In honor of Halloween, and my own personal obsession, I've decided to focus the next few reviews on VAMPIRES! I've got at least five, and that should get me past Halloween. I'm super excited about it. Are you!?!?!?!
Ha. Awesome.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Sacred Blacksmith
Genre: Comedy/Action
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: ....hahahahahahahahaha
Notable Features: sword, demons, magic, teen knights
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty Good
"Thank you, Luke. You saved my life, again." - Cecily (x11tybillion)
The Sacred Blacksmith is Luke Ainsworth, but it isn't Luke that is the main protagonist. That would be Cecily Campbell - a Knight Guard of the Independent Trade Cities of Housman. She's a brand new knight, following in her father's footsteps. She trips over herself often, and has a hard time killing people. It takes a bit for her to be willing to hurt others - not to fight, but to actually take that final step. The captain of the guard gives her a very special job, of which he says she's the perfect fit for: guarding the demon sword Aria, who takes human form and controls wind in sword form. Cecily's main requirement is actually just that she's female.
Of course, Cecily makes friends along the way. Luke becomes a reluctant friend with Cecily's constant poking about getting a special katana for herself. Lisa, Luke's elf assistant who is mysteriously named after someone else, adores Cecily (and her breasts). Aria, of course, becomes Cecily's good friend and helper as her sword. Throughout the series, Cecily also finds great friends with minor appearances.
There are also bad guys, mostly of the mysterious sort. Valbanill is the end all be all of bad. The best equivalent is that he's the devil coming to rain destruction on the world. There is mention of Valbanill Wars frequently in the episode as wars that happened 40-50 years prior to the current storyline. The most devestating part of the war is the use of demon contracts. Demon contracts are pretty much what they sound like. People make a contract with someone who controls demons and they get power but have to offer up their soul in the end. The process is pretty gruesome. Along with Valbanill, there is "The Man in Black" who controls and signs demon contracts in the current time period and seems to be sneakily running schemes in the background.
So, that's the basis. Good guys (or girls!) versus the bad guys.
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The Sacred Blacksmith is both fun and serious. It seems to be a running theme, right? There isn't actually much focus on the serious aspects until the last few episodes. Mostly it's about annoying people and annoying situations that pop up as vehicles to boob jokes, and the complicated relationship of Luke and Cecily. Aria becomes a more major character the further the episodes go - almost like the writers realized near the end, "Oh yeah. We should finish this, huh. But it was so fun!" They might have been able to stretch the story out, but I can see why they wouldn't.
The end theme is really poppy, but it's really nice with the occasional cliffhanger endings. Wipes away anything that might have created baby nightmares. Cecily is a good character for young ladies, as she's very relateable in her awkwardness. Luke is all grumpy growly, but nice inside. He made me both want to give him and hug and stick my tongue out at him in defiance. Stupid boys are stupid. Ha.
I gave it a Teen rating because of all the boob shots. The boob jokes themselves are relatively tame. There isn't much blood all over and the storyline isn't too complicated. Without the breasts, I would probably have left it a PreTeen. It got a "Pretty Good," because that's what it was: pretty good. It was a nice diversion, and I'm happy to have seen it for free.
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Thursday, October 11, 2012
Change of Plans
So - I said in the last post that I was going to do Samurai 7 next.
I lied.
It's not that I can't watch it, or never will, but I have plans this weekend and I need something a little shorter to watch.
So, I'm doing The Sacred Blacksmith. At minimum, it might make me smile after the sniffles from Neo Angelique Abyss.
So there. Take that, suckers. :P
I lied.
It's not that I can't watch it, or never will, but I have plans this weekend and I need something a little shorter to watch.
So, I'm doing The Sacred Blacksmith. At minimum, it might make me smile after the sniffles from Neo Angelique Abyss.
