The Impression Series: Summer 2011 [Part 2]

pardon the long wait, rl owns.

Finally the second and final part of my Summer 2011 anime impression. At first I planned to make it a three-parts entry, but I am considering to limit my watchlist to about 10 series this season, hence I ended up dropping/holding about one-third of the amount I initially watched.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu 2
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: SILVER LINK
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: Well well, it’s Bakatest season 2, how much do I need to comment on this one? The first season already made me laugh a lot (only marginally lost to Mitsudomoe as my best comedy anime of 2010), so I had high expectation from the second season, knowing how much I could laugh from watching this show. And fortunately the few episodes so far delivered, right off the bat, I had a burst of laugh. On a side note, for some reason the more I watched the anime, the less I remembered about the importance of those class battles.

verdict:4.5/5



Mayo Chiki!
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance
Studio production: Feel
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Aka Mayoeru Shitsuji to Chikin na Ore to. The story is about a gynophobic Sakamachi Kinjiro, who accidentally discovered that his classmate Subaru Konoe, also a butler to Suzutsuki Kanade, is actually a girl. Thanks to the horrid time he had at home with his little sister and mother constantly using him as pro-wrestling guinea pig, Kinjiro somehow developed some kind of allergy that made him nosebleed whenever a girl touched him (lolwat). And with the discovery of Subaru’s secret that’s supposed not to be known (or else she will be removed from her butler position), you bet it’s going to be good (or bad, depending on how you see it) for Kinjiro. A generic comedy romance story which has probably been recycled, tweaked and used many times in other anime/manga/novels, but still never failed to amuse me if done right, like Mayo Chiki did. I mean, it’s not the first time you see a trap like Subaru, a sadistic yet caring ojou-sama like Kanade (Kitamura Eri ftw :3) and a main character with some kind of allergy/phobia like Kinjiro, yet these three blended well to make the story interesting. Kinjiro’s little sister, Kureha (Kana Hanazawa again, huh?), the bunch of Subaru’s admirers as well as the fujoshi defectors made things even funnier. So I would say that I will keep on watching as long as the anime continue to entertain me.
p/s: Can’t help but thinking about Charlotte (IS)/young Minami Haruka whenever I see Subaru in female outfit.

verdict: 3.5/5



Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi
MAL/Official
Genre: fantasy, romance
Studio production: ZEXCS
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Okay, another series that gave me a mixed impression. The pros: 1) The story – it was intriguing to say the least, from the point the main character Kurogane Taito remembered his old promise, the fight that ensued, and the involvement of the student council president Kurenai Gekkou and his twins. 2) The ending song, because it’s Shikata Akiko. The cons: 1) Massive cliché that bored me out. The easygoing, reckless main character (oh hi I got a new power and I’m so conceited I think I could beat the bad guy in a hit), the moe female friend that likes to hang with him, the forgotten old promise, the cool student council president, the transferring of the old lover to his school.. 2) The battles. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the battles lacks cohesion and proper flow. Kinda hard to explain, but let’s just say that I really don’t feel the tense of the battle in episode two. And the flashy animation and special effects didn’t help me either. 3) The colourful art and generic character designs (just me and my preference). 4) Cheap panty flash. This didn’t exist much in episode 2 though. In the end, I don’t think I would do anything with the series anymore, except downloading the ED single once it is released.

verdict: 2/5 (dropped)



Kamisama no Memo-chou
MAL/Official
Genre: mystery, psychological
Studio production: J.C. Staff
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: In short, the story tells how an average guy named Fujishima Narumi who longed for average life and avoiding major attention, somehow found himself involved with a group of weirdos – a pro gambler dropout, a military university nerd, a gigolo, yakuza affiliates, and finally the biggest of all, a NEET detective called Alice. The lengthy episode 1 provided the necessary introduction of the major and support characters, and from then on we could probably see similar pattern being played out in future episodes – Alice accepting a request/case and used her extensive network to solve it, with Narumi playing the sidekick role (or bigger one when the time arrived). Okay, I had some problem with Narumi's personality, but so far I could safely say that I’m liking what I am seeing from the series – nice semi-detective story, great animation (J.C.Staff, duh) and some funny moments (I lol’d hard when a simple “God Hand” computer work by Narumi totally amazed the thugs at Soichirou’s place). The story seems to put quite an emphasis in NEET theme (with Alice insisting to be called “NEET” detective), but I personally didn’t see this term having bigger influence than the term had in, say, NHK ni Youkoso. One thing that got me interested is how Alice deliberately mentioning the term “Kamisama no Memo-chou” – memo pads of the Gods in episode one. It could be a metaphor of the vast, extensive network that Alice had, but for a moment I also thought how it might relate to Alice at one point talking about the tainting of the living and the dead (Shigofumi, huh?). Anyway, finally a show from J.C.Staff that I could enjoy, after Bakuman (note that I was not that impressed with their Yumekui Merry and Aria).

verdict: 4/5



Dantalian no Shoka
MAL/Official
Genre: fantasy
Studio production: GAINAX

Number of episodes: 13
Comments: Look, another loli detective show! Dantalian no Shoka is about Hugh Anthony Disward (aka Huey) who was given inheritance of an isolated mansion and massive library from his deceased grandfather’s, and met a mysterious girl named Dalian. The atmosphere of the series screamed Gosick all over the place that it doesn’t feel right to have Dantalian aired right after Gosick concluded, though after awhile you get the sense that these two are never the same kind. How do I summed up my thought after watching the first 2 episodes: Interesting, but at the same time, it is also uninteresting? Although I like the mystery/supernatural element in the series, I feel that the story was rather confusing and weakend by plotholes. The first episode was okay, but then the second episode repeated the similar pattern, giving there’s little chance for us to understand the questions like who Dalian really is and how she ended up at the mansion, the history of those Phantom Books and many more. Then we were stuffed with lots of (uninteresting) long winded text that Huey read whenever they summoned a book from within Dalian. Basically a quarter of the episode (and half of the battles) were filled with Huey reading books! It’s amazing that Huey and Dalian remained composed even during the most dangerous situation in battle. The animation and special effects in battle was great, but the weakness in the plot kinda hold me back from giving this series a higher rating. And by the way, the ED was creepy, but I LOVE it, seriously!!!
p/s: I swear if they repeat those same door-unlocking scenes in the next 10 episodes, I'm gonna throw up. My god this is not mahou shoujo anime where enemies would give you 1 minute to do some flashy transformation =_=

