Okay, even Grumpy Shizuo would like this one (Robotics;Notes)

Hello again!! Shizuo's still gone, I think he said he was going to Koyasan to visit an old friend O_o. Anyway, I went and looked back through Shizuo's more recent posts, and Spice and Wolf totally deserves a higher mark. Four out of five from me, anyway.

Celty said I should pick something I think Shizuo would actually like this week, so I'm going to talk about Robotics;Notes, because it has intrigue, romance, and for Shizuo, giant robots, explosions, and a death toll. It actually feels a little bit like it's trying to please everyone. It has characters that fit well into stereotypes, and there are the young love elements, but there's also a big overarching plot and mystery. I think it works really well.

It's a really recent release, so it might have a sequel, but it's pretty complete the way it is. It's produced by noitaminA and released in North America by Funimation.

So there are two main characters, really. There's Akiho Senomiya (Aki), a high school senior who heads up the robotics club, and her close friend Kaito Yashio (Kai).

Aki's dream is to build a giant robot, and Kai reluctantly tags along mostly because he promised Aki's older sister Misa he'd take care of her.

There's a whole cast of characters that would all fit nicely into a more formulaic anime. There's the doll-like Augmented Reality girl Airi Yukufune, the terrified of robots little karate-girl, Junna Daitoku, and the hentai shut-in programmer girl with a troubled past, Frau Koujiro.

Airi

Junna

Frau

But it never settles into any kind of pattern, and the troubled past that leads to the overarching plot shows how everything is all interrelated -- and all related to a guy named Kou Kimijima.

There's also a lot of super cool sci-fi stuff in it. Like the AR stuff, and the giant robots, and a plot to decimate the world's population led by a shadowy cabal who lust after world domination.

Aki and Kai have... well I won't call them super-powers, but they have something wrong with them. Aki get's the short end of the stick and when she has an attack she perceives the world in super-fast-motion, so she only gets one frame in ten or something. Kai's is more like a super power because he gets super-slow-motion, where the whole world seems to go very slowly, but his brain doesn't, so he can react really quickly and accurately. That's what makes him so good at controlling robots -- in the video game called "KILL BALLAD" and after that in the real world.

There are also other characters. Misa, Aki's absent older sister she's always trying to live up to; Subaru Hidaka, whose father is really upset he's into robots and doesn't want to be a fisherman like him; Doc, the owner of the robot clinic, and Junna's grandfather; --actually, now that I think about it, it's all about family, and trying to heal the rifts between family members. Even Frau's troubled past storyline is about her missing mother.

Agghh, it's so hard to write about without giving away any of the plot! But it all fits together really nicely and I'll say again that I think even Shizuo would give it a four out of five. Celty agrees. So with that I'm going to hand things back over to Shizuo, who's supposed to get back soon.

Thanks for reading! Shinra out! Bye!

Ah, Young Love! (Rosario+Vampire)

Hello Anime Fans!! Shizuo has been nice enough to let me post on here for a couple of weeks, so I'm going to do my best not to disappoint! I think I'll post about things the "toughest man in Ikebukuro" wouldn't (though I've been looking through his Hulu history, and he totally watches [Celty made me delete this >_< but it's a super cute one].

Today I'm going to tell you all about a cute and fun anime called Rosario+Vampire! Cue the title screen!

Ta da!!

Rosario+Vampire tells the story of a young human, Tsukune Aono, at a high school for monsters! He doesn't have any super powers, but he's such an upstanding guy with such a good and kind heart that even when he stands in the way and gets beat up, the girls all fall for him. Who's he going to end up with in the end?? Will it be:

A) Moka Akashiya -- A beautiful and shy young woman, she's Tsukune's first friend at Yokai Academy. She's sweet and kind, but when the rosary around her neck breaks, her inner self breaks free: a Class-S supermonster, a kick-butt vampire! Will Tsukune fall for inner Moka, outer Moka, or both?

B) Kurumu Kurono -- A fiendish, busty succubus with a soft side (but only a soft side for our hero Tsukune).

C) Yukari Sendo -- A super loli, slightly perverse witch with a thing for other girls' chests -- it might be out of envy.

D) Mizore Shirayuki -- A stalker-y, ice queen-slash-abominable snow woman who'd like to freeze Tsukune and preserve him forever.

or E) Kokoa Shuzen, Moka's slightly violent (and ALSO a vampire) half-sister. Sibling rivalry FTW!

Each episode introduces new characters and presents new challenges for Tsukune, but it all revolves around the theme of love and selflessness conquering all! 

Five beautiful brides out of five!

[sigh... I was going to end it there, but Celty says I have to try to put in something grumpy and Shizuo-like, so here goes: "Grr. I hate this stuff. It's vapid and I can't stand it. I award it no points. Grumble grumble."  I still think he'd give it at least two out of five. Maybe one. See you next week!]