Review: Kampfer fur die Liebe

I recall mentioning that Kampfer is something of a guilty pleasure for many.  And, for some reason, I got excited when I saw the PV for Kampfer: fur die Liebe, which is rough German for "Warrior: Fight for Love".  And there was a whole lotta love in the TV series.  While these are listed as continuations of the plot, I'm puzzled by one thing: How do you go about continuing the BS ending from the TV series?  And, for that matter, what plot?  The TV series was 75% lesbianism.  Will it continue here?

Boobs and aliens after the break!

Review: The World God Only Knows II 3

At your service.

Last week's rushed arc conclusion did not sit well with me, resulting in low hopes for this week's episode.  Not exactly the best first impression ever.  I was expecting more of the same from the first season, and I got that.  However, I was also promised a new demon.  And I'm hoping said demon is introduced soon.

 Upon starting the episode, we see Elsie trapped in a detention bottle, with someone lecturing her.  Finally, that promised demon, Hakua/Haqua du Lot Herminium, depending on who you ask. (For the purposes of this review, I'll be using Crunchyroll's spelling: Haqua.)  It seems Haqua and Elsie were classmates at... I guess you'd call it demon school.  Haqua sees the kind of person Keima is, and promptly calls him "incredible".  Turns out that Haqua has captured no loose souls, despite being a Section Chief, while Elsie has captured 5 in the last 14 episodes, or 2 months.

I was thoroughly amused by Keima's antics with his PSP PFP throughout the episode, particularly when he was up on the balcony where Haqua was, claiming there was great reception... while his PFP made dial-up noises. Um, DSL doesn't work that way, but whatever.  Speaking of Haqua, I'm glad she was introduced here.  It will be a nice relief from Elsie's mildly grating voice.  Hopefully.

As mentioned above, PSPs do not make dial-up noises when they connect to the internet.   As a slight computer nerd, this irked me a bit, and I confirmed my thoughts with actual PSP users.  That aside, there really weren't any flaws in the episode that I noticed.

Overall, another great outing.  The beautiful animation, off-beat humor, and well-written dialogue add up to a great episode.  It's not up to the level that the first season was, but it's decent on its own.  Despite that, this show is on thin ice, along with a few other shows.  It needs to really impress in the next couple weeks, or it will be dropped.


The World God Only Knows II 3

Animation Quality: 4.5/5
Episode Plot: 3.5/5
Comedy/Character Introduction: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot Advancement: 3/5

Overall: 4/5

Review: Moshidora

I've really made it no secret that I love baseball and anime. 2 things result when the two mix: this blog, and Moshidora. I was rather eager when I saw Moshidora on the chart, and I wanted to check it out. Originally scheduled to start March 31, which, coincidentally, was Major League Baseball's Opening Day, Moshidora was heavily delayed by the earthquake in Japan. Scheduled to air daily, Moshidora is easily my highlight of the season so far. After all, this show had me at "baseball".

More innings after the jump!



This is the story of a high school baseball manager who buys Peter Drucker's Management, and takes her team to the summer nationals. Such a simple concept, yet the possibilities are endless. As mention above, Minami Kawashima is the interim manager of her high school's baseball team while her friend Yuki is in the hospital, and, ironically, Minami hates baseball. At least, that's what she claims. After all, she's managing a team. In any case, antics abound as the star pitcher never comes to practice, which isn't good since Minami is trying figure out what the players want from the team, as its "customers". The team is filled with its fair share of oddballs, including the coach and the manager.

Aside from the obvious baseball theme, I really enjoyed the mere concept of using a business book to manage a baseball team. It's very unique and unorthodox, and injects a nice twist on an otherwise ho-hum anime. Minami is extremely quirky, and shows it when she's learning the ropes of the clubhouse. Additionally, I have never seen a book that's traditionally used to start a business be used to manage a baseball team. I can think of several Major League clubs that could benefit from that approach.

From the first frame, I noticed that most of the characters have the exact same eye color, which is a tad lazy. That said, I could find few things wrong with this show. If it weren't for the Drucker inclusion, this would likely just be another baseball anime, telling the story of a team trying to get to Koshien. Even with the Drucker link, the show is inconsistently paced, rushing through the fall tournaments, then plodding along with practice.

This is a show that is aimed squarely at baseball fans like myself. Moshidora takes the baseball-Drucker mashup and runs with it. The animation is downright beautiful, with incredible detail being put into even the idle cicadas. The dialogue is well-written, and some baseball terminology is used, while twisting it to fit with Drucker's business lingo. However, it takes a baseball fan to be able to tolerate Moshidora's inconsistent pacing. The show tries to use an inconsistent pace to reflect the 'baseball' side of the show, to varying results. A decent effort, despite its shortcomings.


Moshidora

Animation Quality: 3.5/5
Comedy/Sports/Drama: 3/5
Plot Advancement: 3.5/5
Writing Quality/Dialogue: 4.5/5
Characters: 2.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

Review: [C] The Money of Soul 1&2

I would, if you ever started explaining yourself!

As much as I’d like to get to watching the other anime this season about massive gambles and the eeevil of money, I did promise I’d watch NOTAMINA’s latest anime, known as “C” for short. . . and I did. Now I’m not sure what to think about anything anymore. I was expecting something akin to Death Note meets ECON 101. What I got was that, The Wealth of Nations, PersonaPersonaPersona, and something I don’t even know what it was. 

Anyways, more unwitting protagonists getting suckered into deals with the devil, after the jump! 

Review: The World God Only Knows II 2

Was blushing madly like the tsundere you are part of the plan, too?

