God Song Transliteration

There's actually a lot of word play in this song, which you can't really translate. Even the title is a little funny as 神曲 can be read as both "God Song" and "Divine Comedy." One of the big things the OnyuuP did was to play on the word "kami" which can mean god, divine, paper, or even hair. Using the rather rough translation of YouTuber ikuy398, I came up with what follows. Also 夢 (yume) shows up a couple times in talking about the universe, but it can also mean dream.

They say it’s a song for god, or a divine video game
Flooding the streets right now, it’s a god bargain sale just for you!

The contents aren't that great, actually thin like pieces of paper,
However I’m saved by these things and so it doesn’t really matter

It was music, it was a song,
a great picture, or a big dream
It's just all a part of the frothy universe
I’m saved by these things I believe in

They say it’s a divine show, a TV program just for god
Flooding the world and the airwaves are gods at giveaway prices

They might be rather thin, fluttering down like windblown hair
However I’m saved by these sort of things, so it isn’t something that matters!

They were gardens, they were deserts
It was the cool air, or a water surface
It's all a ordinary part of the universe
I’m saved by these normal things I notice

I could never possibly become a hero like those in the myths
I could never possibly truly be someone that is omnipotent

I don’t want to be God, it’s good that I wish to be
So that I would be able to save someone someday

And that’s why….and that’s why

You were there for me, I was there for you
You call them buddy’s, I call them my friends
All we futile people wish to do is
To be saved and to save one another

We compose music, we all sing songs
Draw a picture, and carry big dreams
They’re all part of the tiny universe
Today as usual somebody came and saved us 

Hello (How Are You) Transliteration

Hello/How Are You?

Hello
Opening my window, I quietly whispered it
How are you?
All alone, I sit here in my room
Morning
The sun’s risen, but it’s hidden by pouring rain
Tick-tock
Like a clockwork doll come and wind up my spring

Hello
It happened just like this in an old anime
How are you?
Jealousy  at seeing everyone so loved
Sleeping
I really have to stop stupidity and start preparing
Crying
In order to hide the marks from my tears
Now…

What I like to say is “fine, whatever”
Calling suddenly to my mind those  words from yesterday
“No hope is left for you in my mind anymore…”
To be perfectly honest with myself
I don’t have any hope left for me either
Even so why would you say something like that?

All of the words that are moving to my throat
Come out my mouth as blatant lies
So today I must have wasted some valuable words
But I will still keep on living my life

Why is it that you keep on hiding it?
Being laughed at isn’t scary right?
Do you really not want to see anyone at all?
Is all that the truth?
Ambiguity is a sea I’m drowning in,
It hurts too much to even take a breath
Small urges to hear someone speak appear
I really am so weak…

Amid all these preparation to go nowhere
My head starts running many ideas
“Should we find a reason to take a break and rest now?”
No,no, I can understand it
Now I’m just saying whatever I could to you
Resting isn’t something I can do, so don’t get mad at me

Being happy or being sad are two things uncertain
Unbiased and cruelly the sun still rises
With all my might I continue to live on in this life
What else could I possibly wish for?

Why is there any need to worry over it?
I’m asking if you really want to listen to me?
I want to know who was it that took their hand away,
Did you notice?
If existence came with a time card,
When could I finally time out?
And all the pay that comes for my hours alive,
I wonder who would pay them.

Thank you
I just want to say thank you
Thank you
I really just want to say thank you
Thank you
Even one time would be fine
And so from the bottom of my weeping heart
I just want to say thank you!

Why is that you keep on hiding it?
I’m asking if you really want to listen to me?
Not once have you smiled or wept,
Can we talk about that?

If you never say the words that you really feel,
I’ll never know what you’re thinking about.
It can’t be helped that we’re so troublesome
I’m just being human!

Hello How are you?
Hello How are you?
Hello How are you?
I just want to ask, hello, how are you?

