Okay we move on next to an Anime with a weird name as it looks more like a question than a proper title. This is "Is this a Zombie?"
Is this a Zombie? is about Ayumu, who starts the series by being killed, luckily for him he is revived by Eucliwood Hellscythe, a necromancer with so much power that she not only needs knight's armor to restrict it but can't talk because her power will literally kill anyone with just words. To add to his problems, Ayumu also accidentally steals the powers of magical girl Haruna which makes him a cross dresser to the rest of the world whenever he fights off Megalos as it requires him to wear a frilly dress in order to use Haruna's Chainsaw.
Joining the battle is the Vampire Ninja, Seraphim; (Yeah a Vampire Ninja, don't think about it too hard) together they battle Megalos and all fight for Ayumu's affection, except Eucliwood who becomes the subject of Ayumu's fantasy instead as if she was a dating sim character with each episode featuring a different voice actress in both Japanese & English.
I've seen the first two seasons of this and I have mixed views on it.
Season one has a decent story but season two quickly turns any and all peril into a harem comedy and that kinda spoils everything.
The comedy elements save it from being a total meltdown but ridding itself of it's action elements was a poor decision on the Director's part which sadly also affects the likes of Infinite Stratos.
Plus I find that making species such as a Vampire Ninja feels like pandering to the current popularity for Ninja & Vampires, yet Seraphim nor the other vampires really fit the description for Vampire Ninjas in the first place.
The animation looks nice and the comedy really works, especially when fantasy Eu gets going, but I find that it took away too much when it got into season 2.
Final Verdict: It's a fun series with plenty to offer but don't expect it to stay that way beyond the first season as it takes away it's action elements in favor of a full blown harem series for season two which isn't a popular choice for the series, only the comedy really saves it from falling flat.
So we come from a mecha anime game review to a very very cutesy anime in Hamtaro, lets see what we can learn from this.
Hamtaro is about a group of hamsters who go on random adventures while their respective owners are not around, meanwhile the secondary plot revolves around Laura's day to day life who is of course Hamtaro's owner.
This show is very innocent, the threat level is extremely low, the cast of characters both human and hamsters are well designed and easy to enjoy. It's hard to find any criticism regarding this anime but equally it's also difficult to praise anything as nothing really stands out as spectacular.
Yes it's a cute series but it suffers from the same problem as Tiny Fairy Snow Sugar in that you can work out what goes on pretty quickly and the rest becomes predictable but unlike Tiny Fairy Snow Sugar the predictable nature doesn't ruin the experience and doesn't prevent you from watching it.
But there is something I've only just realized about Hamtaro; the cast of Hamsters is very similar to the cast of Animal Crossing as many of the hamsters share character traits with the weird animals of Animal Crossing, not only that but Hamtaro predates Animal Crossing by four years, so I wonder how much influence it gave Nintendo's weird franchise.
Final Verdict: It's safe and innocent but also very enjoyable, it will become boring after a while but don't let that spoil the experience before hand, there's no real bad thing to say about Hamtaro.
Now we come to a series I really had trouble watching. It's Full Moon o Sagashite.
Full Moon is about a young girl named Mitsuki, who made a promise to an older boy named Eichi at the orphanage that she'll become a famous idol singer, unfortunately she has throat cancer and needs an operation to remove the danger, unfortunately worst news follows when two Shinigami, dressed up for an anime con, show up and tell Mitsuki she has one year to live.
Mitsuki then decides to chase after her dream, which gives the Shinigami problems as she may not want to leave the living world quietly, so male Shinigami, Takuto transforms Mitsuki into a 16 year old with full health which allows her to pass the audition and become a full idol singer, but from then on it just gets more complicated.
Full Moon looks like a happy series and the art style never fails at grabbing attention but there is a serious heavy theme of suicide involved in this story.
Now Shojo stories are no stranger to taking things seriously when they need to, just look at Sailor Moon for an example, but Full Moon is uncomfortable.
The way Shinigami work in this universe is that in their lives as humans, they committed suicide, so this can be considered other world community service; now it's hard to go into details as it spoils a lot of the story, but lets just say that the details are somewhat gruesome in context and shouldn't be suitable for young girls, but since it's Arina Tanemura, you're hundred percent guaranteed a happy ending regardless of what happens in between, that's just her style.
