Wasabi's Anime List | Wasabi's Manga List

Wasabi's Profile

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is a breath of fresh air amidst all the crazy ridiculous shows filled with giant mecha, deadly monsters, hot chicks, and moe guitar plucking girls. It takes a seemingly normal life of a bratty teenager and literally shakes up her world as she confronts the very face of humanity.

Story [9]: Mirai is one of those bratty teenagers who is entering that stage of life where they just simply hate everything and anything. Being dragged to a robot exhibition by her younger brother Yuuki, in Odaiba, a catastrophic earthquake hits Tokyo and the city falls into chaos. The story follows Mirai's journey home as she is accompanied by her brother and their guardian, Mari. It slowly paces itself through 11 episodes as Mirai and co. meet new people, and face the reality of such a life altering event. The pacing does seem slow at times, and there were certain events that could've been handled better, but it comes to a strong end as she reaches her destination.

Art [7]: The animation is definitely not the strong point of this show. The character models were mediocre at best, and there were parts where it was just simply full of QUALITY. The backgrounds however, were designed quite well plus a mixture of CGI models interacting in the background gives it life. The OP and ED were done well consisting of montages of a ruined Tokyo. For a show that's not focused around sexy looking chicks or big bad explosions, the artwork by BONES is acceptable.

Sound [8]: There wasn't a lot of memorable music in the show but it does the job. The BGM is calm and serene as it is sharp and chaotic, and fits most of the scenes well. It's not like you really need some jarring suspenseful action music when you see buildings falling into pieces and such.

The voices fit the characters well. Mirai sounds like how a teenager should sound. Yuuki and Mari's voice job was done well too. They should like their own age, unlike some other characters in other shows where 16 year old girls would have deep silent voices, etc.

The OP, done by abingdon boys school, doesn't exactly get you pumped up and excited, but rather brings a sense of melancholic urgency. The ED fits in where it should be. An ending theme of everyday life as Mirai and co. look forward towards their destination.

Character [9]: There wasn't a huge cast nor was it centered on many characters. The show reveals how humanity can react in such a crisis. There will always be the rash unreasonable people but there will always be the shining lights of hope who will assist you when you need it most.

Mirai got the brunt of all the development that was there in the show. She started off as a bratty teenager who rejects everything around her, like a prepubescent teenager should be, and slowly changes through the show as she faces the harsh reality that she's in. Yuuki is pretty much the catalyst in all of her development as he's the basic opposite of Mirai's initial personality. Yuuki was your typical happy kid. As the show progresses, we see a more mature face to his chippy exterior as he traverses through the desolate Tokyo city. Mari was their faithful guardian as she led them through the ruined city, in search of her own family. Mari started out as the cool, responsible, and protective character but as she finds out the whereabouts of her family, it is revealed that she is human just like everyone else.

Enjoyment/Overall [9/8]: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is not filled with giant beam shooting mecha. It doesn't have scantily clad magical girls. It has no moe school girl clubs nor giant tentacled monsters. It is a slice of a possible life that faces Tokyo in the modern day. The show may have its setbacks, but it is a show that reveals what realities we take for granted. It takes the everyday lives of regular people and turns their world upside down in the aftermath of an event that can happen to us all. read more

Isshoni Training, or rather Training with Hinako, is supposedly meant to be an OVA to encourage shameless otaku into exercising whether it be actual exercising for them or just a good old hand workout.

Story: What makes it even more hilarious is that there's an actual plot to it, if you can even call it that. The OVA actually starts off with a real life girl watching TV when she is suddenly sucked into it and is transformed into an anime character (Hinako). Of course we don't find out why this happens nor does it really matter. Not to mention Hinako is also a supporting actress in some mahou shougo anime as depicted in the ED.

Art: The animation is simple. Nothing groundbreaking needed to show off a girl doing exercise while her breasts are jiggling up and down. Most of it is just loops of her doing the exercise but several of the loops at least have a different variation of clothing from her regular top and shorts to school gym wear (including bloomers no doubt) and her doing squats in her bra and panties. There are also closeup of her breasts at the end while she's doing some hopping shit.

Sound: Uh... the bgm is simple enough? There's also some music playing for a half ass'd mahou shoujo ED. Hinako has the typical squeaky anime girl voice. They do have bouncing sound effects for her breasts if that counts for anything.

Character: Hinako was sucked into a TV and transformed into an anime character when she was in middle school. Now she's 16 years old and is an actress. She totally digs exercising too and she's pretty hot and stacked for a 16 year old.

