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The Youkai Watch anime now lacks an English subbing group for it. This is a shame as the anime is funny to watch and is currently one of the top ten children anime in Japan's Kanto region. I hope this review may be able to help change things as clearly a number of people (including myself) enjoy it. I plan to watch on and probably pick up the Japanese language at the same time, even if it will take ages for a group to pick this up again.

Youkai is a term for Japanese spirits, ghosts and monsters. A "Youki-pedia" series, this anime depend a lot ... on slapstick jokes and unexpected twists for humour/entertainment. Elements of the show may be paralleled with Pokemon, except that one does not catch Youkai, one befriends them. The protagonist, Keita, unwittingly frees Whisper (a ghost Youkai) through inserting a coin into a gashapon machine. Whisper decides to follow and help him out of gratitude and gives Keita a Youkai watch to see other Youkai. They get into various Youkai-exploring adventures and collect Youkai friendship medals along the way.

Although children will enjoy this series the most, there will be people of other ages who will be able to appreciate its light-hearted nature. As of Episode 4, this show's story uses a few fixed formulas (typical to child-friendly anime) that vary slightly each episode.

1) Gaining medals from a friendly youkai who drops by to say hi.
2) Introduction to a friendly youkai who may have problems of their own and/or cause problems for real people.
3) Solving of the youkai's problems sometimes, but not always.
4) Introduction to backstory of the youkai's past lives before becoming a youkai.
5) Youkai battle, usually against a troublemaking or scary youkai that engages in battle with a summoned friendly youkai.
6) Youkais-of-the-week: Recap of the medals that Keita obtained (Usually 2-3 of them).
7) A special portion where a Youkai featured gets into all sorts of funny situations.

The music is typical for a normal anime series. The summoning sequence is thankfully not boring to watch as there will be eight (excluding one special) different kinds depending on the youkai medal type. Characters have their own special characteristics which create for dramatic and humorous effects in the show.

Overall, this anime is not amazing, but it will be entertaining to watch if you are interested in Youkai or supernatural things, want something light-hearted/funny to watch and can find your inner child to watch such an anime.

This is a short review of the Log Horizon manga. I have not read the novel at this point of time, as I am more of a visual person who prefers anime and manga. Overall, I find that the manga covers more stories and details that are not elaborated in the anime. It also covers characters that have less presence in the anime. It acts as a supplement to what the anime presents.

The artwork is very good and there is clearly a lot of perspective and shading utitlised in it. It should be noted that parts of the manga have some graphic violence/blood and may ... not be appropriate for children to read.

This is a must-read for those who enjoy the Log Horizon anime and the world of Log Horizon and want to get to know more about it. If you intend to read this manga, watching the anime should be a must in order to appreciate the stories within the manga better.

Story - 7
Art - 9
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 8

This is a review for the manga of Gingitsune. Having watched the anime for this, I had the good fortune to have access to a translation of this manga in a language that I understand.

Gingitsune is a slice-of-life series that focuses on the ordinary (or slightly extraordinary) life of a girl, her Shinto shrine, a big God-messenger silver fox Gintaro and the people around her. There are plenty of heartwarming moments in here, and since anime is often condensed to fit in a short screentime, there are portions where the manga elaborates on much clearer. Otherwise, the story is as good as what you can ... find in its anime equivalent. It should be noted that a few chapters in manga are in different order as compared to its anime counterpart.

The art is rather clean-looking. While visually not as impressive as its anime counterpart, the artwork conveys the story and various emotions well. However, Gintaro's artwork may look off at times whenever his snout was not properly drawn.

The human characters are loveable, and the true highlight will be the anthropomorphic messengers/heralds of the shrines. They are rather original in design and also have distinct personalities that make them likeable and realistic. There are moments where you feel emotionally connected to the characters and root for them.

I enjoy reading this manga and also appreciate the little sections on shrine etiquette. Overall, the unique portrayal of divine shrine messengers in this Manga ensures that this will be a work to remember for years to come. My recommendation to anyone however is to watch the anime for Gingitsune first before attempting to read the manga. The first reason being that the manga is relatively obscure and the second being that the anime art is fantastic to look at and will help you to appreciate the manga better. Hopefully this may change sometime in the future since the anime was shown a while back.

