Photon - The Idiot Adventure (Rating: 8/10)

Space rebel Keyne Aqua escapes from her evil pursuer, Papacharino Nanadan and winds up on Planet Sandy. On said planet lives Photon. He’s a very sweet young boy, with incredible physical powers. He’s also not very smart. But when the two get married by accident, Photon will do anything it takes to protect Keyne, both from Papacharino and from the evil Galactic Emperor. Joining him is Aun, his high strung, obnoxious, but well meaning (?) childhood friend.

You wanna have some idiotic fun? Well, this is the series. It’s in the title. From the creator of Tenchi Muyo comes this insanity. You’ll laugh with Photon for 5 episodes. What about the 6th one, you ask? Well, that 6th one might be more at ease in a horror drama. Yeah, the Galactic Emperor is seriously fucked up. Photon is incredibly sweet and loyal. So much so that his battle cry is “You made her cry”. If he tells you that, you’re in for a severe beating. Aun’s power is to stop time, but she’s not immune to it. So if Photon wasn’t immune to it, she’s be stuck there forever. That was a pretty good subversion of a useful power. Did I mention there’s nudity? Because there is. Keyne spends almost 2 episodes naked. Yummy. I also love the animation. Lots of details in the movements. They don’t make them like this anymore. Sad.

A/V from R2 DVD. Subs from Niizk.

My Roommate Is A Cat (Rating: 8/10)

Mikazuki Subaru is a depressed, shy novelist. He’s not very good with people. Also, he does not want a cat. Through no fault of his own, he ends up with a cat. Little did he know that bonding with the little creature would help him learn how to let other people into his life. Haru, the stray, has had a rough life. So she doesn’t know how to trust humans. She does not understand why this strange human would try and take care of her. It must be a trick.

Tattoon Master (Rating: 6/10)

 Hibio Hibino does not like women. He thinks they are needy, selfish and unreliable. This stems from his relationship with his own mother, who, being an archeologist/adventurer, was never around for him. But one day a mysterious girl shows up looking for him, holding a picture of him and his mother. She wants to marry him. His opinion does not matter. What's more, she has special powers.

A cute, short, OVA. The story is nothing special, but never has any chance to develop because it's so short. I watched it because of the art style and animation. It's not bad, but nothing special. Used the R2 DVD and the subs from mottoj.

Sentimental Journey (Rating: 6/10)

 

Based on a series of dating simulators named Sentimental Graffiti, this anime series is another unusual jab at the genre (the other one is Seraphim Call), this time by Sunrise.
It also focuses on individual stories, this time that play out like an epilogue to the scenario on the games. 12 girls, 12 episodes. You don’t need to watch them in order. Unlike Seraphim Call, this one is not as experimental, though it does share the trait of having several director and writers. The stories are, for the most part, slice of life romance.

If you’re wondering why the girls in this show seem familiar to you, even though you never watched, or even heard of the anime, or why the name makes you think “I’ve heard this before”, then you might have been first introduced to this series through a little game called Sentimental Shooting. The game was a bullet-hell shooter where you shot clothes off the girls from Sentimental Journey, while dogging lasers and shooting down spacecrafts. Game was hard as balls on normal. And then I found out that if you beat the 2 stages without dying or using your energy, you fight a secret boss. FUCK! THAT!. On hard difficulty you die instantly.

A/V from R2 DVD, subs from R1 release.

My Next Life As A Villainess (Rating: 9/10)

 

When **** ******, a 17-year-old otaku wakes up in her favorite otome visual novel, she’s as happy as can be. That is until she realizes she’s in the child body of the villainess of the story: Katarina Claes. Since she has extensive knowledge of the way the story goes, with Katarina either killed or exiled at the end, she vows to not let that happen. For all her plans though, all she really has to do is be nice to everyone. Lucky for her she’s such a goodnatured idiot that being nice to people is something that comes natural to her. Thus begins her journey from the main villainess to the main heroine.

Bakarina is an adorable idiot that must be protected at all times. She’s also a harem protagonist who does not care about gender. By the end of the series she has everyone in her harem. Of course, she’s completely oblivious about it. I loved this show. It was very cute and funny. I think it’s impossible to hate Karatina. BTW, I dislike “Catarina” so my subs have “Katarina” instead. Now we wait for season 2, which will go completely off the script of the game, so Katarina will have zero idea what will happen.

A/V from BDMV, subs from Erai. Included the 4 trial versions of Fortune Lover.

 

Shichinin No Nana (Rating: 8/10)

 

Suzuki Nana has an accident with one of the weird inventions her grandfather made. Thus, she is split into 7 Nanas, each an aspect of her personality. They have to join back together in one year, but until then they have to keep the fact that there's 7 of them a secret, while also studying for entrance exams and trying to confess to her/their crush.

From the director of Mazinger Z, Gundam G and Getter Robo: Armageddon (what the hell?) comes a cute little comedy with a dash of super-natural. It gets a bit angst-heavy in the final episodes, which is why I recognized the direction to begin with. That, and the sound effects for the battles were very familiar. This is also the anime that made me realize how inferior English dubs are. You see, in the Japanese, each Nana has a separate voice (some high raking ones at that), while in the English dub they just use one voice for all characters, which makes it very hard to figure out who is talking at times. As for the show, I liked it. It's a bit smarter then it seems. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the original Nana acts quite independently, while the other 6 are almost always acting either in unison or on the same idea. Which makes me think that the machine didn't so much split Nana in 7, but split her in 2, then split the second one into 6. Like putting a prism in front of a light beam, you end up with 1 white stream and 7 colored ones. Which is also a hint for later.

Take note: the subtitles are VobSubs from the R1, which sadly does not match 100% with the R2 (for some reason). This means that the timing of the subtitles is a bit wonky at times. Also, episode 19 in the R2 does not have the preview on the discs.

Elf Princess Rane (Rating 9/10)

 

A very funny, but much too short OVA. It saddens me that this went unfinished.
I couldn’t stand the fact that the only DVD remux was a completely shitty English dub only version.
Video from zrdb. Audio and subtitles from Dual-Duality.

Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (Rating 6/10) [RAW]

 

Kusakabe Maron is your average 16 year old girl by day. She goes to school, hangs out with her friends, gossips about crushes. But by night she becomes the Kaitou Jeanne, God’s messenger. Guided by her guardian angel, Fin, she goes out to purify artwork that has been possessed by devils, thus turning the people who adore them into servants of the devil. The problem is the only way to purify the devils is to seal the thing they are possessing, thus to the rest of the world Jeanne is stealing precious artworks. To make it worse, her best friend Miyako is the daughter of the police detective assigned to catch Jeanne, thus she usually comes with them. And to pot is off, there’s another Kaitou who’s out to seal the same devils. Could he be working for Satan himself?

