[Anime of the Year 2011-III Summer - Usagi Drop]

Since I miss the chance to comment Spring 2023 anime, I may as well do that here.

Steins Gate - Obviously very successful adaptation compared to Chaos Head, and it help that there's 24 episodes allotted on top that the VN has ladder structure in the first place (It mean the anime staffs can just adapt all the way to the true ending). With MAGES find out their anime adaptation being successful, of course they did the logical stuff by milking it to the death, including to remake the VN with anime graphic which to say is very unnecessary and forcing Daru as the MC in Robotic Notes Dash. Unfortunately though, MAGE still risk themselves in near bankruptcy along with the series creator Chiyomaru did step down from his position, so I guess the milking of Steins Gate is not quite enough to save the company.

Anohana - It's the story about a group of friend who understandably can't move after one of their friend was dead, and the development is that they try to move on from the tragedy. Oh yes, the dead friend is counted as the main cast instead of Posthumous Character because said friend is appear as the ghost.

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal - Another new Yu-Gi-Oh series with the less mature MC compared to Yusei (Thus more lighthearted compared to 5D), and this time Konami bring another Extra deck monster type called XYZ which obviously change the metagame back when it was introduced (Especially with the infamous Tour Guide from the Underworld before the new ruling). Anyway, Yuma here has quite a reputation for being easily defeated, although perhaps it's more like he suffer more on screen lose compared to previous MC. Then again, Yuma has spirit guide in form of Astral is certainly not helping his case, especially if we compared it to Yugi.

Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream - Tatsunoko decided to make a franchise based on idol with them basically making a magical girl show (Without transformation scene) that has singing while do ice skating, and if I may say something is that the mascot is quite unnecessary for a series (Besides to increase the number of the item to sell in real life) that tried to sell the show in non-magical setting. I also should mention that the story is typical idol stuff, and the writer definitely realize it so the writer decided to pull some soap opera element in the series. Also I like the song in here, although the insert song in Rainbow Life (3rd series) are far more improved.

Idolmaster - Compared to Aurora Dream, I would say that I didn't mind the drama in here lol. Also in here while we have the girls who want to become the idol, the MC is the producer who will do his best to make the idol under his watch being successful, including helping the girl whenever said girl has some problem. By the way this is one of successful idol project from Bandai, with another one are Aikatsu and Love Live.

Usagi Drop - Obviously the anime has a lot of feeling good element, especially with the 30 years old MC tried his best to become the daughter of his grandfather illegitimate six years old daughter that has been rejected by his family. It should be mentioned that the manga ending is quite infamous even in Japanese, and I'll leave it at that (Feel free to search more of it if you're curious though).

That's all for what I can write in regard of Spring and Summer 2011 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2011-I Winter - Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica]

I should mention that interesting to note that two magical girl series (Madka and SPC) has been affected by big disaster at that time in Japan (Tohoku earthquake), although SPC got it the worst. Anyway for the anime, well Infinity Stratos is usual harem with male MC, Kore ka Zombie desu ka has some unique if not crazy setting with the illustrators are Yuzusoft artists (I just learnt about it today), and Beelzebub is usual shonen stuff with Oga who at first is quite hesitant to do so before finally getting serious about it.

Madoka - Obviously this is the first that start the trend that magical girl should have some bleakness, especially with the cute art that the artist use in Hidamari Sketch. Of course, anyone who know the writer (Urobochi Gen) should expect him to bring some dark element in the show, and he keep manage to prove his capabilities in episode 3 with the bleakness keep going on and on, although he did manage to bring the happiest ending in his work (At east compared to either Saya no Uta or Kikokugai). Obviously the formula bring success, so much that it become the big franchise with the movie sequel and the spin-off Magia Record. Back in 2011, the last two episodes broadcast need to be delayed for a while because of the aforementioned earthquake, although thankfully the series writing is already over by then.

SPC - Initially the staffs has a plan to make the ending being more darker than already dark HCPC finale, although the earthquake obviously change the plan. To make it worse, the staffs already write about one third of the initial episodes (Would be around 16 episodes) before the incident, obviously causing the staffs need to change the writing as much as possible to adapt with the situation. That said, even with the situation and unavoidable circumstances, obviously most people didn't like the change nicely, especially when it near the finale the staffs need the heroines to do some unnatural action to advance the story. All in all, I guess SPC is still a nice series with good drawing and nice opening, although don't expect much good story in it. Oh yes, Toei decided to try musical motif in this series, although whether it does the job or not is up to each of their own.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Winter 2011 anime.

[Sakura Jewel Hunter Review]

8 hours ago, Erogamer said:

 You missed one. Nekonyan is planning on releasing Clover Days this Saturday.

For the info I didn't miss that big release, because I already wrote it about a month ago.

[Anime of the Year 2010-IV Fall - Bakuman.]

This time I'll also comment on Summer 2010 here.

Highschool of the Dead - Obviously it has zombie and ga service with the MC and his friends tried their best to fight zombie. One thing to note is that the author was already passed away, so there's no way to continuing this (Moreso the late author didn't have the apprentice to continuing the work, unlike Berserk author).

