The best show this season. Scott just doesn't know it yet.

This week we invited Eric Robinson from The Austin Critic, who is also a writer for JanaiBlog, to come on the show and talk with us about some of the shows that just started airing. Hear our initial thoughts on Star Driver, Panty & Stocking, OreImo, MM!, Samurai Girls, and much more.

In the news… ANN is doing simulcasts! The creator of Invader Zim gives his thoughts on Panty & Stocking (a.k.a. the best anime EVER). Kimi ni Todoke gets a second season and I continue to troll the show’s fans. OreImo is already sparking some controversy (but that’s not really surprising). MX Media eliminates honorifics in their subtitles, an issue that many people are apparently passionate about. Last but not least, another production studio is going belly-up, probably because Japan doesn’t need another goddamn adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Otaku in Review – Episode 34 – Fall 2010 Anime | Subscribe in iTunes

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The story centers around an awkward girl named Sawako Kuronuma, who is referred to as “Sadako” by her classmates because of her striking resemblance to the character of the same name from the Ringu movie series. Every time she tries to greet people, she comes off looking creepy, and her fellow students are convinced that she is possessed, has ghosts following her around, and can curse people just by having them look into her eyes. She is pained by her loneliness, and the only reprieve from that pain comes in the form of Shota Kazehaya, the most popular and handsome boy in school who also happens to be a downright nice guy, as he treats Sawako like any other person. As she gets to know him and his words help her gain more confidence, she begins to fall for him, unaware that Kazehaya himself has been interested in her for quite some time, and just isn’t able to voice how he feels.

What follows is an endless stream of quirky misunderstandings and awkward situations. While some of them are funny, it becomes fairly repetitive after a while, and I found myself wishing at several points that the characters would just bite the bullet and talk to each other, which would resolve their issues in a matter of seconds. But then we wouldn’t have any story, now would we?

The characters themselves are pretty run-of-the-mill. However, there are a few things about them that seem pretty unrealistic to me. Besides Sawako and Kazehaya, two other girls become Sawako’s friends and wind up being rather protective of her very quickly– too quickly in my opinion. Also, Kazehaya is almost too perfect, his only flaw being that he can’t seem to voice his affections to Sawako. While these things are normal stuff for shoujo manga, it did make me pause a few times and question the validity of their actions.

Another thing that bugged me was the insane amount of text in the manga. During her many freak-out sessions, Sawako has a lot of thoughts running through her head, and every single one is plastered on the pages in tiny font, which can hurt your eyes and make the books more harrowing to read than most other manga. It personally almost took me twice as long as it normally does for me to read manga when I read these two volumes because I had to keep stopping to read all of the little text bubbles.

There is one thing I can’t complain about though, and that is the art. It’s pretty typical art for a shoujo manga, but its very nicely done and the covers of the volumes are sweet and colorful, which give a good indication of the vibe of the story.

Oh yes, the story. The summary I wrote above pretty much sums it up. It seems to me like a pretty standard manga story of awkward teenagers falling in love and dealing with the trials of high school life in both touching and comedic ways. The big difference with Kimi ni Todoke however is that the story constantly beats the message of how horrible Sawako’s life is into the ground.

A lot.

I personally get the feeling that they fell into this trap while trying to set this manga apart from other shoujo manga and by trying to make us really, really sympathetic towards Sawako. It didn’t work. Instead, what we get is an almost fake feeling, as if all of these terrible things cannot possibly be happening to one girl, especially one who is as innocent as Sawako. It’s purely for entertainment value of course, but it was enough to make me roll my eyes more than once.

In the end, Kimi ni Todoke is a very typical and almost boring addition to the world of shoujo manga, served with a big side-order of nagging. It is fairly popular however, so something within it must be working as a product, but personally, I just don’t see it. If you’re a big fan of shoujo, you may find it worth picking up, but even casual shoujo fans will most likely, in my opinion, be irked by the way the story is handled.

Kimi ni Todoke is licensed and distributed by VIZ Media.

ENJOYMENT
It’s hard to enjoy something so irritating

2/5

RECOMMENDATION VALUE
If you’re a hardcore shoujo fan, it might be worth a try. Otherwise, leave it on the shelf.

2/5

REREAD VALUE
I can’t imagine having to tread through this again!

