Death’s Notes and Thoughts

Posts Tagged ‘action’

Anime adaptation of Chunsoft’s visual novel mystery game 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~. Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. Now working as a cameraman, she reunited with her friend Canaan in Hong Kong. Canaan is an assassin gifted with synesthesia, and she’s being targeted by the terrorist squad Snake. Meanwhile, numerous groups converge on Hong Kong, all after either Canaan or Maria. [taken from AnimeNewsNetwork] It was a good one. The anime may use some scenario points the regular anime watcher may already reconise but still they manage to give it a fresh and new touch as they found a pretty intresting explanation of the way things started. Sure one can argue we had already viruses and biological weapons (Venus VS Virus, Black Cat, and many more) but yet I liked the way this one works and what its side-effects are. Its was enough to get me into a good mood and the anime kept the promise of beeing intresting through sometimes I got a bit lost in the specific types of the “affected people”, also it also take a while until they fully explain things. But thats not the main point the anime wanna get on, its just a mark on the way to the real point which they kept good until the last 2 episodes. Some may figure out the deal earlier then those but I don’t think it will have a bad effect on the overall experience. Also the anime was also pretty sarcastic in some way which I would descripe as pretty harsh but still we shouldn’t forget it’s not your daily school girl anime but a rather violent (but not overly) one. It says what it means through non-sugarcoated pictures, a point which I also liked about it. Especially since latly I often feel like they over-/missuse violence and sex appeal to cover that the story and scenario behind is extreme weak. Something I find rather discuthing so this one was compared to those a refreshing one. It wasnt too long and not taking side walks to fill gaps in the storyline. Another rare thing I found in this one was the really good drawn picture of the psychotic submissive follower thats so blinded by her love for her “nee-san” that she fail to see the reality anymore. Unlike other animes did she kept it up until the very end, even going as far as enjoying to get killed by her loved. Thats a point where most other animes let the char turn love into hate as they feel betrayed. Thats something that is one possiblity but it got overused and so as for me lost impact. Here I was rather suprised that his didn’t happend and I must say it was a match. The character was perfectly acting out his ill-love along with the sardistic tribes. It made me reminding Perfect Blue somehow, where they also drew the picture of the psychotic sardistic stalking lover. All together I must say I liked it, through like stated earlier it was for me a bit confusing at some points of the storyline.

Trailer

If someone wonder why it says music video, its the offical promo trailer for the Comic Market 75. Source: YouTube

Opening

Source: YouTube

Ending

Source: YouTube

-Death

The Summer of “Anu”: In a summer once every five years, demons in the mysterious Tower of Druaga lose their powers due to the magic spell cast by a god named “Anu”. King Gilgamesh, ruler of the kingdom Uruk, uses the appearance of demons as an excuse to invade the tower and find out the construct’s secrets. As 80 years passed, the Uruk army managed to fight back the demons and built a fortress city and safe haven on the very first floor of Druaga – Metz Kier. Thus begins the story of a warrior named Gil who, finding companions along the way, embarks on a quest for the fabled Blue Crystal Rod, a powerful artifact rumored to be in the highest floor of Druaga. However, other competitors, including the kingdom of Uruk itself, want the treasure, all for their own reasons. [stolen from ANN] (if u wanna know the desc of the 2nd series too look it up here) I will write down here the impression on the complete series instead of the individual parts as they should be watched together now that u can grab both. I must say i enjoyed this series. It was a good mix out of parodie parts, some more or less comedical parts and some good old action parts with epic fights. Sure probably the the hardcore fantasy fan will say that this series suck as it have too much “side stuff” from his point of view, but that was something I liked since it made the series lighter. Lighter in a manner that a non-hardcore fan can also have fun at it. Also I liked how the story was turning unexpected sometimes since ppl was changing sides, just in the 2nd series it got a bit confusing *yare yare*. But thats one of the less points where I say “meeh”, another is maybe the sometimes bad implented 3D cgi action. But on the other hand it gives it a slight game feeling which is also enjoyable in its own way, right ? Dunno, it entertained me so I tend to see things positive. One of the best jokes was still the episode which Jil beeing the “figure” in a arcarde like fantasy automat. Man, that was made me lulz a lot. Also fun is the joke they made with ep 1, make sure to grab the alternative version and watch it later on. They also didnt overused the usualy “god” topic like some other series tend to do. I mean this series goes around a god myth so there is influence by god figures but in a moderate manner. Dont wanna go deeper into this otherwise I spoil. Hm, I say for the casual fantasy fan its a good one, for the hardcore it can be good or not, depends on his individual expections I think. Make your choice ;).