So there. Take that, suckers. :P
Neo Angelique Abyss
Genre: Drama/Action
Age Appropriate: Pre-teen/Teen
Emotional Response: hope, heartbreak, devestation
Notable Features: holy magic, evil spirits, lessons, eye candy
Language: Japanese, English Sub
Length: 2 seasons, 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Great!
"Noblesse Oblige..." - Nyx
------
Angelique is a young lady at an all girls school, studying to become a doctor like her parents. Nyx is a gentlman who happens to be the Director of the academy. When Nyx shows up at the school, there is a big commotion. Why? Well, he's pretty good looking actually, and they are young ladies.
The shock is when Angelique - who seems fairly immune to a pretty face (at least compared to her classmates) - is called to the Headmistress's office. It appears that Nyx wants something with her. And so, Angelique finds out that she is a Purifier. A Purifier is someone who possesses the specific ability to banish the Thanatos, an invading race of demon/monsters that show up from time to time and attach people, stealing their lives away, and causing damage to anything around them. The problem has been increasing and now Nyx has come looking for help with Angelique. Apparently, she performed a sort of miracle by healing someone who had been injured by a Thanatos. This signified that she must be the Queen's Egg, most obvliously because she's the only female purifier to ever be found.
Throughout the first season, the cast comes together episode by episode. A journalist, Bernal, dubs them the Orb Hunters after meeting Angelique and her friends: Nyx, Lein, Hyuuga and Jade. Each man has a different weapon, and a different personality and each man has a different type of relationship with Angelique; althought it appears that some of them also harbor romantic feelings for her. Throughout her travels she uses the Sunlight Mansion has a home base (Nyx's home) and goes out into the world of Arcadia, to help with the battle against the Thanatos, until such time that she "hatches" and becomes the Prophisied Queen, about to save and rule the world. Of course, minor characters show up to help her on her way, and they each leave her with specific lessons about who she is, and what she wants to accomplish - from dragon people to the Head of the Celestial Order (a type of Pope figure). There is also the Artifact Foundation, a research foundation that researches and experiements with Artifacts ("old" technology) to fight Thanatos. In the end, each experience leads her to her place in the world, and gives her the strength to carry on with her duties as the Queen.
I don't know how to express my feelings about Neo Angelique very well, I think. At first, there is a little bit of fun and lightness, but it doesn't really last long. She seems so happy in the beginning, to be useful in helping people. Although it's different from her chosen path as a doctor, she's found some purpose as the Queen's Egg, and helping on a much larger scale, if a less personal one. The relationships she builds with her companions are key to her growth and acceptance of her role.
She gives the people of Arcadia hope, and in turn made me feel that hope for the people. It was more of that low burning hope - augmented by the idea that it's anime and you know the protragonist will win in the end.
The series is tragic, heartbreaking and devestating. Every other step ends up painful for Angelique after that first few episodes of introduction. The further I got in the series, the more my heartbroke for her. She is betrayed personally, by the people at large, and learns that her chosen path of helping people of the world has a price that is nearly too hard to bear. That she does it anyway gives pride in the character, but it's so sad. It's really well done, and if it's a night where you can handle melancholy, watch this. ::sniffsniff::
On a happy note: the music can be very pretty. I might find the sheet music for the piano piece. Also, yeah, her companions are definitely some nice eye candy. It depends on your type, but the few times they end up topless, it's a little distracting. They don't really have any bit comedy to help, and it would ruin the series if they did, but the eye candy softens the blow a little sometimes. All in all, this is pretty Great!
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Working On: Samurai 7
Age Appropriate: Pre-teen/Teen
Emotional Response: hope, heartbreak, devestation
Notable Features: holy magic, evil spirits, lessons, eye candy
Language: Japanese, English Sub
Length: 2 seasons, 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Great!
"Noblesse Oblige..." - Nyx
------
Angelique is a young lady at an all girls school, studying to become a doctor like her parents. Nyx is a gentlman who happens to be the Director of the academy. When Nyx shows up at the school, there is a big commotion. Why? Well, he's pretty good looking actually, and they are young ladies.
