Anime-Otaku-Network

If you haven’t noticed, there have been lots of delays this week in terms of the release of animes. This is mainly due to one thing, examinations. It’s true that most fansubs are either university students or college students, so the only thing plagueing them from fansubbing is mainly due to school work. Since I haven’t had anything to post, I may as well talk some crap.

The first crap that I’m going to talk about may be crap to some, but treasure to some. I’m going to recommend my all time favourites and recommendations of Harem; Romance animes.

1. Shuffle!

The reason why I placed Shuffle! first in rankings is the fact that this anime is so popular that a recap has to be remake to cleanse the evil desires of Shuffle! in fans. Shuffle! airs in 2005 July and ends slightly pass the new year in 2006. It contains 24 episodes and is no doubt one of the best harem romance animes around. Currently it has already been licensed and dubbed by a U.S based company FUNimation. I got to say, the dubbing was pretty bad. The character voice doesn’t suit the character itself. That’s why I prefer reading subtitles instead. Speaking of the remake, it’s just a recap of Shuffle! and contains an original fan service episode as episode 12. Honestly speaking, I feel that the recap isn’t done nicely as it’s based on the characters. Each character is split into 2 parts and is separated in chronological order. It gives the entire Shuffle! anime a poor remake of the original counterpart. I think this is by part due to the company trying to ern some money as the Shuffle! craze was still hot. Shuffle! Memories air from January on 2007 to end of March. Exactlly 1 year after the original Shuffle! series ends. As for the storyline of the original Shuffle!, it’s perfect and the development of the characters are not too fast or slow. The main protagonist chose a good choice as his partner. This, I do not wish to spoil those who have not watched. However, my favourite character in the series in Asa Shigure. The anime has perfectly developed her arc right from the gradual start to the end. Even after watching Shuffle! for countless of times, I still do not get bored of it. It’s touching and is a definite choice for someone who loves romance to watch. Just a warning though, Harem animes are designed to the fact that if a viewer supports the girl which do not end up with the main protagonist, it will be quite hard to swallow, but that’s the thrill of watching harem. Over the years, the countless harem that i’ve watched, no many end to suit my taste but overall it’s still nice to watch.

2. Da Capo I; D.C.S.S; Da Capo II; D.C.II.SS

Yes, Da Capo is the very first harem anime that got my attention. In fact I was involved in the subbing of the anime with a defunct fansub group called HQA fansubs. It was a joint together with AnimeOne fansubs. Da Capo has lots of cliff-hangers and is slightly not as well developed as Shuffle! due to the quality of animation at that time. Da Capo airs in 2003, and mind you it’s such a long time ago. Basically, Da Capo is a harem anime has a clearly defined main female and main character. Even noobs who have never watched harem before will be able to guess who the main male character end up with by not more that 5 episodes. Da Capo is light-hearted and consist of a mixture of comedy and romance. However, it does hae it’s climax seriousness just like Shuffle!. Da Capo ended in a pretty bad shape as Sakura left and Nemu and Junichiro remained passive and do not have any developments. However, a second season dubbed Da Capo Second Season returns with much nicer drawings of the characters. Junichiro had a transformation in his hair from brown to black. The second season introduces a new character similar to the role of Sakura in season 1 who finally realises her mistake. The new girl called Aisha came to learn magic from Sakura’s and Junichiro’s grandmother who already passed away. Aisha then pestered Sakura to teach magic which Sakura refuses due to the fact of her regretting her naive actions in season 1 which caused a disaster. Aisha, however, stood firm to the fact that magic can bring happiness to everyone which Sakura over the course of the anime tries to teach her. Unfortunately, Aisha finally managed to use magic on the Sakura tree and caused a series of changes. In the end, Aisha realised her mistake like Sakura and revets the magic. She then attends Nemu’s and Junichiro’s wedding as a mature magician.

Da Capo Second Season concludes Da Capo I, however, Da Capo II marks the third season on October 2007. It contains 13 episodes and is a disappointment to the Da Capo series as it fails to meet expectations due to an aweful plot and short episodes to develope characters. The sequel, Da Capo II Second Season starts to go more in depth in the main characters, thh Asakura sisters. 2 characters that i’m supporting in this anime is Yume and Koko. I think Koko really does not stand any chacne as the first 5 episodes that i’ve watched seems to put the most focus on Otome. Da Capo II also marks another mistake by the old at heart but young in appearance, Sakura. The plot revolves around her actions seemingly related to Yoshiyuki and Otome. Overall, the Da Capo II venture is rather confusing at the moment. However, the remainning episodes will reveal more, hence although it the first season of Da Capo II is disappointing, do continue to watch the rest of the second season, I still wish to know which girl Yoshiyuki ends up with.

