start with the second season and enjoy it (like I did) but you'll miss out on the initial character introductions and how they first met. The story is about a lesbian (Kanako) who joins an all girls catholic high school in her second year (which is unusual) looking for love (much like her father and mother met in the same school) and she dislikes men and breaks out into hives whenever she's touched by one. Her first encounter with a girl (Mariya) on school she's immediately attracted to her thinking that she's the ideal girl but later walks in on her getting changed and it turns out she is actually a he. He won't tell her his reasons for cross-dressing and in a bid to keep Kanako's mouth shut her blackmails her and moves into her dorm saying he'll keep an eye on her 24/7 and thus the hilarity ensures. Kanoko is a bit of a pervert too, she gets frequent nose bleeds just thinking about how cute girls are.
The second season I'm guessing just picks up where the first season finished so more of the crazy adventures of Kanoko and co. I'll also point out the art-work is very good, quite similar to Ouran where there's good art work mixed in with silly artwork.

A Channel - Similar to K-ON! and Lucky Star, another one of those somewhat random and funny anime about a group of high school girls. Art style is pretty cutesy like Lucky Star's as well. Should probably say a little about the story; centres around 4 girls, 3 in 2nd year and 1 in the 1st year. There's a ditzy one, the overprotective of the ditzy one childhood friend (1st year), the pretty one who often gets her boobs hit by the overprotective one and the glasses character (guessing she's the smart one). It's pretty funny so I'd recommend it to anyone who likes K-ON!, Lucky Star, GA Art Design Class etc.

Dororon Enma-kun MeraMera - Don't really know what to make of this anime yet. It's apparently a remake but the art style hasn't seemed to evolve in the 20 years since the original series or whatever as it seems very old school, which also lead me to think it was aimed at the more younger audience. That is until there was a monster that attacked the protagonist with his wang... Essentially it's one of those demon/monster slayer kind of anime, the protangonist is a demon himself with a demon hat and another demon friend and of course a regular human (girl) is thrown into the group. It's mildly amusing but the old art-style doesn't really do it for me so I'm not sure I'll keep up with this series.

Edit: Maria Holic Alive description.

Softenni - An anime about five middle school girls that go to a soft tennis club, it's pretty funny and somewhat random and crazy with some ecchi thrown in (panty shots). The characters are pretty typical of this kind of anime; you have your somewhat weird perverted character, your over-enthusiastic character yet probably the most grounded of the bunch, your quiet, strange and all round "genius" (Yuki Nagato) character, your big breasted ditzy bimbo (though she excels at eating) and the fifth character hasn't joined yet. There's also the tennis couch who seems to be a young slacker type. Also going to point out that the ecchi and such loses it's impact due to the characters being in middle school (when they're drawn like high schoolers), kinda like the sex jokes in Mitsudomoe being around grade schoolers, just wrong. However despite those things it's a very funny anime with interesting characters so I'd recommend it to anyone who likes those kind of shows.

Might be the last of the new Spring line-up, there's a couple I missed due to either being small shows (15 minutes or so) or being shounen-ai...

Seems like I have a couple more to talk about

The World God Only Knows 2 - the second season of this funny and entertaining anime, I was pleasantly surprised to see it so soon For those that don't know the premise is that this self-proclaimed god of date-sims ends up taking on a challenge, unknown to him the challenge was from a demon to capture loose souls from girls (all conveniently in his school) and if he doesn't complete the contract both him and the cute demon will die. Capturing said loose souls basically involves making them fall for him and so he sets about doing that like he would in his date-sims and thus the hilarity ensues. It's very funny with a pretty unique story and the music is excellent to boot. It's obviously a must see to those who saw the first season, I'd still recommend getting hold of the first season then catching up with this one

