Ajin: Demi-Human - Anime

It’s always good to try something new, whether it is new food, new places or in this case new types of anime. As an otaku I won’t lie and say I haven’t gotten used to a certain type of animation, due to my preference no doubt. However, recently I have come across a different style of animation that, though uncomfortable to view at first, turned out to be quite an experience. One I don’t regret. Just goes to show one shouldn’t be too set in their ways if they ever want to fully enjoy the world.

Ajin proved to be quite an interesting anime as it slowly grabbed my attention and forced me to enjoy its brilliance. The story follows Nagai Kei, a teenager just living and hoping to be a good human being, despite his rather cut throat way of looking at things. One day however, his life gets turned upside down as he gets run over by a truck and revives in front of many witnesses. This incident confirms him to be what the world has branded as demi-humans, immortal beings that have been introduced to the world a few years ago and are not necessarily welcomed with open arms.

Hunted by the government for heinous research purposes and sought after by the average human simply for the high rumored reward, we see as Nagai goes on the run for his life in search of a peaceful and quiet life. Though he gets help from various individuals along the way it becomes clear that his ideal quiet life is something of a distant dream and it doesn’t help as he gets unintentionally involved in what turns out to be an Ajin revolt by other immortals who are basically tired of living in fear and on the run.

The anime is really very interesting as you see various similarities of terrorist groups and a theme of acceptance that is sought after by the Ajin, while the world refuses to acknowledge them as anything human or worthy of human rights. Sporting a dark and somewhat graphic atmosphere, it makes for an interesting watch as you observe the curious personality of the protagonist who isn’t created as lovable as you would expect.

It creates an interesting world to observe, one that has many unfortunate similarities to the real world where acceptance isn’t always just handed out freely and people disregard the rights of those they view as ‘different’. These themes are quite difficult to confront but the anime does it relatively well as it tries to show us the ugliness of humanity in an artistic way. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have its drawbacks as it stumbles with the story just a tiny bit, being almost too predictable at times, but oh well, the idea is there.

So with an interesting type of animation and delicate subject matter the anime does prove to get better the more you watch and I admit to looking forward to the second season they promise at that end. I can imagine there are others like me who find the animation just a bit rough to get used to, but I can say the story helps overlook any discomfort you might feel. If it helps any, I recommend watching past the first few episodes, or better yet just watch the movie, Ajin part 1: Shodo, that combines the first few episodes for easy viewing. If you aren’t hooked by then, I suppose it’s just not your cup of tea.

KonoSuba - Anime

I’ve come to realize I really like adventure anime, especially those with a little gaming background/theme. No idea why, but I guess it speaks to my dormant gamer-self who rarely has a chance to run free. Either way, it never gets old to watch anime that take this route though it helps that many of them strive to be at least slightly different from the rest.

The recent anime that caught my attention is Kono Subarashi Sekai ni Shukufuku wo [Konosuba], and despite the relatively poor attempt to actually do any adventuring, it still manages to be an interesting anime with regards to its extreme characters who leave you laughing at the many eccentricities they possess. Don’t get me wrong, the story they follow is actually interesting, it’s just that the antics of the characters outshine the supposed ‘adventure’ they are apparently on.

The story follows a shut-in NEET, Kazuma Sato, who dies in quite a hilarious way and finds himself in a sort of limbo where he meets the goddess Aqua. In this place, our slightly arrogant and self-obsessed goddess gives our protagonist a choice of either going to heaven or being reborn in another world where he would be tasked with defeating the Demon King. Of course if he chose the latter, he would also be allowed to take anything he would think that would help him defeat the Demon King.

Confronted with this dreamlike situation that has him excited to get to this new world, we see Kazuma make an outrageous request in what he could bring to this new world to defeat the Demon King. Despite all those before him we see as Kazuma demands that the goddess Aqua be his ‘thing’ to take to the new world, something that shocks and flusters poor Aqua who is very content with where she is. However, rules are apparently rules as the deities above Aqua grant this wish and off the two go, as they are, to the new world.

Devastated that she has been thrown into this world, despite her goddess ranking, Aqua struggles to adapt to the way of this fairly medieval world while an optimistic Kazuma dives in with many expectations of his new life. But things don’t go as our unlucky protagonist hopes for as he learns living outside his room is much harder, more so when you are in your dream world. Not hailed as the hero he was hoping to become right off the bat, we see poor Kazuma struggling to make ends meet in his new town while he lives with a needy and troublesome goddess.

