Godzilla (2014)

Although anime might be huge in America today, that was not the first thing that came over from Japan. In the 1950's,there was a Japanese movie the show cased a huge reptile tearing up Tokyo in epic fights against these big monsters called Kaijuu called Godzilla. There have been sequels and even an American remake that most people are trying to forget. However, Americans have tried their hand again in a remake of these Japanese films,and surprisingly, it turned out decently.

Our plot starts out in the Philippines in 1999 where a group of explorers discover a unusual uranium deposit that seemed to stronger once it was exposed to air. Underground, there was a massive  fossil, bigger than any animal known to man but in the fossil held an embryonic sac, which was the source of the uranium. The next scene cuts to Janjira, Japan where its a normal day as always, except the power plant where one of our main characters, Joe, works at starts reporting tremors from inside the earth. Everyone thinks it's just an earthquake, but when the power plant collapses with Joe's wife inside, he is convinced that it was not just a normal earthquake. Our plot after that point jumps to the year 2014 in San Francisco where Joe's son, Ford grew up with out any problems and has come home from a military tour over seas. However, on his first night home, he gets a phone call from Japan from his dad saying that his dad was arrested from going into a restricted area to get the data from fourteen years ago back. After the police arrest him, he meets up with one of his old co workers from the power plant and as it turns out, where the power plant use to be, there is now a pulsating cocoon belonging to the winged creature called muto which feeds off radiation. Switching scenes, there is another cocoon in Nevada which hatched into a bigger, however wingless muto. As the two travel on their way to meet up, the alpha predator,Godzilla is hot on the muto's trail, traveling across the Pacific, to cross paths with the female muto from Nevada for an epic battle over San Fransico. 

I will admit to that I haven't seen any of the Godzilla movies previously. I went in expecting two hours of monster fighting with maybe a little bit of plot thrown in. However, there was substantial lack of of monster fighting in this movie. When Godzilla him self only shows up three times, I felt like this was a movie more about the humans rather that Godzilla.This movie tried to play on the drama side and tried to show the human's side of the story, which did give our main characters a chance to develop. But when it tried too hard to pull the emotional strings a bit too hard. Another thing that irked me about the plot was the fact they pulled too many plot convenience strings, such as Ford falling off a bridge , being knocked out, and waking up just in time when the military troops walk by.   

The movies tried to play up the human character but they honestly came up as bland. Ford, our main character for majority of the movie was our typical marine guy coming home from a tour over seas. There is nothing that makes him stand out, and often times, I feel like if his character was written out, it might have been a little less bland. His dad, Joe, was slightly more interesting because he was that one guy who claimed to have a clue what was going on, but was looked at like he was crazy the whole entire movie. Unfortunately, all of the other human characters ended up kind of bland and forgettable. Godzilla himself only appeared three times but some things were explained, such as he was the alpha predator and the Muto were his prey.

Overall, I was entertained with this movie. Granted it had a generous amount of flaws,but seeing the big monster fight at the end almost made up for the fact that the human "character development" took up more time than it should have. I will say that the experience of going to the movie theater and having people cheer when Godzilla showed up was a blast. I would recommend it if you can over look some plot holes and enjoy colossal monsters fighting over the city. 

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.

Kill La Kill

While I was at Katsucon this previous month, not only was Card Captor Sakura recommended to me, another anime was recommended to me through the Anilplex panel. At this panel, they show cased Nekomonogatari Bluray set and an anime called Magi and Vividred  and this one anime that had been garnering a lot of attention from fans called Kill La Kill. I heard about it, but until the panel really changed my mind, I was not originally going to watch it, but through a few people talking me into it, I eventually did, and honestly, I am glad I did.



The plot for Kill La Kill is simple: Matoi Ryuuko is seeking revenge on who ever killed her father. With her, she wields a back talking school uniform named Senketsu that gives her enormous power and makes her near indestructible and half of a scissor blade thats capable of cutting through anything. She goes to Honnouji Academy, where Kiryuuin Satsuki, an oppressive student council leader who has her own army of super power uniforms trying to beat Ryuuko into the ground. Along the way, she meets upwith Mankanshouku Mako, an energetic girl who is hyper active and love Ryuuko no matter what. Together, they go on the quest to defeat Satsuki to try and get her revenge on the person who killed her father.

The characters for me were lovable and well written. Even Kiryuuin Satsuki had her redeemable qualities, even though she was trying to kill our beloved Ryuuko. The Four Devas under her, Jakuzure Nonon, Sanagayama Uzu, Gamagoori Ira, and Inumuta Houka, had some funny and awesome moments as well as well as the highest super power uniform under the God Robes that Satsuki and Ryuuko possess. Mako was energetic through out the series and the way she was over dramatic in explaining things kept the series on a positive note, even the world was going to hell in a hand basket. Even the character that terrified me to no end, Harime Nui, had her awesome moments because, like Mako, was energetic and happy in all situations.


