a - I now have seen all of it
b - I like all of it ^_^
Now, to get on with this super (too fun for its own good) anime...
I now look back on it upon completion and try to compare it with anime I've seen before. (my first one being Oh My Goddess and then working my way via my anime timeline tree...) I now have a "solid" conclusion. THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THIS ANYWHERE! Yes there ARE anime where fighting in High School is no big deal but not on a comedy-wise basis and even THEN those genre anime were rare as heck. (and sucked royal sheep...) This anime's storyline isn't too developed. (though the females are very developed) No big deal really. At only 12 eps, the "true" story starts to show itself after a while. "Enter: the Samurai Girl" is the title of ep. 1. [ah the phallicism... o_0] Thankfully, my favs eps are the 1st and final ones. Some of them have some SUPER BLASTED over the top comedy. [for example, some students at Daimon High are not only good fighters, they're bottomless stomachs allow them to vomit small lagoons! 0_0]
Capture: I used the domestic DVDs from this series to make my VERY FIRST DVD amv. Afterwards, I noticed that it was just perfect. All capture scores for GOOD DVDs are pretty much guarunteed with my reviews...
Sound: I loved the opening. It's mellow then upbeat at the same time. It features the main seiyuu (of Ryoko Mitsurugi) singing the intro. Though her singing and her acting sound like totally different people. ^_^ Fight songs are "arena" style songs you'd hear in, well, an ARENA! And there's LOTS of fighting in this anime. The oddity is with so much violence, there's mostly scrapes and bruises but no noticeable loss of blood...
Action: as mentioned above, this is a VIOLENCE anime. It's odd that nobody really bleeds. People get bruises and scrapes. [and you sado-masochists would probably like to see scantily clad women all bruised up wouldn't ya? ~_~] Well, if that's what you want, this anime will serve a few flavors. Is it all combat? Mostly. The "go to other world to kill monsters theme" is a major point in the anime. Oddly enough I found those instances to be minor at best. The "real world" action [the Kitchen K-Fight] for instance is just plain cool. [think Iron Chef, LITERALLY] Another thing that is stock footage (you know, stuff they play in every freakin' episode ala dbz) is the K-Fight announcer's K-Fight explanation, "What's a K-Fight?... [input really fast spoken unbelieveable dialogue here...] The fact that she is in different clothes each time she announces [from schoolgirl fuku to cat bikini [rrowwwrrr]] keeps things moving. She's hot too. Another hint of "action" is that there's LOTS AND LOTS of white undergarments flying around. You may even see pink! Most of them are Ryoko's money shots. [you'd think a girl who's so tall would wear a LONGER skirt...] Also, expect some "mystic magic" during the fights between certain characters. [i.e. Shizuma Kusanagi (who's freakin' Kyo's cousin I'm sure) has control of fire attacks...]
Lip Synch: It's mostly done by Pioneer's voice actors. Though the acting crew normally doesn't do ONLY they're work, I recognize them as such because ALL my fav Pioneer Animation DVDs feature most of them. Dave and Wendee. If you don't know who these two are by now, may God have mercy on your soul... Some of the dialogue is downright WRONG. Which was probably what they wanted anyway.
For example:
"Oh my, such horrible language, I'm appalled to even be a member of the same gender! ;_;" - Azumi Kiribayashi
"Hmm, they're white..." - kid who flipped Ryoko's skirt.
"Darn, I couldn't find any watermelons to smash" - Shizuma Kusanagi
"Why must I be popular with the girls?" - Ryoko Mitsurugi
[dialogue too fast to type here] - Nakatomi Tamura (I think that's her name, she's the K-Fight cat announcer ^_^) Her speed at speaking rivals that of Excel. I shit you not...
Effort: 12 eps, a cool website (don't ask... get the DVD fool), a video fighting game in the works, AND huge CURVY girls. [no anorexic's here ladies and gentlemen...] Oddly, most of it feels like filler but it's FUN AND SWEET filler.
Overall: it's ranked as 5 in my top 10 anime last time I checked. At 4 dvds long, it's cheaper than most other series and it's comic book counterpart of the same name is a good buy as well. [takes notes to buy manga after today...] The TV series and the manga are VERY dissimilar. Oddly enough, the manga is LESS fanservicey but more violent than the TV series. [notices' klinky's sad face...] I skimmed through it while at my local Suncoast and saw MANY opportunities to flash some white in the manga and the skirt must have weighed like 10 tons...!
Reviewable: I like watching it again with friends and some of the fights are just TOO DAMN COOL to miss. My fav fights being Ryoko vs. Azumi [awesome fight between archrivals with big, beautiful and bouncy curves] I used this fight in my amv since I loved it so much. [too bad I had to cut it short, the fight alone was around 10 mins of NON recycled footage! 0_0]
I'd recommend this anime to:
ANYONE who was short and cash and wanted a quick fanservice fix.
Likes dudes who use fire for combat. (who doesn't?)
Fans of anime who'd get the manga as well. (one has little to do with the other so it's like another adventure)
The BIG BOOB lovers. [hell, the GRADE SCHOOLERS were freakin' C-Cups! 0_0]
DBZ Fans
People who like well varied fights. [which don't repeat the same damn attack 3x in a row as if it was a combo...]
People who like seeing dragons/beast monsters getting slain...
People who like Anime where the teacher's are not only hot, but they can kick your ass too!
Students who want to see lunchtime under a DIFFERENT set of rules ^_^
PEEPS WHO LOVE IRON CHEF!
You won't like this anime if:
You don't like looking at big curvy girls. [Kusanagi once referred to Ryoko as "the big chick..." 0_0]
Flying to another world is too repetitive to you.
Want to get something with more fans and less service.
Substance is better than fun to you.
A highschool that condones full contact fighting is not your cup of tea. ;_;
Ok, my newly revised scores are:
Originality: 10
Capture: 9
Sound: 9
Action: 8
Lip Synch: 9
Digital FX: 7 [forgot to mention, they are noticeable at parts...]
Effort: 9
Overall: 8
Reviewable: 7
I forgot to mention, I think MJ wanted this one as well as Hitori. I hope this helps you two! [my fingers are tired... *thud]
