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Rating: 9.8/10

Overall Series Rating: 9.7/10

Impressions:

Man, now I’m sad. Not because this series has a mediocre ending or anything, but because it’s just so good in my opinion, that it’s quite hard knowing there won’t be any more for who knows how long. Perhaps never even. Stratos 4 has turned out to be one of my all time favourite shows, and it’s pretty disheartening to see it finish. As for this final episode though, I feel that it doesn’t have enough closure. There are still many things to resolve, such as Miharu and Sako’s daughter. The relationship between Karin and her…brother(?) also remain uncertain. Perhaps if there were more episodes, another conspiracy could develop regarding the parasite infections and using it to better or worsen the world. Apart from that though, the crisis-averted ending is a nice conclusion to this sort of series anyway, so I’m content with that. Overall though, I feel that the three new meteor sweepers didn’t get enough character development. I guess though, being an OAV, there wasn’t much time to include an episode that doesn’t advance the plot.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Rating: 8.3/10

Impressions:

LOL my god I am so sorely disappointed at this OAV. I’m not saying it’s not a good episode, but I can’t believe there’s like no Shana and Yuuji. It should have been Yuuji x Shana x Yoshida (even though I absolutely despise Yoshida and her Twin Towers). Still, overall it was quite enjoyable, though it would be much better if it is actually part of the series. That way, it would act as a character development episode for one of the more minor characters, Ogata (which sounds like oba-san to me lol). I must say though, as Shakugan no Shana is my fourth all-time favourite anime (after Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bleach and Suzumiya Haruhi in that order), just watching the OP excited me. I sort of re-fell in love with the show after hearing the first 2 seconds of the OP. And I should also mention the altered ED with stills of Ogata instead of Shana; quite nicely done I must say. Well anyway, if you’re a fan of Shakugan no Shana, you must watch this. Also, if you like fanservice, you will be disappointed because there’s not much. Wilhelmina and Margery make short appearances too. I was hoping this would be an action OAV, but then I guess it wouldn’t really work if it’s placed after episode 13 chronologically. I guess I’ll have to wait for the movies for some real Shakugan no Shana goodness.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Medium: OAV
Genres: Harem, School(?)
Studio: Soft Garage
OP: “Sodasui to Hikoukigumo” by Yuma Kosaka
ED: “_summer” by Yuma Kosaka
Official Site: http://anime.softgarage.com/_summer/ <– not sure if this link works

Rating: 7/10

If you haven’t already seen this OAV, you would be asking: “Should I watch this?” If you have the time and internet capacity, yes. If not, or you’re busy or whatever, then no. This OAV is a harem. And it’s very generic. In other words, it’s not very good. It’s fine to watch and enjoy if you don’t think too much about it, though if you take it apart and analyse you will realise it isn’t that great. It’s just something you should just pass the time width, as I did. The big problem is that none of the voice actors are good, except for maybe the guy who does Osamu. The person who voices the main female character is horrible in my opinion. Aside from that, the story is rather generic. Quality wise though, being an OAV, is fairly high, so there’s no problem with the visuals. That’s probably what saved it for me.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Rating: 9.2/10 & 9.6/10

Impressions:

Finally, things are getting really exciting, and it’s about time too. Several things are going on at once, and they will probably all tie together in the end. Karen still scares me though, as I have a feeling she still has some of the bacteria lying dormant in her, and the approaching meteors might trigger their awakening. Miharu wakes up too! I wonder what role she will play in the final episode, or perhaps she will just serve as a hindrance or mild enemy? And yay, the three new girls make their first successful mission! I was worried that they’d be neglected and forgotten as the show nears its end. I am still amazed at the CG though, as it is by far the best I’ve seen. I think the launch sequences and space shots are what really draw me in, as it gives the wonderful feeling of infinity. Ah, and come to think of it, I still haven’t seen the two Stratos 4 OAVs yet. It would be something if you were to watch all the Stratos 4 episodes consecutively, which would be 23 episodes altogether. That’s as long as a double-season series. And now for the final episode…

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Medium: OAV
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Episodes: 4
Studio: Sunrise
OP: “Believe ~Eien no Kizuna~” by Mika Kikuchi
ED: ??
Official Site: http://www.my-zhime.net/

Rating: 9.6/10 (since I love Mai Hime/Otome so much!)

