Animania

La Corda d'Oro ~primo passo~ is one of several anime series I've watched recently via CrunchyRoll.com, who licensed Aniplex's English subtitled version. This twenty-six episode anime series is based on a romance simulation game for women, so as you might expect, it has a central female character surrounded by a plethora of gorgeous males. Fortunately, its way more than just the typical reverse harem situation. The main character, Kahoko Hino, goes to Seisou Academy, a school divided into a General Education segment, which Kahoko attends, and an elite music department that houses some of the creme de la creme of up coming musical talent. The school was founded hundreds of years ago by a music lover. This main once saved the life of a music fairy named Lili, who in turned blessed the school for music and has lived there ever since. For a long time, though, no one has had the ability to see him until Kahoko, a girl who has never played a musical instrument in her life. Thrilled to be seen again, Lili rings a set of magical bells that signal the start of a musical competition in the school and gives Kahoko a magical violin that can be played competently by anyone. Now stuck in the contest, Kahoko does her best to perform to the high standards set by the various gorgeous men around her, while struggling with her own conscience and to hold her own in the competition.

This series features absolutely gorgeous music and animation, making it well worth the watch to me. It also has some interesting story elements that work well. Usually in this kind of story, where some girl is given a magical ability, she's just happy to have it and uses it to the best her ability. However, Kahoko struggles with feelings of guilt that she is able to play beautifully with no real work or talent, and in doing so is besting those who have true talent and have played since childhood. As she grows to know her competitors, her feelings of guilt increase, yet she also cannot just walk away, give up her new found passion, nor let Lili down by dropping out of the contest. And though the violin will allow her to play, that doesn't mean Kahoko is instantly a perfect violinist. She has to struggle to learn to read music, lear more about musical styles and composers, and practices her violin for hours on in. I really like this element of the series, and the final results.

Against this backdrop, we learn more about the pasts of the various male competitors of the contest, each with their own hardships and pains from their love of their instruments. Of course, being a harem style series, some of them do fall in love with Kahoko, though not always in the ways one might expect. I do wish they had also covered Fuyuumi's past a bit, but for the genre its not surprising that the other female characters as basically background noise. The main characters however are generally well done and well-rounded. I love Kahoko's personality. Even at her low points, she is generous natured and an all around good person, despite her rather lack of ability to notice the obvious affection swirling around her.. Hihara's effusive personality is fun, especially as he grows fonder of Kahoko. Tsuchiura and Tsukimori's clashes were well-played, with just the right amount of balance between personal dislike and respect for each other's talents. Azuma is a downright hoot with his double-sided nature! Also interesting to me is that with the introduction of Lili in the first episode, I expected him to be the annoying "mascot" character, but he isn't. He usually appears most episodes, but only briefly and never in a really annoying fashion, which again is a nice touch.

The ending of this series managed to surprise me in multiple ways, some good, some okay. Generally in these series the girl ends up having to make a choice of who she loves the most, and Kahoko's choice was both unexpected and yet not a total surprise when one really rethinks the series as a whole. The events around the final leg of the contest are also different from what one might expect in this type of series, but also fit well with the story as a whole and actually made for more pleasant viewing. The story does have a two-part special, La Corda D'Oro ~secondo passo~, which quickly introduces a new musician who is hiding his abilities after suffering a set back and to fall in love with Kahoko. It isn't a bad add on, but it doesn't really add much to the series either except to repeat how the others felt about Kahoko's music and to show where she is with her "love". There is also a ten volume manga adaptation which has been published by Viz Media. I haven't had a chance to read it yet beyond a one chapter preview, but I plan to see if I can find it in stores locally to check it out.

As a whole, I do recommend the anime. Despite a few flaws, it held my attention enough that I stayed up till 4 in the morning watching most of the series straight through, and as soon as I woke up I watched the rest. I will caution that Aniplex's subtitles are not super top notch and almost every episode has one or two grammar issues, but it isn't so bad that it kills the enjoyment of the series. All 26 episodes, plus the two episode special are free for viewing without requiring membership, so in the end, it costs nothing but time. Of course, if you love it, you still won't be able to buy it on DVD, which is one drawback.

Rating: A-

The manga alcove in my Library - already low on space!

With my home desktop down since I moved in August, having my laptop die a few weeks ago was a serious blow! I had no recent backups and the hard drive suffered from massive mechanical favor. I lost ten months of my life! So I haven't abandoned my baby here, just haven't had much time to do reviews because I had to get a new laptop and get it all set up, then try and rebuild what was lost. I still haven't gotten my book and video databases going again, so my online lists are behind for the first time since I launched them. I'm working on getting my home desktop back on-line. I have all the parts and am getting it all installed and set back up. Also finally, after years of being so lazy, implemented a real backup system. At the same time, I've been working on getting all of my books unpacked from the move. Yes, TEN months later, all of my babies are finally shelved again!

That means I can get back in the groove! Coming up I plan on reviewing Ristorante Paradiso and La Corda d'Oro, two series available free (legally) on Crunchyroll. I may also review Crunchyroll itself and Skip Beat. For manga reviews, I have Ballad no Shinigami and Hot Gimmick in the review queue. So stay tuned!

