Trinity Blood (Halloween 3)

Genre: Action
Age Appropriate: Older Teen
Emotional Response: Sad
Notable Features: vampires, priests, nanomachines, supervampire
Language: English
Length: 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Wonderful

"Avert not thine eyes." -Narrator

Abel Nightroad: Traveling priest, Lt. Col., AX member, Crusnik (supervamp) and our protagonist.
The first interaction with Abel shows him to be food hungry (he really does love his food) and goofy. A bit of a moron, actually. It takes a little bit to understand that he's actually an intelligent, compassionate priest. Also, the series is pretty quick to show his superhuman/supervampire superpowers as a Crusnik. A Crusnik is a supernatural being one step up on the food chain from the vampires - as a Crusnik actually feeds on vampire blood rather than human blood. Vampires, or Methuselah, are a result  of the post-apocolyptic reality in the series. All current technology is considered "lost." Abel is, surprisingly, amazing with lost technology. There is a scene here or there where he saves the day by excellent hacking skills.

Abel is the savior/martyr type. He is frequently put in situations where he has to save someone in distress - the most important character being Sister Esther. Sister Esther is a young nun from a Istvan (read: Istanbul) who is taken by Abel and a huge debacle orchestrated by the Marquis of the region, who was in turn manipulated by the Contra Mundi, or Order of Rosenkreuz (the villains). The Order wants a New World Order, run by them of course.

Then, there is the Vatican, lead by Alessandro - a childlike Pope, his sister Cardinal Caterina (AX leader) and his brother, Brother Francesco (Inquisitorial division leader). The Vatican is the opposing force for humans against vampires, although the general goal is to find a peaceful exitance. The Empire, for vampires, is run by the Empress, who is the end-all-be-all authority. There is a lot of politics in there.

THEN there is....I'm going to stop now. This just gets more complicated.

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Sad. That's really what this series is, a lot of episodes of sad. Still, it's sad in a more poignant way. Abel's dorky personality is often the only lightness in any episodes, often tempered by his own serious moments. It's not the kind of sad that makes you cry or anything, but maybe hurt a little. At least, depending on how easily you get sucked into character emotions.

The political intrigues aren't as interesting as the personal interactions. I think they were an attempt to shadow historical figures, but only in the sense where you have to care enough about those particular historical figures in order to care. I only know about them from watching that terrible The Borgias show. The individual satellite characters are pretty interesting, actually. My personal favorite is Fr. Hugue (shocking, I know). There is one scene in an episode where the priests have to band together for a few moments in order to stop a big bad from happening and their special abilities (because priests need special abilities :P) are displayed in an excellent group effort. These priests kinda kick ass.

Abel's special 80% Crusnik form is pretty epic. You don't really see it until later in the series, and then it shows up frequently. If I thought the 40% was cool, man, 80% is wicked - both in awesomeness and darkness. He's complicated and in a good way. It wouldn't be right if he was a one-dimensional character.

There is a twist here and there, and they aren't always completely obvious - which I appreciate. Abel is actually pretty when he's not a superfreak vampire or wearing his glasses (such a heartbreaker,too). He's a tragic hero and I was rooting for him the whole way. The blood isn't too bad, there is no sexuality really, but the storyline is a little advanced for someone under a certain age.  So, yeah, go watch it. It's better than great, but it doesn't seem right to call it "YAY," so it gets a "Wonderful."

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Moving On: Fortune Arterial

Rosario + Vampire (Halloween 2)

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: Amusement + Excitement
Notable Features: Vampires + Succubi + Witches + Humans + Boobs
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: YAY

"Know. Your. Place!" - Moka

Rosario+Vampire doesn't actually have anyone named Rosario in it. It references a main character's rosary, which keeps her superpower self contained. The true main character is Tsukune Aono, an unassuming incoming (human) freshman who somehow -and by somehow, I mean his father stole the acceptance letter- gets enrolled into a high school for monsters. Within the first few minutes of the first episode he's hit by a girl on a bike, who then sucks his blood! Enter Moka, another freshman, who happens to be a vampire girl. The budding romance between the two is the vehicle which drives the series.

Within the first season, the other friends in this ragtag monster group are added. There is a succubus, a witch, a snow woman, another witch, a werewolf and the ever important Adult Moka. Adult Moka is the S-class supermonster vampire hidden within Moka. Adult Moka is bustier, bootier, and has an attitude. She comes out almost every episode when Tsukune removes Moka's rosary to save the day. All four of the females in their friendly bunch are obsessed with loving Tsukune - the snow woman takes the cake, though. She's a nice, shy, misfit stalker. No matter how much the girls fight over Tsukune, they all band together to fight the evil villain (sometimes faculty!) of each episode - frequently typical bullies with atypical powers.

