Summer Anime 2016 Preview: Time to go Berserk!!!

Hello everyone! This is my preview for the upcoming Summer anime 2016 which begin this July! (Some of the series synopsis are taken from other sources)

Shokugeki no Souma Season 2: The continuation of the fast paced, delicious (Orgasam!) cooking anime as Souma and company began their first official Food Fight!

ReLIFE: Arata Kaizaki quit his first job after graduating from college and was down on his luck. But when a mysterious man offered him a chance to relive his school life, he took it and found himself back in his high school years...

Orange: Takamiya Naho received a strange letter claiming to be her older self from the future and warned her of what is fore coming in her life...

Taboo-Tattoo: When Akatsuki Seigi saved a man from street punks, he was granted a special tattoo inplanted on his palm which granted him supernatural powers.

Handa-kun: The Prequel to Bakamon which focus on Handa in his school years and how did he got the quirk personality in Bakamon.

Mob Psycho 100: Kageyama Shigeo is a powerful ESP user but want to lead a normal life however as his world is not normal with similar ESP users around, he is forced to use it and show the world how powerful he can be.

Nejimaki Seirei Senki-Tenkyou no Alderamin: The Katjvarna Empire is in a state of war with the Kioka Republic. Enter Ikata, who hated war but is a genius leader who will lead his men to battle...

Tales of Zestiria the X: Based on the Bandai-Namco RPG game of the same name.

Qualidea Code: The world is at war with the "Unknown" and a group of children who were awaken from their slumber were granted super powers to defeat the Unknown.

Servamp: When a stray black cat named Kuro crosses Mahiru Shirota's path, the high school freshman's life will never be the same again. Kuro is no ordinary feline, but a servamp: a servant vampire. While Mahiru's personal philosophy is one of non-intervention, he soon becomes embroiled in an ancient conflict between vampires and humans.

91 Days: In 1920, Avolio arrives to join the Vampiro family mafia undercover in order to seek revenge of killers who killed his parents and brother.

D.Gray-man Hallow: Allen Walker and his friends returned with a new series and new voice cast!

Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen -Mirai-hen and Zetsubou-hen: This two new series will run together as the surviving characters from the first two games tried to prevent the end of the world.

Masou Gakuen HxH: Kizuna Hida visits the strategic defense academy Ataraxia at his older sister's request. When he meet Aina Chidorigafuchi, a girl piloting the magical armor Zerosu. His older sister
instructed him to rub Aina's chest to grant her more power which he realised he hold the keys to save the world-One Pervert Act at a time!

Hitori no Shita-The Outcast: A collaboration between China and Japan anime studio about the war between humans and the undead.

Berserk 2016: After one prequel TV series and three movies which is also about the prequel, we finally begin the dark battles of Guts, the Dark Swordman as he began his quest to hunt his former friend, Griffith and the forces of Darkness.

Rewrite: Adapted from the popular PC game from KEY.

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru: The story focuses on an art club in a certain middle school, and its members: Subaru Uchimaki who is a genius at drawing faces but only wants to draw the perfect 2D wife; Colette, a rich troublemaker who never stops making mischief; and the club president who sleeps through sessions and collects sleeping aids. Mizuki Usami is the only person in the club who wants to do art club-like activities, and constantly struggles to do so

Arslan Senki-Fuujin Ranbu: An eight part episodes on Arslan and his comrades to take back their kingdom.

Amaama to Inazuma: Having lost his wife, math teacher Kouhei Inuzuka is doing his best to raise his young daughter Tsumugi as a single father. He's pretty bad at cooking and doesn't have a huge appetite to begin with but chance brings his little family and one of his students, Kotori Iida, together for homemade adventures.

New Game!: Aoba Suzukaze, a fresh high-school graduate easily mistaken for a middle school student who joins the game company that produced her favorite game as a 3D artist and her cute antics as she gets her way through work and deals with her wacky co-workers.

Fukigen na Mononokean: Ashiya has spent the first seven days of high school stuck in the infirmary because of a "mononoke" attaching itself to him. He ends up asking the owner of a small tearoom, Mononokean for help.

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan: Saiki Kusuo has a wide array of superpowers at his command, including telepathy and telekinesis but want to lead a normal life.

Ange Vierge: Based on the popular card game of the same name.

