Alternative Titles: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Tsukihime

Episodes: 12

Year: 2003

Status: Complete, Licensed by Ganeon Entertainment

Tsukihime Official Site

Rating: Alright

Tohno Shiki is far from the average high school student. An accident at a young age has left Shiki’s past a complete mystery even to himself. Moreover, Shiki possesses the eyes of a Shinigami – an ability to see the lines of death of anything. Shiki’s routine life takes a turn for the unexpected when he suddenly experiences an urge to kill and using his ability, kills a female vampire. The vampire, Archeid Brunestud, tracks down Shiki’s help on her own mission and find and kill the infamous and deadly Roa. Shiki’s journey thus begins in using his ability and uncovering the secrets of his own past.

Tsukihime opens with an incredibly intriguing plot to keep us hooked onto the series. Questions of Shiki’s past, vampires and all the rest of it are key to the storyline. However, at the same time, Tsukihime also develops the romance aspect of the story which is less well done than the mystery. It provides decent action and a progressive storyline while bringing up the tension and drama of the plot. However, one the main drawbacks of the series is that it left many questions unanswered even towards the end. As far as violence and gore is concerned, Tsukihime contains a lot of blood, violence and death. Overall, if you like vampires, supernatural plots and the like, Tsukihime will be a good watch. Apart from the awkward romantic development, Tsukihime does deliver in a great story.

Year: 2006

Status: Complete, Licensed by Ganeon Entertainment

Official Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Site (Japanese)

Official When They Cry Site (U.S)

Rating: Great

Review: The story takes place in the June of 1983. Maebara Keiichi is a young boy who just moved to the small village of Hinamizawa with his family. Hinamizawa is incredibly small with a population of around 2000. As Keiichi gets used to his new life in the countryside, he finds friends at school in Ryuuga Rena, Sonozaki Mion, Furude Rika and Hojou Satoko. Life seems tranquil and uneventful at first – as it should be in a tiny place like that. However, Keiichi soon discovers that Hinamizawa has a dreadful story of murder and death in its past that continues to this day. The gruesome deaths are linked with the annual Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi soon finds himself in danger as he is now one of the targetted people!

I was almost tempted to skip the synopsis and say just watch it! Higurashi is one of the most scariest and twisted animes I have seen. The story of murder unfolds in separate arcs with different accounts, thus resulting in a nightmarish retelling of events that make it almost impossible to unravel the real truth behind whats going on. There is a good deal of violence and bloodiness in the anime but despite its gore, it will keep your mind racing to keep up with the story. Do not be fooled by the cute wide-eyed girls in the first episode – you will find a harsh slap back into reality as the anime reveals its dark and (terribly) scary side. For all you fans of suspense, psychology and “thinking” anime – you will be hooked onto this one!

More intensely psychological anime: Monster, Death Note

Year: 2007

Status: Complete, Licensed by ADV Films

Devil May Cry Official Site (Japanese)

Devil May Cry WOWOW Site (Japanese)

Rating: Great

Review: Dante, a demon hunter, runs a business “Devil May Cry” and offers to get rid of demons – for a price. Like all the good guys we know, Dante is neck deep in debt and now has a little girl he saved, Patty Royale/Lowe/Rowell (depending on which subbed version you watched) in his care. Out on the street, Dante is the embodiment of coolness in his red trench and leather pants. Back at the store, he is his lazy self – putting off his debt and promising to clear his pizza bills at the end of the month. The anime follows Dante’s adventures as he takes one dangerous job after another to catch up with his ever-growing debt. Produced in a style where each episode is a self-contained adventure, Devil May Cry offers up some really fantastic action of demon hunting!

For those who need to know before I continue, no I have not played game – and probably never will. The action is as good as it gets in Devil May Cry – but be warned, there’s a lot of unsightly bloodiness in it. The anime doesn’t seem to have a grand unifying plot driving it forward since each episode is an adventure in itself. But frankly, I don’t think we need that here. Dante’s character and action-awesomeness are more than enough to keep you watching and waiting for more! Thumbs up to Devil May Cry!

Want more awesome action? Check out:

Hellsing

Trinity Blood

Witch Hunter Robin

Year: 2007

Status: Complete

Subbed by: Shinsen Subs

Zombie-Loan Official Site (Japanese)

Rating: Alright

Kita Michiru is a timid girl who has the gift of the “Eyes of a Shinigami”. Michiru has the ability to see the lifespan of a person which is marked by rings on their necks. However, she hates her gift after watching her parents death and subdued her abilities by wearing glasses. All this changes when Michiru accidentally sees the rings of two boys Akatsuki Chika and Tachibana Shito. Much to her surprise, these boys should already be dead – but they’re not! It turns out that Chika and Shito actually work for the mysterious Zombie-Loan and their job is to kill all the evil and illegitimate zombies to pay back the debt they owe. After learning of Michiru’s powers, the boys ask her to lend them her gift in their job to hunt down zombies. Michiru is reluctant but finds herself getting involved in it anyways! What will life have in store for the trio?

