The cover of the August 2010 volume (124) of Megami Magazine is one of the sweetest I’ve seen in a while. Those of you who watched Angel Beats will surely remember the graduation episode; the cover of this volume features Yuri and Kanade at the ceremony together as best friends. It’s nice to see former enemies make up and clear up their misunderstandings. This volume of Megami has some impressive posters that you can see below:

I loved everything about this first poster, from the spectacular night-time background to the yukatas, and the way the moonlight shines on the characters.

Here’s Musubi in three different outfits. I like the hat she has in the middle.

This Ookami poster was interesting. The girls are dressed in some fancy clothes and dancing on stage. The outfits actually remind me of the AKB48 uniforms:

I’m kinda lost as to what the K-ON girls are doing here, but it looks cute.

I was considering whether to hide this poster  or not, but since nothing’s showing and they’re not in suggestive poses, I figured no one would have any problems with it. That bed must be huge to be able to fit 4 people on it. The pink-haired girl looks a bit awkward with her head tilted at that angle and her right arm missing.

Haruka from Amagami SS appears here, but also in Nyantype. I haven’t seen any posters of the other girls so is she the  most popular girl from the series?

I really liked this BRS poster, but then again, most BRS posters are good. The art style is very unique to the series. I think it would’ve looked a bit better if the chains were tighter and not just hanging off BRS.

This is a nice action shot, the expression on each of the girls faces fits exactly with their character.

Once again, here’s the image from the cover of the magazine but without all the text around it. I was impressed with how detailed the flowers are, and Yuri and Kanade look so cute together. The only bad thing about this poster is that the background’s so ugly.

Waterslides are fun.

This poster is part of the Girl’s Avenue section. It was illustrated by the artist Osamu Otani (尾谷おさむ). From what I’ve seen, he likes to use a lot of textures, making colours fade into each other rather than be separated by a clear line.

There wasn’t anything too special about this Kissxsis poster. I do like the dress that Ako is wearing though, she seems to be the more feminine one of the two.

There were several pages in this volume showcasing some collectable K-ON cards that are now available. I’m sure hardcore K-ON fans would want these.

This little extra was stuck into the front of the magazine. It’s a dust jacket for the first volume of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Movie 1st The Comics (that’s one long title). You just cut it out and put it around your manga. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Nanoha manga so I’ll be leaving this inside the magazine.

Those of you are are collecting those K-ON cards I mentioned earlier may want to pick up this volume of Megami because it contains one of the cards needed to complete the collection.

The details from the maid outfits to the restaurant set-up were well-done in this large poster. I wonder how Francesca managed to get that high up in the air though. You’d have to be running very fast to end up like that.

The back of the poster has Fate from the Nanoha series in a cute beach outfit. It looks like one of those images you’d find on bedsheets rather than a poster.

For hidden images, read this post (numbers 05, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19).

I was really impressed with 16, it was so detailed and it has that fantasy world feel about it.

My favourite posters in this volume were the first one with the Working!! girls, the one of Yuri and Kanade, and image 16. They all had really nice details and just looked great in my eyes.

–>Subscribe to Megami Magazine

Nyantype Magazine vol. 8 was released at the end of May. I picked up this particular copy while I was in Japan in June. It was nice to actually only pay the price listed on the magazine for once. Dishing out 780 yen for Nyantype makes it seem so much more worth it when you normally pay $20, which includes currency conversion and shipping costs. The front cover features Nozomi from the anime Mayoi Neko Overrun. There’s also a little window in the cover offering a sneak peak into something special that they included, but more on that later.

While I have been growing tired of all the Nanoha posters from both Nyantype and Megami, I actually liked this one. It seems really shiny for some reason.

Here’s one of Yui and Azusa from K-ON. I liked how the grass was drawn so that you could see individual blades, but they don’t take your attention away from the two characters.

I don’t watch Strike Witches so I don’t know what these two are doing, but it looks like they’re dancing or something.

I watched a few episodes of Heroman when it came out, the way they portrayed America is so different from American superhero cartoons. It’s usually a dark place where villians run free and it’s up to the hero to save the day. In Heroman, it seems a lot more peaceful, and the main character is a bit girly as you can see in this  poster.

