Otogizoushi Ep 25 - Kimon (Ghost Gate)

Eh...although I know that this episode is talking about Urabe ONLY....I can't help but be disappointed with the story. Somehow, Urabe doesn't look as nice as she did in the Heian arc. In fact, most if not all of the characters look terrible in the Tokyo arc. Why is that so?!

Somehow, her features in the Tokyo Arc are made too prominent unlike the classic beauty image in Heian arc. I just cannot stand those eyelashes so this is making me cringe whenever I see her. Besides, the story doesn't have any specific meaning except for the fact that Torakuma was the link to Urabe and Hikaru and gang.

Well, the next episode is on Mansairaku!!! Yeah! Hopefully, I won't be disappointed by then.

Tantei Gakuen Q

Finished all 45 episodes of this anime at long last...

Well, I started watching because of the manga which was very interesting. Same authors as Kindaichi but in Tantei Gakuen Q, we have 5 characters with their individual strengths coming together to solve cases unlike Kindaichi who does it all by itself. I would think that the anime for Tantei is of higher quality but then Kindaichi was made many years ago so there's a case of different technologies being used. As for the OPs and EDs, Kindaichi has better ones than Tantei. Some of the songs in Tantei made me cringe but the BGM is good. Seiyuu-wise, it's quite nice but in Kindaichi, the main character's voice just seems so rough to me. There's a difference between coarse and rough as compared to deep and sexy.

Anyway, seems like the final 2 episodes attempted to settle the entire story in a hurry. In the manga, Kyuu still doesn't know that Renjou Satoru is his dad but in the anime, he knows it so easily when Dan-sensei tells him. Oh well, and that baddie in the anime from Meiousei doesn't seem to have appeared in the manga. Besides, in the anime, they didn't go into details on Ryu's links with Meiousei which should be further explored in the manga which is only at Vol 18. Hopefully, it can go on for a long time instead of Kindaichi which ends at him heading on a tour to somewhere on his bicycle. The next volume would only be out in May and that's a long long time away...

Yakitate Japan

Started watching this because of a review I read... The premise seems quite interesting so I decided to give it a try. I was quite impressed with the graphics and music. Although it borders on exaggeration at times especially when it comes to tasting Azuma's bread, it's an entertaining anime and informative one too. The mame jishiki (small knowledge) section provides information mainly pertaining to baking but last episode, it mentions petalite which is a mineral that can conduct heat 10 times better than metal.

The main character, Azuma Kazuma is rather cute and his way of speaking is interesting. He hails from Niigata so should I say that this is Tohoku-ben? Anyway, I seem to notice that some of the animes I'm watching these days has a female seiyuu taking on a male character. Echizen Ryoma is voiced by Minagawa Junko and Azuma is played by Kobayashi Yumiko. Wonder why this is the case, maybe coincidence or guys' voices are too deep for younger characters like Ryoma who's 12 going on 13 and Azuma, supposedly 15 or 16 (graduate from junior high).

Kawachi is also another interesting character with his Kansai-ben. I'm really in love with Kansai-ben characters these days for no reason, somehow, it feels very nice on the ears. It's all Oshitari's fault for getting me into this ^__^

Actually, among all the characters, I must say that Kanmuri Shigeru should be my fav. He has pink hair in the series but what strikes me is the dual-character traits he has. On one hand, he's a cute bishonen with innocent looks and a sense of humour to get Kuroyanagi scrambling to explain their relationship but on the other, he conspires with Yukino to win the Newcomer title. Although he has enough skills to win Kawachi and knows that Yukino did something to Kawachi's flour during the semi finals, he chooses to keep quiet even though he cannot stand Yukino's way of doing things and does have a sense of justice. I guess what's keeping Kanmuri back would be the financing Yukino provides to him for the research but I wonder how long he would tolerate Yukino.

The Newcomer match would be drawing to an end soon so I'm wondering what will happen next. Apparently, the manga is going on so hopefully, they would not end abruptly. I'm just craving for bread at the mention of this anime. Too bad, Lawson is not here and I won't get to buy the kame-pan or the melon-pan. Going to get some bread now to satisfy my craving...

Anime I've watched

Titles in bold are my favourites and I'm only listing those which I've finished. This list will get updated once I finish any new series.

