The end of my pride

The dreaded moment of all bloggers have finally come, that's it, Kuuki no Puraido is dead.

There's no real reason behind my decision to close doors other than it's just not as fun anymore. And I've always been a low energy person.

Now, it's not like I'm quitting anime blogging, I'll still be over at Organization ASG every week and more. I'll still be on Twitter and I'll probably be updating, March Story, my "portfolio" blog, more. 

Thanks everyone, it was a fun ride, don't forget me, I'll still be lurking in the shadows, stalking you, ready to attack at the moment you'll least expect. :p

See you! :)

Of life, the universe and anime blogging : the carnival

My big boss said I should do it, and so I am. I'm listenning to my big boss way too much lately and here I am writing my modest constribution to the Blog Carnival. That was actually pretty welcome because I was a bit stuck in the swamp of writer's block. Hell, I couldn't even do my usual WonFest pictures party. Which doesn't require much writing though. Anyway.

So, Blog Carnival here I come!

Why not get to reflect on what we like to read and for what reasons?

What I like to read is simple, it's editorials. Or things that catch my attention (that can be a lot of things, trust me). They make me think, they challenge my views of anime, that's why I like them.
Episodics are great, only if they bring something more to the show that I didn't realize or notice, if someone's writing an episode review just to say "this and that happened", then it's useless and not interesting. As for reviews, I may write them myself but I only read the ones written by people whom I trust the tastes. Which is, not many people at all.

What do we do when we stumble across a new blog?


You may find this strange but I start by reading the first post. Then I look at their categories, I don't like blogs that don't have categories, or tags, or anything like that. (Actually, my favorite thing to read on Tumblr are the tags), then I look at the writer(s) Twitter and if I can find which country they're from I like that too.
By then, I usually know if the blog will interest me or not.

What must a good animanga blog have and do?

I read so little blogs that I can't even answer, I guess a good animanga blog, and a good blog in general, must have a voice, a writer, or several writers that you can instantly recognize and remember, and somehow start to know by their posts. I like a blog to have categories, and see interactions between the writer of the post and the commenters. And I like a blog that doesn't kill my eyes. And a writer who's respectful, and a decent person. (Mainly, mindless fujoshi bashing turns me off, I haven't seen it often in the anime blogosphere, if at all, but I have had bad experiences on French part of the fandom and I wasn't even a fujoshi myself at the time)

What blogging behaviors annoy us?

As I said, mindless bashing, generally disrespectful attitude. Now I think about it, it mostly has to do with the attitude of the writer than of the blogging itself. You might write the best posts ever and have a blog that's nearing perfection, if you're an ass, I won't read. 

Sword Art Online Episode 3 : When fiction and reality collide

I found this episode pretty interesting, I don't really get why so many people seemed to dislike it.

Now you should know that unless I have actual stuff to say I don't do episodic posts, this one isn't exactly an episodic post, more like, short information on where some people from the industry find their inspiration.
For those who have thought they'd get to read a deep post, I'm sorry.

Anyway, I was watching the anime after a whole day of hard work (I work on Sundays, you can cry for me) and there was this panel.

Now, see a picture of a town near mine where I actually go every Christmas and tell me they don't look alike.

(Oh and before I leave, the armor Klein was wearing bore the Shingen crest, is it a coincidence or is it not? I don't think it's of any particular interest for the rest of the anime but I found that interesting to note)

[1st episode] Natsuyuki Rendez vous

I had no idea this was going to air so soon, I expected it for next week, not that I mind, at least my first impression will be done already.

So, Natsuyuki Rendez vous is the story of a young man who falls in love with a florist, and so he starts working for her, however the florist is a widow and it happens that the ghost of the deceased husband is still around though no one but the young man can see him.



Actually, I thought this would be bad, despite being Noitamina I had my reservations about watching yet another anime where the ultimate love interest would be a ghost. But actually it seems kinda cute. Definitely a shojo but cute.

Though I'd say it's more like a josei than a shojo because it seems like death will be a central plot point. I mean, the story isn't exactly about which one she'll choose (if she chooses anyone and even though it kinda comes down to that) but more about which place the deceased have in her/our life/ves.

