Winter Anime 2015/16 Picks Plus

Just an add on to the last post, two extra anime I have started this in this season's airing anime!

Akagami no Shirayukihime 2 - If you haven't heard already, this is the second season of 'Snow White with Red Hair'. It's basically just picking up with where the last season left off. I very much enjoyed season 1 so it was definitely going to be continued by me. There's not much new I can say, the quality is pretty much the same as last season, wonderful characters, beautiful and very pleasing animation, if you liked the first season and want to see more, watch this.
      One thing that I am enjoying alot is the fact that Shirayuki is garnering quite a bit of admirers and it's fun to watch their expressions, blushes and flustered state!

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm! - I remember why I picked this show now, I had read a brief summary of what this is about before it aired and it sounded like one of those fantasy sports like Air Gear. I really enjoyed Air Gear fyi, so I decided to give this a shot.
     So, in short it starts off with a new girl in school, she joins the Flying Circus (FC) team (sky racing basically) and has some latent talent for it or something. The team go and compete in tournaments facing opponents with unique strategies etc. etc. you know the sports drill.
     It's enjoyable actually! I figured with all those girls featured in the cover image, it wouldn't be as entertaining as I initially thought. Thankfully the dude in this sea of women doesn't seem at all interested in any of them romantically...yet. As well as that I think it's due to the amount of racing action? there is?  They just cram alot of scenes where they're just practicing flying about.. It's a fun little anime and if you don't mind a bit of fanservice (there's not buttloads (there is a lot of butts) but the FC outfits are skin-tight and leave little to the imagination) then give this a try. Hopefully the main character Kurashina doesn't get on your nerves or anything, some find it endearing, some find those characters torturous (that would be me), but I don't mind her here, which says something, in my opinion! It's a very simple, mindless anime but enjoyable none the less, be warned it's not apart of the higher-end spectrum this season so don't try to compare it with the likes of those as it will just fail, if you don't have time to fit this in, skip it.

That's it for now! Until next time! Hopefully that'll be Spring season, but we'll see...

Fall Anime 2015: Picks Part 1

So I haven't been able to start this season from day 1 as I had to finish up Snow White with Red Hair and Sore ga Seiyuu!. They're both enjoyable but I just haven't gotten around to finishing them!

Anyway I eventually got around to watching the first episode of the ones I had initially picked out for this season. There wasn't much to be excited about for me this season, other than a few things that I picked just from their summary, any sequels or anything like that, that I know has hype, I just never got around to watching the first season so they won't be appearing either, but let's see what my reactions were for the following:

--- (Timeskip to after I got around to finishing the first episodes) ---

Diabolik Lovers More, Blood - I already knew I wanted to watch this when I heard this was getting a sequel, as I had binge watched the first season one late night! At only 12 mins per episode, how can you not? It's such an awful anime with awful messages but I can't help but keep watching, it's my guilty pleasure anime for sure.
If you're not aware, this anime is a reverse harem, where all the pretty boys (bishounens) the main girl is stuck with are bloodthirsty vampires, always after her blood. I really don't care what happens to anyone in this show, I think I just watch it for how pretty and dark the atmosphere/setting is.
     As you can see I  haven't really mentioned anything about this season yet, as nothing happened other than 4 new characters being introduced that will chase and set fear into the protagonist as every other character in this anime series does!

Garo: Guren no Tsuki - Considering how much I liked the last Garo anime, I had to pick this one up! All new characters and setting, so there's no need to have watched the previous season, although if you want to understand some of the concepts in the Garo universe you might want to, but it's not necessary to have watched any Garo stuff prior to this.
     If you're not familiar with Garo, it's dark, there's blood and gore and it's got a wonderful soundtrack, at least the one before did anyway. This season is set in what seems to be feudal Japan, the animation is nice, though the only bit I find really pretty is the way they have drawn Seimei, one of the main characters (pictured above). The drawing style is less distinctive than last season's I think. It may be a more lighthearted series though? Hard to say really, I'm not even sure if much happened in that first episode other than introduction of 1 Makai Alchemist, Seimei and the Golden Knight (an inherited power), Raikou. But yea, not much happened, I suppose the battle was a bit interesting :/ maybe.....