Astarotte's Toy - I was a bit concerned about this one reading into it but it seems like the story has been made more TV friendly. The story is about a 10yr old succubus princess who's pressured into starting a harem for when she matures and is required (to suck) "life seed" from men in order to stay alive (much like vampires require blood). However she has a strong dislike of men due to the actions of her mother in the past(yet touched on) so as a first request she asks for a human man knowing that the Yggdrasil tree (yes another anime fond of Norse mythology ) is the only way to the human world and hasn't "worked" for a while. Her mother finds out a way of getting it to work and going to the human world and ends up "kidnapping" a man back to their world.
Despite the subject they manage to dial down the maturity and make it presentable for a TV audience, it's quite amusing and the artwork is cute. Might be worth a watch if it sounds interesting to you.
Amendment: it seems the "lifeseed" isn't semen and is sucked through the lips in the TV show (so basically kissing). Also her mother isn't in the anime (yet) it's like her guardian or something that is pushing her to make a harem and all that jazz.

Edit: Astarotte's Toy amendment.

Sugami wrote:X-Men - From the guys that brought you Iron Man and Wolverine comes the third (and final I think) super hero collaboration with Marvel. Art style is very much the same only women do look a bit better now I feel, they also changed Wolverine's design so he's more Wolverine-ish and less bishie with a mullet, Storm is a real cutey (with big breasts naturally). Main characters should be somewhat obvious; Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and Beast with appearances from the Hellfire Club and Jean Grey (possessed by the Phoenix Force). The series starts with a show down with the X-men and Phoenix being controlled by the Hellfire Club, it's implied that Jean sacrifices herself to save the rest of the X-men. One year later Prof X reassembles the team to investigate mutant kidnappings in Japan (yes as usual we have to base the series in Japan ). If you liked the other two you'll probably like this, should be quite a good series.

Haven't seen the other two, but they've put Madhouse on the job. I think I don't need to say more.

Sugami wrote:Steins Gate - Might have to see more to get a grasp of this one. Seems to centre around an eccentric self-proclaimed "mad scientist" and his group (somewhat ditzy girl and fat hacker). Steins Gate was mentioned but hasn't been explained yet, seems like time travel is going to be the theme of the show. Think will need to see more to see where it's going.

This anime is based on a 360 game by Nitroplus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate
Nitroplus has a couple of very nice games and (visual) novels out there that had very nice anime adaptations.
Definitally gonna check this one out.

The others, meh, I'll check them but I'll probably stop watching them after episode 2 or so.

I think you do need to say more, I'm not sure if you like Madhouse or not

I rarely research anime before I watch them I only looked up one because there were some "interesting" comments about it. I'll do a bit of research afterwards if it looks like it's the second season or something. None of the anime really popped out as something you'd like in particular, Steins Gate is sounding more interesting now though. I''m going to rewrite Mario Holic Alive and add more about Battle Girls but don't think you'd like any of those titles. Maria Holic perhaps if you liked Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Oh Tiger & Bunny, you might want to watch just for the amazing visuals, the story is pretty interesting with some nice superhero action too

Sugami wrote:I think you do need to say more, I'm not sure if you like Madhouse or not

Madhouse is one of the studios that has a pretty high rating in my book when it comes to animation quality and good titles.
Up there somewhere along Production IG (Ghost in the Shell series, Tales of..., FLCL) and Bones (Cowboy Bebop movie, FMA movies,Wolf's Rain).

Sugami wrote:None of the anime really popped out as something you'd like in particular, Steins Gate is sounding more interesting now though.

It could be something I don't like, but as I said the creators behind it have made surprisingly good titles before which had very nice anime adaptations so my expectations are moderately high for this one.

I'm going to rewrite Mario Holic Alive and add more about Battle Girls but don't think you'd like any of those titles. Maria Holic perhaps if you liked Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

I only enjoyed the first season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, the second season and ova felt like a "people like the series so I will have continue making it" stretch.

Oh Tiger & Bunny, you might want to watch just for the amazing visuals, the story is pretty interesting with some nice superhero action too

I'll check it out.

