Reviews by Others From The Online Anime Store

New Reviews

 

I have a few people writing reviews for every now and then. I met both of these people through the anime app Anime Amino.Both are great writers and I really appreciate their work. I can not really put the full review on here because I feel that is false advertisement. I will just simply place the first paragraph up and let you decide if you would like to read the rest. Thank you to everyone who does read and I am sure they appreciate it as well.

Reviews by GazerockGirl

Inazuma Eleven Review

 

I do not watch a lot of sports anime, but this one really sparked my interest and after watching it, I really enjoyed it. Inazuma Eleven is a soccer anime that adds the twist of having super powered moves known as hissatsu techniques to soccer. The anime focuses on the main character and his soccer team that strives to defeat the enemies that try to destroy their soccer along with making new friends and allies. There are more seasons such as Inazuma Eleven Go and Chrono Stone, however I think that the original is the most entertaining. Read More.

Kitchen Princess Review

I love shoujo, so when I found out about Kitchen Princess, I decided to try it out and it was actually very good. Revolving around cooking and the main character, Najika, trying to find her mysterious “Flan Prince”, I couldn’t help but find it a pleasant read despite the lack of character development. Read More.

Reviews by dabberdoob

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

A friend of mine actually recommended Kaichou wa Maid-sama for me once she found out I enjoy romance. I was reluctant to watch it at first, because it seemed like the typical “good girl falls in love with popular guy” type of plot, so I was surprised at the fact that I couldn’t stop watching it. Read More.

Diabolik Lovers 

Yui Komori, the female protagonist of Diabolik Lovers, has just moved into the Sakamaki household, a mansion that is currently the home of six vampires. As she gets to know them in ways she probably didn’t want to, she slowly learns about their pasts. This takes up a majority of the episodes. The main plot does not occur until the last few episodes, but the ending hints at a possible second season. Read More.

Summer Wars Anime Review

Summer Wars

I was not sure what to think of Summer Wars. I really still do not know how I feel about the movie yet. If I had watched it in Subtitles I feel like I would have appreciated it better, but sadly I watched it in English.

Summer Wars Plot

Plot

Summer Wars revolves around a high school boy named Kenji Koiso. He is a very intelligent teen. His classmate, Natsuki Shinohara asks him to travel with her to her grandmothers 90th birthday. While he is there, a message comes through and asks him to solve a mathematical code. Not recognizing it, he solves the code and goes to sleep. He actually ends up solving the code to the OZ infrastructure. Being known as the avatar that destroyed OZ, Kenji must find a way to save it. He gets help from Natsuki's family.
Suddenly, Natsuki's older cousin comes back into to town. His name is Wabisuke Jinnouchi. He is the creator of 'Love Machine,' the creature that is taking over OZ. He comes back to spend time with his family and ends up helping Kenji take down his creation.

Summer Wars Characters

Characters of Summer Wars

There are really a lot of characters in Summer Wars. I am only going to mention the ones crucial to the story line.
Kenji Koiso is the main character. He is a very intelligent student and very handy with programs. He is very clumsy and always seeming to get into unnecessary trouble. His friend, Natsuki Shinohara, us the other main character of the movie. She is the popular girl type and is on her way to visit her great grandmother. She is in love with Wabisuke which is her older second cousin. He creates "Love Machine" that ends up taking down OZ with Kenji's help. He was forced to leave his home several years ago and only recently came back. Kazuma Ikezawa is aNatsuki's younger cousin. He is actually a very powerful character in OZ called King Kazma.

Summer Wars the World of OZ

The World of Oz

 Oz is basically a virtual reality world in which games, show, telephones, computers, well everything is connected. It is a like an ultimate Internet area. If OZ shut downs, everything shuts down. The world of Japan is basically living off of OZ. Here avatars are created that would best suit your personality.

 Summer Wars was not all it was hyped up to be. When ever I asked somebody about this anime, everyone said it was great. Even all the critics and magazines say it was great. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was a good, so I figured Summer Wars would be as well. To me, it really was not good. Like I said it could have been because I watched it in English, but I really do not think that is what it was.

Support Summer Wars.
Overall Grade 5/10

Loveless Anime Review

Loveless DVD Cover

I came across Loveless by mistake when I was looking for cute neko anime characters. I loved the art style of the manga, but could only find the anime at the time. I watched it not knowing what to expect. Even though it leaves an opening for a second season and never officially wraps things up, it was a good anime. It was a bit hard to get into at first, but it was worth the wait.

