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I've come to the realization that pretty much everything in life is subjective ( TV, movies, food, books, music, etc.). Just because one or two people say something is crap, doesn't really mean it is crap. .

Same can be applied to anime, one person will say an anime they have seen sucks, but there might be more people who actually think it's good regardless of it's flaws and such.

A good example of this would be, of course, Sister Princess.

Plot: Wataru Minakami is a smart guy who, due to a computer glitch, failed his high school entrance exam. He soon finds out he was accepted to another school called Stargazer Hill Academy, which is located on an island called Promise Island. He then goes there ( by force ), and quickly meets 12 cute and charming girls who are his sisters!

The show is entirely episodic and follows Wataru and his relationship with all sisters as well as doing all sorts of things like going to school, celebrating holidays, shopping and what not.

Like most slice of life animes, it has no plot and the show is very episodic, like i said. This might turn some people off, but one can forgive the show for the lack of plot and just watch the show for what is: sweet and simple fun.

Now, the fact that the show was directed by the same man that did Eiken is something I can easily look past. Of course, this was made before Eiken and is better than it in terms of directing, but it does have it flaws. The directing can be a bit off most of the time and also make the show seem rather bland when first viewed. Fortunately, the show does still does have it's good points. For one the Serious/dramatic scenes are decently well-written, plus it does get a bit better in the second half of the show.

Art/animation: The show might not of had a big budget, but nonetheless, the art and animation is still good and passable; It's very colorful, vibrant, cute-looking, and well designed most of the time. Sadly though, the animation is flawed as well; there are some goofs throughout the series and can be easy to point out. Still, the budget was average so it doesn't matter.

Music: the opening theme song, personally, wasn't my cup of tea, but the ending theme was better and catchy too. The rest is jazzy, laid-back kind of music that's really nice to listen to.

Voice-acting: both japanese and english dubs were good. The english dub is, however, a bit of a mix bag, some of the voices were really good while some others sounded really cheesy. Other than that though, they still suit the characters no matter how they sound.

Characters: let's start off with the sisters. Though lacking any development, the girls are very cute and likable, you'll probably by the end of the day, might have a favorite or two out of them.

Then there's Wataru. Sadly in the beginning, he starts off rather selfish, stupid, bland, and really annoying. I said earlier that the show gets better in the second half, but that's mostly because he changes later on. He actually gets the most development out of everyone; he soon learns what it's like to be an older brother and starts to care for his sisters

Enjoyment/overall: while definitely flawed in some aspects, Sister Princess is truly one of the best animes have seen recent years. Though flawed and far from being a masterpiece, it's still an enjoyable show that is fun, touching, cute, silly, and worth watch; a gem might i say.

Don't let the ratings on both MAL and animenewsnetwork throw you off, as mentioned, it's an enjoyable show worth your viewing.

If you like comment me, if not tell me
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I've come to realize that with all the newest animes coming out recently, there are still others that people seem to have forgotten, that or they've never heard of any of these shows. I'm talking about the kind of animes that are really good and underrated, but seem to have slipped under the radar.

The Law of Ueki, is one of those shows.

Plot:
God has created a tournament, called the battle of the supernatural powers, to decide who will take his place as the ruler of heaven. All 100 god candidates must pick a middle school student, give him/her a strange, yet unique power, and act as their fighter. The winning candidate will become the new god and the fighter will receive the talent of blank, which will give him/her whatever talent he/she wants. However, there are people who want the talent of blank for their own greedy and selfish desires. Enter our hero, Kousuke Ueki, who only wants to compete in the tournament to protect both his friends and the talent of blank with his power to turn trash into trees.

The show is a shonen anime which means it'll have cliches, fillers, over a 100 episodes, and a plot that soon goes nowhere halfway through the show. Here's the thing though:

It doesn't!

The show is very unique in it's way to take whatever cliches most shonen anime seem to have, and execute them in a way that makes the show barely boring at all! It does have a rather odd and bizarre look to it all, but that's the nature of the show. Credit should go to the director, Hiroshi Watanabe, for making the show hyperactive and zany for one moment, action-packed and intense the next ( usually at the same time ), and sad and dramatic when needed.

Art/animation:
Studio DEEN did a good job on the show. While not lush and slick as most action shows, it's still decent and very above average. It's bright and colorful and the fights are still entertaining to watch and visually pleasing. The character designs will remind you of shows of Zash Bell, but they're not too bad.

Music:
All the ops and eds are nice and good to listen to. The rest of the music is decent and passable.

Voice-acting:
Japanese: excellent! The show has an all star cast of seiyuus (romi paku, tomoko kawakami, mamiko noto, kappei yamaguchi, jun fukuyama, souichiro hoshi, etc.) and they all did a nice job playing their roles.

English: terrible, just plain bad! The voices for the characters were painful to the ears and the acting was just dreadful! There were some that were ok, but it's really not enough to save the whole dub.

