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It’s such a shame to see this series is not getting as much attention as it deserves for it’s a very solid adaptation of one of my current favorite on-going manga. People mainly know of Hiroaki Samura due to Blade of the Immortal and his penchant for ryona as seen in other works of his like the infamous Bradherley's Coach and his art book that’s not so subtly named The Love of the Brute. Wave, Listen to Me on the other hand, is a comedy about working in broadcasting (among other things) and is thus a major departure from his usual dark and twisted works. ...

As such, while Blade mostly showcased Samura’s skill as an artist, Wave is the work that showcased not only Samura’s skills as an artist but more importantly, also as a writer, what his sense of humor is like and what are the influences on his works.

In addition to the little details that go into the world of radio production, the charm of the series lies in its character interactions; Samura did well in crafting a gang of interesting characters as they muck around and generally just trying their best to do their job and lead their lives. In that regard, much of the humor in Wave is centered on a mix of mundane, everyday elements and absurdist scenarios like some of the hijinks the protagonist, Koda Minare gets into plus whacky ideas being used for the radio broadcasts - in particular people who have read Samura’s other more comedic works like Halcyon Lunch or Sister Generator would likely already have picked up that Samura does seem to like throwing in some surreal sci-fi themes.

However, the series is not all just silly shenanigans, as it also has some poignant moments such as addressing the role of radio even in the days of the abundance of multiple entertainment media being available and why it still remains important even right now. Which leads me to my next point; I've noticed that when people say 'mature/adult oriented' works, there's a tendency to refer to works with lots of violence, sex and/or raunchy jokes. Unfortunately, people end up ignoring that works can be mature without relying on sex and violence or that having said themes doesn't make for a mature work. And this is one of the reasons I like about this series; it is adult oriented in its very literal sense of the phrase. A lot of the themes, humor etc are much, much more relatable for an older audience - in particular, the little scenes between Mizuho and Kureko where the latter talks about being an aging creative still trying to, not only remain relevant in the industry, but is still fighting for his passion. And then there's the topics such as dealing with terrible exes, bad breakups and of course, the workplace.

Anyway, Studio Sunrise has always had a solid record with adaptations, especially when it comes to comedy, so this is no exception. To that end, the choice of VAs are perfect. it certainly is delightful to be watching and listening to Minare boisterously barging through things, ranting her head off and bantering with the other characters in the cast. She’s loud, brash and spontaneous, which often leads to her screwing up and get into trouble but that’s also what makes her so lovable and engaging. Sugiyama Riho absolutely nailed it in delivering Minare’s energy, while it’s always nice to hear Mamiko Noto as the soft spoken Tachibana Makie and Ohara Sayaka as Madoka Chishiro. Of course, one also cannot forget Fuji Shinshuu providing that smooth and chill voice to Matou. In addition to the stellar cast of VAs, the direction and delivery of the jokes, the music and the art are all on point, which all serves to amplify this little gem of a series.

In short, while Blade of the Immortal may be a good samurai series, Wave, Listen to Me is what I’ll call a great Samura work as it's the one that brings out more of the mangaka's personality and style.

Trying to write a review to explain why this work is just so engaging is rather difficult as much of its charm lies in its visual styles perfectly matched by its eclectic cast of oddballs. Trying to categorize this title under a genre is not easy too. MangaUpdates tagged it with a Biopunk, but it too has the elements of Gothic in its ambience and design. It is violent and dark, but at the same time cheery and energetic as it swings nicely on that precarious line of black comedy. And then there’s the trippy elements that goes in several parts of the series. For ... the most part, the story is pretty straightforward, but as the plot progress there are certainly quite a fair bit of mind screw going on – the macabre art style definitely helped in enhancing the effects.

Really, the only way I can succinctly describe Dorohedoro in one sentence would probably be that it is akin to what it would be like if Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino collaborated to produce an anime.

