Short Synopsis: The final part of Death Note will feature Light vs Near vs Melo. N and M seem to hate each other.
Good: Thankfully, Light isn’t as annoying as I feared.
Bad: N and M, however, are.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

I can understand why people felt that N and M didn’t live up to L. The two of them just aren’t introduced properly. Not only that, but their quirks are even more annoying. N likes to play puzzles with inhumane precision, while M is obsessed with chocolate. What happened to the subtlety in which L added a dozen lumps of sugar in his tea?

Still, I do admit that things will get interesting once Light starts thinking. I really feared that he’d be way too obsessed with creating his perfect world, but somehow, being part of the investigation-team kept his head on earth. Still, I do fear that his cognitive abilities have declining, since he’s had it rather easy for the past three years.

Matsuda also was a surprise, as it seems that he’s turned into a much more important character now. That’s a definite improvement, as this won’t allow him to goof off too much. Misa, however, was horrible. In this episode, her only purpose was fanservice. Light’s father also remained interesting, due to the fact that he now has a more of a leader-like role, now that he doesn’t have to listen to L anymore. It’s also great to see Aizawa back.

Also, one final complaint: why the heck did N and M choose the exact same time to get into action?

Short Synopsis: Sora wants to get sent to the moon. Why? Well, she’s an alien!
Good: I never expected a complex story behind this one. Never.
Bad: That did take a bit of time to get used to.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

I remember saying that there was nothing really worth blogging about Ooedo Rocket. Boy, was I wrong. This episode really was good enough for me to blog it, as it featured a lot of surprises. The biggest being the fact that my first impressions about this were totally wrong.

First, let me say the following about Ooedo Rocket, for those who didn’t want to see it:
- Ooedo Rocket is not a kiddie-show.
- Ooedo Rocket is not a pure senseless comedy.
- Ooedo Rocket actually presents a complex story with a number of round characters, with a lot of comedy inserted into this storyline.

To give a small indication, in the current episode, 10% of the scenes were comedic, and 90% of the scenes were serious, and actually developed the storyline with quite an interesting pacing. The comedy also wasn’t random at all, but all storyline-related.

Also, regarding the main character and his annoyingness:
- The only annoying part about him is his character-design.
- He never got featured much in this episode anyway.

It’s surprising, but this episode was all about Ginjiro. But first, the episode reveals the identity of that white monster we’ve been seeing for the past two episodes, in quite an amusing way. It’s actually Sora! At the beginning of the episode, she asks if he didn’t get hurt when the white monster touched him. He answers no, but later he wonders how she knew that that happened in the first place. That does make you wonder, doesn’t it? ^^;

Anyway, now onto the serious stuff, these warriors we’ve been seeing are actually under the employment of the current magistrate: Torii-sama (Ayakashi Ayashi, anyone? ^^). He’s found a strange device, which I assume is some kind of space-ship Sora used to get to earth. This speculation may be totally wrong, though, as I didn’t get most of the dialogue. Also, where did the black monsters come from?

Ginjiro seems to be an expert lock-picker, and the episode suggests that he can use some kind of supernatural technique to strip the clothing off of people. Anyway, if I had to guess, then I’d say that Torii needs these skills on the UFO, as he can’t get it opened. The second half of this episode reveals the guy’s past, which was actually quite interesting and surprisingly detailed. He used to be a samurai, along with the woman that we sometimes see with him. This does explain why we see the two of them together so often. They used to work for a guy. I first believed that this was the young version of Torii, until he blew himself up. I’m not sure what exactly was up with that…

You know what? I sense something amazing inside this anime, so I’m going to do what I’m good at: promoting underdogs! It’s a shame that I’ve been the only one to blog about it, as this series definitely deserves more love. It’s a perfect example of totally wrong first impressions!

Requested by tman, and not a bad idea if I say so myself as well. One of the joys of watching anime is that at times, you run into series that really blow you away. Inspired by Wakaranai, these are the ten anime that I consider best.

Some series who barely didn’t make this list: Paranoia Agent, Hi no Tori, Haibane Renmei, Les Miserables, Toward the Terra and Mushishi.

10: Fantastic Children

Fantastic children probably has one of the best plot twists ever, but that’s not the only great part of this anime. Its narrative style, great characters and deep plot made this an anime I won’t forget anytime soon.

9: Shion no Ou

At first, I didn’t have that much hope for a series that was about a game I knew nothing of (Shougi), but Shion no Ou came and totally proved me wrong. With an amazing cast of characters and a terrific plot to back them up, Shion no Ou quickly dominated all the other shows in the season it aired in for me with its quality

8: Revolutionary Girl Utena

Ah, Utena. You’re probably one of the strangest, most eccentric anime out there, but also one of the best. Its first half never failed to entertain me, while especially the final episodes starting from episode 30 were insanely good. For the first and probably only time, recycled scenes actually helped to improve an anime, giving it a ritualistic feeling, which turned out perfectly.

7: The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shoujo

I consider The Third as one of the best action-series, due to its incredibly versatile character of Honoka. She really is one of my favourite characters so far, and this show never failed to entertain me. It’s also one of the few shows with an actually great ending, which is a very rare thing in anime.