I guess that's the main thing that made it interesting to me, instead of going completely surnatural like Tasogare Otome x Amnesia did, it takes a more realisctic approach to it and I can't help but be interested. Not to mention the voice acting really makes everyone on screen come alive.

In the end, despite my initial reservations I find myelf completely drawn by this anime, probably mostly because it touches my personnaly but it still remains a cute story about love.
Now all I hope is that it doesn't make me cry.

[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.

[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] Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

It might be a little late for me to do this but I thought I should anyway. I don't post enough actually.

In the world of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, humanity has declined and life has become a bit complicated. Our heroine tries to make the world better being a mediator between the human world and the fairies.

I have to admit I have been a bit surprised by this anime. I thought it'd be something celebrating ecology in all its glory making it quite hard to watch. However it didn't.

It may or may not turn into an ecological anime and I must say I don't even care anymore.

Because this is pretty fun.
It plays a lot on the difference between what it shows and what it tells (and what it tells and what it shows) and that makes it interesting to watch, it's quite dark despite all this cuteness we're showered with, I always got curious of what would the heroine say to one situation or another, be it politically correct or totally not, because our heroine really may be evil after all. Not that I mind.

Often times the anime is confusing though, I never really quite knew how I was supposed to feel, that's probably what they were going for and they did it beautifully, however I don't think it'll be something to be enjoyed with your brain turned off.
If it stays so surprising I won't mind though.

I'm following this! Definitely!

[1st episode] Tari Tari

If you remember well this is something I was wary about, I mean, it's supposed to be about a music club, you can't really help but find similarities to K-On, which strangely enough I did find entertaining.

So yeah, Tari Tari is about a girl whose dream is to sing, unfortunately she's ostracized by the evil vice-principal (somehow those are always evil in anime, or nearly) from the choir club and since she can't sing in it, well, she quits. After all what's the point?

So obviously being an annoying little brat she can't help but continue singing anyway, that's what an heroine should do after all.

To be honest, there's nothing much to say about this, in that aspect it's like K-On, it's just about cute people (yeah because there are boys in this and one of them is moe as hell) doing cute things at school.
Where it differs from K-On, aside from the character design, is that it does seem a bit more mature and realistic. Things don't always go as well as they do in K-On, in that sense Tari Tari's probably for people who can handle seriousness in their anime.

Characters seem like they're going to have a bit more development and well, it has boys! Can you believe it?

It seems like it'll be an interesting thing to watch, the first episode flows pretty nicely, nothing really feels forced, aside maybe from the main character who's a bit too over the top for me.

Definitely on my watch list!

[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.

When anime meets litterature

Just so you know, the idea from this post comes from the book Ikebukuro West Gate Park because, as normal it is that the first 2 volumes made me think about Durarara!! (I'm still convinced Narita read it), the last one made me think about Tiger&Bunny, which is a little less normal. Unless there really is an evil organization that tattoos its mark on their members called Ouroboros in Japan but I highly doubt it.

Then I started to be convinced that everyone involved in pop culture in Japan somehow has read IWGP (which actually you should do too) and wondered what other influence I could maybe spot.

Sadly, my knowledge in litterature is primarily focused on European authors, but it doesn't mean you can't find any influence from them. Actually, these have been adapted a lot or at least a lot of Japanese anime have been influenced by those books.
Also, not counting light novels.

#1 The actual adaptations

Actually, there are a lot of those, even more in manga than in anime (Hell, they even made a manga version of Marx's The Capital).
I actually haven't seen a lot of those for which I have seen both the anime and read the original version. The only anime I can think of right now is Genji Monogatari which was a pretty good though really shortenned, adaptation of the book.
There's Howl's Moving Castle too and a lot of Ghibli works. Howl is a pretty good adaptation with Ghibli's defining style added to it.
Some others : Aoi Bungaku (pretty good initiation to Japanese "classical" litterature), The Count of Monte Christo, The Three Musketeers, etc etc

Please by all means add to this list.

#2 The influences

Again, those are everywhere because authors are always somehow influenced by something they have read or seen or whatever.
The one that comes immediately to my mind at this is actually a manga called Tsumi to Batsu that's been loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevski's Crimes and Punishment, but set in modern times.
Some of those include works like Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (excuse me while I cringe at the French), Kuroshitsuji (no matter how you look at it, it's Faust), RomeoxJuliet (which is self explanatory, though I have actually never seen it so I assume it's only loosely based on Shakespeare's original), the Fate series (because some of the heroes are from books), Code Geass (because to me it looks like the whole thing is, loosely, based on the Bible) and probably a lot of others.

