Friday, November 29, 2013

Anime Review: Kaminomi Megami Hen 神のみぞ知る世界 女神へん

Before I start, I want to let you know that I'm a biggest fan of this series but I'll try not to be so biased in my review.

 This actually isn't a "third season" in the series because there is a huge gap between megami hen and 2nd season. I HIGHLY suggest reading the manga in order to have a deeper understanding of the anime.

Plot

Basically, the new hell, which is currently capturing escaped souls(kaketama) have a few rebel groups who are trying to bring back the "Old hell" which is bad because it will affect the humans badly too. The only things that could stop them are the 6 Jupiter Goddesses.

 Vulcanus, Apollo, Diana, Mineruba, Marth, Merculius

Diana is in Tenri already and Apollo happened to be in Kanon butttt

Kanon and Apollo gets stabbed. Of course they are not gonna die but Keima has to find rest of the Goddesses before it becomes too late.

One sign is that the 4 Goddesses are in one of Keima heriones. Another thing is that they are going to remember Keima during the love process.

 One on the very left is Keima himself,

from left to right, top to bottom,

Tenri         Tsukiyo          Kusunoki                    Rieko         

Ayumi        Shiori                                              Sumire

Chihiro      Yui              Akari     Nagase             Nanaka

Kanon      Mio              Minami                      Hinoki



So here is a huge difference between the manga readers and the anime viewers.

The anime viewers don't even know who half of these people are. That is exactly why i suggest you reading the manga.

Through the process of elimination, he got to the guess that out of these 5, 4 is going to have a goddess in them.

Here is another difference, in the manga, keima actually went around to few of the heriones and checked himself. In the anime it shows that Keima just guesses.


So the search begins....

Things to point out/opinions

During Megami Hen, Haqua is heavily involved compared to Elsea where she actually has to take place of Kanon.(Disguised)

 As you can see, she looks like Elsea normally but to other people, she looks like Kanon.

Even if you don't know anything about Yui and Tsukiyo, they are briefly mentioned in the anime for people who have no idea who they are.

Yup, that is Tsukiyo right there. You  can barely see her lol

One thing I especially noticed was that the music in the anime was so well used.
In dramatic scenes, music seemed to fit in just perfectly.


The Overall

The story line was amazing and compared to the manga, the pacing was pretty good too. It felt like it wasn't packed.

And of course, majority of my favorite heriones are in the 6 Goddesses so that was amazing for me too.

Even though there were some things they left out in the anime but it did not affect the overall storyline.



Grade: A




Saturday, November 23, 2013

Anime Review: Moshidora もしドラ

I haven't done an anime review in a very long time, in fact I'm still busy because of high school applications.

The original title of this anime is "If a high school girl baseball manager reads Drucker's 'Management'". もし高校野球の女子マネージャーがドラッカーの『マネジメント』を読んだら.
   
This anime was originally a bestseller novel in Japan in 2010. It was so popular, it was made into a movie as well starring Atsuko Maeda from AKB48(well not anymore)

 Original cover of the bestseller novel.

Plot
The story basically tells about a high school girl,Minami, who manages a high school baseball team that sucks ass in an evolutionary way and leads the team to the championships.

She is in fact taking place of a friend, Yuki, who is very sick in the hospital who used to be the manager of the baseball team until she got into the hospital.

Minami, of course is a close friend of Yuki and she promises Yuki to take the high school baseball team to the championships.


My opinion
Throughout the anime, the whole team as well as Minami grows stronger mentally. 
You definitely don't have to understand baseball too much but having some knowledge in baseball will help you understand the story better.

 The majority of the episodes tell about how something like business managing and economical terms can apply to baseball. I found them very intriguing how such unrelated things can be used in ways people never expected.


   
 If I had a choice of reading a the novel version compared to the anime, I wouldn't pick the anime over the book. The anime seemed to be very dragging on a little bit and maybe at the end, it got more intense. If you wanted a fast paced kind of thing, it really wouldn't be suitable for you.

Overall
Even though this book was one of the most selling books of 2010 in Japan, it had horrific numbers in animes. Less than 500 copies were sold which is just miserable.

The cast was great and I'm sure the company tried pretty hard for a good anime but the sales weren't really showing it.

I was very surprised when I heard about the sales.
I would definitely recommend to people who are interested in seeing how two totally different things can relate so closely. If you like animes where character grows as a character, this might be for you.

Grade: B

I wasn't a very good writer in the first place but I'm planning to write anime reviews and things again since I started watching anime again.

Until next time.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Anime Review: Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

I think I have another anime to add as my all time favorites.
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is originally a light novel adapted into an anime.
I realized my reviews are so fucking long so I wil try to shorten it a bit.

