Anime Hajime Review: Prism Ark

Series Synopsis

In a Europe-esk world there exists the kingdom of Windland. Many years ago, the country’s royal family was ambushed and has been missing ever since. From that fateful day, Windland has been locked in a devastating war with its neighbor, the Sablum Empire, to which it finds itself on the losing side. The last beacons of hope and pride for the nation are the young men and women of the Knight’s Academy.

Over the past few days, a rumor has begun to spread that could potentially turn the tide of war. Supposedly, a young warrior named Priecia (voiced by Yui Sakakibara) is Windland’s long lost princess. Weather that's true remains up for debate, but what’s undeniable is that Priecia is a genius with a sword and is sure to lead the army to many victories.

Stoically, Priecia prepares to enter the academy and prove herself to everyone. That instantly becomes a bit more difficult when on her first day she runs into Hyaweh (voiced by Tetsuya Kahihara), an extremely laid-back boy that doesn’t seem to care much about anything.

With these polar opposite personalities, the beginning of their relationship isn’t exactly cordial. Hyaweh continuously, but always unintentionally, gets under Priecia’s skin. Yet, while most people

Anime Hajime Review: Kurozuka

Series Synopsis

A highly skilled samurai named Kuro (voiced Mamoru Miyano) is on the run. Within a dark forest, he comes across an old house occupied by a beautiful woman named Kuromitsu (voiced by RomiPark), who Kuro instantly becomes infatuated with. She opens up her home to the swordsman for as long necessary.

Over the next few days, the two start to develop a strong attraction for each other. Eventually they confess their love, but Kuromitsu is hesitant to act on their shared feelings for unspecified reasons.

Later that night, the residence is attacked by Kuro's pursuers. During the surprise assault Kuro is mortally wounded, but Kuromitsu easily disposes of the invaders with an unexpected display of terrifyingly unnatural strength. To save the samurai’s life, Kuromitsu offers Kuro a chance at immortality.

What follows next is a strange series of incoherent events. Kuromitsu is revealed to be a vampire, Kuro is then turned into a vampire, and this leads to Kuro's closest confidant betraying him by cutting of his head. Then sometime either before or after the beheading (I honestly don’t know which) Kuro gets his head cut off again by some random bandit. Kuromitsu kills that man and puts Kuro’s severed head on his murder’s body. Finally Kuro goes unconscious, somehow, and wakes up many centuries later in a dystopian future.

Regardless of all that, Kuro begins a quest to reunite with his beloved Kuromitsu; leaving a massive trail of bloody bodies in his wake.

Anime Hajime Review: Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu

Series Synopsis

For a third time, we return to the Hidamari Apartments located across the street from Yamabuki Art School. A new year is starting and besides everyone being older, nothing has changed. As always the residents of the small complex, the kindhearted Yuno (voiced by Kana Asumi), the lovable airhead Miyako (voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi), the motherly Hiro (voiced by Yuko Goto), and the accomplished author Sae (voiced by Ryoko Shintani), enjoy spending their time together.

Yet there is big news on the horizon. This close knit family is about to get a little bigger with the arrival of two new residents, the quiet and reserved Nazuna (voiced by Chiaki Omigawa) and the straightforwardly honest computer wizard Nori (voiced by Hitomi Harada).

The now six residents of Hidamari quickly bond and it becomes hard to imagine a time when they weren’t together.

The coming term is shaping up to be quite eventful. Yuno in particular looks onward with her typical gleeful excitement as she continues to better her art and learns how be to a fitting role model for her new underclassmen.

Anime Hajime Review: Gochumon wa Usagi Desu Ka Season 2

Series Synopsis

A year has passed since Cocoa Hoto (voiced by Ayane Sakura) began living and working at the small family owned coffee shop, Rabbit House. Time, however, is insignificant when you’re enjoying yourself. Cocoa has loved every moment spent at the tiny café. This is thanks in large part due to the owner’s granddaughter, Chino Kafu (voiced by Inori Minase), who Cocoa has always gleefully adored like a little sister.

While their relationship is significantly more frustrating from Chino’s point of view, the two girls are incredibly close and their bond grows deeper with every passing day. Yet it’s not always clear who the big sister is supposed to be.

