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One of the reasons why anime has become jaded and bland is the same reason series like this anime get released. It’s not so bad to have anime clichés in your anime, it’s how you use them. This series uses them in the most boring manner imaginable.

The anime plot is pretty basic. Girl saves boy, girl is alien, girl and guy get in to wacky adventures, guy wants to pork said alien. Shocker, the boy is a fucking otaku and the girl is a walking doormat. Narue is the alien and Kazuto is the bitch, I mean boy. There are no plot twists and from there it turns into a slice of life. There isn't much sci-fi going on despite its premise. If I had to compare this story to any other anime it would be Oh! My Goddess. The girl is a reason why the I’m not completely opposed to the feminist movement. She’s exactly the type of girl meant to appeal to otaku fetishists. Not to mention the mechaphiles. There’s a ship that turns into a woman. Feel free to stop reading the review now if that was enough to seal the deal. The only people that are going to be watching a show with a story like this are either otaku idealists or young girls who find this show cute. The biggest problem with romantic comedy/slice of life type of shows is their endings. This anime takes the cake. It just…ends. In the same vein that I hated Kare Kano for just ending. How does it end though? In the most otaku’s wet dream imaginable. A cosplay contest to please her man.
The art is nothing special. There are no great fight scenes, no amazing romantic kiss scene...everything is just mediocre. All the characters look like stock anime characters. In short, make sure to drink some coffee before you pop this in the DVD player. I looked up the character design and it looks like some guy named Takaaki Hirayama did the character designs. What else has this guy done? Motherfucking Mamotte Shugogetten, another “let me please you because I’m willing to do whatever for you” anime.

As far as sound goes, this anime goes nowhere. Narue’s soundtrack sounds a lot like that of a visual novel. It’s pretty bland and does nothing to bring up any emotions. The Japanese track for this is not half bad. A lot of the seiyuu aren’t high-pitched annoying, just there. I knew I’d heard Kazuto’s voice somewhere before though..somewhere bad.. MOTHERFUCKING MAMOTTE SHUGOGETTEN! Mr. Daisuke Sakaguchi is just one of those guys I will never ever accept his voice after series like this. As for the English dub, it’s flat. Nothing special, it gets the job done for a series like this.

I hate everyone in this series. Everyone. I hate to rag on series as if they’re terrible, but everyone is so mediocre. The only highlight of this whole series is the ship woman. She wants to get married. If you had to see one episode of this series, it’s the ship relationship episode. I for one do not condone mecha-human relationships. It’s wrong and immoral and God would not stand for it.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. It’s not that this show is bad, it’s just mediocre, and mediocrity is what really sucks. However, I know people will watch this because of its‘ moe♥moe kyuun aspect. However, those people don’t read my reviews..well no one really does, but you get the point. Don’t buy it, don’t download it, just pretend you never read this or even heard of the series.

You can read more of my reviews at kanjiiz.wordpress.com read more

What really goes on in the mind of mangaka when they draw manga? That is the premise of Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Mangaka, Terrible Tales for short.

This manga doesn't follow a specific plotline, but rather an episodic, short stories that detail what goes on in the lives of mangaka. The chapters really dffer from a mangaka that just had a baby to the terrible, and dark lives of horror mangaka. It seems that there might be some actual truth behind this joke and does a good job of causing you to cut some slack on the mangaka for not doing a good job on a certain manga. Despite being a gag comic, it does a good job of using a different style that seems linear, but breaks in the middle to tell you what's going on. This is helpful since there are sudden time skips that need warning.There is also an issue with enjoyment. Certain chapters just aren't funny or become repetitive with certain gags (i.e. Stalking, assholeness, etc).

I have to say that this isn't for kids or anyone that can't take jokes. There are some scenes that contain nudity and at points spouse abuse. So if you can't stand to see a woman get hit without getting angry, maybe not for you.. The last chapters are pretty real and give all people who dream of being mangaka a wakeup call. I really enjoyed the last chapters feel and somewhat surrealness. The main problem with this manga is if you haven't dabbled in the most genres of manga you won't get the jokes. Certain jokes revolve around certain manga like Beserk and ecchi manga, at some points Mazinger. If you don't know your manga, it may be difficult to follow.