Zombie-Loan is my first “zombie” anime. Its nice to have a change of theme once in a while! Zombie-Loan has good animation and a decent plot going for it. The action is good but not smashing. Now whats really good here is the humour – the constant bickering between Chika and Shito, Michiru’s ability to get into trouble no matter what and a very scary Shinigami thrown into the whole mix. The story isn’t really outstanding to say the and neither is there anything terrible special about the characters themselves.In short, this is a supernatural anime mixed with the humour of unlikely partners having to work together for money! I’d say that this is a decent watch with an ok story and humour to keep the anime interesting.

More supernatural goodness:

Bleach

Get Backers

D.Gray-man

Kekkaishi

Year: 2005

Status: Complete

Trinity Blood Official Site (Japanese)

Rating: Awesome

Review: It is the future and the face of earth has been forever changed by one event – the Armageddon. As a result, the world is divided into humans and vampires. On one side, you have the Vatican of Rome who protects the humans against vampires. The other side of the world is ruled under the mysterious Empire where the population consists mostly of vampires and a small minority of humans. Father Abel Nightroad is part of the Special Forces Division of the Vatican and undertakes the responsibility of protecting humans against vampires. But there’s more to him than meets the eye. As tensions grow more violent amongst vampires and humans, there are darker players with their own twisted plot of disrupting the precarious balance between the two species. Will Abel succeed in trying to maintain peace between the two?

Trinity Blood is a cross between Hellsing and Trigun. Abel Nightroad has much of Vash’s character – the carefreeness, the forever broke and hungry, his refusal to kill…and yes, even his glasses. However, do not be misled into thinking this is all there is to Trinity Blood. Despite its close resemblance to two of the most awesome animes we know, Trinity progresses into something darker, mysterious and unique. And whats more, it evolves pretty fast. Amidst the awesome action, Trinity Blood also does a great job in portraying the complexity of diplomacy between the Vatican and the Empire. So it really does go beyond just vampires being killed by silver bullets. And while we’re talking about the good stuff, of noteworthy mention is the soundtrack. Still wondering why you should watch it? If you liked Hellsing or Trigun and anime of the like, you probably shouldn’t even bother reading this review – just head for Trinity Blood! Hands down an awesome anime – so don’t miss it!

Find more awesomeness in:

Hellsing

Trigun

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (Full Metal Alchemist)

Devil May Cry

Year: 2003

Status: Complete

Subbed by: AnimeXplosion

Hellsing Official Site

Rating: Awesome

Review: The Hellsing organisation is dedicated to fighting off the rampant vampires in present day England. The organisation is under the command of Lady Integra Hellsing who inherited the organisation after her father died. The organisation’s best agent is Alucard – a vampire himself. The story takes an interesting turn when Alucard mortally wounds a police officer in a battle against ghouls and offers her the chance to live on as a vampire or die as a human. Seras Victoria is then recruited into the organisation and faces a lot of trouble coming to terms with her own vampire powers and the lust for blood. The plot thickens when the number of ‘freak’ vampires increase rapidly and it is up to the Hellsing organisation to get to the bottom of this.

Hellsing is most certainly on the gory side of things. The story is itself, however, quite interesting. Alucard’s character in particular makes one often wonder in the early episodes if he really is the good guy. The story only gets more complex with the entrance of Victoria as a new member of the organisation and I found it to be a good watch. It is certainly a solid story with no fillers or moments of humour. Moreover, it is refreshingly different in style from the usual sword-fight anime we see so much of!

Liked Hellsing? Check out:

Trigun

Witch Hunter Robin

Death Note

Trinity Blood

Devil May Cry

Year: 2006

Status: Complete, Licensed by Viz Media

Death Note Official Site (U.S)

Rating: Awesome

Review: Yagami Light is smart and intelligent – but bored with his high school life. One day, he happened to chance upon a notebook which bore the instructions that if a human’s name was written in the notebook, they would die. Light tries out the notebook to find that it is real and that he is now connected with the world of Shinigami (Death Gods). With the power to take lives, Light decides to use the Death Note to create a new world according to his own ideas of justice and thus systematically begins killing all criminals – including those on death row. The police are baffled by this killer (now nicknamed “Kira”) with the mysterious power to kill from afar and the case finally reaches the master detective “L”. L is a mysterious detective whom noone has ever seen but who has helped the police solve many of their ‘unsolvable’ cases. Will L succeed in capturing Kira or will Kira succeed in revealing L’s identity and kill him?

Death Note is an intense psychological drama which will keep you hooked on the series till the end. Strongly resembling the strategy and mind games one employs in hard core games like chess, death note involves the battling intelligence and deductive skills by both L and Kira. Deadly serious and sometimes scary, Death Note will keep you guessing and is a must-watch for all those anime fans out there !

Recommendations:

Monster