Kagewani - If you're looking for something that's not animated traditionally, check Kagewani out! It's like a paper cutout style, it's a mere 7 mins per episode. A suspense filled, mystery solving anime. We follow a detective who is investigating in deaths caused by monster attacks. I think the anime could be better with it's horror aspect if they didn't show the monsters in full. The style they went for definitely adds to the suspense, though everytime I hear a monster, I imagine it to look like Godzilla. Either way it seems to be a monster of the week type series.

Kowabon - Another interesting horror/thriller type anime, just for how it's made, this was created using rotoscoping, so I hear! I think it works very well for this anime =D
     The first episode did freak me out a bit, honestly I love horror manga but I can't take it in any video format! Gore and such are fine but horror is a no-no for me. But the show is a mere 3 minutes long so I might as well stick with it. Have no idea what the show is about as of yet, if anything, other than to give you the creeps. I think it's just an experimental series, which I'm happy enough to keep up with. Again it is very very short, so no harm in checking out an episode or 2.
The funny thing though is the ending theme is such a total opposite of the actual tone/atmosphere of the anime.

One Punch Man - This show is ridiculous and so over the top, it's amazing. Just simply amazing.
Having gone into this without knowing anything other than alot of people love it immensely, I decided I would pick this one up for sure. It's funny, weird and a bit gruesome all at once. I mean I don't know how it will play out, if a character can just beat everything in One Punch, but it'll just be entertaining AF to watch! Just 5 minutes in and I was already loving the voice actors' performances, just a brilliant start! Also can I just mention that I am also really loving the crazy animation and perspectives, it's just really entertaining to watch!

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru - Some beautiful animation in this one! The premise of this show caught my interest straight away when I heard about it! The idea of a woman being obsessed with bones really intrigued me, I have no idea what the story would be about or anything but just that single aspect of her just seemed so strange that it became a great incentive for me to pick up this one!
     The animation is quite beautiful to note again, though some of the characters look too cute or moe if you will. I guess it helps that the characters are a bit funny, it's a tad bit hilarious how attached to bones Sakurako-san is. I am enjoying the orchestral soundtrack as well, fits well and really brings a scene together. You've got to hand it to Sakurako when she gets in her zone, her element, that scene with all those bones and that networking going on in her mind was quite a sight for the eyes! I'm a sucker for sequences in general!
     I love that this is a mystery-solving anime, so if you had even the slightest interest in Ranpo Kitan in summer, you might want to give this a try!

Part 2 will be up in a few days hopefully....that will include Comet Lucifer, Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou and Dance With Devils

Thoughts on Garo: The Animation So Far...

So I have watched up to episode 16 or so, so far in Garo, I had planned to put this into part 2 of my 'Thoughts On Ongoing Fall Anime part 2' but I just haven't gotten around to completing that post, so decided to just post my thoughts on Garo so far separately! 

      I must apologize for the format of my blog posts, I know they're quite incoherent and though I try to edit them into a more understandable format, I'm just terribly awful at it, again sorry v.v

Garo: The Animation (16) - With knights, witches, magic and horror! Starts off with introducing us to the main characters in the show and some action scenes. Pretty good first episode if I remember right, paced well. Although I have heard people talk about how they don't like the armour design, I quite like it, I suppose it is over the top and a bit jarring to see the 3D armour in the show but I still think it looks quite cool haha! I also like the artstyle in this anime, it's a bit simpler but I like the angles of the lines, jagged or sharp, I don't know something about it makes it feel a bit 'edge-y'....sorry, it fits well with the dark tone of the show. One thing I am in love with, is the OST, love love love the music for this anime, it kinda reminds me of Nier's OST as well, definitely my favourite part of this anime!
      Onto the characters, I like the juxtaposition in personality between the father and his son, his son wanting to have nothing to do with his father's pursuits to find the next woman he'll sleep with, and his actions are too cute when the topic of being with a woman comes up! Ema's pretty cool, loves to tease Leon, I'd like to see her more in the show honestly. There's alot of brooding from Leon, he tends to lose control of his power when his emotions go a bit haywire, resulting in a berserk-like mode, not being able to tell friend from foe.
      As it is now, where I am at in the show, Leon is lost and I'm guessing, trying to find himself, now that he no longer has his armour. I quite like where Leon has ended up, just in small house in the country, working with the family there, the show has a nice mix of action and comedy in this dark atmospheric anime.....honestly not sure what else to say, so I'm just going to end it here.

