When anime meets litterature

Just so you know, the idea from this post comes from the book Ikebukuro West Gate Park because, as normal it is that the first 2 volumes made me think about Durarara!! (I'm still convinced Narita read it), the last one made me think about Tiger&Bunny, which is a little less normal. Unless there really is an evil organization that tattoos its mark on their members called Ouroboros in Japan but I highly doubt it.

Then I started to be convinced that everyone involved in pop culture in Japan somehow has read IWGP (which actually you should do too) and wondered what other influence I could maybe spot.

Sadly, my knowledge in litterature is primarily focused on European authors, but it doesn't mean you can't find any influence from them. Actually, these have been adapted a lot or at least a lot of Japanese anime have been influenced by those books.
Also, not counting light novels.

#1 The actual adaptations

Actually, there are a lot of those, even more in manga than in anime (Hell, they even made a manga version of Marx's The Capital).
I actually haven't seen a lot of those for which I have seen both the anime and read the original version. The only anime I can think of right now is Genji Monogatari which was a pretty good though really shortenned, adaptation of the book.
There's Howl's Moving Castle too and a lot of Ghibli works. Howl is a pretty good adaptation with Ghibli's defining style added to it.
Some others : Aoi Bungaku (pretty good initiation to Japanese "classical" litterature), The Count of Monte Christo, The Three Musketeers, etc etc

Please by all means add to this list.

#2 The influences

Again, those are everywhere because authors are always somehow influenced by something they have read or seen or whatever.
The one that comes immediately to my mind at this is actually a manga called Tsumi to Batsu that's been loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevski's Crimes and Punishment, but set in modern times.
Some of those include works like Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (excuse me while I cringe at the French), Kuroshitsuji (no matter how you look at it, it's Faust), RomeoxJuliet (which is self explanatory, though I have actually never seen it so I assume it's only loosely based on Shakespeare's original), the Fate series (because some of the heroes are from books), Code Geass (because to me it looks like the whole thing is, loosely, based on the Bible) and probably a lot of others.

#3 And everything else ...

Actually this shouldn't really exist, I just can't really consider names a legit influence on a story.
But if you think about it, character names are often based on already existing characters.
Like, in Katekyo Hitman Reborn you have a whole team of characters whose names are based on demons, in Ao no Exorcist you have Mephisto which is from Faust.

There must be some more but I forgot.

In the end I guess that post wanted to summarize once again how amazed I am at how fluid Japanese are with categories. I am not saying French don't do it, we too have our "anime" loosely based on the Three Musketeers, but it's such a rare occurence that I can't help but admire how Japanese do it.  

Brain vs. Heart. Which is the one having the most impact on your enjoyment of anime?

I was thinking, letting my brain randomly wander through the maze of my imagination (which is pretty much always a bad thing), and it wandered toward anime. I started thinking about my two favorites (which are Durarara!! and Tiger&Bunny) and why I liked them and if I could only choose one which one would I choose.

Turns out I couldn't choose and I started to wonder why.
Leaving technicalities aside (everyone knows I generally have a thing for good voice acting and both of those anime made me start to fangirl over a lot of "new" voice actors) I quickly realized I liked them both equally because they each appeal to different things I like.

Durarara!! is a fest for my brain. Tiger&Bunny made me cry so many times I stopped counting.
Unfortunately things aren't that easy because if you think about it, I wouldn't have liked Durarara!! as much if I wasn't that invested in the characters and didn't want them to be happy, and it's not like it didn't emotionally affect me either. I can say the same for Tiger&Bunny, sure it made me cry but it's not all there is to it, I/we have easily spent countless hours talking about damn theories about this. We still do.

So now what? Is it all about a good balance? It should be about a good balance but on the other hand it isn't really.

Why? Because we each have different emotions and each react to different things. We don't always like to think while watching anime because after all it's entertainment.

If I take Tiger&Bunny as an example, I liked it that much and it is and will stay one of my favorite anime of all time because I could relate to the characters and their story to a point I didn't know was possible (too much if you want my opinion), it's pretty much the reason why I could get into it so much.
The characters in Durarara!!, well, it was much harder to relate but the story is what drew me in.

That being said, I can't possibly answer the question I titled my post with, because to be honest with you, most of the time, it's my brain who's enjoying anime the most, because, most of the time, the things that are supposed to get me emotionnal don't, for various reasons.
Not to mention it usually feels so artificial that it pisses me off more than anything else.

So I guess that for me enjoyment of the brain comes first, I'd much rather just have fun than being touched if it feels forced.
Probably why I don't usually like romance anime.

The rewatch value

Lately, it seems I have lost quite a bit of interest in anime (Sacrilege!) I had no idea having a life could be so time consuming. If only it was a life but it's just work. Granted, I don't mind, I want the job. But since on top of that I'm preparing exams and not getting the job I'm also having plans of moving countries, well, all of this to say that a lot of things have been going on in my head.

As a result, it's not that I have lost interest in anime, it's that my brain seems to want to see things I actually know the value of. It wants to re-watch things and have absolutely NO interest in trying to find anything new. At all.

So I've been wondering, what brings you to re-watch some anime?

Here are (some of) my answers.

#1 It's really good
That goes without saying, the anime I have seen the most are my favorite anime ever, mainly Durarara!! and Tiger&Bunny.

