Let's Fight, Ghost! - KDrama

There’s nothing like a good supernatural story that has the right amount of scary and still doesn’t take itself too seriously. That is what I found in the kdrama I recently finished watching. If I can say one thing about that drama, it’s that even as it brought about a few predictable clichés it still came through as an enjoyable scary romance that I personally think anyone should watch if they love scary and fantasy genre stuffs.

The drama, Let’s fight ghost, was a rather surprisingly good story that followed Park Bong Pal who has the ability to see ghosts and uses this to be an exorcist at a somewhat pricey cost as he tries to raise funds in order to have surgery on his eyes. An isolated individual due to his ability we see a smart and withdrawn guy get dragged into some interesting situations where ghosts are troubling people for various reasons. One such situation has him meeting a rather unusual ghost, a high school girl who is in search of her name and who she was.

Enter Kim Hyun Ji who has roamed the earth for the past five years unaware as to who she is and how she died. Not much of a trouble maker we see her run into Bong Pal and immediately the two start fighting. Witness to this are the most lovable duo ever, who are in search of filming ‘real’ ghosts. Choi Chung Sang and Kim In Rang are just your average ghost seekers scared to death of seeing anything undead but determined to catch it on film and make it big.

This interesting group come together and formed a sort of ghost Extermination Company run by the special leader Chung Sang and funded by the highly skeptical grandmother of In Rang. Of course the anti-social Bong Pal is manipulated into joining while Hyun Ji does so simply because she wishes to hang around Bong Pal who has already unlocked some of her memories from the past.

As the story progresses we see Bong Pal grow as a person as he falls in love with Hyun Ji, who slowly comes close to the truth of the circumstances around her death. Making things more interesting is the events that lead to the realization that Bong Pal’s life is also in danger and that that danger is something Hyun Ji also needs to be wary of.

The story keeps you hooked as it develops smoothly, never dragging out the obvious for too long and ensuring that the clichés and predicable storyline plots work for the story as opposed to against it. The cinematography is pretty decent and the ghosts are bound to give you a chill or two as they prove to be more gruesome and bloody than you would assume a romance to allow, especially a kdrama romance.

The acting, though not perfect, was good enough to keep you interested in the characters and allow yourself to fall in love with them, imperfections and all. Of course not all acting was like that. Some acting, such as the adorable stupid duo, was quite brilliant. I mean one can’t watch In Rang and not feel all fuzzy inside.

All in all I liked how the story went and though I found the ending a tad soft and maybe a little incomplete, I guess I can understand why they would do that. So if you’re into science fiction and horror, I would definitely suggest this drama.

Blood Lad - Anime

If there’s one thing I enjoy watching it’s the antics of other otaku because let’s be honest that’s always a hilarious treat, especially when it’s depicted in anime and other media. One such anime recently caught my attention and it was quite an interesting watch though I have to admit it let me hanging there at the end.

Blood Lad was an amusing anime that had me curious from the introduction of an otaku-vampire in the underworld. It became even more interesting once I watched the plot unfold and I saw that there was more to the obsessed leader than met the eyes. The story follows Staz, the leader of the east region, who lived his life like your average obsessed otaku as he dreamed of the human world and all its wonders. One day he comes across a human girl who has unwittingly stumbled into the underworld and into his territory. As you can imagine Staz is excited to see the human, while also being quite attracted to her blood.

However, before Staz has the chance to suck her blood she is eaten by some random Venus plant destroying Staz’s opportunity to enjoy the human fully, thus poor Fuyumi turns into a ghost, which turns out to be very uninteresting to our otaku leader. Still determined to own the human he sets out on a quest to revive Fuyumi all so he can ravish her human flesh.

Things get interesting as they travel between the human world and the demon world in search of the answer to Fuyumi’s resurrection. Things also become complicated as Staz slowly begins to change his reasons for reviving Fuyumi.

