Kimiko_0's Anime
take a look at Kimiko_0's MangaAnime I'm watching at the moment, and a few that I haven't finished in the past.
| Seen some | Rating | Comment |
| Fairy Musketeers (TV) | Cuute ^_^ I love Akazukin's shoes that go 'fwip, fwip, fwip'. | |
| Futari wa Precure Splash Star (TV) | Very good | MFTGX has subbed eps.1-23 and the movie, but no one else seems interested in picking this up. Same good old fun as Pretty Cure, but a little different. The characters of Nagisa's mom and Akane seem to have merged into Saki's mom, but otherwise most of the cast seem to have counterparts in Splash☆Star. Cures Bloom and Egret's attacks seem more magical than Black and White's rather physical approach to battle. Or could it be that Asuka is going to be Akane's counterpart? And.. that's it for now. I've finished the 23 eps. that have been subbed. A little bit of a cliffhanger, but not too much. I so hope that someone will finish subbing this anime. It's even better than Pretty Cure and Max Heart. Ooh, good news for PreCure fans, Zalis is continuing where MFTGX quit, so now we have up to ep.28 subbed :) |
| Only Yesterday (movie) |
(Apologies for not commenting on the Miyazaki movies. I watched those before I became addicted to anime, so didn't write anything about them. I'll fix that when I watch them again (most are worth it).)
| Seen all | Rating | Comment |
| (The) Adventures of Mini-Goddess (TV) | Decent | Came across this while shopping online for anime. Hmm. Well, good thing I'm watching it before buying. Even at the low price it's going for this isn't really worth watching more than once. Not that it's bad, just rather unremarkable kids comedy. Okay, finished. Near the middle there were some funny episodes (the ones with Marla and the ninjas for example), but toward the end it went down a little again. I'm still not sure I'd buy this anime. Maybe for completeness after I get the rest of the Aa! Megami-sama series. |
| Ah! My Goddess (TV) | Very good | This turned out surprisingly fun. I was expecting a lot of stupid fanservice and comedy, but the fanservice is hardly there, and the comedy wasn't all that bad. It's certainly not perfect (Belldandy is a little too domestic and naïve), but a whole lot better than I expected, so I'm going to watch season two as well. |
| Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy (TV) | Very good | The second season is just as good as the first. Urd and Skuld get more character development and become more likeable, Belldandy and Keiichi stay the same. The romance doesn't progress at all, but the comedy/story is still fun to watch. There's a bit more fanservice, but still not as bad as I'd feared originally. Overall, Aa! Megami-sama is a series I can recommend to anyone. |
| Ah! My Goddess: The Movie | Very good | This was made in 2000, between the OVA and the TV series, but content-wise it fits after the two TV series I think. Very good quality art and animation in any case, and a nice stand-alone story. |
| Animation Runner Kuromi (OAV) | Good | Said to give some interesting insight into the world of animation, which it indeed did. It's a fun comedy. Kuromi's character design reminds me of one of the Nanas (Hachiko) in face fault mode. I like how Shihonmatsu helped Kuromi out. |
| Animation Runner Kuromi 2 (OAV) | Good | More fun at Studio Petit. Kuromi-chan is adorable and Shihonmatsu is cool. Maybe I'll check out other anime with Hajime Watanabe as character designer. |
| Aquarian Age - Sign for Evolution (TV) | Very good | Music by Yuki Kajiura ♡ Somewhat old-school shoujo character designs for sympathetic characters who actually act their age. The plot is just beginning, but looks to be interesting too. This could be a very good anime. It's like a cross between Macross (but without the mecha) and Nana (but the drama isn't so over the top), with magical girls. I'd rate it Very Good +. |
| Aria the Animation (TV) | Excellent | Ooh, this looks just so lovely. I've discovered a new favorite ^_^ ♪ The laid-back atmosphere, Akari's attitude towards every little detail of life, Aika's interruptions, president Aria's 'Pui! Nyuu!', Alicia's 'Are, are', ahh, this is such a refreshing and wonderful anime. This is a great antidote to all bad feelings. Goes on my to-buy list immediately. |
