Itazura na Kiss

Itazura na Kiss has a very interesting premise where the story does not end once the main couple gets together, but continues throughout their lives together for a decade or so. Unfortunately, the idea of a good story ends there. The execution and the characters are terrible.

First of all, Kotoko and Irie are completely mismatched. She is a klutzy idiot, he is a stoic and cold genius completely devoid of all emotion. Kotoko reminded me too much of the Sailor Moon character and it made me dislike her even more. After they finish college and begin working, Irie becomes even less likable in his treatment of Kotoko. The writers try to excuse his behavior by him always being perfect in the past, which prevented him from feeling jealousy. Um, despite his personality, isn't he human too? But nevertheless, no matter how badly he treats her, she still forgives him and at the end they live happily ever after.

The little incidents during their married life, starting with their honey moon where a random woman tried to break them apart, do not fit into the story at all. They are episodic and have no impact on any of the major characters. None of them learn from those experiences and they continue behaving like nothing happened.

Overall, I found the series superficial, boring, and too cliche. There is no natural romance here, just a couple of mismatched characters who were forced to fall in love because the writers decided so.

Hana Yori Dango (live action)

I didn't find anything likable about the live action version of Hana Yori Dango. I didn't like the acting at all. The actors tried to act like anime characters with exaggerated mannerisms and conversations. It looked really stupid for normal people to behave that way.

The love story is extremely superficial and uninspiring. There is no chemistry between Tsukasa and Makino. It seems that they fell in love because the scrip said so. What happened to the passion and heart wrenching confessions? Even their bickering doesn't look convincing. Tsukasa's and Rui's characters are almost completely switched around. It wasn't Tsukasa who comes to Makino's rescue anymore, but Rui. And instead of being emotionally unavailable, he is turned into a warm and caring guy.

A lot of important parts of the story are taken out, most of which are where Tsukasa comes to Makino's rescue. There are only two scenes where he actually helps her. The first was combined with Sakurako's and Junpei's incident. And the snowstorm rescue is absolutely ridiculous. The writers suddenly decide to create their own plot where Tsukasa loses his memory of Makino (only) and throw in the annoying character of Umi for a few episodes who suddenly falls in love with Tsukasa after knowing him for what...one day? She sends Makino to look for Yuki in the snow storm. Tsukasa rushes to her rescue while still having amnesia, because their bond is supposedly that strong. Talk about the overdose of cheese and cliches. The ridiculous character of Umi has absolutely no place in the series, why didn't the writers stick to the original idea that made a whole more sense?

The girls getting slapped around is beyond disgusting. It didn't look good in the anime, it looked even dumber in the live action. Tsukasa constantly slaps and pushes everyone around him. He was noticeably violent in the anime, here he is just disgustingly annoying. I was actually hoping that Makino would dump him and go with Rui.

Hana Yori Dango (anime)

To me the best thing about Hana Yori Dango is the love story. There is a great chemistry between Makino and Doumyoji (Tsukasa) and their personalities seem to mesh well. But I didn't fully like any of the major characters.

My biggest problem with shojou genre is the lack of strong female leads, but Makino showed great promise at the beginning. She is not needy, winy and clingy like many of the other shojou girls. She is strong, she fights back the bullies and stands up to the F4. But as the story progresses she shows a different side of her personality. I found her to be generally flaky and ungrateful. Even though she acknowledges everything that Tsukasa has done for her, she doesn't seem to ever appreciate it. She continues chasing after Rui for half of the show, and leading Tsukasa on. It only takes the entire series for her to finally realize whom she is in love with, and she doesn't even confess it at the end. Her reasoning is immature for the most part and it's really unclear why she would not accept her feelings for Tsukasa, even though it is pretty obvious that she is in love with him. It seems like the writers needed a reason to keep them apart, which made their actions seem forced.

