Shiki [Show]

Ahhhhh, the good old creepy horror show. I haven't watched one in a while.

Man, this show was creepy. 

Where do I start.

Shimizu Megumi is the one fashionable citizen in Sotoba, a quiet town snuggled in the mountains with only a population of 1300 people. She longs for the city, and has a terrible hatred for the town and it's people.

One day, just overnight, a strange family moves into the large castle on the hill, and after Megumi goes to visit them, she goes missing and becomes the first victim in a series of strange deaths. One by one, the towns people start falling ill and the doctor grows frantic to find the solution.

This was so, so creepy. I overall enjoyed it, but there was one thing I didn't like about the show.

I'm not a huge fan of the shows that tell you everything before hand, and then the show is just about the characters trying to figure it out. A few episodes in, it was pretty obvious who was responsible and what they were doing. However, it took the characters almost up to episode 20 to completely figure out what was going on. It was so obvious, you're sitting there pulling your hair like "JUST FIGURE IT OUT ALREADY." If they had figured it out sooner, the show might have been half it's length.

However, both the individual character designs and the music was great. There was only one character that really got on my nerves, but he was mostly a side character and you didn't see him that much anyways.

The OVERALL character design wasn't great, however. No two characters had a similar style, and it looked like every character was done by a different artist, almost. I liked all the individual designs. I liked the creepy family's design, Megumi's design, the doctor's design... however they overall didn't give off the feeling that they belonged in the same show. 

Overall, though, I really liked the show, and I would recommend it to anyone who's into the paranormal and creepy.

You can watch it for free, subbed, here. 

Madoka Magica [Show]

 Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
"Make a contract with me and become a magical girl!"
Hah. Hahaha. Hahahahahhaha. HAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA.
The main plot of Madoka Magica is that Madoka Kaname

runs into a weird strange cat thing

who tells her "make a contract with me, and become a magical girl!" He promises that in exchange for becoming a magical girl, he'll grant any wish she wants. And thus begins the adventures of the magical girls, savers of the world from evil witches.

I have to say, my favorite thing about the show was the cool witch worlds. Every witch has a sort of enclosed space where they live. The entire world, including the witches, have a stark animation difference. The whole world looks like it's created out of newspaper clippings, animated through stop-motion. Everything has a flat feel, except for the characters themselves. Here's a few examples (click on them to make them bigger):

In regards to who you should show this show to..... don't judge this show by it's cutesy cover. Netflix has it rated TV-14 and has it listed under "dark" and "ominous". It is indeed very dark, and gets dark very quickly. I'll post a few comments that were under Netflix's comment section:

"Madoka Magica may look cutesy and fun at first glance, but it's actually anything but that... This is a dark show, so showing this to an 11  year old girl is definitely not recommended, but to everyone else who is old and mature enough to handle it, I absolutely recommend it." 

"Don't be fooled by the childish/girlish looking designs, it's actually quite an adult show."

"I just got finished with the first episode and only gave it a shot because of the reviews I read. They're all going on about the fact that it may look like something a little girl would get into... it actually sin't- that the anime has a lot more mature content than some eleven year old could handle... There's the dark tone overlapping everything already and it's just really amazing... Now I advise to anyone who thinks this wouldn't be worth their time to give it a go." 

The whole comment section makes me laugh so hard. But I do indeed recommend it. I love it so much, and it really is worth it. 

You can watch it on Netflix either dubbed or subbed, or if you don't have Netflix, you can watch it for free subbed here. 

Summer 2014 Shows!

Whoooooo, Spring has been a wild ride! Sorry for the lack of posts, between finals and just barely keeping up with my Spring shows, I haven't had much time or motivation to post anything, really. But pretty soon I'm going to let out a mass production of posts on the completed shows I watched recently and the airing shows I've been following.
I've been currently following:
Soul Eater Not!
Irregular at Magic Highschool
Akuma no Riddle
No Game No Life
Tonari no Seki-kun
Mekakucity Actors
So expect some reviews on a few of those coming soon!

This Summer's expected anime is going to be pretty cooool.

Ao Haru Ride

Air date: July 8th

The popular Ao Haru Ride gets turned into an anime! I've always been fond of Shoujo manga, and I haven't read this one yet. I'm now regretting putting it off, though. Learn more about the show and watch the PV here. 