The Plot of Loveless

Beloved and Loveless

Ritsuka's older brother was murdered and devastated him so much that he created a "new" personality. His mother went insane and beats him, saying he is not her Ritsuka. This just furthers his belief that he is not this Ritsuka. Even worse, he is placed in a new school. Yuiko is the only girl who speaks with him and they soon become friends.

Soubi is waiting for Ritsuka on his first day of school. He grabs him on his way out and tells him he knew his brother Seimei. Ritsuka becomes enthralled with this and immediately trusts Soubi. Soubi tells him he is Loveless and that Soubi was there to protect him. Ritsuka was his sacrifice in this underground battle. Since Soubi once belonged to his brother Beloved, that made it illegal for him to have another sacrifice. Someone is after Ritsuka and wants him for their own cause. They must get rid of Soubi to accomplish this.

The Characters of Loveless

From Left to Right: Yuiko, Shinonome, Ritsuka, Soubi, (top) Kaidou, (Bottom) Yayoi

Ritsuka is the main character of Loveless, and also goes by the name of Loveless. He is only a 16 year old kid and has been through a lot. He always has his defenses up, but not so much around Soubi. Soubi claims to be his fighter and previous fighter of Ritsuka's brother Seimei. He is an adult and very mysterious. He constantly says he will do anything for Ritsuka, but this is only due to Seimei's order.

Ritsuka has many supporting friends which come along the way. Shinonome is his teacher and actually has a crush on Soubi. She is picked on since she stills has her ears and tail. Yuiko is the happy go lucky girl who follows Ritsuka around, making him at times feel like someone cares for him. She is always happy and has a crush on Ritsuka. Yayoi happens to have been in love with Yuiko (and still is), but she rejected him because he is to short. He therefore does not feel as threatened by Ritsuka because he is short as well.

Then there are those who are trying to get a hold of Loveless. The two to show up first was Breathless. They were both teenagers around Ritsuka's age. Sleepless shows up as well, failing to bring Ritsuka into the boss. Another pair of children show up calling themselves Zero. They feel no pain and therefore are much harder to beat. They actually become friends with Soubi and Ritsuka. Eventually another pair show up claiming to be Zero as well. These two females are the original Zero's and therefore much stronger.

The Cats of Loveless

School of Cats

Kemonomimi is a type of anime in which the characters have cat features such as a tail or ears or both. In Loveless, the kemononmimi characters serves a purpose on an adult level. When people lose their virginity in this anime, their ears and tails fall off. Therefore it is easier to tell if someone is an adult or not. Shinonome is one of the few adults in the anime that still has her ears and tail and is constantly picked on due to this. Some teens will wear fake ears and tails to hide it from their parents or schoolmates.

Loveless was a good anime, and honestly it should have gone on to a second season. The anime is different at some points than the anime, because the manga was not complete until after the anime was. Therefore only the first four volumes are what the anime is based after. So if you want the rest of the story, just read the manga. I know I am.

Overall Grade: 7/10

Fate Zero: Ancient Legends Fighting

Fate Zero

Fate/Zero Logo

Fate Zero is not an anime for the light hearted. This anime leaves no one out of the picture to die. Even children die in this anime. Fate Zero tells the truth about war, people die. That was one of the reasons I loved Fate/Zero. Anime's that show the truth are often the best kind. They are not afraid to do anything.

Fate Zero Plot

Waver Using a Command Spell

SAO: The Art of Online Gaming

Sword Art Online Review

When I first heard about SAO, I figured it would be too similar to .hack//. I never really wanted to give this anime a chance. Finally I broke down and watched it out of curiosity. Watching the first episode I really was not that interested, but I tend to give anime a few episodes to get into them. In a few days I watched the entire series. I literally could not stop watching SAO at all. The anime really knows how to pull you in and keep your attention.

Halfway through SAO when the game becomes Alfhiem, you may start to lose interest. It feels as though there is no plot to the second half of the series, but just a continuation to make more money on the series. That is not the case at all though. You really need to give Sword Art Online a chance and watch the entire series.

The Plot of Sword Art Online

A new virtual reality world has been created as an online gaming experience. The game is called Sword Art Online. Unknown to the players logging into to SAO, there is no log out button. The creator, Kayaba Akihiko, did this on purpose. He has an alternate plan for the game. He created SAO as his own playing field where if you die on the game, you die in reality. The only way to survive the game is to reach the 100^th level and kill the final boss. When this is finally accomplished, around 300 people are stuck in virtual reality ‘limbo’.

