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What exactly a comedy mini-series about a club that preserves traditional Japanese arts can offer? That's what draws me to watching Double-J.

I have a mix feeling with the story; the first couple of episodes are really funny as it is centered to the main theme of the series - a couple of girls who accidentally discovered this one unique club about preserving traditional arts. What are hilarious about it actually are the arts that the people of the club are trying to preserve and I laughed really hard when the characters together with their very unique arts are introduced one by one. The last ... few episodes though are a hit-or-miss in terms of comedic value seeing how the series headed into completely random topics that may or may not be connected with preserving traditional arts, I still have a couple of good laughs though. The series have no ending, I wouldn’t mind a new season if ever seeing how completely random the concept anyway.

The animation is a nice experimental concept (according to a blog I read, this is a flash-based animation), something that I have adjusted first before I get a hang on it. The background consists mostly of real-life still images in grayscale color of classrooms, schools, and landmarks which I thought is really a good idea. The characters basically stay in a stationary position, their movements are limited mostly to mouth movements for the vocals, eye blinking, robotic movements for the extremities, and some motion from the clothes the characters are wearing to give an effect that the wind is breezing by which I think really works as a good visual aid for the setup of the series. The character designs are also simple looking but have enough facial features that distinguished one character from the others.

Double-J has some fairly nice background music themes that are energetic and upbeat complementing the animation really well. The ending theme “Wani to Shampoo” is very catchy and lively, something that compensates for the simple music theme that is heard during the opening clip. Voice acting is fairly well done, very in-character; the quirky dialogues are enough reason to enjoy the series.

For a 4-minute per episode clip, Double-J has quite a huge number of characters that appeared in the span of 11 episodes. I say the main highlight of the series are the characters which did a very good job in entertaining the audience with their conversations, attitudes, personalities, reactions, and the traditional arts they are practicing much to the amusement of the audience and the very characters in the series whom they are explaining what their traditional arts are.

Overall, Double-J is a fairly good series that packs enough goods to entertain its viewers for 4 minutes every week. I for one have a good laugh on most of the episodes from the humor that comes from the characters. The comedy is a hit-or-miss just like what I describe above especially in the last few episodes, but not enough to say I didn’t enjoy those. The series as a whole can be recommend to all audience who just wants a good laugh and doesn’t mind the unusual style of the animation.

Kowarekake no Orgel (Half-Broken Music Box) is a heart-warming short animation about a man seeking a purpose for his life and an android seeking a place called home, and their destined meeting on a rainy night is a heaven’s sent that will grant the things which they seek.

The story is presented in a flashback form of story-telling in the perspective of a female-like android named “Flower” as she narrates all the happy things that happens to her during her stay on Keiichiro’s (the male protagonist) house one summer season. Flower has trouble retaining her memory so Keiichiro bought her a notebook which will be ... later used by her as a diary so that she will no longer worry about losing what’s important to her. Each day of that summer season is a brand new experience for Flower as Keiichiro integrates her to society; gaining new experience, learning new things, meeting and socializing with other androids and humans.

Not everything is sugary sweet for the two main characters thought. As an android from an older series pass its technical support period and deprived of any replacement parts, Flower is already showing her age and are becoming increasingly inefficient in caring her task as a house-droid which Keiichiro tried his best to remedy and make her useful and functioning. Eventually some hints of Keiichiro’s past will be revealed during their interactions that he cannot seem to move on. Flower, being a helpful android she is tried some very amusing ways to help Keiichiro off his problems. All these are packed on a 30-minute short animation, as a viewer, I wished for more, but it could not be help; still the OVA gave a satisfying and wonderful story with a satisfactory ending.

The animation of the OVA is great. A lot of attention is given to the environment making it very detailed. The color tones are bright and crisp looking, providing some very visually impressive backgrounds. The character designs for the androids are wonderful and very cute looking; all the attention was given to make sure the androids are very good looking in every camera angle, every movement, and every eye and facial expression they make. The same thing cannot be said on the human characters though; they are generic looking with noticeably less detail on their designs. In addition, Keiichiro and also other young male characters have spiky hair styles which I’m not a big fan of.

