Another update:
Working my way through the list of recommendations above but available time to view them is gradually lessening..but still, managed to complete the following last week. I'm hoping to finish Futakoi Alternative, Final Approach, and a few others later this week.
Kage Kara Mamoru!
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The Kagemori family have protected their neighbor, Konnyaku family, secretly for 400 years. Mamori has been the protector of the daughter, Konnyaku Yuna, since they were in the kindergarten. When Yuna is in trouble, Mamoru puts on ninja suit quickly, and he turns into a competent ninja to help her.
Ever since Kagemori Mamoru and Konnyaku Yuna were in kindergarten, Mamoru has prevented all harm from coming to Yuna. These tasks are quite hard since Yuna, being both clumsy and ditzy, often enter into troublesome situations requiring Mamoru to don his ninja suit and rescue her.
This is a fun and wacky little series that's very tongue in cheek. It never takes itself seriously and while predictable, its still quite enjoyable. No serious violence, or nudity.
Yuna's a hilarious character and her ditzy-ness just makes her more endearing. You really feel for Mamoru, having to protect Yuna all these years.
The animation is good. Nothing fancy. The artwork is drawn simply. A few instances of reused footage that got boring after awhile, ie: Mamoru's ninja transformation routine
The music is ok. The opening/ending pieces were nice. The opening will quickly get lodged in your skull for the rest of the day as well as the Banana song Yuna sings which you'll find yourself humming, causing your co workers to wonder about your state of mind...
or maybe that's just me.
6/10. Recommended. A fun romp.
Favorite moments:
Spoiler: click to show/hide
Lizard Alien Lieutenant: The human sample is attempting to communicate.
Lizard Alien Commander: What is it saying?
Lizard Alien Lieutenant: "Ba..nana....Banana....Banana with Banana.."
Shuffle!
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Seventeen-year-old high school student Rin Tsuchimi lives in a world where a gateway connected the world of the gods and the world of the demons to the human world, enabling the gods and demons to coexist happily with each other and with the mortals. The gods and demons referred in this series, however, are not immortals, but simply names for two different races. "Gods" are beings with slightly pointed ears and the ability to wield "god" (i.e. healing) magic, whereas "demons" are beings with elongated, pointed ears and the ability to wield "demon" (i.e. destructive) magic.
One day, the ruling family of gods and the ruling family of demons move to either sides of Rin's home. Rin is told by the two families' patriarchs that he is a "marriage candidate" for both Lisianthus, the princess of the god race, and Nerine, the princess of the demon race. This selection is intensified by the fact that these two are not only princesses but also are good friends and have both met him in the past on separate occasions.
Complicating things further are Rin's childhood friend and housemate Kaede Fuyou, Rin's senior Asa Shigure, and the mysterious and almost completely silent demoness Primula.
This series started out like a typical harem series introducing the girls, then having them each get a change to bond with the male lead. Pretty bland and boring the first half, a few good fun episodes and laughs...but then..the second half really starts getting interesting when the background stories for the female characters are revealed. Each of the girls have an interesting past and they're all connected in one way or another.
This all builds up to a great climax and ending. It starts off very lighthearted and gets wonderfully serious near the end. Its really a rollercoaster of a ride and whatever thoughts you had about who Rin ends up with, you're probably wrong.
Some complaints...the girls are a little unrealistic in the way they seemingly are friends with their rivals. You'd expect them to be at least a little bit jealous or competitive but I guess that's what one would expect from a harem type series but it kind of stood out in this one. The male lead, Rin, is a go-with-the-flow-don't-want-to-hurt-anyone-bloody-idiot kinda guy and that's a bit annoying too. Would have been better if he had more of a backbone. But all these complaints are for the first 12 episodes..for the second half, these characters redeem themselves greatly as they change and grow.
Lots of fanservice in this series. I finally understand what 'fanservice' means and this series certainly does it. If love is the meat of this story, the panty shots are the side salad. Don't get me wrong, a few of these ecchi moments adds spice and hilarity...but when taken to such extremes..well, its distracting and after awhile, it becomes patronizing.
In terms of animation, its good. Above average at certain moments. Nice character designs with typical skittle-color haired girls. The music is about average. Nothing really notable.
