My Ten Favorite Anime Series of 2013

It's the end of the year, so it's time to make summary lists! Here's my list of my 10 favorite anime series of 2013. It's too hard for me to rank them, so I'll just put them in alphabetical order.

1. Arpeggio of Blue Steel -- I thought this was going to be some brain dead moe harem show, but I really fell in love with all the ship/girls personalities and Gunzou.
2. Blast of Tempest -- The endless string of twists kept me on the edge of my seat to the end. I loved the bromance and the romances too.
3. Gargentia -- Chamber!!!! Enough said.
4. Hataraku Maoh -- I love all Maoh show. This one had the best mix of humor, romance, and adventure of all the Maoh shows this year.
5. Kyoukai no Kanata -- Despite the crap ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of series. I hope there's a manga that explains the ending better.
6. Red Data Girl -- This was my favorite low key show.  I like the gentleness of the characters and the romance.
7. Servant x Service -- All of the characters in this series were golden.
8. Silver Spoon -- It was funny and I learned a lot about farming. Too bad the first season was only 11 episodes. I think we annoyed the neighbors the most laughing at this series.
9. Unbreakable Machine Doll -- Raishin!!! Enough said. (Nobody wins the "Raishin" drinking game.)
10. Valvrave -- The best animated space opera train wreck ever. It was the next "Lelouche". I wonder what will be the next "Valvrave". L-Elf forever.

I can't do a worst list because there are countless anime that I could not get past the first episode.

Summer 2013 Anime Season First Impressions

I haven't done one of these kind of posts in years. I'm sorry for the neglect. I can't promise anything, but I'll make a more concerted effort to review anime and manga in the future.  I'll keep my thoughts short here.

Insta-hate within 10-mins:

• Fantastic Doll: Clearly a show designed to get children to buy dolls and cards. The was a weird mix of Clamp-like shoujo, but poorly done. They even gave the main character Sakura's hair style -- CHEAP....
• Kiniro Mosaic:  Japan, don't English... just don't... and I promise not to Japanese (I'll only translate). We watched for a very uncomfortable 10-mins before the pain became unbearable.
• Gatchaman Crowds:  We actually got through the entire first episode out of disbelief that that annoying girl was the main character. Who would trust a ditz like her with a secret. I wanted to put my fist through the TV
• Makai Oujo -- Devils and Realists: uh...no... just no... (It's too fabulous to live... >_>)
• K-On clones (Kitakubu Katsudo Kiroku, Love Lab, Tamayura More Aggressive...etc...): I hate K-On. I don't understand K-On's appeal. Stop making K-On.
• Dangaronpa The Animation: I've had enough of psychopath stuffed animals and extraordinary kids locked in a prison-school where exiting is contingent upon winning a life or death battle.

Didn't Hate but probably not gonna watch:

• Blood Lad: I can tell that this is good and it's going to be popular, but I smell endless shounen on it (even though I've been informed it's seinen.) and I just don't care
•  Rozen Maiden 2013: Meh... the first episode was a recap, so maybe to be fair I should watch the second episode. But still I'm tired of psychopath females preying on other females to be the fairest to gain some man's affection... >_>
• Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji -- Way too much manliness

Gonna Give These a Few More Episodes:

• Servant x Service -- I don't know if this show can keep up the gag momentum
• Kamisama no Inai Nichiyobi -- The first episode piqued my interest. I wanna watch some more to see what this is about.

Hooked and Gonna Watch:

• Free!: Hands down the best show of this season. It combines fanservice for females, wonderful characters, a nicely developing story, and every episode leaves me smiling broadly.
• Gin no Saji: Haha! I learned eggs come from chicken butts, and I laughed heartily at the main character's frustration. It's a keeper.
• Uchouten Kazoku -- Tanukis and the like in human society. This show is immensely entertaining even though it's not clear yet what the story is. 
• Dog and Scissors -- Another immensely fun show. I sympathize deeply with the poor little dog who used to be human.