verdict: 3.5/5



The IDOLM@STER
MAL/Official
Genre: slice of life, music (?)
Studio production: A-1 Pictures
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Hm..I’m not sure why I decided to include this anime in the list. I’ve never played the game, so I really don’t have any kind of expectation toward the anime. Caught in the hype again, I guess. From what I saw, the story is about 12 girls who aimed to be real idols, and with the help of the unnamed producer-san, we see how they went through their everyday life as idol wannabe, with each episode focusing on one or several of these idols (along with their specific character ED song, which is kinda nice), what they do in the studio (everyone seems so disorganised huh?), preparing stage performance and other activities. The animation quality is somewhat lesser than what I expected, but as a whole I don't have much problem of having the show in my watchlist, although the priority is not high in my list at the moment.
p/s: Azusa has always been my favorite :3

verdict: 3/5



that's all I think for this season. There are also other series that I initially watched, but decided not to include full impression on these series:

- Mawaru Penguindrum - hm...weird series? I had real problems with the coloring and perspective of this anime.
- Nurarihyon no Mago 2 - I like the 1st season (minus the pointless ep26 recap), but I think I'm gonna wait till the 2nd season finished and marathon it in a go.
- R-15 – tbh I don’t mind watching a few more episodes of this one.
- Manyuu Hikenchou - omfg you do not tell me that I need to comment on this?
- Nekogami Yaoyorozu - another comedy slice of life of this season, but I personally like Yuruyuri more.

The Impression Series: Summer 2011 [Part 1]

Finally a post for the new anime season. As the tradition goes, here's my thought on the recently aired Summer 2011 anime. Some are very interesting and intriguing, while others were rather disappointing, at least from my point of view.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee
MAL/Official
Genre: Slice of life
Studio production: Satelight
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: The story took place near the end of 19th century in Paris, when a young Japanese girl, Yune accompanied a French traveler named Oscar back to France. In Paris, she was placed under the care Oscar’s nephew, Claude who owned an ironwork shop. And from this on, things can only get interesting. Both Claude and Yune were total stranger to Japanese and French culture respectively, and it was interesting to see how they perceived the foreign culture, trying to understand it. For Claude, it was the uneasiness of suddenly having an attendance at his shop, especially his initial thought that they didn’t understand each others' language. In Yune’s case, she was trying her best to adapt to French’s living style, even though it was uncomfortable for her at first (eg bitter coffee and breakfast with bread and cheese). Overall, how do I describe the first 2 episodes: calmness, harmony, great atmosphere and beautiful art. Yune was simply adorable especially seeing how she was trying hard to be dependable, be strong and get used with the new lifestyle while trying not to upset Claude (although Claude never really mind with what Yune did). I would be interested to know the little bit details like why Yune went to France at such age, but for now I am content with what I am seeing, and with new characters set to make their appearance in episode 3, I was definitely looking forward to the rest of the anime.
verdict: 4.5/5

Usagi Drop
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, drama
Studio production: Production I.G.
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Officially one of my favorite show this season. Some of my friends actually recommended me to try the manga last year, but it was not until I watch the first episode of the anime that I actually decided to give the manga a try, and my, what a nice read. I was pleasantly surprised with the story that it made me read the manga much until near the end. Anyway, back to the anime. Briefly, Usagi Drop is about a 30 years old hardworker Daikichi Kawachi who went to his grandfather’s funeral, only to met an unfamiliar kid named Rin Kaga, which to his surprise, is actually the illegitimate child of his grandfather (ie that kid is his aunt). Annoyed with the way his family treated Rin, Daikichi decided to take care of Rin himself, even though he is single and has no experience of handling kid. And the story went on, showing their everyday life, how Daikichi struggled to balance between his work and taking care of Rin, and various problems he never faced before, coupled with funny and cute moments to liven things up. The story was definitely refreshing for me. For a kid like her, Rin (they even use a kid for her voice) was quite mature and always try to be independent, despite (or because of) the hardship she face with her family situation (her mom missing, and just losing her dad). The animation art is mediocre at best, but I don’t think it really matters since the story and characters were nicely adapted without major changes. One slight concern for me is how much of the manga could fit into this 12-episodes long anime. I guess we won’t be seeing stuff from the 10 years later. Better this way I guess, since I actually like this part more than the latter.

verdict:5/5



Yuru Yuri
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio production: Dogakobo
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: The premise is simple – a group of friends (Akari, Yui, Kyouko and Chinatsu) using an unused Tea Club room after school for their own Amusement Club, which essentially had no purpose other than having fun. A K-ON in disguise, blended with the randomness of Lucky Star. As people said, cute girls doing cute things, moeblobbing like a pro. Now how do I ended up watching this? For one, I was looking for a comedy slice of life, and I guess Yuruyuri is the closest to come in this aspect (Nekogami Yaoyorozu comes close though). Not saying that I didn’t enjoy it, because I certainly had a good laugh, especially watching the eccentric Kyouko (probably my favourite character in the series) doing crazy things. The vice prez Himawari and the yuri fangirl Chitose also made me laugh, as did the two rivals Sakurako and Ayano. Now, where’s the main character Akari, I wonder. I don’t mind the mild yuri as long as there’s comedy in it, heck I even thoroughly enjoyed the whole of Maria Holic, so what can I say? So I guess the only thing that’s really not to my liking in this show is the generic, unmemorable OP and ED theme.
p/s: several new seiyuus were used, and that's a good thing.

verdict: 3.5/5



Kamisama Dolls
MAL/Official
Genre: action, science-fiction
Studio production: 13

Number of episodes: Brains Base
Comments: Okay, this one certainly gave me a mixed impression. For one, I’m glad that finally there’s a fair bit of thriller/action series this season that I could enjoy. Or would I? The series is about Kuga Kyouhei, a former Doll contractor (aka Seki) from an isolated Karahari village who tried to forgot his past and come to Tokyo to study, only to find that he’s still haunted by the people from his village. The summary was pretty vague, and I wasn’t expecting much out of the series anyway, until that bloody scene took place in episode 1. That, along with the brief fight at Kuga’s apartment reignites my interest toward the show. I was hoping that the heat between Kuga and the culprit of the bloody scene, Aki would continue for a bit, but ep2 slowed down with new character Kuuko Karahari introduced, Kuga’s little sister Utao sometimes acting all moe especially in front of Kuga, practicing to control her Dolls and saving Kuko from an unfortunate lab blast. The fairly average animation quality didn’t help much to help the score either. For now this series is just at the border of being in my watchlist, but in the future I was hoping that Kuga would step into the spotlight quickly (probably returned as Seki) and settles his issues with Aki. By the way, I think I’m liking the melody that played the Doll played when they move. Love the OP and ED song too.

