This is probably my top pick for the season and is another one of the anime we are watching in our trio.  I think we all agreed that, at least in visuals and character development, this anime stood out above the season’s other offerings.

Synopsis:

Ohana Matsumae is a 16 year old highschool student who is forced to move in with her grandmother after her wayward mother runs off with her boyfriend to evade his debt.  Her grandmother is the owner of a classically styled Japanese Inn called Kissuiso.  The change is fraught with anxiety for Ohana as she is forced away from everything she knows including her best male friend Koichi.  More strain is added to the situation when Koichi had confesses to Ohana before her departure and she fails to give him a straight answer.

As if to add insult to injury Ohana’s grandmother, a cold and composed woman, decides to make Ohana work at the inn in order to pay her way.  She quickly finds herself at odds with the entire Kissuiso staff as she tries to figure out how to keep up with the high expectations set for her.  Despite the hardships she faces, Ohana decides to rise to the challenge and do her best to fit in at the inn and make friends with her fellow staff members.  The story follows Ohana as she adapts to her new life and grows through her interactions with the people who’s lives she has been thrust into.

Review:

This series is easily the best anime of the Spring season, in fact it’s storyline embodies Spring itself.  A coming of age anime with “Blooming” in the title, nothing quite says Spring more than that.  The plot provides boundless opportunities for comedy, romance, drama, and slice-of-life elements which the writers really did a great job incorporating into each episode.   The frequently mild drama components really work to prevent the story from being stagnant, while the comedy elements (which are often overemphasized in this type of series)  provide a lighthearted aspect without feeling out of place.

The character development and character designs themselves are extremely well put-together.  There is a diverse group of personality types exemplified by Minko and Nao, the other female characters in Ohana’s age group.  Minko’s cold personality and Nao’s shy nature both clash initially with Ohana’s strong ideals.  A major source of development for Ohana’s character comes from her interactions with the two girls, and also the other members of the staff, in order to become accepted by them.  Her distant relationship with Koichi and with her inaccessible mother are also frequently used plot points.  It’s all used very well to advance the story while further intriguing the viewer with the characters’ circumstances.

From the very moment the intro gets rolling, I got the sense that the production qualities were very high.  This isn’t too surprising as P.A Works, the studio responsible for the animation project, was also behind another great anime “Angel Beats!”.  Even compared to Angel Beats! I really felt like P.A. Works has brought the visual quality of their animation to the next level.  Crisp animation and absolutely flawless integration of CG effects saturate almost every scene.  I really took note of the water and lighting effects that were used.  The characters are also beautifully drawn which allows them to more accurately portray their designs.

The music is fantastic, although there are a few scores that are overused from time to time (primarily the score played frequently when emotions are high).  I feel all of the musical scores used within the episodes themselves were appropriately chosen.  The opening theme for episodes 1 to 13 does a great job of getting you excited about the episode (I find it hard to skip the intro).  The ending theme also sort of plays to your emotions with somewhat more mellow tone.  The opening and ending themes for episodes 14-current are also great, though I don’t have quite the same amount of love for them as the original themes.

I really have to give props to this anime.  Coming of Age/Slice of Life anime themes are usually not my cup of tea, but this anime has gone beyond tolerable to being the finest anime of the Spring season.  I love my Sci-fi Action and Psychological Thrillers, but Hanasaku Iroha has found something special that is truly enjoyable.  The season is continuing into Summer as a 26 episode series.  I will be watching it until the end and would highly recommend you to do the same.

Storyline: 8.5
Visuals:     9.5
Music:        8.5
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Overall:     8.75  (ish)

This was one of the anime that myself and two close friends of mine (Wasa and Jessie) decided to follow this season.  When I was asked what the series was about, I was at a loss for words with which to describe this bizarre little gem to them.  In reality, the series is about a lot of things I guess… so you’ll have to forgive my summary on this one.

Synopsis:

Niwa Makoto is a small town high school student who is moving in with his aunt while his parents are traveling abroad.  Makoto is excited about the prospect of moving to a larger school and having more free time to himself, as his aunt (Meme) frequently works during the evenings.  He is also obsessed with what he calls “adolescence points” which he uses to grade his highschool experience based on events at school and interactions with girls.  Makoto believes this change in scenery will define his entire adolescent experience, but his plans are altered somewhat when he discovers that his aunt has neglected to mention the existence of her daughter Erio.

Erio is not enrolled in school, claims to be an extraterrestrial being, and displays such behaviors as walking around wrapped in a futon and speaking in a scientific manner about very “alien” ideas.  His aunt is somewhat odd in her own right, almost completely ignoring Erio and frequently pestering Makoto in a somewhat creepy capacity.  It doesn’t take Makoto long to realize that his hopes for youthful enjoyment may be hampered by living in this dysfunctional household.  After some brief investigation he discovers that Erio had disappeared for 6 months and returned with no memory of what happened during that time.  He decides to do what he can to help her get her memories back and return to a functioning human being.

Review:

This series is the comedy goldmine of the season.  It can be straightforward and tongue-in-cheek funny or obscure and clever funny.  It can even be funny when it’s not trying to be.  That’s not to say that the comedy aspect is all it has going for it.  After all, funny can only get you so far as a memorable series.   To offset this element, the plot and character development provide some real content to bulk out the series.

