[1st episode] Sankarea

Brace yourself for quite a few articles in the next hour. I have watched lots.

First of today's batch is Sankarea, story of a boy who's fetish is zombies, he has absolutely no interest at all in human females, until, obviously, he meets the star of the nearby all girl school named Sanka Rae.
Then, obviously again, shit happens.

During all the episode I kept on wondering why the hell I was watching.
- Even by my standards (which are pretty low) the main character has a few screw loose.
- The cat didn't turn into a zombie.
- Fanservice
- Girl!Main character has quite a few screw loose on her own
- I was a bit bored by the story that was like non existent.
- I don't even remember the voice acting nor the music.

To be honest that's something I'd drop on the spot.
However, as I said shit happens, and that shit looked like quite interesting (I mainly got a glimpse of intestins. Not where they were supposed to be)

As I'm curious, it'll get the benefit of the doubt and I'll be watching the second episode.

[1st episode] Accel World

I'm pretty sure I had meant to check that anime, unfortunately, I have actually no memories of the list I took so much time to make. Oh well, it'll come back to my brain in time. 

So, Accel World is the story of Buta (I don't remember his actual name) who's being bullied, but one day appears a magical older girl student who presents him with a power that can help him, and so it does. Unfortunately for him, everything has consequences. 

Ah and I forgot to say that Sunrise managed to put some kinds of mecha suits in the anime. They love mecha at Sunrise, even Nichibros had them. 

Oh well, Accel World has a pretty not-original concept, the poor and weak and voiced by Kaji Yuki (Sounds familiar?) meets a girl (Sounds familiar?) and through her he manages to access an incredible power (Again, sounds familiar?) 
Obviously he can't really use his power without consequences, the power is limited to a certain number of uses and when he doesn't have any left, well, he's done for. Or at least he will never be able to use that power anymore. 
In the end, I'm not really interested, nor by the plot, nor by the characters. (And, since the writer has worked on Guilty Crown too, I'm guaranteed it won't improve, but I shall do further researches on that)

What could be interesting (and isn't) the thing I had the most hope about after having watched 5 minutes of the anime is the world building. Come on, everyone is linked to a virtual world where they can connect and disconnect whenever they want. A bit like the network from Summer Wars. 
That could be interesting if handles properly, however it's not either. 

The voice acting is OK except for Kaji Yuki that really starts to get on my nerves with all of his annoying roles lately. The music has no unity, it goes ell to illustrate the events, it doesn't to build an atmosphere. 

To sum it up, dropped

[1st episode] Zetman

Hey, hey, here is something highly anticipated by a lot of people (Hello T&B Bros, you should watch this after this morning's war~), talked about by a lot of people, read by a lot of people (Mwahaha it's licensed in France :p), and ... that will end up disappointing lots of people. 

Zetman is kind of a super hero seinen story, Jin is a gifted boy that can transform at will as a "Player" a genetically transformed monster, once used for the entertainment of the upper class, now trying to mingle among the humans. 

Obviously Jin is special. 

The only problem is that I know all that because I have read the manga, or at least the first few volumes. As such, I don't really think this was a good first episode. I didn't get the story! 

I know Jin is special but I don't know exactly how.

I can't say it's a bad adaptation though, rather, it's a good one, and that's the problem. Usually, the problem in too-true-to-the-original adaptations is that they're boring, here it's not, at least that's a good point you'll say. But it's still a very bad way to get someone sucked in the anime. Even getting used to the characters is totally pointless since it's obvious they'll age in the next episode. They honestly should have just skipped most of what happened, just a quick recap about his past and be done with. It's important for his personality development I get it, it's bad for the pace of the anime though. 

I can't really say anything about the music, it didn't really do anything to me. I can't really say anything about the voice acting either since they'll change to their grown-up versions in the next episode. All I can say is comment on how I'm sick to hear Romi Park as young boys, she's good, but it's always her, at least Sawashiro Miyuki manages to voice them a little bit more differently.

And I still love Yusa Kouji as evil characters. 

