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The Official Anime Reviews Thread.

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« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2009, 02:17:51 pm »

I just realized I wrote a review for a series awhile back for this, so I may as well post it (with some changes).

Since i'd rant for hours and hours, i'm borrowing your review style, Dark Toph, with some changes, just to keep me on task. Hope you don't mind.
Soul Eater

Plot: Shinigami Weapon Meister University, commonly known as Shibusen, protects the world against the evil which would drag the earth to the abyss of fear, entangling people to the edge of madness. To protect the creature of destruction, Kishin, from awakening, it is an educational organization for Weapons and Meisters founded by Shinigami. (straight from the first episodes).
Based from the manga of the same name, the main characters are Weapons (Buki), who can transform into weapons, and Shokunin, those who wield them, who learn how to fight and work together at Shibusen in Death City, Nevada, while protecting the world from potential Kishin, or demons, who would bring insanity upon the world. Many main characters aspire to obtain 99 Kishin Eggs, or the souls of potential Kishin, and the soul of a witch, in order for the buki to become a Death Scythe, a buki powerful enough to be wielded by Shinigami himself.

Characters: In the beginning, the story focuses in on 7 chara- *NO, make it EIGHT!* Zip it, Kid! -characters: Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Eater Evans, Black Star and his partner Tsubaki, and Death the Kid and his partners Liz and Patti Thompson, with many characters supporting, but as the story progresses, other characters come into the spotlight, many of the characters having hilarious quirks and tendencies. Here's a few of the characters:
Maka Albarn: Maka Chop? Don't mock the greatness of SHINIGAMI CHOP! lol... Anyways, she is probably one of the only "normal" characters in a sea of hilarity, which ends up making her pretty funny too. Her ability of Soul Perception makes her very helpful in many situations.

Soul Eater: Obsessed with being "cool", Soul is a demon scythe, who's straight-forward thinking often results in funny situations. He also has the most character development, which makes for a very complicated character.

Black Star: The last warrior of the infamous Star Clan, Black Star is incredibly self-absorbed, his goal to surpass God. He often will shout loudly of his greatness, making pointless his stealth-tactics. His attitude easily makes him a hilarious character. "I AM THE GREAT BLACK STAR! I HAVE COME TO ASSASSINATE YOU!"

Tsubaki: Tsubaki is a special weapon, able to change into different weapons, which fits her attitude, accepting and putting up with Black Star's controlling nature. Though not incredibly funny, she still does well as a character.

Death the Kid: The son of Shinigami, Death the Kid has obsessive-compulsive disorder TO THE MAX, by which i mean he is obsessed with symmetry, ironic in that he himself is not due to the lines in his hair. He almost gets owned in his first appearance because he refuses to damage the perfectly symmetrical Pharaoh of the pyramid, and only wins because the Pharaoh comes out of his coffin and is only symmetrical on his forehead, which Kid spares when he blows him away. "Sleep well, for I have made your medicine cabinet symmetrical!"

Thompson Sisters: Liz and Patty are twin demon pistols, who Kid chose for their symmetry in battle. Though sometimes serious, they mostly act stupid or scared, which is hilarious! "Giraffe! Giraffe! I'll break your head off!"

Shinigami: YO YO? SHINIGAMI CHOP!!! Easily one of the most funny characters in the show, but when he needs to get into the action, he's not just serious, he's dead serious, pun intended. Seriously, if you don't like this character, there is something medically wrong with you (in my opinion), and i'm sending you to the nurse, by which i mean Medusa, who will use you for painful experiments or kill you outright.

Voices: Excellent choice of voice actors. You can really feel the characters with these guys. As far as i know, there is no english dub of Soul Eater, but as long as the voices were okay, and the meanings the same, and they don't rip out everything like 4Kids would, It'd be fine.

Art: Honestly, i like the way the art is done. Laughing moons and sleepy suns are very nice, and the art also has lots of points and themes to it which compliment the rest of the show. One thing I'd especially mention is the subs: In the early episodes there was a group who made subs that had special text font and color for each character, like stitched-up block letters for Stein, which was incredibly awesome.

Music: Let's face it, I'm a sucker for good music, and boy does this show have good music. Both opening themes, resonance and PAPERMOON, are very good, capturing the general nature of the story, and the ending themes are okay too. As for during the show, they choose some good pieces as well, which compliment the current circumstances, whether they be duels to the death, or moments of extreme stupidity.

Pros: Good blending of action and comedy
Fluid animation and good graphics
Characters are very funny, but aren't just repetitive jokes
Despite having a limited episode number, the "rerouted" ending (not filler) goes really well.

Cons:
Of course, no "rerouted" plot is 100% perfect, and sometimes parts seem slightly unbelievable.

Rating/Bottom line: 97/100
Okay, so i use 97 too much, sue me...
Anyways, Soul Eater does good work with fluid animation and fight scenes, while having quick trade-offs between serious and funny moments. The music and art are very good, and the characters (and their voices) are funny and fit well with the story. The reworked plot is very well done, something other shows of similar position don't always do (FMA 1). All the episodes are out and up somewhere on the internet, so go right ahead, or if you want to see the full plot, you can find the manga (chapters only released once a month).

Recommended Audience: The only things that would limit the audience would probably be the short portions of ecchi-ish fan-service (which are even more ecchi in the manga), and maybe the violence, if you're really strict on that stuff. The serious action combined with lots of laughter makes for a good show for all, but I guess it'd be better if you were at least in the double-digits first.
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Meh, I kinda felt all that stuff before was unnecessary, so I'm not gonna bother. I will, however, keep my claim on "97!", just 'cause I like it too much.


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« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2009, 04:21:35 pm »

Building on my old-ass reply here before about Zero no Tsukaima, and months after I finished watching it; season 3 was a fairly large disappointment. It seemed like a lot of filler, granted we saw a little more SaitoxLouise relationship, but it was much less than season 2.

Oh and Tabitha lost quite a bit of the respect she gained from resisting the "School days effect" (When all, and I mean, all the girls in an anime like just one guy. Granted Saito's not nearly as sleazy as Matoko of School days, but they're very similar. Even in character design. =O)
The writers must've noticed that she didn't have a crush on Saito, so at the end of this season, they rectified that.

*sigh* The season 2 ending was a very good ending, why not leave it at that?


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« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2009, 05:05:36 am »

Pah..I've never considered myself a reviewer, but I'll make an exception for once and give a go at it. Also, sorry DT, but I'll be stealing your style too, otherwise I wouldn't be as organized Smiley oh, and your review style just plain rocks.

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni(Kai) or in English, When the Cicadas Cry

Plot: It is the year of June 1983 in the small town known as Hinamizawa. At first glance, Hinamizawa is your ordinary little village, but dig just slightly beneath the surface and all kinds of horrific events come to light. For example, every year during the Watanagashi festival, one person would die, and one would disappear, both of which would be attributed to Oyashiro-sama's curse. Oyashiro-sama repealed demons from Hinamizawa a long time ago, and in Hinamizawa, is viewed as a god. There is also the factor of the Hinamizawa Syndrome, which occurs when the Queen Carrier, Rika Furude, either dies or leaves the village. Also, Rika Furude is bonded to Oyashiro-sama, being called the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, and it is this bond that allows the world to reset when she dies. You see, Rika Furude is always killed in June 1983, shortly after the Watanashi festival, by a group of mysterious people, later revealed to be in the employ of Miyo Takano. When Rika Furude dies, Hanyuu, whom is Oyashiro-sama, resets the world, in an attempt for Rika to live through it, and for Rika's friends to live through it as well. Essentially, the plot boils down to a 4 or 5 episode arc, at the end of which someone goes psycho and kills their friends, or Rika dies. This formula repeats itself into Kai, where eventually Rika tells her friends of what's going on and they manage to evade dying, and in the end, Takano is taken by the organization she had been working for.


Characters: This anime has tons of main characters, and plenty of filler characters too.

Keiichi Maebara: Keiichi Maebara is one of the relatively few 'normal' characters in this series, at least in a couple of arcs. He is..generally like-able, though he can tend to be a little perverted at times, but only slightly and it happens ever so rarely.

Mion Sonozaki: To me, she's rather obnoxious, but I don't really hate her for it. She's the self-proclaimed leader of the club games she and the gang have. Oh, and also, she usually states that her family is like the mafia, but thankfully, she doesn't really show it too often.

Shion Sonozaki: Not initially seen at the beginning, and when she finally does show up, she just serves to confuse the hell out of the viewers. That's the one bad thing I can think of about Shion, since she isn't seen a too lot, but there is some fanservice in her, considering she works at a restaurant that has it's waitresses wear skimpy clothing.

Rena Ryuugu: My most favorite character from this anime, she's generally very hyper and has the uncanny ability to tell if someone is lying. She also has the tendency to go into what the other characters call 'cute' mode, when she sees something cute and tries to take it home.

Rika Furude: Obviously, she is one of the most influential characters in this anime. The surprising thing though, we don't even know she is critical to the plot for a good long while, not until the second season, at the very least. The second season starts to revolve around her and basically is an attempt to explain what was going on in the first season. It's revealed that, without her, all of Hinamizawa would go crazy and either kill themselves, or kill each other. It's also later revealed that she has a connection to Oyashiro-sama, referred to as Hanyuu by her and the gang. Regarding her personality, around her friends, it is usually bright and cheery, with her catchphrases 'Mii' and 'Nipa', but whenever she isn't around her friends, she gets all dark and dreary, contemplating if they'll break the June.

Satoko Hojo(u): The name's different in English, hence the parenthesis. Anyways, this is the obligatory trouble starter of the group, and so called master of traps. It's revealed later in the anime that it was Satoko that caused the deaths of her parents on one of the Watanagashis, and that Satoshi, her older brother, also disappeared during one of the Watanagashis. Furthermore, it is LATER revealed that she is also affected with a Level 4 version of the Hinamizawa Syndrome. About her personality..well, it's rather loud and talkative, but not obnoxious like Mion. Generally like-able, in my opinion.

Ooishi: Okay..to be honest, I don't even know what purpose he serves other then to be a good guy in one of the arcs, and a bad guy in one of the other arcs. Apart from those two arcs, he barely appears at all(unless you count the first episode of Rei). However, despite making only brief appearances, he's like-able, and is easy to hate. Why? It's because of what I said earlier, good in one arc, evil in another. Usually depicted as a nice enough fellow though, despite the fact of one line he uttered: 'We can talk in the car, it has air conditioning'. That just..sort of creeped me out.

Irie: Ahh, pedophilia, I hear it calling now. Seriously, this guy is a doctor at the clinic, and he's a ****...he is also the coach of Hinamizawa's sports team. He's generally pretty cheesy and like-able, but the fact that he's a **** could make some people dis-like him.

Tomitake: This is the guy that always ends up dead on the Watanagashi in June 1983. He's a photographer, but some of his actions pave the way for the story, like him breaking into the ceremonial shrine with Takano, with Keiichi and Shion following them inside and listening them talk about the history of Hinamizawa. One thing I never got though was way later in the series, nearing the end of Kai, where he was strapped down, by ropes. He looks like a strong enough guy to have broken out of the ropes, but he didn't.

Miyo Takano: Ah...this is the main villain of the series, but again, we don't know until much, much later, when Rika finally remembers who killed her in the previous world. She's a real ****, there's no way dodging that. She kills Rika because of her childhood, her grandfather's work on the Hinamizawa Syndrome was laughed at and something about what he said made her want to become a god. Well, considering that Rika is the so-called reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, a god, Takano thinks that by killing her, she will become a god. Eventually, it's revealed all she ever wanted was for her grandfather's work to be accepted, but that doesn't make up for her evil personality. One thing I never got about her either was in one of the episodes shortly after the flashbacks showing her childhood, it had Takano in front of the Furude shrine, and somehow, she could see Hanyuu, when others can't, besides Rika, of course.

Hanyuu: She's also very critical to the plot, but we don't see her at all until the 12th or so episode of Kai, I believe. Anyways, she's really rather shy and meek, making the noise 'Hauu auu' when something makes her nervous or upset. It is because of her that the world keep resetting.

Voices: Meh...honestly, they could of been better in the dub, but I watched the majority of this in subs, mostly because of the fact that Kai has never been dubbed. Dub-wise, the voices were pretty terrible, but the original Japanese voices kicked ass, to be honest.

Art: Ah..the art, the art, I could go on and on about how the art goes. To put it simply, the art changes between the two seasons, and it even changes in the 3rd season, Rei, but I won't go into details about Rei's art-style. In both the first season and Kai, the obvious failure of the art is the size of the heads. Take a look at Rika, or Satoko, they're supposed to be kids, but their heads are rather big for their bodies. Other then that, I find the art from both seasons rather good..it is rather strange though that it changes and that might put a few people off from watching the second.


Music: I could go on and on about the music too. The openings of both seasons are tough to get out of your head, for me anyways, as are the ending songs. There is a distinct lack of music during the show, but occasionally when something major happens, they play this very dramatic music, that I think adds a flair, and obviously, I also think that this music is good as well. No problems in this region, as far as I'm concerned.

Pros: There is a ton of humor before the seriousness of the arc takes in
Really good character designs
All the characters have some sort of hook about them
Despite the rather vague ending, this series concludes itself rather well

Cons:
It'll be tough to understand this game if you haven't played the Japanese only video games, or the few English mangas of it you can find.
The ending is rather vague, showing an older Rika and a younger Takano, raising the question of how Rika got back to the past if they broke through the June of 1983.
There are some filler arcs, like in Kai showing Takano's background, that don't seem to advance the plot too much.

Rating/Bottom line: 8.5/10

It's not 'OMG, This is the greatest anime ever'
It's more of a very good anime that has only a couple of flaws. The show can be quite confusing in the beginning and again, could put off quite a few viewers. Another fact is the video games and mangas that could shed some light on this, but don't, since it's rather hard to get your hands on them in the US. The anime does ditch some of the arcs that the manga have, but does make up for it by adding one anime exclusive arc. The character's personalities are really believable once the Hinamizawa Syndrome is explained too.

Recommended Audience: This is not for the little tykes, as right at the end of the 1st arc, it shows Keiichi beating Rena and Mion to death with a baseball bat, then proceeds to show Keiichi clawing his own throat out. Another reason it isn't for the kids is the fanservice that can go on in the show occasionally, like what I mentioned earlier with Shion. All in all though, a 13 year old could probably watch it and live.
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« Reply #18 on: July 15, 2009, 03:11:35 pm »

May as well throw in my own review. Smiley

Axis Powers Hetalia

Plot: The setting is World War II, with mentions of other historic events.  The characters are the personification of their country.  It basically makes fun of the countries and makes reference to many well-known (and not so well-known) facts about WW II and other historic events.  This anime/web-comic focuses primarily on the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany, and Japan) and the Allies (America, England, France, Russia, and China).  Of course, other countries make an appearance, but those eight are the ones that it really revolves around.

Characters: There are a lot of characters, but I'll only tell you about the main ones.  Just a warning, the personified countries are all stereotypes.  Also, they have human names, but they are almost always called by the country name.

Axis Powers
Italy (Veneziano or North Italy): He's useless, which is a Japanese stereotype (they thought the Italians were cowards during both World Wars).  Italy loves pasta, wine, pizza, and sleeping.  The only thing he's good for is running away.  He has a brother, Romano (South Italy), who is very rude, but just as useless as Veneziano.

Germany (Ludwig): Germany is a soldier through and through.  He has to do things exactly by the book or things fall apart.  Germany is also calm, practical, and more sane than the others.  He also likes to make cakes (German chocolate cakes, I think is the reference here). [note: best picture I could find, sorry XD)

Japan (Honda Kiku [Last, First]): He is calm, quiet, and sorta naive.  Japan always gives thought to what he is going to say by analyzing the situation.  He likes inventing new things and experiences extreme amounts of cultural shocks by his allies.

Allied Forces
America (Alfred F. Jones): America is very cheerful and optimistic.  He also has a hero-complex (meaning, he's always the hero) and is usually seen with a hamburger (or some other type of fast food).  America cannot read the atmosphere and fails at geography.  He loves archaeology and usually gets into a fight with England.

England (Arthur Kirkland): He is a definite tsundere.  England can't cook to save his life and gets upset whenever somebody says something bad about his cooking.  He hates France and usually gets into a fight with him (or America).  England also has fairy friends, but he's the only one who can see them (so, everyone thinks he's crazy).  He's been known to use black magic to curse others (he did that once and summoned Russia on accident).

France (Francis Bonnefoy): France is a pervert and will shamelessly strip himself and other countries of their clothes (except for Russia and Switzerland).  He's about as useless as Italy, really.  Anyway, France is all about love, beauty, and gourmet foods.  He's also a bit of a drama queen and usually has a rose in his hand (hell, when he strips, his privates are even censored by freakin' roses).

China (Wan Yao [Last, First]): He's the oldest of all the countries and is seen as the older brother among the Asian nations.  Most of his sentences end in "aru" (Japanese stereotype of how the Chinese speak) and he's obsessed with pandas and Hello Kitty.  China also takes his food seriously and is very quick in making a China Town on some remote island.

Russia (Ivan Brigowsky): Russia seems like an innocent and happy kind of guy.  He is always smiling and is fond of sunflowers.  Underneath all of that, Russia is really a psycho (because his past is filled with a lot of bloodshed).  When threatening countries, he is known to say a string of "kolkolkol's" (I don't remember what the reference is).  Russia also asks very cheerfully for others to "become one with Russia."

Voices: The voice actors were well-chosen.  They were able to nail the personalities of their characters really well.  Seriously, they make this show just as hilarious as the web-comic.  Also, as far as I can tell, all of them can sing.  In fact, Italy's voice actor sings the ending theme and the creator is currently making a CD for all of the other countries (England's all ready done, so you can look that up on YouTube [Marukaite Chikyuu is the song's name].  America's song won't be released until November and I don't know when France's version is coming out).

Art: Look, not an artist.  Still, I really love the artwork.  I can't really say anything else about it, since it's all opinionated.

Music: The music is definitely original.  Really, the only "song" used during the five-minute episodes is Marukaite Chikyuu (Draw a Circle, There's the Earth) sung by Italy's voice actor (like I stated earlier, there are other versions of this song).

Pros: ~The historical references are wonderfully exploited through a mixture of comedy and seriousness.
~The characters have great personalities and quirks suited to the represented nation.
~I forgot to mention this, but here's another concept about the personified countries that makes this quite funny.  Their body parts represent different areas found in their country.  For example, the capital of a country is the heart of the personified country.  Another example is America's glasses, which represent Texas (Spain gave the glasses to him).  I find that this symbolism is unique and, well, really funny when you find these things out.

Cons: ~Some references aren't explained very well (such as the Curse of the Leek).
...That's seriously all I find wrong with the series. ._.

