SeedFreedom-Riven Uchiwa: Anime Blog

Guilty Crown half season review (cour 1)

2012-02-10T10:42:00.000-05:00

So im going to try something new. In an attempt to save time during a busy school year i'll review shows in cours and see if it works. How this is going to go down is i will give an overview of the story in the summary section, without too much detail. the reactions part will be told as if i expect you to have seen the show.

Summary:
Japan is struck with a horrible virus in the near future and the population is devastated. Foreign aid has came and saved japan, but it has also taken over complete control of the government. The story focuses on a young meek indecisive boy named Shu. Shu is living the average boring life when he sees a young girl running from the antibodies, the foreign army that has taken over control in the name of protecting the country. They claim she is infected and must be exterminated and track her down. Shu stricken with fear does nothing to stop them. He regrets the decision and goes to save the girl, names Iori, and accidentally receives the void gene which lets him draw out the true nature of one's heart manifested in a physical form. The series looks as his journey into a resistance force that Iori is part of to take back control of japan. Shu at the beginning doesn't seem to trust the resistance force at all. There sly and cunning leader Gai seems perfect, even able to gain the affections of Iori and Ayase, another resistance member. However, when his own classmate and friend betrays him, as well as witnessing the antibodies atrocities first hand, combined with a glimpse of a very human Gai makes him decide to stay. However him main motivation is to protecting Iori at all cost.

Reaction:
Guilty crown is a pretty decent action show. its got enough mystery and entreage to keep you hooked between episodes. Its trying to feel like the spiritual successor to Code Geass. In particular Gai feels very reminiscent of Lelouch. Hes a manipulative bastard who always seems to have 5 plans waiting in case one fails. What i think make Gai's character stronger is the fact that he wasnt the one to gain the powers. Instead he relies entirely on Shu to fulfill his plans, and relying on Shu for anything is a baaad idea.
Shu is a wishy-washy kid who is way in over his head. He doesnt completely trust the resistance and if not for Iori would have abandoned them long ago. Most people have a huge problem with Shu being such a weakling for a main character, however that actually works for me. He feels like a normal person who is thrown into the chaos. Unlike Lelouch who jumps at the call or Light who can kill people on a whim, he feels more true and believable. We all have those moments where we want to be the hero and save the girl. to be the guy everyone relies on, but most of the time, we just cant, both physically and mentally. the rest of the cast is strong so having one weak character to bring in believably doesnt hurt the show.
Iori is the standard Rei clone. emotionless. Thats pretty much her entire stick. Unlike Kanade from angel beats, she doesnt really have the cuteness to carry the character so she ends up feeling pretty bland. theres stilll time for her to develop, but for now...
The last character worth mentioning is Ayase. She is a wheelchair bound pilot which in a sense is her own method of being truly free to move. She resolves to do things on her own and refuses unnecessary help. She also has the biggest crush ever on Gai. At first, i though her character was just the token disabled character. There only to build sympathy. However she carries the Tsundere character well and turns out to be pretty interesting. Shes really laying on the flirting pretty hard on Shu, but i highly doubt shes going to end up with anyone other than Gai.
On the villans side we have very generic vaguely evil foreign forces trying to take over japan. Theres nothing really special about them but nothing really boring either. What does surprise me is the amount graphic oppression they show on screen. instead of a pile of dead bodies we are told were prisoners, we actually see a scared innocent man get shot in the head, right in front of us. That carries a certain power that i think a lot of shows dont use.
The story is paced very fast. I dont think a single episode was left without any action. The main complaint people have about guilty crown is the fact that everything seems to come out of nowhere. Random plot holes are created and filled without much explanation, and at times without much thought. I do agree this is probably the weakest point of guilty crown, but it goes back to the show trying to be more than it is. we saw that with code geass where they opened the world, but had no way to close the story without it turning into a huge tangled mess. Guilty crown on the other hand tries to cover all of them as soon as they can. The result is that it isnt all stuffed into the end creating a mess, but it also makes us go "are you serious" once or twice an episode.

Overall, guilty crown is enjoyable enough, and given the weak season we've had, id give it a watch (however given that this review is late and this current season is AWESOME, i dont know how much i would still recommend this show). Things look to be shaking up in a big way so we'll see what the second half has to offer.

check this out

2012-02-10T09:35:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, so my friend needs a bit of help. Hes started his own site and is making small comics or stories each day. Since hes taking the whole interwebs stuff much more seriously than i am with my random nitpicking of anime, check it out if you got a spare moment

http://www.365not2off.com/

End of Year Reviw 2012

2012-01-15T10:15:00.008-05:00

So that time has come again, and again it was a light year for me. Ive taken a look at divine's year end review, and i havent watched a single show that he had awarded. So what that means is this years awards are going to be pretty bad, and i felt overall the shows ive watched this season havent wowed me. That being said, its not like there isnt anything to like. There were still plenty of good shows this year especially near the end. With that, these are my awards for 2012

Best Comedy: Infinite Stratos
Honerable mentions (HM): phi brain, Rio rainbow gate
This one is kinda a throwaway because i havent really seen anything i would consider a comedy this season. With infinite Stratos being the closest, it takes the award

Romance: Hanasaku Iroha
Again, this comes down to i havent seen very many romances this season. However unlike the comedy section, i still thought HanaIro was a decent show all around. The major problem it has is pacing and keeping the audience interested in the show. I wanted to see where the plot was going, but it just didnt move fast enough to keep me thinking about the show to come back and watch it. Overall, still decent and the subversion on the standard cliches this show throws is pretty cool

Action: Guilty Crown
HM: Fate Zero
So i've hyped up Fate Zero, why didnt it win. Well the major problem with Fate Zero is pacing. When its good, its damn good. one of the top shows ive ever watched. However when its slow, its painful. And i dont mean just the action parts. When the three kings sat around and drank, that was super tense. When Loli rin ran around... that was boring (sorry rin fans). Guilty Crown doesnt have that. Its never really outstanding, but its solid throughout. Also Fate is going to win a bunch more so im tossing Guilty crown a bit of a bone here.

Soundtrack: Fate Zero
If we go by instrumentals and insert music, guilty crown would win, however the OP and ED for guilty crown are somewhat weak. Fate on the other hand had an OP and ED that i knew from the first moment was going to be in my Ipod. the songs are great and the sounds really give it an epic, yet dignified tone that really matches the story. The OP is addictive and fast paced. The ED shows nice insight into the lives of the servants and shows what they were when they could be themselves. Phi brain had a decent OP but not on the same level

Fanservice: Infinite Stratos
HM: Rio Rainbow Gate
Again, a win based on being the only decent show in the category i saw.

Best Visual:Fate Zero
HM: Guilty Crown
Like i said before, when Fate is good, its damn good. that fight episode with Berserker is still ringing in my head. the characters look great, the scenes look great and the fights look absolutely stunning. Words cannot do it justice. Just go back and watch episode 4-5 for some of the best fight choreography ever made for anime.

Best Male: Rider (Fate Zero)

Rider is just a fun character all around. hes loud, hes obnoxious, hes full of himself, yet the way he goes about it all with such a grandiose fashion, you cant help but root for him. Hes like... take any role Norio Wakamoto has played and you cant help but love his hammyness. thats rider in a nutshell and by god is he great.

Best Female: Nanoha (Phi Brain)
HM: Inori (Guilty Crown), Saber (Fate Zero)
typically the female lead of an action show is there only to be rescued. While Nanoha sometimes falls into that trap, shes also been helpful and the main reason they group stays alive just as often. Her photographic memory really comes in handy when certain clues and such need to recalled or were destroyed. Aside from that, her goofyness and hatred of the "puzzle freaks" is funny enough. also: NONOHA SWEETS

Best Mecha: Infinite Stratos
HM: Guilty Crown
with all the awards you'd thing infinite stratos is a great show and a competitor for best of the year. nope, it just filled in a lot of niche anime types i didnt get around to. with gundam age being well... for kids and not a real gundam show. this one takes another free win.

Best Villain: Rook (Phi Brain)
Rook is the villain all other villains should be. He hits Kaito on an emotional level. taking him to places he cant handle and forcing him to walk through the worst moments of his life. He can do what no one else can do and that's hit him where it really hurts. At the same time, the show and the challenges is about the puzzles. He has refuses to use underhanded and unfair methods like, just killing him off, and instead is confident enough that he can beat him straight up without tricks, and god damn is he really good at that. The fools puzzle while using physical strain to induce mental strain, while not exactly fair is still possible. That earns him major respect in my books.

Special Biggest asshole Award: Zoken Matou (Fate Zero)
What this bastard does to sakura is unforgivable. there is no way to describe what an asshole this guy is. Ive never wanted to puch out an old man as much as i do now. Being able to generate that kind of emotion from the viewers earns fate zero writers this special award.

Worst Character: Kouichi Tanemura (Iroha)
Ko-chan reminds me of the classic Disney prince. they are perfect and yet cant seem to do anything. their only purpose is to motivate the female leads. And ive felt this way about him since the second time he was ever shown on screen. However he also shares the biggest weakness of Disney princes. hes bland. Hes two dimensional. he doesnt have any character or emotion or anything to keep me interested. as a side character in the role he was given, he fulfills it, but other than that, hes completely forgettable.

Best show: Fate Zero
HM: Guilty Crown

All i need to say about this show has been said. The show when it is good is amazing. Through the entire first half one out of seven servants has died. just by the numbers that means we should be seeing a whole lot more action in the second half and that's where this show really shines. If it can pick up the pace, i wouldn't be surprised if it won again next year.

Update

2012-01-01T21:09:00.006-05:00

So a quick update on some things i probably already mentioned.

First of all, officially i will be holding off on the end of year review until such time as i can catch up in the episodes that have aired for 2011. i will not be taking into account the episodes of 2012. Because im not waiting for the series to finish, the delay wont be huge. this is mainly due to my download cap so i cant finish the episodes until i get more bandwidth. I will not be able to finish off kami-sama or Hanasaku Iroha, but i have enough of a grasp on them to talk as if finished. i do intend to finish off kami-sama at least, Iroha on the other hand didnt keep me interested enough and will likely not be finished, but im not saying no for now.

i will be catching up in Guilty crown and will start doing two part specials. I will blog after episode 11 and one at the end. this will allow me to give insight on these shows without needing to write a full review for every episode.

Lets see how much time Skyward Sword will take out of my day (along with major projects, exams and the like). Also, i am still waiting on proper recording software as well as a good mic before i do the deus ex lets play.

Fate/Zero 11-13

2011-12-28T18:28:00.009-05:00

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.

Fate/Zero 9-10

2011-12-13T00:16:00.003-05:00

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.

News

2011-12-09T13:10:00.004-05:00

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.

fate zero ep 7-8

2011-11-28T13:26:00.012-05:00

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.

Fate/zero ep 4-6

2011-11-07T11:06:00.008-05:00

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.

fate zero and other updates

2011-10-26T21:05:00.004-04:00

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

Everything better with assassins

2011-06-15T17:00:00.003-04:00

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 :)

Amagami SS Rihoko and Tsukasa arc

2011-05-18T06:34:00.011-04:00

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.

K-ON: The collage years (manga)

2011-04-14T14:28:00.002-04:00

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.

Infinite Statos - 4&5

2011-02-14T13:43:00.003-05:00

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.

Big News, expect something big!

2011-02-09T20:03:00.003-05:00

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.

Infinite Statos - 3

2011-01-31T13:17:00.002-05:00

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.

Infinite Stratos Ep 1 & 2

2011-01-25T09:36:00.003-05:00

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.

Freezing ep 2

2011-01-24T13:11:00.004-05:00

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.

Freezing ep 1

2011-01-15T15:49:00.002-05:00

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.

Amagami routes Sae and Ai Eps 9-16

2011-01-09T15:44:00.006-05:00

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.

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-08T18:34:00.008-05:00

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)

Psychic Detective Yakumo ep 3 & 4

2011-01-04T23:54:00.003-05:00

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.

Reactions:

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.

Psychic Detective Yakumo ep 1 & 2

2010-12-18T13:47:00.004-05:00

Well fall exams have come and gone and i've got a bit of time on my hands. Recently i've been playing a lot of Leauge of legends but i also decided to pick up a bit of anime as well. I caught a few episodes of detective Conan and watched the Clash of Red and Black arc. (Seriously Detective Conan is the only show epic enough to do a 14 parter arc)

Looking back at Divine's anime list Psychic Detective Yakumo caught my eye, no doubt due to all the Detective Conan I've been watching.

SPOILERS BELOW. No spoilers in the impressions section

Episode 1:

we start with an introduction to our protagonist Yakumo who can see ghost. Hes commissioned by a girl named Haruka. After Haruka and 5 of her friends went to an abandoned haunted school house, one has died and one more has fallen seriously ill, as if shes been possessed. through various clues, like miscounting the number of people present due to not all of them going inside, Yakumo finds out the killer of the spirits in the girl is responsible for the death of the other friends. He eventually tracks it down to Haruka's teacher and saves her just in time with the help of another spirit. its later revealed that Haruka has a twin who she inadvertently killed, and wanted to apologize. Yakumo reassures her that her sister isn't mad, because it was her sister that helped him save her.

Episode 2:

Continuation of the story, we find that the possessed girl's father paying Yakumo's bill after the spirits left, which he feels he deserves because he indirectly caused them to leave. We learn more about Yakumo from his uncle whos taking care of him, and strong hints that Haruka has a crush on Yakumo. The story ends with another small mystery solved at a temple.

Impressions: (no spoilers)

Well if your looking for a detective show like Detective Conan, look elsewhere. Thats not to say the story isnt interesting. Its really hard to get a feel for everyone's character because everyone is so reserved and has their own reasons to keep secrets. Theres also a side story with a man trying to resurrect her daughter, which will probably be an underlying plot throughout the season.

Yakumo is obviously an attempt at a jerkass protagonist, on the level of Kazuma or Inuyasha. But to be honest, hes not that much of a jerk. Hes just more cold and reserved and seems to enjoy teasing Haruka, but other than that, hes acutally very caring, especially for the feeling of the spirits he can talk to.

Haruka is a fun character. Shes happy-go-lucky and very sweet. One thing that bugs me a bit though is her huge eyes compared to well everyone else in the show.Its also seen in Yakumo's child cousin, so maybe its to show off a childish side of her. It definitely makes her look cute so I'll let it slide. I'm just wondering if it acutally means anything, seeing as eyes are kinda a big deal in this show.

The show seems rather episodic with just a slowly building plot hiding in the back. It might work for this type of show, it might now. Either way this has given me enough reason to stick with it, at least for a while.

K-ON End of a journey

2010-10-22T11:42:00.004-04:00

Well after two long years, 2 seasons, 36 eps (not including specials) we have the end to a long story.

Quick Recap:
The second season follows directly from the first, with the girls moving onto their final year. We see them preparing for their final exam to move onto university. Mio has the grades and the recommendation to go to a very prestigious school, and im sure Mugi could also go to any school she wants, but in the end they decide to all try and get into the same school. Final exams came and went while the girls study. The entire time Asusa shifted her thoughts from what will become of the light music club, to how to say goodbye. In the end, through serious determination on Yui and ritsu's part, they do all manage to pass and are all headed to the same university. The graduation comes, and Sawako is saddened to see her first class of graduates go. Asusa also breaks down, asking them not to leave. They send her off with a picture of them from their first year together, with her face glued on, and a new song written especially for her.

reaction:
The main complaint people had about K-ON was that it was a show about girls prancing around doing cute things and not really having a story. And by the mid way of the second season, i would still agree. However If you take the entire two seasons together, its the story about a rag tag group, that barely became a club that shouldn't have happened, and the girls growing to became so close they wont want to separate. That being said, the story is still weak and still not why you watch it. Most episodes are filler fluff. However the ending i think was well done. You really feel the emotion from Asusa as she has to say good bye to her sempais. The final episodes really show that, even if they arent in the same grade, class, or even schools, the girls consider Asusa one of them, and that shes someone they can't replace, or forget. However i think the strongest emotions came from Sawako. She was a strong character, who was always the leader and rolemodel for the girls. Always there to bail them out of their troubles. But as she walked down the empty class and sees the chalkboard, even she breaks into tears. Asusa probably has it the worst. While the other girls manage to stay together (and save a huge amount of tears from the girls) she wont be going with them. Even if she finds new members, they will never be her sempais, and the club will never be the old club. The memories can never be forgotten or replicated. The new club might be good, but it will never be like her first club. The graduation and finale song i felt was a good send off, but i would have liked them to end off with the song to Asusa (despite my absolute love for No Thank You). Them going back to Fwa Fwa time is really a back to basics message which i dont feel was right for all they've been through.

So whats my overall impression of the show? I think Asusa Said it the best
"Its not very good (well written) is it? but i want to hear (watch) it over and over again"

What? im still here? (also a semi review)

2010-10-04T23:47:00.003-04:00

Yes i am still alive, and i am still a blogger. To be honest i havent been following anime very much recently because of a new vice ( *cough* League of legends *cough*) but i thought id give a quick two reviews Ookami-san, and Amagami SS(first two routes)

Ookami-san (spoilers abound)

Well this turned out quite differently than i expected. I was expecting a twist and retelling of classic fairy tales. I wasn't quite impressed with the first episode's Cinderella, but i held on. It kind of disappointed me that it wasnt much of a retelling as it was a completely new story with name drops and inspiration from fairy tales. Now the plot itself wasn't too bad, it wasn't great either. The biggest complaint i have is the use of rape as a back story for Ookami. While it was never directly mentioned that she was raped, it was heavily implied. Now im not an uptight guy. for instance, it is also heavily implied when otohime "extracts the essence" of Tauro. Now it was done for comedy and in the end the two love each other. the same can't be said for Ookami. And yes it can also be used well for heavy dramatic effect... except this is a comedy... about a girl whos boxing gloves meow when she hits someone. The entire story i feel is just way to light to suddenly force such a serious side. The story was also never well resolved but its almost guaranteed thats to set up a sequel. I kind of wish it wont get one. I did finish so i wont say its dissolutely horrrible, but it could have been much better if they stuck to one side of the serious vs comedy.

Amagami SS

This one surprised me. Every time i say "ehh this looks lackluster" they prove me wrong. I still think the haruka arc went way too fast, as to be expected, but its hard to imagine how this would even happen. she went from "sorry, i dont love you" to "i might love you" to "im so in love with you" to "why dont you love me!!!!" in 4 eps. The procession doesn't seem natural at all. The story was still great and Haruka remains my favorite character still. The second arc featuring Kaoru also started slow, and i thought i wouldn't like her character much. A massive difference was how much more confident Junichi was. As if that one confrontation turned his life upside down (or conversely what a mess he is without it). As such i feel the character development lied much more heavily on Kaoru than on Junichi, a benefit Haruka didn't have. Haruka was very much a strong charcter, with established traits. It was Junichi that needed to grow in her story. Kaoru however seemed to be the one with less ability to grow, and conversely Junichi seemed more like her support than in the first arc. Im only starting the third arc now, but it seems to be in a much more comedic style than the other two, which is nice because not only does it help establish the new focus character, its not a cookie cutter of the first two stories. Her voice however might need some getting use to.

2010 Summer First Impressions

2010-07-11T11:32:00.002-04:00

Well, We're in full swing for the 2010 Summer season so i've gotten a chance to check out the first eps of the shows. I though it would be good to post my initial reactions to these series. First episode spoilers to be careful.

Seitokai Yakuindomo: 6/10

One of the series i really didn't want to like after the first few minutes. The story is basically about a all girls school which has recently been converted into a mixed school. The story follows a rather uninterested guy about the prospect of being surrounded by girls, While all the other guys are perverts looking for a harem. The series Didn't seem as that funny or as 4th wall breaking like Hayate or K-ON. The series is also a little more kid-unfriendly than i thought it would be, meaning its not something i wanna be watching in a public place. True nothing bad was really shown, but a blurred out vibrator isn't great. The subs i have also took the liberty of un-beeping all the words so... However the one redeeming quality of this show, the freaking super star cast. the show features the voice of Mio (Hikasa Yoko) and Ritsu (Satou Satomi) for K-ON together again, with Yoko acting like a like a perverted Hinagiku and Satomi acting almost like Mugi. I've always said i loved Yoko's voice and i truly think this is a better role role than Mio is, but this show won't get the publicity K-ON did.

High School Of the Dead: 5/10

This one was a bit disappointing. While having a cute girl or two in a show is great, HSotD takes it a step beyond and seems to be a almost pure fan service show. Its hard to judge based on one episode, but i think plot will seriously be lacking in favor of more girls in panties being eaten (no pun intended, actually that's probably exactly what they were intending.) The characters also didn't seem to believable, but its a anime so that's alright. the premise of the show is simple, zombies. That's it. Its your typical zombie movie that you've seen a dozen times, only set at school. The only thing interesting is the slight love triangle between main guy, main girl, and other guy. Other guy is the boyfriend of main girl, after main guy took too long to realize it until it was too late. Other guy is the typical perfect guy. He excels at everything, including zombie killing, go figure. While i though this might have been a good dynamic going on through out the series, but he gets zombified before the end of the first ep. It looks almost certain that hes gonna die and the tension will be the main factor after his death.

