Review: Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger

So I'm taking a break from blabbing about anime. It's time for Japanese Superhero (parody)!

I used to love Power Rangers. I don’t remember how I graduated from being in that fandom. I was just a kid. I think I moved on to another fad back then.

Producer: Toei

I didn’t watch other sentai series, so I missed out a lot. But I watched Akibaranger mainly cos it’s a parody of tokusatsu and otaku in one show. Akibaranger mostly makes fun of the stereotypes and common things that occur in tokusatsu, decorated with jokes about the various anime subfandoms. You know how parodies are often like 5 minute youtube video and 2 hours of twisted epic movies combined in one film? Well, now you get to see it in 12 episodes, something that YOU can relate with.

Akibaranger’s main theme is about DELUSION, which I think is totally suitable for otakus in general. Heck, don’t we all dream of getting sudden superpowers or get teleported into another fantasy world? I know I did ww. So this brilliant excuse of an otaku culture parody takes advantage of that (and seriously they do look pitiful)

The rangers have anime-ish design helmet too!

Akibared (Nobuo Akagi) – is your typical otaku who is often in dilemma about which merchandise to buy, and how to get into a 3D girl’s pants. Seriously reminds me of a few people I know lol. He’s a pretty lame guy but he takes the role of the hotblooded protagonist like he’s meant to have it.

LOL

Akibayellow (Yumeria Moegi) – is like the embodiment of self-absorbed cosplayers, shamelessly dressing up flamboyantly everywhere she goes and has to stay in character. Apparently she’s also a doujinshika and a fujoshi (episode 3 wins)

AkibaBlue (Mitsuki Aoyagi) – the only school girl, and is often disgusted by how her senior rangers are acting like overgrown children. She’s in the team just for the martial arts, and doesn't really admit that she's in the lower group of otaku heriarchy.

Malshina - Purple haired not-so-main villain of the show, but she had more screentime than her boss. She's somewhat related to Hakese - the one responsible in giving the three rangers a chance to become unofficial superheroes.

I wish there were more members cos it doesn't seem enough to represent the otaku community. They could've included a VN-otaku, a mecha fan, a pure old fag (so that maybe we can see some oldfags vs newfags stuff), and probably some NND addicts.

So anyways, when they transform they used a figurine called Aoi-tan which is a character from the show in the show. It's probably their current moe-tard anime which is on air. When they transform, they can do it at just about anywhere but they'll soon be transported to a totally different place far from the city, in the middle of nowhere. If you wanna know why then go check it out lol. And speaking of moeshits... yeah, the show questioned it's relevance somewhere. It was totally getting in the way for Aoi-tan's original author who wants to make the show as he wanted to be.

doesn't seem like the OP has serious message

While their base is in Akihabara, in a sentai cafe owned by the boss who monitors the akibarangers, they pursue (or were pursued by?) monsters that represent the other unique districts in Tokyo. These monsters wish to banish otaku culture from Akihabara and turn the city into their own liking (like host clubs, sports arena, etc). Really, they make otakuism look like they don’t deserve to exist in this world and the akibarangers are defending their animu like scared little newfags. FINALLY, it isn't something that affects the whole world when the event only happens in one particular place in Japan *rolls eyes*

A few previous red rangers makes a cameo whenever they're in a pinch. If I'm not mistaken episode 11 makes fun of how producers or writers could/would/may abuse their power in making nonsensical plot changes.

To my surprise, for a just-for-laughs series, they actually did have pretty neat plot twists (which lead me to ship Nobuo x Malshina) towards the end. It’s funny and shit, but it’s not suitable for kids (note that there’s ecchi and a few yaoi jokes) since it’s probably for older audiences who are used to the typical ‘flags’ in anime and tokusatsu.

Overall, it's pretty good. I recommend this even to non-sentai fans :3

Too bad she's supposed to be a 2D character... but oh well Nobuo almost had a dream-come-true moment.

Review: Usagi Drop (anime)

Author: Yumi Unita
Studio: Production IG

Once upon a time, a 30 year old salaryman’s grandfather died. At his funeral, while meeting relatives, he also meets a little girl. His relatives talked shit about the little girl because she’s a bastard child of the grandfather and his housekeeper. Since nobody gave a fuck about the innocent little shit, the salaryman decided to take her in.

No, this girl ain’t shit. I was just mocking at how other people react to her existence.

