Another

ANOTHER

A Murder/Mystery Novel, adapted into a Manga, Anime and Live Action film, set in a particular high school in a small city, that has been plagued with distaster for 25 years.

OVERVIEW -  A graphic, gruesome murder/mystery story with some great twists and a unique perspective on the genre, The novel has obviously impressed, to be converted into almost all popular media thus far. Set in 1996, A high school class has been plagued by death for 25 years, ever since a popular student died, and in an effort to overcome their grief, the class and teacher continued to act as if the student was still with them. This opened a door to something and every year since death has stalked class 3-3 of the school, taking students and their close family at a rate of at least one per month for the whole year. What is happening? why can nothing be done? and who will die next?

REVIEW - I have to admit, two episodes in and I was wondering what the hell was the deal? we have a transfer student being asked some odd questions, an odd gloom over the class and whispers floating around the school. Then there's the odd girl with the eyepatch that everyone seems to ignore.. But its from the third episode of this 12 part series that the show really kicks into gear. unrelenting and graphic, we're taken on a journey of fear, supersition and suspense that breaks down into a frantic, tense, twisted form of self-preservation and revenge as it wraps up both the truth of the mystery and the story of the 1996 class 3-3. 

The main protagonist, Koichi Sakakibara, transfers into Class 3-3 at the start of May, delayed after falling seriously ill upon his arrival in the town of Yomiyama. Living with his grandparents and his aunt, as his mother died shortly after his birth and his father is performing research in India he has transfered from a private school in Tokyo to the public Yomiyama North Middle School. Met by representatives of his class a few days before his release from hospital, they have a lot of odd questions for him, and it feels more like an interogation than the friendly welcome its dressed up as. While in hospital he befriends a nurse due to a shared passion for horror novels, and also meets an odd, quiet girl with her eye patched, carrying a doll in the lift. 

When he arrives at his first day, his classmates all seem normal, talkative and wanting to know about Tokyo, except one. The girl with the eyepatch is in his class, sitting at a beat up desk and ignored by everyone else. When he talks to her she tells him not to involve himself with her, and his classmates seem disturbed by his interactions with her. It becomes obvious quickly that something is a little off about the class, and about the girl too, but no-one seems willing to talk about it, changing the subject if he brings it up or simply telling him not to talk about it. 

While the first two and a half episodes set up the tone, setting and feel for the story, we dont get to see whats really going on till the end of the third, with an event that'll make you never run in a wet hall with an umbrella again.. Slowly but surely the truth behind the "Calamity" of class 3-3 is revealed to Kouchi, its long history, his connection to it and how tragedy has once again fallen on the class, and now no-one is safe anymore. As the series progresses more and more facts come out, and eventually a way to stop a "Calamity" in progress is found, but the cost may be one the class cannot afford to pay. 

One of the first things you'll notice in this anime is the atmospheric feel the whole thing has, there's a measurable tension in the classroom and among the classmates, and a near-physical cloud-'o-DOOOOOM hanging over the teacher. The whole school is aware of the "curse" of the class, but no-one outside the class knows the specifics, creating a real "them and us" feel in the school. Most of the buildings you'll see in any detail look decades old, with sun-bleached concrete with rusty spots from the internal rebar staining them in a deep, rich red in many places. The colour palete for the series is a a washed out, dark pastels, giving a sense of softness but age, fragility and murk to the whole town and its surrounds. This choice of colour use really adds to the whole feel of the show, piling on the tension and feel of an unseen menace that may or may not be there. 

The "Calamity" that affects the students and their families is also a very unique idea. Ditching the concept of a "bad guy" or any form of malicious intent, be it natural or supernatural, its true nature is considered to be a "naturally occuring phenomenom" by the few who know its full past, comparable to an earthquake or a tornado. In true Japanese style there are efforts made to appease this force, to counter-balance its existance and spare the class. Ritual, superstition and sacrifice play a large part in this, and its all taken deadly seriously as if the yearly "charm" fails, the class will pay with the lives of themselves and their loved ones. A fair bit of time is spent on finding out the truth of the Calamity and what may possibly stop it, but as the story continues to rack up the body count, the desperation of a group of young teens literally scared for their lives begins to divide the class, twisting the tale for a third time, from its "ghost" story start, past its "united front" present and into a future of paranoia, panic and madness for its action packed finale. 

Its beauty lies in how it drip feeds you information, building a strong case for one possible "suspect" or cause, then 180's that on you and throws it completely out the window, while adding depth to the overal story and building the feeling of pressure and insecurity as it goes, weaving a deeply layered story very quickly. Its biggest letdown is that is over so quickly. Characters feel a little one-dimensional because they never really have the time to grow. While the fast pace adds to the frantic feeling, a part of the series charm, the true star of the show is the story, with most characters feeling like pawn or puppets, moving only to further the telling of the tale. While subtle, VERY VERY subtle hints of romantic aspects to characters are there, its not really till the end that these are used as the classes emotions reach a boiling point, friendships are not explored or examined, nor are they really tested in any form. The ending itself is a twist on the whole tale itself, opening new possibilities and leaves itself very open for the possiblity of continuation, and as the novel's auther has confirmed he's writting a sequel, its likely that the anime will see another series in a few years time. My only dissapointment with the ending is that its final climax, and its "wrap" as things are tidied up and made ready to move on happens maybe a little too quickly. Again, the story is wrapped, finished and resolved as it where, but the individuals are not given any real time to reflect on-screen on the events they've been part of, and while its possible thats deliberate given how part of the Calamity works, it for me at least re-inforces the feeling that the characters are very secondary. 

None the less, this is a mystery tale that sets new standards in tension, rapid plot direction changes and some very graphic deaths. Another 2012 anime thats top of the pile production wise, its censorship is light so a lot of the really quite gruesome deaths are there in all their disturbing glory. Drawing comparisons to the "Final Destination" films from the "peanut gallery" comments section on my prefered anime source site, likely due to the complex "Accident" deaths it clearly is tipping its hat towards Hollywood in regards to some scenes. (Damien, of The Omen, is mentioned by name before a very well known scenario presents itself..) Not for the squeamish but a must for those with a love for complicated mystery stories.

SUMMARY -

Story -  The story itself is really something else, a stunningly unique take on the genre so normally bogged down with "evil", "desire", "sin" and "revenge" from both the west and east that something like this is a breath of fresh air. That said, the characters are fairly weak, some little more than stereotypes, and there is very little growth for anyone who isnt the two main characters, and even they dont seem to get that much. Its not like this will stop the majority of people from enjoying the series, but for someone who likes their stories character driven it felt a little lacking. 8/10

Production - Another 2012 anime, another smooth production. Its quite odd, and possibly due to advances in CG costs or computer power, but i've yet to find a "badly animated, massively obvious CG" anime from this year yet. Great use off slightly odd angles to help create its intense atmosphere, intelligent and well planned use of colour there's very little to find fault in. Voice casting is average, but i think that may be because of the lack of character development in the show which doesnt give the voice actors much chance to shine. 8/10

Music - Overall a good score and insert music usage, really enhancing the gloomy setting and playing on the tension building due to the events surrounding the class, It fails in a few places with heavy-handed application of "OMGSHOCK" music and overly "hammy" pieces too. Sadly the opening and ending themes are also not up to the par for the series itself,the opener "Kyōmu Densen" (Nightmare Contagion) makes use of this odd, slightly atonal scale that I've found associated with "horror" and "scary" things in Japanese culture fairly frequently, but personally I really dislike as it sounds like something for a kiddies "boo-scary" show rather than serious horror. Its this "fairground", childish feel to the piece that really doesnt seem to fit the serious approach to the show which, for me, puts the opener at odds with the anime. The ending theme, a soft, meloncholic piano ballad called "Anamnesis" fits a little better, as there's a lot of sadness in the show with all the deaths and so on. Its quite a powerful piece in full to be honest. 6/10

Accessability - While not particularly heavy with Cultural influences, there's a lot of "stereotypical culture" scenes, which while not pivotal to the plot give a lot of hints that may be overlooked by people who dont know the significance or referances that they point to. Things like the Hikkikomori brother, the in-house shrine or the dolls can bring in a depth to certain aspects that may otherwise be missed. The high school setting brings in certain aspects that too are common to the setting in Japan that some may not be familiar with, but thankfully none are so set in the storyline that you need a deep understanding of them to follow the plot. 5/10

Overall Impression - Possibly the best horror anime since Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and the best of recent years in the genre, its stunning setting that really makes use to colour and environment to set and build the scene coupled with its unabashed approach to showing the horrific events as they happen seem to bring about a wonderful mix of the chilling, creeping unseen horror that Japan does so well with the shock-horror of the west, without becoming a "slasher-flic". While the characters seem secondary to the plot, the plot is so good you dont really notice it unless you sit down to think about it like I did for this review. One of my favourite aspects is that while the class 3-3 of 1996 deal with the "Calamity" for the year, the problem isnt fixed or resolved for anyone else to follow. As noted above the author as stated that a sequel is being written
 and while the starting point of it all is known, as well as its effects and ways to counter it, there's no explination as to what is really going on. While thats often a point of complaint for me, the way its done here just adds to the mystique of the show and leaves you wanting more in a good way rather than a frustrated feeling. One I definately recommend to any fans of horror anywhere. 10/10


Final Score - 37/50

Nazo no Kanajo X - Mysterious Girlfriend X

NAZO NO KANAJO X

(Mysterious Girlfriend X)

A 13 part Anime series taken from from an ongoing manga. 

