I had completely forgotten about this, actually. It seems like an absolute age since Clannad “finished”, so this long-awaited twenty-forth episode kind of hit me from out of the blue. This episode focused around Tomoyo in what I’ve gathered is an alternate version of the Clannad universe, following her path from the original Clannad game. As such, the story mainly focused around the difficulties faced by the now dating delinquent-and-highschool-president couple as they sped on towards their graduation.

I wasn’t really sure what to make of Clannad episode twenty-four, to be honest. After watching the original series’ worth of character development between Nagisa and Tomoya, seeing him with Tomoyo felt, well, wrong. I thought that it was rather a strange decision on Kyoto Animation’s part to do away with the entire Clannad cast, bar Tomoya, Tomoyo and Mr. Comic Relief Sunohara. All the work that had gone crafting each character seemed like such a waste in light of this episode.

But that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. Clannad episode twenty-four was actually really good. The emotional development between Tomoyo and Tomoya was very well handled, culminating in that fantastic (in spite of that awful Engrish insert song) snow scene at the end. I even got really upset when Tomoya had to break up with Tomoya for her own good, around midway through the episode. As always, Kyoto Animation did a terrific job with the drama and timing, speeding up during the not-so-interesting plot parts of the episode, and then slowing right down at pivotal scenes.

As for the animation quality itself, it was watchable, but perhaps not quite so polished as it could have been. Considering that Kyoto Animation had a good few months to put Clannad episode twenty-four together, I was expecting ultra-OVA quality. However, luckily where it counted standards were kept high. Facial expressions in particular were wonderfully rendered, which really added to the emotion of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I’m not entirely sure that it sits well with the other twenty-three preceding episodes, but it certainly worked well as a standalone what-if Tomoya had chosen Tomoyo episode. My biggest disappointment was easily Kyoto Animation’s negligence of the rest of the Clannad cast. But, maybe it’s just that I’m suffering from Fuko withdrawal syndrome.

It’s been about a week since my copy of Genki Volume One arrived in the post. After receipt I spared no time in ripping open the brown corrugated cardboard pouch from Amazon, excitedly uncovering what I deemed to be my first proper Japanese language textbook. Yes folks, it’s finally come down to this.

Genki was the fruit born of a good few weeks worth of textbook research. It proved difficult, to say the least, finding information of any detail about the various books on offer, but after a good few hundred Google web searches I became cemented in my resolution to take the plunge and slap down £30.99 ($61.74). That horrendous price tag was the source of much anxiousness. “Would it really be worth it?”, I wondered whilst feeling slightly queasy after parting with so much cash on a single book. Now, all that was left to do was to sit and wait on Amazon to do their thing.

Luckily after having worked through Genki’s first four lessons and becoming thoroughly acquainted with its style and structure, I can safely put my worries to rest. Genki is an awesome book. For those people who are considering buying Genki, I’ll do a quick run-down of its various sections. The text is divided into two “sets” of lessons, if you will. At the front of the book, you’ll find twelve fairly chunky chapters focusing around reading dialogue and then verbally reproducing it. Each of these lessons starts off with a medium sized conversation transcript between a few characters, usually based around fairly everyday topics, like going out on a date (Lesson Four). These are interesting enough and fairly easy to read, introducing the majority of the lesson’s content with skilful ease.

For the first couple of lessons, this dialogue is scripted in both Japanese kana and the equivalent romaji (Latin alphabet) text, making it easy for beginners to get to grips with at first. However, by around lesson three, the romaji is removed in favour of pure hiragana and katakana. Select kanji are even used from lesson four onwards, at first with furigana (hiragana annotations indicating pronunciation), and then later without. Over all I’m a big fan of this phasing out technique, which removes your dependence on romaji approximations in favour of real Japanese. However, as I’m already pretty comfortable with kana and a few kanji, I might be a touch biased. For a beginner of Japanese, Genki’s pacing may be just that little be too quick, especially if you’re planning on self-studying.

After the dialogue, there are grammar, expression and vocabulary sections. These are very neatly divided and well explained, particularly the grammar sections. One of the most interesting and difficult to grasp elements of the Japanese language are its various “set patterns” which give a huge diversity of meaning. As they’re encountered in the dialogue sections, these are well documented under the grammar and expression headers; something sorely missing from most of the textbooks and phrase books I’ve used before.

