Tokyo ESP

Over winter break, the best way to spend it is to indulge in video games and anime. Now you might be thinking that is a waste of time and to that I say "to each his own." The first anime I sat down to watch was from the creators of Ga-Rei Zero, called Tokyo ESP. I admit, I didn't like Ga-Rei, but the premise of Tokyo ESP seemed rather interesting, I decided to give it a shot.

The story of Tokyo ESP follows a young high school girl named Rinka who lives with her father and struggles financially. One day, on the way to school, she meets a glowing yellow fish, which swims into her body and knocks her out. The next morning however, she wakes up on the first floor of her apartment complex with snow-white hair, and as soon as she gathers her self, she starts sinking through the floor again. As it turns out, the magical fish has given her the ESP to pass through objects, and her friend, Azuma Kyoutarou, has the ESP to teleport. Together, they meet a variety of other of ESP users and try to bring justice to the world. However, a select group of ESPers have decided that they want to take over the world, and install a new world order that puts normal humans at the bottom of the food chain. As they make their motives known, this causes tension between the normal humans and ESPers, even to the point of making a separate zone for the ESPers. As tensions rise, it is up to the "White Girl" Rinka to ease tensions between the two groups and bring order to Tokyo.

The story line was solid on concept, but I do feel like they missed a lot of opportunities to develop the characters. At the start of the series Rinka is your average girl that has money issues, but as the series goes on, she develops into a hero of justice, but that is about it. Her dad is hinted at to be a former cop, but we don't really get to know him that well either. The list goes on and on for all the characters, and I believe if this series had been twenty-two episodes rather than 12, I think they would have gotten a lot more chances to develop the characters and the plot its self. They did adopt a training episode, which was needed to see that she was training to get stronger, but with the anime being only twelve episodes, I think that they could have devoted more time of this one episode to character development. We do get to see a bit of Ayumu's story in that episode, but I just think it took up time they could have been using to get on with the plot.There is also a gap in between episodes four and five that felt like they were in a hurry to introduce the villain, which needed to be done, but I wish they could have done that a bit more smoothly.The ending felt rushed, and it irritated me that they had a deus ex machina ending where Rinka was able to kill the Professor.


The characters, on the other hand, tended to annoy me to no end. Like I said before, Rinka is your goody two-shoes that saves the day, but she does get beaten to a pulp multiple times and still is able to fight decently, where any other person would have black out. Her friend, Azuma Kyoutarou, goes missing mid-way through the series due to be kidnapped by his adopted sister, Minami, and even though we learn a bit about his past, it felt like the anime just kind of halted his character development. Along the way Rinka and Kyoutarou meet a theif by the name of Kobushi, whohas the power to turn invisible. She seemed like a fun character to develop, even crushing on Rinka's dad because she wish she had a father like that. Do we find out anything about her past? No. The villain, Azuma Hokusai, irritated me because he had the power of illusions and he was the one that started the war of humans vs. ESPers, and to boot, he just had a cocky attitude that just made me want to strangle him. I am ok with having a powerful villain, but I not ok with having an all powerful villain, with a dick personality and endless supply of resources. The list goes on and on about characters that were underdeveloped.

The music and audio for this series was actually pretty decent. The opening theme "Tokyo Zero Hearts," had a fun techno vibe to, and along with the animation that went along with it, it felt amazing. The animation for the show was decent, but not as fluid as the opening theme regrettably. I did like the fact they tried to make the animation more pronounced when a character was using their ESP powers, such as Rinka's hair turning white or Kyoutarou's and Minami's teleportation had a fade effect to them. The voice actors also fit the character's nicely too, and nothing felt out of place voice acting wise.


Overall, despite its many, many flaws, I found my self rather enjoying this anime. If anything, this anime has made me want to pick up the manga on my spare time to find out if they tie any loose ends that anime had left me with. In some ways I hope that there is a season two because it felt as if the series left things a bit open ended to make a second season.

Kami-Sama Dolls

Lately, I've taken to watching anime with a few good friends of mine. Between getting to spend time together and watching anime, for me it is a win-win situation. We usually try to find stuff that is somewhat serious but also a good watch and that is entertaining. When I stumbled upon Kami-Sama Dolls, I was hoping this was the serious anime we were looking for, maybe with a bit of mecha and super natural thrown in. I could not have been more wrong sadly.

Our plot starts off with our main character, Kyouhei, moving into the city from a secluded small town in the mountains. In the small town, they have people called Seki, and they control these dolls that are revered as gods and sometimes use them to fight other people. While in the city, Kyohei and his friend, Hibino, come across a pile of bodies one night and immediately his childhood friend,Aki, shows up and Kyohei tries to blame the murder on him. As the plot progresses, it turns into a mess of trying to figure out who killed all of those people, as well a mess of back stories. Amongst the back stories, is the reason why Aki became exiled from the village and the beginnig of the story of a doll with no seki.

The plot for this anime has one major problem: pacing. You can clearly tell they wanted twenty four episodes but they were only granted thirteen. They crammed so much into one episode it felt like each episode was an hour long when in reality they were half that. Another issue was while they crammed so much in one episode it felt like it was just dragging on and on, it felt like nothing ever truely got accomplished. 