OVERVIEW - At first glance, Nazo no Kanajo X is a simple high school romance tale, but it has a rather unique quirk to the relationship. That is that the male and female leads share a "bond of saliva", a physical connection that draws them together, deepens their relationship and provides plenty of comical situations in the process. The series is only 13 episodes and one OVA (unreviewed here) long, but the manga has run for 6 years so far, so a second season seems likely. 

REVIEW - My initial impressions on reading the basic info about this anime were "this seems kinda gross", as most places describe the relationship as being based around "drool" or saliva. It follows a boy in high school, Akira Tsubaki and the mysterious transfer student who joins his class and sits next to him, Mikoto Urabe. Quiet, her face hidden behind her hair she refuses all interactions with her classmates, spends most of her time on breaks sleeping at her desk and was noted as "weird" due to suddenly breaking into hysterics in the middle of class on her first day. By chance one day after school Akira finds her still asleep in the classroom and wakes her, after she leaves he notices a puddle of drool on her desk and, for reasons unexplained and even a mystery to Akira himself, he decides to taste it.... 

Finding it surprisingly sweet, he suddenly realises how odd he's behaving and goes home, and begins to have odd dreams about Mikoto, but becomes sick over the following few days, unable to attend school. At this point Mikoto comes to visit him, and states that what he has isnt a flu, then asks him if he tasted her drool. When he confirms this she puts more saliva on her finger and shoves it into his mouth, which appears to cure his illness. Mikoto then goes on to explain that what he was experiencing was in fact withdrawl from her saliva, Akira asks if there's some kind of bacteria or virus in her saliva, causing Mikoto to burst out laughing. She explains there's nothing special about her saliva, its simply that Akira had fallen, or begun falling in love with her, and what made him sick was "love sickness" from wanting to taste it again. She leaves, and Akira returns to school the next day, finding Mikoto waiting for him after school to walk home with him, she gives him some more saliva, so he doesnt end up sick again and tells him she'll do the same every day from now on. 

This carries on for a few days, as Akira slowly realises he has fallen for Mikoto and eventually confesses to her and ask her to be his girlfriend. Mikoto asks for a romantic gesture to confirm his feelings, but rejects the "generic approach" of him going to kiss her and asks for something unique, that only he can do. He then has an idea, and pulls out a picture of the girl he had a crush on since middle school (about 4 years, as they are in the second year of high school) and tells Mikoto that he'd never had the courage to ask this girl out, and never got over her even though she went to a different high school. He then says since the day he licked her drool that he'd not even thought about her, or taken the picture from his wallet. He then rips up the picture and throws the pieces into the wind, stating that this was his "romantic approach" to Mikoto. She responds with a huge drool explosion from her mouth, explaining that his sudden action had caused it, because whenever "happy things" happened to her, that was the reaction.

She then reveals the truth behind her notorious laughing fit in class, that being that she heard a voice, from no-where, one that she cant explain and doesnt understand, but it told her that Akira was going to be the person she would lose her virginity to. She also says that since that day she'd been waiting for Akira to tell her he wanted to be with her. She then heads off home, but turns to shout to him that from that day on, she will be his girlfriend. 

Going on from there, the pair try to keep their odd relationship from their classmates, and more odd traits appear, such as Mikoto's frightiningly scary ability to cut almost anything with a pair of scissors she always keeps tucked into the side of her panties, or that emotions, thoughts and dreams are sometimes transfered along with the saliva. Its also revealed that under her hair, Mikoto is actually quite a stunningly cute girl, that she is exceptionally athletic and that she is also very shy. By chance Mikoto befriends another girl in the class, who is the secret girlfriend of Akira's best friend, and apparently shares a similar "saliva bond" with her, found when Mikoto accidently transfering her injuries one day after drinking from the same bottle. Akira's attempts at trying to get closer to Mikoto normally end in her shredding something with her scissors but the two slowly become more intimate and like an actual couple, as well as their classmates begining to warm to the previously shunned Mikoto, often to Akira's annoyance. 

Other than the normal high-school secret romance style comedy situations, there's a lot of humour, drama and intrigue surrounding Mikoto's odd saliva bonds. For the most part she appears fairly stoic, very unemotional but around Akira, and later her female friend she begins to show a lot of emotion. Its not explained why, but it seems to me at least that her emotional behaviour is caused by feeling the emotions from the saliva bonds she has, as this has been shown to affect her behaviour and skills. There are several points where the anime touches on the dillema of teenage couples regarding intimacy, aided by the strange behaviour and responses of Mikoto who honestly doesnt seem to understand much at the begining, but towards the end of the series shows signs of becoming aware of not only her own feelings, but Akira's as well. One of my absolute favourite parts is an example of this, with Akira accidently seeing Mikoto naked, he becomes flustered around her because he wants to hold her, but she doesnt allow it, with any attempt previous resulting in the scissor attack. When she realises this she samples his saliva by shoving a finger in his mouth, resulting in her feeling the same "heat" in her body. Her response to this is the thought "He really is a horny bastard" (at least thats how the translation i saw put it XD). The next day during another scissor attack moment she accidently cuts him for the first time, upset and quite distraught at the fact, she insists he let her clean it up at her home, and in doing so confirms her normal attack has lost its accuracy. While she's doing that, Akira, who is waiting in her room, notices her pillow seems damp. Mikoto returns, begins cleaning up his wound and apologies to him once again, telling him that she thinks her loss of control is due to a "weird dream" she'd had the previous night (the day she tasted his saliva and privately thought of him as a "horny bastard"). Akira then asks if her damp pillow is involved in her "weird dream", to which Mikoto allows Akira to taste her saliva to understand her emotions. This causes him to feel like he did the previous day, and he tries to leave, knocking her to the bed, turning to apologise and tripping up. Worried he's going to land on her and hurt or offend her, he manages to change the direction of his stumble and smacks his head worse. When Mikoto asks what happened and he explains that he didnt want to upset her by hugging her through falling on her, she hugs him (for the first ever time) and tells him that he shouldnt risk hurting himself over not randomly hugging her. This clears the odd "foggy headed" feeling that had been affecting the pair, and she finishes cleaning and covering his cut and now bruised head. Akira goes home after Mikoto tells him her "weird dream" had him in it and refusing to say more while blushing and goes to her room. after testing her scissor skills have returned she falls back on her bed, realising her pillow still carried the scent of "the previous night" she admits to herself that "I may chastise him a lot... but i'm pretty horny too"

Its this Strongly sensual, scent, feel and taste-based aspect to the series that I feel really gives it an honest sense of how teenages experiencing their sexual awakenings while in a relationship can be. Trying not to act purely on carnal desires while obviously submitting to them to a degree, the emotional and physical aspects of relationships either romantic or platonic are shown, hightened in their importance by the slightly gross aspect of showing them via swapping saliva on fingers. Most animes tend to go too heavily in one aspect or the other, either being completely non-sexual in how the relationships are shown or acting like everyone is constantly shagging everyone. Its a nice change of pace to find a show that does such a great job of showing the balance between the two while retaining a uniqueness and humour. 

The mystery of Mikoto is not cleared up in the first season, why does her saliva have such an odd effect on certain people, why is she so closed to anyone she doesnt have a bond with, her family situation, as she appears to be living alone in an apartment, how she is so stunningly skilled with those scissors and anything about her past is left completely unexplained.. though as she is the "Mystery Girlfriend X" of the title this is somewhat to be expected. That said, given the "cute" UFO's she seems fond of (one on her pencil, one on her bag), the many sci-fi referances in the show over anything supernatural (notice the star wars poster in the first episode? I did) and the "B-movie" style choice of title I think she may in fact be an Alien, or part alien, possibly an alien ninja... I hope some of the mystery is revealed in the (yet to be announced but very much hoped for) second season.

On the production, design and technical aspects of the show, I have to comment outside of the summery due to just how well its all done once again. It seems like 2012 anime's really have it together at the moment. Of special note is the voice actress for the lead female Mikoto, who seems to be a brand new talent. Ayako Yoshitani's voice has a wonderful tone and melody to it, really adding an innocent-yet-sultry feel to Mikoto's voice that brings the character to life in a way I've only seen a few times. Its also of note that this is the only time I've ever come across an anime where both the opening and ending themes are sung by the female lead's voice actress. 

A wonderful, slightly perverted but in a good way, romance story with one of its leads wrapped in a cloak of mystery, This anime has a great blend of humour, drama, romance and perversion running at a good pace for a "slice of life" style show. Not an epic stand out anime but one i'm sure will build a strong following.