verdict: 3/5



Sacred Seven
MAL/Official
Genre: action, supernatural
Studio production: sunrise
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Wow, I’m not even sure how I managed to last 2 episodes. At first I was curious because of the stark resemblance with Code Geass’s art (well, it’s CLAMP’s after all). But as the story goes, I know this show is simply not for me. And may not for many others too, who had probably enjoyed things like Tiger & Bunny. The story was cliché in every way (oh yeah, I’m an emo boy who awakened my super power and I’m gonna beat some monsters!), the characters were unoriginal (roflol Maid squadron?), and the superheroes suit? ....I was left speechless. I would have probably enjoy the series (only by a bit) if the story is not THAT generic (honestly it’s way overused), and those flashy, crappy battle suit were changed. I didn’t last through Kurogane no Linebarrel, I didn’t last through Star Driver, and I definitely will not going to last through Sacred Seven, particularly considering it is the worst of the three in my book.

verdict: 2/5 (dropped)



Blood-C
MAL/Official
Genre: action, supernatural
Studio production: Production I.G.

Number of episodes: 12
Comments: Maybe I just got caught with the hype surrounding Blood+ that I decided to give Blood-C a try. But my god what the hell am I watching? I’ve never watched Blood+, but I know Blood-C is far from replicating the impression that Blood+ gave to the general mass. I had way too many problems with Blood-C that made me unable to resist the urge of dropping this show. Half of the episode is wasted on nothing. We heard Saya praising his fabulous dad, visit the café, singing on the way to school (oh god that song made my ears bleed), and at school we saw how she interact with the twins, the tomboy, the class rep and the teachers. Little to no useful thing related to what Saya did at night, who she was and why she fights. Speaking of her night activity, it was great directing of battle scenes. At least the battle was cool for episode 1, but they repeated the damn pattern for episode 2, plus the eating lunch together. Things might change in later episodes, but the first 2 episodes already gave me a weak impression, so I really cannot expect to continue watching this.. oh and did I mentioned that I hate Saya's hair?

verdict: 2/5 (dropped)


Part 2 to come...later.

Venturing into FFXIII post-game

I took the opportunity to go back home during the last semester break and hence, the chance to play my ps3 again. TBH I don’t have any particular game in mind to play, but since I got my Vanquish and FFXIII games back from deady, I thought that I might as well do some trophies cleanup with these games. Vanquish, from about 22% trophy upped to 51% by doing some chapter-specific trophies, as well as the "No Death" Living Legend Trophy (which was surprisingly easier than I thought). But that's not really what I wanted to write here, but rather the next game: FFXIII. Previously I've made my end-game thought on the game, but at that time I didn't do anything with the post game, stopping right after the credit rolled. And about 1 year later (last time I touch the game was May 2010), I finally managed to muster my strength to return to this highly linear game, mostly to do some unfinished business with the post-game contents.

When I first replaying the game, I had a whim of Platinuming the game, but actually never think to actually do it because it looks like the game requires a lot of effort and grinding to Platinum (which remind me to the time I put to Platinum/Complete NieR and The Last Remnant). But after spending some time doing post-game missions, it appears that Platinuming FFXIII is not really that hard after all. Although, I still haven't Platinum it because I returned to KL last week and wasn't able to finish the game in time -_-


So what did FFXIII offered in its post-game play?

• The ONE and ONLY "real" sidequest ever existed in FFXIII - the Mark Quests. And post-game in FFXIII is all about completing this Mark Quests, and;
• As mentioned, for the "completionist" - Platinuming the game itself, with the majority of the trophies were attainable during the course of the post-game play.

Mark Quests
The only meaningful sidequest in FFXIII, this appear as soon as we reach the Gran Pulse in Chapter 11 (iirc), and spans until the very post-games. The basic is simple - we visit some sort of ancient stone, which then will gives us the task to kill a specific monster, with difficulties raging from easiest, D rank, to hardest, A rank. Most of the times the target monster (Mark) were located quite far from the Client stone. Killing them will unlock other Stones, and subsequently more Mark Missions: 64 in total. Killing them will gave you items some which were only available by beating these specific Marks (Genji Gloves, Doctor's Code, Growth Egg and Gold Watch). Beating all Mark Missions grants at least 7 Trophies, with an additional Gold Trophies for completing ALL of them with a 5-star post-battle ratings.

In the end, I managed to beat all but 1 Marks, the last 1 being (arguably) the strongest boss in the game, Mark Mission 64 (Vercingetorix). My thought on these Missions:

Getting 5-star rating for them without Gold Watch isn't that hard after all. In the end, I managed to 5-star 62 out of 64 Mark Missions. The last 2 were Mission 54 (Gigantuar), and of course the last one, Mission 64. In all of these missions, I went into battle without any Tier 3 weapons (no thanks to Trapezohedron), and only farm enough CP to get my HP moderately high. Then, it's a matter of strategy. For strong marks, I'd start with Shrouds, mostly Deceptisol to get easy Preemptive Strike, but others require me to use both Fortisol and Aegisol for the instant buffs. For Marks like Neochu (Mission 55) and Adamantortoise (Mission 63), it's all about instant kill with Vanille's Death.

Mission 54 - Gigantaur. I really hate this mission. Not only because everytime he attack, he hits for a full 10,000 damage WITHOUT any sort of reduction. He also attacks fast, and always had a chance to cause fog and pain (aka disable physical and magic attacks). Not only that, his target time (which affect battle rating) is so low that it's almost impossible to kill this bloody creature with weak weapon, and get 5 stars battle rating at the same time. This monster sucks and a total cheat, really. My rating when I killed him: 0 star the first time, 2 stars in my second attempt D :

Mission 64 - Vercingetorix. An annoying and strong boss. Really hard to stagger (thanks to his invulnerability shield which dispels all status, heal 8% of his lost health, and reset chain gauge), strong as puck, and when low on health, a devastating 1-hit kill skill that can only be avoided by 3-sentinels Paradigm. Or so they said (since I was beaten before I could experience that skill). When I first (and only time) faced him, I wasn't able to hit him hard enough that his hp remained pretty much around ~70% due to his Shield's healing. But apparently there was a more efficient way of killing him, through poison damage, and probably the easiest way to 5-star this Mission without the Gold Watch. I guess I'd try this strategy when I returned to my PS3 somewhere in the future...


