Gotta keep the pen moving when you get inspiration.
Azumanga Daioh is about the life and times of a group of High School girls going through the final years of School, the twist is that one of them is ten years old.
This one is less story driven more a simple selection of short scenes in which the cast find themselves in so it's important to know who these characters are.
Chiyo-Chan is the lead character and much of the series often bounces off her, it's not lost on the other cast members that she's not just a genius but also rich, it's also been suggested that Chiyo's Dad maybe a cat but only in the dreams of some.
Osaka is the slow one, she has an unusual way of thinking and the fact that she is from Osaka makes her the closest thing to a foreign exchange student. May also be autistic.
Tomo is loud, obnoxious and annoying, she's a bit much.
Yomi is the straight woman of the group, she can be seen as the audience surrogate to the antics, particularly Tomo.
Miss Sakaki with her build and aloof personality makes her the most popular girl in school by default but secretly likes cute things, much of her antics involve her trying to pet a cat that keeps biting her or hoping people don't think less of her for acting kawaii.
Kaorin is a few levels off full blown stalker as she has a major crush on Sakaki but is often dashed by Kimura.
Kagura is the athlete, yeah she has the weakest personality but it's okay.
Then the teachers with Miss Yukari being a big kid which seems to call me out more and more as I age.
Nyamo being the voice of reason for her students and seems to be the perfect foil for Yukari but even that backfires sometimes.
And finally Kimura who you wonder how he managed to get a job in a school let alone be married and father a daughter.
With a cast like that it's any wonder that this anime is well loved. It's genuinely funny, the characters balance nicely even if I don't like all of them and it's also quite moving as well. The final episode alone will leave you in tears.
If there is any criticism then it's the dub, it's not terrible and the actors do a good job but the sub is so much stronger that anything else makes the show weaker.
Final Verdict: A slice of life show worth it's weight in gold, you'll enjoy everything on offer here.
Let us continue with another action packed anime.
Ginji Amano and Ban Midou are the Get Backers, a duo specializing in retrieving lost and stolen property just to get paid enough money to live as they are constantly poor; they accomplish this with their selection of powers; Ban able to use the Jagan Eye - A much better written version of the Mangekyou Sharingan to trap people in illusion and a Snake Bite - A powerful ability capable of crushing levels of grip. Ginji on the otherhand is a lightning user.
Among their quest to complete jobs, a mysterious fortress keeps drawing the Getbackers in, as mysteries revolving around the pasts of Ginji and his allies deepen.
The first part where Ginji and Ban do missions on a episodic basis are fun, easy to digest and uncomplicated. Then the limitless fortress happens then it becomes needlessly complex, over reliance on the antagonist driving the plot and an ending that just breaks the story. So yeah, a tale of two halves and it's best moments come when Ban and Ginji are doing their jobs and not being dragged down by the over arching plot. Other characters follow a mixture of pleasant and annoying depending on tastes with MakubeX being the worst of the bunch.
Dub is pretty good but a couple of smaller roles can be accused of over acting.
Final Verdict: When done to a basic setup, Get Backers is a fun series, but when it has to shoehorn in it's plot, it falls apart faster than a biscuit dunked in tea.
Now for a bizarre look into the origins of a certain children's card game.
Yugi Muto is a kid who likes any sort of games; board games, puzzle games, card games, even toy games but being short and fairly weak he doesn't have the most pleasant time in school constantly being bullied. That is until he solves an Egyptian artefact known as the millennium puzzle which transforms his persona into the King of Games, a confident gambler who challenges foes to games of severe consequences ranging from Death to being trapped in an endless illusion but with great power comes more evil foes as more well known regulars Kaiba and Bakura are among a list of rogues wanting a piece of the King of Games.
One thing you can never accuse Yu-Gi-Oh of being is having poor visuals yet season 0 is really hard to look at art wise, it looks almost amateur compared to even Season 1 of the series. Visuals aside I like the high stakes games and the consequences faced by each villain along with numerous creative ways of playing these games and the lack of restraint in each punishment, I almost wish this was still the series I had now, there is a simplistic charm to season 0 that future seasons lack with alot of baggage tied to whatever destiny the current series protagonist has to deal with, as for this series it's always a treat to see what solution Yugi comes up with to break out of his predicament and the cycle repeats frequently each with varying stakes and threat levels, it even made Mokuba a genuine threat.
Definitely no dub as it's likely disowned by the current license holders but if I was to base it on the character's dub in the first season it would have some painful dialogue to work with.
Final Verdict: It really is hard to watch with such a painful art style but offers a unique experience the other seasons lack.
I like to give all anime a chance but sometimes that's impossible.
Midori Makibao is a small white mule with exceptional galloping speed but is too much of a wimp to really be a proper race horse, but after his mother is sold to pay debts and coming to understand his Mother's parting words, Makibao gains the courage to race.
To explain the bizarre art style, it's referred to as Gonk - to make a character deliberately ugly for comedic effect; that can work fine for a one off character but having a whole series with that style along with some utterly piss poor attempts at humour makes Midori no Makibao borderline unwatchable, I only say that because it does improve later on when Makibao races but getting through the early series is just painful.
No dub, it can stay in Japan.
Final Verdict: Kudos if you manage to sit through it long enough to get to the better parts but it's unfunny gross out humour along with it's hideous art style is just not worth the effort.
I've had a request, so now let's look at Tamako Market.
Tamako lives a fairly normal life at the Usagiyama Shopping District as the eldest daughter of a Mochi Shop Owner, that's until she has an encounter with the talking Tropical bird Dera, who is seeking a bride for his master. After misinterpreting Tamako's sneeze along with a series of mishaps, Dera ends up staying with Tamako as life continues at the Shopping District, but will Dera remember his mission? And is there more to his encounter with Tamako?
It's basically K-On with a plot and the art style certainly makes it feel like it's from the same universe; of course trying to put a plot to something similar to K-On and you get the same effect, the plot takes a backseat in favour of the typical slice of life story, which isn't a bad thing as Tamako Market has a vast array of side characters with interesting quirks and then there's Dera who steals the show with his voice and mannerisms.
The only downside is that when they do have to return to the plot it falls flat and you actually want to return to the wholesome slice of life episodes you were watching right up to that point.
Dub is decent if mostly samey as others of that period but Dera does steal the show in both languages.
Final Verdict: If you enjoyed K-On, this is more of the same in a new setting with a host of interesting characters of all types just try not to get too hung up over the plot.
