J.C. Staff News

Dreams can have many meanings and in Yumeji Fujiwara (Okamoto, Nobuhiko) case they are both his ability and somewhat of a curse. See, he has the ability to see people's colors that represent the person's last dreams. Lately he been having a strange dream of cats trying to catch him for some reason. It is soon reviled that a guy name Chaser John Doe wants his body to escape dream land and into the real world. However, a little girl name Merry Nightmare (Sakura, Ayane, New Seiyuu) jumps in to put a stop to this event. After a odd looking fight, Merry comes out as the winner and demands John Doe to tell her how to get back in to Dream land. Realizing that Merry is a little more than some girl with fighting skills, he walks away as nightmare land fads. Back in the real world Merry confronts Fujiwara about how to get back to Dream land, but to his knowledge he has no idea. 
 
This series has some pretty interesting ideas of dreams and other worlds. So far characters, both design and personality, are interesting enough to listen and look at from Fujiwara dreams discussions and he average looking cloths to the cute scenes of Merry when she was looking for her hat and her odd fashion sense.  Scenes look very nice with lots of colors, and have a sketch book look to them. However, I'm a little disappointed that the dream worlds don't look as crazy as one would expect besides the dangling fish bones. Fight choreography is anything special when compare to Index or Railgun but it was short enough to not drag.
 
So far J.C.Staff has a sold anime here but I do hope things get a little more interesting on the plot and little more push the fight scenes.

Often times, we are introduced to an anime series by articles as it's beginning with an author's initial thoughts, but it's hard to get a feel for what a show will really be until you are either deeper in or it's finished. I just recently finished watching the new anime called Okamisan and her Seven Companions. These are my thoughts on the anime now that it's first season is completed and available online through many official websites. Should you check this series out, or skip it for something else? I would suggest you check it out, and here's why. 

Okami-san and her Seven Companions

Episode count: 12
Rating: TV-14
Avg Episode length: 24 min.

Long, long ago... well, not that long ago, in a land far, far away. I was first introduced to the series of Okamisan by the article that was written HERE on Anime Vice back on August 4th. FUNimation had recently acquired the rights and was going to start simulcasting the series on their video website. It's brought to you by the same people who created Toradora and A Certain Magical Index. Based upon the light-novels written by Masashi Okita. Okamisan is a romantic-comedy anime set in a fairy-tale world, but with a modern culture. In Episode 11 one character is using an iPad. It follows a school club called the Otogi Bank as they take on the requests of their fellow Otogi Academy class in return for favors in the future.

I followed the show regularly, and each episode profile on Anime Vice has a full listing of cast details, concepts, and objects for your information needs. There are also written reviews for all twelve episodes. In the first review I made for this series. I pretty much described it as if Shrek had been an anime, and I really think it applies. The way that the Shrek series took numerous classical fairy-tale characters and put them in a new setting. Okamisan does the same thing. Every character you meet is in some way based upon classic fairy-tales of both Western and Japanese cultures. Through the run of this anime, it covered stories such as Little Red Ridinghood, The Tortoise and the Hare, Momotarō, The Little Match Girl, and many others. It's a huge Easter Egg hunt if you love classical literature.

The series is extremely well written, and at times tells such a moving story with great laughs. I would easily rank this show as a much watch of the year. The character designs are interesting, the personalities of the Otogi Bank members are strong, and the production value in the animation is pretty top notch. The Otogi Academy also appears to have the most lenient school dress code in history, outside of Ikki Tousen.
 
My only regret about this series is that the season finale's end isn't much of an end. It feels completely open for a second season, but that's sort of par for the course when dealing with these animes based on long running light-novels. I wouldn't be surprised to hear about season two being in the works by early next year. The narrator of the series takes some getting used to, at first. She talks a lot over dialog scenes, and that can make things confusing in subtitles.

Please, give this show a try. Let's get you started with Episode 1 - Okami-san and Her Otogi Bank Companions HERE courtesy of FUNimation's own youtube channel. This episode plays on the Cinderella story, and be sure to stay after the credits for the full ending. 
 
Watch the Full Season at:
FUNimation.com - HERE
FUNimation (youtube channel) - HERE
HULU - HERE 

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.-

This section of my season blog will focus on returning series and will be written in one post instead of having their own. So let get started.

 

 

Tegami Bachi Reverse (Letter Bee)

This was a interesting series. First season started off with a boy name Lag Seeing as he is literally delivered by a Letter Bee (Like UPS with magic guns), Gauche Suede. From his little journey with the Letter Bee, Lag learns of the trials and hardships these guys go through and soon to respect him for what Gauche had to do, which was to support his sister, Sylvette. Five years later, Lag now joins Letter Bees for not only doing the job Gauche did but also looking for him as it appears that he has gone missing. During his Seach, Lag meets up with interesting people including a Dingo (A protector) name Niche and discovers all sorts of things in this beautiful wasteland. Season 2 starts off with a surprise of Gauche appearing in front of  Lag and in a completely different person than when we and Lag first saw him. While season 2 will be heading in to a different plot line, its look still reminds will the beauty of the night sky and cold grounds of the wasteland. For anyone looking for a tale of discovery and meaning, take a look at this.  
 

Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge

Again, SHAFT just want Hiroshi Kamiya Characters to just suffer by the hands of weird events and characters. Arakawa season 2 is pretty much like season 1 was with its weird style of comady, weird but complex characters like the ex star head guitar player, Hoshi, or the Sister, a male nun with a submachine gun. Look of the series stays true to SHAFT's art style of abstract colors, design, and symbols. For those who are looking for something outside the usual, here one to try out.
 

 

To Aru Majutsu no Index 2  

Finally we return to the series that brought us the misfortune, super arm, Touma Kamijou, as he try to live a normal life while in-charge of protecting Index. This series can go off in weird directions with its world of espers and magic but when it gets on track with its concept, it can get pretty interesting. Already the first episode shows off a bad man getting hold of Index so that he can use the knowledge in her head (She pretty much a database of magic books) to help his wife, plus some nice action, and the usual J.C. staff's comedy. This seasons Index is very much a follow up and it is recommended that you see season 1 and maybe Railgun before jumping in to this one.