Platinum Trophy
I did say that Platinuming FFXIII seems easier than I thought, but in reality it still required a lot of effort. Achieving 5 stars in mark missions requires your party, and your weapons/accessories to be fully upgraded. These in itself gave a trophy, Master's Seal. Each character's secondary role seems costing huge amount of CP, but truth be told, by the end of the day, even when you fully maxed your Crystallogen, chances are you still need to farm even more because of money, and in the end of the day, you got a maxed 999,999 CP that can't even be spend anymore...

The reason for that - money. And arguably the most tedious trophy in the game, Treasure Hunter which require you to have each and every weapons/accessories at least once at any point of the game. Collecting most weapons and accessories wasn't that hard, but collecting ALL of them is a different matter. The 3rd Tier weapon requires a lot of money to upgrade (or to be exact, money to buy exp component), and on top of that, it required the rarest item in the game, Trapezohedron. It can be bought from shop at a whopping 2,000,000 gil, but who'd be stupid enough to do that when the money is better spent at upgrading? So the answer is by rare drop, from either Adamantoise/Adamantortoise (1% drop rate) or Long Gui (5% drop rate). To be honest so far I've only used Vanille's Death method to beat the toises, but it's not a reliable strategy for money farming, that's why I was rather poor the whole post-game : ( And I don't even want to talk about defeating Long Gui (which also gave another trophy for defeating him) before I fully upgrade my weapons.

One seemingly easy trophy which I failed to get is Superstar, which requires us to beat the final boss with 5-stars rating. Everytime I tried, I ended up getting 3 stars, maybe because my weapon is too strong (weapon stat do affect battle rating btw). I guess I'd just retry this later, once I got the Gold Watch from Mission 64. Do want those Lightning's PS3 theme D :

Summer 2011 Anime List

TV Series

• Appleseed XIII (Net)
• Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!
• Blade
• Blood-C
• Dantalian no Shoka
• Double-J
• Ikoku Meiro no Croisée
• Inumarudashi
• Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi
• Kamisama Dolls
• Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel ~Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!~
• Kami-sama no Memo-chou
• Manyuu Hikenchou
• Mawaru PenguinDrum
• Mayo Chiki!
• Morita-san wa Mukuchi
• Natsume Yuujin-Chou San
• Nekogami Yaoyorozu
• NO.6
• Nurarihyon no Mago: Sennen Makyou
• Nyanpire The Animation
• R-15
• Ro-Kyu-Bu!
• Sacred Seven
• Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Special
• The IDOLM@STER
• Usagi Drop
• Uta no Prince-sama – Maji Love 1000%
• Yuruyuri

OVA

• Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori – Break on the Sky ~ Trick 3
• Appleseed XIII
• Baby Princess 3D Paradise 0 [Love]
• Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail
• Carnival Phantasm
• Fairy Tail: Yousei Gakuen: Yankee-kun to Yankee-chan
• Hakuouki Hekketsu-roku
• Hellsing Ultimate (ep8)
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira
• Katte ni Kaizou (ep 2)
• kiss x sis (episode 5)
• Kore wa Zombie desu ka?
• Kuttsukiboshi
• Valkyria Chronicles 3: Ta ga Tame no Juusou
• VitaminX Addiction
• Yurumates Huh? (ep2)

*List and posters courtesy of chartfag/whosubwhat etc

Typical of mid year season that the list isn't as huge as the spring/fall season, yet still relatively big nonetheless. With my schedule becoming increasingly tight, there's not much scouting and looking around, so a large part of the list were strangers to me. Anyway, I do admit that I'm kinda looking forward to the hyped Idolmaster, as were many others. As far as sequels go, Bakatest II and Nurarihyon II would likely go into my list. In the last 2 seasons, I'm not that impressed with JC Staff's Yumekui Merry and Hidan no Aria, so I hope Kamisama no Memo-chou could offer something that I could enjoy. As for the new show, it's the usual try and test. Oh yeah, no SHAFT anime? This is a blasphemy!

As for OVA? Hell yes for Valkyria Chronicles 3 OVA :D And the new Higurashi OVA.

*tbh I'm actually more looking forward to this fall, because of Persona 4 anime : 3 Yui Horie+Ami Koshimizu = win

A Mixed Ending for a Terrific Season

Time for some random post. Since the start of the year, I haven't been regularly watched Man Utd matches (except most Saturday/Sunday's games), though I never missed the match highlight. It has been another great season for the club and the fan, with both the grandeur and the disappointment mixed in.

The ups: obviously winning the record breaking 19th English top flight title, overtaking Liverpool as the top dog. And it has not been an easy feat, considering the squad that won the trophy had been regularly criticised for underperform, like many other great Man Utd sides in the past seasons. I admit that the squad is probably not comparable with the team of, for example, 1999 and 2008, but the spirit of the team and the work rate as the squad is unbeliavable, probably second only to those in 1999 treble winning squad. Berbatov shines in the first half of the season, and also got some crucial winning goals at latter stages (eg vs Blackpool/Bolton). Hernandez has been a revelation with his Gary Lineker-like presence up front and score crucial goals (eg vs Everton/Stoke), a huge bargain for 6m pounds. Nani had his best season since coming to the club, although he seems to be more effective on the right, which overlap with Valencia who also did great since coming back from injuries. Giggs, despite his age of 38, always full of energy and spirit on the pitch. Park has always been a massive big game player. At the back, Vidic has been immense, and at the post, no more words need to be said about the retiring Van der Sar - a goalkeeper of the same standard of the great Schmeichel. Simply put, everyone in the squad contribute to the success at any stage of the season.

The downs: quite a few I guess. Losing the FA Cup semi final to Man City, and most importantly, losing the Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley last Saturday. The FA Cup could have been different had Rooney not suspended (for his swearing at West Ham), but I had no qualms over the defeat to Barca. Although I still didn't like them for their regular acting and swarming over the referees, the football they played was simply too much for Man Utd to handle.