Amagami SS: 9/10
I also tried to dismiss this series after the first few minutes. The story starts out kinda like a typical shojo. Man fall in love with girl, after being heart broken for two years by being stood up on chirstmas. However this show has a amazing hype, which i then found out is because they will air each girl's routes separately. This means each girl gets to win, but it also means each girl will only get 4 episodes. For the characters themselves, while not completely new or different, they are entertaining and not the cookie cutter style characters we've seen all the time. In fact the ending of the first episode, which i think i wont spoil, had me hooked that i will stick this one through. The fact that the "main" heroine, or should i say first girl is voiced by Hinagiku (Itou, Shizuka), certainly doesn't hurt.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi: 6/10

This one is also one i wanted to dismiss after the opening minutes. Man i did that alot this season. Anyways, the story is basically Ookami, i guess she's suppose to be wolf like, helping different people with their problems. This one i was really looking forward to because the premise is just amazing. Basically their are going to redo all the classic fairy tales, with their own spin. The sad part is, i dont think it'll be done very well. The first episode redid Cinderella and it was quite disappointing. Its also hard to take Ookami seriously as a fighter with those stupid cat gloves. I know its suppose to be cute and Moe, but it doesn't work for me. Im also not a super huge fan of the Toradora art style they are using, but that's a minor personal preference. The main character herself, Ookami will feature Shizuka's second staring role this season. To be honest, listening to Hinagiku's voice on a character that looks like Tifa from Final Fanstasy 7 is just pure win. The show has a lot of potential, so i wont give up on it now, but it better live up to it.

Summer 2010 Anime List

2010-07-03T23:19:00.002-04:00

Well here we go again, 2010 summer anime list.

There are actually a lot of anime in this lineup i wanna follow, and like usual i likely wont be able to follow them all.

Divine, who took over Omni's blog has made a nice preview list. Check it out.

The shows im looking at following are:

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Amagami SS
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes (Maybe)
Seitokai Yakuindomo (Maybe)
Asobi ni Iku yo! (Off chance)

Angel Beats - 13

2010-06-26T00:28:00.005-04:00

Overall, good series, but a few really poor plot points and pretty disappointing ending. Needless to say, spoilers abound.

Summary:

We end with everyone getting ready to move on. As it seems, the rest of the gang has already moved on, leaving only Naoi, Hinata, Yuri, Kanade, and Otonashi. They plan to hold a fake graduation ceremony before they all leave, complete with a song about Mapo tofu from Kanade. After Naoi, Yuri and Hinata leave in that order, Otonashi asks Kanade to stay with him and help all the future souls who get lost. Kanade can't answer, because she knows if she does, she will leave.

As it turns out, Otonashi's donations did reach people. Kanade got his heart and was able to live longer. When she died, she was so overcome by grief that she could never thank her savior she came to the school. It was realized when she first stabbed him noticing no heart, and was the key to unlocking his memories. Now as she is able to say her thanks, she gets ready to disappear. Despite Otonashi saying he loves her, she moves on. Later we see a reincarnated Kanade and Otonashi walk past each other, and he turns around to meet her.

Reaction:

Well, the end is here, and a lot of questions were answered, and more were wasted. First off... i was wrong. It turns out that the programmer never was Kanade. So that means the question of who the programmer is, why Kanade had angel player, all of it, is left. Also with that, the whole shadow arc becomes useless and a waste of time. I already wasn't too thrilled with the arc, but at least i thought it would be plot important later, which it wasn't.

If the shadow arc never existed, this would have been a great ending. It was very touching and very sweet. It also explains the title as "angel beats" is literally the beating of Otonashi's heart inside Kanade "the angel". A lot of people have complained that characters were changed too much this episode, but you have to realize that the situation is now different. Kanade is finally able to do the one thing she never could, and is her last chance to speak to him. Yuri no longer needs to fight, and can be more relaxed.

Perhaps its a culture thing, but i didn't get the whole graduation scene. It just seemed to eat up precious time. Speaking of timing, while i have already bashed it to death, the whole making everyone move on off screen just seemed too cheap. We also never got any background about any of the SSS members. While yes this is a mixed media series, and you are suppose to read the manga and light novel to understand it all, it just seemed bad to not mention anything about them. Again, i blame whoever plotted this to be a 13 episode series. Also, i know its a minor thing, but Yuri disappearing before Hinata felt weird to me.

Overall series review, awesome, but way too short. There was no way this could be finished in 13 eps in a satisfying manner, so the pacing was a mess. Aside from that, the shadow arc and Naoi arc were pretty poor in my opinion. But it is still a great show. As Divine put it, people haven't given this series enough credit for working within pretty unreasonable constrains as well as many who simply bash this for being popular and a Key work.. While the director isn't completely off the hook knowing the series cannot all fit in, he did a great job. The sound track for this was also amazing.

7.5/10

Angel Beats - 12

2010-06-22T17:02:00.004-04:00

Things are starting to wrap up, and only one episode left. Beware tons of spoilers in both story and reaction sections.

Story:
We have Yuri chasing down the shadows into guild where Yuri suspects that the culprit is hiding. Meanwhile Seeing their band is gone, the remaining of GirlsDeMo move on. They decided they had tons of fun, and move on. Meanwhile the rest of the gang is still here, to see Yuri through, including a rather assertive Oyama on sniper, dual wielding maniac TK, and slimmed Matsushita who has been training alone this whole time. When Shiina arrives, Otonashi, Hinata, and Naoi decide to make a run for Yuri.

Yuri isn't hold too well on her own. She runs into the older guy who has been taking care of Guild the whole time. After passing on his weapon, he moves on as well. She is almost taken in by the shadows. She awakes as a student in a calm perfect world. But Yuri decides she can't live in that world after what her siblings went through. Eventually Otonashi, Hinata and Naoi, now joined by Kanade pull her free. Yuri makes it all the way to a big room full of computers. A mysterious new man is standing there.

He reveals hes not a human, or an NPC, but a program similar to Angel Player that Kanade uses. His original program had fallen in love but his love had moved on before he could. Alone, he made the shadows to turn him into a NPC since without his love he could never move on, and if by some slim chance, they meet again in this life, he can move on. Yuri rejects that thinking, and even the chance to take control of Angel Player and become a god, and shoots down all the computers.

She briefly sees her siblings, who tell her not to fight anymore and thank her for all she has done for them.

Reaction:

Once again, the predominate problem of the show arises. With nobody gone they are forced to wrap up everything in one or two episodes. With two episodes left, expect an unsatisfying ending. None of the back story is revealed about most of the characters. The whole sneaky disappearing thing started, and ended in one episode.

About the whole nature of the shadows, its seems kinda weak. I mean they attacked indiscriminately and after no real sense of lost love occurred. The best guess is them reacting to Hinata losing Yui, but still Hinata had a positive attitude and confidence they would meet again. He definitely didn't see being turned into a NPC a helpful matter. Not to mention that when the three were together the shadows went for Naoi first. And why didn't they attack Axe guy forever ago who obviously has a huge crush on Yuri? Quite a few holes there.

I'm actually pretty ashamed i didnt realize this before, but its a pretty good guess that the programmer is Kanade. It would explain why she hasn't moved on, why she uses Angel Player, and so on. Guess what threw everyone off is the use of masculine pronouns. It would also explain her semi-aware state. It may also play into my "God is perfect" theory. Otonashi, the only one to have misfortune by god, is sent there to help Kanade, and therefore not punishing him at all, but trying to see the overall better good in helping Kanade but killing him early. They also brought up the idea of becoming the god of the world again. Its interesting they still won't say weather god really exist or not. In one sense the world is so malleable. People can take control, and become or do whatever they wish, but at the same time, no one seems to really be able to DO it. they talk alot about it, but no one really has.

Bonus points to Key for not pulling the cheap coma cop out. Expect mass passing next episode with Otonashi as the "class president".

Angel Beats - 11

2010-06-14T19:56:00.005-04:00

Review:

Otonashi meets up with Hinata who wants to proceed with their next plan. They are interrupted by Naoi who found out about the plan and also wants to help. However soon Naoi is attacked by a mysterious shadow who they almost cannot fight off. Meanwhile Yuri, also trying to find out about the shadows, interrogates Kanade, thinking it was a new program or a bug. After clearing that she could not be responsible, they almost blow their cover, but are interrupted by more shadows. The entire gang, plus Kanade, fight off the shadows. They win, but the shadows got Takeyama. They find him the next day, but he has turned into a NPC. One without a soul. Destined to take classes forever. Soon Yuri holds a meeting of all the gang members and tells them about the shadows. She calls Otonashi to tell them about his plan as it could save them from a worse fate. Otonashi gives a speech about how they should let go of their regrets and move on, but we the audience don't get to hear it. The students at first immediately reject Otonashi, but Hinata and Naoi give rousing speeches about how Yui, and Naoi himself, achieved something much greater than fighting endlessly. Yuri sends them all off to decide what they will do. Yuri decides to go and find out whats going on by herself, despite Otonashi and Hinata's pleading. A short Montage of the gang relaxing and contemplating their choice. Meanwhile Yuri goes to the computer lab, and someone has been stealing the school computers. She finds the trap door, leading back to Guild.

Reaction:

Well, i already mentioned last week i wasn't surprised that Naoi would join their plan. What surprised me was how easy going Yuri was about the whole thing. Instead of being angry or hurt, she was understanding. It really shows a lot about her character. She never wanted to place anyone in harms way, or take away their choice. Given their latest enemy, she realizes that its no longer just fun and games to fight god. Its also weird to see Hinata, sorta kinda slightly flirt with Yuri, after his whole confession thing with Yui. But to be honest, according to the source material light novel, they have been fighting since the beginning. Also interesting to see Otonashi be surprised that Kanade isn't an angel.

At this point, i have no guesses as to whats going to happen next, but i still don't see how they'll wrap this up with 2 eps left.

A small side note, Naoi was amazingly funny this ep, trying to hide Kanade's involvement in amazingly ridiculous ways. Overall, his character is fun, but after how he is introduced, i still would love nothing more than him strung by his tonsils. If he was a little less total bastardish, and wasn't saved by a care-bear stare/hug of love/magic plot token, he would have been a decent character.

angel beats - 10

2010-06-06T14:57:00.007-04:00

This one is going to be quick, because i've had a very busy week, even though the episode was jam packed.

Summary:
We have Otonashi and Kanade planing to start letting the gang move on. Otonashi decides on Yui because she already seemed happy. After failing, and then succeeding to lure her out by stealing her guitar, Otonashi gets to talk with her one on one. Yui reveals she wishes she was able to preform a german suplex. After a lot of hard training, and a lot of pain on Otonashi's part, they manage to pull it off. Its also revealed the reason Yui is so energetic and has so many outlandish dreams is because she was bedridden after being paralyzed in a car accident. Yui's next dream is to take on 5-1 in a soccer game. After a little help from Kanade, Otonashi and Yui manage to pull it off. Her next dream was to hit a home run. After a long while, and a lot of training, she still doesn't manage to make it. She decides to call it quits, and acknowledges that training so hard was good enough, considering her want to just be able to do it. She then reveals the last thing she wanted in life, marriage. She couldn't be a housewife, or even take care of herself. There is no way she thinks anyone could marry her. Fortunately Hinata comes and agrees to marry her, With an absolute beautiful speech on how he would love her no matter what, and how they would meet and live their life if they did, is actually very touching. After that, Yui disappears. Hinata vows to help Otonashi with his plan.

Reaction:
This episode once again shows just how overambitious Angel beats got with its plot. Three episodes left, and almost the entire cast left. It will really be a miracle if they can pull off a conclusive ending with the time left.

Onto the actual episode, At first, i was also a little disappointed they went after Yui, after giving Hinata so much attention and also sending him. (the whole thing about regret holding you back is very FFXish) But by the end of the episode, it kinda became obvious why. It would be hard for Otonashi and Kanade to continue on their own. And beside maybe Naoi, i don't see anyone else helping Otonashi in his quest. That brings me to my next point, with Naoi back to VP thinking Kanade is their enemy, what role will he play?

The whole ending with Yui and Hinata was quite beautiful, if a bit rushed. Again, i blame the idiot who made this a 13 ep series. The whole thing with Yui being overambitious, and hyper energetic because she was paralyzed in life actually make a lot of sense.

A little more on the nature of being sent. It feels more and more likely that the cast isn't fully aware of their own desires. For instance, i don't see them repeating the baseball game to send Hinata, but maybe he really just wanted to be relied on, something he failed his team but can help with Yuri's. Otonashi felt cheated with his death, but maybe he just wanted to help those others abandoned, like his sister or those bus passengers. OR as he states, he can't watch Yuri suffer fighting this endless battle, and Kanade, unable to move on for being a perfect student. Yui wanted marriage, but maybe she just wanted to be accepted, no matter who she was/ what she could do. This is all my own speculation but thats my guess.

A popular theory is that they are not dead, but instead all in some sort of coma or something. While its a plausible theory, its not really that innovative, or interesting. It seems like those type of twist people use for the sake of having a twist, like OMG they aren't dead at all! Also it wouldn't really change the course of the story very much. I would actually prefer them to play it straight and have them really dead, maybe it would catch more people off guard than the twist.

Another point i wanted to make was, with the exception of Otonashi, nobody died, or had a poor life due to acts of god. They were always human mistakes. For instance, robbers in Yuri's case, a car accident in Hinata's case (or the drugs that ruined his life, the car crash is confirmed in the light novel), or car crash for Yui. Only otonashi was hurt by god, aka the snow storm that ruined his train, or the illness that took his sister. I don't know if this is the directors way at saying god is fair and just, and it is human kind who is wrong or cause our own unhappiness... or the much likelier option i am reading way too much into this :D

angel beats - 9

2010-06-02T20:43:00.003-04:00

Summary:

We find out that after the battle with the Tenshis, the group finds her unconscious and brings her to the infirmary. The group wonders what type of person Kanade will be now, friendly or agressive.

While watching over her, Otonashi starts to remember more of his past. As it turns out he didn't die immediately in the crash. instead, the finds and helps all the survivors of the crash. However with all the exits blocked, they can only sit and wait to be rescued. Despite being injured himself, he tries to save everyone including a man who was badly injured. Looking at the food and water supply, they determine they cannot last long. One guy tries to steal the water, thinking its hopeless to wait and only for everyone to look out for themselves. The rest are after his blood after he spills a bottle of water. Otonashi calms everyone by saying that he will forgo his share for the split water. Otonashi's new friend helps by slitting his supply with him. after seven days Otonashi knows he cannot hold on, and asks for a pen. he signs an organ donation card, before dying. Everyone else follows. As luck would have it, right after he signs the card, rescue arrives.

Back at the infirmary, Kanade has woken up, defeating her other selves. She tells him she made it her job to help people feel at rest with their life, and move on. Realizing as bad as his life was, he was able to save a life by donating an organ, and inspired others to as well. However, he still hadn't disappeared, and realized more than anything he wanted to let Yuri stop fighting, along with the rest of the gang. He notes that if Kanade had been better at talking to people, maybe Yuri wouldn't have fought so hard.

He hatches a plan to make Kanade pretend she forgot all about being their friend, as if she never lost her position. The teachers find out about the cheating and reinstate her as president. He uses her as a distraction so he can go and find out about their lives, and let them move on.

Reaction:

Wow... i gotta say as sad as Yuri's life was, Otonashi might have been just as bad. Dying right before help arrived. Notice how, while everyone was weak, Otonashi and his friend look to be in the worst shape, probably from splitting the water. That means the guy who tried to steal it might have killed him. Its really gotta suck. On the other hand, we still don't know why Kanade hasn't moved on, but im guessing she will before the end of the series. I dont like the whole sneaking plan. I have a feeling it will be revealed and nobody will understand or forgive him, but we'll see.

Angel Beats - 8

2010-05-25T20:03:00.003-04:00

Summary:

We have verification that the other tenshi is not thinking like the original, who actively attacks the gang. >Kanade herself goes to stop the Tenshi clone, but is seriously hurt. The gang goes to the infirmary to look after Kanade. They wonder, why this one is so aggressive when the original was never agressive, expecially since it was no on their side. Naoi discusses that if Kanade created the clone with aggression in mind, like when fighting that fish, the Clone may have gotten stuck in that mindset. Yuri goes to do some research in Kanade's room while the rest try not to attract Tenshi's attention while not following the school lessons. Yuri manages to fix Kanade's programming so that the next time she uses harmonics, it will absorb the Tenshi clones. However Kanade is missing, and kidnapped. They find that she is in the old remains of Guild.

The quickly run into multiple angel clones and realized that the clones have access to all of Kanade's skills, including harmonics. The decide that the only way to stop them once and for all is to free the original Kanade. They start heading through, and one by one sacrifice themselves in a hilarious manner to let Otonashi reach Kanade. Eventually they do free Kanade, but one clone warns her that if she receives them all now, she will suffer the full force of all the negative feelings of the clones. the episode ends with her screaming as they all get reabsorbed.

Reaction:

Another cliffhanger ending, but it will likely be that Kanade ends up fine. I like this episode because it brought back the fun and light death we started to see in the beginning. After all the serious arcs, this was a nice break. It's also funny to see Naoi end up in a position of complete worship of Otonashi, to a ridiculous extent. Otonashi on the other hand now plays the role of moral guardian to Naoi. Besides this, not much else in terms of character development, or story development, but the setup for next week.

Fetish fuel comment: what is Tenshi made a clone while hot and bothered... hmmm :P

Angel Beats - 7

2010-05-18T18:26:00.002-04:00

Well my plans for anime north aren't looking too promising right now, but hopefully people will be able to make it. Onto the show!

Summary:

The gang is back to doing what they always were doing, nothing. However now they have added Naoi to their group. Yuri asks Naoi to use his hypnosis to help Otonashi recover his memories. We see Otonashi was a slacker who worked physical jobs to get by and buy his sister mangas. However we soon cut to christmas and see that she passes away, after he worked so hard to save up money for her. Feeling helpless, he decides he will be a doctor to save people and give himself a purpose in life. However even though he qualified for school, he dies when his train crashes.

Otonashi relents how he died after working so hard before he was able to accomplish anything. He decides to stay with the gang. They decide to go fishing for some food, deciding not to steal meal tickets. Otonashi grabs Kanade to join them, but the others aren't so accepting. They note how she used to be the president and is still their enemy. However having the current president with them weakens that argument. Yuri decides that she is no longer the problem and lets her come.

After we get some fishing foolishness, Kanade manages to get a huge fish. In order to save the gang, Kanade uses her harmonics skill to double herself and kills it. They decide to serve it as a giant soup to the other students, because they cannot finish it themselves, and cannot preserve it. They note they no longer antagonize anyone, but still refuse to move on. Yuri retuns hurt and says Tenshi was the one who did it, even though Kanade was with them the whole time. We then see a second Tenshi standing above on a lamp post.

Reaction:

Lame.... Naoi got off really easy. I could go on a whole rant, but i'll leave it at that. Otonashis back story was interesting. His life was sad, that's for sure, but not on the level of Yuri or even Iwasawa. Yuri is obviously the most accepting of Kanade, but why they would suddenly accept Naoi makes absolutely no sense. It will be interesting if she forgives Kanade, or goes back to fighting her. I also wouldn't put past the idea that she leaves willingly feeling shes more danger than good to her new friends.

Its pretty obvious that the double is a mistake by the harmonics skill. i highly doubt that Kanade did it on purpose. We'll have to see how the rest react, being not to receptive to Kanade already.

Angel Beats - 6

2010-05-11T16:56:00.005-04:00

Sigh. Stupid power of friendship.

Summary:

We start with the gang trying to deal with the new president. Because he uses the student body, they are hesitant to use their full force. Eventually one day Otonashi is trying to apologize to Kanade (Tenshi) by buying her Mapo Tofu. However the new president says that it is against rules to eat outside of lunch and throws them in detention, which is more of a prison. While in detention, Yuri calls Otonashi and says that the new president is not as he seems. He is actually beating up innocent students to avoid passing on, and they have started a fight. However because he is using regular students as shields, they are quickly losing. She asks him to find Kanade to help them. After some trial and error, Kanade does manage to break them out, however the fight is over and Yuri's gang is in ruin. The president gloats that he is the god of this world. The new president is revealed to be using hypnosis to not only use the student body, but so that he can forcefully make Yuri happy and pass on. We get some bullshit story about how he had to live as his brother and never having a real life, but i don't buy it. We end with Otonashi saying his life is real, and stopping Naoi in his tracks.

