First of all I’d like to thank everyone who visits and enjoys Animeph and those who offer their help and support. We have grown and improved over time, so that thousands of people from all over the world check by every day. The “downside” to that growth however, is that our server provider blocked our site for several hours in the last few days due to using up too much traffic and performance. We will switch servers as soon as possible and I hope that this problem will be fixed within this week. I apologize for the inconveniences.
Edit 05/01/2012: The problem is fixed now and in addition all pages should load faster now. Thanks for the patience.
We at Animeph.com wish a happy new year to all otaku and fans of Japanese Culture out there. Lets hope that this new year will be filled with promising new titles and sequels like the last one was. You can check out the new shows for this January in my Winter 2012 Anime List and I’ll update with news for the Spring season soon, so keep checking by.
Yukiteru is a silent boy who doesn’t take part in any of his classmate’s activities and doesn’t have any friends at all. The only two things that bring him joy in life is writing banal notes about his surroundings into his cell phone diary and talking to his imaginary friend Deus Ex Machina. As it turns out Deus Ex Machina is in fact very real and Yukiteru is drawn into a secret survival game, where each contestant is given a cell phone diary that contains notes about the future, yet each according to different rules. Armed with his Future Diary Yukiteru has a hard time surviving the numerous attacks of the other contestants. To his Luck the contestant Yuno, who had a secret crush on him, uses her strength to protect him and defeat his enemies.
Mirai Nikki is based on a manga of the same name. The good animation quality and the absence of censored blood or violence make it into an adequate adaptation of an original story. Fans of thrilling mystery animes like Death Note, should also give this one a try. Rating: 9/10
Last week I visited Gamescom in Cologne (Köln), the biggest games convention in Germany with more than 250000 visitors this year. Luckily I was there on one of the less crowded days, yet you still had to wait for hours to test one of the most popular games like Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3 or the Starcraft II expansion. Just wanted to share this awesome Final Fantasy 13 cosplay of Lightning and Fang with you guys. Enjoy.
Jin-tan lives the life of a hikikomori, dropping out of high school and hardly ever leaving his house. Yet, when he was younger he was quite the lively and outgoing boy. That was untill the day Menma died right after he had a argument with her caused by his childish shyness. Today he has lost touch with his friends and pretty much everyone else besides Menma, who is still constantly with him as what he believes to be an imaginary product of his guilty conscience. However, there seems to be something more to his Menma. Maybe, if he reunites with his old friends and finds out about her last wish, they can help Menma move on and free themselves from this guilty weight they are still carrying with them.
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai is the story about how a single tragic death can change the life of children forever. While everyone took a different path in life, they all still remember Menma and have their own guilty secrets and ways to live with them. As the story unfolds, we find out more about Menma and everyone of the old clique. While this show with its slightly above average animation quality and touching music is pretty entertaining to watch, I believe the real worth of this series will be decided by the quality of its finale. Rating: 8,5/10
Since Makoto-kun’s parents are away on a business trip, he moves in with his aunt to a new home and a new school. There he meets his cousin Erio, who to his astonishment lives her life with her upper body wrapped tight into a futon mattress. From his aunt and his new friends at school he finds out Erio has been missing for half a year and has no memories of what happened during that time. After that incident she started behaving weirdly and now believes herself to be an alien visitor. Makoto takes it upon himself to help her regain her senses and ensure her way back into society.
The Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko anime is based on a light novel series. To me it seems this anime’s main appeal comes from Erio’s cute helplessness and moe behaviour. Yet I find it hard to categorize it: On the one hand Makoto’s quest to reveal Erio’s past and help her out of her misery introduces serious and dramatic elements to the show; on the other hand his interaction with the numerous female characters is quite similar to usual lighthearted harem/comedy shows. But as all characters are amazingly appealing and the animation quality is above average and very detailed, I can tell this anime will be very successful within the community (and it deserves to be). Rating: 9/10
On March 11th a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in the pacific ocean with the epicenter east of Sendai which is northeast of Tokyo. It was the most massive earthquake recorded in Japanese history and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks. Only 15 minutes later a 10 meters high tsunami wave hit the coast and left nothing but ruins in its wake. Residents near the Fukushima I and II Nuclear Power Plants were evacuated in a 10 and 20-kilometer radius as a precaution of possible contamination.
Our hearts and hopes are with all the families impacted by this huge catastrophe.
Review: The story takes place in a world that is under threat of invasion from giant nova creatures. The only ones who are able to fight them are genetically enhanced girls called Pandoras. When Aoi Kazuya enrolls to an academy where young Pandoras are trained and educated, he instantly develops an affection for Satellizer el Bridget; the strongest but also coldest of all Pandoras in her year. Genetically enhanced boys may also visit this academy to be chosen by Pandoras as their Limiter and assist them during fights with their freezing ability. The distant and seemingly cold hearted Satellizer however doesn’t seem to have any intention of teaming up with anybody.
Freezing is based on a popular manga of the same name. Similar to Sekirei this anime has lots of action and fanservice in decent animation quality. Yet, there is also a solid story that develops slowly, while in the beginning the focus lays within the development of relationships. Let’s hope there will be more than 12 episodes so that the story will actually be going somewhere. Rating: 8/10
