Anime Review: Amnesia

Anime Title: Amnesia
Episodes: 12
Genre: Fantasy, shoujo, romance,
Rating: PG-13

Story
Without spoiling anything, though it wouldn't be much of a tragedy if I did spoil something, this is a story about a girl who has amnesia. (surprise surprise) The only thing that she has to help her remember things are the people around her, specifically her boyfriend(s).

Characters
You might have already guessed that this is a harem anime. Here are all of the members:

Heroine: Yes, her name is literally just Heroine. The really stupid name for this character should clue you in to the "quality" of this anime. She's our female protagonist, and as far as personality goes, that's about all I can say.

Shin: He's the gryffindor edgy male lead. He likes to play rock music and has a lot of angst, as indicated by his dark clothing.

Toma: He's a hufflepuff lovable, "little-brother"-esque character, as indicated by his blonde hair and smile.

Ikki: He's a slytherin bit of a narcissistic character who is, of course, really popular with the ladies. This is indicated by his narrowed eyes and the gray suit he always wears.

Kent: He's the ravenclaw smart character (as indicated by the glasses) that you'll probably forget about by the end of the anime because he only gets one episode to himself.

Art
This is the only redeeming quality to this anime. The art is exceptional. Everything from the character design, the style, the color palette, the animation, etcetera--it was all spot-on. It was what initially drew me to this anime and the only reason I stayed with it. The characters are all beautiful drawn, and their outfits were designed very well. While Amnesia would not be the most fun anime to watch, it would definitely be fun to cosplay one of the characters. Even the extra characters that I did not mention above all had a very unique style. The art is the one thing in this anime that no sane person could insult, because it is gorgeous.

Music
I actually really enjoyed the anime opening. It was very epic, and while I would usually praise an opening for that, it only really drew more attention to the fact that the anime itself was not epic. A great opening like this one deserved to be in a better anime.

Other Thoughts/Things Worth Mentioning About . . .
The Feels. There are none, because you probably won't get attached to any of the characters.
Streaming. You can find it on Crunchyroll as of August 2015.
Sub vs Dub. I watched it all in dub and only had major problems with Heroine, because her voice was dull, and she made more "hh!" and "huh?" noises than actual words. I can't say that this is much better in the Japanese version. Some of the inflections seemed to change the personalities of the characters a little, though. Kent sounded cooler in the Japanese version, Ikki sounded less slytherin-y, etc.

To watch or not to watch?
I would not recommend this anime to anyone. Do you like reverse-harem? You can find something better. Anime with romance? Naruto would be a better recommendation. Fantasy? Shoujo? Whatever you're looking for, there is something better, something more enjoyable, and something more worthwhile.

Anime Review: My Little Monster

Anime Title: My Little Monster
Japanese Title: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Episodes: 13
Genre: Shoujo, romance, school, slice of life
Rating: PG-13

Story
This anime sets itself up as a simple "studious girl meets rebellious boy and they fall in love" kind of thing. While there is definitely a romance in this anime, the show likes to deal more with friendship, jealousy, and how to open up to other people.

Characters
Our two main characters are Shizuku and Haru. Shizuku is pretty much obsessed with studying. She's seen as emotionless and cold, which is why her classmates nicknamed her "Dry-Ice" (which is actually pretty clever for a bunch of eight year old kids). Haru is pretty much the opposite of Shizuku. He's got a lot of "aggression" and absolutely no motivation to even go to school. Throughout the anime, we get to see more of them and who they are, and they make friends with a very colorful cast of characters. A few worth mentioning include the really pretty girl who can't make any friends because all of the girls hate her, the super-confident "cool" character who has a horrible sense of direction, that one girl who seems to appear at random plot moments to make the other characters feel embarrassed, and a chicken.

Art
There really is nothing notable to mention here. The art was certainly not bad, and the character design worked. The expressions on the characters' faces was priceless, because it was VERY clear if one of them was feeling angry, embarrassed, happy, etcetera. Personally, I like the illustrations they had during the ending. They were drawn with what looked like colored pencils, and it was a very cute touch. The opening also had nice animation, but I personally preferred the ending solely for the drawings.