This was a cute poster. While I still haven’t seen the Haruhi movie, I’ve heard that Nagato and Asakura are best friends in it.

The maid outfits and poses were really well-drawn in this poster. Things aren’t always what they seem though. If you haven’t watched Kaichou wa Maid-sama, then you might not be aware that Aoi-chan (on the left) is actually a guy.

This was a rather simple poster. Nyantype seems to like spilling various liquids on girls.

I’m not a fan of Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan, but this poster of Chizuru is good for Nyantype’s standards. The background is nice and everything about Chizuru is good except her legs. They’re longer than they should be and her knees look like blocks.

I’ve seen some of these banana floaty things before and they look fun to ride. I prefer Riko’s hair in a ponytail rather in twintails.

This isn’t a poster, but it’s included in the back of the magazine. It’s a mecha musume or mobile suit girl version of Nagato from Haruhi. This illustration was done by Mika Akitaka, who has done mecha designs for various anime and even has an artbook of mobile suit girls.

Now on to that special item that was seen through the window on the front cover. As you can see, it’s one of those holographic cards that change images as you view it from different angles. It features Ako and Riko from Kissxsis in their school uniforms.

As you change the angle, the image changes to show them undressing. I just showed the first two images here, but if you want to see them go all the way, check out the hidden images.

For hidden images, read this post (numbers 04, 05, 06, 08, 09, 11, 14, 15, 17, 24).

Image 11 looks cool, and I liked 14 because it has Yukina from Senkou no Night Raid.

I can’t say I noticed many drawing mistakes in this volume, and it had a good variety of posters to look at. The mecha musume included in the back and the holographic card were both cool. This volume was certainly worth the 780 yen I spent on it.

–>Subscribe to Nyantype Magazine

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

The sixth volume of Nyantype Magazine came out way back before the previous season started so you’ll see a bunch of posters from older series in here. The cover features both Yui and Mio from K-ON, no surprise considering they’re probably the two most popular characters in the series. In the corner you’ll also see a little preview of the freebie that came with this volume, but more on that after taking a look at some of the posters.

I still haven’t watched the first Nanoha movie so it’s still weird for me to see Hayate grown up, but Fate and Nanoha still in their loli forms. It seems Hayate has also grown some furry ears and a tail?

The reverse side has Nagato looking pretty helpless. Personally, I thought Nagato was better as an alien rather than a quiet girl that likes her books.

I thought the artwork in this poster was nicely done. The proportions of the characters looks right, and I like the background. The only thing I see wrong with it is that the illustrator forgot that water refracts light. I’m not sure what series this is from though, so if you can identify it, thanks in advance.

If you haven’t seen Ookami Kakushi, this poster is supposed to be from the scene where Nemuru was tied up to prevent her from attacking the main guy (I forgot his name). I don’t know why they drew the knife right at her feet, but otherwise I like the dark atmosphere that this poster has.

This poster is similar to the one of Nemuru, but I don’t really like it as much. It isn’t as detailed as the previous one and the reddish tint makes it look a bit weird to me.

I remember doing an exercise like this in school, except we didn’t lift each other off the ground that high.

I’m not too fond of the moe-blob look anymore so I didn’t particularly like this poster, but it is decent.

I was impressed with this poster. You don’t usually see Nyantype come out with something this detailed, and as far as I can tell there isn’t any major flaws with it. The poster feels like an explosion of rainbowy gumdrops, but I’m assuming that’s what Pretty Cure is like.

Apparently there’s some kind of game where you pull a girl’s sash and maker her spin around. I think that’s what Kuroko is trying to do here, but she’d better be ready for a shock.

The characters in Hanamaru Kindergarten are cute, but the teacher looks so out of place here.

If any of you have read the yuri manga “Girlfriends”, you’ll probably know what I thought when I saw this poster. While it is a poster of Miyako and Yuno from Hidamari Sketch, they bear a striking resemblance to Akko and Mari from Girlfriends. It’s not only their hairstyles, but also their style of clothing and who’s on top.

A bit of Nyantype’s problem with distorted body parts is starting to show in this Ikki Tousen poster. While no limbs look like they’re broken, some of them seem to be at some rather uncomfortable angles.