When you talk about gekiga-like manga or gag manga, art skill isn't a must. The art style has a very "what the hell" attitude and can be either a brilliant masterpiece, or a grotesque pile of crap. There are some crude scenes but from the cover alone you should be able to tell whether you will actually enjoy the manga. The facial designs are quite basic and look like a third grader made the screentones and shading, but a funny third grader. All in all, not that bad a job, but if it wasn't a gekiga it would be in trouble.

There is no certain set of characters, but a series of episodic mangaka that are editors, ero-mangaka, horror mangaka, etc. Most characters tend to be one sided and stereotypical, but there is some truth to it. It makes you think, "What was this guy thinking when he made the boobs so big"? and such. Most, if not all the characters are assholes and get portrayed as antisocial pricks who despise their careers or people are full of themselves.

All in all, this manga is not for everyone, especially if you've succumb to moe and cutesy manga. This is a recommendation to everyone, but if you're a fan of dramatic picture and gag manga that make you go "WTF?" then this is the manga for you. Make sure you read up on your manga before you read this. read more

Before I start, I'd like to tell you that this is neither an OVA or an anime special, but a music video. Since you can't actually review a music video based on certain things, I'm just gonna tell you how this plays.

This is a really good PV. No matter how you look at it. Let's take a look at the animation. Despite it being littered with fan-service and pointless scenes, the artwork is clean, crisp, and looks very great. I admit some angles look pigish and tend to not make sense, they can be ignored. There is some great color in this music video and it really makes it stand out from all the other TTGL gimmicks that keep being put out. Gainax really put in some effort when making this.

The sound sounds great. The song isn't neccesarily Oricon worthy, but it's more catchy than herpes. It just tends to stick in your head. I would recommend reading some romaji to the song since some of the lyrics can't be understood properly the first few times. I'll admit Yoko makes a very good idol. Her seiyuu has proven before that she could sing, but she brought all her cards this time.

This can easily become the next Hare Hare overnight. I would recommend giving this a shot if you didn't like the original series, and I don't have to tell any TTGL fans to go and see it. I'm currently looking to find a copy of the DVD and you should too. read more

Ryuuichi is sleeping his way to the top. Cool. This isn't a hentai FYI.

This anime revolves around Ryuuichi, a misogynist who sleeps with women to get to the top. However this OVA does nothing to prove that he reaches his goals, or does anything other than look like a total douche. Honestly, he's a male whore. Women beg to sex him. There is no story and I just told you all about it. This is definitely a woman repelant and this type of story would make a woman cringe at the sight of it. This is a fairly novel concept since it's post-OVA boom but still managed to deliver. I knew what I was getting into so the story was not at all that bad. Did I mention there are some sex scenes?

The art is as low budget as low budget can be. I've seen kids drawings with a better budget. It seems that the scenes get better during the sex. Sad, to say but I noticed there was much detail in the breasts. Even boobs can't save this anime. There is that old school vibe that you get with the artwork though. It kind of gives you a feeling that you're actually in the '80's. Everyone looks like they were ripped out of an '80's photoshoot.

The sound is actually not that bad, well in the case of the BGM. I pictured A-Ha playing in the background for some reason. The dub is quite poor and if bad timing is a pet peeve in anime then I would advide not giving this a look. You really can't expect anything to extravagant. Again, it seems like all of the budget went to the sex scenes. Really good moaning. Moaning to the point that it sounds like the anime is about that.

