Time of Eve (イヴの時間) ONA

Time of Eve consists of 6 short 15 minute episodes. It started way back last year in 2008 and finished just recently. You can imagine how frustrated I (and many other people) were having to wait for the next episode because you never knew just when the next episode would get done.

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Summary: In the not too distant future androids have come into common usage. Taking the androids for granted, humans treat them as if they were common everyday tools, while on the other hand, some people empathize with androids due to their human-like appearance (save for a digital ring floating above their heads). This has become a social problem and these people are frowned upon as a result. Rikuo, one who has taken androids for granted for his entire life, one day discovers that Sammy, his home android, has been acting strangely and finds a strange phrase recorded in her activity log. He, along with his friend Masaki, traces Sammy's footsteps and come upon an unusual cafe. This cafe's main rule is to not discriminate between humans and androids.

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If you did not know already, I love sci-fi shows and anything about robots and this show with such deep social concepts and AI and robot love.. Aaaah just what I like.
Each episode pretty much had its own story so each episode was different. Its mostly about a boy, Rikou and his friend Masaki who stumbles into a cafe where robots can become humans. They meet many other characters there, some androids and some not, and Rikou begins to change his view on his android Sammy, and robots/androids in general.
Because this is an ONA, the production quality was amazing. The directing was nice and felt like a drama, or a full movie. Actually it pretty much was a movie, just cut up into episodes.

This is one of those rare series where I could watch it a second time or a third time and because the quality is so good I would buy DVDs of this and watch it.
The exciting thing is, they might make a sequel. Probably depends on popularity but they did put a question mark at the end of the credits. The End?

My rating: 4.9/5
Tear rating: 4.9/5 (the last episode...I'm a huge sucker for "A boy and his robot" stories)

I. Tao

07-Ghost (セブンゴースト)

Another show ended, this time with 25 episodes. Personally I thought it was extremely inconclusive but the manga is ongoing and the anime felt like a starter of some sorts so a second season could be made easily.

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Summary: Set in a gothic fantasy world, this is the story of Teito Klein, an orphaned slave who became the top military academy student. However, an unexpected turn of events left him pursued by the forces of the Barsburg Empire. Now an escaping convict, Teito's sheltered by the church and it’s law of sanctuary. Here, he discovered many mysteries surrounding himself, the church, and the Empire itself. The fact that he might be connected to a dethroned king and the mystical stone of god, 'The Eye of Mikhael' made him the target of the empire more than ever. Fortunately the church is under the mythical 7 Ghost protection. But who are the Ghosts really. Will Teito be free from the military's clutch, And what of his said mission to uncover the history. And who is the military's Chief-of-Staff Ayanami exactly. Teito's future seems to have spiraled into an unexpectedly perilous path.

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I think they could have made this show shorter because I kind of dropped the show about 7 episodes in due to slow plot progression and everything being kind of generic. Then a friend told me what happens later and I decided to catch up. Things get much more interesting later. Its not a terribly good show since its full of "bishounen" and targeted towards girls but the bromance made me cry and of course, my personal rule, anything that makes me cry is a pretty decent watch for me. And I'm a dirty pedo so I like watching little boys cry and suffer...

My rating: 3.8/5
Tear rating: 4.9/5 (bromance, super friendship etc etc)

I. Tao

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (東京マグニチュード8.0)

This is another one of the summer season's better shows in my opinion. Its an another short 11 episode long series about two siblings and a lady trying to get home after an earthquake.

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Summary: The premise of the project is the 70% or higher possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The anime will depict what would happen if an 8.0 earthquake took place. The story will center on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo’s artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yutaka at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yutaka strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.

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I originally wanted to watch this because of the earthquake premise. They fascinate me. I keep wanting to compare this to this TV miniseries (movie) called 10.5 I had watched several years ago. It was basically the same thing although in this anime series, we have this middle school girl and her elementary school brother. I thought the first couple of episodes were really cool because of the earthquake scenes and buildings falling down and things like that. But soon it turned into almost a regular drama and I wasn't sure what to think. I kept watching it but I guess it didn't make me like it as much. Everything was nicely directed however and the character growth was amazing but it somehow didn't suit my tastes I guess. Maybe because I was hoping to watch more about earthquakes but the later half of the series turned into a strange psychological drug trip. (not really)
But despite the shift from the 'what if' earthquake scenario to just character growth, it truely was a great show.

My rating: 4.4/5
Tear rating: 5/5 (predictable ending but I'm a sucker for family drama anyway)

I. Tao

Sweet Blue Flowers (青い花)

Hello. I am back for now since most of the summer shows has ended. There have not been many good shows lately but I am bored at the moment and blogging passes time!

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This would be one of the more smooth and laid back shows that you can just relax to. The watercolor scenery and music and soft dialogues fit together extremely well. This is actually a "shoujo-ai" show. I have never watched one before but I decided that I needed to watch more shoujo series and decided to try this out.

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Summary: Fumi Manjoume, an introverted, bookish teenage girl, is beginning her first year of high school at Matsuoka Girls' High School. She enters the school year with her heart broken by a previous relationship. At about the same time, she reconnects with her best friend from ten years ago, Akira Okudaira, who is now attending Fujigatani Girls' Academy as a first-year high school student. As they reconnect, they both deal with their own respective romantic problems, and help each other get through them.

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To be completely honest, this show was as boring as it could be but I liked it anyway. Actually, I enjoyed watching the pacing and how the relationships turned out. And there were A LOT of complicated relationships. I thought the last episode ended too abruptly but that was alright because the manga is still ongoing and you can read on about Fumi's and Akira's relationship because they didn't really start in the series.

I would have enjoyed this more if Fumi wasn't such a crybaby and I hated her personality in general but since she is the main character, you can't help but want her to be happy.

My rating: 3.9/5
Tear rating: 3.5/5

I. Tao