Anime Review: Koe no Katachi

This movie has been taking the anime community by storm since it's movie release in Japan in the late fall last year. Finally, it's making its way over to the west and I was finally able to watch it. While I watched Kore no Namae Wa awhile ago last year, I was most excited for  Koe no Katachi. 

While I personally like Koe no Katachi more than I liked Kore no Namae Wa, I'll do a different review for that show later.

Koe no Katachi is based off a manga series by the same name written by (blank). The plot revolves around a cast of interacting high schoolers that all attendees the same elementary school. The issues here is that in elementary school they had a bit of a bullying issue. The main character, (something) when he was in the stupid impressionable age of 11, bullied a classmate with the sort of help of his other friends. She was deaf and they continually ridiculed her for that fact. Later on he was put under fire when the mother found out and complained to the school. Quickly hewas ostracized   from the class while ( blank ) transferred school. This was the tale from his childhood that haunted him all the way to present time. From then on it cursed his life with anxiety and a fear of people that he could never shake. He stopped looking st people in the eyes and hid himself as much as possible. The show begins, with him attempting suicide. It's a failed attempt and goes home. I media fly we are introduced to the main theme of the movie. The feeling of uselessness. That feeling to the point where you only feel a burden to those around you. The feeling of wanting to die. 

Eventually he meets ( blank ) again, which begins the reintroduction of all the characters from elementary school now in different high schools respectively. The story revolves around these older children, who now understand what had transpired, and how they choose to solve their rocky relationship. Mostly they do a shitty job of it because no one really grows up on their own or by ignoring the issues as people tend to do.

Ah yes. Social anxiety is a bitch.

I could honestly go on and on about the themes in this movie, but for now I'll switch over to the obviously superb animation that Kyoto Ani doesn't play with. They bring out there cute one style once more, but it's more than that. The backgrounds are breathtaking and feel alive. Everything moved smoothly and nothing ever jerks. This one helps the movie maintain its, for lack of better word, dreamlike. Really it feels more isolated. As if it is purposely only from one persons view, which it is. I can't explain it better really. But the animation very much reflects the main characters sense of out of world ness.

The music itself is light and airy for the most part but strengthens whenever something dramatic happens. Not really heavy but almost just gets louder or more determined. Frankly I'm mostly judging this by its original views. 

The show is very much a social messag, works like this being the ones I tend to enjoy the most. 

But let me get into the characters. I briefly mentioned the main character and how everything in the show feels like it's his thoughts and how he sees things, but I'll go into a little more depth. The main character is very flawed, as many of the characters are, but his are very subtle compared to the issues of the rest of them. Well actually the main two together, but let's focus on ( blank ) for now. He's hated himself for years and when he finds a chance at redemption, he guilts himself we over whether it's pity or actual sincere feelings he's doing it. It's a struggle for him as he tries to discern himself from that hatred of himself and that guilt getting to now Kyoko once again. The characters around him however, hate him for it. Deem him irredeemable and not worthy of anything. Kyoko sees differently however. She blames herself for his pain. Then and now. If only she wasn't different, if only she could communicated better. If only she didn't burden anyone. As much as ( main character ) tried to separate his problems from her all together, she's no idiot.

Animation...So pretty...

And over to the side characters. With clearly less time to delve as deep into their character flaws and drives, they do a fairly good job. They make it evident as children the problems that they create. At one point they clearly say it, but in a way that makes it pasable. I won't bother saying it because I'd like everyone to make their own opinions about these people. Despite not being fleshed out, they easily resemble real people. Actually, even to me, people that I know.

Overall it's a great show of growing up and accepting things as they are. Accepting yourself and accepting mistakes. Just a whole lot of acceptance. I know Tumblr wants to make it out to be this is what it's like to have depression, this is great representation of suicide, but I don't think that was the issue. It wasn't trying to shed light on suicide, it was trying to say that we all feel like shit. And being alone, is never the answer to those problems.

And one last thing. I like this show better, because it represents something. Kore no Namae Wa is just another love story. A good one at that, but none the last that's it at its core. Koe no Katachi is more than that, which is why I like it more. And such, that's my review. Yayayayaya

Little Witch Academia Episodes 1-13 Reaction

The new year has begun thus signaling a new year of anime as well. As great as that can be, it was anything but exciting for us after the whollup of a year we had just a few months ago.

The anime awards was an actual debate last year among reviewers. Fans raved over every new season, and animation, music, and overall quality was at one of the highest it has been net worth wise in a long time. So how to do we compete with the new winter season of anime??

Well, since I'm far, far behind with my other priorities, I do actually know the result of the winter season. Strangely enough, Rakugo the second season hasn't been talked about as much as I thought it would be. Especially considering what an all around contender for best anime of the year last year. But what we did get was a two delightful shows, a disappointment of a new season, a weird angry chick whose actually and old guy giving an interesting premise to a show, and a beautifully animated series with better source material than the actual show.

