Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23289/

Name: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun 月刊少女野崎くん　Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Monday

Summary:

High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki, but when she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shoujo manga artist named Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga, they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories.

Summary Source: Wikipedia

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23289/

Personal Ratings: 4.5

I think ever since Shingeki no Kyojin, all the animes this season somehow all turn out to be quite dark and gory. However, this is one of the rarely seen light and comedy anime for this season. So in the midst of all those dark and complex anime (like Toyko Gouls, Zankyo no Terror [yes, their all highly recommended animes this season]), this anime really stands out being the cheerfully light and interesting anime for this season. 

This is probably the first time that I've actually rated a comedy anime this high in my life. I don't usually laugh while watching comedy anime (like Sket Dance or Baka To Test), so this is probably one of the rare ones that I actually laughed. However unfortunately when I re watched this, it didn't really have the same effect as before. But I could still enjoy the anime because of it's interesting story line and the interesting relationship between all the characters. 

Unlike most comedy anime, this comedy anime inputs a certain amount of seriousness to actually make it funny and interesting at the same time. 

Unlike some comedy anime like Sket Dance, where they pretty much throw the characters away after their done with them (and appear again after that when they run out of new characters to put in), this anime actually builds the proper relationship with the characters involved (kind of like Clannad, but using a more serious approach), and make full use of the character's relationship with one another to actually improve and bring the sense of jokes to a higher level. 

I guess that the beauty of this anime actually lies within the level of realities in the situations and jokes. Where normal comedy anime seem to exaggerate too much to the point where it's over and too unrealistic, so people can't really relate with it, and just see it as an entertainment object 

Another huge point would also be that they actually make use of such a cliche comedy story line (slice of life; as you can see from Minami-ke, Baka to Test, Clannad, and Sket Dance), and make it into a unique one of it's own. They also actually take cliche shoujo situations, such as valentines day and other cliche events that occurs in shoujo anime, they were able to twist it in such a way that they actually make it an even more unique situation, and bring out the laughter from there. 

Good and awesome seiyuu used. Many of the seiyuu that voice acted here are my favorite. The only person who I actually didn't know of was the one that voice acted Sakura. However when I searched her it seems like she just started not long ago. Despite being a beginner, I actually really like her voice acting in this anime. Her expressions were all really well expressed in her voice. I'll be waiting for more anime from her.  

Overall, what brought everything together was probably the plot on how Sakura actually met and started to like Nozaki. The consistent plot about drawing or writing manga was also constant throughout the whole anime. It also went into the details also beta and tone, and other tools used to draw manga. Other than Bakuman, I don't think I actually saw another anime that is as detailed. For a comedy anime to be this consistent with the plot, really makes it a good anime by itself. Most comedy anime usually have it as a per episode or per situation style (one very evident anime is Sket Dance, and Manami-ke).

As for the ending, I'm actually quite satisfied with the ending of this anime (if you have read some of my reviews, I'm usually not satisfied with most ending). However, I would totally root for this anime having a 2nd season, because the stories between all the couples within the anime don't seem to have an ending and I just want more of it. And if some of you have realized, in the last episode last scene, there was a shot on another guy which I've never seen in the anime before, so I'm really hoping that there would be a 2nd season. But judging from the fact that they are going to have a 6 episode special, I don't really think that there is going to be a 2nd season.  

Art Ratings: 3.5

I like the art and character design, but sometimes the hair can look a little off and a little awkward (probably little things like the hair line is actually causing that.)

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 12 and above

My Ratings: PG

Cluster Edge

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/69/Cluster_Edge

Name: Cluster Edge

Status: Completed
Episode: 25
Release Date (for eng subs): -


Summary:

Cluster Edge Academy isn't just any school; it's THE school, where the offspring of the elite come together to prepare for their roles running a world where artificial soldiers and religious sects are major factors in the battle for total control. Which may be part of why new transfer student Agate Fluorite doesn't quite seem to fit in. It's not just that Agate's enthusiastic attitude stands out among the somber, brooding balance of the student body. There's something about him that demands notice, even from jaded honors students like Beryl Jasper, and from the moment of arrival he's been at the center of a series of mysteries that not even Agate understands. Because Agate's not just another student, he's part of a something so momentous, and dangerous, that the world that built Cluster Edge may not survive its passing. 

