Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Episodes:          13

Grade:         B

How:    Amazon



Summary:        Childhood friends Arumi and Sasshi are residents of the Abenobashi commercial district in Abeno-ku, Osaka. After an accident, they find themselves transported to an alternate sword and sorcery world. Their attempt to get back to reality finds them traversing a series of nonsensical worlds built on science fiction, war, fantasy, dating sim games and American movies. Each alternate Abenobashi is a surreal manifestation of Sasshi's otaku interests, populated by analogs of the protagonist's relatives and acquaintances and a blue-haired stranger known as Eutus.  




Thoughts:   This was a fun romp around many, many worlds.  I'll admit I was a little hesitant at first, but wow..... It turned out fairly good.  Of course the show can be quite extreme at times, but never really going overboard.
       Mind you, I watched it Dubbed... The accents probably made the show that much more amusing. Not really being able to tell accents in Japanese, something may have been lost and I could have had a lessor opinion of the show.
        I'll be honest, the ending could have been better in ways. It's kind of confusing. Sasshi got everything he wanted and pretty much pushed aside how Arumi felt on certain things.

Who we have...

Satoshi {Sasshi} Imamiya- A geeky, hyper 12 year old. He's lived in Abenobashi his entire life and is now met with a huge problem, it's be redeveloped.  Everyone, including his best friend and her family are moving elsewhere.  With this and another unfortunant event dealing with Arumi's grandfather.. something is triggered in Sasshi and that something sends he and Arumi to strange worlds based on his likes.
        He's young, he doesn't want to face the reality at hand since to him the change sucks so much, Arumi being a bit more mature than he had seemingly accepted the move and such and hadn't actually found out about her grandfathers death. Sasshi wanted to save her from that, from everything.
       It turns out that Sasshi is the illigitmate grandson of Abe no Seimei, his powers came through due to his desire to not face reality. Abe no Seimei is the one who initially built Abenobashi and they end up meeting him during their jumps through the worlds, although he's going by Eutus now.
   

Arumi Asahina -   Sasshi's best friend, she seems to be a little older than Sasshi and or far more mature than him. She's kind of just along for the ride, even though she keeps yelling as Sasshi for not wanting to go back home. She never does find out exactly why Sasshi doesn't want to go back....

Eutus & MuneMune -   Eutus is apparently Abe no Seimei, he bobs around the worlds and such and is the one that helps Sasshi change reality.   MuneMune is a well endowed, hyper, insane woman who is always seaching for Eutus.
           Turns out, MuneMune is Satoshi's grandmother in ways, she was in love with Abe no Seimei before she ended up with Sasshi's grandpa.  Apparently Seimei and MuneMune met when they were younger, Sasshi's grandfather was in love with MuneMune and she was obssesed with Seimei. Lon story short, she gets pregnant, Seimei goes away and...for some reason they end up thinking it's Sasshi's grandfathers child.  I really don't remember the entire story here it felt a bit out of place.












The End:  After running through many fun and unusual worlds, Sasshi and Arumi finally find themselves back home. The home is a bit different now, due to Sasshi's new found powers.
      He made it where Arumi would no long be leaving, Abenobashi is no longer being redeveloped and Arumi's grandfather doesn't die falling from the rood of their restaraunt. Another cute little quirk is it looks like MuneMune and Abe have been "reborn" and are now together.
    Happy ending basically.  Of course it's also very unrealistic, Sasshi can't just keep using his Onmyouji powers to change things he doesn't want to face.  He's also sort of holding Sasshi back, she was read for her move and now... she'll be stuck there with him for however long it lasts.  Oh well. It was a fun.

Love Live! School Idol Project

Episodes:    13

How:   Crunchyroll

Grade:    A

Summary:   Otonokizaka High School stands on the border of three cities: Akihabara—a pop culture mecca that's evolving by the minute; Kanda—a conservative, cultured city where history and tradition reign supreme; and Jinbo—a quiet area reserved for a more mature, sophisticated population. Amidst this culture clash, the school now faces closure due to the enrollment of fewer and fewer students.

With the school planning to close within three years, nine female students come together with one thing in mind—form a pop idol group to revive the school's popularity and keep it from shutting down. "In order to protect our beloved school, there's only one thing we can do... become pop stars!"

Their goal is simple: Become an overnight sensation and use their nationwide media exposure to promote their school and bring in a wave of new students to the ailing area. A simple but solid plan, they figure. Naturally, they're nervous and wonder if this plan can really succeed, but for better or worse their new journey has begun...

How it is.......


      So, I've never really watched any of these Idol type shows... They just never really appealed to me. I may have to rethink that stance though, this was really good.
       Three girls set out to save their school from closing by becoming School Idols.  Sounds a little corny.  It wasn't corny at all though, it was very follow your dreams and you can do whatever you put your mind to.  Yea... okay.... maybe a little corny.
        It didn't just come together for the trio though, it was like no one {a few were} in the school was supporting them at first. When they preformed their first "concert" {one song} only a few people showed up to watch them preform.  This didn't stop them though, they went on with the show and didn't let the small showing discourage them too much..
      Slowly, with hard work the three girls gathered others to join their group... first it went to six...then to seven and then finally to nine.   Nine.

Who we have...... 


Honoka Kousaka;  She's the leader, she's the glue, she's what makes the girls stick together.  It was her idea to start the Idol Group and it's her that keeps it from falling apart. She doesn't have any specific talent, but she's always the optimist and strives to do her best.
      There was a small time late in the series that she pretty much quits Muse, this caused pretty much all the girls to split up and go their separate ways. This was short lived however...
       She lives with her parents and younger sister in the back of their sweet shop, which ironically she hates red bean paste.

Kotori Minami; Honoka's and Umi's best friend, she's the kind, absent minded one that designs the girls costumes for their performances. Normally quiet, she sort of fades into the background. The big drama at the end of the first season revolves around her not telling Honoka that she'd been accepted to a fashion design school in another country.
     All packed and ready to go at the airport, she can't seem to force herself to get onto the plane. Which is good, since Honoka shows up to bring her back to Muse and the School.

Umi Sonada:  Umi,Umi,Umi.  She's the shy one, even has stage fright... but man she's a bit scary when she's training the girls stamina. Bossy,Bossy, saying "No" to her seems impossible and she'd be a great drill Sergeant.

Hanayo Koizumi:   Hanayo has dreamed of being an Idol since she was a little girl, never having the courage to go for it till her friend Rin pushes her.

Rin Hoshizora: Hanayo's best friend, she really never had much interest in becoming an idol, but she joined Muse to help Hanayo along.   She's an energetic,tom boyish girl and just seems to become friends with everyone she meets...
      A little bashful about wearing skirts.