It doesn't become any easier when the design and tone for the anime is so colorful and happy that the serious scenes feel almost out of place.
On a more positive note, at least the music, the core part of the anime is fantastic.
So personally I find Full Moon hard to watch, but for years the Magical Idol or even the standard Idol genre has always been hit or miss, a collection of pretty, colorful costumes and pop music masking overly angsty undertones.
Final Verdict: Take it or leave it I'd say, there's enough to enjoy but be warned it can get very heavy on the angst.
Excel Saga is one of the most famous gag anime of all time, a template for every series that followed, but being the first to do something may not have been such a good thing as I shall now explain.
Excel Saga is about Excel, a loyal servant to Lord Ilpalazzo who is trying and failing each episode to takeover the world, each taking place in a certain genre of anime popular at the time. Other stories within this wacky universe include, the mishaps of three civil servants, a Mexican foreign worker's brush with the afterlife and the misadventures of the Director Nabeshin appearing for the first time in animated form. Excel is later joined by Hyatt, a very sickly woman from space and Menchi, a stray dog that becomes an emergency food supply.
Every episode is packed full of gags and reference jokes, except one episode which was purposely made serious. So why the big problem?
It's made in 1999, which is 15 years ago and nearly every relevant joke is lost on today's audience; I am glad that DVD releases carry video notes to explain the references but it's more rewarding to find out yourself.
For example, while some references are easy to point out, like the Fan Service episode and the American episode, there's another ten that won't be, such as the Baseball episode and the Rich Traveling Girl episode.
That's not to say the show is bad, it's actually one of the funniest anime shows of all time and massive respect to the dub actors for the hard work they put in, especially Jessica Calvello who nearly destroyed her voice doing Excel. But sadly this show is lost on today's audience, as it's now become too old to make any sense to the current generation of anime fans.
Excel Saga is in serious need of a reboot and in this era where even Sailor Moon can come back, it's worth looking at again.
Final Verdict: It's a fantastically funny show and deserves a watch, however in this era, it's horribly dated and the gags will be lost on the current Generation of Anime fans.
Throughout my childhood I grew up on Nicktoons much in the same way I grew up on Disney & Cartoon Network, but there were a few gems that I missed mainly because I lost a lot of interest in cartoon channels when they started running out of ideas or thinking that kid sitcoms are worth more money.
One of the gems I missed was Danny Phantom.
Danny Phantom is by Butch Hartman of Fairly Odd Parents fame, which seems to play against type being a superhero cartoon but Hartman seems to manage just fine.
The story is about Danny Fenton, (I see what you did there) an unpopular teenager who attends Casper High School in the town of Amity Park. (Barely into the review and already there are two reference jokes)
Danny's parents are working on a ghost portal to try and bridge the gap between spirit and human worlds when it doesn't work until Danny's friend Sam persuades him to switch on the machine only for Danny's DNA to get fused with Ectoplasm, making him half ghost. After fighting a malevolent ghost, Danny decides to become a superhero in order to stop other evil ghosts, alongside friends Sam and Tucker.
This setup is familiar to anyone who's been watching Kim Possible & American Dragon, as the cartoon is pretty much those shows, only done by Nickelodeon instead of Disney; its another example of Nickelodeon jumping on a current trend but unlike Nicktoons sad ripoff of Regular Show, Sanjay & Craig, Danny Phantom not only works but manages to surpass it's rivals by being original.
In theory the setup shouldn't work, being a half ghost should be impossible even in the most mixed up cartoon world, but credit to Butch Hartman, he does it well.
Even when the most obvious character tropes are used to make up the cast, it's not immediately obvious when viewing the characters on screen.
For example, Sam is essentially Goth Lisa Simpson, but first impressions don't give that image so it makes you want to watch her more, the same can be said about other characters such as Jazz, Tucker and Danny himself.
The action can vary between good and predictable but never becomes boring as the diverse cast of villains can often save a bad episode.
Overall Danny Phantom is a good series bordering on great, it has a well written cast of characters, along side good music and an easy to digest plot. I only wish I viewed it when I did.