Summary Source: Sentai Filmworks
Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/69/Cluster_Edge


Personal Ratings: 2

Ok so once again I was going through some videos on youtube, and suddenly this anime pops out, and I realized that I actually watched this anime back when I was quite young. But I forgot what happened in the anime so I decided to watch it again to write a review on it (kind of like the same way I re-encounter with R.O.D). Unfortunately this isn't actually a really good anime. 

Of course, I'm in no place to judge this type of anime, where there are a lot of things to do with airplanes and stuff like those (I'm planning to see some of the recent anime under those genres like the pilot's love story, but haven't actually got to see any yet.) But to judge this sole based on the anime itself among all the other animes, I would have to say that this actually does quite badly (not to mention if I compare it among the more modern animes, it would have probably been worst.) So here I'm probably going to compare it against anime like R.O.D and Inuyasha (the older types), even though they may be of different genres. 

I notice older animes like to have a ton of same flashbacks and don't seem to know how to trim them down so that it would be shorter and not so boring (like the current animes all do now.) So in this anime I realized that half the time the anime is filled with long flash backs which were shown so many times I swear all I could remember was those flashbacks. This anime is especially bad in terms of those ridiculous flash backs, because despite being only a 25 episode anime, the flashbacks seemed as bad as Naruto (which by the way, Naruto doesn't seem all that bad with the flashbacks because if you see it in terms of the ratio of normal story line scenes and flashback, the normal story line scenes are obviously more because it's a long-running anime). 

The re collation episodes were also a  bit too much at the first half of the anime. Somehow they kept recalling of the same few stuff, of course with different explanations, but I find that they could have actually just combine the episodes together, instead of making the viewers go through the same things twice. 

One other thing that bothered me throughout the whole anime was the sequence of the anime. It can be quite confusing as to what is happening because of the abrupt change of scenes from one episode to the other. They also seem to be placing all the random flashback episodes in random places, so it's really hard to comprehend and put together what happened in the past in a chronological order. 

I also thought that there was an unbalanced amount of timing for each different story line / perspectives. So it kind of seems like they tried to focus on one story line at a time, but then it kind of felt like the side story lines are forgotten and than all of a sudden they come back and after that forgotten again.

As for the characters, I thought there was a serious problem with the character's relationships. It seems like even though the main character has not even spoken to the other supporting characters, all of a sudden they have this random strong relationship with each other. And when they spoke for the first time in their life, it's like they are awesome good friends. They don't seem to have build up the relationship between the characters. So with weak character relationships things just doesn't seem to have strong feelings, so it ends up feeling like you've wasted your time watching. 

However, despite all those criticism, I can see that they are trying to take a different approach as compared to the normal cliche animes (thought they failed). Overall if you just look at the story line itself I think that it's quite unique and nice, especially when they actually place such importance on a dead character, just that it wasn't executed right. 

Art Ratings: 3

I think the art is considered quite nice for something from that old. Can see the personality of the characters from the design, just that I thought that the design for the main character, Agate, just didn't seem as right. 

Recommended for:
Gender: -
Age: -
My Ratings: PG-13

Outbreak Company

Image from: http://www.animevice.com/outbreak-company/11-6746/

Name: Outbreak Company

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Release Date (in eng subs): -


Summary:

Having a light novel author father and an eroge illustrator mother, Kanou Shinichi is a thoroughbred otaku. However he does not have any special power except for his broad knowledge, sharp insight, and impeccable instinct about "MOE" and its products, from manga to anime to games to light novel to figures. One day he found himself transported to a fantasy world where elves live and dragons fly. And he is given a task—not to fight monster or embark on a quest, but to enhance cultural exchange by becoming a "moe missionary" in this fantasy world! He meets a palace guard who has a bit of fujoshi taste, a half-elf maid, and the empress who is a little girl. He comes up with the idea of building a school. At first it runs as a comedy but later there are serious matters that Shinichi needs to face: ethnic discrimination, social problems, conflict with neighboring countries, sabotage by opposition elements including Japanese government, etc. Can he overcome the obstacles, successfully bring "moe" culture to the fantasy world, and help the people there as well?

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/19369/Outbreak_Company


Personal Ratings: 3

I found this anime while trying to find an anime that is a little like Lucky Star (somethings that is slice of life genre but is about the Otaku culture or anime in general). So I stumbled upon this anime, which was apparently an anime that was shown not too far back. 

When I first watch this anime, I thought that it would turn out quite well, especially when they actually show Shinichi reacting to everything around him in a very otaku way. I had quite a great expectation for this anime from the start, but unfortunately not really there yet. 