And oldie but a goldie for me. I used to watch this on RTL II back in the day. I really enjoyed it for what it is, but to be honest it is quite dated. The character designs are 90’s shoujo, with HUGE eyes. The animation is decent for the time, but falls in and out of quality. The story is nothing special… at first. What I most remember this for is the absolute brutal twist in the last arc. It came almost completely out of nowhere, but was actually foreshadowed. But you wouldn’t really catch the hints on the first viewing. Also, if you want to break someone emotionally, that was one hell of a good way to do it. The series is quite long, at 44 episodes, and tends to be a bit angsty at times. Maron is not a happy girl and might actually suffer from depression. She definitely does by the start of the last arc.

R2 DVD remux, but no subs. Stardust is working on this show. They’re up to episode 15.

 

Psycho-Pass - Sinners Of The System (Rating: 9-7-7/10)

 

Crime And Punishment
A runaway vehicle driven by Izumi Yasaka, en route to the Public Safety Bureau building, is reported shortly before it crashes into the building. Izumi is a counselor who recently ran away while working at a latent criminal isolation and rehabilitation facility known as Sanctuary. Now Inspector Shimotsuki has finally been given the opportunity she had been waiting for—to be the primary investigator on an important case. This case follows Shimotsuki and her team of Enforcers as they uncover the secrets of Sanctuary.

First Guardian
Enforcer Teppei Sugou, former ace pilot of the National Defence Army’s 15th Integrated Task Force, is visited by a scout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and invited to rejoin the military. While considering the offer, he recalls his last months of service. Many lives were lost during the operation, including Itsuki Otomo, Sugou’s commanding officer. However, three months later, following a massacre at the Ministry of Defence, Otomo was spotted at the scene on camera. Now a suspect in an act of terrorism, Sugou cooperates with Enforcer Tomomi Masaoka and CID Division One as they hunt his former mentor down.

Beyond Love And Hate Is ___
Following the incident in the Southeast Asia Union (SEAUn) in 2116, Shinya Kogami resumes his vagrant journey. In a small South Asian nation, Kogami rescues a bus of refugees under attack by armed guerrilla forces. Among the refugees is a young lady by the name of Tenzin, who begs Kogami to teach her how to retaliate against the enemy. Just what do the girl who wishes for revenge and the man who has exacted revenge see as they gaze upon the edge of a world from which there is no escape?

These three movies tell side-stories about certain charatcers. They were all quite good, but I’m very fond of the first one, because it made me like Mika a lot. And sets her up for Psycho-Pass 3, where she’s great. Second movie was a bit of a let down, but not bad. Third was pretty much the same as the last Kogami movie.

Source is BDMV. Subtitles from Mysteria. Descriptions from MAL, for once.

 

Psycho-Pass 3 - First Inspector (Rating: 8/10)

 

Shindou Arata and Kei Michael Ignatov are the new inspectors assigned to the Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division Unit 1. While Kei is more of a by-the-book kind of inspector, Arata is a wildcard. You never know what he’s really thinking and while his desire to solve cases is admirable and genuine, his methods are quite unorthodox. I guess it’s no surprise that is was Tsunemori Akane herself that recommended him for the job. Watch as these two break enough rules solving cases to give their chief, Shimotsuki Mika, an aneurysm.

I’m recycling the description because this is a direct continuation. If you liked season 3, this is literally more of it.

Subtitles from Erai.

 

Digimon Adventure - Last Evolution - Kizuna (Rating: 9/10)

 

Taichi and the other chosen children spend their everyday lives balancing regular live with stopping while digimon that come though random digital gates from destroying everything in their path. But once people start falling into comas they realize that something very bad is happening. And they are right. But it’s not what they expected. Sometimes growing up means having to leave things behind. Things you cherished as a child.

Grab updated subs here.

FANBOY MODE ACTIVATED
Holy fucking shit! This is it. This is what I wanted. A fantastic Digimon Adventure movie. I absolutely loved it. It had everything I could have asked for. The plot was engaging. The characters acted like they should have. The battles were meaningful. The message was powerful. TOEI can actually pull it off. What a sendoff. What a finale!
FANBOY MODE DEACTIVATED

Now that we got that out of the way… This was a great movie, on all accounts. Sure, it’s only 90 minutes long, but what a ride. From start to finish it played with my heart. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t exactly a happy movie. But even so, they managed to insert some great humor. Bad place to put that stuff, Taichi. The directing this time was on spot. The reveal of Neverland gave me chills, as did the titular last evolution. I can’t believe I’m praising this so much after the disaster that TRI was. BTW, it’s still canon. This takes place after the supposed resolution of the TRI story line. Doubt they’ll ever make that though. All in all, I enjoyed this far more they I thought I would.

About the subtitles, I used @bgette0&ok&sekkusu&ISSOUj&Eosmon as a base, and made the following changes:

• added missing lines. There were a lot of missing lines. I mean like… a lot. Small, short… but some very important. Including the actual final line in the show.
• corrected badly translated lines. There were a lot of lines that were straight up wrong. Some changed the entire meaning of the conversation.
• corrected poorly translated line. Some lines read like they were made of an English dub, filled with slang that characters wouldn’t use.
• corrected the names and terminology. Used the original Japanese names and terminology. None of that DigiDestined crap. They are chosen children.
• split lines. There were a lot of lines that were not split correctly. Like when two character were talking at once.
• fixed timing. Many lines had terrible timing. This was a pain for me because I hate timing.
• fixed OCR errors. There were a few of these as well.
  

Battle Athletes (Rating: 7/10)

 

Humanity has been though a lot. After the devastating war on 2015, followed by a global calamity that almost wiped out the planet, humanity battled an alien force for decades until a stalemate was reached. It was decided that the victor would be the one to outperform his opponent in physical prowess. After a surprising victory by the humans, they dedicated their lives to perfecting the human physique. Now, in the year 3XXX, women around the world compete to be crowned the most athletic woman in the solar system: the Cosmo Beauty. Kanzaki Akari is such a woman. The daughter of the previous Cosmo Beauty, she wins herself a spot in the most renown training facility, University Satellite. But she soon learns that the student at this university are expected to perform at a much higher level then she even thought possible.

A blast form the past. Battle Athletes is based on a series of PC games where you trained Akari in different sports to win the championship. You might be familiar with the more popular TV series, but this 6 part OVA was the base for it. It’s not a bad entry at all, and sets the stage quite well, but it is a bit rough around the edges. The animation is fluid but wonders off model often, and the pacing is lightning fast. Still, it’s quite enjoyable and will even enhance your enjoyment of the TV series, as some of the characters here are prototypes for the TV show.

Subs from the official R1 release. Them being from the 90s, the timing is not so good and they took some liberties with the translation. Nothing too bad though. Thank god they stopped translating the -san as Ms/Mr. I always hated that.

