June-July Favourite Anime

Back to reviews~ I haven't been reading much new manga since I'm doing another comparison post between the GTO anime and the manga, so probably no new manga for a while~ Well, it's mainly because I'm going on more of an anime phase again these days haha! I generally go through a cycle between being obsessed with finding new anime or manga to watch/read and I guess this year is anime!~ I really enjoyed watching the ones these two months and would totally watch them all again tbh XD

Dororo

Genre: Action, Adventure, Historical, Supernatural, Shounen

Episodes: 24

My Rating: 8/10

Dororo was a surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and I'm glad I tried it, because I wasn't too interested from the first episode. However, as everything progressed, I really enjoyed the morality issues, the demons, the fights and the interesting reliance on demons by humans, as well as the growth of a young man that wanted to rightfully take everything that was his back, and the repercussions of it all. I think it has great pacing and really set up everything about the world and their lives well. The second half isn't as great as the beginning but I still liked it. I think Hyakkimaru and Dororo's bond was cute, and I think the interactions between humans and demons coexisting was a nice take.

The story revolves around Hyakkimaru, a child  born with no limbs, no eyes, no skin etc, this was due to his father's pact with 12 demons that led to the sacrifice of this child in exchange for his prefecture's prosperity. Although Hyakkimaru was supposed to be disposed of, he ended up being saved by a man who gives him prosthetics and teaches him how to live and fight, because it was apparent through his encounters that he would inevitably face all the demons that took his limbs and everything from him and defeat them to regain it all back. Thus, he goes on this journey and meets a child called Dororo and they end up journeying together, and teaching each other things they both lack.

Although Hyakkimaru doesn't really talk, I really enjoyed how Dororo and him communicated and how they both learnt to cherish each other. Both of their stories are saddening and tough, yet they both strive to live and try their best to understand why it is important to want to live and yet how their desires to live can impact others. I really loved the fighting scenes btw! Great! I also enjoyed the stories of the demons and the people relying on them to live, it has this nice grey idea of morality throughout the show where it's obvious that most of what the demons and the samurai do are wrong, but everyone is doing what they can and what they think they should do in order to live. Sometimes they acknowledge that what they're doing isn't right, but that doesn't mean that they'll stop, because this is what they think to be the only way they can survive, and I think a lot of those stories resonated with me. The other stories are also like different projections of humanity and how people work and I really liked how they acted realistically to their situations. I think the stories of all the people the duo encounter alongside the overarching story with Hyakkimaru trying to retrieve his body parts back was greatly interweaved and I would totally recommend it if you like that historical sword fighting feel of an anime alongside demons haha. 

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural, Shounen

Episodes: 112

My Rating: 8.5/10

As a fan of Togashi (author), and having watched Yuu Yuu Hakusho when I was a child, there was no way I would ever dislike this anime haha. I would just say that everything up until the end of the tournament arc was a solid 9 and the last two arcs were a bit less intriguing, so my rating went down a bit, but this is still one of my all time favourites. The friendship and personalities of all the main characters are great because they all have their respectively interesting powers and personalities. Their personalities are pretty much what they seem to be on the outside, but I love that despite all their differences, they are all softies on the inside. They all care deeply about people and their friends in their own ways and I love that. Yuusuke is a great protagonist that has the usual silly but straightforward personality, but he's really endearing with how interacts with everyone, and it's not a surprise for everyone to like him haha.

The story follows Yuusuke, a delinquent who ends up dying to save a kid about to be hit by a car. Due to this act of sacrifice that no one in the Spirit Realm (where humans go when they die) expected, they couldn't really let him pass on, so instead they ask him to become a spirit detective! Which means he'll help them solve cases on Earth relating to spirits or demons and he can then eventually regain his life back as a human. So the story kinda follows Yuusuke as he solves cases, meets his friends, learns to be more than just a mere delinquent, gains supernatural powers, learns martial arts and fights against those threatening his everyday life, since you know, he's a softie at heart hahaha.

What I enjoy most is definitely the characters and their growth in terms of their personalities as well as their powers. Gotta love shounen for their hard working power ups hahaha. I enjoyed Yuusuke's training and how emotional a lot of the interactions were, because everyone had their respective things to fight for. The main characters join up together to fight for their own interests but become friends along the way through mutual understanding and bonding, and I just love that hahaha. The fights are great too because of how cool it all is, I love the different fighting styles and how their personalities reflect their fights very well. Basically, I loved everything about it, the characters and the plot hahaha. It may be another typical shounen to others, but this is one of those shounen that I would always watch again and still love it as much. I loved it as a kid and still love it as an adult hahaha, although I do recognise more flaws to it now haha.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Sci-fi, Super Power

