[1st episode] Binbougami ga!



Hey! It's time for you to read yet another first impression of something I didn't intend to watch. I'm so weak.

I probably would have given up and watched even if other people didn't talk me into it granted it's Sunrise and I'm usually curious about thei stuff.

This time their comedy is about Momiji, god of misfortune trying to repair the balance of the world. However she happens to be cursed by misfortune while her opponent is the luckiest person in the world. What the hell will happen?

And actually I wonder what happens too. Though it's the kind of absolutely hilarious nonsense I love.

Our two heroines make a wonderful duo (that I actually already ship, I'll always be a fujoshi) and despite fighting against each other they actually really look like they're friends more than enemies, it's nearly cute to watch.

I don't even know what to say because in the end there's not really anything to say, those two are nuts and I'm looking forward to more of their adventures and more development, because the first episode already showed a bit and I thought it was well played.

Another definite one on my watchlist, if they keep on being as fun and interesting I'm in.

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention that the really fortunate girl is voiced by Kana Hanazawa in her Kuroneko voice, I nearly didn't even recognize her and damn is she good, damn is Momiji's seiyuu interesting to listen to as well. She just gained a new fan.

[Summer 2011] Seiyuu top 10!

Remember last season's "voices hit or miss" post? Well, I decided I'll do things differently for Summer, mostly because I realized there was no point to rant about Kishio Daisuke for each show I'm watching. I don't like him. I think you got it.
Then, came the second question, do I still consider shows that started back in Spring? Do I consider shows that are going to run until Winter? In the end, after lots of talking with myself (and, I'll admit it, heavily influenced by the fact I was listenning to a radio show with Morita Masakazu as a guest), I thought : screw it! I'll consider everything!

So, in the end, the only shows I'll leave out (officially) are Beelzebub and Gintama. Sorry Sugita, I still love you!

10 - Ono Daisuke 
I have to admit I'm usually not much of a fan of his because his voice is usually very flat. That works perfectly for characters such as Huey (Dantalian no Shoka), but sometimes he surprises me like he did with Shizuo, and so he did as Yondaime. That's why he's there, because I didn't think he'd pull it off that well.

9 - Suwabe Junichi
As usual, he's perfect as the ambiguous villain in Natsume Yuujinchou. We won't talk about his singing in Utapri because that was terrific for everyone but he did well as the rich boy who's only thinking about girls.

8 - Mamoru Miyano
Once again leaving Utapri aside (even though his version of Amazing Grace was really pretty) he was just too perfect as Okarin in Steins;Gate. So perfect I didn't realize it was him at first.

7 - Nobuhiko Okamoto
He's everywhere, I just can't leave him out and I have to admit that while I was wary of him when I first read  Ao no Exorcist's castlist, he does a good job as Rin.
And he did fit Origami in Tiger&Bunny pretty well in my opinion. On the other he isn't special at all and tend to piss me off a bit in Kamisama Dolls. And he shouldn't sing. At all.

6 - Fukuyama Jun
Same as above, I didn't expect him to voice Yukio in Ao no Exorcist, I knew he'd pull it off because it's FukuJun but I didn't think it'd fit that well.
And then there's Rikuo in Nurarihyon, he really does that kind of dual personnalities well. And during this second season he appears more as night!Rikuo so I can hear his deep voice more. I'm happy.

5 - Kana Hanazawa
She's one of my favorite female seiyuu, ever, but well, before her character in Kamisama Dolls appeared she wouldn't have made it to the list. I love her, but I'm not a fan of her cute voice, so yeah, when she came down from the sky and started using her deep voice, I started fangirling.

4 - Kamiya Hiroshi
He's Natsume guys! Natsume is adorable!
He's Mephisto guys! Mephisto is such a twisted and interesting characters.
And the voices of both these characters are quite different. He's good, you can't deny it.

3 - Yusa Kouji
I don't even know why he's so high up the list, he's the young version of Nurarihyon in the eponym anime and Lunatic/Yuri Petrov in Tiger&Bunny. He sounded so evil and so nice, both at the same time.

2 - Ayu Matsuura
She voiced Rin in Usagi Drop. It was perfect. She's 10 years old.
That's all I have to say.

