Kimi Ni Todoke, episodes 1-3

I come to you again with another trio of episodes to cover, and yet another positive review. I feel like I need to watch an anime I won't like just to balance things out! No, but seriously, I've been seeing alot of good lately, although I do have an older series I'll discuss later.

Anyway...

I could tell from a couple minutes in this series would hit home with me. The series focuses on Sawako, who is ostracized from her classmates because they are all afraid of her, for really no reason at all, as these things often are. They think she resembles someone from "The Ring." As someone who has been teased and ridiculed most of my life, I immdiatley felt for her. And her situation seemed even worse, as she appears to have no friends at all. But through all this, she keeps an amazingly kind attitude that astounds me.

I also really like the male lead, Kazehaya who I feel is drawn the best, and the only one to treat Sawako like SOMEONE. He is nervous around her, has legitimite respect her, and is helping people in the class view her differently. Another rival for him is beggining to emerge, but I really hope he stays focused on Sawako, she would have no idea how to fight for him, since she doesn't even understand his feelings for her, or even her feelings herself? Maybe this will push her to reliazing? It will be interesting to see how this develops

.A moment I particurally liked was when Sawako sees a puppy on the side of the road, sitting in a box in the rain. Even though it barks at her constantly, she takes her own umbrella and sets it over the dog to shield it from the rain, then walks to school wet. It's a nice parallel to the way she treats everyone, and how they treat her back.
It's hard to find a fault in this touching series, but if there is I would say the art. I really didn't like it at first, but then it's almost like it's on purpose, and there's these small beautiful moments, like when Sawako smiles, that are so jarring from the rest it's that much more nice to look at. '

9/10, simply because it was one of the ONLY anime to make me feel like crying the very first episode.

White Album Season 2, episode 1-3

Well, well.

TOUYA WHY???

With that out of the way, I can continue with my review covering the first three episodes of the new season. We start out with things very much the same for our protaginst, who is still a cheating jerk. The affair with Yayoi is getting out of control and annoying, other characters are starting to notice something. He's also quite mean to his father, who is in the hospital for goodness sake. That absolutely broke my heart. I was very glad Misaki called him on his crap, and I gained a litle bit more respest for her.

If we remember back to last season, because of Touya and his general idiocy, he was fired from working with Rina, and therefore we do not see much of her. We see only what we saw at the begging of the season, which is her interaction with Yuki. However, a plot line does begin to focus on her at the end of episode 3 when she quits Ogata Productions (about time!). What really annoyed me is that Yuki seemed completely niave to what was happening to Rina, who has been slowly been pushed out since the start of the show. Makes me wonder if she really DOESNT know, and in her case I wouldn't be suprised.

Haruka still isn't getting much screen time, but we are pretty into the current storylines, so I'm waiting for her to have a chance to shine, because I really don't have a problem with her, just want to know her more.

The other confusing thing that is going on is with Mana's mom and one of the singers in her employment. She is freaking hitting this poor girl, and of course I felt for her, but I really have no idea who she is or if we're supposed to know, since the girls from the other company have never been a focus.

Anyway, so mostly I'm just looking forward to more Rina, and hopefully Touya getting hit over the head by someone so that he'll stop being so stupid.

8/10 for the first three episodes.

Oh and I finally understand that it was an answering machine Yuki gave him at Christmas! I always thought it was a new phone or something, and I was confused.

White Album, Season 1

In an attempt to mix things up around here at SAR (which, when I googled the intials came up as Specific absorption rate on Wikipedia, and also a Jewish school in New York), which is the new shorthand for this blog, I decided to cover a whole season (I also watched the season pretty fast, by my standards), just to see how it works.

Here's a little summary of the series: Touya (in college) has been dating Yuki since high school. She loves singing, and now as she grows more as an "idol", releasing a single, having a concert, etc., she never seems to have any time to spend with Touya. It's a harem, so we say Touya chased by other girls, but Yuki is always number 1.

(main girl Yuki.)

