My final rankings for new anime of the Winter 2010 season.

1. Durarara!! – great ending to a strong first half earns Durarara!! the season’s top honors… fitting ep12 titled “Everything is Interconnected” shows the best aspects of the series.
   (Mar. – still my favorite show of the season…starting to see how more of the characters are related to each other and ep8 ending throws surprising twist.
   Feb. – kickass Baccano!-like OP… somewhat episodic but interesting and well linked by unique character ensemble.) [impressions]
2. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – returning to ‘class battles with summoned beings’ concept, series ends S1 well by balancing comedy with shounen theme of overcoming obstacles through hardwork, determination, and love as motivation… akihisa yoshii = best new male character of the season… looking forward to upcoming S2.
   (Mar. – has done well over last few eps to continue working with previously established jokes and good romantic comedy moments…will be looking for new material in coming eps.
   Feb. – surprisingly enjoyable despite stupid premise… ep3&4 have pretty funny moments.) [impressions]
   
3. Hanamaru Kindergarten – overall a pleasantly surprising series that worked the light-hearted slice of life comedy well… the series ends right at the best time after tapping out all the little stories and relationships it had to offer and before becoming repetitive… ep12 closes with the most charming ending possible for the series.
   (Mar. – moving up #5–>#3: has stayed strong with new side characters, amusing parodies and references, and moe chibis… Hiiragi is awesome.
   Feb. – cute and funny enough so far, but I wonder just how long it can stay fresh…)
4. Dance in the Vampire Bund – felt a little unpolished at times with cutout animation and sometimes imbalanced pacing, but would have been epic if Shaft could have taken its time and fleshed out the series in 24 eps…fight with shapeshifter in ep11 ends badass… overall pretty enjoyable and I will check out the manga for the series down the line.
   (Mar. – problems with Shaft in ep7 for missing scenes and delayed ep8; also has been hard to understand plot and characters’ motivations in recent eps.
   Feb. – strong start so far… was highly anticipated series and is living up to hype.)
5. Omamori Himari – for whoever didn’t anticipate the ending that Yuto’s love for Himari would give her the strength to beat the two boss youkai characters, this must have been your first harem, supernatural action anime, and btw the romantic comedy resolution is the Himari + rest of harem ending. surprise! … still, decent animation, voice acting, and production quality.
   (Mar. – nothing ground-breaking, but decent animation and quick plot advancement make standardness acceptable.
   Feb. – following generic harem building introduction.)
6. Ladies vs Butlers! - perfect example of what is wrong with the anime industry: great animation quality, but for what? the series was all ecchi, no story writing, and horrible ending that doesn’t resolve the overall problem. The entire harem cast laughs/sighs over how dumb Akiharu is to cue the end credits, while the viewer feels just as dumb for enduring the series. {i endure not by choice, but by commitment so i can critique}
   (Mar. – stupid storylines and hard to believe situations to force feed ecchi scenes, many of which sound like setups belonging in hentai; if I drank a shot for every panty shot in ep9, I would have been drunk by the end credits.
   Feb. – high animation quality, but proving to be uninspired ecchi smut as advertised.)
7. Ookamikakushi – I would have bumped this higher b/c the revelations for the overall plot aren’t bad and the resolution and afterwards in ep11 is pretty acceptable. It felt like a visual novel with some high points lost in a slow, dragging plot.  But then ep12 came along, and it is so mind-numbingly bad that it could be one of the worst extra episodes that I have ever seen. I hope the game itself was pretty good, but the anime is most def. not.
   (Mar. – precipitous fall #4–>#7 reflective of how much I’ve lost interest in boring and slow plot; I usually like mysteries and “wtf is going on” anime series, but just don’t care about revelations and explanations beginning to be revealed in ep8.
   Feb. – intruging mystery, but ep 4 plagued with snail-like pacing (not much really happened until the last 3 minutes!)  and notable production quality declines.)

Sora no woto – on hold… didn’t I just finish K-On! last season? first few eps were fine if you can believe that those girls are part of the country’s military, which is asking a lot.

Seikon no Qwaser – dropped at ep2, too ridiculous a premise and massacred by censors… maybe retry when uncut version released, but unlikely.

Chu-Bra!! – dropped at ep1, I could can’t care less about the content.

*I do not own any part of the poster presented. Thanks to the creators at chartfag.wordpress.com for their amazing work for the anime community.

Quick Synopsis:
Akihisa Yoshi has the worst grades in his class. In a school where students are divided into classes based on their test results and where the summoned beings that the students battle each other with have a power level also based on test results, Akihisa is the Ultimate Idiot. He is joined in the F class by Yuuji, his best friend, Himeji, the girl he likes, Minami, a tomboyish tsundere, Hideyoshi, the bishounen who looks like a girl, and Mutsuri, the camera-wielding pervert. Himeji is actually one of the smartest students in the school, but she collapsed during the placement exam due to a fever. Because the F classroom is in such bad condition, Akihisa is concerned for Himeji’s fragile health, and he convinces the F class to challenge other classes in summon being battles for their rooms and extra privileges. As the Ultimate Idiot and Punishment Inspector, Akihisa’s summoned being has the special ability of being able to touch real objects, but any damage it takes is also transmitted to Akihisa.

