This anime makes the Gundam characters and their mechs look like a bunch of pussies — well, except for the whiny Jin and his teen-angst childhood friend. What could be better than piloting a dragon? Nothing.

That said, the intro music is one of my favorite japanese songs, because it has an almost break beat feel to it. The character designs take some getting used to, though.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

In order to avoid Earth’s impending destruction from an asteroid, the International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA) works on the “D-Project”, and creates dragons after finding a dragon egg under the ocean. However, they soon find out that the asteroid is not their only threat, as powerful dragon-like creatures appear on Earth. After witnessing a murder by one of the creatures, Jin Kamishina gets involved in the mysteries of the dragons and becomes a dragon pilot, otherwise known as a “Dragonaut”. Helping him on his journey is Toa, a mysterious girl who saves him from falling to his death after the creature attacks him. As they delve deeper into the mysteries of the dragons, they encounter new friends and enemies, and also begin to develop a closer relationship.

Two fansub groups sub this anime: Sekai and Infinite Zero (tracker page). You can download from either, but I would recommend watching at least one Sekai due to the fact they also show the japanese lyrics — or you can just watch the intro in this post.

Holy shit, this anime is full of gratuitous panty shots and displays of the most ecchi you’ll see without it being called hentai. It’s actually a bit annoying at times, but the animation style is very crisp and sharp. This is more of a happy anime with no real story line as far as I can see but, nonetheless, does deliver on the comedy aspect. Moka is cute and innocence, but still a vampire, though she can suck me any day she wants.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Due to poor grades, Tsukune Aono, an average high school student, has been unable to get accepted into any private academy of his choice. By exceptional accident, the only school to accept him turns out to be anything but ordinary; the school is attended by youkai disguised as humans. Fearing for his life, he attempts to escape only to meet Moka Akashiya, a beautiful girl who just happens to be a vampire. Despite this, Tsukune decides to stay at the academy, hiding his human nature from students and teachers. Tsukune also discovers that when the rosary around Moka’s neck is removed, her true nature emerges.

I recommend the joint Ayako-Bakawolf fansubs. You can find these episodes on the Scarywater tracker Ayako section.

Here’s the second opening; it has the same music as the first but the content is different:

This is your typical detailed anime but with unusually round eyes. The intro is somewhat disappointing, except for the rapid-blooming flowers, due to a lot of stock footage from the actual anime being used, but the music is excellent. This is one of my favorite animes of the season.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Toraji Ishida is a high school kendo teacher. His friend and fellow kendo teacher makes him a bet: if Ishida can assemble a girls’ kendo team that can defeat his girls’ team in a practice match, he’ll treat Ishida to free meals at his father’s sushi restaurant for a whole year. Now Ishida must find five girls to join the team.

Head over to Doremi fansubs for their subbed versions of Bamboo Blade.

I love this anime. The style is so crisp and colorful, with high contrast especially present on clothes and hair. The faces are cutely drawn and the intro is so damn good — reminds me of Love Hina. The ending is a lot of fun, too.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and gambling. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya’s shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction.

Note: Dennou Coil translates as “Cyber Coil”.

Mooky turned me on to this one; seeing the style, I again decided to try this one out, and I was not disappointed. This has to be the most sci-fi packed anime I’ve seen to date. This is one of the few anime where I wasn’t impressed with the intro; it doesn’t do the anime justice. Still, it’s worth watching and gives a glimpse as to what the story is (partially) about.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Eleven years after the introduction of internet-connected, augmented reality eyeglasses and visors, Yūko Okonogi moves with her family to Daikoku City, the technological center of the emerging half-virtual world. Yūko joins her grandmother’s “investigation agency” comprised of children equipped with virtual tools and powerful metatags. She quickly crosses paths with Yūko Amasawa, an expert hacker of the virtual environment, as Amasawa relentlessly seeks to “unlock” the mystery of a computer virus that emerges from an inaccessible corrupted space.

Horo is such a clever and witty wolf, but still remains cute, as she’s always apt to point out. This anime has a smooth melody and theme to the intro. This is mainly a drama, with some action every now and then.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Craft Lawrence, a 25 year old peddler travelling from town to town selling and buying various things to make a living during a period much like Europe in the Middle Ages. One night when stopped at the town of Pasroe, he finds in his wagon a 250 year old pagan wolf deity girl named Holo. She appears to be that of a 15 year old girl, except for a wolf tail and ears. She introduces herself as the town’s goddess of harvest who has kept it blessed with good harvests of wheat for many years. Despite having the responsibility to watch over the town, she wants to go back to her homeland in the north called Yoitsu, she believes the people have already forsaken her anyway and that she has kept her promise to maintain the good harvests. She manages to bargain her way out of the village by making a deal with Lawrence to take her with him. As they travel, her wisdom helps increase his profits, but at the same time, her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church.

I recommend the quality subs by BSS. You can download them from the anirena tracker, as well as other fansub groups’ works.

And… here’s the ending theme:

Note: Juushin Enbu translates as “Hero Tales”.

I started watching this anime a bit late, since I was originally put off by the style, a combination of old and new, but it has grown on me. This anime is based on a chinese story and has lots of comedy with a good dose of martial arts and spirit-based attacks (kind of reminds me of Dragonball Z).

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Set in a time of chaos, seven heroes of the Stars, the Hokushintenkun, rise up to lead the people. Two of the seven, the Nitenshinson, the Hagun and the Tanrou, are never supposed to exist at the same time, but fate has decided otherwise. Taito, chosen as the Hagun, now must rise up to defeat the Tanrou, as the fate of the Stars destined it to be.

The fantastic Kuroneko subs this anime. You can download the episodes from their BT page.

This is comedy gold. What would you do if you could see and talk with bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic organisms? Now if you could only control them…

Mix an eclectic professor, sadistic but dedicated assistant, and two college students — one a shy blonde boy with the ability to see small life large and an effeminate son of a sake brewer, but don’t forget “dumb” and “dumber” — and you get an anime worth watching — maybe even again — even if it is short.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

College student Tadayasu Sawaki has a unique ability. He can see and communicate with bacteria and other microorganisms. Hijinks ensue.

I recommend BSS subs. You can download the entire series, episodes 1-11, on their animesuki tracker.

Some might say childhood memories reborn are fools grasping at the straws of nostalgia, but in this case I disagree.

Behold, Sonic X!

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Back on Sonic’s home planet, Eggman has collected all 7 of the Chaos Emeralds, and is about to have absolute power when Sonic interferes, causing an explosion that sends everyone from their world to Earth. Sonic and his friends team up with 12 year old Christopher Thorndyke to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and defeat the evil Dr. Eggman.

I recommend looking on Mininova for this series.

Note: Utawarerumono is translated as “The One Being Sung”.

I first came across this anime when listening to a song on the Your-Mom fansub site. I retrieved the mp3 playing and read the ID3 tag, which lead me to find this anime. Amazing.

Adventure, loyalty, guts, blood. All of these words could be used to describe this anime, but I’m just going to go with one this time: Awesome. If you have not seen this, be prepared.

From www.animenewsnetwork.com:

Hakuoro has lost his memory after succumbing to serious injuries; but thanks to a elderly woman and her granddaughter Eruruu, he is nursed back to health. His face is covered by a strange irremovable mask and he occasionally sees beastly visions. Eruruu now cares for him as he becomes accustomed to the village and its inhabitants who all bear strange ears (the women have tails too). Though these people venerate the forces of nature, desecration of an alter forces them to take drastic measures to preserve their lives from the wrath of Mutikapa-sama, guardian of the forest.

You can download the entire series, episodes 1-26, plus the special, at The Pirate Bay (torrent).