With Cocoa, around boredom and melancholy are impossibilities, but that being said there’s always someone to radiate the welcoming charm of Rabbit House. The entire group of friends returns for the second season.

First is Rize Tedeza (voiced by Risa Taneda), Cocoa and Chino’s fellow waitress who maintains her militaristic discipline but has also opened up to her femininity. Second is Chiya Ujimatsu (voiced by Satomi Sato) who still runs her family’s own coffee shop alongside happily helping out her friends at Rabbit House, and vice a versa. Third is Sharo Kirima (voiced by Maaya Uchida) who remains highly money conscious but enjoys the time she spends with her friends greatly.

Anime Hajime Review: Nyanpire The Animation

Series Synopsis

Alone in the rain, a weak abandoned kitten awaits its death (not the happiest of starts, but moving on). As the last vestiges of life begin to leave the frail creature, a vampire strides out of the shadows and takes pity on the poor animal. The vampire offers up some of its blood, thus saving the cat and allowing him to be reborn as Nyanpire (voiced by Ami Koshimizu).

Grateful to be given a second chance, Nyanpire gleefully begins to live with a new human and gets into the general mischief you might expect from a young feline; that and also he’s a vampire. Because of which, Nyanpire’s favorite meal is blood, but he’ll settle for anything red colored; ketchup, strawberries, etc. And that’s pretty much the whole gist.

Along the way Nyanpire meets up with and befriends other equally unique animals. First is the honorable samurai cat, Masamunya Dokuganryu (voiced by Noriaki Sugiyama), who instantly develops a crush on Nyanpire. Second is the fallen angle cat, Nyatenshi (voiced by Jun Fukuyama), who was kick out of heaven due to his persistent womanizing; or so he claims. Third is the mature Siamese, Chachamaru (voiced by Yuko Goto), who moves in with Nyanpire. And finally there are the bats Mori and Komori (both voiced by Nozomi Maeda), who are related to the same vampire that started it all.

Together this group does…nothing. Like literally nothing, I honestly don’t know what to say here.

Regardless, they all get together and thus you have Nyanpire.

Anime Hajime Review: Coppelion

Series Synopsis

A devastating nuclear event turned Tokyo, the world’s largest city, into a ghost town. Radiation levels has made it impossible for humans to survive in the once great metropolis without the assistance of a hazmat suit. A few people remain trapped within the hazardous boarders, but any attempts at rescue have been out of the question; until now.

Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) has managed to genetically modify human DNA to resist the contaminated atmosphere; as well as provide a few other alterations. Following years of preparation, the GSDF is ready to dispatch the Coppelion.

This rescue unit is comprised of three teenage girls, Taeko Nomura (voiced by Satomi Akesaka), Aoi Fukasaku (voiced by Kana Hanazawa), and their leader, Ibara Naruse (voiced by Haruka Tomatsu). With their advanced training, the trio is sent into the wasteland of the Old Capital to search for survivors.

Ibara Naruse

Over the many of years of abandonment, the city is full of unexpected complications, all of which push the girls to their limits. However, the one thing that they must come to terms with is the realization of what it means to be human.

Series Positives

This one was fun.

Aoi Fukasaku

Coppelion was a treat to watch. It’s one of those series that’s hard to put down and really easy to view in a single sitting. This series is enjoyable, and it hooks you right away and doesn’t let go.

The story does have some bumps, but it does its job. The leads are interesting and it’s clear that the trio is made up of close friends. The side characters have meaning and do provide relief from the tension, but are also important elements that pull their weight.

Taeko Nomura

Along with that, this show is satisfying. Here’s a series were a continuation would be welcomed, but not necessary. Coppelion is well contained with tons of potential to expand. So yes I really enjoyed it.

The Art Style

Coppelion is gorgeous and absolutely stunning. Tokyo has never looked crisper, despite...you know, the whole nuclear fallout thing. Yet it’s this apocalyptic aspect that makes everything strangely peaceful, and also highly volatile. All is fine one minute, but then you might be fighting for your life the next.

The environments almost make you want to take a stroll through the abandoned streets. It would no doubt be eerie and unsettling, but it would be magnificently pretty. The sun looks warm, the sky is bright, the night becomes lit up with stars.

