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Nyantype Magazine Vol. 7

Nopy — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:24:12 +0000

Moving on with my magazine posts, here’s the seventh volume of Nyantype Magazine. This one was released at the end of April this year, just a month after volume 6. Nyantype originally went with bi-monthly releases, but now they’ve switched over to monthly releases like Megami Magazine. The cover features Ako and Riko from Kissxsis sharing a popsicle. I’m starting to think someone over at the Nyantype offices really likes the Kissxsis series. Now on to the posters:

I didn’t recognize Nanoha at first since I’m so used to seeing her with her hair tied up. This was a funny poster because of Yuuno’s expression in the corner there. For those of you who don’t know, Yuuno is actually a boy that can turn into a ferret.

More Kissxsis for all the Ako + Riko fans out there.

I still haven’t identified where these two characters are from. They were in the previous volume of Nyantype too. At least this time we don’t have any backwards limbs.

The K-ON girls seem to have gotten more fashionable in the second season of the series. I like the striped shirts and Mugi’s hairstyle.

I like the character designs in Mayoi Neko Overrun, but I just wasn’t too fond of this poster. Seems the main purpose of this one was to show off some panties, and they left out my favourite character, Chise.

This poster seems a bit simplistic at first, but I guess it’s meant to give off that slice-of-life feel.

I was beginning to think that there might not be any exceptional posters in this volume when I opened up this page. I just love how everything is blowing in the wind, and this image really captures the characters’ personalities in my opinion.

This Strike Witches poster follows along the same lines as the previous Railgun poster. Once again, I like the blowing in the wind look, and it has a fitting background too. It would be perfect if only Lynette’s legs didn’t look like they disappeared below her knees.

I don’t recognize who this is or what anime she’s from, but I really hope her toes aren’t normally that long.

I thought this poster of Yukina from Senkou no Night Raid was lovely. Chinese dresses always look good, and the cherry blossom petals make this scene look even better. Whoever Nyantype hired to do all these blowing in the wind images is really doing a good job.

There have been quite a few images with Haruhi and Yuki in them, I wonder what happened to Mikuru.

Here’s one last fanservice shot to finish things off. While technically ecchi, I didn’t hide it because you could go to the beach and see more. I’m not sure why Yamada took off her top though.

Included with this volume was a little booklet celebrating Nyantype Magazine’s first anniversary. It doesn’t feel like that long ago that Nyantype came out so I’m surprised it’s already been a whole year.

Inside the booklet were some images taken from posters in previous volumes. There isn’t anything that I haven’t already seen, but it was nice to have so many of the nicer ones all in one place.

The back cover once again features Kissxsis with a reminder about the first Blu-ray and DVD release.

Out of all the posters in this volume, the three “wind” posters were by far the best. The other posters were average, but at least there weren’t any terrible ones in here.

For hidden images, read this post.

–>Subscribe to Nyantype Magazine

Megami Magazine Vol. 120

Nopy — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:18:41 +0000

This is my first Megami Magazine post since mid-May, so I’ve got a few volumes to catch up on. First, I’ll start with volume 120, which features Mio and Yui from K-ON on the cover. This volume came out in May, which was right around the end of the spring season so there are lots of posters from then in here. There was also a section with an interview of some voice actresses, but I couldn’t translate any of it. Anyways, here’s a look at what posters came with this volume:

I only watched the first couple of episodes of Working!!, but I was told that it was a “meh” kind of anime. I was surprised to hear which girl the main guy ended up with though, I thought for sure that Poplar was going to be chosen.

I like this Railgun poster because Kuroko is actually wearing something other than her micro-bikini *gasp*. She’s so weird and crazy sometimes, I just love her; she’s by far my favourite character of the series. Hopefully Kuroko will make a few appearances in the upcoming second season of To Aru Majutsu no Index.

As much as I liked the character designs in Mayoi Neko Overrun, I was upset that they had Fumino and Nozomi in this poster but not Chise. Like Kuroko, I liked Chise for her sometimes outrageous personality.

I don’t recognize which anime this is from, but the poster is nice.

I didn’t think this Ikki Tousen poster was that great.

On the other hand, I was blown away when I saw this poster. I’m not as big a fan of Nagato as Haruhi, but this illustration is just amazing. There’s so much detail in it and it’s beatifully coloured. I’d say this is one of the best Megami posters I’ve seen in a while.

Here’s the full image of Mio and Yui that was used on the cover. I didn’t notice this at first, but after looking at it more carefully, it seems that Yui has just dislocated Mio’s shoulder…

This was a funny poster of the girls from Baka To Test To Shokanju. While I wouldn’t say the anime was great, it was good enough for me to look forward to the second season.