The characters somehow are worse than the plot. Our main character,Kyohei, is hinted to have been a really powerful Seki when he held the title later in the series, but we never see evidence of that. He just comes off as every other male main character I have ever encountered. His little sister,Utao, took over his position as Seki, but while she should have been powerful, she just comes off as childish and gets angry over stupid things. Worst yet, she was so childish and innocent that everyone fawned over her to the point that i felt awkward watching those scenes. Kyohei's love interest, Hibino, had one the flattest personalities I have ever seen. Her character development began and ended in boobs. When she gets kidnapped, the Mahiru, Kyohei's stalker, just knows her as the girl with the boobs, nothing else. Aki, our main antagonist, is supposed to be this misunderstood supposed pyschopath, but he usually just end up being bland as ever.

The art was another pitfall for this anime. Our characters look bland and if I didn't know they were our main characters, they would have faded into the background. Another qualm my friend and I had was the fact that Hibino's boobs seemed to change sizes depending on the shot. Now I do understand angles, but they seemed to change sizes by the frame. The backgrounds them selves were nothing spectacular to be honest. The only redeeming quality about the art was the art and animation of the dolls, and even that was poor. 

Over all,although usually when I watch a bad anime, I can enjoy it. However, with Kami-sama Dolls, the lack of enjoyment made this anime even more boring. It just took its self too seriously, making this anime even worse. 

Nagi no Asukara

I will not deny, I love movies and shows with under water scenes or that take place under water. It is something about these shows that draw me to them, and they often do not disappoint. In Fall 2013 season, a new anime started airing and it had the mystique of under the sea written all over it. Nagi no Asukara appeared to be a beautifully animated work of art, and it also appeared to be right up my alley for an anime.

Nagi no Asukara starts off with a group of  middle school kids, Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki, and Kaname, from underwater who have just found out that their old school is closing and they must transfer schools. Since there isn't any other schools under the sea, they decide to go to a school on the surface. Before they start school, Manaka gets caught up in a fishing net by a soon to be classmate named Tsumugu and almost near instantly falls in love with him. However, the peace that the group from under the sea and even the surface can not last forever and there is something omninous waiting for them on the horizon. 

The plot is very character driven as it is a drama anime. Even though the begin all, end all problem is an external source from outside the characters,name the fact that they are threatened with the fact that they might be going to sleep for a very long time and might wake up long after everyone they have ever known on the surface has passed away. Also, within the anime, there was a time skip, whichshowed how everyone one the surface had change, but yet the people from underwater hadn't changed one bit. The second arc, which also revolved around finding Manaka's ability to love, was also decent, but in some ways it felt like it went on too long.

However, the drama at some points makes no sense, especially since Chisaki keeps flipping back and forth between the male cast. Hikari starts off as a headstrong character, but he eventually learns to mature and show his soft side, especially in a time of crisis. Kaname is the other male member from the underwater cast, and while he is plot relevant, he usually gets shoved into the background until he is brought up again but then he just disappears into the back ground. Manaka is an interesting character as she is portrayed to be the love interest of Hikari, but she is completely ditzy and ends up falling in love with the boy from the surface, Tsumugu. Are these characters the most original characters out there? No, but for the most part they were decent characters. The one exception lays in Chisaki because I have a feeling that she knew she was a side character in comparison to Hikari and Manaka, but she kept trying to butt her way into the story.Miuna's character became more developed after the time skip was done, but by the end of it, I honestly felt sorry for her because Chisaki, Sayu and Manaka ended up with their own special someone, while she sacrificed her happiness for Hikari. 


The art for this anime is actually pretty amazing. The underwater scenes were so well animated it honestly took my breath away. There is quality animation for the surface scenes as well, but the real quality comes from underwater. All the characters has great character designs,except for Iam still wondering what the little feather things are behind Manaka's ears. Another part of the art style for the characters I liked was actually the eyes of the people from the sea. The eyes were such a pretty blue that I couldn't help but to admire them.

Now was Nagi no Asukara the perfect anime? No it wasn't. It lacked some consistency about the Ena, the layer of skin that covers the people from the sea's skins to enable them to breathe underwater. Also, as I have stated before, certain characters irked me , but despite its flaws, I enjoyed the emotional roller coaster that this anime put me through.

Hexakill

If you have been playing league recently, then you know that there is a new format called Hexakill. Instead of there being five champions on each team, there is now an extra person making it six vs six. I admit, when I heard about it, I was excited to try it out due to hey something other than Classic Summoners' Rift or ARAM, even though Hexakill is played on Summoners Rift. However, just because something is shiney and new does not mean that is all fun and games: Hexakill is sometimes annoying to play.


With there being an extra champion, that means there is a couple of options to dividing up the champions between lanes. You could do two at top lane, two at bottom lane, and two at middle lane, or you could go two top, two bottom, one middle and a jungle. During champion select during normal matches, especially with queuing in with random people, it is sometimes a mess calling positions, but everything can work itself out by the time champion select is over.In Hexakill however, the mess continues up until the game actually starts because half of the team favors the two in every lane and the other half goes with there being a jungler. While I have found in my experience that sending two in every lane is usually efficient, there is also great power in there being a jungle.

