Anime Ventilation 22 Tsukiuta

Ah ha ha ha ha...school? Homework? Proper time management? What's that? Oh I can hear my grades screaming in agony...but I've come to realize that grades don't define me. Actually that's a lie and I'm trying to comfort myself by writing blog posts about stuff I actually like, which in this case is anime because baking is too time consuming.

{Spoilers}

Anyways, I originally started watching this anime because I just wanted something fluffy. It reminds me of Joshiraku in that it's not really concrete as far as plot goes and it's mostly just about showcasing each of the characters more than anything else, but if you like cute boys then tada here you go! Presto! 12 cute boys with no main girl to annoy you! *cough* UtaPri *cough*. Actually UtaPri was okay, it's just that the girl was just liked by all the boys and it was just kind of fluffy and plotless. But that's a discussion for another day.

As far as music goes, their songs are pretty catchy; it's standard JPop boy band catchy songs. And they just show the same two OPs by 6 Gravity and Procellarum over and over again, but again they're catchy. And at the end of each episode, excluding the last one, there's an ED sung usually by the character that episode showcases. It's pretty cute because it's just a little inspirational anime showcasing cute boys working hard to make their careers as idols successful while having fun and enjoying their youth. It gets pretty deep when Hajime gets contemplative about their goals as idol groups and how they might lose inspiration after they complete their dreams. But he realizes that right now they're in a lovely dream and that's what's important. If that's not a beautiful sentiment then really nothing is.

At the end when they all got together and had a 12 person song performed it was just the perfect ending. So, if you're looking for a lighthearted and fun little anime similar to Joshiraku in terms of plot depth, then this is a good one to watch for sure.

This is kind of my favorite episode.

Source: http://67.media.tumblr.com/83e26c715257d87b539806f80b8170bc/tumblr_o9wnqpGd6s1vtkkkzo8_400.gif, http://www.allyouranime.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tsuki1a.gif, https://media3.giphy.com/media/i870uh7BxfLkQ/200_s.gif,http://67.media.tumblr.com/3685032c2e5341f397e429acff0ec078/tumblr_inline_odyx5uAUmH1rwu5tj_500.png

Anime Ventilation 21 Kimi no Na Wa

OH MY GOODNESS WHERE HAS THIS MOVIE BEEN ALL MY LIFE WHEN I WAS AGONIZING OVER THE ENDING OF FIVE CENTIMETERS PER SECOND?! Oh right, in production.

{Spoilers}

Oh my goodness this was so amazing I can't even begin to really explain why. It's so visually breath-taking. Even in 720 p I could still tell what a beautiful thing I was watching. All of it was so beautiful; the comet, the scenery, them! The duality that's shown when it's the two of them on the mountain standing right next to each other, the only barrier between them being time, was absolutely breathtaking. Also at the beginning all of the time lapses? Those were great. Not only that, but the music was so great. It was mellow and kind of whimsical and the lyrics themselves were playful and contemplative. These two were already jaw-dropping amazing and well worth rewatching just to relive the artistically beautiful visual and audio aspect of the movie.

BUT WAIT THAT'S NOT ALL! Not just was it visually stunning which is already off the charts amazing, but the story line is amazing. It's kind of a mix of two of my top favorite anime movies The Girl Who Leaped Through Time and Five Centimeters per Second. It has the time aspect from The Girl Who Leaped Through Time in that Mitsuha lives in a timeline 3 years shifted backwards from Taki's time. This causes discrepancies and ultimately the conflict arises from this problem of time. It's truly beautiful in that the plot line is allowed to develop naturally. The two characters when they realize what's happening and that they're switching lives with each other randomly react in a relatively realistic way. The two of them try to make do as the other and disrupt the other's life as little as possible, or in Mitsuha's case she tried to improve Taki's life by setting him up on a date with his crush. But through this problem the two of them have to overcome, they begin to form a strong bond of camaraderie against this problematic situation. In this way it seems only natural for Taki to develop feelings for this girl that he's getting to know on a closer level than anyone else he knows.