And I’m glad this story has nothing to do with lolicon or incest like the rest of the shows out there. The story is more about hardships of parenting, and the salaryman is in a rather awkward position as he is neither a father nor a married man. So while he listens to mothers and fathers talk about how they deal with having children, and the sacrifices they have to make, single and parent-to-be people can learn something….? LOL I dunno!

It’s rather interesting. But I personally think it’s sad there’s a need to sacrifice something good for your kids. It made me more hesitant to become a mother myself. I wouldn’t know if my thoughts will change once I have a child though, but it would be a waste of dreams if I were to drastically throw away something I had worked hard for.

I have nothing much to comment, but the story is sweet and warm. It’s a nice change of pace, since I’m more or less used to hotblooded protagonists who only cared about becoming kings or getting stronger (and I don’t watch moeshits cos they’re often irritating). Usagi Drop reminds you that though you’re no longer have the power of youth, you still have something to do in your life.

Since this is a manga adaptation, well, I’d usually go HEY GUYS THE MANGA IS BETTER JSHDJHSKJFDK but no. I haven’t read the manga, not planning to. But a friend said that he’s rather disgusted by the ending; who Rin chose to spend the rest of her life with. So uh… not gonna go that far. I love the adaptation as it is.

Although I think I'd understand why she'd choose to be with the father figure

Comeback

Hi, so I'm reviving this blog cos I have a serious urge to write about what i think of the anime I watch. I usually tweet about them, but I don't think it's enough.

 

But since I left it for over a year, I can't immediately review the recent ones. So I plan to post the ones from the previous years first. Oh guess what i have over 10 animes to review, then there are 3 tokusatsus. And probably I'm gonna crap about the PS3 I played for the past year. Oh yeah there are series like BBC Sherlock, Merlin and Glee... Yeah a lot to do. and I need to focus on my irl issues too.

 

Ok the reason why I've been too lazy to update this blog is due to the blogspot system a year ago. It pisses me off when I accidentally erases my drafts and blogspot immediatey autosaves. Stuff I've been writing for hours gone just like that! In order to avoid that, I write my reviews in Microsoft word before transferring them here. It used to be more of a hassle. Moreover, it's the when it comes to posting image in every blogposts was a hassle too.

 

When I came back the format has improved a lot, so I don't have any frustrations with the images to upload etc.

 

And eversince I opened up this blog (in 2008?) I hadn't done any modifications to the designs or templates. I left it with white background and no banner. This time I decided to weeabo-fy my blog; changed the title from "WTF / quantumvolpina" to "[ VieN ] degozaru / vien-oneesama". And the current background is an art from the game Okami. Erm... this might be temporary as I have something else in mind. It's too pink lol.

Previously it was called "quantumvolpina" because I thought i'd include any science related stuff in the blog (and that I'm taking physics), but I figured that it doesn't need mix ups so the blog should be focused on typical nerd stuff.

 

Other than that, I don't think I'll be using smaller text size anymore -aside from image description.

An important reminder though:

• I do not own all the images used in the blog, all images belong to their respective owners unless it is my own work.
• My reviews are not to be taken seriously, as I do not take ratings into consideration, including aspects in terms of art, story, characters, etc.
• I'm not really a good writer, so just enjoy the sarcasm.

I may include chatbox later. However, there'd be no twitter feed since my twitter is private.
In case you're interested, http://twitter.com/VulpineNinja. But don't you dare follow me if you can't handle the random rants and fangirling and preaching and hating.

So yeah that's all.
With that, i bid you adieu with this little fellah

art by me, copyright by Marvel

Review: UN-GO

There’s always something odd when it comes to mystery + supernatural, because this is where you can no longer use your logical thinking, or guess who the culprit is ahead from the detective.

I’m not a big fan of mysery, I don’t read/watch Kindaichi nor Conan, but I did enjoy Gosick. But I was turned off by Kamisama Memochou. As for UN-GO, I had a soft spot for Inga, regardless of what form s/he is in. And the detective is a guy so OK. He’s known as the “Defeated Detective” apparently, cos there’s the other old man who seems to have deduction skills that he only used to cover up higher ups mess. Plus, the main girl here isn’t that annoying. And I had nothing else to watch, the rest are a bunch of potentially annoying moeshits.

