Back to tsubagakure's Profile tsubagakure's Profile

For 爽子

Such Love floats, and paints the night.
An emerald ocean, bathed by the Moon.
It washes her eyes,
And an unruffled lagoon settles in…

A garden of thought, of Light flourishing,
In the Spring of youth.
Shiny Nature, Hope in the pinkish trees
... Of our dearest dreams.

Is this poem – written for you –
Only a forgotten wish?
Hand in hand, weaving, combing through the magic.
One smile, one tear,
Two Hearts shaped, shaded in the snow…

Delicate art, virtuosity most refined,
A flowering Cosmos,
A Muse’s song amidst the tempest.
An azalea awakens, beautifully,
A novel Sun, at the break of Dawn,
And i’ll always revere such Love.

'Endless Oceans'
“The briny ocean, born of the human spirit, is endless, always overflowing.
The ocean mixes everything together, and the ocean remains the ocean.
Splashes of happiness melt away and become the ocean.
Lumps of sadness melt away and become the ocean.
Surprise, fear, shame, pride... All things melt and become the ocean.
When a person peers into the ocean within, strangely, they find peace.
They find peace, and they think to themselves:
'See you tomorrow.'”
-- Kudo Naoko
...
A stellar Yashikei P.A. Works series, inundated with love and hope.
Taking place in Okinawa, at two different oceanariums, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is a Slice of Life about new beginnings. Coalescing the love of youth with the ocean, and its vast life forms, we are taken to a lofty realm, where magic blends with reality, where we are taught how to find our place in this world. Blooming with aspiring passion, Aquatope is presented with a modest, yet distinct panoply of characters, each struggling to attain a fragment of a dream, each working in the hope of a better tomorrow. Pigmented in ultramarine and sea green, the suave animation, joined by the sheet of a luscious piano tune, it’s an elation to our eyes. This is a story about the sea and its immense beauty, a story about friendship and valour, where sadness and helplessness give way to a wave of bliss and happiness. A powerful sense of adoration and respect for Mother Earth enraptures our hearts, with thoughts and idiosyncrasies most pure and joyful – a coming of age tale that can turn a drop of water into an ocean, a beautiful one, with sustenance and serenity.

Dragons and Dragon Slayers! A fine premiere – cunning and enticing. With a debut episode of 47 minutes long, although this critique’s premature, a lovely charisma floats nigh this anime.

The narrative takes place in an antique epoch where Dragons roam the night sky, ruining and slaughtering humans, however the latter found the beasts’ weakest points (being sunlight and silver domains), and so, a hunting for survival began. Episode one suggests two main characters quite unalike. A little girl, Leonica, the record holder of Dragon slaying, and her companion, Ragna, being introduced as a feeble male character (with an obscure past) leeching off of her, yet ... caring and living along with Leo, training hard and giving his best to follow and support her in every Dragon quest. Platitude? Jading shonen? Perhaps, but wait, because this is where things get interesting, when time travel’s embedded in the series – a future version of Ragna dawns to his past self in an oneiric fashion, foretelling a bleak future, where Leonica’s death is an irrefutable and painful truth, thus emerging a gargantuan demand of training, to conquer and attain dominant powers and arts to vanquish Dragons. With such mastery, future Ragna conveys all of his prowess to his past self, in order to save Leo. It’s a coiling of emotions and impetus.

In a still mystifying realm, another compelling character pops up – Crimson. Revealing to future Ragna that a price needs to be paid, so hope of creating a world where Dragons are naught may exist. Prologue and epilogue collide as the story moves forward, quite fast so far, as a reborn Ragna tries to find Crimson in the present and gain her trust for a riddled journey ahead. Coiling again, as Ragna tells Leo that he wants to move on without her, with covert thoughts and covert tears, the story can proceed at different rhythms, with different canons. As a downside, one can say that the absence of the gore factor and cutoff constituents could yield this sombre fantasy to an early grave, notwithstanding, this tale’s constructed in a well-founded pier that may resist the trial of (yet) another never-ending anime, or worse – oblivion.

