Kekkaishi (Manga)

Image from: http://kekkaishi.wikia.com/wiki/Manga

Name: Kekkaishi

Author: Tanabe Yellow

Chapters: 345

Status: Completed

Release Date (for eng scans): -

Summary:

Karasumori is a mysterious piece of land which grants any ayakshi, who is within it, power. Being born legitimate successors of this mysterious land, Yoshimori and Tokine have been defending this plot of land from ayakashi since young.  

Yoshimori's lack of intelligence has always caused him to be known as the weaker of the two. However, as time pass, it became more apparent that although dumber, he has shown much potential in many areas in being a kekkaishi and a legitimate successor of karasumori. While Tokine uses her extraordinary intelligence to compensate for the lack of power, Yoshimori uses his gut feelings and battle experience to elevate himself.

Yoshimori being the kind person he is, after seeing many injuries and deaths within karasumori, he sets himself a life time goal of sealing the place up. As time passes, many groups grew more interested in karasumori, and many sets their eyes on this piece of land to fulfill their greed for more power. 

Will Yoshimori be able to seal karasumori up first, or will these groups of people get their hands on the ownership of the place first?

Summary by: AngelaAgness

Personal Ratings: 3.5

Watched the anime for this when I was young, but was super curious about the next part of the story, since the anime ended it quite abruptly.
The manga and the anime doesn't have much difference, but there are some adjustments here and there. Thought that some adjustments gave the story line more sense, however, some just didn't really make much sense.

There maybe many arcs in this manga, but the story revolves around one thing; sealing Karasumori. So form the start, we can see the motive of this manga, and how its going to end. So there isn't that kind of lost feeling in any part of the story. 

Could tell that the beginning and the ending of the manga is very well planned. However, for all the individual arcs in between (especially nearing the end), it felt that they didn't really had anything to do with the main story. It felt a little fragmented. You can somehow tell that everything is kind of linked, but the complicated relationships between the different parties were really messy, and hard to grasp the whole picture.

Overall really good character development, be it the enemies side or the good sides. Makes us feel for both sides, which is really quite rare to see because most of the time they only bother to develop the main character's side.

Really liked how they didn't 'dispose' of characters, especially when it comes to the enemies of side character. Usually in mainstream mangas, animies are usually thrown aside really easily. However, for this, up until the end, even if they died, they still play a certain importance to the whole story, and you can see them mentioning their names. 

However, I did think that they lacked specifics when it comes to talking about the past. Giving us the complete past would have enabled us to understand the character better. When I compared it with the anime, I thought that the anime did a better job in this aspect. 

The slow character development when it comes to Yoshimori really makes it interesting to see how he can use his technique in many different ways. It feels like we develop with the story; at first we only know the basic functions of his powers, and after awhile, there are more function and different ways added to it. It adds that spice to the manga, because it always gets really interesting when they show us his true powers. (maybe it's because in the beginning he is always that dumb kid that doesn't know how to utilize his powers).

When Yoshimori first completed his blank state, they somehow always seem to make him use his blank state just for calming himself down. I think it's kind of contradicting how at first they said that going into the blank state is actually quite risky, but than it's like all of a sudden he keeps using it. 
I also felt that during the time when he was training for his blank state, they kind of neglected him for a bit, focusing totally on Masamori's side. I think that they should have shows us some scenes on his training more often, or generally what's happening on his side.

The thing about his mother was also another mystery. I actually liked how they made us curious about his missing mother, and they did actually told us some information about his mother (Sumiko) in the middle, but that was kind of forgotten half way. Then all of a sudden, in the last arc, she is the most important person. However, even so, most of the time it was just her Shikigami, only until the last second was it really her real self. Felt that there is just not enough information about her. Really wanted a side story about her life. 

The ending was really sad. Felt that they made us recall back the sad times about Shishio and also about Sumiko. Though I didn't think that they could have made it a lot more emotional by actually building up the relationship between the viewers and the characters (especially Sumiko). It was sad, and I couldn't stop crying, but at the same time, it was like they finally did what they set up themselves up to do. So right until the end I had mixed feelings. 

