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Album : Visitors
It's been a long time since I last updated this blog. Indeed, it's been a long time since this blog was public. I kind of feel like writing something now and again, so I decided to open it back up for business. I can't promise exciting content, but maybe I'll update it occasionally. Please look forward to it.
Seeing that Sakurasou was the last anime I reviewed here made me realize how much stuff I've watched over the last year. I won't be going over everything, telling you exactly what to watch and why, but I might as well talk about the last one I finished.
I recently got into the Love Live! School Idol Festival mobile game. It's a rhythm/card collection game with obligatory cash shop that Love Live fans all over the world can indulge themselves and hate money to their hearts' content. It's a pretty decent game in itself, relying a bit more on the skill of the player rather than the RNG goddess smiling over you. I had never seen the show.
I spent the last week or so watching the 13-episode first season of the popular anime. It's surprisingly well animated for a show of this nature and it's very colorful, making Love Live a nice anime to watch. There is some amazing leg fanservice for anyone who is into that. There's CG for the dance scenes. Yeah, cringe. However, it's passable (as opposed to the terrible CG of the new Sailor Moon anime, Crystal). The soundtrack is pleasant, if comically dramatic at times. Of course a show like this is going to have good insert music and good vocals, and Love Live passes that test. I would recommend it for anyone who wants a funny, relaxing show with some lame tearjerker moments that I will never admit had me choking back my feelings and swallowing them as per the norm. Anyway, let's just all just agree that Eli, Umi, and Nico are the best girls and get on with it.
I would normally move on to the second season, but I was halfway through Majimoji Rurumo, which I'm currently working on.
Oh, KanColle. I've been playing it since May I think. Everyone has heard of it by now, the immensely popular browser game from Kadokawa. Almost every Touhou doujin artist has already jumped ship, and with an upcoming anime early next year, the popularity of KanColle is still on the rise. While the main game does get a bit stale, that's not really the point of the experience at all. Events are a blast with the discussions on forums. In any case, I'm a level 97 teitoku hoarding resources for the upcoming mini-event. It should be fun.
I guess that's enough for now. I will probably write something again when I'm done with Majimoji, which I am enjoying even more than Love Live!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Just watched Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.
Length: 24 episodes
Rating: 8/10
Genre: Slice of Life, Romantic Comedy
Due to the low rent and a penchant for taking in stray cats, Sorata moves into the Sakurasou dorm near his high school. The tenants at Sakurasou are well known throughout the school for their eccentricities and Sorata quickly begins to question his decision to move in. Wishing for a normal school life, he vows that after he finds homes for all of his cats, he'll move back into the regular school dorms. However, there's a new tenant on the way to Sakurasou: a girl named Shiina Mashiro, who is very beautiful and an extremely talented artist. However, everyone at the dorm quickly realizes that Shiina is completely incapable of taking care of herself. The concepts of being on time, clothing herself, and taking baths are totally alien to her. Like another of his stray cats, Sorata adopts Shiina and becomes her caretaker. Shiina's amazing artistic abilities both inspire and devour nearly everyone she comes into contact with, including her new friends at Sakurasou.
I will say it up front that I fell in love with this anime. Despite being a slice of life romcom, Pet na Kanojo has a fair amount of depth to it. The relationships between the helpless Shiina and everyone around her is complex. At first everyone loves her and takes pity on her, but over time her extreme talent causes feelings of jealousy and encourages her peers to alienate her. This anime deals heavily with such themes, and is the major focus of the relationship between Sorata and Shiina, also is a factor in the relationship between Kamiigusa and Mitaka. Accepting your limitations, loving yourself for who you are, pursuing your dreams, and discovering your own talents, are all very important themes of this anime.
In an anime like this, generally the main character is fawned on by every girl around him. In Pet na Kanojo, there are no less than four major relationships developing, and all developing uniquely. This helped keep me interested, and although the main focus of the anime is with Sorata, Shiina, and Aoyama, the others got their own plotlines, and it was wrapped up fairly well in the end.
