Review: Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

[WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS]

[don't be fooled my the promotional image. Sure looks disgusting to me...]

Kaichou wa Maid-sama (The President is a Maid!) is about a very stern female seitoukacihou President of Student Council who works part-time as a waitress in a maid café. For those who don’t know, it’s not the kind of maid you hire from Indonesia (no offense intended), but the kind of servant that is dressed in fancy French Maid costume. A particular community in Japan have this fetish therefore a maid café is opened to satisfy their fandom. Though the kaichou is oblivious to the fact that this interest comes from anime, she just had to work since her dad left her family with massive amount of debt. At least she didn’t sell her body. However, she had to keep this after school activity a secret in order to maintain her reputation at school. Until that gorgeous heartbreaker in school found out, that’s when she starts to get paranoid.

Misaki Ayuzawa – She worked her arse off to become the school president in order to be a representative of the girls welfare in that school. The school she enrolled to used to be a boys’ school, and when it turns into co-ed it’s hard for the girls to get used to the environment. Moreover that the school lacks testosterone but have that untrustworthy masculine aura instead. She’s obviously biased towards her female schoolmates, while she poses as a 'demon' towards the men. In order to help her mom who doesn't seem to be affected by the disappearance of her husband, she works as a waitress in the maid café where she’s known as Misa-chan. Misaki doesn’t give a crap about looking feminine, all that matters is that she’s happy with the way she is; a tsundere.

[kakkoi!!]

Takumi Usui – The hottest guy in school in the eyes of the blind girls who knew nothing of him yet straight away confess only ending up with tears. Honestly, I don’t see what’s so charming about this guy. I know even the manga version of him, he can’t even rival the bishounen-ness of the Host Club boys (Ouran) [NOT EVEN THIS]. In terms of personality, he’s rather bland to the point that his mischief doesn’t work at all. For some reason, he keeps Misaki’s secret for his own entertainment and becomes a regular at the maid café just to stalk Misa-chan. I gotta agree with Misaki that he’s a “perverted alien”. I’m always annoyed with the type of characters that are illogically perfect. But then again, Usui isn’t really the ideal man anyway. He doesn’t give a crap about other people unless Misaki is involved; I don’t see this as romantic but... "HE'S THE WORST"

[doesn't this makes you wanna punch him in the face??]

The Three Idiots – The only people other than Usui from Misaki’s school who knows of her dark secret. This comic relief gang became fans of Misa-chan right after she PWN’d them in the first episode. It’s hard to believe they were former delinquents and could even laugh about their sorry past.

Other characters include the BFFs, the fangirling cafe manager, a shota trap internet idol, J-rocker, a gynophobic (possibly) gay dude and a glutton childhood friend cum "a new challenger!".

Initially, I was impressed by how the story portrays a strong, independent girl with aikido skills to defend herself. Misaki is awesome in so many ways, and can almost pass of as a “Knight in Shining Armour”. This was further satisfied by the ‘Momotaro’ episode and the butler café challenge. Unfortunately, towards the end the story begins tumble like a rock rolling down a high steep. I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that the tsundere weakness is gradually revealed, or it could be because of the subtle reverse harem. As for the ending, didn’t quite like the idea where the pair is somehow forced to participate in an activity for ‘couples’. I’m pretty sure this is overused, and to me it’s a lousy excuse to make them be together. And not to forget the idea where Misaki keeps getting fanboys now and then... Which is kind of typical for shoujo manga to make the heroine loved by plenty of weirdos regardless of her lack of qualities as a girlfriend/wife. I wasn’t satisfied with the final half of the season, and it’s really a disappointment because I had truly enjoyed the earlier episodes.

[Just one of those costumes this tsun is forced to wear cos everything needs MOE now... h-hey! what are you looking at?]

Nothing special about the OP and ED, but I’d like to point out that the ED sequence kept hinting Usui’s origins or past, but NEVER in the anime had it revealed anything about him. I’m pretty much angry about this too.

INB4 GOREADMANGA.

