12 Days of Christmas – Sword Art Online Sucks.

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I- I just had to get this off my chest this year. I tried so hard liking it but it just kept tumbling and tumbling down.

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I’m honestly one of those people that ride the hype train. I was honestly excited for Sword Art Online. Everybody said it was a magnificent Light Novel. Why oh why did I listen? I already knew first hand to never ride those damn hype trains unless I knew exactly what I was riding. Goddamit why SAO why?

There’s honestly a number of things to like about SAO (pretty graphics, a grand world setting, a bit of character development here and there) and I always try to forgive it every time it sort of drops stink bombs of stupid girls or terrible plot development. I’m not someone who likes to hate on things and I always try to appreciate anime that I watch.

All this changed though in episode 12. Kirito and Asuna, now all pretty and married, managed to stumble into a forest. They found a little girl called Yui who was braindamaged and all she could say was “Auna Auna”. They took her in their home sweet home and treated her as their kid. Honestly, even I thought Yui was cute.

The next day (it seemed like the next day or fuck whatever I don’t care) they tried to find Yui’s parents. They went to the first floor and some underground passage opened. They went inside and saw some big death seeker or fuck whatever that was. Asuna and Kirito couldn’t kill it. They were about to die. Then, out of nowhere, Yui transforms into Shakugan no Shana and destroys the big ol’ monster. Then at the very same moment, she remembers everything and apparently she was a damn robot. She then hugs Auna Auna and Kiito and disappears because I don’t fucking know. Suddenly though, Kirito becomes a mad genius hacker and somehow saved Yui’s life. He got an emblem that looks like a tear and apparently we, the audience, were supposed to cry because boohoohoo that was so sad.

Just no. Fuck this.

* I actually wanted to talk about awesome soundtracks for this one but I still haven’t finished downloading Rinne no Lagrange’s soundtrack so I just went with bashing SAO.

12 Days of Christmas – The Hero of the Teru Onslaught

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Saki: Achiga-hen was probably one of the most infuriating series that aired this whole 2012. It spent 8 episodes or about more than a half of its air time in buildup that went nowhere. Fortunately for the series, the last 4 (well there’s 3 more which is bound to be amazing) was pretty darn good.

The Saki franchise has been heavily building up Miyanaga’s Saki’s sister, Teru. Considered to be the current best player in high-school Mahjong, Teru has been described as cold-hearted and a downright demon with the likes of Amae Koromo and such. It’s only in Achiga-hen, however, when we actually saw her true strength.

Okay, I play Japanes Mahjong myself (I’m just a beginner) so I definitely know how unfair a lot of the powers in this series but still, my blood gets pumpin’ every time this series showcases these powers. Teru is one of them. Her power is like “Rollout” if we compare it to Pokemon attacks. Her point totals start low but it steadily increases turn by turn and god knows what can stop it. Teru also has the cheating ability to know everyone’s specialty.

So how was Miyanaga Teru stopped?

We can say that the one who truly stopped Teru was Kuro Matsumi who managed to exceed her expectations in the end by discarding a dora (Her power is to hoard certain tiles but discarding those tiles would be futile). What made this possible though is Toki Onjouji. The true hero of the Teru Onslaught and the real main character of this spinoff.

Toki Onjouji’s power is probably the most unfair of all. She can see a turn ahead. Like fuck, that’s totally cheating. Her physical body weakens though when she does try this. In this match with Teru however, the only way that she could really beat Teru is to see even farther ahead, to a point where Toki’s discards will affect Teru’s hands (well that’s how I understood it). This paved way to Kuro’s ending blast.

By doing this though, she endangered her life. She had to be brought to the hospital afterwards.

Toki Onjouji, we salute you. ;____; (she’s not dead though).

*She won this year’s Saimoe btw. 

12 Days of Anime – Just Another Couple

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There are a lot of good couples this year. There’s Chitanda and Houtarou’s slow but moving romance, there’s the Mysterious Couple X, and there’s Shizuku and her little monster. There’s one series though that really takes the cake and for me in terms of having the cutest couple and that’s. . .