Reaction:

If it seems like my recap today is short, that's because it is. I didn't like the episode and wanted to get through it as quick as i could. To be honest, very disappointed. Here we have total bastard and a set-up to be the final enemy of the gang, and he is introduced mid way through the series and is finished in one episode. In my opinion, what really gets me is how freaking easy he gets off with being the sickest most twisted individual yet, while Angel is seen as an enemy just for trying to get some small resemblance of order. While yes we didn't see him pas on, i'm willing to bet he isn't much of a problem anymore. Some important points to notice are, once again, the incompetence of the teachers. If this school is set up by god, he must be a moron for letting it get so out of hand when he has a clear goal for them. Another point is Yuri's refusal to get innocents involved, even at the cost of their own existence. She is also pretty quick to accept Kanade's help. This shows that there is nothing personal between them. Kanade also showed some growth. Eating outside of lunch and helping Otonashi shows shes no longer bounded by the rules of the school, not to mention taking out Naoi's brainwashed army. She's also has the saddest afterlife. My guess is her unfinished business is never having friends. Given all her friends disappear after she meets them means she will never move on. The problem is now, where does the story go. Either they fight a greater bastard, which would make me rage so hard I'd punch a hole through my monitor, or they fight their own demons, which would be the likely step.

angel beats - 5

2010-05-05T19:49:00.003-04:00

Just when i think i have this show figured out, it always amazes me.

Summary:

We start with another plan of Yuri's to fight against Tenshi. Knowing Tenshi wants to make them get good grades which could make them disappear, Yuri plans on making Tenshi fail. This will serve two purposes. This first is if Tenshi is a emissary of god, their plain will fail as god will not let them rattle his messenger so easily. If not, this will break her spirit and give them a definite edge over her. I'm not going to go through the details, but they do eventually manage to make her fail all of her courses. Tenshi is removed from her post as student president and a new boy named Naoi is appointed student president.They decide to commit another concert and steal more meal tickets, like they did in the first episode. During the raid, they notice Tenshi approching, but Otonashi and Yuri noticed something weird about her. She ends up ignoring the entire event and simply buys spicy tofu from a vending machine, who's ticket ends up getting lifted. Knowing nobody ever buys the spicy tofu, when Otonashi gets it they know its her. Otonashi starts to feel sorry for Tenshi. Seeing how human tenshi seemed after the loss, they wonder if they did the right thing. Soon after the new school president takes action, declaring to put a stop to Yuri and her gang.

Reaction:

This really opens up a lot of info about their personalities. First, and most importantly, we see more of tenshi. She's seems almost gentle. Even though she must recognize Otonashi, she doesn't act against him and even helps him. Same goes for her and Yuri. She also did really seem human. Reacting to a loss in a very emotional manner.

The second is Yuri. While i still can't seem to blame her given what shes been through, its harder and harder to say shes doing the right thing. While she, and maybe a few others like Iwasawa, had a legitimate reason for fighting, she seems to use fear to control most of them. Besides that is the relentless harassment of Tenshi, who is nothing more than a potential emissary of god. Seems like an awful long time to just start figuring out what Tenshi is.

The third is the new kid, Naoi and the rest of the school. The teachers seem almost inept, at their job. The stupid distractions, the whole fighting thing, even the fact that Tenshi would never ever fail every one of her test which is obviously out of character, they seem almost robot like. following the standards while the school around the crumbles in gunfire. The next point is Naoi. Obviously he has no intentions with playing the cat and mouse game Tenshi and Yuri have been for so long. This sets him up to be a much more real enemy than Tenshi ever was. However this could set up Tenshi to eventually be an ally. Also if Tenshi is human, but developed all this herself, we could have DBZ like running around with super powers. I don't think it'll happen, but its a definite possibility.

The last point is the true nature of the school. I'm starting to lean towards the "its a place to finish your unfinished business" idea over "its a place to accept death". This mostly lies with Tenshi. I don't see her having much denial of death, but it would be very in character to refuse to move on from a loss. Still pissed they killed one of the best character so early. Yui is a poor replacement. The Lyle to Iwasawa's Neil.Especially since they wont be going through everyone's death. Even if they did they would need to squeeze multiple into one ep. And even if they did that, Iwasawa shouldn't have gone first, or so early.

Angel Beats - 04

2010-04-25T00:32:00.012-04:00

Key, king of Trolls.

Summary:

We have Yuri's gang planning on entering the baseball tournament about to start to mess with Angel's plans for an organized tourney. Meanwhile they are also looking for replacement for Iwasawa for the band. Yui comes in to audition, but she isn't received very well. They decide to let the band have the final say.

What every fan wanted to do to key for killing off Iwasawa

Meanwhile Hinata and Otonashi try to pull together a team. Everyone else who seems to be good is already taken. They are left with a rag-tag team of Hinata, Otonashi, Yui(trying to prove herself), Shiina (trying to redeem for failing to reach Guild), Noda (still trying to pick a fight with Otonashi), and three random girls from the school (following Yui). They manage to do quite well despite they lack of outfield with the three girls. However Tenshi comes to put an end to it, and start eliminating all the teams one by one. The last match is Tenshi's vs Hinata's. Yuri, watching all the action from a distance, is quite happy at the chance to finally beat Tenshi fairly and ruffle her feathers, so to speak. Tenshi's team of baseball regulars prove to be much more than the other teams and Hinata finds them falling quick.

I gotta admit, as annoying as she is i like her outfit

Otonashi is able to recruit Matsushita to their outfield with a meal ticket and they begin to do much better. In the last inning Hinata is a bit stunned, and we find it has to do with what happened in his life. Hinata was on the baseball team with similar situation in a game. Bottom of 9(or is it 7 here?) and runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out and up by 1. The opponents hit a pop fly up to second base. However either due to heat or exhaustion Hinata blanks and can't remember the end of that game. Judging by how the team reacted he missed the play. Someone else offered him steroids, telling him it would improve his play.

Probably the only female i care about anymore

Back in our game, Otonashi asks if he would disappear if he wins this game. He answers no, but his voice has a stammer. The pitch is thrown and it really is a pop fly. Hinata goes up to catch it, and for a minute it seems like it would be all over.........

Yuri looking rather evil

Until Yui rushes in and hit him, making them loose the game.

God damn you key! You save him but not Iwasawa!!!

Review:

So it seems Hinata is staying around for a bit. Thats good at least, BUT WHY DID THEY KILL OFF IWASAWA THEN! Ah but at last this is Key, and they are just trolling us all. Somewhere in a board room a writer laughs every time someone gets pissed at them. Instead of the cool and beautiful Iwasawa, we get the pink fluff ball Yui. I don't really have anything against Yui, even if she is a bit annoying at points, but why did she have to replace iwasawa. Even with only 12 eps Key is willing to keep some chars around. It does seem weird for Yuri to be taking disappearing so lightly, right after Iwasawa disappears.

I'm also very unimpressed with Hinata's backstory. I was sure he died of heat stroke or something missing his game. instead it seems likely he died of a drug overdose. I kinda feel hard to sympathize with him unlike Yuri and Iwasawa's characters, so it isn't sure thats how he died. Now.... if you'll excuse me i got to go listen to some Angel Beats soundtrack songs with Iwasawa... :'(

Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn 1

2010-04-18T15:52:00.003-04:00

Okay....so I finally got around to this I guess. I mean, I haven't actually had time to watch all the episodes with Full Metal Borhterhood and work, but I can at least get the thing for #1 out. However I must inform you all that my computer is blacking Myspace player so I can't actually re-watch the first episode to get it out. Don't you guys worry however! I will be comming back to edit this post shortly to get the first ep up.

Also on a side note. This friday I leave for the carribean, so I won't be posting anything until after I return. Cheers!

Angel Beats - 03

2010-04-18T10:39:00.008-04:00

Summary:

We start with Iwasawa showing off a new song she wrote to Yuri. Being a ballad, Yuri is worried that it is too soft and slow to work as a distraction. Yuri then goes on to explain their next mission, which is to break into Tenshi's base. they have enlisted a new member, who i will call four-eyes for now because i can't remember his name and can't seem to find it. We then get introduced to a new character Yui who is a big fan of GirlDeMo.

Beaten by PI... every nerds dream

We also get a look into the past of Iwasawa while she was alive. Her parents were always fighting and the stress of that really took a toll on her. She eventually found music and realized she could escape her troubles by drowning it out with songs. She finds a old guitar and starts to learn how to play. Even though she had good grades and could get into good schools, she rejected them because she wanted to continue with music for her life and she didn't want to rely on her parents for financial support any longer.

he could be arrested for rape for this scene lol

One day while at a part time job she begins to feel light headed and faints. Turns out during one of her parents fights she got hit on the head in the process and dies. She, like Yuri, doesn't care about reincarnation, but doesn't want to accept her life. She leaves Otonashi her bottle she was drinking from and prepares for the concert.

man, i'm really liking her character, i can't wait to see more.

The day comes and the gang prepares to break into Tenshi's place, which is just an ordinary dorm room. they decide to try to hack her computer to see if they can get any more information. Otonashi however feels they shouldn't be doing it. Yuri discovers all of Tenshi's skills, and realizes that they don't have much time left. The skills they discover are being developed by Tenshi herself, not given by god. This confuses Yuri, as to why god wouldn't give Tenshi more support.

Kage bunshin?

The band is having trouble getting the attention of the student body, but does attract the attention of the teachers. They decide that they have been too lenient with the band and tries to shut them down for good. In a desperate effort to buy more time, Iwasawa picks up a guitar that looks like the one she found while she was alive. She plays the Ballad that was rejected by Yuri and realizes that she is truely happy playing music. With that, she disappears.

DAMN!!!! YOU!!!! KEYS!!!!!!!!

Review:
my first though after this episode: "GOD DAMMIT KEY WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME". This episode really reinforces by view that this should be a 26 or so episode series. In the span of one episode, we get all of Iwasawa's back story, a potential love interest (The water bottle and the indirect kiss potential was intentional) , and death. I was just starting to like the character and Key has to go and kill her. But given the amount of characters there are, i wouldn't be surprised to see one character go per episode. Also given that Iwasawa disappears after realizing what makes her happy, i strongly believe in my original theory that they are all in a middle ground, and can only move on to heaven by accepting their death. However given how tragic Iwasawa's back story was as well makes me think what kind of message they are going for. Your life is going to be crap, and then only by accepting that your life was crap and is unfair can you move on? Man, if there is a god in that world he is a real jerkass. The other interesting point is Tenshi's skills. They are developed, rather than given. This might mean shes an ordinary human as well, all be it more in charge because of her role as student president, but still human.

I do have to make an amendment to my previous statement. IT seems everyone has their memories, making Otonashi the odd one. I still wouldn't put my suicide theory about Yuri away just yet.

Either way, i really am enjoying this series and hope it will turn out alright, but still hate the fact it is only 13 episodes

HeroMan 1&2

2010-04-17T20:44:00.003-04:00

So, i finally got around to heroman 1 and 2. I don't know how strictly i'll stick to blogging this but i will stick to Angel beats, expect that tomorrow or day after. Sorry there wont be pictures up for this week's review. Too tired and too much work going on.

Story:

So we start off with a rather timid character named Joey. He works part time to support himself and his aging grandmother. His love interest, Lina, is definitely part of the "other crowd". She is rich and pretty and popular and her brother, Will, is a jock. Despite this difference in class, and Joey's overall timid nature which doesn't allow him to show his feelings (which he may or may not have for her) she is still attracted to him. Her brother and father on the other hand strictly disapprove of Joey. We are also introduced to two other minor characters, the eccentric scientist Professor Denton, and Joey's best friend, Psy. One day one of Will's friends is showing off his new toy, a small robot. It soon however gets destroyed by a passing car. Joey noticing it, and realizing he can never afford one himself, decides to take it and fix it up. When he's done, he leaves for his job. Later a weather report shows a storm coming in and he goes home to get his new toy, which he calls heroman, away from the window. When he gets home, it gets struk by lightning and comes to life. meanwhile, Lina and her father are caught in a car accident which Heroman rescues them from.

The next episode revolves around Joey trying to decide what to do now, when news of aliens coming to earth reaches them. To make a long story short, Heroman beats them easily and Lina now knows the identity of Heroman.

Review:

The story starts out interestingly enough, but the suspension of disbelief is pretty thick. All in all i'll keep watching for a few more episodes, if nothing more then the fact that Stan Lee had a part in making this, and even cameos believe it or not. However the story and writing really need to kick it up a notch.

Angel beats ep 02 - OMG am i actually blogging on time?

2010-04-12T15:49:00.011-04:00

Yes, yes i am. I am a little late, but still within reason. I will get around to heroman i promise, but exam time does take priority.

Onto the review!

Episode 2 was quite interesting. We start off with a scouting report that the gang is starting to run low on guns an ammunition. Yuri decides to head down to guild, their weapons factory deep underground to prevent angel from seeing. On their way they notice that the traps haven't been deactivated. This means that angel has found Guild and is on the move. Heading through eventually every member of the gang falls to traps except Yuri and Otonashi.

Classic death traps

Its here we learned what happened to Yuri. It seems she, for some reason, still retains her memories of her past life. She was the oldest of four siblings. One day they got robbed and the robbers demanded she bring back something valuable every 10 minutes or one of her siblings died. She wasn't able to make it and they all died. It's because of this, no matter what punishment awaits her she wants to fight god. She can't accept what has happened to her family.

This guy gets my props, out of all of them

They eventually do reach Guild, but so does angel. They decide to destroy Guild and remake it in one of their old factories. Otonashi realizes how strong Yuri really is.

They might as well have kissed

Seeing as how little the first episode explained, there were many interesting theories that have floated around about the true nature of their world. The two most interesting ones were either a virtual world, like a giant RPG. This would explain the lax on death as well as the RPG guild mentality and naming "NPC". After this episode, it doesn't seem very likely that's the case. The next interesting guess is the idea this world is purgatory. Instead of being reincarnated based on what your past life, they are all working towards redemption towards some better future. This would fit quite well, except with what we seen i don't think Yuri would have been subject to purgatory after what she's been through. My personal guess is that this is a purgatory where people move on after they have accepted their death.Perhaps Yuri is stuck because she won't forgive god, and ultimately will end the series with some form of acceptance of god.

This reminds me of the underground thing from the FMA movie

Quite a lot was explained in this episode, including why Yuri fights so hard and where they get their weapons. On the relationship side we got a few funny touchy moments, but there is no doubt they are setting up Yuri to end up with Otonashi. I am actually liking Yuri and her wild antics. Even if death is cheap in this world, she seems to genuinely care for her people and feels remorseful for being a poor leader. I do have to admit half way through i expected it to be a twist where the guild guys were purposely trying to kill them or something. The anime got more serious this episode, so i am looking forward to a bit of a lighter episode next. Oh, and a quick secondary theory. Yuri seemed really quick to dismiss suicide, and seeing as how she's the only one who has memories, i won't be surprised if it turned out she did kill herself.

More high quality fight scenes

This is just plain cute

K-on S2 - Ep 1

2010-04-07T23:01:00.003-04:00

This is going to be a quick summary. No long detailed post.

For a different change of pace i'm going to talk about the music first, then move over the story.

First thing first, the most important thing about K-on is definitely the music. The OP is definitely weaker than it was first season. Cagayake! Girls was a fun, up-beat catchy tune. Go! Go! Maniac on the other hand, is just what you would think. Its sounds disjointed and crazy. There's taking inspiration from Lucky Star, and then there is totally ripping it off, and it doesn't work. The ending song, Listen!! actually isn't bad. TBH though, and this is solely based on tune, not lyrics, sounds more accustomed to a action anime then the slow paced Slice-of-Life. Its still not bad, and whenever Yōko Hikasa is a good thing. Still i can't help but be nostalgic for Don't say lazy.

Now for the plot. There really is nothing to say. Girls try to find more members in order to leave the club to Azusa with a club for next year as the rest of the gang enter their final year. It just feels like everything has been done before in the first season. I know your trying to get people caught up with the show for those who haven't seen the first season, but still to copy the exact same plot as 2 or 3 of the eps in the first season is a little much. Luckly it looks like the next ep will be back on track with the manga.

I'll probably be continuing to put up small post for K-on, but the main focus post-wise will be Angel beats and Hero man which i hope to get around to soon!

Angel Beats! ep - 01 (and some other stuff)

2010-04-05T12:20:00.011-04:00

Well first of the new year from me. Pretty late huh?

Seeing as how Omni is now retired, i feel like i'll be making more of my own opinions on what to watch season by season. Will i pick winners? Omni had a great blog not only on anime opinion but also anime news, and while i'm sad to see it go, i'm sure its for the best.
One show has caught my eye and i definitely will follow, weather i blog or not is another story :P

Our latest KEY works, The much anticipated Angel Beats.

I'll try to keep this simple. The story is about a boy named Otanashi who wakes up with amnesia next to a girl with a sniper rifle. This is going to be a good show :P.

girls and sniper rifles? Damn key, you know my weakpoints!

Anyways we find that they are all dead and the girl is part of a resistance force against the will of god and behaving as a "model" student of the school lead by the feisty Yuripee. The school is controled by the "tenshi" who is in charge of keeping order and peace.

clean up, isle 3

The story certainly has its interesting parts. Its a very new concept and its nice to see Key break away from the typical romance/comedy/drama they usually do. This is definitely a much more action packed show. The animation was pretty solid overall, but nothing spectacular.

This is how you facepalm

About the plot itself, Its a very interesting concept. We've seen many "people fight against god" before, but never with dead ghost in a school. Its also interesting to see that Tenshi only acts when they are committing some violation of the rules. Once they stop, she stops chasing. The relation to an RPG game Yuri makes actually makes a lot of sense if you look at it that way. There reasons for fighting however seem kinda weak. To fight god just so you don't pass on seems like a concept that will be broken quickly, especially because Otanashi doesn't seem to fully buy it yet. Yuri certainly gives off Haruhi vibes, and anyone who knows me knows i hate Haruhi, but she doesn't seem to be mistreating anyone or an overall bitch like Haruhi was so i think i'll accept this character. The two characters im interested in are Tenshi and Shiina. Tenshi and the backstory seems to be a very interesting plot and Shiina, well i just wanna see her throw more knives. It's only 13 eps, but i can almost guarantee if the ratings for this show keep up with it's hype, it will get a second season.

A concert Scene in the first ep? pandering to the haruhi/k-on crowd huh?

Overall a very good watch.

Damn i'm a sucker for katars. So fluid and cool

Well Hello Thar...

2010-01-25T20:32:00.002-05:00

Well this is an update from me, the goreous and lovely Riven.....I really feel like a bum. So It seems that I haven't been here in a long while, due to university and a bunch of other things so anime watching had been put on hold. Now that I can kinda watch again I picked up KHR and if I don't become a lazy lazy bum again I guess I can start working on that. Otherwise I'll just put my two cents in and be done with it......or not. I don't even know anymore.

Next Topic of Business:

ANIME NORTH! Of course I'm going to be there. It was a scare with me going on a whole Carribean Cruise in may and all, but we found out that we will back before North so I will see you SeedFreedom, and who ever actually reads this blog, which I highly doubt anyone really does, there!

2009 Year in Review

2009-12-31T16:16:00.015-05:00

Its that time of year again, the best of the anime world for 2009.

I'm also finding it difficult to pick series when some span multiple years, and i don't like giving awards multiple times. If i continue this next year, expect the vetting process to change a bit.

For those of you who want to compare, here are my awards for 2008.

As a side note, Random Curiosity's Divine and Omni have released their 2009 awards. Looking at their list, i think I'm adding Bakemonogatari to my watch list.

Best Comedy: Seitokai no Ichizon
HM(Honorable Mentions): Toradora, Hayate no Gotoku!!

Here is the definition of pure comedy. The story of a boy who outright announces his goal is to turn his high school student council into his harem is the stuff of legend. However, this often gets criticized for being low-brow, no substance, with bad animation, and only doing shout-outs unrelated to the plot. However hiding beneath the surface are some well developed characters with some deep issues and even a nice plot that slowly starts to form. The comedy hooked me in immediately so luckily i stuck by to see it pass from the parody phase into the story phase. And while yes, the animation quality may slip from time to time, it certainly makes up for it in laughs.

So where did Hayate (which i praise at every turn) and Toradora fall short? well for one Hayate certainly set itself up more this season into the romance more than the comedy. That's no to say it wasn't there, it just wasn't quite tops.

Best Romance: Clannad After Story
HM: Toradora

Clannad came a bit short last year, but takes the cake this year. Great, touching story about love, life, family, and faith. For those of you who didn't watch Clannad, this series picks up where the first season left off. Tomoya and Nagisa are now dating and begin there next step in life after high school. When their friends around town turn to them for help, Tomoya learns a much deeper legend linked to the town and wishes. However tragedy strikes when Nagisa's illness returns. I'm not going to go too much more into this because it is such a great story, but check it out if you haven't. You really feel for what some of the characters go through. And even if you disagree with some of their choices, you get to see that none of these are easy choices at all, and you can understand why them choose to make them.

So what about my honorable mention Toradora? Well, personally i felt the story kinda collapses near the end. But even so Clannad is just a wonderfully crafted work of literary art even if the ending was better, it probably would have still lost.

Best Action: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
HM: Gundam 00

Fullmetal alchemist, or FMA, gets its remake in the form of Fullmetal alchemist Brotherhood. The story is about two brothers, Ed and Al Elric, who try to use forbidden human transmutation to revive their mother. Their mistake cost them Al's body and Ed's arm and leg. Brotherhood is the remake which follows the manga plotline to a tee. It seems the original manga artist didn't give the makers of the first anime permission to follow the manga plot so that it could have a conclusion, and the manga could continue. However the general public wanted to see an anime that was more faithful to the original story, hence Brotherhood. The characters are nicely set up and the plot is nice.

