First Impression: Moyashimon Returns

Moyashimon is one of the few anime that I keep wishing for a second season and for once my wish is granted.

But somewhat I feel like the first episode fall short of my expectation.

Or maybe I just have a bad that and that influenced my enjoyment for the show.

Moyashimon Returns still featured the cast from the first season. Sawaki can still see all the microbes and everyone knew about this except Oikawa. The only difference now are the fact that they all identify Yuuki Kei as female (which somewhat pissed me off) and they forget that Oikawa is a neat freak. 

They still take time to explain to us how certain fermentation works and so on which failed to catch my interest at all.

It is a good thing then that they decided to stick with all the characters from the previous seasons because they were the one who made Moyashimon so enjoyable for me, especially the interaction between Sawaki and Yuuki.

this is hot 

A short first impression for this one. Deal with it.

Episodes: 11
Aired: Summer 2012
Genres: Comedy, School, Supernatural

arts & animation 6/10
story 7/10
characters 7/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 7/10
overall 6.8/10

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First Impression: Hyouka

I said in my preview that Hyouka is one of the show that has potential to be great, not just because of Kyoto Animation but the intriguing story line, if the synopsis isn't misleading that is. I have read quite a few opinions about this show on Twitter, especially when it was first released, and some of that opinions weren't exactly encouraging. So here I am several weeks later, trying to form my own opinion about this show.

First few minutes after watching the show, especially after Houtarou met Eru, I got this desperate feeling of wanting to rewatch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya again. Too bad I'm in my office and the DVD of Haruhi is nowhere near me otherwise I would have stopped Hyouka and totally rewatch Haruhi again. Surely I am not the only one with this feeling, am I?

It's pretty obvious, isn't it?
(c) Hayo Kiki

Hyouka is about a boy who is happy leading the "gray" life. His name is Houtarou and he is the kind of person that don't give a fuck about anything but not in the rebellious kind of way. He has a good friend by his side who is the total opposite of him, Satoshi. Houtarou joins the Classic Club at his sister's request. He thought that he would have some quiet time but when he entered the clubroom, there was already a girl there, Chitanda Eru.

It seems like Houtarou is drawn to Chitanda and he has no power to refuse her and her curiosity. I love the metaphor that Kyoto Animation used; Houtarou wrapped up in Chitanda's hair. There are something mysterious and at the same time romantic about it. And just like that, there are three members for the Classic Club that don't do anything classical at all but instead, solving the curiosity of Chitanda.

Since this show is produced by Kyoto Animation, I found no fault in the art and animation. If there is one thing they are good at, it's that. Same goes with the overall sound which includes the seiyuu the songs used for the OP and ED. However, atfirst, because of my desire to watch Haruhi again, I thought that Houtarou would have been perfect if they used Sugita Tomokazu for his seiyuu instead of Yuuichi Nakamura but towards the end of the episode, I have a changed of mind/heart.

Needless to say, I fall in love with this show, just like I did with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It was pretty much in an instant. I guess it has to do with the characters more than anything else, after all when it is all said and done, I'm the character-driven kind of fan.

Having said that, if every episodes is about Houtarou solving Chitanda's curiosity, I'm not sure how long my interest in this show will last.

Number of episodes: 21
Season: Spring 2012

arts & animation 10/10
story 9/10
characters 9/10
sound 8/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 9/10

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Bamboo Blade

I remember at one particular time, I was obsessed with sports-related anime. In my craze, I picked up Bamboo Blade and was glad that I did. It even makes me interested in kendo. Too bad I'm too old to pick up a sport, or to learn martial art.

Bamboo Blade is pretty straight forward in terms of the story line. We have a struggling kendo club looking for new members to ensure that the club will not be canceled. Of course, as the story progress they managed to gather new members, including two boys. The instructor is kind of good for nothing sensei. One day he met with an old friend, another instructor at another school, and bet that his club can beat the other kendo club in a practice match. The prize is one year supply of sushi (didn't I said he's good for nothing?). Anyway, somehow the practice match leads to the final tournament. There are nice mini stories, trials and tribulations in between that completed this story.

Bamboo Blade does a fairly good job explaining what Kendo is, the strategies and the ropes of the sport. As a total noob when it comes to Kendo, I didn't get lost in the plot trying to understand what has taken place.

Each of the members have eccentrics personalities which make this show so fun to watch because they are such a riot! The members of the club is the heart of this series and totally has the best character chemistry ever. Tamaki got to be my favorite character in the series. She's small and seems to have a quiet personality but she's one of the best at Kendo. Also she's an otaku, so she wins big time. Kirino is the responsible captain of the kendo club and have a close relationship with Sayako, the hilarious red-head. There is also Satori is the timid girl, Miyako who have split personalities and is totally in love with the very eccentric, very geeky, Dan the pimp. Let's not forget Yuuji who is the only sensible male around and seems to be the closest with Tamaki (I was hoping for some romance), and their failure of a teacher, Kojiro.

Despite this being a all female cast for the most part, there is absolutely no ecchi or fanservice to the pervert, which is something that I appreciated.

Kawazoe Tamaki. She might be small but she can so kick your ass to oblivion.

While it may not be the best looking series out there, I think AIC A.S.T.A, FUNimation Entertainment and Studio Tulip did a pretty good job with the art. The characters were designed with their personalities in mind and has such versatility to them. The overall animation is well enough to catch your attention and does not come off as an over kill. Only the background is lacking in character, imo.

The OP of this series is pretty catchy and lively. It will give you a sense of happiness. It also has a sweet ED too. Both songs were done by Hirohashi Ryou (the seiyuu for Tamaki). The background music too is pretty awesome, with epic orchestral pieces to hot-blooded insect songs. The voice actors did at awesome job to add personalities to the characters. They also did well in matching with the characters' various emotion. Did you know, Kojiro is voiced by the same guy who voiced Kamina-sama from Gurren Lagaan, with the same intonations and vocal gestures. It was sheer hilarity and full of epicness!



Bamboo Blade has it all: comedy, drama, romance... all rolled up into 26 episodes. If you are looking for a fun anime with great character chemistry and amusing anecdotes, then Bamboo Blade hits the mark just right. However I can't recommend it to everyone especially if you like plot twist and a fast pace non-linear storyline.

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed this series though :)

Art 8/10
Story 8/10
Characters 10/10
Sound 8/10
Enjoyment 10/10
Overall 9/10

Torrent: TokyoTosho
Fansub: Huzzah-Doremi

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