Accel World

We all have those moments where we wish to escape reality, and just become a part of a video game. However, what if someone told you that you actually could? That you could visit a world that is like a game, where you can fight and level up and become the best of the best? For Arita Haruyuki, that becomes his reality.

Our story starts off with Arita Haruyuki, or Haru, who is miserableat school, who during his breaks at school  indulges in video games to help him escape reality. However, one day, he meets Kuroyukihime, one of the schools most popular girls, introduces him to a mysterious virtual reality game named Brain Burst, where people fight to the death in order to gain points and level up. As Haru gets drawn in deeper in the Accel World, where the game takes place, he learns that people are not always the same in a game as they are in real life.

Personally, I love the story for this anime.As a gamer, I think this story is epic due the fact that they can actually get involved with a video game. True, they fight to the death, and they get hurt when they take damage, but it still intrigues me as how far the technology has come in order to allow them to play a virtual reality game almost anywhere due a special device on their necks.

The characters were very relatable in my opinion. Haruyuki is a guy struggling with his own self worth, a problem that a lot of us go through on a daily basis. I will admit Kuroyukihime was that one chick that is a bit too perfect, but she slowly fades from the picture near the middle and near the end. Chiyu is of course the female lead that does nothing, i.e.Sakura from Naruto.

Overall, this anime is what you make it. On the surface, it is a sci-fi anime that deals with video games, but it could also be looked at as a guy's sturggle to find his own self worth. If you haven't checked this one out yet, it should be on the to watch radar due to the fact that the series is just so epic.

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

As you might have figured out, I love ecchi anime to no end. When the anime Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai was announced for this anime season, naturally I jumped on the chance to possibly see another great ecchi anime like High School DxD. Was my wish fulfilled? In some ways, yes, in some was no.

Out story begins with Kaga Ryousuke, a normal healthy teenage boy who is a big more open about his horniness than most. One day, he meets Lisara, a reaper from the world of Grimwald, and then she tells him he only has a few weeks left to live, but then she forms a temporary contract with him so that he can provide her with energy to keep her sustained in the human world. His energy, however, comes from his horniness. As they try and prolong his life, he meets many other interesting girls along the way, including the beautiful Iria and the slightly loli Quele.

Now the story its self sounds amusing from the fact that the energy comes from him being horny, and if she takes his energy he can't get horny anymore. For some reason, just the fact that the whole anime revolves around him being horny is hilarious, and it provides for many ecchi moments. Although people might say that I'm a bit too big on ecchi  and that ecchi doesn't have a story, in this case, your wrong. There are tits and all and it still has a story, and a passable story at that.

The art kind of reminded me of High School DxD, with the main chick the guy is pursuing having red hair and the flat chested loli and a big busted girl who is close to him. True, they aired this anime uncensored, so of course there was an abundnce of boobs, and they if course were well drawn. The background art was nothing to take note of, except when they went to Grimwald, and that just had a green overtone along witha  sort of gothic feel, but I almost expect nothing less from the demon world.

The characters all fell into stereotypes, I am sad to say. Ryousuke was your typical harem lead, except for I will give him credit: he was a lot more open about his perverseness than the rest of the harem leads I have seen. Lisara was a tsundere at times, but was basically the girl he sought after. Mina was the childhood friend and sought after Ryousuke. Iria was our super maniac pixie dream girl, and like all super maniac pixie dream girls, she annoyed the crap out of me. Quele was basically there as the loli/little sister character, but I will admit, she also kind of annoyed me.

Overall, I will admit I liked this anime. It provided me with a senese that my ecchi needs had been completed. While the characters might have been stereotypes like no tomorrow, I still somehow found them enjoyable. I would like to also thank my friend, Mike for watching this with me.