Another week, another loose soul to capture. Such is the life of Keima Katsuragi, the "Capturing God".  After last week's antics, who knows what Keima will do to finish this job.  While I wait for Madoka to resume, I might as well get this episode reviewed.  Who knows, it might be a total surprise.

It's not like there's a jump here because I like you or anything!

Review: The World God Only Knows 2nd Season 1

I have no words for how awesome this is.

I wasn't terribly blown away by the first season of The World God Only Knows,  but I did enjoy it.  And when I saw that there was to be a second season, I was somewhat excited.  I did write a short write-up of TWGOK for Project Haruhi, so I'm not entirely cold on this series.  But enough about that. I have a review to write!

Spirits and demons, all after the break.

Review: Nana to Kaoru OVA 1

Grammar aside... This girl is a damn perv.

People get off on some weird stuff these days.  Anything from leather to nekomimi.  Yet, at the same time, just as many people get off on the classic stuff, like BDSM.  Before I continue, a little background on this subject is needed, for those who don't know.  BDSM stands for Bondage, Dominance, SadoMasochism.  Essentially, one person, the dominatrix, ties up the other person and beats them till they orgasm.  That's BDSM in its simplest sense.  Many couples add extra effects to make it special.  Now, then. On with the review!

 Whips and gags and jumps, oh my!

Escap3's Spring 2011 Preview

Every year, it comes. . . as day turns to night, as regular as clockwork. As the snows melt, and the plants start to bloom, we know that Winter Is Coming.

Wait, sorry, that's not right at all. . . Ohhhhhh, that's what it was. I got distracted for a minute by the shiny non-anime releases. It won’t happen again, honestly.

As you’ve likely figured out by Yuri’s previous posts on the subject, Spring is almost here, and with a new season comes a whole heaping plate of new anime, and in advance of the coming storm are my ‘picks’ for the Spring 2011 anime season, right after the jump.

Yuri's Spring 2011 Season Preview, Part 2

What, you thought I was only watching 4 shows this spring?  Don't be silly.  I'm watching around 8 shows this spring.  I've already detailed 4 in my last post, so I'll tell you about the rest in this post.

Seriously.

First up is a show with an absurd enough premise to work: Toriko.  Put simply, this show is shonen grocery shopping.  Here's MAL's summary of the show:

In the world where the taste and texture of food are very important there is Toriko, a hunter of precious foods regularly hired by restaurants and the rich. A man with inhuman skills to capture the ferocious, evasive and rare animals to complete his ultimate dinner course and then the chef Komatsu, his current accomplice: a weak timid person who was inspired by Toriko's greatness and accompanies him on all his journeys on his quest for the course of his life.

 Yeah. Just silly enough to work.  I'm hoping that Toriko will border on parodying shonen tropes.  After all, grocery shopping is the perfect setup to do just that.

Toriko
Watching?: Yes. I demand my absurd anime.
Reviewing?: To start out, yes.

Only my railgu- oh, wait. Wrong anime.

Every season has a stinker.  Looking at the past couple seasons, this season's stinker will likely be X-Men.  The 3rd in a series of 4 anime adaptations of Marvel superheroes, X-Men doesn't have a lot going for it, and the poor quality of its predecessors, Iron Man and Wolverine, aren't helping any.  In a nutshell, the X-Men are on a rescue mission to save Armor.  They come across the U-Men (yeah, real original), and the battle begins.  If Escap3st's reviews of Wolverine are any indication, this looks to be bad. Really bad.

X-Men
Watching?: Yes, unless I bleed from the head
Reviewing?: I'm not but Escap3st will be.

The hell...

I've made it no secret that I enjoy slice-of-life shows.  Nichijou is one of 2 competitors in this season's "4koma wars".  The setting is a strange school where deer attend and robots arms fly out of the window.  Huh.  Sounds like a copy of Pani Poni Dash to me.  I'm probably just hallucinating, though.  Crunchyroll will be simulcasting this show, so at least my premium membership will be of use.  I hope this show won't try to BE Pani Poni Dash.  That's the one thing that can bring it down.  It needs to do its own thing.

Nichijou
Watching?: Yup.
Reviewing?: Review a slice-of-life series? You're kidding, right?

From left to right: Tsukasa, Konata, Kagami, Miyuki. Oh. Wrong anime again.

The OTHER 4koma adaptation airing this season is A Channel.  This one looks a bit more plain than Nichijou.  Think closer to the first 4 episodes of Lucky Star.  I'm not sure what to expect, though.  After all, Pani Poni really changed how I look at school life anime.  In any case, slice-of-life fans should be very happy with this and Nichijou.  As long as this doesn't become TOO plain, it should hold its own just fine.

A Channel
Watching?: Yeah.
Reviewing?: No.

I approve of nekomimi.

An OVA that looked rather amusing is Honto ni Atta! Reibai Sensei, or, in English, Spelunker Sensei.  Basically, a man is capable of summoning youkai.  One day he accidentally summons a spirit into a calm girl, turning her into a spunky girl.  Consequently, he becomes a P.E. teacher.  Oh, and he dies rather frequently.  Now, I'm aware that this is an OVA.  If the main character dies TOO much, it'll just get annoying.  If the gag deaths and actual story are balanced, though, this can be a VERY good OVA.


Spelunker Sensei
Watching?: I'll give it a shot.
Reviewing?: No.



Needless to say, my schedule is varied, to say the least.  Everything from school to grocery shopping to youkai is represented here.  Leave a comment with a few shows YOU'RE watching! Also, stay tuned for previews from the other writers!

Yuri's Spring 2011 Season Preview

Even with the recent earthquake in Japan, a single fact remains: winter season is almost over.  And that means it's time for a season preview!  Several series caught my eye when I looked over the chart, and I'll detail a few of them in this post.

More after the jump!