Terror in Resonance

TL;DR "not so bad as they could have been" terrorists

(finished 6/14/15)

The tl;dr link goes to Funimation, where my friends and I watched it, but I'm not sure if it's behind a paywall so here's the Hulu page for it. It's apparently not on Crunchyroll. 

On to the review! This is the first anime that my friends and I finished during our now pretty frequent Anime Nights. I figured Terror In Resonance wouldn't really be my thing considering the genres I like, but it was good! It was a little different than I expected. In a good way. 

There's not too much that I feel like I can talk about without spoiling things, because to me it seemed layered along the same lines as Mekakucity Actors. You learn more as it progresses. The science behind it seems pretty legit, since my friend who is well-read with the science sides of Reddit was able to guess what Nine and Twelve were doing and explain it to us about a minute before the show did, and he was spot on. It was pretty cool. 

The content warnings I can think of off the top of my head: terrorist attacks, bombings, explosions, blood, emotional abuse (and maybe physical). There might be a few more, but these are the ones that really stuck out to me, so if any of those bother you Terror In Resonance probably isn't your thing. I'd also avoid it if you don't like suspense and life-or-death situations. 

The premise of the show was pretty interesting to me, especially Nine and Twelve's methods, and I was surprised to see character growth with them. The friend who had already watched Terror In Resonance and re-watched it with us had problems with Five as a character, but I'm not sure if I agree with his argument that she was a useless character. I haven't really tried to imagine what the plot would be like without her. 

Terror In Resonance is only 11 episodes, so it's really easy to get through. It only took us two Anime Nights to finish it. I'd recommend it if you like mysteries (since it also focuses on the detectives trying to foil Nine and Twelve's plots) and if the content warnings won't bother you. 

Halfway-through review: Sailor Moon

I've officially passed episode 100 of Sailor Moon! It's a little bittersweet, to be honest. I've loved the series since elementary school but never really had the patience to sit down and watch the anime all the way through -- I just watched the episodes I thought were the most interesting from reading the summaries off the internet.

Thanks to Viz, though, I've been able to keep up with the episodes they release online each week! It's just the right pacing for me, and I think there's only been twice where I completely skipped a week and had to catch up. They've been releasing them for around a year now; I know it began sometime May 2014, but I don't remember if it was mid-May or around Memorial Day.

So here are my thoughts of the anime compared to how I viewed it back when I first got into it! It's gonna be a little more of a ramble than an actual review.

First of all, Usagi is such a more faceted character than I realized back in elementary school. I was introduced through the dub, mainly through the Promise of the Rose and Hearts on Ice movies, so I was kind of biased against her. I thought she was immature and her voice annoyed me more times than not. I think the anime's been able to give her more depth than even the manga, because you can really see Usagi's compassion and optimism in the filler episodes and see her grow over a larger period of time.

And oh man I never thought I'd turn into Usagi but I did. Everything except for the whole saving-the-world thing. And the talking cat. Honestly, though, that'd make my life so much more interesting. My friend did her Psych project on me and her conclusion was basically that my life was just average. Not that I can contest that in any way. You have no idea how much I've wanted my own Luna.

I've really enjoyed seeing the senshi-specific episodes, too. Two of the more recent episodes I watched (99 and 100) focused on Rei and Minako, specifically on guys they cared about, and I liked that there's not just relationships like Usagi and Mamoru's. Rei and Yuuichiro have a very cute friendship, and I liked that episode 99 didn't make it all sappy or anything. Nothing really changed between them except that it strengthened their care for each other. And Minako! I'm not entirely sure if she liked the guy back (and I forget his name, oops), but she didn't act super heartbroken about the whole thing. Sure, she was sad, but she didn't really go around moping or anything.

Haruka and Michiru though! I still haven't gotten to the point where it's clear what they're doing, and I'm not about to go looking for spoilers, but I do have a basic idea. I think that the pressure they're facing is almost bigger than Usagi's because they have to face it as only the two of them and they still seem pretty reluctant to ask for help. I was surprised that they agreed to give their help to the inner senshi, though. The few episodes I'd seen from the dub made them seem almost completely cold and calculated, even to the point of being stuck-up. Also, Haruka gets used as a plot point a lot. I'm a little conflicted on her being consistently used as a "trap", but I'm also glad that she was included as a character who is equally confident however people perceive her. The relationship Haruka and Michiru have gives off a very queerplatonic feel and I really like that.

I've also realized just how big the series actually is. Before Viz started releasing the anime online, I knew the most about the Amazon story arc because I found it the most interesting and looked a lot into it. The Doom Tree arc was almost entirely new for me, which I found fun considering the series is 20+ years old. I was amazed that I knew so little about what was going to happen!

