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Student Council’s Discretion Season 1 Complete Collection (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 28, 2015
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Student Council’s Discretion season 1review provided by Katie and Andrew

Title: Student Council’s Discretion Blu-ray Season 1 Complete Collection

Director: Takuya Sato

Studio: Studio Deen

Author: Jukki Hanada

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: March 24, 2015

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Parody, School, Harem

Industry Age Rating: 14 and up

Overall Personal Rating: B-

Other Titles to Check Out: Lucky Star, Ebiten, Haganai, Haganai Next, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

“Mukyu.”

Synopsis:

At Hekiyo Academy, the Student Council members are elected via the usual popularity contests, and since most teenagers think more with hormones than brains, those seats are filled by the school’s most beautiful girls. But one student is chosen based on academic scores. Besides being the council’s only male member, one of Ken Sugisaki’s main assignments is writing stories informing the student body what the student council actually does. To do that he’ll have to manipulate the truth just a bit, and given that Ken’s an obsessive fan of dating sims who fantasizes about his fellow council members as his “harem”, things tend to get even more out of hand. Plus, exactly who’s going to be the leading lady is up for debate, as immature Kurimu, tomboyish Minatsu, twisted Chizuru, and “boy’s love” obsessed Mafuyu are all trying to add their own particular spins to everything. If that’s not enough, the journalism club has it out for all of them.

Commentary:

Dragging the otaku culture, kicking and screaming the whole way, Student Council’s Discretion Blu-ray Season 1 Complete Collection, brings more anime memes and parodies than you can possible count. Just in the opening sequence of the first episode, they have over ten references before they show the opening. With some touching on the obscure, they can make things a bit difficult, so it does help to know what they are referencing for a lot of it to make any sense. This series will probably be more entertaining to those who are familiar with otaku culture.

Student Council’s Discretion Blu-ray Season 1 Complete Collection follows Ken Sugisaki and the rest of the student council (aka harem) on their daily activities of conducting the student government. That just sounds like some fun stuff doesn’t it? The catch is that they really don’t do anything meaningful, often each doing their own thing, as the meetings hardly go as planned, if even planned at all. The Student council president, Kurimu Sakurano, the resident loli, leads in the randomness with sheer determination and cuteness. Ken Sugisaki, Vice President, has one thing on his mind and being a teenage male, you can easily imagine what that is. So what is this series about? Nothing really. No, seriously. It’s episodic and random. It’s very Seinfeldish, if you will. No central plot, or conceptual story line, loveable characters that are a bit cliché, and random humor, that is sometimes a little misplaced. On a few occasions their jokes did fall flat, but that was mostly on the more obscure references they made. At those times, it felt like I was with a group of people that I had never met and they had a lot of inside jokes, that you had to of been for a while there to get.

The characters were developed a bit, but since they are all standard archetypes, everyone quickly fell into those clichés and not much development was done beyond that. At some point, they even made it a butt of some of the jokes. Another thing that seemed odd is in the first half of the series, you could count on one hand how many locations they interacted in. By the end you probably had to use both hands, so the scenery did not change often. Considering that humor was the main concept, background scenery was also not built up or changed often. The background was decently detailed, and the club room seemed to have a lot going on in it. They had to fill the space with something I suppose. The opening theme was a bit catchy, and the ending theme was ok. Background music was non-existent. The focus was mostly on the humor, and it did not detract from the series.

Extras:

Student Council’s Discretion included clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with Japanese with English Subtitles as the only language option.

Overall Grade: B-

This series is not for those who are new to anime, or those who have to have a completely coherent story from beginning to end. It’s not there. I found it easiest to watch a couple at a time, as watching too many episodes at once got tiring and I would lose interest. Enjoy it for what it is. Overall it was a decent series, if you are watching it for the parody and humor.

