Changes and....Maids???

With this post I am reporting that some changes are going to happen to this blog. A few weeks I left J1studios.com in order to strike out on my own with the hope of having more chances to post updates to the blog as well as expand material to talk about here. So eventually what I want to do is update the blog with a new layout, new logo and just try to make it more awesome!

So what does that mean to you? Nothing, really! :) It just means that you'll still be coming to the same site reading more stuff about anime and Japan...and I hope that you like it...^^; But moving on to....

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Title: Kaichou wa Maid-sama!/Class President is a maid!

Animation Production: J.C.Staff

Premiered in Japan: April 2010

Original Creator: Hiro Fujiwara

Extra info?: Manga is available in the U.S. from Tokyopop called "Maid-sama"

The story is about a hard working, busy body, tough girl named Misaki Ayuzawa. She is the first female class president of Seika High School which ,until recently, used to be an all boys school. But she has a secret. She works part time at a maid cafe due to family circumstances but one day her secret is found out by the school heartthrob Takumi Usui. He promises to keep her secret if she promises to spend some time with him.

When I first heard about this I thought it sounded interesting and cute. Two things that were missing during the Fall season. Another thing that caught my eye and made me happy was the appearance of a bishounen (pretty boy for those who don't know)cuz I haven't seen one in what felt like forever!! But back to the anime...It's cute i've watched 4 episodes so far and it's really cute because Usui obviously is intrigued by Misaki because she doesn't give him the time of day. But him on the other hand he always pops up the right moment to give Misaki advice or save her from something. Their relationships is very tug of war like.

The music is okay. The opening "My secret" by Saaya Mizuno is that cliche Jpop anime sound and the ending by "Yokan" by Heidi is an alright tortured ballad type of song, it's not bad...but it's not awesome either.

The animation is...average as well. It could animate a bit better because there are times when a fight is happening or someone is falling and they have the still frame instead of animating the person throwing a punch or something.

In the end this anime doesn't do anything better or worse when it comes to animation but the story and characters are endearing and it makes you want to see how long can misaki deny Usui piercing longing stares. lol My score is an average 3 out of 5!

Spring is here and so is new anime!!

Fresh New Anime Just in Time for Spring!!

First off let me say, "Gomen ne! Minna-san!"! I know it's been forever since I updated but that's because last season's anime was so uninspired, in my opinion at least, and rather than rant and rave about why it's so bad...I chose not to write anything at all. But now with all this new and great anime out on the nets, I'm inspired to review and write again!! So let's begin with.....

Title: B gata H kei
Genre: comedy, romance, ecchi
Premiered on tv in Japan: April 2010
Rating: A strong Pg-13 for sexuality

So I just started watching this over the weekend and it's hilarious. The story revolves around a young self proclaimed "bishoujo" ie. "pretty girl" named Yamada, we have not found out her first name as of yet. Anywayz! She's a virgin in high school and her goal is to have over 100 sex partner. Yes! 100 casual sex partners!! Only problem is she doesn't have experience and doesn't want her potential partner to tease her because of her inexperience. So what does she do? She sets out to find a "cherry boy" to be her first of many! Wow!

So yeah! Reading the synopsis for this and looking at pics for it I thought, "oh dear! another ecchi anime...-_-" But so far it's hilarious!! Yamada is absolutely clueless about guys and this along with her insane goal is bound for more hilarity to ensue. The only bad thing, I guess, you could say about it is that they are throwing out alot of fanservice at one time and the premise for it doesn't exactly allow for a long running season. But as long as it entertains and keeps my laughing then let the short ride commence!

My rating is a 3 out of 5!

Spice and Wolf-looks pretty but moves so slow...

Title: Spice and Wolf/ "Okami to koushinryo"
Genre: romance, adventure, drama, fantasy, supernatural
Animated by:IMAGIN
Available on dvd? Yes at your nearest video store!
Licensed by: Funimation

I have been hearing about "Spice and Wolf" for a while now and occasionally I would forget about it then see a picture or something about it and think, "Oh! Yeah! I gotta watch that!" but then I would forget again. Well a solid year has passed and after hearing that Funimation had posted videos on youtube since they were releasing in the US in December 2009, I finally watched it. I like it..it's just the pacing is so slow...

The summary of "Spice and Wolf" is the story of a wolf goddess called Holo and a merchant named Lawrence. Lawrence makes a living by traveling town to town selling goods. One night he stops in the pagan town of Pasroe and discovers a strange naked girl lying in his wagon. He finds out that this seemingly young girl ,with wolf ears and a tail, is in fact the town's 250 year old goddess of harvest named Holo. She tells him that she wishes to leave the village and return to her home, the forest of Yoitsu since she believes that villagers have forsaken her. Lawrence is swayed into taking her with him with the hope that she will increase his profits and she is pleased because she can leave the village where only lonliness was her company. Unfortunately for this couple the religious teachings of the church is spreading throughout the land and the thought of a real pagan deity moving about is not a happy thought.

