I figured I’d do this roundup on a weekly basis instead of the bi-monthly thingy. The first one was just pretty fun to do so I want to keep doing more until I ran out of stuff to write about. With anime though, that’d be pretty impossible. Anyways, this is the Anime Roundup where I combine a lot of my blog ideas into one big blog. I also featured some anime blogs from the community. Not a lot of people blog anime so I think can feature them here.
I’ve been watching a lot of anime ever since I can read fast subtitles so it’s become part of my everyday schedule. If I don’t watch at least one episode of anime a day, I get the jitters and I feel restless. It’s a new year for anime because the 2013 lineup is out so that’ll be pretty awesome. I’ll post some of my reviews here so people know some of the hard hitters of the year. For now, let me talk about some of the hard hitters of 2012.
In this section, I’ll feature some anime that is Karuhi approved. I’ve seen it and I’ve liked it. They’re solid anime that will appeal to a lot of people. Anime in this section are guaranteed enjoyable and pretty awesome.
Karuhi approves of : Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shita! (Love, Chuunibyou, and other Delusions)
This is an anime made by KyoAni. That in itself is one of the reasons this anime is solid. The studio has always delivered pretty awesome anime and all of their release is received with a lot of fanfare. Their combination of captivating stories and high quality animation garnered them a large fanbase.
This anime is about a group of weird people doing weird things in a club. It features characters who act in a different persona influenced by video games or anime. It’s a syndrome called Chuunibyou or “Eight Grade Syndrome”. Basically, the syndrome is described as those people who act like their favorite characters. Ever seen two dudes play with sticks as if they’re light sabers? Ever seen a dude speak or talk like Solid Snake? Ever seen a guy act like a f*cking ninja? Well, that person is suffering from the Eight Grade Syndrome.
The story is about a guy who has recently recovered from his delusions soon met a girl suffering from one. He has a soft spot for the girl because he has lived through the syndrome. The two characters grow close and they soon start a club with a bunch of weird people as well. You’ll be laughing hard at some of the weird things in the anime and the character interaction is pretty solid.
Let this GIF convince you:
It does get serious at the end and I know for a fact that people have mixed reception on that part. The comedy aspects are pretty strong though and the blossoming romance between the characters is lovely to watch.
Let another GIF convince you:
This is 100% Karuhi approved and I promise you won’t regret picking up this anime. Stare at the GIFs because it pretty much captured the crazy nature of the anime. The comedy, fluid animation and memorable characters all combine into on awesome anime experience.
These are blogs that different myIGN users posted. I’ll try to feature recent ones so if you ever posted an anime blog this week then post the link in the comments below and it’ll appear in the next Anime Roundup.
Koutura-san by LtColInsane. This is a blog about a newly airing anime from 2013. It’s a rather unique anime and the blog is full of screenshots to feature the fan service.
Cat(girl)urday: Amazing PJ by foxrevolution. This dude is one of the resident anime bloggers of myIGN and he has dedicated his life to cat girls. He loves them so much that he declared Saturday to be Catgurlday. This is a long running blog from this awesome dude.
Cat(girl)urday: A Better Mouse Trap by foxrevolution
Chaos Blogg 28 by ChaosMetroid. See this awesome guy’s thoughts on Sword Art Online and Animal Crossing the Movie.
Top Ten Anime I Watched This Year by ChaosMetroid. The dude ranked his favorites anime that he saw last year. A solid list so check out those anime you probably missed.
If you made an anime blog this week or just recently then send it my way and I'll put it here. Any anime blog is welcome, especially the super perverted ones and everything else in between. :)
This section is about certain anime that was heavily hyped or most talked about by the anime community. They easily stand out because a lot of people either praise it or slander it relentlessly. I am pretty impartial (or I try to be) so let the tentacle monster decide if the anime is certainly good or if the hyped is undeserved.
