Inspire ~Anime~

ANIME:

Anime that I have:

SISTER PRINCESS:
Wataru, who is a top student, ends up failing his only entrance exam into high school. He then finds himself sent to a mysterious island where he finds that he has twelve younger sisters!
Although the idea of this story seems interesting at first, I found that there is no real story line to this anime... (I only have the first four episodes...) Perhaps it becomes more complex in the next episodes, but the idea of the story makes it hard to imagine how the rest of the story will be interesting.

FRUITS BASKET:
The Sohma family is cursed: whenever one of them is hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they turn into their respective animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The family has managed to keep the curse secret for years, but when the innocent Tohru Honda stumbles upon their secret, their lives may never be the same...
This series, although very different from the manga, is very interesting and has some need story twists when different characters are introduced.

MAGIC KNIGHTS RAYEARTH:
In the dimension of Cephiro, Princess Emeraude has been kidnapped and it is now up to three teenage girls from Tokyo -- Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu -- to save her.
The DVD I have though consists of three episodes in which the girls receive their powers from the spirit-beasts and try to awaken Emeraude from her passed love with the late high-priest of Cephiro, Zagato.

RUROUNI KENSHIN:
An assassin named Kenshin Himura wishes to stop his violence and never use his reverse-bladed sword to kill ever again.
This series is among my favorite. I have all six OVA's and I find them very interesting, as well as the story line being very interesting as Kenshin battles his own emotions and tries to keep his former self from taking over his actions.

BLACKJACK:
This anime is about an unlicensed surgeon who possesses amazing skill and who works for hefty prices. When people suddenly become able to use super skills, their bodies soon begin to deteriorate. It is up to Blackjack now to determine what is the deadly secret behind this epidemic.

FUSHIGI YUUGI:
A young girl named Miaka stumbles upon a ancient chinese book entitled, The Universe of Four Gods. When she reads it, she is mystically transported into the book and becomes the main character. Now in a new world, she finds herself confused as she realizes that she is to gather Seven Warriors and become the Priestess of Suzaku, the God of thier region.
I eventually bought the entire first season of this series only to be disappointed that it runs right into the second season... The story line is awesome as many different plot twists occur and keep you wanting to find out what happens next. I absolutely love this series, being it involving Ancient Chinese astrology.

DI GI CHARAT:
This cat-eared alien girl works at Gamers and, if it wasn't for her cuteness, I would say that she is really rude to the customers (and everyone else for that matter).
This anime is totally differne than the others that I usually buy.
The only reason I actually bought this in the beginning is because of its cuteness! (It's a weakness of mine ~.o) I know many people (like my girlfriend) despise this series, but I think it serves as a good balance for all the seriousness and maturity that all my other anime has in it.

BURST ANGEL:
When civilians are permitted to carry firearms freely, the crime rates rise drastically. Regardless, the number of arrests have decreased, because the only prison a dead man needs is a hole in the ground. The mecha in this series is awesomely drawn... and when I say awesome, I MEAN AWESOME!!!
I only have the first DVD of this series, but I think, despite what I usually think of mecha, that this series is pretty well drawn and put together.

ANGELIC LAYER:
I finally bought the box set for this series when I was in Edmonton about 8 months ago... I thought it was one of the best I have ever seen. A girl buys an "angel" and with it, goes to the tournaments in Japan... al the way to the top. The only thing she doesn't realise is that the undefeated champion is her own mother whom she has not seen in years.
This, apart from Tsubasa, is my favorite CLAMP series ever! The story line behind it is nicely laid out and the best part is at the very end where she sees her mother and realises who she is.

SAIKANO:
Truly one of the sadest anime out there, this one is about two high school students that fall in love. When Chise is turned into a weapon by the army, Shuji may never be the same as he sees the life of the one he loves crumble before his eyes.
Although it is a tear-jerker, lots of the story is filler and is not necessary for the main story plot. I honestly thought it would be better, but the ending, (I won't give it away), although it is sentimental, it is also quite... cheesy.

TSUBASA:
Princess Sakura loses her memories, and Syaoran, her childhood friend goes to help her regain them. Placed with two other eccentric people, Syaoran travels through different dimensions with the help of Mokona, trying to bring back Sakura's feathers.
I fell in love with the manga series after I read the manga my girlfriend had. (That was about four books in... Now it's at 11) Since then I've been buying them all and I lately saw the anime preview at the Otafest '06.

HIKARU NO GO:
Hikaru, a young boy, stumbles across an old Go board in his grandfather's attic. When the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai speaks to him and possesses his body, he becomes one of the best Go players as he moves up into various tournaments.
Although the idea of the story is quite cheesy, I like to play Go myself, so I found I could relate to what they were saying in the show quite easily. Apart from that, this series is sorta in the balance in that some of the tournament parts of it make it not as great as it could be.

