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I watched this show to the end solely because the opening theme was too darn catchy. Seriously, I really like the opening theme and think it's one of the best anime openings I've heard in a good while. Unfortunately, the actual show turned out to be more or less a generic high school club (this time middle school) show, with the Yosakoi dance theme doing little to make it stand out.
I don't have anything against anime with a school setting in particular, but I do feel it's been really overdone. So yeh, another show about school girls starting a new club in Japan. Despite ... the rather dull setting, I was getting pretty interested in the show in the earlier episodes because not only was the show really pretty, but it seemed like it was going to focus highly on Yosakoi, and I was going to learn something new and exciting. I really like shows that get me interested in a new hobby or thing I didn't know much about before. Sometimes the new thing becomes a big part of my life (as was the case with Hikaru no Go, Akagi, and Prince of Tennis). Maybe Yosakoi could become a new self interest of mine thanks to anime?
Sadly for me, instead of focusing on Yosakoi, the show ended up being mostly about the girls and their character development. The girls could have been in any club, really, as the dancing wasn't what was important to them. What was important was getting out of comfort zones, making your own decisions, making up with siblings, and other such character developments the girls had, which was unrelated to Yosakoi. I should have expected the show to be this way, but I didn't so it kind of disappointed me.
The final few episodes throw in some extra drama to build up some additional tension. Regardless whether or not the scenario regarding Hana's family that occurred in those last episodes is realistic or not, it felt really unnecessary to the show as a whole. But the last episode was the really lame part. I was excited to see an epic final uninterrupted dance performance, kind of like what Lucky Star did (though Lucky Star wasn't even a show about dancing lol). Not only did we not see much dancing at all (almost all of what we saw was just recycled from the opening, curse you tiny budget!), but some things happen that pretty much invalidate all the drama made in the last few eps. It's like the last three or four or so episodes were all just a waste.
This show reminded me a lot of Tari Tari, another show where they start a club (this time about singing), and the majority of the show ends up being not much about the club, but character development of the members of the club. This storytelling archetype is fine, but it kind of makes the actual club 2nd place in importance, which I don't really like much. There exist club shows that also have the character development but continue to keep the focus on the main theme. Shows like Chihayafuru, Hyouka, and Ping Pong. Over time after watching those shows I grow more interested in the characters than the main thing, sure, but I like that the shows don't forget their roots.
Anyways rambling aside, the show was alright. If you have a thing for shows with mild teenage drama (like parent/child tension) that sometimes talks about yosakoi, then try this show out. At the least, you can watch the opening theme and tell me how my taste in music is so good/bad lol. 7/10