Each of these twelve lessons conclude with a whole host of exercises which practise everything learned in the previous few pages. What I like about these exercises particularly is that they seem to build on and incorporate previous lessons, rather than just focus on the newest material. This means that you’re not as likely to forget what you’ve covered in the past as you progress through Genki. The exercises themselves seem rather geared towards classroom work, with instructions like “Find five other people who live in these places…”, encouraging the learner to speak the language actively rather than just passively absorbing it. But, I don’t think that this should be deterrent to self-learners looking to use this book. As one myself, I found that simply speaking the exercises out loud worked well too, even if it did garner a few strange looks.

Towards the back of the book, there are twelve more accompanying lessons which mirror the first twelve in terms of content. These form the writing element of the Genki course. Lessons one and two ask the learner to memorise hiragana and katakana respectively, and then kanji are taught from lesson three onwards. These lessons are probably the most demanding element of the course, but learning kanji is rather unavoidable when studying Japanese regardless of which method you use. I suppose, because of the way the lessons are separated, a learner could potentially choose to simply focus on speaking and reading Japanese alone. Whilst this approach is generally frowned upon, it may end up suiting some people better.

As a textbook, Genki doesn’t include a listening element, though there is a CD available at extra charge which has recordings of all the book’s dialogues. I didn’t plump for this, though. As an anime fan and general Japan-nut, I feel that my exposure to the spoken language is already quite good. If you find yourself in the same boat, you too may not want to bother with the accompanying CD. Then again, for absolute beginners, it’s very important to have a sound source to mimic for pronunciation. I guess that the choice is down to the individual, really. For the price, it would have been nice for a CD to be included with the Genki textbook - but that doesn’t really bother me too much. Also available separately is an additional workbook which provides extra practice for each of Genki’s lessons. However, after using Genki for a while, I reckon that the exercises included in the textbook are already enough.

So in conclusion, I’m really pleased with Genki. Whilst it may be rather fast paced at times, I’m struggling to find too many other criticisms of it as I work my way through the lessons. I would urge self-learners not to be put off by Genki’s classroom orientation; personal experience has shown me that it’s a more than capable text even if you’re studying hitori de. Very highly recommended.

As if we weren’t already very well aware, those crazy Japanese animators just thought they’d make absolutely sure we know exactly what Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo is all about. Just in case you might have thought it had a centrally cohesive plot, or something exotic like that.

On that note, I’m not going to be quite so harsh as I maybe came across in my last post about the series. There were some sweet moments in episode two, for sure. Take the re-summoning ceremony-chant thing, for example, which ended in an all too natural kiss between Saito and Louise. The dynamics in that relationship really are insane! One minute Louise is chasing the poor fellow around with a wooden stick, the next she’s hugging him from behind and pledging her adoration - as indirectly as possible, albeit. Still, that tsundere personality is one of the main reasons for Zero no Tsukaima’s popularity, so who am I to bad mouth those bipolar outbursts of affection?

Episode two, of course, also properly introduced Tiffania, hence completing Saito’s female tri-harem (bah, Agnes is irrelevant.) Whilst three’s usually a crowd with these sorts of things, it’s nice to see that some effort has been made to keep Tiffania’s personality a fair way from those of Louise and Siesta. It seems as though she’ll be the typical small voiced, not so small elsewhere type, following very closely after Mikuru from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. After all, I’m certain that I’ve seen that groping scene technique used somewhere before to similar effect.

As for the story, episode two saw a brief encounter between Louise and Shefield with her army of exploding dogs. I’m still not entirely clear on the basis for naming most characters after seemingly unrelated European names and places, but after two seasons of hearing the cast cram in as many alien consonant sounds into a single word as their mouths will allow, I’m pretty hip with it. We found out that Louise quite possibly isn’t the only Void user out there, aside from Shefield’s master. I was sort of hoping that it would turn out that Saito himself could cast Void magic, but that speculation was pretty much dashed after Louise renewed his Familiar contract.

All in all, even though nothing truthfully happened, episode two of Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo was pretty enjoyable watch. Here’s to hoping that future episodes focus more on progressing the story and somewhat less on that darn elf’s chest.