The real heart-breaker though is that because of their time difference and the comet during the Autumn Festival, they never meet. At this point my soul kind of died and I thought to myself  'well there goes yet another sunken ship' until I realized that this was just the first climax in this cleverly dual climatic plot. Oh ho ho folks the show's not over yet. After this first traumatic experience when Taki realizes that he can't switch with Mitsuha anymore, he goes on a quest to her hometown only to find that it's been wrecked by the comet, leaving everyone he had encountered through her dead. This traumatic experience leads him up into the crater of a mountain where he is able to time travel back 3 years before the disaster to help Mitsuha survive this time. The two of them are able to meet once during twilight and when Taki wrote 'I love you' on Mitsuha's hand and when she saw it later, my heart melted. It really is the little things that make movies like these go from amazing to fantastic! This time when they're able to alter the timeline it seems like everything is going to go well and everyone will end up happily ever after...haha I don't think so. Life isn't so simple. Fictional life? Even less simple. The new problem is the two of them can't remember the other's name nor their time switching bodies. This is a problem because the two of them feel an absence in their life, but can't exactly explain what it is. In fact when Taki sees Tessie and Sayaka as an engaged couple he feels a vague sense of deja vu but nothing more. This frustration is infuriating. I've watched this and invested all my feelings into this and all you're giving me is deja vu and missed opportunities to find your girl?! It brings back trauma from watching Five Centimeters per Second. Speaking of that, at the end when they both run off the train to see the other and almost walk opposite ways of the stairs without even meeting eyes it brought me back to the real trauma of Five Centimeters per Second's ending. That was traumatic. This ending however wasn't so traumatic. In fact it was sweet and left a hopeful note for their future together.

All in all this is a definite must watch if you enjoy anime movies or even just anime. This has great music, fantastic art, and a story line that just got me so emotionally invested in the characters. This was seriously fantastic and if you haven't watched it yet you're seriously missing out on a magical time. Worth the hype? Most definitely.

Ready for the picture spam that comes with amazing anime with amazing visuals?

Sources: http://i.imgur.com/5eDEiYi.jpg, https://66.media.tumblr.com/0767b03cf9ff0ad85adba525205ab0d5/tumblr_o9mrvnCldT1tcr2fko1_540.gif, https://images.alphacoders.com/737/thumb-350-737491.png, https://49.media.tumblr.com/efc67448bb053ac31bf856623433c2b6/tumblr_nz5991rWv61r7jzano1_540.gif

Manga Review 3 Atashi Kisushita

Ah, manga reviews, so rare, such a treat. I swear I read a lot of manga, it's just that a lot of them haven't been completed yet so I can't give a holistic, extensive review on those. So I've decided that to keep content somewhat regular here I'm going to be introducing some one-shot manga because they're my guilty pleasure.

{Spoilers}

As with all one-shots, there's only so much character development that can take place, therefore one-shot manga is like just seeing one moment in their lives which is usually the turning point where it goes from point A to point B.

In this particular one it's a story between a girl named Rika and a guy named Hikaru. Rika's just figured out she has feelings for Hikaru, but he seems oblivious (like every other guy *cough*) to her feelings. Their relationship is somewhat endearing since they're longtime friends and have a close friendship. It really doesn't go anywhere until Rika impulsively kisses Hikaru and runs away, leaving things awkward. With the introduction of competition in the form of Soda-kun, Hikaru manages to muster up the courage to show Rika he has reciprocating romantic feelings for her.

It was super cute the moment that she kissed him. His face was one of just shock because he also liked her, but didn't act on it. And the moment when he surprised her with a kiss too was super duper cute. He said that he was sorry for all the times that he was oblivious and didn't really look closely at her. "In the end, Hikaru is all Uemura-san can see." Awhhhh.

Honestly the dynamic between them is really heartwarming. They genuinely care about each other which is clearly conveyed through this short one-shot manga. You get all the feels and all the gratification without committing for like 200+ chapters (the beginning of a slippery slope). So I definitely recommend if you need to get that dose of shoujo cuteness to make your day a little bubblier.

