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As a gigantic Type-Moon fan, I recognize that this review may be a bit biased. Indeed, if you aren't familiar with any of the characters in Fate stay/night or Tsukihime, or the universe both stories take place in (aptly named the "Nasuverse" by fans after the author, Kinoko Nasu), then don't expect to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. On the other hand, if you are familiar with anything Type-Moon, then prepare for the best parody series in recent memory. In short, your knowledge of Type-Moon lore is directly proportional to the amount of enjoyment you will get out of this series. And for me, it's a perfect 10.

As I understand, this anime is based off the Take-Moon manga created by Eri Takanashi, whom you may know best as the creator of the relatively popular series Kannagi. If you've been introduced to Kannagi and its offbeat brand of humor, then you might know what to expect...or do you? The fact is, Carnival Phantasm's humor is way more polished and wacky than Kannagi, and that's coming from someone who considers himself a fan of both. It's clear just by viewing one episode that Takanashi is passionate about the Nasuverse, bringing in even the most obscure relics and fan favorites such as Neco-Arc Chaos, Sion, and Caren. Even the denizens of Melty Blood are present!

Going into all the individual segments, easter eggs, and recurring gags would make this a very, very long review, so I'll just leave all those for you to watch for yourself. But some of my personal favorite segments are the Grail-kun, Afterschool Alleyway Alliance, The 5th Seihai Grand Prix, Berserker's First Errand, and of course the omnipresent Seihai-kun. The Badump! Date Plan segment gets an honorable mention simply for being exactly what it sounds like: the protagonists of Fate and Tsukihime trying to create their own respective harems. If you know why that might pose many, many problems and you can realize how absolutely, ridiculously absurd that would be, then this series is definitely for you. Things even get serious in typical Nasu fashion with the episode "Final Dead Lancer". At its core, it is nothing more than a love letter to the Type-Moon universe, and I wouldn't ask for anything more.

Carnival Phantasm is beautifully animated and has one of the catchiest OPs in recent memory. The ED pales in comparison, but still serves as a nice dramatis personae to the Nasuverse. The Tiger Dojo segments are the stuff of legend--you won't believe how good they are till you see them.

You won't find any mollusks or postmodern, unconventional, often maddening writing styles in this series, but this is without a doubt the best and most hilarious take on the Nasuverse since "Platonic Magician H" or "Kaleido Prism Illya". I highly recommend it to anyone.

SEA-SON FOUR! SEA-SON FOUR! read more

Now let me first say that despite my penchant for playing visual novels, due to certain technical circumstances (i.e. the patch for the game is horribly broken and unplayable) I have not been able to play the ChaoS;HEAd VN. Therefore, while I did enjoy the anime, please note that I have not played the game, and that the game is most likely way, way better than what I watched. That said, ChaoS;HEAd was a really fun ride, and really messes with your head.

If you've heard of/are watching/played Steins;Gate, you know what to expect, pretty much; the arbitrary semicolon in the name indicates that it is part of the same game series (made by visual novel company Nitro+.) Instead of Akihabara, though, this takes place in Shibuya, and follows an antisocial shut-in named Takumi Nishijou, who suffers from many problems--the most pressing of which is the frequent delusions he has (to show the severity of this, his 2-D waifu Seira-tan materializes in front of him regularly and declares her love for him) . These delusions eventually grow to incredible proportions, effectively erasing the line between his imagination and his reality and making him incredibly paranoid. On top of all that, a series of murders, called the "New-Gen" incidents, have been taking place, torture devices shaped like crosses show up in his room, the message boards he frequents show him disturbing images, and every girl he runs into seems to either want to kiss him or kill him. All of these things seem to be connected to him somehow, and the fun of ChaoS;HEAd is figuring out exactly how.

Many people have mixed feelings about this anime for many different reasons, but I thought it did a lot of things really well, and I'm quite eager to play the VN someday due to it. Also, you're always super special. Never forget that.
If you've ever seen Paranoia Agent and you're thinking this sounds similar, get that shit out of your head right now, this is nothing like it. Recommended for fans of Higurashi, Umineko, Fate/stay night, or any other anime adaptations of story-based visual novels. read more

Having been a big fan of the majority of moe slice-of-life shows to come out recently, I had high hopes for A-Channel. On many counts, it delivers, but on so many others, it falls short. As a result, this is one of the weakest slice-of-lifes to come in a long time. The main problem I found was that the show wasn't particularly funny, although billing itself as a "comedy". It was indeed cute girls doing cute things, but not with as much substance as, say, Hidamari Sketch or GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class. However, the show definitely has its moments, mainly in the form of Run-chan. The moment where she bites her tongue and can't talk is priceless, and her interactions with the people around her are the primary reason to watch. Recommended for fans of Lucky Star, Hidamari Sketch, GA, Minami-ke, YuruYuri, or any other cute girl show. read more

Now before I get into what I thought of this series, let me first say that I am a big fan of the original light novel, and I was really looking forward to its adaptation. Usually JC Staff does a great job with the light novel adapatations of Shana, Index, and Zero no Tsukaima, so I wasn't really worried. Unfortunately, saying that they dropped the ball on this series is a gross understatement. Don't get me wrong, the series is probably fine by itself if you've never read the original work, but since I had, it left a lot to be desired for me. Moments that were once moving, emotional, and suitably epic are in most cases reduced to coming off as cheesy and ridiculous. Since there is almost no introspection from Kinji, many of the events that were so cool in the novel end up looking like complete bullshit and arbitrary deus ex machina. It's still a fun watch, but you've been warned--don't take it seriously. One thing I will say, all the girls are deliciously cute. Recommended for fans of Zero no Tsukaima, Shana, Toradora, Astarotte no Omocha, and any other show where Kugimiya Rie voices a loli. read more

There was a lot of hype surrounding this work because of director Kenji Nakamura, who made a name for himself with Trapeze. Having seen Trapeze and remembering how good it looked, I was really expecting a lot. However, blurry visuals and legendary QUARITY made me genuinely disappointed in it. Story wise, it does some things that have never been done, and for that, I commend it. But its finanical discussion never really steps beyond Econ 101 level, the characters aren't particularly engaging, and as gg fansubs so eloquently puts it, the main premise ends up being primarily "Yu-Gi-Oh with credit cards". When it does step up, though, it really STEPS UP, and it's almost worth watching just for the awesome last few episodes. Other than that, though, the series was, to me, consistenly mediocre.
Even so, the series' constant Engrish is pretty fun to randomly quote to your friends, and you'll find yourself constantly wanting to shout "YOU HAVE GAIN" in public places. Quite embarrassing. Recommended for fans of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon because of how the bullshit battle system works. XD read more

You know how during dramatic series a lot of shit happens but in the end there's always a turning point where things look up for the protagonist? Yeah, that turning point never comes in this series. While some might criticize it for this overbearing assault on your sense of morality and emotion, I found that that was the series' strength. It is dark, bloody, depressing, and poised to make you hate almost every single character (and then love them and then hate them again) , and that's why for me it shines. While its structure is quite shonen in reality (strange powers, some villains look like they were stolen straight from Kubo's sketch pad, themes of getting stronger, etc.), the series is so twisted that I can't really compare it to any other shonen manga out there. It truly is a class alll its own. Recommended for fans of School Days, Elfen Lied, and of course Eureka Seven, because both manga were done by the same author/illustrator combo. read more