Awr, man… I was determined not to like this!

Calling a spade a spade (because, y’know, it is), Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is grade-A manufactured rubbish. Ever since reading about the show’s original premise, it was painfully obvious that this anime would be constructed meticulously from well-known tried-and-tested components with the aim of checking every tick box on the anime fan’s wish list. Clumsy, moé, sweet, gentle, good-at-everything, admired-by-all female lead who loves Akiba’s produce as much as we do? Check. Dweebish, uninterested, dorky-yet-assertive male protagonist? Check. Every frame’s a fanservice frame!? Check. Reason for aforementioned cute female lead to rely upon aforementioned boring guy? Check. It’s all there, laid out like a delicious smorgasbord of 2D niches ready to be devoured by a pack of salivating otaku with thick-rimmed glasses and pockets stuffed full of Suzumiya Haruhi bunny-girl figurines. Yeah, really.

And maybe that’s why I feel so unclean for having enjoyed this first episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. If I were scoring it up seriously, both character and story development would receive a great big nil. Animation quality? Meh - nothing to comment on. Background music? I didn’t even notice any. Even for a show of this genre (What - school life? I don’t know.) things seemed to move real, real quick. I mean, isn’t the haunted school at night episode usually reserved for about midway through a series; about the time when the animators are running out of ideas? And I’m sure that the boy-meets-girl, girl-hates-boy, girl-likes-boy sequence usually takes at least a couple of episodes to pan out. I guess, covering the same ground in around twenty minutes has got to be rather impressive. Right?

Wrong. But I’m sure that doesn’t matter, since it’s very clear that Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is not a show to be scrutinised nor analysed. There’s no substance to pick apart, no deeper meaning to find. Instead, you’re asked politely to switch off your brain and feast your eyes upon the pretty school girls. So perhaps that’s why I enjoyed this episode. Watching anime at one ‘o’ clock in the morning is a sure-fire way to deaden your mind, let me tell you!

Waaaah! It finally happened! Irie finally gave in to Kotoko’s persistent pestering and agreed to marry her. But, man that episode moved quickly! So much happened that even the OP was forgone just to gain that brief extra minute-and-a-half. For once, though, I’m not going to complain about pacing. I simply enjoyed this too much.

I never followed the original Itazura na Kiss manga - something I regret more and more with each passing episode of the anime - but at the same time I’m glad for not knowing what’s going to happen next. I mean, I really didn’t see that wedding happening. At least not until the series finale. At a guess, I probably would have said that the rain scene would result in tears (the sad type) and perhaps Kotoko would have settled for Kinnosuke. It would have made for a predictable ending, sure, with Kotoko and Irie finally realising their suppressed feelings for one another sometime around episode twenty-three. In fact, this episode could have slotted in later on pretty inconspicuously.

But I’m so glad it didn’t. In truth, the only remaining problem is how to fill the remaining half-season. With Itazura na Kiss so far setting the bar for drama and watchability as high as it has, it would be awful for what’s left of the series to become dirtied by frivolous filler story. Or worse; if the premise were reversed, repeating episodes one to thirteen by switching Kotoko for Chris and Irie for Kinnosuke. That would really be bad. Like, honto ni bad.

However, I haven’t read the manga. And whilst I’m sat here worrying about how the best anime of the season could descend into the depths of cliché and repetition, I bet those who do know how the story is going to progress are smiling like conceited Cheshire cats, patiently waiting for their next animated instalment. I think I’ll follow suit.

So the long awaited Zero no Tsukaima series three finally shows its tsuntsun much less deredere face and, after the let down ending of the previous series, the pressure’s certainly on for it to live up to the awesomeness of those better early episodes. My initial take on episode one of Princess no Rondo, was to be honest, fairly mediocre.

It seems that the classic Zero no Tsukaima formula is still suffering from the same old problems of series two – namely too many characters and too fast a story. In that short twenty-five minutes alone, we learned that (spoiler alert here) Saito is no longer bound to Louise by contract (rune markings, Familiar-hood, whatever), Louise is not the only Void magic user and Saito has competition from another Void familiar himself. Oh, and that elf from series two – you know, the one that essentially ruined the entire series’ credibility and reputation – she has a known name. And address. Seriously guys, whatever happened to pacing?

