I’ve been trying to get into watching new anime since I’ve been so out of the loop the past few years. I’ve just mainly watched Haruhi, Lucky Star, and Higurashi recently. So I downloaded around six series but alas they’ve just been queueing up over the past few months. So a few weeks ago I finally decided to remedy the situation and that began my anime viewing spree. So in this entry I’ll go over the series I’ve watched and include a mini-review of each.

The first anime I started with was the sequel to Higurashi called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. It’s basically a continuation of the first series leaving where the series left off, per se. I really loved the first series and the love continues to the sequel. Same mystery/murder/conspiracy themes. There’re still some nice plot twists like in the first series, but unlike the first series there’s a little continuity between the “mini-stories.” It’s also got a very nice ending that closes the series nicely. No cliffhanger or open ending like other anime nowadays. Overall Higurashi was a great series with very few negatives ( so much so that they don’t really warrant a mention here. ) I’d highly recommend both the original and sequel for anyone looking for a serious anime to watch.

The next anime I watched was School Days, which is an anime based off of an ero-game. It starts off like any other h-game based anime; boy meets girl falls for her, meets more girls, all girls fall for boy, etc. It basically follows that formula for the first half of the series. But then suddenly it takes a turn for the worse. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s basically what would happen if this scenario occurred in real life. And be prepared for a way freaky/sad ending. Don’t watch if you’re looking for a light-hearted, romantic comedy.

After that I started watching Sola which is a nice heart-warming about a boy meeting a strange girl. This was a nice refreshing watch after School Days. It was very cute, semi-actiony, and held my attention pretty well. There was also a slight harem thing going on which made me love the anime even more. But as the story unfolds, there’s a nice big twist leaving you with a sad ending. Well I shouldn’t say sad; it’s more of one of those sad, but ultimately happy endings where things mostly work out and leaves you with a small smile on your face. Would recommend this to everyone out there no matter what kind of anime you like.

The fourth anime I got into was ef – A Tale of Memories. Now this was the uplifting anime I needed after two sad endings. This story follows two couples as their relationship forms and the trials they go through. It’s a very heart warming story about love and nicely quells the hopless romantic in me. Though I’ve really got to stop routing for the childhood friend in these romantic anime. Nine times out of ten, they won’t be chosen which always makes me a little sad. I give this a high recommendation to any romantic story lovers out there.

Fifth anime I got into was Claymore which after all these lovey-dovey stories, I needed a good action anime. Typically people fighting evil demons with the story following on member’s travels. It’s got an interesting premise and a fairly good story. Lots of neat action with tons of gore. But as I got into the last half of the anime, it came down with the DBZ syndrome. Fighting a strong opponent, defeating them, fighting a new stronger opponent, defeating them, etc. which disappointed me and lead me to fast forwarding through some of the fights just to get to the next story. In the end, it turned out to be a decent anime. The ending left things wide open for a sequel. Or I should say the ending practically demanded a sequel which is obviously coming. So yeah it’s a decent action story, so if you’re jonesing for action, this will quench your thirst for a bit.

The next anime I watched was School Rumble. Yeah, yeah, I know this isn’t a new anime, but it’s been sitting on my harddrive for two years and I’ve been trying to get myself to watch it. Started it three times over the past years but for some reason never finished it. So this time I was finally able to get all the way through it and oh my God, it freakin’ rocks. Funny as hell, cute as hell, and some of the best characters ever. I’d say this is one of the best anime comedies ever made and if you like laughing your ass off you owe it to yourself to download or buy the DVDs. I’d say it’s comparable to Azumanga Daioh in randomness just with more continuity. Also thanks to School Rumble, I’ve got a new girl that’s been added to my favorite anime girls list: Eri Sawachika. Normally I don’t like girls with her looks, but her inadvertant cuteness eventually won me over. And that wasn’t until the latter half of the anime. I ended up loving this series so much that I immediately started downloading its sequel on finishing it.

But since it takes a while to download a whole series I started Ouran High School Club. Yeah I’ve watched this series about three times already, but that still doesn’t detract from how awesome it is. It’s always refreshing cause of the the whole reverse-harem thing going on. Plus Haruhi is cute as hell. I think I have a thing for semi-tomboys. Anyway this is another good romantic comedy for anyone looking for one.

So yeah School Rumble 2nd Term finished downloading and got to watching it right away. Pretty much followed the same formula as the first season and I must say that it did not really disappoint. Just as funny, just as cute, and even more wacky scenarios. Only complaint is that practically no movement is made in the relationships of the characters. I really wanted to see something risque occur and change a dynamic in the group. Well something did happen, but then they dismiss it by character conveniently getting bumped on the head and forgetting what happened. So basically nothing progressed relationshipwise. But it was still a good anime overall.

The next anime I watched was Minami-ke which feels like Azumanga Daioh toned down a few notches. It’s about the everyday lives of three sisters. It’s extremely cute and has a very laid back feel to it. There are a bunch of cute, random scenarios they go through and you can’t help but be feel endeared to the sisters. I just wish there was more out there. There’s a “sequel” being subbed right now, but I read somewhere that it’s the same story just done by a different company. Will have to download as it’s released and find out. Anyway I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, slow-paced anime.

The last anime I watched and coincidentally just finished tonight was La Corda d’Oro ~primo passo~ which is basically a reverse-harem classical music anime. Firstly this anime has one of the most hauntingly beautiful opening songs. I know it’s nothing special but I just can’t help but listen to it over and over. I’ll probably end up putting it on the rotation if I don’t get tired of it tomorrow. Also I didn’t know this before I downloaded the anime ( just wanted an anime about music ) but it’s a total shoujo anime. Hot guys everywhere and consequentally all the hot guys end up swooning over the lead girl. That almost turned me off in the first few episodes, but I endured and ended up falling in love with the anime. It’s one of the sweetest anime I’ve seen. I never got bored during the anime and was thoroughtly engrossed in the story. This story was so cute, romantic, and sweet I felt like I’d turn into a girl by the last episode. Thankfully I didn’t, but it did leave me with one of those smiles you get when you think about your significant other. A side note about the music, it’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Nice, crisp playing, very good animations when they play their instruments, and I haven’t wanted to play the piano and trumpet so badly in like forever. The anime also renewed my interest in wanting to learn the violin and cello. Jeez I’m such a hopeless romantic. =P

Anyway that’s was/is my current anime spree. Still have a few more to watch, but I had to get this out of the way before I saw too many and forgot what I watched. Hope this sways you guys to watch a few of these anime. And jeez I need to stop watching so many shoujo anime. So yey! That’s all of this long-ass post.