Anime Ventilation 20 Re:ZERO Starting Life in Another World

Can I just say I only watched because of all the hype? Everyone I know was saying how this was the best anime of the season and that this might be their all-time favorite anime. It's things like these that make me really intrigued. But at the same time, all the guys were saying things like "Rem is my waifu" and other things that deterred me, briefly, from watching. We've all guiltily watched those shows littered with so much fan service that it should be put in a whole other genre called 'Fan Service' if there ever was such a thing to be created. Thank god this one wasn't one of those. I also want to add before I start that this is rated R, so seriously please don't watch this if your soul is so pure because I kind of feel like after watching this I have to purge my soul.

{Spoilers}

Oh man, oh man where do I even begin? Ah, the beginning should be a good place to start. The beginning was already creepy to be honest. I definitely don't recommend you watch this in the dark if your house is prone to making noise; it'll be too stressful. It starts off fairly normal with a guy in a convenience store, but then come the creepy flashes of some girl pleading for help. So it's already this juxtaposition between reality and fantasy. Then he walks out of the convenience store in the modern world, into a fantasy, historical realm. His reaction was super cute like "wow lookit me! I'm in a game!". If only that theme could've lasted the entire season it would've been fine. If only Subaru could've stayed that innocent. But nooooooo. He has to have a special ability that revives him when he dies. The catch is he can't tell anyone about it. When he tries, the witch that mysteriously gave him that power clutches his heart so he is unable to talk. Honestly this in and of itself was stressful because as the audience we know what's going on, but no one else does.

Because he has this special power, this leads him to discovering all sorts of things about what things to do and not do in order to progress in the story. While this is a useful power, it's also very traumatizing because he knows what's going to happen but can't tell people 'don't do this this way because that's how you died last time.' Even if he was able to tell people, they most likely wouldn't believe him. All of the problems stem from the fact that he can't tell anyone about his power as well as his pride. I include pride in the stem of all his problems because for example he proclaimed himself Emilia's knight without asking her first which lead him to being beat up by Julius. He's not the smartest cookie. The whole pride thing escalated to a whole other level when Emilia told him that he should never see her again because he never listened to her. She thought he would be the only one to treat her in a normal manner, but he even failed her at that. His justification was that he loved her, when actuality he was only in love with the idea of protecting her and being her savior all the time. Around this time is when it gets really real. The whole beginning arc with Felt and old man Rom and the psycho lady was really just a warm up for just how insane Subaru will go later. The actual insanity is the first time around that Rem and Subaru go back to the mansion after Rem senses something's wrong. When they find that the Witch's Cult has killed everyone and then Subaru's life resets that's when things get really bad. Also I recommend during this stretch of episodes that you don't eat. Fair warning that he throws up a couple times and as someone that ate while watching...it wasn't very fun. Anyways, seeing the degradation that comes with having seen so much death is really compelling. They did a good job in the story writing how no one can stay sane after seeing so much death and feeling so helpless. When Subaru asks Rem to run away with him because he can't deal with feeling so helpless to stop the unavoidable it really shows that yes he's an antihero, yes he's flawed, but all that just shows how human he is. He's not perfect and he has his weak moments, but in the end he pushes through anyways. Subaru just keeps trying and learns from his mistakes. In the end all of these mistakes come together to make him a better person. It was good characterization on the creator's part because it really makes it seem as if it was a normal person being put into a fantasy world; it was the harsh reality, not the typical optimistic scenario.

