High School of the Dead

Genre: Action/Drama
Age Appropriate: Older teens+
Emotional Response: gross, sadness, anticipation, GO TEAM
Notable Features: ZOMBIES
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Not bad

"I like turtles" - Hirano

High School of the Dead is essentially what it sounds like. It's an anime series about a group of high school students battling the living dead, aka ZOMBIES. You can't have a review of anime series without zombies, right? The zombies are traditional, stumbling, bumbling, mindless creatures who only respond to sounds. The infection/disease is spread through bites. The transition doesn't take very long, actually. The only difference between this anime series and a typical zombie movies is live action vs. animation.

There is a set of main characters that meet up in the first few episodes; primarily focused on Rei and Takashi - a set of friends with an unbalanced romance. Each group member has a specific role to play: geek weapons guy, kendo captain, school doctor...etc. They attempt to make their way to safety outside the high school while picking up stray survivors along the way. The main focus of their travels is to reach each other's families in the hopes that their parents are still alive, and throughout their journey they ride on motorbikes, drive an SUV, jump fences, and have multiple group battles agains the evil dead forces.

I'm shocked, really, at how much I ended up liking this series. I admit my primary decision to watch it was because I realized that I've pretty much liked everything I've reviewed and wanted to give myself a chance to delve into something I wasn't sure about. Oops. I'm still not a huge fan of zombie movies, but if I had to, this would work for me. Perhaps it's just live action zombies I don't enjoy.

The characters are actually pretty intense, and when they're not brooding and yelling, they're doing ridiculously inappropriate things. Sometimes the timing felt a little off for shenanigans but they were definitely necessary to make it through. There are quite a few T&A shots, in true anime fashion. Good anime for typical guys actually.

While I felt that it started a little slow and depressing, by the end I was shouting encouraging things at the characters - because, you know, that helps. Some of those fight scenes were pretty cool. Given the zombie battlegrounds, there was plenty of grossness, but not as much as you might expect. I've definitely seen worse. I think my "Older Teens" rating is much more for lewdness than violence. Recommended for zombie fanboys and girls with zombie fanboy boyfriends - or zombie fangirls.

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Next for Mini-Geek Girl: Elfen Lied

La storia della Arcana Famiglia

Genre: Action/Drama
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens+
Emotional Response: a little fun, a little sad, a little GIRL POWER
Notable Features: Family, Mafia, magic powers
Language: Japanese - Eng Sub
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Not bad

La storia della Arcana Famiglia follows a young woman names Felicita, the daughter of Papa Mondo (the family head/"father") in a coming of age story loosely based on stereotypical mafia depictions. The "arcana" comes in with each major character having a specific magic power that comes with a contract agreed upon with an arcana card (from tarot). For example, Felicita's power is discovered to be The Lovers, which grants her the ability to see into other people's hearts.

The story begins with Papa speaking to the famiglia on his birthday, annoucing a family-wide battle for the right to be the next Papa, any wish granted, and Felicita's hand in marriage. This causes a great disturbance as the other men in the family now have to battle it out in a Duella Arcana, but also have various reactions to the idea of marrying Fel. The twist in this basic plot? Felicita, as an arcana holder herself, also gets to battle it out with everyone - securing her own future. With the agreement of her young friends, Nova and Liberta, they will fight to win and either of the boys will agree to make their wish freeing Felicita from marriage.

As Fel and her mother, Sumire, are the only females in the cast, the extensive cast features males of all types - each with their own abilities. The storyline focuses some part on the early lives of each character to some degree - all of which lead to their reasons for wanting to win.
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La storia della Arcana Famiglia is actually a pretty good coming of age story for a teen girl  - thus making it actually a relatively appropriate story for a pre-teen. The guys hit on each typical type a girl might be interested in, too! There really isn't any "eye candy" per se, as there are no inappropriate shots, but the attitudes say it all. For the most part though, I found that I was rooting for Fel to kick butt with girl power, and what was left was rooting for Liberta and Nova, knowing that they were planning to help a girl out. Still, even my own emotions were conflicted between the two boys. At no point did I find myself wanting her to end up with any of the other characters, but as it was supposed to be that way, I guess it's ok.