Enjoyment/overall: Epic lulz factor is pretty high for this. Unless you're seriously intending on exercising while watching this, this is nothing more than blatant fanservice. read more

There will be no comparison between this anime and the manga

Kannagi is a 13 episode series that drives its plot through comedy and character interaction. When the fall season started, I originally wasn't going to watch this show since the whole goddess popping out of nowhere fiasco has been done numerous times. Once I saw the OP however, I decided to take a look at the first episode and I was definitely glad that I took this up. It takes the conventional "boy meets girl" theme and builds it up with plenty of interaction, parody, and drama.

Story: The plot starts off rather strong and fast with our protagonist, Mikuriya Jin, encountering a goddess called Nagi that has taken its vessel out of a carving Jin made from the local shrine's holy tree. The plot contains no action packed scenes of Nagi trying to banish great evil impurities but it instead drives the plot with comedic devices. The comedy is the show's main driving force. The interactions between the characters are all amusing even if they're bickering over the simplest things. The pure randomness of the humor adds in the extra feel that makes the comedy even all the more funnier.

The original plot unfortunately gets lost in the middle of the series with several episodes dedicated to nothing but comedic interaction between the characters but it ends with a strong finish in the last two to three episodes.

Art: The animation is not exactly the most crisp and clear cut state-of-the-art work but it's the way the animation flows seamlessly together that makes it great. Each scene has many small intricate movements such as a flick of hair waving about or background characters that actually move to even the sleeve of a shirt moving about in the wind. This makes the scenes appear to be natural and alive, not stiff and lacking.

Sound: The soundtrack is not a great memorable collection of BGM that'll have you scrambling for the OST. The high points of it would have to be both the OP and ED. Both of them shows a sharp contrast in how the anime is driven. The upbeat OP details the slice of life and comedic moments while the mellow ED details the seriousness and melancholy of the show.

The VAs are great too in bringing out the emotions in each scene, whether it be comedic or serious. Tomatsu Haruka not only does a great job at both OP and ED, she truly brings out the character of Nagi straight off the paper.

Character: There are only very few characters who actually receives an ample amount of development but the great supporting cast just brings everybody together. The various dialect between the characters just seem natural and it shows a lot of personality to all of them even if they don't have any large amount of development given to them.

And not to mention the main male character is actually pretty damn normal (except for his strange ability to see impurities). He's not a hot-headed brawns-over-brains idiot. He's not an annoying arrogant bastard. He's not a self-righteous piece of shit. He's just a completely normal guy who goes to high school. Nagi is a great character herself. She may appear to be slightly arrogant but the way she goes about doing things is just pure hilarious. She'll go off on how she's a great goddess and doesn't get all bitchy when Jin will occasionally smack her upside the side.

Kannagi has a great cast of supporting characters too. The supporting characters have some of the best lines in the whole show. From Akiba's "It's a Sony" line to Takako's karaoke concert, the supporting cast gives great development towards the main characters.

Enjoyment/Overall: Kannagi may have had its plot get lost somewhere in the middle, but its comedy more than fulfills its part. It's supported by a great cast of different characters and the different little scenarios they get themselves into is great. Kannagi is a fun little show with some very lulz moments and is able to deliver a strong finish too with its plot. read more

OMGZ ANOTHER BLEACH REVIEW. At least I'm not giving out mostly 10s for some strange reason! *Chapter 355 is the latest chapter, excluding all sidestories such as the Hitsugaya sidestory and the Pendulum Arc*

Bleach is an on-going manga by Kubo Tite. It is part of the holy trinity of never-ending shounen manga (along with Naruto and One Piece). I haven't read One Piece but I believe Bleach is superior to Naruto in many ways. It does not feature orange jumpsuits or straw hats but a black robed GOD OF DEATH AKA a Shinigami.

The anime is mediocre at best but like every other show based on never-ending manga, this show has its fair share of fillers.

Story: The story flows through two main arcs, with several smaller arcs in between. The first arc, called the Soul Society arc, introduces the readers to the world of Bleach and its many supporting characters and lore. It pits our protagonist characters against the denizens of Soul Society in what seems to be a rescue mission with an ulterior motive by some of the other central key figures.

The second main arc (which is still going on) however, seems like a rehash of the first arc but there is yet to be seen if some huge plot twist will occur or not.

