Kurenai - Crimson - 紅

Kurenai Shinkurou, at age 16, is already both a master of an arcane martial art and an experienced, professional mediator.  However, Kurenai may have met his match when his boss and role model, Benika, responds to his request for a more challenging assignment by giving him the task of protecting the young Murasaki Kuhoin.  

I found the character development and the plot development in this anime to be well done, but it is a strange story that may be based on some version of a true story.  (It just seems to messed up to not be.)  

Some of the character silhouettes are really nice and remind me a little of the early Capcom silhouette designs. 

Overall, Kurenai has some really nice features and I give it a 4 out of 5.

For more information about this anime, click here:

Nishi No Yoki Majo Astraea Testament - The Good Witch of the West

Nishi No Yoki Majo Astraea Testament or The Good Witch of the West is a great story for someone who loves fairy tales.  It has princesses, princes, assassination plots, dinosaur/ dragon types of creatures, strange two legged unicorns, a heathens struggle for knowledge and even a book burning!

The story elements are all there, character struggles, character development, a struggle for love and power, the famous threat of the end of the world.

The character designs are not very original, but some of the environment designs are really well done and interesting to look at. There are a number of eastern/ western hybrid designs in the story that are pretty neat to identify as well.

I really like that the story was wrapped up nice and neatly but if the author/ creators of this story ever want to return, they gave themselves an easy starting point without adding any loose ends.

I give Nishi No Yoki Majo Astrea Testament or The Good Witch of the West a 4 out of 5.

For more information about this anime, please click here:

Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf feels like a cross between The Last Unicorn and Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - The Hero and The Demon King.  Which I think is a pretty beautiful match.  This anime features a travelling peddler and a rare, wise wolf and follows their journey together as they make their way North to a long forgotten town.

Spice and Wolf has successfully completed 2 seasons and now we are eagerly awaiting season 3.  

The artwork and colouring is a little darker than other animes but I think that really suits this anime as it feels like an ancient story.  The character development is really apparent, particularly in Lawrence, the peddler.  I am seeing it with the wolf as well, but I think the writers are putting that on a slightly longer timeline, which is fitting as the wolf lives much longer than humans. The story is also interesting to me because not only do they explore the mercantile trade in depth, the writers describe it in a historical context.

I believe the creators of Spice and Wolf set up a really good 'mood' with this anime and have been preserving it well throughout the stories development.  I give Spice and Wolf a 4 out of 5.

For more information on Spice and Wolf, click here.

My Wife Is A High School Girl

My Wife Is A High School Girl was a strange anime to me.  It features a young couple whose relationship would cause real people to frown.  I say this because not only is the wife underage, but her husband is her high school teacher. I suppose the plus side to the drama is that the writers  do mention some of the problems that the social age gap would create.  

The art work and story were not exceptional in any way but I'm happy that they finished off the season.

I give the romance anime, My Wife is A High School Girl, a 2.5 out of 5

For more information about this anime, click here.

Infinite Stratos

Infinite Stratos is another high school girl themed anime.  However, the angle of this one is slightly different because all of these international high school girls are considered to be 'elites'.  This gives them the opportunity to use a type of 'mech' called IS or Infinite Stratos.  Other than the robot fighting scenes though, this is a romance themed anime.  All the girls have a huge crush on the only male student to attend the academy and mini battles erupt in an attempt to win his attention.

The artwork is slightly better than your average anime and some of the IS silhouettes are interesting, but nothing ground-breaking.  The story and character development is also good but again, nothing that stands out.  IS is just a fun watch that might be a good choice if you're looking for an anime to appeal to both genders.  However, the anime does lean more to the girly side.

I give IS a 3.5 out of 5.

For more information on IS please click here.

Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita, I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita or I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job is an another fun anime where two unlikely people become friends, a 'want to be hero' and a demon lords daughter.

The idea that really made me smile when watching this anime is how the story writer paralleled this magical world with our own modern world.  How students are graduating, can't find work in their prospective field(s) so they have to settle for any menial job that they can get.  It's actually relieving to find that some of this idea is finding it's way into popular culture.  Another inspiring concept is how, by pure attitude (discovered by helping the demon lords daughter), you can find enjoyment in a job that you were not training for.

Where will this positive attitude take them?  Will they create a new shining world for themselves?  Let's hope so!  In hoping for these characters, maybe we can find hope for ourselves as well. :D

I found the art and animation to be well done, but no super stellar lighting or designs as of yet.  Also, as this is a new release, not all of the episodes have been released as of yet.  However, this hero and demon lord are fun to watch and I would recommend them.

I give Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita a 3.5 out of 5 at this time.

Fore more information on this anime, click here:

Moretsu Pirates

Moretsu Pirates is a fun anime that is now heading towards a movie release in Feb. 2014! It features both high school girls and young adults, which is a pretty fun mix up.  The main character is a high schooler that gets thrust into the family business of "pirating" when her estranged father suddenly dies due to food poisoning.

I really liked the mashup between historical pirates and space pirates in everything from the sound effects to their futuristic physics mock ups.  It really bridges the gap between hard to understand space travel/ cyborg clone wars and reality for me.  Which was a surprising benefit to this series.  I personally don't usually like space anime/ gundam war type shows.  They are fun to watch but they always feel cold and far from my reality... a little like space.  Mouretsu Pirates did a really good job bringing those lofty ideas back down to earth.

The art and anime is good, but not stellar.   However, I really liked some of the space suit designs.  They actually looked pretty functional like something modern astronauts or maybe some type of athlete could wear.

The character development was not bad and the story does wrap up nicely by the end, but there are some little threads of story that just begin towards the end of the anime...  I thought that worked really well.  They weren't important enough to the story to be considered a full fledged "loose end" but they definitely opened a door to develop the series.

I give Moretsu Pirates a 4 out of 5.

For more information about Moretsu Pirates, click here:

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist is a pretty good story but it steps on some pretty sensitive ground.    It wasn't that long ago when Katy Perry got into her fair share of trouble from mixing up and culturally appropriating her favorite parts of asia. To see Kotaku's explanation of Katy Perry's appropriated geisha act, click here.  I think the same idea can be applied but in reverse here.  Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist delves into a pool of Jewish/ Christian/ Muslim belief systems without accurately portraying any of them.  Let's just say that I am happy not to be the author of this story.  However, if you are able to and don't mind separating all of the actual cultural stories from Madoka Takadono's story, then it's not a bad anime.

The artwork has some pretty nice designs in it but nothing of the coloring or the backgrounds makes a big splash.  The character development definitely could use some more work, but it's fairly complete for the central characters.  The story itself could be fleshed out a bit more but for 12 episodes, I think the anime team did a good job.

I give Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist a 3.5 out of 5.

For more information about this anime, click here.