Notable Seiyu:
Akihisa Yoshi = Hiro Shimono (Kannagi – Jin Mikuriya, RahXephon – Ayato Kamina)

Before watching the first episode, I really had my doubts about the premise behind the show. Let’s face it, who wants to see a series about battling with chibi characters based on your test results. I’m not a nerd! [yes, I am...] But ep1 actually went by pretty painlessly and with the “battles” being so ridiculous and unserious and with Akihisa being such a funny idiot, I really enjoyed watching the episode. Thankfully, they don’t really dwell on the fighting concept between summoned beings and the “battles” consist really of over the top shouting and comedic dramaticism. The series has actually moved away, at least for now, from the whole class hierarchy and challenging for supremacy premise that the early episodes introduced.

Baka Test really begins to hit its stride in the third episode by bringing in and focusing on more elements of romantic comedy. Akihisa likes Himeji, but he misunderstands circumstances and thinks she likes Yuuji. Himeji and Minami both like Akihisa but they can’t express their feelings to him because the pure and innocent Himeji is too shy and Minami acts tsundere half the time and is interrupted by her yuri admirer the other half the time. The love triangle all go on a date and get into funny situations. The good flow of the jokes for each episode is one of the strong points of the series. Because Akihisa is forced to spent all his money on dates with Himeji and Minami, other jokes in ep3 build on how he has to save money with his meals. Splitting ramen, Kubo’s dropped piece of bread, sharing crepes, and further splitting ramen are spaced and executed well in the episode, and Akihisa’s meals become just one of the many recurring jokes throughout the series. Other staples include Shouko’s abuse of Yuuji, Minami’s breast size, Hideyoshi as a girl, and Himeji’s cooking.

For the romance in Baka Test, the plot developments to progress the relationships will likely be relatively non-existant, which would be expected in a gag comedy. Here, the love triangle situation feeds the comedy, so it probably stay static for as long as it can, whereas in a romantic comedy like Kimi Kiss or Ichigo 100%, the love triangle becomes the major problem the male protagonist needs to make a decision on, emphasizing the drama aspect of the series. If the show were to end pushing towards a resolution, between Himeji and Minami, I would say Himeji has the edge because most of the major flags are for her route – Akihisa’s standing up for her when she collapsed during the placement exam, wanting to change classroom for her sake, the misunderstanding with the love letter. Despite the focus on comedy, the few relationship scenes that Akihisa does have with Himeji and Minami are done pretty well and keeps the audience satisfied with leaving the romance with just that. Akihisa reminds me of Harima Kenji in that they may be idiots most of the time, but every now and then they manage to do the right thing to make the girl happy, even if they don’t realize it.

Bottomline Impressions:
Baka Test – A, many funny aspects and recurring jokes flow together into a well executed romantic comedy that will surprise viewers doubtful of its ridiculous premise.

Reminds me of: School Rumble, both have casts with baka characters and likable heroines, episodic situations and romantic relationships driving comedy, and recurring jokes that the devoted audience will continue to appreciate.

Quick synopsis:
Durarara!! takes place in modern Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, reknown for its large commercial and entertainment businesses. Mikado Ryugamine has just moved from the dull countryside to Ikebukuro, where he hopes to change and have an exciting lifestyle filled with adventure. He reunites with his old childhood friend Masaomi Kida, who warns him that living in Ikebekuro will be easy as long as he avoids Shizuo Heiwajima, Izaya Orihara, and the mysterious gang called Dollars. Mikado also witnesses the urban legend going around Ikebukuro about a Rider on a black motorcycle. The Rider saves a girl from being tricked and kidnapped by a group of thugs. During the fight, the helmet of the Rider is knocked off, revealing that the Rider is headless as rumored, with just a cloud of black smoke coming out of the jacket. Just who or what is the Headless Rider?

Notable Seiyu: (many, to name only a few…)
Selty Sturluson = Miyuki Sawashiro (Galaxy Angel – Mint Blancmanche, Canaan – Canaan)
Masaomi Kida = Mamoru Miyano (Death Note – Light, Gundam 00 – Setsuna)
Izaya Orihara = Hiroshi Kamiya (Zetsubou series – Nozomu Itoshiki)

For all its comparisons to Baccano!, I want to first preface that I have not seen any of Baccano! except for its pretty famous OP, “Gun’s and Roses” by Paradise Lunch. From reviews I’ve read, I get that the story is pretty episodic with a large set of characters rather than the traditional focus on fixed protagonists and that there is a lot of interweaving for form the overall grand story – through the first few episodes of Durarara!!, I can definitely see how the format may parallel. A lot of what I’ve read so far about Durarara!! points to it doing all the good things that Baccano! did. That’s fine and I imagine Baccano is a pretty good series that I’ll have to get around to, but I don’t have that reference point, so I want to assure you that you don’t have to have seen Baccano! to appreciate Durarara!!. That said, when I got started on the series, the OP for Durarara!!, “Uragiri no Yuuyake” by Theatre Brook, got me pretty psyched going into the first episode. Cool song. Cool animation sequence. Introduction of all the unique characters during the OP, multiple potentially interesting stories, and good quality of animation and voice acting (I love the way Masaomi talks) all got me pretty hooked to the show by the end of Ep1. And come on, how cool is it that they’re carrying around a billboard of Horo (Spice and Wolf)?