The pacing of the story at times can get dragged on but that is to be expected in a shounen manga that has yet to end. There is plenty of dialogue and sometimes there's too much of it. Same can be said of the action. Countless battles one after another gets a bit tiring but it's acceptable once Kubo Tite inserts a twist here and there.

The story basically stars Kurosaki Ichigo, who at an early age, can see spirits. He gets attacked by a corrupted spirit called a Hollow and is saved by a Shinigami named Kuchiki Rukia. With a little help from Rukia, Ichigo manages to become a Shinigami himself. His Shinigami influence gives birth to unique latent powers to two of his friends, Yasutora Sado (Chad), and Inoue Orihime. Along with the Quincy (a group of humans who possess supernatural powers now nearly extinct) Ishida Uryuu, the four of them enter Soul Society to rescue Rukia after she was questionably imprisoned by the Soul Society government.

Art: The art in this manga is probably some of the best I've seen. They have a unique appearance that is quite recognizable and the characters are very detailed on their own. From huge bulking muscles on the body of the old Shinigami commander to the large chested females running around, each character has their own distinct appeal. Not to mention Kubo Tite really likes to draw large chested women... not that it's THAT bad of a thing.

Character: Like every other never-ending shounen, Bleach has a very large cast of characters. The manga focuses mainly on about 5 or 6 of these characters but the other supporting cast gets a fair amount of screentime when the moment comes. In the more recent chapters, several of the supporting characters are finally getting their 15 minutes of fame in battle.

There is quite an amount of development for many of the characters in Bleach. There's pretty much every character archetype possibly found in Bleach. Whether you like the short tempered guy who always starts the fights, or the arrogant looking guy that doesn't say much, to the flirtatious endowed women, there is enough personality to go around.

Enjoyment/Overall: Bleach is one of those shounen manga that gets the heat for being generic and never ends with crappy plot or ridiculous characters. Even if that may be true to some eyes, Bleach is also a manga that caters to the fans. It's filled with action (although somewhat dragged on sometimes) and it has its fill of dramatic and emotional moments. I enjoy Bleach much more than I do Naruto because it simply catches on for me with its artistic style. read more

Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.01 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE is the first of 4 movie adaptations to the Neon Genesis Evangelion series. The movie series is not to be taken as a complete retelling of the original NGE series as it will eventually contain new content never before seen in the original. The first movie starts off relatively similar to the first few episodes of NGE up to the 6th Angel's battle.

Story: Ikari Shinji is the 14 year old son of Ikari Gendo, the commander of NERV. Shinji arrives at Tokyo-3 to find out he will be piloting Eva Unit 01 to fight off against the Angels. He questions why he is doing this but pilots Eva anyway in an attempt to find the answer to his question. The movie ends with the decisive battle against Ramiel, the 6th Angel.

The story removes plenty of excess interaction Shinji had in his school in the original show. The story still flows well though, all the important scenes are still in place. Ramiel's battle had the most change when compared to original battle. Operation Yashima was lengthened and more refined. It definitely gave the movie a worthy finale battle. The movie ends with the introduction of Seele and Kaworu (who was introduced late in the original series), to open up a more refined transition to Rebuild 2.0.

Art: The art was completely upgraded with today's animation and there are several small changes that brings the life of Evangelion through even more. The movie makes use of subtle CGI effects and makes the animation seem more natural when flipping through the CGI scenes. The scenery is much more apocalyptic looking to really drive in the world of Eva.

Sound: Most of the NGE music can be found in the movie as well as new tracks. The music playing during Ramiel's fight probably stands out the most for me. The movie also included Utada Hikaru's Beautiful World as its theme.

Character: Shinji once again returns as the emotional and distraught young man along with Rei and the original cast. The relationship between Misato and Shinji is shown more apparent and earlier than the original series did. There didn't seem to be too much of Rei interaction in the movie though as compared to the original.

Enjoyment/Overall: I am not a huge Eva fan as a lot of other people are. I personally did not find NGE super amazing but the movie does well in transitioning a decade+ old show into the new age. I will be looking forward to Rebuild 2.0 and hopefully there will not be as much inner-soul-seeking-distraught-emotional-journeys as the original series had in its final episodes. read more

Negima!? is not to be confused with Mahou Sensei Negima!. They're part of the same universe, but are completely different stories. Negima!? is produced by SHAFT, and their crazy experimental presence is definitely noted in this show.

Story: Negima!? takes a completely different direction from its counterpart, deviating from the manga storyline. The first episode opens up with the final battle between the Thousand Master and Evangeline McDowell. Evangeline gets turned into a loli form and we then start the story with Negi Springfield. Negi starts his teaching career over at an all-girls school. The crazy mischief starts when it's revealed to his students that Negi is really a magician.