Art Ratings: 3 to 3.5

In the beginning, you could tell that the art was really basic and standard, and the author didn't really make use of the panels to control how fast the reader reads. However after awhile, you could see that she started to maximize the space and overlapping techniques to enable the readers to understand which character they should pay more attention at that scene.

Panels were very normal; there wasn't much overlapping or anything done to it. Thought that they could have made used of more blank panels and effect panels to help elevate the whole manga. Blank panels are useful in helping the readers determine the time difference between the panels, so that it would be less confusing and it wouldn't make it seem like the manga is going too quickly. 

Overall I thought that there was a lack of use of screens and tones. Could see that she tried to keep the whole manga as simple as possible, but I still think that it needs that little more screen effects to help boost the level of intensity and also to help us understand the character's feelings. 

More inking would also have been better. For this story-line, I thought that it was quite a dark manga. So to match the story-line, I thought that having darker colours would have been better. When the panels are too white sometimes, it was pretty hard to grasp the mood, seriousness and dangerous atmosphere. 

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 13 and above
My Ratings: PG-13

Big Hero 6

Image from: http://marvel.wikia.com/Big_Hero_6_(film)

Name: Big Hero 6

Release Date (in Singapore): 17 November 2014

Watched on: 23 November 2014

Summary:

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," comes "Big Hero 6," an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax, a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada. When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6."

Summary by: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2245084/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 4

I've been waiting for this cartoon for quite some time already. And it's probably one of the lesser movies out there that really met my expectations, after all the expecting and judging from the trailer.

I was quite surprised at the Japanese (well more specifically, Japanese / San Francisco) setting of the anime. I don't think they actually did a Japanese setting for their cartoons before, so this was a plus point for me (I mean with all my Japan fetish...) Wonder if Japanese seiyuus are going to dub this (can't wait if they are going to dub this in Japanese).

It was really a game well played, because to the viewers, the fact that certain links within the story was pretty obvious, it took our attention away from another potential party. At first, it may look really obvious that Krei was the culprit behind everything, and because Hiro just didn't establish that obvious link, it really took all the attention away from the professor. 

I really liked how they didn't just threw away Tadashi when he died, but actually made him the backbone of this whole story. (I don't know why, but most of the time, characters that die in the beginning are usually thrown away, and will be never mention in the story).

"Tadashi" means "correct" in Japanese, so from there, there is already that deep meaning behind his name. And I think that the message to us viewers, via his name, was that he was always doing all the right things, and he is always right. You can see it from his actions that that was really true (when Hiro stray away from his path and was too absorbed in revenge).

Really well developed story when it came to Hiro and his brother. Really touched by parts of the show. I think that for a supposedly happy show, it made me real sad at some occasions (Sadder than Frozen, and Frozen was suppose to be a sad show.)

I really liked how much they developed the main characters, but I just somehow don't really think that there was enough development for the other 4 characters. 

Other than using certain personalities of the characters to make the show funny, there wasn't really much development for the rest of them.

I really enjoyed the laughter. Things they used to make it funny weren't just words, but more of action. (Since I really hate slap sticks)

Really love the character's design. When I first saw the characters, I was just blown away. I totally loved it (especially the main character). I thought that they somehow really portrayed many information about their personalities just through their design, and they just all end up being really likable characters.

I thought that they could have showed us just how smart Hiro was in school, to the extent that he doesn't even want to go to high school. It kind of gives us that sense of satisfaction when Hiro actually found some school in which he wants to go into. 

Of course the starting for this movie was also quite good. With the unexpected robot fight and everything. But in the end, there wasn't really much of mention when it came to those robot fights, so there wasn't that nostalgic feeling when you compare the starting and the ending of the movie. 

One thing I didn't like was the inconsistent pronunciation of Japanese words (or names). You have everyone speaking in English pronunciation, and then all of a sudden there is this girl that pronounces it the right way. I'm not sure if the younger kids could hear the difference, but the inconsistency was definitely annoying me.

All was well, but I just couldn't really get one part of the story; why would the professor actually attack Hiro when Hiro first found out about the mass produced invention of Hiro's. I thought it would have been more sensible to actually try and talk Hiro into joining him than trying to kill him right off the bat. 

