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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
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
Hey guys, kanna here. Boy, oh boy, have I been dreading this. Not because the second half of Attack on Titan Season 2 was bad, but because (here I go again) IT ONLY HAD TWELVE EPISODES! WHY THE FREAKING FRICK DID THIS SEASON GET ONLY TWELVE EPISODES? EVERYONE KNEW THE POPULARITY OF THIS SERIES! SO WHY?
*end rant*
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the second half of Attack on Titan Season 2 (episodes 7-12).
After we discover that Bertholdt and Reiner are the Colossal and Armored Titans, respectively, the two transform in one of the best animated scenes in this season of Attack on Titan. The Colossal Titan grabs Ymir, while the Armored Titan engages Eren in battle. Zoe Hange orders the scouts to engage the Colossal Titan in battle only after it "eats" Ymir and another scout.
You know, there were a couple of things that bothered me about the Titan Shifters, now that I mention them:
1. To transform into a Titan, you need to have an injury and a concrete goal in your mind. So let's say you're a Titan Shifter, and you're in your human form attending an art class. Attending said art class, your goal is to finish a paper snowflake before the class ends. You have this goal in mind as you're cutting, but you suddenly get a paper cut. So...does this mean you'd transform into a Titan? Because of one teeny, tiny paper cut? I don't get it.
2. When Titan Shifters are Titans and they eat people, the people go through their digestive systems (bones and all), just like regular food goes through a human's digestive system. However, when the Titan Shifters shift back into their human forms...what happens to the people? It's not as if the human body can hold another body of possibly the same weight and height (if not bigger) than the human who became a Titan. What happens to the body? Ok...now that I think about it, maybe this is a question I don't want the answer to.
*shudders*
Moving on.
The Armored Titan seems to gain the upper hand, until Eren remembers the hand-to-hand techniques that Annie taught him (via flashback), and begins to seriously damage the Armored Titan. We learn that Eren as a Titan actually has some intelligence, because when Armin tries to get him to retreat to the wall, he obliges. Everyone is pretty surprised about it. I know I was, and I read this part in the manga, so I knew what was coming.
Why the shock? The others hadn't seen the Beast Titan, who was capable of human speech, and poor Mike Zacharias was brutally killed by other Titans at the command of the Beast Titan before he could deliver any kind of report to Levi Freaking Ackerman (that's his name now), Zoe Hange, Erwin, Pyxis, or anyone.
Episodes 7 and 8 are basically just one giant fight that extended into two episodes that ultimately conclude with Eren and Ymir getting kidnapped and the scouts going to rescue them.
In the next episode (episode 9), we find Bertholdt, Reiner, Eren, and Ymir in the Forest of Giant Trees. They're pretty high up in the trees, which are surrounded by Titans on the ground. Eren wakes up from being unconscious and finds his arms are missing. Despite this, his attempts to shift into his Titan form are stopped by Ymir, who points out that they are weakened from their earlier battle. Additionally, they are surrounded by Titans, and Bertholdt and Reiner are the only ones with 3DM gear. Eren, unconvinced, continues his attempts to shift until Ymir suggests that they wait until their missing body parts regenerate. Upon asked where they're being taken, Reiner explains that he and Bertholdt are taking Ymir and Eren to their hometown, but they're waiting until nightfall when the Titans can't move.
Later on, Reiner begins to have a bit of self-conflict about his duty as a soldier and as a warrior. Ymir deduces that this is confusion between his undercover and real personas. So...Reiner has a split-personality, then?
NOTE: I AM NOT A DOCTOR/PSYCHOLOGIST/PSYCHIATRIST. THE ABOVE IS JUST MY THOUGHT ON THE MATTER.
Eren, enraged by the havoc that Bertholdt and Reiner have caused as Titans, tries to confront them. However, he is once again stopped by Ymir, who asks about the Beast Titan and who might be their real enemy. Reiner manipulates Ymir using Christa's safety as leverage to drive a wedge between her and Eren. Just as Ymir is about to choose her side, shot guns flare out, meaning the scouts have arrived; angering Bertholdt and Reiner.