Tokyo Ravens season one part 1 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 21, 2015
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Tokyo RavensTitle: Tokyo Ravens season one part 1

Director: Takaomi Kansaki

Creator:  Kohei Azano (Light Novel)

Anime Writer: Hideyuki Kurata

Studio: 8-Bit

U. S. Distributor: Funimation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: April 7th, 2015

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Adventure, Romance, Harem

Age Rating: TV 14

Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

Harutora may seem like an ordinary guy, but he’s actually a descendent of an ancient and powerful clan of onmyouji. Born without the family talent for magic, he’d always believed he was destined for a normal, boring existence. All that changed the day Natsume, a beautiful face from Harutora’s past, barged back into his life and forever altered the course of his future. When her sudden arrival leads to a violent and tragic encounter with a magical prodigy, Harutora agrees to fulfill a childhood vow by accompanying Natsume to the clandestine Onmyo Academy. Together, along with their incredible onmyouji classmates, they’ll attempt to survive life at a school where not even magic can get you out of your homework.

Commentary: 

Tokyo Ravens is being marketed as one of this years best kept secrets, but I wouldn’t go that far. Much of the series reminds me of other mainstream series that give us the struggling hero who wants nothing more to do than hang out. I see him as a Neet who is has a destiny. The real question is what his he really. I have a feeling that there is a big twist about him and a tiger as the series unfolds. I found Tokyo Ravens season 1 part 1 to be rather pedestrian in the overall feel and development of the story. It reminds me of the let down that Guilty Crow ended up being. I just hope that part two takes us to another level. The basics are there for something good and maybe svn great. I would like to see most of the comic relief to be set aside and let the real drama unfold.

The attention to the comedy was too prevalent and it gets in the way of the story that needs to be told. I can’t say that I like the introduction of Kon. Sure she is cute and silly, but the character is not much help and in face she gets in the way of the deeper story development. There are 2 extras where she explains some of the basics about the world of Tokyo Ravens and even though her voice and mannerisms are a tad silly the information is worth while.

Overall Grade: B

Tokyo Ravens is a standard shonen with a harem feel that plots the hapless hero who doesn’t seem to understand anything as potentially the key to it all. I do like the plot and where the story is headed, I am just worried that the silliness that overwhelmed the first 12 episodes will continue. I would have like to see a more dramatic slant to the series. What happened to the days where action series carried a serious dramatic flair like Darker Than Black or Black Lagoon. I’m not asking for over the top violence just a more serious approach to the characters and overall story.

I was not completely disappointed by Tokyo Ravens. There is plenty to enjoy. The animation and production is great and some of the english voice acting is really superb. I thought that several of the characters were given a depth and feel that makes them easy to support and connect with. There is also are clear development of a twist on the way. I just hope we get to see it.

If you liked Guilty Crown, C (Control) or even Unbreakable Machine Doll then you will enjoy Tokyo Ravens. I am looking forward to part 2 and really hope that it takes the series in a more dramatic direction.

The World Only God Knows : Goddesses season 3 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 18, 2015
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The World Only God Knows GoddessesTitle: The World Only God Knows : Goddesses season 3

Director: Satoshi Osedo

Writer: Hideyuki Kurata

Studio: Manglobe

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: March 10th, 2015

Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Harem, Romantic Comedy, Gaming Parody

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Grade: B-

Synopsis:

Dating Game master Keima Katsuragi’s skills at conquering hearts in the virtual world have translated into real life so well that he and Spirit Hunter associate Elsie have already captured 14 of the runaway spirits attaching themselves to the souls of different girls. But is even the God of Conquests up to the task of romancing six REAL Goddesses?

The fate of the world may depend on it, because if Keima can’t do it six more times, a renegade faction of demons will use the Goddesses power to unleash an even more dangerous and powerful group of demons. That could mean the devastation of both Heaven and the Earth! (Not to mention Keima losing his own head.) And if the situation wasn’t difficult enough, it seems that the Goddesses’ souls are hidden inside girls that Keima has already had to make fall in love with him before. As part of the magic spell, they’ve all forgotten about him… or have they?

Commentary:

It is understandable that the overall popularity of the series pushed the studio to make a 3rd season. It is also understandable that there was some attempt to use the earlier plot line to help drive the current story. I can appreciate both, but as it all too often comes to pass I can say that The World God Only Knows: Goddesses doesn’t even come close to being as entertaining as the first two seasons.

