Are you a Zombie?

Alex: The harem is a staple of anime nowdays, if i’m honest. It sells, and it’s got a huge fanbase for some reason. However, every now and again, something which redefines the harem genre comes along. Welcome to Zombie.

So. You have a guy. But actually, he’s dead. And he’s a zombie. And he’s a magical girl. Yeah, that’s right. The universe should implode at that very statement. He’s living with a necromancer. Who can’t talk so communicates with pieces of paper and wears armor everywhere. This makes her the center of loads of male illusion’s and fantasies. Then, along comes a magical girl who hunts down evil monsters. Except the main character stole her magical powers so she ends up naked everytime she tries to transform. Because of this, she decides to live with him. Then, a vampire ninja turns up for the necromancer. She decides to live with him. In the course of this anime, he also gets a vampire ninja waifu and several other things beyond mentioning.

If that paragraph didn’t turn you off, then you’ll like this show. It’s a harem with fantasy and magical powers and evil villains and cute girls. If it did turn you  off, don’t waste your time watching this. Sure, Zombie is the best harem I’ve seen for how ridiculous and over the top it is with everything, but it doesn’t even attempt to drag itself out of the pit of averageness.

Alex’s Score: 7 Meeps out of 10 (Good)

Dusk’s Score: 6 Meeps out of 10 (Fine)

A Certain Magical Index 2

Alex: I wanna rename this. A Certain Magical Failure. Because to be honest, you needed magic to screw this up. Index 1 was average. Railgun was great. Index 2? It’s below average and dangerously close to utterly pointless.

Whilst we’re renaming it, why is Index’s name even in the title? I’d go with…A Certain Worse Male Lead Ever and His Magical Right Hand. Is that too long? I won’t beat around the bush. Touma IS the worst male lead to grace Anime. He doesn’t develop. He doesn’t even think about problems. He’s perverted. And whenever a problem arises, he just punches it. Forget all about your development and your evil badguys, because Touma can defeat them all with ONE PUNCH!!!

Thats really how bad it is.

I wanna ask J.C Staff this. Why bother? Why go out of your way and waste budget on an anime which won’t be understood or appeal to anyone who isn’t an Index fan and haven’t read the novels. If you didn’t read the Index novels, this is just a waste of your time, which is probably why im frowning upon it so much. With a series that has so much potential to take Magic and Science to war, it sits and wastes its time with Touma’s harem and his stupid right hand which can defeat anything no matter how evil it is.

I wouldn’t bother with this. Don’t waste your time: take it from me. Only watch if your a diehard Index fan or you’ve read the light novels. Or both.

Alex’s Score: 4 Meeps out of 10 (Bad)

Hachimitsu to Clover II

Mimi: Compared to the first season, this one is a lot darker and focuses much more on drama. It gets so serious that it almost feels like an entirely different show. I kind of get the impression that most people prefer the humor and lighthearted atmosphere, so they tend to enjoy the first season more. Both of them are excellent, but I found the sequel to be even more powerful in terms of story-telling and character development. Everything that was lacking before is taken care of here, such as getting into the minds of Morita and Hagu, and finally revealing Morita’s background. It also ties a few loose ends from all the other relationships, resulting in a more complete ending.

The characters are a lot more mature this time around, although this change is most noticeable in Morita and Hagu, who were clowns in the previous season. Now it seems as if the energy has been sucked right out of them, as they sit around contemplating in dark rooms all day. I admit, they’re not as fun to watch when they are behaving this way, but their subtle drama builds up really well to an exciting, near-tragic ending. Another way in which S2 is different is that it loses the ‘artful, college feel’ of the series. At this point, the characters spend more time off campus and away from each other, so it doesn’t really feel the same. I can see why some fans are disappointed by that, but I for one like to see the characters move on to other things than to remain cooped up in their apartment complex. If the sequel was designed to be just like the first instead, I would honestly become a little tired of it.

So as you can probably tell, I enjoyed this season the most. Other than the fact that I like depressing, dark moods (-sigh- I need more fun in my life), I like that the characters develop in a more serious light, and they really show their true strength when overcoming heavier drama. Plus, I had always been way more interested in Morita, Hagu, and Mayama who receive much more attention here. Overall, Honey and Clover is a very special slice-of-life where the characters easily grow on you, and you can relate extremely well to their problems about college, love relationships, and life. I’d love to see Noitamina air another series that is as memorable and beautiful as this one. Well, I am looking forward to Usagi Drop this spring!

Mimi’s Score: 9.5 Meeps out of 10 (Great)

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 2009

Alex: Since I was gonna work on reviewing my favorite anime, this one comes next~

I’ll start this review of by saying this: I HATE Shounen Anime. I just can’t stand them, for some reason. So when I went into Full Metal Alchemist, mostly just to see why everyone was raving so I can say “this is crap stop raving”, I was blown away.

Firstly; the story. Starting off very simple in premise, it takes full advantage of its 64 episode runtime to slowly grow and expand the tale. Some people do say that the pacing is off, but i’d disagree; having never watched the first FMA and never having read the manga, the pacing feels perfect to me. What this leaves you with is an astounding tale revolving around eternal life.

The cast from FMA:B is huge. Completely huge. Yet at the end of it, everyone character feels like an irreplaceable member of the tale. That’s good character development on a whole other scale to well, anything. Not many anime take the time out of their schedule to develop the lesser characters. Yet this doesn’t affect the story in any way. Infact, it helps it run better. If you think of it as instead of having the two lead characters carry the story, you’ve got everyone carrying it, you might understand what i’m trying to get at here.

The animation from Bones is typical of Bones, to be honest. It’s Bones throwing its huge budget at something and making it look utterly gorgeous and stunning . The characters look alive, the backgrounds are astounding, the effects are perfect and the fight scenes are everything you’d hope for and more. And every character looks different, which is often the downfall of several modern anime.

It’s almost one of the best adventure stories ever written.
It’s a solid recommendation if your looking for some epic adventure, or just an epic anime. Don’t make the mistake I did and see the Shounen tag and look away, because it’s so very different to every other Shounen. It actually makes you feel like it knows where it’s going, and it’s going down a road called Brilliance every step of the way.

Mimi’s Score: 10 Meeps out of 10 (Masterpiece)