Kamen Rider Fourze (Tokusatsu)

At Amagawa High school, students of all walks of life come together to learn at a school where space exploration is the key subject. But the students are in danger - evil astro switches are being given out to the students that turns them into Zodiarts; monsters who emulate the constellations of the stars. But trying to help them is the secret Kamen Rider club, created by Kisaragi Gentarou, a transfer student who's dream is to become friends with everyone in his school. He fights as Kamen Rider Fourze, using the power of good astro switches to protect the students and return the zodiarts to normal.

(Tokusatsu - 48 episodes, finished)

There is a lot about Fourze which is pretty awesome, but that being said, this isn't one of the best series i've seen. To explain this i need to go into some of the mythology of Kamen Rider. All the Kamen Riders of the past have the power to fight against evil, but that power is often thrust upon them and comes with self harming side effects. For example the original riders were forced to become cyborgs, Kabuto is vilified by society and so on. But with Fourze there is no side effect, and depending on how you slice it, this will either be a good thing or stick out as a flaw in the story. And also because of Gentarou's attitude towards wanting to be friends, there is often too much touchy-feely emotion going on that can get in the way of the action.

But once you get past that, the rest of the series is extremely awesome. Fourze himself is an epic rider - he is space themed and his main power is have 40 different switches that can equip various weapons and abilites. This creates the widest range of combos imaginable from one rider. That being said though, often one switch will be used once and forgotten about, and after a while he only ends up using 4 or 5 switches repeatedly, which is a shame because that is a huge loss of awesomeness.

The rest of the series is fairly good. The characters are as big a range as you can imagine, and all of them are extremely loveable (although some can be more annoying than others). The story is good but can come off a little face paced. There is a good level of mystery to some of mini stories, but this is eclipsed by some great dialogue and humorous moments. The editing and narrative are all great, but again can come off a little quick.

All in All, Kamen Rider Fourze may not be the best of the Kamen Rider series, but he certainly is one of the best. I like to think he is number 4 on the top 5.

AKB0048 (Anime)

In the future, the universal government has discovered the power of music and songs have over people emotions. An organisation called DES exists and entire planets have been put under an entertainment ban. 48 years ago, the pop idol group AKB0048 began to fight against this plan, and to this day, through inheriting titles and roles, the group still exists to bring music to the galaxy. A new group of understudies joins the girl group, and the series follows them and their adventures as they train and learn to become full time members.

(Anime: 1 Season, second in the works, 13 episodes, finished)

Honestly from the description you would expect this series to have much more impact that it did, but apart from good song and dance animations, there wasn't much exciting about the series. Before going into that, I should explain that this anime is based on the real life girl idol group AKB48. The characters voices are done by members of that group, and the songs are the same ones they sing. This is a fun fact to know, but unless you are a current fan of AKB48, this anime may loose its impact somewhat (but if you are, be aware that you are the otaku's who give us a bad name.)

As for the anime, as I said the songs are pretty good and the animations for the dance and performance routines are pretty good. But apart from that there isn't a lot about this anime that stands out. The characters are good, but look and feel very generic. The story is a good idea, a fun concept, but its lacking: perhaps its because of the shortness of the series, or the lack of an overriding goal or ambition (such as an evil boss to fight) but the pace doesn't feel good enough. Even the space/robot battles aren't good; too short and simple.

The result is that AKB0048 is a good anime, fun to watch and all that, but because of several lacking qualities and flaws, it doesn't stand out as being very memorable. The real entertainment comes from the music, and this will most likely appeal more to AKB48 fans than anyone else.

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan (Anime)

On the island kingdom of Windaria, Rick lives and works as a baker. He has no memory of his time before being washed ashore onto Windaria, but he lives every day full of happiness with the three girls who help out to deliver and bake bread; Neris, Amil and Airy. But soon strange events begin to occur on and around the island and its inhabitants, and Rick's everyday life is soon through into dangerous peril.

(Anime: 1 season, 12 Episodes, Finished)

Based on a game by Sega from the Shining series, the anime isn't too bad, but it's not great. There is definite room for improvement in a lot of areas, but one good thing about the series is that it is a fantastic fantasy story, filled with all sorts of swords and sorcery and mystical qualities that all add up to creating a great fantasy world and story. The art work is very interesting because it isn't quite traditional, and brings something unique that one can't quite put their finger on. The characters are varied widely, whether it is swordsmen, cat people, pirates, the island of Windaria has them all. But this is the point where the series starts to go down, because it isn't really possible to get behind these characters. They aren't bad overall, there just doesn't seem to be any depth or emotion put behind them so they come off a bit plastic. From the description one would assume there might be some romance between Rick and the girls, but no go, just very good friends. Then there is the story: even though events start to happen from the first episode, the whole story becomes very sluggish and long winded. All the strange events that take place tend to happen towards the end and don't stand out as being overly memorable, and the rest of the episodes are devoted to long shots of smiling people, or long deep speeches about pasts and...something, they are very long winded. The result is that Shiawase no Pan is a good anime for anyone who likes fantasy series and a very gentle story. Otherwise this will come off very boring.

Rating - 

5/10

Recorder to Randoseru (Anime)

Atsushi is an average five year old grade schooler with friends, and the body of a fully grown adult. Because of this he is always getting in to trouble and misunderstandings. Atsumi is his older sister who is a second year in high school, with the body of a five year old girl. She is very grown up but often is not taken seriously enough because of her size. The two siblings try to live ordinary lives whilst dealing with an endless stream of mishaps and problems.