Nah, I’d rather not. I hate Usui anyway.

p/s: sorry can't help it but this is my favourite scene 8D
pps: honestly, I really do hate Usui. Stop calling me a tsundere DX

Review: Arakawa Under the Bridge

[WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS]

another late review. I'm so sorry but I'm on a roll now. I'm slowly closing in to the newer animes. Let me finish of my Spring 2010 first. No worries, I'm not otaku enough to watch every single anime that spawns every season.

Arakawa Under the Bridge revolves around delusional homeless people that lives along the Arakawa river (in Japan), and not too far from a particular bridge where the literally independent Kou Ichinomiya had his pants stolen. His perfect high class life as a son of a big company turns upside down when he had to become a resident of the 'village' after he was saved from being drowned by a self-proclaimed alien from Venus. This is due to his family policy of not being in debt to anyone (or else ASTHMA ATTACK), therefore he had to somehow repay the kind Venusian by becoming her lover.

The folks along the Arakawa river is not your average hobos. They're perhaps weirder than the patients in mental hospital, cos they somehow have a bit of sanity... or maybe they seem to have escaped from a mental hospital:

1. Recruit, aka Kou Ichinomiya is the man with the highest common sense and is most likely because he's a newbie. In spite of that, he's quick to accept challenges no matter how strange it is because of his ego. And he looks weirder than a clown doing those weird things in his white shirt and tie.

2. Nino, the kind Venusian who likes to fish whose name was taken from her PE clothing badge. She requests Recruit to become her lover when he insisted on repaying her good deed, but she has no idea what 'love' is really like... so expect some funny misunderstood moments involving this blonde bishoujo :3

[when the heroine saves the hero!]

3. Soncho, a man in a kappa suit... wait, he IS a kappa! My bad. He lives an immortal life and that's why he is seen as the mayor. He's responsible for giving people new names, and NO objections unless he is cool with it. And also the one organizing events, although he ends up slacking off.

4. Hoshi is the resident musician wearing a STAR mask (note that "hoshi" means "star" in Japanese) but his lyrics are lamer than those faggot Malay songs. He harbours feelings for Nino, and thus making Kou his archrival - and it's always my favourite part seeing them quarrel!

[history of Hoshi in a nutshell]

5. Sister first thing I love about him is the seiyuu (Takehito Koyasu :D), next thing is that he isn't ashamed to be dressed in a nun's costume. He's the resident preacher-cum-trainer of the village, and his teachings are obviously of another f*cked up religion. And I'm not making a typo calling Sister a "he". Just imagine a 100 times manlier version of Bridget (Guilty Gear).
6. Maria is a farmer who keeps all the milk sources for the villagers. Yeah it's a wonder why there are cows and sheep legally kept by the river. But don't be fooled by her pleasant looks, as her mouth holds a truckload of sarcasm. And THAT makes her my favourite!
7. Shiro a man who likes to walk on white lines. He brings around a white painter (the one used to paint on roads) so that he can walk on white things. If you wanna know why he's like this, you might wanna try watching u_u
8. P-Ko and I thought keeping cows by the river is strange... well, growing vegetables doesn't seem that strange but yea. She specially grows different veggies for her favourite people in her farm, especially cucumbers. Do you know what creature loves cucumber?? Almost forgot to mention that she's the Queen of clumsiness (yet one wonders how she rides the bike)
9. Metal Brothers are self proclaimed psychics and wear metal masks in fear of being tracked down by the military. They're always together and for some reason submit themselves to a little girl. Not so important, not even attractive in terms of shota =/
10. Stella is appeared as though she's Sister's foster daughter. A loli but not the kind of moe you moe-tard wants. Too bad she has a 'secret power' that destroys her cute image. Her desire to be strong is to impress Sister to the point she became an 'aniki' even to people older than her.

Save the other characters for the second season. They appear less in the first.