Another problem I have had with Hexakill is what type of champion to send where. In normal game mode, you send your tanks or bruisers top lane, like Nassus, Riven and Tryndmere;you send your Assassins middle lane, like Ahri,Fizz, and Katarina; and you send your Attack Damage Carry,or ADC, such as Sivir, Ashe and Caitlyn and your Support bottom lane, such as Soraka, Thresh or Leona. In that mix you could have a jungler, like Vi or Fiddlesticks, but it almost optional. However, in Hexakill, I have seen them send a tank and an Assassin top lane to disrupt the top lane and them to send tanks bot lane to give the ADC some support. I admit, the main problem is people keep trying to play it like they play Classic Rift during Hexakill due to the fact Hexakill is not classic Rift; Hexakill does not have a clear defined meta, which is also a good quality because it allows people to experiment. I admit, the combo of Nassus and Ahri top would have never happened in classic, but it an awesome combination due to Ahri charming and Nassus farming for the kill.

One of the fun things bout it though is experiment with different champion combos, like the Nassus-Ahri combo. For example if you do pick to have two middle lane champions, you can see how different champions interact with each other. It is kind of funny how mid just starts spamming combos and eventually gets there.

Speaking of experimenting, I feel a greater ease experimenting with different champions. I admit to experimenting with Syndra and Orianna the whole time while I do Hexakill. While you can experiment on Rift, people will flame you if you do bad, but in Hexakill, while there is flaming, the thing that makes it better is the fact that it's not a "real" format, meaning while you do get IP and EXP, its a fun format.It not competitive like it is on rift;it just exists,sorta like ARAM.

Overall, while I have had some bad experience trying to figure out Hexakill, I hope in the coming days, I will continue having fun playing League. I hope Riot can keep giving us these fun formats, such as Hexakill, All for One, Showdown, etc, and maybe keep them a bit longer.

Jigoku Shoujo

A few months ago, I kind of got desperate for a new anime to watch. I felt like I had watched every anime that had caught my eye and even a few anime that hadn't. But instead of giving into peer pressure to watch Attack on Titan, someone recommended an anime called Hell Girl, or Jigoku Shoujo. Now while I was skepticalon watching this,I decided to take a look at this anime.

The premise for the anime is simple:at midnight a website opens up called Hell Link. On this website, you can enter the name of the person you want to take revenge against, and Enma Ai,otherwise known as Jigoku Shoujo, will send them down to hell at the price that when you die, you will go to hell your self. Before Jigoku Shoujo sends the people to hell, she tortures them in the most bizarre ways possible, such as showing them their worst nightmares.

At the beginning of the anime, the anime comes of as very episodic, as in one problem, one episode and almost zero continuity. However, as the series goes on, you get introduced to a couple of characters named Shibata Hajime, a reporter who wants to investigate the mystery of these mysterious deaths, and his daughter, Shibata Tsugumi, a seven year old girl who has a mysterious connection with Enma Ai and can see who she comes to that wants revenge. These characters to me add a bit continuity to the series, because, because honestly, if had kept up its episodic pace, I think I would not have enjoyed the anime as much as I did. Also along the way, Enma Ai has her own companions: Wanyuudou, a mysterious old man that becomes the doll that has the red string, Hone Onna, the mysterious woman who accompanies Enma Ai and Ichimoku Ren,a young man who has one eye covered. 

Overall, I got a kick out of this anime,mostly because I feel the pain of wanting to take revenge on a person. However, it is interesting to note while Jogoku Shoujo hands them a doll with a red string, she does not untie the string her self; she allows the person wanting revenge to untie it to enter into the contract that will send both of them to hell. I like this idea because it allows the person to rethink the decision to enact revenge.

The art stylefor this anime is dark like the theme,but it is still well drawn. The characters' expressions are sometimes a bit over done,but other than that, I was fine with the animation. Also, I do like the fact that you could tell the main cast apart, but otherwise,it felt like the characters from the episodic episodes started looking the same after a bit.

Overall, I liked this anime due to its dark air and mystery. However, it had a nice solid end, but also left some strings untied, which should be tied up in season two I hope. 

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.

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. 

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan

Bread is a staple of life for most parts of the world. It can feed many, it can give us energy in order to carry out everyday tasks, and it can even make someones day. However, baking the bread might become a coping mechanism into order to deal with certain illnesses, such as lost memories. In the case of Shining Hearts: Shiwase no Pan, bread and the making of it becomes an escape for Rick and his fellow companions in the bread shop.

The story was proposed to be about Kaguya, a young girl who washed up on shore with no memories, and Rick and his fellow companions find her and take her in. They go about their regular duties, keeping an eye on Kaguya, making bread for her, and those in the community. However, as it turns out, Kaguya is no the first person to wash up on shore with no memories, and the quest to find the answers begins.

Sounds epic, right? Wrong. The story is actually more about Rick and his companions, Airy, Neris, and Amile, making bread for those around them, and when it seems there is any break through behind the characters or the story, they just go back to making bread. If they stuck more to the mystery to why so many people washed up on shore, with no memories, then this anime would be epic. Instead, they brush off that and just focus on making people happy with bread. 