It’s not the best description I’ve got, but I think the analogy fits pretty well. In the sorcerers’ world each sorcerer are obliged to wear a personalized mask to mark their identity. Throw in the fact that you have manifestations of curses, devils and death god flying around and the place is like a much more macabre mash of Halloween Town and Beetlejuice. And then you have En’s family and his estate. En’s family being clad in suits make it look like the mafia taking part in a Halloween party. The whole imagery is bizarre, but it is also freakishly cool. To round it all up, Dorohedoro is set in a world where gratuitous amount of stylized violence is the norm and thus gruesome deaths are treated with general nonchalance by the cast of eccentric characters. Characters will happily have inane conversations in between slaughtering enemies in grisly manners as though they are right out of a Tarantino film.

With such a unique art style, it was thus initially pretty worrying to hear of an anime adaptation being made. How will the staff attempt to adapt Hayashida Q’s gritty and surreal setting for the anime? Thankfully, it turns out the fears are unfounded. The anime did well not just in capturing the essence of the manga’s style but by also injecting their own flair into the series. You can tell they’ve put a lot of effort into the background from how lavishly detailed they are, ranging from the dirty, gritty slums in the Hole, to the intricate Gothic architecture in the sorcerers’ world and psychedelic colors during the carnival. The background bear reminiscences to that of works like Akira - a quick look at the credits confirms that the art director for Dorohedoro is none other than Shinji Kimura who has indeed worked on Akira.

Now, admittedly I do have some mild complaints about the CG usage, particularly with bits like Caima’s head in the early episodes where it made him look like some kind of a plastic toy. Thankfully however, the CG usage improved in latter episodes and the usual 2D animation is used for key moments in the later parts.

Of course, simply having great visuals is not enough for me to consider this as my favorite anime of the season. The characters too need to actually be interesting. Since this is after all a rather Gothic story with some rather grim setting, it should come to no surprise that trying to categorize them into “villains” and “heroes” is rather pointless. Heck, considering that the different groups get their own share of characterization and screen time, it is also not easy to distinguish between some of them as “protagonists” or “antagonists”. In other words, despite the large cast, the core characters remain interesting while the other supporting characters too get their fair share of spotlight. The result is that even though the characters are supposed to be opposing against each other, I can’t help but root for some of them all the same.

Indeed, much of the charm of the series comes from how the various characters bounce off with each other. This is best demonstrated in how members of the En Family interact with each other. En, the big boss himself, for instance, is portrayed as ruthless when dealing with his enemies, but at the same time, we’re shown his whimsical and vain side such as his penchant for grandeur, obsession with mushroom, but more importantly we also get to see him being a pretty chill boss who genuinely get along well with his underlings. Then there’s Shin and Noi, who have a great chemistry going on as partners, and it’s always a delight watching their rapport as they just want to enjoy some food in between missions. And of course, let’s not forget the friendship between Caiman and Nikaido as they are on their trail to uncovering Caima’s identity. In a way, one of the things I like about Dorohedoro is also what made me took a liking to Narita Ryougo’s works in the first place: the inclusion of multiple viewpoints and what is at first glance a very chaotic story, but which has a pretty focused narrative as you progress; as nicely summed up one of the characters in Baccano!, “Depending on who you place in the same situation, the characteristics of said incident change kaleidoscopically. In other words, there is one incident. However, there are as many stories explaining it as there are people involved in it.” — Gustav St. Germain (aka that guy voiced by Norio Wakamoto).

Next, the other just as crucial element that played a role in making this series such a standout is none other than the audio choices. This series could might as well act as a concept album to promote (K)NoW_NAME’s music. As with the art, anime really nailed the tone of the series with the soundtracks and the theme songs in particular are a just so damn catchy and as whimsical as the series itself. Finally, there’s the choice of VAs: from Kobayashi Yuu as the boisterous Noi, to Takagi Wataru as Caiman, to Hosoya Yoshimasa as Shin and of course Horiuchi Kenyuu as En, they all perfectly captured the personality of their roles.

What we have learned from this anime:
1. It has been a pretty faithful adaptation and the studio did a wonderful job in elevating it by giving the anime their own touch.
2. The music is very addictive to listen to.
3. It is an absolute blast of a series and you should check out the manga as well.

