Posts Tagged ‘harem’

Finally I am digging into what appears to be this year’s harem series of choice, Shuffle! Vol. 1 from Funimation.

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Girls Bravo Vol. 6 Released By: Geneon Released: 5/9/06 Reviewed: 6/12/08 Related Reviews Rated: 17+

The Story

In the final four episodes of this series, we start with a touching episode about Koyomi’s search for the father she never got to meet after seeing him on accident while watching television. With some help from her friends (some more than others) the search becomes a day long affair. Meanwhile, the mysterious woman introduced on the previous volume is putting a plan into action.

Miharu is taken back to Seiren by a special agent working for another with an agenda of her own and seals the gate between the two worlds. In the end, it will come down to one character finding a way to open the gate and everyone else to enter in order to save Miharu before it’s too late.

Good and the Bad

Wow.

Backwards and forward, inside and out; this volume shows the audience exactly what this series is truly capable of being. Touching, action filled, dramatic, funny; all of the things that this series should have been from the beginning are shown on this volume.

Finally moving past the filler episodes, audiences have little to complain about with this volume. Finally moving past the filler episodes that did little for the plot and stupid jokes that had no meaning beyond showing as much fan service as possible, the writing in this final volume came across wonderfully.

The comedy in the final four episodes maintains the same over the top physical theme that audience members have come to expect from this series for the most part. Fans who watch this series in its English format though are going to get an extra treat though as the writers really did a great job with the dialogue. While all of the lines retain the same feeling behind them, ADR Director/Writer Patrick Seitz, does a fabulous job of altering them just enough to give the punch lines some extra oomph. Many ADR writers have a very bad habit of adding in cursing just for the sake of having it there while Seitz does a great job of only adding them when they will actually do something for the line that wasn’t there previous. Giving Tomoko the best line in the volume during the final episode was the kicker though.

The ending for this series isn’t perfect naturally. While for the most part I was very entertained and pleased with how the final episode played out, there are some issues with the final confrontations and climaxes that had me rolling my eyes as an audience member. Moving past that though, the epilogue does a wonderful job of wrapping things up and creating an ending that doesn’t feel like a cop out. Best of all, NO loose ends!

Music

As with previous volumes, the music in this volume is well composed and placed. While fans are robbed of getting the full ending theme to go with the credits of the final episode, the series throws in some nice musical treats including a short off vocal version of the opening theme during the final episode and some wonderful soft piano pieces played early in the volume.

Dub vs. Sub

As mentioned earlier, the entire primary and supporting cast gets their chance to shine in this final volume and this extends to both vocal casts. On the dub side, Carrie Savage really gets to have some wonderful touching scenes in the first episode as Koyomi. Two other notable performances on this volume belong to Hunter MacKenzie Austin and Liam O’Brian as Lisa and Kazuhara Fukuyama respectively. Throughout the entire series, these two characters have been about as two dimensional as they get and have provided nothing but occasional comic relief. Finally though, these two really get a chance to break out of those roles and show emotions other than lust and greed. Perhaps if these two had been able to break out sooner this series would’ve taken a much more interesting turn but now we’re just getting into fan speculation I suppose.

Extras

Original US trailer and a production art gallery.

Overall

Seriously… why couldn’t the entire series have been as good as this final volume? While this statement starts to veer into speculation territory again, I can’t help but think that if this series had just trashed all of the stupid filler episodes (did we really need that many episodes about Miharu’s obsession with phallic shaped foods?) and shortened it to one season, this could have gone down as a great harem series that I would have gladly recommended to anyone. Instead though, we have a brilliant closing volume that audiences had to wait far too long to see. While there were more than a few times when I wanted to give up on this series, these final episodes make me glad that I didn’t. Action, tears, drama, heart break, comedy… everything that you want is here. There are plenty of times when this series is going to test your patience but seeing the series closed out so neatly and in a sweet fashion… almost makes it worth it. Recommended.

Final Grade: A

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Girls Bravo Vol. 5 Released By: Geneon Released: 3/7/06 Reviewed: 6/10/08 Related Reviews Rated: 17+

Yes I realize that it’s odd to review a Geneon series now but eh, might as well.

The Story

The volume starts with a filler episode that has the girls working at a game convention run by a company owned by Fukuyama’s family. After one of the girls drops out at the last minute though, Yukinari must step in as the MC in drag much to the delight of the crowd and a completely unknowing Fukuyama who gets much more than he bargained for.

In the second filler episode of the volume, Tomo is bored and pouting so everyone tries to entertain her with a game. When that doesn’t work though, Fukuyama and crew enter with an adult version of mahjong involving rubs, stripping and erotic cosplay. Scheming ensues.

