Synopsis:
The Gift, a once in a lifetime opportunity to grant a miracle for someone. However, for the Gift to work the recipient must accept it and share mutal feelings or the Gift will become distorted and may even wreak havoc on those around it. Haruhiko Amami is a firm believer in the Gift ability since if it were not for the Gift he would not be alive today. However, the Gift is an ability that is only given the the residents of the town of Narasakicho as the unknown phenomenon known as the eternal rainbow hangs in the sky above which he suspects is tied into the town’s strange magical abilities. Although Amami is not fully aware of his past when his sister Riko, who mysteriously left 7 years, shows up in front of his house with a loaded suitcase claiming she’s back home… forgotten emotions and a clouded history are about to be revealed that Amami had all but disregarded. Continue reading »
Synopsis:
Yorito Morimiya is a photographer at heart, but he especially loves taking pictures of the sky any time of the day at any time of the year. While taking more pictures of the sky very early in the morning Yorito notices a strange girl trying to get a can of tomato juice out of a vending machine. Yorito helps her while trying to strike up a conversation with her but by the time he gets the juice out of the machine he turns to notice that the girl is mysteriously gone. Continue reading »
Synopsis:
After a seven year absence, Yuichi Aizawa, returns to the city of Moriguchi to stay with his cousin Nayuki Minase and her mother for the new school year. He meets Nayuki after returning to town and she takes him on a tour but when Nayuki says she has to stop at the store to pick up a few things Yuichi says he’ll wait outside but while waiting he is knocked over by a girl running from something, she then quickly grabs him by the hand and pulls him into a nearby cafe. She says her name is Ayu Tsukimiya and explains that Continue reading »
Synopsis:
Mahoro is a battle android, she is extremely powerful and fast but being revered as the greatest fighting machine ever created has it’s price… she has a rather short life span of only a few years. As our story opens we see Mahoro being given a choice from her superiors, retire with a remaining life span of 398 days or continue to fight which will shorten her life span to just 30 days. With an old debt to repay Mahoro retires and heads to Earth to look after Suguru Misato a junior high student whose father happened to be Mahoro’s commander that she was forced to kill during an alien terrorist Continue reading »
Synopsis:
Keitaro who just failed his entrance exam to Tokyo U… again. Down on his luck he gets a message from his grandmother that she needs help running her dormitory. With nothing better to do while studying for the next exam, Keitaro accepts. However, once he gets there he quickly realizes that it’s an all girls dorm. All the residents deem him as unacceptable and constantly give him trouble and usually end up kicking his ass in some form or another. Instead of backing down, Keitaro busts his ass to be accepted as the new manager.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 30 (25 episodes and 5 OVAs to bring total closure)
Y’know, I don’t know what the deal is with harem anime but I find them so freakin’ hilarious. Anyway… Love Hina, probably one of the better shows I’ve sat through. For Love Hina, it’s loaded with slap-stick comedy and there really is no plot because something changes from episode to episode. What keeps it going strong is watching each character change thier view towards Keitaro and eventually form some kind of bond with him and everyone starts looking out for one and other. But then there’s Naru, she and Keitaro are *constantly* fighting but of course… start taking a liking to each other. The whole series blends comedy and romance just right and it can be summed up in one word, fun… including the three follow up movies. I watched it, I liked it, but that’s just my opinion. Yes, the English track is utterly horrid and the intro song is corny as hell.
To get the full story on Love Hina you’d have to watch the entire series first followed by the Christmas Special, the Spring Special, and finally Love Hina Again which brings this great series to an epic closing.
Love Hina (opening)
Recommendation: |Above Average|
Media type: DVD
From: FUNimaition/Bandai Entertainment
Spoken languages: English;Japanese
Subtitles: English
*Note – FUNimation failed to obtain the entire series and all they offer is the original 25 episode series without the OVAs. This is makes the anime incomplete and a complete waste without them which can only be summed up in two words… EPIC FAILURE! Unless they can provide us with the complete series from start to finish with OVAs included on DVD like Bandai did then just pass on it altogether. It’s not worth your hard earned cash as it is!
