Anime Note -- Boku no Pico, Kodomo no Jikan, and Darker Than Black

just watched Boku no Pico, and this is all i have to say about it:

uh, yeahhh. o_O

anyways! i should also note that i watched Shiki episode 6, and i'm now thoroughly interested in watching the whole series. :> i'm also restarting on watching Kodomo no Jikan, which i had previously dropped from lack of interest. but now i'm watching it, and i'm on episode 3. i WILL watch that show, and finish it! :o

i want to start watching Darker Than Black again, but i totally forgot everything about the story, despite the fact that i only watched it like a month ago xP i guess i forget easily. so, i'll have to read a little recap or something before i watch episode 6... i just tried to watch it, but i was totally lost at the beginning ^o^; but i'm determined to watch the whole series eventually. yoshh!

Manga Update -- Liar Game, Reset, Jisatsu Circle

i don't feel like writing much right now, but i hope to do some more complete reviews of these 3 titles at some point... i'd rather be concise with words, and just include some images to make up for it xP

i'm on chapter 138 of Liar Game. i only stopped reading because the series is ongoing, and there's no more available to read :X i'm addicted to that series, hehe. i guess i could go ahead and watch the drama to catch up with where i'm at now... i'll probably be disappointed though <(`o`;)> anyways, here's a few images from the Liar Game manga:

i absolutely HATE Yokoya! before this page, i liked him-- but as soon as he killed those mice, my allegiance faltered.

this panel actually makes sense... and in fact, the game does turn out to be pretty intense! but i just found it to be funny out-of-context :>

having exhausted what is available for me to read for Liar Game, i decided to check out some other series in the same genre of "high-stakes games"-- an area previously unexplored by me! :o i think that i'll actually give a chance to One-Outs, Bus Gamer, Kaiji, and Akagi-- all of which did not appeal to me before Liar Game, even though i had heard of them.

last night, i didn't sleep at all. instead, i read Jisatsu Sakuru/Jisatsu Circle/Suicide Circle/Suicide Club! it was quite good. i also read another 6-chapter one-shot called Reset. it was... interesting. o_O sorta confusing, and not really my usual genre. but it was good-- good art, good characters (considering the character development limitations of a one-shot), good quotes... here is an out-of-context panel that i found to be especially amusing:

oh! good thing you have that!

and actually, this is sorta how i felt after reading all this psychological seinen manga all night:

i believe they call that a MINDFUCK.

note about the above image: in the girl's case, it was kind of a more LITERAL mind-rape. O_O read the manga to find out what i mean <_<; (i didn't want to see that.)

so! that's all for now folks~

Liar Game and Ghost Stories

alright, so i'm now currently on Liar Game chapter 57, but i'm still on episode 4 of the drama. and i'm pleasantly surprised! :D i didn't think i would like Liar Game, but now i'm loving it and i can't stop reading!! :o it's really good. i managed to get over my initial dislike for the art style. it's still kinda weird at points if i think about it... for one thing, it seems that people have the ability to dislocate their jaws when they're really shocked or laughing:

they all seem to have hinged jaws like snakes...

but the art style really isn't that bad. at the beginning, i hated the way that the main character Akiyama looked, but now he reminds me of L from Death Note. and that's a good thing. 

anyways, i'm loving this series. the story is good. probably the best thing about it is that it does a Thirty Xanatos Pile-Up, but it actually pulls it off WELL. the characters are a well-balanced crew of smart guys and idiots-- this makes the plans all work out well, and it doesn't feel like some stupid shonen manga where every new character is a "fearsome rival", more intense than the last. using a combination of genius swindlers and petty liars, the Liar Game Tournament progresses in the most interesting way. this series is highly intellectual 8^D

speaking of "highly intellectual" anime series, Ghost Stories is NOT one of those! I saw a clip of it on YouTube and immediately decided i had to watch the show. xD it's hilarious! :D i'm watching the English dub, which is unusual for me... but it's because the English dub is very different from the original on purpose. basically, the Japanese show got turned into an Abridged series when they dubbed it, haha. it's amazing xD i'm only just finishing episode 2, though. but i'm loving it ;3 
well, that's all for now. will post more later~

