"Whose Eyes are Those Eyes?" Anime Review: Chaos;Head

What if the world is not what it seems? And the popsicle you are eating isn't real? How sure are you that the dream that you are dreaming isn't a dream at all? Are you sure that what you see is real? How can you be sure that the person your with is a friend, or an enemy? And... If you are God, and the delusions becomes reality. About what kind of the nodes you get? Is it the sensual world? The despotic society? The destuctive sanctions? Or...

Takumi Nishijo has lived the life of a recluse ever since as a child. Afraid of the real world, he spends his days watching anime, collecting vinyl figures, and living a virtual life as Knight Hal in the MMORPG Empire Sweeper Kingdom. He attends school on a minimum basis, obtaining enough credits to pass the mark and living his days as a hikkikomori in his container truck of a room. Until one day while chatting with a friend online, he gets a private message from an unknown chatter named Shogun. Clinking on a link attached to a message, he views a pic of a gruesome murder— one that hasn't happen yet. Thinking of it as just some weird joke someone is passing along the web, he forgets about... that is on the following evening, he stumbles on the actual scene himself.

Chaos;Head (Kaosu Heddo) is a twelve episode psychological suspense anime set in the flashy district of Shibuya. An Anime adaptation from a Japanese visual novel produced by Nitro+, Red Flagship, and 5pb. — the same visual novel studio that brought you Myself;Yourself. Produced by MadHouse, the same Anime studio that brought you Death Note, Gunslinger Girl, Claymore, Tenjou Tenge, Metropolis, and Trigun fame. Set in the backdrop of the popular Shibuya district; with shops and cafes can be found in Shibuya itself— those names have been altered. Also you may notice that upon watching the Anime, some of the websites that Takumi browses thru are parodies of such popular sites such as Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Yahoo.

As he receives more info on the murder he witnessed, which is part of a string of bizzare murders called The New Generation Madness. As much as he tries to forget the incident himself, unwanted messages from Shogun and daily feeds from his online friend Grim about the NewGen murders, hounding Takumi daily of the murder. Accused by a female sempai as the actual perpetrator of the NewGen murders and finding out the following day, that the blood-covered girl he saw at the murder scene, is same class as he is, and worst, a long time friend since junior high.

Is he really the perpetrator? Does he have a dual personality? How come he can't recall right away that the girl he's with a friend? Does he have lapses in memory? As he tries to find further the truth behind himself and the murders that have been happening around him, he gets himself entangled with other strange girls. Each having their own reasons for contacting him. The plotline in the first five episodes unravels slowly, but speeds up in the latter parts of the anime, as Takumi steps outside the boundaries of his hikkikomori lifestyle in order to find out the truth. As a bizarre earthquake errupts in the middle of the Shibuya district and other strange events follow afterward. Takumi finds out the name of the organization behind the strange turn of events happening around his home.

If you think this is your typical harem type romance— your dead wrong about it. Not unless, you have a thing for girls carrying swords. The only fan service you get are a by-product of Takumi's attack of schizophrenia, wherein Takumi suddenly views the girls in their lingerie, or acting out 'flagged' scenes found in common date sim or eroge games. And in this case, none of the girls are interested in Takumi for the standard reasons in most date sim games. That is, the near end of the anime may say otherwise.

Chaos;Head is a short anime series with a decent plotline with fair amount of complicated twist to keep the suspense going. Action-wise, those looking for an all-out-sword-battling action, may be disappointed, since most of the action happens at the latter half of the anime. But a good storyline and plot build-up to the end, Chaos;Head is great anime worth watching.

