Number One: Ouran High School Host Club

My History: Host Club was one of those pleasant surprises that turned into something of an obsession. It was one of those things that I saw all over the place but didn’t know what it was. So naturally I looked it up and went to watch the first episode. Unfortunately that was back when subs still gave me some trouble and upon watching the first five minutes of it saw the word gay and decided it was some awful yaoi anime and left it at that. Luckily I had a friend to set me straight and I went back to it sometime later and fell quite in love with it. I didn’t get into the manga until sometime later when I found the first volume on another friend’s shelf. I will admit right now that I like the manga better, but the anime is so well adapted that my love for it is not diminished in the slightest by my love for the manga. It’s probably the anime that I’ve watched the most times and I find myself constantly going back to look at the manga of which I own nine volumes.

Overview: Ouran High School Host Club is the adventures of a common girl in a school for the super rich. High school freshmen Fujioka Haruhi is a special scholarship student at Ouran Academy High School where only rich students can afford to go. When she is taken for a boy and accidently breaks a vase the Host Club was going to auction she finds herself 8,000,000 yen in debt. The only way to repay this debt is to work it off. Ouran High School Host Club follows her adventures and struggles as she’s dragged along by the rambunctious group of rich high school boys.

Characters

Fujioka Haruhi: Haruhi is a girl from a common middle class family who dreams of being a lawyer like her late mother. To accomplish this she became a special scholarship student at Ouran Academy. In her search for a quiet place to study she stumbled upon the host club in an unused music room, where she was immediately assumed to be a boy because of her baggy sweater and short hair. Being Haruhi, she simply could care less what they think of her and allows them to believe she’s a boy until slowly, one by one, they figure it out. Haruhi, for all her intelligence and insight is kind of spacey. She doesn’t pick up on subtle hits or even obvious ones when they’re directed at her. She’s clueless when it comes to the romantic feelings of the boys closest to her even though it’s pretty obvious to us that three out of six boys are totally into her. She’s very down to earth, thinking practically even in impractical situations. She’s the only one who can tell the twins apart, which makes her very special. She lost her mother at an early age, to an illness of some kind. If they said what it was I didn’t catch it. Since then she’s taken on the responsibility of taking care of the house and her father who is a queen. Haruhi is kind hearted but conservative. She’s a natural host and pleases the girls just by speaking normally or standing and spacing out. She’s kind of misunderstood in the club simply because she’s a commoner, which they will never let her forget, and she thinks differently than they do. “Those rich bastards” is practically her catch phrase.

Suoh Tamaki: Tamaki is a very special person. He is the founder and “king” of the host club. He is the one who went around two years before the anime takes place and convinced each of the members to join the club with him. He is a very childish person, very innocent and naïve, but kind hearted and thoughtful when it comes to the happiness of others. He is extremely sensitive and easily wounded, but he bounces back quickly, so it’s okay. Tamaki has somehow established a family within the host club consisting of him as the father, Kyoya as the mother and Haruhi as the daughter. In the manga it includes the twins as Haruhi’s brothers, but they don’t get into that in the anime. They also leave out a lot of ‘mom’ references but that’s okay, they’re not important. What’s important is that he has set himself up as Haruhi’s father to justify his feelings for her, without acknowledging that he is in love with her. Again, they go into it a lot more in the manga, but it’s sufficiently covered here. He gets jealous because no father wants to give his daughter to another man, he feels protective of her because that’s how father’s are, he doesn’t want other guys looking at her in a swim suit to ‘protect her virgin skin’ or something like that. It’s amusing because she rejects this ‘daddy’ idea at every turn, yet from episode one to twenty-five Haruhi is his daughter and he’s her papa. Tamaki has a fairly tragic past. His father is the superintendant of Ouran Academy and owns a fairly extensive company, but the real power behind it is his grandmother. His mother is French and she and his father had an affair while his father was still married to another woman. When Tamaki was born he intended to divorce his wife and marry Tamaki’s mother, but the grandmother wouldn’t allow it. Tamaki’s father divorced his wife anyway and since Tamaki is his only child, his mother decided to allow him to come to Japan and be the successor of the company on the condition that he can never see his mother again. Despite missing his mother terribly and feeling very sad for having to leave her, Tamaki smiles and laughs more than anyone. He doesn’t want anyone to be brought down by his tragic past and wants to see everyone happy more than anything. Tamaki also likes to stick his nose in places it probably doesn’t belong. If he sees injustice, or tragedy that he can change he will do everything in his power to do so.  He’s incredibly charming and suave and is a huge hit with the ladies, hence the title of ‘host club king.’

Ootori Kyoya: Kyoya is the shadow king of the Host Club. He controls everything from the finances to the merchandise to the group itself really. No one does anything unless Kyoya gives the okay… or at least doesn’t object. The Ootori family is very powerful in the medical field and has branched out to other ‘health related’ industries such as relaxation theme parks and so on. They also have their own special police force which Kyoya is not afraid to use, if only for threatening people into doing his will. And he does it quite charmingly too. Kyoya is the third son and as such, under the most pressure from his father. His older brother’s got by with scoring top of their class and what not. But Kyoya, as the third son, is expected to do better, yet not surpass his brothers in any way. It’s all rather confusing. At any rate, nearly all of Kyoya’s actions are done with his father in mind. If something won’t bring him merit of some kind and advance his position in his father’s favor he is simply not interested. He comes off as kind of a jerk when not in the presence of polite society and we do get to see him alone with Haruhi somewhere in the middle of the series. Kyoya has another weakness, though and that’s Tamaki. He does do things, however much he tries to hide it, to help Tamaki and to keep him happy. They’re complete opposites and yet they have a special sort of friendship.

Hitatchiin Brothers: Hikaru and Kaoru Hitatchiin are twin brothers who take on the ‘brotherly love’ persona for the club. They are two of my favorite characters and when I first watched this show, my best friend and I became them. She was Hikaru, the older and I was Kaoru, the younger, which is backwards, for us, but the personalities fit better. Anyway, the twins grew up pretty much on their own since their parents were very busy and they formed an unbreakable bond between them. They didn’t have any other friends growing up, rejecting anyone who tried to enter their own little world. No one can tell the two apart, though Hikaru always parts his hair to the left and Kaoru to the right (when watching it’s reversed since we’re looking at them). Hikaru also has a deeper voice than Kaoru but you can’t tell that when they’re younger. They like to pull pranks and mess with people as much as they can. Haruhi became their toy soon after she joined the club and they’re very close to her because they’re in the same class. As I said, she’s the only one who can tell them apart, no matter what, and she is the first person to truly penetrate their world. The twins want to be told apart but they make every effort to be identical. For a long time before they met Tamaki they considered everyone around them idiots for not being able to tell them apart. They call Tamaki ‘my lord’ in most translations since he talks like a lord from ancient times. He’s the one they love to tease the most, especially since they can mess with Haruhi while doing it.

Hikaru: Hikaru is the bolder, rash, head strong twin. He’s the oldest and in their persona he’s the one taking care of Kaoru, teasing him and generally being the seme of the two. As Haruhi would put it, Hikaru is ‘one level meaner’ than Kaoru. He’s very possessive of his friends, especially Haruhi, whom he has a crush on.

Kaoru:  Kaoru is more level headed than Hikaru and while he does get angry and frustrated by the same things, he tends to keep his emotions inside rather than letting them spill out everywhere. And above all he always thinks of Hikaru first. Almost anything he does is for Hikaru’s sake, to expand his world, to define them as individuals rather than as twins. He realizes that they have to break apart sometime, and that it will be hard on Hikaru, and he does everything in his power to try and ease that. In the anime, Kaoru really is the more developed of the two, even though he’s the younger twin.

Haninozuka Mitsukuni (Aka Honey): Honey is a very short high school senior who is in love with anything cute or sweet or both. He’s known best for eating cake and the pink stuffed bunny he carries around at all times. He’s super cute and fluffy and wonderful. He is hardly ever seen without his cousin Mori with whom he is very close. He often rides around on the taller boy’s shoulders and does the talking for him. Despite all his fluff and childish charm, Honey is pretty insightful and can often pick out the root of problems before the others do. However, he prefers to let them figure it out on their own while he watches with Mori from a distance. Honey tends to see the big picture rather than just the little bits everyone else sees. The Haninozuka family is actually a family of super martial artists and Honey just so happens to be the best of them all. He also has type A/B blood which means he has two personalities. He has low blood pressure when he first wakes up and is thus very grouchy. Honey is really super scary when he really wants to be and can easily kick pretty much anyone’s ass.

Morinozuka Takashi (Aka Mori): Mori is my absolute favorite character in the series, which is odd because he gets the least amount of development. He’s the tall quiet kid who just looks cool. He is very attached to Honey who he’s been looking after since they were kids. Mori’s family has served Honey’s family for generations and it seems to run in his blood. He cares more for Honey than he does himself. Mori usually gets only a few lines if any in an episode, most often just the word ‘yeah.’ He just sounds so damn cool while saying it. *u* You can feel his emotions even when he’s not expressing them. When Honey is missing you can feel his concern and his distress. When Honey’s made at him over the sweets ban you feel his pain. He’s absolutely adorable in every way!~ He’s also really good with animals, though you don’t see that in the anime.

Houshakuji Renge: Renge is a very special Japanese girl who grew up in France. She’s kind of spoiled just like most of the rich kids and is obsessed with a visual novel game in which the main character looks just like Kyoya, which brings her to the host club. Renge is kind of crazy and she sets herself up as the host club’s female manager, though after her initial episode she doesn’t really influence the club very much, other than to pop up now and again and spout information on various topics. Usually they call her out when they need to transform someone’s character. A young boy wants to be trained as a host, the call Renge to find a persona for him. Nekozawa wants to be more prince-like for his little sister; they call Renge to transform him. I’m really surprised they didn’t bring her out to help with Kasanoda, but meh, whatever. Renge is very over the top flamboyantly enthusiastic about fangirlisms and she’s pretty much a crazy otaku, but she’s useful, so they keep her around.

Nekozawa Umehito: Nekozawa is another of my favorite characters. He is the photophobic president of the Black Magic Club who for whatever reason likes to appear in the host club from time to time. As his name may imply, he is very fond of cats and his family has worshiped cat-like images for generations. He always carries around a yellow cat puppet named Belzeneff w ho he claims is cursed. Under the black cloak and dark wig he always wears, Nekozawa is actually very fair and handsome with long blond hair and fetching blue eyes.

Nekozawa has a little sister named Kirimi whom he loves very much. The problem is Kirimi is afraid of the dark and Nekozawa is afraid of the light. Kirimi dreams of her ‘prince-like onii-chama’ that is depicted in a portrait of Nekozawa in their home, but she refuses to believe that he is the same person from the picture, no matter how often she is told. She also is really into shojo manga. The host club tries to help Nekozawa get over his fear of light to help reunite the siblings, with little success. However, when Kirimi is confronted by a very fat and scary cat, of which she is most afraid, Nekozawa does not hesitate even the slightest bit before jumping out a window to rescue his sister. And that’s what makes him awesome!