The characters were very weak for an nime that tried to focus on the characters. Rick had so much potential to be a great "harem lead," but they pushed him to the side, and when he could have shone, they didn't really do anything with it. The girls at the shop were so bland that they didn't even have a stereotype such as a tsundere or library girl, they were just there. Kaguya was proposed to be the center piece of the anime, but she was relegated to a minor roe. Xiao Mei was almost this shows saving grace, but she was pushed to the side once again.

The art and music was the best part of this anime to be honest. The art was fluid, and the characters were artistically distinguishable, but only artistically. The backgrounds were also well designed, and everything was vibrant in color. The opening theme was slow, and made me feel like the theme of lost memories could be prevalent, but it was also mello and relaxing. The end theme was actually pretty good, even though it was about baking bread. It had an upbeat tune, and very, very catchy.

Overall, I say avoid this anime like the plague unless you just want to watch making bread and them making people happy. It has a lot of potential, but the execution of it is poor. I do realize it is based off a game, but even then, they could have done a lot more with this anime.  

Ao no Exorcist

The belief of demons exists universally through almost every culture and many, if not all religions. They are portrayed as trouble makers, and they even portray straying from the path of righteousness. There has also has been a need to get rid of, or exercise, these demons by people called exorcists. Ao no Exorcist incorporates both of these devices, and sometimes, the line between good and evil is hardly distinguishable.

Our story follows Okumura Rin, the son of a priest and an exorcist, and his twin brother Yukio. However, it turns that out that Rin is the bastard son of Satan himself. But when Rin finds this out, he does not join Satan, but rather decides to become an exorcist in order to defeat Satan in order to live up to his adoptive father's expectations. After deciding to become an exorcist, he then goes to a school for exorcists and while there, strange events one after another happen, and Rin discovers the truth behind what it means to be an exorcist.

The story's premise is a unique one, if not partially controversial among the Christian community. The son of Satan in the Christian community would of course be put to death immediately, but in the story line, he is portrayed as a hero. Personally, I liked the unique spin on the whole issue, and they handled the the ostracizing of Rin from the community very well. The story also held my attention for all of the twenty-five episodes, and I wish there was a second season to expand on the story.

The characters were enjoyable to watch because in some ways, most people can relate to Rin in the fact that he was not accepted by the community, and he had a perfect little brother that everyone adored. By the end of the story, the ones you would be expecting to root for, the church, ended up to be the jerks who wanted to ruin everything, and somehow, they made Satan sympathetic, and weird as that sounds, they managed to do it in a way that made sense. The students at the school were also relatable, and they were there for their own purposes, though I wish they could have been expanded. One character I wish they gave more attention to is Mephisto, the schools head. He looks like he has an interesting background, and a story to tell.

Theart for this series was well done in my mind. The transformation that Rin under goes when he goes into the blue flame more is awesome, though sometimes his ears stays a bit pointy while as a human. The character designs were each distinguishable, and the back grounds and sceneries were well done.

Overall, I wish this anime was a bit longer, or a second season focusing more on the other characters, and definitely Yukio. Granted,, there is a movie coming out, I doubt that will do the justice I need. Other than that, this anime was amazing in my eyes. I honestly could not stop watching it, and although some stuff was not clearly explained, the other parts of this anime were done well enough to where I can forgive that.

Upotte!!

Although guns might not be the most modern invention, they have been the most crucial to modern warfare. They can take down armies with out them, and even armies that have guns, the ones with the more powerful guns win. Now, imagine of the most used guns of a country were made into girls. You have to wonder how would they act, if they would all be aggressive since the nature of using a gun usually is, or how relaxed would they be. Upotte answers that question, and even provides some insight on the specs of the gun.

The story for Upotte!! is almost slice of life, except the girls are going to a school for assault riffles, and the after school activities revolving around target practice and the such. There is the arc of the tag team battles, which revolves around teams of two going out and trying to win the competition and the arc with the school trip. Both arcs were surperb, but I wish they went a bit further with the anime story wise, so we could meet more of the guns of the world.

The characters were the highlight of this anime, due to the fact they were all assault riffles, such as the M16A1 from America, whom they called Ichiroku (Lit. one, six) and F.N.C or Funko, from Belgium. Also in the main cast was SIG550, or Shigu, from Switzerland, and L85A1, or Eru, from England. True, there are other guns in the cast, such as the M14 and the AK47, but these guns don't play as big of a role in the anime as the four main guns. These girls have distinct personalities based on not only how the gun works, but also where they come from as well. For example, the M16 tires out quickly on cleaning duty due to the fact she has a three round burst, and she has to keep her self in order due to the fact that if the M16 has the slightest little problem, it will jam, but also she is loud mouthed like the stereo types for America. The L85 gets sick a lot due to the fact it is not a sturdy gun and the magazine will fall out sometimes.

The art for this anime was actually pretty good. It had some elements of the moe-blobstyle, but also the girls had well defined features. The guns that the girls were able to with draw looked very similar to the real life guns to even the point they were identifiable. The girls them selfs were drawn a bit rounded and shapely but for this anime it worked.

Overall, I liked this anime due the Hetalia like nature of it, although it was bishounsn but rather girls. Although it was aimed at military otaku as well those fans of moe. I recomend this to everyone and I will be the first to admit thatI learned a bit about guns from this anime, such as the M16 has a three round burst and the SIG550 was a long distance assault riffle. It's a good, comedical way to learn about guns and how they work.

