Durarara!!

Durarara!! has resuscitated an otherwise comatose few months of anime. It provided mystery, intrigue, excitement, action, all grounded with substantial characters that drove each episode in their own ways.

In the beginning, there is a lot of flipping around to different storylines and the questions just start piling up. What is this chatroom about? Whoa, what's going on here? Who are all these people? Okay, what's this high schooler's story? Now we are following these other people? This guy is dangerous. This other guy's even more dangerous.

Later on my thoughts were all about connecting the dots, and it just seems to get better from there. Characters start to shine, layers of story fall together creating the big picture, you get interested in what's going to happen in the next episode. And the realization that you now know the large number of characters in the opening theme.

Does it get boring after that? Don't worry, there is a new opening theme later on, with plenty of new faces to shake every character's world a little.

If you've seen Baccano, just be pleased that you are being treated to second serving from the same group. If you've seen anime, listen closely for some fun references from the otaku characters. If you are a restless high schooler looking for the something that will change your life...you can live through Mikado.

Favorite characters so far are the smooth-talking best friend and the bursting-with-emotion black rider. But there are still quite a few mysteries, and a few new ones introduced in the mix. I can count on this anime to give things a little spin.

Watch 2 or 3 episodes, so it can set the roots for this anime that has fun waiting behind every turn, before you decide to run with Durarara!!!.

I really like the ending theme, so I might put that in the sidebar soon.

Recommendations:

• Baccano >>...an obvious must if you like intertangled stories of a dozen characters colliding and congealing with a splashy violent jazz era backdrop
• Black Lagoon >>...organized gangs bump shoulders in a city full of criminals with comedic violence in chaotic finishes
  

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Aoi Bungaku (Evergreen Literature)

Aoi Bungaku is the anime I was waiting all last season for and had somehow overlooked. I picked it up after the season ended, and was taken by surprise. At first I met a fellow who appeared to be hanging out afterhours in a library, and he began to speak of famous japanese authors and their works, a bit of their personal history, and some observations to spark intrigue and curiosity before the animated part of the episode began. I can't say I've read any of these stories or their translations, but hearing this guy's intro really put my mind in a hungry mood. I wanted to think about the story and what the author's life had brought to it.

Don't think this anime will bore you. There is plenty of good animation to keep you satisfied and a few unanswered questions to keep your brain hungry for the next episode. The series covers a few stories, written by different authors. A single story may take two to four episodes. The first story spans four and gives you a taste of what the anime can provide that most of the other anime this season cannot. For the mind, there are deaths, twisted happenings, and inner turmoils. For the eyes, the stories seem to use different anime styles that bend and flex to accent the story or access it from a different perspective. By the second story, you'll see that this anime has quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Though each story stands alone, we have the host to guide us through an animated tour of some of Japan's famous works.

I'm currently nine episodes in, but after the first, I realized I had almost missed out on a great series. If the first four episodes, you are still unsure, try that 5th episode which begins the second story and it might get you hooked. Leave the high school dramas and slapstick actions behind and delve into a series that has anime chops to draw you in, and literary classics that will entice you to have more.

Recommendations:

• Himitsu: The Revelation...peering inside criminal minds and the minds of victims, the team called Section 9 suffers more than just sleepless nights >>
  
• Genji Monogatari Sennenki >>...this take on the Tale of Genji brings to light the sadness and tragedy of a character that was dazzling and loved by many women
  
• Bokurano...it's easy to be dazzled by the giant robot, but what really shines is the character struggles that lead up to the deaths of each controller as each chair is emptied >>
• Jigoku Shoujo: Futakomori...the outcome is being ferried to hell, how the characters' grudges came to grow and grow until the cursed red string is pulled is worth the watch >>

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Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When Seagulls Cry)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Do you like mysteries? How about those ones where you aren't sure that the butler did it? And how do you feel about golden butterflies?

The party starts with a rich family's reunion on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere. Almost-obnoxious-guy shoulders his way into main character status with his pointy red and white suit. Everything seems fine and dandy until ill will worms its way to the surface as inheritance, child abuse, jealousy, hate, the rumor of hidden gold and the influence of a unseen witch has brought this tea party to a screeching halt. Once the screams start, the anime has begun to fling full pace into mystery-novel land.

There will be blood, there will be ugly endings to lives, there will be countless references to a chessboard and magic, and there will be a creepy little girl complete with creepy little grin. You have been warned.

Nine episodes in, I have already surrendered to the notion that I need to watch these all in row, as opposed to one every week, giving myself time to forget what scenario the anime is currently in, and what facts have been established. My head flips every time Battler suggests to flip the chessboard. And when Beatrice started talking in red, I almost threw in the towel.