(Note: This review is from a person who has not played the visual novel, so do not worry about any sort of tendentious opinions toward the VN.)
Little Busters is a somewhat old visual novel (released in 2007) made by the company Key. After five long years someone decided they should create an anime predicated on it. Key had made many other visual novels which would go on to become animated series, some of which I am a fan of. I find both Kanon 2006 and the Clannad After Story animes to be a fantastic way to get tears everywhere due to excessive crying. However, both ... of those times (and every time if I'm not mistaken), Key's VN's were adapted by Kyoto Animation. Naturally, it would be fair to think that Little Busters would also be adapted by KyoAni, but no. For whatever reason, Little Busters got to be adapted by JC Staff, the same guys who made such animes as Nodame Cantabile, Azumanga Daioh, and Shakugan no Shana. So while many were upset to hear that KyoAni wasn't going to be doing the job ( it seems they were more interested in animating girls with eye patches and talking fat birds), I was not. In fact, I was rather excited to hear somebody else was given the baton this time around. So, how did they do? Well, looking at the numeric score, you can guess my opinion.
So, if you've watched any of Key's other series, you'd know they all follow a similar archetype. 1) Introduce a male main character who's somewhat faceless. He doesn't really have any particular talents or interests, but lacks any obvious faults. He's usually indifferent toward most situations going on around him, but when things get rough, he's there to shine. A nice jack-of-all-trades guy that most everybody can relate to. 2) Introduce a handful of female support characters, each with their own quirks. Maybe spend a couple of happy-go-lucky episodes that let the viewer get to know all these ladies. 3) Show several plot arcs, one for each girl. Each arc will toss that girl into some horrible plight, and it will be up to the dashing main character to save her from her despair.
Needless to say, Little Busters doesn't stray far from this blueprint. Our hero, Riki, can be summed up with my description above, along with the quirk that he also has Narcolepsy. Little Busters also has many women, and is split up into several story arcs, one for each lady. It's a storytelling framework that works great in VN's since for each play through you embark with the intent of winning the heart of a different girl, and the main character being sort of a blank slate allows you to put yourself in his shoes. As for anime, I don't think it really works all that well. Each arc feels very separate from both the arc that came before it and the one that succeeds it. Besides the first arc and finale, you could probably watch the arcs in any random order and not notice much difference. In the past, discontinuity like this didn't bother me at all, but now that I'm a fractious college student, it doesn't fancy me too much.
On to the story, Little Buster's first introduction arc seemed unusually dull and lengthy. While other Key animations rely on getting through this first arc with lots of humor (with Clannad having the best jokes in my opinion), Little Busters doesn't hit the mark. It's main form of humor comes from the character Masato either exclaiming ridiculous one-liners, most usually related to his own muscles, or the same Masato getting picked on by other members of the cast. Maybe some found it funny, but I didn't. The character introductions were clean, but forgettable, and nothing particularly spectacular nor memorable happens. The first few episodes were a chore to sit through.
The character arcs, with the exception of maybe one of them, were actually pretty bad. How were they bad? Well, they tried too hard to be sad, but in the end wound up just feeling forced. Characters would erupt in tears or unleash wild swings of emotion, but I'd find myself unable to understand their feelings. In an especially bad case I recall, an episode has one of the girls introduce her favorite bench, only to have it get destroyed moments later. During the bench's dismantling, the girl is very passionate, with lots of screaming and shouting, ya know, what you'd expect. This scene came suddenly from nowhere and was extremely unsuccessful at getting me to understand the girl, which was the scene's goal. It felt very forced, with absolutely no foreshadowing at all hinting toward it. In general, this is how I felt most of the time while watching the show, which I found very surprising, especially considering how emotionally involved I got while watching other Key animes.
It wasn't all bad though. There were several stand-alone episodes that I found very entertaining to watch. Those episodes usually occurred between arcs and were a nice break from all the forced drama. Some of those episodes that were memorable to me included the episode everybody helps Kud study for an upcoming exam, and the episode where Riki sneaks into the girl's dorm to have a slumber party. Those episodes were nice and 'slice-of-lifey'. If only the actual arcs were as enjoyable as those episodes...
Anyways, after twenty five episodes, the anime reaches its final episode, which I got to see just a few hours ago. How was that?
Dangit, that last episode left me with little but deep dudgeon.
The series had spent several episodes building up a subplot I'll dub 'the secret of the world subplot', and then the penultimate episode strongly tinctured that something was fishy about Kyousuke, one of the main characters. I was really excited to see the final episode bear fruit to all this buildup, but nope. It was just Riki and friends giving an adumbrate of all the previous episodes, followed up with a montage of their baseball match (not to mention a sudden and unexplained 180 degree flip of Kengo's personality).
Looking back, I can't say I really enjoyed a whole lot of this show. Several standalone episodes (in particular the aforementioned penultimate episode) were very enjoyable, but the actual arcs were not. They were too forced, just trying to be too dolor. In past Key animations (specifically Clannad AS), often if a character would start crying, I would find myself crying with them. The pathos the writers were trying to convey to me successfully connected, and I could truly empathize with those characters. Most of the time with Little Busters, I felt immured from the situations at hand. Most of the time I simply could not understand the struggles the characters were experiencing. Sometimes it was because my suspense of disbelief was absent due to strange and unbelievable scenes, but most of the time it was simply from poor pacing and writing. With the announcement of a second season, I don't really see why the decision was made for these arcs to have such a rushed pace. I have heard that some of these arcs omitted a lot of important scenes from the VN, hindering the overall quality. That just seems silly to me. They should have just followed the base source more closely and pushed an arc or two into the second season. Little Busters has a huge fan base, they really shouldn't have had any fear of it not being popular enough to get a continuation, especially if given the detail and care it deserves.
But whatever, I'm done speculating. Overall, the art is nice, no real complaints. The sound is good, though I really wish they made a new opening and ending halfway through, particularly one that didn't use a song I'd heard long ago in a nico nico douga. The characters were good, but I wish more growth was given to the male characters. Kengo suddenly completely changes character in the last episode, Kyousuke stays cool yet phlegmatic from start to finish, and Masato never becomes anything more than comic relief. Riki grows plenty, but he's the main character, so it's to be expected. The story left a lot unanswered, but with the promise of a second season, it is my hope that those questions will be solved, and solved well. This adaptation wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't trash. It had plenty of good parts, but in the end it leaves me wondering how it would have turned out if KyoAni had adapted it instead. Oh well, I guess we'll never know.