#3 And everything else ...

Actually this shouldn't really exist, I just can't really consider names a legit influence on a story.
But if you think about it, character names are often based on already existing characters.
Like, in Katekyo Hitman Reborn you have a whole team of characters whose names are based on demons, in Ao no Exorcist you have Mephisto which is from Faust.

There must be some more but I forgot.

In the end I guess that post wanted to summarize once again how amazed I am at how fluid Japanese are with categories. I am not saying French don't do it, we too have our "anime" loosely based on the Three Musketeers, but it's such a rare occurence that I can't help but admire how Japanese do it.  

Brain vs. Heart. Which is the one having the most impact on your enjoyment of anime?

I was thinking, letting my brain randomly wander through the maze of my imagination (which is pretty much always a bad thing), and it wandered toward anime. I started thinking about my two favorites (which are Durarara!! and Tiger&Bunny) and why I liked them and if I could only choose one which one would I choose.

Turns out I couldn't choose and I started to wonder why.
Leaving technicalities aside (everyone knows I generally have a thing for good voice acting and both of those anime made me start to fangirl over a lot of "new" voice actors) I quickly realized I liked them both equally because they each appeal to different things I like.

Durarara!! is a fest for my brain. Tiger&Bunny made me cry so many times I stopped counting.
Unfortunately things aren't that easy because if you think about it, I wouldn't have liked Durarara!! as much if I wasn't that invested in the characters and didn't want them to be happy, and it's not like it didn't emotionally affect me either. I can say the same for Tiger&Bunny, sure it made me cry but it's not all there is to it, I/we have easily spent countless hours talking about damn theories about this. We still do.

So now what? Is it all about a good balance? It should be about a good balance but on the other hand it isn't really.

Why? Because we each have different emotions and each react to different things. We don't always like to think while watching anime because after all it's entertainment.

If I take Tiger&Bunny as an example, I liked it that much and it is and will stay one of my favorite anime of all time because I could relate to the characters and their story to a point I didn't know was possible (too much if you want my opinion), it's pretty much the reason why I could get into it so much.
The characters in Durarara!!, well, it was much harder to relate but the story is what drew me in.

That being said, I can't possibly answer the question I titled my post with, because to be honest with you, most of the time, it's my brain who's enjoying anime the most, because, most of the time, the things that are supposed to get me emotionnal don't, for various reasons.
Not to mention it usually feels so artificial that it pisses me off more than anything else.

So I guess that for me enjoyment of the brain comes first, I'd much rather just have fun than being touched if it feels forced.
Probably why I don't usually like romance anime.

Summer 2012 : what will I watch?

Lately, I have been facing something I dreaded for as long as I can remember, mainly, anime disinterest. At least in my own case it's caused by social burnout which often happens after such long periods of time without the ability to enjoy my time all alone and undisturbed, last time I could, I ended up being sick in bed. Not really relaxing. 

Good news however, this is my last week of internship, after that I'm on vacation! 

For two weeks, one spent away from home and my computer. After that I'll be working for 3 months. As a receptionnist. I'll die.

Either way, it means I know where I'll be for the next 3 months, and it means I can plan what I will be watching. 

Definitely watching : 

- Kingdom. To be honest I am not really over-excited about the first episode but I do expect it to get better. It needs to. Because either way it has Morita Masakazu and I'm willing to go through hell to listen to him.

- Chouyaku Hyakunin. I'm going to quote Chitanda and says "I'm curious about it". To me, adaptating poems as a single anime entity is going to be hard. It's exactly why I am curious about it.
And also because it'll provide more insight on Chihayafuru ^^

- Joshiraku. Kumeta Koji. Every Kumeta Koji adaptation is a must see.

- Oda Nobunaga no Yabou. Well, more Sengoku generals transformed into girls? Who could be tired of such an original concept?
Too bad I'm a sucker for Sengoku anime.

- Hakuouki Reimeroku. I'll shamefully admit this is pretty much the only adaptation from an otome game that I have ever liked.

- La Storia della Arcana Famiglia. Dunno, seems fun?


