a-channel : first impression

A-CHANNEL
studio : Studio Gokumi
director : Manabu Ono
serial run : April 8, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 02
zange's priority rank : 02

LUCKY STAR [ + K-ON ! ] REVISITED

as with lucky star and k-on !, a-channel for the absolute part of it is a character-driven slice of life flick; of fun loving group of friends spending their time together fooling around and having fun at life, and best part of the bargain is that these character-driven stories are often granted with limitless amount of freedom that it doesn't need to forcefully constraint itself within the story intensive architecture of classic plot-driven stories - in that a particular series of this genre can assume for itself a much more free flowing format, with each of its every episodes having its own strength to stand on their own while retaining the exact same mood, atmosphere and energy of the entire series throughout its full episodic run. thus if you fancy these kind of series, then a-channel certainly is something that is worth checking for this spring :3

the greatest charm of a-channel [ according to us ] came in the form of its fabulous four leading character; yuuko and her kansai-ben for one is highly admirable for us, as well as the mildly abusive relationship she's having with the bat wielding silent oddball tooru - the latter of whom seems to [ greatly ] enjoy teasing her out on every single chance available once they were both left alone together. run on the other hand is the tsukasa hiragi + yui hirasawa of the quartet, a superb airhead of whom is prone to severe case of absent mindedness which often put her life in line of extreme danger if it wasn't for her friends saving her around. rounding the party up is nagi, the brain and the voice of reason of the quartet, often there to deliver her witty punchline.

together with hanasaku iroha and ano hi mita hana no namae o bokutachi wa mada shiranai, a-channel stood as one of the three most exquisitely executed series made for this spring - summing up from those we have seen so far that is. its visual production aspect for one are among the best seen this season, and can easily be mistaken for a kyoani or gonzo [ by gonzo we're referring to its quality-conscious half that produced well budgeted series like saki and dragonaut, for example ] product - should one were to neglect on doing some background research for the series beforehand of course. overall, a-channel greatly benefited from its splendid visual / art direction and outstanding cinematography work that best compliment its handsomely written screenplay and comedy.

[ no, it's not what you think ]

okay so now of the two 4-koma based series currently airing this spring, we at +ophanium unanimously consider a-channel here as the next best entry for this season, and frankly speaking this is yet another spring series that totally went beyond our initial expectation set for it - having once been listed on the lowest part of our highest priority list then. not to mention that anything with yuri undertones is greatly welcomed for me myself here, even with the slightest hint of it - and that, is the sort of case in regard to my extreme fondness towards this particular series here.

anohana : first impression

ANO HI MITA HANA NO NAMAE O BOKUTACHI WA MADA SHIRANAI
studio : A-1 Pictures
director : Tatsuyuki Nagai
serial run : April 15, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 03
zange's priority rank : 03

MOUTHFUL TITLE IS MOUTHFUL

if you thought that a certain perverted-imouto anime [ certainly not ore no imouto ga konna ni kawaii wake ga nai of course ] from last winter was mouthful enough, then think again; we even chose to play it safe by not using the entire title to name our very post here, in fear that it'll break the title into two or three lines that would definitely go against our accepted titling convention. anyway, enough with the unnecessary OP rant and let's get it on with our next first impression overview for spring 2011 |3

anohana [ for short ] is one of the three most celebrated spring 2011 series among our editorial team here at +ophanium, and it didn't take that long for us to name it as one of the most praiseworthy title this season, as well as being the only entry in the critically acclaimed noitamina slot that we'll be faithfully watching over for now [ much like hourou musuko was last fall indeed ]. +not to mention that this series for one is very beautifully made [ much credit goes to a-1 pictures as always ], just like hanasaku iroha and a-channel is. and while its art and visual department are both breathtakingly splendid in quality, the story [ and its lingering theme ] itself however has instigated much of our [ great ] love and interest into anohana in all honesty.

well it seems to us that spring 2011 is currently well endowed with a multitude of outstanding slice of life series on the menu, but anohana simply stood out as the best among the best [ again, together with hanasaku iroha ] for being the most emotionally engaging and dramatic of the bunch. its revelation of menma and her tragic backstory - as well as that particular scene within her former household later in the first episode - are very gripping to both our minds and emotions, and even strong enough to force me into dropping a few tears for menma's sake. the story as well were tailored in such a neat fashion that [ almost ] everything that is essential for us to learn in order to keep the light of our interest burning were thoroughly unveiled and elaborated on within the first episode itself, yet in the same time it didn't feel like being rushed at all.