Opening S1

I should say here, the op’s are a bit missleading since they show the chars in a School/Daily Life like enviroment. Through the op of s1 is a kinda crossover, while the op of s2 have not that feature. But it is a fantasy anime, dun worry, no school/romance one ;).

Opening S2

Ending S2

Have fun,

-Death

Yuusuke was just a normal kid going to high school. Then one day, the cute and behaloed Noelle fell, quite literally, into his life, naked as a baby and every bit as innocent. Before he can even fathom what’s just happened, Yuusuke is inducted into a rather odd family of otherworldly beings straight out of The Munsters. Papa is a Frankenstein monster with a taste for calisthenics. Mama is a gorgeous lady with a penchant for “round objects” — really! The eldest sister, Sara, is literally invisible; the brother, Gabriel, is a teenage vampire with an attitude problem; and the youngest sister, Ruka, loves inventing things. There’s a disapproving Grandma, who’s a witch to the nth degree, and her vulture familiar. All Yuusuke wanted was for the beautiful Natsumi to even notice his attention, but now he has an angel-in-training to follow him wherever he goes. And Noelle, too, has a guide on her path to being an angel, the mysterious Michael (or Kaeru-san). [from Animenfo.com] Well, it was fun until like 6 episods before the end where the anime started implenting a very weird, selfcentered logic without any explanations “why” things happens. Another angel related anime, namely “Ah! My Goddess TV” tended to explain to the viewer why things happens like they do. But if u get along with that fact and annoying logic, go and read further. The chars in this one are quite a out of the normal bunch as we got a bunch of “daemon” class chars. A witch, a vampire, a cat daemon, a girl with the ability to get invisible, an other witch with her weird bird companion and more. I personally took a liking in Miruru, the neko daemon. She is like u want your catgirl but just a bit… well, wicked at some times. Also she goes damn hot for the poor Gabe who have his probs with her love as he is allergic to cats^^. But those two arent our main chars, those are Noelle and Yuusuke (god… i cant hear that name anymore). No, this is not a harem anime, even if some might smell harem here. I agree he hangs between two girls in the later story but thats it. And two I dont call harem. Whats annoying about Noelle is her constant screaming of Yuusuke’s name. After like 10 episodes you wanna erase the name from the anime, I kinda think of rewatching it with doing a count of how often she screams his name. Her childish and “i trust them all” behavior is for a while fun but then it also looses a bit its impact as you get used to it a bit much. What I more found intresting since it was giving this weird and dark feeling off since u dont understand it until a certain point is the side stuff with Dispel-sama and Silky. I dont wanna go too deep into this as I would end up spoiling a part of the story. But Dispel was definitly an intresting fellow in terms of beeing the evil dude that takes the angel to the darkside (hmm, describing it this way make me kinda wanna say “Luke, I’m your father. Join the dark side!”). Oh well, Also fun was the enemy the face later on, Muse-chan. That lil one is trying really hard but faces always the problem that she is too shy and always seems to regret her actions fast, which give her a own “i dont have trust in myself” charm. Like u just wanna cuddle her and say “It’s all ok”. Also its every time again fun to see into what she transforms next, just to fail short after it again. Man, thinking over it afterall it maybe wasnt so bad, but I disliked that non-explained and with selffish irrlogic soaked end of it. That and Noells constant “Yuusuke” screaming. But like I said in the beginning, who can get along with it, go and watch it. You will like it.

Opening

Source: Youtube

Ending

Source: Youtube

To watch or not to watch, thats the question for you ;).

