Miscellaneous short anime reviews

I've been ill so I had a lot of time to watch anime. I'm not going into a full review, but just a short overview of each and what I thought about them.

Kaichō wa Maid-sama!
A shojo anime adaption about the Student Council president of a former all-boys school, Misaki, who has to work in a Maid Café. Being ashamed she tries to keep it a secret, but one day the popular student Usui sees her at work.
Misaki shows some development towards not hating all men and accepting her job a bit more. Usui on the other hand is a bit too extreme for my liking: not only is he good-looking, popular, respected and good in virtually everything, but he also gets rather jealous and possessive of Misuki (and is forgiven no matter what he does). But he can actually be kinda sweet at times. Also the story is taking place in different locations, the illustrations are nicely done and the side characters are given a little attention, too (though probably not as much as in the manga). And yes I admit, the maid costumes are cute, and the last scene... d'aww.
So all in all I quite liked it.
TV Tropes
Wikipedia


Special A
Another shojo, actually rather similar to Maid-Sama, in my opinion: Hikari is also a girl from a poor family, there's the good-looking top student Kei as her rival and she's just as oblivious to his obvious crush on her. They are both part of class "Special A", the best seven students of this school for rich people, and she tries to beat him at something (anything) since they were kids - in vain.
While Kei maybe is a little more sympathetic than Usui, Hikari is maybe a little less sympathetic than Misaki. I also kinda liked Ryuu, shame his character didn't get more time. Also at the end a lot of threads seemed to still be untied, it felt like something was missing.
Overall I think I liked Maid-Sama a little better.
TV Tropes
Wikipedia


Ouran High School Host Club
Well, this one is a bit hard to describe. I guess it could be shojo, in a way, but mostly it's a parody. It's again about a poor student at a school for the super rich. Haruhi accidently breaks an expensive vase belonging to the school's "Host Club" and has to work it off disguised as a boy.
This is more funny than romantic, though it has its moments. I also liked the picture of Kyoya starting to paint outside of the frame. The anime mimics a lot of characters and events you might be familiar with from other series (so you shouldn't watch it as your first or you won't get the jokes and references). One character for example extremely resembles Momiji from Fruits Basket and the Zuka Club have a manic laugh just like Kodachi Kuno from Ranma 1/2, all with the blue-black rose pedals. Also there's a great "Alice in Wonderland" episode and then there's the twins... It's a lot of fun to watch, but the ending feels a bit "unfinished", as if there was meant to be a second season.
Anyway, I can only recommend this one; it's not your typical anime for girls.
TV Tropes
Wikipedia


Kimi Ni Todoke
Another shojo, as sweet as it can get. Sawako is feared and avoided by everyone because she resembles a girl from a horror movie. The isolation has made her somewhat socially inexperienced. In comes popular student Shota (who has a secret crush on her) and with his support she gains friends. The second season is still ongoing, by the way.
The drawing style takes some getting used to, but the story progresses naturally. It's got everything belonging to school life: the time spent with friends, bitchy girls from another classes, the feeling at parties when your crush is there, etc.
I liked this one because it reminded me of my youth, the time when I got together with my first boyfriend.
TV Tropes
Wikipedia


Gakuen Heaven
Keita changes to a school for gifted people - he doesn't quite know why because he's nothing special. The anime follows him settling into the new school.
It seems the anime is a lot tamer than the game and manga, so there's actually no juicy "boy love" scenes and just one kiss - hardly enough to even call it shonen ai. The plot isn't that exciting (probably because they took a dating simulation game and left out the dating) and neither are the characters interesting - I confused most of them for at least half the series. But at the end of every episode there's "Ham-Ham Heaven" with the main characters as cute little hamsters. Since they took out the sexiness, maybe they just should have done it all in hamsters...
I was a bit disappointed with this one.
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Wikipedia
Read more on this article...

review: Fruits Basket

This is another one of the mangas I read online and then went to buy for myself in "analog" format (like Death Note).
There is an "Ultimate Edition" released by Tokyopop USA that has two volumes in one book and bonus material. I like those, they take up less room on the shelfes. Unfortunately the third one seems to be sold out - if you find one at a reasonable price, please tell me!

Rating: 5/5
Volumes: 23 (26 anime episodes)
Mature content: emotional and physical abuse (but only little blood is seen)
Genre: Shojo

There's a story about the twelve Chinese zodiacs: Once upon a time "God" (or the Jade Emperor in other versions) called the animals for a banquet. They came and had a good time, and those who attended became the zodiacs: the rat/mouse, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the ram/goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. The cat was invited, too, but the rat deceived it, so the cat missed the meeting and is not a part of the zodiac.