1) Slam Dunk
Super classic, watched it 4 times, simply adore Mitsui, Sendou, Fujima

2) Prince of Tennis
Another of my top fav, collecting the DVDs currently, obsessed with Tezuka, Sanada, Atobe (my top three) and admire Fuji, Momo, Eiji, Inui, Renji, Oshitari, Choutarou, Sengoku, Saeki, Davide etc.

3) Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Graphics were nice but the story is too draggy. I could have pulled the guy out from the anime and shot him for being so indecisive...Just what do those two girls like him for?

4) Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo
Read the manga first so knew most if not all of the answers before watching the anime. Might have enjoyed it better if I didn't know the story but it was still good as one of the investigative/detective classics. Graphics-wise, Kindaichi is not some bishonen or hunk and I didn't like his seiyuu's voice too. Very childish-feel...

5) Yakitate Japan
Funny and informative anime, there's a mix of friendship and rivalry too. Seeing how the bread is made would be a good learning experience especially some of the bread featured are really sold in Lawson. I'm quite interested in the melon pan which Azuma made but too bad, I don't live in Japan.

6) Otogizoushi
Fantastic for the Heian arc but not so good for the Tokyo arc. Mansairaku is the highlight in the Heian arc, great story with unexpected twist and beautiful graphics. Nice background music and cool OP (for Heian). The ED for the Tokyo arc sounds like it's sung by Ayumi but apparently it's not.

7) Boys Be
Good story which touches on the relationships between a group of friends. Not too draggy in my opinion and it's rather meaningful. Somehow, there's a sense of deja vu when watching this as it reminds me of my schooling days but of course, I don't have such a "colourful and eventful" love life then (as if I'm having it now...)

8) Fushigi Yuugi
Too long for me... extremely repetitive and I can never comprehend why two guys want to fight over that squeaky voice Miaka. Some of the characters were quite interesting but the story's length was making me very irritated. The love segment can never depart from the boy and girl love each other, have a misunderstanding and then make up, quarrel again etc. Tsumaranai desu!

9) Tantei Gakuen Q
Although I watched this after reading the manga (which is still continuing), the story is not entirely the same as the manga so it's quite interesting. I'm still halfway through this...

10) Gokusen
Boring, graphics not to my liking. I watched the drama version first and the story is more or less the same. The genre gets stale after all this while...

11) Initial D
Well, initially, it was quite nice with a lot of techno music to fit the racing scenes and I liked the anime better than the manga but the fourth season is quite boring so I gave up watching. Project D was supposed to be quite interesting but somehow, I lost the momentum (i watched Act 1 - 3 at one go) after stopping for close to a year before seeing Act 4. Besides, the graphics are not too well done. I mean after seeing animes with very fine pictures, Initial D's graphics just makes me feel disastisfied.

12) Love Hina
Quite boring and some of the episodes don't seem to have a purpose. Anyway, the graphics are OK, personal fav characters would be Motoko, Kitsune and Su.

Otogizoushi

I started watching this anime after reading some reviews and it turned out to be really interesting especially the Heian arc. Somehow, this has made me more interested in finding other animes with similar historical background so I have Otogizoushi to thank for this. The second arc was OK but not as captivating as the first. Besides, the second arc has yet to finish with two more episodes at the end of this month. Hopefully, the story will have a satisfactory closure by then even though I thought that ending at the Heian arc would be much better.

Mansairaku was simply a captivating character in the Heian arc and the ending was so shocking! I mean nobody could have realised that Mansairaku was Abe no Seimei and the fact that he was willing to die to save Hikaru (or rather to be with her) was such a touching scene. Hikaru looked better when she was disguising as Raikou, somehow the artists didn't make her as good-looking when she was wearing women clothes. The story was really gripping and held my attention to the very end.

Well, the Tokyo arc didn't seem to be as well made because I don't like how Hikaru looked (the facial features seem quite different from the Heian arc). Mansairaku was OK but he had the fringe covering half of his face most of the time. What a waste! Seems like there are lots of unresolved mysteries along the way but I really doubt that the two specials this month will explain everything.

Anyway, if Otogizoushi only had the Heian Arc, it would be worth 4.5 stars in my opinion out of 5. Taking into consideration the entire anime, I would probably give it 3.5 stars only.