But seriously though, this couple really grew on me. Horror is never really my thing and one of the reasons why I liked Another so much is because I didn’t partly laugh watching the entirety of it (okay maybe except part of the last episode) and I actually got scared at times. The biggest reason though is that it actually bothered having main characters that aren’t just catalysts for horror.

While Mei’s story started off as something to scare Kouichi (and the viewers), once we got to really know her, she ends up being a sympathetic character. Also all that buildup eventually turned into a romantic buildup which made me appreciate Another even more.

12 Days of Anime – Gigantic Trailer

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While Huge Hype = Hypefail at most times, I’d like to believe this won’t be the case after seeing this fucking awesome trailerasdfghjkl:

See that trailer. Yeah, that’s what trailers are supposed to be. Jesus Beezuz, I’m fucking pumped for the Shingeki no Kyojin anime.

It all started a few days back where I’ve been hearing rumours about the manga getting an anime. I did a bit of research and found a lot of interesting things about the manga.

1)      It’s insanely popular for something that does not have an anime.

By golly wow, this manga averages on slightly above 1 million copies per volume. Even recent popular shit like Kuroko’s Balls, Ao no Exorcist, and Magi needed anime back up to be on the same level as stuff like Shingeki no Kyojin. The manga levels with stuff like Bleach. Let me repeat, it doesn’t have an anime yet.

2)      It’s been winning awards

It won the Kodansha Award and it’s been nominated for the Manga Taisho Awards. What struck me is the Manga Taisho one since that association comprises of library bookworms and the pieces they choose usually are really good.

3)      The author is like, in his twenties. This is his debut.

You’d be surprised how rare it is for young people to get popular in the manga business. Bakuman really fooled you eh?

So yeah, adding these three positive things up, I decided to read the manga. And oh my fucking god was I fucking blown by how amazing this manga is. It’s raw, emotional and really brutal at the same time. The story revolves around giants that eat people. It’s stupid if I say it like this but what if you turned that premise into something dramatic and painful? If you turned a premise like that into something like The Walking Dead? What you get is Shingeki no Kyojin.

It’s also a very brutal yet poetic piece. In particular, the series uses soldiers and their problems and turns it to the maximum. These soldiers go through hell to train and fight the giants and most of them immediately turn into hotdogs or swatted flies once in combat. It hurts seeing it happen over and over the course of the manga and it’s the very root of what the manga is trying to portray in the world it manged to create. There is no hope for humans. Things still turn for the worse til the current chapter and things are not looking up at all.

Another interesting thing about Shingeki no Kyojin is its intrigue. The titans and the higher ups are hiding a very important secret. The situation isn’t even as what it seems (when the manga started) and things are probably worse than how it already is. It creeps me out that the entire plot could be similar of Claymore’s (actually a lot of things in Shingeki no Kyojin remind me of Claymore) wherein – well if I say it then I might just spoil you of both manga.

So yeah, Shingeki no Kyojin. It’s probably the best thing I’ve read in a while. Fingers crossed that the anime will be just as good.

The Tale of Yamaken

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Yamaken’s story in Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is a very run-of-the-mill typical sort of side story. After casually talking to Shizuku, he starts having feelings for her. He sees that they’re a perfect match: They’re smart, a bit cold towards others, and are more opinionated than the rest of Tonari’s cast. Still, whatever Yamaken does, Shizuku will probably not consider him as an option. Yamaken’s story is a typical FRIENDZONE story.

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You could just feel the arrows piercing Yamaken’s fragile heart.

What sets it apart though is how Yamaken’s little story is portrayed and how emotionally struck I am by it. His story is scarily relatable in so many levels. The whole “writing a map of your feelings on paper” and helping your crush realizing her love . . . it’s something fairly childish yet fairly realistic. Before you know it, you start staggering in your actions – Yamaken is a huge victim of this. His calculating nature suddenly stops as he slowly falls in love.