Episode 10: This was more info and less action, which was a nice break. We got a lot of character development on Ymir, which was great. Not a ton happened, other than Ymir (as a Titan) getting Christa (by "eating" her).
Episodes 11 and 12's summaries will be together, because these two episodes could have easily been one two-part episode.
Reiner has shifted into the Armored Titan and is carrying Bertholdt, Eren, and Ymir, who has Christa in her mouth. Ymir takes Christa out of her mouth and extracts herself from her Titan form to explain why she singled out Christa from the scouts (not a complicated explanation, but too long for this review, so watch the episodes).
Their conversation is interrupted when the scouts intervene and start attacking the Armored Titan. He covers Bertholdt and Eren, who is trying to escape from his bonds so he can Titan Shift. Mikasa tries to save him and has quite possibly the scariest expression on her face. It's not horror-movie-scary, but it's the kind of scary that would scare Bertholdt out of his wits. Seriously, the poor guy looks terrified beyond belief, you almost feel sorry for him. Keyword: almost.
Anyway, the rest of the 104th trainees and Mikasa attempt to reason with Bertholdt to get him to give Eren up, but Bertholdt explains that he and Reiner have come too far in their mission to go back as failures. Um...Bertholdt, buddy...you basically destroyed a large fraction of humanity in the first episode of Attack on Titan. You and Reiner. I wouldn't call that going back as a failure. Then again, I didn't write this show.
Commander Erwin baits a bunch of the Titans, but gets his arm eaten in the process. It's probably the most badass I've ever seen Erwin. He's yelling out for everyone to charge as he gets his arm eaten. It's pretty impressive. Too bad he got his arm eaten in the process, but still.
A desperate Armin distracts Bertholdt by talking about Annie, which creates an opening for Erwin to cut Eren free and allow Mikasa to rescue him. However, upon retreat, the Armored Titan starts throwing Titans everywhere to defend himself, and one of them knocks Eren and Mikasa off their horse. We then come face to face with a Titan that you might recognize:
That's right. It's the Titan that ate Eren's mom in the first season, which is referred to as the Smiling Titan. It looks more than a little creepy, doesn't it?
Upon seeing the approaching Smiling Titan, Eren gets to his feet and notices his arms and hands have regenerated. He tries to turn into a Titan, only to fail at each and every attempt. He and Mikasa are forced to watch as Hannes meets the same fate as Eren's mom at the hands of the Titan that ate Eren's mom. It's actually pretty brutal, and I was shocked that they killed him off (I mean, I knew this was coming, but I was still shocked). RIP Hannes. Let's have a moment of silence.
*moment of silence*
Ok. Are we good now? Good. Moving on.
Mikasa starts to despair and thanks Eren for always being there for her, as well as commenting on the scarf he wrapped her in when he rescued her. You can't help but think that the two are about to kiss at some point, only for Eren to get up and say, "I'll wrap that scarf around you as many times as you want" (or something like that; I'm going from the subtitles) and throw a punch at the Smiling Titan while he's still human.
Surprisingly, this actually works. Another shocker: this punch gets the non-sentient Titans to head toward the Smiling Titan and start killing (and eating) it. It's pretty brutal and gruesome, so I'll just move on.
It turns out that Eren possesses a hidden power that he activated by punching the Smiling Titan called the "coordinate." This is the power to control other Titans. Ymir realizes two things:
1. Reiner and Bertholdt wanted Eren because he possessed the "coordinate," which Reiner was pretty angry about when he found out.
2. Ymir realizes Historia (aka Christa; I'll be referring to her by her real name from this point on) has a future within the Walls
Ymir leaves Christa and goes with Bertholdt and Reiner so they wouldn't go back empty-handed. A week later, Hange gives her report to Levi, Pyxis, and Erwin. She is accompanied by Connie, who has come to a very startling realization about the Titans.
In the second episode of this season, we saw a Titan that Connie said looked a lot like his mom. Turns out, it was his mom. We cut back to the present as Hange explains that the Titans within Wall Rose were, in fact, the people of Connie's village. Meaning: non-sentient Titans were once humans.
