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"Then would you accompany me to the depth of hell?" - Index

"When magic and science crosses path, what will happen?" is how I would have liked to start this review. However the answer to that would have simply be "nothing" since, although both sides exists in the same place, there were hardly any interaction between them. So instead, I will begin by asking Index what she meant by accompanying her to the depth of hell. She was hardly present for half the show and during the rare occasions when she is in an episode, she gets sidelined and become a minor character with absolutely no impact to the story (beside biting Touma on the head).

So what happened to those 103,000 magical texts? With the exception of the first few episodes and the last episode or two, where Index as a character actually matters to the plot, there is practically zero reference to the 103,000 magical texts for 80% of the show. Granted the production studio (J.C. Staff) wanted to follow the novel as closely as possible (and they did a very good job at it), it is understandable for the abrupt ending to the story thus far. But it still makes no sense for the story’s centerpiece to be dangling here and there with no sense of purpose in the various story arcs.

If one were to ignore the problems mentioned above, then the overall production quality of Toaru Majutsu no Index is actually quite good. Decent animation from J.C. Staff (though sometimes the distant shots seem lacking in detail) plus a great cast of seiyu make this anime a pleasant watch to those who don’t really mind a poor storyline. Don’t get me wrong though, the mini arcs throughout the show which introduces and help create character developments are great in themselves. However, once the dust settles, it always makes me wonder what happen to the story that was suppose to center around Index.

Character-wise, most were introduced to compliment the particular story arc (with the exception of the main protagonists). Afterward, they will tend to “fade” to the back sometimes making a few seconds appearance here and there with no significance. In terms of character development, not much observable changes occurred for the male protagonist and Index which can be attributed to the faithful following of the novel (since there wasn’t that much matter to talk about at the time of the anime production). On the other hand the co-heroine/main protagonist, Mikoto, of the Railgun series (a spinoff of Toaru Majutsu no Index) did show considerable character growth which makes her shine like a bright star among the group of relatively static characters.

Those familiar with Shana will instantly ring a bell in their head as they watch the first OP of this series. If the OP does not make you go "OMG, this sounds similar to Shana’s OP!", then perhaps watching the daily interaction between Index and Touma will help ring some bells. To be more precise, one can even replace Index with Shana and voila, you have yourself Shakugan no Shana III. The point I am trying to make here is the similarities between the two anime.

1. From the same production company.
2. At least one of their OP theme is sang by the same singer (Kawada Mami).
3. Shana = Index, Yuji = Touma.

So what am I trying to say here? It means that if you enjoy watching Shakugan no Shana, feel free to give this anime a try. The magician (magic) vs esper (science) theme advertised by Toaru Majutsu no Index does have its selling points, but I just think it desperately need a sequel to really link the various bits and pieces together. I enjoyed the mini arcs (whether they are filler or not), those irrelevant mini stories were very entertaining and they help keep my mind off Index. But once I start thinking deeper into the character ties and relationships, there is just something missing about the purpose of Index. Perhaps a hopeful sequel will fill in the missing puzzles, but as things stand right now the story really hurts the show. read more

*A surprisingly successful sequel with emphasis on the romance between a man and a (cute) wolf.*

As foreshadowed by the prequel OVA, Spice and Wolf II focus heavily on the romance aspect between our protagonists. By and large, this second adaptation has been regarded as equally successful as its predecessor (if not more successful). In terms of the light novels adaptation, it has been widely accepted for its accurate following of the “actual” story, unlike most anime adaptation. While previous knowledge of the series is not absolutely required to enjoy the show, it is highly recommended for viewers to watch the first season as well as the OVA, which act as the prelude, before watching Spice and Wolf II. For those who wish to try this series with no previous background, here is a little summary of what to expect. Wordy. To be precise, the show is filled with dialogues from start to end, from episode one to episode twelve.

One common question people tend to have for this series often relates to the balance between romance and (merchant) trading. While there are still a decent dose of merchant-like business talks that may confuse viewers from time to time, the spotlight for this sequel seems to land on the character developments over anything else. Hence Horo and Lawrence fans will most likely enjoy the show much more than those who seek for nothing but story content (ie. business trades in medieval times).

