Fate/stay night - 01

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 01
Fate/stay night episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ten years after an incident that was part of the Holy Grail War, the lone survivor of a devastating attack, Shirou, is now a high school student. He was adopted by a wealthy man, who revealed himself to be a mage. However, his step-father is dead and Shirou is taken care of by underclassman Sakura (who cooks and cleans) and FUJIMURA Taiga, whom he refers to as "Fuji-nee" and who's also his homeroom teacher. Shiro has a gift for "seeing" things within objects and with this power, he is able to easily fix something like the broken heater in the student council room for his best friend Issei. Also attending his school is Rin, a mage who has summoned a Servant named Archer for an upcoming continuation of the Holy Grail war.

Around the area, there have been an unusual number of gas explosions and robbery killings. When Issei points out a recent one to Shirou, Shirou becomes troubled and ends up leaving school a bit early for his part-time job. He returns briefly to the place where he was found before working at a local liquor store. Shirou wants to be able to save people, which is a trait that Sakura loves but Fuji-nee dislikes for someone Shirou's age. On his way home, Shirou encounters a young girl who tells him he better summon a Servant or he'll die. Meanwhile around town, Rin and Archer are scouting locations for the upcoming fight.

Thoughts/Review: This has been on my radar to watch for quite some time but now I finally decided to watch it and even blog it on an episode basis rather than just as a DVD-whole (which is probably what I should be doing). I'm always amazed at the number of eroge titles that are then converted into non-hentai anime series. Some, like Popotan, keep an ecchi feel to them while others (Air, Kanon) abandon the ecchi stuff altogether. I believe that's how this anime is going to do things but we'll see.

Regardless, this first episode was not all that I expected. I did expect some intrigue, which we received with Rin summoning Archer and then scouting out the town. We received more of that with the young girl giving the warning to Shirou and with the brief flashback showing how Shirou has at least some minor magical abilities. One would assume that the deaths and explosions are part of the hinted forthcoming conflict, whether from Rin, the little girl, or other party.

What I didn't expect was the comedic moments. For example, since Fujimura-sensei's given name is "Taiga," the students sometimes tease her and call her 'Tiger" or "Tiger-sensei." Considering my recent viewing of Toradora! where the lead female character is also named "Taiga" and is known as the "Palm-top Tiger," this tiger joke for Fujimura-sensei went over well with me. Further, there were several other comedic moments and frankly I didn't expect there to be any comedy at all. So that was a pleasant surprise.

I'll continue to try to blog this episodically and hopefully complete it sooner rather than later so as to knock down another backlog anime title. *lol* I do welcome the thoughts of those who've already watched this anime and would be interested in knowing details from the eroge story if anyone has played it (details in comparing the anime adaptation to the original game).

The Last Remnants of Central Park Media Have Been Swept Away

Yesterday, I read that Central Park Media (CPM) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning they are out of business for good. To be honest, it doesn't surprise me that CPM finally is officially closing shop, but I am surprised it took this long. After all, it was almost three years ago (May 2006) that CPM got rid of a bunch of its staff and for all practical purposes were out of the anime and manga game. Sure, they promised cost-cutting measures that would supposedly produce future growth, but lets face it -- who truly believed that CPM wouldn't go bankrupt?

Regardless, it is finally over but that leaves some decent anime titles in limbo. With FUNimation having been on a roll when it comes to license rescues, could more be on the horizon? Here are some titles that are possibly affected by the bankruptcy (if their licenses haven't already expired).

• Grave of the Fireflies: This movie needs rescuing for sure. If this movie doesn't have you crying like a baby when all is said and done, I would question your humanity.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena: Never watched this late-90's series nor have I seen the movie, but people tell me it is pretty good.
• Patlabor: The Mobile Police: Another series I've not watched, this one from 1989. It has been something I've been interested in seeing though.
• Record of Lodoss War: I've seen the original OVA and the TV series (which are the two pieces of the franchise licensed by CPM as well as the manga). As a fantasy series, it is decent enough. Certainly, it has had an impact on Japanese anime and manga fandom as there are references to it from time-to-time (Genshiken and Hayate the Combat Butler spring to mind) and is worthy of a license rescue.
• Night on the Galactic Railroad: I know nothing of this movie, but it has pretty decent reviews.
  
