Review: GOSICK (Anime)

This is another 2011 anime that I forgot to review. And I liked it a lot.

Based on a light novel, GOSICK is about a tsundere loli detective with her unintentional assassistant who came from Japan. The year is 1924 and set in European country called Saubure. In spite of it being a fictional country, the reasoning behind the mystery solving session is not too farfetched. And at least they don't disturb too much historical facts for being a fictitious country. I have never seen or read any mystery-themed anime/manga (I don't Conan), but I've seen an episode of CLAMP School Detective but the mystery of that particular episode is not mysterious at all. I had to restrain from laughing at the detectives wondering about what happened derp-ishly. However, what makes GOSICK an interesting mystery, is not because it's another typical Sherlock Holmes mystery (not that I dislike) him, but most of the time Victorique deals with revealing the truth about urban legends. Yeah she can even deduce how magic trick works. So yeah it's not an actual detective story but more like doing some mythbusting the classical way.

Apparently, in an anime world, regardless of where you are as long as you look weird and foreign you're often the topic of urban legend gossip. Like the classmate's are like "omg he's a death god" just because his has black hair and is Asian but lulz Kazuya Kujou doesn't even look Japanese for heaven's sake. But then it's typical of anime artists to make Japanese having big eyes and colorful hair. And as a desperation move the author just had to use that popular stereotype probably to attract moetards. But surprisingly I like this loli tsundere, maybe it's because she's smarter than most tsunderes out there. Then there's also the cockblocker character whom I think would be good friends with the anti-social detective but turns out she's just there to be a busybody. I am a little disappointed at the relationship between characters part, especially when it comes toVictorique Du Blois who only wanted to open up to just one person.

he does not look Japanese

While I like all the cases they involved themselves in, the only thing I am disturbed with is the fact that the 'grey wolves' clan has some kind of superpowers thing. Here I thought it would be another urban legend thing to unravel, but turns out the bad guys were obsessed with the idea until the end. Now I am not sure what the 'superpower' really is (was it to bring fortune?), but it seem to indicate having a genius mind. But lol is that even an inheritence thing? The bad guy could just take any genius to help him take over the world or something instead of making a woman suffer thanks to a prophecy he believed in. good thing that's the only shit stuff about GOSICK and you can only see it at the last few episodes and suddenly the ending looks like the writers forgot the show is about mystery. Or maybe it wasn't in the first place. I pretty much enjoyed the mysteries rather than the actual plot... It's probably just me because the real story seems out of place with the whole thing we see.

The romance here, between the main characters is naive and pretty common, high school crush and one love triangle thing. What you see in the promo poster is what the canon pair is, so there's no suspense there. However, when it comes to the adults they have a rather mature and unorthodox take on it. Personally I love how they write the adults compared to the little kids.

and i love his hair

While I like the ED, the OP sounds too modern poppish it looks out of place for the gothic setting.

If you're a moetard do pick up this show, and even if you're not a tsundere loli fan do try this out and watch it for the urban legend mythbusting. Eventually you'd find Victorique to be charming too.

Review: Brave 10 (anime)

I read the manga first, mainly because I like stories in historical setting.. and especially when it's in the sengoku period. The art is very eyecandy and the plot is, well... generic shonen plot but who cares. I'm in it for the hot guys.

Studio: Studio Sakimura

Original Author: Shimotsuki Kairi

Unfortunately, even with the hot guys, being limited to 13 episode makes the story look even more meh.  But since there wasn't much shounen during that season, this keeps me entertained. There are other attractive looking villains in the manga the anime didn't include, probably because it was unnecessary. There are also enjoyable 'filler' chapters in the manga the anime ignored.

Brave 10 is an adaptation of the fictional 'Sanada Ten Braves' story, with some extra stuff like fanservice superpowers based on elements (fire, water, lightning etc). While the original Braves are supposed to be ninjas, lead by Sarutobi Sasuke... However, Brave 10's protagonist is Kirigakure Saizou, a ninja of the Iga clan and the bloody useless Isanami, a slutty-looking priestess from Izumo. Yukimura Sanada needs to collect 10 people into his harem -regardless of gender- including the spineless priestess. This part is interesting since each of his harem member has their own specific powers. She's the only one annoying in the story and is kind of Mary Sue. Worse part is she holds the 'key' to something that moves the story. Other than his beloved harem, along the way Yukimura meets other historical figures like Masamune Date, Mitsunari Ishida etc.

You also have Takehito Koyasu as this fabulous version of Masamune Date. Cue eargasm.

