First Impression: Tiger & Bunny

My first initial impression about Tiger & Bunny when I saw the synopsis wasn't good. Looking at the first minute of the anime, I am afraid that I could be right about it. However since I've started watching the OP, I might as well sit through the whole episode. Who knows that it could turned out to be something that I might actually enjoy like Star Driver?

Pfft! who am I kidding? I can't take this show seriously.

I mean, look at this piece of shit here.

And the supposedly superheroes are nothing more than paid actors. What superheroes have to wait for commercial break to be over to start saving life. Sure Wild Tiger didn't get through with the producer's idea but can you see how they make a mockery of this whole shit?

The heroes care more about their popularity than be of service. The worst (or the best, if you want to look at it from comedy side of things) part of it is that they are really terrible at what they are doing, except for Sky High, maybe. And that's a big maybe. They even need saving themselves, that's how freaking bad they are. If that wasn't enough, they still have to think of their sponsors so basically they can't do things impulsively.

But at least there's one hero that wasn't as shit as the rest of them. No one knows who he is (yet) an that's the best part about this episode (which sadly last for less than a minute). He turned out to be quite a jack ass.

Towards the end of the show, the tone kinda switched and I finally see the human side of it. Wild Tiger is the struggling hero and unwanted by the public because... well, he's kinda bad at what he does. He has a daughter who his mom take care of. I assumed his wife is dead. His character is totally the opposite of the jack ass and I almost feel for him. I said almost, because when he joined the new company, he got an upgrade (including his super hero suit) and he wasn't as pathetic anymore, except maybe in the eyes of his daughter. He also has to pair up with the jackass. He can't say no because that's what the company wants *facepalm*


I guess this show is about he and the jackass (Tiger & Bunny), how they overcome their differences and be the best of buddies by the time the show ends. It is also about defeating NEXT, the company who is responsible for the bad shit that happened, for example the Iron Statue that they will fight in the next episode.

These two weren't bad as a character. They kinda entertaining with their opposite personalities. Can't say the same thing about the other heroes though since they are hardly get any screen time. Then there's the producer who is hungry for ratings and will do anything to get it. She maybe working for NEXT. I am just assuming here...

Surprisingly I did enjoy the show. If time permits it, then I will continue watching. If not, well, I don't think I will be missing much, in term of anime fandom.

arts & animation 7/10
story 7/10
characters 7/10
sound 6/10
enjoyment 7/10
overall 7/10

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First Impression: Gosick

The OP of Gosick definitely got me excited. Looking at the characters designs, I was impressed and immediately like the male protagonist. This opinion, of course, will change immediately as well if he turns out to be a wuzz. I predict the goth girl to be a typical tsundere. Just throwing the idea out there.

The start of the episode shows some old whacked job lady sprouting some prophecy nonsense about a boy who will cause the end of the world. To stop this, she told the villagers to sacrifice 11 hares. So it was a pretty bloody and gore start for Gosick. I'm not complaining. This just might be my cup of tea.

That's two good points in a row.

(c) takeda hinata

Kujo Kazuya is the male protagonist that I referred to earlier. Everyone at school avoided him and called him a "dark reaper" for some reason. Apparently he's not from Saobure but was sent there to further his study. Guess what? I changed my mind because he did turn out to be a fucking wuzz. Damn it for false hope. I was right about the Victorique (that's the name of the goth girl) too.

They met in some sort of arboretum where they also met Grevil de Blois. A fitting name for a guy who has a giga drill breaker for a quiff. I almost forgot that this is the parody for Sherlock Holmes. It's hard to take this seriously with sidekick like Kujo, police officer like Grevil and an over-zealous teacher with megane as big as her boobs. Besides, when Grevil told the story of the murder, even I can conclude that the maid was the murderer even before Victorique told him so since the old lady obviously died from a gun shot to her left eye. Jeebus.

Thankfully the gore stuffs are pretty gore. I like that part a lot.

So... basically Kujo is boring, not meant to be a leader type of guy. He could used the lift but instead opt to climb thousand staircases instead. I called that dumb. Victorique is smart (duh) but totally unsociable and Grevil got all the credits from her hardwork of solving cases, not that she mind but Kujo won't let it slide and took it upon himself to interfere with her life. I guess she was thankful for that since thanks to him, she got to experience the outside world now. And thus the trio were created and the story started.

