Post of the Day: Mahou Shoujo Pokémon

Madoka Magica x Pokémon fan art.

- takoyakiboy

Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan) Anime Review

Shingeki no Kyojin is a 2013 dark fantasy, action shonen anime produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G. and an adaptation of the manga series of the same name. A total of 25 episodes were aired from April 6 to September 28, 2013 along with an OVA based on "Ilse's Notebook" chapter that was released on December 9 of that year. Another OVA is to be aired on April 9, 2014.
The anime is set in a world where giant humanoid creatures called titans suddenly appeared one day and began to devour humans to the point of near extinction. The last remnants of humanity managed to survive the onslaught by living behind three concrete walls tall and strong enough to withstand the titans. The humans have also managed to adapt by creating gear capable of killing titans called Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear.
The story begins when after 100 years of safety from the titans, one day an abnormal colossal titan and armored titan appear and break through the outermost wall. As a result the three protagonists, Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert are forced to flee from their overrun hometown as children. Years later they all enlist in the military and hope to fight back in an always losing battle against the titans as well as discover the mysteries behind them.

This anime really did live up to most of its expectations, in my opinion. The animation and overall presentation was fantastic and well done. The distinctive bold lines had a very medieval Gothic style to the animation that I have never seen before. Music was also used perfectly to match the epic or darkest moments of the anime. Not to mention the both openings of the show were always cool to watch no matter how many times I'd seen them. The action scenes were the meat of the show but the addition of conspiracy and intrigue were mixed in well. Another thing worth mentioning is the alternate medieval  European setting. The attention to little details such as architecture, weapons, and even names were certainly a plus that made the anime look high quality.  The transition of battlefields also made the show more interesting. From civilian buildings within the walls to vast open countrysides and forests full of towering trees, the way the anime showed how the soldiers adapted to the terrain in which they fought was nice.

 As far as the plot and characters are concerned, I have mixed reactions. First let's talk about the characters. Despite having a quite large cast introduced throughout the anime, I felt that the anime only focused on a certain number of characters. Of course we do get a fair share of development from our three main characters but the show also does give a decent amount of dedication towards other characters that might as well make them equally important as much as the original trio. For example, Jean Kirsten is one of the fellow cadets who graduated along side the trio and he isn't that much of an important character in the first half of the show. However, as soon as the graduated cadets face their first battle and many get eaten by the titans, Jean definitely gets a lot more spotlight. One character's death in particular, deeply affects him and there's a couple of scenes that portray what thoughts are going through his mind. With all this time and development on Jean, towards the end of the show his character certainly changes a lot. There are a few other significant side characters that also do get development as well but as for the majority it felt like they would just fill in the role of comedic relief or end up getting killed.

Now, plot-wise I believe this show started off very well. Starting from the first episode it was action packed and even when there wasn't any action going on in some episodes it was still interesting to see what the characters were doing. Once we get into the second half of the show, however, we are treated to an EXTREMELY long battle that takes up a lot of episodes just to conclude. This one single moment does provide some great diversity of the tactics of the soldiers as they are forced to adapt to their changing surroundings with precaution but by the end of the show there is pretty much no progression in plot. In the end, the protagonists are not even close to answering any of the questions central the main plot even after the last episode. Now while this greatly frustrated me I will speculate on the premise that a second season will be in production based on the cliffhanger left in the last episode and therefore be a little bit more forgiving.
Long before this anime even began airing I have heard that it had received A LOT of hype and that so many people were calling it the anime to watch of 2013. As for myself, when I watched the teaser trailer for it I was not that excited, to be honest. The fact that the titans were giant naked people and had stupidily funny faces kind of subracted from the dark and serious atmosphere of the anime. Despite this fact, I was still able to feel the despair and hopeless mood by the numerous failures and deaths that occurred from the desperate battle of the characters against the overwhelmingly powerful titan force. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Shingeki No Kyojin and had an absolute blast watching it. Unlike most hyped animes that become somewhat of a disappointment, Shingeki No Kyojin truly delivered the epic battles it promised.

Pros:

+ Perfectly captures the atmosphere of doom and the determination of mankind's survival

+ Deaths have an impact on characters
+ Epic fight scenes

+ Very distinctive art style
+ Amazing music score
+ Large interesting cast
+ Beautiful detail to setting
+ Diverse environments explored

Cons:
- Pacing becomes inconsistent towards the second half of the series

- Unexplained major plot holes
- Lackluster ending
- Titans look more comedic than scary

Rating: 5/5
* Final Verdict: Definitely the anime of the 2013 and is one of the best animes I've watched so far.

-takoyakiboy

News of the Day: Sword Art Online II Announced

The long awaited second season of SAO has been announced at the end of the Special Edition episode and will come out sometime this year of 2014. Watch the teaser trailer featuring a new character, Sinon of Gun Gale Online, here: http://youtu.be/oLb0ZF08b7k

-takoyakiboy

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!(Love, Chuunibyou & Other Delusions) Anime Review [Season 1]

