Anime Contemplation

Spice and Wolf Volume 4

KJ — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:40:00 +0000

It's been a while, but Volume 4 of Spice and Wolf has finally been released. It should have been released at the start of this month (June) but all UK outlets had a delay in receiving it. I then decided it would be a good idea to pre-order from two places and cancel whichever dispatched first... but it seems that the first place who dispatched it never told me when they dispatched it and consequently i've now got two copies. I'm already planning to give the spare away to a friend, so no loss overall!

As usual, there are the …

Dog Days Introduction and Opening

KJ — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:29:29 +0000

Nothing much caught my attention for the Spring 2011 season, except for Dog Days. Who knows, I may end up hearing something good about another show and end up picking that up, but at the moment my only Spring 2011 show is Dog Days.

Dog Days is set in a fantasy world where wars are fought in a very unconventional way - obsticale courses. No one dies and the result is respected by both sides. Currently, the nations of Biscotti and Galette are at war with each other, and Biscotti are loosing. Therefore, Biscotti's princess, Millhiore, summons a hero to …

Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 4

KJ — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:26:36 +0000

Volume 4 starts around where Volume 3 left off, with Holo and Lawrence finishing up their deal in Poroson. This volume stays mostly true to the original light novel, but adds a few minor things in here and there.

There is one full colour image in this volume, right at the start just like in Volume 3. The image itself is quite a nice one of Holo and Nora together, although Nora looks somewhat uncomfortable with Holo's sudden presence! The bonus track in this volume is a small Nora side story which I found slightly confusing to follow towards the end, …

MCM Expo May 2011

KJ — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:47:10 +0000

Since i'm right in the middle of an exam period at the moment, I could only spare a day to head to the first MCM Expo of this year. Previously, i've been able to go for the entire weekend which is great since i'm able to spend a fair amount of time shopping, enjoying the various cosplays and meeting with friends. Trying to pack all of that into one day made for an extremely busy day! While i've been to expo before, this is the first time i'm actually writing about it so this post will also have some general …

Girls Dead Monster Tour

KJ — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:36:56 +0000

Remember the awesome in-world band of Angel Beats, Girls Dead Monster? Back in 2010, they did a tour and that tour is now coming to BluRay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TCWsc5hR-0

The set list was as follows;

Thousand Enemies
Alchemy
Shine Days
Rain Song
Answer Song
Morning Dreamer
Brave Song
My Song
一番の宝物~Yui final ver.~
My Soul, Your Beats!
23:50
Day Game
Run with Wolves
Crow Song

Encore;

Highest Live
Little Braver

Looking at the digest video, Marina and LiSA (who sung for Iwasawa and Yui respectively) sound just as good live as recorded. LiSA is especially energetic and seems to really be enjoying herself!…

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Summary

KJ — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:20:33 +0000

Over the past few days, I've (unusually) had a bit of spare time. Madoka had been recommended to me by several people and the premise seemed interesting so I decided to get through it.

On the surface, Madoka seems like your typical magical girl series, with girls being granted magical powers in order to fight the forces of evil. A seemingly cute critter going by the name of Kyubey is able to grant power to those girls with magical potential in return for granting them any one single wish. In return, they must then fight witches, evil creatures that are responsible for …

Clannad Summary

KJ — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:57:48 +0000

The presence of this summary despite the fact that i've only written about Episode 1 may confuse you, but there is a reason behind it! If you're curious as to why, read on. Otherwise, feel free to skip ahead to hear my thoughts on the series.

I originally picked up Clannad a short while after finishing Angel Beats!, another story by Key - it was a fantastic story and I felt quite deeply moved by it. Therefore, picking up what is commonly acclaimed to be Key's greatest creatation seemed like a good idea. However, I soon came across the problem of …

Fractale Episode 1 – Encounter

KJ — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:51:01 +0000

From the outset, the landscape looks beautiful. Clain, our teenage protagonist, lives in a small house on a cliff by the sea. Everything seems perfectly normal until we see Clain's parents who look like very unusual computer game characters but really they're doppels. However, this all seems pretty normal for Clain who heads off on his bike to the junk market. After the police come and force all of the doppels to disappear, Clain is able to leave with a 64GB SD card, which he later discovers contains data about the Fractale system. Oddly enough though, the data references the 22nd century, …

Utawarerumono 2 Announced

KJ — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:14:25 +0000

AQUAPLUS has announced a range of new games this week, but perhaps most importantly they've announced a sequel to Utawarerumono, provisionally entitled Utawarerumono 2. It will be set in the same universe as the original but nothing has been said about the characters yet. The one promotional image that has been released (right) appears to show a new character. I would personally like to see some of the existing characters worked into the plot and it will be interesting to see what the story writers come up with.

I am a huge fan of the original game and anime so i'm …

Fractale Introduction and Opening

KJ — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:08:34 +0000

Of the Winter 2011 season, Fractale is the show i'm looking forward to the most. It is set in the future where a system known as the Fractale System has been implemented to make life easier for everyone. Indeed, there are no wars now and people are able to relax. However, one day our protagonist Clain comes across a girl (Phryne) who is being perused by unknown attackers. He hides her and is given a pendant from her before she disappears. Later on, he is able to unlock the pendant and another girl appears. Clain sets out with the girl to find …

Winter 2011

KJ — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:44:20 +0000

We're a couple weeks into the Winter 2011 season. At first, it looks like a pretty uninteresting season, full of rehashes and purely fanservice shows. However, there are a few hidden gems.

