Sarah

Kanon is a story set in a snowy town of Hokkaido.  The main protagonist, Yuichi Aizawa is returning to the town after being away for seven years.  You discover over time that he used to visit during summer vacation back in grade school, but he does not remember anything from his past.  Yuichi Aizawa moved in with his Aunt Akiko and Cousin Nayuki Minase to finish out high school.

Kanon
4 Stars

Kanon is a story set in a snowy town of Hokkaido.  The main protagonist, Yuichi Aizawa is returning to the town after being away for seven years.  You discover over time that he used to visit during summer vacation back in grade school, but he does not remember anything from his past.  Yuichi Aizawa moved in with his Aunt Akiko and Cousin Nayuki Minase to finish out high school.

Over the course of time, Yuichi reunites with several girls who turn out to have a great deal with his past and future.  Ayu Tsukimiya, a fun-loving girl from Yuichi’s childhood reappears by running into him on the street; she is stuck in a haze, and does not remember much from her past.  Makoto Sawatori shows up unexpectedly and begins attacking Yuichi for no apparent reason.  After the attack, Yuichi brings her back to the house and she is welcomed into the household by Akiko and Nayuki, where they learn of her extreme amnesia.  Nayuki Minase is Yuichi’s Cousin, but she also has always been in love with him.  Nayuki is also a great athlete and is in the same class with Yuichi.  Shiori Misaka, sister of Kaori, shows up outside of Yuichi’s school in the courtyard waiting for her sister that never comes.  Over time, Shiori and Yuichi become close, allowing her to confide in him about her illness.  Mai Kawasumi, a very quiet and often understood, third-year student at the same high school as Yuichi.  Mai remains silent, slowly explaining herself as the series progresses.  Mai’s one and only friend until Yuichi came along was Sayuri Kurata.

The main girls in the anime cause the plot to be ripped into five pieces.  With a plot in so many sections it is hard to fully grasp everything, although, Kanon does a fine job at explaining things plainly.  The use of flashbacks and clues allows you to follow the story with ease.  The flashbacks are used to show when a memory has been rediscovered within the character.  Yuichi slowly remembers bits and pieces of his past, which included Nayuki, Ayu, Makoto and Mai.  Yuichi had known each of these girls, and either completely blocked out their memory or parts of it in Nayuki’s case.

Ayu, as you will discover, was a girl he had promised to return to after the school year let out again.  But what Yuichi does not remember until the very end was that Ayu had an accident right before he left town, she fell out of the large tree in the forest clearing.  Makoto was once a fox who he befriended before the Kanon story started.  Mai was yet another friend from Yuichi’s past.  Yuichi had deserted each of these girls, where they continued to think about him, creating their own insanity.  Yuichi helped each of the girls in the story in some way.  Ayu eventually recovers from her comatose state, kind of a sappy ending though.  Makoto died but only after she accomplished every wish she ever made thanks to Yuichi.  Mai, after defeating the demons she believed to be attacking her and Yuichi returned to her happier self.  Shiori finally recovered from her illness after Kaori accepted her as a sister, which is all she wanted from the start.  Moreover, Yuichi finally realized that he had hurt Nayuki all those years ago.

This is my first hardcore romance drama, and I have to say that it was a pretty confusing anime series all together.  You never fully understand Mai’s demons, Makoto’s ability to become human then finally vanishing, Ayu’s ability to detach from her comatose-self and I am still left wondering why everyone had such horrible cases of amnesia.  Kanon was sappy, tear-filled and most certainly strange.  The plot was incredibly difficult to follow, especially with all the amnesia involved, although I did like the flashbacks.  It seems that many people agree with the 4.5 out of 5 star rating on this anime, but I cannot seem to figure out why.  I did not particularly enjoy this anime, but maybe I just need more action to enjoy something.

Ever just wanted someone who wronged you to just disappear?  Well Hell Girl will “exact your revenge” with only one cost, the string puller and the victim of your straw doll, shall go to hell.

Hell Girl is a young girl who will come to you if you enter someones name into the Hotline to Hell website.  Except, the only time that the Hotline to Hell is accessible is at midnight every night, and only those with true hatred can access it, otherwise the site just times out.  The Hotline to Hell and Hell Girl idea is considered just an urban legend, and no one believes it is real until they use it for themselves.

