kanna-chan's cafe

Hey guys, kanna here. And welcome to 2018! Yay!

So, to start the year off, we'll be looking at one of my guilty pleasures that...well, it's not really that much of a guilty pleasure. I really do enjoy this anime and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It is...Zatch Bell.


Ok, if you want to call it by its Japanese name, it's translated (roughly) to Golden Gash Bell. Its Japanese name is 金色のガッシュ (Konjiki no Gash Bell). Why is it Gash and have the dubbing company change it to Zatch? Well...your guess is as good as mine. I guess given the English meaning of the word Gash (look it up), they figured they'd make up the names as they went.

The anime was based off of a manga written by Makoto Raiku, the manga writer and artist who would later write the manga, Animal Land, in 2009. I haven't read all of the Zatch Bell manga, but it's one of the series I've almost finished. It's actually pretty good.

Anyway, Zatch Bell started out as one of Makoto Raiku's ideas. Originally, it was going to be about a middle school student who found a toy and fought evil with a noble knight. However, upon talking to his agent about this idea, Makoto decided to go with a cuter character. Thus, Zatch Bell was born.

Let's talk story.

Every 1000 years, one hundred Mamodo children (ok, that term is debatable when you look at some of the Mamodo) are sent to the human world to compete for a spot to become King of the Mamodo world. Each Mamodo has their own spell book, but they need a human partner to read the spells that are used to fight.

If a Mamodo's book is burned, the Mamodo goes back to the Mamodo world and loses any and all chance at becoming King (I hate that they use the term "King" when a pretty good amount of the characters we meet on screen are female. A little sexist, don't you think?). Additionally, a Mamodo cannot burn their own book. The last Mamodo standing without their book burnt becomes the Mamodo King.

Our story follows Kiyo (not a far translation from the Japanese version, where he's called Kiyomaro) Takamine, a 14-year old boy in junior high school who is a genius and pretty anti-social. His father finds Zatch, unconscious in the woods and with no memory of who he is. Kiyo's father sends Zatch to Kiyo in the hopes that Zatch will help Kiyo learn some social skills.

Kiyo learns about the Mamodo world when he reads from the spell book, which causes Zatch to fire lightning from his mouth. Throughout the first part of the series, the two learn about the different types of Mamodo and about Mamodo battles.

I don't want to give too much away, so I'll jump right to the good stuff. The rating.

Rating: 10/10

Why: Well, we'd first have to address character development. The characters are developed wonderfully, and you can really connect with most of them (except for the villains). The main characters, Zatch and Kiyo, go through a lot of changes as they fight battle after battle, and eventually form an incredible bond.

The real turning point for Zatch and Kiyo's characters, in my opinion, occurs in the eighth episode of the series. In this episode, there is a cute little Mamodo named Kolulu. She meets her human partner, Lori, and the two become like sisters. However, not everything is as it seems when Kolulu's book starts glowing and Lori reads the first spell from it, unknowingly unleashing Kolulu's merciless and bloodthirsty alter ego. She grows in size and gains metallic claws.

Upon a battle against Zatch and Kiyo, where Kolulu had transformed to avoid being run over by a truck (long story), Kolulu used her willpower to get herself to change back into her cute, innocent self.

Upon waking up and seeing what she did, Kolulu revealed she never wanted to fight the battle, but she was forced to and given another personality that forced her to fight. She asked Zatch to burn her book and send her back to the Mamodo world, so that what happened to her would never happen again. As her book burns and she fades away, she says, "if the King of our world was a benevolent King, maybe we wouldn't have to come here and fight in the first place." Zatch learns that benevolent means kind, and vows to become a kindhearted King, a goal he has throughout the rest of the series.

That episode made me cry. It still does sometimes.

The characters are great, and you can really connect with them (like I said above). You can relate to them, both the humans and the Mamodos. I honestly think that this series has the best character development.

My personal favorite Mamodo and human partner...it's hard to say without giving too much of the story away and because there are a few I really like. I guess if I had to pick a top five (not including Kolulu and Lori because they were only in one episode), they would be (in no particular order):

1. Megumi (human)/Tia (Mamodo)
2. Li-en (human)/Wonrei (Mamodo)
3. Dr. Riddles (human)/Kido (Mamodo)
4. Sherry (human)/Brago (Mamodo)
5. Tie between Uri (human)/Penny (Mamodo) and Alvin (human)/Byonko (Alvin)

The music is pretty good (although I'll never understand the ideas of some of the insert songs). I think the Japanese openings and endings are better than the English opening and ending, but both the Japanese openings/endings and the English opening/ending are pretty good.

Well, that's my review! Have a happy and healthy new year! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. Boy, am I glad the semester is almost over.

I know Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I am so very thankful to all of you for putting up with my insane schedule. College has been tough, but I’ve been able to make it through.

So, what anime are we looking at today? How about a live action adaptation?

You guys know how I feel about most live action adaptations. Either Netflix’s Death Note or both parts of the live action Attack on Titan are the worst, and Tokyo Ghoul is probably one of the few really good ones. Hollywood’s Ghost in the Shell adaptation was ok, but I wouldn’t call it really good or the best live action anime adaptation out there. It was just…ok. Not good, not bad, just ok.

Then again, anything is better than Dragon—wait.

*looks at December line-up*

Hey guys, kanna here. And...HAPPY THIRD ANNIVERSARY TO KANNA'S CAFE AND ANIME MONDAYS!

THE CROWD GOES CRAZY!

...or not.

Seriously, guys, I get that three years isn't as big as, say, five, but still.

Anyway, let's take a look at what we have.

Too gory...too creepy...I'm not reviewing that until the fifth anniversary...hm, what do we have here? An anime about a secret task force that hunts vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural creatures that threaten England? Sounds like a crossover between Black Butler and Tokyo Ghoul (even though neither of those had aired when this anime was released), but I'll take it! This is...Hellsing.



So, where to begin? Background, I guess. This anime has quite an interesting history behind it.

Hellsing was originally a manga written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It ran from 1997 to 2008. Eleven years...not bad. I know some series that have had runs longer than that (Bleach, Naruto...why is it that I can only think of the ones I don't like?), but eleven years is still pretty impressive. There was a prequel, called Hellsing: The Dawn, as well as a side story and prototype manga featuring Kouta's old works and the characters' prototypes.

I guess Kouta really wanted to make sure he got EVERY SINGLE DETAIL about the characters written in and to tie up any loose ends. Were there any? I don't know; I haven't read the manga. It's on my to-read list, but I keep skipping over it to read more of Attack on Titan and Black Butler. I'll get around to it...eventually.

Anyway, the anime premiered in Japan in October 2001 and ran until January 2002. We'll ignore the OVA, as it was more than one episode , and this review can only be so long. Anyway, this anime was produced by a company called Gonzo. If you haven't heard of them, you've probably heard of some of the work they produced; such as Full Metal Panic!, Chrono Crusade, Rosario + Vampire (both seasons), and Blade & Soul.

