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Koibito Sengen is the second part of the Nine trilogy, it aired on TV in December 1983, that's why it was made in 4:3 ratio, so I guess it's sort of a downgrade from Original-ban visually wise. Do we even have enough time in one hour to explore the love triangles and baseball rivalries set in the first movie? Of course not, that's why we have the third special but this part definitely answers some questions.

In the first movie we met our characters, we found out about their goals, we got entangled in some complicated love triangles, Seishu didn't go to Koushien and Yukimi doesn't ... know if Katsuya loves her or not yet she continues to go after him, everything is as hazy as a fog in a cold January evening. Now this special is set on resolving the relationship between Yukimi and Katsuya and it does it in style. And yes, you read that right, Yukimi is the main character while Yuri is just the team manager.

Some may be very surprised, as in why is Yukimi so important? wasn't she just a plot device to get mingled between Katsuya and Yuri so that we the watchers would get angry? In this way, the manga can be longer and more "dramatic" romance scenes could happen, Yukimi will be tossed aside the moment Katsuya develops some guts and confesses to his true love, why do we even need a movie with a side character and worst of all, she's the love rival.
These questions don't really need an answer because the creator knows how to make a story in order to entertain the reader/watcher and take him by surprise, forget any basic love story plot you have ever watched, Koibito Sengen is totally different with subverting the expectations while managing to keep the characters in their usual cliche behaviors. Illogical as I may sound, it makes perfect sense when you follow the romance and what the characters are doing when they are together alone, what are they talking about and what are their feelings. It's so different than the fist part it feels like a different anime, in my opinion, this can also be watched as a stand alone, we meet the important characters in the beginning, we find out it's about baseball and we easily find out about the love triangle. Then the show finishes resolving Yukimi's point of view story as a true romantic movie.

The show has some baseball in the beginning, even the old rivalry between Bunan and Seishu is explored with a match but it's main point is Yukimi-Katsuya couple and what will come of it. I loved that I can finally see in anime a love story explored like that. To use examples while not being too spoilery: Yukimi will get tired of Katsuya's indecisiveness and start asking questions, a new guy Yamanaka Jirou (the little brother of Bunan High star pitcher) makes advances on her (because why not, she's cute), Katsuya will stop acting like a coward and tell Yukimi his true feelings. No misunderstandings, no random metaphors added because it looks cool, no sudden silence and the rejected acting like "no... you don't have to tell me... I already know who you love...", nothing garbage like that, only pure and unadulterated high school romance with clear answers and developments.

To defend my rationale about the importance of Yukimi, keep in mind that we went to her house back in the first movie, we met her grandma and now we get to know her date of birth, stuff that doesn't happen with Yuri (so I guess she always was an important character). Take it as it is, it's a Yukimi special for Yukimi fans, I think the most of romance fans will be entertained about the events that transpired here, the sports fans and Yuri fans may not like it though which is understandable.
To keep the story more complicated, a new guy is introduced, Yamanaka Jirou, who loves Yukimi but the watcher should not be fooled, he's not the usual delinquent dude added in to make the main guy look better, Jirou actually has a story (decently written and interesting) and his feelings for her are genuine. What will happen with these three is up to the watcher to find out but the important thing is that we get a clear ending, so clear that it made me think that the story ended and part 3 doesn't exist, I actually forgot about Yuri and big brother Yamanaka and thought that this was a shoujo anime with Yukimi in between Jirou (who loves her) and Katsuya (who loves someone else but he may have feelings for Yukimi).

Nothing much about the art and animation, it's the same as Original-ban only 4:3, the characters and the baseball games look the same, stale and bland, nothing too extraordinary to feast our eyes. The soundtrack is just as cool as ever though, great songs to listen to if you like the 80s music.

In the end, Koibito Sengen managed to be a very good romance movie set in high school, following our guys from the same Seishu Baseball Club we met in the first part. Unfortunately, Yuri and Yamanaka Kentarou are tossed aside as important characters in order to make room for Katsuya-Yukimi-Jirou story. It looks like a filler so that we can go on with the true ending of part 3 when we will hopefully get the final answer about Yuri and Katsuya, and also... will Seishu finally go to Koushien?

