[1st episode] Chouyaku Hyakuninishu Uta Koi

I'm on a roll!

So, this one, abridged as Uta Koi because we're all lazy, is, well, maybe not a story, this episode adapted 2 poems of the Collection. It's basically a series about love stories, or so I understood.

Exactly as they said in the series most of us are going to be familiar with the Hundred Poems through karuta because we've watched Chihayafuru. For those who are not the series offers a quick explanations, that is something I loved about it.

The two stories it adapted were pretty sweet and seemed to be really close to the poems they were supposed to adapt and we got to hear it actually included in the story, that was great too.
And damn were the stories cute, I got really invested at some points, it was that adorable.

And it had good seiyuu.

Another one I'll definitely follow. You should too if you liked Genji Monogatari or even if you want to know more about the Heian period, it seems like a nice introduction to it and the anime actually explains things

[1st episode] Arcana Famiglia

Ah well, I suppose I better get started on this new season since it rains and I haven't started working yet.

So, La storia della Arcana Famiglia, which I'll abridge, is a story about the "vigilante" (read as : mafia) family of a remote island that doesn't exist in our world (so that we're free from real world requirements). So apparently this island is full of villains but obviously that's not the main focus of the series, apparently that's going to be the story of how those boys will compete against each others using their magical arcana powers to win the girl.
Sounds awesome right?

As you may have guessed I am not too hyped up about this, which I thought would happen, it's an adaptation from yet another otome game after all. And the storyline of this particular one is so obvious that it's a wonder it sold. At least most other games have a better excuse to interact and fight over the girl than her father organizing a contest to marry her. That one is waaaay too obvious. And a bit boring.
But I'll get over it, I knew what I was getting into.

Usually my main reason for watching those adaptations are seiyuu, however, the only one who really shone in that is Yusa Kouji, I have fallen in love all over again. even Sugita Tomokazu sounded quite boring in this. Whoever's the responsible of this heresy (how can you even manage to make Sugita Tomokazu sound boring is beyond me) will be forever haunted by me.
Also, casting Mamiko Noto as Felicita was a bad idea.
Since I'm at it, the music wasn't exactly good either, pretty much the contrary, at some points I cringed.

Now the only other redeeming point of those adaptations is usually characters. The main one is usually plain, this one seems to have guts, however, her name is really unfortunate, because damn, that song, Felicita, we sung that one in German classes when I was in high school, everytime they say her name I can't help but laugh. Sorry.
As for the boys, well, aside from Jolly, Yusa's character, no one really caught my eyes just yet. Maybe the father and mostly because he's an ass.

I still have no idea whether I'm going to watch this, at least the second episode because the first made me think of a mix between KHR, Baccano! and Kuroshitsuji, and to be honest I'm curious.
But it's bad. Damn.

[1st episdoe] Natsuiro no Kiseki

And the last one in the series of things I didn't intend to watch and didn't even know existed.

Natsuiro no Kiseki is the story of 4 childhood friends in middle school, apparently two of them got in a fight and then magic happened and they flew in the sky and they'll try to become idols? I think it was something like that.
Oh and it's done by Sunrise.

First of all, it's cute, I quite like the character design of the blonde. Who happens to be the poor "I'm suffering so much so I'm a bitch but you can't understand what I'm going through" kind of character. I really hope she'll improve or I'll end up hating her big time.

This anime has been started because Kotobuki Minako (Damn, Tiger&Bunny what kind of stuff are you making me do?) I don't particularly complain though.

The problem is I have no idea what the plot is really going to be about. One of the friends is moving so I don't know how they'll manage to try for their dream together. Maybe we'll get a magical time skip or something? Well whatever happens I don't get how it'll work if she moves. But I guess I'll know next week? Probably.

No matter how this will turn out to be I can say the one who wrote this episode is good, it made me want to watch the second, despite the knowledge that this is a seiyuu anime, it's just made so they can sound cute while voicing cute looking characters (and looking cute themselves, let's admit it).
In the end, kudos to the writer, dunno how this will turn out but I'm watching the second episode. (Maybe not the third and if I watch the third, maybe not the fourth, well, you see what I'm trying to say, this is Sunrise after all)

Sengoku themed anime for everyone's tastes.