I think the largest thing that was a huge mistake was probably the fact that there isn't much episode about his normal life. Of course it would have been a little hard to incorporate it into the anime, given the setting, but I thought that what actually really captured me into the anime was actually the first scene where Shinichi actually got to answer some otaku questions, but seeing as all the future episodes (except for 1) didn't have anything to do with his student life (or his shut-in life), I think that itself is quite a big minus point. 

So for the plus side for those of you who are trying to look for an otaku anime to watch, is probably his reaction to everything around him when he first went to 'that' world. It's just fun to see how he reacted to everything that he saw in his manga or anime, like cat ears, maid outfits, etc. But, of course, that soon died out as he got used to that other world. However, as that part of the anime died out, the anime got a little more boring. Because other than the otaku side of this anime, I don't really think that this anime could survive purely on the comedy side of the anime. I also thought that even the serious side of the anime is still lacking in terms of backbone and planning. 

For the serious side of the anime, I thought that there weren't really much of it showing from the beginning, and it only surfaced at the end of the anime (like the last 2 episodes of the anime). Of course in the beginning there were some other serious issues that they have to resolve first, which is mainly the treatment of the different level of social classes within the country. But even after that was resolve, there were actually no hints or anything that were dropped to suggest that the Japan government was trying to take of the country by bringing in the Otaku culture. So I really thought that they should have dropped hints in order to get the anime a little more hyped up and interesting, because somewhere in the middle, it got a little boring. But thank god for the 12 episodes, if not it would have been a lot worst. 

As for the comedy side of this anime, I thought it was really quite funny and cute at the same time. Although, most of the jokes would only work on people that either watch anime or read manga before. So judging from this, this anime wouldn't have attracted newbies or non-anime watchers. 

However to those who are really into anime, we can see both the Otaku and Fujoshi side of people in this anime, so it can be quite interesting at some point where they show case the two different groups of people. 

Though that being said, I thought that the part where Shinichi actually teach them more about the Otaku culture, he should have started from really basic stuff. That way people who are actually just getting to know anime would have actually learnt all those things. So I guess from here we can all tell that they were probably targeting the higher level of otaku out there (haha).

Arts Ratings: 3

Don't really like the art, however, I do think that to a certain extend it's suits the theme and setting of the whole anime. They used more lighter and pastel colour to go together with that kind of 'fantasy' feel, to go alongside the otaku side of the anime. 

If i've got anything big to complain, it would have to be the eye lashes. it's drawn pretty weirdly so when there is a close up on the eyes and when they show it open and close slowly, it looks really inconsistent. 

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 13 and above
My Ratings: PG-13

Lovely Complex (Anime)

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/2034/Lovely%E2%98%85Complex/

Name: Lovely Complex ラブ★コン love com

Status: Completed
Episode: 24
Release Date (for eng subs): -


Summary:

Risa and Otani are on two opposite ends when it comes to height; Risa being too tall, and Otani being to short. However, other than that, they clique together really well. Starting from their first year, they were already known to the school as a comedy duo. However, as they spend more time with each other, Risa's feelings towards Otani grew...

Summary by: AngelaAgness


Personal Ratings: 3.5

After watching all the in depth and complex anime, this anime really felt like a break for my brain. It's light and has this easy to follow story line. I first read this manga, before finding out that they actually came out with an anime for this.

Quite a unique anime in terms of structure and of course the Kansai accent. Usually in anime, they only have one or one group of characters speaking in Kansai, but in this show all the characters except some speaks in Kansai. (So... Unless your totally new to anime, it takes awhile to get use to Kansai accent, and it slowly grows on u haha). 
I actually didn't really thought that the seiyuu for the two main characters were actually that good. I'm not sure if it's because of the awkwardness of the Kansai accent that makes it really hard to portray the emotions, but I thought that especially the scenes where they laugh it just seem kind of awkward and unnatural.

In terms of structure, most shoujo anime usually have it structered such that 1/3 of the anime is about the two characters getting together and the other 2/3 is about the challenges they face (usually the introduction of new characters that get in the way of their relationship). However, for this anime, its like 3/4 is about how they got together and the last 1/4 is about the challenges they faced. So it's quite unusual. However, it makes sense since the anime is suppose to be about their relationship. But I would think that allocating more time for after they got together would have been a little better, since halfway it kind of felt a little boring since after so long they still weren't together, and the last few episodes seemed kind of rushed and not very properly developed. 

It's probably a comedy show, but I think that unlike most comedy shows, this anime really has the proper background and they really could balance out the series scenes and the funny scenes, so that there were proper emotions inputted into the whole anime. 

