Recently in anime with supernatural elements Category

Everyone has a list of their favorite anime shows. That's a given. But do you have a list of the anime you consider so pedestrian, lame or terrible you wouldn't show them to you ex ever?

Lemme share my lame list. It's not in any order by the way.

1. "Bartender" - Show about a mixologist who can ease your troubles with a drink. Each episode comes with a history or story behind the cocktail du jour. Employs fourth wall techniques. Verdict: bleah and just plain boring

2. "Boys Be" - Tales of boys at school and the way they drool, pine for and leer at girls and women. Contains fanservice which means scenes where female characters inadvertently end up showing their underwear. Verdict: sexist and dumb

3. "Diamond Daydreams" - Show about the lives and loves of several women who reside or work in the nothern part of Japan. At times seems like an ad for certain locations. The character designs are among the ugliest I have ever seen. Memo to the show's animators: Go back to art school and learn how to draw. Then smack yourself for producing what amounts to nothing more than a disguised travel brochure.

4."Haunted Junction" - Kids from different religious backgrounds attend a haunted school with well-known ghosts from Japanese popular culture. Well they focus mostly on spectres Japanese school kids yak about such as the girl who haunts toilets. Verdict: A big mess. Supposed to be funny but is excruciating to watch. Has disturbing characters like a teen-aged girl overly fond of little boys. Gag.

5. "Gregory Horror Show" - MIni episodes about a mouse the unseen protagonist encounters in a place full of "scary" characters. The segments are too short and choppy. The characters are NOT scary at all since they are drawn simply. Think of wooden blocks then imagine them with faces and stubby appendages. The premise isn't bad but the animators faltered in the execution.

6. "Oh My Goddess" OVA - The first installment in a series that should have been buried long long ago. Geek meets one of the Nordic goddesses of fate. She ends up keeping house for him and falling for this very common guy. This show is nothing more than wish fulfillment for the guy who cannot get a date and still lives in his mom's basement. This tripe is an insult to any woman who can think for herself.

7. "Onegai Teacher" or "Please Teacher" - Half-human/half-alien lands on Earth and pretends to be a teacher to gather data on humans. Circumstances force her to marry one of her students. She looks like a well-endowed woman in her mid-20s. He is actually 18 but looks 15 because he was in a coma-like state for several years. They keep their marriage a secret and eventually fall in love.

Skip this so-called romantic show. If you have the DVDs, burn them and fumigate the room where these were kept. I found the relationship between the main characters disturbing and just wrong. The creator of this show should be ashamed for producing this putrid excuse for an anime. He or she deserves a flogging.

8. "Rahxephon" - Show where giant statues ( actually just prettier looking giant robots) wreak havoc in a walled-off world. Hero is a teen with a murky past. There is also a mysterious girl and a woman who is more than what she seems. Great animation, nice CGIs and compelling storyline at first. But I found the plot too convoluted for my taste and the pace of the show can be glacial at times. I couldn't finish this out of frustration and boredom.

9. "School Rumble" - HIgh school anime about a clueless girl, the guy she likes, the bad boy who loves her and their classmates. Typical show where someone can't tell the object of their affection how they feel because of certain reasons and circumstances. (e.g. the person they love just doesn't get it). Some people like this show. I don't. I got tired of the main characters' inability to confess their love.

10. "R.O.D." the TV series - Three sisters with the unusual ability to manipulate paper. They solve cases and are called paper masters for a good reason. One can create paper animals that do her bidding while another can fashion weapons out of paper. This is the tv spinoff of the popular "Read or Die" OVA about a bookworm who is really a special agent for the British.

The television show buchers certain characters in the original movie much to its detriment. The plot is more complex and folks double cross each other out of the blue. The series also runs too long and gets bogged down by the different subplots. This is one sorry spinoff to a decent, original movie.

One of the reasons I enjoy anime is the variety. The genres range from magical girl shows to horror. And there are subgenres within those sections as well. But sometimes you have to wade through a sea of dreck to discover a gem though. Luckily for me, I found two new shows this summer that look promising. One of them keeps surprising me with each episode.

"Natsume Yuujinchou" is both a fantasy and a supernatural anime but it's not scary at all. Think "Mushi-shi" but wilth a younger protagonist and a simpler storyline.

Our hero, Takashi Natsume, is an orphan who just transferred to a new school set in a bucolic-looking town with green fields, clear blue skies, a shrine and a horde of spirits.Takashi has been able to see spirits since he was a child which made for a lonely, isolated childhood, The various relatives and people he stayed with thought he was weird and treated him accordingly.