-Death

Set in a city of scientifically advanced superhuman students, but in a world where magic is also real. Toma Kamijo’s right hand, the Imagine Breaker, will negate all magic, psychic, or divine powers, but not his own bad luck. One day he finds a young girl hanging on his balcony railing. She turns out to be a nun from the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum – all the magical texts the Church has removed from circulation. [stolen from AniDB] Well, this anime is something. You have a chibi that knows every magical book and stuff, a dude with a Hand that kills all supernatural, a girl that sends flashes behind you or use her eletric powers to speed up things. Also u have have a army of clones and more weird people coming up in it. What is weird is the title if u think about it when u have watched it (its no harm if I explain it) since the most time all chars besides Index plays a bigger roll then Index. At least when the big action begins it is like this. This might be also the reason why we got a side anime featuring Biribiri. Desprite that the anime is not too bad since u have lots of fun when Biribiri gets angry again since she is lovly dovly for Toma but Index is having a big problem with that. She think of Toma as her belonging^^. But well, Biri isnt the type to admit what she feels either. Also there is there Kuroko who also have a problem with Biri getting together. Ok ok, this is a side story but its one of the lulz things and well it probably gets merged somehow into the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun anime. Damn yuri-anime, stop entering my thoughts. Back to Index, what I missed in it somehow is the big end-fight to give it an end. They fight serveral enemys during the show once Index is freed from her fate. Even they announced that there will be a big end fight but it never happens, at least none that I consider as final fight to end it all. So this anime have the problem of feeling un-finished to me. Who can get along with that feeling and still wanna have fun, should watch it. It combines good action and some comedy/romance storyparts. But it focus more on action, so dont worry about too much lovlydovly shit. Thats rather side stuff to add more fun to the whole thing. And this anime made me ultra intrested in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, as u might figured out earlier^^. So be sure to look forward to my review of that one, and also let us hope they give us more Index one day so it gets a proper end. Til’ then, enjoy the videofeeds and make your decision about to watch it or not ;). And before I forget, you also can check more of the index parodies in this article I wrote earlier.

Promo:

Source: YouTube

Opening:

Source: YouTube

Opening 2:

Source: YouTube

Ending:

Source: YouTube

Ending 2:

Source: YouTube

So, thats it.

Your Death-chan

Chiko, who had been leading a lonely life because of her parents death. Together with the Phantom Thief Nijū-Mensō (20-Faces), she sets out on a journey into the real world. She gradually changes as she encounters new friends and places. But strange events start happening revolving around the mystery of “Legacy of the 20-Faces”. So Chiko has to move forward, regardless on how checkered her life will become. (the plot descroption is taken from AnimeNewsNetwork) It was a good anime. They builded up the mood pretty good, especially Chiko’s stepmother was made very good. She really builded up hate against her and her actions in me, and that was definitly needed to get into the mood. It wasnt a fail hate more a “go just die and leave our Chiko alone” hate. Many other animes that attempt this raise more a “u fail” hate in me then the kind of hate and angery they want to archive. Also the drama was good distributed over the series, not all in one point but rather spread over the series and so it felt more as part of the whole instead of beeing the whole. What I dislike on many other animes where some chars u learned to like die is when the complete drama focus on one point, and before that all happyness. That kinda plot feels too much artifical to me. If we would have one or two anime using such a way of initating drama, it wouldnt be bugging me, but many does it, so it does bug me. But lets go back to the point, this one here definitly doesnt do that. It kept a good balance between drama and action parts spiced with some nice (funny?) scenes. But its not focused on fun, thats a side part and like i say just a spice to make it intresting and let u relax for a sec. The characters as stated earlier build up a good mood, and take u into their world. You really feel along with Chiko often and not getting this “dow~ why dont she do this, why dont she do that” feeling, which u sometimes get when characters get the ultra opportunity but don’t take it. Its a bit dark mood-wise, so if one prefer happy anime maybe u shouldnt try this one. For all others, give it a try and hopyfully enjoy it as I did.

Opening

Its a pretty much relaxed and calm op, but dont let it fool you.