The animation in Pet na Kanojo isn't really anything special, but I really loved how the coloring was done. Everything has a very soft color that's quite appealing. JC Staff has never been one of my favorite production studios, but they do this genre very well (see: Azumanga Daioh, Mahoraba: Heartful Days, Nodame Cantabile).
I would recommend Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo to anyone. I thought the interpersonal relationships between the characters were very interesting and kept me around until the final episode. I also liked the message the anime put out, and the characters themselves were all great. Also, it's physically impossible to watch the first OP without clapping.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's
Length: 2hr 30min
Rating: 9/10
Genre: Magical Girl, Action
Being that Nanoha is one of my favorite shows, I had been anticipating this movie since the first one was released back in 2010. Nanoha the Movie First completely blew me away with flawless animation, well-choreographed fighting, and new content. Seven Arcs did so well turning the introductory arc into a fine movie that I couldn't wait for their crown jewel, Nanoha A's, to get a movie. This movie was announced shortly after the release of Nanoha First, and the wait was well worth it.
The movie takes place six months after the events of the first movie. Nanoha and Fate are now tentative mages at TSAB, the Time Space Administration Bureau. Fate has been cleared of the charges against her and has been adopted by Admiral Lindy Harlaown. Nanoha has remained on Earth and juggles school and her mage training. Nanoha and Fate have not seen each other since the end of the last movie, and are planning to meet in the near future. On the promised day, however, powerful mages appear and make short work of them both, transferring the magical power of their linker cores into a tome and escaping. Calling themselves Wolkenritter, they are ancient Belkan mages and guardians of the Book of Darkness, a powerful lost logia which threatens the entire Earth. It's up to Nanoha, Fate, and the rest of TSAB to stop them before the Book of Darkness refills its magic and goes berserk.
As you can see, the plot isn't really anything new, but I love how Nanoha mixes sci-fi and mahou shoujo. Being a mage is somewhat like being able to control powerful technology, but the power generation output is based on how powerful that mage's linker core is. Mages wield an intelligent device and also have an augmentive armor in their barrier jackets. Also, having spaceships and dimensional transfers and stuff is just too cool. Some have compared Nanoha to "Gundam with little girls instead of robots," and I would say it's an accurate analogy.
They did cut a little bit of content from the series, but it was definitely something I could overlook based on how good the overall movie was. To make up for it, a wealth of little additions were made that were not in the series to enrich the story.
They did cut a little bit of content from the series, but it was definitely something I could overlook based on how good the overall movie was. To make up for it, a wealth of little additions were made that were not in the series to enrich the story.
The animation for the A's movie is spectacular. Following the high standards of the first movie, Seven Arcs pulls off some very pleasing combat sequences. I especially liked the first person sequence during the Nanoha and Reinforce fight. Seen from Nanoha's perspective, she's shooting and is suddenly smashed through a mountain. Freaking awesome. The overall animation is flawless. No expense was spared. This movie is a showcase for what modern animating methods can do.
Voice work was very good. The entire cast returned to perform their character's voices. In Nanoha style, Tamura Yukari and Mizuki Nana perform the vocal music for the movie. Indeed, once Mizuki Nana starts singing during the ending fight, you'll get pretty pumped up. I was extremely happy with it. Like the first movie, the score was an instrumental version of the music from the series.
In conclusion, if you're a Nanoha fan or love action movies, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's is a must watch. The excellent animation and choreography alone were enough to make this movie amazing. By the way, the Japanese release has English subtitles. Have fun!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Heartcatch Precure!
Between moving from Hawaii to Florida, getting set up with school and all the small things, I haven't had a lot of time to update my blog. Now that I'm settled in, hopefully I will be able to keep up with it. I have close to a dozen shows to provide reviews for, so look forward to it! Also, a new cour started recently. I've been watching the ongoing Ore no Imouto and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, while also watching the new series Shingeki no Kyoujin and Namiuchigawa no Muromi-san.