The animation for this show was unique in its own little way. It felt like it had a hand drawn feel to it, and when Mako starting getting excited and started "spinning" she actually looked like she was flipping around. The action scenes were well animated, and the whole battle sequences felt over the top like in Guran Lagaan. Every time they used their attacks, there was text, which also helped with the over the top feel, and even added for some hilarity as well.The uniforms had almost their own little transformation sequences, making it feel like a magical girl. The uniform that Ryuuko had, I will admit, was skimpy, but it is not worth the controversy. The outfits were all distinguishable and related to their powers, which was interesting and, I will admit, pretty cool.

Overall, I am glad I gave this anime a chance because it was not as serious I thought it was going to be. I will admit, I am sad that it is over, it was an enjoyable ride and unlike most anime, it wrapped up everything nicely at the end. Studio Trigger did a great job at animating this, and I am looking forward to what they have in the future.

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.

Team Builder Live

If you haven't been keeping your eyes out, then you might have missed the two day beta test called team builder. Each region got two days to test out this beta over a ten day period. So how did Team builder comapre to the normal game mode that most of us have come to either love or hate?

First, what is team builder? IN the normal queues, you are randomly matched with people who want to play a whole variety of position's and in the pre game lobby, you say what you wanna play. This can cause fighting because you sometimes have the person that wanted to play the Attack Damage Carry and got stuck as the support. In team builder, before you even queue in, you actually pick the champion you want to play, then you pick the archetype like mage, support, tank, marksman, or assassin, then you pick the lane you want to play. You are then either team captain and choose the spots that you want played such as whether or not you have duo top or a jungler or you are placed into a queue where you are waiting for a team captain. Then the match queue,once both teams are made, proceeds as normal.

I did like team builder because you locked into the champion and posistion before queing in. It gave the chance to take a typical mid-laner top lane or a jungler bottom lane. Also, it helped eliminated the fighting of calling positions in the chat room and preventing confusion. It was also a good idea because you had the potential to meta break because if you wanted to play Sivir mid-lane, you you could play Sivir mid-lane almost no questions asked. You wanted to play Soraka as a tank? You could take Tankraka top lane.

Though it was supposed to be innovative in how the teams were made,  it was not without flaws. My main complaint was the fact I tried to be as meta breaking as possible,such as taking Fiddlesticks top lane(which worked quite well) but most people tried to stick to the meta as much as they possibly could. I wanted to see some shenanigans that would have made the game a lot more fun, but regardless if it was just the games I played, I wanted to see some form of meta breaking. Another complaint I read about online was the queue it self had some hiccups. It seemed there was a lack of team captains and too many people looking for captains. Even as team captain, I had some problems finding players to be honest, but I was also playing during a high point.

Honestly,I liked the idea of the team builder, due to the fact it could eliminate the painof trying to call positions. I hope to see this game mode return in the future as more than just a two day beta, or a permanent
game mode.

Doki Doki Precure

The magical girl genre, or mahou shoujo,  has always been a weakness of mine, Between the transformations,the fantasy elements presented in it, and the super powers, it has a lot in store for me. Usually, I love any magical girl,no question, but as it seems lately, they seem to be prettier for sure, but at what cost? Doki Doki Precure is very pretty to the eyes, but all it not glitter and roses with this anime.



Doki Doki Precure is like any other magical girl series plot wise.You have your group leader, Aida Mana, and your side Precures, Hishikawa Rikka, Kenzaki Makoto, aka Makopi, and Yotsuba Alice, and later on Madoka Aguri. Granted along the way, you have ultimate big bad guy, King Selfish, and his not so evil at times daughter, Regina, and the evil trio of Ira, Bel, and Mammo, but besides Regina and King Selfish himself, the rest just play the role of making the bad guy of the week appear, so in other words, a completely normal day in the life of mahou shoujo anime. 

The main focus of the any Precure series is indeed it characters,which in this series becomes a horrendous mistake.The mistake of which I am referencing is Aida Mana. In the early episodes, you can tell she has a pure heart and wants to do good, and that she is the center, but this become problematic later on. Throughout the series, you see that each of the characters has their own little flaws, which for the most part are forgotten as the series progresses, but as for Aida Mana, she is shown to have no flaws. She is student council president, she is athletic and she wants to do good, which isn't all bad,but it makes her into a static character. The other three Precures have their own little episodes, but any character development from these episodes, unless it's wanting to make friends with Regina, the daughter of the main villain, is almost completely ignored like the flaw didn't even exist in the first place.  Also, the anime seemsto have seemingly pointless side characters,such as Ai, the little baby found in an egg, and Joe,Queen Ange's fiance, who for the most of the series is not even present.

The art for this anime was its only saving grace honestly. The characters were well drawn out and the animation for the most part was decently smooth. Along with that, the transformation sequences were also very well done, but I, like most people, probably would have been disappointed other wise. The back ground characters emphasize the main cast by all having black hair in contrast to the pink hair or Mana,or the purple hair of Makoto.

Overall, Doki Doki precure is really only worth the watch if you are really into Precure or magical girl anime or have some time to kill. It started out with a whole lot of promise to be a decent magical girl anime in the beginning, but as the series went on, it felt like it could not sustain its self. Compared to the other Precure series, this one is weak and hopefully on the next series, they will be able to polish out the flaws.