The character is a giant tool. He sleeps with the girl you like, forces you to hit him, rats on you, takes away your scholarship and kicks your ass. He somewhat makes Duke Togo look like a virgin. All the girls are pathetic and are poor excuses for women. They just sit there as they pant and moan about what a great lover Ryuuichi is. I didn't even bother to learn their names and they are forgettable with the exception of the girl that overdoses on pills when Ryu dumps her. If anything the girls are giant vaginas waiting for Ryuuichi to jump on them and take their money.

I have to tell you that I enjoyed it. Ryu is what I want to be. Despite the blood-in-piss quality it managed to make me a better man.

Pros:
+ If you're a guy you can watch it and show it to your girlfriend and show her you love her.
+ Misogynism.

Cons:
- Not female friendly.
- Misogynism.

All in all if you're a woman don't watch it unless you like insensitivity. This anime gets 5 "OH!" out of 10 read more

How does one adapt 33 volumes of manga into 10 OVA's? You can't. Especially something from the post-yokai boom.

Ushio and Tora is one of those series that is so shonen it's amazing. I personally found it to be quite bland, Ushio finds a beast in his basement, Tora helps him against his will to fight beasts, blah, blah, blah, but it was so from back in the day that I liked it. It reminded me of Inuyasha. Or, the other way around. There is no plot line in this anime. It's just a series of "yokai of the week" episodes, but that's what I expected. I love how they added some hints of Gegege no Kitaro in this anime by expanding on what the story behind each yokai is. Personally, I was disappointed it was only 10 OVA's. You WILL want more. You sadly won't.

The art work gets a grade A because it's mostly hand drawn. Even though some of the cells jump up and about that is not a problem. There's just something about it. There are problems though. Tora looks plain crude at times and being from the 1990's there's no excuse. It's impossible to capture Mr. Fujita's dirty scenes in anime and while it sounds bad it isn't. Mr. Fujita has a certain style that appears almost brush stroke like. However this doesn't show.

Both dub tracks are amazing. The gags are extremely funny especially when Tora is confused about something. There's just something about Tora's voice that makes it sound hilarious. Asako sounds terrible in both dubs though. She just sounds forced. "I HATE YOU USHIO!" is so terribly done I found Megazone 23 III (Inside joke) to be better dubbed. I really can't tell you anything about the BGM. I just wasn't paying attention.

The characters are pretty funny. From the yokai to the humans everyone is well done, except for well, Asako. She's poorly done as a character and is really only around to be in love with Ushio (which isn't really covered in the 10 OVA's at all) and get caught in yokai stomachs. All the characters are pretty funny, especially gags involving Tora and the modern world. As for seriousness there is a pretty serious tone of friendship amongs Ushio and Tora. Thing is it just wasn't shown properly.

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This is just a simple prequel to the first School Rumble.

By the title School Rumble you know if you should watch or not. This is a prequel to School Rumble. It follows the crazy antics of Tenma, Yakumo, Harima and everyone else but mostly the first three. Honestly this anime is built on gags and there isn't really a story so I believe I'm grading the story based on the humor. The gags are somewhat funny. The best one being the Prehistoric Rumble gag. Otherwise, the rest of the OVA is....blargh. There really isn't much of the laugh-out-loud comedy that I saw in the original series and it just begins to lag. At first I saw this as a gread addition to the series but it was just...there. It was nice to see how Yakumo honestly feels about guys (apparently she can read mens minds). Honestly passable gags.

The artwork isn't anything to brag about. As you may already know School Rumble is NOT known for their artwork. The chibi's were oddly enough well drawn and looked very clean and made the transition well. The artwork for the OVA is better than the series itself. The opening and endings have the same artwork but still seem crisp. The ending for the first episode of the OVA includes a train that actually made my jaw drop. It was so simple and basic but so vibrant at the same time.

The audio is of course, normal. Actually I like the dubs for English alot better. Tenma sounds cute, but annoying just like her character is meant to be. All the other characters are normal and it's hard to hear what they say at times since two characters speak at the same time on occasion. Harima sounds like a San Francisco yakuza and Yakumo sounds like a stoic introvert. Well, what am I saying the parts are perfect. The BGM is a bit annoying though. The little transition noises tend to get in the way of what someone is saying. Pretty good dub.

