K-On!

Japanese title: けいおん！
Number of episodes: 13

Some info:
1) ANN
2) Wiki
3) Official Site (Japanese)

An anime revolving around these 4 girls and their time at this light music (more poppish to me actually) club. The club was actually supposed to be disbanded because there weren’t enough members (minimum 4) but eventually got formed due to these 4 girls. Each of them have their own personality, which often forms the base for getting all those comedy moments.

Though it’s supposed to be a club that dabbles in music, there isn’t actually that much of musical performances. Yes, they do have a few performances but most of it is more of their school life and what they do for their club activities, which may end up as tea sessions or whatnot. Haha. Most of the funny parts come from all the “slice of life” parts, which is what makes the club an enjoyable one I suppose, since the members are really enjoying themselves in this club activity of theirs instead of practising for the sake of practising. Heh.

It is quite light hearted and enjoyable overall, which is a good thing =D And oh, the music performances are not bad. =P

One Piece Movie 9

Full title: Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura
Japanese title: ＯＮＥ ＰＩＥＣＥ（ワンピース） エピソードオブチョッパー＋冬に咲く、奇跡の桜

Some info:
1) One Piece Wiki
2) ANN
3) Official Site (Japanese)

Oh, this is another retelling of one of the arcs in One Piece, but with a twist. The timeline’s sort of messed up since there are newer crew members than chopper present in the movie, as well as their new ship and of course, Luffy’s Gear abilities.

With that means there will be quite a fair amount of original content since well, there are things present that are only “existent” in the future. Yeah, that means new scenes and reworking of animation and artwork to present this movie. Lol, there might be quite a number of differences but at least the crux of Chopper’s story is pretty much unaffected (I think).

For me, I guess it’s more of a recap of Chopper’s story and probably seeing some new actions and fights that wouldn’t have been possible back in the original storyline. Haha, other than that I guess this movie doesn’t really stand out in that sense. I’m not sure how die-hard One Piece fans responded to this movie though. Haha.

Well, I guess no harm having a little more One Piece fun, though the main story was already good enough in my opinion. =D

One Piece Movie 8

Full title: One Piece: The Desert Princess and The Pirates: Adventure in Alabasta
Japanese title: 劇場版ワンピース エピソードオブアラバスタ 砂漠の王女と海賊たち

Some info:
1) One Piece Wiki
2) ANN
3) Official Site (Japanese)

Unlike other One Piece movies, this movie is actually a retelling of one of the story arcs featured in the main storyline. It was quite a touching arc for me when I first watched it in the series, and definitely one of those that made a greater impact.

However, knowing how long an average animated movie is, something that took many episodes to cover in the main series would mean the retelling left out quite a number of things. And yes, certainly even I, who tends to forgets many details of such things, especially after quite some time could notice that there are quite a lot of differences. Not surprisingly, the section in the OP Wiki points out more than I could notice. Haha, that’s what a wiki is for I suppose =P

Anyway, given the shorter time frame to retell the same story, it seems to be less touching now, though it may be partly (probably small part) due to the fact that I’ve seen it before and know how things are going to develop and happen. Those looking for action would also not get enough kick out of this one since there are so many fights in this arc and the entire movie can’t only be spent on fighting alone. Haha. Yeah, things do get snipped off or left out here and there so that it can really fit into the timing. Hahaha, which is kind of bad since I feel that it’s supposedly to feel more epic of sorts. Lol.

However, it might actually be a “good” way for people who are not in touch with One Piece to be able to get to know one of the earlier arcs without having to go through a longer time in order to catch up (assuming they intend to catch up). Oh, and of course, the animation and graphics are probably reworked to give a better feel as well as to suitable the amendments made to this particular movie.

Overall, it probably could have been a better retelling with a little more time allocated to the movie (maybe too much real work that didn’t make it really worth it?). I would suggest watching the main series to cover this arc unless you’re in a hurry to know what happened (the big events). =)

One Piece Movie 7

Full title: One Piece: Karakuri Castle’s Mecha Giant Soldier
Japanese title: ワンピース カラクリ城のメカ巨兵

Some info:
1) One Piece Wiki
2) ANN
3) Official Site (Japanese)

Looking at the ship crew present at the start of the movie and the bounty of Luffy, it’s not hard to roughly figure out when this “side story” meant for this movie has taken place. Not surprisingly, it is an original story created for this movie. As usual, I don’t hold particularly high expectations of such movies.

The OP Wiki really provides a pretty neat summary of the movie storyline, which as expected not very much. Yeah, there’s a lot of Mecha stuff to whack and fight indeed, which contributes to much of the fighting later in the show. Of course, prior to all that fighting, there’s the adventure element which sets up to the fights later on. Haha.

Ok, and whoever are maintaining the wiki article sure has some nice trivia information that I didn’t notice, except point #1. Haha, I guess I’m not really into the details, or simply just not that much of an OP fan to scrutinise everything.

Hmm, what more can I say about this movie? Nothing much I suppose. It’s pretty ok for a standalone original movie of a long running manga (or anime for that matter). I’ve seen worse original movies adapting from long-running series. Hic.

Skip Beat!

Japanese title: スキップ・ビート！
Number of episodes: 25

Some info:
1) ANN
2) Wiki
3) Official Site (Japanese)

A theme revolving around showbiz and revenge, this series features this girl Kyoko who came to Tokyo with Sho, an aspiring idol, a guy whom she loved for a long time, only to realise on an occasion that she is nothing but a free maid and caretaker of sorts and means nothing more.

Having given up so much just for this guy (including a normal school life) only to be treated so badly, that sparked off her determination to enter showbiz to outshine him. Lol, as they say, angry women can be really scary. Yep, there seems to be some kind of emphasis on that throughout the show, not limiting to only her, where there’s this “killer aura” or “evil aura” around these characters whenever they’re majorly agitated. Hahaha, yea it constitutes quite a bit of the funny parts in the show though.

Of course, being someone who has no particular training whatsoever to steer towards stardom, you can see the growth of this newbie, and the unexpected potential within her through the series, which of course is just a portion of the manga (quite obvious from how it ended). It does portray some of society’s habits of classifying people, not just restricted to the showbiz industry, which of course is the highlight here. There are also other themes set through the course of development of the show too.

Overall, a comedy-based series with happy, sad and touching moments. Not too bad I suppose, except that it’s probably more for girls to watch, seeing how the emphasis on some artwork is presented at times. Haha.