But maybe – and this is a big maybe – bringing back that elf will give the animators of Zero no Tsukaima time to atone for their mistakes, time to retread old ground and time to restore some of that lost credibility. I mean, the emotional climax of series two was all there. For fans of Louise and Saito’s embarrassed affections (yup, that’s me!), series two certainly delivered by the truckload. If it hadn’t had been for Saito’s woah-that-was-fast resurrection, I doubt very much that it would have left quite such an unpleasant after taste. But saying that, I can understand why the animators did what they did. If Saito had died, it wouldn’t have exactly left all that much scope for a third series after all.

So maybe I’m being too harsh at this early, early stage. With twelve episodes left, Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo still has plenty of time to develop and improve. In fact I’m hoping with every bone of my body that it does! I was still happy to see my favourite anime odd-couple back on screen after all this time. Some of the very best moments of the past two series were born out of Louise and Saito’s less than harmonious relationship, and from the look of things that element has been left well intact with Princess no Rondo. Other good points to draw on from this episode include the appearance of Siesta, the cute ED song (I didn’t much like the OP, though) and of course, par for the course for Zero no Tsukaima, a copious side-helping of fanservice. Not much wrong with that, eh?

Summer’s here and my exams are finally over. Gone are the cold days of revision and stress, replaced now by longer weeks of warmth and relaxation. And, of course, anime. It seems that during my time away from the weekly barrage of new episodes, I’ve managed to let many series completely pass me by. However, not one to be discouraged by little hardcore watching, I’m doing my level-best to catch up.

My favourite series of the Spring-to-Summer season has definitely been Itazura na Kiss. In spite of its unpolished animation, the brilliant story is where this series really shines. Clocking in at half-way through, episode thirteen managed to build up emotional tensions to a previously unsurpassed height. We found out that it was Irie who kissed Kotoko whilst she was asleep under that tree, and also that Kinnosuke’s devotion to Kotoko can become frighteningly violent. As the characters are being fleshed out more and more, my eagerness to find out what happens next is also growing. With so many fragile hearts in play, the next thirteen episodes are sure to be just as good, if not better, than the last.

From the best, we move along to certainly the most shallow series of the season. There’s no doubt in my mind now at all that ToLoveRu serves only as an excuse to shoehorn as much fanservice onto Japanese TV as possible. The episodes have practically no continuance, and the stories seem as though they were thought up after it was decided how to get Lala naked this week. And as if that wasn’t enough, ToLoveRu is very quickly descending into harem-hell as almost every episode a new and spookily well-endowed contender for Rito’s love seems to appear. At twenty-six episodes long, I really fear for the future of this series! That said, though, I did watch the first ten episodes, and I probably will the next… Just as well the characters are cute!

I’ve also caught up with Special A, which has developed nicely so far. At first I was terrified that this series would flop due to a worn-and-torn premise (Ouran High School Host Club, anyone?) and annoyingly 2D characters (ah, the wit!) who were all about their “thing” and nothing more (Kei - rude and obnoxious, Akira - likes tea, and so on). Luckily, whilst the premise has remained, the characters have improved. The romance between Hikari and Kei has been well handled since Kei, your standard “I hate everything”-type of guy, has also been shown to feel lonliness and passion. Y’know, like a real person. Akira’s dark secret too hasn’t yet been completely divulged, ensuring that there’s plenty to look forward too. That is, however, only if they can sort out those horrible (”Ah! My ears are bleeding!”) OP and ED songs.

So yeah, all in all, I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far. I still have Kurenai to catch up with, which apparently finished whilst I was gone. Moreover, I think I’ve recovered enough from my last viewing to inject some Chi’s Sweet Home sweetness into veins once again. Aside from those, Mnemosyne and Kyouran Kazoku Nikki have also managed to grab my interest, so I may give them a go yet before the season’s up. Would you recommend them?

After the brain deadening slew of fan service and school-yard anime that have so far dominated this season, I was quite happy to stumble upon the excellent Kurenai. Initially, I became interested in the show after watching a clip from the psychedelic opening animation. Other people were saying good things about the first episode, so I gave it go myself and, I’m glad to say, was pleasantly surprised.

