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In celebration of discovering that Akagami no Shirayuki-hime will be getting an anime adaption, I thought it would be a good idea to write a review on the manga.

The story of AnS is set in a land and time that is a mix of a past western- and japanese society, mostly western. The clothes, the land, the buildings, the monarchy, fight-arts etc. are clearly inspired by the West. I don't think many of the manga today are set in western settings and it is a fresh breeze to have. Shirayuki translates to "Snow-white" and has no significance beside its many references in chapter 1, so ... for those wanting a story similar to Snow White, read chapter 1 only.

The story itself is simple. It could have been easy to have made this a drama, but it is clear from chapter 1 that it is a romantic story to its core. Most of the plot is and the reason this story has a historic setting is to showcase some difficulties that could and do come to happen for a couple from quite different social classes in a society that puts importance on the classes. Well it is this and Shirayuki's red hair that makes up the entire plot, which also makes this story sugar sweet and nice to read.

Looking at the art I think it is beautiful but simple. I am most impressed by the clothes, they are very intricate and detailed. More to the point, if there is something in the art that is bad I would notice it, otherwise I would just enjoy reading without thinking of such things and I do not notice anything.

As for the characters, they are cute, adorable and all of those things, but the depth in them is small. Backgrounds and such are told, but as for character development it is almost non-existent. The enjoyment here is the interaction between the characters rather than the characters themselves which is one of the manga's best points.

The bottomline is it is a fairly accomplishes the sweet shoujo feeling in a manga that is also pretty generic and solid. It is neither bad, far from it, but neither is it incredible.

- On a personal note, I do get a little more happy while reading this manga, because I have a little red shine to my own hair. So for the red haired out their, you will maybe come to appreciate your hair a little more -

Hungry for some One Piece with a little twist? Look no further, because here it is.

On one hand I quite liked the story. The Strawhats, as always, are out on an adventure. It is wacky, funny with some slapstick and the good old jokes.
On the other hand the story is different from the usual One Piece we know, this is both good and bad as the story becomes interesting, but I will try to write them in a list.

Good points:
- You do not know what exactly to expect to happen, so the plot twist is more satisfying
- The usual deal about a bad guy ... who needs to be beaten is not all this story is about
- The Straw Hats are seen in a desperate situation which test their relationship to one another
- the plot twist also makes the movie seem like another movie altogether. The tone, so to say, change drastically and magnificently.

Bad points:
- Plot holes. In the end this alternative story is indeed refreshing, but it does leave some things unexplained.
- After the first initial start of the movie I found the pace to be slow for a while. However I believe it is because of the mystery presented in the movie and the viewer is left question what direction the movie is going into
- The internal struggle which the Straw Hats goes through is not resolved. It simply disappears, which I find to be a huge letdown and it also reflect my Character score

The art is wholly different from the standard One Piece art, but this is not necessarily bad, I just find it to be bad in this case. Both the background and the characters, especially the expression on the crews faces is different.
Much of the story has buildings in its background, and those are amazing to look at. The things is though, that they are too different from the characters design, it just does not mix well together, at times it looks as if the characters has been plastered on.
The expressions and characters designs seen one the crew is refreshing. The expressions seem more cartoonish to me, a big plus.

The music used is a mix of the standard from the series and and some original mixed together, they mix okay together. The voice actors also do a pretty good job. In short I found the sound to be the most satisfying in the movie.

The characters could have shined in this movie, but ultimately failed to do so. The movie put the Straw Hats up against each other, but fail to do it trustworthily, as they act out of character and the conflict is never resolved, it simply disappears.

All in all this movie has it shortcomings, but it does not fully take my joy from watching this movie. It was pleasing to see a different story, even if it did not fully do its job.

As a fan of HxH 2011 I thought to myself it would be fun to watch the first anime adaption and compare the two of them, this review will therefore refer to the 2011 adaption from time to time. This is also why this is supposed to mostly aim for those who have already watched HxH-11. This review will be reviewing the anime series and its 3 ovas which makes it 92 episodes long instead of 62.

HxH is special in a lot of ways and one of those is its storyline. The story follows Gon in his travels to find his father and in ... his search get around to many places. There are clear distinctions between acts and in these it constantly walks a fine line between being light hearted and being deadly serious.

The art was fine most the time and it actually delighted me, as it is clear that it is not only the darker colors that adds to a more serious adaption than the 2011 adaptation, but also the story in general. The anime has a more violent tone than its 2011 adaption, while I do like this, it means that the humor is less apparent. Not to say it is not there, but it is toned down a little. To me this is the most clear difference between the two animes. A kid friendly adaption and a version I belief (without actually knowing) is more alike to its original material.

Now for a enormous disappointment.
The score of 4 is apparently "decent", well it was better than decent most of the time but when the animation have many dark colors in it there must be some measures to make sure that whatever scene that have a dark setting, such as an enclosed room with very little light, should be able to contain the feeling of an enclosed room while the viewer also should be able to see what is going on! But no obviously not. I do understand this is anime is up in the age where it can be called old, but this was simply to awful. More than once did I have to concentrate and sometimes refer to my memory of HxH-11 to know what was going on. There are two things which makes this setpack okay. 1: I like the show so I still watched it and to be honest it did not happen that often, but often enough so it was irritating as hell. 2: The problem was no where to be seen with the second ova "Greed Island".

HxH shines the most when it comes to its characters. HxH allow itself to show both the negative and the positive side of many of the characters, good guys and the bad alike. Their personalities is fleshed out as this is highlighted by the condition of their superpowers, Nen. Not to go into details, but ones personality reflects what sort of Nen-power a person have. It only helps to understand the characters which I love this show for doing. I have also thought of the seven death sins as I watched this shows, not that I usually do that when watching an anime, so I do not how many of them be found in other shows, but they sure can in HxH. Most notably in Hisoka(Luxuria/lust) and Kurapika(Ira/anger).

