--My hands-down favorite of the spring series, and now one of my favorites of ever. Handsome character design, brave and likeable people, just enough humor, and wickedly tight, alert writing that wastes no time in tearing down all the assumptions it led you toward in the first episode. Allegiances break down and reform, people come to doubt their clans' ideals and act on their own, lives are saved and debts repaid; Miharu becomes more and more impatient with being told what he must do, Kumohira begins to choke on his secret, and deadly little Yoite makes a startling confession that not only draws him and Miharu into one of the most touching, heart-wrenching relationships I've ever fallen helplessly in love with, but sets Miharu and Kumohira on a fierce collision course. While Raimei has to settle matters of loyalty; Fuuma Kotarou plays everyone in the place; and Kouichi has an old, deep secret of his own...

I'm SO glad this was a full 26 eps.

It was dropped by subbers about ep 20 after a C&D letter from Funimation, and we wrangled through on raws and the dedication of bloggers, because it was see-or-die crucial to know what happened. The manga's fans hate the ending (don't they always) but I don't. ==This is a wonderful, wonderful series, loaded with great character writing, drama, suspense, family loyalties and true romance, and it will break your heart if you let it. Watch it, love it, beg Funimation to release it.

==December 2008 update: They heard us! now licensed by our friends at FUNimation for North American distribution, as announced this week. Go, FUNi!!

Much more at my Nabari fansite, hijutsu.

(Yuuki faces the Night Class; Kaname; Yuuki and Zero)

VAMPIRE KNIGHT (26 ep.) --"Yuki's earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter, wherein she was attacked by a vampire... and then rescued by another. Now 10 years later, Yuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her savior, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of vampires at the elite boarding school. But also at her side is Zero Kiryu, a childhood friend whose hatred for the creatures that destroyed everything he held dear, forges his determination never to trust them. This coexisting arrangement seems all well and good, but have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions?"
==Handsome Gothic shounen with lots of delicately shed blood and bishie angst. Cross Academy is the testing ground for an experiment in co-existence, as the Day Class (the human students) and the Night Class (guess who) live and study completely sequestered from each other. The vampires, all scions of nobility, live on blood substitute and pure style, dressed to the nines, waving graciously to the squealing fangirls who cluster at the gate for the chance to glimpse them or snap a photo as the classes change at dusk. Their leader Kaname--a Pure Blood, one of the oldest vampire families--outranks even the nobles, and rules with the classic velvet fist. But the Pure Bloods have a dark aspect: while vampires in this universe are a species, born rather than made, a Pure Blood's bite can turn a human being into a vampire like the folkloric bloodsuckers of old. Even worse, a human thus made has no chance of surviving for long. He or she may resist, but sooner or later will degenerate into a bestial, predatory monster, the lowest of the low: a Level E, fit only to be slaughtered.

Yuuki and Zero, raised as siblings, are polar opposites on the topic of vampires. Yuuki is the quintessential vampire fangirl, in love with the darkness and mystery of it all and the exotic beauty of the Night Class (they really are gorgeous--think of it as Ouran High School Blood Club), while Zero bears a fierce, mysterious grudge, and watches their every move with a narrow eye. It doesn't take the series long to reveal Zero's dark secret, and *sigh* it's one you've heard before: like so many anime monster fighters, Zero is on the way to becoming one himself. The son of a long line of vampire hunters, he was the only survivor when his family was slaughtered by vengeful revenants, and their leader, a Pure Blood, sealed their revenge by drinking from him, cursing Zero to turn into the thing he most hates. Yuuki learns the truth and vows to support her brother through the change, but Zero only wants her to put a bullet through his head. Meanwhile, the rivalry between Zero and Kaname heats up when Zero loses his grip and takes blood from Yuuki--blood Kaname regards as rightfully his. And just where does their adoptive father stand in all this? Why did he take in these two foundlings with their supernatural backstories and involve them in this strange nightside experiment? How long will Zero hold out and what will happen when he snaps?

==It's not got an original bone in its body, but it's pretty to look at, played for all the drama it can hold, and if you like good-looking vampires you could do a lot worse than these.

==See Fall 2008 for the second season/sequel, Vampire Knight: Guilty.

