It's an OVA series called Carnival Phantasm.
It's a show that brings in characters from the Type-Moon Universe (specifically Fate and Tsukihime) and puts them in wacky situations that make fun of their series and characters.
I finished it recently, found it very enjoyable and would recommend it to people that like Fate.
And it has both excellent opening and closing music!
Not exclusively used by Hibari later on, but it always serves as a reminder of how dangerous he is.
My favorite instance of it is when he's about to beat the shit out of Yamamoto (I think) for doing something suspicious, but is calmed down before he can let loose. So the piano part of his theme plays, but cuts off right before the rest of the orchestra can enter.
Nice story/music integration there.
A more intense version of Hibari's Theme that's used a lot in and around the Varia arc. The band nerd in me loves the strong low brass here that adds a sense of urgency and seriousness that wasn't as strong before this arc.
It's very "Rocky"-esque, but with the orchestral flair that the KHR soundtrack does so well instead of 70s funk.
And the key modulation in the middle really adds to the energy. I just wish the whole thing was longer than like a minute and a half! The far and away best usage of this song was during the Tsuna vs Mukuro battle in Kokuyo, at the first appearance of Hyper Dying Will.
You can tell how pumped I was when I saw that, and the music did a lot of the work.
Okay, this is just a pet one that I like. It's cute, what can I say? Boo on me for not liking most of the OPs and EDs, but anything that captures the essence of Pretty Cure/Hamtaro/similar Japanese cuteness gets an A in my book.
A whole lot happens in this arc, and by that I mean a whole lot of nothing till the end.
This is probably my least favorite arc to be honest.
We meet Lancia who is kinda relevant Later…we meet Chikusa who is kinda just there we meet M.M. who will not reappear for like ever until she just hops into the frame at the tail end of the anime and we meet Ken the resident Tsundere who apparently has a thing for the best girl but doesn't wanna admit it.
Oh somewhere before we also met Bianchi … Gokuderas Sister … I didn't really realize that she was there most of the time which is pretty sad.
The only thing that REALLY was relevant in this arc to be honest is that Tsuna finally got his weapon but I woudln't call it a real arc because of that.
I like this Arc but a few certain things pissed me off. Reborn was the first thing. He was always such a dick for no reason.
The next thing was how quickly Gokudera turned around.
Especially since "Obviously not a bad guy that will turn into an ally. Kyoya Hibari was there as well to fulfill literally the same role just executed differently…
I liked Yamamoto however. In fact he is the only Character that i always liked and still do. He is not my favorite anymore though. This would be someone that you could totally not guess by my flair or anything. But she wouldn't be introduced till WAY later. Instead we get, Lambo …the opposite of Yamamoto. Who by the way is the only character I never liked and never will like, period.
in between we also see Kyoko and Haru somewhere but i don't give a shit about them until the future arc so idc where those two even are at this point.
Bonus Points for those people that know my favorite Fairy Tail Character and assumed because of that that I would like Haru because she is basically a non-combat Juvia … except she lacks all the qualities i see in Juvia so I hate Haru.
Also I-Pin and Dino.
I like the arc, it is fun, and the manga is worth reading if you have only seen the anime. But, outside of that there is not really anything that is worth discussing after that point in Daily Life.
While the original movie was undeniably ground breaking, the TV series has gone so much further into the world of Section 9.
This is what you expect a show to do though, and it is understandable that really building a full world in a film alone is hard to do. But the show goes abut developing the characters, and adding new ones and generally making things more engaging.
This series is one of the best Sci-Fi series I've ever seen, and one of the best done anime I've seen in general. I've seen this show more times than I can count. The show is a joy to watch because it takes time to fill the streets with interesting people and plots that pull you into the story. Stand Alone Complex doesn't do anything new or weird, and this allows it to keep the story in focus. That and it has one of the most well done romances in an anime without detracting from the plot.
Sometimes I feel stupid for caring about this series as much as I do. But most of the time I'm devastated knowing I'll never love any anime as this one.
The questions it raises are incredibly relevant today and will continue to be in the future.
Heartgold and Soulsilver feels like the peak of the series because it has so many cool features like custom safari zones and the Pokeathalon, it has a good system to rematch gym leaders, mystery events like the Celeby, fun side quests like Suicune, and it promotes trade by getting a Hoenn legendary in one game and getting you to trade in order to get Rayquaza.