Momokuri: Yuki Kurihara, a girl who has finally been granted her wish of dating her crush Momo. At first glance, she just looks like a normal but very cute girl. However, she is in fact a maniac over Momo, taking notes of his activities and never missing the chance to see him in a cute moment. Momo on the other hand, is inexperienced in love and just wants to make Yuki happy.

Days: Tsukushi Tsukamoto who has no special skills but secretly hides a passionate heart and Jin Kazama, an isolated soccer genius. On a stormy night, the two meet and that meeting creates a whirlwind in the world of high school soccer.

Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars: 12 years ago in the country of Rimguard, a big incident left an unsolved mystery that has begun to fade from people's memories. Time passes, and sisters Yui and Rena are living peacefully in the Enastria Empire. However, one day, a large mecha attacks Enastria. it changed the two sisters' lives forever.

Battery: Harada Takumi who is not even in junior high and he’s the best pitcher in the region but couldn't find a catcher who is good enough to keep up with and he moved to a new town with his family. Then along comes a kid named Nagakura Gou…

Amanchu!: From the author of ARIA, come a story of three friends who enjoyed the ocean life and sports.

Scared Rider Xechs: A group of six men named Scared Rider Xechs battle an alien invasion from another world while still maintain as a rock band for their cover.

Love Live Sunshine!!: A spin off of the successful idol anime which focus on another school in a small town who was inspired by Muse to become school idols.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 3rei!!: The fourth chapter of the FSN spin off as Illya and her friends race against time to save Miyu from an alternative Earth where the Holy Grail War do exist.

Cheer Dansh!: The story revolves around the "slightly odd and cute" members of a cheerleading squad at a men's university.

Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu: The comedy depicts the daily life of Sakaguchi, a high school boy and also a "fudanshi" who loves boys-love stories.

Active Raid Season 2: 2nd Season of the power suits team named 5th Mobile Assualt Unit as they continued their battles against futuristic criminals.

Show by Rock!! Short!!: 2nd Season of the Sario inspired rock anime about the power of music and friendship.

Mahou Shoujo? Naria Girls: Urara, Hanabi, and Inaho are three girls who aim to become nationally-renowned characters by creating animation of themselves! They chose the magical girl theme to catch the attention of everyone from children to adults! Can they safely become popular characters in a one-cours magical girl anime?

Puzzle & Dragons Cross: Based on the 3DS game of the same name.

What am I looking for this Summer? As you can tell from the title of this post, Berserk is finally moving forward after more than ten years. When the first TV series came out years ago, I was expecting to see more of Guts but instead we were treated not one prequel but two prequels from the remake trilogy of movies that came out two or three years ago. Being a long time fan of the manga, (and wondering when the author is going to end it) fans are finally getting to see why Guts is one of the most hardcore anime characters of all time.

Of course, Shokugeki no Souma, Active Raid, Fate Kaleid and Show by Rock are shows that I am also anticipating. Love Live Sunshine looked a bit similar, seeing that the characters are near carbon copies of the original series but I will get a better opinion once the show air.

Handa Kun which I enjoyed Bakamon previously is also on my watch list, Masou Gakuen HxH looked similar to High School DxD in terms of tone and art style (But I am not complaining about it)

The rest of the shows as usual I will watch the first three episodes before deciding what is good or at least decent to watch. What are your anticipated shows for this summer? Until then, see you in July for the new shows!

Maho Tsukai Precure Ep 20 : The Rise of Dokuroxy Part 1

Cure Up! Rapapa! This is my review of Maho Tsukai Precure Episode 20 Review and the girls come face to face with Dokuroxy!

After 20 episodes, this is so far the best episode to date since the girls finally arrived at the Dark Magicians' lair. Although the first 5 minutes is kinda of silly as the girls accidentally wished for food to eat when they opened the magic door. After two tries, the third time was a charm and a pretty awkward moment when they stumbled into the lair where the headmaster was ready to face off Dokuroxy and his generals.

Although my prediction was wrong about the headmaster being Dokuroxy last week however the headmaster and Dokuroxy do have a connection indeed as they were once friends in the same magic school. As similar to most Precure villains' back stories, Dokuroxy was tempted to use the forbidden arts and was presumed dead when a spell went wrong.

