Good
With over 20 years of material to pull from, Ah! My Goddess finally gets a long awaited TV adaptation. With good source material, the series does well for itself provided your ok with VERY tame romance / comedy. It manages to be sufficiently cute.
I hate amusment parks, but somehow anime can even make those fun.
While this is a must see for Harlock fans, the way the story is constructed is a bit shaky. Good from both a sci-fi perspective and as a classic title. Harlock is a pirate with road rage like no other, and has no problem with ramming his ship into whoever gets in his way.
Aria is the story of a girl and her friends, as they pass the days training to become tour guides on Gondolas. It's cute, it's slow moving and absolutely charming. That's also the reason it's not for everyone.
When the idols are yakuza members that had a sex change, you know this is anything but "just another idol anime".
A classic title that nearly everyone agrees is pretty darn good. The main problem is that it's too short, and only gets two episodes in to the Gunm story. Sad ending, but very good.
A gender bending Sci-fi buddy cop show. A good example of a well done 1990s OVA.
If you took a bunch of hot girls from a cosplay event, then stuck them in the middle of an NRA convention, got them drunk and really pissed off, this is about what it would be like. Black Lagoon is the ultimate girls with guns show, but has a decent premise and story to accompany it.
No summary
Mixing a guy who wants to play god, a child genius weirdo, a lingerie catalog model, and a killer notebook, wouldn't seem to be the formula for a suspense thriller, but then again this is anime. While not perfect, it's a surprisingly intelligent piece that starts out amazing, but tapers off as things go on. By the end it's still very good though.
A collection of 6 separate stories, each featuring a different girl with different problems. I've seen this setup go nowhere quite often, but I found it a pleasant surprise that the stories for DD are very strong.
An old school anime fondly remembered. Perhaps not as awesome as some recall, but a good high quality effort all the same. Fun, weird and exotic.
Excel Saga is the reigning champion among crazy anime comedies. In each episode a new topic of parody is selected for the Excel Saga cast. Good for a laugh, but how much mileage you get from it may depend on how familiar you are with the parody source material. How could you not like a show with such quotable gems like "You've betrayed us, Space Butler!"
Anime cooking battles have never been this... erotic.
It's like a harem anime taken hostage.
This takes Full Metal Panic and ignores the mecha action part to focus on the comedy. The formula is unusual in that it's based around transplanting an over the top military nutcase into the middle of a high school comedy. It works quite well, but isn't for everyone.
If you research your titles, beware of spoilers because there's some cool surprises in the first two episodes. Ga Rei Zero should have been another lack luster school girls with swords fighting monsters, but turned into a pretty good tragedy if you can relate to the characters. Did I mention this had school girls with swords?
A good movie with lots of charm and some insightful messages. Features a heroine which is absolutely adorable.
A girls with guns show that isn't a fluff title at all. Sets itself apart from other shows with unusal character relationships and interactions. Concludes in an abstract way some may not like.
I don't think there's any other anime which starts at such a humble beginning and progresses to such an epic end. A great title that spins typical anime stuff into a great show.
A slice of life show, with a fascinating environment. Patience required due to slow pacing, but the unique qualities make it worth checking into.
If you're into shoujo, then this is a title to be reckoned with as it's pretty much the defacto shoujo series. Seems like the ideal environment for a girl to be surrounded by outrageously rich hot guys... until they make her life hell and jealous girls tie her to a car and drag her around campus. I wish my school had lunchtime entertainment of that caliber.
Budget disaster strikes! Causing the animation into a hilariously bad tailspin. On top of that the story wanders off base as the series progresses. Still worth watching the first few episodes in my opinion.
With animation and designs are up to par, Initial D is now everything fans could ask for. Kesuke decides he's too cool for a cute girl with an AWESOME car. Takumi finally gets smoked on the Akina downhill, and the big adversaries are a couple of old dudes who are pretty likable.
Techno group Daft Punk team up with anime creator Leiji Matsumoto to create a 60 minute music video epic. The result is great, but dependent on your taste in anime style, and music.
This time I review reviewers reviewing ... whores. So this will require some explaining.
Acrobatics + showbiz provide a unique platform for a fairly solid anime.
Even if few of the strengths from the first season are carried over, New Wings builds up to match the first.
Okay, really dumb title, but good sci-fi that's a blast to watch with crazy fun plot twists and action. Science has advanced space travel, but can't bend physics enough to not get occasional shots from Eclair's ridiculously short skirt. (Seriously tame amount of fan service in the context today's anime, but this was a complaint by many when it came out).