It's especially true for Durarara!! but these are the kind of anime you always manage to find something new in, no matter how many times you watch it. Steins;Gate is another anime that would fit in this category for me. 

#2 It makes you feel really good. Or it makes you feel something at all.

You may think it's tied with the previous one but not necessarily. As much as I love Durarara!! it never really made me feel anything, Tiger&Bunny did, too much. 

Steins;Gate too. 

A friend of mine told me she was constantly rewatching Mushishi because it was her favorite feel good anime. 

#3 It's just fun

I'm currently re watching Oreimo. For no particular reason, just that I knew it would make me have a great time without the need to think too much about what I'm watching. Just mindless entertainment, but mindless entertainment I knew I appreciated before. 

The Difference between shonen and seinen

I have recently been "corrected" by an Anon over at Organization ASG telling me that, contrary to what I have written, Brave 10 was a seinen.

And actually I don't disagree. The manga is a seinen, definitely, I have only read a few pages but it had so many sexual references that can't be anything else but targeting a more "mature" readership.
Now, my point is, does it mean the anime is seinen too? Personally I don't think so.
Then I started to think about what the differences between both genre are. It should be easy, shonen is targeted toward a young male demographic and seinen toward an older one. Categorizing a manga is easy, you just look at the magazine it's published in, anime are not published so how to say what category(ies) an anime belongs to? At best you look at the hour it's broadcast, at worse, you wonder. (Or you don't care, that works really well most of the time)

There are a few things where seinen and shonen differ to me.

- The plot.
The more complex it is, the higher chance you have it'll be a seinen.
Which doesn't mean a shonen can't have a complex plot, but it's usually not the aspect you feel is concentrated the most on, while in the meantime a seinen plot is the main focus.

- The pace
Shonen is usually fast paced with a lot of action, seinen is calmer and takes its time. Just see the difference between things like Letter Bee which had fights all the time (which is already quite close to seinen in my opinion) and Mushishi.

- The themes.
What is the main difference between Gintama and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei? (Which are both gags before being respectively shonen and seinen)
In the first Gin wants to keep on living and make the world a better place despite everything, in the second Nozomu wants to kill himself using the slightest excuse.

That's the main difference, it doesn't show only in the themes but also in how they're played, shonen usually has a lighter tone, seinen is more serious in dealing with the exact same themes.

- The atmosphere.
That kinda goes with what I was just saying, in how seinen is usually more serious than shonen where it's common to find some kind of humor, but it affects the art as well. See the atmosphere between a page of Bleach and a page of Hellsing for example.

- The characters.
Their age is one of the main characterstic, if they're around 15 it's shonen, if they're older it's seinen. There's also a difference in how they're developed. I won't say this applies to everything because it depends a lot but I do feel like there's more depth to characters in seinen. (That's why, if asked, I'll say Tiger&Bunny is a seinen, despite the appearances)

In the end I'm going to say something completely not helpful but, differentiating shonen from seinen is not easy, because what makes an anime (or a manga) belonging to a category or not is not a single thing, it's a mix of several.
To take the example that brought this whole article on, to me, while the manga is definitely targeted at 20-something years old people, the anime version of Brave 10 is a shonen, it has the action, the barely developed characters, the very simple plot and a pretty cheerful atmosphere despite everything.
Now take Guilty Crown as another example, I would have said it's a shonen before, but is it really? (Of course not it's Noitamina, young boys won't watch TV at this hour).

Telling seinen and shonen apart is definitely not easy, most of the time both genre overlap. I was saying Gintama was a shonen before but Gintama has different layers, it can be enjoyed by young boys but has so many things a young boys won't understand yet.

It all depends on how you read it.

(Also, I've submitted this to Nopy's Guide to Anime)

50 Questions about the blogger (and their answers)

As I'm very quick to jump on any bandwagon and actually had no post lined up for this week I couldn't resist answering Ace Railgun's 50 Questions. If you have any complaint send them to Nopy because it's his fault.
I hope these are going to satisfy your stalker tendancies.

1. Who is your favorite male anime character? 
I hope you'll be surprised but ... Kaburagi T. Kotetsu. Obviously.

2. Who is your favorite female character?
That one is harder. Can I just skip?
No wait. I know. Kuroneko!

3. What is your favorite anime soundtrack? 
Madoka Magica's. Aha you didn't expect that one did you?

4. What is your favorite anime opening + animation? 
Usually, if I like the music (which is rare) the animation is pretty bland. On the other hand if the animation is awesome I hate the music. So I'm skipping.

5. What is your favorite anime ending song + animation? 
Same as above

6. What is your favorite anime scene?
"No, don't die, I learnt how to make fried rice for you!
You have pretty long eyelashes Bunny."
*passes out*
Obviously from Tiger&Bunny.
If you haven't seen it it might seem comical, but trust me, it is not. Totally not. Well restrospectively it is but on the spot it was horrible.

7. If you could meet an anime character who would it be? 
Okabe Rintaro. I WANT TO BE A LAB MEMBER TOO!
And well, he'd just be awesome to hang around.

8. What anime character is most similar to you in terms of personality? 
As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm a mix of the bad sides of both Barnaby and Kotetsu.