Second episode of Steins Gate has been shown now and something interesting happens at the end

I got into Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei on the third season, Zoku I think it is. Loved it, just completely off the wall and hilarious but it seemed like I was missing out on the character introductions, that's when I went and found the other two series and OAVs. Second series seems like a retelling of the first, the character introductions are changed slightly. Still I love everything about the show and have watched it more than once Maria Holic has that kind of vibe too it but it's a little more grounded (not much) End of episode 3 Kanako does Zetsubou-sensei's pose

Looks like I have a new anime to talk about too

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi - From the moment I saw the intro I immediately thought "date sim" and I was right Yes it's another one of those date sims/h-games turned anime (minus the 'h') with some cute artwork and animation (as you'd expect from a date sim) a lot similar to that of Akikan and To Heart 2. I remember when I refused to believe Kanon was originally an h-game, oh how naive I was I don't think I need to go into detail about the story, if you're interested look it up but it'll most likely gradually come in episode by episode. It is quite funny as most of these anime tend to be "romantic comedies", I like to watch them and think "who'd I choose" and "who would have the trickiest route" or even "who has a hidden route"

I'm loving Maria Holic, almost as much as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei as it has some really interesting characters. Surprisingly hard to find a picture of the main cast, only found this:



Left to right; Yuzuru (archery club girl, possibly the most normal of the bunch), Sachi (innocent and energetic, long time friends with Yuzuru), Nanami (quiet character rarely shows emotion but is very caring, takes things literally a little too much), not sure think a side character , very honourable and protective), Kanako (quirky lesbian and main character of the series, always fantasizing about girls and getting nosebleeds, tends to over think at times and can be a little dense, breaks out in hives when touched by boys), Mariya (cross-dressing sadist, grandson of the chairman of the school, loves tormenting Kanako) and finally Matsurika (Mariya's maid, tends to do whatever he asks and generally only speaks to insult Kanako or Mariya).



The standard art-style of the show, also showing the dorm manager with cat ears (who likes to be called God), her dog, the student council president (blonde) and Ryuuken (tall one).

It also has parts where skin and face is completely black, Fruits Basket is another anime that's done that, and has over bishie sparkly art to show when Kanako's fantasizing a bit too much

Edit: Dammit all, why does the series have to be licensed by a shitty company? Can't even be bothered to put together a dub for it. Not sure if Commie have dropped subbing the second season but looks like HorribleSubs are ripping it off anime network now at least.

Wow just when I thought the new spring anime had finished more shows turn up, I'll be updating this post as I watch them.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai - or "We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day" appears to be a drama of sorts and I get the feeling there'll be moments that will tug at your heart strings. The series follows Jintan, a shut-in, who gets a request to fulfill a wish of one of this childhood friends, Menma. In order to grant Menma's wish, Jintan must find and reunite with four other friends who have grown apart since graduating junior high or whatever. The kicker is Menma died when she was young and now she's following Jintan around as a ghost (she can touch things) and he's the only one that can see and hear her.

Hidan no Aria - AKA Aria the Scarlett Ammo, I'd like to point out the anime started with the protagonist being chased by a segway with an uzi attached to it and a bomb strapped to his bike The anime is about two students; Kinji and Aria, both second year high school students in Butei High that has a school rule stating that students must carry a gun and knife on them at all times and also has bullet proof blazers. What kind of school is this? The kind that basically trains a private army it seems. Kinji refers to himself as a soldier and as such there are people that want to eliminate the soldiers so it's not unusual for students to not graduate. Kinji runs into Aria during the bike and segway incidental, she essentially saves him at first only to be saved by him when he goes bi-WINNER due to some condition and totally kicks ass. There's a misunderstanding during Aria's rescue and that leads her into basically following Kinji around, moving into his flat and demanding he be her slave at the end.
Obviously this is an action comedy with a few bits of fan service thrown in, thoroughly enjoyable on the most part for me

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - AKA Electric Wave Woman and Vernal Man is a somewhat quirky anime about a teenage boy who moves to the city during his second year of high school to live with his aunt, arriving there finds a girl (his cousin apparently) wrapped up in a futon acting strangely. Later the girl reveals herself as a half-alien (and taking off the futon) saying the earth is being targeted. That's all I've got out of it so far, it is rather quirky and funny so we'll see where this one goes.