The 8th Son! Are You Kidding Me!! (Rating: 6/10)

 

Ichinomiya Shingo, your average salaryman one day wakes up as Wendlin, the 8th son of a rather poor noble family in another world. Knowing that he can’t get back home and that he won’t get any money from his family he sets out to study. What he finds is that he has an amazing aptitude for magic. And as luck would have it, he stumbles upon a powerful magician that agrees to teach him how to use his magic. And thus begins Wendlin’s adventure that will have him maneuvering through the tough political world he’s now in, even though he has no clue about it.

I’m make a “stop me if you’ve heard this one” joke, but this one is a bit different then most isekai series. For one, Wendlin, while quite powerful, is not completely overpowered. He doesn’t really have the skill and mindset to be a powerful warrior so he tries to make friends and build a party. Mostly of pretty girls, of course. But this isn’t a harem anime, so he only has one real love interest. Also this series focuses much more on the political aspect of the world, and much less on the magical battles. I appreciated that. Wendlin himself gets pretty much strung along the political narrative, with the royal house having big plans for him, his will regardless. Quite a decent show, but don’t expect any mind blowing animation here. With the exception the the bizzarely good opening theme nothing really stands out, production wise. Still, I enjoyed it a bit, and you might too. There’s no fanservice here, if that’s what you’re hoping for. It’s more of a slice-of-life type of deal. Not even a bathing episode. Don’t don’t worry. There is still an appearance for something that has been creeping up in a lot of isekai lately: mayonnaise. What the hell is it with isekai anime and mayonnaise? Does Japan have such good mayonnaise that is can calm the hearts of all?

 

Hataage! Kemono Michi (Rating: 7/10)

 

Shibata Genzo, undefeated wrestling champion, is about to go finish his final match. After that, he plans on retiring and opening a pet store. Genzo is a huge animal lover and can’t wait to have as many pets as possible. Sadly, he is trasnported to another world just as he’s about to win. The princess of that world tells him that he is the chosen hero, and he must exterminate the magical beasts that roam the world. So Genzo suplexes her, gets the hell out of the castle and goes on to open a pet store. On the way he has a wolf girl, a dragon girl and a vampire join his company. Most of them are useless though.

OK, so this is not your regular isekai. Genzo has zero interest in fighting magical beasts. He wants to capture them an open a pet store. Thing is he is also really strong, so nobody can really get him to stop doing whatever crazy thing he’s doing. He will also beat the crap out of you in you ask him to hunt monsters. Or call him the beast killer. Genzo has a one track mind: are animals involved? No? Then he doesn’t care. Shigure is the only reason he still has any money. Hanako and Carmilla spend money instead of making money. This is a fun show about a crazy wrestler beating up people and looking for new animals to bring home. Sure, everyone is a bit of a one-trick-pony, but it’s entertaining enough. Also, more shows should end with a wrestling tournament.

Subs by Erai.

 

Butobi!! CPU (Rating: 8/10)

 Akira has saved up all his money and finally managed to buy himself a computer. But having missed the sale on the new 9821 model, he buys one from a back-alley vendor. When his gets home he realizes he didn’t buy the 9821 computer, he bought the 2198 gynoid. Still, she is far more advanced then a computer and will do whatever he asks of her, and more.

A short 3-episode ecchi anime from the late 90s, and a great one at that. Not only does it have a star-studded cast, but the plot is not bad at all. And it’s quite funny with all the references to PC culture. Of course the evil computers are Nacintosh, and the virus is represented by a worm. The animation is pretty damn good, and there’s actual (though completely obscured) intercourse. Lots of boobies are in full view though, as Mimi has no nudity taboo. Akira’s one lucky bastard. Give it a shot, you will probably like it.

The subtitles are from the R1 release.

Sengoku Collection - Part 1 (Rating: ??/10)

 

Attention! This is only the first half of this series. Unfortunately, the BDMVs for the second half were never shared (except for volume 9). I am releasing the first half in hopes someone who had the missing volumes will see this and maybe share them. Thank you.

One day, for reasons unknown, many of the generals from the Sengoku period are transported to our present world. Said generals are, of course, all female, and must learn to adapt to the the present, where wars are no longer fought. Some adapt easy, taking jobs as idols or models, while others have a hard time finding a purpose in this peaceful world.

Sengoku Collection is a very odd series. It’s a 26 anime series with over 14 episode directors. Because of this the episodes themselves are vastly different from one another. One episode might a comedy while the next one will give you depression. You might go form a SOL to a revenge story. My favorite is the one that recreated a famous battle as a fight between children in kindergaden. Some episodes are fantastic, some are terrible, and most are in between. Think of it as a goodie bag where you don’t know what you’re going to get. While there are no changes on the BD, I do believe the quality is much better: http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/91JFFNNU

Subtitles from FFF.

 

Shinchou Yuusha (Rating: 9.5/10)

 Newbie goddess Ristarte is given the task of saving the S-Ranked world, Gaeabrande. She must select a hero from another world to be the hero of that world. While searching through the list she sees someone with stats much higher then is normally found. Ryuuguuin Seiya seems like the perfect hero: strong, handsome and with amazing power right from the start. But in her excitement in finding such a powerful hero, Ristarte didn’t read the fine print: Ryuuguuin Seiya is overly, impossibly cautious.

Oh man, one of my favorites in these past years. For starters, Seiya is not just cautious, he’s at a level of paranoia that would make Batman rethink his life. That old man in the village? Could be a monster in disguise. The flower that little girl gave him? Could be a cursed item. That harmless slime? Could be the final boss. This makes Ristarte’s life very difficult because it takes forever for Seiya to actually do something. But when he does, it’s only because he’s Ready Perfectly. He WILL defeat his enemy in the most overkill manner possible. Ristarte is also comedy gold and could be used for an entire archive of reaction faces. Her voice actress did an amazing job. But it’s not all fun an games here. In fact, the later half of the series takes a hard turn from Konosuba Avenue to Dark Souls alley. If you missed all the foreshadowing about how cruel this world is, and didn’t at least partially realize why Seiya acts the way he does, the final arc might blindside you. This also has the effect of making the series really funny only once. Because as soon as you know why Seiya does what he does, it’s no longer funny to see him do it. I think that’s the mark of a great show: on the second watch it’s like you’re seeing a completely different depiction.

Subtitles from AnimeFreak.

Strike The Blood III (Rating: 8/10)

 

Akatsuki Kojou thought he would finally have some peace and quiet after the Knight of the God of Mistakes ordeal. Of course that doesn’t happen. The now peaceful island is under threat from the world renown terrorist organization: Tartaros Roses. And their leader is someone very familiar to to Kojou.

This is the third season, so you should know what this is about. I gotta love how they keep making more of this. This may be my favorite battle-harem. The quality has not dipped since this show first started, but the plot sure has deepened. It’s actually quite hard to keep track of all the damn factions and what they’re trying to do. One thing’s for certain: Kojou keeps getting more battles, more hot girls and more familiars. Isn’t un-life great?

