Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Fate/Zero 11-13

Because of the holidays i've havent had the time to post 11-12. i didnt realize i missed the post until i started watching 13. Since there is little point in writing what i know, im just going to add it to this review. This might also be a fitting end as i think the series will take a hiatus and resume next year.

episode 11 summary:
The aftermath of the fight with caster has left the Einzbern castle in ruins. The quiet is soon disturbed by Rider carrying a barrel of wine. At first Saber assumes he is here to fight, but Rider assures him that we only wishes to talk over drinks. Rider asks to have a talk about what it means to be a king over the wine and they go to the courtyard to begin drinking. They are soon joined by archer, who is a king as well and was invited by Rider, and he rejects the wine Rider could find in town. He instead retrieves wine from the gate of Babylon, His personal stash. during their talk, Rider reveals his wish from the grail is to be able to live again, and to enjoy the journey and excitement of conquering. Interestingly, Archer has no specific wish from the grail and only seems to want to retrieve what he sees as his. In his time, he believes he owns all the worlds treasures, those he knows and doesn't know about. Therefore he sees anything that could be of value as something he already owns. Saber tells them about her goal to undo her selection as king of Britain and so a more suitable ruler can be found. Both archer and rider are disgusted by her views as both a leader and a king. Rider is in the mindset that you must take pride in your actions. that rise and even fall are both eventual. To wish to undo that would be insulting to those who stood and supported you throughout. They both view kingship as a privilege and something to be enjoyed and coveted, unlike Saber who views kingship as a duty and a burden. Rider truly hits home when he tells saber that she saved her subjects, but never lead and ruled them. This hits saber as she had heard rumors during her life that she was an unapproachable king. Their meeting is interrupted by Assassins. Rider uses his noble phantasm, which revives all his former followers, each a heroic spirit and the thousands of soldiers rush the 12 assassins and easily finish them.

Episode 12 summary:
A rather short and uneventful episode. Kiritsugu is once again worried about what kind of man Kirei is. Meanwhile Archer is just giving a total mind rape to Kirei and undermining everything he has been believing to now. Its pretty obvious by this point archer is pulling all the strings, and setting up the events of Fate/Stay Night, and not Kirei. Meanwhile Iri and saber move into a new building, and we find out that Iri is losing her strength.

Episode 13 summary:
We start with Waver and Rider heading into town after Waver sees Rider's dream. He at first tries to find out more about Rider, and starts to show his insecurity as he feels Rider is strong enough to win the war on his own, and he isn't contributing anything towards that.
Meanwhile Caster and Ryuunosuke return to find their base in shambles. We learn Caster doesn't believe in god's power as his blasphemies have always gone unpunished, and it was only humans looking for personal gain in his death that finally got to him. Ryuunosuke on the other hand believes god does exist, but is as sick and twisted as they are and enjoys pain and misery. Together they decide to continue on with their "show". Caster summons his biggest monster in the river, and Rider, Lancer and Saber make a pact to stop him. the plan is for Rider and saber to open the monster where lancer can strike it with his spear and finish him before he reaches the shore where he can feed off the people and will remain indefinitely. Interestingly we find out that Saber has the blessing of the lady of the lake and therefore can walk on water. Rider and Saber rush the monster and that ends the season.

Reaction:

there wasnt much in episode 12, so i'll go through that first. We know Iri is getting weaker, maybe because of her being a vessel for the grail and having a servant die weakens her. We also just see what a manipulative bastard Archer is, just playing with Kirei and setting up the betrayal that will take place at the end of this season.

Episode 11:
We finally get a lot of insight into Rider and Archer and Saber regarding their views. Rider and Archer hold what i would call to be the older view of a king. Someone who rules and has supreme power. a position to be coveted, one where everyone respects you if not fears you. Saber holds a much more, modern-ish view of kingship. She feels it as a duty to protect her people and to lead them. To serve as if a position of government. only if such a king succeed do they get praised. Its funny how we see both types in literature, and neither is better or worse that the other and either can be portrayed as a good king. The former when evil, is a tyrant. one who hold complete control and only seeks his own self enjoyment. When good, they are seen as the supreme authority. they have the power to make or break people's lives and dreams, but are fair and just. The second view when evil, is usually a manipulative king. One who puts on an act to keep his power. a weaker type of king who can be overthrown at any time. When good, its the typical king Arthur, a ordinary man powered and in return protects their people. We also see Archer's unique interpretation of the grail as he feels he owns the world and all the treasure it contains. Therefore anything of value, weather he has seen it or not, is his.

Episode 13:
We get to see that Waver is actually quite insecure about his position and ability compared to both rider, and other masters. He views himself as a burden and that Rider will be successful with or without him. This means his whole goal of proving his worth is meaningless if Rider is the one doing all the work, as well that Rider shouldnt have to put up with him. We see the twisted mind of Ryuunosuke and Caster, but they arent very interesting characters. Now that he's whipped out his biggest monster, i expect him to fall in the first or second episode of the next season.

Overall for Fate/Zero season 1:

This was a hell of a ride they took us on. The story was great, the action was great, and the art was great, the characters were great. This is what Fate Stay Night should have been if everyone wasnt a whiny idiot.

But is it perfect? no. The beginning of this year was busy for me and i just hit a string of interesting show ideas that panned out to be much more boring than i expected. So the beginning of Fate Zero really made it look like a diamond in the rough. A perfect show without flaws. However as the show went on, it really started to feel dragged. And i don't mean that every episode is bad or that the show overall is bad, but its far from perfect. Without the action scenes or the very well done exposition scenes, i really didn't feel for some of these characters or care to see what happens to them. For instance, ya it was nice to see Kirei get mind raped by Archer, but the episode wasn't memorable compared to the courtyard drinking episode. Both were simply talking exposition, but one felt well done and the other a forgettable bore. Another instance is the Rin episode. while i don't hate her, I'm not a big fan of her and to see her running around at 6 years old didn't make me a fan. It felt like it was either a waste of time for padding, or pandering to the Rin fans, or some mix of both that simply didn't work out.

Overall this was a good show. It gets a little help riding a year of mediocre releases, but its still overall going to be at the top of a few of my lists.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Fate/Zero 9-10

So with the end of exams comes more anime. I decided i will pick up phi brain. not sure if im picking up anything else new as of now. The next on the list would be guilty crown. also, the let's play will have to wait until i can figure out how to capture my screen, as well as get a decent mic.

Anyways onto Fate/Zero

Episode 9 recap:

We get conformation that Lancer's master is alive and stable. however hes severely wounded and cannot continue on in the battle. Sola-Ui wishes to take his place as lancers master, due to her falling in love with Lancer because of his love spot. Lancer's master reveals that Lancer has told him Lancer had no reason to seek the grail, and as such the grail should not have summoned him. Also he doesn't trust Sola-Ui correctly because he fears she's fallen in love with him. Sola-Ui however starts breaking his fingers and threatens to cut his arm off if he refuses to hand over the command seals any more. we see that Sola-Ui now has the seals and convinces Lancer to keep fighting with her to honor his master's wishes. Lancer agrees, but is distressed over how much this resembled his old life.

