Black Butler II Review

The first season of Kuroshitsuji consisted of 24 episodes, primarily filler arcs, mere padding for the main storyline which turned out to be somewhat of a flop. It was unambitious and tenuously held together, yet there is a slight eerie charm to the vibrant exhibition of characters that overall makes the series enjoyable. Kuroshitsuji II attempts to rectify some of the shortcomings of its predecessor while remaining on par in terms of entertainment. Bottom line, its a complete success. Season two is much shorter, more direct and feels more fluid. In all, a welcomed improvement.

Initially I thought season two was going to feature a brand new master/demon butler couple, which I had high hopes for considering I genuinely do not like Ciel Phantomhive. There's something about his character that I've always found just too convenient for the plot, granted there wouldn't be much of a plot without him, this becomes disappointing clear during the course of Kuroshitsuji II. Nevertheless it was interesting to watch the dynamics of Alois Trancy and Claude Fauste unfold. While equally as damaged as Ciel, Alois is mentally the polar opposite, ever on the verge of a breakdown and psychotically dependant on his butler. Sure this means that his position as a flamboyant villain is short lived and untimely overshadowed by Claude's master scheme. To be honest, its a tad obvious what Claude is up to, not a particularly deep motive either. Then again, I don't suppose it has to be for type of anime.

Once again, its the supporting cast that truly brings Kuroshitsuji to life. Satisfactory amounts of homo reaper, Grell Sutcliffe are more than enough to meet my seal of approval. Observing his infatuation with Sebastian progress into a potential friendship, based on Grell's inclusion in the goodbye ceremony at the end of episode 12 would seem to imply that he is no longer considered just a nuisance, was simply hilarious. Sometimes all it takes is one well crafted comic relief character to break up an otherwise starchy show.

The finale delivered a wonderfully fiendish twist, executed superbly against the ever present foreboding peril of which Ciel places himself in. Much more captivating and consistent than its predecessor and nicely leaves the door wide open for a third season. I'm sold on this show so fingers crossed there will be one.

6.5/10

Occult Academy - Highway to Hell

Interest: Winter Anime 2011

Title: Wolverine
Starts: Animax, Friday, January 7 at 10:00 p.m. JST
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: Action

Summary:
Second in the four-part Marvel Anime project, broadcasting after the Iron Man anime. Wolverine is a mutant possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced psychical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin at a accelerated rate.

Title: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Starts: Tele-Tama, Tuesday, January 11 at 1:30 a.m. JST Studio: Studio DEEN Genre: Action, Magic Summary: Aikawa Ayumu is a normal high school boy. One day he is killed by a serial killer and revived as a zombie by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. He starts to serve Eu as her guard but he happens to deprive the mahou shoujo Haruna of her magic power. Haruna orders Ayumu to fight against the anti-mahou shoujo system "Megalo" in her place.

Title: Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season
Starts: NTV, Wednesday, January 5 at 12:59 am JST
Studio: Production I.G
Genre: Comedy, Romance

Summary:
Kuronuma Sawako is completely misunderstood by her classmates. Her timid and sweet demeanor is often mistaken for malicious behavior. This is due to her resemblance to the ghost girl from "The Ring", which has led her peers to give her the nickname Sadako. Longing to make friends and live a normal life, she is naturally drawn to Kazehaya Shouta, the most popular guy in class, whose "100% refreshing" personality earns great admiration from Sawako.

Title: Hourou Musuko
Starts: Fuji TV, Friday, January 14 at 1:15 a.m. JST
Studio: AIC
Genre: Drama

Summary:
Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shucihi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be.
Title: GOSICK
Starts: TV Tokyo, Saturday, January 8 at 1:23 a.m. JST
Studio: BONES
Genre: Drama, Horror

Summary:
GOSICK takes place in 1924 in a small, made-up European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve.