9. What is your favorite thing about anime?
I love the absence of limitations you have with anime. And the relatively large amount of good stories out there.

10. What is your least favorite thing about anime?
I don't know. Well, I don't like boring anime? Or no, I hate wasted potential even more *looks intently at Persona 4*

11. Who are your favorite anime couple?
Putting aside the fujoshi goggles for a while (even though the creators themselves said we had the right to interpret it that way), can I spoil?
Well, I'm going to anyway, it' from Bakuman but it hasn't been animated yet but I say it's counting anyway. It's Hiramaru and Aoki.

12. Who is your favorite anime animal? 
KYUBEY!

13. What anime would make a good game?
I suppose I can't say stuff that has already been adapted into a game, nor anime already adapted from games can I?
Actually, I don't really know, BRS? (But I'm cheating a bit there ^^)
But now I think about it, Gintama as a game would be quite awesome if done right. You imagine the surprises? The mindfuck? The laughters?
HOTD would be nice too. And hard to ruin.

14. What game would make a good anime?
I don't play games very often but I'd like to watch a Zelda animated.

15. What was the first anime you ever watched? 
I do believe it was Sailor Moon. Or Dragon Ball.

16. Do you think you’ll ever stop watching anime?
Nope. I'm too addicted now.

17. What is your favorite genre of anime?
Like hell I know. If you look at my favorite anime of all times they're all so different it's not even possible to find something that defines them all. Well, no, they're all kind of slice of life but still, there's nothing common between Tiger&Bunny, Natsume Yuujinchou, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Durarara!! is there?

18. What is your least favorite genre of anime?
Harem? But even if I don't really life the genre I manage to find things I like.

19. Are you open about watching anime with people you know? 
I don't really know. If someone asks me if I watch anime I'll say yes but I'm not too sure I'd go tell them myself. Then again, I don't tell many things about myself to people I know.

20. Have you ever been to Japan? 
Nope. Probably not gonna happen ever if I keep on being so afraid of planes.

21. What anime was the biggest let down for you? 
I'm tempted to say Dogs. Not because the anime itself was crappy but because they haven't done more of it.
I don't even know anymore, I quickly forget bad experiences usually.

22. What anime was better then expected? 
Tiger&Bunny. I hated the first episode so much and only kept going because of Kotesu. Never thought I'd reach that point of fangirlism. I don't think anyone I know did either.

23. What is the best anime fight scene? 
Katakura Kojurou vs. Akechi Mitsuhide from Sengoku Basara. Definitely.
Hell, one of them was begging for the other to continue killing him.
"Aaw motto, ii desu ne~"

24. Who is your anime waifu?
It's quite sad there's no question for anime husbando. But I'll answer anyway.
My waifu's Erika from Durarara!! Just because I want a fujoshi wife. But there's Fujyoshi Harumi from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. And I like Kiri Komori too.
It's damn hard in fact.

25. What was your favorite video game as a child?
Mario Kart! Still is!

26. Most Embarrassing moment?
I don't know. I'm so used to fall for no reason in the middle of the streets that I'm immune to embarassment.

27a. Can you drive? 
Technically yes. Doesn't mean I have the right to do so.

27b. Do you own a car? 
Nope.

28. Are you mature?
I think it depends on what you base yourself to describe being mature.
That being said, I guess I am? At least I can handle most situations calmly which I think is a great step on the path to maturehood.
Then again, sometimes you don't really have a choice.

29. What year were you born?
1989. My birthday is in 10 days. You'd better remember it.

30. Do you prefer cats or dogs? 
I don't have a preference. I never had a dog though and my cat tries to rape me so ...

31. Describe yourself physically.
Nearly tall, a little bit overweight, just enough to have fat where it needs to be, blonde/brownish/read head depending on the weather, curly hair, eyes sometimes grey, blueish or greenish.

32. What would you name your first child? 
Maynard! I've always dreamt of naming my first boy Maynard. I don't really have any ideas for girls though.

33. What is the worst injury you have ever had? 
I'm torn between the bee sting right under my foot which made it twice bigger than normal. Which is something that happened twice. And having a displaced bone in my back which is quite painful.
Well, in both cases I couldn't really walk or lift things or do anything but had to do anyway because my family doesn't really care for my injuries.

34. What is your worse habit? 
I procrastinate. A lot.

35. Do you drink or smoke? 
Occasionnally. For both. Since, usually, when I'm drunk I smoke.
That hasn't happened in quite some times now, I don't seem to be able to stomach much alcohol anymore.

36. Do you have a tattoo? 
Nope. It's an idea that's been on the back of my mind for quite some times now so I guess I'll do it at some point.

37. Are you a morning person or a night person?
More a morning person. As in, very early. Sometimes 4am. Which is quite bothersome.
On the other hand I start getting tired at 10pm XD

38. Have you ever slept past midday?
Nope. And probably never will. The latest I always sleep is 9-10am. No matter what.

39. Do you regret anything? 
I'm tempted to say yes but whether or not these are things I'd have done wouldn't have changed anything, so no, I guess there's nothing.

40. Can you count the number of friends you have on one hand? 
Yes, but it's slowly increasing over the years. Which is why I love the internet.

