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After blasting through the hype-train megaforce fist-pumping heaven piercing Sword Art Online, I decided to not do what I usually do when I finish such an eventful journey, which is to have a little break to breathe, cook some ramen, troll Facebook and maybe even give that TV thing all those “normal” people keep ranting on about. But no, for the first time EVER (no, seriously) I scrapped that and immediately jumped straight into a new show, with absolutely no knowledge of anything I was getting myself into besides the paragraph description the website I was using gave. Save to say it peaked my interest ... as, for me at least; it was the first show in god knows who long that made me go, “oh right, that’s unique, I’ve never heard of that before”. Yeah, shocking I know. I instantaneously knew before even watching the first episode that I was going to review this show, so with that said:

Otaku’s, Otakette’s & the young’ins, I present to thee a review of Kokoro Connect or Hearts Connect in English. CUE THE MUSIC!!!

As per usual during first period we have History class, so get your jotters out and start taking notes!

Kokoro Connect is a 17 episode, 2012 (in Japan) anime series based on the Light Novel series of the same name with 11 volumes released between 2010 and 2013 of which only the first 4 are adapted in the anime, which, really shocked me and explains the ending. The episodes were split into one full season of 13 and then 4 specials two months later. It is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America and was only released on BD/DVD in 2013 between October and December. It’s lisenced in Australia by Hanabee, but for some reason Manga Entertainment in the UK hasn’t (as of yet), which sucks for me as I can’t buy it unless I import it, but I’m not made of money. The series was produced by a relatively unknown studio called Silver Link who haven’t really worked on anything majorly known; the only ones I can sort of recognise are Non Non Biyori, Strike The Blood & Baka and Test. The director is Shinya Kawatsura whose only other real known proper director role is Non Non Biyori, but he has director a couple of episodes of different shows like Durarara!! and Blue Exorcist. He does a great job in this show though.


Story

Kokoro Connect tells the extraordinary journey of the five members of the Student Cultural Research Club; Pro-wrestling fan Taichi Yaegashi, club president Iori Nagise, Queen Tsundere Himeko Inaba, nicest guy ever Yoshifumi Aoki and miss karate hotness Yui Kiriyama as they begin the series doing what they normally do, effectively breaking the ice with the viewer when suddenly, for us and them, the five start to randomly swap personalities with each other at the blink of an eye and for random periods of time.

This phenomenon completely takes everyone by surprise and at first they don’t really understand how they should act, what it even means or what the boundaries are for what it happening, which leads to some rather funny situations like the one presented when Taichi (a teen boy) swaps with Iori (an attractive teen girl with C-cup breasts) and he starts to fiddle with her boobs, as her; because being a guy, no matter how respectable you are, the desire and temptation of boobs right at your finger-tips is just too much to bare and he proceeds as any guy would. Obviously this causes problems between the club members the more they swap bodies, when, out of nowhere, a being in possession of their teacher Mr. Goto, who calls himself Heartseed, but I call the “Mythical Dope King of the Whatever Maaaan”. I know he’s supposed to be emotionless and monotone but when he’s in Mr. Goto he just looks like some doped out madman. There’s actually something really weird about Heartseed, he overly polite while at the same time extremely passive-aggressive.

Anyway, back on track. Heartseed, or the Mythical Dope King of the Whatever Maaaan, explains to the group that, or rather just bluntly tells them that he is responsible for this phenomenon and will keep it going until it stops entertaining him. When asked why, he states that he finds the five of them interesting individuals and then just leaves………and so we have our anime.

Now, normally I wouldn’t stand for an opening like that, labelling it as shit and just giving up with the show, but it was the idea and the situation of the body swapping that intrigued the crap out of me. I found myself, like Heartseed, extremely interested to see how these people would deal with this phenomenon and how it would strain or improve their relationships. Other situations and phenomenon’s are forced on the group over time that sees them dealing with the idea of death (and the possibility of replacing said dying person), the release of their true desires, hearing what each other is really thinking and regaining ones youth (and it’s memories).

And that is where the crummy, “just deal with it, okay!” opening expands and becomes such a gripping story about how far friendship truly goes, what it means to be yourself, how real are our feelings, how we change how we act in front of other people just to keep up an image so as to hide how we really feel inside and if we made and are making the right choices in life.

Let it be known that if you proceed to watch this show, make sure to wear a helmet, because this show is constantly beating you on the head with the, “BE SAD, IT’LL MAKE YOU BETTER!” stick, the “YOU’RE NOT SAD ENOUGH!” hammer & the, “SADNESS 3: SADNESS WITH A VENGENCE” ball and chain.

But then again, we do get momentary respites, like during the youth phenomenon when the characters sometimes turn into children and they are just the most adorable things you’ve ever seen. I usually don’t react to shit like that, but I couldn’t help it this time, because of how the personalities reflected their older selves.

Characters

Taichi

Taichi is the male lead for the show and is a “Selfish Freak”, which pretty much sums up Taichi completely. He is self-less to such a fault that he instantly offers up his life to save another’s without thinking of how his death would affect other people, like his little sister. At the beginning of the show, he is in love with Iori and she with him. But as the phenomenon’s continue and everyone’s feelings develop and change, his love switches from Iori to Inaba.

Iori

Iori is the main crux for the depression the show put me in at times, even though I would describe her initial personality as bubbly, dirty & cheerful. I wish I could elaborate but I can’t bring myself to spoil her backstory, it’s too tragic to be felt merely by reading b&w characters on a screen. Just know that, at her age, she’s been through too much and done so many things that it’s comes to a point where the individual of Iori Nagise just doesn’t exist anymore. But she does for the most part keep a smile on her face and soldier on, even though that may be a lie as well. Everytime I see her character on screen my stomach goes into knots and I just feel uncomfortable, but I do love her character so much, that I can’t look away.

Inaba

Now, Iori may have been the lead female at the start of the show, but Queen Tsundere Inaba steals the show in the end. I call her Queen Tsundere, because out of all the Tsundere’s I’ve experienced, she is the most suffocating (I haven’t seen Toradora yet).Sure like all Tsundere’s she comes out of her shell and gets the guy, but my god, she just chops and changes like a fucking light switch. Her Tsundere tendencies become more sarcastic later on in the show which does make it more bearable. This is just one blip, however on Inaba’s personality that I can get over, because she just rocks so bad. I mean, Inaba is my favourite character in the show by a warp drive, purely based on the fact that me and her are kindred spirits, cut from the same branch, two peas in a pod, when it comes to our dealing of situations and how we keep our cards close to our chests……if that chest was 50,000 leagues under the sea. You see, the two of us, simply, when it comes to making decisions, we carefully examine and consider every single possible opportunity (good and bad) that could happen. EVERY SINGLE ONE. So as to make sure that there is no danger for our friends, so that they can do whatever they want and enjoy themselves to the fullest with no problems and we can relax. And when it comes to privacy, we both have trust issues in the sense that we don’t let anyone in at all and keep virtually everything a secret for fear that if we completely revealed ourselves it would change everyone’s opinions of us and then hate us. Plus, we don’t deem ourselves important enough to express who we are as we see ourselves as less of importance than everyone else. So, because we are one and the same, I love Inaba.

Aoki

Aoki is an interesting, yet un-interesting character as over the course of the show we practically learn absolutely nothing about him other than what we see on the surface which is that he is the nicest guy ever and he loves his friends and loves Yui with all his heart. That’s it. Yep, less to say about him than Taichi.

Yui

Yui, like Iori, puts my stomach in knots every time I see her. Again I won’t go into detail on, but it’s bad and something that cannot accept in this world, it is something totally unforgivable and it disgusts and scares me to death. But apart from that, when Yui recovers, she is such a warm person and such a strong woman come the end. Plus she is super attractive.

Art/Animation

Because of the lack of cast and any big physical activities they have to do or even places they go, animation is of a minimal level. Nothing really beyond walking, standing/sitting up/down, some running, tears etc. Really simple, but smooth. Art wise though there are loads of similar looking shows out there, it’s in the same vain as Another I would say most of all, or hell, even K-On! at times which means it looks good and that’s it. It’s good. Gradients were nice (can you sense my desperation for something to write about?)