Title: Fractale
Starts: Fuji TV, Friday, January 14 at 12:45 a.m. JST
Studio: A-1 Pictures Inc.
Genre: Fantasy

Summary:
The story takes place in an island, where a "Fractale System" is beginning to collapse. One day, Crane finds an injured girl called Phryne under a cliff. She disappears leaving a pendant. Crane sets out for a journey with the girl-shaped avatar Nessa to look for Phryne and discovers the secret of the Fractale System

Title: Dragon Crisis! Starts: Chiba TV, Tuesday, January 11 at 1:30 a.m. JST Studio: Studio DEEN Genre: Fantasy Summary: A normal high school boy Kisaragi Ryuji's peaceful life is turned into an adventure by the return of his second cousin Eriko. Ryuji and Eriko seize a relic box from a black broker. In the box, they find a red dragon girl Rose. In order to protect Rose from the black organization, Ryuji decides to fight using his power as a relic handler.

Title: Beelzebub Starts: YTV, Sunday, January 9 at 7:00 a.m. Japan Standard Time (JST) Studio: Pierrot Genre: Supernatural, Action, Comedy Summary: Oga Tatsumi is a first year in Ishiyama High, the school for delinquents. One day while sleeping next to a river he sees a man floating down it, he pulls him to shore and the man splits in half revealing a baby boy. This boy is the son of the demon king and he has been chosen as the one to raise it with the baby's demon maid Hilda. The story follows his life with the child and at the delinquent school.

High School of the Dead [Complete]

Zombies, carnage, teenagers, boobs. Seems uncomplicated enough. The plot reads like a typical zombie flick, one moment everything is peachy, the next a seemingly normal high school is a zombie feeding ground. Pretty much wiping out all unnamed characters in one frenzy. The survivors; five students and one airhead nurse decide to band together and flee the school. Fortunately after the initial shock of zombie apocalypse now, our heroes become very insightful, handling their current predicament oddly clinical for teenagers, factor in their suddenly useful talents - gun okatu and Kendo champion, and its no wonder these kids are able to survive 12 episodes while their classmates get gobbled alive.

In all, it could have been an enjoyable show, were it not spoiled by the obligatory panties shot, lowering the tone for no other reason then because it could. All right, the creators were trying to push the violence, gore and sex boundaries, but most of the time, the fanservice department was so outrageous that it just became silly. Every Japanese girl having a pair of double D's water balloons strapped across her chest, while running around in grossly inappropriate attire for a zombie apocalypse, might be the average 14 year old male's wet dream, but as a woman, I found myself excluded from liking otherwise flawless action sequences due to sheer embarrassment.

So, what made me stick this show out until the end? Kohta Hirano. The chubby, adorable, resident gun enthusiast, probably the only character who doesn't want the world to go back to normal and have to go back to being no one. The sanest response to zombies, I suppose.

Rating: 5/10

Fortune Arterial 1-10

Its open season for vampires. Not in the classic Dracula/Hellsing/Blade badass archetypes of course, thanks to Meyer the rules on vampire mythology have been rewritten, now comprising of fluffy teenagers, who'd rather worry about organising school events then biting necks. Brother and sister Lori and Erika Sendo are your standard modern vamps, pretty, popular, zero aversion to sunlight, the works. Just be thankful they don't sparkle.

Despite introducing (and painfully explaining) the vampire subplot in the second episode, that minor detail seems forgotten to the point of being inconsequential during the following events. As the show attempts to warm the audience to its characters by showcasing day to day school events and the blossoming romance between Erika and Kohei Hasekura, clichés are kept at a distance. Until they make a sour point of returning.

Erika faces a dilemma, at the end of her high school year she must have bitten at least one human and made them her 'servant' - remains human but has supernatural powers and lasting life, or return home to Mummy dear and never see the light of day. Wow. Tough breaks [/sarcasm]. Of course Erika doesn't want to be a vampire, she wants to be human, which is why she actively denies herself blood, and I'll leave you to work out the consequences. So, the main problem I have with this storyline, is that I don't sympathize with Erika. At all. Presumably I'm suppose to, but honestly she just comes across as annoying. Ironically its not even Erika's fault. The show has fallen into the trap of presenting its vampires as perfect, so popular, so attractive, so good at school and sports, that the siblings are naturally idolized by their peers. What the average teens wishes they could be like. And all Erika has to do to maintain this is drink a couple of transfusions bags. Yet she doesn't want to. Because she is stubborn. Therefore annoying.