Very first thought that comes to mind...Touya is a moron. In fact such a moron, that if he wasn't fictional, I would probably have to slap him. Yayoi, Yuki's so called "manager", always saying she's trying to "remove obstacles" from Yuki...not the right person to cheat with (whcih he shouldn't have done at all). If he was going to, at least do it with one of your other choices who actually CARES about you! I mean come on, this is a harem, you have options! Maybe it would have felt more like cheating if it WAS someone who he shared feeling for?

Yayoi in general confues me. What is her motive in all this? Just wanting a good time? It doesn't seem like she would have a reason to have a grudge against Yuki. The entire time I just wanted to reach through the screen and kill her. There was nothing reedeming about her at all.

Speaking of options, the girl I liked the most was by far Rina. Yuki, I do like her and Touya together, but it seems Rina has more time to spend with him then her? I mean of course, one could say that is because of Rina being pushed out of the spotlight a bit, or the fact Yuki wanted to be "better" for Touya or whatever. The other thing that weirded me out was Yuki didn't even kiss Touya any of the times they saw each other, other then when he came up to her room. I was very much like...huh? If you can barely see each other, wouldn't you want to do it? Wasn't it phyical needs Touya basically said he used Yayoi for anyway in that speech about how she cant be "Yuki's replacement."

(the evil Yayoi)

Anyway, back to Rina. I'm not sure what exactly it was about her, but she just stood out to me. Misaki was fine...but I wanted her to be with Akira, who really deserved a break after 5 years, don't you agree? Then Haruka, well honestly I don't even feel like we saw that much of her, but maybe that'ss just me? Misaki had the whole persumabe "arc" from the game, in which had an eneding feel, but maybe Haruka will get this in next season. Then Mana...I know she likes him, but I don't think Touya sees her as an option, and I'm glad. That would be...eh..ew.

(Rina)

To finish things off, the way White Album was executed was wonderful as well. The music was pretty, the art was definately nice, and although at first Touya's written thoughts were anoying, it grew on me (as long as I could find subs who did they horizontal, it was really difficult to read quickly when vertical and small), and the episode titles were interesting. The whole 1986 setting really made things alot more difficult for our main couple. Cell phones would have fixed (almost)everything!

There's a lot more I could say on the series, but as to not go on to much I will stop for now, and more can come up when I cover the second season (which I will do episode-by-episode). Overall...

solid 9/10. Loved it, except for that Touya doesn't really deserve any of his choices right now! He did seem to feel remorse, so we'll see, but from what I'm read he's still a moron.

Anime Crossroads

Orginally I wasn't going to use this blog anymore, because of my podcast, Sho-Rant. But I decided it's a different kind of meduim, and I can cover different topics then I do on the show. So I guess I'm going to keep it up! I'm sure you are all overjoyed to hear from me again.

On Friday I attended my very first anime convention, Anime Crossroads in Indiana. It simply worked out that I could get there...and I was very happy that I could. :D

When me and my friends (whose online names are...) Itsuma and Kika, walked in, it was kind of...awakard. We had never been to a con before and we didn't know what to expect. Most of the people around us, despite this being the first time for this specific con, were all dressed in costumes, and just had a general air of knowing what they were doing. I was shameless plugging myself the whole time, dressed in a shojoworld shirt. Being a walking billboard was fun, but I think I'll come in a costume next time. Not that I won't be advertising somehow...*shifty eyes*

But at opening ceremony, I started to feel more at home immediately. They played a video to a song I knew (but whose name I don't remember), and there were clips from lots of different anime close to my heart, such as Clannad, Ouran, DN Angel...and everyone was so excited about it! People would cheer whenever they saw whatever, and it was nice to be around other anime fans, because honestly I'm usually not. I go to a private school, and while there are a few fans here and there, most of the people, I was sad to discover, had NO idea what it was. What is wrong with them, the doctors will never know.

The hosts were funny too. They made lots of jokes about Vic Mignogna taking his shirt off? He finally did, not all the way though, and had drawn a six pack on. Seems he's a pretty popular guy. Wish I could have gone to his panel, sounds like it would have been alot of fun!
I began to wish we had made more time for this thing. All the big panels seemed to be on Saturday, or even later in the day. But unfotunately we had not seen the scedule ahead of time, so we only had a few hours to spend.