There’s  a great deal of material to cover with Princess Tutu, especially since it spans two seasons. Two, very well developed seasons. This means that the plot for both Chapter of the Egg and Chapter of the Fledgling will need to be covered separately plot wise. I won't be delving too much into the characters, but looking at it more from a broad perspective. Every character makes their own contributions and growth, so I feel it's important to cover them seperately.

PLOT

Chapter of the Egg

As the first installment of the Tutu plotline, Chapter of the Egg starts off like almost every transforming girl story: girl granted power, girl transforms for some great cause, girl saves boy she’s in love with. Even with these basic plot pieces intact, though, it still manages to bring a great bit more to the table. There are several key points in this arc that are dropped later on, or at least become largely ignored.

In the first chapter we see a girl fall in love with a boy, or rather, a duck fall in love with a prince. This is a new take on an old favorite, but definitely brings to mind the story of swan Lake almost immediately. In that story the prince goes hunting in the woods and almost shoots the princess who has been turned into a swan. In Tutu we instead of a lonely duck watching an even lonelier prince and immediately asks the question why. It is thanks to this curiosity that she is rewarded with humanity, something that comes only because a plot device is needed. In this case I am not using plot device in a mean way. Duck is for all intents and purposes a plot device written in by Drosselmyer.

Chapter of the Fledgling

This chapter is where the metaphorical s41t hits the fan. This is also where Princess Tutu proves itself as being much more than the standard mahout shoujo anime. While Duck certainly continues to fulfill her heroes quest, it is the emergence of the true villain, or rather what appears to be the true villain through Princess Kraehe. The incorporation of a singular evil focus means that the grounds are laid for an at times convoluted plot. I will discuss how this affects specific characters in the section on characters.

This chapter suffers some of the same problems the first did in the way several things are arranged for plot convenience. While Drosselmyer does act as a convenient tool to sneak in plot occurrences, which becomes especially apparent when the move to stop his control over the town begins, they are still occurrence I would call necessary. Of course to counter this Fakir also undergoes some changes through personality and is given the same sort of abilities to control the world around him as Drosselmyer. As can be expected there is quite a bit of a tension leading to the finale, which concludes the story for both Mytho and Fakir. However, Duck’s side of the story is only resolved in the sense that she achieves her goal of restoring Mytho’s heart and comes into herself.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone is having a happy Mother's Day here in the States! My mom and I have a sort of big sister-little sister relationship, so we get along alright. Something funny to note is that she doesn't like anime at all unless it's a film, so I figured I'd try and find something she might like, which is difficult to do. Either way, she is usually willing to check it out if it isn't super ridiculous or silly. I might just set the family down and watch some Cowboy Bebop one day. In the meantime, see you space cowboys!

Kiki and her mother from Kiki's Delivery Service, my favorite Miyazaki movie!

Spring Season I Part II

How is your spring going so far? Are you trapped in a never ending downpour like I am? I hope not, I really hope not…Moving along, out of the five other series I had to review, only one has managed to survive. I did add in one more show, simply because I completely forgot about it and how much I was looking forward to it. So we’ll save that as a surprise at the end. There was a certain amount of fanservice in each of them, which was a little annoying all in all. Perhaps the most frequent theme is the harem this season, or maybe even just how many perverted things they can get away with. So let’s see the mess that is the second half of the Spring Season Part I. With so many being dropped I may pick up some of the later premiering shows. This time in reverse order of worst to best!

A Bridge to the Starry Sky
Here is the obvious harem anime of the season. I was originally looking forward to it, just from the animation, but other than that there is nothing I particularly enjoyed about the show. It was the standard boy enters a town where his only classmates are apparently female…and fervently in love with his adowable little brother. This seems like Takenori Mihara’s first big job as he only appears to have been episode directors, but it’s a shame it had to be a harem anime. Animation director Koichi Monma seems a bit more prepared, having just gotten off of Madoka’s background animation. So while harem anime can be good, I’m not willing to sit around and see where this goes. A Bridge to the Starry Sky is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
+ Animation
+ Opening
+ Cute little brother
- Obvious plot
- Obvious ending
- HUGE Harem

Hen Zemi

I DON'T KNOW!