On top of that the premise has been done to death and much, much better. It lacks the broodiness of Vampire Knight or the comic charm of Karin/Chibi Vampire to be a really good romance. With the finale right around the corner, its doubtful the Fortune Arterial will be able to redeem itself. Not if the ending is as predictable as it seems. Erika bites Kohei. They live happily ever after. The end.

What a bore.

Bootlegs. No fun.

Today was rifled with a disappointing discovery. The drama's & anime that I have purchased from ebay could be bootlegs. This annoys me no end, since I exercised a degree of common sense when searching sellers, avoiding products with entire seasons on one disc, selecting material that stated it was official and licensed, usually flashy digi-packs, all up in smoke in light of one oversight. Region 0 codes are not legitimate. Great.

Just what is the point of purchasing material if its a pirated copy? If you are trying to support official releases but end up lining someone's else's pocket instead. Its frustrating. And since I can't tell whether products are legit or not, it means I won't be making any more purchases from ebay sellers.

For a while I've been scouting around for the Occult Academy boxset (which probably has been released yet, I know). Yesasia and CdJapan had the first couple of volumes up, varying from £30-40 each. If 2 episodes cost £35 not including shipping fees, I dread to think how much the entire series will cost. Ridiculous. Anime fans are being taken for a ride! Its no wonder that people turn to bootleg copies really. The complete season of Occult Academy was offered on ebay for £21 plus the OST. Blatantly a fake, but a hell of a lot more enticing than the official release.

You know, sometimes I think media companies enjoy shooting themselves in the foot.

Occult Academy Review

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, or Occult Academy became one of my favourite anime, literally overnight. The entire 13 part series was devoured in a mere 48 hour slot, much to my glee. Indeed it was short, but it managed to remain on point without needlessly bloating out the story, as well as providing a neatly wrapped ending. Well written, well planned and well balanced, Occult Academy is certainly going to be one of the highlights of 2010.

Set in the year 1999 at Waldstein Academy, conveniently dubbed 'Occult Academy', the story centres on Kumashiro Maya, the daughter of the recently deceased Headmaster of whom's funeral she has arrived to attend. One demon incantation later and Maya is forced to slay her possessed father's corpse, all the while protesting that belief in the Occult is entirely fraudulent. Which seems a little counter productive considering the situation at hand and in later scenarios, yet this little oversight aside, it appears more of a defensive mechanism on her part then actual disbelief/disillusion.

As the first episode draws to a close, Maya reveals her true intentions for returning - to destroy the school, and essentially undo her Fathers life works. This premise alone could have a made a good show yet ultimately doesn't really go anywhere, when the second and more foreboding storyline is introduced during episode two. Time traveller Fumiaki drops in (no pun intended), announcing the impending alien invasion plot twist, stifling Maya's plans for revenge straight out.

However, despite the initial blitz of action/adventure/decapitation of the first episode, the rest of the series is quite slow paced. Separated into two episode arcs, various paranormals topics are addressed in either threatening (monsters, demons and mages), or non-threatening (crop circles, ghost children and near death experiences) but overall a seemingly subdued approach. Occult Academy never submits to the murky paranormal depths as deeply as it could, thus abandoning some potential as a result. At the same time it is the balance between subtle fantasy and the focus on character development that gives this show a likeable charm. The portrayal and execution of Maya and Fumiaki showed two regular people trying to come to terms with ordinary problems, Maya trying to understand her deceased Father, and Fumiaki trying to discover himself, all within an extraordinary setting.

All in all, Occult Academy presents a fresh, innovative take on supernatural fantasy with superb, nearly flawless production. The animation is wonderfully done, sleek and stylish, for no other reason, its worth watching for that factor alone. Nevertheless the series has one minor struggle, in that it is not 'occult' enough. The paranormal element isn't constant throughout the series, it drops off the radar during the middle only to surge into a spectacular smack down during the ending. A more cohesive approach wouldn't have hurt, but really its only a small complaint. One that won't prevent Occult Academy from become an (oc)cult classic.

Rating: 7/10