chii’s Anime Snack of the Week: Secret Santa! Glass Mask

For my Reverse Thieves Secret Santa I was given Glass Mask. Being the way I am I wanted to watch it all. So that includes this OVA. I could have certainly lived without viewing this... I don't like plays, I don't care about actors and actress trying to make it big, nor the turmoil they face everyday battling against each other. *shakes her fist at her evil Secret Santa for suggesting this*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positive Points

• It's a good taste tester to see if you'll enjoy the series
• If you like the entertainment business a lot it should please
• Great if you have already seen the 1984 version and want a refresher

Negative Points

• Brings nothing new to the table
• Boring if you can't get into the characters
• Feels rushed
• If you don't care about the entertainment business the show will be boring

Why chii thinks you should watch it

It's good as a recap ova if you've seen the first series way back in the early 80s. Or it's good if you would like to see if you want to sit through the 51 episode remake made in 2005 if you haven't seen the old one. Otherwise I don't really have much to say about this ova. It was kinda torturesome of me to watch it right after my viewing of the 80s version. I felt like I was re-watching it only with a slightly better look. I only enjoyed one character, Masumi, because I liked his teasing of the main character Maya. If you like seeing the blood, sweat, and tears that actress go through to make it big while tearing through rivals and everything that stands in their way, this show is for you.

Further reactions to this OVA:

MAL User Review

Tuesday Tally Months October to November

2 months behind is better than 6! Anyway lots of anime consumed here so I'll get to it.

October was a busy month as I really started to get my goals list finished off. I dunno why I wait till the last minute for everything, yes even anime watching apparently, but I got a lot watched. I guess it helped that my wrist was injured during this month and I had nothing better to do than just sit and actually watch anime. Most was rather meh but there were a few that stood out from the rest. I also think this list is a little short because of the wrist too (lol contradiction) but I watched a shit load of hockey during October too and when I'm watching hockey I ONLY watch hockey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October

• Piano - Snore fest to the max. The main characters hair was one of the worst styled hair I've ever seen in all of anime. I wouldn't recommend watching this unless you are a huge fan of the piano or slow paced anime.
• Narue no Sekai - This ended up kinda like Onegai Teacher in my eyes but instead of the alien being an "adult" she's a teenager. So because of that it was much more boring for me. Kids and aliens falling in love in a school setting... Blehhhh
• Neo Ranga - Is probably the most fun I had watching an anime this month. It was super campy at first then it turns into something that really made me think of Evangelion. The little sister of the three sisters is the best character of the show easily. Episode 40 onward it gets really awesome and had me hooked to my computer screen till it was over. I also really like short episode series for some reason since these ones were about 10 minutes long.
• The Big O - Super classy and very batman cartoon like. I dare anyone having watched both to not think that. Dorothy is fucking awesome and definitely my favourite character in the show. The first OP was weird as hell but awesome where the second OP was not so awesome at all. The 2nd part of the series really takes you for a loop. TOMATOES as A Day Without Me put it.
• Daughter of Twenty Faces - Has a great first half then it sorta goes downhill. Still interesting in the end but not as awesome as the first episodes at all. Episode 6 pretty much murders everyone which was quite shocking to see so early in a series. It was rather awesome actually. I was upset that there was a really crappy filler episode for the final episode of the series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Ninja Scroll TV - WOW is it ever bad. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece like the movie was (in my eyes) but I really had no idea that it would be this bad even though I have heard nothing good from those who have watched it before I did. The main character is the only good thing about it because I think it's impossible not to make him awesome even if everything else around him is complete shit. The music in the show does not fit at all (even though it was awesome music) and was just laughable half the time. It's like someone was like "Hey I like this song! Put it in the show even if it doesn't fit the scene at all!" oi
• Petite Princess Yucie -Girly and slice of lifey with some really dark undertones that pop up now and then. The meh ending was a let down but I didn't expect them to actually go through with what should have happened even though it comes from Gainax.
• xxxHolic ALL - Great looking, fun stories, and Yuuko is simply amazing and super pretty. The 2 boys, Watanuki  and Doumeki are clearly VERY tsundere for each other and I'm sure there's plenty of fan art on the internet of them making out. Like Caraniel said to me over twitter I would surely enjoy to have a wardrobe as glamorous as Yuuko's.
• Requiem From The Darkness - This was an arty, episodic horror show. Very enjoyable if you enjoy that sort of thing.
• Human Crossing - Urg this was so boring and it doesn't help that it was episodic real human stories. The only thing it has going for it was that it actually had a good last episode where the rest I really didn't enjoy sitting through very much.