There isn't a definite plot in this anime, but it's just showing how a man who grew up in a family that prioritize perfection had to deal with people different from his society. And it's not about dealing with poor people, but with a bunch of weirdos living by the river... and not just his fish loving girlfriend. To be honest, I got sick of Kou still not being able to accept the weirdness of the people and culture. If I were him I'd just play along, but you see, he has his Ichinomiya family pride to uphold. Yet what makes me love this show is that how the jokes are easily comprehensive for a non-Japanese, as i know some shows likes to use too much puns and culture spoof that is hard to absorb even with subs. I have to say that I never had thoughts of dropping this anime is to see the character's pasts, but alas, there weren't much. A good reason to look forward to season 2 ne? (wait for the review then)

[imagine coming across this guy while walking by a river]

Now it's seiyuu's turn :3
Other than Takehito Koyasu as Sister, I'm delighted to hear Maaya Sakamoto acting as Nino. And also Miyuki Sawashiro not because of Maria, but her jazzy score for a special OP entitled "Think of a title yourself!". I don't really fancy the OP though it can be stuck in your head after a few episodes, but the ED. OH MY GOD the ED can make me cry (after knowing the translated lyrics). DO LISTEN: "Sakasama Bridge" by Suneohair

Arakawa Under the Bridge is one of the few animes which has an appealing and memorable background music. I dunno about you guys, but I like a few tracks like “Arakawa Ippatsu Taikai” and there's another one that seems to be missing from the album I downloaded *swt*

Well at least these hobos don't beg around the streets of Tokyo.

Review: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

[WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS]

I realized that it's about a year since Baka To Test to Shoukanjuu aired (short BakaTest), but I'm always late when it comes to reviews. Just don't give a fark, I just feel like writing. Anyway, before you start reading... I'm gonna have to warn you that it's a goddamn lame review :(

[disclaimer: image does not belong to me]

Studio: Silver Link
Original Author: Kenji Inoue
Literal meaning: Idiots and Tests and Summoned Beings

As the image shows, it's about a school life. And it's not an ordinary school life either cos in this school you can actually summon a chibi version of yourself to battle with others. But it's not easy to simply summon them, cos in order to have high Health Points (HP) and strong Attack Points you need to get high marks in your tests. And the story mostly revolves around the idiots of F class.

Of course, if the author had picked the A class students there wouldn't be any story, would it? Nah Special A can make it happen, and people from other classes worship them like gods. While the A class students in BakaTest are portrayed as arrogant b1tches.

Here's brief description on our beloved idiots:
1. Akihisa Yoshii - the protagonist and the main idiot of the story. He's not such a bad guy really, but IMO he needs to work a little harder. I mean, he's not THAT dumb when it comes to friendship and all. Well at least he knows how to cook.

2. Mizuki Himeji - Supposed to be in A class, but she was sick during a test that caused her to fail and be thrown into F class. When given a chance to retake a test to transfer into A class, she purposedly failed cos she wanted to stick to the F class just because the guy she likes is there. Stupid ne? Moreover, she fell in love with the guy who happened to be kind to her when she fainted. Pfff anybody could have done that! Double stupid.

3. Yuuji Sakamoto - The class representative. He's also supposedly a smart guy, but he's lazy so that's why he's in F. Doesn't really give a sh1t about being in that class either. That yandere who's obsessed with him is his childhood friend, but he is not comfortable with it. Probably cos he's gay with Yoshii.

4. Minami Shimada - An extremely abusive tsundere who has inferiority complex about her flat chest. After many years of staying in Germany, she has problems reading kanji, thus her most powerful subject is math. For some reason, she also likes the idiot Himeji likes. WHY AHH?? Anyways, unlike most typical tsunderes, she is a good cook! *_*

5. Kouta Tsuchiya - aka Muttsurini, the most perverted character in BakaTest and is not ashamed to display his perverted actions. His hobby is photography... ahem... "photography". His trademark is his tendacy to nosebleed, and his best subject is Health Education... unlucky for him not 'practically' yet.

5. Hideyoshi Kinoshita - THIS. IS. THE. LIMELIGHT. OF BAKATEST! For the first time I'm seeing moe-tards being gay over a guy. To be honest I love traps, Hideyoshi is one of my top 10 but not top 3, and he ain't the most appealing trap to me. It's funny that, he's one of the F class students while his twin sister is in A class. Though he isn't as smart as the latter, his acting skills is a great weapon to start a havoc between classes :3

And for those who have not seen him DON'T YOU DARE GOOGLE HIS IMAGE 8D.