The OVA has some very nice background music that complements the animation really well, giving the much needed impact intended to provoke emotions from the viewers. Also has an ending theme that is really good to listen having a lyrics that conveys the story nicely. Voice acting is also well done; I particularly like the voice of Asano Masumi as Flower, she handled her character really well. The same thing can also be said to the other characters.

As for the characters, I like how Keiichiro and Flower has enough screen time to have some proper character development despite the relative shortness of the OVA, making them likeable and someone that the viewers can relate on. The minor characters also provided some meaningful conversations that are integral to the story. Despite the small cast, the OVA have some great character interactions going on.

Kowarekake no Orgel provided some great entertainment for me as a viewer who loves stories that focuses on human – android interactions. It has an interesting concept that is executed very well, great animation, characters that are likeable and interactions that are nicely done. The anime as a whole can be recommended not just to viewers who are into sci-fi stories that focus on human – android interactions like me, but also to the general audience who just want a good anime to watch.

This anime is quite difficult to review in my style, might even contain spoilers for people who are planning to watch this series. Anyways here I’ll try reviewing this series in the best way I can think off.

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (or We Without Wings – Under the Innocent Sky) might fool everyone into thinking that this series is nothing but a generic harem theme show centered around three guys and their swarm of moe girls – true, and there is a lot of panty shots and even borderline hentai scenes and it didn’t help that the first episode is full of confusion with ... the presentation of all three male characters each has his own story and harem and is seemingly completely unrelated to each other. Viewers with enough patience and tolerance though on the extremely high number of seemingly pointless fanservice shots every 3-5min will find the next couple of episodes still the same thing until around episode 4 when something is hinted at the final moments…all of the sudden the series began to make sense and became so much interesting to watch.

For those viewers who have no idea but is interested in knowing what is happening on the main character Haneda Takashi, he is most likely suffering a psychiatric disorder that is keenly close to what is called “Dissociative Identity Disorder.” A major feature of this disorder is the existence of two or more personalities or identities that take control of the person’s behavior. The person, or “host,” is unaware of the other personalities, but the other personalities may be aware of each other in varying degrees. [1][2][3][4][5][6]
[see below for some notes]

The series attempts with varying success to connect the different stories of the many different personalities inside of Haneda Takashi and made a fairly satisfying conclusion. It is sad that the ending is an open ended meaning the viewers wouldn’t see an official couple at the end, but I think it’s good in the sense that knowing how many girls are involved on the many different personalities, each a very strong candidate as the “worthy girl” it will surely a heartache to see them all cry.

The animation of the series is not very sharp indicating that this series may be a small budgeted one. Motion fluidity isn’t that good either as character movements look very unnatural and somewhat suffering from poor frame rate. In addition, the environment is not detailed and the character designs look generic. The good thing about the animation though is the girls, they are very cute and sexy looking which looks really nice and is probably the main reason why the series has to many fanservice/panty shots, simply put it – the girls have great assets which they aren’t shy exposing to the camera.

The music and the opening and ending are pretty decent to listen but not something that is worth listening too every episode. The series contains forgettable but decent BGMs to supplement the animation scenes. Voice acting is pretty unnatural with most of the girls but somehow it matches their character designs and personalities so kudos to the voice actresses for doing a very good job altering their voices to meet the desired voices of the characters they are portraying.

The series has a fairly huge amount of characters, the viewers can see why: The many personalities of the main character each has his own story and adventure to tell and each of them has fairly unique meetings and interactions with a lot of people (ahem mostly girls!). Viewers looking for character development may be disappointed on this especially if they become attached to a particular character, it is a given, but the series made a very good job in giving this characters their very own brief moments that is worthwhile to watch.

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai is a fairly unique find. Granted it has everything what a generic harem and fanservice focus anime has, still it did a good job incorporating a story that focuses on a particular psychiatric disorder that is quite believable and made it in such a way that is entertaining and fun to watch in some extent. Highly recommended for viewers who like fanservice/ecchi themed series that has a fair bit of romance, some intrigue, and of course large amount of panty shots.

