Nobunaga The Fool

Nobunaga The Fool is a new anime just released this January.  It features a cast of some interesting characters.  Jenne Kaguya d'Arc and Leonardo Da Vinci meet on one planet to meet their destinies on another planet.  Their fates lead them to an interesting young man and his comrades,  Oda Nobunaga (nicknamed 'the fool'), Akechi Mitsuhide and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

This anime is an interesting mashup of modern and ancient technologies.  The characters also share an interesting fusion of old and new world ideologies.  However, since the characters worlds are unique, all the ideas fit together nicely and their world doesn't feel awkward.

However, will this Noble's son, Nobunaga, be able to bring peace to this feuding world?  And with two worlds full of political alliances and war, will he have an honest chance at falling in love?

For more information about this anime, click here:

Silver Spoon - 銀の匙 - Gin no Saji - Season Two

Silver Spoon 2 is a continuation of the story of Yugo Hachiken's life at an agricultural school.

The second season appears to be addressing the relationships between friends, classmates, and the animals they care for.  Season one did revolve around Hachiken's relationship with his friend Baccon, but this season addresses his developing relationship with the horse Melron.  It's pretty fun to watch Yugo struggle with his dislikes and likes of horses and farm life in general; that is one of the features that makes Silver Spoon so enduring.

It's a great anime to start off the 2014, the year of the horse!  Enjoy!

For more information about Silver Spoon, click here

Wake Up, Girls! - 七人のアイドル - Shichi-nin no Idol (Film)

Wake Up Girls is a short anime movie about the creation of an idol group.  The young group consists of 7 young girls who want to change their lives and a talent agency that is pinning all of their hopes on the future of the group.

For more information about this anime, click here:

Nagi no Asukara - A Lull in the Sea - 凪のあすから

Nagi no Asukara is a breathtaking anime, due to one of it's surreal locations, under the sea.

A Lull in the Sea is about some high school friends that experience a rare event that threatens to pull them all apart forever.  Will they find each other again?  Will they be able to grow up with their families and those that they love?  

For more information about this anime, click here:

Date A Live - デート・ア・ライブ - Dēto A Raibu

Date A Live is just now heading into it's second season.  The story follows a young man, Shido Itsuka, and his sister, Kotori Itsuka, as they try to save a group of young women who have immense power capable of destroying the world itself. 

The character designs are really well thought out and the coloring compliments the designs well.  The artwork and FX is consistent throughout the anime. The story line is still vague, but we will have to see how it develops in the second season.

I give Date A Live a 3.5 out of 5 at this time.

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.

Blazblue Alter Memory

Blazblue Alter Memory is a strange anime to me.  The story starts by dropping you off in the middle of the story, which is fine.  However, there are a lot of characters with vastly different backgrounds and the explanation as to what they are doing, what their motives for doing it and how they came to be doing it are extremely slow in coming out.  This is a new release, so there are only 8 episodes out thus far, but I'm really hoping that this anime is going to be more that 12 episodes, because I can't see anything important to the story being concluded in only four more episodes.  There are definitely some interesting ideas at work in the story, but right now it seems a little more like a jumbled mess.  I'm really hoping that the concepts can get ironed out so these ideas can start to make an interesting tapestry.

As for artistic development, I find a number of the character silhouettes to be quite strong, as to be expected from an anime developed from a video game.  However, there isn't a lot more that distinguishes the look of this anime.

My fingers are crossed that this anime is going to be longer than 12 episodes and that the story is going to come together.  For now, I'm giving Blazblue Alter Memory a 3 out of 5.

For more information about this anime, click here.

Kyousougiga

Kyousougiga is one of the most strange and inventive anime stories I've seen to date and that is why I absolutely love it. :D  It's story is about a half human, half fox monk who lives by himself in the mountains.  He was driven to live in the mountains, by the other monks of Kyoto, because of his unique ability to create anything by drawing it.  With a little help from buddha, the monk creates an entire new world and his very own family, but no family is without it's problems.  