Accompanying that, the dark clouds are ominous, the rain is sad, and hell the style made the wind come off as terrifying. So while it might be a nice place to take an afternoon stroll, I for one would not want to stay here any longer than necessary.

This is impressive enough, but there was one thing that, frankly, left me speechless; sunset. A reoccurring motif and it is beautiful. The colors are outstandingly vivid, amazingly bright, and refreshingly diverse. This may sound incredibly corny, but the feeling of hope emanates from these moments and it really solidifies these scenes.

Moving on from that, another aspect to Coppelion style is the character designs. They're not unique in and of themselves, but there's simply no way they're not going to grab your attention. Every character has an obvious black outline, which varies in thickness from scene to scene. Definitely a deliberate decision and one that I wasn’t sure about at first.  

The series takes the first four episodes to set the mood, more on that in a bit, and it was here where this design choice didn’t make much sense. However, when you realize that Coppelion is also an action series, it becomes clear.

The action in this show is amazing and is the major reason why I had so much fun. It’s fast, it’s big, it’s intense, it’s exciting, it’s great. Having the characters stand out gave them a sort of independence from the environment. This didn’t just highlight movement, it complimented the well crafted surroundings. This is best seen in the climatic final fight, which was unexpectedly epic, providing the right amount of triumphant and resolution.

I have to say, Coppelion’s art style is rock solid. Good thing to because anything less would have left this series at risk of disaster.

Series Negatives

I said the story was a little bumpy; let me clarify that.

The story within the show is fine. Not great, not good, but fine. However I’m warning you now, you best know the background to this series before jumping in, otherwise it’s all speculation.

I keep referring to what happened to Tokyo as a nuclear event. That's because that’s my best guess. The show heavily implies that this is indeed the case and it can be inferred that some sort of accident at a nearby nuclear power plant caused the contamination. But we never get a sense of how bad this incident was.

“What are you talking about Odyssey? Tokyo is dead, it seems like things went quite bad.”

This would be true, but it’s hinted that the entire world was at risk and still is. A major plot point involves a crazed militaristic group planning to blow up the...power plant, I don’t what else to call it, and destroy all life on Earth. What was built in Tokyo that could cause such a thing?

This isn’t something that we should need to know since it’s not the focus of the story. However it becomes that because it's constantly referenced, characters keep talking about it, and everyone knows what happened except the viewer.

This is frustrating because it causes disconnect and makes everyone come off as whinny instead of tragic. To be fair though, this isn’t the only thing that makes characters seem less relatable.

Preachy

We get it. Humans are bad, their mistakes have ruined the world, they’re not worth the trouble of saving, and blah blah blah blah blah you can stop beating it over our heads for Christ sake.

While the overall show is fun, this one aspect does become exhausting. Why? Because we have all seen this before, we have all seen it played to this extent, and we have all seen it this heavy handed. This topic, told in this way isn’t insightful, it’s standard.

A running theme of the show is how all the Coppelion do not see themselves as human. They're genetically modified and therefore didn’t have a natural birth. Sure there’s the whole ethical dilemma that comes with that, but was their upbringing all that harsh?

Yes everyone is a child soldier and they were never given the chance to live a normal childhood. But what did they did get, how bad was it? I don’t know that answer because it’s never shown. In fact, I’m leaning more towards the side of “it could have been worse”.

I’ve seen comedies with this kind of set up. For example Assassination Classroom, those kids are learning how to be assassins. With a simple change in tone and atmosphere you’ve now got the background for Coppelion.

Based on everything these characters say, it appears that they do have superiors that care about them and their well-being. Based on the events of the show, the only people who treat Coppelion as non-human are Coppelion.  Mix all this with a preachy ass message, its difficult to feel sorry for these characters.

Then again, maybe I just have a really f@#$ed sense of morality and the majority of you actually find this horrifying.

Final Thoughts

Despite what I just said, Coppelion is still an easy recommendation.

Yes its underlying message is beaten to death, but surrounding it is a fun a show. Great action, interesting characters, and gorgeous art, this is a series that's worth checking out. From beginning to end, it holds on to you and doesn’t let go.

