Since Ayako’s translator decided to screw everyone over and stop translating Valkyria chronicles they haven’t released an episode in 3 weeks. I was holding out for a release, but it seems unlikely now, so I went ahead and watched the releases by a group called “gleam” I hadn’t heard of them before, but they seem to be doing quite a number of shows with a reasonable fan base too. All in all they have a smaller file size then Ayako (at the expense of slight video quality, not noticeable unless you are watching on a big full HD monitor), but I don’t like the typesetting as much, but I can’t complain as they are releasing at least.

Well anyway  on with the review. In episode 9 we get to have a look at the Imperial side of the war for a change. Some aides from central office are assigned to Selvaria and the other two generals in order to keep an eye on them, and Maximilian is ordered back to central office for some reason that’s not really explained, but it has something to do with the slow progress he is making with the invasion of Gallia. Selvaria wants to go with him but is ordered not to, and her aide also gets in her way and prevents her from going after him. An ill conceived assassination attempt later and the aide admits that he has been sent to stop Selvaria helping Maximilian, and that his life is in danger. So back at central office cue the generic assassins who come to try and kill Maximillian, the defences hold out for a while but eventually the assassins get to him. Then Selvaria, the aide, and Jaeger show up after taking a shortcut that somehow cut half a day off their travel time, Selvaria activates her GOD MODE hax and pwns all the assassins and gets to Maximilian, who it turns out didn’t need any help at all because he had his own hax turned on. All in all a pretty good episode as it gives a different perspective on the whole thing, and give some insight into the turmoil within the empire.

On to the next episode. Its at this phase in the series when the plot of the anime starts diverting from the plot of the game a little. Remember that god sized tank that destroyed those ruins a few episodes ago? Well guess what, in episode 9 squad 7 don’t fight it like they’re meant too. Instead we get some crap about  Welkin and Alicia getting cut off from the rest of the squad by a random snowstorm (it should be long range mortars damn it!) and taking refuge in a shack, they talk, character development happens and some random Imperial infantryman dies. This is actually rather well done, as they manage to make a whole episode out of a 3 minute skit sequence in game.

Thus we get onto the final episode in this review hat trick. Yet another Welkin and Alicia centred episode I’m afraid. This time Welkin and Faldio are getting a medal from the princess of Gallia for the capturing of the Vasel bridge waaay back in like episode 4, despite the fact that Faldio wasn’t actually even in there… weird how these things work. But anyway Selvaria and Jaeger turn up in “cunning disguises” . So cunning in fact that Alicia recognizes them straight away, but when she tells other people they’re just like, meh what they gonna do? We get a little scene with with Alicia and Faldio, who gives her a blue rock that is obviously key to the plot in some way. Then a few minutes later and bang kidnap happens and Alicia and the princess are taken away. Why Alicia you ask? Well she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and instead of doing the logical thing and killing her the kidnappers decide to take her along too. This will no doubt prove to be a fatal mistake as she DROPPED THE BLUE ROCK! So Faldio will know something has happened and use his pimp powers to rescue them both, but that’s all in next episode, so we’ll wait and see until then.

Hmm this season reminds me somewhat of Pumpkin Scissors (oh god that was bad…). Both promised tank action but then after like 3 tank-centric episodes failed to deliver any tanks whatsoever . Hope that this series doesn’t end up that way. Also I cant actually decide what this series is for, its either a supplement to the game, OR an alternate retelling of the story. But if it was a supplement then it would stick to the plot of the game slightly more (mortars replaced with snowstorm wtf). And if it were a retelling of the story there should be more battles. Seeing as it doesn’t fit into either of these categories, I’m having a hard time figuring out what the purpose of this series actually is.