The Baka side of High School Life: “Joshikosei Girls High"

Girls were much as a mystery to me during high school as much as women are to me now today— although I know a few things now. I think. So it’s nice to see a bishoujo anime that doesn’t have any subtle undertones of lesbianism, or a guy’s pre-conceived notion of what high school girls are— kawaii, sweet, and often too doleful to be real. “Joshikosei Girls High” is a twelve episode series that shows an all too real yet somewhat ecchi depiction of what high school girls are, beyond the shut door of a girl’s locker room. Based on a currently ongoing manga series by Towa Oshima— daughter of Yasuichi Oshima, the renown manga-ka of Batsu & Terī —originally published by Futabasha's Weekly Manga Action magazine in 2001. “Joshikosei Girls High”, or Girls High for short, depicts the comic yet slightly raunchy misadventures of Eriko Takahashi, Fuma Suzuki, Ayano Satou, Akari Kouda, Kyoko Himeji, and Irue Ogawa, as they enter senior high school at Yamasaki Girls Academy— abbreviated in the series as ‘Saki Girls Academy’.

Eriko Takahashi leads her two friends, Yuma Suzuki and Ayano Satou, into taking an impromptu tour of Saki Girls Academy. Believing that Girls high school is the epitome of grace, beauty, and charm— as oppose to a boys high, as Eriko states as dirty, filthy, and smelly. Eriko’s naïve misconceptions gets knock off her ivory pedestal, when they step into the girls swim team locker room, they find a room littered with P.E. swimsuits hanging in the air and trash littered about. Even an open pack of sanitary pads in the open and a sheet of tissue on a desk table with very short curly hair that can only be pubic hair.

Finding out that all girls senior high school isn’t all the prim and grace that she so dream about, Eriko runs out the room— with Yuma and Ayano chasing after her— and stumbles on a flight of stairs, falling butt first into the face of Akari Kouda. Akari with her friends, Kyoko Himeji and Irue Ogawa, assume by mistake that Eriko, Yuma, and Ayano are sophomores and starts to ask Eriko all about high school life. Only to find out the following day that they are in the same class.

Similar in theme to “Super Gals”, wherein a bunch of high school girls who meet up at the start of the first semester and become friends for life. Unlike ”Super Gals”, wherein romance seems to be still the usual flavor of bishoujo anime, Joshikosei Girls High focuses more a down-to-earth, somewhat real, yet somewhat ranchious depiction of high school life on the girls side of the fence. While Gals, like all other bishoujo anime primarily focus on romance, Girls High deviates from the usual flow, discussing such matters such as girls’ hygiene, porn, and the usual back talk that girls talk about boys— aside from the bonds of friendship which is the usual plotline. While Gainax Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, “His and her Circumstances” tackles the angst, the pain, and trials of high school life, all in the traditional style of Gainax— thought provoking and full of cinematic drama. Girls High takes a light, humorous, ecchi yet witty approach to the whole high school life drama. It’s refreshing to see a bishoujo anime wherein girls talk about porn, personal hygiene, boys, and dating under the sun— minus the cliquey embarrassed blushing and all-too-sugary sweetness typical of other bishoujo anime.

The first two episodes of the anime­— and some later episodes— have enough fan service to outlast an otaku’s lifetime. Even sending some first time viewers screaming hentai. But despite the excessive fan service— pantie flashes and sexually suggestive positions, what makes Joshikosei Girls High, an anime worth watching over and over again, is its candid yet humorous portrayal of high school girls who can talk about porn, sex, boys without the clique blushes of embarrassment or doleful eye effects. Girls that as close to real girls and experience things as typical girls do. Plus the comic antics and stupid misadventures, making us believe that girls do have a baka side— once in a while.

The only flaws that I found with Joshikosei Girls High is the brevity of the series and the lack of character storyline on Kyoko Himeji and Irue Ogawa. While most of the other primary characters— Eriko Takahashi, Yuma Suzuki, Ayano Satou, and Akari Kouda— had each an episode or two showing us a storyline focus on each. Except for episode 8, where we see a fat Himeji who upon the advice of ‘three angels’ transforms herself from fatty to hotty— all for the sake of love. We don’t get to much storyline on these two characters, transforming them in later episodes as just simple background characters­— even like personal attachments or accessories to the other four. If there is to be a Season 2— and I hope there is, I hope the producers of the anime provide more in-depth storyline on the two. Maybe, an episode or two dedicated to Yuma’s little sister, Momoka Suzuki. Besides I would love to see more baka misadventures of the Moron Corp as they brave through second year of senior high.