In addition to special in Shueisha’s upcoming Jump Super Anime Tour 2010 an actual anime (i.e. not an OVA or other special) has been announced for baby delinquent battle manga Beelzebub. The anime will begin in January of next year.

Awesome! It’s not my favorite Jump series, but I do love Beelzebub as much as say, Bakuman. (whose anime will premiere this fall) and even though the main character Tatsumi, more commonly referred to as Oga, walks around with a naked baby on his back – the Devil King’s baby, to boot – I will be keeping a close watch on this show. Actually, Baby-Beel might be the reason I do read the manga. Whatever, it’s funny! x)

Beelzebub debuted in Shounen Jump in 2008 as a one-shot and became a fully serialized manga less than a year later in 2009. The artist and author is Ryuuhei Tamura.

With this little piece of news, I guess it’s safe to say that summer is way too near over… but, for me, I can at least say that it has been a productive summer! You know, the latter ha–quarter. You see, I’ve been working on a new website, due to open within the first half of next month – maybe even before August is over! I’ll tell you more about it at the end of this post, but I wanted you to know that for my latest absence I actually had a more valid reason than, “uh… I forgot?”

Anyway, so here’s the exciting stuff (unless you’re as excited as me for my new upcoming website!) – a chart of this fall’s anime!

So I will be watching a lot this fall, especially Bakuman., To Aru Majutsu no Index, Soro no Otoshimono Forte, Arakwa Under the Bridge, and BONES’ new project, Star Driver. Of course I will be watching lots of other shows (most of the ones on that list, in fact), such as the favorites of my new friend Sergio “Seanver,” Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo for short) and MM!. I just hope those show’s aren’t too incestuous; I do know Seanver is, as he would say, “evil.” Very evil. :)

On another note…

So, let’s talk about my new mystery website. Well, first mystery solved: it’s about Final Fantasy; specifically Final Fantasy XIV (but not limited to). Since the game is first released on September 22 if you get the Collector’s Edition for PC (otherwise it’s September 30, or in March 2011 for the PlayStation 3) you can expect it be officially up and running early next month, just before its premiere release.

This website, called “The Pavilion” (officially its “Final Fantasy Pavilion”), is a collaboration between me, Sanjo-chan from Cen.taku.me, and Jamaipanese from… well, Jamaipanese; although I’m the one who runs the site and is doing the theme and pretty much everything… so far… But that’s okay, let’s just call them moderators with privileges. But that could be easily misconstrued… uh, never mind.

Anyway, keep your eyes open for the release next month if you’re but at all interested in the Final Fantasy series or just FFXIV. Also, please check out our new twitter account, @FFPavilion!

Darker Hatsune Miku copy, Black★Rock Shooter was released as a 50-minute full-length OVA yesterday and today I finally got to watch it!

I have always despised unwanted spoilers I am always very careful not to include them myself, but with a full review like this a few minor spoilers might occur. Please forgive me for these and proceed only knowing that I warned you.

Black★Rock Shooter OVA

The story of Black★Rock Shooter (from now on called simply Black Rock Shooter or BRS, because I have to switch to Japanese IME to write out ★ (star) which I am not sure all of you can even see) spans at least over a year from when Mato Kuroi starts her first year of middle school and meets Yomi Takanashi (who she mistakenly thinks is named “Kotoriasobi”) through the end which is some time during their second year – not counting the otherworldly battle scenes between Black Rock Shooter and the Dead Master.

The OVA shifts every now and then between telling the story of Mato and Yomi and the one where Black Rock Shooter is fighting with other girls to be connected first at the end.

Their first year, almost immediately Mato and Yomi becomes best friends and spend the whole year together in school, during club practice and at home. The second year, however, they are split into separate classes and even though their classrooms are neighbors and their clubs still practice at the same time in the same gym, Mato starts hanging out more and more with the basketball club president Yuu, which leads to Yomi feeling left out and soon after she disappears.

Just a second warning: from this point on, the review might become more heavy on spoilers. Of course, I will still try to be as vague as possible so you can enjoy the OVA yourself! ;)

A while after Yomi disappears, Mato receives a text-less phone mail, causing her to run out looking for her best friend. On top of the hill they used to visit, Mato finds the cell phone strap she had given to Yomi soon after they met, and with the rain mixing with the tears on her cheek, Black Rock Shooter appears.

