Chivalry of a Failed Knight - Anime

Sometimes I have to ask myself why I still get surprised at today’s level of ‘plot’ that gets dished out in anime. I mean you watch enough anime and you’re bound to figure out the formula that’s behind it, so why be surprised, right? Yet every time it gets to me without fail as I watch a new series with fresh innocent eyes, unsuspecting of what’s to come and then BAM! Ecchi here, ecchi there, ecchi seemingly everywhere as you continue to watch what you assumed was an action and fantasy show that just had really gifted girls and that one lucky guy in the middle of it all.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight is without a doubt your average harem anime where you have your main protagonist, who is a guy that is striving to reach his goal which in this case is to fight in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival. This annual event is held by the seven Mage Knight Academies in Japan to determine the strongest apprentice Knight between the schools.

Our lead guy, Kurogane Ikki, dubbed a failed knight strives to fight in this festival despite being ill-equipped when it comes to having overall supernatural abilities like the rest of his peers, whom are referred to as Blazers and can each materialize a device though their soul to fight with.

On his journey to fighting in the festival he comes across an A-class Blazer, Stella Vermillion, whom he accidentally stumbles upon in an awkward time leading to various misunderstandings and adorable moments that bring them closer together. The two duel it out and upon Ikki’s defeat of her, declare to fight each other again at the festival leading to them becoming rivals and, quite suddenly, lovers.

The anime goes on to show bits and pieces of the couples battles that showcase the rise in popularity and the story moves fairly quickly as it covers their journey to the festival. However, I can’t help but feel the anime slow down at some points and focus on those ecchi moments a bit too much while it lacks a bit of character development for any of the characters.

I have to be honest and say it drags for me a bit when I have to sit through more ecchi than story and I feel lost as to where the whole thing is going and feel like I could have watched another anime. Of course this is all just my opinion, so yeah.

One Punch Man - Anime

I love it when a show plays on clichés, it’s especially fun when those clichés have something to do with superheroes. They take what you know and further exaggerate things as they play out the story in a new and refreshing way, just like this recent anime has done with its protagonist. It really is fun and exciting to watch.

One Punch Man takes place in a world where there seems to be a constant threat of some kind to the people in the various cordoned off cities and because of this there exists an organization that employs various individuals who step up to fight against threats, aka our heroes. These heroes sign on to be recognized for their efforts and are allowed to be part of the Hero Association after signing up and being ranked by the organization.

But now aside from all that paper work and rules, we have our protagonist who stands apart from the other heroes as he comes along and does his own thing right off the bat, unaware of the organization rules and regulations. All he wants to do is be a hero for the heck of it. The anime starts off by showing us him saving the day multiple times with an amazing feat of strength, yet seemingly with no recognition as he remains a nobody in the eyes of the public.

Saitaima, our protagonist, remains clueless to all this as he roams around saving the day here and there in places where other highly ranked heroes fail to do so and soon it becomes clear he is in a league of his own, despite the fact that when he eventually joins the Hero association he ranks fairly low.

Enter Genos, a cyborg who witnesses Saitama’s great strength and begs the carefree hero to be his master and teach him his ways in order to grow stronger. Here we have someone that excels so well in all things ‘hero’ that the association practically drools at the idea of having him on board and ranks him in the highest rank straight of the bat.

The story is pretty interesting to watch unfold as you see how the strongest man around doesn’t get your average praise and glory and he doesn’t seem to mind because ultimately he is just doing the whole ‘hero’ thing because he wants to do it and not to get any sort of praise and glory. It’s pretty deep stuff, you know.

The story even gets more interesting as you follow Genos as his character develops and he learns more about his seemingly airheaded master, who might be even more amazing than he actually is. It gives room to admire, through the eyes of learning disciple, the good points of a straight forward personality.

In the end I’d say it’s a pretty good and inspiring anime to watch as it twists and exaggerates a few clichés here and there, while also bringing home a new bald headed hero you can’t help but picturing on your eggs every so now and then.

Limitless - TV Show [CBS]

The mind is a brilliant thing and messing with it has been mankind’s greatest dream since possibly the dawn of science. In a recent TV show we see just how deep someone has messed with the mind as they create a drug that actually unlocks what could arguably be the brain’s full potential.

Based on a movie, like another series I won’t mention, Limitless proves to be a successful attempt at bringing the cinema to the silver screen as it carries on the story it initially created but with new characters you can’t help but like and follow as they create a story you will enjoy keeping track of.