Note that this show is for comedic purposes, and should not be taken in serious comparison to the manga storyline. The plot paces itself fairly well and we get a lot of insight on the lesser known characters in each episode.

Art: SHAFT's strange art style is presented in the form of Negima!? The character designs are crisp, the art is fluid, and we get some colorful environments all around. Some of the characters look a tad bit different than their counterparts in Mahou Sensei Negima! but it still works in perfection.

Not to mention they make some excellent work of Asuna's hair.

Sound: The soundtrack of Negima!? is nothing too special. It has some nice quirky music during the episodes and transitions nicely when it gets to the 'dramatic' parts. What stands out the most is the OP of Negima!? The song is sung by the various voice actresses of all the students and has several different variations. Not to mention a full length song of the OP was in episode 19.

Character: Unlike the Mahou Sensei Negima! anime, Negima!? gives plenty of screen time to all the girls in the class. For such a large cast of characters, we get to see everyone participate in the anime. We also get introduced to some new characters in Shichimi and Motsu and a few others. From Shichimi's strange body contortions to Motsu's epic "...in a good way" line, this dynamic duo is probably the highlight of the characters.

Enjoyment/Overall: Some people hate this series because it's not part of the Mahou Sensei Negima! line or it's crap because SHAFT ruined everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed this series because it has its funny moments and because it's a different approach to an already on-going series.

Unfortunately, subs are nearly non-existant as Mahora Academy simply reduced subbing to one episode per 7 months after episode 20. Whatever the case, we're down to waiting for these slowpokes or for Funimation to release their DVDs. Hopefully they won't trash Negima!?'s dub... in a good way. read more

Dragonauts is another anime done by Gonzo. This show shows some promise, but due to certain presentation of its characters and style, it pretty much falls back quite a bit.

Story: The beginning of the show starts off with a young Kamashina Jin as he witnesses his family's deaths as their space shuttle gets blown to bits by a mysterious falling object from space. The main plot then follows an older Kamashina Jin as he gets thrust into a world of government secrets concerning "dragons", envoys sent by a living asteroid... thing called Thanatos floating around the remains of Pluto. Enter the Dragonauts, an elite team of humans paired up with their own artificially born Dragon. Jin and the Dragonauts are on opposing sides at first, but a government conspiracy eventually leads them to the same objective. The plot progresses at a fair pace and even has a nice short timeskip to compliment its mid-climax.

Art: The character designs are done by the very same man who did the designs for Witchblade... so you can definitely expect lots of women with unnatural proportioned bodies. The show also makes use of CGI for its dragon battles. The CGI is not very good looking as it clashes with its 2D counterpart if you even dare to compare them. The dragons themselves all have unique looks to them but it is hard to determine if the dragons are suppose to be organic beings or some kind of bio-mecha. Other than that, the art is decent except for weird proportioned women but you can never forget Sieglinde's 6th finger. Good job, Gonzo.

Sound: The music in the show is nothing special. All the tracks are not memorable enough. There are your generic suspenseful themes and romance themes and of course your action themes. I can't even write anything about it since I forgot what music the show even had.

Character: Never has a show made me hate so many characters before. I will say that the main characters have their fair share of development but the supporting characters don't shine much.

Jin is one of those "I-don't-want-to-fight-anymore" guys that does nothing but tries to talk his way out of life and death situations and Kazuki is one of those annoying cretins that just keeps coming back to kill our beloved hero blind to the fact that he's a complete asshole. I hate Kazuki as much as I hate Kururugi Suzaku. Other than that, everybody just seems... completely flat.

Enjoyment/Overall: I had hoped this show redeemed itself constantly especially through its character department but is still fairly disappointed. If you focus solely on the story, you might enjoy it some but other than that, everything else just completely ruins a potentially decent shounen show. read more

Shakugan no Shana II for those not in the know, is the second season of the Shakugan no Shana series based off of the novels of the same name. The general plot of the series follows Sakai Yuji, a torch (a replacement spirit of sorts for those who have already died) who possesses the rare Reiji Maigo (an item that replenishes Yuji's existence everyday so he doesn't burn out), and Shana, a Flame Haze (whose job is to keep the balance of existence from being blown out of proportions) as they discover evil plots devised by otherworldly invaders called Guze no Tomogara along with their human and Flame Haze allies.

