Anime Review: Angel Beats!

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Supernatural

Opening Theme: "My Soul, Your Beats!" by Lia (1-3 and 5-12) performed by LiSA (4)

Staff: 

Director: Seiji Kishi

Character Design: Katsuzo Hirata

Art Director: Kazuki Higashiji

Chief Animation Director: Katsuzo Hirata

VA staff Sub

Yuri Nakamura voiced by Harumi Sakurai
Yuzuru Otonashi  voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya
Kanade Tachibana voiced by Kana Hanazawa

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I believe anime is a world of its own bringing the viewer into the show and immersing the viewer in what the show has to offer. I felt this anime solidified my confidence in that rule with its Characters, Animation and Sound quality in which I want to share my thoughts in my review of Angel Beats!

The characters were the reason why the show felt unique each of the different characters brought something different to the table. The characters really lacked much development apart from the main characters of Yuri and Yuzuru with a bit of back story given to Yui during episode 10 this I thought was a let down when  looking at the series as a whole. in all the characters were unique and individual and this was to the shows benefit giving an appealing reason to watch to find out what happens to each of the characters.

Katsuzo Hirata out did himself with angel beats having a magnificent display of backgrounds in deep colour and characters that were created to match with intense action scenes animated with perfect quality bringing me to call his work a masterpiece. together the combination made an anime that gave a feel to match the mood that the anime was portraying.

Opening 1: My Soul, Your Beats! by Lia

Opening 2: My Soul, Your Beats! by LiSA

The music was a mix of pop and background that gave a lot of the emotion and set the mood along with music from GDM with LiSA's lead during the majority of the anime with the best moment being the fight scene mixing animation, music and great directing into one scene. Also giving great props to changing openings as it adds a mood to the anime that is unique to every episode to the extent of completely different animation and music for episode 4 for the introduction of Yui

Overall the emotions I felt while watching angel beats will last a life time I would love to give the anime a perfect 10 however the imperfections in characters and the short air time of 13 episodes (while it needed to have 24-25 eps as the ending felt rushed) left me disappointed with the ending so without further ado my judgement of Angel Beats! is as follows

Characters	8.4/10
Animation	9.5/10
Sound	9.2/10
Personal Enjoyment	9.7/10
Final Verdict	9.2/10

Giving a final recommendation to buy it while directing people who liked it to shows like Air and Clannad

As of August 2013 Angel Beats is licensed by the following companies

Australia - Siren Visual

NA - Sentai Filmworks

UK - Manga Entertainment

You can also watch Angel Beats! via crunchyroll's free streaming service here

~Ota~

Anime Review: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai

Genres: drama, romance, supernatural

Opening Theme: "Aoi Shiori" by Galileo Galilei

Opening Theme (2013 re-release): "Circle Game" by Galileo Galilei

Staff:
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Character Design: Masayoshi Tanaka
Art Director: Takayoshi Fukushima
Chief Animation Director: Masayoshi Tanaka

VA staff Sub
Ai Kayano as Menma
Haruka Tomatsu as Anaru
Miyu Irino as Jintan
Saori Hayami as Tsuruko
Takahiro Sakurai as Yukiatsu
Takayuki Kondou as Poppo

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Usualy my reviews go on tangents regarding staff and studios related to the anime so for readers convenience you can now find a bit of info on the show above so with that in mind time to begin my review of Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai or in English Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. I will be dissecting it based on Characters, Animation, Sound and Personal Enjoyment

The characters of Anohana were memorable which weighed heavily to the shows benefit allowing to give a complete connection to the pain each character feels which to me made the show that much more emotional. My one rule regarding characters is they need to stand out and capture the audience this was never more true with each of the main characters coping in different ways to their regrets and emotions this left me wanting more.

The animation was 13 episodes of gold with brilliant backgrounds with serene colors to amazing character design with great credit to  A-1 Pictures for their amazing work as always matching the mood the anime set perfectly I make primary note of A-1 as their style is very prominent as they have always had a unique animation style which I continue to enjoy.