3. Kanon

As of the remake of most animes like the original Shuffle! to the recap, it was poorly done. However, for Kanon, it’s a different story. Kanon first sired in 2002 with a childish and unappealing drawing to most. It later got remade into a better and longer version with greater development in the characters and the storyline. Kanon focuses more on friendship and slightly less pon romance, hence it’s rated lower than Da Capo. It’s plot is excellent similar to that of Shuffle!. Like I’ve said, it’s similar to Shuffle! with it’s tinge of seriousness and comedy. Kanon also marks a genre of the mystery as to how Ayu was able to have a spirit seen by the other characters even though she was in a coma all the while. Similarly, it’s also licensed by ADV.

4. To Heart 2

To Heart 2 is not exactly a good harem series due to it being short and the cliff-hanging ending which the prtagonist ended up with no one. However, it deserves praise as it manges to become popular with it’s seemingly undying OVAs. A new OVA was announced and set to contain 2 episodes. It’s called To Heart 2 ~Another Days~. This mark the undying series. Popular rumours is that To Heart 2 may want to prolong it;s vintage before a smashing second season is released. However the official site did not reveal any information regarding a possible second season.

5. Canvas 2: Rainbow Colored sketch 

This is another one of my favourites. However, the official genre of this anime does not state that it’s harem, so it’s ranked low. As the series is long with 24 episodes, it can be predictably said that it will be good. This is due to a few factors, firstly, harem and romance animes must have enough episodes to develope characters which unfortunately Da Capo II series failed to realise, secondly, for a harem series, a right mixture of comedy and romance must be in proportion. This, Canvas 2 had done it quite well. A typical example of a poor harem anime is Da Capo II series. Firstly, Da Capo II first season have too much emphasis of friendship and comedy, a wrong mixture for a harem genre. Secondly, the second season is separated which should not be done the season season seemingly has no link with the first. The second Season, Da Capo II Second Season developes too much on mystery which makes comedy out of the genre. Also, the asakura sisters were forcible squeezed into development as the first season did no develop them. Thirdly, the punishment of Koko as the possible main character to a side character up till the current episode is cruel. The first season depicts Koko confessing to Yoshiyuki but later on breaks up with him. Finally in the second season, she has been ousted into a side character. I was even thinking and anticipating the second season due to the hope that Koko will reconciliate with Yoshiyuki. If the second season were to develope further without Koko, what’s the use of making Koko Yoshiyuki’s girlfriend in season 1. This is a huge flaw in the plot. Canvas 2 had a satisfying ending to suit my predictions. Do watch this anime together with my list of recommended ones.

I’m not sure how many of you actually download animes via IRC, but I think it’s definitely recommended for it’s safer as compared to torrents and also technically more stable, that is, in terms of download speeds. If you guys do download via IRC, this post is dedicated just for you. I know it’s confusing trying to find the bot listings and commands before the file is sent to you. Hence, I’m happy to release the URL for an illegal operating bot that distro for many fansub groups. However, you must still be in the respective channels this bot is active. Trust me the speeds of this bot is 200+ kbps, quite fast for me. If you get the hand of downloading using IRC, you won’t find it difficult to use, contrary to what many fans feel. Lastly, when downloading, please do donwload the mkv/H.264 format. In case you guys do not know, H.264 means High-Definition and since there is high-definition why waste your effort to download a stand-definition Xvid format. Xvid is usually packaged in .AVI container while H.264 is contained in either .mp4 or .MKV. There is also another similar format to H.264, it’s known as the x264. However, x264 is under MPEG-4 and is contained within .mp4 container. I can’t really explain it well, but just download the high-definition release.

[Distro]Waryas bot listings

I noticed that there is difficulty in navigating around the site. Users experienced errors in closing the window of this site. There is currently a problem with the scripts that I’m using, notably it should be wordpress’s problem. Let’s hope it will get solved soon. Just in case you experience any difficulties, don’t be alarm, it has nothing to do with you guys.

It’s confirmed that Nabari no Ou has 26 episodes. It’s an anime about ninjas, I really thought that Static-Subs and Eclipse would pick up this anime as it’s similar to Shakugan no Shana in terms of how the anime progresses. Fans of Shakugan no Shana who finds that Shakugan no shana II lacks action should seriously try out this anime. However, as expected from such action animes, cliff-hangers form the heart of the anime. Just take for instance episode 3, it ends with a cliff-hanger which is really quite bad for me as I have to concentrate on my exams for the next 3 weeks. This distracts me frommy studies. For the information, I may not update the site as I need to prepare for my exams. Similarly, all my other site contributors are also having mid-year exams. The only person that is free is ootakon, however he does not update the site much, BUT don’t worry, I’ll be back after 3 weeks.

