the Blacksheep Project

Kuroshitsuji Live-Action Film: Gouriki Ayame dressed as a guy? Count me in!

2013-05-16T20:20:00.000+08:00

I've never seen the anime and I've never read the manga Kuroshitsuji. End of story.

Without seeing the anime, I'm pretty much aware of what to expect from this film. Well I don't exactly know but at the very least I have an idea. But you see, with this film adaptation, the original series doesn't really matter since it's more of an original story but adapting the idea of the demon contract and stuff like that.

ANN has given an overview of the film and it looks like this adaptation of Kuroshitsuji will be set in the future :3 But I don't really care so much of those details. The film is headed by Gouriki Ayame (and damn, I really love how she looks :3 looking at her makes me want to get a haircut ASAP) who's probably know to non-jdrama fans as Furusaki Yuno in Mirai Nikki: Another World. Mirai Nikki isn't really her star role although I've yet to see more of her. I particularly love her in Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta - positive and serious yet relaxed Ayame :3

Well okay, she's the reason why I'm so psyched for this film. I think that she'll be filling the role of Ciel Phantomhive but in an entirely different way. Reading through ANN, it was said that Gouriki will be a girl dressed as a guy in order to lead the Phantom Corporation. However that will be, I'm definitely excited to see Gouriki do such a role :3 But sadly this film is still on 2014 and that's a really long way to go -_-

Aside from Gouriki, Mizushima Hiro (Hana Kimi) will be taking the role of Sebastian Michaelis while magazine model Mizuki Yamamoto will be playing another original character named Rin who serves Shiori Genpou's (Gouriki Ayame) family as a maid.

~I don't own the above image, if it's yours and would like credit just email me at czai.theblacksheep[at]gmail[dot]com

~image of Gouriki Ayame came from the official website.

Karneval 06: We're done with Gareki. Are we going back to Nai's story now?

2013-05-11T13:25:00.002+08:00

So this is where Gareki's story and the Circus's story meets (and definitely Nai's as well. See that old man there, Erisyuka's grandfather?).

When we looked into Gareki's past a couple of episodes back, it was pretty clear where his story will meet the plot add to that Yotaka's transformation last episode and we get the complete idea on why will Gareki actually stick with Circus (or so I think). Gareki's vengeance against the person behind Tsubaki's death didn't ended the way he wanted. Sure Hirato killed him but his death didn't felt anything more than another person's death because he wasn’t the one who did the honors. The fact that someone else killed Tsubaki's murderer will never satisfy his hunger for revenge. SO I guess that's where Gareki's actual entrance to the Circus will happen. He'll probably help stop Kafka's stupid experiment of turning people to Varuga.

Now for Gareki's intention on switching to the dark side (fufufu >:]), it looks like he's got some good cause behind it. Of course what do you expect from some tsundere to do anyway? As I have mentioned last post, Gareki's the type who'd take care while hiding in the shadows. He doesn't particularly want to be praise or something. Behind all those you should never get involved with me talk to Yotaka, he's actually paying for Yotaka and Tsubame's grandfather's hospital bills. He just doesn't want them to know because he's that kind of person.

Aside from all the Garkei's moments we had in here, we get to know a few more stuff about Varuga and Kafka and Tsubame joining Circus. She wants to offer herself for experiment purposes so that Circus will have more information on Varuga. Well that sounds scary x_x

Anyway with Gareki's arc concluding, I'm hoping to see what's really going on with Karoku. We kind of left it hanging since Gareki's failed abduction. AND see how they brought out Karoku's notebook about Nai. I'm pretty sure we'll go back to what Karoku's actually doing with Nai.

Judge Live-Action Film: animal death game gets live-action

2013-05-10T22:10:00.000+08:00

Well that's something pretty exciting for me.

Doubt was one of the first few manga I was able to finish (not that I've finished a lot since I'm not exactly a huge manga reader). Its psychological-suspense really grabbed my attention. It isn't really an amazing. The art isn't really so polished. The story have its share of failures (or so I think). But as I have mentioned, it really works well on the suspense factor.

When Judge came out, I got pretty excited and read it. The scanlations aren't done yet but it is pretty interesting and the story seems to make more sense than Doubt. But of course I can't exactly be right in there since I haven't finished it myself (I really hope that the scanlations will be done soon :3). While the characters aren't exactly deep and the art remains strongly similar to Doubt, the intensity stays the same. For those who haven't read either, their main similarity is that the characters are trapped inside an isolated place, playing some kind of death game with the suspect being one of them (I'm not exactly sure with Judge yet but traces are pointing to that).

Anyway, with a live-action film ahead, I'm sure pretty excited to watch it. I've always imagine both Doubt and Judge getting a live-action or anime and this seems like a dream come true for me. I'd like to see how the story will go. I've seen a couple of Japanese horror/suspense/psychological movies like the two the Grudge movies, Battle Royal II, Ring and other stuff out there which I honestly can't remember anymore. The point is, I think that it'll be pretty decent but not exactly great :3 I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

Karneval 05: Each episode just gets darker. What happened to the flashy Karneval?

2013-05-08T15:46:00.001+08:00

It would really be nice to see the connection of the stories opened up so far.

With only 13 episodes, Karneval's got a pretty short time to fully develop the characters together with its setting with this kind of pacing. Not that it's seriously slow or fast or anything. It's just that all they're doing so far is open one issue after another without any actual answer. Maybe a one or two leads but it's not exactly helping. Maybe this is a pretty good time for me to think about the series' actual goal.

Well I don't really want to worry so much about how the series will proceed, connect everything together or whatever else they plan to do. All I'm pretty sure so far is that Karneval's been bouncing back and forth in the comedy and action. While last episode was a little drama, I guess, this one's been action pack with little to no comedy at all. Well we don't exactly need that right now.

As for Gareki, he looks more like the person who'd take care of you in the shadows. That sounds weird. Okay, Gareki's still a tsundere. I'm sticking to that. He told Yotaka that he doesn't care about them anymore when in reality Gareki actually cares so much about them. It's just that he doesn't want them involve in his dangerous thief play that he makes them stay away from him. Well I don't think that Gareki's tsundere character only showed in this arc since I believe that we've seen this before. Oh you know that Nai-is-a-Niji episode? Gareki was all We're not really friends or anything. We just happen to be together kind of talk when in reality he can probably just go. There's not point in them actually sticking together, right? But then, leaving Nai never crossed his mind because I think I remember him saying that Nai's the one keeping him out of the dark side (LOL) or something like that.

All in all, Karneval has yet given another enjoyable episode with more action than before. There's no flashy colorful stuff in here like they used to have and we're stuck with all this dark mystery that definitely involves the Varuga organization (or whatever they were called). How we're going to get to the bottom of everything and how every single thing will fall into place are what I hope to see in the following episodes.

Spring 2013 First Impressions.

2013-05-03T22:17:00.002+08:00

Spring season definitely never lets down.

There're always a lot of watchable series and a few of my faves series are also aired in spring. In 2010, I remember watching Angel Beats! at 2011, Steins;Gate was aired at 2012, KuroBas, Hyouka, Uchuu Kyoudai, Tsuritama and Sakamichi no Apollon aired. This year, I'm not exactly sure which series will stick to me throughout the years but I'm definitely eyeing on Shingeki no Kyojin. While there are still a number of interesting series out there, I've decided to marathon them later on (or if I really can't resist, I can just watch them later :3) and that includes the well received Suisei no Gargantia, Red Data Girl, and Kakumeiki Valvrave.

If you'll notice, I've also added up some jdrama which I am currently watching. I kind of developed some interest in them after finishing a couple of pretty interesting and good series and movies :3

Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 2000% (episodes seen: 1)

My first impression on UtaPri can be read here.

Sure the cast matters to me but I also take my patience into account when watching. With how embarrassing their opening scene was in ep1 and how uninterested I was in it definitely gives me the right to place this on-hold. I'll probably go back to this after the season.

Karneval (episodes seen: 4)

My first impression on Karneval can be read here. My weekly posts can be read here.

Karneval's fine cast, colorful art and fantastic animation, Nai's innocent act and the mystery of his missing brother figure (is he? Okay, he's not. But he's supposedly the closes person to Nai) topped with Yogi's entertaining comedy stunts and lines makes Karneval pretty much amusing to watch despite its lack of character development and excitement.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (episodes seen: 4)

My impression on Maou-sama! Defientiely changed after watching the 2nd episode. The first episode was mostly fun and it kind of gave me the impression of being similar to Ixion Saga DT which I kind of like. Although it still remains to be amusing, I'm kind of disappointed that the whole Maou-san working at Mgronalds was being set aside. Just what happened to that? I thought we're going to see him conquere the world and become Mgronalds manager or something? x_x Anyway, seeing some actual plot on Maou-sama! isn't really a bad thing. Oh, and did I mentioned that Ente Isla's language is pretty entertaining to listen to? LOL.

Devil Survivor 2 THE ANIMATION (episodes seen: 4)

Devil Survivor 2's best appeal is obviously its stunning art and animation which probably can't be matched by any other series this season. At the very least from what I've seen so far.

Saving the world. Demons being controlled via cellphone. Main character with nothing but the sake of other people in mind. Devil Survivor 2 haven't actually taken my attention in terms of story. It hasn't let me grip the edge of my seat from excitement, interest nor suspense. But I do have to admit that Nicaea (am I right here?) is an interesting software :3 Anyway, with only 13 episodes, I don't know what they plan to do in here nor how the flow will continue. But I'll certainly see this until the end.

