The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes

New year's week sucks big time for the average otaku as most of the weekly animes and mangas are on break. No Bleach, no Naruto, no Fairytail and worst of all no To Aru Majutsu no Index. zzz. After 2 unbearable days of not being able to watch or read anime and manga, I started searching for other animes and that's where I found it - The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes (Densetsu no Yusha no Densetsu). Laugh at the name. But it was because of its ridiculous name that I actually clicked on the link.

Synopsis: 
Ryner and his partner Ferris are sent on a quest by their king to obtain Hero Relics- extremely powerful magical artifacts. The king needs the relics as they are essential in his plan to bring about peace throughout the land. However, Ryner and Ferris soon realise that something is not right with the king.

Review:
Ok, that was a really shoddy synopsis but if I said anymore, it would probably spoil the whole series. The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes felt as though it was put together from other animes like Naruto and Chrome Shelled Regios, just like how the recent movie Tron was put together by meshing up Batman, Starwars, and the Matrix. The outcome? It was frigging AWESOME. Back to the anime (before I start going off course and make this a movie review). The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes is one of the few animes out there where you can say that it keeps getting better after every episode. It slowly reveals its deep plot and has an interesting twist. Good graphics, excellent fight scenes and well done characterisation are other huge plus points for this anime. However, because the studio wanted to end the season fast, the last few episodes felt too rushed, leaving the viewers slightly confused. To me personally, their Medieval costumes were a bit of an eyesore. Overall, The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes is definitely an anime worth watching. I would definitely keep an eye out for season 2.

Have A Bleach White Christmas!

Have a merry Christmas people! May God bless us with more awesome anime!

Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup!)

Lately I've been watching too much anime.. again. Completed Nurarihyon no Mago and K-ON! in 3 days. Achievement unlocked! lol.. For a change this time round, I shall review a sports anime. I've watched a few sports anime like Slam Dunk and Major and none of them can really compare to Big Windup!. So what's so special about this anime?

Synopsis:
The main character Mihashi is the ace pitcher in his middle school team because of a favour. Though he has exceptional control that every pitcher wishes for, most of his teammates do not acknowledge him and do not play seriously when he is on the mound. Because of all the bad memories from playing baseball in middle school, Mihashi has no intention of joining the baseball team in his high school. However, he was unexpectedly dragged into the team by the coach. The team in his new high school accepts and treats him very differently. Will Mihashi  truly be a real ace for his new team?

Review:

Though few people have heard about it, Big Windup! is probably the best sports anime out there right now. This is because it gives a whole lot of convincing explanations regarding the game of baseball. The explanations range from basic strategies to even how different pitches work. Personally, I've learnt a whole lot about baseball from just watching Big Windup!. It has even sparked an interest in me for the game. As it was aired only a few years ago, the anime has pretty decent quality graphics. The illustrator also created a new way to draw faces. Characterisation was well done too. However, like most sports anime, the plot is pretty simple and predictable. On the whole I truly enjoyed Big Windup! and wish that the series continues though it is really unlikely to happen. Definitely a MUST WATCH!

Chrome Shelled Regios

zz.. I've been too busy having fun to type more reviews.. but well I am here again because I'm just bored from playing too much computer games and watching tv. Okay. I have chosen to do a review on Chrome Shelled Regios this time. I have a classmate who is seriously a huge fan of this anime and so he kept urging me to watch it. Personally, I am no big fan of this anime and I don't think that it is as good as how my friend exaggerated about it to me. Before I go any further, here is the synopsis.

Synopsis:
The Earth's atmosphere became too poisonous for humans to live in and so the humans live in 'walking cities' called Regios that protect them. Just like many other shonen anime, the humans have kei, some hidden energy inside them. Anime cliche? They use this power combined with their weapons to defend themselves against Filth Monsters that thrive in the poisonous environment. So there is the protagonist - Layfon Alseif with very strong kei who becomes kicked out of his regios due to bad behaviour and goes to another regios to seek a new life blablablah.

What I liked:
This anime has decent fight scenes though not spectacular and has quite an original setting. However, that's about it.

What I disliked:
This anime lacks a whole lot of explanations probably because they wanted to leave the explaining part to maybe a second season. (Though I doubt they will have a next season). Another disappointment is that it lacks good quality graphics even though it was aired quite recently in 2008. One weird thing is that in most episodes, the anime shows scenes that are completely unrelated. Lastly, I HATE the uniforms the characters wear. They are an eyesore to me personally.

My verdict? I think that it will be an utter waste of time watching this anime unless a second season comes out.

Haizz.. I shall review a better anime next time.

Darker Than Black

Okay, this one will be a little tricky... I started watching this on TV from like episode 11 or something and was filled with questions all the way to the end. (it's best not to do that)  Even after watching the earlier episodes from the internet it still feels that the anime has too many holes. Though Darker Than Black is really confusing and lacks quite a fair bit of explanations, this anime is still one of my favourites for its interesting setting.


Synopsis:
A weird phenomenon that defies science occurred 10 and 5 years before the series. An extremely large area of space appeared in South America and Tokyo. Named Heavens Gate and Hell's Gate respectively, this areas were almost impenetrable to humans. Along with the gates, the original sky disappeared and was replaced with a fake sky. Human beings that had special powers started to emerge and were called contractors. They were emotionless and worked mostly for the government or anti-government groups. The story revolves around a contractor Hei who works for the Syndicate. He and his team receive and carry out missions from the Syndicate. Through the many missions and series of events, Hei's group uncovers conspiracies in both the government and Syndicate and are left fighting for what they believe in. (Yeah I know it sounds really cliche)



Review: 
Frankly speaking, the author didn't do a good job in describing and explaining the setting of the series. The popping up of Gates were horribly explained as they were just said to be 'mysterious', 'out-of-this-world' and 'unexplainable' (seriously the best way to explain things). There were may other instances in the series where explanation were seriously lacking. However, its not totally bad. The setting of the Darker Than Black is truly an original and interesting one. The fight scenes were also quite epic and it was always a pleasure to see the contractors use their powers. In a nutshell, if you are the type of anime fan that requires really detailed explanations, this isn't the anime for you. But if you are the hardcore shonen type that loves watching Bleach or Naruto, Darker Than Black could be another anime for you to pick up.

Full Metal Alchemist

I'm pretty free for the holidays so here I am rating and writing reviews for the recent animes I've watched.

First up we have the highly rated Full Metal Alchemist written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. This is a classic and truly is a must watch. Anyone who reads manga or watches anime should have already finished the series some time back. But for the sake of those who just started here's a short review for this brilliantly crafted anime.


Things to take note:
This one has two animes one called Full Metal Alchemist and the other Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The difference? The latter follows the manga while the former's story plot drifts away from the original half way in the animated series. This is because Full Metal Alchemist caught up to the manga too fast so they had to spin up a new storyline. Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood were completed in 2004 and 2010 respectively.


Synopsis:
Two brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric lost their bodies while conducting human transmutation to bring their dead mother back. They travel in search of ways to obtain their bodies back using the powers of alchemy while uncovering a huge conspiracy that is taking place in the government.


Review:
The author did a fine job in laying down the basic principles of alchemy from the beginning of the anime and building on it as the episodes passed. The characterisation, introduction of new characters and convincing explanations are done in small arcs which are linked closely together. All of the arcs are then nicely tied together to form an epic conclusion. After watching the entire series, you will think that alchemy is all about equivalent exchange, drawing transmutation circles or clapping your hands together to transmute objects. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood will leave you clapping your hands and touching walls for weeks. That's as much influence an anime can have on your life.