(Anime: 1 Season, 26 episodes, finished)

So from the description you can guess that this is a gag anime, and a very good one at that. No idea what the title is referring to, as the recorder only comes up once, but the whole series is very enjoyable. Each episode is only 2 to 3 minutes long and focusses on one particular event/story. This is a good thing because it means one isn't bombarded with 30 minutes of endless gags, and get to enjoy each tiny story as it happens.

The artistry and editing are all terrific. The concept of the story is a little far fetched but that doesn't matter, just sit back and go with it. And the story tends to focus more on Atsushi's stories rather than him and Atsumi, so depending on how much you like the character one will have to deal with that. Speaking of the characters, they are adorable, and everyone of them is extremely fun to watch as they interact around the major punchline of Atsumi and Atsushi's lives. The humour is pretty good, although it tends to focus back on the main joke (being that Atsushi is always getting arrested as a pedophile). Recorder to Randoseru is a great anime for people who just want a couple of good laughs, and a good time filling series.

Rating - 

8/10

Mouretsu Pirates (Anime)

In the distant future where people sail through space, piracy is not a crime, its a job. Letters of marque are given to pirate captains and their descendants to license legal pirating activities for show. One high school girl and member of the yacht club, Kato Marika, is such a descendant, inheriting one of the most famous pirate ships from a father she never knew. Now she has to adapt to her new way of life whilst trying to maintain a high school girl's life as well.

(Anime: 1 Season, 26 episodes, Finished)

From a title that translates into Bodacious Pirates, One would expect a lot more than the series delivered. The story isn't a bad idea and it makes for a very interesting sc-fi series, what with great art work, dynamic special effects, and a few flashes of comedy and action thrown in. But that's it really; the series is only 'interesting'. It doesn't stand out in any category and comes across as being very sluggish. The story isn't bad, but it seems to get wrapped up in the whole science fiction aspect and spends too long going "look, we think this is how people will pirate in space". The plot is devided into several arcs but none of them really wow you, and mostly have nothing to do with one another, just one story after the next. The characters a mediocre, and a lot of the time very annoying: they seem to be able to do anything without hassle and spend most of the time being giggling girls (The cast is 80% female, and no there is no fan-service). The whole thing feels like it was building up to a climactic conclusion, but after the first two or three episodes you soon discover the whole anime runs at the same tone and pace. Good, not great, an entertaining sci fi and a VERY laid back series, sums up Mouretsu Pirates nicely.

Rating - 

5/10

High School of the Dead (Anime)

One day, Zombies break out all over Japan and the rest of the world, causing chaos and deaths everywhere. A high school is one of the first major break out points and one boy, Takashi, survives the first out break with a group of friends, a teacher and a young girl and dog are now stuck in the middle of a zombie (known as 'Them') filled city. Now they have to get through it to find their missing families and get out before they all die, or worse.

(Anime: 1 Season, 12 episodes, Finished. Manga: 7 volumes, stopped)

To review High School of the Dead (HSOTD), I have to try to be fair, but to sum up the series, it yo-yo's from an epic horror action story to a bad porno. Dealing with the latter first, there is an inordinate amount of fan service and echi moments (trying to sum it up, the people who survive are Takashi, his childhood crush, a senior in his school, a classmate who likes him and a teacher with huge boobs....it doesn't have to try hard to become porn). Personally I don't mind saying the occasional touch of fan service is ok, but this goes over the line A LOT.

Once you get past that though, this is a thrilling and terrifying series, with a good deal going for it. It even a good deal of subtly message undertones, an takes a good look at how people hold up under this sort of event and how society and people try to stay sane through it all (it doesn't go well for most of them). This is something which isn't really looked at by most horror/zombie films and it really helps to expand the genre a bit. Also there is constant referencing to old RPG games with the ideas of objectives and character classes, which again is interesting to note. It doesn't do much for the story but it is fun to keep an eye out for.

The rest of HSOTD isn't too bad either. The story is pretty good when you consider the above points, but it does go to some dark places so be prepared for that (although to be honest most of the hard core stuff is dealt with in episode 1), and also the manga stopped running without having a decent conclusion, which is frankly annoying. All the characters (in spite of the harem quality to them) are fun to watch, non more so than the military trained, trigger happy, eccentric lunatic Hirano who is probably the best character of the bunch. The fights and action scenes are fantastic, mixing traditional zombie survivalism with some down right bad-ass-ness. In the end, once you get past the porn aspects and the lack of a decent conclusion, HSOTD, becomes is the ideal companion for any fan of horror movies and a great watch for most anime fans.

Rating - 

8/10

Natsuiro Kiseki (anime)

Four high school girls are close friends in their local town; Natsumi, Saki, Yuka and Rin. They used to spend all day together, but then Saki says that she has to move away. After fights and squabbles the girls decide to spend the rest of summer making enjoyable memories, aided by a magic rock that, when the four make the same wish, uses magic to make that wish come true.

(Anime: 1 Season, 12 episodes, Finished)

Tremendous fun and a hell of a good ride to watch, loveable from the word go. This series has everything, a touchingly sweet story line, gorgeous art work and lots of adventure and highjinks. Probably the one big flaw is that the story often feels like it is suggesting the characters are more than just good friends, and that is a shame because it spoils an otherwise perfect plot. No one in the series ever openly says anything like that of course, but the idea is just subtly planted there to bother people. And sometimes this is emphasised by moments of unnecessary fan service that feels very out of place. But apart from that the characters are thoroughly enjoyable, giving four different character points that touch the hearts of any anime fan. Then there is the magic side of things: at first glance this sounds like a kiddy theme but it really isn't. It is a fun device that ties everything together and wouldn't make the series great with out it. And it creates all kinds of mischief that will have you side split with laughter or smiling warmly with emotion. So if you ignore the unfortunate double entendre, Natsuiro Kiseki, becomes a must watch.

Rating - 

9/10