Things become interesting as he searches for party members and is met with some very ‘special' individuals. While he finds a magician who has some powerful explosion magic, he discovers that our little witch only knows one spell, where she passes out after each use due to its extreme power drain. Making matters worse she shows no interest in learning any other spells as she finds her current magic the best there is, regardless of its limited use.

The next weirdo he comes across is a knight who doesn’t exactly have the best aim. But if that wasn’t troublesome enough she has an added quirk where she seems to enjoy and anticipate any form of defeat or torture. But nothing matches her dedication to protect her countrymen as she continues to put herself on the frontlines, both for honor and pleasure.

So there you have the party and poor Kazuma struggling to cope with this weird harem of girls and their troublesome quirks. Still despite the lack of actual adventuring they do, it remains an interesting story as they struggle to pay off their debts and live peacefully in the town, with a slight possibility of defeating the Demon King somewhere in the future.

In my opinion, it’s a pretty good anime to watch if you don’t have anything else to watch and you love gamer-like anime, though I won’t lie and say this is one anime that is on par with the likes of Sword Art Online and Log Horizon. Still it is a cute harem anime that can appeal to some fans.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - Anime

It would seem that I am discovering a hidden side to myself where I may be a lover of games, without actually playing any games. A strange phenomenon no doubt, but still a fruitful one as it allows me to discover some interesting new things as I explore deeper into the genre that is borne from the gamer world. The stories and characters along with the adventures all seem to captivate me as they draw me into their worlds one by one.

Anime linked with games seems to be a popular genre of late and I must say that I can see why with shows like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon out there making the rounds. As a fan of those two shows it was a no brainer that I would be drawn to the recent anime that seems to take a similar approach in storyline as it moves forward.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar follows a group of people who have awoken in a strange land that resembles much of the medieval times. This group, dressed in modern attire and speaking in a modern language with words that even they seem to have forgotten the meaning of, discover that they must learn to survive in this strange world by working together or else they will be left to die on the street.

They are more or less forced to take up the job of volunteer soldiers in order to fend for themselves and thus their uncertain adventure begins in a world with trolls and magic where they must fight to survive. The anime follows a small group that isn’t doing so well, as they struggle to get by, but little by little we see them struggle it out as they grow together and gain the experience and knowledge they need to survive.

The character growth is pretty good in this anime and the visuals are well drawn. Another thing that pulls at the heartstrings though, is the music, especially at the really feelsy moments. Though it doesn’t strike me as the same calibre as Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, it does have its own charm none the less. If anything I think a gamer would appreciate this kind of anime, but that is my personal non-gamer opinion, so yeah.

Rokka no Yusha - Anime

As a fan of the adventure genre in anime I was totally looking forward to what Rokka no Yuusha had in store for me and I have to say from the beginning it had me drawn in with the idea of the six heroes’ story line. But somewhere along the line I got lost on the way and the story just felt like something was missing for me. I don’t know about others but to me the whole thing seemed a little rushed as the anime jumped right into taking our characters from out of nowhere and straight into adventure. No development and minimal introduction, right off the bat.

Don’t get me wrong, the story is still interesting. We have our protagonist who is determined to be chosen as one of the ‘six braves’ chosen by some god to fight the demon god and protect the land and he sets off to find the other potential braves in an effort to get his journey started. In the process he gets jailed for his efforts and constant claims of being the ‘strongest man’ alive but to his luck he meets another brave who frees him and so their journey to meet the others begins.

As you can see, it’s a story triggered by chance meetings along the main mission to get to the demon god. But the way it’s done is so cut and dry as the characters playout their fairly predictable roles along the way. No focus is given to a single character therefore no development is really seen. It’s quite irritating. But I still watch it because I’m hopeful that maybe there is a plot device in all this that I’m failing to see.

I have to admit though, despite the lack of character development, the characters are already quite interesting on their own. So it’s not like I don’t want to get to know them, I do. It’s just that the anime isn’t giving anything away accept for brief flashes and repetitive behaviour that barely adds anything to what’s already obvious.

Ah well, I guess not every anime can be perfect, but at least it’s watchable and like I said, I’m hopeful…or maybe naïve, I’m not sure anymore which one, but I guess it doesn’t matter after I’ve already spent the time watching all these episodes.