I did however get to go to one pretty interesting panel with Brina Palencia, who was in School Rumble. I asked her what her favorite episode was, in which she gave me a pretty decent lengthy answer. She seemed open to answering questions, and had a good sense of humor.

Me and my friend's favorite part was easily the dealer's room however. I had already spent some money out front (I am an impulsive buyer, its a problem), and none of us has brought that much...we made a vow to bring ALOT more next time. There was just so much stuff you don't see normally! And since this a new con, it's mind-boggling to think how much bigger it might be at another con. *gets lost in daydream*

I bought this cat ear hat thing (which I am wearing as I write this), and Kika obsessed over some cat ears her and Itsuma bought. NYAs all around.

So all in all, a good way to sum up my experience would be as Itsuma called it, a "practice con." I really understand them more, and am excited to go to another one in the near future. I

Review #3- Kanon episode 2

Kanon episode 2

Hello again, and sorry it took so long to post! In the neat future I would like to be able to set up some sort of scedule of when I will be posting. I want to keep it to 3 series at once, to make sure I actually complete them, so that means I'll be adding one more soon....I want the third series to be something pretty new, that just finished up or is still releasing. So I'll be looking!

So onto to Kanon episode 2.
We open up with a dream sequence again. Very short.

I am abosultely OBSESSED with that pink kitty clock. It's adorable, and now it talks? If only it could be mine. Speaking of alarms, ALL Of those didnt wake Nayuki up? And I was happy to see more cat ones, cute indeed.

Ha, love the way the music changed as he took a bit into the bread with the jam on it...
and all of Nayuki's mom's dialouge made it that much more creepy.

I wonder what made Yuuchi lose his memory? It seems to be integral to the plot, considering how much it's mentioned.

OW! In collision #2 of the series, we see Nayuki ram into two girls at the bottem of the stais. And apparently they are third years? Interesting they use ribbions to show year. I wonder all the different ways there are to do so in Japan?

Wow, way to get lost Yuuchi. :D Was that guy naked they were painting in that room? It is a very impressive looking school. Also when Misaka ran into him in the hallway the translation I was watching said "What are you narrating for?"...is this correct? I found it rather odd, in context I would have guessed she said something along the lines of "what are you looking for?"

Collision #3 in the series- prehaps not extreme as our first two , with Ayu knocking into Yuuichi, bouncing off him and falling down.

"You had the same name and you were weird" Loved that line. OWWW Collision #4: Yuuichi cruelly lets Ayu crash right into a tree. At this moment it's important to note he has remembered something? What exactly was this promise?

I have a feeling we'll be seeing the girl they got snow on again...it was interesting during that reaction to see that Ayu is the same grade as Yuuchi? I have to admit I was thinking along the same lines he probaby was, about her being younger.

The pinky promise thing was cute.

Okay the girl in the curtain thing who randomly jumped out on him? Yeah kind of freaked me out a bit. But I do remember seeing her in pictures, so I'm not too suprised I suppose. Her attempts at hitting: EPIC FAIl. Sorry! XD What was up with the old lady watching? And then she faints....and my episode cuts off??? Why???? I mean come on it was almost done!
Oh wait I guess that was the end...so I learned when finding the part on Youtube.

And then I happened to run across the dub. I didn't really like what I heard...but I'll wait to speak more on that until I do the official dub review.

I decided that the earlier episode it's almost impossible to judge the things I was orginally rating with, such as plot development, so for now I'll just stick with over-all ratings until I think of something better.

Going to stick with an 8/10 here...yeah yeah I know so far that's been all I've done. But I promise the ratings will vary!!!

Review #2- Itazura Na Kiss episode 1

(I thought this pic was lol)

Greetings and welcome back (if someone's reading this anyway). Darn it are there are no emoticons? I just done staring at the toolbar...unforunately mind manipulation appears to not be helping her. Ah well.

