Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~

Synopsis:

Rin Asogi and her friend Mimi run a private investigation agency in Tokyo performing all sorts off odd jobs. Finding lost pets, locating rare stamps, helping clones recover their lost memory, stopping angels from causing mass murder, it's all routine work for Rin as she posses a unique ability... she's immortal and can't die. Well, she can die but her wounds heal rapidly and she's back on her feet in no time as is the same for her partner Mimi. But when Apos, the guardian of the Yggdrasil which is responsible for both Rin's and Mimi's immortality grows bored and decides to satiate his sadistic sense of amusement by throwing the world into chaos by making the secret of immortality known to everyone. Rin decides to stop Apos even if it means losing her immortality and her life.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 6


Review:

FUNTURDmation iz releasing hentaiz!! ZOMGBBQDESU~!!!!111 That's just a little summary of some of the comments I read about this DVD and let me just say this up front, no... no it's not. But first, let's take a look a the story, two immortal women... actually I should say one woman and a teenager running a private investigation firm and right from episode one this was an interesting premise. But, after a little while you start to notice how Rin seems to get her ass kicked on a regular basis regardless of her badass ninja skills. The only purpose this serves is to display some gore and show off Rin's regeneration capabilities but don't be surprised if you find yourself sighing wondering how she accomplishes anything by constantly getting the shit kicked out of her. To add insult to injury though is that the first few episodes aren't very imaginative or thought provoking for that matter and present little to no mystery giving you a long drawn-out episode where the case could have been solved in half the time with some intelligent story-telling.

After little while you start to see a pattern. Rin takes on a case, gets killed, comes back to life, has sex with her lesbian informants, goes and kicks ass and nearly dies in the process, then... case closed. But, sometimes Mimi has to use her own loli body to get info from the lesbians that seem to know everything about anything for the price of a round of carpet munching. Now don't go all getting excited as it's all done with scenes of soft-core sex, in other words, you don't really see anything amongst all the extreme close-ups but you sure get a lot of moaning going on. It's not until about half way though this mini-series that you start finding out about the source of Rin and Mimi's immortality and what's really happening unseen by the human eye but it turns out to be less than spectacular. When you think about it, this series feels like it threw in a bunch of sex scenes to try an make up for the recycled antagonist that's been used so many times before. An omnipotent being that became bored... feh.

In the end I will give this this anime credit for one thing, the time-line used for it's presentation. Even though Rin and Mimi remain the same age, the world around them keep progressing and changing with each episode. Technology advances, people age, buildings decay, but Rin and Mimi are still the same. Now this... this was very imaginative but unfortunately it's not enough to save the series from becoming an uninteresting mix of divinity and sex. Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ should have just either focused on action and mystery or just went for all out hentai because as it is you almost feel frustrated that this anime can't really focus on one thing very well making for one very lame conclusion which isn't really worth your time since you won't be getting the action you crave or the sex you desire. Go find something else to watch, you're not missing much here.

And now for Grandpa Endo's bonus material! Yes, I just had to bring this out in the initial review. Even though Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ is an adult oriented anime I just thought you want to know that the FAILimation DVDs are... (drumroll please)... CENSORED!!! Isn't that awesome? How so you ask? Well, any scene that contains massive gore is shrouded in shadow and you can't see a damn thing and snatch shots, especially of Mimi, have the mysterious ray of sunlight blocking it! FUCK YEAH!! Just think about that if you're wondering if it's totally uncensored. Makes me glad I can put the DVD back in an envelope and return it once I'm done watching it.

Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ (opening)

Recommendation: |Low|

Media type: DVD
From: FAILimation
Languages: English;Japanese
Subtitles: English

His and Her Circumstances

Synopsis:

Yukino Miyazawa, a freshman in high school is the envy off all her classmates for her good grades and immaculate appearance. At home though she is a completely different person, a stubborn, rambunctious, and... slob of a girl. But, she maintains her 'miss perfect' facade at school simply to win the praise of everyone. However, the new boy in her class Soichiro Arima begins to steal Miyazawa's limelight with even higher test scores and a warm and welcoming personna that everyone likes. Miyazawa considers him to be an academic enemy but Arima is completely oblivious to her one sided competition and pays no mind. Arima has different thoughts towards Miyazawa and instead confesses his love for her which she immediately turns down yet somehow slightly regrets her choice. Thinking that she is no back at being number one in her class with nothing to worry about her armor is quickly destroyed when Arima pays Miyazawa a visit at home to loan her a CD but is greeted at the door by a very plain looking but loud-mouthed girl in a pair of worn-out sweats and glasses. Now that her flawless exterior that she has maintained for years has been destroyed with a single glance, Miyazawa agonizes at what Arima will do. But the next day Arima doesn't mention it nor has told anyone about what he saw... just what are Arima's intentions?