And our season ends with Eren vowing to use his new power to help humanity, while Erwin smiles suspiciously at his arm (I'll talk about that later) and vows to discover the truth about the Titans. Elsewhere, we see the Beast Titan on top of Wall Maria with a blonde-haired human wearing glasses on its back.
So, rating: 11/10
Why: This season was actually better than the first, in my opinion, and the animators went all out. While the scenes with all the blood and gore (especially the first episode) were a little much for me (I'm not squeamish, but I couldn't help but be surprised at the fact that they actually animated all that), they were still well-animated.
Each episode kept me wanting more. When I finished watching an episode, I came out with more questions than answers, and I can't help but think that that was a good thing.
The voice actors were super on-point. They got the original cast back (well, they kind of had to for a second season), as well as a new voice (there might have been more than one new voice, but I'm not 100% sure). I'll be talking about the original Japanese in this, not the English dub (which I did see, and was great, but I'm sticking with the Japanese version). We got Takehito Koyasu as the Beast Titan, who you might recognize from his titular role as Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (G-d, I hate that title, because it's ridiculously impossible to say and spell), as well as numerous roles in Bleach, Detective Conan, and a couple of arcs in JoJo's Bizarre Adventures: Stardust Crusaders.
This season was definitely worth the four year wait. My one complaint was (here I go again) THIS SEASON WAS ONLY TWELVE EPISODES! I WASN'T READY FOR IT TO END AFTER TWELVE EPISODES (I don't think anyone was, but still)! YOU MADE US WAIT FOUR YEARS FOR ONLY TWELVE EPISODES! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?!
*ahem*
I think the one main question I have is...what was Erwin smiling about? My best friend, Dragonessa, and I actually had a conversation about this. I had temporarily forgotten about the manga at the time and thought that Erwin was actually a Titan and that his arm regenerated. However, Dragonessa reminded me that Erwin was human and that wasn't likely to change. However, you have to admit that Erwin being a Titan would be an awesome twist.
The Beast Titan arc was one of my favorite arcs in the manga, so to see it adapted into anime was amazing. I believe Season 3 (yes, Attack on Titan Season 3 has been confirmed) will be the Uprising arc. I don't want to give away too much (if anything), so I'm not going to mention what happens in this arc (mainly because I only remember so much and don't want to spoil the Season 3 for myself).
Well, I'm working on a reaction video to Netflix's trailer for Death Note, which comes out August 25. Look forward to it! お楽しみに！
I plan on having that video up at some point tomorrow (but plans change, so who knows when I'll have it up). Anyway, look forward to it! ~k
*end rant*
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the second half of Attack on Titan Season 2 (episodes 7-12).
After we discover that Bertholdt and Reiner are the Colossal and Armored Titans, respectively, the two transform in one of the best animated scenes in this season of Attack on Titan. The Colossal Titan grabs Ymir, while the Armored Titan engages Eren in battle. Zoe Hange orders the scouts to engage the Colossal Titan in battle only after it "eats" Ymir and another scout.
You know, there were a couple of things that bothered me about the Titan Shifters, now that I mention them:
1. To transform into a Titan, you need to have an injury and a concrete goal in your mind. So let's say you're a Titan Shifter, and you're in your human form attending an art class. Attending said art class, your goal is to finish a paper snowflake before the class ends. You have this goal in mind as you're cutting, but you suddenly get a paper cut. So...does this mean you'd transform into a Titan? Because of one teeny, tiny paper cut? I don't get it.
2. When Titan Shifters are Titans and they eat people, the people go through their digestive systems (bones and all), just like regular food goes through a human's digestive system. However, when the Titan Shifters shift back into their human forms...what happens to the people? It's not as if the human body can hold another body of possibly the same weight and height (if not bigger) than the human who became a Titan. What happens to the body? Ok...now that I think about it, maybe this is a question I don't want the answer to.
*shudders*
Moving on.