C The Money of Soul and Possibility Control - This is certainly an interesting anime, something you might like, Shirai The anime centres around a university student called Kimimaru, he studies diligently and works two part time jobs to support himself and as such never has time for anything else. One day he's visited by a strange man who promises him wealth if he pays with his future as collateral, something "weird" happens and he "wakes up" thinking it a dream. The next day he finds half a million yen in his bank account and bumps into the man again who "abducts" him and takes him to "the financial district". Before the main character was introduced there was a show down between two other characters in "the financial district", it appears the battle was for money and my guess is winning enables you to take the losers money.
The art style is rather average I suppose but there are some very interesting and cool visual effects with the odd bit of CG. Seems like a very intriguing series, I'm keen to see where it goes

First season of Mariaholic was pretty good, I'll have to check out the second.
Zetsubou I really enjoyed the first season, and second was decent.. whatever the newest one was tho, was a pretty big letdown, Most of the episodes just ranted about one or two topics in ways I just didn't find interesting =/

I've been going through a few from last season. I just finished Kimi ni Todoke s2, really loved it. Watched the first 3 episodes of Level E and it seems pretty interesting. Also been following Puella Magi Madoka Magica (HIGHLY HIGHLY recomend this one.. still waiting on the final two eps, but the most recently aired one was friggin awesome. Watch it, seriously)

Not quite anime, but the Avengers - Earths Mightiest Heroes, was really good. It kept pretty true to good comic style and had alot going on behind the scenes. I plan to watch the Wolverine, X-Men, and Iron Man animes too. Also finished Shiki, Durarara, and Katanagatari somewhat recently, and highly recomend them all.

I'm a sucker for shoujo anime, Kimi ni Todoke was no exception Was pretty frustrating when they both felt the same way but misunderstood each other, felt like headbutting the keyboard Level E was one of my favourite anime of last season, hilarious take on aliens and stuff. Puella Magi Madoka Magica totally turned the magical girl genre on it's head, very tripy scenes as well, just a shame they've kind of randomly stopped it

Didn't think much of Shiki, just another vampire anime that took 6 episodes to show that they were vampires. Art style is rather unique but the pacing was all too slow for my liking.

Also finished my "reviews"

Sugami wrote:Puella Magi Madoka Magica totally turned the magical girl genre on it's head, very tripy scenes as well, just a shame they've kind of randomly stopped it

Pretty sure that was due to the earthquake. I've heard the last two episodes will be out later this month. I think I heard someone say april 27th, or something close to that. I'm definately looking forward to it.

That's a relief. Would suck if they didn't finish the story.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai - AKA "We don't have wings" (I guessed that before looking it up, how great is my Japanese? ), I somehow missed the first episode last week so got to see two back to back. This is another date-sim turned anime but it's not the typical date-sim story, there appears to be three groups of people with a male lead in each group, what's more is none of the male leads are normal characters for this kind of story. There's the high school group (the male lead seems pretty normal at first until the end of the first episode when he basically says he's an alien), the university group (male lead is extremely rude, even to women, somewhat aloof and likes to cause mischief) and the working group (male lead is an ex-delinquent and has poor people skills). I have a feeling the groups will cross paths in the future as one has already mentioned the other.
Even though it's shown on TV it still seems very mature, quite a lot of sex jokes and puns, implied masturbation, censored "nudity" and mature language. I'm interested to see how this one pans out.

Edit: Something really interesting happens at the end of the 4th episode, it "explains" what one of the characters said at the end of the first episode too. I also mistook one of the male leads it seems, the male lead of the college group is the more cheerful person who doesn't seem to have as much luck with the ladies (hence I thought it was the other guy) All the leads names can mean different types of birds of prey (Hawk, Eagle & Falcon) when read from the kanji.
So far there's been little of the high school group and it's mostly been centring around the other two groups. Now that the cat's out of the bag (so to speak) we might start seeing more of the high school kids.