Maybe?

- Natsuyuki Rendez vous. I'm not too much of a fan of romance, especially when there is yet another ghost involved. But Noitamina so I'll at least check.

- Sword Art Online. Seems similar to .hack// and I love .hack//. Which is exactly the problem, .hack// was pretty dark and this one seems to follow the moe route but one can't know before watching.

- Arve Rezzle. Seems like it could be interesting if well made. However I'm always wary whenever siblings are involved.

- Blood Lad. A friend told me she liked the manga so i'm going to watch, but I don't know, something doesn't feel right.

- Tari Tari. PA Works + music = win. Normally. But then a music anime can be a hit or a miss for me so I'll check but warily.

The rewatch value

Lately, it seems I have lost quite a bit of interest in anime (Sacrilege!) I had no idea having a life could be so time consuming. If only it was a life but it's just work. Granted, I don't mind, I want the job. But since on top of that I'm preparing exams and not getting the job I'm also having plans of moving countries, well, all of this to say that a lot of things have been going on in my head.

As a result, it's not that I have lost interest in anime, it's that my brain seems to want to see things I actually know the value of. It wants to re-watch things and have absolutely NO interest in trying to find anything new. At all.

So I've been wondering, what brings you to re-watch some anime?

Here are (some of) my answers.

#1 It's really good
That goes without saying, the anime I have seen the most are my favorite anime ever, mainly Durarara!! and Tiger&Bunny.

It's especially true for Durarara!! but these are the kind of anime you always manage to find something new in, no matter how many times you watch it. Steins;Gate is another anime that would fit in this category for me. 

#2 It makes you feel really good. Or it makes you feel something at all.

You may think it's tied with the previous one but not necessarily. As much as I love Durarara!! it never really made me feel anything, Tiger&Bunny did, too much. 

Steins;Gate too. 

A friend of mine told me she was constantly rewatching Mushishi because it was her favorite feel good anime. 

#3 It's just fun

I'm currently re watching Oreimo. For no particular reason, just that I knew it would make me have a great time without the need to think too much about what I'm watching. Just mindless entertainment, but mindless entertainment I knew I appreciated before. 

My history with manga

This is a repost from Organization ASG so some people probably have read it and for that I'm sorry, but I think it has its place on my blog too. 

The story behind how I started to read manga is quite a simple one, mainly I was driven by the need to know what this hype was all about I started to research the topic.

But that’s not exactly how it started: everything started, back in the days when I was 3 (damn, that’s 20 years ago) and I discovered anime on TV. Of course I didn’t know what it was, obviously, but the important thing is that I liked them.

Where I guess it really started was when I started to read French comics, mainly Tintin, and Astérix. I mean, from an early age I knew you could read drawn stories, I found that awesome, but getting both a good story and nice drawings to look at? Perfect, especially when you’re a child.

Later on everything died a little–I lost a bit of interest as I moved onto thicker books, that is, until procrastination kicked in.

I was in high school at the time, supposed to prepare for the big finals, but obviously that’s the moment when I had to remember I wanted to check what this manga thing was all about. I mean, that was Japanese, I was listening to Japanese music to study so as not to be distracted by understanding the lyrics (Which sadly isn’t true anymore now), obviously that was the perfect time to start wasn’t it?

That’s when I started to research, spending my time reading about them, not really knowing what I should choose, where I should start, where to read them (back in the days, you still couldn’t find manga anywhere mind you, I had a legit excuse) and then asked a friend. She said I’d liked Death Note, I did like Death Note, and from there on I continued by reading the popular Jump stuff so I knew what to think. I liked it but somehow that wasn’t enough and as I met new fans I also met new tastes, discovered new genres, discovered OneManga, perfected my English, and from there on it developed to anime and now a blog.

Thinking back, I don’t regret anything (I got my exam by the way, with very good results). Through manga I have discovered a world I didn’t know existed, I got to meet new people, and I got to learn new things.

I loved AKB0048

And I'm being serious.

I'm starting to become the Queen of Unpopular opinions or something but damn, that thing is good. In its very peculiar way I'll concede, but I enjoyed myself. A lot.
But the most important part of that, is why?

Well to start with I like idol stuff, I have a really huge weakness for animated concerts (go figure why) and AKB0048 does that pretty well.