Continuing from Last Season:

• Shingeko no Kyojin -- 'cuz now there's Levi... >_>
• Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S

Haven't Watched Yet, but on my list to try:

• Watamote
• Hyperdimensional Neptunia
• Yami Shibai
• Fate/Kakeid Liner Prisma Illya

 Haven't Watched and Avoiding Like the Plague:

• Brother's Conflict -- Yeah... I have a habit of avoiding Otoge series.
• General Moe Crap -- too many to name

First Impressions of Winter 2011 Anime Series

First, the loving spoonful:

• I will definitely watch:
• "Yumekui Merry"
• "Beelzebub"
• "Kore wa Zombie desu ka"
• "Level E"

• I will give it another episode
• "Gosick"
• "Puelle Magi Madoka Magica"
• "Infinite Stratos"
• "Dragon Crisis"

• Crap
• "Freezing"
• "Rio Rainbow Gate"

More Details about the series:

• "Gosick" ("Gothic") -- A really nice and normal Japanese boy transfers to a boarding school in a fictional European country in the Alps.

Summer 2010 Anime I'm Watching

So far the only shows I'm watching are "Occult Academy" and "Shiki."  The rest of the new shows I found quite dismal.  However, I am watching a lot more American TV.  So far I'm hooked on "Warehouse 13," "Eureka," "The Glades," "Haven," and "Covert Affairs."

Fun Website to Learn some Common Phrases in Anime and Manga

I got the link to this website from "hisako" on Twitter.

Link 1: http://anime-manga.jp/index.html
Link 2: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100218f2.html

This is a website that helps English speakers learn some common expressions in Japanese that you would hear from different characters in anime and manga.  What I think is really neat about this website is that it demonstrates some of the different levels of Japanese speak according to different types.  For instance the butler using honorifics from the humble perspective.  The lessons are given with kanji, kana, or romanji (roman letters) and in spoken Japanese.

The website is still under construction, but check out what they've got so far.  I'm pretty excited about this and I hope they expand it such that who ever wants to can easy learn basic Japanese in a fun way :).

First Impression of Winter 2010 Anime Series

My husband and I just finished watching the first episodes of the some of the new series for Winter 2010.  Here's a quick rundown of what we thought.

Soro no Woto:  A military Bugle/Trumpet anime set in a time that looks kinda WWII-ish.  It's slice of lifey and the main character acts like a six year old.  We're continually amazed at how in Japanese stories, legends and glorious histories are made up about everything, even the bugle.  I suppose this story will follow our main character, Kanata, as she masters the Bugle...hmm...we'll give it another episode before deciding whether to stick with this series or move on.

Chu-Bra: We didn't even make it through the intro credits before we decided to move on.  It appears to be a series about Pantsu.

Baka to Test to Shokanju (Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Beings):  The title pretty much sums it up.  There are students.   They are divided into classes based on an entrance exam.  The better the student does, the better the classroom amenities.  The classes can fight for amenities using summoned beings whose attributes are determined by taking yet more tests. Obviously, some genius is trying to integrate academic excellence with gaming.  This anime is highly stylized and incredibly ironic.  It will be interesting to see how they manage to pull 12 episodes out of something that should only span one or two, at the most, episodes.

2nd Episode:  Hilarious!!!   "Baka go Home!!!"

Durararara!:  This one starts out pretty slow with some dweeby sheltered teenage boy meeting his best friend for his first night in Tokyo.  Interspersed with this pointlessness is a kidnapping, a bad-assed chick on a motorcycle, and an Internet chat about the bad-assed chick on the motorcycle.  I like the chick and the Internet chat, but the dweeb I could do without.  I don't know what the intention is with the dweeb, but I imagine in some way he'll get wrapped up the bad-assed chick either in real life or the afterlife or whatever...Actually, my husband and I were looking forward to the dweeb's death, but it didn't happen.  We thought maybe he'd become the BA Chick's helper.  Anyhow, this series looks to be the most promising of the series we've sampled so far.

