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White Album 2. What can one say about White Album 2. Well, it is obviously one of the most underrated series I have seen in a while. Going into this series, I had no idea what to expect. I should make it clear that i have not seen the original White Album series, so I didn't really care much when it was announced that White Album 2 was going to be animated. Now what kind of anime is this? I will point out right now I have seen awesome, great however you want to describe it tear jerking animes such as Angel Beats, Clannad, ... AnoHana, etc., Being the cold person that i am, I did not shed a single tear, leading to my friends calling me a cold monster. After watching episode 1 of white album 2, i immediately got my hopes up of finally shedding a tear from watching anime.
There is nothing special about the story. It is a typical school setting with a club about to be dispanded. Events occur and eventually, three best friends come together and a love triangle is formed as their friendship is tested by their love. What is special about this series is its pacing of the story. The first 5-6 episodes not only progresses the story further, but plays a great role in character development and makes each of the characters lovable and unique. More onto the characters later. The art and animations are good. The music used in the series immediately became my all-time favorite. The club the three friends are in the Light Music Club, so a lot like K-on, the group plays a series of songs, and like i mentioned earlier, the songs became one of my alltime favorites. I mentioned earlier about how the characters are good in the series. Well The male lead is Kitahara Haruki, a reliable and dependable student, whose, umm, not that good at the guitar. He practices every day with a mysterious student next door which happens to be Kazusa Touma a prodigy at music. One day, a beautiful voice by Setsuna Ogiso joins the group as the story goes on. I won't go into detail about the characters. You'll have to see it for yourself. The enjoyment, ahh yes. I have to say, this is one of the best drama romances i have seen yet( and ive seen a lot) With an average story, good art, great sound, awesome characters, and a unique form of enjoyment, I see it fair to give this anime a 9.

Pokemon Origins. What can one say about pokemon. Now, like most people, I lived my childhood watching this series along with the games that came with it. The games came out first, and I played Pokemon blue version. As a result, there's no doubt this series had a high nostalgic value for me. Being a special(4 episode long), the pacing of the show is not what one would expect from a pokemon show. At times it moves crazy fast and at times it moves at average speed. Being called Pokemon Origins, the ... creators tried to base it more on the game, rather than the series. Honestly, I have to say, the way they accomplished this was brilliant. There were many game factors such as everytime an episode ended, there was a save menu, and everytime the episode was starting, there was a continue screen. This along with several factors of the game, mixed along with the anime makes this an interesting watch. As far as the story goes, it's more or less a replay of the original anime series. A boy catching pokemon to become the best trainer ever. However, the game adds some game elements to the storyline as all. After becoming the best trainer, the trainer attempts to catch all 149 pokemon(not 151, if you watch the series, you'll see why) like what you're supposed to do in the game. I will not spoil anything so watch if you're interested. The art. What can you say. It's 2013. The art is great. Obviously not perfect in any way but you can at least say it's average or above average. The sound once again had a huge nostalgic value for me. Music from the game was played throughout the series, allowing me to enjoy the series even more. Charaters. It's pokemon trainer RED, not Ash. Wanna know the difference between the 2? Red defeats the pokemon league, Ash barely makes it to the top 16 trainers of the indigo league. Red catches 151 pokemon, Ash catches, what, 8 or 9 pokemon in the kanto region. Red supposedly loses to his rival once, but never loses again. Ash repeatedly loses to his rivals and only beats them once. See the difference? I can honestly say, I enjoyed this series enough to give this a 7. Remember, I played the game growing up, so if you never played the original pokemon games, this anime probably is not right for you. Remeber, this is not a TV series, so I don't hold anything against this anime for its pacing and it skipping events. Being a special, I see it fair to give this anime a 7

Zero no Tsukaima. One of the few unique animes i watched that let a "classic" impression off me. This anime is an example of an fantasy romance done right. As far as the story goes, as guess you could think of it as Harry Potter with the addition of familiars. Even though the story isnt original and isn't all that great, i guess its the world that get's introduced that leaves an good impression. It's a world of magic with wands, dragons, talking swords, lizards, giants, gods like gandalfr, It's a huge world. One of the reasons you get attracted to the anime is ... to find out and learn more about the world itsself and that drives you to keep on watching. The art isn't anything special. It's not bad, but i wouldn't say it's a masterpiece either. Lets just leave it as good. The sound is decent. I liked the second opening and the fourth opening stood out to me, but other than that, the music was ok. The characters are one of the strong points of this anime. Saito, the main character, gets transported from Tokyo, to the magic world. Having a lot to learn about the new world he's in, there leaves a lot of room for character development, which the animators do a decent job at. Louise, starts off as your typical tsundere who treats Saito as a dog. Character development is done well and she goes through a drastic change in the series. There are other noticeable characters as well but lets just leave it at that for now
The romance of the series isnt the best but is still decent. The romance is cute, but it gets annoying how Louise becomes jeolous at every single girl that goes after Saito
The story,art, and enjoyment would be an 8,sound a 7, and character a 9, giving it an overall score of 8