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 9:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=69536

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 10:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=69705

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 11:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=70471

Soulsavior42 give us the review for Secret of the Blue Water
-SoulSavior42 (Zeronuckols@gmail.com)

Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water

Animation: 7/10
Story: 9/10
Music: 6/10
Action: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Length: 39 Episodes
Themes: Romance, Adventure, Coming of Age, Comedy

Highlights:
Awesome Factor – This has Captain Nemo, The Nautilus, and Atlantis….Nuff Said
Emotional Factor – Series will stab you in the heart more then a few times in least expected places
Adventure Factor – Wont find a better adventure series for only 39 episodes.
Bad Factor: Horribly annoying eye catch

Brief Summary
When I first heard about this series I was surfing through a big long list of anime on Nation-Anime and just saw “Nadia”.  I heard about this series a long time ago and have ran across and though about picking it up from time to time but never have.  After researching a bit I read “Based on the Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” Immediately I start downloading the first 3 episodes in excitement.  Now obviously since this is an anime and having read 20,000 I already knew out of the gate that it wouldn’t be like the book.  (duh)  Nadia is loosely based around 20,000.  When I say loosely I mean that Captain Nemo and the submarine Nautilus are in anime.  So lets leave it at that.

The story revolves around our main characters Nadia, a acrobat in the circus and Jean, a young inventor in 1989 Europe.  Pretty cool setting since the industrial revolution and inventing things interest me greatly.   At first the story really didn’t interest me, I just wanted to get to the submarine and my favorite sea captain.  After some shenanigans, which I wont, disclose for your sake of needing to watch series they find themselves caught up in a battle with Neo Atlantis and the Nautilus.  Jean and Nadia end up joining the crew of the Nautilus along with some friends and thus begin the story about 3 episodes in.

Over all the writing and story telling are stellar, I wish the company that wrote this story could have giving Code Geass some pointers.  That aside, the episodes keep you very entertained whether it is some good emotional scenes with Marie, Jean, and Nadia or some hilarious scenes with Hanson and Sanson.  After a few episodes I found myself not paying attention to time or my surroundings and double clicking the next episode for at least a few hours every night.  Upon reaching the halfway point in the series episode 20 things reach a catalyst which sets up the ending of the series, now this would be grand except that for the next 10 episodes there is little to no story development accompanied by many boring and rather uninteresting episodes, I would almost go as far to say as to just skip these episodes but that’s up to your digression.   Now I bet your wondering why I gave this series 9/10 for story, well you haven’t gotten to the end of the series yet, after coming out of the horrible stretch I will dub the “desert island” episodes the story picks up speed like a Ferrari going from 0 to 60, after some twists and familiar faces the ending is right around the corner and doesn’t disappoint in the least.

The comedy and romance for this series are a bit predictable as with are some plot points here and there, but for the most part the writers keep everything well balanced for the viewer and it doesn’t get to overwhelming until the desert island episodes.

Animation
For being made in 1989 I was very impressed with the smooth motions and very well animated action sequences.  One of the biggest things I look for in older series I how much animation they reuse throughout the series, as for Nadia I noticed little to no reused animation, which was quite impressive.  The actual style  and quality that is used is outdated to today’s standards so for you super HD viewers don’t expect much in that category.  The main reason I gave animation a 7 was due to the desert islands episode stretch where it seems the animators went on vacation for 2 months and let their cousins figure out how to draw and animate things at the same time, which was quite disappointing and aggravating when the episodes are already very boring to begin with.

Music
First off the opening for the series is probably one of the catchiest openings I’ve heard in a very long time and can definitely say that over the span of 2 weeks it already has about 70+ plays on my IPod.  As for the music during the episodes, it has much to be desired, being a bit choppy and very redundant at times.  Also at some points during the series the music ruins a perfectly good moment in the story and is totally unneeded.

Action
The action for this series is pretty exciting and seems to be well thought out and has justification for some of the “ridiculous” weapons and moments for the series.  The main action for the series is a few torpedoes here and there and some very large nuclear sized explosions so for the most part the action is few and far between save the latter end of the teens and the ending of the series.

