Mushi-Shi - Review

Duration: 26 episodes (24 mins each)
Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Drama

Often times I tend to watch anime to shut my brain off and simply be entertained by mindless potty humor and absurd harem scenarios, but every now and then I like to turn to something with a little more substance. Mushi-shi is a fairly recent anime I came across and thoroughly enjoyed. Non-anime watchers tend to make generalizations about how anime is unsophisticated and comprises of mostly shallow and fractured plotlines. In some cases, they would be right, I'm not going to lie about that. Aside, for anyone who tends to make a generalization about anime lacking wide appeal with various audiences, show them a few episodes of Mushi-Shi and they'll start to change their minds.

Story

Mushi are not plants or animals, they are the most basic forms of life in the world. Ultimately, mushi do not have a particular role or purpose in the grand scheme of things other than living. They can exist in various forms and mimic things in the natural world such as plants, fire, disease, clouds, and can cause an assortment of phenomena. No one exactly knows why they still exist; there is still a lot left unknown about different species of mushi.

Mushi-shi are those who research mushi to further understand their purpose in the world as a whole. Ginko is a traveling mushi-shi on a journey going wherever the next rumor about a mushi occurrence takes him. Throughout his travels, his role as a mushi-shi can be best described as a medicine-man, doctor, biologist, anthropologist, geologist--he's very multi-faceted to say the least.

Arranged like East Asian folktales, each episode is completely independent of the others. Each episode covers a different species of mushi which has caused problems for ones who have encountered and/or interacted with them. As the story unfolds, Ginko conveniently shows up to unravel the mystery behind that particular mushi, for better or worse. A simple formula, but it delivers on complex and powerful metaphorical messages to the audience.

Character(s)

Since each episode is unique in and of itself, Ginko is the only recurring character in the series. He is not a particularly dynamic character, but he exudes coolness; always with a cigarette in his mouth staring off into the distance in a contemplative state. Considering his profession as a mushi-shi, he must be knowledgeable about the nature of plants, animals, humans, and mushi alike. Almost always calm, composed, and logical; he is unparalleled to the people he encounters. Highly regarded and respected, one could evaluate him as a god-like character. Though not explained, his attire comprises of contemporary clothing which would hold him to be above or at least distinguishably different from everyone else who is dressed more old-fashioned.

In regards to the supporting characters, every episode's unique character is very plain for the most part. With most of them living a rustic and pastoral lifestyle, their lack of understanding about other worldly things such as mushi make it easy for one to sympathize with each respective situation. When progressing through the series, you'll start to notice each young boy, or young woman to look exactly the same; there isn't too much variance--only their stories will set them apart.

Voice Acting/Sound

Yuto Nakano, the Japanese voice actor for Ginko, does an amazing job with the lead character. His voice is calm, collected, and nonintrusive, but solemn and powerful at the same time. I honestly feel he was perfect for the role of Ginko.

The same goes for the soundtrack of the series. The series' opening theme by Ally Kerr, The Sore Feet Song sets the perfect tone for the show. Other tracks from the series comprise mostly of the chill and ambient variety. Unique to this series is an individual tune played at the end of each episode which provides a strong lasting impression of the events which occurred earlier; I was often left in a pensive mood afterwards.

Loved
Beautiful Environments: I'm a big fan of landscape art, and ArtLand did an impeccable job with the background landscapes. Mountains, trees, valleys, snow, and other environments are simply breathtaking to say the least. While the numerous characters in each episode look fairly standard and almost identical to one another, the scenery is nothing to sniff at--wonderful.

Universal Appeal: With most anime nowadays, it's very easy for audiences to get lost within the complex plot, unrecognizable jargon, or numerous pop culture references. As stated above, the plot in Mushi-shi is simple enough for anyone to watch, but has an underlying deep message for those looking for one. Each episode always leaves a hint of open-endedness/mystery for the audience, and can be interpreted in many different ways; it keeps one thinking about what would happen afterwards.


