Anime Series of the Genre: “Shounen”

Sekirei – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

Nabari no Ou – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

Golgo 13 – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

Soul Eater – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

Kure-nai – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


Review: Kurenai is a laid back high school student living alone in a run-down apartment. He works as a mediator, which is some kind of private agent helping and protecting clients. It’s not uncommon for him to get into serious fights during his work even though he does his best to avoid them. In those fights he sometimes uses a mysterious power he isn’t fully able to control yet.
His newest assignment however will make his crazy life even crazier. He is to live with and protect a 7 years old abducted girl from a prestigious but cruel family. Will Kurenai be able to deal with her selfish and uncommon behavior?

Kurenai is based on a novel and takes a quite different approach to the story than the existing manga. It starts of as an interesting action drama with school comedy tendencies, but quickly loses its excitement as it turns more and more into a family education show only focusing on the moods of the little girl and his weird neighbors. As the manga still seems to be quite interesting I will try not to give up on this show too quickly.
Rating: 7/10

Kanokon – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

ToLoveRu Trouble – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


Review: Yuuki Rito is what you would call the usual clumsy high school boy, and he never seems to success in confessing his love to the girl of his dreams, Haruna. Suddenly, out of nowhere a naked girl called Lala appears in his room and claims to be a princess from another planet. She is on the run from her father and all the husband candidates he arranged for her. Seeing a girl in trouble Yuuki can’t turn his back on her and helps her escape from the agents who followed her. In the process Lala falls in love with Yuuki and decides to marry him. Actually without knowing, due to a weird tradition, Yuuki was the one who proposed marriage and now with all the pressure how will he be able to turn her down? And what about his crush on Haruna?

ToLoveRu is a romantic comedy about Yuuki and his intergalactic problems. This show basically lives from its hilarious situations and its fanservice. As the manga it’s based on is pretty long and popular this show has plenty of story to work with. It’s not exactly the newest artistic and original masterpiece, but if you like harem comedy shows with lots of fanservice, this show is what you’re looking for.
Rating: 8/10

Ookami to Koushinryou: Spice and Wolf – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


Review: Spice and Wolf plays in a distant past and tells the story of Lawrence, who is a knowledgeable traveling merchant. One night he finds a beautiful naked girl with wolf ears and tail inside his wagon. Her name is Horo and she is a wolf god in human form and used to help the local peasants with their wheat. She decided she wants to leave the town and travel the world with Lawrence. In her own way she helps him to gain profit, while they always have to be careful not to let anyone see that she is a wolf girl.
Spice and Wolf offers an interesting view on the life of a merchant along with a nice developing story.
Rating: 8,5/10