1/5

Purchase Kimi ni Todoke Vol. 1 at RightStuf

Purchase Kimi ni Todoke Vol.2 at RightStuf

Scott Spaziani (@Gundampilotspaz) recently launched his new blog Otaku in Review and invited me and some other anime bloggers to participate in the blog’s first podcast. In the podcast, we discuss anime shows of 2009, with us each pointing out our best, worst, and an honorable mention. I was very glad and honored to be invited on the show.

Otaku in Review Podcast – Episode 1 – 2009 Year in Review

Other guests on the show:

• Tim Maughan (@timmaughan) from Tim Maughan Books
• Chuck Gaffney (@princetrunks) from Chuck’s Anime Shrine

Thanks to Scott, Tim, and Chuck for helping make this happen.

	5. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza Not being a big fan of the first season, I actually wasn’t really expecting much of the second season. Sure, Nogizaka Haruka Season 1 had its funny moments, especially with the Shakugan no Shana parodies, though overall I found the series unfunny and over-dramatic at times. So when I went to give season 2 a try, I had little expectations. As expected, the first episode wasn’t all that great. However, what really irked me was the blatant censorship. There’s one scene where the girls are in a hot spring touching each other in inappropriate places. This is a very common anime trope, but never before have I seen it censored. But in this particular scene, I kid you not, about 90% of the screen was filled with steam, meant for purposes of censoring the material. Japan must be really desperate for people to buy their insanely overpriced anime DVDs if they find it necessary to censor the TV airing of a show this much. Additionally, there were plenty of other scenes that were censored as well. It was utterly unbearable. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza is currently available on Crunchyroll
4. Akikan! Akikan! is a show about cans of soda that turn into girls and fight each other. No, I’m not kidding, that’s really what the show is about. Some may think that this may be a hilarious basis for a show, and well, yeah, it definitely could be. To be honest, I did actually watch all of Akikan! and enjoyed it to some extent, but there are many, many issues with its presentation. The comedy in the show is generally unfunny. The story is nothing spectacular at all, although I can’t say I expected much of a story from a show about transforming soda cans. The show tries to be ecchi, but the fanservice is lacking, to say the least. What sucked me into this show was the first episode, which actually was pretty funny. It wasn’t until later on that I came to realize the show in its entirety just isn’t worth the effort.
	3. Shangri-La Shangri-La is a perfect example of how one should not judge an anime by its opening theme. After seeing its totally awesome OP, I was immediately sucked into the show. However, it didn’t take long for Shangri-La to turn into a show with one of the the most confusing, convoluted, and just plain awful plots I’ve seen. Taking place at some point in the future, global warming has taken its toll on the planet, and Tokyo has been transformed into a “jungle-polis” to help put more oxygen in the air. An interesting basis for a story, indeed. Unfortunately, viewers are immediately “thrown into” the show. No backstory is given at all; you simply have to figure it all out yourself. Names are thrown around that have no meaning to the viewers. The characters are pretty lame, though I must say I am partial to Kuniko Houjou (for obvious reasons). Overall, the show is a mess, and unless you can somehow manage to keep up with the plot, you’ll find yourself lost very quickly. Shangri-La is currently available on Crunchyroll
2. 11eyes An anime based off of a visual novel can sometimes be awesome. However, there are also times where it just simply doesn’t work out. Pacing is always an issue when adapting a visual novel, manga, etc. into an anime series. The anime adaptation of Lass’s popular eroge visual novel is no exception to this. I was actually really looking forward to seeing this show. One reason I loved Higurashi so much was because I felt it was an excellent combination of moe and horror, an unlikely mixture. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for 11eyes. From the two episodes I saw, the vast majority of it was just “filler fluff” where nothing really happened, which overall led to a pretty lame show that I just couldn’t stay focused on, nor did I care to. 11eyes is currently available on Crunchyroll
	1. Kimi ni Todoke I can already feel the heat rising within you. Yes, I’m dead serious. Kimi ni Todoke is the most boring anime I have ever seen. Given how everyone was raving about it, I really, really tried to enjoy this show. After the initial viewing, I dropped it after one episode. I later gave it another try and got about halfway through episode 2 before I just couldn’t take it anymore. I do not see the appeal of this show at all. It’s insanely slow-paced. The art style is generic, the plot is generic, and the characters honestly are nothing special. Sawako spends 3/4 of the first episode talking about how awesome Kazehaya is. Not only that, but in that very episode, the “Sawako = Sadako” joke is killed, beaten down with a hammer, and disintegrated within less than 10 minutes. That’s not what I call entertainment, though it’s certainly a nice alternative to NyQuil.