EPL 2010-2011 was really a peculiar season. The weaker team regularly beat the stronger team, Chelsea's crazy form at the start, middle and end of season, Arsenal's incredible collapse after losing the League Cup to Birmingham, Blackpool relegated despite scoring a massive 55 goals, and much more. Based on consistency, I guess it's fair to say that Man Utd did deserved to win the title, with Chelsea coming close in second (they would be unreachable had that mid-season lapse didn't happen). Man City finally ended their 30+ odd years trophy drought and clinch a CL place, but I'm not quite convinced that they can challenge for the title next season, because they seem to approach games too carefully, sometimes too defensively. Liverpool could be dangerous next season with Dalglish in charge, as for Arsenal, well, it depend on how Wenger is willing to spend I guess.

As for the prospect of next season, it seems like we'll see some major shuffle in the squad. Van der Sar, Neville and yesterday, Scholes retired. De Gea seems to be coming, while some other players seems to be leaving, and Sir Alex seems willing to use the youth squad that just recently won the FA Youth Cup. Hopefully the youngsters/new players added to the squad next season could emulate the success achieved this season, or perhaps bettered it.

After Mega Creep....

Often we thought a dota game is virtually over and victory is secured when one side managed to get a mega creep, while the towers in one of their lane were untouched. Well it's not always true. This time I want to deviate from the usual competitive games to the casual inhouse games, which caught my attention due to the sheer amount of endurance shown by the winning team to withstand Mega Creep for... over FOURTY MINUTES, and ended up winning.

click on picture to enlarge

Maps/version: Dota-allstars 6.67b, version 1.24E
GameMode: -ap
Length: 96:26 minutes

more info and download: [Playdota Replay Forum]

It's an old game played last year, and it was brought to my attention when I was reading a gg.net thread about "most creepkills", and the above screenshot was shown, along with the original thread. Medusa with 1273 creep kills says it all about this game, about the amount of post-mega creep that they had to endure. The game started pretty balanced, but although both sides were equally farmed, the sentinel was outpushed with the scourge heroes constantly targeting towers and raxes which resulted in mega creep within 50 minutes. But the real action started after that - for the next 40 minutes, scourge decided to farm neutrals, hanging around the map without real effort to attack the Tree, and eventually failed to end the game due to medusa and drow's resolute defending. Then the scourge decided to change their approach, by getting Euls and try to end the game while Medusa/Drow/others were in mid air! But the plan failed, needless to say.

Anyway, the game doesn't really had that much action, and worth proceeding at 2x-4x speed throughout, but it kinda mesmerised me to see how long sentinel were able to hold the 1k hp mega creep for that long. Rikimaru played rather retarded with 3 orb item choices and suicidal actions early-mid game, but it was learnt that he was just returned to dota after about 2 years of absence. The 1273-cs Medusa was definitely the MVP, and he got the perfect item build when facing this situation. The only thing about him that distract me is the way he always aim his Mystic Snake on heroes first - hence not maximizing the damage potential of this skill.

Moral of the story: Mega Creep doesn't always guarantee victory. Do not waste time and try to end the game asap, or we'll regret it.

p/s: and yeah, this is definitely the highest scoring creep kills I've ever saw, even eclipsing the epic 700+ kills made by EHOME's longdd and LGD's zsmj.

The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 3]

Finally the last part of Spring 2011 Impression.
part 1
part 2


Deadman Wonderland
MAL/Official
Genre: action, thriller
Studio production: Manglobe
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Since I've never read the manga, the first episode kinda gave me a mixed impression - great animation but the story begin in a rather intriguing, yet distressing manner - the bloody scene in the classroom with only a single student survived, Igaraki Ganta, which were then accused as the main suspect; and with no room to defend himself, sentenced in the form of life imprisonment at a unique theme park-like prison called Deadman Wonderland. Since I'm not entirely convinced that I would enjoy the series, I decided to give a few chapters of the manga a try; and damn, I would say the story really exceed my expectation, in fact I would even say the anime did better in visualizing the motion to fit with the mood of the scenes depicted in the manga. And episode 2 certainly erases my worry as I started to enjoy the show. From being framed to the imprisonment at Deadman Wonderland, we see how Ganta tries to survive the ordeal and life at the prison, whilst also making a few friends in the process, including a mysterious albino girl named Shiro (who had the personality of a typical Kana Hanazawa’s cheerful character). Then many mysteries and questions started to appear, starting from the origin of the gravitational collapse in Tokyo (which now become the location of Deadman Wonderland), the identity of the Red Man and Shiro, the reason Ganta was left alive in the incident and then framed for the crime, the power that awakened within him, as well as the conspiracy, darkest secret of Deadman Wonderland itself. Many thrills and intriguing incidents that would keep me at my seat, definitely don’t want to miss this.
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

Ao no Exorcist
MAL/Official
Genre: action, drama, supernatural
Studio production: A-1 Pictures

Number of episodes: 24
Comments: A Child of Satan, becoming demon's greatest enemy, an exorcist, to get rid of demons. Okumura Rin has been a problematic man since his childhood, a stark contrast to his gentle twin brother Yukio. Living under the care of an exorcist, little did he know that his real identity is an illegitimate child of the god of demon, Satan. An incident which reveals his true self, and saw his adopted father sacrificing himself eventually led Rin to the path of exorcism, against Satan itself. It was a great introduction to the series, coupled with good usage of visual effects in the battles. Off the battle, there's also a few mild comedies that tickle my sense of humors. The 2 episodes so far were enjoyable (to some degree), and I'm expecting more interesting things to happened next, now that Rin is enrolled in True Cross academy, although for now this series is not likely to be put in my higher priority watchlist.

p/s wtf Mameshiba ads
Verdict: 3/5



Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai
MAL/Official
Genre: drama
Studio production: A-1 Pictures
Number of episodes: 11