Your level of enjoyment while watching To Love-Ru is directly proportional with how hard a boner you've got. If your boner is as hard as titanium as you watch this, then this anime may very well be a ten for you. Unfortunately, while I was watching mine was only as hard as concrete.

To Love-Ru is a great epitome of all the fan service animes out there. It is the anime to go to if all you want to see is boobs, butts, and a faceless boring male lead who all the girls wanna be with. You could easily put yourself in his shoes and imagine ... yourself doing all the perverted things.

To Love-Ru has no shame at all. While the first season actually had something that resembled a plot (introduce a new girl, have the new girl fall in love with Rito. Not to mention the plot regarding the king of the universe), Motto has nothing like that. The anime consists of several short segments, one episode usually housing two or three of them. Within these segments, something unique occurs. For instance, in one segment Lala invents a gender swapping machine. Anyways, these plot devices exist for the sole purpose of getting Rito, our male lead, into as many perverted situations as humanly possible. And oh boy does Rito deliver. Throughout this short 12 episode anime, Rito will get his hands on every pair of breasts and every butt, get his face between every pair of legs, undo every bra, pull down every pair of underwear, you name it. He'll see every female naked at some point, and every female will see him naked at some point.

To Love-Ru's perversions are almost all 'accidental perversion'. What I mean by this is Rito is a goody two shoes that never has perverted thoughts on his mind. The only way he gets into perverted situations is by tripping, getting catapulted into, being mind controlled, or whatever into them. What this means is almost every segment consists of the following formula: Rito or a girl gets attacked, Rito falls over the girl, Rito and the girl realize his hand is on her boob, the girl gets pissed. Rinse and repeat. Especially in the first 7-8 episodes, this was the entirety of Motto To Love-Ru. You should be able to guess how repetitive it gets.

But hey, it's hot, right? Yeh, it's hot. There's a looooooot of girls, so chances are high at least one of them tickles your fancies. Unfortunately, there's only one Rito, and all the girls have to take turns getting into perverted situations with him. As such, in order to enjoy everything that is Motto, you need to already be really really aroused, such that every situation will just turn you on more, despite the poor plot and annoying Rito.

However, we reach a problem which is in all fan service anime: it never actually goes all the way into hentai. Nobody will ever kiss nor do anything above that ever in Motto. This means that no matter how aroused you get from watching it, the show will never be anything more than a cock tease. After watching Motto To Love-Ru, you're most definitely going to need some supplemental doujins or hentai games to truly be satisfied. You might be better off watching some hentai right from the start.

There is one good thing about watching this show, and that is that it has a LOT of doujins. Those Japanese fans have drawn a doujin for every girl in the show (except for Run for some reason), so even if you're unsatisfied after watching a few episodes of Motto, all you need is the internet and you're bound to find a doujin to take you all the way.

Don't be fooled by the title of this movie. While it says 'Code Geass' in there, after watching, I'm pretty sure it isn't Code Geass.

It sure looks a lot like Code Geass.
Britannia has conquered everything in it.
Japanese people are also called elevens in it.
There's machines that look like Gundams in it.
There's even hints that a certain dude has a geass.

But nope. It aint Code Geass.
For one thing, you don't see a single Code Geass character throughout the entire film. Just some chick with eggs in her hair, a dude that can do acrobatics better than a Gliscor holding a flying gem, and three other terrorist ... dudes. Man who are these dudes? They fricken suck! Give me the charismatic Lelouch and the head in his butthole Suzaku!
For another thing, the plot was entirely irrelevant to anything that happened in Code Geass. Who's this blue haired ninja fighting against? Why's he doing that? Why should I care?
"Didn't you watch the movie you idiot? You should know the answer to those things."
I'm sorry myself, but I still don't know. It took all my effort to just watch the whole movie.