The anime is quite interesting, though I feel like it lacked progression in terms of the main plot and the reason I say this is simply because once you get to the end of the anime you basically end off right where you started. It’s slightly frustrating, even if they throw in some good fighting scenes. For me, the anime felt like it lacked any sort of conclusion. I can understand if the manga isn’t finished and that prevents the anime from actually having an ending, but even then some form of closure would be nice. Of course I suppose if you’re going to have a second season that wouldn’t be necessary, but in a world where things can get so easily cancelled and cut short, it’s still would help a lot to properly sendoff even one season.

Would this be an anime I recommend? Depends on all sorts of things, like whether or not you like being frustrated. If the answer is no, then it’s probably best to steer clear of this one, but that’s only my opinion. Who knows maybe you’ve been waiting for this to be an anime and wouldn’t mind being slightly disappointed? All to his own I guess.

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.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi - Anime

Imagine you had the ability to relive events that have already occurred, what would you do then? Would you do the same things, or try to be different? Interesting questions I find myself asking after finishing this recent anime that gripped me with its fascinating plot as it explored the rather dark matter of child killings.

Boku dake ga inai machi proved to be more interesting than I initially gave it credit for as it offered up a sci-fi kind of story that made for an interesting viewing that had me thinking of my childhood and various things I would do, if given a chance to relive them. The story revolves around Satoru Fujinuma, a 29 year old man who lives just getting by each day as he struggles to become a manga artist. However, Satoru isn’t your average person as he has an ability that allows him to go back in time right before a life threatening incident and prevent it.

One day when Satoru stumbles across his mother who has been murdered in their home and he has been branded the suspected killer, we see him freak out and go on the run. While doing this his ability activates and he is transported back in time. But instead of the present day where his mother has been murdered we see Satoru transported back to his childhood, much farther than he has ever been.

Suddenly in his 11 year old body he decides to investigate his mother’s death, which he suspects is connected to an incident that happened to one of his classmates who was killed. Determined to change things he goes off to save the ill-fated Kayo Hinazuki and, in the process, maybe save his mother in the future. But being a hero isn’t as easy to do when you’re stuck in your younger self and time seems to want to happen despite your efforts, something Satoru learns and tries to fight against with all he has.

In the end we see Satoru risking his life to change the course of history and save his loved ones, ensuring that the future he has returned from never happens. It is truly an intriguing story to watch as you see this ten year old fighting against the odds along with consequences of his actions in the future. There is also a nice message that comes across as you watch Satoru go through his struggles and see that not everything can be controlled, no matter how much you know in advance.

This anime is very good. I like the serious tone as it approaches the dark situations the protagonist goes through. I especially like the realism, despite the sci-fi aspect, where we see the limitations a young boy would face as opposed to an older individual and all the frustrations that come with it. The animation is also pretty good as it sticks to the dark and gloomy atmosphere that is required to set the overall tone of the whole series.

Definitely some good time spent on this and I must say I look forward to watching how things are adapted into live action, as the movie becomes available to the rest of the world. I just hope it delivers on all the anime promises as well as keeping true to the story line that has gripped one so thoroughly.

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?

iZombie - TV Show [The CW]

Every time there’s news of a superhero TV show that’s going to air I tend to get excited because frankly my little nerdy heart likes to jump at the idea of sitting back and watching some hero do his or her thing on screen as they take me on a journey into their curious world that I may or may not have researched in depth for months before the release date of the pilot episode. Granted I sometimes find myself so distracted by other dramas and anime that I also tend to forget for a bit the TV show is coming out and have the added bonus of ‘rediscovering’ it from time to time.

Odd, I know but a recent TV show that travelled this confusing path in my world has proven to be quite resilient in being continuously rediscovered as it kept popping out in front of me and intriguing me every time. Though not the average superhero stories I’m used to, iZombie actually still proved to be just as engrossing as any other hero story that my nerdy heart skipped a beat for.

The story followed a woman, at the prime of her life, who suddenly found herself scratched by a zombie and now unable to live on the perfect wave her life was riding. Now a brain-craving zombie, she took her medical skills and worked as a Medical examiner for the police, while skimming some brains on the side from the victims she examined.