Anime signature

i made this little thing for my account on anime-planet. it has representations from 14 of my favorite anime/manga :D check it out:

can you figure out what the 14 series are~? >:3 i'll leave the answers in a comment. :>

Shi Ki -- Episodes 4 and 5 (plus! Serial Experiments Lain)

so recently i've been watching the Liar Game drama and also reading the manga. I read a section of the manga, then watch the corresponding episode, being careful not to get ahead in the drama. 

i've continued watching Monster with my best friend, and we are up to episode 46 (out of 74)! this is right around the time where my favorite character, Grimmer A.K.A The Magnificent Steiner, is introduced. :] epic stuff.

also, i started watching Serial Experiments Lain. i had actually already seen the whole thing, but i watched it back in the late 1990s when it first came out. i couldn't have been more than 6 years old, though, so i didn't really understand or remember anything... i remembered what Lain looked like, her bear kigurumi (pajamas), and a few random scenes of wires and electronics from Lain's room.

i don't have all too much to say about SEL right now, because i'm just confused. it's a trippy show and i like the ideas behind it-- electrical internet signals mingling with the ones in people's brain synapses... but it's quite strange. i'm not really a fan of the art either... to be specific, i don't like how the artist draws eyes and middle-aged men. but whatever :P i'll write a review on the whole series once i finish it. for now, i shall discuss 2 more episodes of the Higurashi-ish show that i started a little while ago-- Shiki.

EPISODE 4

you know, i VERY much like the intro to this show. :D
so, i enjoyed this episode. it focuses on two main issues... one is that the blue-haired Yuuki kid from before (the one who was a jerk) is having hallucinations (or is he?) of the girl from the first episode, except now she has red eyes.

you should see the part where she breaks through... o_o

the rest of the episode focused on the main doctor dude, talking with his medical professional colleagues about how there's an epidemic going on. this episode brings the body count up to 19, which is fine by me 8^D yaaay death! speaking of which, the young daughter from the Kanemasa mansion goes on a little monologue about how wonderful and terrible death is... she's not creepy at all! :D
anyways, good episode. 8 out of 10? sounds good. there's some definite nightmare fuel in this episode, which i liked. and i appreciated the accurate medical talk; that definitely brought up the rating for this episode. it's like Dr. House but in anime form! xD

...maybe?

EPISODE 5

this episode showed that several of the more recent deaths happened to people who had just quit their jobs. now, does that mean that they died because they quit, or they quit because they somehow knew they were going to die? hmm.
and maaan, what a bummer! the blonde guy, Toru, died. i liked him D: it seems that ghost/vampire/phantom/zombie Shimizu had bitten him in the night, as Natsuno Yuuki thought. but i dunno, i'm confused... i feel like this show is making it clear that the vampires-next-door are to blame for all the deaths, but i sense something more than that.
oh, and that weird-looking, jealous Masao guy is back. he's all wangsty because nobody in his family loves him, waaah. well not really, but he's a little neglected maybe. i would feel sorry for him if he wasn't such a vapid idiot. he deserves what he gets :D

take that, wangst!

this episode really showcases what a jerk Masao is. and as each episode passes, i like Natsuno more and more! hooray for character development~ but it's too bad that some characters die off before they can develop at all :\ ah well~ it seems that death is not the end in this show. ;D overall episode rating: 6 out of 10? sure, let's go with that.

Kare no Satsujin Keikaku -- REVIEW

When I read the description for Kare no Satsujin Keikaku, I knew I had to read it. Being an aspiring seinen manga-ka, I had once drafted a story very similar in premise to this one-shot-- it was about a high school boy, happy with his life and quite "normal", who wanted to experience what it was like to kill someone. I had never heard of Kare no Satsujin Keikaku, although I had figured my idea wasn't completely original.

Anyways, I was very happy with this manga. It brought up some interesting questions-- what do killers want others to think of them after they have committed their crimes? and who can really say what a murderer's true motive was? The main character of this manga tries to avoid the media's would-be suspicions by living a happy life. He becomes determined not to be seen as a dark, loner kid who would be likely to commit murder.