Synopsis:
Keita Suminoe has the good life, a roof over his head and his own room, a loving family, three meals a day, things just couldn’t get any better. Or could they? When Keita’s dad remarried he gained himself twin step-sisters who also love Keita very much… actually, they are *IN* love with Keita. Not only that, but his own father and step-mother both encourage him to make a choice and eventually get married to one of his own step-sisters! Although Keita thinks this whole scenario is completely wrong, he finds that maybe he does have some affection towards the step-sisters that make his life more complicated than it needs to be.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 3 (Sorry folks, that’s all there is)
Review:
Now you gotta admit, the story of two step-sisters that are in love with their own step brother piques your interest just a little bit eh? Or should I say… a hell of a lot! Kiss X Sis is a no-holds-barred attack on a taboo subject that goes about it in such a way that you’ll be laughing and getting turned on at the same time. There really isn’t much of a story but the comedy routine that the show uses to present Ako and Riko’s constant battle for Keita’s affections beyond that of a family member is what keeps you coming back for more. And no matter how much Keita resists his sisters aggressiveness there is the occasional time he lets his guard down and things can get quite steamy. And to make this uncomfortable situation even worse for Keita is that his own parents encourage him to fool around with his own sisters which not only has you laughing but also almost finding hard to believe what you’re seeing. This is what makes Kiss X Sis so great, taking something that would be shunned in the real world but as you watch the events unfold you find yourself encouraging the girls and also leaves you wanting much more than a mere 3 episodes.
It’s sexy, it’s hilarious, it’s just good ol’ plain sleazy fun, and the cock-tease soft core hentai presentation fits this uber short series perfectly and I can’t recommend it enough. This *is* wincest!
(Sorry, no teaser video available)
Recommendation: |Very High|
*Note – Due to the OVAs popularity this anime has been granted a full series for the future. Life, now has meaning…
*Note 2 – All 3 videos can be streamed at www.wildsidecinema.com in the Complex 69 forum. Drop on in, register, click, and watch!
Synopsis:
While in the midst of an alien invasion, photojournalist Tetsuya Wakatsuki uses it to his advantage to take pictures of the horrors of war. But Tetsuya puts himself too far into the midst of the battle field and ends baring witness to a few up close murders and it’s executioner… a scantily-clad green-haired woman with a big sword. She takes notice of Tetsuya’s inquisitiveness as he’s rappidly snapping pictures of her in action and turns and faces Tetsuya pointing her sword at him as if to claim him as her next victim. She charges towards him and raises her sword to bring his life to an end but Tetsuya dodges the attack and his alien attacker only manages to accidentally set off his camera and at close range, the flash stuns her. Tetsuya seizes the opportunity and grabs ahold of her pushing her against a wall and as the two are locked in a power struggle to even move Tetsuya takes notice that he’s fighting a metallic bikini-clad woman and the alien girl stops resisting his feeble attacks at the same time. Tetsuya backs away not knowing what to think but she quickly walks towards him and plants a kiss on his lips and introduces herself a Kahm. Before Tetsuya can comprehend the situation, Kahm knocks him unconscious and takes him aboard her spacecraft as she claims him as her husband for the worlds first intergalactic marriage.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 1 (Yeah, that’s it, one 46 minute OVA)
Review:
Originally from 1986, this short film took almost 10 years to hit the U.S. and this little gem has all the story elements you could want packed within it’s short 46 minute life span. You get action, thrills, science-fiction, and romance, in a neat little package that will be leaving you wanting for so much more. The thing is, even with it’s truncated presentation it still manages to tell a fantastic tale. From the moment Princess Kham hits the screen you almost feel a slight hatred towards her until she realizes what she is doing is inherently wrong and she changes her status about the attack on Earth and it’s amazing how this anime does this… in a matter of minutes! Your view will instantly change and you really start to like this bull-headed girl and her claim to Tetsuya as her husband. Not only that, but you also understand how Tetsuya is trying to comprehend all that is going on with everything being thrown at him at once and how he deals with it without being indecisive or overly shy. Also, this anime starts bringing in more and more side characters but the thing is they only need a moment of screen time to determine your feelings towards them as your outlook towards them will never change throughout the course of the show and this is what I really enjoyed about Outlanders. An amazing cast, a short but compelling story, a wonderfully orchestrated soundtrack, and one of the finest forms of quick but appropriate tsundere romances to ever hit the anime scene… Outlanders should NOT be passed up as the animation still stands out even after being over 20 years old.
