Bloody Monday

Series: Bloody Monday
Media Type: Manga
Mangaka: RYUUMON Ryou (Author), MEGUMI Kouji (Artist)
Length: 11 Volumes (Season 1), Season 2 (Ongoing)
Genre(s): Action, Drama, Mature, Psychological, School Life, Sci-fi, Shounen

Introduction:
Ok so I read this just by chance like so many other manga I have read. Found it listed somewhere read the description sounded interesting so I read it. At it's core Bloody Monday I would consider to be a action and psychological manga. There is a lot of trying to outsmart the enemies and turn the tides. The beginning felt a bit like we were always getting played (a.k.a losing), but later we totally own the enemies. Now there is also a Bloody Monday Season 2, but not enough of it is out to talk about it yet, but so far it is similar to season 1.

One Sentence Summary:
Hacker saving Japan from a crazy cult trying to release a super virus in Tokyo.

Summary:
Ok so Bloody Monday is about Fujimaru Takagi, who is also known as "Falcon", his hacker name. Yes he is a wide known very good (Wizard Level) hacker, who hacks for "good". So his dad is a commander in a secret government police force (sort of like the CIA/FBI). Fujimaru Takagi of course helps decode and program things (defensive things mainly such as firewalls) for the agency. While doing this we stumble upon a massive incident that happened in Russia a few years ago. Through various things we find out that something similar is being planned for Tokyo, Japan. So from here obviously it is a save Tokyo and capture the cult members. However things can never go that easily. For starters Fujimaru Takagi's dad is wanted for murder through 90% of the series, and for about the 1st 30% or so we have no idea who were fighting. So without spoiling anything let's just say that the bad guys know about Falcon already, and knows him and his friends stumbled upon the incident. Almost every bad guy is someone we have already known or that we meet early on in the story, though the final bad guy you probably wouldn't be able to guess until much later on.

Closing Comments:
Bloody Monday is an interesting story with some good concepts behind it. It kept me reading (finished it in 2 days), but not always for the right reasons. For about half the story the good guys are one the losing side, every "battle" we lose, which gets very depressing/annoying. However the second half we begin to kick butt. Bloody Monday felt very one sided at almost all points, which is not necessarily bad, it just felt off to me. Season 2 so far is decent though I'm finding it to just be more of the same thing so far. However it's not very far along so I can't really judge it yet. Overall I enjoyed Bloody Monday, but didn't really find it to be anything special, it as interesting premises, but there just not executed as well as they could have been.

~dinoman411

Franken Fran

Series: Franken Fran
Media Type: Manga
Mangaka: KIGITSU Katsuhisa
Length: 4+ Volumes
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Ecchi, Horror, Mature, Mystery, Psychological, Sci-fi

Introduction:
Franken Fran as you can guess from the title Franken=Frankenstein basically. First we shall start out with the warnings. Each chapter (in general) is it's own story, some are more then 1 chapter, but in general there short stories that are mostly separate from one another. Now I would say about 90% of the endings to these stories are not what one would traditionally consider "happy" endings. Most endings are gruesome, some more then others, and are a lot of times WTF endings. There is a lot of detail in these gruesome parts, so be prepared for that. Other then that it can be looked at as a fantasy/horror medical/surgery type manga.

One Sentence Summary:
Saving people that cannot be saved is impossible for a normal human, so why not let Franken Fran do it.

Summary:
Ok this shouldn't be a lot summery since it's not a persistent story, but I'll try to make it as detailed as I can. Ok the story starts off with the main character Fran. Fran is however not your typical female lead, for one she is a Frankenstein type creature, who was created by a genius surgeon (Can't remember his name). On top of being a Frankenstein, Fran also is beyond genius in the medical field, and also has beyond human skills in surgery since she has some "upgrades" (such as super eye site). So the surgeon who created her has been away the whole manga so far so not much to say about him, but Fran has a relatively normal personality, she likes to help people, though often times this turns bad in the end. Of course Fran doesn't live alone, she lives with and works with other Frankenstein creatures and human/animal hybrids. So the stories are basically about Fran helping people by fixing (in most cases) incurable or bizarre medical issues. This includes bringing corpses back to life, making a living head, etc... I personally like the variation in the manga since you never know what is going to happen, however you need an open mind, and a stomach.

Closing Comments:
Well that was probably the shortest summery I ever did. Again Franken Fran is interesting, but a lot of times disturbing. One chapter in particular was a "WTF no that's just F'ed up" chap that too this day still bothers me :p You need a stomach for it, and I also wouldn't suggest getting attached to any characters besides the main character (Fran and friends) since most of them have a bad ending. Overall it's unique on many levels, which sets it apart from other manga, however for some people it may be too unique. If you like horror/fantasy medical and gruesome/"WTF no" scenes do not bother you, try it. It is interesting and makes you think at parts, however if you do not like gruesome/"WTF no :(" scenes you probably do not want to read it, but it's your choice.

~dinoman411

CLANNAD & After Story

Series: CLANNAD & CLANNAD: After Story
Media Type: Anime, Game
Creators: KEY
Length: 24 Episodes (Season 1) & 24 Episodes (Season 2)
Genre(s): Comedy, Daily Life, Romance, School Life, Seinen

Introduction:
My first and probably only 1 of 2 or 3 triple + shows. Personally CLANNAD and the squeal CLANNAD: After Story are currently my favorite animes. First off CLANNAD the anime is based of a game by KEY with the same title. I have played about 1/3rd of the game, but because the English patch is incomplete still I have yet to finish it, but from what I played it so great, even better then the anime :p Though I found it hard to play it in the correct order so I could get the perfect ending since I so want to do the Nagisa arc :p Anyway After Story is a sequel to CLANNAD (Also the 2nd part of the game) that picks up shortly after the first season ends.

One Sentence Summary:
I can't come up with a good one sentience summary so: I Love Nagisa!
Ok I'll try a 1 sentience summery.
Boy meets girl boy feels bad for girl, boy takes care of girl, romance blossoms, etc...

Summary:
Ok I'm going to try to keep this simple though I could get carried away so I'll apologize now if this gets long.
A simple story boy meets girl, boy feels bad for girl, boy stays with girl and help her. Girl falls in love with boy, boy falls in love with girl, we all live happily ever after...sort of. Ok that was a pretty good summary I must say though a lot more to it then that. So we start off with Okazaki Tomoya who is basically a delinquent minus the fighting for the most part. He perry much hates the town he lives him, him and his dad are distant with each other, and nothing particularly good has every happened to him in this town. Enter Furukawa Nagisa who unlike Tomoya loves this town, but she has a chronic illness that caused her to have to repeat a grade twice. Begin the meeting of the two. On the first day of high school Tomoya is on his way to school (late as usual), when he finds a girl (Enter Nagisa) standing in front of the hill that goes up to school. She is just staring ahead in silence, scared to move forward since she hasn't been her in a year and most of her friends have already graduated. Here begins the guy feels bad for girl so he helps her out, and watches out for her. Later although this continues to some extent, but Nagisa also starts to help support Tomoya through his problems. Eventually we fall in love have a romance, etc... Now like most animes made from games we do have the main heroine, but we also have an arc for each of the other heroines in the game. These are well done, though a few of them feel a bit lacking. In the game obviously there is much more to each of these arcs then what is seen in the anime, but the anime does a nice job summing most of them up pretty well. As I mentioned After Story picks up shortly after the original concludes. I can't say much about it since there are major spoilers and twists in After Story, so I'll end my summery here.

Closing Comments:
Ok so CLANNAD as mentioned this is currently my favorite show, although Ef got close to it. I do own the 1st season subbed, and am planning to get the second season also. Along with the dubbed versions when they come out. If i say much more here it will sound like a fan-boy rant so I'll shut up. Anyway if your looking for a cute drama/romance try CLANNAD out you probably will not regret it unless you hate slower shows. Next review will probably be on a more interesting/unique horror-ish manga so stay tuned.

~dinoman411

Please Teacher!

Series: Please Teacher! (Onegai Teacher)
Media Type: Anime
Mangaka: HAYASHIYA Shizuru
Length: 12 Episodes + 1 OVA
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Romance, School Life, Sci-fi, Shounen

Introduction:
First off this is one of my top 5 animes and has been for a few years now, so this might be semi-bias. Ok Please teacher deals with a student x teacher relationship/romance along with some sci-fi elements integrated in. There is also a sequel to Please Teacher called Please Twins, which technically is a squeal, but it focuses on a different set of main characters, and I think we only see the original characters once or twice. Please Twins wasn't bad, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much as I liked Please Teacher. In this talk we will focus on Please Teacher, maybe I'll make a later post for Please Twins.

One Sentence Summary:
Boy meets girl, boy finds out girls secret, principal misunderstands their relationship, so boy marries girl who in this case is his teacher.

Summary:
First off I consider Please Teacher to be a romance mainly, though there are some other elements in it, and it could probably be considered a harem technically. Anyway Please Teacher begins with Kei Kusanagi who one night witnesses a giant whirlpool open up in the lake while he is watching the stars one night. Suddenly a girl shows up out of no where in front of him. This causes him to flee and fall into a lake, and then suddenly he wakes up the next morning. During school that day the class finds out that there getting a new teacher, who introduces herself as Mizuho Kazami. Later that day she moves into the empty house next to where Kei lives by pure coincidence. Being the gentleman Kei is he offers to help he move in. From here we find out her secret, and she tries to get him to keep quite about it, and certain things happen and there relationship is totally misunderstood. For one wind up in a bath tube (with clothes on) together. And then the major misunderstanding of getting locked in the supply room together and the principal finding them there. A student teacher relationship is a very bad thing, so Kei's guardians get a call from the principal so that all 5 of them can talk this out. Much to Kei and Mizuho's surprise Kei's guardians tell the principal that Kei and Mizuho are married. This fixes the who misunderstanding, however after this to keep the lie going we do get married. From here we live the life of newly weds who have to keep their relationship a secret from everyone. Kei also has a interesting medical condition that is the other major focus of the show. Throughout the show we get to meet Mizuho's mother and little sister, and all of Kei's friends. It's a relatively small cast, but most of them have personalities and actually there is some other romances going on in the background of the main story. Ok that's it for this summary I know it wasn't my best summary, but I love the show so much it's hard to write a summary for it lol. Anyway if you like romances I would definitely suggest Please Teacher.

Closing Comments:
Please Teacher overall is a fun romance, we have the standard twists and turns along with some unique ideas/concepts. As I mentioned I really enjoyed this show (I'm a sucker for a cute romance), which lead me to buy both the anime and manga (haven't read the manga yet). Not much else to say really I highly recommend picking it up. Kei x Mizuho!! lol just had to put that :p

~dinoman411

Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Series: Taishou Yakyuu Musume
Media Type: Anime
Mangaka:
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre(s):

Introduction:
Again this is in many ways similar to the Princess Nine anime that we talked about last post, however there are some key differences that I think really set it apart. Anyway after seeing a youtube clip of this show by chance, I just knew I had to see it. And so I did, unfortunately I couldn't buy it, since it is not licensed in the US, but I probably would if it was. Again this is an older school anime that at it's core is about women rights, but it is told through sports, in this case baseball. I found it to be quite enjoyable and amusing, there really isn't any romance or anything like that in this it's just friendship and baseball.

One Sentence Summary:
Innocent school girls who know nothing of baseball, trying to learn and play baseball versus the boys.

Quick Summary:
Well as started above this show is similar to Princess Nine, which we talked about last time, however this show is much more old school, and actually more about women right/entering the male world then Princess Nine was. Ok first off this show takes place during the Taisho period (1912-1926). In this time period women were thought of as house wives, which is where the whole show begins. One day Akiko gets told by her fiance (Who was a baseball player), that women should learn to be housewives and not even go to school. To prove him wrong Akiko along with here best friend Koume agreed to start up an all girls baseball team at their school. During this time period women would considered too basically be pure housewives and lady like always, no running, much less baseball, so this goes agents everything that was considered to be traditional. As with Princess Nine we also have 3 major arcs the recruitment atc which mainly consists of getting other girls who want to try out baseball to join them. Training arc, which is just that. Unlike Princess Nine everyone of the girls are complete newbies to baseball, none have ever played it before, and most don't even know anything about it. And then finally we have the actual playing arc, where we compete agents the boys to prove we can do it. There are many other minor incidents/problems in it such as getting permission from your parents, but all of these are integrated well and really pull you into the anime more.
Now we all should know at this point (If you have read previous posts) I am a romance fanatic and love my cute romances so of course I need to at least mention the romance in this one. Musume of course has a romance besides the Akiko and fiance one we have one with Koume and ???. Wouldn't spoil who, but its cute and full of awesomeness, unlike most romances this is a pure romance, in which holding hands is considered to be a deep sign of love and affection. I Love it!

Closing Comments:
Ok enough about teh summary, you probably got that I really enjoyed this show. The concept is quite unique in anime, and it is well done. The fact that we don't have total newbies becoming gods in baseball, unlike many shows, is also refreshing. The romance I totally fell in love with and all the characters had a personality, and most of them not a stereotypical one either. I would definitely give this anime a good rating and tell you to try it, so enough babbling already. Go out and watch it.

~dinoman411

Princess Nine

Series: Princess Nine
Media Type: Anime
Creator: Date Kensei
Length: 26 Episodes
Genre(s): Action, Romance, School Life, Seinen, Sports

Introduction:
Ok, first off this is a talk about Princess 9 not Princess 69, just to clear that up. Ok, so awhile back I watched Taishou Yakyuu Musume loved it (Will do a talk on it next), so that was an old school anime about women rights mainly, but they did it in the form of an all girls baseball team. This one is similar in the girls baseball team, but Princess Nine isn't as much about women rights, more just about trying hard to achieve your goals. Anyway Princess Nine is only an anime as far as I am aware, and it is an older show, unlike most of the shows I have posted about. I actually have 2 other old school shows I want to post about, but haven't yet, eventually.

One Sentence Summary:
Awesome female baseball players trying to get accepted by the baseball committee and get to Koshien(Big Name Stadium in Japan), by beating all of the boy's teams.

Quick Summary:
Ok, so Princess Nine is a simple story about starting up a all girls baseball(Hard Ball) team in an all girls school. Basically it is the dream of the chairman...well chairlady in this case to create a female baseball team, and thus she recruits great players from all around to join the school and play on the team. From here we hit the first arc of getting 9 players to come and join us. Most of the players we get are experienced players, but a few are new to baseball. Second arc is getting accepted by the baseball committee so that we can actually compete. And the final arc is getting to Koshien, in the tournament. So the show is very straight forward, but of course there are a few twists. There is 1 main love story in it, well love triangle technically, and a side love story later on too. Basically not much else to say, most of the team are perky happy-go-lucky people in general. They face many struggles including the schools principal wanting to shut them down because they're an embarrassment to the school. That's about all I can really say without spoiling too much.
The main character Ryo is a greater than great pitcher, like her diseased father. The father although dead I consider to have a major part in the whole show he seems to like everything together. Ryo is for the 1st half a strong willed super determined girl. Later though she gets all messed up in the head (love and jealously) later on, and some this I found to be rather annoying.

Closing Comments:
Ok so this was a fun show, though through the 2nd half the main character pissed me off most of the time. Personally I do not like how the main love triangle ended (not telling how it ended), I think he should have ended up with the other girl personally I liked her better. But the 2nd love story thing was awesome and I loved it even though it was only prevalent in like 2 episodes. There also wasn't much of an epilogue to it, kind of just ended, which was a letdown, a nice text thing about there 2nd year would have been nice. Other then that it was a very enjoyable show, though mostly predicable, except the last game I really wasn't sure which way they were planning to go. Ok that's it for this talk, overall I would say it's worth watching if you do not have really high expectations, personally I liked Taishou Yakyuu Musume much better which we will discuss in the next talk.

~dinoman411

Itazura na Kiss

Series: Itazura na Kiss
Media Type: Anime
Mangaka: TADA Kaoru
Length: 25 Episodes
Genre(s): Drama, Romance, School Life, Shoujo

Introduction:
Ok so onto Itazura na Kiss now I have only seen the anime so far, though I am planning to get the manga and read it, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Ok so first off know the manga is incomplete and forever will be, the TADA Kaoru died in an accident (R.I.P) while moving before the manga was completed. However the anime does contain an ending that was found in some of her notes about the planned ending. So you do get an ending to the anime, and it is decently done, doesn't even feel rushed much.

One Sentence Summary:
What happens when a dumb girl confesses to a super hot genius guy, who totally rejects her, but due to certain circumstances, involving termites, they start to live together.

Quick Summary:
During the entrance ceremony 2 years ago Aihara Kotoko, fell in love with Irie Naoki at first sight. She has finally reached a point where she it tired of keeping it a secret, so she has finally decided to confess, and what better way then a love letter. While giving him her love letter he says "I don't want it", thus rejecting Kotoko who then vows to give up on him. The rest of this school day Kotoko basically mopes around, so her friends decide to throw a party to make her feel better. So after school we wind up going to our brand new old style Japanese house and having a party, when an earthquake strikes, a 2.5 on the Richter scale (basically not much of anything), and our NEW house collapses, and is the only house in the city to collapse. Luckily Kotoko;s dad has a rich super kind hearted friend who offers to take them in. On the way there Kotoko happens to look at the name plate 'Irie' it says on it, thinking no it can't be, she continues on. Opening the door we find a fun filled sweet family, until the two sons come to greet them. Much to Kotoko;s shock the older brother is Irie Naoki, and so brings about the begining of our one sided love story. Will it progress or not...read to find out.
A bit more about the family quick. Kotoko's dad really isn't in it all the much, mostly we focus on Irie's parents who are awesome. Iries father is simply a nice guy who is just that nice. Irie's mother however is awesome! She is one of those crazy mom's, throughout the story she is trying to get Kotoko and Naoki together, and she also acts like a pervert/stalker at times (outfit and all).

Closing Comments:
Another long summary. Expect quite a few twists and turns, along with an actual ending to it. As mentioned the mangaka died (R.I.P) before the manga was finished so the manga just suddenly ends, however the anime has the planned ending to the series (based on notes they found that she had). It is a very cute love story I enjoyed it quite a bit. My one issue with it is towards the middle we start getting away from the romance and going more into the carrier thing, which isn't bad I just like my romance lol. Well sorry the summary was so long, but it is one of the better romances I have scene in recent years.

~dinoman411