I just set up my Twitter account! 🙂 If you would like to follow me, you can click the link right here, and go do that to be notified when I upload a new post! I also uploaded my second YouTube video viewable here. I would also like to thank all of my followers up to this point as you guys really encourage me to keep making new posts and to keep on improving and updating my content.
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Manga Quality: Viz Media – Standard Release
I made a video looking at the quality of the Viz Media standard manga release print! It’s my first video, and so it certainly looks and sound amateurish, but I hope you like it. It’s my first venture into video territory, so I hope you enjoy. Depending on how many videos I decide to make in the future will determine whether or not I decide to shell out the money for premium so I can embed videos, but as for now I apologize that it is just a link, but please tell me how you like the video, and if you’d like to see more of this type of thing in the future. 🙂
5 Romance Anime for Valentines Day!
Just some anime for the day of love, and I hope I’ve done a good job naming some series that are not the super cliché picks, nor shows that are super popular. Please note that these entries are in no particular order and are not necessarily my favorite, romance anime, but instead some off-kilter picks for some lesser known shows/movies.
- Aoi Hana
To start off with, we’ve got a nice romance between girls, and about figuring out who you are. With relationships that always seem to be intertwined in unfortunate ways and a feeling of never ever getting together with the person you want to, this series is a nice shoujo-ai romance without any of the ridiculousness that typically comes with these kinds of shows; it’s way more down to earth than a lot of other girl-girl romance shows. It’s a real nice drama that may pull your heartstrings a bit. - Mayo Chiki
This series happens to be one of a genderbent butler trying to fulfill his families line of work. Unfortunately for her, is that one of the stipulations of her keeping her butler job is that no one is to find out about it, and because this is a piece of entertainment, the rule of drama means that some must find out about this secret; this person just so happens to be the love interest of the series who promises to keep his mouth shut. What could possibly go wrong? - Midori no Hibi
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your hand were your waifu, well look no further than this nice little rom-com. There’s not really much else to say about this fantastic series other than you should watch it. I mean come on, do you really wanna pass up on a story that talks about guy with girl troubles having his hand turned into the perfect waifu? - Hoshi no Koe
A lesser known film by Makoto Shinkai, and a short one at that, totaling at only 25 minutes, and talks about long distance relationships, and I mean really long distance relationships, like distances that need to be measured in AUs. This one will probably be a lot more dependent on the one watching, but you’ll probably end up liking it more than I did, and who knows, maybe it’ll make you shed a tear. - Karin
Lastly, we have a vampire romance, and no, there isn’t a lot of gore in this series, just maybe a lot of blood. This series details the relationship between the vampire Karin and the only human that knows her secret, Kenta; the fact that she’s a vampire and that she’s a vampire that doesn’t drink blood, but instead has it come bursting out of her fangs! A nice romance series that felt a lot shorter than it was.
Updates!
Over the the time I’ve been blogging and things, I’ve reviewed and given shows scores. As of now, I’ve really gone over a lot of shows I’ve seen and really changed the way I’ve rated a lot of them. Some shows/movies have seen an increase in my appreciation for them as well as my overall impressions of them, while others have more or less slid by the way side. This post is here give you a more recent and up-to-date look of my opinions on certain works. The title of each piece will link back to the original review, so you can see my original thoughts in the work. The format this’ll go in is “(Title of work here): Original Score (score here): Current Score (score here): (brief reasons for the change)”. Also, each original review will have an update link to this page to show how opinions have changed. And without further ado, I’ll get started with a movie that has slowly become one of my most favorites.
Ghost in the Shell (1995): Original Score 7: Current Score 9: After having reviewed the film, I proceeded to watch it again. After watching it for a second time, some time passed, and I was always finding myself thinking about the film and what it means, and the points it’s trying to make. Th question that it asked has had even more impact on me than I had initially thought, and has continued to be a part of my thoughts since that second watch. It’s a film I’ve been able to chew on a lot, and has given me a lot of insight several days and weeks after seeing it. It has certainly become a film that I would recommend to almost anyone and I can almost guarantee it’ll give you something to think about.