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 26


Review:

Well, this anime sure did "jump the shark" in the first couple of episodes. You get a confession and everything not leaving a whole lot for the story to go on after that and, let's not be stupid here, of course she accepts his feelings after a couple of episodes. So what does this anime do? Turn to comedy, this anime decides to make the audience laugh instead of using much of a story and to my surprise I found myself laughing at this rather than looking for a plot. You get perfectly timed slap-stick comedy mixed with a wafer-thin plot that Miyazawa might actually like Arima after all. But this isn't really the main focus of the story but more of how Miyazawa tears down her own walls of falsehood and even with this she still retains her friends and even gains a few in the process.

But now let's take a look at Arima. He is not without his own dark past though, so in the process of indirectly helping Miyazawa in accepting her true identity she also aids him in coping with a rather unpleasant childhood that he hides behind with a smile. This is all done through listening and understanding his untold pain and suffering not realizing she is the only person that has been capable of subsiding his personal demons just by being with him. Now by this time the series is about half over and there doesn't seem like much to go on and you're right. From here on this anime just seems to rely on slapstick comedy, flashbacks, and annoying recap episodes. It's as if the anime didn't know what to do and was rushed to present at least something of an episode but all you got was a shallow plot rehash with little to no new content.

As this goes on I found myself getting bored or skipping by all the "remember when" sequences but luckily the shows hilarity only made me want to watch even more. I found myself laughing at the stupidest shit but that's probably not saying much because I'm easily amused. Another thing that I would like to point out is the randomized artistic style. From black and white slide shows, chibi-styled presentations, fade-in and out panaled stills, His and Her Circumstances doesn't stick with one particular type of animation giving it somewhat of it's own style of individuality. But, even all this can't save this anime from the horribly inexpicable and abrupt ending. Right when somewhat of a story comes back into the picture with Arima starting to look like an over-obsessive psychopath the show stops... it just fucking STOPS!! What the hell is that all about? Did they want me to read the manga to continue it? Fucking hell? Do they think I have time for that shit? I guess I'll never know what happens because I can't rent manga and I sure as hell can't afford to be blindly buying it so screw it, on to the next show...

In the end I must say that it is a good series. It's very amusing and had a unique presentation and even the supporting characters other than Arima and Miyazawa held their own screen presence but their overall affect on what little story there is, is very minuscule. It's just so unfortunate that the ending failed so hard that you're left with the big nothing and you'll never really know what happens. It's sort of hard to recommend it because nothing is ever resolved but I still liked His and Her Circumstances regardless of it's multitude of short-comings.

His and Her Circumstances (opening)

Recommendation: |Average|

Media type: DVD
From: Right Stuf International
Spoken languages: English;Japanese
Subtitles: English

*Note - HOLY GREAT WALL OF TEXT! Hope I didn't bore you too much with this one but there is one thing I'd like to point out. I'm a subtitle viewer and when it comes to corporate subs one fact has always remained... they look like shit, read like shit, and will always continue to be shit. But Right Stuf is the only corporate subber that actually puts care into their subtitle track and His and Her Circumstances is a prime example. Everything was translated, every sign, on screen text, and background conversation. Not only that but Right Stuf also color coordinated the subs to match the on-screen kanji all the way down to the same text style. To me, this was an amazing feat to pull off from a DVD player and it shows that with some effort that these anime licensees really can give you a decent subtitle track. Then again, maybe this is the reason for Right Stuf's excruciatingly slow release schedule.

It's just too bad that Right Stuf's effort was wasted on an anime that feels like an unfinished product.

Aki-Sora

Synopsis:

Sora Aoi and Aki Aoi have always had a rather close bond throughout their childhood. Whenever Sora found himself alone or in trouble, his sister Aki was always there to protect and comfort him. As time moved on, Sora also started taking care of his beloved sister by cooking and cleaning up after her, but also found himself becoming attracted to her but he keeps that skeleton in the closet. However, Aki slowly comes to realization of Sora's lust through his own actions when he's around her and she begins to exploit his fantasies and decides not to hold herself back any longer unleashing her own pent up sexual frustration and love for her own brother. But will Aki and Sora be able to continue consummating their relationship in secret from his twin sister Nami?