41. Do you wear glasses? 
Yeah, when I need to see things far away.

42. Are you a picky eater?
I have one thing to say : school restaurant. I had to learn that if I wanted to stay alive without horrible stomach aches throughout the afternoon I had to eat whatever they felt like putting in my plate. No matter how disgusting it was.

43. Would you die for someone?
I don't know. I know there's no special someone I'd die for without thinking but it doesn't mean I can tell for sure I wouldn't put my life on the line to save people.
So I don't know.

44. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? 
I hate that question, I want to scream : HUNDRED POWER. Because it's the first thing that comes through my mind. Obviously.
But seriously, telekinesis would be fun.

45. Do you believe in the supernatural? 
Yes.
By the way, there's a ghost behind you right now. Yeah, right now.

46. Would you rather be rich or famous? 
Rich. Being famous is too much of a hassle.

47. Have you ever committed a crime. 
I stole a  Garden Gnome once.

48. Pirates or ninjas? Time Traveler or ghost? 
Pirate was among the jobs I wanted to do as a child so ...
And for the others, I'd love being a ghost, since, at least, I'd see the future.

49. Does someone have a crush on you?
For their sake I hope not. I'm dense and completely weird and manly.

50. Are you in a relationship?
Nope.

Dying in Another

(This post is brought to you by my frustration the guy in the last episode didn't commit ritual seppuku)

Maybe I should have had titled this post as such : "How death grows old pretty fast in Another" but the pun was really bad and I didn't really want you to have a bad impression of me from the start. (Though now you do but that's beside the point.)

The real point is, people die in anime, that much is obvious and each and every one of them has its own way of dealing with death. Take Death Note or any kind of post-apocalyptic anime or manga, death is just there, it doesn't get any special treatment, it's just there as a tool to make the plot advance. Now take a Gundam, or Code Geass, people die and their death is treated as an example a tool of emulation to created heroism, in short, propaganda. Unless they're villains. Obviously. Because villains only get what they deserve.
Only rarely do we see anime (or manga) dealing with everything that surrounds death, be it ante-mortem (like in Ikigami or Bokurano) or post-mortem (like in Ghost Hound, or even Tiger&Bunny). I like this kind of anime because it makes its characters more human.

Now, what's the matter with Another you ask? First, let's go over my reaction to the four deaths we've seen so far and I'll explain what really bothers me.

Remember, episode 3, the first person dies.

My reaction : FUCKING AWESOME. So much blood and so ridiculous yet so dramatic I'm totally in love.

Now, the next one.

My reaction : Damn they're imaginative, I am definitely going to pay more attention to elevators now but damn was it awesome and all the details and *insert random fangirlish noises here*

Here comes the less impressive.

My reaction : Well, a heart stroke, it was needed to keep up the realism.

And the last.

My reaction : The first one was to complain he didn't commit proper seppuku.
And then I started to think and it started to bother me.
Putting the curse aside and the fear of dying that happens to pretty much everyone when someone close to them dies, why do they care so little?
They don't seem sad, they barely seem to keep thinking about it once the initial shock has passed. Damn it, the people who died were all people they knew. Classmates, parents, friends.

For convenience I'll say that it's the survival instinct kicking in, and I guess that in the end the thing that really bothers me is that I really, really liked Another as an horror anime.
And now I'm disappointed.

I'm disappointed because dying in Another isn't dealt with as something that really matters. All that matters is survival of the greatest number. The ones who died are just unlucky cursed people. Why bother with those you can't save anymore?
In the end, it doesn't scare me at all anymore because I'm not made to care about the dead people, because I'm not attached to the alive characters.

Dying doesn't matter I just want to solve the mystery.

What is the best anime of all time?

Nopy talked about the best anime of all time and obviously I had to jump on the bandwagon and post about it too. Because it made me think, what is the anime I consider as the best of all time?

I'll start by telling you flat out that the best anime of all time doesn't exist since, after all, nothing is perfect, actually it would be really strange if everyone recognized the same thing as the best of all time. I'd totally be freaked out and think that something is fishy. And we all have different lives, we all have lived different things and as such we react differently to the same things.

That question made me think because I have honestly no idea on which criteria I should base my selection. What should I consider first? The entertainment value? The feelings? The plot? The characters? The writing? Animation? Music? Voices?
You can't even separate these, anime is a whole and deciding on a "best" anime of all time is obviously subjective.

Worse of it all? It changes. Everything changes. You'd have asked me a year ago what the best anime of all time was I'd have said : Durarara!!

Because Durarara!! has amazing plot and amazing character development and well, a really, really, really amazing plot, good music, awesome voice actors, very entertaining and not too hard to understand either. Yeah, but.

But something different came out. Not better, just different. Something with easy plot, predictable but not so much it became boring plot, good music, awesome voice actors, awesome writing, awesome character development and feelings. Lots of feelings. Well it's not that much a matter of feeling as a matter of how I identify with said feelings.

More than anything else it gave me hope. And I think that any work that manages to give that to its viewers/readers/whatever completely deserves the title of "best anime of all time" at least in one person's heart.

Now I'm pretty sure you're all wondering what I'm talking about aren't you? If you know me well enough you should have guessed I was talking about Tiger&Bunny. If you don't know me well enough then now is the perfect moment to learn something about me. (But you can forget it if you want ^^)

Winter Wonfes 2012

And thus Kuuki fangirled about figures she'll never get. Again.