All these and more, in the sprawling chaos that is... Dorohedoro!

After the abyssal performance that is the main Guren no Tsuki (Crimson Moon) series, I was somewhat hesitant about picking up this movie. However, I’m glad that I did give it a chance after all because Usuzumizakura is actually pretty good and is on par with the Divine Flame movie.

The plot isn’t anything much to write home about, just your usual encounters as per the typical Garo episode but it being a movie with limited time means it cannot afford to drag things out like in the series. The pace is much tighter and you also do not need to put up with Ashiya ... Douman wasting screentime every week just to repeat the same few phrases about DARKNESS. Most important of all, they really put the movie resources to good use and made sure to actually throw in plenty of cool, well animated fight scenes which the TV series lacks on a depressing level. Seimei is entertaining, her character design is gorgeous as ever and Romi Park is fantastic in her role as usual. The antagonist is voiced by Tanaka Atsuko - yet another veteran - so that's another plus point.

Anyway, if you have given up hope because of the TV series, I’d like to urge you to give the movie a chance. And if you just want a simple, engaging action anime, consider giving this a go as well – it’s fairly standalone so you don’t even need to have watched the TV series.

Most people probably know of Yasuhiko Yoshikazu due to his involvement with the Gundam franchise but his non-Gundam works definitely deserves attention too. I've always liked the way he created a sense of dynamism in the characters' movement, the expressiveness of the characters, as well as the water-colour styled shading. Indeed, his works are always great to look at and serves to drastically amplify the story he's telling. Most importantly, I absolutely love the hell out of his character designs.

All these are evident in Venus Wars as well, where his art plays a crucial part in enhancing an otherwise simplistic war drama. The scenes with ... the soldiers having to take down enemy tanks with what are essentially armoured dirt bikes were pretty damn cool too. Lastly, I'd also recommend checking out the anime as the plot progress is somewhat different and thus offers a different level of experience.

Going purely from the synopsis, it certainly doesn't sound believable that the series became as successful as it is right now. At its core, Girls und Panzer appears to be just another series about cute girls doing something. In this case, the gimmick is taking part in competitions that involves driving tanks, complete with the girls attaining victory through friendship and effort. And yet, such simplicity is also why the series, and by extension, the movie is brilliant. After all, as the late Sir Terry Pratchett once said, “The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox ... of communication.” Thus, GaruPan is proof that cliches in itself isn't a bad thing and it depends on how it's executed. And it certainly excelled at it.

The series is called Girls and Panzer so that's exactly what they'll damn well focus on. As such, it's no wonder that the character interactions are part of what made this series shine. Even though the movie features several new characters in addition to an already huge cast established in the series, they still managed to be engaging, and more importantly, managed to establish a strong presence. Even during - or rather especially during - the action sequences, there is plenty of chemistry within the various teams. For instance, in both the series and OVA, we have already seen what Anzu and Anchovy are like, but this movie takes it further by having them on the same stage, thereby nicely featured how Anzio acted as a foil to the Turtle Team. Like the president, Ancovy is ever the optimistic genki girl. Though unlike the student council trio, their tankette isn't suited for the frontlines and thus contribute by providing reconnaissance and various other assists. And then of course, there are the little tag-teams set up such as Ooarai teams being the mentor to Chihatan, the zany tactics between Ooarai and Anzio and so on. The little moments outside of the tank battles are pretty heart-warming too. The staff did well in illustrating the friendship between the characters even with the limited screen time.

In other words, where the series is about them building up their relationships, the movie is hence about delivering the pay-off. After all the progress in the series, the movie took it further and served to deliver the results of their actions. Really, it's particularly charming to see how much the various Ooarai girls have grown and learned from their experiences in the series.