Maki Nishikino:  This was a hard nut to crack, she can write music and sing beautifully, but since she had chosen to follow in her parents footsteps to become a doctor. She really didn't feel she had the time to become an Idol.
       At first they needed her to just write and record some music for them, but then...after some help from Hanayo and Rin, Maki joins the group.


Nico Yazawa:  This girl is annoying, you kind of want to slap her through the whole show. She's the last member of the Idol Research Club that had slowly disolved for some reason or another {Probably because Nico's annoying}.  Anyways, At first Nico can't stand Muse...stalking them, sending them failure messages and stuff.
    Then, since Muse needed to be a club and that Idol Research Club was all ready there.. they talked Nico into joining.  Uhg.

Eli Ayase:  One of the last girls to join Muse, she's the Student Council President and was also trying to find a way to save the school. Which didn't involve and Idol Group.  She's an ex ballerina, an extremely good ballerina that just didn't quite have the stuff for the big times. When Honoka finds out about this, she's all about getting Eli to teach them to dance...
       With a little push from Nozomi and a lot of annoying from the other Muse girls, Eli finally agrees and... ends up being a scarier trainer than Umi.  She whips the girls into semi-shape...

Nozomi Toujou:   This girl is fun, she's the Student Council Vice President and Eli's best friend. She's really grabby, yes...that's the main thing I remember about her. She likes to grab the other girls breasts and fondle them... it's sort of a punishment in ways.
        She's also into telling Fortunes and says the Idol Group would only work if there were 9 Girls.  Took them a while, but they got to 9.

The End:   It was a happy one, I guess.  Muse had gained enough popularity for the school to get enough Applicants to remain open, which means there was no real reason for Muse to remain together.
     There was a huge implosion after Honoka got sick and then Kotori decided to leave and all of the bad break up stuff happened.  Yet, out of the jaws of destruction it was pulled and all the girls decided to remain in Muse and sing another day!
     Well, sort of.  It was really just one of those bright, shiny, everyone is happy endings.

    I'll get around to watching Season 2 eventually.

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions.

Episodes:   12

How:   Amazon

Grade:   C


Summary:    Yuuta Togashi suffered from chuunibyou while he was in middle school. When he graduated, he put that dark history behind him and forgot about it... or he was supposed to. High school was smooth sailing and full of enjoyment—until the unavoidable, sad event occurs. The event that locks Yuuta into a contract with Rikka Takanashi and disrupts his desperately ordinary life.



Thoughts:  This whole show is about a group of teenagers playing make believe, some by choice and others have just been dragged into it.  It has it's boring moments, it's dumb moments and it's good moments which are mostly near the end.
        I almost didn't get past the first three episodes, but there was some part of me that really wanted to see what all the hype was about so I kept on...and on...and on... It was episode 7 when the show actually started to become less of a chore to watch.  When the group goes to Rikka's grandparents house and everything is really "revealed".
        Of course it's another, her father died and she is refusing to accept this type of story. Trying to stay in her little fantasy land so that she doesn't have to face the fact that her dad is truly dead.  Eventually with Yuuta's help she finally accepts reality and attempts to become a "normal" teenager, but really... that Rikka is more boring than the first half of the show was.
        In the end she returns to her delusional thinking, but this time in a little healthier of manner. This time it's not to run and hide from the real world,but to just have fun with her friends.

Who we have....


Yuuta Togashi-  Not really an original character, as with most main males in these types of show he's sort of just dragged along for the ride by his eventual love interest Rikka.  He'd actually be more interesting if he kept himself in the "Dark Flame Master" mode.


Rikka Takanashi- She's the nucleus of the show, she's the thing that brings all the rest of the crazies together.  There's really nothing special about her in terms of main characters, bad stuff happened to her in the past and now she's in denial.  Sure, her method of denial is a bit unusual... making up her own fantasy world and being in a constant state of Role Play; but in the end she's just another female that accepts her life and slowly finds love.


Makoto Isshiki-   Yuuta's best friend, the main male needs a dumb male to be his friend. Maybe to make him look better, I don't know. He's always getting caught by the girls doing things he ought not. Guess he's sort of comic relief...  He develops a crush on Kumin after joining Rikka's club fairly late in the game.



Sanae Dekomori-   The hyper girl, she's Rikka's friend and "Servant" she will always serve her or at least take her place.   She's younger then the rest of the group, still in middle school. Incredibly smart for being a Chunibyo though, she's top of her class.  She might just be the most insane of the party, using her pigtails for weapons which she has dubbed "Mjolnir".   Thor anyone? Heh.







Shinka Nibutani-  The hot girl trying to hide her past. In middle school Shinka, like Yuuta had an "Alter Ego" of sorts.  She was  "Forest Summer", and had a blog online.. a blog that Dekomori followed and even printed out blurbs from it and sort of made it into a tome.
       When Shinka finds out that Dekomori has her terrible past in print she decides to join the Club to hopefully destroy it once and for all.  Dekomori of course doesn't believe she Shinka is really Forest Summer and the two of them are almost constantly fighting....but not in public.
       Shinka's personality is completely different to the rest of the school, she quiet, polite and nice. The popular girl.













Kumin Tsuyuri-  Granted, she's sort of the boring character, but I really liked Kumin. Being a year or two ahead of the rest of the group she's the calm, sweet, light girl.  At first she was attempting to form a Club for Sleeping, the thing she likes to do the most. This of course didn't work to well so she was recruited by Rikka into the Far Eastern Magic Society.
        She really enjoys touching Makoto's bald head, who doesn't seem to mind..

Tooka Takanashi-   Rikka's sister, she's the "Priestess of the Deep Horizon".  Rikka believes her to be her enemy and the two of them "fight" quite often.  A ladle is Tooka's weapon and she's quite good at this "fighting" thing.
           Anyways, in the real world aspect Rikka lives with her sister who tends to be at work a lot as a cook. Tooka also likes to push Yuuta into helping Rikka with stuff.... she may have been the first to notice the two of thems relationship growing past more than friends.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai ~ Haganai.

Episodes:   12

How:   Streaming.

Grade:    B-

Summary:  {From MAL} Hasegawa Kodaka has transferred schools, and he's having a hard time making friends. It doesn't help that his blond hair tends to make people think he's a delinquent. One day, he runs into his bad-tempered solitary classmate Yozora while she's talking animatedly to her imaginary friend Tomo. Realizing that neither of them have any actual friends, they decide that the best way to alter this situation is to form a club and start recruiting. 

That is how "Rinjinbu", The Neighbours' Club, was formed, a club specifically designed for people who don't have very many friends. As other lonely classmates slowly join their little club, they'll try to learn how to build friendships through cooking together, playing games, and other group activities. But will this group of relationship-challenged misfits really be able to get along? 



How it is.....


