BEST Anime of 2009

Now it’s time for my last post of the year and I’ll be using it to list down my ten lists concerning anime. Enjoy!


BEST Anime of 2009

1) Bakemonogatari

“Best Dialogue and Direction”

2) Darker than Back: Ryuusei no Gemini

“The coolest fights and powers”

3) Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~

“Deadly Entertaining”

4) GA Geijitsuka Art Design Class

“It’s Lucky Star on High with Art”

5) Sengoku Basara

“Super GAR Samurai Show with powers”

6) Birdy the Mighty Decode 02

“One of the best character driven series I've seen”

7) Eden of the East

“Great plot and epic finale”

8) Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu 2009

“Best Troll Ever!”

9) Shikabane Hime Kuro

“Best Antagonists”

10) Seitokai no Ichizon

“Loads great references”

BEST Beginning

1) Eden of the East – “Naked man in front of the house with revolver. LOL”
2) Bakemonogatari – “One second panty shot countdown in slow motion + Senjogahara Stationary War”
3) Canaan – “Gun-Fu!”


BEST Finale

1) Bakemonogatari – “Easily the most romantic scenes I’ve seen this year.”
2) Eden of the East – “BANG!”
3) GA Geijitsuka Art Design – “Yaminabe is such an awesome thing, I must try it. Hehehehe.”


BEST Anime OP

1) Bakemonogatari 5th OP - Renai Circulation

“Too damn cute!!”

2) Eden of the East - Falling Down

“Coolest Spoiler OP featuring Kinetic Typography”

3) Pandora Hearts - Parallel Hearts

“Very fitting melody”

4) Umineko no Naku Koro Ni – La Divina Tragedia ~Makyoku~

“Awesome latin chanting!”

5) Tower of Druaga ~ Sword of Uruk~ – Questions?

“Great plot teaser with catchy music”

BEST Anime ED

1) Bakemonogatari – Kimi no Shiranaimonogatari

“SUPERCELL does really good work”

2) Gundam 00 – Trust You

“Beautiful and hints at the originally planned ending”

3) K-On! - Don’t Say Lazy

“Best Rock Song”

4) Cencoroll – Love & Roll

“Great rhythm”

5) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo – Espacio

"Highly soothing”

BEST Soundtracks

1) Darker Than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini “Lots of awesome Hip-Hop and Techno”
2) Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ “Ranges from sad sorrow to fast paced action themes”
3) Birdy The Mighty Decode 02 “Captures the characters and mood perfectly”


Favorite Characters

1) GA Geijitsuka Art Design - Noda Miki

“The Alchemist of Darkness”

2) Bakemonogatari – Hanekawa Tsubasa

“I don’t everything. Only things I know.”

3) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo – Leopard

“Soul Shout!!”

BEST Manga I’ve picked up this year

1) Pluto
2) Team Medical Dragon
3) Shinseiki Evangelion
4) Hoshi no Samidare
5) Yotsubato
6) 20th Century Boys
7) Goodnight Punpun
8) Kieli
9) Stray Little Devil
10) Beelzebub


BEST Ongoing Shonen Manga

1) One Piece
2) Fullmetal Alchemist
3) Nurarihyon no Mago
4) Kekkaishi
5) The World God Only Knows
6) Beelzebub
7) Karakuri Douji Ultimo
8) To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
9) Psyren
10) Mahou Sensei Negima


Biggest Cop Outs of the year

1) Naruto Vs. Pain Arc where everyone who dies comes back from the dead. You have no balls Kishimoto! NO BALLS!!
2) The Disappearance of The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi arc in Haruhi 2009. The movie is coming but I was really hyped up about that novel in the anime.
3) Not showing the final battle of Shikabane Hime Kuro featuring Hokuto vs. Makina. Goddamnit!
4) Tower of Druaga could have been an epic RPG based anime if it weren’t for the Neeba ending
5) Munto’s ending. What happened KyoAni? It was going so well too.