The world of Spice and Wolf can often serve as a history textbook (that focuses on the medieval era in Europe). This is once again proven in the second season as viewers are exposed to the corrupted nature of the slave markets and the power of churches at the time. Although the inspiration of merchant trade has been greatly diminished, the believable surroundings of the medieval setting make this anime still interesting to watch even for those who are not too into the romance aspect of the show.

The character department, without doubt, is the selling point this season. Lawrence, for once, no longer seems like an undefeatable merchant. While viewers may remember him as a successful businessman, particularly when it comes to negotiation during trade, in season one. Many of us will be surprised to see that Lawrence, ultimately, is still a human being and thus he must also have his illogical and “stupid” moments especially when it comes to something he has no experience with. Something called love.

The animation this season is by Brains Base (as oppose to IMAGIN which was responsible for the previous season). There are some very minor changes in the character facial expressions and sometimes their looks at various angles, but overall the quality is similar to the first season and there is no reason for one to be disappointed with it. Re-using a quote from my review on the OVA, “For the most part, one can safely say Brains Base did a great job in taking over the series”.

Seiyu are the same as before with Jun Fukuyama being Kraft Lawrence and the lovely Ami Koshimizu acting as the equally lovable Horo (can’t get enough of that thick “Horo-only” accent). Other notable great seiyu that took part in this season include Romi Paku, and Saeko Chiba. In terms of music, the OP and ED are quite enjoyable and the BGM generally suit the particular scene in the question reasonably well. On the whole, this anime is still unique just like its predecessor. However, the big twist this season is the more intense character relationship developments rather than the merchant trading. In hindsight, there seems to be a certain lack of cleverness in plot development. But then again, the various Horo x Lawrence moments are enough to make up for that. read more

*Heartwarming end to an exceptional adaptation.*

“We can only hurt each other … because we ended up liking the same person.” – Fujibayashi Ryou

In this alternate dimension in the world of Clannad, Fujibayashi supporters will be glad to hear that their goddesses are now the main spotlight of the story. The other female characters, such as Nagisa, Tomoyo, et cetera, still exist in the story, however their lives no longer cross with Tomoya’s the way they did from the TV series (say good bye to Ushio).

Fans wishing for a new OP or at least a change in scenes/characters for the OP will be disappointed. Not only does it reuse the same OP from After Story, but all soundtracks and BGM throughout the OVA are nothing new. Everything just recycled from both the first and second season of Clannad. But is that necessary a bad thing? Probably not. For instance, the insert song from the first season, Ana, is a much more fitting ED than the original After Story ED (TORCH), which many find to be too upbeat for a show like Clannad.

Assuming you have been following Clannad and After Story, the animation should not be anything new to you. There is still the shadow from trees and clouds cast down onto our characters. There is still the smooth dynamic animation transition between scenes. And there is still the unique camera angles giving viewers a different perspective every now and then. In addition, I was totally impressed by the personification used in this short episode. The clouds that were used to express the inner thoughts of Kyou (her logic and desire) were exceptionally well made.

Perhaps the one thing that fans can enjoy now is the more elaborate character developments for the Fujibayashi twins. Although their feelings for Tomoya were evident ever since the beginning of the first TV series, but for various reasons they were held back and ultimately became sidelined characters. I have always regarded this triangular relationship the hardest and most interesting of all Clannad routes. No matter which girl Tomoya chooses, the pair still has to face the other for the rest of their lives. Both sisters wanting to love and be loved but they are bound to hurt each other in the process. Viewers see the characters grow and mature, making decisions that will affect themselves, their family, and their future. read more

*A war between overly chatty AI.*

I know I have been saying this a lot lately and I have come to believe this personally too. One must endure the "hardship" of anime to ripe its fruit. By this I mean the often boring, below-your-expectation type first few episodes of an anime series. One must remember that if the anime is 24 or so episodes long, taking 4 to 6 episodes to get the necessary background out of the way is reasonable. Dropping the show when it is not even a quarter done is very disrespectful to the series. So with all that said, what does it have to do with Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo? First of all, everything I have said above applies to this show. It does not have catchy starting episodes and the story seemed to be going nowhere at first. In addition, there is a great big WTF episode shortly after the story seem to get going (seriously…that was the greatest WTF episode I have ever encounter from a series, but it was still entertaining). But all in all, the utterly absurd idea of space colonies actually having “hand-to-hand” combat is enough for anyone to give this a try, or at least watch the WTF filler episode (personal recommendation; no background is necessary though you will have to discover the exact episode yourself).