Now he's staying with a nice couple in a town where his grandmother, Reiko, once lived. And the spirits are pestering him more than usual. In the first episode, we meet Takashi as he's being chased by a one-eyed long-haired monster that only he can see.
He makes a run for the nearest shrine for safety but trips over a rope and snaps it.

The rope is part of a barrier around a small shrine that houses a spirit in the shape of a cat charm. You've seen what this charm looks like if you've ever been to an Asian market or souvenir shop. It's a white cat with one paw raised.

Anyway, the cat charm thingy is the size of a very fat cat and speaks as well. Takashi is less than impressed since he's seen weirder things before. The cat's true form is of a shaggy white beast (looks like a dog actually) with red markings. The spirit's name is Madara but he prefers Takashi call him sensei or master. Our hero also refers to him as Nyaanko sensei (don't ask me what that means).

The teen finds out that the spirits want their names back from him and calls him by his grandmothers' name. It turns out Reiko Natsume could see spirits and also had a lonely existence. So she went around challenging spirits and taking their names after she defeated them. She kept the names in a journal called "The Book of Friends." It is this book that the spirits are after.

Takashi agrees to return the names of the spirits who come to him and promises sensei he can have the book when he's gone. Nyaanko sensei despairs that the book is getting thinner since Takashi keeps returning the names.

Having power over someone because you know their true name is a concept not restricted to Japanese folktale. Several cultures also believe in this.

The show's pace is slow, almost languid at times. But it's interesting and can be touching. Case in point episode two, which is about a local spirit who has shrunk since only one woman is left who remembers him and makes offerings. She is dying but still painfully makes her way to his small shrine to pay her respects and leave him a peach. The spirit could have left years ago but he chose to stay, knowing he would vanish once the woman dies. The reason why he stayed made me teary-eyed. Sniffle sniffle.

When Takashi returns a spirit's true name, he sees the spirit's memory of its interaction with his grandmother. He is getting to know who she was and starts to feel some empathy toward the spirits that progress and people have forgotten.

I've seen four episodes of this show and I'm always waiting eagerly for the next one. I like shows that make you think and feel.

There are days when I'm just not in the mood to follow a series. When a quick anime fix is all I need to get me through the day or week. Enter the short film.

"Kakurenbo" by Shuuhei Morita fits this bill. The movie is about a group of children playing hide-and-seek in an abandoned city. They all wear masks.

One of the characters is a boy named Hikora whose sister, Sorincha, disappeared while playing said game. I can't remember how long she's been missing though. Hikora thinks by participating in the game, he will find her.

But he will realize this particular hide-and-seek game comes with a sinister twist.

It's not a bad short film and actually won several awards.

I'm following five shows this season which don't seem to suck so far. One of them is a tale of ninjas living amongst us in the 21st century, Nope, I'm not talking about "Naruto Shippuuden" here.

"Nabari no Ou" (King of Nabari) is about Rokujo Miharu, a 14-year-old boy indifferent to most things. This small, delicate-looking apathetic teen works at a family restaurant but harbors inside of him one of the most sought after Ninja secrets called the Shinrabanshō. I've seen up to episode nine and as far as I can make out, the Shinrabansho is all the knowledge of the world. Nabari is the ninja world.

Hundreds of years ago, the leaders of the different ninja villages put it inside a human who they later killed. Don't ask me why. But like any good ole monster movie, the Shinrabansho appears again inside another host. It can grant the host immense power but I've only seen it manifest three times and it took the form of roots and tendrils sprouting out of the host and wreaking havoc on his enemies.

Rokujo senses it as a woman who promises to grant whatever he wants if he so wishes. When it activates, Chinese characters also appear on his body.

He isn't aware of this until a teacher, Thobari Kumohira Durandal, and another student, Kouichi Aizawa, pester him to join their school club espousing the Ninja way. The truth comes out when the two defend him from attackers. The assailants were ninjas and so are they.

I won't go into details about the other subplots. Suffice it to say that the villains include a young man who uses a secret technique that can maim and kill others just with mere hand movements. The cost, however, is his own life force.

What in tarnation is wrong with anime nowadays? Not only is there a whole bunch of harem anime that are pointless and stupid, there seems to be more than enough pretentious shows polluting the airwaves.

