IMHO. 'Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erande Iraremasen' ~ The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Fantasy stories are stories that contain a fantastic assumption - some fable that has to be accepted as-is, while every other element in the story maybe far from fantasy. 'Dracula' assumes there are vampires. 'Star trek' assumes there are spaceships with warp function. What does 'Honzuki' assume? That a college graduate from Japan founds herself in another world confined in a body of a 5-year-old girl? Nope. The fantastic assumption of  'Honzuki' is that right after she gets up from bed, she begins her attempts to produce books. No acclimatization, no after-death shock, no troubles with establishing relations with people around her. The only problem of the new world is the absence of books.

'Another world', an 'isekai', should be either extremely fascinating, impressing enough to make the viewers forget all their possible questions, or stop pretending to be serious. It's all very nice that Main makes commercial deals, but while everyone around calls her a weirdo who behaves as if she's much older, in fact the problem lies not in her, but in almost all children around her, and nobody seems to notice it. I'm sure children were helping parents from a very young age in Medieval Europe, but I'm also sure they were children, and that they didn't make any philosophic conclusions like chibi characters in 'Honzuki'. At the same time, Main behaves like a real child with no trace of her former 20-something-year-old self, despite the fact she remembers how to produce things.

So I've been watching anime for something close to 20 years. And my parents have had enough chances to have a look at what I watch. And 'Honzuki', I must tell you, is one of the few anime series that my mother asked 'Is this an anime for children?' about. She also praised voice acting. And what this means is simply this: that the voice actors speak in a manner easy to comprehend, so that even my mother, a foreigner with no knowledge of Japanese, can hear where one word ends and another starts, can guess the moods of characters based on their intonation, and can understand that the speech is clear. In other words... this IS an anime for children. I mean, it's not supposed to be, but it surely looks like one.

Only after my mother said this I realised what bothers me so much in 'Honzuki'. Despite getting a rating of PG-13 for some serious topics and some violence such as killing a pig, 'Honzuki' is a children's fairy-tale-cum-textbook. It's no wonder Shou Hayami with his low voice narrates the beginning of every chapter like a local Drosselmeyer. Every character explains their actions and Main herself comments on everything she does. Older characters constantly remind her what she needs to do being a daughter / a merchant / a noble. Sit down and write down, children, this is the role model for you.

Sometimes there comes in a person into the anime studio who exclaims 'But this is a drama!'. Then the staff rush to make it dramatic. They add touching moments of Main suddenly remembering that she hails from another world... Twice in 3 years, huh?

Soon season 3 will come out and it looks like it may be far from the last. But I'm sure the ending of this story is like this: they lived happily ever after. What a pity I don't give a damn about it. I only give it the 3 out of 10 it deserves for the few funny moments there were.

Now that I think of it... I didn't even make a single screenshot of this series. I guess, this is as much as there was to capture.

'Nishi no Yoki Majo' ~ sweet? sickly sweet?

'Nishi...' is one of the rare cases when I have to criticise almost everything, and still admit I liked it very much. now that I think of it, 'Nishi...' is an anime that has broken many stereotypes and expectations of mine

plot and characters

first of all, this is not a fantasy I am used to. since this is not the achievement of the anime creators, I cannot praise them for making good characters and putting them into the brilliant, fascinating, absorbing fantasy world - this praise must go to the ranobe author, Ogiwara Noriko-sensei. however, I do not know exactly how everything was in the original, and so I judge the anime version separately, and I give it a high mark as a fantasy story, due to interesting interpretation of typical fantasy elements, for example unicorns

another genre of 'Nishi...' is 'shoujo', and for a shoujo, perhaps 'Nishi...' is one of the most tolerable works I have ever watched. it certainly plunges to the most dangerous 'shoujo' depth, but does not leave the aftertaste of disgust, not being a sickly saccharine shoujo. 'tis not common to have a Main Heroine admitting her feelings so quickly and expressing them so bluntly, even though in the end she stays within the frames of a Kind-to-Everyone-and-Wanting-to-Save-the-World type

the story, however, is so lame that I doubt it can be really called a story. most developments are so rash that the spectator cannot catch up with what is going on. in 13 episodes there are at least 3 story layers, none of them properly developed. most of crises are solved with the help of 'a piano in the bush' as we call it in Russian - contrived coincidence

former enemies turn to allies in a couple of scenes. 5 minutes before the end. a mysterious person (whose identity is not revealed and who appeared like a miracle in front of the Main Heroine only two episodes ago) says to the Magic Star

and the wish is granted, and the world is saved. however fantasy this may be, world-concerning disasters are not supposed to be overcome like this
also 'Nishi...' has humour - very strange one. it rather makes you o____O than laugh. especially young Adele who constantly tries to make a yaoi couple out of her brother and Main Heroine's beloved

and an all-female academy where...

