Five animes this time; hope to be completely caught up, for sure, by this weekend!
Hiiro no Kakera–
This feels like Black Bird all over again… The story to this anime isn’t really new or anything, and I’m afraid we might have a Mary Sue in the making. So the story begins with a girl, Tamaki, traveling out to the country to visit her grandma. She winds up being early, and decides to walk from the bus stop 
to her grandma’s place. On the way there, Tamaki sees something odd, a white ball with stick limbs, and follows it, which leads her to getting attacked by a few types of monsters; only to be saved by a boy before anything happens. Of course, right off the bat these two don’t get along very well, but it seems that grandma sent him and so he leads here there while complaining that she’s a klutz. The two get to the house, and surprise! She’s a princess, with a gene that runs in the family blood that gives her the right to be the princess, and no one can find out about her. That boy, Takuma, was “born to be” her guardian alongside a few other guys we meet during the rest of the episode. It’s not all that special, but all I can hope is it’s a better love story than Twlight story than others out there with the same plot. So far the characters ave promise to NOT fall into cliches, but it still is the first episode, so I can’t count on that…
Natsuiro no Kiseki–
The power of friendship! that’s what this series seems to be about; the synopsis doesn’t give anything much about the story aside from who voices the characters, but friendship is what I get out of the first episode. That, and rocks are magical. So the series is based around a group of four girls who have been friends since childhood, but of course, things start to head downhill. Two of the girls are feuding over tennis, as one, Saki, won’t keep to the promise of making it to nationals together. Things get touchy between all of the girls, and soon enough we find out why Saki won’t keep her 
promise; she’s moving. Well the thing about that is she’s being the drama queen and causes a ruckus by not telling her friends at all, until it is announced at school, and the the entire group is on edge. Another girl, Yuka, remembers that when they were little, she overheard her mom say a rock behind the shrine was magical and would grant a wish for four friends is they all wished the same thing when touching it, and so she finds a way to pull the group back there to make a wish. The wish they end up making wasn’t what they had hoped for, but it comes true! You’ll just have to watch to see what the wish was~
For sure, I wouldn’t recommend this to those of you action lovers out there, but if you like all that friendship or slice of life -with a dash of supernatural stuff- then you may be in for a treat; I thought it was a pretty cutesy anime personally, as the role of friendship was pretty vibrant.
Shirokuma Cafe –
PANDA GO GET A JOB OR I’LL SUCK YOU WITH THE VACUUM. This anime confused me at first, but in a way it makes sense… We meet Panda, one of our main characters, and he’s (I’m guessing) a teenager who lazes around and eat all day, so his mom yells at him to get a job. Well at one point, on the way to an interview, he starts to follow a butterfly until he 
doesn’t know where he is. The butterfly takes him to the Shirokuma Cafe, which is run by a polar bear. The polar bear just so happens to be holding job interviews that day an Panda snags a spot, just not the job. So he goes home and tells his mom about the cafe and how, unfortunately, he didn’t get the job. Then he finds out from his mom that the cafe is just down the street, so he calls up the cafe to annoy the owner. What I find funny about this anime is that the humans aren’t alarmed by the talking animals one bit and the animals have integrated into society so well that they’re almost like humans. Regardless, it’s a comedy anime, so that’s what you get. If you love animals and comedy, be sure to give this one a shot.
Saki Achiga-hen Episode of Side-A –
What better way is there to make friends than by a little competition? We have multiple characters thrown at us at once, so I barely caught any of the names, therefore I’m only going to really mention the main two girls…So, Shizuno and Nadoka were great friends in elementary school and they found that Nadoka had a talent for mahjong at the school’s club. They learn quite a bit about the history of that club and the girl in charge, and pretty much it’s all background info so we know more about the characters. The 
girl in charge of the club used to be on one of the best high school mahjong teams out there but slipped at a chance of winning nationals and stopped playing, and had rather start the club to teach younger kids. Nadoka starts playing in the club and realises how much she adores the game, and so it all starts. The three girls get separated due to schools they wish to attend, when they get older, but one day Shizuno happens to be channel surfing and passes a mahjong tournament broadcast. Sure enough, it’s Nadoka playing, and she had won. This sparks Shizuno’s idea to try and get up in the rankings to play alongside Nadoka. Pretty much it leads into the next episode where she figures out what to do to start the mahjong team for her school. I’m not one for “battle of wits and strategy” stuff so mahjong never really interested me, which is why this anime still doesn’t appeal much to me, but as a slice of life anime, it might be interesting.
Tsuritama– I hope this isn’t an “ALL MY FEELS *sob*” fest like Penguindrum was. I’m not the only one to think this, but it honestly reminds me of Pengindrum A LOT, but it’s mainly just the artwork and randomness in the beginning that gives that feel; I think this one is going to just be a shonen/comedy. Anyways, so to the story! From episode 1, we meet Yuki, a boy who gets nervous a lot. When he gets nervous, he gets this foul looking expression on his face that irritates people, and he feels like he’s drowning. Sadly, it’s the impression he leaves on everyone when he 
transfers schools, but he’s probably not coming back anyways, so who cares? Because of his grandma’s youthfulness and wish to find a better lifestyle, they move out to a nicer place by the ocean, and then we meet Haru, who claims to be an alien. I’m not sure how to explain Haru; cheerful, strange, happy-go-lucky – none of it’s really enough to explain his optimism, so you’ll want to see for yourself..apparently the fish in the fishbowl he carries around is his sister…ANYWAYS, he takes a liking to Yuki off the bat, and pretty much moves in with him and his grandma without asking, but his grandma does’t care at all and thinks he’s a great kid, so why not? Haru pretty much keeps Yuk in in check when he gets that weird look, but hypnotizes him into doing silly things in order to get him to stop. How does he hypnotize him? With a funky watergun. He then tells Yuki that he has to catch some fish to save his planet and that he has chosen Yuki to be the savior, and so the comedic journey begins, to catch some elusive fish. One thing I have to point out is the art of the anime is pretty interesting; the bright vibrant colors really add to the random, cheerful mood of the anime; I like the style of the background, I can’t explain it very well, but I can say for sure you should check this anime out if you need a laugh. I think it’s pretty great and I look forward to it weekly.