Shh. I know this is the manga. This is the first one I found where they weren't being stupidly romantic. 

I think the biggest thing that's changed in my opinion of Sailor Moon is Usagi and Mamoru's relationship. I used to think it was really dumb that Usagi adored him to the extent that she did, especially considering their age difference in the anime. However, watching them grow closer over the series so far has dispelled any of the doubts I had about them. They're not perfect but they're willing to work with each other, and I love how Mamoru is able to support her and give her the strength to stand on her own when she needs to.

TL;DR I could probably talk the topic of Sailor Moon to death but Viz's releases of the re-sub online has really helped me understand the series better. I guess that's what happens when you actually sit down to watch it all the way through, right?

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love

TL;DR magical boy anime

Honestly, if a magical boy anime in and of itself isn't enough to convince you, I don't know what will.

Just the concept of Binan Koukou was pretty hella. I found out about it through tumblr, though there was a considerable amount of dislike for it because some people were mad that the "only genre specifically for girls" was being "infiltrated". Honestly, it's very along the lines of Free! -- I feel like Binan Koukou is still very much marketed towards girls, but at the same time, it's not girly. 

I could probably make a whole post just about how Binan Koukou is great in terms of defying gender stereotypes. It's not like they took the concept of magical girls and made it masculine. It's literally just Madoka Magica or Sailor Moon with the girls replaced with a cast of guys. I want to see more of this trend. Like, why aren't guys allowed to have sparkly transformation sequences and flashy attacks with cute names? 

Binan Koukou kind of makes fun of itself and magical girl tropes, too. I'm pretty sure they break the fourth wall on more than one occasion. It's very light-hearted, but it does brush on stuff like self-hate or jealousy or lack of communication. Everything works out okay for the characters by the end. 

I really wish this were longer than 12 episodes. I feel like the plot could have been expanded on a lot, or at least that there should have been a little more filler. 

And the ending, though. Like, it came completely out of nowhere, but at the same time, I'd noticed some of the setup for it as I was watching, so it wasn't an Allegiant kind of ending. I think they could have foreshadowed a little more, though. And I kind of wish that they could have focused more on what they revealed in the final episode. 

TL;DR please watch it. It's great. 

Orenchi no Furo Jijou

TL;DR anime for a yonkoma about a high school boy who saves a merman

(watched 3/4/15)

I've had this on my to-watch list for a couple months, but I decided to watch it because I felt like I needed something really light-hearted to watch and I had caught up with Binan. And it was perfect! 

The plot is very simple -- it's basically a kind of slice-of-life, I guess, and it's like Hetalia in the fact that each episode was exactly four minutes long. The characters were all super cute and unique! The relationships between the characters were really cute, and I'm amazed at how much they were developed over the course of the anime. Also, Tatsumi's voice actor also did Haru from Free!, which felt perfect to me. 

I really wish the anime was longer! I'll definitely try to track down the yonkoma manga. 

Five Anime Recs

Today I decided to share my most favorite animes recently! I'm not always too big on bandwagons, and a lot of times I don't watch the most popular animes from each season, but these were all ones I consistently kept up with or marathoned! The links all go to the anime's Crunchyroll page.

5: Mekakucity Actors

An anime about a group of kids with so-called "eye powers". I first got into the series through its music, starting with Kagerou Daze. The plot of the story is incredibly dense and inter-woven, and I have to be honest and say that the anime probably won't make sense without any background knowledge. However, the songs and Wikipedia / other online resources was enough for me, so I think with a little research you'd be fine. It's a really good story that builds upon itself as you get further and further into it, revisiting stuff that you thought happened and adding new facets to everything. It's really great. 

4: Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary)

An anime focusing on monsters called "youmu". It's equally cute and depressing, and it oftentimes flip-flops between the two. I loved Mirai and Akihito. Honestly, I wish that the anime was longer than 13 episodes. I really wish I could get my hands on the light novels, but I just learned that two new movies are coming out this year, so I'm really looking forward to those once they're uploaded online. 

3: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun)

I wrote a review for Gekkan here, but if you haven't read it, this is an anime about a girl whose crush is the writer of a girls' manga called Let's Fall in Love. It's a really cute and fluffy anime with an interesting cast of characters. I loved all of them! I especially identified with Chiyo, and I tried to channel her strength when I confessed to my own crush. I'm hoping to cosplay her sometime in the near future. I wish this anime were longer, too -- I'm not really sure what they would be able to put in more episodes, but Gekkan has definitely become one of my all-time favorites. 