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“Can you feel the love tonight?”

I swear this is why I want MOAR Yamaken. The anime is only slated for 13 episodes and it really isn’t enough to cover all of Yamaken’s failed story so I guess I should be satisfied with what I got and will get (or I can always just reread the manga which always puts a smile in my face).

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Uncurrency Anime – The Idolm@ster

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After days of getting my thoughts straight (and raping the replay button of the animated dances), my body is now l@dy to talk about the Idolm@ster.

If you’ve been around the anime community for a while, you would know what Idolm@ster is or rather, what it is infamous for. It spearheaded the whole otaku craze on 2D/CGI idols with the game selling like hotcakes back in 2006/2007. Basically the game has a huge fanbase. It got itself an adaptation in 2007 called XENOGLOSSIA and basically the reaction to it was it’s either bad or it’s bad. It kinda used the characters and turned them into mecha pilots. Casual viewers got bored after a while and Fans of the game were insulted in how the anime changed the characters personalities. It definitely felt like that was probably it for the Idolm@ster franchise in anime form. There was one OVA back in 2008/2009 that tried to do something with it but it pretty much failed too.

Four years later, this got announced. Idolm@ster will be turned into an anime again, this time with more respect to the game itself. They got themselves A-1 Pictures to animate with ex-GAINAX members. Safe to say, this was gonna look real pretty. The big question then was, is sticking to the game itself gonna be a good choice? The characters themselves are walking stereotypes that cater to every single otaku fetish; it felt like a huge gamble. Safe to say, at least for me, this succeeded.

The anime had a pretty slow start. The first episode was fairly unique. It introduced all 12 idols in a documentary format. Back then my impression was that it had a really unique layout but the characters really were walking stereotypes. Slowly though, episode by episode, things get developed. Each Idol has at least an episode centered around them (with the exception of the more popular ones like Miki and Chihaya and our MC Haruka). Most of the idols don’t have much development in them but with the episodes catered solely for them, somehow we do get attached to them. I guess it’s just good characterization overall.

The characters that do have a fair amount of development are Miki, Chihaya and Haruka. These three got it real good. Miki, stole the first half of Idolm@ster, no doubt about that. It’s like watching someone slowly become a star, with the way she was focused on. Haruka got the last few episodes of the series, and A-1 Pictures/ex-Gainax peeps gave her a real got drama which just oozed awesomeness in an aesthetic stanpoint and despair in an emotional standpoint. The highlight for Idolm@ster for me though is Chihaya Kisaragi’s little story. Like most people, I shed a few tears on her song Yakusoku. Somehow, drama is not what you’d expect with a series like this but they pulled it off.

Idolm@ster is a work of love. Our ex-Gainax staffer/our director is a HUGE fan of Idolm@ster and it really shows how much he loves what he’s working on with how this series played out. The animation is nothing short of phenomenal, especially when dances/concerts are concerned. EVERY MOVEMENT IS DRAWN. In case you’ve never noticed, most dances are just CGI (AKB0048/Macross F) or just full of retouches and repeats (EDs with dances on them). I swear, watch the dances. . . it’s crazy how well made all of it are. There’s also singing (hey Chihaya!) and a lot of insert songs which makes watching this a real treat.

In a sense, Idolm@ster let me accept my inner-otaku self, even for just a bit. I started loving all the characters, even though most of them never really stepped out of their stereotypes, and I started getting sucked in into its world. Anime that are works of passion and love (and not a “if we have a chance for budget cutting, DO IT) are rare to come by so I really suggest if you want to watch one that is a work of love, go watch The Idolm@ster.

Execution: 37/40 (Only a work of love can pull something like this off)

Engagement: 26/30 (Started slow, ended amazingly)

Characters: 18/20 (Great characterization, especially considering the fact that this series had 12 characters to work with //excluding the producers which are also well developed)

Production Values: 10/10 (Dances are phenomenal; lots of insert songs)

Overall: 91/100