A chart showing all the shows is available here.

Fractale

The fractale system, which has governed the world for many years, is on the brink of collapse. A young boy, Clain, comes across a girl who is being persued by unknown attackers. He manages to hide her from them and she leaves behind a pendant before disappearing.

While you might not find yourself enthused by that short …

Autumn 2010 Summary

KJ — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:01:50 +0000

The autumn 2010 season finished a short while ago, so it's time for a summary of what I thought. However, of the two series that I watched, i've only kept up with one. I've not been able to watch A Certain Magical Index II past Episode 1 due to time constraints. Hopefully i'll be able to catch up when i've got time.

A Certain Magical Index II

See above, however from what i've heard it's on about the same level as the first season, which is to say 'average'.

My Little Sister Can't be This Cute (Ore no Imouto ga …

Angel Beats Special Episode – Stairway to Heaven

KJ — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:32:13 +0000

After 6 months of waiting, the Angel Beats special episode is finally here. This episode was not shown on TV and was included with the last BluRay/DVD volume.

It appears to be set slightly before the midway point of the main series as they still refer to Kanade as Tenshi and she's still not on their side. In this episode, Yuri enacts "Operation High-Tension Syndrome". Unlike the other operations, Otonashi doesn't imagine something crazy, rather he's completely taken aback, as are the others. The purpose of this operation is for the SSS members to act crazy all day - …

Spice and Wolf Volume 3

KJ — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:21:22 +0000

Spice and Wolf Volume 3 was released all the way back in mid-December, but due to a combination of snow and Christmas holidays i've not actually be able to read it until now. As a fan of the series and having recently seen the 1st season of the anime I was really eager to get back to reading it again. Yen Press, it would be great if you could speed up the translation a bit - 6 months is an awfully long gap between releases!

As with the previous volumes, there are 3 beautiful double-page colour illustrations showing scenes from …

Spice and Wolf Manga Volume 3

KJ — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 17:26:14 +0000

Volume 3 picks up where Volume 2 left off, with Lawrence and Holo in Pazzio's sewers attempting to escape the Medio company after figuring out their plan. It continues all the way through to the sale of the pepper in Poroson. While mostly true to the original light novel, this volume of the manga adds in scenes of Nora, the shepherdess, before Lawrence and Holo have met her. This works fairly well as we're able to understand her background and previous life as seen by her, rather than as told by her.

Volume 3 has one full colour page right …

Yotsuba&! Volume 1

KJ — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 00:10:25 +0000

This was recommended to me by a friend who thought I might enjoy the humour in it. Since it wasn't too expensive, I decided to go ahead and buy it. Yotsuba follows a small girl who goes by the same name who has just moved to a new town with her Dad. Overall, the humour was pretty good and kept me entertained but there where no scenes that made me laugh out loud like I was expecting. I suspect that either the humour value was over-hyped to me or the person who recommended it to me was taking the series …

Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below Teaser Trailer

KJ — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:08:33 +0000

A teaser trailer for Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below has been posted. The film is the latest creation of Makoto Shinkai, perhaps best known for his other creations 5 Centimeters per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Having seen the trailer and his previous work I am very much looking forward to this, the visuals are absolutely stunning, see for yourself;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDCh1kpHvRk

Unfortunately, Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below isn't being released in Japanese cinemas until May 2011, so add on a few years before we can expect to see a …

Autumn 2010

KJ — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:14:50 +0000

We're a few weeks into the Autumn 2010 season. There are not so many shows this month that interest me, so hopefully i'll be able to catch up on my two non-airing shows - Higurashi and Clannad.

A Certain Magical Index II (Toaru Majutsu no Index II)

Having enjoyed the first season of A Certain Magical Index, it would be silly not to watch the second one. I'm hoping that, despite the name, we'll see more from the girls rather than just Index and Touma - the preview seems to hint at this anyway. I will be (attempting to) write …

Clannad Ending

KJ — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:30:02 +0000

Clannad's ending is quite different to the opening. While the opening starts off slowly and quickly picks up speed, the ending's pace stays mostly the same thought. Having said that however, the ending is an absolutely beautiful song, both in terms of vocals and music. The song's lyrics are quite unusual, describing a family of dango (jam dumplings). I'm not quite sure what relation has to the main series, although i've heard that it somehow ties in with the main series - something to look out for.

The song itself is called だんご大家族 (dango daikazoku, Big Dumpling Family) and is …

Summer 2010 Summary

KJ — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:56:11 +0000

The summer 2010 season ended a few weeks ago, so it's time to summarise what I watched.

High School of the Dead

This series had an interesting premise, a group of school kids fighting their way through a zombie outbreak. However, early on it became pretty clear that this series was going to take fanservice to a whole new level. Some people seemed to like this but personally I disliked the excessive amount of fanservice in the series. I do not mind fanservice in situations where it is appropriate or expected, but High School of the Dead has fanservice just …