Anime Series of the Genre: “Drama”

GUNSLINGER GIRL 2: Il Teatrino

Friday, 5 November, 2010


Review: This is the continuation of the popular Gunslinger Girl series. Gunslinger Girl is about a certain secret Italian agency that fights terrorism. This agency searches for young girls who are hopelessly close to death, and then through newest medical technology save them, erase their memories, enhance their muscles and condition them to be loyal and affectionate toward the agent handler they are given to. Those girls are trained to become perfect fighting cyborgs for assassinations of terrorists and still look like innocent little girls as the perfect cover-up. As all those girls used to be near death patients their seemingly forgotten past sometimes slips through as it is connected to the handler’s past that isn’t any less sad and complicated. In a perfect way this show portrays how some agents have a hard time seeing those girls, who struggle for praise and acceptance, as objects and how others don’t.

Perfectly performed and animated fights and movements, same as deep political and moral problems that are introduced, make Gunslinger Girl into an outstanding action drama that has Sci-Fi elements and yet seems so real. Sadly the animation quality of this anime is not quite as good and detailed as in the first season, but that is only a small drawback.
Rating: 9/10

True Tears – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

Clannad – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

ef – a tale of memories – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


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

School Days – Anime Review

Friday, 5 November, 2010


Review: Every morning Mokoto takes the same train to school as the beautiful Katsura and slowly starts to develop an interest in her. However, he is content with just looking at her and does not plan to ever talk to her; that is until Sekai, a good friend of him, decides to support him in his crush. It turns out Katsura also had an interest in him and they start dating. As a reward for helping them, Sekai steals a kiss from Mokoto’s lips. Does she also have feeling for him and still helped him to get together with another girl?

School Days is based on one of the most popular anime dating-sim games. It is famous for its various amazing and shocking endings and for being being the first eroge to be fully animated. Many fans of the game doubt that the anime will be able live up to the great game with its multiple endings and paths, but I hope/think it will not end up as just another harem show. Also, like with all popular fiction works, there is a large group of people who hate it as well, in this case for its weak and indecisive main character.
Rating: 8,5/10

Claymore – Anime Review

Thursday, 4 November, 2010


Review: Claymore or silver-eyed witches; that’s how the villagers call those members of the organisation whose profession it is to find and slay Yoma. Those Claymore are all half Yoma half human, very powerful and female, fore only woman are able to survive merging with a Yoma. Yoma are powerful demons who can take human form to remain undetected. However, they can not fool the eyes of a Claymore since they themselves are half Yoma. When there is a suspicion of a Yoma hiding in town, villagers will hire a Claymore to get rid of it. Claire is one of those Claymore, but she is travelling with a young boy who acts as her cook, which is unusual since Claymore usually are feared by humans and live a lonely monotonous life. What this boy yet doesn’t know is that each time Claire fights, she isn’t only fighting with the Yoma in front of her, but also with the Yoma within her. It is the fate of all Claymore to one day lose to the Yoma within at which point they will request their closest fellow Claymore to kill them before they lose their human heart.

Claymore tells the story of the sad, lonely and terrible fate of Claire, a young woman who decided to become a Claymore, and a boy, who decided to accompany her. This promising theme is supported by an adequate atmosphere and animation quality.
Rating: 9/10

Kanon (2006) – Anime Review

Wednesday, 27 October, 2010


Review: This anime is a remake of the 13 episode long Kanon anime (31.01.2002 till 28.03.2002), which is based on a very popular Japanese eroge (hentai anime game). Many fans complained the first Kanon anime lacked animation quality and did not adequately present the awesome story of the original eroge. A length of 24 episodes and Kyoto Animation now responsible for production and animation will hopefully be the key to create an appropriate and satisfying Kanon anime this time.

The story revolves around Yuuichi Aizawa, who returns to his hometown after seven years. He is allowed to stay at his cousin’s house, but the memories of his childhood he spend here are blurry. Some of the girls there also don’t remember certain things of their past. What has happened in their childhoods? Why did they forget? And will they be able to regain the mysterious happy and sad memories of their past together?
Rating: 9,5/10

Maria-sama ga Miteru 3rd – Anime Review

Wednesday, 27 October, 2010


Review: This OVA series is based on the popular shoujo novel series of the same name and continues where the first 2 popular seasons Maria-sama ga Miteru (08.01.2004 till 01.04.2004) and Maria-sama ga Miteru: Haru (04.07.2004 till 26.09.2004) left off.
Fukuzawa Yumi is a cute first-year student at Lillian Girls’ Academy. This catholic school has a special student council that is admired and famous among all the students. Usually this student council is composed of 3 senior students who take special flower titles: Rosa Gigantea (white); Rosa Sinensis (red); Rosa Foetida (yellow). Each of them can take a second-year student who then is referred to as “Rosa … en bouton”. Each “en bouton” is also allowed to pick a first year as a “petite soeur” (little sister). The 9 girls hold meetings in a special small house on the school grounds. Sachiko, the “Rosa Sinensis en bouton”, suddenly asks Yumi, who has always admired her, to become her “petite soeur”. This romantic, dramatic and heartwarming story revolves around the lives of the 9 girls of the student council and focuses on their relationships and circumstances.
Rating: 9,5/10