thanks to its unconventionally long title, and the mainstream outward look [ surprisingly there are those who's entirely against the more contemporary look of modern anime ], anohana can easily be overlooked by ones who lacks in patience and perseverance to give it a try or two. that said, this series greatly deserves a much bigger deal of interest and attention being invested into it, and thus we [ the team, as a collective ] would like to endorse anohana with all our love to our readers out there, especially towards fans of slice of life anime with hints of drama in them.

denpa onna to seishun otoko : first impression

DENPA ONNA TO SEISHUN OTOKO
studio : Shaft
director : Akiyuki Shinbo
serial run : April 15, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 04
zange's priority rank : 04

SHINRYAKU ! FUTON MUSUME

simply is the craziest series this spring aside from nichijou [ which otherwise is more of being mega-random instead of outward crazy ]; and how on earth can you not came to love that superbly-easy-going-like-hell aunt and dat pizza eating moe futon ? and if my heart was helplessly fragile at every single sight of moe then i should've died many times throughout my [ repeated ] watch of the first episode last saturday.

first paragraph aside, shinbo-sensei once again returns with another comedy series in his helm, which would also reminds us of his previous effort arakawa under the bridge and diomedea's fan favorite gem of last fall; shinryaku ! ika musume - since denpa onna to seishun otoko can easily be joked as a mixture of the two as many had did on twitter when the series made its debut airing last week. and such assumption are to be relayed straight to one of its titular character, erio touwa of whose personality and quirks embodies almost near exact qualities of those nino's [ arakawa under the bridge ] and ika musume's [ shinryaku ! ika musume ] combined.

being a shaft series tucked right under shinbo-sensei's artistic directive touch, denpa onna to seishun otoko is a visually pleasing ride [ the character design clearly are on the winning side here ] like many other series he has directed, albeit still lacking of the flashing quote instances he is best known for [ as seen in sayonara zetsubou sensei, bakemonogatari and maria+holic ]. well that aside however, this series here is still just as mindraping as his other directorial works, and can as well serve as a really tough candy for one to swallow [ casual anime watchers are most likely to become the victim here ]; should one is still very less experienced with his avant garde style of directing / storytelling.

[ pizza eating futon musume ]

in general, this is a very fun series to watch, not to mention that it is highly funny in its own way / level. also some may even find denpa onna to seishun otoko a bit weird and hard to consume [ even more so than nichijou's pilot ova ], and i certainly do understand that greatly as i myself to had experienced some really hard time whenever erio opened her mouth mumbling out her out of this world gibberish |3

hoshizora e kakaru hashi : first impression

HOSHIZORA E KAKARU HASHI
studio : Dogakobo
director : Takenori Mihara
serial run : April 11, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 08
zange's priority rank : 08

ORE NO OTOUTO GA KONNA NI KAWAII WAKE GA NAI

of the two harem comedy series we've seen this spring, hoshizora e kakaru hashi seemingly promises a much better future than oretachi ni tsubasa wa nai does with both their respective first episodes - the latter of which has since been put on hold for not living up much to our initial expectation set for it. also, it is quite rare indeed for a so-called 'generic visual novel adaptation' anime to be well liked by many, thus perhaps hinting at just how well this one will fare itself up against many other VN-based series from the past years / seasons.

storywise, the series is set on a very typical / generic theme / plot of the comedy harem genre, yet the first episode itself was excellently tailored with adequate serving[s] of highly amusing light entertainment [ for fans of harem / romantic comedy ] embedded in its predictive architecture - complete with outstanding amount of fanservice as should often be expected from series of this genre. the primary background / setting of it will perhaps be reminding some of you on either myself; yourself, h2o ~footprints in the sands~ or the winning 2010 wincest series yosuga no sora - and it is quite often that harem series set in rural settings such as these are usually worth checking for both their content and entertainment value; based on my personal experience that is.

the art - for the most part of it - are the most remarkable aspect of the series. the character design, for one boasts a very distinctive visual novel look and feel to them, but unlike some others [ with very similar style to this - like for example, akane-iro ni somaru saka ] which usually break or degenerate themselves in details halfway through when animated, hoshizora e kakaru hashi however manages to retain its visual consistencies together; well, for the first episode at least. the same can also be said on the overall visual presentation aspect of the series, most notably the nicely drawn background that doesn't look any cheaply made at all; and frankly speaking this one really doesn't seem like anything produced with a tight budget indeed.