The plot follows Brian Finch, a man who has seen better days in his life as he holds on to a dying career while watching the world move on, seemingly without him, until one day he comes across an old friend who gifts him with one dose of NZT as a helping hand to change his perspective on his life. Obviously our down and out lead doesn’t take the drug seriously and takes it with little to no expectation, until he learns what the rest of us who have watched the movie know very well to expect.

Things move fast and soon Brian Finch lands himself in the middle of a very sticky situation that has quite an interesting revelation at the end where viewers get to see how big an impact the movie really did make on the TV series as it brings in the lead actor in the movie for a one on one with the series lead.

Of course it is only a brief return, but it’s effective as it gets the message across while leading our new hero into his role as a consultant for the FBI, or rather their asset. The other characters also hold their own as they come across mildly interesting, but it must be said that it remains Brian Finch’s personality that draws you in and keeps you hooked as well as the way in which the show is structured.

The cinematography is pretty amazing and the use of lighting is spot on. My favourite though is the dialogue between the characters that keeps one entertained. The whole detective theme works as well as when you factor in ways to best exploit the different abilities NZT is supposed to gift the user, so there’s that too.

Over all, I loved the show and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good action/light science fiction type of show.

Gotham - TV Show

I love my superheroes. I especially get excited for origin stories that bring about a new fresh look into the very characters behind the masked vigilantes. But Hollywood does tend to make things interesting with their twists and turns in the re-telling of the old stories that tend to be just another re-telling of the same thing over and over again. This can be seen in the TV show that’s gotten me hooked with its dark and gloomy tone that is so often associated with the hero that will eventually (hopefully) be born from it.

Gotham is quite an interesting approach to the world that births Batman and as it weaves it’s intricate story with all its cherry picked characters that ring bells for the future it creates a very captivating story to watch. Set in a relatively old time when Bruce Wayne is still a young boy, the story begins when the fateful tragedy that will one day be the defining moment for our dark knight befalls him and sets into motion a string of events that has various stories unfolding in the underbelly of Gotham.

Coming to the scene of the crime we have our lead investigator and lead on the show, Jim Gordon, a name we know well as a man who will one day play a large hand in helping the masked vigilante clean up the town, but for now he is a new detective bent on living the right way in the wrong town. Partnered up with a man by the name Harvey Bullock, who has become more jaded by the realities of the corrupt town, we see them take on various cases that have them crossing paths with all kinds of people as they try to find out who killed Bruce’s parents, along with other cases that draw them into gang fights and some bizarre situations.

It is these bizarre situations that have us introduced to some interesting characters, some of whom are the very villains who will grow to be Batman’s enemies. Watching the origin stories of the bad guys is quite a treat as you learn more about their lives and what makes them tick and how they break, or evolve if you prefer. 

One particular character to note is the girl who will grow to one day be Catwoman. Her relationship with Bruce is fun to watch and it’s interesting to see how she grows and changes with her environment, slowing becoming the master thief and ambiguous baddy we expect her to become one day.

The character development is pretty amazing to observe and the stories do keep you entertained most of the time, though I’ll admit to it being a bit of a drag there in the first season near the end. But the story picks up again as the finale comes about and the second season so far has kept me hooked enough to care to look forward to the next episode.

I won’t say I’m not looking forward to more scenes showing Bruce actually becoming the dark knight, because I am but I will say that for now Jim Gordon has definitely proven to be an intriguing character to keep my interest occupied and my attention on him and other villains being created is quite okay for a little while.

So do I recommend it, maybe... but only if you like detective shows and have a penchant for dark styled TV shows and you have patience. Because I think we’ll be waiting for a while before we get to see any Batcave action. But I like it and I’ll continue watching until I don’t care for it or it gets cancelled, whichever comes first.

Minority Report - TV Show [FOX]

People are predictable. If they find things that are awesome they must exploit it. This is just the way of things. But should all things be exploited? That is the question that plagues me as I watched a few episodes of a recent series that was based off a pretty cool movie from back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong the series, Minority Report, is pretty cool. The effects and futuristic take on the world is pretty epic and the tech makes me drool, just a teeny tiny bit. But I can’t help but feel like there’s just something missing from the show. And no, it’s not Tom Cruise. Although that would be pretty cool though, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, the show is set farther in the future than its predecessor as it follows the actions of one of the three siblings that powered the ‘hive mind’ that initially created the ‘pre-crime program’. The young boy who was once used as a tool in a machine to find crime has now grown up and become a man who now uses his limited ability to try and do what they once did as he struggles with the idea of doing nothing at all.

