Anime Blog 106: Aoi Hana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Blue_Flowers

Aoi Hana is an 11 episode Yuri (by manga demographic) anime.

The story follows Fumi Manjome as she moves back to her childhood hometown, reunites with her childhood friend Akira, creates new friends, and explores the concept of love.

Fumi is in love with her cousin at the beginning of the anime. But her cousin is getting married and this causes her to be depressed. She manages to move on by falling in love with her sempai. The 2 begin to date. Now I don't want to spoil anything but they don't last and something that her sempai (Sugimoto, I think) says to her about remembering her first love helps her to get past her 2 lost loves and realize who she really loves in the end.

The story was really cute. There was only 1 kiss scene and it happened pretty early on but overall I can say that it ended pretty well and left room for a sequel (which we won't get but hey, that's why we're supposed to read the manga!). Also. Huge love triangle...but not between the people you expect!

The art was really nice, I enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of Emma: A Victorian Romance for some reason...

So. Art!

Akira and Fumi

Pros and Cons:

Pros: 

• Cute story
• Interesting Characters
• Great development between characters
• Simple but deep
• Art :D

Cons: 

• Only 1 kiss scene (I really wish there was 1 more!)
• Needs that 2nd season

There you have it! If you're looking for a nice, sweet romance but the kind that involves a lot of emotional growth, this is for you! Plus it's short and sweet!

Thanks for reading! Until next time, 

~Kei

Anime Blog 105: Hakuouki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haku%C5%8Dki

Hakuouki is a 53 episode anime with a recap OVA and 2 movies.

The anime is based on the Hakuouki series of video games. Seasons 1 and 2 follow Chizuru as she searches for her father. She ends up living with the shinsengumi and discovers their secrets. The biggest being that the shogunate has the shinsengumi testing this drug called the ochimizu. It turns whoever drinks into into a "rasetsu" which is basically a demon, but the big flaw is that the rasetsu suffer from bloodlust which causes them to go berserk. **kinda a spoiler: many members of the shinsengumi become rasetsu** which is a whole section of the plot and Chizuru discovers the truth about herself and the secrets that her "father" has been keeping from her.

There's a cute 6 episode OVA season before season 3 that has Chizuru dressing as a geisha and spying for the shinsengumi...and it fails terribly. :D but it's so cute :D all 6 episodes are telling the same story from different character's POV so you get to see everything that happened that night.

Season 3 is a prequel to the anime. Telling the story of how the shinsengumi became the shinsengumi and why they're called the Wolves of Mibu. It introduces another character who stays with shinsengumi for a while but "leaves" in the end which is why he's not in S1 or S2.

The movies are a retelling of S1 and S2 and they change a number of things, mostly in a good way. They are a more direct sequel to S3 since in movie 2 you actually see Ryunosuke (the character from S3) and the ending is much different than that of the anime.

S4 is a little chibi version of the show if the shinsengumi were able to live normal everyday lives. It's super cute and really funny to see the interactions between the characters!

Overall I really enjoyed this show. It was easy to watch and very interesting to see these versions of the shinsengumi :D

ART:

L-R: Okita, Saito, and Hijikata

So, pros and cons

Pros:

• Good storyline
• Great characters
• Hijikata :D
• Interesting plot points
• Good fight scenes
• Nice art
• HijikataXChizuru

Cons:

• Sadface in parts of the show

So that's it folks! Watch this one!

Thanks for reading, until next time!

~Kei

Anime Blog 104: Betrayal Knows my Name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Betrayal_Knows_My_Name

Betrayal Knows my Name (or UraBoku) is a 24 episode Shojo anime.

So the story follows Yuki, an orphan, as he discovers that he's actually from a clan of people with very special abilities and that he's been reincarnated to fight Reiga, who is a member of the family who betrayed everyone 1000 years ago. But that's not all. Turns out, in all of Yuki's previous incarnations, he's been a female...until now but Yuki doesn't have any memories of his past lives. This causes a few issues since everyone was used to him being a girl and Luka, his past lover, still vows to protect him.

The story is really good and has very interesting concepts of demons and magic. My personal favorite is this idea of powers being related to God (eg: God's eyes, God's light, God's voice, etc.) and how Yuki's power to heal involves him taking the other person's pain and making it his own. That part really intrigued me.

But for those of you who plan to watch this because you've heard it's a shonen-ai (like I did originally) you're in for a letdown. **SPOILER!! There's not a single kiss scene in the entire show. I know, it made me sad too :(

Now, there are plenty of cute guys to ship together and some serious bromance going on but...that's about it.

Just for funzies: I totally ship YukiXLuka (obviously), HatsumaXShusei, TsukumoXToko, KurotoXSenshiro, & TakashiroXFuyutoki. Pretty much put all the Zweilt guardians together :D

So, art!

Yuki and Luka

Kuroto, Senshirou, Tsukumo, Toko, Shusei, and Hatsuma

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Interesting story concept
• Pretty art
• Lots of shipping!
• YukiXLuka

Cons:

• Why no kiss scene!? I just wanted one!!!!!!