The shock is when Angelique - who seems fairly immune to a pretty face (at least compared to her classmates) - is called to the Headmistress's office. It appears that Nyx wants something with her. And so, Angelique finds out that she is a Purifier. A Purifier is someone who possesses the specific ability to banish the Thanatos, an invading race of demon/monsters that show up from time to time and attach people, stealing their lives away, and causing damage to anything around them. The problem has been increasing and now Nyx has come looking for help with Angelique. Apparently, she performed a sort of miracle by healing someone who had been injured by a Thanatos. This signified that she must be the Queen's Egg, most obvliously because she's the only female purifier to ever be found.
Throughout the first season, the cast comes together episode by episode. A journalist, Bernal, dubs them the Orb Hunters after meeting Angelique and her friends: Nyx, Lein, Hyuuga and Jade. Each man has a different weapon, and a different personality and each man has a different type of relationship with Angelique; althought it appears that some of them also harbor romantic feelings for her. Throughout her travels she uses the Sunlight Mansion has a home base (Nyx's home) and goes out into the world of Arcadia, to help with the battle against the Thanatos, until such time that she "hatches" and becomes the Prophisied Queen, about to save and rule the world. Of course, minor characters show up to help her on her way, and they each leave her with specific lessons about who she is, and what she wants to accomplish - from dragon people to the Head of the Celestial Order (a type of Pope figure). There is also the Artifact Foundation, a research foundation that researches and experiements with Artifacts ("old" technology) to fight Thanatos. In the end, each experience leads her to her place in the world, and gives her the strength to carry on with her duties as the Queen.
I don't know how to express my feelings about Neo Angelique very well, I think. At first, there is a little bit of fun and lightness, but it doesn't really last long. She seems so happy in the beginning, to be useful in helping people. Although it's different from her chosen path as a doctor, she's found some purpose as the Queen's Egg, and helping on a much larger scale, if a less personal one. The relationships she builds with her companions are key to her growth and acceptance of her role.
She gives the people of Arcadia hope, and in turn made me feel that hope for the people. It was more of that low burning hope - augmented by the idea that it's anime and you know the protragonist will win in the end.
The series is tragic, heartbreaking and devestating. Every other step ends up painful for Angelique after that first few episodes of introduction. The further I got in the series, the more my heartbroke for her. She is betrayed personally, by the people at large, and learns that her chosen path of helping people of the world has a price that is nearly too hard to bear. That she does it anyway gives pride in the character, but it's so sad. It's really well done, and if it's a night where you can handle melancholy, watch this. ::sniffsniff::
On a happy note: the music can be very pretty. I might find the sheet music for the piano piece. Also, yeah, her companions are definitely some nice eye candy. It depends on your type, but the few times they end up topless, it's a little distracting. They don't really have any bit comedy to help, and it would ruin the series if they did, but the eye candy softens the blow a little sometimes. All in all, this is pretty Great!
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Working On: Samurai 7
Monday, October 8, 2012
Negima!?: Master Negi Magi
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens/Teens
Emotional Response: Awww. How cute! Go get 'em, team!
Notable Features: cute girls, mages, vampire, 10 year old teacher
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Pretty Good :)
"...in a good way." - Matsu
Negi Springfield is an apprentice wizard sent to Mahora Academy to teach a class full of pre-teen girls (31, actually). He is working on his magic apprenticeship with the goal of finding his father, The Thousand Master! The twist? Negi Springfield is 10 years old. However, he IS a wizard. There is a prohibition on him showing his magic at school, but the series basically follows how much he doesn't succeed at this. In order to avoid the wrath of the Academy of Magic, Negi goes into "probationary contracts" with the students who discover that he's a wizard. Each contract comes with "Pactio cards," which determine the form that each girl will take when called upon. The drama twists more because the only way for the girls to enter into a probationary contract is by kissing Negi! It helps that most of his class think he's adorable.