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 1 (That's it guys)


Review:

Y'know, I used to think incest plot related anime was just plain creepy but now I think it's one of the hottest storylines for the romance genre. In the real world it's still creepy but in realm of anime where everyone is cute and good-looking to a fault, it's deemed acceptable and it's just plain steamy! But incest anime always uses the same scapegoat "We're not related by blood so, it's ok" which gets old and over used but then again it keeps the characters in good relations with society. But how about an anime that... didn't... use that ole fallback? What if they really were true siblings doing the horizontal mambo because they loved each other? Well, now we have Aki-Sora. The softcore incest hentai anime that actually has a straightforward plot and characters that would disgust you in life but are quite likable when animated. The thing I like about this show is that it uses it's twisted subject matter but yet can make the viewer *want* Sora to hook up with his own sister. What makes it even better is the fact is that it's Aki that wants to move things forward with Sora even though he tries to prevent it but due to Sora's weak will and fragile mind he lets himself become dominated. Sora is one of the few males in anime that never instigates anything and is constantly a victim of circumstance which always seems to be of a sexual nature and always in his favor.

Aki-Sora is probably the first softcore hentai I've ever seen. Meaning, you can't see anything but they are still doing the bump-n-grind. But, the sex scenes are never really over bearing or very long for that matter. This episode focuses more on Aki trying to get Sora to give in to her which is kind of typical in romance anime, it's just that it's a brother and sister. Do I recommend it? Hell yes! It does a magnificent job of mixing it's twisted plot with a great cast and some hot incestuous softcore sex. And the thing is, the show presents itself much better this way instead of going for balls out hardcore hentai.

(A teaser video? You're kidding, right?)

Recommendation: |Above Average|

B Gata H Kei

Synopsis:

Yamada has just started her high school year with one goal in mind, to have 100 fuck buddies! (sigh) Okay... sex partners. But for her first encounter she decides to start with someone inexperienced and bland before moving on to other guys. She then meets Takashi Kosuda who she decides to bestow to him her "golden cherry" ... so to speak. But Yamada's sexual assault tactics towards Kosuda fail and she is constantly met with her own insecurities as a virgin. Will Yamada ever achieve her goal or will it end when she finds herself falling in love for one very confused boy that was only to be a stepping stone in her sexual conquest.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 12


Review:

When I read the 'plot' for B Gata H Kei the first thing I thought was "Wow, well that sounds about fucking stupid." But, after the first two episodes I gotta admit... I was hooked. What was it about this show that kept me hanging on from episode to episode? Well, I hafta say that it's the reverse pretense that's right in the shows description. A perverted girl on the prowl for sex instead of some lame-ass pervy dude looking to score with some shy and apprehensive girl. This time, it's Kosuda that is taking that role which actually gives the show a new spin on a plot device that has been used countless times. So not only do we get the same old story going in a new direction but this also makes for some extremely funny situations that will have you laughing and even playing the same scene over again because seeing it one time just wasn't enough. To make this even better, Yamada and Kosuda's "Ero-gods" constantly break the fourth wall to explain everything to the audience which only adds to the shows overall hilarity.

Honestly though, there really isn't much of a story here other than watching Yamada's attempts at intimate relations (sex) with Kosuda only to end in some sort of hilarious failure which is the result of some life event that is simply out of their control. You also get to see Yamada mature in her own way in that maybe it's not a sexual conquest that she's after but more so the fact that she really does like Kosuda after all... however, she tries to refuse to accept it. The animation is quite good, the story is lame, but it's the backwards character development that accents the main plot perfectly making this one hilarious anime that is worth checking out.

B Gata H Kei (opening)

Recommendation: |Above Average|

Kodomo no Jikan

Synopsis:

Daisuke Aoki has just landed his first teaching job as a grade school instructor at the Futatsubashi Elementary School placed in charge of Class 3-1. However, teaching elementary school children becomes alot more difficult than it seems when during his first roll-call a mischievous little girl named Rin Kokonoe proclaims herself as Daisuke's girlfriend and develops and intense crush on him. Daisuke not only has to learn to understand and teach his elementary class but must now also deal with Rin's constant advances while trying to maintain the professionalism of a teacher... and keep his job.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Episodes Watched: 12 + 1 OVA


Review:

Right up front I'll tell you that this show is wrong in so many ways but in all honesty, this is what works for the series and I loved every minute of it. It takes a very questionable plot and just uses it without sugarcoating it by having any of the characters get all timid when presented with some embarrassing situation. It's interesting to watch Aoki-sensei have to deal with Rin at every turn and keep a cool head when she tries some sexually-oriented tease or tries to humiliate him publicly both during and after school. But there's a lot more to the precocious 9-year old and her close friends, Kuro Kagami and Mimi Usa, as Aoki-sensei becomes more involved with their life in general and helps them deal with other things that may affect their school life such as family issues, problems with self-identity, or even... wearing a bra.