The preview at the very end of the movie showed some images (maybe stock footage?) of a few characters I recognize, like Suzaku and CC. YO, YOU GUYS ARE LATE! YOU MISSED THE WHOLE MOVIE! A BUNCH OF EXTRAS HAD TO COVER FOR YA!

But hey, there were some cool fight scenes, and some suave sax was playing during one of them. There was another cool scene where a Knightmare popped out of his jack in the box and some sick bass started pumping. It was almost kind of as cool as the bass in Redline.

Besides that, it was pretty boring. It's not much fun watching a movie called Code Geass that has nothing to do with Code Geass. The whole thing was clearly just building up for the next episode, and who knows maybe the next part will be the best thing since internet porn, but man, this movie was balls. I actually liked the stupid Nunnally in Wonderland OVA more than this. o_0

Tari Tari is a thirteen episode slice of life anime that just finished airing today. I had been watching it weekly for a while now, and after watching the final episode, I will say that overall I felt it was pretty satisfying to watch, but it really didn't do enough to stand out very much.

So, first of all, Tari Tari is another slice of life anime set in high school. Unless you're really new to anime, you've probably seen a slice of life anime set in high school at least ten times already. High school is anime's favorite place, and I'm willing to bet ... over 85% of all anime is set in high school. I find this really strange. Like seriously, what do Japanese people like so much about high school? Is it really that interesting a place?
Well, putting that aside, what's it about? Well, to put it simply, it's about five seniors who each all have their own interests (music, horseback riding, badminton, etc). One of the seniors leaves the music club because the teacher directing it is a jerk, and she starts her own choir club. She recruits the four other seniors mentioned earlier and they do various choir club activities such as going to a recital, performing on stage, and setting up for the culture festival.
Ah yes, the culture festival. Might I also mention that just about every single anime that is set in high school will have a culture festival episode? It's true man, try naming an anime that doesn't. You'll have some trouble. Not that it's a bad thing, but seeing the same event occur in so many anime makes me feel like I'm seeing the same show over and over again.
Going back on track, well... that's about it for the plot. Each of the five seniors (and by that I mean the three girls) gets her own arc which consists of around three episodes. Each girl goes through some emotions caused by some sort of trouble, and each girl overcomes her problem and grows stronger. These problems are pretty much what one would expect out of high school students, such as deciding on a future career. The progression of the arcs is really predictable and everything is solved cleanly by the end of each one.
As for the two boy characters, well, all they get is the big gay dance. Tanaka's badminton troubles are hardly that, and Wien's conflict with his penpal is resolved in a matter of five minutes. These two boys are so underdeveloped it's a wonder why they're even in the anime. My only answer is they're there solely for the purpose of singing the tenor and bass parts of the songs.

So how's the music? Well, since it is an anime about a choir club, it better have some good music, and I'm happy to say it does. Throughout the thirteen episodes, there's three to four insert songs performed, and they all sound pretty good. The harmonies are great, and the melodies are cute and bouncy. The seiyuus all did a good job singing, and if there's anything to watch this show for, it's the songs. There was one really good background song that played during the sad parts of the anime, but that's about it for the bgm. I can't say I liked the opening all that much though. Haha the very first image of the characters you see in the opening sticks the two boys far in the back. This is a great foreshadow showing how much they didn't contribute to the anime! :)

The art is quite nice on the eyes. The characters are drawn similar to K-ON/Kokoro Connect/Hyouka, and that's a good thing. While the backgrounds are hardly interesting featuring locations as unique as high school classrooms, high school hallways, high school clubrooms, and outside the high school, they are all drawn really well and are at times animated really splendidly. In particular the last episode looks really nice. There isn't too much flashy animation, as to be expected from a slice of life. You won't find any high budget fight scenes here, nor any super spectacular concert scenes.