The Academy of Magic keeps their eye on him with the help of two funny looking characters: Shichimi and Motsu. While they look like a cartoon cat and a badly drawn frog, they're surprisingly adept at popping up at just the wrong moment for Negi. As Negi doesn't willy-nilly show off his magic, his magic failures only really happen in emergency situations while fighting/saving girls from whatever villian is around. This leads to the unending line of girls that end up on Team Negi - who masquerade as the Chupa(cabra) Club.The villains range from a vampire stuck on the island to and evil fairy who takes over minds. There is a desperate search for the pieces of a magical crystal, a mysterious baron and a shady professor friend who is obsessed with ramen. There is even a ferret-looking "fairy" companion with a dirty mind.
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First, two words: HARRY POTTER
Moving on:
I actually re-watched this one to write the review. That wasn't the best idea. There are some things you can watch over and over again and enjoy and some that just feel redundant. That aside, I really do like Negima!? It's sweet and innocent - certainly more innocent that Ouran High School Host Club! A lot of this series involved head-smacking situations and comments by the girls - who show a great range of stupidity to keen intelligence and compassion. If you can think of a "typical" stereotype tween - geek to popular girl - they are likely represented...in a good way. Seriously. There are so many little things for each girl that are entirely amusing that I can't actually write them all down and have this end up being a pointless review.
It starts a little slow. Usually, I'm wishing for more episodes, but this one is a little too drawn out. Or, maybe, this is just one not meant for immediate consumption. There is a certain amount of light dirty humor, but a lot of it would probably fly over a younger person's head - frequently either the overly dramatic narrator or the dirty little ermine. Key Note: The are hilarious references to pop culture that should be watched for (e.g. Rocky Horror Picture Show), if you can find them. The music is fun, though. The opening theme starts out sounding like an old school video game. I would say this is a great follow up to a serious drama anime. The best though? The writing on the wall. Literally. There is writing on walls, chalk boards, signs, floating in the air...etc, and it's always hilarious and bizarre. I enjoy watching Negima!? just for that! It's all just a bunch of cute. Not my favorite anime ever, but a nice diversion nonetheless.
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And now....: Neo Angelique Abyss
*SPECIAL NOTE: In an effort to be less crazy, I'm going to be more consistent. Reality being that I really can't watch that much anime at once with limited overlap. SO, I'll only be posting reviews Monday and Thursdays.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Ouran High School Host Club
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Age Appropriate: Teens
Emotional Response: *giggles*
Notable Features: cute boys, cross-dressing, young love
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: YAY!
"The Ouran High School Host Club is a place where the school's handomest boys, with too much time on their hands, entertain young ladies, who also have too much time on their hands." - Tamaki-senpai
Ouran High School Host Club features Haruhi Fujioka, a freshman entering Ouran Academy on scholarship (therefore a "commoner"). Haruhi, confused by this new world of rich kids, runs away to Music Room #3, in an effort to find somewhere quiet to study, and discovers the Ouran High School Host Club. The club members are completely confused by Haruhi's presence and somehow in their inquiry Haruhi accidentally break a Y8,000,000 vase! As such, Kyoya Otori - the clubs VP and money man - calculates Haruhi's debt and offers a job as the Host Club's "dog" (read: gopher), until the debt is paid. The "dog" however cannot be seen in the shorts and baggy sweatshirt that Haruhi is wearing and upon removing Haruhi's glasses, Tamaki - the President - falls madly in love with Haruhi's eyes. The Twins - Kaoru and Hikaru are immediately set to the task fo make-over and Haruhi comes out SO adorable tha the club insists that he be made into a host instead...BUT WAIT! During a costume change something strange happens! While changing into a new uniform, Haruhi gets walked in on and OH MY! He's a She!
And so begin the shenanigans of the Ouran High School Host Club....