So why does gundam fall short? Well for one it had a weak ending in my opinion. The second is that gundam 00 already won this award in 2008. I feel it belonged in that year more than this one, and brotherhood defiantly grabs the opportunity.

Most WTF: 11 eyes
HM:

I feel this award is almost moot, because unlike previous years there really isn't much of a WTF anime this year. 11 eyes tries to emulate that feel, but its nothing special.

Best Mecha: Gundam 00
HM:

For the second year in a row gundam 00 will take the prize for top mecha anime. However to be fair it went quite unopposed.

Best Soundtrack: K-ON
HM: FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood

If you read any of the K-ON episode summarys i posted, you know i loved their songs. "Don't say lazy" has become one of my favorite japanese songs. While its true the anime only gave us one OP, one ED and two insert songs, they were all fantastic and enjoyable. I still look foreword to more work from newcomer Yoko Hikasa "Mio". Her singing voice is just fantastic and her acting voice brings a distinct character that i feel would be hard to be replicated by another VA. I also got a chance to listen to some of their B stuff that didn't make the show. While not as good as what they kept, the other songs were also enjoyable.

Fullmetal alchemist did product some nice OP and EDs, but overall K-ON was the hands down best.

Best Fanservice: Kampfer
HM: Asu no Youichi, Princess Lover

Year 2009 was a light year in general, so my list of fanservice anime is very small this year. Between the three, Kampfer seemed to show the most promise of a story line. have an all female cast with the only guy turning into a girl the other all want doesn't hurt. It throws in action and comedy into the mix and the first few episodes were quite enjoyable. i do admit i didn't get to finish any of these series, but of the three Kampfer seemed the best.

Asu no Youichi plays the chivalrous pervert role nicely, but the girls didn't seem interesting and the plot was dull. Princess lover seemed unrealistic and more interested in increasing boob size than plot or character development. To its credit it had some funny skits and jokes, but so did Kampfer.

Best Visual: Clannad After Story.
HM:

Clannad wins again. The sequel continues to impress with its beautiful scenes, wonder character with big round eyes and the Imaginary World is as detailed as it has been from the first episode. Really no contest here at all. While most of the anime this year had nice visual, none quite stood out like Clannad.

Best Male: Tomoya Okazaki
HM: Ed Elric

Tomoya from Clannad takes the prize for best male this year. Instead of which character showed the most super powered colorful beam spam/super power, Tomoya shows us he's truly human, with vices, faults, and guilts. He doesn't always do the right thing, but he always seems to do what he thinks is best. He's a broken man and it shows. This makes him much more real and easier to imagine happening to one of us. It's hard to love him at first, but it becomes really hard to hate him by mid season. His change truly is a story about redemption, and finding whats important in life.

Edward in the new FMA shows us courage, and hope. The type of character we all root for, but in the end its the same old shonen, running around with super powers.

Best Female: Mio (AKA Moe Moe Kuyn) from K-ON
HM: Hinagiku (HNG), Misaka (To Aru no Kagaku no Railgun)

Mio from K-ON is winner of the best female this year. She's smart, cute, easily scared, and willing to put up with Ritsu and i just love her. But i think what really sold me on her character is the VA. Its a bit deeper than most anime girls, but still sweet. Its a hard voice to use properly, but as it shows when placed in the right character, and properly used it can be a weapon of mass Moe. Her singing voice is absolutely fantastic and i really hope to see her in the future. The second season got a green light so its nice to know she, and the rest of the k-on cast should be on my list next year as well.

Hinagiku doesn't win this solely because she won last year. If anything Hina got more and more adorable and lovable, but Mio is right behind her and with a newbie VA slightly edges her out. Misaka also puts in a strong showing, if only she showed her dere-dere side more. Makes me feel guilty for not watching Index.

Best Villian: Father (Fullmetal Alchemist)
HM:Kiyama, Harumi (to aru Kagaku no Railgun)

Father was missing from the first season of FMA, and now that i have seen what hes all about, he is sorely missed. Father is the leader and creator of the Homunculus, who themselves are said to be neigh invincible. Therefore it is no surprise he is quite the tough customer himself. But given he has the ability to stop alchemy, basically the only real weapon they have (guns are useless in this world), and is even more invincible than the Homunculus, he certainly sets up for a great baddie. He gives off the sense that he is toying with our protagonist, and seems to be able to back that up. The only homunculus they did manage to kill was revived in seconds. Basically a reverse superman. We'll just have to wait and see if he has his own kryptonite.

Kiyama is also a great baddie, with a generally good heart, but also some impressive powers. She seems much more stoppable than Father though so the prize is his.

Worse Character: Ryuuji (Toradora)
HM: Everyone from Gundam 00 i didn't like last year

Before people get uppity at me, remember my definition of "worst character" is one who is either terribly annoying and poorly written. Well Ryuuji may not have been truly annoying, he was, in my opinion, terribly written. The guy started out pretty normal, even until the end of the series he was alright. What doesn't make sense to me is his 180 backflip he does in the second last episode. In the span of half an episode hes mad at his mom for running his life, and abandons Minori for Taiga. While yes he showed bits and pieces of being interested in her, Ami was pretty correct in saying he treated her more like a daughter than a crush. Not to mention he was still in full force chasing Minori just half an episode before! With Taiga we saw a full out partial confession in the second episode, a full out dropping of Kitamura, and then, and only then, interest in Ryuuji. A transition. Is that so hard?

BEST ANIME OF 2008: Clannad After Story

Really, is this a surprise? Clannad was a perfect mix of story, visuals, emotion, excitement, and even some life lessons thrown in. If there is a small blemish on the otherwise perfect series is that the soundtrack is a bit weak. Neither the OP or ED really captured me. I would have also liked to see more Tomoyo this season, but that's personal preference. Overall no doubt the best series of 2009. a great ending and follow up to a great start. I'm sure all those dissatisfied by the ending of Clannad with enjoy After Story. Speaking of the ending, I'm not going to spoil it, but i know some people are very disappointed in the ending. All i will say is, that the ending is written like that for a reason. It sums up the series and all the hints alluded to from the beginning of the first season are used to set up this ending, and i truly loved it. My advice, watch it if you haven't, and watch it again if you have.

2009 year in review comming soon!!!!

2009-12-31T11:41:00.003-05:00

Sorry, been really swamped so this will be a bit late. I'll write it after my new years party.

Also look foreword to the 2010 winter preview list!

(as a side note, i have recently found xxxHolic and Witch Hunter Robin. I'm hoping to finish xxxHolic so i can move onto tsubasa, and finish Chobits. I likely wont continue with WHR due to time constraints)

Fall 2009 Inital Review

2009-10-25T10:27:00.003-04:00

Well university seems to be draining all my time so it is unlikely i will fully blog anything for a while. Meanwhile the first couple of episodes of the new season are out so i thought i'd post my initial opinions.

Shows this season: 11eyes, Kampfer, Seiken no Blacksmith, Seitokai no Ichizon, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

11 Eyes:
Eps watched: 2

Well, this one looks promising. A rather fantasy-like anime, but based off a H-game. first thing i noticed is how similar the feel of this is to Night Wizard, and unfortunately it feels like it suffers the same problems. Being a one cour show doesn't really give it much time to flesh out the plot with seven baddies expected. Speaking of the seven baddies, the are apparently named after the latin form of the seven deadly sins. Now where have i heard that before... However the art and the plot do sound interesting, it just doesn't yet feel like it will live up to its potential

Kampfer:
Eps watched: 1

Heres a generic harem girls fighting for a unknown prize in a vauge tornament. Only changes? the main "girl" is actually a guy transformed into a girl and their gardians are stuffed animals with their guts hanging out. The first episode really didn't wow me, but its reviews are too horrible. This is likely to be my guilty pleasure of the season, lots of fanservice, little substance. However this also means its pretty low on my watch list.

Seiken no Blacksmith:
Eps watched: 3

The story is about a hapless young newbie female knight trying to protect the city. she runs into a blacksmith with great fighting abilities and the ability to forge Katanas mid-battle. She is also tasked to protect a legendary deamon sword in the form of a girl. Sounds interesting, nice voice cast, and good production. Only downside is again the 1 cour is going to be very limiting. The bood armor doesn't bother me as much as other people, so this is kinda love it or hate it anime. I do have to say i am VERY annoyed by the way overuse of Katanas are better, just because i have a personal liking to broadswords, but its nice to see that a rapier will be used more later on.

Seitokai no Ichizon:
Eps watched: 3

A fluffly high school comedy. This will be my replacement for Hayate this season. Tons of comedy and loaded with gags and anime references. However the story does seem to start getting deeper into episode three. Its really hard to write about this because the gags make the show, so watch a ep or two for yourself and see if you like it.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun:
Eps watched: 4

This one was a bit of a risk for me. I jumped into railgun without watching index. I was pleasently surprised at how i was able to pick it up so fast. This is a much lighter and hourmous expansion on the original show so those looking for serious action and drama might be disapointed. One of my favorites this season for sure.

Hayate no Gotoku!! Season 2 Overall Review

2009-09-23T23:20:00.007-04:00

Well well another season of Hayate has finished and it did not disappoint. First of all, it is important to point out that this second season was created by a new Sstudio, so a whole new set of priorities took place. As well this was simulcasted by Crunchyroll with a one week delay for free members. But enough background, lets get down to the review

Only picture that can represent this season

Start of Season:

For the start of the season, we went all the way back to only a month after Hayate was hired my Nagi. We move through the festival arc where Hayate actually gets fired by Klaus and has to prove himself through a series of challenges to return to work. Right off the bat something is evident, this is a whole new Hayate and a whole new studio. They second season goes all the way back to where the first season deviated from the manga and even went so far as to basically call the last half of the first season non-existent. We're in for a real ride if the story turns out to be as good as everyone brags it was.

Series Plotline:

The story definitely didn't disappoint. First point, loads and loads of Hina. We have Hina helping Ayumu gain the strength to ask out Hayate on Valentines day, slowly shift to her birthday, and then to her admitting she loves him as well. I can see why so many Hina fans were so anxious for her birthday arc (which was replaced by a rather poor substitute in hindsight, but loved when it aired). Hina really shines and is even more moe in this season then i ever dreamed. If you've read any of my other episode posts or my post on Animesuki, you know she's one of my favorite characters ever. But the fans i really feel for is Ayumu. She turned out to be a rather lovable cute character and it was really nice to see her not be shafted. Some of the newer, minor characters didn't impress me much (Samson the ghost, that nun girl) but very entertaining nonetheless.
One thing i do have to mention is how far this deviated from the first season. The first season was loaded with gags and jokes and pop culture otaku references which made it great. A lot of that was missing from the season. Did it make it worse? no, but i think the first season works really well to set up character and build the fanbase for a slower, more written season season. Seeing as how the two cons i went to this summer featured zero HnG cosplays, i'd say it needs all the fans it can get. However i really like the season as a chance to develop all the characters, except Nagi. She still somehow seems to get on my nerves.

Ending:

The ending was very strong and very well done. We wrap things up with Sakuya's birthday party, in where sakuya starts to warm up to, and dare i say, like Hayate. New competition? Most likely not, but still fun. More importantly we wrap with Hina and Ayumu on the Farris Wheel where Hina admits she betrayed their friendship by falling in love with Hayate after promising to support her, to a very calm and accepting Ayumu. A big point where we see a lot of emotions come out. The problem? It wasn't over! With one episode left were they going to ruin all the hard built mood? Well yes and no. It was kind of a cheesy way to do a last episode by squeezing in all the character to have their last lines, but it worked. It was funny and entertaining. And it was a pretty over the top episode similar to what we would expect from the first season. However, i gotta agree with a certain nostalgia critic when i say these studios should stop ending seasons on cliff hangers to try and force another season. But with its popularity (apparently) and so much good manga story left untold, i think it will get it.

Art/Songs/Extra:

For the art, it goes into... well its a hard to describe style. More kid-ish, rougher around the edges type animation. Frankly i prefer the first season animation style, but with a staff dedicated to being true to the manga, it is very similar to the art style of the manga.

For songs, the frist ending was obviously my favorite (cough HINA cough). Was giving Hina her own ED overkill? Yes and no. While it does seem to state a personal favorite among the producers, and is also partially fanservice, I can accept it when you look at the fact a clearly secondary character beats out both protagonist to be constatly the most popular character in the show. I also like Hina a lot as i have mentioned above. I cant say i liked the first opening, but the second opening was just... bad, just bad. the second ending i have to admit personal bias due to not liking Nagi, but the song itself wasn't horrible

OVERALL:

So how did this season do? Very good. A little lighter on the laughs, but much heavier on the plot and characters. 9/10 from me.

Full Metal Alchemist - 10

2009-09-13T21:55:00.004-04:00

Yes, i haven't posted since ep 4 and yes i am unbelievably behind, but i still wanted to put down my thoughts on this ep, because it is so important.

Summary (Quick):

We start with Ed still recovering from his wounds in the hospital, but he is just about ready to leave. He discusses the findings on the philosopher stone with Armstrong and Hughes. The fuhrer walks in and discovers what Ed has been up to. He tells them to stop and forbid them from speaking about it. Ed and Al decide to head out to see their old teacher again to refocus themselves. Winry convinces them to take her to a mecca of sorts for automail mechanics. Meanwhile Hughes continues to look for more information in the library, but is ambushed by Lust. He manages to escape, but injured. Outside he is again ambushed by Envy, using his wife's appearance to stop him. After the funeral, Mustang looks for clues as to who did it. Through careful hints, Armstrong tells him someone high up is trying to stop them from researching the philosopher stone.

Reaction:

I know most of my post on the second season is just comparing it to the original, so i'll try to tune it down this time and actually talk about the episode. But i gotta get out how i hate they made CSI Mustang go around looking for clues after Hughes death. They should have just had it end when hes crying at the grave and save the detective work for the next episode. Im also overall dissapointed that they set up his death so early in this series. 10 eps is not enough time for us to really get attached to him. Although the actual funeral scene was done just as well as before. I have to say its interesting that the Fuhrer is trying to stop Ed and Al. Also knowing who he is, its interesting that he got teary at Hughes funeral. Besides the acutal death, there were quite a few funny moments, which seems to happen a lot this season. im gonna have to get used to expecting death after a funny episode.

The new OP and ED for Hayate arrived... and boy do they suck

2009-08-06T21:26:00.008-04:00

Still stuck on ep 15, but i jumped ahead to check out the new OP and ED. I am not a fan of either. (Edit: Sorry for the incredibly small video size. Uploading it again will take forever)

First off lets take a look at the ED. Replacing Hina is a big strike no matter how good the actual song is. Second, im not the biggest fan of Nagi, and her singing didn't help. Seriously, after Shana, Kugimiya Rie has really lost her charm for me. Hayate's VA actually has a decent singing voice, but its too hard matching her feminine voice to Hayate. However gotta give them major points for using a counterpoint melody. As much as i hate it, they are building up the pair of Nagi x Hayate pretty well.

For the OP, didn't like it very much. The song is half decent and some scenes, like Hayate's fight and the final scene are well done, but the over the top fanservice and returning to the synthesizer for there main chorus tune just kills it. Wonder Wind wasn't something spectacular, however i find myself not skipping it when im watching. As well Wonder Wind actually has melodies and decent lyrics.

Overall very disapointed in you J.C. Staff. You can do much better.

Toradora - How did i miss this Gem?

2009-07-27T20:48:00.007-04:00

WARNING SPOILERS!!!

Ami, the goddess of this show

Well, i just finished the 19th episode of Toradora and i must say it is a very wonderful series that i passed up for the right reasons, and missed for all the wrong reasons. Typical, predictable story with a typical Rie Kugimiya character, and below average animation(IMO). However there is so much about the amazing series. Wonderful funny situations, amazing characters (Minori pre-emo, AMI!!!!!) and a consistent non-episodic plot.

First of all, the good
A very enjoyable plot that produces a rather funny show that keeps you coming back for more and more. It's episodic in the sense that most episodes focus around one stand alone topic, but every episode leaves behind one piece that slowly develops the entire plot. The characters are good too. Minori and Yusaku manage to be so outrageous they are a riot. Ami in particular is gold. She's the character type i look for in every show. The silent girl with a crush on the person she knows she'll never have, so she makes the most of it. She always manages to produce lines that are quote-worthy and even though her character is suppose to be evil and mean, she is very likable.

The bad... duh duh duh....
The plot, while enjoyable and funny, is predictable. It's not something to write about for the ages and is nothing really new. For those of you who couldn't guess after the first minute that Taiga and Ryujii would end up together need to get their head checked. As well after Shana, Rie Kugimiya typecast really really gets on my nerves. As well the whole episode and general enjoyment seem to rise and fall with the amount of Ami present in the episode. Her impeccable insight, constant flirting/attempt at a second chance, and wonderful one/two liners make her the backbone of this show. Also after Minori became depressed she really became no fun. Come to think about it, they all had their emo moments, and all fell flat when they did.

Overall, not the best show in the world, but very very good and definatley one not to miss.

Sorry

2009-06-30T23:13:00.001-04:00

As of late I have totally neglected anime. I also got my computer taken away and I work full time over the summer so that doesn't help. I guess I'll have to pick back up in the fall. See you then!

K-ON Final Review

2009-06-21T12:34:00.006-04:00

So the times have come and gone, and the series is over, although you would never know it if you followed this blog. I might get around to the episodes, but i doubt it.

Anywho lets get right into this shall we?

Characters:

Overall the characters were pretty good. My only complaints were the constant harassment of Mio. Like the writers couldn't decide weather to make her a pushover like Mikiru or a strong willed girl like Hinagiku. Overall i must say i enjoyed Mio the most, followed closely by Ritsu. The pair are just wonderful together. Yui never really sold me, Mugi seemed to be lacking in the character department besides her being rich. Azusa didn't bring anything i liked that Mio didn't have, and i cant root for the competition. Everyone else wasn't around enough.

Art/Graphics:

The artwork i felt was pretty good through out. Although with KyoAni you don't really expect anything else. It did look weird when they tried to make them look realistic with the mouth singing thing, but it was overall very good.

Music:

What can i say, the songs are what hook a lot of people into the show. I for one knew that the music portion of this series would be overhyped, but the song they did have were amazing. The ED for this show hooked me instantly and i love it so much. The VA for Mio has such an amazing voice. I did hope to see a new song at the end of ep 12, but you cant win them all.

Voice Acting:

This is the area that really impressed me the most. Yōko Hikasa the voice actress for Mio is very very impressive. I have just fallen in love with her voice, and her singing voice in particular. I really hope this turns into a launching pad for her career and i get to see more of her in the future. For the rest of the cast, they were decent, but not spectacular. However given the fact that they are all amateurs, they did very very well.

Plot:

The plot started strong, but kinda teetered off. That is to be expected as the types of jokes they were using do tend to get old fast. Coupled by the fact that the harassment of Mio was a little overdone it was kinda a week point for the show. It still managed to entertain, but not much more.

Overall this was a strong show, very entertaining. I really wanted to watch it every week and is the only show i kept up with. However a weak plot did really hurt it, as well as a short script keeps it from greatness. Ironically for once i enjoyed the anime original plot in ep 11 which is weird, but i guess im a sucker for yuri undertones. I will also admit Mio saved this show quite a bit. Without her and her amazing VA, it would have been a major fail.

8/10

K-On - 6

2009-05-26T20:10:00.004-04:00

I'll add all the pictures to my K-ON post later when i have a solid interwebz.

Summary:

So the day of the festival finally approaches and Mio is trying to find everyone. Nobody however is practicing. Yui, still mission her voice, is helping out a friend at a food booth. Ritsu and Mugi are helping out with a haunted house. Hilarity ensues when Mio goes in to look for Mugi dressed as a ghost.

Nanoka convinces Yui to finish up early to help Mio and she gets Ritsu. When they reach the club room they find Mio singing on her own. They finally get in a quick practise before the concert. Sawa arrives complete with cute outfits for the club, god bless her heart :). Yui and Mugi, well mostly Mugi move all the equipment into place with Mio a wreck still. Ritsu tells about Mios past and how she is partly to blame for her shyness. Afterwards with Mio failing one last time to get out of singing, Ritsu manages to calm everyone down with some pointless MCing.

They finally prepare to go on stage. After a short delay, and a inspirational speech from Yui she finally sings. The concert is played as a Music video and goes off without a hitch. Just as Mio is about to leave the stage, she trips and accidentally flashes the audience. They loved it and Mio now has her own fanclub, but she is a wreck.

Reaction:

Very fun episode. I wasn't quite expecting a concert ep so quick but i'm really glad they did. This gives them time to squeeze in one or two more before the end of the series. Seeing how fast they're moving, it will likely be an anime original ending. Yui's VA did a good job at faking a sore voice, too good. I felt liked punching her a few times. As for the acutal concert, i know a few people are pissed we didn't get to see them on stage and saw the MV instead, but i enjoyed it. I liked the song, but didn't love it. Here's hoping the next one is better.

K-on - 5

2009-05-18T00:36:00.011-04:00

Arrival of Super Teacher.

