Winter 2012

as per Fall season, will be blogging each new Winter series as i watch them. all biased opinions ahead.

all biased opinions are up!

Inu x Boku SS
because of her family's wealth and power, Ririchiyo (CV Hidaka Rina) had always have problems fitting in anywhere. to get away from her family's influence, she decides to move out on her own. at her new apartment, aside from meeting her childhood Renshou (CV Hosoya Yoshimasa) and the other residents, she also meets her personal Secret Service (SS) agent, Soushi (CV Nakamura Yuuichi). these agents are assigned to each resident, who like them are all half-blood ayakashi, to protect them against full-blood demons who wants to kill them. although she is resistant to the idea of a bodyguard/butler at her side, Soushi is very "persuasive", so much as to even say that she can treat him like her dog.



if the name of the building, Maison de Ayakashi, isn't obvious enough that demons are involved, you can see most of the characters in their true forms in the last 5 minutes of Ep01. from Soushi transforming into kyuubi, Renshou into Ittan-momen, Renshou's SS agent Nobara (CV Hikasa Youko) into Yuki-onna, and Karuta (CV Hanazawa Kana) into Gashadokuro.



Karuta's client, Shoukiin (CV Sugita Tomokazu), hasn't been introduced yet, and he will most likely be the main third wheel in possibly budding relationship of our main couple seeing that he is Ririchiyo's fiancé. but hey, he is still voiced by Sugita-san so i'm expecting lots of laughter from him anyway. in case you think Inu is drama, it isn't. more like a cross between Kamisama no Memochou and Nekogami Yaoyorozu, with Ririchiyo and Soushi taking over Alice and Narumi's roles, swapping the cat gods for ayakashi, add in some romance, all done in a relatively light-hearted mood. even the part when the characters were turned into their ayakashi form to confront the burglar was pretty comical, with Karuta completely pwn-ing him.

they're still holding on to what Ririchiyo's true form is and i am very interested to know what kind of ayakashi she is. more importantly, Miyano Mamoru is also in the casting and he hasn't appeared yet! so yes, i definitely will be watching this. hohoho.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Episode 02

Natsume is loved by the youkais.

2011 Anime round-up

anime series i've followed through in 2011.

Winter 2011 (Jan-Mar 2011)
01) Kimi ni Todoke II
02) Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!
03) Beelzebub (on-going)
04) Infinite Stratos
05) Level E
06) Fractale
07) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

Spring 2011 (Apr-Jun 2011)
08) Dog Days
09) Nichijou
10) Showa Monogatari
11) Steins; Gate
12) Hanasaku Iroha
13) Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san
14) Sket Dance (on-going)
15) Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
16) A Channel
17) Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai II
18) Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
19) Hidan no Aria
20) Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
21) Ao no Exorcist
22) C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
23) Gintama' (on-going)
24) 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku
25) Moshidora
26) Tiger & Bunny

Summer 2011 (Jul-Sep 2011)
27) No. 6
28) Mayo Chiki
29) Nekogami Yaoyorozu
30) Kami-sama no Memo-chou
31) Kami-sama Dolls
32) Usagi Drop
33) Sacred Seven
34) Blood-C
35) Natsume Yuujinchou San
36) Nurarihyon no Mago ~Sennen Makyou~
37) Ikoku Meiro no Croisée
38) Uta no Prince-sama — Maji Love 1000%
39) Dantalian no Shoka
40) Mawaru Penguindrum

Fall 2011 (Oct-Dec 2011)
41) Persona 4 The Animation (on-going)
42) Sekaiichi Hatsukoi Season 2
43) Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
44) Hunter X Hunter 2011 (on-going)
45) Shinryaku!? Ika Musume
46) Fate/Zero
47) Guilty Crown (on-going)
48) Un-Go
49) Tamayura ~Hitotose~
50) Kimi to Boku
51) Bakuman.2 (on-going)
52) Working'!!
53) Chihayafuru (on-going)

forever-ongoing series (AKA WSJ series),
54) One Piece
55) Fairy Tail
56) Bleach (was ON-HOLD during the filler arc, but am watching again now that it is back to the main story)
(Sket Dance, Beelzebub and Hunter X Hunter 2011 will soon be in this list)

a very fruitful year indeed. watched close to 20 more shows compared to last year, and that's not even counting the OADs released. mainly because we had an fantastic Spring and Summer seasons, which produced some of the best shows this year.

my Top 5 favorite series for 2011, not inclusive of One Piece,
1) Usagi Drop (Rin and Daikichi never fails to lift my mood every week. Rin is so so cute.)
2) Tamayura ~Hitotose~ (for being the best slice-of-life after ARIA.)
3) Level E (the color rangers part was ok, but i love the the Prince+Yukitaka+Craft moments.)
4) Ao no Exorcist (for the male lead that is Okamoto Nobuhiko. hahaha. ok, i like the story too.)
5) AnoHana (for all the heartbreaking moments. at least everyone moved on at the end.)

