Former Anime of the Year 2006 title holder

Anime title(s) that used to become the holder of ‘Anime of the Year 2006’ title.

Review: Asatte no Houkou (あさっての方向。)

Posted by ranpha on 28th March 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted, Former Anime of the Year 2006 title holder. Tagged: . Leave a Comment




Their life in hell is just about to start.

Today is a momentous day in the short history of this blog, with the event of my mini-review of Asatte no Houkou anime. Read on to know why. As this is a 2006 anime, it will compete with Kiba the TV Animation for the Best Anime in 2006 title.


The physical disadvantage quickly manifests itself for our formerly-tall snobby lady.

Story:-
A snot-nosed kid and a snobby lady inadvertently swapped ages, and their life turned into chaotic hell. They don’t even try to get back to normal as they adjusted to their new forms, especially with dealing with their skeptical family and friends. And that’s basically is the story muahahahaha.

Sure, sure the synopsis is oversimplified, and yeah the story is not exactly a masterpiece, but it has charm, which is something I do not really expect from this title. The story is still pretty good, which gives this anime a boost.

Character developments are done well, albeit maybe a bit lacking in certain places. Speaking of that, the two main characters are excellent and really drive the anime forward. They injected life into this series and actually the major source of what makes this series appealing to me in the first place. I started every episode in anticipation to see what each one of them will do next.

It really helps that there are no single episode here that are wasted, with each dedicated in advancing the story or doing character developments or even both. The ending is also done very well, although I do not really like it. Not too long with only a dozen episodes, the anime did not have any weakness in this aspect.


So, what did a graduate from a certain university in Boston, Massachusetts do when trapped in a 12-year old body, in summer vacation?

Character Design:-
In general, character design in this anime is well done. Not many black hairs here, and the snot-nosed kid older brother looks suspiciously like a hentai anime character.


The answer is NOTHING! Especially if she has to…

Voice acting:-
The snot-nosed kid has some dodgy voice acting early in the series, and the director probably has whipped her into shape because she improves as the series goes on. Anyway, voice acting here is good, without any outstanding characters.

Music:-
This anime has excellent OST and OP theme, but not the ED theme. That insert song at the second half of the anime is also great. A positive point of this anime.


…babysit a 24-year old crybaby that started everything in the first place. Truly my fave character here.

Animation/Direction:-
Like the voice of the snot-nosed kid, the animation is dodgy too in the early part of the series, in certain scenes. As with her voice, it also improved as the series goes on. No action or fast-paced scenes in slice-of-life anime thus no comment on choreography. The directing is good, especially at controlling the flow of the story very well.


The daddy is at the left, mommy at the center and the child at the right. Don’t be alarmed by the size ‘abnormality’ here. Do not call the FBI.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. And for the first time in the history of this blog, doing what the likes of Haruhi Suzumiya cannot do, this anime dethroned Kiba the TV Animation to become my Best Anime of the Year 2006. Unlike Nodame Cantabile, this anime should be easier to be beaten, with the only problem is that I seems not be able to find any good 2006 anime that deserved a perfect score. If only Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a 2006 anime…


I forgot why I took this screenshot, so here is the filler caption.

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Review: Kiba (牙-KIBA-)

Posted by ranpha on 27th March 2007
Posted in: anime review - reposted, Former Anime of the Year 2006 title holder. Tagged: . 2 comments



The hand that starts all the trouble.

This series, one of my favourites, is finally over, and here is the review.

Story:-
Our protagonist Zed is transported from his boring world to an alternate dimension (sound familiar?) and finds out that he has been chosen by Amil Gaoul, the most powerful of all 6 key spirits, which if collected, will save or destroy the world, depending on how you look on it. Basically, the story revolves around on collecting the key spirits, amongst all other normal spirits that dwells on the dimension.

In a previous entry, I have said that Kiba is one of the best anime in 2006, and yeah it still rings true at the end. This anime is one of the better ones I have watched in 3 or 4 years. Kiba is not your typical shounen anime, with its hero Zed being one of most realistic hero characters I have ever seen. Zed has everything I want from a shounen anime protagonist, and more. Brash but articulate and decisive but does not really act before thinking. Do not give sh*t to the ‘good and evil’ thing and always lusts for power. Zed is the main reason why this anime is truly spectacular.

Writers of this anime also tends to take high risks with some parts of the story. For example, they like to introduce a new characters, then killed them a few episodes later. This is repeated quite a few times in the series, which actually can cause the series to stink. But nonetheless, they pull this stunt cleverly and actually make the series much better in the end.

This anime lacks 2 things, and they are filler episodes and elements of romance. For me, the non-existence of these 2 things are truly a god-send.

Nevertheless, the anime does have weakness.The last 10 episodes or so seems to be rushed. For example, in one episode, Mirette was kidnapped at the start of the episode but by the time the episode reached the halfway line, she has already been rescued. If this happen in Naruto, such rescue attempts will at least take 10 episodes muahaha.

The storyline is not exactly spectacular with no expansive plot-lines, but for the factors mentioned above (and below) the series is still excellent.

Character design:-
This is another of this series main strength. Zed seems to be sloppily designed, giving him the look of a normal person that does not stand out. This actually make Zed more believable, as someone who finds out that he controls a massive amount of power. Other characters such as Roia, Elmeyda and Zico are appropriately designed to play the role they are assigned to.

Voice acting:-
Zed’s voice acting is great, but not excellent. That sums up the voice acting in Kiba in whole.

Music:-
The OST is great, no question about that. Already have them on my Winamp database. For themes, only the first OP theme and second ED theme are good.

Animation and direction:-
The direction complements the story and makes the series great. You can’t really complain about the directing. Meanwhile, about animation, they are fluid even in fast-paced action scenes but honestly speaking, they are not as good as, let’s say, One Piece HDTV.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. If not for the rushing in the last 10 episodes and also normal-quality voice acting, this will get full marks.


FIRE!!

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