A very dangerous shot

Is this... Heaven. It must be

Gai's husband.

The School Festival is approaching, but the K-ON club faces a bigger problem. Ritsu never filled out the forums so technically the club doesn't exist. Luckily, Nonoka is part of the student council and agrees to help the club out. However they still need to find a teacher advisor for the club.

The decide to go for Sawako-Sensei as she is popular with the student body and a music teacher. However when they mention they've seen a picture of an old club that resembles her, she make a run for the club room to get the photo. Unfortunately Ritsu has already taken the photo. While the rest of the club tries to win her over, Ritsu automatically goes for the blackmail approach. Here we learn about Sawako's past. See tries to date a guy who likes wild girls, but she takes it too far and he ends up dumping her again. Sawako decides to become the advisor and is surprised that they don't even have any lyrics for their song.

Later that night, Mio in a very cute ponytail and earphone combo, writes up a song. The fluffy lyrics leave Ritsu and Sawako squirming. Yui however loves them, and Mugi is too, erhem, distracted to disagree. Sawako sees this chance to lighten her appearance. Outnumbered, Ritsu folds. Yui also becomes the singer as Mio is too embarrassed to sing. Yui however can't handle singing and playing at the same time so Sawako takes her for training. It works, sort of. She can multi-task, but she losses her voice from all the training. So in the end, they turn back to Mio.

Reaction:

Oh Mio how to tease with your shyness. Sawako seems to the the first real competition to Mio's extreme popularity. I gotta admit she does have some likable traits but her lack of real dedication to K-ON is a little unexpected due to all the talk about her.

Note: I'm up to date with the episodes, but i haven't had time to make the post so i should have them up soon because of the long weekend, but not guarantee.

Hayate no Gotoku S2 - 2

2009-05-05T18:54:00.004-04:00

Recap:

After Nagi loses the race, Klus refuses to budge on his bet and fires Hayate. Nagi tries to convince Klus of how much progress she made even though she came in second, but when that fails she fires Klus for failing to guide Hayate as the head butler. He gives in, especially when Maria doesn't back him up because of the sailor moon dress up she had to wear. He decides to give Hayate a second chance by completing a butlers trial. Hayate leaves for the training, and runs into a strange Nun. She steals the loose change Hayate drops, but redeems herself when she saves him from a manic otaku. However she looses it when she asks for a reward. Hayate gets to the church where his trials are, and runs into the same nun. She tells him to find a party of four and to help him on his way. Nagi, who came looking for him, is the first. He tries to convince Hina to join as well, but shes still mad about what he did during the race. While he leaves, Yukiji overhears and becomes the second. They also run into Saki, who recommends Wataru and so their party is complete.

Reaction:

I can't say Hayate's chances are too good with that party. Im more worried about Hina and Hayate slipping, oh my poor fanboy heart. Apparently this is all setting up something so i'll keep my fingers crossed.

The biggest difference is that this season seems to move away from the random jokes and references for the plot. It makes it more of a standard comedy anime. The plot is good and it still is funny, but oh season one you will be missed a little.

For Those Who Care

2009-05-04T20:40:00.001-04:00

I'll be late with FMA by a few days, but since no one really reads this well....I don't think anyone really cares

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - 4

2009-04-30T15:30:00.005-04:00

Summary:
Ed and Al have returned for Lior and are reporting to Mustang. Mustang informs them about a man, Shou Tucker, who successfully created a chimera that spoke. The chimera spoke only one phrase, "I want to die" and refused to eat and died. Interested, the brothers decide to check Tucker out. They meet Tucker and his daughter Nina. Ed begins right away studying Tucker's old work.

Meanwhile a killer is on the loose in central. This man, who can only be identified by a large scar on his face, has been hunting down and killing Alchemist. His appearance, and his targeting on some of the toughest opponents has thrown Central in disarray.

One night, while leaving, they escorting state alchemist reminds Tucker that his review is approaching. If he fails, he will loose his title. It is revealed that life was tough before he became a state alchemist and his wife left because they were poor. When Ed comes by the day of the review, Tucker has created a new Chimera. However Ed soon discovers to his horror that the chimera is none other than Nina. The story about his wife leaving is also a lie and the previous chimera was his wife. Ed nearly pummels Tucker to death but is horrified when Tucker tell him they are the same and that they both pushed the limits too far with human alchemy. Ed refuses and is finally stopped by Al. When they leave Scar comes to kill Tucker. Seeing Nina in such a state he decides to kill her out of mercy.

Reaction:

I hate tucker. I hated this arc. I hated how Tucker survived in the original. Thankfully they shortened all of this into one episode and killed him off. They made Tucker appear a lot more desperate and almost pitiful in comparison to his original "mad scientist" motif. It's interesting to note they didn't try to inject any humor into this epsiode (minus Ed vs Dog) but left it mainly dark. This is more like what i expected given the dark ending and dark PV, however i am wondering if it is darker than the source. Also lost was Ed's true studying nature, and that he worked hard to gain his understanding of alchemy.

It was also interesting they cut out the Yoki arc, but mentioned it in the episode. I wonder if they will do the same kind of thing for the thief girl arc. It wasn't really interesting, but it was one of the few really funny episodes.

If anyone actually reads this :P

2009-04-26T16:53:00.005-04:00

Yes, i am late as hell for my shows. FMA will take me a day or two and i plan on catching up on Hayate during the rest of the week.

Along with the three shows i am blogging, i am also watching Valkira and maybe picking up eden of the east because i heard a lot of good things about it.

In other news, a new gundam anime will start up sometimes before the end of the year for the 30th anniversary. Given the short time left and the lack of details, it looks like it will be OVA insead of a full series. Reports say it will be based off the gundam unicorn novels. Given the excitement i expect this to be good.

This msg will self destruct when i have the post up.

k-On - 4

2009-04-24T20:49:00.008-04:00

FANSERVICE!!!

The girls ability to make faces never ends

Mugi has that stalker face

OMG a bird ate Yui

Am... i in heaven?

Yup, this must be heaven

Hurray for yuri Subtext

Recap: Mio finds a recording of the old K-ON club and decides that they need to hold a practice vacation in time for the school festival. Yui and Ritsu can only think about enjoying a summer vacation, and Mugi is happy as long as she can spend more time with others.

They all end up going to the beach villa by the ocean that Mugi's parents own. They secure only the smallest villa, but its still the size of a hotel. While Mio tries to get the equipment ready, Yui and Ritsu are already out having fun. Mio reveals that reason for the sudden need for practice is that the old club was very very good, and she feels that she doesn't want to loose to them. Seeing as how they can't get any practice in that day however, she decides to join them. Later on She desperately tries to get Ritsu and Yui to practice, but it still fails. After dark the group is having fun around a campfire with Yui playing around with her guitar in front of fireworks. Later she shows how she can play the same guitar portion of the previous club from only hearing it once.

After seeing Yui, Mio determines she may have been worried over nothing. As they go back to school, Mio isn't too pleased with some of the pictures Ritsu took :)

Reaction:
Another very moe heavy episode. seeing how Yui seems to be a natural genius with music I'm not too surprised that they will be ready for the concert at the school festival. Mio is still very awesome between angry and determined, to shy and embarrassed. For a fanservice beach episode this actually had more plot than the previous two. (minus the acutal buying of the guitar). Next episode looks to focus on the teacher (which i have heard a lot about) and Nonoka so it looks good.

FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Episode 03

2009-04-19T17:38:00.006-04:00

recap:

Well this episode was virtually the same as the beginning episode for last time. Ed and Al travel to Lior because they hear about a priest that can perform miracles. So once they are in the city they are eating something and when Al stands up he knocks over a radio. What do our two hero's use to fix it? Why Alchemy of course! So the towns people watch as Al turns the radio back to new and they start to talk about how he performed a miracle like the priest, father Cornello. Well the insults to Ed start off early again as the people once again decide that Al is the Full Metal Alchemist.

So Ed and Al go to check out Cornello and find that his miracles don't follow the rule of equivalent exchange. They also find out that the priest can supposedly bring the dead back to life, which we already know is a sore subject for the two brothers. The two walk into the church to meet Rose, a girl who is devoted to the church, and to Cornello's teachings and talk of bringing the dead back to life. Ed precedes to sit down and list off all the ingredients that make the adult human body, also commenting that it could all be bought with a child's pocket money. (a part that I really enjoyed last time and even more this time.) Rose of course is angered by this due to her great belief in father Cornello and God.

The Elric brothers request a meeting with Cornello which he agrees to, but he has some of his followers try to kill the Elrics once they arrive at the meeting place. Ed quickly dispatches of the two guys that are covering him and Al punches the guy with the gun in the face (which as always was quite amusing). The gun falls by Rose's feet and ed yells back and forth with Cornello about transmutation and the Philosophers Stone (if you don't already know what that is well then you never really cared about the series). Ed, Al, and Rose stand there and Rose is ordered to shoot Ed, though once again she thinks the Full Metal Alchemist is Al. She shoots Al and they find nothing inside and Cornello explains that they commited the Taboo of Alchemy, Human Transmutaion.

So basically a bunch of stuff happens and we find out that Cornello's stone was only a fake, so Ed and Al are back to square one.

Reactions:

Well it was nice to see a redo of the origional first episode, but I didn't really enjoy it at all. I mean there were some really awsome parts like where Ed explains the make up of the human body and where we see the Homoculous at the end. Over all I'm liking brotherhood and I look forward to the next episode. Oh, final note. ROY MUSTANG RULES!

K-On - 3

2009-04-18T00:41:00.019-04:00

Exam Horror!

Who dares scare my Mio!

>Wow shes even worse than me.

Well if K-On gets disbanded she can always return to the WWE

Rejected by Mio. Lol double bump

Shes even good at video games

Summary:

Yui starts more guitar practice and produces some extreme Mio moe moments using squeamish stories. As Yui starts to practice more cords, she completely forgets about midterms. Exam time comes and she is so distracted (from her guitar and other things) she fails miserably. Mugi and Mio manage to do pretty well (however we never see their grade). Surprisingly Ritsu also gets an A, but it is explained she begged Mio to cram with her the day before, as usually apparently. Things only get worse when the find out if she doesn't pass, the club will be shut down again, and she cant join in until she finishes the makeup exam in a week. Two days before the makeup the decide to all send her encouraging messages. That however turns out to be more a distraction then a benefit. The day before the exam. Yui admits that while she is studying more this time, she isn't sure if she can pass. The gang decides to go to her house to help her study. When they get there, they are surprised by how much more mature Ui is and how different she is from her sister. Mugi provides snacks and encouragement while Mio becomes her personal tutor. They study until Yui is ready to collapse. After the makeup, Yui looks burnt out. Luckily however she aced the exam and got perfect. However because of all the studying, she forgot all the cords she was learning so we're back to the start.

Reaction:

Another funny episode. Really shored up Ui and Nodoka's characters. However the lack of progress makes it look worse that we will ever get to see a concert. But whatever at this point anything with more Mio makes me happy. We also see more of everyone character. Mio and Tsumugi as the reliable smart ones, and Ritsu and the clumsy lovable idiot. Yui is the can-do-anything-she-puts-her-mind-to type. Must admit its kind of cliche but i still love it

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - 2

2009-04-14T09:24:00.004-04:00

Summary:
Ed and Al are on a train to Lior to see a man who can make miracles. They think it is probably slight of hand, but they check it out anyways in case it might be the philosopher stone. We flash back to Ed and Al's childhood where they begin to learn alchemy using their father's old books. However their mom soon suddenly dies from disease. The boys continue to practice alchemy under the tutelage of their teacher (later will be identified as Isumi) and slowly start their research into human alchemy.

One night they determine they know enough and attempt the forbidden alchemy. However soon afterwards things begin to go wrong. the alchemy circle grabs Ed's legs and suck Al into it. Left behind is a hideous creature who soon dies. It in inside this circle that Ed meets a creature and a door who call themselves god. The door opens and Ed is flung in. He begins to acquire all the knowledge in the universe, so much it nearly kills him. However when he approaches the area that would allow him human alchemy, he is pulled back out. The creature tells him that all that knowledge was enough for the trade, the trade of his leg. He returns to the real world and finds Al missing. Knowing he was taken he tries to attach Al's soul to a suit of armor. He losses his arm in the process.

The next day Roy Mustang and Hawkeye arrive in search of a powerful alchemist said to be in the area. However they only find the bloody remains of the fail alchemy. He goes to Winry's house where Ed and Al are healing and confronts them. He later offers Ed the chance to become a state alchemist. Doing so would mean that Ed would be a dog of the military, but it would open the immense possibility of research that could lead them to the philosopher stone, and the restoration of their bodies. Ed decides to take the offer and heads off to the state alchemist exam. While preparing, with a new arm and leg from Winry, he trains with Al and shows off his ability to use alchemy without a circle. Al, even though he also went through the gate, cannot. when he gets to the exam, he he attempts to show off by transmuting a spear with out a circle, and then attacking the fuhrer. However the fuhrer was able to slice Ed's weapon without anyone even noticing. regardless he passes and is granted the title of FullMetal Alchemist.

Reaction:

First of all, i'll take this opportunity to talk about the OP and ED. I have to say i don't particularly love the OP. It just sounds really rough for some reason and her voice seems to stammer. The overall beat/tune is pretty good though. The ED though is quite enjoyable and i love it. The animation at the end is also quite entertaining and even has a few laughs (Armstrong lol).

Onto the Episode...
Well, Not to bad. Obviously they went back on track and followed the storyline of Ed getting his arm and the failed transmutation of their mother, but it feels way too rushed. If their was one thing the first season did dead on, was hit the emotional note of how painful and just how hard Ed works to be where he is. Nothing about Ed's amazing studying ability was mentioned here and he seems to be driven by pure rage and pride more than determination. It's also sad to see Al's voice explaining equivalent exchange replaced by the narrator. Al really gave the saying a whole depth of meaning about how nothing is truly equal and someone always ends up paying more in the world which is lost when the narrator says it. I guess they want to try and make this closer to the original, yet different from the first season so that it wont be boring. Problem is the beginning of the first was close to the original. And i read somewhere the manga always tried to cut the intense emotion with jokes to lighten the manga anyways so its not too bad. Overall i don't think I'll be pretty impressed with this until they reach where the first season deviated. We'll have to see how they handle Lior because i felt the first season did a very good job. One of the scenes from the first season they can't do well now is the speech Ed makes to Rose about how a human is nothing more than a list of ingredients. (I thought that was a powerful statement about how his view of the world has changed to one of chemical parts. It was one of my favorite scenes.)

(I will be calling the source "manga" from now on and the first season "original" because I'm starting to get confused.)

Full Metal Alchemist and Hayate no Gotoku

2009-04-13T00:38:00.003-04:00

I havent forgotten them. exams are just slowing me down. expect them within a day.

Edit 1: I will have FMA up in a few hours. (aka tomorrow morning) Hayate will probably take another day.

K-On - 2

2009-04-11T00:14:00.006-04:00

All hail the rock god Mio!

Moe... Overload... ahh

What are tenticles doing in this show?

Hunt for a guitar!

Recap:
The episode starts up with a reintroduction of the other members of band. We also get to see a lot of moe embarrassed. However they realized that Yui still doesn't have a guitar so they haven't been practicing. Mio tells Yui that the cheapest guitars are 50,000 yen with the expensives one go over 100,000. Yui desperately tries to find the money going as far as to borrow 50,000 yen in advance allowance from her parents. The spend the next day around the mall. However when they get to the music shop Yui sets her eyes on a really nice guitar for 250,000 yen. They decide to all get part time jobs to get time money. They eventually find a job as traffic counters which works for Mio because she is shy. Over the next two days they make 16,000 each. Yui however doesn't feel right about taking their money and decides to buy a guitar she can afford. However when they get back the the store the next day she is once again distracted by the guitar. Mugi decides to try and haggle and gets the guitar down to 50,000 dollars, however that is mostly due to the fact her dad owns the place. Yui eventually starts to practice and the band is offically on its way.

Reaction:

Many more shy and moe moments from Mio. If wiki is correct than she turn out to be the lead singer so we'll see how she gets around her shyness. There's never enough Mio! We need more cool Mio now. It looks like a 13 ep series, so we'll see how much they can get through in that time, or if they will even have more than one concert. The next ep looks like its about exams (ughh i completely understand) so we'll have to wait for more music.

Quick spring blog update

2009-04-06T10:35:00.004-04:00

So this is how the spring blogging is looking so far.

SeedFreedom: (everything might be late due to exams)
Hayate no gotoku (May be up to a week late but i will try my best to get it out as soon as possible)
FMA (Riven and myself will be spitting the series in half. doing every other episode)
K-ON (i will be doing a max of three shows. This is the third in the line. If something great comes along i will drop this.)

Riven: (This is not finalized so maybe she can clear this section up.)
FMA (Half series with me)
Eye Shield 21 (maybe)
Katekyo Hitman Reborn (If she has the time)
- She is also dropping D-gray man

K-ON AKA the MOE-ist thing to ever hit this side of the earth

2009-04-06T10:16:00.008-04:00

All hail Mio!

Recap: Yui is a new high school girl, in what appears to be an all girls school. She has no idea which club she wants to join, because she has never joined a club in her life. Meanwhile an energetic Ritsu is trying to join the "K-ON" or light music club. She drags her friend, Mio, with her to join, who actually wanted to join the literary club. They find that all the previous club members have all graduated and if they want to keep the club, they need to find four members or it gets closed. (Clannad anyone?) Ritsu waits in the club room for people to come and join. When a lost Tsumugi walks in looking for the choir club, she also gets roped in to joining the club. They go out for fast food (which Tsumugi seems to have never had) and discuss how to save their club. They decide to make posters and place them everywhere. The end of the month approaches and they are in danger of losing the club they never had. A hopeless Yui seems one of their posters and thinks that "light" means easy and decides to join. After finding out from her friend that "light" is a genre, she goes to tell them she can't join. She is scared of their reaction and after seeing the enthusiasm (mostly from Ritsu) she doesn't want to tell them off. She eventually does get it out and they desperately try to keep her in the room with tea, cookies, and a performance. Mio on bass, Ritsu is on the drums, and Tsumugi on the keyboard. After watching the performance she decides she wants to stay even though she doesn't know how to play. She asks if she can join as manager, but the others tell her that this is not like a sport team and they don't need a manager. They tell her they will teach her to play guitar. Yui's moment of happiness is short lived when she finds out she will have to buy a guitar and that it wont be cheap.

Reaction:
OMG MOE!!!! Yui, Ritsu, and Tsumugi are all very cute, however MIO IS MOEEEEEE. She is just soo cute and her singing in the ED is just amazing. This is one of the only shows i want to stay and watch the ED of. Onto the actual episode, the story isn't too new and innovative and kinda average, but its interesting and... hell the moe factor can make up for any plot errors. Nice cast of characters and i hope to be following this series all season.

Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood Episode 01

2009-04-05T18:27:00.004-04:00

YA-HA! I got here first! I'll get the recap up sometime but for now I'll just do my reactions! I'm also going to start Eyeshield 21 and forget D. Grey-Man. I don't think with all that is happening I'll be able to do that one since I mainly read not watch.

Reactions:

YA-HA! It was excellent! I was kind of amazed to hear Again by YUI as the opening. I never thought that they would use her for Full Metal, but it really does work. I like the upbeat nature to the song. I'm also really glad to hear another song by SID. The ending is "Uso" or "Lie", and although it seems to have a more laid back tone, the song fits well with where the anime is so far. I must say that it was good to hear Lockon again and that it seems like all the characters still hold thier old funny/annoying/awsome personalities. I noticed that Roy Mustang was a little bit more energetic this time around but I like that new addition. Hughes and Armstrong stayed the same, Armstrong with the hilarious tendancy to rip off his shirt at a moment's notice and Hughes annoying tendancy to show the picture of his wife and daughter to EVERYONE! Anyways it started off great with the Elric brothers already searching for the stone and as usual a bunch of people calling Ed short. As usual he totally flips, even at Hughes' daughter. I have high hopes for this anime and I hope it is as amazing as the last one!

Hayate no Gotoku s2 - 1

2009-04-04T00:43:00.010-04:00

Its finally time. First i want to say i love this series and will definitely be covering every episode. I want to mention CrunchyRoll will be broadcasting every episode for free on their website legally. Now, i am all for supporting free legal anime over subs, but i cant wait the week for it to be free and i wont (and can't) paying for a membership so unless all the subs are a week slow i will be covering the subs instead. Luckily they offered the first episode for free so i'm a little ahead this week. Now onto the actual episode.

EDIT: It looks like the fansub i was hoping would pick up this series is now dropping it for Crunchyroll. Luckily i still have a few other sources (mostly crunchyroll rips anyways) but there is no way i am waiting a week if i don't need to. However if my sources do get cut, i will be a week late on these.

EDIT 2: I found at least one sub group who picked it up so unless they drop it i have my source.