Just finished Heartcatch Precure!
Length: 49 episodes
Rating: 7/10
Genre: Magical Girl
Being a huge Nanoha fan, I have been pretty curious of the Precure series for a while, but just hadn't gotten into it. After watching Futari wa Precure for about a dozen episodes, I decided to give Heartcatch a shot because I had read that it's one of the best in the series. That isn't to say that I thought Futari was bad, it's just that it's a bit older and is showing its age. I will definitely go back and finish Futari at a later date. Heartcatch really hooked me, and I rode it through to the end.
Tsubomi is a shy, introverted middle schooler who wants to break out of her shell but is always holding herself back. Erika is an extremely upbeat and outgoing girl in Tsubomi's class. The two couldn't be any more dissimilar, but after the extraterrestrial agents of the Desert Messengers attack with the intention of turning the earth into a desert, the two girls are forced to join forces as precure to stop the bad guys. Harnessing the power of love and friendship, the two girls become Cure Blossom and Cure Marine to beat the hell out of their foes, always finishing with a massive blast that comes straight from the heart!
The story is mainly your typical "monster of the week" thing. However, Tsubomi (Cure Blossom) and Erika (Cure Marine) grow a lot over the course of the show, which was quite endearing for me. Seeing Tsubomi especially grow from such a quiet thing to a kick ass precure was nice. Cure Moonlight's story was interesting and surprisingly deep for a so-called "show for little girls." There were a few times, especially during the last 10 episodes or so, where I was asking myself "Is this really for kids?" Not only does this show explore the emotional trauma of ultimate failure (not to mention the death of a best friend), but it also teaches important lessons about letting go of anger and loving and accepting yourself despite your flaws.
The animation in this show is what you might expect for a show that ran for 49 weeks. It can get sloppy in some places. As is common for a magical girl show, where, despite being a nicely detailed animation, every transformation scene and every Floral Power Fortissimo is recycled every episode. Sometimes these budget-saving techniques get kind of old. But there's some great combat animation in this show to be had. I would say most of the budget was probably spent animating the fights, and indeed the fighting is certainly one of the big draws for the fans of Precure. The choreography is very good, and no two fights during this show are the same. The final battles that take place in the last ten episodes are especially intense and I loved them.
Another animation-related thing to note is the camerawork. This show has a very unique way of moving the viewer around, and is fond of very quick extreme closeups through what I can only call a fisheye lens. Generally, this kind of camerawork is only applicable to the fight scenes, but it's definitely unique and has a charm of its own.
The intro/outros for Heartcatch are normal J-POP songs, with the exception of the 2nd ending, which sounds very similar to gospel music. While I don't really think that it fits here, it's definitely something I've never heard in anime. It's just bizarre. After every episode during the second half of the series I feel like I'm in a Baptist church or something. The score is pretty good overall. Though I probably won't download the OST, there were some very appropriate orchestral pieces that fit well.
I would recommend Heartcatch Precure! to anyone who likes magical girl shows. If you like Heartcatch, definitely check out Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Cardcaptor Sakura, and to a more sinister extent, Puella Madoka Magica. They are all three outstanding anime that happen to be magical girl shows.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Just watched Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Length: 1hr 55min
Rating: 8/10
Genre: Mecha, Action
Prior to watching this movie, my exposure to the Macross saga was limited to the original television series and Macross Frontier. I decided I wanted a change from what I usually watch, and if you look at my MAL, it's pretty clear that I don't generally watch mecha anime. I watched Macross with a buddy of mine a few years ago and enjoyed it, and I heard this movie was good so I gave it a shot.
The movie is basically a retelling of the original series. Humans are at war with the Zentraedi, a giant-like male warrior race whose only culture relies around waging battle. The Zentraedi are also at war with the Meltrandi, another giant race of warmongers who are comprised entirely of women.