It's a pretty fun anime in general, but I really had no strong feelings about the story or the characters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't compelling enough for me to shout out to the internet "WATCH THIS NAO!" For that it got a "Not bad" review. Because it really is "not bad," but I don't think I'll feel the need to watch it a second time. If I went with my typical movie reviews, I would say it was worth a matinee. For anime, I'm happy to watch it for free, but I won't be buying it.

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Next Time: High School of the Dead

Tears to Tiara

Genre: Action/Comedy
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens+

Emotional Response: laughter, fun, excitement

Notable Features: Magic, epic battles, King Arthur, dragons!

Language: English
Length: 2 parts, 26 episodes total
Overall Recommendation: Top 5

"Whack, whack! They defeat the enemy!"

Tears to Tiara is an epic-type anime including Arthur, elves, magic and one Demon King to boot. It's actually quite an extensive cast. It's a story of the Gael clan (Irish) versus the "Diving Empire"(Roman), and the Gael clan's opposition to the Empire's occupancy.

The story begins when Arthur's sister, Riannon, is kidnapped by an Empire toady as a sacrifice to awaken the Demon King - with the expectation that the Demon King will help the little peon take over the world (of course). To force her cooperation, he uses small children to force Riannon to give up her "true name," thus granting power over her. True names are important later too. So, Arthur returns to their village, meets up with his clansmen and harries off to save Riannon from her terrible fate. As fate would have it, the Demon King awakens! A true turn of events appears when we discover that he's a pretty cool guy, with no interest in taking over the world with the jerk who stole Riannon. So, Arawn - The Demon King! - saves Riannon by waking her up in her magical dream state, kills the evil doer and then must face her brother Arthur. To save Arawn from having to fight Arthur - or save Arthur from hurting Lord Arawn - Riannon gives Arawn her red scarf. It is a symbol of clan leadership, essentially marrying Riannon to Lord Arawn and making him clan cheiftain. There is much bickering between the two until Arawn points out the problem of evil dead creatures coming after them. In their fleeing they hook up with Saint Ogham (mage) and fight their way out....it just gets more complicated from there.

The cast builds then to the elves, the emperials, another clan, some spare dragons, a necromancer, white spirits and a terrible foe. Also included: epic LOTR battles. Well, mini LOTR battles on the island of Albion (England), at the castle of Avalon.

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This is totally in my Top 5! It was a great follow up to the messed up-edness of Rin. It's funny, and exciting, and a little sad. I even loved the soundtrack - which is rare as I don't usually notice one. It's that kind of music that's heartening during a fancy speech or the end of the battle and haunting during sad parts and the beginning of battle.

I love the relationships between the characters. The whole brotherhood, warrior comraderie (not strictly for boys!) and family strength is awesome. If you look deep enough, and feel like seeing it, there's a little romance between Morgan and Octavia, maybe. Otherwise, not much blantant romance going on. It really does hit on a number of traditional characters needed for a good epic story. Serious when it needed to be, but fun when it didn't. It was one of those anime series that was really easy to get sucked into. I'm not sure if was the was terrible accents (haha) or the fact that it was in English, but my husband couldn't keep away from watching/listening. So, yeah. Highly recommended for the whole family. I only added a Pre-Teen rating because it can get a little bloody, but I think that the violence is softened with it being animated. So, if you need something light hearted (especially if you've been following along and just watched Rin ::shudder::), watch this. Srsly.

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Next Up: La storia della Arcana Famiglia

Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne

Genre: Drama/Action
Age Appropriate: ADULT
Emotional Response: Confusion, intrigue, car-wreck fascination
Notable Features: Immortals, evil angel creatures, disturbing
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 6 episodes (45min)
Overall Recommendation: WTF?

