Admin's Anime Review: Akikan! - Empty Can!

Title: Akikan!
Studio: Brain's Base
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Action
Original Run: January 3- March 28, 2009
Episodes: 12
Director: Yuji Himaki
Original Character Design: Hiro Suzuhira
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Miracle Plan ga Dekichatta" by Charmmy Queen

Admin's Score:
Story: 89
Character Development: 89
Artwork: 86
Songs: 80
Animation/ Battle Depiction: 84

Akikan! all stars( left to right, front to back): Yell, Tenkuuji Najimi, Yurika Kochikaze, Daichi Kakeru, Melon, Budoko, and Airin Kizaki.

Akikan! is originally a series of light novel written by Riku Ranjo and illustrated by Hiro Suzuhira. 8 volumes have been released by April 24, 2009 by Shueisha under Super Dash Bunko Label. A manga serialization began on October 28, 2008 in Ultra Jump.

Synopsis

One day Daichi Kakeru, a high school student, stopped by the vending machine to buy melon soda. When he opened the can and drank it at his home, the can suddenly turned to a girl, which appeared right before him, kissing him. The girl was apparently an Akikan, girls that transformed from beverages can. Soon, Daichi found that Akikans were created to participate in the Akikan Elect, a battle tournament that decides which is better, the aluminium can or the steel can. The Akikans must fight each other until the only strongest type of can is left standing, and the the type that lost is eliminated from the market. The melon soda girl was apparently a steel can and Daichi named her Melon. At first, Daichi didn't allow Melon to fight in Akikan Elect, but the situations won't let them to just stay the way they are, as more and more Akikan appeared before them. Who will be the winner of the Akikan Elect ?

Strength:

Nice character design (the color, appearance, chemistry and all), the main idea of the story is as fresh as the cold drinks (can turns into a girl), supported by the plot twist and love complication in the story. The main character (Daichi) help to lift up the story because of his over self-confidence speeches and his pervert side, making the comedy more enjoyable along the way. The character development is quite good (but I was hoping more Akikan will show up...)

Weakness:

There are just too many flaws in the drawing in the anime, wasting the good character design (especially the eyes, sometimes they are too rectangular, sometimes not in the right place so the eye contact messed up, changing of character faces, proportion, etc). Some things are just way impossible, making the anime looked a bit lame (Najimi who gets drunk with only drinking carbonated drinks). There are no good theme song and the animation doesn't show the display of 2009 (passive animation although the battles and movements are needed in the anime).

Screenshot:

Daichi Kakeru, drinking the melon soda from the can (it's the Akikan) with a straw, preventing direct kiss with Melon. It's useless though. Unless he drinks it directly from the hole of the can, the can won't turn to a girl, in this case Melon. Aww, just drink it directly you fool, the kiss tastes like melon soda, there's no reason to refuse !

Akikan Elect requires the Akikan with different type of material to fight each other. One of the most interesting battle taken place in the baseball field. It's Melon vs Yell. Both of them went all out to eliminate each other.

Najimi, who owned Yell, a sports drink Akikan, who is standing in her right. Yell, who transformed from a sports drink can, is absolutely athletic and even do very well in her first sport session in school.

Admin's Anime Review: Asu no Yoichi - Tomorrow's Yoichi

Title: Asu no Yoichi!
Studio: AIC
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Martial Arts, Action, Harem
Original Run: January 8- March 26, 2009
Episodes: 12
Director: Rion Kujo
Original Character Design: Yu Minamoto
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Egao no Riyuu" by MegRock

Admin's Score:
Story: 89
Character Development: 89
Artwork: 90
Songs: 88
Animation/ Battle Depiction: 86


Asu no Yoichi! all stars (left to right, front to back): Kagome Ikaruga, Karasuma Yoichi, Chihaya Ikaruga, Ibuki Ikaruga, Ayame Ikaruga, Tsubasa Tsubame, Keita Torigaya, Ryou Washizu, Angela Takatsukasa.