It is great to see all the characters come back and to have the wide array of personalities to play off of it just felt forced and more than just a little contrived. Of course it is natural that anime come across contrived because it is contrived. Once in a while an anime will feel somewhat natural, but most of the time you walk away thinking to yourself that they really pushed it this time. The World God Only Knows: Goddesses doesn’t pull any punches in that category.

In the first two seasons I kind of felt sorry for Keima and his delusional personality. In this installment I wanted to punch him one minute and praise him the next. I guess that this emotional response is a positive reaction for the overall feel of the series. It says that I did care about his character enough to get mad at hime or applaud his naive heroics. Either way I will mark that up as a plus. The characters I ended up not caring for at all where the goddesses. They came across rather dense and silly at times.

Overall Grade: B-

The overall writing for The World God Only Knows: Goddesses  is where it failed the most. The story seemed to advance with a somewhat even flow over the first few episodes but as the series developed it slowed down and became very even and ended felling rushed and carelessly produced. I guess that if we had a better understanding of the struggles and evil forces at play along with a longer development of the final battle things could have come across much more coherent. There was way too much time spent on how Keima was going to figure out which one of his conquest had the goddesses in them and in the end it seemed obvious from the opening episode what he needed to do.

In the long run I know that the fans of the series are going to love this. It has everything they would want. That being said, I am a fan and thought the plot had some real opportunities to be a home run. I just feel like they got off track and by the time they realized it the story was over and thing just happened at that point.

This is a buy for the hard core fans and I would recommend that if you are interested in the series that you start from season one and work your way up.

Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons-The Complete Second Season (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 2, 2015
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Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moonsreview provided by Katie and Andrew

Title: Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons-The Complete Second Season

Director: Yuu Kou

Studio: J.C. Staff

Author: Noboru Yamaguchi

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: March 10, 2015

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Magic, Romance, School, Harem

Industry Age Rating: 14 and up

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Familiar of Zero, The, Toradora!, and Shakugan no Shana

Synopsis:

Louise the Zero and Saito are back in Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons. However Saito has distinguished himself as a hero with Louise has started to get a handle on her Void magic. Saito is also Louise’s familiar of his own free will, but has that made any difference in their “professional” relationship?

Let’s just say that their relationship could be a ride at Six Flags because it is so full of ups and downs such as that perfect romantic moment and messy explosions. However, that does not mean they are not ready to spring into action the moment Queen Henrietta is kidnapped. With this new war brewing, will they be able to find a way to work together that does not end up with Saito getting the wrong end of Louise’s magic wand? Or will Louise still end up hurting the one person besides her family that she cares about? You will have to watch Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons and find out for yourself.

Commentary:

I really believe that the Tristain Academy of Magic needs to invest in bomb squad, or build things much, much stronger. Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons continues where season one left off, however this season seems to be more aimed at character development. There are still parts that are very easily predicted but they are occasional. The plot mainly focused on the relationship between Saito and Louise, the ongoing war with Albion, and Agnes’ story.

Agnes is the Captain of the Tristain musketeers in service of Henrietta. She is a military woman who loves her discipline. She hates Mages, especially fire Mages, with a vengeance. Apparently fire Mages burned her village to the ground when she was a child and she is the only survivor. Most of the episodes for this season focus on this and Agnes getting her revenge on the Mages who burned her village to the ground.

The relationship between Saito and Louise is interesting to say the least. Saito is his same perverted self and Louise does not put up with it at all. She seems to instantly know when he has a perverted thought and makes him pay for it. You would think he would eventually learn, but he does not. The character development has much more depth in this season with a few new characters and significantly more family back story for both new and old characters alike. We also meet the rest of Louise’s family and I fully believe that they might be the cause for her magic being like it is.

The art was just as beautiful as the first season. The backgrounds were very colorful and the characters were drawn well. The voice actors did an amazing job and you really connect with the characters thanks to them. The opening and closing animations were well done and the music was catchy. There is quite a bit of fan-service as Saito is a pervert, but there really is not anything too over the top.