There is just so much for you to expeience that it is hard to sum it up in one article.
Before Heartgold and Soulsilver
The PWT is awesome and it was the first game to get me into the metagame. Plus all of legendaries to catch throughout that make it worth playing just for that. This is also one of the Pokémon games with the best music. Not only do all of our favorite themes but you have a lot of new music as well.
Plus I feel that they still have the best story of all the games.
I will just say it again! Future Arc!
I was not sure how to structure this but i decided to have it be 2 Segments. The Future Arc and the Final Battle arc. The Future Arc will discuss everything up until the end of Choice and the Final Battle Arc will discuss the inheritance Succession Arc and the Future Final Battle Arc.
The Search for the Guardians was generally a waste of time.
It was full of filler content that wasn't needed and could have been much shorter. The Training episodes were drawn out a bit too much too here. But the Powerups are great. So had they shortened the arc a bit.
By for example leaving out the pointless reunion of Hana and Past Kyoko that led to literally just one short moment as well as the I-Pin and Haru Story as well as the Lambo one (Or combined the 3 stories into at most 2 episodes) and not shown as much stuff as they did about everything i would have liked the arc more.
The Invasion Story was probably my favorite part about this segment.
Simply because Characters that needed it got to do shit and we didn't immediately get Past, Ryohei and Hibari so we actually got to see their future Versions fight properly before getting to see the real heroes adapt their abilities. The Reveal that Shoichi was a good guy all along was done pretty well imo and Spanner is a great character as well.
The Arcobaleno Trials Arc that was done better later. But it is still pure and unadulterated character development but executed kinda poorly. Though enjoyable for what it was at least.
We also were introduced to a few cool characters before this arc in the invasion and training but aside from Gamma nobody is worth Mentioning really except for characters I have already discussed. Of course there are a few key characters that are already introduced by now that I didn't talk about but that's because they are more relevant in the Choice Arc so I will talk about them there.
This arc starts with the Inheritance Succession Arc in all fairness is the Arcobaleno Trials in good.
We also see Primo and his Guardians in the arc and just how much they are like Tsuna and his guardians and how they differ from one another. We get Characterization up the ass for Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna (mostly just those because the other Characters don't change much) and we get awesome new powerups!
So let's go there because everything before was discussed.
The Final Battle.
Simply put Tsunas Guardians are not the strongest and this shows that with brilliant arc shows it. The Vongola have to assemble all the forces they can including the Varia just to somehow survive the fight against Byakurans guys. Which they barely do until Ghost shows up and is explained and he is some sort of major let down but I can deal with that since it's the final battle against Byakuran which as it turns out can only be won by Yuni and gamma sacrificing themselves to revive the other Arcobaleno resulting in the saddest scene in the entire Anime. I liked the fight against Byakuran and his Funeral Wreaths a lot.
I don't know if there really is such as thing as wester "kid friendly" anime. Profanity is an issue for some parents and every anime might literally says "shit" in the first episode. Of course that will be mixed with a few other words and they might be used sparingly afterwards.
Words like damn, hell, and crap are commonly used in anime but don't qualify as swear words to some people, but then again it might not be suitable viewing for children.
While I do not think that you have to wait wait till high school to enjoy anime I still feel that there i little in the way of suitable content for very young children. I say that in the context of the western market since most of the imports are targeted at teens and young adults. For the less graphic shows, the romances for example they might be too boring for younger children. And for the more thought provoking stories it might be too complicated. For a child to enjoy the show they need to be old enough so they can understand everything happening in the show.
As for there being blood that is another matter, even if they know that it is fake, that doesn't mean that they should be exposed to it.
Kids interpret things differently than we do.
For shows like My Hero Academia late-Elementary school was a good start, That doesn't mean kid, but pre-teen, in the range of 5th or 6th grade, 11-12 years old. While it would be easy for the series itself to cater to middle schoolers and high schoolers, it is masterfully written, and could be enjoyed at by younger viewers as well as older ones.
Both groups can enjoy it all the same.
Flying Witch is more for people who can appreciate taking a moment to relax, some would call it boring, yet, boring doesn't stop it from being kid-friendly. It only makes it a good or bad choice depending on the kid's interests.
And then we have Pokémon, and that is in another category all together!