プリムラの庭

Just wanted to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas. Please have a fun and safe holiday.

Source: Anime News Network

Series: Saki (咲)

Genre: Slice of Life, School, Mahjong, Yuri?

Animation Production: Ganzo

Number of Episodes: 25

Synopsis:

Miyanaga Saki is a first year high school girl whose family would get angry if she won the family mahjong games. But losing would also have its consequences. Because of this she develops a new way of playing that allows her to stay on the thin line between winning and losing, the +/- zero score, an almost impossible score. In a game that relies mainly on luck, the +/- zero score is harder than winning, but Saki can achieve this every time. Having always hated the game, her friend from middle school, Suga Kyotoro, forces her to play in the schools mahjong club. Her developed skill and superhuman luck has made her a worthy mahjong opponent, even to the middle schools national mahjong champion.

Main Characters and Cast:

Saki Miyanaga: Kana Ueda – Saki is a first year high school student who has the ability to break even after every round of mahjong. She decides to join the Mahjong Club in order to go to Nationals in order to see her sister Teru, who is the favorite to win that tournament. Her skills comes from reading the intangible aspects of the game, such as the opponent and flow. A mahjong move that she tends to favoris Rinshan Kaihou (“A flower that blooms on top of a mountain”) because of the connection it has with her name, Saki (“to bloom”).

Nodoka Haramura: Ami Koshimizu – A first year student with a great love for Mahjong and one of the new recruits for the Kiyosumi Mahjong Club. The reigning Middle School National Champion, Nodoka is often revered by fans and players alike as a genius. Despite her fame, it is noted that her gameplay is flawed due to her making common mistakes and this does not improve until Takei Hisa gives her the idea of holding onto her favourite penguin doll, Etopen, to make her feel more comfortable.

While Nodoka’s real-life gameplay is still improving despite her great skill, her true strength lies within her online persona. Known as “Nodocchi”, she is famed for being even more skillful than most pros, being able to make the most complex decisions within a split second and rarely, if never at all, making any misplays. This fact alone casuses Ryuumonbochi Touka, one of the players from the current reigning champion team, Ryuumonbochi High School, to become very worrisome.

Nodoka is a very pragmatic girl, refusing to believe in any supernatural factors or superstitions involving Mahjong and dismissing them as coincidences. She believes strongly that it is skill, not luck, that determines a winner. She believes in logic so strongly that she even reprimands Takei Hisa on her risky playstyle and can’t comprehend how or why she plays like this.

She is best friends with Yuuki, having known her since their first year in Middle School and understands her the most out of everyone. She is also growing closer with Saki, despite her initial contempt for her. Ever since they promised to work harder in order to reach the Nationals Tournament, the pair have grown to become close friends.

Yuuki Kataoka: Rie Kugimiya – Yuuki is a high school first-year student who attends the same school as Saki and is a member of the mahjong club. She is highly skilled, though cannot stay focused and makes more mistakes as the game progresses, so she is made the first to play at the mahjong tournament. She is often seen eating tacos, which increases her skill when playing mahjong. Additionally, food with names similar to tacos, like takoyaki can increase her skill partially as well.

Mako Someya: Ryoko Shiraishi – A second year student and member of the Kiyosumi Mahjong Club, being the first member to join under Takei Hisa’s leadership. Her family runs a mahjong cafe, which was former mahjong parlor. Being surrounded by Mahjong ever since she was young, Mako is familiar with many scenarios during the course of a game and is able to recall them during gameplay when taking off her glasses.

Hisa Takei: Shizuka Itou – A third year student and the president of the Kiyosumi Mahjong Club. She is also the president of the Student Congress Coucil at Kiyosumi High School, heavily emphasizing the “Congress” part of the name.

A very intelligent and confident girl, she is able to effectively read the weaknesses and strengths of people, inside and outside of Mahjong, and apparently is a seasoned veteran of Mahjong, even to the point of being on friendly terms with a Professional Mahjong player. She is also able to comprehend concepts quicker than most.

Her playstyle revolves around taking chances; while risky, she takes her time, waiting for effective hands that often come out of nowhere, surprising her opponents and taking advantage of their cautious playstyle. She always takes in the flow of the game in stride, finding opportunities in what other players may find to be dead-end scenarios. Despite the risks she takes, she prefers to play this way, believing it to truly reflect who she is and that she wins more easily when betting against the odds.

Touka Ryuumonbuchi: Minori Chihara - One of Ryuumonbuchi’s four heavenly kings. Comes from a very rich family and loves being in the spotlight which leads her to hate Nodoka because of her popularity as the middle school champion.

Koromo Amae: Kaori Fukuhara – Premier member of the reigning champion Mahjong team, Ryuumonbuchi, and one of the most idolized yet feared players in the game. She is said to be possessed by a demon when playing; she even outranked a professional Mahjong player at a previous tournament.

She is Touka’s cousin, their relationship akin to those of siblings due to the amount of time they have spent together. She prefers to not be seen as a child, despite their small stature and her childish personality. She acts in a very friendly manner, always wanting to make friends with everyone she meets and in hopes of being treated lovingly.

