Final Impressions: Natsuiro Kiseki

July 27, 2012
Posted by DarrenW

Hello readers!

Yes, what must be going on in your mind now is "WHY U NO POST?". Well, to be frank, right now would be the most tiring period of the year. Yes, I am currently studying for the last stretch of my "A" Level Examinations. What is "A" Levels? Click here. Studying from 8am - 10pm in school every day of the weeek is no easy feat, and thats why computer usage, let alone watching anime is very little.

Finishing my anime list was not easy.

So today, I'll be wrapping up an anime which I avidly followed since episode 1, called "Natsuiro Kiseki"!

Basically, the story starts off with your most normal setting (Slice Of Life), 4 high-school girls who are childhood best friends, based in the nice countryside of Shimoda in the midst of summer.

Let me introduce them to you. They are:

Natsumi Aizawa. Sporty, outgoing, and easy to get along, You can say she's quite mature, and stubborn in her ways, but is very compassionate.

Saki Mizukoshi, probably the most adult-ish, mature and also very very pessimistic. However, she does disregard her reasoning to support her friends.

Yuka Hanaki, your supportive and important cheerful friend, who is always super hyperactive and gets everybody's hopes up.

And lastly, Rinko Tamaki, who is basically, very calm, collected, and follows what everybody else asks her to do. She lives at the local shrine.

The anime starts of with a unusual but normal row between Natsumi and Saki, as Natsumi is furious with Saki for not telling the other three about her decision to move to Tokyo. don't get along and they formally end their friendship.

As Yuka forces the four to meet round the wishing rock behind the shrine where they once stood many years ago, they make a surprising but unexpected wish. To fly...

And of course, they DID.

It is suddenly aparrent that the rock they had always wished upon contained supernatural powers of helping people grant their wishes. However, there is one but one condition: They must all wish together as one.

Since young, the four had always wished they wanted to be idols. Will they finally live their dream ambitions?

However, that wasn't the main theme of the anime, not by a longshot. It was only near the end that the idea of being idols came into play.

As the summer holidays begin, the four suddenly realise that at the end of it all, Saki would have to move, to a small island near Japan, leaving them forever.

And so, the idea was to spend their final time together as the complete four, before she finally leaves. And so the chain of events begin.

Just a list, dont want to elaborate and spoil the fun

Wishes (What happened)

1: The four of them fly in the air.
2: Natsumi and Saki stick together, literally, for a whole day
3: Yuka switches bodies with Saki, and the anime becomes EPIC for an episode.
4: Natsumi is cloned, and there are two of her.
5: Saki becomes INVISIBLE for an entire episode.
6: The four of the past become present in the future.
7: Summer vacation extends itself.

Basically, this anime does not really focus on the plot, though it is very clear that there is one. Most of the content in the anime are the four girls getting along, doing wacky activities together thanks to the magical stone.

It focuses on the theme, of which is very clear and strong in this anime. Near the end, the unfinished dreams and wants by the four were completed in the end, and that the summer-coloured miracle, a magic filled summer, was put to a close. The wishes that the rock granted the four, were all wishes that created a miracle for them, to accept that Saki is moving, to move on, to say final farewells, and to remember that friendships never end. The fact that you've met, shared great memories together, laughed, felt pain together, or anything of the like, does not make you strangers once you decide to leave your friends.

There are also a lot of other themes, such as looking back on your past and maturing, FRIENDSHIP, accepting decisions made by others, crafting memories, remembering your past, ups and downs of life, etc. It is a very pleasant anime to watch, both in the emotions going around in the anime, and that of the well-made humour in it. You really get the real-life no bs kind of scenarios, of which you can really relate if your best friend was really moving far away to live the rest of his/her life. As the anime progresses you can also feel closer towards the main characters, as their different personalities are expressed. very vividly in the anime.

Somehow I can resonate with such a scenario, because over the past 10 years, a similar thing happened to me. My childhood friend, after knowing him for over 8 years, finally did move, quite far away at that.

They made things interesting with the rock granting special wishes for the four girls, otherwise it would have really been a real-real-life anime. Sadly, the final plot did not really move me to tears nor set my heart racing (maybe I was just tired), though it was disappointing that in the end, Saki still had to move. I thought the miracle was that they all became idols. Guess it was something more important than that.

Ah, of course, there are some things that don't happen in real life, like a supernatural rock, or espers (YET).

The OP, which was the best sounding OP for this season, until I watched Hyouka (LOL), I would give 4/5 stars for the awesome transitions and music.

The art was above average, and I really liked it, it was very detailed.

Natsuiro Kiseki premiered from April 6th, 2012 to June 20, 2012, and was fansubbed by rori and Tasty-Anmitsu.

Enjoy relaxing.