Honestly I don't remember the OST or superb the animation is. Oh great this means that I really watched it for the fanservice... and seiyuus. Plus you really can't have a successful anime which has more than ten people compressed in 13 episodes D: The last few people recruited into the Braves didn't have the chance to develop.

Yet the most interesint character is Ana I think, but I'd rather not spoil much. Perhaps I'd talk about her more once I review the manga.

I'm not sure how the manga ends (haven't got there) but the way Brave 10 is really shitty when little miss annoying damsel reveals her true self. You know what, I always hated it when an anime is about to end cos they usually end it with something that makes you wanna flip your table. Another disappointment is that you don't get to see Yukimura in his crimson armour, but he's clad in sexy Yukata all the time flipping his fan. Which means that you don't get to see Yukimura being the awesome warrior of every thousand years in action =3=

whatever you say~

It's a shame for a historical-based story to turn out like this though. It could've turned out better. But to hell am I gonna indulge in some moeshit sengoku anime. I might as well play Sengoku Basara 3 after this.

I'd highly recommend this to girls if you want a kyaa-fest. To both girls and boys you can just ignore the anime and go straight to the manga. More bromance and you can also see more boobs there (in case you're a fan of boobs).

yeah I'm sure it's not w

Review: Fate/Zero (S1)

I tried to avoid this show, since it’s based on a novel. If I wanted to tweet about every episode, surely one or two type-moon fag would retort when I criticise something. Also, Fate/Stay Night was completely horrible. But since they say this show is a lot better than FSN (and I heard the composer is Yuki Kajiura, plus the season 2 OP artist is Kalafina), why not give it shot?

Just for your info, I’m not a type-moon fan, I don’t follow the visual novels or any other stuff related. So forgive me if my thoughts on certain things seem ignorant. Just consider me as a regular anime watcher. You have been warned.

Unfortunately, the first four or five episodes were incredibly dull for me. Too much verbal version of tl;dr, too much explanation about the master-servant system, where I think they can easily explain ‘visually’ or through one of the action scenes than giving us a full 40 minutes lecture on it. You have seven masters, they’re mages but not necessarily the most powerful mages ever – and each of them has ‘Servants’, of which some of them were kings/leaders of ye olden days, ironicaly. I thought Yuki Kajiura’s music would make me stick to it but the boringness of the initial storyline was overwhelming. And I’m rather disturbed by how the three biggest family of mages act all pompous – which makes me happy that the kid called Waver Velvet decided to prove them wrong. And this piqued my interest.

a tea party before they beat the crap out of each other

Then we have two daddies who fights in the field in the dark; one is the father of one of the most popular tsunderes in the anime world, and the other had a baby with a bimbo-ish homunculus D:

The former, hides in the ‘command room’ with Gilgamesh as his Servant, while the latter, in spite of being a mage prefers to use firearms in his fights. His Servant is Saber, which is disappointingly as bland as she was in FSN. Yeah yeah she’s an honourable knight, cute and all but as a warrior princess not even as GAR as Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail) or the newcomer Morgiana (Magi). Or perhaps I dislike her because I cannot accept that King Arthur is a girl :P. Meh it would work better if the female Arthur is not a small sized sixteen year old.

i think i know why King Arthur is a girl now... a wizard did it...

Which is why I became super delighted when Iskander pwn’d her with his army of bros, and this guy became the main reason why I had continued watching F/Z and all the way to season 2. Even her Excalibur final blow was like meh. His character is really has great as the size of his muscles!

The fights are unlike most shounens, I guess. You can see that they’re more tactical, even with the use of magic. So magic isn’t just any wand waving avada kadavra thingy. I think I can call the Masters in this anime ‘mahou seinen’. Plus there’s no definite good or evil sides, but you can tell which character is mentally sick (which makes him seem evil) and it makes you think… “DEFINE ‘GOOD’”. In this season there is not much of Gilgamesh in action, you can only see him with the kimochi warui priest guy talking about something psychological and philosophical blablabla.

Speaking of kimochi warui the concept of magic used makes me hate this ‘fandom’ so much, that I feel relieved that I have not indulged deeper into it. I think I’ll cover this in the second season’s review, along with other questionable stuff.

IMHO for the first season, they did a really grave mistake on making those 'lecture sessions' because I know some people especially the non-fate series fans got bored of it after a couple of episodes. It's a huge waste because the show is really worth watching, but the first impression was really repelling.
In conclusion, season 1 is not that special yet (just wait for my thoughts on S2). Except for Broskander :3

Tbh I dropped the show until someone told me to "watch it for Rider". I did. And I have no regrets.

review: Sengoku Basara 2 (anime)

[WARNING: May include spoilers!]