Kasanoda Ritsu: Again, one of my favorite characters, Kasanoda is the red-haired successor to the most powerful Yakuza group in Kanto, the Kasanoda-gumi. Kasanoda was born with a scary looking face and because of it has had trouble making friends and interacting with people. He wants more than anything to play kick the can with his underlings who adore him and just have fun with everyone. This is what brings him to the host club, specifically to Mori-sempai. He wishes to be Mori’s apprentice since Mori also has a scary face and yet everyone really loves and admires him. This throws Mori for a loop, of course, since he’s not used to such attention… or being told he has a scary face. Since he doesn’t know what to do, the host club takes over, failing miserably, except for Haruhi who manages to make him feel better about himself, just by not being scared of him. Kasanoda is really a very gentle and kind hearted character, despite his frightening and off putting appearance. His underlings really do admire him and want nothing more than to see him happy.

At the end of his first episode he accidentally walks in on Haruhi changing and thus discovers that she is in fact a girl, which makes him feel better because he’s totally been falling for her the whole episode. In the next episode he goes back to the host club, this time as a guest to try and confess his feelings for Haruhi to her, causing a big ‘moe’ fest for the girls at the club. Haruhi, being, well, Haruhi, completely misses the signs and declares them friends, twice before he can fully confess his feelings, giving him that ‘I just got dumped’ feeling. He takes it well though, assuming it’s because she has to keep up her persona as a guy and dating another guy would be problematic, and so swears that they will be ‘friends forever.’

Story: Ouran High School Host Club is a collection of adventures that the host club has, not always in school. They drag Haruhi to a tropical resort and to a private beach. They also follow her to Karuizawa for summer break and generally cause trouble for her pretty much everywhere. With each episode we learn a little more about the characters around us. There really isn’t a lot of growth in the characters, other than the twins who are learning to be individuals and not rely fully on each other all the time. Most of the character’s growth as people happened towards the beginning of the club, before Haruhi got there. Haruhi herself isn’t really growing so much as discovering. She does learn to let others take care of her a little, which is hard for her since she grew up pretty much taking care of herself. Tamaki and Haruhi’s romance is kind of there but it doesn’t really go anywhere in the anime. It’s cute, though to see it just under the surface, waiting for the right moment to come out. However by the end we’re still not completely sure if they got together.

Ending: The ending to Host Club is actually a lot more exciting than one would imagine. It starts with the announcement of an engagement from Tamaki and the decision to end the host club after the Ouran Festival is over. This is mostly the fault of Tamaki’s grandmother who wants him to marry into some girl’s family since they’re taking over some businesses close to the Suoh’s. Throughout the Ouran Festival Tamaki begins to feel like he’s been inconveniencing everyone by making them be in the host club and that they would all be better off without it. So he dissolves the club and is planning to go back to France with his fiancé. Well, the host club will have none of that and as soon as they find out we get a fight, a carriage chase and a near death experience from Haruhi and Tamaki both. It’s actually really epic seeing Mori and Honey kick some ass, which we don’t often get to see. Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru take a horse-drawn carriage they were going to use in the festival and chase down Tamaki who is in a car on the way to the airport. Haruhi nearly dies falling off a bridge and of course, Tamaki gets to save her. This part of the ending I really like.

What I didn’t like about the ending was really only the very end when Tamaki’s father is conversing with Kyoya’s father. They talk about business stuff, the girl’s family Tamaki was supposed to be marrying into was going to take over a part of the Ootori business but I think Kyoya bought them out or something then gave it back to his dad. Something like that I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. It’s just a random little bit that didn’t really have anything to do with anything at all except maybe Kyoya’s ambitions which were only briefly touched on in one episode. The part that really annoys me, though, is their conversation about Haruhi. They, being rivals I guess, have finally decided to be friendly with each other. Then Mr. Ootori makes the comment “You know that special student, Fujioka Haruhi? Yeah, I’m thinking of having her marry Kyoya, just keep that in mind.” to which Mr. Suoh replies, “I guess we can’t be friends just yet.” First off, the idea of Kyoya and Haruhi together is completely absurd. Secondly, why? What is the point in having her marry Kyoya? They wouldn’t gain anything from it, Kyoya isn’t interested in Haruhi at all and other than standing up for Kyoya at one point, she doesn’t do anything that might imply that she would be a good wife for him. And to think that Haruhi would even consider marrying Kyoya, let alone in an arranged marriage type deal, proves that he knows nothing about her. So why is he even thinking about marrying his son to a girl he knows nothing about? It’s dumb and it makes no sense. Buuuuuut other than that, I’m really pleased with the ending, especially the visual of Haruhi dancing with each of the club members, ending with Tamaki.

Wrap up: So that’s Host Club. It’s an incredibly character based anime, which is probably why I love it so much. The characters drive the plot and we get to know them so well throughout the series it’s easy to get attached to them. I love how they cover a wide range of personalities and how they interact with each other. I love the art and the music and ‘those rich bastards’ and their fascination with commoner’s culture. It’s a fun and colorful journey and it pleases me greatly. And that is why Ouran High School Host Club is my number one favorite anime of all time.

 

Number Two: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

I feel especially compelled to warn you all that this review contains spoilers. I know you know all of my reviews contain spoilers but this one especially contains them because I can’t review Gurren Lagann without spoiling it. If you haven’t watched it, go watch it now and then you can read the review.

My History: Gurren Lagann was introduced to me a year or two ago by my friend Brelyn. We spent two days in her attic watching the whole thing. This is my most recent anime and yet one of my favorites. You might be wondering why I ranked such a new discovery over some of my long time favorites. To be honest, it’s all in the epic manliness that is Gurren Lagann. Watching Gurren Lagann gets you pumped! No matter what mood you’re in when you start an episode by the end you are ready to take on the world, and win.

Overview: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a story in three parts. The first arc journey of discovery, the second is a struggle for power and the third is a quest to survive. We watch our cast of characters, especially our unlikely hero, Simon grow stronger with each encounter and learn a little more about the world around them. We somehow make our way from an underground village which knows nothing of the surface to outer space, all the while shouting “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!”

Characters:

Kamina: I usually go with the protagonist first, but since Kamina is such an important character; I feel he should go first. It is Kamina who drives the first arc and not Simon. Kamina, even in their little underground village dreams of something bigger. He’s strong willed, proud, super manly and probably way over confident. He and Simon are both orphans, and have adopted each other as brothers. Kamina looks out for Simon, keeping him safe and encouraging him to have more confidence in himself. He went to the surface once as a child with his father but was too frightened to go with him, choosing to stay behind in the village. This is a choice Kamina has regretted ever since and the drive behind his attempts to get to the surface in episode one. Once on the surface, his fighting spirit shines through more than ever. He is the first to steal a gunman and force it to accept him as its pilot. To him, nothing is impossible. Kamina also has an incredible amount of faith in Simon, even though his little brother is scared out of his mind most of the time and he sees his inner strength. He often confesses to Yoko that without Simon he would probably have died long ago. He believes it is Simon who is always saving him and not the other way around, as Simon tends to see it. Even though Kamina only graces us with his presence for the first arc, his influence carries on throughout the entire season.

Kamina’s gunman is Gurren but he rarely ever fights with just Gurren. In about the fourth episode he learns he can combine his gunman with Simon’s to form Gurren-Lagann. This is a much more powerful form and allows him and Simon to work together more efficiently.

Simon: Arc 1: Simon the coward. Simon sees himself as a coward for most of the first arc. He’s scared of the gunmen and of the dangers of the surface and the underground as well. Simon is a digger and remains a digger at the core no matter what form he takes throughout the series. For the first arc he sees himself as little more. His drill is his soul and takes over everything he does. In the first arc Simon learns it’s okay to be afraid, but you can’t let your fear control your actions. It’s better to stand and fight than to run and hide as is his first instinct. Simon’s parents died in an earthquake when he was young, fueling his fear of death. Simon looks up to Kamina more than anything as a protector and a role-model, everything he wishes he could be.

Arc 2: Simon the leader. The second arc finds Simon devastated and desperate from Kamina’s sacrifice. He feels the need to fill his brother’s shoes even though that is clearly impossible. He tries to become Kamina and fails, naturally, causing him to sink deeper into his despair. It takes him three episodes to find his place. Once again he realizes that he is not Kamina, he is Simon the digger and that is who he must be. And, by Kamina’s last wishes, he is made leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. Simon as a leader is maybe even manlier than Kamina, despite his young age. He has learned to believe in his own power rather than relying on that of his brother and he uses it to his full advantage. It is his natural place for this arc. He is the one to charge ahead even when things look bleak and no matter what, he knows he can win if he uses enough fighting spirit.

Arc 3: Simon the warrior. After they defeat the Helix King and make the surface safe for humans to live on the members of the Dai-Gurren Brigade naturally form the new government with Simon as their Commander. Thing is, Simon’s not really suited for such a role and while he manages for seven years when real trouble starts, he would much rather be out fighting than sitting back giving orders. This gets him into a lot of trouble as he ends up being blamed for this new threat because of his reckless actions. He shows a lot more of Kamina’s fighting spirit in this arc as he does whatever it takes to keep his people safe, even if he’s being condemned by them. His real drive for this arc is is love for Nia and his desire to see her safe.

Simon’s gunman is Lagann whom he discovers while digging in his village in episode one. Lagann is a mini-gunman but he packs quite a punch. Lagann is special in ways Simon couldn’t begin to imagine when he found him. He can combine with any other gunman to form an even more powerful machine. With his mighty drill attacks, Lagann is perfect for Simon.

Yoko: Yoko is a scantily dressed female sharp shooter. She is a master with a rifle which comes in handy when fighting gunmen. She has a strong will and a good head on her shoulders, though she’s more concerned with surviving than with the grace of battle. We don’t learn a whole lot about her. She’s very loyal to Kamina in the first arc and even in the second. She wants to help as much as she can and she knows what she’s doing. During the third arc she becomes a teacher for six years before all the trouble starts. It’s funny to see her dressed properly and without her boobs hanging all over the place. Yoko is known for three things: her boobs, her gun and her kiss of death. She is in love with Kamina in the first arc and kisses him before the battle in which he dies. In the third arc she and Kittan have a small interest before he kisses her and goes out to sacrifice himself. So, if you want to survive Gurren Lagann, don’t kiss Yoko.

Rossiu: Arc 1-2: Rossiu is the son of a village priest who warships a buried gunman as a ‘face-god.’ Their village is so small and poor that it can only support fifty residents at a time. So when that limit is exceeded his father picks, through the guise of straw drawing, who will be sent to the surface, which they think is heaven. Yeah, pretty messed up. Rossiu is a pretty cool kid, though. He fights for a world where everyone can live and people don’t have to be sacrificed for others to survive. After Kamina’s death Rossiu take his place in Gurren’s cockpit. Even though he helps Simon out a lot he’s not a very talented pilot and is only competent without Simon. He’s a very practical character, always trying to look at the bigger picture and best option for everyone.