Ayakura Juu was featured in this volume’s Girl’s Avenue section. Juu was the one behind the popular series Spice and Wolf.

I still haven’t gotten around to watching Strike Witches. One of the main reasons is because the ecchi level just doesn’t make it feel very serious to me.

Likewise, Seikon no Qwaser’s ecchi level was just too high for me, as you can probably tell from this poster.

When I first looked at this poster, I thought Yamada was wearing her school uniform, then I realized that she’s just holding it up.

I liked the simple character designs for Ako and Riko, but I don’t recall seeing any reviews for KissxSis after it finished airing. Either no one really watched it or it was just too boring.

Ladies vs Butlers posters always seem to show a lot of skin. At least this one has a nice background, I like how well the palm trees were drawn.

While blue skies is technically a background, I don’t think it’s much better than when they use a gradient. It’s always surprising to see how wide the gap is in quality between illustrations within the same volume of Megami Magazine.

Some of you probably have already heard about (or bought) the first volume of Girl’s Avenue. I believe it contains all of the art featured in the Girl’s Avenue section of Megami all the way up to the 100th artist. For reference, Ayakura Juu is the 102nd artist.

I would’ve liked to have had a poster with this image on it. I don’t know what this fasion style is called, but Mio looks pretty good in it (though I guess some people would say she looks good in everything).

Even after the Nanoha movie has passed, Megami still seems to be promoting it a lot. The freebie that came with this volume was a pencil board with images from the movie on both sides.

That’s pretty much it for this volume. I absolutely loved the Nagato poster, but otherwise I thought the quality was average. I was also hoping the freebie would be something else other than Nanoha, but like I’ve said before, someone at the Megami offices really likes the Nanoha series so she’s going to be around for a long time.

–>Subscribe to Megami Magazine

Spring 2010 Anime Round-up

Nopy — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:31:37 +0000

I wanted to make a post about my initial thoughts on this season’s anime earlier, but due to project deadlines and exams being all during this month, it’s been hard trying to find time to watch everything. So that’s why I’m only writing this now when some anime are already into their third week, but it’s better late than never.

Angel Beats

I think it’s safe to say that Angel Beats was either the most or second-most (after K-ON) anticipated anime of the season. The main reason is probably because one of the collaborators was Key, which also wrote Kanon, AIR, and Clannad (all of which were very successful). There are three other companies working with Key on Angel Beats, but it manages to retain a common theme with Key’s previous works which is life and death. In case you forgot where this theme showed up in Key’s previous works, they were most prominent in: Ayu’s arc in Kanon, the Summer arc in AIR, and Ushiro’s arc in Clannad. The humour usually found at the beginning of Key’s stories was also in Angel Beats with all of the traps that the SSS fell for in the second episode. Some people have complained that the animation quality is poor, character designs were plagiarized, or that the music band was just an attempt at gaining more music fans. I won’t argue that these things aren’t true, but the main selling point of any good anime should be its story. With the way Angel Beats has started out, it looks like it’s following the same pattern as Kanon/AIR/Clannad with the exception that there’s no harem. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series and hoping it’ll stand up to its predecessors.

Arakawa Under the Bridge

I’m not really sure what to make of Arakawa Under the Bridge. The characters are so weird that sometimes you can’t understand their train of thought. With that being said, they all appear to be homeless except for the main guy, so that might explain their mental health. I’m sure anyone living in a big city and who has spoken to some “bums” will know that a lot of them live in their own little fantasy world. That’s exactly what Arakawa Under the Bridge seems like to me, a depiction of the world from the point of view of some bums. Then again, this is an anime, and the girl could really be a Venutian, and the guy in the green suit could really be a kappa. I’m really interested in seeing where this anime will go, it looks like it has a lot of potential.

B Gata H Kei

The plot summary for B Gata H Kei is probably one of the most messed up ones I’ve heard of. Seriously, what kind of female high schooler just decides that she wants to do 100 guys? Anyways, I gave this anime a shot and I’ll admit that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. Despite what the summary says, the main character is actually a virgin and it looks like she’ll stay that way for the remainder of the series (thank god). The anime is actually a romantic comedy wrapped up with some ecchi and topped off with one crazy sex-starved girl. Some of the scenes were pretty funny, but I found the ecchi just overwhelmed the comedy and makes B Gata H Kei look even more fanservice-focused than Love Hina, but not as funny. In my opinion, it doesn’t seem like an anime worth waiting around for.