Meanwhile while all of this is going on, Kiritsugu tells Iri to look after Miya while she recovers, while he goes to finish Lancer's master. Iri and Saber both want to stop Caster first, but Kiritsugu is more worred about who is the bigger threat and that the trade off for a few kid's lives is not worth waiting. Iri asks him if he is mad at saber for not stopping Lancer, but he doesn't respond, merely saying Saber doesnt need to know where he is going.

And meanwhile while all of that is going on (yup this was a packed ep), Rider and Waver find that Caster is operating out of a old storm pipe and go to kill him. They find that is isnt there, but the revelation of seeing the horrors hes been committing hits Waver hard. However they have no time to worry about that as the assassins have shown up. Rider holds them off, but the dark tunnels favor the assassins so he destroys the base and they leave. With their trump card revealed, Tokiyomi and Kirei plan another strategy.

Episode 10 recap:
Episode 10 was BORING. If your a big fan of Rin, you'll love this ep. it goes into her past, with her learning magic and how she feels isolated due to her path set for her. The story ends with her saving her friend, and a few other kids, from Caster's master. Overall nothing exciting and more importantly takes time away from the plot.

Review:
Episode 9 was packed, but it honestly didn't feel like it. The story was smooth and parts (like kiritsugu) while having a large impact and showing a great deal about their characters, happened in minutes. things are moving now after the last big engagement with Lancer getting his new master and the rifts between Kiritsugu and Saber showing up. We also start to see the distrust and scheming of Kirei and how he is not loving his position as Tokiyomi's lackey.
Overall a lot of plot and dialog, no action.

episode 10 was PAINFUL. It's boring, its distracting, and it drags on. with all the plot and talking last episode it wasnt like we needed a filler breather episode, and given the pacing i'd rather them show off more of the great art and wonderful action sequences. It simply felt like fanservice for Rin fans who were promised she would appear as a little kid, but never had anything substantial for her to do. Anyways episode 11 looks to jump right back into the action so we shall see where it goes from here.
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Friday, December 9, 2011

News

Hey guys, so exam period is here, but that also means the christmas break is almost here. There are a few recommended series for this season that i want to catch, such and phi brain and guilty crown. Seeing as how this season is greatly hyped, i have high expectations for these shows. As a result, i might be delaying the end of the year review/rewards. I dont feel like this year is accurately represented if i only watch one show this season.

My surprise is constantly being put off cuse of my lazyness, but i have another surprise in store. I am going to be doing a lets-play of Deus ExL Human Revolution. i will upload it here, but will probably keep it off youtube cuse they are assholes about copyrights for these kinda things.

And yes, i will try to get fate 9/10 out tonight before ep 11 airs. Read more!

Monday, November 28, 2011

fate zero ep 7-8

Hey guys, exams and all so im falling behind on the blogging. Im up to date in the viewing, so by the time you see this review, i have already watched 9. Im still only going to blog 7 and 8 for now, because i want to elaborate on the show, but dont want to clog up individual post with too many episodes. Epsiode 9 and 10 will be blogged together after i finish 10.

Summary 7:

Episode 7 reveals lancer's master managed to survive but more importantly the overseer of the war has declared a temporary ceasefire for the other servants and orders them to take out caster first, as he is killing innocent people indiscriminately, with the offer of an extra command seal as a prize. the overseer and Tokiomi know every master will be tempted by the offer, and they play to have Archer finish him off and get the seal. Meanwhile caster is gathering and killing more children to try and get Jeanne (actually saber) to see his evil ways. Saber engages, but without the use of one hand, she is unable to hold against Caster's monsters. Lancer joins to help and they fight Caster together. Meanwhile Lancer's master is going after Kiritsugu and we see some of Kiritsugu's magic abilities.


Summary 8:

Lancer's master and Kiritsugu continue to fight. Lancer's master is using mercury to scout attack and defend all at once. He renders all of Kirisugu's conventional weapons useless at once. Kiritsugu then uses his contender to punch through the shield by using a rifle size caliber bullet. Lancer's master continues chase, but is now injured. He catches up with Kiritsugu and when Kiritsugu tries the same trick, he uses even more magic to stop the attack. However this is exactly what Kiritsugu wanted, as his bullet this time is made from a part of his ribs. This contains his "origin" and essentially acts like a overload for magic circuits. The more magic they use, the more strength the shot has. By using the rifle shot first, it makes them more defensive and draws out more power on his second shot with the "origin bullet" Lancer's master is nearly killed and severely weakened.

Meanwhile, Saber and lancer combine to blow past the monsters of caster and land a damaging blow, forcing Caster to retreat. Lancer senses his master is in trouble and saber allows him to go. Lancer goes and saves his master, and warns Kiritsugu that only because of Saber's chivalry is he alive. (However it should be noted Lancer's master was the first to pick a fight, and had Saber not been chivalrous and blocked him from going, they would have both died. This point really irks me)

Meanwhile Maiya and Iri try to hold off Kotomine, but he is easily able to beat the both of them. it is only the a arrival of saber. He retreats, but it reveals that Iri has Avalon and is nearly invincible if she stays around Saber. Saber is unaware Iri has it.


Review:
Its interesting to see how Kiritsugu is actually really scared of Kotomine. He doesnt know much about him, but to be honest, at this point he hasnt really shown an evil side. Besides that we see that Lancer's master has some impressive skills, but his arrogance will be the end of him. We know he survives, but he doesnt seem to be holding up too well. Another point is just how well caster is holding. From what i read, its always just "caster shows up, caster is defeated" to see him actually prove to be a challenge for TWO servants at once. Speaking of Servants, we can see a real respect between lancer and Saber. and to be honest, Lancer is getting damn proud when he could have easily been defeated. He tries to but Kiritsugu in his place, but is saber was slightly more selfish lancer would have died right then and there. Also, Lancer's master was the one to attack first so i dont see why hes chastising Kiritsugu at all. Kirisugu's origin bullet looks damn impressive and it will be interesting to see how he proceeds from here. it looks like he will use saber and Iri to distract, while he goes for the masters. We see more scheming from the overseer and Tokiomi. I really wanna see this all end badly for him because hes taking advantage of the church.

Saber's attitude is so very different between this and FSN. Here she views Kiritsugu as immoral for trying to take out Lancer's master, yet it was Lancer's master who attacks first, as well in FSN SHE attacks rin head on and its only because Shirou calls her back she didnt kill Rin then. In the more relaxed and imprefect war, she seems more cold, calculated, and determined. Here she seems unsure of herself. Interesting was to balance things out as if she took every advantage like she did in FSN, the war would be over very soon. shes the main thing holding her back, and knowing what that will lead to, maybe thats why she abandons it in FSN.
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Monday, November 7, 2011

Fate/zero ep 4-6

Holy shit, Fate zero is good. Have i said that yet? because holy shit it is. I haven't been following a series, like full out get first release watch it first day kinda following for a long time. Fate zero is just that. I know this season is suppose to be the season of awesome, and to be honest i might be holding off my year end awards, simply because at this point fate zero would probably win every single one. Knowing how great this season is suppose to be, i might hold off until i watch a few different titles. Anyways, onto Fate Zero

Episode 4

So we get the fight between lancer and saber finally, and saber is heavy on the defensive. With lancers two spears she cant let her guard down and attack, but at the same time lancer cant judge saber's sword because of invisible air. Meanwhile, an assassin is watching the entire fight, and Kiritsugu catches sight of him. Lancer's master wants to end this quick and tells him to use his noble phantasm to finish things. Lancer drops his small spear and starts chipping at the invisible air, determining its shape. He later manages to pierce through saber's magic air. Saber realizes that his long spear negates magic. She releases her armor and decides to go full out, knowing she cant be defensive anymore. However this is a trap as lancer uses his second spear to inflict a wound on saber that Irelsveil cant heal, before saber can use Excalibur. Due to this, they both have revealed their identities. Saber returns her armor as only the long spear can pierce it and not the short one, but the damage is done.

