Apologies for a quick entry, but that just means I’ll have to leave the discussion open-ended instead of just babbling on forever. We’ll see if this incites more comment.

But, anyway, if I do manage to get this post finished in the next half-hour, it will have been roughly one year since the airing of the first episode of School Days, the infamous harem (some say anti-harem) show that was groundbreaking or shocking in so many ways. Truly it is one of the most unique shows the anime world will see - maybe not in concept, but in execution, you just have to wonder what kind of ideas were running through the producer’s heads, for better or worse.

I thought it would make an interesting topic to look back from much further down the proverbial river (hey, you make the boat jokes, not me) back at School Days, and see if it’s still everything it was cracked up to be. (more…)

So you wanna watch a harem anime. Or maybe you’re just amused by my post title.

In any case, the harem genre is one that enjoys a negative reputation from anime viewers, mainly due to the core nature of it being one guy surrounded by many girls waiting to jump him - rather pandering, even I will admit.

Of course, such a stereotype is the same as assuming that all shonen action shows involve men in spiky hair screaming, or all shoujo romances feature blond-haired ambigously-gendered prettyboys surrounded by sparkles and flowers, or, more pertinently, that all anime is hentai. So it’s my job today to recommend some of the better harem-type shows out there with a fun little activity - and I don’t mean fun like your teacher’s definition of “fun”, trust me, so it’ll be OK.

The problem with the harem genre, and the reason it has gets a bad rap from so many people is that, admittedly, it does vary wildly in quality. There are piles of pandering shows which are nothing more than the stereotype I mentioned above. But not all of them belong in this pile.

Rather, many shows have a harem setup only in appearance, and belong to a greater genre I usually term the ‘visual novel’ shows, after works like Kanon or Tsukihime that were originally visual novels, that have a skewed male:female ratio for sure, but have a more refined (or at least more refined pandering to emotional fools like me) taste.

So here’s a little quiz I devised on a boring weekend to help you determine which visual-novel / harem-type anime might suit you. Amuse yourself, at least to see if you’ve seen what I’ve recommended and whether it suits you or not. It’s all about what personally appeals the best in such a diverse genre like this.

Enjoy! (Yeah, everything’s after the jump. Keep going…) (more…)

(Part of a Anime Blogging Collective Valentine’s Day post rush; refer to IKnight’s handy article collection for links to all the others.)

Who is she? I don’t know, but she has glasses and a valentine. Instant kill, no saving throw.

With the rise of the Internet, it’s easier than ever for people to destroy their personal privacy and post up their biggest, darkest secrets all over the Web, where nobody - except everybody - can see it.

As such budding paparazzi such as myself consider the blogging scene a veritable goldmine for digging up the dirty, the dorky, and the dunce-headed on the most popular or intriguing idols of today, and this isn’t any exception when it comes to the anime community.

No, I’m not talking about the anime blogging community, as many iconic characters as it has. Rather, there’s a lot you didn’t know your favorite anime character was up to on everyone’s favorite romantic holiday, and I’ve taken it upon myself as a freelance reporter to peruse the masses of entries every day for the most exciting, interesting, and controversial stories of what “everyday” life shapes up to be for the biggest names in harem, magical girl, and straight-up romance anime. I think you’ll be very surprised at what dirt I’ve got on them.

(Disclaimer: As you may have guessed, this is a fictional entry based on fictional characters, and a lot of the preceding was patent nonsense. I’m not part of the paparazzi nor a reporter, and if you see any blogs by anime characters I think you need to pinch yourself a bit harder. This is just a fun little idea for a Valentine’s Day post, based off this similar Christmas idea by Stripey, in imagining the (likely much more exciting) happenings of some popular anime heroes and heroines. Please enjoy.

Oh, and yes, I’m trying to inject a little analysis into this as well; these shows all have ties to romance in some way - although most of them, as predicted from someone like me, are harem - and I’ll be commenting on why this show might be something interesting to watch for someone in the mood for a little lovin’ on a day like today.)

(Yeah, I kinda minorly spoil KimiKiss, ef, and Clannad, in a roundabout way.) (more…)

Day before yesterday I saw a Not Boat,
yesterday an sentimental fic,
and today, you…weird…music video…thing.

I keep trying to be a crazy anime fan. As a guy, I watch magical girl shows, as a realist, I watch ridiculous harems and visual novel adaptations, I fanboy over 2D things more than anything 3D, and I have an adoration of glasses-sporting characters that will put me in a straightjacket someday.

Yet somehow, I always seem to be one-upped by the manic minds across the sea, of what undoubtedly are self-labeled the “true otaku”, those who really have no shame nor sanity. (more…)

The “12 Days of Christmas” series is a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we’ve enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Feel free to join in the list-making fun too if you wish. We hope you enjoy this feature.

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it again, and now I’ll say it three times: music is what can make a show great.

A story is the framework an anime is based on. With no foundation, the entire thing will collapse in on itself. With a cliche story, or flat characters, there will be nothing for an anime to build off of.

But there’s only so far you can go with a base. A show with a good story might have logical appeal, might be interesting in theory, but like a socially inept savant, won’t express itself to its full potential to others.

One might think that good looks, great graphics, might be the key to an anime being top-notch. Certainly there have been a lot of great anime that are drop-dead gorgeous. But really, graphics are only a fresh coat of paint; only really good for a first impression.