From here on out, it’s my release. No, sempai, it’s our release.
I used Lean for 01-06 and Mushin for 07-10. Lean is a little better then Mushin. But unlike Mushin, Lean is dead. Also, STB was never a very cerebral show. That, and there is no other choice.

 

Hakubo (Rating 5/10)

 

Set in the beautiful Fukushima, this is the story of young violin player Koyama Sachi. She meets a boy who loves painting, and develops a crush on him. But the boy, Kijinami Yuusuke, is still suffering from the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. How will she get close to him so she can confess her love?

OK, who keeps giving Yamamoto Yutaka money? I only ask because this project was crowdfunded and got 21 million yen. That’s about 2000$, or something. Anyway, this short movie is fine. The problem is it’s JUST fine. So why did I watch it? And why did I encode it? Well, it’s short, at only 50 minutes. And it does look nice. And it reminded me of Sound Euphonium. It’s not close to being that good, but I did enjoy the “subtle” jabs at “other properties” Yutaka put in the movie. That takes balls. No class, but balls. Actually, that’s Yutaka in one sentence. No preview this time cause… the hell was I supposed to put in them?

Subs from Erai.

 

Seraphim Call (Rating: ??/10)

 

In the future of 2010 (show’s old, folks) in the city of Neo-Acropolis 11 girls go about their lives, facing their problems and trying to get by. These are their stories.

Seraphim Call is definitely anime. But it’s not a normal anime. Sunrise made thins thing in 1999 as some sort of experiment. Every episode except the last focuses on one of the 11 girls, and with the exception of episodes 5 and 6, they are separate, individual stories. The way they are directed, scripted and acted is also different for each story. One episodes is from the perspective of a stuffed animal, another might only have a single character shown, while another might be told chronologically disjointed. This is more of a strange art project, and I found it fascinating. Production wise the show must have had a very small budget. There are animation corner cuts all over. They will actively try not to focus on the mouths of the characters while they are talking, as to avoid needing to animate it. Episode 12 especially is guilty of this. All in all, I think this is an interesting anime, if only to focus on the different storytelling methods it included.

Subtitles are from the official R1 release.

 

Tejina-sempai (Rating: 7/10)

 Our dear male protagonist (no name given) finds out that his school requires him to join a club. While searching for one he comes across Sempai, who runs a magic club. While she may have some talent at it, she also has massive stage fright, making any attempt at performing in front of anyone a disaster waiting to happen. Also, she’s clumsy and not very bright. Even though she’s highly attractive, the male character knows that hanging around her would be a big pain in the butt. Too bad she manages to trick him into joining her club. Hilarity ensues.

An amusing half-length anime about a hapless sempai trying to perform magic tricks for the male protagonist. Sometimes funny, sometimes sexy. Sempai is adorable and must be protected all costs. Especially from herself since she’s the creator of most of her misery.

Subs from Erai.

Series rating: 7/10

 

Goblin Slayer - Goblin's Crown (Movie rating: 8/10)

 

A party of adventures sets off on a snowy mountain to defeat some goblins. But they are ambushed and defeated by the goblins, using extremely good tactics. Tactics that should not be available to lowly goblins. Goblin Slayer and his group and called in to investigate and deal with this threat before it’s too late.

Here’s the Goblin Slayer movie. Well, not exactly. This is Pretty much a 3-part OVA stitched together into a movie. It has the same production values as the TV anime, and the lack of a 5.1 audio track on the BD is a dead giveaway that this wasn’t supposed to be a movie. Still, if you liked Goblin Slayer you will like this, because it’s much of the same. The plot is decent, and I loved the twist of an actual goblin army. Low level quest my ass. There’s a new, temporary addition to the female cast, Noble Fencer, and she might hate goblins just as much as GS does. Well… almost. I enjoyed the movie. Wish there was more High Elf Archer in it, but hey, it’s still something.

Subtitles from Erai.

 

Nekopara (Series rating: 6/10)

Minazuki Kashou always wanted to open up his own Japanese confection shop, so he leaves home and opens his own patisserie, "La Soleil". Unknown to him, his two catgirls sneaked off with him. Chocola and Vanilla love their master to much they came to be the waitresses for La Soleil. Soon enough even more catgirls from his home start showing up, along with his little sister. Then, one day, Chocola finds a lost kitten and brings her back with her.

OK, first of all, don't think too hard about the premise. If you combine the knowledge that catgirls can be owned, that they cannot go outside by themselves unless they pass an exam and that this is all based on a 18+ visual novel series... well... you get the idea. The show, however, is harmless. A cute, lighthearted comedy about catgirls. Everyone is nice, the show is relaxing and sometimes funny. Nothing special, but nothing bad either. If you're looking for fanservice though, you've come to the wrong place. This is a very wholesome show. Give it a shot if you like cute catgirls. And really, who doesn't?

OVAs are included. Subtitles: 2K for OVAa, official for OVAb, Horrible-Subs for TV. That's also the chronological order.

GeGeGe No Kitarou (Series rating: 7,5/10)

Do you ever get the feeling that you are being watched? Do supernatural things keep happening around you? Are you afraid of something that stalks you in the night? You might just have a youkai problem. While not many people believe in their existence, they are indeed real and some are even dangerous. But you can you call for help? Well, if you write a letter to the Youkai Post, you might just be visited by Kitarou. Kitarou has the job of protecting both humans and youkai from each other. When Mana writes a letter to Kutarou asking for help she begins an adventure that might just save, or destroy, the entire world.

This is the latest entry in the GeGeGe No Kitarou franchise from 1960. This new series is a bit darker then the others. I mean color wise. Kitarou has always been pretty dark. The one major difference is the female youkai Nekomusume, who is older and more mature in this series. There are so many Japanese monsters in this show that if you enjoy seeing them this is the show for you. I also like how some of them have weaknesses that only a human can exploit. While Kitarou is powerful he sometimes needs help in defeating the monster of the week, not to mention the final bosses of the 4 arcs (Backbeard, Nanashi, Kyuubi and Nurarihyon. Quite an enjoyable series, but it does drag on in a few places. Also, you might be wondering why nobody has killed Ratman yet, even though half the incidents in the show are his fault. While he is a terrible friend and even worse person, he does actually have a heart and does pull his weight when things get serious. You might hate him, but he is the ultimate survivalist who will not give up, not even when Kitarou himself does.

Subs are from HorribleSubs.