Episode 5

Rider joins the scene, revealing his full name and all, and asks if they would rather join him and share in the glory of concurring together. Waver is annoyed at riders indiscretion, but that reveals lancer's master. Rider comforts Waver by saying only a man brave enough to ride with him can be his master, also calling out other servants who may be watching. Archer appears ans starts to berate them. However Berserker also joins the fight. When archer launches his swords at him, he is easily able to catch them and block all the attacks. This enrages archer who uses even more weapons, but still cannot hit him. Beserker even manages to use two of the weapons to break the lamp pole archer was standing on, making them stand on even levels. Archer prepares to go full out, but Tokiomi calls him back with a command seal to prevent giving away too much information. Beserker attacks saber when he sees him and Lancer's master orders him to do the same, but he refuses as it would not be fair. Lancer's master uses a command seal to force him to attack, but rider intervenes knocking away Beserker. Rider forces lancer's master to withdraw, or he will help saber to defeat him. with no other choice, they leave and the fighting ends for the night.

Episode 6

Caster, watching all of the previous nights action goes to saber thinking she is Joan of arc. Saber tells him she is not and forces him away. Caster despondent decides to keep killing children to show her that god is not worth following, thinking her forgetting her identity and all is part of gods work. Meanwhile Lancer, his master, and sola, the master's fiance, are discussing the last night. the master is upset with lancer, but sola steps up for him saying the master was too cowardly for hiding in the shadows, and since she is supplying extra mana, they still have an advantage. Meanwhile he take pleasure in the fact his hotel is strongly reinforced, as any attempt to attack them here would be useless. However Kiritsugu ignores that and blows the entire damn thing up after making sure to evacuate the innocent. we get a bit more of kotomine talking with archer, who is upset at how passive Tokiomi is being. Its clear by now archer is the one to steer kotomine to the path of evil.

Reaction:

The action and fighting in the 4th and 5th episode are amazing and a treat for the eyes. Just to put it in perspective, the average episode size is 300MB or so for the high quality releases, these two episodes pushed to 500MB, thats half a gig each. Lancer showed to be a much stronger servant than i expected, even able to cripple saber. Not too much of a surprise given how, like i said before, fate/zero is suppose to be when everyone is competent and at their best. Rider is just always good for laughs, and Waver too. i really just want to see more of them for the lawls. Baserker is amazing to watch in action, like an intricate dance. this is surprising given his class being... you know, Beserker. Still, its nice to see the conflict. Matou only wants to destroy Tokiomi, and Beserker only cares for saber. Nothing special in episode 6. very much a breather episode. even the whole blowing up a building stuff isnt too exciting given what has been happening. i dont expect caster to stay around too long, which is not a bad thing cuse hes probably the most boring of all the servants.

p.s. if your wondering why i keep calling lancer's master, lancer's master or the master, instead of his real name, its because i dont care to learn or to remember how to spell such a long name.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

fate zero and other updates

so, im still around, but work and other important things are piling up. My surprise is nearly finished, but on infinite hiatus until i find spare time. Im not watching very much anime for the same reason hence my lack of post. I will give a quick update on last seasons. Blood C was cool, but no hook to keep me watching. i'll still finish, but its not a priority. HanaIro didnt seem to stay as strong an as well written as the beginning. Its not bad, just nothing special. Kamisama no memo-cho is a surprising winner. Very fun and the mysteries are a good hook. but im a sucker for mysteries like detective Conan so maybe it just happens to seem better. in the mean while, Fate Zero!!!

Fate zero is a prequel to Fate stay night, a personal favorite of mine, and when that ended, a few of my friends told me fate zero was even better. So when i heard that it was to be adapted into an anime, i was hyped to say the least. I kinda was expecting disappointment because very few things with that kind of hype really live up to it.

Quick summary for ep 1-3

So we basically get introduced to the characters and all the servants being summoned. Caster is batshit crazy controlled by a killer. berserker is controlled by a matou, infused with worms. Kiritsugu is controlling saber, Tohsaka is controlling archer, with Kierei controlling assassin helping him. and waver is comedicially partnered with alexander the great. whos in control, your guess is as good as mine, id say alexander. and lancer just showed up.

If i were to think of Fate Stay knight as an imperfect fight, Fate zero is definitely the more perfect, trained version. All except one are train mages, there are no false heros, like assassin, all the masters know their abilities and all the servants are in their top shape, unlike rider, saber, and assassin in the FSN, and archer who pretends to be incompetent.

The biggest impact of the show comes from the drama. i wont say too much, but in my year end reviews, Fate Zero is already winning a special award Read more!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Everything better with assassins

I've been playing a little (too much) Assassin's Creed lately, and I've been thinking. Everything is better when you add Altaïr into it.

Rule #1: All fictional kills are caused by Altaïr. NO EXCEPTIONS
The deathnote is simply Altaïr's hit list.
Altaïr killed Bruce Wayne's parents, creating batman
Altaïr also killed uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy.
FF7: Aries was killed by Altaïr in disguise
Detective Conan: Altaïr has been following Shinichi for 500+ episodes to give him more cases to solve
Harry Potter: Snape didn't kill Dumbledore, Altaïr did
Star Wars: Han may have shot first, but Altaïr got the kill on greedo
Clue: It was Altaïr, with the hidden blade, anywhere he damn well pleases
Naruto: When Itachi used his Sharingan to kill his clan, he simply summoned Altaïr

Feel Free to add your own. Will add when i think fo new ones :) Read more!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Amagami SS Rihoko and Tsukasa arc

Hey guys, no im not gone, and no i haven't forgotten about the surprise, its just taking a long time and its a lot more work than i though it would be, but it will get finished eventually. This review is going to be pretty big and long because it includes a quick summary and a review of two arcs, the two arcs that has the greatest controversy. I'm also going to be doing an overall series review in this post. I know that there are two more episodes left, and i do plan on covering them, but they are more like extra eps so i feel the overall summary is better here. Anyways, onto the review.

Rihoko Arc Summary:

Rihoko and Junichi are chilhood friends and right from the start, it is obvious that Rihoko likes Junichi as more than just a friend. Rihoko has another issue though and she feels shes overweight. She tried diets before, but can never stick to them. She vows to complete her diet this time around. Rihoko is also in the tea club whose only two other members are seniors who will be graduating. With that in mind, they look to get new members to join. The seniors noticed the attraction between Junichi and Rihoko so they try to push him them together and make him join the tea club as well. TBH a bit more happens, with the founders festival and new years as well, but nothing really happens. The rest of the story is her trying her diet and trying to get new memebers. At the end, Junichi does join the tea club and Rihoko hopes to be able to tell him her feelings one day.

