Anime Review: Natsume Yuujinchou

Natsume Takashi has never been an ordinary boy, he was born with strong spiritual energy and the ability to see Youkai (traditional Japanese ghosts/spirits), which was passed on by his deceased grandmother, Natsume Reiko. During his childhood Natsume became very scared and alone, his family had passed away and Natsume was moved to relative to relative because no one  believed  that what he said he saw, was not actually there. He was called a lier, was bullied, had no friends, was teased by the youkai and had no family. He was truly alone. Natsume learns that some humans are even  worse than terrifying youkai.
However, this is not as a sad, depressing tragedy for our young and strong protagonist! 
Natsume is eventually passed on to the Fujiwaras, a middle-aged couple on his father's side of the family. He loves them, and they love him,  and does not want to cause them trouble, so he keeps this 'alternate landscape' problem to himself. He is then given a book that once belonged to his grandmother, Reiko, Yuujinchou the book of friends. This Yuujinchou holds the names of youkai that Reiko had defeated. Once a youkai's name has been written in this book, they belong to the person that they have given their name too and must serve and obey them. Natsume meets a very powerful Youkai Madara,  also known as Nyanko-sensei who takes the form of a lucky cat, who wants the book for himself to rule over the youkai and become even more powerful. However, Nyanko-sensei agrees not to take the book off Natsume until he dies, and Natsume promises to return all the names to the youkai that had their names taken away from them. Just like Nyanko-sensei who wants the Yuujinchou for his own selfish reasons, there are both weak and powerful youkai that also want the book for themselves. Natsume, with his body guard Nyanko-sensei by his side, face off many youkai that want the book for their greedy hands. Natsume learns how to slowly be accepted by people and youkai for the first time on his adventure to return the names to the youkai, and gain a normal and peaceful life for himself. But along the way, Natsume is confronted with compelling feelings of what is friendship and wonders if he can ever be normal and accepted. But will Natsume regret leaving his life behind from the youkai and stepping into society with humans? 


Yumii's response:
This series is very powerful and the audience can easily adapt to the story by relating to characters along the way. This series is not like some series that have incorporated sci-fi, Western themes or etc, but takes on the traditional Japanese myths and legends. The art brings the audience back to a traditional but fresh style that contrasts each other with the traditions of Japan and the modern fresh age for youth. This has also been used in the music and soundtrack used for the series. The music has a very Japanese traditional feel to it but also has that modern edge that appeals to youth. 
From the very first episode I was hooked and I didn't want to let go. It has a very deep meaning, not just for Natsume, but for the audience that they can also relate to. Being accepted into society is very hard and difficult with people being quick to judge on the way we act, but we must fight our own 'demons' to over come it. Each episode ended with a very touching and emotional message, that I just couldn't help but tear up. Besides the emotional side to the series, it does have fight scenes and cultural aspects that can appeal to both genders of audience.
I really love this series, and with the recent release of the third season, you just know that it will defiantly be enjoyable, exciting new adventures and a little something for anyone's preference. I highly recommend this series, and I promise it is not disappointing at all. 
Yumii out~~


((Aiyya~~ my first official post!! >//////<))

Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne—!!

Where to start, at first I thought that this would be a close follow up of Ore no Imouto, but upon closer inspection this was a complete opposite. Now the reason I took up this anime was because of the fact that I rather enjoyed Ore no Imouto, while attempting to ignore Kirino's extremely obvious and annoying attempt in suppressing her emotions for her brother. I'm not saying I hate this anime really, rather it's quite enjoying, to some at least. To some I have recently found out that is extremely disturbing for reasons of their own, you know who you are.

One of the many reasons I have kept this anime on my watch list for this long is rather simple, and thats the comedy factor. Sure we've all seen animes which had a bit of ecchi or rude jokes but I have not yet seen one that has gone this far. And you have to admit it dirty and rude jokes are hilarious, no matter in what context. Onii chan no Koto has managed to satisfy that dark humorous side of ours, and even if some people don't appreciate it at one stage of their life they used to giggle like little kids when hearing a dirty word.

