D-Frag!

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/20031/D-Frag!

Name: D-Fragments! ディーふらぐ！ D-Frag!

Side Story: D-Frag! OVA

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

Kazama Kenji likes to believe he is something of a delinquent. Moreover, others seem to like to agree that he is. Of course, Kenji's gang finds their way to a group of four not-so-normal girls—Chitose, Sakura, Minami and Roka—and all at once, whatever reputation he may have is nothing compared to the outrageous behavior of the girls. Shanghaied into joining their club, what will happen to his everyday life from that point on?

Summary Source: MU

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/20031/D-Frag!

Personal Ratings: 2.5
I found this anime my incident when I was trying to find an anime like Chuunibyou and Inou battle wa nichijou kei no naka de (the kind of anime that talks about anime in an anime). And honestly, I got my hopes too high.

Otaku Club, Slice of Life, type of anime. Honestly, I didn't think that this anime was a comedy, and if you have been reading my reviews, you know that comedy just doesn't sit well with me.

This anime reminds me more of Sket Dance than any other anime. This is the type of anime which goes per incident, that usually lasts around 1 to 2 episodes. For me, these type of comedy anime doesn't really make me laugh due to the over emphasis and low level of realism (so usually I just sit there and watch the character being stupid).
However, I actually thought that some episodes were nice, and the ideas were pretty good (proven by me laughing at some parts).

The good thing about this anime would be keeping the main character the only normal one around (most comedy anime uses this). It makes the whole show more attractive, but I'm not too sure about the extremes. Even though having a unique personality makes the jokes easier to execute, I prefer if everyone has a normal side to them on top of their uniqueness (kind of like working!!)

There is a lack of overall planning. If you watch closely, you will find that there are some contradictions, and you can tell that they just throw in random ideas along the way and make it fit into the story. It's only possible because it's a comedy anime, and you can just throw in some lousy excuse to make it fit. 

Thought that they could have actually made use of the club activities to enhance the anime, and set a certain main theme; for example, making most episode revolve around games (since the club is about games) and since games have a huge range of ideas to choose from (e.g. computer games, board games, card games, etc) I'm pretty sure they can come up with many ideas to fit into different situations. 

Despite actually being similar to Inou battle wa nichijou kei no naka de, I thought that this anime lacked impact in comparison. Inou battle's last arc really made a lasting impression and impact on me, and even until now, whenever I think of that anime, a certain feeling pops up into my head. But for this anime, there isn't really an impactful scene of any sort.

Thought that random characters appear at random timings (e.g. the main character's sister) and other characters, other than the main characters seem to be the disposable type - whereby after using them for a certain scene or episode, they don't seemed to be used anywhere else.

This anime really doesn't go in-depth into the character's emotions. So sometimes the lack of depth really doesn't make this anime worth while. Because it becomes the kind of anime which you watch only when you really have nothing else to watch.

Art Ratings: 2.5
Acceptable art. Sometimes the eyes can look a little out of shape, but overall it was pretty ok.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Best Nanatsu no Taizai OST

Download: https://mega.co.nz/#!msZhSALL!hxHRrE3qqpyNMh2MZPkc9H1-VWyq9110HUT_GbwA-iY

Review for Nanatsu no Taizai: Here

Best of Ao Haru Ride OST

Best of Ao Haru Ride OST

Ao Haru Ride Review: Here

Kimi ni Todoke (Anime)

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/6045/Kimi_ni_Todoke

Name: Kimi ni Todoke 君に届け

Sequel: Kimi ni Todoke 2

Status: Completed

Episode: 25 + 12 (season 2)

Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

Kuronuma Sawako is completely misunderstood by her classmates. Her timid and sweet demeanor is often mistaken for malicious behavior. This is due to her resemblance to the ghost girl from "The Ring," which has led her peers to give her the nickname Sadako. Longing to make friends and live a normal life, she is naturally drawn to Kazehaya Shouta, the most popular guy in class, whose "100% refreshing" personality earns him great admiration from Sawako. So when Kazehaya starts talking to her, maybe there is hope for the friendships Sawako has always longed for. Maybe... there is even a little hope for some romance in her future.

Summary by: MAL Rewrite

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/6045/Kimi_ni_Todoke

Personal Ratings: 2.5

I'm just going to mix the two season together, because there isn't really much to say for the individual seasons. 

I was really reluctant to watch this anime because when I first watch the first few seconds of the anime, I didn't think that the voice actors went well with the characters. (but than again, this seems to always happen with those mangas which I read from young). I tried to be more open minded to this fact, but I couldn't seem to shake off that weird feeling.
I also tried not to compare the anime too much to the manga, but I maybe really biased to the manga when I'm writing this review, so please forgive. 