Sound

The soundtrack was done by Toshiki Kameyama and for the little I’ve heard it’s not special. But it does it’s job of fitting in with the anime and for enhancing the emotionally drive of the given situation. Lots of slow pianos and violins, there is this one harmonica track though that I really liked so there is that.
The show has 3 opening theme and four ending themes, which boggled my mind as I didn’t notice because for the most part the opening animation stayed the same.

Opening 1 is Paradigm by Eufonius and it’s an okay song, nice and upbeat.
Opening 2 is Kimochi Signal by Sayuri Horishita and I really liked this song, great voice and the lyrics at parts really resonate with the show which was great.
Opening 3 is Kimi Rhythm by Masaki Imai and I really liked this song as well for it’s great vocals and catchy chorus.
Ending 1 is Kokoro no Kara by Team Nekokan feat. Junca Amaoto and I’m not too fond of it.
Ending 2 is Cry Out by Team Nekokan feat. Atsuko and I’m really fond of this, nice voice companied with sweet acoustic guitar.
Ending 3 is Salvage by Team Nekokan feat. Rekka Katakiri and it’s more rock oriented track that’s okay.
Ending 4 is I Scream Chocolatl by Team Nekokan feat. Lia and it’s nice quiet track.

The dub cast for the five leads are fantastic and performs such a varied and emotional performance in the show. It’s actually one of the best dubs I’ve heard.

Greg Ayres (Koyuki in Beck & Kaoru in Ouran High School Host Club) voices Taichi.

Monica Rial (Renge in Ouran & Shiro in Deadman Wonderland) voices Iori (also Aki Toyosaki voices her in Japanese and I love her).

Luci Christian (Honey senpai in Ouran & Nagisa in Clannad) voices Inaba. Shit, she voices Nagisa!? Like I need any other reason to like her.

Clint Bickham (Shizo in Kino’s Journey & Sōjirō Seta in Rurouni Kenshin) voices Aoki.

Emily Neves (Kotomi Ichinose in Clannad & Yuuki Miku in HSOTD) voices Yui.

Enjoyment

For me this show is the most unique show I think I’ve seen since Gurren Lagann, and that’s saying something. I can’t seriously think of or remember a show as unique as this. That’s enough enjoyment for me, but the show is a bit heavy-handed with the depression side to it and if that kind of show is too much for you, you just will never enjoy yourself. But if depression can be classed as enjoyment then the show is bag-fulls of fun. I will definitely watch this show over and over again, because after going through such an emotionally traumatizing journey with these characters, damn-near side-by-side with them, I feel I have a deep connection with this show that goes beyond, “It’s a show I really like”.

So that’s my review for Kokoro Connect. I love the show to death. I’d love to give it a 9/10 personally, but as a critic and reviewer, I have to look at it critically and comparatively with the other shows I’ve seen and doesn’t quite reach the 8/10 on an overall technical and professional scale compared to the other shows, because I can’t honestly say, as much as I would like to, that this show is better than Blood +, Clannad and The Melancholy of Haruhi fucking Suzumiya or on par with Evangelion, Darker Than Black, Another, Baccano! and Sword Art Online (wink wink, check the review).

If you've read this far thank you so much, I love you (totally if your female & in a not-gay way if your male), and I hope you enjoyed it and will give the show a shot. God knows what my next review is going to be, but in the meantime I'm going to try and tackle Mysterious Girlfriend X, which I am not looking forward to.

So, until next-time, love your anime and take care.



This world is Rotten. Rotten people should be killed off to cleanse this world. – Death Note

*WARNING! This review contains spoilers, some big, some little, some CATASTROPHIC and some irrelevant, so please be careful and enjoy!

You know, I totally had no idea what I was going to review next. I mean, I had started writing a review for Digimon Adventure with the hopes of making it sound epic and nostalgic but after near enough 3 months of trying and failing…..a lot! I just kind of gave up and really couldn’t find any motivation anymore to review anything.

But then….something happened. Something that had been in the pipelines for over a year up until now, something that I desperately waited for during it’s ... dubbing (even when it took that break that TOTALLY didn’t frustrate me ¬_¬). Something! That I’ve seen and heard talked about OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER again over that past year, all it’s highs and lows, the disappointing second half, the badass fights, killer art, shit-hot female lead and of course THAT tentaclethingthathappenedtoallyoutofnowherethatwastotallyunnecessaryandstillcreepy.

Yes, I am of course talking about Sword Art Online, so without further ado:

Otaku’s, Otakette’s & the Young’ins. I present to you, my completely spontaneous review of Sword Art Online. CUE THE MUSIC!!!

As always, History class is first so I hope you’ve all done your homework or it’s DETENTION FOR ALL MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Sword Art Online logged on to Japanese screens in 2012 between July & December. It appeared on Western screens in July 2013 and will keep airing until February 2014 apparently even though I’ve already seen it all in English, or maybe that’s just in Britain? It ran for 25 episodes and was produced by A-1 Pictures, known also for Black Butler 1 & 2, Fairy Tale, Blue Exorcist and it’s movie, Anohana and it’s movie, Silver 1 & 2 and later this year SAO 2 which I am major stoked for. The Director for this show is Tomohiko Ito, who’s other works (not all as director) include Death Note, Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist, Anohana, Silver Spoon, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars.

So yeah, as far as anime production and directors go……big guns.



Story

Based on the on-going light novels, the first season of SAO covers the first two arcs in the light novel (I expect the second season to cover the third and fourth arcs respectively) and is set in 2022 where a new craze in online gaming has been invented called VRMMORPG or Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game (try saying that when your drunk) which has been achieved with an item called the NerveGear, which is just this big-ass Elfen Lied helmet that basically puts you in a coma while you’re playing the game and allows you to control everything your avatar does with your mind. The show establishes in like the first minute or so that this event, let’s say, is selling like ice cream on a 50 degree (Celsius) day, and if you watch the show later on to the point when all the characters are introduced and you remember them then re-watch the first episode and you’ll see this sweet cameo. Or well I thought it was sweet at least.

We are then introduced to our main character in the real world whose real name is Kazuto Kirigaya, but, in the world of Sword Art Online, he is the god-child (or he might as well be seeing how OP he is), Kirito. Now Kirito was one of a very lucky 1000 people who got to Beta test SAO (bear in mind only Japan has this game) before release, because he is mad into his MMO’s (you’ll find the reason why that is later in the show) and thus has a technical head-start over everyone else, which people ostracize or single him out on calling him a Beater, a combination of Beta and cheater. Now, Kirito, is a solo-player (again, something that has reason to it which you find out later) and just doesn’t like to play with or be around other people, plain and simple, which as an MMO’er myself is something that DOES NOT get you very far, but he’s the God Child, so what the hell do I know.

So in the first episode after everyone logs in we see Kirito do his thing and make a friend named Klein. After a long day of training, Klein decides it’s time to log out, but there’s a problem……the logout button is missing sparking massive panic when suddenly all the players are gathered into the town square where an announcement is going to be made, a mysterious figure appears and proclaims that he is the creator of Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba (whose second name I always mixed up with Kaiba).

Kaiba then announces to all these players that they are trapped inside Sword Art Online indefinitely until they complete all of the game’s 100 floors and then defeat the final boss, Kaiba himself. But wait, there’s a catch, if they die in the game, they will also die…….in the real world, sparking a huge WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA- jaw dropping reaction from me and every player in the game, then he lets off a light fart and just toodles off, not really, but yeah.

And that’s it. Like the players your just left with that massive revelation and just kind of have to deal with it………..ON TO EPISODE TWO!

See, now this, is how you open up an anime and set that shit up to be fucking EPIC! And it was, sort of, up until episode 14…..of 25 I may add, where it ended. Or at least Sword Art Online: The Game ended. More on that later, look for the “***”.

After such a gripping opening, for the next three episodes, it just keeps on gripping you even tighter. The show throws epic boss battles at us, sad feels, happy feels, epic questing, an epic female lead and some “people die when they are killed” moments. But also raises suspicions about the show having a slight Harem element to it.