6: Bokura no

It may have turned down a lot of fans from the manga, but nonetheless I personally adored Bokura no. When it started, it got to work with one of the most promising premises I’ve seen, and it has definitely lived up to these expectations. The huge cast of characters has proven to be amazing as they move through the tragedy-filled story, without ever degrading into a pointless emo-fest.

5: .Hack//Sign

.Hack//Sign has a considerable sentimental value for me, as it was the first anime I managed to see from fansubs, and I still consider it as one of the best anime ever. Okay, it’s slow, but because it was so slow, it made sure to take its time to develop its characters, only to feature a brilliant second half, full of thought-provoking character-development. It really utilized some of the best aspects of MMORPGs.

4: Simoun

Ah, Simoun. This series has been an awesome character-study, featuring some of the saddest but also grandest scenes I’ve seen. Everything seemed to fit. It’s a true gem that doesn’t deserve its negligence.

3: Visions of Escaflowne

Up till episode twelve, I just thought this as a normal series. But then with the arrival of episode thirteen, Visions of Escaflowne stole my heart, with one of the most intense scenes I had ever seen. To make things even better, starting from that point, the quality of this anime never even once declined, making Escaflowne a truly memorable story.

2: Noein

At the end of the first episode, I knew that this series was going to be something special, but I never knew that it would turn out this awesome. Noein has been an amazing ride, featuring some of the best character-developments ever.

1: Mahou Shoujotai

I don’t think it comes as a surprise to see this one at the #1. Everyone has probably one series which stands miles above the others. If you haven’t yet seen such a series: keep searching, as it’s out there somewhere. For me, Mahou Shoujotai captivated me like no other, heck, it’s one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. It’s got one of the best stories and settings I’ve ever seen, the themes are awesome, and it seems like every single episode featured a new plot twist. Add some thought-provoking themes, excellent storytelling, and I’m hooked.

I’ll continue updating this list as I finish anime who are good enough to take up a spot. Obviously, anime which I haven’t seen completely are left out of it, as you’ll never know when they might turn bad or disappointing.

Now that that’s said, I’d love to everyone else’s favourite series. Don’t be afraid to drop a comment. :)

(Last Updated on 3-5-2008)

Short Synopsis: This episode shows a mission in which Claire gets bothered by a couple of guys who don’t know who they’re dealing with.
Good: Claire’s acting was quite interesting.
Bad: The episode was nothing really special, though.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

After the previous episode, Claire gets a normal mission: killing a youma who’s been haunting a holy city. As Claymore aren’t allowed in that city, she decides to go undercover. For that, she needs to change her eye-colour, which is done with a special medicine, which suppresses her youma-powers, including the ability to sense other youma. I was surprised to see her acting-abilities. We often see a cheerful girl turn serious, but you don’t often see a serious girl turn cheerful (the only other example I can think of was Sheila from Mahou Shoujotai. Obviously, she had a bigger impact than Claire did ^^;).

Even though this episode did introduce a few new things, it wasn’t as good as the previous two episodes. Ah well, this series needs to build up as well. I read somewhere that the first volume of the manga only contains missions like these, while things really kick off with the second volume. I’m willing to wait for that.

The episode also ended in a cliff-hanger. The medicine suppressed Claire’s youma-powers, she doesn’t have her claymore with her, the youma is exceptionally strong and furthermore Claire is getting bothered by a bunch of idiots who think they can slay youma. Overall, it’s nice, but a tad predictable as well.

Short Synopsis: Tina learns of a rumour which might have something to do, and decides to investigate.
Good: Very interesting battles.
Bad: Could use a bit more realism.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

I admit that Wellber no Monogatari does have its flaws. Rita and Tina have less excuses to linger around than Nadie and Ellis, so seeing the two of them get involved in random cases doesn’t work as good as with El Cazador. It’s also surprising that nobody recognizes the giant tank which accompanies the princess. This probably means that vehicles like Bergerac are common in the world this anime plays in, but so far I’ve yet to see any of them. The fixing-shop did suggest, though, that Bergerac doesn’t have unique design, otherwise it wouldn’t be so easy to fix it. And yes, “decievereting” is probably the worst case of Engrish since Gonzo’s “Garally”.

Still, despite this, I like Wellber no Monogatari. Not only does it have the best OP of the season (imo, at least), the potential for a great storyline is there as well. The current episode also fleshed Tina nicely, while Rita has had a nice share of character-development, which usually is a good sign. This episode, we get some full details of Tina’s perception of her parents being murdered twelve years ago. Something tells me it’s that Galahad-guy. After all, he’s the only blonde guy in this anime. But I think there’s still a twist to this.

Accompanied by an unconventional, but actually very catchy soundtrack, the fights also were quite interesting. I like how brains have to be used to win. I’m not too sure about the ending, though. We first see Rita and Tina, in a burning building with no way out, when suddenly the screen blacks out. In the end, they got out by making a huge bell drop on top of them, protecting themselves from the fire. Cute, but why didn’t they end up with a terrible headache, due to the huge sound-waves caused by the bell, smashing into the ground? You’d also wonder why they were able to not suffocate inside of that.