Card Captor Sakura

When I went to Katsucon in February, I ended up cosplaying as Sakura from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles for a panel I was a part of.   On this trip, despite all the things that happened, for better or worse, I was recommended to watch the anime that Sakura her self was originally a part of. Now, I had known that there was an anime called Card Captor Sakura by seeing crossover parodies of it on youtube, but I had not been originally interested in it due to the fact that it was seventy episodes long. However, the guys in the panel convinced me to watch it, and I am honestly glad I did.

The plot for Card Captor Sakura is pretty decent for a magical girl show. Kinomoto Sakura stumbles upon the Book of the Clow, which holds these magical cards that have a variety of abilities, from Fire to Dash, and she accidentally releases the cards from the book. However, she is given the card Windy at first to help her retrieve the cards, and with the Guardian of the Clow, Keroberos, help. Along the way, she meets a boy by the name of Syaoran who is also after the Clow Cards, and they eventually team up trying to retrieve all of the cards before they wreak havoc on the world.

The characters in this were actually pretty decent. Our lead, Sakura, is sometimes an air head, and by no means perfect, which makes for a changing character. She displays a lot of traites for a fourth grade girl, such as love interest, even though it isnt typical for a fourth grade girl to fall in love with a high schooler, the dislike of school work and wanting to play, but she also displays the mentality of when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Her friend, Tomoyo, who accompanies her on the card retrieval missions, videotapes her and make out fits, and the interactions between her and Sakura are quite interesting, but she to me is a stacitc character for most of the series. Syaoran Li is one of the most interesting characters in the cast, to perfectly honest. He goes from this little brat who is stalked by his fiancee, Meilin, to a strong independent boy who can let his soft side through a bit. Meilin was a character that was introduced mid season, but when I first saw her in the anime, she honestly annoyed me, but as time went on, she became quite the decent character. The highschoolers in the cast, Yukito, Sakura's love interest for majority of the series, and Touya, Sakura's older brother, are ever present during the beginning, especially Yukito, but while they might not be too important during the beginning, their roles steadily become more important as the show goes on.

The art for this series was pretty decent, considering the anime started in 1998 and ended in 2000. One of my biggest quelms about the animation in this anime is the fact that they reused some of the animation, such as Sakura putting on her gloves to go skating, and even the whole her skating to school sequence was reused a few times. One of the odd things about Card Captor Sakura from most magical girl anime was the fact it did not have a transformation sequence. Her outfit changed every time she went to capture a card because Tomoyo made the outfits for her. I did like the art style of Card Captor Sakura because it reminded me of how far anime art style has come, and even though they reused some sequences of the anime, I did not mind because they did not feel forced into the show; they felt completely natural.

The plot overall was a decent point of the anime. It actually came in two parts: Sakura capturing the clow cards and becoming the master of the Clow Cards, and the part where she becomes the master and has to figure out a way to use the cards that are now hers insteadof belonging to Clow Reed, the original owner of the cards. The first half was fantastic, even though in the beginning of the anime felt like it was moving too fast for itsown good. The second half the anime like it was tacked on last minute and it felt like the writers were just trying to give Sakura something to do to make a show. 

Overall, despite its flaws, I was still glad it was recommended to me.  It sometimes felt like it was magical girl, but also that it wasn't due to there were no set transformation sequences.If you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend it.

Avacyn Restored

If you're a huge Magic the Gathering fan like me, the you know that there was the release of the new set, Avacyn Restored, this weekend. It got a lot of hype, due to the story line, and potentially good cards, and two new mechanics: Soul-bound and Miracle. This weekend, I had the chance to go to a pre-release tournament, where I got to play with the new set. With all the new stuff introduced in the block, was it a good decision? Personally, I am mixed like a lot of people I know are.