Asu no Yoichi! is originally a manga series written and illustrated by Yu Minamoto. It was serialized in Monthly Shonen Champion, beginning in October 2006.

Synopsis
Karasuma Yoichi had trained for martial arts for 17 years under his father in the mountain. As his father had nothing left to teach him, one day, his father ordered him to go to the city for the purpose of training. He was ordered to stay in the Ukiha Divine Wind Style Swordplay dojo owned by the Ikaruga family, fellow to the Karasuma family that possessed the same Swordplay Style. Then, Yoichi began to "freeload" at the Ikaruga house. There, he met with the 4 sisters of Ikaruga, whose parent had left them for sake of training. Yoichi found his life in Ikaruga house in the middle of the city hectic. Everyday was filled with outrageous events that happened between him and the Ikaruga sisters, also with a school delinquent and another martial-artists. Will Yoichi be able to polish his skill in this chaotic life ? The harem and fun begins !!

Strength:
Have to admit, I love the character design, especially the Ikaruga sisters, they have "chemistry" of anime characters, each with their own beauty and interesting personalities, well developed in addition. The comedy entertains the watcher through the entire anime, adding "spice" along with battle scenes aside from the romance and harem, the main theme of the anime. The story packed with entertaining elements and plot twists make this anime enjoyable, not boring at all.

Weakness:
Some flaws in drawing, so a character may sometimes look different from his/her first appearance (except Torigaya, who changed as the anime goes on). The battle scene is kinda short and out of the level of martial art theme anime (If only the battle scenes were improved and the girls' actions were increased, this anime will be really good).

Screenshots:


Ibuki Ikaruga, the eldest out of the 4 Ikaruga sisters, also the most popular out of them, in swimsuit in the beach holiday episode. She is even scary while in that swimsuit, beating Yoichi with that wooden sword. By the way, the shivering girl on her left is Ayame.


Yeah !! No way your life is complete(You will never be with Ibuki, how sad...)! One of Washizu's imagination. You'll find him spacing out most of the times in the anime, thinking about Ibuki with the "Washizu's Vision". He's one main comedian in this anime which really plays a great role in making the audience entertained.


C'mon samurai, say "aaahh". Ayame Ikaruga, shove in the food to Yoichi's mouth, because his hands tire out because of 1000 push-ups with Washizu. Ayame, trying to approach the samurai and build a love relationship, although she treats him harsh most of the times.

Admin's Anime Review: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu - Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Beings

Title: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Studio: Silver Link
Genre: Comedy, School-Life, Fantasy, Romance
Original Run: January 7- March 31, 2010
Episodes: 13
Director: Shin Onuma
Original Character Design: Kenji Inoue & Yui Haga
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Perfect Area Complete!" by Natsuko Asou

Admin's Score:
Story: 90
Character Development: 90
Artwork: 90
Songs: 83
Animation: 90


Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu main characters (front to back left to right): Mizuki Himeji, Minami Shimada, Akihisa Yoshii, Hideyoshi Kinoshita, Kota Tsuchiya AKA "Mutsurini", and Sakamoto Yuuji.



Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is originally a series of Light Novel written by Kenji Inoue and illustrated by Yui Haga. The first novel in the series was released on January 29, 2007, and as of December 26, 2009, a total of nine volumes, including volume 3.5 and volume 6.5, have been published by Enterbrain under their Famitsu Bunko publishing imprint. A manga adaptation by Mosuke Mattaku started serialization in the manga magazine Shonen Ace on April 25, 2009.