1 - Morita Masakazu
Sadly, he doesn't get many roles in anime (guess he must be busy with Bleach) but, I was stunned by his performance as Barnaby. When I checked the cast when it first started I admit I was a bit weirded out, first I didn't recognize him and second, I never thought of him as very good.
How wrong I was.
So, he's in first because he's the first seiyuu who made me cry so much with the tone of his voice alone. He'd better get more emotionnal roles (in anime) instead of his usual fighting addicts.
Too bad he speaks so fast on radio shows. But I can make out he's adorable all the same.
(And damn, guys, I have a surprise for you, as soon as someone uploads that damn song somewhere on the internet, it gets posted here, it's too epic! (and hilarious) Full version out on October 19th)

[1st episode]Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Slowly, new things are starting to come out (even though it's officially just a preview) I'm glad, I don't really like the time between two seasons, it's a bit sad. 

But, readers of Kuuki no Puraido, rejoice! Today is the day we discover together the episode 0 of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai! 

I know I probably should wait for the actual episode but I don't think the overall atmosphere of the serie will change, if anything, it'd be a better indicator of the rest of the serie than the first and usually introductory episode. 

At least episode 0 makes us jump straight into things. 

So, it's yet another harem story, revolving around Hasegawa Kodaka, who, as the title kindly puts it, don't have many friends. When he meets whichever girl it was, he realizes he's not the only one who's facng this predicament and thus they decide to establish a club dedicated to a simple purpose : making friends. 

The plot sounds lame. You're right it is. Lame and cliché. (The OVA starts by a beach scene. Yes, they don't beat around the bush)

The cast of characters look like they're all coming out of an eroge. You get the imouto, the shy maid, the smart girl, the (very out of place) sister, the tsundere, and the big breasted blonde. 

And obviously there's only one man. 

Normally, with such a plot and cast of characters I'd say pass (actually I did, it originally didn't even make it the list of anime I wanted to at least try). I wouldn't even think twice about it. I just know this kind of show is not my cup of tea. 

But obviously again, there are exceptions. The main one in the past has been Kore wa Zombie desu ka? And from the look of it Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai seems like it'll be one as well. 

Why? Well, it's not your average harem anime. 

First, the girls are not what they seem to be. I don't really know how to express it, and it's actually just a feeling that hasn't been proven by any fact, but I'm pretty sure they're all going to surprise me, at least a bit. 

The guy is an average harem anime guy though, doesn't seem like he has much depth to him. 

Second, it's trash. I don't know many anime where the two main girls throw up on the main guy during the very first episode (and to be honest, that's the very reason I tried to watch, too curious for my own good I guess).

Lastly, it's amusing. It didn't make me laugh, but I did smile a few times, so I guess it shall be enough. 

Oh, and it has nice seiyuu too! Such as two of my favorite girls ever, Kana Hanazawa and Marina Inoue. 

I shall now wait patiently for the actual first episode, hoping it'll stay that way so I like it enough to keep on watching (Or not because my watchlist will explode if I already start to add more anime I didn't intend to watch ^^)

We have attained Steins;Gate. El. Psy. Congroo

Steins;Gate has ended, after 6 months of weekly wednesdays spent watching the show. I was excited by the plot when it first was announced, I really enjoyed watching but I never thought I'd be that sad when it'll end.
Thankfully, they announced a movie and the trailer shows nothing but things we already saw in the anime and I have no idea what the hell they'll put in that movie. An alternate ending maybe?

While it isn't one of my favorite anime ever it is something I want to re-watch. It is something I enjoyed from the beginning to the end and it definitely is something I'd recommend.

The reason is simple, its fits a lot of my requirements for anime (not that there's such a fixed list in my head but who cares?)
- The plot is interesting. Even before knowing about Steins;Gate I knew I'd enjoy this, people making a time machine out of a microwave? It just sounds so weird that it's bound to be at least a bit interesting.

- It's well written. The pace is great. It introduces characters little by little, slowly builds the tension until the events finally take a tragic turn and everything goes faster. I complained about the episodes dedicated entirely to a single character before, but in the end everything falls together perfectly. In each of these episodes Okabe grew to understand people more, he grew to care more, to feel more, just so that in the end he and the world can be happy. It does show that nothing is truly meaningless and I find that a great lesson.

- The cast is eargasmic. Mamoru Miyano is someone I grew to love a lot since his role in Durarara!!, and to be honest I didn't recognize him at first and as much as I loved Light and Kida, Okabe is now my favorite role of his. He managed to voice the mad scientist moments as well as showing the despair that hit Okarin, that was quite the challenge I think. Aside from Kana Hanazawa (who I love) and Kobayashi Yuu (who I hate, I'm glad Rukako doesn't speak much) I wasn't too familiar with the girls but I was glad to ear Saori Goto (as Moeka) again (she's Q damnit! I loved Q) and very glad to discover Imai Asami, her voice really quited Kurisu well.