SUMMARY -

Story - Not meant to be an "Epic Tale", it works well as a "slice of life" style story, with no real conflict to resolve, no adversary to overcome its a simple tale of two people coming together.. over drool.. Its characters are lively, likable and endearing, and fixated on saliva, and as mentioned above, the writing and movement of the story really do a convincing job of the struggle of teens in a romance. 8/10

Production - Beautifully done, simplistic character designs that never deform, randomly change or even shift into other types, like a chibi-style, that really befits the story's style. Animation is slick and impressive, its small usage of CG is near-seamless and mostly based around dreams, with the occasional vehicle appearing as obviously CG. Voice casting is equally good, with the apparent newcomer cast in the lead female role doing a stunning job, able to switch from a stoic, unemotional response to an infectious giggle at the drop of a hat but in a completely convicing manner. While not using any real special effects, the saliva aspect is done very well, sounding so convincing it may make some gag but that adds to the overal anime as well. 9/10

Music - Top marks for score and themes here, as I'm a fan of letting the vocal cast perform the themes for animes, as it not only shows that the anime isnt being sold out for money/sponsership but also gives a continuity to the show. This anime's opener and ending are sung by Mikoto's voice actress, Ayako Yoshitani, its opener "Koi no Ōkesutora" (Orchestra of love) is a poppy ballad based on, surprisingly, an orchestral arrangement and fits well with the upbeat, funny aspects of the show very well. Its ending theme, "Hōkago no Yakusoku" (Afterschool Promise) is a relaxed, brass-lead piece with a feeling that sits somewhere between a good "lounge" song and a pop song, its slower time signature and smaller instrumental use give it a contrast to the opener, though both tracks could be called "ballad" types. Insert music, such as the fairground styled "Dream Theme" are mini-hits by themselves, and expertly weaved into the scenes to create and enhance exactly whats happening on screen. A masterpiece of musical scoring, the likes of which i've not seen since Macross Frontier. 10/10

Accessability -  Aaaaand the down-note. Another high school show, a passing understanding of how anime shows Japanese high schools is probably a good idea before tackling this show, as many of the typical scenes/episodes happen, the school swimming pool, the transfer student, the romance-in-a-park, the beach episode and the lunch-sharing are all present. Not as intimidating to take on as some, there will still be odd parts for the newcomers. 5/10

Overall Impression -  If you can make it past the first episode without being grossed out by the whole drool/saliva thing, I'm pretty sure you'll find a great anime here, just as I did. The Japanese have an odd take on bodily fluids by western standards, as seen here. I doubt any western story could turn drool and spit into something romantic and mystical in the same way this anime does. Never over-the-top in any of its aspects, except maybe the vicious scissor attacks Mikoto pulls off, it manages to delve into many areas a lot of other "romance" animes avoid. As the manga has run for 6 years already and is ongoing, its my hope that a second season will appear, and that we're given at least some stronger hint to Mikoto's true nature and background, because my money is definately on Alien, ninja or alien-ninja... Even if they decide to keep the mysterious girlfriend X a mystery, its enjoyable to watch the odd situations the unique romance between Akira and Mikoto. One for all to try I feel! 9/10

 
 Final Score - 41/50

Ikki Tousen (Battle Vixens)

IKKI TOUSEN

(Battle Vixens)

4 series of animes taken from the long running manga, now in its 12th year. The anime series themselves span over 7 years, the first being released in 2003 and the last (so far) in 2010.

OVERVIEW - A high School/Fighting anime, the basic plot and concept is based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" from chinese history. The characters are essentially re-incarnations of the major figues of this period, destined to re-inact the historic struggles in this time. Featuring a large female cast, most of whom have breasts the size of their own heads, there is a large "hentai" aspect to the show, with endless pantyshots, nudity and graphic depictions of sexual acts. The anime has 4 series, Ikki Tousen (2003), Dragon Destiny (2007), Great Guardians (2008) and Xtreme Xecutor (2010).


REVIEW -  While the basic premise of this series is appealing, epic even, due to its basis in the "three kingdoms" saga, the majority of the storyline is based on people trying to avoid their "destiny" as laid out by their namesakes and the "souls" in the beads or "magatama" they call carry. Anyone expecting a modern-setting retelling of the epic may very well be disappointed in what they find in this anime.

The concept that the war of the three kingdoms is being re-inacted by high school students, with each of the schools in the Kanto region of Japan representing one of the small kingdoms is for starters, odd. People get injured, hospitalised and even killed and no-one ever seems to do anything about it, not the schools, not the police or even the parents of the children which strikes me as utterly bizarre. As the series progress, the adult presence in this world almost vanishes completely, save for Hakafu's mother who plays more of a comic relief role. This lack of realism saps some of the depth from the show, which isnt exactly deep to begin with.

The first season see's the arrival of Sonsaku Hakafu, fated to be the "little lord of lords" and ruler of Nanyo Academy (based on the Wu Kingdom), and follows her rise to power in the school. Made in 2003, the series suffers from poor character design, awful animation, bland backdrops, boring "action" sequences and massive plot holes and sections that just simpy make no sense what so ever. My initial thoughts about the series once I'd watched it was "what was the point?" because it really didnt seem like it had one. Given the 4 years seperating the first and second series it would seem that a second season of the first series was never considered, yet the story plays out in such a way that its like one big set-up for an ongoing tale that was never going to be told. The first series also sets the tone for all four in terms of severe over-use of "Fan Service" in the shape of endless panty-shots, pretty much one every scene, breasts of impossible size, so large i'm surprised the female characters didnt topple over trying to stand up, let alone walk and clothing that appears to be made of paper, sorry, exploding paper that goes off with but a single touch to constantly expose midrif and underboob. The female characters seem to spend more time in ripped clothing than in undamaged clothes. There is referance to the bizarre Japanese fetish regarding women wetting themselves on several occasions, along with some near-blatent explicit scenes, though in this series most of the "action" occurs off-screen, with the situation before, normally a helpless female character being perved/letched at by another character-followed by a cut- then helpless female character appearing covered in sweat, her breasts exposed, face flushed and her panties round her ankles. If not for the setting up of the backstories of Hakafu and the top four of Nanyo I would suggest everyone avoid this awful, awful piece of embarrasing anime.

The second season, Dragon Destiny, has its focus on Seito Academy, (based on the Shu kingdom) and its head, Gentoku Ryubi. Gentoku is presented as a klutz, more intelligent than Hakafu but just as clumsy and unaware. Her strongest and closest companions are Unchou Kanu and Ekitoku Chouhi. Kanu was seen briefly in the first series in the tournament, beating her "destined killer" Ryomou and then Hakafu before withdrawing. Regarded as "unbeatable" her powerful fighting skills and status have basically allowed Chouhi to skate by being an average fighter and Gentoku being so completely unskilled that she seems barely able to walk without falling over. The story unfolds as being mostly about "The Dragons" present inside each of the 3 heads of the main schools, Hakafu's was glimpsed in the first series as a sadistic, violent brute that turned her from a average fighter into an unstopable beast, Gentoku's is shown to completely consume the normal girl, becoming a raging power that cannot be contained. We're also introduced more to the head of the third power, The Kyosho Academy (based on the Wei Kingdom) who's head is Motoku Sousou, who's dragon is refered to as "The Demon King" and is shown to slowly be taking more control over Motoku, forcing him into cruel and vicious actions to sate its bloodlust. The three powers clash over something called "The dragon jade", an artifact born from "the wishes of the common folk killed and displaced during the fighting" in the three kingdoms period and is said to be able to change the fate of any of the three heads. Behind the scenes at Kyosho is another player, Chutatsu Shibai, who seems to have an ulterior motive to bringing out Motoku's dragon and forcing the three heads to clash.

Its in this series that things start to get a little more "supernatural", with chi/ki blasts starting to appear, as well as visable energy aura's appearing around the more powerful fighters, mostly the heads when using/being used by their dragons. Its also shown here that Ryomou harbours a dragon in her constantly eye-patched left eye, but why, how and for what reason is left as a complete mystery. As the story progresses we learn a little more about the way the fighters and the few characters from behind the scenes are trying to defeat their own fates, and the climax, meant to be a re-inactment of the epic battle at the red cliffs from the three kingdoms but is a six-on-six fight where very little actual combat is seen takes place in what appears to be a refinery of some kind. At the end Shibai is killed, consumed by a borrowed power from Motoku's dragon, who teleports in, triggering Gentoku's dragon to come out. Just when it seems like Gentoku will die, the previous-thought-dead but actually "revived" Hakafu appears out of no-where, now in full control of her dragon-given powers, and the three fly about for a bit, sometimes looking like dragons, sometimes like themselves before Gentoku and Hakafu combine their attack to defeat the completely possesed Motoku. The dragon jade that everyone had been fighting over has something to do with this, i think, its really not made clear at all. At the end, everyone is free of their fates, taking jobs and having a jolly old high school life....

Again, the endless panty shots, nudity and exploding clothing are present in this series, more often than not the shot is deliberately framed just to produce a panty shot, however this series is more open with its sex scenes, often close to softcore porn levels. The fighting is a little better, with actual combat appearing to be like combat rather than dust clouds and panning still frames but still lacks any real feel to them, most of them appear to simply be an excuse to strip the women and produce countless panty shots. Production is a little better, with characters being a bit more consistant in appearance between scenes and looking less like pop-eyed fish/grey alien hybrids than the first series did. However, the backgrounds are still mostly bland, the characters can only really be told apart by their hair styles/colours and the whole story feels like it was crammed into the last 3 episodes, with everything before simply to produce, yup you guessed it, endless panty shots. Better than the first series, but still a fairly awful anime who's main claim to fame is its "almost porn but not quite" aspect.