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 10 and above
Ratings: PG

Interstellar

Image from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/photo-interstellar-new-teaser-poster-701642

Name: Interstellar

Released Date (in Singapore): 6 November 2014

Watched on: ?

Summary:

In the near future, Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen its lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on an interstellar voyage into the unknown. Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing his children again and the future of the human race.

Summary by: Warren D'Souza

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 3.5

Another touching story this month. This story talks about relationships, specifically relationships between the dad and his daughter.
Seen many types of stories about the world dying and not being habitual to man kind anymore. Makes us reflect on our actions. So this movie is a mixture of 2 genres.

Thought that the story was really well developed. Could see the strong connections between the front and the back of the story. However, this story feels more like a loop, where the pat and future is connected through the actions of one guy.
However, of course, throughout the movie, they kind of made us think that it was the work of a 3rd party. And speaking about 3rd parties, when it comes to the outer space / galaxy, one would immediately associate it with aliens. So throughout the whole show, i kept thinking that aliens would pop out of nowhere. 

Seeing murph live through 3 stages of her life (namely, kid, middle-aged and old) while her dad only lived through one; middle-aged. Really kind of set that ground for making people (or well, at least, me) cry. I just really have this thing for time being passed so quickly.
Though I wasn't really sure if it was really necessary for there to be such a huge difference in time when they went on that planet, and why only that planet. (One hour on the planet was like 7 years).

In terms of creativity, when it comes to the different types of planets, making them having extreme weather or geographical conditions didn't really make it all that unique. But I guess that does give us that surprised factors when we saw the huge wave of water. The reason for it having that surprised factor only works because we are able to compare it with the norm.

Thought that they could have gave us more details on the earth side of things and not focus too much on the space side, because in the end Murph did play a very important role with 'hope' and the new planet that humanity if living on. 

Certain parts I couldn't understand because of the lack of scientific explanation. For example, the whole thing about plants not being able to grow anymore (is it because it was too dry?) and also the part where the ship exploded when the guy tried to open the 2nd door. 

This movie is a little on the log and draggy side. For a movie to be almost 3 hours long... Thought that they could have cut it down a little shorter, and make it go a little faster.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

Ratings: PG-13

Suisei no Gargantia

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16524/Suisei_no_Gargantia

Name: Suisei no Garantia 翠星のガルガンティア Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Sequel: Suisei no Garantia Specials, Suisei no Garantia: Meguru Kuro, Haruka

Status: Completed

Episode: 13

Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

The story begins in the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race of beings called "Hidiaazu." During an intense battle, the young lieutenant Ledo and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hibernation, Ledo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the planet on the lost frontier. On this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas' depths in order to survive. Ledo arrives on one of the fleets called Gargantia. With no knowledge of the planet's history or culture, he is forced to live alongside Amy, a 15-year-old girl who serves as a messenger aboard the Gargantia fleet. To Ledo, who has lived a life where he knows nothing but fighting, these days of peace continue to surprise him.

Summary Source: ANN

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16524/Suisei_no_Gargantia

Personal Ratings: 2.5

Mecha gundam type, but it's not really the typical mecha animes out there. 

Overall, there were many interesting plot twists on the characters as to which group was bad and which group is good. For people whom you may think be good, somehow turns bad. There are also parts where those bad people unexpectedly do good stuff. So in the end it's really quite unexpected as to who is good who is bad. I think this type anime where by the good and bad people aren't really drawn using a clear line, makes the anime a little more unexpected and less predictable. 
However, I did feel that their too specific and structured with their character developments (many stories, inclusive of Dramas and Mangas have this problem). For example, because they were going to show the fleet comander dying, they suddenly started showing us the scenes where he wasn't in good health. So it's really predictable that something would happen to him in the episode itself. I think that spreading out the character developments throughout the front part would have been better, because it makes the viewers feel more affection and curiosity of the character, before the real incident happening. 