Arata Kangatari (episodes seen: 4)

My first impression on Arata Kangatari can be read here. My follow up thoughts (as of ep2) can be read here.

I guess it was wrong of me to expect that I'd absolutely love this series. First of all, I'm not exactly the fantasy-series fan person; second, just because one of my fave VA is voicing the main character doesn't exactly mean that the series will be great and finally, after watching ep1 I should have realized that Arata is basically one of the nicest main character out there. With that said, I'll still continue watching Arata Kangatari for now despite my lack of interest in it still hoping that somewhere along the way I'll be absorbed in it.

Shingeki no Kyojin (episodes seen: 4)

My first impression on Shingeki no Kyojin can be read here. My follow up thoughts (as of ep4) can be read here.

What I probably love about Shingeki no Kyojin is how it practically makes me look forward to each despite how its cliffhanger isn't exactly that big. With already four episodes up, Production I.G has definitely showed us that the first episode isn't just for show. The animation gets a bit shabby at times but I absolutely like its art style. I'd always look at Eren's reactions, Mikasa's stoic face, how action is shown through the line thickness (ohh, something manga-like, huh?), and not to forget, the titans' designs especially the colossal titan. Being a 2-cour series and seeing how the pacing is, I have no idea how this will proceed :3 but this is definitely topping my list as of now.

Aku no Hana (episodes seen: 4)

My first impression on Aku no Hana can be read here. My weekly posts can be read here.

Aku no Hana has definitely disturbed the anime community not only by its story, which is deemed pointless other than its discomforting atmosphere, but also because of its art. The rotoscoping which is used in the series became most of the viewers' issue in watching the series and this includes the avid readers of the manga. Anyway, why I watch this series basically falls down to my interest on the characters - how Kasuga will continue to face both Saeki and Nakamura, how Kasuga and Nakamura's relationship go, will Saeki ever found out that Kasuga took her clothes? If so, how will she react to that? How will she face him? I enjoy Kasuga's displeasure and I like how Nakamura's pushing through her idea that Kasuga's a pervert despite his obviously pure character. Each episodes tries to increase the viewers interest but from ep4, I think that certain points just don't connect - Saeki's actions, Kasuga's continuous fear on Nakamura… Just how will this story conclude?

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (episodes seen: 3)

The thing is I like Railgun more than Index. Okay, that's not the point but I'm just saying . LOL.

Same slice of life feel. Same fun characters. Same typical Railgun action. I like Railgun only to the extent that I'm amused whenever I watched it. It's not exactly the exciting series for which would get me impatient for the next episode every week. Anyway, I initially thought that this season will be like a continuation of the Sisters Arc, something that will pick up from where Toaru Majustu no Index left from (I've only seen S1). Guess I was wrong. This 2-cour, 24episodes (is MAL not mistaking this?), of Railgun S will basically be about the Sisters Arc probably in full detail and entirely on Mikoto's point of view. Either way, I'm enjoying this show and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Accelerator soon :3

Mushibugyou (episodes seen: 4)

My first impression on Mushibugyou can be read here.

When I picked up Mushibugyou, I knew exactly what to expect and that expectation wasn't blown off. The action, battle scenes, comedy and even the characters were as I expected. What probably came off from me was how much I never expect myself to actually find this pretty watchable. I initially thought that I'd get bored half way or somewhere along an episode but it came out pretty decent and not exactly the boring-I'd-rather-stop-watching-this-for-awhile kind of thing.

YUYUSHIKI (episodes seen: 1)

In my Spring Anime List post I said I'd like to enjoy some random slice of life series. Something totally random and comedic. Something like GJ-bu or Acchi Kocchi or whatever else nice out there. Guess Yuyushiki isn't exactly as fun as those series. Yuyushiki is mostly about those girls randomly talking about everyday stuff mainly like Nichijou or Lucky Star but I kind of find Yuyushiki a bit boring. Okay. Not a bit boring but actually boring. AND 'Data Processing Club'? I've only seen ep1 and does that mean they're like a 'Google' school club? LOL. Either way, I'm placing this on-hold.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. (episodes seen: 4)

I honestly can't remember much about the first season so I wasn’t exactly excited for this second season. What I probably remember clearly from last season (and the 4-episode specials) was how much I like Kyousuke as an onii-chan (and as a character in Oreimo) and how much I like Nakamura Yuuichi as his VA. I marathon the first four episodes a couple days ago and it was definitely enjoyable to watch. There aren't anything notable for me yet and I'm not really joining the Kuroneko x Kirino fight out there 'cause I'm not really a fan of either of them. I'm just out here to watch Oreimo for its anime culture, see Akihabara in anime (LOL) and watch one of my fave anime onii-chan, Kyousuke :3

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (episodes seen: 2)

Hmmm… I've been reading good things about this series since it began. I've only seen two episodes and after those explanation regarding the whole 'game' and the killing tools, I'd have to agree that this is definitely a must to watch this season. Setting the interesting death game aside, I also like how the fight scene is shown. The match between Yamane and Kiri is kind of reminded me of how much I enjoyed watching BTOOOM!. Of course I don't think Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge is psychological, I'm merely talking about the excitement of that scene. That match. That death match. >:]

35-sai no Koukousei (episodes seen: 2)

My first jdrama for the season. Highschool life. Bullying. Mystery. Yes, mystery. 35-sai no Koukousei reminded me of Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, the live action one (haven't read the manga). Okay, they're entirely different stuff but I just had the same feel on them. Take note that 35-sai no Koukousei doesn't have romance and stuff like that. Basically, 35-sai no Koukousei takes on the topic of highschool bullying and tackles it in an interesting way by enrolling a 35-yr old lady named 'Baba Ayako' (Yonekura Ryoko) who's main goal is probably take down bullying through her own way. BUT the mystery I saw in here is Baba-san's real intention in enrolling and her relation with the chairman (or is it the board of education?). Either way, I'm pretty interested at how things will go. I'd like to see Baba-san take on those who bullies :3

Itazura na Kiss ～ Love in Tokyo (episodes seen: 2)

This is practically my first encounter with Itazura na Kiss. I haven't seen the first live action adaptation, other countries' version nor the anime adaptation. SO yeah, I'm practically new to this series. I'll enjoy it, dislike it or whatever else only based on what I'd see here and so far, I've only seen up to ep2 (each episode is like 45mins or something. Not really 20mins anime short so each episode is seriously packed).

Anyway, here's my impression so far, Kotoko (Honoka Miki) is quite an annoying character. She doesn't look good. Her talking is a bit annoying. AND her stupidness is annoying. Irie-kun (Furukawa Yuki) looks okay. Not exactly good looking or the bishounen type but Furukawa Yuki is doing a pretty nice job (I was personally surprised to see him act cold after seeing him in Rich Man Poor Woman). Kotoko's best friend, Jinko (Fujimoto Nanami) is certainly more annoying that Kotoko most especially after the study-photo incident. Then there's Ikezawa Kinnosuke (Yamada Yuki) who overreacts all the time. ohgod, this show is filled with annoying stuff -_- Final verdict: so much annoying stuff. I'm placing this on-hold. Don't know when I'll get back to this -_-

Kazoku Game (episodes seen: 1)

I don't exactly know what convinced me to watch this series. Guess this was just me looking for something that involves human drama that involves changing lives and such. Similar to 35-sai no Koukousei, Kazoku Game is simply tackling issues in school but not exactly centered in bullying. Heck it's not even centered in school. It's probably about life and family and relationships in general. The first episode (which is the only one subbed so far) is a pretty nice combination of comedy and seriousness. A mystery is also being opened up in here. Yoshimoto Koya (Sakurai Sho) is a home tutor and he's seriously, seriously weird. And the reasons for his action will definitely be unveiled later on in the series.

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Aku no Hana 04: I wonder what has gotten on Saeki's head.

2013-05-02T22:01:00.002+08:00

Looks like things are getting more interesting.

Saeki's actions in here seems kind of off from what I'm expecting. Okay, she's being the perfect girl out there and playing nice and all. But the big question for me is her sudden approach on Kasuga. Of all times, I don't understand her timing of approach. Kasuga gets rumor after defending Nakamura, he went out to recollect himself, she approaches him and say he's nice to defend her. AFTER HE BURIED HIS FACE ON HER CHEST! ohgod, I wonder what'll be the outcome of this date.

Anyway, I don't know if I've been stupid all this time but this episode kind of bothered me of the thought that somehow Kasuga can actually just forget all about Nakamura because she doesn't exactly have any proof that he stole Saeki's gym clothes. Really. All she's saying is that she's going to make his life miserable if he doesn't abide by their contract. He could just throw the evidence away and go back to living his life normally. But I guess the problem in here simply lies on Kasuga's guilt. By being a pure kid, all his reasoning on the matter of Saeki, Nakamura and Saeki's gym clothes have been washed away.

As for Nakamura, I honestly just can't understand what she's thinking. I'm not exactly sure if she's interested in Kasuga and she's simply tormenting his life for amusement. I don't know if her thoughts are being blurred by her twisted nature that she can't even see that Kasuga's not like her. I wonder what came into her head and thought about making Kasuga wear Saeki's clothes…

Karneval 04: oh Gareki you tsundere, you might not get another embrace offer from Yogi (well I kind of doubt that).