The show is not built around pure absurdity; there is in fact a heavy metaphor in this show. The show depicts modern day teenagers (and young adults) as human trapped in “boxes” (literally). There is everything one will ever need in the box, thus allowing everyone to be comfortable just by staying inside. This is analogues to how an ever increasing portion of the younger population are now satisfied by simply sitting in front of their computer or gaming console all day without the urge of going outside or having “physical” interactions with friends. The show has a good message behind it, unfortunately it is a bit ironic that the more successful they become, the more people will be glued to the TV screen or monitor.

The crew responsible for this series is the same people who did the Mai series a few years back (Mai HiME, Mai-Otome, the OVAs, etc). So it should come as no surprise that some story elements may sound familiar and that some characters may exhibit similar characteristics in terms of their personality traits. The story does indeed sound a bit generic with three girls saving mankind from destruction. However, given the setting is in a futuristic space environment with self-realizing AI controlling space colonies, many fun and amazing events can happen.

Animation-wise, Sunrise is trying to give the viewers some clean new looks. While it may look awkward at first, the animation is quite easy to get used to, and the unique character looks and potato-shaped robots are pleasant to look at. The colonies design varies dramatically. Some look like a fearsome battle fortress, while others look like a fish with a long waggy tail. But other than these unusual looking characters and colonies, the production value is solid, and the animation quality is consistent throughout the series.

In terms of the music in this series, let’s just say it is average. The first OP was bad, unless you are an ALI Project fan, I doubt you’ll enjoy it much. Noting too spectacular for the first ED either (a bit to kiddy if you ask me). Perhaps due to how poorly made the first OP and ED was, the second OP and ED seemed exceptionally well made. The difference between them can truly be described as night and day. Much to my surprise, some of the sound effects (especially during battles) are recycled from the Gundam SEED series. Putting the music aside, the seiyu in Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo is nothing but big names. Some of these talented seiyu include: Jun Fukuyama (Lelouch from Code Geass, Watanuki from xxxHOLIC), Ami Koshimizu (Horo from Spice and Wolf), Mai Nakahara (Nagisa from Clannad), Rie Tanaka (Lacus from Gundam SEED), Akira Ishida (Athrun from Gundam SEED), just to name a few.

There are many occasions from Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo and its spin off manga series that will remind us of Code Geass, one of the most successful series that Sunrise recently produced. While the parallelism may not be obvious to some at first (beside the undeniable evil Lelouch/Leopard’s laugh), it was hilarious to see Leopard stated that if he is a human he would look like Lelouch. Check it out here. http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc354/KaminaKun/lelopard.jpg It is from the official manga, not a fanart, although there are plenty of cute looking GIF with a Lelouch/Leopard mix all over the net right now. read more

*One step at a time, slowly they find themselves falling in love.*

“Geez, women are so hard to understand” – Etsu Kusuda

Most, if not all male viewers tend to agree with that statement. The various male characters in Hatsukoi Limited (literally means first love limited) all experienced the same problem. But before you get the wrong idea, it should mentioned that this anime is directed from the female perspective most of the time. Hatsukoi Limited explores the early love life of a group of teenage girls and how they cope with boys that they like (or don’t like). While 12 episodes are hardly enough to cover any in depth relationship for over half a dozen girls, the story remains a highly enjoyable one. Simply put, Hatsukoi Limited is as close to an idealized slice of life / romance comedy one could find in the market now a day.

Complex love web is one of the main elements in the story. However, viewers will have no trouble adapting to the environment as everything build on one another slowly one step at a time. In fact, the overall plot to the story tags along quite well with each major character’s development. One could even say the characters are a natural complement to the story or vice versa (this may be a natural thing to say, but in reality not a lot of shows can even do this properly).

A well structured story must also have a logical order for presenting its characters and Hatsukoi Limited excel in this department as well, as previously mentioned. What most people worry about is the sudden rush of information in the early episodes (like just dumping all you need to know about all the characters in episode 1), but thankfully that is not the case for Hatsukoi Limited. In hindsight, starting the story with Ayumi was an obvious choice for the author although her character as a whole may not have been the easiest to accept by most audiences.