(kinda wish he's in ISML)

The rest of the characters are from different classes, go watch the anime if you're curious about them. They're just as funny as these idiots!

[shoukanjuu DO WANT!]

Now then, as I watched this anime, I was reminded by my secondary school days. There wasn't any obvious conflict between classes, but I was aware that the lower grade classes see the upper classes as somewhat arrogant. In turn, the geniuses see them as... well, idiots. I can't remember how exactly I felt; I was in A class for long but I had a friend from each of the other classes. But one thing I remember is that, just like the classes in BakaTest, the classroom condition improves from F to A. The last two years of my school life, the top classes have their own personal classrooms, so we did not have to worry about the evening session stealing our belongings left in the desks.

Back to the story. Can't remember much though. I remember thinking "Why the hell am I watching this??" In the end I was more attracted to the theme used. Not only because of the video game influence, but also how universal it was. I mean, in one anime you can see a mixture of various stereotypes; Tsundere, yandere, trap... yaoi, yuri, brother complex, imouto-type etc, and all of them were non-canon but portrayed in a sarcastic way (at least, that was how I felt). That was actually the main reason why i liked BakaTest. Didn't regret picking it up. For those who have not, please watch this if you want something for teh lulz.

Not into the OP much but the EDs are LOVE. The sequences as well. Speaking of ED, I keep forgetting to download Baka go Home!

[oh yeah and imo Akihisa Yoshii as dress is cuter than Hideyoshi kthxbai. ]

Last but not least, "life is not all about grades" :3

Review: 07-Ghost

[WARNING: May Contain Spoilers]

When I was first introduced to this anime, from reading the summary I thought it was rather typical; the protagonist suffers amnesia and somewhat has an alter-ego inside him. I refused to watch it at first, until I took a look at the list of characters: Men... men... and moar men... men.. oh a girl... men.. men... men.......... men........ FUKUYAMA JUN!!! Okay that's probably the main reason why I wanted to see this (apart from having overpopulation of men).

[Disclaimer: All images does not belong to me]

Anyways, the story is about a boy named Teito Klein who lost his memories at a certain age and is treated as a war-slave ever since. The authorities aka villains are after his hidden powers until one day some kebaboom event happened causing him to escape from his military school with the help of his best friend, Mikage. The bad guys lead by Ayanami (male version of Rei get lawl) pursued him while he was flying in the air with no where to go but failed. Then he crash landed on a group of priests, which consists of 3 guys that makes girls drool endlessly. Consequently he was brought to their so called church which worshipped "7 ghosts" aka 7 pieces of their God. Then all the shit happens in there...

[that's the so called epic tagline yeah]

07-Ghost demographic is supposed to be shoujo, but what I can say about this show is.. "It's not supposed to be shonen-ai, but it IS shonen-ai". I mean, come on. Look at the cast. They're all men. The 3 nuns probably just existed to beautify the place, and the only MOE chic is the mermaid who plays the pipe organ. The 3 priests or whatever you call 'em, are potrayed to be straight (Frau collects pr0n, while Castor is fond of the mermaid and making female dolls. Mmm maybe Labrador is the gay-est since he likes flowers), but it's not very convincing. Now don't let me start with Mikage... the best friend of all best friends and is totally gay PROVEN BY HIS FINAL WORDS dammit. Oh and the villains are gay too. Most of them are partners and they're like... have to be mutually dependent on each other. Even Ayanami, who has a thing for Frau and Teito.

[Razette doesn't speak. Good, at least she's not annoying]

OKAY FINE! I admit. Every episode of 07-Ghost Made me "KYAAAAAAAAA" every 5 minutes or so =_____=

The art, is definitely nicer looking in the anime adaptation than in the manga. The magic stuff... is well... I dunno. Just like that... in a unique way. OH I can't remember, it was sooo last year. Anyway, reincarnation plays a huge part in the original story. Too bad we can only see too few in the adaptation... like this little pink dragon here...

