IMHO. 'Tamayura' ~ OVA, 2 TV series and specials, totally made of kindness

When I first watched 'Tamayura hitotose', it was just a short series for relaxed entertainment. What I didn't expect is that by the end it would turn out into such a wonderful coming of age story with the characters so deep and the story so full.

Speaking coolly, I can say 'Tamayura' is a great source for learners of the Japanese language and culture. It brings out many important aspects of the Japanese society such as taking bath together with friends and family members, even if they happen to be of the opposite sex:

gratitude and respect towards parents and relatives:

proper attitude to serving the clients:

and the importance of supporting and inheriting the family business:

But the main idea of 'Tamayura' is that this world is entirely made of kindness. To an unprepared person it will seem saccharine sweet. Especially if today in the morning you had to make your way into the bus with your elbows lest you fail to secure a seat in the bus. Especially when a couple of days ago another suicide bomber killed a dozen of people in some country.

The idea of total kindness and happiness appears the very moment 'Tamayura' starts and does not leave the screen even for a second. Happiness is everywhere, in the head:

in drawings:

 in photos and memories:

 in sweets:

 in fairytales:

Next time you worry about entering a new collective, try to whistle.
Okay, just a bit more happiness

 aaaaand

However, after watching lazily the first episodes about peaceful everyday life of several teenage girls eating desserts and having fun, I gradually noticed myself taking one by one paper tissues to wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks. By the last episode of the specials, I realised how grave the issues in the story had become, and how realistic the way the girls were dealing with them was. If some stories may be called 'bittersweet', this one I would call sweet-bitter, in the order of appearance.

graphics

If the first episodes may be simpler in terms of shapes and details of different things including faces, the last specials change very much adding even more lustre to everything. However the backgrounds were gorgeous from the very beginning. That wonderful ability to create beauty in everyday life and notice beauty in ordinary things is probably something I respect the most in Japanese.

music

If there must be a fly in the ointment, it will be music in 'Tamayura'. While the background melodies were good and always fitting the situations, the OPEDs were extremely weak expressing nothing in particular, being just average tender songs performed by average singers. The best songs in all 'Tamayura' parts were 'Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara' and 'Sotsugyou shashin', both performed by Sakamoto Maaya with her soft voice, but both being songs of the legendary Matsutoya Yumi. Which proves her legendary-ness once again.

voice acting

Since seiyuus with soft voices will never cease to exist in Japan, there will never be a problem to find proper seiyuus for cute teenagers in Japan. However, I can probably say I am completely satisfied with the performance of the 'Tamayura' crew.

conclusion

As for me, I would never agree that living on memories is enough. Memories will not bring you a cup of hot tea when you catch a cold, will not fill your stomach when you're hungry and will not hug you when you feel blue. However, there's no argument to the fact that just being near each other is not enough. The saddest thing is that not everyone of us is blessed to live in the world similar to that of Fuu - a world full of kindness and of people who would welcome her back whenever she wants to return.

p. s.

and a tint of humour just enough for the story not to become too serious. A funny PE teacher:

 mom's old friends from a biker club:

 and his majesty the Pink Cat

'Otome Youkai Zakuro' ~ justified risk

an anime based on an ongoing manga, created by Hoshino Lily who was specialising in BL, and directed by Chiaki Kon, who is famous for the same thing. the previous works influence my opinion very much and I was not particularly happy to know that two main people responsible for 'Zakuro' have worked on shounen-ai - that meant for me that 'Zakuro' would be overloaded with fanservice for girls

 especially when the original graphics has FOR_GIRLS written all over its 'face'

however, I was mistaken. 'Zakuro' turned out to be pretty decent, tolerable shoujo, even though it is not a masterpiece

story and characters

are typical, if not cliche. at first sight, we have nothing more than
a type widely considered to be tsundere

a shy but deeply feeling girl

and girls with a positive attitude towards everything and inspiring positive feelings into everyone

coupled with a self-confident ikemen

a cool guy

and a young but serious guy

the characters meet for the first time, devote themselves to common cause, get to know each other better, their feelings grow, they reveal some secrets of their past, constantly save each other, at some point the main Heroine turns out to be a greater existence than she seemed, is captured, the company starts off to rescue her, the Heroine obtains her true power and delivers the final blow to the enemy herself
a very, very boring skeleton it must seem. if there are things that can save a poor framework, than all of them were used in 'Zakuro' to compensate for that