Spice and Wolf is really pretty and it animated great as well. Unfortunately for me the first four episodes move so slow. The story seems interesting but I'm not riveted to my chair eagerly looking forward to the next episode. I just have a mild interest in it right now but maybe it'll get better as the series goes on. This anime was highly acclaimed when it came out last year and has been getting alot of buzz online, mostly talking about the naked teenage looking girl, but it's been good reviews.

As usual trailer below...


So right now I'm giving it an average 3 out of 5.

Crayon Shin-chan's creator dead?!?!

This is kinda a departure from my regular anime review and along the lines of being anime news; so yeah, I'm wearing my newscaster hat right now! This story first broke out 2 weeks ago when a Japanese newspaper called Mainichi Shinbun reported that the creator Yoshito Utsui was reported missing by his wife after he did not return home from hiking.

Over the weekend a body was discovered at the foot of Arafune mountain and was confirmed by authorities to be the body of Yoshito Utsui. So how did he die? Police have confirmed that the cause of the death was from a collapsed lung and other injuries sustained across his body on the day of September 11 which was most likely sustained from an accidental fall while taking pictures on the edge of a cliff.

When it comes to his manga, the editorial staff at Futabasha's "Manga Town" magazine has stated that the "future publication [of Crayon Shin-chan] is to be determined."
As of September 29, the president of TV Asahi network has stated that they plan to continue airing the animated series of "Crayon Shin-chan" after the death of it's creator.
-Anime News Network

Shin-chan has become some of a hit both in Japan and overseas. It's also interesting that when it come to translation it wasn't translated literally like many other animes. But it changed from something that addressed social concerns in Japan and became some random crass, dark comedic thing here in the states. I watched it on tv a few time on Adult Swim and it is the most crass thing I have ever watched! I'm sorry but kindergartners talking about manipulating men to their bidding... just...doesn't sound appropriate to me and I will watch alot of off the wall stuff.

Some of you out there might be shouting "hooray" from the rooftops while others maybe feeling a deep grief...Personally I am not a fan of Shin-chan so a balloon for those who don't care and pat on the back for those who do.

Vacation time is over but summer is still alive in Natsu no Arashi...

Aaawww...I can't believe summer is over... Lazing about in the park enjoying the cool summer breeze, watching anime with wittless abandon, and sleeping until noon; all that is over!....Unfortunately....
But in homage to summer, I am reviewing this cute coming-of-age anime called "Natsu no Arashi".

Title: Natsu no Arashi/ "Summer Storm"
Genre: comedy, romance, slice-of-life, supernatural
Rating: PG
Animation Studio: Shaft
Showing: The first season ended in Japan as of June 2009 and a second season is coming up very soon....in Japan. But it is playing on Crunchyroll.com

I must say that I am a little late watching this but I came across it online again and figured I'd watch and review it instead of reviewing "Soulmate" which is awesome by the way. But back on topic!

Natsu no Arashi is a cute slice of life show about a middle school boy named Yasaka Hajime and how he met this high school girl named Sayako Arashiyama or Arashi for short. Hajime visits a cafe nears his father's house and sees a girl named Arashi working as a waitress. He sees that she is older and is attracted to her boobs and butt and makes a comment about how "looking at older woman makes his butt feel funny." or something along those lines! So a big hulking guy comes in the cafe looking for Arashi and says that he will take her back to her family by force if need be. Hajime, the wannabe hero, makes a promise to protect Arashi and a friendship is born. Later, Hajime learns that he and Arashi, when they hold hands, can travel through time. Oh! And another little secret is that Arashi is a ghost!

My first impression of this is that it's cute and interesting.The people look kinda strange because everyone has this heavy line over their eyes so it kinda gives this weird Tite Kubo(Bleach) look. But as far as the anime goes. I have only watched the first four episodes and I want to find out more about the characters and story revolving around those who are ghosts.

This should definitely be watched at least once and if you start to think that it's an echhi anime. It really isn't. There is a good story intertwined with the madness/randomness. One filled with romance, tragedy, and a spin of comedy.

Otakon 2009-Oh! So much fun!! XD

Pics from Otakon are posted above this post.:)
Btw..video is of a guy trying to do the dance from the Kannagi opening. Look all the way toward the right..

Alright, this weekend I experienced one of the biggest and greatest cons on the east coast called Otakon 2009. This year was it's sixteenth year, my first, and it was epic in size and in scope. The con lasted for three days (Fri-Sun) and they had more than enough scheduled for each day encompassing 12-14 hours on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a shorter day because it's last day of the con, so they try to wrap things up by mid-afternoon.