Arc 3: Rossiu has taken up the position of secretary under Simon, though really, he’s totally running things. He’s on top of everything and quite honestly, he’s kind of become a prick. He’s all business with little to no room for mistakes or compromise. He likes everything in its place, including people and he scolds Simon constantly when he tries to fight for himself. When the people begin to riot over the impending danger from the moon he puts the blame solely on Simon to calm the public and puts himself up as commander. He’s very cold for the first half of the third arc, showing little to no emotion over what he does, even when he sentences Simon to death for trying to protect his people. After their first excursion is space, though, he realizes he was going about things the wrong way and repents in a way, though he feels he needs to be ‘punished for his sins’ and tries to kill himself, which is a dumb move as well, but luckily Simon’s there to punch him in the face. It’s about time too. While I enjoyed Rossiu in the first and second arcs I had a lot less love for him in the third arc, even after his switch back.

Leeron: Leeron is the team’s mechanical wiz starting out. He’s a very special character. I wouldn’t quite call him a tranny but he’s something close. He dresses as a man but wears heels and make up and flirts with all the guys. Make of it what you will.  He also likes to scare the little kids. At any rate, Leeron takes care of the team’s gunmen, repairing, upgrading and analyzing anything mechanical that comes their way. He’s wonderfully flamboyant and fantastically charming. He understands most of what goes on with the gunmen and the spiral power. He’s probably the smartest one of the bunch and I’m incredibly fond of him.

Nia: Arc 2: Nia the princess. Nia is the ‘daughter’ of the Helix King who got a little too curious about her origins and was discarded because of it. She was abandoned in a sort of grave yard for her father’s unfavorable daughters and found by Simon shortly after. She doesn’t know much about the outside world. Things like enemies, irritation, violence and the like are completely new to her and it takes some explaining to get such concepts across. She attaches herself to Simon after she’s accepted into the Dai-Gurren Brigade and has unquestionable faith in Simon. She firmly believes that he cannot lose, no matter what the odds. Nia is naive, sweet and a little ditzy at times. She’s easily delighted and a terrible cook, apparently. The only one who can stand her cooking is Simon, which is fitting I guess, since he’s totally in love with her.

Arc 3: Nia the messenger. In arc three Nia and Simon are officially a couple and even get engaged in the first episode. That’s before the one millionth human is born and the Anti-Spiral come to destroy them all. We learn that Nia is an Anti-Spiral in human form and was created to be a messenger once the Human Elimination Device was activated. She wanders around most of the third arch, telling Simon that the Anti-Spiral and complete despair from the humans and that there is no home. She also provides a warning of what’s coming and sends the whole population into a panic. However much she claims this is her true self; and unemotional, monotone figure, she continues to wear the ring Simon gave her and it’s clear that the real Nia is trapped inside somewhere. She doesn’t do much after the first threat is taken care of. She’s called back to the Anti-Spiral’s base to be analyzed and Simon goes to save her. The real Nia hasn’t changed much from the Nia of Arc 2. She still believes in Simon with all her heart and knows without a doubt that he’ll save her.

Minor Epicness

Boota: Boota is a pig-mole… or a mole-pig, I’m never sure which. For the first two arcs he’s little more than Simon’s pet, riding with him in Lagann and providing emotional support when needed. He’s adorable and is always ready for a fight. He also likes to ride around in Yoko’s cleavage. In arc three, however we find out that Boota is a little more than just a simple pig-mole. He holds an amazing amount of spiral energy that is crucial to the team’s success in their second outer space adventure against the Anti-Spiral.

Old Coco: Old Coco makes his first appearance in arc one when he leads Gurren Brigade to a hot spring gunman. He’s not evil, though, and he somehow attaches himself to the group and follows them from then on. He has a tendency to pop in and out of scenes with little to no explanation. He comes, serves some purpose, and then leaves. He also turns out to be a pretty good cook in arc two. He takes care of the mundane chores that no one else wants to do. In arc three he is little more than a butler for Nia, providing little essentials. He is a silent character for the most part, speaking only one line, to my knowledge, in the entire series.

Gimmy: Gimmy is a boy they pick up along the way in Arc one along with his twin sister Darry. He’s a very excitable little kid in the first and second acts, always enthusiastic about anything that’s going on and shouting encouragement to those doing battle. In Arc three he becomes a new gunmen pilot in a gunman modeled after Gurren Lagann. He’s head strong and tends to rush into battle without thinking, but that’s what Darry is for.

Darry: Darry is Gimmy’s twin sister who joins the group along with him. She’s pretty much his exact opposite, very calm and seemingly apathetic of what’s going on. She’s more calculating than her brother in Arc three when she also pilots a gunman. She’s the one who looks at a situation, finds the dangers and how they can avoid them and strike a critical blow. She’s probably the only reason Gimmy hasn’t gone and gotten himself killed yet.

The Black Siblings

Kittan: Kittan is the oldest of the four siblings who join the group in arc one. He has three younger sisters, Kiyoh, Kinon and Kiyal. He’s about as stubborn and head strong as Kamina with a bit of an ego to go with it. He has that leader vibe to him, but he also knows when to step down and let someone else take charge. Still, even when he’s taking orders from Simon or Kamina he’s a leader in the ranks, always the first to say charge.

Kiyoh and Kiyal: Kiyo and Kiyal are the oldest and youngest of the black sisters and the boldest of the three. They will enter the battle at times, joining Kittan in gunmen. Kiyal does nothing worth mentioning but Kiyoh gets married by Act three and gives birth to the one millionth human on earth.

Kinon: Kinon is the middle sister and probably the most impressive. She rides in a gunman only twice in arc three but she probably does the most out of all three of them. She falls in love with Rossiu. How? Not entirely sure. But it happens and because of this she does some crazy stuff, like gets in Gurren strapped to a bomb to keep Simon from running away. She seems like the timid one at first but she’s actually pretty confident and her head’s as hard as her brother’s. She’d defend Rossiu no matter what, and does on several occasions.

Anti Heroes

Viral: Viral is a beastman who becomes Kamina’s arch rival and by inheritance, Simon’s for arcs one and two. Viral is fairly skilled with his gunman but he’s no match for Simon, no matter how hard he tries. Viral pulls on your heart strings more than most characters. He’s pissed at losing his commanders to the rebels and he wants revenge for their deaths, that’s it. But it seems like no matter who he’s under he’s always getting kicked around. He saved his second commander’s life and how does she repay him? She smacks him around with her tail calling him an idiot and he just sits there and takes it. In arc two, however he has sort of a heel-face turn. He’s captured early on supporting some anti-government group who want nothing more than to live underground as they have for centuries. He and Simon are thrown together in jail and have a sort of male bonding thing as they beat the crap out of each other and a random fight starter. When Yoko breaks them out he joins Simon as the pilot of Gurren for his own selfish reasons, of course.

During one of the last episodes the Anti-Spiral send each of the team into an alternate universe of their own making. In it they each see what they most desire, Simon is with Kamina, Yoko is famous and so on. Viral’s is probably the saddest out of all of them. Since he’s a beastman he can’t reproduce. In his universe there’s little more than him, a wife and their little girl. And he gives it up so readily once he realizes it’s nothing more than a dream.

The Helix King: I’m putting him with the anti heroes because I’m not convinced he was really a villain. They fought him in arc two as the villain but when they bring him back as a bio computer in arc three we learn that he was trying to protect humanity from the Anti-Spirals by keeping the humans underground. Because of the whole one million population limit thing. Admittedly he does seem like kind of a douche. He gives Viral eternal life just so he can tell his story over and over to future generations. He also tossed Nia out like an old doll and did the same to tons of her sisters before her. I’m still not sure exactly why he did this, but he seems to feel bad about it in arc three when he’s busy redeeming himself for past sins. He’s really useful in arc three and even gets his body back briefly to fight the Anti-Spiral with, sacrificing himself for the benefit of the group.

Gunmen: Gunmen are the mechs in Gurren Lagann. It seems like pretty much everything is a gunman from the beastmen’s base to their capital. Even the moon is really a giant gunman. These mechs are powered by Spiral Energy which every human exerts with passionate emotions. Spiral Energy isn’t limitless, however and drains a person’s physical energy as well. Gunmen won’t run if the pilot is too hungry, either. I’m not exactly sure why. A pilot enters the gunmen through its mouth which has this double set of teeth thing going on. Because the entrance is in the mouth and it leads straight to the cockpit in the center of the gunman there are a lot of mechs running around without heads and faces on their torsos… or worse, in the case of one beastman her gunman’s mouth was just about at crotch level. It was kind of awkward to watch her talk, since the gunman’s mouth moves as the pilot speaks. They’re pretty nifty that way.

Spiritual energy does a lot more than just power the gunmen. It can also transform them and regenerate lost parts. This takes a huge surge of energy, though, so it happens less often than you might think. Some gunmen, like Lagann can combine with practically any gunman to make an even more powerful gunman. Lagann usually combines only with Gurren to form Gurren Lagann and then from there the combination of the two combine with even bigger gunmen to form even bigger gunmen, each new gunman piloted by the last gunmen. So you get mechs like Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann which piloted by Arc-Gurren-Lagann which is piloted by Gurren-Lagann. So it’s a gunman piloted by a gunman piloted by a gunman. Yeah, is your mind blown yet? That’s not all, though. These gunmen tend to take on the personal characteristics of their pilots and adapt any outside equipment added to match the rest of the gunman. So when Gurren-Lagann steals’ Viral’s gunman’s helmet, or a random flying gunmen’s wings, they transform to match Gurren-Lagann and become part of the gunman as a whole. This is a little more confusing with the helmet since it only appears when Gurren and Lagann combine.

Art: I just really quickly want to touch on how fun the art style is in this anime. It’s not the traditional anime style but almost a rougher version of it. There are a lot of thick likes used and the more intense the action the thicker and sketchier the art looks which just helps add to the feel of the whole battle scene. The colors too are something to note. They primary colors tend to stand out the most, red and blue being the favorites. Anything important is either red or blue especially in relation to Gurren Lagann. This really helps to set the mood of the whole anime.

Story:

Arc One: Arc one is a journey of discovery and a struggle for power. We follow Kamina and Simon as they discover the surface world and all the dangers it holds for them. Simon learns the most in this arc, finding his inner strength and growing into a braver person, much like his brother. We learn all the essentials in this arc, what the gunmen are what the beastmen are and generally how the world works. This arc comes to a climax at the battle for the beastmen’s base.

Arc Two: Arc two is a struggle for freedom. We now know what’s going on and who is causing all the trouble so naturally, Dai-Gurren Brigade is going after them. With Kamina’s death the group is thrown into some chaos but they push through, even as they sort out how to proceed. In the Arc we learn a little more about what’s going on in the world but mostly we just watch Simon become a strong, more competent leader and beat the crap out of most opponents. This arc’s climax comes at the battle against the Helix king.

Arc Three: Arc three is a battle for survival. The earth is being threatened by the Anti-Spiral and the Spiral Nemesis who want to destroy the Spiral Beings. It gets kind of confusing who is who but the important thing is that they’re not going down without a fight. Simon shows his true strength as he fights to defend his people, even when they turn against him. They go beyond the universe to eliminate the problem at its core and make the world safe for generations to come. This arc comes to a head in the final battle against the Spiral Nemesis.