The Armored Titan seems to gain the upper hand, until Eren remembers the hand-to-hand techniques that Annie taught him (via flashback), and begins to seriously damage the Armored Titan. We learn that Eren as a Titan actually has some intelligence, because when Armin tries to get him to retreat to the wall, he obliges. Everyone is pretty surprised about it. I know I was, and I read this part in the manga, so I knew what was coming.
Why the shock? The others hadn't seen the Beast Titan, who was capable of human speech, and poor Mike Zacharias was brutally killed by other Titans at the command of the Beast Titan before he could deliver any kind of report to Levi Freaking Ackerman (that's his name now), Zoe Hange, Erwin, Pyxis, or anyone.
Episodes 7 and 8 are basically just one giant fight that extended into two episodes that ultimately conclude with Eren and Ymir getting kidnapped and the scouts going to rescue them.
In the next episode (episode 9), we find Bertholdt, Reiner, Eren, and Ymir in the Forest of Giant Trees. They're pretty high up in the trees, which are surrounded by Titans on the ground. Eren wakes up from being unconscious and finds his arms are missing. Despite this, his attempts to shift into his Titan form are stopped by Ymir, who points out that they are weakened from their earlier battle. Additionally, they are surrounded by Titans, and Bertholdt and Reiner are the only ones with 3DM gear. Eren, unconvinced, continues his attempts to shift until Ymir suggests that they wait until their missing body parts regenerate. Upon asked where they're being taken, Reiner explains that he and Bertholdt are taking Ymir and Eren to their hometown, but they're waiting until nightfall when the Titans can't move.
Later on, Reiner begins to have a bit of self-conflict about his duty as a soldier and as a warrior. Ymir deduces that this is confusion between his undercover and real personas. So...Reiner has a split-personality, then?
NOTE: I AM NOT A DOCTOR/PSYCHOLOGIST/PSYCHIATRIST. THE ABOVE IS JUST MY THOUGHT ON THE MATTER.
Eren, enraged by the havoc that Bertholdt and Reiner have caused as Titans, tries to confront them. However, he is once again stopped by Ymir, who asks about the Beast Titan and who might be their real enemy. Reiner manipulates Ymir using Christa's safety as leverage to drive a wedge between her and Eren. Just as Ymir is about to choose her side, shot guns flare out, meaning the scouts have arrived; angering Bertholdt and Reiner.
Episode 10: This was more info and less action, which was a nice break. We got a lot of character development on Ymir, which was great. Not a ton happened, other than Ymir (as a Titan) getting Christa (by "eating" her).
Episodes 11 and 12's summaries will be together, because these two episodes could have easily been one two-part episode.
Reiner has shifted into the Armored Titan and is carrying Bertholdt, Eren, and Ymir, who has Christa in her mouth. Ymir takes Christa out of her mouth and extracts herself from her Titan form to explain why she singled out Christa from the scouts (not a complicated explanation, but too long for this review, so watch the episodes).
Their conversation is interrupted when the scouts intervene and start attacking the Armored Titan. He covers Bertholdt and Eren, who is trying to escape from his bonds so he can Titan Shift. Mikasa tries to save him and has quite possibly the scariest expression on her face. It's not horror-movie-scary, but it's the kind of scary that would scare Bertholdt out of his wits. Seriously, the poor guy looks terrified beyond belief, you almost feel sorry for him. Keyword: almost.
Anyway, the rest of the 104th trainees and Mikasa attempt to reason with Bertholdt to get him to give Eren up, but Bertholdt explains that he and Reiner have come too far in their mission to go back as failures. Um...Bertholdt, buddy...you basically destroyed a large fraction of humanity in the first episode of Attack on Titan. You and Reiner. I wouldn't call that going back as a failure. Then again, I didn't write this show.
Commander Erwin baits a bunch of the Titans, but gets his arm eaten in the process. It's probably the most badass I've ever seen Erwin. He's yelling out for everyone to charge as he gets his arm eaten. It's pretty impressive. Too bad he got his arm eaten in the process, but still.