OVA/MOVIE

• Ah! My Goddess - Together, Forever - Boring first episode but the 2nd one made up for it because of the girls in swimsuits.
• One Piece 3D - Fucking awesome~
• Space Neko Theater - Man do I ever like cats and people who make strange shorts about them. A cat space suit is just awesome!
• Sorette Dakara ne! - Very shitty and very glad it was only 8 minutes.
• Aoyama Goushou Tanpenshuu - This was a really fun ova from the creators of Conan. It's like they made this first to work out some kinks that they fixed up when they started production on Conan. The last episode with the voice actors was really cute to watch.
• Deadman Wonderland - meh
• Thumbelina - "When you are sick you go and see a doctor, when there's something REALLY wrong you go and see a witch." Damn that's been my issue all along with my health I suppose! There's this blue thing that has hair like Lisa Simpson that scares the crap out of me that was in this too... I wouldn't recommend wasting your time watching this.
• Oishinbo: Nichibei Kome Sensou - Political RICE!
• Oishinbo: 2 - Make some food to make people live longer! I really wish the series for these 2 movies was avaliable in English.
• Lupin Special 1-4 - All were fun but #4 was my favourite because of RASPUTIN!
• Macross Frontier Movie 2 - Just as awesome as movie 1 maybe even more so. I'll have to watch it again just because I <3 Macross.
• Detective Conan Movie 15 - Conan is having some fun in the snow. The movie featured some hilarious skateboarding/snowboarding. I like that they made a reference to diamond dust. This is the longest Conan movie to date and was definitely one of the best.
• xxxHolic Movie - Fun short story. Loved the food and the art was interesting like the rest of the series.

When November rolled around  I started to panic a little again because I was still quite behind on all the titles I wish to have complete before the year is out. I gotta say I did pretty good at finishing off most. I have 2 more titles to watch off that list but I think they'll wait till after the December flurry of posts that are coming up. (More on this in a post scheduled for December 1st) I did however end up reading a lot of manga, One Shots to be exact since I read like 60+ of them. But I also made myself read a longer manga too by the name of Cat Street. I wish I had good things to say about it but I really dislike most shoujo manga and it doesn't help that it was about an actress. I can't relate with someone who acts and complains about being awesome at something and gets paid a lot of money to do it. Fuck that. -.-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 November