So how was it overall? Well I thought it was good. It didn't break any new grounds, but it was never trying to. If you are a fan of slice of life anime, then I don't see why you wouldn't like this. It's also not 'super slice of life,' so if you hated animes that require you to be really into slice of life (for example K-ON, Natsume Yuujincho, or Aria the Animation), you might still like this one. Though the fact that it's another high school anime really puts it down for me. Cheers to Aria the Animation for not being set in high school! :)

Bahaha! Man this was quite an interesting thirty minutes indeed!
Soooo, first and foremost, if you haven't heard by now, this "OVA" is hardly that. It feels much more like a visual novel if anything. There's hardly any actual animation; the entire thing is mostly just a bunch of still images being shown in a slideshow. That doesn't automatically make it bad though. They actually gathered quite a few of the original voice actors to perform for this OVA, but not all of them. (I'd like to note that I found it really funny whenever Nunnally came across a character who never says anything, probably ... because the voice actor didn't want to have anything to do with this OVA). The production costs look so very poor, it makes me wonder just how little money they spent to make this. Especially later in the OVA one can tell as it shows one of the most hilarious fight scenes I've ever seen. I'm willing to say this OVA is worth watching just to see how funny that fight is!

To be fair, the plot isn't bad at all. I mean, it's pretty much exactly what one would expect from the title 'Nunnally in Wonderland.' Of course, if you've never seen Alice in Wonderland or heard the story, you probably shouldn't watch this. OVAs are never really about anything substantial anyways, so I liked it, and you should too.
All the BGM is just recycled from the two seasons, so don't expect anything new there.
The real 'fun' one can have while watching this is trying to guess which character will be which one from Alice in Wonderland. Just about every single Code Geass character appears at some point in this OVA, so make your guesses before starting!

Overall, I enjoyed this OVA. If you liked Code Geass, I can't guarantee you'll like it as well, but give it a shot. It's only thirty minutes long anyways.

For the sake of perspective, let me first say that I am not a big fan of season one of K-ON. I thought it was overrated and dull. However, I am a moderate fan of season two, which was a lot more enjoyable. Maybe it's just because I already expected season two to be episodes and episodes of fluffy nothingness as opposed to season one where I was expecting a rockin' show about music. But whatever, the point is my opinion on K-ON before watching this movie was more or less "meh."

So how was the movie? Well, if you were hoping to see more of ... the exact same stuff that was in season two, then wish granted! The movie is pretty much episode 23.5 of season two, and it just happens to also be two hours long. Judging from all the 9's and 10's people are giving this movie, my guess is that plenty of people DID want more of the same, so good for those guys. But I was not. I was expecting a different take on the series, a different style, a different tone, a different approach.
A movie is a very different thing than a 24 episode series, so it should be approached a lot differently. Maybe I should give some examples to help my point. Let's consider the Scooby Doo series and movie. Now I know that this movie is ancient by now (it came out in 2002!) but it's the perfect example for my point. Simply put, the movie is nothing like the series. It was dark, it had a lot of adult themes, it had a story never approached before in Scooby Doo. Needless to say, I loved that movie. Other examples are the One Piece Strong World movie, the Haruhi Suzumiya movie, and the Batman Dark Knight movies. Even the Lucky Star OVA (kinda like a movie) was a lot more different than the series, and that anime is extremely similar to K-ON.
So, going back to K-ON, what exactly was I hoping to see? Well I'm not too sure, but I know I at least wanted the movie to have a larger dilemma. The problem the characters face in the movie is that they want to give Azusa a gratuity gift, and they can't think of one. Yes, that really is it. Just off the top of my head, the movie could have been a direct progression of the plot, and the dilemma could have surrounded the girls going to college and struggling to find their true identities. You know, college is a tough phase of one's life. If you haven't chosen what path you want to take in your future (career-wise in particular), you have to decide there, and it can be very difficult trying to find one's own identity. I would have loved to have seen a movie with a scene where Yui genuinely pondered about this. This movie could have also been a character movie, focusing on Azusa after the girls' graduation. Her dilemma would have been trying to find new members for the club. Maybe she would end up being unsuccessful in her attempts, and the Light Music Club would have to be disbanded to Azusa's dismay. Dang, with dilemmas like those, the tone and flow of the entire thing would have been completely different. Maybe even.... exciting?

