Rin has got to be the most adorable girl to appear in this season’s new anime series. Shes one of those rare few characters that you can easily fall in love with at first sight.

The art style and animation will strike you as odd at first, but luckily it’s easy to adjust to it. It has that same watercolor feel like Valkyria Chronicles, although the lines are not as solid. That’s not to say that the artwork in Usagi Drop is inferior – in fact you’ll grow to love it after a while.

It’s been a while since a good slice of life series caught my attention so check it out if you’re a fan of the genre.

The pacing is slow as you would expect from most slice of life. I’ve heard that Usagi Drop is a comedy-drama, but so far its leaning more towards being touching than funny.

“Okawari!”

While Usagi Drop is already doing really well, it would be even better if the comedy part starts coming in to give the series that extra shine.

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Despite it’s bright and happy looking poster, Kami-sama Dolls might actually be darker than it looks. Just a few minutes into the first episode and the main character finds a bloody corpse in the elevator. If that wasn’t hint enough, it seems that while he was surprised to see a dead body suddenly appear before him, he was rather calm about it.

There seems to be a greater, darker secret that’s spinning the plot wheel from behind the scenes, one that has been set in motion long ago. The prologue suggested that something was triggered by the main character Kyohei, his sister and Aki that caused massive destruction. Kyohei and Aki also seems to have a bloody past, where Aki massacred the villagers and Kyohei tried to stop him.

It would be interesting to watch the story unfold and why past events are suddenly affecting the present. Aki doesn’t appear to be out for revenge despite his aggressive behavior towards Kyohei. There is definitely something else that is either happening, or will happen soon.

If you’re in the mood for a potentially dark and bloody anime that’s not too serious (at least not yet), Kami-sama Dolls might be just the one for this season.

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Kami-sama no Memo-chou is also one of the series I had been looking forward to the most this Summer Anime 2011 season.

Was pleasantly surprised when the first episode was actually given a 1 hour time slot, and the next episode is coming out tomorrow, so hurray!

The story is basically about loli NEET detective, Alice, who spends all her time locked in her room solving mysteries and perhaps crimes. She is a charismatic enigma, gathering NEET followers and even respect from the local yakuza but at the same time full of mysteries herself.

Alice is in many ways similar to GOSICK’s Victorique (which is another awesome series btw) but set in modern day Japan and makes full use of the Internet to gather most of the information she needs in order to solve a mystery. Everything else is handled by her followers, who are an interesting bunch themselves such as the Major, who looks, acts and sounds (same seiyuu) like BakaTest’s Mutsurii~

The main character of Kami-sama no Memo-chou is actually one Narumi Fujishima, who was forcefully introduced into Alice’s circle and somehow got himself involved with the NEET detective without really wanting to.

I want her room full of PCs, monitors with several aircond units installed...

If you love a good mystery, a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Detective Conan and GOSICK, you will seriously enjoy Kami-sama no Memo-chou.

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Sacred Seven caught my attention for its really cool poster as mentioned in my Summer Anime 2011: What’s Looking Good post. After watching 2 episodes, I have to say, it has a really good feeling to it.

It may look a bit silly with most of the organization’s members being girls in maid uniforms, and the storyline so far hasn’t really been that smooth. But what’s important at the end of the day is that it’s interesting and entertaining.

Knowing Sunrise, we’ll probably get some crazy plot development later on, but that would probably end up as part of the charm for Sacred Seven.

Character designs are not bad, but I actually liked the transformed Arma’s exo-suit. His red scarf-like somehow reminds me of something, although I can’t put my finger on it right now. But his weapon system reminds me of Mega Man and his flying skateboard screams Eureka 7, which is not a bad thing at all.

It may be strange to say this, but Sacred Seven somehow feels fresh right now, perhaps because there had been so many mahou shoujo magical girl series lately.

Definitely worth watching, Sacred Seven is looking to be a promising series.

I want a Hellbrick too!

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Baka to Test to Shokanju was one of the best anime series of 2010, and one of the funniest anime released recently. That’s why when I heard the second season was coming, it immediately became the series I looked forward to the most among the Summer 2011 anime lineup.

“But I’m not a girl, damnit!!”

The first episode of Baka to Test to Shokanju Ni! did not disappoint at all. It had be rolling around with tears of laughter within the first few minutes and I had to cover my face with a pillow to stop myself from laughing too hard. You’ll likely end up like Mutsurini but instead of nosebleed, you’ll be drained of tears due to excessive laughing.

The story seems to continue soon after the end of the first season during summer vacation, which by the way, even thought I took a short vacation at a Twiddy beach house during the summer, it seemed like I had to wait forever for it to release. Story was never really a strong point of BakaTest, but it was also never the main focus. Although, it would be interesting to see another Exam Summoning Battle (or two) this season. I missed those FFF guys xD

Mutsuri getting knocked out even before they actually got down to the beach and Hideyoshi who was finally going to show everyone he’s a boy by wearing a proper pair of trunks got stopped and carried away by the guards were some of the best moments this episode. That’s assuming you survived the hilarious dialogue during the ride to the beach…

Since Yoshii’s summon field bracelet self-destructed at the end of season 1, that means no summons appeared this episode, which was kinda sad.

BakaTest Ni is following its original formula and nothing has changed. It’s still the same old baka-tachi doing stupid things.

If you’ve never watched the original series, you’re seriously missing out.

Note to self – pick up photography…

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