Giant Killing

Focusing on Football (a.k.a. Soccer), Giant Killing looks like your standard team sports anime. A new guy joins an underdog team and helps them to reform and win against the best. It’s not really my kind of anime, but I guess if you really like Football or sports anime in general, this would be a decent choice.

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan

For the first ten minutes of Hakuouki, I was extremely confused as to what gender the main character was. Luckily I wasn’t the only one, since most of the other characters couldn’t tell either. I’m glad that she turned out to be a girl though, or else this anime would freak me out even more. It’s basically a reverse-harem (one girl, lots of guys) anime where all of the guys are bishounen and carry swords. There looks to be some action in the form of swordfights, but those are just minor scenes. I won’t be watching this since it’s obviously targeted at a female audience and lacks comedy, which would be the only thing that would make me reconsider.

Heroman

A mix of anime and American comics, Heroman looks like something I would have really enjoyed as a kid. Sadly, I’m in my 20s now and superheroes saving damsels in distress just isn’t as appealing as it once was. If you’re curious though, the anime is most like a fusion between Spiderman, Medabots, and aliens. The situation with the poor nerdy kid and hot babe is just like Peter and Mary-Jane, there’s a robot that the main character can control, and there are evil aliens thrown in for good measure.

House of Five Leaves

House of Five Leaves has horrible character designs, but the animation is beautiful and the plot seems decent. The anime is about a shy, cowardly samurai that agrees to work for a stranger before discovering that his new employer is actually a criminal involved with kidnapping. It looks like the series will mainly focus on character development and debate ethical issues like whether it is wrong to help someone by committing a crime. The plot may sound kinda boring, but the first episode went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I haven’t seen anyone write about this series yet, but it could turn out to be very good.

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou

This is one of the more disappointing anime of the season. Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maoh is essentially a harem anime with magic involved. There’s a lot of panty flashing, clothes being blasted off, and tons of “oops” scenes. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had been a little bit more creative with this anime, but it seems like everything has already been done before. In these kinds of anime, everyone knows that whenever there’s an explosion at least one girl has to be naked afterwards, and whenever the main character goes into a private room, 90% of the time there will be a girl with her panties down or shirt unbuttoned. The main female character also hates the main male character, which seems to be common nowadays after Love Hina. With the lack of anything new or creative, you’d at least expect the animation to be good, but it was just utter crap. I definitely don’t recommend this anime to anyone.

K-ON Season 2

The best way to describe K-ON is that it’s like crack. You know it sucks and is bad for you, but you just can’t get enough of it. There’s absolutely no continuous plot, the humour is only mildly funny, and the characters are basically just blobs (hence the term moe-blob). Seriously, I really don’t know why I can’t stop watching this. Maybe Mio’s “moe moe kyun”, or Azu-nyan, or Mugi’s eyebrows have something to do with it, but I just can’t pry myself away from this epic waste of time.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama

I was a bit skeptical at first, since the summary made Kaichou wa Maid-sama sound like a reverse harem, but it’s actually a good anime. While right now it seems to be focusing on the comedy, it looks like it’ll turn into a romantic comedy. The main character is very gun ho and anti-boy so it’s funny to see her dress up as a maid and serve a guy from school at a maid cafe. Overall, the anime is cute (in a personality sort of way, not character designs) and funny. It’s definitely worth the watch if you like light-hearted shows.

Kiss x Sis

I’ve written about the Kiss x Sis OVAs before, but this is my first time writing about the anime. While I was expecting the anime to be along the same lines as the OVAs (ie: tentacle rape and incest), it was actually watered down a bit. The incest portion of the story is still there, but scenes aren’t as suggestive as they were in the OVA. I think the most extreme scene in the first episode was when the sisters flashed their bras, which is a lot tamer than a giant octopus wrapping its tentacles around some sensitive areas. Although the anime isn’t as extreme, it’s still a fanservice anime and really only aimed at people that wanna see some panties and brother x sister action. Not recommended for the average anime watcher.

Mayoi Neko Overrun

I’m on the fence on this one. Mayoi Neko Overrun looks like it should be funny, and while I admit some scenes were amusing, it didn’t have me actually laughing. It does have some unique characters; one of them is an orphan that says the opposite of what she means, one guy seems to always be making comparisons between the 2D world and 3D world, another girl is a rich otaku, and there’s a giant cat that looks like a hot girl. As of the first episode, there doesn’t seem to be much of a plot yet since they spent most of the time introducing characters and chasing the giant cat around. Ecchi content is present here, but not a big component of the anime. I’ll keep watching it for the time being just to see where it goes.

