Genres: Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction (slightly)

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Fumizuki Academy, like most good schools within comedic anime, has some quirky policies. The first is their grading and sorting system. Each year, students are put through a comprehensive examination to determine their rank for the school year. Class A students spend the year learning in a palatial hall with top of the line computers, books and snack service. Class F students have worn out tables, under-stuffed bean bags and ratty floor mats to keep them company. The rest of the classes fall in between at various levels of splendor to squalor. Our story follows a second year student named Akihisa Yoshii, Class F.

Akihisa is joined in Class F by one of the smartest girls in the school, Mizuki Himeji. Mizuki fainted from fever during the placements test and was disqualified with a zero grade; leaving the class during the test meant failure. She has a crush on Akihisa because he was kind to her. Minami Shimada is the only other girl in Class F and hides her feeling for Akihisa behind random brute violence toward him; they are childhood friends. Yuuji Sakamoto is the representative of Class F and is friendly with Akihisa; he treats him as a side-kick at times. Yuuji is rather smart but is unmotivated by grades, so he failed his way into Class F. Kouta Tsuchiya is the resident pervert of the class and excels in health education related subjects, partly due to his perverted study of the female form. Hideyoshi Kinoshita rounds out the main group of Class F students and is extremely feminine in appearance. He hates the fact that he is frequently mistaken for a female. Hideyoshi’s twin sister is in Class A.

The various classes are allowed to challenge one another to an Examination Summons Battle (ESB) where the students test scores power a summoned being (shoukanjuu) to fight for them. If a classes’ representative is beaten, or other set terms met, the match is over. Winners can take the losers rooms, items and/or pride as a prize. Class F starts the year off right by challenging Class E to an ESB on the first day of class. Due to Yuuji’s strategy, the balance of Class F hold off Class E until Mizuki could complete a makeup test, there-by powering up her shoukanjuu to Class A level. Yuuji decides that Class F will not take Class E’s room because as long as they have nothing to lose, they will be fearless. Class F is then challenged by Class A (to put them in their place), so Yuuji plots to take Class A’s room but this ends in a miserable defeat due to his overestimating his own abilities in Japanese history. Class A’s representative, Shouko Kirishima, makes Yuuji go on a date with her as her prize.

This series is pretty fun to watch and while stocked with some nearly “template” character types, keeps some degree of interest in them. So far the series is a bit perverse without being overtly crude (except for that Kouta guy, always trying to peep).

Overall Hook Rating: B

Side note… I’ve been at this for over a year already? Wow, Anime Ima turned 1 and I missed its birthday -_-

Genres: Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Romance

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Tomoki Sakurai’s morning start off much the same as any young male in a generally ecchi series. His family is away on a trip and his equivalent-age female neighbor, Sohara Mitsuki, lets herself into his house to wake him up in the mornings. Life is good… and above all, predictable. This is what Tomoki desires in his life, but change is on a collision course!

Tomoki has been having a recurring dream of an angel asking for his help ever since he was young. He wake with tears in his eyes, which concerns Sohara to the point of her asking him to see professional help. Tomoki, however, write this off as nothing. Her second plan is to drag Tomoki to meet Eishirou Sugata, the president of The New World club. Eishirou understands completely about this phenomena, so he claims, and shows the two a mysterious floating black hole over earth that is supposedly linked to the dreams.

Tomoki, Sohara and Eishirou agree to meet under an giant, ancient cherry tree to watch as the spot moves over their town. First Sohara cancels on Tomoki, soon followed by Eishirou. As Tomoki wonders why he even bothered to come he gets a panicked call from Eishirou telling him to run; the spot has apparently become unstable. Before he can take action on those words, Tomoki sees what appears to be an angel crash to earth. His conscious won’t let him leave her on the ground as hundreds of falling pillars begin to decimate the countryside.

Just as one is about to crush them both, the “angel” wakes and flies them to safety. This creature introduces herself as Ikaros, a Pet-Class Angeloid – Type Alpha, and promptly bonds to Tomoki as her new master. She informs Tomoki that she exists to carry out his every wish. This is where the story ends up following the perverted Tomoki on his exploits for one and a half episodes of my two-episode review process. I would have rated this series higher except for the latter two-thirds of the second episode consisting entirely of Tomoki making all the girls panties fly off. This barely makes its rating, and will fail utterly if it doesn’t get to the over-story ASAP.

Overall Hook Rating: C

Check out episode one after the break…

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Genres: Comedy, Romance, Harem

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With a self debasing swath of humor, the student council of Hekiyou Gakuen kicks off its fully tongue-in-cheek animated parody of…. itself? Well, it also takes shots at Dragonball Evolution, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, H-games and harem series in general. Their school’s method of electing the student council members is by popularity, so naturally some stereotypical female roles spring up in the 4 core members. the fifth member, known as the blue-chip seat, is filled by the highest scoring student academically.