One of the most important factors of Onii chan no Koto is the art. I'm not sure where I have seen this art style before but although it is not the best and not that much to my taste, it does work extremely well with its humorous antics. Although not appealing as to cause an extreme uproar in the ecchi factor, which is a good thing by the way, the art certainly does make it an anime which does not fully concentrate on the desires of man; while of course moderately giving small tastes of it. I also believe that the antics the characters get up to is much more appealing to this sort of anime than pure fan service. By using the power of words and rather rude suggestions instead of pure fanservice comedy, it has effectively made it a much more amusing anime to people who actual appreciate this sort of comedy.

Of course being a male directed anime it certainly has a lot of qualities that draw people in. Music may be one of them depending on your tastes, to me ... it's just another happy go lucky tune. Generic really but so is a lot of things. Seiyuus also do a brilliant job, to me it does not matter who is the seiyuu but it matters to me how good they do their job. It could be any seiyuu who I have never heard of, but if they're extremely good and I mean this as the voice fits the character and is smooth, I wouldn't care who was acting. And the seiyuus in Onii chan no Koto definitely match this job description.

I have noticed a trend with openings and endings nowadays, which involve people running or turning their heads around, it does not matter much as all I pay attention to is the music. It's not bad in a way, extremely generic, but then again ... what isn't these days?

Black Rock Shooter ~ Anime Ver 1/6 Scale

Ben has recently received his BRS figure by Good Smile from Hobby Fan (www.hobbyfan.com) and has asked me to help him review it. Well seeing how lazy he is, the post is going to be just another paragraph if he is reviewing it (lol). So~ The very kind me has agreed to help him :)

As you can see, this BRS is extremely dedicate and it looks like it is going to break any moment. For figures to have such a difficult pose is really hard, because of the weight and balancing factors. Since the body is on one leg while leaning forward, it made the design even more problematic. A smart solution was to make the bosy hold on to the cannon; with the cannon attached to both the figure and the blocks on the base.The pose made it looks like she is in action. It is why this figure looks so beautiful and cool!

The colours are perfect in the figure. It could clearly show the gloss and matt paints apart, making the body and the cannon both stand out at the same time. Ben thought the colours are bad yet without realizing that is the purpose of the design. The dull colours allow the atmosphere to be created around the figure, creating moods of danger and unease. Well if the colour did make him think it is bad, then it did a good job of creating an unpleasant atmosphere. I personally liked it.

Overall, I really liked the pose of the figure and think it is cool. Good Smile nailed this design very well. This figure is definitely worth its price. So consider this if you are buying a BRS figure!

PS. I also bought a figure along with Ben's BRS from Hobby Fan, so I'll be reviewing it soon when it comes to my house.  Get ready to see Hitagi Sengougahara 1/6 Scale by Good Smile! :)

Kore wa Zombie Desuka? episode 1

This is just quick,
I watched it, and I enjoyed it. A zombie, necromancer, and some sort of magical girl make quite the enjoyable characters. It's funny, well done, a good mix of comedy and slight pantsu-ecchi scenes LOL.
The plot looks like it will come along nicely, as well as the characters and all that.
I would say go watch it.
And yes I realize this is a craptacular post, but you see, I just watched the Japanese version of The Grudge, so my mind is full of that, rather than anime I was watching before I watched The Grudge (which I must say is not really that great. the sounds are creepier than what you actually see...)

Inifinite Stratos First Impressions

I have just recently discovered (in my last week overseas) that my local internet cafe does not mind people downloading from their net, so I now have access to my anime and of course to the new season.

So, the first anime of the season that I got to watch was IS: Infinite Stratos which right off the bat sounds good already. I got more of an impression when I learnt that it was a harem, yes people a harem, they're not dead after all.
Inifinite Stratos is based around Orimura Ichika, the only male in the world that can operate the IS (Infinite Stratos). The IS was developed by the Japanese as a powered "exoskeleton" which became the mainstream of weapons. However most of its uses are now for sporting events and show. Orimura is dragged into the academy where they train IS pilots, and of course his classmates are all female.




So lets start with visuals, the first opening scene is a battle scene, I guess to get you into the mood, and the visuals I saw there int he first scene took me by surprise. I'm unable to explain it myself but it seemed to me that they incorporated 3D aspects into the battle scene and it took me back. Not only did it look good, but with the whole mech style of the anime it was a perfect idea to include it.