Killjoys - TV Show [Syfy]

Cowboys in space… somewhere I heard or read it being called that and truthfully I might almost agree with it, except I don’t know much about cowboys other than that they ride bulls and wear brimmed hats and carry pistols. Yes, my knowledge about ends there. Still would I call Killjoys something close to space cowboys, maybe…?

The TV show has gotten me into the idea that a lawless space town might be interesting to live in though. The show follows a group of bounty hunters who fly through space looking for convicted felons to bring back to what they call the R.A.C and they do it with style.

But that’s not all they do as they also complete other missions like delivery and other miscellaneous tasks that have them forced into some sticky situations. But lucky for our group they aren’t an ordinary bunch as you find a trained assassin, an ex-soldier and his techie brother on board and together they are capable of almost doing any job that comes their way.

The show is pretty cool when it comes to the overall feel of it. It has some kickass action scenes and epic technology displayed for your viewing pleasure as it takes you on a ride through its rough universe that has clearly seen some better centuries.

The acting could be better, but it’s not horrendous and the female lead is gorgeous so I doubt many would complain, especially when the people behind the show seem to find almost any reason to get her to take her clothes off.

The character development is choppy as well as the storyline but the kinks can almost be forgiven when looking at the cinematography and the growth of the characters as each of the actors get more comfortable in their roles.

Overall, I can say I like the show, but I can see a potential chance of it being cancelled after maybe a season or two. I would hope not, but who knows, right? Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am but I guess we’ll see.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Movie

If there’s one thing you can always count on, it’s that action movies always follow a certain formula that has been built through a time-tested algorithm sequence that has been created by those who know better and tested and approved by us average Joes and Janes. This sacred formula pumps out constant fast pace, in your face, delicious action movies that has graced the screens over the years since who knows when and to deviate from that formula would be, dare I say it… impossible.

Yet here we have a movie that took that formula and left out a few sequences as it delivered something of a brilliant piece of cinema magic as it graced our eyeballs with the fast car chase, the epic fight scenes and a bunch of other mouth-watering scenes that left you on the edge of your seat. All except for the lovely, sexy scene where the guy gets the girl if only for a moment, can you believe that?

I’m all for the fact that things like that shouldn’t be the focus in a good movie, but this just blew my mind. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation accomplished what many action movies tend to fail at and it did it with style. The movie was brilliant in my opinion as it delivered enough action and storyline to carry the whole thing through without relying on cheap tactics like a partially nude scene in the middle of nowhere.

The story followed our main hero as he struggled with the fact that he may have met his match as he came across an enemy that seemed everywhere while he himself had to deal with the CIA hunting him down.

The acting was amazing as you had great performances from the lead and his co-stars. The cinematography was beautiful and let’s not even get into the choreography. Another thing I loved was the attention to detail with the technology. Oh wow, was I drooling at that.

It’s safe to say this movie reaffirmed my geekdom and love for technology, but I’ll live with that. I mean come on camera’s that recognize your walk, posture and overall existence? Seriously? seriously!

Technology Banzai!

Jurassic World - Movie

Some movies are just destined to be awesome and with that being said, Jurassic World was always going to be at least your basic action-type, sweet dessert that you couldn’t say no to.

After watching all the teasers and eventually the epic trailer, you can imagine that one would be pretty hyped before setting foot into a cinema to watch said movie, but as many movies have proved before, trailers can sometimes be overhyped and the movie a total let down. Luckily, this beautifully shot dino-infested road trip wasn’t.

From the brilliantly shot cinematography to the beautiful scenery displayed and the acceptable acting I’d venture to say everything was worth the solo movie experience and then some. Though I might have scared my neighbors in the cinema by conversing with myself, I have to say I got excited by quite a bit of the movie as it got to some cool action scenes and pretty epic comedy squeezed in while still finding time to pay homage to its predecessors. I also couldn’t contain myself as I picked up on possible plot material for sequels in future.

Though the main story revolved around the creation of a new species of dinosaur that was not only fiercer and bigger but far more intelligent than its creators had anticipated, I found the underlying message of never to underestimate living creatures, regardless of how they were bred, quite fascinating. 

The struggle for survival throughout the movie was nostalgic of the other movies before, but it revived the fear factor for things as it reminded us of the raw brutality that these brilliant creatures were capable of, something the people had foolishly forgotten as they thought they had ‘tamed’ them.

