Anime that I have to watch. - now my anime review thread!

[Micharus]

please do

when you do realize what will happen I am expecting to laugh from your reaction XD

You may now laugh.

It was NOT what I expected.

I think I know what is this thing you are talking about, and and all I can say is that for me it was one giant the fuck man?!

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

I'm getting major feelings of dejavu here, it's almost like watching the 'endless eight' series of episodes from 'The Melancholy of Suzimaya Haruhi'.
Note I said 'almost'?
It's the only anime related thing I can compare it to.

Having watched episode 8, I can truthfully say this is one interesting anime.

I may end up re-watching episodes to get my head around it fully.

Gotta say this though, Maria is one messed up kid and Beatrice would have to be one of the most beautiful anime characters I have seen for a long time.

[froody1911]

I've heard the Umineko anime becomes steadily crappier in the later arcs. Which is why I dropped it and am currently reading the VN instead. I also read the manga of the 1st arc and part of the 2nd.
Have to say, the manga is the best of the 3 by far. Too bad the scanlation is moving at a snail's pace.

[Micharus]

I've heard the Umineko anime becomes steadily crappier in the later arcs. Which is why I dropped it and am currently reading the VN instead. I also read the manga of the 1st arc and part of the 2nd.
Have to say, the manga is the best of the 3 by far. Too bad the scanlation is moving at a snail's pace.

Get out of my thread. /kidding

Go watch TTGL.

Serious Mickk is Serious.

[Micharus]

Added to list in OP;

Minami-ke, Minamin-ke: Okawari, Minami-ke: Okaeri and Minami-ke Betsubara(OVA)

I hear this series is similar to "Azumanga Daioh" and "Strawberry Marshmellow", both anime that I really enjoyed.

I may very well watch at least one season of Minami-ke after finishing Umineko in order to recover from it.

I *really* hope Umineko doesn't get as bad as certain people are saying.

As I've said in an earlier post, things are starting to get a little confusing, I may need to re-watch some episodes to keep my head in the game.

Edit: Must also mention that after the 4th episode, for some odd reason the previews for the following episode is NOT subbed. A little strange that.

[Micharus]

Finished episode 16 of Umineko.

I take back what I said about comparing Umineko to MoHS, 'endless 8'.

This is way more bizarre.

At this point we have;

lots of dead people...over and over and over.
THREE witches.
A demon, an elegant, well behaved demon though.
A whole bunch of 'furniture'. (I'll explain that in the review)
A place outside the 'gameboard'. (I'll be explaining that too)

There are still no subs for the previews at the end of each episode and I'm guessing that is how it's going to be from now on.

A curious thing though, at one point it's almost as if one of the characters is telling the people watching the anime to stop watching. That is the first time I've come across such a thing. Curious indeed.

The standard of the artwork is still very high, the voice actors are very good too.

I'm thinking I might marathon the last 10 episodes, but that could lead to a great deal of confusion on my part.
There are a great number of things happening from episode to episode, so much so that one of the 'players' 'stops' proceedings so that the situation can be explained more clearly.

This is turning out to be more 'intellectual' than anything else, heading towards 'Death Note' territory in some ways, but with more drama.

[Micharus]

Mods, please do not merge with the previous post!

Finally finished watching "Umineko no Naku Koro ni".

At the start I was impressed by the artwork, character design and story, but unfortunately the story kind of failed after a while.

There are a large number of characters in this anime, so I'm not going to try and put them all in here with a description like I have done with previous reviews.

First, I need to explain a couple of terms used in the anime.
You will see some of the characters refer to themselves as 'furniture'. These characters are 'created' to serve by magical means.
Also, the term 'gameboard' refers to the Island and 'pieces' refers to the people on the island.

Umineko is a drama, with horror and thriller aspects to it. There is blood and gore, some of it fairly graphic. There is a small amount of comedy in the last arc.
 
The basic story is that there is a family, the Ushiromiya, who all meet on an island to discuss how to divide the assets of the head of the family, Kinzo after he dies.
Kinzo has 3 months to live.
After they reach the island, a storm moves in, cutting off the island and everyone on it from contact with the mainland.

Soon after this happens people start to die in a manner that is written in a strange epitaph near a painting of a woman who is supposedly a witch, Beatrice.

Beatrice wants to be revived and in order to this a 'ceremony' has to be performed, but beyond that, everyone involved has to believe that Beatrice is indeed a witch.

