“Peculiar” and “weird” are only two of the numerous words used by Haruhi Suzumiya’s classmates to describe her. She looks normal at first glance; but when her class introduction came, she seriously stated that she prefers the “theoretically unbelievable” beings such as aliens, time travellers, sliders and even espers over ordinary humans! Who would believe such fictional characters exist in the first place? Nobody knew what was going on inside Haruhi’s eccentric mind until her “seatmate”, Kyon, started chatting with her. Her obnoxious behaviour and haughty personality, not to mention her cute face, drew Kyon closer to her. Suddenly, the idea of “starting something interesting” hit her. Haruhi literally dragged Kyon along when she started her own club, the “Sekai wo Ooini Moriagerutame no Suzumiya Haruhi no Dan” which roughly translates into “Save the World by Overloading it with Fun, Haruhi Suzumiya’s Brigade” or as Haruhi puts it, the S.O.S. Brigade!

Unlike most screwball anime, Suzumiya Haruhi noYuutsu (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) manages to bring one important turning point in every otaku’s life…Haruhiism! Starting with a harem-type and fan-service loaded episode, this anime series promptly expands to something far more enthralling by adding the right ingredients in proper proportions: a little slice-of-life, a pinch of comedy, a dash of mystery, and lots of Haruhi! The most noticeable aspect above all is the disjointed nature of the series that interestingly leaves most viewers with a question mark above their heads.

The opening themes “Koi no Mikuru Densetsu” and “Bouken Densho Densho” are very catchy and fun. In fact, “Bouken Densho Densho” was ranked #10 in CD sales in the popular online shopping website www.amazon.co.jp when it was releases as a single. And how can we forget the anime’s ending theme “Hare Hare Yukai”? The very popular animated choreography accompanying the song (originally broadcasted as a part of the closing credits) inspired many parodies and fan made videos on the internet especially youtube. In fact, according to the Oricon Singles Charts, its CD single was the 18^th best selling CD single in Japan on the day it was released. It was also sold out in many online retailers and was even named www.amazon.co.jp’s  #1 selling CD.

Backdrops and object details are surprisingly well drawn for a character-driven series. More importantly, animation is top-notch, giving particular emphasis to some fine points in scenes that involve special effects. Character designs are at par with other recent anime emerging in the market; yet combining it with top-notch animation and high-caliber voice acting brings out the best presentation one has ever watched. Also worthy to be mentioned is the dance sequence during the ending credits, seeing as how each character fluidly executes a movement which gives the impression of flawless choreography in a well-animated series.

Based on Nagaru Tanigawa’s original visual novels, Kyoto Animation goes all out in this highly addictive and oddly enough, gripping series…the surreal madness just draws you in and before you know it, you’re already mired in the depths of inevitable absurdness! Laugh, cry and ponder as Haruhi and her S.O.S. Brigade blow you off with a one-of-a-kind and out-of-this-world anime experience that should never be missed!

Meet the S.O.S. Brigade

Kyon

Kyon is the only “ordinary” human Haruhi considers an equal. Most of the time, however, she drags him around and makes him serve or answer to all her whims. During his childhood, he fantasized about the existence of anything supernatural but stopped when he entered high school. Things turned upside-down when he met Haruhi and formed the S.O.S. Brigade with her. Apathetic and sarcastic to a certain point, Kyon is the only member of the brigade who is not of paranormal origin. And more often than not, he’s also the only person in the group other members confide in. Take note, Kyon’s real name was never disclosed in the series and that fact may be the only mystery that surrounds him.

Seiyuu: Tomokazu Sugita- Takumi Mayama(Honey and Clover), Hideki Motosuwa (Chobits)

Mikuru Asahina

Haruhi describes her as a “lolita”, yet Mikuru has an inexplicable appeal that oftentimes surpasses the effect of her healthy bust size on certain people. Despite being a year older than the others, her innocence and childish personality adds up to her Lolita charm. Thus, she is considered the brigade’s “mascot”; and this greatly helps in their advertising efforts. Mikuru was a member of the Calligraphy Club until Haruhi snatched her and forced her to become a member of the S.O.S. Brigade. Behind her naïve nature is a girl Haruhi would definitely take an interest in…..