Thought that they should have changed the pace up a little to make it less boring, especially when it comes to Kazehaya and his random smile that annoyed me throughout the whole anime, because they paused at him for such a long time. I thought that just having a flash of that smile would have been better, because well, as they say, the lesser, the more precious and rare it gets.

Thought that they paid too much attention to the two main character when they could have actually balance out the focus on the other side characters (Because there are actually something going on with Sawako's 2 friends.) 

I don't know if it's cause of the animation, or was it because of the original plot, but half the time I felt like I didn't really get what was happening. It felt like the character's actions didn't have any meaning behind it and it didn't make much sense.
Like the part where everyone was teasing Sawako and Kazehaya about being together during the test of courage thing, and Sawako confronted them, saying that it was a misunderstanding. But after that I didn't really understand why she had to avoid Kazehaya and why she thought that she couldn't talk to him anymore.

Thought that even though overall they had a talented cast of seiyuu (some of them I really like), I thought that they didn't actually bring out the personality of each characters to the fullest, except for Miyuki (She plays Yano in this anime), and Miyano. I was kind of disappointed with Nakamura Yuukichi, because I know that his voice really suites Ryu, and I'm not sure why he didn't use a lower voice for Ryu (I thought Ryu should sound kind of like Nozaki-kun from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun)

I felt that they could have actually planned the anime a little differently. Like by the end of season 1, the two main characters could have been together and season 2 would be more about Ryuu and Chizuru and of course the start of Kazehaya's and Sawako's relationship. Because I really want to see some of their dating scenes, and not just end at the two of them getting together.  

Near the end of season 1, and the whole of season 2, I felt that it was really draggy. I'm not sure if it's cause the first parts of the anime were pretty fast paced as compared to the back parts.

Season 2, for me, was really for too boring and draggy. Everything just seemed to be going at a stand-still, even though there was that introduction of a new character. There wasn't really much progress, it was more like misunderstanding over misunderstanding. 
I was starting to get annoyed halfway when everyone was getting in the way of the two main character, making them misunderstood each other even more. 1 or 2 of such incident is enough, but than even the people who were suppose to be on their side were causing them to misunderstand each other, now that's pretty annoying.

So overall, I just really didn't like all the senseless complications.

Art Ratings: 3.5

I actually liked the art and the animation a lot. I think that the art for the anime was a lot nicer than the manga art. The animation art was a lot more clean looking as compared to the manga art.
The animation were they actually layered the scenes were really good and smooth, especially when they shift the focus (so either the foreground or the background is blurred).

Recommended for:

Gender: Female

Age: 14 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Best of Glasslip OST

Best of Glasslip OST

Glasslip Review: Here

Best of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso OST

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Playlist

Downloadable: https://mega.co.nz/#!vlQ3DChZ!yFqqvlugzdieuWnrjUFK-buOPH-keTeYm2GZOzh7QSg

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Review here: http://strawberryshortcake-reviews.blogspot.com/2015/04/shigatsu-wa-kimi-no-uso.html

Best of Zankyou no Terror OST

Zankyou no Terror Playlist

Zankyou no Terror Review: Here

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Image from: http://www.joblo.com/movie-posters/kingsman-the-secret-service-06

Name: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Release Date (in Singapore): 12 February 2015

Watched on: 24 February 2015

Summary:

Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Summary by: 20th Century Fox

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 3.5

A movie which follows the route of irrationality. It's absurd, illogical and fun. I was really wow-ed by the creativity behind all the weapons, which follows the rules of a "gentleman", but I really thought that the action scenes could have been better. 

The jokes were pretty funny and sensible, and I think they really made used of a lot of situations to come out with jokes or sarcasms.

The start of the movie threw me off guard, and kind of made things a little complicated at first. Because I thought Valentine was the good guy. But that all cleared up after awhile, so there wasn't really any huge of a deal. 

At first I thought that the terrible CG* would be the fall of this show, but after watching the whole show, I actually think that the flawed CG was done on purpose. It actually did suit the movie a lot more with the more fun and joking plot line of the movie. 

And because of the flawed CG, it makes some parts hard to take seriously, and so people would take it as a joke, especially for some of the pretty gory scenes (like getting cut into half or their brains exploding).

I just thought that they should have actually added a little more seriousness to certain parts of the movie, especially the part about Harry (when he died), I thought that that scene itself was pretty emotional (especially since I kind of favored him throughout the movie), so I thought that the action scene in the church could have been a lot more serious and emotional (especially the parts where he get injured).

I thought that how they film the action scenes was pretty unique, and honestly is a lot more clearer than the normal way of filming action scenes. I thought that mixing in other ways of filming the action scenes (like showing the whole scene zoomed out) would have made it a little nicer, especially because the way that they use can actually cause motion sickness (for people who are sensitive to motion sickness), if watched for long. The different perspective would have also gave it more variation.

I really liked how they actually showed Eggsy's personality from the start of the movie to the end.