Next, there are of course the tanks: aka the other important half of Girls und Panzer. In Top Gear, the presenters liked to talk about how certain cars have 'character' and this arguably lends itself well even in GaruPan. As with the series, the movie further displays how the tanks have their own traits as much as they reflect the personalities of the girls driving them. From the way Anzio's plucky little tankette is bouncing around to provide vital backups in the background, to the way Tutle Team's Hertzer is cheekily zipping around the rivals and also how Leopon's hulking, lumbering Porsche Tiger is shown to be difficult to handle and breaks down easily, but in the hands of the capable automotive girls, proved to be a reliable ally and never let the teams down during crucial moments - the tanks all certainly showed as much personality as the girls and deserves just as much mention.

This brings us to the meat of the film: the tank battles. The tank battles were nothing short of fantastic, featuring the delightfully outrageous out of the box thinking that Ooarai has built a reputation for in the series. But since this is the movie, the staff has done well in turning things up to eleven and increasing the scale of the spectacles. What makes it even sweeter is the fact that for a 2 hour long movie, the tank battles themselves clock in at about 1.5 hours and there isn't a single dull moment to it. Part of it has to do with how the various manoeuvres are directed and how the battles are choreographed in showcasing the aforementioned Oorai's penchant for creative tactics. The choice of music and its usage is yet another aspect that deserves praises; it's not enough that each school has their own style and quirks, they also have to be paired with the appropriate leitmotif to hype up their entrance. The result is that you get some truly exciting moments that are further enhanced by the equally fantastic music: the one-scene wonder that is the Continuation/Keizoku School's Team easily comes to mind. The final fight at the theme park is yet another good example.

Last but not least, the voice acting needs some love too. Mamiko Noto as the whimsical Mika further strengthens the one-scene wonder status, while Maya Yoshioka was another notable part of the film in her portrayal of Anzio's lovable Duce. Overall, the film, as with the series, boasted a pretty impressive cast and yet another point that adds to the enjoyment value of the franchise.

Good directing, engaging tank battles, memorable soundtracks and charming characters; without a doubt, Girls und Panzer der film is my favourite anime of the year.

In this series, magic users are beings born with a certain organ in their bodies that allow them to use magic in the form of puffing out smoke, be it from their fingers or mouth. On the other hand, you have the regular humans who live in a place called the Hole, which is shown to be a ghetto-ish area. The story thus follows two main perspectives, the first being that of Kaiman and Nikaido having their little adventures in the Hole. The second focuses on Shin and Noi, two magic users who are tasked with tracking down Kaiman. This is later expanded to include ... En’s family and the inclusion of several other factions and groups. As the series continues, the viewpoints begin to converge as the different characters meet and interact and yes, this is a manga with a relatively huge cast of characters.

According to Wikipedia, Dorohedoro is serialized in Ikki, a magazine that “specializes in underground or alternative manga”. And it indeed is alternative for it is hard to find a manga as quirky and stylish as this. Trying to write a review to explain why this manga is just so addictive is rather difficult as much of its charm lies in its visual styles.

Really, trying to categorise this title under a genre is not easy. Manga Updates tagged it with a Biopunk, but it too has the elements of Gothic in its ambience. The only way I can succinctly describe Dorohedoro in one sentence would probably be that it is akin to what it would be like if Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino collaborated to produce a manga. It’s not the best description I’ve got, but I think the analogy fits pretty well. In the Magic Users’ world each Magic User are obliged to wear a personalized mask to mark their identity. Throw in the fact that you have manifestations of curses, devils and death god flying around and the place is like a much more macabre mash of Halloween Town and Beetlejuice. And then you have En’s family and his estate. En’s family being clad in suits make it a like the mafia in a Halloween party. In fact, when Shin and Noi first turned up, I was strongly reminded of Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. The whole imagery is bizarre, but it is also freakishly cool.

In general, I am not a fan of gore. Titles such as Berserk and Gantz are far from my preferred types of manga and I tend to be averse to manga that displays excessive amount of gruesome disembowelment like Shigurui for example. However, I do like me som dark comedy and Dorohedoro pretty much struck a chord with me despite the display of characters getting brutally murdered – hell, there’s even a character whose magic is all about disemboweling bodies. Yet within the bleak setting there is sufficient amount of well executed comedy. The gratuitous amount of stylised violence as well as the general nonchalance in attitude towards its delivery by the cast of eccentric characters means that although the tone is grim, it is at the same time funny. The humor style is more towards the dry sort though.