*Not Anime Related* Sylar Vs Petrelli Brothers. For that matter the entire 4th Volume of Heroes.


SPECIAL MENTIONS

A) Needless – Stupidest (In a so bad it’s good kind of way) manga and anime of the year
B) Hatsune Miku Project DIVA– Most addictive game I’ve played. I went through all the songs at least 5 times to unlock stuff.
C) Evangelion Re-Take – Best doujinshi I’ve read and I just read it yesterday, t’was amazing.
D) Jack Rakan of Mahou Sensei Negima – Best nickname, “The guy you could stab swords into all you want but it still won’t do a thing damnit!”
E) Mahou Sensei Negima – BEST YURI SCENE! Konoka & Setsuna’s pactio scene. HELL YEAH!!
F) Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ 2nd OP - Most WTF OP. In context that is. It was really big shock when I first watched the OP.

That's it for my last post of 2009. Let's hope the next year will be even better.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Movie Review: Avatar

It's been a while since I've done a movie review even though I meant to write one up for Ninja Assassin but events conspired to keep me busy. I’ll just say that I felt sleepy 30 minutes into the movie and it didn’t let up until maybe the last 10 minutes or so. The action scenes were brutal but also narmy and silly 70% of the time and the story was deeply disappointing and unoriginal. The fact that I finished up my popcorn in the first 20 minutes should tell you how dull the entire thing was.

In any case my review this time is not about Ninja Assassin but actually about James Cameron’s Avatar which I’ve read to have disappointed by a critic featured in my local newspaper. Have no idea who the guy was but on what basis do these so called professionals judge the movies they watch because there was no way we were watching the same movie if you go by that guy’s review. Basically, Avatar was downright awesome and critics are basically anti-popular. I just can’t see how they find District 9 to be a masterpiece while I found it to be a good film but not that good.

Avatar runs for about 2 hours and 45 minutes long and is set in the fantastic world of Pandora, a lush green planet filled with more or less living plants with the dominant race being a population of giant blue tribesman called Na’vi that live as one with their environment. Humans have come to mine a rare material called Unobtainium(I remember this being mentioned sarcastically on several TV Trope entries) and that they are at the brink of war with the locals. This is where the Avatars, synthetic remote controlled Na’vi, are brought in to find a way to make peace with the tribesman by trying to see their world through their eyes.

The main character is a marine named Jake Sully who’s paralyzed from the waist down and after the death of his brother, he took his chance to find a way to start walking again. The circumstances of him being brought into the Avatar project however initially puts him at odds with the scientists running it while the businessmen and mercenaries want him to report any information they can use to them which we all know means trouble eventually.

While the story is a rehash of a plot that’s been done since the black and white era of films, the real treasure here is the ideas that go into it. The world of Avatar is just so god damn amazing and vibrant that just seeing all of the giant trees, flying mountains and rpg-esque monsters make the whole thing worth it. All the scenery porn they gave us in there was only made better by the fact that they did a very good job of blending in the real stuff with the CG. I couldn’t even tell the difference between what was CG and what real with my eyes even though I knew what just couldn’t be real.

There’s also quite a surprising amount of room for humor between all the action and adventure they put in. I myself couldn’t help chuckling whenever Neytiri of the Na’vi talked since she sounded like a cross between a cat and a pissed off girl. A lot of it came from how different the Na’vi’s culture was and would probably be racist if they were real. There was also a whole lot of subtext in there that was pretty obvious like the go green message but thankfully it doesn’t get in the way of the enjoyment.

Like I said, the story isn’t anything new but the director managed to execute all the right scenes in all the right ways. He obviously knows what people want to see in a big budget sci-fi CG movie and that’s a massive all out battle involving giant robots and weird monsters. The entire final battle was spectacular but my favorite part was the epic knife-fight between Jake and the Colonel. Do not underestimate how awesome a knife-fight can be, especially when the knives in question are giant hunks of metal made for the huge battle armors the human side have.