Hint: MMORPG
DarrenW
Edited by FayeA

Final Impressions: Haiyore! Nyaruko-San

Posted by MedusaS & DarrenW
July 17, 2012

To those who watch this anime,

OH HERE WE GO AGAIN! Be prepared to face the randomness that is Nyarlathotep!

And today, I will be officially ending one of the most funniest and crazy animes in this season, "Haiyore! Nyaruko-San"!

Mahiro Yasaka

So where does all the random stuff begin? Well with a serious horror plot of course! Our main protagonist, Mahiro Yasaka is struggling as he attempts to outrun an out-of-this-world monster.

It manages to corner him, but then is suddenly stabbed by someone and died.

It is then revealed that the person who saved Mahiro was none other than our other main character, the MOST WACKY, FUNNY, ENERGETIC AND CUTE character I have seen in a LONG time. Yes, its Nyarlathotep, or Nyaruko-san.

Main Characters

For those who are asking WHAT? Dafuq is Nyarlathotep? Well, it's a name derived from one of H.P. Lovecraft's works on the Cthulhu Mythos: a shared ficitional universe, of which this anime's original novel writer based the idea from.

OMG WHAT IS THIS
DEVELOPMENT

For those who don't know what the Cthulhu Mythos is (Er, like EVERYONE), think of it as something alien with an aztec feel to it.

So this anime is an adaptation to the mythos, of which the fictional elemental classifications have been all converted into cute anime girls, okay getting a bit weird here.

Now that wasn't too hard to digest is it? I summarized it into about 100 words for you guys.

Yeah, so now we know what angle this anime is going. Alien. OMG.

Anyways, I will try to explain what IS GOING ON. Nyaruko-san is a part of the Space Defence Agency, who has begged her boss to be dispatched to Earth, to protect Mahiro from certain death. There have been other aliens planning on hurting him, which she has to deal with.

FORKS???

And deal with it she DOES. She completely disembowels and rips them wearing a smile on her face. Why she begged for the job was because she fell in love with Mahiro at first sight... and she's also an otaku. An alien as an otaku. (Insert Jackie Chan Meme here)

POKEMON

Anyway, in the second episode, she decides to bring Mahiro to Ry'leh to investigate what was going on and put a stop to it. Of which she did and the plot literally ended in episode 2.

Later in the show, we are introduced to new characters, such as Cthuga, a cute character but has an unrequited lesbian relationship with Nyaruko, and Hastur, also cute and kind and all, but HE'S like liking Mahiro and wants him to make babies together? OMG what sort of progression has this anime developed into?

And also Mahiro's mum whos OKAY with this sort of relationships and behaviours, of which she is some sort of independent mystical monster hunter.

The story goes on and on with sudden plot twists in a single or 2 episode segments, of which normally the resolution would be something that is really lame, but of course funny at the same time.

Most of the "evil-guys" all have the same reason: to destroy the earth........ BECAUSE THEY LOVE EROGE, ANIMES AND MANGA. There's no other way to put it:

Left: MedusaS                           Right: DarrenW

MedusaS

HARUHI REFERENCE

I was quite pleased an displeased at the same time in episode 2, where a lot of the serious scenes with the serious feel going on with it were literally changed into something else with the flick of humour... The action scenes were quite funny and at the same time using some CQC (Close Quarters
Combat) which I don't understand,
and think I don't wish to know further
about as well.

I think anybody would be shocked...

Well of course, if its humour you are looking for, THIS IS IT. This will be one of the most funniest shows this side of the season. Every episode will be able to make you ROFLcopter or LMAO. Of course, thats it you understand the jokes.

Despite the deluded plot structure and random scenes, I guess it can make the cut.

If its ECCHI you are looking for, this is also IT. However it ISN'T Mahiro as the perverted one. ITS NYARUKO.

LIES!!

However, Nyaruko-san would be, in that sense, very different from your other heroines. Not tsundere, very perverted and very dirty minded, random. So only the looks hold, of which isn't her true form either. However of course, she is actually pretty serious about Mahiro as she shows in one of the episodes where she
isn't her usual retarded self.

And another thing. Mahiro and Nyaruko switch bodies at a point in the anime, and MAHIRO FEELS NOTHING FROM BEING IN A GIRL'S BODY? Omg I swear something is abnormal about him.

It also has a very funny OP video which summarizes how the whole anime is going to look like quite well. AND WHO IS THAT VOICE ACTOR WITH THE FUNNY VOICE? Well it's Vanilla from "Yumeiro Patissiere" Can you believe that?

DarrenW

BACK TO THE FUTURE
REFERENCE

Hi guys! Since I also watched this anime, I guess I also have some personal opinions to share.

Bascially, Nyaruko-san is basically a great big mess to me, often confusing because of the large amounts of humour added in to the story which basically makes no sense, but achieves its idea of humour, I guess.