Borderlands

In case you shooter fans did not know, in the coming days, Borderlands 2 is going to be released. Now while the game the proceeds it, Borderlands, has been out for a few years, it was not until recently I had a chance to play it. I will admit, I did not have high standards when starting the game, but I will admit, it left quite a good impression on me, and now, when I need to relieve stress, I can simply turn to this game and just let my worries go.

Our story follows your character on the planet of Pandora (Avatar nerds, don't get your panties in a bunch) searching for the Vault, a rumored trove of glory that only opens every 200 years, though no one really knows what's in it. You can pick to be Lilith, the siren who is proficient in SMGs and elemental attacks, Mordecai, the hunter who rocks at the sniper rifle, Brick as himself, who can use the rocket launcher and shot gun like no tomorrow, and Roland, the soldier who likes to use combat rifles and shotguns. Along the way, you are guided by the Guardian Angel, who communicated to you through the ECHO communication device.

The story it's self sounds promising, but in actual game play, it can be easily disregarded until the very end. It basically becomes a hack and slash shooter midway through, beating various enemies for missions, but the first real cut scene comes at the end. But although the story might be weak, I didn't really play the game for the story, I played mainly for the fact that it was an easy way to relieve stress through a shooter.

The charatcers, like the story, are just there. You have your character, who is like almost every first person shooter character: just a set of hands or a gun. Along the way, you meet various enemies, such as 9 Toes (he has three balls too!) and Commander Steel, and Sledge (p.s. He's not your friend.) The comical relief character Clap-Trap is always present, but he doesn't really add much to the story except at the beginning.  There aren't many "good guy" characters, but the bad guys make the game worth while.

The game play is a basic first person shooter. You start out with the weapon your class is most proficient at and you have one slot open to switch weapons. Later on in the game, eventually the number of weapon slots expands to four. The quest mechanic is also solid, using the waypoint and compass mechanic. Personally, the game play to me is awesome due to the fact I can sit back, relax,and kill some skags.

Overall, for anyone that likes to shoot stuff and not too much story, then this is the game for you. Sure, Call of Duty has all that, but Borderlands does it in a fun fashion and with a random gun generator hat can generate over 17 billion guns that provides for a lot of versatility. If you're ready for a bunch of guns, adventure, and pure hack and slash shooter, then head down to your local game store or steam and get it.

Chipotle Rounding

One of my favorite places to it is Chiptole. I'll admit, I am not a big fan of Mexican, but there is something about Chipotle I have to love about them. Their burritos are very good, and I get to choose what goes on it, and what doesn't, and they have very good meat that goes on it. However, some people can't enjoy it as much as I do due the fact that some penny pinchers are complaining about the rounding that Chipotle has engaged in recently.

I will admit, I am not rolling in money, so I have to conserve a lot of money. I will try to save as much money as I can, but this is ridiculous. People are complaning about how they are adding a penny to the total in order to move the line faster. While I disagree with adding money to the total, I do agree with rounding a few pennies.

Where I am at, a steak burrito costs $6.98 with tax included. Now if I'm not using a debit card, then taking out exactly six dollars and ninety eight cents is annoying so usually I'll just give then seven dollars and keep the change. Why? Because honestly I don't feel like keeping two pennies in my pocket just for me to loose later.

This really brings up the question: Do we need the penny? While you may be wondering what this has anything to do with the issue at hand, I have to say that this is almost the whole issue at hand. In the cases of rounding, it was by a penny or two to the nearest five cents. They claimed they did this to move lines faster so that their cashier didn't have to fondle for change in the register, especially pennies. What is a penny or two difference going to make?

The penny is nearly worthless now, due to the fact that the cheapest thing I could probably find is fifty-cents at some thrift shop, and even then, they're more expensive. I must ask you, have you seen anything for a penny? Have you seen anything for less then seventy-five cents at a store? No, you have not. That is how worthless a penny is. It's one-hundreth of a dollar, and in order to get a candy bar, you need a hundred of them. Honestly, I think the Chipotle issue could push more restaurnats to do rounding to nearest five cent, and if more and more do it, I can honestly see the penny being abolished.