Aoi Yuuki is definitely suited for Victorique role. She has done many similar characters before: Mina Tepes, Murasaki Kuhouin, Korone and Noel Kannagi to name a few (I was surprised to find out that she did Shinra). As for the other seiyuu, I'm not really familiar with any of them. That's another word for me to say that they are forgettable.

The ED is kinda dark and mysterious to match the theme of the show. After a few minutes, I realized that I can't remember how it sounds like. Same with the OP though I do remember the MV so it wasn't so bad I guess, just forgettable, like the seiyuus. LOL

My verdict for the first impressions is this: it was average at best. There's nothing really stands out about the characters, animation, story and sound. Having said that, if you want an anime to watch, this is a trillion times better than Rio: Rainbow Gate! I might watch this or might dropped it after few episodes. We'll see.

art & animation 6/10
story 6/10
characters 5/10
sound 5/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 6/10

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The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

I have watched the LQ because I was too damn impatient and never did regret my decision. Watching the HQ now, no words can describe how fucking awesome this movie is. Call me a biased fucker or whatever, but Haruhi and Kyon can never do no wrong in my eyes. No flaws, only pure bliss.

Having said that, after countless of rewatched, I found Kyon and Nagato's moments to be extremely dull.

Also they said that a picture worth a thousand words. This is so true for this review.


p/s: Just wanna say kudos to Sugita for a job well done. If he phailed, this movie would have phailed too because the entire movie is pretty much about Kyon doing the monologue.

art & animation 10/10
story 10/10
character 10/10
sound 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 10/10***

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Sword of the Stranger

Original story by Bones
Director: Masahiro Ando
Animation Director: Itou Yoshiyuki
Character Design: Saito Tsunenori
Art Director: Morikawa Atsushi
Art Design: Takeuchi Shiho
Screenplay: Fumihiko Takayama
Music: Naoki Sato

Less than 5 minutes in we already have awesome bloodfest that made me go BAM! whenever someone got killed (brutally I might add but oh so awesome). I knew then that I am going to like this film very much ^__^

And right I was. The actions are non-stop. I am smiling from ear-to-ear whenever a fight starts because it promises oh so freaking awesome fighting sequences and bloodfest.

I really like the art. The animation is freaking smooth it is definitely movie-like quality. What the heck am I saying? This is a movie! duh!! But like I said, because of the smooth animation, all the actions that follow are exceptional. As for the background, it is like water-colored painting-isque. Very pretty indeed. Gotta give props to the Art and Animation directors as well as the Art Design guy. They really did a good job.

Props for the character designs too. They did an excellent job. There are plenty of characters and they don't just stand there with a blank for a face. They all have their own characterizations, even for the extras. I won't go into details about the characters except for these three:

Kotarou

Meet Kotarou, the very bossy kid who is on the run from the Ming. With him is Tobimaru, his loyal dog. When Tobimaru was wounded with a poison weapon, Kotarou hired Nanashi and that is how they become attached to each other. He lived in Ming (China) two years prior and now the Mings are looking for him. For what reason? That would be too spoilerish >=3

Akage/ Akaoini/ Nanashi

oh hell yeah that is blood!

A former very skillful swordman who choose not to draw his sword again. Even though he carries one around, he tied his sword so it would be VERY difficult to draw it. He met Kotarou when he accidentally came across his hiding place and saved him when the Ming attacked. When he found out that Kotarou was taken by the Ming, he does not hesitates to rescue him. By the way, the reason he doesn't want to be a soldier anymore has something to do with his background. Aye, very awful indeed. Oh did I mention that he is actually a red head? *nosebleed*

Rarou

Rarou is part of the Ming mercenaries army of some sort. It was easy to recognize them since they wear the red cape. They are given the task to catch Kotarou. It has something to do with the Elixir of Immortality. Like many other skilled swordman, he always look for stronger opponent. So you pretty much can tell with who the epic battle would be. thehehe...

So what else did I miss. Oh yeah the story! I'm sure you can pretty much tell what the story is about by reading the characters' info so lets skip that part. Just know that the pace was great and they keep you guessing what is going on.