An interesting twist though does give hope that these carnivorous creatures aren’t as dull as we’d like to think and that makes me very curious as to how any future movies would like to manipulate this kind of development.

All in all the movie was a great watch as it had just the right amount of blood and dino-battle as one would expect plus there are some bad-ass moments that have our lead actors showing that maybe humans might have survived with the dinosaurs all those years ago for a reason.

The Gamer - Manga

I was recently made aware of a Korean webtoon that, once I looked into, effectively consumed my life for three days as I endeavoured to completely read it. Thanks to minimal productivity and a slight reduction in my other viewing activities, I was able to finish the first season of the webtoon and am in need of some series catch up with all my dramas and anime that have somehow managed to become more backlogged than normal.

The webtoon, The Gamer, was a very interesting read. It had elements of Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, along with a mix from various other anime in terms of characters and certain magical aspects. To be honest there were some parts of the webtoon I feel were ‘borrowed’ from well-known manga in order to move the general story along.

The story follows a game addict who discovers one day that he has been given the strange ability known as ‘The Gamer’ that basically enables his life to follow the rules of a game. Because of this ability he is thrown into a world of magic and supernatural beings that he never thought existed before. In this world, known as the ‘Abyss’ he learns there are other people with abilities.

Our protagonist quickly discovers that those people with abilities are either born with them naturally, as he is, or they have acquired them through harsh training, like his best friend has done.

I have to say this webtoon caught me very much by surprise, at first for its story line but then for its in-depth explanation of the gaming world. And wow, does this story go deep into explaining the workings of games along with the various terminologies. After every few chapters or so I had to take a break as my mind became overloaded with all the information and other stuff… This story clearly made me realise how much I didn’t know about the gaming world.

Needless to say, it was still supposed to be a manga/manwha, so I expected more story driven points, a lot of which falls short in some places as the gaming aspect of the protagonist is focused on primarily and the rest of the world just sort of falls into place. So it’s a good story, but there are some plot holes as the story races to ignore some things while adapting to the protagonist’s world view.

So, overall it’s not a bad story to read plus it’s in full colour which is amazing and that helps to consume this webtoon in all its okayness, but I have to be honest and say I won’t hold my breath for an anime of this any time soon. I reckon it stays were the real gamers can find it, because they might actually enjoy it, or not I don’t know for sure.

DanMachi - Anime

I’m not much of a gamer, though I find myself drawn to the gamer world every so often that the only thing keeping me from it is probably actually playing the games at this point. But alas, even that becomes a small hurdle that I’ll jump soon enough once the right game comes along and eats away the last dregs of my so-called free time. But for now, I’ll stick with watching the anime that takes the gaming world and brings it to life.

A recent anime that fits this description has me quite hooked as it takes you on an adventure through an interesting world based on some curious rules. Though as interesting as I find the anime, I have to admit the name is probably the stupidest thing about it, yet also the cutest thing that most probably gets one to watch it. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka*, is quite the mouthful to say but gets its point across in what the general idea for the show is.


DanMachi*, has a similar setting to that of Sword Art Online and Log Horizon but where it deviates from the two is that instead of being a ‘virtual’ world of dungeons and magic, it exists as an actual world with real people and their stories. This change lends a slightly darker tone to what it means to be an adventurer in this world as there is no rebirth giving the anime an interesting edge, I think.

The anime starts off by following a beginner who is just starting out in his journey as an adventurer, making it easier for the rest of us to follow how things work in this curious world. Especially since it seems that to be an adventurer, it seems one is required to be part of a ‘familia’.

These ‘familia’ bring in an interesting lore of the world where gods and goddesses exist among the mortals to live and play as they do, simply because they got bored being divine creatures.

Our protagonist teams up relatively unknown goddess and becomes part of her familia in order to become an adventurer. He dreams of conquering the dungeons and becoming stronger for various reasons, one of which is to be able to stand beside a swords woman he greatly admires.

It’s an interesting anime with captivating characters and in the few episodes I have watched I have to say I enjoyed the character development that the main protagonist experienced as well as a few of his companions went through. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more from this, though I have to admit to hoping it doesn’t drag out too long.

*DanMachi - Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka?

English translation - Is it wrong to try and pick up girls in a dungeon?