Friday, March 25, 2011

Calling you- Can you hear me?


This is probably by far one of my favorite manga/light novels I have ever come across. "Calling you - Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai" is a collection of short stories written by Otsu-ichi. This manga in my mind is absolutely captivating and has me completely moved every time I read it.

These stories focus primarily on the concept that people develop odd and unusual friendships but it underlies a supernatural twist.

The main (and most popularly heard of story) is Calling You. This story involves a student named Ryo who is socially awkward and has terrible communication skills. One of the big things about her is that she shelters herself off from interaction with others for the fact that she is unable to tell the difference as to whether or not someone is being sarcastic with her or not. This being the case, she often found herself being hurt when she found out truths about what people really meant. For instance, she speaks once of how she got a haircut when she was young, and a girl said that she liked it a lot, but was actually joking. In turn, she kept the same hair style for several years because she thought people liked it only to find out that they were actually laughing at her.

Another issue facing Ryo is that she is the only one at her school who lacks a cell phone. Despite how she comments as to being unable to use one, she still wishes that she could have one, even though it is pointless considering she has no friends to even talk to. Still, she feels envy whenever she watches all of her classmates with theirs.



This all being taken in to consideration, she creates a fake cell phone. Ryo imagines as to what her cell phone would look like if she actually had one. As she envisions it, it almost seems like it was really, but in actuality, it is only in her mind. However, one evening, she hears a phone ringing, only to figure out the one that she imagined actually worked.

She received a phone call from a boy named Shinya. In order to prove that the other is real, in fear that both of them had gone mad, they both go to a magazine stand and pick up a magazine that neither of them had seen, then the other went to find it and told them what was on the page before the other could look. Once verifying that the other existed, they built this wonderful bond and began to encourage each other to do more things.

I would continue, but I would be releasing huge plot spoilers. My best suggestion is to go and read the manga itself in order to know what thrilling plot twists happen next.

I must warn people however, this particular story was confusing for me. I had to re-read it a good two or three times until I actually understood what was happening.



The second story here is Kiz/Kids. This story is very interesting. It is about a boy who gets transferred to the special class due to the fact that he kept getting in to fights with his classmates. The reason he got in to fights was the face children would make fun of the iron burn on his back that was given to him by his abusive, and now dying, father.

While in the special class, he somehow becomes friends with a quiet young boy named Asato. Asato lives with a foster family after his mother went psychotic and killed his father then attempted to kill him as well.

They in turn become friends and the boy discovers that Asato has a strange ability. He is able to move injuries from one person to another, using his body as a medium between the two.

This story is an excellent one of childhood friendship that develops through misfortunes that plague others.

And finally, what is only featured in the light novel (this story I am the least familiar with) is called, Flower Song. The most I can really elaborate on it is the fact that a patient in a hospital some how finds a flower that has the face of a girl that always hums beautiful melodies.

All in all, these stories actually have beautiful inter workings that make you come to tears. I still cry each time I read them. They have great messages conveying as to how powerful friendship can be with unlikely pairs.



There was even a movie adaptation, which I suggest viewing. It is not entirely the same to the manga, but it is very similar, which is good enough. The movie adaptation was actually really nicely done and will forever make me remember the sign language at the end of the movie. The song "Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai" by Dreams Come True is featured as the main theme in the movie as seen below:



If I could give a rating for these stories, it would definitely be a perfect score and I would recommend it to anyone.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Let's see how scummy the world can be!

I mean, really. After the completion of this anime last night, I realized that they really play hard on the idea that the thing that may be the true evil in this world, is actually humans themselves. Of course I am talking about the violent anime, Gantz, which surprisingly wasn't all that bad.

For a long time, I feared even watching this show. A friend of mine told me about it once and I thought, "Oh! That actually sounds like a really cool concept!" but then she told me as to how it really made her ill with all of the violence and inappropriate scenes in it. Of course, she read the manga, so I have no clue yet as to how similar that is to the anime. All in all, it terrified me about even touching the anime for a good year or so, and I would always panic a bit when I saw the name "Gantz" appear anywhere.