As a matter of fact, since the day I've been made to watch Sengoku Basara (it has Hayami Shou, you need to watch it, or so they said), I have been following pretty much all new series that had to do with Sengoku Jidai, you know, this blessed period before the Tokugawa shogunate when everyone tried to kill each others, and that's how this, somehow very small list, came to life.
Just in case you want to join in.

The most hilarious : Sengoku Basara
Not only is this series my first so it's special but, the actual historical generals were already pretty crazy, the ones from Sengoku Basara are from a completely different level. The plot is absolutely nothing special, it just has to do with beating up the bad guy, what's interesting is how they manage to get along (or not) to do so, given they all want to be the best and get rid of each others and all have a really peculiar personality. (Special mention for Akechi Mitsuhide)
Very, very, VERY loosely historically accurate but it is hilarious.

For fanservice amateurs : Sengoku Otome : Momoiro Paradox
That anime is "adapted" or I should probably say inspired from a pachinko game, which has obviously aroused suspicion in me but in the end, for an anime dealing with time warp that transformed all Sengoku generals into girls it's actually quite entertaining. Much more entertaining than Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, which is another fanservice series.

The most accurate : Hyougemono
As you may or may not know Hyougemono is about Sasuke a teapot crazy guy who might be a complete invention, as well as some quite colorful happenings of the series, among the ones I have seen it's still the most historically accurate. Especially concerning the interactions between the different characters. Might be quite boring if you're not into it though.

The one you shouldn't watch unless you're a fujoshi and even if you are it's hard to bear sometimes, but it has big boobs so men can find something they like too and you probably should just read the manga if you're that interested because at least it has more perverted jokes and panels : Brave 10
I don't even know what to say about that one except that, while it got better after episode 6, you still should avoid it. But it has my favorite version of Sanada Yukimura ever so ...

My ultimate favorite : Sengoku Basara : the Last Party.
I'm cheating a bit because that one is the movie following up on the second season of Sengoku Basara but it happens to be the most hilarious of the series. The craziest one. The one with the better ED. The one with the better death, because only that series can make characters die not only once but twice and all of them completely epic. Also the one with my favorite death ever. And my all time favorite nabe scene. And, as usual, a seiyuu fest.

I still couldn't find the proper ED but, well, close enough?

Happy New Year! (and 200th post o_O)

Have been waiting for everyone to be in 2012 before making my post because, obviously, timezones are a pain, but HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! I wish you lots of happiness and good anime!

And, since the gods of timing are with me, it's also my 200th post so, let's look back?

What the hell did happen in 2011 in my anime world?

- My Durarara!! obsession died.
- It's been replaced by an anime I didn't even like at first.
- The rest of the year, my entire brain has been dominated by ... Tiger&Bunny! (Just in case you didn't notice XD)

- That being said, it makes me even more thankful for this blog because it really, REALLY helped balancing things out, since, when I start obsession over something I really go all out. Having an anime blog on the side forces me to focus on something else.
- I embraced my creepy otaku side. And I said "otaku", not "fujoshi", I've been apparently lost to the dark side for a long, looong time.
- I met lots of great people!
- Hell, one of them even asked me to write on his blog.
- There has been a lot of good shows, as busy as I was obsessing over Tiger&Bunny, even I noticed.
- Had a very good New Years Eve and New Years Day. No, really, nothing beats spending peaceful times with your family and flailing with your friends over how good your favorite show is (I'm sorry for everyone I harassed over Twitter ^^), listenning to your favorite radio show (obviously in Japanese, you have no idea how much my ears are ringing whenever I heard "chara song album") and watching the New Years special of that show you love.
- And, last but not least, even though I'm pretty sure I am forgetting something, SANDY BEACH, SANDY BEACH~

Then, what's going to change in 2012?