There is a recurring mechanism of the different characters using online chat messages to discuss rumors and gossip circulating around Ikebukuro. It’s an interesting concept as the different screen names keep identities anonymous among the characters, allowing talk between odd pairs of characters. Unfortunately, for people with limited Japanese reading skills, this may not be easy to figure out exactly what each screen name says and I’m not sure if they’ve revealed who’s screen name is whose yet without resorting to Wiki. Until I actually figured out who was talking to who, the online chat scenes were kind of confusing and limited my interest.

In Ep4, Shinra Kishitani, an underground doctor in Ikebukuro, reveals who/what the Headless Rider actually is and tells the story about his relationship with the Rider, Selty Sturluson. I think this is a pretty cool supernatural element in the series, and its similar to the existence of immortality found in Baccano!. It also makes me think about a possible connection to another character in the series, but I’ll refrain from elaborating for sake of not spoiling the plot. After wondering about it for the first three episodes, Durarara!! picks a good point into the series to reveal  the secret of who/what the Headless Rider is – after three episodes, the mystery has accomplished its goal of sucking in and gaining viewers’ interests and now it can move on with it to build what will likely be the main encompassing story.

Bottomline Impressions:
Durarara!! – A, unique and interesting characters drive story, good animation and voice work, and awesome OP + ED = great start to my current favorite new show of Winter 2010.

Reminds me of: Baccano! for a lot of reasons discussed above.

Quick Synopsis: Hinamori Amu is a recent transfer student at Seiyo Academy elementary school and has quickly become popular thanks to her punk goth appearance and “cool and spicy” personality. However, that exterior hides her real shy and bashful personality, and she wishes for courage to change and show her “would-be” self. One morning, three eggs appear, each containing a Guardian Character that is a reflection of a part of her true self, and as they hatch, each chibi guardian helps Amu bring out different parts of her personality. Of course, in true shoujo fashion, there is love interest, and Amu’s is the ‘princely’ Hotori Tadase, the leader of the school’s student council, the Guardians, a group of four students who also have Guardian Charas. Their goal is to protect the Guardian egg sleeping inside everybody from becoming corrupted and turning into an X-Egg. There is also a group of “bad guys” whose goal is to find the Embryo, a special wish granting egg, by extracting peoples’ sleeping eggs.

Notable Seiyu:
Hotori Tadase = Takagi Reiko (Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan – Kusakabe Sakura, La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ – Hino Kahoko)
Tsukiyomi Ikuto = Nakamura Yuichi (Macross Frontier – Saotome Alto, Clannad – Okazaki Tomoya)

First, Shugo Chara technically started in 2007, but it went 51 episodes well into 2008 and it seems its been renewed for a second season starting this October. Secondly, its always surprising whenever a big name series asks a relative newcomer to voice the main protagonist, so I’ll mention that Amu is voiced by Ito Kanae. I imagine it can’t be easy when you’re just starting out, but I really liked Amu’s character and her voice effectively conveyed the moods she was in. She’s very cute when she’s flustered by silly things or when she’s calling herself ‘baka’.

So let’s break down this shoujo anime starting with Amu. Compared to the other pink haired lead females so far, Amu seems to have the most dimensions as a character. Lala is primarily cheerful and playful while Moka is caring and kind hearted, but Amu is sometimes “cool and spicy” when showing her exterior, sometimes cute and klutzy, sometimes the “maiden in love” as with Tadase, and sometimes argumentative and combatative as while annoyed by her chara or (I think) potentially later with Ikuto. I think deep down, she’s always caring and good natured, even if she doesn’t show it – when her charas told her they’d disappear if she didn’t believe in them, she was totally tsundere. Personally, I think her punk goth looks good (better than her magical girl clothes) and I liked her initial “cool and spicy” personality, except its not very apparent in the later episodes even if people are still descibing her that way. Her cuteness from her ‘baka’ side and from acting insincerity with her feelings make her likability on par wth Lala’s, even when her chest size isn’t (and that’s impressive when ecchi doesn’t have to be thrown around to boost a character’s appeal). And the character’s desire to change herself is universal enough for viewers to relate to easily.

The first three episodes introduce Amu’s charas, and each one brings out/adds some special abilities, especially when she character changes. Ran is cheerful and energetic and makes Amu more honest and athletic, Miki is stubborn and easygoing and makes Amu more level-headed and artistic, and Suu is clumsy and girl and makes Amu more caring and better at domestic skills. The transformations resemble some of the outfits from Cardcaptor Sakura, but some of the actions while transformed, like the purification of X-eggs, feels more like Sailor Moon. Add in the two potential love interests – the ‘princely’ Tadase and the ‘wild and free’ Ikuto – and you’ve put together all the best parts of shoujo anime, which speaks to how popular this show is. And even as a guy probably too old this this kind of show, I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind continuing this show casually. The first three episodes went by quickly without much effort, I found some parts funny, and I’ve watch my share of similar shoujo anime – Cardcaptor Sakura and Full Moon – and liked it, so I won’t mind that this show isn’t in my ideal genre.

Bottomline Impressions:
Shugo Chara! – B+, the appeal of this show to its target audience is pretty clear, and the likability of the main character easily pulls other viewers into the show. Continuing happily.

Reminds me of: Cardcaptor Sakura with Powerpuff girl guardians and Sailor Moon-like special moves.

PS. Thanks Crunchyroll.com for the screenshots (until you tell me to take them down >.<). All readers are encouraged to check out their site to an excellent variety of videos for online viewing.