Additional notes:

[1] The text is taken from the “Psychiatric Nursing, Mosby, Third Edition” by Keltner, Schwecke, and Bostrom
[2] Additional reading can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder
[3] A Hollywood movie with similar theme can be found here: Identity (2003) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309698/
[4] An anime that exhibit an almost similar disorder found in this series is the character “Shiki” from “Kara no Kyoukai”.
[5] Pls. note that I’m not really sure if Haneda is suffering from the said disorder. I’m a registered nurse (not a physician) but I’m not specialized in Pyschiatric Nursing (I’m practicing Medical Intensive Care), so whatever I wrote in this review may not be correct at all. In addition to Haneda, there are also some characters that may be suffering from psychiatric like-disorder: Ootori Kakeru is somewhat suffering the same disorder like Haneda but to a lesser extent;
[6] Asuka Wataranai is hinted that at some point in her childhood she suffered a disorder but most likely just “imaginary friend” which occurs fairly normal to a developing child (but not her age in the scenes where she describes to Haneda about her past). Additional reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_friend

The story is set at a time when giant no man’s land known as Heaven’s Gate and Hell’s Gate suddenly appear into the world. It is not literally a gate per se but a very huge piece of land mass completely non-habitable at the opposite side of the Earth. Mysterious things came into being with its appearance. The place itself is feared so much as it led the humans to create a massive wall around it in order to hide the fearsome unknown inside it. Also with it are the appearance of the fake stars (replacing the real ones) and the appearance of the contractors, ... dolls among others.

The story focuses on the contractor Hei and his group, being agents of a mysterious organization known as the “Syndicate,” they do detective works, assassinations, intelligence gathering, and in many circumstances fight with other organizations.

The beginning was very confusing as not much is explained to the various mysteries revolving the world of Darker than Black, the pacing is more like a snail pace and the series are divided into several arcs each having at least 2 episode that are interdependent from the other arcs, it could very well be standalones but each offer hints that when sum up together actually tells the story. While some arcs may be a bit uninteresting, there are several others – the one that focuses on the actual story are very well done. The pacing eventually gets better during the middle part of the series with the introduction of some key characters and groups that will become the main focus of the series towards the end.

The mysteries surrounding the Gates is actually the series strongest element in my opinion, almost nothing at all is revealed about it but the series actually spend a lot of time with the characters and organizations trying to solve the mystery behind it, some of which will succeed and others will not but it all comes with a prize and I applaud this setup because I’m with the people with the mentality that some mysteries are better not explained (let the viewers imagine the rest), explaining it only kills the enjoyment, the thrill, and the tension that comes with it.

The animation is conveyed in a more serious tone. The background art is rather bland but there is something about it that will make the viewers says that it is done in style and of high production values. The same thing can be said with the character designs; the characters are designed in such a way to appeal to the more mature audiences. The animation is fluid and life-like especially the movements of the characters and the fights scenes are very creatively choreograph which sometimes can be visually impressive.

Both the Opening and Ending Themes are great, very catchy and enjoyable to listen. The soundtracks on the other hand are pretty decent which are good to listen when watching the series. As for voice acting, the actors did a pretty good job giving life to the characters they portrayed in the series. I especially like the voice of Kuichi Hidenobu as Hei, he made Hei into someone very cool sounding as well as a dependable.

Almost all the characters in Darker Than Black are likeable. Hei as the main character has some very good character development. At first he is very cold, lifeless, emotionless, but as the story progress, he eventually started showing emotions and more human character. The same can be said for the other characters on his group, at first they all act like every day is just another day of work but as bits of their histories are eventually revealed, they all acted looking for each another especially in their most challenging times. My favorite character beside Hei is Yin, she is called a "doll" also being cold at first, lifeless, emotionless at first but her development is also quite spectacular on the end. The series boast some really huge number of characters, all-in-all they did a very good job in portraying their respective roles be it major or minor ones.

The idea of contractors doing "remuneration" as payment for using their powers is a very refreshing concept. I particularly like it because it post several limitations to the users which generally mean that they cannot just go around and fight as they will adding a more realistic feel to the fights and made the characters more vulnerable instead of being invincible and all powerful. This check and balances made the series a great find.