JUNJOU ROMANTICA--Ahhhhhh yeah. ==OK, sisters, listen up and listen good: if you want boys in love, boys in conflict, boys having sex and quarreling and making up and kissing a lot--and did I mention boys deeply, tearfully, passionately in love?--here's the one you've been waiting for. =)
Orphaned high-schooler Misaki is suddenly having some unexpected and odd problems; what started as a need for some college entrance exam tutoring has somehow led him to being romanced by a suave older man who also happens to be his big brother Takahiro's best friend. Usami Akihiko ("Lord Usagi"), an award-winning and highly regarded novelist (who writes steamy boys' love books on the side, under the pen-name "Akikawa Yayoi" =) has been oniisan's closest friend for years. Masaki's initially outraged that Usami's used Takahiro's name for a character in one of his hot novels, but soon realizes that their friendship has always been platonic, and that Usami is carrying a very big but secret torch for his straight and totally oblivious brother. Masaki's feelings for his bro are a little knotted-up anyway--the kind of love-gratitude-guilt-resentment you might expect when someone has given up his chance for college to raise you from childhood--and the combination of the immediate improvement in his grades, his sympathy/envy for Usami's "pure-hearted romantic" love, and the fact that Usami gives one hell of a hand job, soon have Masaki's sympathies sliding markedly toward the older man. The night Takahiro brightly introduces them to his (female) fiancee, Misaki is appalled and furious at his bro's insensitivity to Usami's feelings, and bolts out the door in angry tears-- which convinces Usami that Misaki, not Takahiro, is the one he'll truly love. Before you can say "yaoi time!" he's getting a lot more than tutoring from Usami, and there's jealousy, denial, role-confusion, smokin' hot bed scenes and pinned-to-the-wall kisses galore. And the mix only gets hotter when Misaki's nearly-as-handsome sempai from school, Sumi Keiichi, moves in as competition for his attentions. Whew!!
== Add in neat little flourishes like Usami's odd quirks--though he's a wealthy guy of aristocratic family, his posh penthouse is loaded with model trains and plush toys that he explains as "trying to have what normal kids had"--and all the social tangles of relationships with the rich and famous, and you've got pure wall-to-wall yummy. Will Misaki finally quit kidding himself about his feelings? who will he choose? will his brother find out and what then? (And then in the second arc, Kamijou Hiroki, a literature professor at the same university who's in deep and unrequited love with Usami-san, meets a handsome student named Kasuma Nowaki, and...
Ended much too soon. Don't miss a minute, and DON'T miss the sequel. (aarinfantasy, I <3 you forever. =)

BUS GAMER (3 ep.)--"When three complete strangers, Mishiba Toki, Nakajyo Nobuto and Saitoh Kazuo, are hired by a corporation to compete in the Bus Game, they are given the team code of 'Team AAA' (Triple Anonymous). This group of three who differ entirely, from their living environments to their personalities, have to work together effectively, but without mutually wiping out their mistrust of each other or prying into each other's privacy. They only have one point in common--each of them needs a large amount of money for their individual circumstances. To get the money, they must play in the game despite their lives being at stake." --You can always trust Kazuya Minekura when it comes to tales of good-looking, seemingly mismatched guys who don't like each other much but but are forced to cooperate, and that's what we've got here, set in the streets, alleys and rooftops of modern Tokyo. The Bus Game (it's short for "business game" so is pronounced "biz", not "bus") involves major international corporations with a lot more time and money than sense, willing to risk secret info about their work and projects for a chance to (a) win that of other corporations and (b) enjoy the thrill of high-stakes gambling on the outcome. Each company's team must protect its sponsor's data disc and try to get the opponent's as well, and there's huge money at stake, which is what has lured our threesome into the game. They're an appealing lot--Mishiba the street-fighting rebel, Nakajyo the cool dojo-trained mastermind and Saitoh the trusting, happy-go-lucky nerd--and fun to watch, and I'm really sorry this mini-series is only three episodes, because I'd like to have seen where they'd go.

================
Still might see all of:
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Tenko in female form; Noboru and Tohru.

WAGARI NO OINARISAMA--(13 ep.) "Noboru and Tohru are brothers who have been raised apart from their family's secret--that their family can use the Water ki and can ward off demons. But when a demon is after Tohru's life, in order for the family to keep him safe they need to awaken the fox-spirit Tenko Kuugen."--"My sister Miyako didn't tell you anything, did she," sighs Uncle Tatsuhiko. The Mizuchi family, it seems, has since time immemorial been the guardian of the powers of water (as you might guess from the name), and the boys' mother Miyako was the last Water Priestess of the bloodline, but she birthed no daughter to inherit the power. The family's spirit force, fading little by little over the generations, has become so weak that youkai who have never been a threat before are moving in to attack. Now--says their miko great-grandmother--the only chance they have to save 11-year-old Tohru from demon assault is to awaken the family's kitsune guardian. Tenko Kuugen isn't interested in helping the family that sealed her under a boulder until she learns it's Miyako's son who's been threatened; then she agrees, and travels back to the city with them. (She's perfectly willing and able to appear in both male and female forms, and does so--and is quite a dish either way. =) Patient dad, who must've known he was in for some strange days when he married a hereditary water-priestess, agrees to let the talking fox move in ("just don't talk in front of others", he sighs), along with Guardian Lady Kou, a solemn little shrine-priestess who's sworn to the family's care. There follow epic demon battles, funny encounters with the modern world (i.e., kitsune meets television), scuffles with the local gods, and other fun and games. But where will the real attack on Tohru come from and what will happen then?