Reactions:

Well there is a lot to talk about in this arc, so lets get right into it.
First of all, the character. When i first heard about Amagami, Rihoko was one of the most popular characters before the series started. I didn't really get it at the time, but then i learned that Rihoko is suppose to be heavier than the average characters, but she doesn't look like it. This is a case of hollywood pudgy, where a character is said to be overweight, but doesn't look any different. But we're constantly shown that she is eating snacks, more than usual and she couldn't fit into a hole Junichi was able to fit into easily. Well like i said, i didn't really get it, and never really felt sympathetic for the character. The worst part is, this story could have been much much better. Given how dramatic and serious Amagami can be at times, they should have shown her as average weight, and in fact becoming unhealthy because of dieting, but i would guess they want to stick to the original story.
The next point of complaint is the boringness of the character and the story. For the first time we have a character who is attracted to Junichi from the very beginning being childhood friends. This is an interesting chance to play on the story. However, instead the story doesnt really move along. Nothing really happens. Rihoko tries to diet and fails, Rihoko tries to confess to Junichi and fails, Rihoko tries to get members for the tea club and fails, Junichi runs away from the tea club. I honestly tried to think about what happened in the story, and besides minor plot scenes like new years and such, the overall plot doesn't really go anywhere. On that topic, Junichi seems to have no interest in Rihoko. He doesn't join the tea club for her sake, and he never showed any signs of wanting to be in a relationship. In other arcs this would be fine, but this is Rihoko's arc, yet he shows no interest in her.
Alright, i avoided it as long as i could. The biggest issue of this arc. Rihoko is the only girl to NOT win over the affections of Junichi. She doesnt start a relationship, she doesn't fully confess her feelings, anything. Theres not much needed to be said. This is simply stupid. It is insulting to the fans who have been waiting for this arc. There are rumors the directors of the show didn't want this arc to overtake Tsukasa's arc, but given Tsukasa's popularity i have to question that. Even if this was true, the entire point of the resetting arc format is that people can choose which arc they like best. You shouldn't be trying to push the popularity of one character over another, especially with this format. Overall i had no interest in Rihoko, i still have no interest in Rihoko, but the decision to destroy the character with such a weak arc is stupid. The only real fault i have had with this show.


Tsukasa Arc Summary:

Junichi due to his past avoids the founders festival. Knowing his attitude has to change, he votes not to run away next year. Next year when the class chooses a committee member for the founders festival the next year, Tsukasa volunteers again, but seeing as how she is also the class rep, the teacher decides she needs someone to help her. Junichi volunteers so he can force himself to go this year. They start working and Junichi is very impressed with Tsukasa's abilities. When they run into Tsukasa's sister, it seems like Tsukasa doesn't like her. However one day he finds a note book, and when Tsukasa founds out he found it, she threatens to beat him, showing a side of her much different from her public image. She said the note book contains something that would force her to leave the school should anyone find out. He find out she cares very much about her reputation and puts on this act to look good. She continues to work but she works herself into exhaustion and misses school one day and Junichi visits her. When she returns, he suggest they ask others in the class to help, worried about her health. Three of the other girls confront Tsukasa about her relationship with Junichi. Tsukasa breaks her act and gives the girls a tongue lashing. That night, Tsukasa burns the note book and asks Junichi to start a relationship. The next day the three girls try to pick on Tsukasa during PE, but the rest of the class still supports her. Junichi worried that Tsukasa will work herself into sickness again asks her to get the others to help again. Tsukasa slaps him and is obviously upset. The next day, Tsukasa does a 180 and goes back to her cheerful nice persona. when Junichi confronts her she says the mean Tsukasa is gone. The founders festival goes out without a hitch, but Junichi still wants the real Tsukasa back. He confronts her again and she breaks down showing the real Tsuaksa still exists. Tsukasa tells Junichi her motivation is that when she was a child she found out santa doesnt exists. She decided she wanted to be santa and bring happiness to everyone at christmas. However as time went on, she realized she did it more for herself rather than out of goodness. Junichi doesn't agree and they start a relationship. Ten years later the two celebrates Christmas at their school, with their daughter.

Reactions:

This is a much much better arc than Rihoko's. The story is much stronger with a huge sense of mystery. Throughout watching it i really wanted to find out what her secret was. I had read some spoilers and knew she was suppose to be a bitch underneath but other than that i didn't know anything. This was the first arc i skipped ahead to try and find out what her deal was. the saddest part is, we never really know. She mentions something about finding out santa isnt real, and that is what causes her to work so hard for the founders festival, but other than that nothing is really explained. Why does she hate her sister so much? What is in her notebook? Why did she say it was worse for her finding out Santa didn't exists? Through some digging i found the answer to the first two. Apparently she always resented her sister for being so outgoing and never needing to hide her true self. Her diary hid her real feelings and while i guessed that, it might have been nice to see the writing itself. The last one, why the santa thing hit her so hard, was never answered. In fact, if anyone has played the game and can fill me in that would be great. Overall a strong arc, not perfect, but definitely very solid.

Overall Amagami Review:

So lets take a look at amagami as a whole all together. In my opinion, when amagami is good, its really good. One of the top drama/romance stories i've ever seen. Keep in mind they have 4 episodes to write and tell a full story, often changing the character's attitudes so its not like they can simply do it once and repeat. The concept of each girl having only 4 episodes to establish their character was worrisome at first because i didn't think that was enough time to fully flesh out the characters. watching the very rushed first arc with Haruka certainly didn't help that. However when we got into the later arcs, especially the arcs i didn't care for, i feel that 4 episodes can work, and in fact is helpful in some situations. For instance, i was stuck on the Sae arc for well over a month because i couldn't stand her voice. Had i known i would need to hear it for 6 or 7 episodes i likely would have dropped it. That's not to say i would stop watching just because of one voice, but if it fails to hold my attention with my schedule i will end up dropping it like it or not. If so i would have missed the fantastic Ai and Tsukasa arcs. i was also stuck in the Rihoko arc after coming off such a strong Ai arc and hearing the train wreck it turned out to be. The biggest benefit of this format is that they can have vastly contrasting characters and have them all win. Sure i may not like Sae but others do and they can enjoy it as much as i enjoyed the arcs i liked. However this format is the ONE format you have no excuse to play favorites. This is designed so that everyone can win. Gimping one arc because its "too popular" is just stupid. This is the biggest misstep with Amagami and it really hurts the writing team for this. So would this format work again? I'd like to see it again. if they can master getting a good story down in a short time, and amagami shows it is possible, than this format has a lot going for it. It takes a really strong writing team to do that though so if might be a huge failure the next time its tried. They also need to avoid the mistakes amagami made and keep every arc as strong as the last. Its still a very good show and overall i enjoyed it.

Now lets go over my rankings for the arcs and the girls.

Ranking by Arcs:

Tsukasa:
This is probably the best written and best preformed arc. It was complicated, well paced, and was mysterious enough to get me hunting for spoilers. they left out some things so it could be better, but its still probably the best arc of the show.