The series is full of mystery, action, secret organizations, sci-fi concepts, and great characters, add to it are good production value, nice animation, a well designed story and a carefully constructed plot. As a whole, Darker Than Black is very solid and fun to watch amidst the slow pace in the early parts of the story and an ending that leaves a lot to be desired which comes up pretty open ended. As for my final note, the series is recommended for viewers with interest on the aforementioned themes above.

Dog Days is a 1-cour anime about the beautiful and fun-filled world of Fronyaldo, where the land is green and islands float in the sky. The people living there closely resemble that of a human except that they have big ears and fluffy tails similar to that found on other mammals such as dogs, cats, lions, etc. Anyways, the setting is similar to that of Medieval Europe where fortresses or castles are found everywhere and soldiers fought with weapons like bows, spears, swords, and magic.

The show primarily focus on a human male known as Izumi Cinque (or Shinku), who was incidentally dragged into an alternate ... world he never knew of after being summoned by the Princess of the Biscotti Kingdom, Princess Millhiore Biscotti, to be a hero and help them turn the tide of war against the nation of Galette. Initially, Cinque is in doubt whether he can really do anything, but after seeing how the battles are actuality fought by hero-like characters serving in the frontlines of large army formations and goes head on against an opposing force in a sports-like manner with silly physical challenges and obstacle courses serving as the main battle terrain, in addition to that, no one actually dies or gets serious injuries from the battle since the land is protected by some kind of spell that prevents those things from happening; Cinque accepted the Princess’s offer to become a Hero.

Each episode is filled with fantasy and magical themes that feels lighthearted and fun to watch. Most of the episodes are dedicated to the interactions of the Hero Cinque to the people of Fronyaldo as they try to unravel the mystery behind the constant wars fought by the kingdoms of Biscotti and Galette. Along the way the Hero will meet several people, as well as encounter events and battles that will contribute greatly to plot development. The pacing is good as each episode is provided with the right amount of details and excitement to keeping the viewers interested and looking forward for the next episode. The ending offers a good conclusion but still contains a lot of materials that can be used in case a new season is decided.

For a series that never really tried to be serious and focuses more on the lighter and fun-filled side of storytelling, the animation of Dog Days really works. One of the challenges in animating alternates worlds is that it has to have at least some unique features that isn’t found from Earth for the viewers to explore, in the case of the land of Fronyaldo, the series achieves that with the floating islands found everywhere, magical creatures roaming the lands, and the people which generally looks still like humans but with the inclusion of big ears and tails found in many mammal animals. The surrounding towns and fortresses look similar to those found in Medieval Europe. As for the technology found in Dog Days, it’s a nice mixture of magic, medieval, and modern technology which is a nice touch. For the environment itself; it looks detailed enough, neat looking, and the color tones fit the overall theme of the story. The character designs are likeable and cute, however outside the main and supporting cast all the other people presenting the town folks and soldiers are all generic looking having almost the exact same face and features, so I guess that one of the downturn of having to create such a huge cast of extras. The fights scenes and magic spells looks really pleasing to the eyes especially when a large number of soldiers are knockout in battle, they transformed into animal furballs which increases the fun factor of the show. Also worth mentioning are the large battlegrounds which the series achieves showcasing a very lively surrounding that is filled with hundreds of soldiers, the effect that there really was a war going on. In general, the production values are good except for several occasions that character designs looks distorted and out of proportion. Usually I’m not bothered by it, but when it involves very important scenes (e.g. concert scene of Millhiore in ep.11) and the characters almost looks like an entirely different characters, I tend to get disturbed by that.

Sound effects used in Dog Days are generally good, the battle sounds are nice to listen especially the summoning of magical spells and the sounds produced with its used, worth mentioning is the sound effect by the transformation of the soldiers into animal furballs and the expression “nyaah” as the indication they are defeated, it is quite hilarious to hear. As for the soundtracks, it did a fairly good job in conveying the moments but nothing really special. The Opening and ending songs also feels well fitted for the overall theme of the series but it is something that I could skip all together when watching. Voice acting is where the series really shines; it’s an all star cast featuring the voices of several well known seiyuus that are too many I’m not gonna try listing them in this review. The voices really fit the personalities of the characters they are portraying and listening to them exchange conversations with one another is really very pleasant and enjoyable to listen.