The flagship carrier SDF Macross is the pride of humanity, and also its home after earth was devastated during the initial battle of the war. The survivors of earth rely on the U.N. Spacy, the surviving military forces, to keep them safe. Ace pilots fly the VF-1 varitech fighter, which look similar to the F-14 Tomcat, but can also transform into a robot. Both the civilian populace and military make their homes on the SDF Macross, working alongside each other. It's very much the last bastion of hope the earth has left. Because of this, the pilots that put their lives on the line almost every day are revered. In these dark times, people have become devoted to music as a huge form of entertainment, and worshipping pop idols is pretty common. Lynn Minmay is the most popular idol on SDF Macross, and rookie VF-1 pilot Hikaru Ichijyo is her biggest fan.
The first thing that really caught my attention was how beautifully animated this movie is, especially the space combat sequences. Despite being nearly 30 years old, the animation is on par or better than what we're used to seeing today. There's something beautiful about quality cel animation that puts it a cut above, and you'll definitely see it in this movie. The attention to detail in this movie is amazing. Granted, this was a big budget production back in the day, but I don't think they could have done better with modern technology.
That being said, I don't really like the character designs for the movie. I'm okay with the 80s style, but the characters have ass eyes in this movie, and their facial expressions are flat and inexpressive. You don't get much convincing emotion from any of the characters because of the awkward way their faces are animated/designed. Minmay is especially bad at this.
The story was good enough for a movie, but being a movie, there wasn't enough development between the characters for it to be a strong standalone character study. I enjoyed the stories of the side characters in the original series, but they're largely absent in the movie. This is common with movies, since they simply don't have time to include the stories of everyone involved. The story revolves almost entirely around the war and the love triangle surrounding Hikaru, Minmay, and Misa. Anyone wanting to learn more about the Macross universe should definitely watch the series also, as there's a lot of great stuff contained in the TV show that wasn't in the movie.
One of the most important things to come out of this movie is the song "Ai Oboete Imasu ka (Do You Remember Love?)," which is arguably the most famous anime song in history. Minmay sings the song during the climax of the movie, and everything great about the movie comes together in a final 9 minutes of sheer awesome.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes anime, even if they're not particularly into mecha. As I said before, I think you'd do well to watch the TV show also. This is an anime classic, and shouldn't be missed.
The movie is basically a retelling of the original series. Humans are at war with the Zentraedi, a giant-like male warrior race whose only culture relies around waging battle. The Zentraedi are also at war with the Meltrandi, another giant race of warmongers who are comprised entirely of women.
The flagship carrier SDF Macross is the pride of humanity, and also its home after earth was devastated during the initial battle of the war. The survivors of earth rely on the U.N. Spacy, the surviving military forces, to keep them safe. Ace pilots fly the VF-1 varitech fighter, which look similar to the F-14 Tomcat, but can also transform into a robot. Both the civilian populace and military make their homes on the SDF Macross, working alongside each other. It's very much the last bastion of hope the earth has left. Because of this, the pilots that put their lives on the line almost every day are revered. In these dark times, people have become devoted to music as a huge form of entertainment, and worshipping pop idols is pretty common. Lynn Minmay is the most popular idol on SDF Macross, and rookie VF-1 pilot Hikaru Ichijyo is her biggest fan.
The first thing that really caught my attention was how beautifully animated this movie is, especially the space combat sequences. Despite being nearly 30 years old, the animation is on par or better than what we're used to seeing today. There's something beautiful about quality cel animation that puts it a cut above, and you'll definitely see it in this movie. The attention to detail in this movie is amazing. Granted, this was a big budget production back in the day, but I don't think they could have done better with modern technology.
That being said, I don't really like the character designs for the movie. I'm okay with the 80s style, but the characters have ass eyes in this movie, and their facial expressions are flat and inexpressive. You don't get much convincing emotion from any of the characters because of the awkward way their faces are animated/designed. Minmay is especially bad at this.
