May Summary

Okay, here the end-of-the-month-summary is again, consisting of two top-16’s, a top-11, top-5 and two awards of best male and best female part (got the idea from Hopeless). Hopefully it’s a bit more organized than last times, and I also attempted to include a few pictures. Dunno if it’ll be sucessful. Ah well.

+ Top 16 Spring Anime +
Out of all the series aired at the beginning of the Spring Season, I managed to continue following sixteen of them, if you ignore the series which have yet to get subbed, along with Dai Mahou Touge and Yoshinaga-san chi no Gargoyle, who both have just one subbed episode which is just too little in order to be able to be included in this list. Ranking these sixteen anime from worst to best proved to be quite a challenge, as it seemed that each anime has its great things and its flaws. Still, this is what it managed to become. Just a small note: my taste in anime is pretty strange, so this list may vary a lot from those you see on other websites.

16: Utawareumono

Currently the only series in danger of being dropped. This is just such a waste of a good concept. The main characters are just incredibly dull, and everything just seems too easy for our main character, and the eighth episode, which showed the departure of one of the best character (the guy with the axe) and the introduction of a very childish, busty angel didn’t really help too much either. It’s also certain that the main female character will get separated more and more from our main character until they eventually end up together again. The only thing stopping me from dropping it is the main character’s past. It’d better be good.

15: Kamisama Kazoku

Horrible waste of a concept, though Tenko managed to save it.

14: Witchblade

Same with Kamisama Kazoku: the anime itself is horrible, though the little girl SO managed to save this.

13: Soul Link

Okay, here it goes: the voice acting features one of the most horrible miss-casts ever, the graphics look horrible, the art of each of the single character is painful to watch, except when some female skin is shown, at these moments, the art looks decent again, every male looks horribly dull while every female looks like the typical cast of a harem-series, the music is awful, the characters’ personalities are annoying, the main villain is horribly cliché and the anime almost lives on the amounts of fanservice it offers. Still, I like the story.

12: Jyuu Oh Sei

I’m currently having trouble whether to decide whether this show is good or not. The first five episodes showed nice conflicts, though the main character remained an 11-year old boy. But overall, I liked it. At the sixth episode, however, five years suddenly seem to have past, and the anime turns into a fight between the two remaining Tops. Even though this remains a good twist, there are too many unanswered questions. Like, what did Thor do in while these five years passed? Clearly, he couldn’t have been sitting on his back for all this time?

11: Ouran High School Host Club

I’m currently seeing people going all giddly over this anime. And they’re right. Ouran High School Host Club is a good anime. But still, it could’ve been better. Various moments are wasted, and the drama sometimes seems a bit too over the top. Still, I’m still waiting for the Yuri-element to be introduced in this show. According to flou, it shouldn’t take much longer now.

10: Black Lagoon

The themes and moral questions introduced in this anime are just awesome. It really makes you think in a different way about issues like these. The action shown also is some real eyecandy, and the characters are great to see as well. I’m especially a fan of Dutch.

9: Tsubasa Chronicle

If you start to think about it, this anime doesn’t make any sense. Solution: don’t think about it. The characters, stories and worlds introduced in each of the episodes all remain just great and extremely enjoyable.

8: Saiunkoku Monogatari

The story being told is just great, Shiurei is a great character, and especially the antics of king Ryuuki while trying to please Shiurei are brilliant. Still, nothing really special has happened, though that can also be because I didn’t understand half of what was happening because I was watching the raws instead of the subs.

7: Simoun

One of the surprise hits this month. My disgust for the main character was immediately taken away along with the third episode. It promises to be great, especially when I see the reactions of some people who saw the eighth episode. I’d just wish more of this would come out.

6: Makai Senki Disgaea

People need to stop bitching about this. The anime’s great, period. Okay, it may have been horrible when you compare it with the game, but having not played the game, I don’t care.

5: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

I just love picking out all of the details about what happens each episode, and making assumptions of what’s going to happen next. This anime is perfect for these kinds of goals. The concept itself is also pure brilliance, and let’s not begin to talk about the awesomeness of the way each of the different characters interacts with each other. Still, let’s face it: the anime remains flawed. The first arc was too much over the top, and the second arc really felt unfinished and rushed.

4: .Hack//Roots

This is another one of those really awesome anime, especially the characters and the music are just great. Every one of the chracters has something unique, and the music itself remains memorable. At the moment, it’s just getting better and better. Still, it’s not the best series around, but it definately comes close!