Something I found interesting about this manga was how the main character wanted to truly experience killing a human being. After picking a complete stranger as his victim, he becomes close to her, observing her life without entering it. This was a peculiar thing for him to do, knowing that it may make it harder for him to carry out his plan. He notes how it becomes harder to kill someone the more you know them, but that's exactly what he wants.

As a reader, one becomes curious as to whether he will really do it or not. It's hard to tell if the story is leading up to a heartwarming ending... At points it seems like it-- the main character acknowledges himself as a "happy bastard", with many hobbies, good grades, and even a cute girlfriend... But then he goes on to say how none of that interferes with his true desire to experience killing someone. So, it's hard to know what will happen.

The suspense created is part of what makes this manga great, as I was not expecting to be so unsure of what was to come next in such a short story. (However, I would expect nothing less from the creator of other great series like Narutaru/Shadow Star and Bokurano. Mohiro Kitoh is a genius storyteller.) I was also quite happy with the other elements present, like the art and characters.

The only thing that could maybe have been improved would be the ending-- I liked it, but I know I would have gone about it differently. There was an attempt at continuity that I personally think should have been avoided. In one-shots like these, it seems best to avoid names and relations between most characters. I feel it would have been a little more relevant to the themes if the last character introduced was random and unnamed.

Overall, I would rate this one-shot a 9 out of 10. It's a great little read for anyone interested in the deeper subjects typically present in seinen manga.

---

AFTERWORD:

For the main character of this manga, it looks like things did not go according to keikaku...

Manga Update -- Liar Game and Deadman Wonderland

so i've started reading both Deadman Wonderland and Liar Game. at this point, i don't have much to say about either of them... but i wanted to use this post to track my progress x3 i only read the first chapter of DW but i'll read more soon.

as for Liar Game, i'm still on the first volume. see, i started watching the drama version of it, which is 11 episodes long. i'm on episode 2 of that. then i realized that Liar Game had been on my want-to-read list of manga for a long time, and i would probably enjoy the manga more if i read it BEFORE i saw the drama. so i halted my progress on the television version, and i'm now reading the book. :> 
so far, i can say that i don't especially like the art style. everyone has tiny mouths... well, except for the main character's old middle school teacher: 

i'm glad none of MY middle school teachers looked like this... o_O

and everyone has really pronounced lips and eyes. it feels like the artist was TRYING to make it a more realistic manga, but they just didn't know how. they try to make everyone look different, but they do it by making things a little too cartoon-y for my tastes. (once again, i learn that not everyone can be Naoki Urasawa...)
anyways, it's time to go back to reading~

Kuroshitsuji 2 A.K.A Monoshitsuji -- Episode 4

i really like the intro to this show. however, i liked the first-episode-only intro even better. Alois Trancy/Trancey is a living sex symbol, dude. xD also, i didn't realize this before, but Alois's triplet servants each have their hair parted a different way. one to the left, one to the right, and one has hair down the center of their face.

waitaminute... is this what all anime parents do to identify their children when they have multiples?

anyways, it's time to watch some more Kuroshitsuji season 2!

EPISODE 4
this episode was silly. but, well... it avoided being sillier than it had to be. it was an episode that occurred on a train full of various crazies-- you know, eccentric people. a train enthusiast, an archaeologist, a hypochondriac trio, a murderer-turned-priest, and a Japanese couple, among others. the Japanese couple was interesting, because it's sorta strange to see the show stereotyping its own creators xD the Japanese couple was ridiculously short, dressed traditionally, carried one of those furoshiki bags, in which the old man said he was carrying a family heirloom that turned out to be a sword. oh Japan, you're funny when you try to represent yourself how you think others see you. reminds me of Hetalia: Axis Powers.
anyways! crises piled up during the episode, leading to a feel-good moment of people deciding to work together by using their eclectic skills, yeahh! can we do it?! yes we can!! ...but uh, Sebastian simply said "that's all pretty cool guys but uhh i'm sufficient here so just take a seat and chill" (i'm paraphrasing; leave me alone!). so i was glad it wasn't so cliche by having everyone work together xP still, Sebastian was his ridiculously efficient self, which was silly and cliche as well. seriously... he throws a fork at a switch in order to reroute the train tracks. if all problems can be solved so easily, where's the suspense? where's the plot development?