I love the music as well, I think I may be sayign this too much about most animes I've watched, but I think that's because of my obsession with Japanese music. The plot however I found a bit typical, but my jugdements on animes aren't always based on the plot, in my view I don't mind the plot at all, as long as it's interesting, keeps me entertained and is down right awesome. As you can see with the picture below IS is a lot of comedy, and the first episode showed me a lot of it. Although it doesn't match up to the Angel Beats! comedic experience I've had but it sure does give me a good laugh.

And of course being a tyical element of modern day animes we are given a fanservice, although I think this might still be in developing stages.

IS is produced by 8bit, the same makers that gave us the Macross Frontier series. Ben being a huge fan of Macross I'm expecting him to be watching this series too. I think I will be sticking with this series for now, it's definitely caught my attention thus far. Be sure to watch it.

Jayce.

Takumii's notes:
What?!?! I'm the Big Macross fan here!! >< Anyways, Infinite Stratos is good but it does give the impression of other animes in it. The sword chasing scene from 'Toradora', the only male in the academy from 'Ladies X Buttlers'. Design of Mecha from Gundam seed/ seed destiny and macross and lucky last, the females dominating over males setting from 'Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari'. This anime surely did snatch many elements from other series but who said this cannot be a successful anime?? I think it can, afterall I'm putting my bets on IS and Freezing (following the manhwa) this season ;D

There is my mini review of IS since Jayce took the job already. Looks like Freezing is going to be mine XD

Unlimited Blade Works

Yes this is yet another review that should have been done ages ago had I the chance to watch it ages ago. So along with Summer Wars, which was the last review I did, I finally had the chance to watch Unlimited Blade Works another animated movie for an all time favourite anime of mine Fate/Stay Night.

Unlimited Blade Works is a series of alternative events that occur during Fate/Stay Night, or for those who have played the visual novel, is an adaptation for the second route of the game. For those who have seen it you may understand what I mean. To gain a better understanding of what I'm about to say, explaining Fate/Stay Night must be done first. Fate/Stay Night revovles around Emiya Shirou, a mediocre magician, who suddenly gains a "Servant" and a forced invitation into the holy grail war. His servant is named Saber and true to her name she wields a hidden sword where its true identity is revealed later in the series. The pair are forced into various fights as there are six other magicians fighting to gain control of the holy grail, for rumour has it that it will be able to grant their wishes. Along the way the pair gain a mutual friendship and potent enemies.
Compared to Fate/Stay Night which was based around Shirou Emiya and his Servant Saber's developments throughout the anime, Unlimited Blade Works revolves around Shirou Emiya and Tohsaka Rin and her Servant Archer, who was formerly just a side character in the Fate/Stay Night series. The story revovles in the same way as Fate/Stay Night does, but the plot is much more intricate and woven than the original. Many twists are presented in the movie and it does take some thinking to figure out who is on whos side. Then there is explanation of Rin's Servant, Archer. For those who have watched the Fate/Stay Night Series and have noticed how he does not play a major role will be quite suprised to see who he really is. For those who haven't watched the original series I do recommend you to do so before watching the movie. It will get very difficult at times in comprehending whats going on, and the movie does jump a lot which is not a problem for people who have already seen the Fate/Stay Night series.

Ratings:
Visuals: 8.5/10
Music: 8/10
Plot: 9.5/10
Characters: 8.5/10

The visuals in the movie is exceptional athough not too great they certainly have touched it up since the release of Fate/Stay Night. As the movie is a lot of action and bloodshed their use of colours suited the scenes nicely. I would have liked it though if the tones of the colours varied more, I found that I kept seeing the same tones in places where it should have been a shade darker; especially night scenes.

I actually liked the music for a change, especially the ending song by Sachi Tainaka. The music fit so well and it played an important role in getting you into the mood. At times it was used to build up heaps of suspense, and it really kept you entertained. It deserved a ranking of 8 because of how good the producers effectively used it, but with their achievements does come a downfall and thats the timing of the piece. At times it was either too late or too quick and it threw me off quite a bit.

