Rizelmine...

[Generic Asian Guy]

Spoiler for hilarious rizelmine screencap (sort of mature? I don't know...):

I think this is from episode 22/23. The expression on Iwaki-kun's face is priceless.

EDIT:

I just had to vectorize it.

[tyciol]

Would anyone know where 13-22 are? They don't seem to be up on the tracker. I see 1-12 by AnimeCoalition and then 23/24 by Oretachi media group.

If I had any idea how to add .torrents to the AnimeSuki trackers I would, but I am kind of stumped. I found some batch torrents on animesuki for this series and since the tracker is still active here I'm assuming it has not been licensed.

The most recent is this 2010 PSP-quality release: http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=to...65&showfiles=1

Then this one from november which has 24 avis: http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=to...76&showfiles=1

Then from the previous July which has 3 files (my guess is 4 eps each) which claims to be only the first season: http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=to...72&showfiles=1

I am unsure if the other releases by AnimeCoalition experience this problem, but I found that I got no sound to play in the first episode. Did anyone else experience this? Is there some kind of fix to get the sound to play on the first episode?

I guess I could still watch it because it has subtitles but sound is such a huge component of anime for those of us who are used to it. So, for anyone planning on watching it, until that error has some kind of solution I'd recommend only getting 2-12 from AC, maybe get the first one from one of the above Nyaas?

[roriconfan]

Ok, the japs can be very sick if they want to and this is bordering comedy with crime. Although today we have lots of shows with little girls acting mature and in love with older men, back when this series was made, the shock was ten fold.

So the story is about a typical male teenager TM who likes older women, being forced to live as a married couple with a 12 year old girl, just because she is in love with him and she will blow up if he rejects her. Because she is a robot… with emotions… that blows up if she is not emotionally satisfied… And that is the story… somewhat.

Ok, I’m not going to try and make sense of any of this; the story is to the most part just an excuse to have a loli in the same bed as a teenager. Plus they are supposed to do naughty stuff but he likes only older women and she gets pissed and havoc breaks out and that is the whole reason the series doesn’t end right away. There is very little story in it and to the most part you think it’s just another storyless erotic comedy with pedo-borderline elements. Supposed she is a robot, supposed he is not interested, supposed popping your head like a spring or exploding every 15 minutes means anything at all. Yet in the last episodes all of a sudden you get a somewhat plot and seriousness and even a finale… a bold one. So it is not entirely without a story; it wastes a lot of time fooling around just for kicks. It is still very stupid and impossible to swallow but all things considered, there is a beginning, a middle and an ending. So I will be grateful and give the story the base score for covering the essentials.

The characters are nowhere near special or memorable. In fact, most don’t even have a personality at all and the short duration of each episode does not help much. Besides the main duo, all others are poorly placed cardboards that hardly aid in something and even the duo is generic. The boy is the typical indecisive lead that has a bit more balls than usual, while the girl is a pedophile’s wet dream. Still, the flashback that occurs towards the end suddenly creates an actual depth of sorts that somewhat excuses them being as they are; even going as far as excusing them being together. It’s weak but it’s there. So once again I give the base score for at least trying to show something and even offering a catharsis of sorts.

Animation and sound are nothing out of the ordinary. Bright colors, typical backgrounds, typical character figures and typical panties with bears on them. The little robot girls look like they jumped out of a date sim or something with all those weird accessories and bright colors, but they are otherwise average cuties. Although fan servish at its core, it doesn’t really overdo it as most do, yet never feels dull to watch either. Voice acting or music themes, ok, I hardly remember them; that counts as average again in my book.

Well, enjoyment is easy to figure out based on all the above. Yes, it’s the base again. It’s a show that got stuck in the middle. Not too bold or wacky, not too smut or dull.

Value is almost not existent, as this anime has really nothing special to offer. There are far more interesting or spicy shows out there revolving around the love between a man and a female robot (Chobits) or a man and a little girl (Kodomo no Jikan) or even plain old hentai with loli robots (Petit Roid 3).