2013-05-01T21:18:00.000+08:00

Looks like we're digging on Gareki's background this time :3 (and no, I'm not into BL stuff)

As expected, Gareki falls under the oh-so typical background story with that one unfortunate event after the other. His comeback to the place he grew up in just opened up more mystery to Karneval as if we need more of them while Nai's own mystery hasn't been answered yet. The closest call would be that they are related.

Gareki's past, as I have mentioned, contained that typical trend of 'one unfortunate event after the other' thus developing the untrusting-look in his character. After being sold as a kid, beat up as he was transported, and taken care of by a very unfortunate yet nice lady, Gareki probably seen a lot of things in life. Their difficult living opened up to his career as a thief yet at the same time, Tsubaki (the one who took care of him) tried her best to provide for Gareki and her two siblings, Tsubame and Yotaka, which ended up being more of a trouble.

NOW let's talk about the flow of the story and how Karneval is holding up. Karneval started off pretty well with not much premise but did well to present the mystery of the story to make it interesting. Each episode seems consistent. It doesn't have much impact and still maintains its own balance of wacky comedy (brought to you by Yogi :3) and seriousness. The flow of events is pretty much okay but not very interesting for me good thing the cast (and probably the mystery on Nai) is stopping me from stalling this. Erisyuka's actions isn't much interesting. She seems more like meddling into Karoku's interests - Gareki.

Mushibugyou: your typical action-battle shounen with… seriously huge insects!

2013-04-30T22:52:00.000+08:00

I was thinking of what else I can watch this season while avoiding series that I'll most likely enjoy watching in marathon (e.g. Kakumeiki Valvrave, Suisei no Gargantia). I was eyeing on Mushibugyou because of… welll… the cast and it looks like it's going to be a long running shounen series so I might as well start early.

Mushibugyou is a typical battle shounen series that'll probably go around the typical stuff like lots of fighting awesome fight scenes, little drama, and typical shounen comedy (boob jokes, perverted-ness, side comments, comeback lines and such). SO what is Mushibugyou about? It's basically about Edo's very own shogun to protect the people from seriously huge insects which apparently is normal to them.

NOW let's introduce the cast starting with our leading guy voiced by Kenn namely Tsukishima Jinbei who took the invitation in place of his father. Yes, yes, typical main character guy. He's serious when needed but quite a light character. He's got a sad background (sad bg seems obligatory for any character :3) about his father's inability to appear for the invitation. Jinbei's got a hidden potential as a great samurai shown in how he fought that seriously huge spider in ep1.

Let me go through quickly on the other characters. Matsunohara Kotori (Miyano Mamoru) is the head of the Insect Magistrates or the so-called Mushibugyou (I believe). We never saw him fight so I'd like to see that later on in the series (and I see two swords there :3 must be a dual-wielder). There's Hibachi (Ookubo Rumi) who's a gunpowder specialist and looks more like a ninja to me. Then there's Koikawa Shingiku (Eguchi Takuya) who also looks like some dual-wielder samurai guy with that seriously smooth skills. Finally there's Ichinotani Tenma (Serizawa Yuu) who's an onmyodo. Aside from these 4 who's under the Insert Magistrates, there's also Oharu (Akesaka Satomi) who's more like the leading lady of the show and Mugai (Terashi Takuma) who'll probably be Junbei's figure. (Okay, this is probably my only first impression this season where I enumerated the characters :P)

Art-wise, Mushibugyou definitely doesn't go well on my type of art but it's not actually bad. I'd say that it's tolerable and their battle scenes can definitely make up for the few character designs that don't please me. Art isn't always the deciding factor, right? With Mushibugyou's typical shounen vibe, it'll definitely have its striking emotional moments, unforgettable comedic punch lines and jaw dropping fight scenes.

Mushibugyou is probably a pretty worthwhile series with its pretty interesting premise, nice cast and decent battle scenes. It's definitely not some grand series with some pretty big shot goal, Mushibugyou is a nice series to watch but not exactly something that will matter if you miss it. Maybe something to watch when you're waiting for all the other amazing series out there :3

Shingeki no Kyojin 04: it's payback time! or is it?

2013-04-29T19:33:00.000+08:00

I didn't expect Shingeki no Kyojin to not hold back at all.

Eren Jaeger has got to be my fave Kaji Yuji character now and Shingeki no Kyojin is definitely my fave Spring series this year. Eren, as a main character is pretty strong given his resolve and sticking to it as well as his growth throughout his training as a soldier. The flow of the story is being handled well with no time to spare for any pointless scenes. Shingeki no Kyojin is always on the move with every action and development dedicated to Eren and his possible teammates to kill those titans.

There're mainly to points that really captured me in this episode. The first one is Eren's unexpected encouragement speech after their graduation. While a number of trainees were probably up for the comfortable life inside the walls, Eren never backed away from his goal right from the very beginning. Never been discouraged by the fear of his experience nor the difficulty of the training. Eren said:

You're just giving up because you think you can't win? It's true. We've suffered only defeats so far. That's because we knew hardly anything about them! We can't defeat them using sheer numbers. We may have lost, but the knowledge we obtained from those battles is our guiding beacon of hope. Yet you'd discard the tactical progress bought by hundreds of thousands of sacrifices just to serve yourself up on a silver platter? You've got to be kidding me. I'll kill every last one of them and break free of these walls! That is my dream! Mankind hasn't lost everything yet!

Those words actually encouraged some of the tops trainees to enlist in the Recon Corps. I doubt there'll be many of them since it's probably the most terrifying path out there - actually facing the titans outside the walls is like suicide. But aside from the revenge that probably got stuck in Eren's head, his drive to live outside the walls is pushing him to end the never ending fear of the titans that resided in the minds of mankind.

hisashiburi Colossal Titan :3 We finally meet again.

The second point that captured my attention in this episode is the reappearance of the colossal titan right in front of Eren himself. Despite the terrifying the appearance of the titan right after their graduation, Eren was not covered by fear. Maybe for a second there. But this is what he was working hard for, right?

With how that cliffhanger just made me want for more. I'm really hating myself for watching this weekly 'cause the wait is such a torture (but definitely not as much as the torture Chihayafuru just gave -_- ohgod) Okay. That's the end of me blabbering about how much I'm actually liking Shingeki no Kyojin :3

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Free! PV: looks like we're going to see swimming in an entirely new light.

2013-04-27T16:24:00.002+08:00

Whatever the deal is with this gay looking series, I'm most likely going to watch it either way.

I think I've never heard of an anime about swimming before and all we've seen so far is some shitty fan service obligatory beach episodes on most slice of life (but is not limited to) series. Okay, I'm not saying that this one won't be a fan service-y series because just seeing how much publicity it had since it was just mentioned without any anime in mind, those fujoshi out there have probably scattered their BL fanarts all over the internet and shared their love for this series that hasn't even been animated.

Now those fujoshi can squeal all they want because this series looks more gay than Kimi to Boku. (not that I consider Kimi to Boku. gay or anything. HAHA. I absolutely love that show). With the given premise of this series, it's typically one of those all-boys slice of life series (based on that damn PV) but focusing on the sports particularly swimming as its story drive. Just like how K-ON! has music and Tsuritama has fishing. Or maybe how Kuroko no Basuke has basketball. I think that's a pretty good comparison there considering the fact that it's going to be centered on a group of boys in a sports club beating the hell out of their rivals and still look good for BL material. Only that it seems a bit funny since it's like seeing Houtaro (Hyouka), Mochizo (Tamako Market) and Yuuta (Chuu2byo) try to act… well… fan service-y…

It doesn't look like its going to be a grand series but KyoAni has definitely pulled a pretty interesting publicity in here. HAHAHA. Okay, maybe it's not their work but now that KyoAni has taken the attention of the community, I'm pretty interested to see the reaction of most people out there once this airs :3 but however this'll be received, I'd prefer KyoAni to have something like Hyouka.

~Oh and did I mentioned that the cast is pretty nice? :3

Karneval 03: Nai is really cute. Will Gareki have more embarrassing inner thoughts of Nai as a Niji?

2013-04-25T15:10:00.002+08:00

Looks like we're getting background on both Gareki and Nai simultaneously.

First off, Gareki'sbackground is practically what you'll call the typical route. He's a thief and he's doing it for someone. Or he's a thief and he's doing it because he was pushed through it by a certain event in his life. The woman that was showed in episode 1 is certainly closely related to him. However she died will probably be go over later. I hope.

The real focus of this episode is Nai's real nature. It's even funny how Gareki becomes a bit more comedic whenever he tries to digest the fact that Nai isn't actually how he looks right now. He's an animal. A rare one. Seriously? AND something that's really, really cute. Maybe that explains his cheap character. Or not. Definitely not, okay? There's probably more on Nai's character than being an experimental kid from an animal or something and maybe his relationship with Karoku will explain everything. But they are comparing Nai's body to a Varuga? I'm pretty interested at what's up with that.

