Merry Christmas!

Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark OVAs review

I have just finished the 4 part OVA that is an adaption to the Dogs Manga Series. Now, I have to say that I have not read any of the Manga under the Dogs franchise, so this review is only from seeing the OVAs.

The OVA series consists of 4 episodes, each dedicated to one of the main characters. Each episode reveals the back story or some of it to the audience of one of the characters. The characters are Mihai: a retired mafia Assassin, Badou: A chain smoking free lance photographer with a tendency to be hilarious, Naoto: A sword wielding girl seeking vengeance and Haine: a genetically modified assassin.

The atmosphere of the series is very dark much like Black Lagoon. It labels itself as a action packed adventure but, this defiantly not the best part of the short series. The story and characters itself is the best feature.

Now, the most disappointing part of Dogs is the poor production values, the art looked rather decent until they started moving around. The action was really poorly done with slow editing which made the gun fights seem really fake. The music was really substandard as well, there was one good tune but, it lasts like 10 seconds.

Unfortunately due to underwhelming production values it really compromises the effect Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark could have. However the characters and the story telling really intrigued me, and it is this that has made me want to read the original material. Lucky for me, Madman are releasing the first volume on the 10th of January 2010. I will definitely be grabbing this as soon as it is out. As for the OVAs, i give them a 6.8/10

Kannagi Review

I was in the mood for something cheery and fun after doing exams, so i picked up this series. First off, I am impressed! I picked this up just for the fun of it but, got something allot deeper then i expected. The characters are good, the chemistry is good, the animation is good and the humour is grand! It really set itself apart from generic school dramas with a well made plot and characters. I expected this to a harem anime but, i was dead wrong. It is very much just a school comedy with a slice of the supernatural, it reminded me of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya or School Rumble (Though the quality was no quiet as good as those two). Each episode gave me plenty to laugh at and the last few episodes showed it's more serious side with well crafted drama.

The biggest stregnths of this show was the humour and the characters. Unlike alot of anime the characters personalitys were not overexaggerated. Some of my favourites were Nagi, the Heronine of this show armed with a child like naitivity and a childish manner to back that up. Zange was a decent character, she created most of the tension of this show though she loses points for being a bit of a bitch (though her design and voice are both very cute >_<). Unlike allot of comedies these days, the males had some good personalities, like Daitetsu, he is the artistic giant who is misunderstood and likes cute things... Kind of like a male Sakaki to an extent. Akiba is also awesome, an Otaku with a fitting name. He is constantly informing other members of the cast that there views of the Otaku community is faulty but, then he goes to contradict himself. His ten minutes of ranting about anime are also amusing.

The animation reminded me ALLOT of K-ON, the resemblance is almost scary. It had the same kind of floppy feel to it, Kyoto must have "borrowed" this art style for their Moe Blob madness.

All in all it is a very good comedy and I would highly recommend this to any anime fan looking for a good laugh. Though, I am kind of annoyed that allot of the supernatural side was left unanswered especially regarding Zange.

I give this series 7.5/10