Amagami SS - The anime did very faithfully adapt the routes, and by faithfully I mean they really faithfully adapt the VNs without forcefully mashed the routes like what usually anime studio did. Yes, the studio did adapt separated arc for each heroines, so you didn't need to grumbling on how the anime only favor one heroine. We have the English patch for PS2 version, although the patch is kind of rough.

Digimon XRoss Wars - Another attempt of Toei making new anime of Digimon, and the story is lighter compared to Tamers or Savers with the main villain is the Digimon themselves, particularly Bagramon who is the ruler of the evil empire that the heroes fight.

Oreimo - Apparently people can't accept on how the MC decided to chose his tsundere little sibling over some other heroines with nice personality, which combined on how people conceived tsundere as rude and the general displeasure toward incest (At least to anyone else who didn't play much VN featured it) is the cause of the infamy, although apparently there's more of it. In any case, Oreimo has some talk about otaku media and stuffs regarding eroge with little sister heroine.

The World God Only Know - The MC is the avatar both of Sanahtlig and mod Plk_Lesiak. The story is like the handsome MC Keimaru need to use his knowledge in dating sim to date the heroines as he was tasked to do so by the goddess. While at first it has some insider joke about dating sim game, slowly the story is going in shonen direction.

Bakuman - I see that it's your favourite anime there, and for the info the other mangaka work is the famous Death Note if you're curious. Anyway Bakuman is definitely not about the handsome boy who use his Death Note to kill the criminal or any editor who keep pressuring manga author, but instead it's the struggle of the duo to make the manga, which may be a bit similar with the mangaka who also the pair.

Yosuga no Sora - Like Amagami it tried to faithfully adapt the heroines roues, although with 12 episodes the staff has no choice to adapt the maid route as the Omake with them just adapt four routes. The anime version is somewhat infamous with the staffs decided to be a daring by trying to be as close as the source material by animated the sex scenes, and of course general people who didn't read VN with incest would react in a very predictable manner. Anyway while we still have the patch for the VN is working on, actually the VN is already fully translated in English with some translation in later parts are understandably still rough.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Summer and Fall 2010 anime here.

[White Album Alter Code: F Review]

On 8/10/2023 at 9:42 PM, Erogamer said:

The Hoshimemo HD is better for larger screens and the TL was reworked. The TL/English is somewhat better tho it still has a lot of unnecessary added text and questionable translation in some places. I guess it reads in English better?

Well I guess you have a point then in case someone want to play Hoshimemo in a very big monitor and want it looks nice, although to me it's not much use anyway seeing that I only have laptop which is more than sufficient to play normal version. For the translation, well I think the fan translated version is already good enough to read Hoshimemo, so I didn't pay much attention on whether HD version translation is the improvement from 2017 translation or not. So yeah, I think that Hoshimemo HD release is redundant, although if you want to say otherwise then so be it.

[VN of the Month July 2023]

Admittedly July here has more interesting releases compared to last month, although it only amounted to three VNs. As for VN of the Month for July 2023, I think the most fitting one here would be the newest ensemble VN being currently the highest rated VN on both VNDB and Erogamescape. Yes, I know that it's the VN with trap MC which as we know is what ensemble best known for, and they manage to have the trap MC wore sexy training outfit like shown in the CG lol. For the newest Hulotte VN, well it has interesting premise and would be nice to see it translated, although we don't know on who will be up for the task (Could be either Shiravune or Nekonyan now that we have the latter successfully released Klutzy Cupid (Previous Hulotte VN)).

That's all for what I can write in regard of July 2023 releases.

[Anime of the Year 2010-II Spring - Working!!]

Before going into commenting, I'll mention that I like both of Angel Beats and Lilpri opening song to a degree here.

Maid-sama - I only read the manga of it briefly before learning that it has the anime through TV trope, and the premise is the usual poor female MC met up with rich male schoolmate with the female is a rigid student council president who work part time in maid cafe.

Angel Beats - While Jun Maeda has a lot ambition in this, unfortunately it was cut short with the number of allocated episodes. Of course he try to circumvent it through the VN in which he planned 18 routes through six part, although with his health he only be able to finish the first part that contained three routes, and it should bear the mention that the first part is already long, so the hypothetically Angel Beats VN would ended up being too long. No idea if KEY will be able to continuing this, especially with their main company Visual Arts was taken over by big China company Tencent.

Lilpri - Let's just say that the staff definitely not very subtle with fairy tale motif to the three heroines. For the series itself, well it's like Creamy Mami but with three grade school girls instead of just one. Also it has a lot of comedy and parody, and for the info I did watch several episodes of this in the past.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Spring 2020 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2010-I Winter - Hanamaru Youchien]

Durarara - I only know that the artist did design the characters in Devil Survivor dulogy and two of Digimon games (Digimon World ReDigitize and Cyber Sleuth), and it's pretty obvious the artist like big breast in Devil Survivor 2.