Recap:
The episode starts with Nagi trying to duck out of doing a school running event. Marina convinces her to go and Hayate oversees her training. When she gives up pathetically easily Klaus insults Hayate's abilities. When she goes to defend him, she accidentally makes a bet that if she looses Hayate will be fired. He continues to train her but she is very worried. Meanwhile Hayate goes to find which even Hina is not in so they have a better chance of winning. Unfortunately she is going to be in all of them, but tells him to enter the grand marathon. At the actual race, they dont fair very well and Hayate ends up carrying her most of the time, avoiding all the other butler-master pairs we met last season. The last to stand in their way is Hina. She questions weather Nagi is actually learning anything by having Hayate do all the work for her. Realizing she is right, Hayate tells her to go ahead while he stalls her. He is successful due to her fear of heights. Just as she is about to win, Yukiji steals the win to use the prize money for alcohol.

Reaction:
Well, not one of their better eps, but not bad. As prominent as Hina is shown in the OP and ED, i can't help but feel that Hayate and Hina aren't as close as they were in the first season. I mean the only contact they had was when Hayate was being a ass to her on the bridge. Much different from the Hayate that promised to save her if she called. Regardless i expect MOAR HINA and MOAR HINA X HAYATE than in the first season so all is good.

Cultural references:
- Tuxedo Mask (with the throwing roses)
I will constantly be looking for more, so if you notice any i miss please leave a comment.

gundam 00 s2 - 25 (END)

2009-03-30T10:09:00.007-04:00

Summary: TBA

Reaction: I have to admit im pretty disappointed in the end. I felt it was rather weak and forced. Firstly, the Ribbons and Setsuna fight made little sense. If the original drive is so important to Ribbions, how did he lose the 0 Gundam in the first place? Secondly, While the R2 was a shiny upgraded Exia, it made little sense. Why was it in perfect condition awaiting a GN drive? Wouldn't make more sense to have it attached with a GN condenser like the 0 Gundam was if they wanted to keep it as backup? Why would Ribbons put the GN drive in the 0 Gundam anyways? It sets up an epic showdown but the 0 Gundam is so out of date it would make more sense to use a Gadessa or Garrazo. Aside from the fight, CB essentially didn't accomplish what they wanted by eliminating all wars, hence why they are still around. Louise ends up living, but i can let that slide. Andrei essentially learns nothing and doesn't change despite all that has happened.

That is not to say all of the ending was horrible. It allows a movie which, if as epic as Endless Waltz was, can really redeem this ending. Fight scenes were really well coordinated. Kati and Patrick getting married was a great ending for the two. Alleujah and Marie backpacking is also sweet.

So overall, a weak ending, but i was relatively happy with the series overall.

7.5/10

Spring 2009 Preview

2009-03-29T10:46:00.026-04:00

This is my preview, and possible blog list, for 2009 spring. Like last season, i will probably be doing one show, but maybe 2 or 3 if there are a lot of gems this season.

Well, im going to be doing my initial reactions based solely on the story provided and screenshots for now. I'll have an update after Random Curiosity puts up his to get a better opinion. To save time i will be grouping similar responses together, and try to post a link to myanimelist when available. Order is how likely i will watch/blog it.

Updates after Random Curiosity's post will be in blue.

For a more detailed preview i direct you to:
http://that.animeblogger.net/2009/03/08/that-spring-2009-anime-preview/
http://animehistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/spring-2009-series-preview-no-funny-business/

Hayate no Gotoku!!:

One of my most anticipated animes this season. First season was amazing and while comedies often have a hard time following up a success *cough* minami-ke *cough* this one has a long successful manga to follow so im optimistic. I hope to blog this and have any readers out there point out the cultural jokes i miss. You know i'll be looking for a lot of Hina love :P.
Upon further review, it seems outside of well... me, many people are starting to get bored after a 52 ep season of hayate. I also agree that the series is quite long, but i have yet to have my fill of Hina so i will watch on until that day, which is never. While this wont deter me from watching, im wondering if the subbers will be putting any effort into this, if any good groups pick it up at all. Im praying on SS-Eclipes right now.

watch: 110%
blog: yes

Fullmetal Alchemist:

A remake of a classic that promises to follow closer to the manga. Very highly anticipated. Blogging will depend on my time.
The interesting thing about this is the new cast. Besides Ed, Al, Bradley the entire cast has been replaced. Mustang is now played by Lockon, Risa Hawkeye is Rukia(bleach)/Shirley(Geass), ironically Huges(Mustangs second in command) is played by Ali Al Sachez(gundam 00), and Lust played by Sanae(Clannad). Plus a relative newcommer for Winry and a mainly supporting actor for Scar(D-gray man, Chaos head, Hayate, Shakugan no shana. He does seem to love playing the villian).

Watch:90%
blog: high ~ 90%

Spice and Wolf 2:

Loved the first season. Its not high paced, and a little hard to understand, but it was enjoyable. Time constraints will be the only factor. (P.S. i know this is closer to summer release, but everyone else is adding it now)

Watch: 75%
blog: low

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~:
07-Ghost:
Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S:
Tears to Tiara:
Shangri-La:

Looks interesting. I'll give the first ep a chance and see if it wows me.

watch: 70%
blog: low

Asura Cryin’:60%
Tayutama -Kiss on my Diety-: 60%
K-ON: 50%
Pandora Hearts: 50%
Senjou no Valkyria -Gallian Chronicles-: 40%

Sounds good, and looks good, but i doubt it will be my cup of tea or that i will have the time. We'll see if it gets a good recommendation.

watch: see above
blog: no

Queens Blade Rurou no Senshi:
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!:

Looks like a mindless ecchi fighting anime. While Sekirei wasn't half bad, i dont think i want to watch another one.
Queens blade is actually i lot worse/inappropriate than i thought. I definitely wont be watching this.

watch: 30%
blog: no

Hatsukoi Gentei:

At first i though, Minami-ke. But this doesn't look very interesting like minami-ke was. Will need a strong recommendation to watch.

watch: low
blog: no

Guin Saga:
Natsu no Arashi!:
Basquash!:
Saki:

Story sounds uninteresting. Has to really Wow me and have an incredible recommendation.

Watch: 10%
blog: no

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou:
Hanasakeru Seishounen:

Shojo love story. No thanks.

watch: very low
blog: no

D. Grey-Man Episode 01

2009-03-27T12:20:00.010-04:00

What you have all been waiting for! Finally I get on D. Grey-Man. This has taken me forever to write and I'm sorry to make everyone wait.

Recap:

Now we find out that exorcists are the ones watched over by god to bury the evil ominous things in our world. This anime takes place in the 19th century, and we start off with the arrival of a boy to a riverside town with his flying, gold ball of a companion Timcanpy. In this town a female police officer named Moore is checking out an old abandoned church which is rumored to be cursed. If only she knew the half of it. Another officer enters the church with Moore, and at first they only find a ruins. At first it seems as if the officers had disturbed a colony of bats, which sweeps Moore away, however she sees that there is actually another person holding her arm. The white haired boy who grabs Moore expresses his shock and surprise at seeing another human and claims that a cat ate something that was very important to him. Soon after the two hear a scream coming from the main room and Moore rushes back to find the other office backed up against a wall with a black pentacle pattern that gradually engulfs his body. After his body is totally consumed by the black marks he explodes into smoke. Moore chokes on the smoke until the white haired boy covers her mouth and explains that her companion was killed by and Akuma (devil in Japanese), but we will learn about these a little later.

Moore passes out due to the poisonous smoke and wakes up in the police station some time later. She finds one of the detectives is interrogating the boy who brought her back to the station. We find that this boy's name is Allen Walker, and he has a green cross embedded into his disfigured left hand. Allen reveals that the crime had been committed by an Akuma and the cross in his hand is actually an anti-akuma weapon. Allen also explains that he is an Exorcist, but the detective isn't sure about this so he puts Allen in Moore's care. While this is going on at the station a large person with an umbrella shows up in Moore's home and he refers to Moore's brother as an Akuma. This person disappears before Moore comes into the room to check on her brother Mark, and Mark seems normal to her. Later in the night Moore wonders if the crime was actually committed by an Akuma. She does not believe in such things for she takes Akuma as it's literal meaning of Devil, and she thinks that they are only a fantasy created by the human mind out of fear. Moore who doesn't believe in Akuma hates and curses them. Allen corrects her however, because the Akuma he knows isn't what she is referring to. While she refers to the devil of hell, he refers to weapons that take a human form. It is at this point where things get interesting. Mark comes into the room and Allen realizes that he is an akuma. Mark then transforms into a large, floating, egg-like creature. The creature shoots it's guns at Moore, but fortunately Allen saves her and they get pushed into the church next door. Allen actually catches one of the Akuma's bullets but warns Moore not to touch it for it carries the Akuma's blood virus. The effects of this virus can be seen in the cat which Allen fails to save. The poor feline's body is slowly engulfed in black pentacles before it shatters into itty bitty pieces. Allen explains to the tired police officer that the person they saw was not her brother Mark, but the thing that killed him and took him over. The Akuma interrupts their conversation by bursting through the wall. The detective we saw earlier and some officers try to confront the Akuma however it slaughters them quite quickly.

Allen explains how the Akuma are weapons programmed to kill and evolve and that they are living and hold a soul. The frustration of the soul that is locked inside is what creates the power for the Akuma. Allen can see that the soul of the Akuma is a woman's soul and he suspects that it was someone who was close to Mark. It seems that the ingredients for the akuma include soul, machine, and tragedy. Moore remembers that on the wedding day of Mark and her sister Crea, Crea had been worried about her joining the police force. Mark on the other hand encouraged it because he felt that Moore was not out for revenge for their parents, but for the protection of others. Still, even with Mark's belief in god, since he was a pastor, a chandelier of a cross fell and killed Crea, sending Mark into a deep sense of despair. This was the tragedy the Millennium Earl needed to create his Akuma. Now there is a whole scene where the Millennium Earl, a round creature in a top hat, with a talking umbrella, asks Mark if he wants Crea back and of course Mark agrees. This is when the Akuma is created.

It is Crea who took over Mark's body and is the Akuma in front of Allen and Moore. With his arm and cross glowing, Allen powers up to destroy the darkness. He uses his enlarged arm to rip through the Akuma's hard skin and rips away the chains that hold down the soul. After the battle is finished Allen tells Moore about the creator of the Akuma, the Millennium Earl. The Earl is trying to create a scenario with the demise of mankind and bringing that plan to an end is the job of exorcists. With his job done, Allen leaves town with Timcanpy in search of the Black Order's headquarters.

Reactions:

I love this Anime with all my heart. There is plenty of action and the animation really shows off each battle scene. This first episode was definitely a hook into the rest of the series. The whole plot is confusing at first but after around 6 episodes you start to understand the whole fight between the exorcists and the Earl and the whole role of Innocence. Also there is a whole host of crazy and outrageous characters that capture your heart and sometimes can annoy you to death. There is surely a little bit of some thing from everyone. Whether you enjoy action, or romance, or just plain insanity D. Grey-Man has something to appeal to you.

In this first episode it really opened my eyes to their world. You really realize how much trouble and suffering is within the life of an exorcist. I also found the whole premise of having the Innocence trapped within a body. Allen I found a little weak and naive for the world that he is now in. His attitude towards saving Akuma and that eye of his can either be seen as a curse or a blessing. I also liked that Allen can see the souls of Akuma but I just have to wonder if it will make him overpowered in the future.

The first starting is Innocent Sorrow by Abingdon Boys School, and the lead singer is Takanori Nishikawa, also known as T.M. Revolution. This song was totally different from any of his songs as T.M. Rev and that really interested me. It fit really well with the beginning and the opening sequence was something I would totally endorse. Not only was the song amazing but it really showed off the large range of characters, their different abilities, and a few of their back stories, even though it mostly focused on Allen since he is the main character. I can't wait to see what this Anime will bring in the future.

Gundam 00 s2 - 24

2009-03-23T12:07:00.004-04:00

Reaction: I cant say I'm disappointed in the episode. I mean we do have Ali biting the dust, Veda back in Tieria's control, Arios with some nice saving. However i cant help but feel some parts aren't as good as i want them to be. Louise, Andrei, Billy all being redeemed by understanding feels a little corny to me. I guess i never hated Billy much, but i don't think any 0f them really deserved any redemption. Tieria's consciousness is alive in Veda and seeing Ribbions cloning ability i doubt he's gone for good. The whole thing about them being Inovades was pretty weak. I mean now do we have to start calling them Innovades? Why couldn't they just call Setsuna an innovade instead and save us the headache? Regene seems more alive than i thought. Although i still think hes dead once the GN dust is gone, hes still kinda conscious. Ribbons final suit being the Guncannon is quite a surprise. However given that the 0 gundam was a RX-78 copy, i should have seen it comming. Thank god it seems Lyle has made it thorough and will survive the series. One episode left, lets see how they do.

Funny little side note, im going to copy over a portion of my post from AnimeSuki Fourms

Going back to watch the chibi "fake" spoiler from the beginning of the second season, only three things haven't come true so far. Cats will dance, aliens will attack, and Alleujah's third mind. I guess some of the aliens things have already been mentioned, but i doubt we'll see aliens in the last ep. We also havent seen any signs of a third personality for Alleujah.

What has come true is Tieria being a robot, Setsuna changing (only into an innovator not a gundam), Zombie lockon, "industrial complex" (elevator) falls, maids (wei lu ming) will be assulted.

gundam 00 s2 ep 23

2009-03-17T00:02:00.004-04:00

Summary: TBA

Reaction:

Wow, what an action packed episode. We have all the gundams pretty much fighting the whole episode. I must say the Seravee looked the most impressive, doing what the Cherudim did without trans-am.

Speaking of trans-am and Lyle, it looks like everything will end soon. I doubt the animatiors are so sadistic as to kill off Lockon twice, but i worry. Especially since their now close range. Heres hoping Cherudim pulls off something amazing and finishes that asshole once and for all.

As for Setsuna, hes now become even more hax, being the only one to not take damage this episode. As well, his precognition and perhaps link to ribbons makes me think that will be the final fight.

Billy needs to die, or switch sides. If they kill off Sumeragi i will rage.

Kinda tired so consider this review a work in progress.

Gundam 00 s2 ep 22

2009-03-09T16:18:00.007-04:00

Recap:
We start with a conclusion to the fight from last week. Setsuna is standing off against bushido in the alternate world. It is here we see the past of Bushido. Where he walked the path of a samurai and seeked revenge against the gundams. The fight does not last too long and Setsuna manages to disable the Susanoo. Bushido asks Setsuna to finish him, but Setsuna mearly said he is changing and leaves. He asks Saji about Louise, but she is long gone. Back on the Plotemy the gang rendezvous with Linda and picks up the new equipment for the gundams and the 0 gundam itself.

The innovators are returning with Lousie and Andrei in tow. Ribbons has called them all back to prepare for the final fight. Captain fatso and the Alaws are planning a huge fight with 21 ships and 108 mobile suits. With these numbers he is confident there is no way they can lose.

Back on Ptolemy they discover that Veda is hiding on the dark side of the moon. The entire area is cloaked. They all state their reasons for fighting and decide to retake Veda. At the innovator base, we see Ribbons and a clone army of Divines (or Brings). Bushido contemplates suicide, but hearing Setsuna's words does not. On Ptolemy Feldt gives Setsuna a flower and wonders if Marina would be mad. Setsuna states they do not have that relationship. Feldt tells him to come back alive as he is leaving.

The gundam and their shiny new toys launch. At first the fight seems in their favor, when three ships head for a kamakaze towards Ptolemy. Setsuna destroys the ships with a trans-am riser sword, but the ships were decoys. They were filled with anti-particle field"dust" and soon all beam weaponry is near useless. Meanwhile the main A-laws fleet arrives using rockets. obviously unprepared and outarmed, the gundams are soon in a difficult position. However the kataron fleet makes it just in time and saves them all. Kataron, led by kati, manages to drive away the attack force and commander fatso finally dies.

At the innovators HQ, Ribbons informs Regene that he is aware of his plans, and always was thanks to the quantaum brain waves. Regene knowing he is found out quickly shoot ribbons in the head, declaring that he will lead the world

Reaction:

Very awesome episode. Shinny new toys for all the gundams (which kind of makes me sad as my cherudim model kit does not have the side shield/gun)

On the Level of hax, 00 is starting to separate itself from the others like how wing zero made the other gundams look like Zaku I.

Cherudim: a new shield/gun attached where the rifle would dock. I don't know where its rifle goes now, but the new gun definitely is nice. looks to have the same range as the sniper rifle itself. Aesthetically it looks a lot like the old full shield Dynames had. Also to note the bits on his back are now on his shoulder and something new is on his GN drive. Tailbooster maybe?

Arios: two new missle pods on the sides that transform into what is reminicent of the missle pods that Kyrios had. A new much more powerful liner rifle that require two hands. Note it does look like he wins the upgrade wars, but we will have to wait and see. No upgrades to the Archer of note.

Seravee: huge GN condensers to up its max firing abilities. Also looks like it got a few more cannons, but i couldn't tell for sure.

00: Gn-sword III. Looks amazing as the Gn-sword was what made the exia stand out. With trans-am riser its just hax.

The actual episode itself brought some interesting developments. Feldt fanboys (me included) are going crazy about the flower scene. Realistically i dont believe Setsuna x Feldt has a chance, but it was a nice scene. Bushido seems to be almost wrapped up only leaving Ali from the old guard. Can't wait to see who gets the honors of tearing him limb from limb. Kati is offically with Kataron, but not much of a storyline left for this. Im still a little worried about Lyle devotion to destroying the federation, something CB is against. We'll have to see how this pans out. On the point of Ribbons seeing his clone army and the fact he is in the preview for the next episode, he is definitely not dead, so all of you haters will have to wait to call trainwreck like Geass.

gundam 00 s2 ep 21

2009-03-03T18:38:00.008-05:00

Recap:
Saji is talking to Setsuna and asks him if there was any other way. Setsuna replies that if he hadn't shot down Anew Lyle would be dead. He mentions he feels Louise is in the same position. Soon after the bridge turns off the power to conduct some test. When this happens however, Setsuna's eyes glow like an innovator. Back at the bridge, Alleujah is still trying to prevent Soma from fighting, but she refuses. Setsuna meanwhile runs into Lyle. Lyle mentions he shouldn't be mad and knows Setsuna wouldn't kill Anew if he didn't believe it was needed. As Setsuna turns, Lyle points his gun at Setsuna, but doesn't shoot.

At the A-Laws base, the innovators are discussing the last battle and we see the continuation of that in flashbacks. Bushido meanwhile meets up with Lousie who is with Andrei. Louise is becoming cold to Andrei however and wont listen to him. Bushido mentions they have a mission. When Andrei asks to join, Bushido says he will not keep up.

At yet another place we find Wang and Hong. They are alive and escaped Nena. We find out Wang's back story of how she was forced to take the head of the family due to Hong's indecisive nature. This moment is short lived however as Nena arrives to finish them off. Hong shields Wang and she escapes, but Hong dies to a head shot. Nena lets Wang go however as Regene in the back is directing the events. Wang manages to meet up with Setsuna and the 00 and passes on the location of Veda. Setsuna asks her to come, but she doesn't. This proves to be her last mistake as Nena catches her shuttle and kills her. Ribbons says through Haro it is time she was judged. Nena thinks he is talking about Ali, but is surprised when Lousie, in her new transformable Regeant demolishes Nena with ease. She then proceeds to loose her mind. While all of this is happening, Setsuna returns to the 00 to see it hostage by Bushido. Bushido demands a challenge and Setsuna accepts. When the both enter trans-am, Setsuna says that innovation is the true goal of Shoenberg, and he has been trying to change this whole time.

Reaction:

Very action packed episode and nice to see Nena bite the dust. Wang's death was neither satisfying nor painful, but i think too much time was devoted to her character that practically did nothing. Susanoo looks nice, but did a mobile suit that only appears in one episode really need a custom version? i mean couldn't they have started with Susanoo? Seems like a marketing ploy to build another suit people will have to buy. Interesting to see what this new weaponry for the gundams will be. If they rumors are true, 00 will become more epic than ever.

My "Needs a gundam dropped on them" club:

Gundam 00 s2 ep 20

2009-02-22T23:54:00.003-05:00

Recap

TBA

Reaction
RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Anew bites the dust, and man does Lyle take it hard. Beating on Setsuna after and still raging by next ep. Its a little too late, and not like his resolve has really changed so it doesn't look like he'll jump sides, but his relationship will now be strained. Good to see Soma still has some bite, even if Alle doesn't. New unit's beam bending is alright, but nothing epic. ON that note, seems like Ribbons has total control on all the innovators. Lets see how the rest of this season plays out.

Clannad 16-17 quick writeup

2009-02-11T20:20:00.004-05:00

Two very touching episodes. Spoilers inside.

Episode 16

Tomoya celebrates Christmas and New Years as Nagisa advances in her pregnancy. The gang comes together again to celebrate and talk about life. Kotomi is researching her parents work and starts to discuss other worlds. It is then that Tomoya remembers the play. He wonders how he knew the story, but doesn't dwell on it too long. The rest feel how fast Tomoya and Nagisa's life is moving and Tomoya admits he's not even sure if hes fully aware of him being a father. One day the city is frozen and cars, trains, everything is frozen. As luck would have it, Nagisa starts her contractions. Yagi is able to come, but Nagisa can't get to the hospital. Its painful and she passes out a few times. When Ushio is finally born, Nagisa falls asleep for the last time. Tomoya regrets every meeting Nagisa.