Kodomo no Jikan really does have some excellent plot elements hidden within it's loli exterior and presents them with perfect timing within it's 12 episode run. Not only that but the character depth is explained extremely well for all the main protagonists which allows you to connect with everyone and understand who they really are. Kodomo no Jikan gets a little intense towards the end but never loses sight of it's loli-humor making it one great series, with decent animation, interesting plot, and over-the-top comedy... this series is *highly* recommended.

Kodomo no Jikan (full opening)

Recommendation: |High|

Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~

Synopsis:

Marin and Urin are two sisters that live in the sea. Always exploring new areas, Marin happens across a ring sinking from the surface of the water. She notices how beautiful the ring is and that it must have been dropped by accident and decides to find the owner of the ring. Thinking that this would be a great time for a new adventure, Marin puts on a bracelet that will allow her to breathe air and heads to the visit the "sky people" (that's us land lovers) and Urin, being her sister, follows her. However, what they encounter in the world above is not like the stories they've heard among the sea people.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 12


Review:

Here we have these sisters that... (sigh) They're from the sea or some such and... and... there's this ring and, (yawn) aaahhh, it's the darkness but magic girls save the... the day, yeah. (yawn) G'night.

Zzzzzzzzz...

Recommendation: |Below Average|

Oh, uh... sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about this show and started to doze off, my bad. Umi Monogatari ~Ana... screw it, let's just go with Sea Story, is a show that suffers from one major problem... it's boring. I don't know how many times a nodded off while watching this anime but the strange thing is that it's really not a bad show. But, it moves so freakin' slow you might be tempted to just stop watching it. As it opens you're even greeted with a very soft melody that is practically a lullaby to your ears but, if you make it through that what you'll get is a show that presents itself in a very laid back and calming fashion. This anime relies heavily on love, goodness, and friendship to bring everyone together making it rather cheesy in the overall scope of things. Now, you might be thinking that this is the premise of all magic-girl styled anime but even that angle is isn't really emphasized as the girl-to-magic-girl transformations are very short and the so called powers they have don't ever seem to have as much of an effect of ridding evil as much as a hug and saying "I love you!" Ridiculous, but true.

The characters didn't really stand out and displayed no individuality but you'll still like them just the same as the shows main message is really to just tell a tale of love and peace and how that is all that's needed to overcome sadness and evil. The animation is blah, the story is schmaltzy, but you can't help be put at ease by the overall relaxing atmosphere. Do I recommend it? Sure, if you find turtle races exciting. I mean... the show moved along like molasses in January and it's one that's not worth a second viewing, let alone a first.

Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ (opening)

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

Synopsis:

When racing downhill on her bike against her friends, Rika pulls ahead but is struck by an oncoming truck and killed. When Rika wakes up this time though the world she is in is now a sinless version of her own. Keiichi never came to Hinamizawa, Rena's parents never divorced, Satoshi never disappeared, and Satoko's and Rika's parent never died. Rika realizes she finally has arrived in the perfect world she's been trying to reach for so long but each time it resulted in her own death. Rika must now chose to stay in this new world forever or commit the first sin and return to her own reality.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 5


Review:

Okay, first of all, if you haven't seen Higurashi no Naku Kori ni (When They Cry) or the sequel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai then stop reading this. Just stop. Because if you haven't seen the rest of the series then this 5 part OVA series isn't gonna make much sense watching it as a stand alone mini-series. Now, saying that, let's get started.

In it's traditional sense, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (Damn that name is a pain in the ass to keep typing. Screw it, I'm just gonna truncate it to 'Higurashi') starts off with one episode dedicated to portray it as a comedy which by now you know it's not. But, what is the 'Higurashi' series without a few episodes of comic relief? Don't worry, after the first episode the creepiness settles back in as the next few episodes put Rika into that perfect world she's always wanted to obtain by constantly altering the events that took place leading to her death each time but now she's stumbled into it by being killed... yet again. Most of the characters make a return with different attitudes and lifestyles and in just a few episodes you begin to see that the reality that Rika's been trying to achieve all this time might be... too perfect.

Even though the the original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is notorious for it's high level of violence, this installment into the series sidesteps the violence just as the second season did. Which I guess it doesn't really matter because this time it's just a small story of being handed something that you've always wanted but didn't have to work for it. This is a nice addition to the series even if it's only a few episodes long and it still boasts the same great animation, characters, and intriguing storytelling as it's full length counterparts making this a must see if you're a fan of the 'Higurashi' series as I am.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (opening)

Recommendation: |Very High|