[ pretty endearing visual / art execution for a generic harem indeed. kindly refer to those pin-ups in the background ]

most of the characters are quite interesting for me at this point, sans the leading male protagonist as i've yet to witness enough redeeming point from him yet at the time - but i won't just stamp him as all out boring without getting to know him well from the later 2 episodes to come. and i gotta say it clearly here that his little brother ayumu perhaps is the most moe otouto i've ever seen in my entire anime life, and could even become a tough rival in attention for all the girls should he continues on maintaining his excellent level of moeness for the entire run of the series :3

hanasaku iroha : first impression

HANASAKU IROHA
studio : P. A. Works
director : Masahiro Ando
serial run : April 3, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 01
zange's priority rank : 01

(]ξ✿❛‿❛✿ξ[)

for starter, hanairo is one of them early spring 2011 entries which started out really, really strong [ extremely well to our liking ], and simply is the best [ of the best ] for this season definitely, as was hourou musuko and puella magi madoka magica last winter. thus once again, another job well done by p.a. works, and for that they certainly deserve to be awarded with our 'two thumbs up and a standing ovation'-worth level of praise, and may such level of awesomeness felt and seen from the first two episodes aired so far to remain intact with the remaining episodes of the series, and that it won't end up a mixed bag much as angel beats ! was then.

story / plotwise, hanasaku iroha caught our very attention head on with what it has in offer, yes it is. and since the two of us here were both avid fans of slice of life series with an underlying drama set to them well our dearest hanairo here easily got itself inducted into our list of utmost favorites, sparing no moment of hesitation at all indeed. +not to mention it is not that often for us to be blessed with such wonderful privilege of seeing a dramatic slice of life series with much realistic drama injected to it; and that, is somewhat a mild rarity to the genre itself lately, and to which we would greatly sought after each time a gem of this kind and quality were to pop up on our radar.

moving on, the animation / execution / presentation aspect of hanairo for one is remarkably magnificent and fluid, with crisp and vivid visual / art and design overall reminiscing the great, handsome quality seen in highly celebrated titles such as eden of the east and durarara !!, just to name a few. and like yumekui merry, i am personally in love with the overall cinematography / visual direction utilized here and there within the series; for they are very, very interesting and were tastefully done - extremely well enough to please the 'artistic camera work' fan in me.

in order to preserve my point and creativity for our final say on the series later on, i hereby would like to end our first impression overview for hanasaku iroha here, and instead wish for everyone who read this very post [ and line ] here to pursue the series without a second thought nor reservation in mind. worry not, we certainly ensure that hanasaku iroha [ or its first two episodes aired so far ] is both a great watch and addition to your spring 2011 watchlist, and that it has a very bright and promising future ahead with its later episodes to come.

astarotte no omocha ! : first impression

ASTAROTTE NO OMOCHA !
studio : Diomedea
director : Fumitoshi Oizaki
serial run : April 10, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : 12
hime's priority rank : 06
zange's priority rank : 06

GOT MILK ?

easily one of our favorite this spring. and be surprised that our chief editor zange-chan [ who is the more elitist member of the editorial team ] is even interested into the series despite its notoriety of being labelled as the dumbest thing ever produced [ you get to read that a lot from within the english anifandom ]. dumb or not, that was such a great injustice ever made to the series since people are mostly led to thought in such way from the synopsis [ for both the manga and the anime ], and truth however is that the series is nowhere near to the 'disgusting' image it had projected from its controversially bold and provocative summary.

anyway. albeit the series went off on a slightly differing start from the manga, yet however there's a promising future ahead of it - for fans of ecchi comedies that is. i can't seem to remember any scene from the first episode to which i didn't fell victim to great fits of laughter, especially its character-driven gags to which i consider as the main highlight of the series; astarotte [ or rotte for short ] is one of the most amusing character this spring, and the greater fact that she is even voiced by the legendary kugyuu [ kugimiya rie ] greatly helps in adding much life and personality to the said character, definitely. now as for the rest of the merry party, well yes of course they were of my greatest interest as well, namely rotte's sadistic aide judit, her trio of helpers [ +olaf the butler ] and YES DAT ASUHA.

