Spring anime 2013 (part 2)

*May include spoilers - if you don't ever watch the first episodes of these shows, then I'm not sure it can be spoiled though....
All media credits go to their owners.*

Okay! I don't have a lot of time today so I'm going to make this brief.
I watched Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack on Titan. And you'll probably hear every other anime fan yap on about it, because the beginning was rather memorable. And sad. As you might know, the Titans are back! And they are attacking the wall that people have surrounded themselves with to keep them bloodlusted creatures out. The main character Eren is an anxious boy who wants to go out of the wall and meet the titans out in their natural habitat - obviously when the action comes to him, he gets more than he bargained for. So yeah. Shit hits the fan.
This one will probably receive lots of high rates since it looks to be pretty well made. Did I like it though? I don't even know... I guess. Something about it bothered me, perhaps the overly psyched male lead. I'll definitely check out more before I make up my mind.

I also watched 2 episodes of Mushibugyou which is a pretty serious shounen. Giant bugs keep invading old time Tokyo and the son of a samurai travels there to join the Bug-Elimination-Office on his father's behalf. Yeah. That's about it. They battle bugs. Seems pretty good, not anything special though. The second episode was about one of the members - a female ninja who throws bombs. The third will be about another member - a criminal who looks like a mixture of Kenpachi and Zoro. If you like shounen, you will like this one, I'm sure.

Aha, then there was also the freak-show of the season. Aku no Hana or Flowers of Evil shows us painfully slowly the journey of a young man into "evil". Actually he just steals a pair of gym clothes from a girl in his class whom he has a crush on. Whereas in a romance-comedy anime this would turn out as the start of a beautiful relationship, here things go down a more realistic road and the situation gets really awkward. If you like a good mind fuck, you're in for a treat. A depressive treat, but nonetheless.
I don't. I'll admit that the execution very extraordinary but I just do not watch that type of shows. It's like the part of NGE where Shinji goes mental - just without the epic mechas and a futuristic world.

Just for fun and giggles I checked out Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko or Henneko for short. If you didn't catch that - it's The Pervert Prince and the Stony Cat (stony = never laughs). And. Well. It's a comedy-romance show with a personality swap. So basically if you're into that, go for it. The animation style is really childish and the characters seem like one tsundere after another, but I'm not saying it was bad. There were a few funny moments - if you like boys chasing girls with pornographic pillows attached to their backs. But in general: No. Just No.

The best out of them all was Hataraku Maou-sama or The Devil is a Part-Timer! Which is basically exactly what it says - there is an evil demon lord who is teleported to the real world with a general officer of his and transformed into a human. So, they have no choice but to suck it up and while the Devil Maou works for MgRonalds, his right hand man Alsiel researches a way to bring them back to the magical realm. Things only manage to settle down a little before the Hero Emilia, who followed the demon lord through the portal, discovers him working at the fast-food chain. But all that plot aside - this show is hilarious! At the very least, the first half of the first episode definitely is. Best humor this season, for sure! (I'm saying this without having seen all the new ones though...)
Although the Going-To-America topic may be a rather typical one,  I really thought this one was very well executed and what's most important - lots of fun! I took some pictures for you too.

Rawr mr Demon Lord.

Alsiel in his demon form

The Hero vs the Demon Lord!

A decisive attack!

...aaaand off to the real world we go. Sorry Alsiel, magic doesn't work here.

The resources have been cut down a bit. From a demon castle to one room only.

You cannot escape the hero!

Aaand here's just a treat from episode 3... uuuh!

Helllllo mr hot Demon Lord.

Okay well that's it for today since I have loads of college stuff to finish! But check out this Hataraku Maou-sama, cause it promises to be epic!

Spring anime 2013 (part 1)

*Probably doesn't include spoilers - if you care enough to watch the first episode. 
All media credits go to their owners. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.*

Aaaaaalrighty. Since nothing really seemed extra interesting this new season, I haven't been too eager with checking it out. But here's what I did see.
Date A Live. Yes, I started it. Yes, I watched the first 4 minutes. Yes, I closed the player as soon as there was a striped-panties shot of the main character's sister. Dude, no. Just no.
Then I watched the first episode of Karneval. I didn't actually expect much, but after watching it I thought it was pretty good. The action scenes were drawn pretty nicely and even though there was lots of jumping from one scene to another, it all came together half way through. I was thrilled to hear some of my favorite voices like Ono Daisuke (Sebastian Michaelis), Kamiya Hiroshi (Orihara Izaya), Suwabe Junichi (Grimmjow Jeagerjaques) and naturally Miyano Mamoru (Yagami Light - here he sounds more like Masaomi Kida), even though the last one only appeared for a few seconds in the end. The plot? Well... not entirely sure. There was a missing person, a white-haired chibi-chan, a huge secret defense organization and a LOADS of characters. I'm sure you'll catch on if you read a summary or watch the first episode yourself. Here's a few pics.

Here's the chibi-chan I was telling you about. They call him Nai.

Then some weird semi-sex scene... he pwns her though.

IIiiizzaaaayaaaaa.... just kiddin'. It's Gareki.

