The Incomplete Guide to 2012 Anime (Referencing Cows)

The year is over, and what a year it has been.  In celebration of the end of a year, I invite people to join in reminiscence of the many anime series that we've seen come out this past year.  Anime can get a little weird sometimes, though, so it may help to relate things in a more mundane manner...

Ano Natsu de Matteru: You have two cows.  Aliens come to Earth and steal one of them.
Another: You have two cows.  Nobody acknowledges that they exist.
Chitose Get You: You have two cows.  They compete for your affection, unaware that you are not attracted to bovines.
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai: You have two cows.  They pretend to fight demons.
Fate/Zero: You have two cows.  You place them in the care of a butcher, sit back, and watch the money roll in.

Tari Tari Review: It's Everywhere...

I must admit, Tari Tari was something I probably wouldn't have watched had it not been for P.A. Works providing the animation.  The concept as conveyed through summaries didn't really manage to grab my attention, and even now that I have finished watching the series, it's not something that I'm really excited over.

It's about a Choir Club! (and sometimes badminton)

There are plenty of works out there that suffer from the problem in that "they Get Better".  We've likely all had this problem bite us at some point; Either we drop a show after the first few episodes, only to return years later and realize what we've been missing, or maybe we introduce friends to the work, only for them to drop it before they could know about that thing that makes the work truly awesome.  Tari Tari doesn't have this problem (indeed, I found the quality of the series to be quite consistent from start to finish), but rather the related problem of sounding uninteresting at first.

Figure 17 Review: In what form will your Soul Manifest?

Figure 17 is one of those anime that have been on my to-watch list for quite some time, but that I hadn't yet gotten around to actually checking out.  Having recently picked up a set of the DVDs for the show, I've finally been able to get around to correcting this situation.

I must admit, there was no real particularly grounded reason for why I initially decided that this should be a show that I would eventually watch.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I originally looked into it because the title had a similarity to Ever 17 by way of having the same number in the title.  After reading the description of the series, I figured that it didn't sound uninteresting, and that it was as good a choice as any for when I needed something new to watch.

The verdict?  After three episodes, while I can't picture this becoming one of my favorite shows ever, it's definitely something that could stand to be a little more well-known than it currently is.

Aria the Scarlet Ammo Review: Death of a Genre?

If you've been hanging out in the anime fandom for at least a few years, there's a type of show that you've most definitely heard of (and have likely seen).  As the story begins, a standard-issue male high school student meets a girl.  This girl is short-statured, shorter-tempered, and has light-coloured hair (usually blonde, very light brown, or a gentle shade of pink).  Her chest is flat.  She comes from a rich family, leading her to treat most other people as if they were beneath her; as a result of this, she has few friends, if any.  Her elegant background is betrayed by her attitude towards others and her clumsiness/sloppiness.

Oh, and she's also voiced by Kugimiya Rie

At their first meeting, our Main Character will learn that the Girl is involved in some manner of fantastic occurrence.  Circumstances will reveal that the Main Character is now also tied to the abnormal events, forcing him and the Girl to live in close proximity.  Despite their initial inability to get along, the two will overcome their circumstances and eventually admit love for each other.

As one may have guessed from the title, I am describing Aria the Scarlet Ammo.  I am also describing Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, To aru Majutsu no Index, Lotte no Omocha, and to a lesser extent Hayate the Combat Butler and Toradora!.  There are likely many more anime that utilize this formula, as well as countless light novels and manga who are aiming to be the next smash-hit by using the same successful formula.

Actually, that assessment may not be completely right.  Maybe it would be better to include Aria the Scarlet Ammo in that final category...

Never 7: The End of Infinity Review

Never 7: The End of Infinity follows Ishihara Makoto, a college student who must attend "Seminar Camp" with three other students from his college.  For the Seminar, Makoto and fellow students Yuka, Haruka, and Okuhiko will take up residence in a lodge on a southern island for one week.

Unfortunately, not all is well.  On April 1st, before the Seminar begins, Makoto has a dream in which he is viewing a the corpse of an unknown female.  While this is initially unsettling but nonthreatening, A series of premonitions during the subsequent days make Makoto begin to wonder if it might be cause to worry: Could it be that his dream is a premonition that will come true on the morning of April 6th?  Can he find a way to prevent this future from occurring?

 Background

A few years ago, I was just getting into Visual Novels.  The fourth that I ever played was an rather interesting one, well known in English-speaking Visual Novel circles, "Ever 17: The Out of Infinity".  Made by Kindle Imagine Developers (KID) in 2002 and translated for English-speaking audiences by Hirameki International a few years later, Ever 17 managed to gain a strong western following, helped by the engaging plot, the lack of adult scenes, and the availability of a translation in a fledgeling fanbase where the pool of works that were in a language that the fans could understand was severely limited.

Though Ever 17 gained a good-sized fanbase, none of the other games in the Infinity series were ever translated, likely due to the collapse of both Hirameki and KID.  In summer 2010, however, a fan-produced translation patch was released for the third game in the series, "Remember 11: The Age of Infinity".  Now, in summer 2012, we of the English-language Visual Novel fanbase may once again experience Infinity with the release of GundamAce's translation for the first game in the series: "Never 7: The End of Infinity".