Ascendance Of A Bookworm S1+S2 (Series rating: 10/10)

Motosu Urano was a shy bookworm who enjoyed reading more then anything. One day she was killed by books. While that is ironic, what was even more ironic was that her soul was transported into another world and put in the body of a little girl. Said word has no books. It’s basically hell for Main (yes, that IS how you write her name, it’s マイン). To top it all off, her body is very frail and can’t endure much physical activity. But that will not stop her from getting books. So join Main as she creates shampoo, works to invent printing presses and revolutionizes this medieval world. Oh, and there’s magic, politics and classism. Now if only Main could stop making bedroom eyes to every young man she meets…

I must admit that I passed on this show when it first started. I didn’t think I could be interested in a show about creating books. And this is why the three-episodes-rule exists. I fell in love with this show. I love the world, I love the characters and I love the story. I absolutely adore Mine, one of the best female protagonists I’ve seen in a long time. She’s a treasure-trove of facial expressions and I love how she bungles her way into pretty much upgrading the whole damn kingdom. Also, she’s way more powerful then you might think. Of course, no main character (get it, Main-main?) is able to carry a whole show and make it work, but Main has some top-tier back-up, from the head priest, to the merchant to “her” childhood friend. Ferdinand, Benno and Lutz are all great as well. What are you waiting for? Go watch this anime. It sparks joy. There’s comedy, there’s drama, there’s even a bit of action. Also Iguchi Yuka has an amazing vocal range, going from sweet as sugar to cold as ice in a second. Basically, don’t get between Main and books. Also, season 3 has been announced.

Subtitles are from Erai. I put in extra effort to make sure all signs are properly timed. This show deserves it. Includes both seasons and the OVA, in airing order.

Ishuzoku Reviewers (Series rating: 10/10)

After a hard day of adventuring, there’s only one thing that a real man wants to do: visit a brothel and spend that hard earned gold. Stunk and Zel have been partners for a while, but they always have bitter arguments when choosing a brothel. Stunk, being human, is attracted to the young looking elf, even though she’s over 100 years old. Zel, on the other hand, cannot stand that stench of such old mana and would much rather settle for a human, even is she’s over 60. After saving a cute little angel boy from a monster, they decide that rather then argue about what species is better at sex, they’re gonna try them all and write a review. With a 4th random player joining them, they go out to test all the pussy in the land.

Well, you know why you’re here. No real need for me to talk about the show. You know what it is, and you know what you want. So come on over and get it.
This show not only has some amazing fanservice, but is genuinely smart and funny. It makes sense for a wolfman to stay away from races who smell bad. It makes sense for few people to go to the salamander brothel since not all races have fire resistance. Do not take an angel to an undead brothel. You really shouldn’t build a golem of your female friend, and then fuck it. No, you can’t leave the gender-swap inn before the gender swapping potion wears off. There is something from EVERYONE in this show. Name a type of girl, she’s probably in this show.

Subtitles are from Judas. I tired to make them as uniform as possible. Attention about two episodes: episode 6 uses the “Crim-vision” cut, meaning you can see the uncensored boobs. Episode 12 uses the clean epilogue. There will be no video previews for this one, because I can’t make a sfw one.

Murenase! Seton Gakuen (Series rating: 8/10)

Mazama Jin goes to Seton Academy, a place where all sorts of humanoid animals go. Too bad he hates animals because of a traumatic childhood experience. Worse for him is that he is fancied by Ranka, an extremely excitable wolf girl who will not leave him alone until he joins her pack. She does not have a pack. But because Jin wants to get on Hitomi’s good side, since she’s the only other human in the academy, he joins her cooking club. There he meets several other animal girls. And he will never have a peaceful day again.

A bit of a spin on the animal-girl genre. These girls actually share a lot of traits with the animals they represent. For example, Ranka is so short because as she was growing up in extremely cold temperatures her sister gave her her coat to keep her warm. Since she never experienced the cold, she never grew larger to compensate. It’s also why her sister is gigantic. Jin is very knowledgeable about animals an will use this against them. He is kind of mean to them, but to be fair… most of them are very annoying. Hell, you might actually lean things about animals from this show. If you’re looking for cuteness, there’s that. If you want some fanservice, there’s that also. If you’re looking for comedy, definitely. A very enjoyable comedy.

Subtitles are from Erai. Made the ones for the special myself.

Psycho-Pass 3 (Series rating: 8/10)

Shindou Arata and Kei Michael Ignatov are the new inspectors assigned to the Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division Unit 1. While Kei is more of a by-the-book kind of inspector, Arata is a wildcard. You never know what he’s really thinking and while his desire to solve cases is admirable and genuine, his methods are quite unorthodox. I guess it’s no surprise that is was Tsunemori Akane herself that recommanded him for the job. Watch as these two break enough rules solving cases to give their chief, Shimotsuki Mika, an aneurysm.

After the abysmal second season I was ready give up on the franchise, but held off on dropping it because I wanted to give the 3rd season a chance after the surprisingly good side-story movies. I was pleasantly surprised. While Arata comes off as a bit of a Gary Stu, with his “mentalist” abilities, fantastic physical skills and him already knowing Akane (all traits of a poor fanfic self-insert), I ended up liking him. While I hold of on calling him a “good guy”, for several reasons, his tactics and how he threw himself into action made him much more fun to watch then I expected. But it was Kei who was my favorite. A no-nonsense guy who wants to always do the right thing but will bend the rules for what he believes is right. Also, his background says he’s half-Russian, but I only know this because some people keep calling him an immigrant. He looks just like the rest of them. Weird. But it was what season 3 did with Mika that made me love it: she’s not awesome. They promoted her to district chief, and she’s quite good at it. She still has outbursts, but most are justified because Arata just arrest a diplomatic envoy to lure out a criminal because she told him to get it done “by any means necessary”. She’s the angry police chief in 90’s movies. If you’re wondering where Akane is during all of this? Spoilers. Special note for the action: damn well done fights.

Subtitles, OP/ED and chapters are from the Mysteria release. Thank him/her for taking the time to add the OP/ED.

Kyokou Suiri - In-Spectre (Series rating: 7/10)

When she was a young girl, Iwanaga Kotoko was taken by youkai and made a into an intermediary between the spirit and human world. The price for this power was an eye and a leg, though it’s not certain who exactly took them. Now, years later, she works on solving mysteries involving the supernatural. She also has a tremendous crush on a young man she once met at the hospital (and might have been stalking after): Sakuragawa Kuro. One day fate reunites the two and they decide to work together on solving these mysteries. Kuro isn’t a regular human either. By ingesting the flesh of two different youkai he gained abilities himself.

Well, this definitely wasn’t what I expected when I watched the trailer. If you’re thinking this is a high-speed, supernatural, action-comedy, you are wrong. It does have these elements, but the show is actually quite slow. This is a character driven thriller where dialogue is the main part. Some might call it boring, and at times it did seem to drag on too long, but what makes or breaks shows like these are the characters. Luckily Kotoko, for me at least, carries the show. She’s a genius at solving and investigating while being unashamedly horny for Kuro, who’s having none of it. Kuro’s kind of bland at first, but the reason for his lack of emotions is made clearer later. The two are a lot of fun to watch, but I won’t blame you if you find the final arc to go on for far too long. Because it does. Still, I enjoyed it.