Majibra is an ecchi comedy manga written by a hentai doujin author, Utamaro. Only 12 chapters published, collected in 2 volumes between 2010-2012. It's one of those unpopular gems that you find from time to time. The manga was made so that it would arouse its readers, the ecchi is not secondary, it's all that matters and it's combined with comedy and supernatural for its shine.

The setting is the most simple and common one the mangaka could write, this series presents the tumultuous life of the Hasuno siblings, living in a regular city, attending your regular school while weird supernatural things happen from time to ... time. It's those weird supernatural things that are important to us, that's the juice of this manga, the ecchi is created around that.

Being an ecchi series, that means that the story doesn't really matter, we should just see naked chicks and random comedy, this is half true for Majibra, while the overall conflict is not that big, it sure does have plot of some sort, the characters are driven by some motivations and the story unfolds because of that, still, it's not that complicated, I liked it, in regards to explaining the plot nothing was waste of pages, it's a comedy so the reader should not overthink the story. You're here to enjoy the sexy scenes while occasionally read some useless stuff about schoolgirls.

Now for the most important thing, how good is the ecchi?
- The art style is very good, the characters are moe (cute), kinda resembling Sora no Otoshimono style of character drawing.
- Sexual fanservice, you know what that means, it can be accidental falls, random boob fondle, S&M plays, anything that can make the reader think about sex. The manga is not just "show naked chicks", the author actually does something with his characters, there are sexy situations happening between them.
- We have your usual panty flashes.
- Schoolgirl and other cosplay fanservice.
- Demon girl fanservice.
- Loli fanservice.
- French Kisses.
- Tentacles.
- We get to see nipples.

The ecchi shenanigans are well done and it entertained me, the comedy was funny and it blended extremely well with the "half naked chicks". Prepare for some of the most absurd humor and ridiculous plot twists, the mangaka keeps introducing bizarre ecchi ideas to revolve around the daily lives of our characters, it felt really spicy and it always took me by surprise. Extreme insane comedy with half naked girls caught up in sexual situations, what more can you ask?

The main characters are caricatures of stuff they need to represent but they're fun, they play their role perfectly in what the author was planning to express with them, they work great within the story.
- Hasuno Miyu - the little sister, the story is from her point of view, your usual imouto who loves her onii-chan, pure and kind
- Hasuno Kei - the big brother, has glasses, is very serious, not you usual dense main dude but he dislikes ecchi situations
- Hasuno Miwa - the big sister, perfectly captivates the loving big sister image, I mean "loving" in a sexual way
- Mani Mani - a dumb big breasted demon girl always on heat

The characters talk freely about sex and other perversions, mainly because this manga is seinen (aimed at young adults), so that means it's more open than To Love Ru for example, exactly what I needed for I enjoy this sorta thing.
As I said above, the art style is very good, the characters look nice and the ecchi scenes are well done, it's what an ecchi fan wants and we also have a wide range of chicks, each one with a different quirk and personality, I especially likes the glasses girl scenes (too bad she rarely appears).
The story has an ending, the conflict is resolved in the last chapter, well, let's say it's kinda open but it's not that bad, I think that's a plus for the manga, it makes it more appealing like that, everyone hates a rushed unfinished manga.

This is a very good ecchi manga, forgot to mention that this isn't a harem, doesn't matter that we have one main guy and many girls revolving around him. Any big fan of ecchi will certainly enjoy it, it's funny, it's hot, it's too short unfortunately (each chapter has 20 so pages), it's crazy. A true hidden gem for the ecchi genre.

The 4th and last volume (for the moment) of Mizukami Satoshi Short Story Collection, the 5 individual chapters were published between 2014-2017. This entry has the same vibe as the author's previous 3 volumes, with the mention that the stories aren't linked as in volume 3 and they aren't as crazy. This work has a more "back to the roots" approach, you can see how Mizukami really crafted his writing to give the readers some cool and fun one-shot chapters.