Kurimu Sakurano is the runt of the group, but also holds the position of president of the student council. By her side is Minatsu Shiina, the council’s vice-president and sister to Mafuyu Shiina, the treasurer. The fourth female member is Chizuru Akaba, the secretary. Ken Sugisaki, the only male in the group, fills the blue-chip seat. Fortunately for him, and most unfortunately for the group, he is a massive h-game fanatic and sees the council as his harem. In fact, nearly the entire first episode revolves around his images of the group as his harem.

Into the second episode, Kurimu is dealing with the fact that her grades are the lowest of all the members of the student council. She spends most of the study time they arranged snacking, pleading and whining about her difficulties. When the results come in, no one is surprised to see she performed horribly. One by one they take turns bashing her for wasting their time and efforts. Its only afterward when she asks Ken for help after a meeting that she shows his serious and caring side.

In the last few seconds we see a blond girl plotting outside the student council room. Perfect timing for a hook, and it seems to have done the trick. It’s a good time to pick up a new comedy as my recent viewing has been far too serious for the holidays. Have a good holiday people!

Overall Hook Rating: B

Watch the beginning of episode 1 after the break…

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Genres: Drama, Romance

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Note: This series is originally based on a Korean drama of the same name. All spoken dialogue is done by the original series actors but is airing in Japan for a 26 episode run.

Kang Joon Sang reminisces over the events that led to his present predicament. He begins to narrate them to the viewer, the series is the visualization of this narration, starting with what he believes is the only picture he has of his father. Kang Joon Sang’s mother has told him that his father is dead, and that he shouldn’t be concerned with that topic any more. This only seems to add to the rift of hatred between mother and son.

At school, Kang Joon Sang avoids social interaction and generally keeps to himself. He is far brighter than any other student there but seems loath to apply that ability. After a brief argument on the bus to class one day, a girl named Jung Yu-jin decides to break Kang Joon Sang out of his shell. She attends the same class as him and her long time friend Kim Sang-Hyuk. Kim Sang-Hyuk’s attempts to befriend Kang Joon Sang met with utter failure.

Using the school radio club as a starting point, Jung Yu-jin begins to get Kang Joon Sang to socialize a bit more. It is only after he saves her from a drunk man in an alley way that they truly seem to begin bonding. Kim Sang-Hyuk also notices this change in their demeanor and his feelings for his friend Jung Yu-jin begin to surface as jealousy. At one point, while walking between classes, Kim Sang-Hyuk attempts to hold Jung Yu-jin’s hand for “safety” while she balances on a railing. She denies him this, stating that she will only hold the hand of the man she chooses.

It is on a snowy path that she makes the decision to hold Kang Joon Sang’s while balancing on a log. He begins to open up to her and its apparent that there is some degree of mutual attraction forming between them. That, is when they run into Kim Sang-Hyuk on their way back home…

This series is off to a rather slow start and the pace could definitely throw some potential viewers. The bulk of the story lines does not begin to fall into place until episode 3 and 4, where events hinted at the beginning of the series and during the credits unfold. As drama goes, Korea really knows how to roll a story together, which may be the saving grace for this series.

Overall Hook Rating: C

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Sawako Kuronuma could be your average high school girl: striving for popularity, playing sports and excelling at her studies. However, her downfall lies in both her mannerisms and lack of ability to communicate with others. Where most people would talk normally with their peers, Sawako will drift off into spooky discussions or actions that make others mistake her intentions. Instead of making oneself known to others in the room, she has a habit of silently appearing behind them, appearing much like the ghost from The Ring. This effect has student’s labeling her Sadako (the name of the ghost girl from The Ring).

Sawako strives for friends and understanding from those she interacts with, but know that she is unable to truly communicate. That is, until she meets Shouta Kazehaya. On Shouta’s first day at their school he got lost on the way to the campus. Fortunately, Sawako was there and was able to direct him correctly. It’s not until later that she realizes that she had none of her usual problems while talking with him. Shouta is extremely charismatic and is admired by many of the girls at the school. Sawako thinks that he is the more radiant and cheerful person she has ever met.

Now slowly gaining her confidence, thanks to Shouta, Sawako begins to interact with two other classmates who used to mock her: Ayane Yano and Chizuru Yoshida. The girls discuss the upcoming “bravery challenge” where they will send pairs of students into the forest at night and see who chickens out. They volunteer Sawako to be the ghost, but in the end she accepts on her own terms, as it would be fun. Shouta meets up with her later than night, thinking she didn’t show up that night, and thus leaving him by himself. He begins to express his feeling toward Sawako when the class begins teasing him for hanging out with her. Afraid of affecting his social status, Sawako tells everyone that nothing is going on and then leaves.

