Synopsis:
A thousand years ago the God of Destruction, Enka, said that it’s child would destroy the world. To prevent this the Great Japanese Empire Paranormal Phenomena Bureau of Measures assigns one man, Ouka Midarezaki, to protecting the Earth from this threat. However Continue reading »
Synopsis:
Cromartie High School, well… uh… hm. Y’know, I’m kind of stumped here. How do you write a synopsis for an anime about nothing? I guess it goes a little something like this, Takashi Kamiyama has just enrolled himself into the famous school of delinquents, Cromartie High School. Instead of taking the high road and proving himself better than anyone at school, he attempts to better the student body through a series of stupid questions and idiotic situations that actually make the ruffians think before acting.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 26 (each clocking in at roughly about 10 minutes)
Review:
It’s crazy, it’s random, and it’s pretty damn funny, it’s Cromartie High School. An anime that manages to present it’s own style while being as stupid as it wants to be and it pulls this off quite well. Each episode usually contains 2 small skit episodes which usually consist of nothing more than a bunch of close ups of peoples faces saying something random that you would not expect from a delinquent. Thinking about things like car sickness, how to become a famous comedian, and who gets to use the bathroom next, you’ll either be laughing or sighing at this shows constant shallow humor. There are also the running visual gags like having a robot, a gorilla, and some guy that looks like Freddie Mercury during the later years, as fellow students that appear in almost every episode which I found to be freakin’ hilarious. Despite this anime’s ridiculous comedy routine, with each episode only being 10 minutes the Japanese dialog tends to come at you rather fast which is fine if you’re a seasoned subtitle reader but otherwise things might fly by too quickly to read. Well, (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this but…) flip it on over to the English dubbed track as it’s actually not bad and listening to a bunch of gruff sounding guys belting out “Americanized” punchlines helped the one-liners sink in alot easier because some of the anime, manga, and Japanese culture parodied references might fall on deaf ears if you’re not a veteran anime viewer.
Cromartie High School is a stupid show that will make you laugh at it’s lame-ass comedy one way or another and dammit, you gotta respect that. Not something I’d recommend to rush to see but if you got 10 minutes to spare then watch an episode, laugh, then move onto something else but don’t forget to come back because everyone needs a little brainless humor. But, if you don’t understand this anime’s take on humility, then please… go pick up your sense of humor you left at the door and leave.
Cromartie High School (opening)
Recommendation: |Average|
Media Type: DVD
From: ADV/Section23
Spoken Languages: Japanese;English
Subtitles: English
Synopsis:
Working hard his entire life to support his loser parents who haven’t worked a day in their life, Hayate Ayasaki still manages to go through life with a smile on his face. However, when Hayate is fired from his most recent job for being underage he discovers that his parents took his final paycheck and abandoned him. But they did leave Hayate with a parting gift, a debt of 156,804,000 yen to the Yakuza (about $1,507,295). Since Hayate doesn’t have a dime to his name he makes a break for it before Yakuza can collect and with Hayate’s lifetime of hard labor he seems to have developed inhuman strength and speed when needed. Down on his luck and out in the streets Hayate decides to turn to a life of crime and his first job he decided on is kidnapping when he sees a wealthy looking young girl, Nagi Sanzen’in, trying to operate a vending machine thinking that he would hold her for ransom and repay his debts with the money he gets or at least go to jail and have a roof over his head. Unfortunately Hayate is unable to be the ruthless criminal and fumbles over his words and tells Nagi that he wants “to take her away” and she mistakes this as a confession of love. Before Hayate can make a ransom request Nagi is then counter-kidnapped by the Yakuza and not about to let his meal-ticket get away Hayate ends up rescuing Nagi after a fight with the thugs… but afterwords Hayate is broken, beaten, bruised, and laying in the snow. Nagi says Hayate can have whatever he wants and before he passes out he asks for a job. The next day he wakes up in huge mansion and is told he is now Nagi’s new butler.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 52
Review:
Simply put, Hayate no Gotoku is 52 episodes about… nothing. And it’s a fun time from beginning to end as it doesn’t try to be complicated or pursue some long string of events. Hayate no Gotoku keeps everything on the simplistic level which makes it very easy to enjoy with anyone of any age and also does an excellent job of explaining it’s humor as it tends to parody a number of shows and other anime series. Each episode will either focus on something mundane in everyday life or dedicate the episode to rotating around one single person as there are quite a few but fleshes out each character very well in that you’ll know everything about everyone by the time the series is over. If you’re looking for a show that everyone will enjoy without being childish or overly complex then check out Hayate the Combat Butler, it truly is a blast to watch.
I gotta confess, this was one hell of a great time to watch despite it’s lengthy series of episodes as I found myself laughing my ass off on more than one occasion. I think it’s mainly because I really didn’t have to think to find it funny and the show doesn’t use slap-stick all that often to be comical. The only problem that some may have is that Hayate no Gotoku tends to parody alot of other anime and if you’re not familiar with alot of anime you may find yourself lost on some of the one-liners or visual mockery but it’s not enough to keep you from liking what you’re seeing. So yeah, this also gets one of my highest recommendations… give it a try if you want to enjoy something for what it is.
Hayate: The Combat Butler (opening)
Hayate: The Combat Butler (closing)
Recommendation: |Very High|
*Note – I have read that Hayate: The Combat Butler is currently being broadcast on select stations with a dubbed voice track. The DVDs however do not, not, NOT, contain an English dub track… subtitles only. So Bandai… THANK YOU!!! Usually an English dubbed track serves nothing more than to drive up the price, delay the release, and has about as much enthusiasm as listening to an automated phone answering service. Bandai did an excellent job with no typographical errors (so far), translating all onscreen text, and even translating the background conversations that coincide with the main dialog… I am VERY pleased with Bandai’s release. The only downside is that they didn’t use honorifics in the translation which has sort of become staple nowadays with anime subtitles but, not a big deal. So for those of you who are whining and bitching that there is no English dubbed track on the DVD release, please… do yourself a favor and go fall of a steep cliff into a bunch of jagged rocks and then we’ll call the Whaambulance to come pick you up and ship your sorry ass off to Weenie-Hut General. kthxbai.
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|
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