Now, going into the more specific parts of the animes; starting from the front. 
The anime started out with a fighting scene. Honestly, I didn't really like their choice of weapon; laser beams. I'm going to talk about this under the arts section because it concerns more of the design than anything else. 

For the difference in language between the two groups of people, I didn't really like how they kept switching who was the one talking in Japanese. Usually they decide which side is the one talking in Japanese and stick with it whenever the two groups are talking to each other. But I guess to a certain extent, since both sides talk in a great extend, and honestly hearing a foreign language would feel weird and may get pretty annoying after awhile, this may be the right call. 

It was quite funny to see how Ledo reacts to things which are normal to us, like eating fishes and birds. Though i think it would have been better if earth was still earth, without much change from the one we are staying in right now, it would have given us at least one side to relate to. But than, they needed a reason for humans to be living in outer space. Though that point wasn't really made clear in the beginning, so it was a little confusing when he first landed on earth. 

Thought that they should have gave us at least half an episode worth of life in outer space. Or, when they actually tell us the differences between earth and outer space via words, They should have illustrate to us how is it like in outer space, and give us a little overview of how it really is it really like in outer space. Because the whole time, there was close to no scenes of life in outer space, so I can't really picture the whole thing out. 

Also, for the thing about Ledo's brother, they kind of made it such a big thing in the beginning where Ledo was crying and stuff like that, but there wasn't really anything much going on there. I was really anticipating something interesting and plot changing to happen, but nothing happened. 

For the later parts, where Ledo actually tries to use their language, I think it should have sounded like a more foreign sounding Japanese instead of a robot-ish Japanese. 

As for the two extra OVA episodes which were released after the completion of the whole anime, I thought that the episodes regarding the commander should have been told during the time Ledo and the commander were fighting but before he found out that he was already dead. Giving us the background of the whole story regarding the commander, would have probably not leave that kind of "what happened here: kind of feeling while watching that part. 
Also, I thought that since the OVAs were released after the completion of the anime, I thought that they should have made a little sequel on Ledo and this current life. 

Overall, not too bad an anime, but nothing that left an impression on me. 

Art Ratings: 3.5

Quite nice art, but I didn't really like the overall design of the clothes and mecha. 
I'm not sure if it's because of the way they designed the mecha, but having many laser beams shoot out at ones, somehow just didn't really seem that appealing, and in this anime it actually looked kind of lame. I know that they wanted to keep the whole future theme in check by using lasers instead of the traditional bullets and explosives, but it just didn't looked as cool as it should. I know other animes like gundam seed do have parts where their gundams actually shoots out many laser beams, but somehow they look really cool. I'm guessing that it's because of the variation of the sizes of the beams which makes it look a lot cooler. 

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

DRAMAtical Murder

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23333/DRAMAtical_Murder

Name: DRAMAtical Murder ドラマティカル マーダー
Side Story: DRAMAtical Murder OVA: Data_xx_Transitory 

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Released Date (for eng subs): Every Monday


Summary:

The story takes place many years in the future where the game "Rhyme," a virtual fighting game, is incredibly popular and people possess "AllMates," convenient AI computers. Aoba leads an ordinary life, working at a junk shop and living with his grandmother on the island of Midorijima. Unlike his friends, he doesn't participate in Rhyme, nor does he belong in a gang. However, when rumors of people disappearing spread, Aoba finds himself needing to unravel the mysteries behind the island in order to protect his everyday life.

Summary Source: MU
Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23333/DRAMAtical_Murder


Personal ratings: 1.5

One of the many animes that started out from a popular video game. Honestly game-type of anime can only go two ways; Every terrible or good. Unfortunately, this falls on the terrible side. I know this game is super famous for being hard core gay and stuff like that, and honestly, after seeing all the good cosplay on this, I was really looking forward to this anime. Unfortunately, it's way off. 

I don't exactly know how closely this anime actually follows the game, but despite that, I still feel that they should have done more showing than telling. There were obviously way too much talking, and little telling with the animation. 