The story, which didn’t actually become very clear to me until the second episode, follows a high school student with a somewhat unusual part-time job. Shinkuro is a negotiations mediators, which, so far as I can make out, entails him doing the mostly violent dirty work of his mysterious and wealthy boss Benika. Whilst Benika’s exact role in the story remains unclear at this early stage in the show, we’ve already been shown the tragic deaths of Shinkuro’s mother and father through flashbacks to his early childhood. As his latest assignment, Shinkuro takes the responsibility of protecting, from what he doesn’t yet know, a young girl named Murosaki.

The sparse violence and constant reminders of corruption and death endow Kurenai with a certain dark personality which no other show this season (at least that I’ve watched) has. The animation itself sort of reminds me of Black Lagoon, although it’s not nearly quite so graphic. I like the set up between the troubled hitman-schoolboy and his new innocent companion. Sharing so many similarities yet having lived in such different worlds, it’ll be fascinating to follow how the relationship between Shinkuro and Murosaki develops as the show progresses.

I particularly noticed the background music of Kurenai. I think it’s entirely solo piano, which does suit the show well. So many anime these days try to pack as many sights and sounds into every frame as possible, which ultimately leads to shallow, forgettable presentation and a blaring headache. Kurenai, on the other hand, understates everything. From the sombre colours to the minimal music, the contrasting scenes of the first two episodes alone were a joy to watch. So long as Kurenai continues along this path, I reckon it could very well become one of this season’s sleeper hits.

Chi’s Sweet Home is an anime about a kitten who lost its mother and was taken in by a family. Each episode is only three minutes long, but I can’t watch any more than three at a time. My blood sugar levels simply won’t allow it.

Summary: Hayate, Nagi and Maria take a holiday to Turkey, where Hayate tries to convince Nagi to go outside and enjoy the fresh air for once. After jumping up after a hat into the air, Hayate travels back in time to meet chibi-Nagi. He discovers that the reaosn for Nagi’s chronic aversion to the outdoors is due to her always being chased by kidnappers and the like when she was younger. After defeating the Sicilian Mafia and saving chibi-Nagi, Hayate finds himself back in the modern day with a now slightly less hikkomori-inclined mistress.

Episode fifty-two marks the end of a near endless series. Spanning the length of two complete seasons, Hayate no Gotoku was an anime that knew how to attract an audience, pushing all the right buttons at all the right times. Impressively the subtle mix of slapstick, tsundere romance and light fanservice kept up pace right the way through. A new story arc was introduced every two or three episodes, which meant that Hayate no Gotoku never got stale. If a development didn’t do it for you, you needed only to wait a few weeks for a fresh direction to rear its head. I guess that’s the essence of what made Hayate no Gotoku such an easy show to watch. Whilst some might have labelled it shallow or interrupted, I thought that Hayate no Gotoku was the perfect balancing accompaniment to those heavier food-for-thought shows like Shigofumi.

And that’s exactly why I’ll miss it so. Critically speaking though, I thought that the final episode of Hayate no Gotoku was sub par in terms of quality. But I was expecting as much. You see, once Hayate no Gotoku hit the forty-fifth episode mark, I began to worry about how the animators planned to round the story off. There’s not much worse than a rushed ending to a long running series, and for Hayate no Gotoku a last minute happily-ever-after conclusion would have been disastrous. After a year’s worth of excellent character development, I would not have been happy to see an abrupt and totally predictable anti-climax. Sure Nagi could have confessed to Hayate in a flash of severe deredere, but would that have satisfied you? It would certainly not me.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by the average Hayate no Gotoku fifty-two. The ending wasn’t rushed, nor unbelievable. In fact I’m not even sure if there was an ending at all. The perfect formula was simply continued - I’m sure this episode could have been put anywhere else in the series and still not seem out of place. That’s the beauty of it - Hayate no Gotoku didn’t fall fowl to the rushed ending monster at all, but instead ended as it began; amusingly and meaninglessly.

But what’s this - an announcement that series two is already in production? I personally can’t say that its very fair to call episode fifty-two the end of Hayate no Gotoku. Perhaps it’s a much better suiting midway.