Overall
Personally, I loved this series even with the desert island episodes and some sound issues.  I was captivated through the whole series waiting to find the next clue about Nadia’s past, or the secret of the Blue Water gem.  To top it off it has the Nautilus and Captain Nemo so its tough to dislike something so golden as this series.  I definitely give this series a recommend for anyone who is interested in adventure, submarines, or a good love story.

Download:
English Subbed torrents

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once again I apologise for the slight delay, but Im still in the middle of exam period, and will be for the next week also. I was hoping to batch this review together with episode 9, but there appears to be some delay with that so this is all I can do for now.

Here have some Azu-licia. Moe moe moe.

Well back on with the review. Still in the Darcsen ruins Alicia decides to shoot at Lelouch Kaiser Maximilian, but his bodyguard Selvaria has speed hax turned on and cuts the bullet out of the air with her rapier. They then evacuate leaving out hapless trio inside. Oh it looks like the Alliance army totally failed without squad 7 AGAIN and lost the town they were meant to be defending, and their commander got executed. Well bawwww. A short time later the MOTHER OF ALL TANKS appears and by Maximilian’s command reduces the ruins to rubble, leaving Alicia, Faldio trapped together inside and Welkin slightly less trapped alone. All of a sudden Isara appears! OMG WERE ALL SAVED! No. She’s pretty much useless without her tank. But non the less Welkin makes it out, and some minor injuries,  lizards,  and flashbacks to Welkin’s days at university later Alicia and Faldio are rescued also. Yay. This hopefully has put an end to a rather dull trio of episodes that  were given waaay too much time out of a 26 episode series. But it looks like next episode there might be some more tanky action. We can only hope.

Torrent Download (english subbed as always):

Ayako Valkyria Chronicles Episode 8

**The main blog as been a bit innactive this past days, srry for the little vacation. Starting next week I hope I’ll post lots of cool stuff for you guys. Thank you, please keep supporting us.

Valkyria Chronicles Epiodes 6 & 7 Review.

Ok, so I’m a little late on episode 6 review, I apologize but Im in the middle of my exam period, and quantum electro dynamics took precedence over my anime watching ><. But nonetheless I’m back with a double barrelled review of episodes 6 and 7.
So to kick things off lets take a look at episode 6. Oh god why? This episode decides to waste 25 minutes of your life with some stupid assed reporter interviewing squad 7 for her radio show that nobody in their right mind would listen too. Basically Alicia is embarrassed over Welkin as he is not a typical military officer so would make squad 7 look bad if he said something stupid. This waste of an episode sees her running all over trying to stop the reporter speaking to Welkin. Not much else happens Largo rages about his unrelenting love for vegetables, Rosie tries to sing (causing me to try to remove my ears from my head with nothing more then a rusty spoon.) , and a brawl breaks out over some barbeque. Overall this episode was a huge disappointment, which I paid for with 25 minutes of my life I will never get back. Easily the worst episode of this series.

Alicia cannot believe how bad this episode was.

Moving on from the atrocity that was episode 6, will episode 7 drag Valkyria out of the dog house?
Well sadly there are no tank battles, or any battles for a matter of fact this episode. Once again the Military is showing its disdain for the Militia, by not including them in their battle plans, and sending them off to the desert of all places. You’d have thought they’d learned their lesson from last time they did this, but no. Anyway  whilst in the desert  more hate is generated towards Isara because of her Darksen heritage, and squad 7 are breaking protocol by gambling, and where is Welkin in all of this? Off drawing a grasshopper of something with Faldio. They decide to go on a day trip to some ruins to try and learn about the Darksen calamity of 2 millennia past, and how convenient  when they get there Alicia pokes something and discovers a previously unknown inner chamber. OMG archaeology is SO EASY! But who is that FABULOUS figure in the shadows? Why its Lelouch himself the emperor of the Eastern European Alliance shows up and everyone is like arrghhh wtf. This epiode was slightly better then the previous travesty but still fails to live up to the standard set by earlier episodes. Ill be back next week for episode 8