Hellsing was directed by Umanosuke Iida. If you don't recognize his name, chances are you'll recognize some of the stuff he worked on, like the in-between animation in Nausicaä Valley of the Wind and assistant directing Castle in the Sky. You're probably wondering why we haven't seen more from him. Unfortunately, Iida passed away from lung cancer seven years ago at the age of 49.

A moment of silence for Mr. Iida. RIP sir. You are, and will continue to be, missed.

Ok, on with the rest of the review.

The anime was based on the manga, but used a screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka (it's a long story why he has a middle initial when Japanese people don't have a middle name or use a middle initial). It was actually quite different from the manga in terms of plot, but it used some of the same characters and similar character designs. The series ran for thirteen episodes. There was an OVA called Hellsing Ultimate that was released in 2006, and it ran for ten episodes until 2012...doesn't make much sense, but ok. The OVA followed the manga's storyline more than the original series did. You've probably heard of Hellsing Ultimate thanks to the guys over at TeamFourStar, who created Hellsing Ultimate Abridged (which is definitely worth the watch; you won't be disappointed).

Enough talk about that. Let's get to the good stuff: plot!

Hellsing is named after and centered around the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, led by Abraham Van Hellsing. Their mission is to search for and destroy the undead and other supernatural forces of evil that threaten the queen and the country. Currently, the organization is led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (not sure why they use "sir" when the character is a female, but ok), a woman who inherited the leadership role of Hellsing after the death of her father. By the way, get used to these names being a mouthful. I'm not sure what the writers were thinking with such long names, but we have to go with it, so...yeah.

Anyway, Integra witnessed the death of her father (we never learned his name), which turned her from a shy, innocent girl into a deadly force. She leads the organization with the help of the Hellsing family butler, Walter C. Domez, someone whose bad side you do NOT want to get on, and Alucard. Alucard is the original and most powerful vampire in his own right, but he swore loyalty to the Hellsing family after being defeated by Abraham one hundred years before the story takes place. The group is later joined by former police officer Seras Victoria, who became a vampire thanks to Alucard.

You would think that this is just about fighting and the adventures the group go on together. Well, we're missing a pretty important piece of the plot: the conflict.

While the number of incidents involving the undead and the supernatural escalate in England and all around the world, Integra discovers that there are remnants of a Nazi group called Millennium, whose intention is to revive Nazi Germany through creating an army of vampires. This leads to a HUGE, apocalyptic, three-sided conflict in London between Millennium, Hellsing, and Hellsing's bitter rival organization, the Vatican section XIII Iscariot. Millennium's true objective is revealed: to destroy the vampire lord, Alucard, and end a feud that began during WWII.

So, rating: 10 out of freaking 10

Yeah, I bet you were expecting a bad review, weren't you? Surprise!

Why: First off, this isn't your typical vampire anime. Be glad it's not Diabolik Lovers or Rosario + Vampire. This anime is actually a little similar to the hit long-running TV series, Supernatural, now that I think about it. I can't help but wonder if the writers of Supernatural got some of their ideas from Hellsing. It would be pretty cool if they did.

The fact that this anime tied itself to an actual, historical event is pretty cool. The X-Men movies did this (most of the time), and it's just something that I think is cool. When something is tied to a historical event and it's done right (meaning the people behind the show or movie did their research), it's awesome.

The animation is decent, the characters are well developed, and I think the music is pretty good, too. I know people who don't like anime that much, but when I introduced them to this series, they LOVED it. Did they watch more anime after it? No (😞), but at least they liked Hellsing!

I think the one downside this anime has is that it was only twelve episodes. I think they could have done a lot more, especially given the popularity of it. But that's not enough to give it half a point down or even a full point. So I'm sticking to my rating.

If you're not a fan of horror, gore, or anything like that, I wouldn't recommend it. However, if you like Supernatural or other horror-ish/gory series you'll probably like this.

Well, happy third anniversary to the cafe and happy Halloween! See you next time for Anime Mondays in November! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. And welcome to Halloween month!

Ok, seriously, we need a better name for this month, given that the theme is horror/supernatural anime. I'm open to ideas.

Totoro wishes everyone a happy Halloween!

We're kicking off the month with the live action adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul! Let's do this!


I'll give a little background on Tokyo Ghoul, as I had planned on reviewing the anime, but suffered a major writer's block on it, so I couldn't write a decent review of it.

Tokyo Ghoul was based off of a manga series written by Sui Ishida, who you might recognize from...wow, that's pretty much all you'll recognize him from. Kinda sucks for him, don't you think?

Anyway, Tokyo Ghoul ran from September 2011 to September 2014. In 2014, a sequel titled Tokyo Ghoul:re was serialized, and in October of that same year, a prequel titled Tokyo Ghoul Jack ran online.

Between July and September 2014, a 12-episode anime series of the same name aired in Japan. In 2015, an original story meant to serve as a second season was released, titled Tokyo Ghoul √A (pronounced Tokyo Ghoul: Root A). A third season, Tokyo Ghoul:re (I'm not sure why it's called that, but maybe it's because it's following that part of the manga? I don't know), was announced October 5, 2017, and is set to air sometime next year (no official date has been announced yet as of the time I'm writing this).

Wow...next year's anime series will have a TON of competition. Between the new season of Sword Art Online, Sword Art Online's spin-off series, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen, and others, there's going to be a ton of competition. It's up to us viewers to see who will come out on top.

Moving on.

The story of Tokyo Ghoul is set in an alternate reality where ghouls (creatures kind of like vampires, but instead of blood, they live off of human flesh) live among humans and hide their secret. Our protagonist is Ken Kaneki, a high school student who goes out with fellow student Rize Kamishiro on a date. Rize reveals herself to be a ghoul, and nearly kills Ken. A beam fell down, killed Rize, and knocked out Ken to the point of near-death. During the surgery Ken went through in order to survive, some of Rize's organs were put inside him, turning him into a half-ghoul. He then has to go through his life while keeping his ghoul identity under wraps.

And...there's your background. Now for the live action adaptation.


So...where to begin? I mean, I already gave you guys background. So...let's talk about the movie's background.

The movie first premiered in the US at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California, on July 3. They also did a live stream of the movie on YouTube a few weeks later (I think it was a few weeks), where the director, Kentaro Hagiwara, and a couple of the actors (I don't remember who) were in attendance to answer questions from the fans.

I don't remember what date it was, but I do remember that I didn't attend the live stream because it was at 4 in the morning in my time zone (I think that that was around 8 PM in Japan). As much as I love anime and as curious as I was about this adaptation, there was no way I would get up at 4 AM to watch a live action adaptation. Sorry, guys. I really wanted to attend the live stream, but I just couldn't bring myself to set an alarm for 4 AM.

Have I mentioned that I HATE big time differences (ones that are over 13 hours)?

Moving on.

NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE ANIME OR THE LIVE ACTION MOVIE OR READ THE MANGA, STEP AWAY, DO ONE OF THOSE THINGS, AND COME BACK. THIS POST WILL BE WAITING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

We have some actors who are pretty well-known in Japan, but I'm not sure of how well-known they are internationally. Our protagonist, Ken Kaneki, is played by Masataka Kubota. You might recognize him from the TV drama adaptation of Death Note, where he played Light Yagami. He was in other movies and TV dramas, but I think this is his first lead role in a movie. I could be wrong, though.

Fumika Shimizu plays Touka Kirishima, a ghoul who helps Ken get adjusted to life as a half-ghoul. If you've seen Kamen Rider Fourze, you'll recognize her from her role as Yuki Jojima, which was her first major role.

We have a somewhat internationally well-known actress playing Rize Kamishiro, our ghoul whose organs turn Ken into a half-ghoul, and her name is Yu Aoi. You might recognize her from the live action adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin. She had other roles, but that's the first one that comes to mind for me.

As for the rest of the actors and actresses, I haven't heard of them. That doesn't mean they aren't internationally well-known or not famous in Japan, it just means I either a) haven't seen anything they've been in, or b) if I have seen things they've been in, I didn't know who those actors and actresses were.

Moving right along.

The background of the movie is pretty similar to the background of the anime, so we're going to skip over that for two reasons. One, I don't want to spoil it for you, as this is only in theaters for a limited time (a week, I think). Two, I honestly don't want this to seem like something you can just find on Wiki or whatever. I want this to be a well-written, unbiased, review. If the movie were online, then I would completely spoil it for you guys. But I won't do that this time.

Effects: The effects are...decent. Granted, no film is perfect, but I honestly feel like the effects could have been a lot better. Sometimes, they looked really convincing; almost believable, even. Other times, they were just meh. The movie really capitalizes on the fact that ghouls eat human flesh, so the violence tends to overshadow other important elements of the movie. The ghouls' eyes, which look different from human eyes, don't look too fake, and the kagune (the ghouls' powerful appendages) look pretty decent. Not only that, but (spoiler) the mask that Ken wears at the end of the movie looks pretty darn close to the mask from the anime and manga. It's really impressive.

Scariness: This movie is less horror and more about the gore. While it is scary in some aspects, it really emphasizes on the blood, guts, and gore. I think it's probably because the ghouls consume human flesh to survive. With that being said, the level of scariness in this is pretty low. If you were to rate this movie on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not scary at all and 10 being the stuff of H.R. Giger's nightmares, I'd give this a somewhere between a 3 and a 5. I won't say that this can't call itself a horror movie, but at the same time, I feel like it just isn't that scary. I will admit, there were a couple of moments where I had to cover my eyes, but overall, it wasn't super scary.

Violence: I talked about this mostly in the scary section, but I'll address it again. This movie was CRAZY-VIOLENT. Seriously. I mean, the fight-scenes were well choreographed, but talk about bloody! The lead guy from the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul; the task force used to hunt and kill ghouls) with the weird hair, Kureo Mado, was downright brutal when he killed ghouls! He actually used kagune he took from other ghouls against them, and developed a kagune-like weapon that he just carries around in a FREAKING BRIEFCASE! I was very impressed by the fight scenes, and the one between Ken and Amon, the other CCG guy, was really well-done. I'm curious as to whether or not they had stunt doubles. Hm...

Characters/acting: This is a downfall of the movie, in my opinion. While there aren't any movie-exclusive characters (thank G-D) and all our favorites are there, I feel that the character development was overshadowed by all the violence, gore, and the film trying to be somewhat scary. The acting was good, but like I said before, the character development was overshadowed. As an audience, we want to know Ken's internal thoughts of him transforming into a half-ghoul. We want to feel his fear. We want to be able to connect with him on some level. And the anime gave us that. This movie, on the other hand...not so much. I could think of better actors for some of the characters. Not all, but some. I think Beat Takeshi would have made a better Yoshimura than the guy who played him in the movie, Kunio Murai. That's just my opinion, though. The guy who played Yoshimura was good, I just think Beat Takeshi would have been better.

Writing: For those of you who have read the manga, you'll be happy to find out that this movie followed the first three volumes of the manga. Not only that, but it stayed true to the manga and anime. Sure, some scenes were shuffled around or compressed, but that's to be expected with a film adaptation. There's only so much you can fit into two hours, or even a little over two hours. However, that doesn't excuse the lack of character development, insight into Ken's thoughts of his transformation into a ghoul, or...insight into any of the characters, really. I feel like the most insight we got was into Rize Kamishiro, and she was killed off at the beginning of the movie (not a huge spoiler, but it is a spoiler). So...yeah.

Music: The music was actually pretty good. I was NOT expecting to like it as much as I did. The composer for the movie was Don Davis, who is best known for his work on The Matrix movies. The theme song for the movie is "Banka" by RADWIMPS and guitarist Yojiro Noda, under his stage name, illion. It's a pretty good song. While I don't have it on my iPod (yet), I think the soundtrack is definitely worth a listen. Don Davis isn't John Williams or Hans Zimmer, but there's no denying that he's talented.

So...rating. Boy, was I dreading this part. Um...8 out of 10.

Why: Most of my reasons above, but there are some other things. Aside from the lack of character development and the effects being just decent instead of good, or even great, this movie just seems like it's something to get people who haven't seen Tokyo Ghoul into it. Nothing wrong with that, but for those of us who have seen Tokyo Ghoul, not only does it feel like a repeat, but there isn't a ton of nostalgic value. It did leave me wanting a sequel, which I hope will happen. Overall, I think the movie could have been a lot better.

In addition, I think the casting could have been better. I can't really explain why, but I feel like if they wanted to release this movie to an international audience, they should have gotten more internationally-known actors and actresses, like Beat Takeshi. Masataka Kubota and Fumika Shimizu aren't that well-known internationally unless you've seen things they've been in. I'm probably one of a small amount of people in the United States who watches Kamen Rider (I stopped for a period of time...big mistake on my part because I now have a crap ton to catch up on), and I don't know how many people have seen the Death Note TV drama. While I don't have an ideal cast in mind (yet), I do think there are better actors and actresses that would have fit some of the characters more.

Well, that's my review of the live action Tokyo Ghoul! Stay tuned for the third anniversary special, which is going to be a surprise! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here! And guess who saw No Game No Life: Zero? ME!!! I'm pretty happy about it.

Anyway, this isn't going to count as part of my Halloween line up because it's not horror, and while it could be considered supernatural, I just don't think it quite fits the supernatural genre entirely. But hey, that's just my opinion.

I saw this movie with one of my best friends (and fellow blogger), Chibi Dragon. You should check out her blog; she is an AMAZING writer. She reviews anime, movies, and video games. She also sometimes live streams her games on twitch (I don't have the link for it, but when I get the link, I'll edit this post and put it in).

Anyway, where to begin. Um...background, I guess, considering that's what the movie started off with. Seriously, we got 19 minutes of behind the scenes footage and background on the movie COMBINED. Not that that's a bad thing; the behind the scenes stuff was actually pretty interesting.