Things get tense, exciting, sad, happy, and everything that is needed for an entertaining watch.

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Anime Hajime Review: World Destruction

Series Synopsis

In a far off world, society is run by a ruling class of beasts that look down and subjugate humans. This has caused tension among the races, leading to many great wars. Recently though, everyone has become slightly on edge when an organization known as the World Destruction Committee is rumored to have in its possession the Destruct Code, an ancient artifact with the power to return everything back to sand. This group takes its name quite literally as it has every intention to use the device.

However, such things are of little consequence to a young human named Kyrie Irunisu (voiced by Mamoru Miyano). Whatever should happen to the world is none of his business and is content with living a low key life. Unfortunately, he suddenly becomes involved in everything when he meets a human female named Morute Ashera (voiced by Maaya Sakamoto), a member...actually the sole member of the World Destruction Committee.

Morute

Despite her desire to bring the world to an end, Kyrie is drawn to Morute and the two begin a journey to unlock the secrets of the Destruct Code. Along the way, the two are joined by a small teddy bear-like creature named Toppy (voiced by Toru Furuya).

Although the three begin to bond under the banner of the World Destruction Committee, Kyrie and Toppy aren’t fully gung-ho about bringing everything to an end. Kyrie especially wants to better understand Morute and learn what it is that made her resent the world.

Kyrie

Series Positives

World Destruction feels like an under the radar series, and maybe that’s where it should stay. With any anime based on a video game, I always end up asking whether or not a show has succeeded in getting me interested in picking up a copy of the game.

Toppy

In this case the answer would be yes, but it isn’t because of story, it certainly isn’t because of characters, and really it isn’t because of anything the show did. 

The universe of World Destruction simply appears to be an interesting setting for a video game. The same could be said for an anime to, but now having seen it play out, I’m defiantly hesitant.

The show’s not awful by any stretch of the imagination. There are things to enjoy.

Random Fun

World Destruction is a comedy, it’s an action series, it’s a dramatic piece, it’s a little bit tragic, it’s a little bit serious, it can get a little heartwarming, and it can get a little triumphant.

First off, this all way too much. Second, had the show focused the majority of its efforts on a single element, it could have been worthwhile. Each individual part is done well to a respectable to degree. When the show was funny, it was funny. When there was action, it was exciting. When it got dramatic, it got sad. Plus the transition between each of these emotions was done surprisingly well; I’ve seen much, much worse.

All these different parts worked on their own largely due to the three leads. Granted, Kyrie, Morute, and Toppy are not special, like at all. They’re not memorable, they don’t leave an impact, and they will be forgotten quickly. However, in the moment as a team, they’re fun.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy myself while I was watching. If World Destruction was a collection of isolated instances, then all this mixing and matching would have sufficed. The problem is a linear story is being told. This is where the series begins to fall apart.

Series Negatives

Although I said I enjoyed myself, by the time this series ended I was more than over it. All of the enjoyment in this series is at the beginning and the closer it got to the final episodes, the older it got.

It’s this progression from amusing to dull that really exemplifies World Destruction. Maybe there was a good idea here, maybe there wasn’t. What is here though, isn’t worth much.

The Story

The story constantly leaves you in a state of not knowing. Not in a mysterious way, but in a “I literally have no idea what is going” kind of way.

The plot is all other the place, and nowhere at the same time. Nothing gets done and for a bit I forgot what the end goal was or even if there was one to begin with. Then suddenly we are pushed into a direction and from there it goes from doing nothing to being confusing. There’s apparently a whole lore to this world that I didn't know existed.

Let’s start off with the main thing, the Destruct Code. It’s always around, but it doesn’t begin to play any major role until the midway point. Not great since it is the whole reason for any of this.

Morute is dead set on activating this thing, which puzzled me since she didn’t use it right away. It turns out that she was looking for how to use it. That might have been a good piece of information to convey because it explains why this journey is happening. I can kind of let it slide because the Destruct Code is ancient so it would be hard to try to figure out where to start looking.

Wait…what do you mean the characters knew where they were going? What do you mean they knew who to ask about the Destruct Code? That doesn’t make any sense. If they knew what they needed to, then why the hell did we visit all these different places? Why didn’t the group just go straight to this person right away?

