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.

Noragami - Anime

If there’s one thing I love about the vast genre that anime has to offer, it’s that it brings you into so many different worlds that have their own rules and religions that never fail to fascinate me because someone somewhere sat down and took the time to create them. Of course you get the ones that are based off things that already exist, but then they twist off into their own little world as they create the existence within the anime we watch.

One such interesting anime that caught my attention was Noragami. A show that revolves around gods and phantoms as it follows a seemingly good-for-nothing-jersey-wearing god by the name of Yato. Though the gods in the anime are still based off a bit of reality, the world it creates is pretty interesting and fun to watch. But truth be told, I think most of the fun comes from following our useless god and his companions.

The story opens with our heroine, Hiyori Iki, who risks her life to save Yato and as a result becomes a half phantom, someone with basically one foot in the grave. Her new condition has her introduced into a whole new world of what the gods call the ‘near shore’, where all the humans exist and the ‘far shore’, where the gods and phantoms come from.

Her condition also brings her closer to Yato as she requests his services to fix her. As a god in need of finance, both due to his lack of shrine and big dreams of wealth and praise, Yato accepts and thus begins their adventures together.

For the most part the anime is pretty entertaining to watch and the interactions between the perpetually out of luck god and the half-phantom Hiyori are quite fun to follow. Things are especially intriguing when our tracksuit wearing god gets himself another troublesome companion that moves the majority of our storyline forward.

All in all it was an anime that was good for a weekend of binge watching on my part. I especially like that it has a good message behind it all as it rubs in the fact that every action, sin in particular, has a consequence and not a very good one.

So a funny anime with a moral message, what can’t you like?

Denpa Kyoushi - Anime

‘YD’ – I can only Do, what I Truly Yearn to do

We all have things we want to do and things we have to do. Most days they tend to be the same, while others… not so much. In the end, however, we’re bound to do one of them simply because we are required to, it’s how we move forward and essentially live our lives. But imagine living a life so listlessly where all you could do was only what you really wanted to and not really what you HAD to do? Wouldn’t that be interesting? or downright agony to get through?

In Denpa Kyoushi I found an interesting character in the protagonist who lives according to a fascinating philosophy that has him unable to muster much motivation for things he is not interested in, but the minute he yearns to do something he turns into a whole other being equipped with smarts and talents that allow him to do whatever he wants.

The story follows Junichiro Kagami, a happy NEET* who lives to update his blog and watch anime along with various other otaku activities, as he gets dragged by his sister into a teaching job where he proves to be surprisingly more useful and likeable than at first expected. Despite his initial reluctance at doing the work Kagami finds interesting ways to pass the time during school as he saves a few students and changes their lives, all while seemingly following his selfish otaku way of life.

From getting rid of bullying, to helping students overcome their low self-esteem and emerge from their closed off selves, you see a variety of scenarios that, if I had to be honest, gives a hint of nostalgia from shows like G.T.O [Great Teacher Onizuka] and Gokusen, except our frail teacher has the stamina of a stick…wait, no the stick might actually win…

Either way, as a fan of both those shows, I must say I liked this anime. Though I don’t see it getting a live action anytime soon, unless they revamp it thoroughly, I think it was a pretty enjoyable watch for the weekend.

But I must be honest, the show’s main protagonist barely has any character growth aside from a few hints we are given that maybe he isn’t as shallow as he is made out to be initially and by the look of how they keep changing his interactions with students, it would seem like the creator of the story preferred new situations always being introduced as opposed to developing the ones they already had in play.

Like a kid always wanting new shoes, we see new students popping out the woodwork as the old students, are pushed aside as the focus is blatantly shifted to the newbies and their new scenarios. It’s a bit sad, really.

But in the end I guess it has its own quirks that make you like it or hate it, so what can you do but just enjoy it as it comes?

*NEET - a young person Not in Education, Employment or Training*

Owari no Seraph - Anime

I’m very glad to see that not all anime has succumb to the endless desire to only be ecchi-related as of yet. Thankfully one of these anime happens to be of my favourite genres and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love vampires?

I have to be truthful though. I can’t really wrap my head around this one very well. Owari no Seraph comes across as just another revenge story where our protagonist has suffered a great loss by the hands of the evil vampires and now vows to destroy each and every one of them and works to gain the power to do so. Obviously we can assume that one of his slain family members might just make a comeback somewhere along the lines, because, story reasons… yet at the same time, and this is where things get wonky for me, I feel like there’s more to it that I’m missing somehow but we’ll get back to that in a minute.

Our protagonist, Hyakuya Yuichiro, lives in a post-apocalyptic world that was nearly wiped out by a man-made virus and left a small margin of humanity, most of which were under the age of thirteen. In this ravaged world, our hero desires only a few things and that is to protect those he loves and the desire to kill every vampire he can get his hands on.

Employed by the Moon Demon Company, who makes it their mission to protect what is left of humanity, Yuichiro goes out and hunts the vampires down. In his team, we see a variety of interesting characters with their own troubles that make for an interesting side story as they struggle to keep up with the harsh world they live in and the dark things they must undergo in order to hunt the creatures that have destroyed their lives.

An interesting twist comes from the fact that one of our hero’s beloved family members, whom he thought was killed by the vampires in their attempt to escape captivity when they were younger, turns out to have become that which he now hunts so mercilessly. A discovery he makes in a turf war that obviously rattles him.