For the parts where Aoba actually uses this power "scrap", I feel that they should have been more creative in using the art and animation to show the character's feelings, and if possible, no dialogue would have been good. Usually it seems like those with no or minimal dialogue does the best in helping the viewers to understand the feelings in a more artistic way. Not only do they have a lot of random dialogue when it's not needed, I feel that it was also all over the place. It really seems like they have yet to set a certain character and feelings. 

Felt that there were quite a number of useless scenes, that doesn't contribute to the development of the story or the characters. The character development was just not there; it kind of seems like they just met each other like yesterday, and all of a sudden, their best buddies that risk their lives for each other. It just doesn't really flow... 

I thought that they should actually make up curious about Senju, and telling us more information about him from the start, because in the end he does play a huge part of the past, which led to the current mess in the present. 

The pace of the whole show was also very constant, there wasn't really a climax or anything in the anime. 

Not enough hints dropped throughout the show to indicate that the twins where suspicious. Even if they did, they just brushed it aside as a misconception. 

Certain things in the anime that doesn't make much sense. People who are suppose to look alike don't look alike. The ending was also a huge question mark. So in the end how did Senju actually survived?

I guess this anime is just for people who played the game and understood the story line. 

Art Ratings: 2.5
So-so art. Though I didn't really like the character designs. I thought that some of the clothes that they wear just didn't really make sense, and kept bothering me throughout the whole anime. But some character design had that kind of personality within them. 

Stiff animation. But just enough to scrap by. 


Recommended for:
Gender: -
Age: -
My Ratings: PG-13

Ao Haru Ride

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21995/Ao_Haru_Ride/pics

Name: Ao Haru Ride アオハライド Blue Spring Ride

Prequel: Ao Haru Ride: Unwritten

Sequel: Ao Haru Ride OAD

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Tuesday

Summary:

Yoshioka Futaba has a few reasons why she wants to "reset" her image & life as a new high school student. Because she's cute, she was ostracized by her female friends in junior high, and because of a misunderstanding, she couldn't get her feeling across to the one boy she has ever liked, Tanaka-kun.

Now in high school, she is determined to be as unladylike as possible so that her friends won't be jealous of her. While living her life this way contentedly, she meets Tanaka-kun again, but he now goes under the name of Mabuchi Kou. He tells her that he felt the same way as she did when they were younger, but now things can never be the same again. Will Futaba be able to continue her love that never even started from three years ago?

Summary Source: MU

Summary From: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21995/Ao_Haru_Ride/

Personal Ratings: 2.5

I've read this manga, heard good things about this manga, and I've watched the anime. Honestly, I don't think that this anime is as good as people praise it to be. Maybe it's cause I'm not a huge fan of Shoujo, romance anime. Or that I didn't actually experience love to understand this. But all in all judging from the story line and the seiyuu, I still think that it isn't that great. But for those romantic girls out there, I guess this is the anime for you?

Firstly, comparing it with the manga, I think that they really did put emphasis on the scenes which makes Kou look cool. But I still didn't really see the cool side of him (explanation below). However, I still did think that some scenes were suppose to be a little faster and more flashy. Throughout the whole show, I find myself thinking of different ways I wanted certain scene to look like, especially for scenes which were (in my opinion) really important to the whole anime itself. 

I'm not too sure if this follows the manga exactly (because I only read the manga twice, and I can't remember exactly how it went), but so far it seems like it does follow the manga quite closely, except for certain parts here and there and the last part where they were suppose to show the new character (the love rival). Judging from the ending, I think that there would be a 2nd season, however considering the fact that they left out quite an important scene for the introduction of the love rival (other than the library incident), I'm not too sure anymore. 
They did come out with an OVA prequel, showing the past between the two main characters, about what happened in middle school. It's quite important to know the past between the two of them because the whole stories basically revolves around the past, and their past feelings for each other. And since the anime didn't really gave a complete view of the whole past (they gave only bits and pieces), I think that new viewers would watch the OVA first. 

Certain really un understandable actions by the characters, which makes things really confusing. There were also a lot of cringing moments (even Kaji Yuki himself cringes when he says Kou's lines). I think it's because of those situations that made be evaluate this anime lowly. I'm not sure if it's cause of this scenes that actually attracts people, but I didn't find that it did any justice to the anime. 
For example, why grab someone's hair all of a sudden and start smelling it, and all of a sudden start blabbering some really misleading words. Like there were a lot of weird actions like that throughout the whole anime, mostly between the two main characters. This really effected the whole anime and manga all together. 

