Sukitte Iinayo

This anime marks the end of my long list of suggestions. So be sure to send your recommendations to me because I'm too lazy to chose the anime for myself!!

I've discovered another over-used trope in romantic anime: popular guy falling in love with the unpopular girl. It's very similar to the 'rich man poor girl' theme but with added low self-esteem. It's an idea I absolutely loved in Kimi Ni Todoke, but now it's just a bit boring. Which is unfortunate for Sukitte Iinayo!
Sukitte Iinayo (Say 'I Love You') centers around Mei Tachibana who was blamed for something trivial in primary school and consequently spent 16 years in solitude. But after she kicks the most popular boy in school down the stairs thing begin to change. Kurosawa Yamoto begins bothering her, apparently he fell in love with her when she kicked him (masochist?) and he will not let her go. However after saving her from a stalker, he does get through to her and he reignites her trust in other people. It's also one of those terribly cliched 'troubled past' stories were every one has their history told in a most awkward fashion.

Yami Shibai

I've got something very different in store for you. I'm hesitant to class it as anime but have nothing better to call it, even so: I think this is the best thing to come out of this season of anime and definitely deserves more recognition. But I would say that the less prior knowledge you have: the better the show will be.

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

The big thing in this season's anime: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Full of swimming and pretty boys. I was hesitant to review this one despite all the fuss it's kicked up but I have succumbed to peer pressure! The plot is very straight forward: pretty boys swim togethers and never wear tops.
Ok, so it's not that straight forward. Haruka, Nagisa, Rin and Makoto all have two things in common: they all have feminine names and love to swim. In fact the four were very close in their elementary swim club and won a relay race in a tournament before the four went their seperate ways. Makoto and Haruka stay together in highschool but later meet up with Rin and Nagisa. But Rin's cold nature towards his three friends convince the boys to set up a new swim club at their school: the Iwatobi Swim Club. With new recruit Rei (another boy with a feminine name) they decide to enter a swimming tournament to be able to swim alongside Rin. But actually it's just an excuse to have lots of pretty shirtless boys.

House of Flying Daggers

At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, House of Flying Daggers reportedly received a 20 minute standing ovation. From big time director Zhang Yimou and starring the beautiful and talented Zhang Ziyi it's no wonder it got so much hype. But what is it all about?

Set in China 859 AD we see the decline of the Tang dynasty. Government is losing control as rebel groups spring up across the country. Most prominently, the House of Flying Daggers, an elusive group who steal from the rich and give to the poor. They've devised a scheme to wipe out the generals best men using Mei (Zhang Ziyi). When police officers Jin and Liu hear that the new dancer may be a member of the Flying Daggers which they've been ordered to annihilate! So Jin is sent to investigate and when he discovers that Mei is blind and shows hatred towards government officials he's lead to believe that she is the daughter of the old leader and a prominent figure to the group. They decide to use this information to track down the Flying Daggers and hopefully slay their leader. Jin is sent undercover as 'Wind' to 'rescue' Mei from prison and have her lead him to the House of Flying Daggers. But on their journey Jin is seduced by Mei's beauty and Mei finds herself falling for Jin's valour and courage. There could be a happy ending for these two lovers, however things are not always as they appear to be...

Super Mario 3D Land

Hello!  As Alex managed to break her computer and is so unorganised that she didn’t have any other reviews ready, Liz is here instead to bring you the weekly review!

Super Mario 3D Land, as you can probably guess, is a 3D Mario game on the 3DS. Like many others in its series the storyline is that Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom has been kidnapped by the evil Bowser and it is up to Mario to travel through eight worlds to save her. The opening cut scene is not very long and doesn’t actually show Peach getting kidnapped but instead shows Mario and some Toads (cute little mushroom head guys) finding a letter with a picture of Peach in a cage while a Bowser roar is heard followed by Peach’s signature annoying “MARIOOOOO” scream. The adventure then kicks off with Mario at world one.