Kimera is a 45 minute OVA released in 1996 by and licensed for English release by ADV Films. It is apparently based on a two volume manga series of the same name, also licensed by ADV. It basically features the story of the nerdy looking Omaru, a cereal salesman, who encounters Kimera, a vampire-like creature encased in an ice capsule. Unable to forget the beautiful feminine looking creature, he along with his friend Jay seek her out at an Air Force where Jay's father works, eventually finding and releasing her. Two vampire brothers, the beautiful Kianu and the deformed Ginzu, are also seeking her, with Kianu trying to kill her and Ginzu wanting to capture her. As the episode progresses, we learn about the past of these three vampires and their motivations for their actions.

On the whole, this wasn't a bad little OVA. In some ways, its a fairly stereotypical depiction of vampires, except they come out during the day and there appears to be some different "levels" though this is never really explained. The art in the series is fairly good, with nicely detailed backgrounds and great character designs. In particular, during the opening sequence a hunting dog is shown and I was happy to see that it was fairly realistic depiction of one rather than the usually cartoony style dogs seen in most anime series. That was a nice touch to me. As a note, it does have one partial rape scene, which is well drawn but borders on the hentai line.

If you aren't bothered by that one scene, it is certainly worth watching once, but I probably wouldn't bother buying it. There are too many plot points left unexplored because of its short length to have it really be a top notch story. I'd be curious to read the manga to see if it goes into some concepts more, particularly the past events.

Rating: B-

More lovely manga sales! Though now I also have several series missing volumes that I need to fill in

Fruits Basket, Volume 22 (04/01/2009)

Hell Girl, Volume 02 (04/01/2009)

Castle of Dreams: Stories from the Kare Kano Creator (04/03/2009)

We Were There, Volume 03 (04/03/2009)

Ghost Hunt, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Pearl Pink, Volume 01 (04/04/2009)

Platinum Garden, Volume 02 (04/04/2009)

Platinum Garden, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 01 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 02 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 03 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 04 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 05 (04/04/2009)

Ultra Cute, Volume 08 (04/04/2009)

Chibi Vampire, Volume 13 (04/14/2009)

Looking back at an older series, Mars is a shojo series written by Fuyumi Soryo. Spanning fifteen volumes, plus a "prequel" volume, the series first premiered in the Japanese anthology Bessatsu Friend in the late 1990s through till 2000, with the prequel chapters actually being released before the series finished. Tokyopop picked this one up in 2003 and has since released the entire series. At first, Mars seems like the classic "good girl with a bad boy" story, with high schooler Kira Aso as a shy, withdrawn painter meeting Rei Kashino, a popular school skipping, seemingly rough thug who rides a motorcycle.

In the first volume, we are introduced to these two as they meet unexpectedly at a park when Rei asks for directions and Kira, without answering, quickly sketches some on the back of a picture she drew. When Rei later sees the picture, he keeps it thinking its beautiful, then realizing Kira is in her class, he starts bothering her until she answers wanting to know more about her art. It also introduces Harumi, another classmate who wants Rei for herself and quickly is infuriated by Kira being the new object of his attention, and Tatsuya, Rei's best friend. Of course, Harumi resorts to bullying as the two grow closer, while Tatsuya deals with his own crush on Kira while realizing Rei is falling for her.

As the series progresses, though, each of these seeming "stereotypical" characters branch into conflicted, multi-dimensional characters. Rei is rough, he can be violent, and is a known player, but with Kira he finds the gentler side of himself and a sense of peace as he struggles to remember, then face, the multiple tragedies in past and the deaths of his mother and brother. He also quickly is shown to not just be someone motorcycle hobbyist, but a professional racer with both the ambition and skills to become a world class champion. Through their sometimes rocky relationship, Kira not only comes to terms with her own haunted past, she finally mends the part of herself broken long ago and finds her own inner strength in her love for Rei. Of course, things aren't completely easy, as not only do they have to deal with Harumi, though she quickly turns around and becomes Kira's best friend after seeing just how strong the quiet girl can be, but also a thieving upper classman, disapproving parents and teachers, and a downright psychotic kid from Rei's past who doesn't like seeing Rei changing. As noted earlier, the main series is 15 volumes long. There is also a sixteenth volume, Mars: A Horse With No Name, which is a "prequel" story in that it tells how Rei and Tatsuya first met, but it really is best read after the main series.

Mars is one of my absolute favorite shojo series. I honestly re-read it 2-3 times a year, or more. The story has a lot of depth, with interesting twists and turns that are, at times seemingly over the top, and yet amazingly realistic. While Soryo does include some "standard" elements of this type of story, she also avoids taking the easy way out of situations, and doesn't wrap up many of the subplots in neat little bows. Her art is well done, with a wonderful range of expressions in her characters and an amazing attention to detail in scenery and, particularly, the many motorcycles seen throughout the series. She also does well in including just enough information within scenes to explain the motorcycle world to those who may not understand it, without overloading. Tokyopop's translation of the series is not bad. There are a one or two places with pretty obvious grammar errors that make sentences awkward, and I suspect they tried to "Americanize" a little, but for the most part, its well done. It is easy, to me, to see how this series was one of the top selling ones in Japan when it was released, and as all of it is still available, I still highly recommend it.

Rating: A+