The theme song for the first arc was very good too. When I heard it for the first time, it put me off but after watching the episode and listening to it on subsequent episodes, the song grew on me because it's rare to hear such a rock style song on a period-setting anime. According to many of the reviews I've read, most people feel the same way as I do. And the music for the first arc especially the melody which Hikaru played on the flute was very soothing. I'm still thinking of getting the soundtrack but the ending theme for Tokyo Arc sounds good too and it's not in Vol 1 of the soundtrack. It just doesn't make sense to buy Vol 2 for that song only when I'm more interested in the pieces from Vol 1. Tough choice to make....

Mitsui Hisashi & Tezuka Kunimitsu

I have started watching Slam Dunk's anime for the 3rd or 4th time but this round, I got the original version in Japanese track. The previous times, I watched it on Chinese-dubbed VCDs so hearing it in the original version is very exciting in the sense that I finally get to hear Mitsui's voice (well, Okiayu Ryutaro-san's voice) and can reconcile the fact that my favourite characters Mitsui and Tezuka in Tenipuri are played by the same seiyuu. OK, it may not be something to rave about but I liked Mitsui even before discovering that this role shared the same seiyuu as Tezuka. What a strange coincidence!

Besides that, I noticed some similarities between Mitsui and Tezuka even though Slam Dunk and Tenipuri are works that are made almost 10 years apart.

1) Both are aces on the team
Mitsui is the three-point sharp shooter ace on Shohoku while Tezuka is the unbeaten captain of Seigaku (OK, he got beaten by Fuji when they were in Year 1 but the next episode should offer an explanation why it happened).

2) Both were sidelined because of injury
This is really an uncanny coincidence. Mitsui got injured in the knee because of a bad fall during a practice match while Tezuka got hammered in his elbow by a jealous senior using the tennis racket and resulted in his shoulder having problems. Okiayu-san seems to be so "lucky" to land two roles who are injured during the series. Kizudarake no otoko tachi desu ne! ^__^

3) Both have a strong desire for victory
Mitsui gets stronger when he is cornered by the possibility of defeat especially shown during the Shohoku-Shoyo match. He was already tired out but still used his willpower, skills and experience to overcome the physical disadvantages. Likewise for Tezuka, although he was having problems with his shoulder, he refused to give up and went head on with Atobe because he wanted Seigaku to win. Shouri ni shucchaku suru otoko wa kakkoii desu ne!

4) Both are relatively "quiet" and has a cool character
Mitsui underwent a change to become a gangster chief after the injury and quit basketball for 2 years. Because of this period of darkness, self-denial and running away from basketball, Mitsui seems very much grown up and mature and keeps to himself. Likewise for Tezuka, in order to maintain the image and commanding presence as the bucchou, he speaks very little and is a very mature guy as compared to peers like Eiji. And this means less lines for the characters so it makes me quite upset wanting to hear them speak...

Besides similarities between Mitsui and Tezuka, I seem to find some common traits in the animes as a whole and among other characters. Will go into that after I organize my thoughts...

Love Hina

Finally finished watching the anime (25 episodes) but somehow, I don't find it complete at all. Maybe the OVAs like the Christmas and Spring SP will fill in the answers.

To be frank, the manga is more ecchi than the anime because the bathing scenes are not as explicit. Anime is also meant for kids so I think they have to tone down the ecchi-ness. However, I think the manga has a better story development than the anime which seems to rush through things. At the end of some episodes, I still don't get what they are trying to get at. Maybe it's because manga has more time on their advantage to develop the story properly.

Among the characters, my personal favourites would be Motoko (cool gal!) and Kitsune (kansai-ben rocks). I seem to be liking characters who speak Kansai-ben like Oshitari in Tenipuri, Kawachi in Yakitate Japan and now, Kitsune. Somehow, it sounds very nice to my ears but I can't really explain why. I don't really like animes or mangas where the girls have eyes that take up two thirds of the face so Naru fits this description. It's not that I dislike Naru but then her character gets on my nerves with the constant violent outbursts. It gets really tiring to see her do that all the time even though she has a very sweet appearance. Shinobu is too weak-minded to my liking while I think Sarah and Su are very cute. Kitsune, Sarah and Su are the humour highlights in the series, not forgetting Seta who is such a klutz. Will probably try to find the OVAs to see or else the story is as good as half-done in my mind...