Which takes me to my next point, the show has this really noticeable Harem side to it, where in every single new female character that Kirito encountered, A.K.A. in every episode, they instantly fall in love with him the second he does some random badass thing, like that’s all MMO girls care about. It does calm down later on, but as with game development, when one issue is resolved, another just pops up. And SAO is no exception with it’s next problem after Harem, being pacing.

Apart from the second half of this show, the pacing of the first half is the next worst thing, with the anime cramming 2 whole years of these people being stuck in this game in constant life or death situations every single day into FOURTEEN FUCKING EPISODES! With episode-to-episode time skips anything between two weeks and a few months, give or take on these, I didn’t really pay all that much attention to the dates, but I still noticed it. It bothered the heck out of me when I did.

Now another thing that bothered me about the cut-off being at episode 14, was the fact that the whole idea of saving themselves from SAO was just shat on completely and canned with a Deus-Ex Machina way on floor SEVENTY FUCKING FIVE! Akihiko Kayaba was canned as well, which pissed me right the fuck off and the answer to all our questions weren’t fucking answers, because all Kaiba said was, “Oh, I can’t remember why I did what I did. But hey, isn’t that a nice castle?” ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ON MY BALLS!? Granted I understand that this is a faithful adaptation of the light novels I get that okay but, FUCK THAT SHIT! What a goddamn waste of time, I thought to myself. Why the fuck put such a massive bombshell on us like that, traumatize our characters for two years, tell them they have to clear ALL 100 FLOORS, defeat EVERY BOSS and give us all these questions shrouded in mystery just to throw it all away on a whim and replace it with a FUCKING FAIRY GAME! Oh, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself……ahem!

***
At this point in time, I was done with the show, D-O-FUCKING-N-E, done. But the only thing that kept me going was the romance between Kirito and Asuna, which I’d love to go into detail on but I’d rather not at this stage. When they got together and the show took itself away from the major dilemma and just gave us, or those two rather, some respite just to live as people and in love. They get a house, they get married, hell, they even have a daughter, which surprised me so much because they actually went in that direction and how far they actually took it, so much so that it took me to a place that I am still recovering from (insert Clannad photo here) and it completely left me speechless.

So imagine me, done with the show but still invested in their romance, when Kirito wakes up in the real world as Kazuto now and finds out that Asuna hasn’t woken up and is still trapped in a re-hashed version of SAO called Alfheim Online and decides to go and save her. My reaction was like, “Aw really, goddamn it. Fuck it, I really want a happy ending”. So I watched the first few episodes of the second half of the season and instead of me explaining what sucked, I think
I’ll just paste the Facebook status I made about it…………..

“My reaction to Sword Art Online's second half (so far ¬_¬):

What!? What is this? Who the fuck are you? Who the fuck are YOU!? What the fu-? Are we really going there? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? Don't you fucking touch her you cunt! Are we REALLY going there!? What the fuck is this shit!? What the....fairies? FUCKING FAIRIES!? No, no, no, FUCK! Fuck this shit, fuck this show, fuck fairies and fuck you!!!

Still watching 3 episodes later ¬_¬...........fuck you!”


So yeah, I was PISSED. But, love prevailed ultimately and I kept watching and the show just kept trying to push me away with things like Princess Incestia……..more on that later. In the end, after suffering through the worst villain ever who just so happened to be the creepiest fucking guy and the most bullshit Deus-Ex Machina win ever, I finally made it to the end and got the happiness that I, Kirito and Asuna finally deserved.

Characters

Kazuto Kirigaya

I want to start off with Kazuto Kirigaya, the real-life counterpart of Kirito. Before going into Sword Art Online, Kazuto is a very reclusive and distant boy from his family, more so his Sister (who’s actually his Cousin), Suguha after finding out at 10 via the internet that his mother and sister are actually his Aunt and Cousin. His real parents died in an accident. So he just removed himself from their lives and gave himself fully to online gaming. This whole singular persona of his real life is the reason why Kazuto always plays alone. During SAO, after meeting various female characters he starts to change as a person and realize that he should stop ignoring his Cousin and be a better big brother to her and through Asuna, finds love and a reason to go beyond just simple online games and find his place in the real world, she basically gives him his only reason for being real. After Kazuto wakes up from SAO he completely is the changed man he became inside the game but has to go back into the game to save his one reason for being in the real world and wanting to live in it. Personally I think Kazuto goes on such a great personal journey to go into the game as the guy he is full of resent and trust issues with no need of anyone else to then come out of the game with a new perspective on life, making an effort with his family and actually needing someone to keep him going, genuinely depending on them.


Kirito

Now Kazuto’s avatar Kirito is just the most badass over-powered thing to ever happen to an MMO, this guy power-level’s so bad that he can single-handedly take out floor bosses. Kirito is everything that Kazuto isn’t when he first enters the game. He’s strong, confident, charismatic, tactile and sure of himself. Kirito at first is all out for himself in this determined lone wolf warpath to blast through the game and beat it to save everyone trapped inside. He completely believes that it is his responsibility to save everyone and that he is the only one capable, because of the freedom of being alone. It comes to bite him in the ass, when a party he is with is massacred right in front of him, which he blames on himself for having lacked the power to save them even at his higher level and he slumps into depression and shows a new steely determination to beat the game. He hooks up with Asuna later on in the show and the two decide to take a break in the country with each other, away from all the danger wherein they develop a love for living in the world of SAO as opposed to the real world.
They are eventually forced back into the game however and after finally beating the game and waking in the real world to find Asuna still trapped, Kirito must go back into the game on another warpath, but to save the love of his life from being lost to the game forever….basically. That threat is big enough, but Kirito just seemed at times in the second half to just completely forget all about why he was in Alfheim Online to begin with, just nonchalantly flirting with random women, and when women flirted with him he fucking gives it back. Why can’t he just say, “oh, sorry, I’m married”? He also totally disregards his mission TO SAVE HIS WIFE to solve some random dispute that people may die in, that has fuck all to do with him and his mission. In a game where if you die, YOU RESPAWN. On that note, Kirito is REALLY pretentious in the second half. Right, sure, being trapped in SAO for two years would have traumatized him and left a mental scar that prevents him from wanting people to die in the game, but that doesn’t mean shit when you completely accept that fact the minute you start playing the game, like seriously, yeah you died, just wait ten minutes and respawn and try again, what’s the big fucking deal? But all in all I do enjoy Kirito for all of his admirable qualities, pretentious or not and for how happy he makes Asuna.

Asuna
The character of Asuna is presented to us as a complete and utter badass, a beautiful one at that. She, like Kirito at the beginning is full of determination in beating the game. She has some wicked swordplay in her trunk and after partying with Kirito for a while becomes a good friend to him, with the more time they spent together allowing Asuna to become a more free player and start to enjoy herself a bit more. She then falls in love with him and sort of takes a less prominent badass role in the show. I’ve seen a lot of people shun this move as completely shutting her character off and making her a weak cry-baby, but that is far from the truth, she’s still a badass, she just takes a backseat is all. She personally relaxes and takes it easy. I personally preferred laid back badass Asuna to always serious and fighting badass Asuna. I fell in love with the laid back Asuna because she was more real and came across as so relieved to be allowed to be completely herself. Her love for Kirito extends into her love for Kazuto, as them being together will release her from her pressured life in the real world, where she won’t have to worry about her parent’s expectations of her and just live happily with Kazuto. She is definitely a strong female character and is certainly one of my favourites.

I want to do a quick mention on Yui, Kirito & Asuna’s in-game daughter who is just the most adorable little thing and the reason why the show took me within Clannad emotions. She brings some wonderful childish heart to the show.

Another quick mention for Princess Incestia, A.K.A. Suguha Kirigaya, A.K.A Kazuto’s sister/cousin who wants to desperately shag him, because, well, incest…..why the fuck not I guess, huh?
NO!? WHAT ARE YOU STOOPID!?
Stupid fucking character, stupid fucking incest sub-plot.
She’s got plot I guess so that’s makes it all better, yeah? Fuck no! Go home.