A sequel to Sengoku Basara anime, yet another adaptation of my favourite CAPCOM video game. Not gonna review much on the characters this time, but I’m just gonna say something about the newcomers.

Hideyoshi Toyotomi – historically, the second great ruler for the Sengoku Period was also known as ‘monkey’, hence his gorilla-ish looks. It is implied in the anime that he has a lover (not sure if it’s mentioned in the game cos I played the Japanese version) and was also Keiji Maeda’s acquaintance. Despite of seeming ridiculously brutal in front of his foes, he was somewhat kind to his beloved tactician.

Takenaka Hanbei – Toyotomi’s beloved masked tactician, who wears a purple mask and whips a chainsword thingy. Supposedly, he’s a great tactician though I think his kidnapping method is rather dirty. Can’t help thinking that this guy is gay, especially by the way he calls people by their first names.

Miyamoto Musashi – in popular belief, he’s a dual sword user and relatively strong. And in SenBasa’s case, he wields a wooden sword and an oar.

[miyamoto musashi, Sengoku Basara version]

Once again, I dislike the way each characters powers act like an atom bomb the DBZ style since it’s not even THAT explosive in the video game. And what’s with drying off the sea shore with a single punch?? Now that’s a bit too much. Now if only we can just do that in the game, destroy half the stage with just one swing.

However, this time I’m rather satisfied with the story and the character development (though I’m pretty sure they f*cked up history again). The rivals, Masamune Date and Yukimura Sanada are splitting ways, fighting their own battles yet still thinking of each other. Awww….

Ahem, anyway, Masamune Date sort of lost his “Right Eye” by Hanbei’s dirty trick, and henceforth his army grew weaker without Katakura Kojuuro’s intelligence. Poor Masamune is ‘nothing’ without his Right Eye :3 Meanwhile Sanada travels far away to form an alliance with another army, and along the way losing one of his ally forever, due to his narrow-minded leadership. Though regretting his actions, he still continued his journey as ordered by Shingen Takeda.

Okay, it’s been a while since I last watched this. I’m not sure what I can remember about the main storyline. I’ll just tell you about my favourite parts then. First is the episode where the ‘biker gang’ cooperates with the ‘pirates’, that sure was interesting! Then Yukimura Sanada versus Miyamoto Musashi! Also the return of Kotaro Fuuma and Matsunaga Hisahide. And also hints of characters that were going to appear in Sengoku Basara 3 (which is already out prior to this review). Nice way of introducing them, by the way.

[here comes another bishounen! Mitsunari Ishida :3]

OP SWORD SUMMIT WAS THE BOMB. It’s TM Revolution again wheeee~~~!! And… and my darling Takehito Koyasu again (as Sarutobi Sasuke) :3

Conclusion: I like it better than the 1st season ;D

Review: Sengoku Basara

[WARNING: May Contain Spoilers]


[Disclaimer: image does not belong to me]

This is an adaptation of a video game with the same name, which is based on Sengoku Jidai that ranged from the 15th to 17th century. It's translated as Warring States period, and is perhaps one of the most popular chapters of Japanese history. Warlords fought against one another to conquer their land (yet known as Japan), and many legendary heroes were born from within that period; most notably the Crimson Warrior and The One Eyed Dragon. And not to forget, the Demon King.


What would you do if the bird does not sing?
"Kill it if it does not sing."
"Make it want to sing."
"Wait until it sings."

The poem figuratively describes the different styles of leadership of the great rules of Japan; Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu respectively.

Just like in the video game, Oda stays true to his nickname the "Demon King" and is the primary antagonist of te first season. With the help of his wife, Nouhime and most loyal vassal, Ranmaru Mori (who's supposed to be a bishounen, but Capcom's version he's a candy-loving shota). As in the true story, Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi are mutual rivals. Rempit-ing on a horse, Masamune Date is somehow rivalled with the masochist Yukimura Sanada (My sis is gonna kill me if she sees this) when in history they're not really archenemies.