We left off with the show firmly establishing the Rito-Lala-Haruna love triangle in the first few episodes and shot down Rosario to Vampire after making some comparisons between the two shows. Starting with about ep6, To love-ru begins introducing its harem cast – the rich and haughty Tenjouin, the gender bending Ren/Run, the sexy alien school nurse Mikado, the strict but caring discipline committee leader Kotegawa, and the Eve (from Black Cat) lookalike assassin Golden Darkness. And even though the formula is standard and repetitive, the episodes are still relatively watchable from the entertaining situations, quality female character modeling, and because Lala is still so cute and likable. Of course the ecchi and fan service are still pumped out regularly, and I’m pretty sure the animator for the series has a thing for tentacle play. And clothes dissolving monsters. The example below is not the only instance. :p

So where did things go wrong? Episode 15. The premise of the episode itself wasn’t great, but the real killer was the very un-dramatic scene of revealing to everyone in the school that Lala was an alien. You’d think people would at least be shocked or in disbelief, but the general attitude was more like “Oh, well that makes sense. Now go off in your spaceship and do your thing. Oh, and its totally cool if Haruna flies up with you too.” What…? In literally a minute, the writers successfully blew up one of the biggest premises behind the show – Rito having to keep Lala’s secret about aliens while still enduring all of her crazy situations. Thats just baddecisions.com right there. And as the episode goes on, it feels more and more like a filler. A bad filler. I check Wiki to read for any differences between the anime and manga versions when I read this bomb, “The anime uses characters and general themes from the original manga, but is for the most part original story material after the first episode.” WTC! Now, I should elaborate that I’m fine with an original story in anime. Conan does it all the time. But it has to be quality and it can’t just be various episodic filler stories. And by episode 15, I’ve gone too far to just drop the series, so I endure eps 15-23 slowly (very slowly) over 2 weeks. I finally finished ep26 tonight. The struggle is over.

As disparaging in quality the first half and second half of the series was, the last two episodes return to a proven harem anime standard for series ending. A final problem is introduced that keeps the protagonist and the main girl apart, and its up to everyone from the harem group, even the odd piece of the love triangle who must choose to give up on her own wishes, to help the guy overcome the obstacle and reunite with the girl. In To love-ru, Lala’s father takes back Lala and challenges Rito to fulfill his promise of becoming the number one man in the universe by racing to his ship as he throws obstacles in his way. Rito asks Haruna to wait on hearing his true feelings, then goes off to make it to the Deviluke king’s ship to bring back Lala and prevent the earth from being destroyed, with everyone helping him along the way. The ending does take an interesting and unique turn when Lala decides that she can’t marry Rito just yet and uses an invention to erase everyone’s memory of her so that Rito can meet and fall in love with her again as a normal person. At least it would have if the anime went through with that choice, but like all her other inventions, it doesn’t work and she returns to school with everybody and the status quo remains unchanged. So they don’t take the ambitious ending, but if the anime writers didn’t want to make a decision, they could have tried pushing the threesome ending where Rito can’t choose between Lala and Haruna and they both accept sharing his attention. Instead, they lame out and leave things unsettled in the Rito-Lala-Haruna love triangle. That’s typically my least favorite ending for a harem anime, and that’s too bad because with an original story, writers could have pushed one way or the other regardless of the ongoing manga.

PS. I’m at least happy that they brought back the first ED song in the last episode since I wasn’t too much of a fan of the second ED. I think I’ll also pickup the manga version whenever I get the chance.

The interesting thing about Adachi’s works (at least the four I’ve read) is that he reuses the character models for the main protagonist and his primary love interest in each of his stories. Here are some pictures of his works:

From top left going clockwise (and also in series creation order): Kazuya, Minami, and Tatsuya from Touch; Hideo, Hikari, Hiro, and Haruka from H2; Mizutani Katsuki and Satoyama Katsuki from Katsu!; Koh and the Four Tsukishima Sisters: Momiji, Ichiyo, Wakaba, and Aoba from Cross Game.

The main character, Tatsuya/Hiro/Katsuki/Koh in their respective series, all play the same “baka, lazy, and unreliable except in their sport and in caring for their childhood friend/love interest” type characters. They oversleep and are late for school, unwillingly train hard during practices, tease and get teased by the main heroine, can never clearly admit that they like the main girl until late into series, and always shoulder some burden (usually of their respective girls) as motivation for their sport. All are pitchers except for Katsuki as Katsu! is a boxing manga, and none were exceptionally good at their sports at the start of each series. Romance is always complicated by love triangles that ultimately resolve themselves very lightly; there is never any gut-wrenching over-drama like in other romances. And although the main girl is always pursued by other characters, the main character never receives an unhappy ending.

In fact, the best way to describe Adachi’s work is “lightness”. His drawing style is simple and clean (possibly a reason why I’ve never found fault with reusing his character models – the recurring basics of the protagonist serve as a foundation for the specific character development in each series) and writing is never long and dragged out. Dialogue is typically light and witty with puns, situational jokes, teasing between the main pair, and self-satire as the main forms of comedy. Often times, Adachi has his minor characters complaining about screen time or characters breaking the 4th wall to advertise other works or refer to previous chapters in the series. Adachi himself appears as a mangaka always trying to meet deadlines or appealing to his editors for more time.

