I really want to do at least one positive review before the year is over as the one after this one isn't going to be a good review, you'll see why then I come to it. But for now lets review the manga only series Waltz no Ojikan.
Tango Minami is a Ballroom dance instructor and school student, however he stopped liking Ballroom and tries to maintain a cool image by doing break dancing much to his mother's dismay. Hime Makimura is a shy awkward girl, who curses her namesake as she feels that she hasn't got the qualities of a princess like her late mother said, however a chance meeting with Tango and a moment of curiosity outside the dance school draws her into the world of Ballroom Dancing, along with help from fellow dancers Yusei and Sumire, not only will Hime become the princess she was always told she could become but Tango will return to competitive Ballroom where he belongs.
There's an obvious reference to the whole Cinderella story and Hime even comments on doing that play, with this memorable quote: "When my class put on a play in Kindergarten, they chose the thin, cute girl with big eyes to play Cinderella, I was Mouse #4" but this is a much better take on Cinderella as a whole. Okay it doesn't feature any of the traditional elements but it doesn't need to, the whole premise is Hime going through a transformation from a girl who felt that she wasn't worth anything to a girl who feels she has a chance to become something great, it's a believable transition from hopelessness to hope and it's all done through her interactions with Tango rather than someone giving her it on a plate much like the Fairy Godmothers normally do. There's a wonderful scene where after tons of dance training she shreds so much weight that when she does enter her first dance competition she looks really beautiful and that's not through just reward that's effort creating a reward and she accomplishes it because she wants to, that's a much better lesson than what Cinderella already teaches us and the ending is such a good payoff as a result that you tend to forget the awkward love triangle from mid book 2 to book 3.
It's a relatively short story, being only three books long, not quite enough for a full series in anime form but none of Natsumi Ando's work has, but I feel it should, it's a great story and deserves some love.
Final Verdict: A perfect way to showcase the Cinderella story in a believable way that's actually achieved through hard work and perseverance, the pay off is worth reading through a few awkward love triangle moments to get to.
I suppose I should do a Christmas review and something I missed the last two years is Itsudatte My Santa.
Santa has an unfortunate fate, no not the actual Santa Claus this is a young man in Japan who is called Santa because he was born on Christmas Eve, this led to some unfortunate teasing and worst, his parents were never around at Christmas or his Birthday so he's never really enjoyed the event until Mai a trainee Santa Claus, arrives to cheer him up, but her magic only lets her conjure up things that start with the Japanese sound "San", during a rather turbulent Christmas Eve the two fall in love and Santa activates Mai's true form which is a rather busty blonde girl. During the night of delivering presents, Santa discovers the true meaning of his birthright. The second episode is a Beach Episode and that's pretty much it.
Well, it's Ken Akamatsu, I'd be worried if there wasn't at least one moment of ecchiness but it does seem rather left field for a short OVA about Christmas, but I can get behind the silliness that's on offer especially when Mai has a Reindeer named Pedro and some of the situations they do get into are hilarious but it is a typical Ken Akamatsu story and the sad thing is, he never really had the time to develop the story more on the Anime side, in it's current form it doesn't really offer enough to really showcase the romance side of things and overall it just feels bland.
Even the animation just gives the feeling of it appearing in a Love Hina episode rather than a different story altogether.
Dub is passable but no where near the standard of the sub.
Final Verdict: It's fine, it's not groundbreaking, it's hardly going to reach the same levels as other Christmas specials and I dare say that Ken Akamatsu has written better Christmas Specials in his bigger works, but it's cheap entertainment and it does it's job.
Time to punish another anime series, this time it's Ladies vs Butlers
Akiharu Hino applies for a place in a prestigious school that teaches well bred young ladies and servants how to act, however he gets an unexpected meet up with his former childhood friend Tomomi Saikyo, a girl who used to torment him when he was younger, his first day doesn't get any better when Selnia Iori Flameheart, nicknamed Drill ends up stalking him for the sake of being a nuisance, from there the rest is a series of poor attempts at fan service as the show pulls no punches about showing lots of nudity to the point where some scenes feel a little uncomfortable.