Also would like to thank my gun fanatic friend for watching this with me :D

Holy Knight

Many of you have figured out that vampires are now a huge trend in the literary world, from anime to manga, to even novels. Some are very blatant about the fact that the work is about vampires, and the other is just very subtle, or it pushes it on to you last minute. Holy Knight is the latter example, but it pulls it off decently.

Our story is a bit unclear from the beginning, but Mizumura Shinta is an ordinary student, but one day, he meets Kishimoto Lilith, a Romanian half-vampire, half human girl, who he bumps into on day while walking to school with his child hood friend, Chizuru. Lilith makes obvious advances on Shinta, such as wanting to have sex with him, and even to the point that she wants to have his children, due to the fact he has a special bloodline of vampire hunters. 

The story for this OVA is not that good, but it had the potential to be a great story. I think they could have easily made this OVA longer, or even into a full anime T.V series, but I think the OVA was supposed to be for fans of the manga, who already know the story, or perhaps even get people to buy and read the manga. It might have worked, because I might pick up the manga just to figure out what happens next with Chizuru and Lilith, and if Shinta and Lilith ever get together. 

The art for this anime was superb, I will admit. each character was well drawn, and of course the lingerie on Lilith was well drawn.The backgrounds were well drawn, and it was colorful where it should have been, and dark where it should be. Of course, the boobs on the chicks were big as ever, since this was an ecchi OVA, and that's the main selling point.  The only character design I saw as weird was the exercise instructor that Chizuru was doing a work out to.

The anime characters creates more questions than it answers in my mind. Lilith, a half-vampire, half-human, wants to have a vampire hunter's babies, and my only question is what was she thinking? I don't think going up to someone saying that you want to have their babies is a great pick up technique, but hey, in this situation it almost worked. Also along those lines, since Lilith is Romanian, why is her last name a Japanese one (Kishimoto)? Another question that the anime created was about his child hood friend, Chizuru, who is shown to heal unreasonable fast, and that is never explained. Otherwise, for the OVA, you can get a basic grasp of how the characters are supposed to work, but I'm hoping for a full T.V. series to fully explain the characters.

This anime has left me with the impression that if I ever made a drinking game of how many times this anime made me derp, then I'd honestly be dead. Not because I have crappy alcohol tolerance, but because seriously, this anime made no sense at all. I enjoyed it for what it was worth, but I'm hoping that this is just a pilot series, and the real T.V. series is coming later. 

Peter Pan Syndrome

I bet that everyone has had dreams of flying at some point in their lives. The thrill of being able to soar above the population below has long enchanted writers and even with the invention of the airplane, it seems that it is a popular topic through literature. Manga is no different, and Peter Pan Syndrome follows the thrills of a girl who has the ability to fly.

Our story follows Hasumi Kohaku, a girl who can fly at night, or when it is raining or snowing, or just plain over cast. She moves into town to find her mother who dissapeared when she was very young and her search leads to  her meeting Tachibana Yuuro, a young arrogant boy who is supposed to be next hospital head, though her using her flying abilities to save his life. Will she find her mother, and her happiness in this town or was moving there all in vain?

The story for this has a simple beginning because it is something that we have all have seen before: a young girl in search of a missing parent. The addition of the super power was a nice addition, I'll admit, but of course in shoujo manga, there is the romance part of it. The story does take a somewhat dark turn, but not overly dark, and it still fits with the theme of shoujo manga. 


The characters were sort of well developed for a ten chapter manga, but I felt like the manga could have been a bit longer to fully explain the events that happened in the past, and still held my attention. Kohaku was yur typical shoujou heroine, even though she could fly, although about mid way through the series, you realize that she has a rather dark past. Yuuro is our typical love interest that acts a bit cold towards to the heroine at first, but gradually warms up to her. Eventually, we meet Touko, who is a potentional love rival for Kohaku. Yuuro's brother, Kyouri, really doesn't really do anything for the story in particular, he just acts as a foil for Yuuro.

The art work for this manga was decent and personally eye pleasing. The characters were well drawn in that shoujou fashion everyone either loves or hates. Yes, that does mean the eyes take up abOut half the face, and every boy is a pretty boy. All characters I cod tell apart from the others, even in black and white.

Overall, for such a short manga, it was well done. I liked the characters, and personally, I hope for sequels to tell the story after the end. J
My only complaint about this manga is just the fact the end seemed a bit off, and there was some room tO definitely continue the story.

Hanaukyo Maid-Tai

It seems that sexism has become a big part in the world that we live in today. In anime, they like to poke funat the sexism by making one sex unable to be around the opposite due to some condition, such as androphobia or gynophobia (fear of men and women respectively) or even some even more bizarre instances. Hanaukyo Maid-Tai, or Hanaukyo Maid Team follows yet another one of these odd scenarios.

Our story follows Hanaukyo Tarou, a young boy who is sent tonlive with his grandpa after his mother died. Little did he know that his grandpa also owns a large team of maids, and they all are told to serve him. There is one little problem with this scenario: it also turns out Tarou is allergic to girls.