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! is a 2012 romantic comedy anime made by Kyoto Animation and based off the light novel series of the same name. A total of twelve episodes ran from October 4 to December 19, 2012. An animated film recapping the events from the anime was released in September 2013 and a second television season will begin airing in January 2014.
Yuuta Togashi, tries to begin his high school life as a normal freshman but encounters a mysterious girl with a case of chuunibyou (eighth grade illness in which one is delusional with fantasies that he or she possesses supernatural powers) who recently moved in and lives one floor above him in the same apartment one night. Later, he finds out that her name is Rikka Takanashi and that she knows his embarrassing secret that he too used to have chuunibyou in middle school and was the self proclaimed 'dark flame master'.
Chuunibyou is a very entertaining anime to watch and enjoy. Since I thought this anime was a slice of life, I was expecting another typical anime about school life. However, this anime was super fun to watch and got me hooked starting from the first episode. The most obvious reason is Rikka: she is the heart of the show. Every moment of her was either hilarious and bizarre. I believe one of the best moments was when she was fighting her older sister with an umbrella. The scene juxtaposes the fight in reality and in Rikka's supernatural imagination.  Yuuta, the other main protagonist, is a fun character but what makes him different from other male protagonists is that he too once had chuunibyou. Although he tried his best to act normal, you actually get to see scenes where he temporarily reverts to his old state as the 'dark flame master'. All the other characters do get their funny moments but I truly felt the camaraderie of the entire group by the end of the series.
Speaking of the end, I realized that this series wasn't just pure fun. It actually has a serious tone towards the end that I had never expected to happen. The anime dealt with the difficulty of accepting grim reality or choosing to live in the world you believe in. Overall, I loved almost every episode of this anime (plus the OVA!) and I didn't really have any pet peeves at all. I recommend Chuunibyou to everyone because there a lot of great moments in this anime and Rikka is so freaking adorable!

Pros:
+ Lovable cast of characters
+ Awesome visuals, especially during imaginary fights
+ Intriguing female lead
+ Lots of funny and entertaining moments

Cons:
- Not much plot until the second half of the show
- Side characters don't get much development

Rating: 4/5
* Final Verdict: A funny lighthearted anime  that deserves a watch.

- takoyakiboy

Post of the Day: Elsie & Haqua

One of my favorite duos in anime: Elsie & Haqua from Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai(The World God Only Knows).

- takoyakiboy

Danganronpa: Kibo no Gakuen to Zetsubo no Kokosei Anime Review

Danganronpa is a 2013 anime adaptation of the 2010 murder mystery PSP game of the same name. The anime series was created by studio Lerche and distributed by Funimation. The anime consists of 13 episodes that ran from July 4th to September 26th, 2013.

The overall plot of the anime is Makoto Naegi entering the prestigious school called Hope's Peak Academy only to lose consciousness and find himself and fourteen other students of the same predicament locked in. The mastermind behind the current events reveals itself to be a sinister teddy bear that goes by the name Monokuma. Monokuma declares that they participate in a game in which if any of the students wish to escape the school they must commit the perfect murder without being caught or else they must spend the rest of their lives there. Various rules are laid out by Monokuma but the real game lies in the detective skills of the students as they try to analyze the crime scene and piece together the evidence within a time limit and then partake a class trial in which a debate takes place in order to determine who is the murderer among themselves. Should the majority guess right, the murderer will be executed for disrupting the peace and the game with the others will still go on. However should the majority choose the wrong person, the murderer will be free to go while everyone else is punished instead. It is up to Naegi to survive the murders and accusations of other students from the sadistic game set up by Monokuma while solving the shocking mysteries hidden within the school. 

Although this anime in my opinion was very entertaining most of the characters were stereotypical and had little background. Each student's eccentric personality and appearance did make him or her fun to watch but it still didn't make me feel any attachment to any character whatsoever. There was also little to none character development throughout the series even towards the end of the show. As for the main character, I would have to say he was least interesting out of them all and I didn't like him that much. I didn't like how the show made him suddenly a detective when it came to class trials and it just seemed most of the time he was the only one able to realize who the murderer is just because he happened to be the main character. However Monokuma was the star of the show to me. He was such an amazing character he became one of my favorite villains of all animes. His trademark laugh was on par with the Joker and just about every evil act he did was a pleasure to watch.

As for the plot it was very engaging and I believe it is one of the strongest points of this anime. The class trials were really intense and I could feel the psychological pressure of each accusation towards all of the students. The execution scenes were all different(some even gruesome) and it was fun to watch which execution each murderer would receive. There were also emotional scenes that gave a nice touch to the atmosphere of despair set around the students forced to play the twisted game. Towards the second half of the series the numerous plot twists actually surprised me a lot. Yet some major plot elements were poorly explained that left me disappointed. Not to mention, the last episode felt anti-climactic and I felt that the lackluster ending could have been done better.
Another pet peeve I had with the show was the color of blood shown as pink. When I saw the first crime scene I wasn't sure what the pink liquid was meant to be. I couldn't understand why the blood had to be the color pink and it just felt weird having to realize that it was blood every time there was a murder.
The animation was simple and pretty consistent but personally I wasn't too pleased with it. Music in general, on the other hand, was very nice and I enjoyed listening to the OP and ED. Overall, I recommend this anime because it was a good psychological mystery thriller that kept me fairly occupied until the end.

Pros:

+ Class trials were interesting to watch

+ Character designs were unique

+ Some unexpected plot twists

+ Great mix of funny and intense moments

+ Awesome executions

Cons:

- Pink colored blood (seriously, like WTF)
- One dimensional characters

- A lack in character development

- Disappointing ending

- Some plot elements poorly explained

Rating: 3/5
*A decent murder mystery anime interesting enough to watch if you are bored*

- takoyakiboy

First Post

Hey everyone who is interested in anime this is my blog where I will talk about anime related news or write reviews of animes I have finished. Expect to see more posts in the future.

- takoyakiboy

Artist : Chitori (http://bit.ly/16lVY7W)