    So, it's a show about a bunch of outcasts and awkwards coming together to make friends. The entire time they don't seem to realize that the group has made friends, each other.   They go out for karaoke, they fight, they make up, they go swimming and of course they flirt with their lone normal male member.
       It's a harem show.  Other than Yukimura and Sena's random, no name admirers, Kodaka is the only male in the entire show. All the girls {even his sister} drool and fight over him during most of the series.
       There's also a long lost childhood friend spin thrown into the mix, of course it was pretty obvious that the little boy from Kodaka's past was actually a girl....  Yozora.  It wasn't until the end of episode 11 that Kodaka makes the connection, after Yozora cuts her hair due tot he fireworks incident at the festival.  He puts it together....  she had all ready put it together, the first time she saw him and his scary face.
   

Characters...

 
   Just so when I get around to watching Season 2, I can come to this and remember things easier...


Kodaka Hasegawa;  "Pudding Head" He has a scary face and strange colored hair, this makes it very difficult to make friends in his new school and is part of the reason he joins the Neighbour's Club {the other being Yozora gives him no choice}.
            When he was much younger he use to live in the area and had a friend named Sora, some things happened and he had to move away before he could tell Sora he was leaving.  Yozora turns out to be "Sora", he seems to like Sena though...  It's a triangle!  Sort of.

Yozora Mikazuki;  Lets face it, she's mean. It's no wonder she has no friends, she's always bullying other kids and not many people could put up with that.  She and Sena have "wars" of sort that Yozora is cruel, Sena trys to stick up for herself but, just ends up crying in the end.
      The only people that seem immune to her are Rika {she's a perv} and Kobato {who she really hasn't picked on}.

Sena Kashiwazaki:  The blond with the huge breasts, extremely popular with the males in the school she still has a lot of trouble making friends.  Guys just want to do her and girls hate her because she's so pretty.
       She's the first member of the club after it's creation, Yozora didn't want her in the club but she was persistant and ended up in it anyways.
       Sena's father is the headmaster of the school, he also seems to know Kodaka's father and is the reason he was accepted into the school. She brings Kodaka home to meet her father so that he may thank him for helping him....  In the process it seems her father sort of likes Kodaka and I get the feel he wants him with his daughter.

Kobato Hasegawa:  Kodaka's younger sister, she's an Otaku of sorts... she dresses up as a character from the Anime Full Metal Necromancer and tends to be in Cosplay mode at all times.  She has a bit of a bro-con as well.... getting extremely jealous of his relationship with Maria.
       Even though she's in Middle School she joins the "Neighbors Club".

Yukimura Kusunoki;  The other male, sort of.... He comes to the club because he admires Kodaka's manlieness and wishes to learn from him.  For some reason {Yozora} he's always dressed in girls clothing....
       

Rika Shigume:   A genious basically... she spends her days inventing things instead of going to class and the school is just fine with that.   She's also quite the pervert, throwing sexual things out there at any given opportunity.
      She's a fujoshi, fantasizing about Yukimura and Kodaka quite frequently.... or in between her making sexual advances on pretty much everyone in the club.
       

Maria Takayama;  She's a rude. kind of annoying 10 year old that lives in junk food until Kodaka comes along.
        Somehow she's a nun and "teacher" at the school.  Yozora tricks....bully's her into becoming the supervisor for the Neighbor's Club.   Being just 10 years old at least she's not trying to date Kodaka, it's more of a big brother relationship that really gets Kobato upset when she finds out about her.
     

Knights of Ramune

Episodes:    6

How:    Netflix {Rental}

Grade:   D-


Summary:   {From MAL} To save the galaxy from impending doom, Cacao and Parfait are sent on a mission through time and space to retrieve the Fourth Warrior, Lamunes.

Unfortunately, Cacao and Parfait discover Lamunes at the helm of the marauding Giga Genos invasion fleet. World by world, Lamunes is determined to bring the entire galaxy under his tyrannical heel. With the help of a plicky orphan, it's up to Cacao and Parfait to stop Lamunes from taking over the world. 



How it is.....


      This show was bad, really, really bad.  The only thing saving it from an F grade is the fact that I've always been strangely addicted to the opening song. This wasn't the first time I watched this, but I must have blocked it from my mind from back when I was a teenager....  it is really THAT bad.
      Apparently the actual name for this part of the show, which is an OVA Series is VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fresh.  Yea, that doesn't sound stupid at all.  Meh.
     I'll be honest, this show completely and utterly confused me.  I won't even try to go into the show, there was basically nothing to explain anything besides the fact the two chicks who were naked quite a bit were virgin preistess for some psychopath that was trolling around the universe in a spaceship doing bad shit.  Oh, there was an insane robot woman that helped the crazy man as well...
   There was also some random orphan, captive, something or other that Parfait and Cocao picked up named Lemon that ended up being Lamune too or something... it was all screwed up and really the show was just made for Fanservice.
    Oh!  This was also one of the few shows that the voice actors really sucked for both... English and Japanese, it was as though they weren't even trying.  These OVAs should have never been released!

    Apparently there is a TV Show for this series as well, was made long,long before this piece of crap OVA. It was never licensed and really, I doubt I could find it... but if I feel bored sometimes maybe I will go poking around for it.

I My Me! Strawberry Eggs.

Episodes:     13

How:   Netflix {Rental}

Grade:  A

Summary:  {From MAL}  Amawa Hibiki is a young man just out of college, with an education to be an athletics teacher. He's been having a hard time finding a job since he graduated, so all his money has gone towards living expenses. When his landlady demands his first payment to live in her living establishment upfront, he heads to the local middle school to get hired as a teacher. However, the principal refuses to hire him without hesitation. She will not hire men as teachers and makes it clear that she hates all men, saying they put no love into their passions and work. Amawa does not give up and with the help of his landlady, he crossdresses as a woman without a second thought, and gets hired, so he can earn money and also prove the principal wrong. Now, he has to keep his real gender a secret, and avoid strange situations, including the affections of his students (from both genders). 
 



How it is....