Needless to say he runs into a detective who has gotten used to working in a world where ‘pre-crime’ and its workings has become nothing but a myth used as stories to tell to children in museums. Obviously, things get complicated as our precognitive hero tries to explain things to the detective and things get messy as we learn just how limited his abilities are without the help of his siblings, thus leading to various twists and turns that carry the story on.

To be honest I have to say I’m slightly disappointed by this show. It didn’t grip me as much as I hoped it would and my attention wavers as I try to focus on it. All in all, let’s just say it’s not the first show I go to pick when looking for something to watch. Albeit, if I’m out of things to watch and I can’t sleep and have some time to kill, maybe I’ll consider it then…

Got to love the tech tho! >.<

Hidan no Aria AA - Anime

There are a lot of fandoms in the anime universe. I should know that by now. Yet somehow I still get blown away by the various genres I come across in my daily viewing as I randomly pick through all the lovely choices I am presented with to watch. One of the relatively normal ones that I decided to go with though had me questioning whether I had strayed too far from my normal viewing as it had innocent looking moe girls dressed in bullet proof sailor uniforms fighting crime.

Hidan no Aria AA features a group of girls in high school learning to be a special team of detective who take down bad guys, all while wearing these special made uniforms that could probably have a little more material covering them if you ask me, but whatever. The plot follows a very low ranking girl, Akari Mamiya who is an E-ranked Butei.

Butei are individuals who undergo special training that enables them to counter attack the worsening crime conditions of the world they live in. Because of this they are taught various skills, all of which our dear Akari Mamiya seems to fail miserably at. However, this doesn’t stop the fact that she dreams of being one of the elite Butei’s ‘Amica’.

One day as luck would have it though our low ranking lead gets a rare shot at being her idol, Kanzaki Aria’s partner and after some trouble lands up as having a semi-contract with the elite. Of course things become interesting for Akari as she works hard to fully be accepted as Aria’s Amica.

The story seems on the surface pretty below average, with maybe a little interest as it spikes my curiosity about Mamiya’s past, but overall plot is watery at best. The characters are interesting, but not enough to draw you completely in as you can almost predict them and become quickly bored.

The comedy is exaggerated and the drama a bit forced. Then there’s also the yuri* hints that smack you in the face here and there, though that was pretty different for me compared to my normal interests, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I suppose all in all this isn’t an anime that’s going to win any awards, but it passes the time at least.

*Yuri - the Japanese term for girl's love, or relationships between females in manga and anime, also referred to as shojo-ai

Twenty Again - Kdrama

It’s always interesting watching something that drags the feels from deep within and reminds you that you are human. In a recent kdrama that finished I watched just such a drama that did that and more as it took me on a rollercoaster of emotions as it covered an interesting scenario and taught some very curious life lessons on the way while tugging at the heart strings and I must say I enjoyed every minute of it.

Twenty again is something I would classify as a mature drama as it dives into the interesting plot of a woman in her late thirties who decides to go to college for various reasons, one of them being that she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, or at least she thinks she is for a little while there in the beginning of the story.

Now with only that to go on the story sounds somewhat heavy and almost too serious for a good afternoon binge session, but it actually isn’t as the comedy and acting of the show puts a spin on things with the way they deliver everything and despite expectation you’ll find yourself drawn into quite a pleasant story that, though it starts a bit slow there in the beginning, picks up rhythm and flow as it unfolds quite hilariously along the way as our protagonist decides to live the way she wants and slowly begins coming out of a very closed shell she had been living in that had been created by a suffocating marriage.

The story is captivating as you follow the teen mom, Ha No Ra, who has grown to be a dependent woman who barely knows much about the world around her. It’s quite fascinating as you get to watch her come out of her closed shell as she interacts with the world that has been kept from her by her narcissistic husband, Kim Woo-Chul.

The character development that can be observed as you watch her step out into the world and reconnect with it is very noteworthy. What is also very intriguing to watch is the people around her that become confused by her actions as she begins to change from the docile individual they thought she was to new person she now feels it’s okay to be again. It’s especially interesting to see how the husband, who is having an affair, reacts after the change as he finds himself falling in love with her all over again.

Along with the self-discovery there also gets thrown in a cute little romance between Ha No-Ra and Cha Hyun-Suk, a friend from her school days who secretly had a crush on her before she ran off with Kim Woo-Chul. The two bring a lot of comedic relief to the show and the cute factor explodes with his obsessiveness over how much he frets over Ha No-Ra but convinces himself he doesn’t want to. His conflicting states make for highly entertaining scenes and very cliché outcomes as he pursues her. It is truly adorable.