That is until Alfhiem Online is created. Alfhiem is a much safer game and has an emergency logout system. Nobuyuki Sugo is the mastermind behind a project going on in Alfhiem with the 300 people from SAO. He is attempting to control pain and thoughts of humans. This is the only place in which he can conduct this illegal experiment. The ending is definitely worth the entire anime so I will not spoil it for you.

The Characters of Sword Art Online

Kirito (or Kazuto Kirigaya) is the main character of the Sword Art Online. He has a great advantage in SAO due to the fact he was a Beta Tester (or beater). He takes a lot of heat for this from other characters that have lost someone. He is a mainly quite and keeps to himself, that is until he became really good friends with Asuna (or Asuna Yuki). You first impression of Asuna is a someone who would not make it very long. Eventually you see how strong she really is and proves herself as a major character. The two fall in love in the game which eventually leads to the destruction of both games (SAO & ALO).

Each character you meet in episodes has their own stories, both sad and happy. You are sucked in to each episode through these characters. You need to know if they survive or die. It is rare to find anime’s such as this now a days.

The Artwork and Soundtrack of Sword Art Online

The artwork in Sword Art Online is the standard tradition anime. The fact the hair color in SAO are believable makes it even better. It brings you even closer to the anime when this happens. The characters are more realistic and you are able to relate to them in a deeper way.

The soundtrack seems to be the only place lacking in SAO. Although the music is very beautiful and performed by Yuki Kajiura, there is little variety to the show. There seems to be five songs and that is all. They are extremely great, don’t get me wrong, but a little more would’ve been nice.

Sword Art Online should definitely be on every otaku’s shelf. This is an anime you do not want to pass up. It is definitely in my top ten!

Overall Grade 9/10

Fate/Stay Night Review

Fate/Stay Night Anime Review

Fate/Stay Night is a very hard anime to get into once you have seen Fate/Zero. This is a continuous story of the War of the Holy Grail. Most characters are the same from the original but obviously older. The story revolves around Emiya Shirou, the adopted son of Emiya Kiritsugu. He battles with Saber as Kiritsugu did in Fate/Zero. At first Saber makes no mention of working with Kiritsugu in the last Holy Grail War until the story is nearly completed.

The Story

Shiro and Saber

There are many reasons why I did not really care for Fate/Stay Night as a sequel to Fate/Zero. I feel as though this was the child’s version. The Masters consist of a bunch of high school kids that go to the same high school, unlike Fate/Zero which consisted of a much more adult based Master and they gathered from different parts of the world. It was a disappointment due to the fact that the story really was not consistent to the prequel. I was not truly interested in Fate/Stay Night until Gilgamesh made an appearance. From then the anime had the same feeling as prequel. It was more destructive in nature and as heart wrenching as the prequel. The fact that Shirou allowed Saber to finish her duties and did order her to stay was a very noble thing of him. He let her go even though they loved each other so much.

The Art

The art in Fate/Stay Night is the exact same as Fate/Zero. The only issue I had was episode 15. The CG dragon was not impressive at all. I felt as though the CG graphic was too similar to Reboot, which is a 90s American made cartoon. That is just sad really to have to compare a 2006 anime to a 90s cartoon.

The Characters

Like I said the majority of characters in Fate/Stay Night are ones once previously met in Fate/Zero Really the only character that remains the same is Tohsaka. She is still the strong headed child (now teen) from the prequel. At first there was no mention of the fact that Sakura was her sister in Fate/Stay Night, but eventually that story came along. Sakura’s character should not have been the way it was though. I feel as though her character would have been more messed up in the head from what occurred in Fate/Zero. Plus she was being trained to be the replacement of the Mato’s Master, but it was Shinji instead. There was no mention of Shinji’s character in the prequel so I am unsure of where he came from. Shirou’s character is only mentioned in the last episode of Fate/Zero so his character was allowed to be played around with at the time.

Kotomine’s character is pretty much the same as well. Ilya, though, was also another problem. There is never any mention what-so-ever about the fact that Kiritsugu was her biological father and that Shirou is her adopted brother in Fate/Stay Night. I am sure there is a reason for that, but still at least a mention of it at the end would’ve been nice. Gilgamesh’s character remains the same as well. He is still the over cocky king from Fate/Zero.