• Project A-ko: I've seen the movie and subsequent OVA sequels and spinoff. As a mid-80's title, there is a personal level of nostalgia for me since I saw this in Japan originally, so I wouldn't mind seeing the franchise rescued.
• Dominion Tank Police: Another 80's anime title which I only saw bits and pieces of (I wasn't into anime back then). It is something I'd be interested in seeing now.
• Demon City Shinjuku: I didn't watch this OVA title in Japan, but after I got into anime in 2002, a friend let me borrow the DVD. As a late-80's title, I'm in favor of a license rescue though. ^_^
• Armored Trooper Votoms: Never seen this franchise, but again, we have something that starts in 1983. I may have caught a bit of it in Japan since I knew the term "Votoms" after I left Japan.
  
• DNA²: Another franchise I've not seen but I've heard about. This mid-90's title gets some decent reviews.
• Fire Tripper: This is an OVA from Takahashi-sensei, creator of Inuyasha. There's no doubt in my mind that the original manga she did (which the anime is based off of) is the basis for what would become Inuyasha.
• Gall Force: Another mid-80's franchise. I'm pretty sure I've either watched the original movie or one of the OVA sequels, but I did it without translation and so have no real memory of story or the like (my roommate Robert loved watching anime even if it had no English dub or English subtitles). I'd like to see this classic rescued.
  
• Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer: Wouldn't it be nice if AnimEigo could somehow get this movie license, seeing as how they have most of the rest of the franchise?
• Yu Yu Hakusho The Movie: Poltergeist Report: I know a lot of Yu Yu Hakusho fans would LOVE for FUNimation to score this movie. Actually, I think that should the original scripts and audio source materials from Japan still exist, FUNimation might just spring for a redub and retranslation (to match the TV series).
• Photon: This is a creation from the creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, KAJISHIMA Masaki. It has some funny and interesting moments to be sure and I wouldn't mind seeing it rescued.
  

There are tons of other titles I haven't mentioned, including hentai ones such as La Blue Girl, & Fencer of Minerva as well as Kajishima-sensei's (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki) Spaceship Agga Ruter & Masquerade.

So it is an end of an era and hopefully some of these anime titles can be rescued by other companies.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 04

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 04
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A serial killer is taking out State Alchemists and Lt. Col. Hughes is leading the investigation, which King Bradley has taken a keen interest in. Meanwhile, after the resolution of the incident in Liore, Col. Mustang decides to take Ed and Al to the Sewing-Live Alchemist, Shou Tucker. Tucker specializes in chimer and even got a chimera to speak once two years ago but it only said that it wanted to die and refused to eat or speak again. Tucker lives with his young daughter Nina and a large dog named Alexander. Tucker has an extensive library of books and so Ed and Al get down to reading and even taking time to play with Nina and Alexander over the next few days.

Tucker has an alchemist evaluation coming and since he failed the last one, he's pretty desperate. When Ed and Al come over again, they find Nina and Alexander missing but Tucker has created a new chimera -- a dog-like creature who can speak. When the chimera calls Ed "oniichan," Ed suddenly realizes the horrible truth -- Tucker has transmuted Nina and Alexander into this chimera. Further, Ed realizes that Tucker's wife, who supposedly left two years earlier, was the original chimera that Tucker made. Ed beats Tucker, who considers himself no different than Al and Ed for what they tried to do. The chimera cries for its father and Ed and Al leave.

The serial killer pays a visit to tucker and kills him in front of Nina-chimera for his crimes. Seeing that there's no way to return Nina back to normal, the killer ends the chimera's life as well. Meanwhile, Ed and Al are depressed by what they've experienced and are mildly chastised by Col. Mustang, who tells them they are likely to see other such atrocities as they go about their business.

Thoughts/Review: Don't you just hate it when you know some cute, sweet, innocent character is going to die? I couldn't remember much about Shou Tucker when the episode started, but when I saw Nina, I remembered -- she would become a chimera. It really is heartbreaking too because while this may be a work of fiction, in reality, there are parents who would sacrifice their children for their own personal gain. Its more heartbreaking when, as in this episode, those children still love their parents deeply despite what horrible crimes, abuse, etc. have been done to them. I'll never understand this kind of behavior as long as I live.

As to the story itself, I don't remember Scar killing Shou Tucker in the original anime. In fact, I seem to remember him becoming some sort of strange chimera who showed up later in the series. So his death surprised me. Now that I think of it, I can't remember what ultimately happened to Nina in the original anime. Did she get killed by Scar? Regardless, after the tragedy of Nina, it does seem a mercy to put the poor thing out of her misery. Man, I'm going to be depressed the rest of the day now.