But this is about Little Witch Academia. A show whose first half was located in the winter season and that'll finish it's runtime in the spring season of anime. A surprisingly 25 episode long series running after two short films. Funnily enough, they did horribly in Japan. And yet, here we are. I'll of course have do more looking into the controversy behind this show, so I'll be back with that, but for now the first half of Little Witch.

Akko

The absolute cuteness and pure imagination and fun put into the two movies, the first one being my favorite of the two, really made me appreciate simple shows again. It was reminiscent of old time girly animes. With everything now a deconstruction, new and inventive, or remakes of modern manga, we've lost touch with the early ages of childhood anime. The wonder that touched all our hearts and the stupid power of believing in yourself. The fuck up main character with a heart of gold. I'm talking about Amu from Shugo Chara and Naruto from it's early days in the first season. Yusuke Uremeshi reminds me a lot of our new main character, Akko, as well. While Big Hero 6, mean My Hero Academia, brings back the times of old tournament shows for the oldies who remember the old days.

Little Witch Academia is about the story of Aktsuko Kagari. A girl, not from a line of witches who seeks out the witch academy Luna Nova and applies to attend. Outcasted for being of ill blood and her less than stellar ability to do magic, she competes with herself and her classmates to prove her worth. With the help of her idol Chariot, who inspired her as a child, Professor Ursula, and the magical shiny rod that was once owned by Chariot herself, it's a tale of pursuing your dreams and living life.

I was drawn to the absolute adorable art style that Trigger has given us, both in this series and in Kill la Kill. Not to mention countless others like something, something and something else. With Kill la Kill being it's biggest name for animation, of course they decide to live up to that name once more and make the colorful showcase of Little Witch Academia a true masterpiece. Of course, it does have some of it's downer sides, that being it's fluidity in animation has gone down a bit in the middle episodes I've noticed. About after episode 9 or 10. But I'm sure they'll pick it up again, especially with them showing off their skills in the ending credits sequence.

Lotte

With the end of episode 13, they changed the songs once more, and I will say that I much preferred the last one. For the animation of these sequences it matches the show perfectly. Frankly, the first opening wasn't even the best animation it had to give from the entire show all together. It was, well, rather banal in style and direction. The ending sequence I thought was where they really shined. Opening with a bright blue background followed by a colorful matching unlined sequence of mish mash goop that is just pleasant to look at. Though not meant to showcase Trigger's ability to animate things, it somehow struck me that they were doing a little bit of bragging. Funny, considering that the majority of the song is just slide show pictures of the normal school life of Luna Nova. In fact, it wasn't even directly pointed at the girls at all.

The song is reminiscent of how the show itself makes me feel. The singing voice of something and the band she's in always make great songs, I've found. It gives you that child like glow feeling. Everything in it is positive, but not forcing you to think it. It just makes you feel good. The ending reminds me of it being a slice of life almost, just set in a fantastical world. Something that the opening sequence and song failed to do. The second one hasn't done better. The second ending sequence focuses more on it's animation goop and less on the school of life of the girls. Sadly, it wasn't nearly as good as the first, but wasn't bad at all either.

Now onto the characters since we've already started to beat a dead horse. The characters and plot are nothing to be too notable. Considering the show is not done yet, I won't do any real damage to the character development but I shall note the plot line. As I said numerous time, this reminds me of a kid show that I watched when I was little. Like Shugo Chara or Tokyo Mew Mew or Cardcaptor Sakura, the plot is exactly what it says it is from the beginning. It progresses and moves but doesn't have bells and whistles as every other anime sees to beg for nowadays. I like it actually. Little Witch Academia is exactly what I thought'd it be, and I love it for it.

Buuuut, given that it is still a show, I will delve into the characters. The main character, Akko, does change a little throughout the course of the show. Some. She goes from a willy nilly girl a girl who dares to try reeeally hard despite the odds against her. Through her magic and through her actions she changes from someone who begs for help to attempting to do things herself. With the help of her friends (as cheesy as that sounds) she grows. There was one episode that showed her trying to pursue being a worthy witch. In the end she was told that she must work to be proved worthy, and it begins her trying to be a better witch instead of the best witch. Of course the best witch is her end goal, but she's more concerned about bettering herself at this point now instead.

Sucy

Her friends do the same. Sucy, a hardboiled fungus, has noticeable changes in her where she admits to being a little soft.  Lotte grows more bold with every one of Akko's escapades and together the trio shines. All in all, I can't wait to see what the rest of the show has to give me.

The Absolute Worst

To those of you who watch, read, indulge in literally any form of human entertainment or art consumption, understand that unbearably empty feeling that comes after you finish a good piece of.... whatever.

