FLCL Review

If there was ever an anime that was funny, nonsensical and twisted, I would have to say "FLCL" would fit this description perfect! Not sure exactly how I want to really describe it, so I will use the plot summary from ANN:

Plot Summary: Naota is a normal Japanese 6th grade boy (although a little cynical), but when his older brother leaves for America to play baseball, his brother leaves his homeless 17 year old girlfriend Mamimi behind. Mamimi is sending mixed signals and advances to Naota, and he doesn't know what to do about her. But to make matters worse, Naota's world is totally turned upside down when he is run over by a woman on a Vespa. During their first encounter, she hits him over the head with her guitar, which then causes a horn to grow out of his forehead. She calls herself "Haruko" and her presence changes Naota's life to even further insanity.





When I watched this anime, it wasn't bad, but I felt like my brain was going a little dumb. It's probably worth a second watch to better understand it. There was just something about the non-sense of this anime that kept me watching. Maybe it is because Haruko reminds me of a character in another anime I have watched, but Haruko is just an awesome character. You would have to watch it to know what I mean.

Naota is a very strange character in himself. He would be a normal boy but thanks to Haruko hitting him in the head and running him over his life just isn't the same. This is definitely an anime to watch for yourself and form your own opinion.

I think my favorite part about the anime was the whole nonsensical quality of it's entirety.
For some reason this anime made me think of how somebody on drugs would feel if they had watched this while tripping out on any random drug out there. Alot of this anime left me not knowing whether I wanted to laugh my butt off, or go WTF??? It was that strange.





I don't know for sure if I ever caught what FLCL was really supposed to stand for, but we can leave that up to you to decide, and if you do figure out for sure, feel free to let me know. All in all I think Haruko is probably my most favorite character. And this anime was definitely worth watching despite its crazy qualities. I think that made it all the more worth watching.

Oh yeah... must say one more thing... EYEBROWS?? ... Watch to find out...

Kemeko Deluxe!

So, we recently finished watching "Kemeko Deluxe" And I have to say I found it hilarious to watch! You NEVER know what Kemeko will do next. The protagonist, a high school boy named Sanpeita Kobayashi, has a freak meeting with a chibi mecha named Kemeko, who claims to be his wife. Inside the sadistic Kemeko is a beautiful girl named M.M. whom seems vaguely familiar to him. His first love placed a glowing object in his mouth before dissapearing 10 years ago and M.M. looks a lot like her. Kemeko keeps trying to protect the boy from the Mishima company that is after Sanpeita, thus making further complications for him as well. Also his childhood friend Izumi Makihara secretly wants to get closer to him. M.M. refuses to reveal much about herself even though she claims Sanpeita as her husband, and spends most of her time cooped up inside Kemeko.




There is definitely something (hilariously perverse, perhaps?) about Kemeko that kept me watching this anime. I think that the Kemeko character made things more fun for this anime. She's cute, scary and fun and just a little annoying sometimes, she just makes you want to love her all the more. All the characters add more comedic touch, like the blue haired rich pervert girl Misaki Hayakawa, and the warrior girl Ryoko Kurosaki who lends us a classic moment such as this:



All in all this was definitely an anime worth checking out. I have to admit, when I first started watching I thought it was going to turn out really dumb, I am glad that I was wrong!
Now, I shared my opinion, check it out and see for yourself what made it so enjoyable!

Here's the opening and ending songs which give you a better idea of just how crazy this show really is.

Pictures from the usual suspects: Gelbooru and Pixiv

Hyakko

We have finally finished watching "Hyakko" and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. Hyakko is about a group of high school girls that come to this school that is so huge, it is almost impossible not to get lost if you are a newcomer. It is while they are lost that most of them bump into each other. Some really funny incidents do occur once they finally find there way around. I know that some of you disliked the anime because of its slow start, but I can guarantee it does pick up and gets really funny. To better understand the anime itself you really need to get to know the characters themselves.

Plot Summary from ANN: On the first day of high school at Kamizono Academy, four girls meet each other while lost on the huge campus, and form a friendship. This story follows the daily school life of the four girls and their eclectic classmates.

This is Ayumi Nonomura, Shy, so much that it inhibits her from talking to other people. She is the opening character to the series. It gives you the impression that she is the main character, but isn't really. The series starts and ends with her. One thing noteable about her is that she is very polite.

This is Tatsuki Iidzuka, I think she would be considered the "tsundere" of the group, she lives in a modest-looking home complete with a maid. Her father is corporate president for a major electronics company in Japan. She is very classy and tends to use honorific speech even towards her closest friends. She is also easily annoyed by Torako's shenanigan's. She is also often dragged along with her friends even if she doesn't want to be, whether by force or other actions.

