Great episodes.

Episode 12 was really metaphysical but sweet and fun nonetheless. I’ve forgotten some of the earlier storylines so I’m wondering if this episode and mainly, Akiko, was suppose to have more meaning. I gotta recap the earlier parts of this series, heh.

Episode 13 was a nice mini-recap and solid round-up of the series. With the way it ended, this entire series seems more like it was a huge prelude than anything else. That remains to be seen depending on the direction the sequel goes. It’s just the feeling I got at the end of this episode, especially with the flashing of the “Welcome to Aria Company” sign at the end. Nice touch, regardless of what it meant.

Auguri, Buon Anno!

This was a refreshing series. Aria managed to make me feel good. I got all mushy and sappy while watching this series.

I’m not sure if all that is a good thing yet…

OK, honestly though, I really enjoyed watching this series. It had an incredibly relaxed pace and much of it involved Akari (and in turn, me) learning about Aqua and Undines and everything else in this near-magical world. It’s ironic that a world created by man can hold such a magical and meaningful history.

Overall series score: 9.2 out of 10

There is so much still left undiscovered for Akari, in both the past and the future.

I look forward to seeing it play out.

Hot damn, has it really been that long since I watched anime? Wow. It still boggles my mind as to how I can simply up and quit all anime then months later, oh hey, look, I feel like watching anime again.

Really, what the hell is that about?

As the intro pic shows, I watched Mushishi. Yes, watchED. The whole thing. All 26 episodes… over the course of a few days, of course. My comp has been giving me shit for the past two weeks (long story) so yeah, had the urge to watch this show. I wasn’t particularly thinking about gettin’ back into anime but you know how it is… well, you know. How it is… that is… you know…

I’m also a lil buzzed at the moment, haha… so my attempts at being creative while blogging don’t even make it to the starting line right now.

Well, anyway, Mushishi was incredible. Absolutely brilliant. And you know I liked something when I actually describe it with the word “brilliant.” I surely hope they’ll make some more of this anime in the future. It’s based off a manga that runs in Afternoon, which is a monthly publication last I recall, so yeah… a one chapter per month manga is kinda tough to animate when you have to wait so friggin’ long for material.

It seems the manga is up to around 9 volumes and this series covered most of all the volumes up to volume 5 and a chapter in volume 6. Or something like that… I looked it up the other day but it’s a bit hazy now, heh.

The point being is that they should have enough manga to do a short series (12-13 episodes) or an OVA but probably not enough for a full 24-26 episode season. Hell, then again, I’m merely speculating (and supremely hoping) this will have more anime for it so who knows…

Hella hella good stuff. Hella… HELLA!

Oh, and I never thought of blogging it so I didn’t take screenies or jot down any notes. This series would have made a great series for blogging but alas, all I got is that snazzy pic of Ginko up there… and I took that screenie just before I started typing all this up, hahaha.

Okie, that’s that. Maybe I’ll come back and blog this, who knows? Well, I do, actually… given how many times in this blog I’ve said “I’ll get back to blogging this later” or something thereof, this series has a 99.999999999999% chance of being forgotten in the annals of shit I never blogged. I may never utter the name Mushishi ever again.

…except for the occasional blurb and reference in the future.

…and except for when I feel like being silly and I do somemushishithing like that.

…and probably some other exceptions.

OK, maybe it’s more like 95%.

And since there’s a high chance I won’t bring this anime up again, I’ll give it a score for completest sake.

Overall series score: 9.7 out of 10

That is the highest score I’ve given to any series to date. There are a few series from back in the day, well before this blog, that would have a score that high or higher but hell if I’m gonna troll through all the anime I’ve watched and give them scores. Like, that requires work and stuff.

I also tagged this as a “mini-review” even though it’s not. I scored an anime, I have to put it in the “mini-review” category. I just have to. Blame the OCD.

I have plenty of shit to sort out for this blog, like the sidebar, since much of it is not accurate anymore. I went through it a lil bit but I’m too lazy and also, what the hell was I thinking when I wrote up some of this CSS. It’s so convoluted and, well, straight up retarded confusing.

Anywhooooo… we’ll see where I go from here for this blog.

Maybe I’m here, maybe I’m not.

So totally overly cute.

The wrap-up with the School Festival in episode 11 was sweet. Cute, funny and heart-warming. I expected nothing more and as such, I liked it. Those girls sure know how to rock out, huh? That one girl with the glasses was hilarious.

Then it jumps to over two years later and suddenly, the girls are graduating in episode 12. I definitely didn’t expect that. Granted, I watched these episodes back-to-back so I left very little time to actually *try* and expect something but even with time, I wouldn’t have expected that. Good stuff, though. It allowed for a really nice closing episode.

And OH DAMN, there was even an epilogue… well, pseudo-epilogue. I suppose a year and five months doesn’t constitute as much of an epilogue. Still, it was nice to see the girls being the same silly girls as always.

まっすぐ GO!

What? I couldn’t do all this typage on Manabi Straight! w/o using that at least once, could I? Plus, it has a nicer meaning when associated with that cap.

So I finished a series. Not just any series, an overly cute one. A crazy funny, overly cute one. The story was done well and these overly cute girls had their share of pizazz. A big key to that was the VAs.