Hell Girl
4 Stars

Ai Enma and her band of three take you on a series of straw doll deaths, allowing you to see what she does, and also to and show you more cases of when Hotline to Hell has been used.  These cases finally lead up to the following of one character.  The “Devil Child,” also known as Takuma Kurebayashi, is followed for the rest of the series. Takuma is first is visited by Kikuri, a purple eyed girl who is with Hell Girl, in episode fourteen.  Throughout the series you hardly know anything of Hell Girl or the other four, but towards the end it flashes back to their pasts and how they met.  Wanyuudou was originally an aid to a princess, and he died along side her in a stage coach accident.  After he died he continued to haunt the road where the accident occurred as a flaming wheel.  Hone-Onna was once a geisha who was betrayed by her friend Kiyo.  Ren Ichimoku is known to be an artifact spirit, meaning he was once a katana.  Slowly you find out who Ai Enma was, and Kikuri stays a secret until the very last episode.

Ai Enma, once an ordinary girl, is to wander the world doing the bidding of others.  She is forced to carry on the sins of others by taking people to Hell.

Takuma and Ai Enma have lived similar lives.  Everyone in Takuma’s town are blaming him for the murders and disappearances.  Which coincidentally are caused by Ai Enma and everyone accessing the Hotline to Hell.  Ai Enma is forced to carry out each request unless the person declines the contract, eventually she disobeys her ‘master’ which leads to her death by yet another angry mob.

Ai Enma always explains with each customer that, “If you truly wish to eliminate your antagonist you must until that red string.  If you remove the string, you shall officially enter into a contract with me.  The one you see revenge upon shall be taken immediately to Hell.  However, if I deliver your revenge, I must have you make restitution to me.  When one person is cursed, two graves are dug.  If you accept the contract, thy soul shall fall into the pit of Hell.  But that is only after you die.”

This series was pretty decent, but it was not exactly as much of a horror as I heard it was.  In the beginning the series started out a little strange, with no real characters, but once you started to identify with Takuma it was easier to get into.  I enjoyed the idea of the series, having a Hotline to Hell is neat, but anyone could send literally anyone to Hell in an instant.  To me, a world like that would be a little scary, it would be hard to trust anyone.  Especially when you see family sending other family members off to Hell, or supposed best friends sending the other to Hell.  It seems like a rather frightening dog-eat-dog situation.

Asatte No Houkou starts out with a young lady in her twenties named Shōko Nogami returning to Japan from America. She first runs into Karada and Hiro Iokawa near a wishing shrine, where Shōko bends down next to Karada and makes a wish on a stone. Karada, a young girl about twelve years old, invites Shōko, a stranger to her, to join her brother and her to the beach. While at the beach Shōko unknowingly insults Karada by saying, she looked childish in the barrettes her brother bought. Karada, thinking she was a burden, wished to become an adult faster to release Hiro from having to take care of a little kid. When Shōko met back up with Karada at the wishing shrine, they both look at each other, wide eyed and realize that they have both changed ages.

Asatte No Houkou
3 & 1/2 Stars

Join some interesting characters in a story of friendship, love and supernatural happenings.

Asatte No Houkou starts out with a young lady in her twenties named Shōko Nogami returning to Japan from America. She first runs into Karada and Hiro Iokawa near a wishing shrine, where Shōko bends down next to Karada and makes a wish on a stone. Karada, a young girl about twelve years old, invites Shōko, a stranger to her, to join her brother and her to the beach.  While at the beach Shōko unknowingly insults Karada by saying, she looked childish in the barrettes her brother bought. Karada, thinking she was a burden, wished to become an adult faster to release Hiro from having to take care of a little kid. When Shōko met back up with Karada at the wishing shrine, they both look at each other, wide eyed and realize that they have both changed ages.

Shōko once a twenty something adult is now a twelve-year-old girl. Karada went from a childish twelve year old to a young adult. Realizing what had happened Karada and Shōko decide to try to get things straightened out before they told anyone, leading Hiro to search all day and night for his little sister, who now has become an adult. What he does not know is that Shōko and Karada are right under his nose. The stone that the two wished on disappears and there is no way to change them back to their original states.

Jumping back to understand more of the story, Hiro was studying abroad when his parents passed away. He told his lover, Shōko, that he had to come back to Japan to attend their funeral and would return shortly. Unfortunately, for Shōko, Hiro stayed in Japan to watch over his little sister. When he did not return Shōko was distraught, she began to hate him for everything, mainly his cowardly nature. Naturally, anyone would get that way if someone were to disappear like that. Shōko never understood why Hiro had left, but she finally decided to pick up her life and get a new start. Coincidentally she moves to a small town in Japan the place where Hiro and Karada call home.

Hiro and Karada invite Shōko, the now young girl, to come live with them and as the story progresses you see the relationship between the three altering. Hiro tells Shōko that Karada is not his real sister, but explaining they are still siblings. Before Karada brought Shōko into their lives with her young careless nature, Shōko and Hiro were an ocean apart. Although, Karada realized she brought the couple closer together too late and runs away in hopes of relieving them of the burden of taking care of her.