Rating/Bottom line: 99/100 [can't give it a perfect score, you know]

Recommended Audience: Anybody can watch/read this.  Well, unless you think history is srs bsns and that we shouldn't mess with it.  Also, this is the only fandom where it makes sense to ship countries.
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« Reply #19 on: January 28, 2011, 02:46:10 am »

Shigurui: Death Frenzy

Rating: 4.5/5

Plot: Taken from Wiki: The story begins in 1629 Shizuoka during Tokugawa Tadanaga's rule. The daimyo staged a tournament where the participants fought with real steel Japanese swords rather than bokken ("wooden sword"), against his vassals' strong objection. The story revolves around the first match between the one-armed swordsman Fujiki Gennosuke and the blind samurai Irako Seigen and deals with the circumstances that led the two to participate in Tokugawa's tournament.

Reasons for rating:

Story: The story is very interesting. TBH I'm too tired to spoil the entirety of it like usual, I may end up doing it anyway in character bios and stuff, though so BEWARE OF SPOILLLLERRRRSSS WHOOOOOooooOOOOOOO o.o
but it is a story about a man named Irakou Seigen, who wishes to become a student in the Kogan style of swordplay. Challenging the dojo and easily pushing aside the aforementioned Genosuke, who was an instructor he had to face before earning a meeting with the Sensei, and breaking two of his fingers (badly). Seigen, however, was easily later beaten by Gonzaemon; a huge man wielding a huge, heavy, wooden sword who was also an instructor there.

The anime starts out in "the present", which, as stated in the plot summary, is a tournament where the first fighters are both old rivals with big grudges against each other. We see Irakou walking out, blind and with a bum leg, along with Genosuke, who walks out without his left arm. As they are about to fight each other, the story of the two swordsmen unfolds.

This is a pretty captivating story, albeit slow paced, despite the 12 episode standing of the series. My biggest beef with this anime is how it ends; it ends exactly like Berserk did. Berserk showed "the present" in the first episode, then the entire anime was about the backstory of the character you see, then it just ends without resolving anything in the present. That's right, despite the fact that we now know the horrid tale of these two swordsmen, we have no clue who came out as winner in the fight seen in the first episode. The whole anime is about why a battle between these two crippled men would be so earth shattering, and yet we don't get to see the earth shattering battle.

In addition, we never see how Genosuke lost his arm. We see how Irakou lost his sight and how he crippled his leg, but we never see why Genosuke lost his arm.

All in all, though, the story is very interesting. Much slower paced than your average samurai anime, but if you're more into a historical kinda told story and not a BS samurai tale like other animes, you'll enjoy this.

Art: Oh lord, the art is phenomenal. Seriously, it's beautiful. I paused numerous times just to look at the artwork.  Everything just looks so clean and crisp and wonderfully detailed right down to the gorey parts, it's awesome. However, a couple notes I will say about this, the blood and guts look a bit fakey. I know, I know, it's an anime, and even if it wasn't it'd still be fake. But the guts and stuff (Oh yeah, did I mention this anime's more gorey than Elfen Lied? Quite moreso, actually.) look pretty CGI and the blood looks too thick, but I can overlook that stuff.

Music: There's really no actual music in this anime. All the music is traditional Japanese drums and Lutes (?) even the ending theme is just a set of drum hits. Still, being a more historical type piece, it adds to the overall atmosphere very nicely.

Voices: Yes, English Dub again. And this has got to be some of the nicest English dubbing I've heard in a while. One part I will call out though; in the last episode Irakou sings a song in Japanese, but it's fairly apparent his Japanese voice actor is filling in for him on that part. I'm not sure if the English VA just wasn't confident singing, didn't have a nice singing voice or just wasn't confident enough to sing in Japanese to do this one part, but still. Not that it's VERY apparent or anything, but it was apparent enough to have me switch the audio (Hoorah dual audio MKV files) during the song to check. Not a big deal, really.

Characters: I can't say the characters are all that memorable. Even while watching the series I was forgetting the main characters names. Granted I never forgot their faces, even if they were slightly generic.

Genosuke is a swordsman to the core. He shows no interest in anything else and very rarely talks and even more MORE rarely smiles and never laughs. In one episode someone even stated that Genosuke was incapable of having fun. I can't say he has all that much personality either. For a main character you learn almost nothing about him. His only two interests are swordplay and protecting and honoring his Sensei, Kogan. Still, for some strange reason, you can connect with him on some level while watching it.

Irakou's a different matter. He actually shows emotions and isn't afraid to bend rules to get what he wants. Even going so far as sleeping with his Sensei's mistress on a regular basis. He's quite the Bishounen also. Long flowy hair, sparkly eyes and, for reasons beyond my understanding, lips that look like he puts lipstick on. Oddly enough, even though he seems to be the antagonist of this story, he seems to be the one you connect with most. This is probably due to Genosuke's lack of emotion or personality, but still, you get a bad feeling off him right off the bat and you still feel for the guy.

Mie is the daughter of Kogan, the Sensei at the dojo. She, at first, seems like your average female character in this type of anime; quiet, reserved and respectful. Despite the fact her father treats her as nothing but a baby making machine for an heir to the Kogan style. She also holds a distaste for men until she sees the decency in Irakou when he refuses to **** her in front of the whole dojo to conceive a child when he is chosen as the successor and husband to Mie. Fun. Mie goes bonkers for a while and refuses to eat after Irakou gets banished from the dojo and leaves town. She apparently gets so skinny that, even though it's never shown, the narration text proclaims that even when her legs are closed, you could see her anus. Again, fun. Eventually she starts eating again and regains her body weight, I'll let you guess why.

Kogan is the Sensei of the dojo and master of the Kogan-Ryuu style of swordplay. He's nuckin' futs 80% of the time, for reasons never explained. But yeah, he's in a seriously mentally unbalanced state (Drooling, moaning nonsense, peeing himself etc. ) but occasionally snaps out of it in certain circumstances. When he does snap out of it, whoo boy, what an ****. Normally I like sensei characters, but this guy is an ass, plain and simple. In addition to his treatment of Mie, he also has no second thoughts viciously wounding or killing anyone he's deemed even might have wronged him in some way. He slashed through the mouth of one of his instructors, leaving him deformed in the mouth (his mouth's way too big now. Imagine a frog mouth on a human) all because he didn't give him a decent enough reason to choose Genosuke as successor. He also kills two of his bodyguards, slices them in half, just because he didn't want them fighting the person challenging him.

Bottom line: It's a really beautifully made anime with an interesting story, beautiful artwork and captivating scenes. It does have its slow moments. There was scenes where two swordsmen about to fight just stand there standing at each other for about 5 minutes before they make a move. And usually the move is infinitely final. Either slashing the person in half, gutting them, chopping a limp off, beheading them, it usually only takes one move. I get that it's supposed to raise tension and for all I know, it could be the way it was with sword matches back then, but it's like watching Goku powering up for 3 hours before he launches his attack. It's gets to be a bit boring after a little while.

In addition, the ending just really bothers me. I hope they come out with an OVA or something that extends upon it. Anime's with Berserk-type set ups like this just **** me off. It's like saying "We'll tell you a story about these two people here but we'll never finish it." It's a great story, don't get me wrong, but for God's sake, build upon it please.

Recommended audience: WHOOOOOHEEEE Where the hell do I start, honestly? Uhm, it's insanely gorey. I'm an Elfen Lied fan, horror movie fan and, above all, a SAW fan, and scenes in this were making me cringe. Guts and blood, people getting sliced in half, gutted, beheaded, skinned, having their faces sliced off, having their fingers and limbs cut off, having their head's cut in half, brains falling out of their skulls, even cannibalism, yummy.

In addition, there's also plenty of sex scenes, nudity, homosexual sex, if that matters, a guy, now I'm not sure how old the kid is, so I'm not entirely sure if it's a pedo situation but one of the instructors (Neither of the ones I mentioned) lusted after the youngest member of their dojo. Even going so far as uhm WARNING: SEXUAL CONTENT; HIGHLIGHT AT OWN RISK blowing himself while fantasizing about him END SEXUAL CONTENT

Oh, and Kogan also molests his daughter Mie in his crazed state, but stops before anything serious happens.

Oh and Irakou beheaded a cat for NO REASON. D:

Yeah, definitely be in your late teens and have a strong will against gore for this.
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« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2011, 03:30:24 pm »

Tokyo Mew Mew (First impressions - Not full review)

Rating: N/A (Withheld until I finish the show)

Plot: At the start of the series, a young girl named Ichigo Momomiya attends an endangered species exhibit with her 'crush' and future boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama. After an earthquake, Ichigo and four other girls are bathed in a strange light. A cat appears before Ichigo, then merges with her. The next day she begins acting like a cat and, after meeting Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka, learns that she was infused with the DNA of the Iriomote Cat. Ryou and Keiichiro explain that this allows her to transform into Mew Ichigo, a powerful heroic cat girl. She is ordered to defeat kirema animas—alien parasites—which infect animals and turn them into monsters. Ryou and Keiichiro instruct Ichigo to find the four other girls from the exhibit—the remaining Mew Mews. They are Mint Aizawa, a spoiled, wealthy girl who is infused with the genes of the Ultramarine Lorikeet; Lettuce Midorikawa, a meek but smart girl who endures constant bullying and absorbs the genes of the Finless Porpoise; young Pudding Fong, who receives the genes of the Golden Lion Tamarin; and Zakuro Fujiwara, a professional model infused with the genes of the Gray Wolf.

Taken from Wikipedia.

First Impressions: Mark - 18 episodes in

Tokyo Mew Mew does little to differ from the cliche magical girl anime formula and that's pretty apparent early on. Ichigo Momomiya a 13 year old girl with a huge crush on a boy named Aoyama lives a normal life until one day, while on her first date with Aoyama, she gets infused with the DNA of a wildcat. She later discovers that she has been given special powers and has to save the world from 'aliens'.

Nothing really impresses me or makes me think badly of this anime thusfar. Though there are quite a few things that annoy me. Like why is Ichigo the only Mew Mew who has anything happen to her (In her case she sprouts cat ears and a tail) when she gets excited? Why is Ichigo seemingly the only one with animal powers outside her transformation (IE, she say "Nyah" a lot, can jump for huge heights and land on her feet, can't resist batting at butterflies, obsessed with fish etc.)? Why is Ichigo the only one who's told what animal DNA she's been infused with right off the bat? (everyone else didn't know what they were until episode 17. Though they did mention Pudding's monkey ears when she first was introduced.) Why is Mew Zakuro able to do tons of stuff on her own with no problem whatsoever, and where did she get the transformation thing when Masha's supposedly the one that doles them out? Why is this another case of "every other team member is useless except the main character (Ichigo) by themselves (Unless of course they're in an episode that is centered around them....Like that Lettuce episode where she had a crush on that guy. She saved the day because she liked reading and thus that, for some retarded reason, made her immune to the hypnosis)? Why does it seem like any friend any of them has outside of the Mews is a jerk? Why doesn't anyone in this show think it's weird that monsters attack on a regular basis? Where's the news reports, freaked out citizens, anything? Why oh freakin' why did this show have to have it's own "Tuxedo Mask"? I mean really, this gets stupid. Magical girl animes are supposed to show how strong girls can be, yet no magical girl show seems to ever be complete without the mysterious hot guy who shows up to save the heroes in the nick of time so the main character can brush herself off like nothing happened and finish the monsters off. Sexist bastards....

In addition to that Mew Ichigo recently got a new attachment for her Strawberry Bell and a new Attack; Ribbon Strawberry Surprise. This would seem fine to me if it wasn't for the fact that this attack looks practically no different than her previous attack, Ribbon Strawberry Check....Seriously, other than a rainbow thing around her when she's twirling it is not different really.

Also this seems like more Ichigo favoritism. I don't know whether or not the other Mew Mews get better weapons or powers as the episodes go on but why is Ichigo the first and only to get one? On that note, why is she even leader at all? That's never explained. Is it just cuz she was the first to discover her powers? Because personally a Grey Wolf would be a leader over a wild cat. Sailor Moon was leader of the Sailor Scouts because she's Princess Serenity; the person the scouts were meant to protect. What's the story with the cat?

This show also seems to have reverse-School-days-Syndrome. By that I mean it seems every guy in the show seemingly has a crush on the main girl. Aoyama, Shirogane, the Blue Knight, Kish and I'm pretty sure more will pop up.

For all the things that annoy me, as an animal lover, I do love the theme of it. And it is interesting to see the villain of anime have a crush on the main character I guess.

Art: Don't expect anything special. It's very sub-par. I mean the pretty colors are nice and I do like some scenes but it's nothing special. (Speaking of artwork, tell me I'm not the only one who thinks Mint's Mew Mew outfit looks like a towel.) EDIT - The artwork does get a lot better later on. Especially in 'important' episodes. I got downright impressed at some points.......I still think Mint's outfit looks like a towel, though.

Music: Average magical girl-ish music. Nothing wrong with the soundtrack as far as I can tell. EDIT - The end theme does grow on you, though.

Characters: Sad to say, even after the series has ended, my views on these characters remains the same.

Ichigo: What's there to say really? She's a crush obsessed girly girl who's determined to save the world. I find nothing really special or likable about her, but nothing particularly unlikable. I mean at the very least she knows when to be serious, like she's not daydreaming about Aoyama while she's fighting a Chimera Animal or anything.

Mint: I don't really like Mint. She's stuck up (Why does she get away with doing no work at the cafe; all she does is drink tea and stand around gossiping) and obsessed with Zakuro. I also find it hilarious that the Mew Mews were through her room and closet yet they found no trace of her obsession with Zakuro, yet on the day they discover Zakuro she just happens to have a magazine about Zakuro on her and it just happens to fall out of her bag. A funny edit by 4kids should also be noted. See in the episode about Lettuce's crush the Mews all wonder what kind of guy she likes. Little thought bubbles appear over their heads with pictures of the guys they're imagining. Mint imagines and dancer in the Japanese version. In the dub, the dancer's replaced by Zakuro's picture.

Reason I find this so funny is because I thought 4kids would do everything they could to cover up the fact that Mint basically has a girl crush on Zakuro. And yet here they are, for no reason, enforcing it. Only reason I could think of for this edit was...maybe they thought a guy dancer was, not to offend anyone, but gay, so they covered it with Zakuro's picture because Mint's obsessed with her? Even if that is the reason covering one gay stereotype (And hi? She's thinking of someone Lettuce, a girl, would have be in love with.) with a reinforcement of a hinted lesbian crush isn't any better.

Lettuce: I like Lettuce. She's a shy bookworm who broke away from that personality to become a strong hero. Even if she still shows she's a bit timid, she's still really cool. And I love her music selections.

Pudding: I like Pudding, but she can get annoying. Like when she interrupted the auditions Zakuro was holding and blew fire everywhere. I also love that her attack looks insanely powerful even if it's not.

Zakuro: I just don't get her origins is all. I mean I guess one day she could've been attacked by something and discovered her powers on accident, but where did she ger her transformer? Masha's the one who doles them out and it hadn't been near Zakuro until they finally found her. That aside, she's somewhat boring. I like her transformation sequence and attack (even if it does seem overpowered. Why can she rip through to other dimensions again?) but still, kinda boring.

Shirogane: I don't have much to say about him thusfar. He seems like a jerk, but seems to like Ichigo...? I like as much as I'd like Kyou from Fruits Basket if he was less of a jerk.

Keiichiro: He's a cool character, even if the only backstory I've seen of him so far is a story about his ex-girlfriend.

Aoyama: I like Aoyama. He's an actually believable and cool guy. I will say that the girls who watch him do Kendo are almost as bad as the Prince Yuki Fan club. (OMG HE WIPED SWEAT OFF HIS FACE!!)

Kish: A relatable villain, though still a villain. He constantly wants Ichigo to "Be his" and really doesn't want to hurt her. Though he's shown he will try his hardest to kill her. Make sense of that.

Can't give a "Bottom Line" yet.

Recommended Audience: Is there really such a thing as a magical girl anime that's not suitable for children? No swearing, little violence, no nudity (barring transformation scenes but it's nothing worse than Sailor Moon) ....Meh. EDIT - There is some blood later, as Kisshu gets seriously wounded, but it's not that much. Later someone gets run through with a sword too, but no blood or wound is seen (?)

EDIT- After watching episode 19 I call more BS. Episode 19 is an episode where the Mews go to the beach. They're wondering why Lettuce won't swim. She says she can't and proves this later. They find this very weird because Lettuce was infused with the DNA of a finless porpoise. But then they go around explaining that maybe it's not so weird after all because none of them show traits of their animals when not transformed either. Ichigo says she doesn't chase mice, Mint says she's never sang a note (She's infused with a canary), Pudding says she liked meat before she found out she was a lion (She's really a lion tamarin (monkey) but everytime it's mention she makes the mistake that she's a lion.) and Zakuro basically says "What? You want me to eat you?" (Grey Wolf)

These claims are true with Mint and Zakuro. I mean I don't see Mint tweeting about or being able to fly (yet??) and I don't see Zakuro scratching behind her ears with her foot or barking or anything. Pudding is a hyper circus act so she's as monkey as a monkey can get, but Ichigo is the most BS. So you don't chase mice, you still say "Nyah" a lot, can't resist playing with ribbons or butterflies, are obsessed with fish and can jump from great heights with no injury, landing on your feet. Yet the porpoise can't swim? -.-

Lettuce does end up swimming in the end and gains a power. She basically turns into a mermaid, but I'm uneasy about it because she did all this while transformed which makes it 1000x less impressive. :/


EDIT X2 - So I just got done watching episode 26 and, of course I'm annoyed enough to write about it, duhh.  Tongue

I won't bother you with too much ranting so here's just what annoyed me.

1  - More Ichigo favoritism. This episode Ichigo gets yet another power AND another item.

2 - Moar sexism. The Blue Knight showing up out of the.....blue. *rimshot* Yet again to save Ichigo in the nick of time.

3 - Again it shows that the other mews are insanely useless unless they're using their powers to construct a barrier....even then you don't notice them all that much. I really really hope they get at least one new item + one new attack each before the series ends. It's getting sad. So far Ichigo has gotten two new Items and two new attacks. The only thing important that's happened to any other mew is when Lettuce turned into a mermaid. Only I found that that wasn't a new power of hers, it was caused by Lettuce becoming infused with Mew Aqua. A mysterious power source and blah blah. So the one semi-cool addition in powers we've had for any other mew was only because she got infused with Mew Aqua. Nice.

All in all it was a really good episode but the above complaints really dragged my attention away.

EDIT - Episode 27-29

I should really make a different kind of thread for this. This is turning more into a nit-pick than a review.

Anyhoo, episodes 27-29 focus on Ichigo. She apparently now turns into a cat whenever super-insanely excited or whatever (Like Fruits Basket) or whenever she gets kissed. (Which doesn't make sense, she was kissed before by Kisshu and didn't change)

As of episode 29 she can now also speak to cats even while not transformed (whether as Mew Ichigo or as a cat)

Needless to say this is another "I'm not really liking all the Ichigo favoritism" stint. Again, nothing at all happens to any of the other Mew Mews when they get flustered or anything, in fact none of the mews seem to share much traits with their animals outside of Pudding, yet not only does Ichigo sprout cat ears and a tail whenever she gets excited, she also now turns into a cat whenever she gets extremely flustered or gets kissed. AND she can now talk to cats outside of transformation.

