Breaking the Boundary

Title: Chrome Shelled Regios
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Post-Apocalyptic
Rating: 8/10

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world overrun with mutated beasts called Filth Monsters, humanity is forced to live in large mobile cities called Regios and learn to use weapons called DITE and harness the power of Kei to defend themselves. In the Academy City of Zuellni, Layfon Alseif is hoping to start a new life and forget his past. However, his past has caught the attention of Karian Loss, the Student Council President and Nina Antalk, a Military Arts student and Captain of the 17th Platoon, who instantly recognizes his abilities and decides he’s the perfect candidate to join her group. (Wikipedia)

Review: Chrome Shelled Regios is a fairly old anime (released in 2006), but I felt that it deserved a review after watching it. The art style is fairly standard, but doesn’t look old; it fit well with the action and comedy scenes so no complaint there. The music was actually really well done. Though it did change about half way through the anime. The fight scenes went from cool techno to more of a hardcore rock. The techno was better in my opinion, making the scenes seem a lot more intense than they probably were. Now let us move onto the characters in general. I actually liked all of the characters, especially the ones in the 17th platoon. The fan service episode just made the characters even more likable since the Layfon isn’t completely oblivious when it comes to romance, but isn’t a jerk either. The captain is a hard worker, self-motivated individual that just has an aura of bad-assery around her. Felli is cute, but a bit cruel which brought a great combination in the platoon. Sharnid, the team’s sharpshooter is a player but can get pretty passionate when it comes to fighting along side his comrades and supporting the city he loves. Harley I wish had a bigger roll in the 17th platoon, but getting attached to him is difficult when he is never in combat, staying in the background most of the anime.
So moving on, there are some cons to this anime. While music and character models were really well done the story needed quite a bit of work. The story seems simple enough, but the details of different factions really could have been explained a little better. The anime left so many holes even at the very end. The ending didn’t explain half of what I wanted to know about people, factions, and motivation. The backgrounds of each character could have been done better (which might also explain quite a bit what was missing). The anime does have a setup to get a second season started but currently there is no announcement of production. So with the first season being three years old I will assume that the anime is completely done.

Final statements: The plot holes the story left people with was the biggest flaw in Chrome Shelled Regios, and sadly that is a very big deduction. The character models, music, and art style were pluses however. Preferred watch.

Name: Sora no Woto
Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy, Sci-Fi

First Look: You can probably tell from the picture, but this anime has a very similar art style as some other famous animes *cough* K-ON *cough*. The art is actually what stood out to me first. The characters themselves are very simply drawn, nothing special. However, the backgrounds and lighting effects were done beautifully. I found myself looking at the mountains, buildings, and sky multiple times throughout the anime, and assume that is what the illustrator was going for. Many of the scenes don’t seem to actually focus on the characters but rather their surroundings (but maybe that’s just me). As I mentioned before the art style of the characters is similar to that of K-ON, but that isn’t the only connection it seems to have. Five members of this squad (all girls), five members of After School Tea Time (all girls). Music plays a large part in Sora no Woto (or should I say Sounds of the Sky), music is K-ON. Even the characters have quite a few resemblances to K-ON. After doing some research, however, there seems to be no staff connections between the two animes.
This being said I am not saying that Sora no Woto is some K-ON knock-off, far from it in fact. With K-ON I tended to have this feeling of only happy-go-lucky times with such minor drama I would consider the anime to have no conflict; Sora no Woto on the other hand seems to have a bigger picture, and the characters each have their own special past. The plot of this anime is very basic: following around a girl named Kanata Sorami who was left alone at a young age due to the raging war. She was inspired by a trumpeter that she met and decided to join the army to learn to play the  bugle. After enlisting into the army she is assigned to a platoon located in Seize (a very peaceful town with no real threat) consisting of Rio Kazumiya, Kureha Suminoya, Noel Kannagi, and Felicia Heideman. I am hoping that each of the character’s pasts are revealed (i.e. why did they join the army?) and where their future leads. The personalities of the squad members are all different, but they fit very well together.

Final statements: The anime has potential to have a pretty solid storyline mixed with a series of comedy and drama. Relationship development has already started between the platoon members, and it’s looking good. I can’t wait to see how everything unfolds. On watch.

Title: School Rumble
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Rating: 6/10

Review: School Rumble had to be the most disappointing romance comedy I have seen. I admit that I had quite high expectations going in because of all the hype I heard about it, and it seemed to have met them at first, but it changed after the long hull through 56 episodes. School Rumble has the basic outline of any romance comedy, girl likes guy, guy likes girl, things happen. Tenma Tsukamoto is a short and childish girl for her age that is often mistaken as being younger than her little sister Yakumo Tsukamoto. Kenji Harima is a delinquent that everyone at school fears. Thanks to an event in his past he falls for the childish Tenma, and begins attending classes regularly to become a better man. I would say that I don’t want to spoil anything, but after watching this anime I don’t even think it would matter because nothing every happens. The anime as a whole was funny (probably what kept me watching), but every event or scene that I figured had significant impact on relationships didn’t mean anything. It was as though the characters forgot these huge events ever happened. Character and relationship development was nearly non-existent in this anime. The final season was cut short due to production issues so only TWO (ending two of course) of the twenty-odd episodes were released. However, I felt it wouldn’t matter if the other twenty did air because nothing would come of them anyway. The first episode of season three attempts to do quick flashes of what SHOULD have happened and they seemed important, but then I remembered that the characters would probably forget about them or not think anything of it anyway. The main girl character was cute and funny, but hardly seemed likable enough to date (not saying I would date a fake girl). The art style and soundtrack were nothing special, very standard so no points there either.

