Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆ - Episode 1

Hidamari Sketchis back, and that's pretty much all I need to say in all honesty - Anyone who has been following this 'blog for any length of time or who knows me personally will surely know my love for all things that emanate from Hidamari Apartments.

As you'd probably expect, normal service is resumed by Hidamari Sketch ☆☆☆'s first episode... To start with at least. For the opening chunk of this instalment, it's Spring time, which also means exam result time for the two freshmen before Spring break begins. However, any excitement about said holiday is tempered as Yunocchi finds herself failing her English grammar exam, thus putting paid to any thoughts of fun and frolics. Of course, this being the heart-warming show that it is, the other girls from the apartments are all quick to lend a hand in their own unique ways, ensuring a happy ending all round.


For the rest of the episode, we're treated to a bit of tension and build-up for once, with the news that two new girls are coming to rent the two previously empty rooms at Hidamari Apartments. So, we see the girls (and the landlady's efforts) to clean up the rooms, before impatiently awaiting the newcomers arrival... at least, that was the plan, before the four girls go out for a meal with the parents of one of those newcomers after dropping off her belongings, leaving both of the newbies to be greeted by an empty apartment block.

I'm not going to apologise for gushing about this series on almost a weekly basis, because although I realise Hidamari Sketch is an acquired taste (it's probably up there with Aria on the anime Marmite scale) I frankly can't think of a better "pure" slice of life anime in existence. This opening episode of Hoshimittsu (in case those stars are getting on your nerves) showcases everything that is great about this franchise - It manages to make the most mundane things (retaking tests and dropping plates) fun, it has some killer laugh out loud gags (of which Miyako seems to get all of the best lines), and it makes you feel incredibly warm and fuzzy inside, with ever visit to Hidamari Apartments feeling like taking some time out to relax with old friends. I can only hope that the introduction of new characters Nori and Nazuna doesn't upset the perfect balance that this show has so often demonstrated, but with any luck they will deliver the extra freshness that this third full series perhaps requires to carry on the success of its predecessors. Add to that what seems to be the slickest, most fluid and beautiful rendition of this show yet (although it could just be the High Definition treatment that does it) and you can safely say that I'm one very happy bunny right now.

Ookami Kakushi - Episode 1

Considering that this new season anime is based upon a PSP game penned by Ryukishi07 (of Higurashi and Umineko fame), it probably isn't too much of a secret what to expect of Ookami Kakushi, and the opening episode of the series certainly isn't afraid to lay its cards on the table from the outset, kicking off with a young couple and an odd blend of declarations of love and something rather more sinister. Oh, and someone wielding a massive scythe.

However, for now it appears that such horrors are merely a flash forward, as we soon return to what appears to be normality. It's here that we're probably introduced to the show's protagonist, Hiroshi Kuzumi, who is moving to a new town along with his father and his wheelchair-bound sister Mana. No sooner has he arrived at the new family apartment does Hiro find himself leapt upon (quite literally) by Isuzu Tsumuhana, a girl who seems to take an instant liking to him, and much of this episode seems to be spent with Isuzu clinging to Hiroshi be it at school or on the way to and from it.


In fact, it isn't just Isuzu who has taken a shine to Hiro, as the entire class at his new school seem almost addicted to him despite his decidedly average looks and personality - Everyone that is except Nemuru Kushinada, a quiet girl who everybody seems to be avoiding, and who has no problem in telling Hiro that he annoys her. While all of this seems straightforward enough, there's plenty of foreboding built up throughout the episode even if you ignore that opening scene to the series, from the crackling car stereo through to Nemuru's effect on her fellow pupils and the story of how the new and old town where Hiro now lives are deeply divided. Oh, and there's that girl with the scythe again, which I suppose goes a little beyond foreboding and into the realms of "err, Dad, can we move again please?".

If there's one thing that has to be said about Ookami Kakushi from its opening episoide, it's that its visual novel roots show through very strongly throughout - The characters, the plot development and even the music all scream "visual novel" with every ounce of their being. Of course, this in itself is no bad thing necessarily, and I'm still suitably intrigued by whatever is going on within the show's machinations, but it could make for turning Ookami Kakushi into a bit of a Marmite show that you'll either love or hate as time goes on. At the moment I'm on the fence until I get a few more episodes under my belt, but the potential is certainly there for something that can at least be entertaining provided it doesn't forget itself and manages to focus on its key story without being distracted by fripperies.

Durarara!! - Episode 1

With a slick and stylish set of opening credits that throws more characters at us that you could probably find in half a dozen other anime series, Durarara!! certainly sets out its stall from the very first moment to prove that it means business. But there's more to anime than just putting together some drool-worthy opening titles, of course...