Oh, boy the characters. If you haven't seen the original series I wouldn't recommend starting here. Even though this is a prequel you won't be able to understand who's who or who likes who {other than Harima ->Tenma -> Karasuma). Everyone's here in the anime of stereotypes: Tough guy, ditz, rich girl, stoic Stacy, pervert, "I WANNA MARRY HER!" guy, and everyone else. But this is this anime's thing. It's supposed to be like that. I can't hold it accountable for something it's meant to be.

You know, this is an okay OVA. Worth the watch if you're an anime completionist like myself. Otherwise go see the first and second season. This OVA isn't terrible, just passable. You can watch this when you've run out of anime to watch.

Pros:
- Wacky character antics.
- Even wackier characters.
- Excellent dubbing.

Cons:
- The gags aren't very funny.
- Passable.

This anime receives 7 "What are classmates?" out of 10. read more

Thank God for the OVA boom that was single handedly started by Megazone 23 (pronounced Megazone 2 3). The story by the way the title is based on what Japan was called back in WW2.

The story is pretty hard to get into, but once you get it it's there. Here's a sentence to sum it up: The main character, Shogo finds a bike, a bike that's top secret to an organization. Oh, and the world is only Tokyo and they live in a spaceship that people aren't aware of.Not very novel, right? Wanna know why? Because Megazone started it. The story was originally supposed to be a multi-episode series compounded into a large series. There's a big flaw in this. There are many loopholes that happen. Where are the organizations? Who's who? What's going on? After about 10 minutes you start to understand, but it's pretty difficult to understand what's going on early on. Basically there's three more OVA's so it's okay to not understand at the moment. Overall, not bad but the loopholes are very hard to understand.

The art is amazing. The palet and the facial designs are very cleanly done, just like back in the day when hand drawn cell animation was around. My big complain is that things change. In some scenes there's a pillow that's big and pink. In some scenes it's a simple pillow. Honestly, I'm suprised I catched that but a normal viewer probably wouldn't notice. There are some great realism in the art though. There's McDonald's and Coke all around this anime. It's VERY realistic. The art is well designed and if you can get past the flaws in this artwork it's not a big deal.

The sound is amazing. From the pop idol singing to the '80's soundtrack it's all amazing. I really felt like I was in that time and place. The english dubbing is excellent, and I wish I could say that for the Japanese version. The J. dubbing is terrible. The flaps don't match and the voices all sound like they're on steroids. For all you sub fans you might be turned off by this. It would be unfair to give the audio a 9 since the Japanese track is terrible.

The characters are pretty great. The loud mouth, the cool guy, the girl willing to sleep to the top, and the aspiring actress. Add in a guy trying to commit a coup and you got Megazone. The characters are anything but one sided but I couldn't get a feeling for them. I seriously only got to like Yui and Shogo. I have to admit I LOVED it when a certain hot-headed-bitch gets shot in the head. I have to say though that there are alot of characters that come and go. Just remember Mr. Coup, Shogo, and Yui and you should be good.

You know I want to give this anime a 10, but it doesn't deserve it. It just had too many loopholes and it suffered from changing artwork. It is however one of the best OVA's I have ever seen. I'm going to give it a 9 because it's a must see. Frankly, not seeing this is ground enough to have your otaku license revoked.

Pros:
+ One of the visuals I have ever seen. (Epic color palet)
+ It keeps you gripped with a great storyline.

Cons:
- Some of the backgrounds change when they shouldn't.
- Characters come and go.

This anime is 9 "OVA BOOMS!" out of 10.
This anime is out now by ADV films, go out and buy it.

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Here's a riddle. What's an anime without fan service, chibis, colored hair, comedy, mystical weapons and cat girls? Not Human Crossing. What is an anime with stern old Japanese society with people having midlife crisis? Human Crossing.