The story was good enough for a movie, but being a movie, there wasn't enough development between the characters for it to be a strong standalone character study. I enjoyed the stories of the side characters in the original series, but they're largely absent in the movie. This is common with movies, since they simply don't have time to include the stories of everyone involved. The story revolves almost entirely around the war and the love triangle surrounding Hikaru, Minmay, and Misa. Anyone wanting to learn more about the Macross universe should definitely watch the series also, as there's a lot of great stuff contained in the TV show that wasn't in the movie.
One of the most important things to come out of this movie is the song "Ai Oboete Imasu ka (Do You Remember Love?)," which is arguably the most famous anime song in history. Minmay sings the song during the climax of the movie, and everything great about the movie comes together in a final 9 minutes of sheer awesome.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes anime, even if they're not particularly into mecha. As I said before, I think you'd do well to watch the TV show also. This is an anime classic, and shouldn't be missed.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Fullmetal Panic: Fumoffu
Just rewatched Fullmetal Panic: Fumoffu.
Length: 12 episodes
Rating: 7/10
Genre: Comedy, School
I've been watching a bunch of my old shows during the past few weeks. Aside from a few anime this season, I haven't been very interested at all. I need to catch up on so many shows but I keep putting it off. My backlog is only getting bigger! Anyway.
A spinoff of the military action series Fullmetal Panic, Fumoffu is a comedy series which shows a lighter side of the story. The mechs (armslaves) are completely absent from this show and there's no intense, serious plot. The story follows the characters' daily lives as they go to school. It seems kind of strange that this kind of show would get a comedy spin off, but nevertheless I found it very entertaining.
Sousuke is perfect for the lead role in a show like this. He has a serious, militaristic personality, but is extremely naive to the typical behavior of high-school kids. He can only behave according to what he knows, to the chagrin of his sidekick Chidori, who constantly berates him for his unnatural way of dealing with and/or interpretation of the situations they're always in. For example, in one episode Sousuke dons an EOD suit and a blast shield and detonates his shoe locker, mistaking a love letter for a suspicious, unknown threat.
The animation in this series is average, with a few notable exceptions. There are a few scenes where the animation is done very well.
Fumoffu was released by ADV in the states, so expect a decent voice cast (I watched this show dubbed). They all do an acceptable job, and I didn't notice any particularly shitty voice acting. Chris Patton does a pretty good job as Sousuke.
I would definitely recommend Fumoffu. It might be necessary to watch the regular series first, though. Otherwise you'd probably be confused as to who the characters are. There isn't really much of an introduction. The show just assumes you know who everyone is.
A spinoff of the military action series Fullmetal Panic, Fumoffu is a comedy series which shows a lighter side of the story. The mechs (armslaves) are completely absent from this show and there's no intense, serious plot. The story follows the characters' daily lives as they go to school. It seems kind of strange that this kind of show would get a comedy spin off, but nevertheless I found it very entertaining.
Sousuke is perfect for the lead role in a show like this. He has a serious, militaristic personality, but is extremely naive to the typical behavior of high-school kids. He can only behave according to what he knows, to the chagrin of his sidekick Chidori, who constantly berates him for his unnatural way of dealing with and/or interpretation of the situations they're always in. For example, in one episode Sousuke dons an EOD suit and a blast shield and detonates his shoe locker, mistaking a love letter for a suspicious, unknown threat.
 |
| Sousuke picks up chicks. |
The animation in this series is average, with a few notable exceptions. There are a few scenes where the animation is done very well.
Fumoffu was released by ADV in the states, so expect a decent voice cast (I watched this show dubbed). They all do an acceptable job, and I didn't notice any particularly shitty voice acting. Chris Patton does a pretty good job as Sousuke.
I would definitely recommend Fumoffu. It might be necessary to watch the regular series first, though. Otherwise you'd probably be confused as to who the characters are. There isn't really much of an introduction. The show just assumes you know who everyone is.
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