"Circle Game" by Galileo Galilei: Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2013)


"青い栞" by Galileo Galilei: Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2011)



 "Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ by Ai Kayano, Haruka Tomatsu, and Saori Hayami

The Music to Anohana was well suited with beautiful orchestral music and beautiful vocals were really amazing which is what gave the anime the amazing emotional attachment. Miyu Irino portrayed the role of Jinta perfectly using his experience from roles such as Daisuke from D.N.Angel and Akito from Code Geass other great performances were from Haruka Tomatsu and Ai Kayano both giving a level of emotion to their characters that I found to be very deep.

This anime was one of the few anime that has ever brought me to tears with its delightful characters, stunning animation, and Impressive music that left me wanting more of what this anime gave therefore my results are the following

Characters	8.9/10
Animation	8.3/10
Sound	8.6/10
Personal Enjoyment	9.3/10
Final Verdict	8.7/10

This final verdict to be a big BUY NOW as of when this review was conducted (August, 2013) the licencing belongs to the following companies

America - NIS America
Australia- Hanabee

you can also legally stream anohana on crunchyroll here

If you liked Anohana then other recommendations would be Ano Natsu de Matteru and Clannad

~Ota~

First Impression: Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu

Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu focuses on the story of Yura Yamato a first year high school student who is invited to join C³ Stella Women's Academy's survival game club. The other members of the club are Karila Hatsuse the second year ace of the group, she specializes the SOCOM Mk23, Yachiyo Hinata a first year long range specialist, Sonora Kashima a third year who specializes in using dual desert eagle handguns, Rento Kirishima probably my favorite character of the group she is a first year and specializes with the AK47, finaly Honoka Mutsu a second year who is the group tactician.

I will say this before I continue I was terribly wrong I did the one thing that a reviewer should never do and blanket a show based on the director this being Masayoshi Kawajiri who's only other work was background design for Dantalian no Shoka which was by no means bad exept with little directing experience i felt this would be a second rate show, oh how wrong I was. The animation screamed Studio GAINAX and the production quality was nothing less then what I would expect from Pony Canyon

The OST was done by Kotaro Nakagawa who did music from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Hayate the Combat Butler, Zettai Karen Children (OVA), and Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyōbu Kyōsuke. The opening was also amazing with the VA voiced aspects along with the changing openings made it a sight to behold.

The characters were enjoyable and added a feel to the anime that is hard to find in the current anime listings. Along with the characters the story was very entertaining keeping me watching till the next episode and still wanting more.

All together a good anime with great staff and a entertaining story that will leave you wanting to watch more Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu is available to watch for american viewers on Crunchyroll with a recommendation to watch it now.

~Ota~

Anime Review: RWBY

I have been recently drawn into the conversation of Anime definition and before you say "Ota this isn't an anime" you are absolutely right however with the rising attention given and some calling it an anime I thought to review it as such giving it a fair and honest review.

RWBY is a show from the makers of Red vs Blue and has recently gathered a large fan base. The PV's were a set of four videos for each of the colors that make the name

"Red" Trailer

"White" Trailer

"Black" Trailer

"Yellow" Trailer

Characters

The characters of RWBY have been in a way to resemble an anime styling this means the designs looked amazing, however the flaws lay within the lack of connection to the main characters, it can all be explained through character development which RWBY severely lacked.

Animation

The animation quality was perfect in the modeling however the motion is very broken for pronounced movement this subtracted from the overall viewing

Story

The elements of the story were amazing and it kept me very entertained and left me wanting to see more however the episode length made each episode lack content which left you immersed but droped off before the episode really got going leaving the viewers waiting.

Final Review

The show had its good bits and it's flaws to match that's why when grading I wanted to give it more however my own personal entertainment could only factor in so much therefore without further continuation

I rate it //drum roll// a total of 6.1/10

~Ota~