There isn't a plot line to Human Crossing (Human Scramble). It's a series of short stories of normal people living, Japan. These stories vary from a boxer trying to fix his strained relationship with his mom to a woman being reunited with her deadbeat father, to the girl in a juvie camp who's trying to change her ways. Most of these vignettes deal mainly with issues you would find in any society, but mainly Japan. These stories, are often mature, and dwell on the fact that this could be happening to anyone in real life. The problem is the stories are too real. There's no sense of comedy or climactic drama to these episodes. In reality, the only unreal thing that happens in Human Crossing is the fact that everything goes well for the protagonists in the end. In reality, things would not go right for a person trying to get their child back from their deceased boyfriend’s parents. If you're a person who prefers a comedic storyline or a sturdy plot, this is not for you. There are several bad and good episodes to this show. You could pretty much skip most of the episodes and watch episodes 1, 5, and 13 and not missed anything in the other episodes. These are the episodes that really brought in emotion and ended on a realistic note.

The art really is sub par. None of the animation stands out at all. At certain points the art looks the same. I swear some of the characters are reused. I could spot some characters being in other stories because of their character designs. Everyone looks like someone that you could see walking down the street, and while that adds a certain charm to the series, in reality it gets repetitive. You could blame this on the budget. More mature series like this tend to get a smaller budget due to its smaller audience.

The sound isn't terrible, but there is hardly any BGM at all. During the low points I would have expected maybe something more...sad? During the high points maybe something....at all?! It seems like the studio really cheaped out with this anime and didn’t even bother to license or make music for the show. The ending and opening intros are great and managed to capture my attention. The very moving song by Nana Katase along with a backdrop of Tokyo really got to me and really made me feel for a minute. I read the back of the DVD's and Ocean Studios made the dubbing. I swear I heard Vegeta somewhere in this anime. The dubs aren't terrible, but nothing special that stands out to me which is just as bad. This is an anime you should really just turn on the subs and watch it. I really wonder what went through Geneon’s mind when they decided to dub a show with almost no appeal.

The characters are where it largely varies. Some characters are completely forced, while some characters come off as completely natural. If it's something like "The Watershed" then we're talking about massive character emotions where you get a chance to feel for the characters, rather than just watching them. If we're talking "City" it's a yawn and a pass for the characters. The show heavily relies on the fact that you can feel empathy for people without knowing their complete back story. You have 25 minutes for character development, and not much else. You get to see characters deal with their problems in a sound way without the use of violence and such. Some would argue that this is considered boring, but this is the very definition of “totally not kids’ stuff” as Monica Rial would say. Whenever you ask your average anime fan why they watch anime they will typically respond with “anime has mature storylines that American cartoons don’t have”. Those same people will turn around and watch anime like Bleach and Kampfer and call that “mature”. Well I say fuck that, if you’re going to use that as a reason why Japanese cartoons are superior, you might as well watch a show like Human Crossing. It’s a show with a meaning and a moral behind it, and should really be more valued as a series.

Despite all of the negative points that I made about this series, this is a series you should definitely watch. If this show would have had more seasoned directors instead of directors who had never worked on anything before (and didn’t work on anything ever again). I actually showed this to my mom and she actually enjoyed it. I think you should really wait on this show if you’re still young (like I am) or are still enjoying series like Code Geass and Naruto as quality entertainment.

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No awards for this anime anytime soon, so hey if you like obsucrity this is it.

This story's plotline is a very sturdy, but boring. After the "Hammer of Eden" hit in this anime's world the world became flooded. The world seems at peace until the Ulyses begins to strike the small island that Isla and Keel, the main characters, live in. The thing about this anime is that it's just a military drama. It's just too boring. Nothing ever really happens and when it does it's at the very end of the episode. The whole "world is split up into alliances" bit is just so odd that I couldn't even tell where they were. Some times it was India, sometimes it was Japan. Honestly, the whole storyline tries to be deep when in reality it isn't anything big. There are some gags that just aren't funny, but I did crack up at the idea of Keel being a father figure for Isla's baby when he is so immature himself.