production wise, astarotte no omocha ! is one of the most handsomely produced piece this spring, and while hanasaku iroha helm the leading spot on being the most exquisitely made anime in every single aspect of it [ followed close by a-channel that is to be previewed soon enough ], astarotte no omocha ! otherwise held the position extremely tight for the cutest series department, even beating down its closest rival dog days, to which we once thought would sport an even match / rivalry between the two. both its [ astarotte no omocha !'s ] art and design are of the high taste according to my personal preference, and that is what had driven me into inducting this very series to my spring watchlist should i were to avoid the fact that i myself am already a fan of the original manga.

regardless of what them sour critics [ especially those from a 'certain news site'-fame ] said on the series, this definitely is one of the many spring series we would love to recommend and encourage for others to watch, most especially fans of the romantic comedy / ero-comedy genre of course. those who are not very fond of incessant fanservice content and grandiose lolicon theme however are greatly advised to keep your distance from this one here though.

softenni : first impression

SOFTENNI
studio : Xebec
director : Ryoki Kamitsubo
serial run : April 7, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : 12
hime's priority rank : 12
zange's priority rank : 12

EROTENNIS

for some, this would be one hell of a guilty pleasure trip to fill in the waiting void in between series. but as for me, well it went on further to become some sort of a silly yet funny encounter with which i ended up liking. and i really, really didn't expect that since i am not THAT fond [ nor do i ever give a damn ] on sports themed series in the first place [ with bamboo blade and saki being the only exceptions ever to date ].

anyway, i for one indeed cursed to enjoy what i've seen from the first episode, although some of the comedy written for it didn't really went down well with me, but i gotta admit that the rest of the better ones didn't quite fell short as i have thought they would be [ my bias against the sports genre is so strong that i tend to be overly pessimistic of it ]. the entirety of its characters had such quite interesting personalities embedded to each one of them, and their quirks are especially what made this series into such a mildly delightful light entertainment for me to sit through this spring.

visual-wise the series is being neatly executed much in the same fashion as xebec's most recent productions - motto to love-ru and mm !, both in the foreground [ chara design etc ] and the background aspects - the latter of which however is slightly too lacking in complimenting the otherwise splendid chara design for me. the colors are especially vibrant with light washes that helps in eliminating the 90's feel once seen and felt in the original to love-ru [ animated ] series while adding up to the light, cheery atmosphere of the story.

in short, i'd say that softenni would serve as the next proper supplement for those who still hungers for character-driven slice of life comedy in the likes of k-on ! and kanokon. and despite its sweet, pleasing look however be greatly warned that the series carries slightly improper contents / gags that is much too unsuitable for minor audiences.

dog days : first impression

DOG DAYS
studio : Seven Arcs
director : Keizou Kusakawa
serial run : April 2, 2011 - ongoing
total episodes : 12
hime's priority rank : 05
zange's priority rank : 05

UTAWARERUMONO + EXTREME SACCHARINE CONTENT

one of the series we've been greatly looking forward to this spring 2011, mainly for the fact that it is produced by the same team that gave us mahou shoujo lyrical nanoha. dog days as well is the kind of series that is guaranteed to be critically panned, overlooked and underrated by some anime fans / bloggers this spring just for being both cute [ or moe, as some would like to call it out ] and unappealing in plot and theme; we've read plenty of rage-ful rants in regard to the whole sasuke / ninja warrior-esque war concept of the story, with many of which were not happy nor amused by it at all - but to each his / her own [ freedom of choice ] of course :3

highly saccharine in both design and plot, dog days perhaps is the sweetest offering the spring block has to offer. the [ often ] destructive war premise, for one has been blunted down so that nobody will be hurt nor killed, and that not a single blood be spilled on the battleground. instead, the battlefield itself becoming some sort of a healthy athletics / extreme challenge tournament, and this particularly spelled in some interest from us since it does apparently broke its way from the usual all out fantasy-war setting we've seen so far [ cue utawarerumono ]. and for the note, the two prominent leads of the series were fast favorites of ours from the get-go.

as mentioned above, both the art and the character design aspect were the greatest highlight of this series, done exquisitely well enough that it didn't take long for either of us to start hunting down any available artwork / scans of the series out there. the overall animation - for the best part of it - are very fluid, as often expected from seven arcs [ also best known for their intense battle-action sequences, cue mahou shoujo lyrical nanoha a's ]. the colors are very bright and vivid, and the alternate world in which both biscotti and galette kingdoms were located in are beautifully designed, drawn and rendered - thus giving more feel and serene atmosphere to the grandiose fantasy setting.