Final Battle: As is to be expected from Gurren Lagann, we have an epic final battle to close the series. The battle against the Spiral Nemesis is in several parts, every time they thing, ‘this is it, we’re almost past it’ another more dangerous opponent appears. Once they reach the true boss, they are put in a sort of dream state in which they each are sent into their own alternate universe. As usual, it’s up to Kamina to save Simon. I know, Kamina’s dead, but he’s played such a huge roll in Simon’s life and the lives of others that it doesn’t matter. He shows up anyway. So with a new will to win, the Dai-Gurren Brigade takes down their toughest opponent yet, with a lot of sacrifices.

Ending: The team returns to earth with Nia so that she and Simon can get married. However upon their wedding kiss Nia begins to disappear and to everyone’s shock, save Simon, she disappears completely. Simone tells them he they knew she would have to go since she was really just a program in human form and with the Anti-Spiral gone she couldn’t continue living. With that, he passes Lagann to Gimmy and disappears himself, saying he’s simply Simon the digger, and that’s what he always will be.

After the credits roll we see Gimmy and Darry as well as Rossiu and some others far in the future, still running the government peacefully. We watch as a small boy tries to open a coconut with a drill with some difficulty and a stranger, wearing a cloak, help him out. It’s kind of a cute, peaceful little seen to wrap up a rather violent anime series.

Wrap up: I am thoroughly in love with Gurren Lagann! Just the feel alone that super manly pumped up feeling you get from watching it would be enough even if the story was crap. Which it’s not!  The story is thrilling and the action fun to watch. It’s absurd at times but that only makes it better. It’s all about strength of heart and the power of the spirit. The art is beautiful and the colors captivating. This is why it gets my number two spot.

 

Number Three: Kuroshitsuji

My History: I was introduced to Kuroshitsuji or Black Butler as it’s known in America, through my sister first and later through my friend Brelyn. It took me a while to really get into it, to be honest. I love the idea of it and some of the cases are rather fantastic and, most importantly, the characters are wonderful. However towards the end it gets a little funny and that I’m not very fond of. Really, most of my love is for the Manga, which is up to 53 chapters, I believe online and three volumes published in America, which I’m considering collecting. At any rate I do enjoy watching Sebastian fight with silverware, and I feel that alone should earn it the number three spot.

Overview: Kuroshitsuji is the story of the young Earl Ciel Phantomhive, a twelve-thirteen-year-old boy whose family was murdered in a fire which consumed the family estate. Ciel himself was captured by a cult and branded before he called upon a demon to make a deal for his soul. Upon forming a contract with the demon known as Sebastian Michaelis Ciel gains “one hell of a butler” to do his every command until his revenge is complete. In this series we watch as Ciel, head of the Phantomhive family and the Queen’s Guard Dog, keeps order in the Underworld of London and searches for those who put him through such torment.

Characters

Ciel Phantomhive: Ciel is a very dark, serious young man, mature way beyond his years. Without hesitation, he formed a contract with a demon for the sole purpose of humiliating and torturing those who humiliated and tortured him. He comes off as a very cold, calculating person and to those who don’t know any better, something of a brat. He will do quite literally anything to accomplish his goals, whatever they happen to be. The Phantomhive family for generations have been ‘the Queen’s Guard Dogs’ keeping order in the Underworld and handling whatever the police cannot. Ciel carries out the duties of his family, even though he’s only twelve. Even though he acts more like a man than a child, we do see his weaker side every so often. In little things, like making Sebastian promise to always be by his side, or asking him to stay with him until he falls asleep. He is engaged to his cousin Elizabeth who is his exact opposite. She is the only person he ever tries to please in the anime. It’s clear that he cares for her, even if she seems to annoy him most of the time.

Sebastian Michaelis: Sebastian is one hell of a butler, in every sense of the word. He does everything around the mansion, to make up for the servants incompetence, and everything for Ciel. He is bound to Ciel through the contract which means whatever Ciel orders him to do he must do without fail. While it appears that Sebastian cares only for Ciel’s soul, which he will devour once the contract is fulfilled, there’s always a little doubt in our minds as to if that’s really the case. In some instances it appears that Sebastian might actually care for Ciel rather than just his soul. But he’s a tricky demon, so you can’t be too sure. Sebastian’s one weakness seems to be cats. He is a cat person through and through and he just can’t help himself when he’s around them. This is more prominent, I think, in the manga, but they make it quite clear here as well. Sebastian is quite cool and suave at times. He can get information out of just about anyone and can decipher even the tiniest shift in emotion. He’s also found a new way of using silverware. And as always, he’s one hell of a butler.

Servants: The servants are useless. They really can’t do what they appear to be hired to do. In reality they were each hired for their special skills which are useful for protecting the mansion.

Bard (chef): Bard was in the army before he came to live in the mansion as the Phantomhive’s cook. He believes in cooking things fast and what’s faster than dynamite… or a flame thrower? He often blows up the kitchen, which I assume Sebastian repairs regularly. As far as I can tell, he probably can’t actually cook. However, he is an excellent shot and has a good eye for battle.

Finnian: Finny is the gardener of the Phantomhive estate. His super strength is often more than he can handle. He’s not very good at gardening and often times ends up killing the plants he’s supposed to be tending. However, Finny is adorable and has a huge regard for all life. He was kept in a dark place before he came to the mansion and used for medical experiments which led to his super human strength. Despite this sad background, Finny is always smiling. He’s the youngest of the group and the most sensitive. He’s also my favorite.

Mey-Rin: Mey-Rin is the only maid in the Phantomhive household. She’s extremely farsighted and wears huge glasses which were given to her by Ciel when she first arrived. She was chosen for her skill with guns of all sorts it seems. She’s an amazing shot without her glasses since she sees better far away. Mey-Rin is extremely ditzy at times and very clumsy, often breaking dishes and falling with fragile objects and using shoe polish instead of cleaning liquid. She’s also a huge pervert and rather prone to nosebleeds. Just being near Sebastian gets her excited.

Tanaka: Tanaka is the only servant who has been there longer than Sebastian. He is a remnant from the old mansion and has served the Phantomhive household for a very long time. Tanaka is the only competent servant but he has his faults. He comes in two forms, a little almost chibi type form in which he does nothing but drink Japanese tea and can say nothing but ‘hohoho’ and the ‘real Tanaka’ form in which he is a tall old man capable of speech and usually conveys some important information. Real Tanaka only comes out every so often because of a wound he received when the mansion was burned down.

Pluto: Pluto is a demon dog found only in the anime. He’s not really much of a character. He takes human form sometimes and other times he’s a huge silver dog that breaths fire. The angel uses him to set London on fire. But before that they find him in some crazy village and take him home so he won’t terrorize the village anymore. He’s extremely loyal to Sebastian, doing anything he says. He’s kind of friends with Finny mostly because Finny’s strong enough to play with him. Other than that there’s not much to him.

Outsiders

Lady Elizabeth: Elizabeth or Lizzy is Ciel’s fiancé. She is an adorable little girl who absolutely adores anything cute. She has a very light-hearted personality and is always trying to make Ciel smile. She misses the days before the incident when the mansion was full of laughter. She often times tries too hard which leads to her being slightly annoying. She is kind of a brat, but her heart is usually in the right place, so she is tolerable.

Madame Red: Madame Red is Ciel’s aunt on his mother’s side. She’s named after her red hair and clothes. She was in love with Ciel’s father, but could not hate her sister for marrying him. This makes Ciel very special to her, since he is the child of the two people she loved most. On top of that she lost her own unborn child along with her husband in a carriage accident and is unable to have children. This is what leads her to take on the persona of Jack the Ripper in the first major case we see Ciel take on. Despite secretly being a serial killer Madame Red is not a bad person. She is a doctor, she fawns over Ciel as much as he’ll let her and she tries to smile and laugh to hide the pain she feels inside.

Grell Sutcliffe: Grell is a very special Death God. He is disguised as Madame Red’s butler when we first meet him and a very poor butler at that. He is very clearly male but seems to labor under the delusion that he is female… I think. He’s rather in love with Sebastian, which they use to their advantage whenever necessary. Grell is flamboyant in every way possible. He wears all red, like his mistress, and has a thing for blood. He is, of course, a huge pervert and will go after any handsome man he finds.

Undertaker: This is one of my favorite characters. The Undertaker is Ciel’s go-to source for information on the dead, since any corpse found in London finds its way to him. But he doesn’t work for free. The Undertaker demands a good laugh for any information he might have. He’s a very bizarre character but that’s why we love him. He’s dark and amusing at the same time. He also happens to be a legendary Death God.

Prince Soma: Prince Soma is a prince from India who came to England in search of his ‘nanny’ Mina. He’s seventeen-years-old and he really only has two friends, Mina and Agni, his loyal servant. Mina was taken away by an Englishman when he wasn’t there so naturally he assumed she was kidnapped and has come to take her back with him. He’s a brat, really, and has a tendency to angst once it looks like even Agni has left him. He has a very childish attitude towards just about everything and for whatever reason, he really likes Ciel. Given, Ciel does help him out a lot, but he’s kind of surprisingly attached to him. At any rate, he’s not so bad once Sebastian and Ciel knock some sense into him.

Agni: Agni is Prince Soma’s most loyal servant and his only friend until they come to England. Soma saved him when he had reached the absolute bottom and was about to be hanged. Because of this, Agni warships him as his god and everything he does is for the good of Prince Soma, even when it looks like he’s betraying him. Agni’s right hand is called the “Right Hand of God’ and has some supernatural powers. He’s the only human who poses any challenge for Sebastian ever.

Queen Victoria: The Queen isn’t much of a character until the ending half of the series. She remains in the shadows either off screen or behind a black vale. She orders Ciel around and much like Sebastian he is completely loyal to her. So when it turns out she wants to ‘purify the unclean’ including him, he has a tough time turning against her. She really is rather mad, driven so by the grief of losing her husband Albert.

Ash/Angela: These characters are the same person, an angel, how plays the key role in the Queens plan for purification. In fact it is them behind it all along. They are an angel who feels humans cannot be saved. Angela appears in several places, ‘purifying’ people by ‘rewriting’ their pasts. She tries to do this to Ciel and fails. Ash is the Queen’s butler and her loyal servant… until he finds her to be unclean as well. Meh, it happens.

Supernatural: This confuses me greatly. We have demons, Death Gods and angels and they’re all flying around seemingly doing their own thing. Now I understand that demons eat souls. I understand that by forming a contract with a demon you promise your soul to them and I think by granting that wish the soul becomes tastier or something like that. Or maybe it’s just revenge that does that… I don’t know, either way that’s how the demons work. Death Gods collect souls and judge their lives by using their “Cinematic Record.” They collect the soul with their Death Scythe then review the record to determine if the soul will go to heaven or hell. They generally tend to be neutral in most matters. Angels are where it gets confusing. What are they doing? Where did they come from? Why are they there? I know Ash/Angela is running around trying to ‘purify souls’ though I have a hard time believing that’s what all angels are doing. It’s really just confusing when you throw them in there and don’t explain anything about them. I may have missed some minor explanation at some point but if it was that easy to miss, I think there should have been more.

