It's not a Phantom Book but there's a Golem!

A female serial killer is protected by a golem. The second episode of Dantalian no Shoka has Dalia and Hugh, Huey, going on a trip to a client’s house to appraise a collection of books.  The 2^nd episode may not have had an actual Phantom Book in it, but my interest never decreased.

In the 2^nd episode, a letter is sent to Hugh’s grandfather to appraise books. As the inheritor in his grandfather’s will, he decides to appraise the books in his grandfather’s stead. Dalia goes because she is curious about the books in the client’s library as well as being there in case there is a Phantom Book. When they get there, they hear a story of why their client, Miss Lilburn, will not leave the house. Hugh and Dalia are told that Miss Lilburn is under a curse that if someone tries to take her away, they will be killed. At first, Hugh thinks it might be the work of a PhantomBook, but Dalia is quick to deny the idea. Nonetheless, they decide to keep their mind open to its possibility of being a Phantom Book.

I like how even with the goal of sealing the Phantom Books the story will have episodes where it’s not actually one of the books. It’s always great to have something to achieve throughout the series, but it’s also good to have a slight change of pace every once in awhile. Dalia knows that there isn’t a Phantom Book there, but she is fine with humoring Hugh. Not to mention she is fine entertaining herself with reading books from the client’s library. She does get jealous when Hugh tells Miss Lilburn that she can call Hugh, Huey. Though she has no reason to when later, Miss Lilburn tries to kill Huey. She doesn’t succeed at, thankfully.

Even though the 2^nd episode did not have a Phantom Book, I found the golem that protected Miss Lilburn a great idea for this episode.  Now I just have to wait and see if there will be a Phantom Book in the next episode, or if there will be another cool idea to take its place instead.

Summer Anime Week 4: Part 1

Natsume Yuujinchou San

The 4^th episode of Natsume Yuujinchou San delves into Natsume’s past. At the start of the episode, Natsume is talking to a few of his high school friends. They are deciding what to do over their summer break when Sasada decides to invite them to the art museum that is pretty far away. The episode changes between the past, where the spirit is remembering about the one boy who was able to see her, and the present, where Natsume is on his way to and from the art museum.

The spirit knew Natsume from when he was younger. She would pop up from behind him as well as from bushes. She was lonely but enjoyed the time that she would scare Natsume. Natsume began to hate spirits more and more because of this spirit. He, at one point, thought that she did it because she was lonely, but she denied it. She was lonely. Natsume had moved after a bad scare and argument with the spirit, but on his way back from the art museum, he made sure to see her.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Soy sauce, cheese, and the rich, Japanese fan. In this episode, Yune finally meets Alice who is the one that now owns the gallery where Claude’s sign shop is located.  Alice wants to have tea with Yune, and ultimately wants Yune to live with her. She first sends one of her butlers to send a formal invitation to Yune to have tea, but after learning that Yune declines the invitation, she goes to meet her in person. She is sure, after all, that Claude is the one stopping her from coming over.

She made her way to Claude’s shop, just catching the two of them as they were on their way to the public bath. She tried getting Yune to go with her, but Claude declined for Yune again. Alice was then on a chase after Yune and Claude, hoping to wear them down and have Yune visit. Finding the bath closed, Yune finally went to visit Alice. Alice was not able to get Yune to stay. After all, Claude had promised to buy her kimono back, and she had promised to make a Japanese dinner as well.

Sacred Seven

In this episode, it is Ruri’s first school festival as the chairman of the school. She plans to make it a big success, but a darkstone invading the school the day before the festival is making it difficult. Tandoji and Kagami try as hard as they can not to let Ruri know about the darkstone. Kagami tells Tandoji that he will take care of the darkstone and that Tandoji should not let Ruri know about it. Tandoji agrees, but wants to help out as well. He goes to Ruri and asks for her to transform him for a training session. She agrees to it.