Also known as Abnormal Physiology Seminar, this is about as close as you can get to hentai without actually entering it. And yet it’s still comedic simply for the unexpected perversion that seems to happen everywhere, especially coming from director Takao Kato. While he did previously direct To Love-Ru this is an entirely different can of worms. I can’t complain about animation, however, as it is overall good, despite having three animation directors. To give it an accurate chance without jumping in with nothing to go on I did watch the OAV’s as well. As the show has no overarching plot and works mainly on the episode by episode basis there is no real reason for me to have done so, which is of course something I did not know at the time. Simply because I do not think I could take this kind of humor when other outlets are available (especially in the United States), Hen Zemi is being dropped as well.
+ Humor
+ Pop culture references
+ Animation
- Nipple conversations
- Awkward teacher
- Obvious Metaphors

Astarotte’s Toy
A succubus who is afraid of men, has to live by sucking the “life seed” out of men: That’s our basic plot for this show. And it ends up being really cute in a weird, fanservice kind of way. The show is not quite a reverse harem, but there is only one or two males, the main one being employed to go along with Astarotte. He seems to be only interested in her, which is why I don’t entirely consider it a harem anime. The animation itself is fairly crisp and adds to the playfulness of the show. It is reminiscent of Okamisan, and as the Chief Animation Director, Mai Otsuka, worked on that show it is to be expected. It is a little odd that Fumitoshi Oizaki should be the director for the show, but it also makes sense in the playful nature of the show which is almost similar to the sort of naiveté of Disgaea. Despite its enjoyable nature, I do not think I will find anything here I can find elsewhere, which is much the same problem A Bridge to the Starry Sky had, and so it is being dropped. Astarotte’s Toy is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
+ Cute
+ Clean animation
+ Disgaea-esque plot
- Harem?
- Overly silly
- Only one guy

Moe sensors activate!

Nichijou
As soon as I started watching this show I immediately thought of Azumanga Dai-Oh and with good reason. It is very much your slice of life high school comedy. Of course it does have it’s twists, but that’s what makes it so humorous. The animation style is light again, much like what we saw in Wandering Son but not quite as exaggerated. Director Tatsuya Ishihara previously worked on both The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star and manages to pull off the same sort of humor seen in Lucky Star. There are multiple animation directors on this show as well, all of them doing a great job for each episode. Music wise the same sort of comedic effect from Lucky Star seems to be present, while still keeping the same sort of background sound one might expect in real life. As Yuuji Nomi formerly worked on Ghibli films and Bokurano this is no big surprise. Nichijou is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
+ Clockwork Robot
+ Highschool slice of life
+ Animation
- No plot
- Boogers
- Characters do not converge

I love anpan too, Shiro!

Deadman Wonderland
Almost as soon as I read the premise for this show I was hooked, and more than eager to get started in on it. I was looking forward to a Battle Royale style show set in a prison, and what I got was something far better. Director Koichi Hatsumi is doing a brilliant job of directing this series, just as he did with Lupin III and The Big O. There is the same sort of action mystery that chases the protagonist around and around, and art director Michie Watanabe is doing a great job at keeping everything smooth and crisp, just as she did with the backgrounds of Wolf’s Rain. If you’re looking for a decent shonen series that is not all guns and swords, then I highly recommend Deadman Wonderland. Deadman Wonderland is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
+ Shiro
+ Battle Royale
+ Animation
- Random plot device
- Evil villain
- Improbably cup size

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility of Control

Best. Mad Hatter. Ever.