I totally loved the part about the dog. But I think that the they could have showed us more of the training part together with the tests parts. And I also thought it was kinda of a shame that he didn't get to work together with Harry.

*CG - Computer Graphics

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 18 and above

Ratings: M-18

Zankyou no Terror

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23283/Zankyou_no_Terror

Name: Terror in Resonance, Terror in Tokyo, 残響のテロル Zankyou no Terror

Status: Completed

Episode: 11

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Friday

Summary:

In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a bizarre video uploaded to the internet. The police, baffled by this cryptic clue, are powerless to stop the paranoia spreading across the population.

While the world searches for a criminal mastermind to blame for this tragedy, two mysterious children—children who shouldn't even exist—masterfully carry out their heinous plan. Cursed to walk through this world with the names Nine and Twelve, the two combine to form "Sphinx," a clandestine entity determine to wake the people from their slumber—and pull the trigger on this world.

Summary Source: FUNimation

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23283/Zankyou_no_Terror

Personal Ratings: 4

On a whole, I really liked this anime. Even in the midst of all those similarly dark anime for that season, I really thought that this one stands out the most due to the amount of intelligence put into it. However, I did feel that the quality of it kind of slipped away near the end of the anime. Such a pity because the starting was really great, and I expected a lot from this. 

Firstly, the terror acts are really very well thought out. I really liked how they actually used modern everyday gadgets to pull off all of their terror acts. I think that this aspect really brings the viewers more into the anime because we see and use some of those items everyday, so in a way, it makes us drawn into the different ways they can actually use those gadgets (but no, don't try it at home).

Even though I thought that the details were very well thought out and portrayed, I think that they did it too systematically.
They didn't actually work the viewer's curiosity about the other characters. I'm not sure if it's cause they wanted us to concentrate more on the case about the intelligent children project, but I felt that they didn't tick off enough curiosity. (kind of like just letting the story run without inputting any other things to spice up the anime).

For the flashback parts about the facility, I thought they should have left it without any dialogue to keep it a little more abstract (since they were already using a more abstract method).
I think that they could have shown a little about the facility at the start of each episode of the anime, parts which are relevant to that episode.

I didn't really understood why they needed to enroll in a school, because in the end after the first 1 or 2 episodes, there were no other scenes about the school or their high school life. I don't know if it was intentional - like if it was to show that they really actually wanted a normal life, or that they actually researched and intentionally found out that the school was having a trip to the tokyo tower (or whatever that building was, I forgot.)
But I would definitely like to see into how they act as compared to normal school students.

I find that the ending was pretty rushed. I thought that they could have made that gradual progress about 5's true feelings, be it in a flashback form or something. Because I felt that after all the chasing after 9 and wanting to kill him, she suddenly confessed out of nowhere. Seems like a 180 degree change of feelings. I think because most of the deaths were cluttered at the end of the anime, it kind of seems like everyone died one shot.
Thought that they could have inserted certain scenes to help bring out the sadness more, especially when it comes to the dying scenes. 

I would like to recommend that viewers do listen to the OST CD of this anime. Some of it is really good, and it really just seems to touch one's heart. It feels as if there is a whole lot of feelings packed into the songs. 

Art Ratings: 4

A more realistic art to fit into the more realistic theme of the anime. Overall I really like the art style and the animation. It was all really smooth.  

The character designs also really all goes well with the personality of each characters. 

Though sometimes I really do feel that in certain scenes, there were one too many lines on the characters such that it does make them look a little out of shape. 

Recommended for:

Gender: Male & Female

Age: 16 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Zankyou no Terror OST playlist: Here

Death Note (Anime)

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/1535/Death_Note/pics

Name: Death Note デスノート

Status: Completed

Episode: 37

Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

Yagami Light is a 17-year-old genius from Japan who is tired of his life, school, and the state of the world as he knows it. One day, on the way home from class, Light stumbles upon a dark notebook with "Death Note" written on the front. Intrigued by its appearance, Light reads the first few sentences, only to find out that it states that anyone whose name is written inside will die. Discarding it as a joke, Light continues his daily activities. Soon after though, his human curiosity takes the better of him and prompts Light to try the notebook, discovering the truth behind first sentence. Now, with power in his hands, Yagami Light is on a quest to change the world and become God of the New World. His path to holy status won't be easy however, as another genius, known as L, is working against Light's beliefs and Light himself. Who will win this power of Gods between humans? 

Summary by: MAL Rewrite

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/1535/Death_Note/

Personal Ratings: 3

Watched the live action for this first, so I maybe comparing the two together unknowingly, but I'll try to keep this as neutral as possible. 

The lies and deductions are what makes up this anime, but I thought that adding in more emotions into the show would have been better, because the whole time its about psychology, deceiving and observation of the human behavior. It can be really taxing on the brain because of all the complex explanations which has to be laid out and thought out thoroughly before the full understanding can be reached. 