Impressions:

This is an amazing first episode, but I’m pretty sure I’m being extremely biased since I adore both Mai Hime and Mai Otome, and their last episodes let me wanting more. What gives me this great feeling from watching this episode must be the return of all the Otome cast, including Shiho, Nao, Sergay and Nina, despite their extremely brief appearances. The initial joint attack on the meteor is a powerful attention-grabbing tool, as it presents all the powerful Otome together, facing a single enemy. And once again, Arika manages to surpass everyone else and save the day by herself…or so everyone thinks for the first half of the show. Later on of course, we learn that the meteor had actually been some sort of transportation or decoy, with the appearance of the shadow manifests that have the ability to take on the form of whoever they come into contact with. This is the true enemy. The good thing about a four-episode sequel is that there is no need for an introduction for all the characters, and no need to drag on with meaningless events, as the main plot can immediately begin. However, there’s always the chance that the story ends up getting rushed, so hopefully that won’t happen here. There probably won’t be many laid back scenes/episodes, since the main threat has already arrived. That’s a bit of a disappointment though, seeing how everyone has such an interesting character.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Medium: OAV
Episodes: 4
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Mecha, Science Fiction
Studio: Trinet Entertainment
OP: “Face of Fact ~ Resolution Ver. ~” by KOTOKO
ED: “undelete” by Mami Kawada
Official Site: http://www.trinet-ent.com/baldrforce/

Rating: 8.5/10

Impressions:

Now this is the type of mecha series I like, and this time, mecha makes up a large part of the show. Unlike Code Geass or Innocent Venus, this show gives me the familiar ‘real’ mecha feeling, like Gundam Seed and RahXephon etc. I actually got this feeling from Voices of a Different Star as well, but let’s not get into that. if you haven’t seen this yet, and you like mecha or science fiction, then I highly recommend you do. Right now. This is an OAV series, as you should already know, with 4 episodes in total. The second episode will be released on the 8th of December, which is just next week. The third episode will be released some time in February, and the last episode will be some time away. Each episode is slightly longer than your average anime episode, but only by about 4 minutes. The CG isn’t that good, though I adore the music, especially the OP by KOTOKO. The ED is sung by Mami Kawada, and those two artists both did the Ops for Shakugan Shana! Why does that matter? Well, it doesn’t. Anyway, being an OAV, the quality should be higher than an average anime show, and indeed it is, but once again, not by much. Character design – average (and there’s this one woman who is exceptionally ugly >.>).

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Popularity: 15% [?]

Impressions:

I think the reason why I like this show so much is because of the extremely realistic flight sequences. Not only that, they look awesome as well. The CG is implemented excellently and I can see nothing wrong with it. Although you can interpret this is a bad thing too, the realism of space makes mood of the show quite lonely and frightening. I think that’s a good thing though, as for example, it’s not good if you’re laughing at a scene where you’re meant to be bawling your eyes out, is it? It makes me think how the show would have turned out if it was a mecha series. Mecha is a lot harder to animated than still space ships, but from what’s available in Stratos 4 makes me think it would have the potential to be an awesome mecha. Another important quality factor in mecha is the scenes in the cockpit, which a lot of mecha fail in. I think Stratos 4 does their cockpit scenes quite nicely, even if no one moves around a lot. At least there’s a large range of angles that the shots are drawn from. I’m glad there was some action in space this time, since it feels like nothing is happening most of the time.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Impressions:

So, as some of you may know, there are now eight episodes to Stratos 4 Advance. I was quite surprised when I found a torrent for the seventh episode when previously everywhere I checked, it said there were only six episodes. Apparently though, these extra two episodes are actually the mysterious Stratos 4 Advance Kanketsuhen eps I read on ANN. I would still consider them as part of Stratos 4 Advance though, as the same episode codes are used (to make it more fun, they can the episoes ‘code 200′ to ‘208′.) It would probably be easier to just do a single entry on episodes 3 – 7 right now, but I only downloaded seven to see whether it was real or not (and it is!) Anyway, this episode saw some return to the days when Stratos 4 was known for its infamous pantsu shots, though they weren’t as ‘extravagant’ as before. Plot-wise there really isn’t much going on at the moment, as the episodes are more like short stories, but with little bits of extra that will eventually come together in the end. I’m glad this whole other arc is an OAV, as that sort of guarantees to be better than average.

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Popularity: 14% [?]