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Synopsis
Kaname and Sousuke are back in action! And this time, the battleground is the school ground! High-yield explosives and hilarity come together with a bang as the somber soldier and his unwitting target brave everything from lovesick “terrorists” to an unforgiving teacher who is bent on revenge. But as good as he is with guns, Sousuke is one clueless commando when it comes to girls – especially Kaname! Don’t miss the hilarious antics of everyone’s favorite military manic – and Jin High’s most fiery female – as the full-throttle action begins!

Review
Roll out the Dave Chappelle’s “Wrap-it-up” box because it is over. This has to be the best comedy of the year, hands down, no doubts about it. Just watching this show got me on the floor dying from laughter (if that can really happen). Man, this series is fun and very amusing. There is just no better way to put it. For those who do not know, Fumoffu is a different approach to what you would expect from Full Metal Panic. It emphasizes on pure laughs and fun filled scenes from beginning to end, episode to episode. And that is where I have to give out props. It is a flawless transition from all that fighting to the normal days of life for a high school student. You would not even stop to question yourself if you are really watching “Full Metal Panic,” because it does not matter. What matters are the pains you will be developing in your stomach from all that laughing you will be doing upon coming into close contact with Fumoffu.

Now where do we start? I mean, we all have been longing for a sequel to Full Metal Panic and although it is not quite like the original, I will still take it. Oh and by the way, the second season of Full Metal Panic should be airing on Japanese television soon. It will be a while before it gets to the United States, but I can wait, there are so much more anime that I need to watch and review. ARGH! Okay, back to Fumoffu. I just cannot stop boasting about the joy that I get from this series. It is wonderful, fantastic, awesome, amazing, and etc. You get the idea.

The show maintains a consistency through out the first volume. The episodes are well planned. And depending on what kind of anime fan you are. This is probably the best anime money can buy now, because you are guaranteed to get what you paid for; a bunch of laughs, and a thrill of a life time to experience something so damn good. Come release date, I can just see copies of this show flying off the shelves. :)

The Breakdown
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu leaves me speechless. The humor was one of the best that I have seen lately. I definitely suggest you look out for the release of this title. If you miss it… do not worry, Bonta-kun will get you. Fo’ sho’.

Synopsis
Seiji ‘Mad Dog’ Sawamura is the ultimate high-school punk. With his upper-strong, invincible right hand, he can punch through cement walls and lay waste to entire street gangs. But street cred comes with a high price - every girl in school is absolutely terrified of him! Just when he thinks he is doomed to forever date imaginary girlfriends, Seiji’s right hand becomes an actual girl! Midori Kasugano wished she could be by Seiji’s side… but ended up somehow attached to his wrist. Seiji’s fighting days may be over, but his girl-trouble days are about to begin!!

Review
Ever wonder what it would be like if your right hand suddenly became a cute living doll sized girl? That is the problem our friend Seiji is having here. The man who everyone fears because of his ‘delinquent’ ways, and the man who has been rejected by twenty girls in his life, now has his own girl problems to deal with; a girl who loves him… but the problem is, she is his right hand. Before you go thinking some ecchi things, Midori is really a girl :P.

Midori Days volume one is very entertaining. But at times it makes you think, is it supposed to be this smooth? It is like there is nothing stopping Midori from doing what she is. Usually in anime like these, a character with the characteristics of Midori usually misses her family after a while and whatnot, but what we have here, is a one time thing. Midori’s family was only shown in one episode and that was it. Nothing was touched on them any further, although I would be surprised if it continued that way onto volume two or three.

I like Midori Days, it caught my attention from the start with Seiji’s fighting capabilities and then his personality, which is similar to a lot of other anime that features a main character who knows how to fight, but at the same time is not a punk about it. I guess it all comes back down to Midori, whom is the engine that makes everything run. Her carefree attitude is so adorable. I wonder why she could not do the same thing to Seiji when she was human. Man I want to see more of it already! And the only bad thing is that I cannot complain, because there are five episodes with a run time of one hundred twenty five minutes in this volume! Sigh…

The things that this show possesses are great. The comedy here is well done, and it is just about what you can expect from any other shounen title. The plot currently is all happy-go-lucky, but I am pretty confident that it will take on a more serious route later on. Media Blasters deserve a lot of props for bringing fans a series that will most certainly be on my top tens’ list. High five Anime Works!

The Breakdown
This anime piece we have here has about everything you would expect from a title of its genre. Its unique approach is amusing and just lovely.