Synopsis
The story revolves around Akihisa Yoshii, an idiot called by name "Baka". He entered Fumizuki Academy, which divides students strictly according to their test-scores, goes from the highest to the lowest: class A to F. On the day of the placement test, his friend, a smart girl named Mizuki Himeji got a fever while doing the test, resulting in her zero score. Consequently, she was assigned to the worst class, the F class. Akihisa was assigned to the F class too. Akihisa, who felt pity toward the genius Himeji that deserved the A class, decided to declare the ESB (Exam Summoning Battle), the school rule that allows battle between summoned beings (beings created by the students and usable only in school area) in order to snatch another class' facilities/ exchange facilities. Then, class F began to blast through their way to get the final target, the A class. Will they be able to made it with a class full of idiots, yet "special" students?

Strength:
Honestly, this anime's comedy is of no match to the other's. I think the only rival is Hayate no Gotoku season 1. So far, this is the funniest anime I've ever watched (score 100 for its comedy!!)!! The idea of the school system and the plot(tactics especially) is amazing (The ESB, the class division and so on), making the story really enjoyable. Nice character development and also character artwork (no flaw in drawing, various way of drawing a character). The animation is also very good.

Weakness:
There's no good theme song.

Screenshot (this review is special, 5 screenshots, enjoy!):


In the middle of the heat of ESB, Akihisa revealed his secret, that is....he is left-handed. Then, he got beaten up. One of the most funny comedy scene in the anime.


Black transaction happened between Mutsurini and Akihisa. I don't know why they would value their life and money just for Hideyoshi's photos (Hideyoshi is a guy ya know, if he's not lying...). Mutsurini's left eye turn to the left eye of Lelouch from Code Geass. I like the copyright-violation joke!!

Akihisa found a good way to keep his stomach filled with limited budget. That is, dividing the instant noodle into two, every time he ate, resulting in infinity pieces of instant noodle. Admitting that he found this theory and was this generation's Einstein, one day he said that he ate 1/67 of the instant noodle (How could multiplies of 2 result in 67???!!!! It's 64 you idiot!!).

The Exam Summoning Battle screen. It's battle between class E (represented by 2 no eyes boys with their E beings) and class F(represented by Mizuki Himeji with her knight-like being), you can see that the HP and the attack power is based on the scores of the test you have taken. I like this status screen, seems sophisticated. Modern day anime....

Himeji's summoned being, adult version(caused by server chaos in Fumizuki). By the way, Shouko pierced Yuuji's eyes and the reason is written there. That's my favorite character in this anime. Her appearance, although being changed a bit reminds me of a character from Darkstalkers series (guess who? clue: she's up in the Otaku CC main header screen).

Admin's Anime Review: Omamori Himari - Protective Charm Himari

Title: Omamori Himari
Studio: ZEXCS
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Harem, Comedy, Ecchi
Original Run: January 6- March 24, 2010
Episodes: 12
Director: Shinji Ushiro
Original Character Design: Matra Milan
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Oshicau Zo!!" by AyaRuka

Admin's Score:
Story: 85
Character Development: 86
Artwork: 88
Songs: 83
Animation/ Battle Depiction: 87



Omamori Himari main characters (front to back, left to right): Himari, Rinko Kuzaki, Lizlet L. Chelsie, Shizuku, Jinguji Kuesu.



Omamori Himari is originally adapted from Manga with the same title written by Matra Milan. It is serialized in Fujimi Shobo's manga magazine, Monthly Dragon Age. The Tankobons are also out.

Synopsis
Seven years ago, Yuto Amakawa's parents died in a car accident, leaving him alone without any single relative. The only thing left in his hand is an Omamori (protective charm) given by his grandparents. Since then, Rinko Kuzaki, his childhood friend, has taken care of him by waking him up every morning and cook for him. In the day Yuto turned into 16, he met a cat spirit samurai girl demon huntress when he walked to school. Yuto turned out to be a descendant of a famous demon-hunter clan, the Amakawa family and the cat samurai, introduced herself as Himari, sworn to be his loyal bodyguard, protecting him from the assaults of Ayakashi (the demons). The only problem is, Yuto's allergic to cat. It turned out to be severe alllergic reaction whenever Himari reveals her cat ears. What will happen to Yuto next? The world he will be living in is just totally different from what he had until now as the power of the protective charm he wears diminish as the time goes on...