Now that this is said and that's more the reason why I actually tried than the reason I love it, I shall disclose my deepest secret, the real thing that makes me look forward to this anime.
That reason is simple : I find that absolutely hilarious.

I admit I didn't know much about this anime before I started, I knew it was about idols but that stopped there. I do that pretty often actually.
And then I started, and then I realized what the fuck that was all about, a dystopia where entertainment is banned, where idols are fighting on equal ground with the military on board of giant robots and have kinda magical accessories.
That's the kind of anime that should never exist. Thinking objectively about it, it sucks, it's so many strange things put together that it shouldn't work, yet, it does.

I always want to compare it with Guilty Crown, where Guilty Crown tried too hard to be serious, from the very start it was impossible to take AKB0048 seriously, and that's what makes it awesome.
I guess it's like a guilty pleasure, mindless entertainment, as far as I'm concerned, I'll take AKB0048 as a comedy and enjoy myself in my lonely little corner of fandom.

Anime song cover!

There are a lot of covers on the internet, some good, some bad, and as I said in my new about page, I love to sing.
So, since I have discovered I had a mic on my computer (took me a month ^^) I had a little fun today.

That's Fuwa Fuwa Time, honestly one of my dream song to cover, too bad it sounds lame a cappella

My favorite Triple H song, Daddy's shoes.

 Star Driver's Monochrome

 And that one is Kalafina, which is one of my favorite band ever.

 Now, guys, I need ideas of things to cover. Please?

Why I loved Gokujo

I am completely aware of this being a pretty impopular opinion. Hell, I don't even know how many of you actually watched Gokujo. However, I think it's a mistake. 
When I started I expected something absolutely awful and so completely directed at a male audience that I'd feel put off (I shouldn't under-estimate my love for everything perverted)
Well, you've seen the promo picture right? 

As much as making an anime in all-girls school screams for yuri (which it is actually) and for perverted situations, it's actually played quite well, or at least, much better than I thought. 

Here is why I loved Gokujo (despite having tried not to)

#1 No censorship
At least, no censorship aside from the episodes that couldn't air on TV (which I honestly understand)
Before, all anime that made me try them because of their supposed pervertdness had so much sex scenes or juste naked bodies that censorship was everywhere. Gokujo has none because we actually see nothing and I thought that was quite well played.

#2 The pervertness level is incredibly high
I am not sure I need to explain that one, but, despite showing no naked bodies, this thing is, out of hentai and the likes, one of the most perverted thing I have ever seen. 
Special mention for François the toothbrush and ping pong balls. (I'll never see any of these normally anymore)

#3 I actually liked the characters
Yes, I did. Even the main one (though I have a soft spot for chief delinquant the school nurse and subordinate n°1 Aya-chi's older sister)
Because they actually get some character development, especially the main one, quite rare for such an anime. 

#4 The yuri
I love yuri, need more than that? 


Now if you're looking for plot you'd better not watch, though there is a tiny bit of a hint in the yuri love story department. But otherwise, if you're interested by all the reasons I listed, then by all means, do watch

What I have learnt from the AniBlog Tourney

For those who didn't already know about it my adventure with the AniBlog Tourney is done and over with, which was expected. As such, I wanted to congratulate the guys over at Anime Picks for getting 4 votes more than me, it really makes me happy that the battle was so close, got me excited for 48 hours. 

Before starting with the actual subject of this post I wanted to say hello to the new readers, I hope you'll enjoy your stay and won't be disappointed by what you'll find here (also, if you want to give me more feedback on what I can improve I'm all ears)


Anyway, here is what I have learnt from the Tourney. 


- My writing isn't as shitty as I thought it was. That's good news. I'm sure you wouldn't have guessed. Thing is, I have absolutely no confidence in my writing skills. I can tell you I'm much better at writing English than my neighbour, she never studied it, but I've always considered myself as one of the most awful writer of the blogosphere. 
Glad to know that not being a native doesn't make my writing totally un-readable and that it gives it a distinctive style. 