I don't really know why Rui and Tsukasa ever became friends. They are absolutely different and the writers never really gave them any balance. Rui is too cold and emotionally detached. His mind always wanders and I cannot think of one reason why Makino would ever like him. Tsukasa is too easily excitable, violent and boorish. But I like Tsukasa. He is the only one who matured in the series. Even though he starts out as a jerk, he learns love and acts genuine and generous towards Makino. Later on he changes from a jerk to literally a life savior.

My biggest problem with the show is the continuous violence against women. Girls at school constantly get slapped for every little thing. When Tsukasa's older sister slaps him around it looks funny, but when Tsukasa does the same to girls, it looks ugly. The writers overdid it to such an extent that it just became disgusting.

Bokura ga Ita

Bokura ga Ita has one of the best dramatic story lines I've seen among the shoujo genre. The conversations between the characters and their inner thoughts are a great combination to make the story line unfold naturally. The characters are extremely well developed and realistic. I think they are a bit too realistic for the high school theme and the drama part is a bit too mature, but nevertheless, it is still very enjoyable.

Perhaps I am biased when it comes to these types of stories, but I usually do not like the female characters in them. And I wasn't very impressed with the character of Takahashi. She is too needy, clingy, and insecure. But as the story develops, I get to understand her flaws more and I actually sympathize with her, because she is trying to deal with Yano's past and his emotional baggage. Their romance is a bit of a cliche, where a clumsy and awkward girl falls in love with a popular guy, but the story of his past brings new twist to it.

Takeuchi is my favorite character. But I feel like his presence is generally irrelevant to the entire series. The writers attempted to created a love triangle, but it never really became one. I wish his relationship with Takahashi would've been more complex. Since the series took on a more serious and lifelike approach, I think it would've been better for Takahashi to stay with him at the end. Yano is too complex of a character and as Take said, a relationship that is full of emotional hardships needs to be ended. And that is how I felt about Yano and Nana. If feels that no matter how much that tried, they never really meant to be together.

The ending itself leaves a lot to the imagination. Almost every character's future is unclear. I wish there would've been more closure and certainty. But perhaps, there will be a sequel to clarify all of that. At least I hope for one.

Lovely Complex

I don't usually watch anime about high school romance, but I really liked the premise of Lovely Complex. There is nothing special about it - a boy and a girl are high school friends who always argue but later realize they like each other. Seems generic enough, doesn't it? Except for the fact that she is 14 centimeters taller than him. A love affair between a "midget" and an "amazon. *gasp*

I liked the fact that the writers really gave them a reason to be friends. Even though they constantly bicker, they like all the same things and enjoy doing them together. The first half was fun and interesting as Raza was slowly realizing that she had the hots for Otani. And Otani was blisfully oblivious, but not completely emotionally detached.

Unfortunatelly, after Raza confessed her feelings, the story started spiraling down. She turned into a love obsessed puppy chasing after Otani and crying in every episode that he was not returning her feelings. Otani turned into somewhat of a jerk who couldn't make up his mind about Raza. Even after he realized he liked her and they became a couple, they didn't even act like one. He seemed to be much nicer to Raza before the whole romantic drama started. I didn't like the fact that he was constantly smacking her and telling her that she has to work hard to make him love her. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for Raza or to be mad at her for acting so pathetic towards a guy who didn't even seem like he cared much about her.

Some of the characters I found pointless, like Haruka, who would have been much more likable if he created a love triangle between him Raza and Otani and made Otani sweat. The little cute girl who ended up to be a boy was a bit of an overkill.

Full Metal Alchemist

After reading so many positive reviews about Full Metal Alchemist, I did not see what the big deal was at the very beginning. It starts out a bit slow and follows the same routine just like any other anime of the genre. Ed and Al are two brothers who search for a mysterious Philosopher's Stone and help other folks along the way. At the very beginning there is plenty of action and humor, but the story starts to really develop after about 15-20 episodes. What starts out as a generic action/comedy, turns into something a lot bigger than that.

Every episode develops the story further on. Every single character is significant to the plot, even the ones from the very first episode. The story is a lot more than just searching for the powerful artifact, it tests human character and resolve to survive. And most of those characters change and grow as the story progresses. Full Metal Alchemist is so craftily put together, that I didn't even feel like I was watching a cartoon, but someone's life unfold. It is wonderful story, characters, setting, plot twists. I cannot think of any faults, maybe except for a bit of a slow start.

