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「貧乏神インスペクト+」 (Binbougami Insupekuto)
“God of Poverty Inspection”
Local deities in the 21st century are what it’s all about in the adaptation of mangaka duo FLIPFLOPs’ 2007 fantasy comedy series. At first glance, the character designs are reminiscent of the ones seen in the Touhou Project anime. Replace the demons and youkai with gods and we have Nekogami Yaoyorozu — or at least, that’s the immediate visual impression that AIC PLUS+’s anime gives off.
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「伝統・オア・アライブ」 (Dentou oa Araibu)
“Tradition or Alive”
Having read the chapter that this first four-minute episode covered, I have to say a lot of the humor was lost in the fast-lipped dialogue.
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「La Bambina」
“The Girl”
J.C. Staff is back with the Toradora duo of Majima Junji and Kugimiya Rie in their latest light novel/manga adaptation, except this time we have a bunch of armed detectives in training known as “Butei” (Busou + Tantei). As I described in the Spring 2011 Preview, the attention to detail with the Butei specializations and the weaponry they use is one of the highlights of this series.
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「クマなら、ここで終わってた」 (Kuma nara, Koko de Owatteta)
“If It Were a Bear, It’d Be Over”
Despite the generic feel feng’s (pronounced “fon”) latest adult romance simulation gave off, its anime adaptation turned out much better than anticipated due to the seemingly generic characters themselves. The disparity between my initial impression coming in and the one I left with was quite surprising, because my research into the premise along with the promo video had already given a very good idea of what I was in store for.
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「銀色の百合姫」 (Kiniro no Yurihime)
“Silver-haired Lily Princess”
Amazingly enough, the excessive censoring that Hoods Entertainment’s sequel has been subjected to is within reason, as we no longer have ludicrous camera zooming and completely off-screen panning that make it hard to discern what’s even going on. Instead, broadcasters have gone with the more typical (and bearable) bright white lights, a bit of cropping, and dramatic music to mask the girls’ moans of pleasure.
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「ガール・ミーツ・ボーイ」 (Gāru Mītsu Bōi)
“Girl Meets Boy”
On paper, Astarotte no Omocha! sounds like the premise for an oddly detailed hentai, and if you chance upon any of its images, looks like it was targeted towards lolicons. In actuality…
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「禁断の女子寮」 (Kindan no Joshiryou)
“Forbidden Girl’s Dorm”
My favorite trap of 2009 Shindou Mariya (Kobayashi Yuu) makes his return to television airwaves right on schedule, suggesting that SHAFT may have “delayed” Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica to get Maria Holic’s sequel out on time. Whether or not that’s actually true is another matter, but I am quite impressed with how good Maria Holic Alive looks.
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「はじめての■■■」 (Hajimete no ■■■)
“First Time ■■■”
Using a short skit format in its roughly ten-minute-long episodes, “Health and Physical Education for 30 Year-Olds” appears to be more about the hijinks that come from love spirits pressuring virgins to have sex than the educational aspect. At least, that’s what I gather when Daigarou (Okiayu Ryoutarou) offered his butt to 30-year-old virgin Imagawa Hayao (Shimono Hiro) after the latter refused his help to lose his virginity the normal way.
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「地の獄」 (Chi no Goku)
“Earthly Prison”
What a surreal feeling it is to be watching Kaiji again. Three years have passed since the first season ended inconclusively, but the feeling hasn’t changed. It’s still awesome.
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「たとえばそんなメルヘン」 (Tatoeba Sonna Meruhen)
“For Example, That Kind of Fairy Tale”
Amongst all the words I could have picked to describe this show, interesting would be an understatement to just how odd this first episode was. There were some high points here and there, but in the end, I think I got lost amongst certain scenes.