| Aria the Natural (TV) | Excellent | Ahh, bliss. More Aria to soothe and happify :) Careful, you might smile so much your cheeks ache. It's a good kind of ache though :D |
| Aria the Origination (TV) | Excellent | See Aria - The Natural. I felt sad when Aria came to an end, but I think it's for the best. Too much more would spoil the goodness. A few days later I'm still smiling while listening to the soundtrack :) |
| Aria the OVA ~Arietta~ | Excellent | See Aria - The Natural. Akari and Alicia's faces were a little off-model a few times. |
| Arjuna (TV) | Weak | The animation is quite good, but the story gets mired in lots of exposition, and rather preachy exposition at that. I'm not averse to environmental messages in anime, but this one takes it to an extreme, and mixes in some controversial other things as well. Pity, because some aspects of the story were decent. Yoko Kanno's music is nice as well, but as usual the quality varies. |
| Armitage III (OAV) | Weak | It's only from 1995, but it looks much older than that. Or am I mistaken? I thought animation was better than this back then. Well, anyway, the art is okayish, although rather American-looking. Other aspects are only mediocre though. Voice-acting, character design and movement, story, they all lack grace, fluency. It's only four eps. long though, so I'll finish it anyway. Armitage isn't such a great character. She's said to be a good detective, but we never see her do much sleuthing or other police work. She kicks ass a few times, but when she's not in control she screams like a little girl. Quite often she's also the helpless woman to be saved by big hunk of masculinity Ross. Bleh. |
| Armitage: Dual-Matrix (movie) | So-so | This is from 2002, and technically a lot better than the OVA. Not up to today's standards, but at least the art, animation, character design, etc. are decent. The resolution wasn't great, but that may have been the copy I saw. Armitage is more like a ferocious mama bear in this movie. She still kicks ass, but is much more tenacious and less helpless than in the OVA. Ross is toned down to more human proportions and gets to be the strong daddy manipulated by the villain. Overall it still isn't great, but at least better than the OVA. |
| Avenger (TV) | Good | The characters are very Bee Train (tormented fighter, emotionless girl, and the designs of course). Maybe it's because this is a short anime (only 13 eps.), but the scenes are all quite short. Just a few movements and lines before it cuts to a different angle, or a different setting altogether. I like this style so far. The robot dolls are cute too of course. This anime might be another favorite. I liked all of the Bee Train anime I've seen so far, so that wouldn't be too surprising. Finished. The story leaves a lot for the viewer to fill in themselves, just like the animation. An unusual style, that works unexpectedly well. The good background music helps a lot. Ali Project may not be too good at doing theme songs, but they do BGM quite well here. I'd have liked to see Nei more involved in the story, and the flashbacks could have been indicated better, but overall this anime turned out good. |
| Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales (TV) | Decent | Three horror-themed stories. The first two were nicely animated, the third was an escapee from Mononoke (same protagonist and art style). |
| Azumanga Daioh (TV) | Excellent | It's a little different from Lucky Star, but just as much fun. My favorite characters would be, unsurprisingly, Sasaki, Osaka and Chiyo. I'd have liked to have more interaction between Kaorin and Sasaki of course, but Sasaki is also cute by herself or with Mayaa or other animals. Osaka is just hilarious, and Chiyo is also very cute. |
| Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto (TV) | Weak | Not bad exactly, but definitely not great either. It tries to do two things at once, and ends up rather blah as a result. On one hand it accurately shows the events around the end of the Edo/Tokugawa period (Meiji Restoration, Boshin War). On the other hand, it tries to be a cool show with flashy swordwork and heroic action and such.
