![\"mizuki](\"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kaichou.jpg\" "\\"kaichou\\"")
<\/a><\/strong>Kaichou wa Maid-sama!<\/strong> Ayuzawa Mizuki is the school student president, and because of family circumstances (her father deserted the family), she works part-time at a “maid cafe” in another district.\u00c2\u00a0 The school enrolment is 80% boys, and Mizuki enforces the rules with a firm hand, which doesn’t make her any more popular with the boys, whom she seems to dislike anyway. One day she is discovered at work by the school’s most eligible boy, Takumi Usui, much to her dismay.\u00c2\u00a0 However, instead of exposing or blackmailing her, he just hangs around, staring at her, and even helps her out with a couple of problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Looks like this will be a pleasing shoujo<\/em> romantic comedy. Despite the maid thing, there’s no overt fan-service.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hakuoki Shinsengumi Kitan<\/strong> In Meiji-era Japan, while disguised as a boy, Yukimura Chizuru goes to look for her father, who has gone to work on Kyoto and then stopped writing to her. She is chased by some toughs, and then witnesses a fight between them and some supernatural monsters.\u00c2\u00a0 She finds that she has been captured by the Shinsengumi. (At this point non-Japanese viewers, or readers,\u00c2\u00a0 should do some Googling to get themselves up to speed with who the Shinsengumi were.\u00c2\u00a0 While their portrayal in this anime is liable not to be accurate, they were a real Japanese sword-wielding militia formed in the turmoil of the Meiji restoration forced by the arrival of powerful foreign forces.\u00c2\u00a0 They were involved in some factional fighting<\/em>.) Some of the Shinsemgumi seem slow to catch on to Chizuru being a girl, despite her overtly feminine face and mannerisms, for the subtitles in the\u00c2\u00a0 Aoi-Anime sub refer to her indiscriminately as “he” , “boy” or “she”.\u00c2\u00a0 It turns out that the Shinsengimi are also interested in her father’s mysterious disappearance, and instead of rubbing her out as an inconvenient witness, they decide to keep her as a permanent guest, still dressed as a boy.<\/p>\n So far, this anime has a strong and consistent period feel, and some nice character designs.\u00c2\u00a0 I found the first episode rather confusing – to untutored Western eyes, Chizuru at first glance is obviously a girl. (Non-Japanese viewers may be slow to realise that what Chizuru is wearing is supposed to be typical boy’s clothing of the period<\/em>).\u00c2\u00a0 I’m still not sure who the supernatural fanged guys were or who was fighting who, except that the ones chasing Chizuru apparently died.<\/p>\n Angel Beats!<\/strong> The lead character Otonashi is dumped (like the viewer) straight into a world where a girl, Yuri, wielding a large gun, exhorts him to pick a weapon and attack an silver-haired girl below. Otonashi refuses, and approaches the girl “Angel”, but it seems he says the wrong thing, for she sprouts a blade and fatally stabs him. After at least one painful re-incarnation, Otonashi learns that the girl\/warrior\u00c2\u00a0 “Angel” \u00c2\u00a0 is controlling a world consisting essentially of one school, and passing on those in it to be re-incarnated – not necessarily as people. Allegedly.\u00c2\u00a0 Otonashi is persuaded to join Yuri’s armed group, which is resisting being re-incarnated.\u00c2\u00a0 In a bizarre second half of ep#1,\u00c2\u00a0 an all-girl band plays in the school hall while Yuri’s gang hold off\u00c2\u00a0 Angel with machine-gun fire, and the dinner tickets they staged this battle to capture swirl through the air like autumn leaves.<\/p>\n Arakawa Under the Bridge<\/strong> The protagonist Ichinomiya Kou is the heir to a vast and powerful corporation.\u00c2\u00a0 A real high-achiever, Kou lives his life by the philosophy of never owing anything to anyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately while crossing a bridge one day he is hassled by punks, and ends up falling into the river and being rescued by a mysterious girl, Arakawa, who claims to be an alien. It’s not hard to guess what happens next. She refuses Kou’s extravagant offers and in return for saving his life merely asks that he stay around and love her.\u00c2\u00a0 Which puts her in control of his life.\u00c2\u00a0 While living like a down-and-out under the bridge, Kou is introduced to another wierdo, who is wearing a kappa suit.\u00c2\u00a0 While this might have potential as an oddball comedy, after 22 minutes it’s already becoming irritating.<\/p>\n Ichiban Ushiro no Daimayou<\/strong> The hero, Akuto Sai, happily arrives as magical academy where his ultimate ambition is to be a high priest.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, at the medical screening, a cigar-smoking talking bird divines that his future career will be… Demon Lord.\u00c2\u00a0 A hundred years previously, a Demon Lord raised an army and messed everything up, so this news rapidly gets around the school. Everything Akuto says or does thereafter is mis-interpreted by the students as evidence of demon lord-ship. There are some good touches in this episode: the gag about the health check being performed by a chain-smoking bird, the very prickly relationship between Akuto and Hattori, a sword-wielding girl in a very short skirt, the trains on magical tracks, and Hattori’s friendship ceremony using her sheathed sword. There is also a fair amount of crud, like the fanservice, the fact that everyone in the series is an idiot, and the arrival of a clutch of a whole bunch of violent magical girls in the closing minutes, and the suspicion that this will become another tiresome harem comedy.\u00c2\u00a0 So which way will it go?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another mixed bag but there may be some worth following: Kaichou wa Maid-sama! Ayuzawa Mizuki is the school student president, and because of family circumstances (her father deserted the family), she works part-time at a “maid cafe” in another district.\u00c2\u00a0 The school enrolment is 80% boys, and Mizuki enforces the rules with a firm hand, … Continue reading “Spring 2010 anime”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/strong>