Now, simply having great visuals is of course not enough for me to consider this as one of my favourite. The characters too need to actually be interesting. Since this is after all a rather Gothic story with some rather grim setting, it should come to no surprise that trying to categorize them into “villains” and “heroes” is rather pointless. Heck, considering that the different groups get their own share of characterization and screen time, it is also not easy to distinguish between some of them as “protagonists” or “antagonists”. In other words, despite the large cast, the core characters remain interesting while the other supporting characters too get their fair share of spotlight. The result is that even though the characters are supposed to be opposing against each other, I can’t help but root for some of them all the same. Lastly, not to forget the trippy elements that goes in several parts of the manga. For the most part, the story is pretty straightforward, but as the plot progress, or rather in the recent volumes, there are certainly quite a fair bit of mind screw going on – the macabre art style definitely helped in enhancing the effects.

In a way, one of the things I like about Dorohedoro is also what made me took a liking to Narita Ryougo’s works in the first place: the inclusion of multiple viewpoints and what is at first glance seems like a very chaotic story, as nicely summed up one of the characters in Baccano!, “Depending on who you place in the same situation, the characteristics of said incident change kaleidoscopically. In other words, there is one incident. However, there are as many stories explaining it as there are people involved in it.” — Gustav St. Germain (aka that guy voiced by Norio Wakamoto).

On the whole, Dorohedoro may take a while to get into and feel comfortable with its surreal style, but once you do, what you have here is one wickedly engaging manga. Definitely worth the read.

[Story: 4.0] Peppered with nothing but plenty of really cheap innuendo, I know that I'm not supposed to be expecting some fabulous scripting from this sort of show, contending for just some silly, cheap laughs. Yet even with this in mind, Akikan manage to be underwhelming.

Akikan wants to achieve too much but lacked the effort to do any of them. It tried to pack in romance, drama, lewd dialogues, action and plenty more lewd dialogue, but was lazy in executing them. The comedy aspect is lackluster - you've seen them in practically any other ecchi series you can get your hands on and they're probably ... funnier too. Drink cans who transform in girls? Sounds interesting (albeit absurd) until one considers that beneath the gimmick, there's absolutely nothing outstanding about the whole magical/ super-powered girlfriend concept. Attempts to even provide examples of such titles would flood the page. Clichés in itself are NOT bad; it's because they are popular ideas that they become clichés. However, there’s a difference between getting inspirations from popular ideas and blatantly being uncreative.

Lastly, the series should have ended at episode 10. The last two episodes were redundant and just add to how haphazard the series is handled. For one thing, it was too late to introduce new characters. For another, it's not like it contributed anything to the plot anyway.

[Characters: 5.5] Kakeru, the protagonist is mildly amusing in his grandeur and crazy talks, but him alone is insufficient to hold the show together when the rest of the cast is insignificant. It also helps that he's voiced by Jun Fukuyama, who did a fantastic job. However, it is also a waste to actually have Jun Fukuyama in it - and he's actually one of the few redeeming points of the series. I admit, the nonsense babbled by Kakeru garnered a few cheap laughs here and there. In the end, however, those were cheap laughs and nothing more.
Similarly, it's also somewhat a waste to have Mamiko Noto in it as well.

Initially, the gag about how Jigoro often got disregarded and treated as invisible is chuckle worthy. Sadly (and ironically), that really is all he is, unimportant enough to be considered as being 'not there'. Furthermore, the main girl turns out to be a tsundere so there's the obligatory gag that involves her physically assaulting the protagonist. Other characters need not be explained further; generic characters through and through. Also, Budoko's voice is annoying. Really, after the first episode, the series just got lazy.

