Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls - 百花繚乱

Directed by: ?? Studio: KOBUN? Network: Tokyo MX Episodes: 1 aired out of  ? Status: Currently airing

Summary.

Well i can´t tell you much about the plot on this one
but what i can defenitely tell you is that it´s fulll of
fan service that meaning boobs nad lots of them for sure
only one episode has been aired so here i go with this
very short sort of summary so you can have an idea of
what to expect from this one.

Ok at the beggining of the episode we find ourselves at an unknown
place and the is a bright light shinning in the sky aur blasting
everywhere and some cool ¨Street Fighter 4 like¨black shades and
paint drops tainting the screen the character himself doesn´t know
whats going on then a redheaded gril comes out o the light ball
and calls him onii-chan the she kisses him as a light explotion
revolves around them and a light ray goes up to the sky, this scene
ends as the male says ¨that was my first kiss¨.

Next scene begins with the sign ¨6 hours from 1st kiss¨as our new
hero descends from a train cabinet nad gets on his way to the Buou
Gakuen Juku a special academy where only the children of the warrior
class can enroll into and is ander the Tokugawa Shogunate power. As a
mere tourist our hero walks through the streets taking pictures of
everything on his way, then he gets in to a dojo and just after he opens
the door to one of the rooms two naked grils are laying on the floor as
he takes a picture without realizing the situation (this is where i started
to hate those ¨SF4 like¨ Shades cause they don´t see the good thing lol) so they
call him a pervert and ask to him indentify himself but he refuses.

One of the girls point a naginata (blade with long handle) on his face
threatening him to spit the info not much after he encounters with a
swifly movement but stops himself just before hitting her chin, then the
introductions begin, 15 old Yukimura Sanada and Matabei both are par of
the Toyotomi clan the anemy of the shogunate and just when he is about
to introduce himself a group of ninjas appear from nowhere and ask to
surrender under the name of the Buou Gakuen juku student council, a
girl dressed maid like Hattori Hanzou Yoshinari (any similarities might
be mere coincidence) makes her introduction, then the now trio escape
after using a flash granade and go through a secert tunnel, a big
wave of watter makes them to speed their way out, while some voices
can be heard calling for the girl from the beginning.

Hattori san goes to her master and explains the situation to her, she
gets mad because it was the 3rd time Hattori left Sanada and Matabei scape
and thinks of a punishment (at this point i really freaked out) the master
opens her legs and Hattori gets between them like she was gonna do some
sort of job (if you catch my drift) but no! she took on of the master´s
tights with her mouth in a very sexual way (yeah) Hattori gets kicked away
and ordered to caught Sanada and Matabei by all meanings.

The trio is out of the sewers and just when our hero is about to introduce
himself (again) gets interrupted by the same group of ninjas (again) but
this time around the brought chains to capture both of the girls and get
electrocuted, Hero cuts them free with his sword, and begins arguing with
Hattori about the way of the samurai, as this happens the girl from the
beginning seems to be listening to his words and start wakening as he
speaks and as our hero finally reveals his name Yagyuu Muneakira she
awakes.

The Yagyuu family has been the family of swordsmen who trained the shogunate
family for decades as they argue a light starts shinning in the sky taking
that option to make their scape the trio start running but Yagyuu gets
distracted by the light, soon he finds himself surrounded by the ninjas and
just as he tries to reach the light we find ourselves in the same scenario
from the beginning with the girl coming out of the light ball and kissing
Yagyuu after calling him nii-chan but now after the blast the girl transfroms
herself into a samurai girl named Yagyuu Jyuubei.

Comments.

Well and thats how the episode ended it sure was an excellent cliffhanger
for the the next episode, at the opening they let you have a glance at
what might be the fure of the girls as they all appear in different suits
and stuff. The anime as a whole looks alright the animation looks good
with very heave shadows and marked dealinate and those SF$ like black
shades and paint stains and well as i said before this is an action
and fanservice packed anime so expect more boobs and good fighting
scenes so if you have some free time you may have some fun watching
this one.

Scores.