in order to maintain peaceful coexistence with other countries
and, of course, I did not expect Main Hero to come there as...

or The-Prince-on-the-White-Horse saving not the Main Heroine, but her crossdressing boyfriend...

graphics
is one of the main points to judge when you watch fantasy. the world may be described in words as beautiful and gorgeous, but it depends on the designers and artists to make it happen. are amulets decorated with ornaments? are castles' architecture striking one's fancy enough? are dresses frilled? do they give the impression of some magic being worked? the answer is yes

however, concerning objects of smaller scale, as much as I was fascinated with 'Aria', the same disappointed I was with 'Nishi...'. even though some close-ups look good

more frequently they do not...

also, beware of lots of fanservice

seiyuus
here, again, I had just the opposite of what I expected. Orikasa, unfortunately, spoiled the whole role. her Firiel was so positive and energetic that when she obviously needed to be sad she failed to sound as such. when Firiel was crying or angry, her voice hardly ever shook. other seiyuus who were not bad but failed to leave any impression were Ishida Akira, Saitou Chiwa and Fujimura Ayumi. they seem to have lost their own voice tone and timbre to the extent I did not even recognise them. maybe those was their true voices, but I like it better when they have those special 'overtones' which made them so distinguished for me in roles of Ayuzawa/Cecily, Aika or Chrno
instead I discover Hirata Hiromi as one more female seiyuu voicing male characters (they are my soft spot...), who brilliantly made Rune (I wonder who decided to spell his name as Roux???) into a living person, hear Saiga-sama voicing a female character, which was truly interesting, and finally get to know how Tanaka Rie's low voice sounds

music
I may sound heretical, since I love Masumi Ito/Nanase Hikaru, but I totally understand why people are not very happy with the ED. before watching 'kanata' performed by Mariaria - which consists of Hikaru Nanase herself and Saneyoshi Isako - one should better be prepared by having listened to at lease a couple of other Nanase's works. however for me, with an experience of 'Haibane Remmei', the song was no surprise. the same no surprise was 'starry waltz' by kukui, as Shimotsuki Haruka's music style and vocals are an unforgettable phenomenon. I might be a little less fascinated with the background music here than I was in other fantasy anime series, but I believe that the OST is also pretty well done - by Nanase-sensei again

conclusion
after some animes with sad ending I cry and feel devastated. after some animes with supposedly good ending I do that too, because I am frustrated with how it ended, like in case of 'Princess Tutu'. after 'Nishi...' I feel almost elevated. I am so satisfied with it that I find myself smiling silently. a strange feeling I cannot get very often, but it literally feeds me
'Nishi...' is one of the examples why anime can become a 'raison d'etre'

my humble opinion on 'Ashita no Nadja' ~ make me unsee it

there are a lot of spoilers - though I highly doubt anything can be spoilt in this anime by telling/showing something about the plot... >___<

there were two proper reasons for me to start watching this anime - Saiga Mitsuki voicing one (oh I am sorry, two) of the main characters (this fact being an impulse to want to watch) and the fact that the story takes place in the time and place I am interested in (this fact being an impulse to download and watch immediately). however, after I started watching, I realised only one of those two remained. guess which one? of course Saiga-sama

plot and story

the first several episodes were of a priceless importance to me. now I know there is one way to determine whether the anime is for children or not - I only need to try watching it without subtitles. the second reason why this anime is supposed to be for children is the simplicity of the plot and ideas conveyed. I am not saying those were hollow or lacked depth, I am only saying that everything looked like a fairytale taking place in reality

this simplicity sometimes got on my nerves greatly. I just couldn't close my eyes to the fact that Nadja would start singing and everybody stopped crying or quarreling immediately

...or that under the impression of Nadja's kindness Rita regained her ability to speak - and more than that, after she could speak, even her personality changed
...or that the characters spoke naturally to all the people in different countries, but didn't know what 'mamma mia' means
...or that Nadja learnt flamenco in a couple of days only after remembering her orphanage (and how did it help her? I didn't get it)
...or to a battle with pirates with cancan as an accompaniment when little children and women win over old sea wolves... o___O
'twas not even a half of the episodes I watched when I already got tired and decided simply to skip episodes or at least moments that didn't impress me
one should be prepared to see things like this

and SD and funny faces

and other features. of course, one of my favourite characters is 'Obaba' Anna. her genki-ness and positive attitude attracted me, but more than that I adore her slyness and ready wit

though there were other enterprising characters like an old man selling 'Jeanne's cement' in the place where Jeanne D'Arc lived...

'tis also praiseworthy that the authors paid attention to the epoch and places some characteristic items like the Art-Nouveau paintings on the wall here. who cares that the paintings were the same in every house they visited?

were there other kinds of episodes at all? yes, there were - sometimes, as if the director and screenplay writer were different, the episodes were not the fairy-tale-happy-end ones, and looked much more realistic. I could probably say I wish there were more episodes like this... if not for the fact that I actually don't approve this way either. the real end of those storylines came only several episodes later, or even before the very end of the anime, so the structure is pretty interesting and unusual, but what frustrates me greatly is the fact that still no moral or conclusion (or just something) could be drawn from those episodes
in the end, one may wonder why I didn't drop it long ago. there was only one thing that made me go on - oh, but have I ever mentioned how I love Saiga-sama? every time her characters appeared I forgot everything and listened to her magnificent voice
romance is an important point here. it exists, yes, but please don't forget that this is a very strange kind of shoujo. to put it mildly, I saw nothing special about this average IEE heroine Nadja
oh but really, is she not just a typical 'canon' heroine? always 'genki', but immediately turns into a crying damsel when it comes to pitying other people, or into a maiden in love who can't even understand which guy she loves...

at first sight, her romance is full of rose petals and sparkling stars - just like a usual shoujo must be

though... did you notice how Keith was whipped in a very fanservice-ish way? did you believe this was a really necessary detail?
and I have to admit that sometimes the direction was unexpectedly good in the episodes where Francis or Keith appeared. I liked a lot the structure of the episode about Granada with nice 'camera angles' and a bit strange but attractive dialogues

and also tricks like this

however, what I felt after those episodes was not an absolute bliss. something inside told me that there is a contradiction... my intuition and my experience, probably, but first of all - my imperturbable sense of balance. if 'Ashita no Nadja' were an average shoujo for young schoolgirls, that would be ok, but this feeling lasted only up to ep. 8 - after that, each new episode was completely different from the previous. this one is a comedy about searching for a treasure, and suddenly this one reveals all the sins of the aristocrats of those days... this one is a romantic fairy-tale and that one suddenly ruins it all. dear people from Toei, I considered your studio one of the best in creating classical shoujo, and non-shoujo, too, but could you please determine whether you do a normal shoujo or not?
what became the last straw is the fact that in the manga there was no Keith and therefore Francis was the Black Rose. the manga story seems to be much more like a shoujo is supposed to be. though this means being plain, I would rather see that kind of story, because this would at least make some sense. yes, it would, and the idea about two brothers does not

music

from the beginning I was quite skeptical about the music. the OP theme is performed by Honda Minako-san, one of my favourite singers ever, but the song itself is boring and sounds like an average 'genki' one. the ED theme performed by Nadja's seiyuu - Koshimizu-san - was the same, but even cuter. I dislike songs like this, so I was disappointed. and I was even more disappointed when I heard Koshimizu-san singing a capella - her voice turned out to be even worse that it seemed from the beginning. on the other hand, I've heard seiyuus with much worse voices chosen to sing an a capella insert songs, so I have to admit Koshimizu-san is not the worst seiyuu-singer ever
however, the background music and insert songs redeem for this fact completely. I especially adore the episode about travelling musician Raphael, or the constantly repeated waltz - on balls, in the orgel, etc., but other themes were also beautiful. well, in the end I never bothered to download the OST. listening to music from the anime I dislike is a rare thing for me

seiyuus
did I mention that I started watching because of Saiga-sama??? I can repeat many times how much I love her voice but now I am not happy that she did her job in 'Nadja'. her voicing Jing is forever my favourite
other seiyuus were ok, though the most memorable got only minor roles, like a young woman Simone whose necklace was stolen by Kurobara in the end - voiced by Araki Kae-san, which surprised me, or Carmen, or a young boy in Italy who wanted to give the brooch to his granny, etc. perhaps I can praise Orikasa-san as well, her singing voice was nice, though I cannot say she impressed me a lot with her speaking

graphics

well there were two types of pictures - static backgrounds looking pretty good and detailed

 and sometimes tasty 'close-ups'

sometimes I adored the level of details and accuracy

but sometimes you know... the unnecessary 3D was unbearably odd and rough

and the characters were very, very simply drawn, with minimum lines and colours and shadows

conclusion
logic that I will never be able to perceive. in the end, can't we simply acknowledge that Nadja is a girl who can't understand her own feelings, but while gathering a huge harem (I counted 10 guys, can you count more?) - never bothered to understand their feelings fully? moreover, am I, the spectator, supposed to admire this heroine?

and the guys... to mention only the two main ones - Keith was probably able to see dozens of other girls to choose among. Francis had Marianne by his side who always admired him and knew him very well. I only cannot understand... why did they both - and many other people - fall for, or at least were enchanted with, such a good-for-nothing girl....?
there were a lot of good points - some I mentioned, some I probably forgot already, but the absolute epic fail in creating the main heroine simply made them all 'null and void'

p. s. Saiga-sama... why did you agree to take part in this anime... I wish you never did...  make me unsee it all
p. p. s. and Engrish is killing me again...