Synopsis
No, that’s not a skin-tight pink costume — it’s her skin! She’s Kekko Kamen, the dynamic denuded damsel who fights injustice in the altogether. Her mission? To expose rampant classroom corruption at the Big Toenail of Satan’s Spartan Institute of Higher Education — all while repeatedly rescuing everyone’s favorite victim, the beautiful (and often naked) Mayumi Takahashi, from the Institute’s terrifying torture chamber!
Will our skin-clad crusader be able to straddle the line between indecent exposure and her desire to win decent treatment for the school’s succulent student bodies?

Review
Kekko Kamen is such an absurd anime, but it manages to stay fun with all the weirdness that it contains. A heroine who wears nothing but a mask, a pair of boots and gloves, and does strange maneuvers to defeat her opponents… you just cannot beat that. Go Nagai (creator of Cutey Honey) has a rather unique mind to have thought of doing something like this. I do not know how many times I chuckled through this anime. It was certainly a good strange anime.

Mayumi Takahashi is a regular high school student, but her luck really is not all that great. The school is constantly finding ways to torture her whether it is a Nazi S & M queen, a Hercules look-a-like dude, a beautiful punishment android or a perverted photographing samurai. But through all her hardships, Kekko Kamen always comes and saves the day. Although the principal and the teacher does not know whether to categorize Kekko Kamen’s beatings, pain or pleasure :/.

Kekko Kamen is a whack job of an anime and it flows quite well with anime fans these days. A suggestion I have for you though is… do not watch this when a child is around heh. It is rated mature after all. You also might not want to watch this when your parents are home too. Just a little tip.

The Breakdown
I guess you cannot get anymore extreme than a nude heroine right? Kekko Kamen is certainly an eye opener ;).

Synopsis
Meet Yucie. A girl under a spell. She wants to be a Platinum Princess, and the only way to do that is to attend the Princess Academy. Under the guidance of Queen Ercell and with the unwitting help of a schoolmate named Glenda, a princess from the Demon World, she will embark on her journey to obtain the Tiara of Eternity. As Yucie meets new friends and works odd jobs, she will discover that becoming a princess is more work than she thought.

Review
Petite Princess Yucie is an amazing piece of work. There is a great deal of fun involved in it. The story is touching at times and it blends together so well with the characters displayed. The animation seemed as if it was a reflection from water; it was so fluid and lucid that I was fascinated by its beauty. Well, you can say that all of this was expected from a title by Gainax. But let us put the producer part aside, Petite Princess itself is a very entertaining series that will certainly have your emotions running on its edge as it progresses.

So an anime about a girl with the situation Gary Coleman has, that is so boring right? Not! Petite Princess plays with your emotions throughout. You will feel anger, happiness, sadness and whatever else you can feel. Those three emotions are the ones I recall myself feeling as I was watching this show, but there is certainly more than what meets my eyes. The beautiful aspect of it; every episode has some sort of moral in it. At the beginning of Yucie’s day might be despair, but at the end, the show will work itself to something joyful.

What else can you expect from Petite Princess? A bunch of unusual characters that is what! The shy and quiet Cocoloo, the always energetic Yucie, the “what rhymes with witch, but starts with a B” Glenda and the list goes on. These characters make the show that much more interesting. I mean, sure, sometimes you might find the arguments that Yucie and Glenda have are annoying, but when you look at it lightly, it is quite hilarious the way that they get at each other’s throats. I am undoubtedly astonished by this title and I will be looking forward to the next installments.

The Breakdown
Petite Princess Yucie is awe-inspiring. The foundation of this piece of art is built strong by Gainax from top to bottom. I am certainly liking what this title is showing me.

Synopsis
Darkness hides the pieces of her beloved’s shattered heart, and time is running out for Duck to find them. Using the power of an enchanted amulet, Duck becomes Princess Tutu to uncover the mystery and keep herself and the Prince alive. What secrets bind this passionate girl, a clumsy duck, with an omnipresent storyteller?

Review
In a world where talking animals are seen as a norm, and a story based on another story, comes this fun and elegant piece called Princess Tutu. This anime is probably the only one with the simplest names to remember! Mr. Cat, Anteaterina, Duck and etc. From the character names you can probably guess what age group this is aimed towards; twelve and up. Do not be discouraged by its demographics though. This title is suitable for people of all ages. I certainly loved the unexpected comedic segments and the art of ballet portrayed in this show; it was a fresh idea that I have never seen.

As stated before, Princess Tutu is a story within a story, or if you want to make things a bit less complicated, it is the sequel of a book titled “The Prince and the Raven.” The author Drosselmeyer past a way as he was writing the story, but magically he appears before a duck who was admiring the ballet performed by Mytho (The Prince) and poof, duck becomes Duck (human).

The main point of Princess Tutu is that she must find the broken heart shards of the prince. Upon retrieving each heart shard, he will regain a piece of emotion. Thank god the retrieval process is going pretty fast, because I just cannot stand the dead voice of Mytho. The guy sounds like he is struggling for a breath of air just to say, “I don’t know.”