Series Three, Great Guardians, introduces two new characters around whom the whole series revolves. The first is the "mysterious" little sister of Hakafu,  Chubou Sonken, who appears out of no-where, looks and acts nothing like her sister and cant/wont explain why no-one, even Hakafu's mother, was even aware of her existance before. Carrying a distinct "Mary Sue" feeling, she's quickly accepted and integrated into both the family and school of Hakafu, who in all honesty is so stupid she would forget she may have had a sister. Around this time we're also re-introduced to a character called Housen Ryofu, who died in the first series taking out its "big bad" who's back from the dead with no memories. This aspect is where the large contradictions and inconsistancies of the four series begins. In the flashbacks the various characters have of Ryofu many things are inconsitant with her appearances from the first series. Her death for one, taking place in a greenhouse using a technique called "the suicide chi bomb/blast" is replaced with images of her jumping off a cliff with series one's bad guy, the fact that she paralysed and raped Ryomou is forgotten by all, especially Ryomou who suddenly has this sisterly/love rival history with her, while everyone else who'd met her, apart from "Saji/Ouin", seems to have pretty much forgotten her untill they hear her name.

 As someone stirs up troubles between the 3 Academies, we learn that "Saji/Ouin" is working with the actual Saji Genpou, a young girl with "magical powers" or genjitsu who not only managed to partially resurect Ryofu to force "Saji/Ouin" to work with her, but later uses some kind of possesion technique on Ryofu to get her close to Gentoku, posses her (via sexual assualt, involving wires in a "tentacle rape" manner) and then use Gentoku to posses all her close friends to gang up on Kanu. Of course, the method of possesing someone involves kissing-like-a-porn-star amongst teenage schoolgirls. This is eventually broken by the "power of friendship" and all the possesed Seito students go back to normal. Meanwhile Ryomou is trying to work out what caused her former-now-forgotten-about-rapist now BFF and roomie Ryofu to come back to life, gets caught by the two Saji's and vanishes. Hakafu manages to stop being an utter idiot for just long enough to notice Ryomou has vanished, goes looking for her and ends up under girl-saji's possession. When Hakafu meets up with Koukin, her long-suffering cousin and Chubuo its suddenly the weak, non-combatant Chubou who realises Hakafu isnt herself, probably because she strung together more than a sentance without calling herself or someone else stupid. She then steps in once Koukin forfills his "get his ass kicked easily" quota for the episode and talks Hakafu back into being brainless, breaking the possesion once again with the "power of friendship" (like the care-bear stare really) the three then have a moment of bonding, in which Chubou admits to being completely unrelated to Hakafu and is in fact Koukin's "Destined Wife" then declines the role, stating "someone more suited is already by his side" prompting Hakafu to jump up going "eh? where? where? where is she?" (personally i think she gave up on the idea because, A-Koukin gets his ass kicked every 25 seconds, normally by a strong breeze and B-she'd have to put up with Hakafu daily for life). The three then decide to storm the place where the Saji's are holed up.

In the final few episodes (again) we learn that Young girl Saji was bullied for having "Special powers" as a kid, and as a result hates any friendship and is trying to ruin everyones relationships via possesion, that she wanted Ryomou so she could pull out the dragon in her eye as she believes its power can allow her to ruin the friendships, bonds and lives of every "fighter" with a magatama in existance, that "Saji/Ouin" only helped her because he wanted to seal her powers and maybe bring back his former fuckbuddy Ryofu properly and that Ryofu couldnt really exist properly again in the first place, and is little more than a spirit completely under girl-saji's control. In an almost endless parade of "Go on without me" moments extended by the unexplained simultanious arrival of several other people, Hakafu reaches Ryomou just in time for girl-saji to pull the dragon from her eye, resulting in a power-up moment and general evil-exposition-monaloguing as well as insta-markings and a dark aura for girl-saji. With sudden reversals, more "Go on without me" moments and the final confrontation on the roof its once again new girl Chubou's heroic actions of "talking sense" that save the day, convincing girl-saji to give up, while Ryofu battles the possesed Ryomou, while going on about "beating fate" and "living for me and saji/oiun" and so on before flitting away into little green lights, somehow also magically sealing the dragon back into Ryomou's eye and then it all ends with happiness, Chubou going back to the mountains where she apparently came from, taking the now-powerless girl-saji who's been "adopted" like Chubou by Hakafu with her.

This series takes the sexual context to a new high/low, with almost continual sexual attacks taking place in one way or another. With more panty shots than ever (no, i didnt think it was possible after Dragon Destiny but they manged it) and even more exploding clothing, bath/hot spring scenes and with all the female characters spending more time in some level of undress than being fully clothed, the whole series feels like a vehicle for introducing, then removing the two characters of girl-saji and Chubou while ramping up the "perverted" level of the anime. With no real notable battles to speak of outside of the ending sequence which plays out more like an episode of power rangers anyway the only points of note are A-Motoku's return at the very end as he was assumed dead after Dragon Destiny, B-the massive change in the relationship between Ryofu and Ryomou from one of abuse and contempt into an odd sisterly one, but by way of massive ret-con in flashbacks rather than natural means and C-the growth of friendship between Seito and Nanyo. Frankly if not for those points, which could have been done with a 30 second narration, there IS no point to "Great Guardians" outside of endless panty shots.


The fourth and so far Final series, Xtreme Xecutors, sort of actually makes some sense. The world in which the series are set is now firmly a "magical/supernatural" one, so very far removed from its "high school fighting" style that the first series had, in which everyone and their mother can fire off chi-blasts at will and with ease, and ghosts and spirits are natural every things, or so you would believe from the way people act. Kicking off with the introduction of yet another powerful fighting idiot, we meet Bachou Mouki, who storms Kyosho demanding to fight Motoka, managing to beat up or evade almost all the schools fighters before encountering Chukou Kyocho on the roof, who saves her life after Bachou falls over the railings. Picked up by Gentoku in the rain (because every dizty teenage girl with raging dragons inside them pick up half-naked younger girls in the rain and brings them home... right?) Bachou ends up at Seito Academy, where her name is apparently expected as being one of the "five tiger generals" of legend. After coaxing Gentoku out into the city, the two girls are attacked by a large mob of fighters that Bachou cannot handle. Enter Bakafu Hakafu, who, in 4 hits (going by sound effects), defeats the huge mob and damages a building. This instantly impresses Bachou who asks Hakafu to be her master and train her. The combination of two of the most idiotic people in this anime's universe creates some kind of inverse stupidity field whereby Hakafu actually manages to help Bachou become stronger through the most ridiculous means possible.

Meanwhile, in a shocking turn of events for this terrible anime's series so far, actual plot development happens as a mysterious ghost-like figure convinces two never-before-seen characters who apparently head a never-before-seen school in a never-before-mentioned part of "south kanto", never-before-mentioned. The ghost takes the name of "Kentai" meaning "Emporer" and releases an official decree (via scroll this time, not text message like all previous series) calling for all heads to send their strongest fighters to the never-before-seen school known as Nanban, situated on a far-off island. Dispite ALL the heads thinking it was a trap, a scam and a bad idea, they ALL send off fighters, Nanyo's head, Hakafu wanting to go herself, the only head to think so, but manges to miss the boat because she woke up early all excited then slept on the train all day, as it went round and round its line. Bachou appears on the boat, having snuck aboard to follow her master and beat up strong people too. As the boat approaches the island the next day, it turns out to be a trap. All the fighters are captured, with only Bachou's awful escape attempt/pee break resulting in Bachou and Kyocho managing to escape. The captured fighters are taken to a school that looks like a cross between a chinese fort and dracula's castle (i shit you not) and thrown in cells. Kanu and Chouhi who had jumped/fallen off the boat during the ambush are also captured when Chouhi's training regime of throwing Gentoku about a few times a week then pigging on snacks (and apparently midnight burger runs) pays off in a crushing defeat in seconds. Kanu is brought before Kentai who "brings out the darkness" in Kanu's Magatama's soul, overwhelming the nearly naked Kanu with evil.

While this is happening Hakafu decides to goof off and goes to the mountains to play with Chubou and Girl-Saji. She's then contacted by a never-before-seen and never explained form of what I can only call "Dragon telepathy" from Motoka, who is avoiding fighting so as not to bring back his evil dragon. He warns Hakafu that everyone is in danger so she goes back home. At the same time Seito is under attack from one of the heads of the Nanban, acting under Kentai's orders to kill both Gentoku and then Hakafu. After a pressumed epic battle that happens offscreen between Gentoku's remaining guardian and this head, Gentoku uses her dragon-powers to save the life of the Nanban head, changing a lifetime of hatred and betrayal of others into loyalty to Gentoku somehow. Then shadow-wolves/dogs attack, lead by a "beastman" apparently. Gentoku and her followers run to avoid the wolves/dogs only to be cornered by the beastman, the Nanban head fights him but loses, and it ends up with Gentoku starting to use her dragon powers before collapsing a cliff, seemingly plunging her and her adviser to their deaths. or not, as Hakafu, now apparently able to manipulate water saves them, puts down the bad guy and helps wake up Gentoku, who's dragon powers knocked her out. However the beastman isnt done, gaining new powers from a shadow of kentai only to be instantly done in by Gentoku's dragon. This causes Gentoku to slip into some kinda vein-popping coma and Hakafu and some others decide to go to Nanban island to rescue everyone.