first, the right use of the characters types. those types either become a platitude, or are made into believable characters. the latter happened in 'Zakuro', fortunately. we get to see different kinds of behaviour, different kinds of relationships, different kinds of interactions and reactions, and no one seems odd. moreover, 'Zakuro' offers such likeable characters that I could not follow my usual pattern 'choose one character and forget about the rest'. I used to call this feeling a 'respect', but I am not sure if it does not incline towards 'sympathy', or something else. I am trying to say, even if I was not personally a fan of this or that type of character, I 'could not take my eyes off of them'. the 'shoujo' level did not go overboard either
and humour - that last straw that can save anything. monsters who only want to scare but not to hurt

silly actions of characters who were supposed to act cool

'childish granddaddy' type of characters

and adorable, cute, almost useless characters like Mamezou

this balance is not something easily achieved, in my mind
天晴れ！

music

is the second thing which saves 'Zakuro' from being a mediocre 'watch-and-forget' anime. the BGM composer is said to be Sugimoto Masaru. however, if you have a look at the OST booklet, you will see another name - Nanase Hikaru. while Nanase is responsible for many beautiful and bewitching songs, Sugimoto is an unknown figure to me, but I am happy to get to know his works

OST is something I would call an OST masterpiece. everyone has his own principle on how to decide whether an OST is good or bad, but what I appreciate the most is when the composer(s) is/are able to create different kinds of music for different situations, and when the music presents some interest separately, not as a background. oh, and one more criterion - though I have a great respect towards experimental OSTs, I am not in favour of replacing analog instruments with a single synthesizer. 'Zakuro' OST uses classical instruments, and even violin is not violated as usual manages to create symphonic sound

OP theme was what I liked the least, though 'twas not bad. ED themes were much more interesting. I remembered 'Sakura Taisen', 'Ikoku' and some other anime where seiyuus sang theme songs
天晴れ！

voicing

seiyuus of 'Zakuro' are a group of the most popular, famous and demanded ones. just look at this list: Nakahara Mai, Sakurai Takahiro, Hanazawa Kana, Toyosaki Aki, Horie Yui, Hino Satoshi, Kaji Yuuki, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Kondou Takayuki, Komiya Kazue, Ishizumi Akihiko, Tamura Mutsumi, Iguchi Yuka, Tomatsu Haruka, Inoue Kikuko, Kotobuki Minako. I guess creating 'Zakuro' was pretty expensive due to such a list. however, they all coped with their roles so brilliantly that I was absolutely delighted. the main characters' seiyuus were predictably good, but Tomatsu-san  impressed me with an unexpected low voice. the 'old school' Oohara Sayaka and Inoue Kikuko were just as one would expect them to be. the only thing I could wish for is probably Nakahara putting more effort into training how to portray crying 

天晴れ！

graphics
probably some of the pictures were done in a lazy manner, but the extent of laziness was not critical. mostly I liked the bright vivid colours which, independently of whether you admit it or not, always liven up the atmosphere and cheer up the spectators
if only there were more pictures of the city itself... since Meiji, Taisho and Showa are my favourite periods in Japanese history (as well as 19-20 centuries in world history) I wanted to see more views creating the epoch, but I only saw the 'Ministry' itself, Kei's mansion and a few streets

unlike wider perspectives, facial expressions were done very well

which were sometimes contributing to the atmosphere of the moment so that my heart almost skipped a bit

天晴れ！

conclusion

there are anime series that have a strong basis which seems trustworthy from the very beginning. 'Zakuro' was the opposite. however, I have no regrets I risked. right after the start, due to likeable characters, overwhelming music and interesting plot I felt like I finally found the type of anime I was searching for - the one that made me feel like I felt in my early days, when my breath was easily taken away by what was happening on the screen. 13 episodes in one gulp!
天晴れ、天晴れ、天晴れな～！

my humble opinion on 'Hakushaku to Yousei' ~ why so upset?