Story: As is the case with most anime, the plot is developed slowly through a series of seemingly unrelated events. We are introduced to characters and concepts and given little bits of information all while watching Ciel and Sebastian fight crime, or something like that. No matter what he’s doing, however, Ciel always seems to have a personal reason for doing what he does. Sebastian follows his orders without question, even if he does it in somewhat unconventional ways. Most of the problems Ciel faces for the queen have something to do with the occult or have some supernatural element involved. The story is developed rather well over time, but the farther in we get, the more concentrated the story becomes and sometimes it can get a little tedious with the picked up pace. However, there is enough new information being thrown in and twisted with the old to keep it interesting until the end.

Finally: You wouldn’t think at the beginning of the series that in the end it would boil down to the classic angel and demon show off. Well it does and I have to say, it’s kind of a disappointment. Sebastian, known for his badassary and super fantastic amazing skills at everything is facing off against an unproven opponent who we don’t really know that much about. When he was facing Agni we at least get some idea of his strengths and see him use it before they face off. With his fight against the angel we see them fight a little but it’s nothing terribly impressive and we don’t really get the sense that he’s much of a challenge for Sebastian even when he’s kind of kicking his ass. And in the end, Sebastian takes him down without much trouble just by fighting in his true form, which we don’t get to see. I’m pleased that they at least left that a mystery for us.

The final stretch is actually a pretty good sum up of the entire series. They float down some river in a boat, Sebastian probably stole, and Ciel’s life moves under them. (It makes sense if you’ve seen the anime.) They talk briefly about the servants and what’s happened but in the end decide none of it really matters. Sebastian takes him to a special place, Ciel gives his final order and it’s heavily implied that Sebastian eats his soul. I’m rather pleased with this ending, even if the final battle was kind of lame. I would rather this be the end, than have it go on in Kuroshitsuji II, which I’ve already reviewed. It’s plausible but I like this ending better.

Wrap up: Kuroshitsuji is really better as a manga but the anime is pretty good as well. I do enjoy watching Sebastian kill people with silverware and the servants goof off and Grell hit on Sebastian. It’s not as well done as some of the other animes I’ve reviewed but it’s entertaining enough for me and that’s why it gets my number three spot.

 

Number Four: DN Angel

My History: DN Angel was another of my earlier anime favorites. I found it while looking at pictures of anime guys as I often would to amuse myself. This is actually probably the first anime that I watched in our new house. I found a picture of Dark and he somehow caught my interest. So I decided to look him up and magically I found his anime. I found myself slightly less addicted to it than I was Fruits Basket. Again I watched it first in English but I didn’t finish it at first for some reason. I finished it later and then borrowed it from my friend Maggie to watch in both English and Japanese. Dark sounds sooo much manlier in Japanese. I like both the dubbed and the subbed versions of DN Angel pretty equally. I’ve read the first volume of the manga and it didn’t really impress me very much.

Overview:  DN Angel is the story of young Daisuke Niwa who has just turned fourteen. For his birthday Daisuke  inherits the family ‘curse’ or what have you, of the legendary phantom thief, Dark Mousy or Kaitou Dark. Whenever poor Daisuke feels intense love he transforms into Dark. And since Dark is a phantom thief naturally they go out and steal stuff. But not just any stuff, art. Not just any art either, special art. Most of the art they steal is cursed in some way and needs to be sealed in order to keep it from causing harm to the people around it. Apparently the Niwa family has been doing this for generations, each boy gaining the curse when they turn fourteen. The curse is broken when the Niwa finds his ‘Sacred Maiden’ or ‘Holy Maiden,’ basically his true love. Once he gains her love in return the curse is broken and Dark goes dormant, waiting to be passed on to the next generation. We watch through this series as Daisuke learns to live with Dark sharing his body, balance his day life and his life as the phantom thief and try to control his feelings for a very *cough* special girl.

Characters:

Daisuke Niwa: Daisuke is an adorable fourteen-year-old junior high school student who is kind of awkward. He’s known for being clumsy and spacey but he’s extremely caring and always thinks of others first. He is really into art and is actually pretty talented in painting and drawing, which is odd for the Niwa family. Daisuke is easily flustered and tends to runaway when he gets too embarrassed. He’s also been training to be a phantom thief. He’s proficient at picking locks, cracking codes and sensing and dodging traps. Daisuke is unfathomably cute, but a little dense at times. As I said, he’s known for being a little spacey and it has a habit of getting him into trouble. He also appears to be weak willed to some characters because he’s constantly being pushed into things he would rather not do and being dragged around by his friends. In reality I think he would rather help them than put up a fight for what he wants. In this way he’s self sacrificing. He’s kind of hopelessly in love with Risa Harada whose picture he uses to turn into dark. This is his biggest flop, I feel as she totally doesn’t deserve him. Out of all his friends he probably lets her walk over him the most. She doesn’t lead him on or anything, I’ll give her that, but in his desperate love for her, I guess he can’t stand to let go of the idea of her one day loving him back, despite all her ‘let’s stay friends forever, Niwa!’s and ‘Niwa’s like a brother to me’s. *sigh* Poor Daisuke. At any rate he’s got a huge heart and it breaks every time they encounter tragedy in their work. If he can ease someone’s hurt, he will do so, no matter what the cost. This even applies to the boy who should be his enemy, Satoshi Hiwatari.

Dark: Dark Mousy or Kaitou Dark (or all three) is a legendary phantom art thief. He is closely linked to the Niwa family’s DNA for reasons we learn at the end of the series. When a male member of the Niwa family turns fourteen Dark comes out whenever said member feels intense feelings of love. This raises a few questions which I will address later. Dark is a suave, ladies-man. He is confident and smooth and pretty much everything Daisuke isn’t. He is supposedly bound by the same rules as Daisuke, whenever he feels intense love he changes back, but we don’t really see this in the anime. Dark was in love with the Harada sister’s grandmother Risa and she was in love with him. This explains why he fools around with the twin Risa because she reminds him of her grandmother. Dark has been around for a very long time and so is wise in the ways of magic, which apparently is German in Japan, and other things as well. He is also incredibly manly. His voice in the Japanese version is sooo manly it is squee worthy. He likes to flirt, harmlessly, and he loves teasing Daisuke from inside his head. Still he has a good heart and if given a choice, will generally choose the right thing.

Riku Harada: Riku is the older of the Harada twins and the tomboy of the two. She’s very athletic and outdoorsy and she enjoys doing things for herself. She’s strong and independent and generally more tolerable than her sister. Riku and Risa, I believe are supposed to be identical but they have different color hair; Riku has red and Risa has brown. I guess it’s not important I just always kind of wondered if they were actually identical, (they do tend to make a point of saying that they have the same face) or if they just look a lot alike because they are sisters. Anyway, Riku tends to be a lot less selfish, despite their rich background, and quite a bit less talkative. She tends to think her feelings through rather than blurt them out like Risa. She does love her sister very much but they do butt heads, as all sisters do. Riku feels the need to protect Risa more often than not, even from her love of the smooth phantom thief. Riku is, pretty much from the beginning, very much in love with Daisuke. She gets irritated easily by him, but her inner monologue against his coolness is obviously a cover. It does take the better part of the season for them to finally get together, of course as he’s in love with Risa most of the time. But the two of them are so well suited for each other it really is baffling how it takes them so long to figure it out. At any rate, I liked Riku better out of the two Harada sisters. She wasn’t a brat.

Risa Harada: To be completely honest, I didn’t like Risa very much, but she wasn’t as bad as I’ll probably make her out to be. The Harada family is rich and the parents are away a lot of the time. Risa seems more spoiled out of the two Harada sisters but it may also just be that she’s the more feminine of the two. She is very girly, into dresses and cute thing and tall dark men. She likes to use her feminine charms to get Daisuke and other boys to do things for her, especially Daisuke because he’s in love with her. She falls in love with Dark as soon as she sees him on TV in episode 1. This is reason I don’t like Risa number one. She just decides he’s the one of her. She’s never met him, he’s a dangerous art thief, and she knows next to nothing about him, but she’s in love with him anyway. Dark at least has a reason to flirt with her, one because it messes with Daisuke and two because she reminds him of her grandmother. But Risa, brat that she is, just gets it in her head somehow that she’s going to marry him. It wouldn’t be so bad, I guess if she were smart about it. But she’s not, of course. She’s a dumbass. She follows him around, putting herself and him in danger just to see him and calls these little excursions dates. She also has this tendency to talk and talk and talk and expects people to listen to everything she says without listening to caring about anything they might say in return. This is reason I don’t like Risa number two. She can be incredibly selfish and airheaded. Now I know I’ve made her out to be a great pain, and really, she is. But she does redeem herself by the end, at least a little. After Dark dumps her for being an idiot she somehow manages to grow up a little bit and realizes she’s been a selfish prick. She’s still kind of annoying but she’s not nearly as bad after she gets it figured out.

Satoshi Hiwatari (Hikari): Satoshi is one of my favorite characters. He’s the anti-hero of our story, Daisuke’s opposite in every way. He’s cool, calculating, and has a rather odd sense of humor. When I first watched DN Angel I definitely though Hiwatari was hitting on Daisuke in episode one. He’s just got that feel about him, that creeping stalker feel. It happens more than once that he and Daisuke will be seen together or will interact with each other in a way that makes them appear to be secret lovers. While Daisuke is always very quick to explain the situation for what it was, Hiwatari seems to enjoy letting people believe they might have something between them, even tossing fuel on the fire with snide little comments. The two are even paired as the lead roles in a romance play for their class’s cultural festival. However, Hiwatari holds something very dangerous inside him. Just as Daisuke holds Dark, Satoshi holds Krad (note the spelling), Dark’s light counterpart. This is one thing I really like about DN Angel. Dark is the darkness and he’s Chaotic Good, shall we say? Krad is the light, yet he is Chaotic Evil to the full extent. Anyway, Krad is not bound by the same rules as Dark. He just tries to come out whenever Dark is around or whenever he feels like it. I’m not sure if there’s an actual rule system attached to him but Hiwatari struggles a lot to keep Krad from coming out. In a lot of ways, Hiwatari is bitter because of the curse he and Daisuke must both endure. He wants to catch Dark but he also doesn’t want to hurt Daisuke and above all he wants to be himself. He also happens to be a super prodigy, graduating University at age 13. He’s back in junior high school as an attempt to be a normal boy while also managing his duties as the police commander. Yeah, he’s something special. He goes back and forth between pushing Daisuke away and trying to be his friend. We don’t learn anything about his parents in the anime but his adoptive father is a huge creepy douche bag who’s pretty much been using him since he was adopted. Hiwatari is never really an antagonist, and towards the end he starts helping Daisuke any way he can as his father begins to target Dark’s ‘tamer.’

Krad: He’s here because he has to be. Krad is Dark’s other half. He represents the light. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Krad is Dark backwards. Clever, no? Anyway, Krad is obsessed with destroying Dark and taking over Hiwatari’s body. He’s okay as far as villains go. Nothing terribly creative; he doesn’t even come out all that often. When he does, though, it’s usually a pretty good fight scene. There really isn’t a whole lot to him. He torments Satoshi and plots with his father to take over his body.