Extras:

Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons-The Complete Second Season includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with Japanese with English subtitles as the only language option.

Overall Grade: A-

I truly enjoyed watching Familiar of Zero, The: Knight of the Twin Moons and I cannot wait for the third season to be released by Sentai Filmworks. I would recommend the entire Familiar of Zero series to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre.

Unbreakable Machine Doll (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 17, 2015
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Unbreakable Machine DollTitle: Unbreakable Machine Doll 

Director: Kinji Yoshimoto

Original Story: Kinji Yoshimoto

Anime Writer: Yuko Kakihara

Studio: Lerche

U. S. Distributor: Funimation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: March 3rd, 2015

Format: Blu-ray / DVD/ 12 episodes and 6 OVAs / 390 minutes

Genre: Echii, Action, Fantasy, Romance, Harem, Moe

Age Rating: TV MA

Overall Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

Raishin Akabane and his beautiful companion Yaya enroll at Walpurgis Royal Academy to study Machinart: a dangerous blend of magic and technology. Raishin is a puppeteer capable of using magic to power up Yaya, his automaton, for ruthless battles no mere human could survive.

In the wrong hands, Yaya is a deadly weapon, but the honorable Raishin, despite his mysterious quest for vengeance, takes no pleasure in killing for sport. Instead, he joins forces with a harem of gorgeous classmates to unmask those responsible for a rash of heinous human experimentation. If new enemies and terrible grades don’t spell doom for Raishin, he and Yaya might live long enough to conquer the school where magic meets machine!

Commentary:

Unbreakable Machine Doll followed a week worn path of magic users and the vessels that they use to wield their magic. At times I could feel the series channeling Harry Potter and at other times it felt more like Madoka Magica. None-the-less it still had the impact that I’m sure it was after.

From the very opening I knew this wasn’t going to be a simple magic users series, it was really going to be about the fan service and how often they can play off other sexual tension created between Raishin and the other women in his life. Not to mention his magical doll/weapon, Yaya.

Over the course of the 12 episodes I saw the plot develop and strengthen to appoint that made me some what sad that the series relied on sex appeal to draw in the viewers. There is enough story here without having Yaya take her cloths off and try to bed Raishin every other episode and to then present one character that for all of her innocence she still manages to make her breast more prominent than her sweet character. It almost pained me to watch the story unfold through the bouncing bounty that crosses the screen.

Overall Grade: B

For as much as I thought the breast parade got in the way there was still a plot line that was coherent and impelling. I really want to see Raishin grow in strength and come to the point where he faces his brother in battle and also manage to weed out the unethical magic users that wish to become god. I see Raishen and Yaya as something else that manages to elevate themselves above the shackles of lust and greed to help the other discover their own goodness. Unfortunately, this side of the story is not given the ability to grow and prosper and we are left with just another echii series that leaves us wanting for more.

Unbreakable Machine Doll not only has potential to be a fun series to watch and own, but it could have finally brought the two worlds together in a way that justified the silliness that goes on in each episode and the lack of completion that is yet to follow.

I sincerely hope that the funding is found to help complete this series and bring this potentially epic story to an end.

Extras:

Along with the 12 episodes there are also 6 OVAs. Now it has been know that sometimes the OVAs manage to pick up where the series left off, but in this case they follow the other age old path of just being silly reasons to show off the characters boobs. I was really hoping for some closure, but alias not this time.

A Certain Magical Index, A the Movie: Miracle of Endymion (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : January 2, 2015
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Certain Magical Index, A the Movie: Miracle of EndymionTitle: A Certain Magical Index,  the Movie: Miracle of Endymion

Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori

Written By: Kazuma Kamachi, Hiroyuki Yoshino

Studio: J. C. Staff

U. S. Distributor: Funimation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: Feb. 17th, 2014

Format: Blu-ray / DVD / Feature Film / 90 Minutes

Genre: Harem, Supernatural, Action, Fantasy

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: B-

Synopsis:

Welcome to Academy City, a futuristic metropolis populated with super-powered students. As the brightest intellectual minds in the city work to complete the world’s first space elevator – a towering spire capable of taking citizens into the heavens – perpetually unlucky Kamijo and nun-in-training Index befriend a talented street musician named Arisa. When the beautiful singer lands a big break, her miraculous voice attracts unwanted attention, making the songstress a target for magicians and scholars alike. As the battle between sorcery and science blasts into space, Kamijo, Index, and their allies in Academy City are rocketed to a psychedelic stadium thousands of feet above Japan in a desperate attempt to keep Arisa – and the rest of the world – safe.

