The Skull Man - 01

Shōtarō Ishinomori is probably one of the most overlooked and most under-appreciated manga artists in the whole anime/manga fandom in America. I, for one, love a lot of his creations (especially Cyborg 009, the live action Kamen Rider series [**** yeah!], and of course, this little gem: The Skull Man). I find the themes in most of his work, that is; beings that used to be human, being torn between the good of humanity and the monsters they’ve turned into (sounds a lot like Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, huh? Huh? “What’s a Astro Boy“? You know, that cute little, half naked cyborg boy who started this little trend we call anime & manga?), to be more interesting than a lot of the new crap we’re getting today. Heck, without him, you mahō shōjo fans wouldn’t have most of your favorites existing in your anime libraries (your typical, run-of-the-mill mahō shōjo anime is basically just an extension of one of his ideas. The idea of a transforming hero was really created by him. Say goodbye to your Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon and Nanoha!).

I recommend that you check out The Skull Man, it’s a really awesome series. Definitely worth a re-watch. The title character is the definition of a real badass hero (of course, they start off by making you think he’s a blood-thirsty, murderous maniac, but you know what I mean). The animation is also amazing and really detailed, typical Bones stuff. I’m not even going to bother with a summary of the first episode - watch it yourself and make your own first impression of it! Of course, watch past the 4th episode (where it starts to get into the more interesting bits) before you make a full opinion about the show, or else it means absolutely nothing.

Shakugan no SHANA II - FINAL

(I’m way overdo. Whoever took me off their blogrolls, I love you too. )

This series was disappointing in many ways, and when I thought it would redeem all of that by having an awesome final… it didn’t. Leaving a crappy open-end for a possible third season isn’t the way to go, especially since most of us have waited over half a year for the second season, which (once again) didn’t turn out all that well. Are they *really* expecting us to wait another year (or a possible two) for a third season and get our hopes up, only to give us another lower-than-standard quality production in the end (may I remind you that moé-styled art is only good when it’s accompanied by decent animation and storytelling)? Apparently Carmel-san lied to us about this season having “more action” than the last, since most of this season’s potential “action” was scrapped in favor of turning SHANA into a harem and focusing on the tedious love-triangle.

Also, I don’t know why I should even call the ending to this season an “open-end”, at least for the love-triangle. It’s really unbelievable that Yuji/Kazumi fans are hanging on to the bit of hope that Yuji picked Yoshida in the end. For most of you that watched the final, you can see that’s really sad desperation. No offense to people who support the relationship, but it’s written in stone that Yuji and Shana are meant for each other in the series - Kazumi didn’t really have any hope from the get-go.

Though, I would say that J.C.Staff most likely would come up with a half-assed way of killing that small, yet largest trace of resolution the love-triangle ever had this season.

Screw you, J.C.Staff.

Sit down, urusai, and try not to disappoint. Simple.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong - I still love SHANA. It’s just that the anime is so… so… *facepalm*

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(Yes, I know, a little late on the intake…) If you’re a regular anime blog reader or even an anime blogger yourself, chip in a few bucks to help AB.net out (or better yet, buy the awesome shirts at the AB.net store. Win win, I say!). (; If not for me, do it for the cat. >3

Shakugan no SHANA II (17-23)

Wow, the second season was really a bumpy ride and as I expected - it’ll all end at episode 24 (… it sort of confirmed itself when the ending song and the credits played while the episode was still going on). Starting off with a really unnecessary filler arc, long spans of boring episodes with no real plot development (IKE’S AMUSEMENT BARF-FEST, I’M LOOKING AT YOU), facepalm-riffic GAMBAREMASU nods (*nods* Yoshida: I won’t lose *nods* Shana: I won’t lose too o|￣|＿), and inconsistent animation throughout the whole thing (J.C.Staff, shouldn’t you have a much larger budget for one of your most popular shows?). Despite all that, my favorite moments have happened during these episodes.