Alderamin on the Sky: Original Score 7: Current Score 5: I’ve spent some time with this series, and from thinking about it for awhile, I came to the conclusion that I was very generous to it. The setting was somewhat unique, and magi-tech style things are pretty cool, as well as having a genius has the main character. However, I still do not feel it fits in the category as other things I have given a 7, and example being FLCL, a series I feel is miles ahead of Alderamin. I would normally say 7s are series I would certainly recommend to people, they aren’t one’s I would highly recommend, but they are series I would feel safe recommending to someone who’s looking for something they’ll enjoy to a mild degree. I don’t feel that way for Alderamin, mostly because I feel a lot of the characters are fairly one dimensional and can get annoying at times. I also feel that the show overdoes its main character. It is almost instinctual to make all the other characters look like babbling idiots in front of our main, and not only that, but the show actively points out just how smart he is through characters directly stating it rather than showing him do it. It also doesn’t help that almost all of his strategies are directly explained to the audience instead of making an indirect reference as to why they worked, or simply just leaving it up to the interpretation of the audience and letting them figure it out for themselves. This isn’t a series I would recommend to everybody, but if certain aspects of it peak your interest, I would certainly tell you to give it a shot.
Kuromukuro: Original Score 7: Current Score 6: My opinion on this series has changed slightly, it isn’t super fantastic at any one thing, but it doesn’t seem to do anything extra poorly either. There definitely things in this series that make it watchable and there are also a lot of elements that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I can’t shake the feeling that I don’t quite feel all that strongly about it. I’d say it is slightly weaker than what I initially thought, but I would still encourage you to at least take a small look at it, it may just be the hodge podge thing for you.
91 Days: Original Score 8: Current Score 7: At first, I was enthralled with the setting and period of the series; it’s quite rare to get an anime based around the mafia, and while I would still, certainly recommend it, it isn’t something I would recommend highly, if I give something an 8, I would highly recommend it. 91 Days is a solid and well constructed mafia story, no more, no less. It won’t blow you away with being amazing, but you will still probably enjoy it.
Macross Delta: Original Score 9: Current Score 8: The reasoning for this one is pretty straight forward, I was maybe fanboying a little too hard when I wrote that initial review, it isn’t a 9-caliber series, but I would still highly recommend it if only for the music alone, the narratives good, and it has some great characters, but the music really make the series come alive, it is still a fantastic watch.
Tales of Zestiria the X: Original Score 7: Current Score 6: This series is unique in its genericness; I wouldn’t say it excels in any category (aside from animation), but I also don’t feel it is all that poor either. The story is incredibly simple, a “the hero saves the world” which I had already mentioned, but it also has the small little bit of intrigue with its few interesting characters, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wanting to see the story continue so I can finally know what’s up with the character Rose, a character I feel could have made the series slightly better had she been fleshed out a little more, but luckily there’s a second season and it looks like my wish might be granted. I would definitely say you should give it a shot, especially if you’re into video game stories. Who knows, you might find some of the other characters more charming than I did.
Gunbuster: Original Score 5: Current Score 6: The reason for this one is fairly simple, I feel I was a little too hard on the series, and I have also come to the conclusion that I would recommend this series to most people, thus, the small bump in score.
Perfect Blue: Original Score ?: Current Score 8: This is probably as simple as it gets, I’ve finally decided on a rating I’m happy with. This film is one I would highly recommend to just about anyone and a film I feel you will certainly enjoy.
Tenshi no Tamago: Original Score 10: Current Score 9: I was a little over enthusiastic about this one, and gave it a 10 very quickly. I should have thought about it more, before writing the review. It isn’t a 10/10 masterpiece, but is more of an exceptional piece of art that everyone should certainly experience and form their own opinions on. It is still something I think you should definitely see.
And that does it for all of the updates, leave a comment if you’d like a further opinion on what I think of any series in question, and certainly let me know some of your opinions on these works. I love to hear all the opinions there are.
Something You Need to Watch: Shelter
Shelter is a short, 6 minute video that tells the story of a girl that lives her life, forever in a simulation without another human being, and the events that led up to this scenario. The story is sweet, heartwarming, but most of all sad, and very telling of what the medium of animation can do, and the wonders of visual and audio storytelling. The piece is a work of art, and the visuals are stunning and mind blowing. Now all I need is a movie or series that expands the story. I can’t say this enough, go watch Shelter. You won’t regret it.
I Was Nominated!
I would like to thank thero159 for giving me this reward; it means a lot, especially since I’m so new at this. Please, check out his blog here, it won’t be a waste of your time; he makes some great content.
Rules:
- Display the Award.
- Thank the person who gave this award (and include a link to their blog).
- Share seven things about yourself.
- Nominate ten bloggers.
Seven things about me:
- I used to play a lot of video games (mostly first person shooters and grand strategy games) but I’ve recently fallen out of favor, maybe I’ll pick up the hobby again soon.
- I love to watch in depth analysis videos on pieces of film, literature, and animation.
- I’ve recently gotten back into reading… but it’s still a little sporadic.