This is a problem that almost, if not every anime fan can relate to, as they run into this feeling so many times after finishing animes, mangas, and movies. I just finished watching Spirited Away, one of my most early encounters with good animation from Japan, and the first time I remember watching it I was maybe 9 or 10. I was watching in the summer during a boys and girls club day and I was absolutely entranced by the movie. The visuals were stunning, the voices were captivating, and the message made no sense to me then, but all I really remember about the movie after 8 or 9 years since then, was two things. That Haku and Chihiro never got to see each other again, and the horrible empty feeling that I think I felt the hardest for the first time.

I remember that so well. I remember wishing that the movie wasn't over, that it'd keep going, that Chihiro and Haku would meet again, that we'd see No Face again and mostly that Chihiro and the feeling the movie gave me wouldn't disappear. Rewatching the movie now, I feel the exact same way. I try to fill in that gap by looking up the meaning behind the movie, or reading fanfiction but it's not the same.

The pure joy, and passion, and emotion you feel coming from a movie or piece of art that flows into you is addictive and its the best kind of addictive. But when you're cut off, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. All you can think about is when it was still playing, when you were still feeling that emotion, that strange and intense attachment you had with this object.

The feeling is the same in short series, or really great anime series. And the worst of all of them, is when the movie has a wonderful sense of closure. It ends, and it ends well with everything tied up, and yet. You still feel it.

I've been thinking a lot about phone games and how annoyingly useless they are. Like Candy Crush. You beat a level to go to the next one, then the next one, then the next one with no end in sight. Sure it's fun for the initial amount of time, but there's no end and you lose that excitement. Not to mention you lose any meaning that you could've ever garnered from playing that game, unlike professional games with story lines and endings. It's mindless, and I hate it after awhile. It's the same with long running anime shows. After watching Naruto for awhile or One Piece all I think is, 'Wow, what's the point? It doesn't end, there isn't any over arcing goal. Just people going from one thing to the next, wandering with no purpose." Now I feel as if I could watch Naruto. Because it's finite. Because I can know that there's an end. But still that long trek in the middle with seemingly unimportant things with no relevance going on kills me every time.

As much as I hate endings, I also crave them to be able to enjoy a series. Any show loses it's charm as time goes on, quality gets lower and the attachment I had to it gets weaker and weaker. I don't want it to be over and leave me, but I don't want to watch it become bad and stray from it's original form either.

In the end, there's nothing we can do about this void feeling from the end of a series, and I suppose it just another part to life. A finite closing, with lingering emotions that remind you of a better time, but still it leaves a imprint of happiness on your heart of what used to be.

(lol, sorry for this sappy stuff, working on a review of last year's amazing season now!)

Shoujo Genre

One of the most popular genres in the anime/manga industry is shoujo.

Shoujo, translating to girl, is manga that is targeted towards a young female audience. Girls between the ages of 10-17ish is the target audience, which includes cutesy magical girl shows like the infamous PreCure or even just manga featuring main lead girls, like Akatsuki no Yona, are what is usually labeled under shoujo. Just to add on, josei is much like shoujo, it's just targeted more towards a mature audience of girls, labeling it as josei, translated to 'lady', than just younger girls.

Kaichou Wa Maid Sama

But I'm here to talk about  one of the most popular generic routes in a modern day shoujo manga. A tale of highschool romance revolving around a love obsessed, or eventually love orienitied, main girl. There are soooo many different branches of shoujo so I'll have to specify on this type specifically. For example, there is the reverse harem side of shoujo, the magical girl side, and even the occasional not romantic shoujo with just cute, perhaps even strong girls, going on adventures. By the way, I do not count moe shows as being apart of the shoujo genre. The reason being is that their target is not teenage girls or younger. There target is to shoot for the 'anime fans that like really cute girls doing really cute things and being little'. Like the moe boom back in 2007ish was not specifically aimed at young girls, but just anime fans in general.

But back to the specific type of shoujo that I mean. Recently I did a review on Lovely Complex which fits right into the realm of shoujo I'm talking about. This type of shoujo always opens on the girl, almost always on their way to the first day of highschool or they just recently became a highschool student/ start of the year. They are either pining for a boyfriend or are around/being suggested the idea of getting a boyfriend. There's a cool guy and the main girl gets a crush, or vice versa with the cool guy getting a crush on the girl. In this second form though, generally the main girl is at first, uninterested. It continues with the struggles of trying to get that boyfriend/girlfriend to like them, keep the boyfriend/girlfriend if they get together early, and the various side struggles that fluctuate in actual importance.

One other cliche trope in this type of manga is that the first love, or first introduced boy, always wins if there is ever a love triangle. This holds true for basically all of them discounting the few. Fruits Basket is one of them. However, Fruits Basket is a masterpiece all it's own and doesn't just fall into one simple category as shoujo anyway. Fruits Basket is a shoujo classic. If you haven't read it you really should.