Shouta takes this as a message that Sawako is not interested in him. But soon after, she does begin to feel something for him. When Sawako uses her umbrella to shade an abandoned puppy from the rain, she gets drenched. Shouta helps her dry off and the girls lend her some clothes to wear for the day. During the beginning of the semester, she seats are being assigned, no one wants to sit by Sawako. Shouta, Ayane, Chizuru and soon to be another of their group Ryuu Sanada take up the positions around her, proudly showing their support.

This anime may sound slow moving, but it is a very sweet story with well placed comedy to keep the momentum flowing. The occasional chibi aspects are not overdone and you will find yourself with a grin on your face in no time.

Overall Hook Rating: A

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Supernatural

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Junpei Kousaka hates cats. He is allergic to them, they annoy him… even the fat cat his family owns, Nyamsus, constantly picks on him. It goes without saying that as a comedy, it’s all downhill from there. On his way home from school he innocently kicks a can into the trash. However, fate decides that he will miss this attempt and instead behead the statue of a neko-jizo, a cat guardian deity. This act brings upon his the curse of the neko-jizo; if he does not assist 100 cats with their tasks on earth, he will become a cat himself. This is when he begins to hear the voices of every cat around him.

Knowing that his allergies would probably kill him at that point, he goes about seeking alternate ways to break his fate. He first consults with the monk at the cat shrine, Keizou Kirishima, about the history of this deity. Midway through the long wandering stories dating back to the Edo Period, Junpei begins to argue with the monk’s cat, Tama. Tama explains the curse to Junpei further and he begins to hallucinate that he is becoming a cat (after badmouthing the cat deity). He wakes in his bed again, only hazily remembering what happened after the hallucination that day.

Junpei ’s first task is the stop a bully from picking on stray cats in his neighborhood. As it turns out, this bully is his friend (and secret crush from school), Kaede Mizuno. He tries to explain to her that, unlike the dogs her parents own, cats cannot be handled roughly. Nyamsus and Tama begin to harass Junpei and he ends up yelling at them to just “knock it off already.” Kaede assumes he is talking to her and runs off apologizing.

In attempts to complete his second contractual obligation to a cat, Junpei is reintroduced to Kanako Sumiyoshi, a friend from his distant past. There was a time when they were younger that she had feelings for him. She took a situation she walked in on out of context and began a long running feud with him. The cat, however, requires Junpei to pass on its feelings to Kanako for it, as she took care of the cat for some time. A few tears are shed, but things end up MOSTLY patched between the two. This moment also begins the roll of this series toward a more harem-ish spin.

This series has some good potential and as long as the harem aspects to not get trashy, we should be in for a good show. As anyone with cats will know, they find a way to get as close as possible to those who want nothing to do with them. This does add a bit of slapstick comedy to the situation, and we have yet to see the series take a fully serious note.

Overall Hook Rating: B

Check out a clip from episode 1 after the jump…

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Genres: Action, Magical, Romance

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Imaging having an intense dream of being chased by a maniac with a gun. You are lost, confused, and terrified. Upon waking you realize that, on top of this not actually being a dream, you have also switched genders to enter this death game! All of the details of said game are now explained to you by a stuffed animal with its guts hanging out. Welcome to the life of Natsuru Senou. The boy, who must become a girl to fight for his life.

Natsuru has become a Kampfer (German for “fighter”), who have to be female, and must do battle as such. There has been no explanation for why this is going on (other than the mysterious “Moderators” bidding), so he must learn to fight to survive. His power set is noted as Zauber (German for “magic”), specifically: fire ball casting. The two other power types are Schwert (German for “blade”) and Gewehr (German for “gun”). The first other Kampfer he encounters/fights is Akane Mishima, who is a Gewehr type, and apparently actually on his own team (denoted by the blue bracelet they wear).

She explains to him that there will be two red Kampfer they must battle. Her mascot is a black rabbit; its guts hang out, seppuku style. The first red Kampfer they encounter is Shizuku Sangou, a Schwert type, and is played by their school’s student council president. Her positing on power puts the two blue fighters in a pinch, as she effectively runs the school. Her mascot is an electrocuted cat.

In the end of the second episode the stage it set for the battles to come. Natsuru is transferred to the girls campus by Shizuku so that no questions will be raised about him (as he is male) trespassing, and then she makes him stick in his “girl mode”.

There is an undercurrent of girl-girl romance with Natsuru’s friend Kaede Sakura in both episodes, as she has a crush on the girl-him, and that crushes him. The humor is a bit dark, but still thoroughly funny… I just do not see this making the grade without stooping to the typical yuri harem tricks. Let’s hope it proves me wrong.