Haruhi Movie - The reason on why we have Endless Eight in season 2 of Haruhi (Because Kyoani decide to adapt the arc as the movie with the initial plan for the animated arc last for about half of the second season), and at least it paid off to know on how one of the character felt what's like being trapped in Endless Eight. That aside, it's about the disappearance of Haruhi (Well duh) and on how Kyon will try to circumvent the problem. Also so far it's the last Haruhi anime, seeing that the Kyoani staff who pushed Haruhi is already retired and they probably already moved on from this.

HCPC - The best Precure series, or rather the one who people thought as the best one with good animation. While at the first glance it's easy to see it as such, if we want to look at it critically the reason is because the story of one of the HCPC member Yuri who is quite dark even for Precure standard. It also has fashion show with the light club playing the music in the school festival, and said music is quite good. Lastly, we have Nana Mizuki here voicing the pink Precure Tsubomi who is called as the weakest Precure.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Winter 2010 anime here.

[Enforced Play Order – An Anatomy of Visual Novels]

Other than Hello Lady and Ruitomo, Comyu also has enforced route order, so it's pretty clear that Akatsuki Works, or rather Wataru Hino like to use that structure in his story heavy VN. Obviously the purpose is to avoid spoiler, so it make sense that original Dies Irae used this, which of course was broken by the localization company now that you can play Rea's route (Read: The final route) first, although obviously poor Kasumi now that people have more chance to ignore her route lol. Other than that, well Remember11 can arguably called as rigid play order, albeit with only two route. GIGA VNs (Baldr Force, Baldr Sky, and Duel Savior) also use the same structure in which they forced the player to play all of six heroines routes in the rigid order, although I forgot if they locked it or not.

Looks like KEY VN like to use the second structure, as evident in Little Busters and Summer Pocket. Other than that, there's also Yumina in which it has the finale that can only be unlocked after finished all of the three routes (And you should play across three difficulties seeing that the finale arc assumed you to be around level 90). Other examples that I can think of are Dal Segno and Da Capo 3, in which both involving finished the initial available routes before going to the last route.

For the third method, I can only think that maybe Venus Blood Frontier and Hollow are the closest one, and even then it only apply for the main story seeing that it merely change which country that you'll conquer first. Other than that, well maybe Root Double can qualify to a degree (It should not a coincidence that it's worked on by Nakazawa who've been working on I/O) seeing that you can play the initial two available route in any order before going to the linear part.

Lastly, there's also some curious choice in which some charage lock the side route with the player must clear at least one heroine route, as shown in Yuzusoft VNs from Dracu Riot onwards. Saga Planet VN also use this kind of choice, although in Kirikoi case they also use the second method in which they lock Ria's route behind four routes (Including the side heroine (Akane) route) for the most obvious reason. It should also mentioned that not all charage use this method wisely, especially with Koichoco in which sprite lock the other four routes behind Chisato with her as the least interesting (And most controversial) heroine in Koichoco, and the fact they removed the lock in HD Remake should tell the staffs probablt realize their idea from way back in 2010 was very bad.

That's all for what I can write in regard of this topic.

[The Ups and Downs of Web Novels and Light Novels]

Well the reason why there's less VN with fantasy and science fiction setting is pretty clear, in which it need more money to make the assets compared to usual high school setting while it's just easier to write the story in form of WN (No need to draw sprites and background). Anyway as far as the difference concerned, I think mod Clephas here is more or less almost true. Also it should be noted that some of web novel writer are also just write it with on the spot idea, at least with my experience reading Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear. For the length, well it depend on the story, although if the story goal is already achieved in two volumes then we can say that the rest of the volume are already trails off (ie Bakarina).

Almost forgot to mention that the author usually write his idea in web novel and then improved the idea in light novel, as shown with Reincarnated as Slime with several plot in ight novel are different from the web novel version. Although such occasion is usually rare, because from what I see in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear both novel have mostly same contents (With several more POV of other characters in light novel).

[Anime of the Year 2009-IV Fall - Ibara no Ou]

White Album - Shiravune is about to release the backport of PS3 version, and that's all for what I can say in regard of it. Oh, and there's also the rivalry between two main heroines, although it's not as much as WA2.

Railgun - Like mod Clephas said, I assume that the author for To Aru saw the potential of making Mikoto spin off in case some viewer prefer to have female MC and less male, and we have Railgun. Little did the author know back then that it got the anime ad the manga is still ongoing until now.

Fairy Tail - It's like usual shonen, and the importance power of friendship is emphasize very much. Also it's the most successful work from the author, so much that it has the sequel manga in form of 100 Years Quest, which to say at least it's not as forced as Boruto even though it's clearly milking the franchise.

Seitokai no Ichizon - I only notice this because of the artist Inugami Kira, which for VN fans is more known as Sakura no Toki artist.

Shugo Chara Party - It's only less received compared to the previous two series of Shugo Chara, and that's all for what I know about it.