Viewers will enjoy watching most of the characters grow and develop themselves along the way. Most have gotten more mature and act more reasonably, but there are some exceptions. Whether the lack of character development for these characters are attributed to the length of the series or the story was meant to be that way, is up to viewers to decide. However, it should be pointed out that all the characters have a sense of realism in them, nothing from their characteristics seem fictitious or too fantasy-like. Through the eyes of these 14 to 16 years old, one might even see a resemblance of your own younger self.

Perhaps the most painful part of Hatsukoi Limited with regards to its characters is that, like most shounen shows out there, it has really wimpy, stupid, and annoying guys (to make matter worse, most of them look quite ugly too). On the other hand, the females characters are often really smart, kawaii, and gorgeous looking babes (yes Misaki, that means you)!

Quite frankly, it was the character animation that first caught my attention to this wonderful romance comedy as the storyline sounded rather generic to me at first. As to be expect from J.C. Staff, they always deliver high quality animation (and consistent too). The backgrounds are often lacking in detail, but that help put the characters in focus and viewers will spend 90% of the time looking at the characters anyway, thus there isn’t much to complain about. It was also interesting to see that the characters in the anime seem to be an exact carbon copy of their original manga self. Believe it or not, it is not easy to find an anime adaptation that follows the manga as closely as Hatsukoi Limited, both in the looks of the characters and the story itself.

Finally, music is THE area that surpirsed me the most throughout the show. First off, both OP and ED are just splendid. The additional BGM and soundtracks in between just amplifies whatever tiny emotion I had in my mind, making this series a bit more successful than it should have been in my eyes. I hope you will find Hatsukoi Limited as enjoyable as it did for me and it is definitely a series in which I plan to have a blu-ray collection of in the future.

Are you in love right now? read more

“Put your wishes into the memories you do not want to forget…”

Ef – a tale of memories is one of those anime that will probably stay in your memory and will be used as a standard to compare with other similar series in the future. Why in the future? Because the entire series is so beautifully made that there is only a very small handful of shows that are worth comparing it to at present time. In fact, as far as animation quality and technique are concerned Ef – a tale of memories is one of a kind and will most likely remain so for some time to come.

The unique animation style is first shown in the first OP. While colourful images and sceneries directly taken out from the anime itself often proved to be an effective foreshadowing device (and a good way to capture viewers attention), the exact opposite apparently also work! With a simple coloured background plus a bunch of text, and some occasional symbolic representation of certain character/event, the OP of Ef – a tale of memories can be quite addictive to watch. Aside from the OP, the anime itself is equally impressive (if not more impressive). Extremely high quality animation is just a standard for this show. What makes it truly unique are the camera angles used in difference scenes, or in some cases the very effective use of repetitive text on the screen. The former often give viewers a greater view of things and present some background of the setting, while the latter case, the simple words and phrases are enough to advance the plot and at the same time depicts the mental state of the characters.

Viewers will most likely find the beginning of Ef – a tale of memories hard to follow. This can be attributed to the introduction of most (if not all) of the primary casts in the first episode. However, it was necessary to introduce all the seemingly unrelated characters at once since the storyline focuses deeply on the various characters’ developments. It should also be pointed out that a few of the secondary characters will actually become the main characters of the sequel, Ef – a tale of melodies. Thus becoming familiar with the sideline characters now will serve as a good foundation for the sequel.

There are two parallel plots occurring simultaneously. The first involve a simple love triangle between a guy and two girls (somewhat similar to True Tears for those who have seen it), personally I did not find this plot particularly well written. However, the second plot is what makes Ef – a tale of memories shine like a bright star among numerous other anime of the same genre (it is also where the title of the anime came from!). The concept of the second story was designed to move ones’ heart. It was built around pity and sadness. It was written in a way such that viewers will unconsciously find the couple destined to be together, yet due to some circumstances, made it near impossible for them to stay together. Overall, the story and characters are there to evoke a mixed array of emotions from us, the viewers.