- I love dystopian settings in my entertainment (Brave New World, 1984, Shinsekai Yori).
- I enjoy discussing politics and issues with my friends.
- I love doing some creative writing in my free time (a sample).
- I try to always think positive.
(Not quite) Ten Nominations:
Fall 2016 Anime Season Standouts
After checking out some of the anime from this current season, I though it be nice to share my views and opinions on the ones I watched, and the ones I have my eye on. I’ve only watched the first episode of each of these series. I’ll waiting until the seasons over so I can marathon these, but in the mean time, this is what I’ve come up with. I’ll divide things up into 6 categories, Very Interested, Mildly Interested, Less Interested, On My Radar, Dropped, and Shorts.
Let’s start off with some shows that I’m Very Interested in:
Nanbaka: What could they possibly do with a story all about escaping from prison? well, what they could do is make it absolutely hilarious and get me to want more, and that’s exactly what this show does. It has plenty of ridiculous and funny moments to keep me entertained and laughing.
Kiss Him, Not Me: A reverse harem about a fujoshi that can’t help but want her lovers to go out and bang eachother instead of her. This series has some great comedic value, and also if my judgment from the cover and opening are correct, there might even be some yuri in it; either that or there’s gonna be a cross dresser at some point, but it doesn’t matter which because this show is hilarious.
Drifters: I can’t wait to see this series in its entirety. I alternate universe where some of the greatest military leaders, strategist, tacticians, and soldiers all come together in one giant pot. There will most likely be some amazingly epic scale fights and the animation is incredibly unique. I want more.
Now, onto my middle tier of shows I’m Mildly Interested in:
Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari: That is a long title, but this series certainly has my interest. We have a story about a 30 year old man who’s having trouble deciding whether or not he wants to take over his families Udon business after his father dies. We also get to see a glimpse of this mans past that may or may not have been great, I am interested in finding out what happens.
Shuumatsu no Izetta: An alternate history story set during WWII about the princess of a small independent nation under threat of Nazi invasion and a young witch who she befriended as a child. I am interested to see how this series depicts magic and the ways in which it will affect war and politics.
Matoi the Sacred Slayer: It’s a magical girl story about a girl who doesn’t want to be a magical girl. Not only that, but it also seems that being a magical girl may involve serious consequences when you just want to live a normal life. I need to see where this goes.
Flip Flappers: Coming in here, we have something with some incredible animation quality and what appears to be another magical girl show, and this one also seems to have a dark twist, and it comes on very suddenly. I want to watch more, even if that just to see some great animation and some cool fight scenes.
Magical Girl Raising Project: What’s up with all the magical girl stuff this season? Anyway, this one involves a girl and her childhood male friend and there journey together as new magical girls where it looks like they’re going to have to fight to the death to maintain their magical girl status. Fun!
Now onto things I think I’ll give a try, but overall am Less Interested in:
Bloodivores: This series has some super generic elements in it, but I do like the cliche plotline of “the framed person” and so I hope this series defies my expectations of it.
3-Gatsu mo Lion: What I thought was going to be a completely serious series turned out to have some spontaneous and out of nowhere moments of ridiculous off the wall comedy that upset the serious tone and takes away from the experience, I hope this series doesn’t turn put to be super inconsistent like it was this first episode.
Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo “Shounen Tanteidan” Yori: I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one to be honest, but I think it has some potential, I don’t really have much else to say about this one though, other than that it has an overly long title.
Let’s get into some series I haven’t watched yet, but are On My Radar.:
Yuri!!! on Ice: This series seems to have made some pretty good impressions on people, but I think I’ll wait a little bit before jumping on the band wagon.
Soul Buster: A 15-minute series that appears to have some action in it. It may be cool, it may not be, but I want to at least check it out.
Here we are, at series I Dropped:
Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru: This series just doesn’t seem for me, but if you’re a fan of shows involving cute guys doing cute things, then you might wanna give this one a go, but that just isn’t for me.
Gi(a)rlish Number: This series just didn’t seem to have that interesting of a concept, not to mention that every character is painful to watch, I just really don’t see much value in this one.
Onto the section about Shorts:
Ones I will keep watching include Nazotokine and Mahou Shoujo Nante Mou Ii Desukara Season 2.
Ones I dropped are Cheating Craft and Kiitarou Shounen no Youkai Enikki.
And there’s my opinion on this current season. Now I just have to wait until it ends so that I can marathon theses shows. Have a series you’re liking and I don’t have? leave it in the comments and I’ll be sure to respond.
Laethas's Anime Blog 