Characters:
Probably the strongest part of the show. All the characters are given a great amount of depth and development as well as backstory to why they wanted to fight. No matter how major or minor anyone in the show is, you'll just end up rooting for them as they struggle to be want they want to be, even the bad guys are hard to resist!

Enjoyment/Overall:
What I said has already been said, the law of ueki is a show that shouldn't be missed by anyone, wether a shonen fan, action fan, or anime fan in general it doesn't matter. As stated earlier, this is an anime that slipped past under the radar without anyone knowing of it and deserves the full viewing it deserves. I had a blast watching it, I'm gald I watched it to begin with, and I hope others out there will to.

If you liked this review, feel free to comment me, if you didn't liked it tell me and i'll understand.
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If I were to describe Boogiepop Phantom in 5 words or less, it would be: dark, atmospheric, strange, confusing, and more importantly, outstanding. So what makes this show outstanding? Well that's where this review comes in handy ; ).

First off, Boogiepop is a horror anime, pretty much like Elfen Lied and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and all three shows also have a few similarities: blood, gory violence, very disturbing, great art and animation, and a dive into the human psyche. But then again, there are the differences between the three and what makes Boogiepop different from the other two is also what makes it so amazing.

What makes it truly stand out completely is the art/animation. Throughout the entire show(except the last episode), the art is done in a dark, hazy, blurry, sepia tone; the animation is good but sadly the character designs are very bland and make it almost impossible to tell everyone apart. Both art and animation are really good, but they make the show a lot more confusing the it's own plot line which I will get to right now.

The story for the show is very non-linear, if you go into this without knowing anything about it, you'll get left behind scratching your head for sure. Boogiepop takes place in an unamed city in Japan where a month ago, a pillar of light appeared out of nowhere and strange things start to happen along with some nasty murders that seem connected to another killing spree from five years ago. Actually, trying to come up with a brief synopsis for this show is honestly very difficult, so lets just leave it at that for now. From time to time, the show would focus on a certain character and learn about them and their connection to the events. Just like the works of Satoshi Kon, Boogiepop is very very psychological and when it comes to the human psyche, it goes in way deep than you would image. There are also some themes in this show such as: change, relationships, dualism, and escapism.

Finally sound; not only does Boogiepop having great sound editing, but it also has some of the best music ever composed in an anime. The music mainly consist of gregorian, experimental electronica, and mostly just sound effects made for the anime. I haven't heard much of the Japanese dub, but the english dub is really good; Right Stuf International did a great job with the dub if I say so myself.

Elfen Lied and Higurashi are indeed both great horror anime, but to me, Boogiepop Phantom is one of the most underrated horror anime as well as one of the most overlooked anime in general. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for something good and scary to watch. Multiple viewings are a must for Boogiepop Phantom. read more

First review, don't like it? deal w/ it. Anyway, lets get to it shall we?

Story: There really isn't all that much to say about K-on's plot because, like Azumanga Daioh and lucky Star before it, the plot is nonexistent, seeing that it's a comedy/slice of life anime of course. The entire show is episodic with no arcs at all; each episode has the characters doing things like band practice, shopping, training camp, and stuff like that. Also there's one thing one should keep it mind when expecting something from a slice of life anime: EXPECT NOTHING. Why? Because just about every slice of life anime always have the same tired and true episodic story formula meaning that they contain: no plot development, no twist, and nothing to spoil about. no matter how great the anime truly is, the slice of life genre won't bring anything special to the table (if it already did then f*ck me -_-).

Art/animation: equally, their both really good, that's what you would expect from Kyoto Animation. The character designs, not only were they done by the same person who worked on lucky Star, but importantly, they also capture the moe-ness of the show quite well. while the animation is good, most of the time when the characters are moving or running, it seems to have a rather crude, sluggish look to it, but it was still alright nonetheless.

Sound: both op/en themes songs are great, but I kinda like the opening a lot more and the songs the girls play are about as fun and catchy as the songs from Nerima Daikon Brothers ^^. I heard that some of the seiyuus are newcomers to show , well regardless, their performances were rather good if I say so myself.

Characters: some of them are kinda likable depending on the person I guess, but to me, they all range from decent and interesting to stupid and annoying as hell. The only character i liked out of everyone else is Mio; unlike the cast (excluding Azusa), Mio is someone I could take seriously and also laugh with instead of at her.

Enjoyment: it various. Actually when I got to the middle of the show, I was really annoyed with how stupid the characters were acting, and not just that, but I found the moe-ness too much for me. By the end, however, I started to find it more enjoyable and satisfying. For a comedy anime, there actually is a bit of substance and SOME serious content, but then again this is a comedy so it really doesn't go all that deep at all.

Overall: In the end, K-on is a fun and cute-if not slightly irritating-piece of light fluffy entertainment. Even if you don't like moe, or better yet hate it, at least give K-on a try, it is definitely a show that should be seen more than once. read more