On the side:

Daiki Niwa: Daiki is Daisuke’s grandfather on his mother’s side and the last phantom thief. Since he was the last one to carry Dark he knows best what Daisuke is going through and is usually the most help. He knows the magic and the tricks and knows when to worry and when to relax. He’s also rather amusing as he is an old man and is prone to elderly antics. We get to see him in several episodes during his days as the Phantom thief. While Daisuke usually runs around as Dark, we always see Daiki as himself doing the stealing and so on. We see him as a fourteen-year-old, bringing smiles to the face of a sick little girl, and we see him at an older age making a deal with a desperate musician. This is going to sound rather strange, but Daiki is one of my favorite anime guys. As a young man he was very attractive and extremely cool. I’m sure he made all the girls swoon.

Emiko and Kosuke Niwa: Emiko and Kosuke have the cutest story which we learn about in episode six. This also happens to be my favorite episode. Emiko was an only child. Her mother died shortly after she was born and she was raised on the stories of Phantom Thief Dark. Since Dark only appears in boys she wanted to carry on his name in her own way, by giving birth to a son. Because of this, however, she had a hard time dating as she demanded of every boy who asked her out that they have a son once they were married. As you can imagine, this scared all of them away, except Kosuke. Kosuke gave her a white ribbon without a name for Whites day one year. The next year while he was trying to get up the nerve to give her the ribbon in person she nearly fainted in front of a trolley and he saved her. The incredibly romantic white ribbon aside, the reason Emiko fell in love with Kosuke was because he was the first to actually take an interest in her. He was the only one ever to ask her why she was so insistent on having a boy. I’m quite in love with their love story. Emiko is your typical mom. She loves to shop, she’s very light hearted and easy going most of the time, and she would do anything to protect her son. Kosuke is a little more mysterious. He doesn’t show up for real until episode twelve when he suddenly comes home after wandering for twelve years. Why was he wondering? I’m not really sure. I know he was studying art, specifically the Hikari’s art, and the magic connected with it, but why he left is still a mystery. Maybe I missed it. Anyway he came back with because he heard Daisuke would steal a very special ring,  (I can’t remember its name in Japanese), that brought out special powers in people and some other fancy stuff. Kosuke gives Daisuke one in order to protect him from harm as Dark fights with magic. In protecting him, Kosuke takes the damage on his own body. He feels this is all he can do for his son. Kosuke is a lot like Daisuke in his awkwardness and lovable charm. He’s very much in love with Emiko and isn’t shy about saying so, though he does blush when she loves on him.

With: With is Dark’s familiar. He resembles a rabbit with his long floppy ears, however, his tail is longer and his body is built a bit differently. When summoned he becomes Dark’s black wings. He can also transform to take the shape of a person, but he very rarely does this. With is adorable and a little troublesome. He’s like a little kid, wanting to get into things he shouldn’t. He loves strawberries and going out with Daisuke, who he sees more as a big brother than his master.

Mio Hio: Yeah, that’s really her name. Mio is a foreign transfer student who comes to Daisuke’s school in episode 14 and falls madly in love with him. She is constantly pushing herself on him and confessing her love for him. This is in conflict with the fact that Daisuke’s best friend is in love with her. Anyway, she really only wants to put a key pendant around his neck that matches the heart pendant around hers which will steal his life and give it to her. These are the conditions under which she lives. She has to steal Daisuke’s life in order to continue living. She’s not actually a malicious character, though, she’s being used by Hiwatari’s father to get Daisuke out of the way. She does, however, really like him, if only as a friend, and struggles a lot with her job. In general Mio is kind of a weird character. She’s very obnoxious when she’s in character and seems rather high strung.

Story: So to sum up what you know, the Niwa family is cursed. Dark is a phantom thief, and Daisuke is his ‘tamer’ as they call it him in Japanese. As with most animes of this length we mostly watch Daisuke and Dark go around stealing and sealing pieces of art. What’s this? You don’t know about the art? Well here we go then.

Art: The art works that Dark steals are more than just paintings, statues and crafts. Each piece has something magical or supernatural about it. Some pieces are cursed in one way or another. Others were given life somehow by their artist, as is usually the case with the Hikari’s work. The Hikari family was a family of unbelievably talented artist, much like the Niwa family was a family of incredibly famous art thieves. The point is, however that in order for a piece of art to be stolen by Dark it must contain something special. Most of these art pieces are malicious, some are just wild, and others are peaceful. Usually they steal pieces that have awoken and are causing some sort of danger for the people around them. So, more often than not, Dark is fighting art, rather than fighting Krad. Once they’ve secured the art piece, the Niwa family seals it once more and keeps it safe in their basement.

Our plot isn’t really about the art, however. It’s about Daisuke and his pursuit of Risa Harada.  As I’ve expressed already, I didn’t like Risa much. Risa is in love with Dark which is painful for Daisuke since she won’t shut up about him, acting like he’s her boyfriend or something. It doesn’t help that Dark loves to tease him about it as well. For the most part, our attention is focused on the romantic aspects of the story, with interjections of action, magic and mystery along the way. But really, there’s a lot of build up to the final conflict with Krad as well. Even after Daisuke finally figures out that it’s Riku he likes and not Risa, we’re still fairly interested in how his love life is progressing while he’s fighting Krad. It’s a really well done duel plot line. They mesh really well together.

Music: One thing I really loved about DN Angel was its music. The opening song, ‘True Light’ is one of my favorites in both English and Japanese. DN Angel is also not one of those animes that uses the same songs over and over for every dramatic point. It does have the classic mood setting music to let us know what’s going on, but for truly intense or emotional moments we usually get a new song. They all fit really well with the scene, too, flowing with the action or dialogue.

The Curse: As far as curses go, it’s a fairly creative one. It affects not one family but two. It has some interesting guidelines and it takes the form of a man who is also affected by the curse. This is my question, though. What happens if there is more than one Niwa boy fourteen or older who has yet to find his ‘Holy Maiden?’ Can anyone answer that? Is it somewhere in the curse that there can only be one Niwa boy at a time? Maybe part of the curse is only childom?  Or can he only be in one boy at once? Does that mean he skips the younger boy if he’s past fourteen when the first boy finds his ‘Holy Maiden?’ I’m probably way over thinking this, but it does make me wonder.

Ending: It is at the end that we finally find out how exactly Krad and Dark came to be. The Hikari family, in their pride, wanted to make a living artwork. The Niwa family, in their pride, wanted to steal it. The problem was, the Niwa family burst in on the ritual the Hikari family was doing to give the art piece life. The work was called ‘The Black Wings’ and it was split in two, dark and light, Dark and Krad. I’m not sure how exactly the curse manifested itself, but that’s how they were created. Now Krad wants to awaken The Black Wings in order to destroy Dark and keep Hiwatari’s body for himself. During the final battle, while Dark and Krad are fighting Daisuke and Satoshi find themselves in the same place. Hiwatari is used to this place since he goes there every time Krad takes over his body. He is trying to destroy his body from the inside in order to break the Hikari’s curse and kill Krad once and for all. Daisuke, however, is not about to let him do this. He still sees Hiwatari as a friend and there’s no way he’s letting his friend kill himself. Meanwhile, Dark is trying to seal The Black Wings once more by driving Krad back into it. He knows this will mean sealing himself as well, but he is willing to make that sacrifice. After the seal is broken while the two are in there, Dark is able to defeat Krad and Daisuke and Satoshi are freed.

What does this mean? I’m not entirely sure. I know that all this happened with Daiki forty years ago, to a much lesser extent. I know that Dark and Daisuke say a sort of good bye before the battle ends and I know that Daisuke and Riku are definitely together by the end. There’s even a small hint that Satoshi and Risa may hook up… if you read that much into subtle glances. But if Dark and Krad were sealed for good, or if Dark will be back when Daisuke’s son turns fourteen, I don’t know. But I think I’m okay with that. It can be taken either way.

Wrap Up: So this is DN Angel. Some feel that there is more that could have been done with it. I personally am happy with what we get, though I wouldn’t mind seeing more. I love the characters, I love the music and I love the premise… Though mostly I love the characters. It is because of them that DN Angel gets my number four spot.

 

Number 5: Fruits Basket

My History: I discovered Fruits Basket through an anime test thing of some sort. I don’t really remember what it was or what it was supposed to do but I kept getting Fruits Basket as a result so I decided to check it out. This was in my freshmen year of high school when I was just barely getting into anime, so I had no idea what it was. I was hooked fairly quickly though and I spent the next twenty-four hours watching as much of it as I could, even staying up until two or three in the morning, which I never did as a freshmen, just to watch one more episode. I watched it in English because… well I was a noob. What else can I say? My best friend of course watched it in Japanese, smart girl, and liked it a lot better. So I’ve watched it in Japanese as well and surprisingly the dub is really good as far as dubs go. But I think I like the Japanese better. I did briefly read the manga. I may have gotten up to something like volume 6 but out of twenty some that’s not incredibly impressive. Fruits Basket is one of those stories that transcend the anime/manga barrier well, though so I do recommend the manga as well.

Overview: Fruits Basket is the story of Tohru Honda a high school girl who has recently lost her mother. While living in a tent she discovers the home of Shigure Sohma and his cousin Yuki who is in her class. Through an unfortunate landslide incident and a fever Tohru is brought into the Sohma’s home as a guest/maid/cook. However, the Sohma’s are something more than what they seem and Tohru soon discovers that they are cursed with the animals from the Chinese Zodiac. (It’s Kyo’s fault really.) This is a family secret that she must keep in order to keep living with them. Through the next twenty five episodes we learn about the curse and how it affects each of its hosts. Tohru, being the kind hearted ditz she is, helps all of them in one way or another, usually without realizing it.

Characters:

Tohru Honda: Tohru is ditzy, clumsy and kind of a space case, however, she has the kindest heart and always worries about those around her before herself. She lost her mother in a car accident a few months before our story begins and since her father died when she was younger she was staying with her grandfather on her father’s side. However since her aunt’s family decided to move in with her grandfather she had to stay somewhere else while renovations were being made. Since she simply couldn’t bear to push herself on her friends Hana who has a big family and Uosa who lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment, she decides the obvious choice is to live in a tent in the middle of the woods. Did I mention she’s not very bright? On her way to school one day she discovers Shigure’s house and when her tent is buried in a landslide the Sohmas take her in under the pretense that they need a maid and a cook. Most of Tohru’s wisdom comes from her mother. She seems to remember everything her mother ever told her and when someone’s having trouble with something, feeling sad or whatnot she’ll bring out one of her mother’s sayings. Even though she’s struggled a lot she’s still incredibly grateful for what she has and counts herself extremely lucky. I feel the reason Tohru is so lovable is because even though she’s this incredible person who seems to always know the right thing to say, she has no idea. She’s got no clue the kind of affect she has on the people around her. She just tries her best to make everyone happy. When she was young her mother told her the story of the Zodiac and the Cat which deeply moved her to the point of deciding she would no longer be a dog, but a cat instead.

