Friday, May 30, 2014

No Game No Life

No Game No Life

Name: No Game No Life ノーゲーム・ノーライフ

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Release Date (for eng subs): Every Thursday

Summary:
The story of No Game, No Life centers around Sora and Shiro, a brother and sister whose reputations as brilliant NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) hikikomori (shut-in) gamers have spawned urban legends all over the Internet. These two gamers even consider the real world as just another "crappy game." One day, they are summoned by a boy named "God" to an alternate world. There, God has prohibited war and declared this to be a world where "everything is decided by games"—even national borders. Humanity has been driven back into one remaining city by the other races. Will Sora and Shiro, the good-for-nothing brother and sister, become the "Saviors of Humanity" on this alternate world? "Well, let's start playing."

Summary Source: ANN


Personal Ratings: 4
This anime is a mixture of logic, seriousness, and laughter. Probably good for people who are actually into mystery, since it uses a lot thinking in games itself. 

Idea: 4 / 5

I don't think I've actually seen an anime about games (not counting D-Frag! Because they don't really focus on the games itself), so I do think that the main idea for this anime is really unique, but the idea about the main characters traveling to another world and trying to conquer that world, is not a very unique idea, and have been seen many times.
As for the characters, having different types of species (elfs, wolfs, etc) is not a very unique idea, and has been seen in many of the adventure and action type anime, but using these species in other things other than fighting, is unique. 

Execution:
Development: 4 / 5
The idea of shifting into another world was really well used. Shifting into another world and giving the main characters a disadvantage since every other species have one ability, and also using it to widen the scale of the games.
The plot is really developed, although not completed yet. The main motive of this anime is to beat the 'god' of that world, after conquering and winning against every other race in the world. You can tell that they don't really waste time in developing this plot, other than some fan service scenes. The plot expands greatly when the main characters unfold the true meaning behind that world.



Emotion: 2 / 5

There isn't really any emotional scenes in this anime, because it focuses more on the game itself, so there isn't really anything much to comment about. Though, there were a few scenes which can be quite emotional. 

Planning: 5 / 5

Planning for this anime was really good. You can see that they planned not only for the main plot itself, but for each and every game.
For the main plot, they don't beat counties based on the order of ranking of the races, but more on what they needed to be stronger.

Character Development: 4 / 5
The characters of this anime are all so cute and adorable. Especially love the combination of cute Shiro and her seiyuu. Perfect match to create the perfect Loli. But for this anime, Shiro and Sora's personality are pretty strong, so it's all laid out since the beginning, so there isn't really much for development. The thing about their past was also slowly developed. But after this, I don't think there is much for development anymore, so I'll give it a 4 instead of a 5.

Side Characters: 4 / 5
The side characters was developed during the course of their first interaction with the main characters. They don't push aside species which were defeated, but made use of them to actually plan out ways to defeat the other races. They also do develop the relationship between two side characters, when they find that it's necessary.

Seiyuu: 4 / 4
I really love their choice of seiyuu, there wasn't any character I thought should have another seiyuu, they all sounded very natural.
Honestly I was quite shocked that Miyuki voice acted Izuna. I couldn't tell at all.

Others:
I just thought that some explanations are too fast to understand fully, so I had to re watch certain scenes to fully understand everything.
Can't wait for 2nd season!!!


Art Ratings: 3
I like the drawing, but I don't really like the colours. It just makes everything so bright and weird. I really wished the colours were a little more normal. 


Similar Anime:
The most similar anime that comes to my mind would be Kami no Puzzle. But their quite different, in the sense that Kami no Puzzle is more about puzzles than games, and the two of them can be quite different. Kami no Puzzle also doesn't have that aspect of having different species other than humans, or going to another world.

Another similar anime would be Log Horizon, giving the fact that they both have different species of living creature, and also the intellectual side of it. Log Horizon the anime itself is set in a different world (game) so there is those similarities. But Log Horizon focus more on strategic war knowledge as compared to knowledge when it comes to calculation of games and understanding and making full use of the rules of a game. Log Horizon also lacks that flashy side that No Game No Life has.


Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 16 and above
My Ratings: PG-13



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Kaminomizo Shiru Sekai II

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai II
Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10080/Kami_nomi_zo_Shiru_Sekai_II


Name: Kaminomizo Shiru Sekai 2 神のみぞ知るセカイ 2 The World God Only Knows II
SequelThe World God Only Knows: Four People and an Idol

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Release Date (for eng subs): -


Summary:
Katsuragi is back, and together with Elsie the hunt for loose souls continues on. This time however, they are joined by Elsie's friend and fellow Demon, Haqua. 

Summary Source: ANN


Personal Ratings: 3.5
I find this season a little better than the first season (not a lot of anime with 2nd season can do that). Even though this season is almost the same as season 1, I was really glad that the stories in this season were not as cliche as season 1, and was more well planned. I also like how they added another person that came from hell. 