- I already have more things planned for 2012 when it has just started than in the entirety of 2011, so, probably less time to blog and watch anime.
- The bi-weekly "Kuuki's crazy anime watchlist corner" is out. Because it's boring to write and makes me lazy. Instead you'll get a weekly highlight kind of thing. Maybe.
- Nothing else is going to change, I'll keep up what I've been doing and hope to make many more friends in the process!

Lastly and once again, happy New Year! It's technically a Christmas picture but Yamaguchi Hoshiko said she wanted to see what kind of photograph I make so ...

12 days of Christmas - Tiger&Bunny

You probably wondered when the hell I'll start talking about my favorite anime of the year, and probably favorite anime for a long, long time and this time is now! So, have a whole post entirely dedicated to this wonderful anime that is Tiger&Bunny.

I've been under the impression I was a little bit alone in my endless spazzing over this in the anime blogosphere, and I can understand that. I didn't want to start watching it either. Not everyone can like what I like and I have to admit the first few episodes are rather dull when compared to what's next.

However, what's next is wonderful. I already said it but it can't hurt to say it again, I stopped counting how many times I cried and laughed at that. How many theories I made. How many people I met. How surprised I was by the performances of the seiyuu, by the quality of the writing and by how realistic they all felt.

It's the kind of anime that grows on you before you even realize it and in the end, you don't regret it the slightest bit.

Do you have a fandom bias?

Pyro posted a blog post about her fandom bias, the small facts that can transform a show you're not interested in at all into a must watch.
She talked about hers and asked about ours, it actually made me think a lot so that post will be my answer.

The only problem is : I'm pretty sure I am forgetting things but it will have to do.

- Seiyuu
A good seiyuu cast can hold me through the most boring of shows. Almost. (Well, there are things that are beyond saving, even with my favorite seiyuu)
It did get me through Uraboku, which is everything but good, and on the other hand my fascination for people like Kamiya Hiroshi is the thing that made me start Angel Beats for example.
As such, it has good and bad sides.

- Yakuza
Sadly, this is the bias that is always, always used against me to make me read BL manga.
On the other hand, it made me discover stuff like Gokusen which I would NEVER have checked otherwise and became my favorite drama of all time (since both the manga and the anime version suffer from horrific art)

- Yuki Kajiura (and a few other composers)
In an anime I am very sensible to music and I can tell Yuki Kajiura or people like Sawano Hiroyuki are the composers as soon as I hear their music in an anime, a great soundtrack helps me finding the show enjoyable.
And if it wasn't for Yuki Kajiura I would never have checked Madoka or Fate/Zero.

- Sengoku Jidai
Rather than Sengoku Jidai I have developed over the years a soft spot for Akechi Mitsuhide, probably one of the less likeable warlord of the era and I feel obligated to watch every single anime featuring Sengoku Jidai in the hopes of seeing him.
And you have to admit the era has a lot of potential, in terms of battles, in terms of interesting politics and in terms of colorful characters.

- Narita Ryogho
I like this man and how he writes and how good and faithful the anime adapted from his works are. I'd watch anything if he's somehow involved. I'd watch anything if I know he's watching it as well. (Wouldn't have tried Tiger&Bunny if it wasn't for him, I'm forever grateful. And he's watching Fate/Zero and seeing him stay up so late to fanboy about it is adorable. I love Twitter) (AND I WANT A SECOND SEASON OF DURARARA!!) (AND ANOTHER ONE OF BACCANO!) (AND FOR HIS OTHER BOOKS TO BE ANIMATED!)

- Psychopaths
You probably already have noticed my love for, well, rather questionnable characters. Tell me there's one in something and I'm watching whatever you were recommending.

I don't even have that many. I thought I'd come to find many more considering the amount of stuff I watch. Oh well, guess I'll just blame curiosity.
Anyway, I'll ask the same question she did back in the days (because that post slept for quite some times in my drafts), what are YOUR fandom bias?

More Tiger&Bunny songs!

I knew it would made its way on Youtube in no time.

As I was talking about earlier today, the Tiger&Bunny OST set for release on Ocotober 19th and that, strangely enough, I didn't care much for before, will include, at least a song. A trio.