i guess after watching Monster earlier, everything pales in comparison to Naoki Urasawa... ^_^; maybe it was a bad idea to watch Kuroshitsuji in this mood. as of now, i'd rate the episode a 5 out of 10. but whatever, it's a silly show. you know, i've never really known what genre to call Kuroshitsuji... under my "current anime that i'm watching" list, i have it marked under Shoujo/Josei... because obviously a show about little Victorian era boys in short shorts is targeted to girls/women.
but no, now i think i know what Kuroshitsuji really is! it is a spoof seinen. Kuroshitsuji makes fun of shows with character development and intertwining plots by stuffing crazy situations into only 20 minutes. it's like how "Yakitate! Japan" makes fun of shonen anime by having the main character trying to BECOME THE VERY BEST... at making bread.
Kuroshitsuji is good in many ways, but it will never be my favorite sort of anime. i just love PLOT so much, y'know? and realism, too. i like having these "chill" animes (that's how i always describe them) where i can watch for hours and just laugh or be interested without having to think too much... but i'll always return to my serious seinen stuff!
well, that's all for now, folks.

-Mei-

OTAKU

hi again! i just thought i'd post a random little quiz i did on Facebook... it's about anime, manga, and videogames. for anyone who doesn't know my tastes, this is a good introduction to the world of aniMEInga ;D read it if you're interested. love, Mei <3 P.S. basically anything mentioned in here is a recommendation. it's all good stuff. :3

---

1. What is your favorite anime and why?
okay get ready for this because it's gonna be my longest answer. xD
gahh i don't know, there's too many... >_<; i really can't choose only one, so i'll pick a few x3 i love Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, because the characters are adorably creepy and the story has a good moral about friendship and fate. it's so tragic and confusing, especially in the first season. but things get cleared up a bit, and there's plenty of "OOHHH I GET IT!" moments later on, which i love. i love an anime that makes you think and gets you hypothesizing about what will happen next... and in some cases, thinking "WTF JUST HAPPENED?" xD Umineko is sort of the sequel to Higurashi. i love it because it's freaking epic :D there's a LOT of characters, and yet they're all awesome. Umineko is ridiculously confusing, and i don't know if it will EVER make sense... but it doesn't matter. the fun is in the journey. there's so many mysteries to think about, alongside Meta-Battler x] i love the style of Umineko... the Victorian era dresses turned into witches garments, the black magic in Maria's Grimoire, the time shifts and resets... it's just all so great :D it's very different from Higurashi, but equally wonderful. i love the author Ryukishi_07, but my favorite creator has to be Naoki Urasawa, who made Monster and 20th Century Boys. Monster is another favorite anime of mine, because it's INTENSE. it has the most intertwined and intelligent storyline i have ever seen. it follows a rogue doctor seeking revenge >:3 the characters are all so unique... Urasawa created characters that can be recognized solely by their facial silhouettes. what an amazing artist and designer :D i love Monster because it is the type of anime that i would someday like to create.
those 3 series are the ones that take a lot of explaining xD my other favorites would be, let's see... Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, because it's the funniest thing EVER... tied with Excel Saga, which is a crackfest :D oh, and i have to throw in a few other favorites here: Welcome to the NHK (hilarious story about a hikikkomori, which i can totally relate to), Full Metal Panic (only mecha anime i've loved... and it's funny), Elfen Lied (naked psycho killer girl! plus, i cried at the ending), Eden of the East (original idea-- it's about terrorism and computers! :D ), Kuroshitsuji (i love the stlye and characters), Haibane Renmei (so symbolic and confusing), Hell Girl (a very "chill" anime that keeps you watching), and Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba&! (two hilarious slice-of-life series by the same author).
and as for manga, i love anything by Junji Ito-- like Uzumaki and Tomie-- because his illustrations are so ridiculous, yet they still manage to be terrifying. and i adore Shintaro Kago because his works are so vile and surreal xD

2. What is your least favorite anime and why?
SD Gundam. xD naah, well to be honest, actually, i don't have much of a least favorite. i dislike certain series not because of themselves, but because of the impressions they have left on others... for example, i hate how so many people assume that all animes are exactly like Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and Sailor Moon. and Naruto... although i dislike that for other reasons. it had its good parts, but it's such a sellout series with no intelligence whatsoever.