(Sorry, no teaser video available)
Recommendation: |Very High|
Media Type: DVD
From: Central Park Media
Languages: Japanese;English
Subtitles: English
*Note – Central Park Media is now defunct and this DVD is out of print. If any of you big conglomerate anime companies are reading this, please, do the anime community a favor and pick this up and re-release it!! *AND*… and put the original Dark Horse Comics dub with it as it was fantastic… and I *hate* dubs! Can’t find it? Contact me as I have two, count them “t-w-o”, copies of the original VHS tape that Dark Horse released and I’d gladly lend one to anyone wanting to do another DVD release with both the Central Park Media and Dark Horse dub on a DVD… along with subtitles of course. I’m not joking about this… anybody? Hello?
Synopsis:
“Life is so dull. I just wish one day something amazing would happen that would change my life forever.” is probably what 75% of the worlds population is thinking right about now. Well, so is 16 year old Tomokazu Mikuri, moaning and complaining about his upcoming birthday and to top it all off he doesn’t even have a girlfriend. After his usual boring day Tomokazu drifts off to sleep but ends up having a very bizarre dream where he wakes up in some bizarre world in which he sees a young girl fighting some unknown enemy. However, the mystery girl takes a hit and falls from the sky landing in Tomokazu’s arms which seems to give the young lady a second wind and with an enthusiastic “MONE!” (pronounced by her as, MOE-NEH) and a smile, she attacks her enemy again and utterly defeats it. When Tomokazu wakes from his strange dream he tries to decipher his vision he soon realizes that he’s not alone as the dream girl is lying next to him in bed and greets him with a “Mone!” Oh yeah, Tomokazu got his birthday wish alright as life will never be dull again.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 12
Review:
Ah, harem comedy animes… I never get tired of them. A bunch of cute girls, some doof, and a brainless comedy routine that will make you laugh or at the very least smile in some way or another and Yumeria is no different. But Yumeria does try to stand out a little by using a somewhat uncommon group of girls, 2 lolis, 2 buxom curvaceous teens, and a milf, now… before you say “Lolis? Oh yeah, bring this on!” I gotta tell you straight up that the story that brings everyone together falls a little on the idiotic side of things. So much to the fact that this series feels like it almost didn’t want to use the plot about dream warriors at all but would have rather focused on one guy dealing with this wide age range of ladies all sharing the same interest in one guy. Because, after it uses this plot device to bring everyone together the show disregards it goes on to focus on home life, school life, and everyone getting along as one happy family. The few episodes that do delv into the dream world are very rushed and really serve no other purpose than to show girls in scantily clad outfits that always get a second wind and wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop. Is this a bad thing? Well… no, but you can’t help but get the feeling that it’s tacked on somehow and almost comes across as pointless.
Yumeria is the type of anime where you really have to go into it not expecting much at all because that’s what you’ll get in return and with that mindset you may enjoy it more than you probably thought you would. It’s main plot about dream warriors and their challenge to save the Earth seems pushed aside and far from being the main focus as it’s group of girls seems like what the show wanted to spend more time on and it did to some degree. Unfortunately, this anime can’t seem to get it’s focus straight as to how it wants to present itself to the audience and falls back on trying to use cute girls to divert your attention away from it’s poorly told story and very loose ended characterization. And you know, it almost worked. In the end Yumeria is what it is and that’s fun… just good, stupid, fun… and nothing more. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I’m gonna go take a nap and see if I can pull a girl out of my dreams. Hey, why should only Tomokazu get to be so lucky?!?