Kaoru:
It was a well written arc and very emotional. This is probably the only arc to make Junichi look completely competent.

Ai:
Overall a good arc and well written. It doesn't really have anything spectacular, but its not bad.

Haruka:
At points this was a great arc. It did a really good job showcasing Haruka and her playful nature. The thing that hurts this arc a lot is its pacing. It really feels rushed, something that no other arc suffers from.

Sae:
the arc was generic. it didnt make any big mistakes, but nothing captured my attention in particular.

Rihoko:
I dont think anything more needs to be said. Just look above.

Ranking by girls:

Ai:
This is why i wanted to do separate rankings for the arcs and for the girls. Writing wise her story was average, but Ai herself i love. Shes the kind stoic one, the one who has problems eating them inside but doesn't want to bother others with it. You really felt that she and Junichi relied on each other and through that seem to have a strong relationship going forward.

Haruka:
She is fun-loving, playful, sexy, and kind. Shes basically what every teenager's dream girl would be, but it doesn't make her conceited. Its sad how her arc didn't give her enough time to develop, but she certainly stole the spotlight when she cameoed in the other routes, mostly with her playful teasing of Hibiki. She's also voiced by my goddess Ito Shizuka which always helps :D

Tsukasa:
Im not a super fan of the tsundere types, which is why Tsukasa is low on my list personally. Her arc is really good and brings out the best in a character i though i would have zero interest in. Also, before her arc i kept hearing how she was such a "bitch" underneath, but to be honest she wasnt a whole lot meaner, well aside from trying to kill Junichi, to everyone than normal. Ya shes not the perfect Yamato Nadesico, but shes far from a bitch.

Kaoru:
Like i said, she played to the tsundere crowd which isnt my main interest. Her character is interesting and her arc brought out a real weakness that we can all relate or sympathize with. Shes good, but IMO is outclassed. This is just to show how strong the cast is overall to have me say the 4th out of 6th in my ranking is still good.

Rihoko:
Nothing really wrong with the character, but i also never felt like i sympathized or like the character at all. Very bland and average for me. All the hype around her and the let down of her arc didnt help either.

Sae:
Sorry, i hate this character. And TBH, its only because of the voice. I cannot stand that voice. It might be a shallow way to judge, but it was a breaker for me.

All in all, an amazing series. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good romance story.
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Thursday, April 14, 2011

K-ON: The collage years (manga)

Hey guys, the special surprise, as well as my regular blogging has been put on hold for now due to exams. I'll get to them eventually, this is definitely something i dont want to just drop, but i also gotta make sure it turns out great. a little side filler while you wait.

summary:
So Yui and the others are now in collage, and no surprise they are living in the same dorm. We see Yui being Yui practically unable to function without Ui. She kinda takes an crutch on Ritsu, but Ritsu is having none of it. They make it through the opening ceremony, but Yui accidentally drools on the shoulder of a new character, Wada Akira, who i swear i cannot even tell is a female. They take a look at the poster of the existing light music club that the university offers and decide to check it out. As luck would have it, (or poor writing) Akira and her two friends are also joining, setting us up for the next chapter, in the story and in the life of the girls.

Reaction:
Well i guess i can stop guessing what the movie is about. The K-ON manga has continued on into the university life. Its a nice little touch, and maybe would have been nice as a movie extra, but honestly i does really cheapen the big dramatic goodbye the girls went through at the end of the last season. Also the manga seems to really set up the story, so i have a feeling this wont be jsut a 4-5 chapter thing an a completely new story altogether. I cant say the atmosphere or story that worked well in K-ON about high school students will work in University. But i'll give it a chance to impress me. hey if you told me there was a good story about girls eating cake all day, i wouldn't have believed you. The other problem is how these new girls are replacing azusa so easy and how Yui is so accepting of them, but that seems to really be in her nature. I also wonder how this will fit into the fact the light music club is already established, and itsnt being set up by them. their lazy attitude might not slide in an established club, and the whole point of their club in high school was, 'we may not be good, but we are fun and can try hard when we needed'.

So ya, not a great start, but i'll give it a chance to impress me.
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Infinite Statos - 4&5

Well my little surprise is taking up some time, along with midterm season, so i'll have to put these two eps together for now.

Recap:

Ep4:
We start with Lin and Ichika starting their match. Lin's new machine is a melee type, but also has large cannons on it's shoulders. Ichika is having trouble dealing with it, but still seems quite confident. Soon after their match is postponed because an unidentified MS which also locks down the school. Some fighting happens but eventually Lin and Ichika manage to take it down. It is revealed that the IS is un-piloted, something which is not suppose to be possible

Ep5:
A new male transfer student is introduced, Charles. He is from Britain and the second male ever to be able to pilot an IS. Ichika is very protective of him and is worried the girls will be over clingy to him as well, made worse by his very shy nature. A bit of training happens, and we have a bit where all the girls fight over Ichika over lunch, but nothing important. At the end of the episode we are introduced to a new character, someone who admires Ichika's sister, and doesn't like Ichika, smacking him right off the bat.

Recap:

Nothing surprising happens. It will be interesting to see where the un-piloted IS plot line is headed. I don't have much about the Charles plot, maybe a secondary romance, and the new girl doesn't seem interested in him, more admiration for his sister than him, but i wont be surprised if she joins the harem as well.
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Big News, expect something big!

So for anyone who actually follows me.... you really dont have much to do, do you? im just kidding. There will be a special review i will be doing to. Why is it so special? Because i am going to do it Nostalgia Critic style, with full video and audio and everything.

I will record the audio over the reading week break and will work on the video whenever i can find time. Depending on how long the video takes, it might be a while before you see it, but i am resolved to doing this review. What is this review going to be about? you'll have to wait to find out.

As some side blog news, i am dropping Freezing, i will do one last episode review to explain why, and i am still following IS, don't know when the review will be up. Amagami is still in my watch pile, but that is definitely low priority.

I've also been following the Hayate no Gotoku manga, and it is awesome. I am caught up in that so i might do a manga review if a big chapter is released. Read more!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Infinite Statos - 3

Recap:

We find that after the contest, Cecilia had stepped down and given the title of class representative to Ichika after the match. It also becomes pretty obvious that Cecilia has fallen for him and starts competing with Houki for Ichika's affection. However it seems that Ichika is either oblivous to their feelings, or doesn't care. We later meet Fang LinYin. we learn that Lin is also a childhood friend of Ichika's, who he meet after Houki had left. Its about here that we get to see the true harem nature of this show. The three compete for Ichika's affection, with Lin even trying to muscle Houki out of her room so she could move it. We also find out that Lin is another country representative and has a personal IS as well, a close range suit closer to what Ichika has. Things develop and we find out that Ichika made a promise, something involving food as far as he remembers, and she is upset that he has broken it. she gets so angry that she challanges him in the competition coming up, and if he wins she has to explain it to him, whereas if she wins he has to do whatever she says. As luck would have it, the two are scheduled to fight in the first round and we end the episode right as the match starts.

Reaction:
If there was any doubt that this was a harem/comedy/romance story over a hardcore mecha anime, this episode seals it. We see a much lighter side of everyone including a 180 by Cecilia, and Ichika is starting to build his own harem.