Can’t say I liked Chu-Bra, but using lace patterns in the background here was a nice touch.

This Kissxsis poster seems to have less of a problem with distorted limbs. I knew the show was about a guy with a sister complex (or was it the other way around?), but there seems to be a lot of sister on sister posters in both Nyantype and Megami.

So in case you were wondering what that image in the corner of the cover was, here it is. For lack of a better word, I’m just going to call it a doll. You get this blank plastic doll  which you can stick stickers on to make into your favourite K-ON band member. The only problem is that you only get one of these dolls and there are 5 members. While you could use both sides of the doll, that still leaves out 3 of the girls. Nyantype really should have included more of these with their magazine.

I thought the back cover had an interesting illustration. It looks like parts of the page were ripped out to reveal part of an image underneath, but it’s really just one unripped page.

The quality of images used in Nyantype’s posters seems to be getting better, but they’re still not quite at the same level as Megami. It’s still nice to have them available though.

For hidden images, read this post.

–>Subscribe to Nyantype Magazine

Since a lot of people have asked for more Magazine coverage, I will be reviewing more of them this month. This time I will be covering Megami Magazine volume 121 from June of this year. The cover features Mahiru from Working!! holding up cute chibi versions of Poplar and Aoi. Now for the posters:

The first poster is of Yui and Ui. It looks like Ui is busy preparing lunch, but Yui couldn’t resist taking not taking a bite.

Here’s another Working!! image, with the focus being on Mahiru again.

This poster brought back some memories, mainly of the episode in Mayoi Neko Overrun when they had the swimsuit competition.

I don’t remember Haruhi and Nagato ever cosplaying as cops in the anime. The police probably don’t actually wear skirts like that though, so they might actually be cosplaying as security guards or something. Either way, I like it.

After the previous volume, it seems they’ve gone back to girls lacking clothes when it comes to Ikki Tousen posters, like this one of Sonsaku.

One thing that I’ve noticed about anime is that baths sometimes have green water. I think they do that because it’s hard to draw clear water, but I could be wrong. Maybe they do bathe in green water in Japan, who knows.

This looks more like a promotional poster without the text. It actually doesn’t look that good without any sort of real background.

This amazing piece of art was done by Bun+Bun. I love the little glowy lights and how the shadows look in this poster. The only thing I would complain about is the foot of the girl in front, it’s a bit too small to look right.

Here’s a poster of Tomo from Seikon no Qwaser.

I only recognize this poster being from Bungaku Shoujo because Touko is in it. I’m not sure who the other girl is, but I’m assuming she was in the movie. Her spikey hair looks kinda cool.

I never got into Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, it seemed like a regular harem series to me. The shading in this poster seems to be a bit weird to me, kinda like a mix of pastels and digital colours.

I’ve been meaning to watch Strike Witches for the longest time, but I just never got around to it. I have to admit, the characters do look pretty cute.

As expected, Nanoha is in this volume as with every other volume. Nanoha and Fate look nice in this illustration, but I wish they’d gone with a battle pose instead.

This is the same image that was used on the cover of the magazine, but without the text. I’m not too fond of the background, but at least now Poplar isn’t half covered up by something.

Illustrations like this are hard to draw, so I’m impressed with whoever did it. Except for a few things that look a bit awkward like Mizuki’s right arm and Akira’s right leg, everything looks right to me.

This volume came with a little booklet with some details about the Nanoha movie.

All of the screenshots that they had inside just makes me want to see it even more. I hope it comes out on DVD soon since I can’t watch it in theatres here.

Seeing this large poster brought back some memories. For those of you who don’t know, Nanoha was originally a side-character from a series called Triangle Hearts. I watched Triangle Heart – Sweet Songs Forever a long time ago and really enjoyed it. Nanoha made a brief appearance in the cafe that her family runs called Midori-ya (which you can see on her apron).

The image for this poster looks like something from a dakimakura. It’s cute though, and not too ecchi.

I didn’t think this volume was anything too impressive. There were some good posters in here, but most of them were dull or just lacking in anything special. In my opinion, the best poster was the one by Bun+Bun.