I thought that the emotional side of this anime was pretty good. I thought that I could really relate to Kou and his loneliness, sadness and hatred. Since it's mostly to do with exams and student life, I'm sure most people would be able to relate to this side; be it social problems or study issues. Could have done a little better with those scenes if it has more impact in terms of animation and voice acting (the whole thing with Yuki's discomfort in voicing Kou was quite obvious).
As for the issue would Kou's mother, I thought it was a great choice to break it down into different parts; brother's point of view, Kou's point of view and studying point of view. However I still did think that they could have gone stronger with the emotional part of it, be it the issue with Kou and his dad and brother, or the time when he was sick (and cried).

As for the Seiyuu, (as you all already know, since i mentioned it so many times before this), it took me a while to get use to the seiyuu, since I read the manga and already form an image of all of them, but I still can't get use to Kou's voice.
I think that Yuki was clearly out of his comfort zone this time. Never seen him voice act this kind of character before in this voice. Even in the interview when he was asked to do certain lines, he would cringe after finishing his lines. Clearly uncomfortable with it. Throughout the whole anime, it just bothers me that he is using this weird whisper voice to voice act Kou. 
As for his brother, I don't know it's because I've grown too attached to Rei (from Free!), but every time he open his mouth, I think of Free! LOL!

Overall watchable, great background story, but filled with weird actions and not the right seiyuu. 

Art Ratings: 2

Didn't really like the art. Could tell that they kept the feel of the manga's art in the anime, but somehow the art in the manga made be go "It's pretty~" while the anime art made me go "Looks weird". 

Animation was smooth no issue, I just thought that they could have played more with the flashy scenes, than keeping it so mundane.

Recommended for:

Gender: Female

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Ao Haru Ride OST Playlist: Here

Tokyo ESP

Image from: http://www.animevice.com/white-girl/12-140261/all-images/84-330465/635b1755a50a7163e3eea2a512b48e0b1401706548_full/83-765028/

Name: Tokyo ESP

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Release Date (for eng subs): - 

Summary:

The science fantasy story Tokyo ESP begins with Rinka, an extremely poor high school girl who lives with just her father in modern Tokyo. One day, she is going home from school when she chases a "flying penguin" to the top of New Tokyo Tower—only to have "fish swimming in the air" suddenly appear before her. One of the fish goes through Rinka and gives her extraordinary powers beyond those of normal humans, particularly the ability to slip through solid objects.

Summary Source: ANN

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21353/Tokyo_ESP

Personal Ratings: 2

Honestly, had no intention to watch this anime. But when I saw this on the recommended list in Pinoy anime, I thought I would give this a go. But unfortunately, even though they have followed one of the traditional and common techniques, when it comes to anime (just that on a larger scale), I felt that they were lacking in many components. 

I actually liked how they started off. I thought that it was really quite interesting, unfortunately the rest of the story is just horrible. 

I liked the idea of showing us the future in the first episode, using the flashback technique is one good technique in making viewers look forward to the show. It also lets viewers get more curious as to how enemies or the different characters get to know more of each other and also as to how their relationship become as such in the future. But honestly, this type of technique either works for *short-term and short lengths relationship between the future situation and the past situation (in other words within an episode type, and the difference between the future and the past is within 1 week time length [widely used in many animes]), or long-term and long lengths relationship between the future situation and past situation (in other words within the whole anime, and the difference between the future and the past has a minimum of 1 year (?)). But for this anime, it's kind of in between so it has that weird and awkwardness to the whole anime. I really thought that they should aim for the long-term flash back type. 

Updating the viewers on the future, in between the different situations, that has a relationship between the past situation and the future situation would have been better, because I find that half the time I'm wondering what is happening in the future.  

One crucial thing that must be done when they start with the future and flashback, is that when they connect the past and future together, they must show us a bit of the future that was already shown before, and tell us how it's connected. For this anime, I just didn't know when they come back to the present.

