AnoHana Anime Review (The Flower We Saw That Day) (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai)

Konnichiwa Minna-san! Today I have a review of AnoHana ≧◡≦, I watched this anime a couple of months ago and I just had to write a review about it because the story line resonated with me so much.

The story centers around a young boy called Jinta who used to be part of a friend group in his home town, due to a tragic fatal accident of one of his friends the group became separated. Mysteriously his friend called Menma returns to haunt him when he is a little older and only he can see and speak to her. 

Throughout the anime Jinta and Menma are trying to figure out why she has appeared before him and they eventually realise that she must make her wish come true.... Only she can't remember what her wish is o(╥﹏╥)o.

Menma is upset that her old friends are no longer speaking to each other anymore and she wants everyone to go back to the old days, so she and Jinta painstakingly try to prove that she is real and every opportunity. There is quite a few love triangles within the old group, which was another reason for the divide between them. 

Story: 10/10 - I found the story very captivating and moving, so much so that at the end of the final episode I burst into tears for 20 minutes (No Joke!) I loved it so much, it was so sad and so beautiful.

Character: 10/10 - Each character has their own unique way of making you feel for them, you are constantly feeling like you want to help or fix everything. Its a very special bond that you create with these characters that will stay with you for a long time.

Art Style/Animation: 9/10 - The art style was so lovely, very warm and cold at the same time. Its a modern anime so the animation is very new and wonderfully done, the style suits the anime its representing.

Overall: 10/10 - This anime was wonderful, but probably a once in a life time anime. I cried so much and my heart ached for at least an hour after it was finished, I highly recommend this to anyone. 

I hope you enjoyed this anime review Minna-san!

Sayonara ♥

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Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% & 2000% Review

Konnichiwa Minna-san! ♥ Today I have a very special review for you all: the breakdown of my all time favourite anime, Uta no Prince-sama! 

The plot revolves around a young girl named Haruka Nanami who has the ultimate ambition of becoming a composer; a dream she has held since she was a little girl. She has been accepted to Saotome Academy, a boarding school run by headmaster Shinning Saotome for people who wish to become either Idols or composers. The aim of the school year is to partner a composer with an idol and debut at the end of the year, with the hope of attaining worldwide fame. The main rule at this academy, however, is that love is forbidden during your enrollment (the reason for which is unclear). As Haruka begins her life at her new school, she meets her roommate Tomo-chan, who looks out for her in a big sister fashion and occasionally offers advice regarding the princes. 

As this anime is based on a video game, the 7 princes that Haruka encounters all have very distinctive personalities which are designed to appeal to viewer preferences.  One viewer may like Syo, whereas another could prefer Tokiya. This is the same setup seen in Kamigami no Asobi.

Despite the "no romance" rule, all the characters have a very close bond with one another, with each prince feeling fiercely protective of Haruka. Now, I will explore their pasts and personalities to reveal how their relationships enmesh in the anime. Let's do them in order of how you meet them ♥!

Haruka Nanami

Haruka is a vibrant young girl with a very gentle personality and captivating eyes. She is seen as very naive and gives an impression of fragility, which is why the princes become so attached to her and her music. Her music is described by the headmaster as the "Happy Pulse", which brings ultimate happiness. In her youth, she was quite ill, and lived with her grandmother in the country. Throughout the anime, Haruka narrates her troubles by speaking to her grandmother about any worries she may be having (even if her grandmother is not present). She has come to the academy to fulfill her dream of composing for the Idol "Hayato".

Otoya Ittoki 

Otoya is such a sweet heart, very energetic and you create a soft spot for his kind nature right off the bat, plus this flame haired prince is pretty easy on the eyes as well. He really likes Haruka and tries over the two seasons to avoid falling in love (or farther in love) with her, which is both adorable and heartbreaking to see. Throughout the anime, he looks after Haruka and she relies on him a lot in the first few episodes. In the second season, it is revealed he is an orphan. This made me more attached to him in a way because he is so bright, yet has such a sorrowful past. 

Ren Jinguji

Ren is the ladies man of this anime and the son of a CEO of a Financial Corporation. As this is a reverse harem, you will always get the over confident male who has had a troubled past. Instantly, he is drawn to Haruka because of her naivety and cutesy look, which is why he calls her "Little Lamb" or "My Lady" to make her flustered. His younger years are dark and a little lonely as his mother died: leaving him, his father and brother behind. His brother is older than him and therefore is the head of the company now, leaving Ren to become the poster boy for the corporation through his singing. This at first doesn't please him until he meets Haruka and the rest of the princes. This dashing prince charming is such a silver tongued fox, it's hard not to get attached.