When it comes to the convention's highlights, for me, was the premier of the dub version of Evangelion 1.0. The hall where it was being played was packed with people. Many who have seen the movie and many more who have not seen the movie but loved the series. The experience was awesome, aside from the projector cutting off every so often; but the moans and groans coming from the audience as the picture goes off was great.

Another highlight that was great for me was the quality of the cosplayers. The ratio of good to bad cosplayers was higher than other smaller cons i have attended in the past and i was pleasantly surprised! The wigs were great, no foamy/bad color/nappy wigs at all. The most popular series being cosplayed were Final Fantasy, Naruto, Gurren Laggan, and Hatsune Miku.The one weird thing about it was that there were alot of crossplayer or guys who dressed like female characters and girls who dressed like males characters. I came across one guy that was dressed as Ashley from a resident evil game and there were a couple girls dressed in bikinis supposed to be Naruto or Sasuke or Kakashi. Craziness!!

Now it's time to talk about the bad... Firstly, if you have an issue with being around alot of people...then you will have a difficult time here. Especially on the first 2 days. There are about an estimated 33,000 people that attended this year. So if you do not like wading through people to get to the anime showing then you might want to go to a smaller con. Secondly, standing in line for registration for three and a half hours!! It was a totally different experience for me and if it were not for people selling water and a person giving me water, I would've died 3x over...no lie. Standing outside in the sun with a t-shirt over a tank top is not fun in 90 degree humid weather. And that was about it.

When it comes down to it Otakon was awesome this year. Headlining acts for concerts were Kanon Wakeshima, Becca, and Mell. I attended Kanon's concert and it was sssooo great. I just wished that it was longer cuz as soon as she came on the concert was over :(...So sad....

The con also served as a way to help people who wanted to work in the anime industry to find a way to that. They had panels on topics ranging from translation to career planning for artist/geeks. It was great and I felt like I learned something while having fun!

Anime Conventions are a great way to meet new people, learn about new mangas/animes that are coming out, and learn about the anime/manga industry as a whole. So even if your a fan or if you want a career in this industry oorrr if you want to spend the entire weekend playing video games and watching anime than you definitely have to plan a trip to your local anime convention. It'll be the best experience you'll ever have.

Kara No Kyoukai-The Garden of Sinners

Kara no Kyoukai-The Garden of Sinners
12/2007-8/2009
Genre: Horror, supernatural, romance, mystery
Rating-somewhere between Pg-13-R..although leaning heavily toward R (Sexual situations,gore, and just insanity)
Animation Production: Ufotable
Distributor: Aniplex





Kara no Kyoukai-The Garden of Sinners first premiered in Japan in December 2007. But the series itself started in the form of a novella that was released as a dojin in 1998 by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. The novella was later published by Type-moon then Kodansha in Japan while in America it was published by Del Ray Manga.

The plot summary for the series as a whole is "Mikiya Kokuto finds himself intrigued by two things. The first is by Shiki Ryougi a beautiful, yet rather unsociable, girl and the other is the strange series of violent deaths that start occuring in his town. As he attempts to get closer to Shiki, he soon learns that the two are connected and that there are many supernatural forces at work which could very likely get him killed as well." Which turns out to be kinda true.

The series is split up into seven movies with the seventh being released this August.The movie titles in the order they came out are; Fukan Fukei, Satsujin Kosatsu, Tsukaku Zanryu, Garan no Dou, Mujun Rasen Boukyaku Rokuon, and Satsujin Kosatsu prt 2. Another interesting thing about the movies are that they are intentionally being shown out of order. The first movie is the third movie and the first one is...I don't know really I'm only up to the fifth movie which has the most awesome action scenes thus far, there's speculation that it's the last movie.

The movies are awesome but if you like lots of action and hardly any talk then this series is not for you. Throughout maybe the hour of movie there will only be one action scene but lots of talking and storytelling. It's not insufferable talking but after seeing the one fight scene you want to see more.

The music is also great. It's composed by one of my favorite composers Yuki Kaijura (did music for; Mai Hime, .Hack//SIGN, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and .hack//Liminality among others). The music is fantastic throughout conveying the mood for every scene spectacularly.

At the end, I love this movie so far and I can't wait to see how it ends. The only thing that I would notify people of is that if you get grossed out easily, you may not want to see this movie because there are some gruesome images of limbs/people being sliced apart among other things. But if that doesn't bother you than by all means.The dvd is supposed to be released stateside late this summer definitely so buy it or have someone else buy it for you! After watching the trailer below of course. Until next time!!