[Art: 5.5] Perhaps it is not entirely the studio's fault that the story is weak and the jokes are terrible. Perhaps it is the source materials themselves that are bad - I wouldn't know; I've read neither the novel nor manga. However, when it comes to production values, the studio has no excuse and this is the bit that came to be a surprise: Akikan is made by Brains Base. Although it is unreasonable to expect a studio to constantly create high quality productions and unrealistic to hope that all the works are to one's liking, Akikan is really a far cry from Brains Base’s portfolio, including but not limited to Natsume Yuujinchou, Baccano! and Kurenai. Akikan has the worst quality of the lot. To compare on a broader scale, Akikan isn't any better. For a series made in 2009, the art quality is inadequate.

[Music: 6.0] Music was average, typical cutesy songs. BGM was kind of lacking as well. Well then again, this being mainly a comedy, expecting Yuki Kajiura level of pieces would be superfluous.

[Summary] Akikan is, to put it simply, devoid of creativity. Plenty of titles in its genre have done the things it did and better. Really, there are just so many other titles to watch other than this.

[Story:8.5] After how mediocre the first season was, I initially had no intention to continue with the sequel – that is, until seeing several screenshots and raves about it on the net, which prompted me to give it another go. Thank goodness I decided to give it a chance as the second season is fantastic, to say the least.

The first season was insipid because the focus is on the school life aspect while the more appealing intergalactic setting and aliens in masquerade get demoted to the background for a relatively large part of the series. The whole ordinary kid stuck in extraordinary events ... premise is overshadowed by the fact said extraordinary events are way more interesting that the ordinary kid. Naturally, the reverse is what made the sequel so much better. In addition, season 2 deals with alien fugitives taking cover on Earth, allowing the introduction of Birdy’s childhood friend, thus giving the opportunity to explore Birdy’s back-story. To put it simply, the sequel did practically everything that I complained was lacking in its first season.

As such, it can be argued that the real reason that season 1 is mediocre is because the real 'story' have not occurred. And it makes sense when one consider the case of the so-called standard 26-episode series. The alien they fought at the end of the first season? It's not the so-called ‘real’ Final Boss. It was not the actual climax. The secret project and experiments was just the set up, merely to prepare the stage for this sequel. Indeed, this one is when it’s finally ready to deliver what it has been building up previously. This is when things finally start to get serious, hence why the pace in season 2 is much faster and with more events occurring.

[Characters:8.0] As said, the character of focus is one of the key reasons defining Birdy Decode on the whole. Previously, the side characters doesn't really contribute much to the story. For all intent and purpose, the only relevant characters were mainly just Birdy, Tsutomu and Natsume who got caught in the event. Now, apart from the protagonists, the main antagonist too gets the fair share of back story and other minor character also get their share of the limelight.

And of course, there is much drama and development to be had for Birdy herself. From her comedic Arita Shion persona to flashbacks involving her past, the scenes were well executed. The lighter moments are comedic when it needs to, while the heavier and darker scenes are dramatic without being overdone. In particular, the story can get surprisingly quite touching and bittersweet in the latter part of the series.

The choice of voice-acting cast was great too. As with the prequel, I like the voice acting for Birdy, especially when she is in her Arita Shion mode. Special mention goes to Mamiko Noto as Birdy’s caretaker.

[Art:8.5] Another compliment goes to the major improvement in production values. Not only is the story better, even the animation quality is much higher. The action sequences are fantastic, albeit some of them being rather brutal. In short, the art style is excellent and in particular, I like the mix of animation styles - for example, the sketchy style (similar to those of Gainax productions) is highly appropriate for some of the more emotionally chaotic moments.

[Music:7.5] Decode has good soundtracks, but the prequel didn’t quite get to put them to good use. Thankfully, this season rectify that. Furthermore, the choice of opening and closing themes are also much more agreeable.

[Summary] With a classic science-fiction setting, some romance and plenty of cool action sequences, it shall suffice to say that Birdy Decode 02 is definitely worth the watch.