Seiyuu: Yuko Goto- Kaede Fuyou (Shuffle!), Rain (Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime)

Yuki Nagato

Yuki was the sole member of the Literary Club and was just quietly reading inside her clubroom when a boisterous Haruhi suddenly barged in asking if she could borrow the room for her newly formed brigade. As time flew by, Yuki got involved with the group without anybody really mentioning it. Although she lacks compassion and is often silent and expressionless, Yuki is not entirely unresponsive. In fact, she frequently responds to Kyon (more often than she does with others). She is a mysterious person, even when among the members of the S.O.S. Brigade.

Seiyuu: Minori Chihara-Aya Natsume (Tenjou Tenge), Ohana (Samurai Gun)

Itsuki Koizumi

The smiley face of the group, Itsuki’s smile contains more than just a meaning of expression. His faultless smile, considered formal and reserved, makes him more of a gentleman compared to Kyon. During their time together, Itsuki also confides in Kyon and plays board games with him despite the fact that Kyon actually does not like him. He often speculates and hypothesizes events. When narrating his hypothesis, he ends up explaining them in a cumbersome and winding manner, adding weird hand signals as interpretation. Mystery also shrouds the young adolescent and only Kyon knows about his true identity.

Seiyuu: Daisuke Ono- Kengo Mizumachi (Eyeshield 21), Kazuma Yagami (Kaze no Stigma)

Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi’s charm and beauty is undeniable, but her eccentric behaviour wards off most people, especially her male classmates…except Kyon. Having an apparent dislike for ordinary “human beings”, she proudly asserts her interest in aliens, espers and other oddities only sci-fi freaks would probably love. Talented, energetic and sporty, Haruhi’s persona is definitely hard to contain. But as one might say, she literally does anything, like she’s really not-of-this-world!

Seiyuu: Aya Hirano- Misa Amane (Death Note), Yoko Sasakura (School Rumble)

Spoilers…Err, Some Haruhi facts

1. The episodes are intentionally aired/shown out of sequence. What is shown as Episode 01 is actually Episode 11. In the ‘coming soon’ blurb at the end of each episode, Haruhi gives the chronologically correct number of the next episode, and Kyon ‘corrects’ her by giving the one that corresponds to the order it is being shown in.
2. In Episode 2, when Haruhi is ranting about why she dragged an upper class girl into the club, she holds up two magazines, both with characters form “Shuffle” on the cover. Yuko Goto (Mikuru Asahina) and Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon) were the seiyuus of Kaede and Rin from “Shuffle”.
3. In Episode 7, when Itsuki was battling a giant cricket, he yelled out attack names “Fumoffu” and then “Second Raid”. Obviously, these are the titles for the Full Metal Panic series, which are also animated by Kyoto Animation. Only the 1^st season of FMP was left out because the animation was done by Gonzo.
4. In Episode 12, a parody of the popular Japanese celebrity/comedian Razor Ramon HG, a.k.a. Hard Gay, appears in the school festival. He is the man in black clothes with a black cap that says “MG” on it (Hard Gay wears a cap that says “HG”).
5. In the first cut of the opening credits where Haruhi is seen full figure profile looking up at a shooting star in the night sky, followed by the zoom up close on her face, is a parody of the opening to The Vision of Escaflowne.
6. All the locations shown in the anime are actually real locations, with the names slightly altered.
7. In Episode 9, when Haruhi is undressing Mikuru from the frog costume, she sings a short line from the anime’s ending “Hare Hare Yukai”.

Love Get Chu!

“It is said that there are many voice actors in the world, but only a handful can truly shine. But only the confident ones, those who possess beauty and strength of the brightest stars, can become the hopes and passions of the people.”

Meet Momoko Ichihara, a girl with an incredibly loud voice who dreams of becoming a seiyuu (voice actress) to meet her all-time favourite voice actor, Minato Ichinose. She sets out to Tokyo for the famous Lambda Eight audition. But while on the train, she mistakes a young man for a molester and screams at the top of her lungs. Soon enough, she realizes that it was just a misunderstanding and apologizes to the man.

She makes her way to the Lambda Eight audition building and there she meets four other women who also want to become voice actresses namely Yurika Sasaki, an anime fan who wants to become a famous actress one day; Tsubasa Onedora, a girl who prefers to do voices for males; Rinka Suzuki, a shy and quiet amateur voice actress; and Ohara Amane, a swimsuit model who couldn’t find any satisfying work as an actress so she tried doing voices instead.

