The O-Talk Podcast

The new spring anime season chart is out and it has quite a bit of interesting anime series worth watching. Come on in and check them out.

With only 4 weeks into the fall anime season, the winter chart has appeared. Come on in and check out what's coming out in the future.

The next 2 series I'm covering are Persona 4: The Animation and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai.

My favorite RPG for the PS2 is Persona 4 and when I heard that an anime was being produced, I was excited. Now that the first episode is out, I'm glad that I watched it. The animation looks great, it seems that they are going to follow the source material, and it has great characters. This anime is aimed at fans of game and its pretty blatant about it. There are many example about it like the opener in the first episode is actually the opener for the game and when it goes to commercial break, it shows the main character's personality diagram which is an important part of the game. If you have not played the game, DO NOT look up fan art because it will contain tons of spoilers.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is so much fun and cute like there is no tomorrow. I have a habit of hating harem fan service anime series but, I enjoyed this anime. I liked every part of it, from the beginning to end. I think I found the anime series that will fill the mo~e void this season.

So, what are your opinions on the two series I reviewed?

The 2011 fall anime season is here. The first three new anime series I'm taking on are Bakuman Season 2, C3, and Fate/Zero.

I enjoyed the first season of Bakuman because it was a faithful adaptation of the manga. Every episode felt that it mattered and you end up getting attached to the characters. Season 2 is just the continuation of the first season.

C3 is cute and the animation looks pretty good, that's all I have to say for the time being. The only thing that happened was that a magical cube turns into a cute girl that does cute and/or annoying things. I'll give it a few more episodes to see if it's even worth watching.

My goodness, I enjoyed every moment of the first episode of Fate/Zero. Most anime fans who do not have knowledge of the Fate/Stay Night storyline will be bored because the first episode was all dialog. However, during the whole time I was excited learning so much background information about the fourth battle for the holy grail which was constantly being referenced in Fate/Stay Night. Personally, I cannot wait to for the action to start due to how beautifully done the animation is. This anime will look amazing when it's released on blu-ray.

So, what are your opinions on the three series I reviewed?

An updated fall 2011 anime season chart has appeared. Some possibly good and bad shows have been added. Come on in and check out the new chart.

Today, I'm doing a review on an anime I recently watched, Yosuga no Sora.

Haruka and Sora Kasugano are fraternal twins that lost their parents in an accident. They decide to move from the city to a small rural town that they once spent a summer vacation with their grandparents. Many memories that Haruka had once forgotten have returned.

Positive
The animation looks good and it has some decent character designs. The voice acting is well put together and the sound track is alright.

This anime has a lot of sex scenes. Some people may end up thinking that this should have been a hentai, since it is based off of an eroge. But the subject of sex is done is a serious matter and not a damn joke.

Negative
The anime suffers in the pacing department. This anime is 12 episodes long and it wouldn't be a problem if it was aiming for a generic "lets hope we get a second season" ending. However, this show has multiple stories that branch out to alternate timelines crammed into it. So, it ends up being rushed and the only way to fixed this is to find a chart that follows the multiple timelines. If this anime had 24 episodes and dedicated 6 episode per arch, then that problem would be fixed.

Their is another thing that really pissed me off about this anime, the omake(extra)episodes that appear in the end of each episode. These are silly 2 - 5 minute long and they are loosely following the maid's storyline. This was a terrible idea to include them at the end, because it takes you out from serious episode you just watched. If this was just its own thing as a DVD extra, that would be great.

This anime has incest. Personally, I find that gross because I know what it is like to live with a sibling of the opposite sex. If you are into that, then good for you.

In conclusion, this anime is decent for what it is but the subject of incest is a big turn-off to many people. If you want a more complete experiance of Yosuga no Sora, then play the eroge it's based off of.

An updated fall 2011 anime season chart has appeared. Some possibly good and bad shows have been added. Come on in and check out the new chart.

I'm really bored with the current summer anime season and only a handful of series interest me. But when I saw the Fall 2011 Anime Season chart, I was excited like there is no tomorrow.

On the final installment of my first thoughts on the summer anime season, I'm covering
Baka to Test To Shoukanjuu 2 and R-15.

Baka to Test To Shoukanjuu 2 is the one anime that I have been looking forward to watch. I had so much fun with it but as a first episode, it fails. The first episode is for the fans of the show, why is that? It happens to be a beach episode. Seeing all of the beautiful female characters in sexy swim suits is just heavenly. If someone who has never seen the first season and the 2 episode OVA series, they would be confused just wondering what the show is about. It mentions nothing about the actual plot but at least it does reintroduce the main cast of the show. I recommend this but you need to watch the first season.

Oh R-15, you are everything that I hate but for some reason I like a little of it. It is full of things I hate like for example stupid amounts of fan service but most of it is censored, annoying exaggerations of character types, and the main character is not that likable. However, unlike Mayo Chiki, this anime has a somewhat coherent plot. To be honest, the only reason why I would continue watching this is to watch some of the cute girls.