Natsuki Shinomiya 

Natsuki is the ray of sunshine in the group. He is very tall, but loves cute and small things which incidentally draws him to Haruka. He is a little naive, like Haruka, and enjoys cooking (despite lacking ability). His fondness for cute/small things also means he has a very good, somewhat one-sided relationship with Syo due to his height. Natsuki's past is unclear, but from the looks of it, he was a very trusting child and very gifted at composing music. The most widely accepted story is that he wrote a song for his music teacher and she stole it and claimed all the glory for herself. This made Natsuki very depressed and eventually resulted in a split personality; Satsuki. 

Satsuki only appears when Natsuki has his glasses removed. When this happens, his eyes narrow and his facial expressions become a lot more intense. Satsuki has a talent for composing, but if you cross him he will eliminate you and everything within a 5 mile radius. It's truly hard to chose which personality you like best from Natsuki, personally all the danger from Satsuki is a definite positive from me!

Masato Hijirikawa

Masato is the quiet, heavy thinker of the group. He is very traditional and does calligraphy in his spare time. His very stoic and brooding appearance keeps him from interacting with the group straight away, but he slowly warms up with the help of Haruka and her sweet personality. He is also the son of a CEO of a Financial Corporation, except he is the sole heir of the company. He and Ren have a bit of a past with one another and this causes some tension between them. Ren was forced to attend the academy to sing, whereas Masato had to strike a deal with his father for the opportunity as he was raised in a stricter more traditional household. This leads Masato to feel anguished over Ren's attitude, believing he takes his position for granted. He has the personality where you just want to run and give him a big o'l cuddle... he's such a cutie pie.

Syo Kurusu

Syo is the comedian of the group and he also has a massive height complex. He is very sweet but can get extremely worked up. He and Haruka have similar dreams, as Haruka wishes to compose for Hayato and Syo wishes to act alongside his Idol, Ryuya. This gives them a pretty close bond and you can tell that he truly cares for her. Syo and Natsuki have known each other since they were children and they have a very close friendship. One of Syo's most significant characteristics is that he is completely afraid of heights, which the group try to help him with. Syo is my personal favourite as I have a thing for short guys, being a teeny tiny girl myself.

Tokiya Ichinose

 

Tokiya's personality is a little like Masato's except he has a cooler personality and needs to give everyone the cold shoulder. We are initially introduced to him as Tokiya, the twin brother of Hayato, which is Haruka's Idol. This is until it is revealed that he is in fact Hayato himself. He entered the academy to start fresh and focus on music as his entertainment company is making him focus on other things such as acting. Nonetheless, he has not ended his career as Hayato and tries to balance work and school. He warms to Haruka after she expresses a love for his music, both as Hayato and as Tokiya. It takes a while for him to be completely honest and at ease with the other princes as he doesn't want them to know about his work as Hayato. 

Cecil Aijima

Cecil fully appears in this anime in the second season. He does, however, appear slightly in the first season as well -- but mostly as a cat. Yes that's right a cat. Cecil is the prince of a foreign land who has been trapped in the form of a cat due to a curse which was put on him. Haruka finds him and names him Kuppuru, giving him love and attention which is how we ultimately turns back into his human form. In the second season, he is seen as cheeky and tries to steal a kiss from Haruka more than once, which angers the princes. He eventually realizes that he wants to become an idol in order to make people happy. 

Each of these wonderful princes want Haruka as their composer for the end of the year debut, but she can't choose between them and decides to make a song for the six of them in a single group. Eventually, they become the group STARISH and debut with the encouragement of their head master. Their debut song is called Maji Love 1000%.

ANNND FINALLY... The second season, the group have debuted and have now entered the master course where they are molded to be perfect idols. Shinning Saotome has assigned an older idol group called Quartet Night to the boys of Starish to help guide them, which no party is happy with.  

Later the boys finally meet Cecil, who has apparently been scouted by Shinning to be in the master course, however his only desire is to sing Haruka's songs. As the season developed, Cecil eventually desires to sing as a proper idol and later in the episode he joins Starish as the final member. 

In the final episodes, Starish have been challenged by a rival idol group called Heavens. The bet is that they can sing one of Haruka's songs better than Starish. Both Shinning and his rival Raging who is the manager of Heavens agree that the group who loses will be dissolved, so there is a lot at stake for Starish. 