The hero part comes from the cool abilities her appetite seems to give her. Aside from being undead, our heroine seems to gain the memories, or fragments of them, from the brains she eats. Fuelled by a desire to help these poor deceased, she works with a detective- who thinks she’s psychic- and they go off to solve various crimes together.

The show is quirky and fun to watch and I like the characters very much. I especially applaud the main actor for displaying the various personalities that come with eating brains as she takes on different people, while retaining the original characters personality.

The supporting actors are also very well developed and likeable. One of my favourites is our zombie’s ex-fiancé whom, despite seemingly giving off a very ‘throw away’ vibe as an actual stay-on character in the beginning, proves his worth as the story progresses.

Now I know this is supposedly based on a comic, but I know nothing of that so my views are purely on the TV show alone and they say this stuff is pretty great. It has character development, gory action and storyline from all sides. It’s really hard to dislike it, in my opinion.

F.Y.I Brains are apparently delicious…

Oh My Ghost - KDama

As a fan of the supernatural genre I’m always one to be excited to watch what the networks have in store for our eyeballs to consume. A recent drama didn’t disappoint as it catered to my hungry eyes and brought forth a lovely drama that had me engaged in its content from the get go, though I won’t lie and say it doesn’t have me worried at some points.

Oh My Ghost is a very cheeky romance that has me in stitches as I watch the main lead get led by the nose hairs as she gets possessed by a ghost who has nothing but sex on her mind.

The story revolves around a very introverted and skittish woman, Na Bong-Sun who has the ability to see and communicate with the dead, much to her discomfort and misfortune. Things kick off when she crosses paths with a ghost who literally runs into her in order to avoid being captured by a shaman, but this isn’t just any ghost, this ghost- Shin Soon-Ae- just so happens to have the same wavelength as our protagonist making things very interesting.

Because of this coincidence it makes it very difficult for our ghost to leave the body of our lead, trapping her for a while in Na Bong-Sun’s body and forcing Shin Soon-Ae to live her life for a while. Not that she minds though as she soon discovers that our lead is surrounded by more than a few hot guys she wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of.

The possession eventually wears off, but not before our ghost gets to meet with a man with a lot of ‘vitality’, aka our male lead, Kang Sun-Woo, who just so happens to be our poor Na Bong-Sun’s boss.

Kang Sun-Woo proves to be someone our ghost desperately needs for various reasons, while also being someone Na Bong-Sun is rather uncomfortable being around and as you can imagine this makes for quite an intriguing contrast of events as our poor lead’s persona drastically changes due to her possession and tries to crawl into Kang Sun-Woo’s life… and bed.

The story is sweet and funny. I love the characters and I must applaud the lead actress for her complete personality change as she portrays the possessed version of herself versus the ‘normal’ version.

The story itself is also interesting as you start questioning things about our sexually frustrated ghost and how Shin Soon-Ae died. The build-up creates quite a picture that plays brilliantly in the background and nags at my curiosity.

I have to say though, I worry that the ‘possessed’ version of our main lead is overpowering her normal personality. It makes for a worrying thought if I think about how the writers plan to fix that problem or maybe the actress played the part too well, who knows. All I do know is that the character she portrays seems swallowed up by the ‘possessed’ version of herself while the ‘normal’ version drifts slowly into the background.

I’m curious to see how the actress finds a balance between the two that’s both believable and acceptable in the confines of the drama. Still I won’t deny the fact that I hope she stays possessed as my feelings right now are totally with the ghost as she comes across more as the main lead than anything else. But this thinking is wrong as it perpetuates the reality that outgoing and aggressive people are more acceptable and liked than the introverted. As an introvert, I should be worried about that shouldn’t I? Oh well, whatever. I still have to wait for more episodes to come out and grace my eyeballs so I’ll wait and see what the ultimate results are. Hopefully the aspects of both introverts and extroverts will be highlighted and all will be well with the world…

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.