The 2nd Episode sucked!!!  My husband fell asleep and I struggled to stay awake as it rehashed the first episode.  Apparently, the cool biker chick and the cool guy are just McGuffins to tell boring stories of teenage angst -- like any of us need to watch more stories about teenage angst!  I feel dubed...

Seikon no Qwaser:  The words "WTF" come to mind.  Apparently, the hero is powered by Holy Milk...STAY AWAY FROM THIS SERIES.  IT'S SERIOUSLY WRONG AND UNWATCHABLE.

Ladies vs. Butlers:  Another show about patsu and oppai, but this time showcasing maids.  Uh, fetish?  I quit watching after the first 10-minutes.

more to come ...

Happy 2010!

Happy 2010! I hope this year is a good year in manga and anime, although, I can't say I'm all that enthused about the winter quarter anime season.  Anyhow, this year I will continue scanlating:

• Ouran High School Host Club
• Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen
• Akagami no Shirayukihime

I'm still trying to nail down another series and I will doing one-shots when I have the time.

I hope to get a full-time engineering job this year.  It will be interesting to see if I can balance full-time employment and translation.  Haha!!! Well, there's no use in speculating about it. 

Anime I'm Currently Watching -- Fall 2009

Here's what I'm watching currently:

• Darker than Black Season 2
• The Sacred Blacksmith
• Nyan Koi
• Kimi ni Todoke (ow, my rotten teeth ... I don't know if I can get through this one completely)
• Umineko no Naku Koro ni
• Inuyasha
• Hanasakeru Seishonen
• Yumeiro Patissiere (too adorable to resist!)
  
• Guin Saga (1 more episode to go!) Done!  Great series!
  

In Purgatory:

• Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee)
  

Gave up on:

• A Certain Scientific Railgun -- all fan service, no storyline, and no relation to the original series
• 11Eyes -- boring and the lead female character is too helpless
• Fairytale -- ??? looks like a "One Piece" clone and I'm the wrong demographic. 
• Armed Librarians -- hubby and I didn't get it :(.
• Tegami Bachi (Letter Bees) -- huh?
  

Showgate Going After People for Sharing "Canaan"

Showgate is sending nasty-grams to individual who are downloading the series "Canaan" via BitTorrent. I have no clue how to watch the show otherwise and it seems that Showgate doesn't mind leaving money on the table by not serving its potential audience. Anyhow, I hope they get a clue soon and work with some of the fansub groups to get series out to the US simultaneously with Japan so we all can have a legal win-win-win situation (like Crunchyroll).

As for "Canaan", I guess I'll skip it since I can only watch up to episode 3. Since I won't have any clue as to what this show is about, I imagine Showgate will not be seeing any money from me via purchase or rental, because by the time it comes out in the US (along with some terrible English voice acting), I will have forgotten about the series. I since I will not see the series, I will not be blogging about it and spreading the positive word to my many 1000's of readers about this series. This is what happens when companies unleash "hate" upon current and potential customers and influencers. This is also what happens to companies that do not know how to work the Internet. I really hate to see Showgate leave so much money on the table due to their own ignorance and arrogance. It's definitely not the way to run a business. If you want to beat piracy you have to join them and then offer a better experience to customers. Threatening potential customers only leads to backlash.

Anime Review: Vampire Knight Ep. 1 - 13

I finished watching the first season of "Vampire Knight" a little over a week ago. I think that the series is a nice companion to the manga, but it is definitely not a substitute. The anime follows the manga pretty faithfully -- a few things are omitted or the order in which they come in the story has changed, but it's nothing too upsetting. The anime also has more slapstick humor than the manga. Sometimes that annoyed me because I feel the story is at it's best when it is dark. So what's keeping me from strongly recommending this anime? Well, the anime lacks the "loveliness" of the manga. The characters are drawn sorta like those in the manga, but they lack the curly-flair and the detail of Hino's drawings. Hino draws very appealing looking males and the animators just don't have that talent. I realize that it would be very expensive to recreate the details of Hino's drawings, still, in that sense, I feel the anime is a bit soulless. One of the strongest moments in the manga is the scene in which Zero bites Kaname. In the manga, the build up to the event is violent, tense, and intense and the spread devoted to the bite was red-hot in all it's glory. The drawing is, well, "lovely" and over-the-top. The anime took a different approach and I think, in comparison to the manga, the scene fell flat.