The historical parts are good, but a bit boring because of the length of the show (full 26 eps) compared to the length of the period portrayed (the first half covers a few years, the second half only half a year or so). Because of the historical accuracy though, the show's fictional aspects end up failing badly. History has shown the Boshin War to be nothing more than the last futile struggle of an outdated feudal system against industrial and societal modernization, with the Ezo republic only a footnote to that. Samurai are very much romanticized of course, so the show tries to portray them as heroic. The actual result is more tragic than heroic. If you already know the history, there's not much tension left for the fictional additions. This could have been compensated by having good character development or a deeper theme. The show has neither though. The hero hardly ever talks except for some grunts now and then. He also never reflects on events or his own life. The heroine could have been dramatic, torn between revenge, love and destiny. The revenge arc is drawn out by one too many surprise returns however. Love is implied, but never stated and in any case hardly returned by the hero. And to top it off, she turns into a mute/mindless zombie when possessed by evil (so called destiny), which ruins any dramatic struggle. The most interesting characters are the minor villains, who actually show small glimpses of character development now and then (and look way cooler than the hero). They never really get in the way of the main characters and events though, and are killed off in disappointing ways. I wouldn't recommend this series, unless you're out of better anime to watch. |
| Bamboo Blade (TV) | Very good | Mentioned in the SloL recommendation thread. So far it's okay. Funny at times, but more sports than slice-of-life. The characters were deeper than I expected at first. I also liked that contrary to how it usually goes, the girls were the focus of the anime and the boys were only supporting characters. Overall, quite a nice anime. |
| Banner of the Stars (TV) | Good | See Crest Of The Stars. |
| Banner of the Stars II (TV) | Good | See Crest Of The Stars. |
| Banner of the Stars III (OAV) | Good | See Crest Of The Stars. |
| Battle Athletes (OAV) | Weak | Bleh, sports. I watched this short series because it was said to have some shoujo-ai. It does, but in the end it's once again not explicitly stated as lesbian love, but only as 'best friends'. Otherwise this anime isn't worth watching really, unless you like sports-themed anime. The backstory/science is crap anyway. |
| Black Lagoon (TV) | Very good | I've been told it's good, and has strong female characters. Let's try the first season then. So far, it's pretty good. Lots of action. Despite all the action (hardly an episode goes by without a gunfight and explosions), this anime's story doesn't move very quickly. You could almost call it slice-of-life in that there doesn't seem to be an overarching plot (stories last a few eps. each, but don't connect to each other). The women are indeed kick-ass. The usual point of view may be Rock's, but Revy is as much the main character as he is. |
| Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage (TV) | Good | I don't know why this is considered a separate season. The episode numbers continue just the same, and there was even the usual preview at the end of ep.12. This 'season' seems to have a rather more melancholy atmosphere than the first. The violence and killings are more graphic, and characters reflect upon their lives and world quite often as well. All that reflection slows down the action a lot though, so in the end I'd rate The Second Barrage slightly lower than the first Black Lagoon. |
| Black Magic M-66 (OAV) | Good | It's interesting to look for references or commonalities between different Shirow-based anime. The two M66 robots looked a little like the two cat women/robots from Dominion Tank Police, there was one officer who looked a little like GITS:SAC's Saito with his eyepatch, and at the end, Sybil was wearing a shirt with 'Appleseed' on it. I haven't seen that one yet. I think I'll add it to the to-watch list. This OVA's age clearly shows of course, but it isn't bad for anime from 1987. Like DTP, there are silly moments, especially at the beginning. The rest of the story is more suspenseful, even though it isn't as dark as more modern anime would have been in that situation. Overall it's a nice 45 min. of entertainment. |
| Blood+ (TV) | Good | A good series, but it could've been better I think. Ostensibly, the main character is Saya, but I think the 'hero' of the story, Kai, actually got more plot time. That's my biggest disappointment actually, since he's one of those guys you dislike from the second he appears on screen (you can tell from his hair style that he's going to be a 'hero'). He becomes a little more likeable toward the end, but since the series is 50 eps. long, that takes a long time. Two other characters who are actually quite sympathetic are killed eventually; one in the first story arc, the other survives longer, but never gets to play much of a role other than emotional bait. As expected from the length of the series, the pacing is more deliberate than average, which I think is a good thing at first, but toward the end (during the fourth arc, when the eventual ending is made clear early on) I would've liked it to be faster. The ending is satisfying, even though it left me curious as to the characters' future. Overall, I'd say it is an anime worth checking out. |
| Blood: The Last Vampire (movie) | Decent | Not bad. At first I thought I accidentally had a dubbed version because many characters speak English (albeit with a not quite natural intonation), but it turned out the setting is an American military base in Okinawa. The story is intriguing, but quite short, and it left me with unanswered questions. I'd say it is a nice intro for the Blood+ series, but on its own the lack of background isn't quite satisfying. |
| Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 (TV) | Decent | Women who kick ass? Cool. Or so I thought. Well, it's not really bad or anything. It starts out nicely, but over time it becomes more like a regular super sentai series. Near the end the pacing gets really wonky, more like stop and go. Good girls thwart villain/part of the week, take a break to reflect semi-dramatically and get drunk with friends, then battle villain again because of some new exposition. So what started out as an interesting series lost points because of a weakening end. |
| Cardcaptor Sakura (TV) | Very good | Wow, that took a long time. It was fun though, but be careful. Four out of five dentists got cavities just from watching this much kawaii overload. Despite being very long (70 episodes and two movies), there's still a coherent storyline, and of course there's plenty of room for good character development. I felt sorry for Tomoyo and Meilin though, getting sidelined in favor of the main romance. |
| Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card | Very good | See CardCaptor Sakura. |
| Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie | Good | See CardCaptor Sakura. |
| Castle in the Sky (movie) | Very good | The character designs are quite '80s. Some elements can be recognized from Nausicaä and Cagliostro, as well as general Miyazaki stuff like all the flying of course. |
| (The) Cat Returns (movie) | Good | A fun magical adventure :) The story is clearly inspired by Shizuku chasing the cat Muta in Whisper Of The Heart and finding the statue of the Baron in the antique shop. Not surprising really, as both movies are based on manga by Aoi Hiiragi. |
| Claymore (TV) | Very good | This was awesome. Nice role reversal too, with Raki being the naïve and emotional anchor to humanity and the kick-ass fighters all being women. There was a little too much exposition at times, but I suppose it's hard to get thoughts during a fight across in a visual medium. At one point it veered into ridiculous when they gave percentages for power and such, but fortunately that didn't stick. The ending was a little unsatisfying. It ended the series with a nice climax, but didn't answer the deeper issues that had been hinted at all along. I hope it'll get a second season for that. |
| CODE-E (TV) | Very good | Heh. The beginning of the first ep. was quite effective. After seeing the '2017' date, I wondered why there were still an old rotary phone and CRT TV. Turns out there's a good reason for that. Aw, Code-E was only the first half of the series. And Mission-E hasn't finished subbing yet :( This is a nice anime though. The ending was decent, although there is much unresolved of course. |
| Crest of the Stars (TV) | Good | The Banner Of The Stars series (Crest, and Banner I - III) is very good. The setting and characters are complex and thought-provoking, especially the Abh and Abh society and the relationship with other humans. The pacing of the story is a little uneven sometimes, but the series is quite long, so it's not so bad. I like that the story never really falls into clichés. The art/animation style reminds me of older anime. The music is nothing to write home about and varies from unremarkable to overly dramatic to downright silly. |
| Dead Girls (OAV) | Decent | A little view of what the girls' lives will be like a few hundred years after Red Garden. |
| Dennō Coil (TV) | Very good | Charming and cool. It's nice to see kids being kids for a change, even with some more serious subjects thrown in. There is rather a lot of exposition going on at all times. I suppose it can't be helped given the setting, and it's mixed into the story nicely, but still, it's a lot of exposition. The art style is very distinctive, but the colors could have been a little more lively instead of 'next-gen' shades of grey and beige. Those are minor complaints though. This anime is definitely worth watching. |
| Destiny of the Shrine Maiden (TV) | Decent | Reported to have real lesbian romance, so I'm very eager to see this. At the same time it's the last anime like that on my to-watch list, so I want to savor it for a while. This anime is very high pace. Characters are introduced with just a few lines each, the plot starts with several mysterious events and mecha. It feels as if they took a 26 ep. series and cut out half of it. Not that the story would make much more sense then, but at least we'd be able to understand what is going on. The story had some interesting bits in it, Chikane's half-unrequited love for Himeko in particular. The part about her going mad and the 'we can't be together but I'll always remember you' part were classic 'lesbians are bad' clichés though, barely negated by the very last scene. Overall, the whole thing is rushed way too much, and all the mecha fights and Oogami just get in the way of the story. Considering the lack of lesbian stories in anime this isn't exactly bad, but not as good as I was led to expect, and not as good as it could have been. |
| Dominion Tank Police (OAV) | Not really good | Whoa, old-school hand-animated anime. I wonder why I put this on my to-watch list. Manga by Masamune Shirow? Female main character? Oh well, it's only 4 eps. long (plus 6 for the sequel). The ending seems a little incomplete, but a deep story was never really the focus I suppose. |
| El Cazador de la Bruja (TV) | Very good | I'm no fan of road movies, so that was kinda bleh for me. The humor (I still have that taco-taco-tacos song in my head :P) makes up for it though. Nice characters, although not as deep as those of previous Bee Train works. The ending (ep.25) didn't quite fit the rest of the story I think. |
| Elemental Gelade (TV) | Not really good | It's sort of okayish, but not great.
