Category: Xbolt’s Anime Reviews

Ghost Hunt

A Japanese paranormal detective anime that quotes the Bible in almost every episode!

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

Chuunibyou (aka Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions) is about Yuuta Togashi, a freshman in high school. While in middle school, he suffered from “adolescent delusions” (chuunibyou)…

The Greatest Anime Christmas

Although it is estimated that less than 2% of Japan’s population is Christian, they have adopted many Western traditions. The Japanese are great lovers of festivals and celebrations, including Christmas. But in Japan, Christmas is more of a commercialized romantic holiday, kind of like Valentine’s Day. The main celebration revolves around Christmas Eve, when couples […]

Hyouka

Hyouka is about a guy named Houtarou Oreki. He tries to expend as little energy as possible. Even so, he is freakishly good at logical deduction. At the request of his older sister, he joins the Classics Club in high school. (Why is every anime about high school kids? Seriously.) In the club is Eru […]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Madoka Kaname is a normal young girl — or so she thinks. One day, she and her friend Sayaka Miki meet a strange creature named Kyubey, who offers to grant them each one wish. In exchange, they will help Kyubey by becoming magical girls, and fight witches. Witches are evil entities that are usually invisible […]

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Anime Review, by Xbolt The invader comes from the bottom of the sea! Ika Musume is about a fearsome squid girl who comes out of the ocean to subjugate humanity for constantly dumping trash into the water. Her first target is an unassuming beachside food stand, the Lemon. After punching a hole in the wall […]

Fractale

Fractale is set in the distant future, in what appears to be Ireland. In this future, there is something called the “Fractale System,” which is the backbone for just about everything in your average human’s life. Fractale supports “doppels,” which are 3D holographic beings that users can control. So people can go anywhere at any […]

Manabi Straight!

Forward, GO! The year is 2035. A declining birth rate has forced the closure of many schools, simply because there are not enough students. Seioh High School remains open, but morale is low. Manami “Manabi” Amamiya is an energetic, cheerful girl who tries to do her best at everything. On the day she transferred to […]

K-ON!!

Now with twice as many exclamation points!! K-On!!is, quite obviously, the sequel to K-ON! I knew by the end of the first season that there would be a sequel. It just didn’t feel complete yet. Naturally, I was right. The first season was about the girls’ first two years of high school, and the second […]

Rebuild of Evangelion

      By Xboltz   I wasn’t going to watch the remake of NGE, since the original wasn’t exactly my thing. But I ended up watching it anyway… Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone is the first in a series of four films that retell the story told in NGE. This first film is […]

Paprika

An Anime Review, by Xbolt I watched the movie Inceptionand thought it was a nice piece of work. The premise alone was very interesting. A few weeks later, I watched Paranoia Agent. That was cool. Then, I looked at what else the director had done. Paprika came up, and after reading the premise, I said: […]

Touhou Project Side Story

Touhou Project Side Story is a Touhou anime that was released in 2007, predating A Summer Day’s Dream by a year. Unlike A Summer Day’s Dream, which was exceptionally good for a doujin product, Touhou Project Side Story should have had the subtitle “How Not To Make An Anime.” It featured bad character designs, worse […]

Paranoia Agent

Anime Review, by Xbolt Paranoia Agent starts out like your typical detective story: A series of attacks by a mysterious assailant, known only as “Shounen Bat.” As Bat-Boy beats up more people with his golden bat, then rollerblades away from the scene, two detectives are on the case. And then, the story takes a turn […]

Interstella 5555

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is a feature-length visual representation of Daft Punk’s album, Discovery. The animated musical film was produced by Daft Punk along with Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto – creator of several anime and manga series, space operas in particular. If you don’t know about […]

Record of Lodoss War

An Anime Review by Xbolt Record of Lodoss War came out in 1990, thus taking the crown of the oldest anime I have watched thus far. It was introduced to me as “basically Dungeons & Dragons: The Anime.” And that’s quite true. The complicated story line of Lodoss War borrows heavily from The Lord of […]

Cromartie High School

Cromartie High is just about he best darn comedic show I’ve ever seen. Everything in this show seems geared specifically towards me. Rampant randomness, deadpan humor, general awesomeness. The over-the-top dramatic art style only serves to increase its power level. Takashi Kamiyama has just enrolled in high school. Not just any high school, Cromartie High […]

A Summer Day’s Dream – Episode 2

At long last. After four years, episode 2 has come upon us. It’s a little light on the plot-sauce, (especially given how long we waited for it,) but the jokes were fun, and made me chuckle. The art and animation is much improved as well. In addition to the cast of the first episode, we […]

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles is based on a video game of the same name. As I have never played it, I cannot say how closely the anime follows the game’s plot. But no matter. Valkyria Chronicles is set in the year 1935, on the continent of Europa. (The technology is also equivalent to our real world technology […]

Bakemonogatari

The name “Bakemonogatari” comes from two root words. Bakemono, meaning monster, and monogatari, meaning story. The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a high school student who is 90% human again after briefly becoming a vampire as a result of an attack. One day, Hitagi Senjogahara, a classmate who never talks to anyone, falls down a […]