Fruits Basket (short: Furuba) is a shojo manga. It's about the girl Tohru Honda. Since her mother died in a car crash she lives in a tent. But then she is discovered by her classmate Yuki Sohma and invited to live with them (he lives with a cousin and they both fail at housework). It turns out that some members of the Sohma family carry a curse: they turn into one of the zodiac animals (including the cat) when hugged by a member of the opposite sex or when being stressed or weak. One after the other Tohru gets to meet all of the "zodiacs" and grows quite attached to some of them. But shape changing isn't the biggest problem that comes with the curse...



The biggest downside of this manga is once again the female lead. I don't know why these kinds of girls are so popular in manga and anime. Tohru is as empty-headed and uninteresting as it gets (even worse in the anime than in the manga), but everyone adores her because she's "cute" and "nice" or something like that. The most intelligent things she's saying is stuff she learned from her late mum, other than that she's mostly just agreeing or saying sorry.
Another strange thing about Fruits Basket is Akito, who is supposed to be the "God" out of the Zodiac legend. Head of family or not, how the zodiacs are treated by him is out of it. In every normal community the police would be called on him. It's not only mindgames, he imprisons them, and abuses them psychologically and physically, quite often ending one of the zodiac up in hospital, and even taking out an eye. But still everyone loves him. There's a major spoiler in the end (in the manga) that I won't give away here, but that doesn't make it any better. I have zero sympathy for that person and I still think he's one of the worst villains and gets off with an undeserved happy end.
Oh, and literally everyone in this story has issues. And most of the parents shouldn't have had kids.



The rest is awesome though. It gets rather angsty at times and is more bittersweet that you'd expect from a shojo. It will probably make you feel glad you were born into your family though and not the Sohma's.

There are many characters, but they are introduced at a pace that's not overstraining.
My favourite characters are Hanajima (one of Tohru's best friend, dressing in Gothic Lolita style and able to sense "waves"), Hatsuharu (the ox) and Rin Sohma (the horse) - I love their Goth/Punk style of clothing - Hatori (the dragon) and Kazuma (who adopted Kyo when he was little). But most of all the cat zodiac Kyo - after all I love cats (and hate leek). He also very much reminds me of someone I know.



The chibis are extremely simple, but after getting some used to it, that's fine.
Everyone has a kind of symbol assigned to them, for the zodiacs it's their animal of course, Tohru a onigiri (riceball), etc. It helps recognizing them and their speech bubbles.
And the animal forms of the zodiacs are just too cute!


I would recommend to read the manga instead of watching the anime. Not only is the anime missing out some of the most interesting characters, the end is also quite different and has a very unfinished feel to it.


Links
Wikipedia Article
TV Tropes Read more on this article...

review: Bleach

Somehow I got into Bleach. Found the anime somewhere on the web and decided to start watching it - without knowing how insanely many episodes there are.

For those who don't know it: Bleach is a shonen (= for boys) manga series. It started 10 years ago and developed into a huge merchandising, with anime, movies, video games and apparently even several rock musicals. Creator Tite Kubo recently announced that he's about half way through the story, so there's 10 more years to come.

Rating: 5/5
Volumes: 48 (and many more to come)
Mature content: some fights get a little bloody, in the manga more so than in the anime
Genre: Shonen

The story revolves around Ichigo Kurosaki, a teenager who can see ghosts. One day a Hollow (a kind of evil monster ghost) is after him and his family, there's a fight and the Shinigami (or Soul Reaper, a kind of Grim Reaper) who was supposed to kill the Hollow is wounded and transfers her powers to him, so the Hollow can be killed. After that Ichigo, now a "Substitute Shinigami", starts to get to know a whole new world, and gets caught up in a huge Shinigami treachery/Putsch/war.


So what do I like, what do I dislike (warning: this might contain some spoilers).

Cons:
- It's long. Really long. Really, really long. And not all of it is interesting. Some fights take way too long, stretching over several chapters/episodes. It is shonen, I'm aware, but sometimes it's just too much.
- Speaking of too much: the way certain people gain more power, again and again and again just seems ridiculous. Oh, and please - just kill Aizen already.
- Some of the characters right out annoy me. Mainly Orihime Inoue. She's one of those female manga characters you find everywhere: huge tits, not very bright, naive and more or less useless - but even so greatly liked by all other characters in the story. If you'd cut together the scenes in the anime in which she goes "Kurosaki-kun...", standing on the side, hands clutched together in front of her huge breasts and tears in her wide eyes I bet you'd get several hours of material.
- Since it's so long it's really hard to catch up when you've discovered it later. It took me a few months just to watch the anime episodes.