However, I just recently purchased the first box set to "Phantom, Requiem for the Phantom" and the preview they had on their before the DVD started was for "Gantz," this being the case, I figured, "You know what, sooner or later, I am going to have to suck it up and watch this anime. Besides...I am sure it is not as gruesome as my friend led on for it to be."



Well, I can now say that I am thoroughly disappointed. Here I was, all set and ready to endure this massacre of characters in such gut rearing levels...but it wasn't so bad. I was actually a little sad that it wasn't as hardcore as I presumed. I guess I just built it up too much, but it was pretty okay.

Don't get me wrong, I can see as to how it can bother people and as to why they may be turned off from watching it, but the show gets better. At first I thought, "Meh, it's okay..." but as the characters develop and the plot thickens, it really can turn in to something rather watchable.

This didn't turn out like the blood bath I presumed, and I am a bit happy for it. I do however feel like they could have worked more with the plot.

On another note, this anime seriously works up the suspense. They know the perfect moments as to when to cut off the episode, and the entire time I was yelling, "SHOOT THE GUN, SHOOT THE FREAKING GUN!" and practically wanting to jump in to the show and do everything for these people.



For a synopsis of the plot, here we go:
Essentially, the main character, Kei Kurono, and his friend, Katou Masaru died by helping this homeless man who fell in the subway tracks. After they helped him out, a subway came by and killed them. This being the case, they were presumed dead. However, they randomly appear in this apartment in Tokyo along with other people who had just died as well. It is there that they discover this ball containing a man named Gantz, is making them play a game. This game involves them putting on these odd, super human suits and using these futuristic weapons to hunt and kill aliens in this certain time limit. The goal is to capture, kill or send the alien in the amount of time, try to get a certain amount of points, and live. This is the only way that they can be free to go back home, alive.

The weird thing is though, they are technically dead. Their bodies are dead. When they are transported to the room, they are essentially "copies" of the original them, except they are them before they were killed. Gantz will keep calling them back until they earned a certain amount of points, giving them ultimate freedom. Until then, he controls their fates.

It's hard to say that I actually liked any of the cast. Like, characters that weren't really permanent per say, (they only lasted a few episodes) were the only ones I cared for. The main character (which I will refer to as Kurono rather than Kei because there is a girl named Kei as well, who I will refer to as her last name, Kishimoto) honestly starts out as a total butt at the beginning of the series that cares about no one except for his perverted desires. He in turn does get better as he experiences all these things, but he ultimately still is a jerk up until the last five or so episodes.



Katou is the only long term character I can...sort of like. He has kindness and compassion deep in his soul, but he is so obnoxious because he refuses to kill anything. You understand it is in fact his nature, but if you are put in to a life or death situation, you can't presume it will all just work out nicely. Because of him, many died.

And Kishimoto...I despised her through the entire series. All she was was a pretty face with a huge chest. She could do nothing by herself, and the final time she did, it  was in vain. She spends the entire series offering blood curdling screams and hiding behind others, telling everyone else to do everything. She is in other words a useless character.



On to the fact that you see the scum of the Earth, it is very true. These kids have some seriously bad bullying problems in their schools. You see people ripping others teeth out, violating them, etc etc. Along with this, we find loads of gangs who come and shoot each other for no reason, beat each other with metal pipes because of turf wars, and so on. It's even worse when you just see people going around, dumping boiling water on the homeless then beating their brains out with a bat.

This anime really lets you grasp as to how terrible the world can be and as to how humans can truly be terrible people. I am not saying this exists about everyone, I am just saying that this is a very obvious plot device placed here.



All together, I liked this one. It was okay. Definitely not the best I have seen, but not the worst. I feel as though they could have better worked with the idea they had, but all in all, it is okay. It's an average. I cannot say it is wonderful, but it is surely not terrible. It is good. The ending is awesome, but the anime was okay.

And on a bonus note! I really liked the music that was used throughout this anime!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

New game means new Waifu.

In all honesty, this won't be much of a review, mostly just my obsession over a character in a game I just started playing.