Desperate and worried that the interview would go on without her, she used her loud voice and yelled her name from the roof. Her voice was so loud that it was heard all the way down to the basement! The president was greatly impressed that she passed the interview automatically. The other four passed as well and they all end up training together to be voice actresses. Oh, yeah! Momoko later finds out that the guy she mistook for a molester lives at the same house that she’s living in! What’s more, the guy is also an animator who works for Lambda Eight! Hmm.. Could this be destiny?

Love Get Chu is a cute and funny 25-episode romance anime that was adapted from a cellphone dating simulation dating game developed by AriKO system. The story mainly centers on 5 girls who struggle to become voice actresses but in the anime, it seems that Momoko is the main heroine among the girls.

Being adapted from a dating sim-game, the plot doesn’t have much depth. I guess what I find interesting about this anime is the concept of anime funs trying their luck to be voice actresses. Animation is average or above average at best compared to other anime series. The bold lines, letters, and facial expressions accentuate the cuteness, not to mention the uber cute characters.

Original work of Marie Koizumi (who also part of the Eureka 7 staff) and animation by Radix (who also did Inuyasha, Hack//legend of the twilight and Comic Party Revolution) this cute and funny anime brings to life the dream each otaku has deep within their hearts. It’s something that every otaku will definitely enjoy watching.

Gate Keepers

1969- The year when Japan’s economic development continued to progress ever since the end of the Second World War. The human race had been experiencing havoc when the aliens suddenly wanted to take over the earth. These aliens were being mechanized as minions to turn earthlings into one of them. They were known as Invaders.

While the earth was being attacked by the Invaders, a secret organization called A.E.G.I.S., (Alien Exterminating Global Intercept System) was specially organized by the government. Their mission is to deal with these Invaders and defend the earth. The organization is composed of members with special powers, the ability to open gates and draw incredible strength form another dimension enabling them to surpass paranormal energy, considered the only effective weapon against the Invaders. These people call themselves the Gate Keepers.

In Japan, the A.E.G.I.S. Far East Branch lies beneath Tategami High School. One of the school’s most excellent students, Ruriko Ikusawa, is a member of the organization. When Ruriko was once in battle against the Invaders, a boy named Shun Ukiya was able to observe her. The boy ended up helping her and discovered that he has a special power and ability to open his own gate with the use of the wind. Through that event, Ukiya was able to join the organization along with other extraordinary members all over the world.

Gate Keepers was produced by GONZO based on the manga created by Keiji Gotoh; a fantasy, adventure, mecha and fictional anime series that viewers could enjoy not only because it caters to a lot of genres but also because of its comedic touch that can surely be laughed about.

Recommendation:4/5

Maaya Sakamoto

In the year 1996, Sunrise produced the hit anime “The Vision of Escaflowne” and introduced to the world the talent of Maaya Sakamoto. Acting as Hitomi Kanzaki’s ‘seiyuu’, the series’ protagonist, was Maaya’s first major project. She also sang some of the tracks in the anime’s soundtrack.

Maaya Sakamoto

Maaya never actually knew that she would make it big in the industry of voice acting or even in the world of anime music. She started out young, but never did once consider quitting her studies or letting go of the opportunity for a great career in Japan’s already growing anime industry.

It’s also worth mentioning that she also had what it took to succeed in the degree that she finished (Sociology) from Toyo University. However, she also knew that she had a gift and this was how she proved herself to be a woman worthy of the title “talented”.

Her hear-stopping performance in Escaflowne soon landed her a mountain of project offers from various anime studios.  There was no doubt that almost everyone wanted her to work for them aside from the fact that she did amazing voice acting she was also a very good singer and songwriter. While she recorded her voice for the characters of some series, the producers would also let her do two or three opening songs and a theme song as well.

Card Captor Sakura, El Hazard, .hack//SIGN, Gundam SEED Detiny, Ouran High Host Club are only some of the many titles that are included in Maaya’s voice roles. One of the biggest projects that she has entered so far is a long-term commission with renowned composer Yoko Kanno and with other artists like Steve Conte and Time Jensen.

Her vocal range is amazing but what was even greater news was that she can sing very fluently in English.

So far, Maaya Sakamoto and Yoko Kanno have worked on five albums altogether. Her skills and her popularity always opened doors for her and she not only did voice acting for anime but also for video games, live musicals like Les Miserables and her Queen Amidala dubbing for Star Wars Episode III. She had also been cast as Aerith Gainsborough’s seiyuu in the highly acclaimed Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie.