Yakitate!! Japan

Category: Comedy, Slice of Bread
Episodes: 69
Year: 2004



What can I say, it's funny. Well, I suppose any review worth reading would have to say more than that, right?

The synopsis is as follows:

Azuma Kazuma is a boy from a small rural area of Japan. His family are rice farmers and he has been raised to believe that rice is #1. After a fated encounter with a local bread maker, Azuma realizes that he has a gift known as the "solar hands" which are perfect for baking bread. Azuma sets out on a mission to create the bread that will represent Japan, the Ja-pan.


So yeah, doesn't look like it would be too funny, right? I guess this really goes to show you that the devil is in the details. The comedy from this show comes from four basic areas. Puns, "reactions," parody, and slapstick. Normally, I'm not the kind of person who really laughs at japanese pun jokes, but when the pun jokes get combined with the 'reactions' (reactions when someone eats bread or an ingredient), it's hilarious.
Later in the series, parody kicks in when things start getting a little monotonous and it helps to pick things up.
If I have one complaint about this anime is that they took their damn time to get through everything and then the last couple episodes are RUSHED. So rushed in fact, that the characters even help you out by saying, "yeah, the scene changed, we need to make it shorter" or some such thing. 69 episodes should have been enough (certain 'battle' scenes could have easily been condensed.

I'd give it a solid B+

Here's the breakdown

Animation: 8
Story: 8
Music: 8
Char. Models: 8
X Factor: 3

Score: 8.75

Tonagura

Category: Comedy, Ecchi, School
Episodes: 13
Year: 2006

Well, to start off, if you can't handle Ecchi anime, don't even read any further. It's not like this anime is more ecchi than most, but it's based upon the principle of the main male lead being a perv.
The synopsis of the story goes something like this: a girl is excited because her old first love is moving back next door. She remembers him as a cute little boy who was perfect in every way and she still keeps the letter close to her that she planned to give to him the day he left. When he finally appears, he is a perverted young man and it makes her really mad. The story is about their journey: his to discover his feelings and hers to figure out what happened to that boy.
Some really enjoyable characters (sister's of both leads) really make this anime enjoyable. Lots of laughs to be had, a little bit of drama (for those who crave the shoujo drama), but overall will leave you feeling pretty good at the end. If you're looking for an anime to make you laugh, you could do a lot worse.


I'd give it a solid B (would be a B-, but the gun in the teddy bear is pointed at me)


Here's the breakdown

Animation: 7
Story: 7
Music: 6
Char. Models: 8
X Factor: 5

Score: 8

Heroic Age

Category: Space, drama, mech(sort of), Action
Episodes: 26
Year: 2007

I'd like to start off with a little anecdote that you will get if you decide to watch this anime. About mid-way through the series I had a moment where I went "ooooh, THAT'S why they call it Heroic Age..." I assume it's a double entendre, but I missed it's second meaning for a LONG time. Feel free to post it in the comments if you do watch it, I'm sure you will figure it out.
There was nothing exceptionally refreshing or new about this anime, but I think it really accomplished what it set out to do. The story occurs in space and involves the conflict between three tribes trying to take control of the 'ultimate power' of the universe that a fourth tribe has left behind before mysteriously leaving. To this effect, the tribes have "nodos", mecha like bio creatures which are idiotically powerful and fight for their respective tribes and are bound by a contract that was given to them by that fourth tribe(the golden tribe).
The episodes were a great way to pass the time and were interesting enough that I could watch many back to back. Some of the characters were so stereotypical that I'm honestly sick of seeing them in anime, but they were necessary for plot development, so I'll forgive it.
Don't necessarily make this the next anime you HAVE to see, but if you want something light and entertaining that won't take much out of you, give it a watch.

I'd give this one a B/B-

Here's the breakdown

Animation: 8
Story: 8
Music: 7
Char. Models: 8
X Factor: 2

Score: 8.5

Juusoukikou Dancouga Nova

Category: Mech, Action, Bad(no, really)
Episodes: 12
Year: 2007 (Unbelievably)

It's pretty bad. No, seriously, even in terms of basic anime it's pretty bad. Story is thinner than a single onion layer, animation is average to sub par, character models are about as generic as they come, music... I'll give it a notch for music because the opening/closing music were good and the theme music gave me a chuckle. But really, I wouldn't waste your time with this one.
Dancouga Nova is a Mecha anime about a Mecha which protects the world by visiting any battlefield and helping out the losing side. This has the result of making sure that wars never disappear and wars never get out of hand.
I'm sorry, but the battle scenes were tragically bad. If this anime came out 20 years ago (think Voltron) it would have been just behind the pack (Big props to Voltron for where it was when it was). Voltron makes Dancouga Nova look like a little... ok, enough, enough. You get the point right? avoid it.

My grade for this piece? F

Here's the breakdown

Animation: 5
Story: 2
Music: 8
Char. Models: 6
X Factor: -10 **

Score: 5


This anime was so bad in some respects that it gets a negative X factor score.

Note: X Factor rating is a bonus of sorts. It's added to those anime's who do something new or have that "Je ne sais Quoi" factor.

Baccano!

Category: Action, Historical, Gore
Episodes: 13
Year: 2007


I should preface this review by admitting something. The first 6 times I tried to watch this anime, I put on episode 1 and watched it while doing something else. Whether it was playing a video game or talking to someone else, I couldn't get past the first episode. I had a feeling (rightfully so) that I was missing something, so I just kept going back to it. Finally, on try 7, I made it through.
For a normal anime, watching it in a general way will give you a general idea what's going on. Not the case in Baccano. The story is woven together very cleverly and it weaves itself between several stories, jumping forward and backwards in time. If you watch this Anime, pay attention to the year so you can orient yourself with what's going on.
The fundamental principle of this anime is the quest for immortality and then beyond that, the concept that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Unless it doesn't. Overall, I'm glad that I went back and gave the first episode another gander or two and I would definitely recommend it to a Main stream viewer. Some of the voice acting is irritating and not the best that I've seen, but in general it's satisfactory.
I would also advise this as an anime to watch with a friend or in a group. There are a lot of subtleties in the story that, if you're watching it alone, you may miss out on. If you have someone there, you'll probably have a moment or two where you say, "hey, is that _______?"
For younger viewers, beware of gore. there is lots of it.


Animation: 8
Story: 9
Music: 8
Char. Models: 7
X Factor: 2

Score: 8.0

Zero no Tsukaima Futatsuki no Kishi

Category: Magic, Action, Comedy
Episodes: 12
Year: 2007

The sequel to a fairly amusing anime, it had potential. Of course, now that I've seen it, that potential is mostly gone. The first portion of the series was successful because it had a story and theme which made sense. It allowed the viewer to empathize and join the journey of the main characters. The second portion tries to piggy back on this while making stretches to fill in plot gaps that are pretty unacceptable.

When watching anime, it is unfair to ask the writers to give us something believable, because that's not what anime is about. But all we can ask for is that if we are given incredible situations, that they be resolved appropriately. I won't give any spoilers, but the ending is particularly disappointing in this regard.

Overall, my grade for this is a C-

Here's the breakdown

Animation: 8
Story: 5
Music: 8
Char. Models: 7
X Factor: 0

Score: 7.0

Note: X Factor rating is a bonus of sorts. It's added to those anime's who do something new or have that "Je ne sais Quoi" factor.