So for my second review I chose Itazura Na Kiss, which is an anime I had heard about on Anime Pulse, a podcast I listen to, and thought sounded interesting. It's not a widely well-known series to my knowledge, so I'll talk briefly about the plot...basically our main character here, Kotoko Aihara, is not very bright and is a student of Class F. She begins to develop a crush however for Naoki Irie of Class A, and decides to confess. However he brutally rejects her...to make matters worse, when Kotoko's house needs to be worked on, they end up moving in to the Ire house!

Okay, Ire is definately a jerk. He was pissing me off as this episode began, and while Kinnouske may be slightly annoying I didn't see why Kotoko didn't at least try going out with him. But of course, it's possible she may just have no feelings for him....and it's probably somewhat his fault the house ended up breaking down. But when Ire said "I hate stupid girls."...Now that's just cruel.

I was glad Kotoko at least attempted to stick up for herself after Irie attempted to donate to Kin's cause for Kotoko....of course since it appears Irie already knew she was going to be staying there, I guess it didn't do much good. Irie's mom kinda creeps me out....with the whole going to school, taking a picture of her, and running away thing? But she seemed nice enoough....She's obviously living her dream of having a daughter through Kotoko, as she statesa about how she always wanted one.

Irie's little brother was just as rude as his older counterpart, insulting Kotoko the way he was. Come on Ire, be a better example. Maybe he wouldn't act that way.

One thing I wondered: was that house really mansions size or was that just Kotoko's impression? Because it was definately bigger then the house she had been in, but I think I can recall bigger houses in anime....but we only saw the outside for a brieft moment so then again I don't know.

Rating:
Art: 7/10 (It's based off an old manga, and it's not horible or anything, just nothing that pretty).
Plot Development: 8/10 (first episode, so obviously there was development)
My Personal Intrest: 9/10 (20 minutes went by quickly)
Believability: 7/10 (a bit convienant, but it has to be have a story, so I wasn't sure what to rate)
Overall: 8/10

First Review: Kanon 2006, episode 1

Kanon Episode 1


Hey everyone it's Meroko!

I have always thought it would be quite fun to do one of those anime review blogs I've seen out there that go episode-by-episode...

so here I am, reliazing that dream through this blog for my website ShojoWorld.com. WOO.

For my first review I picked an anime I've been meaning to get to watching for awhile: Kanon 2006. I think Key's games feature wonderful art, and I am a huge fan of Clannad. I think I may have watched the first episode awhile back? But forgot to continue.

Anyway,as I began it felt very much as I expected it to in the way of a Key title. The opening was pretty and quiet, and I found it intersting that right after the opening we saw a dream, as Clannad did for many episodes as a running theme...I of course do not now if this will be a theme in this anime as well. Towards the end I gathered that it'd be more of a memory theme.

I spent a bit of time obsessing over the fact that I thought the voice actor from Yuuchi sounded like Tomoya from Clannad (seems I am obsessed), but it turned out I was wrong...however I had heard him before, as Kyon in Haruhi Suzumiya! Awesome. I knew it was familar!

Nayuki was likable enough. I thought her face was funny when she was going after the fox. Kitagawa reminded me of Sunohara...oh yet another Clannad comparision? Promise I'm done now. And then again, this series did come first, soI should probably shut up.

I liked the collosion with Yuuichi and Ayu, the snapshot way they animated it was humorous. But her saying Uguu so much might get annoying if they over use it, I've never been a fan of that, but as of now it's not bothering me. I thought it was cute when she kept turning to look for the wings.

I loved all of Nayuki's alarms! First off, they were all really cool looking, and I to have used multiple alarms, but not even close to that many...I espeically loved the pink cat one, and the tree one since it stuck me as so random. And when she gave him te pink one I was like YEAH! ROCK ON! What was that weird machine in the corner when Yuuichi went to sleep I wonder?

Score:

Since is the first episode, I really can't say for most of these catergories as of now, but will be able to later.

Art (only mentioned for first episode): 8/10 (It is Key, but a bit older, so I can't really give it a 9 or 10. Still very pretty though.

Plot Development: 8/10 (well since is the first episode it obviously moves the plot)

My Personal Intrest: 8/10

Believability (weird plot holes, uncharacterstic actions): 8/10
Overall: A very solid 8/10