SILVER LINK studios offered us before great titles, and Ragna Crimson might just live on to establish its own name, with a quite modern and appreciable art, combined with an honest string of music and OP, and last, but not least, the Seiyū that always pour their voices and hearts within each character. Cohesive storytelling, with elements of action and enigma, where lights of tomorrow can tear the shadows of yesterday, paths shall be crossed, and thus this tale begins.

Prosaic as it may seem, a range of over 9000 inanimate shapes per episode is poetry echoed in animation, charming grotesquery in every single drop of blood, in every flower and petal, cloud and sky, every death in Paradise. Or is this Hell?

Sentenced to death, a Shinobi defiled, Garan no Gabimaru, is offered a chance of pardon by the Shogun. Unwilling to die, unto his wife he finds, amongst riots of no valedictory, Gabimaru undoubtedly concurs to set sail to the mysterious Shinsenkyo island, along with several other convicts, in a quest into the unknown, with a promise of bringing back the Elixir of ... Life. Is this mere fantasy? Belief or malady?

For each captive, their respective captor – respectable swordsmen of the Yamada Asaemon family of executioners. Albeit Sagiri, Gabimaru’s captor, a master and most beautiful Swordswoman, calmly and fiercely as an ocean, will defy every dark and heartless principle of the Shinobi code, etched upon the assassin. While the heart of the narrative may be Samurai Swords most brilliant and vile spilling blood, obscure Ninja arts castigating souls and brutal strength breaking earth and sky, the unique element of 地獄楽 is a latitude of an incredibly mosaic of characters and a loggia of aberrancy. From aphotic pasts to futures’ above; women’s hearts (quintessential pure) and visceral men’s mercilessness; master and student affinity; love, tears, wishes. Lo multiverses of unfathomable, fantastical beings – immortal and hermaphroditic humanoids, varmint deities; beads most profaned, insects amongst behemoths and moving, millennial trees. Buddhism, Taoism, Immortality… a blessing or a curse? Spiraling down this surreal kaleidoscope, radiating a mystery often driven by an unnatural and malignant order, proved to be a provoking and portentous experience. An otherworldly view blooming and withering, in shadow and hue, a Paradise dyed in blood.

Keep in mind that, abysmally, you’re going to witness a battle royal of Samurai swords and Ninja dexterity, between man and monster, that can only be described as massively gory, yet that is not all. Amidst the ethereal and capricious and mercurial canvas that studios MAPPA painted and spectacularly animated, you will contemplate profound thoughts of human living and titles casted upon the various characters. A nuance of reason and resignation, doctrine and demand linger throughout each episode, pensive and tenderly devastating.

“The heart is such a nuisance.” To be able to confront one’s own emotions it’s not something easily done, thus this is also a story of self-reflection, self-doubt, and an Odyssey to become a better man.

A work of art, undeniably, subtle and rare as immortality.

“Beseeching a God comes with a price”
What if you suddenly die, then reincarnated, bestowed with supernatural powers?
‘Stage S’ commands a very powerful premise, in this debut from up-and-comer author Tomoya Harikawa, that anchors, in deed, talent and oath.

Ukiyo Meguru is a glum and lackadaisical high school student who’s in love with her childhood friend, Tatsumi Sara. A dark tragedy slumbers in his heart, and he believes in God. Nothing abnormal, so far… somewhere, at a Temple, he meets a Snake God, Shirohebi, virtuous enough to foresee the future. Thanks to the deity, Meguru starts dating Sara and his happiness is supreme, until the day an ... omen of his own death befalls. Nonchalantly, he accepts his fate, breaks up with Sara, to soften the blow, and, again, meets Shirohebi-sama, in a realm beyond this life. There he learns the gruesome doom that awaits his beloved – death! “Beseeching a God comes with a price”, and in order to obtain the power to change fate, Meguru surrenders his strong will (which could prove to be his curse) to resurrection and promises to seek and kill Kurohebi (the presumptively shadowy antagonist who kills Sara in the future).
Thus, begins this manga. It’s proving to be cool and swift, but you’ll may encounter some elements most familiar, from other Shounen. Nonetheless, interestingly enough, some ideas are well articulated, with a good throb, mild humour, prompt tempo and agile style. Following Onmyoji rites and exorcism, “humanoid filths”, a.k.a. demons, and ascetism philosophies, a growing breadth of characters are making their way through the pages to entertain us: Kujira-chan (yandere favourite), heir to the Toraden mysterious organization; Fumyo-sama, the peculiar president entity and ever watchful eye, governing Toraden’s esoterism; Himekawa, a splendid and beautiful secretary, plus ripped teacher, and a cornucopia of enemies providing charm and suspense, battling through the panels.