First of all to get straight to the point,  this is a perfect example of a type of an anime I love. People have different tastes for anime but this is mine. I give this an A+

Basic Setting/Story Line

Sorata Kanda can't help picking up cats without owners. Because of this, he gets kicked out of his regular dorm and moved to a special dorm for special people called "Sakurasou"
He meets Mashiro Shiiina, a genious artist but doesn't have any common sense.
With all this chaotic events, Sorata Kanda has to find a way to live his life in Sakurasou.

My thoughts and What the anime shows

Like I said, this is gonna be in my all time favorites, and there are multiple reasons to this.
The story starts off like a typical Japanese boy-meet-girl situation. But the whole anime isn't about the love line between mashiro and sorata. In fact love wasn't a big part at all.

The anime starts off hilarious and I first thought it was going to be total comedy love but so much more than that.

Everyone in Sakurasou has some amazing talents. These are like EXTREME TALENT

 Misaki Kamiigusa is draws anime.
Jin Mitaka is the plot/story writer for the animes. 
Akasaka(forgot his whole name) is a total nerd at computers. His face isn't shown till like half way through the anime. He's a dude by the way.

Nanami Aoyama(one on left)'s dream is to be a voice actor. She moves into sakurasou later.

So all these people have dreams and talents. All these gets mixed up and creat problems but at the same time, the relationship between all sakurasou members gets stronger.

They all help each other in when they're in trouble, all form very tight friendship.

That's what I loved so much about this anime. Of course the main character grows mentally strong going through all these events.

You can't forget the love-line between Mashiro and Sorata. I actually said the love isn't a big part but I meant the love wasn't the main thing.
Since Nanami has a crush on Sorata, triangle love forms which always makes stories interesting. This ain't harem because it is triangle love.

Of course Mashiro is the main heroine so as story goes on, it becomes very clear who Sorata chooses.

Yeah so anyways.
It was so sad at the end and so happy I almost cried because it was such a heartwarming ending.
 Not gonna say anymore because it is gonna spoil.



OPs and EDs, Other news and shit.

First of all, the Blu-Ray and DVDs didn't get to many numbers. That was very unfortunate.

There is a game for the PSP and PS Vita which probably no one in the west is gonna play.

I couldn't find much news or complaints about this.

The ops and eds weren't spectacular but they were just fine. 

First OP "Kimi ga yume wo tsurete kita"

First ED "Days of Dash"

Second OP "Yume No Tsuzuki"

Second ED "Prime Number"

Actually, the more you listen to them, you start to like them more.


So that was my short review of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.
It is one of my favorite animes now.

Grade: A+

Thanks so much for reading.




Sunday, September 15, 2013

Anime Review: Sword Art Online ソードアートオンライン

Sword Art Online is originally a light novel adapted to an anime.

I'm sure I'm like the last one on earth watching this but I still kept it in my hard drive for a while.

They are currently on book 11 that was published couple months ago.

"This is a game but at the same time, it's nothing to play with."








Basic story outline
 

In the year 2022, a virtual gaming machine "Nerve Gear" gets invented.
Right after that a game called Sword Art Online (aka SAO) gets invented, compatible with the nerve gear.
This is kinda like every gamer's dream, to get into an actual world of gaming and feel the actual game yourself.

Yup putting over your head.

Then the 1 million players that was connected to Sword Art Online gets a shocking news.
The inventor of SAO, Akihiko Kayaba tells all players that they can't get back to the reality, the real world until they complete the objective, completing the game by, conquering all 100 floors in castle Ainclad.(basically dungeon)

And if you die in SAO, you'll die in real life, through the Nerve Gear console's supersonic power or something like that.

So, Kirito here is our main character.

This is his avatar face until the system changes all players faces to their real faces.



My thoughts on the anime / Warning: it might contain some spoilers

I have been watching really good animes lately and this is gonna be in my list this year.

If I have to point out couple things, there weren't parts that bored me. In lot of animes, it starts or end very good but either early or late part of the anime, there is always that boring section.
Especially if it is a 25 episode or longer animes.
12 episode animes are busy squishing the plot in 300 minutes in total.

So start from finish, every episode had something interesting going on. I might think there might have been but I don't rememeber anything in particular that bored me or made me lose my interest.

Second thing, I loved the main character, Kirito.
I always love main characters or characters that are so cool.
I know it is a very general word but by this, they make me feel I want to be like them.

#fullofswag

He's serious lots of times but shows his sense of humor when needed.
That is always a trait I love about a character.

3rd, as you might or might not know,
This anime covers only 4 of the books in the series.

1st half, All happening in Sword Art Online, shows the love-line between Kirito and Asuna as well as characters will to survive and complete the game.

  This was mentioned in the anime, but in the world of despair, these two showed hope as well as love.

 This girl right here said that and made me think, maybe this is one of the reason I love this.

Majority of the animes in the world doesn't always stick to its original setting or plot.
This isn't a exception either.

In the light novel as well as the anime they divided the parts of the light novel and anime.