- Size doesn't matter. I was always under the impression that a large blog who's updated daily with quality posts would win almost by default. Seems not. (No really, I have like 100 views per day, most of it coming from google images so ... XD)

- This guy isn't imaginative. Here, have a piece of advice everyone, be more creative with your insults, it gives more entertainment to the insulted, all I got from my little paragraph over there is new visitors. Not that I mind, at least I got something out of it. (Thank you by the way, I hope you weren't disappointed, whatever you were looking for by coming here)
(Oh and I still persist in calling Tasogara Otome Amnesia, "My Girlfriend is a Ghost", just so you all know)

- I'll continue by thanking the people at Metanorn for convincing me about the need of an about page. It's in progress. (I almost got a heart attack when I noticed people coming from over there, because admittedly I don't know many blogs, but I did know Metanorn. Just like I knew AnimePicks.)

- Efforts matter. Strangely enough, reading through all the comments around on my blog (which I am taking the opportunity to thank you for again) the two things people seemed to like about it were the layout and the fact I displayed strong opinions in my posts. 
I took extra care of the layout so that the reading is clear and not disturbed by anything un-necessary. I usually just leave a website when a design hurts my eyes so I didn't want it to happen to my blog, if the content isn't to people's liking then I can't do much about it, at least I thought I could protect their eyes. 
As for the opinions, I went a long way. I've always been a bit shy in telling people about what I thought, so it's always a bit hard for me not to write a generic post with generic ideas. I'm glad I managed. At least sometimes. 
That's also why I can't really write episodic posts (despite what everyone might think I'm not running an episodic blog, unless it's a season's beginning), I admire people who write good episodic posts going beyond re-telling an episode. 
Also why I find it hard to write some reviews over at Organization ASG, it's not my blog I can't totally bash an anime, but I think I'm doing better at that too. (You should vote for us when the time comes too by the way ^^)

[1st episode] Tsuritama

Two more series and everything hasn't been broadcast yet. Damn this season. 

So, Tsuritama is the story of a guy who keeps on transfering and is really shy, a guy who says he's an alien, and a class-president type who is voiced by Uchiyama Kouki. 

I have been quite surprised to discover that Tsuritama was basically an anime about fishing. About friendship and fishing to be more exact or, how a friend of mine put it "about cute boys doing weird things"

Plus, the artstyle is quite interesting to watch, pretty fresh and colorful. Nice to see and entertaining at the very least. 

I have honestly no idea about what more I could say, it's about fishing for god's sake, fishing is such a calm and quiet activity that even making an anime about it is hard. Its success is going to depend on the characters. Though maybe it'll have some plot development. 
To be honest I have no idea where this is going to go in terms of plot, nor in terms of character development, I absolutely don't knw what to expect, then again I didn't know what to expect before starting either. 

I'll continue because Noitamina, I can't really decide with this first episode alone.

[1st episode] Sakamichi no Apollon

For some reasons I imagine that one of the two main character is a basket player. Go figure. 

So, this one's the story of another guy who transfers who also happen to make friends with the class president who also happens to be the childhood friend of the class delinquant who also happen to "target" the transfer guy and OMG like jazz. 

I started that without really knowing what to expect, yes I start anime without reading the summary quite often and so I was surprised, pleasantly surprised. 
I thought it'd be boring at the beginning, a rich and smart transfer student goes in a new school, has no friends and things happen (like he falls in love and all that stuff, which he does, I think) but in the end it's not a completely normal school life anime either. 

I don't really know what it is either, almost like a mix between K-On and Nodame Cantabile. 
In the sense that jazz (even if K-on isn't really about jazz) meets classical music. I am actually quite curious as to how it'll develop.

I quite like the interactions between the characters too, I like their differences and how no matter how deep the gap is between them they still manage to find some common ground in music, even if they don't like the same genre. 

I'm really curious as to the music they'll play together 

I say you should watch
But I'm biased I'm a sucker for music anime so ...

[1st episode] Kuroko no Basket

And again something I didn't want to even try, hopefully the last one, hopefully the last one of today's batch as well. 

Kuroko no Basket is, hell I don't even really know how to describe it, it's the story of a basketball team and of Kuroko, a legendary shadow player.

Well, it's the first episode of a sport anime, what can I say? It shows the key players and the additional side characters and how they all play together as a team, the rest will be composed of how they'll win. 
The way it's done isn't original either, using the excuse of a new school year to do it, as usual. 
They're all kinda special too, even the girl, only the captain seems like a normal guy even if he is really good. 