From here, we're introduced to the world of Durarara!! via the eyes of one Mikado Ryugamine, a fifteen year-old who has never left his home town before until now, where he finds himself thrust into the midst of a heaving Ikebukuro, a place set to become his new home as he looks to start school there. The reason for his decision to leave town and start life in a new place comes largely on account of Masaomi Kida, a childhood friend who moved to Ikebukuro several years earlier, but who insisted that he should give a particular high school there a shot.


So, this opening episode uses Masaomi giving Mikado a tour of his new surroundings as a perfect way to introduce us to at least some of the characters who will surely become bigger players in the the series as it progresses, be they a large black chef or a couple of Masaomi's friends who are wandering around with a cardboard cut-out of Spice and Wolf's Horo (a nice touch from Brains Base; it made me laugh anyway). As the episode progresses however we find our viewpoint shifting briefly from Mikado to witness the kidnapping of a teenage girl, only to see her rescued by a person who is the stuff of urban legend - A motorbike riding "monster" who wears a crash helmet but supposedly has no head.

Thus does Durarara!!'s first episode end, serving (as you would expect) as more of an introduction to the series than anything else so as to prime us for whatever is to come. As anime goes, it has to be said that it does a pretty good job of this - Mikado's fresh-faced awe and nervousness about everything is a perfect foil for the viewer thrust into this new series which makes for an exceedingly simple way to introduce a few characters, while this episode also hasn't forgotten to give us at least a little action and excitement courtesy of said headless biker, who certainly has some abilities worthy of serious tension. Above all else, this first episode simply oozes cool, class and style, making for a great-looking series that captures the feel of a bustling city for a new visitor quite exquisitely, and it's perhaps this above all else that leaves me yearning to see more of Durarara!! already. Who said this was going to be a poor season for anime?

Dance in the Vampire Bund - Episode 1

With a spate of murders of young girls going on in a particular Japanese town, and the sole survivor of the numerous attacks sporting a pair of neat bite marks on her neck while her surroundings were all but destroyed in what appears to have been some ensuing carnage, the country appears to be going a little bit vampire crazy. But do vampires really exist?

This is the question posed by Astraea's Balance, a panel style TV show that looks to deal with hard-hitting (and not so hard-hitting no doubt) questions by posing them to celebrities and the general public alike in front of a studio audience. It's through this programme that we witness the entirety of Dance in the Vampire Bund's opening episode, as its celebrity panel sets out their stall for whichever side of the argument they reside.


From here, we see the show beginning to reveal evidence in an attempt to sway the panel, eventually bringing forth a supposed "queen of vampires" who in turn brings out what she claims to be the arm of the vampire who has committed the murders in question. It's at this point everything starts to go a little bit Blair Witch Project, as a twist in the tale brings forth chaos in the studio before laying any doubts as to the existence of vampires to rest. But why would they decide to reveal themselves on national television after all this time in hiding? All is made at least somewhat clear by the end of the episode.

Every since it was announced that SHAFT would be working on Dance in the Vampire Bund, you couldn't help but be left with an expectation that they'd try to do something special with the series wherever possible, and so it is that this opening episode takes a pretty unique take on how to kick off a new anime series, giving us the exact same experience as the viewer of a slightly trashy TV show right down to the amusing use of product placement and rather cheesy feel to it all. This actually works almost perfectly, making the most of SHAFT's ability to pull off dialogue-heavy anime with aplomb and managing to resist the temptation to give away the twist in this episode too early. That leaves us with an excellently timed and scripted opener that will doubtless stick in the mind for some time, while also introducing us to at least some of the key tenets for the rest of the series in a simple but effective way.

While the nature of this first episode makes it nigh-on impossible to judge what the rest of the series will have to hold, it's an excellent and fresh-feeling way of dragging the viewer into its grasp, and if it's anything to go by I very much doubt it'll be letting us go any time soon. Put simply, this was top drawer stuff both conceptually and in its execution.

Hatsukoi Limited: Gentei Shoujo - Episodes 5-6 (Completed)

So, at long last Soako Andou's day at school sans underwear comes to an end, and without anybody discovering her shameful secret. Except she's forgotten all about the fact that she'd agreed to pose for the after-school art class today. Ah.

Needless to say, posing in front of a bunch of students with their eyes seemingly boring into her is quite an uncomfortable ordeal, made worse when Soako takes a break, picks the wrong faucet to use and ends up... well, Soakoed. Do you see what I did there?


With her clothes dripping wet, her lack of underwear threatens to reveal itself, leaving Soako to lock herself away, before being faced with the prospect of getting naked at school so that she can dry her uniform. There's obvious room for even further embarrassment here, but God bless young Zaitsu for not taking advantage of the situation and proving himself to be a true gentleman.

