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Chocolate Underground – 06/12/08

General Information: ANN, AniDB

google/images

Bootlegging chocolate? I’d never thought I’d see the day. In the world Huntley and Smudger live in, the current government ran by the Good For You Party has made chocolate illegal. Now along with their friends, they become part of an underground organization to fight for the right to eat chocolate!

Thoughts: An awesome series. It definately has an interesting concept right now. I can sort of understand where the story is coming from. My school has been doing cut backs on fatty stuff and has already taken out the snacks and pop vending machines and left us juice and milk vending machines. Anyways this series is available online and each episode is under 5 minutes. That’s the kicker with this series. It’s only that long for each episode. It leaves me wanting more!

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Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ – 07/02/08

General Information: ANN, AniDB, Wiki

Based on a manga. About a girl, Suzuki Sora, from the countryside who moves to Tokyo to attend a school that teaches its students magic. All this trouble due to a promise she made her father, who happened to be a mage, to go learn magic properly.

Thoughts: Another overlooked series. So far I’ve only watched two episodes, but it definately sticks. The most amazing thing about this series is the background. Most of it has been real life photographs that had parts CGed to make it more animated. One wouldn’t be able to easily tell the difference between the real parts and the CGed part unless you had a trained eye or look extremely closely. This series isn’t for everyone though. It’s about magic yet it definately falls into the slife of life genre and the pacing might be considered slow. I hear there’s romance in the future. Not entirely sure since I don’t read the manga, but I’m watching out for that.

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Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo -Ryoko’s Case File- – 07/05/08

General Information: ANN, AniDB, Wiki 

Ryouko and her parter in justice Junichirou Izumida, investigate supernatural cases that, Junichirou notices, happens a lot around his boss, Ryouko. The two solve one weird mystery after another with flair and attitude.

Thoughts: This one I watched because I just love mystery. Besides, I enjoy Ryouko’s character. She’s a totally authoritative, she knows how to tick people off. Not only that but her bumbling side kick seems useless, but can actually kick ass.

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Natsume Yuujin-chou -07/07/08 

General Information: ANN, AniDB, Wiki

kita from pixiv

Natsume Takashi has always had to cope with the problem of being able to see ghost, now he has to deal with them chasing him too. With his parents dead, he’s been moved from relative to relative. Now he’s settled into the countryside where his grandmother, Natsume Reiko, used to live. He finds out that much like him, Reiko could also see spirits. She on the other hand, uses her power to get spirits to play a game with her in which if they lose, they must give their name, which also means control of themselves, over to her. Reiko keeps the list of names of the spirits she won against in “The Book of Friends”. The book is a powerful item that many spirits want either to get their name back or to have control of the area. Now with a help of Madara, a fox that prefers the form of lucky cat charm and also targets the book, Natsume tries to give back the names to their rightful owners while trying to avoid being killed by spirits who seem to think he’s Reiko.

Thoughts: This so far is probably my most favourite series from the summer season. Most people may pass off it quickly since it looks plain and boring, however Natsume Yuujin-chou knows how to tell a story, and that is the most important thing in my opinion.  I don’t know if its the countryside setting, but it also gives off a very calming feeling. Madara also provides comic relief in this series, which certainly very entertaining. The art is also quite consistent, which I find suprising because the mangaka for this series is famous for having a very sketchy style which is hard to translate for anime. Some might say its similar to xxxHOLIC or Mushishi, but aside from the vibes it gives off, it definately isn’t a copy cat. First off all, the main character, Natsume doesn’t scream and run around like Watanuki, but kicks and punches the spirits which get in the way. Also Mushishi is more dark and creepy while Natsume Yuujin-chou is actually quite bright (again it might be the country-side setting). There’s also something going on with Natsume’s background story, which I’d like very much to know.

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World Destruction - 07/07/08

General Information: ANN, AniDB, Wiki

We don’t want to save the world. We want to destroy it. Kyrie is dragged into a crazy advendture with the “World Destruction Committee” after his affinity to the sole item that can destory the world is discovered.

Thoughts: Put together by Production I.G. and is based on Sega’s game of the same name. It’s pretty decent, the concept of destruction of the world instead of saving it is a breath of fresh air. Again, as a game-based anime I don’t have any particular high anticipations fo it (its certainly won’t be in the same level as Persona -trinity soul-), but it is still enjoyable. It’s far better than the .hack series in my point of view. The characters of World Destruction are more forward and less emo. It’s one of those series that I’d rather watch at my own pace and not as addictively as Code Geass.

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Blade of the Immortal – 07/13/08

popcultureposters.com

General Information: ANN, AniDB, Wiki

Follows the story of the samurai Manji who has basically become nearly immortal (only a special type of poison can affect him). No longer aging and can no longer be wounded, Manji tries to cope with his special circumstances after the death of his sister leads him to vow to kill 1000 evil men.

Thoughts: I haven’t read the manga yet so I have no idea what the big story in this series really is. So far I’m interested in the premise, but the 1st episode has failed to completely capture me. It might be due to the fact it jumped right in the explained his whole situation in one goal or how his sister died so… pathetically, but so far I’m not impressed. I’ll still continue to see a couple of episodes since its action (who doesn’t love watching mindless violence in tv/movies?) and its based on a very long-running manga (if it stayed around this long, it has to be good right?).