Then again the school is run by what I can describe as Konata Izumi if she grew up and took a career in teaching, I'm of course referring to School Dean Kaede who could be responsible for the entire school stripping every five seconds.
Again it pulls no punches and suffers badly for it.
But there are some moments that have saved it from a complete write off; Kaoru Daichi's story of actually being female is the type of story Mayo Chiki needed to have in the first place.
Equally moments with Pina are enjoyable as it reminds me how lonely liking anime can be.
Even Selnia who is normally a character I don't like can warrant a few decent scenes.
However the worst character has to be Tomomi; it's suggested that she doesn't want to lose as her motivation for being a bitch but that's not enough, she really is just an outright bitch, much of the series is wasted when the focus is only on her and Selnia having a war of words with Akiharu caught in the middle, it really didn't do much else for an anime that was already bad.
Dub is okay, nothing special.
Final Verdict: The fan service is forced, the dialogue is boring, some uncomfortable moments, and bar a couple of good episodes the whole show is just a mess of mediocrity
This show has been on my radar for some time, so now it's time to finally review it, but because of the nature of the show's format I'll be reviewing this in sagas starting with the very first one, Phantom Blood.
The story begins at the scene of an accident during Victorian England period. About to be robbed by a thief, George Joestar sparks to life asking the thief to help him and his son out in return for whatever he desires.
Later on in life, the Thief's son Dio Brando is adopted by the Joestar family after his thief father dies. Dio immediately wants to ruin George's son Jonathan Joestar's life by stealing his life and his wealth, but after a failed attempt at murdering George and accidentally discovering the secrets of an ancient stone mask, Dio becomes a Vampire and sets his new found powers on the world as he attempts to rule it. It's up to Jonathan and his own newly discovered abilities taught to him by his mentor to stop Dio's reign of terror.
There is a lot wrong with this short saga, the main one being it's an old anime that belongs in a bygone era. It takes a lot of it's inspiration from Fist of the North Star in terms of action sequences which is from the ultra violent 80s anime era, not to mention Jojo's Bizarre Adventure itself starting in 1986 two months after my own birth. So it's aged already despite using current generation Anime graphics, and it's because of that it really suffers in the story department not helped by mediocre supporting casts and really poorly strung plotlines.
For his awesome name and look, Speedwagon doesn't do much but tag-a-long and state the bloody obvious when watching Jonathan fight. Other fighters and even Zeppeli is rather underwhelming considering he made Jonathan into a hero in the first place. Even Jonathan's dialogue can be a bit tedious to read and hear, I don't even bother with the dub due to this.
Dio Brando is a great villain, wonderfully despicable and he loves it. Definitely one of anime's finest villains, even a couple of his minions prove to be decent as well.
So yeah, an 80s anime made in the modern day, doesn't really do the franchise justice but I have some more hopes about Battle Tendency and the most popular saga Stardust Crusaders, that really drives home the flamboyant nature of the show. Yeah Phantom Blood is a mixed mess but don't let that stop you from carrying on.
Final Verdict: It looks, acts and feels like an 80s anime and that's where it should've been in the first place, in modern day it's already out dated before it even airs, not helped by poor supporting cast and very messy story telling, but it does improve so don't give up on it yet.
First things first, I'm not very well.
So my progress in kick starting new posts in the Video Game & Music Lounge has stalled a bit but that doesn't mean I'm down for the count, the floor is open for requests for the following.
Anime Reviews
Cartoon Reviews
Walk of Fame Character Entries
Death Battles on Fantasy Zone
Music Posts
Video Game Reviews
and finally Top Ten reviews
If you want me to cover something in particular now's the chance.
As for the story world of Victory Script a new story will begin featuring new characters.
Don't be shy people, request whatever you want.