The Breakdown
Princess Tutu is an enjoyable cute little title with a great music score. Those who are macho fans will not like the ballet aspect of the show, but I am certain that every fan will discover something to like about Princess Tutu upon viewing it!

Synopsis
Mix Juice, a hot new girl band, is managed by Michael Hanagata… a man who would do anything for success! But he’s underestimated how serious the girls are about making their dreams come true! No matter what he throws at them, they’ll do whatever t takes to “make it!” And they’ll do it with a smile. Destiny takes a turn, when Mix Juice hooks up with Dr. Susumo Tsukumo, a boy genius scientist, who wants the girls to be the first band on the moon. Will their career soar or plummet? Will perky Kiku #8 keep them safe or drive them crazy!? One thing is for sure: there’s never a dull moment when you’re chasing your dreams Wandaba Style!

Review
What in the world is Wandaba exactly? It is like Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemi gone proper, which is a good thing. This crazy zany show is officially better than any of the loco shows out there. I mean there are girls, comedy, and girls and comedy and girls and more comedy. What more do you need? Absolutely nothing, as you toss in the fact that these girls will have to perform on the moon with the assistance of a genius scientist kid, Dr. Tsukumo. In each episode, Dr. Tsukumo attempts to send Mix Juice to the moon utilizing natural means, but it ends up with a calculation error or another as they fail to land on the moon. With these strange girls and their wacky characters, a lot of amusement is created. I just love how this show keeps its sanity within the insanity. If that make sense or not :).

The Wandaba theme will give any viewer a bad case of earworms; I mean it just hits you without you even noticing. Soon enough, you will bop to the theme, every time they go Wandaba Style. This show is hilarious, Kiku #8 is a real treat, and she keeps everything calm even when Mix Juice was facing a life and death situation. But then, her energy ran out on them without telling them how to control the ship back to Earth. Whoa was that a sight to see, when the girls go wild out on the ship.

This blend of comedy and craziness is finally right. The various personalities will have you wondering why all the other shows like this cannot be like this. You know, be entertaining and comprehendible? That is one thing most of these shows lack, since every attention is paid to try to get a cheap chuckle out of the viewer. Wandaba Style is no cheap chuckle; you will find yourself laughing out loud and at the same time loving what you are watching.

The Breakdown
With a full cast of fun characters, along with a tremendous amount of laughs dished out. Wandaba Style will make a mark in 2005! Watch for it.

Synopsis
Enter Sawamura Seiji. He has spent the last 17 years and two months of his entire life without a girlfriend. His record now stands at 20 rejections. Well with a reputation as Mad Dog Sawamura and his Devil’s Right Hand, it is far from easy to find a girl that will accept him. They are either afraid of him or see him as a delinquent. Is he doomed to spend the rest of his life with only his right hand as his lover? There is more truth to this statement than it seems when magically out of nowhere a miniature girl is affixed to where his hand used to be.

Review
Midori no Hibi is one of the latest and by far the best of the romance animes of 2004. It is the most bizarre idea ever that can only be made possible in the anime world. A beautiful girl, not to mention naked, attached to where your fingers and right palm once were. This takes the mysterious dream girl appearing out of nowhere animes like Ah! My Goddess and Ai Yori Aoshi to a whole new level. It is like the story of sleeping beauty minus the annoying dwarves where Midori, who is incredibly shy in real life, finally gets her wish granted to confess to Seiji her true feelings about him. Seiji, Midori’s prince, must first cope with his new lifestyle with a talking right arm and find a way to merge Midori back to her original body.

The official website is simple enough, http://www.midorinohibi.com. On the front page is a cute picture of Seiji wearing the scarf Midori knitted for him.

The Breakdown
Seiji for life! Seiji Zakkon!

Synopsis
Koji Maeda is your typical high school student who is looking for a part time job over the summer. He seems to have found his calling at Pia Carrot. More like he can’t resist all the pretty girls. While contemplating his destiny, out of the blue, a girl dashes across and collides with him. He later finds out that the same violent girl he bumped into earlier will be his coworker from now on. No way can life get any easier for Koji!

Review
The PC game to Pia Carrot 2 was released in Japan in 1997 followed by the SegaSaturn version in 1998 retailing for  ?7200 ($65.16). The anime is the sequel OVA series to Pia Carrot 1 but with a brand new cast (like how Onegai Twins is related to Onegai Sensei). It is a non-hentai version of similar events in the Pia Carrot 2 hentai DVD. Yusuke Kinoshita is the owner of the 2nd Pia Carrot restaurant. He only makes a brief appearance next to Aoi. You discover that he is soon getting married (to Satomi?). Rumi (Yusuke’s sister’s) appears in episode 4, a dyed blond, and works at the resturant to help out with the Autumn Gourmet Fair. Rumi will be turning 16, and has matured from what was seen in the first game. DX contains most of the characters from the video game, minus Sanae, Harue, and Tomomi. The storyline of Pia Carrot 2 follows Hinomori Asuza-san’s ending, the hardest person to win over.