We're then "treated" to several episodes of pretty much comedy as the various groups meet up, split up, meet again and work out the grand scheme. Kentai is using the "destiny" of the Magatama's and the fighters with them to force them to fight, spill blood and power a resurection spell to revive all the people who died in the three kingdoms battles. For this purpose both Kanu and Ryomou, who's destinies are to be the cause of each other deaths, Ryomou killing Kanu and Kanu's "spirit" haunting and cursing Ryomou to an early grave, have been forced to battle each other this whole time (yeah, the time aspect of it all makes no sense unless Kanu and Ryomou had been fighting for days). Underground a few of the group have found the "roots" of a "tree of life" filled with pods of glowing liquid in which new bodies for the restless spirits are growing, Shiryu Choun from Seito interupts the battle between Ryomou and Kanu, and is attacked by the evil-possesed Kanu, Hakafu, Bachou and the rest of the formerly captured fighters face off against 100 or so Nanban students/guards/jungle tribesmen while Chouhi tries to reach Kanu, only to be stopped by the other Nanban head, still working for Kentai.

It all ends with Ryomou realising the dragon in her eye is the curse of Kanu's magatama spirit, which she "returns" in the form of a mega kamahamaha energy blast and finally free's Kanu from the rage of her magatama's spirit. Kentai then steps up and beats the crap out of Ryomou. Above this the battle against the 100 guards ends, but Koukin and Hakafu are buried under rubble caused by an explosive arrow. Bachou goes after the assasin who'd fired it while the rest dig out Koukin and Hakafu. In another shocking turn of events, Koukin isnt injured, but Hakafu appears dead. We're then shown a Narrated point of view from Koukin remembering that in the three kingdoms era, Sonsaku Hakafu died young from being hit by a poison arrow (in direct contrast to the history told in the first two series, in which the historic Hakafu was killed by someone called Ukita, who's modern day persona had died to revive Hakafu in dragon destiny, supposedly allowing Hakafu to become one who can break a fighter's fate) conveniently a Nanyo student who'd accompanied Hakafu's group to the island and had been carrying a "legendary sword" lent by Motoka then arrives, Koukin takes the sword saying he'll end Kentai himself only to suddenly be hit by a light breeze damaged by the "evil souls" the blade had trapped in the past. At this point Hakafu's "dragon chi" fired off, breaking the ground around her and dropping her, sword suddenly in hand, right into the middle of the battle arena with Kentai, Kanu and Ryomou in.

We're given some exposition into who/what Kentai is, in so much as he's a form created by all the hatred and pain of the wandering souls in hell who died because of the three kingdoms battles and all the other battles caused by the magatama that house the spirits of the heroes of that period. Beaten in about 20 seconds by Hakafu, he demands Hakafu finish him and become the crazed despot her destiny demands. Hakafu responds by saying she doesnt fight to kill, only to fight for the sake of it, as it "excites" her Kentai then turns into mist, stating that as long as any magatama exist anywhere, he'll be back, before vanishing. By now everyone is nearby and we get a group shot of everyone's smiling faces.. aaww. The final episode carries a story that could have been another arc or series by itself, with Bachou finishing her training with Hakafu, Gentoku recovering and Kanu trying to get Gentoku to fall in love with her still, and Kyosho's fighters being attacked by what appears to be a nun, later appearing as a nun with a mask like Kentai's. Spotted and tracked by Bachou, the nun attacks Gentoku, who is saved by Bachou. Bachou carries on holding off the nun, realising its actually the assasin she fought on the island and thought was dead while Gentoku falls over a lot before finding Kanu. Bachou's fight reveals that the nun WAS the assasin Teni, is now possesed by Kentai and vows to carry on the vengance against all fighters, before being knocked out (and stripped to just her panties) in one hit by Motoka, whom Bachou doesnt try and fight, seemingly understanding why her desire for revenge against him will bring nothing but pain. Bachou wakes up in Seito again, is accepted into their school then returns to Nanyo to carry out her vow to fight once again with her former master, Hakafu. The series ends with their violent but happy clash of fists.


Of the four series, this is probably the best. While the plot is still lame, its actually foreshadowed and executed across the series, unlike the other three who seem to push all the story aspect into the final few episodes. The animation is vastly improved, as is the production, with lifelike and realistic backgrounds finally making an appearance. Sadly as the backgrounds now need to be detailed, this causes several previously seen areas to be completely re-imagined. Continuity is once again a pitiful victim of severe neglect in this series too, with areas apparently able to change size, shape and colour almost at will, along with little things like someone being covered in blood then once bandaged all blood on clothing is gone, bandages appearing from no-where, people having what appears to be 2-300 gallons of blood, and previously exploded clothing re-appearing, vanishing and re-appearing in the same fight.. Still at least the fighting is mostly shown, and is pretty well done for the most part.

For all you "Echii" fans out there, some bad news, while the endless panty shots, nudity and exploding clothing scenes that so personify this  group of animes is present in what would be considered by any other anime's standards as "gratuitous", compared to the previous series its actually reduced. I would say it may even have less of these kinds of scenes than any of the others. There is even one character who NEVER loses any part of her clothing. Quite the shocker there, animation team.. could it be that perhaps, like myself who has endured so many panty-shots, exploding clothing and blatently stupidly sized breasts, you people are also sick of it?

nope, didnt think you would be...


In short, a nice idea on paper, This whole 4 anime group of series suffers from

• piss poor production till the 4th series
• lack of cohesive plot in each series, let alone among them
• Ridiculous amounts of panty shots
• contradictory information, massive changes to established events for no reason
• action sequences that have no action
• Ridiculous amounts of panty shots
• pointless nudity that serves no purpose other than to appeal to teens with no access to actual porn
• terrible writing across all series, poor timing in first three
• Ridiculous amounts of panty shots
• Ridiculous amounts of panty shots

Worst thing is, with some effort, or talent, this could have been a pretty awesome anime, its just been so poorly done, with an obvious focus on providing endless "Fan Service" with no real reason for it (at least Sora no Otoshimono has the excuse that its main character is an irredeamable pervert) and with a tendancy to skimp on the actual fighting scenes, the supposed main point of the story its utterly dissapointing to watch. 

Did i mention the ridiculous amount of panty shots? seriously, whats so appealing about it when its flashed onscreen every 20 seconds?


SUMMARY -

Story -  So much wasted potential, I watched all four series in the hope they'd actually get round to making a real point but they never quite managed it. terrible conclusions, clichéd moments at every turn, character growth that could only be measured in how much quicker they could explode an opponants clothing and always rushing to a poor ending in the last few episodes only. The story is clearly secondary to the fan service sadly. 1/10

Production -While production values get better as the series progress, by the standards of the times they were released they are seriously lacking. The first series, released in 2003, looks like it was made in the 70's. We're talking original series gundam here.. 2007's and 2008's offerings are at the point the 2003 series should have been and 2010's series makes no use of any of the advancements every other anime i've seen from the time uses. While the voice acting is good, the utter cheese they had to perform may well have left them gagging. Continuity doesnt exist for the most part, with scenes and story alike simply re-inventing themselves to suit whatever the director wanted to portray. 1/10

Music - I listened to the starting themes and ending themes for each series once. I could not bear to listen to them more they were so bad. with the exception of the first series' opener, almost all the works are trite, bland psuedo-pop crap that doesnt stand out. The first series opener is so awful the people behind it should be banned from ever having anything to do with music ever again. I cant bear to listen to them again to give you individual reviews, but i'm sure they'll be on youtube if you search for Ikki Tousen.. sadly the score is also as diabolical.. So please excuse me while i wash my abused eardrums with bleach now. 1/10

Accessability - The concept is as follows "Chinese history recreated in Japanese high schools" and because of that, it would be extremely hard for a westerner to understand a lot of the referances and points made. Even the endless panty shots are a part of "Otaku" culture, which started in Japan and is spreading to the west. I know next to nothing about the three kingdoms period so had to endlessly use wikipedia to gain any kind of context for a lot of the major aspects of the series. 1/10

Overall Impression - Ok, i've been sarcastic, i've been negative but this group of series REALLY could have had something. So many of the "right" elements are assembled, epic historic saga, inter-school conflict, likable heroes/heroines.. yet none of it really comes together properly, it doesnt "gel" like it should and sadly i think the focus on the "perverted" (Hentai or Echii in japanese) aspects is the cause. I think this must be what it'd be like to see a classic film remade into soft porn.. you know the story should be good, but its been ripped apart so much to make space for the sex aspect that its no longer what it should be, could have been. I'm giving a better mark here out of respect for the potential the story had, for what it should have, could have been. /Salute 4/10


Final Score - 08/50

Natsume Yuujin Chou

NATSUME YUUJIN CHOU

(Natsume and the Book of Friends)

4 seasons of anime taken from the long-running manga of the same name. 