I almost don't have anything else to say. 
I do like the characters, especially the big guy coming from America, he's strangely endearing. 

Following, obviously, now I'm caught in it, exactly why I usually avoid sport anime, they are impossible to drop and they make me want to play whatever sport it is about. Not to mention I was actually pretty good at basketball, but mostly because no one paid attention to me, like Kuroko XD

(I'm also curious about the male and general not fujoshi crowd opinion on this anime, because it's fujoshi that made me watch and it's nearly the only ones I have seen mentioning it, so, enlighten me?)

[1st episode] Jormungand

First of it all I need to tell you all that I have been curious and look up exactly what Jormungand was and then I was surprise because mind you, Jormungand is a giant snake that has been send to the sea around Midgard and was so big that he bit his tail. As such, in my headcanon, Jormungand is a sub-organization of Tiger&Bunny's Ouroboros. Headcanons are fun -___-

To get back to the topic at hand Jormungand seems to be the story of a group of arms dealers led by Koko something (I honestly couldn't remember her last name) and as she said it herself they all have a screw loose. 
I want to say, it's OK, very few anime this season have characters who don't have one or a few screws loose. What is originality? 

First of all, GG, I liked Mameshiba better, nothing can beat Mameshiba (I know, I know, it's not your fault if there's no Mameshiba add airing with the anime. I don't even think it'd be wise to advertise Mameshiba along with Jormungand either)

As for the anime in itself, I liked it. The characters aren't really original but it's just been the first episode, they'll develop and get a personality of their own I'm sure of that. They need to if they don't want to become boring. 

I like the story much more, the world of arms dealers is fascinating to me, I don't really expect the anime to be realistic but anything that deals with that kind of subject is fine with me (sometimes my taste scare me too, don't worry)
I loved the blood, I loved Koko, I loved the political machinations and the whole "behind the scenes" aspect of the anime. 

Actually I have no complain to make. At all. A definite must watch for me.

[1st episode] Shirokuma Cafe

That one's a bit late and I have no excuse except for the fact that I didn't have work (since most of my reviews have been written at work lately DURING BREAKS ... probably, well at least during the breaks I gave myself)

Shirokuma Cafe is the story of a Cafe owned by a Polar Bear in a society where humans and talking animals live in perfect harmony. Main character seems to be Panda though, a very lazy animal trying "very hard" to find a job and stumbling upon the Café by chance

It may sound weird written like that and sure enough it is, not that I mind, I wouldn't be myself anymore without my love for the weird.

The story seems like a regular slice of life. I have however no idea in which channel it airs but have heard people saying it was meant for kids. Which I do not agree with. 
I know it's cute and all, it has big plushie like animals, but I don't really think children would appreciate it that much beyind the cuteness, we're talking about adult characters there, even if they're animals, so I guess that'd be a good example of something having several layers. 

As for the characters, I have a little problem with the kind of voice FukuJun uses for the Panda. I do like however Sakurai Takahiro and his passive agressive tone as the bear as well as Kamiya Hiroshi as the penguin even if (because) it reminds me of Beelzebub in Yondemasu-yo Azazel-san and that I find this simple fact absolutely hilarious. 

It probably won't turn out to be the greatest thing ever but I'm enjoying that a lot anyway

[1st episode] Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

I had to find something to fill in for the lack of the eternal holy anime yesterday so I watched that. 

I rename it and you'll understand what it's about right away, new title is hereby : "My Girlfriend is a ghost"

Weird romance anime sure are a hit this season, zombies, ghosts, large cast of strange creatures in Kore wa zombie desu ka, I'm pretty sure I must miss things because I don't watch everything, I usually especially avoid weird romance anime as well but there's nothing you can do against curiosty. 

As for this one, it was a bit underwhelming. The first part was pretty hilarious, I was incredibly entertained by the thought the mysterious ghost must be facepalming. 
It started going downhill after the fact the president was actually the ghost was made clear, it actually was a bit too obvious too. I don't like the obvious.

And then they started re-doing all the scene with the ghost actually appearing. It wasn't boring per se, just, not really necessary, they would have inserted the inside comments during the actual scene it would have been much better. 
I think I'd like this anime much better if we didn't see the ghost at all. 