Now speaking of Karoku, Nai's dream/communication with him is certainly suspicious. First of all, there's the term he used to call Nai, he said 'ore no musuko' which means 'my son' or so I think. Connecting through what happened in this episode, I'd say that Karoku has something to do about Nai's current human form or something. However Nai was created, experimented or formed, Karoku was the head of it. Secondly, Karoku told Nai to push Gareki away (ohgod, and he literally did). Is it to keep Gareki out of trouble or to keep Gareki from sneaking around Karoku's business with Nai? Either way, we're all pretty sure that Nai's relationship with Gareki will only continue to grow deeper throughout the series.

Finally, thecliffhanger is definitely interesting. It makes me wonder how they'll save Gareki when we're all pretty sure that Gareki will probably land on the hands of those Varuga-making-people. Will he meet Karoku there? :3

more screencaps here

Aku no Hana 03: Nope, he doesn't like her. It's probably the other way around.

2013-04-22T23:23:00.001+08:00

Only 'Probably' because that's the best possibility I can think of right now. I never read the manga and never will :3

On my last post of Aku no Hana, I focused on my thoughts on Kasuga's actions. This time around, I'd like to talk about Nakamura Sawa (Ise Mariya).

Last episode Nakamura went on about forming a contract with Kasuga since she's the only one who knows what he did. And what he did will be kept a secret (probably and hopefully) forever if he complies to her contract.

Of course we don't expect Kasuga to actually write a serious essay about what he felt when his face fell on Saeki's chest. He reactions were probably: ah, she smells good to wait, wtf is wrong with me to ah, now she hates me. But with Nakamura's distorted way of thinking, it makes me wonder what she actually went through if there really is any point talking about it.

I mean yes, we all know she's crazy and I'm kind of hoping that there's an actual meaning to why she's like this. Why she doesn't give any efforts to her studies. Why she simply accept her life of being a creep and an outcast. Okay, there's no point brooding about it but he can't just go okay everyone doesn't want to be with me, I'll act like a creep to let them acknowledge my presence or something like that. MY POINT IS I want to see why she's acting like a seriously distorted deviant.

Finally, I'd like to commend Aku no Hana for always having that interesting cliffhanger. Kasuga knows Nakamura's whereabouts when the stolen money was taken. He doesn't actually like her but he can't just accept everyone pointing fingers to people who doesn't have anything to do with it. He's a really nice kid too bad his classmates are so normal. HAHA. Now I'd like to see what's going on next :3

~on a side note is it just me or their library is seriously empty? @_@

anyway, I kind of like how I'm being a bit straight to the point this time around. I'll probably try to stick to this style than going over and over with senseless things :3

Arata Kangatari 02: so Arata and Hinohara can actually communicate with each other. At least that makes things a little better.

2013-04-17T20:31:00.001+08:00

Well at least we saw what's up with Arata.

It seems that things just piles up for Hinohara. He was betrayed by his so-called friend, sent into another world to be someone else, accused of being a murderer, chased by a long-haired guy with a seriously weird and powerful sword, was able to 'materialized' his own weird sword, had to stay the night at a cave, was chosen as a Shou, captured by long-haired guy and was finally sentenced to stay at some hell-like prison called Gatoya. AND he was also able to talk to Arata who was recognized as Hinohara and finally gets to know everything. Well that's it. That's what happened so far.

I'm kind of disappointed at how uninteresting things are going here. In fact, I'm not interested in Hinohara as a main character. Or maybe this is just me hating a really lame main character with that dreadful trust issue. Then there's Arata who looks comfortable in living in Hinohara's world. Their contact with each other would be very valuable in the progression of the story since he could also serve as Hinohara's guide in their world but I doubt that he'll be of much help when Hinohara arrives at Gayota. But guess there's nothing worry about since he's got his Hayagami with him as well as Kotoha who's probably there with a mission in mind. A mission to bring Hinohara out of Gayota or something…

The problem that rises in here this time around is the reason behind Hinohara's inability to materialize his Hayagami. There must be some kind of requirement in order to materialize it. Either way, it seems that Kikuri-Hime is there to back them up given the request she'll ask them. This'll probably be Hinohara's way out of Gayota or something that'll strength his ability to wield the Hayagami.

~on somefinal thoughts, it seems that Hinohara's past with Kadowaki is still hanging in the air. I hope that we can get around it soon…

How anime continues to encourage me.

2013-04-15T16:45:00.001+08:00

Go to college and find what you really want to do - Natsuiro Kiseki: 15-kaime no Natsuyasumi

Surprisingly that's what I exactly did when I went to college. At this point of my life, making such a decision made people question me why I made such a decision. Why only now when I only have one year to finish my current major? I hate answering that question. I hate being questioned to begin with. I make those decisions after thinking so much and there's no way they can pull me out of it.

In my last post of Aku no Hana I quickly went about coming across something in your life that will greatly change its course. Now let me blabber about one of my life's greatest twist. Of course for now it hasn't made my life anything so interesting but I'm pretty sure that a couple of months from now, I'll be facing this big change with mixed emotions of both fear and excitement.

Over the past four years, I was trying to finish my college major, Computer Engineering. It was something I chose myself but I lost interest and ever since my 2nd year in my university, I've been wishing to shift majors. It was only a couple of months ago when I was granted the opportunity to do so. At this point of my life is also when I found myself actually being encourage by the anime I've seen.

When my mother finally opened to me the choice of shifting majors, I was instantly filled with mixed emotions of whether going for it or not. It's true that it's something I've been wishing for but when it was finally possible to happen, I started getting cold feet. I started questioning the 'rightness' of this major for me. Aside from that, I was scared of leaving my comfort zone; the subjects I studies these past years and the people around me while I go through them. Probably the biggest hindrance for me in here was the deal of also transferring universities. It was a big choice for me. I had until the end of my last term (December) to fully make up my mind.

While working on projects, studying and taking my final exams, I continue to think of what's best for me. By the end of the term, I was still in confusion. I barely asked anyone for advice about it. Because they can talk all they want; give their own advices that are easier said than done when all the decision will solely fall down in my hands at the end. At the same time, I finished Lovely Complex whose final episode kind of hit me hard. In that final episode Otani told Risa, Don't worry about whether you're suited to it or not. Just decide that you like it and wanted to do it. Then draw forth your confidence and do it. Of course I didn't immediately had the reaction of nod-nod-I'll-do-that but rather I was more like hmmm that was interesting, that kind of hit me. I'll further think of what to do with that in mind. I'm not particularly good at anything. Heck I'm not even good at anything but I'm pretty sure that somehow along those lines, I'll be able to do something about it. Gotta remember self-confidence, hard work and luck, right?

Takagi from Bakuman. once said, I don't mind the regret if I fail in an attempt to achieve my dreams. What I don't want to regret is not chasing those dreams. At some point during my vacation, I came to the decision of actually transferring and shifting. It was a big decision that went through awfully a lot of thinking and re-thinking. It's a bit late to change courses in my life now (or maybe not really) but what I would always tell myself is that it's better that I choose something I would enjoy more despite the length it'll take rather than continue something I've lost interest to and regret not shifting once it's all over. I guess all it takes is a bit more courage(:

THE POINT IS anime has somehow influenced my life through their own little ways. Through those series I've seen, anime has been constantly encouraging me in life and continues to change me even just a little :D I guess that could also be the reason why I like slice of life and inspirational series so much(:

Aku no Hana 02: Kasuga is obviously a perverted creep for taking Saeki's clothes home.

2013-04-13T21:56:00.000+08:00

Aside from Aku no Hana's uneasy atmosphere, one of its greatest appeal is how natural everything seems to be.

Life is a bit boring at times and Kasuga, as I have mentioned last post, is your typical guy out there. Nothing special about him. But then, there are times that life gets a great twist which makes every single day a bit more interesting or bit more nerve wrecking than before. For Kasuga, his highschool life's biggest twist happened when he picked up the pouch where Saeki's gym clothes are and panicked when he heard something from the door. He acted on impulse.

He wasn't stealing it as he had said. I believe him. He was surprised at what he heard from outside so he suddenly took off with the clothes hidden under his uniform as to not let anyone see what he has taken (obviously). He took it because… he wanted to… further take hold on something that belongs to Saeki and not let others see him? He's no stalker. Not yet. And he won't be base on his character. He took it because… he can't talk to her. He's not close to her and there's no way he could probably be.

Now for the part that we've all been waiting for, the forming of their contract. Their first encounter honestly made me laugh. It felt as if I was watching some kind of live action and the guy runs off leaving his bicycle. He freaked out. He panicked. Or whatever. He was funny. The animation was fnny. But that certainly seriously made him think about confessing. Better confessed than be revealed by the class creep, huh? If he had the guts, that is. SINCE he run away from her, all she was left to do was to give him a message so that they can meet and blackmail him along the way. You know that's where this is going, right? Well obviously.

The moment Nakamura goes on with the contract, I just knew that something is bound to happen. Then Saeki comes to the scene. What was he suppose to tell her? That he took her gym clothes by 'accident' and was too ashamed to return it 'cause he'll be labeled as a pervert for the rest of his highschool life (not that its anything exciting for him)? Okay, that was his chance but it was easier said than done. Nakamura pushes him and his face falls on Saeki's chest. Now that's bound to make next episode a bit more interesting. He'll just have to write an essay about it, right? Now let's see what he'll be doing :3

Okay. I'm just blabbering but whatever. I'm excited to see how things will go. How his 'essay' will be. And how Saeki will see him the next day :3

On some side note, I'd like to give props to the nice monologue by Kasuga's noob voice actor, Ueda Shinichirou. I honestly like he sound so natural in here. Okay, maybe he isn't giving much effort on it but whatever. I just might look forward to more of his narrating next time. And I'm pretty sure that he'll have more room for improvements (but I doubt he'll be anything as amazing as Kamiya Hiroshi).