Whether you remember the episode of the strange new unit B.T.B. or not, whether you were watching Tiger&Bunny or not, you HAVE to listen to this.
It's Kotobuki Minako (who sings quite well in that one), with occasionnal help from Hiroaki Hirata and very thoughtful comments from Morita Masakazu. ("See you tomorrow")

I might as well tell you. I cried. Of laughter.
And I can tell you that even if they obviously heard it before the guys presenting the radio show and their guest Morita Masakazu had troubles keeping their cool too. (He still managed to be adorable and spent 5min thanking the fans, by the way.)

[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)

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 ^^)

Kuuki's crazy anime watchlist corner desuuu~ #2

Man, already the second edition, and goddamn long on top of that. Forgive me?

- Usagi Drop : TOMOE! The mother is Tomoe! Same voice, same look, thankfully not the same personnality but damn I was surprised.
I still don't know what to think about her, she's strange and probably not really able to properly take care of a child but she's not a bad person.
Once again I found it very realistic in the way of dealing with Rin's feelings, the whole thing about her wanting to keep her name and refusing Daikichi's proposal is spot on.
Once again and as usual Daikichi was adorable.

- Penguindrum : KOYASU TAKEHITO! There was Koyasu Takehito! I missed him so much!
Well, that episode raised quite a few questions, here are some of my random thoughts :
*Yuri might have a diary, either one of her own or one mirroring Ringo's so she'd be able to take action before she does.
*No matter how you look at it, this Aquarium is definitely suspicious. Everyone has been there, everyone bought a souvenir related to the penguins, so, is this is the great headquarters of the ultimate penguin conspiracy?
*Related to the previous point, that penguin symbol appears a bit too much to be a coincidence, you won't make me believe they're not related in some way or another.
*Are their parents's disappearance somehow related with the Penguindrum?
*Is the diary really the Penguindrum? I'm under the impression Boshi-sama wasn't very eager to get her hands on it when she could do so.

- No.6 : This made me hungry. Again. Honestly, don't name animals after pastries, especially if I happen to LOVE those.

- Idolm@ster : Are there people who blog about this? What do they write on their entries?
Nothing really happens but cute girls doing cute things, this week was at the beach.
Well, I still like this better than a failed attempt at plot.

- UtaPri : Oooh wuch an unexpected plot twist. *insert sarcasm here*
That and the fact that Miyano's singing ability seem to decrease at every episode.
Well I do like that kind of totally unrealistic personnality disorder so I won't complain that much. It was like having Shizu-chan in Utapri. Kinda nice.

- Dantalian no Shoka : Dalian is a fujoshi. A real one. She even wants to write fanfics now. I approve!
On the other hand, this was pretty interesting, blood and stuff like that are totally my cup of tea.
I'm still wondering whether or not there will be more to the plot than just this.

- Beelzebub : I absolutely hate Daisuke Kishio. Sorry.
But these new characters are kinda interesting and I like the girls (which is really rare in a Jump serie)

- KamiMemo : Want me to ramble a bit more about my love for Yondaime and his underlings, who are, in my opnion, all absolutely adorable?
I like Narumi more and more at every episode but my love for Alice decreases at every episode.
I do wonder what's going to happen now, especially since that Renji guy seems to be somehow related to the Yondaime.

- Tiger&Bunny : I'm depressed. I knew it would turn like that and it's no fun at all if it turns how I predict it.
BUT it raised more questions, who else did he use his ability on? Samantha obviously but what if he used it on the other company presidents? On the mayor(s)? On Yuri?
In any case shit will happen because there's no way the connection between him and Ouroboros decreased over the years, meaning my theory of "Ouroboros controls the city" is still valid!
And I'm damn sad whenever something happens between them, the timing sucked.
And Scarf-tan appeared twice! Is this a sign she's the real head of Ouroboros? Is there a clone army of Scarf-tans? (I don't really believe it but at this point it wouldn't even be surprising ^^)

Aaand to celebrate the lack of Sacred Seven to rant about AND the release of Stone Cold's single, have a song!

