The Book of Bantorra Episode One: Bombs, Books, and a Sinking Ship

The Book of Bantorra, also known as Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra, takes place in a world where people turn into books when they die. A group known as The Armed Librarians are tasked with protecting them, among other things. In this world also exist a number of people brainwashed by a corrupt church known as "meats". If it sounds a little confusing, that's probably because it is.

Book of Bantorra is a mish-mash of a lot of interesting concepts, and the universe they've set the series in looks very stylish, but in spite of that, this episode didn't really work for me. It felt very unfocused and was disjointed. Between the awkward dumps of information and the unusual jargon used, it was hard to follow the show in spite of the many moments when the episode really was quite good.

I do think there's hope for this anime, however. It reminded me a lot of the first episode of Simoun, which got off to a similarly awkward start, but turned into something really great. I'll definitely watch this for at least a few more episodes in the hopes that once they've had some time to introduce to this universe, the show will be as good as I'd like it to be.

Rating: 78/100

If you'd like to watch this anime online free, head over to crunchyroll.

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Kobato Episode Two

Kobato continues on, and it's as sweet and wonderful as ever. It's the kind of anime that gives you warm fuzzies inside. This episode was alternately hilarious and heartwarming. We got to see what I expect will be the general episode pattern for a while with this one, and I'm really looking forward to more of it.

This episode of Kobato had our title character trying to collect pieces of healed hearts for the first time. Her antics as she tries to make sense of what to do were adorable, and I think anyone who wasn't crazy about Ioryogi in the first episode will be won over this time around. He had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. We also got to see a lot more of characters like Fujimoto, who I assume we'll be learning a lot more about soon. I'm not crazy about his character design, but he's an intriguing character, and he and Kobato play off each other really well.

I don't really have much for this show except effusive praise. I'm tempted to try and get my hands on the manga, but a part of me doesn't want to spoil the series from me. It's so well done, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it this week. If Kobato's storyline doesn't manage to conclude within the planned 24 episodes, however, I'll have no choice. I'm already hooked.

Rating: 94/100

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Darker Than Black II, Episode 1: The Black Cat Doesn't Have a Dream of the Star...

The second season of Darker Than Black, also known as Darker Than Black: Ryūsei no Gemini, has begun, and it's off to a pretty thrilling start. This season takes place two years after the events at the end of last season. While the show is now taking place in Russia rather than Japan, and is focusing on a different main character for now, there are still plenty of familiar faces. Some really interesting new characters have cropped up as well, and I can't wait to learn more about them.

Those that were disappointed with the ending of last season will be pleased to know that the show is already revealing more information about the Darker Than Black universe. It was really exciting to get some extra tidbits of information, especially since it focused on something in particular I'd been curious about. As for those of you who haven't watched season one and are thinking about jumping right in, you should be able to follow this episode just fine, but I'd recommend checking out season one so that you have a better appreciation for what's going on. You can find out how to watch season one online free here if you're looking to catch up.

Overall, this episode got Darker Than Black II off to a solid start. The action scenes were terrific, and it was definitely compelling. Waiting a week to watch each new episode is going to be rough. I can't wait to watch a few more episodes so I can get a better idea of the direction this season is headed in. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think this season just might be able to top the first one.

Rating: 90/100

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Darker Than Black: Series Review

It's been a few days since I finished Darker Than Black, and I now feel like I've had enough time to collect my thoughts about the show to go ahead and write a review. I'm going to make this as spoiler-free as I can muster, and this absolutely should be safe reading for anyone who hasn't seen the show.

I'm not sure why I never got around to watching Darker Than Black sooner. I have a pretty big weakness for superpowers, and not only is Darker Than Black full of them, but it injects new life into the concept with the introduction of payments. Half the fun of seeing new characters show off their powers each week was finding out what sort of price they'd have to pay for them. The writers got really creative with this, with payments that ranged from silly and lighthearted downright monstrous.

Darker Than Black was a pretty solid series right from the get-go, and by the time I'd watched the first 6 episodes I'd fallen in love with the slow. It's rare for an action series to spend so much time on character development, but it paid off bigtime for Darker Than Black. Scenes from older episodes were often given new significance, making this a great series to rewatch, and the series managed to have some really emotional moments. Yoko Kanno's soundtrack for the show was masterful, but I wouldn't expect anything less.