So with the release of this game, my heart has been set in to an array of unknowing considering the fact that I now feel like I have a new Waifu competing with my other two. (The reason I have two others is because I feel as though I could never choose.) And honestly, adding a third on to these other two makes me feel as if I am a horrible fan that simply can't choose just one character to love.

The first two are from a game and anime that I will be reviewing in the near future. (I dare not skip the two because I loved them oh so very much.) These two happen to be Clover from "9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors" and the other, Rin from "Mnemosyne". Images of them can be viewed below:
The odd thing about this is that actually I am a megane lover. I absolutely adore glasses girls. The fact that I fell in love with Rin makes sense ( plus she is absolutely amazing in Mnemosyne) but the fact that I liked Clover so much went far beyond the fact that she doesn't have glasses. Glasses are one of those things that instantly I feel drawn to the character because usually I like the characteristics that go with those types of characters. However, Clover's character is such a unique design, the entire time I was playing "999" I was obsessing over her. Her personality and character design were just to die for and I instantly fell in love! And that is how my second waifu came to be.
However, a person of competition came along when I went and purchased the new Pokemon game on its release day. When I began playing, I found myself instantly falling in love with one of the childhood friends/rivals of your character, Bianca. (referred to as Bel in the Japanese version)

My goodness she is just the absolute radiation of adorableness. I just want to spend forever with her. I find myself "hnnnng~"-ing over all of her actions and everything she says. I am not sure what it is really, but I find her simply such a loveable character. Perhaps it is her clumsiness or lack of organization, but I can't deny that I love her to bits.

On another note, I heard that you can create relationships in this game with any of your rivals. This makes it even more difficult. You get the choice between N, Cheren, or Bianca and I feel torn. N is just so cool, and he and Touko make the absolute cutest couple in my opinion, but I absolutely love Cheren's attitude (and the fact he is a glasses boy makes it better!) but Bianca...Since I fell in love with her, she make the choice oh-so-much more difficult! When I get to that part of the game, I am not sure what I will do.

Regarding actually reviewing the game, it is pretty good so far. I like all of the characters and the new region is pretty nicely developed. The 3D setting is only obvious at some parts, but it is not as amazingly done as the trailers for the game intend it to be. Some parts are just mind boggling in it, but some are pretty average and bland.

The game play itself is pretty okay, the only objection I have is that I feel the battles are too slow. The set up of the screen is alright in battle mode (I preferred the one in HGSS) and the graphics are good. They do this nice little pan thing when ever you go idle and the pokemon have nice little animations to them.

I can say that Pokemon has really developed their graphics. A few things I truly dislike involve that all the bodies of the people look awkwardly elongated. I don't much care for the Pokemarts now being in the Pokecenters. I also hate the opening sequence. The first section that is beautifully drawn is very nice, but the part afterwards in which it actually plays the starting music and shows a bit of game play is absolutely awful though.

Also, all of the pokemon you run in to in the other games when you first start out, have essentially been remade in to different looking but very similar to the pokemon. All in all, they still are useless.

All in all, from what I have played, the game is good. All of the die hard pokemon fans would probably enjoy this as well as the fans just starting out.

Also, if you need a few laughs, I strongly recommend this comic that is a huge parody of Black and White. It goes mostly by their Japanese names, but it should be easy to figure out. However, I was laughing the entire time:  Black Adventures Comic

I also doodled this little avatar of Bianca for me to use on various occasions if need be as well as the fact I keep obsessively doodling Bianca in class:

Friday, March 4, 2011

Something I can relate to...well, the awkward, anti social, bad with guys, completely obsessed part of it anyways. Not so much the cross dressing.