The plot is the best part of the movie, intricate, woven and delicately made. It does get extremely confusing at times and you will definitely have a hard time following all the different factions and the constant move of alliances and enemies. The plot does skip a whole lot and the story is then made to look like it was compacted, which in essence it was. Again to those who have watched Fate/Stay Night or played the game they most likely would not find any problems in understanding. Honestly I liked this storyline much more than the Fat/Stay Night storyline. I felt as if the ending of the Fate/Stay Night storyline did not do Saber any justice, whereas Unlimited Blade Works' ending was much more sweeter and more to my liking; I guess it's all up to preference.

I love Type-moon and its characters. I find that they make extremely deep characters that have much more meaning than intended. I found all characters to be extremely unique and having their own sense of pride and in moral values. The character designs were exceptionally good, and all characters were given justice. Although I find Clamp to still be (in my books) one of the top designers type-moon is definitely up there.   

Summer Wars

Yes I am still writing reviews even on my holiday. So I got to finally watch Summer Wars and Unlimited Blade Works (which will be my next review) at my stay here in Thailand. One word to sum it all up, bloody freakin amazing. Ok maybe three but you get my point. So as usual I'll be doing my brief summary, then ratings, and then explanation for the rating. This is one movie you definitely cannot miss.

Summer Wars is a 114 minute long movie directed by Mamoru Hosoda and written by Satoko Okudera from a story by Hosoda. The movie is produced by Madhouse and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.

Summer Wars is based around an online network called the "OZ network" that governs the whole country/world. Traffic authorities, communication, buisnesses, games and more are set up here as opposed to on site buildings. the whole system requires a user to have their own ID with their own avatar that carries every infromation about them. The whole affair (which is pretty big) is explained in the first section of the show so don't fret if you don't understand. Kenji Koiso, a maths genius and, the main protagonist is a "code monkey". He works as a part time moderator for the OZ network. He suddenly gets an invitation from Natsuki Shinohara, the cutest girl in school, to her family out in celebration of her grandmothers 90th birthday. He accepts of course and goes off with her, however her plans for him are just more than assistance and in the middle of this all a wierd code consisting of numbers is sent to his mobile. In thinking it was a maths problem he solves it and sends the answer back to the sender, only to see it cause a huge problem. 

Visuals: 9/10
Plot: 8.5/10
Music: 7/10
Characters: 8/10

So lets start with visuals. The art is amazing, defintiely amazing. Although it may seem common, the visuals catches your eyes with its vivid shapes and colours. I especially like how scenes in the OZ network use different art styles and shadings compared to seens in the real world. The movie is very comedic so when comedy scenes do show up the makers use the shapes in such a way that provide much more comedic relief then intended. The visuals pleased me indeed thus it deserved such a high rating.

 

The plot was unique, the one thing that attracted me the most. Infact the last thing I thought would be in this movie would be a whole online virtul world. Not only that it kept continuing to surprise me, every twist and every turn kept me wanting more. I was even tempted to fast forward to skip all the bits where they were just talking. Thats how gripping this movie was. I admire the ideas the makers came up with, they were able to take ordinary objects that you see everyday and use it in a way that was never thought possible. I wan't to go on about one particular scene but unfortunately it would spoil it, and I would add a spoiler button but its best to go see it yourself. The family's antics and the problems they come across keeps you entertained. However its not all comedy, a tragedy does occur within the movie as well. Reminds you of Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare doesn't it, still don't know why that was a comedy though.

 

 

Music... not much to say about the music though. I found it very typical for this kind of anime. Nothing really caught my attention and if it did it was only for a split second. Im assuming music was not a really big issue for this movie and when watching it I persoanlly didn't pay attention to the music at all, in fact its absence wouldn't of brought it to my attention.

Characters, oh how I love and hate the characters. In my view the main protagonist should of been more of a man and took a more heroic role, but what my hopes were crushed. There were some characters, such as Wabisuke (Natsuki's uncle) and Natsuki's over protective cousin whose name escapes me, that caught my attention from either their antics and jealousy (the cousin) or their sinister, dark background (the uncle). The whole family in general really provided the best entertainment, but my all time favourite goes to Kazuma Ikezawa and his avatar King Kazuma another of Natsuki's cousins, for various reasons that if I discuss would spoil the whole plot again. (Kazuma Ikezawa left, King Kazuma right)

So again this is one anime movie you do no wan't to miss, and I mean seriosuly do not wan't to miss. Now I shall be off to be a super anime otaku and find out if someone made an online OZ network, a dollars site went up went Durarara was airing so I'm hoping someone made an OZ network for Summer Wars. Oh and tomorrow I'll be doing the review for Unlimited Blade Works, so look forward to that everyone.