[1st episode]Dantalian no Shoka

After a few adventures involving getting lost in a city at 4am (who are you supposed to ask for the way at this hour?), meeting new friends and finding a metal vocalist moe (Yeah moe and yes it was a man, the females were both badass and sexy as hell but I digress), here is the last installment of the Summer 2011 1st episodes serie!

So Dantalian no Shoka is about yet another loli, needing yet another human to support her. Their goal is to seal dangerous books away this time.

So far we've seen two characters, the loli, Dalian, and the guy which name I don't remember yet. Loli is a bit of a tsundere, well she reminds me of Kuroneko, except she tries to act cute. At the same time, she's supposed to be some kind of demon, so I can understand she's not too used to live in the company of humans. Still, she has her good moments but also her bad in which she pisses me off.
The guy is surprinsingly badass. I thought he'd be yet another weak protagonist but he's fucking badass. I like him.

The OP and ED are not bad, I won't listen to them anymore afterwards but they're not too bad.
The music is lovely though, I've been impressed.
As for the seiyuu, strangely enough I do love Ono Daisuke as the guy, but Sawashiro Miyuki as the loli is still hard for me to bear. I'm not a fan of her "cute" roles. Not at all.

The plot is a bit generic, it's still two people teaming up to fight evil and so far, there hasn't been anything special, but it's pretty, not really Gainax like but pretty.
It won't be the most awesome anime of the season but still interesting enough for me to watch despite being overloaded.

And since I'm done the wrap-up post is coming tomorrow. Hopefully. Because right now I just finished watching Tiger&Bunny and my head is going crazy with theories. And it was sad too (then again, I'm being oversensitive with this anime)
*sobs* Yuri

[1st episodeS]Is the idol business a trend in animes?

All of that to say that since I'm incredibly lazy (I already didn't see the point of reviewing the first episodes of the continuations, or, do you want me to?) and since it happens, fact oh so rare, that we have TWO animes dealing with the same topic this season I decided I should just do a common first impression post for the both of them.

So The Idolm@aster and Uta Prince-sama etc (come on, give me SHORT titles) both have to do with the process of creating idols. The only difference is in the target, the first is adapted from a galge, thus full of girls, the second is adapted from an otome game, thus full of pretty boys.

To be honest, both of them are so full of characters I can't even remember them.
The way of introducing them in both is good though, UtaPri goes slowly and little by little, Idolm@ster went through the interview route, which would be good, if characters weren't so numerous.
All in all nothing to say, being adapted from games there's a character for each stereotype.

Strangely enough I prefer the music of The Idolm@aster over the one for UtaPri, which is weird, considering my usual fangirlism for male seiyuu, but it would seem Mamo-chan has just forgotten how to sing. Never thought that voice acting would be the thing I'd complain about the most for that anime, never.
I expected that kind of music and voice acting for The Idolm@aster so no surprise but I'm really disappointed by the songs in UtaPri, it's to the point it almost hurt my ears.
Special mention for troll!principal Norio Wakamoto in Utapri and Hochuu Ohtsuka in the Idolm@aster, no one told me, I almost choked on my coffee.

And the plot, well, the plot is simple, let's take everyone to idoldom!
Can't do any simpler than that, well UtaPri is a a bit more complicated, being told from the point of view of a girl and all, plus being set in a school, there obviously will be drama.

I'm not convinced, by any of them.
The Idolm@ster will have to do something for me to remember the characters and UtaPri will have to prove itself to be a bit more interesting than just being pretty. (at least it is pretty ^^)

Spring 2011 : Voices hit or miss!

Despite having been going to sleep later and later everyday, I've been finding myself a bit troubled when it came to actually falling asleep, hence my lovely brain going a bit crazy and it actually manages to find ideas for new blog posts. Granted, there are ideas that are definitely not fit for posts but still.

So today is the first installement of the seiyuu only report of the last season! Ok it's not finished, but I don't particulary think they'll suddenly introduce anything really new in that aspect. As usual, it's based on my tastes only, which are a bit peculiar, if not totally weird. (Though for seiyuu I have to say my tastes are pretty "normal" compared to other stuff)
Well whatever, here is my attempt to list what my ears liked or what they didn't, listed anime by anime, that I watch, wouldn't dare to judge something I am not watching. (But it's half of the season anyway so ...)
Oh and there's a deliberate order. Somehow.

