otakunick anime reviews (dog days)

Well in my last review i was less then enthused about the show i was reviewing but this time I'm going to review an anime that i really enjoyed from the maker of the Nanoha series Tsuzuki, Masaki, that's right today I review Dog Days.

Now way back in the beginning of the season you might remember me doing a first thoughts review on this anime. So I don't need to really get into the story if you never read that review click hear to read it.

But if you have read it you might remember me saying that even though this show starts out happy go lucky and carefree that Tsuzuki, Masaki usually finds a way of darkening the story around the mid to late episodes. As I predicted he would end up doing just that around episode 7 or 8 the show takes a darker tone and keeps it until episode 10 when the major threat is resolved, leaving us with 3 episodes of the carefree show right? Well not exactly though it's not as dark as the final conflict the story ends up throwing us one more curve ball to try and make us feel bad for the male lead. Before ultimately resolving that problem as well so we get the usual Tsuzuki, Masaki happy ending motif.


So what am I trying to say is this show played out just like most of Tsuzuki, Masaki previous shows. It starts out carefree with the lead having a fate-full encounter then shit hits the fan half way through. Then there's a tear-full goodbye then a ray of hope for a Reunion. Formulaic? Yes, but it works for story's like this.

Now I would not say this is a show everyone should just go out and watch, sure I liked it but that is because i like the formula it follows, I liked it in Nanoha and i liked it here. I know though there are a lot of people who do not like it and I can see why they don't. All in all the shows just playing it safe never really stands out to anyone other than its core demographic but I do have to say at least give it a try you never now you may end up liking it as well.

otakunick anime reviews (A-channel)

Well guys it's that time again one of the spring anime season has wrapped up and I'm here to give you my thoughts on it and let me just say if this review doesn't make you want to go out and watch this anime right now I really wouldn't be surprised. A-Channel really has to be one of the most plain anime I have watched in years and this is coming from a guy that watches between 10 and 20 anime a season but I still do opt out of some though.

A-Channels story revolves around the everyday life of four high school girls: the flighty Run, the reckless Tooru, the timid Yuuko, and the level-headed Nagi. Doesn't sound all the interesting right well that’s because it isn’t the one sentence really sums up all 12 episodes of this anime it really just feels like they plopped us right into the daily lives of these four girls and honestly I really don’t see a reason for anyone to rush out and watch this.

The animation looks good most of the time but they use this weird chibi-esque like face on all the characters but don’t make the body’s chibi, couple this with the characters already looking like noodle people and your just waiting for one of there necks to snap under the weight of their massive heads. I'm shore this worked in the manga because they’d crop into just the heads but for anime its just awkward.

Now the music is good that is if they didn’t use an insert song each episode to pad out the length of the episode, having one or two insert songs in an anime isn't that bad but seriously why every episode it really more of a hindrance then it is help.

So to wrap things up on this short review I really cant see why I didn’t drop this anime its easily one of the weakest series this season with no real redeeming features and I really don’t see any reason to say watch it so this ones really up to your own discretion guys.

Gundam The Origin to be Animated

Okay everyone that reads this blog or listens to the podcast knows just how big of Gundam fans we hear at otakuhome are and while I don’t think I need to say that we had a negative reaction to Gundam Age because of the direction it took. It's decision to go for the younger demographic and in fact I even thought that sunrise was thinking of abandoning the fans that built up the studio to what it is now since all we've had for serious Gundams as of late was unicorn though great having to wait SEVERAL months at a time for the next ep is a killer. Fear not older Gundam fans we also get a new series much like the kids that will be watching Age now if you didn’t read the title (though I don’t know who wouldn’t read a title before reading a blog post) your probably asking yourself what’s the new gundam for older fans well I’ll tell you my friends as of today June 25th the "Gundam The Origin" manga has been given the green light for an anime. Yeah that’s right in this month’s Gundam Ace magazine sunrise has officially announced that "Gundam The Origin" will be getting an anime and this comes straight from the top from sunrises president Kenji Uchida himself.