Other important things to note: A narrating bat, that tells you the time that it takes to the end battle of each episode, explains all of the mythical creatures that come up and ends up as a minion for Moka's younger sister, Kokoa. Also, a bus driver with creepy eyes who transports Tsukune back and forth from the human world. Last, but not least, multiple references to b-movie culture and random uses of figures of speech.

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I loved it. Can you tell? Aside from the whole vampire thing, this series is hilarious. I think the bat is my favorite. There are also so many quotables in this show that it took me awhile to pick one for the top. There are a lot of boob and panty shots though. The stalking and peeping is pretty amusing, too. There is an overabundance of head-smacking humor involved, both the kind where you laughing at how dumb people are and laughing because of how inappropriate they can be. It's really the lighthearted sexuality that got it a Teen rating.

The only real negative that I see whole "Friendship fixes everything!" theme, but that's the moral of the story in almost every episode. Don't be a bully, friendship fixes everything, be yourself...etc. It's very shmoopy that way. I did find myself cheering the other girls on, versus Moka, though. It doesn't make sense since it's obvious that they are the couple of the story, but I thought she was a little one-dimensional. It's possibly because I see myself a little bit in the other girls, where I don 't feel much in common with Moka, at all. Adult Moka is pretty awesome, though. That said, I really recommend it for girls. The only part I can see a guy enjoying is the boobs. Lots of boobs. I wanted to stay away from writing things about that since they're so prevalent in so much anime, but I can't get away from it in this one. Watch it, if you dare. YAY!

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Coming Up: Trinity Blood (Halloween 3)

Black Blood Brothers (Halloween 1)

Genre: Drama
Age Appropriate: Pre-teen/Teen
Emotional Response: Interesting
Notable Features: vampires, "seperate but equal" society, loyalty issues, swords
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
verall Recommendation: Good

"Cassa..." - Jiro

Black Blood Brothers refers to Jiro and Kotaro Mochizuki. The brothers are both vampires, although Kotaro is too young to be susceptible to the typical vampire weaknesses: sunlight, water, garlic..etc. Jiro, the older brother, is very protective of Kotaro. The series follows them into the "Special Zone," an island off of the main city that is home to the complicated vampire society. After an incident on a boat, and attempted killing, and a terrible fight with seemlingly crazy vampires, Jiro and Kotaro make it to the Special Zone with their helpful guide, Mimiko. Mimiko works for the OCC, an organization meant to help humans - now called Red Bloods - and vampires - Black Bloods - live together peacefully. Mimiko herself is called a Compromiser, one of the lighter side of the organization meant to work with humans and vampires in a helpful way. After the first episode with the boat incident the Suppression Team in introduces as a trigger happy bunch meant to take down hostile vampires; most especially killing off Kowloon children.

The Kowloon children are the main villains of the series. They are a contagious bunch that seem to be like zombies with vampire strength and uncontrolled violence. An old friend of Jiro, the mastermind behind it all, Cassa (Cassandra) is working to take over the world! Well, at least the Special Zone, as she hopes to find out some undisclosed secret about the mysterious, non-existent 11th Yard. Somehow, Cassa, Jiro and a pretty girl Alice are the center of the conflict. The series often has flashbacks of Jiro and Alice, and/or Cassa. It's not until the very last episode that all becomes clear.

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 I actually like Black Blood Brothers, although I admit part of it is probably my personal partiality to vampires. However, with all of the anime I've been watching, it's been dropped down further on my list of good ones to watch. It has some interesting points, but it's not edge-of-your-seat fantastic, or messed up, or hilarious. This is why I've rated is as "Good." It is good, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait each week to see a new episode.

The drama between Jiro and Casa, and company, is very soap opera. There are a few twists and turns, but not exactly mind-boggling. The best part of the show is Kotaro and his precociousness. He's adorable, and funny. Mimiko is pretty naive, but in a good way. She sees the good in everyone, but isn't willing to just ignore the bad - except when it comes to Jiro, of course. ;) Personally, I'd watch it just for Kotaro. He certainly has an interesting appeal, and in the end the series wouldn't make any sense without him.

I gave it a Pre-teen/Teen rating because while there is a little bit of adult here or there, there are no boobs, boob jokes, grotesque scenes or profanities. There is one or two scenes that are sexy, but they may or may not go over someone's head. I'd check it out first, if I were considering showing it to someone under a certain age, I suppose. The sexiness is very on par to contemporary sexy vampire stuff.

So, I would recommend it for us vampire freaks as a little bit of fun. It's not bad to watch if you're bored.  Side note: The end theme is actually really pretty. I frequently listened all the way through.


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Keep Watching: Rosario + Vampire  (Halloween 2)

Vampires! Vampires! Vampires!

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. 

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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Coming to a blog near you...: Black Blood Brothers

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

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

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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