I was unsure of what to write for this website.  I tried out a couple of different themes and styles for an article, but having said I’d write something about four weeks ago I hurried up and settled on a standard review.  Being in the middle or near the end of three or four current shows I thought I’d wait to write a round up of them in a few weeks and instead critique a film I saw recently.

‘Ocean Waves [Umi ga Kikoeru/I Can Hear the Sea]’ is a lesser known Studio Ghibli production and as such was only released on DVD in the UK this January despite originally airing in 1993.  The film was made for television and direction was passed over to non Ghibli director, Tomomi Mochizuki.  The production was designed as an experiment for the younger staff to produce high quality animation quickly and cheaply, but the project over-ran and exceeded budget. Tomomi himself was already committed to directing the ‘Here is Greenwood’ OAV series with another studio, but because of his passion for the Ocean Waves novel he worked on both titles at the same time and was hospitalized during production suffering from stress after overworking.

Based on the novel by Saeko Himuro, Ocean Waves is a coming of age drama concerning the story of two friends and a new transfer student at their school.  The protagonist, Taku, narrates most of the story on a flight home from university.  He attends high school in a small seaside town with his best friend Yutaka.  When beautiful female classmate, Rikako, transfers to their school Yutaka is asked to show her around school and the local area and soon he falls for her.  Later, on their school trip to Hawaii, Rikako borrows a large sum of money from Taku under false pretences.  She uses the money to travel to Tokyo to see her estranged father, whilst Taku ends up accompanying her.  During the trip Rikako realises new things about herself and her current attitudes.  Before they leave high school to attend different colleges and universities the friends fall out over various disagreements.  Their differences are only resolved when they return to town a year later for a class reunion. Read more »

Filed under: Anime, Comedy, Drama, Reviews, Romance, Slice of Life | No Comments »

Hi there!

I’m new around these parts, so I’m under pressure to perform well in this review ;P

I recently received a very special item in the post from Japan. The worries i went through waiting for it to arrive were immense. As some people who know me already know, I am a die-hard K-ON! fan.

/me hides from barrage of moe-haters

I love the show, and specifically Mio Akiyama (i myself, am also a left-handed bass guitarist) enough to put down the cash to pre-order this figure. The Alter 1/8 figure is amazing, and totally worth it for the collector. And of course, I’ll tell you all in depth why.

And here she is in all her glory…

Read more »

Filed under: Figures, ProperBritish's Blogging, Reviews | No Comments »

Ain’t no sunshine where she’s gone.

This p/review will spoil the viewing experience. (Spoils contains plot information)

These are the words that open up the video game trailer of Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic is an animation theatrical adaption done by  EA Studios and Visceral. Dante’s Inferno tells the epic poem (real life terms used here), written by Divine Comedy. Dante, the main character of the epic is a warrior in the ongoing Crusades during the medieval time period in Europe. His life takes a turn when a random attack is coordinated against his village.

Read more »

Filed under: Action, Anime, Dark, Game, Slice of Life, epdemon's Blogging | No Comments »

Heres a quick roundup of my thoughts of some of the Winter 2009/2010 animes that are starting.

I tried to keep things short so you get a basic idea.. nothing more. Theres a good chance I’ll cover So・Ra・No・Wo・To and Durarara!! in more detail after a few episodes.

Chuu-Bra – Okay. I might seem like the kind of guy (or at least to some of you) who might want to find out everything about female underwere, lingerie and the such but no. Certainly not (in this way). Childish characters with “features” allowing (what will be and has been) plenty of boob touchy-feely and lots of pantsu. So much that even I find it rather distasteful. Pointlessness and crude humor cause me to run for the fire exit – knowing I could be spending my time either watching something else or hershey kisses when theres the need. – 5/10 – Dropped

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – Fun. Enjoyed it. Basically classes A-F based on exam results. A class is awesome. F is chocolate. Classes can go to war with each other to get the other classes places. Battle works by Test results = Stats for battle.. yeah sound a bit stupid but its undeniably fun. You wish school really was like that.. grades would shoot up. Seems to be a bit more childish than the rest but its high-spirited.. and nowadays you need something to smile about. [my sister dropped it for pointlessness, though] – 6.5/10

Dance in the Vampire Bund – This was undoubtedly a pilot/teaser to get things started. Was amusing at parts but the latter half seemed a bit pointless. I’d rather be guessing about what was going on later. Unfair to judge though. DON’T LET ME DOWN SHAFT! – N/A (;p)

Ookami Kakushi – I’ve found new reason to rage at anime. It comes in the form of Isuzu Tsumuhana. She. Is. So. fudgeing Annoying. In fact, she was so loud and over the top that it makes Hiroshi Kuzumi seem like an idiot for not telling her to SHUT THE fudge UP if she wants to be so close. As for the actual anime, everything is vague and nothing really interested me except for the Grim-Reaper-Girl and the few mentions of odd chocolate happening in the town. Heres to hoping it’ll turn out more like Higurashi… bring on the blood. Cut Isuzus head off while you’re at it. 5/10

So・Ra・No・Wo・To – Some people are calling it Military K-on. Which is funny if anything. Character designs are obviously similar but that doesn’t matter because the interesting mix of characters, promise for engaging character relationships and a fresh setting in Europe means that this is my 2nd favorite for this season. 8/10

Keeping the best till last!

Durarara!! – Some people will be very happy that there is an anime with a point this season when it seemed like all hope was gone. They kept things teaser-like for the first episode, introductions still – it was engaging, the animation was great, the characters seem interesting and the whole thing seems fudgeing cool. Good OP/ED tracks top off my now greatest hope for this season. If you’re going to watch anything – watch this. 9/10

If you want more plots/synopsis, go to AniDB.

Quaser, Omamori Himari will be posted soon.

Thanks for reading!

Filed under: Anime, Senseito's Blogging, Winter 09/10 | No Comments »

Finally we can have the first “real” post of 2010. With the first day of the New Year, and only with five debuts, we take a look at an upcoming anime which appears to be popular by various fansub groups. Sora no Woto is an anime  in which 15 year old Kanata Kumika enlists in the army to protect the fortress that overlooks the small village that is the setting in the story. Kumika is put into an unit with five other girls who share a similar interest in music, among other things. The 13 episode series is set to debut on January 4, 2010 on TV Tokyo.

Read more »

Filed under: Anime, epdemon's Blogging, winter 2009 | No Comments »

Hi there guys,

It may appear that the site is lacking content. However, we still are attracting visitors each and every day. With the start of 2010, we would like to come back and make Animeted better than ever. In the meanwhile, we want to extend our best wishes to all of our readers for a happy, great and prosperous year in 2010!

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »