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Synopsis:
Tomoki Sakurai wants nothing more than to lead a peaceful, quiet, life without interruption. One evening he comes across a large gaping hole in the sky one night, a large ball of light shoots out of it and it almost hits Tomoki. As he inspects the large crater that it left behind Tomoki notices an unconcious girl with wings at the bottom. As debris also starts falling from the large void in the sky Tomoki decides that he doesn't want to get involved and runs for cover but doesn't get far before he realizes that he can't just leave her there. Tomoki rushes back and tries to carry the strage winged girl as best he can but he doesn't get far before he sees a large pillar coming right down on him. But just as Tomoki is about to meet his demise he suddenly notices he is high above the ground being flown saved by the strange girl he tried to rescue moments ago. As they land, she imprints a chain onto Tomiki and claims him as her master. Well, so much to Tomoki's quiet and peaceful life.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 13
Review:
Soro no Otoshimono or, Heaven's Lost Property, is a perfect example how to completely waste the potential that a series has. You've got a great story that could have been used with an angel coming down to earth and swearing loyalty to the guy that tried to save her. Followed by other angels who are out to bring her back to the heavens above. The thing is, you don't learn much about "the heavens" but all you really get is a sneak-peak at the travesty that takes place above and the humiliation that these angels endure. No, what they've done is take the intersting part out and laced the show with ecchiness. Now, I like ecchi stuff as much as the next guy but here it feels like a tacked on after-thought that was used to try and make the show appeal a larger core group of fans but instead it ends up ruining the shows presentation. What you get in return is an annoying main character, big boobs, a loli, and lots of flying panties which makes for very low-brow humor that doesn't fit well at all. But, as I was watching I couldn't help but hope that things would change and the gutter humor was only an introductory way to relax the audience and I would eventually learn more of Icarus or Nymph. But no, that hope was dashed as the show kept going down the same road that completely overshadowed the real story that could have been so much more had a little more thought had been put into it because the story was there but this anime was afraid to actually use it.
Sora no Otoshimono is probably also the first anime that I can actually say that I despised the main character to no end. Tomoki is beyond annoying and has practically zero redeeming factors to keep you from wanting to hurl a brick at the guy. He's lewd, perverted, and just plain stupid with a voice that makes you wanna smack the shit out of the guy every time he opens his mouth making him horribly out of place amongst the shows characters. Another thing is that the animation puts too much emphasis on using chibi style (or migitizing) imaging to try and accent the humor which is just not needed and looks downright pathetically emphasized most of the time.
All in all, as a whole, Sora no Otoshimono was still an "okay" show but there is nothing here to make you watch it more than once or even make it a memorable viewing experience.
Sora No Otoshimono (opening)
Recommendation: |Average|
Online viewing: No longer available, Cruchyroll lost the license 30 days after the show ended.
Media type: Free internet streaming
From: Crunchyroll
Spoken languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
*Note - Cruchyroll has lost the license to this show and it has now been picked up by FUNimation. Really? This? Who was the brainiac that decided to license this turd? I mean, I can see maybe offering it as a free stream but if the show goes gold, that would be downright stupid. But after they dub it and give it the shiny treatment, about 1 or 2 years from now, the show will flop and they'll dump the idea of picking up the second season that's already been announced. But this has been the fate of many of FAILimation's other shows.