Pictures from Dengeki and Gigazine

Kuuki's anime shocks Weekly #1

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Kuuki's anime shocks Weekly!
Am just going to share the things that shocked me during this week.

First and above all, I started a job! It kinda killed my anime drive a bit but I should manage enough energy to follow what I decided to follow, and, let's face it, I need a new laptop. Dotachin has lived a good life but he's way past the expiration date.

Anyway!

- I gave in and started Aquarion Evol. I don't really like it, what I like is that it keeps on making me think dirty, and that for once it's not even my brain acting up but the anime that's like that.
Best of it all? There's stuff to think about for everyone!

- Guilty Crown got cliché again.
But I got Daryl in glasses. Daryl who's totally blocked inside that Gate thing of sort. Because of people that are supposed to be his allies. Daryl who really might be Gai's brother.

- Hiroaki Hirata finally appeared in Another. His character looks like Tiger&Bunny's Yuri Petrov. Minus the glasses.

- Oh and the more it goes the more I think I'll remember Persona 4 as a mediocre anime.

Happy New Year! (and 200th post o_O)

Have been waiting for everyone to be in 2012 before making my post because, obviously, timezones are a pain, but HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! I wish you lots of happiness and good anime!

And, since the gods of timing are with me, it's also my 200th post so, let's look back?

What the hell did happen in 2011 in my anime world?

- My Durarara!! obsession died.
- It's been replaced by an anime I didn't even like at first.
- The rest of the year, my entire brain has been dominated by ... Tiger&Bunny! (Just in case you didn't notice XD)

- That being said, it makes me even more thankful for this blog because it really, REALLY helped balancing things out, since, when I start obsession over something I really go all out. Having an anime blog on the side forces me to focus on something else.
- I embraced my creepy otaku side. And I said "otaku", not "fujoshi", I've been apparently lost to the dark side for a long, looong time.
- I met lots of great people!
- Hell, one of them even asked me to write on his blog.
- There has been a lot of good shows, as busy as I was obsessing over Tiger&Bunny, even I noticed.
- Had a very good New Years Eve and New Years Day. No, really, nothing beats spending peaceful times with your family and flailing with your friends over how good your favorite show is (I'm sorry for everyone I harassed over Twitter ^^), listenning to your favorite radio show (obviously in Japanese, you have no idea how much my ears are ringing whenever I heard "chara song album") and watching the New Years special of that show you love.
- And, last but not least, even though I'm pretty sure I am forgetting something, SANDY BEACH, SANDY BEACH~

Then, what's going to change in 2012?

- I already have more things planned for 2012 when it has just started than in the entirety of 2011, so, probably less time to blog and watch anime.
- The bi-weekly "Kuuki's crazy anime watchlist corner" is out. Because it's boring to write and makes me lazy. Instead you'll get a weekly highlight kind of thing. Maybe.
- Nothing else is going to change, I'll keep up what I've been doing and hope to make many more friends in the process!

Lastly and once again, happy New Year! It's technically a Christmas picture but Yamaguchi Hoshiko said she wanted to see what kind of photograph I make so ...

12 days of Christmas - The fandom Events

If there's one thing I have realized on my journey in the anime-verse, it's the importance of the fandom, I'm not going to say it's always a happy and welcoming place (No.6 fujoshi fandom I'm looking at you!) but I can't help but appreciate to see so many different people coming together in one place doing one thing.

2011 was really fun in terms of fandom events.
First came Nopy's my History with anime project which helped me discover quite a few interesting anime blogs that I still follow to this day.
Next came Kidd's Ani-bloggers Choice Anime Award which has been quite a challenge to take part to but also very interesting.

And I won't even start on all the numerous Tiger&Bunny related projects I was crazy enough to join and sometimes made me feel like an hopeless creepy otaku (you know, the kind that celebrates a character's birthday by taking pictures of food in front of a picture of said character, yeah I did that) and not even regret it.
That being said, the last event was to design a Christmas memorial pin in Tiger&Bunny's style. Which I did. Obviously.

12 days of Christmas - Tiger&Bunny

You probably wondered when the hell I'll start talking about my favorite anime of the year, and probably favorite anime for a long, long time and this time is now! So, have a whole post entirely dedicated to this wonderful anime that is Tiger&Bunny.

I've been under the impression I was a little bit alone in my endless spazzing over this in the anime blogosphere, and I can understand that. I didn't want to start watching it either. Not everyone can like what I like and I have to admit the first few episodes are rather dull when compared to what's next.

However, what's next is wonderful. I already said it but it can't hurt to say it again, I stopped counting how many times I cried and laughed at that. How many theories I made. How many people I met. How surprised I was by the performances of the seiyuu, by the quality of the writing and by how realistic they all felt.

It's the kind of anime that grows on you before you even realize it and in the end, you don't regret it the slightest bit.

12 days of Christmas - This blog's holliday spirit

While Wordpress snows, Blogger doesn't (not that I mind since, after all, most of the time you don't even see the snow on Wordpress blogs since most of them are white)
That being said, changing banners is something one should do from time to time. Coincidentally, I like doing that, which is why, I thought I should change it in the course of these 12 days of Christmas thing, it's supposed to accompany us on the way to Christmas right? Changing a blog theme to fit the hollidays does accompany you to Christmas right? So, what's better than a Christmas themed anime banner?