[Hayami]

Even 6 years later I'm still in love with this anime. I'm saddened and disappointed that so few fans posted here, and the only person who bothered to post a longer review thinks that it "has really nothing special to offer". In spite of being offensive to many people who dislike loli, this show has quite a good rating in ANN and youtube Rizelmine videos have plenty favorable comments too. Yet even though animesuki is such a nice forum and never was too anti-loli either, there were so few people to praise it all these six years (minus the months that were lost) ...

Since I'm the owner of the Rizelmine fanlisting, it's a bit embarrassing for me to post a review, and I'm very busy nowdays too. But here is what I really like about this show:
- Yukiru Sugisaki's marvelous art style (concept art) & story season 1 (her works include Candidate for Goddess and D.N.Angel manga)
- Miwa Oshima's delicious character design (that you may know from Koihime Musou) and m.o.e.'s cozy feel
- outstanding voice acting ( especially Rie Kugimiya, Kappei Yamaguchi )
- wonderful, heartwarming OP & ED
- I disliked quite a few later Rie Kugimiya's characters due to too much "tsun" in her tsundere chars, but Rizel is just perfect (just the right mix of moe and innocence, yet honesty and detemination)
- for some reason even Iwaki doesn't annoy me - I guess partially due to the superb Kappei Yamaguchi's voice acting and partially because, even though my likes/dislikes may be different, I can empathize with him / his situation
- besides the "Mamas", all characters are really cute or/and funny; in particular Ryunosuke is one of the funniest characters ever (just my humble opinion)
- nice drama turn in the 2nd season
- obviously I enjoyed loli fanservice, but more a la Rena "I want to take her home" than something too dirty (I wasn't fond of H doujinshi with Rizel as I saw them by chance... perhaps even now I'm still not too fond of them, at least when I recall the original)

I guess I'm still missing some important merits >.<
Either way, if you're rather a logical, head-type person, I wouldn't suggest this show to you. But if you're rather a passionate, heart-type person and you like moe, loli and fanservice - you're much more likely to enjoy it.

Btw. I didn't really like Hanaukyo Maid-tai - the both versions. I'm even not sure if the vast majority of m.o.e.'s Hanaukyo Maid-tai fans are Rizelmine fans too, these shows are just too different... I didn't really enjoy Kodomo no Jikan either, or at least nowhere as much as Rizelmine.

I suggest to watch Anime Coalition's version of the season 1 [AC, AnimeCo] and honobono's version of the season 2 [h-b].
Imo Oretachi and AIP's versions aren't that good.
Unfortunately I can't find any honobono's Rizelmine torrent ;_; ... As I said, I'm very busy nowdays, but still I could try to upload the files some time and post in my forum if someone really want them... ( actually, google has quite a few results for "[h-b]" Rizelmine megaupload , but I'm not sure if these DDL links still work )

P.S.
I'm not looking for a debate (I'd rather avoid it), but just offer some reasons to pick (or perhaps even to discard) this show and some info. It would be a pity if a like-minded anime fan would skip this show because it doesn't seem exciting.

[tyciol]

So guys I don't know if it's valid yet but there's a torrent for all 24 apparently. http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=torrentinfo&tid=97176

Since we're missing the second season this would be helpful.

Originally Posted by lordwu

Rizelmine 22 was released by Oretachi. They were against using bt so that's why it's not listed on animesuki. The later episodes somehow got posted probably by someone outside the group. You might still be able to find it on IRC fservs or you can wait until honobono release their version.

It's confusing though, like the torrents for 23/24 are Oretachi's so did the change their mind or something? The problem is that the site listed for Oretachi is down http://www.anime-nakama.com/ so I guess will check their IRC on EnterTheGame. Would Honobono still be planning anything?

Originally Posted by leo786

man, i was expecting huge boobs, like every other anime shounen, but the female lead is a 12 year old...gutted. its all wrong, and the male lead is anoying. but some of the bits were funny, especialy the adult c, but even that turned out wrong in it own way.