OVERVIEW - It would be easiest to describe this series as a "Slice of supernatural life" to be honest, as it follows an orphaned boy who can see and interact with Yokai or Ayakashi, often semi-correctly translated as "Demons" or "Spirits", as the term doesnt carry with it an inherently "evil" subcontext as it does in English. Set in modern times it starts shortly after the boy moves in with some distant relatives, and follows him as he encounters various yokai who often mistake him for his long passed on grandmother who had taken the names of every yokai she'd ever met and put them in a book. 

REVIEW - The basic story to this is quite a sad, lonely one. Following the life of Takashi Natsume, a boy who's parents died while he was young, he was passed from relative to relative because his powerful spirit energy allowed him to see yokai when no-one else could. Suffering bullying for being a "liar" and "attention seeker" from both the adults and children by the time the story starts in his high school years he has become withdrawn, distant and quiet, prefering to say nothing rather than let the bullying continue. 

Recently moved to the house of a "Distant relative" he is constantly chased by the local yokai who think he is his grandmother, who had lived in the area 50 years before. One day while being chased he broke the seal on a small shrine, releasing a powerful yokai known as Madera, who reveals some of his grandmother's history. Reiko Natsume was a terror for the local yokai, with massively powerful spirit energy, she had picked a fight with every yokai she had ever met, forcing them to hand over their names to her if they lost, and she always won. The names form a type of binding contract, and allow the person who owns the name to command and control the yokai. Reiko had bound the names into a book, called the "Book of Friends" and while many yokai simply wanted their names back, many want it for the power it gives them over others. Takashi had inherited the book without knowing really what it was and had never realised the trouble it could cause him.

Madera helps Takashi out, despite at first appearing in the form of a "lucky cat" he is in fact a very large wolf like spirit of quite some power. In exchange for getting the book once Takashi dies, Madera, going by the name of "Nyanko sensei" in his chubby cat form, agrees to protect Takashi from other spirits who would kill/hurt/eat him. Takashi takes it upon himself to try and return the names of any spirit who asks for it while struggling to keep the supernatural side of his life from causing problems for the people he's now living with, and the friends he slowly makes at school. 

The series introduces a small cast as time goes on, both human and yokai and also brings up the matter of others with similar talents to Takashi. On the human side Takashi becomes friends with a couple of guys, the female class rep and actually becomes quite popular with girls who think he is "cute". He also meets another boy his own age with a weak talent, who can "feel" the presence of yokai or sometimes see shadows, and a girl who knows of yokai due to her grandfathers research, and can see them inside special "Magic" circles she draws. On the professional side, Takashi befriends an exorcist who is also a famous actor and through him comes into contact with other exorcists, most of whom treat all yokai as slaves or beast to be hunted and killed, something Takashi finds abborant. 

Most Yokai are one-shot, monster of the week types, but outside of Madera/Nyanko sensei Takashi manages to befriend several yokai who often come to him for help, drinking in his room late at night and on whom he can rely if he needs help. The most notable are the comedy duo of a bull and cyclops, "moustache" with his giant head and soft, overly polite speach, Hinoe who appears as a beautiful women in a kimono but is powerful in her own right and Mizuzu, a massive bull-like yokai with many followers who declines having his name returned from the book of friends as he finds Takashi "interesting"

Takashi spends his time trying to have a normal teenage life, hanging out with friends, doing his homework and errands for the couple who he lives with now, always trying to prevent the supernatural from hurting or interfering with the lives of the normal people around him. He also will try and help almost any yokai who asks for it, which normally leads him into danger and trouble. Towards the later seasons he seems to have this more or less in balance, with his friends who know about yokai helping cover for him and his sometimes odd behaviour. While most of the "Small fry" as Nyanko sensei calls them, who come looking for the book for its power are dealt with by Nyanko, who has the power to banish other yokai with a powerful light from his forhead, Takashi has a tendancy to end up involved in larger, more dangerour situations that involve his actor/exorcist friend, which are often used to lead towards the "big finish" for each season. 

The matter of Reiko is one of much mystery. In four seasons all that is known about her is her great power, much more than Takashi who is able to put down powerful spirits with a single punch (often used for comedic effect with Nyanko sensei), that she never lost a fight and she picked them in various ways with every yokai she came across, even ones as powerful as "Kami" or "gods". That her life was very lonely as humans hated her for being "weird" much like we see Takashi going through, that she enjoyed playing pranks, had bad table manners and was forgetful and that she died young, barely remembered in the human world but a legend that still caused fear in the yokai world. So far nothing has been made of why the exorcists whom we see seem to hold her in the same regard as the yokai, why she put together the book of friends as she never once called on the names within or her final fate. We often see short sequences involving her when Takashi returns a name, or from yokai's memories of her that Takashi can see if they sleep in the same room as him. The manga is still ongoing so it is possible that some of the mystery around Reiko will be solved, but I feel it'll never really be told in full. 

The anime itself is drawn in a soft, pastel manner, giving a hazy, semi-dreamlike feel to the show itself, the yokai range from the soft, cute looking little monster to the terrifying monsterous shadows and often you can guess what type of yokai they're going to be by their look alone. There is a fair degree of humour, mostly at Nyanko sensei's expense as all he seems to do is eat and get drunk with the other yokai in the area, but its the bittersweet, touching moments that deal with Takashi's sadness, the yokai's stories and the attachtments built between Takashi and the yokai whom we normally dont see again that define the series. There are some scary moments, some heartbreaking moments and a lot of introspection and flashbacks, but the way its all put together turns the series into a gentle tale of life, acceptance and growing up. 

A nice way to spend a few hours, the anime has grown into quite a popular show and I would suspect a fifth season to appear sometime into 2013. 

SUMMARY -

Story -  Starting out in the first season with a "tale of the week" feel to its storytelling, it builds over the other three seasons into a long tale of Takashi's growing up, finding a place in his unique world of both humans and yokai and finally making friends and finding peace in his troubled life. There seems to be a subplot bubbling in the background that involves the exorcists and there may be more to the tale of his grandmother than has been revealed yet. While not a gripping story its very enjoyable, with characters really growing on you without you even realising it. Definately more a "slice of life" style to the story than a large, epic arc style. 8/10

 

Production - The two earlier seasons suffer a little from "sketchy" animation in places, with odd body distortions in humans (cant really complain about it in the yokai really!) and some odd animations in places, as well as far too many "practically identical" sequences with the returning of the names. This clears up in the later two seasons, with little to no such issues showing up in them. Voice casting is fairly good, though you can hear sometimes when the same voice actors play different parts. With little to no CG and 3D effects only used in tiny amounts in later episodes the pastel feel and hand drawn animation really increases the soft, gentle feel to the story itself. 7/10

 

Music - While each of the four seasons have their own begining/ending themes, the anime itself makes use of the same score and insert music across all four seasons, giving a nice continuity that many multi-season animes (and shows) lack. Very fitting to the rural, old-fashioned countryside setting the score is very well utilised, helping build emotion into the world the characters inhabit. While the themes themselves are not really that standout, they follow a "upbeat pop-y" feel for the start, with a more slow, melancholic ballad feel for the ending themes. For the first season, the opener "Issei no Sei" (Simultaneous Voice) is a little slower than others, but still suited for the show. Its closer, "Natsu Yūzora" (Summer Evening Sky) is a simple plucked guitar piece with a japanese folk style vocal, gentle, evocative and with quite a sad feeling to it. Season two's opener "Ano Hi Time Machine" (That Day's Time Machine) is more upbeat, with a strong brass presence and the obligatory pop-key-change. The ending theme "Aishiteru" (I Love You) is my favourite of the themes for the series, with emotive vocals and a building musical presence to its ballad style. Season three has "Boku ni Dekiru Koto" (I can do) for its opener, another pop-y upbeat piece that has a tinge of sadness to its melody in the chorus. It closes with "Kimi no Kakera" (Pieces of You) a piano and strings based sad ballad, with some seriously sad lyrics and an almost "Elton John" style. The fourth and so far last season has "Ima, Kono Toki" (Now, This Time) for its opening theme, having an "indie/pop" feel to it, but not really much of a powerful presence. The season ends with "Takaramono" (Treasure) another meloncholic ballad, with some pleasantly soft vocals and an "epic ballad" approach to its music, starting with piano and building in what sounds like a full orchestra and band. While its openers/endings are not really stand-out, they fit the series well and with its insert music being so well done, its high marks here 8/10

 

Accessability - Dealing with contemporary japanese teens and japanese folklore/mythology, there's a lot of concepts that a westerner would be unsure about unless they've encountered them before or is willing to research them. That said, the series can be enjoyed without these aspects taking too much attention away as its main focus is the personal, emotional journey of its lead character. 5/10

 

Overall Impression - This is one of those series you'll either enjoy and be moved by, or will write off as being "lame" and "girly" and miss the point of. Dealing with concepts of alienation, keeping the truth from others for their own good and acceptance of genuine goodwill at its core, the dressing of yokai and conflict are simply ways of creating fun and interest around the central concepts. Described by most as a "warm, gentle anime" its not wrong to suggest that if you're not touched or moved in the slightest across the 52 episodes so far made then its possible you're either watching the wrong anime or are in fact dead already. Emotive, filled with that sort of gentle strength thats hard to put into words, this is a great anime that needs to be seen. 9/10

Final Score - 37/50

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

TASOGARE OTOME X AMNESIA

(Dusk Maiden of Amnesia)

Supernatural Anime about a paranormal investigatons club in a high school.