Only 2 parts are shown in the anime.
Part in Sword Art Online(in Ainclad), and Part in Alfheim Online which turns into a whole new world and new characters.(well only one important new one)

When they changed the opening half way through the anime, I was totally mindfucked.
THE FUCK ARE THOSE EARS I thought.

So what basically happened in SAO is that Kirito completed the game by killing Akihiko Kayaba.

He and the surviving comes back to reality but Asuna and 300 other players stilll didnt come back for some reason is still in bed unconscious. You will see why as the anime goes on.


So second half of this anime is about trying to get Asuna back to the real world.

One thing I could say is that it was like rapunzel.

During this process of saving Asuna, Kirito has to go to another virtual mmorpg world because Asuna is stuck there.

And that world is called Alfheim Online.

An extremely important character takes part in the second half.

Ripa aka Kirito's sister Suguha and they don't know that till end.

I totally fell in love with this character.plus she is also one of my favorite voice actors.

That element boosted my rating of this anime.

So second half of the anime shows the sister and brother partnership, the fact that suguha loves her own brother which I'm not even surprised at that kind of plot because ir is so common. It is so ironic that the same voice actor plays Kirino from Oreimo which is another BrotherXSister love.(In this case, it actually worse that SAO)

Suguha is so big that the 2nd ending was all about her.



But of course, Suguha is not Kirito's actual sister but still Asuna takes place in Kirito's heart.

By the way, in Japan marriage between cousins are legally allowed.

By the end, Kirito obviously saves Asuna and happy ending.



To me the story itself wasn't very new to me because I have watched Accel World, and the concept itself is incredibly similiar. If I watched this first, I might have rated SAO higher as an anime.

Overall, story was great, little disturbing it is similiar to Accel World. Cast and characters were definitely amazing, Soundtracks were very good too.

Definitely an anime I would suggest to anyone.
After this, it did make me think, I'M NEVER PLAYING MMORPGS AGAIN.






Interesting Info/News

There was a leak that season 2 is getting worked on. Obviously it is going to be about the next world, called Gun Gail Online, only the light novel readers like myself will know this.
Gun Gail Online is a first person shooter so I think it won't be anything like Sword Art or Alfeim.

This was a huge hit and had amazing numbers for Blu-Rays and dvds. It is no surprise that they are working on season 2.

Before Sword Art Online was a legit light novel, it was a internet book(published through the internet) and it was called "Word Gear"
It came out long time ago like 2002 around and it was originally took place in year 2010 not 2022.
This was first ADULT novel. It contained sex scenes with Kirito and Asuna as well as inappropriate scenarios. Of course, it was described in words but still.
This was actually mentioned during the interview with Reki Kawahara, the writer of sword art online.

 Yeah if things went properly here, who knows what might have happened. :)

All these stuff was redone after the actual light novel was published.

This won 2 straight years of the light novel award called "this light novel is amazing!"  このライトノベルがすごい! (2012 and 2013 Runner up for both years was Toaru majutsu no Index)

It was a good anime but there were some criticism to anime though. Some minor stuff.

This was supposed to show the desperation of humans to survive. To be realistic people would have killed each other for items, money and groups.
It was supposed to show the selfishness of humans but people (HATERS) say it wasn't expressed very well.

People do say, anime turned the origin more into a love story than the action fantasy elements of the book.

All this minor stuff, people didn't even realise. Haters gonna hate.


Openings, Endings

The songs weren't spectacular but they were very good.

The 2 singers of the openings are the people who sang the 2 spectacular opening and ending of Fate/Zero  Oath sign by LiSa and Memoria by Aoi Eir


Crossing Field by LiSa Op 1 of SAO

Innocence by Aoi Eir Op 2 of SAO

The endings honestly didn't really catch my attention.


 Conclusion

Like I said, animes I've been watching lately are really good, I'm proud to bring this to the list.

Grade: A

Thank you for reading this long Review and BYEEE






Friday, September 13, 2013

Updates

I have not posted for the last 2 weeks and this is why.

In the last 2 weeks, school started and I bought a ps vita.

And in the course of 2 weeks, I completed a game called

Persona 4 The Golden


 It was so amazing. It is basically persona 4 with extra content but so much from it.

More anime scenes, new dungeons, new soundtracks, extra story, and a new character that I love so much.

 You possibly cannot expect anymore, from a game extension like persona 4 golden has done.

I'll say persona series is one of the best games ever made and persona 4 golden didn't disappoint me.

You can call me a fan boy but these are amazing games.

Anyways I might write a review, I might not.

In the anime side of things, I started Sword Art Online.

I know I'm probably th last person on earth watching this anime but the the last blu ray disc came out only couple months ago.

I'm half way there and I'm loving it so far.


So yeah, that has been my 2 weeks. I'll go back to my anime watching basis again. I'll put up anime reviews. Like I have been.

 byeee