The headmaster tried his best to take on Dokuroxy but failed and the girls were speechless that the headmaster has been using his magic to retain his youth but now is a feeble old man. (Kathy the Crystal Ball also showed sign of aging since she shared her power with the headmaster in the fight)

The girls then tried to take on Dokuroxy and failed too. Dokuroxy then stole the Linkle Smartbook and sense the Linkle Emerald's presence. He transported everyone to the Linkle Emerald's location and used all the stones to become a huge giant...

Overall, this is a good episode after 20 episodes. I also has my suspicious of how the headmaster was able to remain young all these years and it was indeed his magic that kept him young. But once his magic was weakened, he revert to his older self which reminded me of how Tsunade from Naruto has a similar abilities that focus her chakara on her forehead and once she used that skill, she become a feeble old lady for a period of time.

Even though we were given a back story of Dokuroxy, I don't find myself invested in him since it was only a flashback and he might go back to his weaken form after the girls defeated him in a future episode. Though I find that Batty died in the cheapest way as he went too close to the Linkle Emerald and got vaporised by it's positive energy.

Since this episode ended with a cliffhanger, we have to find out how the girls are going to take on a giant Dokuroxy with the fates of both Earth and the Magic world hang in the balance in the next episode. Until then, see you in the next episode!

Maho Tsukai Precure Ep 19 : The Secret Door

Cure Up! Rapapa! This is my review of Maho Tsukai Precure Episode 19 Review and the girls are trying to find out about the headmaster's secret.

Despite an episode about finding what make the headmaster tick, it is all exposition and the girls went on a little trip to find out where the headmaster went to.

After listening to Emily, Jun and Kei's so called rumours about the headmaster and Rizu's claim of a mysterious door in the middle of the large tree which is in the center of the school, the girls make a trip there and by some dumb luck, found the secret door in the middle of a field.

The other development was after 20 episodes, Dokuroxy finally talked and he was voiced by Mr Tohou Fubai, Master Asia himself, Akimoto Yosuke. It was all right since I always enjoyed Akimoto San's manly voice in every role he does. Like most main villain in Precure, he gave a little portion of his power for Batty to commit his latest act and combined both Spalda and Gamets' wand to become a ferocious creature.

Batty got the upper hand against the girls Sapphire form but then Ha-Chan for some strange reasons (It was never explained either) shout again similar to previous episode and a bright glow from the Linkle Smart book make everywhere brighter and the trees even protected her and Batty was being slapped around by living tree branches. (Really?)

The girls then defeated Batty and he reverted back to his usual self instead of a bat. Overall, I felt that Batty was even weaker despite having the combined powers of his fallen comrades. I mean, tree branches slapped him silly. Toei...I have no comments about it.

Despite how the episode is about trying to find out who the headmaster really is, he is hardly in this episode and I don't really care about him unless Toei are trying to pull Kamen Rider Wizard plot twist on us. (If you are not familiar with Kamen Rider Wizard's plot, Wizard's alter ego, Haruto was saved by a white wizard with a Rider belt and Haruto became a Kamen Rider. The twist was the white wizard is also the main villain, Wiseman who was secretly manipulating everyone from Haruto to the villains.)

After that, the girls got a new Linkle Jewel-Amethyst Stone from the door itself and with the help of the Linkle Smart book, the girls decided to open the door and find...we will know what lies beyond next week!

However, the preview kinda spoil it as it seems they have entered Doxuroxy's lair and all hell break loose as Doxuroxy began his attack in the Magic world! Until then, see you in the next post!

Maho Tsukai Precure Ep 18: Battle above the Clouds!

Cure Up! Rapapa! This is my review of Maho Tsukai Precure Episode 18 Review and Gamets challenge the girls for the Linkle Garnet Stone!

Continuing from last episode, Ha-Chan blamed herself as she dropped the Linkle Garnet and Gamets took it from them. Although everyone didn't blame her, she felt responsible somehow but when Gamets challenge the girls to meet them at a floating mountain in the Magic world, the girls returned back to the Magic World.

Along the way, the girls met Loretta and her fellow mermaids which they offered a ride for the girls to get closer to the floating mountain. After that, the Mother Pegasus and her son gave the girls a lift above the clouds to face Gamets. Throughout, Ha-Chan remember how Mirai and Riko inspired the Mermaids to reach the surface and how their care for the baby Pegasus is now rewarded.