As far as I can remember, the mysteries consists of futuristic pop culture reference (idols, films, androids), I think this is the part which makes it interesting. Though I can say that Shinjuurou is cheating a bit by using Inga’s truth extraction powers, but he still did a great job. Cos Inga is basically clearing up his suspicions and making the suspect confess to people, without having Shinjuurou to dig deeper. Anyway, aside from Inga (whos always hungry for the truth) there's the artificial intelligence robot thingy who hacks databases - and we can actually watch her/his/it lurking through the interwebs.

Towards the end, the story becomes, as I dreaded, even more supernatural. For there was another creature that creatues illusions. This is where viewers can no longer relate to the mystery or detective, because personally I had no idea how the illusion is gonna be lifted in a MYSTERY themed. It was still nice to watch, but that supernatural power was annoying.

Yes this is another short review because I….watched this a year ago.

Review: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (anime)

Studio: SHAFT

[WARNING: May contain spoilers]

So I heard it’s a dark mahou shoujo. So I heard kyubei is an iconic mascot.

And I thought when you say ‘dark’ the drawing isn’t as flat and sketchy like a drawing done by a 9 year old -_-

Right, let’s put the art style aside for now. Pink haired girled called Madoka is running around in a strange room, stumbled upon a door and witness a dark haired girl fighting something big in the middle of the night. The girl warned something to Madoka couldn’t hear, and at the same time a white cat-bunny-like mascot was telling her to consider becoming a magical girl. Next day, she woke up and realized that it was just a dream… but when she went to school a new girl called Homura comes into her class who looks exactly like the girl in her dream. And for some weird reason that dark haired girl starts lecturing her about don’t become what she shouldn’t become like wtf. Then in the real world she got sucked into some weird dimension and tries to save the talking plushie with the help of her best friend Sayaka. Along the process, she meets another magical girl, Mami.

So I heard somebody died in the earlier episodes. But when I watch that scene… huh…? It didn’t give much impact as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had. Probably because she wasn’t an epic enough character to grieve for. Maybe Sayaka and Madoka would but viewers didn’t get the chance to connect with Mami yet. Then Kyoko comes… I thought she was a jerk, but she’s actually the most reasonable mahou shoujo who could still get a grip even though she’s gone through FML moment.

oh don't worry, at least you gain a lot of fanboys from here...

Much later, stupidity keeps coming when Sayaka, who became a mahou shoujo for a short period of time. Thanks to the shit caused by Madoka (revealing the truth about mahou shoujo-ism) and the shit her other best friend did to her. The shit wasn’t as bad as Kyoko’s shit, but Sayaka’s too weak for that. Then when Homura’s past is revealed, we were informed that the cool, calm and collected black mahou shoujo is actually a dumb selfish lesbian (you know, if I were her I’d either revive all my dead friends or protect the whole city from that evil thing). And what I don’t understand was the big boss; does it appear now and then or on that specific time and cause some sort of tsunami to Japan/world? Does it cause the apocalypse? Plot hole here, and another minus point for Homura for being a very lousy thinker.

The show implies that civilization won’t advance without mahou shoujo (apparently, Cleopatra was one). I know of the saying “Behind every successful man, there’s a woman”, now I’m convinced that Ptolemy, Saladin, Newton, Einstein, George Washington, Steve Jobs etc had been manipulated by magical girls (omg they’re pedos!). They didn’t have historical records cos they turn into witches.

But finally, a smart mahou shoujo appears! But she claims to be nothing special, but her wish makes most sense than any other puella magi did. Probably because by now she already know a great deal of truth of what the Incubator race plans by spending a lot of time with Kyubei. OH MAN I cannot believe I ignored Kyubei all this while. I love this creature ‘cause he understands nothing about human values, and heartlessly say sad but true things that we mere humans aren’t able to accept. UNFORTUNATELY, I ain’t satisfied with the ending. Maybe cos I’ve seen that kind of ending before in a novel, and maybe it’s because of my belief as well.

That aside, I believe this anime gives an impact in the moe or mahout shoujo world, cos dealing with magic is not fun and games. You want to fulfil your selfish desire, then your joy would be sacrificed, whether you like it or not. Then you have to fukken deal with it.

Now then, back to the art. Yes, I dislike how the characters are drawn. How even men doesn’t look manly enough. But I do like the Puella Magi costumes, except for Homura’s cos it looks like just another school uniform. Meh. The only part I like was when they enter the witch dimension, where everything becomes funky, fucked up and more 2D than the characters themselves.

