SAO Thoughts on The Setting

So this past week I watched Sword Art Online, and very much enjoyed it. It's been a while since I've watched a newer anime and wanted to finish it. But this is not a review of the anime itself, but rather looking at whether or not setting it inside of a video game was the most effective way to do it. Not really intended to do any bashing just something I've thought a little about.

So in case you don't know,  Sword Art Online is an anime in which people begin by playing a video game called Sword Art Online, (SAO) and I forget what it's officially called but they play with this thing that goes on your head, and it intercepts all the messages your brain sends to your body and translates it to your in game character. Allowing you to be totally and completely absorbed into the game. However after the release of the game it is discovered that the game and Nervegear (the system) have been tampered with. Making it impossible to log out, and if the Nervegear is taken off forcibly you will die, and if you die in the game you die in real life.
This is certainly a very different setting, but is it more effective putting it in a video game? Or would it have been more effective to just make it being real life?
The negative of putting it inside a video game is that it sometimes can take away from the ability to take situations seriously. For instance when Asuna is "cooking" and she is cutting up the food and she isn't actually doing any cooking. Also when they make references to video game lingo and it just sort of takes you out of the moment and definitely detracts some from the overall feel of the series. It almost felt to me like they were breaking the 3rd wall when they reminded us that they where in fact in a video game.
However I find that there are more positives, most importantly is that the fact that these people truly had no idea what they were getting into and are such hopeless victims in the situation, when people die or are close to dying there is a little extra "umph" behind it that wouldn't be there otherwise. The only way you could have the same plot without putting it in a video game would be to do a hunger games type thing, but even then I feel that there is a little bit less feeling of victims. Because the thing about the video game is that no matter how awesome you may be, once your hitpoints start going down to 0 there is no amount of willpower or anything that can make a difference. One other bonus is that most of us anime watchers can relate in some way because a very large portion of us are gamers in some respect of another.
All in all I do feel that it is a positive, it makes you really feel for the players and how helpless they are, even if it takes you out of the moment occasionally.
Manere sitientem amicis meis

One Piece 697 Law's serving Heads

Naruto 618 Four Hokages assembled

I never expected to see Naruto's dad reanimated

Bleach 525 Crazy

Mushi-Shi

This anime is set in a world very much like our own, the one main difference being that in their world there are things called Mushi. Mushi are creatures akin to spirits or ghosts, very few people can see these strange creatures and just as few know of their existence. One such person is Ginko, a Mushi master. Ginko travels around the country collecting knowledge about Mushi as well as taking care of troublesome Mushi. The animation is top notch and to be honest I can't recall any time when the animation didn't impress me. Another thing to note about the animation is that all of the special effects and stuff are hand drawn. That alone sounds awesome but when we start talking about 30 to 35 frames per second it gets kind of ridiculous And awesome. Now we can't talk about Mushi-Shi without talking about the sound track, which was brilliant. It set the tone perfectly and there was a new track every episode, similar to bartender where there was a new track every time he made a new drink. Eventhough I really liked this anime I can't claim it to be perfect. In fact it was far from perfect, for everything that Artland did right, something else was left out. A major gripe that many people, including me, have about this anime is its obvious lack of plot. In 26 episodes not a hint of a plot is to be found, sure it's nice for the first couple episodes but after a while, it gets kinda boring. Sure its cool meeting new Mushi and seeing what Ginko does to solve the problem (if he does, sometimes he leaves after doing absolutely nothing about the Mushi he initially stopped to take care of) but without any main plot there isn't any real reason for people to come back week after week. Now that's not saying people shouldn't watch this anime, in fact I strongly suggest it to people who don't mind a lack of plot and just want to see something different. Although I caution people not to take off more than one or two episodes at a time, simply because the lack of plot makes it hard to marathon Mushi-Shi and leaves you wondering why you marathoned it in the first place. Overall Mushi-Shi is a great anime that suffers from some pretty obvious flaws, but if you can look past those flaws and remember to pace yourself while watching it, than you are in for a rare and unique treat that normally isn't seen in the anime community.