This is Torako Kageyama Who is one of the main characters, she is the one that I like to call the "feisty" one of the group, one thing that makes her stand out so well is that she is extremely outgoing. She is very daring, such as jumping out windows, and punching her homeroom teacher.

This is Suzume Saotome, probably my most favorite character because she is most like me, she is Torako's best friend. One of the most noteable things about her is her love for food, and what happens to her twin-buns when somebody hands her food (it's just too cute)... she is very athletic, and yet she is so adorable.

This is Nene Andō, the bisexual of the group, and also class president, I found her to be very funny in the things she did, she seems to be such a pervert. She loves to chase Torako and Ayumi around, and is known for frequent sexual harrassment. She is always trying to take on things, such as activities, that are more than she can really handle. She also has a brother who is very much like her in the way he is. Overall she is quite a funny character.

This is Kitsune Kageyama, Torako's older brother, and yet bares no resemblance to her. He is quite typically known as the 'Sadist' of this anime, and the most noteable thing about him that you will probably notice is that he wears a safety pin in his ear like an earring. Another noteable thing about him is how he has loved to bully Torako since she was little.

This is Ushio Makunouchi, known as the deliquent of the bunch, but firmly denies it, She is somewhat quiet unless irritated, and known to be a bit "tone deaf" as you will notice in one karaoke scene. One thing that you might notice is that she loves cats. She refuses to wear her school uniform, the blazer and tie at least. I guess she would be considered a bit of a punk.

This is Inori Tsubomiya, She looks like the stereotypical ghost-girl seen in some Japanese horrors, but in reality is actually very pretty when her hair is away from her face, I think what makes her stand out so much in the beginning is that she is friendless, and very quiet, and with her hair over her face, even her smile looks somewhat scary and evil. Not to mention her laugh.



This anime would definitely be classified as "Slice of life/comedy". There are many more characters in Hyakko, you just have to watch and see them all. Follow them along their journeys around the academy, and throughout the many antics of each character. There is an outlying story behind the story that you won't realize until you watch the entire series, and this is the part that makes it so good. There is never really a plot, But it is an enjoyable story. If I had to compare it to another anime, I think I would go with "Lucky Star". Hyakko doesn't seem to be getting much love from critics, but I myself found it very enjoyable. It is one that is being overlooked, despite being a good show.

Images from Gelbooru and Pixiv.

To Love-Ru

Recently I finished watching the series To Love-Ru. I heard a lot about it being excessively filled with fan service and of being a knock-off of other anime, but Lala's outfit was too interesting and I just had to know who this Fate Testarossa look-alike girl was. So, I watched it, all 26 episodes.





Yes, it's true, it's a show filled with fan service, in fact if you just watch the OP you get almost an overdose of it right there. Now, usually excessive fan service turns me away (like Ikkitousen, which to me was almost unbearable), but I needed something fun to watch and this is a pretty light-hearted show. Also it does boast a great OP song and a decent overall soundtrack, even if the fight music gets a little repetitive after a while. So what can you expect from this anime besides fan service? Well, I can't really say because this wasn't one of those anime that changes your life or makes you get super-emotional. It was a fun ride though, mostly laughs and wtf moments. Lala Satalin Deviluke is a pretty nutty character. Yami a.k.a. Golden Darkness (the Fate Testarossa look-alike) was a pretty cool character, and I love the way she dresses. In fact that's probably one of the perks of this show, is that the outfits some of the characters wear are just pure win. I didn't care for the main protagonist much really, he was the typical harem boy who just can't spit out his words and ends up in bad situations because he can't let his true feelings out. I didn't watch the show expecting some really awesome storyline though, I watched it to see what it was all about. It's got an ok story, although it's nothing that hasn't been done before. What makes this a fun ride is Lala's wacky inventions and some of the plain stupid but funny things that happen throughout it (in my opinion). I'm not here to tell you this anime is awesome, and if you're not a fan of fan service you'll probably just turn your nose up at a series like this. There's always one anime on my list that I need to watch just to watch, something that makes me laugh and generally leaves me feeling like the world doesn't always have to be serious. If you want to know more about the actual story you can go to anime news network. I'm just here to let you know that I liked To Love-Ru, that if you're in need of something silly to watch after seeing something too serious or emotional or violent you should give this a try. It's not for the serious or hardcore who like to rant about how unoriginal every anime they watch is. It's just a new spin on an old story. And I felt like I needed to post something about this since my GoodSmile Lala Satalin Deviluke is on her way here.




As always, click the images to get higher res version.
Images are from the usual suspects: Gelbooru, MoeImouto