Now that Scar has entered the picture, I have to say that I was surprised that Bradley became personally involved in the killing of State Alchemist. When the leader of a nation gets involved in a serial killer's activities, it does suggest major concern on the part of that leader. I know Bradley is different from the first series so I just wonder how Scar works into the grand scheme of things this time. Did Bradley get involved in the first series?

Again, the series is moving forward at a lightning-like pace. The referenced mining incident seems to be something I remember from the first series (or am I just suffering from sleep deprivation 'cause I seem to have forgotten a lot ^_^;;;) as something Ed and Al took care of after Liore but here, it is something they've already done. Was this mining story in the manga or no?

I do appreciate all of you FMA fans who've read the manga and who remember the first series better than I providing your insights. Please keep them coming. ^_^

Anyway, while a horribly tragic episode, it was still a good one with a lot of table setting for the Scar story. I look forward to the next episode. ^_^

Lessons From Japan -- How to Get Up, Get Dressed, Cook and Eat Breakfast and More, All in 5 Minutes!

Ah, leave it to the Japanese to come up with something like this. *lol*



In the words of Darth Vader, "Impressive! Most impressive." ^_^ Thanks to Trenaway for sending me the link to this video. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura 110 (of Yaoi and Yuri Kisses)

うる星やつら episode 110 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 110

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lum and Ataru are at a ramen restaurant when Lum sees an ad for lipstick and decides to kiss Ataru, who's not interested in kissing her but other girls. Lum leaves dejected and sees all the other couples around her acting all lovey-dovey , so she returns to her ship to create the perfect lipstick. Elsewhere, Shinobu, Ryuunosuke, and friends are at a shiruko restaurant (sweet red-bean soup) filled with girls and talking of love an romance. Shinobu is being teased about not having her first kiss and Ryuunosuke sees a print ad for lipstick and wants some. Still elsewhere, Megane pines over not having kissed a girl and he desperately wants to kiss Lum. Meanwhile Lum returns with the lipstick, which will make both parties wearing it kiss. Ataru realizes her game and takes the lipstick, pretending to throw it away.

The next at school, Ataru tries to figure out whom to target with the lipstick. Ryuunosuke is the obvious choice and she's only too happy to be allowed to put on lipstick. Ataru puts some on as well but when their faces are drawn together for a kiss, Ryuunosuke punches Ataru instead. Lum arrives, still wearing her lipstick and just before Ataru's face can meet hers, Lum's Stormtroopers and Shuutaro stop Ataru. Lum is not happy and soon all of the girls and guys in the class save Megane (who's trapped under a pile of desk) and Shinobu are wearing the lipstick, but never kissing their intendeds -- rather they end up kissing members of the same sex. Shinobu gets lipsticked and ends up accidentally kissing Ryuunosuke. In rage, Ryuunosuke and Shinobu begin beating back all of the guys in the class. Lum has had enough and everyone pays when she electrocutes the entire classroom.

When all is said and done, Lum goes to the ramen shop to eat. She's depressed by the turn of events even though the shop owner says she looks charming with her lipstick on. Ataru happens by, still trying to pick up girls who are disgusted by his use of lipstick. When Lum turns, their eyes meet and Ataru finds himself kissing the glass window with Lum on the other side.

Thoughts/Review: This was a pretty predictable episode, and yet was still pretty funny. The moment Shuutaro put on the lipstick, I knew he and Ataru would end up kissing and they did. Ditto when Ryuunosuke and Shinobu got close to each other -- I knew they'd end up kissing. However, Cherry suddenly appearing and kissing Ataru was the real kicker. When I saw Cherry's hand, I thought, "No way!" Oh, yes way! *lol* Funny stuff there. ^_^ (It would be nasty, freaky if there were an H-yaoi doujinshi about those two. *_*) Outside of Lum kissing Ten-chan early on, I don't think one guy kissed one girl in the whole episode -- it was guys kissing guys and girls kissing girls -- yaoi and yuri. *lol*

An episode all about chaos, youthful passions for the opposite sex, and failed kissing attempts don't leave a whole lot to comment on. However, I was surprised that Shinobu hadn't kissed a guy before. I thought for sure she had, possibly with Ataru. Its hard to know for sure since I've been watching this anime off and on for a number of years now.

So despite being a pretty fun episode, there's not much else to say. ^_^;

Check Out Akihabara -- LIVE AND DIRECT!