Shirogane and Akasaka said it could be because Ichigo's a lot more compatible with her animal DNA than the others are. But here I thought that in order for any of this to take place they all had to be perfect fits for their animals.

I guess it should be noted that in one episode Zakuro speaks to Miki, Mint's dog, saying it did a great job pretending to put itself in danger to help Mint get back on her feet. Miki barked in return. Now I'm not really sure if this is actual proof Zakuro can speak to dogs/wolves/canines, but Zakuro wouldn't have had much of a plan if Miki wasn't there. I dunno. They never explain. At least not yet.

Episode 37 - I'm basically completing abusing this reply right now to rant instead of provide a real review. But think of it like Live In depth movie reviews Cheesy

This episode looks like it was meant to be either one of two things (or both) the preview made it look like a gushy Christmas special. The actual episode implies it's something far more important. Yet, it's boring as all hell.

5% of the episode is Ichigo all gushy over Christmas and Christmas with Aoyama, D'aw. At this point, I'm used to her ditziness.

3% of this episode is anywhere near action-y

92% is Ichigo moping around because she, all of a sudden, (And I mean that in the most sincere way. She's all happy, mopping the floor, big smile then BOOM, instant manic depressant.) feels like a worthless piece of trash because she's been lying to Aoyama (Obviously about her being a Mew Mew) all this time, while Aoyama has done nothing but be sweet and kind to her. The Mews try to cheer her up, she still mopes. She constantly repeats that she's worthless or a terrible person and Aoyama's God in teenage Japanese Boy form, we get it.

The last like 2 minutes show that Kisshu, Taruto and Pai have shown up to cause trouble. Ichigo transforms, the other Mews arrive, and it ends on a cliffhanger.

I haven't seen how this ends, but seriously. When I hear "Christmas special" I think of Christmas cheer, Santa hats, decorations, snow; but no, it's 18 minutes of anti-depressant commercial edition Ichigo.

Also, I should mention the inclusion of yet another "This episode centers around a Mew that's not Ichigo. Because of this, every other Mew will either be absent or useless, yes, including Ichigo, so the specific Mew can show off for 45 seconds only to have the final attack and spotlight go to Ichigo again." Episodes. Another one with Lettuce and one with Pudding.

Seriously, if you're going to bother having an episode centered around a character that's not apparently the main focal point, can you at least go the extra mile and give them all the glory?

Developments between that episode and the end (without spoiling too much):

Apparently Mint can talk to birds. But this is only highlighted during one episode and is never mentioned again. I guess this makes it even more plausible that Zakuro was speaking with Miki (Mint's Dog). However, Lettuce had another run in with Mew Aqua again and turned into a mermaid again. She, however, did not display the ability to talk to fish. Pudding was never really highlighted again, power wise. Oh, except she did seem to display super-human sense of smell in one episode. Not exactly sure if that's related to her powers or not. Out of all of them, you'd think Zakuro would be the one displaying the super nose. I don't think it's far fetched to think that Pudding could talk to monkeys if she was given the opportunity. They just never had an episode in a Zoo or anything.

TarutoxPudding <3

I guess I can say this without it being a huge spoiler. Apparently, the end of the Manga has Ichigo going off with Aoyama to study abroad. They hold a mock wedding for them and they leave. Later on, a new threat comes to the Mew Mews and a new Mew, Berri, whose powers are apparently a mix between a cat and a bunny (I guess to still keep the leader a cat while not entirely being an Ichigo clone.)

The end of the anime, however, is different. Once the big climax comes, they all lose their powers, as promised in the beginning, and proceed to live a normal life. A little while goes by and they return to the, now closed, cafe, as if they were all called there for some reason. Shirogane shows up, along with Akasaka, and they say they've detected a new threat. The Mews say they can't fight anymore because they're just normal people now. They then direct their attention to Pudding's forehead (where her Mew Mark was) and discover it has returned. She they get sent off to fight evil once again. The end.

If you want my opinion on more spoiler-y things, highlight this; Not much really riled me up that much after the last edit to this post, but I will say, Aoyama being both the Blue Knight AND Deep Blue was kinda too much of a coincidence to me. So Ichigo just happened to go to the same school and fall in love with the guy who would eventually turn out to be the leader of their enemies? In addition, why does the Blue Knight even exist and why can he only appear if Ichigo is in danger?

Later on, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto, leave in a spaceship, one of the most half-assedly animated scenes of the whole series, btw, claiming that the small bit of mew aqua power that was left was enough to save their planet, so they would leave.

.....That's it? So this entire series could've been avoided if they just got a tiny bit of Mew Aqua. Why bother putting all their faith into Deep Blue then? A guy who, prior to like, episode 20, was just a disembodied voice giving orders?

Oh and, a small thing, but Aoyama constantly has this dream of Ichigo crying on the floor. It bothers him, and it bothers me too. See, practically everytime Aoyama is in a scene, they show the same clip of Aoyama's dream and it gets epically tiresome. We get it, you had a dream of Ichigo crying, ENOUGH.

That dream does end up to be somewhat of a premonition, but, still, subtlety.

Shirogane's parents were killed by a Chimera Animal. That's what prompted him to continue his father's research and start the Mew Project. Later, we come into contact with that same Chimera Animal. It ends up just being killed by a beam of residual energy sent out by Deep Blue. I found that to be fairly anti-climatic, but I guess it's not that important.

The Mews don't get any more powers or items outside of Mint who we discover can talk to birds. So that kinda pissed me off.

Oh yeah and in order for them to defeat Deep Blue, Deep Blue had to be killed. Aoyama then released the Mew Aqua inside of him and died also. Ichigo gave all of her life energy to Aoyama to save him. As everyone's mourning their fallen friend, Aoyama kisses Ichigo, she then glows, starts floating in the air, the cat she was infused with seemingly runs off, she transforms back to normal, then wakes up.

......First of all, that basically reinforces that their powers really are gone. Shirogane, however, just says that the loss of powers was just a side effect of the expulsion of Mew Aqua. Which also makes no sense, Mew Aqua's supposed to make them more powerful, not so weak they lose their powers.

Secondly....What?! Aoyama kissing her magically brings her back to life? This may have been credible if Aoyama still had the mew aqua inside of him, but Kisshu and the others left with what little was left. How?! @_@



Bottom line: All in all, and all ranting, questions and blathering aside, I fully enjoyed this series. It's a great 'magical girl' anime.

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« Reply #21 on: August 22, 2011, 01:04:52 am »

Jyu-Oh-Sei

Rating: 4/5

Plot: Taken from Wikipedia

Three hundred and fifty years have passed since humans first settled the Balkan star system, located approximately 150 light years from Earth, where a number of planets have been "terraformed" to resemble Earth. Two 11-year-old twins, Thor and Rai, live on the space colony Juno until they come home to find their parents have been murdered. The unknown assassins drop Thor and Rai on Chimaera, a secret planet used as a penal colony. Thor learns about Chimaeran society's four "Rings" and how to leave Chimera by becoming the Beast King from Zagi, who rescued Thor and Rai after they immediately run into trouble on the planet. Thor proceeds to the Ochre Ring where he gets swept up into that Ring's politics and winds up defeating its Top, bringing him closer to becoming the Beast King.

I cut the last part out just to avoid total spoilers.

Despite my high rating, I honestly don't know how I feel about this anime. Really, I don't. I know I enjoyed it up to episode 8, most of 9, loved 10, then the end's kinda screwy.

If you've read my blog recently, you'll note a rant about episode 8. I'm happy to report it did get better after that, but still. I dunno.

I don't really feel like giving an explanation like I usually do about most every episode. I really don't want to spoil it.

I will ask one kinda spoilery question though. (Don't read if you wanna be a spoiler virgin for this series.)

Why did Thor's DNA wait until right after he learned of his origins before it started adapting and changing color? He was on that planet for 5 years and he never so much as tanned. Explain his origins to him and it's like he's been in Bermuda for 2 weeks.

Okay, okay, I'lll ask ANOTHER even more spoilery question (Spoiler virginsssss runnnnnnnn.)

I thought the way Tiz died was retarded. Sacrificing her life for Zagi's right after she got her wish and Thor agreed to have kids with her. Zagi was an ASS and a mass murdering, dirty fighting ass. He's done nothing to deserve your sacrifice, besides he was already pretty much dying. And what's sad is that Karim got a better death scene, IMO than her. And I hate Karim. Seriously. Are you getting this? Hatred.

Though, TBH I thought it was kinda dumb she was there to begin with. Hey Tiz, me and Third are gonna try and stop Chimera from being destroyed and everyone on it dying. Can you go down to Chimera and try to save each and every last person before the planet blows up and everyone dies? Kthnx

.............Okay, last time, and this isn't even a question, it's something I have to get off my chest. (You know the drill)

I have never been happier for a 3 episode character to die than when Karim died. Especially after she made out with Zagi and confessed she not only loved both Zagi and Thor but she wanted to bear BOTH of their children. WHOOOOORRRRRREEEEEEEEEE. And can you imagine how Tiz would react if that bitch actually got her wish and got both Zagi AND Thor? Not only does she steal your man, she gets another on top of it. Oh no she di'n't.

......Oh and it sucks that even after Thor agrees to have children with Tiz that they never even kiss. I mean, he kisses Karim after knowing her for, what, 12 hours? You promise yourself to the girl who's been with you for 5 years and she doesn't even get a peck on the chee--STOP IT DT!! You're spoilers are corrupting the review!!

*smacks head*

Ahem.

All in all, I did enjoy it and it definitely kept me interested.

Art:  The art is wonderful. Very crisp, clean, awesome to look at and over all just well done. If there's one negative thing I have to say about the art it's that they could've been a little more discrete with Zagi. I mean, as if his name didn't scream BAD GUY enough, you have to give him those stereotypical, narrow villain eyes. Not necessarily a bad point per se, but still.

Music: The music is very fitting and awesome. I LOVE the OP.

Characters: I decided to negate this part of the review for my own reasons. I will say that, aside from Karim, I didn't hate any characters.

Bottom line: I may be confused as of my entire feelings right now, maybe the ending just threw me off, but take my rating to heart it is an awesome anime with a very original plot, tons of great twists, likable characters and more.


Recommended Audience: Pbbbbbtttttt....Well, there's no nudity....Some making out, mentions of sex, but they just say "mating" really. Some violence but I've seen far worse. One character commits suicide....I guess there's mature themes what with the plot itself and the political kinda aspect.

How's teen sound? Good? Good. 


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« Reply #22 on: September 06, 2011, 10:57:11 pm »

Fushigi Yuugi

Rating:
4/5

Plot: Middle-school student Miaka Yūki feels a lot of pressure to pass the entrance exam for the competitive Jonan Academy. Her friends do not believe she will get in, but she is determined to because her best friend, Yui Hongo, has applied for the same school and she wants them both to go to the school together. While at the library one day, Miaka and Yui encounter a strange book known as The Universe of the Four Gods. As a result of reading this book, they are then transported into the novel's universe. However, Yui is transported back to the real world almost immediately. Inside the novel Miaka discovers that she is the Priestess of Suzaku and destined to gather the seven Celestial Warriors of the god Suzaku in order to summon Suzaku and obtain three wishes. She falls in love with the Celestial Warrior Tamahome, who eventually reciprocates and Miaka's desire to use a wish to enter the high school of her choice begins to shift towards finding a way to be with Tamahome. Yui, who is also drawn into the book when she was trying to help Miaka to come back to the real world, becomes the Priestess of Seiryuu, working against Miaka out of jealousy over Tamahome and revenge for the humiliation and pain she had suffered when she first came to the book world.

The series describes the various trials that teenagers Miaka and Yui face, both quest-driven and personal. Feeling betrayed, the two oppose one another as priestesses, bringing together their own respective warriors and vying for the chance to be granted one wish by the gods whom they hope to summon.

Review:

I have mixed feelings about this anime in the same way I do Jyu-Oh-Sei, but there’s one key difference between the two. Jyu-Oh-Sei never made me wanna commit murder, rip my hair out, and set something on fire.

Jyu-Oh-Sei’s 8th and most of 9th episodes were barf and eyeroll worthy, yes. Yes, Karim was an unneeded, annoying whooooorrreeeee.  Still, I could weather through that. Why? Because it was only for a couple episodes out of 11 episodes. She died immediately following the peak of her blechness and, hey, she did die, so that’s a good thing. For Fushigi Yuugi, the most annoying characters and the most annoying and repeating plotlines and “quirks” kept appearing over and over and over and over and over and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! For 52, count ‘em, 52 episodes.

I could go into a long-ass rant analyzing every single episode, but this being a fairly long show; I figured I wouldn’t do that. Instead, I’ll just place any and all annoyances into specific categories, characters, animation/art, story, plot, and music. Basically it’ll be in more of my movie format lengthened than my normal anime review format.

Oh, btw there’s three OVA’s to Fushigi Yuugi and I plan to watch them all, but since I count each OVA as a different series, I’ll be reviewing them all in separate reviews.

Now onto the show.

I want everyone to keep something in mind as you read many rants about this show. This show annoyed me, no getting around that, but I enjoyed it, for the most part. It’s a good series.

Characters:

Let’s start with the Suzaku warriors.

Miaka:

Jigsaw: Yes….hehe….there will be blood.

Damn right, Jigs, cuz I hate this character with a passion and I’m gonna skin this chick alive. …review-wise.

At the beginning of the show, Miaka’s no real more annoying than any other female protagonist. Average ditzy student hanging out with her friends, you know the drill. Until one day she comes across a book called “The Universe of the Four Gods” She and her best friend Yui start reading the book and that’s where her adventure begins.

She is beyond irritating after this. She’s almost always yelling in her nails on a chalkboard voice, throughout the entire anime she gets attacked by practically anything that moves, if a male character comes into contact with her they either instantly fall in love with her or they wanna **** her to keep her from summoning Suzaku. (Cue the Seiryu boys) Seriously, there’s a good string of, I wanna say 10-15 episodes that are pretty much dedicated to finding a way to steal Miaka’s virginity. I said it before and I’ll say it again, at a point, it just sounds like a bad hentai plot. NOT THAT I KNOW WHAT ANY HENTAI PLOT….sounds…like….Shut up. :0

In addition, she is 100% useless in any battle situation. The only thing she’s useful for is getting attacked so someone, usually Tamahome can save her. If she ever does do anything useful, it’s usually because of someone else's power. IE, she’s saved herself a couple of times through Nuriko’s magic bracelets and she once saved herself through use of Hotohori’s sword. But then she ends up fainting or something afterwards. I used to think Kagome from Inuyasha or Sakura from Naruto were useless. Dammmmnnnnn. At least Kagome knows some archery and has some powers than have even taken Naraku out at some points. At least Sakura actually has some semblance of abilities even over that of her friends. (She has the best chakra control well over Naruto and Sasuke supposedly. I have no idea if that’s still true, but that’s what was said in that tree walking episode) Miaka doesn’t even ask to be taught how to fight or anything, she just blindly runs into crap with no idea what she’s doing only to end up getting hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt, she gets hurt, gets sick, faints for whatever reason, or acts like a total klutz in every episode to date. We get it; you’re the damsel in distress. You’re certainly no poster child for feminism, that’s for sure.

Oh crap, I should mention that she has this terrible speech impediment. Tamahome has the same thing. There’s no known cure. You see, she has to add “Tamahome” to the end and beginning of every sentence and on many occasions she needs to yell it at the top of her lungs. Even if the situation has NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM.

Hey, I wanna have rice for lunch…*takes bite of rice*….Tamahome….

Ow I got a papercut…..Tamahome…help me.

Tamahome….Tamahome…TAMAHOMMMEEEEEEEEEEESHUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!

*cough* Like I said, Tamahome has caught this as well, except he has to say “Miaka”

While on the subject of Miaka and Tamahome, I can say I’ve never seen a more annoying relationship. If I had a dime for how many times they’ve broken up, gotten back together, were separated, and then reunited I could actually afford to buy a bicycle in Pokemon instead of wandering around for a bike voucher.

Several times I was hoping Miaka would just go to someone else. I mean, it’s not as if there’s a shortage of guys who are in love with her. Hotohori, Nuriko, Amiboshi, I think I’m forgetting some, but you get it. Plenty of guys proclaiming they love you; go off with them and let this drama fest be over. But, of course, I knew that wouldn’t happen. I knew they end up together and live happily ever after. I just got so sick of their relationship at a point.

The constant thing of Yui being in love with Tamahome as well and wanting to take him away from her at all costs wasn’t helping either. Yui’s reason for claiming she’s practically entitled to him was retarded too. “I was in love with him first! I should have him! Nanananan!” What are you, four?

How do you know you fell in love with him first anyway? So you fell in love with him the instant you saw him, Miaka could’ve had it the same way. You both met him at the exact same time.

Okay, enough badmouthing, time for some positive.

Miaka is a brave girl I guess, but she’s brave in the sense of stupid with love brave. If Tamahome’s in danger she will brave even the most horrible things to get to him. The problem with this is that she has nothing to back this up and almost always requires a rescue afterwards. So, though it is noble, it also puts her in way more damsel in distress moments.

Miaka is caring. Even to her enemies if she sees something good in them.

Her heart is in the right place. She wants to do whatever she can to help the world inside the book and help Yui.

And uhh…..I got nothing else.

She still stands as my most hated anime character ever, though.

Tamahome:

Tamahome’s pretty okay. There’s really nothing fantastic about him and he’s pretty funny in the first handful of episodes because of his obsession with money. (He was trying to raise money for his poor family. He had several younger siblings and an ill father)

Later he just gets kinda bland. His one mindset is to protect Miaka, so his personality after a certain event happens just turns him into a cookie cutter “Knight in shining armor in love with the princess…err priestess” Actually, considering he’s a character in a book, that might actually be extremely fitting.

Other than the aforementioned speech impediment (MIAAAAAAAAAAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!) nothing really irks me about him that much. Sometimes he’s almost as dumb as Miaka is sometimes, though.

Hotohori:

I was actually rooting for Hotohori to get with Miaka over Tamahome at a point. He may be kind of egotistical and in love with his looks on rare occasions, but he is noble, kind, loving, and yes, he is very pretty.

In fact, Hotohori, feel free to quote Sesshoumaru from GangXingba’s Inuyasha Episode Infinity.

Hotohori: God, I am so F*bleep*ing pretty.

Hotohori’s backstory is that he never wanted to be emperor. He was never truly loved by anyone and felt that if anyone actually did show him affection it was because of his title.

He then heard the legend of the priestess of Suzaku and fell in love with her before he even met her. He waited for the day she would appear in this world, deep in the belief that they would fall in love and get together.

Despite some overhanging chance at this relationship during the first 15-20 episodes, of course, this never happens. Hotohori is as noble as can be about it, though. He not only willfully steps aside; he also swears to do anything to protect Tamahome and Miaka’s relationship. All he wants is for her to be happy.

My biggest problem with Hotohori is, despite being a central character for the first few handful of episodes, he’s quickly negated from 98% of the show until the characters return to Konan. The reason for this is, he’s the emperor of Konan, so he can’t really leave Konan for that long. And when they get back we’re thrown a huge curve-ball; Hotohori got married and knocked up his wife while they were off getting the Shinzahos.