Final statements: For anyone out there who is like me and wants resolution then skip this completely, because trust me you could probably watch the first couple episodes and then the last couple and it would be just the same. So pick up this anime if you have a lot of time and looking for a laugh. Low priority watch.

Title: Michiko to Hatchin
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Rating: 8.7/10

Review: I’m sure you can tell from the image, but this anime does have quite a bit of fan-service. Don’t worry it isn’t anything awkward and you don’t really notice it between the action and general awesome of the scenery.  This isn’t the stereotypical “chicks with guns” anime, and it actually resembles Cowboy Bebop quite a bit. Instead of Spike you have Michiko Malandro, a kick-ass, no-questions-asked, shoot-’em-up girl. Doesn’t hurt that she is also quite the looker (as seen from the picture above).  And who is Spike without his faithful companion? Well that is where Hana “Hatchin” Morenos comes in. This little girl probably has the biggest character development in the anime, starting off very innocent and weak, slowly changing into a very rockin’ sidekick. The anime seems to take place in a South America type setting, ranging from the slums to the big city. The story is fairly simple, Michiko picks up Hatchin  after breaking out of prison to go look for Hantchin’s supposedly dead dad Hiroshi Morenos. The entire anime is spent on the various adventures and hardships Michiko and Hatchin have to go through with the police, crime syndicates, and themselves. The relationship development between Hatchin and Michiko was very well done, and probably a large focus of the anime. All the main characters were introduced well, giving a clear sense of who they were from their actions. The back stories were explained in a rather cliche` way (flashbacks), but were still interesting because it also shows how all the main characters tie together. The art style and soundtrack was also great for this anime, keeping a very upbeat attitude. The opening theme fits the atmosphere of the anime very well, and the fight scenes were always fun to watch. When watching this anime I always said, “Wait it’s already over?” at the end of every episode, a clear sign that this anime really kept me interested.

Final statements: If you are a Cowboy Bebop fan you will probably really enjoy this anime. I hate to compare animes but that is probably the best way to describe it. It does have its variations like being more fun and upbeat, but quite a few similarities too. The character development and relationship between Michiko and Hatchin was perfectly done. For all you action comedy fans out there I would check this one out. High priority watch.

Title: Mai-HiME
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Action, Fantasy
Rating: 5.5/10

Review: I want to start by apologizing if this seems more like a rant than an actual review, but this anime really killed it for me. Mai Tokiha transferred to a special academy because her brother and her received a full ride scholarship. For a while she had seen a red star in the sky that no one else seemed to notice. She thought nothing of it until she found out the truth behind the academy, why she was accepted, and her destiny. HiME (Highly-Effective Materializing Equipment) each have their unique skills, weapons, and Childs (summoned mecha basically). The HiME fight against monstrous creatures known as Orphans and the evil organization Searrs Foundation.  There were some good aspects like the art, action, and soundtrack but the overall story was poor. The characters were very far from likable, and so many parts of the anime were never explained. I did watch the anime till the end, but really wished that they stopped it half way through. The characters just seemed to get worse and worse. I don’t know if it is my jaded attitude but every character seemed so whiny about everything, or tried to make really deep meaning in light subjects. The main character Mai is also dense and can’t seem to get her act together, getting really hurt by every little thing but faking a smile. The story was very predictable, and there is a very clear distinction between good and bad. Without trying to give away too much of the story I can tell you now that you that the creators never gave you a clear explanation for multiple, supposedly “big issues”, such as motivation, foundations, and character attitudes. Character development to me seemed really poor, and none of the characters actually changed. I give credit that some came to realizations but I was so tired of them at that point I didn’t even care. And like I said it was all predictable, by episode 16 you will probably already see the ending coming. The action scenes were pretty cool, and that is probably what kept me watching. Comedy is hardly noticeable so I probably should take that off the “genre” section, I didn’t laugh at least.   The romance that supposedly takes place in this anime just made me cringe. The main character’s romance was a joke, and the support characters had more “creepy” romances than genuine.  Soundtrack during fight scenes were pretty epic as well so that added quite a bit to the anime’s overall rating.

Final statements: The anime is predictable, corny, and characters are just irritating. If it weren’t for the cool soundtrack and epic fight scenes I probably would have scrapped this anime early (and if I didn’t plan on writing a review on it). The first half the anime was worth watching, but it went downhill fast and hard. Avoid watching.