Anime Review

Hello !

I accidentally discovered another anime while watching Rumiko's newest manga: Rinne, called Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo, and I'd like so share both animes with you. ^^

The first one: Rinne (the full title is Kyoukai no Rinne).

If you're already familiar with Rumiko's other mangas (Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura) then you probably won't be very surprised by her latest manga. The three I've mentioned are her most popular manga's of all time. If you only know those three then you might think that she always uses the same characters over and over again (the resemblance between Ranma and Inuyasha is very striking. Urusei Yatsura is a little different only because it's aimed at older teens +16) but it's actually only those three that resemble each other; the Mermaid Saga (which is freaking horrific!!! O_O) and Maison Ikkoku are very different. The reason the first three mangas I mentioned are the same is because she realized that is what people like (since they were very popular) so she stayed with the same type of characters that people loved for a long time; the jerk-like main protagonist with his energetic companion.

Rinne is a kind of mix between Ranma and Inuyasha, yet it's actually very different from them!

It resembles Inuyasha a lot with the fact that Rinne is half human, half shinigami, and has a cat companion that looks a LOT like Shipo, and there are super natural phenomenons going on, and he has to fight them with his human companion. But it also resembles Ranma a lot because it's centered mostly around school, and it uses the same type of humor as Ranma, just not as goofy. And you have many frenemies; many rivals that aren't just rivals (like Ryoga & Ranma). 

I read the manga a long time ago and I found it boring; it was long, like Inuyasha, and going no where. So I stopped. But when the anime came out in April I decided to give it a try. And I was pleasantly surprised! I actually like the anime a LOT more than the manga for some reason, I don't know why. XD

So what is the story about? It's about Rinne and his companion called Sakura (not very creative on the name there, Rumiko -_-). They look for lost ghosts and help them pass on to the other side. Sakura is one of the rare humans who can see ghosts which is why she's helping him. Rinne is EXTREMELY poor and Sakura is quite rich so he keeps asking her for money so that he can buy his Shinigami tools. XD He even cries tears of blood when he loses money or when he has to use a lot of it, or give up something worthy. XD
There are many more touches of humor in each charater: the grandma - who is a very important and active character in this manga - has her own funny ticks, basically everyone in Rinne's family is crazy. XD

That's what I like about this manga: each character is very different and portrayed with a lot of details; they all have very disctinctive personalities that you empathize with very quickly. ^^

One new thing about this manga that I really like is that the character is a sort of anti-hero, like Inuyasha, that's what I liked about Inuyasha too: at first you just want to smack Inuyasha in the face because he's being a jerk, then he slowly (very slowly) softens down with the help of Kagome.

Rinne's voice actor surprised me a first! Because Ranma and Inuyasha have the same voice actor, so I was a expecting the same voice actor for Rinne, but they chose one who has a kind of deep voice, which bothered me at first, but I find it OK now, it's suits the character and that's what counts. In fact there's a good reason why they have so different voice actors: Rinne's personality doesn't resemble Inuyasha's and Ranma's at all! Inuyasha and Ranma try their best to not get their companions angry (because they either "sit" them or wack them XD). Whereas Rinne can be very blunt and say hurtful things - without meaning it of course - because Sakura lets him say whatever he wants without him being beaten up because of it. XD Yet, he's really a nice person deep down, he just has trouble showing it. He's also a lot more quiet and introvert than the other two.

The main companion, Sakura, is also VERY different from Kagome and Akane; she's a lot calmer than them and doesn't pick tantrums (like Kagome and Akane who get mad easily). You actually NEVER see Sakura get mad: when she's angry she becomes cold and passive aggressive XD; instead of screaming, she'll let you knows she's angry through different ways. XD

So we have a calmer and more composed duo than the ones of her previous mangas, yet that doesn't mean that there is no action! On the countrary, it's packed full of action! But the heroes, instead of going towards it heads first (like a taurus XD) without even thinking of a plan first (like Inuyasha and Ranma do) they go about it with skepticism and sarcasm, which I found to be very interesting!


Here is the opening, so you can get a feel of what it's like. ^^




and here is a short trailer:



You can watch the episodes here:
animeshow.tv/Kyoukai-no-Rinne-…







Next manga I'd like to talk about is Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo.

I haven't read the manga yet, and there are only 5 episodes out, so I don't know much about it and I don't know what it's really about. But basically the main character gets in a sort of "accident" and body-swaps with a girl. And the only way for them to turn back is to kiss. The girl doesn't seem faze by it (but you'll only understand why later on in the series). The whole body swapping is quite funny, and I know it's been done a million times, but this anime is actually not centered around that. Each episode you get to meet new people, and the story is about the connection with these people.

Also each person has a troublesome back story; for example one of them is being bullied, and when the guy body-swaps with the girl he realizes that. Each time he body swaps with a person he learns their backstory and why they act the way they do, you get a life lesson though a funny means, which I find brilliant. ^^

At the beginning the whole thing might seem like a WTF moment, but it actually has it's reasons, don't worry. ^^ I think you need to watch the first 5 episodes to get a hang of what the story is about, even if you don't like the first episode, keep on going because the story gets more interesting as it goes. ^^

Here is one of the funny body swapping scenes. XD




You can watch the episodes here: 
www.gogoanime.com/category/yam…





Next: Anime Review 2