Bounen no Xam'd

 

Introduction:  I am going to be honest here, I 100% decided to watch this series because of the word Xam'd in the title.

Plot Overview: Takehara Akiyuki is a high-school student on the small island of Senten, which lies near the border of the Southern Continent and the Northern Continent which are at war with each other. One day while boarding the bus for school he helps sneak on a mysterious looking girl. Just as they arrive at the school the bus explodes, apparently a suicide attempt by the strange girl. After checking to make sure he and his friends are okay he rushes back onto the bus to find out what happened to the strange girl only to find her mortally wounded. Smiling when she see's Akiyuki she activates a strange device that was implanted into Akiyuki during the explosion transforming him into a strange creature called a Xam'd, a creature the girl holds as sacred.

Review: Bounen no Xam'd is probably the most infuriating anime I've ever watched for one reason and one reason alone, it doesn't explain what is going on at any time until a couple episodes later. You watch an episode and they start talking about things that they expect you to know before they are explained to you which just sort of wears you down after a while. And even then a lot of the stuff they do explain isn't explained that well or is explained in "I don't see it, but I'll take word for it" type way. Add to that it tries to cram in way too many major character, extremely awkward pacing, and some strange choices in character development and you get an anime that probably needs to be twice as long if they wanted it to come to the viewers at an understandable pace. Despite these faults though the concept is great, the art is vibrant and adds a lot of character, and the world building is very well done, so that's something.

Conclusion: It has it's flaws but if you are willing to rewatch some episodes after having some things explained to you Xam'd is a decent anime that has an interesting yet poorly executed concept.

Guardman's Grade: C+

Categories: Action, War, Drama, Tragedy, Fantasy

Busou Renkin

Introduction: Um... so... yeah... I got nothing. Enjoy.

Plot Overview: Kazuki Muto is your average Highschool student who happens to die while trying to save a girl from a monster. Well that is what he think happens anyways as he finds himself waking up in his school's dorm. Later the girl he saved, Tokiko Tsumura comes in to tell him that he actually did die, but she brought him back to life by using a strange medallion, the Kakugane, and placing it inside him as a replacement for his heart. The Kakugane is an alchemic device and when activated by the Kakugane's user is the only device capable of defeating Homunculi. And so begins Kazuki's adventure of fighting Homunculi and those that create them.

Review: Busou Renkin isn't deep, isn't thought provoking, and for the most part is entirely power driven where you are more interested in seeing what cool power X has more than the story itself. Now that that is out of the way I'll be the first to say that while my first sentence might seem damning of the series, it really isn't. Busou Renkin has it's moments and actually has some very entertaining and original characters like Papillon, who is the one wearing the tights and butterfly mask in the picture above (and before you think otherwise that is pretty much all he wears throughout the entire series). But this series after a while begins to rely more and more on showing cool powers and fights in the place for good story telling.

Conclusion: If you like Bleach you will most likely like Busou Renkin. Both have the same feel and same sort of story telling, along with the emphasis on powers over plot.

Guardman's Grade: C

Categories: Shounen, Action, Comedy, Supernatural

How My Grades Work

I think for the most part my reviews are pretty self-explanatory, except for my grading system. So this post will explain how I grade what and why.

A: Anything with an A grade is something I would Highly Recommend. A graded anime and manga are ones I highly enjoyed, have very few to none unenjoyable traits, and I believe most other people would enjoy too.

B: Anime and manga with a B grade is something I would Recommend. B grades are the average for my grading scale (I know my grading scale is skewed) as B works are things I enjoyed, I feel have few unenjoyable traits (or these traits are mitigated by the enjoyable traits), and have broad appeal.

C: Works with C grades are things I would recommend if the specific work appealed to you. These works usually have some sort of problem be it pacing, plot, voice acting, artwork, characters, etc. that diminished the enjoyability of these works. Now C anime and manga do have several traits that make them enjoyable, but they are works, because of their flaws, that won't have the mass appeal or enjoyment that A and B works will.

D: Anime and manga with D grades mean that they have several problems that detract from their enjoyability and not enough positives to really make it worth ones time unless you are looking for the specific aspects the work has. This also includes a lot of artistic works where the anime or manga is focused only one aspect at the expense of the others. Don't expect me to review a lot of D works.

F: I would be shocked if I ever reviewed a work I gave an F to, as I probably would've stopped watching/reading before I started. But these are works that are universally bad. Think Star Wars Christmas Special bad. Basically anything I give an F to I would not only not recommend, but I would also suggest not touching it or looking at it's general direction.

+ and - are more of a personal ranking of where they belong within each category. For reference a B+ work will either be more enjoyable or have more mass appeal or both than a B or B- work.