As previously mentioned, the entire show is beautifully executed. This includes the music as well. From the BGM in the prelude episode to the OP to the BGM throughout the series to the ending, they all fulfill their purpose very nicely and matches perfectly with the particularly scene at that particularly moment. Personally, it was the amazing OP (plus stunning animation from the OP) that caught my attention to this series. The music are largely composed by Tenmon who happened to be the music composer of other great shows such as 5 Centimeters per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, et cetera.

Ef – a tale of memories is truly a great romance anime that all romance suckers should not miss. From unbelievably stunning animation to music to characters to story, there is hardly anything to complain about this show (aside from the lack of “big name” seiyu which some people care about). On the whole, Ef – a tale of memories is, without a doubt, one of the top romance anime of the decade. read more

*Heads up for a more romance-based second season of Spice and Wolf.*

Wow, talk about a foreshadowing episode for the upcoming new season of Spice and Wolf. For a “re-introduction” OVA, this short ~22 minute clip is very well made. Not only did it manage to include a fairly detailed introduction to the main characters of the series, but it also let us experience once again the life as a merchant through the usual exchange of dialogues between the characters.

One of the first thing most of us who have seen the first season will be concerned about is the animation. If you still don’t know, this OVA and the upcoming season of Spice and Wolf is produced by Brains Base as oppose to IMAGIN which did the first season. For the most part, one can safely say Brains Base did a great job in taking over the series. While there are obviously some dissimilarities, especially with regards to Horo, overall you should not have trouble getting use to it.

Another concern you may have is with the plot. Will it jump to a random timeline and ignore all the major events that took place in the first season or will it continue precisely from where season one left off? Thankfully it is the latter case … but with a twist. Although it is certain that the unusual merchant adventures will continue for our stars, this OVA (aka chapter 0) gives us plenty of clues that inter-character relations will play a much more significant role in the future. Given how much the pair of protagonists has gone through in the first season already, it should not be strange for the story to steer toward that direction for a change.

Character-wise, as stated earlier, viewers have a brief but valuable first glimpse at our protagonists in this short OVA. Unlike the first season where everything is carried through dialogues, this time we see more “inner” character development (I call it “self realization”) via dreams or flashbacks. This new approach to reintroduce the characters is great in many ways. First off, it will not scare away new viewers with all the wordy exchange of dialogues. Secondly, it is also much more effective in reminding old viewers what type of characters they are and what their current mindset is like, thus preparing us for the upcoming new season. If there is one thing worth complaining about, it is probably with the sudden outburst of the “hidden” feelings between our protagonists. In particular, Horo’s reaction toward Lawrence became extremely evident and her jealousy is also highly entertaining.

Other than the three major factors mentioned above, everything else remain largely the same as the previous season, that includes the music, seiyu roles, et cetera. Fans who wish to see more Horo x Lawrence romance relations will certainly be happy with the OVA. Overall, this is a wonderfully made OVA that serves its purpose well to lead us to the new (and hopefully better) second season. read more

*A failed attempt to surpass the “unsurpassable”.*

“Men put their souls into their drills when breaking through!”

Some obvious advices/facts before we dive into the review.

1.
This is NOT a standalone movie thus having knowledge from the TV series is highly recommended and also beneficial to your mind.
2.
Do NOT compare the pacing of the TV series with the movie. One is called a TV series and the other is called a movie for a reason, k? Both the TV series and the movie are by the original director and script editor so they know what they are messing with.
3.
Do NOT expect to see a lot of new footages. Does this mean this is a “recap” of the TV series? Not exactly. There are enough plot differences in the battles for this movie to be considered an adaptation instead of a complete “recap”.
4.
Is the movie rushed? To a large extent, yes it is. There is simply too much material to cover in too little time. This is probably what most people are complaining about.
5.
Is it worth your time to watch this? Only if you can distinguish what to expect between a TV series and a movie.

The problem with trying to remake a masterpiece level of work (and that applies not only to anime) is that people will only be curious to see how the new work can surpass the previous work. Often people will have a pre-set level of expectation for these works and more often people will find themselves expecting too much and ended in disappointment. For example, after rating the original TV series 10/10, viewer X eagerly awaits the movie adaptation. But what can he really expect? That the movie worth 11/10? No, that is not possible. This is all thanks to something called human prejudice. Everyone who has seen the TV series first will consciously/unconsciously be comparing them. So please be mindful when watching the movie not to compare it bit by bit with the TV series. It is not fair for the movie.