Yumeria (opening)
Recommendation: |Average|
Synopsis:
Ren and Mihato Uesugi arrive in the big city after running away from home due to family issues involving their drunk and abusive father. Determined to make a life for themselves without relying on anyone they set out into town to find jobs. During his fruitless job hunting Ren encounters a young looking woman who is about to collapse from heat exhaustion and he rushes to her side to see if she is okay. Even though she says she is fine, Ren and Mihato persist in helping her to her home, appreciative for the offer she graciously accepts their hospitality as Ren carries her home but when arriving at the front gates the young woman’s home happens to be a huge mansion. She then introduces herself as Miyu Kuonji, sister of the famous orchestral conductor, Shinra Kuonji. After being introduced and hearing their story, Shinara offers Ren and Mihato living quarters in exchange for becoming her servants as butler and maid. They both enthusiastically accept but now their training period begins.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 13
Review:
Simply put, this show is alot of fun to watch. This is the type of series that you can watch without having to worry about overly complicated plotlines or some heavy drama that’ll drag down the show at any time. When watching They Are My Noble Masters just take it at face value because if you try to look for some greater overall meaning to everything, it’s not there, which may leave the viewer thinking that the show is shallow. But, after sitting through the whole series, this is fine, since I didn’t have to put to much thought into the show and I could enjoy the simplistic comedy mixed with the right amount of perverted ecchiness and laughed because overall, this short series is just a good time. They Are My Noble Masters does have quite the cast of bizarre characters and the thing that did impress me is how the show manages to dedicate some portion of an episode to explain a bit on their background to help you understand why they act the way they do and it all comes together extremely well with the next to non-existent story.
Fairly decent animation, a plot that is fueled only by the cast of crazy characters, and comedy that doesn’t need to rely on exaggerations to be funny, They Are My Noble Masters is a series where you can just turn your brain off, hit play, and just enjoy it for what it is… a simple comedy that explains itself very well.
They Are My Noble Masters (opening)
Recommendation: |Above Average|
Synopsis:
Hiroki Kamikura has recently landed a job as an art teacher in training at Nadesico Academy. Although he is a renowned artist from his previous works he has now put down the paintbrush and refuses to paint anymore for reasons unknown everyone, even to his cousin who resides with him, Elis Housen. Even though Elis is a student in Hiroki’s class he must learn to delicately balance his training position as an art teacher along with his home life with Elis but his professional and private life begin to intermix when one evening while grocery shopping, Elis becomes comatose after seeing the color red from a stoplight. Hiroki wants to help her overcome her fear of the color red as it could hinder her artistic future but then also learns that a childhood friend that confessed her love to him, Kiri Kikyou, has become the physical education teacher at the academy also. Juggling his private, social, and professional life has now become more difficult as they all begin to blend together into one life changing experience.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 24
Review:
Simply put, Canvas 2 is a romance, and there really is nothing extra to add to it. The series quickly introduces you to the relationship between Hiroki and Elis as she has strong feeling towards him since he has always taken care of her and even taught her how to draw but Hiroki is on the thick-headed side and only looks at what’s on the surface not reading between the lines. With this the show will string you along for a while making you wonder if Elis will ever get through to him but at that point the show does throw you a curveball by bringing in a childhood friend Kiri whose previous feelings for Hiroki are still present. As you may think this would cause some greater conflict… it really doesn’t making Hiroki’s dense personality the real troublemaker.
Canvas 2 does have a good amount of character depth but the downside is that once you discover something in the past or what skeletons lurk in someones closet it comes across as a very poor excuse to try and explain anything. As a romance, this is a great series even though it suffers from trying to tie up loose ends and realization of inner emotions all within the last episode but it still presents the viewer with a great ending after the credits have rolled. So if you’re hoping for some great love conflict full of heavy drama, this isn’t it… it’s more of a show that has you watching each character deal with their own inner emotions with a little help from close friends.
Canvas 2 presents you with some decent animation and a somewhat interesting plot, I do recommend watching it at least once… but it’s the type of show where after watching it, you’ll forget about it.
Canvas 2 (opening)
Canvas 2 (opening remix)
Recommendation: |Average|