Comments: Ano Haha, aka We Still do not Know the Name of the Flower we Saw that Day. In short it was about 6 really close childhood friends, whom after the death of one of them, Meiko Honma (aka Menma), changed as years passed and become somewhat distant to each other. The main character Jintan become a shut-in, and it was him who met the reincarnated Menma (ghost), thought to be the embodiment of his own stress. Another girl, Naruko become more involved in fashion stuff, although her old hobbies of collecting games and manga remained. Deep within herself, she still has great care toward Jintan. Another guy, Poppo who used to be the smallest when he was child, now is a big guy and likes to travel around the world with the money he earned from his part time job. And the last two, Yukiatsu and Tsurumi seems to change the most, with both taking their life and study seriously. The reappeared Menma had a wish she wants Jintan to fulfill, but it can only be granted by reuniting the distant old friends. A really refreshing drama if you asked me, seeing how the appearance of Menma brought some vigor to Jintan, and with all the things Jintan done trying to grant Menma's wish, eventually also brought the friends that has become distant in recent years closer. In the end, although everyone seems to change drastically (appearance and personality-wise), they still had a piece of their former self, all which were bound together by Menma. So far things went well for Jintan, Poppo and Naruko, and I am looking forward to how Jintan would deal with (probably) the more serious Yukiatsu and Tsurumi.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



Hidan no Aria
MAL/Official
Genre: action, comedy
Studio production: J.C Staff
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: My, another Kugimiya tsundere lolo (with scarlet hair too), now with a pair of gun. The story is promising, in a sense that it somewhat mirrors the life of students at a special academy in Toaru series. To be precise, it is about a seemingly normal guy, Tohyama Kinji who enrolled in a special academy that trained Butei, an armed detective force. He dreams of leading a peaceful life (and even plan to quit Butei altogether), but an encounter with an S-ranked butei named Kanzaki H Aria forced him out of his wishful dream. I like the premise, and even more because the main character Kinji is not a wuss (thanks to his conditional Hysteria Syndrome which triggers his godlike combat abilities). The only problem I had so far with the series is that aside of Kinji, the other characters (As far as ep2 goes: Aria, Shirayuki and Riko) were very stereotypic, in particular, Aria who had the vibes of Shana all over her, so there's no need for me to decribe more. Well, on the good note, the series was made by J.C. Staff, hence the animation quality was always something to admire for. I wish the OP song could have been better composed though, the song by May'n sounds out of place with the series.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



C -Control - The Money and Soul of Possibility
MAL/Official
Genre: science fiction, thriller
Studio production: Tatsunoko Production
Number of episodes: 11

Comments: Other title was rephrased as The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. Regardless, this is one of the strangest anime title I've ever heard, in that it made little sense, and it was reflected in the story. Being an original series, it had a compelling theme, relating money and wealth of a person to their own future in the era when financial recession become a huge problems. The story centered around a college student Kimimaro Yoga who wished to lead a normal life, but an encounter with a strange man changed his life, as at the cost of his future, he was granted access to strange realm called Financial District, which allowed possibilities for him to make lots of profits/money. His role in the District is to battle (with the help of his Assets) against other people like him, with their money/future at stake. I really fancy this kind of strange story, along with the peculiarities that were brought from the Financial District, for example the black money which can only be seen by people who had gone through the District, as well as the mysterious guy that invite Kimimaro in the first place. The battle that took place in the District so far wasn't really the strong point of the series, but I do like the striking colors used, kinda give the prefect sense of strangeness to the world of Financial District.
Verdict: 3.5/5

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, seinen
Studio production: SHAFT
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Another amazing work by SHAFT, again with their world full of strangeness. When the story begin, we're shown a normal high school student, Niwa Makoto, moving to her aunt's home and is looking forward to his new life. But what we seen after he and his aunt Touwa Meme arrived home bring us to complete bewilderness - a girl about his age, wrapped in futon, lies at the entrance. The dialogue that follows afterward, with Niwa asking so many questions about the girls, gave him little answers. Then we know that his new life at his aunt's place is nothing short of extraordinary, filled with many kinds of strange girls. Just as the title suggest, the girls that Niwa encountered so far has been pretty weird in many sense. The futon girl, Erio claimed she is an alien, while girls he met at school, Mifune Ryuuko and Maekawa have their own kind of oddness too. Part of the twist involving Erio's disappearance in the past that led to her present state is really intriguing, in fact I would say the same for the whole story. As expected from SHAFT I guess, and they really did great with the beautiful animation. Strange and extraordinary was the central figure of this anime, and the OP reflected it. I personally do like the song though :3

p/s: futon moe.
Verdict: 4.5/5 (definite watch)


That's it for the impression. There's a few more series that I actually watched, but I guess it's too much to add into these posts.

The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 2]

Part 2 of Spring 2011 anime series.
Part 1


Hen Zemi
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: Xebec
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: aka Abnormal Physiology Seminar. And the story went exactly as the title went. It's about a university student Nanako Matsutaka, who joined a seminar/research team consisted by strange, abnormal people; and led by a rather perverted professor. And that’s pretty much what’s the series is all about - strange, somewhat funny and perverted fetish in many ways, showcased by the very unique characters in the series. The ideology and personal interest of the people in the group (except for Nanako, who seems to be the most "normal" one) made little sense, maybe none at all. How would a research proposal like "Secretly urinate in various locations in diapers"; "catch fart underwater"; "raising fruit flies in the auditory canal"; "studying borders that connect various part of body (aka indirect/long distance touch)" could make a decent article/thesis is beyond me. The OVA released last year gave a rough idea of what the series like, and despite the mediocre/simplicity of the animation art, I do find myself enjoying the comedies. A 15-minutes run for each episode barely hurt, right?
p/s: beware of scat element.

Verdict: 3/5 (still watching, for now)



Sket Dance
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: Tatsunoko Production
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: School Life Support Club (SKET-dan: Support Kindness Encouragement Troubleshoot) - a school club that accepts request for help and aids in order to provide a smooth school life. Not many people actually turned to their club to ask for help, hence they often did nothing at the club room, although once in awhile they do ended up doing odd jobs (kinda like Otogi Bank in Ookamisan). Three (and only) unique club members - the vice president Onizuka Hime (aka Onihime), a banchou who specializes in brute force; club member Usui Kazuyoshi who always has his laptop with him, and would speak with a voice synthesis software; and club president Fujisaki Yuusuke, aka Bossun who, if concentrate, can use his brain to solve various things. The series focuses more on the daily life of SKET-dan at school, filled with many ridiculousness and comedies, and occasionally the requests that they took and how Bossun often ended up using his "intelligence" to solve it (one of the few things I like about the series). It amazed me how the three of them can casually dressed like that compared to other student, but...ah well, who cares about logic. To some degree I did enjoy the show, but to me much of the comedies looked unnatural/forced (like many other shonen series like this) that it took away part of my enjoyment. The musics were nice and fit with the mood of the scene, but I feel many times the music was way too loud and hinders the character's voices, and that also was a bit of a turn off for me. I guess it's just me and my preference.

