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
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
Review: When Ryuuji was a child he saw a girl hatch from a giant egg in the mountains, but told himself that it must have been a dream. 10 years later he meets her again as he saves her from black market dealers. From that day on she becomes attached to him and follows him around everywhere. Later he finds out that she is a young dragon that has supernatural powers. However, there are other dragons as well, who try to take her away from him.
Dragon Crisis is based on a Japanese light novel series of the same name. It’s the story of a boy deserted by his own parents and now forced to act a parent for a dragon girl who can’t even talk yet. The story takes place in contemporary Japan, but with the existence of magic and supernatural powers. Ryuuji seems to be a very skillful user of a certain ability that isn’t further explained at this point. The animation quality and special effects are very well done, especially during fights. All in all it is a pretty good fantasy novel adaptation that doesn’t fall short behind similar adaptations like Shakugan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima. Rating: 8,5/10
Review: Minato is very disappointed to have failed the college entrance exams twice, but his failure life style is about to change as he meets Musubi, a mysterious girl who is suddenly attacked by two other girls using weird lightning powers. Minato decides to help her and finds out that she is a sekirei and part of the sekirei plan, an unknown operation planned out by the MBI Corporation which controls this whole city. There are 108 sekireis and Minato seems to possess the Ashikabi gene to become a master of sekireis and awaken their powers to the fullest. Musubi now is his first sekirei, but being a peaceful guy he cannot understand why sekireis have to fight each other. What will he do?
Sekirei is a harem fanservice comedy action spectacle with a plot that isn’t too shabby for this kind of genre. Being a big fan of the Sekirei manga I had my doubts whether this anime will live up to my expectations. But unlike many other recent manga adaptations, this time they did a pretty decent job. Animation and script are of a quality adequate for telling the sekirei story. However, those who read the manga will certainly find a few things that are missing or are not presented adequately, to say the least. Rating: 8/10
Review: The Shinrabanshou is a hidden technique to take control of all things in nature. The most powerful of all hijutsu; he who controls it will rule Nabari, the secret world of the ninja. It moves timelessly throughout the world from one host to the next at its own choosing. This generation, it lives inside of a 14 years old boy named Miharu Rokujo. His shallow life is now in danger as those who seek to obtain the Shinrabanshou must kill him to get it. It’s not a completely hopeless existence however, as he is accompanied by friends who help to guide and protect him… as good as they can.
Your fairly generic storyline: boy wakes up one day with an ultimate power and must decide to save the world or destroy it. Maybe it’s not quite that tragic. There does seem to be an intricate plot that develops with every new episode, and the action sequences are pretty good. The content is closer to Ninja Scroll than Naruto with plenty of blood and total lack of high school romances. A cool thing about this series is that it takes place in modern day Japan. All of the Ninjas actually have real lives and jobs, while struggling to maintain their traditional obligations. Rating: 9/10
Review: Duke Togou is the most dangerous man in the world. An accomplished killer for hire that’s known as Golgo 13. Once he takes a job, he finishes it. This series catalogues some of Golgo 13′s greatest ‘hits’ and is set sometime after the Queen Bee OVA. The plot for the most part is non consecutive with a different mission for every episode. The longest running adult Manga in Japan is gritty and action -intensive. This series promises to be the same as the episodes seem plucked almost straight from the pages of the original. They are even done in the same dull, low detail, animation as the movies which adds to this Charles Bronson-esque feel of the hard-lined 1970′s. It has sex, and death, some more sex, followed by even more death. Rating: 6/10
Review: Maka Albarn and her weapon Soul, are students at Shibusen – a Shinigami Weapon Meister University. The purpose of Shibusen is to train Meisters and Weapons to protect humankind against the Kinshin, demon gods of destruction. When humans go down the wrong path and pursue evil, their souls become possessed by the egg of Kishin. In order to prevent their coming, Maka and Soul hunt these tainted beings. Their goal is to defeat and eat the souls of ninety-nine evil human souls and one witch’s soul in order to evolve into a master weapon fit for a Shinigami. A path that’s not as easy as it sounds.
This supernatural series has fantastic action sequences and unique characters. The storyline is just as twisted as the artwork. If you’re looking for something dark, new, and exciting, this is for you. Rating: 7,5/10
Review: This is the continuation of the popular Gunslinger Girl series. Gunslinger Girl is about a certain secret Italian agency that fights terrorism. This agency searches for young girls who are hopelessly close to death, and then through newest medical technology save them, erase their memories, enhance their muscles and condition them to be loyal and affectionate toward the agent handler they are given to. Those girls are trained to become perfect fighting cyborgs for assassinations of terrorists and still look like innocent little girls as the perfect cover-up. As all those girls used to be near death patients their seemingly forgotten past sometimes slips through as it is connected to the handler’s past that isn’t any less sad and complicated. In a perfect way this show portrays how some agents have a hard time seeing those girls, who struggle for praise and acceptance, as objects and how others don’t.
Perfectly performed and animated fights and movements, same as deep political and moral problems that are introduced, make Gunslinger Girl into an outstanding action drama that has Sci-Fi elements and yet seems so real. Sadly the animation quality of this anime is not quite as good and detailed as in the first season, but that is only a small drawback. Rating: 9/10