[Burupya is a DRAGON cub. Really]

Storywise, I can't really say since it's kind of incomplete. As in, the manga is still ongoing; Teito and company has gone out for their own adventures. After several episodes in the military school, most of the time they spent was inside the church. it's also where Teito chose to become an apprentice bishop along with his roommate Hakuren (FUKUJUN get). Hakuren is probably the best supportive character in the story, or among those anime I've seen. He may be arrogant at first, but it turns out that he can easily accept trufax that may seem farfetched to an average person. Okay back to storyline... not that great but it was okay. Still... NO COMMENT.
Oh yeah, sorry to say that the plot does not focus much on the 7 Ghosts, so it kinda makes you wonder moar about it. Only 3 ghosts made their appearences in the anime. Just read the manga, it's recent chapters focuses on them already.

[OH SO FABULOUS! Seiyuu: FukuJun duhhh]

In spite of those shits, basically I liek this anime because of the bishies.... and BL elements... which is more apparent in the anime mufufu. Oh yeah and the shota main character too! I just hate the villains who are kind of dumb. uh yeah they just had to be bishounens...

Review: DURARARA!!

[WARNING: May contain spoilers!]
[WARNING Ver.2: Content may be harsh!!]

[disclaimer: image does not belong to me]

Summary for Durarara!! or in short DRRR!! is about an urban legend that circulates around Ikebukuro that a Headless Rider randomly roam the streets... doing dunno what. The main protagonist, a normal looking from the countryside called Ryugamine Mikado was warned by his childhood friend Masaomi Kida to be careful of several weird guys; like the man in bartender suit, a parkour loving informant and especially a gang called Dollars and Yellow Scarves. But Ryugamine eventually got caught up into the mess and at the same time enduring his typical teenage life at school (such as having a crush on a girl).

Towards the end you’d see that the normal characters are actually masterminds of something while the not so normal characters just wanted to lead a normal life. OMG I seriously just realized this! And I was about to say that the first half was intriguing but the second half makes you wonder where it is going...?

Celty Sturluson, the headless rider

First there was this modern dullahan who cruises the city like minah rempit (term "biker gang girl" in Malaysia) with yellow cat-eared helmet. At first I thought Celty Sturluson was a total enigma, but turns out she’s not obliged to show her headless body to those she’s acquainted with. And she can be friends with just about anyone and is most of the time in the neutral zone. I like her as a mysterious esper, but when she decided to become more human (by developing a romantic relationship with an illegal doctor) it’s not cool anymore.

And I thought DRRR! is all about her. But we also get the chance to get to know a vending machine thrower named Shizuo Heiwajima... aka Shizzy-chan. Not only vending machines, he has the capability of bending metals with his bare hands. His super strength is a mystery. He can punch a thousand enemies in one go just like in hack and slash games. Yet in contrast with his behaviour, he admits that he hates violence. Although he is dere to his brother it wasn’t enough to make me like him because he experiences PMS... ALL THE TIME.

mutual loveerrrrrssss! don't deny it!!!

Now here comes the yummy part; He’s particular interested in Izaya Orihara in an obsessive way. Once he sees Izaya-kun in the street, he would alwaaaaays take the opportunity to play tag with him. Izaya is the hard-to-get partner!! I don’t believe it when they say they instantly hated each since their first meeting pffff. Both are just being tsun to one another. COME ON GUYS, the FANARTS are very CONVINCING!!! Cos even if you hate someone so much doesn’t mean you have to chase him all over the place. Anyway Izaya-kun is the sly double/triple/quadruple agent of the city. Gee I didn’t know that you can make a living by ruining other people’s lives.

Yellow Scarves are the dominant gangster group whose members are not ashamed to hide the fact that they’re yellow fetish. They were dormant until much later when they hear about Dollar’s activities. Dollars are colourless, and they’re not really a group of delinquents but just some random cyberbuddies. Guess who their leaders are?!?! One of those normal guys....