When I watch this anime, I could only think of how To Aru Kagaku no Railgun was so much better. (they have the same type of story line about people with powers). And there were just so many things that I really want to see in this anime, because I do think that this story line does have the potential, just that the execution just wasn't really there. 

Explanations were not completed, and the main story line just isn't really explained much. I thought that the thing about those gold fishes and the collector should be explained and the truth about them should have been revealed at the end of the anime, but that just didn't happen. The thing about the relationship between Asuma and his foster family should have been explained more. Because I'm just not really seeing what is it going on between him and his family. And of course, I think that Rinka should have fitted in somewhere in this main story line, other than all those useless action scenes that weren't very nice. 

For the training part, I thought that they should have multitask and make Rinka think while fighting, and not do the thinking and fighting separately. It just seems really awkward and fragmented when she does it separately. Honestly, I don't think I've seen any anime which has those kind of scenes where the main character is suppose to be fighting someone and all of a sudden stop for a long time to think (like the enemy is going to wait for you.)

Another odd and illogical thing is that she can't even put up a fight against someone who is not using their ESP powers, even though she was approved by the master. So basically, other than during practice timings, she is pretty much useless. 

Weird relationship going on with Rinka and Asuma, because most of the time their separated from each other. And it also seems like Rinka started like Asuma way too soon. Afterwards, it just kind of seems like Asuma keeps getting captured, so it was annoying me the whole time. There weren't really any scenes between the two that made the viewers want to ship the two of them together. There was just no development with this relationship. 

The thing about Rinka losing her powers also didn't really make sense, because there isn't really anything to it (other than not allowing her to escape the stupid hand cuffs). But other than that I thought that it was really redundant to actually take away her powers. There should at least be some meaning to it, like say for example, the powers change or something. 

Overall, I don;t think this anime actually works. The story line isn't really there, it's not really expressed properly. All I can say that this anime is a mess.. Judging from the super incomplete story line, and the way it ended, I'm quite sure that this would have a 2nd season (unless of course they cancel it due to the lack of viewership.). If they have a 2nd season, I'm just hoping that they do something better, because this just seems like an opening to the 2nd season. (like Clannad, Even though the first season wasn't really my type of anime, I thought that together with the 2nd season, it was quite a master piece).

*this is not a professional or technical term or anything, I'm not a professional, neither do I study anything about animation, this is just how I express it with words. 

Art Ratings: 2.5

As for art.... I guess there is nothing really much to complain or anything to compliment on. I just thought that it's weird that only Rinka's hair colour change when she uses her power. It seems like for the other characters there isn't much change. 

I also thought that there were some weird stuff when it came to the design of certain character. Why would you design the panda with a zip at the back, makes me think that there is someone inside. 

Recommended for:

Gender: -

Age: -

My Ratings: PG-13

The Judge

Image from: http://teaser-trailer.com/the-judge-movie-poster/

Name: The Judge

Release Date (in Singapore): 16 October 2014

Watched on: 18 October 2014

Summary:

This movie revolves around two lawyers; a son, Hank, and his father, Joseph, a judge. Hank has always detested his dad for his forceful character, and had left town to be a lawyer at the city. He goes back home after hearing the news about the death of his mother, and turns out to be also caught in the situation when his dad was claimed to have killed a man. 

Old feelings arises as Hank works hard to clear his father's name. They fought and made up many times, an eventually the truth about all misunderstood actions were revealed and Hank begins to understand more about his dad. 

Summary by: AngelaAgness 

Personal Ratings: 3

I touching story not based on those cliche dying scenes (like The fault in our stars, no offence). It talks closely about the relationship between Hank and this dad, and Hank and his ex-girl friend (well, not so much about the girl friend). In a way, almost everyone can relate to this show, and feel for either side of the character, which is probably the main reason for the level of affection towards the movie (for me, at least).

Some incorporation of funny and comedy scenes (most which I didn't really think was funny), to lighten up the heavy mood of some really sad and touching scenes. (probably to prevent people from over crying.) 