- How to tell twins apart - Exactly as the title says, a cute heart-warming story about some twin sisters and a boy, no supernatural stuff ... (20ish pages).
- Matsuri Connection - Small and cute aliens "invaded" the Earth and only this girl can see them, nothing too fancy but it asks some interesting questions about existence and universes and stuff (20ish pages)
- Too Late for Fantasy - Fun adventure about a dead beat dad living his dream of saving the world and fighting monsters, finally we get some deserved action scenes (20ish pages).
- Enigma Viking - I have no words to describe this, just some guy and a kid hunting monsters in medieval Japan and cooking them (16 pages)
- Walking the Void - I could see this as a serialization, the concepts are very interesting and the story is well made, you can see how it was written with a clear view about the ending, a good SF journey through the universe, we even have timeskips. It's the jewel of this book, 70 pages long with a great main character reminding me a bit of Fuuta (Spirit Circle), great character introspection and a nice plot.

Mizukami baited us with the title for there is no "Hourou Sekai" chapter but the girl from the cover is the main girl from Walking the Void.
All in all, this volume was an enjoyable read and it's better written than volume 3 or let's just say that Mizukami decided to create something that is fun to read and not just from a comedy point of view (like in volume 3). I was just a bit disappointed because we didn't have a Monster Town chapter, I really like that setting. The last chapter is certainly worth a read but the rest are easily forgettable and unimpressive per the author's standards. Still, you can always count on Mizukami to make a cool manga, man never runs out of good stories.

Warrior's Dawn is an extra chapter of Claymore manga written by Yagi Norihiro, it's only 8 pages long and it was published right after chapter 125 of the main series. For some reason it wasn't even included in a volume release.

There's nothing really important happening here, just a scene from a past long forgotten in the Claymore universe. We get to see Isley, Rigaldo and Duff from the time when they worked for the Organisation, then a cute Claymore girl appears to seal the deal.

No drama, no tragedy, no action, no secret reveals, just some random talk about some mission.

It's a must read only for ... a die-hard Claymore fan and it's best to read after Pieta arc, the art style is cool as always and I really loved the warriors' look, you can see some freshness in their designs.

This is the 3rd volume of Mizukami Satoshi's short stories, it appeared in 2012 and contains 7 chapters (the 8th is just an epilogue to Hoshi no Samidare), each one having roughly 30 pages.
I don't have any proof but I think these were written because the author wanted to have fun, it's not like the previous volumes where each story was made in the sense of a possibility of a future serialization. These stories are linked together and we get another Monster Town chapter.

- My Fist - Gurren Lagann style, a guy fighting a giant robot with his fist, lots of shouting.
- Nell, the Artist ... of Shamballa - a weird story about a girl in an alien world, SF, space and dreams.
- Wedding Bells in Monster Town - the title is obvious, the story is a decent and cute romance.
- Awakening - a crazy girl and a giant robot trying to destroy the world.
- The End of Ginga Thunder's Journey - the final chapter of the misadventures of this giant robot (has connections with chapters 1, 2, 4), it closes the saga in a good matter, has fun characters and comical situations and magic.
- Crocodile Onii-san - basically Geko Geko but the sister loves her crocodile brother and I mean it in a romantic way.
- Denizens of the Sand Planet - a cliche story about some travelers, I'm telling you, the concepts were done and overdone in media that it became boring, the pacing doesn't help either for it's too fast. (Also included in Trigun Multiple Bullets Anthology)

This collection is not that fun compared to the first two, it lacks the interesting SF concepts of the mangaka that made him popular with his famous works. The Monster Town chapter is mediocre compared to the the other Monster Town stories. Ginga Thunder chapters are absurd and I think the majority of readers will laugh while reading it, it's like a satire of many genres mixed together. Still, Awakening is the best revenge story I ever read, it's so ludicrous and violent, it's like Violence jack but without rape.
It is a Mizukami work but it's like he decided to slack off and draw whatever he had in mind, let's add some gore, let's add a naked little girl, let's destroy the world, this magician girl has big boobs and so on.

It's not something I would recommend from the author, I think this is something for his hard core fans who would gulp everything that Mizukami drew (that's why I read it). The art style is the same Mizukami style, nothing to get your feet off the ground. This is certainly a weird entry in Mizukami's oeuvre and it's certainly worth a read if you're a fan but if you just stumbled upon this, do yourself a favor and go read Geko Geko or Hoshi no Samidare.