The thing that annoyed me most was how the Edel/Sting Raids, who for some unexplained reason are all women, are either helpless and childlike pretty dolls who couldn't survive on their own, or evil vamps who abuse humans. Kuea is the only sort-of exception, and even she's not taken very seriously (she and Rowen are a team, but only Rowen is an officer in Arc Aile; when Rowen goes in to meet his superiors, she's left in the lobby like one would a child or a cumbersome piece of luggage). All in all I think it hits a little too close to home to how women in general have been treated historically. I was surprised to see Yuki Kajiura's name in the credits. I recognized her musical style right away, but figured it was some lesser talent trying to imitate her (and doing only a half decent job at it). Definitely not up to par for her. |
| Elfen Lied (TV) | Very good | This was quite good. Okay, there were also several instances of female nudity that didn't add anything to the story (except maybe for those 12yo boys), but otherwise it was very intriguing, and heart-breaking. I wish this series was much longer. Many questions were left open (the diclonius' origins; Nana's and Lucy's pasts; humanity's future). Oh, one warning. Don't watch this if you can't stand (animated) violence, gore and abuse. This is one of those anime that make you wonder just how much blood a human body can spew forth when slashed. It doesn't go lightly on emotional pain either. |
| Elfen Lied (OAV) | Decent | Light-hearted fluffy extra to the series. Doesn't really progress the story, so it can be left out. |
| Ergo Proxy (TV) | Not really good | This was crap. I suppose it would appeal to the goth/emo folks with its dark atmosphere and pseudo-psychological navel-gazing. Heck, one of the main characters even looks like a typical emo/goth, and the emo hairstyle (bangs that would get in your eyes, pushed to one side) is worn by several others. Since I'm not part of that culture, I didn't like it much. Half the time everything is so dark that you can only tell what is happening by the sounds and conversation. The other half the color palette ranges from murky to grey to mud to charcoal. The story hardly makes sense (post-apocalyptic, with a touch of cyberpunk dystopia) and even tries to pull an Excel Saga imitation genre change twice. The only really likeable character was cute little Pino (although Real kinda grew on me over time), but she never really got to be more than a main support character.
