holy. crap.
holy crap holy crap holy holy crap holy crap holy holy crap holy crap holy crap HOLY FUCKIN CRAP.

WOW. that’s all I have to say. I DID NOT expect such a yaoi series!

…WAIT WHUT!?! YAOI!?! Mel! I thought you never really liked yaoi!
…THAT’S TRUE.

BUT I LOVED JUNJO ROMANTICA~!!!

Jeez… when I think yaoi, I think doujinshi, over the top beautiful bishies, lots of sex, and cheesiness. You could say Junjo Romantica touched on these factors, especially the sex, BUT THEY DID A GOOD JOB WITH IT. SO much better than like… almost all the romance series I’ve ever seen. EVER. EVER EVER EVER EVER. I think this series is so strong, it’s enough to turn any straight guy gay. If not, you’ll still enjoy it if you’re a softy for romance.

The best part about this series has to be that it’s about guys. When I think about it, if Junjo Romantica was about a straight couple, it wouldn’t be nearly as good. The awkward man on man romance seriously adds to the storyline. A lot. And when I think about it again, if this was a guy x girl story, I would probably find the girl to be VERY annoying and cliche the way I normally do. I mean, it’s REALLY hard in anime to create a female character that is unique and loveable. Most of the time, girls are extremly annoying *cough shana cough lousie cough nagi cough and the list goes on*

SO YAOI ALL THE WAY.

I decided to change the format of my "constructive" criticism and gave myself a more structured format. So I’ll try it out with Junjo Romantica and see how I do with this format :D

Originality: Was Junjo Romantica original? Erm… original is not the word to use for this anime. I mean, there are pleanty of yaoi anime out there and you could say that Junjo Romantica is "no different from them". But you see, the thing that makes Junjo Romantica so amazing is how the emotions of the main characters are protrayed. I’ll explain that more pace and atmosphere. One thing I found really great about this series is the balance of comedy and drama. The writters know exactly when the drama is too much and cover it up with comedy. Not to mention the comedy is ACTAULLY funny and ACTUALLY makes me laugh because 95 out of 100 times an anime tries to pull a joke, I don’t laugh. (unless it’s Hare & Guu or Seto no Hanayome). So Junjo Romantica has something special for me.

Pace & Atmosphere: A LOT will argue that Junjo Romantica is really fast paced. I mean, Usagi and Misaki already had their first kiss in the FIRST episode and got in bed together by the second episode. I slightly agree with the fact that this is really fast paced, but I think what made the pace just right for me was the AMAZING dialouge in between. The words that all the characters say are direct, consise, and STRONG. Even though the story is about a gay couple, it could influnce a straight couple in a LOT of ways. With such strong dialouge, you connect with the characters immediatly. Like… when Misaki goes into his inner thoughts of Usagi… the words he say are just so strong you blank out into like another world and go liek "O_O … dude… that was like…DEEP like…no other o_o." These strong words create a beautiful build up, allowing easy connection with the characters. This gives the writers power and flexibility, because now that the characters are loveable, they don’t need to take 10 or so episodes to build up. Even the build up to sex is amazing, however, I do agree with the fact that they jump in bed and have hot passionate sex pretty fast and pretty often ~_~;; It doesn’t take away from the plot tho :P (For me at least)

Character Appearance (physical): MISAKI AND THE TERRIOST ARE HOT. Even tho they look kind of the same. Hell, most of the characters look the same. I thought that Hiro was a grown up version of Misaki cuz they looked the same to me. That lead to confusion. There are sharp differences in personality and erm…hair style that help you differenciate all the characters, but it would have helped if the characters looked a little different. What I like about the character design is that they’re not over the top beautiful bishies like Vampire Knight, and no characters made to appeal to a specific group of fangirls. The character’s roles are clearly stated, and carried out the whole way. "This is the seme, this is the uke. Nothing more, nothing less"

Character Development: There’s always character development in romance series. Miyagi and Misaki’s transition from straight to gay is so freakin natrual and believeable. It’s kind of interesting to have student -> teacher (Misaki & Usaki) along with teacher -> student (Miyagi & Terrorist, Hiro & Nowaki). Age gaps? Who cares >_>? On the outside it sounds dumb, but once you watch the anime and fall in love with the characters, you’ll see lol.

Character Value: Lawl, most of this was already mentioned in "Pace & Atmosphere" so I’ll skip out on this part lol.

Animation value: A lot prettier than other anime. The animation isn’t like Gainax or KyoAni crispy, detail, quality (btw, KyoAni only wins in animation and NOT story) but it’s not like… terriable. I didn’t think there was a moment where I thought "argh, that looked gross >_>".