- It's pretty. I've admired huke's work for a long, long time so I'm always glad to see more of his designs animated. The atmosphere too is really well done, you can feel the tension sometimes or the peace of mind of the protagonist only by looking at the scenery around them. It's quite great.

- It's entertaining. That's one of the main point of anime isn't it? It's amusing to watch and I loved to see them all interact, even in the darkest moments of the story.

- It made my brain work. The ones who do that are always the ones I remember the most. Once you got the hang of it you couldn't help but wonder how the hell things will turn out, what will be achieved by working together, whether or not they'll beat CERN and how, at every episode there were things to think about.
Even if it wasn't the most brain wrecking anime I've seen, far from it, the simple fact it dealt with time travel just forced you to think to understand how it worked (and I just felt like I had to do researches afterwards)

And while I know it obviously had flaws, for now, I can't find one to share. (I'll probably do when I'll rewatch, you never pick everything up at the first watch)

Kuuki's crazy anime watchlist corner desuu~ #11

And I come once again bearing a new edition of my bi-weekly crazy watchlist. One day I swear I'll be able to control myself and not watch as many things as I do now.
Or not.

30 days seiyuu meme! Days 01-10

I've been sent that meme over at Tumblr so I thought I'd post it over there, you can never talk too much about seiyuu anyway ^^

Day 01: Your favorite male seiyuu
Kamiya Hiroshi! 
Doesn’t it come as a surprise?
Strangely enough I fell in love with him when I first heard Itoshiki Nozomu, I bet it’s quite unusual ^^

Day 02: Your least favorite male seiyuu
Kishio Daisuke. 
For no particular reason, I just really dislike his voice. 


Day 03: Your favorite female seiyuu
Can I say it's a tie between Kana Hanazawa and Maaya Sakamoto? 
It's a shame Kana Hanazawa is mostly cast on cutesy roles because she's so awesome with that deep voice of hers (Kuroneko I'm looking at you!) and I was so impressed by the variety of ranges she displayed as Shiro in Deadman Wonderland. Aaw want more psycho!Hanazawa. 
Maaya Sakamoto has even a wider range, she can do cute, she can do normal, she can do boys and the psycho kind too (damn, watch Hellsing Ultimate, she's only in the 4th episode, but damn, the presence <3)
They both can sing and they're both damn cute. So yeah, a tie!

Day 04: Your least favorite female seiyuu
Kobayashi Yuu, she's versatile too but her voice simply grates on my nerves, she should stick with voicing boys, my ears like that better. 


Day 05: A seiyuu you’d watch in anything
Any of my fave? Well, except if it means I have to watch One Piece, there my friends I declare it's off limit. But aside from OP and overly long series I'd watch anything for the seiyuus I love. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, I watched a lot of things I wasn't overly interested in and ended up loving in the end. 


Day 06: A seiyuu that always makes you laugh
Tsuda Kenjiro! That man is hilarious. Really, whenever I just hear him on free talks or see him during events he's always making me laugh, he's just so funny I can't help it. 


Day 07: The seiyuu you recognize the easiest
Well, if I know their name I recognize them more or less instantly, because it means I heard them in a lot of shows before and am familiar with their acting and their different tones. But I tend to recognize the ones I like the less even better.


Day 08: the seiyuu you recognize the hardest
Normally I should be able to tell at least that I already heard someone somewhere, even if I can't always name them, so it's not exactly that I don't recognize him, actually I do, except for this show, it's just that my ears spent one season of SoreMachi looking for hints to decide if yes it was him as the Obachan (and I'm still not sure) so it'll be Sakurai Takahiro 


Day 09: A seiyuu you’d rather not watch in anything
Let me take some times to decide who I hate more between Kishio Daisuke and Kobayashi Yuu and I'll tell you. Not that I have much of a choice though, they seem to be loved by everyone else so even if I don't like them I won't avoid a show I think I'd like. 


Day 10: A seiyuu that creeps you out
It's more a problem of acting and of being cast pretty much everywhere as THE villain but Hayami Shou is creepy. Especially if you have watched Sengoku Basara where he voices Akechi Mitsuhide who's pretty creepy even when he doesn't speak (no wonder he's my favorite warlord of the period ^^), if he was only the villain that would be OK, but no, he has to be a villain who cries things like "Aaw feels good, again, again" while being killed. So yeah, now he's forever creepy.
(I'd actually recommend the first season of said serie for his character only ^^)