I was hoping for a little variation in the story from the manga. From reading the forums, basically fans fall into the Kaname camp or the Zero camp. I am, of course, in the Kaname because I like bratty slightly evil characters and emo-characters like Zero cheese me off. I was hoping that in the anime, Zero would be less emo and more fierce. Rather, they've made him powerless and pitiful. Kaname is robotic in the anime. I imagine him to be seething under a calm exterior -- one of those guys with a beautifully biting tone. (forgive the bad pun) Oh well ...

As a good companion to the manga, I give the first season of the"Vampire Knight" anime 3/5. I highly recommend the manga, though, for its lovely drawings and dark and detailed story. The story comes on slowly but when a secret is revealed, it sheds light on all the past events and, for me, I felt the impact of the build-up greatly in retrospect. It's like magic. When it happened I would go back and reread the previous chapters and marvel at the little cues Hino left. The subtlety is amazing in when read in retrospect.

Anime Review: Dragonaut -- The Resonance

This anime started out promising and then went to heck and never came back out of it. The anime starts with a shuttle accident in which our hapless hero, Jin, loses his entire family. Fast forward to the future and Jin, who is lonely and emo, meets Toa who tells him that he is not alone. Yippee, Jin has a girlfriend. In the background of this sweetness are Jin's friend Kazuki, who is a member of the Dragonauts, a squad of warriors who ride dragons to defend Earth against Thanatos. The dragons the Dragonauts have are a friendly bunch with human forms when they aren't dragons. Their human forms are determined by their human partner's desire at the time of "resonance," when a human a dragon bond. Stuff happens and Kazuki's resonance doesn't hold with the Dragon, Gio. Instead Gio insists he must protect Toa and so Jin, Toa, and Gio live together as a happy trio. This causes Kazuki to go inexplicably insane with jealousy -- it's revealed at the end that it's some sort of "man crush." Anyh0w ... Thanatos makes its way to Earth and then Jin and the Dragonauts fight to save humanity. There's some Star Trek-like babble said that sounds like it was lifted directly from The Borg episodes during this battle. It's of little consequence, though, because by the time it comes you won't care. You'll just want the misery to end.

To summarize my thoughts on this show:

• The story is unnecessarily convoluted
• Jin's insane friend, Kazuki, was so annoying that I wished for his death in every episode. I then became livid and wished even more for his death when he suddenly confessed his man crush to Jin and then turned his insane hatred into insane love -- of the "man crush" sort (Kazuki just wanted to be the one that protected Jin, and was upset that Jin was strong in his own right and also had other beings that cared for him too).
  
• The other characters outside of Jin and Kazuki had the potential to be interesting, but they didn't spend enough time developing them
• I like the intro theme song
• The female characters either have ridiculously enormous gravity defying breasts or little tiny ones. There is no in between. Garnet's outfit is particularly interesting if you like fetish garments -- ow, no part of her outfit can be comfortable.
  

All-in-all this was an alright anime. I did finish it even though by about episode 18 or so I began to care less for it. 2.5/5

Anime Review: Kyou Kara Maou

I watched the entirety of this anime over one week of my 3-week winter break from work. Yep, all 78-episodes over a week -- quite a marathon. I enjoyed this anime series from beginning to end and even felt a little bit mournful after watching the last episode. Oh, but rejoice "Kyou Kara Maou R" has just begun and so the adventure continues.

