Final Thoughts: Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (Frenzied Family Diary)
26 eps

Ah, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. This is one of the animes that really got me into anime, even though it wasn't perfect.

Basically, it's about a family (consisting of a catgirl, regualr guy, abused daughter, jellyfish, lion, robot, girly guy, and a BDSM girl) coming together to attempt to stop the one of them who is the Child of Enka from destroying the world.

There's stuff in the plot department, but it's not really used. It's more filler (and by that, I mean it's the family thrown in weird situations) then plot. But that's not necsecarily a bad thing, because the characters are fun to watch.

Speaking of characters, they've got personality. Kyouka's the catgirl mother who constantly makes family-is-important speeches. Ouka is the poor normal guy thrown into this whole "operation cozy family" plot. Yuuka is the nine year old daugter, abused in her past family who morphed her into a solitude doll, a.k.a their punching bag so-to-speak. Hyokua is the robot, bursting with power but he still has to learn that it's not okay to hurt everyone. Gekka, the jellyfish is the deus-ex-machina, constantly reversing actions and turning out to be some kind of god. Ginka is the girly-guy, who acts gay but is most likley not judging by the end credits. And then we've got Chika, the once fanservice character turned into masochistic Ginka-lover. Oh, and don't forget the talking lion, who's aparently Teika the "Bister King", which has something to do with ruling over animals. I know I just described all of them in one or two words, but they're really fun to watch. I mean, how many times have you seen a family like this?

Oh, another thing that was great about this series was the music. It's all great. There is one OP sung by one of my favorite bands, Mosaic.Wav (OP's for Sumomomo, eroge). There are also eight ED songs, with one sung by each character. Here's the song titles in the order I liked them most.

Codename wa Lady X (Ginka)
Sekai de Ichiban Yabai Koi (Chika)
THE PITFALLS (Ouka)
Appare Henka Ja (Gekka)
Hen na Kami-sama shitteru yo? (Yuuka)
Kyōran Senki~Nichijō no Kamisama~ (Kyouka)
Boku wa Koushin Saremashita (Hyouka)
Wagahai wa Shougojuu de Aru ka? (Teika)

They're all pretty good. The voice actors really did a good job with the character's voices and the ED songs. We've got Tomatsu Haruka (Kannagi, Moe-tan), Sato Rina (Punie Chan/Dai Mahou Touge), Hiroki Yasumoto (Hetalia) ,Kana Hanazawa (Kobato, Bakemonogatari) and more.

In the end, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki was an awesome anime filled with so much potential. It's ending felt pretty blah though because nothing got resolved after 26 episodes. If you're looking to watch it, don't expect intense plots or anything, just have fun with the characters, music, and mile-a-minute comedy.

I personally loved it even though it lacked a lot, and maybe there will be a second season or an OVA in the future telling us who the real child of Enka is. Either way, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki will always be one of my favorite animes for being different.

Maria Holic 1-3

Maria Holic episodes 1-3
Genres: comedy, yuri, possibly romance in the future?
Production: SHAFT

Having absolutely no idea what Maria Holic was, I pretty much just started watching the series because of the awesome OP. Pretty much all I knew beforehand was that:

a) It's a trap!
b) The OP's title is nosbleed translated...

I knew this could be one of two things: a horribly crammed-together show or a blend of awesome. I think after the first three eps, it's leaning towards awesome.

So let's start off. There's a new girl, Kanako-san, who transfers to a missionary school. She's there because her parents met there, and hopefully she'll find her destined one. But what happens...when Kanako has a run in with Mariya, one of the prettiest girls in school? Kanako develops a crush on her...but is a bit confused when she gets hives from Mariya touching her. That only happens when a man touches her...

Mariya finds out that Kanako likes girls...so it's time to turn her into a slave in order to Mariya to not spread her secret of liking girls. But then we find out...Mariya is a dude. IT'S A TRAP. But no one knows except Mariya's maid and Kanako. So what's Kanako to do, being mentally and once-in-a-while physically tortured by a sadistic trap?

...I didn't have high expectations for Maria Holic, truthfully. I'm actually surprised I enjoyed it. I'm not exactly sure why, but every element seems to mesh together well in the series. I mean, any anime could throw together different personalities at a private school and create a generic comedy, but Maria Holic doesn't do that.

The first episode is the obligatory introduction episode, the second is the one where Kanako is getting used to school life, and the third is the one where she loses something important (in this case, Mariya's grandmother's rosary).

They're very entertaining, partially because of the characters and over-the-top expressions and reactions. It's very interesting, and I'm hoping the series keeps going at a good pace like it is now and doesn't run out of steam because it's only 12 episodes long.

The music adds to Maria Holic. The opening theme, Hanaji, is a very...energetic song. It's plesant to lisiten to because of Yuu Kobayashi doing the vocals and putting so much emotion into it. The ending theme, Kimi ni Mune Kyun, is a cover by the three main character's VA's. They're both nice, but the OP is the better of the two.

Even if you don't like yuri, I'd say give Maria Holic a shot because it's...different. I mean that in a good way, of course. It sort of had a Zetsubou Sensei feel to it, for some reason. I'll continue watching it and posting my thoughts here. =D