The storyline is perfectly suited to this kind of comedy.  It’s not quite sitcom in nature, but there are a few running gags and the episodes can be somewhat formulaic. What never ceases to amaze is that the lighthearted nature of the series is still present despite some (what should be) heavy emotional elements.  A young girl dealing with lost memories, and a mother disconnected from her daughter.  The characters are clearly affected by these truths, but it usually displays through crazy behavior opposed to sad interactions…. and make no mistake, the characters in Denpa are definitely insane.

The character pool in the series is relatively small.  There are supporting characters here and there (they may even occasionally be named) but for the most part the cast consists of the 5 or 6 characters you see in the opening sequence.  The character designs themselves are great and despite some aspects of character personalities, you don’t feel like any character is a cookie cutter archetype.  The cuteness factor in the anime, from looks to personalities and even voices, is a borderline 11.  It can be a little overwhelming at times, but it doesn’t detract from the plot and only helps in the comedy department.

I love the images and art style in Denpa.  Shaft animation studio consistently delivers anime with great production quality (Bakemonogatari had some of my favorite visuals of all time).  They definitely found the right balance of detail and smoothness for this series.  CG elements are present here (as seems to be the trend with a lot of anime this season) but it doesn’t feel overused.  The visuals aren’t the best of this season’s offerings, but it’s pretty damn close.

The musical selection for the series is a bit so-so in my opinion.  There are some really good scores for the dramatic scenes and even some good audio for a few of the mellow scenes.  I felt, however, that the rest of the music choices were a bit bland.  I will admit that the Denpa opening theme has grown on me.  The first time it played I was a bit confused as to whether I liked it or not.  By the time that question popped into my head again, I had already realized that I had never skipped the intro sequence for a single episode.

I’ve heard that the following for this anime in the US is pretty small, despite the good reception by Japanese audiences.  I can relate… the unique comedy that characterizes the anime can sometimes get lost in translation.  Even with that in mind, I cannot do anything but praise and recommend this series.  I haven’t enjoyed a slice-of-life comedy this much in years.

Storyline: 8.0
Visuals:     8.5
Music:        7.0
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Overall:     8.0

Anime Review – C:  The Money of Soul and Possibility [Control]

Synopsis:

C follows the existence of Yoga Kimimaro, a college student with average expectations.  His goal in life is simple, he wants to earn just enough money to live a “normal” life.  However, normal is that last thing he ends up with when he is invited to an odd place called the “Financial District” for a unique opportunity.  The Financial District is a mysterious realm with parallel connections to the “real” world.  Here, invited members of the Financial District (called entrepreneurs or “entres” for short) participate in duels for the opportunity to gain money from their opponent.

Kimimaro is offered a deal to become one of these entres, by which he would receive a large sum of money and of course the opportunity to gain more in duels (known as  “deals”).  In return however, the bank of the Financial District must take the entre’s future as collateral.  The entre is also given an avatar to fight for them known as an asset.  The asset is the embodiment of it’s entre’s future.  Kimimaro accepts the offer and begins fighting in deals with his asset, Mysu.  However, he begins to see the effects these deals have on the real world that only those who have visited the Financial District can notice.

Review:

This is one of my favorite anime this season, hands down.  To be completely honest though, when I was doing the usual round of sifting through pilots in the search of anime gold… I wasn’t sure was what I was looking at.  Don’t get me wrong, I was impressed by the anime’s visuals and unique storyline.  However, all that glitters is not gold… and the first scene in which a “deal” takes place in the pilot gave me a moment of doubt.

If you’ve seen the first episode of C, you may know what I mean when I call it a “Yu-Gi-Oh” moment.  Some guy whips out an ATM card and summons a creature to fight for him.  While the “deals” in C are somewhat reminiscent of monster duels, they are not the focus and rarely last more than a few minutes.  This aspect of the anime is used primarily as a device to advance the plot since “assets” aren’t just around for deals, but also to interact with their owners.

The storyline really blew me away.  Despite the entertaining nature of the anime, there are some dark overtones.  The focus of the anime on financial decline seems to reflect some larger feelings towards recent economic issues, and perhaps even the more recent disaster of the Japan earthquake.  In times of economic trouble, the effects are not always immediately visible.  C is able to project a more direct, albeit fantastical, image of the effects these problems can have on a country.

One of the aspects where C does occasionally fall short is in character development and interaction.  For the most part… the show does a good job of introducing characters, providing a bit of background, and then letting the character grow through various events or relationships with other characters.  Sometimes, however, character development takes a backseat for an episode or two, until an event (or even a character) you’d almost forgotten comes back to into play.

The visuals for the series were equally impressive.  I really enjoyed how the artistic design in every little detail demands to be noticed.  The ability of the animators to seamlessly mesh the CG elements of the animation with their classic anime counterparts is top notch.  There is the occasional overdose of CG here and there, but you can’t fault them for flaunting the fun effects.  While the drawn style isn’t as clean or crisp as some other series this season (Hanasaku Iroha, let’s say), the art is still well done.  The character designs are fun too, without being too cliche.

The music for the series is consistently good.  The right scores play at the right time to match the mood of the given situation or convey the feelings of the character.  The theme music is of particularly good quality.  The opening theme, Matoryoshka is very upbeat and is a great choice to pair with the stunning visuals of the opening sequence.  The closing theme, RPG (by School Food Punishment)  is equally well done and has some reminiscent 8-bit sounds that give it a fun feel.

I highly recommend this as one of the season’s worthy watches, especially for the Seinen audience.  I feel the anime falls nicely into the Seinen genre (18-30) because of it’s ability to provide economic overtones without expensing the entertainment value.

Storyline: 9.0
Visuals:     8.0
Music:        8.5
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Overall:     8.5