Karneval 02: I guess Circus really is a circus.

2013-04-13T15:15:00.000+08:00

Looks like Karneval will never fail to look as fancy and flashy as the first episode.

Similar to how Karneval started, this second episode was able to successfully follow up its flashy shounen style. The introduction of Yogi (Miyano Mamoru) finally gave Karneval a lighter feel to the series after those serious fight scenes.

Yogi introduceshimself as 'Filled with the power of man's spirit! I'm the Sparkling Prince who makes your heart throb! The Second Ship Fighter of the National Defense Organization, Circus, Yogi!' I can't stop myself from laughing there. Mamo-chan's crazy characters are seriously the best. With all the seriousness going around the series, I'm pretty glad that Mamo-chan's the one playing the comic relief character here :3 And his Nyanperona mascot really fits Yogi. HAHAHA.

Anyway, looks like Circus wasn't called 'Circus' for nothing. They are doing those acrobats and other flashy things to entertain people. It's more like a façade of what they're doing. Well not that people don't know what they are doing. It seems to me that the public actually knows their real business. So what is Circus really after? As what Hirato had mentioned, Circus's job is to maintain order but they specifically go after 'special crimes'. Circus is after 'monsters' like Mine (the mosnter from ep1). Specifically they are after this organization called Evolution who created these monsters like Mine or Varuga, as they called it.

With all that said, I'm pretty sure that we're all staring at the captured old CEO last episode and his second in command, I assume, who is voiced by Suwabe Junichi. Aside from Hirato, as obvious as it seems, they have also taken an interest on Nai given how he has taken a hold of Circus's old ID. More importantly, the big question in here is Karoku's involvement in all of these. Why is he with the CEO's daughter, Erisyuka (Satou Satomi)? AND how can Nai hear Karoku? Is it through the bracelet? Well that's most likely it. But for now, what I'd like to know is Karoku's reason for being with Erisyuka and how did things ended up like this. I mean what exactly happened to him back them?

more screencaps here.

Aku no Hana: disturbingly interesting

2013-04-12T00:40:00.001+08:00

Well that wasn't as bad as what others have been saying. The art, I mean.

Aku no Hana sure knows how to actually show a real everyday life through Kasuga Takao (Ueda Shinichirou). There haven't really been much going on in here yet I was never bored even for a second. Maybe all this episode is pointing is that Kasuga is just like everyone else. He's your typical guy who gets study problems, has a typical book reading hobby and secretly likes someone (and that someone is probably the girl every other guy likes as well. The 'perfect' type of girl).

Aside from Kasuga, we also get a glimpse of Saeki Nanako (Hikasa Yoko), the perfect girl Kasuga likes. She's got good grades, looks and friends. She's popular. On the other end, there's the friendless and creepy (as Kasuga's friend had said) Nakamura Sawa (Ise Mariya) who purposely trash talked their teacher. The way she looks at him really just makes her the perfect disturbing character in here.

The slow pacing of this opening episode really works in pretty well. It's not the slow paced boring kind of thing despite how it's all narration and everyday life of Kasuga. Of course we also get to hear is thoughts about Saeki. The cliffhanger sure works in pretty well but not that type that will make you scream 'what's going to happen next!?' rather it's the type where you'll go 'how will they form their so-called contract?' or 'how will Nakamura approach Kasuga?'. Those are probably the questions that goes around for those who doesn't read the manga but for those who have been reading it, they might have been going around how it'll be done in here. What'll be the look on Kasuga's face when Nakamura talks to him or something. But in my point of view, Aku no Hana was able to have a pretty interesting opening episode.

Now let's talk about this so-called rotoscoping. I don't want to go into technicalities so I'm not going to search for any definition or explanation. First of all, let's talk about the background. It's definitely not as dark looking as Another (okay, you can hate me all you want but that's the first thing I remembered) but it has the similar style and vibes. But the difference is that Aku no Hana knows how to keep up with the atmosphere adding the music and the more realistic look on the surroundings. As for the character designs, I guess they aren't your typical 'anime' style but this designs does fits the disturbing atmosphere that Aku no Hana would like to show. I'm not familiar with the material itself but I've head that it's the disturbing type of series that will keep you wanting of its well… disturbing-ness…

To wrap this post up, I'd say that Aku no Hana is a really great additional to the Spring 2013 line up. It's one of the season's worth-watching series. For those who probably can't stand the art (because for some reasons, I wasn't disturb by it. HAHAHA), get used to it :3

Shingeki no Kyojin: outstanding first episode, will Production I.G be able to keep this up?

2013-04-11T16:38:00.003+08:00

Not to my surprise, Shingeki no Kyojin started off with a really outstanding opening episode. The challenge here now is how it keep its momentum up high.

What I immediately noticed from Shingeki no Kyojin is the villagers' lack of sense of danger. Despite how the 50meters wall was able to keep everyone alive for years, it's a surprising idea how even the guards seem lax on their job. I guess I'll be siding with Eren (Yuki Kaji) and Armin's (Inoue Marina) belief here. Isn't it just right to think that their lives must not be limited to that walls that keeps them in safety. Moreover, isn't it wrong to think that the titans can never get break their wall? Being surrounded by those titans for years, everyday can always feel like anything can happen - like everyday is a big question of whether the titans will be able to break in or not.

With an opening episode as striking as this, it's no doubt that this series will be one hell of a drama series. I'm really eyeing on Yuki Kaji on giving another outstanding performance on Eren here. I'm seeing interesting revenge thoughts from Eren here along with all the people he'll be teaming up in the Legion (was it?). I still don't see anything interesting from Armin aside from being in the same curiosity and mindset as Eren. As for Mikasa (Ishikawa Yui), seeing the death of Eren's mother must have given her the reason to fight as well. Even though she has been stopping Eren from joining the Legion, this horrifying event will probably push her to joining as well and fight for all the people that died from the Eoten's attack.

The question now here is, will Production I.G together with director Araki Tetsurou be able to keep each episode if not better, on par with this one? Taking another look at what Araki-san has done, I see Guilty Crown, Highschool of the Dead and Death Note as series I can still remember quite well. Admittedly, Death Note's adaptation was undeniably good. It wasn't really great yet not really bad either. As for Guilty Crown and HoTD which both started well but weren't able keep up make me worried. With that in mind, I'd still like to enjoy Shingeki no Kyojin since it was off to a good start. I'll just be here crossing my fingers to it won't be bad pass the second half.

Visually, Shingeki no Kyojin isn't the most beautiful this season (Devil Survivor 2 is seriously outstanding in this category) but its style definitely fits the series well. The art and animation style practically adds up to the horrifying atmosphere it has created. The designs of the titans has got to be very interesting. Their skinless body seriously adds up to their fearsome characters.

Overall, Shingeki no Kyojin has definitely lived up for all the hyped that has been placed on it. The overall atmosphere of the series was really great topped with Kaji's voice acting and that pretty nice art. I guess you can call Shingeki no Kyojin the series that everyone should be watching.

Arata Kangatari: it sucks to be pulled in to a world where you're suddenly a big time criminal.

2013-04-10T19:10:00.003+08:00

Arata Kangatari's opening episode is disappointingly not that interesting.

It pains to see a series I look forward to fail (or not entirely) to impress me with its opening episode. Arata Kangatari's art isn't as good as I expected (or as I have wished), Hinohara Arata isn't a character I care about despite his background and the cliffhanger isn't that strong (okay fine, it wasn't really much of a cliffhanger at all). But despite those complains, this first episode of Arata Kangatari definitely made me pose some questions which would at least keep me watching (aside from the fact that Okamono Nobuhiko's voicing Hinohara Arata).

Arata Kangatari opens with the quick look on Hinohara Arata's (Okamoto Nobuhiko) background. He's a highschool student who's athletic yet bullied. On the other side of the story, there's Arata (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) who's supposed to pretend as a girl and play the role of the next 'Hime-ou'. Unfortunately shit happens so when the ceremony for Arata and Kikuri-hime (Yamamura Hibiku), the current Hime-ou, started, the 12 Shinsho began their revolution. Kannagi (Ono Yuuki), one of the 12 Shinsho attacked Kikuri-hime which put a stopped to the ceremony and blamed it all to the cross-dressing Arata. With Arata accused for the death of Kikuri-hime, he ran towards Kando Forest in panic. In another world, after Hinohara (let's call the HS Arata Hinohara as to avoid confusion) witness his so-called friend say that they were never friends to begin with, he wished himself to disappear. Taking the effect of the Kando Forest, Arata and Hinohara's lives exchanged places, thus Hinohara's adventure begins. But what happens to Arata?

It's a letdown to see how Hinohara's character isn't as sympathizing as he should be. He developed trust problems because of his so-called friend which probably serves as the strength for him to have the guts to face Kannagi. It's no surprise that Hinohara had the ability to use Hime Clan's Hayagami since he's the main character after all but it was quite surprising that even though he's not originally from their world, he was able to do so. I guess it all comes down to the world's acceptance of Hinohara taking the place of Arata.