In the third filler episode of the volume, the series takes an odd time out to tell a detective story. Naturally Fukuyama is in the leading role as the detective trying to catch the Phantom Bunny thieves played by the girls as they try to steal a mysterious and valuable mask. It’s up to Fukuyama to stop these nefarious criminals and put them behind bars.

The final episode of the volume finally brings us back around to our primary story with Miharu’s older sister, Maharu, getting transported to Earth on the same day as the school culture festival. Immediately she goes in pursuit of Tomo and Koyomi at the festival to find out why they still haven’t found her a husband. On the other hand, it seems that the gate between Earth and Seiren has become unstable and someone is on Earth that shouldn’t be.

Good and the Bad

Here we are entering the final third of the series and yet the volume opens up with three episodes of filler. While every episode on the volume has at least a small amount of foreshadowing towards the future, for the most part the stories on this volume are mostly meaningless fan service episodes that serve no greater purpose.

Of course, one can’t really complain about this too much since this series has long since established that it’s not afraid to completely deviate away from the story in order to make sure the audience has more than enough fan service. This close to the end though, it absolutely boggles my mind that the story was so grossly ignored on this volume.

I can be forgiving though and I would have been happy to forgive the filler episodes of the volume had the writing in them been better but with such flimsy stories (even by harem series standards), I was losing interest in the volume within the first fifteen minutes and really had to push my way through the rest of the volume.

Not all of the writing was terrible though. Giving Ebi some lines in the mahjong episode was unexpected and worth a couple of laughs and while the audience will have no idea at the time, they will be exposed to a few seconds of foreshadowing during each episode. It’s not much but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

Not everything about this volume is bad though and I really have to give credit where credit is due. I realize that the series is really only three years old and that’s not a long span of time, I had completely forgotten how well animated this series is. Having lost track of it such a long time ago, picking up this series and being reminded of the wonderful character designs (especially Miharu and Lisa Fukuyama) and background animations really started to take me back and remind me of some of the great things about this series that I loved from early on.

Music

Girls Bravo continues to be one of those rare series with wonderful background music that plays beautifully both in context and out. While the animation and characters tend to be hyperactive almost 100% of the time, it’s a wonderful treat to hear some of the softer themes that play during the rare slow moments and soft closing moments of each episode. The soft violin theme that plays in the closing moments of this volume is really a great example of this.

Dub vs. Sub

I really preferred this series in its original Japanese. The characters come across as much more natural and the verbal gags are communicated much more neatly creating a better viewing experience. The physical gags, as usual it seems, do come across a bit better in the English track but they are also usually punched up with some extra dialogue to really get the point across.

Extras

Just clean animations and production sketches.

Overall

I know that I’ve said a lot of less than nice things about this volume and all of it is deserved. The series remains cute but with only a few episodes left, it seems that they had one final spurt of… let’s call it creativity that the staff felt the need to get out. The first three episodes are entertaining in their own way I suppose but the few seconds of foreshadowing in each one do not make them any more worth watching than they would be otherwise and so you can completely get away with just watching the last episode to set yourself up for the series finale. I won’t be sorry to see this one end but with over twenty episodes of build up so far, I would be lying if I said I weren’t the least bit curious about how they plan on wrapping it all up.

Final Grade: C-

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Magikano Vol. 1: A New Witch In Town Released By: Funimation Released: 12/4/07 Reviewed: 2/14/08 Related Reviews Rated: TV-14

 

Intro 

 

            A little bit ‘Maburaho’, a little bit ‘Azumanga Daioh’, a lot of funny.

 

The Story

 

            In this story, our hero is a very average middle school student named Haruo Yoshikawa who lives with his three younger sisters; Maika (oldest), Chiaki (middle) and Fuyuno (youngest) . What he doesn’t know however is that his family are actually all magic users who have magic in their blood. This volume opens up that story with a new witch entering town named Ayumi who wants to expose the family secret and make Haruo into a man, awakening his powers.

 

            Infiltrating by hiring herself as the family maid, Ayumi has to complete her mission in order to free herself from a curse or she’ll lose all her magic powers and family inheritance. Ayumi has got obstacles to overcome though including a student council president who isn’t too keen on the influence Ayumi has on the school and a witch hunter named Marin.

  

Good and the Bad

 

            While initially excited about this series, everything that I read about it made me think of the series ‘Maburaho’ and make me wonder how original it was actually going to be. I wasn’t shocked to find that I wasn’t the only one making that comparison either. What I was surprised about though was finding that these first five episodes were absolutely wonderful.

 

            The animation used a very soft color palette throughout the entire volume. This isn’t really a bad thing persay but I do think that the use of softer colors led to some of the outlines getting a little more washed out and things just didn’t appear as sharply on my screen as I thought that they could’ve.