Strength:
Nice character design, especially Himari in the Light-Ferry-enchanted form in the last episode. The fan service is the "main weapon" for this anime, all of them are packed well and really entertain the audience along with the comedies. Nice battle depiction, especially at the beginning of the story.

Weakness:
Flaws in drawing, mainly the side-view of the characters. Near the end part, the story's kinda boring and the "acting" of the characters seems to be awkward, not to mention, the battle become really "flat". Incessant fan services sometimes ruin the plot. The main character is so lame in term of he is not expressive (as flat as that Sakai Yuuji...), making the fan services don't appear in maximum impact. There's no really nice theme song.

Screenshots:

Himari stab through an Ayakashi that control Yuto's friend and tried to attack him. This battle is cool for the first impression of the anime.


Himari injured herself in order to wipe out Shizuku's (the water demon) whirlpool (Yuto, die you for being so useless !). The idea of mixing blood with water to make Shizuku lost control of the water is one good idea in term of battle tactics and depiction. Not to mention, there's tentacle scene in this episode....



Hmmm, okay. You can find this scene a lot during the first episodes. As you can see, Yuto's allergic to cat, but Himari insists on sleeping in the same bad (Actually, throughout all of the episodes, Himari looks like she wants to copulate with him badly...), what a waste you are, damn Yuto...

Admin's Anime Review: Seitokai no Ichizon - Discretion of the Student Council

Title: Seitokai no Ichizon
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Parody, Comedy, Harem
Original Run: October 2-December 18, 2009
Episodes: 12
Director: Takuya Sato
Original Character Design: Kira Inugami
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Treasure" by Hekiyou Gakuen Seitokai

Admin's Score:
Story: 85
Character Development: 90
Artwork: 88
Songs: 85
Animation: 86



Seitokai no Ichizon/ Hekiyou Gakuen Seitokai all stars (from left to right): Ken Sugisaki, Mafuyu Shiina, Chizuru Akaba, Sakurano Kurimu, Minatsu Shiina.



Seitokai no Ichizon is originally a series of light novel written by Sekina Aoi, with illustrator Kira Inugami, published by Fujimi Shobo. 2 series of Manga is also out, Seitokai no Ichizon Nya and Seitokai no Ichizon Petit.

Synopsis
Hekiyou Academy's student councils are selected by popularity among students. 4 girls are chosen to be the student council and Sakurano Kurimu is chosen as the president. The only boy is Ken Sugisaki, who got a special blue chip seat as one who ranked first in academic aspect. The story revolves around the student council activity, mainly meeting (or not...) in the student council room. Ken Sugisaki, who is a maniac of H-games, stated that he aimed for Harem when he first entered the student council. But, Sakurano Kurimu who's too childish, Chizuru Akaba who gives fear, Mafuyu Shiina who can't live without game and Minatsu Shiina who loves "BATTLE" made Sugisaki's life in the student council become outrageous...

Strength:
The comedies are really entertaining (especially the copyright-violating comedies). Without this, the anime will be really boring. Character development is good, every character has equal opportunity to be given the personality and every of them is packed well to be an interesting character. Artwork and animation are good.

Weakness:
May be boring in some parts of the anime, because of the long dialogues.

Screenshot:

Ken Sugisaki's dream, the harem path. He proposed this idea when he was ordered by the prez to write a novel to promote the student council. Besides his wild ideas, the others' ideas are just as ridiculous as his ideas. It ends up with no novel to promote the student council. Seriously, this episode made me laugh.

One of my favorite scene, the copyright-violating joke. Ken Sugisaki turned into S**umiya and declared that he has no interest in normal human. Very "dangerous scene" indeed.