As for Lin, the promise is obviously some sort of marriage confession or something similar to that, hence why she is so mad. I doubt wrapping this up will take more than an episode, 2 tops. As a side note i hate how she looks so similar to Houki, especially in fan art where the hair color is sometimes off.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Infinite Stratos Ep 1 & 2

As far as new shows this season, this is my favorite. I really wish i had time to blog these episodes separately, but i didnt have time with Freezing. In the future this show will get priority over Freezing.


Recaps:

Episode 1:

This was mainly an introduction and background episode explaining the world of IS. It seems in the future Japan will acutally design mechas in the form of personal armor. These IS will become som powerful they will change the world of warfare (I'll get into this a bit more in the reactions section). Because women are the only ones capable of piloting these IS, with the exception of our protagonist, the power balance has changed to women as well. The use of these machines were banned from warfare and are now purely only used for sport. Our main hero Ichika is the only male in the world who can pilot an IS, and has therefore drawn quite a bit of attention. He enters a school to learn how to pilot the IS. He finds out that his older sister is acutally a very respected teacher at his new school as well as his childhood friend Houki, voiced by Youko Hikasa one of my favorite up and coming VAs (Mio from K-ON). He ends up being her roommate but for some reason she is confrontation and distant from him. He accidentally insults
Cecilia Alcott, the British representative for the IS circuit and is caught in the race for class representative. They decide to have a IS battle to settle the dispute.

Episode 2:

We get a bit of warming up from Houki, but she for some reason still seems to be weary of Ichika. We also learn that IS are in short supply in this world. There are currently less than 500 of them in the world, and the only person who knows how to build them refuses to make more. We learn that this person is Houki's older sister, and that they don't get along for some reason. Ichika however will get a personal unit due to his special circumstances. Houki agrees to train Ichika so he doesn't lose badly and embarrass himself and his family name. The day of the battle comes and at the start Ichika doesnt do very well. he isnt taking too much damage, due to his suits incredible ability to dodge
Cecilia's sniper's attack, but he isnt getting anywhere near her. His suit then modifies itself mid battle, and we learn he was using un-adapted defult settings. When his new suit activates, he is able to close the distance as well as use his sword's special function. However its too late as his suit is low on power, and his new sword drained the remainder. He ends up losing the battle.

Reactions:

This show is much more enjoyable than i had thought it would be. As a mecha, i thought it would be more typical mecha action and in that catagory, it would always need to compete with gundam in my eyes. This is basically what killed my interest in Macross and i constantly thought "gundam did this better". However this is much more of a romance show than a mecha show, and is very enjoyable. We really get an old school feeling from Ichika, the whole needing to protect girls and protect his family name thing. But he does it in a way that seems more caring than misogynistic, though girls might disagree with that. as a funny tidbit, Ichi means one in japanese and when a name has the word Ichi in it, it usually has some special meaning. maybe first (or solo) male? :D

With the second episode we see Houki warm up, and it feels shes not being a real tsundere rather something happened which is bugging her, which i like.
Cecilia started out a bit of bitch but its nice to see her mellow out after the fight. It looks like she wont accept that victory as clearly had Ichika been able to adjust his IS he would have won easily. The sister is also nice, clearly caring for her brother, but knowing she has a job and a role to fulfill. I noted i hate seeing the main character lose when they clearly should have won, especially if it was due to a technicality. You might think i am disappointed in the outcome of this battle, but im not. The first thing is he didnt try. He never bothered to read or learn his weapon. He caused his own downfall. Secondly, the mecha shift wasn't something anyone could help. Thirdly, Cecilia acknowledges it should have been a defeat. and through some spoilers, i know it works out in the end. She isnt being a bitch or a uptight smug ass about it. She knows i wasn't a true victory.

Now to the biggest gripe i have with the show, the entire background concept. The entire world is established as well as female dominance because of these IS. That is just retarded. Im somehow suppose to believe that these machines are so effective that they not only render conventional warfare useless, but also were such a threat all nations agreed to stop using them? That doesn't make any sense. First of all they may be strong, or maybe they are very strong with really weaponry, but there is no way these things changed the face of warfare. Its just too unbelievable, We still have fighter jets, tanks, snipers and all other forms of conventional warfare that seem just as viable with these things as without. Hell even in gundam where giant suits proved invulnerable to tanks and fighters, we still saw them being used. These things being WMD is simply not believable.

Secondly, These proved so devastating the world decided not to use them. That's also stupid. warfare isn't about being fair or even humane, its just about killing. The only weapons agreed universally not to be used was biological weapons, and thats only because they were more cruel than useful. for god sakes the world hasnt even agreed to stop using nuclear arms which are probably 100x more effective than these things.

thirdly, if these things arent used anymore, why do women hold all the power? these things are banned and stripped of all real weaponry.

Well maybe we'll see an alien invasion or something and see these suits in full force. However like i said this is more romancey than action so i doubt it.
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Monday, January 24, 2011

Freezing ep 2

So for this season so far, it seems like my blog list will be Freezing and Infinite Stratos. I've finished Stratos 1, so i might blog 1 & 2 together. But for now, Freezing.

Recap:
we find out that Satellizer (god i hate her name) has lost to the bitch, i really don't care to learn her name. Satellizer isn't as much angry as she is scared of Kazuya, hinting at a deeper past. Kazuya is still acting like an idiot and tries to apologize to her despite everyone's warning. The bitch and Satellizer have an informal rematch due to her wanting to prove her dominance despite interference. Satellizer has no trouble just destroying her, but she gets pissed and activates her pandora mode, a forbidden mode which enhances all of her abilities. The bitch starts tearing Satellizer apart, but when she hits Kazuya when he tries to stop the fight, Satellizer snaps and activates Pandora mode herself. She proceeds to finish the bitch with one hit, but is stopped by the teachers.

Reaction:
This series is starting to look more and more like a let down. As i mentioned in the end of the year review, i hate it when the main characters don't seem to progress. That doesn't mean i want to see the main characters face any problems, but when they clearly win or clearly do better, but still dont come ahead due to a technicality, that pisses me off. For instance there is nothing at all to hint that the bitch deserves the #1 rank. However due to a technicality she won, and now no matter how much Satellizer kicks her ass because the carnaval is over, the rankings wont change. It just feels stupid. If she was given a legitimate anti-hero rival, it might have worked. However its just so damn obvious that Satellizer is so far ahead of the others. Aside from that it seems like everyone is out to screw with Satellizer. I almost lost my mind when i saw the teachers stop her from exacting much deserved revenge. It's much better that the teachers arent allowing the bitch to get away with using pandora mode, but it just feels like shes not going to be punished as harshly as Satellizer will.