Not at all recommended unless you're the emo/goth type who loves brooding and navel-gazing. |
| Excel Saga (TV) | Good | It was sort of fun at first, what with all the parodies of anime clichés and stuff, but after that it got a little boring with two recap eps. and the not very interesting side-story of Pedro. The end was a little better, but by then the jokes weren't funny anymore and I was just glad that it was over. Pity, because it started out quite good. |
| FLCL (OAV) | Good | Only six eps. long. It's definitely not '80s. The style reminds me of Serial Experiments Lain a little, but fortunately the story is more coherent than that. Still, with only six eps. you shouldn't fall asleep because it moves quickly. Not that there's any danger of that with all the action really. The idea behind it (Naota's head is used as an intergalactic portal for robots and whatnot by a strange alien girl) is pretty far out really, but it was fun to watch. |
| Full Metal Panic! (TV) | Very good | This was good. The episodes with actual plot development that is. The series is about half plot, half comedy. The comedy basically depends on one joke (Sousuke acting like everything is a dangerous military operation) which is repeated in many forms. The actual plot is quite good and interesting. Lots of mecha action, but also character development. The comedy I could've done without, which is why I didn't watch the Fumoffu series of episodes. The first series and the The Second Raid series are mostly plot and definitely worth watching. |
| Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (TV) | Very good | See Full Metal Panic! season one. |
| Will not finish | Rating | Comment |
| Initial D (TV) | Not really good | I didn't expect to like this anime really; I was just curious what it's like from references to it in other anime. I think a few episodes will be enough. And indeed, three eps. were more than enough for me. The art is quite bad, the characters are all men/boys who care only about cars and racing, except for one token girl who is there to be ogled. The music isn't bad, it goes nicely with the racing scenes, but I don't think it'll be much fun to listen to separately. Ah well, I satisfied my curiosity. I understand now how Chiyo was so traumatized by Yukari's imitation of Initial D-style driving. |
| Magic User's Club (TV) | Weak | Because this is a TV series, I was hoping it would be less ecchi than the OVA, but I guess that was too much to ask with only three years between them. Now the question is if I will endure it for 13 eps., or move it to the 'won't finish' category. Five eps. in, there's still no plot development. Takeo is still very irritating, and Sae is too stupid to save this anime. Bye-bye. |
| NANA (TV) | So-so | Hmm, not sure about this. The Nanas are a little too blatantly heterosexual for my taste. I don't mind some straight romance, but one Nana is utterly boy-crazy, and the other seems to be rather hung up about her boyfriend as well. Bleh. Well, I'll give it a few more eps. So far it's been mostly background on both Nanas. Maybe it'll get better when the series returns to their present-time living together. Btw, what's up with all the smoking? Over half the characters smoke some kind of cigarettes. It almost feels like a commercial at times. Is this meant to make them look more mature? Or dumber? A few eps. later, after the flashbacks, it does get better, but not all that much. The over-anxious2 20 year old comedy is getting on my nerves. Gave up after 11 eps. The comedy isn't bad, but the story didn't really grab me. Nana (Hachi) is supposed to be 20 years old, but she acts like a kid most of the time. All the boyfriend troubles were more like a soap series than a romance too. |
| Ranma ½ (TV) | Not really good | Speaking of '80s style anime, I just finished Ranma ½. Season one that is, and that was more than enough to satisfy any curiosity I had about it. It's not really bad exactly, but I find it hard to imagine anyone wanting seven seasons of it. Catchy theme song though. |
| Rayearth (OAV) | Weak | See Magic Knight Rayearth season one. |
| Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (TV) | ||
| Utawarerumono (TV) | Not really good | It starts out somewhat interesting. Fantasy setting, interesting characters, beginnings of a romance, then it slowly reveals its origin as a strategy game, turning into battle after battle, all to the greater glory of the hero. The fantasy setting becomes just a backdrop, the interesting characters get lost in the crowd or killed, and the female main characters turn into just another bunch of supporters of the hero. Bleh. Sorry, but this just isn't my taste. Gave up after 5 episodes. |
| Zegapain (TV) | Weak | Recommended by Abunai. I wonder why he did that though. The opening is rather full of clichés. Highschool boy (with important hair) meets mysterious girl and is told to fight to save the world, in a big mecha (using hard light). Mysterious past, check. Mysterious organization, check. Oh, and childhood girlfriend, check too. Okay, the animation isn't bad at all, but that might just have been the first ep. I wonder how they'll keep this from being a semi-boring mecha cliché fest. Ah well, only one way to find out, right? Four eps. in, and there's still no explanation given for all the mystery. Sure, a little mystery can be captivating, keeping you watching to find out, but no explanation at all means that I don't care one way or another who these characters are or what they're doing. Better hurry up the exposition, or your audience is going to walk out. Oh, and you can add technobabble overload to the flaws too btw. After seven eps. I give up. Some of the mystery is becoming clear, but characters continue to be idiots who don't communicate. Bye-bye. |
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