[ MAI WAIFU™ ]

as mentioned in our initial announcement post before, dog days magnificently features a wide cast of prolific seiyuus; and among the best known names were nana mizuki [ of fate-mama fame ], yui horie [ best known for her roles as leading tsunderes ], takehito koyasu [ best known among us for his performance as zastin in to love-ru ], yoko hikasa, ayana taketatsu and minako kotobuki of k-on ! fame, kana asumi [ miya tachibana anyone ? ], ami koshimizu [ of horo / kallen-fame, and many other leading roles ], kana hanazawa [ well loved fuwafuwa-voiced seiyuu of kanade tachibana / kuroneko / nadeko etc ], takahiro sakurai [ *cough*cloud strife*cough* ], daisuke ono and norio wakamoto [ ~nabuuuuu ] among others; truly a seiyuu-fest indeed.

30-sai no hoken taikku : first impression

30-SAI NO HOKEN TAIIKU
studio : Gathering
director : Mankyuu
serial run : April 7, 2011 - ongoing
total episodes : ?
hime's priority rank : 09
zange's priority rank : 09

WARNING : AVOID DRINKING BEFORE YOUR MONITOR AT ALL COST

funny how a guide book for the ronery men will one day acquire an anime of its own, much like how an infamous english language study aid [ moetan ] once received similar treatment then. but its a good thing however that once in a while we get to see anime adaptations drawn from such unconventional mediums as these alongside the usual target mediums [ manga / light novel / visual novel etc ]. well as long as the end product is appealing to both our interest then any kind of sources are highly welcomed for us of course |3

anyway, 30-sai [ for short ] is one of the most potent comedy series produced for the spring 2011 block, and it is not that often for our chief editor zange-chan to be plunging her interest into such a perverted series as this. and i gotta say that even if each episodes are [ sadly ] brief, the comedic punch neatly packed inside this series are not to be taken lightly with for they had cost me my time wiping a handful drops of coffee off my monitor - thus the bold warning we had for share up there. imagine the perverted jokes of seitokai yakuindomo and hen zemi, yet taken to the next twisted level [ although hen zemi's are by far the most wicked of the three ].

absurd insane comedies aside, the story also made a very interesting look at the protagonist's journey into ending his 30 years tenure as a virgin, with help from a certain sex-god [ read : divine entity of heaven origin, not some kind of mortal gurus whatever ] to hilarious effect / results - often with him [ the protagonist ] ending up extremely annoyed at the god's aid act. 30-sai also [ in all awareness ] pokes fun at the rampant media censorship issues, censoring every single 'vulgarities' out by intention - thus adding up to the exquisite plate of its off-color humor. not to mention that in honest, the sex-god himself to me is much comparable to a certain krauser-san of the infamous detroit metal city-fame.

[ THE GOD PAD, courtesy of the god himself ]

for a short episodic series such as this, 30-sai interestingly progresses itself well in such a neat storytelling pace - not that it has any other specific goal to achieve aside from ending the guy's sad ronery state in soonest time enough though, so nothing will be of hasty, hurried brew here. also, the impression i had on the presentation department is beyond my initial expectation indeed, and i greatly favor the look of the series with its catchy art and design [ i used to thought that the art and chara design would be fairly decent at best ]. 30-sai in general is a tasteful hentai, and a solidly wonderful guilty pleasure trip for those who aren't really into this kind of sexual comedies but still were intrigued to give it a try or two :3

prep yourself for walpurgisnacht this april 21

great news everyone. the highly anticipated final two episodes of puella magi madoka magica [ which has been put on hold from airing following the great sendai earthquake ] has finally confirmed to be aired this april. according to the announcement made on the official site of the anime [ here ], both episodes will be aired back-to-back by tbs on thursday, april 21 while mbs on the other hand will be preceding said two episodes with the series' tenth episode on the exact same date as tbs' airings.