3: xxxHolic

The stories told every episode just continue to get better and better. The characters are extremely brilliant, especially the dialogue between each of the characters remains memorable. And even though you have to get used to the unusual art a bit, the art is just awesome to see. This seems like it’ll be a very solid anime.

2: Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament

Okay, it has its flaws, some of the scenes may be a bit too fast, and a few Deus ex Machina show up. Despite this, Good Witch of the West remains truly awesome. The art really is best ever to be featured in an anime, the themes introduced in every episode are great and especially the main characters are brilliant. I also really like the pacing and the direction this anime is heading for.

1: The Third

The previously mentioned anime all are awesome in their own way. Still, they all have their own major flaw. I’ve yet to discover a major flaw in The Third. Honoka is just an extremely versatile character. Her amount of development already ranks among the best anime around, and it’s only just reached its fourth episode. The battles also are just a feast for the eyes, not to mention the character design. This really will be a magnificent anime. Period.

+ Top 11 Older Anime +
I decided to not put these two categories together, as the older series have had more episodes in order to develop their series. Still, with cases like Ergo Proxy, who’s in danger of being overtaken by series like .Hack//Roots and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, this border remains very small. Anyway, this top 11 consists of my list of the 11 series which aired before spring 2006 and which were the best in the month of June. Series who finished in this month also count.

11: Bleach
Currently, Bleach is weak again. There were a couple of very strong and more importantly funny moments, but even these couldn’t save it from the weaker moments.

10: Ginga Densetsu Weed
There haven’t been too many releases out this month, but still, it remains an enjoyable anime. I get surprised every time it does the exact opposite of what a normal shounen-series would be doing, and some of the war tactics used in the latest episodes were just great to see.

9: Naruto
Call me crazy, but I actually like the fillers. They actually give some nice insight in all of the characters, and the stories told in each of the individual arcs are actually pretty good, especially the Laughing Shino-episode. Okay, it made no sense at all, but there were some extremely funny moments in it. I’m also a bit sadistical at the moment, I just love seeing all the Naruto-fans complain, flame towards the fillers and getting disappointed again. >:)

8: The Law of Ueki
This ended at the beginning of May, and it came with a very nice ending, providing a nice twist to close everything off. The last couple of episodes missed the brilliance that made Ueki shine, though.

7: Eureka7
I haven’t finished the series yet, simply because I’m too lazy to use the batched torrents (long story), therefore, I’ll just be keeping up with Nanashi’s releases. The season-long intermezzo continues, and Renton and Eureka develop more and more, providing some very nice, funny and entertaining situations. I indeed strongly recommend everyone who was turned off by the first episode to keep watching, as the anime shows one of the greater anime around.

6: Pani Poni Dash
The releases continue to come in very slow. And when I say slow, I mean slooooooow. Still, episode 24 totally made up for it, with one of the most brilliant parodies on ancient samurai-shows, with Becky as an evil landlord and Ichijou as a middle-aged samurai (hair included).

5: Ergo Proxy
The plot is about to turn into the amazing-direction. The basic concept of the anime is known, and now it’s up to the rest of the episodes to fill in this concept. So far, it’s really succeeding.

4: Blood+
This anime starts out mediocre, and as time progresses, it just continues to get better and better, without exception. Well then, what do you then get when this continues up to the 32th episode? Right, an amazing anime which only gets more amazing with every episode progressing. I’m really recommending this anime to anyone with a bit of patience.

3: PopoloCrois Story 1998
The living proof that childish designs and RPG-based anime are totally awesome. The story only continues to get better and better, and continues to deliver us numerous of amazing scenes.

2: Jigoku Shoujo
The first season of Jigoku Shoujo ended this month, and what an ending it was. Especially the pre-ending episodes were just too awesome. I can’t wait for the second season.

1: Noein
Yes, this certainly is one of the best anime ever made. It still hasn’t managed to beat Mahou Shoujotai, but apart from that, it surely reaches among the beauties of anime. Episode 22 was just pure brilliance.