Fate/Zero really should be up there, but it is incomplete since they left us at a huge cliffhanger. rest assured, it will get a placing next year.

others which i think were fantastic but didn't get in my top 5 include,
- Steins; Gate
- Tiger & Bunny
- Kimi ni Todoke II
- Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san
- Natsume Yuujinchou San
- Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

another worthy mention, Bakuman's third season has been green-lit for next fall! it's great that they decide to continue, because like i said before, the current chapters has been fantastic so far. depending on where they stop by Mar 2012, it might be the start of the Nanamine arc, whom i've already regarded as the best antagonist who doesn't even do any physical fighting at all. he just has to be a total jerk on-screen.

also immediately, Miyano Mamoru comes into mind as the perfect voice seiyuu for him, especially since Nanamine looks so much like Light from Death Note. well, i wouldn't be surprised if he really was cast. Mamoru-san is incredibly talented and this would only add to his vast portfolio.

Summer 2011

as per usual, will be blogging each new Spring series as i watch them. all biased opinions ahead, so no flaming me for what i feel.

all biased opinions are up!

Dantalian no Shoka
set in early 19th century, Hugh Anthony Disward AKA Huey (CV Ono Daisuke) recently inherited his late grandfather's estate, including his prized library collection that was said to have caused much conflict between him and the rest of the family. when Huey reached his grandfather's mansion, he's surprised to find that the books aren't in the library but piled up in a hidden room surrounding a mysterious girl whom he initially thought was a doll. the girl is actually Dalian (CV Sawashiro Miyuki), the gatekeeper to the "Dantalian Bookshelf", who "houses" 900,666 phantom books of the demons.

Dalian needs to be "unlocked", there's a huge padlock on her chest, with a key which Huey's grandfather passed on to him, so that the books can be accessed for use. compared to Index, who memorizes and recites everything off her mind, this is actually comes off as a better security system. HA! not that Index is kidnapped often but having a key do have its advantages. other than the "human storeroom" part, this is entirely different from Index as it's more like resolving incidents caused by misuse of the phantom books. with Ono-san and Miyuki-chan on board as the main leads, the phantom books, set against the backdrop of historical Europe, i will definitely be watching this to the end.

No. 6
taken from ANN: Shion (CV Kaji Yuuki) is a bright teenager living a comfortable and promising life inside No. 6, one of this six remaining city-states created by The Babylon Treaty after the last great war devastated the world. On the rainy evening of his twelfth birthday, he meets a savvy adolescent who calls himself Nezumi (CV Hosoya Yoshimasa) and is desperately trying to runaway from the authorities. For helping a fugitive of the state, Shion is stripped of all his privileges. Four years later, they meet once again. For better or for worse, Shion is about to unravel the secrets guarded deep inside No. 6.

when Nezumi revealed that he is on the run from the authorities, and the part about being in a group of people that are hunted for leisure, my first thoughts were that it was somewhat similar to Deadman Wonderland, except that Deadman was even darker and more violent. both also have the over-controlling government bodies, where all citizens are kept under tight reins by the government/security system, and both also have the protagonist being framed for murder.

while i didn't continue with Deadman, too violent for my stomach to handle, No.6 has lesser violence and hopefully a much more interesting plot for me to carry on watching. (sorry, but i just can't think of killing people for entertainment as a good show.) hopefully it will start to pick up in Ep2 (i'm way behind in many of the summer shows), and we'll see the event that turned Shion's hair from black (in Ep1) to white (in the promotional images). traumatic experiences always seems to trigger these changes, like with 杨过 and 白发魔女.

Roar Roar's Top 10 Chibis & Mascots (2010)

it's been too long, 5 years, since the first Top 10 list.

i had all along wanted to do an update, with my last saved MSword document being dated in 2007, so you can pretty much guess how it was forgotten for the last 3 years. until now.

anyway, the first of the Top 10 lists i'll be updating in the next few posts. starting with the easiest of them.

Top 10 Chibis & Mascots (2010)

01) Potemayo (Potemayo)

it was a tough fight between Chibitalia and her, but Potemayo won with her cute dance routines.
"ho-ni, ho-ni!"

2009 Anime round-up

anime series i've followed through in 2009.