"Kyou Kara Maou" is the story of Yuri, an ordinary high school student, who one day saves his best friend from bullies. The bullies turn their attack toward Yuri and while attempting to "toilet bowl" him, Yuri gets sucked into a black hole located in the toilet and sent to another world. In this new world, Yuri is by virtue of his Asian features -- black hair and dark eyes -- is crowned Maou, or King, of New Mazoku and the fun starts from there, beginning with a social blunder that results in his marriage engagement to bishounen, Wolfram. This story contains adventure, action, lots of humor, a very sweet love triangle, brotherly love, and a wonderful transformation of a war torn land to peace and the transformation of an ordinary boy to a great king. I highly recommend this anime series. 5/5

Anime Review: Sokou no Strain

My husband and I watched all 13 episodes of this series over the course of two days. I have mixed feelings about this show. I think the basic story was compelling, but the execution was poor. The story takes place in an alternate universe in which mankind is split into 2 factions -- the Union and the Deague. It's never really explained what the main difference between the two factions is -- which is sad, because it could have been used as a red herring in the story. Anyhow, the story begins with the parting of Sara Warrick from her beloved older brother Ralph. Ralph joins the military to battle the Deague and Sara promises to join the military too so she can be with him. Stuff happens and while Sara is in training, her brother comes back as a traitor in league with the Deague and destroys the military academy and kills all of her friends while retrieving a mysterious little girl. And so the story begins with Sara confused about her brother's intention and her quest to find her brother and to figure out what the hell is going on.

For some reason Sara's personality is reset such that she's a haughty asshole that does not "do" teamwork and acts like a crazed recluse. There's lots of bitch-craft involved in this story which, while being typical, nonetheless, still pissed me and my husband off to see played out. There's gundam battles a plenty, a little romance, two goth-lolis, and yuriness. The "yuri" episode is quite funny, but also precipitates the end of this tragic, but fractured tale. There are a lot of story threads that are started, but forgotten, like the impending battle-to-end-all-battles between the Union and the Deague, the nonsense about the Emilys, and why any of this was going on in the first place. I give this 3/5 for a OK anime series.

Clannad: Episodes 7 -12

So I'm still watching "Clannad." Finally at episode 7, stuff started to happen around the story of spirit of Fuko. I guess I won't give it away since something actually happened. Anyhow, I have to admit I had a lump in my throat and I was fighting back the tears by the end of the Fuko story. I was so pissed at myself for falling under the spell of this low-keyed show.

After the Fuko stuff was resolved, they moved onto the genius megane chick, Kotomi, who hangs out in the reject library. She's socially inept and worries that everyone is going to bully her. One episode is spent with Tomoya teaching her how to properly introduce herself. And then Kotomi has a very interesting violin recital. I was mildly entertained. By the end of episode 12 things get rather messed up and interesting with her and Tomoya. I am eagerly awaiting episode 13. Personally, I would like to see Tomoya hook up with Kotomi more than Nagisa. Kyou also would be better than Nagisa. Heck, anybody but Nagisa! oh, except for Fuko -- she's an airhead too.

Anime Review: Goshuusou-sama Ninomiya-kun

Refer back to here for my previous thoughts on this anime. Episode 7 was definitely the funniest and the "ramen" episode was good too (8 or 9???). During the last 3 episodes, they finally seriously got into the main story which consists of betrayal, heartbreak, the revelation that Mayu and her brother are not the only succubi (???) around. All-in-all, this was an enjoyable anime series with gratuitous but hilarious fan service. 4/5 -- a point deduction for way too much sappiness and un-fun in the last two episodes.

Clannad: Episode 1 - 6

I continue to watch this show hoping that at sometime there will be a point, a plot, something, anything, please, I'm begging. Here's what's going on so far: There's a young man, Tomoyo, who lives in a sleepy town. This town is exceedingly boring so Tomoyo hates his life, a sentiment he makes biting clear in the first 30-seconds of the 1st episode. Bitter main characters always hook me, so I felt some interest after the intro. And then nothing happens ...

