Bartender

Bartender is a wonderful anime which follows the Bartender Ryu Sasakura, nicknamed the "Glass of God" in his bar, the Eden Hall in Ginza. Ryu's ability is not only mixing wonderful cocktails but creating the perfect cocktail for that instant which relieves, revives and brings happiness to every client.

There a number of narrators in the stories, other bartenders, friends or colleagues of the client as well as the main narrator who's job is to present the story behind every cocktail chosen by Ryu.

Aside its wonderful colours, its prefect representation of all the bottles (using scanned 3D) there is a wonderful soundtrack and a general feeling of peace and serenity as befits the idea behind Eden Hall.

This Anime is a must see most, but especially if you like spirits and cocktails! You can't help finding your cocktail book and wanting to try for yourself!

Link:
http://www.bartender-tv.com
(Well worth a visit!)

Anime recap 2007

Chrno Crusade

Chrono Crusade follows the adventures of Rosette (an demon exorcist for the church) and Chrono fighting in the 1930's to find her brother Joshua, as the Demon Aion tries to push the world into a mass of despair and fear...

Picking up pieces of roman catholic church history and demonology the series is actually well done and well worth watching.
Rating ***

Black Lagoon & Second Barrage

Black Lagoon follows the adventures of Okajima Rokuro, a japanese employee who happens to enter the world of crime and treachery by becoming a member of the mercenary group The Lagoon Company. Along with Revi and the two other members of the group Dutch and Benny, these 2 series follow the world of crime where the rules are very different to what he has grown up in.

Having heard so much hype about it i was expecting more, the stories are rather straight forward, the underlying trama is slow and boring and it doesn't even finish properly... Not bad but not good... If you have watched Noir, Burst Angel and other like it you can probably give it a miss, if not have a go!

Rating ***

Elfin Lied

Now already a classic Elfin Lied is a good, and graphically violent, anime revolving around the main character Kouta and his meeting with Nyuu... Just who and what is Nyu, and who is Lucy?

Rating ****

Jigoku Shoujo

Have you been hurt so badly that you can only dream of revenge? Will do you anything to obtain your revenge? If so all you have to do is access the Jigoku Shoujo website at midnight, and write the name of the person you want to send to Hell. Emma Ai and her team will do the rest....

I great first series, Emma Ai is a fabulous character and the story lines are nearly always good. They could have avoided the repetitions of her send them to hell, but that's the only minor defect in the series. Well worth watching.

Rating ****

Fate/Stay Night

A good anime where every so many years there is the fight for the holy grail. The marked magicians are allowed to evoke a fighter from the past to fight for them. These fighters and their magicians are linked for good or worse but in the end only one can triumph. Shirou Emiya finds himself completely unprepared for this war but somehow manages to evoke Saber to protect himself... However he still doesn't want to fight, but will that be enough to save himself?

Taken from the Manga, the storyline is rather different from it but still enjoyable.
Rating ***

Himiko Den

A 1999 anime about a war between two countries and cultures. The Queen was in the middle of being chosen by the sacred fire in Yamatai when the country was invaded by the evil empre Kune, disrupting the ceremony. The daughter of the Fire Guardian was sent by the Fire (Bokka) to another world where she grows up unknowing of her past. A sudden turn of events returns Himiko and her friend Kutani to Yamatai with the power of the sacred fire within them... Can they help the original candidates to Queen to return their world to peace?

An old anime but all the same the storyline is rather lax. Reasonably entertaining but nothing to write home about.

Rating **

Peace Maker Kurogane

15 year old Tetsunosuke Ichimura wants to be part of the Shinsengumi in order to become stronger and overcome the brutal killing of his parents by the Choshu. HIs wild unruly attempts eventually pay off and is taken on as a cadet. Now the real trial starts....

Interesting kenjutsu anime, a bit slow at times but thanks to good secondary characters and the funny side kick pig Saizo theres is always some comic relief.

Rating ***