Anime Review Roundup

Another week of me not paying attention to anime news has passed by, although Cat Planet Cuties’ UK release has been delayed by a month to June. Instead, let’s go straight into the reviews, which last week began with Shakugan no Shana: Season 2 Part 2. It’s been a long wait for the continuation of a series that I was initially lukewarm on. When the first part of the second season was released a couple of months ago, the temperature didn’t rise much for me, but with this second half, we rapidly climb to boiling point, as the domestic stuff gets left behind, the main story begins to dominate, and we gets some very well-plotted, and engaging action sequences. We also get a whole lot of character development that makes the first 36 episodes of Shakugan no Shana all worthwhile.

Then it was a blast from the past for me. Vampire Princess Miyu was one of the first anime that I reviewed for this site almost ten years ago. Now it has been relicensed, and is being released for the first time in complete series form. Taking a trip down memory lane has certainly been fun, as ten years of anime experience allows me to see the show from a new perspective. It also helps to take it in as a whole, rather than in single volumes. Vampire Princess Miyu is all about a young girl with a horrible destiny and burden, tasked to hunt down evil spirits and banish them back to the darkness. But it means that she can never truly be human again. Read more in my review of Vampire Princess Miyu: The Complete Series.

From the supernatural to the fantasy, as my attention turned to Okami-san and Her Seven Companions. It’s a romantic comedy crossed with a fairy tale parody, with the ‘hunter’ falling in love with the wolf, the wolf’s roommate Red Riding Hood playing matchmaker, and the wolf constantly beating up the hunter for being a wimp. Throw in a Cinderella that kicks her Prince Charming in the face, a wealthy mouse looking for a bride, the little matchgirl looking for a wealthy husband to pay off some loan sharks, and you have all manner of mayhem going on. It’s a little more prosaic than that. Okami-san is a high school comedy, where the Otogi Bank do favours for the student body for a price. Ryoko Okami is the fists of the bank, and Ryoshi is the hapless boy that falls in love with her. When he joins the bank, all manner of strange adventures ensue.