I wanted some romance, didn't I? I wanted 19th century, didn't I? so - why am I so upset? perhaps, the reason is that I am writing this post after I only watched half of the first episode?

last time when I was writing a 'review' on 'Dance' I also started writing after watching the beginning of the first episode, but I wasn't upset, no - quite opposite. then, what is the difference? well... perhaps, this?

plot and characters

ADD SUGAR, CAP!

or something like this the fangirls were shouting at the face of the director, screenplay writers, designers, and others - the imaginary fangirls that invaded the minds of those who created this brilliant (in the literary sense) work

oh, I AM a lover of shoujo. I should be happy and all drooling while seeing something like this, eh? the plot only starts, but we already have a mysterious guy who is hinted to be a notorious criminal (and criminals are always sexy dangerous - because they have committed a crime, you know? oh no it does not matter whether he really committed it by his hands or not), who is, BTW, unshaven and shaggy-haired (oh, dear person responsible for the character design, how did you guess that unshaven and shaggy-haired guys are exactly my preference?), hugging from behind (pay your attention, the scene when Lidia's mouth was covered by his hand was really THAT necessary in precisely THOSE circumstances and for precisely THAT long time), hair kissing (every gentleman in England of 19th century does this, don't you read historical books?), and at last - shining and twinkling that follows his every movement

well, of course he got better after changing in the rich clothes, returning to his natural blonde, etc. did this metamorphosis change much? nope

in the end, I cannot help comparing his behaviour with that of Usui from 'maid-sama'. guess who wins in the comparison? while being far more 'perverted alien' by words and actions, which is only natural to be counted an a disadvantage, Usui still seems to be a far stronger character, and a deeper one as well. at least, we can see his feelings and his intentions, unlike Edgar, who never grows to be less shallow than he was in the beginning. walking handsome bishie doll

MORE SUGAR, MOOOORE!!!

still the voice of the target audience is audible enough. and so, another handsome guy is introduced. he has bronze skin and emerald eyes... he speaks in a low voice... what a difference with the first guy! - or something like this the creators thought, and decided that this is what they need to capture the hearts of those young spectators who were not completely bewitched by Edgar. to make sure of their victory over this part of the target audience, they made him criminal as well. you saw this expression in his eyes, didn't you? you heard that line - 'there's no need to kill anyone over such a trifling matter', didn't you? and the last straw - you saw how he scanned her figure from the bottom to the top to prepare a dress for her, didn't you?

ONE MORE sexy DANGEROUS CRIMINAL!!!

or something like this the fangirls were shouting. the imaginary ones

nonetheless, he's not the aggressive type, you know? the victim one, yep!

oh, poor main heroine, I've been ignoring her... shame on me! as my friend told me - 'she is a shoujo heroine, but pays less attention to the main hero than 'tis common for shoujo'. well, I see. he just said almost directly that he is intending to marry her (regardless of what his true intentions could or seemed to be, his words had this meaning), but she is thinking about fairies. oh, this is not called 'she is paying less attention to the main hero', this is called - 'a kind, but a veeeery stupid main heroine'. the phrase is not mine, the credit goes to one of the commentators on world-art, unfortunately I do not remember what comment exactly

another comparison that comes to my mind is that with Ayano of 'Kaze no Stigma'. well, there is a significant difference. while Ayano simply cries 'bakaaaa' when Kazuma does something which is getting on her nerves, Lidia is more sophisticated. she prefers 'that horrible villain'

why again I have been remembering Ayano from the very beginning...

don't you recognize the passionate monologue of Ayano in the last episode? 'what am I to you? a hindrance? a burden? I want you to rely on me, too!' - I wonder if 'tis enough to prove that Lidia is no better than a usual shoujo heroine

oh and BTW, did you know that stumbling upon a safety handrail which is as high as her waist makes a girl fall backwards?

well at least there could be something interesting in the story itself... but there isn't. the story is so boring and plain despite being overburdened with 'un-understandable' and unnecessary details that I almost fall asleep, as I haven't slept much last night. I have to admit there were feeble attempts to introduce some philosophy, but this level of reasoning is too much even for me. like that line of Raven - 'are you able to teach me what's right and wrong and never order me to kill?', and Lidia does not know what to answer... hmmm... so, not ordering to kill is such a hard task, I see? wow. I never knew other people have such problems. this might be such a burden, not ordering to kill

a sudden cry from the darkness - MORE SUGAR, MORE!!!

the fangirls obviously got tired with all that philosophy. 'tis very crucial to introduce a new handsome guy once in a while, you know? otherwise the spectators get booored. BTW this character must be wise enough to 'understand and forgive'... and save them, as well. 'tis MAAAGIIIIC, you know

erm... was, then, 'Dantalian' different? we see pretty similar setting - England, mystery and magic, and who would doubt that Huey was created for the delectation of girls' eyes? still... there was something different, something tasting less like sugar

this very fact - the lack of sugar in 'Dantalian' - made me want something with a more obvious romance. but you know, I wanted romance, not a candy wrapping

the first episode is finished. I already want to drop so badly... I don't even care for the romance, and even less for the epoch portrayed - the 19th century which I was searching for so thoroughly. why am I watching further? well... because of the cat and the cute little fairies, perhaps?

