There is a nearly-inevitable announcement at the conclusion of all popular anime series: a movie. The majority of these films consist of one of two formats: a continuation/off-shoot/re-imagining of the series’ storyline, or essentially a “clip show,” consisting of a small amount of new animation (read: fan-service) that vaguely segues between several popular scenes from the series.

Also inevitable are the hundreds of forum arguments between fans about a movie’s quality or relevance to their beloved series. Regardless of these opinions, in the end, the movie itself is generally created for a single purpose: to squeeze the last remaining bit of money from the fandom before the studio moves on to its next project.

That being said, the first two (out of 3 announced) movies from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise are an entertaining and well-edited re-cap of the 12-episode TV series. Those looking for a new story will be disappointed. It’s still about a group of ordinary middle-school students who are offered the chance to become “magical girls” and are faced with the vicious consequences of their decisions.

With only about an hour’s difference in run-time between the TV series and the 2 movies (TV: 276 minutes, OP/ED omitted. Movies 1 & 2: 239 minutes), there was a understandable worry that Aniplex and studio SHAFT would take the aforementioned “clip show” route. Thankfully, that worry can be put to rest…

Episodes Watched: 4

Available on: Crunchyroll

Summary: Players are trapped in a new Virtual Reality MMORPG, and will die in real life if they are killed in-game. The story follows Kirito, a solo swordsman who strives to finish the game, which is the only way to release all the trapped players.

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Sword Art Online (SAO) so far has been a bit of an enigma. While there are a slew of issues found throughout the series’ premise (more on that in a moment), they are balanced out by high production values and entertaining scenes.

It’s interesting to note that characters in this fantasy MMORPG are primarily weapons-based. This means there are no Mages or Wizards walking around, and action scenes are given a bit more weight. Other classic MMO bits are retained in this world, like owning pets and joining parties/guilds.

The series takes a turn for the strange when all players are forcibly teleported to the game’s starter town and are introduced to the creator of the game, Akihiko Koyaba, who informs them that not only are they unable to log out, but that if they die in the game, they will die in reality. The only way to survive is to beat all 100 levels of the game, which will in turn release all the surviving players. As a final bit of trolling, every player’s avatar will look exactly how they do in real life.

Granted, this premise is ridiculously implausible for a number of reasons. First off, limiting sales to 10,000 copies which would in no way cover the R&D costs, much less make a profit, and should have raised a red flag to consumers. Another issue raised is the state of the players’ real bodies (starvation, muscle atrophy, etc..) The final concern is the death rate. In the first episode, it is stated that 2,000 people died in the first month. The government would have stepped in after receiving reports of multiple deaths connected to the VR hardware (which the creator himself presented to the players during his introduction). The best way to enjoy this series is to boil all of these issues down to the basic premise: insane genius trolls 10,000 people into killing themselves in his MMO.

The concept of players being stuck in a game and their actions affecting their real bodies is far from new, but SAO presents itself in a far more entertaining way than similar series have attempted in the past (like .hack//SIGN).

The animation is solid and the character designs have a decent amount of detail. The action scenes are paced well, showcasing players’ struggle against a higher-level player or a boss. Instead of focusing on Kirito’s path to beating the game, there are a number of times when he helps out lower-leveled players, bringing a sense of humanity to the character. These interactions also help to flesh out the game’s world.

The music is classic Yuki Kajiura, pairing each scene with just the right tone, whether it is in the middle of a fight or a stroll through a town’s market. LiSA provides her signature voice to the opening theme.

Even with its flaws, this has been a very enjoyable series so far. I look forward to seeing how this story progress.

Episodes watched: 3

Available on: Crunchyroll

Summary: 5 high-school students are placed into a club together after failing to join any other club. They inexplicably start swapping bodies at random.

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So, here is a series based around the classic body-swapping formula. Take a group of characters (mixed gender), start swapping bodies, and hilarity should ensue, right? So far, it’s been more about awkward conversations and muted reactions.

The characters feel one-dimensional, and don’t seem to expand too far beyond the typical stereotypes. The majority of the dialogue between the characters is typical slice-of-life banter. It’s only when body-swapping takes place that the dialogue starts to expand. The only sense of forward progress I get through the series is when each character supposedly understands each other a little bit more after every swap…which in itself either feels forced or disregarded by the next episode.

The series doesn’t seem to know whether or not it wants to take itself seriously. There were several scenes that had all the makings of a great comedic sequence, but either failed to follow through or killed the moment entirely. Other scenes dragged along with oddly placed long-winded conversations about individuality, consequences, or loosely-tied relationships.

The character designs and backgrounds are your standard fare (read: not as polished as a Kyoto Animation production), but still provide a decent amount of detail in close-ups. The soundtrack is very minimalist, which at times created more emotion than the characters themselves.

The body-swap formula is best used in small doses. The only series I can think of that found long-term success in using any version of this formula as a focus of its plot was Ranma 1/2 (in which each character swapped bodies with their own unique forms, instead of swapping bodies with other characters). At face value of these 3 episodes, Kokoro Connect just falls flat. However, there are hints of a deeper storyline sprinkled throughout the opening credits and dialogue, which will get me to watch a few more episodes in hopes of something greater taking shape (and will have alcohol handy if it doesn’t show up).

As I sit down at home to watch Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, I notice that Studio Bee Train produced this series. Ok, good pedigree. Same studio that produced Noir, Madlax, and .hack//Sign. I could use a good spy series today. So, with this in mind, I pressed play…

…and I kinda wished I didn’t.

The series reminds me of a mix between the Bourne Identify, Noir, and The Professional. It begins with a man who’s had his memory erased and his training to become an assassin. Given the name Jaso-er, I mean-Zwei, he is trained by Ein (who strikes more than a little of Kirika Yumura from Noir) and eventually the two will work together for Inferno, an underground group that collaborates with many criminal organizations. Together they are called Phantom, the title given to the top assassin of Inferno.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A nerdy guy is a giant pervert, and goes to a school filled with voluptuous young ladies. His eventual goal is to get in close with them and score, but he ends up falling for the childhood friend/nerdy one/headstrong one. It’s a formula that’s been used time and time again, and for some reason, a lot of people seem to not get sick of it one bit. If you take this formula, swap the genders, and add in an extra bit of teen pathos, and you get “B Gata H Kei”.

The series starts off with Yamada (who apparently doesn’t have a first name), who’s checking herself out in the bathroom mirror. She seems to have the “perfect” body and is comfortable with her sexuality (which is refreshing in a world full of series with shy girls who cringe at the very thought of male contact)…until she places a mirror between her thighs and freaks out, saying “Why do you look like that?! It’s so strange!” For those of you who aren’t laughing yet, be warned: it doesn’t get any less raunchy than this.