It’s time for zombies! We were going to get here eventually. I’ll say now that I don’t typically watch zombie things and I came to High School of the Dead for different reasons *cough* but from what I have seen, High School of the Dead definitely does the theme well. Continue reading
Seitokai no Ichizon (The School Council’s Discretion, sometimes abbreviated to Seizon) is a harem/comedy/parody anime aired in 2009 between October and December. A second season was announced in March of this year and I cannot wait I need it now. There are several manga series going on (one of which finished in December 2009), as well as the light novel series that started it all (which is also ongoing). The anime was done by Studio DEEN (they also did the Higurashi anime and Kore wa Zombie desu ka?).
The main characters of Seitokai no Ichizon
As I said, it belongs in the parody genre, amongst others. It parodies everything, hard and fast. Within the first five minutes of the first episode there are various references to things like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The parodies are done brilliantly and are guaranteed to make you, at the very least, smile with amusement. There are also a lot of references to other works Studio DEEN have done (which is fitting, really), like Higurashi.
Seizon parodies Death Note
Besides the humour and the blatant sexual advances, mainly by Ken but also by Chizuru, this is an incredibly touching series. Many of the episodes start with Ken making life difficult for the other members in some way, or just harassing them. However, by the end of the episode, it always shows his caring side, as he is usually shown doing all of the work he prevented the council doing during the day. He’s usually caught by the other members or one of the teachers, who tend to scold him lightly for not letting them help.
The reason for this is explored as the series goes on and I don’t want to ruin it for you. The reasoning behind it is brilliant, as is the rest of the show, and I highly recommend that you watch it, if not for the touching parts, then definitely for the humour.
Astarotte’s Toy! (アスタロッテのおもちゃ!, Asutarotte no Omocha!) is an anime adaptation of the manga series Lotte no Omocha! which aired in Japan between April and June this year and was simulcast by Crunchyroll (the episodes are probably still up). The manga, which is still ongoing, is written and illustrated bu Yui Haga and started in 2007. It’s serialised in Dengeki Maoh, with ASCII Media Works publishing collected volumes. I’m not certain, but I think none of the manga have, as of yet, been released in English.
Astarotte, with dolls of the other main characters
The story is… Well, let’s say the story is interesting. It is incredibly ecchi (full of sexual references and suggestions), as you might have guessed from the above picture of Princess Astarotte of the kingdom of Ygvarland. She’s a succubus. Not a mature one (she’s 10), but she’s getting to the age where she needs to start consuming Sauzfryma (I am not saying what that actually is, just guess) and thus needs to form a a male harem.
BUT! Astarotte really does not like men. It borders on hate. Thus, she states that she’ll only start a harem if a human male joins, humans being non-existent in Ygvarland or, indeed, anywhere in Alfheimr, the medieval fantasy world in which the story is set. Unfortunately for her, her followers manage to open up a route into the human realm, manage to snatch a guy named Naoya, and present him to Astarotte.
Astarotte, again
Naturally, Astarotte is annoyed, but she goes with it. As eventually turns out, Naoya has a sister (cough), Asuha, who ends up tagging along. She’s ten years old and has a distinct dislike of underwear. So yeah.
Despite all the ecchi things nothing explicit is ever shown, it’s only spoken about or heavily implied. It all adds into the amazing humour of the series. The voice actors are all amazing as well, such as Lotte being voiced by RIE KUGIMIYA <3 (She voiced Taiga in Toradora, amongst many others, remember?), or Yui Horie (Toradora!, Pani Poni Dash, Fairy Tail) voicing Effie, one of Lotte’s staff.
The story! OH LORD THE STORY. It is a fantasy/harem/romance anime and it is amazing and sweet. It’s also full of plot twists about everyone. It’s a must watch, though you do have to get over the sexual innuendo.
Toradora! is a romantic comedy light novel series/manga series/anime show that follows Taiga Aisaka and Ryuuji Takasu as they initially dislike each other, to helping each other with their respective crushes, to finally realising who they actually like. The light novel series was done by Yuyuko Takemiya and illustrated by Yasu and was released between March 10th 2006 and March 10th 2009 for ten volumes. As far as I know, none of them have been translated into English, much to my chagrin. There’s also a spin-off light novel series called Toradora Spin-Off!, also by Takemiya and Yasu.
The manga has been running in Dengeki Comic Gao! from September 2007 March 2008 and has continued in Dengeki Daioh since May 2008. It’s done by Yuyuko Takemiya and illustrated by Zekkyou The first volume was released in February 2008 by ASCII Media Works in Japan. Four have been released so far. Since March 2011, Seven Seas Entertainment has released two volumes of the manga in English, though you can get the first four volumes with furigana (in Japanese, but the kanji have their pronunciation in hiragana or katakana (normally hiragana) above them).
The anime itself ran between October 2nd 2008 and March 26th 2009. It was done by J.C. Staff, who also did Azummanga Diaoh and ran for 25 episodes.