Now, if you you say rounding is wrong, and cheating you out of money, I wil say this to you: They round by a penny or two. They were not rounding $6.52 to $7. That's wrong. Rounding $6.24 to $6.25 is not. They were only making a penny at the most, and like I have stated before, almost worthless. So please people, calm down, and relax: loosing a penny won't kill you.

Summer Season Anime Halfway Report

Ah, who doesn't love summer? Time off from school, the pool, hanging out with friends, and for me, a whole bunch of anime. This summer brought me one of the most massive anime seasons I have ever done, with a grand total of ten new airing series, in addition to the one continuing from last season. 

Arcana Famiglia 

The scenario for this anime not unique, but the way it is done sort of is. Felicità is the daughter of the head of the organization Arcana Tarocco, a group of people bestowed special powers by the tarot cards. However, her father is going to retire and the next person to lead the Arcana Taracco will decided by a few duels. Not to mention, he threw his own daughter as a part of the prize, and the winner has to marry, into the mix. She is not alone, because with her two friends, Nova, and Libertà, who refuse to marry her if they win, and together, they have to face the other family memebers.

The scenario is, at the core, a case of the girl not wanting to marry a guy because the father proposed it. Along with that, they decide to throw in a reverse harem, which adds for bishounens everywhere. With that, the art is very pretty, making the guys the main attraction. I hope for good things from it, but right now it seems they are just dealing with side quests. 


Binbougami ga!

We all have that one friend who is super lucky because they have good looks, talent, brains, and excels at everything they do. Sakura Ichiko is that girl, but she has so much luck that the world is being thrown out of balance. That's where our hero, Momiji, our Goddess of Misfortune, comes in, trying to take Ichiko's luck and restore balance to the world. 

Honestly, I like this anime a lot more than I thought at first. It has a lot of slap stick comedy, false fan service, and is just plain funny. It's a different pacing than ecchi comedy, and it had had me laughing. The characters are well done, and the art is vibrant. Honestly, this has exceeded expectations so far, and I keep hoping to have those expectations broken.


Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

Ryousuke is your typical high school guy, hormones raging and is horny as a guy can be. However, when Lisara, a girl from the world Grimwald, comes to him needing energy to sustain her self in the real world, she comes to him and uses his energy. The catch is though: he looses his sex drive. 

I will admit, I picked up this anime due to the translation of the title: Therefore I can't Fuck. I'm not kidding, and the fact that the plot sounded interesting. The anime lives up to expectations, but in different ways. I will give them credit: they air it uncensored (tits or GTFO) and to boot, the air is good. May the perverseness continue, and hopefully this anime doesn't pull what High School DxD did, and have a crap ending. 


Dog Days' 

The summer also brought us some sequels, and one of them is the second season of Dog Days. Cinque (or Sink or Shinku, depending on subs) returns to the other world, along with his childhood friend, Rebecca and his cousin, Nanami, where they all become heroes and fight alongside each nation in the art of war.

Honestly, this should have never been made. The whole set up of "war" in this anime is not even portrayed correctly. it's like a game, and they need "heroes" to help bring them to victory? No, they just need a tribute really good game show contestant. Despite all this, the art work is good and the music is just barely passable. The characters, like in the first season are decent, but there is honestly just too many. It's twelve or thirteen episodes, we don't need fifty characters!


Hagure Yuusha no Estetica 

We have all seen what goes on when a hero rescues a princess, the hardships he goes through, but what about after the job is done? What is the hero supposed to do? For Ousawa Akatsuki, this is his delima. He has the princess, Miu, and he is living happily ever after in a world where there is nothing but girls, girls, girls.

This anime is basically all the ecchi adventures one guy could ever have. Between helping a girl try on a bra, to swim suit snatching, Ousawa has it lucky. This anime, like Dakara, is aired uncensored, and it provides for some laughs. Honestly, I don't know why this was made, but I like it.


