anime review – reposted

All reviews written when the blog is still at Windows Live Spaces. Usually shorter and inferior in quality. Not used anymore.

Review: Rozen Maiden (ローゼンメイデン) + Träumend (ローゼンメイデン ~ トロイメント) + Ouvertüre (ローゼンメイデン・オーベルテューレ)

Posted by ranpha on 12th December 2007
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment


Is it Rozen, or Rosen? Make up your mind Japan!

Not wanting to review another 2007 anime anytime soon, I give you a review of a slightly older anime in the form of all 2 seasons of Rozen Rosen Maiden, plus the OVA too. Maybe I will give a 2007 anime a chance later this month, and it is not that I cannot do it next month year.

Story:-
A middle-school kid who likes to skip school a lot inadvertently ordered the Pandora Box, and when he opened it, the harbingers of doom started to descend down to the Earth his house and make it their own. Getting rid of them is the main event for our school-ditching hero.

The story is surprisingly good, unlike some titles that are similar like Shakugan no Shana or to a lesser extent, Zero no Tsukaima. At least the main male protagonist is not a jack*ss like the one in Shakugan no Shana. It does character developments very well without overdoing it, and also endings for both seasons are not that bad. Generally, there are nothing negative to be said here, with the possible exception that the story itself is not exactly original, and has been rehashed by many other anime/manga out there.

 
Even I will ditch school for long periods if I were to be forced to play this lacrosse sport.

Character Design:-
Awesome is the only word that can be used to describe the character designs in this anime. Mostly applies to the dolls though, especially Suigintou. Hmmm… Suigintou. Humans’ design is decent too, as if you care about how that main male protagonist looks like when you can gawk at Suigintou.

Voice Acting:-
Just like the character design, voice acting is also a positive point of this anime. Overtall, the voices here are excellent, and those who really stand out are Shinku, Hina Ichigo and Suiseiseki. Please note that others that not that bad either.

Music:-
Not as stellar as the 2 above; only the OST and the OP themes for the TV seasons are great.

 
A perfect picture for a cat macro image. What should I write onto this pic?

Animation/Direction:-
The animation is good, and becomes better as it enters second season and OVA. None of the fast-paced scenes suffered in any way. Choreography of fighting scenes is average though, and you will not want to watch this anime if you expect good fighting scenes. Directing is done very well; fine choices in camera angles and presentation of the storyline.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. It has been quite some time since I last watched a good shounen anime like this one.

 
A screen cap I made to make sure there are plenty of pictures in this blog entry.

Review: La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ (金色のコルダ ～primo passo～)

Posted by ranpha on 9th December 2007
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: . 3 comments

Why is that the NEG has to butt into other people problems all the time? She never repents, and this is done at the end of the series.

This is a review of an anime that my sister claims to be better than the dead cert Anime of The Year 2007, Nodame Cantabile. Here I will take La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ for a spin to see whether her b*llsh*t can be taken seriously or not. This is a 2005 anime, so no competition for the award.


Apparently, depressed people in Japan go to karaoke to relieve tensions. Improvements from doing the harakiri I guess.

Story:-
A red-haired naïve emo girl [NEG] who knows jack sh*t about classical music suddenly founds out that she has to participate in a music competition. A fairy that comes out of nowhere gives the NEG a magic violin to cover for her lack of musical skills. The NEG then has to compete will plenty of very skillful participants who has years of experience behind them, and still managed to kick some ass and takes some notes, especially in SEED berserker mode.

NEG is the kind of characters I really dislike in any anime, and we have one here, a protagonist even. That’s a bad sign imouto-chan. The story is average, but at least better than Umisho and come with a decent ending. The story mainly consists of the shenanigans of the NEG, who becomes emo for about 20 episodes or so over many issues; majority of them trivial.

Honestly speaking, the existence of a NEG is the biggest drawback of this series. I still can tolerate emo characters like that what-his-name in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but this one takes the cake. Nodame may be retarded, but at least she is not an emo wreck that I want to strangle.


One of the characters that has dodgy voice acting. The are many ways to portray bishounen + effeminate characters. His is not the way to do it.

Character Design:-
Oh well, not that different really from those 90-s dating simulation games from Japan I used to play. Black hair is out, RGB and CMYK colours are in. So are big eyes, impossible bodies, and effeminate character and so on. Bad thing? Of course not. But not something to be proud about and Nodame Cantabile is better in this aspect.

Voice acting:-
A positive aspect of this series. If the NEG really makes me wants to kill her, it is because of her voice actress doing a good job. Some of the characters has dodgy voices, but the anime has done well here. Nowhere near the quality Nodame Cantabile has though.


Simply the best character in the series, for daring to tell the NEG that she is an annoying b*tch.

Music:-
Only the OP theme is good. The OST and the ED theme are not that good. And unlike Nodame Cantabile, the classical music used are not as well-presented, although it may be more realistic.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation is average, nothing really can be said. No fast-pace scenes like Nodame Cantabile, so no harm done. But the directing is surprisingly good, keeping the story flowing naturally. Probably the only thing that makes me watch the anime to the end.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. In the end, my sister is insane for suggesting that this anime is better. Nodame Cantabile is superior in every department, La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ will be taken to the cleaners if this is a boxing match, just like Ricky Hatton.


Can you kill yourself now?

Review: Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho (ケンコー全裸系水泳部 ウミショー)

Posted by ranpha on 7th December 2007
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


Definitely not an Anime of The Year 2007 winner!

For todays’ review, I returned to another 2007 anime, Umisho. Now it is already December, can any anime break the stranglehold that Nodame Cantabile has on the provisional Anime of The Year 2007 award? Umisho certainly did not, read on to see why.


Boob staring are common in this series. I can really relate to this hehehehehe.

Story:-
Okiura Kaname is the manager of a high-school swimming team, even if he does not know how to swim himself. He watched over the team as a couple of new students joined and the team becomes successful in tournaments.

The anime is supposed to be a sports anime, but more often than not it turns out to more like a harem romantic comedy anime. There is plenty of appropriately applied fan-service here, but unfortunately the story stinks badly. The only things that kept the anime going are the aforementioned fan-service and also the character’s strength of some of the characters here, especially for the main male protagonist.

There are signs of the producer trying to do some character developments but it is simply not enough. I think this series can do with a longer run, like 26 episodes or so. I wonder whether a second season will come or maybe this anime is just a teaser for the viewers to buy the manga version (as if I can).


When I first saw her, I think that X on her head is just a sloppy reason of a ribbon….

Character Design:-
Probably one of the better aspect of this series, because it was done very well, especially the female characters. Yeah, the well-endowed female characters. No black hair though, and is it just me, or is that brown has become the new black?


….but it turns out to be a f*ck*ng adhesive tape! There goes a point from the scoring!

Voice acting:-
For this one, I think it is just a hit-and-miss. The male protagonist has decent (and not great) voice but the green-haired girl has a voice that will make me kill another person. These apply to most of the characters here.


Plenty of pants coming down from the captain of the swimming team.

Music:-
Sorry, but there is nothing I can say about the music in this anime. This will surely drags the scoring down.


Now where did I have seen this before?

Animation/Direction:-
Following the trend of other 2007 anime, the animation here is very well done, even in fast-paced scenes. Congratulations, a good positive aspect. It is just that the directing cannot keep up with the animation quality.


Initial D. Mimicked but not emulated. Truly a legendary anime!

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. If there is a second season, I hope it can be better. Cos’ I will be downloading them. Despite of the low scoring.


This honest character is probably the most interesting character in this series. He has not enough air time though.

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