So, background:

No Game No Life started out as a series of light novels published between 2012 and 2016 that were written by Yuu Kamiya. In 2013, Yuu and his wife adapted the novels into a manga series. That same year, an anime adaptation produced by Madhouse was announced. That anime adaptation aired in 2014 and was twelve episodes.

Fast forward to 2016, when the movie (at the time, untitled, I think) was announced. It was then named No Game No Life: 0 and released in Japan on July 15, 2017. This movie is based on the sixth volume of the light novel series.

So, with that said, let's dive into Disboard (before it became known as Disboard)! This is No Game No Life: 0!


So, before our movie even starts, we get some background on what No Game No Life is (which I just gave you). We learn what it's about, which I'll address when I review the anime...eventually. Yeah, I know I'm doing things a little out of order. I'll try to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

Anyway, after we learn about what No Game No Life is about, we get some behind the scenes stuff with the director and all the voice actors who returned to voice characters that were related to the characters they previously voiced. And this is also where I questioned Chibi Dragon if we were even at the right showing, because the interview was with the voice actors from the English dub, and we got tickets for the subbed showing. You would think that for a subbed showing, you would have behind the scenes stuff with the Japanese cast and crew. So I was really confused.

Lucky for us, we were at the right showing. Yay! Although, the theater wasn't as crowded as we thought it would be. When Chibi Dragon and I saw Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, that theater was PACKED. And this one only had maybe half of the theater, if that. I don't get it.

Moving on.

After that behind the scenes stuff with the voice actors from the English dub and the director for the English dubbed movie, the movie finally started. And, boy, were we excited.

The story is set 6000 years ago; before the main series even started. It details the Great War, a seemingly never-ending war between all the races in Disboard (the world No Game No Life is set in), and humanity is forced to live underground in order to survive. Sounds like a pretty cool story, right?

The movie revolves around an eighteen-year-old boy named Riku, who wants to ensure the survival of the human race, even if it means sacrificing their lives. He meets Schwi (I'm not sure if the spelling of that is right...anyway, it's pronounced Shoo-vee), an Ex-Machina (the Android race of Disboard), and wants to kill her at first. However, when she explains that she was cut off from the Cluster collective and isn't a threat, he ultimately takes her under his wing. So now the majority of the entire film revolves around the relationship between Riku and Schwi. And their relationship provides all the feels you could ever want from this movie. There's humor, heartwarming stuff, and even some of the most tearjerking stuff you could imagine. Seriously, bring tissues to this movie. You will probably cry.

There are a couple of characters who might look familiar to those who have seen No Game No Life: Corone Dola and Jibril. Let's start with Korone.

Corone Dola is (and this isn't really a spoiler, because if you've seen No Game No Life, you'll be able to see the resemblance) Stephanie Dola's ancestor. She has a bit of a big sister personality and is the one who leads the humans. This ancestral link then leads to the question, "Are Riku and Schwi the ancestors of Sora and Shiro? Are Sora and Shiro reincarnates of Riku and Schwi?" There are a lot of theories out there.

Let's talk about Jibril. Jibril is a Flügel, a race that has the appearance of angels, but whose personalities are far from angels. Jibril is every bit as demonic in both personality and fighting style in this movie. Think about Yondu's line from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie; the one about being pretty as an angel, but "sure as h**l ain't one," and you'd get Jibril. The final battle of the film is her versus Schwi and the results aren't pretty at all. I won't say much more than that.

Overall, No Game No Life: Zero was freaking AWESOME. I highly recommend it. The animation is beautiful, the music is amazing, the character designs are great, and the storyline is good. While it might seem like a typical hero's sacrificial journey, it's so much more than that, and it's played out in a fashion that you actually can get invested in. If you're looking for a good anime movie to see on the big screen, then this one is for you. Chibi Dragon and I saw the subtitled version, but there is a dubbed version playing tomorrow (Oct. 8), and that's the last chance you'll get to see this movie before it comes out on DVD.

The one thing I was let down by with this movie (aside from the confusion about the behind the scenes with the English dub cast and crew) was that there wasn't an after credits scene promising more No Game No Life. Even so, I still give this movie a solid 10/10.

Well, that's it! Stay tuned for my first of probably two Halloween reviews, which will either be Hellsing or the live action adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. Well, I'm still packing for move in, which is soon (I still can't believe summer is almost over), but I made time to write this review for you guys. Yay!

*applause*

It's time for the review everyone's been waiting for, so let's get to it! Here it is: Netflix's Death Note!


Ok, so the movie has a semi-decent cast. Nat Wolff as Light Yagami (I'm NOT calling him Light Turner), CGI voiced by Willem Dafoe as Ryuk (there was some other guy who played Ryuk in costume while Willem Dafoe provided voice work and performance capture for the facial elements), that guy from Get Out as L (I FINALLY remembered his name! It's Keith Stanfield), and a bunch of other people I've never heard of. Masi Oka, that jerk who made that remark about "perfect English," is in this, too.

*sigh*

I'm in for a treat, aren't I? Mr. Oka, you have yet to redeem yourself. I don't care that the creators of the source material praised this; I'm here to form my own opinion. I mean, it can't be as bad as both parts of the live action adaptation of Attack on Titan, right?

RIGHT?

RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

ONE SCREENING LATER

Holy. Fricking. Frick. I...can't...even...

*deep breath*

THIS MOVIE SUCKS!

Ok. Allow me to elaborate. I couldn't get through this movie in one sitting, so after the first twenty or so minutes of torture (the things I do for you guys), I decided to walk away, get some shopping therapy (which took longer than I would have liked), and come back to it. And guess what? IT WAS STILL TORTURE.

Allow me to elaborate a little bit more. If you'll recall, I reviewed the Death Note anime about a year ago and praised it. It was a fantastic anime with great, complex characters and an interesting premise. Sure, it had its downsides, but what anime doesn't (even if it gets 5/5 or 10/10)?

So, let's not waste any time (which I would actually be quite content with, but I feel I owe it to you guys to give this "movie" a proper review). Let's dive right into Netflix's Death Note.

The movie opens up with a high school in what I think is Seattle, and already, the soundtrack is doing nothing for me. They're using a song I don't know by a band I've never heard of (I think they're Australian). But more on the bad music later.

We see our protagonist, Light Yagami--sorry, Light Turner--in the middle of a rainstorm as he picks up a book marked "Death Note." After a scene with high school bully Kenny and our introduction of cheerleader Mia Sutton (the movie's version of Misa Amane), we cut to the principal, where we learn that Light is a genius who hates everything evil and that his mom died. The principal puts Light in detention for trying to break up a fight between Kenny and Mia.

While in detention, the teacher steps out for a while and Light opens up the Death Note. He starts to read the rules. And, I'm not going to lie: while Nat Wolff doesn't look great as a blonde, the years certainly did treat him well. He's only a couple weeks older than I am, but his voice got REALLY deep. It sound pretty good. You can tell he went through some major changes after Naked Brothers Band.