Well if you play the game, and also Samurai Warriors (or Sengoku Musou) you'll see how fucked up CAPCOM version is. Not that I hate it, but Koei's adaptation of Sengoku Jidai is more accurate. The wonderful part of Sengoku Basara is the colourfulness and the character designs. Storywise, a bit too much tweak here and there, and it gets worse in the anime. I think Tokugawa died a bit too early. It's weird because he's the last shogun. I dunno what to say about the plot. I'm not well versed with the Sengoku Jidai history, I think my sister knows better (she even remembers the war names!).
But at least they have epic characters to make up for it.

And if you think the plot is sucky, wait till you see the OVERDOSE SHOUNEN ACTION SCENES THAT REMINDS YOU OF DRAGON BALLZZZ. Well of course i'm okay with the game where Yukimura swings his fiery spear and Masamune shooting lightning bolts with three swords with each hands... but seeing flashes of red and blue clashing to one another in a combat is not what I want to see in an action movie. And the worst part is whenever Oda appears, the clouds turn black, storm approaching the area to emphasize that he was really a messenger from hell. Don't let me start with Tadakatsu Honda, Tokugawa's general also known as "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself"; cos he is portrayed as a robot.... =_=;;

Art-wise, I think they look fatter as 2D compared to their video game counterparts. I personally prefer the characters as 3D. The guys look hot anyway, but the girls are much cuter in the game.

The primary ladies of the game..

anime version... not so moe anymoar D:


T3H LAWLZ!! Is this how a relationship between a daimyou and his kunoiochi should be like??? *blushes*

Don't be fooled by Oichi-hime's vulnerable appearance!! Although she wears pink, she's actually an emo faggot. Next to her is her beloved husband, the super sentai-ish Nagamasa Azai. FUN FACT: They're a cannon Tsundere-Yandere pairing :D

OP is JAP by Abingdon Boys School. The group had been contributing their songs since the first game came out, and I'm glad to listen to them again in the anime. but my favourite SenBasa will always be Blade Chord :3

Second season is out already, I'm putting it on hold. I fear another disappointment, but the first few episodes are promising. I should probably try not to be so serious about the accuracy of SenBasa to the Warring States Period, just that they're using the legend's name with a rewritten history.

oh btw my favourite character is none other than...

SARUTOBI SASUKE!!!!

yeah so typical of me since I like ninjas... who are MALE and has awesome loyalty to his "danna".

Review: Kuroshitsuji (anime)

[it's not BL, okay!!]

[WARNING: This review may contain spoilers!]

[WARNING 2: Sebastian fangirls GO AWAY!]

I finished this a long time ago. but I'm bored and I feel like writing reviews. So I picked Kuroshitsuji because I see everyone is obsessed about Sebastian, and I wanted to know what's so great about him. Then there's a shota that I'm attracted to, so I bought the anime before reading the manga. As I suspected, though it is not officially BL, but there are hints. *wink*

Oh yeah, this is Square-Enix's production! My fave game company.
Set in the Victorian era, this is a story about a 12 year old boy who lost his parents in a fire. He made a Faustian contract with a demon who serves him as a (combat) butler. Somehow this brat called Ciel Phantomhive got his riches back after he makes a deal with the demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Ironically he's named after a real life Sebastian Michaelis, a French inquistor who compiled a hierarchy of demons in Hell. Ciel is a sour-faced boy with an eye-patch, an have enough intelligence to manage a toy and candy company. But he's completely useless in combat so he goes SEBASTIAN, I CHOOSE YOU to protect him from pedophiles. But Sebastian doesn't mind being treated like a pokemon because it's his job anyway... until Ciel finds the murderer of his parents....
PROTAGONISTS PLEASE...

1. Sebastian Michaelis

Dontcha? Oh everybody does except for me :). Sebastian is overrated. His perfection is awesome but it's a turn off because he's a demon and he can do all the house chores impossibly fast. Faster than vampires! Every girl dreams of getting into his pants, including Maylene the maid, but you can obviously see how he condemns clumsy and imperfect people. Yup, the very moment he shoos the other servants away and do everything himself, I know I can never love him (I've met somebody who does all the work without discussing with his subordinates - i didn't like that leadership). And I wonder why you want a boyfriend like this hehehehehe.... unless you make a Faustian contract with him, he'll defend you with his life (?)... but it's not sincerely because it's what he has to do!

2. Ciel Phantomhive

 

Is it me, or are child geniuses overrated? Like his predecessors, he serves the Queen. But unlike his predecessors, he has a bodyguard. He treats him like a chess piece, and other people he knows are his chess pieces including his aunt. So he doesn't mind sacrificing his pieces until he attains his goals. Like Lelouch who's unathletic, but Lelouch has more pawns. Oh yea, one of Ciel's eyes is cursed too! Dammit, weird eye power is overrated too. He has an a fiancee who's complete opposite of him and annoys him with her girlish decorations (these b1tches just HAVE to exist). But poor Elizabeth just wants to cheer him up even though she's oblivious about what's really going on in his life.