As the two chase after the darkstone, Tandoji ends up helping people that didn’t like him. They end up changing their minds about Tandoji. Helping them out leads to letting the darkstone to grow powerful, but before he can actually destroy it, he changes back. It is all up to Kagami then. Kagami isn’t able to destroy it, but it destroys itself, and becomes fireworks leading to a nice night before the festival.

Uta no Prince-sama

The focus is finally not on Haruka. What a surprise! After focusing on her for the first 3 episodes, I was shocked to find out that it focused on one of the guys instead. The episode focuses on Ren. This episode we get to find out why he and Hijirikawa go to the music school. Ren goes because his older brother ,who is going to take over their family’s business, tells him to. That way he can attract attention for the business. Hijirikawa, on the other hand, had to beg his father to let him go. He can only go for one year.

Ren’s teacher decided that Ren would have to leave the school if he does not get his lyrics sent in the next day. Ren writes some lyrics but crumples it up, and rips it before throwing them over the cliff after talking with Haruka and Hijirikawa. Hijirikawa and Ren may have been friends, but Hijirikawa felt that they were now enemies because of their families’ businesses. Ren does not agree with that, but decides to leave the school if Hijirikawa does not care about him anymore. Haruka ends up boosting Ren’s spirit by finding as much of his lyrics as he can. With that, Ren is able to think of the last line for his song.

Summer Anime Week 3: Part 2

The 2^nd part of the 3^rd week has finally arrived! The rest of the episodes have aired. This part will be covering the rest of the shows for the week: No. 6, Usagi Drop, Mayo Chiki!, Mawaru Penguindrum, Blood-C , Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi and Kamisama no Memochou. Some of favorite episodes so far, and then some that were just mediocre at best.

No. 6

In the 3^rd episode of No. 6, the infection starts to take effect in Shion.  He gets marks on his skin which is just one line wrapping around his body. That is what happens before and while Rat is the taking out the bee, or in this case the pupa, that is in Shion’s body.  A few days after the pupa is taken out of Shion, his hair finally becomes white.  It’s like he is the Allen, from D.Gray-man, of No. 6.

The rest of the episode leads Shion and Rat to go to the hotel where the Dog Keeper is. The Dog Keeper is an informant of the broken down town just outside of No. 6. This is where Shion and Rat really find out their differing views about No. 6. Shion wants to find a way to save everyone from dying from the infection while Rat would love to see everyone die from it. Now Shion is going to have to decide whether he wants to go against Rat or if he will just follow Rat. I’m definitely curious to see what they plan to do now that there are two clear paths for them to go.

Usagi Drop

Cute episode. In this episode, Daikichi and Rin go over to Daikichi’s parents’ house because Daikichi wanted to see if there was any information pertaining to Rin’s mother. So over the weekend they took a train over to his parents’, which Rin was excited about. She had a lot of fun watching everything that went past on the train.

When they got to his parents’ house, Rin went back to her subdued self. She felt that she wasn’t wanted their because of how they acted at the funeral. His parents finally came to their senses and started to play with Rin. I really liked when Daikichi’s mom and Rin were playing Cats in the Cradle. Rin liked the string they used and instead of the mom showing Rin some tricks, it was Rin who showed how to do a 4-step ladder and a 2-step ladder among other tricks.  While Rin was being entertained by Daikichi’s parents, he went over to his deceased parents. He wasn’t able to find out too much. Instead he found out most of the information he needed from Rin on the train ride back.

Mayo Chiki!

Kanade plans a double date to the pool. The first couple is Kanade and Kinjirou while the second couple is Kureha and Subaru. After all, Kureha is still under the suspicion that Subaru is a guy and she happens to have a crush on Subaru.  Kanade planned the trip for two reasons. She planned to help out with both, Kinjirou’s and Subaru’s, problems. It didn’t really help Kinjirou’s problem, but he doesn’t seem to react much to Subaru’s touch. He still reacts to Kanade.