I would go into more detail about both stories (of course, they aren’t really separated, just told in a non-chronological order), but I really liked this OVA and I want you to have the same experience as me, not already knowing exactly what’s going to happen. So go get yourself the OVA now!

The quality of Black Rock Shooter is great! The animation is fantastic, the characters are really lovable – or hate-able – all of them, and even I who normally don’t even notice soundtrack found the background/insert songs good not only for mood-setting but to actually listen to. I don’t think there was anything Vocaloid-produced though… I missed Miku. ;_;

So, what is my verdict? Isn’t that obvious, already…? Get Black Rock Shooter OVA now! Oh, and don’t forget to watch it! And keep lookout for future BRS OVA releases; I know I will.

“I am Black Rock Shooter.”

Last night I finally got my Medal of honor beta key and I tried it out – but that’s not what this post is about! The first time I tried to watch Shukufuku no Campanella a few weeks ago (you know, when it was fresh) I got bored halfway through the dull, stereotypical intro with the strange voice speaking to a magical girl floating around in a kaleidoscope like universe… so yeah.

I’m sorry for the lack of pictures and possibly even text, but WordPress thought it would be a good day to come out to his not-so-understand father – now he lies dead in a ditch somewhere. :(

Shukufu no Campanella – first impressions

Anyhow, if you can just muster up enough positive thoughts – This will get better. This will get better. This will get better. This will get better. – I managed to get through the “you’re destined for great things” or whatever that intro was supposed to say and I was happy I did, because it really did get better. Or, well, at least it got better enough to be watchable for half an hour.

Every seven years a meteor shower rain over the city of Ert’Aria and royalty Carina Verritti and her many – I mean many – friends, including Leicester Maycraft (pictured above), are going to the roof of the cathedral to watch. Blanketed by the dark, clear sky night has come and the meteors are shooting across the sky, but something is wrong; say, is that meteor heading towards the group? And to end on a not-really-spoiler-since-you-won’t-understand note, let me just say, “Papa!”

Shukufuku no Campanella really isn’t at the top of this season – of course that would require a lot, competing with shows like Highschool of the Dead, Amagami SS, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin (aka Occult Academy), and Shiki – but it is not at the bottom either; especially if you like RPG-like environments (think of a classic Final Fantasy or Tales of game) with magic and “item engineers” and such and such.

Okay so if I were to promise to you right now that this would be my last review of this season, would you believe me? Don’t, because there is one more after this -- Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. Anyway, let’s go over Mitsudomoe!

Mitsudomoe -- first impressions

Mitsudomoe cannot be described as anything but… crap. It’s absolute shit--wait, no! That’s what everyone else is saying. Wrongfully. Sure, it might be a little edgy -- ecchi! Get it? -- with all the reverted-pedophilia and lolis squeezing a hamster called Nipple, but it is not bad. In fact, I haven’t laughed as much and as hard -- hahahahahaha… -- as I did watching the first episode of Mitsudomoe since probably last year!

Satoshi Yabe, or “Yabecchi”, has finally achieved his dream of being an elementary school teacher but as it turns out his life isn’t going to be a dream -- but a nightmare (okay, that was lame). In his class 6-3 -- sixth year, third class -- he meets our three perverted main lolis, the Marui sisters. That’s a tsundere, a yandere, and an outright idiot; Mitsuba, Hitoha and Futaba, respectively.

So yeah, there’s been a lot of hate on this one and even though I can see the reasoning, I can’t see why. It’s fun, it’s cute and frankly, if you don’t like it don’t watch it -- don’t go insane.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=39gmosJnJvg

I‘ve heard Asobi ni Iku yo! would be plain fanservice and ecchi, but I think it’s got at least the potential to become a great, interesting show! Of course, the cat-alien plot might just be there so you won’t feel guilty for watching nothing but bouncing boobs. What do I know?

Asobi ni Iku yo! -- first impressions

I looked it up and apparently Asobi ni Iku yo! was and still is an on-going light novel, so I’m feeling pretty confident that this will not be, um… crap.

An alien message -- 「あそびにいくヨ！ 」 or “Let’s play!” -- is heard all over the world, but let’s save that for another time. Kio Kakazu gets home after shopping for groceries to be offered beer (he says no since he’s a minor) and run into the “Cathea” alien Erisu. Blushing and having somewhat of a fit, Kio accidentally drinks the beer he pulled away from Erisu (he assumes she is a minor as well -- and he’s a drink thief) and immediately faints.

After a single sip, yeah.