Anyway, as Light is reading the rules of the notebook, the lights flicker out and he hears something break. He goes to investigate and we get our first look at Ryuk. This is probably my favorite part of the movie, because Light screams like a little girl at the sight of Ryuk and falls down. Ryuk practically destroys the detention room (along with trying to kill Light) and Light is screaming like a little girl the entire time. It's actually kind of funny.

Light tries to convince himself it's all a dream, but Willem Dafoe's AMAZING voice acting shines through with the lines, "Oh, yes. A dream. I like that. Dreams are places you can have fun, right? It's all in your mind, so why not enjoy it?" Ryuk points to Kenny and another kid bullying a girl outside before he continues, "Now we could, in this 'dream' of yours, take care of a situation like this.We just put Kenny's name down and see what happens."

Light writes down Kenny's name, and it's here where I feel the writing for Nat goes downhill. Why? Well, we get a pretty crappy joke (at least, I think that's what it was) about Light not having a pen. However, the writing for Willem Dafoe continues to shine, as Ryuk says, "Good. Now, as long as we're playing, let's do it right. There's no need to stop at 'who.'" Light asks what else there is, and Ryuk explains that there needs to be a "how." Light writes down "decapitation" as the cause of death, and Ryuk says that that's not bad for a beginner. Ryuk then gets Light to look outside and watch the action unfold. I won't go into detail about Kenny's death because he wasn't that important of a character and his death was pretty bloody.

Light screams like a little girl (okay, now that's getting old...it was fun the first or second time, but now it's getting old) and falls backwards. Ryuk then explains that he needs to "separate the wheat from the chaff," and that if Light leaves the Death Note alone for seven days, Ryuk will find it a new home. Ryuk tells Light that if what just happened was possible to imagine what else he could do with the Death Note. The lights flicker back on and Ryuk vanishes.

We then cut to Light's home, where we meet Light's dad, James Turner, a cop. There's a pretty bad storm going on, causing things in the house to rattle and shake. And...the scene here really isn't that great. It just shows how Light's dad isn't really the best dad out there and how Light thinks his dad is doing a pretty bad job at being a cop.

Light goes to his room and reads rules 64 and 95 of the Death Note before he asks about the number of rules. I'm going to mention the same thing I did in my review of the anime: this notebook has more rules on how to kill a person than there are instructions on how to make instant ramen!

Back to the story. Light flips through the pages of the Death Note before coming across something interesting in the margins of one of the pages: "Don't trust Ryuk (he pronounces it Rye-ick). He is not your pet, he is not your friend." The lights in Light's room go out and the door to his room creaks open (I guess this is an attempt to scare us...it doesn't really work), and Light thinks that Ryuk is behind it.

Sure enough, Ryuk is in Light's room, and corrects Light on the pronunciation of his name (thank G-D). The writing for Nat continues to go downhill as Light asks more questions, while the writing for Willem Dafoe continues to freaking shine. So far, aside from the bad writing for Nat, the whitewashing and Americanization of everyone's names (except for Watari, but we'll get to him later), this movie is actually doing a pretty good job of following the first few episodes of the anime.

Too bad that's cut short by Light commenting on the size of Ryuk's fingers. Um...unnecessary, much? Anyway, Ryuk says that Rule 28 of the Death Note states that each death must be physically possible. In the words of Ryuk, "No shark attacks while someone's on the toilet." Really? That would have been a redeemable quality for the movie.

Light continues to ask more pointless questions, until he gets an idea. He gets a folder that has several articles on his mom's killer, Antony...something. Ryuk explains that a name and a face is all Light needs to write someone's name in the Death Note. Light writes Antony's name in the Death Note and we actually see the poor guy get killed off.

I'm not going to go through the middle of the movie, because the only semi-relevant thing that happens is that we meet L.

Let's just cut to the end. Honestly, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. My sanity is already ebbing away. I'd ALMOST rather be sitting through Diabolik Lovers (key word being "almost"). G-d help me.

Mia falls to her death from the Seattle Great Ferris Wheel thanks to Ryuk messing with it (also, her name was written in the Death Note). We learned earlier (I forgot to mention this) that a page with someone's name can be burned to cancel the death within 48 hours, but this can only be done once. Light and the Death Note fall into the water, and the page with Light's name on it falls in a burn barrel. The page is burned, Light is recovered, but he is in a coma. When he wakes up, his dad realizes that Light was Kira all along (oh yeah, they went with that Japanese/English wordplay). Ryuk comments on how interesting humans are, and the credits roll.

So...out of 10: 0/10

Why: Look, I tried to go into this with an open mind. I really did. But aside from all the whitewashing, Americanization, bad writing, bad direction, bad music, bad...pretty much everything, the only good thing was Willem Dafoe's performance as Ryuk.

Nat's acting is passable, at best. It was great seeing him try to act as a complex character like Light Yagami, but they key word in that is "try." Nat definitely changed and matured quite a bit. Whether that's for the better remains to be seen.

Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (the creators of Death Note) have praised the film. What were they on? Were they drunk or high or something when watching this? Because that might be the only way someone could get through this "movie" and actually like it. I don't drink or get high, though, so I could be wrong about that.

All in all, if you're a fan of Death Note, DON'T WATCH THIS! If you want to get into Death Note, watch the anime instead of this "movie." I can guarantee it will be 10 times better than this piece of crap.

The soundtrack did nothing for me. I have...no words, other than it was really, really bad.

Adam Winguard, the director of this "movie" said that Netflix has wanted to make at least two films if enough people watched this. Winguard said, "There are definitely lots of places to go, and we know generally where we would take it. Hopefully people will watch it and Netflix will order a sequel. They definitely are ready to. They just need people to watch it." Oh, Adam...if only you knew how badly we don't want a sequel...

Well, that's my review. This was torture to watch, so I'll be taking a break from Anime Mondays for a week or two. Sorry, guys. ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. I know it's a little unfair to judge a 12-episode series after just 5 episodes, but you know what? I decided to break my rule of waiting until the halfway point. For now, anyway. Whether I'll do that in the future remains to be seen. I promised you at least one Anime Monday before I started school, so here it is. Hopefully there will be more on the way.

Today's Anime Monday will talk about a series that...well...I put the main title in Japanese for a reason. If you'll recall, I reviewed 地獄少女 (H**l Girl) for an Anime Monday about a year ago. So I'll give a little background on this season. There will be some spoilers, because you need to have seen the previous seasons to understand this one. You have been warned.


Ok. I gave a general background of the anime in that review, so here's a little background on this season before we dive into each of the episodes. The third season of 地獄少女, Three Vessels, finished airing April 4, 2009. We all thought that that season was going to be the end of the anime. Some of us wanted a fourth season, some of us didn't. Personally, I was indifferent. I wouldn't have minded a fourth season, but I was okay without it.

On February 25 of this year (eight years after the third season), a fourth season of 地獄少女 was announced; something that I don't think a lot of people expected. While I'm sure some fans were more excited than others...I was a little indifferent. I thought a fourth season would be interesting, but I was unsure of where the writers would take it. So I think nervous might be the better word.

The fourth season premiered July 14 of this year. We'll get to what I thought about the series later, but for now...THIS SEASON IS ONLY 12 EPISODES! 12! FREAKING! EPISODES! ALL THE OTHER SEASONS HAD 26 OR SO EPISODES AND THIS ONE ONLY GETS 12?! IS THIS ATTACK ON TITAN ALL OVER AGAIN?! COME ON!

*end rant*

Ok. Deep breaths, kanna. Deep breaths.

Ahem.

Anyway, this new season was supposed to feature six new episodes and six "reminisce" episodes. By "reminisce," I can only assume that this means background on the characters. We got one "reminisce" episode just recently, but I'll talk about that one later. For now, let's get to the insight of the first five episodes of 地獄少女.

Episode 1: This episode is actually one of my favorites, and it wasn't bad for a first episode. It gave a great insight into bullying, especially cyber-bullying. In this episode, a girl is being bullied in her class's group chat for reasons unknown to her. She meets another girl who encourages her to join another group chat meant for loners. However, upon scrolling through the new group chat, the girl discovers that the other girl was responsible for the bullying and sends her to 地獄. I'll admit, that's not the best solution to any problem, but given that this is a fictional anime where some things are taken to the extreme, I'll let it slide. For now.

It's also in this episode where we meet a new character in the series. We don't know who she is (yet), but she seems to be judgmental of the work that Ai and her companions do for reasons we don't quite know (yet). It's also revealed that this girl doesn't know who she is or how she became a spirit.

Episode 2: I wasn't a fan of this episode. I mean, part of the reason why could be because I don't understand Japanese comedy (as in, I haven't seen enough of it to become familiar with it), as that's part of what's featured in this episode. The other part is two friends forming a damnation pact with each other and one friend sends the other to 地獄. So far, this season is sounding pretty similar to the previous seasons. I'm not liking this.

Episode 3: OH. MY. FREAKING. G-D. I HATED this episode. Not because the season was starting to seem formulaic and a little too similar to its predecessors, but because it was downright AWFUL. Why? Well, in this episode...how do I put this...everyone hates each other except for two siblings. You have a grandma who hates the mom, the grandma's son who doesn't really get involved in anything, and the parents' three kids (a girl with a boyfriend who is abusive towards her siblings and she doesn't care, a brother, and a sister). The writing was awful, there was little to no character development, and the whole thing revolved around the brother and his younger sister not wanting to get their hands dirty. What a piece of crap.

Episode 4: This was another bad one, but not for the same reason as episode 3. In this episode, we got to see the dark side of what happens in homes for the elderly. It was basically elder abuse nonstop. I wanted to cry; I felt awful for the characters. I mean...this is some of the stuff that you REALLY don't want to show viewers. But, surprisingly, that's not what pissed me off about this episode. No. What pissed me off was that they brought Tsugumi Shibata, a recurring character from the past three seasons, back for pretty much NO REASON. I'm not kidding. She's there as a worker who knows about the abuse and is trying to stop it (yay her), but she contributes nothing to the overall storyline of this episode. Useless, much?

Episode 5: Contrary to what people might say about this episode, I actually kinda liked it. I mean, it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either. This episode was...I can't really come up with a good word to describe it. Here's what happened, though, as it does contain quite a bit of character development as to who this mysterious spirit is. In this episode, three out of four boys were killed in a car accident because they weren't wearing seat belts and were roughhousing instead. Only one survived because he was wearing his seat belt. The mother of one of the boys who died wants to send the surviving boy to 地獄, because it wasn't fair to her that he survived and her son didn't.

We learn that this is somewhat similar to our mysterious spirit's past, whose name we learn is Michiru. She remembers her past bit by bit in this episode until it all starts to come together. I'm not going to give away exactly what happened, but I will say how she died and became a spirit. She and her parents were killed in a fire set by some villagers. At first, she thought that she and her family were going to Heaven, which is what the mom said as they were dying. This would have been an interesting twist; having 地獄少女 and "Heaven Girl" (Michiru) battle it out over each time someone forms a contract. But the writers don't do this. Instead, they relate Michiru's story to Ai's story and say that she is to become the next 地獄少女. And...that's pretty much how the episode ends. Kinda crappy, but not much we can do about it, right?

So, thoughts: This season is too formulaic and follows the formula of the previous seasons. If you're new to 地獄少女, the first season is worth checking out. This one and the previous two seasons: not so much. The animation is decent, the music isn't that bad (it's not great, but it's not terrible), and even the torture scenes are short so those who can't take blood/guts/gore can just go right past them.

That being said about the torture scenes...they're too short. I feel like they're twenty seconds before Ai says her famous lines (this is just one of many variations of them: "O pitiful shadow bound in darkness, looking down upon people and causing them pain. A soul drowned in sinful karma...Want to try dying this once?"), and then poof! Gone! I mean, I don't like watching torture scenes, but seeing a villain get their comeuppance (even if it's in a super violent and torturous way) is kinda needed in a show about sending people to 地獄. They weren't afraid to show the death scenes in Death Note. Even the previous three seasons had longer torture scenes that were anywhere from a minute to two minutes. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

There isn't a ton of character development, and the problems seem too similar to the previous seasons. I mean...where's the originality? Did it go down the toilet? Are the writers just lazy? I mean, people who wanted a fourth season waited EIGHT YEARS for this, and this pile of crap is what we get? Formulaic as heck?! Um, no. The only reason I'm going to keep watching is because I freaking LOVE Ichimoku Ren.

Well, that's this week's Anime Monday. Stay tuned for my next review of...actually, I'm not sure. Um...TBD?

Anyway, the next Anime Monday probably won't be up until I move into my dorm (I'll be lucky if I can post one sooner), so just keep an eye on my Facebook page. Until next time! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. I promised at least one Anime Monday before I went to school for my last year. So, you're going to be getting this relatively short blog post.

If you were at SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con), you'll know that they showed a clip from the highly controversial Netflix adaptation of the classic anime, Death Note. If you weren't there (like me), then you probably found out about this by word of mouth. There are...several things I want to say about this adaptation, but I'll get to them after I talk about the clip.


Ok. In this clip, Light (Nat Wolff) meets Ryuk (CGI voiced by Willem Dafoe). And...to be perfectly honest, there are only two impressive things in this clip:

1. Nat Wolff actually cursing (I mean, I haven't seen any of his stuff outside of Naked Brothers Band, so if he curses in other stuff, I stand corrected)
2. Willem Dafoe as Ryuk. I think that speaks for itself.

And it's also here where I feel that Nat Wolff's acting just...isn't good. I don't think he's going to make a good Light Yagami. His acting seems...off. Granted, the full movie hasn't been released yet, so I can't be too harsh. Even so, I feel like all my hope for him just went down the drain. Sorry, Nat, but so far, Willem Dafoe is the only redeeming thing about this. It's Anime/Manga: 2 and Netflix: 1.