Winter 2008 (jan-mar 2009)
01) Zoku Natsume Yuujin-Chou
02) RIDE BACK
03) Chrome Shelled Regios
04) Hetalia Axis Powers (on-going)

Spring 2009 (apr-jun 2009)
05) Sengoku Basara
06) Valkyria Chronicles
07) Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
08) Ristorante Paradiso
09) Cross Game (on-going)
10) Tears to Tiara
11) 07-Ghost
12) Kin-iro no Cordo ~second passo~
13) K-ON
14) Guin Saga
15) Eden of the East

Summer 2009 (jul-sep 2009)
16) Sora no Manimani
17) Spice and Wolf II
18) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
19) Umineko no Naku Koro ni
20) Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Fall 2009 (oct-dec 2009)
21) Nyan Koi!
22) Seiken no Blacksmith
23) Tentai Senshi Sunred S2 (on-going)
24) To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (on-going)
25) Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra (on-going)
26) Tegami Bachi - Letter Bee (on-going)
27) Miracle train
28) Kobato. (on-going)
29) Kimi ni Todoke (on-going)
30) Darker Than Black: Ryūsei no Gemini
31) FAIRY TAIL (on-going)

forever-ongoing series,
32) One Piece
33) Bleach
34) Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn

and series i've dropped somewhere along each season,
01) Shikabane Hime Kuro
02) Maria Holic
03) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo
04) Shangri-La
05) Basquash!
06) Pandora Hearts
07) Hanasakeru Seishonen
08) CANAAN

definitely not as much as last year, where i almost hit the 50-series mark, but it gave me more time to catch up on alot of dorama, which i haven't been watching consistently for awhile.

and it's so much easier to choose some favorites this time round.

here's my Top 5 anime for 2009, One Piece not included,
01) Cross Game
02) Hetalia Axis Powers
03) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
04) Ristorante Paradiso
05) K-ON

i'm keeping my fingers crossed for 2010.
>_<.``

coming of Spring

Spring 2009 is just around the corner.

it's time to pick up some new series as many of the Winter (and Fall) series end their run in the coming week or so. (eg. G00, Toradora, Natsume, Rideback etc.)

looking at Moon Phase, this Spring doesn't look that promising, even with the new Fullmetal Alchemist sequel coming along.

but i could be wrong. wait for my Spring series write-up in a couple of weeks.

in any case, there's no One Piece this week.

sadded.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

with the coming of Spring, or the coming of April rather, i'm finally able to count down to my trip to Bangkok with a group of church frens at the end of the month.

i'm so looking forward to a break from work.

Winter 2008

comparing to last winter where i only picked up 4 series, the current winter season looks so much more promising.

1) Shikabane Hime Kuro

direct sequel to the previous Shikabane Hime, one wonders why they even need to give a new last name to it.

initially, it had all the makings of a great series. somewhere, somehow, it wandered off into the land of boredom. i got through the 1st season, i'm just not sure if i can stay through the 2nd one. give me another couple of episodes to decide.

2) Maria Holic

psuedo-yuri romantic comedy. male-phobia girl enrolls in an all girls school only to find out that the "love-of-her-life" is a cross-dressing younger boy.

unlike most cross-dressing anime, the cross-dresser here is actually the one in control. that's already a freshing take from the usual. hopefully, lots of laughter ahead.

3) Zoku Natsume Yuujin-Chou

Natsume is back to free more spirits from his grandma's Book of Friends. and to gather more tears and heart-warming moments from everybody else. one of the best slice-of-life series i've watched. =)

4) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo

space colonies, girls with mechas, artifical intelligence.

does anyone think it's similar to Vandread yet? the only interesting thing that made me continue watching this, was when Fukuyama Jun's voice came out as the AI of an abandoned colony.

i'm sure it perked the interest of most 1st episode viewers too, since most of us are more familiar with putting Fukuyama with a face, compared to a machine.

5) RIDE BACK

ballerina girl gives up ballet after hurting her ankle, but finds new inspiration in life after getting involved with the latest mecha craze in her university, called Ridebacks.

think mini-transformers on wheels, only cooler.

talk about girls with mechas. this had me way excited even after watching the trailers. the animation for this series is fantastically beautiful. add that to loads of heart-pumping racing scenes and load of politics (obviously), and you have yourselves a winning combi.

6) Chrome Shelled Regios

koyasu-sama, koyasu-sama, koyasu-sama.
that's my main draw to the series. plot-wise, there's nothing much out of the ordinary.

emo male lead (who obviously knows how to fight) hides as a normal course student instead of going to the battle course.
he gets found out (of course) after saving a girl on his 1st day at school.
he is then promptly transferred to a platoon which is ("surprise surprise") one man short.
continue on as he and platoon mates defends their city from gigantic bugs.

it's really not all that interesting, but hopefully, the animation quality will be able to make up for the rest. as long as there's no drop in quality that is.

-----------------------------------------

so that's the 6 new titles i'll be picking up. i did watch Kurokami and Akikan!, but nothing good enough to spark my interest.
Kurokami was because I couldn't stand the male lead.
Akikan! was just plain stupid. ultimately ridiculous. i can't believe Fukuyama Jun even voiced the male lead.

anyway, i still have my hands quite full with the other series from Fall 2008. the whole Christmas season, WII parties and going out almost every other night had me backlogging many of my series.

i haven't touched G00 since ep9 and i'm dying to know what is happening.

i need to run an anime marathon soon.

thankfully, CNY is just around the corner.