Even with all the dissatisfaction, I was captivated by the OST. Beautiful folkish + modern music composed by Yuki Kajiura, and when the episodes end we’re served with dessert called “Magia” by Kalafina. Everytime I listen to this, my thought bubble goes “I’M A PUELLA MAGI” /me_gusta.jpg

don't blame him, you're the one who asked for it

End note: I don’t dislike it, but it really don’t deserve a 10/10, and the characters are really stupid (except for Kyouko)

Review: Infinite Stratos (anime)

 

Honestly, I couldn’t believe that I watched this till the end.

Studio: 8-bit
Original Author: Izuru Yumizuru

The reason why I picked this up is cos I heard that there was a reverse trap. IS is a story set somewhere in the future where only girls can use this semi-mecha–like thing for military purposes. There’s also a special school for girls to train themselves with the half-mecha thingy. Unfortunately, the girls appear to be like typical hormone raging teens and doesn’t look as though you need a mental strength test to enrol to the academy. Girls as young as 15 are allowed to own a special IS and play around with it like Barbie dolls. For the first time in IS history, a Japanese boy surprises the world by the news that he is the first guy to ever activate an IS.

oh btw it's an adaptation from a light novel. So do expect a bunch of lameness.

The craziness starts here; the boy is thrown into a girls school and, for some reason the stupid school administrator arranged his room in a girls dormitory. Logically thinking, why not give him a private room for himself… maybe just an old garage to keep the girls safe?

Ichika Orimura – a generic harem male character oblivious to the fact that he has many fans just cos he’s the only guy in school (he also has a scantily clad girl fan outside school). He often spurt out heroic phrases and is clueless that those words melt hormone raging girls’ hearts. Maybe it’s in his genes, cos his Onee-sama type sister has a lot of lesbian admirers too. Good thing that he's pretty good looking.

Imagine if Ichika is a fat pizza-faced nerd then I bet his presence is even more unwelcomed.

Houki Shinonono – Ichika’s “FIRST CHILDHOOD FRIEND” which she is so happy about. Generic tsundere. She hates her sister, who is actually the creator of IS (gasp, female inventor!)

Cecilia Alcott – A Pompous British girl who develops a crush on Ichika after he defeated her in a stupid IS battle.

Huang LinYin – Ichika’s second childhood friend, a generic loli and the most annoying type who believes she's Ichika's destined waifu.

Charlotte Dunois – The supposedly reverse trap who I think failed at the very beginning, yet she’s the most SANE character among the girls. And I personally think she should stay acting as a boy cos she looks cuter as a shota. If you ask me I'd pick Ichika x Char as my IS OTP.

Laura Bodewig – At first I liked her stoic attitude… but after the hero saved this iron lady from being consumed by iron, she declares Ichika to be his waifu and stole his first kiss. Her 180 turn of personality is a major turn off.

First half of the season focused on introducing new girls and a whole bunch of stupid girly stuff like fighting over a guy or trying to impress him with IS skills. Suddenly there’s a beach episode which I thought was totally pointless. But I guess they need an episode for the fanboys to fap. The last half got more serious but still didn’t help strengthen the plot.

No explanation on why IS is only operational by girls, why Ichika is the only guy who can. No explanation on the unmanned IS and no specific villain at all. It could probably be in the light novel, but they could’ve replaced the beach episode with something more intelligent. Oh once again, who cares about intelligence. Anime is all about fanservice! Boobs! Bikinis! Tsundere! Yandere!

This anime is obviously not about technological advancement in warfare but more like a special school for aspiring sluts. Owait, they ARE already sluts.

and this guy shall evaluate their level of sluttiness.

Okay somehow the anime OP keeps getting stuck in my head now and then, although I really dislike the genre. ED wasn’t appealing to me. Anyway, Charlotte’s would most likely be the reason why I started liking the seiyuu, Kana Hanazawa due to her natural voicing.

Conclusion: the anime sucked BIG TIME.