Don't you get the urge to sing "Tetsu to hagane ja magaru..."? Well, it's Tsukumo and Hirato, from Circus.

Hirato demonstrates his magic.

So anyway, the next thing I watched was Arata Kangatari or Arata: The Legend. It had a similar animation style to Karneval, but it seemed to be a bit more depressive. There was this boy, Arata, in modern day Japan, and another Arata in some fantasy land. And apparently the fantasy realm one had to pretend to be a girl in order to succeed a dying princess. However the princess was murdered by her bodyguards and Arata was framed, so he ran for his life and - camboom! The school boy Arata from Japan replaced him - due to some depressive reasons. That's how it gets going. I'd say Karneval was better, but this one doesn't seem too bad either - just way more cliche. I might keep an eye on it - but I sure hope it gets more cheerful. Here, I took a few pictures too.

The normal Arata.

The not-so-normal Arata...

The 60-year-old princess Arata is supposed to replace.

Shit hits the fan.

Now stuck with the loco people chasing you, huh Arata?

And naturally, stupid weak women get captured.

By the way, the abs I was so excited about, were Kannagi's, but turns out there's an even better sight. No idea who he is though.

Rawr!

Now after that one, I checked out Devil Survivor 2: The Animation. Well... it was a mixture of Death Note, Final Destination and Digimon Tamers. The topic was pretty intriguing and you already get a good glimpse of what's going to happen by the tenth minute or so. It had a pretty large scale, which is always a plus (at least for me) and seemed to be pretty well thought through. Is it really though - can't say yet. All I know is that the main character summons an epic kitty that looks like Xuen! I'm definitely going keep watching this one - out of the three it seems to be the most promising. Here's a sneak peek.

Daichi and Hibiki discussing future... before singing up to Dead Face.

Wanna see your friend dead...? Srsly, why would you want that?

Nitta's phone goes loco and starts summoning demons!

Lucky Hibiki got himself a tiger!~!!!

Hmmm, so in the end I took least pics of the one I liked most. Go figure.

My Teen Romantic Comedy is Wrong As I Expected was O-kay. Just okay. I guess there were some deep topics but since I'm not a depressive high schooler - at least not anymore - I really did not care about the topic of friendship/betrayal/keeping-disappointments-out-with-a-wall. There's a boy who has secluded himself, the most popular girl in the school and a cheerful girl who has a crush on the male lead. Not too hard to guess what's coming next, huh? I didn't even take pictures. CBA.

And then I watched all four of the released Red Data Girl episodes. There's a girl with weird powers and every time she touches cell phones or computers or some other electrical devices, they go out of order. She is matched up with a supposed guardian, a young handsome boy who is reluctant to change his current life style for her. So the female lead starts journey to change herself from the coward she is now. Sounds pretty cliché? I thought so too. But it turns out that it was executed rather differently. Just because she was timid, she wasn't entirely excluded from her school community. And she evolved even in the very first episode. Though I have to say that if I had only seen the first one, I probably wouldn't have wanted to watch it on a following week. I found that it gets better over the first few episodes.
I really want to stress that even though it's an anime, it feels way more realistic - the problems, the reactions. It does not feel like a typical anime at all, even though the subject itself doesn't exactly shine with originality. You'll just have to check it out yourself.
 
But yeah, those were the ones I did watch this week. I'll probably watch more further on, but can't be bothered to rush it just to gather them all in one post.

Kimi ni Todoke and Bokura ga Ita

*Includes spoilers. All media credits go to their owners.*

 Lately I've been mostly watching Naruto from scratch which is why I haven't had a lot to write about. Everyone knows what happens in Naruto: Naruto is awesome, Sasuke is cocky and Sakura is a fucking retard. Great show. Here's a little spoiler from when Sakura killed Sasuke: 

Aaaanyhow, I managed to squeeze in something else too. And I don't only mean my jutsu seal studies... *chants: pig-dog-bird-monkey-sheep* BTW this one still hasn't worked for me. I thought we had a bond, cat! Y U no come??
Righty.
But what I really wanted to talk about today were two romance animes. I watched the first a few months ago and after my typical annoyance at the overly melancholic style wore off, I have to admit I really liked it.
Kimi Ni Todoke or From Me to You or To Reach You... People should start switching to a unified translation style, honestly. If you haven't seen it then this one is about a girl who due to her resemblance to the Ring ghost is nicknamed Sadako (Sawako - Sadako - potayto - potato) and most of her classmates are scared of her. Not to mention people who meet her on the street. She looks something like this.

Since Kuronuma Sawako is mostly ignored or feared, she has a very low self esteem and always puts herself last. After being shunned for so long she has no people skills whatsoever and has become extremely shy over the years. But she also likes helping people and wants to be a part of the class, she always takes on the nastiest chores and is afraid to disappoint people due to having no superpowers (her class believes she can curse people).
And obviously there is a handsome and popular male lead, Kazehaya Shouta. Since he's not a shallow dickhead like everyone else, he for one treats Sawako as a human. And you've guessed it, he starts noticing how hard the girl works and that she's actually a kind and caring person.