When I first saw this trailer, I thought that it would be a full out serious show about law and debates. But apparently that was secondary, which means that there aren't really any long boring court sessions. 

Thought that it was interesting to see them use all the law terms with each other even outside court. But I especially loved it when they used it in the formal court setting to object to the other party's questions towards the witnesses. 

I thought that the whole mystery and court hearing about whether his dad really killed the guy, really makes the whole movie interesting, and brings the viewers back to the movie, even though there were some boring parts. 

Thought that they could have showed us the court case in the beginning, to tell us why Joseph really hated that criminal. Because, I was really confused about the whole hate thing throughout the whole movie.

Thought that there were some parts that weren't really needed and were just extras. But than again, it's probably all this that build up our affection towards the characters, making it a lot more easier to understand and relate to them, and also more sad. (the same concept as Clannad).

I thought that maybe the setting about the main character and his daughter, weren't really shown. I thought that maybe he should have brought his dad there to tell him more about himself and his daughter, before he died, but that would extend the movie a little more (the movie was really quite long).

Thought that right at the ending, they should have told us what really happened in that incident; whether he actually killed the guy or not. Even though, judging from the whole court case, he probably did kill him, but sometimes the truth is different from what is concluded at the court room. 

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 16 and above

Ratings: NC-16

Nanatsu no Taizai

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23755/Nanatsu_no_Taizai

Name: Nanatsu no Taizai 七つの大罪 The Seven Deadly Sins

Status: On-going

Episode: 23

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Monday

Summary:

The "Seven Deadly Sins," a group of evil knights who conspired to overthrow the kingdom of Britannia, were said to have been eradicated by the Holy Knights, although some claim that they still live. Ten years later, the Holy Knights have staged a Coup d'état and assassinated the king, becoming the new, tyrannical rulers of the kingdom. Elizabeth, the king's only daughter, sets out on a journey to find the "Seven Deadly Sins," and to enlist their help in taking back the kingdom.

Summary Source: Redhawk NEO

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23755/Nanatsu_no_Taizai

Personal Ratings: 3.5

One of the more popular manga adapted into an anime. I didn't read the manga, so I will just be judging this by itself.

This anime kind of reminds me of Magi; where everything takes place in a fantasy world, that is of some memories to us. While Magi seems to take ideas from the Disney movie Aladdin, this anime seems to take most of it's idea from the Bible. Things like the 7 deadly sins, and the holy sword stuck to the ground, is not unfamiliar to me (I was in a christian school for 10 years so I basically grew up hearing all those stories), and I actually really like that kind of nostalgic feeling, and the incorporation of something familiar. Totally love to see how they twist well-known stories. 

I think this type of story is quite normal and seen quite a number of times; where by the plot if twisted in such a way that the known good people are the bad ones and the known bad people are the good ones.

But in this case, because their called the 7 deadly sins, they must have done something wrong. I really can't wait to know the full story about the 7 deadly sins people. I really want to know what sins did they commit, that made them detested by the people. 

Having different groups of people clashing is quite a common thing. They really make it obvious with their character design which people is in which group. But obviously, having the 7 deadly sins people be in their own element makes them stand out more. 

With all that has happened so far (which is not much), I think that it is a really cool anime. I will be looking forward to their action scenes. Even though there isn't much from these 2 episodes, I can tell that they can really make the viewers hyped up with their action scenes. 

The voice actors so far are also super matching with their character design and personality. Kaji Yuki finally sounds like he is in his own element (after that uncomfortable voice acting for Ao Haru Ride).

I'm not really getting why... But it seems like the subs are being released later and later. Hm...

Comments on Recent episode:

Was kind of disappointed with Growther's voice actor, I thought he should have sounded more girly. I hope that even after the next fight finish, they would continue it with a 2nd season (cause I wanna see more of Ban hahaha).

Art Ratings: 4

I thought that the kiddish sort of art and ridiculous colors really matches well with the whole fantasy theme of this anime. 

Use use of animals in the anime. The so called "ability" of the pig was really cute. Just hoping that even until the end, there isn't as over use of animals.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 14 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Nanatsu no Taizai OST playlist: Here