Aside from that the fan service once again feels like it gets in the way. My expectations for this series, but i'll still hold on to it for now.
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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Freezing ep 1

This is the first series im following this new season, and hopefully i can get the whole thing blogged. this is a very anticipated series, being an adaptation of a popular Korean manwa.

episode summary:

We being with a few girls participating in the "carnaval" which has got to be one of the cruelist and painful training sessions ive ever seen. We learn these girls are called "pandoras" genetically modified girls who can preform amazing feats, regenerate almost from the point of death, and use powerful weapons. They are commanded by a younger person, called the limiter. These pandoras were created to fight monsters called Novas. One perticular girl, named Satellizer L. Bridgette is leagues above the others, nicknamed the untouchable queen. Meanwhile a young boy named Kazuya Aoi is joining the school and right as Satellizer is in the middle of a fight with the schools number two ranked pandora. Satellizer is clearly dominating but is interrupted by Kazuya, who thinks she is his sister who was also a pandora who died saving the world. This also brings out a very girly reaction from Satellizer that surprises the school council president. then an attack heads for the two and blood splashes onto the camera.

Reaction:

Im not usually one to complain about fanservice, but there gets to a point where the fanservice just takes away from the show. This show is really tipy-toeing on that boundary. We get to see a little bit of a girly side of Satellizer, which is acutally cute, and if we see a lot more of that and the story becomes partially comedy then it will work. But from the first episode, it seems like the fanservice is really just forced in and takes away from the show. I don't think there's any doubt kazuya is going to end up being Satellizer's limiter, so lets see how this show plays out.

In terms of all the hype for this as the show of the season, its a bit underwhelming so lets see if it can pull itself up and get better for the second episode.

p.s. typing her damn name is going to be a PAIN all series. Read more!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Amagami routes Sae and Ai Eps 9-16

If you read my year in review, you'll know Amagami was a surprising favorite of mine last season. Even though the show has finished airing i only got through these two routes today. I dont know if i'll cover the last two routes together, separately or if i'll cover them at all. there is also a special one episode arc of a side character arc, and a special featuring his sister(!) as the heroine set to be released later with the DVD released. There are also suppose to be OVA episodes for each character. I don't know how or if i will cover these.

Sae arc:

We start with Sae running into Junichi after he lost his wallet which Sae found. Sae is an incredibly shy girl and wants to get a job at a nearby cafe, but lacks the confidence to do so. Junichi decides to train her to be less shy and gives her various "training exercises" which include changing clothes really fast, because lets face it Junichi is a perv. After the training Sae goes for an interview and gets the job. Sae wants to thank junichi for all his help and takes him to a amusement park. At the end of the day, Sae asks Junichi to take part in the best couple competition with her at the Founders Festival. They enter dressed as bride and groom and come out with second place to Haruka and Hibiki. Haruka notes that they only won as a novetly of two girls being couples and that Junichi and Sae should have been the real winners. None the less tey win a private VIP booth to a screening of a movie. While there Junichi needs to leave after he sees Sae in a rather sensual outfit and goes to wash off his face. He runs into an american man who gives him some words of encouragement. Sae notes that the director of the movie fell in love with the leading lady and was able to bring out her beauty in the movie because of that love. Its then Junichi notices that the man he ran into was actually the famous movie director. They confess their love for each other and live happily ever after. So what about the fetish of the arc, well its (spins fetish wheel) tentacles! Well not really. while training they go to a pool with a food bath which contains fish that clean their feet. apparently these fish tickle complete with erotic moaning. Also while at the amusement park a costumed baddie grabs Sae and squeezes her with his costumes tentacles.

Ai arc:

we start this arc with Junichi running into Ai at the park catching a glimpse of her panties. After a bit of teasing to call the police, Ai leaves the confused boy. They meet again and get to know each other, since Ai is Junichi's sister's classmate. Ai is also part of swimming team and reveals she was wearing her swimsuit the day at the park and that he never saw her panties. After a bit more bonding, with Junichi trying to help Ai with her problems with her brother. Junichi also helps Ai pass her retake of a math test which she passes second time through. However because of the retake, she wasn't able to train for the swim meet. Because of that, she doesn't make the team and tries to run away so that Hibiki and Junichi can't see her cry. Junichi manages to chase her into the pool fully clothed no less. While she wasn't able to make the team, she was given the responsibility to run a foot stand at the founders festival. Things go off with minimal problems and Ai wants to take Junichi somewhere special to thank him for all his help. She takes him to a private hot spring owned by her grandfather. They confess their love for each other and make out naked in the hot spring.... take that as you will. And the fetish of the arc is... (spins fetish wheel) eating the other. and no, i mean that literally. While bonding Ai and Junichi go to an amusement park and go inside a haunted house. While there Junichi imagines that Ai has been turned into a bowl of ramen and tries to eat her (with lots of innuendo). Ya, Junichi is kinda weird in this arc.


Reactions:

I did not like Sae's voice. It was the single thing holding me back from watching this arc. The story itself isn't bad, but Sae's high pitch squeak she calls talking is just way too annoying. The entire arc is taken with a much more comedic tone complete with a silly announcer. Its interestng, but again i just can't get over her voice. This will probably be my least favorite arc. As i said Junichi's personality changes with every arc. In this one he is very much the stronger of the pair, but still hold a silly tone like making Sae dress up and such.

Ai's arc by contrast is much much better and renewed the series for me. The arc for once, was enjoyable from beginning to end. While the first two arcs seem to start off slow, i was interested in Ai from the first episode. As well Ai's end song is the first one i actually stopped and listened to, and downloaded. I would say neither Ai or Junichi were the stronger of the pair, and both really seemed to need each other. while its been said a few times that this Junichi acts more childish, shown by him reading manga and such, i never really got the feeling watching it. This is my favorite arc of the series, just by virtue of having a stronger start beating out Haruka's, and will likely be my favorite of the entire series.

EDIT NOTE:
if i saw this before my year in review, i whoulda given Ai honorable mentions for favorite female.
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Saturday, January 8, 2011

2010 Year in Review

What what what? its almost middle of January and i havent given my awards for the year? Well like the academy awards, i feel i should let the year finish out and given some time to contemplate them before i give my awards. I felt it was more fitting to write this up during award season. Actually that's complete bull. Well this has turned out to be quite a stressful year for me. To be honest i thought this year around i would have more time to watch more anime, but i ended up almost watching none. Most of this is due to a few of my friends dropping anime, which has lowered my own urgency to watch. Another part is my partial addiction to a online game. So in short this year's candidate list will be shorter than others. I'll see if there are any great animes for this next year, and hopefully i will be watching more.


THE AWARDS

Best Comedy: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Honorable Mentions: Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Seitokai Yakuindomo

The idiots win this one. From the first episode to the last this anime has not failed to give me a laugh. The reason why this one beat out Ookami and Yakuindomo is that it really felt more like a comedy than the others. Ookami is arguably also a romance, and Yakuindomo mainly used dick jokes for comedy. Baka test is far from one of my favorite comedies, but it was an enjoyable waste of time and the best of the year.

Best Romance:Amagami SS
Honorable Mentions: Angel Beats,
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

Amagami SS is definitely the best romance anime of the year. With the innovative new "every girl gets a full story" function it guarantees no matter who you are rooting for, you win. Surprisingly the outcome for me was i came to love each of the girls, and i didnt need to feel bad about rooting for all of them. Ookami was very lackluster in terms of romance, and Angel beats only had romance as subtext to the story and squished into the ending. Had it gotten the two cours it wanted, this might have been a different outcome, but as it is now Amagami comes out on top. Having a solid set of story lines really helps its case as well. The only problem with the story set up is that it often leaves me feeling left out on the characters. For instance, Morishima was a favorite of mine before the show even started, and after her arc finished, it felt weird almost not seeing her at all.

