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shukufuku no campenilla

Shukufuku no Campanella

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Alternate Titles: Blessing of the Campanella, Blessing of Little Bells

Original Japanese Release Date: 2010

Episode Length/Run-time: 12

Summary:

Leicester Maycraft is a magical item creator of the guild “Oasis” in the city of Ert’Aria.  Well known and loved by all he and the ladies of the guild are generally well taken care of and live a good life.  One night while watching a star shower on the roof of a nearby church he finds a girl asleep in a room.  When she awakens she declares herself Minette and Leicester her father.

Review:

“Well this sucked.”  That was about all I could think when I finished this anime.  Based off of a dating sim, which doesn’t always mean total crap but in this case it does.  The best thing about this series is the character designs which I’m not even sure if I can give it credit for since that was all done for them from the game.  They are executed well and the animation does look clean and polished, but what doesn’t these days?

There is nothing to this series, it kind of tries to put forward a loose plot with master puppet makers and the well being of the world.  And the last episode was honestly the best one.  But you have to thumb through so many mediocre, average, cliche episodes to  get there.  It likely could’ve been trimmed down to a 4 episode OVA and still ended up having time for random fluff.

There’s not much else to say about this series.  It’s literally your generic harem which does random fantasy-esque things while having entire episodes devoted to carnivals and being cute maids.  What more can be said?

[starrater]

fushigiyuugi

Fushigi Yuugi

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Alternate Titles: The Mysterious Play, Curious Play, ふしぎ遊戯

Original Japanese Release Date: 1995

Episode Length/Run-time: 52

Summary:

Miaka Yuuki and Yui Hongo, two high school students who are also best friends, are wandering around a library one day when they stumble across a strange book called “The Universe of Four Gods.”  As Miaka begins to read the book she finds herself transported into the world, leaving Yui behind to read her adventures as they’re written across the pages.  Miaka finds herself in Konan where she is deemed to be the priestess of Suzaku and she is tasked with gathering her protectors: the Seishi of Suzaku.  When they are gathered they can summon the guardian deity who will end the war in the lands.  If this isn’t difficult enough things become harder for Miaka when her friend Yui is also taken into the book as the priestess of Seiryuu of the rival city of Kutou.  The friends are pitted against each other in this strange world as they each find their own reasons to fight.

Review:

This anime is perfect for girls, but guys well, you may find yourself bored and sick at the amount of cliche lovey cuteness.

Miyaka is the standard hopeless anime girl who is transported to a different world, but despite being given an important position she ends up focusing more on which boy is cuter and which one she likes more.  One thing that can be appreciated though is she eventually does choose, and not at the last episode or anything either and yes, they actually kiss.  Her and Tamahome’s relationship is sweet and pure, and in many ways refreshing to actually see in an anime.

But despite the love some things do get done and a story does progress.  Things tend to get repetitive as they find one Seishi after another.  But one thing I love about this anime is that it has a kind of fearlessness that most shojo anime lacks.  It’s not afraid to get gritty now and again and deals with subjects such as rape, loss, abuse and more.  It’s also not afraid to kill of characters, which is something I have to respect.

Despite all this it’s still a shojo anime, has random filler, and isn’t that original of a story (Chinese mythology anyone?).  That being said it’s a classic and a worthwhile watch for the hopeless romantic.

[starrater]