Henshin is a sports ecchi manga written by the author of Sora no Otoshimono, Minazuki Suu, published from 2008 till 2010, completed in 28 kinky chapters (5 volumes long).

It's a serious work about golf and the problems faced by women pro golfers, the plot is very direct and tells the reader upfront what the story is about. We follow Hayama Sonata in her quest to earn large amounts of money from golf in order to pay her debts and all that lame backstory no one cares about. Some random characters appear from time to time and the plot moves forward towards the conclusive ending.

The review ... was supposed to end here but this manga is not as boring as it may sound because it has the ecchi and comedy, without it who the hell would want to read something like this? Tiger Woods?

Sonata Birdie is hot and full of sexy scenes, the future reader should go read it while in horny mode, forget about the golf, it was just put there because tennis is overrated and this manga needed a sport where the main girl has to fight alone, so football, softball or any other boring team sport no one watches were a big no no. Now to be fair, at least they follow the rules of golf, it's not that surreal.

The most important aspect of an ecchi manga is the art style, the ecchi has to make the reader horny somehow, it has to make him/her lust for the characters and enjoy the scenes and from this point of view, the manga provides, so let's see its strengths and weaknesses:
- The character designs are more cute than hot, imagine To Love Ru girls instead of Prison School girls
- The body types are different, main girl has big boobs, some girl is flat and tall, some girl in blonde and has a normal chest, one guy is old, one guy has a beard, one dude is your regular 20 year old etc
- Almost every chapter Sonata has a different costume and that is hot and revealing
- Every chapter has ecchi situations and the usual panty shots and cleavage shots are a normal occurrence
- The backgrounds are detailed and the golf scenery looks quite good
Overall, the art style does its job, some characters' faces may look bland and some crotch shots may show the crotch look a bit weird, I kinda dislike how the mangaka draws the female nether region, it's not appealing to me but the other juicy parts are drawn exactly to my taste.

As for the ecchi situations, I have some experience with To Love Ru Darkness manga and I finished Prison School, so I can say that Henshin managed to make me enjoy the spicy scenes and it's kinda in the same ballpark as these two ecchi masterpieces. One small downside is that Henshin doesn't have your regular [insert default main guy who falls on top of the girl and touches her boobs]. The ecchi presents our girl falling into weird sexy situations with guys and other girls too and even when a guy like Yuuki Rito is introduced, the ecchi continues to be like before.
To summarize the ecchi, let's make a list to let the future reader know what to expect:
- sexy cosplay, panty shots, boobs (no nipples unfortunately)
- old men touching chicks
- orgy type ecchi, you know that scene where a girl is felt by lots or random dudes, this manga has it
- some scenes look like rape attempts but it's funny
- lesbians because why not, it's hot

I'd say that Sora no Otoshimono had a better plot and the comedy was funnier and Nagihara Sora (Minazuki's other works) was more perverted in regards to ecchi and the girls were more interesting, Henshin is somewhat there but something is missing, maybe it's because the romance aspect is lacking a bit. There is some sexual tension between Sonata and Keisuke and she even gets into a weird love triangle, there is also some heat between Sonata's eccentric boss and his secretary. I'm not saying the romance is bad but it wasn't that interesting for me, still, there are some cute and ecchi scenes with Sonata x Keisuke and I loved that. Why am I criticizing the romance? ecchi needs some romance background to work, there has to be some chemistry/connections between the characters, because without it it's just like we're looking at some random pictures of gravure idols posing in their bikinis. Overall, let's say it's normal from a romance point of view.

The characters are not that interesting, Hayama Sonata (our main chick) is the perfect girl in looks and kindness, she's like a goddess but she gets into ecchi situations and she has the body of the perfect pornstar and athlete in the same time (think about Sorana Carstea or Maria Sharapova from the tennis world). The other characters are your usual rivals, perverted old men, lame main perverted guy, the evil twin and so on. Also, prepare for some dramatic backstories specifically made to enhance the comedy, it's something Minazuki likes to do in his stories.

