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While taking a stroll with her mama and two siblings one day, a gray-and-white kitten is distracted for a moment and gets left behind. Lost and alone, the despairing furball is found by a little boy named Youhei and his mother.

They take in the kitten while Youhei's parents try to find someone who would adopt the cat. The apartment complex they live in doesn't allow pets so keeping the kitten is out of the question. Or so they thought.

The kitten starts answering whenever someone in the apartment says, "Chi." Apparently "chi" means pee in Japanese. Or so the subtitles explain in the fansubbed version I watched.

Cute, isn't it? And so is this show.

"Chi's Sweet Home" doesn't aspire to be anything more than it is which is just fine. The show is supposed to be cute and harmless much like its heroine. I don't think an episode lasts more than several minutes. I didn't time it so don't hold me to that,

There are no dramas, no emo moments and no sudden revelations like Chi is really a puppy in disguise. The character designs are simple and the opening song is Chi singing about her happy life which consists of being petted, fed, playing around and sleeping.

Some folks might think Chi is enough to induce tooth decay. Well, if you're not in the mood for a simple tale about a cat's life then move along, move along. Nothing for you to see here.

Before anyone goes on a warpath and tries lopping off my head for liking this show, let me set something straight.

"Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei" which translates to "Farewell Despair Teacher" or "Farewell Mr. Despair" is a comedy definitely not meant for the kids or anyone pure. We are dealing with gallows humor here folks. The main character, Nozomu Itoshiki, is a pessimist of the first order who thinks nothing of hanging himself whenever life gets him down. In this case, pretty much every day.

The first episode begins with a high school girl waxing rhapsodic about spring. She is surrounded by cherry trees in full bloom and soon spies a young man intent on hanging himself. She somehow "saves" him and her too cheerful outlook on life makes him leery of her. She pooh poohs his suicide attempt, declaring that he was just trying to make himself taller. She tells him her father tried to make himself taller when he got laid off, when the company closed and when the debt collectors came calling at the family home. She even calls a trash can "a treasure chest for the homeless."

The gal is called Kafuka Fura although that is not her real name. The moniker comes from Frank Kafka. We find out that she is one of Itoshiki's students.

Yep ya got that right. The man who is a walking black hole of despair is currently a homeroom teacher to high school students who definitely deserve someone more cheerful.

Since this is also a harem anime (gasp, did I just admit to liking another harem anime?) Nozomu becomes the object of affection for several of his female students which include the stalker Matoi Tsunetsuki. According to the Wikipedia entry on the show, her name is a pun on the phrase "always following about."

Matoi needs to know what her current love is doing every minute of the day so she bugs his room and stalks him. When she switches her affection to Nozomu, she dresses in a kimono and follows him everywhere even to the men's restroom. Kafuka thinks stalking is just "deep love."

"Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei" had me laughing out loud and I've only seen seven episodes. The show, which has 12 episodes, also pokes fun at other shows be it American or Japanese. While it's not essential, a bit of anime know how helps too. It would explain why the blonde-haired student often ends up in situations where one can see her panties. She's the character destined to appease the fan boys.

I repeat, this is NOT for the under 16 crowd or for anyone who doesn't get sarcasm. You have been warned.

The show just finished airing in Japan and isn't licensed yet for distribution in America. I've only seen fansubs so far.

Shoujo anime usually feature a pretty girl, some bishounens (beautiful boys), a romantic triangle or polygon and lots of pointless sparkles, swirling flower petals or spring breezes that suddenly appear around the heroine and her love interests. And don't forget the angst and romantic hand-wringing.

"La Corda D'Oro" or "Kiniro no Corda" as it is called in Japanese is a shoujo tale set in the middle of a musical competition at a high school that offers a regular curriculum and a music curriculum. The students in the music program think they are waaay better than the regular students.

The show, which translates to "The Golden Cord" in English, is based on a manga which originated from a dating simulation game by Koei. I've never played a dating sim. My video game preferences run toward action adventures where I whack monsters with a samurai sword or a high-tech gun. And if I can, I try not to rescue simpering damsels in distress.

The heroine is Kahoko Hino, a second year student in the regular section of Seisou Academy. She arrives late to school one day and encounters a tiny fairy by the name of Lili who is surprised that she can see him. Lili was the fairy saved by the school's founder. The fairy gives Kahoko a magic violin and she suddenly finds herself competing in the school's annual concours with five music students and another regular student. Apparently, regular students didn't participate in the contest before. Kahoko is a pioneer of sorts.