I have no complain whatsoever when it comes to the music scores. They were excellent. I remember mellowing when they played the calm music in the background and anxious as hell when it comes to the battle. They definitely play a part in setting up the mood for this movie.

You may have notice that there aren't that many screencap. That's because I was too busy drooling and spasm and squealing and FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE when I watched this. I have lost how many BAM! moments it had. Must be more than twenty, at least. Oh man, this is why I so love carnage. They promised a lot of bloodfest. Bloodfest is like... orgasm man. I just can't express with words what it does to my state of mind. Total bliss!

I watched this the second time to actually get the screencaps yet the same thing happened. It is only on the third try that I get all these screencaps, and I still got distracted. Aight, here are some of my favorite scenes. No bloodfest scene because a screencap won't do justice at how bloody awesome it was. I swear I got tears in my eyes. Oh man IT WAS BLOODY FUCKING AWESOME!

nothing says bonding like taking a pee together

They weren't doing waltz btw ^__^

I can't take my eyes off of Nanashi *nosebleed*

*ehem* So yeah, if carnage and bloodfest is your thing, don't fucking miss this.



Like Kara no Kyoukai 7, just 10 out of 10 will not do justice fort this movie. So it will get the extra stars.

art 10/10
story 10/10
sound 10/10
character 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 10/10***

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True Tears

"Because I gave my tears away"

That line made me a fan of this anime and of that character.

This anime is brewed with drama, angst, romance and cuteness. It would have been perfect if I am the kind of girl who loves the normal typical love story. I don't. Nevertheless I still love it. It reminds me of Clannad and Kanon, minus the comedy. There are several scenes that would make you cry a river.

There are three female leads who typically chase after one male lead. It might be considered as a harem but don't let that discourage you since it was well written. The anime takes a rather different approach in dealing with the multi-layer relationships and since they only have 3 females instead of >10, the relationship between the characters are intricate, fragile and well developed.


Throughout the episodes, you will see Shinichirou (the male protagonist) trying to choose between three different girls; Noe, Hiromi and Aiko. Noe is the odd girl whom he met at school. She is straight-forward and managed to pull that naievity persona without being overly cute and obnoxious. She is the catalyst for some of the important occurence in the anime. Hiromi is the girl Shinichiro has a crush on since childhood. She lives under the same roof and have to endure the sneerings from Shinichiro's mother. Aiko is the girlfriend of Shinichiro's best friend, Nobuse but in truth she gets together with Nobuse because she wants to get closer to Shinichiro. She, as far as Shinichirou is concern is not in the equations.

So like it said, the relationships are very complex.

There can be two outcomes for the ending of this anime. Either you love it or you hate it. I happened to be the later. I cried my eyes out watching the final episode of True Tears because I was so fucking disappointed and pissed beyond believe.

Before anyone asked why, let me just tell you that I is a Noe fan and totally hate the fucking whore Hiromi. But there was a consolation I guess with the near-missed incest ^_^

I approved of the incest, Noe. Forget about Shin-thefuckingwhore-chirou

oh yeah, before anyone flipped out, the reason I compared True Tears with the likes of Kanon and Clannad was because despite everything, I fucking hate the ending.

I love both the OP and ED of the series though. I love Eufonius so that is a given. Reflectia remains my all time theme of all time.



Art 9/10
Story 8/10
Character 8/10
Sound 9/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall 8/10

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Mobile Gundam SEED Destiny

I was just done crying.

No, I did not get my heart broken again.

Although in a way it might be…

Actually I was just done watching Gundam Seed Destiny (thank you FireDagger!)


I watched Mobile Suit Gundam but not really a fan of the series because at that time the characters weren’t as good looking as the Seed’s characters. Those who are close to me might have heard me mentioning my devotion to Athrun couple of years back. I can’t stop talking about him then. As years gone by, I thought I had grown out of it. Apparently I am not.

My devotion for him is actually doubled if not tripled.

Besides, this time around I am connected to the other characters as well. I might adore Shinn Asuka as much as I adore Athrun Zala. My heart also goes out for Lunamaria Hawke and Rey Za Burrel although Rey sometimes really ticked me off and tried my patience especially when he rallied Shinn against Athrun.