2. Free!

An anime about a high school swim club. This is actually one of the few bandwagons I jumped! I didn't watch the first season when it aired, but I marathoned it while I was working on my Otakon vlogs and managed to catch up with the second season just before it ended. I didn't think I'd like sports animes, so I was really surprised! I loved all of the characters in this anime, too! They all had a lot more depth than I expected going into the anime. It's really light-hearted for the most part, but a few of the episodes in the second season regarding the end of high school really hit home for me. 

1: Sailor Moon / Sailor Moon Crystal

... And of course Sailor Moon is my top pick! In case you've never heard of it before, it's an anime about a group of magical girls "fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight". I'm still kind of in awe that we got both a re-sub and re-dub of the original anime by Viz and an entirely new adaptation in the same year! Sailor Moon is kind of all over the spectrum in terms of mood -- Crystal is honestly more dark than the original, simply because they don't have the time for filler episodes that can explore the plot and the characters. Still, it's pretty uplifting! These girls literally go through hell each season and still persevere and save the world. If you've never watched it before, you should definitely at least try it out! I wrote a review of Crystal / a comparison between the two animes here if you don't want to have to watch both versions. 

Sailor Moon Crystal (Dark Kingdom arc)

I can't tell you how long I've waited for Sailor Moon Crystal. Ever since it was announced, like, forever ago, I've been dying to watch it. I pulled an all-nighter the day the first episode was released. (It was actually because the house was making weird noises and I couldn't sleep, but you know. I was awake at 6am when they made the video live.)

Because I'm writing this review in Jan 2015, I'm only covering what has been released so far. 

Sailor Moon Crystal is a remake of the original Sailor Moon anime from over 20 years ago. It's super faithful to the manga. After each new episode, I go back and re-read the manga chapter, and there are little to no changes between the two. It's amazing. I think that's my favorite aspect of the new anime -- there's no filler, it's so much more concise, and it's a slightly different plot from what was originally animated.

The biggest complaint I've heard on the internet is the quality of animation. From what I've heard, Crystal relies entirely on ad revenue because it's not being broadcast traditionally, so they have a much smaller budget to work with. It's honestly not that much worse than the original anime at the very beginning, and I'm pretty sure they're correcting the animation mistakes for the Blu-Ray release. (I'm assuming they're fixing it for DVD, too, but I only saw tweeted screenshots with the Blu-Ray mentioned, so I'm not entirely sure.) Sailor Moon is probably the only anime that I'll endure ads for -- partially because Viz and Hulu won't stream with AdBlock enabled, but I've also learned to appreciate the time that ads give me to check my notifications.

Crystal also has given me a sense of community that I never had with the original anime. I didn't get into the original until well after it had stopped airing on tv, and for the longest time I didn't really know anyone else that had watched it. Crystal has given me the kind of excitement I've heard people talk about with the original -- waking up early to watch it, anticipating each new episode, that kind of thing. I know it's not quite the same since I know what's going to happen, but I still appreciate it.

I've also strengthened a friendship with one of my classmates because we both watch it. Every Monday after a new episode, we'll both be like, "Did you watch it?" and then we'll get to talk for a few minutes before and after class about what we thought. I love that.

I'm super super excited to see what the Black Moon arc brings! I was a little worried that the series would stop at 13 episodes, so I'm really glad that we get to see Chibiusa in the remake.

Overall, though, I'm not really sure I can say that one version of the anime is better than the other. Crystal is great, but the original allows for more depth in both the plot and the characters. The other senshi don't get as much of a focus in Crystal because there's more attention to the plot, and I honestly kind of miss the kinds of dynamics they had in the original. Also, I really missed the kind of relationship Usagi and Mamoru had before they got their memories back from before they were reincarnated. I really enjoyed that Usagi didn't fall for him right away, something that bothers me a little bit with Crystal and the manga. I understand that part of it is probably because they'd already been in love, that it was something that "transcended time and space", but I loved their initial interactions in Sailor Moon.

Long story short: I'd recommend Crystal to basically everyone.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

TL;DR a high school mangaka, the girl who has a crush on him, and their friends as they work on the shoujo manga Let's Fall in Love
(watched Dec '14)

I actually started watching Gekkan because of anime club! They showed the first episode sometime during the fall, and I ended up marathoning the anime over winter break. 

Gekkan is a super cute shoujo anime that has a really unique cast of characters! All of the characters were really interesting and had great dynamics. I still can't decide if they broke out of typical tropes or just played up the tropes to their advantage, but they definitely are memorable.

I can't really say if there's much of a plot other than Chiyo's crush and the slice-of-life stuff regarding the cast, but it's a super fluffy / lighthearted anime, and I think it's one of my favorites now. I'd definitely suggest it if you need something uplifting. It goes by really quickly. I wish the anime were longer!;;