Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

The series follows Haruka, a boy who used to swim competitively in elementary with three guys Makoto, Rin and Nagisa. Haruka hasn’t swum competitively in years even though Makoto encourages him. Things begin to change when Haruka and Makoto are reunited with Nagisa, who just enrolled at their high school. Nagisa insists that they should re-form their old swimming relay team, but the plan hits a snag when they learn that they need a fourth member to start the club. Luckily Nagisa meets Ren a track athlete who he convinces to join the swim team. The team run into Rin who has changed drastically since they were all in elementary. Rin is now attending an elite rival school and wants nothing more than to beat Haruka at the swim relay. To have a chance at competing legitimately the squad will have to go through some rigorous training. Will Haruka and friends overcome the odds and succeed as the Iwatobi High School swim team?

 

I was so glad this anime had finally come out. I’d been looking forward to it for some time. After all the years of fan service for guys, all the big boobs, panty shots and unnecessary angles up skirts. It was about time an anime came out with nothing but fan service for the ladies. Throughout the show the guys are hardly ever fully dressed. They are muscled beyond belief for high school guys and thank god for that! It was a pretty much eye candy the whole show. 

 

Now as for story it’s very basic and not very deep but it’s a fun show. There’s a lot of comedy thrown in and each boy covers a basic type. Haruka is the quiet and brooding, Rin is the angst filled one, Makoto is the encouraging and nurturing type, Nagisa is full of energy and always happy and lastly Rei is the book worm complete with glasses. The series is very light hearted with a few deeper moments thrown in. The animation is well done with its pretty background and handsome boys. 

If you enjoy slice of life, comedy or sport animes I believe you’d enjoy this series. Its only 12 episodes long so it won’t take much time and there is talk of a season two.  So hopefully in the near future we’ll see more of these handsome boys.

Wolf Children

Hana, a young college student meets a strange young man and falls in love with him. Turns out the man is the last of his kind, he can turn into a wolf at will. The two move in together and start a family. They have two kids a little girl named Yuki, she is very wild and full of energy and a little boy named Ame, he is timid and mellow. The father dies in an accident while Ame is still a baby, leaving Hana to figure out how to raise two wolf children on her own. After a few issues arise living in the city she decides to move out to the country so the children can have plenty of room to roam without being noticed. 

 

Beautiful, that is the word that comes to mind when I think of this wonderful movie. The story is touching, the mother has to figure out how to care for her children without the help of the man she loves. Her loneliness is shown in beautiful ways, and even though she is lonely the love she has for her children shines through. The trials and tribulations of her predicament make for a story that works for all ages. It has moments of sweetness and moments of comedy all blended together beautifully. 

The animation of the characters is simply done, much like Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. While the character animation is simple the rest of the animation is breath taking. The scene in which Hana discovers her lover’s true form is full of stars and it’s beautiful. The mountains and the rest of the backgrounds are striking and a nice contrast with the simple character design. The world created for this movie is amazing; it is one of the best I’ve seen.  

 

Overall I highly recommend this movie; it works for kids as well as adults. I plan to add the blu-ray to my collection as soon as possible. So make sure you add this movie to your must watch list.

Brave 10

A ninja named Saizo runs into Isanami when she is attacked by assassins. He saves her becoming her reluctant bodyguard while she makes her way to meet Sanada; the man she was told to find when her shrine came under attack. Sanada is gathering ten warriors together and wishes for Saizo and Isanami to join them. Soon after Isanami's strange power comes to light and a prophecy is revealed.

 
Average is the word that comes to mind with this anime series. The animation is average nothing grand, the character designs are standard. The story is average as well; Saizou the main warrior is at first badass yet as the series progresses he becomes useless and needs help in battles.  The young woman Isanami, is a priestess whose shrine is destroyed and is the lone survivor. During the whole series she clings to Saizou and is very childish. She has a great power and yet always needs rescued. There was nothing new or out of the ordinary with the series, it was all very typical and conventional. Though that's not to say I didn't enjoy the show. I did have fun watching a new anime, the first one I've seen in awhile. So while its average its not a bad series.