It seems Tetsumasa Amino, Karada’s friend, goes on a series long search to find her. He drives himself crazy before running away with his friend Kotomi Shionzaki in search of her, vowing that he would never give up. They find Karada, only she is going by the name Satou, and do not recognize her. Karada struggles with herself still not wanting to tell anyone who she really is, but finally breaks down to Tetsumasa. Tetsumasa does not believe her initially and the news only aggravates him.

Without leaving much for an ending, the entire gang goes home. Shōko goes to the train station to see Kotomi safely onto the train as she heads back to her parents and just before she leaves, she slips the wishing stone into Shōko’s pocket. At last, the girls can finally go back to their original states!

I was looking around on the Internet for new content when I stumbled on a year old post on Anime News Network. Granted these are 2006’s animes but they are different from the current ones on AdultSwim. In the post, they listed off 25 of the year’s animes, so I picked at random and ended up with this one.

This anime is only half of the others I have reviewed lately, and by half I do not mean it is not as good as the others. It seems like every anime includes love and certainly despair, along side the usual fight for your life drama or quest for something. Asatte No Houkou may lack the battles with monsters, robots and villains, but it does not lack in story.  The plot is plain, but each episode shows a little more of the past, making it random and hard to follow if you have not seen the beginning. When you first start out the series, you have no prior knowledge of the characters, which is why I jumped back with a history update. For me I usually like to know what the characters are about prior to getting into the story, it makes the story a little easier to explain. With that aside, I would have to say that this anime is enjoyable still. This is the first series I have watched that is the romance/drama only. The ending was a little bit of a drop off, but you do get to see Hiro and Shōko are finally back together like before, even though Karada is there!

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the currently popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.

Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
4 Stars

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.
This movie does not require previous knowledge of the television series, but does deal with a lot of the same things the television series covers. All you really need to know is that the movie and the series for that matter are set in the feudal era, in ancient Japan where demons roam and are constantly trying to dominate everything in their world.  Everyone is in search of Shikon Jewel shards.  The Shikon Jewel is also known as the Sacred Jewel or the Jewel of Four Souls. The Shikon Jewel is extremely powerful and can easily make any demon the most powerful being. To know why the Jewel is split up you will have to watch the series, which I highly recommend.

 

The story starts out with an oversized scorpion demon and the gang defeats it easy. Soon after Sango’s faithful companion, Kirara begins to react from the scorpion’s poison that she was injured by. Kirara runs away underMenoumaru’s minions, Huri and Ruri’s spell. Kirara begins to fight against Sango. Sango continues to struggle throughout the entire movie with trying to save Kirara.
Miroku has problems of his own; Ruri uses her power to copy Miroku’s Wind Tunnel. She uses it against him until she is sucked into her own Wind Tunnel. Allowing Miroku to see what is in the future for him.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, and the son of Lord Hyoga. Lord Hyoga was defeated over 200 years ago by InuYasha’s father. Menoumaru’s moth minions bring souls of the near by villagers, increasing his strength, power and size. With the combination of absorbing the souls and Lord Hyoga’s powers, Menoumaru becomes strong enough to deflect InuYasha’s Wind Scar. InuYasha alone cannot defeat Menoumaru, but with Kagome and him working together, they stand a chance. Kagome and InuYasha team upand attempt to attack Menoumaru, but nothing seems to work since he is so strong. Eventually Kagome and InuYasha discover how to defeat him, with Kagome’s sacred arrows and InuYasha’s Back Lash their attack pierces through Menoumaru’s barrier.
A little background information to better understand the six main characters.
InuYasha is a half demon, which allows him to wield the Tessaiga. He has a short temper and a lack of common sense when it comes to dealing with Kagome’s feelings. He cares for Kagome, much like how he felt for Kikyou. His lack of patience and his hot head nature gets him
Kagome, a japanese junior high school girl who has the ability to travel back and forth between our time and the feudal era. Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyou, a priestess, who also inherited Kikyou’s exceptional archery skills.
Miroku is a monk who is cursed with the Wind Tunnel, a hole in his hand that sucks everything in its path into a void, which he inherited from his father.
Sango is a demon slayer who uses a Hikaikotsu made out of the bones of demons [it looks like a giant boomerang].
Shippou is a child fox demon who was orphaned and the others took him in. He tries to help, and sometimes succeeds but he really is too young to make much of a difference.
Kirara is a nekomata demon, a small two tailed cat that can transform into a large flying fire cat. When under the control of Huri Kirara breaks the spell and returns to Sango’s side.
This movie has three main antagonists, Menoumaru, Huri and Ruri.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, son of Lord Hyoga, he attemps to take revenge on InuYasha for his father’s downfall over 200 years ago.
Huri is one of Menoumaru’s minions, she uses her power of mind control to take Kirara from Sango.
Ruri is another one of Menoumaru’s minions, she has the ability to copy others powers. She uses her power to have a Wind Tunnel like Miroku’s.