But Adachi does add aspects of sadness and tragedy to his works, and the stark contrast between those moments and the light moments adds great depth to the emotions of heartbreak and disappointment his characters face from time to time. And even in those scenes, Adachi employs a lightness in minimalism, trying to use as little as he can to drive the sad scenes without weighing down the reader. For example, in Cross Game, after the initial tragedy that sets up the story, instead of depicting scenes with everyone crying and hysterically sobbing and going through all of Koh’s feelings, he leaves it simply with Koh sitting alone on a street with some tears starting to roll down his face. As a reader, I was as shocked as Koh by the suddenness of the event and then felt the same catharsis as Koh began to let his emotions out (the first point when I thought, ‘man, that sucks…’). So while Adachi’s works are generally very light and easy to read through, its not to mean that they aren’t as full of emotion as other heavier works can be.

As which series to begin with, H2 is likely the best bet if you want a finished conclusion. His baseball work reads a lot better than his boxing (and Hajime no Ippo is a much better boxing manga to look for) and casual readers may be put off by the old feeling of his earlier animations (Touch began in 1981 and the animation-style isn’t as comparable to his other work until later in the series – the last few chapters of Touch looks contemporary to the beginning of H2). But personally, I’ve really liked Cross Game so far and am happy to have gotten to it just after he ended part 2 and went on hiatus. It still is clearly Adachi’s drawing style, but higher production values add to its more modern sense. The story is moving along well too, as the main girl seems to only be beginning to notice feelings for the main character, while the introduction (or re-introduction) of another main girl has Adachi setting up for more focus on romance in the coming part next spring.

Gantz (2000 – ongoing)

Of the five, this one can be considered already somewhat popular having about 270 subbed chapters, a 26 episode anime (though it ends very early in the series), and an American license with Dark Horse Comics (less of a manga company and more graphic novels like Hellboy, Sin City, and 300). The manga started way back in 2000, and even though it has one of the most interesting premises for any anime series I’ve come across, its popularity doesn’t come close to other big name shows in comparable genres like Deathnote, Monster, Hellsing, or Full Metal Alchemist. One of the biggest positives of this series is how mortal the characters can be – unlike many other action series, death is always a possibility for every character (even the main characters), and creator Hiroya Oku does a good job of building suspense through the unpredictability death adds to fight scenes.

As oversimplification of the plot would be that a group of characters (that is always changing) is sent to hunt a group of aliens with the goal being that a character must survive through some amount of missions before they no longer have to participate. But in actuality, its the various rules and circumstances dictating their missions and the interaction among characters that makes the plot so interesting, especially after Oku adds further possibilities by changing the rules late into the series (Sorry for writing as vaguely as possible, but the premise is simply so interesting I don’t want to spoil it). I picked up the series last spring and read up to the end of the first arc (ch237) in about 2-3 days, then decided to break due to the irregularity of releases and because plot-wise, it was at a huge crossroads. Kurono Kei becomes an awesome action hero (despite having to suffer a bit of a Simon-Kamina Complex from Gurren Lagann), and Reika is one of the most beautiful female characters that I’ve seen that I actually like. Oku does an excellent job with his female characters, blending ecchiness into his drawings with interesting character development. In fact, most of the main group of characters are well designed, and while reading this series, a part of me was always hoping that this character or that character didn’t die.

Addicted to Curry (2001 – ongoing)

A manga series dedicated to cooking curry at first sounds about as weird as a series about baking bread, but with Yakitate!! Japan being as awesome as it was, I decided to give this one a read and was disappointed only with that fact that only 40ish chapters had been translated at that point. And surprisingly, Curry started a year before Yakitate in 2001! The basic plot of the series is that Sonezaki Yui is trying to run her father’s curry shop after he leaves to train his skills, and even though business is going poorly, she doesn’t want to close the restaurant because she loves her father’s curry. Koenji Makito, whose life was saved by Yui’s father, comes looking for him and decides to repay him by helping Yui save the curry shop. Like Yakitate, the series features various curry recipes (that are a lot easier to make in real life than the bread in Yakitate) and spaces big cooking battles between smaller side character problems solved by introduction of a relative curry dish. Koenji has the same love of curry as Azuma does for bread in Yakitate, but he is also like GTO’s Onizuka with an ecchi personality and the willingness to go to extremes to help others. While Yakitate utilizes puns and outrageousness in its comedy, Curry employs more ecchi and situational comedy, but both are equally inspiring when the main characters show their passion for cooking.

Team Medical Dragon (2002 – ongoing)

Team Medical Dragon is one of the extrodinarily few manga/anime series I’ve seen that deals with doctors and medicine (Blackjack is the only other that comes to mind), and as someone who wants to become a doctor himself, I’ve gotta say that sucks. In a world of schoolgirls, giant mecha, and chakra/ki/spirit energy/reiatsu/dying will flame attacks, maybe the content is too close to reality or it requires too much additional research, but Team Medical Dragon leads (or should be leading) its own genre to provide a novel and refreshing alternative to the world of anime (like Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center did for video games). Asada Ryutaro is a brilliant doctor who gave up on medicine in Japan until Dr. Katou Akira recruits him as the lead surgeon for her thesis on the Batista operation, a surgical heart procedure of the highest difficulty. Asada accepts the position, but his unorthodox approach that goes to extremes in order to save lives challenges the foundations of rotten, hierarchy-based Japanese university medical centers. While fighting this feudal system, Asada recruits members for his Batista team through helping them with their own respective problems and instilling them -and the readers- with what it means to be a great doctor: the willingness to never give up on a patient.