Guess he really is over Miaka.
There’s something else about his new wife, but I’ll save that for another character review.

Okay, here’s one of the big spoilers, lots of main characters die from episode 33 onward. A weird trend has popped up in two of the deaths. The preview for the next episode before the death is a clipshow of the person set to die, but the dialogue going on in the background has nothing to do with the character in question. It’s pretty annoying.

In addition, you can really tell when a character’s important when ¼ of the episode is a long, vocal song accompanied clipshow of practically every scene that character has ever been in. I actually fast forwarded through the whole thing it was so drawn out.

Nuriko:

Nuriko is a crossdressing, funny, strongman. He started crossdressing when his little sister died because he wanted to keep her memory alive.

Initially, Nuriko was an annoying pain in the ass. While acting like a girl, he was mostly a ****. He hated that Hotohori gave much of his attention to Miaka, while he had been in his harem for years and he never paid any attention to him.

Nuriko is in love with the emperor and later he develops a thing for Tamahome as well. As you can guess, this causes even more Miaka jealousy as Tamahome didn’t have any kind feelings towards him either.

Nuriko basically did everything he could to be mean to Miaka, even as Miaka was only trying to be his friend.

Eventually the two because best friends and it’s when this happens that Nuriko actually becomes a great character.

Nuriko later confesses that he loves Miaka. When he’s stating this he claims it’s a brother-sister kind of love, but the fantasy he has before he dies says otherwise. Sure, in the fantasy they’re off shopping and having fun like best friends, but it’s more like a date. I even believed they would kiss at the end of it.

Nuriko’s death is a huge impact on the characters and the show. In fact, out of all the characters that die, I believe Nuriko’s death has the biggest homage to the character. He basically gets a whole episode dedicated to mourning his death. I don’t think anyone else gets more than a few minutes.

I almost cried when Nuriko died.

Hotohori said he felt Nuriko’s presence when he met his bride. Almost as if he was introducing them. This is shown to be somewhat creepy because Houki, Hotohori’s wife, looks a lot like Nuriko.

Despite a fan’s hopes that this is somehow Nuriko and that he finally got his wish to be the emperor’s wife, it’s not.

Chichiri:

Chichiri’s an awesome character. He’s like Miroku from Inuyasha if he was not a pervert, he was 100x more powerful, and he was more cartoony.

Chichiri’s backstory actually doesn’t involve childhood drama. His face was scarred and his left eye was gouged out. See, he was engaged but his wife kissed his best friend before they got married. This caused Chichiri to become enraged and sparked a huge fight between the two. During a flood, he tried to save his friend from the rushing waters, but a log smashed into Chichiri’s eye, gouging out his eye and scarring his face, forcing him to lose his best friend to the waters. Chichiri wears a mask that can move as naturally as an actual face. With this mask his eyes become slanted slits, like how some people draw fox eyes.

Chichiri is often comic relief in addition to Tasuki, but he’s also very useful in terms of power and wisdom.

Something that bothers me in the English version is that he says “Ya know” way too much. I know in the Japanese version this is an occasional quirk, but he does it all the time in the English version.

Tasuki:

Tasuki is awesome. Nuff Said.

….Alright alright.

Tasuki is a former bandit and he’s a loudmouthed, jokester who provides much of the comic relief throughout the show. Don’t take him as dumb comic relief though; he’s a strong warrior with the powers of flame whose sense of honor is rivaled only by his stubbornness.

He also knows when to be serious and dearly cares for all of his allies, openly crying or otherwise showing great emotion when one of his own is dying, hurt or dead.

Mitsukake:

He’s a doctor.

Chiriko:

He’s a kid.

Next up--……Oh, you want more? Tough.

Mitsukake and Chiriko get little to no attention during their whole run up until their deaths. And even when they die it’s like it doesn’t matter. Ya know, Mitsukake and Chiriko were given special weapons along with the rest of the Suzaku seven, but for the life of me I don’t remember what they were. I only remembered Chiriko’s was a scroll because he said to use it in his place after he died. I still don’t remember Mitsukake’s.

Mitsukake is, indeed a doctor. And his power is healing. His tragic backstory is that he tried to save his beloved Shoka from a disease, but got to her too late and she passed away while he was off in another village treating patients. He gives up medicine because of this until he’s recruited for the Suzaku seven.

His entire role after he gets recruited is to heal someone if they’ve been severely wounded. And that’s it. He’s a prop in the background along with Chiriko the rest of the time.

His death is also shrugged off as well. He gets attacked by; I completely forget what, during the war with Kutou. As he is returned to Konan he returns to his duties as a doctor and treats all those who have been wounded during the war, despite losing his healing powers and being extremely weak.

As he is treating patients, a woman runs up with a baby in her arms shouting that he has stopped breathing. Mitsukake begs for the power to heal this child through all of his life force and prays for Shoka. As he does this, the baby is miraculously healed, as is everyone in the general vicinity, even those who have died, and Mistukake has died.

Chichiri goes insane with grief on some of the soldiers who were resurrected because they have the nerve to want to kill each other again after Mitsukake died for them and orders them to leave.

After this, though, little attention is given to his death.

In the last episode Tamahome is listing off everyone’s strong points, like Tasuki’s courage and Chiriko’s wisdom. As he says Mitsukake’s name he follows it up with….

Nothing.

Nice.

Even more insultingly, when Miaka is told that Mitsukake is dead and Hotohori is dying her reactions are as such.

Miaka: *blank face*

Keisuke: Mitsukake is dead.

Miaka: *no change in expression*

Keisuke: And Hotohori is dying.

Miaka: 8O *cry cry cry*

Pfft, maybe he wasn’t the most important of the Suzaku seven, but hell, give his death more respect than that.

Chiriko’s only talent, that’s shown in like, one episode, is that he’s smart. End of story.
He’s a young child studying to be a government official. And that’s it.

He gets less attention than Mitsukake and that’s just pathetic. He only gets one episode to introduce himself and he’s basically the equivalent to a lamp until he dies.

In fact, Amiboshi, who masqueraded as Chiriko of the Suzaku seven, got WAY more screentime while pretending to be Chiriko than the real Chiriko did.

See, one of the Seiryu seven, Miboshi, the Chiriko of the seven, tbh, because he comes out of nowhere, looks like a child and gets no attention given to his story either, until he dies, possesses Chiriko as his former body starts to die. Apparently he’s immortal because, whenever he’s mortally wounded, he just finds another body and jumps to it. Miboshi uses his demonic powers to attack the Suzaku seven, but they won’t attack Chiriko for fear of hurting him. Chiriko begs for them to kill him because that’s the only way to defeat Miboshi. They all refuse.  So, knowing this, Chiriko starts to take hold of Miboshi and stabs his own body to refrain from hurting them before stabbing himself in the chest to kill himself.

During neither death do you feel sad in the least because you never got to give one iota of a crap about these characters. The only reason I’d see being sad at Chiriko’s death is because he’s a small kid who committed suicide to save his friends, but even that gets ruined because Chiriko….well, as he’s dying, the way he acts just annoyed me. It sounded like he was having a baby, not dying. And even though a child just sacrificed himself for the greater good, again, hardly anyone, except Tasuki this time, really seems to be impacted by it. In fact, it hardly gets another passing mention after it happens.

In the last episode, as they’re all saying goodbye to each other, Chiriko asks Miaka if she really thinks studying is boring…..*facepalm*

Onto the Seiryu warriors.

Before I start, though, I wanna ask, why exactly are all the Seiryu warriors, barring Amiboshi, just complete dicks?

The celestial warriors are supposed to be noble, kind and great warriors. Everyone in the Suzaku seven are, and everyone we’ve met of the Genbu and Byakko seven were. Everyone in the Seiryu seven just seems to be a bunch of assholes. Why? I know they’re the antagonists of the story, but why?

Yui:

Yui was a cool character in the beginning. She got sucked into “The Universe of the Four Gods” along with Miaka, but on the first trip there she was only there for all of 10 minutes before getting transported back to her world. She then reads the book and follows Miaka’s story until Miaka gets transported back. However, as Miaka returns, Yui gets trapped in the book. Miaka doesn’t realize this and spends a good day back in her world before she figures out that Yui’s missing (Derp) and even longer before she realizes she’s in the book (derp) so she goes back into the book to save her. She realizes that six months have passed in the book since she left since time works differently in the book than it does in the real world (this causes many weird contradictions later)

In that time, Yui wasn’t as lucky as Miaka. Whereas Miaka had Tamahome and her warriors basically protecting her from the minute she entered the world, Yui found no one. She was attacked by a gang of thugs and almost raped. Nakago saved her before anything happened, though. She tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists as well, but she was also saved by Nakago. Nakago then slowly brainwashed her into believing Miaka was the cause of all her misfortunes in this world and believed that the only reason she went back into the book was for Tamahome. (Which…she is sorta guilty of, kinda. I mean, while Miaka is back in her world she spends more time thinking of Tamahome than where Yui is and when she returns to the book she spends more time thinking of Tamahome than Yui.) Yui then became a major ****, set on nothing but revenge against Miaka and taking Tamahome away from her.

Yui’s just overall annoying from when she becomes the priestess of Seiryu to when she finally learns the truth. She does anything and everything to keep Miaka and Tamahome apart and, considering their relationship track record, that got old sooooooo fastttttt.

Yui and Miaka’s relationship is a great bond, however. After she realizes the truth this is all shown true and she finally loses her bitchy, whiny attitude.

….Welllllll, kinda. See, late in the anime she admits that she never believed Miaka betrayed her (WUT?!) She was just jealous that Tamahome was taking Miaka away from her and as Miaka became happy with Tamahome, she just became more alone and miserable. Basically she’s implying that she wasn’t trying to hard to separate them because she wanted Tamahome for herself, she was trying to separate them because she wanted Miaka to be as alone as she was. She even admits that she wouldn’t have wanted Tamahome so much if Miaka wasn’t an obstacle.

So….yeah, she kinda adds a spice of bitchiness as she redeems herself, but yeah.

Nakago:

For the main villain of this anime, he sure is bland. Yeah, he does things you hate him for, like try to **** Miaka, use Soi as a tool, use Yui as a tool, doesn’t give a crap about his allies, even killing one because he was no longer of use, but he’s so bland.

He’s a monotone, pretty boy villain with aspirations to gain the power of a god and rule the world. *yawn* That’s about as cliché as cliché’s get. His voice doesn’t help things either. No matter if he’s happy or mad or whatever, he never sounds any different. I’m pretty sure he’s meant to sound monotone and emotionless, but how can you be scared of him when he talks like that?

In addition he is way too OP in my opinion. I believe that all the warriors should be evenly matched or at least KIND OF evenly matched in terms of abilities. They don’t have to have the same amount of power as the rest, but same amount of usefulness would be nice. Yet Tamahome reigns over the Suzakus and Nakago reigns over, well, pretty much everyone. It’s hard to explain, but just watch later episodes and you’ll see.

Also, I find it pretty dumb that they don’t even beat Nakago fairly. They have to seal Seiryu away in Chiriko’s scroll (It actually had a purpose OMGWTFBBQLOL), making him powerless before Tamahome beat him.

I read on Wiki that Nakago was the series’ creator’s favorite character, but for the life of me I can’t see why. They save his backstory for the very last episode and expect us to have pity for him.

When he was a child he saw his father be killed and his mother be raped before him. He went nuts with his Seiryu power and blasted all of them away, including his mother while she was still alive and his father’s body.

After that, he was sexually molested by the emperor of Kutou.

It sucks that that stuff happened to him, but I don’t have any more sympathy for him that I would any other story that was like that. On top of all that he’s still an **** and insanely boring. So I really don’t get the appeal.

Suboshi:

Suboshi seemed pretty okay; I liked him about the same as Amiboshi, until he went darkside.

See, his twin brother, Amiboshi was a spy in the Suzaku Seven. He pretended to be Chiriko, the final member of the Suzaku seven, in order to screw up their plans to summon Suzaku. After being found out and chased out of the building, Amiboshi dropped himself into a rushing river and was presumed dead. Suboshi, feeling the link of his twin brother being severed, went insane with grief.

Blaming the Suzaku seven, assuming they had killed his brother, went after them for revenge. Seeking Tamahome out specifically, Suboshi viciously murdered his three younger siblings (All ranging from like 7-4 years old) and his ailing father in cold blood.

And that’s about where I dropped off the wagon. I don’t care how much one person meant to me, even if they were taken away by someone, I would never murder innocent children and a sick old man to exact revenge. That’s just too far. And to feel no remorse for your actions, even at death is just lame. I wonder how Suboshi would’ve reacted if he knew that Tamahome didn’t murder Amiboshi or even try to.

Something I still find weird though is how did Suboshi feel the link being severed is Amiboshi never actually died? And wouldn't Suboshi be wracked with guilt knowing he killed children and a sick old man when his brother never even died?

Still, I would’ve liked his end to just be what Amiboshi wanted, him to forget everything he has done and live with him and his new parents. Too bad.

Amiboshi:

I basically explained Amiboshi in Suboshi’s explanation, but there’s more.

See, Amiboshi didn’t really die in that river, he survived and was saved by an elderly couple. They basically took him in as their son and named him Kaika. Amiboshi pretended to have amnesia and decided to live in peace with them until Miaka showed up. They wanted her to be Amiboshi’s bride and Amiboshi wanted that too so that they could both live in peace, away from all the war and fighting, but she refused. He later went on to be an ally, but Suboshi gave him the juice of the forgetfulness leaves (THROUGH A TWINCEST MAN-KISS *fangirl squeal*) so he could live with that elderly couple in peace forever.

I like Amiboshi. In fact, tbh, I wish he WAS Chiriko. He sure is a lot more interesting than the real one is and powerful to boot. I mean, seriously, when Amiboshi revealed himself to be one of the Seiryu seven and “died”, Chiriko just popped up like “Hey I’m the real one!” and everyone was like “Cool. Well, no time to develop your character any, let’s go do stuff.”

Soi:

The only female Seiryu member and one of the few known female celestial warriors period, Soi is a ****.

Yup. A big ****. She controls lightning, but she also has skills in life force techniques. As seen when she constantly sleeps with Nakago to improve his life force.

Her sob story is that she was sold to a brothel as a child and Nakago saved her before she did anything. Thus she grew up to love him no matter who he slept with or focused on.

She dies sacrificing her life for Nakago’s.

I didn’t mind her that much. In fact, she was probably the most human of the Seiryu’s barring Amiboshi and Suboshi.

There’s also Tomo, an illusion master, Ashitare a werewolf-man thing and Miboshi, he can possess people, seemingly making him immortal, and summon demons.

Alright, is that all the immediately important characters?

Okay there’s also Miaka’s brother, Keisuke and his best friend Tetsuya. They begin following the story of the Universe of the Four Gods after Miaka returns to the book. They investigate the story behind the book, having a few adventures themselves. Keisuke’s pretty cool. A lot better of a sibling than most anime characters. And Tetsuya’s…..I wear my sunglasses at night. So I can; so I can—Oops..I mean, he’s cool, I like him as much as Keisuke, but he does wear his sunglasses like 24/7.

Alright, I BELIEVE that’s it for the immediately important characters so that means we’re onto…

Story:

The story is actually very interesting. There’s an entire universe within this book called the Universe of the Four Gods. There are priestesses of Suzaku, Seiryu, Genbu and Byakko, that get transported into the book to summon the respective beast by bringing together all of the celestial warriors of their respective beast, and save the land.

There are a few key points of the story I wish they would change though.

1: Did we really need such a strong push on that whole “The priestess must be a virgin” thing? I mean, that calls for so much attempted **** and believe me, it happens. ATTEMPTED ****. No actual **** happens, no worries. It gets kinda tiring when a whole arc of the series is dedicated to trying to **** Miaka so she won’t be able to summon Suzaku.

2: I really wish the female lead wasn’t such a damsel in distress. That cliché is SO beyond old.

3: I really wish this series didn’t have the damned reverse school days effect.

4: I am well aware this is a Shojo series, but for the love of Pete the romance parts of this are sooooooo cheesy and overdone. Hold the phone; Tamahome’s and Miaka’s is. If you pair anyone else up, even if it is Tamahome OR Miaka, it’s fine and pretty well done. However, Tamahome’s and Miaka’s relationship gets so vomitworthy sometimes. It’s a beautiful love when done right, but so much is tiring and cheesy and boring.

5: Is there any particular reason the other two celestial beasts get like no focus? I mean, we are introduced to all of the priestesses, but their roles are so small and Byakko really gets little to no attention. Yeah, he even gets overshadowed by the turtle. I heard that there’s a separate manga for a side story of Genbu and the Genbu seven, but there’s little on the Byakko seven. In fact, even with manga, only three Byakko warriors were introduced plus the priestess.

That really kinda bums me out; I think there should be another series for like Genbu vs. Byakko or something.

6: I really kinda hate that Chiriko and Mitsukake were pushed aside like that. They could’ve given them better abilities or something, maybe an episode dedicated to them, but no. They get introduced and tossed with the garbage so quickly. At least Chiriko kinda had a purpose at the very end with his scroll, but meh.

7: Why bother with that whole "giving them new amazing weapons" thing is you were going to do little with it above the whole thing with Nuriko's bracelets? I STILL don't know what Mitsukake's thing was or what it was supposed to do. They get like no focus, no real explanations, and they just seemed to be thrown in there for nothing.

Other than those facts, I really did enjoy the story. And ending was good. Not overly dramatic or gushy or filled with TamahomeXMiaka barfness (Though the scene before the ending was pretty barfworthy) Even the ending goodbye to all the warriors was well done and not overly sad. Though I still believe Chiriko’s goodbye comment was so out of place. I get that his only focus, like at all was being intelligent, but when everyone’s giving heartfelt goodbyes and you spring up with “Do you really think studying is boring, Miaka?” I just…ugh. Even Tasuki’s was better with his semi-snarky goodbye, but that’s because we would never expect a sappy goodbye from him.

However, they did kinda ruin the ending by adding three canon OVA’s on top of it to continue the story, but that’s a speedbump we’ll get to later.

Art/Animation:

The art for the manga is awesome.

The art for the anime is….alright. The times when they’re like freezing on one scene always seem alright, but for the rest it’s just okay. The art’s nothing to write home about and the animation is pretty stiff. Even though there are quite a few intense hand-to-hand battles, it usually gets boiled down to the ol’ *punch* *black screen* *flash* *frozen scene of someone getting punched with flashing background*

It’s not terrible, it’s just okay.

The ending credits’ art is fantastic, though. However, it just looks like they took art from the manga, plastered it in the end credits and streamed clips from the episode in the corner.

Music:

I have my qualms with the music. It’s not horrible, but there are so many times when the music was inappropriate. Like when Nuriko’s about to die/dying there’s this freakin’ poppy 80s like music playing in the background. And even when it’s a terribly emotional episode, you still have that damn ending theme song cue. Imagine you just went through this emotional episode and, always before the episode even ends, like 20 seconds before it goes DADADADADADAAAAAAAAAA in trumpets then the synthesizer plus trumpets go on for the ending. I despised this, especially in episodes where someone died.