It’s been a long time since I watched a movie that absorbed me right into the experience and I have to praise Avatar for being able to do that. This is absolutely a movie you’ll want to catch in the cinema and not on DVD or even Blu-Ray to which I’m expecting very high sales for. It seems they’ve also got sequels planned for the future and with any luck they’ll be just as epic as this one was.

I’ve got plans to watch Sherlock Holmes this Wednesday so look forward to a review maybe a few days after. I’ve also got a year end post planned to set off at midnight on the 31st so look forward to that too.

Manga Review: Today’s Asuka Show

Title: Today’s Asuka Show
Author: Taishi Mori
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: A
Action: B

Impression: Surprisingly enough this is a slice of life manga centered on an airheaded girl named Kyouno Asuka(Which can be read as “Today’s Asuka”) who in one way or another provides fanservice to the people around her. Basically it’s a manga about fanservice which is quite a novelty if you ask me. I actually think of it as alternate teenage version of Yotsubato. Each chapter touches upon one particular act of fanservice starting with a favorite staple of the otaku masses, パンチラ (Panchira) or panty shots. If an ecchi manga doesn’t have at least every chapter then it’s not an ecchi manga. This reminds me last season’s Shangri-la where GONZO actively found ways to avoid panchira in the scenes that normally calls for it and that for some reason the AmiAmi web shop offers shimapan under its costumes section – I don’t know whether to call that marketing decision misguided or ingenious. In spite of the subject matter of the chapters, I wouldn’t call it an ecchi manga since the fanservice offered is usually presented as tasteful jabs at the people who appreciate it. This particular manga will appeal a lot to those who are no less than savvy in the matters of fanservice.

Manga Review: Solanin

Title: Solanin
Author: Asano Inio
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Seinen, Slice of Life
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: S
Characters: S
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This another one of Asano Inio's works focusing on characters in a realistic setting in Tokyo. These characters in particular are at the points in their lives where they're wondering what exactly they're doing and how they got there while trying to figure out how they can move on from that. The main theme of this particular work is moving on actually an it really does capture it perfectly with its charming story and its silly and lovable characters. It has a lighthearted atmosphere about it throughout the series, even during the usually mood-killing development thanks to the little quirks displayed by the characters and yet it still manages to drive the impact on the events home. This is a wonderful read that I do recommend to others.

Manga Review: Maken-Ki

Title: Maken-ki
Author: Takeda Hiromitsu
Release: Ongoing
Status: Monthly
Genre: Shonen, Romance, Comedy
Art: C
Originality: C
Story: D
Characters: D
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a guy who goes to a private academy where the students are given weapons called Maken which are based on the original eight sets from the legend of the orochi in this manga’s world. Frankly I just don’t like this manga. The art looks messy, the fanservice scenes are overdone, the plot is dull and unoriginal, the characters are clichéd and the author keeps missing chances to pull out reveals at the right time and in the right ways. I really can’t see anyone other than a n00b who would like this manga.

Manga Review: Itsudatte My Santa

Title: Itsudatte My Santa
Author: Ken Akamatsu
Release: Oneshot
Status: Finished
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is one of Ken Akamatsu’s older works which features a guy named Santa and the granddaughter of the jolly old man in red, Mai. Mai is trying to make Santa’s Christmas a joyous occasion unlike all the previous occasions when Christmas and Santa’s birthday coincide. It’s predictable by today’s standards but it’s still got a good bit of charm to it thanks to Akamatsu-sensei’s talent at making feel good manga. Go ahead and find it in commemoration of this yearly occasion.

In any case, a Merry Christmas to all those that celebrate the holiday and an advance warning to some of people I know as I may follow in Santa’s footsteps and sneak into your houses since I have the means to do that this year. My presents will involve duct tape, permanent markers, PVC glue, whip cream, toilet paper, a sickeningly sweet aerosol spray, and a digital camera. This will truly be a test of my stealth and parkour skills.