Darker Than Black - Looks like the staff thought that the previous season was too bleak and dark for them, so they decided to add cheerful female fighter (Suou) in order to lighten the anime. As for the response, let's just say that it's quite mixed if what TV Trope mention is right.

Kampfer - It has male MC who turned into female when he fought, and turned out his former crush is the main villain of the series. Would prefer if the MC is female to begin with, but I suppose the author want to make it more unique with gender bender angle with the MC can transform back into male.

Inuyasha Final Act - The final arc of Inuyasha, and unlike the previous series that pad a lot of episodes this time the studio decide to just rush it with 26 episodes. It's interesting to note that Bleach final arc also use same approach with the number episodes doubles it (52 episodes) with currently we have second part of it aired.

11eyes - Well it's pretty obvious this is not the best adaptation work from Doga Kobo, and of course it won't make same impact as Oshi no Ko. Especially with on how the staff seems to be dislike Yuka with them decide to make her character as bad as possible in the anime, so much that MAL users make some threads on how she's horrible and deserve to die. While to be fair Yuka also has some yandere tendency in VN, she expressed it in the different way and her reasons is less jealousy toward Misuzu. I also should mention that the anime staff seems to prefer Yuka not realize her full power, which according to the VN is far more stronger with her anime version just utilize it as the way to nullify enemy attack.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Fall 2009 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2009-III Summer - Bakemonogatari]

Umineko - As for the adaptation, let's just say that it's quite lacking because Deen cramp all four Episodes into 26 episodes. While it's not Deen fault alone, Ryukishi just write a very dense text in Umineko, so it's understandably quite hard to adapt it properly. In any case, the only proper adaptation for Umineko is the manga, in that it get further by clearly explaining the content in Episode 8 that the VN alone didn't manage to do it (Or rather explaining in less clear cut manner while also has some other issues).

Spice and Wolf 2 - Obviously the sequel of the first Spice and Wolf in which it tell us the story on how Lawrence and Holo keep doing their journey. By the way there's a new anime announced, although instead of continuing the story until the conclusion of the novel the staff decided to reboot the series from the beginnng.

Bakemonogatari - I only know that it has Senjougahara which people mention her as the inspiration for Grisaia artist to drew Yumiko, and that it has male MC (Duh). Otherwise may as well dismiss it as yet another popular LN adaptation with male MC. At least the art is quite unique if anything else thanks to Shaft.

Canaan - It's less Girl With Gun series like mod Clephas mentioned and more it's the sequel of a VN, or more specifically it's the sequel for Shibuya Scramble with two of the casts (The titular Canaan and her best friend Oosawa Maria) tried to clear up the remaining problem in Shibuya Scramble. By the way, while Type Moon did responsible for Canaan story in Shibuya Scramble, it seems they didn't involved as much in the anime version (Also the studio that adapt it is not Ufotable like Kara no Kyoukai, but instead it's P.A. Works). Although at least we have Sawashiro Miyuki returned to voice Canaan here.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Summer 2009 anime here.

[VN of the Month June 2023]

For this month, well it's full of FD indeed. Anyway for VN of the Month, since Happy Show Life and Houkago Cinderella 2 FD are quite short (The former is quite unusual for FAVORITE seeing that they did released several meaty FD in the past (Especially Hikari which arguably is more like the sequel for Irotoridori)), Element with Emotion and Gotoubon VN didn't have score yet, and Rain Code is not count as VN, the only remaining viable candidate is Mashiro Iro Symphony Sana Edition with the VN is the adding the sex scene for Sana's route. While technically speaking it's just the remake of Sana's route from PSV version, release wise it's like what Palette did with Nine series. I hope that someday we may have Mashiro Iro Symphony HD licensed (With Sana Edition obviously), if only for Tsubasu's art.

Well, that's all for what I can comment in regard of June releases.

PS - We actually also has Ambitious Mission FD second part as June release, although since it's just FD it obviously fall short to the aforementioned Mashiro Iro Symphony Sana Edition. 

[Anime of the Year 2009-II Spring - Souten Kouro]

For the last season, I only know White Album and Fresh Pretty Cure (FPC) with While Album itself is the adaptation of the VN that Shiravune will release on this year. No ideal on how faithful the adaptation would be compared to WA2.

FPC - After YPC5GG failed to gather the money as Toei and Bandai expected, they decided to pull one last effort with the new producer and manage to produce FPC with them mix some sci-fi element into it along with making the villain cadres more good looking, resulting in some success so much that they can keep going with it, although Toei decided to not do the direct sequel now but instead from FPC each of Precure series would be one year standalone series.

Before Green Gable - The last World Masterpiece Theater theater TV series that is the prequel of another series, and so we didn't have that series until now. No idea if the series will be revived or not.

Tears to Tiara - Well the premise is more simple than Utawarerumono, so I can see if you think like that. Anyway, with Shiravune took the license for Aquaplus work (Utawarerumono trilogy, Dungeon Traveler 2, and White Album), I hope that they eventually took Tears to Tiara duology for PC later. Oh yes, it also has English translation, although the graphic between the original and the remake are very different, and the anime using the art from the remake.