3. What is your favorite video game and why?
Shigesato Itoi is a master of everything!
and so i say... definitely Mother 3. i have never cried so much from any form of media. Mother 3 is seriously my obsession! i have played it a ton of times, made little clay figurines of it, made copious amounts of fanart, bought merchandise, forced others to play it, etc... xD the story is amazing, as well as the characters-- i never thought i could grow so close to little videogame sprites ;_; even just hearing certain songs ("Love Theme", "Unfounded Revenge", and "Sunflowers", among others) makes me wanna cry >_< style="font-weight: bold;">4. What is your least favorite video game and why?
there's actually a lot of games i really don't like. i'm not picky for anime, but i am for videogames. i generally don't like anything without a good storyline. i'm a big fan of the "games as art" movement... that's why i love indie games~ :D but yeah, i don't like things like Halo, Starcraft, Cortex Command, etc... actually, basically anything that my brother Matt plays >_>;

5. Have you ever not watched an anime just because the opening theme song was annoying?
nahh, i usually love anime openings. they get stuck in my head like no other! especially the themes from Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, Lucky Star, Detective Academy Q, Umineko, and Higurashi.

6. What anime are you currently watching?
i'm always watching TONS of anime series ^o^; i have a MS Word document listing them that is like 10 pages long, size 10 Calibri font... >_>; to shorten the list a bit, i'll say: Shi Ki (an ongoing series that reminds me a bit of Higurashi), Kuroshitsuji season 2 A.K.A Monoshitsuji (it's confusing but i love it), Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu, Trapeze, Sukisho, Nyan Koi, Excel Saga... there's really too many to shorten it -__-;
oh, and i just finished all 3 seasons of Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), with 26 episodes per season. hehe x3 i'm also re-watching Monster, with Kimi :3 and of course i am eagerly anticipating Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru, the 4th season of the When They Cry series. :>

7. What game are you currently playing?
hmm i'm sure there's a lot but i don't keep a list, as i do for anime... i just beat Mario Galaxy 2, and i'm working on getting all the extra stars. i'm planning on catching up on some DS games soon... Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Pokemon SoulSilver or HeartGold, etc... maybe play some more Retro Game Challenge and Puzzle Quest, and replay Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

8. Who is your favorite anime character of all time?
eek, tough one. i love Frederica Bernkastel, Lambdadelta, Maria Ushiromiya, Kanon (all from Umineko), Rika Furude, Rena Ryuguu, Irie-sensei (all from Higurashi), Excel, Ilpalazzo, the lolicon robot creator (all from Excel Saga), Kikuri, Ai Enma (both from Jigoku Shoujo), Satou (from Welcome to the NHK), and more... and i will always have a soft spot for L from Death Note and Gaara from Naruto... xD

9. Who is your favorite video game character of all time?
eek, another tough one! probably someone from Mother 3, though. Lucas, Claus, Duster, and Flint are all favorites. and i love all of the Chosen Four from EarthBound (Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo... and Mr. Saturn! xD ). and DCMC and the Runaway Five <3 style="font-weight: bold;">10. Who are your least favorite anime and video game characters?
TAKANO MIYO. i hated her in Higurashi! i was so happy at the end of season 2... xD and i laughed when i saw her tragic backstory, mwhahaha >:3 Takano is a biotcchhh. i kinda think Virgilia, from Umineko, is also... but i'm too confused about her still xP
i also hated a lot of Naruto characters... Sasuke is a whiny emo kid who mistakes logs for people (see Naruto the Abridged... xD ).

