Despite all that happened between them, Ami and Minori still found a way to respect and support each other.

Romance is rife in anime, and why not… it’s a fascinating and ever relevant topic that anime has a decent track record with overall. Friendship, outside of romance (since romance innately implies friendship) isn’t a so frequently explored topic. But, it’s not hard to find examples of wonderful and genuine friendships between two or more people in anime. (This post contains moderate spoilers of the tagged titles.)

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Aria The Animation, Mai-HiME, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Toradora

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We’re just past the half-way point of the current season, and fast approaching the beginning of the next. A handful of our staff have taken a moment to tell you what we think of the show’s we’re watching so far, up to this point. This collection of our mid-season thoughts will serve as the first in a new seasonal series for the blog. As a comparison, you can read what we thought at the beginning of the season here. So, enjoy.
Introduction by: Sorrow-kun

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By NHRV Staff | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Amagami SS, Asobi ni Ikuyo!, Heroman, High School of the Dead, K-ON!, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Nurarihyon no Mago, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Shiki, Shukufuku no Campanella

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WARNING! Spoilers for Hikaru no Go

“Greatness isn’t born. Greatness is made.”

I’ve often seen such assertions made in the tag lines of motivational speaking programs and self-help books, who endlessly extol the virtues of hard work and self-application, and applaud the accomplishments of self-made men and women. All great achievers share in common the characteristics of bold initiative, strong work ethic, and exceptional talent. But how much of this grand narrative is accurate, and what important details are hidden beneath the tall tales of self-actualization?

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By kadian1364 | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: greatness, Hikaru no Go

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The saddest sight in the world.

It’s the night before Comiket 78. In about a few hours, I will be joining hundreds of thousands of others like myself, lining up in the sweltering heat and braving stampedes of foul-smelling young men in a quest for books, goods and trinkets. On the eve of battle, I sit alone in my Tokyo apartment, five minutes from Akiba. The lights are dim, Aoi Hana is playing softly from my computer’s speakers and I sit in my chair, reflecting upon my long history with Akihabara.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
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This season, we’re doing something a bit different with our seasonal First Thoughts article. A handful of our staff have contributed their impressions on the shows they’re following so far. It’s an intriguing season to date, but for mine, it isn’t nearly as promising as the others that have preceded it this year, and I’d say our initial thoughts on what we’ve seen from the first few weeks of the season reflect that. There have been a few interesting entries, particular those in the “horror” (using the term loosely here) genre, such as Highschool of the Dead, Occult Academy and, IMO, the most promising of all, Shiki, but for the most part, this has been as a season of blandness and disappointments. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for a sleeper hit to emerge.
Introduction by: Sorrow-kun

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By NHRV Staff | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Amagami SS, Asobi ni Ikuyo!, Cat Shit One, High School of the Dead, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Mitsudomoe, Nurarihyon no Mago, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seikimatsu Occult Academy, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Shiki, Shukufuku no Campanella, Strike Witches

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This is what my face looked like when I first inspected my mic quality.

That’s right, kids— The Nihon Review now has a podcast! It’s called The Nihon Revue, and features the ever-so-charming Sorrow-kun and everyone’s least favorite blogger (yours truly) doing what The Nihon Review does best: reviewing anime.

For our pilot episode, we have for you five of last season’s hits. Most of these shows have finished only recently. Here’s the program:

Bakemonogatari: 0:30

Angel Beats!: 5:50

Senkou no Night Raid: 11:05

Working!!: 13:30

Arakawa Under the Bridge: 19:25

Total runtime is 27:40.

We realize that there were a lot of things we could have done better— this podcast is a work in progress. We’re hoping to put one of these out every season for everyone out there. Also, I definitely need a better microphone, but I’m currently abroad, so bear with me on that one. Thanks for supporting us, and enjoy:

Also, a download link if you so please.

Don’t forget to come join us down at #nhrv @ irc.rizon.net. We always welcome new faces, so drop on by.

Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Amagami SS, Angel Beats!, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, High School of the Dead, Ookami-san, Sekimatsu Occult Gakuin, Senkou no Night Raid, Shiki, Strike Witches Season 2, Working!!

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Now that I’m back, I’ve realized that, much to my horror, that I am experiencing something absolutely unprecedented:

The current anime season is so god-awful that I’ve actually run out of things to write about. Absolutely nothing is worth talking about.

So let’s do a little something different today. Readers of Behind the Nihon Review, I present to you…

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Amagami SS, B Gata H Kei, Kodomo no Jikan, Kugimiya Rie, Kurenai, Working!!

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I bought a poster of this game at Anime Expo. Suiheisen Made Nan Mairu?

I went down to Anime Expo this past weekend, surviving almost a week of no sleep and irritable fans. Amongst the many stories worth blogging about, perhaps what seemed most surprising to me about Anime Expo 2010 was the powerful presence of visual novels. While other blogs, such as AnimeDiet, have covered extensively some of the prominent Guests of Honor, I had the pleasure of gleaning some very useful comments from actual visual novel makers, as well as those involved in the localization process. It is my hope that through a bit more digging and scavenging, we, as fans and consumers, can come to understand the workings of game makers in Japan.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Kylaran | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Anime Expo 2010, âge, Circus, Eroge, minori, OverDrive, Visual novels

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When omo, writing for his site Omonomono, gave his final impression of Angel Beats, he talked about seeing it fall under its own weight, and likened it to what a “failed” attempt to make ef – a tale of memories might look like. It got me thinking about the concept of ambition in anime, and the role it plays in the creative process. I’ve spent much of my time online in the post-Angel Beats week defending my ultimately positive impression of the series. Several bloggers have come to the conclusion that Angel Beats is a poorly executed work (which I won’t disagree with) that needed more episodes (this I’m not so convinced about). In one of the rare instances, this is a case where I think, to oversimplify to the point of being insulting, it needed less stuff… ie, less substance. But, more important than anything else, it needed direction. (Above image found on moe.imouto, NSFW.)

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Angel Beats!, Code Geass Hangyaku no Lelouch, ef -a tale of memories, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi

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In all honesty, I can't help but like this guy. Reinhard von Lohengramm.

No other show really comes to mind when I watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Of course, it’s a space opera. Along with the likes of hit series Space Battleship Yamato and the original Mobile Suit Gundam, LOGH is arguably a powerhouse in terms of its influence and fame. But if there’s one thing that’s truly admirable about the series, it’s that it makes the platform of a history documentary more epic than ever seen before. The animators create a fantastic sense of objectivity and distance when the plot contains so much drama; indeed, the very animation of the series holds true to the very philosophy of history that its characters are so often engrossed in discussing.

Warning: Spoilers for Legend of the Galactic Heroes and one tiny spoiler from Nabokov’s Lolita. Proceed at your own risk.

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Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Kylaran | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: History, Legend of the Galatic Heroes, Lolita, Military Science Fiction, Space Drama, Space Opera

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