Gintama 
I am not going to bother granted that there are pretty much at least a hundred characters.
Just now that Sugita Tomokazu is as awesome as usual and that Norio Wakamoto's and Hochuu Ohtsuka's characters should appear more often. But because I love them, it's not going to happen.

Deadman Wonderland
- Pretty much everyone has been miscast in this. I don't even know how to express my disappointment.
+ FukuJun, Suwabe Junichi and Kana Hanazawa are the only ones who actually fit their role and are at it.

Sengoku Otome
+/- This has only girls so, same problem as in KamiNomi, can't recognize them very well.
+/- They can sing though. Mostly. And they're cute

HenZemi

+ Seiyuu are the only real interest of the show and why I picked it up in the first place so ... (that and the fact I just realized that my guy friends from middle school are weirder than I thought they were)

Hanasaku Iroha 

- Omigawa Chiaki happens to be one of the seiyuu I hate

+ Nothing to report on anyone else

KamiNomi

+/- Most girls voices are not recognizable enough. But my ears find a lot of girls seiyuu just plain, I really love 4 and I really hate 2. 

+ Hiro Shimono is good at this, switching from the nice and calm mode to the hysterical one. 

Beelzebub 

- I have more interest for side characters' voice actors than for the main roles. 

- What's the point of hiring Sawashiro Miyuki to say "dayum" every 3 seconds?

+ Sugita Tomokazu is awesome. 

+ Casting Takahashi Hiroki as the Great Demon Lord may have been the best idea ever. 

Gosick

- Sawashiro Miyuki as Claudia, something is just not right. 

-/+ Kujou, I mean, he's plain, which is nice, but he should stand out more. 

+ Kiuchi Hidenobu, who doesn't get enough roles. 

+ Yuuki Aoi, never expected a single anime to change my views on her so much. She's absolutely incredible as Victorique. 

AnoHana 

+ I have nothing to complain about. Just wanted to take the chance to say once more that Sakurai Takahiro is awesome.

C

+ Sakurai Takahiro and his acting are marvelous. 

+ Uchiyama Kouki (Kimimaro) who sounds just plain enough for Kimimaro and whose voice I love. 

+ Daisuke Hosomi (Mikuni) FINALLY HAS MORE ROLES! 

Steins;Gate

+ The cast is perfect. Just perfect. They all sound as normal as possible considering the circonstences. 

+ MAMORU MIYANO! It has gotten to the point I didn't even recognize him at first. Never thought he'd be able to pull it off so well. 

Yondemasu yo Azazel-san

+ Daisuke Namikawa is awesome. 

+ Kamiya Hiroshi is awesome

+ Onosaka Masaya is made for this kind of role

+ It has awesome surprises appearance such as Kazuya Nakai and ... Keiji Fujiwara. 

Ao no Exorcist 

- Ono Daisuke as Arthur (granted he hasn't even appeared yet but I'm not happy) it just doesn't fit the character.

-/+ Yuusa Kouji as Renzou Shima, I love his voice but it makes me feel like he's a villain. 

-/+ Kazuya Nakai as Bon, it's not bad per say, and it's exactly the kind of character I'm used to hear him voice, it's just that's something wrong with it. 

-/+ FukuJun as Yukio. Sorry, I love you, but you should have played Arthur. Yukio should have been voiced by ... Toyonaga Toshiyuki? Well someone more of his style at least. (And it's NOT because I miss him, granted, I would have been dead happy since popular anime = character song and I'm in love with his singing)

+ Kana Hanazawa as Shiemi. Note that they have the same haircut. And that I had predicted it! 

+ Nobuhiko Okamoto as Rin. Unexpected, REALLY unexpected considering he hasn't been really that active but he does a much better job than I thought he would. 

+ Keiji Fujiwara as Fujimoto because damn, badass and sweet all at the same time. Was totally wary of him at first, well, he's been Ladd, so ...

+ Kamiya Hiroshi as Mephisto. Who could better than him voice a plotting bastard? 