seiyuus

when I asked my friends about the seiyuus participating in this brilliant work she named me a whole bunch of prominent seiyuus whom I knew and whom I considered to be really outstanding ones among the 'old school' and the 'middle' one - that is, not the most recent ones, but those who emerged in 90s and early 00s. like, Midorikawa Hikaru-san, Koyasu Takehito-san, Oohara Sayaka-san, Chafurin-san and Miyano Mamoru-san. I was expecting to hear something outstanding! and my dreams were shattered - not by the seiyuus themselves, but probably by the genre. well, probably hearing Oohara's low voice was a good experience as I usuallyl heard the higher one

MORE SUGAR, MORE! - this time 'tis the line of the directors who required the male seiyuus all to become as shoujo-ish as they could

female part is different. the main heroine's seiyuu is actually a good training in uttering sighs and inhalations of surprise/shock/admiring/all of them mixed. I hope Mizuki Nana did have a good practice. BWT her new album was widely advertised in Osaka last summer, if I am not mistaken. her very looks did tell me a lot about her, and I was not mistaken when I heard her voice in the anime. perfect! intonations as if not uttered by her, but played from an old gramophone - unchanged since the ancient time, ideal - not close to ideal, but really ideal, because they were simply a copy of a 'shoujo heroine intonations' template, 100% cliche with no imagination at all

may I have your permission to compare this with 'Dantalian' again? listen to Sawashiro-san. her way of pronoucing 'desu' with 'su' not reduced as usual but vice versa - stressed with a raised voice - was getting on my nerves during the first episode, but then I understood that 'twas her way of making herself memorable and original, 'twas her shtick, as well as her 'yyyyes', which I loved by the end of the series, to say nothing of her intonations that remained partially the same as in DGC. or Fujimura-san in 'maid-sama' - I still cannot forget her changing intonations, and especially that of her in a 'drunk' condition

Mizuki-san? nothing like this

graphics

hey, hey, did you see the ball? did you? wasn't it wonderful??? a couple of static pictures simply increased/decreased in size? this is what is called DANCING, yep!

also, notice the disappearing and reappearing on the floor small sack of Lidia in ep. 11 and Ulysses's gloves on his hands in ep. 12

and you know - I can now understand very well that BABY's and ALICE's designers DID a good job in creating clothes for 'Dantalian'. oh yes, I have changed my mind about that fact

music

the main reason my friend liked this anime was its OST. well, perhaps there was some. I don't know, I only noticed a couple of short melodies which were pretty good - but couldn't suit less to the scenes they accompanied

conclusion

MORE SUGAR, MORE!!!

the fangirls were still screaming...

I haven't said anything about the greatest masterpiece in this anime. the ending animation! yep, we believe those naked guys are sleeping. yep, with no other implied meaning!

in the end... there was nothing. so many 'special' situations, and no result. during the last episode I already wanted this to be a plain hentai with Lidia getting what she deserved from every guy in the story. and maybe not only Lidia, you know. and maybe not only the girls, you know

I better stop laughing so hard, or I'll wake up my parents who are already sleeping