He later wakes up at home the next morning (?) to find the nekomimi lying half-naked in his bed -- of course! -- but not before he “accidentally” gropes her breast. And not only a little, either.

Coming down the stairs, he run into his sex-obsessed friend (according to whom, not kicking someone out after sex -- which they, by the way, did not have -- makes you a pervert) and even his teacher and as if this wasn’t messed up enough already, it turns out they are…

Spoiler alert!

…mercenaries who are out after Erisu. Oh, and just by sheer luck (or real pervertedness), these two just happened to be spying on Kio already -- or at least they had cameras and bugs in his house with the intent of one day doing so.

Spoiler over. Phew~

I really don’t know much of what is going on, but it looks promising; hopefully this promise won’t become a let-down later on. I am still unclear whether I will be follow Asobi ni Iku yo! to the end, but given who I am I probably will.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FEPspPhsVY

First of all, I am sorry for the lack of updates these past two days but I have semi-valid reasons for it. Two days ago my sleep cycle was messed up -- as usual, really. Yesterday, my friends dragged me to a 32-combatants Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament and even though I had only played two or three games back when it was released, I finished third out of ten. Since we were ten people with three characters each (and two CPU players), I got to the semi-finals twice (on the same side, so I had to drop out with one of them). I passed the first round with all of them. Anyway, since I don’t really like Super Smash Bros. Brawl let’s get on to the main subject!

Shiki -- first impressions

Being a horror anime -- apparently -- I think it’s pretty obvious that the weak-hearted or easily scared shouldn’t watch Shiki, but even if you’re okay with that you might want to think again if you don’t like maggots. There are lots of maggots, at least in the first episode. In a few shots. Never mind, actually.

Throughout the mood-establishing first episode of Shiki we get to know the bitch tsundere (bitchundere? Bitchdere?), if you don’t mind me saying so, Megumi Shimizu; the cold and silent -- at least so far he is -- Natsuno Yuuki (which might be a humorless pun on either Courage of Summer or Ghost/Spirit of Summer); and a whole bunch of secondary characters. Not much has happened with the very first episode, but it looks really nice (great art and animation… yet again), it’s a horror and even with its first episode you get intrigued, excited, maybe even a little scared, and then best of all -- it seems a lot like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, one of the best horrors of all time and in my personal anime top list with Code Geass and obviously Eureka Seven. Maybe Shiki will make it there too? Unless it’s about vampires, which I have heard it might be. Let’s hope not!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Shiki will be like either Higurashi no Naku Koro ni or Vampire Knight (or worse yet -- Twilight), but it could. Which means it has the potential to be both awesome and absolute crap (actually no, Vampire Knight is not that bad). Also, beware the reverse gravity that appears to occur around most character’s hairs. It looks like they’re all from the original Pokemon anime.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpVrkPQoWt4

Yay! Digimon is back after seven long years of absence (no, I will not acknowledge Digimon Savers (aka Digimon Data Squad); not now, not ever) and I finally realize why humans live longer than a day -- it’s so that we can experience all that digital world in the sky has to offer. Yeah, that’s got to be it.

Digimon Xros Wars -- first impressions

It feels weird (but great) to be watching Digimon in Japanese because I grew up with it as a child first with Swedish dubs on TV followed the by the Digimon Tamers and Digimon Frontier which I had to watch in English since they had never aired in Sweden (still has not, I believe) and I couldn’t find any good fansubs of them on the internet. And even though I’m still not fluent in Japanese, back then I would have never been able to watch it RAW so fansub or English were my only choices, the first one -- better one -- inaccessible. I still watched them though -- and cried at the end, mind you -- and of course I’m glad I did, but I feel I’m starting to digress…

As is the on-going theme in all Digimon series -- obviously -- Digimon Xros Wars (デジモン　クロス　ウォーズ dejimon kurosu uoozu) continues the trend of a bunch of kids destined to save the worlds -- digital and real -- together with their digital partners. You really can’t get a better version of Pokemon than Digimon.