BGM: Not overused, but at some points I felt like the BGM was copied off other anime o_o;; And there are a few VERY rare moments in the BGM that I felt a measure didn’t suit the mood, but meh :P It doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the series.

Voices: I just gotta say… Sakura Takahiro is like…amazing o_o He did Miyagi’s voice :P You’ve also heard him as Suzaku from Code Geass, or Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy Advent Children. Man, his career has really gotten him far.

OP/ED: Amazing songs, decent animation.

Captivation: Did this anime captivate me? Hell yes. I don’t recall ANY moment in this anime where I thought "oh my fucking god when is this episode over -_-?" *pauses anime… chats with friends…watches five minutes of episode … gets bored… makes some graphics… force self to finish rest of episode… kills self*. My attention span sucks, and I have a terriable case of ADHD or something along the lines, but Junjo Romantica got my attention the whole way xD

Value/Memorable: Seeing that this is the FIRST yaoi series in my book, Junjo Romantica will definatly last a long time for me. And the BEST part is, it’s not over yet! I hope o_o I’m urdging for a second season to come out (if there is any) cuz rumors are very strong that there’s a second season. The series was originally 24 episodes, and it cut to 12 o_o?? I’ll have my hopes high and if nothing comes out by the end of the year I’ll assume there’s no second season q_q…

Recommendation Value:  If you hate yaoi, don’t watch >_>; If you’re willing to give into yaoi, then this is like…THE yaoi anime you need to watch. This is great for romance lovers, and treasure for any yaoi fangirl xD But if you’re straight and don’t have a gay phobia, why not give it a try? lol xD I SERIOUSLY, HONESTLY, AND DEEPLY HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS ANIME <3 Especially to yaoi lovers <3 tho i gotta be careful who to recomend it to :P

I wasn’t expecting to write an entry on this episode until I caught up to the series, but this episode just cracked me up xD

So after the whole encounter with lala no kawaii oto-san ~ rito has to become the number 1 man in the universe or else earth is destroyed. fun :D

In order to become the #1 man in the universe, Rito starts by taking morning jogs. During these morning jobs, he runs into Sairenji everyday *chuu~ chuu~*

This episode was really cute, and made me laugh! I was starting to think this anime was just "~_~ stupid eechi anime…" but this episode showed a little light at the end of the tunnel :D 

… great censors

… and of course, THIS happens.

 
OISHIIIIIII~~! Haruna no obento~~~!

 
kyaaaaaaa~~~! kawaii rito x3

…and this was to be expected.

…of course someone walks in on them -_-;;; …

well, since it’s to love ru, you kinda have to expect eechi moments, yes?
Overall Episode Score: 8.5/10
oh! i forgot to mention that the ending theme song is really nice :3

This episode was too much of a filler episode q_q… i was hoping for more irie x kotoko build up…

ah well, what else could i have expected q_q…

i dunno why i’m blogging this, i kind of feel like putting something in my blog i guess q_q..

So Kotoko and Irie just got married, but sadly, Irie didn’t seem to enjoy it much xD I mean, afterall, they showed pictures of him when he was a little "trap" hehehe. So the two of them go off to Hawaii for their honey moon and run into a couple (Mari and Takumi) who just happened to go on the same bus and hotel as them. Apparently, Mari has the "hots" for Irie and starts to interfer with Irie and Kotoko.

You want to know what i would have REALLY hated? If Mari and Takumi followed kotoko and irie back to japan and tried to break up their marriage. Luckily, this is kind of a "filler" episode so the whole mess ended there. Then Irie and Kotoko go at it and you know what happens from there…

Oh! At the end, when kotoko was bringing news to Irie’s family about being a nurse, it would have been a weird plot twist if irie got her pregnant! I have a feeling that’ll happen somewhere in the series, I mean the series is supposed to tell Kotoko’s story over 10 years :P

Lawl, i know i’m a little late but i got addicted to junjo romantica xD

Overall Episode Score: 6.5/10

Wow. In a bad way. wow. I seriously didn’t enjoy this anime :/

Why do i always pick the crappy anime to marathon -_-…?

I’m not gonna write a "constructed" review, however, I wanted to write a post for the sake of getting my thoughts out for this anime.

From the very first episode, this anime just didn’t grab me. It was watchable, but not extremly like… entertaining. I had my hopes up high for this anime since it was focused on romance and drama…but…. well… it seriously fell down. Badly.