There are four story arcs in this anime and each arc grows increasingly more complex.

In the first arc, everybody dies...... then we discover that we are in the middle of a strange 'game' created by Beatrice, a witch.

The following arcs are essentially a fight between Beatrice and Battler, the outcome being dependent on whether or not Battler can prove Beatrice is NOT a witch -or- that Beatrice can force Battler to believe she IS a witch.

Each arc is different, although the basic story stays the same, more or less. People still die according to the epitaph, but in different places.
There are always 'sealed room' riddles, the definition of a 'sealed room' being explained in the anime.

It seems that in every arc, more characters are added to the mix, which starts to get a little tedious after a while.

While I enjoyed some of this anime, I didn't enjoy all of it, after a while it started to seem like they were flogging a dead horse.
I kept watching to see how it ended up..... and it didn't really end, plus they have signaled a second season.

You could compare this to 'Death Note', you have to keep your wits about you in order to keep track of what is going on, but unlike Death Note, the story doesn't hold up so well.

After watching that, which was a little 'heavy', I'm going to watch "Minami Ke".

[Micharus]

Added the following anime;

Baka to Test to Shokanju
DURARARA!
Baccano!
High School of the Dead


Mini-review of Minami-ke.

Up to episode 10.

After watching Umineko, Minami-ke is very relaxing.

I swear I'm in love with Haruka, I like Chiaki and Kana makes me laugh.

It's all pretty random and very likely to stay that way to by the looks of things.
Watching the complete set in one go looks like it won't be much of a problem, but I plan on splitting them up so I don't get tired of watching Har..... I mean the Minami family. 

[Micharus]

First let's have a weather report for where I'm at.

It's COLD here, hasn't gotten over 20' C in a week or so.

Anyway, enough of that. On to the review of....

Manami ke.

This anime is all slice of life/school life/comedy, with some memorable characters.

We have the Minami sisters;

Haruka: the oldest of the three, with a gentle smile, loving nature, but a titanium fist in a velvet glove when need be. Long blonde hair, worn loose. She is in High school.
Kana: energetic, spur of the moment girl. Dark hair done in twin tails. Kana is in Junior High School.
Chiaki: has 'sleepy' half open eyes, but don't let that fool you, she has a razor sharp mind and isn't beyond manipulating Kana to get what she wants. Idolizes Haruka. She is in Elementary School.

This anime basically follows the lives of the three sisters.

There are various shenanigans happening, including one where Kana convinces a boy to dress as a girl so that he can see Haruka, without suffering the wrath of his class mate, Chiaki.

Along the way, we meet ANOTHER Minami family, but there is a difference, there are three boys and girl....who is a bit of tom-boy.

We never find out what happened to the Minami Sisters parents, but there is a sweet episode where Haruka tells Chiaki that a guest they have over for tea one night, Fujioka, reminds her of their Father, which lead Chiaki to see him as a 'father' figure.
 
Minami ke has a nice 'feel' to it, there is no pantsu, boing or ecchi going on at all, you could easily watch it with your granny.

Minami ke is a good watch, not as random as Lucky Star, but still worth a look.

Going to watch "Ergo Proxy" next. Looks a bit dark and moody.

[Al_Sleeper]

It's COLD here, hasn't gotten over 20' C in a week or so.

LOL At first, I'd thought you meant -20o C, but then I remembered that Australia isn't THAT far south ...

[Micharus]

It's COLD here, hasn't gotten over 20' C in a week or so.

LOL At first, I'd thought you meant -20o C, but then I remembered that Australia isn't THAT far south ...

Heh, well in Western Australia, it's generally a bit warmer than the 'eastern states' as we call them.

While it's not strange to have temps under 20 during the day here, it's cold for people who are used to temps over 35' C in summer.

The weather in general has been a little odd lately, colder than usual for this time of year.
It even rained every day for about a week and I mean real rain, not just a sprinkle here and there, which is pretty odd in itself, but will be good for our dams.

But back on topic, did I mention I'm in love with Haruka? So cute. I wonder if I could get Belldandy to agree to her being my second wife? Haruka as second wife I mean. Belldandy is always first! 

[Micharus]

I've just finished watching episode 10 of "Ergo Proxy".

I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Lil reminds me ever so much of Kusanagi Motoko (The Major) from GiTs and I like her use of makeup to bring out her eye color. She has nice eyes.

Pino is so cute, I just want to hug her lots, even if she is an 'autorave'. Even cuter in her 'rabbit' costume.