Pros:
- Unfortunately in many (most of those I read or seen, maybe with the exception of the josei ones) mangas or animes the female characters seem to belong to one of two groups: they either have huge breasts, are generally stupid and in need of help or they have small breasts, are generally stupid and aggressive. The women in Bleach are different (well, most of them). One of the main female characters, Rukia, while being rather small and sometimes found in a "damsel in distress" situation, is a person to be taken seriously, in battle and outside. Actually some of the strongest fighters are female, Yoruichi being one of them. She's one of my favourites, she really kicks ass. And then there's Unohana: she's never seen fighting, being the Captain of a unit of healers, but everyone (including the strongest warriors, good and bad) shows a great deal of respect to her, sometimes even fear.
- It's not really black and white. The antagonists of the beginning become friends of Ichigo. Some of the "bad guys" are given a back story, and with it sympathy. I'm pretty sure that some of those, like Ulquiorra or Grimmjow, are the most loved among fans (and their deaths much mourned). Some of the "good guys" seem to be rather unpleasant characters. If I had to choose between being a prisoner of Mayuri ("good guy") or Ulquiorra I'm not sure the good side would get my vote... Sometimes it seems like people just happen to be on one side or the other, more by chance than by character.
- In addition to the characters being really well designed also the relationshsips between them are great. Of course the Ichigo/Rukia/Renji trio is awesome with their friendship (or love), trust and humour. There are lots of other deep relationships, like Urahara and Yoruichi (one of my favourite couples), Ikkaku and Yumichika or Kyōraku and Ukitake. Or the relationships the Vice Captains have with their Captain. Not all have been explored to the same amount and much is left in secret or unsaid. For example it is never mentioned that Urahara and Yoruichi are in fact a couple - but it's generally assumed by people. I do like that, in a way. It's very unspectacular and not "in your face". At the same time I know it's very clever, because everyone can interpret things to their liking.
- It's funny (specially the omake/extras).
- The anime has some really good filler arcs.
- I admit there's some nice eye candy and fanservice for the girls.

That's it for my review of Bleach. I will leave you with a few useful links.
And in the comment section I will collect a few fanfiction stories that I like. Yeah, somehow I got into that, too... Most will have mature content, just so you've been warned. Feel free to add your own recommendations.

Links
Wikipedia
TV Tropes site on Bleach
Bleach Wiki
Group on deviantART dedicated to the better fanart
Journal with theories and discussions on Bleach Read more on this article...

"If you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong."

I've been into the anime Bleach the last few months and I just finished reading "I Shall Wear Midnight" by Terry Pratchett. The blog title is a quote from that book and it made me think.
I have spend my time over christmas and New Year at my parents, doing pretty much nothing, except reading, watching some TV or DVDs and "wasting time" on the internet. I have to go back to work on Monday and frankly I'm not really motivated.

After all this watching Bleach I feel kind of guilty about that. I feel that I should be motivated, that I should try hard to do my best and all that. While my co-workers are struggling to get under 10 hours of overtime, I hardly have any. I really don't have a lot of ambition. I don't want to "have a career", become a manager or something (though I'd like to earn more money some time of course).

People say "follow your dreams" and such. But what if I don't have any? I don't have a lot of ambitions in my job, I don't want to travel around the world, I don't have any great hobbies and I don't want to change the world. I always hated those question in job inteview: Where will you be in 3 (or sometimes 5) years? I really don't know what to say, but I feel like I ought to say something special.
Of course I have some things I'd like to do, some places I'd like to see, some things I'd like to change. But it's nothing big, nothing that would deserve a sentence like "follow your dreams".

A friend told me "many might have some dreams or goals, but many also settle for what they have" - settle. That sounds like a compromise. It has the taste of failure. Surely those people did something wrong, went wrong. They didn't try hard enough, they gave up. Their lives must not be worth much. They can't be happy like this, can they?

But didn't some wise man say "the journey is the destination"?

Let's face it: most of us are going to be average people, leading ordinary lives.
And there's nothing wrong with that. Read more on this article...

Can anybody find me somebody...?

Once more I'm in thoughts about myself, my identity and the social world around me.

I'm going to tell a little secret: I do have a minor crush on some celebrity (if he's famous enough to be called that).
I should be too old for something like this, too mature. I am not sure what it is about him, he's not some unearthly beauty. I am not even sure if there is a sexual component to it. I like the way he moves (alright, maybe there is something slightly sexual in that). And I really like his style. It's nothing fancy. But when I look around, there don't seem to be a lot of people like that.
I have met him twice now, and he's a very friendly and likeable person. Of course this crush is going nowhere, not only, but also because he's taken.
The point of me telling this? I caught myself thinking: "I wish there was someone like this in my life".

There's those moments when I feel like I'm not the only one of a kind.
When I met Michael, my favourite colleague at my old job, maybe I felt some similarity there, too. He liked Black Books, and he knew who Bright Eyes was. But we never got close, not even as friends.
I've watched a DVD by My Chemical Romance and saw the singer wave around a replica of Sting.