Dog Days have a fairly large number of characters, not included are the extras from the magic academy, the imperial staff, the soldiers, the commentators, and the townsfolk from both the Biscotti and the Galette Kingdom, it is easy to see the amount of effort poured into the production. However, this paved way to less development or little background of the characters which could be ignored all together because the series has made a very good job in blending such a huge cast and make a likeable and believable world. As for the characters themselves, Izumi Cinque, has done a very good job as the main character of the series, his personality as a male lead is not annoying in fact likeable, more importantly he did well acting as the “Hero” that ended the dispute between the two Kingdoms. Princess Millhiore is also a very likeable character, she may be innocent and pure at heart, but her determination is unquestionable. The other Princess, Leonmitchelli of the Kingdom of Galette likewise is also likeable, she may have deceive an entire kingdom to play a war due to personal reasons, but more importantly she admitted it and her people accepted it, just shows how her people loved her so much. Other important characters such as Ricotta from the research department and Eclair from the Imperial knights serving Princess Millhiore provided some comedic relief as well as important companions for the Hero Cinque in solving the dispute between the two kingdoms.

There are also a lot of supporting characters that added important contributions and several other viewpoints. Worth mentioning is Gaul (Leon’s brother) and General Godwin from the Kingdom of Galette, Brioche, Laurent, and Yuki from Biscotti’s side, also is Rebecca, which is an earthling that have a very close relationship with Cinque. Not to forget are the commentators that cover the matches and many other important events, they gave several hilarious comments on the background that added more fun to the series.

Dog Days is a series I started watching out of curiosity and after completing it, all I can say is that it is a very well made series. Enjoyment is quite high and not a boring moment so to speak. It has a fun-filled, lighthearted, magical, fantasy, and adventure story set in an alternate world with characters that have big ears and fluffy tails. Add to that are good animation, many interesting characters to meet and places to explore that really gave life to the world of Fronyaldo that will surely appeal to younger viewers as well as older viewers alike with interest on the aforementioned themes of the series.

Note: edited at some parts, ratings changed.

Note: This is not really a review, but as what the title suggest, it is an "episode impressions". Will edit this into a "full review" once the series has ended.

Story: Not much to say here other than what most people probably already knew, that this series has the same concept only in different variation to that already found in the other Blood franchises which started from "Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)" and followed by "Blood+ (2005)." As an introductory episode, it left me some very good impressions that this anime is something I’ll definitely be looking forward watching week-after-week.

For the actual episode itself, it begins ... with some interesting discussion about the definition of a person then progress to the introduction of the main character and the people around her. All in all the events was pretty standard for first episodes. The highlight of the episode is in the later part concerning Saya's duty which immediately shifted the mood from lighthearted to serious and the fight in the end which have some good slasher moments.

Animation: The color tones used are a bit dull but it fits the overall theme of the series which is more on the darker side. Character designs is very CLAMP; the facial features in distant camera shots appears to be detailed so it is something noteworthy for me. The environmental detail is a bit lacking and doesn’t appear HD quality to me but it was offset by the grainy details that are observable in the animation. I like how the battle is animated in the final minutes, very well choreograph although the enemy lacks detail, it just look like a big piece of moving muddy rock, it could be better.

Sound: OP and ED themes are good but not something I’ll be listening every time I watch an episode of Blood-C. The soundtracks are however great specially in the fight scene; It composed mostly of tracks that sounds strangely familiar which I may have already heard from somewhere else, but the overall impact are great. The voice behind Saya did a very good job giving life to her character and charm (I like the scene of Saya singing, and I felt…Oh! It’s a wonderful voice), I could also recognize some very familiar voices which I’m excited to hear more as the series progresses.

Character: I’ll talk about Saya, so far I like how she transforms from a carefree individual into someone so BADASS (with that fiery-looking eyes); I’m a person with a natural inclination for female characters with strong personalities, granted she didn’t look like someone fitting that description from the outside, but after witnessing how calm she was battling her opponent, I’m convince that she has it inside her. As for the other characters, not much details are revealed so I it is something I will be looking forward next episodes.