Now if that doesn't provide for fan service like no tomorrow. Yes, the maids try to help Tarou with every day life, and most of the time they get in the way, but we all know its not to follow some newly found rich boy and the maids failing at helping him. We know that this anime's selling point, and the story, is the fan service. There is no escaping it due to the fact there is a bunch of girls and one dude. Luckily for us, the fan service only comes in fourteen minute bouts, for each episode is only fourteen minutes long.

The art for this series, in my opinion, is not that good. True, it is old style might work a bit for this series, but it seems there is three main designs: Mariel, Tarou, and everyone else. I honestly feel like none of the characters are distinguishable from the others, and their names even less so. True, the main character is a typical harem lead, and thus looks like one, but even the harem girls, who are supposed to be the best part, and the best drawn, are poolry drawn,and the quality was just dirt poor.

The characters in this anime were almost as bad as the art, to be quite honest. Our "harem" lead is just bland. They could have done so much with the allergy to girls, but they didn't really do much at all. Sure, he turned colors when they touched him, but that's bout it. True, the maids are there, but they are 2-D, and it seems that the maides only appeared in one episode a piece, save for the head of the maides, Mariel. This could be such a character driven anime, but this anime's characters were all over the place and just plain bad.

Overall, this anime has to be one the worst attempts at a harem I have ever seen. This anime had the potential to be a semi-unique harem, and perhaps there was to be a cure for the amlergy to girls, and there could have been less maides, but more character depth, that would have. Een excellent.

Hellsing

In Popular culture today, there seems to have been an increased interest in vampires(specially of the sparkley variety)and for some reason they intrigue us. Perhaps it's they ability to live forever,or quite a long time, or maybe its because they can suck human's blood. Whatever the case may be, they are intriguing things. However, in the anime Hellsing our vampire is like a standard vampire,before they became the fasionistas of the word, but he is used by the humans, in order to hunt and to kill his own kind.

Out story can be split up in two main parts: the part about Alucard, the vampire, and the other about Sera Victoria, a human police girl. Our vampire, Alucard, is being kept by the Hellsing Organization that hunts vampires, and when things go badly, they call in Alucard to kill the vampire, despite being a vampire himself. He meets up with Sera Victoria as she was held hostage by an enemy vampire, and turned into a vampire by Alucard and she herself joins the Hellsing Organization to hunt vampires, just like her Master, Alucard.

The story is actually half way decent for this anime, though it felt incomplete at the end. They did well with the screen time they had,but Expectation wise,the story did not live up to the rumours I have heard about how epic Hellsing was, and mostly I blame that on the loose ends of the story, but in many other areas as well.

The art for this series was old fashioned, so honestly I didn't know if i liked it or not, but the three major characters, Alucard, victoria, and Integra Hellsing's charactr designs were distinguishable from the others, who honestly were not drawn that well. The art also seemed whited out to some extent, but since the anime was made in the early 2000's and that would e acceptable at the time that this was made. Granted, Alucard was the best drawn out of the characters, but I feel like they tried to make Victoria equally as appealing but the way she was drawn is absolute fail.

The characters for this anime are almost so bad they're decent. We have the big boobsd police girl who is just shooting things with a bazooka. I think she's supposed to be the main character in this anime, and even though she takes up a lot of screen time, I couldn't help but to feel she was a side character. The show was mainly dominated by iIntegra and her "servant" Alucard, who mainly seemed like he even dominated her at points. He mainly came across as the best guard dog who couldn't do anything without his master's permission. He was an awesome character, and I wish it was more about him and not about Seras and especially Integra. The rest of the character only appeared in only one episode, or in the case of the Hellsing squad, looked the sams as every other squad member.

The Three Stooges

As a comedy lover, I am looking for the next big thing in the comedy world. It seems that now comedy is run by stoner comedy (movies such as the Hangover) or movies that are paired with romance. It's rare to find a pure comedy movie, however, I have found it. The Three Stooges, a classic, remade for modern times, filled to the brim with simple, but yet effective, slap-stick humor was a sure win for me.

Although it may be slap-stick humor, there is a story behind the humor, and a very good one at that. The Three Stooges, Moe, Curley and Larry start off in an orphanage, where they torment the orphanage nuns. After Moe nearly gets adopted, which a little boy named Ted gets adopted instead, ad the Three Stooges continue living in the orphanage as helpers, though they tend to make more trouble than they actually help. One day, the nuns tell the boys that they would have to leave due to the orphanage closing. The boys then set off in to the real world, trying to garner the 830,000 dollars required to keep the orphanage open, and along the way, meet some interesting people.

The characters were such a stand out in the movie, that I think they deserve an award for it. True, none of they didn’t have the character depth that most characters would get an award for, but the comedy style, and their interactions with each other was spectacular. The comedy style was amazing, and the actors carried it out very well. In fact, the characters were so funny that I don't think I stopped laughing the whole entire movie. I will give the characters credit, they manages to bash the whole Jersey Shore cast, and they managed to bash a  slew of things in popular culture, thus making the remake effective to today's time.

The story was decent in my mind, though I think that it played a big part but yet a little part in the movie. A big part due to the fact that half the skits had to do with them getting the money, but also, the slapstick humor could be used in any situation. While this might be a movie killer for some, it was personally a win for me, due to the fact that despite the humor being versatile and that it was too plot intensive, but just easy going with humor.