The series features different sterotypical character types which the boys play off of when they are meeting with their lovely female clients. They are, as follows: Tamaki Soua (The Princely Type), Kyoya Otori (The Cool Type), Mitskune Honenozuka (Boy Lolita), Takashi Morinozuka (The Strong, Silent Type), The Twins - Kauro and Hikaru Hitachiin (Mischevious Type), and Haruhi Fujioka (The Natural). They all have their parts to play in the club and each character gets specific attention, primarily as related to Haruhi. The supporting cast (Renge- the manager and resident Otaku girl, Ranka - Haruhi's Dad, The Lobelia Girls - from a nearby academy) add a little extra fun to each episode. It is Tamaki's goal of making every girl happy that leads them into many early adventures, and expands as the boys progress through high school.
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*Swoon* Oh, the boys of the Ouran High School Host Club. I think I have a girl-crush on half of them - none more so than Mori-senpai. Go figure. They all have their own appeal to any girl. Honey-senpai IS adorable, in a snuggly little brother kind of way. Otori-senpai is super cool and manipulative - great for girls who enjoy guys with a cool aptitude for being in powerful, behind the scenes roles. Mori-senpai, a brooding silent type who is the constant companion to Honey-senpai, and actually has the most inconveniently distracting poses. The Hitachiin Twins are cute and mischevios, like 5 year olds who've realized that they can have more fun as young adults, but they play up their taboo homosexual tendencies to a T, and therefore feel less accessible as girl-crush material for me. Tamaki, while pretty, actually is kind of a moron. Haruhi is a cute, young lady who somehow gains the respect/heart of each club member. This group of hilarity really opens up some warm-hearted joy and giggles.
Like most anime comedy series, OHHC begins as something funny, with no pressure to have a deep meaning. It was a mix of making me laugh and making me giggle like a 13 year old. I adore this anime. It was a great break from the previous entries which were really serious, and somewhat horrifying. Bit by bit, the story edges toward coming-of-age and teen drama, but it never loses it's innocence. Even in the end, there is no major, stressful emotions invokes, and it works. The purpose of the Teen rating is actually for some of the homosexuality references that may be more appropriate for teens. I hesitate to write more, because I'll start giving things away. SO! I recommend this whole-heartedly to any girl (or guy!) looking for something fun, stress-free and giggly. Super Highly Recommended. I've even considered it for Top 5, but we'll see.
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Monday, October 1, 2012
Elfen Lied
Genre: Action/Drama
Age Appropriate: Older teens+/Adults
Emotional Response: Wow, look at all that blood.
Notable Features: Blood, psychic killer, clueless teens
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 epoisodes
Overall Recommendation: WTF
"Nyu?" - Nyu/Lucy
Elfen Lied opens with a mysterious woman in a serial killer/Silence of the Lambs situation. She's naked with a creepy helmet, somehow supposedly protection for others. When guards enter, as she telepathically begins bending the bars on her prison, she begins telepathically ripping them apart. Blood everywhere, bones visibile, head popping off and hearst exploding out of chests is pretty common as she makes her escape out whatever facility she's been held in. Guards attempt to stop her, and fail miserable (hence the telepathic dismemberment) and she gets out of the prison with a little mysterious help with last door. At some point she removes her helmet and we see a young woman with pink hair, and pink, discerning eyes. As she leaves she's shot in the head by a sniper, but apparently misses the vital shot, and she jumps into the sea.
Next, we see Kohta and Yuka - young college Freshman - meeting up at a station and walking together to what will be Kohta's house, a former traditional Japanese restaurant owned by Yuka's family. This ends up being the home-base of sorts for the easier storylines. When Yuka and Kohta visit the beach they happen upon a mysterious girl, who says nothing but "Nyu," and bright eyes, and pink hair. The take pity on her situation and bring her home. At this point, we realize she's the deadly girl from the beginning and drama ensues, and it seems that she's lost her memory.
There is a mad scientist or two, a mercenary/military bad guy, a young homeless girl, another young girl like "Nyu" (a "diclonius") and an adorable dog! Between certain characters' bizarre memory loss, a strange romantic obsession between the mains and breaking through brainwashing with the girls, this series has a lot of complicated situations, if not a complicated storyline.