Heroine Shikaku

But disregarding those classic few, if we're including josei  along with shoujo, Nana and Princess Jellyfish also fit into the category of classic shoujos, what makes this genre still popular even after the amount of times it's been done (seriously, Say I Love You, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Ao Haru Ride, Lovely Complex and Kaichou wa Maid-Sama all fit into the description above with slight differences in the characters personality and situations) is because it's entertaining as hell. Romance done like this is very character driven, and since characters can be whatever the author wants, the slot in this seemingly concrete formula meant for characters and character development is actually pretty flexible.

Let's take a step back again. There are two types of manga in this specific realm of shoujo. The mostly comedic one, and the mostly dramatic one. Both types involve each other regardless, but almost always focus on one or the other to add some fuel into the movement. Ouran is comedic with a dash of drama while Ao Haru Ride is drama with a dash of comedy. They balance each other out.

Going back to the character development, if the main girl has no personality and her entire existence is justified by her boyfriend without her having anything of her own, a lot of the times the series falls flat. Say I Love You, more dramatic than comedic, has the main girl acting like this. Thus, she wasn't the best of characters and I could've cared less about her relationship with the main dude until you add in a cute scene or two. Lovely Complex and Stardust Wink! are the same way, the main girl only being obsessed with this other person, or obsessed with love and having no other goals other than their significant other. In Stardust Wink! her personality is lacking, while in Lovely Complex Koizumi is lovable. Considering Lovely Complex is the one that's an anime you be the judge on which series did better than the other. Despite this, the main girl having no other interest than her love interest is still a pretty bad idea. It doesn't make for a bad series, in fact Stardust Wink! is pretty okay for an underground shoujo, but it makes the girls hard to relate to. All they have is their love for the main guy so all you have is how invested you are in their relationship as incentive to keep reading. Although I don't agree with it, the trope occurs a lot. In examples of dramatic shoujo manga, it works better if the couple has chemistry and has good pacing in getting together. Failed example of this done by Ookami-Shoujo to Kuro-Ouji. Popular, but not good.

Kyou and Tohru - Fruits Basket

In the comdeic version of shoujo is it better to have a character who has ambitions other than the main boy. Done so in Kaichou wa Maid-Sama and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, both lead girls strove for something before they met the main guy, and though the main guy did become apart of their lives, they weren't always (I say this respectively...) plaguing their mind. Another one that did this very well was Shirayukihime, where the main couple had lived outside of each other even while falling in love. Though I personally didn't get too into it, I cannot deny that it's a pretty good show.

What I really want to talk about now is the other side of this coin. The overly dramatic one with the main characters having nothing but romance in their heads and a boy to chase. Possibly while another one is chasing them. Right now I'm reading Omoi Omoware, Furi Furare and Heroine Shikkaku. I just finished reading Hirunaka no Ryussei. All three are really cute. OOFF is written and illustrated by the same mangaka who made Strobe Edge and Ao Haru Ride. Both are high on my list of favorite shoujo mangas. Hirunaka no Ryuusei's mangaka is Mika Yamamori. I haven't read any of her other works, limited to spin offs of HnR, an unpopular manga known as Sugars, and Tsubaka-Chou Lonely Planet, which is fairly popular. The other mangaka, Koda Momoko, I haven't read any nor heard of any of her other works. But there's alot.

Anyway, HnR, HS, and anything by Io Sakisaka, which includes OOFF, the main girl(s) is(are) always thinking about love. In HnR it's pulled off reasonably well. With two different love interests that both got a chance at the girl in 78 chapters, she'd have to be. HnR did okay with this type of thing. I was reasonably invested in the relationship options of the main girl and was kind of upset when she didn't end up choosing who I wanted her to. (cries) In HS, it's done a little less well. The main girl is a little obnoxious, but is growing despite her insistence on stealing someone else's boyfriend. I'm a little less invested in the relationship, one, because I didn't see it as a viable option to begin with. He just simple was never interested. But, the queen of this type of shoujo based on what I've read has to be Io Sakisaka.

Futabu from Ao Haru Ride

Strobe Edge was the first shoujo that I read and loved by Sakisaka. Still in the more dramatic, she followed the plan above exactly. The only reason it was still really investing was because of how hard it was to be in the relationship that the characters wanted. There were always too many obstacles, but unlike the annoying kind where the characters just don't understand the others feelings, Lovely Complex, Kimi ni Todoke, she makes them real issues that they have to get through to make it work. So far there has always been another guy that had absolutely no chance, but no one cares about them! She makes the characters develop and change despite chasing after something so simple. In a lot of shoujos, the main girl never changes. Or in some cases the mangaka says the main girl changed so she changed. In Io Sakisaka's works, you can see and feel the characters changing. Taking steps outside their comfort zone, make decisions for no regrets! It's inspiring and makes the main girls, saints or otherwise, worthy of being cheered on.