11. What characters would you never cosplay?
well, i wouldn't cosplay someone i didn't like, or that i hadn't seen what they were from. aside from that, i'm only limited by who i think i could get away with. i wouldn't cosplay someone i didn't "fit"... like someone tall or muscular xD

12. What characters would you really like to cosplay?
any of my favorite characters. i'm planning on cosplaying Rika Furude (woot i finally got something to use for chest binding!), Frederica Bernkastel (still need a blue wig...), and Ness (from EarthBound) this year at Youmacon 2010~! :D next year, maybe Maria Ushiromiya (with Kimi as my Sakutaro? :3 ) and Dr Irabu from Kuuchuu Buranko A.K.A Trapeze.
as for characters that are a little more out of my reach right now... i'd love to be Ai Enma from Hell Girl. and i think it'd be fun to do a more elaborate cosplay sometime, like Midna from Twilight Princess.

13. What is your favorite character to see cosplayed?
anyone from Higurashi or Umineko <3 style="font-weight: bold;">14. What is your strong point when cosplaying?
ehh i dunno xD i guess i'm good at staying in character when i want to...? as L, i sat for an hour crouching on a chair at a Death Note panel, and eating pocky... x3 and i'm good at knowing when i can't pull off a character-- for example, i wouldn't have been Ness if i didn't have short-ish hair at the time.

15. What is your weak point when cosplaying?
lack of resources. xD i need money! D: i don't have things i need to get my cosplays together... ;_;

16. Have you ever purchased/commissioned any costume?
no, but i'd like to :D i'm going to buy my Frederica Bernkastel dress soon, for 100 dollars :X

17. What is the most difficult cosplay you've ever done?
i haven't done anything difficult yet. i'm still at the beginning of my cosplay history x3 i was Ness last year, which i guess was the "most difficult" :P that one was a little stressful because my AwesomeNess set from the Fangamer store arrived the night before i was going to cosplay >_>; and i had to pay extra money to get it in time. but it was worth it. xD
currently i'm assembling some cosplays which are proving to be fairly difficult... but they'll be worth it too :3

18. Have you ever closet cosplayed?
uh... to Urban Dictionary! closet cosplay: "A costume made up of clothing that was purchased or found in your closet. Involves little to no alteration of the clothing."
so... yes! in 2007, i cosplayed L from Death Note. that was easy xD but i made sure it wasn't inaccurate, don't worry-- i'm not one of those lazy people that says they're "L" even though they are fat, wears glasses, not barefoot, not hunched over, not black hair, etc...xP i got up at 6 in the morning and showered, blow-dried my hair, did make-up, got dressed, and all that. and i tried to stay in character at Youmacon. i put in some effort ;P

19. Do you do group cosplay, or solo?
i've only done solo so far. but this year i'm going as at LEAST a cosplay duo (with Kimi!) :> hopefully more people will join in also, though. i think group cosplay is more fun.

20. Do you think that people should stay in character while cosplaying?
hmm... generally, yes. it depends on the situation though. for walking around and getting photos taken, it's important to be in character. but when talking with friends who are cosplaying all different series, that's sort of a surreal situation for the character to be in, to begin with xD it's more important to have fun than to be in character all the time :3

Monster

One of my all-time favorite series is an anime called Monster, created by Naoki Urasawa. it's a masterpiece! :D Urasawa is a legend. i only hope that 20th Century Boys will someday be made into an anime, because that's my favorite thing he's written~ and oh! i still have to read "Pluto", Urasawa's famed Astro Boy tribute, which even credits Osamu Tezuka as a posthumous creator.
Anyways, recently i have been re-watching Monster with my best friend, Kimi. (she's my bestie for estie. true otakuz4lyfe!!) she just left, and we are now on episode 34. this is the point where things get reaallly suspenseful. :D this arc is one of my favorite parts in the whole series. even though i've seen it before, i still feel the suspense and excitement when new discoveries are made in Dr. Tenma's investigation of the young sociopath, Johan Liebert... by the way, for a summary of the series, click the title. it'll take you to a website where you can watch the whole series.

so yeah, i just thought i would mention on here that i'm re-watching Monster, so i can post any new thoughts i have about it on the second time through. and i've been meaning to get some funny/interesting screenshots too. in fact, here is one that i just took:

see, this picture is interesting to me because i am a geek. i am a HUGE fan of Shigesato Itoi's MOTHER series, which includes the English-released game EarthBound. in episode 34, Dieter is totally wearing Ness's classic outfit. and with Dieter's orange hair, he looks like a cross between Ness and Claus, from Mother 3...