Overall Grade 5/10

Cowboy Bebop Review

Cowboy Bebop Set

Doing an unbiased review on Cowboy Bebop would be difficult to me. Cowboy Bebop is everything an anime should be; after all it is my favorite anime. Along with Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Rurouni Kenshin, and some others, Cowboy Bebop is a very iconic anime name. Not only was it the first anime to run on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim back in 2001, but it ran for four years straight continuously. Cowboy Bebop took a break from Adult Swim for a while and reran in 2007-2012. Needless to say, this is an amazing anime!

The Plot of Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is definitely a Sci-fi-Western anime. The story follows Spike Spiegel and his crew Jet, Faye, Ed, and Ein. Every episode has a sort of stand-alone story. Some of the main plot will come out in certain episodes, but may not show up in others. The Bebop crew hunts down bounties for a living. Each member has his or her own special “ability” when it comes to catching them. The main story arc though is really based around Spike and why he joined Jet to hunt bounties. Being a former member of the Red Dragon Syndicate, he basically uses the cowboy routine to stay in hiding. The main arc is about Spike’s past life catching up with him and him having to finally face the outcome.

The Characters of Cowboy Bebop

Spike is the main character of Cowboy Bebop. He is a very calm and collective guy training in Jeet Kun Do. Jet owns the Bebop and was a former detective. He lost his arm in a shootout at one time, thus he has a fake arm. Spike and Jet eventually come across Faye, another bounty hunter and bounty herself. Faye seems to bring them a lot of trouble as well as some good money at times. Ed is the genius of the crew. She helps by hacking and using her computer abilities to catch bounties. Ein is a very intelligent dog and really stays around Ed a lot and helps her with computer things.

The Bebop crew was put together so well and really makes the show. Each character that you come across in Cowboy Bebop has a lingering affect no longer how short their role was in the series. For instance the episode “Waltz for Venus” the character Rocco becomes a very interesting character to get to know and really lingers on even though he dies at the end of the episode.

The Setting of Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is based in the year 2071. By this time the Solar System has been open up to the public for living. Most of the series takes place in the Bebop ship but occasionally they visit planets (or moons). Even though it is the year 2071 and humankind has embarked into space, there is still some very ‘old’ technology still around and in use. Ground vehicles from the 1990s are still being used in the anime. The space technology has come a long way but it left the ground technology behind.

Grade 10/10
Watch an Anime Music Video of Cowboy Bebop:

X/1999 the Movie Review

X/1999 the Movie

X/1999 is a classic in anime films and yet the original manga is still never to be finished. This film is sad and while it sticks to the manga’s story line, X/1999 the movie does portray its own little short version of the story. It takes all the major points and fights and allows each character their segment in the film. Kamui and Fuma’s being the longest.

The Plot & Characters X/1999

X/1999 focuses on the character Kamui as well as on his friend Fuma and Fuma’s sister, Kotori. A long time ago Kamui’s mother and he moved out of Tokyo and away from his best friend, Fuma. Later she dies giving him a sword, the weapon to either save or destroy the Earth. He returns to Tokyo to find his friend Fuma. When Kamui decides he wants to save his friends, he chooses to save the Earth and therefore awakens the Kamui in Fuma. This Kamui (Fuma) will destroy the Earth. Now Kamui has to fight his longtime friend, Fuma, to the death. Kotori, the love of Kamui and sister of Fuma, holds the other sword. In order for Fuma to obtain she has to die. In the end, Kamui ends up cutting Fuma’s head off. This leaves Kamui with nothing and a very sad ending indeed.

I like this version of X/1999 even though it is just a summary. The ending is an ending that only an anime can pull off. It feels real because in the end, no one really won anything. Kamui was given no recognition in saving the Earth and ends up killing his best friends which killed his own sister. He has a terrible life ahead of him, but this film is a cold hard truth.

CLAMP Art

As always, CLAMP delivers great art and a great story in X/1999. The art work is classic CLAMP style and a very dreamy look added to the film. The story is just one version of this ongoing series. The TV series allows a more in depth look at characters and a different ending. This version of X/1999 is the saddest of the three (for now). You really do not get to know the characters, but you get to know enough about them to know their characteristics.

This is definitely a classic in anime films. If you have not seen it, you really should. Any CLAMP story is going to be good, but the X/1999 movie is definitely one of their bests.

Overall Grade: 9/10

Check out this AMV by Sabrina Murray: