I’m back!

So, I had almost forgot about that anime blog I have in the past few months… In fact, I didn’t really watched any anime at all in the winter and spring season, since none of them really appealled to me. But, for some reasons, I’ve recently re-started to watch some anime, and watching them I really really wanted to post something about what I was thinking while watching them. Argh, and there I was, thinking I was getting too old for these kind of thing! No, and since during the summer I have a lot more free time than during the year, I hope to be able to blog about a few anime.

In fact, what re-hooked me to animes was Shingeki no Kyojin… I was seeing this title everywhere on the internet (ok, mostly Tumblr…) and was pretty curious… so I watched the 13 first episodes in a few days (but why did they put a recap episode, is the question… WHY!) And then, the first episode of Free! was on and I had to watch it (common, guys without shirt swimming and being hot…), and then the first Dangan Ronpa episode, and f*ck… I was on again. So, I hope to be able to post a few thing a week… Or I’ll simply forget and basta, that’ll be it. And to finish this, a little eye0candy:

Redline -Fast and Furious can go to hell!

A distant future, a 70′ looks bad boy leads and his sexy-smart love interest, a cyborg dictatorship, and a free for all speed race in another galaxy: take all this, mix it with splendid graphic and you’ll get the winning formula that makes Redline an unforgettable movie with a feast for the eyes.

Redline is a 2010 movie (or is it 2009?) made by Madhouse, which brought many good animes productions. It took seven years to makes, but all that time wasn’t wasted at all: the production value is incredible! The graphics are absolutely stunning and makes you wish for more. But first thing first, let’s start with the summary.

JP is a street racer, and a good one – a speed junky who targets the top. He is choosen to participate into the biggest race of the universe, the Red Line, where the best of them all compete in a race where everything is permitted. One of the competitor is Sonoshee, a cute smart punkish lady who gets in JP’s eye. But the Redline competition is held in Robotworld, where the government is against the competition and will do anything to destroy anyone participating in it. Up against all, with the help of his mechano Frisbee, JP will bet it all to win the race… and Sonoshee’s heart.

Story: The story is the weak spot of this movie. Don’t get me wrong: weak spot is a relative words, it’s just that if you compare to the others aspects,it’s the weakest. Not that it isn’t a good story, but it’s something we got to see a few times. In this case, it works pretty well and the movie goes on smooth and fast. The movie starts with a bang: the Yellow line race and ends with a bang, the Red line race. Between these two, the interaction between the characters is the most interesting part. I really liked how they built the relationship between JP and Sonoshee, and how they presented the sides characters. Only real complaint: the ending was a bit cut short, so they could have wrapped it a bit more nicely.

Story: 8 on 10

Characters:  The characters are awesome. Seriously, awesome. For a movie, they are really well developed and the protagonists are easy to love. The viewer is brought to genuinely care about them and by the end, you want them to win. Even if they are based on clichés, they get a  life of their own and get’s away from the “generic anime character”. Even the secondairy characters are interesting and original. This movie really made them come to life on the screen.

Characters: 8.5 on 10

Graphic and animation: One of the selling point of this movie: the amazing graphics and the stunning animation. It took seven years to makes it and it worth it. Everything is well made, but there’s also a little plus of funky effects and cool camera angles. The movie is far from the usual anime standards and this is for the better. Every scene, every plan looks alive. The characters move in a credible way, even the most strange aliens; the background aren’t stactics but don’t gets in the way of the action either; the cars are really originals and the races are splendid. This is the proof that animation is an art in itself.

Animation: 10 on 10

Music and Sound: The music is cool and fits pretty well into the movie, really adds a plus to the scenes, but that’s all there is to say about it. This isn’t an OST I would buy. On the other hand, the voice acting is amazing. Really smooth, natural, every voices really fits the characters. It’s one of the best I’ve seen.

Sound: 9 on 10

Enjoyment Factor: The enjoyment factor is over the top! This is a movie that does really well it’s purpose: entertain. And this is entertaining like hell! This is the kind of movie that gives chills to the viewers and let’s us wanting more. This is the kind of movie I could watch again. And since the graphics are so amazing, it adds a little something to the excitement of watching it.

Enjoyment: 9.5 on 10

Total note: 90 on 100

Vividred Operation 4: the yellow girl join too…

What is Vividred Operation about? Well, cute little girl wearing no pants are fighting strange unamed monster (common, the Alone… not a name at all!) with the power of technology. Pretty much generic. But this is fun to watch… if you can pass all the crotch shots and the stupidity Akane can show in an episode.

So, in the fourth episode we meet the yellow girl, an Hikikomori who never gets out of her home and of course a computer and technology freaks. She’s an “Engine Otaku”. She know all about the engine but she don’t go to school. When Akane broke her camera, she get’s to her house and meet her. Of crouse sheis reluctant, but Akane finally got her to get out of the house (and for whatever reason, Wakabe had a dress with her… in her school bag… of course!) to see the engine in the sunset. But the Alone attack! So Akane and co transform, saves the day and yellow girl gets her key! The end.

Gosh, now that we got the four girls, we maybe will get somewhere with the story. I know, the plot can’t get on before we get to know the characters a little, but this was annoying, since this weeks new girl is pretty generic: the hikikomori who doesn’t trust anyone but befriend the protagonist is dejà vu process seen in many animes (and some western media too, but of course without the “hikikomori” word). And there was the obligatory docking thing.

About this docking, I don’t really understand: in the second episode, Akane and Aoi couldn’t do it because Aoi was keeping a secret from Akane (the tomato!). But Wakabe was able to do it really fast, even thought she knows Akane for just a few hours. In the fourth episode, the yellow girl -I don’t know her name- was able to do it because she understood really fast the process behind it. So, is it difficult to do the “docking-thingy” or not?

And gosh, these name in gratuitous english are annoying: Naked Impact, Naked Rang, Ignition… Why naked??? Or docking… I guess it doesn’t bother the japanese, but I think it’s really silly. But that’s okay, I’ll keep on watching for now.

Whatever this means…

Sasami-san at Ganbaranai 3: Where they actually tell the truth…

Gosh, I’m so late with all this season’s animes… I guess I’m not into them as much as I was (ok… I never have been able to watch an anime every weeks… I just have so much to do in life…). So, the third episode, which aired a few weeks ago already, and that I,ve watched a few weeks ago but didn’t had the time to write about, tells us a little more about where the girls come from.

Sasami have actually grown up in a shrine where they knew she had Amaterasu power, so she was drugged and her brother was the one to take care of her. He was to never show his face, that’s why we don’t see it at all, and incest was the way to keep the power within the family. So, Sasami just got away from there with her brother and ended up in the city. But now, her brother have disappeared and she thinks he have go back to the main shrine to claim he have the power of amaterasu, so to let Sasami alone.

Of course Sasami gets there with the help of the Yagamii sisters, and we learned that Tsurugi is in fact Amaterasu who passed on her power to Sasami’s ancestor. The two other sisters where created by her and they destroy the shrine. End of the episode.

Well, this was entertaining. We learned a lot of things in this episode, but it seems a bit too soon to reavel all that stuff. I guess there’s a goal behind all this, and we can understand a bit more the relationship between Sasami and her brother: why he cares for her, and why he hide his face, why their erlationship is so strange, etc. Tsuguri being Amaterasu came as a surprise that I didn’t saw coming at all. But I think all these revelations were made too soon: I don’t really care at all for all the characters, and the fact of Kamiomi not coming back wasn’t really stressing or anything.

The first part of the anime featured a story about a rabbit(Sasami) who wants to get to the other side of a river. A shark (Kamiomi) comes and let her get on his back, but he wants her to stripe for a reward. Sasmi kicks him and go away and the shark is left alone on the beach. Three goddess (the sisters) came upon and… kick him too… WTF? I guess there was some sort of message there, but I thought this was just plain disturbing.

Amnesia 2: Shin, you crazy character! no… this is crap…

So, episode two start where the first one left us: the heroin is attacked by girls without eyes! Ok, they probably have eyes, they just didn’t draw them… So these mean girl told her that she broke her promises, so she remember now: they cut her hair, her precious hair! NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO! so she faint, at the same exact moment a madam with a big dress was conveniently passing by. When she woke up, with Orion the schizophrenic elf by her side, he told her that it’s criminal to cut a girl hair… so kill them… KILL THEM! no, he didn’t say that, but he should have. Would have been much more entertaining. He says he could feel their animosity… Good grief, it doesn’t take a diploma to feel that!

And then, Orion just keep on the fact she should keep her memory loss secret. not a good idea… this will bring much more problems, but nevermind, just listen to that idiotic elf inside your head. Anyway, that girl is an idiot. Now, she is concerned because she could have make the bitches sad: don’t you see they hate you because they like to do it??? Don’t even care about them or their feeling! Ok, let’s go to the next scene now, or I’ll get mad!

So, back to her workplace, we met two girls she work with (so, she isn’t only working with strangely dressed man, she also work with real humans… no, wait, they are also strangely dressed! wtf with this coffee place…), and Orion tells her she can trust them. On what do base that? So, pink-haired girl says something have change… Maybe it’s that she now is talking to herself like a crazy wench! Ok… maybe it’s something else. Seems everyone have to go on a trip. Sure… Ken also thing she is crazy. Please someone get her in the hospital already! Or maybe she already was a blank-no-emotions-at-all person before, but then, why would anyone want to be her friend???

So, while she was singing “Happy Birthday” to a no-face customer, she remembered another memory: Shin, the red-dressed guy was saying he killed a man… tun-tun-tun  (music from a popular suspense movie)! So of course she makes another strange face.

Ok, I think she should just go out with the manager… he is so much more cool than Shin or the yellow guy or even the blue-shady guy. Kent is the only other cool one!

So, on her way home, she is talkin to herself the elf inside her head, who says he isn’t doing enough for her. No, that’s not true, you are a huge help, you are the only part of her who have a personality! So, while she is talking to herself Orion, she almost get hit by a car, but Stalker-san saves her! Gosh, why didn’t you let her get hit, or she would have died, which would have ended the serie, ot she would have at least go to the hospital, get some treatment for her lack of personality memory loss!

And then, everyone goes on a trip! Gosh… this episode is so boring, I don’t even have anything to laugh at! Other than the fact that the manager is so cool since he could tell that the rain would stop because of the smell… THE SMELL! I continue to think that Orion is the only think with a bit of personality inside the heroin head. We don’t even know her name yet!

And then, we understand that she somehow have memories of things that haven’t happen yet… like the thing Shin says about killing someone or walking under an umbrella (brella, brella, hey, hey, hey, hey, under my umbrella, brella, brella, hey hey hey hey hey…) with Ken or whatever other memories.

So, we learn that Ikki-san (blue shady guy) is good with anything involving his hand… Anything… really… ok… sorry… So, they are playing a table hockey game, and everyone have fun and blahblahblah.

So, they finnally goes to see the asteroid rain or something like that, and the heroin is walking at the end. Shin ask her if she is tired, so he ask to take her hand. She slipped and falls, but he hold her back, but she remember what he says he get scared, so she fall from a cliff (and dies…). And Stalker-san is laughing, ahahaha.

When she wake in the hospital, she is back the the first day of august and Shin enter the room… and kiss her! The end.

This anime is so bad, it’s funny! The heroin really have no personality at all, but instead of making this easier for the watcher to insert herself (since this is for girls…), it have the exact opposite effect and it just feels like watching an idiot getting around. The other character aren’t that interesting either, and other than their “otome game stereotypes”, we don’t really get to know them at all, well, for the moment. The only character with a personality yet is Orion. The two other girls working with the heroin are also bland and uneteresting. I hope the game is better than this, because this anime is crap. Even Aracana Famiglia was better (and that’s something to says!). Ok, I’ll give two other episode try before dropping this one for good, because this is crap!

Vividred Operation 3: Green is now on the team!