Let's get to the art. Keel looks like a big Ed (FMA) rip-off. Everything from the pony tail to the hair color. Boy, do the captains look familiar. Picture every asshole in anime as the captains. It seems like all the characters' designs in this anime were ripped off from another series. Honestly, this REALLY turned me off. The submarines are well designed and that's where this anime truly shines. I was about to fall asleep during that last few episodes but this REALLY woke me up. It was like seeing CGI for the very first time.

The characters are nothing special. Aside from a few gags, none of the characters stood out. Teen was so faux-stoic that it was hillarious. It was obvious he was covering for something from the very beginning. Keel is so hot headedly stereotypical that the jokes WERE funny. Isla was a bit of a fresh air. Despite being the mother figure attitude the fact that she was a pregnant anime character seemed oh so novel to me.

Golly, this anime's dubbing couldn't have been more disturbing even if they tried. I normally defend dubs, but gosh Keel sounds so gay. I mean literally he sounds like a flamer, no offense. Isla is...who played Isla? All the other characters are flat line. The audio is 2.0 but it sounds worse. The BGM isn't really that bad. It goes well during the sad moments and well during the happy moments.

This anime is all over the place. I seriously can't place one single grade on it.

Pros:
- Nice BGM.
- Amazing submarine visuals.

Cons:
- Boring storyline.
- Unfunny gags.

This anime gets 6 "Boooshhhh!!" out of 10.
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Ah, Inoue Santa you tagger manga-ka you!

This anime's story starts off about four episodes in, so the first few episodes are passable but it's still great to watch them. The story begins where the boss of Buppa's , the big gang boss above all of Tokyo's Tribes, son dies during a betrayal by Mera. The story originally revolves around Kai, the somewhat-not-really leader of the Saru's when his friend Tera is decapitated by Mera, another old friend of Kai's. The story from here sets off into the deepness of Tokyo's underground. From here on it turns into a somewhat WW2-esque story, I'd tell you the rest but I'd be spoling the story. The story for this anime isn't exactly novel, since it sounds somewhat like an old school Yakuza flick, but it's pretty new for the world of anime. The story kept me caputured for quite a long time and is definitely worth marathoning it. The only problem I could find is I couldn't really get into the characters. The only characters that get a big backstory are Skunk, Kai, and Mera.

The art for this anime is quite great, including great tones and shades. Madhouse did a great job of capturing Santa's artwork on the pages. The backgrounds seem like an urban wall and tend to stick out quite well. The big problem is they captured Santa's art TOO well. The lips tend to look awkward and the faces tend to look smashed at times. Still, this is a passable offense and doesn't interfere with the enjoyment. It's amazing how well they designed the clothes and how well they kept up with the trends...even if everyone wore the same clothes for the whole series.

The sound is EPIC. The hip hop in this anime is amazing, including songs by the Illmatic Buddha MC's. I seriously was digging the music and finding an OST for this anime is well worth it. There is a bad part. They recycle the music too much. It seems that I heard some of the songs more than 20 times throughout this anime. Not that recycling is bad, it's just that variety could have been better.

The characters are really vibrant and it doesn't look like there are any stereotypes in this anime. My personal favorites were Haseem and Secretary, but the problem is they didn't get face time. Hell, hardly anyone but Kai, Mera, Buppa, and Skunk got any face time. Tera is supposed to be very important in this series but he hardly shows up at all. The great part about this anime is that you will love or hate every character. This IS a good thing.

I really enjoyed this anime and marathoned the last 5 episodes today and this has officially gone into "MY Favorites". This review was completely unbiased and was based on a normal perspective. Let's wrap this up shall we?

Pros:
- Great music that really stands out from all the other anime.
- Amazing backgrounds with amazing shading and tones.

Cons:
- Faces look awkward.

This anime gets 9 "MERAS!" out of 9. read more