Anime Preview - Eye of the Taiga

"Toradora!" is a surprise hit for 2009, beginning as a harem romance and ending with immensely dramatic dialogue.

The story begins like a conventional love story. Episode one introduces us to Ryuuji Takasu, a typical high school guy who holds a secret crush on Minori Kushieda, a female baseball team captain. Kushieda's friend, Taiga Aisaka, is a bratty young girl who has a crush on Takasu's best friend, Yuusaku Kitamura.

Ryuuji and Taiga team up together to convince their own crushes to love them. However, they don't seem to listen. In fact, their classmates all think that Ryuuji and Taiga make a cute couple.


We clearly see how this series will end after episode 20 or so, but the journey there is really the real meat of the series. When you look at the series as a whole, the real conflict is focused around the main characters' family lives.

For starters, Ryuuji has no father. His mother lives alone, working as a barmaid at night. The short Taiga, on the other hand, was kicked out of her house by her wealthy parents. She lives alone in an apartment.

And by fate, these two characters just happen to live next to each other. Although they united to fulfill their own goal of winning the hearts of the people they love, their true happiness comes from their struggle for independence.

The series turns even more rowdy after Ami Kawashima, a popular teenage model with a split personality, transfers to their school. She has a crush on Ryuuji, leading to plenty of romantic entanglements. By episode eight, the anime plays out like a violent harem, with plenty of girls fighting over Ryuuji and Yuusaku.


However, these characters are not iconic, like the harem fantasy in "Love Hina" or the slapstick comedy couple in "Lovely Complex." Sure, Taiga and Ryuuji begin as a comedic duo, in which Taiga usually beats her friend up like mincemeat whenever she feels insulted.

However, the story dialogue is turns this love story into a sort of sports film, without all the sports references. Taiga and Ryuuji become the victorious couple overcoming the problems within their family. Even when their angst turns into public despair, they eventually reach triumphant moments of revelation by the end of the show's run.


The series is not available in the U.S., but the series has plenty of buzz following its 25-episode run.

DVD publishers will definitely want to license this series. If anyone wants to find a solid romance anime with characters who actually grow in maturity, give "Toradora!" a try if it comes out on DVD. You won't regret watching it.

Image courtesy of janaiblog.wordpress.com

DVD Review - I ain't afraid of no ghost

Eat your heart out, Bill Murray. There's a new group of ghostbusters in town.

The first part of the "Ghost Hunt" anime series will grab your attention with intriguing scientific investigations of curses, ghosts and supernatural phenomena.

The story begins when the main character, Mai Taniyama, finds a teenage boy investigating the building next to her high school for ghosts and powerful psychic beings.

The boy, Kazuya Shibuya, heads the Shibuya Psychic Research Center. His assistants include an electrical equipment specialist, a Buddhist monk, a Shinto priestess, an Australian Catholic exorcist and a spirit medium on a popular television show. Each character has a special power to suppress the power of demons and spirits.

Shibuya determines the occult phenomena taking place using carefully deduction and keen technology. His crew uses everything at their disposal, from thermal temperature readers to hidden cameras and microphones.

This series most likely won't scare the bejeezus out of  you in the beginning. However, as the Shibuya Psychic Research Center discovers more ghastly figures to purify or exorcise, the series turns into a frightening, fascinating X-Files-style mystery. Mai even discovers her own psychic powers as she investigate with her new friends.

The series hits an emotional peak with the third case, "The After School Hexer." Their biggest enemy curses the students and teachers around a high school with voodoo doll-style hexes known as hitogata. When the doll with the victim's name is destroyed, the person suffers fatally. Mai and Shibuya run into some precarious near-death situations, even falling into a sewer.

"Ghost Hunt" makes for a great alternative to the boring American prime time whodunits. The anime features some unexpected comedy episodes, including a gut-busting romantic episode in the park. An airheaded ghost possesses the spirit medium's body and starts cuddling next to the nonchalant Shibuya.

The series isn't perfect. The opening and ending credit sequences are disappointing, with cheap orchestral music and lame computer-generated images.

The characters are undeveloped and somewhat goofy. We don't completely understand why all these spiritual people are working for Shibuya in the first place. People will also wonder how the Lord's prayer and "holy water" would actually weaken the powers of ghosts. Fortunately, the anime is more based on religious and ghoulish mythology, so we expect to see some fantasy stories in the show.

"Ghost Hunt" is a surprisingly enjoyable show. Although Shibuya acts like a cold fish for the entire series, Mai and Shibuya make a lovely team. I'm looking forward to watching more mystery stories in this anime.

Image courtesy of rightstuf.com

You fail, Jonathan!

Did I ever mention that I still haven't finished watching "Gurren Laggan"? It's a sin, but I haven't finished watching episodes past the point where ______ dies. I've popped into certain snippets of the final half, but I still haven't finished the series from start to finish.

So for my new year's resolutions, I will make sure that I:

1. Finish "Gurren Laggan."
2. See all the other great romantic comedies and other romantic stuff that I've forgotten about.
3. Stop laying on my poor Pikachu pillow. I have two now, but I should take better care of the first one.

But first things first. Let's finish "Ghost Hunt" part one and see what else is left to review.