 

            The character designs in this title are good thus far. I really love the design of each of the sisters and Yuri is also just wonderfully designed. I was a little surprised to see how heavily this anime borrowed from others though. After the initial reaction of the story sounding so similar to ‘Maburaho’ I was a little more surprised to find so much of the animation style reminding me of ‘Azumanga Daioh’. The best examples of this would easily be in the facial expressions of the characters.

 

            The writing in this series is really one of the strongest points to this series. While I’ve already mentioned how much the story reminds me of ‘Maburaho’, the writing also takes a lot from ‘Azumanga Daioh’ once again. The comedy in this series really goes out of its way to be fun by using a lot of different styles. While there is plenty of slapstick comedy to appeal to that set of fans, fans of a bit more involved type of comedy such as satire and deadpan are really going to find a lot to laugh at as well. From start to finish this series really had me laughing and constantly wondering what punch line the staff was going to use. I even found that the jokes which broke the fourth wall well cleverly written and well executed.

 

            The only jokes that I’m really ashamed at myself for laughing so hard at were the Yuri lesbian jokes during episode two. The jokes were obvious and really weren’t that clever but I just couldn’t help myself, I laughed… hard. It’s possible that the casual anime fan is going to completely miss the reference but more experienced anime fans will likely at least crack a smirk at the joke.

 

            The story telling format was nice. Each episode on this volume does a great job of advancing the primary story while telling short stories that the audience could become engaged in. I really liked that the series didn’t feel the need to devote every episode to a single story and instead mixed things up with one episode having two stories (one for each half) and another episode being completely focused on one story.

 

            The pacing in this series is absolutely frantic. Right away the pacing goes fast and doesn’t show any intention of slowing down. Every few seconds the audience is assaulted with another joke of one type or another and will be lucky if the series lets them recover before attempting to make them laugh again. This series takes great pride in being a comedy and make no attempts at hiding that.

 

            Fans can expect some pretty high levels of fan service in this series. Naturally this is a harem series though what were you expecting? Every episode having a panty shot or one of the female characters in a revealing outfit, sometimes a lot more so if that’s what you’re looking for, you shouldn’t be overly disappointed.

 

Music

 

            Much of the music in this series didn’t strike me as anything special. The background music was fairly low key and nothing that sounded like it had huge production values behind it. The opening and ending themes were nice pop songs that fit with the cuteness of the series. I didn’t notice any drops in sound quality throughout the volume.

 

Dub vs. Sub

 

            I was able to pick out Hilary Haag as Fuyuno right away and was instantly snickering to myself. After that it became easy to become attached to the dub cast. While I was a little unsure during the first episode, by the end I had been sold. Jessica Boone really breaks her usual boundries by playing the seductive bitch character Ayumi and really proves to a lot of people that she is capable of doing more than just a cute character.

 

            The sisters are handled very well by Kira Vincent Davis (Maika), Luci Christian (Chiaki) and Hilary Haag (Fuyuno). I even enjoyed the small roles from Christine Auten (home room teacher Hongo), Hanna Alcorn (Marin) and Monica Rial (Ayumi’s older sister, Michiru).

 

            The only part of the dub cast that I just couldn’t enjoy was Greg Ayres as Hajime. While Greg did his usual fine job with the role, his voice just didn’t sound natural coming out of the character’s mouth and I found it really hard to get into the scenes that Hajime played a big part in unless I was watching the Japanese track.

             

            There were some slight changes from the sub to dub script to add in some American jokes. I didn’t think that the added cursing and sex jokes were really needed but most of them were still funny. While I will say that the changing of the lines doesn’t alter the story in anyway besides making the female characters a little more bitchy, it really didn’t need it so it feels like kind of a waste of extra effort on something that was fine to begin with.

 

Extras

 

            Just clean animations.

 

Overall

 

            If I were to judge this series based purely on how much I enjoyed this opening volume, it would be receiving incredibly high marks. From start to finish I really found myself laughing at this series. The characters are very nicely drawn, the pacing is well done and the jokes are over the top but still very funny. When you factor in how much this series is influenced (or in some cases just plain steals) from other series that I’ve mentioned in the review, you can’t let those high scores pass.

 

            While terribly funny and entertaining, it’s just not original enough to get high marks. If you’re willing to look past that though, what you’re going to find is a highly entertaining series that will absolutely have you rolling.

 

Final Grade: 82% – B

 

 

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Maburaho Vol. 7: Wizard of Ahhhhs! Released By: ADV Released: 4/11/06 Reviewed: 10/24/07 Related Reviews Rated: 14+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.

 

Intro

 

            Alright I lied, it is possible for this series to end in a way that I wasn’t wild about.

 

The Story

 

            Well, Kazuki is one step away from regaining his body but unfortunately that one thing is Rin. Normally this would be a great thing but after Rin finds out an ugly truth about what will happen to Kazuki after he regains his body, she finds herself hesitating. After all of the girls find out though, they are all faced with a difficult decision: keep Kazuki as a ghost but with all of his memories or give him back his body and face him forgetting them completely.