Rainbow

This is probably the darkest anime of the season. Prisons in the past really were horrible places, and Rainbow does a good job of depicting just how bad it can get. The main characters are imprisoned for stuff like petty crimes and standing up against abuse, but they’re treated like the lowest of the low, being subjected to torture and physical abuse. One thing to note is that this is a “bro” anime, so if you’re looking for pretty anime girls, this isn’t the place. If you like anime about sacrifice, overcoming hardships, and standing up for one another, then this is a good one to look into.

Senkou no Night Raid

Set in China in the 1930′s, Senkou no Night Raid isn’t what you think it is. Japan and China don’t have the best of relations, so I think a lot of people may have dismissed this anime as Japanese propaganda and not given it the chance it deserves. While it’s true that the “good guys” are Japanese, keep in mind that this is fictional and should be enjoyed as just that, fiction. The main characters even have special abilities like x-ray vision, deflection, and teleportation, which takes away the realism from the anime. All of the special operatives have some sort of special ability, which helps to add a lot more action into the anime (and yes, this is an action anime). Since the first episode was mostly action, not too many details regarding the plot were given other than the fact that the group of main characters are secret Japanese operatives in China. Like some of the other anime this season, it can turn out to be good or bad, but it’s hard to tell with only one episode.

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru has hot guys everywhere you look. It’s really not my cup of tea so I’ll be passing on this one.

Working

Cute and funny, Working seems to stem from what I call the Lucky Star class of anime. It feels like there should be some sort of plot, but there just isn’t one (at least not one that I could tell). This is something that you would get and just leave on the shelf until a dull Sunday morning when you’ve got nothing better to do except watch anime.

Final Thoughts

I thought this season was very impressive in terms of the quality of anime being aired. Whereas last season I was struggling to find something decent to watch, I find myself trying to decide which ones not to watch right now in order to fit them into my schedule. It looks like the moe boom is also finally coming to an end, with K-ON and maybe Working being the only two anime that you could really classify as moe. As much as I enjoyed the boom, it was killing the industry, and I swear that too much moe kills brain cells. I’ve still got to take care of stuff in my life so this will probably be my only post for another week or so, but I’m not dead so I’ll be back.

Upcoming Spring 2010 Anime

Nopy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:08:46 +0000

With only one month left before the start of the spring 2010 anime season, I’m disappointed at the anime that have been announced. The only series that I’ve been looking forward to for a while is Angel Beats, mainly because Key worked on the story, but also because of how good the trailer looked. Key’s stories have always brought a tear to my eye, but so far they’ve mostly been focused on the relationships between characters (ie: Kanon, AIR, Clannad, Planetarian). The trailer for Angel Beats looks like it contains a lot of action though, so I’m curious to see how Key integrates that into their usual formula.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DryAxOFNWEM

The other anime that I’m considering watching are Senko no Night Raid, which sounds like it has some potential, and to a lesser extent, Working. I watched the first episode of Working and it looks decent, but it might turn out good or bad depending on how the rest of the series goes. The seeming lack of a plot is a downer, but it’s pretty funny at times.

A lot of people are probably really hyped up over the 2nd season of K-ON, and I might just watch it so I’m not left out of the loop, but I don’t think I’ll enjoy it. After some time without K-ON and reflecting back on it, I don’t think it was a good anime and sometimes wonder why I watched it. Actually, I do know why I watched it: Mio + mini-top-hat, Tsumugi’s eyebrows, and the ending song. If it weren’t for those three things, I would not have watched the series to the end. After all, there was no plot, no drama, no action, and it wasn’t that funny. It’s scary how easily they drew me in with just a few cute things.

Arakawa Under the Bridge just made me go “wtf” when I saw the picture for it. The guy with a yellow star for a head and what looks like another guy in a green costume has got me wondering what’s going on. I guess that’s a good way of getting people to watch an anime, make them curious.

B Gata H Kei looks like it belongs in the last season along with other crazy anime like Chu-Bra and Seikon no Qwaser. Seriously, what kind of girl aspires to having 100 sex partners? I’m not saying it’s not possible, pornstars have way more after all, but they’re usually in it for the money. This anime just looks like an excuse to put in fanservice everywhere.

As for the Iron Man and Heroman anime, I actually want to see how the Japanese will manage to distort the American concept of superheroes fighting for justice. Considering a lot of anime have really emo main characters and a hot chick thrown in there for fanservice, I predict these two anime will be like that too.

I don’t have anything to say for the other anime that are being aired this spring. Of course, I’ll check out the first episode for all of them like usual, but my expectations aren’t very high. Hopefully there’ll be a few gems to look forward to.