The pose of the student council when they have ended their day. In episode 1 they did this together, but in later episodes, no more....become separated....:(

Admin's Anime Review: Bakemonogatari - Ghost Stories

Title: Bakemonogatari
Studio: Shaft
Genre: Comedy, Supernatural, Harem, Romance
Original Run: July 3-September 25, 2009
Episodes: 14 (ongoing, currently set for 15)
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Original Character Design: Vofan
Number One Theme Song: Ending Theme "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" by Supercell


Admin's Score:
Story: 90
Character Development: 90
Artwork: 90
Songs: 90
Battle Depiction/ Animation: 90



Bakemonogatari main characters (from left to right): Hanekawa Tsubasa, Sengoku Nadeko, Araragi Koyomi, Mayoi Hachikuji (center below), Senjougahara Hitagi and Kanbaru Suruga.




Bakemonogatari is originally a series of light novels written by Nisio Isin. The illustration is drawn by Vofan, Taiwanese illustrator. It was published by Kodansha.

Synopsis
Araragi Koyomi, a third year high school student recently survived an attack from vampire. Somehow, after that he kept on finding oddities such as gods, spirits, and ghosts around him. The story began when his classmate, Senjougahara Hitagi fall of the stairs. She caught and saved Hitagi, but felt that her body was weightless. Soon, he found out that Hitagi was possessed by an oddity. When Hitagi tried to silence him from telling her secret of being weightless, he offered her a help from Oshino Meme, a specialist who saved his life back then. Out of expectation, Hitagi accept his offer and the story begins...
In this series of events, Koyomi found himself encountering many new heroines, with everyone's stories packed into a series of episodes with one title, those episodes are divided into:
1. Hitagi Crab (2 parts)
2. Mayoi Snail (3 parts)
3. Suruga Monkey (3 parts)
4. Nadeko Snake (2 parts)
5. Tsubasa Cat (5 parts)
With one new heroine appearance in each arc.


Strength:
Very unique background and world outline, which can create odd nuances throughout the stories, such as fragmented real picture mixed with anime picture. Dialogues, jokes and sarcasm really have deep meaning that enhance the story well. Animation are good, especially with the fragmented picture. Nice ending theme which match with episode 12. Characters are developed very well, their personality is depicted with a lot of details.

Weakness:
May be very boring in some parts, like the Mayoi Snail (well, this anime is based on dialogues anyway), so those who long for action and some adrenaline-activating scene can't find it here.
The synopsis pages in the first part of the anime change up too fast, it needs some pausing and even rewind.

Screenshot:

Okay, the famous "warning scene", which I assume more like "life threatening". Hitagi opened Koyomi's mouth with a cutter, then insert a staple between his cheek and inside. Warning: she stapled his mouth once. However, Koyomi still offered a help (man, are you fearless? don't think you can handle anything just because you are a vampire !)

Oshino Meme, the oddity specialist. Some might think that his last name is somewhat moe, but he is a GUY in fact...anyway, he's one of the key character that always help Koyomi dealing with the oddities. His "western" theme song is somewhat cool and match his personality.

Hanekawa Tsubasa, cat version. Can't believe that she turned to be a totally different person at first. Personification of Hanekawa's stress. First time appeared during the Golden Week.

Admin's Anime Review: Sora no Otoshimono - The Lost Property of Heaven

Title: Sora no Otoshimono
Studio: AIC
Genre: Ecchi, Harem, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy
Original Run: October 4-December 27, 2009
Episodes: 13
Director: Hisashi Saito
Original Character Design: Suu Minazuki
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Ring My Bell" by Bluedrops.

Admin's Score
Story: 88
Character Development: 85
Artwork: 90
Songs: 87
Battle Depiction/ Animation: 90



Sora no Otoshimono main protagonists (from left to right): Ikaros, Nymph, Sohara, and the one that on Nymph's lap: Tomoki.



Sora no Otoshimono manga volume 1, author: Suu Minazuki, published by Kadokawa Shoten, a little bit different to the anime in the sense of some addition like another type epsilon angeloid.

