bluemist anime blog

Da Capo II: Yume Asakura

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Kimikiss -pure rouge-

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

The problem with most bishoujo game based anime love stories is that the focus isn't on the romance and how it blooms, but mostly on fleshing out the girls themselves. Because of that, you can't really say that their romance stories are 'romantic'. In the end, they are just giving character to the character, like revealing her secrets, exposing her pasts, or giving a little character development bump for posterity. Also, I feel like a male lead of many a bishoujo love story is so generic anyone could take his place. They have no personalities, or even if they do, they are just there without any relation to the love story. This is where shoujo romance anime takes the lead, because character development is in equal footing between the two sexes. In shoujo anime you can see a male character developing in relation to the love story with the female partner, and it makes for more interesting viewing for me than some generic harem where all you care about are the girls. So when I saw Kimikiss -pure rouge-, I was getting mighty impressed. I feel like it's a perfect mixture of not only the best bishoujo/harem anime had to offer, but also the best that shoujo anime has in store. While in the end it wasn't that 'perfect', I think Kimikiss would have earned its proper rank in my list of the best romance animes ever made.
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Posted in Reviews | 8 Comments »

Lovely Complex

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Lovely Complex

With the seas of bishoujos I sail lately I really appreciate having a catalyst. For this season Lovely Complex is the counter-programming, and I should say that this is really a blast! Despite rollercoaster animation quality, this shoujo series is a total LOL-fest! Extreme comedic value with a lighthearted touch on romance… and height complexes.

You see, Risa is a tall girl. Usually tall girls are the school idols of anime society, but this one here is a total baka. Well not really, she is as talkative and fun as a rowdy girl can get. On the other side, Otani is a short guy. Usually short guys get the flak and ridicule in anime society, but this one has his thing going (good basketball skills for example). Nevertheless he is quite an baka too. If we mix baka and baka together we form the "All Hanshin Kyojin", a nickname awarded to them by the school, because they always bicker with each other as if they're some owarai comedy duo! Yep, Risa and Otani started up doing word wars with each other… and crazily enough ended up STILL fighting by the end of the series. The question though is… will they find love with each other?

I would say that relationships between a tall woman and a short man are statistically low, it's usually the other way around. Lovely Complex delves on this kind of 'height complex' a bit, in that Risa wouldn't imagine falling in love with a short guy. Likewise, Otani wouldn't prefer someone taller than him. Nevertheless the setup is fun enough, but what Lovely Complex excels in is the totally extreme laugh factor! All characters speak in Kansai-ben, which is a perfect dialect for owarai comedy. Tsukkomi and boke-type jokes abound, which doesn't necessarily translate to English well, but Lovely Complex gives the aural factor treatment because ALL the characters just SHOUT their lines! This anime OVERACTS like crazy! Might as well say that this is the first OA (overacting) anime I've watched. This ridiculous energy made me laugh out loud 'literally' almost every minute, and it really never lets up. The comebacks and the witty dialogue… very well executed. Maybe not really well-executed per se but it's done in the OA fashion as mentioned, and that makes it as if you are part of the LOL gang. You know, if they had the "laughing audience" like in US TV comedy series, I think this would be a total knockout. The comedy kept me entertained, and the story isn't so bad either. Just my observation, but the love story seems like a reverse of what Suzuka had, in which Otani acts as the male version of tsundere… if there is such a fandom classification.

There's nice development in the relationship of Risa and Otani, although some new characters just pop up out of nowhere near the end. This must have been a manga quirk, because they didn't fit the whole manga content on there. I think they were struggling for a closure near the end, and the energy kinda died down, but still the rest of the series were so strong I just didn't mind the slightly lowered quality. Speaking of animation quality, since this is a crazy LOL-fest, the character designs just zoom out of proportion, and the faces deform in very weird ways. When things get serious though, you would notice the inconsistencies in the way they draw between episodes. For a show like this though, it isn't a major setback. Yup, this is one rare instance of me not minding the animation quality, because the rest of the show is just that good.

All in all, a surprisingly good anime, and one that makes me want more shoujo in my watch list. Lovely Complex is a hyper-WIN in my record books, and warrants my repeat watching. It's hard to make me laugh (even rarer to make me laugh 'out loud') but this anime managed a ton of them (I even choked once, haha). Highly recommended.

Posted in Reviews, Shoujo | 3 Comments »

Da Capo II: Episode 2

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Minatsu the tsundere robot. Surprisingly, this episode is quite faithful to her actual canon story. Having recently finished her scenario, I was quite happy so see this annoying brat animated.

Yume's character design is really dropping. I don't like her face, she really looks so Nemu now. Otome is oh so out of the loop… and Nanaka is NOWHERE. Is Anzu really relegated to being a side-character? Say it ain't so!

I think Wataru's reaction to Yoshiyuki X Koko is a wonderful sign of things to come. I'm eagerly awaiting the now-eventual Wataru-Koko-Yoshiyuki-Nanaka love quadrangle. Very exciting stuff!

YAY for banana jokes? This is the first sign of fanservice in this anime, and as a non-fanservice fan, I hope it will be the last.

Please keep in mind the opening sequence of this anime. WHY the heck is Minatsu the "last" girl in the OP? This is something really fishy. What's more, she is looking at the sakura tree in the sequence… something which I didn't even encounter in my playthrough of the game. Don't they dare cut off the true Otome-Yume-Da Capo stories unless they announce a second season or some other sequel… otherwise this will just be To Heart 2 all over again. And my bold prediction will be for Yume, but that is my Yui Horie bias talking.

But this episode was rather good, except the sappy Koko-Yoshiyuki scenes. Yoshiyuki here is a wuss for not taking their relationship any further. I mean… "holding hands"? they are freaking childhood friends, that's something rather easy to get over and done with right? It's a wonderful intro to Minatsu though, considering that she probably has the least fans. She's not (To Heart) Multi level, but at least tsundere+robot=rare… right?

Posted in Anime, Da Capo II | 5 Comments »

Da Capo II: Minatsu Amakase

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

Robot classmate Minatsu borrows her robotics almost exactly from Da Capo Generation One's Miharu Amakase, down to the hole in her back which is used for some sort of system maintenance. On the attitude part though, I could say that Minatsu is quite different from Miharu. Miharu is an energetically positive girl full of happiness, while Minatsu is an energetically tsundere girl full of angst. Her character follows the basic cookie-cutter meaning of the term actually. But as the story progresses, she will deal with a very positive emotional transformation. Nevertheless, she is a very fun girl, whatever her moods may be.

Disclaimer: Lacking Japanese will mean lack of story details. I expect that there will be a LOT of errors in the way I understood some events, because I rely only on the spoken dialogue. To the Japanese-literate game players who may have found this page, please do help me in case I have mistaken in understanding some parts of the story. Please do post a comment or contact me.
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Posted in Bishoujo, Da Capo II | 3 Comments »

How much galge is there anyway?

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

I think it's hard to imagine that an industry with a very limited number of target markets can sustain itself. I'm talking about this whole otaku industry. Maybe let's make it a little more specific… the bishoujo/galge/eroge industry. How, I mean… HOW in the world do the people who work in this industry 'survive'?
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Posted in Bishoujo | 7 Comments »