RAVENBUN!

Time for a newer series that people who have posted listed have skipped: Shakugan no Shana. Shakugan no Shana is an action/romance series.

Yuji Sakai is a normal high school boy. At least he thought he was. Then one day while leaving the game arcade with his girlfriend the world freezes around him and a pair of monsters come out and start killing everyone. A strange girl with a blazing sword comes out and destroys them. That is when Yuji learns a horrible truth: he is dead and has been dead for some time.

He is a Torch. A Torch is a remnant of a person's existence that carries on in place of an original person who was slain and consumed by the monsters that had attacked, the Denizens of the Crimson World. They carry on until their existence finally burns out and they fade from the world, forever forgotten. Yuji is no ordinary Torch however. He is a Miestes, a Torch that contains a powerful treasure inside it. Yuji contains the Midnight Lost Child however, which is a powerful treasure that will replenish his Power of Existence at midnight provided he has not burned it all up during the day.

The girl who fought the monsters is a Flame Haze. Flame Hazes are humans who have been joined by a Crimson Lord, powerful near god-like beings, that battle the Denizens. She has no name; her only distinguishing characteristics are her Crimson Lord Alastor, the Flame of the Heavens, and her sword, Nieto no Shana. Thus Yuji starts calling her Shana.

Shana begins following Yuji around, planning to use the treasure he carries to lure out a powerful Denizen named Free Agni. Shana, who has been trained all her life in the arts of battle and lived a solitary life, forging as few contacts and acquaintances as possible, starts to develop a friendship with the good natured and well meaning Yuji.

There are other Flame hazes as well, such as Margery Daw the Chanter of Elegies and Wilhelmina Carmel, the Specialist of Everything as well as other powerful Denizens that desire the Midnight Lost Child. However there are others vying for the affections of Yuji...

The series has a lot of sword and magic battles as well as a strong romantic plot. In addition to well choreographed fights, I found Shana's character to be very interesting. She is a girl who has previously been singularly devoted to being a Flame Haze but unknowingly finds herself in a situation beyond her understanding.

Currently Season 1 is out in the US, Season 2 is out in Japan, and Season 3 is in production.

Nope, never heard of it. And it's Raven, Ravenstein, Empress, the Tower, Mistress of the Symphony of Steel, or Shieldmaiden of the Storm, Sword, and Pen. Not Raven-chan. And yes, I know supposed to be an honorific and should I ever find myself in Japan I would use that, but I am not in Japan. I am in America right now and such cutesy courtesies make you sound silly.



How about a comedy series? Ever hear of Cromartie High School? It is about Kamiyama, who would normally be just a normal above average student. He is studious, polite, and somewhat ditzy. Unfortunately he goes to Cromartie High School, which is full of the toughest delinquents in Japan. Everyone assumes that Kamiyama is secretly some kind of epic badass because he so normal in a school of hardened delinquents that he must be like 'A bunny who lives in a den of lions! That has to be one badass bunny!'.

Other character include Hayashida, a delinquent who wears a very animated fake purple mohawk and always uses insane troll logic to justify the nonsensical happenings at the school.

Then there is Maeda who gets kidnapped every couple episodes and his classmates routinely fail to save him. Everyone always gathers at his house after school despite his best efforts to get them not to. And his mom, who looks just like him, is part of the school's baseball team.

Mechazamwa is a robot who nobody except Kamiyama and Hayashida realize is a robot (including Mechazawa himself) despite looking like a tin can with arms and legs, obviously being made of metal, having a robotic voice, and who routinely opens himself up and oils and make small tuning adjustments himself. One time he even has another student help him perform a software update on himself. He dispenses sage advice and fights crime alongside Kamiyama as a motorcycle vigilante. Despite being a robot who is always servicing himself, he claims to be terrible with fixing machines. He has a brother named Beta that Kamiyama uses as a cellphone.

There is not one, but two gorillas at the school. It's not quite clear whether they are actually students.

My favorite character and one of the icons of the show is Freddie. Anyone familiar with rock and roll history will immediately recognize him as Freddie Mercury. Freddie never speaks but is universally regarded as the most awesome person in the school. He rides a horse through the hallways when bored.

Hokuto is an evil mastermind with aspirations of world domination who got transferred to the wrong school. He has a nameless lackey who always follows him around. Despite being a obvious evil mastermind, he is considered a regular part of the crew at Cromartie. He considers Kamiyama and Freddie to be his rivals.

A terrorist who has dreams of becoming a Mexican wrestler who is laying low after assuming the identity of a student at the school. The student eventually comes back and thereafter the terrorist is known as Student 1 and the real student is known as Student 2. They have to share a seat.

And there is also a large cast of other oddballs such as two men who dress up in bunny suits and have a TV show.

Like I said, it's a strange and insane comedy.

I haven't seen any other of the .hack series. I did think about checking them out but just never got around to it. There's always a lot more I want to see than I have the time for. You can easily find Tsubasa season 2 and the OVA's on just about any torrent search site. The OVA's were only released with some Japanese magazine in limited edition for some reason. I am still hoping CLAMP will bring them out to buy one day but it seems doubtful.

Sounds pretty involved. But I guess all the best anime are.

Actually -chan might be considered a bit disrespectful to use with someone you don't know all that well yet. For Raven and you, -san or -sama would likely be more appropriate at this point, possibly -senpai, dependent on who is older. If we were in Japan anyhow.



Yea you should check out Signs at least, best of the .hack series IMO.

There's always a possibility that the Tsubasa OVA's might be able to be found in a boxed set or even as an 'Extras' feature.

oh man, TOTALLY, I love it when the blond spiky-haired hero powers up with all sorts of graphics and epic music going on everywhere, and even though is barely able to stand up manages to smash the evil yet emotionally misunderstood arch nemesis who then reappears in a different yet more powerful form a few episodes later.

best anime ever

Not currrently. There's a Collected Memories boxset that contains the two seasons and the movie but no OVA's. I know a lot of people I know where a bit PO'd about that. I had actually given away my 13 DVD's (12 volumes and the movie) to a friends daughter because I was hoping the boxset was going to have more. At least the current set is available on Blu-Ray though which makes it a lot less discs. I don't like having what I know are imcomplete sets though. ):