This first episode may not really be as exciting as the other series that premiered, as I have mentioned, yet Arata Kangatari successfully posed in some interesting events to look forward to in the series. The one thing that came to my mind is what's going to happen to Arata and how he'll face Hinohara's world; add to that the suspicious bully Kadowaki Masato (Kimura Ryouhei). As for Hinohara, this new problem he has in his hands is surely a big one and now that he has successfully materialized a Hayagami, Kannagi will definitely not just let him off the hook.

All in all, Arata Kangatari started off pretty decent. It still has room for improvements and I'll definitely be looking forward to that. I can definitely take on the low quality art but if the story continues to be uninteresting I might stall this and finish it when I feel like it.

Winter 2013 Final Impressions.

2013-04-09T23:25:00.000+08:00

It's a bit disappointing how 2013 started off pretty weak.

This year's winter series offered a wide range of series which didn't fully interest me but they turned out more decent than I expected. I guess I was just overthrown by my initial outlook. The carry-over series from fall were a great life saver.

I don't particularly have any top picks for the season but some series did surprised me a bit. For winter 2013 series, I'd say that I was pretty impressed at Love Live!: School Idol Project, Mondaiji-tachi ga isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? and Tamako Market. All of these series had those low expectations on my first look most especially Love Live! since the first episode kind of reminded me of TARI TARI in a bad way. Tamako Market and Mondaiji-tachi instantly piqued my interest right from the first episodes while Love Live! was a bit boring but eventually becomes enjoyable as episodes go on.

The carry-over series from fall 2012 as well as the multi-cours series HUNTER x HUNTER and Uchuu Kyoudai made winter a great season. HUNTER x HUNTER's Greed Island arc turned out really interesting (and I thought that the Phantom Troupe arc was the best one out there). But fall series carry-overs weren't really all great since Robotics;Notes have clearly shown how uninteresting it really is past the second-half (and no, I haven't written my thoughts on it since I haven't finished it) but I think that we're all thrown by the comparison between R;N and Steins;Gate since the latter was really amazing that R;N wasn't able to keep up and please every fans of S;G.

Now, let me go through my quick thoughts after finishing the series I watched for winter. These series are arranged according to when I finished them but Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Gj-bu, AKB0048 and Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun weren't able to get some quick final impression.

Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?

I honestly thought that Mondaiji-tachi is a pointless and fanservice-y type of series but I was stand corrected. I honestly wished that this could have been a longer series. Each episode would always go down to business and would always end up being entertaining as it is. With a 10-episode run, it's a real letdown to see this end up in something that never really showed their community actually regaining their flag or name. Character-wise, I'd say that their development weren't satisfying particularly I wanted to know more about Sakamaki Izayoi (Asanuma Shintaro) since the real nature of his gift was never really revealed. With regards to art and animation, no complains in there. Mondaiji-tachi's animation was definitely great topped with those really nice character designs and decent art.

All in all, Mondaiji-tachi is a pretty decent series with an ending very open for a second season which is something I'm really hoping for :D It's a recommended series for those who likes their fantasy series entertaining enough without the occasional ecchi scenes :3

Yama no Susume

Yama no Susume is basically about girls climbing mountains and having fun along the way with some quick mountain climbing knowhow. It was fun to watch at times with its light and warm atmosphere; yet at the same time, this light-hearted atmosphere would make me feel bored which made me glad that it's only 3mins short. I guess I can all blame it to my lack of interest in girls doing what they always do or girls trying to do fun things and tries to be cute along the way.

PSYCHO-PASS

PSYCHO-PASS ended its run well but not entirely something that awed me. It's no doubt that the series had its great plot twists, intense scenes, interesting message but its overall impact to me isn't really something that would make me want more of it. I'm pretty sure that the outcome of their hunt for Makishima Shogo (Sakurai Takahiro) was very predictable but it still worked out pretty well. The Sybil System is a pretty interesting element of the series but its idea won't be successful without the help of characters such as Makishima, Kougami Shinya (Seki Tomokazu) and Tsunemori Akane (Hanazawa Kana) who each had their own views of what or how the system should be. In a series like this, I'd say that Urobuchi Gen's greatest strength are the dialogues with a couple of quotes here and there which always kept me on my seat making sure I catch everything their saying. Although PSYCHO-PASS is not really a series I'll re-watch over and over, it'll definitely be one of the anime series I won't forget easily.

Cuticle Tantei Inaba

Cuticle Tantei Inaba is like any other gag series out there although it did gave some effort of coming up with a mystery-like plot which I can't really decide whether it's a good or a bad thing. After seeing the first episode of Cuticle Tantei Inaba, I just knew what to expect from this series. Similar to other comedy-shounen series with actual plots, Cuticle Tantei Inaba pulled out a half-serious arc (Yes. Half serious) and I personally think it turned out okay. Despite being a comedy-centered series, I actually liked their half-serious arc and surprised at myself at how I didn't get bored at it.

Cuticle Tantei Inaba is certainly a fun series to watch. I'm probably ready to re-watch it any time. But it's definitely not for someone who wants some serious plot because this series doesn't take itself seriously with almost each episode ending the same way - Don Valentino always getting away with things. Maybe if I'm going to make a quick description, Cuticle Tantei Inaba's comedy style is like some typical comedy cartoon out there with the hero chasing a villain in a funny way.

~my full final impression can be read here.

Tamako Market

The reason why I never watched Tamako Market at the beginning of the season was because of the idea that it came from the same makers as K-ON! which kind of bored the hell out of me (but I still managed to finish it until 2nd season :P). But you see, despite how Tamako Market had the similar character-feel as K-ON!, Tamako Market became more enjoyable. I really like how Tamako Market opened up. It had a really nice and a bit flashy feel to it with how the shopping district was shown - the matsuri-feeling of it. Dera is certainly a fun character to watch throughout the series and Tamako is one of the most loveable characters this season. Even though I'm no moe-character fan, I definitely liked her :3 What only disappointed me in Tamako Market is how the ending lacked impact. I don't know what more I'd like to see in the ending but it definitely isn't something that I'd remember strongly once this year ends. But overall, Tamako Market is definitely KyoAni's typical fun-moe series.

Mangirl!

Regardless of what others have been saying about Mangirl!, I have admit that I actually enjoy watching this series. Unlike Bakuman. which basically focuses on hard-work, friendship and victory (that's JUMP for you! HA!), Mangirl! simply goes around being silly yet somehow being educational in terms of their premise. With a quick 3mins per episode, it gave a nice overview of how a manga magazine is being done :3 And at the end of it, I'm looking forward to watch more of this series.

AMNESIA

AMNESIA's execution kind of reminded me of last Summer's Arcana Famiglia carrying that interesting premise and ending up being quite an annoying. I guess there really is nothing to expect from an anime based on an otome game. Seriously.

The best thing AMNESIA probably did successfully was the merging of all routes. The sequence of the stories also worked well as it gives a pretty nice development on the heroine's decisions but as for her character, she was barely good enough given her amnesia being the biggest obstacle in her characterization. Setting the heroine aside, the different routes had their own strengths and weaknesses and as the series progresses, it's a good thing that each route becomes better than the previous one (excluding Ikki's route, I guess. It was just the worst). Overall, AMNESIA is predictably a series not worth the time. Its opening episode worked itself pretty well as it gave a pretty interesting premise; continued its run in a mediocre manner with one guy after the other; and finally ending it with a decent arc but poor execution.

~my series review can be read here.

Zetsuen no Tempest: Civilization Blaster

Zetsuen no Tempest is one of the series I looked forward to the most last Fall season. I'm not entirely sure if it was just me but since BONES was also handling this series, I kind of got a bit worked up since I liked how both GOSICK and UN-GO turned out. Seeing how those two gives off the same aura as Zetsuen, I believed that BONES can give justice to Zetsuen. And with just how it ended in a predictably happy ending for everyone, it left a mark to me in which will surely push me to re-watch this series one of these days.

I kind of hated myself for stalling Zetsuen around 5 episodes after starting it. The pacing kind of ticked me off and I was in a bit of the impression that Mahiro (Toyonaga Toshiyuki) and Yoshino (Uchiyama Kouki) would be running off from Samon 's (Koyama Rikiya) team all the way until the end. But by the time I reached the part where Yoshino and Mahiro finally talked to Samon, I just knew that I had to keep my eyes on this one. I barely cared about the Shakespearian dialogues after a couple of episodes. I think that one of the best things I like about this series are the characters, particularly the main characters composing of Mahiro, Yoshino, Aika (Hanazawa Kana) and Hakaze (Sawashiro Miyuki).

On a final note, I really loved the main cast on this one. HanaKana's role as Aika and Miyuki's role as Hakaze left a mark on me and both definitely became memorable roles for me - both in terms of characters and their voicing. Setting aside my two fave female voice actors, I'd say that Toyonaga Toshiyuki became the voice actor I loved in here. I only remembered him as Ryuugamine Mikado (DURARARA!!) and Matsuoka Shun (Kimi to Boku.) carrying that really gentle voice which excelled in soothing narrations and after hearing him as Mahiro here in Zetsuen, I'd say that I'd like him to get more of those aggressive roles :3

Ixion Saga DT

As I have mentioned before in my first impression on Ixion Saga DT, it's greatest strength is its comedy. Director Takamatsu Shinji (Gintama) is pretty dependable in this kind of comedy style but just like how I see Gintama, Ixion Saga DT also had its inconsistencies in its comedy delivery. Story-wise, there's honestly nothing to expect here (add to that the fact that they just introduced their 'supposed to be goal' around 5 episodes before it ends) and character development is pretty minimal since they focus mainly on character comedy. Eguchi Takuya certainly fits the straight man character in a comedy series so I'd like to see more of that and Fukuyama Jun definitely made Mariandale a really fun character to watch. Kamiya Hiroshi playing a serious-comedy type of character is pretty much like him since straight up comedy doesn't seem like his best role out there (or at least not really something I can see).