Welcome to The NHK

I was somewhat nervous to start watching this anime because I knew enough about its plot  to know that it was a very dark anime that focused on some very dark and serious things. Such as suicide cults and addiction to online mmorpg games. My fear was that the seriousness of the subjects they focused on would overshadow any jokes, which would make for a dark and depressing anime void of any comedy. I also was worried that they would oversimplify or play down the seriousness of the subject matter that was being addressed. Basically I was nervous that the dark content in the anime would sap any comedy out of the anime making it a boring and depressing show. Or if that didn't happen I thought that they would put in way to much comedy, effectively ruining any attempt at a serious tone. These were just my fears though, and once I saw this show I immediately realized that my fears had no basis. Welcome to the NHK does a really nice job of mixing comedy and serious real would problems that most people, at least to an extent, can relate to. I   guess what I'm trying to say is if you had fears that were the same or similar to my own regarding Welcome to the NHK, there is nothing to worry about. It is a fantastic blend of comedy and real life problems that no anime fan should miss. So check it out and post a comment below telling me what you think. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Berserk Movie Number Three

I'm personally not a fan of Berserk, but my two buddies are so here is the trailer to the new movie

Sankarea 35

Good thing this was out I was about to freak out

Sankarea 34

What is going to happen to her? Or rather Furuya

Wow we made it to 10,000

Hey anime and manga fans thanks for checking out our site. We had this thing up for just over a year and it's was a surprise to us that we even were able to get this many views. Here's hope that we will continue to grow larger and keep a steady fan base.

Sankarea Chapter 35 is Out!

This might be the last chapter released for quite some time since the current translator group has no plans to continue releasing this manga. So this is for sure one of the last updates and might actually be the last update, at least until another translation group starts translating this manga. So I guess the point of this post is to let people (who don't already know) about the up and coming dry spell in terms of releases for Sankarea. We can hope that it will start up soon, but until that happens all we can do is find other things to read/watch.

Note: the new scan group is Vortex so no idea if they will continue or not.

Berserk: Descent

As some of you may already know the final movie in the Golden Age trilogy, Berserk: Descent, will begin airing in Japan on the first of February (2013). Descent will take us through the events leading up to the Eclipse as well, starting with the rescue of Griffith and (most likely) ending around the same place that the original anime ended; which was the end of the Eclipse Festival. It is also possible that it could end as Gatts sets out on his epic journey of revenge, which would be a EPIC place to stop. The reason I think that it would end after Gatts kills the giant dragon thing is because that is technically the end of the Golden Age Arc, which just so happens to be the name of the trilogy. So it makes sense for the anime to end where the actual arc ended in the manga. And to be honest, I would be extremely disappointed if the anime ends without showing what happened to Casca, the birth of Gatts' child and Gatts fighting with Dragon Slayer (the huge ass sword that wrecks everything). If those things are left out it would be like a slap in the face to the manga fans. Without those scenes the Berserk story looses a major driving point that still persists in the current chapters of the manga: WHAT THE FUCK DOES GATTS DO WITH CASCA? This question basically becomes a arc of its own; so if the anime wants to do the story justice it needs to show Casca after the eclipse, as well as the birth of Casca and Gatts' child. These are key elements that persist throughout the story, so including them in the anime is a must. As to why  Dragon Slayer needs to be shown...ITS A GIANT SWORD NAMED DRAGON SLAYER  WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO SEE IT? So yeah it doesn't really need to be included in Descent, but it would be epic if it was. Essentially what i'm trying to say is that Berserk: Descent can't end where the original anime ended. I suppose it's possible for the next movie to show the aftermath of the eclipse, but that would be really dumb because those scenes are part of the Golden Age arc, which just so happens to also be the name of the first trilogy. If it seems like I'm being harsh or like I have my expectations set far to high, its because I don't want this anime screwing up in the exact same place as the original anime. Also, since there are going to be more movies following Berserk: Descent, I want Descent to nicely wrap up the Golden Age Arc so the next anime can focus on Gatts as the Black Swordsman and not have to worry about tying together any loose strings. But before start to look down the road toward the future the Berserk anime, we need to focus on the anime that will make or break Berserk; well at least on the big screen. And it just so happens that Berserk: Descent is about to be released in Japan, until that happens all we can do is wait.