In the end, this manga is good if you wanna have some fun and look at hot girls, the story is easy to follow and there's an overall mystery to it, ecchi lovers will certainly like it, it has scenes for everyone's taste, the comedy is so so, it's funny but I don't expect the majority of readers to die of laughter. The ending is conclusive and it has some melodrama but it was used to look ridiculous and funny, we needed some big stakes in order for the characters to risk something (this isn't a slice of life iyashikei).
If you're an ecchi fan, you can go and read it, it's sexy, crazy, perverted, funny and ridiculous, Sonata has a big rack, her ass is majestic and she's the perfect waifu, the manga's ecchi and comedy are enjoyable, surely there's something here that'll make an ecchi lover appreciate it.

A set of image videos was exactly what this series needed, released in 2001 (long after the manga ended), this half hour special is a fanservice treat for all Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte fans. Made by the same studio.

This episode has a simple structure: 8 parts, each one with a specific theme or central character, a nice atmospheric song that will make the viewer get into it. It is not a recap of the OVAs (we already have one), just some cool scenes mashed together to form a music video, the characters don't even talk. It's kinda incomprehensible if you didn't pay attention to ... the OVA or if you didn't read the whole manga.

To be frank, this special has a handful of good points:
- Great music (typical of PSME, some new songs too)
- Few scenes from the manga about Mokuren's past and Enju's past
- The important scene from the manga happening on Tokyo Tower
The rest is like an AMV

No conclusive ending, no secrets revealed, anime only people won't understand the plot or Rin's overall plan. I guess it was made to sell its cool music and the producers added some extra scenes to catch the attention of the manga fans. What really captured me was the music, it is outstanding, even if you don't know anything about this show, watch it for the music, it can soothe an aching heart.
All in all, it was enjoyable for me because I adore PSME music and the art style, I also read the manga and I am always down for some new material.

Piyo Piyo is a collection of short stories written by Mizukami Satoshi between 2005 and 2006. The book has 8 chapters (each one being 30 pages aprox) and it's the second installment of Mizukami Satoshi Tanpenshuu (The first is Geko Geko).

The stories are the author's experimental works considering that neither was serialized. Still, I consider these good on their own, the plots are interesting, the supernatural elements (Mizukami style) are entertaining and the characters are fun. If I were the editor, I would've green lit for serialization at least two.
To be fair, not everyone likes this format, the majority of manga readers enjoys long works ... that tell a story and develop the characters or gives you a certain amount of fanservice.
I think you already guessed the structure of each story: beginning and introducing the main characters, something supernatural happens, the characters resolve their issues, end.

It's useless to talk in general about this so let's see what's so interesting or captivating about each story, what makes it worth a read.
- Piyo Piyo (chapters 1,2,3) - For some reason it's this long, it's a wholesome story about a dad, his daughter and their giant chick.
- The Girl in the Iron Mask - a supernatural love story between a high school boy and a girl who always wears an iron mask, expect cute romance and action.
- Givvyup and Trymor - a story about one guy's inner demons, very good from a psychological point of view.
- The Chosen Path - Groundhog Day but it's your regular salaryman and a cute girl.
- Thunder Girl in Monster Town - it's happening in the same Monster Town as the one from Geko Geko volume, colorful characters and lots of youkai, we follow this girl's boring life as an exorcist.
- The Head, The Hole and Monster Town - again Monster Town but with other characters, more youkai than humans.

This volume is pure fanservice for Mizukami fans, we see elements/settings and characters from his other manga. Monster Town is the same town (but in the future) from Sengoku Youko, there's a couple resembling Samidare and Yuuhi, a girl from Sanjin Sadou appears. It's such a great feeling when you tie in the connections, I very much enjoyed that. A first time reader of Mizukami shouldn't worry about that.
His art style though looks a bit rough, it's decent but there are hundreds of better mangaka in the business.

I think this volume is worth a read, the stories are captivating, sure, they aren't extraordinary but the author gets straight to the point and delivers an overall message that the reader can easily understand. Some may find them unimpressive because the action is limited on characters doing everyday life stuff with a pinch of supernatural and we're not going into deep stuff, all stories are very light-hearted.
I enjoyed it and I feel that all of the author's fans will enjoy. And it's a good short-stories volume for a person who likes light-hearted supernatural stuff.