So, what is your opinion of the two series I reviewed?

On the second part of my first thoughts of the 2011 summer anime season, I'm reviewing Usagi Drop, Mayo Chiki! and The IdolM@ster.

The first episode of Usagi Drop was well done. I really don't have anything to say about this anime because I feel I would not be able to it justice. All I can say, it's beautiful

Please lord, help me. The plot to Mayo Chiki! is horrible like there is no tomorrow. It is pretty much about some guy who has some "condition" that when a woman touches him, his nose bleeds. Also, he finds out that some butler is actually a girl and he has keep quiet about it, if he doesn't, the reverse trap will get fired. Forgot to mention, it's a harem anime as well. Why does this anime need two plot lines in it? If it was just the plot of the keeping quiet about the reverse trap, then it could be watchable at most. However, they add the concept of the main character getting a nose bleed and freaking out when a girl touches for a cheap laugh. This is like the creator saying "look a girl is touching him, now laugh at my poor attempt at comedy". I'm going to be harsh by saying this but, only an goddamned idiot would like this poor excuse of an anime. I'm not recommending this trash to anyone.

The first episode of The IdolM@ster was interesting. First episode was played out as the first-perspective of this young man who is filming a documentary of the twelve girls trying to become famous idols. It was fascinating seeing the everyday life of these girls, seeing them auditioning, training in their individual craft, and doing promotional work like for example magazine interviews. However, there is a flaw in this format, if it was a 45 minute OVA just to promote the Xbox 360 games, it would be fine but it's a season anime, people would get bored over time. At the end of the first episode there's a twist, the guy doing the documentary is actually the new producer at their talent agency. For the preview of the next episode, it seems that they are keeping the first-person perspective of the producer. I do recommend this anime if you are into seeing cute girls singing and dancing.
So, what is your opinion of the three series I reviewed?

The 2011 summer anime season is here. The first three new anime series I'm taking on are Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Blood-C, and Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou.

Ro-Kyu-Bu! is about five little girls in the six grade trying to make the greatest basketball team with the help of a 16 year old guy who became their coach by black mail. Just in the one sentence, this anime sounds pretty sketchy and it is. There is a lot of fan service in this anime, it is mostly zoomed in crotch and butt shots on the young girls wearing their spats and bloomers. The only panty shot so far is from the coach's older sister who's of age but she looks like a little girl as well. There is a glimmer of hope, they do mention basketball terms and focus on the sport at times. As someone who has seen Slam Dunk(one of the most popular basketball anime ever made), this anime is the dumb downed version but replacing athletic guys with little girls. As a chance, I'm going to give this anime two more episodes before dropping it.

Blood-C is an interesting anime. I watched the original Blood: The last Vampire 11 years ago and Blood+ 5 years ago, I never expected for a new Blood anime to be made. Blood-C feels like an alternate universe and it has nothing in canon with the Blood and Blood+ other than the all three girls are named Saya and they kill vampire like monsters. As of the first episode, it seems that Saya was born and raised to secretly fight monsters and we assume that was her mother's responsibility before she passed away. However her true nature is not being a killing machine, but a clumsy girl who loves life. As for CLAMP doing the character design, it is somewhat reminiscent of XXXholic. I'm going continue watching this anime and I highly recommend this to others.

I originally was not planning to watch Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou but, a lot of people on Twitter praised it. Imagine a girl who is a NEET(not educated employed trained) with an amazing computer setup and she also has 3 informants that work under her to solve mysteries and crimes. Now add a 16 year old guy who feels like he's just another nameless face in the world and somehow by chance, he ends up as the assistant to the self-proclaimed detective. This anime is very dark and realistic when it comes to certain situations, yet it is balanced out by comedy relief. By the looks of the fist episode, J.C. Staff outdid themselves in the animation department. To be honest, after watching the first episode, I wanted to watch the next episode right away. I highly recommend this anime.
So, what are your opinions on these three anime series?

Remember to enter the current giveaway I'm having.

Here are my final thoughts on the 2011 spring anime season.

Oh man, I was not planning to watch or even review this movie but, I feel obligated to do it. I discovered the Yu-Gi-Oh! 10 Year Anniversary Movie and I had to see it. This must have been the funniest anime movie I have seen in a while.

A while back, Anime News Network had an article on the announcement of a brand new Gundam series. It has been 2 years since a new Gundam television Series has appeared; not counting the Gundam Unicorn OVA and the Gunpla Builders OVA. Then I saw the character design and the trailer. What the hell is this?

The second anime series I was planning to review for the Anime Spring Cleaning Challenge was going to be Project A-ko but was going to be a bit difficult. I was originally expecting 30 minute long episodes but in reality, Project A-ko is a movie series and each movie range from 55 minutes to 85 minutes long. Personally, I like to take my time watching movies. The anime that replaced Project A-ko in the challenge was Infinite Stratos. It's too late to pray for my soul after watching this abomination.