The movie is not like that though. KyoAni took no risks and the movie wound up being a super long episode of the same old. Now, let me say right now that while I was watching this movie I took a lot of breaks, and even then I was finding myself dozing off a few times. The reality is that K-ON's slice of life plot just doesn't work well in a movie lasting two hours long. I was trying to imagine watching this movie in a theater, and I would have fallen asleep guaranteed. Not only is the overall feel of the movie dull, but it doesn't give any new concert pieces, and even bits of the plot from season two are just reused. Considering how KyoAni likes to take risks (Endless Eight), I'm surprised they played this movie so safe. Yes, the movie is good; it's pretty, it sounds nice, whatever. But I can't help but feel a little disappointed that it tried nothing revolutionary.

Casshern Sins is what you get when you get two different cliches' in anime: robot fights, and tear wrenching sadness, and blend them together. While the blend is an interesting original idea, Casshern Sins has a few issues with its plot, flow, and general over-sadness for me to have overly enjoyed.

This anime is sad. Sad, sad, oh so very saaaaaad. The world of Casshern Sins is in ruin, and by that I mean every city in the series is decaying, both its buildings and its citizens. There is barely any nature anywhere, and the world is swimming with sandstorms. All the robots in the show ... used to be immortal, but the ruin changed that, and most robots we meet are having various mental stresses trying to deal with imminent death which they didn't have before. Casshern Sins is sort of a zoo exhibit, with each episode featuring a new robot who is sad for one reason or another. Sure it has a core plot, but overall the main strength of the show is in its singular stories within each episode featuring a robot.

The core plot of the series is iffy. At the start of the show, we're introduced to Casshern, the main hero, who everybody wants killed. It appears that Casshern is actually responsible for the ruin, and robots have spread a rumor that whoever eats Casshern will regain their immortality. Casshern has no memory of what he did to cause the ruin, nor why he did it. He starts off the series as a blank slate, and the various sad robots (and one human) he meets fills him with sympathy, envy, guilt, regret, and other emotions, and help him grow over the series. This original premise is great, but certain later developments of the core plot didn't make sense to me either because I missed something important in the plot, or the plot was just flawed. I'm gonna list the main ones I can recall, but if you don't want any spoilers skip the next section.

1. What exactly happened in the past? Did Luna actually die? What exactly caused the ruin to begin? Exactly why did Casshern do the murder, and where did his amnesia and immortality come from?
2. Was the Luna that shows up later indeed an imposter, or was she genuine?
3. Why does Luna have her powers? It was never really explained why Luna had the ability to repress the ruin, she just did.
4. I more or less missed the explanation of Casshern and Dio. Why isn't Dio as strong as Casshern?
5. Where are all the humans? As far as I recall, there was one human in the entire anime. Are they all dead, and we just witnessed the very last human being ever?
6. In episode 17, they uncover a gem and Ouji seems very excited about it, saying that with it he may be able to reverse the ruin. However, after the episode it's completely forgotten. Ouji comes running back later, looking like he has made progress on the gem, but nope. It's as if the gem erased itself from everybody's memories.

Casshern Sins is half pretty and half ugly. While it does have some shiny robot battles that look amazing, most of the time it really doesn't have much to show, except how sad everybody is and how you should also be sad. The world really does look like it's in ruin. It reminds me greatly of the future world in Chrono Trigger, as if the future was ended by an apocalypse. Most things look gray, or as if they're rusting. The anime does have the occasional colorful flower bed, but those only exist to make some sad plot development to make you more sad.
The BGM is usually slow and humble, making it very forgettable. Most of the time there isn't any BGM at all, probably to emphasize the sadness the show wants to portray. I very much like the opening song a lot, as well as the ending songs Reason and Hikari to Kage. If all other music in the series is forgettable, at least these three songs are wonderful and very good at setting the tone. The English dub is rather unimpressive. Some English lines sound silly, particularly KILL CASSHERN, DEVOUR CASSHERN, which is said all the time! One character in particular, Sophita, sounds dreadful in English. SOPHITA WANTS TO FIGHT YOU! Yeh, just watch with Japanese subs, trust me.