Thoughts on Ongoing Fall Anime 2014

As I've mentioned in my previous post, most of the anime I picked out from the Fall line-up ended up being longer than I expected, so I decided to share my thoughts so far on the ones I have watched and kept up with. There will be either another 1 or 2 posts on this. The number beside the anime titles is the number of episodes I have watched since putting down my thoughts.

Akatsuki No Yona (12) - I was intrigued when I first heard of this or read the summary of this, mainly because it reminded me of The Twelve Kingdoms, which is one of my top favourite series (even though it's unfinished). I guessed it wasn't going be the same story obviously and considering the bishounens and the pretty/cute art style, it wouldn't leave the same impact on me as The Twelve Kingdoms did.
       The first couple of episodes the protagonist is portrayed as a weak, spoilt princess and I have read that alot of people didn't like that, not surprised. But again having seen Twelve Kingdoms, knew better than to judge from just the first couple of episodes of this sort of story, I had hoped that our protagonist, Yona, would leave that little girl behind and grow up and thankfully, she did!
      Stick with it a few more episodes and we see her gradually develop into a stronger character. Even though I'm 12 episodes in, we still have to meet a good few characters. There's a nice balance of comedy mixed in with the adventure and plot advancement. Although there's this nagging feeling inside me that there's aspects of reverse harem tropes and at the moment I'm rooting for a Hak and Yona ship. Alot of times there are these nice moments between the two of them but then it's usually interrupted, usually because of Yona's naivety. Ideally there should be other characters that the other guys can fall in love with....but how often does that happen in harem animes?

Parasyte (12) - What can I say about the show? I love it! Read the manga a long while back, so I don't remember alot of it just that it was definitely one of my favourite horror mangas or even just in general that I've read. The adaptation is great, wasn't sure at first, if I would like it but I've taken to it and honestly it's MadHouse so I really shouldn't have any doubts. It's pretty much all that I remember from the manga, the events anyway.
      The show paces well, the animation is great, as well as the music, though I could do without the dubstep parts, but I've taken to that too. Since we're onto music, I'm quite enjoying the opening after the first couple of episodes, really gets me in the mood for the episode and the ending song, just the same, perfect song to end an episode of Parasyte. Someone mentioned it brings them a sense of nostalgia and I can totally  agree! I like to think it's like before the parasites landed on Earth. One of the things I love about this series is the psychological aspect of it, the conversations between Migi and Shinichi are so interesting, and the way it's presented to us, all in all, it's definitely a show you should be watching.

World Trigger (12) - I knew nothing of this show before I watched it and I still only have a vague idea of what this show is about. To get straight to it, this show isn't great, I don't really enjoy watching it, actually I kind of dread having to spend time watching it. If not for the opening, I would've dropped this waaay sooner and probably asked myself much earlier 'why am I still watching this?'
      You see the interesting thing in the opening that made me continue the show is the image above, I was intrigued with these cubes and the size of them, they seem to have some sort of significance to them and I wanted to know why. Eventually we do find out the reason why the little girl has the biggest cube also why she is holding a gun in the opening sequence (only found this out in the last episode I watched). The character designs aren't great and the first time they change their uniform to their special suits, trigger form, I was expecting to see some awesome design but was greeted with a lackluster combat suit of some sort....I don't even know, it just was way too ordinary for me :l. The only one of interest was maybe in the ep. 12, Konami, least she gets a haircut when going into her trigger form.
      The show does way too much explaining as well, I'm sure other series do this too but, World Trigger does too much! It isn't presented well either which just makes me lose interest in what's being said and hence not know what's going on. Another thing that is off is the comedic timing, I know it's trying to be funny at some points and even though I see it and understand why the situation would be regarded as funny or should make me laugh, it doesn't, doesn't even make me crack a smile.
      I know I've said alot of negative points about this, but it's the only things I can put my thoughts into words for, unfortunately it's not a show that's keeping my attention, so I will have to drop this or put it on-hold.