Lemme know in like 5 weeks or so, which of these are really worth watching :p

Anything from last season thats pretty much a must watch? I seem to usually end up waiting till a series is done airing (or almost done) before I look into them, and see if they got a good review or sounded interesting. (I already know about Kimi ni, Madoka, and Level E)

Gosick still airing (hurray looks like it'll be a 1/2 year season ), that's a must watch in my opnion, one of if not the most interesting anime you'll ever watch.

I'm going to stick my neck out for X-men, Tiger & Bunny, Steins Gate and C the money blar blar, have high expectations for those four, well three but X-men has to be seen regardless Of course Maria Holic Alive since you've seen the first season.

There's quite a lot of funny anime as well, if you like stuff like K-ON! and Lucky Star there's a few that'll appeal to you. I haven't really seen anything I flat out wouldn't recommend (of the ones listed anyways).

Few more anime just started airing... yeash don't know how I'm meant to keep up with all these

Deadman Wonderland - first off this is not an anime for kids or the feint hearted, I read that it was censored for TV viewing (expect DVD and BD to be gorier). Seems to be a few things going on in this anime and more should be revealed over time so best thing is to basically summarize the plot methinks. The protagonist, Ganta, is an ordinary 14yr old school boy when some mystery man cloaked in red hovering outside of the his classroom completely destroys the place. Ganta injured and dazed is confronted by the red man and "attacked" with the red man implanting some red gem into his chest before he passes out. Moments after waking up in hospital the police barge in and arrest him for the mass murder of all 29 of his class mates. He's found guilty and sentenced to death due to a faked video of him talking to his lawyer, obviously set up by the dodgy lawyer.
He's sent to Deadman Wonderland (there's where the title comes in ), which is like a combination of a prison and an amusement. He meets some strange girl in white, there's a bit of a fight with some inmates and a bomb blowing up part of the building leading to him awakening his powers that were given to him through the red crystal. The next episode will explain that special candy extends the timer on their collars (Royal Rumble-esque) and that to get the candy they need to perform in shows for the public's entertainment.
Other than the gore there does seem to be an interesting story going on so I'll be sticking with this to see where it goes.

Hyouge Mono - set in the warring states era is about a samurai who's not a manly man and likes pretty things, basically. Don't worry it's not about gay samurai (already saw that movie ) but it's not really very exciting or entertaining, I'll be dropping this one.

Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san - AKA "You've been summoned, Azazel-san" is about a girl, Rinko Sakuma, working part time at a detective agency. Only her boss (the detective) can summon demons, specifically one by the name of Azazel who's a pretty low-ranking weak demon. After one "successful" task Azazel does the demon detective releases him from their contract but immediately forms a new contract with Rinko.
It's a pretty weird and funny anime with slightly mature content.

And another one

Ao no Exorcist - AKA The Blue Exorcist is about a boy named Rin who lives with his twin brother (a natural born genius) in a church looked after by the Father. He's a bit of a trouble maker but his heart is in the right place (pretty standard). He finally manages to land a job at a convenience store when he sees a young girl chasing her scarf, on catching the scarf he shortly sees a weird creature that runs away with it causes damage to the store and injuring a customer. Naturally he gets blamed for it and fired. Later he notices weird little demons he mistakes for bugs but confused as to why no one else can see them, he's then accosted by some thugs he had a run in with early. One of the thugs undergoes a demonic transformation and when it seems like he's in trouble blue flames burst out from him, the demon thug then tells him he's the son of Satan and the Father comes in to "rescue" him and explain the situation.
This anime has "shounen jump" written all over it and not surprisingly the original manga was published in jump square (a replacement for shounen jump or something). With that in mind you can expect it to be rather formulaic, hopefully it'll be entertaining enough but only time will tell. I'm also hoping it won't be another one of those ongoing series like Naruto or Bleach.