The overall music is okay, but still that pissed me right the hell off.

Overall:

Overall the series is quite enjoyable and a classic to many. If you can’t stand the following, either skip this series altogether or prepare to fast-forward a lot.

-   Gushy romance scenes
-   Lots of Bishounen
-   Attempted **** scenes (Keep in mind no actual **** occurs)
-   Whiny, love interested obsessed annoyance of a female lead
-   Or inappropriate song cues

Recommended Audience:

Let’s see. There’s attempted **** scenes, mentions of ****, sex. (Stopping myself right here….I will say there is one **** scene in which **** is actually occurring. Nakago’s mother is getting raped in one scene, but you can’t see a thing or hear anything suggestive, you just hear her pleas for help. I never would’ve known she was being raped if I hadn’t read it on wiki, that’s how subtle it is.) Though some consensual sex is attempted only one actual sex scene occurs and that’s between Soi and Nakago, and you can’t really tell they were having sex unless you’re savvy on that subject. There’s also swearing, violence, murder of young children, implied child molestation, some nudity (Of course, by females…durrrr. Freakin’ Shoujo anime, I want guy naked flesh!) The atmosphere’s pretty heavy at certain points too.

Uhhhh….How’s….15+ sound?
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« Reply #23 on: September 08, 2011, 01:02:52 am »

Fushigi Yuugi OVA 1

Plot:

Some time has passed since Miaka left the Universe of the Four Gods. She studied hard and got into a good School with Yui and she has been reunited with a reincarnated Tamahome in her world. As she proceeds to live her life happily with Tamahome at last, the book of the Universe of the Four Gods gets stolen, the story starts back up again and Tamahome is transported back into the book. As a chain reaction unfolds before their eyes, can Yui and Miaka, the former priestesses of Seiryu and Suzaku fix this terrible mess?

Rating:

4/5

Review:

I really liked the ending of Fushigi Yuugi the TV series. It wasn't too mushy, everything seemed wrapped up nicely, it was good. Why they had to continue the series is beyond me. From all I hear about the OVAs they're just pointless continuations of the TV series. But, whatever.

So, since I count each OVA as a separate series, OVA 1 is on the chopping block first. Since it only has three episodes I might as well go through each.

Episode 1:

Tamahome, Keisuke, Miaka and Tetsuya are on their way to visit Suzuno's grave. (The woman who was the priestess of Byakko) They arrive and Tamahome keeps hearing someone call his name. As they reach Takiko's grave, the woman who was the priestess of Genbu, he hears his name again. He hears Takiko's voice speaking to him before he glows red and begins to disappear. Miaka runs after him, but she can do nothing as he disappears.

Miaka, Keisuke, and Tetsuya later learn that the book has been stolen and someone must be continuing the story. They surmise that eventually Miaka and Yui will be dragged back into the book as well.

Stopping myself right here, this is very confusing. I'm having trouble really understanding what exactly was going on with the whole priestesses thing. Why was Takiko's grave disappearing and why exactly can other girls take the place of the priestess?

Continuing, Tamahome finds himself back in Konan. Confused and looked upon oddly since he's now wearing clothes from Miaka's reality, he goes to see Hotohori's wife, the, now, empress of Konan, Houki. As he arrives at the palace he learns that 50 years have passed since the day Fushigi Yuugi ended. He meets Hotohori's great-grandson whose name escapes me. He's insane excited to meet Tamahome after hearing so many stories of the celestial warriors and brings Tamahome to the Suzaku shrine where all of the holy artifacts held by the old Suzaku warriors are held. As Tamahome approaches the shrine a bright flash of red light from the shrine knocks him away.

The Prince demands to know who Tamahome really is since a Suzaku warrior would not be denied access to the Suzaku shrine like that. Since Tamahome yields no explanation nor any way to identify himself as one of the Suzaku seven, he gets taken away and whipped viciously for his crime of being an impostor and fooling the prince.

Tamahome wanders around and heads to the mountaintop where Taiitsukun used to be to see if she had some answers, but all he saw was a mountain. He remembers Taiitsukun's words that people with evil hearts could not see her temple. He then meets a girl nammmmeeed.....Kaen? That right? Anyhoo. She's waiting for him at the mountaintop and says that she's been waiting a long time for him to return.

For Nakago to return.

Nothing really to say about this episode. Except that I was really confused by the whole priestess thing. I mean, I just don't get why Takiko's grave was disappearing as if she never existed. And if she was erased from existence, wouldn't that cause some sort of terrible domino effect or something? I really don't get it.

Episode 2:

Can I just skip most of the stuff that happens in the real world? It's mostly just Keisuke, Tetsuya, Yui and Miaka talking about crap. Thanks.

Anyhoo, Tamahome is immensely confused as to why this girl is mistaking her for Nakago. She explains that something must've happened when he got resurrected and his memories got switched with Tamahome's.

Tamahome refuses to believe it.

Kaen tells him that if he thinks she's a liar he might as well kill her. Cuz, ya know, that just makes sense.

Kaen gives him some wine with medicine to help him heal from his wounds and he goes off to bed.

Did I say nude scene? Why yes I did--Female nude again? Does anyone know what Shoujo even means? Anime aimed towards girls. Unless your target audience is lesbians, gimme some damn MAN-FLESH. I guess they went slightly all-out for the OVA because the nipples were actually colored in and not Sailor Moon-ized like the TV series.

You ask why I noticed this? Well, I must be thorough for review purposes. Get yo head outta da gutter.

Anyhoo, Kaen sneaks into Tamahome's room and takes off all her clothes. She's offering to have sex with Tamahome to increase his life force and maybe help regain his memories. Tamahome vehemently refuses and orders her to leave.

Kouji and the gang of bandits Tasuki used to hang around with linger outside waiting to strike.

Yeah, I was gonna comment on how confused this made me before I saw episode 3. See, we see Tasuki and Chichiri (The last surviving members of the Suzaku seven) traveling somewhere.

The reason this is so weird is because if 50 years had passed since the end of Fushigi Yuugi in the book, then Tasuki's gang, Tasuki and Chichiri should either be majorly old or dead. Yet they're all the same age as the TV series.

Kouji and his gang attack Tamahome, believing he's Nakago as Kaen does. Tamahome tries to defend himself from the assault unwittingly unleashing Nakago's powers, killing all of the gang, leaving Kouji barely alive. Tamahome holds Kouji as he lay there dying apologizing. He tries to ask Kouji about what's going on, but Kouji just reinforces what everyone's been saying. However, he states that only a yer has passed since the end, not fifty. And he also explains why Tamahome looks like himself, but everyone sees him as Nakago; because the man who looks like Tamahome is really what everyone believes Nakago to look like and vice versa with Nakago's looks. Kouji tries to kill Tamahome by detonating a bomb on his belt to kill both of them, but Tamahome escapes unscathed under a shield of his life force. Distraught of what this may mean, he retreats to his room and asks Kaen to bring him more wine.

We then see Tomo standing over Tamahome who is unconscious and trapped in an illusion of his making.

Oh and meanwhile we learn that Yui is being set up by Tomo to be the next priestess of Genbu, he's been controlling her through the earring Nakago left behind, she stole the book and opened it again and now she's back inside the book. Miaka is set to go after her.

Episode 3:

Miaka reenters the book and Keisuke and Tetsuya resume their roles as book readers.

We learn that Tomo was working for someone named Tenkou who promptly kills Tomo (Even though he was just inhabiting someone else's body as a spirit) for failing to kill Tamahome with the illusion since Nakago's spirit appears.

Tamahome escapes the illusion, but is dying from poison. Tasuki and ChiChiri arrive on the scene to help, with all of the Suzaku seven appearing soon after since all of the warriors collect when the priestess returns and Miaka appears soon after.

This is another thing that's confusing, why did Nakago just randomly appear? Why did Suboshi possess Amiboshi? (Yeah, that happens) I was beginning to think that maybe all of the Seiryu seven were collecting because Yui was returning, but that can't be it because A) the rest of the warriors didn't appear, but Nakago, Tomo and Suboshi/Amiboshi kinda. Soi, Ashitare and Miboshi didn't come back. And B-) She's really no longer the priestess of Seiryu anymore if she's being used as the priestess of Genbu now. And why didn't the warriors of Genbu assemble if that's true? Ughghhhsss.

Anyhoo, Tenkou arrives on the scene, apparently he's the master (?) of the four gods or something and he's like...really big. Anyhoo, a small attack on his part occurs. Ami/Suboshi sacrifice Amiboshi's life to free Yui. (Which really sucks....I'm glad they're together now, but I'd prefer he be with that nice couple and live in peace.) He dies in Yui's arms after proclaiming that he loves her. Yui asks him why he never said so before, even though he HAS said it before in the TV series. Yui summons Genbu and makes her wishes. Tenkou gets sealed away, Takiko gets revived.

Taiitsukun explains that Tamahome being with Miaka in the real world has caused problems between the worlds or something and something about the 100 years cycle of the priestesses or whatever. So, if they want to protect the worlds from anymore suffering, they have to seal the worlds off from each other forever and be apart. (By the way, the only wish that the gods can't grant is for two people born in different realities to be with each other in one or another reality. That's why Yui just can't wish that they can be together)

Oh and I figured out what the Shinzahos really are. They're a special artifact worn by the priestess when they summon one of the gods. Yui was wearing a special pendant when she summoned Seiryu which became a new Shinzaho and Miaka's wedding/engagement/promise ring thing turned into one as well since she was wearing that when she summoned Suzaku.

Anyhoo, Tamahome gives his ring back to Miaka after she has an epic temper tantrum. It was sad at first but then she just got too whiny and irritating. Yui makes her wish and as they're going home, Yui tells her to return the ring back to where it belongs and it drops back into the book.

Miaka and Yui return to school after a bit of time passes. They decide to ditch school for the day and go out. They head to a restaurant and dialogue from Taiitsukun to the Suzaku seven gets intertwined. She's explaining that Tamahome's going to be reborn into Miaka's world, but without any of his memories from--ffs amnesia? Honestly. Ughh... Anyway, she explains that the only way Tamahome can be with Miaka in her world is to be completely reborn in her world, without any of his original memories. The catch is that, duh, he won't remember her so even if he somehow found her it wouldn't matter because he wouldn't know her. The only way for him to regain his memories is to collect 7 crystals which contain his memories--AND the clich'e "we must collect something" plotline too? Ugh....Anyway, they have to collect the crystals for him to regain his memory. The OVA ends with Miaka and Yui in a restaurant, about to be serves by a waiter who happens to be Tamahome's reborn self, Taka.

Why Taiitsukun couldn't have told Miaka that she could do that before Miaka left is beyond me but I guess this way makes for good TV.

Despite the confusing parts and me wishing they just left the series where it was, this was fairly enjoyable. The ending villain just seemed to be lame and just kinda 'there' though. I know it was a set up for OVA 2, but come on.

I'm also happy to report that Miaka was actually pretty tolerable during this OVA. She was still annoying some places, but not unbearable.

I'd really like to understand how the whole time in the book vs. time in the real world thing works. From what Miaka said once 1 day in the real world seems to equal 6 months in the book, but that caused all sorts of weird inconsistencies in the TV series and it's just as confusing here.  

The Hot springs shorts:

At the end of each episode was a short animation showing the two sets of warriors, Seiryu and Suzaku on separate bus rides to a hot spring. These were so freakin hilarious. Seriously, I wish they just made a whole series of these. I looked forward to these shorts way more than the actual show. I won't explain what each short is, but they're hella funny, especially if you watch the TV series first. They break the fourth wall plenty of times too and even refer to some of the characters by their voice actor's names.

Art: The art was basically the same as the TV series, except better. OVA's usually do have slightly better art than the series for it does.

Music: On par with the TV series. However, instead of the trumpets and synthesizer music of the old ED, we get VIDEO SYNCED ...trumpets with piano music. Also, when the tempo of the trumpets speeds up, the video syncs get zoomed in and effects get added to it. Like, imagine a newbie AMV maker with Sony Vegas got ahold of this show plus the ED and that's it.

Characters: There's no real new characters to talk about except for Tenkou and he's as bland as Nakago. Yui and Miaka are both less annoying though.

Bottom line: It's pretty enjoyable, and I'd rate it high simply for the ending shorts. It is basically a buildup to the second OVA, though and fans of the TV may be put off simply from the fact that they're continuing the story instead of ending it where it was.

Recommended audience: Torture, nudity, implications of sexual advances, Tomo gets shot through the head...

13+
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« Reply #24 on: September 18, 2011, 06:17:05 pm »

Fushigi Yuugi OVA 2

Plot: Tamahome has been reborn into Miaka's world, but he has lost all of his memories as Tamahome and knows only his life as Taka. Taka meets Miaka in the real world and they start dating. Miaka seemingly knows this is Tamahome's reborn form but since he has no memories of that time she tries to treat him as Taka.

The trouble begins in the real world at Miaka's school. A new kid has come along named Shigyou, intent on becoming the Student Council president. Soon after his arrival the other kids at school start acting strange. They corner Taka and Miaka on the roof with plans to kill them both. As one student throws Miaka off the roof, Taka jumps off to grab her. (I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky) A red light appears and just as they're about to hit the ground, they are transported into the Universe of the Four Gods.

They soon discover that they have to retrieve Taka's memories as Tamahome or Taka will disappear forever. Tamahome's memories have been put into seven jewels and scattered (Cliches!) and they have to collect all seven to restore Taka's memories.

Rating: 4/5

Review:

Miaka and Taka. That doesn't sound stupid at all.

This OVA is a continuation from the first OVA and it is a lot better than the first one. Albeit, and you probably guessed this by now, I had my problems with it.

As the plot states the OVA is all about getting Taka's memories of being Tamahome back. Because God knows this makes sense.

Last OVA: Tamahome can't remain in your world as long as he remembers his life here.

This OVA: Taka can't stay in existence for much longer unless he retrieves his lost memories.

MAKE UP YOUR F*BLEEP*ING MIND!

Pushing that out of your mind, they have to retrieve seven jewels containing Tamahome's memories so they can be returned to Taka so he can stay in existence. Evidently the Suzaku warriors all have the jewels as Chichiri and Tasuki already had theirs and Hotohori's is found in the palace (In his son, more specifically) and Nuriko's is in an old crystal ball keepsake from his childhood.

I was actually interested in this for a while cuz I thought we'd go back through all the pasts of the remaining warriors, Hotohori, Nuriko, Chiriko, Mitsukake and Tamahome or at least some cool episodes surrounding them. That didn't happen.

Instead we got a really touching episode around Hotohori and his son, a semi-touching episode about Nuriko and his big brother, and a touching for 15 seconds episode about Chichiri and the best friend he "killed". The rest is about getting Taka's memories back and fighting Tenkou.

About halfway through the OVA series, four of Tamahome's memory jewels get stolen and destroyed. Later Tamahome's "real" self kindasortaishidunno appears and, oh btw he already got Chiriko's and Mitsukake's jewels, comes about and--What? Oh yeah, you remember those characters I told you about from the TV series review that always get pushed to the side and ignored? Yeah well instead of building any stories for them (or building ANY story whatsoever for Chiriko) when they find their respective memory jewel, Tenkou just blurts out that he already got Chiriko's and Mitsukake's memory jewels for 'Tamahome'.

Oh well, at least Mitsukake got to save Tasuki's life and Chiriko at least tried to do something. *sigh*

Despite Chichiri being a major character in the TV series, it was nice he got a whole episode to himself for a change. And it was nice that his tragic backstory was resolved.

Back to the story, the Tamahome thing is bugging me. See, in the next to last episode Tamahome comes back. He seems like the real Tamahome and claims Taka is nothing but a shadow of him. This seems right, I mean, that is why Taka's disappearing right? This is insanely confusing, because Tenkou and the others act like Tamahome's with possessed or he's another completely different person just turned evil now because he was jealous of Taka.

From Chichiri's episode, I'd bank on the latter. See his best friend came back to life, but was renamed something different since he was a god now. Senki or something? Tamahome's 'name' was Yousui. Chichiri's friend was still his friend, but he had just turned vengeful and spiteful since Chichiri killed him. Besides, the memory jewels were able to be absorbed into him. AND he was obsessed with making Miaka his and was broken to shreds over killing her. (Yes yes, I'm spoilering you up and down the street)

If that is true, they just screwed up majorly. Tamahome would never get that possessive or jealous over someone who is essentially himself. It only makes sense that Miaka would be attached to someone who is supposedly Tamahome's reborn self. In fact, it's almost an homage.

And what was up with all of the Suzaku seven and Keisuke telling Taka not to give up on Miaka. What the hell do you want him to do? He's A: a shadow, B: going to vanish soon and C: it would just cause Miaka insane confusion if both were vying for her heart since they're both the same person. And hi? You've known Taka all of a couple weeks, Tamahome was your friend for ages, way to stick by your buddy.

Another thing is there's another addition to the Miaka love shape. Tasuki starts showing feelings for her too. Way to ruin his character. It starts by giving her mouth the mouth resuscitation after almost drowning, but as episodes go by you see him getting more and more jealous of Taka and more caring for Miaka. After getting doused with Chichiri's friend's (Sorry, I can't remember his name) mystical water to bring out the evil in him, Tasuki knocks out Taka, gets Miaka drunk and tries to **** her. (Fushigi Yuugi: If your name's Miaka, bring a **** whistle.) And even though he was under a spell, I honestly can't look at him the same way anymore. I mean, he redeemed himself later after regaining control over his actions, but come on. If a rapist is lying somewhere deep inside Tasuki I just don't know what to think anymore.

Alright, this is turning less into a review and more into a rant. This OVA was very enjoyable, if it didn't ruin some things and characters. And the ending was very satisfying.

Or it WOULD HAVE BEEN if there wasn't ANOTHER OVA. I mean, come on. That was as perfect an ending as you can get,  why do another OVA? And from what I read on THEM anime reviews, the third one sucks major ass and I am in no way looking forward to it.

At the end of each episode there's a segment called "Mysterious Play-ing around" (GET IT!? PLAY-ING! Fushigi Yuugi's full title is Fushigi Yuugi the Mysterious Play! HAH) It is a series of three short segments of the episode it follows, but they're spoofed in some way. For instance, the first MPA is a spoof of the scene where Taka jumps off the roof to save Miaka. Instead of grabbing her, though, he clings to the railing and claims he's afraid of heights as Miaka falls and calls him a jerk. Some of these were pretty funny and I LOVED the second one from the last episode, that was hilarious. However, they're not as funny as the hot springs shorts.

Miaka and Tamahom--...Taka's relationship isn't nearly as annoying this time around. In fact, sometimes it rather sweet without being too gushy. I do have to admit, though. Her yelling TAKA! is about 100x more annoying than her yelling TAMAHOME!

Art: Better than the TV series and the first OVA. Still not fantastic though.

Music: I have no qualms about it, for once. At least they ditched the idea of making a beat synced outro, though. I guess if I had once qualm about all of the ending themes for Fushigi Yuugi it's that the intro for it is too long. They spend like 30 seconds just staring at each other as something happens with no one talking and music plays, then the credits roll.

Characters: Any problems with characters I basically covered in the rant-review, but there's some new ones to discuss.