AI YORI AOSHI:
Young Kaoru lives alone by himself, until one day he sees a young girl dressed in a kimono looking for directions. He helps her, only to find out that she was his childhood friend, Aoi, and she has now come to be... his wife. But Kaoru is not able to return to the life which he left behind, and Aoi is forbidden to marry Kaoru after he left his home.
There is some "other stuff" in the manga, but it is not shown as much in the actual anime. I found the story line quite interesting, seeing as how the two of them want to be together, but it is impossible for them to be so.

SAMURAI 7:
A mix between feudal Japan and mecha - lots of mecha. A village is being raided by huge mecha warriors and the folk people set out to find seven samurai to aid them in protecting their village...
This one was a big mix between mecha and samurai. The mixture confused me quite a bit. I only have the first DVD for this series, but I doubt I'll get any more.

SAMURAI CHAMPLOO:
Mugen and Jin, two very unlike samurai cross paths when they save Fuu, a ditzy waitress. Fuu then convinces them both to help her search for the samurai who "smells of sunflowers".
At first, I only saw the intro episode and I fell in love with it, just because I love the whole samurai plot. Apparently, my girlfriend didn't like the first episode, because there was one part where it kept flashing between scenes, but I didn't seem to mind that.

GUNSLINGER GIRL:
Young girls are taught from a young age to fight and kill with automatic weaponry. As the girls try to cope with all the changes in their lives, they begin to find out more about the feelings people have around them, and that they have themselves.
I only have the first DVD of this 3-disc series, but I borrowed the other two from my girlfriend who has the entire set. Although the story is quite good, I feel that the ending is almost left hanging like it's incomplete.

NEGIMA:
Negi Springfield, a young Welsh 10-year-old is sent to Japan to teach in an all-girls school - as an assignment to pass his magic school exam. As he tries to get to know all the girls in his class, he uncovers other things that interfere with his wizardry.
This series has a lot of "other stuff" in it... but don't get to excited, cuz I'm only refering to the manga. The anime doesn't show anything at all!

MÄR:
Ginta Toramizu is a nerd who dreams of a fantasy world called Marchen. The only person that will listen to his stories is Yuki, a girl who he secretly has a crush on. But one day, when he actually gets taken to Marchen, he suddenly becomes the hero and finds a mysterious Arm who can speak.
So far, I have all the manga for this series. I haven't been able to find the actual anime for it, but I've heard it's out there somewhere. The series is a bit kiddy in its style, but it has a really good story plot and keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

MY-HIME:
Mai and her brother are on their way to Fuuka Academy, where they run into two girls having a supernatural battle on board the ship. This is only the beginning when Mai realises that she too possesses the powers of a Hime.

PRETEAR:
Himeno is struggling to not be the outcast within her new family of two step-sisters. However, one day, she meets the Leafe Knights and they tell her that she is the one who will save the world from the Princess of Destruction.

SAILOR MOON:
Okay... okay... I won't say it... Do I really need to explain what this series is about? I don't think so... (Don't laugh at me for watching it, k? I like it!)

Anime that I don't have (yet...):

INITIAL D:
This one is about a guy that races in the mountains of Japan while his dad works as a tofu delivery person... and kicks butt racing!

Actually, I bought the Chinese real-live movie entitled InitialD. It was pretty good with a quite complex story... I had to watch it two to three times to figure out what was actually going on... Awesome race scenes.

ONE PIECE:
Okay, now this one... I'm not to sure of either, but I have heard it's good from some reliable sources, so...

Anime that I've seen before but don't have:

THE TWELVE KINGDOMS:
Yoko suddenly finds herself taken to a mysterious land with two of her schoolmates by a mysterious long-haired man. As she journeys throught the twelve countries of this new world, she discovers many new things, and soon learns that she's suppopsed to be the current Empress of the country of Kei.
Although I like this one because it also is vaguely based on Ancient China, the story line got way too political towards the end of the series, which almost puts you off.

HUNTER X HUNTER:
Gan decides to take after his father and become a hunter. He meets three other people who journey with him, all having one thing in common -- they each want to become hunters.
This one was not so great, and I thought that the storyline could have been executed much better...

FULL METAL PANIC:
Chidori, born with "Black Technology", is in danger. As a precaution, Sagara and his friends are sent to protect her life without her realising it. However, she suspects that Sagara's a pervert, and most times, something happens to back her hunches.
I thought that this series was pretty well laid out and it really had me wanting to watch it. I finished the entire set in about two days on and off... (about 50 episodes)