These specials are 2-3 minutes long episodes about random things happening in the world of Mai-Otome (and Mai-Hime too). They aren't important to the overall plot at all.
If you enjoyed the main series and you want more material, this will be a enjoyable watch. All of the important characters appear in comedy skits and we also have some sexy fanservice (but not full nude bodies). Characters from Mai-Hime appearing was a sight for sore eyes for me for I liked them more than their counterparts from Mai-Otome, they don't do much though, only some random talk and 4th wall breaks. Alyssa Searrs (and she has ... lines) and Miyu are in one episode, that should bring back nostalgia.

The episodes are fully animated, it's not a picture drama. The funny situations made me smile but it's not a comedy masterpiece, it's a bit silly sometimes. I guess only the franchise fans will appreciate this anime and its inside jokes.
I recommend it to all Mai-Hime and Otome lovers but don't expect too much out of it, take it as it is and have fun watching it, it's not a waste of time.

Nihonmatsu Kyoudai is a 2017 manga written by the well known author Mizukami Satoshi, it's about two siblings living in modern day Japan, trying to help a spirit.The story has supernatural and action elements.

You may have heard of the term "onmyouji" or just call them spirit mediums, diviners etc, this is the occupation of our main characters (brother and sister), they just try to make ends meet and they work in this sort of business because of their powers and because they can't do anything normal in today's society.

The story follows a concrete plot, we have this big case involving Nerine (a spirit) and throughout ... the manga, the siblings will try their best to help her, and also they hope to receive something, the siblings are poor, they need money or at least something valuable from this job (same story as in Sanjin Sadou).
The action and the atmosphere are light-hearted, to the point that it becomes a comedy and a parody of supernatural action-adventure stories, it's not meant to be taken seriously, only looking at the villains (speech, motivations, designs) and the readers will understand the general idea. It's not a heavy story, it's very easy to follow and quick to read, with a conclusive ending.
And when the siblings can't resolve the case peacefully, they get into fights (big and flashy) or they run away, that's the style of Nihonmatsu.

In 6 chapters (30 pages each aprox) we don't have enough time to learn about all the characters involved but even so, we do get some exposition about the siblings' origins and powers, some info about the antagonists, some history about the people involved in the plot. It didn't feel forced and the info came in the right moments and the reader won't feel overwhelmed, that was my impression.
If I tried to use a few words to describe the characters it would look like this:
- the main siblings - the girl is hot blooded, the boy is cold
- villain - young rich brat
- villain girl - klutzy with big boobs
- underlings - they wear hoods all the time and talk about their salaries
- spirits from the Wooden Valley - comical plushies

I liked that the mains were brother and sister (small age gap between them), I rarely see that in manga and I liked their interactions, they're so different in personality but they make a good team, they're on the same wave length. I can't forget the manga because of this element.

The main genre is not comedy but you can't read it without smiling, the dialogue is certainly not serious, may times they talk about boobs or about cute giant robot designs. Some situations are pure comedy and comedy appears in the fights too. Just imagine a Gintama comical fight (but not that over the top), it's the best example.

The art style is classic Mizukami, not that impressive, the characters are decent looking, the backgrounds are ok. The adventure in Wooden Valley has some cool backgrounds though and the designs for the giant magical robot-ship and the fighting choreography look great, very detailed parts and lots of expressive movement, I have no complaints with the battles, they are enjoyable, the author did his best here. I don't think an action fan will consider the fights boring.
The girls in this manga are quite sexy if I may say so, so that's a plus in my book, expect an occasional panty shot and some skin here and there.

I read it in one hour and 15 minutes aprox, it's a relaxing manga, the characters weren't annoying, they were kinda fun with their little quirks, even the villains made me smile, the rich brat had a weird obsession about big boobs and he shouts all the time, this klutzy girl was fun too but I am easy to impress for I love comedy and exaggerated traits.
In the end, it's a mediocre manga with cheesy plot twists and ending, it has the Mizukami style but that's about it, a fan will definitely enjoy it but it's still inferior to his other works.