I'll leave this here:


Link for full pic:
http://www.comixo.com/eng/images/bullet ... /pic01.jpg

Good to see a large majority of those being fansubbed or stolen from crunchyroll I've given my first impressions on most of those

Picture seems cut off 30-sai is basically a porno (TV version censored obviously) and Sekai-ichi is the shounen-ai thing. Neither of which I've bothered with

Sugami wrote:Picture seems cut off

Added link, pic is too big for the forums and there's no auto resize function implemented.

30-sai is basically a porno (TV version censored obviously)

I find this one really funny as this is actually based on quite a big social problem in Asia, and even in Europe I see signs of this with some of the people I know.
A lot of men in Japan in their 30's have indeed never been with a woman before, and that number is only growing.
Most of them prefer 2D girls (Anime/Game/Comic characters) and completely go Rajesh Koothrappali when they have to talk to real women.

and Sekai-ichi is the shounen-ai thing. Neither of which I've bothered with

Haha, same here.

Shirai wrote:I find this one really funny as this is actually based on quite a big social problem in Asia, and even in Europe I see signs of this with some of the people I know.
A lot of men in Japan in their 30's have indeed never been with a woman before, and that number is only growing.
Most of them prefer 2D girls (Anime/Game/Comic characters) and completely go Rajesh Koothrappali when they have to talk to real women.

Yeah the sex doll industry is booming If I remember correctly 30-sai is only in 12min episodes, another reason why I didn't bother with it or maybe I just didn't bother with it because the file size was small... can't remember There's another one like it called Hem Zemi or something, about a sex god trying to help a young man have sex. The first episode only seemed to censor male parts and a sex doll so... not really interested in that. Short episodes too.

Big Bang Theory FTW!

Do not want indeed

Pretty Rhythm - Aurora Dream - this one doesn't seem to be on that list, dunno if it's old or what but FFFpeeps picked it up which is the only reason I gave it a chance. You can guess by the name it's a very girly anime and not really funny enough to keep me interested. Basically about girls ice skating and there's some nice use of cel-shaded CG for the ice skating parts.

Thought I'd point out a couple episodes of Ore No Imouto have been shown, they continue after the "true end" of the series with the final final episode coming soon.

Moshidora - Or the full title "Moshi Koko Yakyu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no Management o Yondara" which translates to "What If a Female Student Manager of a High School Baseball Team Reads Drucker's "Management"?" (or something similar) just got picked up by gg, not sure if the anime was delayed or anything. Anyways to expand on the story given by the picture; this girl (Minami) decides to be the manager of the baseball team because her friend (Yuki) is ill and can no longer be manager. Minami used to play baseball when she was young but for a yet to be explored reason she now hates it. She bought the book on management by accident when looking for book related to managing baseball teams, since she bought it she decided to read it anyway and is trying to apply it to managing a baseball team.
The first episode just seems to set the story and introduce characters, it is quite funny and despite being about a baseball manager there was little baseball involved though I have a feeling that'll change. I get the impression the main focus will be on Minami's relationship with the players and how she motivates them to perform better rather than the baseball itself but that's yet to be seen I suppose. I wouldn't be surprised if a little romance is thrown in as well As you can see by the picture the artstyle is quite cute.

Moshidora has now finished, rather short at 10 episodes long. There was some real heart string tugging moments in the last two episodes. I imagine some people would say it was rather formulaic and predictable but I found it an enjoyable series and would recommend it to anyone who likes that sort of thing. If not a baseball fan I wouldn't let it bother you, it's not your typical sports anime where everyone seems to have super powers, nor does it have in depth strategies and such like Big Windup. Best way to describe it would be a fun, funny fell good anime with some tear-jerking moments thrown in at the end.

Okay so most series are like 6+ episodes now so I can update my "reviews" of them.

A-Channel - I was pretty much on the money with this one, kinda like Lucky Star or K-ON! where it's just about the daily lives of these 4 school girls. There's no real plot to it so people who prefer anime with an over-arching story or whatnot will probably get frustrated by this but it's a very fun, light-hearted and funny anime. It's a must see for people who really liked Lucky Star or K-ON! otherwise it'd be lower down on your priority list.