**I was feeling lazy this time. Source for character Review: My Anime List **

Personal Thoughts:

This series was better than I expected. It had well developed characters and a fun story. The Mahjong explanations were excellent and helpful. There were plenty of cute characters and lots of funny moments. One of the few things that was a bit annoying was the amount of blushing, but was easy to get over. Being an avid Rie Rie fan; I was slightly disappointed in her performance for this series. Yuuki was cute and likable, but Koromo was an even better character. I liked nearly all of the main characters, but unfortunately was not fond of Nodoka. Overall I would recommend this series to anyone that likes comedy, school life and doesn’t mind a bit of yuri.

Rating: Rating: .

Opening Theme:

Glossy – Miyuki Hashimoto

bloooomin’ – Little Non

Ending Theme:

熱烈歓迎わんだーらんど – Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi and Shizuka Itou

残酷な願いの中で – Kana Ueda and Ami Koshimizu (episodes 7,10,16,18,22)

四角い宇宙で待ってるよ – Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi and Shizuka Itou

So the small IRC community I live in and group of friends I chat with. We have been in this new craze about the NicoNico Singer [chorus]. There are many different singers and many different groups comprised of these singers. The NicoNico Singers are doujin singers (fan singers) that mainly sing vocaloid songs, occasionally you will hear them singing with vocaloids. At times their solo versions are added together with others to form the chorus versions. Other times they purposefully form an actual chorus group. If you do not know what NicoNico is; it is short for Nico Nico Douga. Nico Nico Douga is a Japanese video sharing sight much like Youtube. In my opinion Nico Nico is much better than Youtube. Getting back to the Nico Nico Singers then, there are many great voices out there and some less to be desired, but all in all a very entertaining group of people. I will post some videos of some songs that I enjoy and also list who my favorite Nico Nico Singers are.

*Note* ~For those of you who are new to seeing Nico Nico Chorus videos. Each singer has a character associated with them and their name printed on it. When the character either shows up or is highlighted that person is singing. The characters are not static to a specific person so pay close attention to the names on the character. Enjoy~

Favorite Male Voices: Clear, ぱにょ(Panyo)

Favorite Female Voices: ルシュカ (Rushuka), 花たん (Hana-tan), うさ (Usa), ヤマイ (Yamai)

Various Nico Nico Artists – Last Night, Good Night <– All time favorite and Clear’s voice is outstanding in this

Rushuka – sign <– I think she has one of the best female voices ^^

Hana-tan – Hope <– I think she sounds like Olivia when she did inspi’ Reira

Yamai – Just Be Friends (piano Ver)

Panyo – From Y to Y

Clear – When Love Ends for the First Time

Series: Hidamari Sketch (ひだまりスケッチ)

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life, School Life

Animation Production: Shaft

Number of Episodes: 12

Synopsis:

Yuno has been accepted to her dream school: Yamabuki Arts High School. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Hidamari Apartments located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. Surrounded by good friends, Yuno starts moving towards her dream of being an artist.

Source: Anime News Network

Main Characters and Cast:

Yuno: Kana Asumi – Yuno is our main character. She finds her self as a beginner artist when others see her as an excellent artist. Yuno has a very enjoyable personality and is a well developed character. Kana Asumi has had a few major/primary rolls in other anime series, but has only casted in a handful of anime titles.

Miyako (Miya): Kaori Mizuhashi - Miya is the neighbor to Yuno. She is a carefree and energetic character. Miya is another well developed character with a unique personality. Her unique personality made her one of my more favored characters in this series. Kaori Mizuhashi did an excellent job making this character likable. Her play on Miya’s unique personality was brilliant. Kaori has done many major/primary rolls in a lot of anime series and has been in the indusrty for quite awhile.

Sae: Ryoko Shintani – Sae lives on the first floor and is a short story writer. Her character is the smart yet introverted type. Her character was fairly developed, but could have been developed more. Ryoko Shintani has done a fair amount of casting for a good handful of series. She did a great job with this series and her character. She made her character believable.

Hiro: Yuko Goto – Hiro is the neighbor and good friend to Sae. Hiro is always watching what she eats, but still loves eating sweats. I would describe her personality as mother like. She is always caring for others and looking out for everyone. Her character was not as developed as it should have been. I would have liked to see more about Hiro’s character.Yuko Goto is a very well known seiyuu, she has had many major/primary rolls and always does an excellent job. Yuko did an excellent job with this character as expected.

Yoshinoya-sensei: Miyu Matsuki – Yoshinoya is the teacher to our main characters. Yoshinoya is a cute, cosplay loving, clueless character. Her character is well developed and very likable. She was probably my favorite character from the series. Miyu Matsuki did an excellent job with this character.

Personal Thoughts:

I enjoyed this series a lot. All of the characters were likable and cute in their own ways. The animation was a bit hard to get used to at first, but it grows on you. It is a very simple animation style. The opening and ending themes were enjoyable as well. I would recommend this series to people who enjoy comedy and slice of life series. On of my favorite moments of the series was when the girls were watching water drip into a bucket. My question is how bored were they?If you have seen this series or plan on watching it I hope you enjoy[ed] it. 