Manga Review: Onani Master Kurosawa

Title: Onani Master Kurosawa
Author: Ise Katasura, Yoko
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Seinen, Psychological, Slice of Life
Art: C
Originality: A
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: A
Action: B

Impression: This is about the school life of a guy who masturbates in the girls’ bathroom everyday as part of his daily routine hence the title which means Masturbation Master Kurosawa which is a very squicky title. If you aren’t the least bit discouraged by the title then you probably have a very depraved mind or you don’t have that much of a Japanese vocabulary since most sources prefer to keep in the Japanese title for obvious reasons. Despite that particularly creepy aspect of the main character, the story and characters in this manga are actually quite complex. It delves into the psychological and social problems that teenagers face and the ways they cope with them. The art sure makes it seem half-assed at first but gives the manga this unique style that works wonderfully. I’m actually a little bit thankful that the art isn’t that detailed considering some of the scenes in here.

Manga Review: Otome no Iroha

Title: Otome no Iroha
Author: Mikage
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Gender Bender, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a pair of twin siblings whose mannerisms are not atypical of their gender opposites who are moving into their grandparents house for the convenience of their commute to their new school. Their meddlesome magical grandmother however switches their genders around to match their personalities so the girly guy becomes a girly girl and the tomboy becomes a boy. In order to fix this predicament brought about by their matriarch, the two must behave appropriately in accordance with the gender that they were born with to reverse the sudden metamorphosis. With only a paltry five chapters to this series, what could have been a very entertaining gender bender series was cut short leaving readers with the taste of a oneshot rather than a short series.

Incidentally, my vocabulary seems to undergo a drastic improvement whenever I get sleepy, hence my unusually eloquent review for this particular article. I notice that I exhibit the peak of my various talents when I do not focus on anything at all. A strange quirk, isn’t it?

Manga Review: Gamble Fish

Title: Gamble Fish
Author: Aoyama Hiromi, Yamane Kazutoshi
Release: Weekly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen
Art: C
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a young man who comes to a prestigious private boarding school in order to gamble his way from 100 yen to his target sum of 10,000,000,000 yen in a month’s time. Even you try doubling that up in every single day for a month, you’d still need a couple more days to get the target amount so don’t expect the doubling up idea I thought it’d go for. Anyway I do enjoy playing these gambling games myself sans the actual money of course so I find the clever games these types of manga go for to be very interesting. However, gamble fish takes some of these games overboard to the point where the exciting thrill of the games becomes narmy and far less interesting. The scenes themselves still manage to retain their suspense but it ruins my desire to watch the games go on from that point.

Manga Review: Akazukin Eliza

Title: Akazukin Eliza
Author: Kano Yasuhiro
Release: Oneshot
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: C
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is a oneshot done by Mx0’s author Kano Yasuhiro which seems to have been released before Loop and focuses on ecchi part of his repertoire. It’s basically a short story very loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood that involves an overprotective and overly buffed up grandmother, her highly attractive granddaughter and the guy who’s come along with a grotesque gigantic poison eating worm. It’s not exactly him at his best in terms of storytelling but ecchi fans will probably praise him for the fanservice.

Manga Review: Blust

Title: Blust
Author: Yusuke Murata
Release: Oneshot
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Sci-Fi
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This story features a young mercenary who has undergone some mad experiments and come out alive with curry-powered nuclear blasting hands. Yes, nuclear energy somehow comes from curry in this story. This is a oneshot by the artist behind the Eyeshield21 manga and it was done during while it was still being serialized. By the time it was published however, the manga was getting too damn repetitive even though it was on its last few chapters. I liked Eyeshield21 up till the Christmas bowl but everything after that was simply staleness being recycled over and over again. That’s why it was completely refreshing to see that they were still able to come up with a oneshot as good as this. The dynamic art style is perfect for battle scenes and based on the great mix of humor, plot and action I found in here, these guys could come up with a really good shonen battle manga in the future. I’m hoping that it’ll happen soon.