Feeling the rage? Post your thoughts below. I’d love to hear from you.

2009 may have been a great year for anime fans, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any disappointments. In this post, I’ll be discussing the 2009 anime shows that I was looking forward to seeing, but unfortunately turned out to be a major snoozefest. Again, this is only my opinion, and I just know people are going to hate me for what I picked.

5. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza

Not being a big fan of the first season, I actually wasn’t really expecting much of the second season. Sure, Nogizaka Haruka Season 1 had its funny moments, especially with the Shakugan no Shana parodies, though overall I found the series unfunny and over-dramatic at times. So when I went to give season 2 a try, I had little expectations. As expected, the first episode wasn’t all that great. However, what really irked me was the blatant censorship. There’s one scene where the girls are in a hot spring touching each other in inappropriate places. This is a very common anime trope, but never before have I seen it censored. But in this particular scene, I kid you not, about 90% of the screen was filled with steam, meant for purposes of censoring the material. Japan must be really desperate for people to buy their insanely overpriced anime DVDs if they find it necessary to censor the TV airing of a show this much. Additionally, there were plenty of other scenes that were censored as well. It was utterly unbearable.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza is currently available on Crunchyroll

4. Akikan!

Akikan! is a show about cans of soda that turn into girls and fight each other. No, I’m not kidding, that’s really what the show is about. Some may think that this may be a hilarious basis for a show, and well, yeah, it definitely could be. To be honest, I did actually watch all of Akikan! and enjoyed it to some extent, but there are many, many issues with its presentation. The comedy in the show is generally unfunny. The story is nothing spectacular at all, although I can’t say I expected much of a story from a show about transforming soda cans. The show tries to be ecchi, but the fanservice is lacking, to say the least. What sucked me into this show was the first episode, which actually was pretty funny. It wasn’t until later on that I came to realize the show in its entirety just isn’t worth the effort.

3. Shangri-La

Shangri-La is a perfect example of how one should not judge an anime by its opening theme. After seeing its totally awesome OP, I was immediately sucked into the show. However, it didn’t take long for Shangri-La to turn into a show with one of the the most confusing, convoluted, and just plain awful plots I’ve seen. Taking place at some point in the future, global warming has taken its toll on the planet, and Tokyo has been transformed into a “jungle-polis” to help put more oxygen in the air. An interesting basis for a story, indeed. Unfortunately, viewers are immediately “thrown into” the show. No backstory is given at all; you simply have to figure it all out yourself. Names are thrown around that have no meaning to the viewers. The characters are pretty lame, though I must say I am partial to Kuniko Houjou (for obvious reasons). Overall, the show is a mess, and unless you can somehow manage to keep up with the plot, you’ll find yourself lost very quickly.

Shangri-La is currently available on Crunchyroll

2. 11eyes

An anime based off of a visual novel can sometimes be awesome. However, there are also times where it just simply doesn’t work out. Pacing is always an issue when adapting a visual novel, manga, etc. into an anime series. The anime adaptation of Lass’s popular eroge visual novel is no exception to this. I was actually really looking forward to seeing this show. One reason I loved Higurashi so much was because I felt it was an excellent combination of moe and horror, an unlikely mixture. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for 11eyes. From the two episodes I saw, the vast majority of it was just “filler fluff” where nothing really happened, which overall led to a pretty lame show that I just couldn’t stay focused on, nor did I care to.

11eyes is currently available on Crunchyroll

1. Kimi ni Todoke

I can already feel the heat rising within you. Yes, I’m dead serious. Kimi ni Todoke is the most boring anime I have ever seen. Given how everyone was raving about it, I really, really tried to enjoy this show. After the initial viewing, I dropped it after one episode. I later gave it another try and got about halfway through episode 2 before I just couldn’t take it anymore. I do not see the appeal of this show at all. It’s insanely slow-paced. The art style is generic, the plot is generic, and the characters honestly are nothing special. Sawako spends 3/4 of the first episode talking about how awesome Kazehaya is. Not only that, but in that very episode, the “Sawako = Sadako” joke is killed, beaten down with a hammer, and disintegrated within less than 10 minutes. That’s not what I call entertainment, though it’s certainly a nice alternative to NyQuil.