HIMITSU--THE REVELATION--A fascinating tale of technology, morality, conscience and secrets. It takes place five decades from now, when MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scanners have been perfected--though apparently only in Japan-- to the point that they can retrieve up to five years' worth of memories from people's minds, even after death. The investigators of the National Research Institute of Police Science's 9th Forensics Laboratory [known as "Section Nine" =)] must constantly weigh the ethical choices in the ultimate invasion of privacy as they delve into people's minds to solve crimes. The story follows a skilled lip-reader named Aoki Ikkou, hired by Section Nine to help them interpret the images they draw from murder victims' brains. Still living at home with mom and dad, he's uneasy about telling anyone that he's working for such a controversial department, plus he's concerned about his sister, who's having an affair with a married man--and he's worried that his own feelings for Sis may be more than just brotherly. Into this trying point in his life comes Section Nine's biggest case ever: the top-secret investigation of the brain of recently assassinated President of the USA John Reed, a man of such unassailable integrity and decency that he's internationally loved and respected as "the cleanest President in history". [Yeah, you know it's science fiction when we have a leader like that.] Ikkou's respect for Reed grows by the day --as do his ethical qualms about reading a good man's brain so intimately--as they scan hour after hour of his memories and find nothing but honesty, dedication and loyal service. With the FBI and CIA breathing down their necks, Section Nine and its spiffy technology piece together the secret that Reed in his last moments tried to protect: he was desperately in love with his daughter's boyfriend, completely unaware that the guy was an international terrorist who was only using his daughter to get an invite to the White House. But no sooner is that settled than the young suspect turns up dead and a CIA agent goes missing...is the kid the assassin, or is the CIA trying to frame him? who arranged the rendezvous? Is Section Nine in too deep to get away, and how will Ikkou handle it?

This is terrific stuff, with great character writing and conflicts. It uses ingenious little details to make its technology believable, such as realizing that the brain is not the eye, and memories will be colored by a person's feelings and attitudes (Ikkou's first clue to Reed's real feelings comes when he notices that Reed's memories of "Matthew" are handsomer than photos of the actual boy) and the theme that "everyone has secrets", which finally gives Ikkou the resolve to move out of mom and dad's house and get away from his temptations toward his sister. Very cool and well worth watching.

CHI'S SWEET HOME--I guess it's just that I can't resist a kitty, but I have a big soft spot in my heart for this innocent little series about the adventures of a lost kitten. Yup, that's really all it's about: little Chi, out for a walk one day with her mom and siblings, takes a wrong turn and becomes lost in the city. She faces kitten-scale dangers like rainstorms and mean dogs, friendly and unfriendly people, and her own homesickness as she bravely sets off on her quest to find her home and family. Simple, nothing earthshattering, but it's just so darn cute and simply, honestly emotional that it would take a tougher heart than mine not to love it. Very long, but I still might collect it all for rainy days. =)

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2008: "SUMMER SEASON" (half-season series: July-September 2008)
Only caught a few of these.
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=============================
First, the ones we dropped:
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WORLD DESTRUCTION: SEKAI BOKUMETSU no ROKUNIN --"In a world where humans serve as livestock for the ruling beastmen, and where sand fills the roles of water and fire, Kyrie is recruited by the 'World Destruction Committee' to assist in putting an end to their world. Only Kyrie has the power to do it..." A cartoony little series I couldn't get into. Human kid Kyrie Irinusu is working in a tavern disguised as a beastman--it's the only way to get a job, he says. One evening a tough babe named Morte with a price on her head stops by for dinner, some badasses try to collect her, and Kyrie's world is overturned; by the end of ep. 1 he's on the lam with Morte, a yellow bear named Toppi, and Morte's priceless possession, the Destruction Code. I didn't stay around long enough to find out why they want the world destroyed.