In the distant future, Japanese scientists created exoskeleton robotic armor called Infinite Stratos(I.S.). Many nations around the world felt that I.S. would overturn the balance of power, to prevent that a treaty was enacted. Now that the world cannot use these weapons for war, they're used for combat sport. Ten years into the present time we meet our main protagonist, Ichika Orimura, a 15 year old guy who enrolled into the Infinite Stratos Academy. He happens to be the most important student in this school because of one thing I forgot to mention, it is impossible for a male to pilot an I.S. but for the sake of the plot, he can. If you haven't figured it out, he is the only male in the entire school and this is a harem anime.

Ichika Orimura is most pants-on-head retarded character I have seen in a harem anime. I have never seen someone who is so damn oblivious that he does not notice that every female in the entire school wants to ride him, that includes both students and teachers. If there was factory of that produces bland harem lead characters, he would the latest model, more blander and oblivious than previous models. As for the main harem, I didn't bother learning their names but, I did give them nicknames in order of appearance, abusive, money bags, pork-chan, forced boring moe, and good ol' one eye. Personally, I found good ol' one eye to be pretty cute.

Like countless series before it, this anime only exists to see if it becomes popular enough to be the next big thing. This is clearly noticed because it took about seven episodes to introduce the entire harem. Also, it had an wide open ending, kind of hoping for a second season.

So far in this review, I have made fun of all of its bad points of this anime but it does have a good point, the animation. The animation looks amazing and it's especially noticeable in the action scenes. The character design does look great too, the girls are pretty cute.

I think if this show did not have Ichika and focused more on the combat, it would have been better. Then again, it would end up being Strike Witches but with more technologically advance weapons. Now, the next anime I'm going to be watching for the challenge is Canvas 2 ~Niji Iro no Sketch~.

The second version of the 2011 summer anime season chart is out. Some new series and OVAs have been added to this version of the chart. Come on in and check out new anime series that are coming soon.

Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the hit series-turned-international anime franchise Rurouni Kenshin, Aniplex of America Inc. announced today that it will be releasing the Blu-ray disc versions of the OVA (Original Video Animation) series and movie in North America, through RightStuf.com and Bandai Entertainment’s The Store on the same day as Japan.

Aniplex of America Inc. announced today that its breakout anime hit show Durarara!! will make its U.S. network television debut on Adult Swim in June. The 26-episode Durarara!! series is slated to air during the cable network’s Saturday evening programming block, strengthening an already robust line-up of popular anime shows. Subsequent episodes (in English language dub) thereafter will be made available online through AdultSwim.com.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na -Crescent Love- is the first anime that I have tackled in the Anime Spring Cleaning Challenge. This anime is based off of a visual novel that goes by the same name and it first aired in the fall of 2006. This is an interesting show that I have been wanting to watch for a really long and I finally got the chance.

Many years had past since the great war between the Earth and the Moon. Tatsuya Asagiri is just your regular high school student that has dreams and aspirations to visit the Moon. One day when he returns home, he learns that his home will be hosting a Lunar exchange student. The person that will be staying with him and his sisters is the one and only Princess Feena Fam Earthlight. Will a romance rinse between Tatsuya and Feena? Will an intergalactic war be revived?

The story, I found it to be weak. Imagine the story of Romeo and Juliet but strip all of the interesting parts, inject it with generic harem anime troupes that you have seen countless times, and throw it into space. This is what this anime is.

The characters of this anime are pretty forgettable. Most of the time I would forget who's who. Tatsuya has the personally of wet toast, I have seen this type of character so many times that I don't even bother remembering his name. Only two characters did stand out for me, Feena and Natsuki. Natsuki is Tatsuya's stereotypical childhood friend that lives next door. She exhibited all the classic signs but, she did something different that got me by surprise. SPOILER TIME: She is interested in tatsuya and she's aware that so does Feena, but Natsuki backs off from pursuing Tatsuya because she knows that he has no feeling for her. That was a jaw dropper for me. SPOILER TIME IS OVER. As for Feena, she's pretty cute and I wouldn't mind owning a figure of her.

This anime is known for its animation and not in a good way. Seeing scene shots of the original broadcast version is horrifying, its uglier than a cow that has been dead for five weeks in a river of feces. AS for the DVD version, it looks much better because it was completely redrawn. They're still a few scenes that look bad and chopping, but it can be ignored.

Damn, seeing the original broadcast version and the DVD version side by side, its like night and day.

Final thoughts, play the visual novel instead because you get a more deeper experience, the characters are more developed, and you get to see most of the female characters in the process. The next anime that I will be watching for the Anime Spring Cleaning Challenge is Project A-ko and Project A-ko VS.

I've been having trouble lately with my anime. I currently have more that 130 anime series, OVAs, and movies to watch, and I've been putting it off over the years. It is mostly due to lack of motivation and being busy. Then I recently came across Anime Herald and the writer of that site has the same problem, however, he found a solution. He is going to start a Spring Cleaning Anime Challenge and he wants other bloggers and fans to be part of it.