Yuji gains a lot of combat development as well as character development during these past episodes. He started kicking ass with his Blutsauger and snapped a Tomogara’s neck for Pete’s sake! (Though… what would really make anime-styled Yuji complete is if he had at least one creepy conversation with himself in a mirror. xD) Spoiler ▼

Yoshida barely changed - although she’s still holding onto that little bit of hope of getting together with Yuji. I bet she’ll go into a state of depression later on, as I predict Yuji yelling out Shana’s name (”the person he chooses to protect”) judging from the preview. Ouch. Aside from the horrible fact that Yuji screaming is ****ing awful, it would really be a stab in the heart for her. Such dramatics. She’d probably be better off losing to the initial challenge she set up with Shana (which is, by the way, a pretty romantic challenge in my opinion ♥).

Shana winning an epic battle against Sabrac with an extended version of JOINT playing as a battle tune was really the one thing I liked the most, despite the fact that they should have animated it better.

It’s been a really tough ride throughout this whole season. Really, an anime adaptation of a really interesting and fun set of fantasy light novels should have done better than what Shakugan no SHANA II coughed up most of the time!

I’ll write up my thoughts on the last episode when I get around to watching it.

Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Tokyo Revelations 03

Seriously, I think my inner Cardcaptor Sakura fanboy just squealed in excitement seeing that little CCS!Sakura cameo in this episode. <3 Wait… a CCS!Sakura cameo? What the hell were they thinking?! THAT’S JUST TOO F*CKING AWESOME! >D

Continue reading Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Tokyo Revelations 03…

My Kind of Restaurant

This piece of news that I read about 4 days ago is pretty amusing.

Apparently, a bunch of girls were waiting over two hours for their order at a restaurant and were making a pretty big fuss about it. When their order finally came, they found something very interesting at the top of the receipt.

Continue reading My Kind of Restaurant…

GARO 01 - Picture Book

Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns. But by the blade of knights, mankind was given hope.

Continue reading GARO 01 - Picture Book…

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part I

Since I’ve decided to rewatch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for the 1000th time, I thought I might as well blog about it. And since I have most of the DVDs now, I thought I’d increase my e-penis a bit by dazzling you guys with DVD-quality screenshots. Can you say, escapism? Good.

I’ll also be doing it in chronological order. Because, to be honest, I prefer it that way - the story flows much more smoothly compared to watching it in the original broadcast order (it was fun the first go around, though). Not to mention the fact that I can’t be assed to switch between DVDs while gathering up the screenshots in order to satisfy all your nonlinear needs.

Oh, and by the way, I’ve decided to let Kyon guest-blog for the day. Go wild.

Continue reading The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part I…

Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Tokyo Revelations 02

SNAP. CRACKLE. POP. Syaoran loves his cereal.

That’s it. I love you Production I.G. ♥

Continue reading Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Tokyo Revelations 02…

Shakugan no SHANA II 16 - Thoughts on Yuji’s Big Sword ♥

Is that Yuji kicking ass in combat with the Blutsauger I see there? Are you screwing with my mind SHANA? I don’t think Yuji should even be touching that thing. It’s not that I hate him, it’s just that (for all we know) Sorath and Tyrael might have gone too far with their little hentai incest games. *wink wink* hint hint*

I loved the new OP’s animation on sight immediately - the scenes are just so damn good. I had to get used to the song by hearing it a few times more, but I’ve slowly found myself addicted to it. I loved everything about the new ED immediately, those little light thingies floating around the characters’ still images are just so beautiful. The actual animation for the episode, however, ranges from below decent to great (the “great” being only a few scenes ¬_¬”).

I like how the second opening to the first series and the first opening to this series deliberately lied to us. The former showing us a battle with Shana VS. Sydonay, which never happened during that period. The ladder showing us Ike confessing to Yoshida in the snow, which never happened during that period.

Oh well. At least the openings have a big enough “cool” factor for me to forgive them for their LIES.

Continue reading Shakugan no SHANA II 16 - Thoughts on Yuji’s Big Sword ♥…