A blog about both old and new Anime and Manga.
Yup yup! I shall give you all a Kashimashi introduction! ^_^! An oldie you could say, but new to me. When I picked this up to read, all I knew was that it had 3 girls on the cover and therefore must contain some sort of yuri action. In some ways I was disapointed upon finding no hentai in the first 5 pages. But the story has me hooked @_@! Follow me as I delve into yet _another_ sex change story =_=.
Again, a double episode review. And why? I blame the week long university night party made at the city park, the beer and the lack of sleep I’ve been suffering from the abuse . But it’s just the typical life of a portuguese university student: Parties, drinking, anime and being girlfriendless.
This week we take a look at a recent entry, Lucky Star. Now for most people the OP is a delightful romp of kawaii girls running around spouting crazy-cute lyrics. As always when I first saw it alarm bells of Innuendo Alert went off in my brain and I ended up watching it at least 10 times searching for any panteh shots… =_= i’m cursed.
Continue reading ‘Weekly: Moments in OP History’
Why I’m making a joint ep 3-4 post instead of separate posts? : 1) the 2 episodes makes sense being together 2) Allows for me to use less images to in a post 3) pure lazyness to blog ep 3 :3
Oh, and look! I got a new Author Avatar plugin…
Episode 2 made me realize 2 things: one, as I suspected the OP is growing into me; and two, Clare has short hair. ( My turn on is short hair girls, as the poor guys of AB.net unfortunely know…), so she makes my new Moe target.
Continue reading ‘Claymore Ep 2: Black Card (No this ain’t gonna turn into Yu-Gi-Oh)’
Haruhi Fujioka is a exception in Ouran High School, the private school for the kids of rich or influent families. Being not any of those two, Haruhi was given entrance due to high grades sucess. One day , while trying to find a quiet to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Ouran Host Club: a bunch of good looking guys who provide entertainment and charm girls for profit. Tamaki Suou, the prince type; Kyouya Ootori, the cool type; Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the devil twin type; Mitsukuni “Hunny” Haninozuka, the loli-shota type and Takashi “Mori” Morinozuka, the Wild type. 
After being dazed by the looks of this peculiar group, Haruhi breaks a vase worth 8 million yens. Haruhi was forced then to work for the Host club. But later was added as a Host member itself and included in the Natural type with good sucess.After an accident with a jealous client of Tamaki, he finds out that Haruhi is in fact a girl! ( a detail every Host Club member had already realized before Tamaki.)
From that point, the manga revolves around the relation between Haruhi and the Host Club menbers, their personal stories and their expectations for the future.
Plotwise, the manga is the reverse harem kind, where the guys will get romanticaly involved with the main girl. but as I referenced before , there are a lot of focus on the side stories of each Club member. 
Also, the fact of Haruhi being a reverse trap (but not on purpose.) leads to several comedical situations. in terms of art and drawing, the style reveals its origins: the author is Bisco Hatori, a female manga artist who publishes in the Lala magazine (a shojo manga magazine directed to teenage girls.) so the charactes have efeminated traces and details.
I was first lead to this manga (and anime by default) when someone asked for an example of reverse trap. Attracted by the looks of the main character, decided to read it and I’m not regreted that I did. Ouran School is a good light romance/comedy manga who has conquered a niche on my gallery of works to remember.
Gungrave is a Anime based on a Ps2 game with the same name who had character design made by Yasuhiro Nightow (same guy behind Trigun).
The Anime is split in two parts; The first one tells the story of Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowel, 2 small time crooks and childhood friends, and how the joined the criminal organization , Millennion ( the mafia that controls the entire city). Brandon joins so he could be near his beloved, Maria , who had moved up to live with Millennion’s founder and commander, Big Daddy; Harry joins so he could raise up in life and become an important man. during the anime, we see the bond between this 2 men and how they raise up inside the Organization: Brandon as a elite hitman and Harry as a top member. After a series of events, where Harry gets more and more power hungry, and Brandon gives up on Maria to Big Daddy, Harry asks Brandon to betray Big Daddy and get control of Millennion together. Having refused it, Harry kills Brandon.
The second part happens 13 yeas later: For the sake of protecting Maria, Big Daddy and their daugther Mika, Brandon was brought back to life by Dr. Tokioka, a scientist who was working for Millenion. Now renamed as Beyond The Grave and with vague memories of his past, the only thing he cares now is protect Mika and destroy both Millenium and the man who betrayed him, “Bloody” Harry.
This anime has a very slow pace: with the jazz soundtrack and the ganster enviroment, we are taken through the animated adaptation of “Godfather” at a pace most viewers aren’t used to. Another thing to be taken in account is the various similar trends between Gungrave and Trigun: from the guns Grave uses , some character similarities (like Bunji reminding Nicholas Wolfwood.) and even the existance of tomases (which lead to several rumors that Gungrave happens in the same planet of Trigun, several centuries after.)
The really strong points is the character developments. The creators have focused on explain the motives of every characters and their way of seeing life even if it lead tho less action scenes than normal. It’s a very drama filled plot, where the characters (specially Brandon) suffer until the end, giving a unique tone to the whole Anime. In terms of animation itself, the show lacks quality, often giving the impression the studios were short on budget. Not even the fairly made CG’s help much to improve the overall look.
Gungrave had all to be a excellent Anime, but the flaws crippled it , giving it the status of underdog. If you like mafia movies and drama filled stories, it’s a great show if you ignore the defects. But if you are more into action-filled flicks, this ain’t for you.
One thing needs to be explained before we start the review: when the manga was published in the U.S.A. , the guys from Viz changed several of the key names including the title (was renamed to Battle Angel Alita ) and the main character ( from Gally it was translated to Alita). The names I use are the original ones that are used in the Japanese and European editions.The good part is it made me learn French so I could read the Glénat edition.
Gunmm is a manga created by Yukito Kishiro , who counts the story of Gally, an amnesiac female cyborg. She is found in the middle of the scrap with her head and upper torso intact by Daisuke Ido, a cbybermedic expert. Living with Ido and without memory of her past , she learns how to survive in Scrapyard, a place full of violence and death and represents the cyberpunk hell Earth has transformed into. all life there is dominated by the omnipotent floating city, Zalem.
After a series of events , Gally fighting insticts come back and it’s found that she is a fighting expert of Panzer Kunst, the ultimate humanoid cyborg martial art developed in Mars. Following Ido , she turns into a Hunter-Warrior and begins a quest to find her true identity.
The characters are extremely well developed, including the villians, giving them a unique human feel into them. The drawing is very detailed , with a special attention on face and body expressions. Most of the times you can can understand how the character feels just by looking at him. Another strong part are the fighting sequences: well choreographed and presented, with a great expression of speed, specially on the Motorball arc of the story.
One minor setback is the gore of some kills. Although it fits well in the cyberpunk enviroment, it may draw some readers away. Another flaw are the latest 2 volumes. Yukito Kishiro , at the time , was extremely sick and had to prematurely end the manga, giving it a rushed up ending.
Unhappy with the result, he tried to continue the plot with 3 short stories and a Ps1 game. Finaly, in 2001 , he was able to release the sequel Gunnm: Last Order, which ocurred some events in Gunnm not being canon (specially the part after the Granite Inn events).
Gunnm was one of my first mangas I’ve ever read, so it holds a special place in my preferences. But I find it odd Gunn hasn’t had any anime adaptation so far, only having 2 OVA’s made. In the future, with the promise of George Cameron wanting to make a Live action film out of it, Gunnm will have the anime it deserves.
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