–>Subscribe to Megami Magazine

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

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.

I don’t remember the last time I took a look at Nyantype Magazine. Since they don’t release on a regular schedule, I kinda forgot to review them after volume 2. Anyways, better late than never, so here’s a look at the 3rd volume of Nyantype Magazine.

This volume starts out with a pinup poster of loli Nanoha and her two non-magical friends. The one thing I like about Nyantype over Megami is that they always have one of these larger pinup posters that are 3 sheets long instead of the regular two.

On the reverse side is Mikuru dressed in some really nice clothes. Unfortunately for her, she forgot to check the weather report. I bet Kyon would be jumping for joy though.

I didn’t think Kurimu-chan was a very clumsy character from watching Seitokai no Ichizon, but I wonder how she ended up in that position with the milk only falling on her in what seems like groups of droplets instead of spilling across her clothes.

Is it just me, or does it look like an invisible hand is lifting up Haruka’s dress? There’s no way normal clothes act like that.

I never really got into the Strike Witches craze, but was the girl on the left always so… droopy? It also looks like one of her hands just disappears into nowhere.

I guess at least one good thing came out of Princess Lover :)

Can someone explain why they have microphones. I thought Koihime Musou was set in some ancient land or something.

Like I’ve said in previous posts, Horo always appears naked in posters. This only further proves my point.

It’s been a while since I saw Saki poster, but then again, this volume came out a long time ago. I was surprised at how fast everyone forgot about the anime, I guess it wasn’t really very good.

I wonder if To Aru Kagaku no Railgun will turn out like Saki after it ends. Anyways, I thought this poster looked a bit off, I think it might be the way Mikoto’s eyes are drawn, it looks like she’s cross-eyed.

The Sacred Blacksmith also seems to have dropped off the radar. Just goes to show that fanservice won’t save a bad anime.

I can’t believe that Kissxsis is actually getting a full tv anime and not just another OVA. It just doesn’t make sense to me to have an anime that teases you so much without a real plot.

The existence of Queen’s Blade also doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s kinda in that limbo zone between 17+ and 18+.

As for Asura Cryin, I thought it had some potential, but it just tried too hard to combine too many genres into one anime.

Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan is also one of those fanservice-based anime. As much as I liked the character designs, the plot wasn’t that good, and I’d bet that no one will remember it 10 years from now.

Shakugan no Shana was at least a decent anime. It had a plot that sorta made sense and it wasn’t jam packed with fanservice, just enough to keep people happy.

Besides the posters, Nyantype also had some pages dedicated to the Seitokai no Ichizon girls. I highly doubt you’d ever actually see them in the kind of situation shown above except in Ken’s fantasies. I’m still kinda upset that the anime is over, it was one of my favourites of the year.

When I watched Macross Frontier, I thought that Ranka would be everyone’s favourite character, but apparently Sheryl is more popular. I wonder if it’s because of her personality or her character design.

Nendoroid Luka came out a while ago, but I won’t be getting her for a couple months since I ordered her from an American store and they don’t release there until later :(

I watched the first episode of Kanamemo and it was too childish for me. I don’t get why they’d put an ad in Nyantype Magazine since it seems like it’s geared towards children.

Rather than coming with a free poster, this volume included this really nice Nanoha illustration collection. Most of these images have been used in Nyantype already, but it’s nice to have them all in one little booklet if you’re a Nanoha fan. The images come from all of the Nanoha series.

When I first watched Triangle Heart, I never would have imagined that the little sister in the anime would ever get her own series, or that it’d turn out as successful as it did. It’s a good thing that people liked Nanoha though, or else we wouldn’t have all this pretty artwork.

This volume had it’s high and low points. The poster of Mikuru was really nice, and I’ve hung it up in my room. The Nanoha illustration collection was also a welcome treat. On the other hand, some of the posters were less than perfect. Missing limbs and crossed eyes just make a good illustration horrible. Unless there’s something you really want in this volume, it may be better just to pass it up.