Source: YouTube

-Death

Magician’s Academy revolves around Takuto Hasegawa, who attends a magic academy that is not marked on any map. During a summoning spell exam, he accidentally creates a girl named Tanarotte, who happens to hold enough magical power to destroy his country, but fortunately Tanarotte professes undying loyalty to her “creator.” The universe separated in three worlds: Heaven, Human World (Earth), Demon realm. The Gods & Demons are not seen fighting among themselves in the human world and try to keep their existence a secret from them. The human world is only source of entertainment and enlightenment to both the demons and the gods to the point of smuggling human goods to both realms. (taken from Wikipedia, and shortend to remove spoilers) Also it should be said that this anime is based on a game for the Playstation 2. Its really a feast of catgirls and cuteness, it begins with Tanarotte and goes on with the other girls. I also to a big liking in Falcé, especially when she is in the “small” mode. She appears later on and follows Takuto around, often in form of tools like pens and stuff. And there is that scene in the cafe where is she a small chibi sipping some kinda soda. Its so damn cute~. Its not much special about this one besides the pretty high catgirl/nekomimi and animal ear appearence. Take that away from it u get a more or less normal anime with the topic “magic” spiced with some small potions romance and some parts school. The romance part is more used as a base for jokes and fun then beeing too honest with it, so it dont become annoying as in some other anime. It fits my latly intrest in more comedy/fun orientated animes, and so u shouldnt expect anything “special” or “great” from it. Also some may say it contains a lot of loli, that a point where I say NO. That isnt what I call loli, at least not in the terms when loli gets used as “bad” attribute. hmm… but stop, one thing is a bit outstanding here… I actually never saw the higher ups from the demons and angels going along, where the Gabriel is a goth loli and both are hardcore otakus for anime and stuff. OK, so I should correct here my further statement it lacks something special, but its maybe still something not everyone consider great. Anyway, I could tell u more about the other chars that are part of the regular play but that would kill off the fun factor for u. There is quite some parodise in it. I add some pictures to show a few scenes i refered to in the review earlier. So, those who search for something to have fun with, and not for a great honest romance story or something other more “real” thing, should enjoy it.

Trailer

The chibi Falcé (bottom of the picture)

Gothic Angels and the Deamons

hm~ this cube is somehow familar, dont something run in the cinema these days….

Anyway, lets end it here. I really suggest if u dont have a problem with loli and like fun stuff to watch it. There is so many stuff that everyone probably find something for himself.

-Death

“Let’s begin a new myth, sweet battles, and a miraculous love story…” declares a man on the top of a building in New Tokyo in 2020.

It is a signal of the start of the Sekirei Project. 108 beautiful fighters called Sekirei are dispatched to the world to seek Ashikaba, their masters, in order to be the last surviving Sekirei and realize his or her dream. Sabashi Minato is a high school graduate who failed his college exams last year. He is a loser; he doesn’t have any goals nor does he have any friends, let alone a girlfriend. He failed all his exams this year, too. On his way home, a beautiful girl suddenly falls from the sky. Her name is Yui. She identifies herself as one of the Sekirei and has chosen Minato as her Ashikabi, her fated partner. (stolen from Fansub.tv) And he instantly fell for her… I mean, i guess every single man would fall for a girl like her (yea yea, there are always different tastes but the most ;). But well, this is the anime which made me understand why its sometimes not just called a trap but a “Boobietrap”. I mean its quite some time since I had last an anime with this much boobie fetischism thats not entirly dumb, but putting that aside the chars are also quite intresting as u can feel they hide something, but they dont let u get it too fast. They reveal the things bit by bit, still leaving enough space for another 12 episodes as Sekirei isnt finished with this 12 episodes. There is already a OVA but I didnt watched it yet, aswell as a 12 episode series planned which is supposed to finish it. The char i liked the best besides Yui (more or less the main char i would say) is Tsukumi followed by the Landlord. On Tsukumi i like her tusundere behavior, at first she hates Minato but then she wont let go of him… she is really a wicked one^.^. The landlord lady is just fun as she is the good old “one look and its solved” type… a char with the evil “look”. I love that. Where the story might go… I wonder, i just fear we get an emo battle royal ending, but since season 2 isn’t out yet, I have to wait and see…

Sekirei Trailer

Source: YouTube

Enjoy, Death

Based on a shounen manga by Ikeda Akihisa, serialised in Monthly Shounen Jump.By a bizzare coincidence, Aono Tsukune has accidentally gotten himself admitted to a youkai acadamy, a school attended by monsters. Just when he thinks he’ll run away from there, he meets the beautiful girl Moka and his mood turns ultra happy. However, she transforms into her true form when the rosary on her chest is taken off, she’s a super vampire! (stolen from anidb, whatelse?) Well yea, this one is really far from beeing intelligent, thats for sure. But it kinda reminds me a bit on the good old times with the nice ecchi ova’s like Agent AiKA with excessive Pantsu Shots and similar actions from the girls^^. I think i basically watched it cause of that reminiscent feeling i get. Its not too deep but still we got a funny bunch of monsters. A Vampire, a Succubus, a Snow woman (or yuki-onna if u’re more familar with that name), aswell as Witch. They all have one or the other reason to like our human(!) main char, i think i dont have to explain that point further :p. Thats what the story goes around basically. Its not too, hmm… well not too deep but still when u liked stuff in the style of Agent AiKA and those one should be able to enjoy it. They even included everytime how long the “end fight” in the individual episode takes, usually it takes around 40 sec for moka to kick their ass. But i shouldnt tell more or i maybe spoil too much~.