The 'autoraves' are a very interesting thing, they seem to be a kind of bio-mechanical robot.

The general feel is a bit dark, but with an air of mystery as well.

[froody1911]

^ I loved how it incorporated it's main plot into a monster-of-the-week approach.

[Al_Sleeper]

The general feel is a bit dark.

(click to show/hide)

A slight understatement .

[Micharus]

^ I loved how it incorporated it's main plot into a monster-of-the-week approach.

Hmmm, never thought about it that way.

Oh yeah, Daedalus, the doctor seems to be 'broken' now....which is..... odd.

[froody1911]

Oh yeah, Daedalus, the doctor seems to be 'broken' now....which is..... odd.

More like 'batshit insane'.

Btw, this is my 4th favorite anime series.

[Micharus]

Oh yeah, Daedalus, the doctor seems to be 'broken' now....which is..... odd.

Btw, this is my 4th favorite anime series.

I can understand that.

Good characters, good storyline, nice animation, some pretty awesome backgrounds, just to name a handful of the things that "Ergo Proxy" has going for it.

I reckon I may just rate this fairly high myself, it may even make it into 'the Nine' group on my MAL.
I haven't rated anything 10.....yet.
The anime that I rate a 10 will have to be beyond awesome, in my mind at any rate.

[froody1911]

Hmm, yep, I don't have any 10s either, except for Usagi Drop, but that only has 2 episodes so far. I have a couple of 9.5s (which I have to rate 9 because MAL is a bitch). The closest I came to rating 10 so far was Detroit Metal City, but that lost points for being over too quickly.

[Micharus]

Heh, tip for people checking my MAL...... if it doesn't have a rating, it just means I couldn't be bothered at the time.

If I rate it UNDER 5, don't even bother, it's worse than rubbish.

However, if I rate it 9, it's an anime you should definitely take a look at.

I know that ratings are all relative, but yeah if I rate an anime that high, you can pretty much guess there is something extra good about it.

[Micharus]

Here it is, the "Ergo Proxy" review!

The main characters, or rather the characters that the story for this anime move around are;

Vincent Law, an 'immigrant' from the city dome of 'Mosque'.
Lil Mayer, the granddaughter of the 'Administrator' of the the city dome of 'Romdeau' and also an Inspector of the 'Citizen Intelligence Bureau'*
Pino, a cute girl type 'autorave'.

The time is the far distant future.
At some point in the past there has been a catastrophic event of some sort that has laid waste to the Earth, making it mostly uninhabitable.
Humanity, such as it is, live in 'city domes'.

We discover that each and every person is accompanied by an 'Autorave' (a sort of bio mechanical robot), classed either as a 'Companion' or a 'Entourage'.
We also find out that the autoraves are being infected by the 'Cognito Virus', which alters the way they respond to humans, sometimes in a negative manner.

Eventually, Lil comes face to face with a Proxy, a kind of 'super being' that seems to be invulnerable to normal attacks.

Lil is tasked with capturing Vincent Law, who has decided that he can't become a 'model citizen' and must therefore escape from Romdeau.
Along the way, he meets up with Pino, an autorave that has the appearance of a little girl.
Pino has been infected with the Cognito Virus, but it hasn't changed her much, she just believes that she now has a 'heart'.

Vincent and Pino eventually escape from Romdeau and after a number of adventures, they leave on the 'Rabbit', a wind powered vessel.

There isn't too much more I can write about Ergo Proxy without spoiling it, due to events that happen fairly early in the anime.

The artwork is pretty nice, but the overall mood is generally dark, despite Pino being wonderfully cute all over the place.

The characters grow on you, and they grow as well, showing sides you never thought could exist for them.

Lil is tsundere, more tsun than dere, but I grew to like her, while Vincent was mostly a wimp, except for when push came to shove and eventually came out of his shell due to various hardships.
Pino is.... well she 'learns' a few 'emotions' and we, the watchers, could learn a few things from her. Mostly Pino is the 'Little Girl' that all little girls are or should be.

The last episode is definitely the end, pretty much everything is tied up in a nice neat package, but there is a small opening left for a second season, although I seriously doubt it will happen.

This is worth watching, although episode 15, left me a bit blah, it was almost like the writer for the series went insane for 30 minutes.

Going to watch the second season of Minami-ke.

[Meomix]

So Ergo Proxy isn't as dark & moddy as you might have expected? If so is it watchable?