Verdict: 3/5 (candidate for drop)



Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance
Studio production: Nomad
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: I've never read any other material about this series, so the anime was new to me. After watching 2 episode, I am still not entirely sure of what to make of the series. Is it a harem split into 3 separate stories (like Ef), and how much random comedies affect the story? But one thing for sure, I do like what I've seen so far. Apart of the three main male characters (Takashi, Shuusuke and Hayato) and the girls that they try to deal with, the many others likeable characters involved in the series were really refreshing. The comedies (some which are slightly dirty, coupled with mild fanservices) are really amusing, and I guess this, together with the appealing animation art, are all I need to consider adding the series in my long-term watchlist. Well, as long as the next few episodes didn't disappoint me, and hopefully the plot would take its pace soon.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



Dog Days
MAL/Official
Genre: adventure, fantasy
Studio production: Seven Arcs

Number of episodes: 12
Comments: Downgrading nation war into athletic event is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in fantasy series. And this is what Dog Days is essentially about...It's a magical world, and like Zero no Tsukaima/MAR and many similar titles, our athletic hero Izumi Shinku was summoned from the modern day of Japan to the magical world, with the aim to help the nation of the summoner, Republic of Biscotti, a nation of dog, which was at the brink of being invaded by the nation of cat, Galette. But as stated earlier, the war in that world followed certain "rules/treaties" that prevent bloodshed (defeated soldiers turned into furball rather than dying), so it ended up as athletic event where soldiers poke each other, jumping and racing to the flag, and eventually the good part, "safe" combat battle with various kind technical skills and magical powers. So, the OP sequence is kinda deceiving, in a sense. I'm not even know whether to take this series seriously or not. Come on, would you say battles between factions in Takeshi Castle a war? There's twists involved (eg kidnapped princess, inability to return home etc), and unless the the story would deviate from the sporting event into some sort of proper war in a fantasy world (i.e. battles that didn't take place in the holy ground), I seriously would consider dropping this.

Verdict: 2.5/5



Yondemasu yo Azazel-san
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, supernatural
Studio production: Production I.G.
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Not sure if this really fit into a TV series impression, since each episode runs relatively shorter than average at 12 minutes per episode. The animation whatnot is average at best, and that's what expected for a gag show like this, but damn this series is awesome. I seriously ROFLOLMAO throughout the episode, and the last time I had this much laughter was when I watch Mitsudomoe (both seasons). The story is about a detective firm where a college girl Rinko Sakuma (Rina Satou) worked as part timer. Her employee, a “demonic” detective named Akutobe has the ability to summon demons from the netherworld. Things happened and to make it short, Sakuma ended up contracted with some of the demons which pretty much made her the master of those demons, instead of Akutobe. It is these demons that made the series epicly funny – depicted in funny deformed form, with unique personality. Azazel, a perverted demon of lust, specializes in sexual harassment but he often ended up screwing up the job. Beelzebub, a so-called prince demon, had the power to make any animal dump its load (aka shitting), though his real power is Bakuro – bringing anyone’s darkest, dirtiest secret to light. And also a scat freak, a shit-eating demon. A few more demons were later introduced, each with various fucked up abilities. This seriously is one the best comedy show I’ve watched, it's a shame that each episode runs for only a short 10 minutes.
Verdict: 5/5 (definite watch)

Seikon no Qwaser II
MAL/Official
Genre: action, supernatural
Studio production: Hoods Entertainment
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: Shamelessly, I admit that I like the first season ┐￣ー￣┌ It’s not a good comparison, but I like the Mai-hime vibes that the first season had, especially near the final battle. The story, animation, music and battles were excellent, and considering the theme/essence of the series (Soma empowering Qwaser), it is inevitable that massive fanservices existed. Well I’d rather had it this way than series were the fanservices were added for the sake of fanservice (eg Kanokon, Sekirei etc). The first season ended in what I thought separate the manga halfway through, with Sasha and Mafuyu parting ways. Now in 2nd season, Sasha returned with a new mission: to infiltrate an all-girl Seirei Private Academy, and find a woman endowed with Madgalena of Thunder (which the Adept were also looked for). For this, he had a new Maria – Katsuragi Hana (Hikasa Youko), who apparently was dumped (lol) by Katja for awhile. He also had to disguise as female, named Alexandra Hel. Sasha’s fetish toward boobs never recedes, still a breast pervert as usual. This is probably the series I don’t mind giving impression based solely off episode 1, since I’d rather watch the “director’s cut” version, and it took time for them to be released. Seems like several new characters were added in this 2nd season, and I am looking forward for Mafuyu (Ayumi Fujimura) to make her (re)appearance again. The OP by Faylan and ED by Shoujobyo was nice, though I do secretly wished for Faerie Yui (aka Yousei Teikoku) to sing another... maybe not in this season.
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

One more part to go.

The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 1]

New anime season. Honestly at first I really don't plan to watch much series since I'll be graduating soon and actively involved with my job, while also occupied much with several ps3 games that I borrowed last March. But since I've finished most of the games in my wanted list (except a few newly released games and oldies like Eternal Sonata), I thought it's best to catch up with the recently aired Spring series. The March 11 earthquakes that struck Japan seems to partially disrupt the schedules of some of the series, which saw some series were only recently aired, while other went as far as the 3rd episodes. As usual, I somehow ended up watching many of the new series, although will likely drop a few later.

A rather massive list, might as well split it into a few parts. Randomly selected for first part of spring series impression.