This is kind of World Destruction’s thing. It introduces a plot point, but makes it seem as if it isn't being introduced for the first time. Another good example of this is with the main villain, who, by the way, is the villain because of reasons.

He doesn’t know what’s going on when the Destruct Code doesn’t work the way he suspects. Then out of nowhere, there's a quick flashback and suddenly he knows exactly what's happening. BULL CRAP! He didn’t learn anything, he never figured it out. The plot simply said it was time to move on and the villain needs to be villainess.

These are not one time occurrences, these are persistent problems.

The three leads have passable development, no one else in this show does. This applies to recurring minor characters to one-offs that are treated like minor characters. They’re boring to follow and do little to add anything except provide an occasional hindrance to the main group.

Also, for a world that is made up of humans and beast that don’t get along, there are a lot of places where human and beast get along. You never once get the full scope of how bad humans are treated. It’s said all the time, but everything looks okay making this bolstering come off as overblown. Sure there may be one episode that involved humans being kidnapped in order to have them fight in gladiatorial combat, but mostly the focus was on the main group being captured and forced to fight gladiatorial combat.

To sum it up, the biggest problem with World Destruction is that it wants to create a large dynamic world, but it doesn’t actually take the time to build it.

Final Thoughts

Skip it. Honestly you might be better off picking up the actual game and taking your chances with that.

World Destruction can be fun, it can be enjoyable. The three leads do carry you through and they do get into some entertaining situations. But the story makes it not worth your time.

In good conscious I cannot recommend this one even for the few good things about. 

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Anime Hajime Review: Ga-Rei Zero

Series Positives

Kagura Tsuchimiya (voiced by Minori Chihara) is the heiress to a legendary family of exorcists. Her mother died when she was young and her father is always away training. With a shy disposition, there was nothing in the world that could make her smile. That is until she was taken in by the Isayama household where she met its next successor Yomi (voiced by Kaoru Mizuhara).

The two girls quickly bounded, forming a strong sister-like relationship between them. Along with that, they both possess the ability to see the demon world and are highly skilled sword fighters. They, along with their team in Japan’s Ministry of Environment’s Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division (SDCD), are the best line of defense from the unpredictable nature of the spirit world.

However, events have led to an unthinkable point.

During one mission, a large number of powerful demons descend upon Tokyo. The SDCD is more than capable of pushing back the onslaught. Yet the situation turns dire when an exceedingly strong swordswoman begins cutting through their lines with ease. The woman turns out to be Yomi.

Kagura

The story cuts back to when Kagura and Yomi first meet and follows the tragic path that culminated to this worst of crossroads.

Series Positives

Yomi

Throughout my viewing, and especially with the end, Ga-Rei: Zero exhibited one unmistakable trait. This felt like a prequel series and as it turns out, it is.

The events of Zero take place before the main story of the manga. Now as per usual, I have not read the manga, therefore I’m not qualified to say how it holds up in relation to the source material. What I can say is that I’m interest in said source material.

Be that as may, I’m here to look at this series as it stands as an anime. And with that I can confidently say that I liked it. I have major problems with it, but those will come in due time. Still, the show’s positives are enough to balance out what’s wrong, or maybe more appropriately, keep the issues in check.

The Action

Disregarding the occasional, but painfully obvious use of CGI monsters, the fights in this show are sweet.

They’re fast, fluid, intense, creative, astonishingly creative in fact, and they’re prevalent. From right out the gate Zero demonstrates what it’s capable of doing. This series is not boring.

Along with fights being cool to watch, they’re also not meaningless. They may be loud and flashy, but they’re never done just for the sake of existing. There’s a reason behind each conflict; whether it be story progression or character development.

Taking the extra step to infuse purpose into a struggle seems obvious right? Well I’ve seen Venus Versus Virus and I can tell you it’s apparently not. Zero reminded me a lot of that piece of garbage. The two shows have similar ideas and basically the same story structure. Yet the difference between them is night and day.

Take the climax of both shows. Virus’s was bull s@#$, like complete bull s@#$. It comes completely out of nowhere right at the end and we don’t even get to see the f@#$ing thing because the show final credits start rolling. However, even if we did you don’t care by that point due to lackluster build up.