Personal Overall Rating: 8.5

Rather than calling it The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, a more appropriate title would perhaps be The Melancholy of Kyon, because now it’s Kyon’s turn to make his decision. In essence, this movie is a major opportunity for character development of not just Nagato, but more crucially, of our beloved narrator as well. In the previous seasons, it is mainly about Kyon being dragged into situations and going with the flow. It was just always about Haruhi. The series was pretty much about Kyon observing and commenting upon Haruhi's actions. Sure, he gets pulled into all the bizarre events, but as far as he is ... concerned, he is just an observer. A key trait of the Suzumiya Haruhi series lies in Kyon’s narration to the hijinks that goes on around him. This movie thus goes beyond that, serving as a platform to truly explore his thoughts: where beneath the sarcasm, the continuous face-palms and the frequent sighs, is one who does genuinely enjoy the ludicrous situations that he sardonically remarks upon.

Shoutshitsu thus acts as both a response to and contrast with Yuutsu. In Yuutsu, Haruhi’s melancholy is derived from her frustration with how normal, how mundane the world is and thus yearned for some fantasy to exist. This climaxes with her almost re-shaping the world unknowingly due to her Reality Warping. As we already know, this results in the finale that is her subconsciously acknowledging that she is satisfied with the current world and that even though there is nothing supernatural (not that she knows of, of course), that’s fine with her. The world may, in her eyes, be boring but that doesn’t mean she has to follow suit. She can make life interesting for herself as long as there is the SOS Brigade to take command of. Kyon started out being similar to her; from the narratives in Yuutsu (more prominently in the novel's prologue), we can see how outwardly, he behaves like the average, typical guy, but well, the narratives say quite a lot. However, rather than get frustrated like Haruhi, he just heaved a sigh and moved on.

Haruhi, and by extension the other members of the club, hence made him regain the fantasy that he used to have. The events in Shoushitsu thus challenged Kyon: the stable but very much dull world or the exasperating one filled with Espers, Aliens and Time Travelers? His long epic rage against the heavens of a soliloquy in Shoushitsu is his answer, a callback to the opening narration in Yuutsu's prologue. That’s why Haruhi got along so well with Kyon. The paths both of them took may be different, but in the end Kyon shared the same sentiments as her. This movie is Kyon’s affirmation that John Smith is every bit as eccentric as Espers, Reality Warpers, Aliens, Time Travellers and any other oddities.

Next, we have Nagato as the second focal point of the film, where we get to see her as beyond the emotionless doll that she was in the series. Or rather, it would be more appropriate to say that in the series, her development as a character was mostly subtle, more of a gradual build-up whereas the film finally provided her the vehicle to express more of herself. Last but not least, is none other than the titular heroine. As the name of the movie may have revealed, Haruhi does not have much screen time, but she does get her moments and similar to Nagato, one can see the stark difference in the world without the SOS Brigade. All in all, the movie excellently ties in the dynamics of the characters, bringing about a fulfilling addition to the franchise.

KyoAni certainly went all out on this, for the production value is high in more ways than one. 5cm/s often gets praises about it being a movie comprised of amazing wallpaper-worthy scenes. Well, Shoushitsu deserves to claim some of the limelight in the visual department too. It’s not just the details given to the background, as the animation such as the characters’ movement is fluid - the scenes as envisioned by KyoAni are fantastic and I particularly like the snow motive that is being used throughout the film.

When it comes to audio, the studio didn’t hold back either. The voice actresses of the film’s main heroines sing the theme songs, so it sure is nice to hear the upbeat and energetic “Bouken desho? Desho?” as the opening theme again. This is contrasted with the ending theme: a quiet, soothing track by Chihara Minori. In addition, great use of orchestra pieces during the appropriate scenes. Hirano Aya returns to portray Haruhi’s over-energetic personality while Chihara Minorie did well in depicting the differences between both worlds’ Nagato. The highlight however, has to be Tomokazu Sugita, who shows just why he is the ideal voice actor for Kyon. Prior to this film, I’ve always been considering his best role as being Sakata Gintoki of Gintama. Shoushitsu just shows that yes, his role as Gintoki is great, but Kyon is not to be overshadowed too. The superb voice acting, along with the meticulous animation for the facial expressions, thus combines to convey an emotionally poignant and memorable performance. Indeed, his soliloquy near the end of the movie is absolutely fantastic. It shall suffice to say that every element in the movie worked seamlessly, for good art style and pleasant audio alone are not enough. In short, the movie is well paced and the scripting is well delivered.