Yuki Sohma: Yuki is cursed with the vengeful spirit of the mouse. This means whenever he’s hugged by a girl he turns into a mouse. Yuki is the ‘prince’ of the high school. All the Sohma men are incredibly pretty, BTW. He’s generally quiet, sounds like a girl, and keeps to himself. Because of the curse he has to reject any girls who might try to get close to him, giving him a reputation for being cold, or something. He does have trouble relating to people, though he longs to interact with them like normal people do and be accepted by them. There’s a scene in which he tells a girl who has asked him out that he’s not looking for a relationship, so no. This girl pretty much says, “No! You can’t say no!” and flings herself at him. When he stops her from embracing him she tells him he’s cold and cruel or something. I dislike this scene. He doesn’t like you random high school girl! Get over it! It doesn’t make him heartless because he won’t accept your forced love! Anyway, Yuki, since those born in the year of the mouse are apparently super gifted, is good at pretty much everything he tries. Not that he’s perfect or anything, he has his flaws and weaknesses, for example, he can’t cook to save his life, but he’s smart and athletic, and apparently has a rather green thumb. His main motivation for most of his actions is to please people. He does things he doesn’t want to because he thinks it will gain him acceptance and love from his peers. This is kind of a weird motivation considering he’s very popular and even has his own fan club. It’s made up of crazy high school girls, but hey, you take what you can get. Through Tohru’s influence he learns to open up to people and let them make a connection with him. He’s also sort of a love interest for Tohru but I think I’ll go into detail about that later.

Kyo Sohma: Kyo is curse with the spirit of the cat. What? You didn’t know there was a cat in the Zodiac? Well there’s not. The story goes that God held a banquet and invited all the animals, telling them not to be late. The mouse, tricky bastard that he is, told the cat it was one day later and then arrived first at the banquet, riding on the cow. Thus the cat slept through the banquet and didn’t get to be part of the Zodiac. So, naturally there’s some pretty bad blood between Kyo and Yuki. Kyo has a fiery temper that often sparks up at the smallest of irritations. He’s violent, always breaking Shigure’s house and trying to fight Yuki. Kyo’s greatest desire is to be accepted into the Sohma family. I’m not sure why since they’ve completely rejected him, even rubbing in the fact that he’s not one of them by excluding him from the New Year’s banquet they hold for all of the Zodiac members. Anyway, he seems to think if he defeats Yuki in combat this will open the gates for him to be accepted into the Zodiac. The problem is, even though he’s actually a pretty good martial artist and has been training since he was little, Yuki has more natural talent and always beats him without even really trying. This doesn’t dissuade him in the least, however, and he’s quite determined to win… eventually. Kyo doesn’t socialize well, maybe because he spent the last four months training in the mountains, but since he’s a Sohma he’s really pretty and somehow he attracts people to him, even if he can’t handle them. While people turn to Yuki with more respect and admiration, they turn to Kyo as a friend and companion. Because of this he envies Yuki and Yuki envies him. Tohru’s influence on him is mostly in his temper. He learns to think before spewing angriness all over the place. He also calms a little bit around Yuki, pretty much just for her.

Other Sohmas

Shigure Sohma: Shigure is cursed with the spirit of the dog. He’s a novelist who enjoys making jokes and teasing people, especially his editor. He’s also a pervert, but who isn’t in Japan? He’s incredibly fond of Tohru, but he’s probably the only one who is barely effected by her. He doesn’t change at all throughout the season, being the same adult figure for the three teens in his house and yet somehow coming off sometimes more childish than them. He’s pretty much just a big kid inside, but he does have some sage advice to give every so often as well as some insight into the Sohma world. There really isn’t a whole lot to Shigure. He’s a childish perverted novelist whose pretty much just there supervise. Still, he’s a very lovable character and he does have a lot of good moments. He cares a lot for his family and for Tohru even though he likes to tease her about being  his little wife.

Hatori Sohma: Hatori is one of my favorite Sohmas and maybe the saddest. While the others have their share of misfortunes, usually it’s all they’ve known. They didn’t get much of a chance for happiness, just these scars handed out by Akito the head of the Sohma family. Hatori is possessed by the spirit of the dragon, (portrayed as a sea horse in the anime since the Japanese believed that sea horses, or sea dragons, were baby dragons… or something). He’s a doctor mostly for Akito whose health is very poor. He is also responsible for erasing the memories of those who find out about the Sohma curse. I’m not sure if he’s trained to do this, since it’s through hypnosis of some kind, or if it’s a special dragon spirit thing. Either way, it’s up to Hatori to do what needs to be done. Hatori once had an assistant named Kana Sohma whom he fell in love with. Unlike a lot of his cousins he got that sweet taste of happiness, which makes his curse that much more tragic. Because Akito is head of the family his word is final. When Hatori wanted to marry Kana he had to get Akito’s approval, which he was denied. On top of that Akito went into a rage and smashed a vase over Hatori’s head, nearly blinding him in his left eye. Kana blamed herself for this and became incredibly depressed. Because he couldn’t stand seeing her suffer, Hatori decided to erase her memories of the time they were together, leaving him to bare the pain all alone. Hatori’s episode makes me cry every time. He describes Kana as ‘his spring’ in the winter of the Sohma house. During the Anime Kana actually gets married to another man. Hatori is always cool and collected. He never shows nearly any emotion, only barely smiling when he does smile. He’s very serious and closed off, but when he was with Kana, we could clearly see that he was happy. Tohru helps him find some of that happiness, I think. She reminds him of Kana a lot. She seems to understand his sorrow even if he doesn’t show it and even though he tries to scare her away to save both her and the boys the same pain he experienced, she sees it as a kindness and weeps that he would be so kind to her. I love Hatori because of his subtle emotions and his quiet change. It’s not really obvious the affect Tohru has on him, it’s just kind of a quiet acceptance of her and maybe a peace with what’s happened. He’s the same age as Shigure and they grew up together along with Yuki’s brother Ayame.

Ayame Sohma: Ayame is Yuki’s older brother and his exact and polar opposite. His is the spirit of the snake and the first time we see him Yuki is demanding that Shigure skin and burn him. Yeah, they don’t get along well. Ayame is very flamboyant and dramatic. He has a lot of confidence in himself that overflows and spews all over everyone around him. He longs to make a connection with his younger brother. When Yuki was little he reached out to Ayame but as a high school student, Ayame was indifferent to his younger brother and treated him as nothing. In Ayame’s mind, this is how Yuki is treating him now and it scares him. Of course, his attempts to bring himself and Yuki together fail miserably because they’re personalities clash so violently. Still, Yuki doesn’t hate Ayame as much as he appears to, but rather is confused by his brother and struggles to understand him. Ayame may be the most amusing character in the entire anime. He’s always over the top about pretty much everything. I was really surprised by his voice in the Japanese version since it’s a rather deep and manly voice. Ayame owns a store that sells costumes for cross dressers and other things. Yeah, he’s special.

Ritsu Sohma: Ritsu is the spirit of the Monkey. He is male, but he dresses and kind of sounds like a woman. We meet his mother at the hot spring she runs when Tohru and friends visit it for Whites Day. She’s a creepy woman who very dramatically apologizes for every little thing. Ritsu inherited this trait. He’s gotten the idea that he’s a failure as a person and his existence is a waste of space because his parents were always apologizing for him. He’s a very shy and timid person, not wanting to offend anyone. We only see one episode of him in which he seeks Tohru out because of her reputation for helping those with the Zodiac curse. She helps him discover a reason to go on living and to do his best. Ritsu wishes to be a stronger, bolder person. He idolizes Ayame for his incredible confidence.

Kagura Sohma: There are only three girls with the Zodiac curse. Out of the two we meet Kagura is the first. She has the spirit of the boar, and it kind of shows.  She appears timid and quiet at first, but as soon as she becomes happy, angry, sad or passionate in general about anything she becomes really violent and loud. She’s desperately in love with Kyo, for reasons we’re almost told, but not really. Kyo does not return Kagura’s feelings, or so it seems. Keep in mind he’s also a love interest for Tohru. Because of this Kagura sees Tohru as a rival for Kyo’s heart even though Tohru is far too spacey to realize there’s a reason for this. She just wants to be Kagura’s friend and admires her ability to find so many good qualities in a person and idolizes her incredible passion for Kyo. I’m not really fond of Kagura for her violent mood swings and the way she’s always pushing herself on Kyo even though he’s always telling her that he doesn’t like her that way. It may be worse because since she’s also cursed she can hug him all she wants without transforming.

Momiji Sohma: Momiji is the ever adorable rabbit spirit of the Sohma family. His story is one of the sadder ones and also makes me cry every time. Momiji’s mother is German, which you don’t learn in the anime, but it’s true. When he was born and she held him for the first time and he turned into a bunny, she didn’t take it well. According to Momiji the mothers of those cursed with the Zodiac animals are either over protective to the extreme or they completely reject their children. Momiji’s mother rejected him, becoming ill and depressed with disgust that she gave birth to him. So his father had her memories of Momiji erased, promising to love him enough for both of them. Momiji allowed this for his mother’s sake. He’s a lot like Tohru in that even though he carries this great sadness with him he is always smiling and cheerful. He’s very childish, acting more like an elementary school student than a sixteen-year-old middle school senior. He has a very bubbly carefree personality. He tries his best to see the good in everything and holds on tight to the good things. Despite his childishness he can be very profound at times and see things others may have missed behind a smiling guise. Momiji is one of my favorite characters. He and Tohru become rather close though she doesn’t have the same influence over him as she does with the others. They seem to have more of a kindred spirit thing going on.

Hatsuharu Sohma: Hatsuharu or Haru was another of my favorites, though I’m not entirely sure why. He doesn’t do much. He’s not a terribly tragic or interesting character. He’s the cow spirit, of all things, too. He’s kind of bazaar to be honest, but I think the reason I liked him so much is that he’s just… cool. He’s a cool character. That’s his thing. He’s got the trench coat, muscle shirt, multiple ear piercings, bad boy feel to him. He has a cool personality, most of the time, and he’s kind of soft spoken and calm. However, if you get him angry or annoyed, his other personality comes out. This side of him is known as “Black Haru” and he’s a violet, profane, obnoxious fellow. Haru developed his duel personality when he was younger. He was a violent child due to the fact that he felt like everyone was laughing at him as the cow spirit. Apparently people would laugh and make jokes, calling the cow stupid for allowing the mouse to ride on his back like that. He used to really hate Yuki because of this despite having never met him face to face. When they did finally meet Yuki won him over with two questions and an “okay.” How? Not sure, but that’s how it happened. Since then he’s been… in love with Yuki? I danno he acts kind of like it and he repeatedly says that Yuki is very special to him. Tohru’s affect on him is through her influence on Kyo and Yuki’s relationship. The changes she’s inspired in Yuki make Haru happy and thus she’s made him happy.

