Animeph

Review: Uma, the witch, Pachira, the vampire, Liru, the werewolf, and Aiko, the android are 4 princesses who live together in a small house on a tree in the human world. There is not very much of explanations about their situation or any evolving story. This anime is just about the funny daily life of the four girls who just don’t seem to fit in the human world and society. The comedy is very much based on the funny and extraordinary personalities of the characters. All in all it’s an enjoyable comedy anime for otakus, but probably not that appealing for fans who only want deep stories or lots of action.
Rating: 7/10

Review: This small OVA series portrays the awfully funny daily life of fifth graders. Watch how Satou-kun gets himself into all kind of weird and sexual easy-to-be-misunderstood situations. The characters and settings might not be very original, but the comedy and gags are totally awesome. It is not surprising the manga it is based on reached cult status in Japan, even though it only consists of 1 volume.
Rating: 9,5/10

Review: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is based on a popular amateur-made mystery computer game of the same name.
Keiichi just recently moved to the small rural village Hinamizawa and already made some good friends in the small school he started to attend. But the peaceful days gets interrupted when suddenly a murder case happens during a local festival. As Keiichi gets involved in the investigation he learns more and more about the mysteries of this murder. There were a project of building a dam 5 years ago, which would unfortunately flood this town. Of course the locals were against leaving their homes and it was a heated situation. One day, somehow the project was dropped and since then always on the day of the festival a person went missing and a person died. The victims always are somehow connected to the dam-project. Nobody of his friends told Keiichi about this, but everyone knew. The locals are convinced it is a curse and as Keiichi tries to find out the truth, he gets more involved in the mysteries of this case than he’d like.

This is a different type of mystery anime. This anime’s episodes are divided into different arcs. All of these arcs start the same way with the same characters, but focus on different aspects and have different outcomes. It is like different small stories based on the same settings. With each arc come new questions and mysteries, but also new answers. Will we be able to see the truth of this puzzle after watching all the arcs?
Rating: 8/10

Review: Simoun takes place in a fantasy world, where all children are born as girls. When they become 15 they can go to the “spring” and decide to become adult woman or man. The main-characters live in a country of advanced technology. Simoun, special airplanes that can only be operated by girls, are flown by priestess girls to honour the gods. However, this country is in war with a much lower advanced country, who intend to steal their engine technology, because their current engines poison their air. Now the priestesses are using the simoun as war machines and some decided they won’t go to the “spring” until the war is over.
Rating: 8/10

Review: Utawarerumono takes place in a fantasy world, which is inhabited by many different human-like races. When the main-character was found in the woods, he was heavily wounded and was wearing a mask he cannot take off. An old woman who is the head of the village and a skilled medicine woman takes him in and takes care of him together with her 2 daughters. When he wakes up he has no recollection of who he is and why he was wounded. He starts to associate with the locals and helps a lot, but gets angry when he sees the villagers being ripped off by the high taxes of the king. After proving himself as a capable leader in various situations the villagers want him to take the place of the former head of the village who has just died, even though he looks different from everyone else who have animal ears and tails. He accepts and it is decided that the village is going to defend themselves against the king’s outrageous taxes, even with force. But is this peaceful village able to stand against the king’s army?
Rating: 9/10

Review: Suzumiya Haruhi is a different kind of school comedy story. While it seems like a normal show taking place in a normal modern world with funny, crazy and original characters at first, they have yet to find out they are actually living in a crazy reality with aliens, ghosts and time travellers.
Kyon can confidently say he never ever believed in Santa Claus and the likes. However, it took him some more time to realize aliens, ghosts, monster and evil organisations from movies and fictions do not exist neither; or rather he realized it all along but did not want to admit it because living in such a fantasy world would be much more fun. Kyon is about to enter high school now and has accepted his normal down-to-earth life. On the first day of high school when everyone is introducing themselves, the whole class cannot believe their eyes when Suzumiya Haruhi stands up and exclaims: “I am Suzumiya Haruhi. I have no interest in normal humans. In case there are any aliens, vespers, ghosts or time travellers, come and join me”. Some might think she is joking, but Haruhi is always dead serious. She does not speak with anyone much, but somehow she started to open up to Kyon. In her egocentric and persistent way she creates a club called SOS Brigade and “collects” some club members. Follow this show and see how Kyon seems to be the only normal human in this club and how he always has to stop Haruhi from executing all sorts of weird ideas, while he himself is thrown into all kind of weird situations.

The show is perfectly presented in a balanced mix of Kyon’s thoughts, narration, and speech. It’s the most successful comedy show of 2006.
Rating: 10/10

Review: Ouran Academy is a big and fancy high school that only rich people attend, except Haruhi who is a common girl who won a scholarship. She does not care much about fashion and is often mistaken for a boy because of that. When accidentally visiting the clubroom of the Ouran Host Club, she breaks an 8 million yen vase. Now she is forced to join the club in order to repay her debts. The Host Club makes money by getting female visitors, keeping them company and entertaining them with their boyish charm. After styling Haruhi, the members realize that she look somewhat extraordinarily cute and soon they realize that she actually is a girl. Still she has to dress up as a boy and entertain the female guests in order to repay her debts.

Ouran High School Host Club is a funny and entertaining anime that deals with the daily life of Huruhi and her super funny Host Club members. See how rich people get all excited about things that are normal to commoners like for example instant coffee.
Rating: 8,5/10

Review: Aoi Nagisa is the new transfer student of St. Miatre, one of three all-girl academies on Astraea Hill. She finds herself lost on the first day and runs into Hanazono Shizuma, a beautiful and highly respected senpai among the students. Shizuma kindly offers her help, while Nagisa is stunned by her beauty. This is the beginning of a highly enjoyable and romantic shoujo-ai anime, with many colourful characters adding spice to the story with their adorable antics. Some people say Strawberry Panic is a rip-off of the famous shoujo-ai novel/anime Maria-sama ga Miteru, but still it’s a decent anime for all yuri fans.
Rating: 7/10