When comparing it to the manga, I think that they didn't actually change much of the story line. They just shortened it, they squeezed 17 volumes into 25 episode. So I would say that they actually did a good job in shortening the manga, because half the time it either goes way too fast or they miss the important parts. 

Art Ratings: 2.5

Same as the manga. Though I didn't really like this kind of art, however I think that the simplicity of the art complements with the story line. 

Even so, I didn't really like the art, I think it has got to do with the age of the anime. It's definitely a lot less refined compared to the current animes. But since it's this type of comedy/slice of life show, I think that the art isn't as important. 

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 13 and above
My Ratings: PG 

The Maze Runner

Image from: http://insidemediatrack.com/2014/03/maze-runner-official-teaser-trailer/

Name: The Maze Runner

Release Date (in Singapore): 11 September 2014

Watched on: 12 September 2014

Summary:

When Thomas wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape. Based upon the best-selling novel by James Dashner.

Summary by: 20th Century Fox

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 4

I think that this movie i kind of on par with divergent. And since the name 'divergent' is being brought up, I would suddenly link with Hunger Games for some odd reason. I think in terms of story line, divergent is a little more better. But when I see The Maze Runner, Somehow I'm seeing more future in it compared to the other two. 

Ok so for maze runner, I thought that the story line was interesting and has a certain complexity to it (though you wouldn't realize it's not just about getting out of the maze until the ending).

Some added funny parts, which I'm not sure if they actually did that on purpose, but it got me loosening from all the intense story line. 

I liked the interesting setting, where they kind of live in this area that kind of resembles the old times. It was quite fun to see how they actually survive in this small area of land for 3 years. However sadly, I don't think that they actually showed enough. Even though they mention the different categories of 'jobs' that everyone was put into, I don't think I got to see each one of their work areas, so I thought that it was kind of a shame. 

Lack of character development, not as bad as Step up: all in, and I think that they didn't really have a choice since there were so many characters involved in this movie, they didn't really have the time to slowly tell us more about each and every character. Good development on some characters, but I thought that there was not enough for Chuck. Because they probably wanted this random touching moment at the last part where Chuck died, but honestly, the thing with his parents and what not, just wasn't really enough for me to even feel much. Instead of just telling us about his parents and stuff like that, I thought that they should have showed more of how Chuck was the one that actually believed Thomas from the beginning to the end (I think that would have more impact when Thomas was reluctant to leave Chuck's body behind).

I thought that the movie didn't really have any up or down moments, it was just kind of moving in this constant pace; though they did add some thrilling scenes that made me jump (yea, I'm easily shocked, and I always jump up meh...). So without any up or down, there wasn't a particular scene that deeply left an impression on it.

Good acting, though 1 step below Shailene Woodley. Should have known, he acted in Teen Wolf (no wonder he looks so familiar), and his acting there (when he was possessed) was superb. 

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 12 and above

Ratings: PG

Step Up: All In

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_Up_All_In

Name: Step Up: All In

Release Date (in Singapore): 
Watched on: 14 September 2014


Summary:
All-stars from the previous Step Up installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2626350/


Personal Ratings: 2

Honestly, I don't really know if the previous step up set the bar up too high, or this is just terrible. I don't really know much about dance, but seeing this as a movie I think it's not a very nice one. I don't recommend this movie to anyone.  

In terms of dancing, I think that the previous step up (Step Up Revolution), was a lot better. There were more use of many different props in this movie, but somehow I felt that they didn't really use that much to their advantage, maybe it was because of the setting that they weren't really able to show us more unique stuffs, because Step Up Revolution was really in very different and unique settings that really brought that wow factor out.

I'm not sure about the level of difficulty of the dance routine, but I don't think that there was any dance routine or move that actually left an impression in me. 

As a movie, I thought that there wasn't enough character development. I don't actually feel any character attachment to anyone of them. No offence, but I can't even remember all their names except for Moose (because he's been in the past few Step Up movies). So yea, I think that this movie desperately needs more character development. So for the parts where I think they wanted to show a more emotional side of the story (like when Moose's girl friend got angry and the part where the main girl started to talk about her past), it kind of didn't really mean anything, because there was that serious lack of character affection. It just kind of seemed like it's thrown together at the last minute. 

