Ugh……. My little monster is a convoluted slice of life show that makes you want to rip every hair on your head out while being inexplicably being drawn totally into it. Only after taking the time to think about the how everything works together I came to the conclusion that this is a Kawia (cute) series and I’d give it a 4 star (out of five). Despite one or two episodes that introduce a bit of background and don’t give much explanation, this is a solid series. You’ve got a overly dedicated bookworm almost literally, how is being fawned over by the delinquent that also happens to be a genius and the only one smarter than the bookworm Shizuku. After getting through a couple of episodes though and after Haru (the delinquent) pronounces his love for Shizuku and she starts to have feeling for him while finally coming out of her impersonal and studious shell. This whole series is about two of the most unsocial and violent (both of them I mean it) high school students accepting their own feelings and beginning to expand their views on life around them. All the while the most awkward people in their school all begin to congregate and become friends through the most unlikely of circumstances. If you like a back and forth love story this anime is the one for you. However it is a bit tenuous to watch so if you do like a fast character development this anime just might not suit you because it takes till the end of the series for the main characters to make any real improvement.
Okay for this week I’ve got Fate Stay/Zero. It was released in October of 2011 and slated to be a continuous series but they took a short hiatus after episode 13 in order to make better animations. In case anyone is interested the manga was release in 2006 and the last book was released in 2007. It can also be found on Netflix all of the episodes which is rare for Netflix to do but they are there and is dubbed and subbed. The basic premise is modern day Japan (no surprises there) and there is a holy war for a object known as the Grail that can make any desire come true. Here’s the kicker, magic and alchemy are real and it is the duty of those selected by the grail to find it and destroy all others. Those selected by the grail are given command marks, a relic, and a servant who will fight for them in the coming battles. These “servants” are heroes of old sometime they are the same other times they are different. I say “servants”, but I mean ancient heros such as Alexander the Great (rider), Gilgamesh (Archer), king Aurthur (who is actually a queen and is called Aurturia/Saber). This war is started by the three most prominent mage families, the Einzberns, Tosakas, and Makiri. This particular series take place after the 3rd Holy Grail War. It should also be noted that this takes place before Fate Stay/ Night which is being simulcasted here (http://www.crunchyroll.com/fatestay-night). This entire series has a dark gloom over the whole thing especially after the seventh mage is selected (spoiler alert above^^) and his servant slaughters children and innocent people. There are times where you are like “I want reach through my screen and kill this little shit”, but sadly we can and we are just left to watch the carnage unfold. I would also like to point out the major struggle that is set up towards the end of the series just to specifically set up the next step leading up to Fate Stay/Night (http://www.crunchyroll.com/fatestay-night) which is being simulcasted every Saturday at 1:30pm. Really this series isn’t afraid to bring out the gore and and show the mental and physical struggles between characters and their lives. Especially after seeing Emiya’s past and looking at where he came to was just dumbfounding, but it also puts into perspective the limitations that he sets himself up for. Without saying too much how he handles situations will be his downfall.
Right above this I have the link to another blog that I think did a really good job with breaking down the episodes. However it was a episode by episode breakdown and it contained a lot of shows of all categories. My question is do ya’ll think I should give the whole episode by episode play through a try or should I stick with the “review” style that I’ve been doing? I am curious about this and would like to know what would be more enjoyable for you to read.
As I mentioned before Season two has started up for log horizon, of which I am very excited for. Throughout all of season one they had continual character development and relationships between characters are finally starting to take a recognizable form in season two. Despite how oblivious Shiroe is to some advances. I don’t like how they are not explaining why some characters are coming into play, but the fact that they can incorporate long time and relatively recent character additions while keeping the plot-line symmetrical. Which isn’t a bad thing it makes the series comfortable and easier to get a hold of the plot. As stated before the season is just starting up and I will be giving weekly updates on the episodes. As I realize some people cannot watch a an episode here or there I will try to give a general synopsis each week, but this means that if you haven’t watched it, it would be a spoiler so on posts such as that I will put SPA in the title so ya’ll know that it is there. I just want this to be a fair warning just in case I don’t like to ruin and audiences experience. If you are interested I watch it here for free, but due to membership bonuses and the like I am technically one week behind on episodes, but I digress. http://www.crunchyroll.com/log-horizon
Another side note season one is also available here. as well as season two.