Action:8

Visuals:8.5

Boobs:9

Overall: 8 out of 10

Just to know… Anime is not really like one shot, unlike manga. But the thing with manga is that it advances (spoilers >:D) and its also descriptive. But seriously…. How can Anime be better than Manga? To start of with, Anime is Animated and its easier to see whats happening and all that. Also its colored so some of you can stare at the sexy parts =\. Anyways there’s background music to accompany you so you will never ever get bored unless you hate it. But now to manga, unless you are so desperate, you would not read a boring chapter. For starters, It takes Forever to release a new volume (a month or so =\). It also takes a week further to translate it to English (If you are Japanese, good for you). Also you get to mock the characters if they have a new style thats not seen in the anime like Aizen. I think he became Gay O.O… back to the topic. If you were looking in a manga and you were less than 15 years old and you saw a picture of a couple kissing, that person would save it on the desktop and look at it over and over again. In another way, if you liked the chapter, you can look at it over and over again, without waiting for it to buffer (Load). In anime, yes you have to wait for it to buffer for like 2 minutes.. which no big deal for some of you. But what if the video is broken and the other sites have the same video? Sad very sad… So thinking which side? I can’t find more explanation but none of the negatives are so bad right? Well I need some sleep and im out =P

FUNimation® Entertainment today announced that it has acquired home entertainment, broadcast and digital rights for the fantasy adventure series “Disgaea” from d-rights. The 12-episode series is directed by Kiyotaka Isako (“Love Hina” and “Utawarerumono”) and based on the popular Disgaea role-playing games developed by Nippon Ichi Software. Funimation has also said that the entire 12 episode series will ship in 2011 but currently you can find the first episode dubbed on their website.

Edit: Here is a link to the episodes Funimation

Through the Content Overseas Distribution Association (COD), the initiative will automatically search for videos that were submitted without authorization and demand that site administrators delete the unauthorized materials. The participating companies include TOHO, Studio Ghibli, and Sunrise, and the association is exploring the possible future involvement of commercial broadcasters and record companies.The initiative will start with the monitoring of 10 to 15 works, such as Ponyo and Mobile Suit Gundam 00, on major video-sharing websites in China in the middle of November. Thereafter, the system will expand the number of sites it monitors to those outside China. NHK News reported on Tuesday that over 38,000 Japanese-animated videos are distributed without authorization on the Internet every month. The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) and other participants began the month-long survey this past February. According to the survey, these unauthorized videos are seen about 69 million times. CODA is a private umbrella group of 22 companies and 20 organizations involved with content and copyrights in Japan. Its stated goal is “to stamp out piracy and promote the legal distribution of Japanese content, in particular in Asia.”

After losing his sister 5  year ago, Satsuki Kakeru led to a vacant life, only able to return to his normal days with his childhood friend Misane Yuka and other friends at school. Suddenly one day, the sky turns red and the moon turns black. Everyone besides Kakeru and Yuka disappears and monsters start roaming the streets. All that they were able to do was just to run away and hide. After a while, the world returns to normal. But just when they thought everything was a dream, the Red Night occurs again. Kakeru and Yuka manage to find four more humans who are involved in this mysterious phenomenon: Kusakabe Misuzu, a red-haired onmyouji swordswoman, Tachibana Kukuri, a strange mute girl who looks like Kakeru’s deceased sister, Hirohara Yukiko, a lively young girl who reverts to the personality of a cold killer when her glasses are removed, and Tajima Takahisa, a young pyrokineticist.

They get together and try to survive, but six shadows suddenly appear in front of them…

On the surface, it is very easy to misjudge the storyline as a Persona series copy if you are familiar with it, but on the contrary, the anime has a very deep plot and story that goes far beyond the original premise and redefines the plots good and evil concept. Near the end however, it starts to follows a meandering and low resolution despite the good dénouement. The characters however, work in unison to give the story movement than it initial has, so the lack of explanation is rolled out through the story so it doesn’t take long for the story to really move and keeps the viewer locked in their seats. The number of twist and various plot devices that contribute to the characters are overall dynamic, but for some reason, quite a few of the main characters remain static, which is a small disappointment, but nothing significant.

The artwork is pretty much lively and aesthetic for most viewers, so it’s another promising device. Although as promising as the art is, the battle scenes were a bit stale and dry, which needed some spicing up, but, were alright compared with other visual novel pieces of it’s genre. However, the musical selections of the series provides a pretty nice backing and is a nicely composed set of dark themes mixed with some old school Japanese influence rhythm and tempo from old school type of instruments and also modern ones as well that fully convey the scences. The opening “Arrival of Tears” is performed by Ayane and ending by Arisel entitled “Kegare Naki Yumi,” which are two lovely pieces that fully fit the series. If you haven’t I highly can’t recommend the soundtrack pieces enough along with the original pieces as well to grab a hold of. They are truly breath taking.

Personally, the series is very nicely done and enjoyable for awhile, that is until the approaching ending which is a letdown to say the least. I have played the Visual Novel, but only gotten half way through the story which more or less is a better way to enjoy the series, but I hope to revisit it once my Japanese recognition improves.

However, the anime series 11eyes definitely has room to branch out from the collection of material it has and would be a joy to see, but not really needed. I won’t highly recommend the series, but I do suggest you watch for something different and semi-enjoyable.