Torrents:

Ayako Valkyria Chronicles Episode 6:
http://a.scarywater.net/ayako/%5BAyako%5D_Valkyria_Chronicles_06_%5Bh264%5D%5BD1169804%5D.mkv.torrent

Ayako Valkyria Chronicles Episode 7:
http://a.scarywater.net/ayako/%5BAyako%5D_Valkyria_Chronicles_07__OP1.5_%5Bh264%5D.torrent

[twrev-Doremi] Valkyria Chronicles 06 avi

omfg poor girl

Elegroth Brings us The K-on! Episode 4 review:

Training Camp!  This entire episode is about the Training Camp in chapter six of the manga.  This is the first episode that they comment on Mio’s breasts being bigger than all of theirs, lol.  The sound quality and animation is just as good as it was in the previous episodes, but there’s not that much playing in this episode.  This episode also shows how rich Tsumugi really is.  Se has a very large Villa and she says that it’s their smallest one…  The girls have fun at the beach by the house.  Afterwards, Yui learns how to choke/bend the stings while she plays.  Afterwards, they go to the bathhouse and they have some conversations.  Later, they’re back from the Training Camp and we get to see a picture of Mio sleeping, lol.  Apparently Ritsu took pictures of everybody, lol.

Watch Online (English Sub):
http://www.leetanime.com/anime/k-on/

Direct Download (English Sub):
http://www.animea.net/download/1496/K-ON.html

Torrents (english subbed remember!):
[CoalGuys] K-ON! – 04 mkv
[CoalGuys] K-ON! – 04 (848×480) mkv

[Chihiro] K-ON! – 04 [1280x720 H.264 AAC] mkv
[Chihiro] K-ON! – 04 [640x480 XVID MP3] avi
[Chihiro] K-ON! – 04 [704x400 XVID MP3] avi

[Frostii] K-On! – 04 [480p] mkv

[qq] K-On! – 04 mkv

Please support us! Donate, Tell your friends about the website and participat in the forums!

(lol)

This episode is actually really popular.  In this episode Yui squeezes Mios fingers over and over again saying “Squishy!”.  It was parts of this episode that made me learn about it.  Afterwards, the girls take their Midterm Exams and everyone passes, except Yui who was too busy practicing chords.  Then we find out that if Yui doesn’t pass then the club will be disbanded.  On the day before the test the others help her cram for her retacks and she ends up getting 100%.  In the manga Yui sleeps with her test and then eventually frames it in her room, lol.  Doesn’t really move the storyline much, but it’s still a good and funny episode.

In this episode Yui reintroduces all of the main characters and they plan to get Yui her guitar.  Sound and animation quality is just as good as before, but this time there’s not as much playing.  She goes home and asks her mom for money for the guitar and gives her  50,000 Yen (I wish my mom would give me THAT MUCH money!)!  Yui spots a Fender Les Paul (OMG!), that mysteriously turns into a Gibson Les Paul later, as feels that she absolutely MUST have it!  Even though it’s a ¥250,000 (2,5K) Guitar and she only has ¥50,000 ($500). In the end Tsumugi Kotobuki drops the price to ¥50,000 and Yui gets to buy it.  Overall, a great episode, but you know she could have gotten so much more from her $500.

Download (torrents):
[CoalGuys] K-ON! – 02 (848×480) mkv
[CoalGuys] K-ON! – 02 avi

[Chihiro] K-ON! – 02 [640x480 H.264 AAC] mkv

[Frostii] K-On! – 02 [480p] mkv

[Aasasubs] K-ON! – 02 [1280x720 - H264]

[qq] K-ON! – 02 mkv

*Remember To Join Us In The K-on! Discussion Thread Here.*

There are many things in this episode that will make you wanna watch the next.  As the pilot episode, as many people know, this is the episode that is supposed to make you wanna watch the rest.  Just to let you know, it does this VERY well!  Well, here’s the review for K-ON! – Episode 1!