Synopsis:
Tomoki Sakurai who lived in Sorami city really adores peace and ordinary, normal life. But his peaceful life ended when he met with Sugata Eishirou, the chairman of "New World" club, who has an ambition to find a new world. Then, Tomoki went out to observe a black circular flux in the sky that stopped in Sorami that night. There, a strange object fall down like a meteor that almost killed Tomoki. In the crater made by the meteor, he found a girl with wings on her back, unconcious. He ignored her and went away when a rain of debris striked the area. He returned to save the girl, but a debris suddenly fall on him. That's when the girl spread her wings, flew to the sky, rescuing Tomoki along with her. She introduced herself as Pet Class Angeloid type alpha, Ikaros. She can grant any wish with her magical cards and call Tomoki "My Master". That's really the end of Tomoki's flat life, as he use Ikaros' cards to conquer the world and more angeloids were sent from the Heaven to retrieve Ikaros back. Chaotic life began !!

Strength:
Nicely done artwork with almost no flaw in drawing and great background, especially the realistic-looking machinery. Comedy that colored the anime all way long, makes it fun to watch. Great animation, especially the last battle when Ikaros used Uranus Queen Mode. Story and unique characters that sweep away boredom and last, the fan service (hmhmhm....).

Weakness:
Ending theme songs are always somewhat bad, although the animation keep on changing.

Screenshots:




One of the most dramatic scene, Ikaros saved Tomoki from the falling debris. Spread your wings, Ikaros !



Unexpectedly, Ikaros' forte is singing. Her angel's voice really touch down the depth of everyone's heart. With this, cultural festival is in her hands !



What if your girl is able to fly at speed of mach 240 and bring back huge fish from the amazon ? Yep, that's Ikaros, who can grant every wishes. Hey, don't you think that's too big ?

Ar Tonelico 3 ANNOUNCED !!!!

YES !! Ar Tonelico 3 is coming up !! This is the box art. Unfortunate for some people, it's for PS3, but this release in PS3 will definitely rise up the sales of PS3, I bet !!


Japanese magazine AT3 announcement article. Main protagonist : Aoto. 2 main heroines/reyvateils : Saki (blonde one) & Finnelle (two-ponytails; some said that she is Cocona, but we'll see about that later lol).


Battle system. In 3D, wow !! (Current info : 3 vanguards and 1 reyvateil system, back to AT I guess...)

Screenshot of map. No significant changes, just remain magnificent.

Some random place screenshot. As usual, detailed and amazing artwork for the background !

Not to forget, synthesis system is still there !

Conversation screenshot.

Camp screenshot. Maybe some of you notice it, the second choice says "Strip". Yes, there's panty-expose system added in AT3, of course for the reyvateils (this game's getting...urgh...well...)

YES !! Let's wait !! US version comeeee!!! Be quick !!!!

Ar Tonelico 2 : The Best Way to Cut Off Enemies' Life

Video of Battle, party: Croix, Cocona, Cloche and Jacqli. The best way to send the enemies immediately to the hell. Super high damages that is beyond the limit, of course can only be reached with certain requirement (100 IPD and Perfect Guard). Anyway, patience is needed to build up the harmony of the reyvateils. Holding up against enemies is necessary. Watch & learn !

Combo : Replakia + Dual Cast Phantasmagoria. Percentage : Over 1,000,000%.

Ar Tonelico 2 Manga Scanlations

I found the link someone gave me. It's Ar Tonelico 2 manga scanlations download link!! Only 5 chapters are translated so far. Copyright included in the manga's last page. Enjoy !

Bond 1 v2 : http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?n24onm3wkjm

Bond 2 : http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2ovhddnxtmt

Bond 3: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ntnzr4lttjn

Bond 4: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?bz20gcjwjmf

Bond 5: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yzjn3u1djmk