Beastars (Series rating: 8/10)

This is a world where herbivores and carnivores live in peace. Or at least, that what it looks like. In reality, the world is very chaotic. Carnivores are treated as criminals if they even show a hint of following their instincts. That would be completely unfair if not for the fact that many carnivores are one snap away from killing and eating someone. This society is hanging by a thread and the news that a herbivore student at Cherryton Academy was killed and eaten is just the knife needed to let everything unravel. Legosi is a huge wolf. He looks scary, is quite strong and towers over most other students. But he's a very gentle boy, just trying to get by without frightening anyone. He's in the drama club and he is best friends with the deer Louis. He develops a huge crush on Haru, a dwarf rabbit. But is this actual attraction or does he just want to eat her?

Well, I didn't think I'd enjoy this one so much after finding out it was CG, but it kind of worked. I mean, it was going to be strange from the start, might as well have the visuals to match. It also helps that the people working on this did their very best to capture the emotions of the characters. They still look a bit strange to me, but that's because these are human bodies with animal heads. I absolutely loved Legosi. He's a huge dork who can't even talk to a girl he likes. I found it both admirable and sad how he did everything he could to make himself seem non-threatening: he keeps his hands behind his back to hide his claws, he slouches to seem smaller and talks with his head down to not show his fangs. But he's not a complete pushover and can hold his own in a fight. I know many people hated Haru for being a slut (?), but I like her. She's feisty, doesn't take crap from anyone, and is brave without being too stupid about it. I mean, most herbivore girls wouldn't hang out with someone like Legosi, and in fact run away from him immediately. Yeah. her indecisiveness about who she really wants was painful at times, but these are supposed to be teenagers, and she was never trying to hurt anyone.

Subtitles are from PAS. Now we wait for season 2.

Hell Teacher Nube (Series rating: 8/10)

Nueno Meisuke is starting his brand new job as a school teacher. A teacher in the worst placed school on the planet. Why? Because it’s constantly haunted by demons, ghost and goblins. Fortunately for his students, not only is Nueno a highly skilled exorcist, he also has a devil sealed in his right hand. He can call upon the powers of said devil to fight other supernatural creatures. When he’s not protecting his students he’s trying to win over the heart of fellow teacher Ritsuko. Sadly for him, Ritsuko hates the occult and since Nube is almost always followed by something odd, he’s chances of hanging out with her are slim to none. And that’s only the beginning of his problems.

Hell Teacher Nube is another 90’s anime that I love. I always liked series that feature Japanese supernatural creatures, and this series has them in spades. But wait, because we also have some decent comedy and a surprising amount of fanservice for a show like this. Gotta love the 90s. One thing I loved about this show is that it’s not always the same pattern. Sometimes the creatures they face aren’t even malicious. Some just misunderstood the actions of the humans, or they were trying to help but unaware they were doing harm. Sure, there are plenty of evil ones as well. But even for most of those, the battle is not so simple. Many times the monster is too strong to fight directly so it must be weakened as per its legend. Other times Nube is simply no match for it and must find some other way of defeating it. You never really know how an encounter will go. The students are lots of fun as well, even though most of them are stereotypes: Kyoko is the tsundere, Hiroshi is the dummy, Miki is the prankster, etc. They’re all endearing though.

The subtitles are all form the BakaBT releases, but I need to explain. The subs for the TV series are passable, but not great. The subs for the movies and OVAs are much better.

Popotan (Series rating: 8/10)

Ai, Mai and Mii are three sisters that live in a magical, Christmas themed house. The house can travel though space and time. The only problem is that it does so on its own, at random. The girls are on a journey without an actual destination, and they never know how long they will be in one place before the house moves again. Each of the sisters has a special power: Ai can talk to flowers, Mai has enhanced physical attributes and Mii can heal injuries. They also have an android maid, Mea, who takes care of them while always making snide comments on the side. Join the group as they travel around Japan hoping to finally end their journey and be able to settle down somewhere.

One of my first ecchi anime. You want nudity? We’ve got it. Every single female character, main and side, gets naked at least one. One of them literally just because. So this is a fanservice comedy, with plenty of laughs and boobies, right? WRONG! This shit’s DEPRESSING. The first half tried to be a comedy and hide all the drama in the back but the second half stops pretending and goes full angst mode. And I loved it. The story is pretty damn good and pretty damn sad. And it makes sense. The house functions like an unstable TARDIS, and will leave you behind if you’re not there when it leaves. Even so, you never know how far into the future you might be sent and if you made some friends, they’ll probably be dead of old age even though it was only 5 minutes for you. Also, Keith is a piece of shit, but goddamn can he fight. And good luck getting the opening song out of your head.
The source is the R2 DVDs while the subtitles come from the R1 DVDs. Internal VOBSUBS.

PS: In the extra folder you might notice something called “The Traid AMV”. For those too young to know, The Triad was a fansubbing group that subbed this show back in the days. For the final episode, they made a small AMV style thing, thanking the creators as well as their staff for working on it. I loved it, so I included it.

Inuyasha (Series rating: 9/10)

Higurashi Kagome is a slighly average 15 year old girl. She lives at the Higurashi shrine with her family. While wondering around the old well of the shrine, she accidently falls in it and comes out in feudal Japan. Turns out she is the reincarnation of a famous priestess: Kikyo. Not only that, but inside her is the powerfull Shikkon Jewel. One the jewel exits her body after being attacked by monsters seeking it, she has no choice but the release Kykyo’s old foe: Inuyasha. But while Inuyasha is rude, brash and very impulsive, he hardly seems evil. At least not evil enough to seal off in the first place. What happened between Inuyasha and Kikyo? And what will happen now? By accident the Shikkon Jewel is shattered into hundreds of pieces, each dangerous on its own. Kagome and Inuysaha have to travel together and find all the shards while uncovering the plot that got Kikyo killed and Inuyasha sealed.

Oh man, nostalgia central. One of my first long running anime. I love it to pieces, but I can admit it has some serious problems, mostly in charatcer growth and pacing. But I sill adore it. The animation is pretty damn good, the charatcers memorable and the fight exciting. Naraku is one of the biggest pieces of shit in anime histroy, while Sesshomaru is one of the coolest anti-heros ever put to film. I hope you enjoy this as mush as I do. Don’t forget to also watch the 4 movies and the final season (get Rizel). Also, since this is a huge show, let me know if you find any errors.

Cutie Honey Universe (Series rating: 6/10)

Meet Kisaragi Honey. She’s the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet. She’s also very pretty. You might just say she’s perfect. Well, she might just be. She’s an android built by her “father”, professor Kisaragi. But one day, Honey comes home to see that her father was killed by members of the Panther Claw: a terrorist organization willed with monsters. You see, Honey is not just a perfect android, she’s a perfect weapon. Thanks to the device implanted in her, she alone can face and destroy Panther Claw, led by the ruthless Sister Jill.