However, as much as I liked Darker Than Black, it was rarely everything I wanted it to be. The show frequently built up momentum and then didn't take advantage of it, and several of the show's story arcs seemed really oddly placed. I think if the series had had a little restructuring, it could've really been a masterpiece. As is, it's a throughly entertaining show, but it had the potential to be even more.

Now that I have some distance from it, I'm a little less satisfied with the ending than I initially was. If I had watched the show when it initially aired, I think I would have felt pretty disappointed. As I said, I'm not going to spoil anything here, but people who want all their questions answered might find themselves a little frustrated with the show.

All in all, Darker Than Black is still a pretty great anime. It has its flaws, sure, but diving into the green hued city the show was set in was a wonderful experience. A compelling plot, well-written characters, and terrific action scenes are a terrific combination. If you're a fan of anime, then there's a lot to like about this show.

Rating: 92/100

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Kobato Episode One: Wishful Girl

I should preface this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of CLAMP. Something about their stories and characters tug at my heartstrings like no other, and they've never done a series that I haven't liked. I haven't yet had the chance to read the Kobato manga, so right now I'm going into this one fresh and unaware.

Kobato is about a mysterious girl who came to Earth to fulfill an equally mysterious wish- all we know is that she has somewhere she wants to go. To make her wish come true, she must heal 100 broken hearts and collect their fragments.

The opening has Kobato's teacher- a stuffed dog named Ioryogi who feels like a deeper voiced version of Kero from Card Captor Sakura- testing Kobato to see if she has the common sense required to handle living in our world. Kobato is throughly hopeless, but I'm sure you all can still figure out what the outcome of the test will be. The fun is in seeing how she pulls it off.

I loved this episode, but Kobato is most definitely not for everyone. So far the show appears to be toothache inducingly sweet, and those with a low tolerance for incompetent heroines will quickly find themselves irritated with the show's title character. However, if you're like me and don't mind your anime slightly saccharine, or if you want to see what secrets and twists CLAMP has up their sleeves, this is definitely one to watch.

Rating: 90/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 26: Beneath Cherry Blossoms in Full View

And now it's time for me to properly finish off Darker Than Black. To be honest, it felt a little weird watching this episode after the roller coaster that the season ending was. I'm glad that they did a genuine episode for their last one instead of a recap like a lot of series would've done, but it just felt so out of place.

Episode 26 of this anime is, as I said before, a fun little side story. It's a silly tale that takes place probably somewhere in the middle of the series, and it involves BK-201 getting written into anime fanfiction. Seriously.
It was nice to see all the major players working together again, but as I said, watching it felt a little off. I probably would've had more fun with it if I hadn't watched it almost directly after Episode 25. That's what I get for trying to plow through the series and finish it up quickly, I guess!

If you were wondering, watching this episode absolutely isn't necessary to get the full story of Darker Than Black. If you can't wait to see more of the characters, check this one out, but don't feel like it's something you need to do.

Rating: 85/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 25: Does the Reaper Dream of Darkness Darker Than Black?

Here ends the last proper episode of Darker Than Black season 1. There's one last episode to the season, but it's just a fun side-story and it doesn't take place after the end of the season events. I have a lot to say about this one, but to do it without spoilers would require me vagueing things up to the point of ridiculousness, so I'll just go ahead and bust out my trusty spoiler tags.

» Major Spoilers Under Here «

In my last recap, I mentioned that I hoped that some of the characters we'd lost would get a little time devoted to them as there wasn't time to focus on much of anything in the previous episode. When I said that, I never imagined that every character who was gone in the series would make a comeback. I loved seeing November 11 in particular, of course, and I'm glad he got some nice dialog, but I also found the appearance of many other characters to be particularly touching. The inclusion of the doll from the very first story arc was especially nice.

I'm really impressed with how they ended this one, overall. The major questions presented in this series, like how Li got his powers, were clearly answered, but many things were left open ended. I love how they handled the fate of Mao, and until I'm proven otherwise I'll choose to believe that he got himself back somehow. I feel like there's a million ways this next season could go- I'm not sure how many, or if any of the major characters from this one will be big players- and not being predictable is always a good thing.

All in all, I thought this was the perfect (sort of) end to the series. I'm really grateful that I was able to watch Darker Than Black online free and legally so that I could catch up with this before the second season started. I plan to do a review of the entire series as soon as possible so that I can go through everything else I want to say here. I'll be posting up a recap of the actual last episode soon as well.


Rating: 95/100

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