On his way to school, Tomoyo is bitching about how much he hates the town he lives in and his life, while his classmate, and sorta destined partner, Nagisa, is thinking happy and hopeful, but lonely thoughts. They meet, and for some reason the simple minded Nagisa eases Tomoyo's boredom. Nagisa wants to be in the theater club, however, the theater club has been disbanded. We meet Nigasa's family, bread makers by trade. Nigasa's mom, Sanae, makes bread of questionable quality and Nagisa's Dad, Akio, lets Sanae know while at the same time begging for forgiveness. Nagisa's Dad also gives Tomoyo a hard time, so the scenes at Nagisa's house are mildly entertaining. And then there's Tomoyo's brother, Naoyuki, who is provokes the butch but attractive, Tomoya, into giving him daily beat downs. I think there's love in there somewhere -- or maybe not, since Naoyuki spends a couple of episodes trying to prove that Tomoya is actually a man. This, too, is mildly entertaining and I would have liked a show more around the relationship of these two weirdlings.

And back to Tomoyo ... he decided that he's going to help Nagisa form a theater club so she can act. Half-way through this "quest", Nagisa and Tomoyo happen upon the spirit of a comatose student, Fuko, who is attached to the school. She is giving out stars she hand carves out of wood to students in exchange for them coming to her older sister's wedding (Kuko). So they change their "quest" to, first, making the stars, then handing out the stars, and finally getting Kuko to see meet Fuko's spirit so Kuko will know that Fuko wants her to get married. And this is where I left off. Along the way there are references to gaining skills and leveling-up like a character would in a RPG. Only this would be the world's most pointless RPG in which you would master the skill of squirting juice up someone's nose as a joke. My gosh, can you imagine an RPG that consists of only talking to the townspeople and doing little jobs for them?! AUGH!!!

I really don't get this ... Tomoyo seems like a pretty smart guy, so I don't get why he bothers with a mealy mouthed, low wattage girl like Nagisa. An ass like him seems more natural with an ass-kicker like Tomoya. Sigh ... maybe that what I'm secretly hoping for.

Well, I'll reserve final judgment for the end (hopefully it ends at 12 or 13 episodes ... please ...). Right now I'm leaning towards a 3 because the side stories are mildly entertaining.

Anime Review: Umisho

I wonder whether the pun was intended -- "Umi" = beach + sho --> show, because this anime is one long bathing suit episode. This is the story of a high school swim team, whose student coach, Kaname is afraid of water. His fear of water stems from a childhood accident which Kaname believes was causes by a very scary green-haired mermaid. One day Amuro, a very weird girl with "X's" in her green hair who lives on a rickety house boat, shows up. Despite her unusual swimming style, she is an ace. Could she be Kaname's mermaid? The show basically follows the swim team as it works its way to the prefectural championships. As implied by the pun, this show is mostly bathing suit fan service and the fan service (mostly raunchy) is for everyone. This show was so funny that sometimes my husband and I had to pause the show to guffaw for a minute or two and then calm down enough to actually continue the show. 5/5 for a raunchy comedy that kept me in stitches.

New Anime: Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun

Okay, take Jason Bourne, a succubus with man-phobia, a haughty girl in a maid outfit, and an older sister who is a bad-ass mercenary and put them in a high school anime and you end up with "Goshushou-sama Ninomiya." So here's the deal, Ninomiya is a high school boy with some over- the-top military fighting training who is constantly being harassed by the female students in his school. In flies a military 'copter containing a curvaceous succubus who is very afraid of men, except for Ninomiya, who seems to be resistant to her powers -- sorta. The succubus, Mayu, gives off strong pheromone which turns males into drooling zombies who try to get next to her. Ninomiya's sister says Mayu has to move-in with them ... and ... enter the haughty girl (I've forgotten her name) who is Ninomiya's childhood friend as well as the student council president. Through some circumstances, she becomes a maid at Ninomiya's house. Ninomiya's older sister and Mayu's older brother insist that Ninomiya must help train Mayu to rid herself of her man-phobia so she can control her pheromones. The training, of course, is basically a bunch of fan-service. This anime is very funny, and that's all I'll say for now.