Hated
Repetitiveness: With a large platter of anime still to watch, I have a tendency to marathon through these series. With Mushi-Shi, one should take it slow and watch maybe one or two episodes per day. Each episode will comprise a section where Ginko will be explaining the facets of a particular Mushi; and it will get repetitive and tiresome for watchers to take in all that information and process it. Maybe, it's just me, but a fair warning.

The Lowdown: If you're looking for a fairly simple, yet thought provoking anime, Mushi-Shi is right up your alley. Artistic beatniks looking to be hip and cool can also give it a shot. Not all episodes were created equally, with some more engrossing than others, but with all respect, it's an excellent anime--highly recommended.

Notes: Watched all 26 episodes from beginning to end (niizk fansub).

Nyan Koi! - Review

Duration: 12 Episodes (24 mins each)
Genre: Slice of Life, Harem, Romance, Comedy

For anyone who has watched a decent number of anime in the last few years, there was been a significant amount of harem anime. In an already saturated market, writers and companies must integrate a certain 'hook' to make their anime stand out above the rest. Probably not the most original idea, Nyan Koi combines cats with some degree of supernatural phenomenon to hook possible cat and sci-fi fans to the show. As a person who has a slight interest in cats and fascination for the supernatural, I decided to give it a watch.

Story

Kousaka Junpei is your typical second year high school student who just happens to have a deep hate for and dangerously sensitive allergy to cats. Ironically, Junpei's love interest, Mizuno Kaede, simply adores cats. On a nonchalant walk home from school, Junpei kicks an empty can , accidentally beheading the cat statue of a guardian cat deity. As a result, he can understand and communicate with cats including his cat Nyamsus. However, he has to fulfill 100 wishes from cats to atone for his deed, otherwise a curse will set upon him where he will become a cat himself. The story develops as he tries to balance out his school life, his love interest with Kaede, and his ongoing duty to fulfill various cats' wishes. It's important to keep in mind that it is a very straightforward story; it's not meant to have serious plot twists or thrilling drama.

Characters

(From Left to Right: Kaede, Kirishima twins, Junpei, Kanako, and Nagi)

Kousaka Junpei: Our harem protagonist, he's just as dense as you would expect him to be. A typical high school student with awkward social skills; he's simply stumbling through his adolescence like a confused animal.

Mizuno Kaede: Mentioned above, she's Junpei's main love interest, but aside from her very good looks, she's awfully normal as far as harem girls are concerned. Having a fanatic adoration for cats, ironically Kaede has numerous dogs. She is involved in various athletic clubs/teams and what I would consider a 'nice' girl.

Sumiyoshi Kanako: The former childhood friend turned incredibly hot character. Introduced as a bitchy tsundere character with Yamanba makeup (a simple Google image seach brings up some interesting examples), she comes to her senses and is a decently well-balanced character. She's not just a pair of boobs thankfully; although the show likes to poke fun at them a lot--literally.

Nyamsus: The Kousaka's family cat. She's usually introducing other cats to Junpei who need help. Arrogant and full of herself, she's often very frank and blunt with Junpei. Just look at those intimidating eyes of hers (right). Not too integral but often times accompanies Nyamsus is her friend Tama. (left)

Ichinose Nagi: A super energetic and tomboyish character. Part of the track team with Kaede, she becomes jealous of Junpei when Kaede is distracted by him. Her sexuality is quite ambiguous to say the least, but honestly, I don't think we're interested in that. Nagi is somewhat of a comic relief character during the few dramatic scenes.

Kirishima twins (Kotone, Akari): Showing up in the latter half of the series, they help out Junpei on several occasions. Kotone is incredibly creepy with her stalker-like obsession with Junpei. Contrastingly, Akari completely despises him for some unknown reason. They appear basically to make the supernatural events come full circle, but in hindsight, they are part of the cast merely as fanservice for those with twins fetish.

Voice Acting/Sound

As far as I could tell, the voices were well suited for each character. No voices really stood out except for some of the cats. As the episodes progressed, every cat Junpei encountered seemed to be a female one, or at least they all sounded like they were. I didn't notice Nyamsus's companion Tama was a male cat until it was recognized directly in the latter half of the show which was pretty disappointing.