+ Top 16 Summer 2006 +
Sometimes, my new anime previews cover all newly announced, sometimes they just cover the anime to come in the next season. I don’t really have a system for this, it mostly depends on my mood. This time, I was in the mood of giving thourough info about the anime which are to come in the summer of 2006, so here it is. Most people are currently worrying about series like the Second Honey and Clover, Genshinken 2, Mahou Sensei Negima, Kujian Unbalance, etc. I haven’t bothered to finish the first three, and I never even heard of the last one,which means that I don’t have anything to do with these new series. This was needed, as I have my own series to worry about: Arusu The Adventure. I’ve been letting it out from most of my new-anime previews, as there’s absolutely no information about it. The only thing that is known is that this anime has been announced to come in 2006. I first want some hard facts that it’s actually still in development, before I get all giddly over nothing. I so hope that these facts come soon.

The summer-season is so much different from the spring-season. Not only is the amount of released anime so much smaller, the settings vary as well. Spring covered a large amount of fantasy-series, while the summer season focuses more on modern or futuristic settings. It’ll be a very interesting twist. There are some real beauties among the new series. Most of the info is taken from the Animesuki-forums, AnimeNfo, AniDB and the respective official websites of the anime.

16: Night Head Genesis
(picture taken from official website). The Night Head-website seems to be a bit reluctant to give out information or material. Still, the website suggests that we’re dealing with another one of those big-budget anime. Still, this website almost made my computer crash, which didn’t make me too happy.

15: Tsuyokisu
“This anime is based on a game by Candy Soft. At first, it was released as an adult game, but later it was ported to PS2 platform as a non-adult game by Princess Soft. The game is a typical dating simulation that takes place in a high school. However, the selling point of this game is that all(?) the female characters are “tsundere”(Tsundere is a slang born in the Internet, and it is a word to describe the nature of female anime or game characters. Tsundere is a word combining two words, “Tsun Tsun” and “Dere Dere”. Both terms describe attitudes of a person. “Tsun Tsun” is used for cold/blunt/curt attitude, while “Dere Dere” is used when a person becomes spoony in front of his/her lover. Therefore, “Tsundere” is a female character who is usually cold, but she becomes spoony on her lover. Or, she is cold to the main character at first, but she becomes lovestruck later). The story revolves aroud a high school boy Tsushima Reo. He isn’t engaged in either sports or study, and he is always hanging around with his childhood friends, Samesuga Shinichi, Date Subaru, and Kanisawa Kinu. He secretly loves Kiriya Eria. She is a daughter of Kiriya Cooperation, very beautiful, smart, and a student leader. However, her acts are very eccentric. Therefore, at the same time she is loved by many students, she is hated by as many students. One day, because the main characters are being late for school, they try to sneak into the campus. However, a girl knocks them out to catch. It is Kurogame Otome. She is Reo’s cousin, and Reo thought of her as his elder sister when they were children, but they haven’t met for years. Soon, she begins to live with Reo in the same house in order to change his lazy life. In this way, he encounters various girls and makes friends with them.” (image and description taken from AnimeNfo). This is the big thing everyone’s waiting for. It’s supposed to be awesome. Still, I can not see the brilliance. The boy’ll probably end up with all of the different girls fallen in love with him, without any special reason except for the fact that he’s the main character. And “Tsundere”? What the heck is so special about a girl who’s cold and then opens up to our main character when she falls in love with him?

14: Tonagura!
“A childhood friend, Yuji, is coming home after a 10-year absence and Kazuki is eager to meet him again, hoping that he has become a handsome guy. In actuality, he’s become a very dirty pervert. In spite of her disappointment, he is making a move on her. Moreover, her older sister, Hatsune, tries to help their love along. Meanwhile, Yuji’s little sister, Marie, delights in shooting him with a paint gun.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). I’ve reviewed this series once before, back in december, and I remember that I really did not like the concept. I still don’t, but I have to say that the art begins to look too cute.

13: Chottoko Sister
“Haruma is a university student who lives alone. On Christmas Day, Santa Claus girl gives him a little sister.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). What the heck? Okay, this certainly is the strangest description I’ve ever seen. This’ll either be a mildly succesful comedy, or some material for the loli-fans among us. Judging from the picture taken from the website, I’m afraid it’ll be the latter.

12: Bokura ga Ita
“The beginning of high school life, also means the beginning of a brand new love life to the girls. For the lively high school freshman, Takahashi Nanami, nicknamed Nana, this is also the case… Incidentally, a popular guy, Yano Motoharu, happens to be in the same class as Nana. 2/3 of the girls in class fall in love with him but Nana seems to hate him?!”(taken from AniDB, picture taken from official website). No offence, but the story seems like the most standard love-story ever. I hope the side-characters can save it.