The art, I dare say, is refined at key moments, exhibiting care and passion, and, in a nutshell, comes out to be coherent and cohesive, having a unique allure to it. Dark stages emanating gore and death are my favourites.

It is very, very premature (having only read 13 chapters) to assess this manga, and I believe it would be ungrateful to do so, but ‘Stage S’ pledges tenacity and talent to strive along and conquer some hearts. Wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.
Less than 100 days to save Sara so,
“float like a butterfly,
bite like a snake”

“So let’s us go forward quietly, each on his own path, forever making for the light.”

Shiro Moriya-sensei is an author we should all observe attentive in near future. ‘Soloist in a Cage’ proves to be a triumph debut, a finesse in its dystopian world.

Chloe’s our soloist main character, and at a tender age, she and Locke, her baby brother, were abandoned, since the world they live in is a dark one – Prison City. A place surrounded by colossal walls, surveilled by innumerous robot guards, the streets plagued with vicious criminals, skyscrapers painted with snow – a dystopia ready to be unfolded, nearly impossible to ... break. Chloe tends deeply for her brother, never leaving his side, however, when her neighbors, a triad of ex-combatants and military, attempt an escape (on an inescapable prison), she pursues them in her own attempt at freedom, but in the midst of the elude, Chloe and Locke get separated.
Now outside the rim, believing her brother still lives somewhere inside the city’s dim walls, Chloe trains under Colonel Sandberg, over years, perfecting an assassin’s instinct, always determined to return and search for her beloved brother. Summing-up the beginning of the narrative, which is fascinating and addictive, things get somewhat nasty upon the return of Chloe…
I vehemently invite you to read this manga. The character’s development is quite impressive, with new and surprising plots across each panel. Characters’ depth's limited (only 20 chapters long), but interesting in its own unique way, giving way to a crusade, placing children against an occult organization. Storytelling is cohesive and solid, with flashbacks interestingly added.

Now to the best part: the ART! Simply put, it is superb! Every detail is rich, as if the author’s pen irrigates every white page. I cannot emphasize every nuance, it’s neatly gorgeous. To me, Chloe’s drawings are most irresistible and fussy, and the battle scenes are filled with tension and suspense. Drama builds up, and the morbid portions are sweetly grotesque, providing an eerie aura to the artwork. Throughout every panel, immersed in sorrow and snow, a light is to be discovered, in spite of the splattering blood and the reign of despair. An underrated manga, with a shiny art, charting scenarios of shadow and snow, not to mention the portarit of feelings such as malevolence and love.

A concise, yet epic tale. Did give me so much, though i feel it could have been much more, maybe if time and health issues consented it. My sincere praise to this phenomenal birth of art, it raptured my heart – a chance provided to this beautiful manga and i’m sure it will enrapture yours.

“Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life, and it'd lose even its imperfection.”

“Ten years ago. I was a college student at the time, and I had been kidnapped and imprisoned by U, a young girl in elementary school.”
(Such a lovely premise for an odd, peculiar, strange, yet, sweet and inspiring tale.)