A desperate Armin distracts Bertholdt by talking about Annie, which creates an opening for Erwin to cut Eren free and allow Mikasa to rescue him. However, upon retreat, the Armored Titan starts throwing Titans everywhere to defend himself, and one of them knocks Eren and Mikasa off their horse. We then come face to face with a Titan that you might recognize:
That's right. It's the Titan that ate Eren's mom in the first season, which is referred to as the Smiling Titan. It looks more than a little creepy, doesn't it?
Upon seeing the approaching Smiling Titan, Eren gets to his feet and notices his arms and hands have regenerated. He tries to turn into a Titan, only to fail at each and every attempt. He and Mikasa are forced to watch as Hannes meets the same fate as Eren's mom at the hands of the Titan that ate Eren's mom. It's actually pretty brutal, and I was shocked that they killed him off (I mean, I knew this was coming, but I was still shocked). RIP Hannes. Let's have a moment of silence.
*moment of silence*
Ok. Are we good now? Good. Moving on.
Mikasa starts to despair and thanks Eren for always being there for her, as well as commenting on the scarf he wrapped her in when he rescued her. You can't help but think that the two are about to kiss at some point, only for Eren to get up and say, "I'll wrap that scarf around you as many times as you want" (or something like that; I'm going from the subtitles) and throw a punch at the Smiling Titan while he's still human.
Surprisingly, this actually works. Another shocker: this punch gets the non-sentient Titans to head toward the Smiling Titan and start killing (and eating) it. It's pretty brutal and gruesome, so I'll just move on.
It turns out that Eren possesses a hidden power that he activated by punching the Smiling Titan called the "coordinate." This is the power to control other Titans. Ymir realizes two things:
1. Reiner and Bertholdt wanted Eren because he possessed the "coordinate," which Reiner was pretty angry about when he found out.
2. Ymir realizes Historia (aka Christa; I'll be referring to her by her real name from this point on) has a future within the Walls
Ymir leaves Christa and goes with Bertholdt and Reiner so they wouldn't go back empty-handed. A week later, Hange gives her report to Levi, Pyxis, and Erwin. She is accompanied by Connie, who has come to a very startling realization about the Titans.
In the second episode of this season, we saw a Titan that Connie said looked a lot like his mom. Turns out, it was his mom. We cut back to the present as Hange explains that the Titans within Wall Rose were, in fact, the people of Connie's village. Meaning: non-sentient Titans were once humans.
And our season ends with Eren vowing to use his new power to help humanity, while Erwin smiles suspiciously at his arm (I'll talk about that later) and vows to discover the truth about the Titans. Elsewhere, we see the Beast Titan on top of Wall Maria with a blonde-haired human wearing glasses on its back.
So, rating: 11/10
Why: This season was actually better than the first, in my opinion, and the animators went all out. While the scenes with all the blood and gore (especially the first episode) were a little much for me (I'm not squeamish, but I couldn't help but be surprised at the fact that they actually animated all that), they were still well-animated.
Each episode kept me wanting more. When I finished watching an episode, I came out with more questions than answers, and I can't help but think that that was a good thing.
The voice actors were super on-point. They got the original cast back (well, they kind of had to for a second season), as well as a new voice (there might have been more than one new voice, but I'm not 100% sure). I'll be talking about the original Japanese in this, not the English dub (which I did see, and was great, but I'm sticking with the Japanese version). We got Takehito Koyasu as the Beast Titan, who you might recognize from his titular role as Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (G-d, I hate that title, because it's ridiculously impossible to say and spell), as well as numerous roles in Bleach, Detective Conan, and a couple of arcs in JoJo's Bizarre Adventures: Stardust Crusaders.
This season was definitely worth the four year wait. My one complaint was (here I go again) THIS SEASON WAS ONLY TWELVE EPISODES! I WASN'T READY FOR IT TO END AFTER TWELVE EPISODES (I don't think anyone was, but still)! YOU MADE US WAIT FOUR YEARS FOR ONLY TWELVE EPISODES! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?!
*ahem*
I think the one main question I have is...what was Erwin smiling about? My best friend, Dragonessa, and I actually had a conversation about this. I had temporarily forgotten about the manga at the time and thought that Erwin was actually a Titan and that his arm regenerated. However, Dragonessa reminded me that Erwin was human and that wasn't likely to change. However, you have to admit that Erwin being a Titan would be an awesome twist.