The girls faced Gamets and he transformed into a leaner and faster form and challenge the girls in a test of strength. This is kinda of confused me a bit. I know that among the three generals, Gamets has so far being quite competent in his battles despite minor setbacks. After retrieving the Linkle Garnet, he didn't report back to Dokuroxy immediately but send a letter to inform him that he is going to beat the girls.

During the battle with the girls, he preached of how power is absolute and so on. (The usual the strong will defeat the weak speech which I heard a million times by power crazed characters) I personally think his plan will failed from the start. One, despite having the Linkle Garent stone, he does not know how to use it so it is completely useless to him. Two, Gamets has a "Villain pride" which he will not let anyone else claim the credit so he didn't join forces with Batty or even inform Dokuroxy of his plan. Instead, Gamets will try to take on the girls himself with his true form.

Thirdly, if Spalda who is weaker than him was defeated by the girls's basic powers, what make Gamets think he can defeat the girls since they clearly have more Linkle stones than him? Finally, Precures are born to fight brute strength and despite how Cure Miracle and Cure Magical was dragged all over the place in the fight. It was for some silly reason (which is not clearly explained) of Ha-Chan trying to stop Gamets and the Linkle Smart Book glowed for a moment that the girls suddenly gain the momentum to overwhelm Gamets. (Lazy Writing again, Toei!)

In the end, Gamets was defeated and reverted into a turtle and the girls got the Linkle Garnet and they all went back happily ever after...kinda of a lame conclusion for this episode if you ask me. Overall, I don't find myself invested in the battle with Gamets despite how Ha-Chan tried to show that she can help the girls and why the Linkle Smart Book glowed and the girls suddenly energized with strength.

Next week, the girls meet the three stooges (Emily, Jun and Kei) again despite they just met each other just two episodes ago. From the preview, it looked they are trying to find out who the Headmaster really is. (Not interested, I don't really care) Although Batty will try to use Spalda and Gamets' bodies to create a more powerful magic spell against the girls.

Until then, see you in the next episode!

Maho Tsukai Precure Ep 17: I didn't know Pac-Man was in this show?!

Cure Up! Rapapa! This is my review of Maho Tsukai Precure Episode 17 Review and today the two girls tried to find out who is Kanoko's crush when she was a teen.

After Kanoko show a picture of herself as a teen to the girls, she claimed she saw an amazing man who stole her heart when the picture was taken. So the girls decided to find Kanoko's crush with the help of Cathy the Crystal Ball.

So the girls went around town to find this person but ended up with false hope since Kanoko does not recognize these men. It was after the girls quietly saved a cat from a tree that Kanoko finally recalled how the man looked like and it was a surprise that it was the Headmaster himself who was her crush many years ago.

Although how he maintain his youth all these years is a question and Kanoko gave him a packet of snacks before he left which until the end of the episode, it showed the Headmaster enjoying the same snack during his tea time.

This also kinda of explained why Kanoko believe in magic and always cover the girls when the magic subject is mentioned.

The second half is kinda of mixed bag for me. For starters, Gamets finally got the Linkle Garent stone after Ha-Chan dropped it and he created a Yokubal for the girls to battle. This battle really make me wonder will the writers munching Precure sweets all day to come up with this episode?!

The Yokubal was all right since it was a creepy Rose creature with Senbei snacks as hands and the girls were trapped inside it's body for a moment. But when the girls escape from it's body, they decided to create a Giant Pac-Man like creature with their Topaz form and munch off the Yokubal's hands! I know Topaz form is the Trickster form but this is something out of a Robot Chicken sketch!

People, I don't like to judge one single episode and claimed that the whole season is bad. Usually I tried to keep my opinion to myself till the final episode before I roast the whole season to the ground. But if Toei keep doing such goofy stunts like this episode, I really have doubts for this season. I get it that Precure is catered for young kids but if you want to pull something like this, do it smart and not rely on a gag that I saw in a Looney Toons cartoon.

You can tell that I am not really happy with this episode and yes, I am aware who is the third Precure thanks to magazine scans. The first part was kinda of slow pace with Kanoko thinking of her old crush. (Wait till they finally meet and she will probably felt ashamed that the headmaster is still in his prime) The second half which other that Gamets got the Linkle Garnet stone, the battle was really "Jumping the Shark."

Next week, after Ha-Chan felt sorry for losing the Linkle Garnet, the girls returned to the Magic world and met up with old friends however Gamets has challenged them for the Linkle Smart Book. Until then, see you in the next post!