Tari Tari Review

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There are a lot of things that could be said about Tari Tari, almost all of them good. A simple series, it knows itself well and is comfortable being just short of spectacular. For a viewer such as myself, who has had intimate experiences with music, Tari Tari speaks a little more deeply and touches just a few more emotions than it would for someone who’s never done music before. This isn’t to say that Tari Tari can’t be enjoyed by someone who isn’t hugely into music; it certainly can be. But as someone who spent his high school years happily singing in multiple choirs, the events that the characters of this anime go through ring very true to my own experience.

For Tari Tari‘s ranking, check out my ongoing rankings. Tari Tari  gets a very solid 7/10 from me. Read on for the full review!

Tari Tari Title

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5 (Now 6) Reasons Hummingbird is Better than MAL

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So, I recently decided to boot up a MAL account for various reasons, the foremost of which being that I was bored one day. While adding shows, an admittedly somewhat troublesome process, I got a little impatient and a little bummed that the only results of my typing were titles in a bland script. But I finished it, after rating most of the shows and even plugging in my drops.

But by the time I finished inputting show after show and rating after rating, I didn’t even have enough energy to start on my currently watching or backlog lists…and what did I have to show for it? Just this…

Screen Shot 2014-01-29 at 10.10.12 PM

How plain looking! How boring! And, for whatever reason, it just didn’t feel like my anime list. It was just so bland and boring. But I knew there were other website that did the same thing, so, guided by a Crunchyroll buddy’s profile, I made my way over to Hummingbird. And what did I find? Read on to see!

Here’s a link to my Hummingbird account, if you’re curious to see first hand!

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Best Anime of 2013: Annual Anime Awards

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Presentation Categories

Best Story

1. Blast of Tempest (Fall 2012-Winter 2013)
Dramatic, well-plotted, well-written and overall just brilliantly executed, Blast of Tempest provided a compelling story held in place by its fascinating quartet of main characters. Blast of Tempest Awards PicPerfectly self-contained and logical on its own terms, Blast of Tempest is an incredible example of how to use characters to tell a story while still maintaining a compelling plot.
2. A Certain Scientific Railgun: S (Spring 2013-Summer 2013)
Although the Silent Party arc was fairly pedestrian, albeit fun and still thought provoking, the Sisters Arc carries Misaka and company into the second place. Gripping, emotional and intense, Misaka’s quest to save her clones from being sacrificed raises serious questions relevant to our modern scientific world and about the nature of sacrifice.
3. The Eccentric Family (Summer 2013)
What started out as a meandering, relaxed story gradually built up into family conflict and drama, all concluding with a satisfying ending that reaffirms the value of family. Artistically and beautifully written.

Best Animation

1. Kyousougiga (Fall 2013)
I’ve gushed about Kyousougiga’s animation before and I’ll do it again here. The show looks like it was made to be an anime. The animation in incredibly artistic and beautifully matches the tone and mood of the show. It’s not often that an anime’s animation so fully embraces and enhances the show itself, but Kyousougiga’s does that and does it very well. Simply put, the unity between the animation and the rest of the show elevates everything about this anime.

Kyousougiga Episode 10 Ending
2. Nagi no Asukara (Fall 2013)
I may have put this on hold to be able to marathon it, but I don’t need to have seen the whole show to tell you that Nagi no Asukara’s animation is beautiful. Like our third place winner, Nagi no Asukara takes full advantage of the fact that it is set around water. The coloring is gorgeous and the water effects both in and out of the water make this show visually stunning. It is worth watching on the merits of the animation alone. That’s just how good it is.
3. Free! (Summer 2013)
Another anime steeped in water and KyoAni milks it for all that it is worth. The water scenes are the obvious highlight, but the rest of the show is just as well done.

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White Album 2 Review

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EDIT: For anyone coming into this review, make sure that you read the edit at the end of the post first. It will give you a bit of an update on my more current thoughts on the series before you read through the entire review.

Consider this a sequel to “How Not to Do Endings.” Except, this is much, much worse. Spoilers ahead. Ranking undetermined at this time, as I decide how angry I am. When it’s up, you can find it here.

White Album 2 is based off a visual novel and, while set in the same town and referencing some of the characters from the first White Album, is basically not linked at all. For any hope White Album had of getting a potential watch from me, that’s a good thing.