One last concept of shoujo manga because I know that this is getting really long. Naturally developing relationships. Shoujos are known for the tears, the overly dramaticness of not that big of a deal things, and relationships that either feel forced, idealized, or on a straight track. One that both does this, and doesn't do this is HnR. Spoilers if you are eventually going to read it. It's cute, so you can, but you could live without it as well.

Hirunaka no Ryuusei

Hirunaka no Ryuusei was a love triangle between a 16 year old girl, her first male friend in Tokyo named Mamura, and the girl, Suzume's, homeroom teacher with whom Suzume fell in love with, Shishio. He calls her ChunChun by the way. In this, the teacher is 24, but very obvious age difference and very obvious problem. At first Suzume sees Mamura only as a friend and rejects his feelings, while her feelings with sensei are being returned? The two gradually grow into an unclear relationship with blurred lines between teacher-student, friends, and lovers. They grow together, and it happened right under our noses being completely natural, especially considering it's a relationship between a student and teacher. Sadly though, it's cut short due to her uncle finding out. Thus, right when her sensei is figuring out that he does, in fact, daisuki this girl, he forces himself to say otherwise in order for Suzume to have an easier relationship with someone she can truly rely on at all times. Time passes and eventually, Suzume is starting to notice how Mamura is always there for her. She convinces herself it's love and through various circumstances the two begin dating. It's obvious very quickly that they don't match well together. They were great friends but the two clearly have issues what with sensei in the past. This is where Yamamori messed up something she did so well. The trope where the main girl fails in her love thus moves onto the other guy just to try to get over it, but ends up just replacing that love with the new guy happens alot. And it happened in this. It's pretty obvious as to why this is wrong. In the end though, apparently Suzume did actually like Mamura as himself. To be honest, I thought she was pretty selfish and they both seemed like they were unnecessarily forcing the relationship. It seemed like a bad idea on Mamura's side and sensei, who eventually did confess his feelings, would've been a better match for Suzume.

The basic idea is that Yamammori created an easy relationship that flowed, followed by a forced one that was hard on both parties. The idea of toxic relationships in shoujo manga is an idea that I think should be explored more. Not like this exmaple of course, but more so towards Shishio and Suzume's relationship. Or like the main relationship in Heroine Shikaku where the main girl is toyed with accidentally over and over again by her childhood friend and crush. More cases where couples actually break up in shoujo because of this, or at least are affected by the bad relationship that is going on in there lives.

Also from Hirunaka no Ryuusei but

she's really cool, because she added a

Japanese mixed girl (curly hair)

That's my one thing with this genre. Everything's always ends perfectly for the main two. A lot of the times the couples don't go through too many hardhsips other than I don't like you, sorry, oops now I do. That' it. In Io Sakisaka's works she at least adds in how the main girl affects someone else's feelings. This happens in the first relationship in Stardust Wink! as well. And something that I was really surprised at was how in Heroine Shikaku a cute, well going relationship between two characters that didn't include the main girl, was ending and falling apart and slowly turning into a bad one. More of this in shoujo would make me so much happier. Give me conflicts, give me characters who have outside interests and internal struggles that don't have to do with dying family members, and give me more natural relationships. Though this does sound like something meant more for josei manga, I want it either way. I did get this in Princess Jellyfish, Nana, and Paradise Kiss too, just to a lesser extent, but I just want so much more!!

This very well might be my longest post ever, and it's about shoujo. Whether you've reached the bottom or not, these are my opinions, thoughts and analysis on this relams of shoujo. Okie dokie! Bye for now!

Anime Review: Lovely Complex - Season 1

As a fellow tall girl, I can really relate to Koizumi.

Soooo, to continue on my spree of 'look I'm coming back but please don't see this as the new bar of expectations for me' I'm posting a review on a show that I watched moooonths ago called Lovely Complex. One of the original shoujos that every teenage anime girl fan who loved gushy stupid romance watched. Well, that and Shugo Chara, Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, and the infamous Ouran. Despite this show not being the most popular of it's type, which I will go into more detail about in a later post about the shoujo genre, it was still a fairly good show.