 

The Good And The Bad

 

            With yet another plot twist, this series was really gearing up for something special with its ending. With volume six delivering the new plot hook of Kazuki’s memories, I was very curious to see how they were going to play it out in the end.

 

            The writing on this volume was strong throughout. The ending was strong but not overly predictable. The epilogue had some very cute moments but I thought the final gag with Kazuki was a little silly (yes I’m aware of how ironic that statement is) but still mostly satisfying.

 

            I really expected a lot more in terms of emotional impact though with the final episode. With most series that I enjoy, it’s usually a very safe bet that the ending is going to hit me emotionally and I’m going to react much more strongly to what I am seeing. In this case though, I was left with a satisfied yet empty feeling. The plot hooks were all resolved but it still felt like there was so much more story to tell with Kazuki and the continued pursuits from his four admirers.

 

            I think the only real plot hook left unresolved was with Shino. While it was developed a volume earlier how she felt about Kazuki, as one of the chief antagonists of the series, it felt a little off for her to just drop her pursuit of Kazuki and have no real defeat. To see her just back off at the end there is no real resolution for her story and she just becomes another admirer in the background.

 

            I did like how the story of her and dorm manager all ended up playing out though. Out of all the characters that had yet to be developed, she was the one that I was most curious about so it was great to hear her story and how she was related to Shino.

 

Music

 

            The episodic music on this volume was strong and very appropriately used during the softer scenes and slower paced scenes. The fight scenes on this volume were all very well done though which was also very enjoyable and made the volume that much easier to enjoy.

 

Dub vs. Sub

 

            Jessica Boone as Yuna was absolutely incredible in this volume. I haven’t always said nice things about everyone in the dub cast of this series but by the end of this volume, this cast had become a very tightly knit and highly functional unit that provided me with a very entertaining series. Blake Shepard really showed how capable he is with each and every volume and the final volume left me with no real complaints about his performance. The acting was strong on both tracks so you won’t be disappointed.

 

Extras

 

            Just another art gallery and clean animations. I was really hoping to see a final interview clip with the cast members.

             

Overall

 

            This is definitely a series that I really wanted to see continue and I was not ready for it to end. The characters in this series have been winners since the very beginning and I’ve been a big fan of all of them since the start. Despite following the traditional formula of the harem genre, it was still a fun series that I will be looking forward to re-watching in the future and getting re-acquainted with the characters that I had grown quite attached to. It certainly wasn’t the best series of it’s year but fans of harem anime really can’t go wrong with this title for a little mindless fun.

 

Final Grade: 88% – B

 

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Maburaho Vol. 6: Divine Intervention Released By: ADV Released: 2/14/06 Reviewed: 10/14/07 Related Reviews Rated: 14+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.

 

Intro

 

            Plugging in more gaps in the review database with a series that I never stopped enjoying, even when it was absent from my collection.  

 

The Story

 

            Things for Kazuki and the girls have gotten worse on the school trip to Kyoto. Not only has a female childhood friend of Kazuki’s shown up and tried to stake a claim on him (much to the annoyance of the ladies) but it seems that whenever the five of them are together, the girls start suffering from a strange malady causing them all to feel like they are burning up and then they all end up gravitating towards him. Even worse than that though is that Shino has appeared on the trip and she’s still convinced that she’s going to add Kazuki to her ghost collection but when some of Kazuki’s ashes get returned to him and he regains his body’s hands, the girls and he have a new mission: collect all of his ashes and return his body to what it once was.

 

The Good And The Bad

 

            It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to pick this series back up. With so much new stuff, it’s not unheard of for a series that I enjoy to get lost in the shuffle but it was such a nice treat last night to put this volume into my player and see that the series picked up right where it left off, this series continues to be entertaining on every level.

 

            Though even though the first episode on the volume was quite entertaining, I could have sworn that I remembered just a bit less fan service. Yes, the fan service in the first couple of volumes was rather other the top but I certainly remember a smidgen less than this volume provided. The first episode alone was enough to make me start doing some memory searching to see if I remembered Yuna being such a pervert.

 

            This volume was really well written though with a great opening episode that really did a great job with selling the new plot point with Kazuki and a fabulous closing episode that really showed the soft side of Kuriko that isn’t shown nearly often enough.

 

            I did think that it was a little odd to have a recap episode so late in the series and it was even odder that it was shown right after the new major plot point was introduced. While the recap episode did start showing the new plot point a bit, it still served no real purpose besides that.