InuYasha has been one of my favorite television series for a few years now, that might have something to do with it being aired on Cartoon Network’s AdultSwim over the past few years.  The movie is equally as good as the series.  I enjoyed the focus on one main antagonist.  In the series InuYasha and the others are trying to rid their world of a character called Naraku.  I was surprised to see that they did not even include Naraku in the movie, but glad none the less to see a different demon try to take on the team.  The love triangle between InuYasha, Kagome and the dead Kikyou is one that is entertaining.  Not to mention the love interest between Miroku and Sango, Miroku the lecher constantly flirts with any woman he meets while Sango punishes him with her jealousy.  This movie is one to check out, and hopefully it will turn you into a fan of InuYasha.

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
5 Stars

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

In the first mission of the series, the person giving them aid in the tunnel betrays Sousuke and his team. Captain Vincent Blueno, who goes by Ogma-1, was responsible for the communications maintenance in the Yangtze River Tunnel hostage rescue operation in Nanjing. Captain Blueno betrayed his comrades by leaking all of the radio transmissions to Gates, allowing Gates to know every move they made before they made them.

Sousuke is constantly battling with enemies, but his biggest battle is trying to fit in with normal society. He is told in the end that he disrupted the life of Chidori and ultimately put her into more danger than she normally would have encountered.

Although Sousuke could not adapt to Tokyo and city life, Chidori adapted to Sousuke’s military way of life. After Sousuke is taken off the mission of protecting Chidori, she starts to notice things are wrong and begins to think like Sousuke. She becomes suspicious of everything and comes up with a plan to save her life. The events that take place after Sousuke leaves make Chidori realize that she needs Sousuke and actually admits to liking him.

Chidori is attacked by the younger of the twins while the other twin runs a rampage in Hong Kong. Chidori saved herself, and many of her techniques came from Sousuke’s methods.

After Sousuke leaves, he encounters several antagonists including some new and some old. Gates, even crazier than Gauron, is the major antagonist. Gates is a general leader to an organization called Amalgam; this organization’s one desire is to bring down Mithril. Gates has in his possession several Venom Arm Slaves and he and his followers attempt to take out Mithril. Gates only answers to one person inside the organization Amalgam, Mithril’s Captain Testarossa’s brother, Leonard Testarossa.

Leonard’s one weakness is Chidori; he confesses at the end that he loves her. Where Leonard lacks there he makes up with strength brought on by his human-sized Arm Slaves who obey his every command.

Leonard is also a Whispered, along with his sister Captain Tessa Testarossa of the Tuatha de Danaan and Chidori Kaname. Sousuke thought Gauron had died when he set his Arm Slave to self-destruct in FMP! I was even shocked to see Gauron had survived and as the infamous sensei of the twins.

When Gauron reappears in this story, he brings followers Xia Yu Lan and Xia Yu Fan. Gauron stays in hiding until he sends out the message saying, “To the son of Bdakshon’s Tiger. Meet Hamidra at Tsim Sha Tsui.” Gauron only expected one person to be able to decipher the message and expected Kashim, or better known as Sousuke, to find him. The plan was to lure Sousuke to Gauron’s bedside, where he lay crippled from the self-destruction of his Arm Slave in the final episode of FMP!

Gauron finally dies for good when Sousuke learns that Chidori was to be killed on his orders.  In attempts to kill Chidori, Gauron’s trained assistant, Xia Yu Lan died in battle by the hands of Leonard Testarossa. Her twin sister, Xia Yu Fan’s mission was to create commotion in the city of Hong Kong with her Arm Slave, which eventually lead her to death moments after hearing of Xia Yu Lan’s death.

After seeing all three of the series linked to Sousuke and Chidori, I really am saddened to be done with it all. I really enjoyed watching these characters and as many have said, I felt connected with them. The characters’ lines seemed well thought out and made the viewer connect with each character. The story line in the thirteen-episode show was exciting and shocking; I never would have guessed Gauron would survive from the explosion. I enjoyed the dark comical relief from Gates; he often would revert to his less sane side by hauling off and shooting his followers for no reason. Overall, each of the Full Metal Panic series are good to look into for those who like action, battle scenes, explosions, drama and love stories. Try not to be discouraged by the love story and drama part, not all battle/action animes can survive without a little drama.