Art/Animation

If A-1’s credentials are anything to go by then you don’t need me to tell you how good this show looks, but I will anyways. This show is a goddamn visual masterpiece, like seriously, sure you can get away with saying the characters aren’t anything special, but even then they still look great and varied. It’s the environments that steal the show though, as we are constantly treated to the most stunning vistas I think I’ve ever seen in an anime. They are truly unbelievable at times and some, like the World Tree and it’s main town are nothing short of jaw-dropping. Animation is a visual masterpiece as well, with action and fight scenes that kick the absolute shit out of virtually every Shōnen before it. It makes the fights in Bleach look like they were conceived by a baby with a full nappy. Your heartbeat will sky-rocket during every single fight in this show, guaranteed.

Sound

The soundtrack for Sword Art Online is done by Yuki Kajiura, so no explanations needed other than it’s not as good as you’d expect but it’s still a pretty good soundtrack. Notable songs include:

Swordland
A Tender Feeling
At Nightfall

The first opening is Crossing Field by LiSA and although I do like it, it, like the show is way over-hyped.
The first ending theme is Yume Sekai by Haruka Tomatsu and it’s okay I guess, it’s nothing special.
The second opening is Innocence by Eir Aoi and I think it is as good as Crossing Field just without the recognition.
The second ending theme is Overfly by Luna Haruna and is leaps and bounds better than Yume Sekai. It’s a really good song.

Now for the dub cast:

Bryce Papenbrook; Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist and Red in Pokémon Origins, voices Kirito/Kazuto which is quite weird because the whole time watching I thought that it was Derek Stephen Prince who was doing the voice because Kirito sounds an awful lot sometimes like Uryu Ishida from Bleach.

Cherami Leigh; July in Darker Than Black and Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tale, voices my soon to be wife Asuna.

Stephanie Sheh; Orihime Inoue in Bleach and Yui Hirasawa in K-On!, voices Yui.

Kirk Thronton; Gabumon in Digimon and Jin in Samurai Champloo, voices Klein.

Patrick Seitz; Isshin Kurosaki in Bleach and Marco Owen in King of Thorn, voices Agil.

Cassandra Morris; Ritsu Tainaka in K-On! and Kyubey in Madoka Magica, voices Suguha/Leafa.

All in all the voice acting in the dub is top notch from start to finish. I had no problems with any voice the entire time.

Enjoyment

Now, during the story part of this review I may have beat on this show a lot, or rather constantly, but let it be known that I’ve only beat on it so hard because of how much I love this show. I love this show so much, yes, even the dreadful second half I’d watch over and over again. This show was built for someone like me, someone who has poured months and months into MMO’s such as Runescape, WoW, LotR Online & Perfect World. I got so fucking hooked and hyped by the twist and the boss fights. Although I think that show is way, WAY over-hyped, I still loved the shit out of it on a more personal gamer level than as an anime watcher. The feels where handled marvellously and the show at times held my emotions on a shoe string which hasn’t been done since Clannad, so special props to that. It gave me a convincing and fleshed out (compared to others) love dynamic. All in all it was a great show and I am super looking forward to season 2. I would recommend you see or rather experience this in the majesty of Blu-Ray, there literally is no other substitute.


So yeah, that’s me finally done. I’m so glad I actually got to finish reviewing something. My next review definitely won’t take nearly as long, hell it may even be out in a couple days’ time. Look forward to it. It’s going to be on Kokoro Connect. So without further ado, thanks for reading, take care and go get some ramen! Geez I’m starving.


Getsuga TENSHOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I look back on my time as an Otaku, one particular moment sticks out more so than any other and it’s probably my most fond memory:
The time I watched Darker Than Black for the first time. Now, you may be wondering, “What’s so special about Darker Than Black?” Well, if you read the About Me section in my profile, it will say that I had about a 10 year gap of watching anime and only watched my first “new” show in 2010 and it was Darker Than Black. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to say that DTB isn’t the greatest ... show, but I will say that it’s a really great show that has some amazing things going for it and I would say it’s a true cult classic as the show is not HUUUGE but does have a large and loyal fan base and is popular enough to be noticed.

So it gives me great pleasure to review, in my opinion, an absolute gem of any anime and without further ado; OTAKU’S ON THE LEFT (cheer!), OTAKETTE’S ON THE RIGHT (cheer!) & THE YOUNG ‘UNS (sit down it’s passed your bed time) welcome to my review of Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means).

HISTORY CLASS!!! Your favourite lesson of the day:

Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) is an original anime (meaning it was not adapted from a manga) released in 2007 and was created, directed and written by a wonderful man called Tensai Okamura, who was also a director on Wolf’s Rain, a little show called Neon Genesis Evangelion, Medabots (how awesome is that XD) & Soul Eater; he was also involved in the key animation of little known projects like Totoro, Ninja Scroll and the marvellous Cyber City Oedo 808. Back in track, DTB was animated by Studio Bones, a studio I’m a massive fan of, who other work include Wolf’s Rain, Eureka Seven, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (which is sensational) and Ouran High School Host Club. The anime spanned 25 episodes, generated a 4 episode OVA “bridging” series, a full-fledged 12 episode second season and two manga series.

Story

The story goes a little summin’ like this:

Five years before the beginning of the series, a special anomaly dubbed “Heaven’s Gate” appeared in South America causing a 1500KM radius size of chaotic space. The appearance of such an anomaly sparked a huge scale war, then promptly disappeared (the special anomaly) along with everything inside the 1500KM radius. The results of which caused the stars to disappear and be replaced by fake stars (stay with me here) which act as an identifier for certain people who have now been given “super powers”, cool enough when the people use their powers the star their aligned to flickers. Now on the opposite side of the globe, in Tokyo, ten years before the beginning of the series, a similar (or indeed opposite) anomaly appeared dubbed “Hell’s Gate” which prompted the Tokyo government to erect an Attack on Titan sized wall around the anomaly. The appearance of Hell’s Gate leads to a rise of people with powers dubbed Contractors and their assistants/counterparts known as Dolls.

Flash-forward to ten years after Hell’s Gate and we are introduced to the events currently happening. During the first episode we are introduced to two of the “main players” in the story to come; Misaki Kirihara, a police officer (to keep it simple) who is part of force specifically tasked to investigate Contractor incidents, basically the Contractor police. She gives us the gist of the Heaven’s/Hell’s Gates and about Contractors & Dolls. She is investigating a specific Contractor, known only as BK-201(the location of the star), trying to find out his identity and some other things that I really didn’t care for. We are instantly introduced to BK-201, introduced to us under the name Hei, known by other Contractors as The Black Reaper; his power is the manipulation and projection of electricity, which is pretty awesome. Now I could go on and on about how badass Hei is but I won’t, just Google Image search him and that will show you. Just know that he has some baggage and mystery – baggage because we learn that Hei was present in South America during Heaven’s Gate and mystery because it appears that he doesn’t have to pay a price for using his powers, evident by him using it multiple times in one go and it also seems that he is able to bypass the emotional restrictions that other Contractors have on them allowing to blend perfectly into normal society, which leads me to our third character; Li Sheng Shun, REMEMBER THAT NAME! This is Hei’s human persona and it works flawlessly well. Other important characters (that I can’t go into more than the little I’ve went into with these characters because it’s soooooo much more meaningful to be caught in the moment when their development goes great, plus spoilers and all) include, Yin – Hei’s Doll, Amber, Mao the cat, November 11 & Havoc.

What Darker Than Black’s (whatever the fuck that means) story does, what I think rather well, others don’t, is it presents not just the main storyline, but also other well written tales confined to two-part episodes, mini-stories if you will. It really eases you in and gives you character development for Hei that is so great is addressing his personal problem with being a “Human Contractor”. These stories also fall into different genres away from the main genre.

The first story deals with betrayal and lies through the idea of finding out you have been implemented with a false life because you are in fact a mindless Doll is quite the tragic tale that does nothing but eradicate a person’s entire existence and memories and feelings in an instant. Hei also is at odds with his Human and Contractor sides which really (mind you this is the first two episodes) puts real weight to his character.