White Album 2 Poster

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Ranking Anime: A New System

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Due to the ending of the current fall anime season and the resulting influx of new anime into my Ongoing Anime Rankings, as well as a fascinating discussion about the 1-10 ranking scale over on the Crunchyroll forums, it came to my attention that my current ranking system, while good, needed some fine tuning. Below you will see the new system, but first, I want to share some of the philosophy and general standards that have been considered as I put together the new system. Continue reading →

Slice of Life Done Right: Gingitsune and Non Non Biyori

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It contrast to my most recent review of Galilei Donna and Beyond the Boundary, which unfortunately had to focus on the the failings of those two shows, I would like to focus this review on what the two most relaxing anime I have ever seen did right. Those series are Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods and Non Non Biyori, and you can see their current rankings here. I am actually quite troubled by their current placement and am considering redoing my ranking system to better accommodate the differences between shows. (After all, how does one compare Non Non Biyori to Attack on Titan?)

Gingitsune: Messenger of the Fox Gods

When I first started Gingitsune, I didn’t really know what I was in for. I had seen shows with slice of life elements in them before, but had never really ventured into pure slice of life before. What I found was a relaxing, heartwarming show that gave me my favorite OP of the season, fhána’s “tiny lamp.” While we could have an entire discussion on what defines the slice of life genre, Gingitsune pretty much fits the genre no matter how you look at it. Gingitsune Mako and Gin Continue reading →

How Not to Do Endings: Dual Review of Galilei Donna and Beyond the Boundary

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Taiga Facepalm

It would be far too painful to force myself to write individual reviews for Galilei Donna and Beyond the Boundary, so I have decided to combine these two disappointing series together due to a common element: bad endings. Bad endings KILL shows, and although I usually try to look on the positive side, the endings to these shows so throughly wreck anything the shows had going for them that I can’t recommend either as watches beyond simple entertainment. And you can find many more entertaining shows out there without having to put up with the weakness of these two anime. Both shows are low tier III shows, see their rankings here. Continue reading →

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: First Reactions

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Literally just finished Puella Magi Madoka Magica within the last hour, and here is my first response to the show as a whole. Knee-jerk ranking can be found here. It is impossible to justify putting PMMM any lower than tier II.

It’s incredibly difficult to really gather my thoughts on this show so soon after watching, but there was no way I was going to be able to just sit on it without typing out just a bit. This was my third attempt at watching this show (the first attempt ending after two episodes and the second after only the first), and I did kind of have to gut it out through the first three episodes. After the fourth, however, I was sufficiently engaged to finish out the series and the final 6 episodes were the first in a long time to get me to legitimately marathon something, one episode after the next. I don’t know that it is fair to say that it has a slow start, it just took a while for me to engage.

Madoka Magic Episode 4

Part of the reason, I think, for this is that I am get a bit nervous when shows start fooling around with fate–but it’s not really even possible to divine that from the first couple episodes. Maybe it’s not something I can explain, but it’s just a fact that the show took a while to grab me.

That being said, Madoka Magica has a sense of atmospheric creation unlike anything I’ve seen before. Almost from the beginning of the show, I had an intense feeling of doom and foreboding, a sensation that only grew as the show went on. Looking back, I cannot point to anything specific and say, “That was the reason.” It just was, and it was an incredible experience and impressive to see.

Problems I had: what felt like an information dump in the final few episodes. I felt like I went from knowing nothing to being given everything, rather than have it revealed in pieces. And the ending came across as poorly explained. Not rushed, just something that was given to the audience to see and believe. Because it was so without precedent in the show (and so transcendent in nature) I felt a little left out in the cold, not really sure if I could accept the way things ended up.

So, to sum it all up for now, did I think Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a good anime? Yes, I did. It is excellent. Did I like it? Now, that’s another question and its still up in the air. I haven’t decided yet. Perhaps the movies will help me decide, but for now I am not really leaning one way or another.

Madoka Magica Girls

Fall 2013 OPs: “tiny lamp”/fhána

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Each season, it’s a dogfight for the title of best OP. With numerous songs coming out with each new show, it can be tough to wade through all the sounds to distinguish what’s really good, what’s bad disguised as okay and what is truly mediocre.

Rising above the morass is the OP for the seinen anime, Gingitsune. By fhána, the band responsible for The Eccentric Family‘s lovely EP last season, the title of the song is “tiny lamp.”

Driven by lead singer towana’s beautiful voice, “tiny lamp” is quintessential fhána, mixing pop rock with electronia and adding in effects like bells. Just watch the video, because its tough to really describe their sound. All I can say for sure is that their brand of pop rock unique enough to separate them from the mob this season, although they’ll have tough competition from shows like Beyond the Boundary and Log Horizon.

“tiny lamp” is available for purchase worldwide on iTunes.