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Re-Kan! (anime review)

re-kanTitle: Re-Kan!: Complete Series on Blu-ray

Director: Masashi Kudo

Written By: Takahashi Aoshima

Music By: Hiroyuki Kōzu

Studio: Pierrot

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date:

Format: Blu-ray / 13 Episodes / 325 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Supernatural

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis: 

Narumi Inoue has a problem with the new girl in school. It’s not that Hibiki Amami is impolite or a bully… it’s just that she sees, speaks with, and befriends ghosts!

Now, it’s at the point that when Amami’s around, Inoue sometimes sees them too, spelling disaster for a girl who’s terrified of anything supernatural. However, Amami’s genuine kindness makes it hard for Inoue to ignore her, especially when her friends Kyoko, Kana, and Makoto, as well as the other students, have accepted Amami’s habit of talking to thin air and walking around invisible obstacles.

With gentle coaxing (and the knowledge that her departed grandmother is watching over her), Inoue finds herself immersed in Amami’s strange, otherworldly adventures. Fulfilling the last wishes of the dead might not be a normal after-school activity, but at least they’ll always know why the ghost crossed to the other side in RE-KAN!

Commentary:

Right off the bat Re-Kan! caught me by surprise. This almost silly series made me feel a little softer and kinder. It seemed to want us to disrespect it because of the overtly yuri leanings, but in the end I still felt warm inside. The tone was everything and I never felt unwanted or left out. The fact that Amami’s ability to see spirits was accepted by her friends and class mates managed to come across more naturally than I would have expected. This connection made the entire series much easier to watch.

Overall Grade: B+

I typically do not enjoy yuri inspired anime or even the hint of love between girls. I guess it is because I am a guy and very jealous about girls not liking guys the same way I like girls, but on a personal level can understand how connections happen between people no matter what sex they are.

None-the-less, I found the simple easy going and mildly funny Re-Kan! to be an anime for everyone. I think that the only shortcoming is the simplicity of the story line. The character development and basic plot are strong enough to carry the full series, but I think that if there were a little more depth to the series / story I think it could have overcome the teenage love interest between the girls and made the series more about the friendships and bonds they all really made in their first year of school together.

Re-Kan! is a anime to watch if you want a simple high school story with kind humor and even kinder characters that are very likable. Check it out I think you will come away with the same warm pleasant feeling that I did.

 

Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection (anime review)

Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection season 3review provided by Katie and Andrew

Title: Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection

Director: Masashi Kudo

Studio: T.V. Tokyo

Author: Kenjiro Hata

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: April 28, 2015

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

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Parody and Harem

Industry Age Rating: 14 and up

Overall Personal Rating: C

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Amagami SS

“Don’t lump me, Sanzenin Nagi, with your typical otaku. Whether it’s a video game, anime or manga, I’ll only rate it after I’ve played, watched, or read the entire thing! Even though I might initially think, ‘Whoa, talk about a total letdown!’ ”

Synopsis:

Hayate Ayasaki’s life has never been easy, though after being sold to Yakuza who want to harvest your organs to pay off your parents’ debts it’s hard to imagine things sinking much lower. However, since becoming employed as the butler/bodyguard for the spoiled, cold hearted teenage heiress Nagi Sanzenin, Haytate’s misery has been primarily focused around Nagi’s insecurity, laziness and the frequent attempts by various parties to kidnap her (with the occasional scheme cooked up by her Grandfather on the side).

When a new and unexpected relative arrives without warning and issues concerning Nagi’s long dead father and his belongings rear their ugly head, Hayate finds himself thrust even further into the deep, dark, messy drama of the Sanzenin clan’s personal affairs. But that is only the beginning of his troubles, as somehow aliens, haunted swords, an untrustworthy kitten and even a cross-dressing curse are thrown into the mix as well. Will Hayate fight his way through these epic complications? Or will his undoing come at a substantial cost?

Commentary:

Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection is the third season of the Hayate The Combat Butler franchise however, it is an original concept and is not directly based on the manga. The episodes are labeled as nights, such as first night, second night and so on. The first six episodes were filler episodes and the last six were where all the action and actual plot took place. They tried to give all of Nagi’s background in the first six episodes when they could have condensed it into three episodes so the actual plot and story line would not have seemed so rushed.

Nagi Sanzenin is a spoiled and lazy tsundere character, even more so than the first season. She makes unreasonable demands on Hayate and gets herself into trouble as always. She would rather watch the newest anime series and play the newest games instead of going to school. I really believe she would be happy to just do that every day and never leave the house, living a NEET lifestyle. Hayate, her butler, and Maria, her maid, try and make her understand that she must go to school but it mostly falls on deaf ears. Rui Tsugumi appears out of nowhere claiming to be Nagi’s little sister but in reality she is just looking for the Sanzenin family fortune, the Black Camellia. Rui is also a tsundere-type character and specializes in martial arts. She is also the comic relief character, and is picked on heavily for the entire series, which is understandable, she was a pretty bad character, whose only purpose seems to be to bring even more ‘moe loli tsundere’ to this series, which not only is unnecessary, but makes her a waste and very forgettable. Another issue was Maria, who seemed very dimwitted (see the vent scene) and was very dull and almost drone like. Most of the characters seemed that way towards the end.

Another thing was the art. I still have not gotten over that actually. In the original series, it was pretty decent, and full of color. In this one, it lacked the same. Hayate seems to have changed genders and looks more feminine than ever. Everyone else was designed with the same head with different hair colors and styles. It was even worse than the original. The backgrounds even seemed more dull and lifeless than ever. I guess in the end Nagi was right, “Whoa, talk about a total letdown!”

Extras:

Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection 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: C

All in all, Hayate The Combat Butler-Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: Complete Collection is more of a standalone series instead of a third season. It is an interesting harem though, if you enjoy the harem genre.