The same people who worked on Fractale shine through brilliantly yet again with this thriller of a show. Thing Alice in Wonderland meets Wallstreet and there you have it. The show cleverly disguises economic lessons through the use of battles with “assets” and establishes a main goal fairly early on. And as of approximately five seconds ago (as of writing this), Funimation has picked it up for streaming on Hulu. How exciting is that (pretty exciting considering I’m on a caffeine kick now). The first two episodes essentially establish the plot and introduce to us the main characters in an exciting way most series do not. Thus far, C is the best anime of the season. C- Control is now streaming on Hulu.
+ Animation
+ Plot
+ Alice in Wonderland
- Soundtrack
- Batmobile
- Loss of future

So let’s take a look at the rankings so far [x=dropped]:
-C – Control
-Deadman Wonderland
-Hanasaku Iroha
-Tiger and Bunny
-Nichijou
-Sekai Ichi
x Astarotte’s Toy
x Hen Zemi
x Bridge to the Starry Skies
x We, Without Wings

I’m not planning on having a midseason review, as I still have to finish up the Princess Tutu input and review. However, know that those that are left are going to have to fight to the end to see who comes out on top (except maybe Sekai Ichi, which is really just a guilty pleasure). Also, exciting news! Pikko is holding a give away for a Zojirushi Umami Micom Rice Cooker which makes super tasty rice. You can find details on it here ---à http://www.aibento.net/2011/04/28/review-zojirushi-umami-rice-cooker-review-part-3-giveaway/#comment-29968

That’s all for now!

Spring Season 1 Part 1

Well, the spring season is in full swing and I am fully behind! I realized I have picked too many shows to review. Starting in on the season I have also realized that there is a certain amount of shows that will have to be dropped as time goes on, some not quite making it past their two episode limit (every show has two episodes to make a good impression and get itself started). So, let’s get started on the Spring Season!  As per usual, we’ll move from best to worst. I’ve had to split the season up again, simply because I’m starting to fall behind trying to watch everything and this post would be ridiculously long if I included another five shows. While the second episode of Deadman Wonderland is not available to me right now, I will say that thus far it is my favorite of the season.

Hanasaku Iroha
The animation quality alone made me look forward to Iroha and it certainly delivered with its plot as well. Masahiro Ando, an excellent director who has worked on several of the most popular anime (Gundam Seed, Wolf’s Rain, Evangelion), is doing yet another bang up job, especially since he is in charge of almost every aspect. The show itself is a slice of life, no giant robots or evil nobles are stopping main character Ohana from achieving her goal, which is really just to survive. When fanservice makes an appearance it is done in a subtle way, or serves some purpose (that’s right, fanservice can be relevant to plot). The characters all relate together well , and the music is subtle enough to carry scenes on their own. I can’t say this is surprising as Shiroh Hamaguchi is in charge of the music and he did the same great job in Final Fantasy VII. While not Wandering Son quality animation it is still rather nice to look at and not nearly as harsh as other shows this season. Hanasaku Iroha is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
+Character Design
+Music
+Episode direction
-Perverted author
-Cranky grandmother syndrome
-No clear plot

Tiger and Bunny
Imagine a superhero show. Now imagine a mech anime. Combine them and we get Tiger and Bunny, where perhaps the most hilarious premise is the product placement (boy, do I want a Pepsi Next now). Despite the product placement it is a fairly entertaining show and the characters are all quite amusing. The standard hero regime does not seem to be ever present just yet, and there is more of a focus on the pseudo-mech plot. The only female hero is, in fact, also an idol, something highly reminiscent of Macross. There is a reason for this, as director Keiichi Satou is fairly at home in the Mech world having worked on Big O, MazinKaiser, and several Gundam arcs. He manages to combine it with the superhero genre fairly well. Music is your standard superhero fanfares and helps carry the action quite a bit, something Yoshihiro Ike is quite experience having worked on mostly shonen shows. As a fan of both superhero shows and mech shows, I am quite excited to continue watching this show, almost as much as Heroman.  Tiger and Bunny is currently streaming on Anime News Network and Hulu.
+Plot
+Superheroes in pseudo-mechs
+Fun characters
-Product Placement
-Reality TV show producers
-Random CG sometimes

Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi (World’s Greatest First Love)
Here it is. The yaoi of the season. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, seeing as the plot for it is a fairly typical love story. The only exception being, of course, the fact that the couple is two males. Chiaki Kon is well experienced in the world of romantic anime (and even non-romantic if you don’t consider Higurashi to be), and it certainly shows. Nothing is too rushed, and when the little instances of fanservice designed to make fangirls giggle with glee occur, they are done superbly (if you oversaturate anything with fanservice it loses all value). The music is fairly upbeat, as it should be seeing as it is also a comedy, and Hijiri Anze does a good job of bringing it subtly in. Of course, this show is not for everyone, because I said it is yaoi, and unless you enjoy that you will not enjoy it here. What makes the plot good outside of it is the sheer ridiculousness of some scenes: a literature editor who ends up working for shoujo manga is something that could only happen in Japan. Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi is not streaming on Crunchyroll.
+Plot
+Character Design
+Comedic Effect
-Yaoi [if you aren’t a fan]
-Strange character shifts
-LOOK OUT IT’S THE EMERALD TEAM!

She'd be adorable if it weren't for this.

We, Without Wings
There are so many things wrong with this show I’m not even certain where to start. Let’s start with the summary Anime News Network has: It's winter in the big city of Yanagihara, and young people will meet and fall in love. Takashi is a boy who plans to escape to another world, but is held back by thoughts of his younger sister Kobato and girlfriend Asuka. Shusuke is a poor part-timer who has to work with student-author Hiyoko in spite of their initial dislike for each other. The antisocial Hayato makes his living as a handyman until he is visited by a girl name Naru. Within the first two episodes there is , at no point, a mention of this plot. If it’s in there, I missed it amongst all the fanservice. The characters should not be all that suprising considering Kumi Ishi, the same character designer for Rozen Maiden is also the chief animation director. The amount of jiggles and panty shots are ridiculous, and is even more so when its compared to the amount of fan service in Highschool of the Dead. Yet it’s not the animators fault, as Kumi Ishi also worked on several excellent animated works (Cardcaptor Sakura, Perfect Blue),  its largely Shinji Ushiro’s direction that is leading this show astray. I have not seen any of his other works, but given the fact that I saw seven characters named in seven seconds, I’m not sure I want to. Not even music acts as a redeeming quality, as there is just a lot of random genres thrown together, and there isn’t even a musical director listed. Almost everything I can say is basically summed up in the screen shot. Unfortunately, this series is being dropped, though perhaps I will visit it again later to see how it turns out. We, Without Wings is streaming on Crunchyroll.
-Excessive Fanservice
-Poor Music
  -Confusing exposition

Final Winter Review

Well, the seasons have officially come to an end. I know I run about a week late, but I would rather run late and watch free legal streams than free illegal ones. Any screen shots that are used belong to their respective owners and companies, and I do not own the rights. There are two shows that have to be done a little differently than the others: Madoka and Gosick. Madoka will be broadcasting the last two episodes back to back in about a week, so I cannot comment on it just yet. Gosick is continuing into the spring season, so I will only be reviewing the first twelve (a full season). As a result they will not be counted towards the top and bottom scores of the season in this review. So who made it to the top this season and who fell flat? Let’s find out.

BISEASON (FREE PASS): Gosick

Unlike Victorique...

Gosick started off good, but slow. As it moved farther into the show it began to reveal itself as a show that solves mystery with the characters trying to solve their own. As of episode twelve none of this has been fully solved, and like Detective Conan it can be a little repetitive. Find a mystery, solve it. Here’s some overarching plot, moving on. Even with this flaw (if you want to consider it one, I personally do not), the characters are charged and blend rather well together. There is no one character that acts as a plot hog, which is impressive as a large portion of the show is spent figuring on the mystery of Victorique’s character. If this were to be placed in the season ranking again, it would certainly rank quite high.
+Art
+Overarching Plot
+Mystery
-Long development
-Disappearance of the overarching plot
-Blatant villain (how haven’t the characters found him yet)

FREEZER BURNED (LOWEST RANK): Koreha Zombie des ka?

This was totally worth it though.