Two characters in the show are greatly developed throughout, those two being Casshern and Lyuze. These two really carry the show from episode to episode. Casshern starts off completely blank, and at the end he has a clear understanding of what he believes to be right and wrong, important and unimportant, and just and unjust. He develops his own philosophical believes by observing his sad world, and decides for himself what he should do about it. Lyuze starts off as a anger driven woman obsessed with revenge, but over time she changes. She cannot get revenge on a man who has no memory of his crime, and decides to travel with Casshern, and get her revenge once he regains his memory. However, over time, she also observes the sad world with Casshern and changes her beliefs 180 degrees.
All other characters aren't that important. They either serve a purpose within that episode to make the viewer sad, or they make many appearances to make the viewer sad many times. I do not really understand Luna, Braiking Boss, or Dio very well, which is a shame since they're all so important to the core plot.

So what exactly is the point of all the sadness the anime spews out? Well, it becomes clear, especially in the later episodes, that the point of it all is to convey the life message "Life is only truly beautiful because it has an end". This message seems good, but many events in the series work to make this claim weak. Many robots die in vain, never truly able to see how beautiful their lives were. Many don't even understand that they are alive or what it means to be alive. A character says early on "were we ever even alive to begin with?" Especially in the last few episodes when a particularly important character dies off from the ruin (when this character had the opportunity to continue living but passed it up), we're left feeling as if this message couldn't be more false, and it would have been better if that character were immortal.

This anime has a few very good episodes within, and at least a few of them will make you sad (and a bit existential). The core plot has some issues, but the growth of Casshern is excellent and makes watching this much more enjoyable. The anime has some robot fights, and some are exciting, but most of the time it's really one sided and exists just to be there. If all you want to see is robots fighting, this anime is definitely not for you. The anime's real shine comes from its sad stories, and whether those touch your heart is really up to you. Casshern Sins can be really good sometimes, but most of the time for me it was just alright.

Allow me to create a sub-genre of anime in which this particular one fits right in. I'd like to put this anime into the Zoo genre of anime. The Zoo genre is an anime which has some special monster or some unique creature within the show. Each episode introduces and focuses on one particular type of that creature. Shows like Mushishi, Fruits Basket, and Panty and Stocking all qualify for this genre of anime. In Natsume Yuujinchou's case, the monster is the Youkai, the demon-like beings which only Natsume, the main hero, can see.
These animes tend to lack any core plot dictating the entire ... show, and usually consists of episodic exhibits of the monsters. Each episode is good depending on how interesting the featured monster is. Natsume Yuujinchou has a lot of monsters, and usually they're very interesting. This part of the anime is superb, and exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see after having watched Mushishi, which is probably my favorite anime ever.
Natsume Yuujinchou has a recurring pattern in its episodes. The episodes fall under two different types: either A) the monster is really nice and has some problem and Natsume helps out or B) the monster is really evil and the main character gets in a pinch, usually life threatening. Yuujinchou works best when it's telling an A-type story. This story really fits with the tone of the show, and really brings out the best episodes. It's during A-type episodes where Yuujinchou shows off its great animation through fantastic visuals such as gorgeous scenery or wondrous images such as a colorful dream.
The B-type episodes are also good, but certain reoccurring situations really start to get dry after a while. In every single episode of this type, there's a scene in which Natsume is being chased by the monster, he trips and falls down, and then he gets rescued by somebody. It really starts to get boring watching these episodes when pretty much the same scene happens every single time. These episodes were kind of out of place as well, since most of the time the anime tends to be very peaceful and slow, while these episodes were usually very tense and exciting.
This anime is very pretty, and it sounds great as well. Both of the opening songs are really good at setting the tone for the episode to come. The ending songs are both very relaxing, and give good closure for each story. I really like the voice of Madara, the cat sidekick. Natsume's voice is perfect for the show and really helps express the relaxing tone.