Right, nothing.

As such, say hello to Sky High and "John"! (Original drawing by That Japanese fanartist)

How would your favorite characters spend Christmas?

New edition of the 12 days of Christmas that might end up being more or less than 12 because I don't know how my inspiration will follow me and more importantly, IF it will follow me through 12 days, or more.
Oh well, let's enjoy it while it lasts.
I was genuinely not going to do actually that many Christmas themed post but I don't seem to be able to escape it so, today's topic is going to ask you to be a little imaginative, I'll be taking my top 6 shows of my ACAA post, try to imagine how their characters would spend Christmas and would love it if you shared your opinions with me!


Working!! : Yamada would insist on spending it with her "family", cry when her wish was crushed by Takanashi, be comforted by the girls who would find it's a good idea, the manager will join because Christmas = food, Satou would join because Todoroki, Takanashi would finally accept because Taneshima, Souma can never miss any occasion to find more blackmail material, and then they'll celebrate together after the closure of the restaurant!
And I think it would be adorable.

Level E : I can totally expect Baka Ouji to bring a carnivorous Christmas tree to Earth. And then going all "But I thought you celebrated Christmas with trees" with his innocent eyes.
"WE DO BUT NOT WITH CARNIVOROUS ONES"
Something like that.

Fate/Zero : Iskandar would bring on himself to invite everyone to celebrate, it'll end up exactly like last week episode, they'd all argue and try to kill each other.

Natsume Yuujinchou : His friends would invite Natsume but he'd feel bad about leaving the Fujiwara alone but they'd tell him to go so he would, or he'd invite everyone at home.
I don't think I have ever read a Christmas Natsume chapter, nor a New Year one. I want to, it'd be cute.

Steins;Gate : I am firmly convinced Okarin would start by planning a little party with the labs member but would end up inviting everyone he meets (or nearly) the lab would quickly become too small and they'd end up at Feyris' place because of course Daru would want to go there anyway.

Tiger&Bunny : Since of course Bunny doesn't like Christmas, Kotetsu would want to help him forget and since he of course would want to see his daughter at least for Christmas he'd bring Bunny forcefully back home with him.
And of course before leaving Nathan would insist on throwing a big party with everyone, obviously disrupted because they can't party properly.
Or they'd have to take part in a HeroTV special. Or both.

Well, as obviously these are only my headcanons, you're free to disagree. But I had fun writing them and that's all that matters. (The fanfic writer that hasn't written fanfics in 6 months is talking ^^)

Ani Bloggers Choice Anime Awards

How can I resist joining a project hosted by someone who calls me his favourite fujoshi, there's no way I can right? I urge you all to go check Kidd's AniBloggers Choice Anime Award post for further informations on how to join and to just do it! (He said I was his favorite fujoshi after all, KYAAA *cough*)
And this is why I present you with my own list of 12 anime, movies and OVAs that marked, for me, the year 2011. Probably ranked. Or not. It's always pretty hard to rank things.

Damn do I have the feeling I'll be quite alone in some of my choices.

12) KamiNomi II (Spring)
Because this is probably the only harem anime I genuinely like. I don't usually like the genre and get bored pretty soon. It didn't happen. Not only that but the second season was much more enjoyable than the first.

11) Mawaru Penguindrum (Summer)
Only reason as to why it is so low in the ranking is that it's not finished, and, knowing the kind of anime it is, it can take a turn to have a disappointing ending pretty quickly. Even the risk exists, at least it was a very fun ride.

10) Usagi Drop (Summer)
Heartwarming and adorable piece of fluffy feelings. And realistic. And pretty.

09) Yondemasu yo Azazel-san (Spring)
I think more people should give a chance to that very short (one episode is only 10 minute) anime, it's totally nuts, crazy and over the top in every way (and a bit trash too, considering the favorite "food" of one of the main character).
Nyorin~

08) Hellsing Ultimate 8 (Summer)
It did something very difficult, making me cry for the death of a character. At least one character dies per episode you think I'd be used to it by now but nope, that one was horrible. Beautiful in a very sick way, but horrible. (Yes that's the only thing I remember about the episode, I'm not even ashamed of it. At all.)
And, since I'm talking about it, every character voiced by a seiyuu I really like die in that series. I'm glad he lasted that long.

07) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (Winter)
Because I didn't think they'd dare to behead Mami. And because Kyubey is adorable. And because I really liked the story and the visuals and the music. (I didn't quite like Madoka the character but that's another story)

06) Level E (Winter)
That was hilarious. I love trolls. Especially alien trolls.

05) Working 2 (Spring)
This is the only reason you need :

04) Fate/Zero (Fall)
That's, for me, the second great surprise of the year. I'm not a fan of Fate/Stay Night. Not at all, so I didn't even consider watching this until I heard Yuki Kajiura was doing the music, and then I saw the first episode.
And I think I completely fell in love at the whole Sakura in the insect pool scene.
Anyway, I'm enjoying myself immensely while watching every episode and I just love the characters.

03) Natsume Yuujinchou San (Summer)
It's Natsume. It's adorable, peaceful and it has yokai.