Horie Yui is Horie Yui and she always does a fine job. I have newfound respect and interest for Hirano Aya and Nonaka Ai. For all these VAs, their voice “acting” was awesome. I especially liked Nonaka Ai. And to think, I found her voice annoying when she did Konoe in Mahou Sensei Negima.

So again, this was some funny shit. Good story, fun characters, and overall enjoyable mood. Oh yeah, and it was some funny shit.

I need to find a sound clip of Mika’s battle cry from episode 8.

Overall series score: 8.8 out of 10

I finished something again. I should stop before it becomes a habit.

MAH! (redux)

“MAH” has no relevance. I had to use it one last time.

MAH!

Okay, now I’m done.

This was a solid end to the series. The level of drama was just right. If they decided to get overly intensive with the drama, it would’ve completely stood out. That was my biggest concern and I’m glad it played out as it did.

The story wrapped up as expected. Haruhi didn’t hook up with anyone but it was (sorta) obvious who she’s leaning towards. I assumed some heart-warming moments then back to the usual and that’s exactly what happened.

What wasn’t expected… or rather, quite surprising was the focus of the story. Of course, I assumed Haruhi would be at the center. Instead, it was all about Tamaki. I did enjoy the story… maybe more than it’s worth since I didn’t expect it. This is what happens when I watch too much cliched anime. It warps my mind and makes me think in a certain direction.

Back to my point, the story was good. It flowed well, had it’s “twists” and ended appropriately. I honestly can’t complain since it went along at the same pace it’s always been on. Ah, ok, you got me, I do have one teeny weeny issue. Up until now, Haruhi hasn’t shown the slightest bit of interest towards Tamaki, other than friendship. So, her (presumed) jealousy came off slightly random.

See, that’s it. I won’t bitch about anything else. Honest.

…that episode title for episode 25 totally gave everything away, huh?

LAST ONE I SWEAR!

Back to my poi… shit, what was it?

FINI!

“Game over man, game over!”

Yeah, the cap kinda sucks but I’m too lazy to find a better one. It was also easy to cap since it flashed right at the end of the episode, haha.

Well, this was a short journey but definitely a great ride. I said the ending would influence my decision, right? It teetered me towards a more positive mini-review.

Once I got in the mindset of watching this as a sit-com, I definitely enjoyed it more. It relaxed my ever-constantly-thinking mind so I could soak everything in without problems, namely my even-more-ever-constantly bitchings. Yes, I did have issues with some parts but none to the degree where I have to mention (bitch about) it. Except those AWFUL LOBERIA WHORES…

*Ahem*

Let’s leave it at “I enjoyed it” and move on. At the start, I mentioned Haruhi as the only character that kept me in. Now that I’m done, I still stand by that statement. Occasionally, the rest of the cast had me bustin’ up like crazy but that’s it. They were fun to watch but not interesting enough to where I looked forward to their antics. It’s worth mentioning that none of them annoyed me. Seriously, that’s a huge plus.

Haruhi is probably the most normal character I will ever enjoy watching. After 26 episodes, I still can’t pinpoint why I liked her character. I just did. Maybe I’ll come up with a reason in the future that will satisfy this mystery even though it won’t make any sense yet I’ll feel it justifies everything but really it was totally made up.

Though, does it really matter? I like her. To the end, I wanted to keep watching for her. Oh, then I suppose I do have a legitimate complaint. She needed more back story. Or at least, more control in the stories she was apart of. Most of the time, everyone around her took the lead and she was just a rag doll along for the ride.

All (minor) complaints aside, this anime was tons o’ fun. Given the open ending, its popularity and that the manga is still going, I look forward to more Ouran High School Host Club in the future.

For now, maybe I’ll read the manga… heh heh.

Overall series score: 9.0 out of 10

I’ve been meaning to check out this game for quite a while now. I noticed a few days ago that an anime was made based on it so I caved in and checked it out.

I should have waited and played the game.

This short OVA set was like an excuse to be really cute while failing miserably at it. I don’t doubt I would have enjoyed this better had I played the game. If I had something to reference, I would have been able to forgive its flaws.

Seeing as that wasn’t the case, for a stand-alone OVA, it was disgustingly horrible. I lost count on the many exaggerated “cute” scenes just to, well, try and be cute. Too much time was wasted on building up worthless aspects of the story while completely ignoring the characters. Much of the relationships were assumed and/or rushed and by the end, I didn’t give a damn about any of them. There was no attempt to connect me with the characters.

Given all that I’ve read about the game, I know this storyline is far from simple. Smashing it into two OVAs is a difficult task but they definitely could have at least tried to make sense of it. Less time-wasting and more character building… that alone would have suffice.

Ah well. I thought maybe, if this turned out well, I can finally forget about playing this game. Every so often, I’d tell myself “oh, I gotta check this out sometime.” It’s been like that for a few years. Now, because of this stupid anime, I just ordered the game.

…maybe I’m the one that’s stupid.

Overall series score: Less than 6.0 out of 10

6.0 is basically the lowest I would ever score something. Before I get a chance to rate something below a 6.0, I’d have already dropped it. This one is an exception since it was a short watch. It’s hard to drop something when it’s only two episodes.