Best action: Full Metal Alchemist

I HATE giving out an award to the same show twice, but in this case i had no choice. I really didn't see any action shows this year. If you want a reasoning, look up last years review.

Best Soundtrack: K-ON!!
Honorable Mentions: Angel Beats

This was a no brainer... or was it? To be honest, this was pretty close, at least at the beginning. The new OP was absolutely horrible and the second one wasn't much better. The first ending was mediocre at best. Combined with a strong OP and ED and even really strong insert songs from Angel Beats, it looks like K-ON would be bested. But then "No thank You" came out and changed everything. The song was just brilliant. But that wasn't the only reason. As K-ON grew and actually gained a story, the insert songs fit the tone really well. The songs really knew how to bring out all the emotion from the characters. As well Angel beats didn't really release anything memorable after episode 3.

Best Fanservice: Amagami SS
Honorable Mentions: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Well, i'll be honest i didn't watch any fan-servicey show other than Samurai girls this year, and to be honest i've only watched the first 3 eps of it and they aren't too great. Amagami wasn't a fanservice show, but with every girl they had a small fetish shown with each girl. Not much of an honor, but one Amagami wins none-the-less

Best Visual: Angel Beats

Shouldn't really have been a surprise huh? Its a key's show and the production is as great as always. When i look at Angel Beats i instantly get reminded of the great art and scenery of Keys works like Clannad.

Best Male:
Ryōshi Morino (Ookami-san)
Honorable Mentions: Junichi Tachibana (Amagami SS)

Ryoshi is truly a man in the shell of a cowardly pussy...cat. As far as people with incredibly strong neuroses goes, he acutally fought them pretty well. Unlike Kid (soul eater), he was actually believable, which i attribute a lot to the voice actor. Also when push comes to shove he manned up, unlike Kid.

Best Female: Azusa Nakano (K-ON!!)
Honorable Mentions: Tenshi (Angel Beats), Haruka Morishima (Amagami SS), Mio Akiyama ( (K-ON!!)

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT?????? A favorite female that wasn't Mio in a season where Mio was a candidate? Well, yes acutally. While Mio remains my favorite character from K-ON, i decided to look at this from a writing standpoint. In that regard, i thought back to all the feelings and emotion i felt watching K-ON. The bittersweet ending was something i never expected, and a lot of that came from the acting of Asuna. You really had to feel for Azusa, unless you have no heart. What about the others? Tenshi is a nice character, but acting stoic is nothing spectacular, and the series never had time to fully flesh out the characters. Mio is still my favorite, but in terms of writing, Azusa blew her out of the water, for once. Haruka was also cute, but having only 4 episodes predominately featuring her hurt her.

Best Villain: Shirō Hitsujikai (Ookami-San)

This guy is a freaking Badass. Everything about him makes me want to strangle the living daylights out of him. And for the same reason as Ali, this makes him a great villain. He wasn't spetacularly well written, but he never felt pathetic or out of control. Even after getting beaten he only strengthens his hatred and resolve to make everyone's life a living hell. I can't go too much into what makes him so horrible, but I'll say its about the worst thing someone can do.

Worst Character: Akihisa Yoshii

With the good must come the bad. This year the worst goes to our very own idiot Yoshii. If you remember, my worst character award goes to the one i feel is most poorly written, not necessarily one i disliked. Yoshii fits this mold perfectly. Its not that the character was unlikeable, but as a main protagonist of the story, he just never accomplished anything. We can see bits and pieces of development, like when he actually studied for a test, but in the end he still accomplishes nothing (by writing in the wrong spaces). Even so he would have only done well, not ace the test. The class moves no where throughout the story and a few times even ended up much worse than where they started. Ya its a comedy and being losers is kinda their thing, but you would expect by the end it would get better. He ends up feeling more pathetic than likable or sympathetic.

Best anime of 2010: Angel Beats!
Honorable mentions: K-ON!!

After all the praise i gave the show it shouldn't be a surprise i gave this title to Angel Beats. There were many places this show could have been better, two that come to mind immediately were the identity of the programmer and Naoi's arc. Naoi was a jerkass and a bastard, and he gets completely converted by a hug. Thats lame on so many levels. The programmer being Tenshi would have fixed SOOO many issues, but instead its just a nobody and Tenshi wanting to give her thanks to Otonashi being what keeps her in the world. Ya i guess that justifies the title, but it leaves way too many things unanswered. It also felt like it really needed two cours to flesh out the story. Despite all of that, it was enjoyable, and as a whole, production value, artwork, voice acting, music, story, it was the best show of the year for me.

K-ON!! was certainly enjoyable. Hell if i was just to look at the end half of K-ON it might have even been better than Angel Beats. It was the reverse of Angel Beats. It had too much time and did nothing. But as a whole, the show didnt have a strong story and a strong start to the season. That's why K-ON!! will have to settle for second place.

You may notice best Mecha and most WTF are missing from this year. That's because i cant say i saw any shows that fit those molds. Perhaps they will be back next year. (If at the very least best Mecha will go to Gundam 00 Movie if nothing else)
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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Psychic Detective Yakumo ep 3 & 4

I'm only following this series sparsely, so reviews might not be completed and definitely don't have a schedule. spoilers beware

Episode 3:
Haruka is still trying to tease Yakumo, and brings up a new case in which one of her friends sees ghosts in a haunted tunnel. Meanwhile the officer, Saitou, brings him a new case about a missing young boy and asks Yakumo to find if the boy is dead, and if he is, where the body is by asking it's ghost. Haruka's friend from work, a typical perfect nice guy, seems shaken by the picture. Yakumo senses this is off as he before said he didnt believe in ghost, and wasnt scared of the picture but the boy himself. He decides that the friend is the murderer of the boy. A quick check later reveals he was right after a he finds out the boy was a victim of a hit and run, and the friend asked a chop shop to cover it all up. The spirit of the boy possesses the friend and tries to take him into tunnel. Yakumo tries to save the boy, but his spirit is lost and turns into a dark red spirit.

Episode 4:
The daughter of the police chief, who was the reporter bugging the police earlier is possessed. we learn more about Yakumo's past and his doctor admits that his mother seemed scared of Yakumo and his eye. Despite that they always got along, until one day without warning his mother tries to kill him. He declares his mother never loved him and tries to throw away the necklace he took from her the day she tried to kill him, but Haruka stops him. He does and ends up giving his necklace to her.

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There was not much to say about episode 4, seeing as how its part of a much bigger plot. In episode three however Haruka seems much more like a typical tsundere with her trying to make Yakumo jealous running off with the work guy. Shes still kind, but obviously wants Yakumo to acknowledge her. Speaking of Yakumo, i was thinking we finally got some emotion out of him trying to pin the murder on the Flanders-like nice guy, but i was really surprised to find that he was right and the nice guy was actually a killer. We've gotten glimpses of Yakumo feeling useless, but he breaks down when he couldn't save the boy, because he cannot control spirits merely talk to them.
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