Kanade’s second plot was for her and Kureha to be kidnapped. She sends Kinjirou and Subaru off so she can put her plan into action. As soon as the two get back, Subaru gets a phone call and starts to panic upon finding out that the two have been kidnapped. She tells Kinjirou that she will go alone to get the two of them back, but of course Kinjirou won’t allow that. Instead he knocks her out and goes himself, but he isn’t really able to do much. He gets beaten up until Subaru shows up. Subaru kicks the kidnapper and saves the day.

Mawaru Penguindrum

Sho and Kanba quit the stalking stage, but instead regroup for a breaking and entering into Ringo’s home. Even at this point, neither of them knows what the Penguindrum is, even though they do know that Ringo has it. While searching in her house for the Penguindrum, Ringo comes in. She seems to have left school early to make some of her special apple curry for Sho and Kanba’s teacher. After all, it is Curry day according to her family. Sho and Kanba hide while listening for any hint as to what the Penguindrum could be. They end up thinking for a little that it could be the curry. Not really sure why they would think that if they know that it is written out somewhere, but that’s what they thought.

After making the curry, Ringo goes to Sho and Kanba’s teacher to have it with him. She finds a woman there and decides to make a slight change of plans. She switches the curry that the woman is making with hers and runs out the window with the woman’s curry. After a big fiasco of dropping the woman’s curry in the street, Ringo ends up having curry with Sho, Kanba and Himari. By the end of the episode, Sho and Kanba still have no idea what the Penguindrum is.

Blood-C

Starting after the 3^rd episode I think they are finally going to get to the real storyline. At least, that’s how they made it seem at the end of the episode. Not too much really happened again in this one. Saya had breakfast with her father, and as usual, her father did not want her knowing how much he likes sweets. Though she did find out that while she like strong, black coffee, he likes his coffee weak.  After that, she goes to school, and then ends up going back to the café with her friends.

While at the café she learns of strange happenings with the people at the bakery. So at night, she goes out and follows the male baker to a train stop. A train soon arrives and the baker gets on. He only lives a moment or two after that. The source of evil soon becomes apparent and Saya is off to kill another evil being.

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

In the 1^st episode the theme was panty shots, then we had a break from fanservice, but with the 3^rd episode it was all about the girl’s school swimsuit. So we have more fanservice.  It wasn’t quite as bad with the school swimsuit, but I will never understand why that is appealing.

The school had to be closed early due to an outbreak of man-eating monsters that Taito and Mirai have to take care of. Gekkou had called Taito to help take care of the huge monster in the student council room but as soon as Taito and Himea get there, Mirai finishes it off. So, at that point Gekkou explains what the student council does. Most of which is to destroy the monsters that are roaming about. After a short explanation the four go to the pool. Mirai, Himea and Taito enjoy swimming in the pool, or at least Mirai and Himea do. Taito just tries to stay alive. Gekkou on the other hand walks away to dry off his school clothes and receives a message from his twin brother, Hinata.

Kamisama no Memochou

The 3^rd episode of Kamisama no Memochou closes up the case of the 2 million yen.  Narumi is feeling bad about what he said to Meo, but didn’t want to talk to her right away. Instead he had to help out at the Ramen shop with Min. The group trying to get the 2 million yen ended up attacking the Ramen shop, but Min was able to handle them.  The group came another time, writing bad things about the Ramen shop on the shop as well as hurting Min. This is when Meo decided it would be better to leave.

Meo wasn’t able to get too far before Narumi found her with the help of Alice. He finally apologized to Meo, but the two were then attacked. Luckily Yondaime had come in time to make sure the two were okay. At that point, Narumi felt the need to become stronger and decided it was time to become brothers with Yondaime. Yondaime first disagreed, but after hearing that Narumi wasn’t planning to join them, he was okay with it.  They did the ceremony and then put their last plan together to save Meo’s dad.