One Piece 696 Happy Party

Naruto 617 look at that bird sore

Brandons Thoughts: Dub vs Sub

 Usually I prefer to watch anime subbed simply because I have little to no faith in English voice actors. Simply put in my opinion most English voice actors suck, I said most because there are some rare examples where English dubbed is better than the subbed. They are better for reasons like the direct translation doesn't really make sense and the studio doing the dubbing makes the anime their own, meaning they add things that only make sense in English. Basically the studio doesn't simply take the Japanese script and say it in English. Also the actors make it look like the character they are playing is meant for them, not for a different actor. A major pet peeve of mine is when actors seem like they stepped into their role but didn't bother trying to add any real emotion to their acting. When a character is happy the voice actor should sound happy or when something epic happens, their voice should add to the epicness of the scene. When that happens I feel like a dubbed anime blows the subbed version out of the water, sadly this rarely ever happens. One example would be High School of the Dead. The actors did their job and had fun doing it, which made the anime seem more fun overall. They also throw in western jokes and add the word fuck to every sentence, which makes everything more fun. Sadly this is one of the few anime that manages to do that. Others try but when voice acting and emotion clash it leaves a bad taste in my mouth which is why I generally stick with the subbed version of a anime. I don't know if anyone else feels this way or if I managed to piss of a lot of people, either way I would love to hear your views on the issue of subbed vs dubbed so if you've got the time drop a comment below so I can see what you think.

Robin...very talkative this episode

quip

One Piece ep 579

Everyone is happy but Usopp

OH NO HER LEG!!

Fairy Tail 315:Kid's heads are huge

One Piece 695 Dead Slience funny

Fairy Tail 314: Simon had a sister?!?!

Naruto 616 Nice Job Naruto

Bleach 523 Retsu Unohana creepy....yes

WE ARE OVER 9000!!!!!!!!

Manga Suggestion: Gantz

Gantz is a manga I would recommend for people out there who are looking for a manga to read and prefer something a little more deep and profound. It is quite gruesome at times so I would strongly urge people to be wary when reading this, since it is not for the faint of heart. While this manga (seems) to be reaching a ending, the 300+ chapters that were required to reach the ending  take the reader through a complex and heart wrenching (also heart warming at times) series of twists and turns. I don't want to go into detail about the plot for fear of spoilers, but either way if you're looking for a good manga with a decent amount of chapters and an awesome plot, than Gantz is the one for you. Again I want to stress that only the strong of heart should read this, also keep it in mind that the author has no problems spending a few chapters to give character background only to kill the character off shortly later. So yeah that's all for me, until next time tell your friends about us (maybe) and don't forget to read more manga.

Here's a little example of the gruesomeness of this manga, the character here is some one who has been with us for some time yet tragically dies saving her love from a jet of acid. ( There are two people if you can't tell.)

Girl the Wild's Chapter 72 Recap

This chapter warped up the fight with the gangsters, it also gave us a glimps of things to come. With Queen leaving school there is no need for Song to participate in the Wilds tournament, since Queen chose to fight him. To be honest another possibility is Song gets a default win against Queen making him the champ of the Wilds tournament. Both routs could be very interesting or could fail miserably  it depends on how the author tries to spin whichever one he chooses. On another note, since So Moon Young lost her rights to practice in the gym she probably won't be able to teach Song anymore. He could still learn Tiquando from DalDal, but I can't see her being a very good teacher. We have a vague outline of things to come but nothing concrete, with that in mind I realize that there is only one thing left to do...Wait for more releases!!!! Until then check out some new manga or anime, also this blog has some decent suggestions for people who can't decide what to read next. So check that out, and never stop reading manga!