 

            The final episode on this volume was also very well written with another great cliffhanger being dangled in front of Rin and the audience leaving me once again wondering how they are going to end this series. While I know that there is going to be something that at least resembles a happy ending, I’m curious to know how they are going to get there. Despite it’s label as a harem series, this series has always been very good at keeping things fresh and they’ve never let things go stale and predictable so the ending is certainly looking to be something memorable.

 

Music

 

            While the lyrics in the second episode insert song are a little silly, it is still a good song that I’ve enjoyed listening to more than once and it does play very well within the series and out of context. It’s a fun song and I was glad to hear it get played. The recap episode makes some decent use of the themes and the insert songs to keep the episode moving smoothly.

 

Dub vs. Sub

 

            I honestly have no idea how it happened but I had actually forgotten how incredibly entertaining the dub cast on this series is. Jessica Boone as Yuna, Tiffany Grant as Kuriko, Kim Prause as Rin and Luci Christian as Yamase had me absolutely rolling with laughter and Blake Shepard has shown absolutely incredible growth in this role since the first volume started. The Japanese cast is good, the American cast is better.

 

Extras

 

            This volume breaks with tradition and really lacks in extras which is really disappointing. I really wanted to see another interview segment but instead there is only an art gallery and clean animations.

             

Overall

 

            Always funny, always over the top, always clever and always with the cute characters, this is a harem series that breaks all the traditional molds and does something fun and unexpected. It has been a gem of a series since the beginning and while it’s not going to amuse everyone, those who do enjoy it are going to love it. Another series where it’s going to be very hard to screw up the ending in a way that makes me dislike the series 

 

Final Grade: 85% – B

 

Purchase From Amazon

Maburaho Vol. 3: The Witching Hour Release Date: 8/16/05 Released By: ADV Reviewed: 12/20/05 Related Reviews Rated: 13+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.
 
Intro
 
        Picking up where we left off, I’d still give up plenty to be in Kazuki’s shoes… well, not so much now… oh just read the review!
 
The Story
 
        In the next four episodes of this series, things take a very odd turn. In the first three episodes, the girls spend all their time trying to find a way to increase Kazuki’s spell count which currently sits at three. The first attempt has Kuriko taking Kazuki up to a legendary hot spring in a remote location because rumor has it that if someone takes a bath in it’s waters, their spell count will be increased exponentially. Unfortunately for Yuna and Rin, Kuriko says that she’ll only take him up there if she gets to do it alone. That doesn’t last long however as the girls follow and they soon find out that the legend isn’t true unless they happen to beat a bunch of spirits in a baseball game.
 
        The second episode has the girls doing more research and Kazuki becoming distracted after he hears the spirit of a girl who is trapped inside a tree at the school and while this may sound like it’s of little consequence to the main plot, in truth it’s actually much more important than you may think.
 
        The third episode is when things start to take a new turn as Yuna opens a package from her father that she believes is for her and will cure Kazuki but she gets it wrong and actually unleashes a genie in a bottle that becomes her evil twin that has nothing on her mind but killing Kazuki. All of the girls come to his defense but in the end, it’s Kazuki who must defend himself.
 
         In the final episode of the volume, humor is placed aside for the most part as the plot goes deadly serious. Yuna has contracted a special retro magic virus that is rapidly seeping away her magical power and her life. There is no cure and there is no hope for her survival unless the greatest magician in the world tries to save her and even the there’s no guarantee of anything happening. Kazuki takes it upon himself even though he only has two spells left before he disappears into ash and we’re left with the series taking a whole new turn.
       
The Good And The Bad
 
        I’ve been in love with this series ever since I saw the first two volumes and I’ve really been in a rush to see more but the next volume just hasn’t come up in my queue until now but now I think that I am going to be rushing to see the next volumes right away.
 
        As usual the same great features that I loved about the first two volumes are still here. The beautiful animation is still vibrant and strong with the perfect use of colors, the character design is fabulous (for my money, Yuna has to be one of the best designed characters I’ve seen in a very long time) and the writing is once again great.
 
        Tiffany Grant really goes all out in the writing for this series as it does have quite a bit of suggestive fan service (which isn’t surprising being that the main females are only after the item between Kazuki’s legs) but even though that’s the underlying theme of this series, there is still a lot of heart to be found and when you’re walking on a line that’s as thin as that, it’s very easy to accidentally cross over to either too sexy or too bland. The writing in the original version of this series has really walked that line well without going into either side and Tiffany Grant proves that she is also up for that challenge by walking that line just as well, if not better than the original.
 
        One of the big things for this series that really wins me over though is the effective use of such a small cast. There are only four main characters (quite small for a harem series) which means a lot of screen time for all of them and a lot of time for them to be fleshed out as individuals which is something that I love. Never once in this series are you going to see someone come on screen and find yourself confused about which one they are or what their personality.
 