The acting was excellent in my mind. They were consistent with their accents, and the way they pronounced certain words, and their signature sound was also well done. The other actors besides the Stooges also did well, minus the Jersey Shore Cast, but they got beat up by Moe, so they served their purpose. The reactions of the characters to the Stooges stupidity were priceless, and while they couldn't have really done anything about it, they took it like pros. 

Overall, this has to be one of the best movies I have seen all year. The comedy was brilliant, the acting was phenomenal, and the movie, overall, made me laugh the whole entire time. If a movie can make a person laugh the whole entire movie, then it is a win in my book. I highly recommend that you go see it, and along with that, learn some comedy stunts from them. It was an very interesting watch, and I hope that the Three Stooges can become a franchise like it has in the past, due it being one of the best movies I have seen all year. 

Dantalian no Shoka

As a child, I was quiet the reader. I would read almost anything from mystery, to action, and even the stuff in between. When coming across this anime, I couldn't help but to smile, and feel a warmth spreading over me, because it had to deal with books and mysterious powers, and it was set in one of my favorite times in history: The Victorian Era.

The story for this anime is almost simple: a young man named Hugh Anthony Diswald, living in London when his grandfather dies, and leaves him the estate, along with his massive library. When he arrives at the estate, and goes down to the library, he meets a young girl named Dalian, the black biblioprincess, who is one of the keepers of 906,666 deadly books called the phantom books-books with special powers that enable strange things to happen, such as resurrection, hypnotism, and other strange occurrences. Together, the seek out phantom books to bring about the balance of the world.

The story in mind had premise, but it felt like later on in the anime that nothing truely connected. In the episodes, it seemed that a point could be elaborated upon, but it didn't happen, and the characters by the next episode were relaxing again. The story in each episode sort of got repetitive, due to the fact it was basically start of in house to meet problem character, to investigation "could there be a phantom book," to discovering phantom book, to battling crazy person with phantom book, to crappy end of episode.  True, while I do like episodic anime, this was a bit too serious of an anime to really pull the episodic execution, and thus the biggest failure of this anime.

The characters for this anime were likable, if not a bit dull. Diswald has an interesting back story of being a former army pilot, but they only expand on this at the last minute, and I truly wish they did more with that. Dalian was the token tsundere loli of the series, and just being as much use as just saying "Hey, I sense a phantom book," and she grants access to the library that has all the books to stop the phantom book, and even then, Diswald is responsible mostly for stopping the rampage of the book. The minor characters were very forgettable, and even the ones that they tried to make seem important were still easily forgettable.

The art for this anime was what actually drew me into this anime. It has a serious tone to it, but also has a light-hearted tone to it, which make me happy. In the anime, the art was fluid, and the effects for obtaining the books was interesting. The characters were well designed, though I felt like that the side character designs were repeated,and I had a hard time distinguishing them sometimes.

Overall, despite its flaws, I enjoyed this anime, even  though at the end it seemed to stop making sense. I liked the concept, I just wish that they had gone a bit more in depth with the characters, and perhaps not make it so episodic in nature, and have a bit more character development. Also, this anime was too short and serious to even pull off the episodic execution.
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Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 1000%

In anime, it feels that there is never enough reverse harems. Sure, you might have Hetalia and the failed Starry Sky, but it seems they all lack one thing in particular: a good plot. When I found Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 1000%(UtaPri for short) I had almost zero hopes for it due to the fact it was based of an otome game and it had art similar to Starry Sky.However, I was actually pleasantly surprised by this anime.

The story is a simple one in my mind: a young girl, Nanami Haruka, wants to make music for her dream Hayato, and thus enter Saotome Academy, a school for idols and their composers. There she meets an array of boys, from the childish Kurusu Syo (Shou), to the serious Ichinose Tokiya. While at Saotome Academy, as she works with each of the boys, she soon discovers her true talent for composing songs, along with the bonds of friendship that are tried through and through.

To be honest, the story was the weakest point in the anime. It was simple yes, but the whole thing with the boys falling one after another for Haruka was just a bit unnatural. True, while they might have been trying to make it possible for the viewer to glimpse the potential for all the routes, it still felt jumpy, but had a nice wrap up at the end.

The art was very well done and each character was well drawn. The character designs were well thought out, and the characters were very bishounen or pretty boy. Also, the characters were brightly colored and some of the characters reminded me of characters from another   There was thing that irked me about the art, and although it was something minor, it irked me none the less: Haruka's eyes. When I first saw them, I honestly flipped. Eyes should not look like that, and why the artist had to do that is beyond me actually. I actually had to avoid looking at her eyes in order not to be creeped out.

The characters were probably one of the best aspects of this anime. Although they are all idol-wanna-bes, they all have distinct personalities, and they are likable. The guy's personalities range from the young ignorant, but lovable Kurusu Shou, to the guy that loves small and sweet things Shinomya Natsuki, to the cold and indifferent Ichinose Tokiya, to the rich, playboy character, Jingugi Ren. Though the guys were the shining point in the anime (as I expect them to be, since this anime was based off an otome game), Haruka was probably the let down in the cast. She is supposed to be that girl everyone can relate to, however she does come across sometimes as boring, and her character role is almost unimportant, but yet, everyone falls for her faster than a rock to the bottom of a pond. All the other characters felt flat, and needed some improvement, but seeing how this is an anime based off an otome game, I'll give them some slack.