I'm running out of ideas to rant on the other random people. A lovesick dude, a persistent stalker, Russian sushi promoter, a gang of Otaku, and a slasher who believes slashing is one way to love one another.

Soooooo...

Is the anime as supernatural as I thought it was...?

Nay. The occult part comes now and then, but there are also those realistic shit. There are times where I got confused whether this story sci-fi or what. DRRR! is deep, but not something you can dub as “exciting” or leaving any huge impact. I still like it nonetheless. Recommended for those who’d love to see some serious mysterious randomness for a change. Oh yea... I think the hidden theme in this anime is ROMANCE. In a simple yet.... peculiar way. Surprising for me as well.

2 OPs and 2 EDs for the whole season are great, so are the sequences.
Let’s not forget the cast, as they were the main factor that seduced me to watch DRRR!! It was nice to see the violent side of Daisuke Ono as Shizzy-chan, who voice acted as the gentlemanly butler in Kuroshitsuji before this. And also Hiroshi Kamiya who voice acted as the kuudere Tieria of Gundam 00 this time as a psychopath. However, my top faves Jun Fukuyama and Mamoru Miyano were a bit disappointing (cos i prefer them being... OH SO FABULOUS~~~~)

I heard the manga has more Guro. I'd like to read it to know what's the real plot...

Review: Sengoku Basara

[WARNING: May Contain Spoilers]


[Disclaimer: image does not belong to me]

This is an adaptation of a video game with the same name, which is based on Sengoku Jidai that ranged from the 15th to 17th century. It's translated as Warring States period, and is perhaps one of the most popular chapters of Japanese history. Warlords fought against one another to conquer their land (yet known as Japan), and many legendary heroes were born from within that period; most notably the Crimson Warrior and The One Eyed Dragon. And not to forget, the Demon King.


What would you do if the bird does not sing?
"Kill it if it does not sing."
"Make it want to sing."
"Wait until it sings."

The poem figuratively describes the different styles of leadership of the great rules of Japan; Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu respectively.

Just like in the video game, Oda stays true to his nickname the "Demon King" and is the primary antagonist of te first season. With the help of his wife, Nouhime and most loyal vassal, Ranmaru Mori (who's supposed to be a bishounen, but Capcom's version he's a candy-loving shota). As in the true story, Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi are mutual rivals. Rempit-ing on a horse, Masamune Date is somehow rivalled with the masochist Yukimura Sanada (My sis is gonna kill me if she sees this) when in history they're not really archenemies.

Well if you play the game, and also Samurai Warriors (or Sengoku Musou) you'll see how fucked up CAPCOM version is. Not that I hate it, but Koei's adaptation of Sengoku Jidai is more accurate. The wonderful part of Sengoku Basara is the colourfulness and the character designs. Storywise, a bit too much tweak here and there, and it gets worse in the anime. I think Tokugawa died a bit too early. It's weird because he's the last shogun. I dunno what to say about the plot. I'm not well versed with the Sengoku Jidai history, I think my sister knows better (she even remembers the war names!).
But at least they have epic characters to make up for it.

And if you think the plot is sucky, wait till you see the OVERDOSE SHOUNEN ACTION SCENES THAT REMINDS YOU OF DRAGON BALLZZZ. Well of course i'm okay with the game where Yukimura swings his fiery spear and Masamune shooting lightning bolts with three swords with each hands... but seeing flashes of red and blue clashing to one another in a combat is not what I want to see in an action movie. And the worst part is whenever Oda appears, the clouds turn black, storm approaching the area to emphasize that he was really a messenger from hell. Don't let me start with Tadakatsu Honda, Tokugawa's general also known as "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself"; cos he is portrayed as a robot.... =_=;;

Art-wise, I think they look fatter as 2D compared to their video game counterparts. I personally prefer the characters as 3D. The guys look hot anyway, but the girls are much cuter in the game.

