Monday, July 28, 2008

Kimagure Orange Road (KOR)


Description on AnimeDB.net

Kimagure Orange Road (TV) - Comedy, Love triangle, school life, and a sprinkling of ESPer abilities make this series a fun and light summer watch. Before I noticed, I would watch episodes, 5 or 6 at a time of this before I watched new episodes of this season's animes.

The protagonist seems run of the mill at first, but thanks to his special powers, he's also susceptible to the uncommon situations that go from bad to worse in a blink of an eye. The episodes waste no time and use every minute to tell the story, so don't expect long pans of scenery and long setups to get the story going. Flashbacks and pace keep the watcher on their toes, wanting to know how Kasuga gets himself out of this one.

There's more violence than I expected in an old-school anime. Thanks to some characters that aren't afraid to slap, punch and knee people in the face. Also, a handful of episodes that involve sukeban gang girls with mostly strange weapons (except for a razor blade that freaked me out a little).

Keep an eye out for Ushiko and Umao, whose cameos pop up at all the right places.

Recommendations:

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Friend Book)


Description on AnimeDB.net

Natsume Yuujinchou is funny, light and has modern and traditional Japanese style to it. Even the "cute mascot" is a transforming youkai with an old man's taste in sweets.

I am glad I can depend on this anime to get through the summer that marks the end of many other animes that I loved.

It reminds me a bit of mushishi except the pace is picked up a bit, and the humor is modern enough to keep you smiling. With all the youkai contact, it reminds me of a little Inu Yasha too--but not as intense or violent or bloody--maybe it's not like Inu Yasha at all.

I like seeing the representations of different types of youkai and semigods, so that's another thing that adds to the charm of this anime.

The story is, his grandmother had abilities like him, able to see youkai and such. His grandmother somewhat bullied youkai into giving them their names, and thus some control over the youkai. The names go into this book and well, watch the first episode to get a fair taste of what this anime is about.

Stay tuned for the ending theme, which is a nice finish to an episode with the same easy-going summer tone.

Recommendations:

Video Sample:

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