Brief News: Sentai Filmworks grabs Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Only 3 weeks into the summer season and Sentai Filmworks licenses the 13 episode series, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. I have to congratulate them on their choice to grab the series. I’ve enjoyed it so far and I’m sure it will continue to do well. The Anime Network will be streaming the show from now on and it will be released on DVD here in the US in a year.  Sentai Filmworks has licensed many other good titles such as Angel Beats, Canaan and Hidamari Sketch. So, I’ll still be keeping up with Ikoku Meiro no Croisée on Anime News Network and will be planning to get the DVD when it comes out next year.

Summer Anime Week 3: Part 1

From the 3rd episode on, I’m going to make a few posts for the 3rd episode of the Summer anime. I figure that with the third episode on I will make brief notes on each anime that I am watching. With this part, I will be talking about Natsume Yuujinchou, Sacred Seven, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, and Uta no Prince-sama.

Natsume Yuujinchou San

In this week’s episode of Natusme Yuujinchou San, a friend, or rather bully, comes back from the past for Natsume. This friend of his, Shibata, comes to ask for help instead of bullying him for being able to see spirits. Shibata still believes that Natsume was lying about seeing spirits, and Natsume wanted to keep it that way. He never wants anyone to know that he can see spirits and I can understand why.

I almost feel that Natsume is too nice, especially to those that have treated him badly in the past, but I like how he can help those in need even if it hurts him. He’s really great that way. I do feel bad for his two friends, Kitamoto and Nishimura, who are left behind even though they try to defend him against Shibata.  Too bad he wasn’t able to get the birthday cakes that he was asked to get for Shigeru before he left with Shibata.

The episode ends nice even if it is a little sad for both Shibata and Natsume. The spirit was able to become happy before she had to part from Shibata. The two were able to share some nice memories by the river and Shibata finally decided that maybe Natsume seeing spirits wasn’t such a bad thing.

Sacred Seven

After enjoying the first two episodes, I feel that the third episode takes a dip in quality. They added more characters to the show, but I just don’t feel for any of the characters for now. Although the fight scene between Alma Tandoji, Kijima Night and Yuuji Kenbi’s assistant was pretty good. We got to see new powers from Tandoji and Kijima such as being able to go through walls. Kijima Night didn’t get what he came for, but I’m sure that he will be meeting up with Tandoji again.

I’m really surprised by how many stones they go through. Each episode Ruri uses a different stone on Tandoji, even though I originally thought that she would be using the same stone that she had in the first episode. It makes me wonder how many stones are actually out there that they can use, and if the supply of them will ever be depleted.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Inspiration can come in many forms, such as objects, people, or in Claude’s sake, people’s names. Claude takes part of the meaning of Yune’s name, the kanji used for sound, and makes a sign out of it. He had a commission for a music sign, but was having a hard time coming up with something that would look good. He first tried things around the shop and even tried getting inspiration from Yune’s homeland, Japan, but nothing he was hearing or seeing was doing anything. Then he saw Yune writing in Japanese, and finally got it from that. Having sold the sign, he wanted to do something nice for Yune, and ended up getting to get something for her as well as show her a night sight.

My favorite part was probably when she was learning how to use the heavy iron. You could see how Claude’s grandfather watched Yune closely because it proved to be pretty heavy for her, but Yune got used to it pretty easily. She even kept asking for clothing to iron. Such a small girl to be doing such chores. Congrats to her for managing it!

Uta no Prince-sama

The first group assignment is finished and luckily for Ittoki and Haruka have passed. Hooray for them! The students in their class don’t think that Haruka could have passed with her skills.  Not believing that she could have already learned how to read music, which I can honestly say that it would be hard to believe myself, they start to make rumors that she found ways to become the professors’ favorites in order to pass. She was asked to play the piano again, but instead got stage fright because of her classmate’s whispering about whether she would be able to play or not.

Ittoki wanted to help out, but it seems that his time to help was up. Hijirikawa gets his turn this episode.  He encourages Haruka that she can do it and tells her to remember why she was interested in music. He even shares his song with her that she was the inspiration for after getting her to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  This is definitely a lot like Starry Sky, but instead of each character having some past or experience with the main character, they each have a song.