Athrun and Shinn are very similar in a way that both have a painful pass. Both of their parent/family died because of the war. Shinn is very much like Athrun in Gundam Seed. He’s Athrun’s younger version in Gundam Seed Destiny. The only different is their personalities.

I can understand why Shinn was so obsessed to defeat Orb. He was repeatedly betrayed by them although it was all a misunderstanding. Probably that is why I can relate to his character so well. I understand how it felt to be betrayed by the person you trust the most. You might lose all sense of justice if you are not careful and let the hatred consume you. That was what happened to Shinn. He fought for the sake of a peaceful world but at the same time he wanted to seek revenged for those he had lost. He was so damned confused most of the time. He needed people like Luna (or Athrun earlier on) to make he comes to his senses but Ray always managed to lured him back to confusion. I don’t blame Ray, he was used himself. Please note this though: however confused he is, he is so damn good when he is in Impulse/Destiny and fighting the enemy. He is way cooler than Athrun or Kira in that sense. Call him whatever you want, to me he is sincere and that is the most appealing thing about him.

Speaking of Ray and Luna… The three of them (including Shinn) in my opinion were mercifully used by Durandal to achieve his plan. They were deceived by Durandal who I must say a sweet-talker (because Athrun and I was deceived too!) to fight for him in order to create a world where all human’s DNA are predetermined so no war will break out in the future. His idea might be noble since it is to build a world that is peaceful, but he wants to play God and altered the characteristic of human being which is plain wrong. Captain Talia Gladis and the crew of Minerva were deceived too but as a soldier of war they have no choice but to follow orders. I must say that I respect every single one of the crew members that were on board of that Minerva.

Let’s get back to Athrun. What can I say except that this guy is so damn marvelous! He is a good friend, an excellent GUNDAM fighter, an awesome captain and a very considerate person. The only thing that I wish I could change about him is the fact that he likes Cagalli. No offense but Cagalli is just plain boring. However I do understand why there was chemistry between them. It was Cagalli who always steered him back to the right path in Gundam Seed. Thank God there is no romance between him and Cagalli in these episodes of Destiny (except when he leaved Cagalli to joined ZAFT). Hmm, I wonder what kind of relationship they will have after the war with Durandal end. Cagalli didn’t wear the ring Athrun gave her before he set off to war so that is a good sign… Heh, by now you might have notice the real reason why I dislike Cagalli right? It was because of pure jealousy. Hahaha!

Athrun bears the world problems on his shoulder and tries with his might to find the truth and fight for what he believes in. He does not take command for the sake of it and always trying to protect the people that he cared about even if they are on the opposite site.

Unlike Kira Yamoto.

Gundam lovers might have problem with the fact that I actually not a fan of Kira. He is the other hero of Gundam Seed, alongside Athrun, isn’t he?

I just think he is too virtuous and self-righteous not to mention a very selfish person. Some might argue that he is the best GUNDAM fighter but I think Shinn have surpassed him in that area. He always picked a fight with Athrun if they are not on the same page and never bother to listen to what Athrun had to explain which then make a certain situation worst. Let’s not forget the fact that he killed Nicol and then snatched away Lax, Athrun’s fiancé. Grr, I simply can not respect someone who would do such a thing to his best friend.

But Athrun is too good a friend and a person. That’s why he can forgive Kira for what he had done. Nice kan?

I am writing this because I am still got hang over from the Gundam dose. I am not satisfied with the way the Destiny ends. I want to know what happen to the characters although it is obvious that Orb will rule the world. I want to know with whom Athrun ends up with (hopefully not Cagalli) and how his life would be after the war. I also want to know if Shinn will ever recover from his painful pass and whether or not Luna can steer him to the right path. In fact I want to know everything! Am I greedy? Perhaps I am but you will too if you watch the series so do not pass any unnecessary judgment :oP

I must say, besides Bleach, this is the most intense anime I had watched so far even surpassing the first series of Gundam Seed. From the first episodes to it last, it was like riding a rollercoaster. This is the second anime (next to Bleach) that manage to make me cry. Now, with pride, I confessed that I am officially a Gundam freak. That is why it deserved a review.


Before I end this review, I need to mention how handsome and adorable Athrun and Shinn are (okay Kira too if you must)!! Memang tak boleh handle specially with Shinn’s red eyes. He is so damn good-looking! I am in love…

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