Anime I enjoy watching, Part 1 out of maybe more

I really didn’t post that much back on my old group blog…I mean, the two bad anime posts and this one were all the anime review posts I’ve ever done.

Ah well, whatever. Here you go, a post that’s about anime you can watch without worrying that you are wasting your life.

Anime I enjoyed watching #1: The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi

I really don’t think I have to describe this one, but since I did say I would put a small review of all anime I found worth watching, I guess I have to do this one too.

To start off, I can ASSURE you that you will be enjoying this anime A LOT. Though…When I was thinking how I should nail down what makes this anime so special…I really couldn’t. So I tried to put down a list of what this anime did right, and guess what? Everything that this anime did is done right, let me be more specific…

Music: This is probably first and the ONLY anime I will think that all the songs (including character CDs) are worth buying. Every last darn one of these CDs are worth buying, and I do mean every last one of them.

Animation: This anime is done by Kyoto Anime, who are also responsible for Full Metal Panic (Second Raid and Fumoffu), Kanon 2006, and a heck load of other anime jewels. So no need to worry about the animation quality.

Plot: The gist of the plot is this. Our male protagonist, Kyon, is your VERY VERY average high school guy. Up until the point he meets Suzumiya Haruhi. Suzumiya Haruhi is a very eccentric girl, she is weird in every single way and if you look up the word “weird” in the dictionary, you are pretty sure to find her picture. With the appearance of Suzumiya Haruhi in Kyon’s life, Kyon quickly finds his normal life gets thrown out of the ordinary. He finds himself situated beside Aliens, Espers, and Time travellers. Even yet more weird, all of them gathered because of Haruhi. The reason: Suzumiya Haruhi is a god, only…she doesn’t know that she is.

Characters:Every one of the characters has been created with the utmost care to present the most entertaining personality possible. From sarcastic optimism to cynical apathy. From silent book worm to clumsy maid. Everything you name it, they have it.

Voice Acting: Depending on how well you know me, you probably know that I’m not that into dubs. So I’ll talk about the original Japanese voices, and I can only give you one word: SUPERB. Every last seiyuu (Japanese voice actors) fit their characters perfectly, it’s just flawless.

Result: One very damn amazing anime that every anime watcher should watch. Plus, it’s pretty short. 13 episodes, so even if you think it’s a meh-ish anime (which you WON’T), it’s not that much of a waste of time.

More of anime that I really enjoyed after the jump.

Anime I enjoyed watching #2: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Ro’ Ro’ Fight the powa!
WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK WE ARE!?
PIERCE THE HEAVENS YOUR DRILL!

*Ahem* Sorry about that, I had to get it out of my system and now that it’s out of my system…let’s get on with this.

The very moment I thought of doing a post about anime I enjoyed watching, I knew I would have to include this anime. However, it brings up this really huge problem: I just…can’t really word all the awesomeness in this anime. The amazingness of this anime is not something that could be expressed with words. You really have to watch and experience the anime to understand what it is all about.

There is really nothing not to love about this anime. Busty chick with guns, huge mecha, hot bloodedness, romance, everything you want in a shounen anime, here it is in one supersized package.

If you want my personal opinion on this anime, I’ll tell you one thing. Hot-blooded, real, manly tears. That’s my feelings for this anime.

Anime I enjoyed watching #3: Honey and Clover (both seasons, haven’t watched live action yet)

At first glance, the art of this anime really didn’t catch me. In fact, I didn’t watch it until season two came out. When season two of this anime came out, I decided I’ll give it a shot. So I watched the first season and guess what? I totally fell in LOVE with this anime.

I don’t want to give out any spoilers for this anime because I simply can’t phrase up the amazingness of it, but the basic plot revolves around five main characters and their college lives. The uncertainty for the future, inability to find a job, and of course, how to manage their romance.

Now, if you have read up till this point and think that the plot is kind of dull, you are very wrong. Because the essence of this story doesn’t really lie within the plot, it lies within the small details it nails down as the episodes pass. All the uncertainties of the future and how one should manage their romance and friendships, are all shown in a manner where you’ll either cry until you dehydrate or laugh till you drop.

Notice the small bit of time jump as this next one was done about a few months after this original post

Anime I enjoy watching #4: Natsume Yuujinchou

“Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him. Containing the names of these spirits, a binding contract was formed between the spirits and the owner of the book. Now, Natsume is determined to free the spirits and dissolve the contracts. With the help of a spirit cat, his days are filled trying to return the names to these spirits.” -ANN

Alright then, a hero that can see spirits and keeps it a secret. Inherited some item from his ancestor that has some great power and every spirit in town wants it. Where have I heard of a plot line like this? Hmm…hard call. Perhaps just about every other anime. However, that’s only on the surface. The whole plot line wasn’t enough to make me watch it when it first came out, and it wasn’t until TubeOxen bothered me enough telling me to watch it that I did.

However, when I actually got around to watch it. Oh boy. First of all, I have to clarify. The story is not as cliche as it sounds, even though the structure of it is. Natsume doesn’t stand out at all, he doesn’t give of the ‘protagonist’ aura at all. He is completely normal, and you get the feeling that he could be someone your neighbour is. The main focus of this anime is actually tracing back to his grandmother, Reiko. The story actually focuses on Natsume discovering Reiko’s past little by little through meeting the spirits his grandmother once met.

As said before, Reiko; Natsume’s grandmother, plays a great part in this anime. She doesn’t have much presence either, seeing as how the only time the audience sees her is from a flashback. However, this is exactly what makes this anime interesting. You see the view of the spirits from Natsume, and you also see what Reiko sees of the spirits. It’s the same anime, with two flavor.

The art style of this anime gives off a traditional Japan view for some odd reason. Although still very anime, you also feel that it is very traditional Japanese. The animation budget doesn’t feel skimped either, although a few frames might be reused, they are generally high quality.

The music is where this anime really stands out. Every BGM gives off a really easy feeling, it puts you into a relaxed state. As with the art style, each piece of music gives off a heavy Japan taste to it. You forget your normal day troubles when you watch this anime thanks to the music, and you would want each episode to last longer. You would feel that each episode is very long because of the slow pace this anime goes at.

What makes this anime so good, however, isn’t something I can explain through words. There is a certain X factor that makes everyone I know fall in love with it. So even if my review doesn’t give you the motivation to go see this anime right away, give it a try anyways.

Alright! That’s it for now. I was going to review Eve no Jikan as well, but I decided that I should put that off because I’ve only watched one episode so far. It’d be more fair to review after watching another one or two episodes. (Even though the whole series will ONLY have 6 episodes…) That’s it for now, have a great time watching Natsume Yuujinchou (or named as Natsume Yūjin-Chō).

Okay! Two more posts I have to edit from the old blog and I’ll be finished with old material so I can move on with new posts!