     This was actually the second time I watched this series, the first was quite a while ago and I had basically forgotten everything about it.  Well, other then Hibiki's dog always being in fear of being turned into dinner.
      At first glance this series is really a normal, school comedy with a few perverts thrown in. By the end however it was quite touching...
      After being denied the gym teacher spot at the school by the man hating principal and vice principal, Hibiki goes back to apply for the job in drag.  As a female gym teacher he proves himself worthy of the position by "coaching" the clumsiest student in the school to run a few meters.
     Her coaching has an unexpected side effect however, the student Fuko Kuzuha falls in love with Hibiki... it builds and builds throughout the episodes as Fuko ends up in Hibiki's home room, Hibiki sticks up for Fuko and helps her with other gym related things.
     It's an innocent, confusing love for Fuko, at first not even realizing it is love but... by the end she confesses to Hibiki which leaves the teacher a little...flustered.  Maybe Hibiki has also gotten a little too close to Fuko through the weeks or months of teaching.
    There's also quite a bit of other love stories going on, in the normal school based anime fashion.  Fujio likes Akira, Akira like Fuko, Fuko doesn't like Akira in that way and it's just a little messy. Also, in a normal school comedy fashion there are two perverted male adults who are always trying to get pictures of the girls in uniforms or just Fuko in general.  This show is very Fukocentric.
     In the end, after numerous attempts; the vice principal gets her proof of Hibiki being a male and exposes him to the entire school. Everyone is in shock and at first thinking he's just another one of the perverts living at the Gochiso apartments the students and everyone shun him, the male him and the female him.
     His faking the female role also fuels the Principal and Vice Principals argument that the school itself should go female only and they attempt to use the situation to get the parents and students to agree that there would be no more male students accepted to the school.  This however backfires when Fuko and the other students start to remember all the good times they had with Hibiki as a teacher, how much he cared about them and helped them with things.  The motion to turn the school into girls only is denied and...all is happy. Sort of.
     Hibiki gives a touching speech from atop of Gochiso and then he gets on a train to leave, Fuko and company chase after him and just wave him goodbye's as he goes.
    In other news, it turns out that the Principal hates males so much because she was hurt by one {go figure}. It's also hinted that the Gochiso landlady is actually the man who broke the Principal's heart.

Ninja Cadets

Episodes:   2

How:  Netflix Rental

Grade:   C-


Summary:   {MAL}During Japan's feudal era, there was a war between two ninja clans: the Byakuro and the Kabusu. One night, the Kabusu staged a fierce attack on the Byakuro castle in hopes of kidnapping the clan's infant princess. Their mission was foiled when a loyal ninja of the Byakuro flees the attack with the princess and disappears, eventually raising her to be a ninja. Several years later, six ninja trainees are given a mission to infiltrate the Kabusu-occupied Byakuro castle and retrieve a sacred scroll to complete their training. But their skills are put to the test when they encounter three members of the Kabusu, who use dark sorcery in an attempt to once again capture the princess - who happens to be one of the trainees. 


How it is.......

    The only reason this show gets a C is, I wish there were more episodes. It's REALLY incomplete and left me with too many questions...
    Really, above states it all... the six students going on their first mission get attacked by members of the Kabusu clan who are still going after the Princess.  They aren't entirely sure which girl in the princess, only going by the fact she has a scar on her shoulder or was it her back? I don't entirely remember.
    Anyways, the characters were pretty much...cliches.  Matsuri, is the hot bodied, fighter chick who is afraid of frogs: Hayashi, the quiet guy who gets bossed around by Matsuri and is talented in his own right: Pochi, the relatively useful yet young guy who hangs around Sakura: Sakura, the sword wielding, main character type girl: Kaoru, the dependable, older looking male of the bunch who is supposed to be the protecting the princess at all costs and Yume, the relatively useless, quiet girl who seems to be a better cook then anything.
    Nothing new there.

    The bad guys believe Sakura is the princess and with her use of the scrolls that they were going to get at the Byakuro Castle, who knows.. she just might be.  Yume and Kaoru are made into slaves by the main female Kabusu ninja {her name escapes me}, using some sort of spell to force the two to fight the other four and help them capture Sakura.  Which fails.
     Kaoru is not actually under the spell of course, just faking it to stay close to Yume who he seems to think is the Princess.  Uhg, I am not really sure which one is the Princess.  Sakura or Yume are both pretty obvious, but it would be a real shocker if it were Matsuri...Nah.
     The end is just the four students dragging themselves out of the rubble of what was once the Byakuro castle.  Yume, Kaoru and the bad guys are all gone and......
      Nice Start.
      Too bad there's not more.

The Secret World of Arrietty

How:  Netflix {Rental}

Grade:   B

Thoughts:    Maybe I am just not cut out to watch Miyazaki stuff, I've found most of the movies just "okay". They are all very nice to look at of course, but some of them are just kill me now boring.  Now with that in mind... I'll go on with this.
        This movie has a Borrowers feel to it, for obvious reasons... he was obviously working off that idea when the movie was made. Anyways...
         It's summer time and a young boy named Shou moves to the countryside to stay with his aunt while he's preparing for heart surgery.  During his stay, he meets Arrietty..  It was an accident really,  she was on her first outing with her father when he saw her.  Then he slowly coaxes her out into the "open" to speak with him and even befriend him.
       The plot is really simple actually, since Arrietty was seen by a human the family now has to move to a different house.  Even though Shou is pretty harmless there's a maid like woman who I forgot the name of is a bit on the crazy side...  she's bent on finding the little people and proving she's not insane.
      During the movie she captures Arrietty's mother Pod and puts her in a jar to show to Shou's Aunt and whoever else is around to see.  With the help of Shou, Pod is rescued and the Borrower family ends up moving out.
     It's actually a lot more heart warming then I can make it sound, Shou obviously cares for Arrietty and even tells her about his heart condition and the surgery that probably won't work.  Saying that the Borrowers fight for survival has motivated him to have the courage to have and live through the operation....
     Which he does and Arrietty and her family also find a new house to live in, hopefully undetected.

Gotta love the cat, at least he never eats any of the Borrowers. Though I am sure he'd like to....

The guy is Spiller, he's a Borrower that shows up at the house that tells Arrietty and her family that there are still Borrowers alive out there....   Maybe a love interest for Arrietty in the future.






What are Borrowers?     I never actually read the books, just heard about them in passing and all.  Borrowers are tiny people that live in the walls and under the floorboards of houses.  They try not to be seen by humans and only take items that won't be missed or could just be considered misplaced.
       Yep, that's it....

Totoro

How:   Netflix Rental

Grade:  A+


Thoughts:   It took me too long to watch this.

Satasuki and Mei move to the countryside with their father while their mother is in the hospital recovering from some mystery illness. Mei {the younger} goes off exploring and finds a large tree god Totoro sleeping under the nearby Camphor tree.
    At first her sister doesn't quite believe her, but one night while waiting for their father's bus back from work Totoro bounds up and stands beside them.

There's really not much to the movie, it shows them dealing with their mother not being there and taking care of one another while their father is at work.  The little boy down the road seems to have a bit of a crush on Satasuki, but tries to hide it.

     The end event is Mei attempting to get into town by herself to see her sick mother who was supposed to be coming home for the weekend, but fell sick once more and had to stay at the hospital.  The entire country town is looking for Mei, Satasuki rushing all around to look for her until she finally goes to Totoro for help.
    Catbus {a giant cat/bus}aids Satasuki in finding her sister and then brings the two girls to the hospital window to see that their mother was "okay".

The movie is sweet and actually quite short, very much aimed towards little kids... but hey.. it was enjoyable. More so then many longer animated movies.

