Joshi Kouhei

Joshi Kouhei
(Jiro Matsumoto)

A very surprising manga series that's in your face and rude as heck. As if "Evangelion" and "Akira" had a baby, and was raised with a steady diet of "Platoon", "Apocalypse Now", "Hurt Locker" and "Full Metal Jacket".

In the distant future, where humanity is living in an alternate dimension, a civil war erupts between the migrants and the Earth Forces in their new land. Fighting this battle are pilots manning 18-meter tall "high school girls" made of flesh and metal called "assault girls". The pilots integrate their will into the machines, therefore driving them, but the assault girls have their own behavior and quirks akin to a real, typical high school girl.

For a sci-fi series, it doesn't really explain the hows and whys behind the 'assault girls', but this actually prevents any distraction from the horror and grittiness that is going on in the moment. It does make me wonder, what is the advantage of having flesh and metal fighting robots who act like high school girls, chatting away in their cellphones, yapping about cuteness and fashion, and having them eat giant versions of food, and have normal body functions such as defecating and having menstruation. Aside for that, its a hell of a PTSD ridden ride along with the Hyena unit, as they search for their prey in the middle of a hellish war torn reality.

Aho Girl

Its rare for me to make a posting after a series just came out with one episode, but the new anime "Aho Girl" was enough to warrant me making this short blurp.

The series revolves around the high school freshman, Yoshiko, who is the most stupid student (who garner 0 points in all her exams....I don't even know how she got into that school in the first place), and her childhood friend and neighbor Akutsu, who is a tall, studious lad and always being forced by Yoshiko's mother to marry her daughter. Adding to Akutsu's worries are the additional cast of characters that seems to augment Yoshiko's stupid attitude, and a female student official who stalks and harasses him. 

The premise of the story is quite humorous, the development of the characters are downright funny, and there are no boring parts in the whole episode (so far) thanks to the "4-panel manga"-esque approach of dividing each chapter. The humor is fast paced, but still does a lot of play on words that would be more funnier if you understand Japanese.

But underneath this slap-stick, physical approach to humor, I still get unsettled at times with the way Yoshiko is brutally punched or slammed to the ground by the irritated Akutsu. When Yoshiko was listing her best qualities (which she came up with "none"), I think she should add that her indestructibility adds to her charm, and her hyper energy helps her come out unscathed after their encounter. I would like to add that her charm also includes  her.... innocence?... but... naaah, she is a a bit lewd with her lewd jokes, puns and "exhibitionist tendencies".

So far, the series is very enjoyable and highly recommended to light viewers and to those taking a break from all the mental mind fuck anime that;s been going through a boom recently.