Posted inFirst Impressions Hanasaku Iroha

Hanasaku Iroha – 09

「喜翆荘の一番長い日」 (Kissuiso no Ichiban Nagai Hi)
"Kissuiso's Longest Day"

If only all series could recap as well as Iroha does. Instead of wasting precious minutes of my new episode, they managed to bring back that tense feeling I was left with at the end of last week's episode. I'll admit that watching Ohana stumble around trying to find Tohru wasn't really doing it for me, but the drama building inside of Ko and the end of Kissuiso's longest day made things a ton more interesting.

Posted inFirst Impressions Nichijou

Nichijou – 09

(Nichijou 9)
"My Ordinary Life 9"

The pure randomness of this show never fails to brighten my day. Boy do I wish High School was this awesome over here in the states. Announcing marriage plans, thrusting teachers into the air, and even getting free bags of rice -- WHO WOULDN'T WANT A FREE BAG OF RICE?

Posted inA-Channel First Impressions

A-Channel – 08

- Abnormal Circumstance (Shin Gakki)
"New Semester - Abnormal Circumstance"

In what feels like an answer from the gods, everything's been turned upside down and inside out -- but in a fun and entertaining way. It felt really refreshing to get a closer look at some of the side characters who populate this show. Instead of constantly watching our group of four live their lives, I was overjoyed to watch Miho and Yutaka get nearly half the episode to themselves.

Posted inFirst Impressions Kampfer

Kampfer fur die Liebe – 13

Versuchung (Nukegake)
"Temptation ~Steal a March On~"

The two-episode Blu-ray release of Kampfer's direct continuation has been released, and with it comes the more relevant first episode (thirteenth overall) that was preempted on March 31st due to the earthquake crisis in Japan. This episode is more relevant in the sense that it addresses the fallout of the eleventh episode of the original series, when Kaede was revealed to be a Moderator who oversees the Kampfer battles used to settle a power struggle somewhere off in the universe.