Nichijou (My Ordinary Life)

                What is your definition of an ordinary life? Is it living day by day the same way with nothing unusual happening, or is it living day by day expecting for unusual things to come about? If you’re not sure on the answer, then this anime will give you the answer. Nichijou, or My Ordinary Life, is about the citizens of a small town living what they call an ordinary life. A  Life that may consists of robots, talking cats, and the high school principal wrestling with a deer.

                The series mostly follows two groups of three. The first group consists of three high school girls, Yuko, Mio, and Mai. The first girl, Yuko, is a highly energetic and care free girl how plays around a lot. She’s also a lazy when it comes to her school work and is constantly copying her friend’s homework. She also tends to make a big deal out of little things, like how to order a cup of coffee. The next girl, Mio, is the complete opposite of Yuko. She’s very responsible and keeps herself on track and focus; but because of Yuko’s playful and care free mentality, Mio is constantly stressing over Yuko’s actions. She’s also a talented inspiring manga artist, but her drawings consist of yaoi illustrations of her upper classman crush which can get her into trouble if they get into the hands of others. The last girl, Mai, is a very quiet girl. She also doesn’t show her emotion much, so it’s very hard to tell how she’s feeling. Even though she’s a plain girl, her plain personality is what makes stand out and can make her a funny character at times.

                The next group of characters includes of Hakase, Nano, and Sakamoto. Hakase (Japanese for Professor) is an intelligent eight year old girl, but still tends to act like her age despite her brightness. The other character, Nano, is a robot created by Hakase and is always begging her to make her like a human girl; but the more she asks, the more Hakase puts robot traits into Nano. For example, whenever Hakase wants a cake roll, then with a command a cake roll will pop out of Nano’s arm and it always Nano whining. The last character is Sakamoto. The interesting thing about Sakamoto is that he’s a cat that able to talk thanks to a scarf that Hakase invented that gives any animal the ability to speak. He also demands that the girls treat him respect and address him as Sakamoto-san because he’s an adult in cat years and the girls are still children. Despite those demands, Hakase and Nano still treats Sakamoto as a cat.

                This series also includes side stories from other characters like a girl whose to tsundere to admit her love for a fellow classmate to anyone, a teacher whose too nervous to do her job properly, and another teacher whose to nervous to confess his love to the previous teacher. This series is packed with funny randomness segment after segment. You can watch all episodes on Crunchyroll.com under its English name, My Ordinary Life. This series proves that no matter what you might think, there is no such thing as an ordinary life.

Don't forget, watch AX Live every Thursday at 7pm (pst) at http://www.anime-expo.org/ex-online/ax-live/watch-ax-live/.

Sword Art Online

                If you think it would be awesome to play a virtual reality online game, Sword Art Online will change your opinion. The series is about an online virtual reality game that’s designed where once a player enters the game, they won’t be able to logout. Not only that, if you die in the game, you die in real life. The only way to leave the game is by clearing all 100 levels and defeating the finial boss.

                The story follows a beater (a combination of the words beta and cheater) by the name Kirito. He accepts the fact that he cannot logout of the game faster than everyone else, but was still stock to learn the news. Because of his status as a beater, Kirito is a skilled swordsman and mostly works alone; but runs into different players throughout the game and partner aside them for as long as he can. The Player he tends to work with the most on the other hand is a girl named Asuna. When the two first met, Asuna didn’t want to work with anyone because she didn’t know anyone in the game. She was then convinced by Kirito to work with him in hopes to increase their chances in winning the game and escaping. Also in the beginning, Asuna paints herself to be an amateur when it comes to games, but her skills showed other wised. With their combined skills, Kirito and Asuna are both an unstoppable team.

                This anime is action packed and entertaining. The storyline is intense as the characters fight for their survival and learns more about each other personal lives. The series is currently streaming episodes each week on crunchyroll.com. If you’re a member, you get to see new episodes as they’re release without the ads. If you’re not member, you can still watch the episodes a week after their release with the ads included. Either way it’s worth watching.

Don't forget, you can catch me on AX Live on the chat feed or on the show very Thursday at 7pm(pst) on anime-expo.org/axlive. DON'T MISS IT!!!!