For the few who don't already get the premise behind this show, it's synopsis time! Risa Koizumi is a brand new highschool student, and by god is she going to get a boyfriend! The only problem here? She's as tall as a giraffe. Standing at 172 cm (5ft 8in for you none metric users....I am one) she's significantly taller than the average Japanese girl... or boy for that matter. She stands as tall or taller than most of the boys at school and no boy wants to date a tall girl. Everybody only sees her as the hilarious ape girl who does what she wants, when she wants. AKA, she's a little lacking in the femininity department. On the flip side of this unconventional coin is Atsushi Otani. The shortest guy ever. Standing at a measly 156 in (5ft 1in) he's smaller than some of the girls in his class. More so around the same height as them but that's so far from being manly he can't even. Always being hassled because of his height, mostly by Koizumi herself, he falls into a sort of routine with her, making friends with her but also being a huge contrasts. (About 7 inches of contrasts)

The two decide to make a pack a little later in the year. They each have set their sites on a person they like. For Koizumi it's some quiet handsome boy whose taller than her. For Otani it's a pretty shy girl that's friends with Koizumi. They decide to help each other out. And lose. For the two get together with each other because the two they like "only sees them as one of guys/girls"

Thus the devastated pair make a pact to do whatever the other says depending on who gets a boyfriend/girlfriend first. Totally platonic right? WRONG! Over the course of maybe a year or two, they get closer to each other and to Koizumi's dismay, she starts the catch some feelings. Otani on the other hand, only sees her as "one of the guys". Now what?

And then for the last 5 or so episodes they just go back and forth to try to get Koizumi to confess to Otani, and Otani not getting it, and then Otani gets then, then Otani saying he doesn't really see her that way, to Koizumi not being able to get over him, to Otani maybe starting to like her more in the future?? It' s just.... ugh.

Obviously that's where the show takes a turn for the worse. Making the same dog on mistake every shoujo of this type decides to make. (Trust me, on the shoujo post I am going to go iiiiiin on the types of shoujo mangas out there) This show is just like many animes that have come after it. Alhtough I must say, I do believe that this show maybe one of the first of it's types in the early times of 'early 2000s', but that doesn't stop it from being horribly annoying when the main couple just can't get passed the friend stage. When you know they eventually will.

I understand that there is a second season of the show, but it was released in 2014 and the animation style is just too different from the 1st season. Also known as, I won't be watching it. Sorry. But I might read the manga because I've become invested in the main couple and I've seen the art. It's so pretty.

But back to the show. This show really doesn't have much of a plot other than these 2 kids are going to be in a relationship... eventually. As most shoujos go, the first few episodes and the last few episodes are always the best. Despite the fact in this one where the last few episodes were just short of eye racking.

The best part about this show, as is again with most shoujos, is it's main characters. You know what makes Koizumi and Otani tick, and God bless, you don't need some tragic back story to do it. Otani is a short kid who has a complex about his height. He wants to play basketball and is fucking amazing at it. He works harder than anyone because he's overcompensating from being short. Koizumi helps him find out that it's just fine being short. Koizumi, on the other hand, is obsessed with finding love. As in most main girls in shoujos. She also feels grossly insecure because she's incessantly tall compared to all the other girls in her class. Being herself consists of legs open in a skirt, mouth full of food, and yelling all the time. Many traits that aren't really associated with being girly. When told to be girly, she does a full 180 and gets quiet, and shy or loud as hell saying back the fuck off. A strong willed girl because all people ever did was tell her who and how to be.

The two are nice matches for each other, and once again, shoujos do this immaculately well. There's a reason why there are so many shows that are basically the same and they are still amazing. The other characters aren't even worth mentioning, so I won't. They're just there to fill the highschool show quota of 'fun with friends'. (I bet you guys didn't believe me when I said that I was going to go ham on this shoujo genre post, just wait.)

The animation was pretty okay for its time. The facial expressions were the best part. The opening and ending sequences matched the show's atmosphere perfectly. The opening being really up beat and over the top with slow moments, and the ending just a short sequence of the two main characters walking. A simple idea that's been done a few times, but if it isn't broke, don't fix it!

The art I already mentioned that I prefer the old style just because there is always more character shown in the old style. That may just be a me opnion though. Not much else is to be said about the show so I'll leave it at that. If you want another generic shoujo with a twist. Watch this! But you could also watch Bokura ga Ita or Ao Haru Ride and you'd enjoy both shows just as much. I have yet to see His and Her Circumstances but I bet it's pretty similar as well. In the end, the age old question of what do tall girls get if short guys like short girls and tall guys like short girls? Otani. That is all.

Manwha Review: Cherry Boy, that Girl

So not too long ago I said that I would be leaving for awhile. I gave a few reasons as to why that was, but it's partly because I don't have nearly as much time as I used to, what with school, trying to get to college, working and everything else in between, I have less time to watch anime in general let alone blog about what I watch all the time.

Darin and Strawberry

I am back briefly to do only one thing, and that is put something in place of that old Manga Check-Up for Cherry Boy, That Girl. To this day, people are still commenting on the out of date reaction that was written over TWO YEARS AGO, and I thought it was about time to do an actual review of the series considering it ended about a month ago.

So let's get started shall we? And please stop trafficking that post. Please.

