Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful

Something More Beautiful is basically the sequal series/ second season of Mahoromatic. What we have is basically Mahoromatic with more odd characters, more dirty fantasies from the ever-insane Ms. Shikijou and ever more dramatic storylines with comedy sprinkled all over the place. No big surprises there. The animation quality is just about the same as the first season, so I don't think I really need to say anything more about that. The music in the show is also the same, down to the style of the opening theme and ending theme, except that I liked the season 2 opening tune a lot better, and I really don't like the ending theme to this series at all.

The new character, Minawa, isn't the most interesting of characters. She's just too quiet and soft-spoken and has that typical clumsiness that goes with personalities like that, although I will admit that the sheer amount of mayhem her clumsiness results in are rather amusing at times. I'm happier to see that Ryuga is still around, though, having decided to keep his job as a teacher at the school Suguru attend. As the leading representative of the alien organization Saints, his interactions with Mahoro and her panther sidekick Slash amuse me to no end.

To put it shortly, what's here is pretty much the same stuff going on as what went on in season 1, with this new, mysterious human organization taking over where the Saints left off to keep the suspense at the same level. The comedy is pretty much about the same things, but with Minawa's clumsy actions thrown in. The ecchi levels are about the same, lots of boob-shots and nudity of the not-quite-full-frontal variety. However, the ending really threw me for a loop when it arrived. I won't spoil it for you, but I suggest you brace yourself, because it was really jarring and I certainly didn't see it coming. I'm not saying it is bad, but there might be people who won't appreciate it.

Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden

Mahoromatic is a fun little anime. Nothing too serious, but at the same time it has it's share of drama & sci-fi action. I started watching it because I've enjoyed what I seen from studio Gainax puts out, so I was sure I'd enjoy it, and also because this is something else my friend randomly lent me. The series begins with Mahoro, finished with her duties as a battle android for a secret organization known as Vespa. She is asked by her superiors an important question that will decide her fate. Will she continue to work for Vespa, or will she leave and live her own life how she chooses? The main reason she is posed with this question is because her life span is about to end in less than 300 days. She decides to leave Vespa and go work for a young boy named Suguru, whose mother passed away shortly after his father died, and he has been raising himself for the last 2 years.

Through my group of friends, I seen bits and pieces of a lot of anime shows are centered around a main character being a maid and Mahoromatic is, in my opinion, easily the best "maid anime" out there (it's also so far the only one I've seen all the way through). Mostly because it doesn't follow the standard of most other maid anime. There is the typical "oh master, let me wash your dishes and cook your dinner" and "please take care of yourself, I'd die if anything were to happen to you", that personifies this genre, but that's not what you'll remember when the show ends. This series is hilarious. It features buckets of ecchi humor, and sexual jokes...lots of sexual jokes. The first half of the series is mostly character introduction, but the story picks up in the last few episodes. The first half of the series is also more comedic, while the latter half becomes more serious and action oriented, almost to point that feels like a slightly different show. This series isn't for everyone, but if your in the mood for a really silly, romantic anime, this one is right up your alley.

Diebuster OVA

Diebuster is the follow-up to Gunbuster. I watched this with same group of friends that I saw Gunbuster with and I can say that this time I enjoyed it as much as they did. This sequel is not so much a continuation of the original story, but an update/retread. It shares some common elements with the original OVA like the flight suit design and the general direction of the story, but mostly the film does its own thing. Diebuster is standard anime material, a young girl named Nono runs away from home to the a military where the mech pilots are chosen by the natural presence of supernatural abilities. Nono is lacking in that department but still manages to infiltrate the group. From there on, things grow more intense resulting in an insane space showdown that pretty much blows up the whole universe.

As an OVA based on a 6 episode series (that I've never seen), it is somewhat apparent there is less time to focus on the character development. Taking those 6 episodes and turning it into a film, the movie misses a lot of the emotional storylines and watching how these heroines got from point A to to point B in becoming talented pilots (or at least that's what I've been told). Like Gunbuster, Diebuster isn't a serious sci-fi series there's plenty of comedy (most notably the abuse of an old dog) and tons of fanservice material (including a retread of the shirt ripping scene from Gunbuster) and there's plenty of crazy nonsense to make you laugh (luckily the science lesson interludes don't make a reappearance). Anyway, I liked this one better than Gunbuster. The overall goal of the film is accomplished by showcasing two cool storylines and I think fans of the original who haven't seen this will definitely enjoy it. I think I'll try to catch the proper series so I can get the full story.

Gunbuster OVA

I watched this with some friends the other day and I have to say I enjoyed it. The basic plot follows Takaya Noriko, a young girl who always wanted to be a pilot like her father, who was killed in space during an alien attack. Noriko is chosen from her academy along with Kazumi, a more experienced student to represent Japan in the war against the same alien force who killed her father. Gunbuster is an unusual but fun anime. I guess it doesn't hurt that just about everything most people want in an anime is in here. Its got giant mecha, great animation, science, humor, romance, action, and a cute main character...and the boob shots don't hurt either, though I think that was played more for laughs (at least it was in my group of friends).

I kept notice odd similarities between this and Evangelion, and it turns out that Gainax Studios produced this as well making Gunbuster something of the prototype for. It starts out as a mostly-silly parody of girl's sports anime and standard aliens attack the Earth stories, but develops into so much more that it is worth seeing through to the end. The characters are what drive Gunbuster as the characterization is very strong and fully-realized throughout the story. The characters complament the surprisingly substantial story and its attention to sci-fi details is commendable. I guess its also worth noting that producers actually went out of their way to explain the various sci-fi effects and how they work within the universe they've created. Throughout the film were these somewhat humorous science lessons that deal with the physics behind some of the technology used in Gunbuster and while I didn't care to much for it, it was a nice touch. I enjoyed Gunbuster, though not as much as some of my friends did. I say it is a good creative twist on a classic genre and good film for mecha anime fans.