Long title, right? Well it could have continued on...but then I would have no use for this post anymore. Any who, as promised I am back to writing a legitimate review over an anime. This time, I have decided to go with an anime that recently finished airing a few months ago titled, "Kuragehime."
This anime really holds an interesting concept. It is centered around Tsukimi Kurashita, a socially awkward girl who can't handle situations in which she is confronted by "hipsters", "the stylish", or anyone whatsoever. She is madly in love with Jellyfish and he room is coated in drawings that she had done herself over the years. She lives in an all female residency with other girls who also hold strange obsessions. These girls include Chieko (obsessed with traditional Japanese dress and dolls), Mayaya (obsessed with "Records of Three Kingdoms"), Banba (obsessed with trains), and Jiji (obsessed with mature, older men.) Quite a collection of people, huh?
The story starts out with Tsukimi admiring a jelly fish in a nearby pet store. It is to her surprise that the jelly fish happens to be placed in a tank with another jelly fish that can ultimately cause the other to die if placed together. Tsukimi quickly wants to correct this mistake and makes an attempt to tell the man working at the pet store. However, she notices at the last moment that he was a hipster, and instantly felt herself freeze up and was unable to speak.
However, her knight in shining armor comes, well...a "princess" as she put it. Her enters Kuranosuke Koibuchi, probably the most attractive person in this show and it is a boy. No, no, this beautiful girl in the image above truly is a boy. I didn't even believe it at first, I had a mini heart attack when I realized that even when he is dressed as a boy, he is still prettier than almost every single other character. The only exception is when he dresses up Tsukimi, which will be explained later.

Either way, Kuranosuke manages to help Tsukimi out of her predicament and buys the jellyfish for her so that she can properly take care of it. He, in turn, stays the night in which she discovers he is a man.
Normally for a girl who is capable of living on her own, such a thing would be no issue. The only problem is, their residency, known as Amamizukan, does not allow men. Only women are allowed inside. This causes Tsukimi to have a major episode and panic about how she can hide him. He simply replies that he would just come as a woman every time he wanted to visit and she objects. You later find out that these socially awkward girls can't even stand to talk to fashionable people and they tense up when around them, not knowing what to do or say. This causes much controversy whenever Kuranosuke comes to visit Tsukimi. 
However, over time the girls find out that their residency is going to be torn down in order to make room for hotels and shopping centers. Since they do not technically own the complex since it belongs to Chieko's mother who is willing to sell it to the people wishing to tear it down, they need to find a way to raise the money themselves in order to buy it themselves and prevent the destruction of their home.
This being the case, Kuranosuke gives them all make over in order to boost their confidence to stand up for what they want, which ultimately does not go well and they all bail out of social anxiety. 
 
Following this, they try to come up with many different methods in which they can raise money, one of which is making stuffed jelly fish to sell at a flea market in which everyone seems to fall in love with. 
Plots thicken, love forms, some typical stuff just in a different idea from the norm.
Oddly enough, over time Tsukimi and Kuranosuke develop the idea to start a fashion line in which they will create close that will be based off of the unique shapes of jelly fish. Their plan goes well and they end up designing a few gorgeous gowns.
I must say though, with this series I found myself anxious for the next episode to come out. It was a thrill to wonder what would happen week after week. My only objection is, the series just ended like that. I wasn't even aware it was an ending at all. It just cut off. When I discovered it was the season's end, I raged because it left so many questions. It was a bad place to stop at in simple words. However, I heard rumors there is to be a season two...and I will be disappointed if there is not one. 
On to themes behind this anime. What is glorious about it is that it gives you the sense that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Despite what you may think, somewhere, there will always be something that is beautiful about yourself, you just need to reach inside and look for it. 
That is what I love about Kuranosuke's character. He is trying to teach these girls about their beauty and that they need to love themselves a little more and that beauty is possible if they just try and they shouldn't look over the qualities that make them unique.
On another note, all of these terms and actions and as to why the characters are the way they are is displayed through Tsukimi's jelly fish, Clara. This allows a deeper understanding for the storyline.
 
All in all, this anime is fantastic. You are crazy not to love it. I just give warning to the abrupt ending. This anime pulls you in and makes you feel wonderful inside and shows you never to doubt yourself, but the ending will have you upset because you feel that you never want this feeling to end. But don't worry, it won't.
 
P.S: Amamizukan, the residency of the girls in this series, it actually based off of a real place. 


 Their building was referenced off of the real life building, Nipponkan, which is an all male residency home in Japan.