High School of the Dead (2006 – ongoing)

Like Gantz, High School of the Dead boasts action filled with both gore and suspense. Death lurks around every corner as you’d imagine in any survival horror game, and the possibility/inevitability that one of the main characters will die is both dreaded and anticipated. Even a simple bite by a zombie will become fatal, and the series handles the mortality of its main cast very well. Also like Gantz, High School of the Dead features some very well-illustrated fan service that is never in poor taste nor does it ever drag or slow the pace of the series. In fact, it contributes to the quality of the series in two ways – firstly, as expected of a post-apocalyptic setting, law and order have become displaced by more carnal instincts like violence, lust, and sin, and the non-romantic fan service (shredded sailor uniforms, torn skirts, exposed skin) add to this atmosphere of desperate survival; secondly, more romantic fan service is employed between action/ suspense sequences during “break” sequences to give the reader the same sense of relaxing and unwinding that the characters are feeling during the sudden unstressful period. But unlike Gantz and almost all other manga/anime series, High School of the Dead is the only series I’ve seen that takes on the zombie survival horror genre as well as games like Resident Evil or House of the Dead.

The basic plot is as simple as a group of high school students escape their suddenly zombie-infested school and try to survive the following apocalypse, and many basic survival horror aspects are included such as weaponry ranging from the basic (metal baseball bat, wooden poles, revolver off dead policemen) to the unrealistic (sniper rifles, modified shotguns), the search for food and shelter, and salvaging of potentially useful items. The main cast consists of a kendo swordswoman, a gun/military otaku, a school nurse, a genius student, the would-be leader, and his main love interest. The female character models are amazing, and the characters themselves are well developed, especially in their handling of typical emotions like fear, guilt, and (interestingly) euphoria as they walk the fine line of maintaining their humanity and surviving by any means.

Mr. Fullswing (2001 – 2006)

Mr. Fullswing is a Shonen Jump baseball manga, but for a Jump school sports series, you’d think it’d be somewhat popular with the success of series like Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield 21, but there are currently only 30 subbed chapters available and the series remains unlicensed in the US. So what gives? Its by no means a short series – 24 volumes is easily franchisable. And the premise isn’t ridiculous at all. Like plenty of high school student male characters, Saruno Amakuni is a bit of a pervert and has a long history of rejection in his attempts to find a girlfriend. He hates school sports clubs because athletes get all the girls, but he meets the baseball club manager, Torii Nagi, and decides to join to impress her with his skills (like a certain red-haired Shonen Jump basketball player). Although Saruno isn’t as good as his enlarged ego makes him think he is, he does possess a lot of strength and potential, and Nagi believes that the full-swinging Saruno can carry the team to the championship just like a lengendary high school slugger did for their school 20 years ago.

Compared to other baseball manga, Fullswing is closer to Ookiku Furikabutte in its focus on the relationship with teammates than to Mitsuru Adachi’s baseball works, Touch and H2, which focus closer on the main character’s pitching success and romantic life. Unlike Ookiku, other characters on the team each have their own specialties along the lines of Prince of Tennis (a softball-style pitcher, a jet-like baserunner, etc), and the main character’s strength is in hitting, not pitching. This is a pretty crucial distinction as pitchers are generally associated with dominating or clutch performances while hitters can be built up for a single miraculous play like a walk-off grand slam. And aren’t these kinds of come from behind victories the basic driving point behind shonen sports series? Returning back to the point of this show’s lack of popularity. With only 30 chapters out, its hard to see where the series might go wrong, but the various training exercises up to Ch30 have been pretty funny and the entry test match was as entertaining as any other Jump sports series. The only possible minus for the series might be that a lot of the jokes Saruno uses outside of the situational comedy are based on puns and Japanese culture that would be difficult to understand for a Western audience without proper explanation. Still, you’d imagine Shonen Jump would jump on any chance to add one more to their list of big name franchises by pushing the popularity of this quality series.

Quick Synopsis: Aono Tsukune, who didn’t get into high school because of his low test grades, was fortunately able to enroll at Yokai Academy, allowing him to become a high school student afterall. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a mistake because it is actually a high school for monsters and demons that requires its students to disguise themselves as humans so that they can learn to fit into human society. And while he worries about keeping his human identity a secret and whether he can survive in a school of monsters, he is able to become friends with Akashiya Moka, a vampire who is initially attracted to Tsukune because of the taste of his blood, but later also because he protected her despite him being human and her being a vampire. As their relationship grows throughout the story, Tsukune and Moka also continue to make other friends and enemies at Yokai Academy in typical harem, love-comedy fashion.