So...what can we expect?

• That guy from Get Out as L (I can never remember his name...I think it's Keith something)
• Nat Wolff being unable to play a complex character like Light Yagami
• Masi Oka being his usual self (yes, he's actually in this movie; more on him later)
• An AMAZING performance from Willem Dafoe
• Hopefully decent CGI...the CGI Ryuk looks pretty cool

Hey guys, kanna here. And is it me, or is this summer HOT? I mean, I don't know about where in the world you guys are, but where I am, it's either really hot or really rainy. I guess I can't complain, too much, though.

Enough of me complaining about the heat. It's time for a trip to the past! Let's go!

The year we're headed to is 1995, the year when this was originally released in Japan. It was released into the U.S. in 2006. Our movie, if you haven't guessed already from the title, is part of the anime Dragon Ball Z, and it's the 13th movie. In Japan, this movie was known as Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will?. Now, me being me with my habit of seeing things a tad out of order, I saw this before I actually saw the other movies. Yeah...not exactly what I had intended at the time, but oh well.


Anyway, this movie is set after (and this is the part where you will have need to have seen Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z) the events of the final battle with Majin Buu. And while you do need to know who the characters are in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in order to watch this film, you don't need to have seen the previous film before it, Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn. Actually, you don't need to have seen ANY of the previous films to understand this movie. That's part of what I love about Dragon Ball; you don't need to have seen the previous movie to understand the next.

Let's dive in!

NOTE: I'll mainly be talking about the English dub in this, as I haven't seen the original Japanese (primarily because I can't find the original Japanese anywhere). I'll make a couple references to the Japanese, but those will mainly be from research.

Our movie opens up on a distant planet with a young alien boy frantically searching his surroundings for...something. It's not really clear as to what he's looking for, but I guess it doesn't matter too much, as he's killed off by a giant foot while someone maniacally laughs in the background and declares that his next stop is Earth.

On Earth, it looks like an old, alien man is trying to commit suicide by jumping off a tower. So Gohan and Videl as Super Saiyaman I and II, respectively, go to rescue him. And, to be honest...this guy isn't much of a looker. I mean, every part of him practically SCREAMS villain. Look at this guy!

Tell me that doesn't SCREAM villain!

Anyway, this...alien...guy...whatever is Hoi. He presents his rescuers with a music box and claims that a great hero, Tapion, is trapped inside. Hoi additionally says that Tapion may be their only chance of survival against an approaching evil. The Z Fighters (too many to list) open the box with the help of Shenron and the Dragon Balls and release Tapion from the music box. He looks like this.


Tapion expresses anger at being released. He explains that inside him is the essence of half of a ferocious monster known as Hirudegarn, before he isolates himself in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. Not much of a social person, are you, Tapion? Anyway, Trunks likes Tapion, and sneaks him food every now and then, despite Tapion angrily telling Trunks to leave him alone. However, Trunks continues to bring Tapion food day after day.

Shortly after Hoi's arrival and Tapion's release, the lower half of Hirudegarn is unleashed on the city. The Z Fighters are unable to do much (if any) damage against it, but when a mysterious tune is played by Tapion on an ocarina, the half is weakened and it disappears.

I'm not sure how much time has passed, so let's assume it's been a couple days. Anyway, a couple days later, Tapion is just playing his ocarina outside, because...reasons, and Trunks sneaks some food in. However, unbeknownst to Trunks, he was followed by Hoi, who's standing on top of a building looking quite sinister. Again, if that doesn't scream villain, I don't know what will.

Trunks tries to make light conversation with Tapion, but he's not having it. He walks inside, only to be followed in by Hoi. Tapion doesn't see him, but Trunks does, and yells out. Hoi hustles Tapion and knocks the ocarina right out of his hands. Trunks runs and grabs it and dodges Hoi's blows as he climbs on top of...something. Just as he's about to throw Tapion the ocarina, Hoi tries to convince Trunks that Tapion is evil. In the end, Trunks gives the ocarina to Tapion, and Hoi escapes. Just as Trunks is about to leave, however, Tapion invites him in and the two eat and talk about what happened.

Later on (seriously, they're not clear about how much time passes), Tapion explains to Bulma that Hoi is part of a race known as the Kashvaar, a race of evil alien magicians who destroy everything they believe is inferior to them. A thousand years ago, they awakened Hirudegarn, and their conquest to destroy the universe eventually brought them to Tapion's home planet, Konats.

During the battle, a priest from Konats found a magic sword and two ocarinas that could be used to destroy Hirudegarn. While Tapion and his younger brother, Minosha, kept Hirudegarn at bay with the ocarinas, the priest cleaved Hirudegarn in two with the sword. To prevent anything like that from ever happening again, the War Council decided to seal the two halves inside Tapion and Minosha, who would then be sealed inside music boxes and sent to opposite ends of the universe until the Kashvaar were brought to justice. Hoi is the last of the Kashvaar, and he has already killed Minosha (as seen in the first scene of the movie). Now he's seeking out Tapion to finish what he started and conquer the universe.

The next day (I think it's the next day), Hirudegarn is released and the two halves reunite to become one. Despite everything the Z Fighters try, their efforts are useless. However, Tapion plays a song on his ocarina and seals Hirudegarn inside of himself. He begs Trunks to kill him, but because of Trunks's hesitation, Hirudegarn is released once more, and the ocarina is destroyed. Hoi watches and gloats over his apparent victory, before he's killed the same way as Minosha in an ironic twist.

Then there's this huge fight scene where Goku goes Super Saiyan and...yeah, you know where this is going. The good guys win, Tapion goes back to his home world, the end.

So, rating: 10/10

Why: First of all, this is my favorite out of all the Dragon Ball Z movies that I've seen. Everything about this movie is fantastic. The voice acting is great, and the animation is pretty good, too (for 90s animation, anyway). We'll see better animation in the later 90s, but for 1995, the animation was pretty good. There wasn't a ton of CGI, if any, and for this movie, that was probably a good thing. I mean, just try imagining a CGI Hirudegarn. It's pretty hard to do.

Hoi is freaking badass, even if everything about him practically screams villain. He's smart, cunning, and a villain you start to love to hate. He's ALMOST the perfect villain.

Tapion is pretty badass, too. You can't help but feel bad for him, as he was forced into having half of Hirudegarn put inside him. He didn't choose it. It's understandable why he chose to isolate himself from everyone, but when he starts to fight alongside everyone, it was incredible.

As we all know, I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack, and this movie...somewhat disappointed...ish. See, there's two versions of the English dub: one that was released in the U.S. and another that was released in Malaysia under the title Explosion of Dragon Punch. I'm not sure which one got which theme song, but one got one that sounded...not so epic, and the other got this epic-ness:


Well, that's it for this Anime Monday. I'm working on one for Tokyo Ghoul, so that's likely to be next. See you next time! ~k

Hey guys, kanna here. Well, it was only a matter of time before I got to this. And boy, have I been dreading it. Not that the Fate/ series is bad or anything like that, but because it seems to go on and on and on without an end in sight.