Tenkou: I know Tenkou's from the last OVA but he was defeated and given backstory in this OVA. Apparently he's not the god of the Four Gods or whatever he claimed. He's just a dead guy whose spirit apparently got god-like powers somehow. Well whadya know? He baths in a huge room filled with blood btw. If anything Tenkou was more shelled out and interesting than Nakago. He even gave pity to people who were about to die and granted them one last 'wish'. Like when he was about to kill an incestuous brother and sister couple he let her see him one last time.

And yes you did just hear me say that.

Shigyou: I am the almighty Shigyou. I shall use my powers to....BRAINWASH A HIGH SCHOOL! MUAHAHAHAHAA. He was fairly unmemorable.

Bottom line: It's more enjoyable than the previous OVA, but it tarnishes some of the characters. It has a better villain than the TV series, and some episodes are truly touching, but if you're nitpicky, like me, you may be left feeling hollow.

It does make for a better ending to the series than the TV series ending did, though.

Recommended Audience: Let's see. Nudity, attempted ****, some violence, sex scene (Yeah you heard me. Miaka and Taka do the horizontal cha-cha-cha.) but it's nothing graphic, in fact, if it wasn't for the dialogue of them "becoming one" in body I never would've guessed they were doing it until after I saw them naked in bed together (Covered by a sheet) Also, I love the sheer avoidance of manservice. Taka actually has a shower scene, but they pan from his neck up. RIP OFF. My inner fangirl is not pleased. No I will not be sated by that scene of Tenkou in the blood bath, I don't care if he's naked, that's creepy. Unneeded incestuous relationship. Both of them are naked btw. They don't have sex but they both are naked.

Uhm.

15+
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« Reply #25 on: September 19, 2011, 01:48:12 pm »

11eyes

Plot: When the Sky turns Red, the Moon turns Black, and monsters begin roaming the streets, Satsuki Kakeru is at a loss for what to do.
Along with his best friend Yuka, they try to decipher why they have been sent to this strange world, which is seemingly empty aside from themselves.

However, when the 'Red Night' ends, Kakeru and Yuka believed it was all a dream, until it happens again and they are left in a dangerous situation. They meet four others in the same predicament: Kusakabe Misuzu, an expert swordswoman, Tachibana Kukuri, a strange mute girl who looks uncannily like Kakeru's deceased sister, Hirohara Yukiko, a lively young girl whose personality reverts to that of a cold killer when her glasses are removed, and Tajima Takahisa, a young pyrokineticist.

As the six of them band together to survive and discover what this mysterious world is, things take a turn for the worse as six shadows appear before them...

Taken from myanimelist.net

Rating: (I should probably switch to ??/10, this 5 thing is so restricting. In fact. Imma do that actually.)
 6/10


Review:

Despite the shortness of this anime series, the plot is so complicated so I won't be running down the series like I usually do.

All you need to know is that two orphans, Kakeru and Yuka get dragged into a world called The Red Night. Basically the Red Night is a world in which time stands still, the sky is red and monsters roam. Apparently getting transported to the Red Night happens every so often and usually without warning. Five other people get transported into the Red Night with them everytime they go. Misuzu, a master of ancient sword arts passed down from her family that employs the use of....6 (?) different mystical swords, Yukiko, an immortal super warrior who has dual identities. There's the happy peppy Yukiko that is seen as regular Yukiko and the emotionless alter-ego of herself which focuses on nothing but killing. She changes between identities by taking off or putting on her glasses (Cuz prescription glasses are apparently magic) Takahisa, a--Can I just take the time out to ask you guys something? Does he or does he not look like Inuyasha? He even acts like him too. Look.


Anyhoo, Takahisa, as you can guess from the picture, controls fire. Kukuri, seemingly Kakeru's dead sister's doppelganger (Same looks and same name, only difference is she can't speak.) controls chains made of light. And Shiori who seems to employ the same magics as the Black Knights who are the main antagonists.

It's very obvious, even before anything happens that Kakeru's power comes from his eye. No anime character I've ever seen has had an eyepatch that either didn't come with a terrible backstory or a power (barring Roy Mustang from FMA) He is the vessel of the eye of Aion, an eye that allows the user to see the future. Yuka possesses the ability to nullify powers within her vicinity. However, the bad side to this is it nullifies everyone's powers. So, even if she does weaken the enemy they can't do anything about it.

The story was very interesting and original, but went down so many wrong roads.

For instance, Misuzu goes from being a strong warrior to being a self-pitying lump.

Yuka goes from being an average damsel in distress female protagonist to a F*BLEEP*ING PSYCHO. I mentioned in my blog rant that 11eyes had this dumb Three's company esque "doing something innocent but looking like something bad to anyone watching" BS. This starts when Yuka catches a naked Kakeru and a naked Misuzu in each other's arms. Thing is, she was healing him because he had overexerted himself using his powers and they both had to be naked to transfer life force or something. She hugged him after he woke up for one reason or another. I forget, but I know it was harmless.

After that, though Yuka just goes insane. She can't stand to be in the presence of Misuzu and Kakeru at the same time and then throws herself at Kakeru. After Kakeru refuses to kiss Yuka (I'm guessing he said no because he didn't want their first kiss to just be some random occurrence because she was upset) Yuka goes even further off the deep end. She runs away from him and starts talking to her stuffed penguin like it's Kakeru. After a conversation with Yukiko I thought she'd be okay, but damn it all she just got worse. Whenever Kakeru would say Misuzu's name she'd flinch. Whenever she'd see the two of them together she'd glare. She started correcting Kakeru by saying calling her by her first name (Misuzu-senpai) was wrong and that her name was Kusakabe-senpai. She eventually gets so obsessed she starts not giving a rat's ass about anything going on with the Red Night or caring about anyone's lives.

Shiori told Yuka during a battle outside that Kakeru would be fine but she could not guarantee the others safety. Yuka responded by saying that was fine as long as Kakeru was okay.

I haven't even told you the top three weirdest things.

At a point Yuka just starts throwing herself at Kakeru whenever she can. She asks if he wants to go sleep with her, walks up to him in her underwear while he's just sitting outside and asks if they can sleep together. Just overall trying to whore herself out to him.

After seeing Kakeru kissing/sucking on Misuzu's arm to drink her blood to gain her power, Yuka then bursts into the room, seemingly offering a handkerchief to wipe off a wound on Misuzu's forehead, then Yuka licks Misuzu's forehead of her blood. 1 - She didn't even know why Kakeru was doing that or what Misuzu's blood would do to her. 2 - You see Kakeru getting all cozy with Misuzu and you're insanely jealous so you lick the forehead of the girl you're jealous of?

Finally we have THE most screwed up thing this chick has done. As she was making some tea for the others we see that Yuka put a F*BLEEP*ING RAZOR BLADE IN MISUZU'S TEA! She doesn't drink it and she doesn't even bring it up, she just asks to drink it in the other room and I presume she dumps it out.

Off the subject of Yuka for now, we also have episode 11 which (SPOILAHS) is the most interesting episode I watched. Not only does Yuka die (YAY), but the pairing I actually wanted to happen kinda happens as Kakeru and Misuzu have sex to dramatically increase their powers through the Kusakabe blood they now share. Despite agreeing to it, Kakeru constantly tells himself that it's just a ritual and he would never betray Yuka (he believes she's still alive) Listen up everyone, this is the greatest cheating excuse ever! If your significant other find you cheating on them just say you were doing it to gain massive power to save their lives. Works everytime.

Seriously though, the only way for them to gain enough power to even hope to win is to have sex? And the reason this will work is because they share Kusakabe blood now? Does that mean that the Kusakabe clan is a bunch of inbreeds?

At the end of the episode Kakeru and Misuzu find out that the battle that was going on in the Red Night as they were giving each other major power boosts (I can make up so many jokes like this) went terribly. Liselotte, the main baddie, later masquerades as Yuka and proceeds to kill Kakeru by stabbing him through the chest with his broken sword. He disappears and Misuzu is eaten by the darkness.

OMG Everyone's dead! How will episode 12 pan out? Will it be some post-apocalyptic epilogue? Will their spirits meet up and somehow beat Liselotte? Will it all turn out to be a premonition from Kakeru's eye and make episode 12 a massive SCREW YOU?

If you guessed C, you're right! That's right, the bulk of episode 11 was a freakin premonition from right before Yuka gets attacked to the ending. So, let's recap.

-Yuka's still alive (Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu----)
-Everyone else is too.
-KakeruxMisuzu never happened (Aw)

What's even worse is that, even though you get stung from the whole premonition thing, they do you one better. See many characters died before the ending. Kaeko (Takahisa's adoptive 'mother') got killed by a black knight. Takahisa gets killed by Yukiko after asking her to kill him since the 'demon' of his fire powers was taking him over. Yukiko gets killed by a black knight after trying to avenge him since it was them killing Kaeko that triggered the demon.  

So, how do they handle this? See, there's six different worlds and all of them seem to be carbon copies of the others. The characters all have the same lives barring or including the Red Night. So, after all is said and done, Kakeru, Yuka and Misuzu go to one of the worlds that has a brand new Takahisa, Kaeko and Yukiko in it. Basically it's rebooting the world with a backup copy. The only difference is the Takahisa and Yukiko from this world know nothing of the Red Night, have no powers and don't know the others.

Cop out.

And what's even worse is that Yuka seems to be a fairly normal girl again after that, even accepting Misuzu as a friend. (And after one of the black knights makes the observation that Misuzu loves Kakeru too) So WTF? She didn't have an alter ego or anything, it just like the creators of the anime just up and forgot what an insane bonkerbitch she was.

Oh, I skipped this part but, what exactly was the point in Yuka throwing one of the fragments to Liselotte so she would be awakened? That had NO POINT! Seriously, what benefit would doing that possibly give you Yuka? She wants to kill all the fragments AND your little boyfriend that you're obsessed over. But no, she's all like "Derp, I wanna throw this fragment to the imprisoned witch. Durrrr"

It seems like this anime took what could've been something awesome and just managed to screw everything up while throwing in cliches and annoyances.

There are some cool plot twists (even though I basically ruined the best ones for you) and for all it's worth, it is only 12 episodes and it seems to be fairly worth the amount of episodes it has. There's also a one episode OVA that I haven't watched yet and will be reviewing after this.

One final note before I get to the individual points are, during the first half of the series, there's a problem with panty shots. They seem to take any and every opportunity to get a panty shot in, even if the scene is particularly tense or dramatic. It tends to take away from the story and makes it hard for you to take it seriously. In a weird twist, though, later on the panty shots all but disappear, though that might be because Yuka and Misuzu both go down to their underwear at certain points, and almost takes itself too seriously.

Art: The art is actually great and the animation is pretty well done. I will say that, despite this being an action anime, there's a shortage of epic battles. Fighting does go on, but nothing memorable. As another reviewer on myanimelist stated, I was expected some epic awesome battle between Superbia and Misuzu, but it's like they fight for a second, cut away, some time has gone on in the battle and Misuzu just says she's too weak to beat her. To make matter worse, they actual end up working together later and end up being on friendly terms at the end.

Music: The music is great and the OP and ED are awesome.

Characters:

Kakeru: He's too gloomy, but he's not the worst male protagonist I've ever seen. He never laughs and hardly ever smiles. His only driving force is protecting Yuka at all costs. In that respect, he's rather cookie-cutter. There's really nothing about him that's all that memorable. In fact, I can see myself forgetting his name in a couple weeks. I'll just remember him as that anime character with two different colored eyes.

Yuka: I already explained Yuka. However, she has the same speech impediment as Miaka and Tamahome, because if she says "Kakeru-kun" one more time I was gonna beat a bitch.

Misuzu: A character who started out as stoic and badass turned into a self-pitying lump who relied on Kakeru through her battles and just through the rest of the show, tbh. I like Misuzu a hell of a lot more than Yuka and wish Kakeru had gone with her instead of back to Yuka, but dammit all if she just didn't lose her edge entirely.

Yukiko: Yukiko's rather annoying in her first few episodes. She has this weird habit of grabbing a girl's boobs for no reason like Haruhi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and she's really happy and peppy. I like her better later on after she explains her backstory and I like her alter-ego a lot better as well. I just will never understand why it is those glasses are the reason she changes.

Takahisa: He's basically Inuyasha if he was a high school student. Seriously, it was one thing to look like him but he acts just like Inuyasha too. Rude, likes junk food and snacks, has a temper, prefers to be alone, but his weaknesses are the women in his life. His adoptive mother Kaeko and the girl he likes, Yukiko. I really liked Takahisa and hated that he had to die. What's even worse is that he doesn't even get a death scene, he just explains the situation to Yukiko and tells her to kill him. The screen cuts away and later Yukiko comes into the mansion, covered in blood and tells everyone that she killed Takahisa.

The Black Knights Your average group of antagonists. Again, nothing special or memorable about any of them, barring that one of them, Superbia, is actually Misuzu's idol Misao from the Kusakabe family who was banished many years ago. Their situation with the fragments (The main characters) gets complicated when they find out that the black knights are actually the good guys, and they've been killing them. (To quote Angel from....er, Angel, they should really start wearing lapel pins or something) Apparently the black knights never bothers to just explain the situation to the fragments instead of all-out attacking them in hopes of killing them)

Shiori: I really like her character design and she's the one girl fragment that actual seems to be focused on nothing but the task at hand. However, she doesn't appear as a fighter until it's so late in the series, you don't care.

Kukuri: What's there to say about her? She's mute and apparently there's three of her. It's too complicated and insane to go into details, but she is Kakeru's dead sister, yet she's not, but she kinda is, but not from this world, and oh dear I've gone cross-eyed. She never talks so I never got annoyed by her.

Liselotte: She's basically nothing until the last three episodes. For a villain she's okay, but it's hard to be scared of someone who looks like lolicon fodder. What's even more confusing is she seems to be doing all of what she does for old love, Verard, but even after he randomly appears for 10 seconds to tell her to stop she just brushes it off and continues without any more words from him.

That pink haired girl and that orange haired guy: I don't know why I am including them in this review, especially since I can't remember their names, but they are friends of Yuka and Kakeru who know nothing of the Red Night and just seem to represent normalcy. OHG is ANNOYING. All he does is play pranks on PHG and tease Kakeru whenever he's with Yuka, making off like they're making out or doing it every five seconds. In addition to his annoying mannerisms (Making kissy faces and BS like that) he also has an ugly character design. PHG is rather bland in character design, but okay. Her job in this show is to beat up or hit OHG whenever he's acting annoying. And that's pretty much it.

Voice acting: I seem to have forgotten his in recent reviews, but the voice acting was okay.

Bottom line: It's not terrible, but it is a shame that so much potential seemingly went to waste. They ruin most everything halfway through, turn what were once awesome characters into shadows of their former self, turn Yuka insane, and make a plot that's too complicated and just plain WTF worthy at some points. I mean, what exactly is the point of having six worlds that are exactly the same barring which one keeps the fragments? It just seems like a plot device to excuse the ending. I do believe it's worth the watch since it's only 12 episode and it is something somewhat different than the norm.

Recommended Audience: Let's see. Some violence, gruesome scenes, one sex scene, implications of sex, some nudity (I have to ask, though. Yuka gets sealed away in a container similar to that of Liselotte's, she's clothed when she gets kidnapped, but in her underwear and bra when she's in the container. Is there any point in that? If she needed to be without clothes she'd have to be fully naked, there's no point in stripping her of just her uniform. Just seems like the biggest not-even-excuse for more fanservice) really confusing plot. 15+

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« Reply #26 on: September 19, 2011, 10:09:41 pm »

11eyes OVA

Plot: ....There is no plot.

Rating: o.0??/10

Review: I can't take this review seriously. I thought this OVA would actually be a continuation of 11eyes since, near the end, it takes itself so seriously, but uhhh they threw serious right out the window.

This OVA is pure comedy, there's no seriousness going on. It's basically an completely random play on their series.

Okay, have you ever dreamed that an anime you watched would just turn into a random, comedic fanservicefest?

Well if you've ever watched 11eyes, the OVA makes your dream come true.

It starts out with Yuka and Kakeru on the roof of their school when they get transported to another world again. They first believe it's The Red Night, until they realize everything is pink and so they call it The Pink Night. They meet up with Misuzu, Yukiko and Takahisa (Who are apparently not dead) and try to figure out what's going on. They then realize that Kakeru's eye no longer allows him to see the future; it allows him to see through clothing.

To not be completely perverted, though, it's only down to their underwear. Why a mystical eye can't bypass underwear I don't kn--am I seriously nitpicking the logistics of the powers of a magical eye in this complete parody? Ugh.

Anyhoo, Shiori and Kukuri arrive (both also not dead) as they reveal that their powers have been screwed up in this world. Yukiko tests this out by taking off her glasses. Her regular powers are to turn into a perfect, immortal killer when she takes off her glasses. She then proceeds to rub herself all over Yuka and nibble her ear. She later full-on makes out with her before being knocked out by Misuzu.

As cute little "dark spirits" come to the group, Misuzu tries to take out her sword, but it's not a sword she whips out it's a .....Ahem, adult toy mostly used by women.

Kukuri shows up, able to talk explaining in full, censored detail what the toy is used for and how it's used and how good it feels. Apparently her powers are either to change into lingerie or being able to talk but speaking nothing but perverseness. Misuzu makes her cover her mouth with a mask and draw and write like she used to, but only draws perverse pictures. (That are also censored)

Takahisa's power used to be to control fire, but now he spurts streams of water from his fingertips. He drinks the water from his fingers and even puts his finger through his fly to simulate peeing.

Yukiko asks if she can drink the water. Takahisa agrees so Yukiko gets on her knees and you see where this is going, yeah? It makes it look like she's giving him...ya know.

The Black Knights show up acting like the Ginyu squad from DBZ, calling themselves the ero-pink squad or something. They do that same intro as the Ginyu squad and then proceed to self-destruct....

As the group goes to find the focal point of the world (the place where Liselotte was kept before) they find Liselotte and one of the black knights. Liselotte's dressed in dominatrix gear, sporting a whip, while the black knight is tied up, being whipped. The group leaves and see a sign for a hot spring (in the school apparently) they decide to make the best of the world and go there. They find swimsuits and swim in the water.....the water that's white....and salty. No one makes any other implications beyond the salty comment, but Yukiko and Yuka...drink it....yeah...

Kakeru then tries to find out who made this world by use of his eye of Aion. It singles out Yuka, who promptly screams, triggering her powers. Her powers in the Red Night were to disable other people's powers. Her power in the Pink Night? To turn males into females (but not vice-versa apparently) So Takahisa and Kakeru get turned into chicks and according to Kukuri's sketch book pages at the end, they lived as women happily ever after.

I guess as a side note, Shiori never shows what her powers are in The Pink Night.

Art: Does it honestly matter? (On par with TV series.)

Music: Are you telling me I told you all of that and you're concerned with audio? (Again, on par with TV series)

Voice acting: Were you not paying attention this entire review? (On par)

Characters: No new characters are introduced, but does that matter? No. The insanity!