Kahoko doesn't know how to play the violin really. She does, however, have a heartfelt appreciation for classical music. In short, she plays with her heart. But she feels like a fraud later on because she knows her violin with the lone golden string is the one that actually makes her sound like a prodigy.

I know I've stated that I hate harem animes but somehow my inner fangirl likes this show which is a reverse harem. Instead of one guy and a bevy of beauties, there's one girl and a slew of handsome willowy love interests. Swoon. There's classical music to boot.

Kahoko gets to spend time with the aloof but brilliant violinist Len Tsukimori, regular student and piano whiz Ryotaro Tsuchiura, cheerful trumpeteer Kazuki Hihara, two-faced flautist Azuma Yunoki and sleepy cellist Keiichi Shimizu. Shouko Fuyuumi the clarinet player is the only other girl in the competition and idolizes Kahoko.

It has a nice theme song too. "Brand New Breeze" by Kanon fits this swoony music tale. But if you're not into shoujo and pretty boys who look alike except for their hair color and facial expressions then by all means steer clear of "La Corda D'Oro."

My inner fangirl adores Len out of all the bishies so I sometimes let her out of solitary confinement to watch a fansubbed version of the show. Then when I cannot stand her squealing anymore, I shove her ruthlessly back into the inner recesses of my mind so I can go back to watching action-oriented shows.

If you feel guilty sneaking around, downloading those illegal fansubs, you can now join ADV Films' 'Digital Universe' website and download all you can... for a fee.

Still in its infancy, the site offers about a dozen different series to download, and for a limited time you can even get one "Guyver" episode for free!

According to the website, all episodes are DVD quality or better, and you will need Windows Media Player to watch them. If you have a Mac you might get away with just using the free plug-in for QT, flip4mac, to play your "PC files", however, the files are encrypted so there's a chance you might not.

Now that you know, quit that Bittorrent and your Limewire, and start paying for some of your Anime.

I don’t pretend to be an anime expert and feel free to stone me if I try to come off as one. I’m just a fan with very strong opinions.

Aaah the joy of watching anime while nibbling on chocolate Pocky or hotcake-flavored Pretz. But happiness is a fleeting thing especially when the show turns out to be a dud. But since I’m a cheapskate, I watch the show to the bitter end because I already spent money to rent the sucker in the first place. And believe me, I have seen a lot of anime I wouldn’t inflict on the people I detest.

My taste in anime is pretty eclectic. It ranges from shows targeted for girls like “Boys Over Flowers‿ where love triangles and three-hanky moments abound to anime geared for boys like “Naruto‿ where the hero runs around fighting injustice with his latest technique.

I also love shows that are bizarre, artsy, complex or feature quirky characters. So these are the types of anime I will be reviewing. I admit, I do have a guilty pleasure list which includes anime that require only two brain cells to watch.

Sorry folks but you will seldom, if ever, read any reviews of mecha or harem anime here.

I don’t like anime about giant robots since I’ve seen too many of these in my childhood to last me a lifetime.
I also turn up my nose at what fans call harem anime which feature one guy living/working/interacting with a bunch of girls. Why do each of the girls represent a cliche character like the brainless beauty with large bosoms? And why are the female characters often put into situations where they end up inadvertently showing their underwear? One word. Fanservice. And since I am not a teenaged boy with raging hormones, such shows do not interest me. (Sniffs haughtily then hides from angry harem anime fans.)

Rejoice fellow "Beach" fans. “Bleach‿ anime finally comes to American shores. I saw a promo on Cartoon Network that says the show will debut there Sept. 9. I was so overcome, I needed a moment to compose myself. (Just kidding.) Oh okay, I squealed like a little girl. I'm just hoping the English dub doesn't suck.

I’m assuming that like me, many U.S. fans have been following the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki via the manga or via fan-translated copies of episodes that aired in Japan. Yes, I know fansubs are controversial and this is not the blog entry where I will yak about that. Let’s just say for now that I don’t download fansubs. I rent them from a store which angers some fans since fansubs are supposed to be free. But when a show I like gets licensed, I rent or buy the official DVDs.

Anyway, back to “Bleach‿. Ichigo is a high school student who can see spirits and lives with his widowed father and two younger sisters in a nondescript town. His life changes when he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami from Soul Society. I won't tell you anything more of the story. Let's just say Ichigo ends up helping Rukia somehow and he gets to carry a sword.

It has sword fights, interesting characters and a nice soundtrack. I hope they keep the original beginning and ending songs which they didn't with "Naruto". "Bleach" rocks! Ahem. I mean, I recommend it a lot.

- Ruby G.