Oh Zombie, you started off so well and so humorous. You even picked up a fairly interesting villain. Unfortunately he was an interesting villain guilty of godmodding. Yes, that’s right, godmodding. He was that kid in elementary school who calls shield before you tag him. They do of course defeat him, but the battle is somewhat anticlimactic and the viewer is left unsatisfied. In fact, the series completes itself before the twelfth episode because it was just complete fanservice. So unfortunately, Zombie,  you have a bad case of freezer burn. Koreha Zombie des ka is streaming on Crunchyroll.
+Humor
+Moe Necromancer
+Catchy Ending Theme
-Plot
-Godmodding Villain
-Strange exposition

IN THE FREEZER: Yumekui Merry

Unlike the power of friendship!

Much like it’s first few episodes, Yumekui sort of loses its pace. Or rather, it gained too much of a pace. Within two episodes the main villain is revealed, introduced, and defeated in the finale. Perhaps most frustrating about the final battle is the fact that Merry’s innate power shown in an earlier episode is never brought up. Ever. And perhaps the biggest annoyance is the power Yumeji seems to gain: his will. Yes, that’s right. The one thing that can possibly protect a human from a dream demon is your will. He still was unable to win without help from others, but I feel as though “the power of will” was both a cop out and a little inspiring. The only reason Yumekui is scoring higher than Zombie is because it pulls off the final battle so well. All the character stories are resolved (with the exception of Merry, who is unable to return “just because”) in a timely manner and by the last episode, no fan service required. While it is based off a manga, there has been no second season revealed as of yet. And that’s why Yumekui never quite made it from the freezer. Like Merry’s quest to go home, it will stay frozen for a long time.
  +Plot
  +Animation
  +Fight Sequences
  -Plot Resolution
  -Goals (don't encourage the NEET's!)
  -Plot device never touched upon again (Merry's power)

IN THE OVEN: Wandering Son

He is most certainly not a zombie.

While one of the nicest shows of the season, Wandering Son didn’t quite make it to the top of the top. It is certainly a great show to satiate your anime appetite, especially with its artwork, the finale is a little confusing. Shuichi seems to have finally grown into himself, but whether that means him giving up on his personal feelings to become a female and undergo a sex change or that others have finally accepting him is a little unclear. Now, the finale is actually the twelfth episode, the tenth and eleventh having been combined and so some things may be explained in the expanded version of the series. For now, however, the fact that there is no definite answer is a little confusing. And yet, the open endedness is appreciatable. Wandering Son ends with a warm feeling, like the feeling one gets when standing in front of an open oven door. And so, it certainly garnishes a high review. Wandering Son is streaming on CrunchyRoll.
  +Art
  +Plot
  +Ending Theme
  -Finale
  -Ambiguous Antagonists
  -Quickened Exposition (final episode)

GOURMET MEAL: Fractale

No it's not, that's not Haruhi!

Yutaka Yamamoto never ceases to amaze me with his story ideas. In an interview in The Otaku Encyclopedia he said he was aiming to move away from moé anime, as well as the fact that he was working on a great project for 2010 (it made it out in 2011 so that counts). Fractale ends in an amazing conclusion to the series, pulling everything together and nicely concluding the show, something that all anime should do. I only had a few issues here, one of which was the fact that there is always the “god” character in his shows. It all started with Haruhi…and I will say no more without revealing the ending. The other is the endless cycle that seems to be invoked, though I suppose with lack of access to a certain place, history will not be doomed to repeat itself. In the end any issues it had seemed to have worked themselves out, especially since you are able to see the whole series in a new light. Fractale is available on Funimation’s YouTube channel.
  +Animation
  +Soundtrack
  +Plot
  -Existentialism (God again?)
  -Future Implications
  -COMPLETE PERSONALITY CHANGE

Madoka Magica  will be reviewed separately. Look forward to the Spring Review in the next blog post. Unfortunately there are a lot of things I want to watch this spring, but don’t have the time to review them all in one go (the spring season is MASSIVE)! So, consider it Spring Review I and when I finally get the time to watch the next half we’ll consider it Spring Review II! Look forward to these shows in part I:
Iroha
Ore-tachi
Sekai Ichi
Hoshizora
Tiger and Bunny
Astarotte's Toy
Hen Zemi
Nichijou
Abnormal Physiology Seminar
Deadman Wonderland