WORKING!! REFERENCE

As a novelist, I can somewhat explain to you what the structure of the plot is like in this anime. When we write fictional stories, we have an introduction, progression, climax and ending. Basically, the parts I don't really admire is the progression. Unfortunately for me, alien animes don't really appeal to my taste. There are quite a lot of things to take in, which the majority of it, I fail to understand. The progression is hence small plots that open and close within one episode, and then the main plot only comes in episode 11 and 12, with the main theme coming in to complement the final idea.

This sort of structure is not bad (Insert Obama Meme here), BUT I have to say that the building up was, admittedly, quite fail, because of the way they tried to fill up everything with humour. As a story builder, the seriousness and epic-ness of your plot is closely related to how much you decide is serious, so if you add in a lot of humour, it breaks down the atmosphere and dissolves the scenes and development, unfortunately.

THE WORLD GOD ONLY KNOWS
REFERENCE

Of course, I commend Haiyore! because, it is an out of this world anime, literally. It is very original and was certainly an anime that made me laugh a lot, compared to the others on my watching list. The final theme is also somewhat significant and a key learning point which I personally think is very important in life.

A lot of things don;t make sense. Why is Hasta like that? Why is Cthuga les? And many many other things. Then again, Dafuq did I just watch?

Try not to hate on us for raging on this particular anime ok? Hahas.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san was a Spring 2012 anime which premiered on April 9th, 2012. It was fansubbed by Commie, Ahodomo, Hatsuyuki, and Underwater-rori. It is also available in Simulcast on Crunchyroll.

Enjoy being random and losing your sanity. LMAOing
MedusaS & DarrenW
Edited by FayeA

Initial Impressions: Kokoro Connect

12, July 2012
Posted by DarrenW

Dear Readers,

IT'S FINALLY TIME, for the summer 2012 animes!

Premiering just last Sunday, here is our first impressions for "Kokoro Connect"!

Ever wondered what would happen if you switched bodies with your friend for a while? No? Well that's what this anime is all about! For the very first time, we now have an anime where the main characters switch bodies!

Of course, our story begins when we are first introduced to the five main characters. All five have different personalities, backgrounds, gender (2 male, 3 female) and all of whom belong to the Cultural Research Club (CRC), for various reasons.
And they are:

Taichi Yaegashi

Taichi Yaegashi, our protagonist. He has a mostly serious personality, but is a huge fan of pro-wrestling. Joined the CRC because he had no interest in the other clubs which were available. Your average male protagonist, I guess.

Iori Nagase

Iori Nagase, your cheerful, energetic and clumsy character, who is also the club president (for whatever wacky reason). She applied for the CRC because she couldn't decide which of the many clubs she could join, and hence she let her homeroom teacher decide.

Himeko Hinaba

Himeko Inaba is your serious, scary, violent and bespectacled girl, who knows a lot about what is going on and often uses the computer. She joined the CRC because she left the computer club following an argument.

Yoshifumi Aoki

Yoshifumi Aoki, Taichi's best friend, and has no delicacy whatsoever about his unrequited love for Yui. He and Tacihi also share... *ahem* adult videos... (Like I said, average high-school students).

Yui Kiriyama

Yui Kiriyama is your last main character, who fancies cute things, and regards Aoki as a 'pervert'. She wanted to join a club that had fancy things, but that wasn't possible so she joined CRC.


And so, the plot thickens when Aoki and Yui confess...no, not about their relationship, but that THEY'VE SWITCHED BODIES... for about 10 seconds. It then becomes clear that something is amiss, but they don't realize it yet.

OH, REALLY

first switch

Then the same thing happens between Iori and Taichi in the middle of a meeting. Taichi suddenly realizes he has boobs and freaks out, then realizes that one of Iori's classmates has a lesbi... and one thing leads to another. This time, it lasts about an hour.

A-Are these...

a woman's...

And that's it. It certainly seems that the plot is developing. The main questions are, in which direction is it going to develop in, and whose bodies will switch next time? Is somebody behind all of this, or is is just because they are in the CRC? Watch to find out!

Personally, once I read the synopsis, I immediately placed this anime in my to-watch list. It is rare that you get an anime with this sort of unusual plot, and it certainly looks promising from my point of view.

The nice OP is sung by eufonius, of which is one of my favourite bands as they sung the OP for CLANNAD.

Scary...

Produced by Silver Link, Kokoro Connect will have ?? episodes and is currently being fansubbed by Commie, Oyatsu, rori, and Doki (they hasn't released anything yet, though). Has a pre-air episode as well which I don't recommend because everything in it is the same as the first half of episode 1. I honestly will confirm the numbers and update this post.




I hope there's not so much ECCHI. Please SPARE this anime!!


DarrenW
Edited by aaronsine