Music
The opening and ending set the mood of the anime very well, but there isn't much to say about the music played during the rest of the show.

Other Thoughts/Things Worth Mentioning About . . .
The shoujo elements. One thing I hate about shoujo is how a lot of the times, the male protagonists have to nearly force themselves onto the female for there to be any romance at all. I find this annoying, and in some shows, it's gross. There's a lot of examples of that in this show, like the male protagonist pretty much declaring his love for the female protagonist in the first episode, There is one saving grace to this, and it's that Shizuku is a very blunt character who is not afraid to say no.
Streaming. It's available on Crunchyroll and Netflix as of August 2015.
Sub vs Dub. There is no dub currently.
Uncanny resemblance. For any Soul Eater fans out there . . .

To watch or not to watch?
This isn't an atrocious anime. It's also not a fantastic one. If you already know that you don't like shoujo or school romance anime, then I would definitely advise you to stay away from this one, because it doesn't offer anything revolutionary and exciting to the genre. That being said, if you know that you do like the genre, then this is probably something you'll enjoy. If you complete episode 1 and decide that you like what you saw, then I can guarantee to you that it gets even better from there.

Anime Review: Your Lie in April

Anime Title: Your Lie in April
Japanese Title: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Episodes: 22
Genre: Drama, music, romance, school
Rating: PG-13

Story
Your Lie in April, which will be abbreviated as "YLA" from here on, is a story about a former pianist named Arima Kousei, and a violinist named Kaori Miyazono who brings him back into the world of music. But the real plot of this anime goes much deeper than that. The main themes of this anime are acceptance, friendship, love, and learning how to move on.
I did have a problem with some, err, contrived plot points and suspense that lasted too long (three episodes for one music competition), but other than that, I didn't really have many problems. There aren't any plot holes I could find, and the anime wrapped itself up very nicely.

Characters
Aside from Kousei and Kaori, there are two other main characters: Tsubaki and Watari, who are both athletes. Tsubaki, Watari, and Kousei have been good friends for years, until one day Kaori is introduced into the mix. This causes some problems in terms of love and jealousy, and this is pretty clear from episode one. One thing that I found was interesting about YLA was that it had a fairly large cast of characters, some of who we didn't get to know that well, but they all had a great impact on the story. One example of this is Kousei's mom, who we honestly don't get to know well as a character, but she still is somehow one of the biggest plot points in this entire anime.

Art
The art in YLA did its job. The only part about it that's really worth the mention is the animation when the characters were playing instruments. Sure, there were some times when you could hear the music, but all you would see is a still frame of someone with their hands on the keys of a piano. But when you got to see these characters animated while playing their instruments, it was absolutely perfect. Being a musician myself, it was very apparent that a lot of time went into making sure that everything was as realistic as possible. They had scenes where you could see each individual note the pianists were playing, and it was spot-on.

Music
The OST is brilliant. I have absolutely no complaints about it. I have nothing but praise. I am a huge fan of instrumental music and classical music, and this anime had both in spades. This is probably my favorite anime OST to date, but you can judge how great it is for yourself.

Other Thoughts/Things Worth Mentioning About . . .
The Feels. This anime gets intense. It was rated PG-13 because it's not exactly for the faint of heart. It talks about abuse, death, and some episodes will probably leave you feeling a little melancholy.
Streaming. This is currently available on Crunchyroll, as of August 2015.
Sub vs Dub. There is only a sub at the moment, and luckily, it's a pretty good one. Aside from hearing the Japanese voice actors trying to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

To watch or not to watch?
As much praise as I've given this anime, it is definitely not for everyone. It takes things very slowly, and calling this anime a romance would be like calling The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya porn. I enjoyed some episodes and felt like others were a little boring. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a musician, who likes classical music, and also people who like school anime. But I do think that it's something every anime fan should at least try to watch.