Allow me to elaborate. Fate/ was originally called Fate/stay night, and was released as a visual novel by Type-Moon in 2004. And they're known for Kara no Kyoukai, Tsukihime, Melty Blood, and others, including a few upcoming works. I don't think they're stopping anytime soon. Kara no Kyoukai, a series of light novels that were published in 1998 and reprinted in 2004, was writer Kinoko Nasu and artist Takashi Takeuchi's (the founders of Type-Moon) debut work. However, their debut visual novel was Tsukihime, a doujin soft circle (pretty much an independent or fan-made video game circle) for Windows.

On a side-note: doesn't it just suck that they don't make visual novels for Macs? And the ones that they do make for Macs are ones where you have to know Japanese to play?

Moving on.

PLEASE NOTE: THE FOLLOWING PARTS WHERE I TALK ABOUT THE GAMES ARE FROM RESEARCH ONLY. I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY PLAYED THESE GAMES (except for Fate/Grand Order).

Tsukihime was insanely popular, having sold millions of copies and amassing a large fanbase due to its comprehensive and expansive storyline. Because it was such a big hit, Type-Moon developed sequels to it, and it even got an anime series in 2003 (which I haven't seen yet).

After their transition from a doujin soft organization to a commercialized organization in 2004, Type-Moon released a PC-based visual novel meant for adults called Fate/stay night on January 30, 2004. It was a big hit, having broken all records on its opening day. It was later adapted into an anime that aired in 2006, a second anime series that aired in 2014, and a manga series that ran for a pretty long time (2005-2012).

There. That's all the background you're getting.

Since a new video game in the Fate/ series was just released, Fate/Grand Order, for iOS and Android phones, I figured I'd give it a review. I know, this is an anime blog and I don't typically review games (if ever). But this one deserves a proper review.


So the backstory of this...doesn't really make much sense. You kind of need to have seen Fate/stay night or played the games; even though in the game, they do a pretty good job of explaining everything you need to know. Even though I have seen the anime, the backstory really confused me. I guess the general gist is this:

The player is a young candidate in a research facility whose goal is preserving humanity. This facility has developed time-travel technology (not the TARDIS from Doctor Who) that allows them to send people to various points in time. However, an accident occurs that kills almost every other candidate and sends you, Mash Kyrielight (your sidekick if you want to look at this from a superhero point of view), and Fou (some kind of animal that looks a like like a squirrel that travels with you) back to the Japanese city of Fuyuki (fictional city where the series Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night, and Fate/hollow ataraxia are set) in 2004. Your goal, I guess, is to use the time travel technology to correct the anomalies in history before the villain can use the Holy Grail to erase humanity for good.

Now, given I've never reviewed a game before, this will be a little difficult. I'll just do my best and figure this out as I go by breaking it into categories.

The story: Okay, the first part that Director Olga Marie explains (the backstory of the game) is ridiculously complicated. I barely understood it. However, it's when everything starts going to heck that things start to make sense. I addressed this in what I thought was the general gist of the game, but here's the short version: In 2017 AD, there were calculations that proved extinction of humankind in 2019. Researchers were utterly perplexed. Then, a region that could not previously be observed appeared: a small, provincial town in Japan from 2004. The researchers assumed this was the cause of humanity's extinction and ran an experiment to travel back in time to prevent it. The name of the mission was "Grand Order." And...that's all you're getting. I don't want to give anything away.

The characters and voice actors: This is going to be one part, as I think these things go hand-in-hand.

First off, you not only get to name the protagonist, but you get to choose whether you want your character to be male or female. I haven't gotten far enough in the game to discover whether or not you can change things like hair or clothes, but you should be able to, right?

Secondly, the characters are in character. Most of the characters in this are fictional (i.e. Mash Kyrielight, Olga Marie, etc.), but other characters were actually based on real people from history or people from myth and legend. We have Jeanne D'Arc (real), Sir Lancelot (legend), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (real...still don't understand why he's included in the game), King Arthur (legend...who just happens to be a woman in the game, don't ask), Leonardo da Vinci (real...who just happens to be a woman in the game, don't ask), Elizabeth Báthory (real), and so many more. It's incredible that you get to fight with people of history, myth, and legend.

Third, the voice acting is incredible. I don't know if this holds true for the UK release, but for the US release, they didn't change any of the original Japanese voices to English. They just stuck with the original Japanese voice actors. We have actors from UtaPri, Diabolik Lovers (as bad as the anime was, the voice acting was decent, and Hikaru Midorikawa and Kosuke Toriumi did give us a kickass opening song), Attack on Titan, and many more anime series. There are lots of Japanese voice acting legends in this, and others I haven't heard of.

The animation: I am beyond impressed with the animation. It makes me feel like I'm watching an anime rather than playing a game. The characters are accurately drawn, there's little to no CGI (not that CGI is a bad thing in anime; it just needs to be used properly), and the movements aren't robotic. Even the animation for the Noble Phantasms are pretty impressive. Sure, the dragons are called wyverns (even though there's a dragon in the game that's actually referred to as a dragon), the zombies don't look that different from regular soldiers, and the ghosts remind me of something out of Corpse Bride, but everything is drawn really well. Kudos to the animation team. They really did a good job.

The music: Ok. Whoever did the soundtrack for this game deserves a Grammy (or the Japanese equivalent of it), because the music is AMAZING. As we all know, I am a sucker for a good soundtrack, and this game does not disappoint. The music during the fight scenes is great, and it really makes you feel like you're actually in whatever era you're in during the game. Can someone PLEASE tell me who the composer for this is so I can add them to my favorite composers list?

So, rating: 10 out of freaking 10

Why: I pretty much have nothing bad to say about this game. It's a good installment to the Fate/ series, and while you need to be a little familiar with the series in order to fully enjoy the game, it's still pretty good. I'd definitely recommend it. There are some moments that really make you say, "What the f**k am I looking at?!" like I did after certain scenes (play the game, and you'll find out which ones).

I guess if I had a couple of things, it would be that they put it in the app store before it was even ready to play. As you may have guessed, I was pretty pissed about that.

My second thing would be the whole "choose your own dialog" thing. There are some cut scenes where you get to choose your own dialog out of one, two, or three options. I don't know how which one you choose changes the course of the game, as I rely on gut instinct to tell me which one to choose, but it does get annoying after a while. You can't keep relying on gut instinct or morality or whatever. This isn't a "choose your own adventure" game. It's an RPG.

So, that was my review of Fate/Grand Order, as well as my first review of a video game. I'm probably not going to do another one of these, as

1. I have a Mac, and you can't play a ton of visual novels on Mac computers. True, you can play a few on iPhones and Androids and the like, but I think PCs are the more traditional format
2. I think anime reviews do much better and are easier to write

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to next Anime Monday, where I review...wow, this is hard to choose, so I'm going to let you pick. Your choices are:

a) Attack on Titan: Junior High
b) Tokyo Ghoul