Trailer

(the “cappu-chu” sound is when she bite him again to suck blood, she cant stop that bad bad habit :p )

Opening

Ending

And here is a fan-made parodie trailer, which i came across while searching for stuff on tube. Please note ITS A PARODIE TRAILER!

Enjoy, Death

Based on a series of light novels written by Tanaka Yoshiki and illustrated by Kakinouchi Narumi. The story revolves around Ryouko Yakushiji, a 27-year-old multilingual investigator that graduated from Tokyo University’s elite Department of Law, and the bizarre cases she faces while working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Yakushiji not only has to deal with supernatural beings in her line of work, but also her rival Yukiko Muromachi, another equally talented and beautiful police investigator. (from anidb) I really enjoyed this one, it’s long ago since i last had such a good detective anime. Also enjoyable was that little touch supernatural they added to it, it gave this anime the spice. Also the Characters was quite colorful and had a good presence. They’re have all their own identity, and some… personalitly i would say. While Ryoko is more a wild, powerful and straight forward woman (i mean it wordwise, straight forward!), is Izumida more the her counterpart. He is more cautious, and not as reckless as Ryoko, still he can be straight if the situation calls for it. Another intresting pair in this series was the maids of Ryoko which not only played a side role, they 2 french maids (yea, frenchy, Ryoko speaks french with them^^) but not only that, they’re also experts in weapons and various other things (dont wanna spoiler further^^). There are more characters but i keep it at this to not kill the fun of watching it for oneself. The scenarios are intresting, some feels like “i saw similar” but also u got some innovative stuff. Also some stuff u knew from earlier gets reused later, which give the individual episodes a good relation to each other. All together an enjoyable, action filled detective anime.

(if i dont forget it i add later a trailer here, youtube fails on that topic… not even an op/ed to be found…)

-Death

Innovative world view and elaborate set drawn by Shirow Masamune popular manga by the Appleseed, based on the aspirations of Aramaki Shinji, manager of the 2004 “Appleseed” after re-animated feature of the sci-fi action. John Woo served as a producer, including the various sectors of the global creator is in the lap of luxury concentrate on the original view of the world gargantuan scale visualization along. In the year 2138, half of humanity is nonnuclear War by death, conflict and chaos the world over. Born in a neutral city with a cease-fire (Olympus), and human cyborg, and the human gene built in, the anger and hatred to control the tribe, “Danger” is coexistent. Olympus belong to a special unit ES.W.A.T. BURIAREOSU Dunant and the battle when the partner, but with lovers. Past BURIAREOSU wounded in battle and became cyborg body is still Dunant love to change that. But one day, during a campaign was moribund BURIAREOSU serious injuries, signs of improvement have been invisible remains in a coma. Meanwhile, Dunant`s new partner as assigned by the BURIAREOSU genes designed, a cyborg before him in the face and body with the substance, terreus. Meanwhile the time, in many parts of runaway cyborg is a terrorist mirabilis, the highest level of vigilance will continue Olympus was …. [stolen from AllCinema and translated by Google]. They keept going in the same manner as the first movie but what i missed was the great music like the first had. Again i was irritated by the CG, it is good done but still it dont feel natural enough for me. I liked in cases of CG the first movie effective better but i guess that comes from the fact that it was somehow “smoother” and not as sharp as the 2nd which probably have covered the unnatural feeling of the CG a bit better. As for the story itself i quite enjoyed it through it got a bit weak on the end, it could have been a bit more thrilling. But overall it was ok and worth watching. The characters grown older and got a gained a better presents from that, especially i was noticing that on Hitomi as she wasnt acting and looking like a child anymore but behaved more mature. Also u saw the maturing technology-wise as Buriareosu got a improved cybernetic body and a somewhat different lookout with that. Also i sense difference in his agility. Well, to sum all up it wasnt perfect but ok. It had some good point but the CG again caused me some problems. Also the music somhow lacked the hightligh’s from the first movie, as there was not great track in my eyes.

Trailer:

US Trailer:

Enjoy, your Death-chan