A delicious flat chest is not gutted, it's just not fattened up.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

Ok, the japs can be very sick if they want to and this is bordering comedy with crime. Although today we have lots of shows with little girls acting mature and in love with older men, back when this series was made, the shock was ten fold.

It was only made in 2002. There have been ecchi loli programs on before that. Even in terms of mainstream, World Masterpiece Theatre's adaptation of Daddy Long Legs changes Judy Abbott's age from something like 17 to 13. Akazukin Chacha which was also out in the mid 90s focused a great deal on characters' romantic attraction to her, not to mention the purple haired loli witch obsessed with the clear lolicon Serabi. So yeah.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

I’m not going to try and make sense of any of this; the story is to the most part just an excuse to have a loli in the same bed as a teenager.

I don't think it's our place to assume what the motivations of the writers of the manga were. People are often more multifaceted than many assume. I think it's incredibly rude. Just because something happens in a story doesn't mean the story is written solely for that purpose (as 'just' implies) though I applaud your inclusion of the 'most' disclaimer which counteracts the just. After all, I could say human beings are mostly just women, but I don't particularly like that because even though females are the majority, women are more than their sex, just like Rizelmine is more than having lolis in bed. To me it's like saying "Oh yeah, WMT animated Anne of Green Gables because there's a seen where she's wearing her underclothing!"

Originally Posted by roriconfan

Plus they are supposed to do naughty stuff but he likes only older women and she gets pissed and havoc breaks out and that is the whole reason the series doesn’t end right away.

Havoc breaking out's a rather common anime theme that keeps from approaching a rapid happy ending, seeing characters struggle through adversity is often what endears us. Even slice of life stuff has a bit of that.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

There is very little story in it and to the most part you think it’s just another storyless erotic comedy with pedo-borderline elements. Supposed she is a robot, supposed he is not interested, supposed popping your head like a spring or exploding every 15 minutes means anything at all.

Sounds a bit like Harumi's Bad Play.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

Yet in the last episodes all of a sudden you get a somewhat plot and seriousness and even a finale… a bold one. So it is not entirely without a story; it wastes a lot of time fooling around just for kicks. It is still very stupid and impossible to swallow but all things considered, there is a beginning, a middle and an ending. So I will be grateful and give the story the base score for covering the essentials.

Cool, makes me look even more forward to watching it. I think we see this in a lot of anime though. For example, Moetan or Hayate no Gotoku are mostly comedy yet have serious parts thrown in.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

The characters are nowhere near special or memorable. In fact, most don’t even have a personality at all and the short duration of each episode does not help much. Besides the main duo, all others are poorly placed cardboards that hardly aid in something and even the duo is generic.

I accept that some seem more generic in nature, yet one should say 'seem less memorable' or 'seem less special' because everyone has something special and memorable about them and the degree to which it seems varies amongst observers, none of us have a place to say absolutely what level of these subjective qualities things possess except in the context of our own perception.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

The boy is the typical indecisive lead that has a bit more balls than usual, while the girl is a pedophile’s wet dream. Still, the flashback that occurs towards the end suddenly creates an actual depth of sorts that somewhat excuses them being as they are; even going as far as excusing them being together. It’s weak but it’s there. So once again I give the base score for at least trying to show something and even offering a catharsis of sorts.

I think this is a cool effect of a lot of otherwise non-serious anime because it comes out of nowhere and surprises you. Since it's such a huge contradiction, the events seem to have an even bigger impact on the character's world. For example, Inukami.

Originally Posted by roriconfan

Value is almost not existent, as this anime has really nothing special to offer. There are far more interesting or spicy shows out there revolving around the love between a man and a female robot (Chobits) or a man and a little girl (Kodomo no Jikan) or even plain old hentai with loli robots (Petit Roid 3).

Again I have to disagree here, value always exists and I think you are minimizing it simply because of it not matching the level of value you perceive in other products. Just because other things exist that explore similar themes does not take away from something's value. To me it's like saying "Star Wars had grungy spaceships so you don't need Andromeda or StarGate."