02) Steins;Gate (Spring)
It took me off guard a bit too, it's something I heard about quite some times before it aired, so, as usual, I was a bit wary of the hype and expected nothing out of it, especially since I did see Chaos;Head before and thus assumed Steins;Gate had the same crazy themes and thus would be as hard to animate.
I was wrong, I'm glad I was wrong. Steins;Gate was amazing, I understood what they were talking about (since I'm not a scientist I'm sometimes lost, especially when it concerns time travel), I wasn't bored, even when re-doing the same days over and over, I loved the characters, felt sorry for them, supported them, didn't want them to die, wanted them to be happy. I loved the plot, I loved the surprises, the plot-twists, the romance. Everything.

01) Tiger&Bunny (Spring)
That is the first surprise of the list, I found no other interest in the first episode than the main character, I honestly thought the whole thing would be boring, hell, I wouldn't even be the slightest bit interested if Narita Ryogho didn't mention he was watching it on his Twitter. (Shallow, yes I know, though I can't really help to feel like I might be interested in something the guy who wrote Durarara!! likes ^^)
I expected some generic super hero show and it's exactly what I didn't get.
In the end I don't think I have cried more at any other show but this one, because I didn't relate to any characters more than I related to these two. (Crap, I outed myself as screwed up)
That's, I guess, part of the reason why I love it so much and obsess over it so much, but even speaking objectively the characters are really well written and realistically well written. Hell, even the seiyuu surprised me, upon seeing one of the main character was voiced by Morita Masakazu I sighed, thinking said character would be another fighting maniac without depth, I was wrong. Everyone else too was perfectly spot on and it showed me once again how perfect Tsuda Kenjiro is. If I had one complain to voice it'd be about the predictability of the story (because I honestly don't care much about the quality of the animation and saw worse anyway). But even with a predictable story it caught me in, and you had to actually think to predict it, I don't care much anymore at this point anyway, pretty much everything is predictable. (And I was wrong, I thought someone would die)
Still, the end of the series actually feel like a closure even if it's not, it leaves room for more thoughts and they keep on adding more depth to the universe. It's almost like an interactive story and I think it's great.
(Should probably stop before I write a novel about why I liked that anime ^^)

Kuuki's crazy anime watchlist corner desuu~ #29

It's starting to get really cold, the weather makes it seem like it'll snow but it's still not snowing and it's depressing. I don't want to freeze to death if I don't get to see snow!

Do you have a fandom bias?

Pyro posted a blog post about her fandom bias, the small facts that can transform a show you're not interested in at all into a must watch.
She talked about hers and asked about ours, it actually made me think a lot so that post will be my answer.

The only problem is : I'm pretty sure I am forgetting things but it will have to do.

- Seiyuu
A good seiyuu cast can hold me through the most boring of shows. Almost. (Well, there are things that are beyond saving, even with my favorite seiyuu)
It did get me through Uraboku, which is everything but good, and on the other hand my fascination for people like Kamiya Hiroshi is the thing that made me start Angel Beats for example.
As such, it has good and bad sides.

- Yakuza
Sadly, this is the bias that is always, always used against me to make me read BL manga.
On the other hand, it made me discover stuff like Gokusen which I would NEVER have checked otherwise and became my favorite drama of all time (since both the manga and the anime version suffer from horrific art)

- Yuki Kajiura (and a few other composers)
In an anime I am very sensible to music and I can tell Yuki Kajiura or people like Sawano Hiroyuki are the composers as soon as I hear their music in an anime, a great soundtrack helps me finding the show enjoyable.
And if it wasn't for Yuki Kajiura I would never have checked Madoka or Fate/Zero.

- Sengoku Jidai
Rather than Sengoku Jidai I have developed over the years a soft spot for Akechi Mitsuhide, probably one of the less likeable warlord of the era and I feel obligated to watch every single anime featuring Sengoku Jidai in the hopes of seeing him.
And you have to admit the era has a lot of potential, in terms of battles, in terms of interesting politics and in terms of colorful characters.

- Narita Ryogho
I like this man and how he writes and how good and faithful the anime adapted from his works are. I'd watch anything if he's somehow involved. I'd watch anything if I know he's watching it as well. (Wouldn't have tried Tiger&Bunny if it wasn't for him, I'm forever grateful. And he's watching Fate/Zero and seeing him stay up so late to fanboy about it is adorable. I love Twitter) (AND I WANT A SECOND SEASON OF DURARARA!!) (AND ANOTHER ONE OF BACCANO!) (AND FOR HIS OTHER BOOKS TO BE ANIMATED!)

- Psychopaths
You probably already have noticed my love for, well, rather questionnable characters. Tell me there's one in something and I'm watching whatever you were recommending.

I don't even have that many. I thought I'd come to find many more considering the amount of stuff I watch. Oh well, guess I'll just blame curiosity.
Anyway, I'll ask the same question she did back in the days (because that post slept for quite some times in my drafts), what are YOUR fandom bias?

Happy Birthd - HALLOWEEN! Wait, what was it again?