Enjoyment: The episode did well and I felt that it did what any first episode should do —- give a good impression to its viewers that will make them look forward watching the series, obviously I have a very good enjoyment on it. Initially, I felt the character design is out of place but after quickly remembering that it is done by CLAMP, my impression quickly rebounded positively. I have watched this episode 3x already before this writing.

Updates:

ep.6: Massive while-lines across the screen, it somehow kills the enjoyment, had to watch the BD versions once it's out.

ep.7: Story is getting more interesting in exchange, the animation quality is dropping considerably compared to the first few episodes

ep.11: Am I suppose to laugh at these episode? It’s amusing and unbelievably funny, I was laughing from disbelief on all the revelations this episode, the way it’s executed, and the character reactions.

ep.12: I say the ending redeems the series for me as it reminded me again that feelings I have from watching episode 1 and other Blood franchises, the very feelings why I watched Blood-C in the first place.

I’m still gathering my thoughts on how to rate this series as it is shown to me, I like to write a proper final impression for Blood-C, it’s a wild ride, but it’s a worthy wild ride.

I watched the movie out of curiosity after reading some interesting background on how the movie is a critically acclaimed one and how the series Blood+(2005) and Blood-C which is about to be aired on TV at the time of the review's writing traces its roots on it.

The story is about a girl named Saya, she has a very serious face that always looks angry, she wields a katana, and that she uses it to slash-to-death the demon-like creatures called "Chiropterate." What is more intriguing about her is that she works as an operative to a secret agency which locates and hunts down those demons. ... The setting is in an American Air force based in Japan and its surrounding civilian areas sometime in the 1960s. Little time is wasted in introducing the main plot as it begun with Saya successfully hunting a Chiropterate in an underground train and the revelation on how the creatures have infiltrated the surrounding civilian areas, her job is to find and kill them before they could cause any more deaths. What follows is a search-and-destroy mission that spans a couple of land marks such as the local school, the US Air force base, and the town along the vicinity. The ending leaves something for the viewers to ponder about as it has many questions unanswered given the very short runtime of the movie.

Animation is probably the highlight of this movie, it is a year 2000 animation but clearly it’s a class on its own during that time. The environment is very detailed and simply breathtaking, potentially rivaling even today’s best animations. The lighting effects are very well done and tiny details such as grain-like substance and motion blur in several fast moving scenes added even more impressive effects. The character designs somewhat resembles that of the original Ghost in the Shell movie, which gives this unique and detailed facial expressions that really describes what the feelings of the characters are and added the much needed seriousness as what the movie is all about. Other notable features of the animation are the smoothness of the character movements, the environment, and that of the transition scenes in general. The action scenes are also impressive looking, notable because on how the environment changes so much from being neat and tidy to a messy place due to the destructive effects of the fights. The debris, scratches, the blood-bathe, and other elements that make the place really looks like a fight did happen there are present.

Sound effects are something the movie isn’t shy showing off. The soundtracks on the background is astonishingly good and convincing, especially since one of the setting is set on a Halloween Party complete with American music bands playing music appropriate for the occasion, it feels very American which is an added bonus to the viewers. Other sound effects such as shouts, screams, sword slashes, falling cabinets, and monster howls are also very well done; I personally got goose-bumps just from hearing the characters scream like there is no tomorrow for them. One of the important highlights of the movie is the dubbing which has both Japanese and English voice actors on it, so in effect the American characters really look like Americans because the dubs are obviously done by American voice actors, makes you think it’s done with western audience in mind while still feels very Japanese.

Character is something the movie didn’t really focus on. The movie revealed nothing much about the main character Saya aside from the few things hinted on the movie, more so on the other characters which are not really that many by the way such as David which pretty much her companion in her mission, and the school nurse which has a vital role on the story. However, I like how everything flow smoothly, I can say that the producers did a good job in making an interesting movie that focus on its presentation and story, and not much on the characters.