Heavens start strong and Starish are nervous to perform with the fear that they will lose their dreams and Haruka as their composer. They overcome their fear and take to the stage with their new final member Cecil and have a performance that everyone will remember. Their singing makes everyone happy and sing along with them, including their rivals and Quartet Night. As the results are tallied it is revealed that Starish have won the competition and their wish as the winners is for Heavens to remain as an idol group.

I adored this anime, it was a lot better than most animes which are based on video games. There was a lot of depth in the story and in the characters which made it easy to fall in love with this show. The anime achieved two successful seasons with a third one due in April this year, which I await with bated breath!

Story: 8/10 - There is a lot of story in this anime compared to other animes of it's kind. There is a set plot which does not deviate into random episodes. Every episode has a greater meaning that forms the bigger picture of the story. 

Character: 9/10 - Every character is very well thought out and has a beautiful depth to them. This makes you feel an emotional connection to the characters, allowing you to experience every high and low along with them.

Art Style/Animation: 10/10 - Amazing... For me the animation is breathtaking and modern, which I love. There is so much fun and magic involved in this anime and the art style definitely shows it.

Overall: 9/10 -  I love this anime, so much so that I had to buy both seasons on DVD. It has a quality which makes you feel so happy. I feel like this is a very girly anime and any girl (young or old) would be enchanted by this frankly charming anime. 

I hope you enjoyed this anime review Minna-san!

Sayonara ♥

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

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Kamisama Hajimemashita Season 1 Review!

Konnichiwa Minna-san! Today I have a review for the first season of Kamisama Hajimemashita ♥ This anime is very adorable, with a lot of comedy and some tense episodes as well, therefore I would say it is well rounded.

The anime starts by showing  young highschool girl called Nanami who has currently been evicted from her house because of her father's gambling problems. While she is sitting on a bench she meets a man who by the looks of it is running away from home, he randomly offers her his accommodation with a strange unexpected kiss to the forehead. She walks to this man's "abandoned" house which is a shrine, and finds small guardians who tell her that she is the new land god as they previous one transferred his mark to her (forehead kiss!). This new arrangement doesn't sit with Tomoe the drop-dead gorgeous yokai fox demon familiar of the previous god and he leaves the shrine for the "spirit world".

Nanami becomes angry and forces Tomoe to accept her as a god by kissing him and making him her own familiar, which he is highly unhappy about. Through the series we meet other Yokai such as a crow tengu and a snake familiar, both of which Tomoe finds hard to get a long with. The entire series surrounds the tension between Nanami and Tomoe as they resist attraction to one another, at the same time Nanami is trying to enhance her very weak godly powers... much to Tomoe's annoyance. 

This anime is not very new or unique as it brings in elements of supernatural and mythology, which has been done very much to death. However this anime just feels different, it's beautifully animated with a good sense of humour and at times it can be a little dark. The genres are very shoujo and supernatural, with romance which arrives later in the series as it takes a while for Tomoe to warm up to his new master. There is never really much going on except the addition of new characters in a steady flow with some tense affairs with supposed "villains", but that is what adds to the charm of this anime, its light hearted, easy to watch and some of the cute scenes will make you fangirl so hard! ♥ 

Story: 7/10 - There was a good element to the story about the cold nature of Tomoe and why he has to warm up to his new master (I'm not doing any spoilers ♥!) And observing how Nanami evolves her powers is a big part of the background to the story as well. However this might not be everyone's cup of tea, and others may find this a little boring.

Character: 9/10 - The character depth of Tomoe is very deep because of his past and the way it affects him in the present, other supporting characters and Nanami don't have quite as much depth and the story does not focus on their character development well. Despite this the personalities of the characters and how they act with one another is priceless and very fluid.

Artstyle/Animation: 10/10 -  For me it was very mystical and spiritual which I loved very much, with a modern artstyle in comparison to animes such as Peach Girl. It's quite a magical artstyle in the sense that there can be random sparkles in a scene. There are also points where the anime characters will have emoji expressions to add to the comedy factor, which is always enjoyable. 

Overall: 9/10- I found the anime very light and beautiful as the young girl is basically discovering herself around a very cold arrogant male character, I personally feel that there was a good balance of serious situations and comedy in this anime which makes it easy for many to watch. It is very hard not to fall in love with all of the characters as they are all very sweet and kawaii in their own way, you will definitely find yourself drawn to Tomoe though, with his cold shoulder attitude even though he has a warm center. 