nichijou : first impression

NICHIJOU
studio : Kyoto Animation
director : Tatsuya Ishihara
serial run : April 3, 2011 - ongoing
total episodes : ?
hime's priority rank : 07
zange's priority rank : 07

COMEDIC SLICE OF LIFE, ON LSD

thankfully the full fledged tv series is much easier for me to comprehend and swallow compared to the hard candy of which the pilot ova was. still however, this probably is the only kyoani title in which i am less enthusiastic about, having lost a handful portion of my enthusiasm recently to its similarly styled counterpart a-channel - yet that doesn't mean that i will totally lose all my interest on the series [ thus leading to a possible drop-off ] as it is more than unlikely for me to be dropping any kyoani shows, having known and worshipped the studio's reputation and dedication in delivering only the best with each of their produced titles.

now, compared to both lucky star and azumanga daioh, nichijou by far is twice more surrealistic and psychedelic [?] in content. its comedy, while proven to be tickling for most of its 24+ minutes runtime can as well be very much off-hitting and stale / uninteresting to some; and it will be even more so for those who just refused to open themselves up to a broader cultural understanding aside from that of theirs. having written that though, well i won't say that the jokes in nichijou are flat out boring, and besides, the greatest charm of the series however is its sheer randomness to which i consider to be quite amusing, especially when such randomness are utilized to great comedic ends.

another great reason for me to be sticking around with nichijou this summer is kyoani's sleek production for the series, done in the very same fashion / visual treatment as those of lucky star where colors of the pastel palette are of the [ ultimate ] dominant aspect here, accompanied by the lightly washed background art that is mildly rough yet refined in style; in general, everything you have once seen in lucky star are being neatly applied here [ inclusive of its chara design ], and not surprisingly seems to be very much befitting of nichijou's storytelling style and atmosphere in earnest.

[ wiener comedy FTW ]

contrary to my initial impression with the pilot ova before, the characters has now begin to grow themselves upon me, especially the leading trio as well as a certain girl robot known only as nano-san in the side sketches. aside from the series' absurd comedic values, i for one am greatly pleased and delighted by each of the girls' [ and the side characters of said side sketches ] interaction with each other and the settings around them - for example, the curiosity of one of the girls on pressing the fire alarm button which i admit is relate-able to myself.

sengoku otome ~momoiro paradox~ : first impression

SENGOKU OTOME ~MOMOIRO PARADOX~
studio : TMS Entertainment
director : Hideki Okamoto
serial run : April 5, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : ?
hime's priority rank : 14
zange's priority rank : N/A

REVERSE SENGOKU BASARA WITH PLENTY OF JUICY MEATBUNS

i find it hard to believe that this series is actually adapted from a pachinko game. that said however, the first episode itself looked quite promising mostly for the twist in which the main female lead hideyoshi is forced to adapt herself into the life in feudal times, and having been mysteriously displaced to said timeline from the future, this will be quite a hard feat for her, or at least myself so to speak. the plot is fairly straight forward and simple as often with other action-comedy series, yet i find most of my amusement from the primary character herself of whom are adorably quirky, and mostly through her easygoing, free-spirited personality to which i can easily relate myself with.

thematically speaking, sengoku otome isn't any different from hyakka ryouran samurai girls which was aired last fall 2010, and the visual-novel-turned-anime koihime musou that was running long before it; in fact all three mentioned series featured gender swapped characters based on historical figures in particular, with the only stark difference being that sengoku otome and hyakka ryouran are both based on figures from the feudal era of japan while koihime musou on the other hand was based on heroic figures from the feudal times of china.

by each anime season there'll be one or two titles with bouncing bosoms featured here and there, and sengoku otome without a doubt are among those produced for this spring aside from the highly infamous + notorious seikon no qwaser that is eagerly waited by some, including me myself. now that particular aspect aside, this series does seem to promise healthy doses of action, especially since there are some really badass characters such as nobunaga oda herself to be introduced sooner or later in future episodes, and the grand theme of conquest which would as well speak in for some ensuing blood spilling and bone breaking party for us to anticipate.