First Thoughts: Dantalian no Shoka

Hugh arrives at his deceased grandfather’s house upon receiving the will requesting him to take care of Dalian and the rare book collection. Dantalian no Shoka is one of the most promising shows of the season and the last one to air for the summer season.

Hugh is not a believer of fairytales like his deceased grandfather, so he does not believe Dalian when she tells him that some rare books, called Phantom books, are not what they appear to be. If opened by an unrecognized person, characters from the book can be brought to life. Hugh believes Dalian after he finds that his deceased grandfather’s rival has indeed taken a book from his grandfather’s library, and that the book has brought these characters into the real world. They only affect the real world when it is a full moon. Dalian ends up recognizing Hugh and the two have teamed up to seal the Phantom books.

The story of Dantalian no Shoka is great. I like books and fantasy, so having the two together is great. Hugh’s grandfather is a collector of books, and he was in charge of helping Dalia collect the Phantom books to seal them. Having the Phantom books come to life if opened by the wrong people was a great idea, especially finding out that when the characters are destroyed they leave behind the paint they were made out of. 

The special effects in the anime are amazing as well. At one point Hugh has to put the key he has into a lock that, of course, appears on Dalia’s chest to have a special book appear. The book that appears is for sealing books, but it can help destroy the characters from the book as well, since a gun isn’t always really helpful as Hugh finds out.

Dalia and Hugh, as main characters, are very well set. Dalia has definitely turned out to be my favorite character of the series so far. She has a disdain for humans except for Hugh’s grandfather. She decides to make an exception for Hugh since he is the one of the only people who can help her seal the Phantom books. She still doesn’t hold back her dislike of Hugh or humans. Hugh, on the other hand, is a very intelligent person though he doesn’t believe in fantasy being real right away. When Dalian asks him questions about various topics, even about stories, he can answer them, but doesn’t always put much belief in them.

Overall, Dantalian no Shoka has been great so far and has definitely piqued my interest. I can’t wait to see what Phantom book they will seal next as well as see how Dalian and Hugh will interact with each other from now on.

First Thoughts: Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

A vampire poisons the one she loves so he can live forever.  Well, that is unless he is killed more than six times. This is the basis of the anime, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi. I at first thought the show would be pretty good, but like Kore wa Zombie desu ka? I was pretty disappointed with it. The 2^nd episode helped the show out a little, but I can’t really seem to like it.

Himea was lonely as a child, or at least she looked like a child, and Taito Kurogane was the only one that would play with her and care about her.  When both Taito and Himea were both 9-year-olds, Himea “poisoned” Taito so that he would have seven lives.  Later, Gekkou’s twin brother, Hinata, comes to take Himea. Taito tries to save her, but fails. Himea ends up going with Hinata to save Taito and they promise to meet up again. Years later, they finally meet up again and they have to try to fend off Gekkou as well as destroy Hinata.

Too many panty shots. I can understand maybe having panty shots every now and then, but especially for the 1^st episode, they couldn’t seem to get enough of the panty shots. Even with a group of females, they couldn’t resist showing all of their underwear. It’s just too much. Also, the main character had taken karate when he was younger, but he can’t seem to fight worth crap. Instead, he kept dying right as soon as he would wake up. He just doesn’t seem very strong, even though he probably should be. Then there was the villain that originally locked Himea up. He was strong, a lot stronger than both Taito and Gekkou, but surprisingly he was defeated in the 2^nd episode. That doesn’t seem very well thought out to me.

The fight scene in the 2^nd episode was my favorite part of Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi. I am only going to try watching another episode or two to see if it gets better, but if it fails to, I’m going to be dropping it.

First Thoughts: Mayo Chiki

A girl crossdresses as a guy to be a butler for her employer, and she happens to be found out by a guy who cannot be touched by a female or he’ll have a nosebleed.  Mayo Chiki! is a gender bender series with the females beating up this one guy, Kinjirou. He has both his sister and the female butler, Subaru, beating him up, and sometimes for no reason.  The story is sort of interesting for a gender bender, but I can’t understand why no one else has figured out that Subaru is a female. It’s a little too obvious to me.

