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hiiro no kakera s2

Hiiro No Kakera – Season 2

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Alternate Titles: Hiiro no Kakera Dai-ni-Sho

Hiiro no Kakera – The Tamayori Princess Saga 2

Plot Summary: The story continues to follow Tamaki as the special shine priestess of her family and her five guardians.  Picking up from where the previous season left off Takumi – one of Tamaki’s guardians – is of course the forerunner for her love interest but there are problems in paradise as the monster within him is on the rise.  If that isn’t bad enough, Logos is back and is determined to circumvent all the plans for their own interest.

Technical stuff – Does this even matter for this show?

Because I know many people are interested in this kind of thing, Hiiro no Kakera, unsurprisingly, has about the exact same staff as the first show.  The director, script writers, chief animation director,  series composition, and just about all other major positions involved with the show feature the same group of people.  The only major exception is music, with music for the second season being done by Hikaru Nanase.

Speaking of, the series opening is really good, better than the first season which is actually saying something.  (See, I said something nice about this show)  Otherwise the music was your generic of generic land type of thing.  An action sequence, or sentimental moment, may have stood out here or there but its nothing you can even remember right after finishing watching the episode.

The art is of the same style as the first season – of course – and looks nice but the animation quality itself I would put just below average.  Maybe even a little worse than it’s predecessor.

Review – Not that it had that much to live up to.

And that’s just the thing with this show.  It didn’t have much to live up to.  The first season was based off an old PS2 game and the second season progresses an already basic story further in ways that, all things considered, weren’t really necessary.

As a girl reviewing this it’s possible to find the first season charming, in a “shut your mind off and look at the pretty boys and squeal at the romance kind of way.”  But, maybe I am just a bit bitter at the notion that I wasted another six hours of my life watching the same reverse harem run around and do, well, more shit I couldn’t care less about.

Now, I suppose I shouldn’t launch into a complete hater-aid fest, the second season did do some things that I think were improvements, however slight, over the first season.  Chiefly being a faster-paced plot line, more involvement with various characters including some development that was missing from the first season, and even more fleshing out of the romance between the two mains. But it really isn’t enough to spare this show some hate and at the end of the day it walks in the realm of generic romance at best.  It’s everything you’ve seen before and a lot of what three fourths of us never wanted to see again.

If you are a HUGE lover of romance anime then this is for you, without doubt.  Or, if you love reverse harems, it has bishies for days.  But if you’re looking for a substantial, realistic, love story this isn’t it.  Or well, if you’re looking for anything else.  So my recommendation for those who watch this remains people who watched the first season and loved it.  Speaking of, this series gets off to a bit of a confusing start even if you have seen the first season as you work out what they’re doing with the characters.  So if you want to give it a try I definitely recommend watching that first.

In the end, I could slam this anime a lot for what it is and I likely should.  Everything feels so average and mediocre of what we’ve all seen countless times before.  But, to be fair, if it is what you’re looking for average fits the bill and is a lot better than shows that make you want to gouge your eyes out.  For that reason I’m giving this half of the series a 2 because I gave the first a 2.5 and I think on a 10 scale a 4.5 for this series sounds about right.  Maybe the romantic in me saved it a little.  But it’s definitely something I could slam and see people slamming a lot, lot, lot more.  It’s average though, in my mind, and therefore deserves an average score.

[starrater]

Witch Hunter Robin Review

Review: Witch Hunter Robin

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Witch Hunter Robin ReviewEpisode Reviewed In: Episode 110
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: July 2002
Episode Length/Run-time: 26 Episodes
Summary:
The story follows Robin Sena who is a “craft user” not to be mistaken with a witch.  Craft users are raised by the Roman Cathloic Church to use their powers to hunt down witches.  Witchcraft is a dormant trait which lies in human “seeds” when they awaken it drives a person, generally, to madness.  Robin works for the STN-J a group which looks over seeds and hunts witches but through her work with them she begins to learn more about the witches she hunts and what her group really does.
Review:
I suppose I’ll start out by saying that Witch Hunter Robin is not an exceptional anime. It’s far from bad, and it’s downright entertaining most of the time, but it is hardly something which will merit acclaim, praise, or a second watch anytime soon. However, I am a huge fan of the occult and witchcraft so this series is right up my alley and tickles my supernatural bone.
The series falls under the old routine of monster of the week for about the first half. In my opinion you can watch episodes 1 and 2, then skip 3-11 and pick the series back up there. Some of the episodes are interesting and the DO progressively let you in on secrets of the STN-J group but it is filler, no ifs-ands-or-butts on the matter. The plot doesn’t really take off until the halfway mark, where they then take the non-existent buildup and your now over-familiarity with the characters to progress what is the real plot. Being a fan of the occult I didn’t hate the filler, and some of it was amusing, but filler is filler, they likely could’ve condensed it down a fair bit.
When the series does pick up, it really picks up and the plot moves quick. Not break-neck speed that makes you go “wooooah hold up!” but a good place that is enjoyable. The show is never riddled with action but has the pacing of a good mystery novel and uncovers things at a decent pace that makes it worth watching.
The atmosphere of the show and animation style are just fantastic, and really carries it along. I’ve heard it described as “neo-goth” and I can see how it fits really well. The show almost has such a good atmosphere it feels like TV shows like Charmed (without the silly fluff of Charmed) here in America.
The characters also make the show worth watching, from traditional clichés to people facing deep moral dilemmas. And the music is pretty solid too, I rocked out on my iPod for a while to it.
Overall, I may be a little biased because I liked this show so much because of the themes it used and the questions it asked. But I really enjoyed it.