To sum up, mostly average start but the last half really redeems the series and makes it one of my favorites so far. 7/10. Recommended.
Favorite moments
Spoiler: click to show/hide
Not really one particular moment, but the string of episodes dealing with Kaede's obscession with Rin and their backstory was really intriguing. Kaede, the shy, quiet girl becomes this vengeful, almost psychotic and tragic woman. Loved the scene where little Kaede throws little Rin's pencil case down the stairs, tells him to pick them up and while he does that, she drops an box cutter with blade extended on his head -- slicing his eyebrow. Violent but its a wow moment considering what kind of girl Kaede grows up to be.
Another wonderful scene is when Kaede realizes that Rin had been protecting her by lying, saying it was his fault their parents were gone and how horrible she had been to Rin. She breaks down and cries in Rin's arms repeating, 'I'm sorry' over and over again.
One sad scene, is when Rin has finally chosen Asa and chooses to have dinner at her house again. We see Kaede quietly stirring a pot while Primula answers Rin's phone call home to tell them to go ahead and eat without him. Primula tells Kaede and Kaede goes to her room. Primula goes and lifts the lid of the pot and sees that its completely empty. Kaede had been stirring an empty pot all that time. You really feel Kaede's growing grief and sadness.
Love Hina
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Keitaro and his childhood sweetheart make a promise to be accepted at and to meet each other at the prestigous Toudai University before she moved out of his life. About a decade later, Keitaro has become an artist and a daydreamer, having ranked 27th from the last in the national practice exam. When his grandmother leaves the all-girls dormitory, he becomes the residential manager and soon meets up with two Todai applicants who may have been that sweetheart, since he's forgotten her name. Then there the other tenants like young Shinobu who was in despair until Keitaro helped her, Motoko the swordsmaster who sees men as evil distractions, Su Kaolo the genius child inventor and the sneaky Kitsune.
Having heard many good things about this series, I wanted to see what it was all about. Well, at first, it didn't draw my interest, the first few episodes. It had its funny moments but it didn't really click for me. The girls were ok, but a little annoying how they beat up the male lead, Keitaro for every little transgression or even hint of transgression. The first few times when he deserved it, it was funny but as it wore on, I found myself growing more and more disinterested. I just felt sorry for the guy. Never got a break. But this is a comedy series so I relaxed and marched on through the episodes. The stories are pretty wacky. And after a while, you learn to appreciate the gaping plot holes and nonsensical elements. By the end of the series, a talking cat that flies becomes just another normal part of the world this story takes place in.
The characters are ok. A few of their backgrounds are explored with the main ones being Naru and Keitaro. No favorite ones at the beginning but as the series goes on, you learn to appreciate all of them. Most interesting aspect was watching Naru and Keitaro grow closer and wondering who was Keitaro's 'promised girl'.
Like Shuffle, the last half, the special episodes and OVA, redeems the series for me. The jokes are still there but more focus on the story and relationships kicks the series up a few notches for me.
The animation is ok. Again, nothing spectacular. The music is average. The OP song is fun but the ending one seems a little too serious for this comedy series. But its ok.
7.5/10. Recommended. Probably will get the manga to see how it ends.
Favorite moments:
Spoiler: click to show/hide
In one episode, near the end, I think the beach holiday episode, the female characters start singing the opening credits song, one by one adding to the others from their various locations. Its a fun moment and the song is sung nicely.
Another moment, the frantic race to meet each other at the train station by Keitaru and Naru, the failure, and Naru's confession in the christmas special episode.
Edited by Han, 10 July 2006 - 12:29 PM.
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On the recap episodes, I get the impression that those sorts of episodes in anime often indicate that there are behind-the-scenes issues slowing up production (such as the disagreements with the manga artist that Rommie mentioned). Judging from a few series that give a behind-the-scenes look at anime production, they seem to work on a fairly tight schedule, finishing up an episode the same week that it's set to air. So, if something goes wrong, they have to scramble to fill that half-hour. Best example of this is Wolf's Rain, where you get FOUR EPISODES IN A ROW that are almost nothing but recap.
As for Kippei and Kokoro, they have a nice relationship that's fun to watch develop. Though I kept thinking, 'Kippei, you baka' throughout most of it. 
I really hope they get a second season.