The story of Ed and Al is one of the most tragic ones I've ever seen. The relationship between the brothers is both comical and endearing, and the song "Brothers" (which is sung in Russian) made their story so much more heartbreaking. For them it wasn't just a journey to reclaim their bodies, but also the loss of innocence and childhood, and "Brothers" hits it right on the nail.

Trinity Blood

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Trinity Blood. Even though there are a lot of very visible flaws, I still liked the series. The story takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world were the Vatican rages a war against the vampires. It is a combination of mecha mixed with a Gothic fantasy. Such variety should've produced a fairly interesting plot, but unfortunately, Trinity Blood borrows too much from other anime with the same overused characters as everywhere else.

Abel is almost identical to Vash from Trigun - a gentle blubber mouth, who hides a dark side below a friendly exterior. He is always broke, tends to act silly, but then he turns into a terrifying monster with god-like powers. And just like Vash, he has the polar opposite brother-like nemesis, who is conveniently named Cain.

Besides coping from other anime series, Trinity Blood lacks a well developed story line. Is it about vampires and humans trying to co-exist, or Abel's personal struggles? The series doesn't seem to be episodic on purpose, but there is very little focus and it jumps between the characters without any visible purpose. The ending takes the series a full circle. It seems like Trinity Blood didn't really accomplish anything, because it ends right where it begins. There is absolutely no plot progression of any kind. It's full 24 episodes of none stop action, nuns with big racks and space ships, very flashy animation and very little story line. It's not that the writers didn't know how to write a good story, I really liked the development between Esther and Ion and many of the real historical references gave it an edge, they just seemed to have problems with focus and closure.

After listing to so many negative aspects of the show, one would ask: why do I still like it? Simple, I found the premise and characters very interesting despite the lack of development and copycat ideas. With better writing, Trinity Blood could have been turned into a fully blown saga of apocalyptic proportions. And so many plot twists should've been made into a lot more than just a mere 24 episodes with a huge window for a sequel. The only possible redemption for the series is a long sequel with a more centralized story line. It looks more like a clumsily put-together prologue to something bigger, than anything else.

D. Gray-man

D. Gray-man is another great title from the shonen style anime. It starts out fairly basic - a young boy with strange powers, Allen Walker, joins a secret organization, Black Order, and becomes an exorcist. Exorcists use a divine phenomena, Innocence, in their fight against the dark phantom called Millennium Earl, who wants to fulfill an ancient prophecy by destroying the world. He targets those who are in mourning and creates Akuma (demons) from the dead.

The beginning episodes follow the general outline where Allan, Kanda, Lenalee, and later Lavi fight Akuma from one episode to another. The episodes circulate between these characters and their missions separate from each other. I like the fact that the episodes do not only concentrate around the main guy, Allan, but show the capability of the rest of the characters, who can function without him. Lenalee is surprisingly strong for a female character. She doesn't require any help in fighting Akuma, and manages to destroy a level 3 demon all by herself.

I didn't like the morality trips between the characters. Their holier-than-thou, "I want to fight even though I'm badly injured and I don't care if I get in the way" attitude to be extremely annoying. A lot of the dialog revolves around convincing each other that even though they are valuable assets, they should stay on the sidelines and not get in the way. Why? Because you are injured and you will get in the way! Also, there are some very heavy Christian themes that might be offensive to the religious folks. Some of the biblical stories are twisted. If you are religious and tempering with the Bible stories offends you, do not watch this.

If you're a fan of Bleach, you will mostly likely like D. Gray-man. It is not as comedic and violent as Bleach, but the story is very interesting and many of the characters are similar to Bleach's. But more importantly, there are no filler episodes!

Darker Than Black

Darker Than Black had a lot of promise at the beginning. The premise is about superhuman assassins or contractors fighting amongst each other and their effect on humans. But after a few episodes the whole series started spiraling down.