OVERVIEW - Set in a high school with a lot of expansions, creating odd walkways, twists and turns and completely unsed areas. This odd construction has given rise to an almost endless amount of ghost stories and rumours. A tricky one to describe genre wise, its high school setting is prevailant, but it mixes in good levels of humour, horror, romance and some social commentary too. The story follows the paranormal investigations club that consists of a single boy and three girls, all of whom have some degree of attraction to the boy, and unravels the 60 year old mystery of the ghost behind the stories and rumours.

REVIEW - First things first, I've been trying to avoid doing an "episode by episode" style, but for this one, I feel i should explain the first episode some. Set chronologically before the next two, it starts with one of the girls, Momoe Okonogi, writing up the days observed paranormal activities, while around her things move on their own. The boy, Teiichi Niiya, then arrives and appears to be talking to the air, or answering Momoe's thoughts, which she takes as his "sixth sense", then Kirie Kanoe arrives, making comments about the "two of them flirting". After a quick call to the always absent club president the three head out to examine evidence of supernatural events in the school. Momoe leads them to a disused food cart elevator and tells them of the story that it moves on its own, rumoured to be the work of a student who died after getting his neck caught in it. suddenly the elevator begins moving, and Teiichi is dragged into it.

The episode then repeats itself, this time showing another girl in the room with Momoe, being the one moving things and telling Momoe she's the ghost. When Teiichi enters its her he's talking with, with her questions being the ones he was answering, not Momoe's thoughts, its to the ghost and Teiichi to whom Kirie was talking about flirting to, and the call to the president, revealed to be the ghost herself, was to allow Teiichi to talk normally to her. Its obvious by now that the third girl, Yuko Kanoe, is in fact a ghost, likes flirting with Teiichi and can only be seen by Kirie and Teiichi, not Momoe. It was Yuko who shoved Teiichi into the elevator, the truth behind the mystery being that she likes to use it as a shortcut. The ride down is played for its cramped space by Yuko, taking the chance to be alone with Teiichi to give a little exposition into her existance as a ghost, as well as stating she wants Teiichi to touch her, as no-one else can feel her or notice her, in her now usual overly flirty manner. 

The episode carries on here, with Yuko revealed by Momoe as being the most common "ghost" in most of the schools stories. The final investigation is into "Yuko's grave", a stone on a hill just behind the school with Yuko's name on it. In conversation Yuko and Teiichi they comment on how it cant be her grave, as her body is below the club room, and that Yuko has no memories of her own death. When the idea that Yuko isnt buried there is mentioned to Momoe, she says thats probably true, but theorises that Yuko must have been a student, and someone erected it in her memory. When Momoe talks about it being "a romantic notion" rather than just a scary story, Yuko kicks over the stone, scaring Momoe who runs off, followed by Kirie. Teiichi and Yuko then look out across the school as the sun sets, before Teiichi goes to put the stone back up,  noticing a small bell underneath it. Teiichi narates some exposition about Yuko as the episode ends, revealing a dark shadow with an unnatural smile near Yuko. 

The split start to the first episode really is a unique method of showing the world of the anime from two different perspectives, and while the rest of the anime generally deals with things from the second perspective, one where we can see Yuko, it helps remind people that Momoe cant, and has no idea she's there for the most part. 

The second and third episodes deal with Teiichi's first encounter with Yuko, finding her body and how the club was formed, how Momoe joined and some of the ghost stories about Yuko and the school, the third deals mostly with Kirie, her connection to Yuko and her initial thoughts about her. As the story progresses we learn more about Yuko's rumours, the way they're taken by normal people and the truth behind Yuko's actions that caused them. We're also introduced to the "Antagonist", the dark shadow seen by some, refered to as an "evil spirit, twisted by hate". In the later episodes the truth behind Yuko's death, why her body is where it is, her amnesia, the dark shadow and the depth of the connection between Yuko and Teiichi, along with their feelings for each other. 

There is a large degree of humour in the show, mostly coming from Yuko's ghostly pranks and Momoe's reactions to them, some chilling horror in the form of the dark shadow which is played with real nuance and subtlety for the most part, romance in the form of Yuko's obvious attraction and attachment to Teiichi, Momoe's "admiration" for Teiichi and a slight "Tsundere" reaction in Kirie around him too. There's also a fair degree of "Risque" moments, as Yuko often "forgets" that Teiichi can see her, seemingly having no shame in flirting with him physically along with the almost obligatory "accidental walk-in-while-changing" style mistakes made by Teiichi. 

The story of Yuko is a dark one, and while Momoe busies herself collecting the student rumours and sightings, Kirie spends more time trying to unravel the truth behind Yuko, her death, her amnesia and the dark shadow, while Teiichi tries to avoid molestation and embarresment from Yuko mostly. As the series progresses it delves into this darker aspect, building to some shocking moments, drawbacks and emotional scenes. The truth is revealed surprisingly early, episode ten of the twelve in the series, and the last two episodes are used to wrap up Yuko's story, bringing the whole truth behind Yuko, her family and Teiichi to light. The final episode has an honestly heart-wrenching conclusion. Its not overplayed like american drama's can be, but it will tug at the heart strings as it wraps up. The manga its taken from has run for three years and is still ongoing, so there is a possibility of further series or OVA's to happen. 

Production wise, this is exceptionally slick, smooth animation, box-cut scenes, exceptional use of 3D and CG. At times its similar in its "cinematic style" to "Bakamonogatori" without delving into its surrealist look, and it makes good use of the shadows, odd halls and low light to emphasise its spooky, chiller moments too. The voice cast shine fantastically here as well, with only four main characters to play from they really have to carry the whole weight of the show and do so amazingly. While Yuko's appearance and character are almost a "perfect match" for the type of character Mamiko Noto normally portays (black uniform, red eyes, long straight black hair in a miko cut, cute shy-but-fun personality and a supernatural being) her voice actress, Yumi Hara, does it perfectly. Having a slightly breathy, otherworldy aspect to Yuko's normal voice and providing a impressively chilling tone to the dark shadow. 

A great story, very well told at a great pace, excellent production and casting, this is one of the best anime's i've come across in a long time, and I thorougly reccomend it to everyone. in fact, I've even link to a place it can be seen at the end.

SUMMARY -

Story -    Some of the best work I've seen in a long time, funny, scary, romantic, heroic and almost everything else covered with an ease not often seen. The characters stay true to who they are and while the short season doesnt allow for much character growth, they still manage to squeeze it in very naturally. The overal story is compelling, and the two leads are so very likable that its hard not to want things to work out for them. Honestly, i can see no real flaws in this piece. 10/10

 Production - I cannot fault it.. work of the highest calibre. Seamless CG and 3D, fun character designs brought to life with ease by excellent voice work, its cinematic style adding impressive depth to the sequences, making dark corners that little bit darker. Emotion flows so naturally thanks to the excellent combination of on-screen animation and powerful performances. Also worth taking note of is the attention to detail, with everything feeling so real and in place thanks to the level of background work. The final "cherry on top" is the ending theme song, sung by Yuko's voice actress, featuring Yuko singing, her mouth synconised with the words, something even music-based anime's often avoid doing. 10/10

 Music - A soundtrack I'll be keeping an eye out for, Score and insert songs used wonderfully to fully emphasise moments and scenes, never feeling awkward or out-of-place. The opening theme, "Choir Jail" is a romping orchestral metal piece, with powerful vocals, excellent musical performance and a chorus that simply rocks hard, driven by its thrashing drums. The ending, "Calandorie", as noted sung by Yumi Hara who provides the voice for Yuko herself, starts with a slight sinister feel before breaking into a listful, almost celtic in feel, ballad with a tinge of sadness and hope. 10/10

 Accessability - Set in a small town in Japan, it has many of the standard Japanese cutural pratices on show, school festival, after-school club, sailor-suit school uniforms and many themes around bento's. While not completely alien to the west, or hard to understand, its not exactly completely understandable to a complete beginner to the anime and japanese cultures. 5/10

 Overall Impression - If only every series was this good.. amazing work in every aspect, its hard to find any fault save for its short length. I would have liked to have seen more of the investigations into the school rumous by the paranormal club, more of Yuko's teasing of everyone involved and more about the rest of the school, as there isnt really any other characters outside the main four. Would adapt really well into a movie, I hope they never spoil this series with a live-action version, because live action would never be able to get the wonderfully constructed and maintained "feel" this has as an anime. I suggest you ALL go over to crunchyroll and watch it yourselves.  9/10

 

 Final Score - 44/50

Nurarihyon no Mago

NURARIHYON NO MAGO

Also know in the west as "Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan" this Shounen JUMP manga has been adapted into an anime with a split title across two season, with the second title carrying the addition of "Rise of the Demon Capital".