Episodes: 48

My Rating: 7.5/10

IF you've watched To Aru Majutsu no Index, then you'll know that Railgun is the side story focusing on the life of Misaka Mikoto and her friends in Academy City, in a sense, it focuses more on the science side of things. As a fan of Misaka, there's no way I wouldn't watch this hahaha. I've watched the first season before but forgot about it so I rewatched it so I could watch the second season chronologically (whilst anticipating for the third season!). The first season has more of a slice of life feel to it, where Misaka just goes about her everyday and the problems she encounters during them. Honestly, I really enjoyed the 'Level Upper' troubles where a lot of people tried to make themselves a higher esper level through unauthorised means, causing havoc and problems for people and themselves. It was really reflective of the situation in Academy City where a lot of your worth is dictated by your level, and I think it really portrayed well the dilemmas and helplessness of being a Level 0 or even just a Level 1 or something. As usual, you get to see how cool Misaka is, and how she tries her best to deal with these problems with her friends and how to utilise her powers in different ways to accommodate the difficulties of fighting enemies of different abilities and weapons. The later episodes go into a more literal slice of life after that and can be kinda boring, though I guess it is still quite fun since it's always nice to see Misaka living a normal life with normal friends.

Second season with the Sisters arc was so emotional and so great, I loved it. I would give it an 8 or 9 just for that arc alone because I think it really captured Misaka's feelings very well and expanded it greatly, so even if you know what happens through Index, it's still so worth it to watch this part from Misaka's perspective. It's just so terrifying, saddening and difficult to watch her have to struggle with her mistakes as a child causing such pain and destruction to clones of herself, accompanied by her hope just dwindling as she keeps trying to fight against the city that finds merit in creating more versions of her. You can really see how she came to that point of desperation, and how much meaning it really represented when she finally asked Touma for her help. That was definitely the highlight of the second season and would be worth watching just for that character progress and anguish. The rest of the second season was pretty lacklustre in comparison but still relatively sweet and engaging. I definitely recommend this if you like Misaka and would like to know more about her perspective towards everything, and how she goes about her everyday life hahaha.

GTO

Genre: Comedy, Drama, School Life, Shounen, Slice of Life

Episodes: 43

My Rating: 9/10

When I was a child, I watched Onizuka in Cantonese haha, but I still loved it, and honestly I feel like some of them sound better in Cantonese (or it's just my bias) haha. In hindsight, I don't know why the child me was watching GTO considering some of the stuff it shows, but I still enjoyed the comedy of Onizuka so it's fine hahahah. Basically, the best thing about GTO is Onizuka himself. He carries the whole show by himself and he easily carries it by himself. He's such a weird, perverted, hilarious, crazy and kind teacher that it's so exaggerated, but at the same time, you would really wish to have a teacher like him. Seeing him change the lives of so many people in his own quirky way and how he reacts to everything is just so funny but awesome, like how can it be so wholesome and yet so crazy?! Hahaha, I love it and I really want to watch it again already haha.

The story follows Onizuka, a former biker gang leader who has decided that he wants to be the greatest teacher ever...for immoral reasons of just really wanting to see high school girls. Thus dictates his journey of being sent to deal with the toughest class in his new school that has already caused several teachers to quit with mental problems, as he reforms these children who hate teachers. Although his reasons for becoming a teacher are skeptical, and the way he teaches is also something to be discussed, you can't deny Onizuka's passion. He's a pervert who believes that no students are trash. As a former student who was probably called trash daily, he knows how this affects students and honestly believes that no matter how "bad" a student may be, they are his students and he will help them. Honestly, everything he does is so over the top, he could never be a real teacher, but really, seeing him the way he is, doing his best to heal the hearts of these students that were hurt by their teachers, I couldn't help but feel touched, it's really heartwarming tbh haha. I love how he may use his violent ways to solve things, but he has a very tender heart, he really understands his students and tries his best to be a good teacher in his own way. I guess in terms of everything, he's not an educator but more of a teacher that will show them lessons on life. I love how he's such an idiot as well haha, a very lovable one though. I think if you want to watch something with a great over the top teacher helping kids who hate teachers realise that there are people like him who would sacrifice everything for them, you'll enjoy it. Also gotta love how Onizuka and them break the vice principal's car all the time lmaoo. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing, Onizuka's coolest moments are done so well, I've cried at how touching it was for him to help these students overcome their problems, the first girl he meets as a student teacher and the way he resolved it at the end was always the best for me imo, because I think it really showed how Onizuka helped her make the first step to repairing her family bonds, and that the rest of it was her responsibility and she knew it. Onizuka helps them, but they all recognise that he only helps them realise what they can do to repair things rather than him repairing it for them and that's all, and I guess that's what I love.