There is no concrete story line. It's very episodic and without any real focus. I didn't see any significance in most of the characters and most of the episodes did not make sense. Once there is a seemingly interesting development, the next episode is about something completely irrelevant. It felt like the writers did not know what to focus on - Hei or everyone else around him. There is also no explanation about where the contractors came. What did it take for a human to become a contractor? And the ending was too abrupt and without any real closure.

I liked the action sequences and the music in the openings, but other than that I could not really follow the story. There is no character development and a lot of plot twists did not make sense. I wanted the plot to focus on something specific, instead I got a lot of segmented and forgettable story lines.

Vampire Knight

Oh, boy....where do I start.... Even though I actually found Vampire Knight entertaining, I thought the plot and characters were extremely cliche and with the same rehashed ideas as many of the previous vampire stories. This is Twilight all over. And I am not a fan of Twilight.

The story takes place in the world where humans and vampires are learning to live together. The Cross Academy has 2 class sessions - The Day Class for humans, and The Night Class for vampires. The students of the Night Class look older than the human students, more sophisticated and popular. Yuuki is a young girl, part of the Day Class, who is also a guardian with duties maintaining the peaceful environment at the academy. Basically, whenever the vampire students enter the school grounds, she has to fend off hoards of love struck Day Class students EVERY DAY. Zero is her partner and the boy with whom she was raised by the academy's chairman.

But, wait, it gets better! Yuuki has the Twilight syndrome of being extremely clumsy and awkward, but still manages to have everyone fall in love with her. Kaname is the leader of the vampire students, a noble (pureblood) vampire, who is often seen lounging around and daydreaming about Yuuki with a sad face, and he also likes to break his chest pieces. Zero is a second rate "made" vampire who loathes himself and other vampires and doesn't like to open up to anyone. Yuuki, of course, chases after both of them and can't decide whom she likes more. This Yuuki/Kaname/Zero love triangle is just hilarious. She can't maintain her composure every time Kaname-sama talks to her and jumps up every time he says her name, but she is perfectly alright with letting Zero suck on her neck.

I dislike the character of Yuuki. She looks like a midget in comparison to Kaname and Zero. Why girls like that are considered to be popular is beyond me. While both Kaname and Zero look like adults, she looks like a hyper 12 year old who is eager to protect everyone, but hasn't a slightest idea of how to do it.

The series are a combination of drama and comedy but I found the transition between the two to be extremely clumsy. The scenes where Zero deals with his vampire transformation look more comical than tragic. As Yuuki's true identity is revealed, it gave me a better understanding about why Kaname is in love with her, which made it even more disturbing. And the ending left a huge window for season 3.

I've read countless comments on youtube that season 3 will be released in January 2010. If that's the case, I personally hope that Vampire Knight will break free from the kiddie fantasy stereotypes and take on a more Gothic approach. I don't think that Fruit Baskets and vampires mix very well. And I still want to see more of Yuuki/Zero romance.

Death Note

Death Note is probably one of the most distinct and visually beautiful anime series in the recent years. It tells a story of Light Yagami, a young man with a strong sense of justice, who wants to cleanse the world of evil. He finds a death note, dropped by a shinigami, that gives him the ability to kill. But can he use that power in moderation or will it completely consume him?

The psychological battles between Light and L are mind blowing. It's all about outwitting and out thinking your opponent with the least amount of force. Even though the battles are done in silence, they are extremely psychologically powerful. There is no closure, things just keeping piling up as Light sinks deeper into darkness.

But, unfortunately, Death Notes is not without flaws. The first half of the series was astounding, with an explosive plot. Then, after some characters were moved around and replaced, I found it a bit hard to follow. When the main hero is both the protagonist and antagonist, there is a certain expectation of how the story would end. Until the end I was hoping to be surprised as the plot twists never turned out as I expected. But, unfortunately, the ending was as bittersweet as I predicted.