• Darker Than Black ALL - S1 was very good. A tiny bit too episodic for the type of thing it was trying to do but it still worked. I really loved all of the amazing characters. I started watching S2 right after S1 but Scamp was all like NOOO watch the OVA next since it happens before S2. Glad he mentioned that to me so I wasn't as lost with what was happening in S2 after watching the OVA which has great violence, bloodshed, and a very interesting main bad guy. The music for all the shows were awesome. S2 really made the music shine for me. It also made me love Hei more than I already did from S1. (Hei without a mask is the best Hei) He really reminded me of when Sousuke from FMP Second Raid was all depressed  but Hei actually took to the bottle unlike Sousuke. I really didn't like the chick with her twin that was introduced in S2. I found everything about her boring and the end just kinda leaves you wanting more or at least should have take another episode to not rush things to finish up. Her magical girl contract for calling out her gun was also another quite annoying thing about her.
• Shuffle ALL -SHIT. I will however give one credit to it. In the end he did choose a chick! Not many harem shows do this.
• Genshiken ALL - HILARIOUS! S2 surprised me with a lot of things I didn't think they would venture into. This show is definitely best watched after one has consumed a lot of anime and engrossed themselves in otaku culture. I think that if I watched this way back in 2004 it would have been lost on me.
• Kujibiki Unbalance - Unlike Genshiken that was awesome this was oh so terrible. I'm not sure how this even got made honestly but now I know that the Genshiken group was obsessed with a pretty shitty anime. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• GTO - Onizuka is the most hilarious teacher ever. His students were all annoying little brats though and made it hard to sit through a lot of the episodes where they were front and center. Having seen the OVA of when Onizuka was a young delinquent first made viewing this extra special.
• Read Or Die - I went into this expecting AWESOME. The first half of the show blew huge chunks and made me hate the 3 sisters right away. From episode 14 onward though things came around and got much better. But because of the sisters I still couldn't stand it very much. It was worth watching but ended up not living up to my expectations I had from the OVA.
• Ergo Proxy episode 1 - I tried hard to keep going but I keep getting this really bad Witch Hunter Robin feel to it because of the lead chick... I will complete this but it just may take a while longer... The world interests me but if that's all there is to it I don't think I'll have a good overall impression of the series.
• Maze - I was honestly expecting something not so great but this might not even be watchable for most people. Maze is what happens when you have an idea for a hentai title with a "plot" but can't add in any of the sex. So all you are left with is a shitty plot, characters, and very out of place sexual tension. The OP was good though... but holy shit was that OVA for it ever... something... hello nudity at every turn!
• Le Chevalier D'Eon - This oddly ended up being nothing like I was expecting it to be. It has a very supernatural feel to it that is very interesting. I hate how slow paced it is though. Even when amazing sword battles are going on and great action it still feels like the show is inching along. I really enjoyed how it ended.
• Allison & Lillia - Really reminded me of Last Exile but slower and not as awesome plot, animation, and character wise.
• Neuro - This was a great anime that was full of quirky amazing characters. I really liked the episodic stories aproach but it did have one main plot that they visited often enough so we wouldn't forget about it. I found it to be very much like Ghost Hunt in that it had an awesome male lead with a sucky female that just happens to be with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIE/OVA

• Fafner - Meh it was alright.
• Tekken - LOL!!!
• Lupin Special 5-11 - Not much to say here honestly. All the Lupin films after a while start to blend together as one. The only thing that changes is what treasure they are after. I did really like Special 9 (A poison spider tattoo that made them stuck on an island) and 11 (really good action and sexy scenes) though.

So yeah, that's it! Quite a lot. XD

Tuesday Tally Week… Ehh Screw That… Months April to September!

Yup it's certainly been a while. What happened? Not much honestly I just got behind on this project and kept putting it off "till next week" and it suddenly was 6 MONTHS LATER! So where'd I leave off last? Oh right... I was in the middle of finishing off Yu Yu Hakusho. Which turned out to be an alright show by the end of it all. The 2 movies that were after the series kinda sucked though. Anyway since summer is well over now here's what I've been viewing during all this time.

During April to June all I pretty much did was finish off all the current anime from this year (winter/spring) and a watched a "few" series. I won't bother talking about the new stuff since I'll save that for my end of the year round up that seems to have turned into a tradition since I started blogging. I read a bunch of manga one shots but none were really interesting that I can recall except for Eensy Weensy Monster which hilariously enough isn't even a one shot. If you liked Kare Kano then I highly suggest checking out Eensy Weensy Monster as it's like a way shorter version of Kare Kano imo. I'll list the series/ova's/movies of interest I watched with basically a one or 2 sentence sum up for my thoughts. If you wanna see the whole list click the link at the start of this paragraph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 April

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny - Blargy...
• Superior Defender Gundam Force - Childish but super fun!
• Gokinjo Monogatari - Fashion never felt so fun before. Got a little too drama heavy by the end though and it felt forced.
• Cromartie High School - Cute boys, doing cute things? Not really "cute" but completely hilarious!
• Young Animator Training Project Anime - These were all super fun and we need to see more of this stuff being produced.
• Yoji Kuri Shorts - Can't say I'm a fan of his style but I did enjoy Stamp Fantasia.
• Tailenders - A short 30 minute movie that felt like an awesome prequel for Redline.
• Otona Joshi no Anime Time: Kawamo o Suberu Kaze - I fell hard for this. I kinda wish it was a little longer but it got the job done. Will post about it on my Snack of the Week spot at some point.
• Zou no Senaka: Tabi-Datsu Hi - These 7 minutes may make you cry.
• Omae Umasou da na Movie - If you haven't watched this story about DINOSAURS yet, what are you waiting for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May