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Crystal

Release date: July 5th

Ugh.

UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Heichou agrees.

I can't decide if I want to watch this or not to be honest. I've always been against Sailor Moon cause it kind of put a bad light on most magical girl shows. It kind of set the standard and the stereotype for magical girl shows, and after it got super famous, it seemed like most magical girl shows felt like they had to copy Sailor Moon. 

HOWEVER.

The animation actually looks pretty good and the plot doesn't sound bad. I might watch it for a while and just see how it goes. Learn more about it and watch the PV here. 

Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus

Air date: July 11th

Another uuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Okay, I know I said this would be bad, but IT LOOKS SO GOOD, GUYS. 

It follows an arc from the actual manga WHICH IS GOOD, RIGHT. Like, they're not just coming up with material on-hand. 

I've always liked circus-themed things.

I've heard this story arc is really good from the manga-readers (I don't normally associate with the Black Butler fanbase cause they kinda scare me, but I thought I'd take a peek and see what they thought). And the animation seems a little improved from Black Butler II, but don't take my word for it. Learn more about it and watch the PV here. 

PSYCHO-PASS: New Edit Version

Air date: July 10th

I tried to start Psycho-Pass, but I wasn't a huge fan. I'm thinking the remake might be better, so I'll give it a shot. The original 22-episode series will be remade into 11 one-hour episodes. It will prequal the upcoming Psycho-Pass 2, coming in October of this year. Learn more about it and watch the PV here. 

Sword Art Online II: Gun Gale Online

Air date: July 5th

/VIOLENT SCREAMING.

I'm so exciteddddddddddddddd. Sword Art Online II: Gun Gale Online. What part of that doesn't sound totally and completely awesome. This is the one thing I'm totally looking forward to this summer. 

I'm told Kirito plays as a girl this time, which would also be more totally awesome. 

I just-

I don't even know what else to say anymore.

Learn more about it here, and watch the two PV's here and here. 

So that about wraps things up! I hope you're as excited as I am for the new shows coming this season! Stay tuned for a t o n of posts in regards to the Spring shows, and other already finished airing shows I've watched. 

Princess Jellyfish [Show]

WHOOO. MY FIRST ANIME SHOW POST IN A WHILE.

Alright, this one is Princess Jellyfish.

Okay, you see this girl? She's pretty, right?

WRONG

IT'S A GUY, BABY.

Although, he's actually kinda cute when he's not in drag. 

The main character is a girl named Tsukimi, who lives in a girl's-only apartment as an aspiring illustrator. She's a little awkward and shy, and is known for her love of Jellyfish. 

By accident, she lets Kuranosuke, who she thinks is a girl, crash on the floor of her room in the apartment after he helps her buy a Spotted Jelly at a nearby pet store. The next morning, she finds out otherwise, and struggles to keep the secret from the other girls in the apartment complex. Kuroanosuke demands to let him come over more often cause "the place is totally 20's retro!", so Tsukimi finally agrees as long as he stays in drag. 

The episodes consist of their adventures as she finds out that Kuroanosuke belongs to a wealthy family with a great influence in the political world. They also struggle to keep Kuroanosuke's identity as a guy a secret, in fear of the death punishment!

This really was a funny, funny show. However, the story didn't really end, which left me a little sad. But, overall, I really enjoyed it. There was also a lot of West Culture references that made it a lot of fun. And I'll admit it-

.....Kuranosuke makes a really cute girl. 

Another 0 [OVA]

Okay, this was really really cool.

So, I finished the Another OVA, and it was so cool.
The basic plot of Another, was that there was a girl named Misaki. She died, but since she was super popular, nobody wanted to believe it. So they went on pretending that she was there, and even arranged to have her desk put in the class picture at the end of the year. However, after the picture was taken, you could see Misaki still sitting at her desk, as if she never left. Spooooky, right?
Well the deal with the OVA was that it was "episode 0". It was the episode before episode one. Kind of the prequal. Misaki is the blue twin in the above picture (and the pink one in the below picture), and it kind of tells her story, how she died, and what she was like.
The cool thing about this was that most OVA's tend to do the continuation. Or "bonus material". Sometimes OVA's are placed afterward, sometimes they don't really go on the timeline at all. The Black Lagoon OVA sort of continued the story, but the Black Butler OVA was somewhere in the middle.
Another 0, was the before. The story that was never told.