Jinrui wa Sutai Shimashita

In the near future, humanity is dying off, being replaced by a superior race called the faeries. These little guys are adorable, chibi, and honestly, I don't know how they replaced humanity. The main girl in the series, who we just know as "I"or "Watashi," serves as a mediator between the faeries and the humans, even to the point she has a few living at her house.

Why was this even made really? From episode one, it has been one of the weirdest things I have ever seen, and I have seen my fair share of weird things. Episode one brought us the bleeding bread scenario, followed by the buzzing chickens in episode two.  The art for this series is washed out color, similar to Usagi Drop, which isn't a bad thing, just makes the anime different. 


Joshiraku

We all have those days where the original conversation and the ending conversation are not the same thing. In the anime Joshiraku, the girls have random conversations, from moon viewing to how the moon looks like inappropriate things. 

If you're in the anime of "cute girls doing cute things," then you have hit paradise. Coming from the author of Sayonra Zetsubou Sensei, it is an amusing watch. The girls don't really do anything beside sit around for amusing conversations. The art for this anime is top notch I'll admit. Honestly, I hope for a lot for this anime.



Kono Naka Hitori ni, Imouto ga Iru!

Shougo has just lost his dad, and now he has to attend a new school, which is stressful enough as it is already. However, as it turns out, his younger sister also attends the school, but he doesn't know who the sister is. In his search for his sister, he meets a lot of girls along the way. 

Oh, dear lord, this reeks of incest. Along with the fact that he has to meet his illegitiment sister, she also wants to get married, and since his sister can beany girl at the school, the probability for incest is high. Other wise, the characters are semi likable, but they also seem rather flat also. The art work is decent, but otherwise, this anime just seems generic in almost every way it can.


Sword Art Online

As technology develops and advances, there is one thing they have seriously looked over in the gaming industry: virtual reality. However in Sword Art Online, they have developed it to a point that they have not only got virtual reality games, but it is so real that death in the game is actually death in the real world. After Kirito and a whole bunch of other people get trapped in the game, they must not only beat the game to get out, but they must be careful not to die in the game because the virtual reality machine will kill them in the real world. 

Interesting concept for this anime, I  must admit. It's almost every gamer's dream, if not worst nightmare. One of the things that I have found weird about this anime is the fact that it paces out so weird. In one episode, they might cover ten floors, and in the next, they hardly cover two. Another weird thing is they don't seem to take the death thing too seriously. Almost every episode someone dies, and they don't seem to show that they care too much bout auxillery characters. The art is good, the scenries almost look like real world scenarios, and the characters are well drawn. I can only hope they even out the pacing and work on some things (like actually caring that the characters die!). 


Yuru Yuri ♪♪

Like Dog Days, Yuru Yuri also received a sequel. WhileI was more thrilled about this sequel being announced, in the actual series, I feel let down a bit. While we still mainly follow our main four characters, it seems that there is a different feel this season. Maybe it's due to the fact we are seeing more of the the side characters, such as Himawari and Sakurako, or maybe it's the fact they seem to be leaving out Akari a lot more than usual.

The art for this series is as good as the last season. One thing that was a let down for me was the opening and ending themes. In the last season, I could barely get the song out of my head, and this season, I barely notice them honestly.
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All in all, I feel like this season has it extreme good points and the extreme bad points. However next season should not be a let down, and I look forward for more anime to come

I have to thank Mike for watching Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai and Brendan for watching Sword Art Online with me. 

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

When people are in a pinch, they do desperate things. Some file for bankruptcy, some take out massive loans, and some decide to open up a business. When Recette Lemongrass , a young girl who lives at home by her self after her father went on adventure, is faced with his debt, she decides t open a shop with the faerie loan shark, Tear, who is in charge of the debt in order to help pay it back. Recette, Tear, and their adventurer, Louie, a poor young boy, go through dungeons to collect items to sell for profit in the shop.