Blood: The Last Vampire is really a surprised find. The movie has an interesting plot accompanied by outstanding animation and sound effects that are truly impressive. My overall impression of this anime is that of very positive, this despite the relative shortness of the movie and lack of any character development as it didn’t really take away the enjoyment that I have in watching it other than the fact that I want more. I would recommend this to anyone who likes watching movies with supernatural and horror genres, as well as to anyone who simply wants a good anime to watch.

I picked this series by chance after reading its premise about a high school girl which by the way is undead fighting to extract revenge to an organization that wronged her.

The story revolves around a young man named Ouri in his quest to solve the supernatural mysteries which involves unexplainable deaths that is occurring in his town. While being episodic with the 1 monster-per-week format until about halfway of the series, a lot of things happened in those episodes that told bits of the main story moving the series forward such as meeting up several important characters, his discovery of what his hidden talent can ... do, and several other events concerning the Kougan cult and the Shikabane Himes in particular. When the real antagonists finally started showing themselves during the middle part of the series, it was at this point that the show finally started to get really interesting. The finale for the series leaves a lot of things to be desired that was later answered when the second season was aired.

The animation for this series is dark, very dark, even when the setting is daytime. It is something that the viewers can eventually get used to because it suits the series quite well as the story is shrouded in mystery and supernatural phenomena, so a dark setting is really appropriate. The background and characters are somewhat lazily drawn, having poor details and generally bland. The animation is not really sharp and crisp makes you wonder if the series is really an HD show or an upscale. The bright points of the animation are the fight scenes, it is detailed in such a way that makes the effects looks stylish and nicely choreographed while maintaining the simplicity of the animation, special attention was given to the animation of the Shikabane-Himes since they provide the fan-service for the series.

Music is not really the strength of the series. The OP and ED themes provide a good feel for the series but not really memorable at all. The soundtracks are pretty decent especially during the fighting scenes and several other important scenes have a nice selection of songs playing in the background. Voice acting on the other hand is fairly good. Note worthy amongst the cast are veteran seiyuus such as Sugita Tomozaku, Horie Yui, Fujiwara Keiji, and Yuuki Aoi. What is surprising for me are the seiyuus of the main characters namely Akiyama Nana which voices Makina and Hasome Tatsuya for Ouri, both are very new in the business but did a very good job giving voice and life to the characters they portrayed.

I generally preferred female leads that have strong personalities, one that doesn't back down and is always up to the challenge, so Hoshimura Makina is a big win for me and an important factor that made watching this series an enjoyable experience. In addition to that, she is also hot and cool when she wields her two guns and start shooting on her opponents. The male lead Kagami Ouri is also not to be toyed around. He could be annoying at the beginning especially when he came across to the mysteries that revolved around him but he developed into one fine male lead as the series progresses. The other main character that give huge impact to the story is Tagami Keisei, initially a very secretive character but with his relationship with Makina slowly being revealed, his presence is pivotal into closing the gap between Makina and Ouri. There are also several characters from the Kougan cult, other Shikabane Himes, and antagonists that made an appearance mostly to progress the development of the main characters.

Shikabane Hime: Aka is a fairly well done series as a whole. Despite it short-comings in animation and the episodic format in the start, it didn’t affect my overall impression of the series which is more on the positive side of things as it improves at the midpoint and ended with a lot of questions that was eventually answered with the airing of the second season. As for my final note, I would recommend this series for viewers who like stories that are supernatural in genre with lots of action, gore, drama, and hints of romance.

Note: This is a re-review of Shikabane Hime: Aka

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu is a very short romantic story about two young high school students sharing the same name. After a terrible first meeting, the girl fell in love with the guy sometime later but was rejected by him. What follows is a story on how the two eventually becomes closer to each other. The story is quite simple and cliche, but being a short 2 episode long, the OVA manage to flesh out enough story details to make the story convincing and watchable at least.

The main highlights of these OVA are the still animation scenes which are rather breathtaking, artistic and ... beautifully rendered but this are quite few. The same thing cannot be said on the animation with movements though as it lacks fluidity, the environment is somewhat bland and poor in details. The character designs are passable and likeable as it features narrow faces, pointy chins and hair lines that are too many which clearly indicates that this is a shoujo anime. In general, the production values are quite low.

