The mind, that ocean where each kind / Does straight its own resemblance find; / Yet it creates, transcending these, / Far other worlds, and other seas, / Annihilating all that's made / To a green thought in a green shade. ~Andrew Marvell
Genre: Mecha/Action/Supernatural/Ecchi
Review Status: Complete (13 Episodes/13 Episodes)
Licensed: Yes, this anime is licensed in the US
Art/Animation: The character designs are rather bland. In some scenes, they actually seem deformed. The animation is sub-par for when it was made.
Summary: Natsume Tomoharu is a normal high-school student in every way with one exception: he’s being followed by the ghost of his best friend, Misao.
After moving into his brother’s old house, Tomoharu expects to continue living his normal life but is one day left with a mysterious and locked briefcase without any instruction. At first he plans to leave it in storage, however his house is soon invaded by multiple groups of people after the briefcase. Although still not knowing the purpose of the briefcase, Tomoharu and Misao attempt to escape with it.
From there on, Tomoharu tries to learn the secrets behind the briefcase, the connections between it and Misao and why it has the power to change the world. (MAL.net)
Review: You don't necessarily have to know what's going on to enjoy a show. Asura Cryin' takes that idea and runs with it. For the first episode, you have Tomoharu getting a mysterious package, dealing with having a ghost floating around him, and having two factions fight over him.
Then it starts falling apart. Unlike Darker than Black or The X-Files, where you may be drawn into a story along different arcs but never get a sure answer to the mystery that they're solving, the story is choppy and haphazard that most interest is lost in it.
Half the epsiode is filled with lighthearted comedy that involves partial nudity, sexual innuendo, and boob jokes. Usually, it's completely unnecessary to any character development. Then you have some action. Someone attacks Tomoharu and his harem that seems to grow with every episode, after that there might actually be some plot or you learn a fact about the Asura Machines, and then there might be some more action. I can even tell you about how much of every episode each part will take up.
Part of the problem with this is that the plot is driven by the mystery and purpose of the Asura Machines- so to only get one piece of information an episode, and then have no plot to back up the story being told is very frustrating. With X-Files, for instance, you had a plot (ex.- to get the kiler), and pieces of the puzzle were scattered throughout the episode(s). When there is no purpose to half an episode for Asura, there is little reason for watching at all. It's even worse when the fact that they reveal was already told in a different episode, which makes the entire episode rather purposeless.
To top it off, there is little explanation to all the rest of the elements. What is the purpose of the Science Club? Why are they at odds with the Student Council? Why is there more than one Student Council? Doesn't anyone find it wierd that the student council president has a really funny robe that he wears out in public?
Some things just make absolutely no sense when put into the context of the world this anime occurs in. For instance, why is everyone okay with Misao being a ghost and attending classes? Most people can't see ghosts, presumably don't believe that they don't exist, but when Misao shows up out of nowhere, floating, it's totally accepted and okay.
The other problem is that they continually add more and more elements to this, making it confusing to follow. I actually needed to make myself a list of terms and ideas so that I could keep track of who was who, their backstories, what the deal was up with contracts and handlers, and why I should care about them. When you need to be reminded of why you should care about someone after 13 episodes of watching about them, it's a bad sign.
This anime just tries to do too much with too many characters. Having a billion characters that show up with little to no explanation, and trying to be a mystery and action and ecchi.... it's too much. And they spread it over too many episodes to make a compelling, coherent story.
Overall, while this has some interesting aspects to it, I wouldn't watch it again.
Recommended: No. But 16+ due to the nature of the humor- much of it is sexual, having to do with sex, and in one case comes within a hairsbreadth of porn. It highly rembles it, at the very least. And there's at least one risque joke every episode, in addition to the bouncing ladies' chests.
Other titles you might enjoy:
Eureka Seven (anime)
Code Geass (anime)
Darker Than Black (anime)
Escaflowne (anime)
Full Metal Panic! (anime)
Heroic Age (anime)
Xam'd: Lost Memories (anime)
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