Commentary:

Well, I am not going to stand up and cheer for this film. I found it to be a little pandering to the audience and simply put I am somewhat disappointed that it did not wrap up the series. It is just a plan old filler that can be taken or fleet for what it is. Of course it can’t just stand on its own as a story because you must understand all of the back story or you will be lost. I didn’t see anything out of the film that helped make any of the characters better. There was no revelation that makes a difference to the series and in the end everything goes back to the way it was. There aren’t even any new characters to add to the pantheon of players in the series.

As a film is was entertaining for what it is. As a fan of the series I understood what was going on and knew most of the characters. It felt like one of the many Bleach or Naruto films where they run off to save the girl and in the end nothing really happened, well almost nothing happened. I guess the focus of the movie was to sell a music CD, but the music is not that interesting or even good.

Overall Grade: B-

I really wish that there was something positive to say about A Certain Magical Index,  the Movie: Miracle of Endymion, but in reality I just found it flat. The writing made Kamijo even more preachy then usual and very much the dunce who just happens to be there. I also found his final speech to be lacking any convincing arguments it just comes down to the reality of remembering the past that makes the difference.

So, if you are a fan of the series you just might find it entertaining, but if you are not familiar with the series don’t waist your time.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : December 26, 2014
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Ground Control to Psychoelectric GirlTitle: Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl standard edition

Director: Akiyuki Shinbo

Studio: Shaft

Written By: Ayana Yuniko

Created By: Hitoma Iruma

U. S. Distributor: NIS America

U. S. Re-release: Dec. 9th, 2014

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / 13 Episodes / 333 minutes

Genre: Harem, Sci Fi, Comedy, Absurdity

Age Rating: TV 13

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Makoto Niwa just moved to the city to live with his aunt Meme after his parents were reassigned to work overseas. He is perfectly fine with that, saying it will give him the chance to live the dream life of an adolescent boy. He keeps track of the things he does by assigning “points” to them – positive or negative – and adds them up on a regular basis to grade his adolescent life. And then, he discovers Meme has a secret daughter (and self-proclaimed alien) named Erio. He finds her rolling around by the front door of Meme’s house wrapped up in a futon. It is then he realizes that his dream adolescent life will not come true, and begins a life of experiences that are out of this world.

Commentary:

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl stands out as one of those anime that has a rather simple plot and then turns it on its ear. Basically you have a high school boy coming to live with his aunt and her high school age daughter, to attend high school in the big city. Throw in an aunt who loves to play with Makoto’s head, constantly coming on to him, and then you have Erio who is very cute and believes she is an alien, tending to spend her time rolled up in a futon. This makes things awkward and maybe a little uncomfortable for Makoto, but he takes it with a calm stride and ends up taking on the role of the only responsible one in the house. At the same time, attracting some of the strangest girls in school.

With all the craziness going on in the series there is a simple backbone to the story that keeps it both easy to watch and  to connect to the characters that make up this odd group. Even though it may not be as strange as Arakawa Under the Bridge it still takes on a quirkiness that stays with it all the way through. This off balance plot line helps to show how well it was written. If the story was just strange it would have failed after just a few episodes, but because of the strong concept by Hitoma Iruma and script writing of Ayana Yuniko things go well and you just want to keep watching.

Overall Grade: A-

At its core, Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl, is a silly harem that follows the older harem stories like Love Hina and Ai Yori Aoshi. Over the last five years or so most of the harem series have been all about silly battle concepts like Sekirei or Is This a Zombie?. It is nice to see one come back and the silly comedy that includes strange women and a rather simple high school story line.