Phantom of Inferno - The 2nd opening is not quite fit with the tone of the anime while the 1st opening set the mysterious tone, although the remake opening is still the best one to me. Anyway like Tears to Tiara, the anime also use the art from the remake. Also if JAST run out of Nitroplus title to localize, I hope they can consider to localize Phantom of Inferno remake version even with the sex scene removed, because the original version translation is quite bad and more importantly it was only available on the hard to use medium (DVD Player).

K-ON - While it's just usual Cute Girls Do Cute Things, obviously it set up the same series that follow the success of K-ON. Series wise, there's no much to say other than it's about the girls who tried their best to do their band inside the school.

Haruhi 2 - Mod Clephas word is definitely can be applied to the second season of Haruhi, especially with on how Kyoani decide to do the infamous Endless Eight as the way to pad the anime after they decided to scrap the initial plan to animated one of the arc on TV series (Said arc is instead adapted as the movie). While it's nothing new on how the studio decided to pad the series with filler, the thing is Kyoani decided to push their creativity with airing eight episodes with the exact same storyline (Several differences in the drawing aside), which to say would be very painful if you watch it weekly (Especially if you've waited for the new story only to be greeted by the exact same story after a week). Well if anything else at least the audience can understand the feeling for one of the character, and it didn't feel as much as painful if you watch it marathon.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - The best anime according to MAL people, which if we compared to VNDB it would be MLA before being dethroned by Steins Gate (The first rank in both database are serious business as it happen). Seriously speaking, it's the more faithful adaptation to the manga compared to 2003 series, with the story goes in way with the manga. While it being praised for being faithful, there's a critic in regard of the rushed pacing for the first 14 episodes, which is understandable seeing that the comparison for that is 2003 anime that adapt those extensively (Thanks to the manga is still far from finished). Oh yes, I like all of the opening, although if I may chose I like the 4th opening the most.

That's all for what I can say in regard of Spring 2009 anime, and yes FPC is count because each of Precure series airing for a year.

[Anime of the Year 2008-IV Fall - Toradora!]

Earl and Fairy - What I know is that the anime is about a fairy doctor Lydia was hired by cool noble Edgar because he need someone with the knowledge about fairy, and it's more or less romance anime with the focus on single main couple. I know about this when my favorite Precure reviewer mention this in one of her HCPC review, thanks to Toei feature the main casts VAs of this (Nana Mizuki as Lydia and Midorikawa Hikaru as Edgar) in HCPC.

ef 2 - At least the writer didn't change the personality for the heroines like what he did to Kei and Miyako in the first ef, although I doubt that I would like to check whether what I say is true or not.

Black Butler - I assume that this anime is quite popular, so much that most of butler characters in the anime are called Sebastian. That aside, let's just say that this anime is popular across gender because a number of reason, be it cool battle or perhaps the romance story.

Girl from Hell 3 - It's more or less about on how Enma Ai solve the problem that happen in the last season ending by using Yuzuki's body, and of course there's still some Client of the Week who in need to get even with the one who harass them by sending the harasser to hell.

Master of Martial Heart - The last episode has some good ending, although whether the author planned it because of his twisted idea or have the fight with the higher up I don't know.

Chaos Head - Compared to Steins Gate, Chaos Head anime is definitely has shorter number of episodes, so it's understandably that they need to cut some events so that it can fit 12 episodes slot. At least it's interesting to note Steins Gate always overshadow Chaos Head in both VN and anime. I also should mention that it might be fit to call Chaos Head (And the rest of Science Adventure) as chuunige if we based it on how Okabe dreaming about conspiracy, and not to mention that Chiyomaru himself like to imagine conspiration so much that he created Committee of 300 only to underutilize it in his works.

Akane iro Somaru Saka - It's one of feng VN that Sekai manage to get the license of it, which is quite unfortunate because it mean that it'll be hard to see it released in the near future. Other than that, well there are much more nice translated VN that has similar premise as this VN. For the anime itself, I suppose I can say that it's faithful although then again I didn't watch it.

Casshern Sin - The remake of old Casshern anime, and there's one notable twist happen in the series.

Nodame Cantabile Paris - I only glance it for one episode in Animax, and I remember the lyric for the ending song (Tokyo et Pari, Pari et Tokyo).

Clannad After Story - Arguably the most well received Kyoani anime, especially with them faithfully adapted the after story section of Clannad and expand it. As for whether it's sad or not, I suppose it depend on each person (Or as someone said, whether you experienced similar situation like Tomoya or not). I should also note that there's some controversy on how Kyoani did adapt the ending, which to be fair it's quite hard to do properly if one remember that you need to restart from a certain section in the game after you get all of the orbs in order to get the true ending. Forgot to mention that while the opening song is not in the game, it still very good.

Index - The start of To Aru franchise (Translated as 'A Certain' in English), and of course the start of Kamijou Touma who will keep having hard fight with his weapon is his anti magic in his right hand. I can see on why it become popular, although seeing that there's a number of the spin off I gave up on following it.

