Animeph

Review: Shinichi is the top piano student at his university and is popular among the other students. His goal however is to become a famous conductor. For this goal he’d be better off studying in Europe, which is impossible for him because of his deeply rooted fears about travelling. After being constantly annoyed by his teachers and dumped by his girlfriend he meets Nodame. Nodame is an easy going girl who just happens to have been living next door all the time. She has the talent to play songs on her piano after just listening to them once. As Shinichi discovers her messy apartment and lifestyle he finds himself taking care of her again and again. Watch them grow as people and musicians.

The awarded manga this anime is based on also had a very successful TV drama adaptation. Being animated by the same company who was responsible for Honey&Clover there can be found many similarities in comedy and characters. You don’t have to be interested in classical music to get into this show. It’s a story of life, love, comedy and dreams.
Rating: 8,5/10

Review: Light Yagami is an outstanding student and genius. His father is a high ranked police man and Yagami often helps him solve difficult cases, but still he is bored all the time. One day he finds the Death Note a shinigami (Death God) has dropped by accident. He can kill people by knowing their face and writing their real names into the Death Note. Just few days later lots of criminals in Japan and all over the world die from heart attacks. Yagami intends to make this world a better place by killing hardcore criminals and making people afraid of committing crimes this way. Soon it becomes obvious that all those mysterious deaths can not come by coincidence and there must be someone behind it. Society is split between those who support Yagami’s idea and those who think he is a sick murderer. The police of course have to find and stop him, but many officers are afraid of getting killed if they investigate Kira (Yagami’s new nickname). They hire a world-known detective who is known as “L” to catch Kira. Will Yagami be able to find out L’s real name to kill him before L finds out that Yagami is Kira?

Death Note is an unique story revolving around 2 unique and very intelligent characters with lots of unexpected and interesting plot twists. It is based on a manga bestseller that even has a successful live-action movie adaptation. While the manga already is a masterpiece, I could not find many scenes where the anime lacks behind the manga, so you can have equally high expectations of the anime.
Rating: 10/10

Review: This series continues in the same style and quality where the very popular first season of Honey and Clover (15.04.2005 till 27.09.2005) left off. It is a funny yet serious and authentic view on the life story of some friends who try to graduate from an Art College. It is the story of complicated relationships, unrequited loves, new careers and the search for their own goals, dreams, personalities and things that are important to them. Only few anime have such deep and authentic story-telling to make an anime outstandingly good even without complicated fantasy plots or giant robots saving the world, which is why I count Honey and Clover to my top10 anime. Even the background music, made by the popular J-Pop band “Spitz”, perfectly supports the tragic and happy themes and rounds up a master piece that way.
Rating: 10/10