Instead of Subaru being the main character, it’s Kinjirou who is the one focused on. Kinjirou will get a nosebleed if he touches a girl or if a girl touches him. He finds out that Subaru is a female by chance and almost gets killed for it.  Subaru’s master, Kanade Suzutsuki, stops her from killing him, but makes Kinjirou promise not to tell or she will let Subaru kill him. In exchange, Kanade will help Kinjirou overcome his nosebleed response from a woman’s touch. And thus we have Kanade forcing Subaru to be around Kinjirou often to fix his problem as well as to just keep an eye on him.

My biggest problem with the series is that no one can tell just by looking at her, that she is a female. She sure looks like one though. Her hair is done in a very feminine style. Everything else seems to point that she might not be a female, but I think if someone were to look closely, she would look like a female. Not only that, but Subaru’s employer seems a little odd for the series. She is a sadist, but I can’t see it being too beneficial to have them chained to the nurse’s room’s beds. Of course she paid off the nurse so the nurse wouldn’t care, but it just seems like a little too much. And then it seems like the sister has a sister complex. They haven’t really shown much of the sister or how she interacts with the brother other than attacking him as soon as he wakes up, but she gets really upset when she sees him hanging out with Subaru.

The best part is that it seems like Kinjirou and Subaru will probably hook up, but if there are more things that just don’t add up with the rest of the show, I’ll have to drop it. Otherwise it could end up being a good gender bender anime.

First Thoughts: Mawaru Penguindrum

Your sister dies and gets brought to life because of a possessed penguin hat. That’s what happens in Mawaru Penguindrum to Shouma and Kanba Takakura when their sister, Himari, dies.  Himari is then brought back to life by whatever possessed the penguin hat that Kanba had bought her. Kanba and Shouma are then expected to go search for an object called the Penguindrum in order to lengthen Himari’s life. At first I wasn’t going to watch this, but I decided I wanted to see what it was all about. I found myself quite surprised upon watching the first 2 episodes of it. It’s turned out to be pretty good so far.

One of my favorite parts so far in the show is the penguins. Shouma, Kanba and Himari all have a penguin of their own. The penguins are there to help them with anything they need and are very good at listening and obeying orders. They will even go into a lingerie store, put on underwear and bras on their heads, in order to follow Kanba and Shouma’s target.

I also like the characters Kanba and Shouma, but mainly Kanba. Kanba is the stereotype playboy. He is always flirting with females no matter where they are at. It usually helps them out in the end.  He also seems to be the more level-headed of the two. Shouma is the quick to excite out of the two. He’s also really good at cooking. The two together, are very protective of Himari and will do whatever possible to make her happy, even if they have to imitate animals.

The art is bright and colorful, and just overall nice. The art style reminds me quite a bit of Star Driver.  I like the colors they use for the characters and especially how they liven everything up, whether it is the penguin mechas or just the characters themselves. They try to make sure that the main characters are the focus by having all the extras looking the same. The extras look kind of like paper dolls just moving around in scenes.

The fact that the plot has not really been established yet turns me off a little to the series, but within the next few episodes I expect to understand what the Penguindrum is and why the penguins need it. I’ve been enjoying the characters so far, and am wondering what the panda robots are there for.

Usagi Drop: Day 2 of Taking Care of Rin

When taking in a child, you must remember about enrolling that child into a school. Unfortunately for Daikichi, he forgot until the day before the week started. The 2^nd episode was just as good if not better than the 1^st.

At the beginning of the 2^nd episode, Daikichi and Rin both go to the store to get necessities for Rin such as a futon and clothes. Daikichi even learns how to see what will fit Rin by observing other parents in the store. Not long after he gets home he calls his sister to ask about how to apply for a school.  He then searches the internet for a school that will take her the whole time he is gone. He only finds a 10 day emergency school.  The rest of the episode shows how hard it is for Daikichi to take her there and to pick her up.