• Hare+Guu ALL - #1 best comedy ever!
• Legend of DUO - Am I ever glad the episodes were only 5 minutes...
• Koi Sendo - Deer kick ass!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June

• Macross - Started re-watching this with a sccsav group but ended up finishing it off on my own.
• Toward the Terra - My latest space opera obsession. I really need to find a place for it in my top 20.
• Paradise Kiss - A not so direct follow up to Gokinjo Monogatari. I enjoyed this one a lot more because I got to see people FUCKING!
• Toshokan Sensou - I still don't really know how I feel about this one. War and books.
• Hataraki Man - It was fun watching this tough lady make her way through her days. Finishing this also concludes my "Finish all noitaminA anime" goal for the year.
• History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi - Someday I hope there will be more of this. If Hunter X Hunter can get a re-make this show deserves one too!
• Bamboo Blade - Didn't really live up to the hype for me. Was watched because it's on Digiboy's top list.
• Colorful - Slow paced but a really good movie about the afterlife and life in general.
• Kenya Boy - Boring first half but then you get DINOSAURS, NAZIS AND ATOMIC BOMBS!
• Eden of The East Movie 1-2 -  Glad I finally sat down to enjoy these.
• Karigurashi no Arrietty - Typical Ghibli movie. Very pretty and fun. Got a little tiresome towards the end though.
• Naruto Shippuden Movie 4 - Felt just like the 2nd movie.

Moving onto July to September now I have to say that a lot of anime was consumed. Some weren't so great but most I actually really enjoyed. I felt like I was spoiling myself by watching so many great titles honestly. No manga was read during this time but I didn't have much time during the summer months between watching a lot of anime and doing outdoors stuff. We generally have a huge gathering in August because that's when my bf's birthday is so we had non stop guests for a good 2-3 weeks. September was an insane month for watching anime and that's when all the summer anime ended as well. Again I'll just list the series/ova's/movies of interest I watched with basically a one or 2 sentence sum up for my thoughts. If you wanna see the whole list click the link at the start of this paragraph.

July

• Zero no Tsukaima ALL - Blargy...
• Supernatural The Animation - Some episodes were boring some weren't. I haven't seen the TV series it was created after but now I kind of want to.
• Majuu Sensen: The Apocalypse - MAN = BEAR = LION = EAGLE
• Descendants of Darkness - It was fun but don't really remember much about it.
• Idol Master Xenoglossia - Blargy... I tried to like this show...
• GaoGaiGar - GA GA GA GA GA GA GAOGAIGAR! Enough said.
• Panda Z, Taiko Drum Master, Nanami-chan, Di Gi Charat ALL - all very adorable short episode series. Very fun to watch.
• Lupin III: Castle Of Cagliostro - Glad to have finally seen one of the most hyped anime movies ever.
• Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus - My favourite Lupin III film so far. (I still got 21 tv specials to go through)
• Towards the Terra - Loved the movie just as much as its series re-make.

August

• Mazinger Z - Old school robots kick ass.
• Candy Candy - Now this is a shoujo show I never expected to be as great as it turned out to be. There were plenty of boring episodes but when the story got going it was amazing. I still don't like nurses though.
• Ninja Nonsense - WTF was that? Way more random and strange than I was expecting!
• Popee the Performer - Oh boy... Just watch it if you want something that's pretty fucked up.
• Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley - It's the hobo life for me!
• Denshinbashira Elemi no Koi - Telephone pole love is sweet.
• Crusher Joe - Fun random space adventures.
• Locke the Superman - Telepathic powers sure are awesome. Especially when they come along with immortality!
• Mai Mai Miracle - Had no idea what this was suppose to be about going in and honestly I still don't really know. Slow paced slice of life movie that I don't regret watching but probably won't watch it ever again.
• Redline (watched 2 times) - Delicious.
• Hermes - Winds of Love (re-watch) - Watched this with the terribad sccsav group. That was interesting.
• The Golden Laws - Watched this with friends that were down. TOTALLY HILARIOUS in a group watch.
• Bleach Movie 4 - I really enjoyed this movie but I've always liked tales about climbing your way out of hell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 September