I'm not sure if you can call this show 'harem' since so many girls like one guy, but unexpectedly I didn't really mind. (for those of you who don't know, I hate harem. A LOT). I guess it has something to do with how Katsuragi actually really earnestly like all of them during the course of trying to 'conquer' them. Again, the way he actually does it is really quite epic, and I really liked how they didn't yet forget about his craze and obsession over dating Sims (it kind of got lost when by the time it came to season 3).

**remember to watch the OVAs: Four people and an Idol, and tenri-hen before watching the 3rd season.


Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 15 and above
My Ratings: PG-13




Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Kami Nomizo Shiru Sekai



Name: Kami nomizo Shiru Sekai The World God Only Knows 神のみぞ知るセかい

Status: Completed
Episodes: 12
Release Date (for eng subs): -


Summary:
Keima is a dating sim champion. Cute girls are rendered powerless by his irresistible game playing techniques. Too bad things aren't that way in the real world. That is, until his tempting game playing causes a real live—and very bubbly-cute—demon hunter named Elsie to materialize! Now Elsie wants Keima to help her free hot girls from sneaky demons who secretly possess them. 

Summary Source: Sentai Filmworks


Personal Ratings: 4
When I first saw this picture, I thought that it would be a harem show. So I was really reluctant to try this show (deep hatred for Harem for some odd reason). But than I saw that there was 3 season, and it was so popular, so I thought I'd give it a try. And... I fell in love with this show. 

The starting was not that catchy or anything though, so I really thought that the introduction should have some changes. But the thing that really got me hooked on to this anime is the fact that the main character is playing gyaruuge (ギャルーゲ aka dating sim). Some how it was really interesting to see him play his PSP (mentioned as PFP in the show).

I think one thing that separates this anime from the rest is the fact that they do not keep repeating the same type of contents throughout anime. Most anime just sticks to one focus point, especially this type of anime, and only have the ending episode a little different. However, in this anime, they constant give us breather episodes, where they stray off the main focus and show us other stories. It really gives the main focus of this story a lot more excitement throughout the show, because it wouldn't be an overdose. 

The only other thing that I didn't really like, other than the intro, was the girls. The girls in this seasons were quite typical. Though how he actually 'cleared' them was really unique. The next season would be a lot nicer (at least to me it was).


Art Ratings: 3.5
To a certain extend I actually like the art, especially the design for the main character. There is just that vibe about him that really makes him stand out. However, I didn't really like the art for the girls (no offence). I find that their either to edgy or too cute looking. There isn't really one that had a balance of edginess and cuteness, except maybe Else.

I also find that the school uniform looks somewhat weird....


Recommended for
Gender: Both
Age: 15 and above
My Ratings: PG-13




Sunday, May 11, 2014

Hyouka Case Special - Episode 5

氷華
Hyouka

Case Special - Episode 5


Read detailed comments and screenshots on the mysteries in Hyouka here:
http://strawberryshortcake-extras.blogspot.com/2014/05/hyouka-case-special-episode-5.html

*Episode 6 coming out on 30 June



Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Amazing Spider-man 2


Image from: http://ancoradesign.deviantart.com/art/The-Amazing-Spider-Man-2-Poster-420202403

Name: The Amazing Spider-man 2

Release Date (in Singapore): 1 May 2014
Watched on: 4 May 2014


Summary:
Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life.

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1872181/
Personal Ratings: 4
I didn't watch finish the first movie of this show (lol same for Captain America). But I can totally see how this amazing spider-man series is so much better than the first spider-man series.


This movie is really not your typical cliche story. It's not all about the villains and the heroes, but more of the other side of a hero's life. The things they have to sacrifice, and the priority they have to place, regardless of their interest. It was really nice to see how Peter faces his choices; be it with his Gwen or with Harry. 

Really liked the new character; Harry. Especially love the connection between the first movie and the 2nd one, which all the more makes this movie more precious. At first in the first movie, I really wondered if their going to put Harry in, because from the looks of the first spider man movie, Harry plays a huge part in Spider man. 
Though I was really surprised that Gwen died, I somehow actually preferred that as to if Gwen has survived (no offence to happy ending lovers, but happy endings are just too cliche for me). But I wasn't really sure if it was the right thing to do, especially since Gwen's dad died in the first movie. 

As to the death of Gwen's dad, I really thought that they could have placed more emphasis on him, to really show how much it had effected him and his relationship with Gwen. I felt that there was too little scenes of Gwen's dead dad, so reason for Peter's undecided decision of whether he wants to be with Gwen or not, doesn't really leave much of an impact. 

I was also not very sure about putting in 3 villains into one movie. It seems kind of rush with 2 main things going on; the raise of a new villain (Harry) and the defeat of a new villain (the electro dude, whose name I forgot). The last one just seemed kind of like a stepping stone to show Peter getting over his depression. 

I loved all the action scenes, I thought they were all really great, exciting and new. I liked the way they made the electro dude. The sound, his personality, everything. It was really fun to see how he got to hate spider man, especially since he loved spider man so much. The song that went along with the action scenes were also great. 


All in all, I think that this movie was great! Just that they need to keep track of the timing (is it me, or are movies these days just getting longer and longer?).


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