Maria†Holic Alive
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: SHAFT
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: I had a good laugh when I watched the first season some seasons ago (despite the yuri/lesbian theme). A comedy series typical of SHAFT - the unique visual art and the presentation so funny matching that of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei that never failed to amuse me. The continuation tale of the pure (!), innocent (!), incurable perverted lesbian schoolgirl Miyamae Kanako in her quest to follow the footsteps of her parent who met each other in that high school, except this time what she seek is a female soulmate, aka a yuri partner...The jokes almost always centered around Kanako's perverse thoughts toward other female around her, as well as times when she had to endure Maria (the trap in the series)'s bullies. Fine comedy series.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)

Nichijou
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio production: Kyoto Animation
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: "SELAMAT PAGI!" Honestly this single, simple greeting phrase used several times in ep1 and 3 were enough to (surprise) and attract me to the show. And then there's "selamat malam" and "sepak takraw" too (which apparently was also the case in the manga it was adapted from). Okay, back to what the series is about. It is a cute, light, slice of life comedy with simple and neat animation to complement the nature of the series. A robot with a corkscrew spring key at her back (and various "secret weapons" stored all over her body) created by a genius 8 years old girl, a friends of 3 schoolgirls that do random things, and some other weird people doing things in weird/funny/cute ways. This show is awesome, nuff said. It's random like many other comedy slice of life, but enough to make me laugh, good to relieve stress.
p/s: wow, who would have thought KyoAni would make a nice comedy series like this. Oh wait, they had one a few years ago (Lucky Star)
Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)

Astralotte no Omocha
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance, supernatural
Studio production: Diomedea
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: aka Astralotte's toy. Kugimiya had another loli tsundere character Astrarotte Ygvar, a spoiled succubus princess, added to her rich collection. Nonetheless, The synopsis in MAL was rather...enticing, but I really doubt that was the focal point of the series. A succubus princess of fairy, magical world of Ygvarland who supposedly hates men because of childhood trauma, but as a succubus eventually she needs to suck the seed of life (guess what it is) out of man and create a harem of her own, or else she'll die. Then comes Touhara Naoya (Satou Rina voicing him kinda turned me off, really seems off), a normal human from a modern day world summoned to the fairy world to save the day... A rather unique and bold premise. I personally have nothing against the story, but at the same time I also don't really find anything interesting about it (although I do love fantasy series), so I guess this would be one of the series I don't mind not watching.
Verdict: 2.5/10 (most likely dropped)

Sengoku Otome~Momoiro Paradox~
MAL/Official
Genre: action, history, samurai
Studio production: TMS Entertainment
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: aka Battle Girls - Time Paradox. A schoolgirl, Yoshino Hide (aka Hideyoshi Toyotomi) somehow ended up drifting in an alternate dimension of Japanese warring era where only female exists; and she eventually aids Nobunaga Oda in her quest to collect Crimson Armors and conquering the land. An all-girl themed like this (and eg Koihime Musou) usually is not the kind of show that I would follow, but the 3 episodes I've watched so far had been pretty enjoyable, to say the least. Especially since even Hideyoshi herself addressed the peculiarities of the world where only woman exist, and even questioning how human in that world were born. Despite not having comedy as it's main genre, I personally find the series pretty amusing. Nobunaga Oda was a rather nice and considerate warlord (she'd even blush roflol); Mitsuhide Akechi (how did eyeglass exist in sengoku period is beyond me) was a bit tsundere; Yoshimoto Imagawa had personality exactly as I expected, at least from the Sengoku Musou game (laid-back, not serious, vulnerable to provocations, and "that" laughing etc); and even more funny moments from Shiro and Hideyoshi herself. The animation was good enough for me, and I really like the OP song. Interesting way to use post-ED/episode preview too. There seems to be director's cut version coming, but for now I do like the anime as it is (though a bit of flashing is nice too :3)
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

Steins; Gate
MAL/Official
Genre: sci-fi, thriller
Studio production: WHITE FOX
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: One of the most anticipated series in my spring list. I’ve always like the mentally challenging theme used in Chaos;Head, and I expect Steins; Gate to deliver the same dose of mind-blowing twist. I’ve never had the chance to play the game (how I wish the game, which were released for ps3 and xbox 360 were translated), so the story was definitely a total mystery to me when I first watching the first episode. Wikipedia did somehow ease my understanding of the concept, in fact I ended up knowing things I’m not supposed to know (aka spoiled) about the plot… Well good thing the anime seems pretty faithful to the game. Anyway, the main theme of the story is time travel & paradox, where one day the main character Okabe RIntarou, ended up seeing many irregularities concerning things he did see but others didn’t and later discover that the microwave in his lab can perform time-traveling task and from then on, much plot twist occurred as more time traveling occurred. And hence many real life theories, devices & organizations were already thrown in the series mostly involves the concept of time & dimension (World Line, LHC, CERN (for SERN), Hund’s Rule etc). Heck, we might as well say the the game got such name is because of the time paradox occurring throughout the game (Stein's phenomenon). Having watched 3 episode, I could say that I’m liking what I’ve watched so far. Great animation, nice OP/ED songs (I’ve always like Sakakibara Yui’s FES/Phantasm Persona), and the voice acting was really amazing too (I really like Makise Kurisu (aka Christ)’s seiyuu. The characters also had intriguing/interesting personalities – a self-proclaimed mad male scientist who believes in time travel, a genius female scientist who didn’t believe in time travel (reminded me of Satou in NHK ni Youkoso, with all his belief in conspiracy), a hacker well versed in otaku culture (“your banana is all floppy” LOL), a clumsy girl who loves sewing cosplay costume, a TRAP miko, and many more. Chaos;Head was good, and so far I would say Steins; Gate was better. Definitely a show I don't want to miss.
verdict: 5/5 (definite watch)

Hanasaku Iroha
MAL/Official
Genre: drama
Studio production: P.A. Works
Number of episodes: 26

Comments: When I first read the synopsis and then watched halfway through episode 1, I thought it was an average drama series which normally didn't caught my interest (I admit episode 1 was a little depressing for me). But as I continue watching further episodes, I am starting to like the series. Having to cope up with carefree parent, the main character Ohana eventually had to move to her grandmother's inn to live, but life's not easy there (much less expected from her imagination), as her strict grandmother told she had to work at the inn to cover her living expense. And then it's pretty much drama all over the series, with a bit of comedies added to liven up the mood. The animation was absolutely beautiful, but really IMO the series is worth watching because of the message and moral story (finding one's self, and the concept of being independent and being able to depend on others), as well as the strong personality possessed by Ohana. Not to say other characters were not interesting since girls like Minko (I wish her seiyuu was someone else) had her moments too (trying hard to show her hate toward Ohana), and Nako certainly surprised me when her usually timid and shy attitude changed when it comes to swimming. A good watch so far.
verdict: 4/5 (watching)

That's it for part 1, there's still a lot more to come.