Hayate no gotoku, second season. I should start off by saying, this season is completely different compared to the first season. The writers take a different approach in animating the series. While the first season focused more on the comedy and gags, the second season focuses a lot more on the characters and the romance between them. Of course, im not saying they threw the comedy out the window, there is still a nice amount of comedy thrown into the series, making it in my opinion, far better than the first season. As far as the story goes, it's your typical romcom story, nothing ... new. The art and sound are better than the first season, but it isnt really anything to brag about. What impressed me was the characters of the series. The character development and the romance is one of the best i've seen yet in a series. The plot of 150,000,000 debt is still referenced but is not really used in the series. Characters such as Hinagiku and Ayumu, who did not have much character develpment in the first series receive a huge boost in this one. Once again, the romance is one of the best part of the series. This is just my opinion, but it's on par(arguebly better) with that of Toradora!, one of the best romcom animes i know. The characters are all likable and you'll want to keep watching to find out who the main character ends up with.
The enjoyment of the series has to receive a 10 for me, once again, a lot different from season 1. While i did kind of enjoy the first season, the second season was far better in my opinion. Id give the story a 7, art and sound an 8.5, character and enjoyment a 10, giving it an overall score of 9

Now, I should make one thing clear. I dont have a clue how to play Mahjong. I know nothing of the rules, and even after watching the anime, i still dont. When i first started this anime, I had no idea what i was getting into. Boy, was i impressed. As far as the story goes, the anime uses a typical storyline, a group of high school students, aiming for the Nationals at some sort of sport or game. The characters are great. We have the main character, Miyanaga Saki, who grew up hating Mahjong. As the story progresses, she grows to love mahjong more ... and more. Same old, same old. She has this ability to score a +/- 0 every game in Mahjong, which apparently, is even harder than winning. Her skill is crazy, to the point where people call her a national class monster. Haramura Nodoka, another main character, is the winner of last years National Individual tournament. These two students, along with their team, fight to enter the Nationals. As far as the story and character goes, nothing really stands out. What's amazing is the way the manga was adapted into an anime. Every single Mahjong match is epic. What makes this show so awesome is the competitive atmosphere it gives off. To top it off, the animations are out of this world. They're just crazy. Although you wont see any real crazy animations until later on in the anime. The competitiveness and the animations bring the anime to a new level. The sound is not bad. The first opening is pretty good and the second is ok. The sound during the matches sound epic, but nothing else really stands out.
Saki is an anime i never expected i would enjoy 10/10, especially considering the fact i know nothing about Mahjong. The second season of saki is airing July 2014, 1 year from now, even now, im waiting for that time, when i can start watching saki again.

Sword Art Online, I dont think anyone would disagree that the potential of this anime was HUGE, After the release of the first two episodes, the popularity of the series skyrocketed to the point where it was on par with naruto and onepiece. However, the writers did a poor job adapting anime, leaving many cool and interesting events that occured in the light novel and did not happen in the anime. Although this is a flawed anime, the enjoyment level for me was still surprisingly high.
The story. I dont know why many people say it's unoriginal. I think it's very original. Sword Art ... online is about a teen who get's trapped in an MMORPG along with thousands of other players. To escape from the game, they must clear all 100 floors. I understand anime like .hack already used the plot being trapped in an MMORPG, and animes like Ixion saga and Btoom have the trapped in a game concept. However, sword art online, takes this, along with the concept of leveling up,in game stats, armors and weapons that boost those stats etc. and takes the story to the next level. Like i mentioned earlier, this anime gained its popularity thanks to its first 2 masterpiece episodes. They were perfect. I could not have asked for more. This is where the show began its downfall. In episode 3, the show meets its first timeskip(3 months i think) In episode 7, it meets another(2 years) The number of timeskips is ridiculous and does not help improve the story in any way. Oh, but thats just the beginning of it. I cant write any spoilers, the second half of SAO is what really shoots it down. ALO,The writers completely shoots the concept of SAO out the window and introduces a new game... . Ill sum up ALO in three words. "What the hell" Im not saying the story arc 'is terrible or pathetic, It just does not fit in the series. Perhaps it might have be a decent anime on its own, but not fused with SAO.
The Art and Animations blew my mind. They were so...AWESOME! If i had to describe it, I would say its animations is on par with that of FATE/ZERO 2nd season.
The Sound is good. Not great but good. The 2 openings are both pretty catchy and the series does offer a dozen of epic battle music, but there are animes out there that top this one in terms of epic battle music, so it's really nothing new.
The characters in the first half are... badass. Kirito, known as the black swordsman, solo player, one of the strongest players in the game. Asuna, known as the Lightning Flash, Vice Captain of the Strongest Guild in the world. The two main characters completely OP, OP to the point where Kirito could defeat a boss all by him self( usually takes over 30 players to beat a boss) In the second half, Kirito 's still the same but THEY LOCK ASUNA IN A FREAKING CAGE. What? shes a caged bird now? Shes the FREAKING VICE CAPTAIN of the STRONGEST GUILD. She had such a powerful image and is now a like a fly stuck in a spiderweb. They messed up big in character, thats all i have to say.
There are many people out there who believe SAO has too much romance as an action anime. Sorry, but I have to disagree. The anime does a great job with the first several episodes in character development, that led up to the romance between kirito and asuna. I understand there are other girls who fall for kirito, but i dont think its enough to make it an harem anime, I mean, they appear for literally 1-2 episodes. The romance is centered around Kirito and Asuna. One word to describe the romance is "cute" Yeah, thats it.
Despite all of these flaws, the enjoyment level was still high. Each episode made me want to watch the next. I finished the 25 episode series in 2 and a half days. Overall, with all the flaws here and there, i would give this anime a 7.5, rounded to an 8. The flaws are definitely present, and is easy to see them. Even so, the enjoyment level, as well as the great art and animation makes up for it.