Toradora
The title is a pun on the names of the main characters. ‘Taiga’ sounds like ‘tiger’, for which the Japanese is ‘tora’ (とら), which becomes the first part of the name. Ryuuji means ‘son of dragon’. A transcription of ‘dragon’ into Japanese is ‘doragon’ (ドラゴン), the first part of which is the second part of the name. Thus: Toradora! (とらドラ！)
It’s a really good show. I’m not really sure how else to describe it. The characters are brilliant and all get at least a little character development (although the minor characters have to wait a bit), with the main ones seeing the most, which makes sense. For example, Minori seems like your typical genki girl, but turns out to be so much more than that as the story progresses.
The story itself is as fantastic as the characters. At the start we see Ryuuji entering his second (I believe) year of high school, where he runs into Taiga. After being beaten up by ‘the Palmtop Tiger’ (because she’s small and fierce), they find out they live next to each other. They decide, after a time, to help each other with their relationships. Ryuuji admits to being in love with Minori and Taiga admits to liking Kitamura. As it happens, Ryuuji’s best friend is Kitamura, and likewise for Taiga and Minori. Thus the fun begins. As it goes on there are hints at Ryuuji and Taiga liking each other but nothing actually happens for a few episodes. After around episode 16 things start to get more serious and a large amount of the comedy goes in favour of drama and angst, though it’s still present.
The Palmtop Tiger
If I gave shows a rating in this… What is this, anyway? Column? Article? If I gave shows a rating in my thing I write, I’d be giving this a good 10/10. Packed with humour but at the same time addressing the characters relationships, it manages to thwack you over the head with a massive explosion of drama one minute and making you laugh yourself silly the next. It doesn’t even end like a typical romance show (you know, ‘and they lived happily ever after’ or something along those lines).
Also, if you do watch it, when you get to episode 25, watch until after the credits because otherwise you will not get the proper experience from it.
Usagi Drop (うさぎドロップ, Bunny Drop) is a manga series by Yumi Unita. It’s a josei series, meaning it’s targeted towards late teenage and adult women (according to Wikipedia). While the manga has finished, the anime has not and since I started with the anime I’ve decided to watch it through before getting the manga. It started airing on July 8th.
Rin and Daikichi
It follows the story of Daikichi, who’s world is disrupted ever so slightly by the introduction of Rin, his 6 year old aunt. His grandfather had a fling with the maid (at 80 or something, so good for him). At the start of the story, grandpa dies, and leaves Rin without a parent. Frustrated with his relatives’ complete lack of ability to decide what they should do with Rin, Daikichi decides to take her in, despite his very long working hours. And thus one of the most heartwarming and just generally sweet stories I have watched starts.
I do say that about a lot of things, but this is very true for Usagi Drop. I am man enough to admit the series has brought me to tears a couple of times, such as this excerpt from episode 5. The exchanges between Daikichi and Rin are amazing and it feels like Daikichi is growing up as much as Rin is.
The manga has finished, now. It finished in April this year, actually, with 9 volumes. Apparently, and this is only hearsay, but apparently the manga ends in quite an odd way. Right now I don’t care what that might be (though I have my sneaking suspicions) seeing as the anime is so cute it couldn’t possibly end badly. Only three have been released in English so far, by Yen Press, but more will be out soon. Or at least, they had better be.
Oh boy. Guess what this is all about. Go on, guess.
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Didn’t get it? Aww.
Put simply, Deadman Wonderland is a series about an amusement park/high security private prison wherein the inmates compete in games (usually deadly ones) for people’s amusement. People think it’s all very clever CGI, but the inmates are actually dying.
Two of the main characters, Shiro and Ganta
The anime was aired between April 17th 2011 and July 3rd, while the manga has been serialised in Shounen Ace since 2007. The English manga has been around since 2010, published by Tokyopop, but I’ve found it rather difficult to get my hands on the first issue (I think it’s on hiatus at the moment as well).
While prisoners of all kind seem to ‘play’ these games, the main group are the Death Row inmates, of which all the main characters (who are prisoners) are. They wear collars which inject them with a poison that, if the antidote is not taken, will kill them in three days. The antidote takes the form of a piece of red and white striped sweet, simply referred to as candy. How do they get the candy? By playing the games! If they lose in the games they die. If they win, they get points, which they can use to get more candy so they can then play more games.
In amongst the Death Row inmates are another group called the ‘Deadmen’. They don’t show up on any roster anywhere, and the area they are kept in doesn’t officially exist. Even the head of security has no idea about it. These inmates are special. They all contain a thing called a ‘Branches of Sin’, which gives them a blood-based ability. Yeah, blood-based. There is a lot of blood in this series, anime and manga, a lot of it from the fact the Deadmen have to make themselves bleed in order to utilise their ability (Ganta, for example, bites his thumb).
Blood
While I’ve watched the anime (it’s up on Crunchyroll), I’ve not yet read the manga which means I’m not overly sure about a lot of things. The anime leaves a few things unanswered. That’s not to say it’s not thoroughly enjoyable, though. I found it absolutely amazing. But yeah, blood. Lots and lots of blood. And maiming.
[BEFORE anyone gets at me for using a question mark after 'ka', I know, but that's how it's styled. It means 'Is this a zombie?']