After the destruction of their school, Akane, Aoi and Momo now needs to go to another school (where there is no pants or skirt on the uniform…). But, on the first day, Akane miss the train, so she uses her transformation to get there on time. But on the beach near the school, A young girl is practising her Kendo when Akane crash on the beach. Wakabe is the champion of the school and she thinks Akane is an intruder, so she attack her but is beat. She soon discover that they are in the same class-room, so she want to have a rerun of their fight. When shre finnally gets to fight Akane (and have fun doing it), an Alone attack, so Akane and Aoi have to go fight. But Wakabe wants to fight too, so Akane gives her a key and they even do a Docking togheter, and beat the Alone and everyone is fine.

So now, the green have join the team. I’m a bit surprised they could Dock this soon, since they have just met and even though Aoi was friend with Akane for a long time they weren’t able to do it on the first time, but nevermind… The end of the episode also felt a bit rush: the alone attack, Wakabe become the Green magical girl, the Dock, beat the Alone, all of this in less than seven minutes or something… and the second episode was all of this, but for Aoi in 25 minutes, so it’s really really rushed.

And then, there is the girl-love that get in: Wakabe sure feels something for Momo… she is like her “servant-knight” and says she is cute… let’s see where it goes from there. I wonder if Aoi will get jealous, because other girls can do the “Docking-Thingy” with Akane. After all, they become one, so it’s a really intimate moment I guess. I wonder if Akane is the only one who can dock, or if  Aoi and Wakabe could do a blue-green hybrid or something.

Other than that, well the Alone are pretty generic monsters for the moment. I though that the Oji-san-weasel would know about them or why they take power from the Generator, but he doesn’t know either. I hope we’ll know about that (not like the generic alien in Strike Witch…) or why does the girl with the bow and arrow gets them to power up, or why she says that Akane and co. are getting in her way.

So much fun in perspective. I guess we’ll meet the yellow girl in the next episode, who seems to be some kind of shut in, but inside the school. Hope it won’t feels as rush as this one.

The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke episode1: Esper battle against humans

I know I’m really late on this one (and many others…) since it’s already the fourth week, but I’ve just watched the first episode and I quite liked it. I didn,t watched Zettai Karen Children, so I didn’t knew anything about the protagonist of this spin-off, but it seems like you don’t need to have watched the other one to understand what it is about. And I must say I quite enjoyed that first episode.

This is the story of Hyoubu Kyousuke, of is an over-powerful esper of fifteen years old and also the chief of an esper criminal organization called P.A.N.D.R.A. In this first episode, he gets himself arrested and is bring to an Esper prison where he met Andy Hinomiya. Even if he is in an esper prison, Andy doesn’t seems to have any power. Kyousuke is soon interested into Andy. It seems that the only way to get out of the prison is to get to the hospital on mainland.

Hyoubu poison Andy, who is taken to the hospital, but it turns out there is no hospital and the chief warren uses the espers as giunea pigs to experiment and makes the ultimate soldier. Hyoubu saves Andy, but he have another goal: to save a member of his organisation, a little girl. But the warren sees them and tries to kill them with his ultimate soldier. But Hyoubu goes all out and kills everyone. His comrade come to take him on his boat, the Catastrophe, and Andy joins them on their adventure. The End.

Ok, not the end, only the end of the first episode. So, this episode was interesting: we got to see the two protagonist, Hyoubu, who is a vilains,  and Andy, who seems to be the true hero of the show… we’ll see… This was more to introduce them, so I don,t really have opinion on them yet. But this episode was action packed too, but Hyoubu is a little too over-powered, so I hope he have flaws or it’ll get boring. A character no one can beat is boring. Andy on the other hand is interesting too: he is not an esper, but not a normal human either, so I’m curious to know about his powers. He have a cool eye too (like an interface or something), so I guess his powers have a link with this. I guess we will also meet the other members of the organization soon.

So, this was a good first episode, and I guess I now want to watch the others episode to know more about the characters and their story. Hyoubu really is a villain, but he seems to care about the members of his organization. I hope he won’t be a one-sided character. I also want to know about his past: why did he hates the “normal humans”? Why did he created his organization? And who really is Andy? the final scene show him talking to someone, saying he have infiltrated the organization, so I guess he works for someone else. Well, we’ll see soon enough!