The great thing about so many people both in my real live and in cyberspace knowing my interest and love of things Japanese is that they will often provide me with nifty things I might have missed. This time, the guys who moderate the blog comments for me sent me a link they figured I'd love -- a webcam looking at a section of Akihabara, Japan -- the otaku capital!


As you see here, it is a cool, rainy morning in Japan. ^_^;

Officially, the controller at the top-right directs the camera to several preset positions. Sometimes this works but most of the time, it gets blocked. I sometimes think it is because the request is coming from an American server and not a Japanese one. To get around this, just use number buttons 1-6. That will take it out of "Mode=Motion" to screen refresh every 10 seconds though ("motion" mode displays a frame roughly every second without a complete screen refresh). As you see, one of the views zooms in on the street below, where we see a Japanese man eating breakfast. *lol*


While it wasn't a great day for screen captures when I wrote this blog entry, I can say that there are days when the streets are just bustling with people. So if you are bored or just like having something different and Japanese displaying on your monitor, the Akihabara webcam just might be the thing for you. ^_^


Oh, I should point out that it seems to work best in IE rather than Firefox, but it will work in Firefox.

Update: I fixed the broken links. Sorry about that. ^_^;

Hayate no Gotoku!! 04

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 04
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 04
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Valentine's Day approaching, Nagi holes up in the kitchen to try to make Hayate a chocolate while Ayumu has Wataru sample some chocolate she's made. Wataru doesn't see the big deal about Valentine's Day and ends up hurting Ayumu's feelings by bluntly stating that if the guy she's giving the chocolates to has already rejected her, why would he accept her chocolate? Ayumu quietly agrees with this assessment and is depressed.

Valentine's Day arrives and Hina finds herself the recipient of a ton of chocolate from girls, which Miki gently teases Hina about before giving Hina a chocolate as well. Hina decides to eat all the chocolate for the sake of the different girls' feelings but needs some milk. Upon coming to the school entrance, she finds a girl being held by security and realizing the girl is there to deliver a chocolate, Hina takes control of the situation. She offers the girl, Ayumu, assistance in delivering her chocolate by having the boy summoned to the student council room in the clock tower.Hina 's not too pleased that the boy is Hayate but she does the right thing and arranges the meeting. However, Ayumu ends up leaving quickly and after Hayate states that Ayumu gave him giri-choco (obligation chocolate), Hina sends Hayate after Ayumu.

Hayate finds Ayumu under a railway bridge and she realizing she's been given another opportunity, she gives him the honmei-choco (sweetheart chocolate), telling him he doesn't have to answer her now. When Ayumu sees Hina later in the city, she thanks her and they properly introduce themselves and Ayumu presents Hina with the giri-choco. This leads Miki to point out to Hina that this kind of thing is how Hina ends up with more chocolates every year.

Meanwhile, Hayate is in a quandary on what to do. After speaking briefly with Father Radiostar on the subject of love, Hayate speaks with Maria, assuming she has a great deal of experience. She does not and ends up being depressed by this. So she decides to make a chocolate instead while the frustrated Nagi gets Hayate to make her a chocolate. Maria sees Hayate make an elaborate chocolate and decides to outdo him, only to find that in the end, Hayate went with a simple chocolate for Nagi. Seeing Maria's chocolate, Hayate and Nagi assume she made it for herself. That evening, Hayate presents Maria with a small chocolate he's made as a means of thanks after presenting Nagi with hers.

Thoughts/Review: The great adaptation continues through four episodes now. ^_^ This story is a favorite of mine in the manga, especially with Hina getting so many chocolates and Miki teasing her about it. Plus, it establishes the friendship between Ayumu and Hina, which plays a greater role in episodes to come (assuming the manga is still followed pretty faithfully). Ayumu didn't get portrayed that well in the first anime series as she was often just the love-sick girl pining for Hayate and the butt of many food jokes. The manga never portrayed her as such (she is in love with Hayate, but not the butt of food jokes) and I'm very glad this new series is not either. ^_^

One thing this episode did is expand a bit on Nagi's efforts to make Hayate a chocolate, which may be filler but I did like it.