Kisa Sohma: Kisa is the most adorable of all the Zodiac characters. She has the tiger spirit, she’s somewhere between twelve and fourteen and she is the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen ever! When we first meet Kisa she’s in tiger form being carried by our super cool Haru through the rain. She had run away from home and transformed from weakness, as those with the curse do. Kisa was bullied in her class because of her hair and eyes. All of the Zodiac members have hair that reflects their animal. In America this would be no big deal but since they’re in Japan and everyone has black hair it’s considered very strange. Some, like Haru are even considered delinquents because no one believes their hair is naturally that color. Anyway, Kisa’s classmates started ignoring her completely and giggling when she tried to speak. So, Kisa stopped talking all together. She doesn’t take to Tohru right away since she’s very depressed in Tiger form and tends to bite people. Her mother is at her wits end with her, worrying constantly about her daughter who won’t talk and seems to just be causing trouble now. Tohru explains to her that Kisa was afraid to tell her that she was being bullied because she didn’t want it to affect the way her mother treated her or felt about her. She felt it was better to keep it all inside. Her magical Tohru way of understanding people brings Kisa out of her tiger form and earns her a follower. Kisa spends the next few days following Tohru everywhere and I mean everywhere. Still it’s not Tohru but Yuki who gets her to finally speak. Yuki seems to have picked up on Tohru’s talent and when Kisa gets a letter from her homeroom teacher asking her to come back and to learn to like herself or something like that he forms his own theory. He knows that it’s because of Tohru’s unconditional acceptance of him that helped him to open and begin to like himself. So he projects that on Kisa, telling her no matter what he loves her and so do the others. This finally gets her to use her voice and what a cute little voice it is. >///< Kisa is small and sweet and timid and adorable. She has a little soft, airy voice that fits her perfectly. She’s completely in love with Tohru and refers to her as Onee-san, which means sister. She’s a rather brave little girl, deciding to face her classmates once more instead of letting them ruin her.

Hiro Sohma: Hiro is kind of special to me because he is the sheep and that’s the year I was born. (I find it kind of funny, personally, that out of my siblings my year is the only one represented in the anime.) Hiro is a brat. He’s the only one of the zodiac members that doesn’t like Tohru and here’s why. He’s in love with Kisa and Kisa is in love with Tohru. Not literally of course, but she loves spending time with her and this makes Hiro jealous. Initially he’s very cruel to Tohru, stealing her notebook and saying awful things about her and to her. He changes his tune when Kisa comes, becoming ashamed and angry that she would turn to Tohru when she was being bullied even though he was really worried about her too. Hiro’s story is a little like Hatori’s but less tragic, I think. He’s in love with Kisa and wanted everyone to know it, even Akito, which was his first mistake. No one gets to be happy once Akito knows. So Akito started abusing Kisa because of Hiro’s love and so Hiro disconnected from her all together in order to protect her. It tore him up inside to see her being bullied and not being able to do anything about it. I think that’s why he sought out Tohru, not just because Kisa thought so much of her, but because he’d heard that she could solve any problem for anyone. While she doesn’t solve his problem, I think, she does give him new hope that things will work out alright. She calls him a prince for Kisa because of his concern for her and his desire to protect her. He decides he’s not a prince yet, but someday he will be, and he’ll work hard to become the perfect prince for her. He’s still a brat, though. Not much you can do about that. While he is very caring he’s very rebellious and likes to push buttons wherever he can.

Akito Sohma: As I’ve said, Akito is the head of the Sohma family. While he is not possessed by any Zodiac spirits he is connected to the curse in a very strong way. I hesitate to say he’s an anchor for the curse but that’s kind of how it seems. He’s the center of it, taking the full force of all the angry spirits and because of this, he’s doomed to die at a young age. He’s extremely bitter about this and thus decides he’s going to make everyone around him just as miserable as he is. He’s physically and emotionally scarred most of the zodiac members and does his best to cause harm wherever he can. He’s a very cold person, pretty much just for himself. Tohru sees through him, though, as she does everyone. She knows that he’s suffered because of the curse more than anyone and he’s afraid to die so young. But she assures him that everyone would be sad when he dies even if he thinks everyone is just waiting for him to die. He can’t seem to comprehend how Tohru can be so kind even after he’s been trying to make her suffer.

Friends~

Arisa Uotani: Arisa doesn’t so much, actually. She’s one of Tohru’s best friends and her official protector. Arisa was used to be in a gang and is often referred to as a “yankee” which I guess is the Japanese version of a thug. She was in pretty deep before Tohru’s mother Kyoko pulled her out. Because of this, she feels very protective of Tohru as she owes it to Kyoko to take care of her. Arisa is tall, tough and has a tendency to carry an iron pipe with her. She often butts heads with Kyo since their personalities are rather similar.

Saki Hanajima: Hana is Tohru’s other best friend. She has a dark sort of aura and is a psychic of sorts. She can sense and read electric waves. What all this entails I’m not quite sure but it comes in handy when reading emotions, finding Tohru and discovering plans. Where Arisa is Tohru’s official protector Hana actually does her more good from behind the scenes. It’s Hana who intervenes when the Sohma boys are on the edge of leaving her alone for New Years and tips them to the other side. She’s kind of Tohru’s voice when she’s too polite or shy to speak for herself. Since she doesn’t want to cause anyone any trouble ever this is rather often. It’s also Hana who usually protects Tohru from the Prince Yuki Fan Club who see her as a threat to Yuki’s happiness… Yeah, I mentioned they’re crazy, right? Anyway, we’re not sure why Hana feels so strongly about protecting Tohru and her happiness. But she’s very passionate about it and does everything, even putting herself in pain to do so. We see this most at the end of the series when she pretty much gives up Tohru by making her go back to the Sohma’s home after Akito has scared her away. She knows this will hurt both her and Tohru and it would be easier just to comfort her friend and help her move on. But that’s not what’s best for her, and it’s not what will make her happiest. Hana makes a lot of sacrifices for Tohru and is less accepting of her situation with the Sohmas because of her fear of losing her. Hana has a very cool personality, and tends to keep her emotions inside. It’s rather hard to read her as her preference for things seems to be extremely mismatched. For instance she’s not athletic but she’s rather competitive. She likes to read but she’s not very academic. She’s kind of an odd collogue of traits, and I’m rather fond of her.

Romance: Fruits Basket has a weird set of romantic interests. There are several side romances, Hatori’s tragedy, Hiro and Kisa’s forbidden love, Kagura and Kyo’s… thing. But I think the strangest of the romances is that between Tohru, Kyo and Yuki, or rather, the lack of romance? I don’t know. There’s not really a set romance between any of them. It’s very clear that Yuki and Kyo both like Tohru a great deal. Yuki gives Tohru a present on Whites Day, he’s always telling her how amazing she is and doing things special for her. Kyo is a lot less outward with his feelings, giving her backhanded compliments or awkward expressions of some fondness. He lets her call him by his familiar name, Kyo-kun rather than using the formal –san. He encourages her to get mad at him and express her feelings and even holds his temper as much as he can when he’s around her. He opens up to her more than he does anyone else. It’s also fairly obvious that Tohru really likes both Yuki and Kyo. So here’s the problem. Who should she be with? This is something I’ve been pondering since the first time I saw it. My friend Meghan always votes for Kyo because he was her favorite and, as you all know, I do have a thing for angst pots. However, I know that he’s best for Tohru or Tohru is best for him. She and Yuki have a special connection just like she has with Kyo but Kyo has Kagura to fall back on if he can’t have Tohru and Yuki has no one. So does that mean she should go with Yuki by default? They do have a date towards the end of the series. Does that somehow make them canon? In some ways I do want her to end up with Kyo because he’s so cute, and he’s had it a lot harder than the other Zodiac members. But on the other hand Yuki may deserve her more. It seems he’s cared for her longer and his feelings for her are much clearer.

Story: There isn’t really a whole lot of consistent plot to Fruits Basket. Tohru meets all the zodiac members and learns about them, helping them however she can. On the way we learn more about Tohru as well and through her her mother Kyoko. There are maybe one or two chain episodes that are closely connected with each other but other than the final three we don’t get many multi-parters. It’s kind of like building a puzzle. Each unrelated episode gives us a little piece of the Sohma’s world to add to our collection until we have a fairly good idea what it’s been like to live in the Sohma house. By the end we still don’t fully understand what goes on there, what the curse really is, why it’s there or why they’ve been chosen, but it’s okay. If we knew everything I don’t think I’d be quite as happy with the ending.

Ending: So they’ve been hinting at something else going on with Kyo since about episode three. We’re reminded of this when Kyo’s master and adopted father comes back from the mountains where he’d been training. Apparently the beads Kyo has always been wearing since episode one and beyond were really keeping contained the vengeful cat spirit’s other form. For his own good, and on Akito’s orders, Kyo’s master removes the beads, revealing his other form to Tohru. Akito hopes this will scare her away and traumatize her to the point where she wishes she’d never become involved with the Sohmas. This only partially works. While she is frightened she feels guiltier for not understanding the curse than anything and is convinced she had no right putting herself in their lives and making things more complicated for them. While it might seem like Kyo’s master is some form of douche bag for doing this to his adopted son, he’s got good intentions. He knows that Kyo will never be able to live a truly happy life until he accepts his other form. And in order for that to happen, he needs someone else to accept him first. Thus he puts his trust in Tohru that she’ll be able to pull him through this.

This part of the ending seems kind of out of the blue, but it makes sense, I think. We’ve been getting little hints at Kyo’s other form from early on, though they are few and far between. We’ve also heard a little about his master and how much admiration he has for him. Kyo respects his master, but even though he’s been like a father to him, I don’t know that Kyo ever truly accepted him as his father. Maybe he felt he wasn’t worthy to be his son, maybe he was too afraid to let someone get that close. We don’t know what happened to Kyo’s real father only that his mother died when he was little and no one other than his master wanted to take in the Cat. At any rate, this is Tohru’s true test. So far she’s been incredibly accepting even excited about the zodiac members. She’s done everything she can to help them and understand what they’re going through. This is something far beyond anything she could have imagined. She’s genuinely frightened of Kyo’s other form but because she’s Tohru, she has the ability to bring him back. Even though she’s scared to death, she still wants to continue living with Kyo and Yuki more than anything. And it’s this honest acceptance that brings Kyo out of his monstrous form. Even his own mother had not been willing to accept him in that form, though she lied constantly pretending it didn’t matter to her, he could tell that it scared her and she wouldn’t admit it. Kagura understands his other form better than Tohru but as she explains, she already knows about it and has accepted it. She doesn’t care what he looks like, she loves him regardless. This isn’t what Kyo needs. He needs Tohru who he’s hidden this form from for a year and whom he cares for deeply to accept him as he is.

The second part is what we’ve all been waiting for, Tohru’s confrontation with Akito. Tohru has encountered the head of the Sohma family twice, once in the forest while searching for Kyo and once at the school at the start of her second high school year. This final encounter isn’t really anything special. In fact, it’s kind of predictable. We know Akito has a temper and is probably going to try and hurt Tohru. We know Tohru won’t fight back because that’s how she is and she will understand somehow what Akito has been feeling and try to reassure him. This is exactly what happens. The real suspense is in what we know could happen. The stakes here are Tohru’s memories. Will Akito order them erased? And Will Hatori erase them if he’s ordered to? Well, as she often does, Tohru succeeds in touching something inside Akito and is allowed to continue living with the Sohmas. That’s pretty much it.

Wrap Up: So this is Fruits Basket. It’s ridiculous, obnoxious, depressing, touching and hilarious, and I love it very much. Even after four years I still enjoy watching it just as much as I did the first time. It’s definitely a girl’s anime without all the overly romantic crap. This is why it gets my number five spot.