Music
 
        The music in this series is always something that I am going to enjoy and in this case they really went all out with it and it sounds absolutely fabulous. In particular you’re going to want to listen for an orchestral version of the closing theme during the final episode of the volume (you won’t have to listen very closely as it is something that actually binds the entire episode together so it’s very prominent).
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
        The dub and sub casts are both excellent but I have to admit that the ladies of ADV have won me over once again with their performances. Jessica Boone as Yuna, Tiffany Grant as Kuriko and Kim Prause as Rin are the glue that holds this show together and they make for a very entertaining evening.
 
        Unfortunately not everyone is perfect as I can’t say that I was 100% satisfied with newcomer Blake Shepard shows his inexperience again on this volume. Even though it’s volume 3 and it’s very obvious that he came along way since episode 1 of this series, it’s still quite evident that this is his first lead role. He’s quite good though and I expect great things from him in the future but for now, he still hasn’t managed to grasp that spark that turns a good performance into a great performance.
 
Extras
 
        Besides the art gallery and clean animation we have another commentary track on this volume that features Tiffany Grant and Sandra Krause talking about the series and some of the behind the scenes stories that we don’t usually get to hear. I always like to hear these commentaries and Tiffany is always fun to hear in a commentary.
 
Overall
 
        This is easily one of the better series of the year. I’m not completely committed to the saying that it’s going to end up on my top 10 list for 2005 but in a year where we saw more than a few harem series come out, this one sticks out for it’s great use of a small cast and willingness to let the characters shine more than the fan service. The plot is original, the characters are cute and fun and the writing is crisp and funny. This is definitely a winning series and while I am a little concerned about where it’s headed with the next volume, I can’t imagine that it’s going to do anything so drastic as to turn me off from the series completely.
 
        If you enjoy romance and comedy, this one is going to be right up your alley. Very recommended.
 
Final Grade: 98% – A
 
 
 

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Maburaho Vol. 5: Secrets And Suspicions Released By: ADV Released: 11/15/05 Reviewed: 5/20/06 Related Reviews Rated: 13+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.
 
Intro
 
        Another three episodes of this magically delicious series.
 
The Story               
 
        In the first episode, Kuriko has been very busy lately. She’s been ignoring all her school responsibilities and has been sneaking off in secret to the worry of everyone. Everyone decides to follow her to figure out what she’s doing when they discover her meeting a mysterious guy and accepting money from him. Worried that she has lost her morals, they follow her all day to figure out what the real story is. Soon they find out that she’s been seeing a man and she plans on getting married but all her friends figure out that he is not who he seems.
 
        In the second episode, Nakamaru finds out that he too has the genes to produce the greatest magician in the world making him the new object of desire for every girl in the school… except for Yuna, Rin and Kuriko who are concerned for Kazuki who is getting much more depressed about being a ghost. After getting some advice from Elizabeth and his dorm manager, Kazuki figures out why he is still a ghost while Nakamura figures out that being king isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
 
        In the final episode of the volume, everyone in Kazuki’s class takes a trip to Kyoto and a new character is introduced in the form of a dark haired student named Sayumi Morisaki who keeps getting attacked by temple guards because her family are the mortal enemies of the owners of the temple… which happens to be Rin’s family. When word gets out about this though the profiting minds of the other students in Kazuki’s class attempt to arrange a death battle between Rin and Sayumi… making a huge profit for themselves in the process naturally. The episode ends on a cliffhanger though as at the end of the episode all the girls around Kazuki start to writhe in pain and are gravitated towards him for an unknown reason.
       
The Good And The Bad
 
        Ever since the beginning I love how this series has not been afraid to be funny and make fun of itself at times and there is another prime example of this in the first episode of the volume with Kuriko listening to opening theme at music store and there is even the music video for the song playing on monitors. Very clever in show gag I thought and it made me smile a bit. 
 
        The next gag that I really got a kick out of were the southern accents in the previews of episodes 18 and 19. It was really nice to hear southern accents that didn’t sound so forced like in other animes (I’m sure that everyone who reads this can come up with at least one example off the top of their head, I know that I certainly can) and so this was a really welcome treat for me.
 
        At first I was kind of disappointed with only three episodes being shown on this volume but at the end of the third volume and seeing how it ended on yet another cliffhanger I understood the reasoning behind it. Doesn’t mean that I liked it anymore but I did understand it.
 
        The writing in this series continues to really impress me. With all the breast jokes and panty shots that this series likes to deliver it’s really easy to dismiss this series as just another fan service filled harem series with no real substance but if you’ve stuck with it this long you’ve probably long since discovered that this is a series that really has a lot of heart to it.
 
        What continually impresses me the most about the writing in this series is how much emphasis is placed on the theme of trust and devotion with the characters. With Yuna, Rin and Kuriko you have a very wide range of feminine personalities and yet no matter how different they are, the one thing that they all have had in common since the beginning is that they truly care about Kazuki and while it’s possible that a couple of them were only interested in him for his genes to start with, the relationships have progressed much further than that and it’s turned into a very sweet romance that has depth.
 