Zero on the other hand was legitimately tragic. You get to see the lead up and more importantly why it happens. I didn’t want to watch Kagura and Yomi fight.

To be fair though, the action wasn’t the reason why the ending hit hard.

Kagura and Yomi

Blood does not make family and these two exemplify this. Kagura and Yomi are sisters in my mind. They are the two halves of their shared coin and what happened to them really sucked.

Their relationship with other characters was good too, but the love they have for each was so great that it naturally over took anything else. This is great character development because it’s able to pull you into the fiction which is the ultimate goal of any story.

Any flaws, simple or major, a show may have can be overlooked if there is something that still allows you to do that. This is not the go ahead to have a series full of problems because the more there are the stronger that one thing needs to be.

In terms of Ga-Rei: Zero, Kagura and Yomi are able to soften the issues with this series, thus making a worthwhile watch.

Series Negatives

Ga-Rei: Zero’s first problem, it starts in episode two. And by the first problem, I mean the problem. Episode one is such a gigantic waste of time that it single handedly affects the rest of the show.

We're introduced to this elite team of demon hunters. We get a rather decent idea of who they are, a little bit of glimpse of their backstory, a strong window into their group dynamic, and they prove that they are quite the collection of bad asses. They’re also all killed off at the end of the first episode and aren’t referenced again in the rest of the series.

Why? Why f@#$ing do that? This is one of the most unbelievable self-inflicted wounds I have ever seen. Kagura and Yomi do make up a lot, but the show never truly recovers or justifies it.

Unbalanced

This is an inherent risk when it comes to stories told in flashback. You already know where the plot is going to go, so it’s really hard to have any surprises. It’s even harder to pull off when what happens is the worst possible scenario.

Let’s say that you know an inevitable impact is coming. What would you do? I suspect that many of you, myself included, would brace to mitigate the damage so that you won’t get hurt as much as possible. That’s what a flashback story is, it’s a warning.

There is a way to help keep things in the dark while still showing the outcome. Give away as little detail as possible. Show us a glimpse; do not give up the full magnitude of the situation. Zero doesn't do this, because of episode one.

It’s too long. We get full scope of how screwed up things get. Therefore, while we are watching, it’s so easy to see things coming and even easier to see when their rushed. The best example of this is Yomi’s downfall. It’s a hell of a lot better than what Venus Versus Virus did, which was essentially nothing. Still, it happened rather suddenly.

Yomi succumbs to her hatred which allows her to lose control. However she only raged out, not jokingly at least, once and the next episode she turned evil. There was no lead up that indicated that she had issues battling her negative emotions. There wasn’t enough time put into it. Granted there isn’t that much time to begin with in a twelve episode anime. I mean was there anything that could have allowed the plot to focus on this super important development…oh f@#$ me that’s right, episode one happened.

To go along with the risks of flashbacks is the tone it sets for the rest of the show. A series is able to establish its atmosphere the best in the beginning.  A tragedy can be revealed and the proceeding events can be lighthearted and silly. However this only works depending on the initial tone.

Zero’s setup was two episodes long and it was dark, serious, and violent. There was little room for jokey jokes. Thus when the series did try to go playful and fun, it was all meaningless because it's already known what's going to happen. For instance in one fight Yomi uses a god damn iron as weapon. I know where this is leading and it’s not happy, how am I supposed to enjoy this slapstick and ignore whats bound to happen?

Again the problem comes back to episode one because it elongated the setup and thus solidified a darker tone which made any charming moments feel forced and contrived. Zero doesn’t start to come back into balance until Yomi fully turns which is of course in the last few episodes.

Final Thoughts

Ga-Rei: Zero messed up in the beginning. Yet it was only a momentary lapse in story telling judgment because it was still a visually cool opening which helped demonstrated that this show was going to be entertaining.

And that’s where I leave it. This series was entertaining because of the vast amount of well-done action scenes. Not only that, the connection between the two main leads allowed the story to turn into something worth caring about.

While it does needless handicap itself, Ga-Rei: Zero is worth a look and I don’t regret checking it out.

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