Ponyo

How:  Netflix Rental

Grade:   C-


Thoughts:   This was probably the third time I attempted to watch this movie, the first being before it was released dub and the second while it was on TV while dubbed.  Having such a familiar voice in the movie that is Liam Neeson kind of hurt it for me. {I will find you, and I will kill you.}
        Anyways, I did watch it in both and I do prefer the sub over all. Now, to the movie itself..

A little boy Sousuke is playing outside his house, near the beach and finds a strange looking goldfish... he puts her in a bucket and brings her home.  This is no ordinary goldfish though, she's the daughter of the sea goddess  "Granmammare" and a sea wizard Fujimoto.
     While with Sousuke she licks a cut on his hand, healing it in the process but... apparently since she sampled that human blood she can... magically start turning into a human.  This of course starts to occur after Fujimoto steals her back from Sousuke. He attempts to lock her into the goldfish form, but with the help of her goldfish siblings she escapes and goes back to Sousuke.
     Apparently, Ponyo using her powers to turn into a human form and such has created some sort of.... event.  A huge storm forms and floods the entire island that Sousuke lives on...

Goldfish!

Blah.

I don't actually want to write anymore on this one, the movie didn't really leave any great impression on me. In the end Ponyo looses her goldfish powers and becomes a human, to live with Sousuke who she loves{?}.
    Sousuke's father who works on a fishing boat or something gets home safe and all is happy... save for maybe Fujimoto who looses his daughter.
    Meh.

Ponyo does have a strange addiction to ham, which I found a little amusing...

 

Sword Art Online 1 thru 14

Thoughts;  I was really late to this boat, the anime didn't seem all that interesting to me when it was first aired back in 2012.  Ooo, Wow.  You're stuck in a game.  *eye roll*  After watching part of Log Horizon however, I decided to give this one a shot too... if not just for a comparison.
        The only part I like more about SAO so far is, the fact if you die in game you die IRL as well. It gives it more edge... more need to survive... Not that the main character Kirito really ever has any major OMG moments.  He's extremely over powered in the game... Sure, he was a beta so he knew where to level better than most, but really... for a solo player he is extremely over powered.
       As for Asuna, I like her....her character is cool and she's not so overly powered that it seems unrealistic. Well, before she started getting with Kirito...  after she's turned into a goob kinda.
     The ending was really lame, I wasn't expecting the SAO part of the show to end while they were on the 75th floor.  Of course, I don't think I could stand watching Kirito and Asuna play house for another 10+ episodes either.  Uhg.
    Also, what's with all the Yui love?  Oh goody, Kirito and Asunas love and happiness summoned her there or whatever.. it was like they had a daughter all the sudden.  Oye.  What this show could have been..
I'm not even sure if I want to continue on after 14...
    I want to say the "Final Battle" was epic and all, but it wasn't.  Asuna dies like the flake she becomes and Kirito goes god mod on the guy..  I'll admit I was actually sort of surprised that Heathcliff was really the creator in a game disguise... I guess it really is no fun just watching people play a game.
    For a few years...

Breakdown....


Episode 1 -  Introductions and what's happening, the game has just been fully released with 10,000 units sold. Players are logging in and enjoying the game and such, after some time they start to notice that they can't log out.  A glitch maybe?
      Kirito, our main character and beta player has just met Klein a newbie who came from another game and is waiting for his guild mates from that game to log on in SAO.  Kirito shows him the ropes for a bit, but goes off by himself once Kayaba shows up and tells them what's going on.
     They must clear the game to leave the game, 100 Floors of the tower.  One month goes by, 2,000 people are killed and not even the first floor has been cleared.

Episode 2  -  Kirito meets with other players to go take out the first floor boss, he meets and teams up with Asuna {a pretty girl!} to go into this mission.  There's a bunch of player hate for the beta people because they know more about the game and have been taking the good quests and leveling quicker then the others. Just not helping the lower ranks in general...
     After the boss is defeated, Kirito gets the special last hit item and comes forward as a beta player and brings the hate on himself by admitting to be a "Beater" or a beta cheater.  Asuna and he part, he tells her that she should join a good guild if she finds one..

Episodes 3 -  It's four months in now, players have finally organized enough to form powerful guilds to slowly start clearing the tower.  Kirito joins a low level guild while concealing the fact that he's level 40, he makes some friends and has some fun, but that all comes to an end when they accidentally stumble into a trap room.
     Uber monsters show up and kill most the guild, then the leader type person who wasn't there at the time blames Kirito and kills himself.

Episode 4 - In his wandering, Kirito happens by a Beast Tamer named Sillica. Her familier dragon Pina had just been killed trying to protect her from a monster type and Kirito offers to help her get the item that can rezz her.
          Sillica is cute and small, people tend to keep her around because of this. She's kind of like a mascot and this drives her insane...or makes her angry.  Anyways, on their journey to get this Pneuma Flower they run into a player that she had been partied with earlier.
         Rosalia, a member of the orange player guild known as Titan's Hand shows up with a few of her guild members to take the flower away from Sillica.  Kirito of course steps in and beats their ass.
       Back in town, Sillica revives her pet and Kirito goes back to the front lines.

Episodes 5  & 6 -   Asuna is back!   She's now the Vice Commander of the Knights of Blood Oath guild and one of the people who have been clearing the tower. Anyways, she and Kirito meet up and have a date of sorts...well...not really...they relax some in the grass.
    A mystery is brewing,  while in town a man is somehow killed. Long story short, more people "die" when it's just their armor "breaking" and them teleporting away.  Turns out there's just a bunch of guild drama that Kirito and Asuna stuck their nose into....not their guilds by the way.

Episode 7 -  Enter Lisbeth or "Liz", Asuna's friend and skilled blacksmith. Seems Asuna referred Kirito to her and he shows up wanting a sword better then the one he owned.  She doesn't have the materials to make a better sword then what he has so, the two of them go on a little adventure to get what's needed.  Dragons and a bet of danger later and she has a huge crush on him... only to be squished down when Asuna shows up and she realizes he's the one that Asuna likes.  Tada.

Episodes 8 & 9 -  Asuna can cook, really, really well. Kirito brings her a high leveled rabbit type creature to cook and she makes him a meal.   Then the two of them go on a date of sorts, on the 74th floor.  This is only after Kirito beats up her "bodyguard" that objected to her going off with some weirdo... talk about over protective.
         On the 74th floor the two of them find the boss room, this is a big mean boss and the two of them turn tail and run... quickly.  After their retreat they run into the guild "The Army" hunting on the floor and they go to the boss room despite Kirito and Asune warning them against it.
     Oh yea, Klein and his friends are there too.  After realizing the Army was trying to defeat the floor boss the three of them run in to try to save the under leveled guild.  Long story short, things get very bad and Kirito has to show off his new....unique skill.   He's a dual blade, apparently the only one in the game at the moment and the word of this spreads like wildfire. He beats the boss basically by himself... Yey! OP.
    Now, Asuna wants to take a LOA from her guild to party {date} with Kirito more but her guilds leader Heathcliff will have none of that... Unless Kirito can defeat him.