I've kept up with the Cherry Boy, That Girl series translations for almost 3 years now, and it's finally reached it's closing. It had it's ups and downs, but I overall enjoyed the series.

Cherry Boy, That Girl was written by South Ant, a Korean artist. Its 110 chapters long and complete. Put under the romance josei genre, the story opens with a pretty highschool girl, Strawberry, and her gorgeous boyfriend Darin. Strawberry is a vain little shit and Darin is even moreso. At the beginning, they both suck and you could stand to see less of them. I wish I was kidding. The two attend a highschool that had only recently become co-ed, making Strawberry one of the few girls. Lucky for her, none of the other girls were too pretty, leaving her with all the attention of the boys. Strawberry, feeling like the queen of the school, decides to try and go after her sunbae Pear. Eventually Darin finds out about the two and intervenes. This is where the cross dressing also comes in as a genre.

Darin makes the great decision of cross dressing as a girl named Cherry, and seducing Pear so that he'd drop Strawberry. The bad thing is, it worked. Strawberry, irritated to no end, breaks up with Darin, which was not what he had wanted to happen. And Strawberry, having abused the affections of the boys in the school and having no girl friends, is left alone.

Wally and Strawberry

So far this just sounds like a story about a bunch of jack-ass fruits. And well, that is pretty true. The plot synopsis for a bit makes you think that you'll hate the main characters.... Well you will, most likely. You will dislike Strawberry for a very long time, you won't be to keen on Pear, and Darin will only continue to get worse after the cross dressing incident. But that's also what makes it so enticing to begin with. What other manwha, (it's actually a webseries or webtoon) have you heard done that? A girl starts off already with a boyfriend, is super bratty and stuck up, and is overshadowed by her really good looking boyfriend who cross dresses to steal guys from her.

Its so crazy that you have to read it!
Not to mention the one thing that may not be appealing, the characters, changes as well. Most of the characters go through serious development, turning into almost completely different people by the end of the series. Some become insane, some are suddenly justified, and some gain a sense of morality. The main characters have complex back stories, (at the very least they aren't cut/copy) that had caused them to act the way they did within reason. But that never excuses the way they act later, making for a very realistic setting on changing, and making excuses for yourself.

Considering that the characters are a high point, they could also be taken as a low point. Don't get me wrong, everything I typed above is true its just that this only occurs to a small percentage of main characters. The characters that don't fit into the above category are left underdeveloped and are just kind of....there. Some even become unimportant as time goes on, yet they're still there for plot's sake of course. They just sort of stick around until the end of the series after their role is filled. They don't change from when they entered to when they left. They are only a few characters like this, but they appear too often in the story for that to even be an issue.

Another possible downfall of the series is how it progressed after about 2/3 of the way through. This does mean though that there was adequate amount of romance, character development, interactions, and the slightest bit of tasteful drama in that beginning 2/3rds, but its the last 1/3 that leaves people unsatisfied. Since I've followed this series for so long and got so many comments on the other post that I wrote while kind of drunk off of 'ohmygoddidyouseethatican'tbelievethisishappening' moment, I'll make a separate post that encompasses my feelings on the ending 1/3rd of the series.

Moving away from the characters for now, the art of the series is very bright and colorful. The actual design of the characters is nothing to seriously write home about, but they are distinguishable between each other and are not overly garish. Especially considering that the characters are named after fruits. I do love the way the artist draws Strawberry's lace up high tops though. Just, you know. They're cute.

Drama loving angsty Korean fruit students eating lunch

As a final verdict, considering the series is done, I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a good drama or a little realism in their shoujo romance. I am not able to, however,  in good conscious call this series realistic. This series is a good one, with nice buildup, avoidance of any annoying cliches that sometimes happen in stories such as this. It has good overall character development and even some psychological elements played into the story. The psychological element coming in when they are discovering out why they act the way they do and so much more. I really like the main pair the series overall was worth my 3 year's of attention.

First Reaction: Yuri on Ice!

Yuuri Katsuki

Do you want the short version or the long one, because if you want the short one, go watch the show. It has amazing animation, (actually absolutely gorgeous) funny and interesting characters, a cast of completely wonderful characters, and it's only been 3 episodes. Not to mention (praying for it) the budding romantic relationship between Victor and Yuuri. 

So in short, go watch the show.

If you feel like humoring me, then you can go ahead and read the rest of this.

Yuri on Ice!!! is the much anticipated 2016 fall anime season show about famous ice skaters competing against each other and frankly, is better off being called Yaoi on Ice!!!. The show begins with one of our main characters failing the national Grand Prix Finals - Senior Competition or something. He fails miserably, and his name is Yuuri Katsuki. Depressed, he goes home. A year later he performs his idols routine, Victor Nikiforov, for a friend and accidentally goes viral. Unbelievably to Yuuri, he inspired his idol to come be his coach. This leads to another Yuri, Yuri Plistesky, to come and chance after Victor who made him a promise. 

That's the general information for the first episode-ish. Currently there are 3 episodes aired and it's already got licensed by FUNimation. And even more for the surprise, just like Kotesujo, it's an original anime with no source material written by Mitsuro Kubo and Sayo Yamamoto. I find that to be quite amazing since we did get the beautifully animated and sounding show Kotesujo only 2 seasons ago. 

Besides that though, this show has been nothing but entertaining and gorgeous. At first I was a bit worried with the animation seeing as it's a figure skating anime, the animation would either need to be really good, they use CGI or they just don't add in enough figure skating scenes. (*Cough**Cough*  K-ON!) This fear was quelled very early on in the first episode. The animation is absolutely gorgeous. I mean look at this!!

And this is just a taste!! This isn't even close to the best they have to offer!

The art is crisp and it movements are so fluid in everything. The hair is flowing, the body movements are so natural, even when they're not skating is so smooth and realistic. The only thing that could be lack luster compared to this level of animation is the background, and that's only in certain scenes. But enough of my gushing.... okay not yet.

Goodness you can see the amazing animation in just this one head tilt!!
Look at the hair!! The face!! The everything!!!

But enough, enough, enough about animation. You'll just have to see it for yourself, and boy do I suggest sticking around for episode 3. Ooooo goodness. You won't regret it. I almost cried during Agape. 

Speaking of episode 3, back to the story. It's riveting. Well, it's not drop dead amazing, but it's very well thought out. I can't compare it to any other sports anime other than the first 8 episodes of Kuroko, but from what I can see it's different from the usual. In simple terms, the story is about a really good Japanese skater finding the confidence and motivation to make it back to the finals and win this time for his coach. I feel as if the characters will change from this course of action as the show continues though. They keep mentioning about how young these characters are, and what they'll do after they retire from skating. Not to mention the characters improving as people with the help of experimenting and improving their ice skating skills.

Yuri Plisetsky

Even from right now I can tell the show is going to be very character driven. So far that's plenty. The main three characters are interesting and sexually confusing. The only other characters that have gotten some screen time other than these three are the childhood friend that owns the skating rink, her three ice skating obsessed triplet daughters, and Yuri's old ballet instructor. There are very apparent background characters that I doubt will get any serious time, but only time will tell. Not to mention there are plenty more characters to come. Not to mention in 3 episodes I've already become emotionally attached to these adorable characters.

The opening is sung in a fairly understandable English with a pretty opening sequence of Yuri, Yuri and Victor skating together. Background scenes are in the background with splashes of paint that represents the colors of the characters. It fits the show really well in my opinion, exemplifying the characters drives to make a mark on their audience and on the world. The ending utilizes modern times with a scrolling tweets and pictures. Yuri, Yuri and Victor are playing with fireworks too, and the ending theme is more playful and showcases their relationship with each other more than anything.

Victor Nikiforov

Since this isn't long enough and I just have to mention, the engrish in this anime is pretty much non-existant. The seiyuus stepped up for this show and even have Russian thrown in along with the very well acted characters.

So if you bothered to read all of this, then you have to go watch it now. And also hi! I'm back!! 

(And adding this in, really hoping for a gay relationship that isn't full blown Junjou or Love Stage! and more like No. 6 with a bit better plot)

I'm Saying Goodbye for Now

Well, it's been almost 4 years since I've had this blog and I think I'm done now.

With school and everything, it's always been kind of hard keeping this up to this point, especially in the past 2 years. At first it was just a stupid blog I did because a character from a manga was doing it and I thought, hey I could be like them. (The weeb dark days.....)

But eventually, as the friends that I had stopped reading it and I got even more and more into anime, it slowly became an anime/manga blog and I've kept at it for way longer than I ever expected and way longer than any of my original friends. I know that a lot of people really don't read this, but there are some who do. I've actually gotten some comments from real live people the past year. I assume that if I kept doing it, it might even have become more popular.

I may come back to it one day. Or even just still have it and just sporadically post to do rants or reviews of shows that I really love, and just want to share my opinion for those out there who are looking for a good show to watch or to those who just want to find someone to share their enthusiasm about the show with, or anticipation.

Another reason that I'm stopping this blog is, weirdly enough, I think my writing has gotten worse. I usually proofread my posts only once before I send them out. At the time, they make sense, until months later I go back and read them and realize that they either sound immature, biased, just badly written, or are have major grammar issues. That's definitely not what I want to put out there and definitely not what I want my personal writing to be like.

And thus, I'm stopping. In short to those who just stumble upon my blog and skim it, I'll put a short answer here.

This blog is on extended and possibly permanent hiatus. Thank you and goodbye for now.