The Beast Titan arc was one of my favorite arcs in the manga, so to see it adapted into anime was amazing. I believe Season 3 (yes, Attack on Titan Season 3 has been confirmed) will be the Uprising arc. I don't want to give away too much (if anything), so I'm not going to mention what happens in this arc (mainly because I only remember so much and don't want to spoil the Season 3 for myself).
Well, I'm working on a reaction video to Netflix's trailer for Death Note, which comes out August 25. Look forward to it! お楽しみに！
I plan on having that video up at some point tomorrow (but plans change, so who knows when I'll have it up). Anyway, look forward to it! ~k
Hey guys, kanna here. I am SO SORRY for the late update. You try balancing two online classes and 22 hours a week of volunteer work. As much as I love my volunteer work, it's not easy balancing everything!
Anyway, enough of my ranting. On June 14, I saw Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic. This movie was in theaters for all of TWO DAYS: June 12 (subbed) and June 14 (dubbed). Anyway, the length of time that these anime movies are in theaters for is the one thing about them I can't stand. I mean, I was lucky to see Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale when it came out, because it was only in theaters for ONE NIGHT.
So, ranting aside, let's talk about where this takes place in the manga. This movie is set during the Luxury Liner arc of the manga, which is the sixth arc of the manga. Personally, this was one of my favorite arcs of the manga, so I couldn't wait to see how well it would translate into anime.
Enough of that. Let's board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and go on an adventure! This is Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic!
NOTE: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
NOTE 2: YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE SEEN BOOK OF CIRCUS AND BOOK OF MURDER BEFORE WATCHING BOOK OF THE ATLANTIC
Anyway, this movie takes place where the OVA, Book of Murder, left off.
After the Phantomhive servants (Tanaka, Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and Finney) see Sebastian, Snake (he was first introduced in Book of Circus, then we see him again in Book of Murder), and Ciel off on an ocean-liner, the S.S. Campania. We get a bit of exposition through a flashback, where Lau tells Ciel and Sebastian about a secret society bringing people back from the dead. We also learn that Ciel's fiancee (apparently, it was common for noble children to be betrothed to each other in the 1800s...just go with it), Elizabeth "Lizzie" Midford, and her family are going on a cruise on the same ship the same week that Ciel and Sebastian were planning to go.
So Ciel, Sebastian, and Snake board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and the plot thickens as the three try to infiltrate the Aurora Society while keeping the passengers, Lizzie, and her family in the dark as to what's going on. Snake is asked to keep Lizzie and her family at bay while Sebastian and Ciel go (in disguise) to a meeting of the Aurora Society, which leads to one of the two funniest scenes in the film:
Seriously, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. It's just...so ridiculous that it's funny.
There is another hilarious scene, but I'll get to it later.
Anyway, after that bit of *stifles laughter* hilarity takes place, we see what the Aurora Society was originally meeting about: bringing a corpse back to life. The leader of the Aurora Society, a man named Rian Stoker, wants to...wait a minute. Stoker? As in Bram Stoker? As in the guy who wrote Dracula?
Um...I think Yana Toboso, the author of the manga, got her horror authors mixed up. This movie seems to be going with a Frankenstein theme, and Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley, not Bram Stoker. I'm honestly not sure what to say about this. It's not a good thing, it's not a bad thing, it kinda just...is.
Getting back to the plot: Stoker presents his breakthrough in medicine, called "Absolute Salvation." This medicine was created by the Aurora Society, and they want to use it to bring people back from the dead. Stoker figures a demonstration is in order, so he brings out a corpse that could seriously be Frankenstein's bride (she's dressed in white, the markings are the same...everything) and uses his medicine to bring her back to life. The medicine seems to work...for all of two seconds.
Anyway, this corpse-brought-back was named Margaret Connor. And she attacks her mother and takes out a good chunk of her shoulder before moving on to her father. They are both killed as Margaret continues her rampage on the audience in attendance.