I started out with such high hopes for "Ghost Hound" then as the series progressed I became more disappointed. I have no complaints with the quality of the animation which is high but the plot is just too convoluted and cloaked in way too much psychobabble. Like a middle school student can just talk about a psych theory at the drop of a hat let alone understand such yappings about the id and the nature of
memory.

Plus the droning on and on about this and that theory was enough to make me scream. The show drags when this happens and it occurs every episode.

The show tries to end with a big flourish by focusing on a cult religion and how the spirits of the mountain and of the faux organic beings created in the locally-based lab team up to help quash these nutjobs - literally. It was too late for me at that point. I didn't much care if Taro or his friends succeeded in saving the elementary school girl who gets possessed by an ancient God. Don't ask.

Avoid this pretentious yawnfest if you can.

The second season of Clamp's otherworldly series, "xxxHolic" started airing in Japan last month. I've seen four episodes of it so far.

"xxxHolic: Kei" picks up where the first season left off. Our hapless hero, Kimihiro Watanuki, is still the housekeeper/cook/sake buyer for the time witch Yuko Ichihara who grants wishes for a price.

Also back is Shizuka Doumeki, a classmate who can fire spiritual arrows that saves Watanuki from the spirits, ghosts and goblins intent on devouring him. Watanuki nags and yells at Doumeki who turns a deaf ear to the insults and just demands lunch from the excitable orphan.

Viewers get to know in the first few episodes why Doumeki never sees Yuuko's shop but only an overgrown field and a rotting fence. The shop is only visible to those who need it.

The first three episodes cover the story arc where Watanuki learns a hard lesson about life and friendship. He loses his right eye but gains half an eye from Doumeki and a better understanding of how others perceive him.

The manga is drawn in this stylized manner where figures are lean and elongated. It did not translate well in the anime version during the first season. It still looks ugly in the second season.

But I forgive the show it's poor animation because it captures the essence of the manga which can be deep at times and sometimes just silly. Watch the first three episodes and see for yourself.

The first season is already available in the North American market. I don't know if "xxxHolic Kei" has been licensed.

One can blame "Harry Potter" for the sudden influx of shows featuring magic schools or businesses that cater to the magical crowd. Some do rip off bits from the Potter universe like having a character wear glasses and graduate from an English school of magic. But most that I have seen seem to be based on original works.

"Rental Magica" began life as light novels by Makoto Sando. Never read them so don't ask me. I've only seen the anime incarnation which started airing in Japan in October. So far, I've watched up to episode 18 and find it entertaining. This is not a show that I would buy for my collection. But it's passable light fare that will do when I need an anime fix.

In the world of "Rental Magica," there exists magical companies that rent out mages to clients in need of supernatural help. A so-called association keeps tabs on these companies and lays down the law if need be. The hero of our show is Itsuki Iba, a second year high school student who had to take over as president of the company called Astral when his old man went missing. Since high schools in Japan last only three years, Itsuki is considered a junior. He's a nice boy who wears an eyepatch and doesn't seem to have a magical bone in his body. He's also cowardly and a pushover. But Itsuki has a good heart, views his ragtag group as his family and possesses a weird looking red eye that can see the weakness of a magic spell, a mage or a monster. Called the Glamsight, it is a very powerful trait that can be a burden on the owner.

When he reveals his right eye, Itsuki is more authoritative, directs his staff on how and where to attack and actually speaks in a more mature commanding voice. But he often bleeds and passes out after using the eye.

Astral's current staff include Honami Takase Ambler, a childhood pal of Itsuki who is a Celtic witch; Mikan Katsuragi, a young girl from a family who specializes in Shinto magic; Ren Nekoyashiki, an Onmyoudo who uses four cats; and Manami Kuroha, a ghost Itsuki met at a hospital and invited to join his group. Kuroha can do certain things like appear and disappear plus move objects around like a poltergeist. She is also the company apprentice/intern/tea maker/acting maid.

Astral's competitors include Goetia, a larger company led by Adilisia Lenn Mathers who is descended from Solomon and commands demons to do her bidding. She and Honami went to school together in England and were rivals so to speak. Both also like Itsuki and their rivalry over his affections is used to comedic effect.

The series is only 24 episodes and hasn't been licensed for the North American market yet. Each episode explains a magical term at the end of the show. "Rental Magica" will never be called a groundbreaking show or cutting edge but it's entertaining fare. And believe me after you've seen as many crappy anime shows as I have, it is a delight and a relief to see something decent.