Now for quick comparison between the two adaptations:
- The amount of manga released differs greatly from 1999 to 2011 (duuhh of course.) This made the HxH-99 storyline more detailed
- Overall a darker atmosphere in HxH-99
- Darker art used, both literally but also in the things shown --> adds to the atmosphere in the story
- An example of this is when a heart is shown versus the exact same scene in HxH-11 where the heart is in a bag but beats to show that it is indeed a heart
- A little to dark art used a times in HxH-99

While the art was a letdown, it could not take away the joy of the experience of HxH. Had the two versions been to similar it would have been boring, but it was not.

This manga attracted me because the main character, like us, is a novice at tennis, or at least I am. Therefore the reader learns about tennis alongside Maruo (maincharacter), who is a beginner to tennis.

The story itself is simple. Maruo is introduced to tennis, decides to do it, and we read along, as simple as that.
The pace of the manga is nice. One does not have to read many chapters before Maruo has his first official match. While Maruo's training is present in the manga, it does not get boring to read and as mentioned we readers learn alongside Maruo there is always something ... new that happens, whether this is games or training. The manga is light-hearted. it is a simple light hearted sports manga and character backgrounds have small attention.

For the story of a sports manga to be interesting and to keep the readers attention, the execution of the games must be different from every other sports manga out there. As tennis is a one-man sport, the mangaka's decision to make this manga into a first person narration for the most part during games is obvious. The next step the mangaka next took is to make tennis, a fast paced sport, into a strategic game for the main character. (the pace do not suffer from this) The manga's approach to the games therefore needs a particular main character...

... which is what we have in Maruo. He is a simple, but likeable character. Very logical, level-headed and insanely determined in whatever he do (studies, training, etc) and otherwise a social awkward person. Nothing he does is instinct. Everything that happens in the games are thought out and written down in Maruo's notebooks. While a simple character fueled by instinct can be interesting, this would not match well with a one-man sport manga, there is other supporting characters who gets this role.
As shortly mentioned character backgrounds is almost non-existent in "Baby Steps". Almost all attention is put into Maruo. His starting point, is also the readers starting point, which focuses one the development of Maruo's tennis skills and his fight to be a great tennis player. there is absolutely no drama in this manga whatsoever, it is a easy light-hearted read to the core.

The art is good. The faces greatly differs from each other. The art is also a great help during explanation about tennis or strategic planning during matches. In the course of the manga details in the characters faces improve but I see nothing else that differs from the start of the manga to the latest chapter. My only complaint is why Maruo's hair absolutely must look like a hen's.

I can't put it into words exactly why I enjoy this manga as much as I do, but I do think alot of it can the attributed to the strategy put into the games and Maruo, a MC, very different from most. For what the manga is, it succeed extremely well in its execution. Give this manga a go, it is a easy manga to read in times of relaxing the mind.

Note: I can recommend "Haikyuu!!" if you end up liking this manga. It differs in obvious key points, but my enjoyment is the same.

I think this anime series had a perfect mix of it all.

Story: (9)
When you get past the first episode the real fun begins. The story is simple, but wouldn't most sports-anime be?
The episodes flow into a beautiful storyline in which the pace never become particular slow.
As this has been adapted from a manga and it is 25 episodes long against 120+ chapters there is more than enough material to make sure the pace is at its best and I think it is. The series ending is great considering future events in the manga.
The games keeps ones attention throughout it and there is no supernatural awesome ... power that come into the game out of nowhere that is a deciding factor for the game (luckily) and the interaction between the characters is a joy to watch.

Art: (9)
The art is just as realistic as the story is, which is a great plus.
An example of how the art is used is the ongoing symbolism between the team's/school's name "Karasuno" and being able to fly, and the execution of this is great. It only gets one anticipation to grow. It sometimes gave me goosebumbs, which is the highest score in my rules.


Sound: (8)
The cast chosen as voice actor did an excellent job. Hinata's voiceactor had this highpitched (excited) sound to its voice, while Kageyama's voice actor had a voice completely different from Hinata's. It suited them perfectly,.
As for the music, it build and helps hold the attention during the matches without taking the spotlight, so shortly put, I think the asyncron sound (love that word) - the music, fitted just fine.
The opening- and ending songs are also worth listening to.

Characters: (10)
They are believeable.
the characters are not invincible, they have hardships.
The maincharacters are not the only ones to who get the attention, to get their story told, even the "bad guys" do to. We don't simply get to enjoy some games of volleyball but also the struggle the characters have to get to that point. (even if that is common enough in many sports-anime, but I think it is extremely well done in this one)
The two main characters - Hinata and Kageyama, are as different as day and light. So even if alot of the characters struggle in the series - main- and supporting cast alike, it is not the same problems, and the characters themselves are vastly different. There is both a joker, a king, and a prince among the characters, which one will come to like for their differences (watching the series one will understand what I mean)

Enjoyment: (9) and overall score 9
- Realism: There is no extra powers or something else like in some sports-anime that gives it a supernatural edge (critic goes to Kuroko no Basket and Prince of Tennis, only a little to Major)
- The interaction between Hinata and Kageyama. If one cannot laugh at this, half of the enjoyment is cut of. also the other characthers is great to watch, althrough there is one characther who irritates me, but this one gets his story told later on in the manga, NOT the anime
- the pace of the series. the flow is so natural, so I really think it is a serious plus for this series.