        It’s just become too terribly easy for harem animes to fall into the trap of only vaguely glossing over the idea of romance and leaving the romance feeling too shallow to the point that you don’t care about the relationship anymore. I’m glad that this series has managed to jump over that hurdle.
 
Music
 
        Lately I’ve been going through a period where I just haven’t been interested in listening to Japanese music as much for some reason and because of that I forgot how great the music is in this series. As soon as I put the DVD in the player and started the first volume I heard the opening theme and was instantly reminded of just how great the music is and how much I’ve missed hearing it.
 
        The episodic music is just as great with a fabulous example of this being the gorgeous solo piano music during first episode that caught the sad mood of Elizabeth absolutely perfectly and really made you feel for her even more.
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
        I watched both the dub and sub performances on this volume and even though it has been awhile since I’ve seen a volume of this series I really still expected to go in and feel roughly the same about both tracks but by the end of the volume I realized just how much I love the dub cast in this series.
 
        Monica Rial is very cute as Shino Akai and Sasha Payslinger turns in another great performance as Elizabeth. There’s even a good performance by newcomer Kaytha Coker as Sayumi. Blake Shepard continues to improve his performance with each and every volume. On the first volume there were certainly parts where it showed that he was still getting used to the booth but now you could hardly tell that he isn’t already a veteran with how much he has improved since then.
 
        Despite all the great performances I heard on this volume though there are two performances that stood out among all others as the very best of the volume and that’s Tiffany Grant as Rin and Jessica Boone as Yuna.
 
Extras
 
        There are a couple of standard extras on this volume including clean animations and an art gallery but the interesting extra comes in the form of an interview with the US Graphic Designer for this series, Fumiko Chino. In it she talks about her start in art, the artwork for the series that she’s created and how she got into ADV.
 
Overall
 
        This has been a great series from the very beginning and the momentum continues to push it into a series that is really something special. Every so often a series will come along that makes you think it’s going to be one way but then the story, the writing and the characters just really prove to you that it’s more than just a one trick pony. This series has proven that and with only two volumes left to go I can tell that this is going to a series that is going to be hard for me to let go when it’s over.
 
Final Grade: 89% – B
 
 
 

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Girls Bravo Vol. 3 Released By: Geneon Release Date: 11/01/05 Reviewed: 12/14/05 Related Reviews Rated: 17+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.
 
Intro
 
        This volume takes us to the end of season 1 and into season 2 of this interesting series.
 
The Story
 
        Lots of interesting stuff here on this volume as on the first of four episodes, Toka wants to prove that she is something special back on Seiren and does this by turning the weird seal creature that no one is really sure what it is, Ebi, into a cute young girl using her magic. Unfortunetly Ebi likes her new form and runs away when Toka tries to change her back and seeks protection from Fukuyama’s little sister, Lisa.
 
        Lisa takes her in for protection and in the meantime we learn a lot more about the mysterious (yet really quite gorgeous) black magic practicioner.
 
        The last two episodes of season 1 have Yukinari and the gang heading up to the mountains to visit a hot spring but when they get there they find out that the hot springs they were going to visit have been completely dried up. Walking down the path they try to pass the time in the river but get lost afterwards and stumble towards an old abandoned lodge which is owned and being visited by none other than… that’s right, Fukuyama and his little sister. Fukuyama offers the girls use of his private hot springs but they find out that it’s haunted by a young girl who was molested and died there a year earlier and has yet to be able to move onto the next plane of existence.
 
        In the third episode, we’re still up in the hot springs and Fukuyama and has decided to buy every hot spring resort on the mountain and turn them into co-ed bath houses which doesn’t sit well with the girls and so they decide to settle it in a winner take all battle of ping pong in which if Fukuyama loses he must return things back to the way they were but if he wins… well, I think I’m better off not saying what he wants in return but I’m guessing that you can get a pretty good idea.
 
        The final episode of the volume is actually the first episode of season two of this series which I thought was interesting. In this episode the girls are going to swim class when Fukuyama comes up with a plan to get his hands on Miharu by having Lisa cast a spell on the pool allowing him to switch bodies with Yukinari. Mayhem insues.
               
The Good And The Bad
 
        Ok, I was really harsh on volume two of this series but I really thought that I had a good reason to be and in this case I’m not going to be as harsh on volume three. For the most part, all my complaints about this series thus far are only repeated on this volume. Th characters are still under developed, the fan service is still plentiful and pointless, the writing is basically nothing but pointless sex jokes, and plot after plot of Fukuyama trying to get laid, Kirie being violent, Yukinari being shy and Miaru being dense it’s really nothing special.
 