All in all, Ixion Saga DT is a fun series to watch with all sorts of comedy here and there but would go totally boring at times with its failed and repetitive scenes and punch lines. It's probably a decent series for those who enjoys stuff like Gintama, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou and the likes.

Love Live! School Idol Project

Love Live! started off pretty weak for me, as I've written in my first impression post since it reminded me of last Summer's TARI TARI with the school shutting down, singing as amateurs and those three main characters Honoka, Umi and Kotori seem like Konatsu, Wakana and Sawa respectively. But you see Love Live! is more than just girls trying to look professional with their amateur knowledge and skills. Although Love Live! gave me the atmosphere of TARI TARI, unlike P. A. Works' forced drama, Love Live! had those light hearted drama, cute and non-bashing characters and those nice CGI (which I honestly thought will be bad).

As my overall impression on Love Live!, I'd say that it's more of a so-so series for me. The characters aren't entirely my type and this kind of series with lots of girls going around isn't entirely my style but Love Live! does work as a pretty decent slice of life series one of those with characters seriously trying to achieve something and developing themselves.

Bakuman. 3

THAT ENDING WAS JUST AMAZING!

The third season of Bakuman. became the weakest one for me since the second half had that obviously rushed pacing but J.C. Staff gave justice for its ending. It's something not easy to forget and I'm pretty positive that it strike through every manga reader out there with that epilogue.

This last season bundled everything from the PCP-arc, to the Reversi-arc until Miho's arc which is why it came out so rushed. Despite how it still had the similar atmosphere from the previous seasons, it didn't moved me as much as before but I have to honestly admit that I liked Miho's seiyuu arc. The episodes towards the end were really great that it didn't matter so much to me that they kind of rushed past the second half. The second Nanamine-arc that they cut was a good decision and I was actually hoping that they'd do that :3 that part of the series was pretty pointless and by taking it off in the adaptation, they were able to make a better ending for Nanamine at the epilogue(:

All in all, Bakuman. ended successfully with that very memorable epilogue. With 75 episodes all in all, Bakuman is definitely one of the most unforgettable, inspiring, moving and enjoyable series I've seen. I'll definitely re-watch the entire series a couple of weeks from now :3

Girls und Panzer

It's probably my low expectations which made me appreciate and love this series so much. I honestly thought that Girls und Panzer will be like any other all-girls series out there with an all moe cast and doing nothing else but try to be cute but I was stand corrected. Instead of being a totally senseless series, Girls und Panzer showed itself to be worthy of being called a good series with its objective seriously laid down and shown throughout its run. Girls und Panzer had a consistent run with all those cute and fun characters, nice match music, and decent art and animation.

The finale of Girls und Panzer which aired this Winter was truly worth the wait. The intense match between Oarai Girls Academy and Black Forest Peak was something I never expected. That handicap match for Oarai as well as Nishizumi's eagerness to help out one of their teammates panzer out of the water and still winning the match under their favor was very expected but some part of me kind of wished that Black Forest Peak won. But that cannot happen right? Since it won't be a happy ending and no one certainly likes that. But I think that the greatest reason why I actually liked how Girls und Panzer ended despite how cliché it was is because I ended up caring about the characters throughout the series (without even realizing it myself).

Karneval: interesting story, flawless fight scenes, beautiful characters, outstanding cast, stunning art. What more should I ask for?

2013-04-08T20:55:00.001+08:00

Okay that was too much praise I guess I could be wrong as well but that first episode was really worthwhile(:

While everyone else is waiting for Shingeki no Kyojin and Suisei no Gargantia, I was eagerly waiting for Karneval. With those nice looking characters and wonderful set of voice actors, I decided to read the first couple of chapters of Karneval and it was quite interesting. Since manga and anime adaptation are sometimes conflicting, I decided not to go on reading the manga because it might spoil some things for me and lessen my enjoyment in watching this series.

To my expectations, Karneval certainly didn't let me down with its action pack first episode with the introduction of Nai (Shimono Hiro), Gareki (Kamiya Hiroshi), Tsukumo (Endou Aya) and Hirato (Ono Daisuke). I really like the opening scene of Nai and Karoku (Hoshi Souichirou). Their relationship will probably one of the key points in this series since Nai is in search for Karoku to begin with.

Aside from Hirato's mention of Circus being the National Defense Organization, no details has been mention yet. What's pretty clear in here has got to be that Circus is dealing with no ordinary criminals given their abilities. I'm hoping that we'll get a clear idea of Circus' business next episode (and I'm pretty excited to see Mamo-chan's character as well :3) as well as the deal with the guy hanging around with the old man. I have a pretty nice hunch that they will be the main antagonist of the series.

Shimono Hiro as Nai really works quite well. After hearing him play those I'm-always-getting-beat-up-or-teased type of role, he really fits Nai'sinnocent role nicely. Gareki, on the other hand, is a pretty interesting character just seeing how he decided to take in Nai. Of course he could be after Nai's Circus bracelet but I'm pretty sure that there will be some development soon. A plain thief with some pretty amazing escape moves like Gareki who's ready to take advantage and an innocent (probably) gullible young boy like Nai is a pretty interest pair. With Nai's interesting hearing ability (he should start playing Karuta. LOL. Chihayafuru reference here.), Hirato has taken an interest in him which will probably be the main reason of Nai and Gareki's involvement in Circus :3

Given it's title Karneval, I'm pretty sure that most viewers were looking forward to those fancy and flashy art but instead Karneval has delivered a shounen-like battlescenes and beautiful characters. For some reasons (probably it's the title) I kind of remembered Manglobe's previous series Deadman Wonderland and I'm really, really crossing my fingers that Karneval won't have the same adaptation failure. Aside from Karneval's beautiful characters, the battle/fight scenes are something to look at. Although they're not really HUNTER x HUNTER-like-exciting, their nice and quick moves are enough to make me stare at the screen and forget everything else around me.

All in all, Karneval has really proven itself (to me) worth watching. Being the series I looked forward to the most this season, I'm glad that Karneval didn't failed my expectations and brought a nicely paced opening episode with those fabulous looking characters in a shounen-like series. Now I really can't wait for the next episode. Yogi will be introduced :3

more screencaps here.

Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 2000%: That opening performance was really embarrassing to watch.

2013-04-04T23:19:00.001+08:00

I was really hoping that Karneval will be my first series for the season but sadly not even the raw is out yet. I was battling myself if I should start this one or what…

Anyway, after watching this first episode I fully understand why it has that 'comedy' tag in the genre :3

I was honesty blinded by all the singing and the nice voice acting from last season I barely remember stuff there. BUT the opening of this second season of UtaPri made me remember why it was funny. Setting aside Shimono Hiro's and Terashima Takuma's fun characters, STARISH's opening performance seriously made me laugh. I was laughing all the way 'cause they all look so… gay, it was embarrassing to watch (≧∇≦)>

Okay. Now I'm going serious mode (then fangirling mode later :3).

This second season starts off with everyone's usual self as they welcome Nanami Haruka (Sawashiro Miyuki), our favorite golden-eyed-heroine to their Masters Class. From where the first season left off, STARISH's debut, we continue the story with each of the male lead improving themselves to professional level idols. Each pair of STARISH is assigned to their very own professional idol senpai who's suppose to teach them what they need to know to become professional idols.

Aside from the returning cast which was probably the reason we're still watching, three of the four new characters were finally introduced as the senpai of the main cast. The most noticeable among the three (for me) was Kurosaki Ranmaru (Suzuki Tatsuhisa). His character basically screams bad news for both Hijikawa Masato (Suzumura Kenichi) and Jinguuji Ren (Suwabe Junichi). But both of them doesn't really care about Ranmaru's arrogant character. In fact, Jinguuji seems more than ready to face him head on.

The next senpai that caught my attention is Mikaze Ai who's voiced by Aoi Shouta who also voiced Asaba Yuki's (Kimi to Boku.) kouhai. What I noticed about him is how he also looks a bit arrogant like Ranmaru but at the same time fun seeing how he approached Kurusu Shou (Shimono Hiro) and made that funny height-statement-joke. On a side note his voice kind of sound feminine (ーー;). I'm not happy about it.

The third senpai introduced is for Ittoki Ottoya (Terashi Takuma) and Ichinose Tokiya (Miyano Mamoru). Kotobuki Reiji voiced by Makaino Koji's (Bakuman.) voice actor, Morikubo Showtaro, isn't anything better than the previous two in terms of voice and singing.

Finally there's an unnamed member of their group (I forgot what they were called by I did saw their name on a poster in the anime at the beginning), Camus (Maeno Tomoaki), who apparently joined the other three in their performance. Whoever he is and what's up with his character, I'm pretty sure that it'll be revealed a couple of episodes from now (who knows, it might be next episode :P).