As long as it’s not a horribly shoddy job, the graphics don’t noticeably affect perception of an anime. They say, looks are only skin deep. Maybe a naive view, but one that holds relatively true in anime; pictures typically will not stick in memory quite as well as a poignant moment.

Or as well as music.

I’m not sure what it is about music that makes it a direct path to a viewer’s heartstrings. There is something about the notes that a piano, a violin can make, that instinctively cues a certain reaction.

But no matter what it is, a good music track is what can make an anime stand out from the crowd. A theme that’s infectiously catchy is something that a lot of people have come into contact with, and certainly a good OP / ED song, being heard 12+ times over a series’ length, is important to get right.

Greater than that, though, is a memorable soundtrack, one that can take great moments and burn them into the mind, linking the two together.

School Days may be remembered for many other things, but for this reason, the ninth episode is what stands out from the series most.
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School Days is quite possibly the standout anime of this year.

Never before have I seen an anime exert such genre-shaking power; after all, the true test of an anime or any work of fiction is not how much you support it in the moment of actually consuming it, but how much you support it after its run is over.

In that regard School Days has become harem’s Azumanga Daioh, the eternal bar for other anime of its genre. And quite frankly, people won’t shut up about it. Even I’m writing about it…again.

But like all things blown out of proportion, one has to question how much School Days lives up to the hype. Has it really affected how we see harem shows today? Should it? And, has it unleashed something revolutionary in the genre itself?

(Nice Spoilers ahead, also for Myself;Yourself as well.)
(more…)

“Just as I thought. There’s no one inside.”

School Days is unquestionably the most blogged-about anime of the summer season, perhaps even eclipsing the king from spring, Lucky Star. Whether the hype is proportional to the quality of the show is the major question here.

This story of the three people who met in the school and got turned into three “love” stories has been getting reviews all over the spectrum; and it’s not just anti-votes that are killing the show’s rating.

Aside from the seasoned SD vets claiming that the story doesn’t stay true to one plot - which is likely true, although unverifiable by me - the wide range of review scores and feelings about the show stem to the fact that School Days, above anything else, is unquestionably different from any show of the genre.

It sets itself up as a simple, happy romance show, a bit of a love triangle, something that a lot of anime viewers should be familiar with.

Where it goes from there is what’s interesting, perhaps shocking.

Most of the viewers of School Days are well familiar with its darker-than-expected roots, and quite morally and/or sanity challenged characters. But adaptations tend to change a lot and with only 3 true “bad” endings out of a possible 20 (summing up possibilities from harem endings to ending up with any main character or side character) there are plenty of ways to clean up School Days’s ways.

And for the first few episodes, School Days led you on like a criminal out of prison, claiming that it had changed. There was a happy, bright OP called “Innocent Blue.” The character’s crushes on each other seemed innocent enough. What could go wrong?

Plenty, in fact.

To say any more would be to spoil the show, but rest assured that if you like pleasant, upbeat, heartwarming romances you’re going to be running screaming from School Days.

Rather, what you get is a dark, almost soap-opera-like concoction packed with twists, turns, and drama. This polarized the crowd, which generally fell into three groups:

1) Loved the drama, and the show.
2) Hated the drama, and the show.
3) Found the drama, and thus the show, hilarious.

Your ability to survive characters specifically set up to be detestable will say a lot about your enjoyment of School Days. If you can handle hating characters, if you can handle not making any assumptions that any character is “good”, School Days is an excellent anime.

But not a top-notch one.

School Days is still a flawed anime, despite what one could possibly call quite enrapturing (when it’s not ridiculous, or perhaps because it is) drama. The focus is arguably too thin, as while the main characters will have their stories resolved in a nice manner, the side characters simply disappear by story’s end.

And it’s not by any means a show everybody could find something to like in.

If you don’t mind a walk on the dark side, School Days is still a show very worth watching, as what it does, it does very well. It’s just what it doesn’t do that keeps it from top status…

(Huge spoilers are huge, after the jump.)
(more…)

“No more bets.”

Alternative, all bets are off.

Just like the girls, I can’t seem to stay away from Makoto and his story and so it’s time to fire up the prediction machine one last time to see where this story is headed.

You’d think that with the original content and with the expectations of the fanbase one would expect the conclusion to be obvious. You’d also be wrong, with the curveball that the penultimate episode served up.
(more…)

Which makes things more interesting?

I’ve ranted at least once that the most interesting anime are the ones with characters that you can personally connect to - whether it’s Lisianthus’s personality conflict over how to adore Rin, Mina’s shy struggle against her gut feeling, or just Shiki’s carefree attitude towards life, having a show strike a chord with you really skyrockets the power and appeal of it.

But then, once again, we come to the skyrocketing “popularity” of a show like School Days, arguably the most-blogged show running so far, eclipsing even such slice-of-life moe-mobiles (which even I admittedly subscribe to) as Lucky Star.

Why?
(more…)

Breaking as in news, and breaking as in all the rules in that I’m blogging about 1) a raw, 2) a raw I haven’t watched, and 3) a single episode post.

But, hey, School Days 9 pretty much confirms whatever that you didn’t want to happen, so it is big. Quick summary and quick thoughts after the jump.

You’ve been warned. Huge spoilers. Like, Civic rice rocket spoilers.
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