Wizage.NET

Well I started this review once and then my machine crashed and I lost it  so time for round two:

This story is about a guy who 10 years ago lost is daughter in a massive explosion. Her body was never found so the guy (Roy) believes that she is still alive and spends the next 10 years searching for her. During that time he becomes a cop and then a bounty hunter, forging a lot of ties with the underground. After hunting a criminal, the criminals partner tries to kill Roy but during the fight a girl drops out of the sky and inadvertently saves Roy. Roy takes the girl home, only to kick her out in the morning. After that she starts to follow him around much to Roy’s annoyance.

The story develops after this and many many things happen. This is one of those shows that has some great character development and comedy in the first 13 or so episodes and after that takes a turn towards the dark. It has some very powerful episodes and some very heart wrenching ones.

The pace of this show is pretty good, it does slow down a little at parts, but there isn’t any filler episodes. There’s a little fan-service earlier on (the mandatory swimsuit episodes) but it’s in the character development phase so it doesn’t hurt the plot at all.

Overall this was a very good show in my opinion. I liked the shift from happy happy joy joy to dark and dangerous. It does have a mature rating on ANN, but it’s mainly for the violence and blood.

Rating: Good, worth seeing.

Well I just finished this one and it wasn’t bad at all. It kept me wanting to watch it, which is a good thing. So how about a plot..

It’s about a guy see, and he’s a God Hunter. His mother can see the future and his girlfriend is a kawaii onnanoko with big elf ears (see the picture). Lots of people want to either capture him, kill him or turn him into a bomb. The story chronicles his journey to save his mother while trying to evade the two floating cities full of magic and mechas that are after him, and at the same time he has to deal with the whole God Hunter thing.

This show has it all. Tears, action, adventure, romance and lots of laughs. I think one of the best lines in the series is when Yorn (the main character) is about to be captured and the white panther yells “Run away!”. At that moment the chief cat girl (with the ears, nose and little cat mouth) shouts, “The cat can talk!” with a look of surprise on her face. The perfect irony of the line just cracked me up. That’s the kind of comedy this show has, which for me is what I like.

Oh, I will warn you, this show does have a sadish ending, so if you don’t like sadish (or sadder) endings you probably shouldn’t watch this. Overall though, I would recommend this show to people who like fantasy/sci-fi shows that span a lot of genres.

Rating: Good, worth seeing

Karin.. Karin.. What can I say about this show? How about kawaii horror. Yeah, that about sums it up. Well, here is the plot.

Usui Kenta is a kind of scary looking transfer student to the school that Maaka Karin attends. Now Karin is a vampire, but she isn’t a normal vampire, she is what has been translated as both an un-vampire and a blood-producing vampire (actually prefer the sound of the Japanese word, it much more to the point). Instead of getting hungry and wanting to drink people’s blood, the amount of blood in her body goes up and she has to inject it into someone… or she has a massive nose bleed. Usuikun has the fortunate luck to witness one of these nose bleeds and then cleans up the blood. Karin asks him not to tell anyone about it and their relationship develops, with many twists, turns, vampire hunters, 500 year old grandmothers and a super cute mum who can’t hold a job without being sexually harassed at it.

So this show was new this last season and one of the few shows I actually watched every week as soon as the episodes came out. I thought it was very funny especially the first two thirds, after that it becomes much more serious in it’s tone, but the transition is smooth and it works for this show.

One thing that got me was the title sequence. They are very ecchi, so I thought the show would be as well, but no. Not a drop of ecchi anywhere to be seen, which in this case is a very good thing. This show wouldn’t have worked with a ton of fan service in it. The characters are plenty kawaii as they are and unnecessary under-ware shots would have just taken away from it without adding anything.

So yeah, I really liked this show. If you like romantic wacky comedies with blood and vampire, then this is a winner!

Rating: Very Good, don’t miss it

Arc the Lad… really wierd title. I watched this show on a whim. I really didn’t know what it was about, but it turned out to be pretty good. It’s a pretty standard plot line, but it does have a few twists.

The story is about a kid called Elk. He’s a bounty hunter. He lives in a world that has both primative technology and some pretty advanced technology too. There is a great evil in the world that is trying to take over, but Elk doesn’t really care much about it. He just wants revenge against a guy named Arc who owns the space ship that just happened to be flying above his village when it was attacked and everyone besides him was killed. Elk also meets up with Lieza (the one with the braids in the picture) who has a very large pet lion like creature called Pandit. Lieza and Pandit are being chased by some evil force and Elk sets off with them to try and save the two of them while still seeking his revenge.

Ok, that description is probably very confusing, but that’s because the plot has many points and subplots and side stories etc. It’s good because it sucks you in, but at times it’s just kind of… hard to explain.

This show wasn’t anything special, but if you like a good action story then this wouldn’t be a waste of time. It’s better than a lot of stuff out there, but it isn’t the greatest piece of fiction either. This time I’m going to go with what the majority on ANN says, I think they have hit it right on the head.

Rating: Good, worth seeing.

This show was a brand new take on a fighting show, and I really liked it. After the first episode I was hooked. So what’s it about? I’ll tell you.

Misaki is a 12 year old girl who has been living with family since her mother went to work in Tokyo. When she starts middle school she decides to go to Tokyo to live with her mothers sister. On her way through Tokyo she sees video of angled fighting in a Angelic Layer fight on a big screen and is captivated. Then a strange guy shows up in a lab coat (as they do) and tells her all about Angelic Layer. She runs to the nearest toy store, buys an angel (it’s a doll) and goes on to her aunts house. A few days pass and she runs into the weird guy in the lab coat again (wiggly Seto :p). He helps her make some clothes for her angel and then takes her to a place where she can practice controlling the doll. She accidently signs up for a fight though, and the story goes from there.

And it really does go. It gets better and better as it moves along and the plot unfolds itself before you. The truths and half-truths are slowly hinted at and leaked to you. Most of the time I figured out some of the obvious secrets but there were still times I was surprised. It’s got a good range of emotions in it as well, which is nice. It’ll make you happy, sad and many things in between. If I was someone who cried at movies, then I’m sure this show could bring some people to tears. I know I laughed quite a bit, especially at Setosan.

So, as you probably see, I really liked this show. It seems like it should be a kids show, but I don’t think that should stop anyone from watching it. If you like action shows with a real story, some great funny moments and some really good drama then this is a show I think you’ll like.

As a side note, having done game/sports tournaments means that I could really relate to some of the emotions in this show. Having that experience may have effected my opinion of this show, being in the same position as the characters in the show means you may have really experienced the emotions that they are going through. Anyway, rating time, and it’s a good one.

Rating: Excellent, should be in anyone’s collection.