Taiki Kudou has decided to help out the basukebu, or basket ball club, and this of course annoys the overprotective girl that is Hinomoto Akari who goes out looking for him. She finds him -- ho-hold on, that’s not the entire episode! Later -- right before the fun starts -- Taiki’s self-proclaimed rival Tsurugi Zenjirou (apparently he lost to Taiki helping out the kendo club in a match) -- and then the fun starts! A voice hidden in a melody rings through Taiki’s head, saying how “he is dying.” Taiki starts screaming, “where are you?” and then really weird things start to happen (because our main character going insane couldn’t possibly be enough) with cars sticking out of buildings and whatnot. In an alley, a bright red light shines and the voice in Taiki’s head leads him to it. The digimon (that wasn’t a spoiler was it…? （　ﾟ Дﾟ）) still spouting, “I’m dying,” another voice envelops Taiki in a bright light and presents to him a white device, asking if he is willing to save the melody -- the digimon. At the obvious reply of “yes” the device turns red and approaches Taiki as the voice says, “take this X-Loader.”

The group of three -- Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou -- gets sucked into the light or the device or whatever and later wake up in what turns out to be the Digital World (デジタル　ワールド dejitaru waarudo). Let the wars begin!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuaoYcmpd74

Also known as just Occult Academy, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin (世紀末オカルト学院 lit. end of century occult academy) is yet another entry to the “Anime no Chikara” (アニメの力 the power of anime) project that also featured the K-On! clone Sora no Woto/So・Ra・No・Wo・To. By the way (not really, this is totally off-topic… and NSFW, I guess) -- G-On! (read “gay-on,” like you would “kay-on”)!

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin -- first impressions

Did you know -- I’m not into occult at all. I do love horror, though, and I can’t really say no to Star Wars, but still. Since the show only has one episode so far and that episode only introduced one of the main characters (besides a certain shadow penis right before the ending kicks in) I don’t really have that much to say -- much less if you’re not interested in me repeating myself about the high quality of art and animation this season -- oh wait, I just did! Oh well.

Apparently, besides all the occult stuff and demons and whatnot Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin also contains time travel. Thirteen whole years -- which probably means that Maya and this Uchida are actually mother and son who, not knowing this, gets another child. Half the baby will grow up with Uchida in 2012 (probably why the world’s gonna end. You know, the time continuum-bullshit-stuff) while the other half will grow up Maya in 1999. Thirteen years later half of their child is all grown up and travels back in time 13 years! Then Big Bang occurs. Or the Big Crunch. Or maybe the Big Bounce? I really don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.

All kidding aside (I wasn’t really kidding; I’m tired), I think Occult Academy looks promising and as long as we don’t get to see any more male genitalia -- “shadow censored” or not -- I will follow it til the end. Also, I’m sorry; I promise my next post will be somewhat more interesting -- and when I’m finally done with all the “first impressions” (I promise, I won’t just rush through them like I did this one…) I can get back to the more interesting stuff. That never happens.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTEAmQLbAQc

Yay, the time has finally come! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for a real Weekly Shounen Jump series to become an anime and follow it from day one -- all other WSJ anime I follow I have only followed a few years (I started watching Naruto about four years ago, Bleach less than half a year after that) after watching the loads of episodes that were already out and fansubbed. Nurarihyon no Mago really wasn’t my only choice since both Bakuman. and Beelzebub (I think?) are getting their own anime soon -- it just came first. I will of course be watching both of the latter as well.

Nurarihyon no Mago -- first impressions

Having not read more than the first chapters of the manga itself -- yet -- I can’t really say whether my expectations were met or none, since I never had any to begin with. I think both the manga and the anime started a little slow and I’m really not that interested in another 12-year old who is actually a youkai or whatever. Hopefully, the pace will pick up and Nurarihyon no Mago will develop into a great mystery or battle shounen manga. Anyway, as long as he doesn’t stay the same age for the entire series, I probably won’t drop it. I mean, I never did drop Naruto even once during the awful crap that was the Akatsuki/Pain arc -- seriously, that sucked!

Rikuo Nura is the main character of Nurarihyon no Mago and apparently, at night he becomes ぬらりひょんの孫 (nurarihyon no mago), or “Night Rikuo.” Sounds pretty lame and you know what? That’s all I know so far. If you want to know what’s going on, watch the anime, pick up the manga or visit Wikipedia or ANN.

I’ve been going on a lot about the wonderful animation of this season’s many anime but for some reason I wasn’t as impressed with Nurarihyon no Mago as with Highschool of the Dead, Seitokai Yakuindomo, and Amagami SS -- but maybe that’s because this high quality has already become a standard with me? Maybe it’s the art which is not as enticing as with the others of the season; not that it’s bad.

Just because I think the ending is so cute (and weird -- why are they singing about a crying penis?) I have included that one as well, right after the opening below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia-i6PZxEHg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUaARhvhn9w