Personal Rating: Rating:

Opening: Sketch Switch – Kana Asumi, Kaori Mizuhashi, Ryoko Shintani & Yuko Goto

Ending: Mebae Drive – marble

My top 5 for Female Anime Characters has changed recently so I was going to see what my readers top 5 are. I will start off.

5: Shana (Enpatsu Shakugan no Uchite)

4: Louise Françoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Vallière

3: Konata Izumi

2: Primula

1: Taiga Aisaka

*Source*

Shana – Link

Louise – Link

Konata – Link

Primula – Link

Taiga – Link

Well that is my top 5 Female Anime Characters. I hope to see what kind of list others will come up with.

Alright new updates to site. Not to many nor to large.

• More links added
  • Linked a site that you can search for fansub groups and find ratings.
• Added Tab for Livestream
  • More info to come.

Series: Canaan  (カナン)

Genre: Action, Mystery

Animation Production: PA Works

Number of Episodes: 13

Image Source

Synopsis:

Canaan was one of the few series I found enjoyable this season. Though, I have been catching up on older series I managed to squeeze in this one. The animation style is your typical 2008/2009 style so it was easy on the eyes to adapt to. The character development was done exceptionally well and most of the characters are likable. The story progression is smooth and enjoyable. I found the concepts of the series to be intriguing. Their take on synesthia was my favorite part. I was a bit down about the 13 episode run time, but was glad to hear that Canaan has been approved for budget for 3 movies. Overall I would say this was a great series and one to watch.

Personal Rating: Rating:

Opening: Faylan – Mind as Judgment

Ending: Annabel – My Heaven

So I have added a couple new updates to my site. First update is the tag cloud which I am really enjoying. I like seeing it populate. The second update is in the categories section. I have done away with the drop down box and have made it a hierarchy list. The last update is in my links. I have added a link to ‘My Anime List’. Here you can see what I have watched, currently watching, dropped, plan to watch, and on hold.

For my MAL (My Anime List) I have organized it in such:

Currently watching – Obviously what I am watching ^^

Completed – Another obvious one

On Hold – I have downloaded some or all of the episodes and need to watch the series.

Plan to Watch – Series that I have not downloaded enough episodes to deem On Hold or series that have not yet aired.

Dropped – So many obvious categories fufufu.

Alright, so I have been super busy yet again. Yeah yeah, I know sounds like the generic excuse for life. I have felt like I should post more. So here it is. I have decided to rework some more of the back end things on my blog. Most of which you won’t notice, but I plan to have a bit more organization for myself making it easier to post. Another change I have made is I will be adding Figures and music reviews to my blog. So stay tuned for more to come.

Well, last night I was convinced to go see the movie premier of Eureka 7. Was not too excited over it, but the fact of anime in theatre over weighed the thought of “will this be a good or bad dub?” or the fact that I just flat out don’t like dubs. First thing that wanted to deter me was the fact of Bandai and Bang! Zoom! doing the production. The other thing was I did not feel like sitting next to a bunch of AdultSwim naru~whats and listen to their witty comments and poor improper Japanese.

Now I have seen this movie three times now, once in fan sub, second in RAW format, and the theatre premier being third. All of which nothing really was edited which was a plus. Now to pick apart the English movie dub, the opening scene contains some of our main characters being Eureka, Renton, and Nirvash. The scene also shows their teacher. With this I was mostly looking for pronunciation. ‘Nirvash’ and ‘Renton’… pronounced flawlessly. Eureka was pronounced so bad I nearly *facepalmed* in the first 10 minutes of the movie. They decided they wanted to pronounce it ” air-rehckk-ah” instead of “air-rdeck-ah” yea yea, seeing it typed is harder to explain than hearing it, but let me say that Renton’s voice actor said her name 4 different ways. The name that was butchered the most was Anemone. Now, it was so bad I can’t even recall how they pronounced it in English. Setting bad pronunciation aside there were some translation differences. The biggest one was the title: Eureka 7 ~Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers~…. Hmm…. 交響詩篇エウレカセブン ポケットが虹でいっぱい … don’t see how this romantically translates to the enlish title, when it should be, Eureka 7 ~Pocket Full of Rainbows~… minor issue, none to be fretted over I see title translations being wrong more than I would like, but moving along, there were portions that I knew had been translated a bit differently than the RAW, but not enough to change the story.

All in all I thought it was fairly well done, especially for Bandai. As for the best VA award I would have to give it to Kari Wahlgren who voiced Anemone. I thought she played/voiced the part of Anemone the best. She kept a ‘real’ tone and personality that was believable that it was Anemone’s character. None of that monotone long tone talk that sounds like you are trying too hard to be the character or that I could tell you were really trying to read from a script. No, in this it sounded like she knew the character and her roll to play the character.

Well that’s about all I have for my review. In case you were wondering, I do not plan to review the actual storyline since I will leave it up to you to write. *insert blank page* Anyway, my next review will hopefully be Canaan.

Here is the ending theme (safe to play, no spoilers)