Score: 78/100

Pros
-Excellent Storyline.
-Good execution and movement.
-Aesthetically pleasing artwork.
-Dynamic situations that give way to dynamic plot devices
-Plenty of room for extra ovas and other material.

Cons
-Static characterization for the impressive elements
- Great artwork wasted on half-assed action sequences
-Disappointing end (well…to me at least)

actor/voice actor Richard Epcar

“I think I always knew I wanted to be an actor.” Actor and voice actor Richard Epcar, a well known name in the industry has both played and voiced many well known characters like Batou, an artificial intelligence officer for section 9 in Ghost in the Shell, Zangetsu, a wise old spirit of a zanpakutoh wielded by a young shinigami named Ichigo, Jigen, the partner in crime to lead character Lupin in Lupin III. As well as a voice and ADR (digital voice replacement) Director. A man of many talents shared with me his love of his work and what inspired him into this very industry.

I’m curious about your musical background, since you’re a drummer in the LA River Band, before drums, did you play other musical instruments, maybe in other bands or even maybe inspired by playing musical instruments in a high school band? I started taking snare-drum in the 4th grade. Where I went to school you had to be in the school orchestra. I think it’s a shame they don’t require that anymore. Anyway I thought playing drums would be fun. And I was right. I started playing the drum kit in Jr. High and High School and played with various bands. In college I even play in the orchestra for two different productions. Being at Morphicon (BTW I know they wanted you at Morphicon 07, I was sad to know you weren’t able to attend, I was actually on staff that year!! ) instead of an anime con, I’m curious what that was like for you? was it a different scene than an anime convention for you? It was a lot of fun. It was a very well run con. I was happy to be part of it. I don’t really consider myself a big part of Power Rangers-I did the voices of about 30 different monsters and directed ADR on the show-but the big stars are the Rangers and the characters that you see like Rita and Goldar. So I’m glad they asked me, but I kind of like when I have something more to do with a particular show-like Ghost in the Shell. From Bert at the site: How was it going from doing voice acting on anime/video games to appearing on Clean Sweep? Hear you have one heck of a James Bond memorabilia collection? Do you have a favorite Bond film? Doing voices on anime is probably the hardest because you have to do the lip synch and do a natural, good, smooth performance and create a character. Most games are made from scratch so you just go in and record your character, so usually it’s easier. Ironically they pay more for games and less for anime. But I love it all. Clean Sweep was fun because we got a new office and bedroom out of the deal. I still have my Bond collection and it’s even bigger than before. I’d have to say Connery is my favorite Bond. He was the first and I think the best. I think Goldfinger is a great Bond film, but I also really like From Russia with Love. I do like them all though and I’d rather watch Bond than just about anything else. From Finn at the site: What do you think about the increasing influx of Japanese Culture influencing today’s youth in America? I don’t see anything wrong with it. Some of their cultural ideas are wonderful. I think the reason Anime is so popular is because a lot of it is thought provoking. They aren’t afraid to be philosophical and ask serious questions and push the envelope where as a lot of American animation is linear. I know you’ve mentioned Batou meaning a lot to you, but do you have others of your characters that have become a big focus to you as a favorite? I’ve played over 300 animated characters and they are like my children-I love them all. Jigen is close to me and I love his dry sense of humor. Ziggy is fun to play as an actor because of his pathos. Bobobo-bobobobo was a lot of fun and just crazy. I really liked playing Capt. Vince Grant in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles because he is a tough star ship Captain and I always wanted to have my own star ship. Inspector Lunge was very interesting to do because he was unlike any character I’ve ever played. I know you said anime but one of the most

fun characters I’ve ever played was The Joker! He was incredible fun. I could go

on and on, but I won’t.

When it comes to Oneshot manga’s one could say they are easier to avoid as you know before you read them there are not many chapters to begin with, but should the side story or story completely unrelated to the rest of the series fall in

the middle of the volume there is no prior warning.

I find it more annoying also when you find these side stories to have some interesting points in them that warrant

the story to have its own series but does not.

One of the worst cases of Side Story annoyance would probably be those with a pilot chapter, for instance the Naruto pilot chapter which gives away pieces of the story which are explained over a longer period of time in the main manga causing you to lose the surprise when the mystery is solved later on. Another form is that similar to Gacha Gacha, though it was later seperated by calling the 2nd part of the series “Gacha Gacha – Capsule”, the story of Gacha Gacha begins completely different to that of the second story, and as if to give the impression of just being cut off the first story ended unfinished.

I am not saying that manga’s with Side Story’s are all bad, quite the contrary…Manga’s with side stories tend to be quite entertaining. I do not mind if the story has some relation to the main story, whether it be an irrelevant day, some time after, some time before, etc. But I hate manga’s with side stories unrelated to the main story leaving you thinking “This should be its own manga” and “Where’s the rest?”