Episode 17

Four years have passed. Tomoya is almost lifeless and tries to avoid having any free time. any days off and free time he has he spends wasting away at a Pincho parlor. One day, Sanae comes to pay a visit. She decides to take Tomoya on a date. At a ice cream parlor, Sanae asks Tomoya to take a vaction with her and Akio. He doesn't really want to, but she presses him hard and he feels he owes this to her. When he get there, Sanae and Akio are gone, and a note tells him they had important buisness and he will need to take care of things. He already knows this means his dauther Ushio who they have been looking over for the past four years. The day is rather uneventful with Ushio playing with a toy that breaks. He fixes it, but Ushio ignores Tomoya's warning to let it dry and the glue sticks the toy's wheel. The next day, Tomoya notes Sanae and Akio aren't back, and decides to go out. Its not until now that he notices this is the first time since she was born that they have spent any time together alone.

Thoughts:

Maybe its because i knew it was comming, but Nagisa's death didn't impact me as much as i thought it would. Its funny how the world seems to be working against them with Nagisa giving birth early on the day the city freezes over. While i can see Tomoya's reasons, i never thought he would come to hate having met Nagisa.

Ushio is really a mini Nagisa. running around and not watching where she goes. Tomoya obviously still doesn't have the mindset to be around his own child, trying to avoid her as much as he can. Tomoya's additude really does urk me and if the preview is any indicator, we havent seen the worst of it.

My Totally Random and Untrue Predictions for Gundam 00

2009-02-11T14:44:00.016-05:00

The following are my predictions for Gundam 00 end of second season.

- Alleujah realizes it is hopeless to chase Soma. He dumps her and becomes Sumeragi's new drinking buddy. They fall in love. (Halleujah takes over at night)

- Setsuna fights and defeats Bushido for 00-riser's hand in marriage.

- A previously unknown pair of innovators are revealed. They are Lyle and Neil. They were kicked out because their hair color and name weren't stupid enough.

- Soma kills Andrei. Falls in love with Louise and makes her sane again. Saji goes emo.

- Ribbons is overthrown by Regene for his treatment of Wang. He takes over like how Ribbons took over for Alexander in season 1. Sets up Season 3.

- The Arios is damaged beyond repair. Recreated into the Battery Gundam for the ptloemy. (See attached photo at bottom)

- Tieria wanting to keep Neils dreams switches Gundams with Lockon. Eventually marries Veda.

-For the final battle all the Gundams combine to form Archer 00-CheruSeraBatt Riser .

- Memento Mori 3-10 are destroyed.

Will add to list when i think about more.

(Picture by LightningZERO)

Gundam 00 s2 ep 18

2009-02-10T08:38:00.007-05:00

Its been 4 months since the "break pillar" incident. CB is commencing a mission to finally destroy the second Memento Mori. The other gundams provide support to the oo-riser while it uses its hyper saber (that's my nick name for it for now). Saji piloted the riser only because the Memento Mori is a destructive machine. With the Memento Mori destroyed, the gundams retreat.

A lot has happened in these 4 months. the break pillar incident was labeled as an attempt to destroy the elevator by the anti-government forces, and the remaining federation forces were absorbed by A-laws. Setsuna's wound is healing, but is being slowed by the fake GN particles. Meanwhile a-laws pressure on Kataron has been increasing. Shirin wonders how long they can keep running.

Marie meanwhile has gone back to using the name Soma and acts coldly to everyone including Alleujah. Alleujah wants to stop Soma from fighting, but Lockon says he should try to learn while Soma is fighting. Saji wonders if the same happened to Louise.

Wang asks ribbions about his plans. Ribbons doesn't fully explain to her, but tells her she will never be an innovator. Regene doesn't like the treatment Wang is getting, but cannot argue back because Ribbons knows they have been close these past 4 months.

Back at A-Laws Andrei has been promoted for killing "the rebel" Sergei. Its the innovators that come and congratulate him which lets Louise find out Sergei was Andrei's father. Andrei says he did what he did for peace. Louise wonders if she should be able to shoot Saji.

CB discusses A-Laws information control and realize that need Veda to do it. They decide to regain control of Veda, and to do it they need an innovator. Lockon is not there however, he is preoccupied with Anew in bed. Lyle admits he never was close with his brother or his family. He left for school so he didn't have to be compared to his brother who he knew was better than him. Lyle asks Anew about her family, but she can't answer him. He decides its alright if she can't say anything. They kiss and in the middle of the kiss, Anew spaces out and has her innovator eyes. She comes to and Lyle calls her a clutz for spacing out during a kiss.

Thanks to Anew, A-Laws now know where CB is and launch an attack. The gundams launch but before Lyle does, he announces he loves her to the shock of the rest of the crew. Wang gets a message with the location of veda to give to CB.

Back with Kataron the A-laws found their hideout. One shoots at a child but Marina goes to block the shot.

Reaction: (may be added on to later)

Well no cooldown episode this time. Lots of action, but even more in terms of relationships. the first obvious one is the speeding of the relationship between Lyle and Anew. They sure have gotten close these past 4 months are are now, assumingly, sleeping together. Lyle knows about Anew being a innovator, and now needs to decide what hes going to do. While their relationship is growing, another is failing. Marie has now gone back to Soma and is ignoring Alleujah. She is still working with CB and presumably still in love with Alleujah, but it seems she felt that her attitude and comfort meant she couldn't protect Sergei. A few speculative relationships. Wang and Regene seems to be growing. There also may be a relationship between Tieria and Melena, but that seems more like a joke. On another issue, seems like Setsuna was hit with a GN gun after all, despite having a physical bullet removed. Seems the 00 is keeping him alive. Saji still unsure about weather to fight or not.

Ef a tale of Melodies ep 11 + series review

2009-02-05T00:37:00.006-05:00

Special post. Spoilers ahead. I wont be doing a detailed recap but this was a special episode.

Recap:

Kuze starts off asking himself why he wants to be with Mizuki. He eventually breaks all his masks in his mind and goes to the roof to accept her challenge. When he get there, Mizuki kicks him. She claims that she has killed him and he is now reborn as a new person. She wants to answer all of his questions from the last meeting, but they all turn out to be because she loves him. She says happiness, sorrow, loneliness and completeness are all part of love. As they finish making up, she tries to run into his arms, but he moves back and she falls. He claims it was revenge for before. However as everything is going fine, he collapse from his disease. He is admitted to the hospital and Yuu says that the only possible cure would only last 3 years, and comes with a very low success rate. When mizuki talks with Kuze he says he wants to try, even if this is the first time he ever thought he would lose. Near the end the EKG flatlines, but recovers.

Thoughts:

Episode:

A little short with two insert song, which is the opening to the first season and Mizuki singing Yuuko's song. But i felt it was a nice treat. other than that, we got a treat with a alternate OP and ED. Kuze gets off his ass and decides to keep living which is nice. I wish they didn't chicken out and actually killed off Kuze, but i guess with the death of Yuuko, it would be too much heartache for one show. And i guessed since her introduction that Miki is Mizuki, which is confirmed by the ED. The whole big risk/low chance story is very reminiscent of Hantsuki which was an awesome romance anime.

Series:
A great romance anime. Expectations are high for this series coming off the first one, but it didn't disappoint. The tragedy of Yuuko was quite a surprise. Combined with Kuze about to die, keeps you on the edge of your seat. I also don't really see any characters i hated (with the exception of the teacher) so unlike the first we don't feel like we need to emphasize with a character we hate.

Gundam 00 s2 ep 17

2009-02-02T16:59:00.013-05:00

In a flashback, we see Andrei as a commander in a war that is not going his way. As the orbital elevator is attacked, Sergei orders the retreat to protect the citizens, knowing full well that he is abandoning Holly, his wife. He states Holly is a soldier, and is prepared to die. Holly's body was never found and it was Hank who comforted Andrei.

Back in the present Hank is telling Sergei what a fool he was and how the whole thing will be a failure. Ribbons meanwhile tells Regene that humans fail to learn about history and will be doomed to repeat it. Therefore he believes it will take an innovator to lead the world. Seeing as how he created the other innovators, he believes it will be himself. Back at the elevator, Kataron ground forces are being attacked. This sends Lockon into a fit of rage and he goes in to fight them.

Back on the Ptolemy Setsuna knows that the only hope they have to taking out the second memento mori is to use 00-riser. But to bring out all of its power he will need a second pilot. Ian wants to go ask Lasse, but Setsuna asks Saji. Saji is reluctant, but agrees to save the 60,000 lives. On their way, they get flanked by Devine in a empress. Devine manages to grab onto the 00, but Using the new Riser system the 00 was able to destroy him, however the beam missed memento mori. feeling relieved that it missed, commander fatso orders the continuation of the firing. However this is short lived as the "shot" was not a shot at all, but an incredibly long beam saber. it manages to cut the memento mori before quickly running out of power, but they failed to hit the firing system.

The shot misses the main tower, but the damage is enough to activate the purge system built into the plates and the whole tower begins to disintegrate. the falling pieces hit the trains killing all the captives. Sumeragi makes a wide announcement to all mobile suits in the area to drop the fight and shoot down the pieces, at least the ones going to hit highly populated areas. CB is the first to go and start shooting, but it becomes clear quickly that they cannot do it alone. Luckly Marie appears in the archer to provide support. Kataron is next, followed by the federation. when the A-laws appears, Sumeragi has confidence that "she" will not let people die, referring to Kati.

At sunset the pieces have been destroyed and Hank and Sergei are looking over the damage. Suddenly Hank's suit is destroyed by Andrei. Andrei begins attacking Sergei and upon realizing that it is his father decides to exact his revenge for his mother. He manages to kill Sergei and Sergei regrets not being able to be a real father to Andrei. He pushes away his suit and it explodes with Marie screaming in the background.

Reaction:

Wow, a great episode. A true spectacle to see all the shots and all the forces working together. in terms of suit abilities, we got a few. Starting with the 00, we see it becomes just ridiculous with Saji piloting the riser. This is a great choice IMO because it gives the writers the freedom to have Setsuna lose any battle, and a great reason for him to win the next. Also gives them the freedom of using Saji or not. On the Arios side, we get to see the double wrist guns in action, and the Archer which is technically part of the Arios set. With Cherudim we can confirm it has missiles hiding in its skirt (go ahead, laugh it up). While neither Sergei dying or Andrei being the one to kill him surprises me, to see that Andrei, when the fight was for all intensive reasons over, kill Sergei without pause really makes me hate him. This also brings an interesting point in where the public opinion will be. While the death of the captives means nobody will know the truth, its un-hidable that the memento mori is a a-laws device and the collapse was ultimately brought on by it. It would take a lot of media manipulation to fool the people into believing it was the coup that brought it down, or that that kind of force was necssary. We'll have to see. 4 month time skip comming up, and a very cute looking Anew :)

Plus/Minus ratings:

Plus:
- Sumeragi, for rallying everyone to work together
- "collation of the willing" for being able to put everything aside to save the people.
- 00-riser for its 500m beam saber. Zeta gundam, eat your heart out.

Minus:
- Andrei. Added to list of "people who need a mobile suit dropped on them"
- Commander fatso. Even thought he died, he needed to do that 6 episodes before he debuted.
- Saji. Its more than half a season and he still doesn't want to fight.
- Marina, for thinking her song would have done something.

Gundam 00 s2 ep 16

2009-01-27T08:21:00.005-05:00

Recap:

Hank and the other federation coup detat members have taken control of the space elevator. Hank releases a statement saying he only demands the public be informed of the horrors of a-laws. The a-laws however manipulate the media and the official press release states that anti-federation activist the demands the the dismantling of the earth federation and the release of thousands of anti-federation captives. Sergei knows that it is fake and is ordered to a special mission by his superior. He heads to the orbital elevator to talk to him.

A-laws have sent automatons to combat the coop. Hank hopes that this will show the world the horrors of a-laws. Sergei goes to talk to hank, and informs him that the government is rejecting his demands. He tells him that the government is altering his words and he should let the innocents go. Hank informs him that these people allowed a-laws to take control by their passive actions. they aren't completely innocent and need to wake up. They start to fight the automatons and evacuate the citizens. Sergei realized that he never intended to keep the captives. The video on earth has been altered to show the federation members doing the killing. Hank is not discouraged. He thinks 60,000 citizens cant be silenced.

Meanwhile, A-laws has decided to sit back and not get involved. Ptolemy heads to the elevator, knowing that setsuna will be heading there. Setsuna however is engaged by Bushido and his new trans-am capable Masurao. The Masurao has the advantage until setsuna trans-ams as well. The fight was short due to the arrival of seravee and cherudim. Sumeragi looks at the formation of the a-laws forces and the map of the wind. they noticed they are in position in case the elevator falls. they realized that a-laws has a second Memento Mori.

Reaction:

Noting much happen that requires input. Interesting to see how the information censorship will work and weather anyone will actually learn the truth. Still no Arios, but next ep has Marie in a flight suit so...

Gundam 00 s2 ep 15

2009-01-19T14:09:00.007-05:00

I wont have time to do screen caps, but I'll still try to post my thoughts a a recap

Recap:
After the death of Bring, The innovators all react differently. Healing wonders how one of them could have been defeated, jokingly offering to comfort Divine. Divine is upset at Bring's worthlessness. Regene is meanwhile still wondering why Tieria is opposing them. Revive is still in disbelief. Meanwhile Setsuna and the 00-riser arrive at the kataron base and finds Marina. He collapses after getting out of cockpit. Marina calls for a medic.

Back on the Ptolemy, The ship has been restocked and Liche says hes glad they were able to restock without being discovered. Milena and Saji continue to do repairs on Seravee. Tieria informs them he has used Seraphim gundam. they wonder if they noticed Seraphim's special ability, but Tieria doesn't think so. Alleujah notes that the ships weapons are still offline and Ian says they need the 00-riser. Tieria has faith that Setsuna will return.

At federation headquarters Hercules tells Sergei that he should stay out of the way. He notes that there are places even a-laws wont touch. Sergei realizes he is talking about the Orbital elevator. At kataron, The federation representative is informing Kataron about their plans. He saids how they will be able to complete the coup without the Kataron's help. They agree and plan to inform Celestial being. The representative is surprised they have contact with celestial being.

Meanwhile, Setsuna is having a vision. He sees a younger version of himself just before he kills his parents. Setsuna runs in to stop young Setsuna and takes the gun out his hand. When young Setsuna tries to say he is doing the work of god, Setsuna proclaims that there is no god in this world. He leaves young Setsuna to his parents and tells them to watch him. Outside he runs into Neil. Neil says one cannot change the past or the effects of things that have already happened, and turns to reveal his eyepatch. One can only change how he sees and feels about things that have already happened. Neil tells Setsuna to change in place of himself.

He starts hearing the kids singing and wakes up and sees Marina. He notes how he heard the song during trans-am. While still injured, he and Marina start to talk about the letter four years ago. the kids leave to give Setsuna and Marina a little time to themselves. He tells her about his past. She reveals she always wanted to be involved with music, but was forced to take the role of princess. Another Kataron member informs him that Ptolemy had resupplied at another of their bases.

Back at the Ptolemy, Tieria puts a blanket on a sleeping Mellina, who says while sleeping that he cant fall in love with her. However the moment is short lived as A-laws is launching their attack with 36 suits. Lyle starts off with trans-am to shoot down as many as he can before they arrive. His trans-am dies and waits to recharge. Alleujah and Tieria launch to intercept, but they aren't having much success. the new Empress mobile armor is able to take both of them. As they come within range, Saji realizes that among them is Soma's custom suit, and that Louise is the pilot. Marie tries to launch in the archer, but all of a sudden the A-laws begin to retreat. They learn it is because the coup has taken over the African elevator. Setsuna, still very injured launches and tries to fly back to the Ptolemy. He is intercepted by Bushido in his new suit. Bushido forces Setsuna's attention by shifting his suit to Trans-am.

Thoughts:
Well after a few episodes of action we get a nice cool down plot development episode. We have Marina and Setsuna development. Their relationship is very reminiscent of Herro and Relina. If that's true, i wont be holding my breath for a romance scene between the two. Speaking of romance, i hope the mellena and Tieria thing was just her sleeping mumbling and wont develop into anything. Anew and Lyle however are getting closer and if you watch carefully you can see it's definatly Anew behind the curtain. The ending itself is quite decent. The scenes are beautiful, continuing off the snapshots of the first ending, and showing images of all the suits destroyed. On another note, it seems Seraphim still has another function. Anew seems to be a beacon for A-laws and she doesn't even know it. It also looks like we can put the GN gun theory to rest as Marina states they pulled out the bullet. Neil seems to still have his effect, even on Setsuna. Last note, Bushido's new Trans-am capable flag-esque Masurao. Knowing how tau-drives cant create particles without using energy, its safe to assume the trans-am limit is drastically short, or it shuts down completely when finished or if its abilities are on par with the real trans-am. A certain sub-group has nicked named it Trans-graham ROFL.

Episode Plus/Minus

Plus:
Lyle. Starting to look like a real Lockon. Cant replace Neil, but hes becoming better.
Mellina for being lawls.
Federation, for not taking shit anymore.
the sub group TRANS-GRAHAM

Minus:
Louise, for still being a stupid winy ... i wont finish
Andrei, for still loving that piece of...
Billy for being obsessed that Setsuna out balls him and stole Kujo.

SORRY!

2009-01-16T09:20:00.004-05:00

I have been neglecting the blog as of late. I'm trying to find the first 5 episodes of D. Grey-Man and Kuroshitsuji I just havn't gotten around to. I'm also etremley busy since it is comming up on the end of the semester and Highschool has been piling on the projects. Also Exams are next week so hopefully I will be able to post something some time, but right now I am relying on SeedFreedom cause time is not something I have. Anyway I have to get back to preparing for my english fishbowl and writing my Hamlet Essay that is due on Monday! Have fun watching while I die a little bit inside due to school work!

Gundam 00 s2 ep 14

2009-01-11T19:59:00.004-05:00

Screencap: TBA

Recap:
After destroying Memento Mori, the crew is prepared to retreat when they get flanked by a new MS. Setsuna in the 00 tries to find the Ptolemy but only finds wreckage. Freaking out, he runs into Nena. Nena tells him the Ptolemy returned to earth and before she finishes talking Setsuna is already off.

Back at the Federation base, the new Federation member that showed up last week, Hercules, is talking about a coup de'tat that is being planned by some Federation members. Hercules eventually admits he is part of it.

On Ptolemy, Ian wakes up and is shocked not only to find that he is back on earth, but that the ship has taken damage. He is filled in on all the actions since he went down. Sumeragi approaches Alleujah and apologizes for once again using Marie. Alleujah accepts it, but asks her not to do it again. Meanwhile Lyle is filling in Kataron on his status and says he might need some help soon. Anew approaches him asking who he is contacting, but Lyle changes the subject. Anew notes how fast they found the ship and wonders if someone tipped them off. Lyle asks if she suspects him, which she denies and they start taking on first name basis. Saji sees them and looks at his ring again.

At the Kataron base, Marina is singing with the children. They are informed about the up comming coup detat from the federation, and they want to meet with them. Even though it might be set up, they deside to risk it and meet with them.

Setsuna is looking for Ptolemy when he sees Ali's suit. He chases after it until they reach Setsuna's home town where Ali gets out of his suit. Setsuna comes out to meet him and is greeted by Ribbons. Ribbons mentioned they have met once before. He reveals he is indeed the pilot of the 0 gundam. The 0 gundam being part of a weapons test in which everyone was suppose to be killed, but the look in Setsuna's eyes changed him mind. Ribbons saids that he was the one that made Setsuna a Meister and claims that Setsuna's job is over and that he is the rightful pilot of the 00 gundam. Setsuna refuses and is shot by Ali with what appears to be a GN gun releasing particles. Setsuna and Ali both return to their mobile Suits and begin engaging in a battle.

The ptolemy is attacked by a garrazo and a gadessa and they release Tieria and Alleujah to intercept them. Tieria goes after the garrazo piloted by Bring and Alleujah goes for gadessa piloted by Rivive. Tieria cant get the upper hand on Bring. Bring tries a last chance at convincing Tieria to rejoin the Innovators, but Tieria says hes human. Bring wont allow a fellow Innovator to stop his mission and goes in for the kill. Tieria activates Trans-am and stops him. He then announces that he is revealing his second form by choice this time and detaches the backpack which contains the GN drive, the cockpit, and the Sepherim gundam. Bring activates his GN shield, but the Sepherim goes right through his. The wrist glows and he destroys the garrazo and kills Bring. The death is felt by the other Innovators.

Back with the 00, Setsuna is able to destroy some of the fangs and manages to land a hit on the the Ali. A plane containing the Kataron members fly by. Ali tries to take the plane hostage, but Setsuna in trans-am is too fast and almost kills Ali until he hears Marina's song. Ali gets away.