Tiger&Bunny 
+ Yuusa Kouji as Yuri Petrov/Lunatic. Just the right amount of villain vibes and not villain vibes.
+ FUJIWARA KEIJI as Jake Martinez or the guy who just increased my suspicions on Maverick being the ultimate villain even more.
+ Kotobuki Minako, the girl who voices Tsumugi because she doesn't sound like at all like Tsumugi in this anime.
+ Morita Masakazu because I didn't like him before, still don't like him in any of his other roles but am totally in love as Barnaby.
+ Yuko Kaida because damn, her "Bonjour Heroes" is so incredibly erotic.
+ Tsuda Kenjiro as Fire Emblem because that guy is awesome, and he seems like such a fun person.
+ Hiroaki Hirata, granted, I didn't know him all that much before, just heard him in extracts of Pirate of the Carribeans Japanese version as Jack but I'm impressed, his voice goes up, and down, and it's gentle and not gentle the next second. Perfect. (and one day I'll give in and watch One Piece)
And have a bonus, + for Maaya Sakamoto, who doesn't appear in the anime but who voices Amamiya Tomoe, Kotetsu's tsundere meganeko wife, in the drama CD. (and you're not making me believe there's no relation with Mami Tomoe, nope, never)

Shinkou - Fukuyama Jun

Ok so, now that I have a little time in my hands after hectic days of fics, articles, school work, LJ and various stuff like catching up on animes and on house/garden work, yeah living in the coutryside has its hardship, even if I love it.

That being said, welcome to Music Week End!
There a few things a little too unknown for my tastes and that I'd love to share with you.
For the first edition may I present you a character song, thus sang by a seiyuu, today's victim is Fukuyama Jun, the voice behind my beloved Lelouch and Shinra and something like a hundred other characters, mister Fukuyama is indeed hardworking.

Break Blade 01

I'm still looking for what exactly to do with this blog, never really had a blog like that, nor did I really keep up with it, doing episodes reviews doesn't suit my lazyness and I feel bad whenever I don't update as soon as I finish watching it, I can't even review everything I'm watching, so I'll review a whole serie and will do separated posts when I find something interesting/worth explaining with my modest knowledge.

Anyway, today's victime is the first OVA of Break Blade

Let's start by a quick (or not so quick) summary, what's Break Blade?
Easy, it's originally a manga by Yunosuke Yoshinaga, a mecha kind of manga, and since the mecha kind suits anime better than manga (at least to my standards) here comes an animated adaptation!

The story has the same setting than the average shonen, everyone has the power to use quartz for various purpose, except for one boy, Rygart Arrows. When he was younger he was sent to a military academy despite his handicap by his father, unfortunately he couldn't stay until his graduation and had to return to his farm due to lack of money.
Despite the little time he spent there he made really good friends, two of them (Hodr and Sygn) married and became rulers of their country of Krisna, the other one, Zess, returned to his country of Athens.
Rygart is called to the capital by his former friends to help when a war break out with the neighboring country of Athens ...



My modest opinion now, to be honest the reason I started this is named : Kamiya Hiroshi, Zess' seiyuu. I tend to start a lot of things because of seiyuus, don't mind me.
Fact is, the cast is good, that's something I can't deny, it has Marina Inoue and Kana Hanazawa, who are two of my favorite female seiyuu and it has my favorite seiyuu ever and the always surprisingly talented Hoshi Shouichirou whom I definitely can't dislike, despite my famous hate for one of his role.

Anyway if I start talking about the cast I'm still there tomorrow, so as I said it's a typical shonen kind of thing, the hero is weak at the beginning but suddenly becomes the last hope of the world thanks to a super mobile suit or whatever no one else is able to use. Cliché much?

In any case it's pretty, and the music is kind of fun, you know it feels like you're in one of those old Sissi movie or whatever.
I won't say it's a must watch but it's not bad either, average but since mechas are pretty rare these days it's still better than nothing.

Occult Gakuen episode 04

Let me start by telling you at which point we stopped last week, Maya was attacked by a mysterious monster and Abe-sensei was quietly returning hom from his date.