I'm ready to watch this whole thing from start to end, as this anime is definitely something I wouldn't usually touch with a ten foot pole. Mysteries aren't always up my alley, but this one was like a scary story you want to hear...with the lights on...and a baseball bat in hand. I don't want to give up on this anime, because I want to know how it all happened. I want to see the episode where the mystery is solved and each little trick is broken down.

Until then, I plan to suppress a cringe every time Maria "ooh's" and enjoy those fun scenarios when someone is shown with a menacing face as they attend to a gruesome killing in someone's imagination.

Recommendations:

• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro...episodic mysteries take zany turns as a demonic detective and his fronthuman crack mysteries to feed his appetite >>
  
• Ga Rei: Zero...close friends are pitted against each other when one has her life, humanity, and future taken away by a demonic force >>
  
• Jigoku Shoujo: Futakomori...when a request to bury a grudgemaker comes in, a small mystery is created, often adding another bittersweet round to an unending cycle >>
• Himitsu: The Revelation...solving seriously mysterious crimes takes brains, specifically the brains of the deceased >>
  

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Kurozuka

I don't remember how I found Kurozuka, probably browsing on boxtorrents, but I'm glad I did. It covers a lot of ground without burning dozens of episodes in the process. There is a bit of mystery, then some action, then a lot of bloodshed, mystery again, then the story skips to to different places in time to give us the big picture of what's really going on. It's not painful to watch, you just have to keep up and pay attention to each scene to make sure you don't get lost.

It's a bit more complex than the usual guy likes girl, kills to protect. Let me back up: The story centers around this young man and his almost unreal journey that has him fighting in the feudal era, and what appears to be a dystopia centuries later while making sense of this nostalgic feeling of chasing the mysterious woman that he has fallen for. Mysteries pile up and memories are missing in action, how is a young man supposed to keep his head on straight?

There are untimely demises, bloodshed, and some disturbing scenes and characters that had me cringing. The beginning of the anime and the ending hardly resemble each other and by the time the last episode comes around, you will begin to feel just like the main character. Watch three or four episodes before you make up your mind. The first episode is only the beginning.

I believe the beginning theatrics are to pay homage to the noh play of the same name. Each episode has snippet of this with words that add to what's going on in the anime, so don't skip it thinking it's the same blah blah.

Recommendations:

• Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou >>...fights in the forest and other backdrops between warring clans that display their deadly skills to satisfy decades-old rivalries
  
• Ergo Proxy >>...dystopia, darkness and mysterious creatures drive the story that takes the characters to lands, while a mysterious creature looms in the shadows
  
• Toki o Kakeru Kanojo >>...time just drifts happily by for one high schooler until she finds the ability to time travel and her woes amount to more than just stolen pudding
• Mnemosyne >>...living forever can be a curse, especially when those who hunt you are irresistible demons in this not for kids anime
  

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Denpa Teki na Kanojo

Denpa Teki na Kanojo - Once you get past the disturbing first scene, this anime takes you on a strange ride. A high school brawler stays out of trouble long enough to find himself being stalked and revered by a strange girl at his school. So strange that she ultimately becomes a person of interest once a school acquaintence is found dead, part of a mysterious string of serial killings.

(With one episode watched, this Anime Spotlight is brief. At the time of this post, it is marked as an OVA.)

Recommendations:

• Himitsu: The Revelation...forget crime scenes, through technological advances images from victims' brains are used to aid investigations, revealing startling details >>
  
• Perfect Blue...a pop star's happy-go-lucky life is turned upside down when an blogger claims to be her and knows surprising small details of her private life
  
• School Days...this anime gives a stark contrast between a happy high school harem anime and a twisted personality anime, here's where you'll find it >>
  

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Himitsu: The Revelation

Description on AnimeDB.net

Himitsu: The Revelation seems simple enough, and if you can get over the initial believability bump -- Solving crimes using the brains of the deceased. Sounds a bit like Pushing Daisies, but this series uses the brains and refers to their use with more technology and computers, rather than supernatural reason. Just that bit of difference introduces differently types of challenges that the Section Nine team (a special team assembled to deal with this form of research for police investigations) have to deal with.

It's not just "let's look in his brain and we can see who dunnit". The brain has to be intact, retrieved within a certain amount of time, the victim's family has to release the brain, they can only retrieve the visuals (no audio), and there's the obvious weird fact that to solve a victim's mystery, they're basically taking a little something that was otherwise going to go into a coffin/urn with the rest of the body.