OK, so Cutey Honey is a really old property that has been around since the 70s. This is the 5th animated show. It’s completely unrelated to the others and can be watched right now. It’s quite fun. I enjoyed the updates this version brought, especially for Panther Claw who gained a lot of character as a whole. Hell, my favorite character IS from Panther Claw. Still not sure what Jill’s goal WAS, but she made a pretty good villain. Just so you know, this series gets very depressing at times. I mean REALLY depressing. If I had to find fault, it would have to be the short length, which didn’t let all characters grow. And the animation is a bit wonky. There is fanservice, but no actual nudity in the show. Weird, I know. If you want nudity, that’s what the end cards are included for.

Itai No Wa Iya Nano De Bougyoryoku Ni Kyokufuri Shitai To Omoimasu (Series rating: 9/10)

Honjou Kaede has never really played a MMORPG game before. But her friend convinces her to play a really popular new VR game. So she does. After naming her character Maple, she goes out to have adventures. But she has no idea what she is doing. Since she doesn’t want to get hurt she puts all her point into VIT. Unfortunately this doesn’t let her do anything else but take damage. Lucky for her that the game she is playing is completely broken. You can do anything in this game. This is one of its selling points. But that also means you can do any stupid thing as well, and the game has to try and account for it. So Maple keeps getting more and more skill because she keeps doing things that the game doesn’t really understand and tries to correct itself. Why would anyone stand still and let venomous insects bite them? Because they are immune to venom. Is Maple immune to venom? No. But she should be. So now Maple is immune to venom. Watch Maple make friends, create a guild and stumble into over-powered skills and abilities that would make even a self-insert isekai protagonist cower in fear.

Oh man, I had so much fun with this. Maple is the sweetest thing in the world. Not only is she cute as a button, but she basically has the personality of a happy-go-lucky puppy. There are no real stakes in this show. It’s just a slice of life. The fun comes from seeing what Maple does next, as the admins can’t nerf her since she became the mascot of the game. And she just keep piling on OP abilities and additional transformations ranging from angel to Cthulu.

Yu Yu Hakusho Movies (Movies rating: 6/10 and 9/10)

Urameshi Yuusuke is your typical teenage delinquent. But underneath it all he has a good heart. So good that when he dies saving a little boy, the spirit realm is stumped. They had not planned for him to die since, by their calculations, there was no way Yuusuke would try to save that boy. Now he’s stuck as a ghost. But if he agrees to become a spirit detective and subdue violent spirits, he’ll be brought back to life. And thus begins Yuusuke’s new life. Making friends, enemies, learning new moves, and one day maybe saving the world.

So yeah, a couple of days ago a pretty good BD version of the show came out on torrents. I thought I’d sweeten the deal with the movies. YYH was one of the first battle shounen I ever saw. I really liked it. Sure, it had TWO tournament arcs, but they were fun as hell. Now, the first movie is really just one third of an actual movie. It was part of a triple feature alongside a DBZ and Dr.Slump promotion. It’s really just an extra episode of the show, with a simple plot: get back the golden seal that was stolen. The second movie is where it’s at. Full length and in my opinion one of the best movie a shounen franchise ever got. A loved the story, the battles were intense and the cinematography was top notch.

Welcome To Pia Carrot 2 DX (Series rating: 6/10)

Naeda Kouji wants a summer job. He decided to take a job at a local restaurant: Pia Carrot 2. But before that, he enjoyed a relaxing day at the pool. Well, not really that relaxing. He meets two girls there. He immediately gets on Azusa’s shit list, and saves Tsukasa from drowning. Next day he shows up for his interview but the staff there decides to hire anyone who actually shows up. He showed up. And so did Azusa. And Tsukasa already works there. Hijinks ensue.

Another blast for the past. This one’s a very late 90s romantic comedy. Honestly, there’s nothing particularly good about it, but it’s also not that bad. Just standard. A little comedy, a little romance, a little fanservice. It’s all good. Not much to say about it.

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki IV (Series rating 2/10)

You’re probably wondering why there’s no description for this torrent. It’s because I have nothing to fucking describe. I am a huge fan of the first 2 seasons on Ryo-Ohki. It was one of the first harem shows I watched, and it looked pretty damn good. I still fondly remember the battle against Kagato, and the interaction between Ryoko and Aeka in the hotspring was hilarious. Season 3 was a letdown, but at least stuff happened there. At least the story progressed. In this season? Nothing fucking happens. I don’t even know half these new people. Apparently you’re supposed to be familiar with the spin-off: War On Geminar and GXP. So yeah, the story is not self-contained anymore. And nothing happens. See the image above? That’s my face during this show. I can’t even do a video preview because the show has no opening, and as for a clip… a clip of what? Them standing around? Oh, there’s a huge bathing scene in episode 4 probably for no other reason then to have something, ANYTHING, memorable in the show. And I still didn’t because the original characters weren’t even IN IT. Hell, I doubt that Aeka, Ryoko, Sasami and Mihoshi are in this for more then 10 minutes. 
So why am I uploading it? Because I already encoded it. Maybe someone still wants it. Oh, and the 5th season is worse. Fuck this.

Kishin Douji Zenki (Series rating: 6/10)

Hundreds of years ago, the great priest Ozunu Enno fought off the demon goddess Karuma. Once the seal was in place, he also sealed his most powerful servant, Zenki. Zenki’s seal should be removed when the evils of Karuma would once again show themselves. This task befalls his descendant, Chiaki Enno. Evil seeds of the demon goddess have appeared and possess anyone weak enough to fall prey to their promises. Now Chiaki must unseal Zenki and together vanquish the evil once of for all. One problem though: Zenki hates taking orders and doesn’t really like humans that much. And Chiaki’s not a very skilled priestess. Good think Ozunu put a double seal on Zenki so he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted once awakened. Now Chiaki and Zenki are stuck together and must learn to get along, or die.

Another remux. This is an old, not that popular show from the mid 90s. I liked it enough, but it does have some problems. It’s an action fantasy show with a heavy Japanese mysticism feel to it. It’s great if you love youkain and onmyoujis. It’s very similar to Inuyasha (yes, I’m still working on that). I guess that’s why I liked it. Hell, Zenki and Inuyasha share the same voice actor. My problem with Zenki is that it has a very slow start, the second half is kind of… meh… and it has this talent of wasting time. Especially with the reused animation. Does the same thing TOEI does: at least once an episode you have a long transformation sequence. Gets worse in the second half where you can have two, plus another one for summoning the special weapon. Still, I enjoyed it. The first opening is a complete banger. VAJURA ON!