And so we come down to one of my most hated types of manga’s, manga’s with different stories lasting maybe a chapter or 3 before completely switching story and they do not follow on from the last. I will accept that some people may like this sort of manga, but as this review is my personnal opinion I thought I would give my own personnal opinion on these manga’s.

Well, besides not liking side stories I would quite happily recommend the manga Gacha Gacha, just remember, the first few chapters have absolutely no relevance to the rest of the manga.

Status: Publishing

Published: 2003 to ?

Serialization: Young King Comics

Genres: Action, Comedy, Magic, Gender Bender

Shurutsu Kenichi is an ordinary third generation German high school student. The only thing that sets him apart is that Kenichi is a transforming magical girl heroine. As a member of the Brocken bloodline and descendant of the alchemist Johann Schulz it is Ken-chan’s duty to hunt down wayward alchemists who have abused their powers. Using his heart shaped wand Ken-chan defeats evil in a cute and glamorous way. Well, not really. The thing is that Kenichi doesn’t want to be a magical princess. So instead of defeating his enemies in a cute way he releases his pent up anger on them by savagely bludgeoning the alchemists with his wand. He also has to deal with his cousins continuous, and usually successful, schemes that force him to crossdress as part of his job as a famous bishoujo idol.

Art 4/5

If you have seen any other of this mangaka’s other works then the art in this will be instantly recognizable. Etorouji-sensei has a distinctive cute style for his characters.  In my opinion his real forte is in action scenes. Sadly there is not as much action as I would like in this.

Story 3/5

I started reading this simply because I am a fan of this mangaka’s more well known serious fantasy manga Ubel Blatt. I was quite surprised that this is an enjoyably funny manga. The whole cross dressing thing is comical as Kenichi is an unwilling participant in his perverted cousin’s cosplay complex. My biggest issue with this manga is the ridiculously high stupidity level of the evil alchemists. Their plots to take over the world are so far out there that no sane person could make sense of them. In one chapter an alchemist is hiding in a hospital creating nurse uniforms that brainwash the wearers to produce more nurse uniforms thereby eventually taking over the world through mind control cosplay. There was another one where an alchemist was putting a mind altering substance into the tea at his maid cafe thus turning Japan’s otaku into a mercenary army. The evil schemes are so poorly conceived and all the alchemists so easily beaten that it deprives the manga of any real conflict. It’s still a really funny manga, but it’s just so stupid.

Title: His and Her Circumstances, Japanese Title: 彼氏彼女の事情, Official Website: http://www.gainax.co.jp/anime/karekano/ , Category:TV, Total Episodes: 26 (26 x 24mins), Release Date: 1998-10-02

Description: Miyazawa Yukino is your typical model student, popular, intelligent, beautiful and seemingly flawless. Or at least that is how she appears. Yukino hides a great secret, that being she is a self-proclaimed queen of vanity. That’s right, there is nothing this girl wont do to get peoples praise and attention, her favourite books are get rich quick schemes and she only drops her character at home with her family. The anime starts with her entering High School, however everything did not go to plan. She had intended to be the highest scoring student in the entrance exam, but someone beat her. Comforting herself in thinking the person who beat her was probably a bad looking nerd she happily took her place in the entrance ceremony. However, when the speaker rose to represent the first years as the highest scorer she found that not only was the guy good looking, but he was everything she had strived to be without all the effort. The anime begins with her constant competition to beat Arima Soujiro then leads into a steadily developing love between the two as they both try to remove their outer façade and live as their true selves.

This anime is great in the fact it switched between drama and comedy at frequent intervals as Yukino doubts herself and their relationship, or her craving for attention and how she fights to keep it together because of unfounded worried thoughts. This anime’s drawing style has a very manga like feel as the anime often switches from flowing movement to still manga captions and even goes so far as to incoporate the original manga into an anime scene. Kare Kano sticks closely to the manga, but the manga carries on for a little while after the end of the story for Kare Kano.

This is a wonderful anime of love between two top students and how their trying to change their character causes problems for them at school, from the teachers calling them for lowering grades, to students criticizing Yukino for lying to them. Comedy is introduced in the form of Yukino’s obsessive nature, laid back parents and sisters, love rivals and her over thinking of most situation. For lovers of romantic stories this is a great story which is bound to leave a smile on your face. However, if you are just looking for an all out comedy I wouldn’t recommend this anime due to its rather serious nature throughout.

Rating: 8/10

“Nice story that incorporates more than just romance.”

“Nice show to watch. Recommended to people who like romance with a bit of action placed into it. A must watch for people who would enjoy good high quality character designs. I definitely enjoyed watching the show and hopefully, you would too!”