Ano Hana - Yeah can't be bothered to write out the full name My opinion hasn't really changed, it's a somewhat sad story that's both interesting and moving. If it's your kind of anime then it's well worth a watch, still worth a watch for anyone else but won't be as high up on the priority list.

Ao no Exorcist - Again no opinion change, it's got all the trade marks of DBZ, One Piece, Naruto and Bleach i.e. super shounen anime. They try to inject emotion into it but it's so formulaic it doesn't really effect me. If you're into this kind of crap then you'll most likely enjoy it but otherwise it's a rather average anime.

Astarotte's Toy - I think "cute" is the best way to describe it, they've done a good job making all the sexual material more TV friendly but there's one thing they couldn't really cover up... that's a 20-something having a 10yr old daughter, that's just f-ed up. I thought she was adopted or something at first but later there's a pretty big reveal and well... yeah.

Battle Girls - Time Paradox - Not as perverted as I originally thought, it is true that there's a fair amount of big breasted women wearing not very much but there's very little panty-shots or excessive boob jiggling. It's a fun anime with an interesting take on the warring state era, pretty funny too. The plot has only just started to get interesting though.

C - Yeah not going to write the full title out again Plot's got a lot more interesting lately and it already started off pretty interesting so I'm going to stick to my guns and say it's a must watch.

Deadman Wonderland - Pretty gruesome but there's an interesting plot so it's not just mindless violence, I'd recommend it.

Denpa Onna - It's not about aliens and don't really know why it's listed as sci-fi. It's a pretty interesting story with some rather comedic moments thrown in and a cutesy art-style, I'm quite fond of this anime The girl who proclaims to be an alien, isn't. Turns out she first started by saying she was abducted by aliens then changed her story to actually being one then something happens and she's forced to accept being a human.

Dog Days - Cute and fun with a bit of fan service thrown in. Plot has just started to get interesting.

Dororon Enma-kun Meramera - Art style may be cutesy but it definitely seems aimed at a more mature audience considering there's a character who seems to get stripped in every episode among other things happening. Still it's rather fun and amusing and has kind of grown on me a little.

Hanasaku Iroha - Could call it a "slice of life" anime, story's really grown on me

Hidan no Aria - Seems to have died down a little after the first episode but still rather fun and enjoyable. Oh yeah, Aria is Shelock Holmes the 4th

Hoshizora e Kakeru Hoshi - Pretty standard date-sim turned anime; funny, perverted and overly cute art-style.

Maria Holic Alive - Turning out to be one of my favourite anime; silly, funny, random and perverted and the characters are great. Must see if you've seen the first series, I'd still highly recommend watching the first series then this too. Just a shame the only rip has horrible subs (ugly looking).

Nichijou - This is like Azumanga Diaoh 2, absolutely hilarious and completely random. Some of you might remember Azumanga Diaoh's cooking bit with Chiyo-chan, Nichijou has rock paper scissors instead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlUwQXW1WdE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdHxnv5Iy8k&NR=1 XD Anyways it's a must see if you like comedies and if you dont' watch it anyways!

Ore-tachi Ni Tsubasa wa Nai - Not your average date-sim turned anime, get past the perverted parts and there's a really interesting story going on behind the scenes. I recommend it for the story.

SKET Dance - Very fun and funny, 'nough said really

Soft Tennis - Not quite as random and off the wall as Nichijou and throw in some pervertedness and you have this. Still very funny

Steins Gate - First episode is a little slow but get past it and you're rewarded with a really interesting story and some rather fun and humorous characters.

The World God Only Knows 2 - Very funny with a somewhat interesting story, must see if you've seen the first season.

Tiger & Bunny - Great art-style and CG, great take on the "superhero" concept, funny and interesting characters and story. Highly recommend it

X-Men - Think it's the best of the three (apparently going to a 4th after this series), great artwork and animation, must see for Marvel and X-men fans or just watch it anyways

Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san! - I forgot to mention these are only ~12min episodes. Must have been so funny I didn't notice

There you have it