I went exploring the sites of the fansub industry and found a very original piece of Spring review by m33w-fansubs. I have to agree with their views on certain animes as differed from that of animenewsnetwork, however, I strongly disagree with the fact that Allison and Lillia is over rated. I know that the anime is drawn unappealing to most, but if you were to watch till the third episode, you will have noticed that the anime has got a very deep plot. So far, it’s one of my preferred choice of animes and I personally feel that it is better compared to Special A. I feel that Special A is a little too ridiculous, depicting very intelligent students in a S.A. class doing seemingly impossible things with ease such as jumping as high as 20m in high jump category. To be frank, I am mistaken to forsee before Spring that Special A is going to be a nice anime. I know I have pretty much strayed out of my point, but I just want to re-emphasise that Allison and Lillia is an awesome anime and is recommended. Other animes that ANN as well as m33w did not mention are Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, a feel good comedy. It’s also another surprisingly good anime that is subbed by Static-Subs and Eclipse. Amatsuki is also another notable one which I’m rather interested at the moment. Lastly, I am shocked that many actually left out The Daughter of Twenty Faces. It’s such a great anime that many fansub groups even forgot to take a look at it. Luckily a really experienced fansub group is good enough to tell that the anime is good and picked it up. Kudos to Live-Evil fansubs, a 7 year old group even much older than the 5 year old Shinsen. I will like to use this space as to convey my sincere gratitude to Live-Evil fansubs. Last but not least, I’m sorry for this irrelevant post and since it’s night time in my area, I like to wish m33w as well as ANN to have nightmares on missing out the awesome animes. Write the preview all you want, m33w, perhaps ANN might hire you to be an anime reviewer.

Once again I changed the theme as feedback from some of my friends enlightened me that those very small fonts of the previous blog style have left many frustrated. So I took the time off to change the blog skin. Please learn to appreciate this as I took about an hour changing the skin and headers and posting this post. I need those precious times to catch up with my hectic school work. So please…….please appreciate it a little more. I also sincerely hope that this site is really a useful site for links and torrents directions. ~So long folks!

I changed a new theme as I’m getting sick of the previous one. Feel free to voice your comments if it’s too ugly or what.

I just finished watching the entire 12 episodes and 1 OVA of happiness a 2006 anime. I say it was a great anime about romance friendship and magic itself. Cheers to Haruhi and Yuma, the golden couple. Also in the OVA, Jun also became a full fledge female. I feel happy for him(her) as he(she) sure is suited to be a female. Banzai to the end of this rather old anime. I’ll be starting to watch the releases of Spring animes today, maybe I should start with Kurenai, the surprise anime which BSS took up. BSS is still taking up 1 more, but it’s still a secret. Hmm……wonder what anime it will be. Oh! I almost forgot Special A should be out the maybe by tomorrow since m33w is subbing it given their incredible speed. Don’t forget to watch Itazura na Kiss, although I haven’t watched it yet, I saw at m33w fansub site that the anime characters are drawn very nicely. This anime has 26 episodes and is 1 of my top picks in Spring. Refer to Spring animes page for the entire recommended anime list for Spring.

I feel really great after watching 3 episodes of Kimiaru; They Are My Noble Masters in a row, namely episodes 11, 12 and the final episode 13. The anime is got to be the best of winter which satisfied me completely. Although it’s not widely advertised and not many watch it, I still feel that it has a nice and warm plot. The final episode carries the title “Family” which I feel is what the whole anime is trying to convey. Ren and Shinra shares a sweet kiss in this episode explaining the romance tag that this anime carries. Well, now I’m about to watch the spring anime Kanokon released by Ayako, I think the download torrent link should be further down the post. Kanokon is going to be a great anime.

I decided to post since I got nothing better to do. Well, today is a rather dreadful day as I spent the whole day completing D.Gray-Man series until the latest episode 76. I heard that zeroyuki already completed it so I spent the whole morning till afternoon and then till now, which is evenning to finally catch up to it. I must agree that this anime is great and recommended for people who likes fighting and a slight tinge of horror. But the thing is, I completely forgot that I need to attend some tuition classes tomorrow and now I’m still strucked with a large pile of homework undone. This is of cause not including my large chunks of school homework and the load of tests for the whole of next week. Let’s list the test dates out such that I will be sympatised with.

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Tuesday: Physics test on electricity (4 topics altogether forms electricity)

Wednesday: Additional Mathematics Test on Differentiation and Maxima-Minima Problems followed by rates of change

Thursday: Biology Test on Sexual Reproduction in plants

Friday: Geography Test on Foods

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It seems that this blog has become a place for me to vent all these stress into, but don’t worry this will not continue.