Notable Seiyu:
Aono Tsukune = Kishio Daisuke (Vampire Knight – Kuran Kaname, AYAKASHI – Kusaka Yuu)
Akashiya Moka = Mizuki Nana (Naruto – Hyuga Hinata, Allison & Lillia – Allison Whittington; Lillia Whittington-Schultz, Tsuyokiss – Konoe Sunao, Basilisk – Oboro)

When I started watching this show, I was already thinking that watching two harem, love comedies was not gonna be one of my priorities, especially with a huge list of other shows to go through. So despite the respective high popularities of Rosario+Vampire and To Love-ru, one of them was prolly getting dropped. And although I tried to be as objective as possible and even took both shows to episode 5, I had to pick To Love-ru over Rosario+Vampire. Here’s some comparisons between the two shows:
Pink-haired girls: A large majority of choosing To Love-ru over Rosario+Vampire was from the simple fact that I liked Lala a lot more than Moka. Admittedly, Moka is pretty cute when trying to resist sucking blood from Tsukune, but she just doesn’t have the same charisma that Lala has whenever she brings out her malfunctioning inventions. A lot of this is just preference whether you want a more playful Lala or a more caring, kind-hearted Moka, but liking the show’s main driving character is huge. I mean, come on, guys aren’t watching these shows because they admire Rito or Tsukune.
Scrawny but wholesome protagonists: While we’re on the subject of Rito and Tsukune, I also thought that Rito was a stronger male character. Tsukune, even though he’s dependable enough to protect the girls in a pinch, admits to his own weakness. Not to say that Rito isn’t as physically weak, but depending on Moka to bail him out of every fight kinda wears on the viewer. Maybe its just the way the shows set up the problems where Rosario always requires someone to take down the troublemakers while To love-ru can leave their comical situations to resolve on their own. But I’m liking how Rito at least knows who he likes (though it’ll prolly change by the end of the series) while Tsukune hasn’t showed any major romantic aspirations with anyone yet, even with is more rapidly expanding harem.
The episode formula: For me, the biggest problem with Rosario + Vampire has been its repetitive episode formula, which is also the typical outline for harem building. Every episode has pretty much been 1) Introduce a new female character (if there is to be a new character introduced in the episode), 2) create a problem either associated with that new character or just one in general for the group, 3) develop Tsukune and Moka relationship either positively or negatively that will lead to positively, 4) resolve new character’s problem, usually through a confrontation ending with Moka’s transformation, 5) end the episode with harem members clinging around Tsukune. You could probably think of a similar formula for To love-ru, but I’ve found the situations created be at least be much more comical.
Ecchi factor: To love-ru does not give up on its ecchiness even after the first few episodes. Lala still ends up naked a lot and even Haruna and the newly introduced Tenjoin Saki get into questionable positions, often because of Lala. For Rosario+Vampire, the creator seems to prefer the relatively tame panty shot (and the Kurumu boob attack) over To love-ru’s full exposure. Its also amusing how the mouse-bat flys around as a censor sometimes. Basically a matter of preference, but I thought Rosario is more tasteful in this aspect despite the more hilarious situations the ecchi leads to in To love-ru. The creator of To love-ru also seems to have a thing for tentacles…
Transformation sequence: Which is more ridiculous, Lala’s clothes that make her gasp or Moka’s bats that increase her butt and breast size? Hey, what did you expect when you started watching a harem, love-comedy?

OP/ED: The OP theme for To love-ru was pretty catchy for me. I found myself humming it in the elevator and caught myself wondering where I had heard it. The OP theme for Rosario was ok, but personally nothing special. I’ll probably like the ED theme for To love-ru more than for Rosario if I listened to them more frequently. Needless to say, the quality of the OP and ED animation is a lot higher in To love-ru.

Story sequencing: This is a minor thing that probably other shows have taken liberties with, but (Wiki tells me) the episode order for the anime doesn’t match up with the story order in the manga. For example, Episode 3 is actually Chapter 5 while Episode 5 is Chapter 3. This seems weird and you’d think it’d affect the animation for subsequent episodes (like having to include the girl introduced in Ep3/Ch5 into Ep5/Ch3) but in fact, Episode 4 is already an anime exclusive (hurray to some maybe, but that translates to “filler” for me) so the anime is just based off of the manga (Switching Ep3 and Ep5 may not seem like a big deal, but consider it when Ep8 is Ch12, Ep 10 is Ch15-17, and then Ep11 is Ch8). Just seems like a bizarre decision to me and makes me want to simply read the manga instead.

Bottomline impressions:
Rosario to Vampire: C, dropping the anime, but may consider switch to manga-form.

Reminds me of: Monster Princess/Princess Resurrection, but less horror/action and more emphasis on harem love and comedy. Moka is also more Lala-like than Hime-like.

The beginning of the episode after the OP plays beautifully, jumping around from character to character like a well designed PV, but continually building on the philosophical dialogue among characters over why they fight and what was justice during war – who was right, how wrong is it to fight for your dreams – and other rhetoric in that vein that really binds together the series well. These vignette-like scenes gives the rhetoric a warmer feeling of humanity rather than transidentally cramming philosophy down your throats and preaching through extremely confusings scenes of abstract, surreal thought (yes Evangelion, I’m referring to you). Ironically, this comparison comes to mind only because of criticisms I read elsewhere dubbing the show “geassgelion” negatively because of how confusing the episodes during the world of C was, but I’m also aware of the popular OP parodies of Evangelion’s opening with Code Geass (people who loved Eva probaby use that term in a positive sense, but I hated how Eva ended, so I’m with the former on the negative sense of the phrase, not that it should apply). I didn’t think the episodes – 16, 20, 21 – were that hard to understand other than the origin of the world of C and how they were able to start manipulating it. And if it was for you, I’m sure another watch through slowly (or finding an explanation) would probably clear things up for you.

