Jumping in Headfirst

Love this universe. Tsukasa Hojo creates such a unique universe--one in which the hero Saeba Ryo can be both the biggest bad-ass and the goofiest pervert in all of Japan. ("You don't live very long if you cross the City Hunter.") With the exception of Kaori, every recurring character in this series is a joy to see return. (Even Kaori has her moments.) The first 52 episodes are almost like a perfected way to write a series with a formulaic plot without ever FEELING formulaic. Nearly every episode Ryo's just saving a beautiful lady from people trying to kill her, or kidnap her, or whatever, and in most of them they fall in love with Ryo. ...And yet, despite that, each episode always seems brand-new and interesting. The details for each case are so different that you can marathon the series and not get bored. And that's why I'm going back for the second round. From the opening, it looks like we'll be seeing more of Saeko, which isn'...

Flame of Recca's another show I started over the summer. I'd been meaning to watch for quite sometime, but it just wasn't a big priority. The manga was one of the first ones I read as a teenager when I got my first computer, and to this day it's still a favorite of mine. The anime, however, finished ages before the manga, and I was never a fan of incomplete adaptations. Particularly when the final arc is omitted, leaving the anime a shadow of it's manga. Still, I had to see what they'd done to it, so I gave the series a shot. Series synopsis as described by AniDB: Recca Hanabishi is a ninja, but is nearly killed in an accident. However, a girl named Yanagi heals him with her powers. Later, the two are tracked down by a woman who attacks them. She tells Recca to ignite his flame, but he is clueless. Just as she hurts Yanagi, Recca releases a powerful flame upon the woman. She is excited to see this. It turns out that Recca was a baby, fro...