The soundtrack comprises some very easy-listening music. As far as I can remember, there aren't too many tracks that stand out. Dramatic scenes are distinguished by high-tempo tracks and sad emotional scenes are evoked with slow piano-themed songs.

Loved
T&A: Does this need any explanation? Nyan Koi seems to emphasize a lot more on curves than a typical harem. It's tasteful (most of the time) and contains no nudity, leaving more for your imagination, which I personally like. It just makes the show less embarrassing to watch in front of others.

Correlation to Cats: Although a fairly weak gimmick to hook in viewers, I thought the incorporation of cats was suitable. We may not understand how cats communicate, but this series made me believe that they have problems similar to humans; most of the times it is with food/hunger, but I think they have relationship problems with other cats as well.

Hated
Junpei: I honestly can't figure out why most harem lead characters must be overly dense. Junpei isn't necessarily dull as dirt; for example, Junpei is not bad when he's helping out each cat he encounters. However, when you consider the blatant advances by the girls in the series, it's simply hard to bear every time Junpei responds in his bland, irrelevant, and expressionless tone. He is stern on the matter of who he likes though, which I can accept. I can't say he's the most dense harem lead ever, but let's just say he's noticeably dense like the others.

The Lowdown: If you have a weekend to spare or if you have some kind of affinity with cats, give this harem anime a look. It's cat-themed plot takes a back seat to the slice-of-life-ness of the series sometimes, but I found it to have a distinct charm despite its standard harem cast. Enjoy it...it won't last that long...unless there's a second season.

Notes: Watched all 12 episodes from beginning to end (Frostii fansub)

Ouran High School Host Club - Review

Duration: 26 episodes (24 mins each)
Genre: Comedy, Reverse Harem, Slice of Life (school life), Drama


Call me lonely, bored, or just tasteless, but for the past few months, I've been watching a great deal of harem anime. What is harem anime you ask? If you were to take a guess at what it would be like, even for those who don't watch any anime, you would most likely be right. It's exactly as it sounds, a show in which the main protagonist (usually male) is surrounded by a harem of girls/women. Most of these plots revolve around these girls trying their damnedest to win their lover's heart. This is all fine and dandy, but what irks me the most about this genre of anime is that the main protagonist is always dull/lifeless as a manila folder. Most often times they are also completely oblivious to their surroundings and have the worst case of tunnel vision ever. When I came across Ouran High School Host Club and found out that the main protagonist was female instead of male, I just had to watch and see whether or not she would be as bland as her manila-folder male counterparts.

Story

Haruhi is a tomboyish girl at Ouran High School, a school for the affluent and ultra wealthy. She is able to attend by means of a scholarship but is frequently reminded of her status amongst her peers. On her way looking for a place to study, she stumbles across the infamous Ouran Host Club, a group of handsome guys who give hospitality to girls who seem to have plenty of time (as well as money) to spend on these 'hosts'. She tries to leave, but accidentally breaks a very expensive vase which she is unable to pay for. The club forces her to stay and pay off the debt by doing various chores and odd jobs until they notice that she would best serve as a host instead. Still oblivious to Haruhi being a girl, hilarity ensues as the host club prepares her to be a host; she's a natural and the club later decides to keep her despite knowing the truth. For the most part, the series revolves around the Host Club and the various activities they partake in as well as a number of problems that arise along the way. Problems that arise are merely episodic and although there is an existing storyline, nothing overly dramatic or powerfully moving ever happens; fairly normal for a slice-of-life anime.

Characters: Meet the Host Club

From left to right: Mori, Honey, Kyouya, Tamaki, and the Hitachiin twins (Hikaru/Kaoru). Last but not least is Haruhi sitting in the chair.