The game site can be found at http://www.interchannel.co.jp/game/pia2/index.html The bottom link takes you to the Pia Carrot 2.5 page with character profiles.

The Breakdown
Short romance anime. You’ll appreciate the minor characters for their funny remarks. Koji might cheer on every girl that works hard but when it comes to Asuza there is no stopping their arguing. They are like two reincarnated warlords.

Synopsis
Mugen’s a buck wild warrior-violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin-mysterious, traditional, and well-mannered. These two fiercely independent warriors couldn’t be more different from one another, yet their paths cross when Fuu, a ditzy waitress, saves them from being executed when they are arrested after a violent swordfight. Fuu convinces the two vagrant young men to help her find a mysterious samurai ‘who smells of sunflowers.’ And their journey begins.

Review
This show has been getting a lot of hype. And for good reason. Reason one: the guy who directed Cowboy Bebop, Shinichiro Watanabe, is also directing Samurai Champloo. Reason two: one of the two credited screen/scriptwriters for Samurai Champloo was also one of the credited screen/scriptwriters for Cowboy Bebop (Dai Sato). Reason three: the other screen/scriptwriter, Shinji Obara, has made it a rule (basically) that no character can have more than two-three lines of dialogue before someone else speaks, so as to cut down on needless and annoying exposition, an anime staple that really does need to go away. These three reasons alone are good enough to create the hype Champloo has been getting, and in the end it’s well deserved.

It’s unfortunate though that this show gets compared to Bebop so much just because of the same scriptwriter and director. Bebop is a class A anime, and to top it (even by the same people) is an unfair pedestal to put this show on. I’ll state here and now that so far, Champloo is not as good as Bebop. But it’s still amazing in its own right, and far better than most other anime shows out there. So far, anyway. But please, put the Bebop comparison aside. This is its own show.

The first thing I should mention is the animation for this show. It’s amazing. Along with the splendid roughness and gritty character designs (a far different style than used in Bebop), the animation is fluid and colorful, while keeping a darker, more somber tone in the background. Colors represent characters, with Fuu’s kimono looking bright and happy, Mugen’s clothes looking fiery red (to symbolize his recklessness) and Jin, who wears dark, foreboding colors. The fight scenes especially scream of high production values, where every fight is shown on screen instead of blue sword-slash still-screens or off-camera action. The action scenes in Champloo are treated like good, real action sequences.

The music as well, with hop-hop artists like fat jon, Nujabes, and Tsutchie contributing to the score, is stellar, and took me by surprise (I mean…samurai and hip-hop?). Watanabe planned the show around the music, and it shows. He shows and treats the show with the inventiveness that hip hop showed in its early days. He doesn’t take the show to seriously, and even goes so far as to use record scratching as a transitional tool. It’s very slick.

The Breakdown
The hype was called for. This show rocks completely and I absolutely cannot wait for Vol. 2 to come out. In fact, I think I’ll go rewatch it again right now.

Synopsis
A tale from the day of Valentine…

Every day in the life of Mizuhara Ryo and his younger sister Akane ended normally. They would wake up, go to school together, work tables at the Plavi resturant, come home and eat dinner. That was until one day a complete stranger in a pink jump suit literally crash lands through their glass screen door. Beneath the attire is the dazzling super flower of Japanese womanhood, the warrior of love, Masuda Shizuka! To their surprise, Shizuka announces that she is Ryo’s fiancĆ©e. Let the days of love and trials begin!

Review
Final Approach is the anime adaptation to the Playstation 2 dating simulation game of the same name released recently in Japan on October 7, 2004. This is Princess Soft’s third game turned anime, the first being Natsuiro no Sunadokei. Final Approach was aired concurrently with Princess Soft’s second game anime title W-Wish. The anime spans 13 episodes, and each episode is roughly 12 minutes long.

The official japanese anime website can be found on the left side of http://www.trinet-ent.com/princess_hour/index.html. There you will find character sketches, episode summaries accompanied by screenshots, a staff list, and DVD release dates. The game site is located at http://www.oaks-soft.co.jp/princess-soft/final/index.html. At the bottom of the index page is a mpg file of the opening trailer. The left bar navigates you through story information, individual character profiles, and back to the main Princess Soft website.

The Breakdown
Welcome to Pia Carrot…I mean Plavi!