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First off, let me say that while there are some nude girl scenes, they are in general not in any sexual nature - usually during a bad situation or a comedic situation. My primary focus on the Older Teen/Adult rating was the high level of outrageously bloody, disturbing violence and dismemberment in scenes where Nyu becomes her other self. I, personally, prefer implied beheadings than looking at a head psychically popped off and floating around with bright red blood pouring out of the bottom. Maybe that's just me?
At some points I felt that the story was going kind of slow, and with the two storylines taking so long to converge, it seems somewhat disjointed. While I certainly see the appeal to some audiences, this series was not for me. Unlike HOTD, this didn't pull me in at the end, making me see the anime series light, as it were. The ridiculous grotesque bodies really give it the WTF rating, but it is a whole different type of messed up from Rin. I personally wouldn't recommend it to mini-geek girls like me, and definitely don't recommend it for anytime after the sun goes down. In the end, the best part of the series (and it is a seriously awesome part) is the opening theme "Lilium."
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Next time on....: Ouran High School Host Club
Age Appropriate: Older teens+/Adults
Emotional Response: Wow, look at all that blood.
Notable Features: Blood, psychic killer, clueless teens
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 epoisodes
Overall Recommendation: WTF
"Nyu?" - Nyu/Lucy
Elfen Lied opens with a mysterious woman in a serial killer/Silence of the Lambs situation. She's naked with a creepy helmet, somehow supposedly protection for others. When guards enter, as she telepathically begins bending the bars on her prison, she begins telepathically ripping them apart. Blood everywhere, bones visibile, head popping off and hearst exploding out of chests is pretty common as she makes her escape out whatever facility she's been held in. Guards attempt to stop her, and fail miserable (hence the telepathic dismemberment) and she gets out of the prison with a little mysterious help with last door. At some point she removes her helmet and we see a young woman with pink hair, and pink, discerning eyes. As she leaves she's shot in the head by a sniper, but apparently misses the vital shot, and she jumps into the sea.
Next, we see Kohta and Yuka - young college Freshman - meeting up at a station and walking together to what will be Kohta's house, a former traditional Japanese restaurant owned by Yuka's family. This ends up being the home-base of sorts for the easier storylines. When Yuka and Kohta visit the beach they happen upon a mysterious girl, who says nothing but "Nyu," and bright eyes, and pink hair. The take pity on her situation and bring her home. At this point, we realize she's the deadly girl from the beginning and drama ensues, and it seems that she's lost her memory.There is a mad scientist or two, a mercenary/military bad guy, a young homeless girl, another young girl like "Nyu" (a "diclonius") and an adorable dog! Between certain characters' bizarre memory loss, a strange romantic obsession between the mains and breaking through brainwashing with the girls, this series has a lot of complicated situations, if not a complicated storyline.
----------
First off, let me say that while there are some nude girl scenes, they are in general not in any sexual nature - usually during a bad situation or a comedic situation. My primary focus on the Older Teen/Adult rating was the high level of outrageously bloody, disturbing violence and dismemberment in scenes where Nyu becomes her other self. I, personally, prefer implied beheadings than looking at a head psychically popped off and floating around with bright red blood pouring out of the bottom. Maybe that's just me?
At some points I felt that the story was going kind of slow, and with the two storylines taking so long to converge, it seems somewhat disjointed. While I certainly see the appeal to some audiences, this series was not for me. Unlike HOTD, this didn't pull me in at the end, making me see the anime series light, as it were. The ridiculous grotesque bodies really give it the WTF rating, but it is a whole different type of messed up from Rin. I personally wouldn't recommend it to mini-geek girls like me, and definitely don't recommend it for anytime after the sun goes down. In the end, the best part of the series (and it is a seriously awesome part) is the opening theme "Lilium."
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Next time on....: Ouran High School Host Club
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