This anime doesn't focus too much on how they do it, but more about how they use it to solve these mysteries. It's incredibly interesting how it seems the series could just be the same scenario over and over again, but different scenarios are quickly delved into, skipping parts you are familiar with and really getting down to business. Later on, there is a tad more of the team's members and also the past behind the section leader.

One big draw is being able to see into the minds of victim's last moments, and sometimes seeing into the minds of killers. It can get violent, bloody or graphic quickly, so this one isn't to watch with the kids. Give it a try if you're not afraid to get into some crime-scene-like messy memories, and see how Section Nine can overcome the challenges of the technology and others involved in the cases.

Recommendations:

• Shigofumi...psychological messes can be uncovered in even the simple anime premises of letters from the dead
  
• Antique Bakery...a little more comedy and pastries, but the underlying mystery is there (See Anime Spotlight)
• Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo...less mystery, more action, and some strange cases tackled by a sassy protagonist and her right-hand man (See Anime Spotlight)
• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro...comedy, otherworldy creatures and finishing moves aid a young pawn and the demon that guides her through juicy mysteries (See Anime Spotlight)
• Umineko no Naku Koro ni...before the sun rises, a rich family at each others' necks over an inheritance must solve a riddling epitaph or become the victims of a mercilous witch (See Anime Spotlight)
  

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Detroit Metal City

Description on AnimeDB.net

Detroit Metal City got me laughing. The dialogue pace, main character's situation and juxtaposition of different music and personalities. I hope to see more of it, although I've seen it labeled as a special episode.

Straight to the action, you're introduced to a mild-mannered young man that sings happy pop jingles as well as metal music, and the complications his alter ego creates. Soon you begin to wonder, which is the true self. Hilarious situations brought to gold status with the hilarious character. Hang on to your acoustic guitars, tambourines and KISS makeup, it's time to "Go To DMC".

This anime is not for the faint of heart. One watch of the opening theme and you'll know what you are in for.

Edit: This is 12 episodes.

Recommendations:

• Gankutsuou...happy boy pulled into a twisted dark world
• Nodame Cantabile...funny music-infused romance
• NANA...music
  

(These were very difficult to pick because this series is very unique.)

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School Days

Description on AnimeDB.net

School Days

Here's part of an IM conversation I had with a friend, with their dialogue removed:

Anime Spotlights says:

oh!

Anime Spotlights says:

i GOTTA tell you about this anime that just shocked me

Anime Spotlights says:

it just stains the happy summer anime season with its finale

Anime Spotlights says:

eh, you'd never watch it though

Anime Spotlights says:

the ending is so messed up! sometimes it just pops into my head and i just stand there thinking,"ugh, that was So messed up!"

Anime Spotlights says:

it all started so innocently

Anime Spotlights says:

and then reality started twisting

Anime Spotlights says:

then the breaking point, when you know something horrible is going to happen but you don't know what

Anime Spotlights says:

what, what, WHAT's going to HAPPEN!?

Anime Spotlights says:

KAPOW!!!!!!

Anime Spotlights says:

KABLAMMIE!!!!!

Anime Spotlights says:

and it's over...

Anime Spotlights says:

and you are shocked

Anime Spotlights says:

stunned

Anime Spotlights says:

unable to watch anime for the rest of the day

Anime Spotlights says:

then you watch the ending one more time, to make sure it was for real

Anime Spotlights says:

yep! KAPOW!!!!!! KABLAMMIE!!!!!!

Anime Spotlights says:

for real man

Anime Spotlights says:

that was a crazy ending

Recommendations:

• Bokura ga Ita...high school romance with drama (See Anime Spotlight)
• Myself; Yourself...high school romance with some dark secrets
• Jigoku Shoujo: Mitsuganae...high school and vengeance go hand in hand

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Claymore

Description on AnimeDB.net

Claymore - Beheadings, gut-wrenching feasts (literally), mental supression of monstrous urges and big swords that not only cut even comrades but also make a nifty sleeping spot.

The story starts out simple enough, but with each new job we see the heroine Clare turn toward humankind for philosophical salvation from her own gruesome and eventual demise.

It gets better when the episodes give us a little taste of her origins and we get a break from that kid that tags behind her all the time. Will her story be written to match that of her mentor? How did she become a "silver-eyed witch" in the first place?

I watch [Eclipse]'s subs.

Don't want to meet her in a dark alley.

Recommendations:

• Seirei no Moribito...great art, more saving than killing, but the action and bonding are there (See Anime Spotlight)
• Blood: The Last Vampire...movie, dark, gloomy, and blood spilling afoot
• Blood+...light when it starts, but as it develops tears and blood are both shed
• Speed Grapher...underground groups, strange powers, and lives on the line in each episode

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