Overall the show is very enlightening and filled with life lessons that would benefit anyone who is willing to listen and the story is well written and enjoyable to follow as you find yourself growing attached to Ha No-Ra’s journey and rooting for Cha Hyun-Suk all the way as things progress between the two. I will definitely say I enjoyed watching the show and would recommend it to anyone looking for a heartwarming story to fill the days and give a brief cry here or there.

Attack on Titan - Movie

I’ll be honest, when it comes to live action movies there exists a certain expectation from the fans of the anime they are based off of for the content to at least resemble the original stuff at the most basic level. For that reason I have to say that my recent experience watching the much anticipated Attack on Titan was then partially met. They had titans and 3D maneuver gear that allowed for some pretty epic scenes and delivered a platter of awesomely placed action cinematography that almost makes you forget there were just a few things off course about the whole thing.

The truth of it though, was had I gone into watching this not knowing the anime as I did, the movie would still have been pretty amazing, slightly confusing – yes, but still enjoyable. The overall story stayed the same as it followed the history of humanity being nearly wiped out by the flesh-eating titans, leaving a small percentage of humans to gather behind these walls in an attempt to survive against them.

Enter our brooding protagonist who, due to a significant loss, vows to kill the titans. In order to do so he joins the survey corps, a military-like group who train with the hopes of surviving against the threat that is the titans. The movie doesn’t do much to explain the different divisions so it’s a bit of a guess game as you watch on and try to figure out what’s going on, but as not much emphasis is put on them I guess the focus then shifts to the characters, which could have been better portrayed in my opinion.

What I did notice was that character development lacked a bit as the movie seemed to assume the audience already had an image of some characters while it focused on introducing its original characters and creating what I can only say was some very unnecessary scenarios. These scenarios actually had me staring dumbfounded at the screen and asking ‘W.T.F’ as I tried to accept that they actually happened.

In any case, the CGI was still pretty good in most of the scenes and the fighting was epic. Though the original story suffered some grating changes as it made it to the big screen, there were other scenes that made it in that could almost make up for the few blunders. The acting wasn’t perfect for everyone, but it was far better than expected.

Obviously I’ll watch the second movie, because what has been started must be finished. But I guess in the end, if I were to give it a rating it would probably be about four boxes of popcorn and maybe one large coke – if that means anything.

Virtual Bride - Kdrama

Cliché, that’s the word that comes to mind when I think about this drama. Cliché and not taking itself seriously enough, Virtual Bride takes you on an interesting ride as you observe the world where mother-in-law’s are horrible human beings who really need to relax a little and the people around them seriously need a reality check on how they deal with them. Needless to say this drama poked a few sore spots as it exaggerated some points and I’m guessing a bit of cultural differences also comes into play here but we’ll get to that in a minute.

The drama follows an idol seemingly at the end of her career that is given an ultimatum by her boss to join a new program - which other idols seem to be avoiding- or get kicked out the company. Obviously she chooses the program which is the daughter-in-law’ program and is set around a family who specializes in making soy sauce and kimchi.

Our idol sets off to meet her new family that she has ‘married’ into and soon the fun begins as she learns that being a daughter-in-law in their household is much harder than assumed. The other members take to her kindly enough as they observe her strange antics and it isn’t long before they all start to get along pretty well….most of the time. 

But what is a kdrama without a little romance? Enter the eldest son of the family who technically has ‘married’ our idol without his knowledge. Our idol dubs him aptly as the ‘math pervert’ as he so loves his numbers and figures, but of course being a professor at a university this doesn’t seem too strange.

The two kick it off interestingly enough and their relationship blossoms quite sweetly, though admittedly a bit quickly. Obviously things don’t go smoothly and lots of situations occur throughout the course of the drama, but overall the pairing is sweet and fairly innocent.

The other members of the family also each have their own situations that make the drama interesting to watch. From scandalous affairs, to being scammed and having to deal with other unreasonable mother-in-law’s, the drama delivers quite a group of intriguing individuals that keep you interested in more than just the blossoming love story.

As far as kdramas go, this was a fairly short drama to watch and I guess that explains the various ‘rushed’ elements of certain things. But given more time the drama would have fallen flat and boring so I’m glad it was cut short. The acting could have also been slightly better, but at least there was chemistry between the characters and the family was enjoyable to watch. As for the cultural differences that have me questioning if all mother-in-law’s are the spawn of dark things best left unsaid, I’ll have to raincheck on that as I realize that Korean family culture is far more close-knit and complex as opposed to western family culture and to speak of it requires many words and wine, lots and lots of wine.