Top-notch production values, intriguing storyline with poignant scenes, delivered by distinctively memorable and very much appealing characters, this movie is in essence, a perfect combination of faithfulness to source material and production staffs’ own creative input. This certainly is one adaptation done right, for it didn’t just meet my expectation: it exceeded it.

*The above is a spoiler-free version of the review. For the version that includes potential spoilers, see here:
http://mizunoyuutsu.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/shoushitsu/

[Story: 7.0] I initially considered K-ON (season 1 at that time) as being the weaker works by KyoAni. Well, I'm going to take that back. The previous season was by no means terrible, but it certainly was not that spectacular; it was just mildly enjoyable. Season 2 however, turned out to be an improvement. For one thing, this season is more than just the girls skiving around being moe. There's more content and more events going on. In particular, the impressive part of the series lies in the last few episodes, where most of the girls are about to graduate.

My only complaint is that they ... aren;t doing much music related stuff. After all, the studio has been shown to put in massive amount of effort in things such as the accuracy of the instruments. Some fans will point out that music isn't exactly the main focus and that it's more about the girls enjoying themselves. I agree, however, it was a bit of a wasted potential to not see them have actual, proper practice sessions despite being graced with such expensive instruments. Besides, wouldn't them practicing together also help in the portrayal of their bonds? Still, the things like the concerts are great.

[Characters: 7.5] Season 1 was just decent because the series was more about displaying as much as possible of the various gimmicks like the moe factor and such. The sequel moves away from it considerably, choosing to go for the more slice-of-life approach. Furthermore, although the characters aren't exactly the most original, there is nonetheless evident characterization beyond their initial basic archetypes. For example, there's Azusa growing attached to the club, and later realizes the impending loneliness that will occur after the other girls graduate. In short, it's not just about the girls being cutesy, it had some heartwarming moments as well, with the series exploring their friendship and relationship with several other people like their teacher and so on. On that note, I mentioned in my review for season 1 how Sawako exists mainly as a plot device to get the girls to cosplay. In this season, the series chose to focus on her position as someone who, beneath the childish and easy-going nature, is a teacher who genuinely cares for her students. The events and ideas in K-ON may be common and predictable, but the directing style and pacing prevents it from becoming a bore.

Lastly, I like how KyoAni took the effort to include the other classmates into the interactions (creating new materials that wasn't originally available in the 4koma). Yes, the main girls are the protagonists, but the world certainly doesn't revolve around them just because they are the lead characters.

[Art: 9.0] Cute girls to KyoAni is what robots are to Sunrise; it's their trademark. And in the current cute girl trend, saying that KyoAni is successful is a mere understatement. Also, they seem to have stepped up the art quality in this season. As with the previous season, the animations for the ending themes are appealing.

[Music: 9.0] The OP didn't really appeal to me. The EDs, No, Thank You! and Listen! on the other hand, are absolutely fantastic and so are the various inserts. The bgms are simplistic but fits the series just fine. Again, it would be nice if they actually had more practice sessions.

[Summary] On a final note, we often make fun of studios when the adaptations are not as good as the source material (lol DEEN), but seldom do we do the reverse. For contrast, look at Minami-ke. The manga is also another simple slice-of-life title. While season 1 by studio Doumu was popular, the second season by studio Asread was less so. Kyoto Animation is thus commendable in how it managed to take a simple 4koma and expand it to obtain such levels of achievements. Again, I don't see myself as a huge fan of K-ON and I think that it is rather overrated, but then it's not the first time the fandom has taken to exaggerated extols. Nevertheless, as far as a slice-of-life series go, I don't mind admitting that this second season is pleasant to watch.
Personal Overall Rating: 8.0