This is a romance series. I’ll get that out of the way now. It’s also fantasy and magical girl (well… If you watch it you’ll find out), and could probably also be stretched to harem and comedy, so if you don’t like any of these, this won’t be for you. It can also be a little ecchi, especially the twelfth episode which is fanservice through and through.
This amazing anime series, based on the light novel series of the same name, aired between January and March this year, and was made by Studio DEEN (they made Higurashi, amongst other things). If you were lucky enough to catch the simulcast over on Crunchyroll, good for you . If you haven’t, depending on where you are, they might still have the episodes up.
Besides the main male character, the great majority of characters that crop up are female.
Front L-R: Ayumu, Eu. Back L-R: Haruna, Sera
Ayumu Aikawa is the main male character and one of only two important male characters. He is a zombie. Killed before the start of the series, he was resurrected by one of the main female characters, Eucliwood Hellscythe. He’s a bit of a pervert, as shown in episode 12 where his dirty thoughts manifest themselves in every single female character, as well as a few male characters, winding up in rather revealing bikinis (I told you it was a fanservice episode). Being a zombie, he is effectively immortal, though weak to fire. He also tends to dry out in the sun.
Eucliwood HellScythe, or Eu, is a necromancer. A very powerful necromancer, in fact. She is touted as being the most powerful necromancer in existence. Indeed, her magic is so strong she has to keep her emotions under control. She cannot speak out of fear of causing damage (she can kill someone simply by saying ‘Die’), and wears armour at all times. It’s hinted that she has feelings for Ayumu, but it’s never explored in the anime.
Haruna is a masou-shoujo (meaning ‘magically ornamented girl’, it’s a pun on mahou-shoujo, or ‘magical girl’) who accidentally transfers a large of her power into Ayumu the first time they meet, forcing him to become a masou-shoujo as well (cue hilarity). She is well known for her dropkick attack that starts off properly but winds up with a chainsaw to the head. Oh yeah, she wields a chainsaw. Again, it’s hinted that she has feelings for Ayumu.
Seraphim, or ‘Sera’ for short, is a… ‘well endowed’ vampire ninja. Being a vampire, she can sprout a pair of bat wings in order to fly. Being a ninja, she is very quick and very good with a sword. Initially, she hates Ayumu, calling him a ‘piece of s***’, but as is usual with harem series, she ends up with feelings for Ayumu. Since she is a vampire, she does require blood, but not a huge amount.
Last but not least is Sarasvati. Sera’s superior, she is also a vampire ninja. She falls in love with Ayumu as soon as she sees his backside, and proclaims herself his wife, much to Ayumu’s chagrin. She is a major character in the light novels and the manga. In the anime, while not being as important as the above, she is still a major character.
Ayumu in his masou-shoujo transformation
I absolutely loved this series (I’m currently watching it through for the second time). In addition to the brilliant voice cast, the music is incredible. There is one particular piece, that you can listen to here, that I adore. It plays during the sweet/cute/love moments, such as when Eu runs away and Ayumu finds her where they first met. It has, and still does, bring several tears to my eyes.
This is a refreshing change to the blood-soaked goodness of last week. One of the new anime, A Channel is something like Lucky Star, but with plot (most of the time). It follows four high-school girls, three of whom are in their second-to-last year (I believe they move up just before the anime starts). They are Run, Tooru, Yukko and Nagi.
I love this series. The stories are fun, usually leaving you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside at the displays of friendship between the four characters.
L-R: Run, Tooru, Nagi and Yuuko
It’s one of those series that is incredibly easy to just sit back and watch. The series as a whole is very relaxed, with very little character drama, although some does surface later on.
Each of the characters are brilliant in their own way as well. Run is a bit of an airhead. She doesn’t do fantastically well in school, but enough to get through. Not that it bothers her, of course. She is also the clumsiest character, and so provides much of the comic relief through not fully understanding things, falling, or just being Run.
Tooru is the youngest character, being in the year below the other three. This brings up some worries for Tooru, since there will come a time when Run, Nagi and Yuuko have left high school. While she does have friends her own age, they aren’t the other three. It may not have been implied properly, but I got the feeling that Tooru has romantic feelings for Run. Either that, or they just have a very strong friendship. Regardless, Tooru is very protective of Run, chasing away any boys she ends up speaking to.
She's quite small
Nagi is the bookworm present in all groups. She’s also the most intelligent one. However, she is very self-conscious and unhappy with how she looks, constantly trying to diet and failing, usually miserably. She is creative and loves a challenge, as seen in one episode where they attempt to carve sweets out of what I presume are slabs of sugar.
Last but certainly not least is Yuuko. She is by far the moe character. She’s certainly… Endowed. Because of this, she is constantly getting fondled by a very jealous Tooru. When she complains about how she looks, this quickly annoys both Tooru and Nagi. Yuuko is also scared very easily, and this is exploited by most of the other characters in a large number of episodes.
The series is amazing. There were many moments were I was crying with laughter, such as when Run nearly falls out a third story window because she is trying to catch a butterfly, or the many times where Yuuko is scared. A must watch.