11: Zero No Tsukaima
“A normal high school student, Hiraga Saito, was summoned into another world. The witch who summoned him was Louise. She was very cute, but she was very haughty, and she had no facility for magic so that she was called “Louise the Zero” because of the success rate of her magic. While he was embarrassed, Louise suddenly pushed her lips to his. Soon, mysterious letters appeared on the back of his hand, and he became her familiar spirit. Then, Saito begins to live with Louise in a boarding house of Tristein Magical Academy. Every day, he is abused, scolded, and loved? by this haughty but cute girl. This is how his exciting days filled with courage, humiliation, and love begin.”(taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website) I can really see this one becoming the next MagiKano, including the extremely cheesy ending. Still, it provides a nice variety. Instead of the girls being the boy’s slave like in most harems, the boy gets to be the girl’s slave.

10: Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyousei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro
“The close relationship between political and business circles doesn’t die; politicians and government officers line their pockets taking advantage of their positions. Zaizen Jotaro is an investigator who is allowed to use extralegal methods to crack down these power abusing criminals.” (image and description taken from AnimeNfo). Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyousei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro, otherwise known as the anime with the very, very, very, very long name. Still, the concept seems like it’ll show promise.

9: Project BLUE Chikyuu SOS
“Now, unknown menace is approaching to the human being from outer space to invade. AD 2000, highly developed science reaches its acme, and the human begins are enjoying their brilliant age using dream engine, “G reactor”. At the opening ceremony of a bullet train, Inazuma-go, which runs from the capital Metropolitan to New York only for 90 minutes, Billy Kimura, Benny Carter, and Lotta witness a mysterious event. Inazuma-go is swallowed into iridescent light and gone. While Billy and Lotta are investigating the event, they know other disappearances occur all over the world. However, these events are not informed citizens, and they haven’t noticed them. United Nations organizes the Earth Defense Organization, Labyrinth, to investigate the event in order to confront the menace.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). I like the character designs so far. The plot seems a bit unrealistic, though (especially if Billy, Benny and Lotta also appear to be members of these Earth Defense Organization). Still, it can go into the right direction.

8: Muteki Kanbanmusume
“Onimaru Miki is a daughter of a Chinese restaurant, and she helps her mother to run the restaurant. She is supposed to be a Kamban Musume, or a poster girl, of the restaurant. However, she likes to fight and always makes troubles. Whether is she useful for the restaurant or not? This is a daily comedy revolves around Miki, and other unique characters. For example, Ohta Akio is a son of a vegetable store, and he is an otaku of Ranger series. Kannazuki Megumi is another Kanban Musume of a bakery store. At first glance, she is quite and cute, but actually she is a dissembler. She thinks Miki of her rival, and she disturbs Miki’s job in various dirty way.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). You know what? This can actually become pretty good, provided that the creators don’t focus the jokes on countless amounts of fanservice.

7: Chevalier
“In the 18th, in France, just before the French Revolution, it is Louis 15th Dynasty. Versailles enjoys its prosperity, with the gently flow of the Seine, Paris is full of beauty as well as grotesque chaos. At a dawn, a dead body of a woman floats in the Seine. Her name is Lia de Beaumon. On her coffin, mysterious letters – PSALMS – were carved. The little brother, D’Eon de Beaumon, works for the secret police, and chasing the consecutive lady missing case. His sister is one of the victims. Then, the history of taboo opens to D’Eon investigating the incidents.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). Another one of the big series, playing around the time of the french revolution. It seems to bring a bit of fantasy into the conflict. Overal, it can become good. The setting’s quite original, and it seems capable of doing great things.

6: Kemonozume
“The woman who he loves is a terrifying monster. The man she loves is the strongest monster hunter. They belong to adversary families, but they are attracted by the fate hard to resist.”(taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). Aah, a tragic love story between two characters who are destined to kill each other. Can become really worthwile if rightly executed.