both images above are screenshots from Super Smash Brothers Brawl. psh, maybe that "brawling" is actually baby-making, and Ness and Lucas's colorswap of Claus got it on and... like, had Dieter, from Monster... and... okay well maybe it's more of a coincidence than a conspiracy. <_<; but it's interesting to me. *hmph~* and hey, EarthBound came out in 1995, and that episode of Monster takes place in 1996. ohmigosh!! :O

ANYWAYS... that's all i have to say for now. look forward to more Monster stuff ;D and actually, for more MOTHER stuff too, i'm sure. i can relate almost aannnything the MOTHER :D i'm obsessed with both Naoki Urasawa and Shigesato Itoi, hehe~

Kuroshitsuji 2 A.K.A Monoshitsuji -- Episodes 1 through 3

I watched all of Kuroshitsuji season 1 within a week. you see, at Youmacon 2009 (anime convention), i saw a Ciel cosplayer. at the time, i didn't know who it was. i asked them what anime they were cosplaying from, and they told me it was Black Butler... so, months later, i watched it. and loved it. :D now, the second season has begun. i have no idea what to expect o_o so here it goes! time to watch Monoshitsuji!

EPISODE 1
it appears the young master in this series consigned himself to a demon butler's contract because he was being abused by an old man. the episode starts off showing the boy full of bruises, lamenting about darkness and pain and angst angst angst get on with the show. hah no but really, i liked that scene... naked shota butt was shown. xD

the opening theme seems to suggest that spiders and butterflies are a recurring motif, instead of chess as it was in the first season. the demon seal is on the boy's tongue rather than his eye, as it was for Ciel.
i am loving AND hating the new young master. he is selfish, sadistic, and sexy. he punished a maid for looking at him directly in the eyes... by POKING OUT HER EYE. lovely guro there <3


uhh, okay, Alois... your logic totally makes sense... <_<; yeah, he's kind of a total brat... but i like him :D


EPISODE 2
this episode was confusing. 6 out of 10. it was a fairly normal Kuroshitsuji episode... Ciel, Sebastian, Maylene, Bard, Finnian, Tanaka, Elizabeth... all the characters were there, as if nothing ever happened at the end of the first season. Alois and Claude were not even mentioned. but whatever, i'm sure things will make sense as the show goes on... i hope.
i hope this isn't a poorly-thought out story made just to continue a popular series. some popular shows, like Death Note, stopped where they were intended to. and that's good. but sometimes the creators feel forced to create a second season out of nowhere. i hope that's not the case with Kuroshitsuji 2.
anyways... for now, i'll just have to enjoy the quirky Black Butler antics i had become used to. the plot episodes will probably be few and far between, so there's not much to say about episodes like this one, where it's just Ciel's zany circus of friends doing silly things. in this episode, Elizabeth and Ciel risk their lives looking for a deer near a river. lol wut? okay.
ah well. hopefully the next episode will explain what the hell happened to the characters from episode 1. but... the next episode is called "Prostitute Butler", so we'll see how that goes... xD

EPISODE 3
more confusion... at first i thought that this was maybe a flashback to the time around the beginning of season 1. but now it is clear that this is all occurring after all the deaths at the end of the first season. it's like everyone has come back to life-- Ciel, Lady Red, Lau (i think?), the Scotland Yard guy, etc... -- and Ciel (and possibly others) has lost his memory.
this episode was about spontaneous combustion, and it followed a crazy and fat photographer lady. also, there was a random scene where Sebastian was enthralled by some kittens on the street.

so yeah, i suppose the episode was good. and it at least mentioned Alois Trancy, the boy from the first episode. as the crazy lady was burning to death, she mentioned a "golden-eyed man", which i can only assume is Claude the butler. and a figure called "the Spider" (to complement Ciel's being called the "Queen's dog") is Alois. so, it appears that the young master and butler who i had assumed were the new protagonists are ACTUALLY Ciel's enemies, although they are also working for the Queen. hmm... well, this episode gets a 7 out of 10.