Bottom line: If you like when an anime you like goes off canon to be pervy and fanservice ridden, you'll love this. I certainly enjoyed it, even if the fanservice for girls was minimal. It was random and just WTF worthy and definitely made me smile after watching 11eyes.

Recommended Audience: If you haven't been paying attention, there's fanservice a plenty. TONS of mentions and explanations of sex and self-pleasure, in addition to more mature themes. There's a naked breast here and there, but mostly they're covered by their arms and legs, underwear and bra or a bathing suit. There's also a girl on girl make out scene, if that bothers you.

17+
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« Reply #27 on: September 24, 2011, 02:14:56 am »

Fushigi Yuugi OVA 3: Eikoden

Plot: This OVA came out over 13 years after the last OVA, yet seems to take place between the last scene before the credits in OVA 2 and the actual ending scene.

Taka and Miaka have gotten married in the real world and Miaka got pregnant on their honeymoon. A girl named Mayo has come across the book of the Universe of the Four Gods and plans to enter it to escape her oh so terrible world filled with fighting, divorced parents, being cut from the basketball team, and worse of all her love of all loves, Taka getting married. Life's so tough amirite? She enters the book to a dying Konan and becomes the new priestess of Suzaku.  

Rating: 1/10

Review:

All you have to know about this OVA is as follows; this anime was based on a fanfic.

There ya go.

Review over.

Alright, fine.

This OVA is based on a fanfic that got published to a graphic novel. And it definitely shows that this is a fanfic.

Mary Sue? Check.

Reviving dead characters? Check.

Pregnancy? Check.

Marriage? Check.

Plot holes? Check.

Making up BS that makes no sense? Check.

I mean, really, Fushigi Yuugi may have been annoying at times, and it may have made me rage, but not nearly as bad as this pile of slop.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW IS VERY LONG AND RANTY. IT ALSO CONTAINS MANY USAGES OF THE WORD BITCH. FOR THE DOWN-LOW ON THE SERIES, JUST SKIP TO THE INDIVIDUAL POINTS.

Episode 1:

Wow, could they have found a more unlikable new character? I hate Mayo. I pretty much hated her from the first 10 minutes and that’s bad. Oh boo hoo, life’s too hard for little Mayo. Her parents are divorced and apparently the love of one parent isn’t good enough. She claims no one cares about her and yet a whole group of girls at the high school seem to be her friends and look concerned when she starts acting depressed. Keisuke tries his hardest to understand what the matter is with her. She claims no one cares then treats a guy who seems to care about her like crap. That makes sense. She’s had a crush on Taka for three years so I guess she just thinks she’s entitled to Taka. She jumps into the book like a dumbass, despite reading all the hardship and pain Miaka and Yui went through as priestesses, she thinks the book will solve all her problems and be a fairy tale. She manipulates Houki and Boushin into believing that Taka left Miaka and is dating her.

In addition she acts like a total self-important bitch to other characters in the book who are only trying to be nice to her.

Later she wants Taka to stay with her after he goes into the book after her as he’s worried about Miaka’s health and their baby who is now in Mayo. He has to find Chichiri and Tasuki to help save the dying nation of Konan and all she can say is “I think it’s silly. Going off like some samurai with a big sword.” Taka then tries to defend the sword saying it was Hotohori’s and he sacrificed his life using that sword to protect the empire he loved with all his heart and all she can say afterwards is it’s ridiculous. It’s clear that she doesn’t give  a crap about Konan and then she blames everything on Miaka saying she should’ve used one of her wishes to give Konan peace. Funny cuz Konan was in peace when she left it. The war was over. And hi hypocrite, if you summoned Suzaku you certainly wouldn’t wish for peace in Konan, you’d wish for Taka to be brainwashed into being your husband, Miaka to disappear, and you to live happily ever after.

…..*sigh*….And that’s all from one episode folks. And I thought THEM anime reviews were exaggerating about this chick. Damn.

Anyhoo, to get onto the real episode one.

It’s been three years since the events of OVA 2. Miaka and Taka have gotten married officially and Miaka got pregnant on their honeymoon. (The same kid from the ending of OVA 2 I presume—oooooh spoilerssss.) Mayo has had a crush on Taka for three years and hates Miaka. Apparently her life is so hard and terrible. I heard her parents divorced and she got cut from the basketball team or something. Cry me a f*bleep*ing river lady. You need a backstory a hell of a lot worse than that to entitle you to be a bitch and one insanely terrible to even pardon taking a married man away from his pregnant wife.

She comes across the Universe of the Four Gods book and, after reading it, decides that it’s some happy fairy tale land and going into the book will solve all of her problems. She’ll be with Taka and she’ll be happy and they’ll get married and just love love love. Oh but what about all the danger? No worries, says Mayo, the Suzaku seven protected Miaka and they’ll do the same for her. So apparently she doesn’t even give a crap about the lives of the Suzaku seven warriors either. They’re basically glorified bodyguards to her.

She enters the book and immediately after, Miaka falls ill. After a trip to the doctor it’s revealed that she is no longer pregnant and there’s no sign she was ever pregnant but Mayo is. Dun dun da da da dunnnnnn. Taka decides to go into the book to retrieve Mayo and save Miaka and their baby.

He arrives and finds that Houki and Boushin believe that Mayo is the new priestess of Suzaku come to save them from this hellish living and that Taka broke up with Miaka and is now dating Mayo and she’s having their child. Why Taka didn’t explain what the hell was going on is beyond me, especially seeing as how Houki seemed to hate that Taka and Miaka were broken up after such a loving romance.

What’s more is, I don’t understand the logic of this little trip? Was she chosen to be the new priestess or is she somehow taking Miaka’s identity? Because the instant she goes into the book she’s pregnant and has Miaka’s wedding ring. From what I’ve read Miaka will soon start disappearing too, like Takiko did when Yui became the new priestess of Genbu.

Does opening the book if you’re a high school girl automatically make you a new priestess? It’s all so fanfiction-y--….Oh.

Boushin sends Taka out to find the remaining Suzaku seven to help. He leaves (after the aforementioned conversation with Bitchbob Egopants) and quickly (like instantly…almost unrealistically quickly) finds Chichiri and Tasuki. They fight a fake Genbu and meet up with Taiitsukun who says that the only way to save Konan is to summon Suzaku. However, they state they can’t do that anymore cuz the rest of the Suzaku seven are dead. (Even though they’ve summoned him like four times while the others were dead.) Taiitsukun says that’s no longer true and they have all been reborn. Their task is to find the remaining Suzaku seven’s reborn forms, summon Suzaku and save Konan.

Episode 2:

This episode starts out with Taka and Mayo talking. She’s being a slimy little bitch again acting all innocent and saying she wasn’t lying about what she said to Houki and Boushin. After all she does have Miaka’s wedding ring and she’s carrying Taka’s child. Mayo then tells Taka to tell her he loves her, which he does, but follows it up with saying he’ll say it as many times as she wants (Because she’s their last hope to summon Suzaku to save Konan) but his heart will never belong to her and that it belongs only to Miaka. She demands that he never say her name in her presence again or else she’ll kill the baby. Taka agrees and goes off to continue his journey. It’s all a dream/memory, though, I think, cuz we see him back on the road with Tasuki and Chichiri right after as he wakes up.

They find Chiriko’s reborn self; a baby named Gakurei.

Apparently he watched himself be born (ew) and still remembered everything from his time as a Suzaku warrior. He was able to speak and read and studied on what was going on in Konan, awaiting the arrival of Taka and the others.

How is that ten years have passed since the end of the last OVA and Chiriko just got reborn like 6 months before OVA 3? Why the delay? Also, why do they get reborn with all of their memories intact AND their voices? The memories thing I can kinda understand, but are you telling me that you retain your original vocal cords all because you got reborn? Listening to Chiriko talking as a baby just gave me flashbacks of 001 from Cyborg 009 and Koenma from Yu Yu Hakusho. And why exactly do they retain their memories for only a short while before they just revert to a regular person? What’s the point in that? So they can reminisce on their time as Suzaku warriors for a year or so before just becoming normal?

After a discussion with Chiriko, they decide to find the other warriors, but not before a possessed lady takes Chiriko and throws him off a flight of stairs. Taka jumps off to save him, which he does, with some assistance from Chichiri.

Mayo: *makes a TERRIBLE noise by scratching her nails on the wall* “What’s taking so long? Can’t they even kill a helpless baby at this point?” Are you freakin’ kidding me you terrible bitch? First you threaten to kill Taka and Miaka’s baby just to keep controlling him, then you force some lady to try and kill baby Chiriko by THROWING HIM OFF A FLIGHT OF STAIRS?! You know what Miaka? Congratulations, your title has been removed. Mayo is now my most hated anime character ever by a long shot. I mean, Miaka may be hella annoying but at least she’s kind. My God, how much of a bitch do you have to be to try to kill babies?

And you wanna know what else? She actually has a best friend at school in addition to that group of girls I mentioned. Her name’s Saori.  

So you’re telling me she actually has a close friend at school in addition to that group of girls I mentioned before and she still states no one cares about her? Gawd.

The other half of the anime finds reincarnated, 5-year old-ish Mitsukake and the older version of the girl Shoka, the girl Mitsukake died to heal named after his lost love.

Mitsukake doesn’t remember who he was, but according to his parents he was stating he had to protect Shoka almost from birth. Mitsukake doesn’t wanna leave Shoka, but she makes him so that they can revitalize Konan.

Soon after, she gets attacked by the blackbirds that have been following them. Apparently they’re fake Byakkos just as they had fought a fake Genbu. A larger version of the fake Byakko emerges from Shoka and, despite Hotohori being no where around and him being reincarnated, the holy sword gets empowered by Hotohori’s life force and slays the fake Byakko. Just as Shoka’s about to die, Mitsukake remembers his past and heals her with his powers.

Mayo watches them in her room chastising them for spending their time on saving a little girl. *sigh*

As they wander around looking for Nuriko’s and Hotohori’s reborn selves, they find themselves next to a purple haired little girl and the orb glows indicating Nuriko’s mark as apparently this little girl is Nuriko. I guess he really wanted to be a girl.

Can I just say that this whole shtick of reincarnation is really just getting annoying? In addition to being too fast paced (They find three of the four warriors in one episode? Are you serious?) the Suzaku seven as annoying little kids is…well, annoying. If Chiriko’s not bawling Mitsukake’s bawling or being a brat. And Nuriko’s voice doesn’t sound any better. In addition, it’s just weird seeing the warriors in completely different bodies.

I will say that finding Chiriko and Mitsukake first was unexpected given that they like to basically ignore them….But Nuriko and Hotohori are probably being saved for last because they’re the better characters….at least I hope they’re better. At this point I really didn’t want to watch anymore. But seeing as how I already watched half of the episodes, I might as well.

Episode 3:

The group has found Nuriko and Mayo is getting increasingly upset because they keep finding more of the Suzaku seven so quickly. (Pacing FTL!) I forgot to mention that in episode 2 a fake Suzaku warned her that Taka and the others would kill her if they found all the warriors. Because I know the first thing I’d do if I gathered all the warriors to summon Suzaku, is kill the priestess who is the only one who can summon Suzaku plus the baby she’s carrying. Logic!

Oh BTW, reborn Nuriko is a thieving brat. Because if whiny little kids weren’t annoying enough, now we need an arrogant brat. I hope Hotohori’s a good kid, gawd.

Nuriko steals the crystal ball the group was tracking the Suzaku seven down with. As Tasuki chases her and grabs the ball away, Nuriko picks him up and throws him to the ground, breaking the ball. She cries and claims he broke her ball, so Tasuki and the others try to calm her by promising her to get a new ball. As they’re shopping for a new ball, a monster kidnaps Nuriko. It turns out to be a giant fake Seiryu.

The group defeats the Seiryu and regroup.

Mayo is unpleased as she watches from her crystal ball. The emperor from Star Wars—I mean the fake Suzaku (Seriously, watch the dub, listen to his lines after she watches them beat the Seiryu and tell me you’re not instantly reminded of the emperor.) tells her that once she gives enough hatred to him defeating the Suzaku seven will be easy.

Boushin walks in to ask Mayo about the Suzaku warriors from back in the old days. She knows all about them since she read the book. So, being the kind person she is, her first remark is saying that Hotohori was unfaithful to Boushin’s mother. How nice.

Anyhoo, she basically says Hotohori really loved Miaka and Miaka was a two-timing whore who constantly went back and forth between Hotohori and Tamahome. However, Hotohori just decided to give up on Miaka one day and settle for Houki. Then she muses that Hotohori never loved Houki.

Later, Saori, her best friend, tries to contact her through her belongings like Keisuke and Yui used to do with Miaka. Saori pleads for Mayo to come home, stating that her mother and father are worried sick about her. Mayo says she’s lying and that she doesn’t trust her parents. Keisuke tries to make her understand that it’s dangerous to stay in that world and that world will not bring her the happiness she seeks. He informs her that she’s being used by an evil being.

Mayo just brushes them off and says they’re lying. She says she’ll stay there forever with Taka and her baby. Afterwards she uses lipstick to write a message in the other world. She writes “I hope you all drop dead” on the window. What a peach, huh?

Immediately after Mayo notices she has no reflection.

Back with the Suzaku crew, Tasuki, Chichiri and Taka are following Nuriko, who is leading them through the desolate Suzaku village to meet a boy. The group believes this is Hotohori’s reborn self. After all, no way a girl could be leading them to meet a boy who wasn’t Hotohori. I mean, I know Nuriko loved Hotohori, but that’s quite a jump—Oh it is him….*sigh*

Meanwhile, Mayo’s freaking out and she’s starting to disappear. She starts to pass out in the water as she bathes and wakes up in her bed as Houki enters the room. She was listening outside the door when Mayo was saying those terrible things to Boushin, so she thought she’d tell her a story. A story so fanfic-y they may as well have hit you over the head with a cartoon mallet that was stamped “Fanfic!”

See, when Houki was younger, she lived in a small village and was very poor. She was in love with a man whom she had been with most of her life. She was selected to be an imperial courtesan and decided to go to save her family.

When she returned, her village was destroyed by the Kutou Empire and her love, the sole survivor, waited for her to return so they could be together forever and rebuild their village together.

But she said no. See, she wanted to be with Hotohori now. The man was angry that she was choosing Hotohori over him. He believed the only reason that she was going with him was because he was rich and the emperor.

The man then revealed that Hotohori actually had an older brother, whose life was threatened during a struggle for the throne so he got adopted by a….wandering peasan—What?! I mean what? Really? Long lost brother who gets adopted by a drifter FOR NO REASON? What does his life being threatened have to do with being adopted? Wouldn’t you just get more security detail? And why would you allow the future emperor to essentially be kidnapped and then just shrug it off and never speak of it again? This makes NO SENSE!

The man reveals himself as said brother, Tendou. He spits at them and says he will never forgive them.

I can’t say I blame the guy. I mean, it’s gotta be bad enough to lose your throne for no reason then live in a life of poverty, your only light being your one true love, having her go away, wait for her while your village gets massacred, then find out she fell in love with the brother who inherited your throne and doesn’t want you anymore.

Voting time: Does this sound more like a fanfic or a soap opera? It can go both ways it seems.
 
Houki continues, saying the brother burst into the palace in a rage, controlled by another, itching to slay Hotohori. Houki defended Hotohori,

Now, uh, follow me here, cuz I don’t even understand this part. Okay, the beast god is summoned in the generation of a child who bears the mark of Suzaku and he’s called the Suzaku king. Apparently some legend is he will forever be ignorant of this and will never see Suzaku be summoned. So not only is there a long lost brother, we also find out he’s some beast god king. Also, there seems to be no reason for this king…I mean, he’s forever ignorant that he is the Suzaku king and will never see Suzaku be summoned and seems to hold no abilities or powers that are that special.

This is all being explained by some guy who was apparently the one controlling Hotohori’s brother. He then slashes Tendou in the back because he couldn’t slay Hotohori and then boasts that he has killed the Suzaku king. …What benefit that gives him…or why he just didn’t kill him in the first place instead of controlling him is beyond me, but whatever. The man is then killed by Hotohori with another slash to the back. Like dominos, really.

Tendou then dies in Hotohori’s arms saying he’s happy to have met him and to make Houki happy.

So, then we get to the story about why Houki seemed to have loved Hotohori more than Tendou.

See, in Fushigi Yuugi the TV series, there’s a scene where Hotohori and Tamahome viciously battle each other. Hotohori, to protect Miaka (because he’s in love with her) and Tamahome because he’s under the effects of a mind controlling poison. Houki is seen watching this unfold. She sees the love and caring in Hotohori’s eyes and she sees how hard he battles for her. She also sees the love between Tamahome and Miaka as she brings him back to reality with a kiss. She watches as Hotohori bows out as Miaka and Tamahome embrace and she swears she’ll be with him forever.

Makes about as much sense as anything else in this insane OVA. So you love Hotohori more than Tendou because Hotohori lost his girl but you saw how much he loved her? You love him more than the man you’ve loved your whole life and had always dreamed of starting a future together with because of that? And dumping him when you’ve found out your whole village has been massacred and he’s the sole survivor? What is this? Honestly?

Mayo then tearfully apologizes for what she said to Bou—you know what? I don’t give a crap; because you’re still a heartless bitch and I don’t believe a word you say, so screw you and your apologies, lady. If you weren’t disappearing, I can’t bet you’d hear that story and call her a whore or something. Pfft.

The reincarnated Hotohori, Eian, is presented with Hotohori’s holy sword. Eian looks almost exactly like Boushin, btw and he’s an angel of a child. (Thank God)

A fake Suzaku appears and attacks the gang while Mayo tries to reason with the Suzaku shrine. It claims it doesn’t need her anymore. He grew strong (and/or was created by) Mayo’s hatred and since he’s fully powered up now, he has no purpose for her so she’d be better off dead.

Mayo then decides to take his advice, despite Saori’s pleas, and walks off into a lake to drown herself. Hey, you’re still carrying the baby…oh you don’t care? What a shock.

Taiitsukun appears, transporting Chiriko and Mitsukake to the group and explains that the Shinzaho (The baby) is in danger. Taka’s phone rings and asks how his phone can ring in that world….Uhmmm if you didn’t believe your phone could ring in that world, why did you bring it with you on your trip?

I guess one major note is I hate how they turned Mayo around in this. It’s like she’s been trying her best to be the biggest bitch in the history of bitchiness this entire OVA and now it’s like the creators are all “Okay, now you guys have to pity her and feel bad, because she’s crying, she actually apologized to someone and now she’s suicidal” Hell no! I don’t care if she becomes the next Mother Teresa, that doesn’t excuse half of the crap she’s pulled! And why would I pity her for trying to commit suicide? Her committing suicide is homicide to the baby she’s not even thinking about right now, so why should I waste pity on her?

Thank God the next episode is the last one.

Episode  4: The final episode starts with replaying Mayo walking into the water. She remembers her parents fighting and remembers running away from seeing Taka as Miaka visited him at the restaurant. Oh I feel so bad for you now. Really.