One thing I REALLY want to complain about is the characters. Jee wiz -_- I hated Akitsuki and Suzuka. I just didn’t find their personalities realistic. See here… with Akitsuki… he’s so freakin dense. and dumb. in a bad way. See, there’s GOOD dense and dumb characters such as Otani from Lovely Complex and Sana Kurata from Kodocha. Their dense and dumb personalities add humor to the show. Then there’s "oh my god you can’t be fucking serious -_-" dense. That’s what Akitsuki is. He just doesn’t get it. At all. I’ve dated some dumb guys, but not as dumb as Akitsuki. While he was dating Honaka, i just wanted to do a face palm at him -_-. He doesn’t think before he talks, and he doesn’t think before he makes a move. Not only that, but I hated how he kept chasing after Suzuka. I honestly didn’t think she was worth all the trouble. I didn’t feel any chemsitry between Suzuka and Akitsuki, and Suzuka is like…a bitch. Honestly. You need to WATCH the show in order to understand how very dumb Akitsuki is, and how much of a bitch Suzuka is. I was watching this with my sister, and she had to put up with my hate comments towards Akitsuki and Suzuka lol. Luckly, Akitsuki isn’t as dumb as Makoto from School Days.

The animation didn’t add to the anime at all. In my opinion… it just made things worse. The coloring was a little… too shiny and glossy? But it can’t be helped, I mean, this anime was made way back when. But there were other anime back in that time that had better animation but crappier storyline :/ Particular tracks from the BGM are WAY too overused. But I still like the opening theme song.

Eng vs Jap? Jap. Akitsuki’s voice in the eng. dub was like… unbareable -_-; Lack of emotion + Annoying voice. Suzuka’s voice matched in the english dub, however, I liked the japanese voice actor better. And i’m a big fan of english dubs D:

As for the story…it’s nothing special. The focus is track and field, which in my opinion, was more of a theme than the storyline. Cliche? Kind of. But this anime wasn’t thought through very well in my opinion. That’s all I have to say.

Story……………. C- (14/20)
Animation………. D+   (13.5/20)
Sound…………… D  (13/20)
Characters……… E (10/20)
Enjoyment………. C  (14.5/20)
Overall score: 65/100

OH

MY

FUCKING

GAWD

I CRIED. SO HARD. T___________________________________________T

T____________________________________________T

i apologize, for once again, pooping my fangirl side all over this post *kills herself*

i’ll be blunt about this q_q

the first 20 minutes into this OVA, i was like EW. EW.EW EW. EW. tomoyaxtomoyo?!?! no nagisa!?!?!?!?! WTF. this is SO werid.
not that i hate tomoya x tomoyo. i hate okazaki x ANYONE other than nagisa. i’m just too big a fan of tomoya x nagisa. TOMOYA X NAGISA FOREVER.

but even tho i’m not a big fan of tomoya x tomoyo, THE EMOTION THAT WAS EXPRESSED IN THIS OVA WAS PURE WIN. PUUUUUUUUUUREEEEEEE WIN.
it captured me q_q that’s all q_q…
and i love sunohara with black hair q_q…
i’m too lazy to re-cap this episode. and i can’t express my feelings for this OVA other than say it was pure win q_q
… tho i still prefer tomoya x nagisa >_>;

Overall Score: 9.1/10
Points are taken off because i don’t support tomoya x tomoyo, but nonetheless, this OVA rocked my fuckin socks.
OH. the insert song was also extremly pretty. i rewatched the snow scene with tomoya x tomoyo just to listen to the insert song :3

I CAN’T WAIT FOR CLANNAD AFTER STORY T______T!!!!

Wow, I am SO slow with this anime. I saw it in like January and never bothered to finish it until just now @_@; Mainly because the dub stopped airing at episode 11 and i got too lazy to download the episodes… but i got around to maratoning the rest of this series xD

Boy, was this anime an emotional roller coaster for me xD
I think I watched this anime at the right time, because this series hits the spot for *ahem* hopeless romantics lol…

The story revolves around the romantic life of Miyazawa Yukino and Soichiro Arima. Yukino is the "perfect" role model who is beautiful, perfect, intelligent, and loved by everyone. However, deep down inside, she’s the opposite. She’s like a psycho angry girl who puts up a "role model" front to get attention. When Yukino attends high school, her first ambition is to get the highest test scores, and to become the most admirable girl in school. However, her goals are crushed when she finds that Soichiro Arima is scoring higher scores, is way more talented, better looking, and loved by everyone. The worst part is, he isn’t faking it the way Yukino is! Because of this, Yukino holds a grudge against Arima and starts to truly hate him (But whenever she’s around him, she "pretends" to be nice).
One day, as Yukino and Arima pass in the wallways, Arima goes up to Yukino and confesses to her, saying that he has always loved her. Yukino thinks that Arima is just trying to "trick" her, but in the end, Arima’s feelings for Yukino are expressed in a way that can’t possibly be a lie. Yukino begins to fall in love with Arima and thus their love blossoms~! 