2008 Anime round-up

thinking of a creative way to start my 1st post of the year.

though i am tempted to do it like the other anime blogs i read, by doing up "Best-of-2008", i realized i can never choose an ultimate favorite.

so instead, i decided to list down all the anime series i've followed through for the entire 2008.

Winter 2007 (jan-mar 2008)
01) Ah! Megami-sama! Tatakau Tsubasa
02) ARIA The ORIGINATION
03) Hatenkou Yuugi
04) PERSONA -trinity soul-
05) Spice & Wolf

Spring 2008 (apr-jun 2008)
06) Allison & Lillia
07) Amatsuki
08) Bus Gamer
09) CODE GEASS Hangyaku no Lelouch R2
10) Junjou Romantica
11) Kyou Kara Maou! 3rd Season (on-going)
12) Macross Frontier
13) Nabari no Ou
14) Neo Angelique Abyss
15) Special A
16) SOUL EATER (on-going)
17) Toshokan Sensou
18) Vampire Knight
19) Wagaya no Oinarisama
20) xxxHOLic Kei

Summer 2008 (jul-sep 2008)
21) Antique Bakery~
22) Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~
23) Natsume Yuujin-chou
24) Neo Angelique Abyss -Second Age-
25) Xam'd: Lost Memories (on-going)
26) Zero no Tsukaima ~Princesses no Rondo~

Fall 2008 (oct-dec 2008)
27) Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka
28) ef - a tale of melodies
29) GA-REI -zero-
30) Gundam 00 S2 (on-going)
31) Hakushaku to Yousei
32) Hyakko
33) Junjou Romantica S2
34) Kannagi
35) Kuroshitsuji (on-going)
36) Kurozuka
37) Mouryou no Hako
38) Nodame Cantabile Paris
39) Shikabane Hime Aka
40) Skip Beat! (on-going)
41) Tales of the Abyss (on-going)
42) Tentai Senshi Sunred (on-going)
43) To Aru Majutsu no Index (on-going)
44) Toradora! (on-going)
45) Vampire Knight Guilty
46) Yozakura Quartet

let's not forget those that have been on-going since forever,
47) Bleach
48) Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn
49) One Piece

WOW!

it's only after listing down that it dawned on me how much anime i watch in 2008.

O_o

i'm 1 series short of hitting 50.
OVAs and movies not included.

2008 has been pretty good to me.

so, here's to a fruitful 2009!

^_^.``

Winter 2008 coming up soon.

End of Summer

my summer ended with 12 series wrapping up, following the last episode of Allison to Lillia airing last week.

actually, most of them started during Spring, so it had been a good 6 months of great anime, along with a few others that i really did pick up in the Summer season.

what was definitely great was of course Macross Frontier and Code Geass R2. i'm gonna miss watching both of them, macross cos of all the fantastic music and great mecha scenes, and geass for all the suspense and plot-twists that had my head spinning.

i was quite surprised that D.Gray-man ended with ep103, especially since they were getting to the good part in the manga. but i guess they didn't have enough materials to last for another season.

but i thought i should mention abt Someday's Dreamers S2. surprisingly, i didn't drop this after the 1st episode. in fact, i look forward to watching new episodes on crunchyroll, probably cos it reminds me of ARIA. (both are slice-of-life styled anime)

the 2 other series i picked up along the way was Natsume Yujinchou and Xam'd: Lost Memories. i almost didn't watch natsume cos the video quality of ep1 was so bad on tudou that i thought the series was bad. thank goodness i decided to give it another chance on crunchyroll.

you can basically sum up the plot in Xam'd with this equation:
(another) confused boy being thrown in the middle of a war + he gets ingrained with a seed that gives his body a super armor + mysterious girl who apparently knows what is going on + boy goes on trip of self-discovery with mysterious girl's nakama.

it's a sure-proof plot that you probably have seen before (think Dragonaut, RahXephon, Zegapain), but at least the character designs are better than Dragonaut. and although i'm still very confused about what is happening, it's still keeping me interested enough to continue watching.

as for the other series that ended, you can check out the side-bar under the completed list.

and just for the record.

i'm NOT going to pick up any 4th season of Zero no Tsukaima.

this is a reminder to myself.

DO NOT going to pick up any 4th season of Zero no Tsukaima.

as much as many others enjoy this show, it (or rather, Louis) is really starting to annoy me.

with that, i'm still frantically watching the new Fall anime series. for the 12 series i've finished, i've another 12, and probably more, that i plan to watch over the next 3-6 months.

watch out for my next post on the new Fall season.