Honestly, all the characters are so great, all for their own reasons. First off, Ram and Rem. I really appreciated the fact that they weren't just pretty, submissive housemaids. They were actually extremely loyal to Rosewaal, which is understandable since he did take them in after Ram lost her horn. The twin dynamic between the two of them is really nice. It went from Ram having such extraordinary demonic powers and Rem feeling useless, to Ram feeling like a burden to her sister, but Rem still revering her. It was really humanizing to see that although Rem really loves her sister, at the same time she was still imperfect because deep down she was happy that her sister wouldn't overshadow her anymore. It's things like these which really layer the characters and explain their motivations which make them all the more lovable. Another standout was Julius. Honestly, he was a jerk at the beginning. Even though he did have proper motivation because Subaru proclaimed himself a knight even though he didn't understand the chivalry of knighthood and all, it was still uncalled for for him to beat Subaru to the brink of death. In the end it was okay though because Subaru and Julius came to civil terms after that, aka their teamwork in (almost) killing off Petelgeuse. And the main love interest, Emilia. She's such a genuinely nice girl that has to go through the persecutions and accusations that come along with looking like the witch. It shows how much prejudice can be wrongly placed on such a sweet person. Thanks to Subaru, the village people were able to accept her and just this made me feel super happy for her. This anime is different in that the girl doesn't sit on the sidelines and let the guy steal the show. This girl showed Subaru who's really in charge and opened his eyes to the fact that he was more in love with the idea of protecting her than being her friend. Two people that didn't get a whole lot of screen time, but are still really likable characters are Beatrice and Wilhelm. Can we just take a minute to appreciate Beatrice's eyes? Also the way she dotes on Puck is super cute. She's really quite sassy, but she'll always try to help Subaru in her backwards way. Wilhelm's backstory on the White Whale was tragic. He lost his wife to that monster which later links to him supporting Subaru in order to seek revenge for his wife by slaying the beast. His and his wife's little mini arc of a love story was so adorable. It could be its own little spinoff. （´・｀ ）♡

To be completely honest, gore scares me. So this anime was deeply disturbing to my soul. But I pushed through the first 5 or so episodes hoping it would get better. It didn't. Don't watch this anime thinking that if you get to a certain point the violence will stop. It will never stop. It's a constant recurrence. Some of the scarier parts have to do with Sloth and his creepy love for the witch. He's just a deeply disturbed guy and if insane people break you out into a cold sweat you definitely shouldn't watch this. I wouldn't go as far to say this is a light horror film, but it's still pretty scary.

I could probably go on for a long time about every single little detail about this anime, but then it'd be too long and no one would read it (not that anyone does anyways heh), plus I have other work to do.

Anyways, I highly recommend this anime as long as you aren't too squeamish. If you can't handle violence depicted as bloody corpses and a lot of stabbing this really isn't the anime for you. I definitely don't recommend you watch this at night. But it's overall an extremely nice watch if you want a different sort of plot. It's really original and all of the characters are super amazing.

This beautiful ending is how I have begun to purge my soul

Her eyes!

Sources:https://penuhmanfaat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Beautiful-Anime-Rem-Re-Zero.jpg, http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/rezero/images/7/71/Beatrice_Anime.png/revision/latest?cb=20160424195807

Anime Review 19 Spice and Wolf

So I made this one random friend through our mutual friend at our first senior year event of the year. We've talked a little bit about anime like RWBY and Spice and Wolf and somehow he ended up recommending me Spice and Wolf. I was a little skeptical about this one because from his summary it seemed pretty sketchy, but at the same time intrigued. My curiosity always gets me to watch anyways. *sigh*

{Spoilers}

I would classify this anime as a historical supernatural anime with a splash of romance. The plot itself is quite unique. It's about a peddler named Lawrence that finds himself traveling north with a wolf goddess named Holo to bring her back home. Along the way he runs his business and has booms and busts. As you can see it's pretty different with its story that has the duality of running a business which in itself is mundane and the super-naturalness of Lawrence's traveling companion. If you were interested in business, perhaps this would be helpful. Some of their business tips were quite good and maybe could help people from being cheated and from making bad investments. I would say that the style is like Studio Ghibli films in the art and the music in certain respects. It vaguely reminded me of if Kamisama Hajimemashite and Princess Mononoke combined with the whole supernatural thing with wolves (although in human form Holo really looks like a fox). Ah, one thing that I strangely enjoyed was the OP and ED. The ED was very whimsical and fun and the OP, something about that OP's rhythm and melody was very pleasing. Even if you don't end up watching the anime, you should give the music a listen.