Now, Taka’s in a conversation on the phone with Keisuke. Somehow, someway, he CALLED Taka and is having a conversation over the phone, even though Taka has a phone and Keisuke’s just talking into a little puffball phone attachment. (Make sense of that! ) Yui’s blaming herself in the real world for dragging Mayo into this and Taka goes off to check up on Mayo.

As Mayo drifts underwater, she remembers the good times with her parents, Saori, she remembers her Basketball Coach Keisuke (Yeah…) and Boushin and Houki. She then admits that she’s done so many terrible things to all of them, but she just did them to make Taka pay attention to her.

Riiiiiigggghhhhhhtttttt. Cuz, telling Boushin his father never loved his mother, trying to murder baby Chiriko, Mitsukake, Nuriko, and Horohori, being a rude bitch to everyone, threatening to kill Taka and Miaka’s baby, wishing death upon your best friend, your basketball coach, Yui and Tetsuya, lying to everyone about your situation to Taka, manipulating Taka, not giving a crap about anyone’s lives but yours and Taka’s, saying all that terrible crap about Miaka just because you’re a jealous bitch, stealing Taka and Miaka’s baby and trying to claim it as your own while you try to steal a husband away from his wife, not giving a crap about the future of the empire, ALL THAT is truly an attention grabber the likes of which any love story would be proud to have.

Geez.

So she’s begging everyone to forgive her and Taka comes to the rescue. Mistuk—OMG…AHHHHHHHHH Too deep man voice coming from small five-year-old!! >.<;;
It’s times like this when the whole reincarnation stuff just gets annoying.

As she’s resting she apologizes for not being able to protect the baby…and God must be punishing her for it…….It’s YOUR FAULT the baby is in any kind of danger to begin with!

If it dies from disappearing it’s because you’re a jealous bitch who couldn’t control her jealousy and hatred. If it dies cuz you almost drowned yourself it’s because…you tried to drown yourself! Not to mention you’ve threatened the baby’s life more than once just to keep Taka around, so screw your self-pity and apologies, bitch.

We return to the real world where Yui is explaining why she’s blaming herself for what’s happening.

Again, bear with me. This will make about as much sense as Lady Gaga’s closet.

See, The Universe of the Four Gods is only supposed to tell one legend at a time. One priestess is supposed to appear per 100 years cycle or whatever (Though, weren’t the Genbu and Byakko Priestesses from the same time? I could’ve sworn they were roughly the same age and were friends. Also, if it's one priestess per 100 years, why were all of the Seiryu seven in existence when Yui got there? The plot holes hurt my soul.) However, Yui’s hatred of Miaka fueled her to become the priestess of Seiryu while Miaka was becoming the priestess of Suzaku. Since all four legends were complete, the book world started to deteriorate. Scared of being destroyed, the book went to find a new legend to tell, which is where Mayo comes in. Mayo’s hatred for Miaka created a shadow Suzaku, however.

Ready for more stuff that doesn’t make sense? Mayo possesses Saori (Possession’s weird enough but to do it when you’re not even dead yet and possessing someone who’s not even in your world? That’s stretching things a bit.) She tells Keisuke to say goodbye to everyone and that she’s disappearing. The link is then broken.

As everyone’s sitting around Mayo, Nuriko’s spirit returns and explains something. Mayo didn’t steal Miaka’s baby nor did the book steal it; Miaka sent it to her somehow because she knew the book world was in danger and knew her baby…was the shinzaho (HOW?!) so she sent the baby to a bitch who would threaten and attempt to kill it to keep it safe so they could summon Suzaku to save the book world. Nuriko then praises Mayo for doing a great job protecting the ba--…I’m getting so sick of the BS.

As Nuriko tries to ask Taka if he’ll go back to his world, Taka responds by saying he wouldn’t because this is his rightful home after all…so, I guess Miaka’s just a pile of crap now? Way to love your wife.

Miaka then possesses Mayo to give the group a pep talk. They believe it’s Mitsukake’s holy water at work healing her, but apparently the holy water is about as useless as regular water. No wonder it never got any screen time.

Hotohori’s spirit returns as well, and the gang's all there as the Shadow Suzaku appears. He unleashes his fake Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu on the villages. Just as he appears, Mayo vanishes, as does Miaka in the real world. (Here's another thing that makes no sense. Apparently the reason Miaka couldn't go save Konan herself was because her legend was over. The thing is, it was over when the TV series ended, yet we got two OVA's. And if her legend was over so she held no way to get back to the book world, how did she send the baby to Mayo and why did she disappear when Mayo did and how was she there reciting the chant to summon Suzaku with Mayo and the Suzaku seven?)

Soon after, the Suzaku seven all start to fade and the book’s pages turn black and illegible.

The Suzaku seven fade away and Mayo, Miaka, and the Suzaku meet at a crossroads. Mayo and Miaka both recite the chant to summon Suzaku, the gang reappears, and the real Suzaku is summoned. Taka then seems to channel the power of Suzaku himself and punches through the Shadow Suzaku making it disappear as quickly as it appeared. (There’s a final battle for you. A one hit K-O on an unoriginal, unmemorable villain.)

Taka: Darkness cannot exist where there is light.

…..They’re called shadows, Taka. And they can’t exist without light and are darkness. So, there ya go. Your final “screw you” line was dumb.

So everyone’s forgiven Mayo for what’s she’s done. (*glare*) Yeah…Just up and forgives her. She only (enter list of crap she did here) PLUS was the cause of the thing that almost destroyed the book world all because of her immature hatred and jealousy….but yeah, forgive and forget. Go ahead.

The OVA ends with a shot into the near future where Miaka is giving birth. She names the child “Hikari” meaning light. Taka then reiterates his previous words and says that darkness cannot exist where there is light…whole time they’re taking about stars. Yeah, stars too are a perfect example of darkness/light intertwining. The night sky is dark, but the stars are light. In fact, if the night wasn’t dark, the stars wouldn’t be very pretty to look at, if you could even see them.

Art: A mixed bag if there ever was a mixed bag. The drawn art is great. Definitely a step up from the old OVA's and the TV series, but GAWD it is tarnished beyond reason by the AWFUL CGI. It was like watching the Power Rangers movie, except it was acceptable in the Power Rangers movie. ....*goes to watch The Power Rangers Movie*

Seriously, why even bother with it anyway? It looks terrible, especially clashing with such bright colors and art, and is included in places you don't even need it.

Notice how Genbu and Byakko looked 1000x better than Seiryu and Suzaku (the fakes) For some reason, they were drawn, but Seiryu and Suzaku were CGI. What's even weirder is that the real Suzaku was drawn, wtf?

Music: The music's alright, it never bothered me.

Voice acting: I believe that Taka got a new VA but it's one I'm familiar with and wasn't too drastic of a change. He did a good job.

Mayo's VA is annoying.

Everyone else was as good as their old series VA's because I believe all of them are the old VA's.

The reincarnated kid's voices were terrible, though. Except Eian/Hotohori's.

Characters: You already know everything about Mayo.

Everyone else was just fine as usual, but I hate that they all just up and forgave Mayo for everything. Especially Taka. She threatened to kill your baby numerous times, almost does kill it by causing herself to vanish and trying to drown herself, all because she wanted to keep you around and force you to be a husband to her. You're not in the least bit angry? Really? And Miaka, you gave your baby to her to protect and she threatens and tries to kill it? Chiriko, she tried to throw you off a flight of stairs. Mitsukake, she almost got your little girlfriend killed. Nuriko, almost killed you. Keisuke, Saori, Tetsuya, Yui, she wished death upon you, NO ONE'S MAD AND EVERYONE JUST FORGIVES HER WITHOUT A THOUGHT? Come on!

I should mention that, though Tasuki has changed over the years, Chichiri has not changed...in the least. Down to the slightest detail.

Also, the villain was such a huge let down. Evil version of Suzaku? SMACKDOWN! Oh...one-hit KO and gets about as much screentime as Chiriko his entire TV run. Nice.

Bottom line: There was no reason this OVA should've been made and I'm fairly certain Yu Watase was reaching for more udders to milk this franchise. I mean, how desperate are you to take a franchise that's been over for 13 years and start it back up again for a gawd-awful OVA based on a fanfic of all things?

The main character attempts to be relatable, but unless you're a baby hating bitch from hell, I don't see how anyone could relate to her. Probably anyone else in her situation would be telling her this is way too far and just to let go for god's sake.

The story is forced and so very obviously fanfiction like in many places. It screws up what was a perfect ending to the series, the pacing was way too fast, the villain was cliche, boring, and defeated way too fast, and there's so many plot holes (How is the baby the shinzaho? Isn’t the shinzaho a relic that the priestess is wearing when she summons an ancient beast? The amulet Yui was wearing when she summoned Seiryu became one and Miaka’s wedding ring became another. Miaka hasn’t summoned Suzaku in over 3 years and she just got pregnant 3 months ago. How is the baby a shinzaho? And how did Mayo get the wedding ring? I understand how she got the baby, but how and why did she get the wedding ring? There's no reason Miaka would sent THAT to her.) and just over all dumb features that recommending this even to Fushigi Yuugi fans would be cruel. Especially since one of the main reasons Fushigi Yuugi fans love the series is because of the relationship between Miaka and Taka/Tamahome. There's little to no focus on it and most focus on it is negative because it's given from Mayo's perspective.

What's even worse is, Taka's a married expectant father and he shows little concern over a sick, unconscious Miaka as he's traveling in the book world and little concern over the baby Mayo's carrying.

There's no reason to watch this. If you must watch Fushigi Yuugi, watch until the end of OVA 2 and stop. Even the most diehard of FY fans say this OVA's a piece of garbage that never should've been made.

Recommended Audience: Bitchiness, some nudity, attempted baby murder, no sex, no swearing, bad writing, eye gouge worthy CGI.

No one, but if you must, 12+
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« Reply #28 on: October 02, 2011, 10:08:10 pm »

30-sai no hoken taiiku

Plot: Based on a novel called "Health and Physical Education for 30 year olds" (Please don't stop reading) this anime is about a man named Imagawa who has recently turned 30. The god of sex appears in his home, determined to help him lose his virginity. In fact, he can't and won't leave until the man has done it with someone. The anime follows Imagawa through his love life as he finds the one he will lose his virginity to.

Along the way, Imagawa meets a girl named Andou, who is also a 30 year old virgin who also has a god of sex helping her lose her virginity.

Rating: 8/10

Review: No, that's no typo in the rating, I really give this anime a high mark. Why? Because it was very funny, the characters were very likable (Barring Andou, kinda) and the story was actually believable (barring the....well, you'll see in a minute) Sure, this anime got somewhat pervy sometimes, but everything was censored. And I mean everything.

When I first read the premise, I was sure this was going to be insanely perverted and sexist and just overall trash. But, to my surprise it's only slightly perverted and slightly sexist (It's on both sides of the genders though) and not trash. I still don't fully agree with this statement of "if you're of a certain age and you haven't screwed someone yet, you're a loser" but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. At the end, in fact, it seems more like the gods cared about them finding someone who would make them happy over just losing their virginity.

I can't really put into words how....weird this anime gets sometimes. I mean, not only do we have gods of sex helping 30 year olds put out, but we also have a god of virgins, who just happens to be Imagawa's landlord, a little brother of the sex god, Daigorou, named Macaron. He looks to be like 8, but when he first appears he's in the form of a young girl that looks like she's about to have sex with Imagawa (He never touches him) the gods getting sick and the cure is cooking stew or something on their heads, And we also have Andou's weird-ass AKfield which is a force field she emits when she wants someone to get away from her. In the final episode that it appears in she even goes so far as turning into an android and beating up Imagawa with her robot boobs...

And then no one ever mentions it again.

We even have a weird Dragonball Z reference when Imagawa leaves Andou after a fight. He finds the virgin god in the desert and he trains him to use the Virgin ball (Which acts exactly like the spirit bomb, except taking the energy from virgins...and the shape is...like a....yeah)

It's all done in a funny manner, but I will say there's stuff I didn't enjoy about it.

Like, how Andou was so upset over Imagawa leaving that she became a shut in and got pretty fat. Or like how Imagawa was so upset over Andou forcing him to trash his blow up sex doll (Yeah...) that they had a big fight and he left on a journey. (Dude, you have a real girlfriend now, give up the sex doll) or when Andou got jealous of the sex doll and imagined competitions with her. This would've been funnier if the competitions weren't sexist (Cleaning contest, cooking contest)

Still, I enjoyed it and there was something clever at the end of each episode. You see, at the end credits you'd see Andou and Imagawa as babies, then the next episode as toddlers, next episode as small children and so on and so forth. I believe this was signifying their maturity through time with the gods.

What's even more is, I liked the characters a lot and when they left for heaven, they did it in a fairly sad manner. I didn't cry or anything, but I did feel emotion for them.

Art: Very nice, even though a lot of it looked like it was done in Adobe Flash. Not that that's a bad thing, though. Kinda makes some scenes funnier.

Music: Ehhh, average.

Voice acting: Great.

Characters: Daigorou: Daigorou is the first sex god to appear and he's Imagawa's. He seems to think of nothing but his job, and doing his job well. However, later we see a little more to Daigorou as he seems to care more about them being happy than just having sex. He's also the funniest in the bunch, IMO.

Macaron: Macaron's very cute and not that irritating like other little kids in anime. He's the little brother to Daigorou and the second god to appear. Imagawa had a point, though, if not a somewhat creepy note. How does Macaron call himself a sex god when he's too young to have had sex?
I mean he seems to know as much about sex as his brother, but....I don't even wanna think about it. He's still a cute, adorable little kid, though.

Imagawa: There's not much to say about Imagawa. He's a horny, average 30 year old who has no idea what he's doing in the realm of sex and dating. There's not much to like or dislike about him.

Kuu and Pii: They're the female love goddesses who mentor Andou. Though they're twins you can easily tell them apart (Kuu's the one with the sailor moon-esque hair) and Kuu is more vocal than her sister. In fact, Pii acts more like Macaron. Kuu's no where near as stoic as Daigorou, though. I can't say they particularly annoy me. I like the boys better though.

Andou: I don't particularly like Andou. I thought I was timid, damn. Andou's really timid and kind of a pushover. She's not the worst female lead, I mean, they coulda done FAR worse, but, still.

Bottom Line: It's an enjoyable, short anime with likable characters and a relatable storyline. It's funny and it may teach you something amidst the wtfness.

Recommended Audience: I don't even know how to gauge this. There's no swearing, but lots of sex talk and sexual visuals, however anything sexual in nature is censored. They won't even show french kissing, even if it's fake mouths. However, even the dumbest of dumb can get what's in the picture (if it's just blurred and not covered in the total censor) and there's still tons of fanservice...
Kinda implications of physical romance with a kid (even if nothing happens)

.........................15+?
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« Reply #29 on: October 09, 2011, 10:05:00 pm »

WARNING: THIS REVIEW IS BASED OFF AN INCOMPLETE VIEWING ON 2X2 SHINOBUDEN/NINJA NONSENSE. THUS MY VIEWS CANNOT BE TAKEN IN FULL. ANYTHING WRITTEN HERE IS BASED OFF OF THE VIEWING OF 7/12 EPISODES OF THIS ANIME SERIES.

PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND WHILE VIEWING. THANK YOU.


2x2 Shinobuden/Ninja Nonsense

Plot: Ninja Nonsense is an absurdist comedy centering around Shinobu, a ninja apprentice, who is attempting to pass her ninja exams while Kaede, a normal schoolgirl, studies for her school exams. As a part of her exam, Shinobu is ordered to break into Kaede's room to steal her panties by her instructor, Onsokumaru. Shinobu, who despite her enthusiasm, possesses little if any actual ninja skills, believes herself to be invisible and 'sneaks' into Kaede's room. Since Shinobu is perfectly visible to Kaede, the mission does not go as planned. Despite all of this, Kaede takes pity on Shinobu and the two become close friends. Shinobu trains alongside other male ninjas identical in appearance, though one is known as Sasuke.

Taken from Wiki

Rating: N/A Due to incompletion. Just read the review

Review: I just got tired of this series. Plain and simple. It was kinda funny the first couple of episodes, but as you continue, everything failed to even make me smile. It's an extremely random show, but only a few jokes actually hit with me and the characters aren't really likeable.

What kind of sensible girl becomes best friends with a girl who broke into your room to steal your panties anyway?

Some running plot lines consist of;

Shinobu being insanely gullible.

Onsokumaru being insane and insanely pervy

Miyuki being a brat.

Shinobu having the hots for Kaede (Did I mention that? Yeah that happens.)

The only people in this show that always seem to be mildly entertaining are the ninjas. They never take off their masks and I mean never and only one of their names is ever given, the leader named Sasuke (Was this made too early to be a reference?)

Other than the ninjas it's just wtfness that rarely made me smile. I see this anime has quite a following, but I dunno. Maybe I just don't get it?

Kaede's simply there to show the normal person reaction to all this stuff, she's really boring otherwise.

Shinobu's more gullible than Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket.

Onsokumaru is simply unlikable. He's a jerk, he's a pervert, and he even fantasizes about Miyuki along with Kaede and Shinobu in tons of perverted situations.  (Miyuki being, I'm gonna say, 10 years old?)

Miyuki is a brat, but likable sometimes.

The ninjas are the only ones that seem to make me smile.

By the time I was watching the seventh episode, I was really just bored, so I decided to drop it for other anime.

I dunno, maybe this anime just didn't hit me the right way.

Art: Ehh, average. Nothing to gawk at but nothing to hate on.

Music: Decent, unmemorable, really, though.

Voice acting: Good, but what the hell is up with Onsokumaru's voice? It sounds way too deep to be the voice of that little gumball. And yes, this is subbed, not dubbed.

Characters:

Shinobu: Way too gullible for my liking. I'm pretty sure she'd do anything for Onsokumaru if it had something to do with ninja training. Which, disturbs me, btw. She also just seems to be kinda dense. I guess she is hard working and kind hearted, but too much for her own good. Then you have her weird crush on Kaede, I'm not even gonna touch that.

Kaede: Boring as hell. She's the character like Beauty in Bobobo Bo-Bobobo, only there to establish a "normal" character. And what's up with her parents? Her mom overhears her talking to some strange girl dressed like a ninja in her daughter's room so she just bursts in and instantly agrees to take her in then her mom and dad both say, numerous times that they've always wanted a daughter when Kaede is their daughter? Is Kaede so boring they'd gladly forget her to adopt Shinobu or something?

Onsokumaru: I don't understand what he is. Gum? A bird? A shapeshifter? And I really don't like him because he's rude, perverted, mean, and there's little to like about him.

Miyuki: Miyuki seemed okay when she was introduced, but after that she gets kinda annoying and bratty. Also, I kinda think it's weird that whenever she's in an episode there has to be at least something perverted suggested to her or said to her or fantasized about her. She's like 10, for corn sake.

Sasuke/ninjas: These guys are fun and not that annoying. I like their character design and I would probably watch a mini-series simply about them.

Bottom line: It's a miss over a hit to me. Some jokes fly but mostly I was just bored.

Recommended Audience: No nudity, really. I mean, some nudity but no genitals and no nipples. A lot of humor is perverted but a lot of humor also seems to be juvenile, like fart jokes. Then there's the child perversion.

....14+
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