Also, just another random thing.
I hate these dresses:

They're so uuuuggglyyyyyy.

Spring Arrivals! (And other important announcements)

So, I was finding some new animes to watch, and I found a few really epic-looking ones that are coming out in a few weeks, so I thought I'd share.

Mahouka Koukou no Resttousei 

(The Irregular at Magic High School)
Air date: April 6th

This one looks pretty good. It appears to be kind of like Modern Magic Made Easy meets Sword Art Online. Which, ya know, isn't a bad combination. Learn more about it and watch the PV here.

Akuma no Riddle

Air date: April 4th

This one looks REALLY GOOD. Apparentlyit'sayuri HOWEVER, SEE HOW AWESOME IT LOOKS. From the PV it doesn't look like an intense Yuri, just something like Black Rock Shooter (which I'm still refusing to believe is a Yuri so ssssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). Learn more about it and watch the PV here. 

Soul Eater Not!
Air date: April 9th

Okay, the deal with this one is a little more complicated.

I'm just gonna say you might be really really really really really disappointed with this, Soul Eater fans. The deal is that Soul Eater Not! sorta kinda a continuation of the manga. However, this one is different. I've read comments and articles saying that it's specifically classified as an ecchi (then again, Soul Eater kinda was too, tobehonest) and it'll mostly be fanservice. It also doesn't help that I don't think they've written past chapter 14 of the manga, so it'll probably have tonnnns of filler. 

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT SOUL EATER NOT! IS AN ECCHI AND WILL WATCH THE FIRST FEW EPISODES ANYWAYS, but I probably will be disappointed. However, I'm still really hyped for this, and I hope I'll get to see some old Soul Eater formula. Find out more about it and watch the PV here.

Black Butler III

No release date yet

More info

Guys, season three of Black Butler has been greenlit. 

CAN I JUST-

NO.

NO NO NO NO NO.

THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, GUYS.

AWESOME.

JUST-

NO.

Black Butler: Meh

Black Butler II: Bad

Black Butler III: TERRIBLE TERRIBLE IDEA

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA.

You know, what I bet it was all those Yaoi fangirls. 

Yup, blame the Yaoi fangirls.

Welllllllllll, anyways. That's all that really seemed good to me. Let me know if you find anything else that looks good, I'm always interested in new shows~!

Top 5 Anime Openings!

Okay, so I may or may not have watched some new things and am just too lazy to write reviews on them.

.....okay, yes I am.
I've recently finished the Another Ova 00, and I've rewatched all of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Posts on them soon.
BUUUUUT.

I decided to a "Top 5 Anime Openings" thing.
The deal was, it started out as 10, but I couldn't exactly think of 10 openings I really liked. So I narrowed it down to 5. (I actually picked out 6 but I couldn't find a video for the last one, so I guess it's 5).

#5: "What's Up People?!" By Maximum the Hormone [Death Note]

This only made number 5 because it's.... maybe a little too weird for me. Idk. It's pretty cool, though, and the song is hardcore for all you screamy metal fans. It is definitely unique and memorable, which is why it ended up on this list at all.

#4: "My Dearest" by Supercell [Guilty Crown]

This one has a rather cliche design, but it still made #4 because Supercell is flippin' amazing. Also, Inori is awesome, so. Okay, wait I have to give one more reason.... Okay, yes, the graphics are gorgeous and in super HD, it's a sight to behold.

#3: "Shiver" by The GazettE [Black Butler II]

Okaypleasedon'tkillme but I really really really REALLY did not like Black Butler II. EXCEPT FOR Alois Trancy. They should have made a series just about Alois Trancy. That would have made me happy. Anyways. The reason I really liked this opening was that they used the same opening song, but they alternated between two different animations, depending on who the episode was focused around. The first is Ciel's theme, the second is Alois's.

#2: "Red Fraction" and "Red Fraction [IO Drive Mix]" by Mell [Black Lagoon]

Okay, this theme song is so good I had to post both versions, I couldn't pick which one. The first one is from the original Black Lagoon series, both the seasons had the same one. For the OVA, Roberta's Blood Trail, they remixed the original song and made a new theme. Both of which are amazingggggaldkjfhasldkfjhasdf. The slow motion shots and the reflections in the metal of the gun and bullets just make me wanna be an animator more than anything.