In the end, I won't drop despite the underwhelming feeling I get from it but I'll proceed with caution

[1st episode] Nazo no Kanojo

I have finally found some courage to review the episodes I have seen lately. Prepare for a bit of spamming in the next minutes. 

Nazo no Kanojo is basically as such, boy meets girl and they fall in love. I think. Awesome isn't it? 

After the first line has been said you immediately get the idea of what it'll be about. And I was really happy mind you. Barely kept myself from spazzing all over Twitter about how it'll be my favorite anime of the season. I'm glad I did. 

Because it's boring. And definitely not pretty to look at. 

I do get the appeal on the other hand. It's just not really one of my fetish but I could live with that, I didn't really like the way it was dealt with either. It's presented a bit too beautifully for me. I like my dirty things (because that's essentially dirty) to stay dirty thank you very much. 

Strange how the thing that disturbed me in an anime that could be seen as disturbing by pretty much everyone is the fact it wasn't disturbing enough, go figure. 
In any case I was bored and thus, dropped.

[1st episode] Medaka Box

I was so much out of my mind yesterday that I totally forgot I have watched Medaka Box too. (Maybe it's because it didn't leave that much of an impression too ^^)

Anyway, Medaka Box is the story of Kurokami Medaka, very talented and loved (and well endowed) new president of the student council.

I honeslty don't even know what to tell you. For a Gainax anime the quality of the animation sure is bad. 

The story, well, I don't even know if there's a story just yet. She's going to solve problems right? And? 

As for the characters, well, the guy is going to piss me off real fast. The girl as well. 

I liked the Kamina guy (totally don't remember his name but same voice actor and attitude, thus, he's named Kamina) 

The little girl with blue hair seemed the most interesting of the bunch.

Oh well, that's something I'll watch the second episode of but don't know if I'll finish.

[1st episode] Sengoku Collection

By the way, I almost forgot to tell you but I'm participating in the AniBlog Tourney. My first "opponent" is Anime Picks. Needless to say I have already lost, but I intend to have fun either way.
I'll support everyone else instead! (And hope for Organization ASG to do better so I can at least pretend it's also thanks to me ^^)

Anyway, the real point of this post was to talk about Sengoku Collection. Which happens to be yet another thing starring Oda Nobunaga genderbent who happens to be thrown into our world as well as other (also genderbent) warriors from the era.

First thing first, it's pretty! The outfits are totally not possible but they're pretty! And their boobs are actually inside their clothes. (Wouldn't you be surprised too? ^^)

Second thing, well, it doesn't seem that interesting, a generic harem story, just with warlords, which is something that'll probably bore me or worse piss me off real fast.

But Nobunaga is awesome. And she was totally in love with Mitsuhide and Ranmaru was totally in love with Nobunaga and damn yuri love triangle and /Kuuki lost

From the start it was decided I'll watch this until the end, I can't not watch a Sengoku themed anime so ...

[1st episode] Gakkatsu

Another short one, yeah!

This is the story of a girl and her class who are having debates after school about the most ridiculous things ever (this episode was the bumpy thing on your wrist)

I don't really know what I expected about this but then I saw the little thing up at the right of my screen and saw where it was airing and knew it'd be at least interesting.
Because mind you, no matter what you may think about it, I like NHK Educational anime.

And I liked that. It was completely and utterly ridiculous but at least it made me smile.
And I learnt something. Not that I remember the name of that bumpy thing but I was supposed to ^^

[1st episode] Kuromajo-san go Tooru

By the way, since I definitely won't review it, the first episode of Kore wa Zombie desu ka of the dead was boring. But I'm still curious enough to watch. Misteltin /sobs

Kuromajo-san ga Toory is a pretty short anime, about a girl who mistakenly summons the witch Gyupid instead of Cupid and becomes her apprentice. 

First thing I thought when I started to watch is that it's really made for kids, I didn't really care either way, it's good to have something lighthearted to watch sometimes. 

Second thought was : fuck yeah Romi Paku as a girl, kyaaa <3

Third thought : damn I should clean my room more often. Hell screw that, it's the whole town I need to clean. (Hair are used in black magic ^^)

In the end I was pleasantly surprised, a bit disappointed because I thought it'd be more like Yondemasu yo Azazel san but I don't particulary mind the change either. It's cute and short, should be enough.