Summer 2010 in Anime: Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin (Occult Academy)

This is the show of the season. I've been waiting for this anime to come out since....well, since Chartfag gave us the list of shows for summer. Occult Academy is about a girl named Kamashiro Maya, daughter of the recently deceased principal of Waldstein Academy in Japan. Waldstein Academy, also known as "Occult Academy," earns its nickname from the strange and mysterious phenomena that occurs there, as we are helpfully told in the intro by a taxi driver who won't shut the fuck up.

It’s July 1999, and people in Japan are wondering if it’s the last day on Earth.  We're obviously able to relate to this thanks to all the 2012 doom-sayers who keep showing up at our doors and scaring away the Girl Scout cookie vendors. 

"That's not true. Stop telling people we do that."

Coming Up Next in Summer 2010

World War II was a devastating point in history that killed millions of people.

It shall always be a reminder of the unforgiving grip that power

and money had on humanity. The soldiers who fought in this tragic time

shall be honored for the rest of fuck it who am I kidding this is gonna suck.

Summer 2010 in Anime: Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi (Ookami-san and Her Seven Friends)

I'm currently watching an ongoing American TV Series under the name Leverage. It’s about these four ex-criminals led by an ex-insurance agent who form an elite team that mimics Robin Hood’s style of doing favors for the unfortunate poor by screwing over rich assholes. I haven’t gotten around to seeing every episode yet, but I will say that it’s a pretty fun watch. Anyway, I’m starting off this review this way because I couldn’t help but be reminded of Leverage as I watched Ookami-san and Her Posse of Intimate Douchebags. That said, I will not mention Leverage again.

One of these things does not belong.

Our main character, tough-guy tough-girl Ryouko Ookami, is a member of a professional club of high schoolers (a.ka. Otogi Bank a.k.a. the fucking mafia) that exchanges favors with other students. A client generally comes in with a request, which the team then tries to complete. After the request is fulfilled, the client must do them a favor in return. In this episode, a girl named Kakiri wants the team to stop her love interest Akihiro Ouji from quitting the tennis team due to his broken leg (I'm sorry, what?). The show proceeds to successfully parody Cinderella as the team tries to prevent the guy from submitting his resignation form. It also gives us some very funny narration by Satomi Arai, the voice actress of everyone's favorite lesbian, Shirai Kuroko. Actually, I don’t think she even bothered trying to come up with a different style of talking for the show, half the time it feels like I’m watching DVD outtakes of Railgun.

OH FUCK I KNEW IT

Summer 2010 in Anime: Highschool of the Dead Review (Ridiculously Lengthy Edition)

Yes, "Highschool" is one word, apparently. This is the show that a lot of people have been excited about for the past few months. I did a Google Image search to find a main picture for this blog post, and I got these on the first page (NSFW):

You stare at this for a few seconds before realizing the 
image isn't getting any clearer.

The images tell us everything we need to know about the show. They say a picture's worth 1000 words, and we already have 15,000 words screaming at us that this is going to be a show heavy-laden with fan service, boob jiggles and whatnot. What we don't see is zombies. I'm not really into these types of shows, so I need a different incentive to watch. We all came to see the undead, it's in the title of the show for God's sake. Well, don't fret too much, because there's only about thirty billion of them wandering around the city trying to fuck shit up. Excessive swearing aside, let's begin.

Summer 2010 in Anime: Ookami-san (Preview)

Well, summer's here, and my computer needs a new motherboard. But this blog isn't about my problems, it's about my problems with anime. Or something witty(?) like that. As usual, good old Chartfag give us the rundown. Not a lot of interesting titles save for a few (Cat Shit One? BRILLIANT).

The first show of interest to me is:

It's as if somebody took Aisaka Taiga and superimposed her head onto Horo from Spice and Wolf. Then they took the pink-haired schoolteacher from Index and put her in a blender with Strawberry Shortcake and Little Red Riding Hood.

Currently Watching

Due to computer problems, I am limited to an ipod touch for watching shows. As a result, all other shows are postponed except for a select few that I have decided to watch on *sigh* Youtube. I hate streaming shows, but this is the only way I can watch anything. Here's the list (it's a lot larger, but like stated earlier, computer problems prevent me from watching anything):

K-ON!! (S2) - Cruelly depressing in a "your lifelong friends will never be this nice" kind of way. KyoAni never fails to make a splendidly animated show, and it helps that it's marketed towards an audience of moe fans, a demographic which I do not completely fall under (yet, at least). (8 of 11 eps watched)

Arakawa Under The Bridge - Studio Shaft usually does well with a gag series, especially under director Akiyuki Shinbo's unique style ("let's get more closeups of their eyes"). Hiroshi Kamiya once again has a lead role and does not disappoint. (8 of 11 eps watched)

Bleach - When it's not being a subpar and disgustingly predictable shounen fighter series, it can be entertaining to watch...AHAHAHA no. Out of the 23 episodes that I've managed to sit through, I've enjoyed probably 2 or 3. Not looking good, but hopefully it will get interesting. (23 of fuckinginfinity eps watched)

More thorough reviews will follow later.

Katakana Charts

Katakana Chart, for my future reference. Just ignore it, I needed a place to store it that wasn't on a USB stick.

I have no reviews ready yet due to my computer being in a state of disrepair (which is an understatement), but it's a guarantee that they will be anime reviews of Summer 2010.

Bamboo Blade Picked Up

Thank God for Funimation On Demand and Youtube uploads. I'm not a big fan of dubs, but I need to watch something to keep me entertained besides keeping up with the new Summer Season on American TV. Luckily, there were subtitled episodes of this show on Youtube.

Now, in case you don't know what kendo is, good, because I don't either. Judging from the show, it's sort of like fencing except with bamboo sticks (or blades, hence the title). Unlike fencing though, you also get to wear armor, thus it's automatically a sport for pussies.

I take that back.