NisiOisiN-sensei and another penned art of wonder – an obeisance. Needless to introduce. This novella, as bizarre as it is, is exquisitely enough interesting and charming, captivating in its own unique and intrinsic way. The story and narrative presents, and devotes, itself in the most dramatic and profound fashion, making the reader keep turning ... the page.
A 20-year-old student, an aspiring author, is kidnapped, knifepoint, by an abnormal middle school girl, U.U, and imprisoned for 6 days. And that’s it. Save, of course, all the quaint mystery encrypted, and the progressive unfold and unravelling story behind a little girl’s dark past. A mellow relationship between abductee and abductor; a strong and gentle will to comprehend and rescue a crumbling heart; an uncanny fish and a silent broken home; a solitude sovereign, and withal, the same abnormal and picturesque insufficient girl, U.U. With mild funny moments, thin thoughts and dialogues that seem to erupt out of an inhospitable prospect, still, a deepening drama, both psychological and tragic, is kept intact, alongside a sober and ascertained story shape.

Epic and grand, again, in its own unique and ethereal realm, named “imperfect” by an obsessed writer, obsessed, back then, with being a writer, this is a story within a story, retold and wrought, with deft art (subtle, but rigorous), by Mitsuru Hattori, with a shady human predicament. Complex interaction, symbiosis and behaviourism. Ambitious and desperate, perhaps an irony forged by fate, the storytelling of a genius, the accentuation about human adaptation (or, maybe, the absence of such), pain and courage. Idiosyncratic and graciously sad, an incident, a meeting plunged onto oblivion to try and reach into the heart of one another.

YUKITOPIA!!

Welcome to the stupendous and imaginary world of Kishiro Yukito-sensei!

GUNNM (Battle Angel Alita) proves to be a deep and breath-taking work, brimming with charming and intrinsic characters, a powerful and driving story, and a cosmogony as beautiful as it is gloomy, being, after a fashion, a dystopia of a fallen world, once one has delved into it. In Gally (or Alita) we found the drive and valour of a cyborg girl searching for her lost memories, the gore and goose bumps across the skin amongst extraordinary battles as she becomes a Hunter Warrior. Moreover, the nascent, ambiguous and poetic love between man and machine; ... the inhabitants and life, much blight, of Scrap Iron City; the reverie to attain a higher order of living above the floating, looming and cryptic Zalum; a parent’s care and affection; vendetta, lasciviousness and betrayal; the labyrinthine path of blood and fortitude, and the shadowing scam hidden in the characters that rain life into this perplexing journey.

Though left unfinished, this OVA is a stellar constellation of beauteous, bleak light piercing through the darkness of a post-apocalyptic future. An electrifying romance and an aspiring, floating dream. A very unique cosmogony; a mysterious and beautifully grotesque relic of the 90’s.

“Remember me? I was the one who would not abandon you. Even in death I was the one who would not leave you. Remember me?”

Are memories really that important?
Would you care if you lose them?
Would you, deliberately, cast them away?

SAO fans should know what to expect of this movie: the hype was sky-high, and Ordinal Scale met those lofty expectations, astonishingly!

After the Aincrad fateful events, Asuna and Kirito are back to the so called reality. The year 2026 elapses and, in it, a new crescent cosmogony; an inventive and conspicuous technology has emerged - Augma, an alternative system to the AmuSphere, where players can consciously ... dive. More than a mere torsion of reality, Augma appears to be an extension of the tangible, transforming the seeing world before your very eyes. And, through this portal, amongst a myriad of other apps, Ordinal Scale exists, the most popular one, a RPG game. People use it every day, renouncing more and more the SAO world. Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica encourage Kirito to play, due to his reluctance, enticing him, since old foes from Aincrad have returned. Behind this wit, an eerie and occult mystery is growing, and the whispered word "Switch" will thicken that same subtlety.

A Sword Art Online survivor, a top ranking player, Eiji is his name, from the Knights of the Blood Oath, alongside a shady entity, is attempting an unprecedented and unreasonable milestone - bring back to life a girl named Yuna, who died in Aincrad. For that to befall the memories of SAO survivors are needed, in order to attain and restore every bit of information regarding Yuna's persona. (An alter ego serves as the iconic idol in the AR world of Ordinal Scale - a cute one.) A secret creeps and besieges around these three characters.