OVERVIEW - Primarily a "Fighting" anime, the story follows the 12yr old 3/4th human Rikou Nura, grandson of Nurarihyon, lord of all the Yokai. The first season deals mostly with Rikou's human ties, his initial denial of his Yokai self, a literal split to begin with, and his eventual acceptance of his true nature, his role in the Nura Clan's future and his growing power and influence. The second season is pretty much all about the rise of an ancient threat, the strong link to his own family's past with this threat and Rikou's fight to become strong enough to sever the ties that span 400 years.

REVIEW -  To say this series has slick production would be an understatement. Highly stylised depictions of the various Yokai are everywhere, and not once does the animation slip, the 3D perspective effects are only noticable as 3D because you cant really hand-animate that way and almost all of the special effects from the Yokai's abilities are handled the same way. Its one of the first things you notice about the series, its that good. 

The story itself is somewhat odd in the first season, with a heavy focus on Rikou's human side and that life. There's a great deal of humour as he tries to keep his friends from finding out the truth about him, his home and Yokai in general, made harder by the fact that his circle of friends consist of a group known as the "pure cross paranormal detective corps" or variations of that theme (depending on the sub/dub's own interpretation of the term used in Japanese) lead by a fanatical rich-kid who comically never manages to see a Yokai, dispite the entire group being chased, attacked, kidnapped, cursed and almost killed by them on multiple occasions. 

As season one wraps and Rikou is shown to have accepted his dual heritage, role and nature, season two opens with an explination of why he felt the way he did, and the first appearance of his "Yokai" or "Night" self. It also sets up the fact that unlike most other Yokai, the Nura clan's leaders wish to live in harmony with humans, rather than killing/eating them, as this is a major point for the coming arcs. 

Season two deals with the rebirth of an ancient Yokai and the revival of her clan in Kyoto. It first shows the events of 400 years before, when Nurarihyon and the early Nura clan arrived in Kyoto, seeking prestige and power. The clash over a human woman that Nurarihyon fell in love with caused a shift in power away from the Kyoto clan and to the Nura clan, which is why Nurarihyon is refered to as the leader of all Yokai. It then covers Rikou's training in his true Yokai abilities, then the move into Kyoto, the secret link between the Nura clan and the Kyoto-based Omyoji (exercist/priests) clan, the Keikain and culminates in the decisive battle between the leader of the Kyoto clan, Rikou and the result of the "thousand year wish" of the Kyoto clan. Ending on somewhat of a cliff-hanger, the manga has gone further but the anime has yet to announce a third season.

My problem with this series is two fold, first is the massive personality change in the lead character Rikou. His "day" personality is this simple, passive normal kid trying to hide a big family secret, the "Night" personality however is arrogant, cocky, way too full of himself and seemingly uncaring about the concerns of his "Day" self. Even once they have "united" in the ending of the first season, this divergance carries on into the second season, which is almost exclusively all about the "Night" version. I find it hard to understand, empathise or care much at all about the "Night" Rikou, frankly he pisses me off with his "spoilt brat" attitude and air of entitlement. There are moments when he breaks that behaviour, but they are rare and far too few and far between. 

My second problem is the massive shift in series dynamic from the first to the second season, including changes in character personalities for inexplicable reasons. In the first season a lot of time and care is spent in developing the characters around the human "Day" Rikou, alluding at romance in places and dealing with a lot of the day-to-day issues of a middle-school kid. This is actually quite fun, and for me the better part of the anime, as the "Night" Rikou aspect is all about "fighting" (by which I mean postering, talking, trading threats and about 10 seconds of actual combat, most of which is single-picture pans) yet in the second season the school friends are strictly third-string characters who's inclusion seems only to be a "nod" to the first season. Add to that the change in character for Yuna, who in the first season was a shy, quiet girl with a "silent strength" and introspection who becomes little more than a shouty, one-dimensional story-tool to allow for the re-appearance of the 13th head of her family from 400 years ago. Also suffering from personality re-edits are Aotabo and Kurotabo, becoming almost comedic characters save for when they need to "fight", Karasu Tengu who moves from being a strong personality to an apologetic sounding board for Nurarihyon's exposition and Nurarihyon himself, though it could be argued that his change is due to letting Rikou take a more active role. 

On the plus side the series makes serious use of Japanese mythology, with almost every Yokai seen having at least a basis in actual myths, along with realistic use of their abilities. It makes use of a strong "Yakuza" element as well, with the bonding traditions of the "Clan" based on those ideas. its depiction of the scenery and especially the main house are lovingly and carefully done, bringing a real sense of prescense and reality to the often overlooked background, so neglected by many other animes. vibrant colours, exceptional use of CG in an almost seamless manner and amazingly unique effects really do make this a visually stunning and appealing anime.

I do however, have to take note here about the music. Not only is the opening/ending music (4 openers, 4 endings) nearly always completely unfitting to the anime, but the insert/score music is equally off. For the most part the score sounds like someone bought a CD of "worst crime tv series music from the late 70's/early 80's" and used pieces from that. Maybe they thought it was "cool" for a yakuza style but frankly its distracting, out of place and takes away a lot from the potential of the scenes its used in. The first opening theme "Fast Forward" has a light, airy pop-rock feel, more suited to a care-free "high school" drama, the second, "sunshine", is an attempt at an "R&B" style, full of auto-tune and way too upbeat for the show. The first ending theme "Sparky☆Start" is just an awful piece of music, full stop. bland, forgettable and lacking any kind of presence, power or emotion. the next ending theme, "Symphonic Dream" has a little more presence but is still very at odds with the show itself. The first opener for the second season, "Hoshi no Arika", is a song that tries too hard to be "cool", its off-timed drumming at the start and the forced "Anthemic" feeling chorus is at odds with the lack of feeling put into the actual performance, the second opener "The LOVE SONG" doesnt seem to be sure of what its trying to be, starting like a modern "R&B" song with tons of auto-tune then launching into a verse backed by that echo-y guitar style most famous for its use in the ending themes to the Mass Effect games, it chorus then slips into an orchestral, slow ballad type. The endings for the second season dont fare much better either, the first being "Orange Smile", a lame poppy piece with weak vocals and a theme so far removed from the anime they actually made the whole ending sequence completely unrelated to the anime, putting its characters into what appears to be a "happy smiley" shopping trip in a big city, the second, "Departure" is a female "rap" type song, lacking in emotion, power and relevance to the anime once again. 

Sadly, this in my opinion is due to two factors, the first being the result of opener/ending pieces in popular animes such as bleach or naruto becoming big-sellers, meaning popular animes series tend to end up with unfitting music sitting on either side of the story, and the second is because of companies like "Ponycanyon" who produce and sponser animes, who are also major record labels with artists to push. This seems to be why anime's change their opening/ending themes so often and why long running and/or popular animes end up with opening/ending sequences showing characters in completely different to the series/events for some reason. While its good that money can be brought in for the anime and the studio's to carry on the work, its a shame that the series are tarnished with poor, unfitting and unrelated music that takes away from the whole feel. 

As fighting series go, this is one of the better ones, stunning production, a reasonable plot and amazing visuals with unique, historical character design, let down by strange character changes, poor music and the lack of resolution across its two season.

SUMMARY -

Story -   The overal plot is quite interesting, a great idea but the odd changes that happen somehow inbetween the series make it feel like two different writers wrote each season. As a result character growth feels stunted in many cases, paused or over-written in others. As a vehicle for fight scenes however it serves its purpose well. Much more could be done with this. 6/10

Production -  Off the charts. some of the best 3D work I've seen outside of mecha animes. Fantastic locations, character work and effects, vibrant and colourful. Vocal work is of high quality too, expressing emotion and action with ease. Wonderful casting too, with Mamiko Noto's voice adding a degree of creepy to the second season villain that I honestly feel no other voice actress ever could. full marks 10/10

 Music - I've already discussed my distaste for the musical score and themes for this series, a real let down after such fantastic production in every other area. If they'd have used something more fitting to its very Japanese feel it would have worked much better than the "70's blacksplotation" cheese-fest that is present. 1/10

 Accessability - Fire up wikipedia for this one folks, as it has tons of specific historic, cultural and uniquely Japanese referances that us in the west would probably never get unless its explained to us. 1/10

Overall Impression -  A real "love/hate" piece for me, intriguing historic referances, culture by the bucketload, humour, superbly produced, a near-epic plot and wonderful characterisation in the first season are all points i really enjoy, but the awful music through out, the heavy emphasis on the "fighting" aspect in the second season, which has little actual fighting and more talking-while-facing-each-other, the unexplained changes in behaviour and character and the overbearing annoying arrogance of "Night" Rikou, so heavily prevailant in the second season really bring it down. Typical of most "fighting anime" there's also a great deal of "powering up/training" in which the hero vanishes, leaving his friends in a tight spot, only to appear at the last minute with a new technique that blows everyone away. Definately one to watch if you're at all interested in Japanese mythology and fighting anime. 7/10

 

Final Score - 25/50