Needless to say, these final episodes of Gentei Shoujo were the pinnacle of this short series of Blu-Ray episodes in terms of fan service, revealing nothing yet suggesting everything - If Benny Hill were an anime producer, this is the kind of show he would have created. I cringe whenever I find myself using a phrase such as "fan service" done right, but actually Gentei Shoujo somehow manages to fit that bill - Yes, it's all just a ruse to send a girl to school with no underwear and leave her no choice but to strip off entirely, but hey, at least it managed to be somewhat amusing in the process.

Kimi ni Todoke - Episode 13

The previous episode of Kimi ni Todoke rather cruelly left us hanging right on the cusp of Kurumi's plan to snatch Kazehaya for herself by persuading him than Sawako was more interested in Ryuu - But surely such a plan would never work?

Thankfully, you'd be absolutely right to think that, and it's no real surprise to see Kurumi's plan fail outright. What perhaps is a little more surprise is just how direct Kazehaya's actions are in the matter, snatching Sawako by the hand and dragging her off somewhere quiet to ask her whether she likes Ryuu. For once, Sawako actually manages to answer clearly and concisely, leaving a relieved Kazehaya in no doubt as to her relationship with Ryuu, but the entire scenario finally brings into sharp relief Kazehaya's selfish and possessive side, which leaves him feeling ashamed until Sawako tells him that she really doesn't mind if he is like that from time to time. It's a surprisingly forthright conversation between the two of them, which only falls flat when Kazehaya brings up a question about dating which pretty much sails over Sawako's head.


Aside from that all-important exchange, the rest of the episode sees Yano continuing to hunt for proof of Kurumi's involvement in recent goings-on, while Yoshida singularly fails to "get it" when it comes to what Kurumi has been trying to achieve. This finally leads to a confrontation between Yano and Kurumi herself (who I think it's fair to say is now having a decidedly bad day); a confrontation interrupted by Sawako, who Yano has no problem with spilling the beans about what's going on to.

Perhaps a week without this series is a case of absence making the heart grow fonder, but I have to say that I absolutely adored this episode from beginning to end - The all-important conversation between Kazehaya and Sawako was played out beautifully, and actually showed us a different side to both of the main characters, while Kurumi's ever-worsening day was both a beautiful slice of serendipity which turned into outright hilarity as her odd behaviour gives Pin completely the wrong idea, in turn succeeding in embarrassing her in front of Kazehaya of all people. If that wasn't enough, even the climax to this episode holds promise aplenty - Just how will Sawako react to the news that someone she (wrongly) thought of as a friend has betrayed and used her? It's fascinating stuff, and Kimi ni Todoke's wonderful uses of character for story-telling, emotion and humour in equal measure is nigh-on perfect, while also leaving said characters so much room to breath and grow that every episode is a genuine experience. No surprise that a live-action movie of the manga which spawned this series has been commissioned.

Sora no Woto - Episode 1

Despite the recent announcement of an armistice in a war that has swept its nation, you wouldn't really expect to see a young girl jumping at the chance to join the army... even more so when it appears that her one passion in life is to learn to play the trumpet. Nonetheless, that's exactly how Kanata Soremi's life is panning out as she travels towards her life as an army private.


So goes the first episode of Sora no Woto, which sees the easily distracted Kanata arrive close to the Time-Keeping Fortress to which she has been assigned, before being led astray into the midst of a festival being held at the nearby town, succeeding in finding herself drenched and messy as part of their local traditions. Luckily for her she appears to have made a friend already who ensures that she's cleaned up and made presentable once again, only for Kanata to go wandering after the other girl loses a necklace which appears to be rather precious to her. Luckily, despite getting lost and wet yet again, Kanata finds the pendant, returning it to Rio in a fashion which inadvertently causes a little panic only to find that the girl in question is in fact her sergeant and trumpet instructor.

Given its aesthetic, characters (and indeed character traits) and aspects of its setting (i.e. "the music thing"), it's no surprise that the name of K-ON! is on everybody's lips when it comes to this series. To be honest though, it's hard to draw too much of a comparison beyond the obvious from this opening episode. Yes, there are some clear similarities (Kanata could easily be the new Yui for starters), and there seems to be a hint towards the everyday cuteness that Kyoto Animation's mega-hit thrived upon, but at the same time Sora no Woto leaves a distinct feeling that there could be more beneath the surface. For starters, we've only really had any kind of introduction to two of the major characters, the story of the town's legend and some of its associated plot points go way beyond simple slice-of-life anime, and the whole war setting (armistice or otherwise) thrusts an interesting angle upon the show. Will it choose to follow those more intriguing paths rather than going for cuteness and friendship? Who knows, but surely the episodes to come will reveal more about Sora no Woto's true intentions.