Synopsis:
Vampires and werewolves are the stuff of legends, just a myth, right? Well, that's what everyone thought until a young girl named Mina Tepes announces that she is the queen of vampires and has just paid off Japan's national debt and procured land as a haven for vampires to exist in called the Bund. As Mina integrates vampires into society, not everyone is willing to accept such a merger. There are those of the human race that do not want to even acknowledge the existence of monsters but also vampires that want to display their superiority. This, of course, puts Mina in a dangerous position with the constant threat of death from those who wish to oppose Mina's ways but along with the protection of her loyal followers she has chosen one boy, Akira Kaburagi Regendorf, to protect her as her personal bodyguard. The only thing is, he has no idea why. Akira's about to discover something about himself that he forgot long ago.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes: 12
Review:
Werewolf and vampires and... other things, oh my! Dance in the Vampire Bund is the complex story of how such beings would live along side us mortals and the rules which govern their lifestyle and... oh wait. I'm thinking of the manga, silly me. Let me start over. Dance in the Vampire Bund, the anime, is the tale of the queen of vampires that resembles an underage girl who's in love with her amnesiac werewolf bodyguard Akira. In the anime's defense though, there is so much going on in the manga that you really couldn't hope to fit much of it into a measly 12 episodes so they chose to loosely base the story off the source material focusing on what most people wanted, the relationship between a young man and an eternally underage girl. Hey, she's the ruler of all vampires. But as the anime tends to jump around from one situation to the next you see what Akira has to deal with to be Mina's guardian and he meets all the challenges head-on and he starts to become quite the likable character. Eventually you start to see how Mina's bull-headed and almost sadistic ways offset him perfectly which makes them a well matched pair despite the physical age difference. The only thing is that this tends to push everyone else aside and practically makes them non-existent in your mind putting the world around Akira and Mina as just a blur.
A dark tale of vampiric proportions? No. If you want that then go read the manga. I can't believe I just said that but it's true. No, what the anime version of Dance in the Vampire Bund is an almost unprogressive forbidden romance that is constantly interrupted by real world events that, at times, you just won't care about. Why? Mainly because of what Dance in the Vampire Bund really encompasses in no way can be portrayed in a mere 12 episodes making the plot seem like it's jumping all over the place with no steady flow to it. What you're left with is an average anime that doesn't give you much more than you started with making for a very medicore viewing experience. It doesn't help that Shaft's presentation was nothing more than an extreme close-up of someone's eye 50% of the time. That's not the usual head-trippy Shaft that I'm used to.
Dance in the Vampire Bund (opening)
Recommendation: |Average|
Online viewing: Available at FUNimations website -
Dance in the Vampire Bund (subtitled)
*Note - You may have to verify your date of birth to watch due to adult content. Also, the only version available is with TV station censorship but as an added bonus you also get FAILimation's own censorship and edits to go with it, YAY!
Media type: Free internet streaming
From: FUNimation
Spoken languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Synopsis:
Yorito Morimiya is a photographer at heart, but he especially loves taking pictures of the sky any time of the day at any time of the year. While taking more pictures of the sky very early in the morning Yorito notices a strange girl trying to get a can of tomato juice out of a vending machine. Yorito helps her while trying to strike up a conversation with her but by the time he gets the juice out of the machine he turns to notice that the girl is mysteriously gone. Yorito manages to run into the strange girl a few more times during the night over the next few days and learns that her name is Matsuri Shihou. But when he decides to go looking for her he finds that she has been taking shelter in an abandoned church only to happen upon a confrontation between her and a man weilding a sword.
Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 15
Review:
Ah yes, the "sudden girlfriend" genre of anime. It never gets old. Why? Because we all wish it would happen. But, Sola takes a different approach to this tried and true plot device and puts a little spin on things that are not apparent at first but as the story progresses you see the overall impact of it's outcome. Sola adds an extra level of complexity to it's tale by leading the viewer along a predetermined path that you practically feel that you've been down before and know what to expect. However, your predictions are cast aside when Sola goes off in a completely different direction from what you had thought leaving you saying to yourself "This wasn't supposed to happen... " With it's minor but impacting plot changes it takes the audience away from it's comfort zone and leaving them wondering what is really going to happen now?
This is what I liked about Sola as I was being set up from the beginning and at the end I was thrown the emotional curve-ball and I was shown that not all anime in the same genre follow the same path. The animation is done well, the plot may seem typical, but don't be fooled by Sola's apparent simplicity. There's another side to the story that you're just not seeing until it's too late and the series comes to an open ended yet, satisfying close.
Sola (opening)
Recommendation: |Above Average|
Media type: DVD
From: Bandai Entertainment
Spoken languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