Step by step Kazehaya helps Sawako make friends and grow into a decent person. She gains friends and the class starts treating her properly. She helps many people with her honesty and becomes more open to everyone. She even gains a rival. And all while Kazehaya and Sawako both fall for each other. 

Now here's the catch: since Sawako has such a low self esteem, she does admit to herself that she has feelings for Kazehaya but is convinced that he couldn't possibly see her the same way. Kazehaya on the other hand doesn't even imagine that she could be seeing such a thing as a problem and when Sawako constantly says how they are only friends, he starts doubting whether he even means anything more to her.
Maybe this, a bit of a paradox, is what really catches one's attention. It's so easy to start doubting yourself when your head is clouded by strong feelings and read a lot into things that didn't mean much - or read too little into those that actually did. Kimi Ni Todoke really hits the spot with it. If someone becomes that important to you, every word they say and action they take seems to be of substantial meaning. It gets so hard to see clearly - and that even if you are good with people. Imagine if you've just recently managed to make friends and been accepted into a group. You'd never know what could be meant as a joke - or what could be serious.
Also, the more Sawako admits that she likes Kazehaya, the harder talking to him becomes. Another good point the show makes. It really IS hard to talk to the person that you're head over heals in love with, especially if you're a teenager. Maybe you'll say something stupid or maybe he or she will hate you if you say something wrong? 

There are lots of inner thoughts in this anime and we can follow Sawako step by step through her doubts and fears. Of course, I found a large portion of them annoying and the extra soft intonation that the voice actor used made me want to vomit. Or at least close the video. But I didn't, I managed to follow through!
Another part that made me extremely angry was when Sawako's low self esteem actually made her reject Kazehaya. The poor boy came and confessed her his feelings, in front of people and everything. But by thinking herself not worthy, she brushed it off as a sign of friendship instead. Now that is not cool, Sawako. The poor boy came and opened up to you in front of everyone. You don't just go assuming he means it as "just friends". At least make sure. You owe it to the guy.

Luckily, after the mushy emo part ended, Sawako actually got a grip on herself, stood up and pushed down the mental wall that was preventing her from being with Kazehaya.

I liked the drawing style, even though it looked sort of pointy. It suited the show somehow. The colors they picked into the scenes were amazing though and so were the opening songs. Especially the first one. And I worshipped this guy:

Sanada Ryuu. He was cool and insightful and in love with his childhood friend. I thought that was a pretty awesome side story. His voice actor was the same as Gray from Fairy Tail (Nakamura Yuuichi) so he sounded awesome too. A really great character.

Just yesterday though, I finished Bokura ga Ita or We Were There. This one is the story of a young couple that get together in the first year of high school. The guy is uberpopular (like always) and the girl is a bit silly. Here they are now, Yano Motoharu and Takahashi Nanami:

In this case though, Yano used to have a girlfriend (technically he had several, but what counts is this one particular girl) who died a year earlier while in the car with her ex. Not such a good thing, huh. In front of others he treats the memory with a cold shoulder and ignores the topic most of the time. In reality though, he's obviously not over it. He still thinks about her often and even though he gets into a relationship with Nanami, he finds himself remembering all kinds of things about his past with the dead girl. Needless to say there are many incidents involved that start coming out one by one and most of them don't really help their relationship. So from the very description of the show you should see where it's headed - going to be lots of tears and hardships.
But unlike Kimi Ni Todoke, it also has some laughs. They do silly things and Yano is a fun guy. They talk to each other pretty openly and it actually resembles a working relationship - at least in the beginning.
Another thing that surprised me was that sex was actually a topic. They had showed already that Yano used to sleep with his ex-gf (and not only...) but then after Yano and Nanami had been dating for a while, it also came into question. They actually showed the beginning of the couples' first time pretty bluntly. Getting undressed... trying to break in... <.<

 But obviously this happy part couldn't last forever, otherwise it would not be a shoujou. Things get messed up when Yano gets a flashback from his past and confuses Nanami with his ex for a second. That leads to a opening of Yano's heart which makes Nanami realize she can't make him happy since she doesn't want to be just a replacement. So from then on, there's lots of crying and even rivalry for Nanami's heart. Around the 18th episode it all resolves though.
Now the big question in my eyes is - if the main topic (the dead girlfriend issue) is solved... Then what use is it trying to make the show longer? Cause after the part that everyone was interested in ended, there's still like 7-8 episodes. And they're full of forced drama. It started out really great - there were emotions and laughter and some serious stuff. But then the topic turned into "what will happen in the future" and "will we be together forever"? My guess would be that they were trying to build an intro to season 2. But truth be told, for me, it kind of ruined the series. Had it stopped at 18, I would've rated it higher than Kimi Ni Todoke.
Another thing that really bothered me, was the drawing style. Half of the time they had not drawn one eye of the character and the background was just foggy. Profile views looked extremely awkward. 

So all in all... what have I learned from these two?
It's better to have emo topics in between rather than a whole lot of it in the end. Yep. That's got to be it.