#1: "Again" by YUI [Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]

My legit favorite theme song. For one, I own this whole album by YUI (It's called Green Garden POP, go check it out on Amazon for cheap moneys). For two, I just love how uniquely and differently they presented the characters, and even gave a little bit of the story away in a new and different way. They showed a little peek at the raw emotion that's in the series, and the song itself is just fantastic. My all-time favorite, with "Red Fraction" a close second.


So yeah, that's my top 5 favorite anime themes! Hopefully, I'll post soon on my thoughts on the Another OVA 00 and my rewatch of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Happy Valentines Day

So, in honor of Valentines Day, I thought I'd post a collection of funny anime Valentines Day cards.
I couldn't find many, but Funimation posted a lot. You can download the full print out thing for free here on their blog. The first five are my favorites out of their selection. The rest I found on Google images.

Happy Valentines Day!

Pandora Hearts [Show]

/SCREAMS.
/TABLE FLIP.
/PTERODACTYL NOISE.
........................
................
................................
...........
.........................
So I finished Pandora Hearts.

/Exasperated sighhhh.
So where do I begin.
Pandora Hearts is about a boy, named Oz Vessalius, who, after a strange event happens at his coming of age ceremony, gets pulled into a strange dimension called the "Abyss". He's rescued by a "chain" named Alice. These Chains range from simple monsters, to complex god-like creatures. Alice is known as the bloodstained rabbit, or B-Rabbit.

Aided by Alice,

Gil,

Sharon, and the ever clever Break,

Oz struggles to learn what happened while he was gone in the Abyss, and what happened 100 years ago at a large-scale disaster that was known as the "Tragedy of Sablier" where there was a huge massacre, right before the entire city disappeared into the Abyss.

One thing I really liked about the show was the whole Alice in Wonderland-esque feel to it all. There's a girl named Alice, a chain called the "Mad Hatter"...

And even a "Cheshire Cat"

Even the outfits were very Alice in Wonderland-esque, especially Echo's familiar blue and white.

But the ending-

Ugh.

Uuuuggghhhh.

asdkfuhawlfuihalsdufjhasdkjfhasdlfh

My emotions after finishing the last episode.

Don't get me wrong. It was good. It was better than good, it was amazing. 

BUT THAT ENDING, MAN.

U g h.

My ONLY problem was that there isn't a second season. Those 25 episodes are just enough to have you get your hopes up, then bashed to pieces by an angry giant panda as you realize there is no sequel. 

Anyways, this is post is already long enough. If you wanna watch it, it's on Best-Animes.tv. And despite the rage ending, I'd greatly recommend it.

[Insert Title Here]

(totally just figured out I can post a gif ehehhehehehehhehehe)

So I've had a lack of things to write about (as you can tell) so this is kind of an update post of stuff that I'm watching, things I will watch, and just random stuff I'm doing right now.

Recently I've been keeping up with Kill la Kill, which isn't great, but isn't bad either. It's on it's 16th episode, and the story is starting to get pretty interesting.

~

Started Chaos;Head, which is supposedly the "prequal" of Steins;Gate. Unfortunately, they're nothing the same. Plot-wise, it might be. But when it comes to character likability, humor, and design, it's not the same at all. I wouldn't say it isn't good so far, but it's definitely not the same.

~

I found there's an OVA for Another, which I watched while it was airing a while ago. It's really good, but definitaly very bloody. Although for a horror, it's got more plot than most horror shows do (i.e. Corpse Party, which was mostly put a bunch of kids in a room and have them get slaughtered various bloody ways). I've only seen the first 5 minutes of the OVA, but judging by the cover, I SHOULD NOT in ANY WAY trust those adorable little twins. Never. Ever.

~

Sorta kinda started Strike the Blood. I wasn't going to add it to this list because it took me 2 months to watch two episodes, but I feel like I should. It's not as great as it's expectation, and it feels (judging by the two episodes I saw) that there's more dinking around and chatting than actual action and plot building. 50% of the episode: "Oh, we should probably go do this thing and get rid of this bad guy, huh." Next 30%: Actually going and getting rid of the bad guy. Last 20%: "Well now that's done, now what."

~

Well, that's about it, really. I've been reading Bitou Lollipop, and when I run out of chapters, I might do a post. Other than that, there's really not much going on.