In the end, the thing that strikes me the most is that even Tiger&Bunny was closed to Masakazu Katsura's original design, which is sad. (Also, they aired the same day at a one year interval, we refuse to believe it's a coincidence)

All I can say is that Zetman is a good manga. As for the anime, I'll wait, I suggest you give it a shot though, just in case it's really good.

[1st episdoe] Natsuiro no Kiseki

And the last one in the series of things I didn't intend to watch and didn't even know existed.

Natsuiro no Kiseki is the story of 4 childhood friends in middle school, apparently two of them got in a fight and then magic happened and they flew in the sky and they'll try to become idols? I think it was something like that.
Oh and it's done by Sunrise.

First of all, it's cute, I quite like the character design of the blonde. Who happens to be the poor "I'm suffering so much so I'm a bitch but you can't understand what I'm going through" kind of character. I really hope she'll improve or I'll end up hating her big time.

This anime has been started because Kotobuki Minako (Damn, Tiger&Bunny what kind of stuff are you making me do?) I don't particularly complain though.

The problem is I have no idea what the plot is really going to be about. One of the friends is moving so I don't know how they'll manage to try for their dream together. Maybe we'll get a magical time skip or something? Well whatever happens I don't get how it'll work if she moves. But I guess I'll know next week? Probably.

No matter how this will turn out to be I can say the one who wrote this episode is good, it made me want to watch the second, despite the knowledge that this is a seiyuu anime, it's just made so they can sound cute while voicing cute looking characters (and looking cute themselves, let's admit it).
In the end, kudos to the writer, dunno how this will turn out but I'm watching the second episode. (Maybe not the third and if I watch the third, maybe not the fourth, well, you see what I'm trying to say, this is Sunrise after all)

[1st episode] Folktales from Japan

And here you have something else I didn't want to watch, actually didn't know it existed, but when I saw it was about folktales I just couldn't help myself. I really love folktales.

So, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of material to sum it up, it's a bunch of different folktales. Makes you go back in time, doesn't it?

I don't really know what to say about this. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought it was adorable. It's strange how replacing a fairy by a dog and sisters by old people can change a story. It's interesting how our (well, I by "our" I mean French and some other European) stories often stars princes and princesses while Japanese focus on old and modest people.

All in all, I think that Folktales from Japan is a great anime for those who're culturally curious. Fairy tales can say a lot about a culture, and you don't have to watch the whole thing once you've started as a single episode has a few stories in it.

I liked it a lot and I'd love it if other people would watch it so we can talk. Since I'm pretty sure this will serve as basis to a few future editorials

[1st episode] Uchuu Kyoudai

I am truly sorry. Internship had an effect I didn't expect. Mainly, internship being an office job, after having spent my day in front of a computer I don't want to see mine anymore.
And here comes the silence in my blog. But I'll try to do my best changing this. After all, I do write articles, at work, and then don't have the energy to care of the blog. Quite the paradox.
(Also, Oreimo is getting a second season and I'm fucking happy!)

Anyway, let's start by the first anime of the Spring Season 2012 and also my favorite of the 3 I have watched today, mainly, Uchuu Kyoudai!
Uchuu Kyoudai, also named Space Bros, is the story of two brothers who swore to go into space when they were younger. One of them is about to set off to the moon, but for the other, shit happened and well, he did something else. But one day, he got fired.

I don't know if you remember but I didn't want to watch this at first, which would have been a great idea since, obviously, I have already added no less than 3 anime that weren't planned on my watch list. But, if there's one I know I won't regret it's that one.
Because first there's Hiroaki Hirata as Mutta and damn, Mutta is like Kotetsu in so many ways it's just perfect. (And yeah it's because of him I watched, obviously again)

Aside from that simple fact, the character himself is funny. He made me feel like giving him a hug pretty much all the time, and then made me laugh and I ended the anime weeping and crying just like he was doing. That was adorable. The whole anime is adorable.

I honestly thought it'd be a bit boring, or at least, maybe not that interesting, I was wrong. The story doesn't seem like it'll be action packed or anything but I'm curious as to how it'll develop, if Mutta will manage to realize his dream, what role will play Hibito, if they'll stay good friends like that.

And I loved how the introduction was basically setting things into our reality. It made him sound true. The characters sound true too. To sum it up and I'm probably biased, this was awesome.

