I'm far from done.
Kou Ichinomiya has achieved everything life has thrown at him living by the words his father told him, "Never be indebted to anyone", this comes back to bite him when he is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Nino. Kou being indebted to Nino is desperate to return the favour with Nino asking for him to love her, so begins Kou's new life under the bridge where he lives with a number of other strange people.
The theme of this one is of Denpa-san, a term used to describe people who feel dissociated from the people around them often engaging in wild fantasies, delusions, strong beliefs and engaging in strange speech and actions which easily describe the bizarre characters in this anime.
The anime uses Kou as audience surrogate to really get to grips with each character and their behaviour but there's also an underlying feeling of what made them that way to begin with, shown perfectly when Nino appears in an elegant evening dress for a date with Kou despite looking like she never even laid eyes on a dress like that before let alone wear one. It's definitely worth watching to find out.
I don't remember there being a dub so I've no opinion on it.
Final Verdict: A bizarre anime that makes you question things in a good way, it's worth the investment.
First of many reviews today.
Diclonius are a type of mutant human with quite malicious and horrific powers known as vectors, invisible arms that rip apart humans faster than a food blender. The Diclonius Lucy is relentlessly pursued by the lab that kept her locked up but loses her memory upon escape developing a child like mind and starts living with Kouta and Yuka. Time will tell whether or not Lucy gets captured but more importantly how many people will be left standing by the end.
Not the worst and certainly not the most needlessly blood soaked anime, that goes to Blood-C. Elfen Lied is a balancing act of morality and you start becoming unsure of who to support as early as episode 1, the bloodshed easily blurring the lines of whether or not humanity deserves it or not. Humanity is painted as monsters at various points but can you blame them when these creatures can easily rip a body to shreds with very little remorse. It's hard to find an answer.
Dub I find redundant as it's a show that can easily run with limited dialogue.
Final Verdict: It's hard to pinpoint the message when both sides are as bad as each other, a common occurrence in humanity's desire to be the correct path, whether it be political, social or morally.
Yes, there is a sequel coming soon, no, that's not the reason why I'm reviewing this.
Kagome looks relatively normal until she gets dragged into the past by a centipede demon. An elderly woman named Kaede reveals to Kagome that she is the reincarnation of priestess Kikyo and inside Kagome is the Shikon Jewel, an artifact said to grant the desires of those who possess it. Kagome in trying to defend herself from the Centipede demon frees the half demon Inuyasha after removing the arrow that sealed him, within the ensuring chaos, Kagome destroys the Shikon Jewel shattering it into thousands of pieces spreading across the land. Fearing that the world will return to chaos, Kagome and a reluctant Inuyasha set out to retrieve the pieces of the jewel with Inuyasha kept on a leash which Kagome can use to stop Inuyasha with the simple command "sit". Joined by a huntress with a ride on demon cat, a perverted cursed monk and a mischievous fox demon, the group set out to retrieve the Shikon Jewel and stop Naraku with Inuyasha's brother Sesshoumaru acting as rival and anti hero.
This was a long adventure and very well regarded but I felt it dragged on far longer than it needed to, to the point that whenever Naraku appeared it's followed up by "not this guy again". I'm also not big on Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship as it feels a bit abusive as quite often it crosses the line as Kagome can often punish Inuyasha for nothing, granted Inuyasha is hardly a gentleman but quite often Inuyasha does nothing to warrant his punishments.
I'm not going to be too hard on it, because I see Inuyasha as the show that made the quality of anime so much better, it was a game changer that brought in the anime renaissance and should really be better appreciated in this current era, alot of anime wouldn't exist without it, looking at you Bleach, Demon Slayer and Naruto.
Dub is really good, no arguments.
Final Verdict: It's too long, there's rarely a change in antagonist and Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship can come across as abusive. But it's quality is spectacular and the action and mythos formed the type of anime that shaped a number of popular shows in the last 20 years, it's impact is important and should not be forgotten.
It's time for Super Supreme Funtime Review Show, a.k.a I'm about to put on more reviews.
School Rumble showcases the exploits of Class 2C covering a huge array of characters but our two most focussed on main characters are Tenma, a genki girl with a crush on Karasuma who seemingly comes across as aloof but is really very strange; the other is Harima, a reformed delinquent who falls for Tenma after saving her from an attacker only for Harima to get attacked himself.
Harima also seems to get dragged into situations with other girls including Tenma's sister Yakumo and Tenma's friend Eri. Other exploits include Karen trying to become more feminine only for her enormous strength to rear itself frequently earning an unwanted rival in Lala; There is also Hanai trying and failing to be manly with Akira and Mikoto reeling him in. With so many potential romances this school love comedy hexagon will become a rumble.
Like Nozaki-Kun, School Rumble is very much an intriguing look at characters and exceeding their defined archetypes. Harima's path in trying to get Tenma to notice him molds him into a passionate Manga Artist but his attempts seem to drag in Eri who later becomes a tsundere to Harima despite, Harima not really being interested but they develop a mutual understanding through acts of kindness; then there is Yakumo who ends up being Harima's editor which slowly opens up her quiet side as she falls for Harima. Of course there is Tenma who is ten kinds of adorable but you kinda wonder what she sees in Karasuma.
I could go on but this series really needs a character ranking to sort out who really stands out.
I disagree with alot of the dub choices, it's not bad but sounds way better in Japanese.
Final Verdict: A fantastic series of really good characters in a romance hexagon where you find yourself invested in seeing who ends up with whom.
Definitely the best anime I watched last year.
Sakura has a crush on Nozaki and goes in for a love confession only for Nozaki to mistake her as a fan and gives her an autograph, when she ends up Nozaki's home following another misunderstanding it's discovered that Nozaki is a famed Shojo manga artist; eager to learn more, Sakura becomes Nozaki's assistant and quickly learns more about how Nozaki works and the many assistants and inspirations that revolve around him.
This is one of the best anime to watch for character study, each character you think follows one trope but then immediately goes a different way, it really deconstructs the way Shojo is written and the way it molds it's characters, it's an absolute joy to watch and extremely funny, all this well led by the two leads having some really good chemistry.
The only thing that lets it down is the dub, it's typical Funimation, it's not bad, just uninspiring.
Final Verdict: If you ever needed inspiration in writing a story, then this is the perfect anime to inspire you to create the right characters.