Episode 10-  Kirito fights Heathcliff and looses, amazingly.  Kirito is forced to join the Blood Oath guild or whatever it's called and during his training time or whatever Asuna's bodyguard from the other episode try to kill him and ends up killing one of the other Blood Oath members.    Time to get Boring, Kirito and Asuna leave to live together in a cabin.

Uhg, Die Please.

Episodes 11 and 12 -  Asuna has turned into loving wifey type and Kirito the husband type, then a little girl shows up to be the child type.   Uhg.  The little girl is Yui at first they think she's a really young player, but it turns out she some sort of computer program that has lost it's way or some crap.
       People love her, but she's annoying.   This whole part of the show is annoying and starts the downward spiral that turns this series into crap.

Episodes 13 & 14 -   There's a relatively nice part about an old man fishing and a giant monster fish, then the episodes just start to suck again.
       75th Floor Battle,  Asuna and Kirito are called back to the front line to help with the boss battle. With Heathcliff and other players they defeat the boss... and Kirito realizes something.  Heathcliff is an immortal object just like Yui was... He's not a computer program though... He's the creator of the game Akihiko Kayaba!
       Lots of talking, some fighting, Asuna "dies" and Kirito breaks the game and "kills" Heathcliff.  They have beat the game!  The world is crumbling and players are finally able to "log out".... at least the players that are still alive...
      Since they both kinda died, Asuna and Kirito are the last people out of the game.  They have a little chat and share with each other their real names..  Asuna Yuuki and Kazuto Kirigaya.  Awakening in the real world... Kazuto in the hospital, frail and weak from his years in the game slowly and carefully sets off to find Asuna.


Will I ever go past 14?  Probably. When?  No idea.

Really, this is all I am going to type about this show for now. It's just....No. 

Silver Spoon

Episodes:    11

How:   CrunchyRoll

Grade:    A

Summary:  {From MAL}  Yugo Hachiken dreams of life separated from his family, so he takes the initiative by enrolling in an agriculture school. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problems will arise no matter what kind of school he attends. He is proven wrong very quickly. Raised as a city boy, he is forced to uncover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he tries to keep up with his new friends, farmers' heirs, who are already accustomed to the harsh world of farming. With no clear goals or understanding of farming life, how will Hachiken survive this new, cruel reality? The story of a sweat, tear, and mud-stained youth begins!



Thoughts:   This was a happy accident, an Anime about Farm life.  Never in a million years would I think I'd enjoy a show about raising farm animals and stuff, but here we are. The show has an excellent mix of drama, comedy and well.... live stock.
    In a way, I kind of wish I went to this type of school when I was in school. haha, waking up at 5 AM would have been a bit irritating at times, but... taking care of the animals looks like a lot of fun and great exercise I'd imagine.
     I spent most the show wondering why Hachiken was even at this High School, but when the older brother shows up and more of his background is established it really started to make sense.
     Glad there's a second season.


Who we have...

Mains.


Yugo Hachiken-  He may be the most lovable main character I've ever seen, the shock he exhibits with some of the ways of agriculture/farming is beyond amusing and sometimes a little sad.  Hachiken only goes to agricultural school because he wants to get away from his parents, his father is a bit of a butt head from what I've seen in the later episodes.  Making it where he doesn't even want to go home over Summer break.
      Since he has a bit of a crush on Aki, he joins the Equestrian Club even though he seems to be scared of horses at first.  Slowly he warms up to them and vise versa.  His relationship with the other students is really quite good, no one seems to dislike him and they really consider him someone they can talk to.
       Throughout the show though, he starts to realize that he has no goal in live.  Most if not all the students at this school are from farm families where they will be helping and eventually taking over for their parents. Hachiken needs to find some sort of passion in life....
     Early in the show, while visiting the pigs he falls in love with the runt of the litter.  Everyone told him not to name any of the baby pigs but... he couldn't help it.  He takes "Pork Bowl" under his wing and is constantly worried about him getting enough food...  in the end he makes sure Pork Bowl reaches an optimal weight to get a good price at market.... tearfully he ends up purchasing Pork Bowl {with the money he made over the Summer at Aki's} and makes food out of him.
     He sends some of the Bacon home to his parents, other parts to Mikage and Komaba's family and the rest is eaten by students and teachers, some for free and some purchased.

Aki Mikage-  The love interest, her family runs a small cow and horse farm specializing in Ban'ei race horses. Being the only child she's set in line to inherit the farm, but she isn't really sure she wants to. Of course, she can't tell her family this.
       She's the reason Hachiken joins the Equestrian Club, she absolutely loves horses and talks quite poetically about them.
      During the Summer break she takes Hachiken home with her to help out on their farm, for the most part he does quite well until he accidentally doesn't secure the hose to the milking machine and they loose quite a bit of milk.
      Her family is quite nice and caring, nothing like what Hachiken is use to and her grandmother may be the most amusing person on the show. Too bad she's not there more..


Ichiro Komaba-  The quiet, childhood friend of Aki.  They grew up on farms not far from each other and are quite close, this is a bit of a hot button of jealousy for Hachiken.
        Komaba helps his mother and younger, twin sisters run their small Dairy Farm when at home.  His father passed away several years ago and it's really very difficult for his mother to get by.  Komaba's hope is to become a pro-baseball player and improve the family farm.  Will this happen? I hope so.  It's looking pretty good in the first season seeing he is just a freshman and is all ready starting pitcher on the schools team.

Others....


Tamako Inada-  I love this girl, she's amusing and extremely driven.   She's also one of the only "fat" girls I've ever seen in an Anime, she's skinny for a few episodes after Summer break citing the sweating from the heat, but after the summer festival she's back at her Egg Shaped Weight!
      She too is a first year student in the dairy farming program,  she's actually rather scary obsessive about the bottom line.  Specializing in accounting and micro transactions, it's seen while Hachiken is visiting her family's mega farm that she's bent on taking over the business even before her parents want to relinquish it. Saying her parents aren't running it optimally...

Shingo Hachiken-  Yugo's older brother and once "golden child" to his parents, he was what Yugo can possibly never be.  Shingo was accepted to the University of Tokyo, the most prestigious University in all Japan...  Once accepted however he decided that was enough for him.   It made his fathers dream of having a child accepted there come true and....now he wanted to follow his own dream.  Becoming a Chef!
     It seems he has a superb since of taste, but he can't cook worth a damn.  Wandering about he finds Yugo on his parents behest {maybe?} while he's working at the Mikage farm.  Trying to be nice he nearly kills Mikage's family with his cooking and then again the students at the school during the Summer festival.
     He and Yugo don't really get along or at least it's sort of one sided, Yugo hates him and he tries to be a friendly older brother.