Yeah...that's my only complaint. Well! Thanks for reading and until next time,

~Kei

Anime Blog 103: Best Student Council

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Student_Council

Best Student Council is a 26 episode shonen anime.

Alright so Rino transfers to Miyagami Private Academy since it was recommended by her penpal Mr. Poppit. This school's student council basically runs the school. and by basically, I mean it does. The Student council president, Kanade, is the one who actually founded the school. Just saying. The student council has an assault squad for all problems (which really just includes anything that makes any trouble to anyone at the school like boys spying on the girls at swim practice or that really rich guy who keeps proposing to Kanade) and a covert squad who spies on EVERYONE! and I really mean that. They have ninjas...real ninjas.

The big secret here regards Kanade's family and some special power that she supposedly has (not gonna spoil it!) but there are so many funny moments in this show and some very interesting twists and turns by the end :D It's a show that I actually really enjoyed :D

I really liked the variety of characters. They all had their little quirks and were really neat. They had all the adorable sterotypes...except a big-chested girl now that I think about it...huh..actually I suppose the glasses girl (Sayuri) was mentioned to have a large chest at one point...but it's not like Rangiku from Bleach...just saying.

The show can be a bit confusing since the big secret isn't revealed until the end and the show wants to keep the watchers in the dark about it the whole time...so things can be very vague...but that's ok. It just makes the big reveal a little more surprising in the end :D

So, art!

B-F (L-R): Cyndi, Sayrui, Rein, Ayumu, Seina, Mayura, Izumi, Kuon, Rino (and Pucchan), Kanade, and Nanaho

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Interesting concept
• Lots of cool characters
• Nice art

Cons:

• It's a little confusing and scattered sometimes...but oh well :D

I really think it's a show worth watching at least once :D

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

~Kei

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Anime Blog 102: Doukyuusei

MyAnimeList.com page

Doukyuusei (classmates) is a shonen-ai anime movie.

The story follows classmates Sajou and Kusakabe as they practice together for their school's choir festival. They spend a lot of time together and become close. It develops into something more and we, the audience, get to see their relationship develop further in the movie.

I thought it was a super-cute story. I'm happy that I watched it. My only problem was the art style. It wasn't necessarily bad but it certainly wasn't my favorite :D

Art:

Blonde: Kusakabe. Brunette with glasses: Sajou

so pros and cons:


Pros:

• Cute story
• short, sweet, and to the point

Cons:

• Art style bugs me...

But that's all. It was a really cute movie and I totally recommend it!

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

~Kei

Anime Blog 101: Myself;Yourself

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myself_;_Yourself

For those of you who haven't noticed (and since we're only in the "M"s on my list I'm not surprised if you haven't) I watch a lot of anime based on video games. This is because when I was in high school I decided that I was going to watch anime based on video games and there was a whole list of them; thus tons of video game-based anime on my watched list XD

Myself;Yourself is a 13 episode shonen anime. I'm not going to lie. I watched this anime because the cover of the game has a pretty girl playing a violin...

So the story follows Sana who moves back to his hometown after a number of years to find that some things have stayed the same and some have changed. There's a lot of depressing backstory that just makes me too sad to type it out so read the wiki or watch it to find out!

This is basically one of those games where you play a male character and you have tons of female love interests...thus there are 2 main guys in this anime and like 6 girls. The main story of the anime follows Sana as he remembers his depressing backstory and learns why one of his friends (Nanaka) is no longer how he remembers her. She no longer plays the violin, she's moody, and just not the happy girl he remembers her being. So we learn her depressing backstory. All-in-all I really just remember being sad a lot when I was watching this. But I can tell you that it has a happy ending so in my mind, that totally makes up for all the sadness :D

ART!

Nanaka and Sana

pros and cons:

Pros:

• Violin playing character
• Happy ending
• Good art
• Short :D

Cons:

• Such a depressing story...

I love this song BTW:

That's all for now! Thanks for reading! Until next time,

~Kei

Anime Blog 100: My Bride is a Mermaid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bride_Is_a_Mermaid

Wow! I can't believe we've made it all the way to number 100!! Woot! Woot!

This week's blog is about My Bride is a Mermaid. A 26 episode shonen with 2 OVAs.

The story follows Nagasumi (played by Todd Haberkorn) who's pretty much a "normal" guy. He almost drowns but is saved by a mermaid named Sun but apparently there's some mermaid law that says now one of them must die since this human dude has seen this mermaid...solution? LET'S GET MARRIED! Which is where all the fun and drama begins since Sun's dad is the leader of a Mermaid Yakuza...turns out there are a number of those...

It's a really cute show and I really enjoyed it a lot. Especially the episode with the Song of Sleep. I laughed so hard for so long because of that song! :D Also...Masa. That's how awesome that guy is. He doesn't even need an explanation! Oh...also...Lunar's dad freaks me out. No Joke.

So, art!

Nagasumi and Sun

Now time for pros and cons:

Pros:

• Mermaids
• Cute show
• Comedy
• Pretty art
• Ah, Yakuza
• Masa

Cons:

• Lunar's dad
• Lunar's dad
• Lunar's dad
• Ok...Imma stop now...

So there you have it! Thanks for reading! Until next time,

~Kei