Yuru Yuri

               When you think of yuri, what do you think of? If you think of a group of girls whose friendship is so close that it seems as if they’re more like lovers than friends and maybe that they’re always in random, funny situations, then that’s exactly what you’ll get out of Yuru Yuri. Yuru Yuri is about a group of four middle school girls forming a club at their school called the Amusement Club, where the purpose of the club is to do whatever you feel. Now the yuri part comes from how a few of the girls tends to commit lesbian like actions towards their fellow club members and school mates. The girls and their friends also tend to get themselves into random situations that will make you laugh out loud.

            There are four main characters in the series that brings their unique aspect to the show. The first character is Akari Akaza. Akari has an issue with standing out; because of this, she is purposely lift out of the show time and times to indicate how she doesn’t stand out much. Despite this problem, Akari is entertaining to watch because all the times she’s tries to stands something goes wrong and you end up laughing at her. The second character is Yui Funami. Yui is the cool headed, mature, voice of reason of the show. She’s the one who keeps everyone in line, or at least she tries to. She tends to get herself dragged into strange situations because of her maturity and being around immature people whether she wants to or not. In the end, she makes the best out of whatever situation she’s in and enjoys herself around the presents of her friends. The third character is Chinatsu Yoshikawa. Chinatsu is interesting because she’s a mixture of maturity and immaturity. She’s mature because she’s very well mannered, but is immature because of her love for Yui; and it is exactly that, she loves Yui with a passion and she doesn’t even try to hind it. Her “Yui Obsession” gets her into awkward moments, like in episode five in season one. I won’t spoil anything and tell you what happened, but you’ll see what I mean. The last main character, and in my opinion the funniest character in the show, is Kyoko Toshino. Kyoko is the main reason why randomness coincidently happens in the series. She’s always has some crazy idea in her head, saying things before thinking, and is always trying to accomplish her perverted desires that evolves Chinatsu. Kyoko will always keep you laughing and you’ll fall in love with her by the end of episode one.

If you have not seen this anime, you need to hurry up and do so. This series will keep you laughing from beginning to end, and then you’ll want to watch the next episode afterwards. So where should you go to watch Yuru Yuri? Crunchyroll.com has all of season one and streams episodes from season two as they’re release. Trust me, if you love comedy and yuri then you’ll love Yuru Yuri.

P.S. I've been resently choosen to be the new correspondent and Interactive Meadator for AX Live. So you can now chat with me during the show every Thursday at 7pm pst. at http://www.anime-expo.org/ex-online/ax-live/watch-ax-live/, don't miss it.

Best Student Council

               This week I’m going to do something different and talk about an old anime, but still a good one. Best Student Council is about Rino Rando, 15 year old girl, and her friend Pucchan, a smart mouth puppet on Rino’s hand, starting a new life at the Miyagami Private Academy. She was mysteriously accepted into the school after the death of her mother. On her first day of school, Rino was elected as her class’s representative and then appointed secretary of the Best Student Council by the council president, Kanade Jinguuji. The reason why the academy’s student council is called the “Best Student Council” is because the student council has more power than the faculty and staff, and the reason why that is because Kanade is the one who founded the Miyagami Private Academy.

               The English cast is filled with experienced voiced actresses. The voice of Rino Rando and Pucchan is Kira Vincent-Davis. She was in roles such as Osaka in Azumango Daioh, Miyu Yamazaki in Super Gals, and Kokoa Shuzen in Rosario + Vampire Capu 2. The voice of Kanade Jinguuji is Kelly Maison. Her roles include Azanael from Blue Drop, Emiko Niwa in D.N. Angel, and Akiko in All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. Other voice actress includes Shelley Calene- Black as the voice Nanaho Kinjo, a highly strict first Vice President and main assistant to Kanade. Nanaho is also in charge of the Assault Squad. Ms. Black roles also includes Princess Hime from Princess Resurrection, Ishu Benikawa in Xam’d: Lost Memories, and Canaan in Canaan. Another Voice Actress is Luci Christian as the voice of Kuon Ginga, the second Vice president in charge of the Covert Squad. Ms. Christian roles include Elise from The World God Only Knows, Yukari Tanizaki from Azumago Daioh, and Nagisa Furukawa from Clannad.

               To be honest, what first attracted me to this show was the title. When I first heard of Best Student Council I was in student council myself. After watching the first episode, I became hooked. Not just because I was in student council, but because of the mysterious reason on why Rino was accepted to the academy and then appointed to an executive position in the most powerful organization at Miyagami Private Academy. The show is also impacted with a lot of funny scenes and an amazing storyline as well. This series originally came out in 2004 and the complete series is in stores now, so go check it out!