presentation wise, sengoku otome is quite a neat production to be frank with - especially since it is produced by one of the oldest anime studio in japan with extensive catalogue dating as far back as the 1960's. that said, the general art direction and character designs are very much pleasing to my palate, and i for one am greatly in love with the overall costume design as seen worn by most of the characters featured on the promotional artwork for the series. the OP theme as well managed to nab my attention / interest for its upbeat modern-tinged classical / folk-ish taste - my kind of music.

kämpfer für die liebe : partial overview

KAMPFER FUR DIE LIEBE
studio : Nomad
director : Yasuhiro Kuroda
serial run : March 31, 2011 - ongoing
total episode : 02
score : ***

rather than expanding the main plot / story of the first season, fur die liebe [ or the second episode of it, as of the time being ] instead is a stand alone, straight-on-fanservice extra offering focusing on both natsuru and akane, while also featuring cameos from the entire full cast of the series. the second episode in particular took upon a lighthearted yet heavily suggestive approach in story, and thus definitely is not recommended for viewers who are easily offended by the slightest mention / feature of perverted comedies and mild nudity which are the main subjects and focus of attention for this series here.

as per fur die liebe, natsuru has becoming fully accustomed to his female mode yet is still apprehensive on wearing bras for reason explained in the second episode. in the mean time, both he and akane were blackmailed by the student council into working for a fancy bunnygirl cafe, and a subplot ensues when he was lured into attending a mixer held by his colleagues in the very same cafe he's supposed to start working in. from here on, one should expect suggestive mature comedies that certainly are not safe for minor viewing, yet were highly entertaining in their own merit.

overall, fur die liebe generally shares the same execution and production values of the parent series from which it was spawned from. this brief expansion also provided very little progression to the story as well as the characters, and thus might as well disappoint those who are hoping for the story to pick up from where it had left in the initial season - let alone to answer several raised mysteries / questions and numerous gaping plotholes left via the cliffhanger finale of the parent season. it is highly recommended however that you purely watch this for light entertainment so to fill in your wait for other incoming spring 2011 series.

+ophanium's spring 2011 watchlist : prelude to first impressions

before i went on with our usual first impression commentaries i would first like to post in a quick compendium list of the spring 2011 series of which me and zange will be keeping close track on based on summaries / those that i have seen so far. as usual, these lists are subjected to future changes.

HIGHEST PRIORITY
description : these are the series of which we'll be following very dearly week after week without fail; a slight miss on one episode will possibly result in multiple head-desks on our behalf.
- hanasaku iroha ♪ ♥
- a-channel ♪ ♥
- ano hi mita hana no namae o bokutachi wa mada shiranai ♪ ♥

- denpa onna to seishun otoko ♪ ♥
- dog days ♪ ♥
- astarotte no omocha ! ♪ ♥
- nichijou ♪ ♥

- hoshizora e kakaru hashi ♪ ♥
- 30-sai no hoken taiiku ♪ ♥

- hen zemi ♪ ♥
- maria+holic : alive ♪ ♥

- softenni ♪ ♥

- appleseed xiii ♪ ♥
- battle girls : time paradox ♪

MEDIUM PRIORITY
description : these are the series of which we'll be following week after week without fail just like the priority set above, however we won't be giving ourselves multiple head-desks should we forgot to get ourselves updated on the new episodes of those listed here; in fact we'd rather marathon a number of episodes in a go- :3
- hidan no aria ♪

- seikon no qwaser S2 ♪

- kampfer fur die liebe ♪

- steins;gate ♪

LOWEST PRIORITY
description : being the lowest priority set, these series risks themselves of being deported to the on hold / dropped list based on their respective performance[s]. however, we'll still be giving them minor justice by forcing ourselves to keep on watching them just to fill in the void left in-between the release of new episodes of the two priority set above.
- oretachi ni tsubasa wa nai [ on-hold ]
- [ c ] the money of soul and probability control [ dropped ]
- ao no exorcist [ dropped ]

OVA / OAD / ONA / THEATRICAL RELEASE
description : this list mostly encompasses those retail / simulcast-exclusive series of our highest priority.
- amagami ss ♪ ♥
- asobi ni iku yo ! : let's go play ! ♪
- baka to test to shoukanjuu ~matsuri~ ( episode 02 ) ♪ ♥
- hen zemi ( episode 02 ) ♪ ♥
- highschool of the dead ♪
- kaibutsu oujo ( episode 02 ) ♪
- kaichou wa maid-sama ! ♪ ♥
- koe de oshigoto ! ( episode 02 ) ♪ ♥
- nichijou ♪ ♥
- yozakura quartet : hoshi no umi ( episode 02 ) ♪ ♥

WAITLIST / WISHLIST
description : those listed here were either sequels which we have yet to watch over the previous season they were continued from or just those poor underdog titles which has yet to be picked and subbed upon.
- N/A

+ LEGEND +
♪ = hime's watchlist
♥ = zange's watchlist

...