The imagery they show in the episode is very amusing and makes me laugh. The first is when Rin leaves Daikichi’s side on their way to the store. They leave an outline of where she was when Daikichi first looked. It is a great way to show that kids do get distracted by a lot of things. One of my other favorite moments is when they leave the store and Daikichi is carrying so many items that they bought for Rin. It was sure quite a bit.  The episode showed how hard it was for Daikichi to drop and pick Rin up. They had to run to make it to school on time, and Daikichi always ran to pick her up as well. It was really well done that way. I also liked the way they were able to show how both Daikichi and Rin felt when it was about time for Rin to be picked up. Rin would feel upset and showed it by knocking down blocks while Daikichi would look out the window during a conference. The emotions are just displayed really well.

The show can be annoying, such as how Daikichi’s sister’s daughter kept bugging the mom to let her talk to Rin, but that also just shows how children can be. I can’t wait to see what will happen in the episode of Usagi Drop between Rin and Daikichi. 

Another Name Given Back More Natsume Yuujinchou San

Natsume spent another day giving back a name to a spirit, letting the book of friends grow smaller. This episode was more toward my liking, especially since Tanuma was in it.

In the 2^nd episode of Natsume Yuujinchou San, Natsume met a spirit that wanted her name back and wanted Natsume to help her find her brother. Rather the spirit actually wanted Natsume to find the spirit that could take her back home at a price. Tanuma saw the shadow of a spirit himself and wasn’t sure whether he should get Natsume to help or not. He opted not to, but Natsume ended up solving both his problem and Tanuma’s problem.

This was an episode that I really enjoyed. The atmosphere was the same as usual, which was calming and light. It’s nice not to be tense every episode of an anime. I liked watching how each of the characters dealt with their problems. Tanuma did not want to burden Natsume so he tried to figure out what he could do himself, while Natsume at first tried to get out of helping the spirits, but helped them out in the end.

I’m still waiting to see some characters, but I’m sure they will eventually show themselves in the series. For now, I’ll keep watching to see how Natsume will deal with his problems and see who he bumps into each episode.

First Thoughts: Blood-C

For an anime done by Production I.G. and CLAMP, I haven’t been too thrilled with the first two episodes of Blood-C. I’m a big fan of CLAMP’s work in manga such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Legal Drug and XXXHolic as well as being a fan of Production I.G.’s Kimi ni Todoke and Eden of the East. Saya, the main character of Blood-C, is a maiden who attacks evil beings at night. During the day, she is a normal student with her friends, a guy who likes her and the lone wolf who she tries to befriend.

To state it simply, Blood-C is like a lot of CLAMP’s other works. Saya is a clutz and very athletic like Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura and a little like Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth. She is also oblivious to everything like many of the characters in CLAMP’s works and I can’t help but think that Saya is such a cliché character. The only difference is her actually appearance. Tokizane, a classmate of Saya’s, is a lot like Syaoran in the respect that he is a lone wolf. He doesn’t talk much and he seems to think something of Saya, but there is no way of knowing what or why. It almost seems like he knows something, but nothing has been mentioned in the first 2 episodes out of 13 that could explain it.

The plot for the show is practically non-existent.  I honestly have no idea where they are planning to go with the show. Saya is attacking these evil beings that neither her father nor she knows what they are and why they are there.  She gets food from the café that is across from the temple, but the guy at the café’s role in the whole story is very unclear as of yet. Not only that, but she seems sort of interested in Tokizane, but even that is vague. She tries to get him to eat some egg and he is reluctant to do so.  She almost completely ignores Tomofusa who is in love with her. He seems like a character that is only in there just so there are more characters instead of furthering the plot.

The art is the best part of the anime so far. It’s one of the only reasons I’m still watching the show other than wanting to know whether the show is going to go anywhere or if it’s only going to be Saya attacking monsters every episode. I’m probably only going to watch one or two more episodes before deciding whether it is better to drop. So if it doesn’t get anymore, I’m just going to give up.