Story (17.5/20) A-

I love it i love it i LOVE it. There are so many things about Kare Kano that make the story perfect. I really like high school romances that revolve around ONE main couple and no weird love triangles or squares or whatever… Because of that, it allows space for the two characters to grow, and the relationship to deepen. The anime lacks in "drama" and just focuses on romance. "Wait…if there’s no drama, wtf is the anime supposed to be about?" Well… it just goes into the inner thoughts of the characters, basically. But that’s what I LOVE about Kare Kano. Omg…The the anime expresses how the Yukino and Arima are in love with each other in a way that’s so believable you can’t help but go KYAA~! Well, scratch that. It’s more of a deeper feeling than "KYAA". You just feel this rush of emotions and make you realize why people fall in love with each other, and how much being in love means, etc… Tho, i can see why people wouldn’t like it. I mean… if you’re a boy who has never really been in love before, then Kare kano would be some crap and boring shit that you wouldn’t understand… ah well..

What i also love is the humor. The humor in anime made in the 1990’s shall always be fresh and funny xD I can’t believe you don’t see anime these days that have the same humor D:

I have to admit… towards the middle and end of Kare kano, a lot of new characters are quickly introduced and the focus turns away from Arima and Yukino D: The anime doesn’t spend a lot of time with these other characters, and if they have a flash back or inner thoughts it usually lasts like…one episode. Not enough for one person to interpret or understand :/ This is where the anime starts to decline. Not only that, but there are recaps every 2 or 5 episodes. But none the less, I still enjoyed it. 

Animation (16.5/20) B-

It’s hard for me to judge the animation… I mean, this anime was made waaay back in 1998 where anime was in low budget. The animation is defiantly creative in my opinion, even though at some points they’re scans from the manga, still scenery, or just still animation in general. But the character design looks a LOT better than other character designs made during that time *cough serial experiments lain… ah my goddess… etc…* the animation is not spectacular but it’s definatly not terrible. I would say it’s pretty, and bearable :P

Sound (16.5/20) B-

Again, it’s bearable @_@; At times, the BGM kind of interferes with the moment and most of the BGM is very overused and repetitive. The opening and ending theme songs are kind of addictive, but they’re not the best op and eds ever. As for voice acting, I’m going to be honest. When it comes to Arima and Yukino, i prefer the english dub. When it comes to all the side characters, i prefer the Japanese dub. But Japanese dub vs English dub… I much rather prefer english dub. not because i’m too lazy to read subtitles, but because it’s easier to "get into" the episode when you listen and understand the emotion, instead of reading subtitles and a somewhat understanding of japanese emotion in language….

Characters (17.5/20) B+

YES. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Not only does it exist, but it’s believable xD It’s just so… natural how much Yukino and Arima change while being in a relationship with each other. It’s also fun to watch how Arima and Yukino interact with other characters. All the characters in kare kano have their own background story that make you fall in love with them. I LOVE characters like Asaba who just brighten the mood with humor in a non crazy way xD Tho I have to admit that a few characters are there for a weak purpose, but for the most part, all the supporting characters have some kind of contributation to the story. 

Enjoyment (18.5/20) A

Story……………. A- (17.5/20)
Animation………. B-   (16.5/20)
Sound…………… B-  (16.5/20)
Characters……… B+ (17.5/20)
Enjoyment………. A  (18.5/20)
Overall score: 86.5/100

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!

well, i don’t mean to sound immature, but if you look at this scene in a different way, it looks like Hikari is grabbing Kei’s ass or something… fun… anyways…

My "kyaa’s" went on and off during this episode. It was more like "KYAAA …wtf… -_-;; KYA~ wtf… -_-;;"

I had my hopes high up for this episode because I was just …. FINALLY! an episode dedicated to Kei and Hikari. But… I was slightly disappointed. Why? The interruptions -_- stupid… unrealistic… interruptions q_q…

For me, this episode started solid with Hikari’s kawaii attempts to "appeal" to Kei xD This made me smile and laugh out loud hahaha XD
But then the episode just died when those weird guards came out and interrupted because they were looking for Kei. I was like RAWR WTF WTF WTF q_q…

then a new character is introduced but honestly, she’s pretty much a copy of Akira appearance wise and very close personality wise. 

After that, the relationship between Hikari and Takishima Kei didn’t go as deep as I wanted to q_q…

But i still love Hikari’s personality q_q…

Overall Episode Score: 8.5/10
*cries*