The primary ladies of the game..

anime version... not so moe anymoar D:


T3H LAWLZ!! Is this how a relationship between a daimyou and his kunoiochi should be like??? *blushes*

Don't be fooled by Oichi-hime's vulnerable appearance!! Although she wears pink, she's actually an emo faggot. Next to her is her beloved husband, the super sentai-ish Nagamasa Azai. FUN FACT: They're a cannon Tsundere-Yandere pairing :D

OP is JAP by Abingdon Boys School. The group had been contributing their songs since the first game came out, and I'm glad to listen to them again in the anime. but my favourite SenBasa will always be Blade Chord :3

Second season is out already, I'm putting it on hold. I fear another disappointment, but the first few episodes are promising. I should probably try not to be so serious about the accuracy of SenBasa to the Warring States Period, just that they're using the legend's name with a rewritten history.

oh btw my favourite character is none other than...

SARUTOBI SASUKE!!!!

yeah so typical of me since I like ninjas... who are MALE and has awesome loyalty to his "danna".

Review: Kimi ni Todoke

sup guys. I'm back (in reviewing anime)!! Well not officially. I'm gonna waste my first one hour in the campus library writing some reviews. Haven't done this for a long time though.

I'm gonna start off writing reviews on the animes I left unreviewed since last year. Now this may be a little late, but who cares? As if people take my blog seriously XD

[WARNING: May contain spoilers!]

Kimi ni Todoke, aka From Me to You (direct translation is "Reaching You") is a shoujo manga about a shy and quiet girl mistakenly seen as a ghost due to her scary face and misleading name. Kuronuma Sawako (nicknamed Sadako) admires a certain classmate, who's apparently the most popular guy in school but at least he's well liked for his friendliness instead of looks (unlike most shoujo manga). From admiration turn to crush then FALLING IN LOVE.

Sounds typical? Yeah, I'd like to avoid Shoujo manga if possible. But everything was so sweet and soothing from the beginning, I find it hard to dislike it. The story reminds me of Bukiyou na Silent (a BL manga), which is also about a quiet person who fell in love with the outgoing guy... well minus the indecent parts :D. However, it didn't stop me from dropping the show. because... EVERYTHING IS SO SWEET! Characters are loveable. Even the b1tchiest girl isn't that much of a nuisance. The heroine's newfound BFFs aren't too quick to believe in bad rumours, and have enough common sense to analyse them. The hero is like... well, if you think Sebastian (Kuroshitsuji) is the most perfect man ever, then I beg to differ. Kazehaya Shouta is like your ideal boyfriend, and at least he is human! But he doesn't make it to my fave chara harem... I think this dude is too pure for me ;__;. Sawako on the other hand, may come off as a bit of a masochist when she accepted the fact that she appears ghastly and offers to become THE GHOST. A little blunt, but I don't see it as a bad thing cos she didn't take the nickname as an offense.

KnT not only focuses on the main hero and heroine, but the other supporting characters as well. I personally like the love story between Chizu-chan (the tomboy) and Ryu (the stoic guy), and how Sawako is involved in keeping Ryu's secret feelings for his childhood friend. Yano-chin wasn't given much development yet, but I have a funny feeling she'd be in a relationship with Pin Sensei (my sister reads the manga, I could ask her about it). So i'm hoping for a season 2. And putting the romance aside... the friendship part is made FTW.

When it comes to seiyuu, when I first heard Sawako's voice I knew it was Mamiko Noto! Her voice is standard like that XD. Then Kazehaya was played Daisuke Namikawa, one of my favourite seiyuus due to this his versatility (most notably as both North and South Italy!). Other than that, I love the OP, which is also entitled Kimi ni Todoke by Tanizawa Tomifumi. The lyrics make me think of Sakura tree somehow lulz.

Ok here comes the "very personal opinion" part:
No matter how romantic it seems, somehow I kinda dislike the fact that you have to depend on a particular guy you like to improve your social life. One should appreciate more than just one person who changed you. Like your BFFs. Somewhere in the middle of the series, it gets a little boring because of the sentimental monologs... which is supeeerrrr loooooong I could yawn ten enduring them D:
Overall it was alright. I have to admit I did cry at one episode cos I'm reminded of... something related.
Anyway I won't state my rating here, I've already done that in MyAnimeList profile.

....I think this review is lame cos I can't diss it much XD.