Like I said, this is a very messed up story that has logic to it so you can follow it, but it's nothing like I have ever seen.  I really have very little understanding of what is actually happening which is great because I can't figure out what what's going to happen next.  All I can do is sit back and enjoy it's strangeness and unique sense of beauty.

I really hope that the story wraps itself up well.  In the mean time, I give the story 4.5 out of 5.

For more information about Kyousougiga, click here:

Galilei Donna

Galilei Donna is an anime about a family which is 'under attack', so to speak, from both the inside and the outside.  The three daughters, all descendants of the Italian inventor Galileo, tend to all excel in vastly different areas of life.  Can these three possibly save their family and possibly the rest of the world?  It's a pretty big problem that maybe, just maybe three young genius women can solve.

One part of the story that stands out to me, that I just have to mention here, is the spaceship that the youngest daughter designs.  It's a giant goldfish that ends up being named Galileo.  I really love the flying fish and it's fun AI.  The artwork, appears pretty standard for recent anime productions but it's not lacking in anyway.

Since I don't know if the story is going to be wrapped up or not by the end of the anime I'm going to give Galilei Donna a 3.5 out of 5 for now. :D  However, I'm hoping that the story will pleasantly surprise me so I can raise it's grade. ;)

I found this Wiki's plot line to be slightly incorrect but you're welcome to see for yourself here:

For more information about Galilei Donna, click here:

Tokyo Ravens

Tokyo Ravens is an interesting magic anime that where the characters use a Japanese style of magic.

The main characters are all from magical family lineages who are in training to defend Japan from magical attacks.  

I find both the artwork and animation to be good but fairly standard for modern anime. The character development is slow to progress but that may be a hint at a larger storyline.  Also, the plot line is slow to reveal itself as well, but  from what I see it appears that the story is well organized and has a definite conclusion.  Which, for me is a great thing!  I'm always disappointed to reach the end of an anime and the story hasn't been finished. 

Tokyo Ravens makes a great start! For now, I give it a 4 out of 5.

For more information on Tokyo Ravens, click here.

Golden Time

Golden Time is a fun little drama about a first year college student, Tada Banri, and his friends.  As an Anime, it's nice to see that the characters are a bit older in this one instead of the common high school scenario.  It appears to be a simple story of friends during college life, which can also be refreshing after watching lot's of out of the world plot lines.  The story feels a little like a happier version of 'Maison Ikoku' to me.

The art and animation is clean and suits the mood of the story quite nicely.  As this is a new release it's too soon to give an accurate rating but everything feels on track so far.  I give Golden Time a 3.5 out of 5.

For more details about Golden Time, click here.

NouCome

NouCome has to be one of the strangest stories I've ever come across.  It's about a young man Kanade Amakusa who has been cursed with having to choose between two very random and very strange multiple choice questions.  After living with this curse for about a year he receives a phone call from God who gives him instructions on how to lift the curse.  However, the 'missions' he's sent on seam equally as strange to Kanade.

The art in this anime is very well done and the designs are really cute which match the style of the anime.

There does appear to be character development and relevant conflicts/ resolutions.  However, this anime appears to be addressing these story elements with a holistic approach instead of a moment by moment way.

NouCome is cute and fun to watch but again, it tends to be higher on the pervy side.  If you don't mind seeing anime undies from time to time, it is fun to watch.  I'll give NouCome a 3 out of 5 for now with hopes that the story and characters continue to develop.

For more details about NouCome, click here.

Walkure Romanze

Walkure Romanze is a very pretty anime that is surprisingly pervy. The story is easy to follow but has thus far done a good job of character development and relevant conflict resolution.  

The animation is clean and the designs are fun if sometimes a little exotic.  Artistically speaking, I think the colouring really stands out in this anime.   The colourists do a good a really good job of capturing the light through the tree canopy, the colors at sunset and the pink reflection from the cherry blossom trees.

However, as I said, this is a very pervy anime so you have to be prepared to see a lot of girl underwear and cheesy, sexually implied jokes.  

Overall I think Walkure Romanze is starting to paint a good little story and I give it a 3 out of 5 at this time.

For more details about Walkure Romanze, click here.