• Blood+ - Blargy... Did have some good moments but too much miss...
• Nana - Hello delicious drama! Thought I'd hate it but fell in love with it. That ending pissed me off for quite a while though. Still kinda ticked off about it.
• Golgo 13 - Golgo gets laid a lot.
• Shakugan no Shana ALL- Blargy...
• Master Keaton - All I knew about this going in was that it was episodic and slow. Boy did I ever get that. But I also got another favourite anime and Keaton is living the life Yang wished he could have. Well almost!
• Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen - THAT END!
• Irresponsible Captain Tylor - Space adventures ahoy! Tylor is Yang's silly younger brother!
• Sumomomo Momomo - Really funny first half then it slipped up and got boring and pulled a pretty lame ending. Not to say I was expecting a masterpiece from it by any stretch.
• Fate Stay Night (re-watch) - The bf hadn't seen it and I thought it would be fun to watch it before the new Fate Zero airing this fall. Still enjoyed it the second time around.
• If I See You in My Dreams - Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Didn't overly enjoy the ova that was a different telling of the story though.
• Battle Programmer Shirase - I could have watched a million more episodes of this.
• Girl Detective Club - If you wanna see a little girl pull out a machine gun from her pantsu check it out.
• Eyeshield 21: Maboroshi no Golden Bowl - I don't overly enjoy football but this intro episode actually made me interested in the series. Still not too sure if I want to sit through 145 episodes of it though...
• Shuffle Intro - I had no idea it was set in a fantasy world with girls who have elf ears. Not that that's gonna make it better by any stretch of the imagination though. Very much not looking forward to sitting through this one.
• Break Blade - Pure win. Snake post on this shall be done soon.
• Aim for the Ace - Rushed movie. I will look forward to watching the series instead for a more fleshed out feeling.
• Onigamiden: Legend of the Millennium Dragon - It's ok if you wanna waste some time watching a boy figure out which side he wants to be on. Oh and dragons!

So that's what my life has been like over the past 6 months I'll try to be better at keeping this back to a regular weekly update. Or at the very least do a monthly one.

chii’s Anime Snack of the Week: One Pound Gospel

With the passing earlier this week of Dezaki Osamu, I figured it would be nice to feature one of his works. One Pound Gospel is a not very well known title but you should watch it because it is fun. I hope you like boxing or can at least appreciate a good story about it.

Positive Points

• It's got a nun in it
• Pretty funny considering it's about boxing
• The drama that unfolds hits the right spots
• Will probably make you want to watch more boxing anime to see how great they can be

Negative Points

• If you aren't a fan of boxing you may be bored
• Visually it's ok but has annoying lighting
• Might leave you wanting something a little more substantial

Why chii thinks you should watch it

Pay tribute to one of the best anime directors of course! With such amazing titles under his belt like Lupin III specials, Ashita no Joe, and my personal favourite Rose of Versailles, how can you not want to check out an awesome one shot ova like One Pound Gospel. It's a fun story about hard work and determination even if the hero has to be pushed all the way through it. The nun was actually a great pairing with a boxer kid that just didn't care about anything. RIP Dezaki Osamu, you'll be missed.

Further reactions to this OVA:

One Pound Gospel AnimePlanet Review

THEM Anime Reviews One Pound Gospel

chii’s Anime Snack of the Week: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Who doesn't like an amazing little ova about a robot traveling and living along the quiet countryside? Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou gives you just that! What more do you need in an anime? I love robots and watching this will make you love them too! It's amazing just how realistic a robot can act just like a human doing mundane things!

Positive Points

• The pacing and music won't make you fall asleep no sir nope!
• It shouldn't take you almost a week to complete!
• It actually has a sequel that gives you even more!
• All your questions shall be answered in the end!

Negative Points

• It wasn't slow paced enough
• The robot never flashed her boobs
• There should have been more scenery shots
• Would have been nice if it was 50 episodes instead of just 4 because the manga is SO long and there's so much they could have added

Why chii thinks you should watch it

Just trust me and do it....

Further reactions to this OVA:

This is the best review of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou on the net! Vote for it in the poll to the right if you agree!

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