Manga Review: Alive!

Title: Alive!
Author: Takahashi Tsutomu
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Seinen, Horror, Psychological
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a man who was on death row but got the chance to stay alive by accepting a deal to join an experiment. What he finds there is an experience that forces him to deal with the ugliness people are capable of. The artwork really works wonders with the story as the author manages to convey the intense emotions felt by the characters along with the dark and grimy setting of the experiment perfectly. I didn’t really like how the mystical elements were worked into the story but I guess they served their purpose in bringing out more of the characters’ personalities. If you like dark and gritty stories then you’ll probably like this a lot.

Manga Review: Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~

Title: Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
Author: Akahori Satoru, Katsura Yukimaru
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Gender Bender, Yuri
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This manga revolves around a guy who gets turned into a girl after dying in an accident caused by an alien from another planet. After turning into a girl the main character becomes more and more romantically involved with two girls, one a childhood friend and the other being the girl he admired as a guy. Basically it’s a love triangle powered by yuri with an alien part of the plot. It certainly had plenty of good things about it but there are some ideas here and there that I just found odd like the reason why the crush couldn’t bring herself to like the main character as a guy. Some of the jokes were actually pretty funny at times but that didn’t happen often enough for me to give it an “A” rating there. It’s filled with a lot yuri fluff so yuri fans will love this but there are times where the characters act annoyingly stupid but that’s to be expected with love triangles.

Manga Review: Birthday

Title: Birthday
Author: Tanabe Yellow
Release: Oneshot
Status: Finished
Genre: Comedy
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: A
Action: B

Impression: This is a oneshot that the author of Kekkaishi came up with and it features a young boy with a set of rather eccentric parents. The parents come up with a rather interesting gift to give the boy for his birthday and they think it will help him achieve his childhood dreams of being a superhero. My reaction? One “word” – LOL. Tanabe Yellow has a rather creative imagination and I would have loved to see a series with the same plot. The mangaka also seems to have some knowledge concerning cakes considering how elaborate the cakes that show up in his works have been. Hopefully the guy does a comedy series after he’s done with Kekkaishi.

Manga Review: Wings of Vendemiare

Title: Wings of Vendemiare
Author: Mohiro Kitoh
Release: Oneshots
Status: Finished
Genre: Seinen, Fantasy
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: These are a series of oneshots featuring an artificial being made of wood made to look like an angel who in most cases are named Vendemiare. At times these stories can be a bit disturbing given the nature of the plot of some of the chapters but in all of them there’s some sort of moral he’s trying to tell through them. A few of these give a hopeful message despite the usually tragic circumstances that befall the Vendemiares. It’s not the best of the guy’s works and one of the chapters do show how unsuited the author’s style is unsuitable for fight scenes but it’s still a decent read.

Manga Review: Owari to Hajimari no Miles

Title: Owari to Hajimari no Miles
Author: Mohiro Kitoh
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural
Art: B
Originality: S+
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: A
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a girl who purifies objects spiritual bodies of objects in the human world that float up to the land of the people in the sky and her partner, the highly lecherous avatar of what seems to be the World War II Japanese Battleship, “Yamato”… Yeah, it really does sound like something someone would come up with when they’re high and yet it’s a very interesting manga with great characters, an amazing concept and surprisingly enough a laugh out loud level of humor. Mohiro Kitoh may be one of my favourite mangaka but humor is the last thing I’d expect him to excel at – this is the guy who did Bokurano AND Naru Taru for pete’s sake. Sure, the jokes are a bit dark but I’m a guy with a twisted sense of humor and the jokes really do get to me. I’ve only read the eleven scanlated chapters out already which for some reason cannot be read properly by ACDSee but this manga has some of Mohiro Kitoh’s most endearing and amusing characters. There’s still a chance for this turn into an incredible mindscrew story but the guy could also turn this into a spectacularly moving story that doesn’t end up scarring his readers which is something I’d like to see because his track record speaks for itself.