However Maya didn't return to school, nor did Kozue, so dango haired girl calls Abe-sensei and give him the mission to find them all, ths trying to convey her love for him.


So Abe-sense complies even if he doesn't want to, and find oooh so by chance his "cute" little waitress, she asks him if he wants to come with her to look for them in the car, reluctantly he comes.


And it was indeed a bad idea.


Except that after all she manages to see something on the side of the road while driving at an insane speed (I find that to be quite suspicious, it's like she knew there was something there ^^)


Abe and her walk through, but they got separated, such a shame and Abe comes accross Maya and her silly faces (did I mentionned she tried to kill him?)


While during this time some students and workers of the school were worried and looked for their disappeared principal.

Did I mentionned these two are voiced by Koyasu Takehito (the right guy) and Hiroki Takahashi (the Graham like guy)? It's even funnier

Maya and Abe finally discover the center of the world!


And Abe told her the truth about his fate as a time traveller, basically he was homeless, jobless and their last hope was just killed.


The truth about the Tengu is revealed! It wasn't a Tengu but a Mothman (told you it wouldn't be a Tengu ^^)


And JK defeats him with his magic piano, because music is his life.


During all this time Abe was running away, they still manage to save everyone (including the waitress who comes back unharmed after the fight, suspicious I tell you)

Black Rock Shooter

After more than one year of desperate waiting, or at least on my part. I never had much interest on Vocaloids and the likes but the day I saw the trailer I was already in love, and it's finally there.

Everything started someday, in an island far, far away.


There was a girl, her name was Black Rock Shooter.


There was another girl, she was a normal girl, running in order not to be late for her first day of school, her name was Mato Kuroi (who also happened to be voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu, Kana Hanazawa, who did a wonderful job)



Mato met another one on her way to school, she was a normal girl, her name was Takanashi Yomi (who, strangely, happened to be voiced by another one of my favorite girl seiyuu, Sawashiro Miyuki, who also did a wonderful job)


During that time, in the far far away island, BRS was doing some sight seeing


In the real world, Mato finally gathered enough courage to talk to Yomi, thus scaring her a little.


During that time in the far far away island, BRS was still doing some sight seeing


While in the real world Mato and Yomi became best friends


During that time in the far far away island, BRS stopped doing some sight seeing, she started to fight.


In that island there was another girl, her name was Dead Master and she liked to pick fights with anyone coming around to sight see.


While in the real world, Mato and Yomi were still best friends, they exchanged gifts, laughed together and so on.


During that time in the far far away island, someone else is sight seeing.


But Mato and Yomi were not doing the same club activities, thus they had different friends and Yomi started being jealous when Mato started to become closer with the manager of the basketball team, Yuu.


And this is Yuu.


Yomi gets farther and farther away from Mato, and Mato feels lonely.


One day she simply doesn't came to school and Mato can't help but worry about her best friend.
Her mother calls, saying the police is at her place wanting to talk with her, Yomi has disappeared.


During that time in the far far away island, Dead Master finally wins against Black Rock Shooter.


One day Mato receives an empty text message from Yomi, she runs and runs to the place they liked to go together, she found the strap she gave her and something strange happens.


In the far far away island, Black Rock Shooter managed to free herself, scarring Dead Master to death but saving her when she was just about to fall.


However Dead Master doesn't really like the gesture and fall anyway dissolving herself in the void


At her place lies the disappeared Yomi, BRS managed to save her from her "dark side" (or at least that's how I understood it ^^)


BRS appeared to Mato, in order to save Yomi, and they merge together in a single being, claiming she was Black Rock Shooter.

I had to listen to this part a dozen times, the way Kana Hanazawa says "Black Rock Shooter" is just too cute.

The anime closes on Yuu, starting to feel jealous at the returned closeness between Mato and Yomi, then we understand the mysterious other being sight seeing in the other world is somehow connected to her.
Somehow, it makes me hope for a sequel.

All in all this anime was great, pretty, nice music, interesting, just wonderful and totally worth the wait. The actual song wasn't used a single time in the anime though ^^
Don't forget to visit the English version of the website