It looks like I’m getting close to catching up with my Megami posts. On the cover of volume 116 are the girls from Seitokai no Ichizon doing some cosplay. Personally, I’m pretty happy that they finally decided to put Seitokai no Ichizon on the cover of a Megami Magazine since it was my favourite show last season. It seems most of the covers lately have been focusing on new/upcoming anime movies, so it’s nice to see a tv series back on every once in a while. Anyways, enough with the cover, if you wanted to see the pin-up posters (and I’m sure you do), they’re all below:

I don’t recall ever seeing biribiri play tennis, but I think tennis outfits are cute so it’s all good to me. Their skirts do seem a bit on the short side though, I wonder if Mikoto is wearing shorts under there too.

I haven’t seen Nyan Koi so I don’t know who these characters are, but I wonder what would happen if you put a dog in there.

I never really got into Queen’s Blade either, but I did watch the first episode. Isn’t the girl on the right supposed to be a bad guy or something? I also recall her (or maybe it was someone else) shooting some acid milk out of their jugs…

It seems like every Haruka poster that shows up in Megami either has her in a bath or doing some kind of cosplay. I guess an otaku doing cosplay makes sense, but I’d like some more posters of her in her regular clothes.

I like the ice wings on the blue-haired girl, and the kuma-san panties are cute ^.^

Don’t you just hate water that you can’t see through?

I think anime is the only place where I’ve actually seen girls wear nothing but an apron. I guess the Japanese just really like cute girls wearing aprons or something.

Hot yuri action is always welcome here. Has anyone watched here watched all of Shin Koihime Musou, and is it any good?

Mio looks really cool and mature in this poster, I think it’s a combination of her fashion sense, posture, and the fact that she’s holding a cup of tea. Yui and Azusa, on the other hand, still look like a couple of high schoolers. They should take some pointers from Mio.

Here’s a couple of nice posters of Nanoha and Fate, but I prefer them in their battle clothes over regular clothes.

Haruhi isn’t the type of girl who would normally dress up and go to formal events, so it’s nice seeing her in such a beautiful dress. In the future, when I’m married, I hope my wife will have good fashion sense like Haruhi and Mikuru here ^.^

You can probably guess what’s been going on (or will be going on) in this scene, but like I said before, yuri action is always welcome here.

If anyone has ever wondered what kind of panties Ange and Maria wear, you now have your answer. I was disappointed in the way they ended the Umineko no Naku Koro Ni anime, hopefully there’ll be a second season to answer all the unanswered questions.

Stripped pantsu are pretty popular, and it looks like they’re starting to make stripped bikinis too. I wonder if it’ll catch on.

Although this is the January 2010 volume of Megami Magazine, it actually comes out in December, which explains why there’s still a Christmas themed poster in here. If Eve were santa and she was bringing me Mio, Kuchinashi, and Setsuna, then I’d stay up all night waiting for her on Christmas Eve.

There’s been quite a few Juuden-chan posters recently. Plug always seems to be doing something wrong.

This volume must be geared towards yuri lovers or something. So if you were Keita, would you choose Ako or Riko?

Here’s the picture that was used on the cover of this volume. I just love Chizuru in a nurse outfit; a nurse is just so far away from her usual personality that it’s funny.

Once again, considering Chizuru’s personality I’m a bit surprised at this poster. She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would let her guard down enough for someone to get a shot of this. Then again, if someone did walk in on her and Kurimu changing, they’d probably disappear the next day.

What happened in Kowarekake no Orgol was so sad. If I ever get a robot/android in the future, I’ll be sure to take good care of it.

There was quite a bit of Seitokai no Ichizon content in here, which was great. As you can see, there was even a whole page devoted to my favourite character, Mafuyu. She’s a crazy game addict and BL lover, but she’s just hilarious. My favourite scenes with her in the anime was when she realized that the panties in the lost and found were actually hers, and her reaction when Ken meets Nakameguro in the last episode.

The Nanoha movie looks so good, I wish I could watch it right now. Alas, I won’t be able to see it until I go to Japan in June or until the DVD comes out, whichever is first.

I’m also looking forward to watching the Fate Stay Night movie. It looks like Rin is going to play a bigger part in the movie than in the anime ^.^

I’m always impressed by the great character designs and artwork that they have in eroge and dating sims. After seeing a few of these types of games, I can see why some girls play eroge too, it’s not all about sex after all. It’s a shame that not all anime are done as nice as this.

It looks like Weib Schwarz is introducing some new cards, this time it’s from Haruhi.

You got to see Ange and Maria’s panties earlier, now here’s Jessica’s. That little picture in the middle looks like a dakimakura to me, I didn’t think Jessica was that popular of a character.

There was no B2 size poster that came with this volume. Instead, a little book containing some artwork from Kanokon (mostly of Chizuru) was included.

This would be great to have if you like big oppai, but I find them to be a bit excessive. I know it doesn’t look that bad in anime, but if I actually saw someone walking around with knockers like that it’d just freak me out.

Overall, I thought this was a great issue. There’s certainly a lot of yuri in here so if you’re into that, this would be a good volume to pick up. I was also happy that they included more Seitokai no Ichizon material than usual, but I would’ve been even happier if the little booklet that was included was Seitokai-related instead of Kanokon-related. You can’t get everything you want I guess, and I’m sure the booklet made plenty of other people really happy.

–>Subscribe to Megami Magazine

After much searching and some waiting, I was able to get a hold on a copy of Nyantype Magazine volume 1 (unfortunately, it’s a bit damaged from shipping). Since it is the first volume I guess a lot of people wanted it to see is it was any good, making it really hard for me to find. Much like Megami Magazine (it’s actually a near carbon copy), Nyantype has a number of pinup posters at the front and back of the magazine with info on anime, games, and figures in between. To start off,  here are all the pinup posters included in the magazine:

I’m sure anyone out there with a foot fetish would live this Haruhi poster.

This one of Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki really looks like it would make a good dakimura. Maybe they’ve already made one.

Out of all the new characters in Nanoha Strikers, the only one I actually liked  was Teana.

I’m sure there’s many guys out there who would swap “guns” with Yoko right now.

I really like the character designs for Tayutama, but I just couldn’t stand the story. Oh well, I’ll just have to enjoy posters like this one instead :)

It always seems like Ein is being molested by someone.

Rin, Kuro, and Mimi from pedo anime Kodomo no Jikan also make an appearance. It’s scary to think that Mimi is only in elementary school…

The dreaded steam/fog commonly found in Megami Magazine also seems to have infected Nyantype magazine.

Ako (left) and Riko (right) seem to have gone back to their panty-flashing ways after an encounter with some slimy tentacles.

I always thought Riannon was an innocent looking girl, but looks can be deceiving, just look where her left hand is.

If the proportion of cute girls in Valkyria Chronicles was actually representative of the military, I’d sign up in an instant.

Out of all the pinup posters, I’d say my favourite is the Tayutama one even though I don’t watch the anime. The one with Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki in bed was also nice.

Like Megami Magazine, Nyantype Magazine also has news on popular anime and anything anime related:

On the first pages of the magazine is an ad for Yoko’s (Gurren Lagann) new single “Pieces of Sweet Stars” which was released on May 27. The single comes with some nice Yoko pics and a music video which you can see on youtube.

Of course, any magazine that focues on bishoujo characters must include Nanoha. Still waiting for the new movie to come out.

There’s also a short section in the magazine that lists all the new upcoming anime for summer 2009. Canaan looks pretty good so I’ll be looking forward to that.

Another similarity between Nyantype and Megami is these little manga inserts.

One thing that Nyantype has included that isn’t in Megami are these non-poster full-page images. It’d be a bit hard to cut these ones out to stick on your wall, but they’re still nice to look at.

Near the end of the magazine is also a section devoted to bishoujo games.

At the very back is something that regular readers of Megami Magazine would be familiar with by now: Weib Schwarz trading cards ads.

This volume came with a free card of the adult version of Nanoha.

The back of Nyantype Magazine just has some ads for Minami-ke and Tora Dora.

Overall, I thought Nyantype Magazine was worth the $15+shipping, but I think Megami Magazine is just a bit better. Why you ask? Althought Nyantype Magazine is almost an exact copy of Megami Magazine, there is one big difference: it has no size B2 poster included. I know a lot of people get these magazines for the posters, and when it comes to posters, the bigger the better.