So, last time I mentioned that I’ve been grabbing and watching some classic anime didn’t I? Allow me to correct myself, then. I didn’t watch some classics, actually. I’ve been watching plenty of them. Too much, even. Since it might get a bit long-winded I’mma break this into two parts, and start off with the first three!

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
I’m not a musician and the only instrument I play doesn’t really produce any sound [well, it makes someone else produce beautiful music, though]. Still, I’m a guy who can appreciate music for what it is, and occasionally I find myself attending gigs by local independent bands and have somewhat skimmed the surface of the indie music scene. [I dare not surpass thy authority, Albert!]

Beck is a story about a boy who learns the guitar, and how he eventually becomes part of an up-and-rising rock band. I don’t play the guitar, nor I read any musical notes, nor do I have a clue what it’s like to be playing music. Still, I managed to enjoy Beck for it’s easygoing and inspirational storyline. Beck wins big points because it is story-driven, and doesn’t depend much on the character’s traits to carry the show.

There were no big-titties, no cutesy or adorable characters that make you go “MOE!!~” and that’s exactly why I think Beck is awesome. It’s a story about music, about making music and about loving music, from start to finish. I’m even willing to overlook some of the horrid Engrish because I’ve accepted it as how English is spoken by the typical Japanese person.

Mai-Hime
Yes, you saw that right. Fazri watched a mahou-shoujo show. *Gasp!* Not to mention that it’s a legendary one, at that. To summarize it, Mai-Hime is about a group of school girls who are born with supernatural powers and find themselves drawn into a centuries-old conflict riddled with a mysterious conspiracy, coupled with bits of comedy and high-school romance *cue violent psychopath violin sound clips*. Nothing unheard of before, is it? All the common formulae of plot elements needed to drive a decent story.

Despite being very much run-of-the-mill at its core, I am honestly impressed by Mai-Hime, to the point that I’m actually recommending it to people with distaste for mahou-shoujo shows. I’ll admit, I started watching Mai-Hime with a preset bias - it’s a mahou-shoujo show, and it’s a Sunrise production.

After having watched several shows of the same genre [Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon, anyone?] I was more than ready to see recycled scenes of henshin [transformation] sequences in Mai-Hime. Even more so after being well-aware of Sunrise’s reputation for reused scenes [I'm looking at you, Gundam!].

Yet, Mai-Hime surprised me. Even after 10 episodes, I saw only very few recycled scenes. For one thing, the girls in Mai-Hime don’t transform into some magical suit or combat armor [*points at Nanoha*]. It can’t be helped that the girls use the same attack moves again every once in a while and I wasn’t surprised to see the same Miroku-dragging scenes a few times.

Other than that, while obviously cashing in on character development and the occasional subtle fanservice, Mai-Hime doesn’t disappoint. Trust me, I have a strong distaste against most mahou-shoujo shows, and I’m putting Mai-Hime in a good light here.

However,… I shall refrain from watching Mai-Otome, and anything else that spawns after that. First of all because Mai-Otome is a spin-off instead of a sequel, obviously an attempt at milking out the succesful franchise. Secondly, the girls transform into battle costumes - something which I find much displeasure in.

If you haven’t, go watch Mai-Hime, because it’s seriously good.

Fooly Cooly
I still don’t know why I never watched this OVA much sooner. Not only is it a lot of fun to watch, it’s also got a wonderful story that carries the show. The batshit-insane kind of humor brings out much joy whenever I watch this. And the music, oh my, the music…THE OST FREAKING ROCKS.

Fooly Cooly is about Naota, a boy who meets Haruka, a strange woman, who, upon their first meeting, gave him a nice heavy whack on the forehead with her electric guitar. This crazy-ass smack to the head opened up an inter-galactic portal between the two lobes of his brain, sending in weird monsters which Haruka proceeds to destroy with her guitar. Yeah, the story is downright crazy, but that’s what makes it special!

Oddly enough, for a show with a lot of energy like FLCL, I found it quite difficult to find words to describe what I think of it, mainly because all I could ever come up with is “super awesome” and “super godly awesome“. It’s only 6 episodes, but it’s definitely one of the best OVAs I’ve EVER seen.

I ain’t kidding you with this one.

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Up next: Mahoromatic, Ai Yori Aoshi and Neon Genesis Evangelion!

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Read it here!