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Kodomo no Omocha, commonly called Kodocha, isn’t the most widely known series, but is generally well-liked by those who’ve seen it – in fact, I don’t recall ever reading a bad review of it.  I initially decided to watch the show due to an extremely positive opinion posted on the Star Crossed Anime Blog, which….

Well, I’m back after my exam-month break, ready to tackle some new anime series.  After waiting a bit for first impressions to start popping in, I ended up picking three series to try out at this relatively early point in the season.  Ookiku Furikabutte, of course, I was going to follow anyways due to being a huge fan of the original. Giant Killing, solely on the praise given to it by psgels on his blog.  Finally, Yojou-han Shinwa Takei seemed…

After a nice, long 50 episode run, we’ve come to the end of Cross Game, the anime adaptation of a manga by a relatively well known author – Mitsuru Adachi.  If you’ve read other articles on this site, this name might also be familiar as he is the author of one…

Binbou Shimai Monogatari , which translates roughly into something like “The Story of Poor Sisters“, is a 10-episode anime based of a seinen manga of the same name.  The general premise of the story is that two girls, the older being in middle school, live alone in a rather modest apartment (think Maison Ikkoku).  They live in relative poverty without parental support, as their mother has passed away and their father has left them for his gambling addictions.  The older sister takes up a part time job while the younger one devotes herself to housework, and by depending on each other, they are able to live independently……

Somehow, it hadn’t crossed my radar that Nodame Cantabile had returned to the airwaves with a new season, probably because I’ve been paying less and less attention to ongoing anime.  Of course, I’ve picked it up again, though I’ve only had the time for one episode so far.  At first glance, it appears to carry on the beloved Nodame formula fairly well,  the enjoyable blend of romantic comedy with a musical backdrop.  However, I was one of those…

I’ve always heard the name Satoshi Kon pop up in serious anime discussions, but my familiarity with his works has been fairly restricted.  There is, of course, Tokyo Godfathers, which was an enjoyable film that earned quite a positive review from me, but I’ve been told that it is the least indicative of his general style.  After watching Millenium Actress, I think I might have a better idea of what that “style” may be, and it is indeed a very interesting one….

Figure 17 aired back in 2001 under a fairly uncommon format – it consists of 13 episodes, but each episode is about double the length of a typical anime episode.  So in terms of actual length, it is more or less the equivalent of a common 26-episode series.  The story revolves around Tsubasa, a girl from Tokyo who has moved to rural Hokkaido and finds herself having trouble fitting in (not helped by her reserved demeanor).  One day, she stumbles upon a crashed alien ship and discovers a man fighting for his life against a giant, violent creature.  …..

The new season’s anime previews has been posted up at CF’s website – you can take a look here.  I’m going to take a page out of psgels’ book and write a commentary on each of the offerings.  However, I’m not as familiar with the backgrounds of various non-Ghibli studios and directors, so my impressions will not be very insightful, are based mostly on merely the plot descriptions and images.

Angel Beats: This one seems…

Mamoru Hosoda is probably best known as the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, a film which was fairly popular both critically as well as commercially (despite limited release).  The praise was certainly well-deserved – it was a very well-made film, and clearly showed that Hosada possessed real talent for directing.  Of course, I did have some of my own criticisms of that film, particularly in regards to the balance of the sci-fi elements in the story in the overall plot.  Summer Wars has some similarities….

Eve no Jikan is a relatively short ONA series that was released between 2008 and 2009.  The story is divided into six acts, but the majority of them are only about 15 minutes long, and you can think of this as the equivalent to a two hour movie.  Eve no Jikan takes place is a futuristic setting (probably Japan, says the opening titles) where androids have become commonplace.  Our main character, Rikou, is a young high school student who possesses one of these androids at home and is constantly teased by his sister for being a potential…..