The OVA is kind enough to provide an Ending theme song which is quite good to listen and a couple of well orchestrated soundtracks which fits fairly well for overall mood of the story.

In the character side of things, nothing much is revealed other than the fact that main characters are of good standing being honor students. Voice acting is fairly well done as it features well known voice actors such as Itou Kanae as the female lead Hibino Tsubaki, and Namikawa Daisuke as the male lead Tsubaki Kyouta.

Overall, my impression of this short OVA is quite positive since I have a natural inclination on romance stories that are fun to watch and not overly dramatic. "Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu" is quite difficult to recommend to other viewers because after a quick look around the origin of this OVA, I found out that this is actually just a bonus item for a shoujo manga bearing the same title so its target audience are the manga readers who have a good understanding of the overall story. So if the viewer is a manga reader then this is a highly recommended OVA, but for other viewers like me who haven't read the manga or have no intention of reading the manga, it is still watchable, just don't expect great things.

As a penultimate episode, "Break Blade 5: Shisen no Hate" has done a fairly good job on maintaining the bar I've set for the series. This movie reminded me why I original started watching the series, for the adrenaline-pumping action scenes, which any good mecha show should have.

Break Blade 5 continued where the last movie ended, with the battle between the forces of Krisna led by General Baldr and the forces of Athens led by General Borcuse ended in a draw. This time, with the arrival of Athen's main force, General Borcuse turns his attention towards Krisna's capital, the Binonten, taking a little detour to ... get there. As for Krisna's side, the news that General Borcuse made a detour couldn't be any worse for Rygart, the pilot of the ancient golem, distracted and nervous, he disobeyed his orders to get back to the capital city and made his move to counter General Borcuse's advance. What the significance of that detour of General Borcuse's forces to Rygart and Krisna's counter for that as well as Binonten's preparation for the upcoming attack is the main focus of the movie.

Animation is the strongest selling point of the movie. The level of detail of the mostly desert setting of the movie is as superb as ever. The characters are very nicely drawn with no noticeable derangement even in distant camera shots; their movements are very fluid and very lively. The mecha design couldn't get any more better than what is shown on this movie or the entire series in general, it is very detailed, giving the impression that the golems are battle-weary and worn out. The fighting probably holds the best moments of this movie as it continuous to be very detailed and with a lot of focus on little details such as shrapnel, debris, damages, and scratches giving the impression of a chaotic and war-like environment.

The movie retains its previous Opening theme "Fate" by Kokia and Ending music theme "Serious-Age" by Faylan, which feels just about right and appropriate for a mecha movie embedded with maturer story themes. The movie is also covered by several soundtracks that are not really noticeable but feels just about right in adding extra details for the movie.

There is not much focus on the characters on this movie, however the movie was kind enough to give some sort of fanservice of Sigyn and Cleo on their sleep dress with Sigyn reminiscing her past with Rygart, Zess, and Hodr as the main topic and Cleo giggling every time Sigyn talks about Zess, a very nice scene. The characters that received a lot of attention on this movie are Narvi with her determination to save Rygart despite their grave situation which in the end ultimately endangered her unit, and most specially Girge, his interaction with Rygart is really something with Girge questioning and challenging Rygart's true resolved to fight during the final scenes of the movie. Voice acting is superb in general, worth noting is the voice of Hoshi Souichirou as Rygart, I really like his voice (because of his performance as Yamato Kira and other similar roles) and applaud the producers in selecting him for the main role, and Saito Chiwa as Sigyn as well, I think her voice is really elegant and befitting of any heroine or main roles.

Break Blade 5: Shisen no Hate retains all the elements that made all its previous installments great, it has a very good story, nice characters, superb animation, and interesting battle scenes. The production values are very high in general. Never a dull moment on this movie, it is enjoyable and exciting from start to finish. My final thoughts for the movie are very positive and leave me wanting to watch the final episode immediately as possible. As a final note, I would recommend Break Blade for viewers seeking a mecha series in a movie format that contains sci-fi, and fantasy elements and doesn't mind the long breaks between each episode.