Thought that the pace of the whole story was too constant and lacked that emphasize on certain scenes. Some scene could have been faster to give off certain impact toward the viewers. Flashes or a higher speed for certain scene could have spiced up the mundane speed.

They could have made use of some scenes to emphasize on the emotions in which the viewers should be feeling at the moment in time. For example, when Raye actually wrote down the names of all the FBI on the death note, they should have actually showed us some scenes of them dying off, to tell the viewers how wrong Light's justice has become. Show, don't tell - by just telling us through words doesn't really bring in the weight of his actions and the emotions.

Another example would be the scene where many inspectors resigned from the case. I think that showing us the scene where they left the room would have much better because that way the viewers would feel a little frantic, because it would seem like everyone has left. However, I really liked how they actually cut down on the number of people involved in the case, because they can focus on that few people, as compared to having the show that many number of people at once. But I did think that they didn't really use that to their advantage. There maybe some episodes where they actually did some character developments on certain inspectors, but I didn't think that it was enough, because most of them were shown when they they were needed, or for a reason for them to end up causing trouble due to their characters.

I felt that showing more emotions from different parties when Yagami, L and Watami died would have been better. Because that whole time it just felt like oh-they-died-ok kind of feeling, with no attachments or whatsoever with them.

They concentrated too much on the mystery on hand, so much so that it fundamentally lacked that character development I thought was needed for the viewers to understand about the characters before we can completely enjoy the fight between the 2 sides.  

Could have developed some character more before killing them off - it would have made it more thrilling.

Like the thing about Naomi, I thought that they shouldn't have finished her off within 1 to 2 episodes, and only having met Light once. The drive of uncovering the Kira case due to her husband's death should have been shown more. Throughout the whole time, I didn't feel that kind of resentment within her. And since she was a former FBI agent, all the more they should have played it to their advantage to make the story a lot more interesting. 

I think that for the whole show, I felt that they forgot to think about the viewer's perspective. Throughout the whole show, I felt that because the viewers know the story from the point of view from both sides, it's really hard to see things from L's point of view (especially when it comes to finding out stuff about "Kira") when we actually know everything. So sometimes viewers may forget what L knows and doesn't know about Kira. So it may actually be a lot better if they have showed it from one person's point of view. 

I thought that the whole of Near's arc is very short and rushed. It kind of felt that they tried to pack as much as they can into that short number of episodes. 
Throughout the whole of the arc, I thought that using Near's toys to give us a better visual and overall understanding of the whole situation.

At the ending of the show, I thought that they did a really good job in picking which scenes they want to conceal, such that it leaves the viewers very curious to see what happens, but maybe there was too many holes for the viewers to fill in.
As for the last part when Kira became a little crazy from losing to near, I thought that they could have made it a little more dramatic and crazy as compared to showing him running away the whole time.
The introduction of the 3rd Kira was really well done. 

For L, Near and Mellow, I liked how they all have a kind of habit - Near plays with toys and stacks up things (which really shows his age, despite him being really smart. L also stacks his food up), Mellow eats chocolate (L also loves sweets in general) - that kind of resembles L, it really shows that they really look up to L a lot.

Thought that they should have gotten L to go into step-by-step explain how he come to conclusion on certain facts, I feel that it would have given the show a little more of that cool factor that they are lacking. It would also have given L more character and personality, because throughout the whole anime I thought that they didn't really flaunt over L's intelligence.

I thought that this would have been especially so in the first few episodes, where L have yet to reveal himself. This would have given the viewers that curiosity, in such a way that when he did reveal himself, it would have been more impactful.

They could have also expressed L's personality a little better; be it his sitting style, habits, and all the sweets, because it's those little things that makes him adorable. 

There wasn't really a lot about L throughout the show before he died. I felt that there was a lack of character development for his character. I really prefer the movie a lot more when it comes to L. I felt that he didn't really make much progress in the whole Kira case, especially since Near didn't start off from where L left but he started from the beginning.

After L died, I really think that they should have somehow made the information, that L gathered, available to near, so that he doesn't need to start from scratch and make it seem like the first half of the show was useless.

Thought that the progress that Near made when he first started on the Kira case was a lot more rushed as compared to the L arc. Could see that Light was also a lot rash with his decisions as compared to the time with L.

As for light, I thought that telling us more about his school life at the beginning would have enabled the viewers to measure his intelligence. Not keeping the viewers updated on his everyday life, would also mean not enabling the viewers to see how much his meaning of justice changed.
In the Near arc, I felt that Light became really cold blooded - a person with no feelings or his family, really suddenly. Thought that they should show his change of heart from the very beginning.

Not much family scenes ever since Light joined the investigation team. They should have input more emotions in by showing the family when Yagami died. 

Art Ratings: 3
More realistic art to bring out the more dark theme and the more


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