Toradora - This is definitely not usual romance anime, especially because each of the girls have their own flaw and depth beneath their appearance, which of course also apply to the premise in the story in that it started with the MC Ryuuji tried to play cupid between his friends before realizing his own feeling (And his real crush). Toradora also has translated VN for PSP that provide alternative ending for Ryuuji, which from what I see might be one of the more well known one (For VN that adapt the anime series).

That's all for what I can write in regard of Fall 2008 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2008-III Summer - Detroit Metal City]

Sands of Destructions - It has anime first instead of the games, so naturally there are some differences. The games itself has some good name who've been working on well received RPG Xenogears and Chrono Cross (Masato Kato as the writer and Yasunori Mitsuda as composer), so naturally the expectation is high. As for how it turned out, let's just say that the expectation is pretty much unfulfilled. Oh yes it has unique premise, with the heroes decided to destroy the world and remake it anew thanks to them being fed up oppressed by the Beastman.

Koihime Musou - Like Galaxy Angel, the anime staff decided to remove Kazuto (The VN MC), so obviously the focus will be on the (Very large) cast of girls which naturally would made some audience do some GL shipping between the casts. Unlike in Galaxy Angel anime where the girls do comical thing, in here the girls do many fanservices, which to say is quite faithful to the VN seeing that the VN has high number of sex scenes. Oh yes, it also has two more sequels, in that while it follow the VN that has multiple sequels, at least it's not as painful to follow.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Summer 2008 anime.

[VN of the Month May 2023]

Turned out that there's no notable VN in May 2023, so if I may say which is the closest to be VN of the Month then it should be Ambitious Mission FD, although it's still only the first part so it can't be qualified anyway. That said, if I may mention otome VN, then obviously Bustafellows 2 is VN of the Month even though you didn't list it for the obvious reason.

All in all, no much to say other than what I say above and that I still hope that Nekonyan have the license for Ambitious Mission, so that's all for May 2023 releases.

[The True Ending – An Anatomy of Visual Novels]

There's a reason on why people did associate True End must be happy ending, and said reason is because it's the reward for the people who willing to put up with the lengthy playthrough, especially with Clannad in which you need to open the guide in order to know on how to open a new route, and not to mention very numerous side routes beside five main heroines. Aoishiro itself is not lost in that matter either even with no side routes, especially with on how the player need to navigate a lot of choices that can lead into one of 40+ bad endings. Another example of complicated true ending is YU-NO, in which you may as well open the guide to make it less headache, and the guide is very confusing to look if we didn't understand any of it.

Of course though, not all of true ending it selves are necessarily happy ending, in that it's pretty much inevitable if it's a prequel of a tragedy VN, such as Fata Morgana FD with the main story has tragic ending because the premise itself is about the tale that lead up to the present tragedy. Another one is Kara no Shoujo, in that the true end for both parts are more or less very tragic with the developer was had a plan to resolve it in the third part. It should be noted that this kind of ending is very rare, which is inevitable seeing that people prefer happy true end with at most they can push it into Bittersweet Ending.

While you mention that all true end should be conclusive, of course the reception to it can be mixed to a degree. One of such example is happen in Sorceress Alive with several people mention they didn't like on how true end (And true route to an extend) happening, or if you want some translated VN example it should be Bokuten. I also should mention that while Grisaia no Rakuen technically has conclusive true ending, to me that ending was overshadowed by some of the heroines ending (Especially Amane) which in turn it make Rakuen feel like the fandisc for Kajitsu. Speaking of Kajitsu, while it has ladder structure, it should be obvious that it's more or less created like usual charage.

That's all for what I can write when it come to the topic (True Ending).

[Anime of the Year 2008-II Spring - Druaga no Tou: The Aegis of Uruk]

Zettai Karen Children - The manga is more known in Indonesia as Cute Children, and said manga is currently finished in last year. The premise here is exactly like Galaxy Angel game, only that the male MC is handle three (Grade school age) girls instead of five girls. I can only comment that the future self of the three girls are quite sexy lol, because that's what I got remember when I took a glance to the manga in the bookstore. Oh, and some plot about ESP superpower with some bleak future.

Code Geass 2nd Season - Sunrise took attention to the series, and as the result they moved on the broadcasting time to the earlier days, resulting some of the scenes were toned down. For the reminder, the first season was aired in the midnight where no much younger audience watch it, so obviously the staffs can draw some explicit stuff. That said, there's still some dark moment in there, and the ending is can be said as divisive to a degree. Forgot to mention that while CLAMP did involved in this, turned out that they only been responsible for their original character design.

Macross F - Team Macross once again tried to make another Macross anime, and out of all Macross anime I can say that this one is quite well received alongside original Macross. It still has usual Macross stuff (Idol, space war, Missile Massacre, power up by song, and love triangle), although this time the staffs tried to put much focus on the music with the two heroines who involved in love triangle, Ranka and Sheryl, are the idol. Oh yes, now that I think about it the circumstances for two idol and the MC, Alto, are like Ar Tonelico 2 trio.