DVD Review: Lively dragons ruined by confusing story

The first part of "Dragonaut" falls apart with an overload of substories, main characters and lots of explosions.

To be fair, "Dragonaut" has a very simple plot which can be summarized in a single paragraph. Pluto's moon is sending dragons to destroy our planet. Our only hope is the Dragonauts, who pilot dragons born on the Earth.

Within this story is a whole slew of subplots. The main story focuses on Jin, a teenage boy who survived a horrible shuttle crash with an asteroid object. Two years later, he runs away from home and almost dies. He gets saved by Toa, a pink-haired girl who can transform into a dragon.

Many groups, including the ISDA and the Guillard New Emirates, want to capture Toa. Thus, Toa tries to keep Jin away from her, so he doesn't know about her destructive past. Of course, Jin can't let that happen, because he's in love with her.

Thus, the story should have played out in a basic fashion. However, the massive number of characters and subplots pile up to make one of the most complicated stories ever heard in an anime.

For starters, the ISDA owns a bunch of dragons. However, these dragons can transform into an anthropomorphic human form, with a special character name. Oh, and there's some special dragons known as the originals, who crash-landed on the Earth to do something with dragon eggs.

By the time a new species of neo-original dragons arrive on Earth, you won't even want to bother trying to understand it all. Nearly every character finds a way to double-cross their friend, forcing the anime to enter a mega apocalyptic sequence with explosions, evil factions, vengeful dragons and a whole slew of arch-rivals who want to ruin the world.


The series had immense potential. It started with a bunch of flashy, aerial fist-fights, transforming dragons and a love story. The girls looked unbelievably sexy, with ridiculously big breasts and curvaceous bodies. The main characters even had a clean look, wearing surfer-style clothes.

However, this is ultimately all that the series has. Part one of "Dragonaut" starts off as a fresh, exciting action series, but it winds down into an extremely convoluted plot that only truly dedicated fans would figure out. "Dragonauts" disappoints everyone with a lame script and a storyline with too many snags.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

There will be blood. Buckets of it.

I was going to finish up with Dragonaut, but then I remembered that I haven't finished watching "Baccano!" yet. The box set of "Baccano!" will be released on Dec. 30, in time for the post-New Year's sales.

The series is an incredible one, based around the conversations in-between fighting fatal battles with knives, guns and explosives. If my final article doesn't slow down my schedule, I should finish watching the anime sometime tomorrow.

So look forward to a review of one of the bloodiest series ever made.

Missing the Daily 49er

Well, it looks like I'm finished with the Daily 49er. I already miss working with everyone.

I'm probably going to update this blog more often, now that I have more free time. Breaking up with one of my favorite papers in the world is hard to do. I've labored with countless numbers of great people on the Daily 49er staff.

I love putting stories on paper. Electronic journalism just isn't as rewarding as the effort put into publishing literature in print. There's so much to enjoy about producing these pieces of precious paper every day.

Anyhow, I wish my staff members the best of luck as I venture into the real world. Geez, reality bites.

Anime preview: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya

 




The last episodes of the second season of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" mix mischief, emotional angst and science fiction in a fascinating story.

Despite the general disgust of the "Endless Eight" story arc, the last part, "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya," is well worth a second look. Although fans hated this series after "Endless Eight," they definitely have to stick around to watch Haruhi produce a student film with the S.O.S. Brigade.

The story is simple. Haruhi Suzumiya wants to do something with the club for the school's cultural fair. For whatever reason, she decides she will hold a film screening for a movie.

And of course, Kyon and the other group members have to participate in it. They don't have much of a choice, considering that the fate of the world depends on Haruhi's satisfaction.

This film, of course, is a direct reference to the student film spoof in episode 0 of the first season. This was a cheap, but laugh-out-loud funny movie with Asahina as a battle waitress.

Now, some people might think the film process might be boring. However, Haruhi makes things especially interesting, because anything she wishes has the possibility of coming true. She is a god, after all.

As we saw in the "Endless Eight" saga, Haruhi has the power to change all possible laws of time and space, rendering her as more powerful than even Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain.

Unlike Lain, Haruhi has no idea she has these powers, making the anime even more chaotic. Haruhi manages to talk store owners into giving her props and film equipment. She even manages to find a colored contact lens for Asahina to wear.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of this series after the "Endless Eight," no one can deny that "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the most unpredictable anime series ever made. It has the tendency to switch from a comedy to a dark drama instantly. The characters are constantly on the edge, especially in this story arc. Everyone is literally hoping that no one dies because of Haruhi's imagination.

At the same time, the story carries a deep, religious theme. In the 13th episode, Kyon and Haruhi go completely emotional, arguing over how they should film the movie. However, he knows that the film is much more productive than anything that the guys at school are doing. It's a touching love story with a god, even if it is very unconventional.

The second season is definitely a must-have series. Despite how much people hate "Endless Eight," this series is a serious reflection on the otaku culture of Japan as well as the fate of a post-war world. It is extremely volatile, because Haruhi is such an unpredictable character who has the potential to explode with anger and destroy the entire fabric of the the universe.

At the same time, it is a comedy. It will probably be one of the most infamous comedies ever created. With the grand implementation of special effects, science fiction and emotional angst, there's no telling where this anime will go.

Images courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.com