Into the nascent fantasy, you will encounter old bosses from SAO, in spectacular battles with fantastic, epic songs sung beautifully and composed fabulously - Kajiura Yuki in all her magnificent brilliance. "delete" by Yuna is breath-taking!

As the story proceeds, passing through an extremely suggestive bridge where Japan terminates and an admirable, transversal world begins, you will dive deeper into the development of the new characters, and the innermost evolution of Kirito and Asuna relationship, probably the most prominent couple in anime. Everyone else is here, too, from the original series and the second season, (Yui, Sinon, Leafa, Sakuya, etc.) and their interaction and importance is salient and strong, for we have learnt this from Kirito and his gamer solitude – friendship and fellowship are essential, making us do the impossible, a slow but progressive sedimentation, becoming unwavering, inexpugnable. For even in this, not so distant, near utopic future, the most primeval and prosaic sentiments are scrutinize and depicted, because, in the end, it is never just a story, or how you narrate it, but the emotion it can convey. Lastly, you will feel back in Swordland as you're in for a final surprise, a stupendous showdown of grandeur! Chilling and chanting.

On an unbiased basis, as an anime fan, i was completely absorbed by the might of this movie, all the artistry that floats and then flows through the screen, the animation, the music, script and seyuu talents, thrill and excitement.
Still, as a SAO enthusiast myself, i grandly loved this jewel. Adore!

So, what are you waiting for?
Link Start!

No, this has nothing to do with the Death Note universe, except for the reminiscence of the already known characters L, Misora Naomi-san and, the storyteller, Mello. So, to all the Kira enthusiasts out there, make no mistake - your hero, your god is not here!

But, error not, nonetheless this is a great story. Written by Nisio Isin (Monogatari series, Medaka Box) and illustrated by Obata Takeshi, the artist behind Death Note (though little there is to be appreciated, solely some cool, shady portraits, now and then), BB Renzoku Satsujin Jiken is a dazzling tale holding a secret thirsting to be revealed. It is an ... astonishing and dark police roller-coaster. Set in prosaic L.A. (as the title implies), graphical dormant, a wave of maddeningly homicides began to diffuse with a peculiar insignia: a series of mysterious and cunning clues are being left behind at every crime scene. The gloomy shadows of a killer on the loose triggers the beginning of the novel, which is simply delicious - from the very moment that Misora-san enters the stage you’re already in too deep. (From the Death Note story we already knew that this Japanese investigator had worked under L’s leadership, and this is her narrative.) As the storyline proceeds, not too slow and not too swift, i’d say at an appropriate and sober pace, you’ll get to know this bizarre, strange persona next to Misora-san and their interaction – fantastic! Such is a sweet gust, grotesque sometimes, amidst the dire sophism you suddenly got caught into. It gets highly addictive, and you’ll never get tedious. You get to know, little by little, the phrenology etched upon our protagonists, deciphering the charade towards the next murder, and more and more of our heroine’s serene pensive and breakthroughs, which later on, in the Death Note manga, posed an acute problem to Yagami Light.

Sailing through the chain of cadavers and psychotic riddles, she attains, somehow, this aura that makes the reader reciprocates with her heart, it’s quite amazing. Though Misora Naomi’s ethos and wit are circled, veiled by one’s dark brilliance, which, consequently, is veiled by another’s empyrean intellect, far superior, her natural propensity for this whodunit is simply perfect. A superb battle of wits!
It is very well thought, and at some point you’ll may even look over your shoulder – who’s there in the shallow shadow? This road across the darkness is a memorable one, one i greatly recommend for any lover of the mystery, thriller and psychological genre. The final pages are everything they should be, not a word wasted, culminating in an extraordinary zenith that’ll blow you away. Profound and potent, a must read where, at one point or another, you will get sucked and become a complicit in this odyssey.