Story: 7
Art: 7
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 8

Excellent watch for anyone who loves slice-of-life and also the supernatural/fox deity theme here. Unlike many other anime, they spread out the main characters into two brothers (usually it is only one male protagonist). Even better, the fox deity is neither male nor female, choosing to manifest either at will. This makes for some hilarious situations. The balance between story, action, slice-of-life and humor was good, though not great. Every single episode was entertaining to watch.

The ending could have been better but I can understand where this is going since the Light novels are not completed yet. This leaves a possibility of a second season ... which will make anyone happy.

Unforunately, doki doki overpromises, and ended up causing people to fall out of love with it. Many will remember being impressed by the first episode, however that high was a one-time and things have since never reached that high.

By the point where I stopped the characters have unfortunately turned stale and are not as endearing as previous instalments of Precure. This is a shame since the series started off promising. The only few things that I do like about this is the animation of the henshin/power-up sequences, which look dynamic.

I will point out that the introduction of the 5th Precure (Cure Ace) complicated things. The ... design and concept of this character looked good, however the late introduction as a deus ex machina did not help the faltering storyline. With the addition of too many characters that don't really matter (yet play important roles), the storyline seemed too spread out for any proper character development in anyone of them. It also seemed as though the writers didn't know what to write anymore and just brought Regina back to hold up the show until its grand finale early next year.

The cast unfortunately risks being forgotten. The costume designs are terrible, not very original and therefore not very popular among children who loved the Precure series. There has been a recent drop in ratings that caused the show to hover around a 4.0 average rating.

The change in music was initially good, however as episodes go by I couldn't capture that feeling. It is good for its purpose, but it was not endearing.

Doki Doki Precure is worth a watch, but I have decided to drop this for the time being. Maybe I shall see how it ends up once it ends.

To enjoy this series, let go of your beliefs and deep-seated assumptions about what the Seiya universe is like according to Kurumada's original anime and manga series. Kurumada is not involved in the creative process of Saint Seiya Omega, however he has been credited with the idea of Yuna and also many of the concepts used in the series (such as constellations, Bronze, Silver, Gold Saints).

This series was clearly written for new blood - i.e. new fans to the world of Saint Seiya and those of a newer generation and of different values from the previous generation, hence the new generation of Saints. Many of ... the changes have been heavily criticised (i.e. cloth stones, elements), however I hope that along the series, they will provide more explanations for these changes.

With the exception of the concept for the Ninja Saint and a new perspective into the law of the mask, major originality is something that should not be expected of this series.

The story was good, but slightly slow-paced after Athena's disappearance and with the introduction of the Palestra / Saint school arc. It was not for nothing, plot devices were set in place, slowly yet surely. With the upcoming revelations (which I shall not spoil in this review), the show is starting to pick up. Saint Seiya Omega has a lot of potential for growth and needs to tie up the loose ends while the story goes on.

The art is either a hit or miss with people, since not everyone enjoys the youthful vibrance in the artwork - with some preferring artwork of a mature or darker nature. At certain points , the colors may be a little too soft for the important landmarks of the series. (e.g. the 12 temples) Colors and shine of armor has been inconsistent. Quality has been alright, although the animation and fights sometimes leave more to be desired. Hopefully, they will start moving out of the elemental spam sooner or later as the new Saints make progress in their fights.

The music is effective and needs no more mention, other than the fact that re-introducing Pegasus Fantasy as the OP was one of the best things that has happened for this series.

The characters still have a lot of room for growth and discovery and we will eventually have more of their backstories, but they tie in very nicely and they have also stated that characters from the old series will make their appearances later, so fans of the older series at least have something to look forward to for nostalgia's sake. I enjoy watching every week's episode and the end leaves me wanting for the next episode. So far, there is always something to look forward to.

My personal opinion is that the mark of a potentially successful series is one that generates controversy or talk. By that mark, Saint Seiya Omega has a lot of potential. Let's see what they will do with it. For now, sit back, relax, and let the show roll.