The second story (episodes 3 & 4) is just as bad, maybe even more tragic, with the tale being about a girl who has repeatedly had her mind wiped (and her life replayed) by her father who is desperately trying to produce a cure for her as has contracted the rare strain of being a Moratorium, a person stuck in an in-between stage of becoming a Contractor or a Doll and having no payment for their powers but to suffer severe mental trauma when they do use the power. Her father traverses into Hell’s Gate regularly to procure plants exhibiting the same strain that creates Contractors so that he can experiment on them. It is a really sad situation that Hei finds himself in and these two episodes are probably my favourite of the series.

The story does even out and becomes quite the cluster fuck with so many details and made up terms that it’s tends to run away from itself. But when it comes to Hei, the story and cause is always clear and does really come to a tense and exciting end. It’s overall fairly pleasing.


One thing I’ll say about DTB’s story is that it tells us how or what something is, and that’s that, no explanations, which can be alright because it can save a show from being too descriptive which does allows us to enjoy the present tense of the show without over-killing us with monologue after monologue, Sosuke Aizen comes to mind. BUT! It can also leave the viewer frustrated to the teeth because the show presents some baffling situation or event that is so pivotal and integral to the plot it’s just by existing, in need of explanation, Attack on Titan anyone? What I’m getting at with this is that Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) sits right in the middle of these two; it explains what it needs to explain within the context of the moment so that the story is ever progressing but it does mention loads of things that are made out to be very very important to the characters and the world that it does leave massive gaps in the chronology.

Characters

Let’s talk about Misaki Kirihara, & Hei:

Misaki Kirihara

Misaki is a great human character who isn’t really part of the overall fabric of where the story goes but she does appear enough times to become the female lead although Yin will eventually don the mantle by the end of the series. She’s always wanted to become a policewoman so that she can protect the weak, but her high position now, collecting info on Contractors is at odds with what she wants in her life, she feels like she isn’t helping anyone and feels helpless herself. To her distain her position was attained through way of her father who is the super intendant, the big cheese boss man, so as to get her to her desired rank at a faster pace. She hates this fact because she feels people look down on her because of it and because she wanted to reach that goal through her own means. This is her life and it has a real negative affect on her personal life as she hasn’t lived, focusing her youth on becoming an officer, so there is a sadness to her, but she is a very respectfully strong independent and capable woman who I have a lot of respect for. Plus she’s quite the looker it must be said. When she becomes involved with Hei and his alias Li Sheng Shung REMEMBER THAT NAME! she falls in love with both of them as two separate people even though they are the same, it’s a very interesting dynamic.

Hei/Li Sheng Shung

Hei first. Hei is the epitome of the perfect assassin, strong, agile, precise, creative, intelligent, and invisible. He holds all of the skills in Aces and in a fight is damn-near unbeatable. Although Contractors can hold their own against Hei, in the end, they always lose. Hei has a past and it does haunt him, though it gives him purpose and reason in this world, one of revenge, which comes to a head in the end and makes way for Yin and a really interesting story.
Li Sheng Shung, is everything Hei is not, clumsy, slumped, simple, uninteresting and oh so human. Li does hold this strange aura about his person that just attracts people to him and fall in love with him. Also, because he’s so uninteresting he is never noticed he’s around till the last possible second and no-one ever suspects why he’s always around when strange things are happening. These two personas perfectly balance charm, baggage, likability, fear, excitement, intensity and relaxation.

Art

Usually when people ask me about shows done by Bones made after Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) I always say, “It’s very Bones”. This is because ever since seeing DTB and then seeing something like Tokyo Magnitude and No. 6 the style of art used for the characters is so similar that I coined, “It’s very Bones”, great line work being simple yet stylish in design, which can be said for the colour scheme as well like Hei’s jacket for example, on the front a simple black trench coat then woomph! Green on the inside, something so out of the context that it looks cool. Even Misaki’s glasses in shape and colour create a good style for her character, Yin’s dress, November 11’s suit, all of Amber, just a simple yet effective stylish design. This also extends to the animation as well, great camera shots, sublime effects for the powers, great perspective shots of Hei when grappling, and overall simple yet really effective. I was immersed into the world by looks alone, which is quite the achievement.

Sound

What a sublime soundtrack this is. Crafted by Yoko Kanno who everyone knows. The soundtrack screams personality and atmosphere when paired with the anime with some excellent jazzy tunes, perfectly suited to a slow drink in dimly lit, smoky room. My personal favourite track has to be Yin’s Piano, which I can’t give a reason as to why without spoiling some quality character development, but I can say that the track is a perfect character rendition on a purely emotional level, showing off the subtle beauty, frailty and need to notice Yin. The opening, Howling by Abingdon Boys School is just sensational at getting you pumped up and excited for the action to come without fault every single episode and the ending them, Tsukiakari by Rie Fu is a hauntingly beautiful song with heavenly lyrics that just ease you back into reality.

Voice acting is superb for this one, with Jason Liebrecht voicing Hei and Li Sheng Shung providing real diversity with the voices, one dark and one light. Yin is voiced by the ever great Brina Palencia in probably her most sensual performance I’ve heard, it’s so precious, infantile and softly sad that it melts your heart when it pops up from time to time. Chris Sabat lends his voice to a minor character and Monica Rial voices Misaki’s incredibly attractive friend Kanami. The big names continue with the man of the hour Troy Baker (in a surprise twist for me) put his lungs to November 11, a British man. Amber is voiced by my wife Laura Bailey and Luci Christian, Vic Mignogna & Eric Vale all voice minor characters.

Enjoyment

Action is rife in this one and it’s always entertaining, really some great fights with a whole host of badassery by way of Hei. There’s a good amount of comedy to break up the seriousness and it is genuinely funny I have to admit. There’s also a good deal of emotional impact during the series, some real memorable heart-string pulling scenes. It’s an incredibly re-watchable show that I’d recommend as a great winter show coupled with the Gaiden OVA’s and the second season (which isn’t all that bad).

So overall, Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) is for me, a real gem of a show. It’s just one of those randomly good shows, which are just really good. I’ll always have a personal affection for the show and I’ll watch it maybe 3 times in a year and I’ll enjoy every second of it, and I hope that all of you can to. Now that I’m finally done writing this, I’m going to watch Darker Than Black (WHATEVER!!!! THE FUCK!!!! THAT!!! MEANS!!!!!) Hahahaha XP

SUZAKU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LELOUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *bang!

*Please note, I’ll be typing this review with the intentions that all who read it are Bleach fans or are people who are very much aware of the events in the anime/manga/movies.

Bleach. The mega-ultra-super-fan-heavy-ultimate-Gurren-Z show that has introduced us into the charming worlds of Soul Reapers, Quincies, Hollows, Arrancars & Fullbringers has been delighting, and equally frustrating it’s fans (or rather Tite Kobe has) since 2001, gradually growing in strength ever so slightly, like a Spirit Bomb. At this moment in time (2013), I think that, as a Bleach fan, the series has never been better; it’s in this sort of “transitional period into maturity” ... place with how it’s presenting itself to fans ever since the anime finished. It feels really focused now, which is such a shame, for the manga at least as it’s in it’s last, most brilliant & most shocking arc the series has ever had. It’s also had some surprisingly (by Bleach’s standards) emotional moments. The series is on it’s first real roll of success in a long while and it really REALLY shows in the most recent feature film, which is what I’m going to be reviewing today. So, Otaku’s, Otakette’s & the Young’ins! Welcome to my review of the fourth movie in the Bleach series, Bleach: Hell Verse.

As usual, the historic stuff. Hell Verse is the fourth movie to release for the Bleach franchise and was released in 2010 in Japan & the U.S. (LUCKY!). In Scotland we only got to see this through DVD/Blu-ray, which was released in February, so technically over here this is a 2013 movie. It is made by Studio Pierrot, who also made the other Bleach movies and was directed by Noriyuki Abe, who, every Bleach fan should know.

Story

Now, I have to say, the story to Hell Verse (besides the current arc in the manga) is the most ambitious and exciting story Bleach has ever done as it sees the usual suspects (you know, Ichigo, Ishida, Rukia & Renji) entering Hell for the first time. And I have to say, when I read that for the first time, I was like, “Dude. Watching. Come on. Fucking. Yes.” Ever since the beginning of the series, after seeing the gates of Hell, I’ve been desperate for them to explore it.