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Ep 1 First-look

O.k when I saw this I was kind of disappoint that the studio did not go with a different art style that I saw in one of the Maoyuu Maou Yuusha mangas. I did get past that when I was actually watching it. I thought that the art was good even though it was not the one that I wanted and it was interesting to watch.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Ep 1

First episode out first-look coming soon

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Chapter 21

Come on she actually got corrupted I was hoping that she was just acting

One Piece Color Walk 2 Review

Yar, here be the cover.

Today a product review hits the bloggoshpere (o be quiet about spelling) and the product in question is One Piece Color Walk 2. Which was released in America at the beginning of last year. Before getting to my specific thoughts on it the basic info of what it contains will come first, just in case you don't really know what a color walk is. I think that this is the only one to be released in English by the way, but I could be wrong. So in this Color Walk there are mainly color spreads and some panels in color from the manga dating primarily between chapters 100 and 175. which starts in Arlong park and ends during the Arabasta arc. All of the big color spreads have a little comment from Oda following them, for instance "I want to eat hot dogs cut to look like octopuses too... I wonder what the people of the past used that giant telescope to-I want to eat hot dogs!" yes, that is an actual quote, very Oda. And at the very end there are some "Selections from Mr. Oda's Planning sketches" just non-One Piece stuff, and an interview between Oda and a old time manga artist. While I'm certainly not the most qualified person to give an opinion I feel like it wouldn't be much of a review if I didn't. So the thing to keep in mind with this is not to expect it to be something it isn't. This is through and through a collectors item. The back says that it is $20(american) which isn't particularly cheap. But if you are a big fan and the type of person who wants to have collector type stuff, then I would say that this is going to be a really good buy. The book is not made out of cheap paper, it isn't going to get bent and/or ripped easily so as long as you are not straight up abusing it, it should stay in very good condition for a very long time. And with the not cheap paper, it just sorta feels good to hold in your hands, and all of the big color spreads are definitely cool. But on the other hand, it isn't like you can put any of them up on your wall or anything, and you can so easily gain access to the color spreads that it isn't that big a deal to really have it in a book unless you are a collector. So in short, it is a very well made book that is undeniably cool. But if you are not a big One Piece fan you would probably do better to just google image the color spreads and make them your background or something.

manere sitientem amicis meis

Kenichi 504

Miu's rippling fire

Post Humpday AMV

So this week is a bit delayed, so sue me. This AMV is just a general look back at Anime's from 2012. Not much but appropriate seeing as well, is no longer 2012. This is not from the creator's channel. And couldn't find it so once again, sue me. :P oh well.

Also just as an FYI, Chris will be gone to San Diego for the next couple weeks so he will not be able to post while there, and Brandon's computer pretty much died. So there will be less content than usual for the next couple weeks. Sorry about that, I'll try and pick up some of the slack.

Manere sitientem amicis meis 

Claymore 134 Chapter UFR.

So Chapter 134. As far as I can see there was lot's and lot's of fighting. Which is good and bad, the bad part about a shorter chapter that is almost exclusively fighting like this is that in Claymore it can be very hard to tell exactly what is going on. At least I think so, as opposed to in One Piece for instance where all the attacks are named so you can pretty much tell exactly what is going on. It results in slower moving at times but I'm kinda a slow guy. But over all I would say that it is a positive because something is actually happening. From what I can tell the most important thing at the end is that Prisilla (or however the poop it's spelled) is in some potential trouble. I very much doubt that she would go down like that, not to mention disappointed, because she has been built up so much that dying now would really be pretty anti-climatic. Also Clare hasn't really fought her, you don't set up a rivalry for that long and not have them face off. Clare may not be the one to finally kill her, but there has to be a big fight between them if nothing else. However on the good side it looks like to keep the fusion thing from happening it is going to force the Claymore's hand in stepping in hardcore. So definitely looks like this is shaping up good. 

Manere sitientem amicis meis.

Love Tyrant Chapter 3

Look at that killing intent make a 180 degree turn

Maoyū Maō Yūsha Anime airing tomorrow!!!!!!

Heaven's Lost Property Movie

Well I'm excited for this I can't wait to watch this dubbed and this is making me excited for the third season.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!