        I will say that it is starting to show small signs of promise in terms of character development though. The first episode on this volume was a great episode that really focused on Lisa which I have to say is my favorite character of the series and in the final episode of the volume we finally started to see Yukinari show that he has some feelings for Miharu which he has done absolutely nothing about thus far.
 
        The animation looks great in most places which is always a plus, I don’t know why I’m so impressed when I see well done CG water in anime but I always am and this time it’s done very well too.
 
        New animations are also worth looking at as the new season brings out new opening and closing animations which are both a lot more interesting than what we saw during the first season of episodes, especially the closing animation. Though I really do think that it was very unnecessary for there to be so much nudity within the opening animation. We get enough fan service during the show itself, did we really need to see it during the opening credits too??
 
Music
 
        With a new season of anime comes new music and this one is no exception. The background music is all great but the new music in question is a brand new ending theme called ‘And Then’ which is a very sweet song worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of Miyuki Hashimoto.
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
        Dub and sub tracks were both well done but once again Hunter Mackenzie Austin (gods I wish she had an easier to type name) comes through with her wonderful performance as Lisa. I love Lisa and I think that she is one of the major saving graces of this series and I would’ve given up on this series a long time ago if it hadn’t been for her showing up to provide some very twisted comic relief. Even if her jokes are just as sex orientated as everyone else’s, she’s slightly more subtle about it (but not by much).
 
Extras
 
        Just new clean animations and a line art gallery. Nothing to get excited about.
 
Overall
 
        This volume was a lot better than the previous one but it’s still not something that I would recommend anyone get into. While it might be worth one viewing if you’re desperately curious, I’m telling you right now that if you decide to skip it you won’t be missing much of anything.
 
Final Grade: 81% – B
 
 
 

Purchase From Amazon Purchase From Right Stuf

Girls Bravo Vol. 2 Released By: Geneon Release Date: 9/6/05 Reviewed: 12/13/05 Related Reviews Rated: 17+

 

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.
 
Intro
 
        Oh yeah, now I remember why I wasn’t in a rush to see more of this series.
 
The Story
 
        Volume 2 picks up with a two parter. In the first episode, we are introduced to a new girl named Koiyomi who is sent to Earth from Seiren by Miharu’s older sister in order to bring her back home. When Koiyomi arrives however she has amnesia which Fukuyama is more than happy to try to take advantage of. Soon though she regains her memory and must choose between doing her job and splitting up two people who really care about each other, or letting Miharu stay with Yukinari.
 
        In the third episode, another new character is introduced in the form of Toka who is a young special agent on Seiren. She is hired by  Miharu’s older sister to go to Earth and find a husband for her… unfortunately all she can find is Fukuyama.
 
        In the final and oddest episode on the volume, Miharu drinks some medicinal alcohol at school that is supposed to be used for a chemistry experiment and it has a very odd effect on her making her feel drunk and creating an army of clones that go on an eating rampage throughout the city.
 
The Good And The Bad
 
        It’s been awhile since I saw the first volume of this series and I really didn’t remember a whole lot of it clearly and so I thought that maybe I had a tainted memory of it from before but after a few minutes of the first episode I knew that I remembered it correctly.
 
        This isn’t a terrible series but it’s definitely lacking any real heart which is what a harem or romance series should really be about. In this case I can’t see any real heart here. The characters are flat and this entire series just repeats the same jokes over and over again until they’ve moved beyond beating a dead horse.
 
Music
 
        I will say that the music in this volume was absolutely wonderful. From the sad piano theme to the thoughtful cello theme, this was some fabulous music that makes me want to work on the review for the soundtrack that much faster.
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
        Both the dub and sub tracks were well done but I have to give the edge to the dub track for two big reasons… the first would be the very sweet performance of Miharu by Michelle Ruff. I really like Michelle, I think that she does fabulous work and in this case she really did a great job of making a flat character into a character that had a bit more shape (insert your cleavage joke of choice here). The other big reason is because the subtitles weren’t done perfectly this time around which is surprising since Geneon has a pretty good reputation for quality but there were at least one or two occasions on this volume where I could see obvious typos in the sub titles which just bugs me quite badly.
 
Extras
 
        Nothing special here besides clean and original closing animation and art gallery.
 
Overall
 
        This is really nothing special. For a romance and a harem series, it just lacks any real heart and it tries to keep itself afloat by making constant sex jokes that neither funny nor sexy. The characters aren’t that likeable and the series itself would be better to end sooner rather than later. This is not a series that makes me want to recommend it to anyone. I’m willing to bet that if you stick with it until the end you’ll find a redeeming ending (since this series did get a second season), but I really think that trying to force your way through tripe just for the possibility of a luke warm ending is a waste of your time.
 
Final Grade: 79% – C