Karuhi judges: K project
K is an original anime from a pretty unknown studio. This was their breakout anime and it was heavily promoted. Here in the Philippines, Animax hyped the anime to oblivion and even doing a match airing from Japan. If you look at the PVs and the promo campaign of the anime, the first thing that’ll strike you is the visuals. It’s beautiful and very inviting. It easily hooked some curious otaku into trying the product. Is the product good though?
The Good: Bad ass characters that truly stood out in more way than one. They demanded your attention and despite the lack of proper development, they’ll easily stick to your mind. They just ooze awesomeness.
The animation is certainly the best aspect of the anime. It’s fluid and visually pleasing. The nice use of effects, CG and digital rendering really made the anime look super surreal. The fight scenes are also very bad ass. Epic upon epic and combined with the character’s awesomeness, it’s a surely effective formula. K is a visually appealing anime.
The Bad: Sadly though, the storytelling is a bit confusing. The characters are introduced sloppily, the overall story isn’t paced properly and it often shifts focus on unrelated matter that can easily confuse viewers. It has a lot of side stories that muddled the main story of the anime. Even with the shocking twist and the awesome surprise, the anime couldn’t save the story.
This is a matter of marathon vs. weekly viewing. The initial audience saw it on a weekly basis and the anime had a lot of flaws at the beginning that soured the experience. I marathon the anime and I was able to recover from the subpar episodes. There is a beautiful potential in the anime but it was covered with weak elements that ruins the overall appeal of the anime.
The Verdict: Potential could never save an anime. The hype certainly damaged the anime and it couldn’t recover with its inconsistent pacing and muddled story. The characters are all pretty awesome though. Take a look for yourself. In the meantime though, I’d give the anime 2 out of five tentacle monsters.
These are superpowers that were seen in an anime. There are a lot of pretty unique powers found in anime so I’ll try to focus them all in this segment. I’ll try to feature those uncommon ones as well and avoid powers seen in popular anime like Bleach or DBZ.
Weighted Words
Gunki Itoshima is this menacing guy from the anime Medaka Box Abnormal. He has a massive superiority complex and the thinks of himself as king of the world. His arrogance is met with retaliation but you can’t really hit a guy that can make you kneel in front of him when he shouts “kneel”.
Weighted Words is the power to order people around. Gunki uses brain waves and activates certain parts of an individual’s brain function to order them around. This near invincible super power makes him a very formidable foe.
This has a weakness though. It’s affected by distance. There’s a certain range that the brain waves can’t reach so you can only order people who are close to you. Of course, if your mouth can’t form words then you can’t use this power as well. It’s pretty convenient though.
If you have weighted words, what order would you give and who would you order around?
Thirty Minutes or Less
This section is about some pretty unique anime. They’re short anime that run for less than thirty minutes. There is a lot of anime like this and they often go unnoticed because they’re often plain looking or they’re overshadowed by other anime. I dig through a lot of anime so let me show you some anime that I think were solid and they’re pretty short. They’ll probably be in youtube or something. It’s convenient.
Short Feature of the Week is: Teekyu!!
It’s a tennis anime about a bunch of cute girls doing cute stuff. There are some perverted scenes as well and the anime thrives in random. The beautiful part about the anime though is that it only runs for two minutes.
This anime is dubbed as the “fastest anime ever” and it’s pretty accurate. The dialogue is superfast as if it’s in fast forward and the characters look like they’re injected with caffeine going in a massive sugar rush. I was in awe when I first saw it and I couldn’t tell what I just saw. It’s a bit hard to watch but that is the main appeal of the anime.
Its super short so give it a try. Be prepared though because this anime is not for the faint of heart.
Masako Nozawa voiced Son Goku in all versions of Dragon Ball. She has voiced the iconic character for almost twenty six years.
Dragon Ball (1986)
Dragon Ball Kai (2011)
And that's that.
1. I'm still thinking of ideas for the Top 100 thingy. The anime moment, I realized yesterday, has already been done. Any suggestion is appreciated. 
2. If you have any anime blog you want to appear here, just post in the comments below.
Lastly, check my site out. Thank you. See ya next week.