Tokiya's doing a bit of comedy this season :3

Now let's go on fangirling over characters and voice actors.

First off, I'm really glad to see Tokiya's character lighter than before. He was all snobbish last season and seeing him make those chibi-comedy face was a nice touch. Mamo-chan's voice is a nice as ever that it doesn't even matter if he's doing a serious or comedy character at all (but I'm sure that I'll like him as Yogi in Karneval more). Terashima's voice as Ittoki is really nice to hear again. Ittoki's my fave Terashima character and his character in UtaPri is probably one of my fave as well being the comedy relief together with Shou. Then there's the pair of Shou and Natsuki who's probably the most amusing pair out there given Natsuki's case and Shimono Hiro's voice acting :3 After tuning in to GJ-bu last Winter, I got used to hearing Shimono talk like he's always being teased which perfectly fits Shou's character. HAHA.

On a side note, I'm kind of wondering why Cecil's (Toriumi Kousuke) a main character in here when he doesn't even have any involvement in the story (ーー;). AND did you notice that? He's got himself those cheaper versions of Kirara (AKB0048 reference) - his fireflies. LOL

All in all, UtaPri's second season is nothing different from season one. So viewers of season one will definitely enjoy this one. The performances in here are the same as ever. It's fancy a little bit flashy (kind of like AKB0048 but not quite).

AMNESIA: turned out more decent than I expected.

2013-04-01T16:42:00.002+08:00

AMNESIA's execution kind of reminded me of last Summer's Arcana Famiglia carrying that interesting premise and ending up being quite an annoying series. I guess there really is nothing to expect from an anime based on an otome game. Seriously.

The best thing AMNESIA probably did successfully was the merging of all routes. The sequence of the story also worked well as it gives a pretty nice development on the heroine's decisions. But for her overall character, she was barely good enough given her amnesia being the biggest obstacle in her personality development.

Setting the heroine aside, the different routes had their own strengths and weaknesses and as the series progresses, it's a good thing that each route becomes better than the previous one (excluding Ikki's route, I guess. It was just the worst for me). The series didn't had much character development giving only a couple of episodes each character. The change in their positions each arc is the reason for this which makes it a bit understandable. The only characters who were retained throughout the series was the heroine, Orion and Ukyo and all of which were pretty decent characters.

As I have mentioned earlier, despite how the heroine seems a bit weak for a main character, her development went on pretty smooth. The constant changes of the worlds she's in developed her decision making throughout the series as she tries to figure out the situations in each world she ends up. As for Orion, aside from trying to explain the situation to the heroine at earlier episodes, his character didn't really matter much in the series but the heroine pointed out at the end that he's mostly her source of encouragement. I guess that makes him a bit useful at the end :P Finally for Ukyo, his character was not fully explained until the end of the series since he was the final arc and the final guy the heroine dealt with although his constant appearances in the previous arcs were pretty interesting and very well build his presence in the series as it established things in his character.

The art of the series is pretty decent as expected from Brain's Base although dark art isn't really something I'd like to see from them, it's basically just the nature of the series itself. Aside from the characters' lack of costume change (LOL), there are scenes wherein you'd feel that AMNESIA really came from an otome game (not that I've played that kind of game).

All in all, AMNESIA is predictably a series not worth the time. Its opening episode worked itself pretty well as it gave a pretty interesting premise; continued its run in a mediocre manner with one guy after the other; and finally ending it with a decent arc but poor execution.

Cuticle Tantei Inaba: Just your typical comedy series with one punch line after another. Nothing new.

2013-03-25T21:18:00.001+08:00

Cuticle Tantei Inaba has truly proven itself to be a senselessly funny series hiding in a serious-looking plot. Or maybe it was just me thinking that it would be serious :P

The first episode practically showed what we're suppose to expect from this series. The story seems pretty mess up yet at the same time hilarious. Inaba Hiroshi (Suwabe Junichi) used to work with the police with Ogino Kuniharu (Morikawa Toshiyuki). He has a special ability to gain information about a person by simply tasting their hair and other more abilities that involves hair. Currently, Inaba is a private detective together with his two assistants, Nozaki Kei (Iruno Miyu) and Sasaki Yuuta (Shimoda Asami) in order to find his brother, Haruka (Saiga Mitsuki). He was hired by the police in order to catch Don Valentino (Ookawa Tooru), a goat who has the ability to make counterfeit money by chewing the real one.

Cuticle Tantei Inaba's strength has got to be its ability to pull off the most predictable punch lines in the most predictable times and still be funny. But you see, comedy value varies from person to person so I personally don't know what others would feel.

and you see, their comedy is always like this.

Just like most comedy series out there, Cuticle Tantei Inaba's comedy is mostly character-driven and is subjected to situations which makes it repetitive at times. But unlike Ixion Saga DT, I never got tired of Cuticle Tantei Inaba even in their serious moments (but Ixion Saga doesn't have serious moments which kills the comparison -_-). Maybe Cuticle Tantei Inaba's punch-line comedy can be compared to Gintama (which is probably more parody-based comedy than character-based) or Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (which is a four-panel slice of life series).

Cuticle Tantei Inaba's characters spell typical comedy act characters headed by Inaba's team of Inaba being the comedy source, Yuuta being the second idiot in command and Kei being the straight man. With their typical line-up they are joined by Don Valentino's seriously weird team which made the series more fun to watch. To complete their comedy line-up, police officer Ogino Kuniharu (Morikawa Toshiyuki) plays the other sane person in the series next to Kei as well as Haruka's team which consists of Yataro (Sugita Tomokazu <- best gag-series VA), Natsuki (Seto Asami) and Soumei (Koyasu Takehito).

Ogi with Don Valentino's family.

Visually, Cuticle Tantei Inaba is pretty pleasant to watch. Their action stunts, punch line delivery scenes and their serious scenes fit in pretty nicely. Character designs works well for a shounen-gag series with their pretty memorable looks (Except Kei, I guess. He's the straight man after all. Kind of reminded me of how Shinpachi and Tadakuni look so plain.).

Overall, Cuticle Tantei Inaba is a fun series with lively characters throwing their crazy lines here and there. It's recommended for people who'd want some shallow characters thrown in a crazy plot and laugh at predictable punch lines.

AMNESIA 08 + 09: just who is Toma to the heroine?

2013-03-17T15:02:00.005+08:00

Toma's route has got to be the most polished one in terms of story but I still can't say that it's great as it is.

Episode 08.

Toma's route perfectly explained why 'that scene' was never shown in Ikki's route (now that completes the quick previews of their routes from episode one) although this episode still didn't cleared what is Ikki's relation to the heroine this time. But I'm kind of used to that hangover since AMNESIA has always been that way.

After finally seeing all the guys in the series, I'd say that I'm picking Toma as my second fave with Kent as the first on my list leaving both Shin and Ikki out of it. Toma's really playing his boyfriend/onii-chan figure really well and that's what I particularly like about him. He's a relaxing and reliable character than never puts the heroine in a position that she might struggle or be scared.

I'm pretty glad to see the heroine actually getting the hang of things but I guess she should really start being more careful or she'll end up dying uh-gain -_- And I'm really hoping that the heroine's actually ready to face what's going to happen next based on what she saw in her mailbox. I think that it was pretty obvious based on the things that just happened the scene from episode one will happen in here.

Finally Ukyou's appearance will definitely be given some light in the next couple of episode since Toma's the last one. Ukyou's really making me curious since he actually knows that the heroine has been shifting routes and he knows that she'll die as well.

Episode 09.

This second episode of Toma's route partially revealed why he was being too protective of the heroine that it doesn't seem normal anymore. He'll seriously be some creepy stalker if he wasn't her childhood friend.

Out of all the routes that have been tackled so far, Toma's route is the longest and had the most appearances of other guys. The length of his arc became the greatest advantage for its almost decent development. Episode 8 established his protectiveness and it was noticeable how he never asked the heroine about her amnesia despite his protective and caring character.

This episode just made me dislike Toma in everyway possible. I guess we can't argue that he wanted to protect the heroine but I don't really see the point of hiding it from Shin when he only needs to protect her from Ikki's fans, as he had mentioned. I'd say that Toma has become obsessed of the heroine that he even kept her on a cage. Hiding all of those important things from her such as her relationship with him, her relationship with Ikki, and other more things was just wrong.

The heroine's mistake of thinking that she's in a relationship with Toma is tolerable here. What I seriously can't believe in here is how the heroine didn't realized immediately that Toma's putting her to sleep. I can't believe that Orion had to spell it out for her -_- What also surprised or maybe annoyed me in here is why she isn't showing any resistance to him. If Orion never even told her to get out of there or something, she might have played Master-and-Pet with Toma for the rest of her life. But I guess I can give props to Toma for protecting her. This arc has got to be her longest life yet :))

On a side note, I was surprised to know that in this arc the heroine's attracted to Ikki… or maybe not since they meet at the back alley? This feels like a parallel world of Ikki's. AND when the heroine was hit by a car, I seriously thought that she was going to die before she finds out her feelings for Toma :))

Finally, with the heroine on the run and Toma's just a few meters away, I'd say that the next episode will be wrapping this route up and open for its finale. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what's inside the heroine's diary and what she thought of Toma back then.

~episode 10 will be done later (if my internet isn't crappy, I guess).