Overall I thought the anime was just alright. It wasn't anything that made me feel extraordinarily inspired or delighted. Maybe because Lawrence and Holo's relationship was so cliche and contradictory. At times I wasn't able to tell if Holo was being tsundere, patronizing, or an airhead. She was all of those things and while this might've been to add 'depth to her character' instead it made me feel, as a viewer, that they were inconsistent in her scripting. Also I understand that Holo is a wolf and wolves don't wear clothes, but the amount of nudity shown was a bit...much? If you're looking for a sort of fluffier anime that you don't have to think too hard about you should pick this one up. The pacing is quite slow so you won't have to worry about being stressed out by watching it. And hey, you might learn a thing or two about business.

At this point in time I'm highly unmotivated to watch the second season because the episodes are very predictable, but who knows? Maybe one day I'll be into historical anime and I'll come back to this as a throwback.

Manga Review 2 Good Morning Call

It's the start of another school year, but unlike the year before I'm going to try not to abandon this for an embarrassingly long time. Even though I've got a part time job now and still lots of hard classes, I'm going to commit, or at least try to. I'm not really sure how much time I'll really have to watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga and bake. Maybe I'll start reviewing manga oneshots? Those are always fun.

Anyways, I first found this manga by accident, or rather perhaps an indirect coincidence. I say this because I was on Netflix and this Japanese drama Good Morning Call was recommended for me to watch. There's definitely a greater amount of Korean dramas than Japanese dramas, so I was curious as to how Japanese dramas would be different. Little did I know that this was a live-action series of the manga by the same name. Unfortunately, the acting was pretty bad so I gave up on watching it. Instead I decided to read the manga because I don't believe bad acting means it has a bad storyline.

{Spoilers}

Since this is a relatively old manga, I will have to admit that the style of manga has changed quite a bit and so many of the things shown in it are such a throwback. They're talking about computers as if they're some sort of novelty and their cellphones are so sad. But beyond the technology referenced in the story, certain characteristics of old manga definitely stand out. The one I saw most noticeably was how insults were written on rocks that weighed down on the character's head. It's been a while since I've seen such a thing. This is not to say that because it's outdated it's not a good manga (more on 'good manga' below). This is just to say that referencing current times, it's a bit different.

Now on with what I really care about: the plot. I have to say that the story line of this manga was rather blah. Girl and boy stuck in situation where they have to live with each other due to unfortunate circumstances. Girl and boy fall in love. The end. Throughout these 56 or so chapters, there really is nothing substantial at all. Everything is very obviously stated and leaves no room for readers to piece things together themselves. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with things being stated in black and white, it's just the way the mangaka went about it.  Perhaps it was the characters. These two characters are your run of the mill archetyped manga characters, the crybaby girl and the sought-after rough-around-the-edges boy. It kind of felt like the manga Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai which obviously came after this manga, in that it was about a guy who once loved a girl he couldn't have and the girl that's a bit spastic. However this was still not as well executed as Dame na. The development of the characters was almost none. Each and every one of them stayed almost exactly the same. One of the aspects of a story should be developing characters and showing the readers the motivations of the characters. The mangaka wasn't able to flesh out the characters and make them seem like real people; they left that up to you to DIY with your imagination. Even the whole love triangle thing they tried to do with the ramen guy and then later the twin was so underdeveloped that it felt unnecessary and like a complete waste of time. It was just all of a sudden 'I like Nao because she's a cool girl'. Honestly the overall underdevelopment and the amount of times Nao was drawn going shopping, oh my goodness. This was really just a hot mess that was filled with unnecessary scenes. It almost felt as if the mangaka was paid by the chapter and not the content and development inside. I think the main thing that bothers me about the whole thing is that the arcs are very bland and the whole thing overall is nondescript.

If you're into cheap thrills that give you instant gratification and you're not looking for anything more than a mediocre, mind-numbing read then this is for you.

Source: https://em.wattpad.com/ac5f59b1aad1cbc7a0d1fb6f53197d8ea62012e7/687474703a2f2f6d656469612e726579616e696d652e636f6d2f616e696d652f676f6f642d6d6f726e696e672d63616c6c2d6f76612e6a7067?s=fit&h=360&w=360&q=80