Tuesday, 2 November, 2010
Review: Shiratori Kuu is a pretty but rather shy high school girl. She often has the same dream of a beautiful prince asking her to come along with him. Unexpectedly this prince in fact appears in front of her as a new transfer student and just like in her dream he asks her to come along with him. She also meets a mysterious and beautiful girl with golden hair, who seems to have some connection to that prince. While Kuu still don’t quite get what’s going on, she gets involved in their battles and reveals her own special powers.
Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora has many similarities to the Kannazuki no Miko anime. However, the fighting and mecha animation is much better and fairly unique compared to other mecha anime shows. Still, some people might think that a lot of the characters are over-stylized with prince and princess themes. At this point the plot still has great potential, but might as well fail for being plain and too cliché.
Rating: 7,5/10
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
Wednesday, 27 October, 2010
Review: Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru is based on a shoujo-ai hentai game, but surprisingly has a male main character.
Mizuho is a nice and smart common guy, but his life changes as his father tells him that his dead grandfather’s last wish was for him to attend a special Girl’s Academy. Even though he is hesitant at first, with the support of his childhood friend who also attends this high school he decides to disguise as a girl and join as a transfer student. Everyone there is hyped about this new beautiful transfer student, but only the headmaster, few teachers and his childhood friend know about his true identity. Still, there is a lot he has to learn about living as a girl.
Rating: 8/10
Tuesday, 26 October, 2010
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
Tuesday, 26 October, 2010
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
Wednesday, 20 October, 2010
Review: Kanako-san is a yuri-girl beyond help and finally transfers to a prestigious girls high school as a second year student. Her dearest wish is to befriend the beautiful pure maidens of this school and maybe even meet her fated lover. On her first day she gets to know the beautiful, rich and highly admired first year student Maria. However, her happy student life makes a drastic turn after she discovers Maria is actually a cross-dressing boy; and a sadistic mischievous one to that. He threatens Kanako not to expose his secret, in which case he would expose she is a lesbian and make her life a living hell. However, now that she is under his observation 24/7 and is exposed to the jealous gazes of the other students, there isn’t any difference, is there?
Maria Holic is the hilarious story of Kanako’s pitiful student life. Being a big fan of shoujo-ai I can’t help liking this series. The animation and general flow is much similar to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Rating: 8,5/10
Wednesday, 20 October, 2010
Review: Just when Fumi-chan is about to enter high school, her family returns to her old hometown where they lived years ago. Despite her tall figure she is unexpectedly shy and gets teary eyes a lot. Luckily she gets help from Akira-chan, her old childhood friend. They now both visit different girls academies but still spend a lot time together. However what will Akira think of her when she finds out Fumi-chan is dating a girl from her new school.
Aoi Hana is your typical Shoujo-ai school anime; a genre much too rare these days. The story focuses more on relationships and love than on comedy. It doesn’t pick up that many clichés, but rather offers a semi-realistic view on the happiness and problems of female homosexual couples in contemporary Japan.
Rating: 8/10
Wednesday, 20 October, 2010
Review: Ushio can’t help but openly show her affection for cute girls over and over again. Because of that she lost all her friends and was an outsider during middle school. In high school she befriends the tall, cool and strong material artist Sumika. As she doesn’t fall into the category “cute girl” she isn’t offended by Ushio’s unusual love interest. However, she slowly falls in love with Ushio but fails to be noticed as a love candidate as she isn’t her type.
In general as for the quality in art and storytelling the Sasameki Koto anime doesn’t fall behind the shoujo-ai manga it is based on. It’s a nice story; a little farfetched, but not too cliché. Yet this anime probably won’t change the mind of those who aren’t into shoujo-ai, but it’s a nice watch for those who are.
Rating: 7/10