Those of us who have seen Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (TTGL) will know what it means when I say the show as a whole defies the Laws of Physics. While there are plenty of examples for that type of shows, TTGL is by far the most outrageous, thus the term “epicness” is seen wherever TTGL appears. The story of TTGL is a prime example of the “underdog” battle. The main characters began with very little fighting chance but every time they seem to turn the impossible possible. And how do they do that? With a DRILL of course!

The movie has some great new battle scenes. Animation wise it is the same as the TV series (for those who like to compare the two). Most scenes were pretty consistent but lacking in details from time to time which is to be expected from the sketchy and cartoonish-looking animation. What truly makes TTGL “epic” though is that the scenes match well with the “mood” at that particular moment of the show. This is partially due to the great soundtracks and theme songs by Shoko Nakagawa. Overall those of us who are familiar with Gainax’s previous works will not be disappointed in TTGL.

Character wise, there was a slightly heavier emphasis on Yoko in this movie which is great for all Yoko lovers. Simon and Nia also have a decent character development throughout the movie. Unfortunately, because of time constrain, there was not much character building for the secondary characters like Rossiu and Kittan who ended up being quite hollow. Thus if all you ever care about is Kamina, Nia, Simon, and Yoko, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong for you. For the rest of us … brace ourselves for some disappointment here.

The following is targeted to those who have concerns with regard to the pacing of the movie. Ask yourself this, how long as it been from the end of the TV series to the airing of the movie. Answer: 11 month and 1 week (give or take a few days). Do you honestly expect to see tremendous differences (next to what it has presented already) given the time? Do you honestly expect to see a whole new story with the same awesomeness produced in 51 weeks? Given the time, though of course we can argue that they could have delayed the movie if things didn’t work out, I think it was a fairly decent job. Hopefully you will find it a good enjoyable watch too! read more

*An alternate interpretation of the Clannad story centered around the Nagisa x Tomoya couple.*

Did you get confused with the ending in Clannad After Story? Did you wish for a more realistic ending? Did you know that Clannad The Motion Picture might just be what you are looking for? Or perhaps you have heard of Clannad and Clannad After Story from all your friends, but you have yet to try it out? Clannad The Motion Picture (TMP for short) provides a great summary of all the major events that took place in the ~46 episodes (excluding OVA/recap) series between the two main protagonists. Please be mindful that the movie is retelling a story in ~90 minutes that its TV counterpart took ~1100 minutes to tell! Thus some events may seem to occur at an unreasonable pace. But nonetheless Clannad TMP is still a movie that a true Clannad fan should not miss out on.

While the story is still being told from Tomoya’s perspective, many aspects of the show depart from the TV series. Assuming you have the background from the TV series (if you have no background what-so-ever please skip the rest of this paragraph) then you should be warned that first of all, this is purely a Tomoya x Nagisa scenario with all other heroines playing a minor role, or in some cases did not even have a role. This means that Tomoya never develop any kind of deep friendship with the others and consequently did not help them when they were troubled. This in turn means no light orbs … hence a more realistic ending.

Although Clannad is a slice of life/romance anime, its similarities end there with other show of the same genre. Clannad is like a milking machine. Its whole purpose is to milk out all your emotions that you often don’t have toward anime. While the movie did not do very well in this department compared to the TV series (largely due to the lack of character development and coverage), the overall story in the movie did manage to create a similar atmosphere for viewers. This means that we still get the usual comedic side of a delinquent high schooler lifestyle. It also means a confused protagonist at a loss after being challenged by the hardships in life.

There was this “illusionary” world in Clannad TV series where they featured, with great CG animation, a girl and a robot built from scrap metal. Mirroring this concept, Clannad TMP also has an illusionary world. But instead of the girl and robot, we have a “clown”. The symbology in the two illusionary worlds is slightly different but both fit perfectly fine in their respective show. These illusions generally give the viewers more background on the characters and the way they think/feel about certain things.