Speaking of the whole chocolate making thing, this episode really brought to life the elaborate chocolates made by both Hayate and Maria. Long time readers of my blog will remember my annoyance with Viz over ruining the image of the chocolate by writing "DOOOOM" in big letters over the image in the manga (the review of volume 7). No worries here as we get to see just how fancy those chocolates are. *lol*


Good stuff I tell ya. ^_^

Back to Hina, one thing that the anime brought to my attention was the small chocolate she had with her and ultimately ended up eating. In the manga, it came across as just anther one of the many chocolates that Hina had received. However, as things were done in the anime, I realized that this small chocolate was likely one that Hina had to give to Hayate, but then decided against it as she supported Ayumu's love confession. Neither the manga nor the anime express this, but I now think it is implied to a degree (or at the very least, one can make that assumption if one chooses to do so).

The first four episodes here really have me excited for a proper anime adaptation of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. I really hope this continues through the rest of the series.

大きな箱とねこ （A Big Box and a Cat)

As I write, I'm keeping my parents' cat while they are on vacation. So it is always an adventure of sorts whenever she's in the place. So when LH shared this video of a Japanese cat and a large box, I couldn't help but laugh since the cat looks almost like my parents' cat. I'm sure you cat owners will appreciate this one.



The cat (named "Maru") is featured in this blog: http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/.

Slayers Evolution-R -- Final Thoughts (SPOILERS)

While taking the 2nd-half of Slayers Revolution and turning it into a separate series may have been a marketing ploy on the part of the Japanese, I decided that I didn't mind this if the writers continued to attempt to shift the anime in line with how the novels are. So how did things go? Well, the alignment with the novels continued and there was one nice teaser, but in the end it was a mixed lot for me, depending on whether I saw this as a hardcore fan or a casual anime fan.

The series starts with the Nama-chan arc, which provides two things. First, it shows how soul transfers can ultimately work. Second, it gave the writers a means of adding the character Naga to the series without adding the character Naga to the series. *lol* Naga is a character from the prequel novels (which are still ongoing) and has been animated in the various Slayers' movies and OVA's. She is also Amelia's long-lost sister. Hardcore Slayer's fans have longed for a reunion of these two sisters and so the writers gave it here by having a new character named "Nama-chan" who conveniently has no memories and who's soul conveniently occupies a suit of armor. Now we can have Lina go off on her old nemesis (though without completely understanding why Nama-chan would annoy here so) and we can have Amelia and Naga meet, but without violating anything since they've never done so in the novels.

For those hardcore fans, this pseudo reunion is a fun treat, especially when Lina goes off or in episode three where Amelia finds herself trapped inside the suit of armor that is Nama-chan. From a non-fan perspective, the Nama-chan arc is mostly a complete waste of time as it does nothing to advance the main story plot. Some character development in episode 3 for Amelia is the one gem of this arc for non-fans and fans alike. However, the other four episodes in the arc will be nothing more than pointless filler for non-fans I'm afraid.

After the Nama-chan arc is over, we pick up the Zuuma thread left over from Slayers Revolution. Here, the story gets interesting again as Zuuma is a credible threat to Lina and company as are the two mazoku that are introduced. The story basically follows the novel plot thread for Zuuma with a few changes that had to be done to make the story fit into the anime canon. The only negative here would be the distraction that is Ozel. The writers have teased her for so long that it becomes rather tedious to get no answers.

With episode 9, the plot finally begins to move forward and we see a nice flashback of Zelgadiss as a human and working with his old team from before he met Lina (whom were introduced anime-wise in the original Slayers series). That's another nice bone for hardcore fans and a nice taste of character development for Zelgadiss. Ozel continues to be somewhat of a distraction until Rezo comes back to life. After that it is "game on" as they say.

The highlight of this -- Xellos, hands down! Actually, Xellos comes off pretty well throughout the whole series, acting very much in character with his novel counterpart. Xellos is merely tailing Lina's party and is never a member of it. Xellos does not like disrespect but gives Lina a bit more leeway than most, but that's because he respects her and knows she respects him for what he is -- a very powerful mazoku. Xellos is a mazoku with his own agenda. That's how it should be. I really liked seeing Xellos this way and kudos to the production team for making it so. Also, props to the production team for not only finding a way for Xellos to be shown in his actual body (which is cone-shaped), but for allowing him to cut loose during the fight with ghost Ruby Eye Shabranigdu.

Ultimately for the hardcore Slayers fan, there's a lot to like in Slayers Evolution-R from the pseudo-Naga revival, typical Slayers humor, an accurate portrayal of Zuuma, an accurate and excellent portrayal of Xellos, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, and Giga Slave. For non-fans, there is a weakness in writing with too many bones tossed to hardcore fans so that casual viewers are either left in the dark or are bored to tears at times. So if you are a hardcore fan, this is easily a 4 out of 5. If you aren't, 3 out of 5.