The audience manages to escape, and Sebastian throws knives at the walking corpse. These seem to have no effect...until a FREAKING LAWNMOWER COMES OUT OF NOWHERE AND DESTROYS HER HEAD!
I'm not joking. A FREAKING LAWNMOWER.
Anyway, this lawnmower is actually a Death Scythe that belongs to a Grim Reaper named Ronald Knox. And, believe it or not, we actually have seen him before. He was briefly in episode four of Book of Circus.
Getting back to the movie: Ronald Knox reveals that the Bizarre Dolls (that's what the manga calls them, so that's what I'll be calling them) can be killed by having their heads cut off or ripped to shreds. Oh, and did I mention the AMAZING entrance our dear Ronald makes? No? Well, take a look at this:
So Ciel and Sebastian have to team up with Ronald Knox and our favorite transgender female Grim Reaper, Grell, to discover how these Bizarre Dolls are created and stop it. And before you say it, yes, Ronald and Grell do share a funny scene. It's probably the funniest scene in the whole movie. I mean...the animators had the opportunity, and they freaking went for it. I couldn't find the clip with sound, but if you put the song, "My Heart Will Go On," to the .gif I'm about to post, it should speak for itself: Black Butler meets Titanic
Speaking of Ronald Knox and Grell, they actually do provide quite a bit of the comedic relief, whether in combat or not. The .gif that FUNimation posted on giphy is a perfect example of this, as the two parody a famous scene from another movie about an infamous ship (can you guess which one?). And while we're on the subject of the Grim Reapers, we learn that there's a Grim Reaper that has been in the midst of everything for a long time. I won't say who because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will give a hint: he takes humor as payment.
We get quite a bit of character development, particularly from Ciel's fiancee, Elizabeth. She goes from being this cute, petite, innocent girl to...HOLY FRICK SHE HAS TWO SWORDS AND IS KILLING BIZARRE DOLLS LEFT AND RIGHT! Seriously. This is the most badass you will ever see Elizabeth Midford. It's pretty incredible to watch.
So, rating: 10/10
Why: The animation is stellar. While it's not on the level of Madoka Magica (I don't know if anything could be on par with Madoka Magica's animation), it's truly incredible. You can ignore the random bits of CGI scattered around the movie. They're not necessary.
The fight scenes are some of the best parts of the film, and FUNimation did an amazing job of keeping the characters in character in the English dub. The voice acting is great, which I would expect nothing less from the original actors returning to their roles.
The other thing that I liked was that even if you weren't familiar with the anime, this was still something you could enjoy. I saw it with someone who wasn't familiar with the anime at all, and I think she liked it more than she cares to admit. Think Titanic meets zombies. It's surprisingly a pretty good combo.
With the way the film ends, you would expect a sequel. I'm hopeful there will be one. If it's not Black Butler's fourth season, maybe an OVA? Or another movie?
Next Anime Monday: Thoughts on the Second Half of Attack on Titan
Anyway, enough of my ranting. On June 14, I saw Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic. This movie was in theaters for all of TWO DAYS: June 12 (subbed) and June 14 (dubbed). Anyway, the length of time that these anime movies are in theaters for is the one thing about them I can't stand. I mean, I was lucky to see Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale when it came out, because it was only in theaters for ONE NIGHT.
So, ranting aside, let's talk about where this takes place in the manga. This movie is set during the Luxury Liner arc of the manga, which is the sixth arc of the manga. Personally, this was one of my favorite arcs of the manga, so I couldn't wait to see how well it would translate into anime.
Enough of that. Let's board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and go on an adventure! This is Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic!
NOTE: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
NOTE 2: YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE SEEN BOOK OF CIRCUS AND BOOK OF MURDER BEFORE WATCHING BOOK OF THE ATLANTIC
And here's the trailer for the English dub (I couldn't find a Japanese trailer, which is probably okay, since I didn't see the original Japanese movie):
Anyway, this movie takes place where the OVA, Book of Murder, left off.