Like previously stated, the characters in Clannad TMP consist of Tomoya and Nagisa. Their role did not get amplified compare to the TV series, instead the other characters just never get enough screen time. One strong point about the characters in the movie is that there is no ambiguous character relationships developed between Tomoya and various heroines. This allows us to truly enjoy Tomoya and Nagisa’s journey through life instead of wasting our time rooting for other females who will never end up with Tomoya.

One glaring eye poison of the movie is the character design of the lovable Nagisa and her equally adorable mother, Sanae. They look like characters drawn from a low budget production in the 90s (actually the looks are straight ripped out from the manga, but Toei Animation should have improved on it). Thankfully there does not appear to have much character “deformation” in the other characters, they all look similar to their TV counterpart which is definite a welcome for most fans. And thankfully (again) there does not appear to have any ear poison either. Although nothing sounds too spectacular from the movie (especially when compared to the TV series) there is no serious window shattering horrid nightmarish music/soundtracks. Lastly I recommend you not to make any comparison between the TV series and the movie since:

1. The movie was made before Clannad season one so technically there was nothing to compare to back then.
2. The movie was made by a different animation studio (Toei Animation) compare to the TV series (Kyoto Animation). read more

*A great entertaining product by SHAFT backed with hilarious out-of-the-blue jokes.*

"I-I don't even understand the letter C in Catholic!" - Miyamae Kanako

If I was asked to describe Maria + Holic in one word, I believe “wordy” will suit this show perfectly. The amount of monologues in the show is tremendous! Plus the “rail gunning” of words shooting back and forth between the characters simply makes the anime difficult to follow without pauses in between (assuming you need to read the subtitles). And the occasional weird reference to various things also contributes to the complexity of the show for an average viewer. These issues may turn some potential viewers away, but if you can get accustom to these minor issues, Maria + Holic is actually a rather unique experience.

The anime itself should be praised for following the manga closely. The entire series covers pretty much the first three volumes of the manga (out of a total of four serialized volumes so far). While certain episodes may seem like fillers, especially if they are not designed to advance the story in any way, these filler-like episodes actually are indeed part of the manga. It should be no surprise that these episodes still manage to be highly entertaining albeit a bit random in most cases.

As a SHAFT product, those who are familiar with the studio should know what to expect. But if you don’t have a clue, here is a general description. Maria + Holic have high quality animation with good looking characters. Background scenes tend to be overly simplistic to contrast with the detailed characters. What this mean is that while the character usually look professionally drawn, the background often seem like the work of an elementary kid. This may be strange for some viewers, but surprisingly the result is quite pleasant to watch.

The OP will most certainly take some time to get used to. It is so … unique. On the other hand, the ED makes use of voice changers and the effect turns out quite enjoyable. Frankly, the BGM in Maria + Holic are nothing unique like the OP or ED making them less memorable after the show is done. However, to counterbalance the “average” BGM, we have a few astonishingly stupendous seiyu that can make us forget the pain of the lack of good BGM. Out of the few bright stars in the anime, Yuu Kobayashi is particularly outstanding. In part due to her singing the OP, also her ability to change between two highly different male and female voices make her one of the biggest asset to the show.

We normally see the male protagonist having perverted thoughts on various female characters in an anime. Maria + Holic is no different except that the protagonist is a girl. And her lust for other girls is stronger than 99.9% of her male counterparts. Here is another good lesson to learn. Never judge anybody by physical appearance alone. Kanako may look like a regular big chest girl in your eyes, but deep down inside she is quite a frightful lady … in a perverted way. It should come as no surprise that she also an openly declared lesbian with a tendency to execute a nosebleed faster than you can say the word nosebleed. The cause of her nosebleed is often due to her encounter with an ecchi scene. In fact, she spurts so much blood that it became a regular routine for the viewers to see her in the school infirmary.

Next we have a very cute looking babe plus an equally sexy voice. She has a good body proportion, excellent grade at school, and is loved by all her classmates. But she is a guy. Yup, you read that correctly. This hot babe is a guy proven and tested, through some grabbing, by our perverted female lead. Maria + Holic is full of interesting characters that will surely put a big happy smile on your face. It is unfortunate that the story has an open ending (since the manga is no where near done either), so fans will just have to be patient for the time being until someday a continuation to the series is announced. read more