Yu-Gi-Oh 5D - After the last Yu-Gi-Oh GX Jaden fail to have practical Extra Deck ace monster (Jaden even need to resort to Elemental Hero Neos (Normal Monster) as his ace halfway through the story), the MC Yusei manage to have more useful ace monster from Extra Deck, Stardust Dragon, with it has some use in real life card game. Ace monster aside, this series is also where Konami start to put more focus on the Extra Deck with them experimentation on the summoning method that didn't need to use Spell card (Synchro Summon). My ramble on the gameplay aside, this series has some more mature element compared to GX (Other than playing card game with motorcycle), with the latter half is less received compared to the first half.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Spring 2008 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2008-I Winter - Ookami to Koushinryou]

Gunslinger Girl 2 - It has good opening song, and that's all for what I can comment on it.

Spice and Wolf - It also has good opening song, and the anime has a lot of economy stuffs with the author would wrote World End Economica VN that Sekai has been localized. It also interesting to note that Koshimizu Ami role here is the goddess, and currently she also act as the goddess (Or rather an elf that people worship) in Otaku Elf with her role is the titular otaku elf.

YPC5GG - The second season of YPC5 trilogy, and the last time Toei made the sequel for the main series (Note that the adult sequel of YPC5 here didn't count) because the children apparently prefer to see different Precure series at each year. Compared to the prequel, YPC5GG has more focus on the ongoing story with YPC5 come into the conflict with the group that has the goal to collect the mystical item known as Rose Pact with YPC5 job is to protect said item. Oh yes, this is also the series that has the mascot turned into Precure, in which for this series we Milk become the Precure known as Milky Rose.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Winter 2008 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2007-IV Fall - Minami-ke]

Clannad - Considering the VN is quite well received, obviously the anime version is also well received, especially with Kyoani working on this. Also it's very obvious that it need more than 40 episodes to adapt it faithfully seeing that Clannad is a very lengthy VN. For the first season here, it only adapt three main heroines routes (Fuko, Kotomi, and Nagisa) with the rest of routes (Tomoyo and Kyou) are made into OVA.\

ef - While the anime art is not as good as the VN (It still good on it's own), at least Shaft make it up with the stylish animated art in the opening. If I may nitpick something, it would be on how the director seems to prefer Miyako more than Kei because Kei's action in the anime is not what she did in the VN and not to mention made her character reputation worse to the anime only audience, but if anything else at least it's not as bad as Kaede from Shuffle.

Shugo Chara - Magical girl anime starring 11 years old cool girl who want to be seen as normal, and the 3rd season of it is not as good as the first two seasons. Also it's manga was available in Indonesia, although I only glance a bit of it.

Minami-ke - Cute girls do cute things with three sisters, and that there's a handsome weird man Hosaka who keep trying to win Haruka love (And also have imagination scene when he sang the song revolving curry or vegetable).

Myself Yourself - I'd like to hear the opening song of the anime, and it's quite good. Not the most well received anime that Doga Kobo made (It would be Oshi no Ko), but at least it's not 11eyes.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Fall 2007 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2007-III Summer - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]

Zetsubo-sensei - I only know that it has unique students based on the wordplay along with the teacher who always felt depressed on top had unique animation courtesy of Shaft, and no much else.

Higurashi Kai - Unlike the first one, DEEN only adapt two arcs so it's obvious that it's more faithful compared to the first part. It also has anime exclusive arc that was made in order to cover the plot hole that happen in the first season that was happen as the result they adapted all six chapters within 26 episodes, and said arc was created as the result of Ryukishi's request.

School Days - Technically it's pretty faithful adaptation, although it should be noted that it's faithful in all wrong way by adapting the bad ending in which Makoto was depicted as infamous he is, so much that it end in bloody ending that caused Nice Boat meme (The staff was forced to aired a boat because a real life case where a girl from a broken home expressed her gratitude to her father by killing him with axe). While granted the move surely would cause some infamy, I suppose the director here is pretty smart knowing that his anime would be more well known if he adapt the bad ending instead of good ending like several bunch of anime that adapt the VN, and at least we can still remember the infamous ending of School Days anime even with 0verflow already stopped producing VNs.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Summer 2007 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2007-II Spring - Lucky☆Star]

Hayate - Obviously this is comedy series in which if we read Tonikaku Kawaii then we should understand what kind of comedy that the author deliver, although in here it feature butler instead of newlywed couple. By the way I did read the Indonesian version of the manga, and it has a number of reference with one of those is ROD series with the translation note on it (Which should be noted that ROD is not easily accessible on Indonesia in 2009 unless one watch it through Animax). Oh yes, the anime version did feature YPC5 parody, which of course my favorite Precure reviewer catch up the reference.

Darker than Black - Like mod Clephas said, this is more or less a dark anime with the MC Hei being badass even before he got his own superpower. No much to say other than I only glance a bit of it on Animax.