Now then some of you who aren’t new fans of Gundam but aren’t exactly the oldest of fans are probably wondering just what is "Gundam The Origin" well it’s a serialized manga in Gundam Ace that started back in 2001 which retold the original gundams story with some slight differences. The real reason I’m so excited about this is because we will be getting a updated version of 0079 in which Gundam fans that want to know where Gundam started but can’t quite handle the old 70s art this is also the first time a Gundam anime will be getting a reboot from a manga.

As I already know the original story of Gundam I’m more looking forward to seeing the slight differences that the origin throws in there such as seeing how Char went from Casval Rem Deikun to Char Aznable and stuff like that. There are some things I’m worried about for instance two of the main characters VA'S from the original anime are no longer with us Hirotaka Suzuoki voice of Bright Noa who died on August 6, 2006 and Yumi Shitsukawa voice of Sayla Mass who died on February 28, 2003. Now some of you are probably thinking what’s the big deal can't they just recast them. In short, yes they can but these two VA have been considered the defacto voices for the characters for over 30 years recasting them could cause some major anger among the fans if it’s not done right, granted I still think Sunrise already knows this and is looking for VA's with the closest possible voices to the originals as they can. Also to illustrate a point during Zeta Gundam Yumi Shitsukawa (Sayla Mass) was on Safari in Africa so they rewrote the story to take her character out and change some events because they didn't want to replace her voice actress.

Now with all that said and done I hope you all will give this new anime a chance and look forward to a hopefully episodic review of Gundam The Origin.

(editting done by cloudsora)

otakunick sci-fi reviews (Falling Skies)

Hey guys after not watching freaking anime for a while this week and really only having two things to actually talk about I decided to post this. One being the surprisingly good new TNT sci-fi show Falling Skies and two being the barely good enough Green Lantern movie now then I'm sure you know what I'll be review even without looking at the title of this.

That's right Green Lantern... oh what nope, Falling Skies it is lol

Falling Skies tells the story of the aftermath of an alien invasion. It follows a group of survivors who must band together in order to fight back against the invading aliens. The group, known as the 2nd Mass (for "Massachusetts" now do you see why im choosing to review this), is lead by Boston University history professor Tom Mason who, while in search of his son, must put his extensive knowledge of military history into practice as one of the leaders of the resistance movement.

Now the fact that this series takes place in MA is not the only reason i chose to review it over The Green Lantern it really has a solid story and characters and some nice action. The first two episodes did not have the most action in them due to the fact they where more about introducing us to the world and its players which, it did really well as the 2 hour season premier got 5.9 million viewers making it the #1 premier of the year thus far.

Now i cant actually dive to deeply into this series as its just starting but i can say this from the first two episodes alone i have been hooked its a solid start to what appears to be a solid show.

otakunick anime reviews (bakemonogatari)

hey guys i know a a few days late with this but life has been keeping me biss so hears a a short review to hold you guys over

now i am shore most people have at lest herd of bakemonogatari and if not The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions: gods, ghosts, myths, and spirits.

your probably wondering why my synopsis was so shore and thats because this show is dialog heavy to the point ware more then one ep was nothing but two charters sitting around and talking nonstop for a hour and a story get advanced so fare that if i go into details it cud ruin a rely good show and as of late id rather not do that so all i will ad is that thare are 5 arcs in the story each dealing with a new girl and a new spirit related problem with araragi helping them thew it in one way shape or form so yes this is a harem anime at its core but dune in a way you would not expect at all

now aside from the story the other thing that sets bakemonogatari apart is its art i would not say its bad infact i like it in the slow moments of the show (witch make up a god 95% of the show) the art looks fantastic but when thare is a fight or sum thing like that you can rely see whare shaft was tiring to cut corners and save money granted the fights no mater how few there were looked good but there where times ware i notest decreases in quality

but sum thing shaft didint skimp on was the music each art has its own OP witch sounds great i personaly like the first and last ones the best

so over all i say give this anime a tire especially cunsitering it will be getting a prequel witch will explaine the events of a certen golden week every fan of the anime that has yet to get thare hands on the light novel have been whating to know about