Meanwhile Billy shows Bushido his new suit, and it appears to have a fake twin drive. Billy mentions that Eifman's hidden secret is installed within it. Billy then tears up the picture

Thoughts:
What an action packed episode this was. Shame that Ali didnt die. It seems unlike every other show with a singing maiden, Marina is actually stopping Setsuna from fighting. The only plus is that it seems that Ali will be a non factor and he is quite handly defeated by Setsuna. We finally see Tieria's new form and i think its much better than Nadelleh. Quite interesting that the rest of Seravee is nothing but a giant GN condenser and an empty shell. Arios is now noted as being the fastest MS in air, but we still need to see much much more of it. Nothing at all with Cherudim, but the Anew-Lyle relationship is moving along. Speaking of Anew it seems she is unaware that she is a innovator making an interesting situation later on. Perhaps Lyle will think about defecting with Anew holding him back being a former (unknown) traitor as well. On to Alleujah and Marie. Seems Alleujah is being a little paranoid about Marie being involved in any way. This wont sit good with the fact that she will be the Archer's new pilot. I hope she doesn't bite the dust the first time she gets into the thing.

Episode plus/minus:

plus:
- anew. Looks to be a big part of the future of the show
- 00 for being pwnage again
- Sepherim gundam
- nena's Haro. "you got dumped, you got dumped"
- People who made the new OP.

Minus:
-ALi, for not dying.
- Directors. Still not giving Arios any air time. (and i dont really like the Arios, but it still needs some love)
- Marina for stopping Setsuna

2008 Year End Review

2009-01-02T11:36:00.005-05:00

Well, this has been an up and down year for anime. I am getting a little more critical of anime, and i have a lot less time to watch these days, but there were a few gems in the mix. Criteria for me is rather simple. Have i seen it and did it air in 2008.

Best Comedy: Hayate no Gotoku
HM: Minami-ke Okawari

Not a terribly difficult choice. Crop of Comedies this year was quite thin. Hayate was simply an off the wall Otaku pleasing anime. Constant pariodies and halirous characters makes this the best comedy of the year. Minami-ke was funny, and might have won any other year.

Best Romance: Ef A Tale of Memories
Honerable mentions(HM): True Tears, Clannad

Another easy choice. Ef was an amazingly detailed and emotionally powerful anime. While short of the original it was still the best of 2008. True tears fails to win simply because i didn't watch it. A lot of great reviews made my honerble mentions list. Clannad i felt was powerful, but fits better in other catagories.

Best Action: Gundam 00
HM: Soul eater, Code Geass

Gundam 00 does not dissapoint. The series start left be much to desire as i expect more explosions and destruction by our heros, but by the end of the year it managed to pull off amazing action scenes and epic fights.

Soul eater has good action scenes, but was few and far between. Code Geass simply wasn't as good as Gundam 00

Most WTF: Code Geass
HM:Chaos Head

Not really a competition. This is like something straight out M night shamalan. Constant plot twist left us guessing if anyone we knew was dead was really dead, and nobody was character shielded. Chaos head has a very WTF plot, but no real plot twists.

Best Mecha: Gundam 00
HM: Code Geass

Tried to avoid giving two awards to one show, but there is little doubt in my mind this deserves to win two. Many will argue that code geass deserves this title, and i disagree. The mech designs are much weaker, yes even guren and lancealot falls to the mighty 00 and cheurdim. A also simply felt gundam 00 was a better series overall.

Best Soundtrack: Macross

No HM here. The soundtrack to macross was fantastic and without equal. Every episode seemed to feature a new song, and everyone one of them amazing.

Best Fanservice: Sekirei

Pretty fun anime. Nice plot that reminded me of the battle royal in Fate/Stay night, only about 8 times bigger. A nice dash of humor adds a nice touch to a still medeocre anime.

Best Visual: Clannad
HM: Macross

The other world scenes are still as fluid as ever. with soo much detail in every episode every drop of emotion is amplified. Macross had its moments, but some episodes simply fell off the animation cliff.

Best Male: Yuuto (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu)
HM: Michael(macross), Setsuna (gundam 00), Lelouch (code geass)

I felt this little known anime deserves some recognition so in a unexpected turn, Yuuto wins in a crop of high powered, adenaline pumped action heros. He wins for being one of the rare male leads in a romance/comedy that is not a complete idiot. He knows when to ask the right questions and always knows what to say. Michael, Setsuna, and Lelouch may all have had the brawn, but only Yuuto had the brain and heart.

Best Female: Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku)
HM: Tomoyo(Clannad), Horo (Spice and Wolf)

Hina is very close, if not the perfect female character. She definatly wins best female of the year, and has became my favorite female of all time. She is cute, strong, kind, and funny. Her secret love of Hayate goes unfufilled because she knows he has eyes for someone else, but she still puts on that cheerful face wholeheartedly. Any guys dream girl. Tomoyo's appearance in 2008 was rather limited and Horo simply missed the charm quality Hina had. To me, this wasn't even close.

Best Villian: Ali al Saches (gundam 00)
HM: Schneizel, Charles vi Britannia (code geass)

IF the goal of a villian is to make you hate his guts, Ali is by far the winner. He plays a perfect enemy to Setsuna, Lyle, Teirea, Saji, and Nena on a personal level. While i disagree he is the best pilot in the series, he definatly has the skills to back up his arrogance. Charles and Schneizel are interesting, but they dont make me want to see him mangled by every character in the series like Ali does.

Worse Character: Suzaku (Code Geass)
HM: Louise (gundam 00), Nena (Code Geass)

Unlike the above catagory, these characters are just annoying and wont die like we want them to not because they play an important role, but because we are sick of seeing them. Suzaku has no morals, no ideals and runs around like a chicken without a head trying to avenge his dead princess which was not Lelouch's fault. Then by the end of the series, in a span of 3 mins he forgets all of it and joins him and takes out Kallen. The whole redemptions thing for all the Code geass charcters simply didn't work for Suzaku. Table girl is rather MIA in 2008 so her annoyance wasn't as bad. Louise could have easily won this any other year and gives suzaku a run for his money with the same betraying ideals mentality that landed Suzaku here.

BEST ANIME OF 2008: Gundam 00

To all those who say code geass was the best anime of the year, i disagree. Gundam 00 was jamed packed with action, great villans, amazing fight scenes, moments of shere halarity, and deeper plot than just thorwing plot twists around everywhere. Its one of the few shows i sit at the edge of my computer waiting for that download bar to reach 100. Cherudim impressed me with its nice design that made the blockness come in handy later (bit shield FTW) and the 00 is one of the most pwnage suits in gundam. Every kill is a feast for the eyes.

Well thats it for this year. Note these are only my personal opinions on the year that was 2008 so dont get your panties in a bunch if i didnt give your show the win.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T02:50:00.003-05:00

A small update. I get around 20 min a day on my computer so thats why I havn't been posting. Expect stuff to come out when I actually have time since exams are comming and I have tons of work to do. On the bright side I am getting in my DGM and Kuroshitsuji so that I can finally reveiw them and I'm sure that SeedFreedom is going to send out 00 when he has more time. Anyway, have a Happy New Year everyone! May you watch more anime than the last! :p

clannad s2 11

2008-12-25T16:36:00.007-05:00

Summary:
Tomoya is gradually getting better at his job with Yuusuke. At home he tries to find some time to spend with Nagisa, but Nagisa is taking the mock exams so she cant make it. They notice how they each are not matching up with the other. He ends up spending the day with Akio. Akio and friends messes around for a bit, before Akio buys a lizard to put down Sanae's shirt. They return to the bakery where Akio distracts Sanae and Tomoya puts the lizard down her shirt. They all spend the rest of the day running around town. At home, Nagisa asks tomoya to come with her to the founders festival. He agrees, but at work the next day they inform him he will be busier and may have to come in to work. Nagisa says shes fine, but Tomoya asks Yuusuke if they could take that day off, and he is happy to hear they arent needed that day. When he is about to go home however, the boss finds a project that was missed. He asks Tomoya to go and finish the project. Yuusuke meets him when he is finished and gives it a quick look over. The next day, the day of the festival, Tomoya finds out he made a mistake and Yuusuke is fixing it now. Tomoya rushes to help fix his mistake and is exhausted. He misses the festival, but is able to walk Nagisa home eating barbecue corn. He goes into work the next day thinking he will get fired, but to his surprise nobody really cares very much that he made a mistake and says its fine because it got fixed. His fellow co-workers jest that he missed a date and said he should ask them to fill in next time. He also gets a perminate name tag to hang on the work board.

Reaction:
Thinks are starting to turn against the couple, but their will and love are pulling them through. Glad to see the support that hes getting from his coworkers, but from the few scenes, Nagisa is still having a very difficult time at school.

gundam 00 s2 ep 12

2008-12-22T10:43:00.012-05:00

Screencap:

Summary:
The 00-riser (i`ll just call it the 00 from now on) is in trans-am mode and takes out a few suits. 00 engages the Garazzo and handily beats him. However Bring manages to eject in time. The Seravee and Cherudim also manage to take out a few suits. However it isn`t long before the numbers start to get to them. Luckly, the 00 is able to bail them out as well. He then goes for the Gadessa, and while it looked like Bring stabs Setsuna for a minute, it turns out the 00 can dematerialize and rematerialize so he manages to avoid the attacks and destroys the Gadessa. Bring however also manages to eject. Ribbons is shocked at the abilities of the 00. When Wang tries to comfort him, he slaps her. Regene is smiling. Saji undocks with the 00 and tries to go to louise, but the riser is out of power and he sits motionless in space. Meanwhile Louise has gone insane and starts to believe that Saji was always her enemy and has always been with Setsuna and CB. With the defeat of the Innovators, a retreat is ordered. Alleujah informs them everyone on the escape pods are safe, as is Ian.

Anew is still with CB and shows no signs of being with the innovators. Back at polemy, Saji blames Setsuna again, saying CB`s wars made Louise into what she is. Setsuna tells him to fight, to get back Louise and himself. Saji punches him, saying hes not one of them. Lyle has overheard all of this and tells Setsuna to be more straight foreword next time. Saji looks over the text message Louise sent him about waiting for her in space, and begins to cry.

At the A-LAWS base, officers are cleaning out Genin`s locker and remembers how he told her about his wife being killed by Kataron. Andrei comes in, claiming he heard Louise talking with someone in space, an enemy. She denies this and says that CB is her enemy. Andrei grabs her hand and says that she shouldn't be in A-LAWS.`Louise grabs his arm with her robotic one and begins to crush it. Louise then leaves.

Revive is still upset that he lost to a human, and wonders why Ribbons didn't warn them about 00`s power. When Ribbons send them a telepathic message that their new mission is to capture the 00, and that he is sending two more innovators, Revive begins to wonder weather Ribbons knew himself.

The memento Mori is fired again at another middle eastern country. This time there is a nearby refuge camp with a million people in it. Shirin is furious at this.

At the federations base, Sergei is ordered a gag order to keep quite about the Memento Mori. While he protest, his superior doesn't budge and assigns him to keep everyone quite. Sergi wonders is he should still follow orders.

the Polemy learns of the second shot and rushes repairs on the ship and the gundams so they can begin to attack. Teria checks with Malena about the state of Seravee, and Lyle wonders if his comrades are ok. Saji meanwhile tries to run away again so he can find Louise. He manages to bluff his way past Marie, saying he was needed somewhere and get inside the riser. When he is about to take off, he remembers Tieria's words and the deaths he caused last time he ran away. Unknown to him, Setsuna was watching the whole time. Louise deletes all her pictures of Saji.

Kataron tries to launch an attack on the Memento Mori, but it fires again, into space. It destroys half of Katarons fleet and leaves everyone stunned.

Reaction:
Action-wise, one of the best episodes. the 00 proved to be as powerful as everyone expects and even has teleportation powers. The other gundams also shown they can take out a few suits themselves. We still havent seen much of the Arios, but expect the Archer to give it a boost. Louise now needs to die even more then ever. She now gives off a mix of Shinn and Stellar, the two worst charcters in seed. Saji also dipped back into the awful catagory, luckly it seems teria got to him and he didnt launch. Forget what i said about Lyle turning on CB for Kataron. That no longer looks really possible. Kataron is too weak and getting weaker. They also seem to realize they need CB to accomplish their goal. A turncoat isnt out of the picture, but it's looking less likely. Speaking of turncoats, the fate of Anew is still in question. People doubting the girl in the cloth in the ending are now convinced that it is Anew, and i am too. I hope she ends up turning of the Innovators, perhaps due to love of Lyle. This means no happy ending for Feldt however, but she seems happy enough without a guy. On another note, it looks like Regene will plan a coop and seize control of the innovators. Character rankings will be up... eventually.
(on a side note, riven is rubbing off on me, my post are getting longer and longer hehe)

gundam image of the week:
Tis the season, and a happy holidays to you and yours.
picture by Seibee

Riven's Update

2008-12-17T08:56:00.002-05:00

I found a place to get my D. Grey-Man, but no where for Kuroshitsuji so I might just drop it if I can't find it. Also tomorrow is my birthday so I'm going to be a little busy for the days after that. I'm working on Gundam 00 ep. 10 and it should be out by the 21st of December. D. Grey-Man ep. 1 will be out shortly after that with my character ratings. Anyway, everybody have a good break and a happy holidays! Plus I would like to ask SeedFreedom to put screen caps for episode 9 & 10 of 00 in my posts.

Clannad s2 ep 10

2008-12-16T19:29:00.003-05:00

Summary:
The junk doll is still trying to build the flying machine so that he can leave with the girl. Back in our world, Tomoya wakes up from a dream where everyone is leaving him. When he gets up, he almost puts on his school uniform, before remembering he graduated. Tomoya and Nagisa's parents are discussing what he is going to do from now on. Akio offers Tomoya a job at the bakery, however he cant afford to pay him very much. Tomoya starts his work with Akio the next day, and sees Nagisa off back to her third year as a senior. As Sanae begins her tutoring and business slows at the bakery, Nagisa returns from school during her break to see Tomoya work. She doesn't end up in the same class as Misae or Tomoyo, but she is confident she can make new friends. Akio then suggest they use Sanae's bread as snowballs, which sets her off in one of her characteristic crying spells with Akio in tow. Tomoya realizes they do this routine also to cheer up Nagisa. After school Tomoya finds Nagisa's open house didn't go very well. To make things worse, everyone is already aware that Nagisa is repeating for the third time. Tomoya starts to think that his encouragement might also be putting too much pressure on Nagisa to succeed. The club is closed because she failed to add anyone to her club.

On his way home from a chore for Sanae, he runs into Yuuske. They chat shortly about his graduation, and Fuuko's condition. Tomoya is looking at apartments when he runs into Kyou and Ryou on their way back from school. He mentions he wants to move out of Nagisa's place but its too expensive. Ryou brings up that a friends brother is moving out and that he is selling his place cheap. Tomoya runs to Yuuske and asks him for a job. He informs Akio that he will be moving out and while playing catch (with a real baseball) Akio tells him that he will always be there if he needs help. Tomoya asks if one day he could take Nagisa with him, and Akio saids it is her decision. The game is broken up when Akio accedently breaks a window. Akio and Nagisa help Tomoya move in furniture, and Nagisa stays to cook for him. She tells him to tell his father about the move, and he promises he will.

The next day Tomoya goes to work, but drops his tool on his first shift. He is exausted at the end of the say, and while he tries to listen to Nagisa talk about her day, he starts to drift off to sleep

Reaction:
Well, the world is starting to become a lot more real for Tomoya. He has to deal with a real labour job and has already moved out. He's already thinking (and in my opinion acting like) his future with Nagisa. I wonder if he can even do the job with the injury. The world also isnt being very kind to Nagisa. She's having a hard time fitting in, and already has the club closed. Given the difficulty keeping it open last year, this doesn't come as a surpise.

Key has always produced top quality material, so i expect great things ahead.

Gundam 00 s2 ep 11

2008-12-15T00:23:00.019-05:00

Riven did an excelent job with ep 9, and i'm leaving her with ep 10 as well. But onto episode 11

ScreenCap:

Recap:
Maria once again talking with the children, is asked them what they want. One little girl says she wants to see her parents again, who are in Seel. Seel, being the country just destroyed by the new super weapon. Sergei and Wa lu Meing (who is now in the innovator base) are visibly shaken by the effect of the Memento Mori. Back at the asteroid, Teiria and Alleujah have calmed down as the 00 test are finishing. Its exceeding all expectations and setsuna says it is the power to change the world. Soon after, the Ploemy crew is just learning about the devastation from the Memento Mori and are now planning on taking it out. Kataron is devising a plan to attack with their entire space fleet, but they realize it could be pointless given the difference in number and power. Teiria takes this chance to tell the crew about innovators being the shadow moving the federation, A-laws, and taking over the world. He says it could be them that are deviating from Shoenbergs goals. When asked by Alleujah how that could be, and by Lockon why he waited until now to tell them, he doesn't , or misses a chance, to answer. He tries to tell them he is one of them, but is cut off by Sumeragi. Nena asks if Wang lu meing is now on the innovators side, and she responds that that type of thinking will not change the world, and that she isnt as special as she thinks she is. Nena however is still very upset that she is now siding with the man who killed her brothers. Manneqin meanwhile plans an attack and ambushes CB's asteroid base. Anew decides to stay with the ploemy and prepares to launch. Meanwhile Revive sends a signal into the ploemy. Its picked up by Marie, but she notes it wasn't for her. Instead, Anew is frozen for a second, but snaps out of it. Soon after the attack starts and many cannon fodder CB members are killed. those that survive are heading to escape pods and the gundams are launched. The battle starts and Kati has a few tricks up her sleeve including using cloaking sheets to hide heat signatures and ambushes the 00. Seravee tries to cover fire, but his cannon is completely deflected by Garazzo who later outpowers the seravee in a graple. The Gadessa launches a mega cannon attack and takes out the Pleomy's sheld, and the third hanger with Ian in it. Saji is sent to check on him. He finds him wounded, but alive. Ian tells Saji to get the Riser to setsuna, as it has been completed. Ian is taken to sick bay by his wife. Saji, with help from the red haro is able to bring Riser to 00, and they link up. This new form is much more than they expected and he kills Barack. With the Garazzo on his tail, he decides to access tran-am. This brings him to the out-of-body world, and Saji sees Louise. They are both asking why each other is part of the war.

Reaction:
And the award for lamest metaphorical out of body experience is... duh duh duh da! Gundam 00. Being naked is one thing, but being naked in a sitting position is just wrong.
Seems the upgrades to the Cherudim and seravee is complete. Not sure yet if the upgrade is the bit system ive been dying to see, as that has been installed in the Cherudim since the beginning. Never the less it could mean it isn now active. The same goes for Seravee's second form. The 00 is now offically competeing for favorite suit of 00, and maybe even challange the Wing Zero for Favorite suit ever. the new Riser form is increably beautiful. Only thing i dislike is the direct presence of Saji. While Saji being a pilot gives him much more character, putting him out in battle every episode might make Setsuna look a lot less awesome. Id prefer a remote pilot system so Setsuna would be the only one there. Never the less, this means Saji will die before the end of the series. His death flag is now at a million. The 00-riser also isnt pwning as much as i would like. I miss the old days where Gundams acutally were strong and the best suits out on the battle field. Too many suits in 00 are on par with the gundams (gn-xIII and ahead) while the Garazzzo and Gadassea are clearly ahead (no pun intended). The arugement becomes "do you really want them to overpower everything like god-freedom". Frankly, yes. That is why i watch gundam. I understand if they add a few suits as the main boss/enemy, but dont make every damn MS a gundam. As well, we also know where the giant hole in the sky shown in the ending is from as it looks the same as the hole made by Memento Mori

Riven's Reactions:

I have to say that this episode really dissappointed me. Since Sergei lived there is no way that Marie is to live since it is said that she will be piloting the GN Archer. Also I totally agree with SeedFreedom that Saji will die. I have to say that the 0-Riser really didn't do too much for me. It was really depressing because in the end it only made the 00 faster, there was no strength to it. I also have to say that is even with the 0-Riser the 00 couldn't beat Mr. Bushido without Trans-Am. That just sucks. I'm upset that Hallelujah made no appearance this week, but he should be there in the future so that really excites me because I want to see what he will do next. I can't wait to see what they do next because as of right now, the series is full of too much cheese and they really haven't lived up to the expectations they gave me due to the last season.

Weekly rankings:
00 + 50 = 60. 00 Riser = pure win.
Saji + 10 = 15. He did something! yay!. now lets hope i dont have to see his face every time Setsuna fights

awaiting cherudim, Seravee, and Arios upgrades

Gundam Picture Of The Week:
from KiNA

Sorry, it has to be the epic 00-riser

One Small Step

2008-12-14T02:35:00.006-05:00

I hope that I gave you enough information in my Gundam 00 ep.9 review. Actually I hope it wasn't too much. I can get a little wordy sometimes. Anyway, I'm now working on Episode 10 so look forward to it! Also I can't seem to watch half of D. Grey-Man due to the copyright stuff going on now, and my site hasn't put up episodes 9 & 10 of Kuroshitsuji so I'm kind of in the dark right now. I have to find some way to get different animes to cover!