Kaze no Stigma - Admittedly it's just a cliche shonen series, although the anime did leave one big question that obviously will set up the sequel. Unfortunately the question will never answered because the author was already passed away, and unlike Zero no Tsukaima the late author didn't have anyone who would finished his unfinished work.

Sola - I only know that it's from Kanon writer along with the character design was worked on by Da Capo and ef artist, and no much other than it.

Kamichama Karin - It's about the girl who somehow become goddess (ie magical girl), and now that I have read the synopsis I see it's following Harry Potter with the girl was left dead by her parents on top of being abused by her aunt.

Nanoha Striker S - It's still Nanoha, except with her turned into adult and working for Federation. Also with the episodes are increased into 26, it's pretty clear that Nanoha already surpassed her older brother (Who is the MC of a VN) when it come to popularity.

Lucky Star - Like Hayate, it has a lot of reference. Also it's Cute Girls Do Cute Things anime by Kyoani, and the twin is quite well known so much that SCA-DI made the twin reference in Subahibi.

Gurren Lagann - While the second part may remind you of Code Geass (With robot and tactic), actually Gainax here put more emphasize on being hotblooded will be able to solve anything, and this series is also quite well known for drill meme (And that Yoko's outfit is quite sexy lol).

That's all for what I can write in regard of Spring 2007 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2007-I Winter - Nodame Cantabile]

Naruto Shippuden - The second part of Naruto anime, and it's been infamous with a number of filler episodes. That said, as much infamy as this series is, at least it's not as infamous as Boruto.

Shoujo Cosette - One of three attempts to revive World Masterpiece Theater, so obviously there's still two more series that will be aired in 2008 and 2009.

YPC5 - Personal favorite for my favorite Precure reviewer. That aside, Toei decided to do a number of change, including to make the cast like Sentai/Power Ranger, put more focus on the heroines, and having the mascots took the part in the main story. For the first part of YPC5 trilogy (Including planned adult seque in Fall later), it's quite episodic with the character focus episodes on top of occasional Pinkie hunting. Also I should mention that YPC5 is not the sequel of FwPC or PCSS, seeing that all three had different place setting. Lastly, the character design are quite beautiful thanks to Kawamura's hard work.

Nodame Cantabile - It's love story between genius rigid musician (Chiaki) and genius carefree musician (The titular Nodame), so yeah it's the love story between two contrasting musician. To be honest, no much that I can comment on this other than this is the first Animax anime without dub that I watch, and that the ending song is quite nice.

That's all for what I can comment in regard of Winter 2007 anime here.

[Anime of the Year 2006-IV Fall - Death Note]

Kanon 2006 - While I can understand that the viewers may need to have lesser episodes, in the past there's much complain on how Toei didn't manage to adapt Kanon fully. So of KEY decided to ask Kyoani to do the adaptation for 24 episodes, and as the result Kyoani version of Kanon is the one that was well received. It help that it did adapt almost all of the scenes in the VNs very closely and faithfully on top having good graphic (That can still looking good even today), so yeah. Obviously while opinion may vary, at the very least I can say that it's better adaptation compared to Shuffle.

Code Geass - Actually it's not the duplicate of Death Note, but rather it's based on Gundam because of the studio (After all, Light didn't controlling mecha and having the big battle inside of it while using it's light beam and super robot stuff). I came across this series when I see the VN version of the game, and I learnt over time that this series is very popular. It definitely help that on top having Sunrise and well known studio produce this, CLAMP also help with it's character design, so inevitably the crossover between two well known companies causing a lot of hype, which of course led them to milk this series to a certain degree.

Death Note - In the past I thought that it's cool to have Light defeated his nemesis L, and in the end of the manga I didn't understand on why Near said that what Light has done is worse than any murderers. Nowadays, I can see that Near is indeed right because Light's goal basically has no limit and cause him to kill as much as possible, while any murderers at least know when to stop whenever their goal are achieved. Death Note here is indeed a nice look on how seemingly noble goal that was achieved by using terrible mean is by no means can be less terrible than any other crimes, although the fans put much focus on Light and L relationship (So much that the fans are very angry when L was killed by Light and think that Near is not good enough as his replacement).

Girl from Hell 2 - Second season of Girl from Hell, and in here obviously Enma Ai still accepted the other quest to sent someone to hell. Other than usual episodic stuff, this season also had a glimpse towards Enma Ai along with her own companions own pasts which obviously are quite dark.

Yoake - We have the VN of this available in English, although it's too bad that it's unedited on top of it have no translated sex scenes because the translator chose all age version in which to be fair has two additional routes. That said, the anime itself is quite infamous, not because the director decided to turned Natsuki into being suddenly yandere following what Shuffle anime did, but rather because the artist draw the cabbage in the very spherical way (You can view the video in here), and apparently the nowadays animator took the job drawing the cabbage very seriously thanks to this anime. By the way, when it come to this anime there's no much to say other than it adapt Feena's route.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Fall 2006 anime here.