Zero Requiem – Its a pretty flashy name and we all probably wanted to know what it entails, so when he kept throwing the phrase around with Suzaku, you know there was definitely some bigger plan other than takeover the world (Light would def. have settled with world domination). Well, I was not disappointed at all finding out about it in this episode. And even though I warned about spoilers, I won’t mention anymore about Zero Requiem other than the fact that it was so poetically well-done. Heroes are heroes, punishments are for past sins, and the future is left for the right people. Perfect.

Wishes and Geass. I can see why the writers did it, but I think it puts too nice of a bow and too sweetly presents what geass really is. Its what people thought it was throughout the whole series – a sin and a burden, but it does go nicely with the idea of a new world that he creates. I have mixed feelings about it, only on whether the emphasis should be on Lelouch’s repenting for his heavy sins or on his goal of a peaceful world (adds a sense of justification for his sins).

But was he suffering? R2… So watching the last scene, I thought the fanboy in me was just screaming that maybe Lelouch actually is alive (was C.C. addressing the spirit of Lelouch or Lelouch the wagon driver?) I disregarded it until my bro brought it up and then I read a few blogs and people were feeling the same thing. Nice job Sunrise. Stating it flat out makes it too concrete – people will either like or hate that he lived or died. Leaving it simply as a possibility creates discussion and is a recipe for an epic ending that no one but the purest haters would be unhappy with.

Note the placement of the folded Crane, Nunnally’s signature item. Note the series title R2, as in R.R.? as in Lelouch (romanji = ‘Rurūshu Ranperūji’ ) if he had inherited the code and immortality from C.C.? Now instead of “C.C. becomes satisfied with her immortality after living with Lelouch and wishes to live her life fully” (which I kinda didn’t like) it becomes “Lelouch doesn’t die and doesn’t leave C.C. alone with her immortality, but rather grants her wish and the two disappear wandering the world together” (that’s poetic and brings nice closure; it refutes Lelouch repenting for his sins with his death, but makes his punishment his ‘death’ that doesn’t allow him to ever live happily with his sister or Kallen or Suzaku or all the people from the student council club that he had wanted to protect) Now, I’m not saying its one way or the other, and I’m not telling you how you should interprete it either. But for me, if Sunrise is leaving hints for this kind of interpretation, I’m gonna go ahead and take it as intended and think that’s how the series ends. Man, damn good.

Quick synopsis: To Love-ru, illustrated by Black Cat creator Yabuki Kentaro, is a harem, love-comedy about Yuuki Rito and the Deviluke princess, Lala, who teleports into Rito’s bathroom naked while he was taking a bath and lamenting over his failures in confessing to the girl of his dreams, Sairenji Haruna. Lala comes to Earth to escape her father and the arranged marriage plans he tries to make for her. Through various circumstances and misunderstandings, Rito becomes Lala’s fiance and his life becomes filled with all the troubles of living together, love triangles, and protecting Lala from various intergalactic suitors. The show’s title in hiragana (toraburu) is a play on the word ‘trouble’. Lala believes that the decision to marry should be based on love and be up to her, and so begins a story of freedom and fan service for all.

Notable Seiyu:
Sairenji Haruna = Saiyuri Yahagi (Karin/Chibi Vampire – Maaka Karin)
Lala Satalin Deviluke = Tomatsu Haruka (Kyoran Kazoku Nikki – Midarezaki Chika)

The main word that I could think of to describe this series is ‘ridiculous’. Ridiculous (and ridiculously ecchi) introduction of Lala. Ridiculous love comedy circumstances. Ridiculous (and ridiculously ecchi) clothes transformation sequence. Ridiculously ecchi OP animation. Ridiculous inventions created by Lala. Ridiculous alien outfits. Ridiculous jiggliness of Lala’s cleavage. A lot of these may or may sound very appealing to you, but for me, the one definite plus is how ridiculously cute and likeable Lala’s character is. She’s childishly playful and very cheerful, and I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the things she does. But seriously, the amount of fan service is to the point where watching too many of these kinds of shows (Kanokon quickly comes to mind) would turn you into a ‘no good, useless person’.

The show has followed a pretty standard sci-fi love comedy formula in the first few episodes, and the love triangle between Rito-Haruna-Lala will probably be the major underlying equation for the show even when they fully establish the harem (the OP shows the other female characters to be introduced as the show continues) and potentially other less minor suitor characters for Lala. Rito initially reminded me of Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn due to their similar look and build and timidness around girls, but Rito quickly shows he is a bit more decisive and dependable (I liked Tsuna a lot more after he started using the X-gloves). You can also kind of see the similarities in hair style between Rito and Train from Black Cat. I think Rito and Lala can definitely be interesting characters and develop into a nice couple, but I worry about the freshness of the show and whether it’ll still hold my attention after a couple more episodes. The problem with some harem love-comedies is that it falls into repetitiveness, either in itself or in the same pattern as other shows in the genre, but I don’t mind giving Lala a couple more episodes to totally impress me without resorting to getting naked. :p

Bottomline impressions:
To Love-ru: B-, continuing happily but reserving the right to drop.

Reminds me of: Beating Angel Dokoro-chan, but with nicer curves and the constant beatings to death replaced with constant naked-inducing ecchi situations.