Anime Analyze: K-On! I

Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope that you all had a nice long weekend, I personally did.  So, the next anime that I will be doing is the first season of the show called K-On!.  Made in 2009 this first season is 13 episodes long, based off of the manga started in 2007.  It was produced by Kyoto Animation, who is known for making shows such as Clannad and Lucky Star, and doing other animation for shows like Inyuasha and Full Metal Panic!.  The opening is "Cagayake! GIRLS" by Aki Toyosaki with Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Satou, and Minako Kotobuki, and the ending is "Don't say "lazy"" by the same people who made the opening.  So, lets get together with Sakuragaoka Girl's High School's light music club and see what they have to show. Side note as well, this is the show that brought about the video game that was reviewed by Hikachan earlier in the summer.

Anime Analyze: Hellsing (Anime)

All right, now that I am back from that short hiatus that I was unofficially on for the past month, I can start getting back into the swing of things with my reviews.  This time, I went back to an older anime (or at least older in my mind), way back in the olden days of 2001.  The anime today is Hellsing the anime version.  Hellsing was originally made as a manga in 1997 and then they made an anime adaptation in 2003.  They also have been making an OAV version with a few different episodes called Hellsing Ultimate.  Being an OAV they can make the episodes as long as they want to allowing them to go into as much detail in the show as they need.  Hellsing Ultimate is releasing its final episode here in a few months and at some point I may check the series out.  However, this review is not about that, instead its about the anime TV series with the standard 24 min run time per episode.  With only 13 episodes in the one season it had, it isn't a long series by any means and didn't have a lot of time to build a story with it.

The series is made by Gonzo, who has since the making of this series is known for anime such as Full Metal Panic!, Samurai 7, and Afro Samurai.  It was then a few years later released in the English dub by Geneon Entertainment and shown in America on Starz! in 2003.  The opening theme used for the show is "Lokos Naki World" (A World With No Logic) by Yasushi Ishii.  So, here is my review of Hellsing.

Anime Analyze: Shakugan no Shana III (Final)

So let's finish off the series called Shakugan no Shana.  The third and final series is known as Shakugan no Shana III or Final.  Released in 2011, it completed the series that had been going on for two seasons prior. Like the last season, it had two openings, "Light my Fire" by KOTOKO and "Serment" by Mami Kawadi.  I can say right now that this was definitely the better of all three seasons, so lets get into Shakugan no Shana Final!

Anime Analyze: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Dear God, this anime is insane.  I don't mean insane in the awesome sense, I mean insane as in nothing makes sense through almost the entire show.  If you people want a show that makes sense and has the physics of nature follow normal patterns then do not watch this show! However, if you have a more open mind and are willing to bend it in a way that destroys all knowledge as we know it, then feel free to watch it.  This is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, an anime series that was released back in April of 2007 by studio Gainax. With 27 episodes running the average 24 min episode length, it is loved by many and yet pondered over by more than that. It also has won a couple of awards including 7th annual Tokyo's Anime Award in 2008 as well as Excellence Prize at Japan Media Arts Festival in 2007. I had so many people tell me to watch this show that I just had to go into it to see what was up.  With the opening called "Sorairo Days" by Shoko Nakagawa, we head into Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.  

Anime Analyze: Shakugan no Shana II

As I move on through more Anime, I went back to watch the second season of Shakugan no Shana entitled Shakugan no Shana II.  Released in 2008, it continues where Shakugan no Shana left off.  It has two opening sequences, the first being "Joint" by Mami Kawada, and the second being "Blaze" by KOTOKO, both being good, although I liked the first one better than the second.  So, here is my review of Shakugan no Shana II. 

 

Anime Analyze: Sengoku Basara II

Now that I have taken a break from it, I went back to the second season of Sengoku Basara in order to finish off the series.  The second season is called Sengoku Basara 2 and follows directly after the first season left off.  The second series was released in 2010 and the opening is a song called "Sword Summit" by T.M. Revolution, a member of the band who made the first season's opener, Abington Boys School.  So, let's jump right into the second season, Sengoku Basara II.