I hope you enjoyed this anime review Minna-san!

Sayonara ♥

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Kamigami No Asobi Anime Review

 Konnichiwa Minna!! xxx

Today I have another anime review and as it's close to Valentine's Day I thought I would review a kawaii reverse harem for you! This is my Kamigami No Asobi Review ♥



The anime centers around a normal high school girl called Yui Kusanagi who is transported to a garden-like world where she meets 8 gods of Japanese, Norse and Greek Mythology. The plot is that Zeus has brought the 8 gods together with 1 human in a bid to renew the connections between gods and humans, in basic terms he wants the gods to learn from Yui. This must happen for 1 year and when each of them meet their goal and understand humans, Zeus will release the shackles on their powers. If they fail they must remain in Zeus's world forever.



Quite the heavy plot for a 12 episode anime, but it's very evenly split up and not confusing at all. This is yet again another Otome/Reverse Harem anime series and to be honest I loved it, every minute of it. This is clearly a very female orientated anime with all the kawaii boys, each boy like any harem anime, has their own personality which is vastly different from everyone else. Each episode introduces the gods to you and gives a insight into their quirks, such as Hades who has no self confidence.






The anime is beautifully done, it's so pretty with so much action thrown in there as well, surprisingly. The character depth is exquisite and you find yourself drawn to one, if not all of the characters and you just want to give them a big freaking cuddle. (~￣▽￣)~ ♥. I really don't want to give too much away about this anime, as I recommend that you watch at least a few episodes as the plot is very unique. Plus who wouldn't want to see all the action like Apollon up there ^ ... I mean WOWSA !! (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

Story: 8/10 - The story isn't one of the best, but for me I loved the idea of all the characters being forced together in a situation where they need to support one another. It was a very cute story where the characters slowly warm up to the girl and eventually have a soft spot for her. 

Character: 8/10 - I loved all of the gods, without a doubt they were all amazing and adorable in their own ways. I personally found Loki to be my favourite because of his mischievous nature. I really like that there will always be a god that appeals to you.  

Artstyle/Animation: 10/10 - The animation to me was flawless, absolutely gorgeous. Everything was very bright, fun and mystical, it is very hard not to fall in love with the art style of this anime. It is very similar to to Uta no Prince-Sama in animation. 

Overall: 8/10 - I think this anime was beautiful but I wish there was 25 episodes rather than 12, it was a little short. In the 12 episodes there was so much depth and cuteness that I was automatically sucked into it's world. A genuinely lovely anime to watch.

I hope you enjoyed my Kamigami No Asobi Review!

Sayonara Minna! ♥

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

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Diabolik Lovers Anime Review

Konnichiwa Minna-san! 

I have been super excited to review this anime for you all. Diabolik Lovers is an anime that has been based on a visual novel game, the anime consists of a girl called Yui who is surrounded by six vampire brothers, The Sakamaki brothers, that she has been forced to live with due to circumstances. There are 12 episodes in total.

Each one of the vampires have a very different personality which you can expect from a reverse harem anime, Despite the personality differences all of the boys have the same agenda which is to drink Yui's blood. The entire anime is very creepy and you find yourself really worrying for Yui because of the situations the brothers put her in, most of which have an air of sexual tension surrounding them despite the this not being an ecchi anime. 

The each one of the brothers have a back story which explains their personality. There is essentially not a lot of story involved in this anime, which is common for an otome anime. The base line of the anime is the brothers are basically on a feeding frenzy with this girl, who is just walking food to them, however a few of them are more attached to her than the others. 

If vampires, ultimate control and sadism are not your thing then I would definitely not recommend this anime as it would make you super uncomfortable. Each episode will introduce a brother and all his sadistic qualities, these episodes will also explain a little of each brother's story. The remaining episodes are based around why Yui ended up with the Sakamaki brothers and how parts of their family are involved in the mystery. 

Overall I found this anime to be quite interesting despite the sadism and verbal abuse which is thrown at the poor human girl. However I found myself annoyed more than once at her personality which isn't really submissive, more just weak and weak minded. A side from these points it filled my time and wasn't really too bad, some of the scenes are what you can expect from an otome anime of this type.

Story: 3/10 - There really isn't much story, and when there is an attempt at a story it is so messy and confusing. 

Character: 7/10 - Yui was a very irritating character, the brothers however were very interesting and fun with all their different personalities.

