darker than black review

stats

also known as: darker than black – kuro no keiyakusha
# episodes: 25, apr 2007 – sep 2007
anidb rating: 8.34 (1798 votes)
my rating: 8.00

thoughts

the first thing that struck me about this anime was – yeah, i know it’s not that uncommon anymore nowadays – that it has superb artwork. i liked the way they used cg effects that blended nicely with the drawn characters! however, the biggest weakness of this anime is its story – numerous things weren’t really well explained, and also i wasn’t satisfied with the character development of the side cast.

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Megumi Anime Released

The real life anime story of North Korean abductee Megumi Yokota which I have covered here has been released.

Click here to go to the official website and follow the viewing instruction for each language version. Note that the other language are not so brilliant dubbed versions of the original video.

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kimikiss pure rouge review

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# episodes: 24, oct 2007 – mar 2008
anidb rating: 7.56 (279 votes)
my rating: 7.50

thoughts

i have to say that this series started off with a bang, but ended with a sputter. in the first few eps, mao-neechan came back from france to stay with her childhood friend kouichi as her parents were still overseas, and this was because she could prepare herself for entry into a local university; and the second male lead, kazuki, got kissed out of the blue by futami-chan, a tensai shoujo. things looked pretty interesting at the start indeed, but..

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Real Life Story – Kidnapped Megumi Yokota Anime

The Japanese goverement has made a 30-minute anime, based on the manga “Megumi”, the story of a Japanese girl abducted by North Korea in 1977, as part of its efforts to raise the world’s awareness of the abduction issue, government officials said Wednesday.

The Japanese government will also start distributing, from April, an English version of the manga. Translated version of the manga will be distributed to Japanese embassies, educational institutions and libraries abroad. The manga, originally published in 2005, was authored by the abductee Megumi Yokota’s parent, Shigeru and Sakie, and illustrated by cartoonist Soichi Moto. The manga details the parents’ struggle to rescue their daughter, and a look at the final days in Japan of 13-year-old Megumi Yokota.

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Cosplay Awesome

Cosplay isn’t something that any Tom, Dick and Harry could do. First and foremost, you need a good costume. It’s certainly not something that you could just buy anywhere, most of the good cosplayers make their own costume, and they make it nicely. Next, you need to have the character, or at least a certain resemblance to it. I’m talking about physical appearance here. I’m disgusted with the large amount of UGLY cosplayers around, you can’t be someone by just putting on the costume. (I’m sorry but I am that shallow)

Tifa Lockhart is one of my favorite characters in Final Fantasy, and I would not forgive anyone that tarnish her with an UGLY cosplay. But this cosplay is certainly the most awesome I’ve ever seen! And the cosplayer is so cute!

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clannad review

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# episodes: 22, oct 2007 – mar 2008
anidb rating: 8.64 (333 votes)
my rating: 9.50

thoughts

another fabulous production by kyoani – have never been disappointed with their works, actually! lest i start sounding like a fanboy, let me justify why i felt clannad was really really good.

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Lame Ending

I DON’T BUY IT! NEVER!

I don’t care that Mao was my favorite character in the show! So you’re secretly in love with this girl in class for the past year. And finally, having found out that the girl too was in love with you, and you got together. Had some really great times together, you promised to each other, everything was great.

And suddenly your childhood friend finally realised that she’s actually in love with you all these times, confessed to you, and you dump your girl to be with her?!

Come on JC! You have gotta do better than that! I just don’t buy that!

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britney’s anime mv

no fear of heights, indeed – a reference to ghost in the shell?

titled “break the ice”, this anime music video featuring an animated britney spears had just been released a week ago. the animation was done by a south korean company but directed by a guy called robert hales. personally i think the song’s not bad, but the animation is a bit lacking in detail..

read more about it here, or watch it in full! (video can’t be embedded, btw)

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product placements in anime

guess who’s paying (part of) the bills for this anime?

it struck me while watching darker and black recently that product placements is getting more and more common in anime. do not confuse product placements with product plugs – the former involves financial support of the anime/film by said sponsor, while no financial support occurs in the latter. it’s often hard to distinguish between the two, as product placements often occur without disclosure (ie, doesn’t explicitly inform the audience which companies paid to get their products advertised).

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sayonara zetsubou sensei review

(this screenshot never fails to make me break out in hysterical laughter =)

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also known as: szs
# episodes: 12, jul 2007 – sep 2007
anidb rating: 8.22 (901 votes)
my rating: 9.00

thoughts

sayonara zetsubou sensei is something only a true anime maestro can enjoy – in terms of the use of references, szs makes an anime like genshiken look like grade-school math. while some of the szs jokes are hard to get – i’ll provide some screenshots later – some are really easily understood, as seen in the screencap right at the start. show me someone who has never watched a hollywood film from columbia pictures!

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