The anime is really quite good, so why did I only give it an 8 instead of a 10? Well, I had a problem with Natsume, the main character, several times. Natsume is a nice guy who had a bad childhood. He spends his time helping others and generally puts the well being of others over himself. He keeps his own troubles to himself because he doesn't want to burden the people he cares about. He is quite timid and doesn't speak much.
Usually I like this type of character. He's very similar to Honda Tohru from Fruits Basket, Furude Rika from Higurashi, or Nunnaly from Code Geass. The problem is that this anime has those B-type episodes I mentioned earlier and they require that Natsume grow stronger both mentally and physically.
What I mean by this is that Natsume doesn't seem to learn anything from his B-type experiences. He'll get tricked by a monster in one episode, and then in the next episode he'll get tricked by another. He gets caught up in so many dangerous situations where he almost dies and he never reflects upon what mistakes he made to get into those situations. He is actually too selfless, to the point where he doesn't even care whether he dies or not. In a particular episode, a Youkai object is absorbing Natsume's life force and gradually making him sicker. Instead of taking any action at all to save his own life, he allows the object to continue to absorb him, all because the object is important to the monster of that episode. the episode reaches a point where it seems that Natsume might actually die. Now come on, doesn't this guy fear death, like every average human being does? Why is he so willing to throw it away for NOTHING AT ALL? These B-type episodes really start to get boring because of this. Why should I care about whether Natsume gets hurt or not if he himself doesn't care?

I thought I would enjoy this anime just as much as I did Mushishi, but I didn't. After all the danger that went through these two seasons, Natsume should really be dead already, but he isn't. It really isn't fun watching him get rescued so many times when he puts zero effort in to keep himself safe. Every time he gets attacked I half hope that he loses an eye or something so that he'll finally reflect upon his poor actions and finally start defending himself. It really is a shame that the whole entire show isn't the A-type episodes, as Natsume isn't cut out for the B-type ones. Don't get me wrong though, this is a really good show, and I'm sure I'll enjoy seasons three and four, which I'll be watching very soon. However, I'll be really disappointed if those seasons continue to have more danger episodes with a main character that never learns from his mistakes.

Nagasarete Airantou is in many ways a great anime. It's a harem anime down to its very core, but don't let that chase you away. The comedy in it is fantastic, the girls are very cute, and the romance in it is decent. Now that the complement's are out of the way....

Nagasarete as an anime suffers from the same problems as any other harem anime: it really feels like once you've seen one harem anime, you've seen them all, and this one is no exception. Just like any other harem, there's one male lead, and batches and batches of women who adore the male lead. ... The male lead is quiet and reserved, gets greatly embarrassed whenever any ecchi things happen, and he gets very protective whenever any of the many ladies are in danger. It doesn't really add any new spices to the same old recipe, leaving me with a lukewarm feeling after having watched it all.

Though I hate to admit it, despite its lack of originality, I still enjoy watching this type of anime. Stuff like Seto no Hanayome, To Love Ru, or even Two Heart 2 are great animes in my eyes. I genuinely find the comedy to be quite enjoyable, and I do like the ecchi. Sadly, I'm not sure how many more of these I can sit through. The episodes really start to drag on after episodes and episodes of harem plot, and this anime in particular seems to recycle jokes far too often. Events in these animes just seem to blur together and upon completion it's near impossible to remember everything that happened unless you took notes.

However, nobody can deny that this anime is funny and that the ecchi is very good at times. I particularly like the relaxed, floaty mood that this harem has. From start to almost the end, the anime never tries to be serious, and spends twenty minutes just trying to tell short fun stories and crack jokes. It's not like Death Note which requires lots of thinking to truly enjoy, nor is it like Code Geass which will get you emotionally involved. It's just a harem anime, which I can watch, enjoy, and if I'm feeling up for it, wank afterwards.

There is one more problem I experience with the harems, and that is their endings. Harem endings are quite often dark and very serious, and exist to create drama in the last few episodes, which was absent from the last twenty-ish episodes. The ending is completely different from the rest of the show, and it feels out of place. It disgraces the mood the previous episodes had maintained and basically makes them feel like they were a waste of time just keeping the viewers from reaching the ending. Some people like these endings, but I don't. If the anime wanted to end dramatically and with a serious tragic tone, why wasn't the entire anime like this? Why only the last half hour? In these endings, it's also quite typical that the cast starts acting completely out of character, and quite often plots are inconsistent and full of holes. Is it worth it just to have a dramatic ending? I don't think so.

I refuse to let an anime's ending ruin it for me, so ignoring the ending, I felt this anime was quite good and worth a watch, especially if you like harem animes. However, don't expect anything innovative to blow you away.