"Vodka is water in Russian, you know." - Mimi

Rin: The Daughters of Mnemosyne follows a woman named Rin, who is immortal due to altering by a "time fruit." This makes her immortal (females only), and leaves her vulnerable to the evil angels (male only; only called angels because of their winged appearance). Rin Asougi works as a private detective with her handy assistant, Mimi - also an immortal, and their new friend Koki. Each episode is shown at a different time - mostly exemplified in Koki's aging. Rin and Mimi seem to have a different kind of relationship as well.

The immortality/angelhood is the result of having a time fruit from the tree Yygdrasil. Apos, the seemingly evil primary antagonist is a sadistic other being who eats the tree fruits by stealing them from women and angels. There is a significant amount of adult-age material involved with Apos and his minions. For most of the series the Apos' endgame is a mystery, but in the end all is revealed. As it's a short series with only 6 episodes, I'll refrain from giving any more details.

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Rin: The Daughters of Mnemosyne is probably the most messed up anime I've seen. EVER.
I've seen a lot of bloody anime, and a lot of psychologically horrific anime. The mix of good and evil, grotesque blood and torture, and screwed up sexuality really bring together a confusion unparalleled by any other anime I can recall to date. The content is probably something I would only see in anime form. While the series isn't about sexuality issues, they are certainly present. I could see this running late night Showtime style, but maybe under a Horror setting.

It's actually really well done. I'd seen it before, but not in awhile. Somehow, it's more disturbing having seen it once already. I'm not sure how that works. The ending was a little meh, but if this type of show might be within your genre preferences, and you don't have a particularly weak stomach, I might recommend it. It's definitely psychologically taxing, but so was SAW and Titus. Just don't mistake it for something else in the beginning. I gave it a WTF? rating simply because I thought it a good warning for people only interested in easier to normal life anime series. *THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN*

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Next Time:  Tears to Tiara

Nabari No Ou

Genre: Action/Comedy
Age Appropriate: Jr. High (violence)
Emotional Response: Wry amusement, heartbreak
Notable Features: NINJAS, and magic
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 12/13 ep. each
Overall Recommendation: Top 5


Nabari No Ou follows Miharu, a young teen with an apathetic outlook on life, who becomes the focus of attention of one teacher and a high school classmate. Fairly early, Miharu is told that he is the holder of the Shinra Bonshou - a powerful ninja scroll that contains the power to rule all of the Nabari world (NINJAS!). This power is coveted by all, including two factions of ninjas presented as good guys and bad guys. His teacher, Tobari, has secrets about Miharu's past but will stop at nothing to keep him from using the awful power of the Shinra Bonshou.

Despite Miharu's lack of affect, he has quite the mischievous personality. He pulls minor pranks, and uses his boyish charm to get his way - from getting someone's agreement, to distracting them from seeing him as a threat. Most of his actual pranks end up aimed at Tobari-sensei. Together, with his new band of ninja friends, Miharu struggles against the antagonistic ninjas. The only exception: Yoite, a young man seemingly slightly older than Miharu, who holds a different, powerful ninja technique: Kira.  This technique uses the bearers life force to control the body functions of others, mostly as pain. Yoite is being used as a threat/enforcer/torturer type minion because of his technique. However, part of the series highlights the price he has to pay - which leads to his request of Miharu. Somehow, the two become inseparable. Their similar painful experiences bring them together and both Miharu and Yoite fight against their respective leaders for each other.

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I don't really now how to explain my feelings toward this series. I think it's probably my favorite, if not then in the Top 5. It is, yet again, one of the few things I've watched that has made me want to, or outright, cry. I watched a second time to write this review, and I can say without doubt that watching it the second time was more heartrending than the first. Much like reading a book again, there is foreshadowing and anticipation one might not otherwise notice. Most of the humor, I found to be smirky, rather then LOL. There are a few times in the end where the seriousness is overwhelming enough that a little joke here or there saves the day. Sometimes I just wanted to punch characters though.