Pork Bowl-   Hachiken's Pig, he was the runt of the litter and was always pushed aside during meals... even when he was a baby pig he was forced to take the last teat.  He accepted his sad way of life,but Hachiken never could and always attempted to get him to fight for more food... and failed.
       In the end, he ended up a happy, fat piggy.....and then bacon and other pork  products for the school.  Poor Pork Bowl.






The End;  It wasn't really an end, there's a second season soon which is really good since it really leaves you wanting more.  Komaba gets to start in the baseball game even though he's a first year, Mikage actually admits to not being completely certain about wanting to inherit the family farm; at least the way it is now and Hachiken...well...he's still Hachiken.
    I'll miss poor little Pork Bowl, I bet he made some tasty bacon....Oh that sounds demented.  I'm really not sure if I could raise a pig just to slaughter and eat it.  At least they didn't show the slaughtering process of Pork Bowl.

Log Horizon 1-12

Thoughts;  Another stuck in a game show. I've never actually watched any of the other shows that have this premise, but I know there are a couple out there.  With that said, I don't really have much or anything to compare this to...
       With these twelve episodes I do like what I've seen, it's a little slow, but it really does show the MMO feel.  Of course, when the characters die in the game they just get the normal game punishment of being warped back to their city of origin.  That is sort of boring.  Who cares if you die if there's no real world consequences and really... up to this point.. I'm not even sure what the real world has to do with the game in general.
        Why are all these people stuck in this game?  Are they really stuck there or is this just some strange, after images of themselves playing the game.  Okay, the latter of that would be a little hard to believe
      The whole NPC Vs Player idea that seems to be brewing somehow does seem interesting though.


Who we have...

Mains.

Shiroe-  Class; Enchanter ~  Subclass; Scribe  ~ The head brain of the show, everything that has been accomplished up to this point has been pretty much thanks to him. He's quite the nice guy and it seems this has gotten the best of him in the past, with people coming to him and using him for his knowledge just so they don't have to do it themselves.  This has soured him for guilds in general...
      Before the expansion pack that somehow locked every one's real life selves in the game, Shiroe had been playing the game for years and pretty much knew everything about it.  After the expansion though, his knowledge is still great but then there's the new content that had been added. Oh, also of course the fact no one can log out.
     He's made quite a name for himself in the game through out the years of playing, being a "member" of the Debauchery Tea Party a group of people that just hung out together to do stuff.  Most of them in different guilds or no guilds at all.  Shiroe was the Strategist of the group... and one hell of a strategist at that.


Naotsugu-  Class; Guardian ~ Subclass; ?? ~  He hadn't played the game in a couple years and had just come back for the expansion pack.  What a time to come back, even though he's stuck in the game he is quite the cheerful fella'.  A self admitted pervert, an open pervert as he says he's always saying things that has Akatsuki kicking or abusing him in some manner.
       He and Shiroe and friends, meet up and start traveling together from the get go.


Akatsuki- Class: Assassin ~ Subclass; Tracker ~   Before the expansion and change, Akatsuki was a male assassin who just never spoke on voice chat.  After, she's stuck in a male body for a while before Shiroe gives her a potion to change herself back into a female to match that of her real life self.
       Normally, she liked to play the game alone.  Though after Shiroe was nice enough to give her the potion to change her appearance she accepts him as her "Master" and joins his group.  She really seems to get a long well with Shiroe, but she and Naotsugu's open pervert mind set don't really bode well.
     She's quite the talented Tracker and Assassin.


Nyanta- Class: Swashbuckler ~ Subclass; Chef ~  He certainly doesn't look like his real life self, a cat man! He even talks with the Nyan in it. A very calm gentleman I assume he's probably older then most the other players in the real world.
       That fact doesn't hurt his in game fighting though, at level 90 in both his jobs he's quite the formidable opponent.  He shows up a little later then the other three, when the other three take a job to go find a friends guild mate in another part of the country Nyanta is the one who has been aiding her.


Up Until Now..

    You'd expect people to sort of freak out in situations like these, but really... there's been very little freaking out in this.  The main Trio meet up and get the feel of things in Akiba, then soon after they meet with another one of Shiroe's friends the Guild Master for the Crescent Moon Alliance, Maryele.
     One of her guild mates{Serara} is trapped in another town within the game, Maryele was going to rescue Serara herself but Shiroe and company volunteered to go instead. Since the warp gates weren't working it is a bit of a walk.  Through a dungeon, forest, mountains the normal for any video game. Of course, no matter how close to the other town they are if they die, they rezz back in Akiba.  Which makes for an interesting trek..
    Getting to Susukino wasn't that difficult, but once there they are met by a crazy, PKing guild that has taken over the in game city.  This is where they meet up with Nyanta, he's been taking care of Serara and she's developed a bit of a crush on the cat man.  After fighting the guild leader {I forgot his name, whoops} and a few of his henchmen the group sets back off to Akiba.
     On the way home they discover that even though most the food tastes terrible, if a person with a high enough Chef level cooks the food from the environment the food actually tastes amazing.  Nyanta is that Chef!
     Back in Akiba..... There's a party... Shiroe decides to finally make his own guild and calls it "Log Horizon".  Nyanta, Naotsugu and Akatsuki join his guild and all is good.  Sort of.  There's a naughty guild in Akiba that needs to be dealt with!
    The Hamelin guild has recruited the newbie players and are forcing them to make then hand over their Exp Pots, that characters under a certain level get once per day.  In turn they sell these Exp Pots to other guilds and there's a lot of leveling going on.  Two of these newbs are Twins that Shiroe actually knows from a while back...
     Log Horizon and the CMA set out to save these newbs, but first they must make some money!  How? Selling good of course. The Sub Class Chefs start to raise their levels while the other plays hunt and gather the items needed to cook.  After a little time goes by they open food stands and the shocked players happily hand over their money for the yummy food.
    Shiroe has other plans in mind, not just the food.... what to do with the money!  Buy a building.  The group call together the leaders of the highest combat guilds and the highest business venturing guilds to meet at the guild hall.  Shiroe leading the meeting he turns out to be a bit evil....
    The plan is for all the guilds to come together and bring order to the chaos in Akiba, if they don't agree to this...  they can't use the guild hall! Shiroe bought the Guild Halls building for 5 Mil or so...  Of course the other leaders are kind of angry, but there's squat that they can do about it so... an Alliance was made.  Well, besides with the one leader who left early... which I can't remember the guilds name or leader. Oh well.
     During the meeting the other members of Log Horizon and the CMA are rescuing the newbies kept by Hamelin.  With Shiroe owning the Guild Hall he pretty much boots the entire guild out once they are killed and sent to the Cathedral Rezz spot.
     The Twins, Minori and Touya join Log Horizon and begin to train.

New Problem?