Note: As of this writing, I'm told that FUNimation will market this series as "Slayers Evolution-R" as they did in Japan. Initially when FUNimation had their press release announcing the license, FUNimation simply referred to both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R as "Slayers Revolution."

Better Archive Those Old GeoCities Anime Sites

It has been reported in many places that Yahoo is going to close down GeoCities, that now ancient-of-days free homepage hosting site that so many people used back in the 90's when the Internet was new, fresh, and exciting. In recent years, I'm not sure how many people are creating new accounts in order to build a home page but with the advent of blogs, social networking sites, and cheap domains, the age of GeoCities has come to an end.

I never used GeoCities for any of my own stuff because I've had a domain for a number of years. However, as I looked through my list of bookmarks, I was surprised to see how many of these were bookmarked to a GeoCities site. Case in point, Punistation's Tenchi Muyo fandom site, with lots and lots of goodies one likely won't find elsewhere (I have talked with Punistation and she's going to look for a new place to host all her stuff). How many GeoCities' anime and manga sites for older titles will simply vanish.

"Well ANB, the Wayback Machine will have everything archived, so no worries, right?"

Ah, if that were only true. There have been a number of sites which have disappeared off the Internet and while traces of them may exist on the Wayback site, often images and whole pages won't be archived for whatever reasons.

So, if you've got any old GeoCities sites bookmarked and they contain great stuff (but maybe not something you'd visit too often), you might want to think about saving those pages, images, and other materials to your hard drive, JUST in case.

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA -- Final Thoughts

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA

I love the Negima! manga. Akamatsu-sensei has crafted a well-written story with interesting characters and fun to boot. So when an anime adaptation was announced, I was happy. However, the Negima! adaptation ended up falling well short of the mark for a whole slew of reasons. Then SHAFT got involved and made up their own version of Negima! with Negima!?. I accepted that for what it was but it really wasn't what I wanted -- I wanted a faithful adaptation of the Negima! manga. With this thee-episode OAD/OVA series, we get just that.

The anime starts with the tail-end of the Mahora Festival main arc before moving onto the creation of Negima-dan (soon to be Ala Alba), which is around Volume 19, chapter 176 and continues to chapter 177, which has Eva's test of Ala Alba at the summer festival. It is a shame that the Mahora Festival arc from the manga is skipped, but that would likely take an entire season's worth of anime episodes to properly produce. So the anime writers skip this AND they skip the very important Asuna Training mini-arc. Oh well, at least we have something.

Episode 2 basically covers chapters 178-180 (volume 20) which is the Anya introduction mini-arc. Things pretty much play like the manga, but seeing things come to life made the episode enjoyable just the same. I couldn't help but laugh again at some of Anya's antics and her rivalry with Ayaka. The episode having a brief glimpse at Asuna's training reminded me of how I would have liked to have seen that as an episode.

Episode 3 basically covers chapters 175, 183, then 181 - 182. This is mostly the little shorts Akamatsu-sensei did as well as the final preparations for the trip to Wales by Ala Alba. The good is seeing all this in anime form. Plus, the anime team added one story about Misora, Cocone, and Satsuki. I loved seeing Cocone finally animated. The negatives here were that one Sayo story showing her getting her mini doll to possess is dropped and the episode has a distinct feeling of Negima!?, which was a bit unnerving.

There are weaknesses in art and animation which are mostly corrected by episode 3, but then that also helped give that episode its Negima!? feel. However, this focus on fun over substance may harm the next OAD/OVA series, which is supposed to be 4-episodes in length and take place after Ala Alba gets to the Magic World. So all the important stuff about Asuna, Ako, etc. are all missing. However, this is where the Japanese fall back to their standard position in such cases -- this anime is designed for fans of the manga and therefore we expect them to fill in the blanks for the stuff we skip. That's truly unfortunate but there's nothing we can do about it. For those who've yet to read the manga, just do that. ^_^;;;

In the end though, I think Negima! manga fans got what they wanted -- a fairly faithful adaptation of some more low-key anime chapters that focus more on fun than on substance. After two failed TV series (in manga fan's mind at least) as well as two blah OVA's, this OAD series is a breath of fresh air. As such, I'd give it a 4 out of 5, but only for fans of the manga. If you haven't read the manga, at best you might get a 3 out of 5 for this.