But this is where the wonky bits come in, as I don’t think the story ends there. I think there is more to our story than just our hero’s unfortunate dilemma of whether or not he can kill his family member. And the hint lies in the revelation made by the demon our protagonist had previously made a contract with in order to gain the power to fight the vampires he despised so much. Without spoiling the story too much, I’d have to say our protagonist is far more special than just his strong desire that gives him his strength. This little curiosity is what has kept me engrossed in this series and I have to say it’s exciting to wonder on the possibilities, I just hope it doesn’t disappoint.

Kekkai Sensen - Anime

Retro…

Yes, I think I’ll go with that… retro. If I had to describe this anime in any way possible, I’d have to say it had a retro ‘feel’ to it. Watching an episode of this anime is like being woken up halfway through a half-eaten sandwich. I don’t know why, but that is the image that comes to me when I think of this anime for some reason.

Kekkai Sensen [Blood Blockade Battlefront] is probably a show with a plot, but to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about it other than that it has to do with a guy who has some seriously cool blue eyes that just so happens to see everything. Eye’s that the other characters have continually referred to as ‘God’s eyes’.

Besides the guy with the amazing eyes there exists a group of people who utilize their blood in various forms of weaponry as they protect a futurist New York City that has been altered by the presence of another world interlaced with it.

This strange new world has brought with it stranger beings that have somehow integrated with the society there and an odd balance of life has been found with both the humans and non-humans. The setting is pretty fascinating in itself to be honest as each episode takes us on a journey with the protagonist who is originally out of town, as he explores the place and encounters the intriguing bits of weird that exist as norm in the city.

I’ll admit it’s a bit frustrating trying to figure out what the hell is happening half the time, but the rest of the time I’m quite captivated by the characters and the strangeness of the world they live in. As chaotic as the series may seem, to me at least, the characters are quite lovable and the build-up of the actual plot in the background is still gripping.

But I suppose it still can’t be denied that it’s a slow start with the overall storyline as all these other things seem to keep happening, but I’ve only watched a few episodes, who knows maybe there’s more to the chaos than meets the eye, either way I hope the main story gets some action eventually and blows all the impatience out the water and makes it worth the wait.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso - Anime

I’d like to think of myself as a rational human being. You know, one who knows real from imaginary, but recently I found myself bawling my eyes out as I watched an anime from start to finish in just over a day. It was as if rationality abandoned me and I powered through those episodes like a starved animal who has just been handed a juicy steak.

Watching Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso was an interesting experience as it deviated from all the action and harem anime I’ve been bombarded with lately but I have to admit it was a refreshing change. The anime hooked with both story and visual brilliance, not to mention amazing soundtrack, as it leads into a more real world tone with deep underlying messages and strong character building and without the usual fan service and magical battles here and there.

Though that’s not to say the show didn’t have its own type of magic in the way they delivered the score of classical music that forms part of the storyline.

The story follows a boy who is a genius at the piano but loses the ability to hear himself play, and a girl who is a violist who doesn’t care for convention but instead for the love and miracle that is music. It’s a simple story that has the two meeting under unusual circumstances only to grow close and help each other along the way and grow out of their certain circumstances.

It’s a beautifully written story that draws you in and captivates you with all the colour of its characters and their struggles. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so invested in an anime like this so I have to give props to the creator of such a brilliantly executed tale of romance, drama and mystery.

Following the struggle of the main character, who I’ll affectionately call Friend A, you see a variety of things from comedy to unrequited love and then heartbreak, all of which never gets boring even when the classical music aspect is brought in. But most of all you feel his sorrow and trust me you’ll cry with him, unless you’re a heartless human person.

Then you have the bright love interest that brings colour into our protagonist’s life and you get to experience some more comedy, maybe a few ‘WTF’ moments as you try to figure out the true nature of her relationship with Friend A and then there’s that amazing duet between out pianist and violinist that both moves your heart and breaks it.

However, it doesn’t end there as even our so-called side characters get some decent development as they grow throughout the anime and find themselves as well. This anime manages to break people and build them back up in a matter of a few episodes, showing more character development than some other anime have in whole seasons.

What’s surprising about this anime is you don’t need to be some classical obsessed nerd to love it, or at least that’s my opinion. You just have to want to see something good. That’s it.

So I’d say this is a pretty good anime to watch whenever you have time, and if you don’t have time – make time.

Assassin Classroom - Anime

Being random is okay. Japan has proven this, over and over again. As I watched this anime I was hit with many realizations of how random Japan can sometimes be and that’s okay.

Assassin classroom is one random anime that I’m glad I stumbled upon in the batch of happiness that I was given recently. It strays out the box of normal story telling as it follows a strange string of events that have you watch a bunch of supposedly below average students try to assassinate their teacher while still passing midterms. 

The catch of course becomes interesting as their teacher turns out to be a strange entity that has just recently destroyed a large portion of the moon and has promised to do the same to the earth in a year’s time.

So it becomes pretty obvious why the assassination needs to happen as governments and the like rush to find ways to stop the unknown entity from doing any more damage than it already has whereas the story seems to lie in the fact that our strange entity delays any immediate action as he becomes the teacher to the unsuspecting outcast students of Kunugigaoka Junior High School.

I like the seemingly randomness of the show as it slowly all comes together in the background. It has a unique plot and quite an interesting set of characters that each teaches some or other lesson. I especially love the ending song ‘Hello, shooting star’ by Moumoon. (translation: courtesy of Vanilla Milk)

P.S. I just discovered there’s a live action coming out! Definitely excited to see that!