Originally Posted by Hayami

if you're rather a logical, head-type person, I wouldn't suggest this show to you. But if you're rather a passionate, heart-type person and you like moe, loli and fanservice - you're much more likely to enjoy it.

I think you're setting up a false dichotomy. Logical head-types can be passionate heart-types as well and enjoy fanservice/loli/moe/etc. In many cases, people who lack such qualities would also benefit from having their hearts opened enjoying something like this.

If they tend to be the butthurt ones who get their undergarments twisted in righteous rage at such ecchi though, I'd probably start them with something more conservative where they can fall in love with characters in a less erotic environment, yet which still has beauty. For example CCS or Survive Uninhabited Planet. Stories which focus on girls yet in a way which won't flip the switches of ero-haters. I think if you start with stuff like that and gradually expand in various directions (say Ashita no Nadja) people will become acclimated and more open-hearted and their rage may subside.

Originally Posted by Hayami

I suggest to watch Anime Coalition's version of the season 1 [AC, AnimeCo] and honobono's version of the season 2 [h-b].
Imo Oretachi and AIP's versions aren't that good.
Unfortunately I can't find any honobono's Rizelmine torrent

Thanks for the link to the group anyway, all the resources possible to complete the story is great for fans.

Originally Posted by Hayami

It would be a pity if a like-minded anime fan would skip this show because it doesn't seem exciting.

That's always a pity, but I think as long as people keep watching anime, they will become more open-minded to watching potentially "boring" shows when they learn to appreciate more subtle aspects of characters and plot and humour.

For example, I had no interest in sports anime and thought they were stupid and focused on combat and fantasy anime. Yet watching Hajime no Ippo made me think "hey, boxing is a sport, maybe I should watch a soccer anime...". That lead to baseball and basketball and perhaps football next.

Same with classic anime as well, many people actually reject this because the old animation style is alienating (I bet some of these newbies couldn't even watch Ranma, that's saddening). But some of the old stuff is pretty interesting and I think we're missing out on appreciating history and the unique huge amount of work that went into the old things by well cultured companies in comparison to certain things pumped out at high speed these days.

[Chiibi]

I like this little show, and yes, it's mindless, moe, ecchi fun but I don't really see why people are calling the canon couple "tasteless".

Iwaki-15

Rizel-12

Three years difference.....both are minors....

OMG...CALL THE FEDS!!!

Seriously? What's the huge deal!?

If you are thinking "Well, the boy will age and Rizel will stay the same loli girl so that would make it incredibly wrong!".
Well, nope. Because Rizel does evolve and she can grow older the same way a normal human can. Her Papas and Mamas not only point this out continuously but also, if you pay attention to the last episode when she leaves for school, she looks a year or two older than her 12-year-old form does.

There are far more interesting or spicy shows out there revolving around the love between a man and a female robot (Chobits)

Rizel's not actually a "robot". She's a being made of nanomachines, yet she actually grows older through her own evolutionary process.

To tell you the truth, I've grown to hate Chobits. It's so overrated and Chii has the personality of a tin can (RIZEL HAS A FREAKING PERSONALITY AT LEAST AND MORE THAN ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION), and Hideki and Chii's "relationship" is about as romantic/exciting as watching a guy baby-sit a four-year-old. Hideki and Chii have a teacher-student relationship, a parent-child relationship, but nothing that feels like a man-woman relationship, despite how much CLAMP is trying to convince you they "love" each other...it just isn't executed very well at all.

Now if you really want a quality show with romance between a human and an actual robot, I'd point to My Dear Marie or Saber Marionette J. These robot girls look, feel, and act much more like humans do and don't have a creepy blank stare the way....those computer humanoids do. With Chobits, the boundary between human and robot/computer felt way way too great so it was hard for me to see Chi as anything BUT a computer....

That being said, the romance between Iwaki and Rizel is far better executed and more convincing than Hideki and Chii by ten-fold.