(Anime Review by Teri O.) Honey and Clover is a comedic drama that combines heartfelt storytelling with a unique visual style. The voice acting, pacing, and soundtrack are all excellent. Like its name, the anime is down-to-earth and super sweet. It also has deeper themes geared towards high school and college aged youth. Honey and […]
Anime Review by Xbolt Angel Beats! (what is it with exclamation points in titles?) was written by guys from Key Visual Arts, who made Air, Kanon, and Clannad. It fits somewhere between Air and Kanon in regards to how much I enjoyed it. Angel Beats! was good, but it could have been better. The visuals and soundtrack […]
WOOHOOO!! Singerrrrs…Innn….SPAAACE!!! The year is 2059. Mankind is out wandering the galaxy, looking for hospitable planets to colonize. In the beginning of the show, a reconnaissance unit sent to an unexplored asteroid belt is destroyed by a swarm of alien biomechanical insects, called the Vajra. The Vajra then start attacking the rest of the fleet. […]
When I started watching Serial Experiments Lain, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I only barely glimpsed at the overview before starting. (I actually picked this one up because the name just sounds cool, and so is the cover art.) From the cover art, I thought this might be a horror anime. “Boo […]
And finally, the third and final piece of the FMP! trilogy. After Fumoffu, TSR goes back to the tension and drama of the original. More so, even. If Fumoffu represented just the hilarity of the original, TSR represents mostly the military action. Some hilarious scenes, but not nearly as many as the original. So it […]
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu is a companion series to the anime series Full Metal Panic! Recall how I said that FMP! was funny because Sousuke was so totally socially inept, and found a terrorist threat in everything? Fumoffu turns that up to 11. Whether it’s blowing up a suspicious love letter in a shoe locker, […]
This full length anime film based on the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise is one of my top ten favorite animes. December 16th. Christmas is one week away, and Haruhi decides to throw a Christmas party. She’s going to bring home-cooked food. December 18th. Haruhi has apparently vanished from the face of the Earth. Kyon is the […]
Full Metal Panic! follows Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, a military specialist working for Mithril, a secret anti-terrorist organization. He is tasked with guarding Kaname Chidori, an ordinary high school girl who may not actually be totally ordinary. Oh, and it has big mech fights. I like FMP! for the fact that it doesn’t take itself too […]
“Blood: The Last Vampire” is horror movie. Normally I don’t watch horror movies, but I watched this one because I read one of the light novel adaptations several months ago. My Dad got it out of the college library for some reason unknown to me, and then I read it after him. And I liked […]
Toradora! (don’t forget that exclamation mark) is your standard anime about normal people, who do normal things. No metaphysics to see here! But I thought it was a fun anime. It’s a comedy show, but it has a story to it that can get dramatic at times too. Which is a good thing. Ryuji Takasu […]
I’ve saved the best (or at least, the most important to me personally) for last. This week is the crown jewel of this season of Xbolt’s Anime Reviews. A Touhou anime. Granted, it’s not an official anime done by a professional studio, but honestly, who cares? The fans who put this together did a superberiffic […]
In the near future, the Internet has grown into a huge virtual world called the World of OZ. In OZ, users create avatars to represent themselves, and do stuff. Shop, game, etc. Companies and governments have also set up shop in OZ, so it is connected to much of the […]
If you could travel through time, what would you do? That is the question facing Makoto Kanno, a high school girl who is granted the ability to travel through time. Of course she doesn’t use it for malicious purposes, just little things like avoiding embarrassing situations, hanging out with friends longer, and things of that […]
An Anime Review by Xbolt. Rozen Maiden. A show that came highly recommended from the venerable Loremaster of the Chex Quest Fan Forums. He talked about Rozen Maiden even before I watched Sugar, but I never got around to watching it – until now. The Rozen Maidens are a collection of dolls created by the […]
Bamboo Blade is a show about a high school kendo club. Hence the name “Bamboo Blade.” Toraji Ishida is the club’s instructor. He makes a bet with a friend of his, who is the kendo teacher at another school. They would each get five girls and have a match with each other. And if Toraji […]
Haibane Renmei came highly recommended from the same person as one of the two guys through which I found out about Sugar, all those years ago. (Does two and a half years entitle me to use that phrase?) And I do see similarities between the two. Neither one is a grand tale of heroes and […]
If you appreciate beautiful music and art, you will like these… Air For New Year’s, I stayed up watching Air until midnight. Air was the last of the “Key Three,” three animes based on visual novels by Key Visual Arts. Kanon and Clannad were the other two. The story is about Yukito Kunisaki, who […]
Hayao Miyazaki. If you know anything about the Japanese film industry, you almost certainly know the name Hayao Miyazaki. He is widely hailed as one of the greatest animators living today. Spirited Away is his most famous work. Since it was released in 2001, it became not just the highest grossing animated film in Japanese […]
Are y’all excited about Christmas? It’s almost winter now. And with winter, comes winter break. And with winter break, comes more time for me to watch anime! So a new season of Xbolt’s Anime Reviews starts today. And the first will be… Last Exile. Last Exile is a very interesting show. The art is very, […]
This was the first anime I ever watched, and it still holds the place closest to my heart. The basic premise is that the world’s weather is controlled by Season Fairies; tiny creatures who use magical instruments to do their thing. Normally, humans cannot see Season Fairies, but very rarely, there comes along someone who […]
It is clear that the creators of Death Note know how to develop characters and tell a good story. In this anime, Light Yagami is a brilliant high school student who places first on every exam he takes. One day, he finds a mysterious notebook: the Death Note. According to the instructions inside the cover, […]
An Anime Review by Xbolt. The word “Clannad” is derived from “clan,” the Irish word for family. And that’s really what is at the heart of the anime; the building of families. Not just actual relatives, but a close circle of friends who are like family. Tomoya Okazaki is a high school delinquent, who is […]