Review: Ano Hana

Studio: A-1 pictures

Anime title: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai = We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day

(I still have no idea why the title is long cos in the end people shorten it anyway)

I rarely watch Slice of Life, but due to recommendations, I decided to try this out. This is one of the animes which made me cry in the end. Moreover, the OP and ED are lovely as well. Also, the ED closely relates to the characters/story so yeahhh

The story is about childhood friends, who mostly went separate ways, and yet still clinging on to a childhood trauma. They’ve totally forgotten about it until a ghost of their friend appeared in front of the hikkikomori guy. Why did she specifically appear on just him, well, I reckon that she's rather shameless. Probably still has a mind of a kid cos ghosts don't reach puberty. Since then hikkikomori guy meets the other bitter childhood friends, then they see each other more often, indirectly discussing about their past and who’s fault is it that this friend died blablabla and in the end reconciled. The best episode (other than the last one), is the part where they make the fireworks together like they were kids again. Oh the main reason of the conflict which lead to the death of the girl is due to… PUPPY LOVE.

OH FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE YOU WERE JUST KIDS WHY’D YOU HAVE LOVE TRIANGLES ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE A BOY??

while I have no problems with the plot, this is the only matter that disturbed me throughout the whole story. I wouldn’t mind if the tragedy happened while they were in their teens, and they decided to make up in their 20s – when they’re mature enough. It makes more sense. It is logical to remember your bad past while you were a kid, but I doubt many people hold on to it. That’s why the best character in AnoHana is Popo. At least he tries to get them together again, as friends, ignoring the fact that they’re love rivals or has a crush on each other etc.

Apparently, in this anime comes the theory, where after you die, you may come back several years lalter in your grown up figure if you sort of haven't fulfilled your promise. So let's not worry about repaying debts cos we can always haunt our bff to do your shit for you.

She may not look it but here's the main villain of the story. If it is wasn't for her, her friends she left for the afterlife wouldn't be in despair. Damn bond breaker. And you know what's creepier? This ghost can fukken eat.

Bottom line, the writer sucks and is excellent at the same time. I can’t deny the fact that I realy shed tears at the ending. Yes the story is good. Watch it. Ignore my criticism on the puppy love crap XD

Review: Deadman Wonderland (Anime)

“I will be your deadman, with nothing but this blood on my hands”

First of all, I love the OP. It was performed by a Japanese band, Fade, but with perfectly good English. Though it reminds me of Coldrain.



Studio: Manglobe
Original Author: Kondou Kazuma, Kataoka Jinsei

The story sets in a prison called “Deadman Wonderland”. What a contradicting name. You might think that the prisoners are referred to as deadmen, and they had to work as circus performers to visitors, hence ‘wonderland’. At least they’ve got a job. But their job can be pretty gruesome especially when they had to go through a violent contest in front of the audience, who had no idea that the violence is real. And when you win in one of these contests you’ll get the candy which keeps you from dying after a few days. Because each prisoner has to wear a collar, which would poison him if he runs out of candy. So they gotta work hard to get them.

This is indeed a really fun way to torture criminals, imho.

Anyway, I watched this a year ago, so I have forgotten most of my feelings towards this anime. But I remember how cool it is to use your blood and construct them into weapons. Before I forgot to mention, DW has a secret facility that’s doing experiments on chosen humans who have the ability to control their blood. These are the real “deadmans”. Funny thing is, each individual has their own set of attack patterns. Anyway, they seem to have appeared right after the earthquake which occurred somewhere in Japan (duh, where else?). And the fight between the Deadmans, is a gambling entertainment for the rich people. Losers would have to sacrifice a part of their body, and the body parts lost still hold the properties of the original Deadman.

This is my favourite Deadman, Senji Kiyomasa. The BRO of the group. Ex-police officer who's awkward with women XD

The story centers around Ganta, an innocent kid in his preteens who suddenly had to witness his classmates being slaughtered. Then a horrifying guy whom he called the “Red Man” sort of inserted something into him, and it caused him to have super powers also. Then he fainted, and the next thing he knew is that he was sent to court and to jail. Jail is where he meets the mysterious albino girl, Shiro, who claims to be his childhood friend. So why is his childhood friend doing in some kind of jail too?

Since it’s only a 12 episode anime, a few modifications needed to be done. Hence the court scene didn’t make much sense, and the ending was like… oh you know what happens to animes adapted from an on-going manga.

So for those who hasn’t seen this, I recommend you to just read the manga… at least you get to the point from where these Deadmans really originated. Unless you want to hear more Hanazawa Kana, then go ahead with the anime.