Review: Figma Emiya Shirou

Now it’s time for me to review my newest figma which is the 7th one in my collection and the first male one too. As usual, I bought it at Hobbysearch for 2533 yen which is roughly B$40 and comes in the regular sized box.

Front View

Side View

Top View

Other Side

Rear View

Type-moon Holo Stamp

Berserker's Blade was placed behind Shirou

This Figma comes with:

• 1 Saber’s Dream Background
• 4 pairs of hands (Fist, Holding, Spread out and Reaching types)
• 1 Kanshou Sword
• 1 Bakuya Sword
• 1 Serious Face
• 1 Enraged Face
• 1 Archer’s Arm
• 1 Berserker’s Sword
• 1 Figma Stand
• 2 Instruction Leaflets

How to replace Shirou's arm

How to insert the Figma stand into Shirou's back. Unusually elaborate mechanism.

All eight hands

Usually figmas come with at least 5 pairs of hands but for some reason they decided not to give Shirou another set. This isn’t really too much of a drawback but it does make me wonder why they didn’t fill up the last pair. Also, the holding hands can easily fit my 1/144 Gundams’ weapons along with the other accessories I have for my figmas and Revoltech Saber.

The two faces of Shirou

This figma looks pretty good and I can’t really find much fault in its design. Wished they gave a relaxed face instead of the serious one they gave though. The enraged expression looks great but the serious face doesn’t look right in battle poses and feels out of place in funny poses.

Archer's arm

The weapons that Shirou comes with are quite remarkable. The designers did an amazing job with Kanshou and Bakuya blades. Unfortunately I was unable to get a good close up pictures of either because of how macro works in automatic cameras but just take my word for it when I say that they were made spectacularly. Berserker’s sword comes stored in its own plastic packaging separate from the other stuff due to its size. It’s not as well made since you can see seams where the different parts of the sword are connected.

Kanshou & Bakuya. Magnificent!

Berserker's Sword. It's even bigger than Shirou.

I would have liked a UBW background but maybe they're saving it for you-know-who

Battle Ready

Very nice pose here

Sword's Peg

Arm's Slot

Ghostly Arm

Shirou’s got the most stable footing out of all the figmas I have so you don’t really need the figma stand except for when he’s holding onto heavy stuff. The need for heating the back slot is also quite cumbersome so chances are I won’t ever be relying on the simple peg figma stands to hold him up (Thank god for di:stages). Articulation is decent but there is limited range for moving the arms upwards and I can’t bend either arms towards to other one fully to make a grabbing the shoulder pose which really should be in there too considering the circumstances behind Archer’s arm. The way the joints are designed make this figma optimized for battle poses so it’s not easy to make him pose for any other purpose.

Heavenly Feel Conditions!

Snug Fit

BFG! It's seriously a BFG!

Impossible to balance without a stand

The most interesting thing about this figma is the extra arm they gave to reenact Shirou performing Nine Lives Blade Works from the Heavenly Feel scenario. I didn’t realize that figma arms can pop out like Revoltechs but given my other figmas there’s no motivation for me to try that out them. The arm can also be attached to the figma stand pegs so you can have a severed arm “hanging” in the air. The left shoulder is made in such a way that when you attach Archer’s arm on, the shirt section there wraps around arm in such a way that it hides the gap between the body and the arm. This is the only arm that can hold Berserker’s sword by the way since there’s a hole made to fit the peg on the sword on the palm of this arm. Additionally, the red cloth on the arm can be rotated around for posing.

Trace...

...On!

Excalibur!

Bardiche Zanbato mode!

Bardiche...

Scythe Form!

Leek!

Leek Ver. 2

Akimbo!

Nerai Utsu!

Best pic yet!

A Truly GAR pose!

That’s it for my review on Figma Emiya Shirou and here’s hoping that I’ll be able to get that new MG GN-X that’s coming out soon and that Max Factory will come up with Archer’s or Gilgamesh’s Figmas.