My humble opinion on 'Kaze no Stigma' - both anime and manga

Plot and characters
Let me make one thing clear. 'Kaze no Stigma' is shoujo. Even though the manga is sometimes labeled as shounen or seinen, 'tis still shoujo. There is some fanservice for the male audience, of course, but not without shoujo fanservice also
There are different kinds of shoujo in terms of characters and plot developments. If we cast aside those with fragile heroines who spend the greater part of the anime of manga crying and worrying for other characters who do all the serious work (like Miaka), among those who are left most main heroines belong to the type of Ayano. They possess an explosive character and tend to be easily provoked by caustic remarks uttered by other characters. Moreover, those remarks, reprimands and scolding are for a reason unknown supposed to be the best romance that can bloom in a shoujo. Apparently the directors and screenplay/manga writers honestly believe that the only way to make their works popular among the female audience is to create a bit brutal but sexy - no, brutal in a sexy way - guy who is never at a loss with words, who would leave the heroine on her own every time she faces an obstacle offering her to overcome it herself, or even oppose her and drive her almost to death, so that she would grow as a warrior/priestess/game player/personality/whatever. Moreover, the heroine who gets to know eventually that she was either left alone, or tricked and used on purpose, and thus endangered, only punches her beloved and shouts 'bakaaaaa!' - this is the limit of her annoyance and revenge. Of course, she has no chance to stand against him, to say nothing of winning - she is inferior, and will always be. This kind of 'sassy teacher - eager pupil' relationship is thought to be the essence of shoujo, the real advantage that would capture the hearts of young spectators or readers. Sorry for not being not one of them
On the other hand, I cannot deny there are a lot of other elements necessary for popularity. The dream of the female audience is granted in the fourth episode out of 24 - 'tis not a real kiss, but who cares? The lips joined are enough for young girls to scream with joy - and forget that the characters are supposed to be cousins. After the main event has already happened, what's left is only to increase the level of ero - so we have licking the cheek, kissing the neck and the edges of hair.
Don't forget about guys! Pantsu shots in abundance, low angles and windy weather, big breasts in the middle of the screen that are sure to jump noticeably in spite of the fact that we are in the middle of a very important battle. I could close my eyes to such things if only they were done with an understanding of how funny they look. Unfortunately, they are for real...
Dark past of the main character, casualties during the 'war', revenge, mysterious enemy, everything is on its place. Did I really watch this anime never ever before?
Even watching 'Rurouni Kenshin' where every character who was about to attack never failed to name his technique, and scenes of daily life were filled with SD and 'oro?' did not make me feel THAT awkward.
The manga 'kaze no stigma - kannou no miko' tries to be closer to the original ranobe, obviously. Kazuma is in a constant frenzy, blood is taking more space on the page, the plot and the relationships which existed in the anime are absent. Well, not absolutely absent - some phrases and scenes are completely alike but in the end manga scenes fail to create the same impression. Some events are simply 'omitted' - no one wants to have an absolute copy of the animated version, eh? It would not sell.

Graphics
Is it 2007, really? I would not give it more than 2004...
Manga is much better. Obviously the mangaka knows his trade. Cute expressions, scary expressions, girls figures exposed for admiring, and lots of lines on the page which make it almost impossible to understand what is going on... Congrats.

Seiyuus
Good staff. Most of seiyyus I am familiar with, but both them and those whom I did not know were pretty good. However, there was not much of an opportunity for them to show everything they can. This is not their fault, eh? Oohara Sayaka-san, Makino Yui-san, Watanabe Akeno-san, Itou Shizuka-san, Inokuchi Yuka-san, Takahashi Chiaki-san did a great job.

Music
The traditions of anime soundtracking were preserved. The background reminded me of good OSTs of 90s, and the OPEDs were on a high level. Lyrics by Ishikawa-sama, music by Arai-sama and nice vocal - there are all the elements for a good theme song. This applies to 'hitorikiri no sora', but the OP 'blast of wind' was good, too. The second ED was not a very impressive song, but at least the three seiyuus are good at singing - not shouting something with kawaii voice which is a frequent thing in the latest animes.

Conclusion
What date is it today? Oh! I better hurry to check whether the next chapter of 'kaichou wa maid-sama' is translated! Why? Though these two have a bit in common, 'kaichou' is thousand times better than 'kaze no stigma' because the stupid setting is not used there. Ayano and Misaki are really alike - active, extroverted girls, protective when it comes to their friends and simply those who are weaker, both are unwilling to admit their feelings. They even share the same seiyuu. However Misaki is stronger. And Usui is stronger, too, in comparison with Kazuma. Much stronger - he is able to support Misaki despite her misunderstanding - support really, directly, and be together with her no matter what, but he is able to admit his weaknesses as well, and yield to her, and is ready to trust her, and count on Misaki, while Kazuma only seem to cherish Ayano as his 'possession'. Dear shoujo makers - look carefully at Usui, THIS is the guy that girls want. Am I wrong? Well, at least I want to see characters like Usui more.
In the last episode Ayano says - 'What am I to you? A burden? I don't want to be the princess who waits until the battle ends and kisses her hero, I want you to rely on me, too!' - however she ended up being exactly what she described, forever chasing and unable to reach Kazuma, despite how much she helped in the last strike to erase the mighty enemy. Quite opposite, Misaki did not look much of a help to Usui, and the sole reason of his love to her is 'you would not smile so easily, and that cute face expression of yours' - but then why, I ask you, why do they seem to be much more equal partners who DO share the same feeling?