Julia

Blood+

I just finished watching Blood+ and I'm in awe. I can't get over about how tragic and beautiful the series are. It is a combination of action/horror/supernatural with a hint of romance and suspense. The story is very interesting but it can be a bit confusing in some parts, as the characters travel around the world chasing the enemy, and I was sometimes confused about why they were where they were. But as Saya's true identity is revealed, it keeps getting better and better. The series are filled with tear jerkers and bitter sweet moments.

The animation is very beautiful and the music is nice. However, I didn't like the final opening. The singing voice was just annoying. But some of the animation sequences have a very nice Gothic quality that adds a certain hint of darkness to the series to emphasize the mood.

Overall, I didn't find any serious flaws here. Blood+ is a great treat for the fans who loved Blood of the Last Vampire. The series unfolded a wonderful story and developed the character of Saya to its full potential. There are a lot of new characters and the story line is full of interesting twists.

Gintama

I really like a good samurai story with lots of sword fighting for love and honor. But what started out to be good, became a total disaster. I've watched about 45 episodes and I couldn't take anymore of that mess.

The main protagonist, Gintaki, is a former samurai who had to abandon that profession because swordsmanship became outlawed when the Earth was taken over by the aliens. That sounds like an interesting premise to a great series, doesn't it? But that's where the good ends. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of interesting aspects that make fun and somewhat clever jokes about a number of cultural cliches: geisha culture, pop idols, obsession with comic books (Jump magazine), and more. But there is absolutely zero plot and character development. All of the characters are lazy, loud, and obnoxious. They either don't do anything, get themselves into weird predicaments or just fight amongs each other.

It might've been funny for the first couple of dozen episodes, but further on the dirty jokes weren't funny anymore and the same humor is recycled in every episode. After the 45th episodes I still didn't know what the series were about and I did not care to find out. It is an animated mess that is best left alone.

Bleach

I can easily say that Bleach is one of my favorite animes of all time. It is a combination of everything that I love about anime - action, comedy, a slight hint of romance. Every character has a unique background that developed throughout the series with a set purpose and direction.

The series doesn't have a set hero and an anti-hero, but rather a collection of characters that change and grow as the series progresses. Even though Ichigo Kurosaki is the main hero, the story does not revolve around him, and all other characters get a fair amount of screen time. There are plenty of backstories that give us a sense of what other characters are like. Each character is an individual with his or her own history, instead of just being support to the main hero. I like the fact that many of them change and grow and became something else later in the series. Although some of the characters, that started out bigger than life, were tuned down later in the series.

The concept of Soul Society is strange. It is supposed to be equivalent to heaven, as Rukia Kichiki explains in one of the episodes, but it very much resembles the modern political structure, which is disorganized, corrupt, lax, and allows incompetent characters occupy high ranking positions. And how is it even possible to die in Soul Society? Technically everyone is already dead there.



Bleach is also a combination of slap stick comedy and action. It can be incredibly silly and random in one scene, but in the next it's violent, dark, and depressing. My whole experience with it ranged from having hysterical giggles, teary eyes, hysterical giggles. Rinse and repeat.

Some of the things I didn't like about it are the filler episodes, simply because they divert from the main story line. However, I did find the Bount arc to be incredibly boring. But other fillers, like the one where Hitsugaya and Kirin play soccer, are fun. Some of the conversation can also be cut down. How many times will the bad guy stick "Kurosaki Ichigo" at the end of a sentence while talking to him? Byakuya Kuchiki and Ulquiorra sound almost identical in their eloquence and calm demeanor. Even their voices are similar.

I've read some fan reviews claiming that the DVD dubbing is good. If it's the same as on the Adult Swim, I strongly disagree. American voices are either wooden or overdone. The actors are not even trying to act the parts. They are trying too much to imitate the Japanese voices instead of holding their own. As a result, they sound awkward and pretentious. I wasn't convinced by Aizen at all, instead of sounding calm and well spoken, he sounds monotonous.

Overall, I recommend Bleach to anyone who loves great story and comedy mixed with action. The plot is full of surprising turns and twists that makes you crave for more. But avoid the English dubbing and stick to the subtitles.

Julia