Overall Hook Rating: C

Check out a clip after the break…

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Genres: Comedy, Romance

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Saku Oyagi only ever wanted to sit inside and read peacefully. His neighbor, Mihoshi Akeno, had other plans for his free time. From the time they were in the first grade together, Mihioshi was dragging Saku out to play or to go star gazing. Mihioshi wishes to pass on her love of the stars to her best friend… but he is resistant. She decides to climb a tree to get Saku a star but falls, injuring them both. Saku’s family moves away, and he holds some animosity toward her for his broken arm (and that she never came to say goodbye).

During Saku’s freshman year of high school he is moved back to his home town. While his intentions are to forget the past, he runs right into Mihoshi again. Now a senior member of the Astronomy Club, Mihoshi is desperately recruiting members to meet their 5 person minimum enrollment. Saku is, again, very resistant at first. Once he learns that Mihoshi couldn’t see him off because she was in the hospital from the fall, he finally comes around.

The remainder of the cast if laid out, including: Sayo Yarai, a mostly quiet girl who tries to keep Mihioshi in check; Takeyasu Roma, the Astronomy Club president (whos weak constitution leads to much bleeding from the mouth); Masashi Edogawa, Saku’s new friend from the freshman class; and Hime Makita, who has a crush on Saku since he complimented her on her hair during their entrance exams.

This series is very cute and seems to have enough open ended love interestes to remain interesting for now. While it could have taken the traditional harem route, I find it stays a step above, earning it top marks.

Overall Hook Rating: A

Watch the first part of episode 1 after the jump…

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Genres: Comedy, Romance

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Kana Nakamachi has just lost her grandmother. In the years before, her mother and father have also died. Now alone in the world, afraid the movers will sell her to foreigners, she runs away. She passes the Fuhshin Gazette, advertising a job with an included on-site room. However, the people out front scare her off with their strange personalities. She continues onward, checking with businesses all over town, but has no luck finding an alternative. As she walks down one street she is struck by a delivery bike.

She wakes in the main room of the Fuhshin Gazette, a small newspaper that is apparently run by Saki Amano, a grade school girl. As Deputy Chief she takes care of the day to day workings of the newspaper (it is not explained yet as to why she holds this post); she is mature beyond her years. Seeing Kana’s circumstances, she allows her to work there and provides her room and board.

The other girls working there include: Yume Kitaoka, a pastry chef in training; Yuuki Minami, who is in love with Yume and extremely jealous of her attention to others; Haruka Nishida, who is some sort of biology student, and frequently drunk on her concoctions; and Hinata Azuma, a gambler who has twice-failed at her college entrance exams.

Kana must learn her new trade fast, being that she does not know how to read directions, ride a bike, nor much other than cook (which the other girls REALLY appreciate). Her first assignment nearly ends in disaster when she is caught in a sudden rainstorm. There she meets a competing delivery girl, Mika Kujiin, who has an abrasive attitude, but warms to Kana as she helps her find her way.

This series is rather cute with over the top comedy, yuri overtones, and a general light hearted nature. The addition of a competing business may lead to additional story material, but the main cast have layers left to be revealed as well. Kana’s sadness at being left along gradually lifts, and it is not certain if that sad portion of the storyline will take prevalence again.

Overall Hook Rating: B

Episode one preview after the jump:

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Genres: Drama, Romance

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Roughly ten years before the start of the story we are shown two young girls, Akira Okudaira and Fumi Manjoume, why are best friends in elementary school. Fumi is a fragile crybaby who heavily relies on Akira, who is a stronger tom-boy. Akira, the taller of the two cares for Fumi until her family moves away, leaving Akira alone. Fast forward to the present day and the story begins.

Fumi returns to her childhood town to attend a private girls’ academy. She is nervous at the change in her life, and leans heavily on her cousin Chizu (whom she deeply cares for, and is hinted that things may have gone a bit further than would normally be prudent). On the train to school, Fumi is discreetly accosted by a pervert and is saved by Akira. There is no mutual recognition, as both have changed a great deal since childhood.

Later in the first episode, their mother’s reunite and they realize who each other are. Although much time has passed they fall into their usual roles, even though Akira is now shorter, and Fumi seemingly much more refined. Their roles become even further cemented when Chizu suddenly returns with her new husband, and neglecting to tell Fumi anything about the situation. Fumi is crushed, and Akira begins to suspect what may have been going on.

The two girls attend different all-girls academies, and have both begun to kind potential romances. Fumi has gravitated to the older Yasuki Sugimoto, a third-year on the basketball team. Akira has begun to spend more time with a girl named Kyouko Ikumi, who in fact has a history with Yasuki.

The potential love-triangles in the series spirals out into a veritable web of plausible connections that I feel overcomplicates matters. While cute and mostly innocent, there appear to be some darker undertones that have not yet come to light.

Overall Hook Rating: C