The team in full, uh, undress; the show's cool logo; Yoshika learns to fly.

STRIKE WITCHES--In 1939--on an apparently alternate Earth--the world was suddenly attacked by technologically-invincible aliens called Neuroi. Nothing could combat them but magic, and the world's governments scoured the globe for magic-users who could be trained as anti-Neuroi pilots, using Dr. Miyafuji's invention, the Striker Unit: basically mage-amplifying jet boots. OK, so far so good. And we follow the adventures of Dr. Miyafuji's gifted but adamantly pacifist daughter, Yoshika, as she's recruited into the elite 501st Joint Fighter Wing, known as the Strike Witches. OK, again well and good. However, for reasons never mentioned, the only magi recruited are junior high school girls, and--with only a few exceptions--it's apparently de rigeur for them to perform their warrior duties wearing only half a uniform. That's right: here's another anime apparently existing mainly to deliver nonstop panty shots. And so many and such lingering panty shots. It is just jaw-droppingly bizarre to watch these little girls soaring into battle against a dangerous high-tech enemy, all fierce glares and determined resolve, wearing...um, that. (Even worse: school uniforms in this universe are exactly the same.)--I've been told this is a pretty good little show, with nice character writing, but I couldn't possibly take it seriously. Got through about 50 minutes, with occasional chokes of disbelieving laughter, and bailed. (--seriously, why IS it that this is OK, while a show in which little boys fought an alien invasion in their underwear would probably be considered yaoi porn?...)

==========
Saw in entirety:
==========

Takashi and Nyanko; Takashi menaced by a youkai; Madara to the rescue.

NATSUME YUUJINCHOU ("The Natsume Book of Friends")--A delicate, sweet little series. Lonely orphan kid Takashi Natsume has been shuttled from town to town and relative to relative since his parents died; he keeps creeping them out with his ability to--you guessed it--see ghosts and youkai. [Honestly, why don't these kids meet up with each other more often? Japan seems to have scores of them, but every one thinks s/he's the only such freak on earth, poor things.] He's never been able to make friends, because the kids in school always think he's weird, and he's never felt as if he belonged anywhere. When he moves into the house where his grandmother Reiko lived, the local youkai begin actively pursuing him, and he doesn't know what to do (there are only so many plausible excuses for tearing around as if invisible monsters are on your heels, even when they ARE) until he meets one in the form of a bobtailed tri-color cat, which calls itself Nyanko. [[a kid's word for 'cat'; I think it'd translate roughly as "Little Meow"/"Meowie".]] Nyanko explains to him that his grandmother had in her possession a collection of youkai names, which she called the Book of Friends (Yuujin-chou). Reiko, the cat says, was much like Takashi (he speaks of her with real affection); she had the sight even more strongly, and was always lonely and shunned by others because of it. As a result, she turned all her attention to the supernatural world, and went about challenging every youkai she met to spiritual combat--and she never lost. The name of every one she defeated is recorded in the Book of Friends, which (in time-honored magickal tradition) gave her power to command them. Whoever has this book therefore possesses tremendous power over hordes of spirits, so all the local youkai want it, and Nyanko wants it most of all.

But Takashi, though he easily locates the book among Reiko's possessions, has no interest in ruling the spirit world. Hearing the cat's story, he feels strongly bonded with his late grandmother, who he so resembles, and decides that as her last living descendant his task should be to complete what she began: he'll give all the youkai's names back to them, one by one. Nyanko is much against this, saying that will waste the book's power, and turns into his true form, a huge wolf-demon named Madara, in an attempt to scare Takashi out of his plan. But the kid is calm. He says that Nyanko-sensei can have the book when he dies, if he'll stay by Takashi and protect him while he makes peace with as many as possible of the spirits his ancestress defeated; and the youkai agrees. [I think he takes a liking to the kid for Reiko's sake. =)]

That's the plot: Takashi has various encounters with youkai, some funny, some poignant, and releases each one's name from the book. It's a sort of high-school-level Mushishi, very gentle and pastoral. None of it goes anywhere, but really, you never felt as if it had to: at the end, he still has the (slightly thinner) Book of Friends, has encountered several other local sensitives with no resolution, and it has the easy, storytelling vibe of a series that could run a long time with nothing very dramatic happening, like a brook on a summer day. ==I love it. =)

(--the sequel, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, began on Japanese TV in January 2009. See Fall 2008 for more.)

...go on to Fall/Winter 2008 reviews.
...go back to Seasonal Reviews Mainpage for all anime series reviews 2005-10.

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