First is the mechanic of Soul-Bound. They are creature that can attach them selves to other creatures to give them new attributes, such as double strike, hexproof, and trample for example. They are not equipment, for the creature has attack and toughness, but they just give the creature they latch on to special qualities. You can choose to soul-bound two creatures, or you can not, and each creature, both the one with soul-bound, and the one without, can stand on their own. Now, with the introduction of soul-bound, they decided to make a few creatures that would die instantly if they are not soul-bound to anything, which to me is a dumb move, but I guess anything to introduce the mechanic.

Miracle is where I think Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of the cards, have really broken the game. Miracle allow you to cast a card for considerably less than the original cost if it's the first card you draw for the turn.My main problem with this is the fact that you can essentially cast Day of Judgement(In this case Terminus) for one white. And to make matters worse, it adds all creatures in the bottom of the deck, and there is almost no chance of getting the creatures unless you have shuffle cards and search cards. In a way, I guess it makes it easier to board wipe, but at the same time, it's being rather unfair. Also, the other miracle cards are rather ridiculous as well, due to power effects being cast for very little if its the first card you draw in a turn. The flip side of this is the fact if its in your opening hand, then you can't use it for its miracle cost, which could potentially balance out the mechanic.

The Avacyn story that goes along with the set is also pretty good. Grislebrand, a demon who is rebelling against the angels, traps Avacyn, the protector of Innistrad,in her own Hevault along with him self. Lilliana Hess went to the plain of Innistrad and tricked Thalia into opening Helvault, freeing not only Avacyn, but Gislebrand and all the other demons. She fails to kill Grislbrand, but Avacyn restores power to the humans of Innistrad, and she drives away the demons and zombies away from Innistrad.

The story is actually pretty good, and it adds for an interesting background for the set. I personally like it, due to the good vs. evil , but also somehow evil vs. evil. Avacyn is the supreme angel, and she is well designed, and Grislbrand  is also well designed. The story has all of the characters from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, which connects the Avacyn to the rest of the set

Overall, I am pleased with the new set, though some of the mechanics seem a bit broken. If they can work out the kinks in the mechanics, then this set would be perfect and add more diversity to the set. All I must say is that I hope they don't add to many new, and possible broken mechanics.

Mahou Sensei Negima! Anime Final

When I first got into anime and manga, one of the first titles I actually got into was Mahou Sensei Negima!? After a disappointing T.V. series run by the producing company Xebec (It still does not exist in my mind) and an excellent run of multiple OVA series, the anime movie conclusion was a film I had been long anticipating since it came out. After it finally got subbed, I immediately watched this film, and let me admit, it was not at all what I was expecting.

The story picks up where Mou Hitotsu no Sekai left off. Asuna is safe and sound, and everyone returns to the school, happy and safe. When they get back, they start planning for the graduation ceremony. because they are in their last year of middle school. However, Negi is told that he has to pick one girl to make a permanent Pactio with one of the girls, and all the other girls would loose their memories. As Negi struggles to make his decision, Mars start hurdling towards Earth.


The plot for this movie is one of the weakest plots I have ever seen in a movie, American or Japanese. I know that it is a "sequel" to the OVA, but you would think that they would end this movie better instead of focusing on the slice of life part of it. Honestly,this could have been a regular T.V. Anime and I think that the plot could not have changed a bit, and it still would have worked.

Besides the plot, I have two major problems with this movie. One is the fact yes, the girls will loose their memories if Negi does not pick them, but some of the girls are magical to begin with, so why were they so worried? Also, a good chunk of the class did not have a pactio with Negi anyways, so why are they still trying to compete for his affection? But why people like Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Natsumi and Chahamaru are worried confuses me. Asuna is the Imperial Twilight Princess, Konoka is a healing mage, Setsuna has a Pactio with Konoka, Natsumi has a pactio with Kotarou,and Chachamaru runs off magic, and if I'm not mistaken has a "doll pactio" with Evangeline, just to name a few, given that half the class is magical anyways, so they would not loose their memories because of Negi.

The other problem I have with the movie is why is Mars hurdling towards Earth? Yes, it does provide the only bit of action for the movie, and yes it does help provide the solution for Negi's big problem, but in my mind, it just doesn't make any sense.