The music was something else very notable about the series, due to the fact one, it was a music style anime, and two, in my mind it was very very catchy. Each song was also well written in the fact that they matched the characters' personalities very, very well. The music was well written musically, for example the melodies were well laid out and blended well with each other.

Overall, I would highly recommend this to any of my female otaku friends.  The guys were to swoon for, and they had all had their credits, and they were all likable. I will say this anime was not perfect, but despite its flaws, I still enjoyed the anime immensely. I hope that you can enjoy this anime as much as I did, and not just for its flaws.

HeartCatch Precure

After seeing the Suite Precure series, I naturally became curious in the franchise that was the Precure. In case you didn't know, the Precure series spans out to seven different series, each standing independently  of each other. After I saw Suite Precure, I decided to check out the series that came before it, Heartcatch PreCure. How did it compare to Suite Precure?

The story is basic: Hanasaki Tsubomi and her family have just moved the little town of Kibougahana, where Tsubomi's grandma resides. Soon after moving there, she starts to have dreams about Cure Moonlight being destroyed in order to protect the Heart Tree.  On a walk one day, tumbling out of the sky come Shypre and Coffret, two little fairies who protect the Heart Tree, the source of people's happiness in the world, and their description matches Tsubomi's dream. They then make her into a Precure in order to fight the Desertrian, a monster made from people's wilting Heart Flowers, due to negative feelings. Along with her best friend, Kuromi Erika, Cure Blossom and Cure Marine take charge and fight for the sake of people's heart flowers.

The plot for this anime is pretty decent for a fourty-nine episode mahou shoujo series. True, in every episode there was not character development, but it still was an enjoyable watch. Also, the story needed to move a bit better, and maybe need a bit more explaination, however, it also explained some stuff rather well.

The art for the anime was actually what drove me away from it when it first aired, I will admit. It looked sloppy, a bit odd, and washed out, but once I started watching, the art steadily grew on me. Each character was distinguishable, and well drawn and it wasn't washed out at all, just very, very bright. The expressions were also well ddrawn, and when they went into shock, it also showed the thick lines, and added well to the effect. The magical girl transformations were also well drawn, and colorful, and didn't take too long like they do in other magical girl anime, but they still could have cut down on the time it took.

As for the characters, the are either the strong point in the anime, or the weak point, depending on you point of view. They are the strong point due to the fact the main characters are well distinguished, and drive the plot well. However, the side characters are bland, and they maybe come up for one episode. The main cast is not with out its weak points: they are just too damn happy. The main cast fights against negative emotions with happiness, sure, but I do feel like they are just blindly fighting sometimes. For a while, their motives were questioned, but we never get a definite answer besides the whole"We are Precure. We are trying to do the world good. We will stop all negative emotions and depression because we are good!" speech.

Overall, I enjoyed this anime a lot, even to the point of marathoning it. As a mahou shoujou, it was refreshing and cute, and even a bit strange, however, it was a good watch.The art was stunning, and the opening and closing songs were catchy and cutesy and matched the tones of the anime very well. I would recommend this anime to anyone who loves mahou shoujou and/or just cutesy anime in general.

High School DxD

As the winter season draws to a close, to bring in the new anime for the spring, I must say that this season was full of interesting anime, from teenage girls fighting each other in an alternate world, to the daily live's of high school boys. However, as interesting as those may sound, they were not the anime that caught my eye. The anime that caught my eye was the anime about a perverted boy and some devils, the ecchi anime known as High School DxD. 


 Ecchi anime have a reputation for having no story, but in the case of High School DxD, it actually had a story about a high school boy named Hyoudou Issei who meets a beautiful girl named Rias Gremory, who is a demon. He then becomes a demon and fights against fallen angels and exorcist along with Rias' other demon slaves.

The story premise is actually rather good in my opinion, with the demons being the good guys, although that is hardly new. However, it was still amusing because of the main character being human before being a demon. Also, it was amusing because the demons work similar to chess, with Rias being the "King" and each of her slaves being a chess piece, and each chess piece has certain powers, for example the rook is super strong, and the knight defies odds.

The art for this series was superb. Each of the characters were well drawn, and their assets were well noted. One thing I will give the company who aired it is the fact they didn't sensor it. It was boobs galore, with loads of fan service through out the fights. I will give them credit that they did not have boobs randomly pop out and  just did not over do the boobs, and they made the circumstances of which the boobs were shown believable. Along with that, everything was fluid, and well drawn, and actually very eye-catching.

The characters to me felt like they had so much potential because of the different types of characters, however, I do feel like this where the anime suffered the most. A lot of time was spent on boobs, and while it did provide for some laughs, I felt like the characters had so much potential, especially Asia and Rias. The other characters for this anime were flat, two-dementional, and barely memorable, which disappointed me great because I felt like they could have been developed a lot more, but instead they focused on Rias and her boobs, and Issei's fascination with the boobs of all women.

Despite all of its pitfalls, and some of the blandness, it still proved an interesting watch overall. I liked the premise, and although the execution failed on a few levels, it still proved interesting and managed to get its point across. I actually hope for a season two, with more of Issei's adventures, and maybe give the characters a bit more depth.