The movie opens up with a re-done & HD’d recap of THE BEST FIGHT EVER (in Bleach) between Vasto Lorde Ichigo & Second Resurrection Ulquiorra which is probably the best opening for a Bleach movie there could ever be and we then have our title flash up and the proper movie begin. We see Johnny Young Kurosaki living at peace in Karakura Town when Rukia (my love) & Renji arrive suddenly and make it out like they’re there for nothing overly important to which I’m like, “Dude, Ruk (said as rook) babe, if you’re not here to be loved then sum’ real big goin’ down ya feel me?” This is obviously the case lol as Ichigo is attacked at school one day by three mask wearing freakazoids (gotta love dem Bleach masks), but those motherfuckers did not know who they were fucking with ‘cause Ichigo, ma man Ishida, big Chad, my love & Renji show up and kick ass, sort of. Anyways, they break one of the guys masks, he gets dragged back to hell, quite spectacularly actually and it ends up that it was all a ruse to keep the usual suspects busy so that one of the Sinners (that’s what the guys are called) could go to the Kurosaki residence and steal Yuzu & Karin to which I was like, “Aw, hell no! You done just signed your death warrant motherfucker!!!”

Ichigo has the same idea, rushes over, tries to save the two sisters, fails like a (Bleach) bitch and…some guy just shows up, his name is Kokuto, he helps a bit and manages to save Karin. Long story short (just so I can wrap up and not tell you guys too much), they, being the usual suspects and Kokuto, go to hell to save Yuzu.

Now for the good:

This is Bleach story, told in a very “un-Bleach” way. No, Aizen sized speeches for example. Absolutely sublime fight scenes and loads of them too. The movie is like 80% fight scenes, 10% powering up & 10% great character developing moments for Ichigo – something I hadn’t seen in a satisfying way since Memories of a Nobody. There was also no “eye-rolling” moments in the movie, there were bits that actually surprised me, even the reasoning behind the “deus-ex machine” transformation at the end had a really good reason in context with the story. Throughout the entire film I kept on thinking, “This is how Bleach should have always been. This is how Bleach stories should be.” I even applauded at the end. That’s how good the story is.

For the bad, or rather, the confusion:

In the Bleach timeline, this story takes place after the Arrancar Downfall Arc, you know, after Aizen gets defeated. When Ichigo GIVES UP and subsequently LOSES his Soul Reaper powers to use Final Getsuga. Yeah? So, how can this take place after this, but not after the Lost Agent Arc and Ichigo still perfectly have his Soul Reaper and Hollow abilities? There is literally no way for that to be possible, unless the Lost Agent Arc (which is canon) doesn’t count? I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense.

Characters

For this movie, I’m only going to talk about Kokuto & how I think they showed current characters in a better light, because come on, who really needs me to explain Ichigo Young Bosch or Rukia Please Marry Me Kuchiki? But I will touch on the great character development Ichigo gets in this movie. Sooooooooooo……..

Kokuto

This guy is great, but not at first. At first for me he was just one of those “characters that you needed to have that was familiar with the new place we were going to so that he could be al cool about it and stuff.” This is what he is though, until he opens up to Ichigo about why he’s in Hell and why he wants out (which I won’t spoil because it’s really good) and then later on starts to show us some of his powers. He ends up being the main villain by the end of the movie, WHICH ISN’T A SPOILER because you can see it a mile away, but compared to everything else in Bleach, it is done really really well and cements Kokuto as one of the great Bleach villains with the way he toys with Ichigo.

On Ishida, Renji & Rukia

I want to talk about these three because I’m so thrilled with how they dealt with these characters. They actually showed them being strong, beating their opponents and genuinely being useful for once.

Ishida has been nothing but a side-dish ever since his badass performance against Mayuri waaaaaaay back in the beginning of Bleach, being put so low that even Orihime has more relevance to the story, so for them to exploit his tactical superiority and how badass cool he is under pressure in this movie was a treat for sure.

Renji is a goddamn revelation in this movie, I was screaming from the rooftops with praise for Renji. This is the very first time Renji has actually beaten someone in Bleach and showed any real sign of power from his Bankai, and…..it was fucking awesome to watch. Seriously watching Renji out-smart, out-power and win is just the best thing that could ever happen.

Now with Rukia, this is the first time she’s ever beaten someone comfortably and with finesse, sure she beat an Espada, but she “died” doing so and she needed help beating Rudobon. It was really great seeing her, in all her beauty, stand tall as a powerful woman and properly show that she can look after herself in a fight, even though can’t do Bankai.

On Ichigo’s Character Development

I can’t believe how they managed to pull something like this off with Ichigo. He had real personal drive, determination and even anger and helplessness. It felt so real and it was emotional. Something, or rather two things, happen to Ichigo as a result of him going to Hell the first time (he goes twice in the movie) and long story short it meant he had to leave Rukia, Ishida & Renji behind to save Yuzu who was already on the brink of death to begin with (I’ll not say anymore because it goes a lot deeper than that) and Ichigo really becomes depressed and desperate because of what happened. He really breaks down, in such a human way that it feels like I’m not watching a Bleach character. Really great characterization for a character who is so typically Shōnen to be made so human and so vulnerable. It damn near brought me to tears.

Art

As far as Bleach the anime & the previous three films go, this is an absolute marvel to the eyes especially in HD (I’ve also seen Memories in HD). Of course with this being made released in 2010 it’s going to be better than everything before it, but the other can’t hold a candle to this. This animation in the fight scenes is the best animation work the series has ever seen. It’s 90% still camera shots with full animations of sword swings and techinques being used with virtually no still characters shots with rolling backgrounds. The fights and scenery were grand, crisp in detail and colour and packed a real punch. It’s the best that Bleach has ever looked and the best animated it’s ever been.

Sound

Standard fare really as it’s the same voice actors for the anime, but special recognitions go out to Dan Woren, voice of Byakuya Kuchiki for a surprisingly motivational performance, Johnny Young Bosch for conveying a more emotional side of Ichigo & Travis Willingham for his portrayal of Kokuto providing a great sense of sombreness and insanity.

The soundtrack is actually fantastic, with the best song coming from the battle theme with THE best being a metal version of “Number One” which really gets you pumped for the upcoming fight.

Enjoyment

Enjoyment from start to finish with this one. Spectacular fights, great characterization, fitting music, fantastic story, genuine emotional moments & killer animation. Everything Bleach ever needed and should have been.

So friends, I loved it, like really loved it. But I have to say, in a perverted fan-boy sense, my favourite part was the brief naked shot of Rukia, I was like “SAY WHAAAA”. Also, another absolute favourite thing for me in this is that Ichigo’s Vasto Lorde form gets loads of screen-time in this movie which is a complaint I had about the one episode it appeared in in the anime. All in all, this THE Bleach movie for THE Bleach fans and I can’t imagine any true Bleach fan not enjoying this. So, until next time, thanks for reading and I’ll write again when I write again.

“Potatoes are much more delicious when they're hot.”

SPOILER ALERT – This show sucks. A lot!




I know, I know – “What a way to start a review,” but I knew I had to give you guys a fair warning about what y’all be getting into with this one. Also, fair warning ahead again. If you've read my Fruits Basket review, first of all, thanks ever so much! Second of all, don’t expect this to be anywhere near as detailed as that as I am going to be slating this show so bad!

With that being said and if you’re still with me, let us begin. Otaku’s, Otakette’s & the Young’uns, welcome, to my ... slander, I MEAN REVIEW hehe of Elfen Lied. CUE THE MUSIC!!!

Of course, in the spirit of fairness as with all shows I’ll review, let’s start with History class:

Elfen Lied began life as a manga series created by Lynn Okamoto and was serialized from 2002 to 2005, consisting of 107 chapters. It was then adapted (in it’s entirety as I understand it) into a 13 episode anime series in 2004 by studio Arms who’s previous works include Ikkitousen & Genshiken 2 and was directed by Mamoru Kanbe who’s only real credible work besides this is Cardcaptor Sakura.