Anime Review: Code Geass: The Lelouch Rebellion

It's taken me a couple of months to process "Code Geass: The Lelouch Rebellion." That's because it was just plain shocking. It's not that anything particularly shocking in a weird way happens, it's more like nothing goes as expected and I can't say whether Lelouch is a hero or a villain. This story takes place in the future when the Empire of Britannia (looks like the North American continent is taken over by Britain -- or maybe it's an alternate reality in which the Americans lost the war for Independence. It's not really clear and it doesn't matter) has taken over most of the world, including Japan. Japan is stripped of its name and is referred to as "territory 11". The former Japanese, now call 11's, have become 2nd class citizens in their own country. Small terrorist groups fight a pointless battle to reclaim Japan, but faction after faction is crushed by the huge Britannian Army. Enter Lelouch who goes to an elite school for Britannians. Lelouch is Britannian, but has no love for Britannia. One day he gets mixed up in a terrorist plot and saves a girl who gives him the power of "Geass." His "Geass" is absolute order, and when used upon a person, that person is absolutely compelled to follow his order.

Lelouch decides to use this power to destroy Britannia. To start, he disguises himself and takes the leadership of one of the Japanese terrorist factions. Lelouch has a childhood friend, the son of the former Prime Minister of Japan, named Suzaku, who has decided that he wants to change Britannia from the inside by becoming an honorary citizen of Britannia, a position that doesn't grant the full rights of a Britannian, but it is better than being an 11. Suzuku, in every way, represents the good soldier, while Lelouch is a renegade. Stuff happens and Lelouch is forced to make some moral decisions and face the consequences of his decisions. How Lelouch conducts himself is the most interesting part of the show. We see the wheels turning in his head and we understand why he makes most of his decisions and are shocked at the realistic consequences of his decisions. This show holds no punches with the consequences, and that is why it's so shocking.

My husband and I were riveted to this show through all 26 episodes, wondering what was going to happen next and how Lelouch was going to get out of the tough situations presented. Lelouch is definitely a controversial character and if this were reality, his personality and actions would make for lengthy scholarly study and debate. 5/5 for another great anime series. I can't wait until season 2. And oh, BTW, it's a gundam anime!

This is also running as a manga series in "Asuka" magazine.

Anime Review: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi

This 50-episode series could have run astray like all those animes that start off good and then don't know when to end like "Naruto", "Inuyasha," and "Bleach." Fortunately, this anime has a definite story arc and it does conclude in a satisfying matter. "History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi" is the story of a wimpy teenage boy, Kenichi, who aspires to be an ally of justice who stands up for the wimpy like himself. One day he accidently walks up behind a girl Miyu, who uses some over-the-top martial arts move to bring him to the ground painfully. It's love at first-sight for Kenich and to further his desire to become a hero and to get close ot Miyu, he moves into Miyu's home to become a disciple of the the "Ryozanpaku" (forive me if I have gotten the name completely wrong), a group of insanely over-muscled martial artists with "god-like" skills. Most of the story is spent on Kenichi learning various styles of martial arts from his masters which is quite entertaining because the masters have nutty eccentric personalities and they put Kenichi through training that would kill real people (Muy Thai master Appachai is the runaway favorite for me and my husband). Along the way, Kenichi gets unwillingly wrapped up in the machinations of Najiima, a former bully, who decides that Kenichi is the way to fulfill his ambitions of -- well, I'm not really sure what Najima is up to other than pot stirring. Either way Najiima looks like an evil Vulcan and it often refered to as the "alien" or the "Dark Lord." Anyhow, as Kenichi gets stronger, stronger and stronger opponents seek him out, of course through the urgings of Najiima. And so the story goes as Kenichi fights his way through thug after thug, converting a few on his way to the side of good, until he gets to the head of local fight club.

My husband enjoyed this anime more than I did. It was stupid, but I have to admit that I got a lot of laughs out of the show. I give it 4/5 for great fun.