3. Servants of the Phantomhive Household
Well at first I thought that the servants are useless, because Sebastian practically did everything the servants cannot do. He's an attention whore, so what can we do about it? But later in the anime (and manga) you'll find out what's their actual purpose.
- Tanaka. Issit me or are butlers always named Tanaka and Sebastian? Maybe the japanese butlers are Tanaka descendants... hmm. Anyways, he's the house steward, and used to be a butler serving under Ciel's late parents. But he got stabbed and can't do anything much... but he still can kick ass.

[From left: Maylene, Bardroy and Finnian]

- Bardroy. The cook. He cooks with flamethrowers and bombs. Go eat some black things if you leave him be. He's an American, and he's a bomb expert who can use whatever he finds in the kitchen to ward off intruders.
- Finnian. The gardener, who kills of flowers instead of giving them life. He was actually a super soldier of some sort about 500 years before Allelujah's time, so he has super strength in spite of his girlish looks.
- Maylene. The clumsy maid with a cracked pair of glasses. She refused to change them because it's the first present her master gave. But the truth is, she's a far-sighted sniper. You should see how she use hundreds of rifles to decrease the reload time.
***
Unfortunately, like any other anime adapted from a manga, it does not follow the real storyline much. At first, it did, until it reached the middle, where suddenly the plot got f*cked up at the point where everyone is fed with curry bread. Some characters that only appear once in the manga, became re-occuring characters. I'm okay with that because I love them (although they're lamer than Sebastian) - Grell Sutcliffe and Viscount of Druitt... both are rather gay-ish but they amuse me.

[yes I do, Grell!!]
In fact, the anime is gay-er than the manga. There's this dog-man called Pluto (only available in the anime) and he's often seen naked begging for Sebastian's affections. Fanservice much? I nosebled. Yeah... not to forget Grell's pansexuality that is misintepreted as lustful homosexual (not that I mind heh).
Towards the end, it becomes an angel and demon feud. Guess who won lol.
Adding up to the weirdness, it's the Queen Victoria's preserverence of youth and death god's realm (at least we get to see European's Soul Society). Suddenly Lau, the incestuous President of the British Branch of a Chinese trading company got his true purpose revealed when the manga didn't conclude anything about him yet. And the Undertaker's true self is revealed! Then it is revealed how useless Ciel is without Sebastian. And then the mission of the two protagonist seem to be complete, but then I heard the second season is coming. I really hope they don't f*ck it up anymore, cos I do want to see the Noah's Ark Circus.
Somebody please tell me if the Victorian butlers are really capable of being bodyguards too!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention another butler and his bratty lord. But this butler is more like a bodyguard who can do chores like cooking curry. They're good looking fellahs from India. Most likely ancestors of Bollywood actors. I suppose this is one of the three encounters of the name 'Soma' (other than Persona series and Gundam 00) - he's a cheery prince that claims to be Ciel's friend. In my opinion, his servant Agni is a hell lot better than Sebastian. (but why Indian youth always get white hair? Take a look at Lakshata in Code Geass and that Indian mercanary in Bladestorm video game). Although he's human, he can rival with Sebastian's skills. And he doesn't pretend to be nice, and he's at least genuinely helpful to the Phantomhive servants - something Sebastian failed to do (the story is about him, the black butler, of course he deserves all the limelight lol).

[Agni says, "DONTCHA wish you boyfriend was RAW like me?"]

So what do I think overall? The animation is pretty for a manga based anime. I'm happy with the exact adaptation in the first half until the sudden alteration of plotline in the middle of the episode. more supernatural stuff dominated the series, and I think the manga makes more sense. I'm really glad that that Maaya Sakamoto plays Ciel; I'm always amazed by how she can use husky voice and sing like a woman as well.
My favourite song is the second ED, Lacrimosa by Kalafina.
btw don't get me wrong. I love the manga, just not satisfied with the anime. And I may have offended Sebastian fangirls here - oi i told u to go away, didn't I? *points at the top* Sorry but... I fangirl too. It's just that I'm not the kind of person who shuts one eye to one's weakness(es) especially when s/he is so-called perfect (direct translation of a Malay phrase + pun intended). now now... don't get angry. Here' have a motivator~