 
I also found the series had some decent comic relief; I would laugh out loud at some points. The relationships between the ten warriors are not well constructed but they are funny. The fights are fun to watch as well, though nothing new. The series doesn’t lack for action with a fight happening on a regular basis, so you won’t find any filler. Overall I wouldn't call this a must watch series but if you have some free time and want to watch an anime without much of a commitment then this would be a good pick. It’s only 12 episodes and an easy watch so enjoy the simple plot and have a few laughs.

Karasu Tengu Kabuto: Ougon no Me no Kemono

Karasu Tengu Kabuto is a short 40 minute OVA taking place in an alternate feudal Japan. Let's kick things off with the plot; Kabuto is a wandering tengu who travels to a run down village, only to find out that the king is dead, his sorceress wife is oppressing the populace, and the princess has been locked away in the dungeons. In order to help return the villagers to their familiar quality of life, Kabuto takes on the sorceress and her mechanical samurai minions. That about sums up the plot of this OVA.

Having watched a number of short OVAs in my time, there have been some which can concisely tell a story in a compressed time, while others flop big time. Karasu Tengu Kabuto fits more into the flop category for me. Even after 3 cups of coffee, this OVA still managed to put me to sleep (literally). You could imagine my disappointment when I had to re-watch part of it in order to honestly say that I watched the whole thing.

While this anime didn't really keep me overly entertained, it wasn't all negative. I am a huge fan of retro anime with that 80s/90s feel. What drew me initially was the box art. Looking at the art work, I knew I was going to get a cheesy soundtrack and some nice rough artwork (both of which were delivered without fail). I did enjoy the art in this OVA and that did help to justify the 40 minutes.

Overall, I would still recommend checking this OVA out if you are a huge anime nerd like me. For the casual anime fan, you may want to put this one further down the list of what to watch.

FullMetal Alchemist

I finally managed to get enough time to make it through all 51 episodes of the first season of FullMetal Alchemist. While my time has been fairly limited, this is one of those shows that I would get home from work and look forward to watching.

Without giving away too much about the story, the show is predicated around Edward and Alphonse Elric, two brothers who are infatuated with the use of alchemy. After their mother dies, the two brothers begin practicing forbidden human alchemy to bring her back. With the laws of equivalent exchange that alchemy teaches the cost becomes their bodies. After realizing their mistake, the brothers begin on a quest to correct the past.

The elements of this series that kept bringing me back episode after episode are the character development, story, artwork, and music. It is very rare that an anime series hits all four sections on the mark for me.

Overall,I would highly recommend checking out FullMetal Alchemist if you are looking for an anime that delivers on drama, action, comedy, and slice of life. I'll be checking out the second season, Brotherhood, soon so stay tuned for the review. 

The Legend of the Legendary Heroes

The story centers on Ryner Lute a lazy person who bears the alpha stigma; a powerful cursed eye that gives him the ability to understand others magic and also leads to the slaughter of many people when he loses control. Ryner Lute lives in the county of Roland and is great friends with the emperor Sion. It is Sion who sends Ryner on a quest to find magical hero relics alongside an extremely power woman named Ferris.

The series is based on the Japanese light novel series under the same name by Takaya Kagami. As with many anime based on light novels there isn’t a satisfactory ending. The series ends and many questions are left unanswered. I haven’t found a translation of the light novels yet but I did find a manga adaption which is still in progress. I haven’t read it yet but am hoping this manga will answer the questions the series left me with. 

 

If you have seen Chrome Shelled Regios, this series about on par in animation, though it has better graphics in the fight sequences and also in my opinion the character designs are superior.  The soundtrack fits the series and the voice actors did a wonderful job. I watched the English dub by Funimation and really enjoyed it. The series is a mix of action, drama and comedy. I found it was well balanced and that the action was far bloodier than I had originally expected with this series. The comical parts made me laugh out loud a few times and that is rare for me these days with most anime.  

 

I loved this series and plan to purchase the recently released blue-ray edition. I highly recommend it as series; I feel that both men and women would enjoy the series. I will warn you though that the last three episodes are very fast paced and add a lot of story that threw me off. It felt as though they were trying to explain some things very quickly before the series ended and only left me more confused.  I am really hoping for a second season but haven’t seen anything to date that one is planned. Overall this is a great series with a little bit of everything in it. If you enjoy sci-fi, action and/or comedy series I think you’ll enjoy this one.