     The NPCs or the people of the land as they call them in this game have become, irritated with...suspicious of the adventurers.  They seem to be planning something, but no one is quite for sure what or if.  Then they are invited to the NPC's Kings Castle!  There they meet the people and get to play with the Princess.. Well, Not quite play but.. Yea.   I'll get more into this stuff once I watch the rest of the show.

That's it, For now....

Princess Jellyfish

Episodes:   11

How:   Netflix {Stream}

Grade:   B+

Summary: {From MAL}Amamizukan is an apartment complex where no boys are allowed. Kurashita Tsukimi, a girl who adores jellyfish, lives there happily with her friends who all have nerdy obsessions of their own. Their peaceful lives gradually start to change when a beautiful woman helps Tsukimi out of a pinch.


Thoughts:  This was another one of those shows that Netflix has just been randomly adding lately, it was sort of a bust with Mermaid and Okami so I really wasn't expecting much from this show.  Surprisingly enough, I was hooked from the get go...
    In a way I guess it's pretty cliched, a bunch of unusual women living in an apartment complex together where no men are allowed.  Something happens and they are in danger of loosing their building/home so they band together with an outsider to save their building.
    This outside just happens to be a "stylish", a beautiful person that makes the women turn to stone where they stand under normal circumstances. What's worse, it's a male.... they don't know this of course they believe him to be a woman since he's always dressed in drag around them.
     Other then the other main character, Tsukimi; they are oblivious to the fact that he's a guy..  Even after his fake boobs fall off they just believe him to be a flat chested girl.  Heh.

Who we have.....

Main Characters.


Kuranosuke Koibuchi-  The beautiful woman {man in drag} that comes to Tsukimi's rescue or should I say Clara the Jellyfish's rescue one night.  He comes a long just at the right time to buy the Spotted Jellyfish that's on deaths door due to an uneducated pet shop worker,  curious about Tsukimi he/she follows her home and even stays the night.
       It's the next morning that it's revealed that she is actually a male, dressed in drag and this causes quite a stir in the apartment complex where Tsukimi lives. Barely getting him out of there without the other women realizing there's a man in the building.
     Finding Tsukimi different then what he's use to in a female he comes back to befriend the bunch, at first even in his stylish drag the women are quite shocked by him and even turn to stone.  Little by little he grows on them under the guise of Kurako and soon even Tsukimi is comfortable around him, while in drag.
       Eventually  he even gets her to allow him to give her a make over, which she cleans up rather well.. so well that his older brother sees and basically falls in love with the made over Tsukimi.
      Kuranosuke is actually the youngest son of a rich, politically powered family.  His father had an affair with Kuranosuke's mother and she ended up dropping him off at his place and never returning for one reason or another.   Kuranosuke is always looking for a phone number or address to where he can find/see his mother and her dresses... all her dresses.
     This never happens in the series, but he does nudge all the women of Amar out of their comfort zone in giving them make overs to help people take them more seriously while fighting for their building.  Which is being eyed for demolition to be turned into a ritzy hotel.

Tsukimi Kurachita-  An 18 year old Otaku who moved to Tokyo to chase her dream to be an illustrator, seems people had told her that Tokyo would eat her up since the people there are so unlike those from her hometown.  Not to mention her fear of stylish people that has her frozen whenever they are around...
     Due to her late mother, she has quite the infatuation with Jellyfish. The two of them would go to see Jellyfish Exhibits when she was just a child and that has stayed with her into adulthood. To an Extreme.
     Jellyfish, that is how she meet Kuranosuke.. attempting to save a Spotted Jelly that's in a pet store tank with a hazardous Jelly.  While trying to tell the pet store worker of the problem with the two Jellys she can't quite convey her message.  Kuranosuke shows up and buys the Jelly for her and there we go...
      She and Kuranosuke have an odd relationship, she's okay with him while he's in drag but... as soon as he's even partially out of it she freezes up and freaks out.  It's only until after he gives her a stylish make over that she's comfortable around people. {Partially due to her glasses being off so she can't really see.}
     By chance Kuranosuke's older brother Shu see's Tsukimi at their home while in the "stylish" sense and falls in love with the girl.  For some reason he can't recognize her at all when she's in her normal outfit, not believing it's the same girl at all..  She eventually falls for Shuu as well and due to some black mailing bitch woman Tsukimi's feelings get hurt and confused and all those strange emotions.
      While attempting to save the apartment complex from being sold, Tsukimi first makes hand made Jellyfish and sells them at some Peddlers type market and then soon after. Remembering what her mother said about a wedding dress that looked like a Jellyfish she starts to make dresses out of Kuranosuke's mothers clothes.
       In the end, with a push from Kuranosuke the two of them and the others from Amar start a clothing line with dresses based on Jellyfish.

The Sides...

Shuu Koibuchi-  He's a clueless fellow really, Kuranosuke's older half brother who when much younger walked in on his father and Kura's mother doing things.  This scarred him for life, at his age he's still a virgin and sort of scared of girls in general.
       He starts to have feelings for the stylish Tsukimi, but before their relationship can take off a woman working with the land developer that's trying to tear down the apartments blackmails him into believing they had sex.  If he doesn't talk his politically charged father into backing the development she'd release pictures of the two of them.   Even though they never did anything at all.
       In the end it almost looks like he starts to have feelings for the woman instead of Tsukimi, it's very confusing or maybe just opened up Kuranosuke/Tsukimi.

The Women of Amamizukan Apartments...

Chieko-  The daughter of the owner of the apartment building, she manages the building while her mother is away.  She's always dressed in traditional Japanese clothing and makes tons of creepy dolls which she completely freaked out about when Kurako suggested they sell some of them.

Jiji-  A strange woman, she's obsessed with mature men.  Mature as in father complex type..

Mayaya- Awkwardly tall woman that's obsessed with some Record of the Three Kingdoms Anime... Manga.. Something....  She's quite the loud one unless there's a stylish around.

Banba-  She has an Afro!  She's also quite obsessed with trains and can judge the quality of meat just by looking at it.  Something the house calls Banba Scope!

Juon Mejiro- She's a popular yaoi manga writer that lives in the apartments, never or rarely leaving her room. The other women of the building communicate with her by slipping notes under the door. Oddly enough, she hates men to an extreme....


The End-  Chieko's mother decides not to sell the apartments, Tsukimi has her own line of clothing called "Jellyfish" and Kurako is her model.  Shuu still has his hands full with his no longer black mailing bitch which I forgot her name, but yea...   Happy Ending?
      Kind of a sucky ending, you don't really get to see if Kuranosuke ever sees his mother again or if he ever realizes that he's falling in love with Tsukimi.  You really don't know what happens with Shuu and the other woman... The only thing you know is the Amamizukan Apartments are safe for now.
      It was fun while it lasted though.  Needs More Episodes!

Kura & His Uncle