While I don't usually do these celebration posts, aside from the New Year, since well, I think the New Year is important everywhere in the world, and if I really wanted to do it I'd have to celebrate every single special day in the world, only to be fair, it appears Halloween is special.
Mostly because it's a fun celebration and because I'm totally not going to do a celebratory post for Halloween.
(On the other hand, I am going to post an Halloween anime selection tomorrow over at Organization ASG)

What I was trying to post about is a reminder that Tiger&Bunny is great and that you should all watch it. As well as the very useless information today is Barnaby's birthday and that he deserves to be wished a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
And also that I love the fans, I love the fandom, I love fucking everyone and I LOVE STERNBILD

Now that I've totally outed myself as a creepy fangirl, I shall leave and rewatch Tiger&Bunny to celebrate.

Summer 2011 - The end

And with this come the end of the Summer 2011 season.
With the end of a season come the final impressions post.
Want to know something? It's a disaster.

I tried to come up with a top 3 and this is what I got. All 3 being 24-episodes anime, 2 of which having debuted in Spring already, thus not really belonging there either, but the situation is that dire.

3 - Mawaru Penguindrum

2 - Steins;Gate

1 - Tiger&Bunny

They all got their dedicated posts already and Penguindrum is the first anime I ever felt the need to blog almost weekly. I'll leave it at one more thing before I move on to the other stuff and attempt to rank them, these 3 anime are awesome. Watch them. 

For the rest, well, you're familiar with my Crazy anime watchlist corner, then you know what to expect, the rest of the post will be huge. 

13 - Sacred Seven

First time ever I dropped an anime halfway through the season. Should tell everything. 

12 - Utapri

I expected it to suck and so it did. No big deal. Was watching only for the seiyuu anyway. 

11 - Idolm@ster

I expected it to be exactly what it is, watching this only for mindless entertainment, not very interesting but not boring enough to drop. Yeah, mindless entertainment. 

10 - KamiMemo

On the other hand I had great hopes for that one. I lost all of them during the Hison arc, not only do I hate predictability but I hate it even more when they think the viewers are idiots. 

I would have been ready to forgive them everything, really, if only it didn't have that much of a promising first episode. That's why it's so low, because I felt like they wasted the potential. 

09 - Ikoku Meiro no Croisée 

A cute story about a cute girl trying to get used to a new country. 

There's nothing more to it. 

And, while I was super excited to see my country portrayed in an anime, I think that cringing at all the inaccuracies and misconceptions kinda ruined it a bit for me. And well, I live there, even worse, I've seen the real Galeries du Roi, it's not really exotic or anything. 

08 - Nurarihyon no Mago

I have a yokai bias. And I can't help it, it has a lot of great seiyuu and the fights aren't as boring as they could be. It's enjoyable but there's really nothing more to it. 

07 - Ao no Exorcist

Loved the manga. Very much and, while some parts of the anime were a bit shitty (even when you do forget the fact these were an original storyline) it was still entertaining? Not the wonderful anime it could have been and definitely not a faithful adaptation but it has so little material to work on that it was a given from the start.

Could have been better. And the extra Mameshiba helped greatly my enjoyment of the last episode.  

06 - Kami-sama Dolls 

If you forget the last episode and the lack of answers we got it was an interesting anime and a fun ride. 

Just lacked something I still haven't pinpointed to be really awesome (like, say, ... answers)

05 - Hanasaku Iroha

Despite being quite weak in terms of plot and character develpement, along with me being quite adverse to slice of life anime most of the time, I still found myself enjoying this. Not the best thing ever but still quite nice if you have time to spend. 

04 - No6

It was a nice 10 episodes serie! 

Would have been better with more answers and less useless scenes, which, considering it had only 10 episodes would have been a nice idea. It's quite sad because if it would have gone a "realistic" way with less emphasis on the characters and more on the city it could have been great. 

What, you're saying there was a 11th episode? Where the hell did you get this from? ... 

03 - Dantalian no Shoka

Despite the fact I'm still wondering what the hell was the point to this anime, if I take the episodes as separate 20min mini-movies it's actually quite nice. 

Once again, not the very best out there, but still has enough entertainment value to spend time on. 

02 - Usagi Drop

It was very, very, very good before I read the manga. 

So if you're going to watch, don't read the manga beforehand, it spoils the fun. 

01 - Natsume Yuujinchou San 

Natsume is always adorable and awesome and it has yokai and there's going to be a fourth season guys. A FOURTH. 

You should watch it. (But don't read the manga or it spoils the fun a little too)

So my general impression? Disappointed. Either I become too hard to please or this season was really weak. 

More Tiger&Bunny songs!

I knew it would made its way on Youtube in no time.

As I was talking about earlier today, the Tiger&Bunny OST set for release on Ocotober 19th and that, strangely enough, I didn't care much for before, will include, at least a song. A trio.

Whether you remember the episode of the strange new unit B.T.B. or not, whether you were watching Tiger&Bunny or not, you HAVE to listen to this.
It's Kotobuki Minako (who sings quite well in that one), with occasionnal help from Hiroaki Hirata and very thoughtful comments from Morita Masakazu. ("See you tomorrow")

I might as well tell you. I cried. Of laughter.
And I can tell you that even if they obviously heard it before the guys presenting the radio show and their guest Morita Masakazu had troubles keeping their cool too. (He still managed to be adorable and spent 5min thanking the fans, by the way.)