Story

The story of Elfen Lied opens up with probably one of the (most contradictory on my part) best openings I’ve ever seen in anime, with it’s immediate barrage of blood, nudity, dismemberments and genuinely great kills all within the first two minutes or so as we see one of our three main MAIN characters, Lucy, awakening, naked by the way (and wearing an awesome helmet), in a facility and subsequently proceeds to escape and destroy all things in her bloody, oh so bloody path. We see her doing this borderline genocide act of killing so many people with what appears to be invisible all-powerful….terrible C.G. ….. hands which elevates the show with a bit of mystery right from the get go, and it totally has you pumped. Your like, “FUCK YEAH MAN, I WANT MOOOOOORE!” Then as Lucy is just escaping, the guards put a cap in her head…helmet and it cascades her into the ocean. Then, oh then, the show just goes downhill. Actually not “goes downhill”, more like plummets, skyrockets, instant transmissions downhill and it doesn’t ever seem to find the bottom as Lucy then washes up ashore, still naked by the way, and we are introduced to out two remaining main MAIN characters, Kohta (I’ll get to him later, oh yes) & Yukia, his cousin (I’ll also get to this relationship later *rubs hands).
They find Lucy on the beach and decide to take her in and this is where this show makes it’s worst and easily most annoying mistake, apart from Kohta’s voice (LATER MAN, LATER GEEZ CONTAIN YOURSELF!). They decide to have Lucy have memory loss, which is okay on the surface, but Lucy also has lost all intelligence and the ability to speak, being subjected to just being able to say NOTHING!!!!!!!!! But….Nyu. Seriously, I cry myself to sleep at the mention of this word. Every fucking two seconds, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!
Then the series progresses, with characters that you couldn’t give two shits about (and when they do introduce that one good characters, they kill him, TWICE), relationships that are pointless and so convenient that it hurts when I role my eyes and a story that thrice, makes no sense, doesn’t go anywhere and is left completely unexplained. Why is this? Oh I don’t know, maybe because they adapted AN 107 FUCKING MANGA INTO A 13 EPISODE SERIES THAT’S WHY. Damn, I really need to stop getting angry at this show.

Characters

Oh god, not the characters. I’m only going to touch on the two human characters, because everyone else done goofed.

Kohta

I’ll keep this short and sweet, calling this guy idiot is giving him too much credit. He’s also as dull as dust. Seriously the guy has nothing interesting to say, has no clue what’s going on even when it’s happening right in front of him and has THE WORST reactions to everything. His reactions, to seeing Lucy, naked by the way on the beach with horns sticking out of her head, is “Huh!” and it sounds like the kind of “Huh!” you’d give if you were just told that there were 13 teabags left in the cupboard, which trust me, is a mind-numbingly dull reaction. The only way this guy could be more idiot is if….I don’t know, he said something like, “PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED”. Don’t get me started on his dubbed voice pidfqEWOGALVREK ‘O;I’MJRT, just no!

Yukia

Now, Yukia, is the complete opposite of Kohta in that she actually has a brain, which works, how bout that shit! She actually has purpose to what she does and she certainly has (metaphorical) balls. BUT, she has one major flaw that completely ruins her character: unnecessary, boring, pointless, teenage jealousy romance BULLSHIT! She gets way too jealous of a borderline mindless alien child just because Kohta spends more time with her. Are you fucking kidding me!? Then she goes and tells Kohta that she loves him (to which he gives some awesomely boring response) and they share a loving kiss, but she still gets jealous. Stupid bitch. And this leads me to something I find very very wrong:
Kohta & Yukia, their cousins, family members, related through marriage or aunties/uncles whatever; and they start a relationship with each other? The fuck man?

I’ll just touch on Lucy by saying, DAYUM SON, that girl knows how to kill.

Art

It’s Moé, done horribly wrong. It’s really ugly and animations are just stiff and devoid of any fluidity, felt like watching an 80’s show, in 2004. Need I mention the C.G. arms?

Sound

Sound, what? I don’t actually think I noticed any music, that would even be considered, soundtrackable (coining that). I guess I can say the dub is one of the, if no the, worst dub I’ve heard if that’s any consolation.

Enjoyment

See that 3/10 overall score, that’s only there because of the kills in this anime, which are sort of the saving grace of the show as the kills are perfectly brutal and do a great job of pulling out the, “WOAH!”, gasps of appreciation from it’s viewers. Dismemberments, eye-gouging and borderline torture aplenty here.

In summary friends, this show sucks major balls, like Kamina sized balls. I do apologise for my attitude in this review, as I can imagine how it sounds when reading it, but his is how I honestly & critically think and feel of Elfen Lied. So please, accept my apology if it was a bit much. So, if you check this out thanks a bunch and hopefully my next review will be of something much, much better. Maybe Clannad or Attack on Titan, who knows. Until then take care guys & gals!

“How very rational, I’d expect nothing less from a Contractor”.

There comes a time for every generation of Otaku or general anime viewer, when they are done taking their baby steps into anime i.e. when they’ve stopped/watched enough of the most popular Shōnen or Mecha show/s and they become confident enough walking on their own that they start to go off and explore what’s around that big bad internet to see what other animes are out there, that, they stumble, or rather are introduced to (like myself) their first Shōjo/Harem/Moé/Yaoi show; You know, the K-On!’s, the Ouran’s, the Clannad’s, the Chobits, the Free!’s (for all you newbies) or hell, even Sailor Moon from back in ... the day. A show that compared to what you have been watching up until now is the absolute sort of thing you DON’T want to watch. Something that screams, “IT’S SO GIRLY!” or in my case, “IT LOOKS TOO SILLY, I WANT SOMETHING A BIT MORE SERIOUS!”. Although issues like these are nowadays, for the most part (in Scotland), non-existent, but back in say 2004 when I was a tender 12 years old, watching these kinds of shows was a whole different story. But for those brave & bold enough to watch shows like these and for those who were able to get past the insecurities they had, whether it was about how the show would make us feel, or if the art would be a problem or we just couldn’t get into the story, were introduced (depending on the show of course) fantastical worlds (and sometimes incredibly realistic worlds) chock full of charm, humour, compassion, friendship, family, love and also heartache, loss, despair, loneliness and emptiness with the latter emotions being the reason why some of these shows are some of our all-time cherished favourites.

Now (finally) the anime I’ll be talking about today, my first Shōjo, I’m glad to say, is such a show, whose manga I just finished not two nights ago and is firmly cemented into my heart as something I will cherish for the rest of my current life. Otaku’s, Otakette’s and the young’uns – I present my written review of, Fruits Basket, CUE THE MUSIC!!!

Now to start off with, the boring history stuff:

Fruits Basket began, and ended, life as a semi-monthly manga series written and drawn by Miss Natsuki Takaya (an interesting woman who both is left-handed and loves Final Fantasy much like myself) from 1999 to 2006 spanning 136 chapters and was then adapted into a 26 episode anime series. The anime was made by Studio DEEN - also responsible for things like, Initial D Third Stage, Rave Master, Getbackers, the Beyblade movie & Fate/Stay Night, so, not too shabby - and was directed by Mr. Akitaro Daichi, who has also directed Kamisama Kiss (a show I’m real interested in watching) and a show called We Were There (which also sounds right up my street).