This episode is mainly about the main characters trying to get a club to not get dropped, because all of it’s members were Seniors and graduated.  The characters are really cool, and you will fall in love with the animation.  The quality of the sound when they play their instruments in marvelous, just because the notes they play match the sound it makes.  This makes me really happy, because I play the guitar, and the fact that I can tell what they’re playing is right makes me really happy.  Also, the animation is great, same with the characterization.  I could go on forever about the good things, but everything has it’s bad parts.  The main bad things I’ve seen so far in the anime is the fact that their mouths don’t really match their words at times.  Also, during the opening they make the guitar look a lot harder than it is, and they make her play it harder than it actually has to be.  As far as I can tell it looks right, but I can really see since she keeps on moving around, lol.  Also, Mio’s mouth is kinda weird fort he ending song.  Also, Yui is just playing the same note over and over again at the beginning of the Ending song.  But, I pay close attention to everything.  Overall, it’s a very good episode!

Watch Online (English Sub):
http://www.leetanime.com/anime/k-on/

Direct Download (English Sub):
http://www.animea.net/download/1496/K-ON.html

Torrent Downloads (english subbed):
[CoalGuys] K-ON! – 01 mkv

[Chihiro] K-ON! – 01 [1280x720]

[Frostii] K-On! – 01 [480p] mkv

We @ nipponmedia.net here published the OP and ED for this series. If you wanna check out the K-on! Opening theme and ending theme.

CLICK HERE FOR OP
CLICK HERE FOR ED

Be sure to Join us in the Forum Discussion Thread of K-on! Here!

So it turns out that the army suck, and squad 7 are deployed to do what the army couldn’t. Take an imperial supply base. This time they get some backup from Faldio and squad 1. Whilst formulating a battle plan there is a rustling in some nearby bushes, could it be a spy? No. no its not. Turns out that it’s a winged pig (WTF, yep even this war based anime needs a kawaii mascot…) which Alicia decides to keep it because she likes bacon. This gives Welkin an idea for the up coming battle, and also the opportunity to tease Alicia with some goat droppings. So the moment of the assault comes and Welkin’s battle plan is put into action. Will it succeed? Watch Valkyria Chronicles and find out!

Download Links:

[Ayako] Valkyria Chronicles Episode 5

ITS HORO TIME AGAIN!!!!

(Horo is not impressed that you haven’t watched this yet.)

I thought I’d review this as well to make up for the Valkyria Chronicles review being late. Following on from the largely unknown and underappreciated anime from last year, comes the first episode of the new series of Spice & Wolf. This episode was released on April 30th as a bonus DVD with the latest in the series of light novel written by Isuna Hasekura. This episode sees Lawrence and Nora getting to know each other better in a bar, and reminiscing about last season, Horo looks suitably impressed at this situation, and later falls ill. The usual random conversations ensue, usually food focused as this is Horo after all. This episode is rather more comical then the previous series had been, but still manages to keep a semi-serious tone, touching on the relationship between Horo and Lawrence, and Lawrence’s own mortality. The main focus in this OVA is Horo unlike the previous series in which Lawrence had taken the lead. The animation is slightly different to last season, most noticeable are Nora’s eyes which are substantially larger then they were in the past, but small changes like that are to be accepted as for this season there is a brand new art director. Music is absolutely stunning just as last seasons was. Due to this being a DVD only release the video quality is very high and the resolution is 720×480.
For all those fans of the series there is yet more Horo on the horizon, as the second series of Spice & Wolf is due to air in July. I personally cannot wait.

For more information on this great anime check the wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_and_Wolf

Download Torrents (english subbed):
[BSS] Spice & Wolf II Episode 00

[ASR_Kurou] Spice and Wolf 2 OVA  [v2]