D.C ~Da Capo~(Ｄ.Ｃ.～ダ・カーポ～)
No. of episodes : 26
Genre : Drama, romance, comedy


Based on the dating sim/visual novel, Da Capo is set on a modern island called Hatsunejima, where the sakura trees are always in full bloom. It starts when one of the characters, Sakuranbo, comes back from America to look for her cousin, Jun'ichi. During that time, he already liked his sister, Nemu, who was not blood related, but didnt express his feelings to her.


The triangle then starts, and many things happen in between them. Sakura then realizes that all along the magical sakura tree was trying to help her, but made Nemu fall ill due to jealousy. Her decision to destroy the tree then broke all the previous wishes it granted to people.


There is a season 2 already released, and there might be a season 3 coming soon, due to the new characters from D.C. II in the PC game.


A screenshot from D.C II:

Warning : Extreme comical violence and Gore.

撲殺天使ドクロちゃん(Beating angel Dokuro-Chan)

Genre : Violence, gore, comedy

No. of episodes : 8

Well this anime is based on the japanese light novel that came out..known for its comical violence. It revolves around the main characters, a boy named Sakura Kusakabe, and the beating angel, Dokuro Mitsukai. Basically in every episode crazy things happen and she will use her spiky bat named Excalibolg to club Sakura to death, followed by reviving him with a magical chant called..''Pi Piru Piru Pi Piru Pi!!!"

Series 2 is coming out soon, according to mediaworks in march 2007.

山本ケイジ描く『半分の月がのぼる空』イラストの集大成。

文庫・ビジュアルノベル・アニメＤＶＤパッケージイラスト等、220点を超える美麗イラストを収録。
さらに橋本紡書き下ろし短編小説『花冠』も掲載。

●Ａ４変型／ハードカバー／オールカラー112ページ／￥2,940円（税込）

Wtf $60 for just a hardcover illustration book? I'll buy it next week.

At least i bought the first chpt of this..they are really taking along time to send this over..

And this. As slow as always, kino only has book 1 for this.



Japanese counter
When asking for EF, they said ''no stock!''
When asking for SD, they said ''M18!''
When asking for AIR, they said ''whats that?''

WTF do they know anything at all?

Air
No. of episodes : 13 (including summary)

Genre : Drama, romance, supernatural

One of the more complicating animes here, the story revolves around a person called Yukito Kunisaki, a freeloader who goes around, following his mother's trail of looking for a ''girl in the sky'', and makes a living by performing shows with his doll, without strings. Failing to get any money in this town, he eventually fell asleep out of hunger. When he woke up, he found a girl with her arms outstretched, standing beside him..like an angel.

Drama : 90%

Romance : 10%

Lol. I didn't really know what fully happened in the show, before reading the viewer's comments. The first few episodes are really complicated, however it slowly unveils as it goes on.

Unlike other animes, this one has a sad ending, and a very sad one too. I recommend watching this entire show in 1 shot, then will you understand the story better.

Ok lastly I will show the manliness level when watching different types of anime. (From my point of view.)

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora(半分の月がのぼる空,)

Genre : Comedy, Romance, Drama

No. of episodes : 6

Also known as Hantsuki, meaning The rising half-moon in the sky. This anime, although short, caused a huge impact on me. One of the more dramatic anime released in 2006, this story is about a boy with hepetatis, meeting a girl who has a weak heart and is dying. They eventually become friends, and then more than friends. Usually, the feelings are conveyed during the last few episodes, but this one was in the first. Probably due to the short number of eps..

Some people enjoyed episode one, while others said that it was too fast. However, the last episode seriously seemed rushed, as so many events happened all in one go.

TVtokyo seems to have released a live action drama for this, after a few months the anime was out. Never seen it, and most probably wouldnt, cause it would be about the same, ne?

Visual Novels

Screenshots taken from : EF - The First Tale

Visual novels are interactive fictions games usually in high-end anime graphics. Mistaken for dating sims, it is classified under a sub-genre for adventure games. They are extremely popular in Japan and makes up a huge percentage of sales under PC games. Sometimes, they are imported to the PS2 of dreamcast.

Very little gameplay is involved, as the mouse is just used for clicking the text and choosing the actions. Different actions lead to different storylines, and endings. Sound-wise and graphic-wise is usually very good, as the whole game is voice-casted. However, most of these visual novels are M18+, although they are supposed to cater for all ages.

What people look for in the game is the storyline, length of gameplay, and the number of endings. For a weird reason, these games are not known in other countries, that is why there are no translations for these games. However, there are programs that enable the japanese text to be translated in to other languages.

Usually going at 5000++ yen, these do not come cheap, but the people are willing to pay for some reason :D (probably the mature scenes) The only few ones that have no mature content are probably Air, Ai Yori Aoshi, Fate! Stay Night, and other anime related ones.

Im drilling on and on..what for? Until I can find these games over here, and totally understand the language, I will most probably not be touching these any time.

Akagi : The genius who descended into the darkness

Genre : Mahjong, Psychological games

No. of episodes : 26

The story starts off with a man named Nangou, who is playing mahjong with the Yakuza. Soon, he is on a losing streak. If he does not win this, his debts will be multiplied and he will probably lose his life. Just as he is about to give up, a young boy barges in through the door. Watching a few matches, the young boy decides to help out Nangou, although he is just an amateur. Never will Nangou know that this is the birth of a mahjong legend..

I've not finished watching this, but it makes more sense if you actually know mahjong. Akagi destroys his opponents with mind games, and slowly fights his way up to the top. The music is tense, as you watch Akagi do his stuff. This anime is drawn 1960's style, thus the long noses that everyone is talking about :D

Not a very well known anime, but i would recommend this for people who love suspense.

Strawberry Panic! (ストロベリー・パニック!)
Genre: Yuri, Romance, Comedy
No. of episodes: 26

The story takes place on Astrea Hill, a place where men are forbidden to enter. On it are 3 schools : St Miator, St Spica, and St Lerim, and they share a common boarding house called ''Ichigo-sha'' aka Strawberry Residence.

On the first day Aoi Nagisa was transferred to St Miator Academy, she wandered into the forest and met Hanazono Shizuma, who was known as ''Etoile''. Etoile stands for 'star' in french, and was a leader, a girl of admiration over in Astrea Hill. Enchanted by Shizuma's looks, Nagisa stood frozen, as Shizuma slowly puts her arms around her...

Woo i finally finished watching it..could even hardly find time for this. Ending was sad, and I watched it twice. This show starts fast, but then goes at a slow pace during the middle eps, and fast again during the end. Nevertheless, great show!

Link to official web is on my page, however u have to be able to understand hira and kata to read on the roles of the characters.

Testing

GAO!!