-Mei-

Shi Ki -- Episodes 1 through 3!

One of my favorite anime series is Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which is about a group of kids in a village who go crazy and start killing each other, causing the time continuum to reset and repeat. it's very trippy and full of psycho loli rage and murder. so i love it! :D
on the chartfag website i noticed an interesting summary in the Summer 2010 lineup of anime:

"During a hot summer in the quiet Sotoba village. bizarre, inexplicable deaths begin to happen, and a strange family move into a long abandoned mansion. Hospital dean Toshio Ozaki is caught up with the investigation between hospital staff and local residents."

That reminded me a bit of Higurashi, what with the "quiet village turned tragic" thing. so i decided to give it a shot. here's my thoughts:

EPISODE 1
Overall, i'd rate it a 7 out of 10. the animation was crisp, characters were interesting, backgrounds were pretty, all that junk. the intro was mysterious, involving a lot of imagery of skeletons and bones. i liked that, hehe. the story begins with a flash-forward showing a scene of people searching a forest for a girl named Megumi, who is then seen presumably dead in a ditch. then it goes to a week before, showing Megumi alive and well, although frustrated with small town life and infatuated with a boy who ignores her. seriously, why do girls in anime always fall in love with either total jerks or unrealistic pretty boys? makes me hate life... =_=;
oh, and i have to mention: the dress that Megumi wears is cool :D i'm a sucker for Victorian and Gothic Lolita clothing in anime... and there were plenty of shots of stuff like that, especially in the intro. there is a girl a few seconds into the opening who looks a little bit like Frederica Bernkastel from Umineko no Naku Koro ni... heh. ah, and another similarity to the Higurashi series! everyone in Shi Ki has really weird hair. star-shaped, colored blue, defying gravity... and nobody looks like their parents. just like Higurashi! xD
anyway, the story was interesting. it was told clearly and i'm left wondering where it will lead. and so, i shall proceed to the next episode!

EPISODE 2
After watching this one, i'm even more interested. 8 out of 10! this episode focused on the town's doctor, who is constantly smoking cigarettes-- how does that work? anyway, i enjoyed the medical jargon. this episode expanded on the issues. and it was good to see the Yuuki guy (who was a jerk in episode 1) having some feelings and thoughts that justified his attitude. the girl Megumi was unimportant in the grand scheme of things, it seems. within the month of August, a dozen or so people die from an unknown epidemic. some freaky stuff starts happening... there were a few moments where things started to click in my mind, which was good. already, the case seems complex. but i'm starting to hypothesize... hmm.

EPISODE 3
this one is another 7 out of 10. this episode focused on a very strange looking character named Masao. he hates that Yuuki kid, (first name is Natsuno) who is now becoming a main character, it seems. Natsuno's best--and probably his ONLY-- friend is a blonde guy named Tohru, who's dating the blue-haired nurse. things seemed to start falling into place in this episode.
the strange family who moved into a European-style house in episode one has shown themselves now, too. they all have ridiculously gravity-defying hair... >_> the little daughter looks and acts like Rika from Higurashi. she's cute but creepy. and apparently she is a fan of the books written by the village priest. it's revealed that the white-haired pretty boy priest once tried to kill himself via wrist-slashing, and somehow, the little girl knew about it. hmm.
it's making sense now though. i think i understand exactly who, or rather, WHAT the strange family is... and how they connect to the mysterious deaths occurring in the village.

this series is looking good, and i think i'm going to be keeping up with it. episode 4 comes out July 29th, so i'll write about that one after i see it :D

-Mei-

Hello!

Hi! My name is Mei. :D
Starting now, this blog is my place to track the anime and manga that i am watching/reading. i love Japan, and i watch a ton of stuff from there... it gets to the point where i forget what i've seen.
i need a place to chronicle the series that i'm following. this blog will serve as a place for me to post reviews, summaries, screenshots, theories, and more! everything related to Mei's anime and manga experience-- thus, aniMEInga. yeah i know, it's a stupid punny name for the blog, but it works! xP
that's enough for an introduction post. i'd like to get straight to content!