P.S Oh, this isn't a review but some thoughts. I also watched Fate Stay Night and Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, but I'm not a fan hahaha. It was all right, but I don't think I really enjoyed it as much as others did. The action was nice, I liked Shirou and Archer's determination and their stories, their beliefs and their talk, but I didn't really like what the war came to really be and I'm not a fan of Gilgamesh lol. Lancer was cool. I definitely think Rin is the best girl and I loved her character but I'm not a fan of the plot and how things were dealt with and handled imo so I don't really recommend it haha. UBW was definitely better than the first though haha. Like, I think there was nice ideas and everything but yeah... I'll probably check out Zero and Heaven's Feel in the future but not right now. Oh, and I'll still read the VN eventually because I love VNs and I think I might enjoy it more, since I am the person that didn't really like the Steins;Gate anime when I watched the first few episodes, and yet when I played the VN, I was pretty much instantly enamoured by the art and the story even though it's mainly slice of life in the beginning, and yet I loved it lol and I might have liked it more than the latter half haha, so yeah, the anime won't deter me from trying the VN, so I hope I enjoy that more~!

KyoAni Memories

I recently wrote a post on my feelings for Kyoto Animation, and I really wanted to keep it with me here on this blog as well, so I copied and pasted it here from my tumblr.

Tumblr post

It’s been a long time since my last post here, but something struck me hard the other day that I haven’t been able to come to terms with. For me, I thought I’d be transitioning into my 27 year old life rather normally, as every year is, but I never thought that something so horrific could happen 2 days before my birthday. It was really...shocking to say the least. After I heard about it, I couldn’t stop reading about it at 3am in my bed wondering what happened, how it could have happened, why would someone do something like that and how people were reacting to it. Every time I read a bit more information, I realised that I was crying. Honestly, it was a weird thing to experience. You read about so many tragedies on the news every day, yet I don’t think there was a piece of news that hit me as much as this one did. It honestly felt very personal to me, and I just couldn’t fathom the reality of it and the repercussions of it. It was a crazy thing to feel and I don’t think I can ever come to terms with it.

Tbh, it’s still kind of weird for me. I’ve been watching anime since I was 12, and really, it was only recently that I felt like I actually cared about what studio made what anime, and looked up the works the ones I liked did. KyoAni was one I always heard about and knew in the back of my mind as the one with all the fluffy happy stuff and the emotional stuff, and I always thought the anime they did were really cute. Tbh, I’ve only watched a few of their series but I’ve always known about all the series they had made, ever since I was a child. When I think back to the past, I remember all the hype surrounding Kanon and how emotional it was. I remember the mixed feelings about Air, but it was still nevertheless beautiful. I remember thinking Haruhi was weird in the first minute of the show and not appreciating it when I was young, yet loving the novels as an adult. I remember absolutely loving Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and rewatching it so many times because of how hilarious it was. I remember trying to watch K-On and Hyouka but it just wasn’t my thing. I remember volunteering at SMASH and all the girls were fangirling over an anime called Free! I remember watching Musaigen no Phantom World thinking it was pretty but that’s all. I remember teasing my friend about how much he likes that little dragon girl from Kobayashi. I remember watching Violet Evergarden with no expectations, yet I was enraptured by its’ beautiful animation and the idea of how it wasn’t weird of me to think that communication through letters are such a wonderful thing. I remember watching A Silent Voice in the theatres twice for different people, yet enjoying it so much because of how much it touched my heart and how well the story communicated to my heart. I’m a person that dreads watching the same thing twice, especially in the span of a week, and I don’t even like movies lol, but A Silent Voice just hit me so hard and I couldn’t forget about it.

But the one anime that probably changed me the most was Clannad. I’m the one that liked the first season more than the second haha, but ever since the first episode of it, I couldn’t help but be drawn to it. The music, the characters, everything really touched me and I absolutely loved it. Honestly, it was Clannad that made me venture into visual novels, and it was Clannad that made me play the same visual novel twice because I loved all the characters and all the routes, all the emotions and all their growth. If KyoAni never made the anime for it, I never would have opened my eyes to such a great story and all the other great visual novels I’m experiencing now. I think it’s an understatement to say that KyoAni was a part of my childhood because really, without me knowing or realising, I grew up with KyoAni. None of their works that I enjoyed were ever...forgettable even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as others did. It really pains me to think about how many of the people who brought such happiness and such emotions into my life won’t be able to experience the same things anymore. It pains me to think about the innocence in creating such works that change the lives of people to be met with such heartbreak. It pains to think about it and I hate to think about it. But I still will, because in the end, KyoAni’s works have so much rewatch value, they are things that have touched my heart and that I would definitely watch again. So, even if things may not ever be the same again, the thought that KyoAni is already doing their best to stand up again, I want to be more positive about things too and cheer them on and support them. I honestly don’t know how to end this, but I guess I just really wanted to thank all the people who worked so hard on these works that made my memories so precious to me even today. Thank you.