Animeph

Review: Yuuto is your usual high-schooler except for the fact he seems to be the private maid for his sister and teacher who seem to do nothing but drink and cause trouble. He would have lost all faith in woman if it wasn’t for Haruka, a model student who is rich, pretty, good at studying, sport, piano and everything she does. By coincidence he finds out she actually is an anime otaku. Now she is afraid that her happy student life will crumble if rumors were to be spread, but surprisingly Yuuto isn’t bothered by it and promises to not tell anyone. This was the day they started to spend more and more time together.

I was pretty hyped when I heard there will be a “guy meets perfect girl with secret anime fetish” anime, but after watching it I have to say this show didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The animation quality is fine and the settings seem interesting, but they pick up too many clichés we’ve seen 1000 times in other anime and manga stories. Further more in this show being an anime fan is presented as something that will make people look at you with more disgust than being a rapist; not quite, but it gets too dramatized. If you don’t expect too much, it’s your usual love comedy and enjoyable to watch, but don’t expect any new groundbreaking concepts, plot constructions or character designs.
Rating: 7/10

Review: Years ago on a stormy night, when Yuki still was a little girl, she was attacked by a vampire. However, she was saved by Kaname, who is a rare pureblood noble vampire. She doesn’t have any memories of her life before that fateful day and was adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy. She now attends this school as a day-class student. This school also has a night-class which consists only of beautiful and talented students. Only Yuki, her adopted brother Zero and the headmaster know that everyone in the night-class actually are vampires, trying to conform to human society. Kaname also attends this class and as a pureblood he tries to keep everyone civilized. However, even he seems to have certain secrets. And what are the secrets behind Yuki’s and Zero’s pasts?

Vampire Knight is based on a popular manga with astonishing artwork. The anime show’s animation quality doesn’t quite live up to that, but at least it by far isn’t as much of a let-down as Special A. It’s a shoujo story about the love triangle between Yuki, Zero and Kaname, which gets more complicated by the fact that they are both vampires. But even plot-wise this show doesn’t fall short with all its mysteries and tragedies that unfold along the way. Even those who do not like shoujo anime should give this show a try.
Rating: 8,5/10

Review: Kouta Oyamada is a short and shy high-school junior. On his first day a beautiful second-year girl called Chizuru asks him to meet her alone in the music room after school. There she confesses her love and without wasting any time tries to seduce him. Poor Kouta doesn’t think this is appropriate for high-schoolers, but they are interrupted as he finds out that Chizuru actually is a fox spirit. As Kouta isn’t as shocked as she expected him to be, she falls for him even more. Now she is trying to get intimate with him on the way to school, at school, at his home and simply everywhere she can think of. Kouta can hardly hold her off and now that yet another spirit girl has taken a liking to him, his classmates can’t fail to misunderstand and think of him as a womanizer. How will this go on?

Kanokon is yet another romantic comedy with lots of fanservice and fine animation quality pretty much like ToLoveRu. It’s not very original but still pretty funny and entertaining for those who don’t hate excessive fanservice.
Rating: 8/10

Review: After his mother died Hirose Takuma moved away with his father to live in a small rural town. For an unknown reason at some point of his childhood he lost his eye sight. That’s why the classmates of his new school help him out a lot. On the other hand there’s Kohinata, an outsider girl, who is bullied and beaten by her classmates and lives alone outside of this town. Hirose cannot understand this unreasonable behavior of those people who treat him so kindly and he wants to help her. Unfortunately as an outsider he doesn’t understand this towns past and the relationships between those people. Suddenly on his second day living in this town his eye sight returns and he can see again. Will he be able to help Kohinata and uncover this town’s history and secrets?
Rating: 5/10

Review: Shinichiro is a young highschooler who lives in a big house and even employs a few servants. For a yet unknown reason they have adopted Hiromi into the family. Shinichiro was already friends with her before that and his classmates tease him saying they should make out with each other, but there really isn’t anything going on between those two and for some reason their relationship became rather distant after the adoption. At school by chance Shinichiro gets involved with the cute, energetic but also mysterious girl called Noe. His classmates become interested in their relationship, and so is Hiromi.

I know many already have had enough of this flood of dating-sim adaptations that we saw for the past years, but True Tears is yet another example for the recent trend of more and more outstanding decent quality shows from this harem genre. The animation is not only flawless, but the cars, school buildings, school grounds and simply everything is designed so realistic that you could actually think you are looking at an animated version of a real contemporary small Japanese town. The character personalities and reactions are just as believable as the animation, but still manage to be original and interesting. Even the few anime clichés that are picked up are presented in a credible way. So far I have high hopes that this story will be interesting.
Rating: 8,5/10

Review: Tomoya is a rather laid back high school student, rarely attending classes, having very few friends and no particular interest in anything. After his mother died his father lost his job and became an alcoholic. In fight with him his right arm got injured so bad that he can’t play basketball anymore even today. Even though his father feels guilty for it Tomoya still hasn’t forgiven him. By chance he meets Furukawa on his way to school and somehow gets involved with her more and more. Furukawa is a clumsy girl who missed a year of high school because of sickness and now all her friends have graduated. Both having not many friends they start seeing and helping each other very often. Will she be able to make him walk into a better future instead of sulking over the past?

Clannad is yet another masterpiece by KyoAni who brought us shows like Air; Kannon2006, Suzumiya Haruhu and Lucky Star. When KyoAni is working on a project, great animation quality and plot are guaranteed so I doubt there is a possibility for this show to flop. The main character is designed perfectly credible and realistic as always and the plot has great potential for development and drama, while never missing out on the comedy part.
Rating: 9,5/10

Review: So here is seemingly yet another anime adaptation of an anime-game that is famous for its extraordinarily amazing artwork and story. Hirono Hiro is an active mangaka and therefore quite busy and often skips school. On Christmas Eve he bums into a mysterious girl from his school, who he didn’t know until now as she is also often skipping classes. It seems from today on their ways will cross each other more regularly. On the other hand there is Renji who happened to meet a girl called Chihiro at a deserted rail road. They are both interested in literature and it didn’t take them long to get interested in each other as well. But there is something that Renji finds odd about that girl and it isn’t only the fact that she is not attending any school for some reason. What Renji does not know is that she has a mental illness that makes her constantly forget anything that happened before the last 13 hours. Still she is trying her best to stay friends with him and not be a burden to the people around her.

As this amazing story continues we will get to know more characters, their problems and how they are all connected with each other. Ef is a more drama and story oriented anime, unlike all those other harem/comedy anime game adaptations that flood the market each season for the last 5 years. The unique animation and camera-movements, same as the serious themes and topics that each of the characters are dealing with in their own ways, is what makes this show different and probably the best series this season even while competing against KyoAni’s Clannad and all those second seasons of well established anime that are airing currently.
Rating: 9,5/10

Review: Kouichi’s parents are currently living overseas so he has to manage to live on his own together with his little sister. When suddenly the doorbell rings, it is not his parents but his childhood friend Mao returning from overseas while Kouichi’s parents agreed for her to stay at their home. To Kouichi’s surprise Moa isn’t the study obsessed nerd she used to be anymore, but rather grew up to be quite the energetic beauty. Now he seems torn between the growing feeling he starts to have for her and the feeling he has for his long-shot high school crush.

Kimikiss is a lighthearted high school romance/comedy show dealing with multiple people, their problematic relationships and puberty. To this point it seems quite different to the KimiKiss manga, while I’m not able to compare it to the dating-sim game it is based on. If you are not already into this kind of thing, this anime probably won’t change your mind.
Rating: 6,5/10