The story is simple, and in fact a bit too unrealistic. Ignoring the fact there is a faerie and dungeons to go through to get free items, just the circumstances are just bit too unrealistic. Recette is does not appear to be a legal an adult, and it seems a bit too unfair for her to be paying back her father's debt. Another problem I have with the story is the fact it just seems to be capitalism propaganda, even to the point of Recette saying "Captialism, ho!" I feel like if it was less centered on capitalism and paying her father's debt, then the story would succeed more in the catagory it was meant for: Fantasy.

The characters in mind are just flat as flat can be. Recette is your typical cheery girl in poor circumstances girl. The only time she shows an emotion other than ridiculously cheery is when she gets a bit down over a bad sale, and eve then, she quickly recovers. Tear is this emotionless business woman, fitting into the stereotype so badly. The other characters barely appear in the game, but even they fit into a stereotype. Aloutte, Recette's competition is a typical rich girl, and she even has a few tsundere traits.

The art work for this game is good and bad, depending on which part you're at. The upclose drawings of the characters are nicely detailed and look like anime characters. To be honest, that is what drew me into the game. However, the over world sprites were just just little chibis. Honestly, if they were a little bit better drawn, then the art for the game could have been amazing

Overall, even though I may complain about the game, I honestly enjoyed it. Yes, I nit pick at it to no end, but to be honest, it was a short indie game that I came across on Steam. The voice acting is actually in Japanese, which won me over a bit more, but the English translations could have been a bit better. All in all, this is a good game, and highly recommend it to any J-RPG player.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

I will admit that loosing someone close to you is not an easy thing, especially at a young age. It leaves a scar that is very hard to heal, and the memories of that person will most likely haunt a person for a while. It's even harder loosing a person your own age, especially when you're all at an extremely young age. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, or AnoHana looks back on the death among a group of friends, and how one summer, it changes their lives forever.

Our story follows Yadomi Jinta, a normal truant high school student who seemingly does nothing. However, the ghost of his childhood friend, Honma Meiko, or Menma appears in front of him, asking him to fulfill her ast wish she she can go to heaven and be reborn. Jinta gathers all of his other childhood friends who were close to Menma in order to help her. However, they have all gone their separate ways, and getting them together might take a little bit more work than he had anticipated.

The story was almost set up for drama, and perhaps a bit of tear jerking parts. Menma was probably around the age of seven to ten when she died, and it just is a good drama story, even though it was rather depressing. Although I am not that fond of straight drama, but this anime was the acceptable type because it was profound, and it deals with a subject that eventually will hit all of us. The execution of the story was also well done, even though some parts made me want to facepalm, such as the end. Also, the story could almost be told in two parts: the presnet day and the past, and sometimes, that line becomes very blurred.  The story is very drama heavy, so those looking for the action, this one is not for you.

The characters were the strongest point of this anime, due it being character driven drama. Jinta is our main protagonist who just bums around his house, truanting from school until the ghost of his childhood friend, Menma, comes and visits him. Jinta's other friends, Anjou Naruko, Hisakawa Tetsudo, Matsuyuki Atsumu, and Tsurmi Chiriko, all have gone their separate ways, but yet, have not really changed that much from when they were kids. The characters all have distinct personalities, such and Anjou's tsundere character and Tsurimi's library girl like character. The characters' interactions were what really made this anime work, and you could actually feel some of the tension between them while they were trying to figure out Menma's wish.

The art for the series also very well done. The back grounds were vibrant and colorful and the characters were well designed. Perosnally, I think Menma was the best designed character due tot he fact she had white hair and for the fact that it was simple. Each characters' art work had a different vibe about them, however, they all still emulated the theme of loss and memories.

Overall, for any drama loving person, or even those that are just looking for any tear jerking anime, this one is the one for you. It had its ups and downs, but overall, this series was well rounded and generally down to earth.