If you didn’t get a chance to pick up Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl when it was released in a premium set then now is the time to get it as the standard edition. Thanks, NIS America for keeping this series alive.

A Certain Magical Index II part 2 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : December 25, 2014
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Magical Index season 2 part 2Title: A Certain Magical Index II part 2

Director: Hiroshi Nishikori

Studio: J. C. Staff

U. S. Distributor: Funmation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: Dec. 16th, 2014

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / 12 episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Harem, Comedy

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis:

The Book of the Law – an encoded grimoire containing catastrophic magic – has been stolen, so naturally Kamijo, Index, and a few familiar faces join in the crusade to protect the one nun who can decipher the powerful text. But as the group battles church sects and holy assassins, they realize that discovering who their true enemy is may be more difficult than saving the sister.

Meanwhile, an organization known as the Science Society resurrects an esper-producing program, a school festival brings out the competition – and drama – in the student population, and a mysterious figure negotiates the purchase of a sacred relic that could threaten the future of Academy City.

Commentary:

As with the rest of the Magical Index series there is plenty of fan service, but this 12 episodes tends to take itself a little more serious. That is a nice departure from the earlier episodes. This are getting much more tense and I was really looking for some sort of closure  and as with the first season it just doesn’t happen. That is not to say I was left unsatisfied, instead I felt like I had been give a generous dose of this odd magic / scientific series. I am still rather confused as to the scientific aspects because all of the  special powers seem to be somewhat magical even though they call themselves ESPers. Still it is cleat that the church and the scientific community still have a long way to go before they can find common ground.

Overal Grade: B+

A Certain Magical Index season II part 2 brings it all back together and adds another layer of complexity to this simple yet strange harem series. The series has managed to move further away form the harem aspects and lean much more on the action supernatural backbone of the series and i for one really do enjoy that. There are still moments that the easy way out with moe / fan service is just a downer for me. I can enjoy the juxtaposition of an older teenage boy and a 12 year old girl, but to make a large number of the sexually charged girls in this series so blatantly young yet scantily clad is tiresome and somewhat a waist of time. Magical Index has a strong enough plot and rich enough characters that they could have all been college age and it would have made much more sense.

I do like the series and am looking forward to the movie to see if it wraps things up. I suspect it does. Maybe we will discover what the real importance of Kamijo’s right hand really is. I am not buying that he is a level zero who just so happens to be able to negate magic. He is also able to take a great deal of punishment and keep on coming back for more. I do hope the movie satisfies what ails the series and give it closure that is so deserves.

Ambition of Oda Nobuna, The: The Complete Collection (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : December 15, 2014
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Ambition of Oda NobunaTitle: Ambition of Oda Nobuna, The: The Complete Collection

Director: Yuuji Kumazawa

Studio: Madhouse

Author: Mikage Kasuga

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: December 16, 2014

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Historical, Harem

Industry Age Rating: 14 and up

Overall Personal Rating: B

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Battle Girls: Time Paradox and Sengoku Collection

Synopsis:

Yoshiharu Sagara, or Monkey as he is known to Oda Nobuna and her retainers, thought he knew his Japanese history backwards, forwards, and upside down, but when he inexplicably finds himself in the past everything he thought he knew was wrong and he is in a very different history altogether! Not only is this timeline’s version of the legendary (and very male) Oda Nobunaga now the cute (and very female) Oda Nobuna, but one of the first things Yoshiharu manages to accidentally accomplish is getting one of the Sengoku era’s most important historical figures killed!

Still, what’s your best present course of action when you find yourself stuck in the past, having only a semi-reliable knowledge of one possible future, and there is now a vacancy in the history books? Aligning yourself with someone with the potential to become one of the most powerful warlords in any of Japan’s possible histories might not be a bad start. Provided, of course, that you can keep yourself from becoming too intimately involved in the cloak and dagger action during a time when the cloaks cover body armor and the daggers are paired with multiple swords! But that is just part of the risk you assume when your history becomes her story! Will Yoshiharu make it back to his own time? Will Oda Nobuna conquer Japan? You will have to watch The Ambition of Oda Nobuna and find out!