Story: The second season of Shakugan no Shana focuses on what the Reiji Maigo really is and its origins as well as the mysterious Silver that Margery Daw (a Flame Haze ally of Shana's) is searching for. The villains of the first season, Bal Masque, return again in more devious plots to steal the Reiji Maigo.

The plot starts off extremely slow for the first 10 episodes or so. It focused more on useless fillers and character development until it hits around episode 12 or so, where the plot finally starts revealing some information that everybody has been asking. I was tempted to give this a lower score but seeing as how epic the story turned out in the second half, it stays high.

Art: The character designs are as expected from J.C. Staff and the effects are just simply amazing. From the revamped Fuzetsu to the spell insignias that Margery draws out, everything just looks superb in HD.

Sound: The soundtrack pretty much remains the same as the first season but it does include several new pieces. It fits the mood of each scenario very well as well a few insert songs here and there. The OP/ED are superb works from Mami Kawada and Kotoko. Although personally, I didn't like the OP/ED that Kotoko has provided for this season.

Character: Character development is most likely the show's strongest point here. From the main protagonist Yuji to the nearly non-existant Ike, everybody has their fair share of development, even if it's only a little. The love triangle of Yuji/Shana/Yoshida remains ever present and strong and they finally mature enough to get past their little squabbles. Keisaku and Eita also matures which also leads to confessions to other certain characters. Plenty of change going around so to speak.

Enjoyment/Overall: The first half of the show was just plain slow and boring. It definitely redeems itself for the second half when we finally get to see the motives of the villains and shocking revelations and twists. Excellent show for action and romance. Although the ending seemed a tad bit rushed, it is still worthy of a nice looking 9. Looks awesome on HD too. read more

Sousei no Aquarion is a mecha anime that is similar to Evagelion and RahXephon. Just another anime about humans fighting against a form of higher being, in this case, the Shadow Angels.

Story: The plot is pretty slow. It may seem the plot throws you right into action, which it does, but it does not move the plot much until the last few episodes. It follows a pretty generic line with very few twists here and there. The whole show seems pretty episodic save the finale.

Art: The art is unique in its own way. The characters have unique designs to them and the mecha are pretty unique as well. The backgrounds are nice but sometimes feel as if they were sloppily painted on. The character designs and mecha are pretty much the saving grace of the artwork.

Sound: The musical score is pretty much the highlight of the show. The music produced by Yoko Kanno, known for her works in Ghost in the Shell and Macross. The musical score makes good use of orchestrated works and the insert songs found throughout several episodes are good.

Characters: The characters have their own interesting personalities. You have Apollo, the homeless turned Daeva pilot who is short tempered to Silvia, who has a serious case of a brother complex. The characters have their own distinct way of doing things in the anime and it shows in their battles against the enemy.

Enjoyment/Overall: I was expecting more out of this anime but it reduces its plot to a drag. The battles are decent and the music is good. Other than though, it just seems like another Evagelion ripoff. read more

Zegapain is yet another mecha anime done by Sunrise. It, in no way, looks like any Gundam show though. Zegapain is not only a show full of plentiful mecha action, it has a romance side and a philosophical side to it as well.

Story: The story starts off a normal day for Sogoru Kyo but it quickly escalates as he is placed in the cockpit of a mecha called Zegapain Altair. The story progresses at a fairly decent pace and has several twists in the plot that'd question what you know from before. As said before, aside from the mecha action, you'll be witnessing a romance story between several of the characters. The romance isn't too heavy but it is nicely done in flow with the plot.

Art: The art of the anime is one of its highlights. The designs are well done and the CG scenes are smooth but there are certain episodes which seemed to have several QUALITY scenes. The CG and 2D mixes in smoothly together. The mecha and enemies all look unique and are original from other mecha like Gundams. The opening and ending are both beautiful pieces of animation even though it seems like it stands out from an action anime like Zegapain.

Sound: The music is well done and well placed throughout the show. The OP and ED however, are the highlights of soundtrack. Combined with the animation, it'll leave you with a certain sense of peace and at times it'll put you at edge when battle starts.

Characters: The characters are not your typical cliched types bar a few of them. They range from the ever cool and arrogant ones to the loud and clueless protagonist. Kyo is caught in a love triangle with two of his female companions and the romance ensues between a few other characters as well.

Enjoyment/Overall: I enjoyed the show since I am a mecha fan but it's not the best show out there. It's unique in its own way. The sci-fi is well done and delivers a very apocalyptic setting as you watch the show. read more