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles is the lastest anime I've finished and to be honest, I'm quite impressed. Knowing that it was originally a game, it has actually wrapped the anime fairly well. Not too brief and not too rush. The anime has captivated me by no dirty tricks such as anime songs or seiyuus etc; I'm actually in love of the anime plot itself especially in the relationship development section.

The story is about an ordinary girl Alicia Melchiott who was trying to defend her hometown with her strength along with her friends. Until one day she met a man called Welkin Gunther, who she thought was a spy from the Imperial Army. After misunderstandings, she has trusted him and they got the better side of each other. Yet, at the same time, the Imperial Army has attacked and the hometown of Bruhl was destroyed within seconds. Alicia who witnessed the destruction of her beloved home has vowed to return to reclaim her home. She and Welkin decided to join the Gallian Millitia.


This is the brief summary of Valkyria Chronicle. It is truly a splendid story so I think you should give it a try. Ignore the facts that this is from a game so it will be bad or this a war anime and all they do is kill kill kill. It is not! In fact, this anime is rather humorous too. XD

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd review by fgghjjkll

Introduction: Project DIVA 2nd is a musical rhythm game on the Sony PSP. It involves pressing buttons; Circle, Square, Triangle, Cross and D-pad, to suit the rhythm and tempo of the music. This game is the successor to Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA.

Gameplay: This game requires you to press buttons when the notes meet and the timer hand reaches the top. Four difficulties; easy, normal, hard and extreme, exist in this game while it's predecessor only has three. It has five ranks each time you clear a song. MISSxTAKE, CHEAP, STANDARD, GREAT, EXCELLENT and PERFECT are the avaliable ranks while it's predecessor only has three.
Each time you clear a song, you get DIVA points, a virtual currency in this game, which allows you to purchase various items, costumes, rooms and help items. You may also get new difficulties and items. In the DIVA room, the vocaloid may dance, sing and interact with the music or his/her surroundings. Here you can watch your own previews, customize your room alongside many things.

Story: This isn't your average RPG, so I can't really say much about the story.

Sound: This is a musical rhythm game. It is quite music orientated. The menu music is something not supposed be noticed and just accompanies you browsing through the menu. The chosen music for the soundtrack consists of 90% Miku, and 10% other vocaloid music. Most of the music is great and the beatmaps are suited for the diffculty. (benzhao236 is just a noob so don't mind him failing at normal.) Two songs by livetune and supercell were composed for this game. こっち向いて Baby (supercell-ryo) and Yellow (livetune-kz). For a Sony PSP, high quality music is to be expected and the music genre just raises your expectations more.

Graphics: This game is designed for the Sony PSP platform. One of the most powerful handhelds. Of course, my expectations are higher. The game does not lag as much as it's predecessor. All past songs such as "メルト" and "ストロボナイツ" play through nice and smooth. The 3D sprites are smooth and the ghosting is still noticable on the PSP1000 and PSP2000 in "メルト" due to their stupid screens.

Other notes/fgg's rant: I preordered this game from playasia. They shipped it out, but either Hong Kong Post or Australia Post were stupid enough to some how lose it. Just to note, If you use the government post service, get tracked shipping! My preorder gift never arrived. I just got a replacement kindly offered by playasia.

Gameplay: 10/10
Story: n/a
Sound: 8/10
Graphics: 9/10

Pros:
• Fun game with a control scheme easy to understand.
• Wide selection of music. Predecessor is just full of supercell and livetune music
• More DLC options avaliable. (Append miku costume ^_^
• Other vocaloids have been included in this game.
• Diffculties suit the song
• Game engine improved. No lag found.
Cons:
• Not enough emphasis on adhoc connectivity.
• Most songs are not the full length.
• MP3 loading buggy?

Buy Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd (Sony PSP™) at Play-Asia.com

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