If three guys of that kind exist, there surely must be more?


When I think of someone, a possible friend, I only ever think of guys. Why?
I'm not sure. I just generally prefer the company of men. Though of course the possibility of sexual and romantic tension poses a risk. But maybe also my longing for some sexual and/or romantic relationship mixes in with it. I'm not sure. It's as it is.

I am aware that at my age the chance that a guy I like is already in a relationship is very high. If he is, friendship will be difficult. Even if he's not, I don't think there's much chance of him being interested in me, even less in a non-platonic way.
But I feel so lost and lonely. Just a casual friendship would be an improvement.

If not somebody to love then someone to talk to who understands. Someone who gets my jokes. Someone to go to concerts with.
Just somebody.


This blog post's title is taken from "Somebody to Love" by Queen. Read more on this article...

review: Suppli

Suppli is my second favourite josei manga so far. And sorry: I have no idea what the title means.
Apparently in Japan there's seven volumes so far and there's also a drama series (according to wikipedia). Tokyopop USA published three volumes, but then stopped. Fortunately they have started again and just this summer issued Volume 4 and 5 in one book.

Rating: 4/5
Volumes: 7 (so far?)
Mature content: some, but not very graphic
Genre: Josei

Minami Fuji is 27 years old and works at an advertisement office. After she splits up with her boyfriend of seven years, she realizes she has always spend her free time with her boyfriend and no one else and thus has no friends.
She tries to concentrate on working hard, and starts spending her free time with her coworkers. She doesn't know how to socialize well, but they take her up into their midst anyway. One of them is romantically interested in her, but Fuji meets a new colleague who has just been transferred and falls for him. They start having a casual relationship, and she starts getting attached to him - and then finds out he is involved with another coworker, a married woman she had adored because of her seeming ease to combine being a working woman with being a feminine one, too.



Maybe I like Suppli because I can identify with Fuji. She is so clumsy about her social life and absolutely "un-cute", she's not a very girly or sexy type: "I really do want to be kinder and happier and cuter but something inside of me gets in my way."
Her appearance is practical, made to fit her work life, not made to be attractive, and she has a hard time trying to look more feminine.

Apparently the series depicts the work life in Japan very well, and I have to say I'm glad I don't work there, it seems very stressful. It is interesting to read though, and maybe gives a little insight into a foreign culture and work life at an advertising company.
At the end of every book there's one page with explanations and cultural notes - a great idea and very helpful at times.



The drawings take some getting used to, in my opinion. Especially the men look so similar that it's sometimes hard to tell them apart.
Some double pages have a background connecting the panels, raindrops, leaves, starry sky, etc., which creates a really beautiful and dense atmosphere. Read more on this article...

review: Love Blog!!

No, this is not going to be a blog post about love, this is my first review of a josei manga. Which is called - you guessed it - "Love Blog!!", written and drawn by Akira Fujiwara.
Love Blog!! has three volumes, followed by a sequel called "Love Blog!! Next" (which I haven't read).

Rating: 3/5
Volumes: 3 (4 including the sequel), finished
Mature content: yes, some
Genre: Josei

Leading character is Eriko, a 23-year-old secretary with hobbies like long phone calls, going out and dancing, getting dressed up, shopping and drinking. Her best friend, cousin and room mate is annoyed by her constant ranting about childish men so he tells her to write it all into a blog. Thus every chapter ends with Eriko typing her thoughts about what happened into her blog.
She has set her mind on finding the perfect man, good-looking, nice and of course he has to be rich, too. In walks her new boss, who seems to be all that - except that he's got a girlfriend. So she drowns her sorrow in alcohol, has sex with her "childish" colleague who she knows has a big crush on her. On her way home she meets her boss who just split up with his jealous and controlling girlfriend and they have some amazing sex in the park.
Yes, that's how it starts.



Honestly Eriko is a bitch. She set her mind on getting together with her boss and his reunion with his girlfriend won't stop her, so she makes them break up. In the meantime she uses her colleague for sex and comfort (though she makes it clear she's out for the boss). Maybe some women can identify with her. I can't.
After the first book I gave it another chance. The second volume gets a little better as some conflicts arise when her gay cousin rebuffs her "femme fatale" best friend and her boss/boyfriends ex turns into a stalker.



The best and deepest characters in this series are the male ones, though her "perfect" boss Kai to a lesser extend than her supposedly childish colleague Azumi and her gay cousin Masami. All women are extremely dislikable.
In spite of all that it's readable, there aren't ridiculously many sex scenes and there's actually a plot. And it's only three volumes anyway. Cliffhangers at the end of each volume help continuing, too.
If you like "Sex and the City", you might like this manga, too. Read more on this article...