Looks typical, but takes time to properly explore characters and flesh out scenarios.
An anime doing the RPG, but much more fun that most in the genre.
No summary
First of a long franchise, Macross is a mecha anime classic. Still worth picking up due to a great love triangle, and who I consider one of the best characters in anime Lynn Minmay.
Macross Plus takes the core Macross values (music / fighters & mecha) and packages them in a way that is outstanding. It's like a fusion of Top Gun with giant robots and a virtual pop idol added for good measure. Fantastic music.
Punie is a cute princess from the magical kingdom who is to spend a year on the Earth. Evil minions abound in their attempts to best Punie, but she's got all the submission holds needed to brutally assault anyone standing in her way. Beg for mercy and maybe she'll make you pancakes after you get out of the emergency room.
If you follow my site at all, you've probably caught on that THIS is my series. From outward appearances it's another sci-fi giant robot show, and taken from that angle it's pretty good. It's also very sly with its subtle wit in making fun of cliche anime elements and having a lot of fun with it. What I consider an anime fan's anime: highly recommended.
A throwback to good old days of horror anime (with sex), but is more intelligent and tasteful than those often were. Pretty freaky all the same. Immortal dog, nympho sidekick, and a towering stack of naked women... that's only the tip of the iceberg for Rin's story.
Sometimes the artist isn't who you'd expect.
Tales of Agriculture - an anime. You know this one is going to be different.
A love triangle where a guy makes an android to look like his crush, only to discover his crush likes him too. Many subtle philosophical points to this one makes it one of my favorites, even though its incomplete.
Fails to be anything new in the Teenage Romantic Comedy genre, SNAFU or not. May be worth checking out if you're okay with that.
Top of it's class as far as martial arts anime goes, Ninja Scroll set the bar for which all other titles are judged. Features lots of violence, sex, and more violence.
Vibrant, fun, energetic. Everything reality isn't.
Nuku Nuku merges robot girl and cat girl genres. What's scary is that its far better constructed then you'd expect from such a silly concept. The OVAs were produced over years, and are a lot of fun.
The boys at the Ouran Host Club provide "services" to female guests in order to entertain them. Their latest member proves to be a big hit with the ladies. But is also secretly a girl. It's a fun show that's not too deep, but has a story that's better than expected.
Space adventure series that isn't very original, but still fun. Likable characters, and a decent story. Takes the "hotsprings episode" to new heights by featuring an entire planet.
Typical school romance comedy. Stronger than many, but weak on some areas. I think most of us agree our college experience would have been much better if our dorms had cute pet girls.
I don't trust Chinese products, especially from Chinatown, nevermind dangerous pets. Even the bunnies are evil.
It's like an RPG version of the movie Groundhog Day. Almost like a video game where you keep dying until you figure the stage out. Gets kind of violent, but makes for an cool fantasy mystery.
Good morning. Read or Die is a high quality anime action / spy thriller featuring a cool setup, stylish animation, and music. Your mission if you decide to accept is to figure out why Yomiko needs a side job teaching. Doesn't she get paid enough saving the world? This review will self destruct in 10 seconds. Good luck.
One of those hidden gems in anime, Roujin Z is a cool sci-fi title that is well worth watching. If you think old people driving cars are a hazard, wait until they get giant robots.
Heavy and dark for a romance, but quite intelligent and insightful. Not what most people would want, but certainly something to consider if tired of the usual anime romance.
As one of my favorite titles, Shamanic Princess is a bit hard to follow due to the way the story is constructed, but it's also really abstract and surreal at the same time. Good animation, interesting music and fantastic character designs.
Monks of the Kougon Sect have the right idea. Why fight the undead yourself? Instead ressurect a hot school girl to become your undead minion, give her some machine guns and let her do the work for you. Shikabane Hime: Bringing necrophilia back!
Finally an anime that lives up to the trapped in a game concept. Not exactly high budget, but worth looking past some flaws.
Many classics don't measure up to their reputation, but I found Urusei Yatsura to be a funny show worthy of classic status.
Anime does something like a family restaurant sit-com.
A great romance tragedy, provided you're okay with tragedy. Musical integration also pushes this one to new heights.
A good fantasy anime, although fairly average. Truly shines with good depth in the lore, and a wonderfully developed romance.
An odd show which looks like it cuts corners, but grows into something pretty cool. Still tackles the hotsprings episode despite one character confined to a wheelchair.