Some brief descriptions of the Host Club in order of relevance:

Fujioka Haruhi: The heroine of our reverse harem anime, sad to say she's fairly dull, but for some reason I don't necessarily hate her as much as her male counterparts. She's a fairly average person who just happens to make various/conveniently strong connections with the harem at hand. Her eyes got creepy for me at times (watch out they're deadly), but as long as you don't stare into them, you'll be okay.

Suou Tamaki: The president of the host club, Tamaki is very forward in his advances during his host duties. He plays the overly romantic and chivalrous 'prince-type' character. Aside from his typical personality, he is very oblivious to his surroundings as he incessantly obsesses over Haruhi.

Hitachin Hikaru/Kaoru: Honestly, you will rarely see these two not mentioned together on the show. You honestly can't tell the two apart on the show; which becomes a lingering problem for them. Surprisingly enough, Haruhi is the only one who can distinguish the two. The twins actively take advantage of their 'forbidden' brotherly-love to charm girls.

Ootori Kyouya - An intellectual type who is very transaction-oriented. He handles the finances/logistics of the club while constantly looking out for various ventures for his personal gain, often times for wealth or prestige.

Haninozuka Mitsukuni (Honey) - Probably my favorite host just because he's so damn cute. He's the infamous loli character of the show. Appearing to be a fairly harmless high school senior, there's more to him than his bunny-carrying-cake-eating self.

Morinozuka Takashi (Mori) - Often times linked with Honey, he's the stoic character who doens't get too many lines or appearance time on the show, but he's just inherently cool. A man of few words to say the least.

For the most part as with any harem anime, reverse or not, the characters fit within the typical archetypes of a shoujo manga. An unfortunate result of this is that these characters are fairly static. Towards the latter half of the series some of the host club members' personalities are expanded upon; but nothing too groundbreaking. It made me wonder why they didn't spend some time developing the characters for the rest of the cast. Regardless, I felt that the cast was instantly likable.

Voice Acting/Sound

As far as the music goes for this series, it's all fairly standard. The various settings, environments, and moods are introduced well with a mix of different strings/piano melodies. Humorous slapstick moments are evoked with cartoon-like sound effects while dramatic moments are stimulated by tense high-tempo beats. The opening and ending tracks "Sakura kiss" by Chieko Kawabe and "Shissou" by LAST ALLIANCE seem fairly standard to me. The opening's very girly lyrics may turn off some viewers from watching the show but for those willing to look beyond the OP, they surely won't be disappointed with the show.

I was thrilled to hear Miyano Mamoru's voice work for Tamaki as he sounded like a true prince and displayed his true talents during Tamaki's assorted outbursts of anger, remorse, and daydreaming. For those who are unfamiliar with Mamoru, he does the voice work for Yagami Light in the very popularDeath Note. I was also impressed with Saito Ayaka's voice for Honey; I don't think anyone can outdo her when voicing a loli character.

Loved
Self-Awareness: Despite Haruhi being a very dull main protagonist, at numerous points during the show the other members of the cast will mention how boring or lazy she is. Every episode has countless captions describing different objects and scenarios to add humor to the show, and it works. It feels like a director's cut version of anime with non-verbal commentary.

Houshakuji Renge: A fairly minor character on the show, (below) Renge pops in and out of the Host Club's activities. Due to her fanatical knowledge about moethemes she often appears to voice her opinion on certain scenarios. She's extremely loud and outspoken and simply makes me laugh whenever she rises from the floor, often times through some lift; which makes me always wonder why she's always around.

Hated
No Ending: Although the series spans over a whopping 26 episodes, as I mentioned above, nothing too significant happens. The ending left a few questions unanswered and left an overall sense of emptiness. This often happens with various comedy/slice-of-life series; they tend to emphasize the gags and humour in expense of cohesiveness and closure towards the end. I suppose this is where they hook fans into the manga afterwards.

The Lowdown: For those looking to have a couple of wholesome laughs or those looking for a change of pace with their harem anime, this is your ticket. I wasn't expecting too much when I started watching, but I was surprised for sure.

Notes: Watched entire 26 episode series from beginning to end (Lunar Anime fansub).