The video source is from the R1 release, as such so are the subtitles. Internal vobsubs.
This release contains some extras, so let me explain:

1. Kishin Douji Zenki Softsubs.zip. This archive contains sotfsubs. I did not make them. They are from another release. They are timed to this release, but I have no verified them, just gave them the same style. Use at your own risk. It’s for those people that complain about vobsubs. Don’t expect this for every release that uses vobsubs though. I’m not putting any extra effort, these were just already available.
2. “Things Missing From The R1 Release” folder. Literally that. For some reason, the extras from the Japanese release were only ever released in Japan and China. The reast of the world never got the 2nd opening, or the 2nd and 3rd endings. The only available copy of these extras are from the DVD rip of Simu. Sadly, it’s a very bad upscale. Look for yourself: http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/77ZZGNNX
3. Gaiden OVA. Zenki had an OVA. It does not fit into the timeline of the anime or the manga. It’s also not that well animated but it does have Chiaki’s boobs. Sadly, it’s quite rare. You can either watch a very low bitrate/resolution version with bad audio or an upscale with washed out over-cropped video. Pick your poison.

Joshikousei No Mudazukai (Series rating: 6/10)

Tanaka Nozomu decided to give all her friends nicknames based on their personality. The otaku became Wota, the emotionless girl became Robo, the small girl became Loli, the delusional girl became Yamai, the serious girl became Majime. So what nickname did Nozomu get? Baka, obviously.

A slice of live comedy about a group of high-school girls. These shows are the hardest to write a description about because what more can I say? I didn’t think the first 2 episodes were funny, so I passed this one up when it was airing. Shouldn’t have done that because the show got much better. Sure, you won’t be dying of laughter, but it’s quite amusing. Ended up a pretty good way to pass the time.

Subs are from Erai.

Sorcerer Hunters OVA (Series rating: 6/10)

Sorcerer Hunters. It’s a mid 90s action-fantasy show. And it had an OVA. The OVA had boobs. Recently, the OVA aired on AT-X. Quality is better then DVD. Sadly, only the OVA aired. We’re stuck with DVD for the show. On the other hand… 90s animation and boobies. I don’t really have anything else to say about this.

Raws are from Ohys-Raws while the subs are from KushikiRukia’s DVD release (internal vobsubs). Enjoy.

Kanamemo (Series rating: 6/10)

Nakamachi Kana was living with her grandma, her only living relative. Sadly, she too passed away, leaving Kana all alone. Having nowhere to go, she is forced to get a job at a local newspaper. There she meets other young women down on their luck, forced to work under a strict manager that puts the job before anything else, regardless of how much the girls have to suffer.
Yeah, this is actually a comedy. Kana’s not really all alone, she just thinks she is. The other girls at the paper enjoy the work and the strict manager is an elementary school girl. The only suffering is brought by Haruka’s molestation attempts and the occasional barking dog.

Another older show. This never got a BD in Japan, so this is really an upscale. But it’s better then the DVD version, and the subtitles are actually accurate for one. Yeah, we all remember the Underwater subs, but looking over them, they had a lot of errors. Anyway, I enjoyed this show. It’s very cute. My only problem was Haruka. The lesbian lolicon joke was dated even then, and here it’s done every single episodes multiple times. It got really annoying really quickly. If Haruka wasn’t voiced by Horie Yui, I would that skipped past those scenes.

This is from the US BD, internal PGS subtitles. Yellow, for some insane reason.

Girly Air Force (Series rating: 9/10)

Humanity is attacked by a mysterious force called the Xi. They attack with high-speed aerial force that is completely beyond humanities best fighters. Not only can they perform impossible quick turns they also jam any electronic device in their vicinity making tracking them impossible. While regular missiles do destroy them, it’s next to impossible because they cannot be locked on to. This all changes with the creation of Animas. An Anima is the humanoid “core” of an enhanced plane. This core gives the place abilities that can surpass the Xi. There are numerous limitations though: the correct process for creating an Anima is not really knows and only one Anima can exist for a type of plane.

During an evacuation from China, who fell to Xi forces, Narutani Kei si separated from his parents and attacked by the Xi. He is saved by a strange machine that destroys the Xi, but then crashes itself in the ocean. Desperate to save the pilot that had saved him, Kei rushes to the plane only to find a beautiful girl inside that kisses him before passing out. Later, while trying to find out who that girl and the plane is, Kei is “recurited” in the army and made the partner of Gripen, the first Anima of Japan.

OK, here’s a premise that on paper made this anime out to be crap. But I checked it out anyway because Gripen was cute. I am very glad I did. This was the one show of the season that I watched the second it downloaded because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. They managed to take a used idea (girls as avatars on ships/planes/etc) and make it entertaining by modifying the formula just a bit. Gripen is not an ace pilot/avatar with OP abilities. She’s actually… pretty stupid. And before Kei came along she was pretty useless as well. And she’s slow. But she’s also really sweet. Her interactions with Kei were diabetes inducing. Eagle and Phantom are pretty nice too, though Eagle’s immature behavior and Phantom’s smugness do get irritating at times. Rhyno was also really interesting, but her backstory was… dark.
This anime is basically a spiritual successor of Air Combat, the video games. And the air battles are pretty damn cool. But what really impressed me was the final arc. The series doesn’t end with an epic battle, though there is a battle. Instead we get a very Silent Hill-like final episodes that were genuinely creepy that end with a look inside the head of the Xi, and it’s not pretty. Subs by Horrible-Subs.
https://anidb.net/anime/14113

Tales Of Eternia (Series rating: 6/10)

Two world exist, mirroring each other: Inferia and Celestia. The worlds can see each other, but cannot interact. Until now. On Inferia, Reid , Farah and Keele have been friends all their life. One day, out of nowhere, a strange girl falls from the sky in front of them. This girl speaks an unknown language. She’s Meredy, from Celestia. And she’s there to seek help in stopping what could be the end of both worlds: the Grand Fall. The two worlds are set to collide with each other and kill off every living thing. It’s up to them to stop it. But along the way they stop off an exotic island to have a side-adventure: this anime.

If I said it was based on the video game it would be a stretch. This literally IS a side-quest. On the bright side you don’t need to know anything about the game other then the synopsis in order to enjoy the standard fantasy adventure anime. It does look pretty good, but I’m biassed because I love this aesthetic. There’s nothing wrong with the show, but it’s a fairly standard story. Some fights, some comedy and a flimsy story to string it together. You’ve probably seen this 100 times, but if you’re in the mood for some 00’ anime, why the hell not?
This is a TV rip. It’s quite rare when anime is re-aired on Japanese TV. Even better when the TV rip looks better then the DVD. The video is from Reinforce. The subtitles, on the other hand, I have no idea where they came from. I got them off a Russian website. It’s funny because the crappy DVD rips I had of this (which removed the OP and ED) had a disclaimer at the beginning saying that they have no clue where the subs came from either. Anyway, I think these are the same subs that were posted in a now dead link at the Reinforce torrent. Enjoy.