As long as you're not offended by blood and violence, this is probably ok as a PG-13 type series. The themes are deeper than most younger series, but there is no innuendo anywhere to be found. Romance plays no role, outside of some implied yaoi, but you really have to notice it to notice it. It's almost like watching America's Funniest Home Videos as a kid and realizing that some of those jokes were pretty bad when you're an adult.

My best recommendation to have the full experience is to watch as much of it in one sitting as possible. There is definitely something lost in watching only one or two episodes at a time, particularly if there is a significant period between sittings. Go forth and watch. If nothing else, it has NINJAS.

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Next series: Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne

Familiar of Zero/Familiar of Zero F

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Age Appropriate: High School (innuendo)
Emotional Response: Lots of laughter, a few tears
Notable Features: Mages, girls, and dragons (oh my!)
Language: Japanese - English Sub
Length: 4 seasons, 12-13 episodes each
Overall Recommendation: FTW


Familiar of Zero follows a young man. around 15-16, who is summoned by Louise the Zero - a mage girl around the same age, in a different world - Halkeginia. Louise is called Zero because of her abysmal magical abilities, which frequently end up just blowing things up. Each mage will summon their familiar once they hit a certain age/level, usually a creature from their world, with whom they will form a bond and can help them with their individual magical talents. Of course, what fun would it be for an anime if things went normally, right? Louise somehow manages not only to get a familiar from a different world, but a human!

Louise's world is fantasy-based with dragons, elves, mages, sprites, spirits...etc. They don't have modern day technology and has a noble/peasant system - Queens & Popes included.

The young man in question is Hiraga Saito. As a modern day young man from our world, he understands technology, doesn't originally speak the language in Halkeginia and has no practical concept of monarchical systems. He understands them, intellectually, but doesn't understand why anyone would live that way. This makes for many amusing fights between Louise and Saito, and with the other characters as they all get to know each other. As a bunch of high school students a significant part of the beginnings of each season includes shenanigans.

The story develops more seriously as it is discovered that Louise is a Void Mage (some myterious mage powers that are way cooler than normal mages, but are more difficult and require assistance - like her fancy new familiar, titled Gandalfr/Gundulf depending on translation. There is an evil here and an evil there, a fight between neighboring countries and cultural misunderstandings everywhere. Magical Fireworks Abound!

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The relationships between girls and guys are hilarious and primarily based off stereotypical dramatic situations between high school kids. Really, my decision to put a "high school" age recommendation is because of innuendo and some accidental/purposeful groping. I would even lower the age recommendation to jr. high age, if it is a mature 12-13 year old. There is no actual adult content.

It really is mostly a comedy of errors, but as you get to the climax of each season the tone can change dramatically. The final season is much the same, but not. While the first three seasons have a good share of anxious moments, and developing feelings against the evil villian, it's the last season that is a huge emotional hit. It's a good example of why I describe anime as cartoons but for adults. It made me cry twice, which is unusual. A huge success for any anime series experience is that you actually feel what the creators intended you to feel.

I would definitely recommend watching this!  Episodes are 20+ minutes, so be prepared to get sucked in an accidentally watch a season on a friday night or sunday afternoon!

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Feedback Request: PLEASE! Let me know what you think. I'm mostly wondering about the lists at the top. The basics as it were: Are they ok? Should I add something? Remove something? Find a way to make it more clever.

~Thanks~
Mini-Geek Girl


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Next Viewing: Nabari no Ou

Trying to begin...

So, I'm trying to figure out what the key areas I want to list for reviewing. I know I'll be putting in things about genre, general info, emotional response (probably in a more fun way) but I need to know what other things people might be into learning; even things that people are interested in that they don't usually get from other reviews. I'd like to be "cool" and do something other that stars, or thumbs up in the end. I'm working on figuring that out before I start posting actual reviews. That should be within the next few days though!

Currently being viewed: Familiar of Zero/Familiar of Zero F