Commentary:
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna: The Complete Collection has four main plot lines: The Arrival in the Sengoku Period Arc, The Invasion of Mino Arc, The Kyoto Arc, and The Retreat at Kanegasaki Arc. While The Ambition of Oda Nobuna: The Complete Collection may look like your typical rom-com harem, this time there is a story line and interesting characters to enjoy. Each story arc lasted around three episodes and was wrapped up in that time. The story line follows the history that we know of with slight changes made when Yoshiharu time-traveled to the Sengoku Period. However, that does not mean that you will know literally everything that is going to happen. You will still be pleasantly surprised and will enjoy the series.

The characters in The Ambition of Oda Nobuna: The Complete Collection are your typical rom-com harem characters but they were well developed and a few were absolutely adorable. Goemon Hachisuka has an adorable lisp and will likely steal your heart for the series. Toshiie Maeda is another adorable one as she always wears a lion costume. Both of these girls look very young, but do not let that fool you as they can take care of themselves just fine. Oda Nobuna is a girl that had a very hard life and it shows at times as she is leery of letting people into her heart because as soon as she does they leave her. She also has blonde hair in this series, which suits her character’s personality perfectly. Oda Nobuna’s retainers all have personalities that fit the historical character they are portraying well and they add entertainment to the story.

The art work is well done and the battle scenes look realistic. The characters were drawn well and the voice actors did a great job. The opening song was catchy and the closing animation is where all the fan-service was placed for the series. There really was not much besides that.

Extras:

The Ambition of Oda Nobuna: The Complete Collection includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with English and Japanese with English subtitles as language options. I recommend the Japanese with English subtitles for this release.

Overall Grade: B

The Ambition of Oda Nobuna: The Complete Collection is an interesting series and I recommend it if you enjoy history.

A Certain Magical Index II part 1 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : December 5, 2014
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Category: Reviews

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A Certain Magical Index II part 1Title: A Certain Magical Index II part 1

Director: Hiroshi Nishikori

Studio: J. C. Staff

U. S. Distributor: Funmation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: Oct. 28th, 2014

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / 12 episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Harem, Comedy

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis:

The Book of the Law – an encoded grimoire containing catastrophic magic – has been stolen, so naturally Kamijo, Index, and a few familiar faces join in the crusade to protect the one nun who can decipher the powerful text. But as the group battles church sects and holy assassins, they realize that discovering who their true enemy is may be more difficult than saving the sister. Meanwhile, an organization known as the Science Society resurrects an esper-producing program, a school festival brings out the competition – and drama – in the student population, and a mysterious figure negotiates the purchase of a sacred relic that could threaten the future of Academy City.

Commentary:

Magical Index season 2 takes up right where season one left off. We jump right into the next drama for Index and Kamijo, but this time it looks like there is something rotten going on between the churches. Of course I really like the dramatic edge, but the one thing that makes me rather sad about this series is the Moe. The fact that Index looks like a 12 year old is ok, but when they bring in nuns that look 12 and dress like street walkers with very sexy habits on it is just disturbing. There is also the obligatory fall that becomes a face plant in front of a panty shot. Now I thought that took it too far.

Anyway, the series is staying strong and the characters begin to develop more. It is possible that Railgun will end up being the better series, but for now I still prefer Index. I think the premiss that is being setup is smart enough to take the series to a great ending. I just hope that the right questions are answered to finish it out. If they leave too much open then it will just be another failed series.

Overall Grade: B+

I thought these next 12 episodes did a lot to further the series, but lost me a little with the sexy 12 year old nuns. I think it would have been better to make them seem angelic and then give them a sinister layer beneath the robes. I guess there needs to be more secrets and some betrayal of the belief systems for the series to work, but I’m still not sold on what is being rolled out at this stage. I am looking forward to the completion of the series and feel as though people will be pleased with part 1 os season 2 of A Certain Magical Index.