Story

Now, Fruits Basket’s story may end up how all the other Shōjo tales do, one male or female “main” main character is surround by many numbers of the opposite sex (Fruits Basket does have females too but the results the same) who all each get their own episode and in turn they all fall in love with said “main” main character. But how it presents this worn-out formulaic type of story-telling is far for the status quo (which I will get to soon, so remember this part okay?). So, as we begin our journey through a Basket of Fruits, we have our “main” main character, Torhu Honda, a optimistic, kind-hearted, warm, selfless, oblivious and at time ignorant, but most lovely and genuine sweetheart, girl who at the beginning of our tale is living in a tent in the woods all by herself, through her own doing, as she was staying with her grandfather after her mother and father died, but decided to move out when her poor old grandpappy also had to let his kids and their families stay in his small house to which Tohru (being Tohru) felt she was being a burden. Then one day as Tohru is on her way to school, she stumbles upon a random house, which she obviously never noticed before, and these cute-sy little figures shaped into each animal the 12 zodiacs – now be aware that Tohru favours the Cat spirit of the zodiac and has a wish to become friends with the Cat as he is shunned and left-out by the rest of the zodiac. As Tohru observes the figures we are then introduced to the Sohma relatives, Shigure Yuki and Kyo who all decide to let Torhu stay after her tent is washed away in a landslide, so she can have somewhere solid to stay and may be a little bit because their house is dirty and nobody knows how to cook.
Now remember WAAAY back when I mentioned that although this show does eventually follow traditional Shōjo but presents it to us in a way that is more acceptable?
No!? Shame on you!
Yes? Fantastic, well done!
Well, anyways, the show’s unique spin to the boring Shōjo format is that it is revealed to Torhu that Shigure, Yuki, Kyo and ten others in the Sohma family are all possessed by the spirits of the zodiac and thus such are all related and bonded (spiritually) together because of it. Also in a very strange, and very Shōjo way, the Sohma’s turn into their animal forms when hugged by a member of the opposite sex, which, (ah, I hate to admit this) was kind of funny on more than one occasion. Shigure is the dog, Yuki is the rat & Kyo is the cat coincidently, which should paint a massive red target in him labelled, “OBVIOUS LOVE INTEREST IS OBVIOUS”. But the show does a great job of leading us astray at all times, “One episode it’s Yuki, the other it’s Kyo”, sort of thing.

And THUS, my friends, we have passed the Genesis of FruBa. From here on it’s par for the course really: Tohru, episode by episode, meets each of the Sohma’s possessed by the animals, they all fall in love with her & we don’t find out until the last episode who Tohru really wants to be with and thus presents us with no real conclusion other than the, “The road is long, our journey has just begun, I hope all days are like this forever” BULLSHIT that these sort of shows can give you. And yes, it is an anime-only ending which further cements the show’s disappointing end. Which is a real crying shame to be honest because the show does have bags of charm and character and when more than one Sohma is on the screen is does create some great watching as, because there are so many Sohma’s, it seems that a single emotion/trait has been attributed to the one character and no-one else and that one emotion all the only one they confidently portray, for example, Shigure is mischievous, Yuki is charming & Kyo is short-tempered and that IS ALL these three portray, obviously they smile, frown, laugh and get upset but they do it based off these emotions/traits.

Characters

For characters, I’ll just skin over the main four, Tohru, Kyo, Yuki & Shigure as they have the most screen time between them.

Tohru Honda

As mentioned before Tohru is probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet, but she’ll also be the most oblivious one as well. But that’s great for Tohru as she has this childlike way of doing these things that no matter what, you can’t help but hug the girl. The more you learn about Tohru, the more time you spend with her, the more familiar you become with her way of life, you cannot help but fall in love with Tohru. Try as you might, it’s impossible not to, unless you have no soul of course. But behind all the goofballness (I’m coining that) and just a plain nice person, is that serious side to Tohru’s life which like most of the other characters is quite heart-breaking and lonely. You get to understand that she has been through so much and most of the time she hides it through her innocence and optimism. She’s a true gem of a character and one I personally resonate with. I consider her a good friend of mine, and if you get to know her, she’ll be yours too.

Kyo Sohma

Now for my favourite character, Kyo, the Cat. Now where there are those parts of Torhu that I mentioned that are within me, there are also those “other” parts of me, which are within Kyo, more so than with Tohru. Kyo is very easily frustrated and angered, most of the time because he is incredibly defensive or has had his words taken in the wrong context and that sometimes upsets people which is the one thing Kyo doesn’t want to do, but his frustration gets the better of him, but he does make it up to people in the best way he can – niceness. This defining thing about Kyo is why I love him to death because it’s so like me, because we’ll both get frustrated over the littlest things and then when we calm down we’ll be like, “That was pointless, why did I get so upset with (insert name), better go apologise”. Kyo likes to do things his own way, much like myself, and likes to take themselves out of the group picture is he feels it will ease things, much like myself. Although Kyo may be hot-tempered, people can still tell he has a kind heart, he just doesn’t know how to express it without getting embarrassed which them gets him frustrated which then leads to him blowing up. Which is why having Tohru around is the best thing for him as slowly but surely, he finally loosens up and learns to just go with the flow. He’s a really great character and person who just wants to be accepted and has a big heart.

Yuki Sohma

Now Yuki is easier to get past as for me, like Kyo, I don’t really care for Yuki too much. He’s a nice guy and all, and he treats Tohru with nothing but respect. But he’s the “prince of the school”, the most popular kid, the “best looking”, the prodigy child, he can’t do nothing wrong, does everything right and never seems to have any problems. Me & Kyo HATE “perfect” people. But then, I started to get to know Yuki, and I started to look deeper into what made Yuki, Yuki and found out, like Kyo does, that he hates being perfect, he hates being the centre of attention all the time. Yuki actually wants what Kyo has: solitude. So in learning that, Yuki (who still don’t really care that much for), becomes a whole different person to me. Someone with more admirable qualities than I care to imagine and honour made of steel.

But I still don’t care for him, stupid Rat.

Shigure Sohma

Ah, Shigure. Shigure isn’t everyone’s absolute favourite character, but he’s the close second though. He would love that though, being all mischievous and such – every little slip-up the first favourite would make, there would be Shigure, laughing, teasing, and making the first sweat. I love that about Shigure though is that he loves to tease, not because he’s evil, but because he knows he’ll get a kick out of it and it’ll be real funny. He’s LOVES embarrassing Yuki and Kyo in front of Tohru. He is a real creature of comfort (very akin to the dog funny enough) and very rarely ever wears anything other than his dressing gown. If he was a real guy, he’d be your drinking buddy, let’s put it that way.

Art

Art wise, it’s very simply drawn and animated. It does contain many many MANY Moé moments where there are super cute animals on screen or when Ayame is on the scene of when Tohru is, well, being Tohru. It never impresses, but it never disgusts either. It’s as standard as standard gets, although it is very faithful to the manga.

Sound

The soundtrack is standard fare really, nothing you haven’t heard before. The opening and closing themes are decent enough that fans will download them. The only real star, music wise, isn’t even a proper song, it’s a made up verse sung by Momiji – but it is great though. Voice acting in the dub does have some saving graces (on paper) by the way of Eric Vale (Trunks in DBZ) as Yuki, Jerry Jewell (Claire Stanfield in Baccano!) & Laura Bailey (Amber in Darker Than Black) as Tohru, with only the latter putting in an above average performance.

Enjoyment

Despite having flaws in the art and sound departments (with the problems in sound just being about enthusiasm), Fruits Basket is rife with entertainment, but only if you want to find it, as it’s till after a few episodes (or really after Momiji is introduced) that the series really shifts gear into full “HAHA” mode. It also has some tender moments when Tohru is alone with either Yuki or Kyo that are lovely to watch - the plum on the back speech in episode 7 is the best example of this. And even though the ending is piss poor, you still cheer and want Tohru to succeed, so I guess, that’s enjoyment.

So, in summary, I’ve decided that Fruits Basket (as an anime) is the most special, un-special thing you’ll ever see, which is good in a way because when I look back on the anime now and how it ends; it’s really just a stepping stone to get you to the manga. The anime hardly covers anything the manga has to offer. So while the anime is nothing special and has a terrible ending, it’s supposed to be the platform to get you ready for the manga, which you should definitely read after watching the anime first. As the anime is just but a taste of what’s to come, as the manga, especially in the later half is an acquired taste to say the least. But it does have a satisfying ending. See, when I first watched Fruits Basket, it was just a simple enjoyable pass-time that I wished there was more of; and since there was and I’ve finished the story, I now look back on this anime and smile with nostalgic glee at all the memories contained within. So although this anime is not that special, if you read the manga after it, then come back, it soon will be. It’ll become one of your favourite shows, that you’ll eventually show your kids when your older and pass it down the generations with love, which is something that the manga is big on later on in the series.

Thus ends my very first review on MAL and my review of Fruits Basket, the anime. If people like this enough, I may do a short review on the manga. I hope I kept this spoiler-free and y’all enjoy it.

Thank you very much if you read this and I certainly hope it convinces people to pick up the series.

Thanks guys, see ya later!

JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!!!!