I'll leave you with an important piece of advice, "Kids, don't headbutt your superior"

[1st episode] Ozuma

Just a very small 1st episode post to tell you that, first, I'm starting an internship tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea how it'll happen so I might or might have time enough free time to blog.
It probably won't have much impact on posts though I'm not too sure I'll still manage to write my average two per week, but it'll definitely have an impact on my answers to comments and emails. In the end, if you want to reach me fast, your safest bet is Twitter. I'm supposed to have two days off a week but god knows what can happen in such a field as tourism. And I won't be able to say no either if they ask me for favours, and I have stuff to do on week ends like, volunteer construction work, or various housework mother can't do alone.
Anyway, we'll see, just to say I might or might not disappear. (That was a very useful statement wasn't it?)

Let's start by our topic, mainly, Ozuma, newest project of Captain Harlock's Leiji Matsumoto.
To give you a summary, well, a girl is chased by the military, she's saved by a nice guy who happens to belong to a pirate crew, they're all flying in nice spaceships in the desert (so they should be desertships) where strange creatures called Ozuma live underneath the surface.

After the first few seconds I was pretty sure I'd continue this, just because I heard Hayami Shou and that's such a rare occurence that it should be greatly enjoyed. And on top of that he's the captain of the military guys.

Second thought, damn, that animation style makes me nostalgic.

Third thought, this story really isn't that original, but I won't care if it's well done. (I hope it'll be well done. I have high hopes for Leiji Matsumoto.)

And last, but very important thought, I think I just fell in love with the captain of the pirates.

Over than that, well, it's going to be only 6 episodes, I think you can spare those 2 hours. If you're old enough for the sake of nostalgia, if not, I think it'll be a great introduction to Leiji Matsumoto's work. (Or you can, just like me, go watch those Daft Punk music videos.)

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.

Sengoku themed anime for everyone's tastes.

As a matter of fact, since the day I've been made to watch Sengoku Basara (it has Hayami Shou, you need to watch it, or so they said), I have been following pretty much all new series that had to do with Sengoku Jidai, you know, this blessed period before the Tokugawa shogunate when everyone tried to kill each others, and that's how this, somehow very small list, came to life.
Just in case you want to join in.

The most hilarious : Sengoku Basara
Not only is this series my first so it's special but, the actual historical generals were already pretty crazy, the ones from Sengoku Basara are from a completely different level. The plot is absolutely nothing special, it just has to do with beating up the bad guy, what's interesting is how they manage to get along (or not) to do so, given they all want to be the best and get rid of each others and all have a really peculiar personality. (Special mention for Akechi Mitsuhide)
Very, very, VERY loosely historically accurate but it is hilarious.

For fanservice amateurs : Sengoku Otome : Momoiro Paradox
That anime is "adapted" or I should probably say inspired from a pachinko game, which has obviously aroused suspicion in me but in the end, for an anime dealing with time warp that transformed all Sengoku generals into girls it's actually quite entertaining. Much more entertaining than Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, which is another fanservice series.

The most accurate : Hyougemono
As you may or may not know Hyougemono is about Sasuke a teapot crazy guy who might be a complete invention, as well as some quite colorful happenings of the series, among the ones I have seen it's still the most historically accurate. Especially concerning the interactions between the different characters. Might be quite boring if you're not into it though.

The one you shouldn't watch unless you're a fujoshi and even if you are it's hard to bear sometimes, but it has big boobs so men can find something they like too and you probably should just read the manga if you're that interested because at least it has more perverted jokes and panels : Brave 10
I don't even know what to say about that one except that, while it got better after episode 6, you still should avoid it. But it has my favorite version of Sanada Yukimura ever so ...

My ultimate favorite : Sengoku Basara : the Last Party.
I'm cheating a bit because that one is the movie following up on the second season of Sengoku Basara but it happens to be the most hilarious of the series. The craziest one. The one with the better ED. The one with the better death, because only that series can make characters die not only once but twice and all of them completely epic. Also the one with my favorite death ever. And my all time favorite nabe scene. And, as usual, a seiyuu fest.

I still couldn't find the proper ED but, well, close enough?