It’s been a while since I watched The Blue Exorcist, but its still a good watch. I first found it on netflix, one of their few anime rotations, and did the whole marathon it thing because it captured me so much. Its got a standard start in the fact that it starts off with a trouble teen that has some kind of special ability. Character list found here (http://www.blueexorcist.com/characters.php) As the story unfolds we find out that Rin is the son of satan. Seeing as to his adoptive father being a exorcist for the church it provides quite an interesting connection between the two, but what tops this whole series off is the constant fighting between him and his brother (Yukio), who was secretly training to be an exorcist to take over the role of protecting his brother. (SPOILER ALERT!) One day Rin begins to see the demons that plague daily life and auras of evils all about. When he is attacked by a bully from school Rin kicks the bully’s ass but that bully then succumbs to the whims of a demon. After running away and getting back home another fight ensues with the demon at their church/home and during that time Rin hurts his “father” Shiro and during that moment satan takes control of Shiro. As an act of defiance against satan, Rin destroy’s the gate to hell and unleashing his full powers as the son of hell and in another final act of defiance Shiro sacrifices himself to banish satan from the human world if only for a short time. After griefing and many other things Rin acts in acordance with Shiro’s last will to become an exorcist, but on the first day of “cram school” he enter class to find that his own brother Yukio is not only an exorcist in full but his teacher. If you do not have the time to watch this because of an already long list of series and simulcasts to watch then you can read a quick synopsis of each episode here http://www.blueexorcist.com/story-default.php
Recently I started watching Gintama despite getting only four episodes in I am enjoying it. The character match each other and everything rolls together. The ridiculousness is a nice break from the standard serious shows that I watch and is a nice program to play while playing a game because I don’t have to keep total attention to it while playing. That being said though it is very repetitive so far. Bad guy appears Gin is honor bound to defeat it and move on to the next “mission.” Or more accurately job, because Gin is “odd job Gin”, but that doesn’t stop him from having a heart every now and again. I look forward to seeing what else the series has in store for me. There are some fun GIF’s here http://gottalovegintama.tumblr.com/ if you want to see some cool segments
So this is just another Public Service Announcement. I made a mistake SAO season two is not over/completed just the first arc which I am gonna call GGO. Not back to some thoughts about this. I feel that this first arc was another fan service arc and I know that we were hoping it would be different because we had enough of that with the last two arcs of season one. That aside I’m glad that they are continuing the series and the expansion in to new territory of guns instead of blades and magic. It seams as though in the newest section they are going with lore I think I will reserve my judgement and give my opinion after next weeks episode. That about wraps up my PSA, but again I would like to mention that I really could use some feedback on these posts it helps to involve the community and gets people to find a common ground. That is all have a great day.
So this is a little bit late in coming, but Naruto is finally coming to a close after 15 long years. Also tying into this is that Bleach is still coming to head. Meaning that two of the animes that have gone on far past where they should have without a proper ending, are finally ending and leaving a hole in some of us that have been following them for all of those years. Others….. not so much they can’t wait for it to be over. That’s all for the public service announcement in anime news.
First off I’d like to say that I have always been a fan of Mecha anime. Now that, that is out of the way I must say that Argevollen is peculiar. It has very limited world around it and because of that there isn’t much change the the setting. There is some character development but not much and of course the secrets are just now starting to surface along with the truth and confusion. The animation for the combat sequences is nice and smooth and transitions are fairly seamless. The story is rather plain, but it does have it’s moments and unlike a bunch of other animes it has a romance portion and its not too overt or blatant. Rather it’s more like a comic relief for some of the more tense moments in the series. There is the fact of the matter that the main point of the story up until the latest episode what the main character finding out the secret behind how his sister died while working for the military. I won’t spoil it, but it is quite heartbreaking to watch. Not to mention it explains how and why some of the other characters act and defines who the the character is. All of these features come together and make the anime fun and almost engaging to the audience. All in all this series is not so much fun one, but it brings together the mixer that is really entertaining to watch.
So the second episode of Terra Formars came out and not surprisingly the ship (annex 1) launches from Earth with the crew for fighting and exploring mars. In the interim the crew become more antiquated with each other and in the typical fashion a couple of the crew members start having feelings for each other and you know what happens here especially if you’ve read Akame Ga Kill. Big shocker here, TF’s are some how on board and start slaughtering the crew. The crew can’t fight back because in order to activate their special powers from the surgery they need a certain medication that puts their bodies into overdrive. At one point a pair of the crew run to find and disperse the medication once they arrive on scene of the storage facility they find the TF’s destroying all of the medication need for the crews combat abilities. After all of the data, training and suffering The captain calls the mission a failure where it goes from their we’ll just have to wait and see.
Log Horizon….. what to think about it? Well let’s see its a show that starts off as a MMO and then transport people to a alternate universe where the game become reality, but people who die come back to life, but only the people that were formerly apart of the game. Through the first season the main character Shiroe is paired up with his friends and after a little bit of assistance he discovers that one of their comrades is actually a teacher that looks like a 15 year old. A joke that remains through out the season. Generally its got a very good plot and the character development is really good. the characters actually change and discover new things in the world around them rather than a linear progression of life and battles. Another piece of interesting news is that season 2 of Log Horizon has just started up and the first episode is now available for streaming on Crunchroll despite that it was release last week, but that’s a business for ya. If I were to compare things, Log horizon is probably the main thing that brought about the creations of VRMMOS as a sub-type genre of fantasy. That is just my opinion YOU are more than free to have your opinion. Feel free to comment on this post and any of my other posts. It helps out not only me, but brings out discussions which are likely to help you and other readers.
