Animeph

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: Failing in History, high school student Tokidoki has to take remedial classes at a new state-of-the-art virtual reality museum. The museum digitally replicates a very realistic Edo of the Bakumatsu period. As soon as Toki enters, he unnoticingly steps through a portal backwards to a slightly abnormal Edo of the Bakumatsu period. He quickly gets attacked by a bizarre creature called a Nue which takes Toki’s left eye. He is saved by a pretty young girl named Kuchiha, and he now has to deal with his situation in a strange land trying to return home.

A well animated series with decent fighting scenes and a variety of demons. It’s a period piece so you’ll see a lot of shrine maidens, samurai and barkeeps. The main character is a bit frustrating to watch at first but then grows on you. Overall pretty good if you are into Japanese culture and believes.
Rating: 7/10

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: 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

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: 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