Art Style/Animation: 9/10 - I love the art style, it is very vampy and dark with lots of deep colours. A very big win for this type of anime, it really fit with the story.

Overall: 6/10 - I liked this anime for what it was, entertaining and fun but lacking in depth and story. It is very much like Orenchi no Furo Jijou in the that there is a lack of story but very in depth characters. 

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

Orenchi no Furo Jijou Review!

Konbanwa Minna-san! ♥


Today I will be reviewing the series Orenchi no Furo Jijou! First and foremost the main thing I loved about this series is that you can finish all 13 episodes in around an hour as they are all 4 minutes-ish long.

The story is about a regular high-school boy called Tatsumi who finds a merman called Wakasa drying out on a river beach, he then takes him home lets him live in his bathtub. At least 90% of the entire series takes place within this bathroom.

Each episode has a central/event problem that circles around both characters, however these issues are always light hearted. Every episode also stands on it's own and never has a follow up episode to continue on too, so the series is very simple and easy to get through without much thought.

The relationship between Tatsumi and Wakasa is purely platonic despite the amount of fan service involved in this anime, this mostly stems from how flamboyant Wakasa can be and also how dependent he is on Tatsumi.

The Interactions between these two are so adorable as their characters/personalities clash a lot due to Tatsumi being quite stoic and quiet.

As the series continues there are more people-sea creatures that come into the bathroom to see their friend Wakasa, a jellyfish an octopus and a hermit crab to be exact!



Overall this was a cute light hearted series that was very funny and easy to watch, the animation was fantastic as it was only aired late last year and the character design was very deep for such a short anime.

Story: 6/10 - There isn't much story line, but each episode does have a structure to it that will not leave you disappointed.  

Characters: 9/10 - It would be a full 10/10 but I just wanted longer episodes tbh, the characters have so much potential, the series should definitely be longer. 

Art Style/Animation: 10/10 - I personally love the art style, it's easy, relaxing, very bright and modern.  












Overall: 8/10 - I loved this series, I can't get over the length though, I really wanted each episode to be far longer. However I also think it's amazing the way it is... I'm quite divided on this in all honesty.

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club Season 1 & Season 2 Review

Konnichiwa  Minna-san! 

Today I am going to be reviewing the anime series Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, both the first season and the second season (Free! Eternal Summer). 

The series surrounds five boys who all have girl names, with four of them previously swimming together in their younger years. 

The main character is Haruka Nanase who is obsessed with water and swimming, this shows in the way he talks about water and rather humorously tries to swim in any water that he comes across (including a fish tank). Unlike his friends he will only swim freestyle as it makes him feel "free". 

His friend and only true rival Rin Matsuoka moves away to Australia shortly after they and their two other friends Nagisa & Makoto swim together in a relay. Rin chose to move as it would give him a better chance at becoming a Olympic swimmer. Since then Haruka refuses to swim competitively and has not joined a swim club.

 Fast forwarding to their high school life, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa have decided to create a swimming club. After having trouble finding members, Nagisa spotted Rei who was part of the track team and relentlessly hounds him into joining the swim club.

As the swim club becomes more established they acquire a manager in the form of Gou Matsuoka, which is Rin's little sister who stayed in Japan with his parents. 

The series progresses to show the hardships each member of the Iwatobi Swim Club goes through as they begin competing again. 
As can be expected Rin appears again and becomes Haruka's rival once again, which gives an emotional element to the anime. 






Overall this is one of the best animes I have ever watched, it truly captured my heart despite the fact that it is usually not my style.

The genre is a sports/slice of life type anime, there are some intense scenes but nothing too dramatic and the majority is kept light-hearted yet thrilling.

The art style & animation is jaw dropping and gorgeous. Everything is so mystical and the metaphors and symbols for each character are portrayed so well in this series. A truly beautiful anime. 

Story: 8/10 - Kept to the point with a lot of back story. Maybe not someones taste if they don't like sports.

Characters: 10/10 - I honestly loved each any every character, even minor ones. I feel like they all brought something to this anime, with all of their very different personalities.

Art Style/Animation: 10/10 - Completely awe-inspiring, I have never seen such a beautiful anime, especially the water animations throughout the series. Fantastic.

Overall: 10/10 - One of the best relaxing animes I have ever watched, very gentle with thrilling moments, a very pleasant anime to watch at night or when you are ill (like I was).

This series is also available on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

 

I hope you all liked my first ever anime review, I hope to do a lot more in the future! 

Sayonara! ♥ xxx