Ok for the good parts! I actually like some of the concept they were going for; like the Twin concept and the Robot concept. Could tell that they probably put it in for laughs and cuteness (I don't really know how to describe it, so 'cute' was the only word I can come up with haha). Totally loved the Robot concept thing throughout the whole show, and was probably the only thing that comes to mind if I think of this movie. 

But I can tell that there were some needless comedy that weren't very funny in the show, and could have used that time to develop the story line more.

Recommended for:
Gender: -
Age: -
Ratings: PG-13

R.O.D

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/209/R.O.D_the_TV

Name: R.O.D , Read or Die, Read or Dream アール・オー・ディー ザ・ティーヴィー
Prequel: R.O.D OVA

Status: Completed
Episode: 26
Release Date (for eng subs): - 


Summary:

Five years have passed since the occurrence of the incident known as the "Human Annihilation Mission." In Japan, a novelist is dealing with writer's block after her friend has gone missing. In Hong Kong, three sisters, masters in the use of paper, run their own detective agency to solve cases that involve books. When these people are brought together, a bond greater than blood is formed - a bond that will be sorely tested by the evil powers intent on taking over the world.

Join Anita, Maggie, Michelle, and Nenene as they travel the globe in order to save the world from the evil mastermind, Mr. Carpenter! Of course, that's if they can find the time to put down the books they're reading...

Summary Source: RightStuf
Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/209/R.O.D_the_TV


Personal Ratings: 3

I watched this anime quite some time back, than I forgot all about it. Then I saw this youtube recommendation videos for anime, and suddenly this popped up, and I was like "ehh.. I remember seeing this before..." and yea... I started watching it... Ok so on to the review!

Unique anime; you know I find it quite ironic that the most unique animes comes from older series, and not the newer series...

I actually quite like the first few episodes, because of the amount of action they put in it and also because of the uniqueness of using papers as weapons. But of course that excitement slowly died down after a while as I got use to the setting of the anime. However, what really got me really annoyed was the sudden appearance of a group of people with different type of powers. At first it seemed like there was only 2 groups of people; normal and paper master, but who knew that there were more than 10 groups of people with powers. Of course they did explain to us about how these people came about, but I thought that they could have include more people from those diffrent groups of powers into the anime. Because it seemed as if there were way more paper masters than any of the other people with powers. So that sudden change really didn't appeal to me. If they have had let us known of the existence of the other powers from the start, I think it would have been better. 

Another bad side of this anime would be that there is too much exaggeration. For those who have read my reviews, especially on comedy-type anime, I'm sure you would know that I hate it when they exaggerate too much. It really gets on to my nerves when it all turns out to be not as bad what they made it seem to be. I thought that it really applies in this case, because the whole time Anita was really just making a big fuss out of a small incident. I thought that they could have came up with a better background story for Anita's phobia of books. 

I can see that they are trying to link the whole all of the involved character together with one incident, but I thought that given Anita's huge reaction toward fire and books, that the background story should be that much bigger of an impact towards the viewers too. 

Another one other thing would be the pace of the anime. Even though starting from the beginning they already had the main story line rolling, I thought that most of the main things happened in the 2nd half of the anime, and some parts in the first half felt kind of boring. Also, given the huge impact that they gave us in the first 2 episode of the anime, it just kind of felt like the rest of the anime just wasn't up to par. So you could easily get bored in the 2nd half of the anime. 

Lastly, I thought that this anime was more brute than I thought it would be. Just tone down on the ecchi side would have been better.

As for the positive side of this anime, I thought that the fact that each mission, that was given to the sisters, was linked with the main story line a good thing. Usually there would be a few episodes which has no link to the main story line (especially so in long on-going series e.g. Naruto, Bleach, Shaman King, etc) but to be able to make use of each episode so efficiently is quite something, though of course it maybe because of that that the anime somehow became a little boring in the middle (like there were not breaks in between to let facts sink in). 

Of course for some episode, there was no choice but to be a little boring, since the explanation was needed in order for the viewers to fully comprehend whats happening. However, I thought they could have been more expressive in their illustration. There are many animes that is full of words, but are not boring, that is usually because their illustration really helps the viewers to quickly comprehend things, as compared to audio. (one good example is Hyouka).

Other than that, I thought that it was really quite fun and interesting to see how they use paper to overcome the people with the other powers. Some really unique and out of the box ideas of how they use papers.

Art Ratings: 3.5

Quite the typical art for older anime series. But I really like the character design. I thought that it really brought out the personalities of each characters. Except for Junior (he looks way too much like a girl, took me a while to accept the fact that he is a guy.)

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 16 and above
My Ratings: NC-16