Guess whose back?! Now with 200% more English!
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Shinryaku!? Ika Musume – Episode 4 – Fun with English and The Reappearence of Mini Ika
Nichijou – Final Review
In the past, Kyoto Animation has made a few notable slice of life shows involving a bunch of schoolgirls. Particularly, Lucky Star and K-ON is their most popular works in the genre. With the production of Nichijou, it takes a slightly different take of the genre opposed to gradual character development and references from the Otaku subculture. Instead, it focuses mostly on slapstick comedy sketches that place characters in wacky situations. (Image Source)
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Fate/zero – Episode 3 – The Calm Before the War
As the start of the 4th Grail War nears, Irisvel along with Saber finally arrives at Fuyuki City. They decide to go sightseeing before the fights begin.
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The iDOLM@STER – Episode 15 – 765 Productions Goes Live
After all that drama, the girls fight on and show their fame on a live variety show. Believe me, it’s really fun.
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Shinryaku!? Ika Musume – Episode 3 – That Mysterious Dance
Oh god, what are the children doing? It looks like an act of brainwashing for an evil plan or something. Either way, you better run for it before they take over your mind!
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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 27 (OVA) – The Plan to Travel Abroad
It seems that the releases won’t come fast enough, so I finally decide to watch the OVA from the second season of K-ON. Although nobody knows what the movie will be about, this OVA gives us a hint… they are going to travel abroad!
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Hanasaku Iroha – Final Review
It’s a known fact that PA Works is well-known for their original productions. In particular, True Tears, Canaan and especially Angel Beats had garnered a lot of attention. Although their production values are great, the stories get a bit too ambitious mostly because of the length. This eventually caused them to get a bit off track from the original premise as seen with Hanasaku Iroha. (Image Source)
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Fate/zero – Episode 2 – The Last Servant and Ilya’s Cuteness
Even though this episode is not long compared to last time, but damn! One of the scenes shown in the middle was really gruesome that I jumped out of my seat, literally.
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The iDOLM@STER – Episode 14 – The Aim to Stardom and 961 Productions’ Dirty Tricks
Though the success of the 765 Production’s live concert, the girls have finally become more popular. Now, they are taking on more jobs on their road to fame. What they don’t know is that 961 Productions is out to sabotage their success.
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Working’!! – Episode 1 – Popura’s Height Issues and THAT Punch…
A year has passed since the first season of Working (aka Wagnaria) aired and it brought entertaining comedy involving some restaurant workers with eccentric personalities. Few minutes into the first episode of the second season, that punch is finally back!
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Tamayura ~hitotose~ – Episode 1 – How Everything Started…
Back in 2010 when the 4 episode Tamayura OVAs aired, the story felt somewhat incomplete from the lack of development of the other characters. Despite being short, the heartwarming feeling through its lighthearted story and gorgeous setting made the story really enjoyable.
With the first episode of Tamayura ~hitotose~, it retains the same aspects of the OVAs and expands on how Fuu got inspired to become a photographer and ultimately deciding to move back to the town of her childhood.
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Shinryaku!? Ika Musume – Episode 2 – Thinking with Weights…
Now you playing with weights! Sounds pretty fun, right? It sure does!
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Fate/Zero – Episode 1 – Brief First Impressions
As expected, Fate/Zero started with a bang in a massive, 48-minute first episode. From my experience, it’s the longest introduction to a story I have seen for the first time since I started watching anime. Considering that this episode is very long, I’m only going to share my overall thoughts in a brief manner with the assumption that everyone had already watched it.
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Nichijou – Episodes 25-26 (END) – Short Reflection
In the final two episodes, Nichijou ends off with a bang. Given the heartwarming and the exciting ending, it gave me some positive aspects I want to reflect about. (Image Source)
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The iDOLM@STER – Episode 13 – Unexpected Trouble and Miki’s Shining Performance
The big day has finally arrived and everyone’s excited for the performance. Unfortunately, tension increases as a typhoon makes landfall, leaving Ritsuko and her unit stranded with the strong possibility of not making it on time.
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The iDOLM@STER – Episode 12 – Miki’s Rebellious Return
Through some miscommunication, it caused Miki to get her hopes up a bit too much. Ultimately, Ritsuko’s rejection crushed her dreams and this causes her to change her mind and quit until the Producer convinces her to come back.
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Hanasaku Iroha – Episode 26 (END) – Confessions and Goodbyes
The night of the Bonbari festival has arrived. With Ko finally making it there, how will Ohana react?
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Shinryaku!? Ika Musume – Episode 1 – Return of Chizuru’s Status Quo!
Finally, the second season of Ika Musume has invaded the blogosphere with the first episode. Of course, if you interested in watching this show and haven’t watched the prequel, I highly suggest doing so before jumping right in or you can get lost pretty easily.
Like in my previous posts of this show, I will split the post into three parts on each sketch showing by brief thoughts about it.
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Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe – Final Review
With the start of the 21st century, the so-called Iyashikei genre became popularized, especially with Aria through its gorgeous scenery, focus on friendship, and lighthearted feeling. I tend to enjoy them as it melt the stress from life that gives you a good feeling.
Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe is just that, except it involves a really cute and young Japanese girl living in a foreign country like France. (Image Source)
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Tamayura (OVA) – Episodes 3 & 4 (END) – Finding that Special Place…
At the last half of the story, we get to see Fuu and her friends searching for the spot where her father took that special picture. Through the help of Sayomi, whose driving skills is very dubious, she made this adventure possible.
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Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe – Episode 12 (END) – Claude’s Acceptance for Yune
We are finally at the end with Yune obsessing over cats once again. Underneath it all, there are some dramatic and heartwarming moments to resolve Claude’s concern for her.
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Tamayura (OVA) – Episodes 1 & 2 (First Impressions) – Pictures Tell a Thousand Memories
Before the Fall Anime Season begins, I decided to take a look at Tamayura, which is a four episode long OVA involving four girls. Of course, I always tend to like these shows because the nostalgia, lighthearted story and of course, friendship.
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Hanasaku Iroha – Episode 25 – Turmoil and Losing the Kissuisou They Love…
As the employee’s refuse to surrender, they start to work long hours to win the battle. Meanwhile, Ohana becomes increasingly worried about the changes happening around her. She fears that it won’t be the same Kissuisou inn she knew and love once the festival is over.
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Nichijou and Kyoto Animation’s take on Creativity
In the past few years, the Slice of Life genre gained a lot of popularity. Many of these shows while similar have unique stories. As I explained in my editorial about the genre back in 2010, there is really no defined definition of what makes a show a Slice of Life.
In particular, Kyoto Animation has pushed few of the most popular shows of this genre. Lucky Star and K-On has a huge following for cute characters, but both of them have two different premises. The former focuses on the anime subculture and the latter, the true essence of friendship. On the other hand, Nichijou takes a spin of the genre with less emphasis on characters and more on ingenious comedy (Image Source).
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