FAQ

Q : do you really watch all those listed on your watchlist above ? A : yes. well usually i would break down my aniwatch session into two; the weekly episodic watch and the complete full season marathon by the end of a series' run. at the start of a season block, i would often took my time and give each of these series' first / pilot episodes a try before i decide whether to put them on my weekly watch or the full marathon watch session, depending on their performance as well as the state of balance between the genres offered within a season.

[ cosplay ] uriu ft. maruko : puella magi madoka★magica vol. 2

layer : Uriu and Maruko
character : Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki
series : Puella Magi Madoka Magica
score : ***** [ Uriu ] / **** [ Maruko ]

so just now we were able to locate some more images [ albeit by different photog ] from both uriu-san and maruko-san's recent puella magi madoka★magica-get. thus, we would like to share our latest findings with those who might as well be interested in them. also, the brief commentary we made for both earlier still stands for this post here, though we've decided to revise the scoring in accordance to our latest additional assessment; provided that we now have a much more detailed and thorough look at both layer's appearances as their respective character of choice.

[ to be edited for photog's credit ]

[ cosplay ] uriu ft. maruko : puella magi madoka★magica

layer : Uriu and Maruko
character : Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki
series : Puella Magi Madoka★Magica
score : ***** [ both ]

this is the only image available for now in regard to both uriu-san and maruko-san's madoka and sayaka-get. that said, this single image alone is more than enough to put both of us in the editorial team here into quite an hyper-enthusiastic mode - in waiting for more of both these layers magica-get to surface somewhen soon, hopefully.

now as with yun-san's madoka-get and midori-san's homura-get, these two's magica cosplay are those among our favorite magica cosplay around to date, especially since uriu-san really does fit in well with her cosplay as madoka, and the same can be said with maruko-san. both their costumes were excellently reproduced according to the original design seen in the anime, yet the main highlights for us here are both their respective wigworks which were handsomely color-picked, sculpted and accessorized [ am referring to uriu-san's of whom comes with a set of ribbons ]; gotta love the amount of attention on details given by both of them there :9

[ above image is the property of mukki-san ]

[ cosplay ] midori kanda : sora kasugano vol. 4

layer : Midori Kanda
character : Sora Kasugano
series : Yosuga no Sora
score : *****

midori kanda returns with yet another excellent sora cosplay, fully set on full school-mood mode inclusive of a set of p.e. getup for additional sex appeal punch. as with her previous sora-gets then, both her [ overall cosplay ] execution and appearances as the character were flawlessly spot on, especially with that signature facial expression she had on her as always :3

[ all images are property of kimokamehiro ]

intermission : a brief welcome to the spring edition

hello again everyone. and due to our extended absence for the past few weeks, here's a late welcome to the spring 2011 edition of +ophanium. as always, we define our seasonal editions based on the start of each new anime season in japan, usually preceded by our staple 'prelude to first impressions' entries that is to follow this brief editorial here really soon.

now as for april 2011, we would like to focus more into animes and try to give a much more minimal attention to our cosplay feature entries, if possible. this. is to balance the ratio of anime : cosplay entries made here as of lately, so that we could once again live up to our status as an anime / cosplay blog with equal dedication spared for both topic we dearly love the most. edit : i don't think that would ever be possible |3

also, our team has also heard of the sad news last week [ courtesy of our close affiliate @ReizoBaka ] that a renowned cosplayer, saya-san passed away due to an accident in march 15, 2011. not much details has been closed around so far, still we would like to take this moment here to offer our greatest condolences to one of japan's remarkable pro-cosplayer ever. may her soul rest in peace, and may that she will never be forgotten by the cosplay community that has adored her since.