Animation for this movie was inferior to the OVA's. True, while the OVA's had a bigger budget, but the animation for the movie was just off. It still kept true to the manga, like for colors of hair, and looks, but it was lower grade quality. I think that they could have down way better, especially since the fans (such as my self) were waiting for this, and waiting to see an awesome grade movie. One animation point I will give, however, was when then girls used their patio, which came across mahou shoujo like, and it wasn't just boring instantaneous.

Overall, I think this movie was a let down for fans of the manga. It copped out big time on the solution to Negi's problem, and the plot was not that good too boot. If they're going to make a movie about Negima, please, don't glaze over the Negi vs. Fate fight, and please make a better plot and better animation. All of the anime series concerning Negima! have been failures in mind, and the movie is no different.

Magikano

In anime, you sometimes have to learn how to deal with the randomness of it. In anime where random is the plot, they usually turn out to be the best thing you have ever seen, such as The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi or Seto no Hanayome, or they turn into obscure anime that no one has heard of. Magikano is the latter example, due its randomness and lack of plot and really basic art style. Though it started off a bit odd, I will admit, this anime slowly grew on me.

The story is about a young boy named Yoshikawa Haruo and his sisters. His sisters, Maika, Chiaki, and Fuyuno, all can use magic, though they refuse to let him know about. They even go as far to knock him out with a memory erasing hammer to keep the existence a secret. Haruo eventually meets Mamiya Ayumi, a girl who has been cursed to loose her magical power, and she believes that Haruo can save her from the curse, due to the fact that she saw him in a mirror when she got cursed. Along the way, he meets other girls and the anime follows his adventures with the girls.

The first impressions I had of this anime were not good, and I even considered dropping it, due to the lack luster art style and randomness. It literally made no sense in the first episode, and usually anime make sense by the first episode, and then become episodic in the later episodes. I will admit though, the point at the beginning is not well explained, though it is later in the series.

As a harem anime, I expected just about every stereo-type in the book. The tsundere, the loli/little kid, the class representative, and the overly caring one. Only in this case, the overly caring one is his sister, Maika. That right, his sister is basically included in his harem, due to the fact she has a brother complex. In fact she even tried to mind wash him into being with her for life. Even the younger sisters, Chiaki and Fuyuno are kind of a part of his harem, though not excessively so like Maika.

The comedy style in this anime relies mainly on slap stick style humor, including Maika and her sisters whipping out a hammer and making the guys who are not supposed to know about magic forget about it. Also, they also rely a lot on ecchi as a comedy source, such as one episode revolves totally around a pair of possessed panties that only the guy Ayumi loves can take them off. Though some of the comedy style is not unique to me, it still made me smile, especially when the characters went into dark mode when they were plotting on destroying the other girls in the harem.

The anime is very episodic in nature, such as one adventure per episode, with a two episode finale. Their adventures could vary from trying to feed him a school lunch to celebrating Christmas with friends. Most of these adventure really don't have a point other than fan service and to show off the girls. Most anime like this is actually enjoyable because there is really no true cohesive plot, though just a pinch of plot would have been nice here, such as instead of waiting for the big twist, at least somewhat hint at it.

I will admit, the end disappointed me. I will not spoil it, though I will admit it was such a troll ending, and I think they could have pulled off the big twist, and the last two episodes way better than they did. The finale was weak, as in bringing in Ayumi's little sister, who doesn't even look like her little sister, and also the mysterious woman who seems to watching from the shadows. Quite literally, it was a big can of What the Hell. Also, though most anime ends badly, I think this was one of the worst endings I have ever seen.

This anime is worth the watch if you're looking for something to watch just for fun. Don;t be fooled by art style, and don't be disappointed when it doesn't live up to anime like Seto no Hanayome in comedy, due to the fact it is a harem, and harems are usually a hit or miss. If you want magic, girls, comedy, and a harem, then this is the anime for you.