5: Flag
“In 20xx, a civil war broke out in a small country in Asia is getting hard in spite of dispatch of UN forces. But a picture taken by accident in the battle field accelerates the peace process. It is a picture of a flag. Although they are enemies, they cooperate together to fly it in a sanctuary, and the flag becomes the symbol of the peace. However, just before the peace agreement is achieved, the flag is robbed by an armed extremist group in order to obstruct the truce. UN decides to send SDC (Special Development Command) and a cameraman to record their activities. The cameraman is Shirasu Saeko. She is the cameraman who took the picture of the flag. At first they think the mission is easy because they wear latest armed suits, HAVWC(High Agility Versatile Weapon Carrier), but they gets in trouble by unexpected attacks.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). I like the way that the main character is a photograper, sent on a mission in order to record the activities from some enemy extremists. I’m also a fan of the character designs. The fights can still mess up the anime, though, but for now I’m positive.

4: Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique ~Kokoro Mezameru Toki~
(image taken from official website) I’ve got no idea what this anime is about, but the art shown on the official site promises that this will be another one of those masterpieces. I’ll definately belooking forward to this series.

3: Coyote Ragtime Show
“The war has continued on the planet, Grazeland. Because the Earth Federation Governent is afraid the war might leap to other planets, they decided to destroy the Graceland by photon bombs. There are only 7 days left until the time limit. However, there is an inheritance of the Pirate King, Blues, somewhere in this planet.” (taken from AnimeNfo, picture taken from official website). When I first saw this, I was a bit reluctant about it. Still, the trailer convinced me: the combination of the great looking character, amazing music and creative concept will most probably be just awesome.

2: NHK ni Youkoso
Based on a novel by Takimoto Tatsuhiko, turned into a manga with illustration by Ooiwa Kenji. Japanese shut-ins, loli h-games and conspiracies, oh my! The existence of the evil organization of “NHK”, I happened to find it. All the reasons why I dropped out from the university, being unemployed and a “Hikikomori” – homicidal young person – are due to NHK`s conspiracy. I`ll keep fighting till the day I will beat the vice organization. But one day, an assassin from a religious group, shows up to kill me. She is a neat and beautiful girl, Misaki-chan, with a parasol. Who is she? What can save our future contaminated with eroticism, violence and drugs? Love, courage, or friendship? (image and description taken from AniDB) This really is a concept I’ve fallen in love with. It can fail horribly, yes, I know. But at the moment, it makes for such a great concept for an anime.

1: Otogi Juushi Akazukin
(image taken from official site) Everyone who’s been reading my monthly summaries knows that this is the series I’m really looking forward to. This is the first anime ever which is based on a figurine, other than a manga/novel/RPG/hentai game, and it promises to be awesome. The OVA, which came out last year, certainly proved that. The setting is about two worlds who live right next to each other. A world of magic and a world of technology. God split these worlds apart in order to prevent humans from joining magic and technology together, because that would become a bit too dangerous. The story focuses around a young boy who seems to posess some special powers and lives in the technology world. There are a couple of bad guys after his powers and so, the magic world sends a young girl in order to help him. Fairy tales also seem to be a strong influence in this anime, as the OVA showed us Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots references (probably even more, but I unfortunately forgot).

+ Best Male Character: +

Kurogane – Yes, Kuro-tan is shining again. Despite all of the things he has to endure from Fye, he remains his cool self.
Runner-ups: Haseo (.Hack//Roots), Sakisaka (.Hack//Roots), Roux (Good Witch of the West), Yuu (Noein), Domeki (xxxHolic)

+ Best Female Character: +

Honoka – Yes, Honoka’s probably one of the most fleshed out characters ever. Add that to the fact that her personality is just great, and you have a recipe for success.
Runner-ups: Firiel (Good Witch of the West), Shiurei (Saiunkoku Monogatari), Flonne (Makai Senki Disgaea), Yuuko (xxxHolic), Rena (Higurashi)

+ Top-5 Episodes +
5: xxxHolic – 8
This episode was just amazing to see. First starting with Watanuki, cleaning out Yuuko’s stuff and noticing the rug with the butterflies, the episode then displays a great story about a woman who loses herself and breaks down.

4: Ergo Proxy – 9
Both Vincent and Pino contributed to this amazing episode. The bad guy also was just great to see. It’s just too bad that Ril was nowhere to be found.

3: Jigoku Shoujo – 25
Emna Ai’s past. And it’s one of the saddest and best pasts ever.

2: PopoloCrois Story – 10
Seeing Gamigami trying to get his hands on the Crown of Wisdom was just too awesome to see. Finally we see a guy who has the right to call himself a genius. ^^

1: Noein – 22
One of the best episodes ever. No question possible. This was just so horribly sad for Isami, Miho and Ai.