After the Phantomhive servants (Tanaka, Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and Finney) see Sebastian, Snake (he was first introduced in Book of Circus, then we see him again in Book of Murder), and Ciel off on an ocean-liner, the S.S. Campania. We get a bit of exposition through a flashback, where Lau tells Ciel and Sebastian about a secret society bringing people back from the dead. We also learn that Ciel's fiancee (apparently, it was common for noble children to be betrothed to each other in the 1800s...just go with it), Elizabeth "Lizzie" Midford, and her family are going on a cruise on the same ship the same week that Ciel and Sebastian were planning to go.
So Ciel, Sebastian, and Snake board the Titani--I mean, the Campania--and the plot thickens as the three try to infiltrate the Aurora Society while keeping the passengers, Lizzie, and her family in the dark as to what's going on. Snake is asked to keep Lizzie and her family at bay while Sebastian and Ciel go (in disguise) to a meeting of the Aurora Society, which leads to one of the two funniest scenes in the film:
Seriously, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. It's just...so ridiculous that it's funny.
There is another hilarious scene, but I'll get to it later.
Anyway, after that bit of *stifles laughter* hilarity takes place, we see what the Aurora Society was originally meeting about: bringing a corpse back to life. The leader of the Aurora Society, a man named Rian Stoker, wants to...wait a minute. Stoker? As in Bram Stoker? As in the guy who wrote Dracula?
Um...I think Yana Toboso, the author of the manga, got her horror authors mixed up. This movie seems to be going with a Frankenstein theme, and Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley, not Bram Stoker. I'm honestly not sure what to say about this. It's not a good thing, it's not a bad thing, it kinda just...is.
Getting back to the plot: Stoker presents his breakthrough in medicine, called "Absolute Salvation." This medicine was created by the Aurora Society, and they want to use it to bring people back from the dead. Stoker figures a demonstration is in order, so he brings out a corpse that could seriously be Frankenstein's bride (she's dressed in white, the markings are the same...everything) and uses his medicine to bring her back to life. The medicine seems to work...for all of two seconds.
Anyway, this corpse-brought-back was named Margaret Connor. And she attacks her mother and takes out a good chunk of her shoulder before moving on to her father. They are both killed as Margaret continues her rampage on the audience in attendance.
The audience manages to escape, and Sebastian throws knives at the walking corpse. These seem to have no effect...until a FREAKING LAWNMOWER COMES OUT OF NOWHERE AND DESTROYS HER HEAD!
I'm not joking. A FREAKING LAWNMOWER.
Anyway, this lawnmower is actually a Death Scythe that belongs to a Grim Reaper named Ronald Knox. And, believe it or not, we actually have seen him before. He was briefly in episode four of Book of Circus.
Getting back to the movie: Ronald Knox reveals that the Bizarre Dolls (that's what the manga calls them, so that's what I'll be calling them) can be killed by having their heads cut off or ripped to shreds. Oh, and did I mention the AMAZING entrance our dear Ronald makes? No? Well, take a look at this:
So Ciel and Sebastian have to team up with Ronald Knox and our favorite transgender female Grim Reaper, Grell, to discover how these Bizarre Dolls are created and stop it. And before you say it, yes, Ronald and Grell do share a funny scene. It's probably the funniest scene in the whole movie. I mean...the animators had the opportunity, and they freaking went for it. I couldn't find the clip with sound, but if you put the song, "My Heart Will Go On," to the .gif I'm about to post, it should speak for itself: Black Butler meets Titanic
Speaking of Ronald Knox and Grell, they actually do provide quite a bit of the comedic relief, whether in combat or not. The .gif that FUNimation posted on giphy is a perfect example of this, as the two parody a famous scene from another movie about an infamous ship (can you guess which one?). And while we're on the subject of the Grim Reapers, we learn that there's a Grim Reaper that has been in the midst of everything for a long time. I won't say who because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will give a hint: he takes humor as payment.
We get quite a bit of character development, particularly from Ciel's fiancee, Elizabeth. She goes from being this cute, petite, innocent girl to...HOLY FRICK SHE HAS TWO SWORDS AND IS KILLING BIZARRE DOLLS LEFT AND RIGHT! Seriously. This is the most badass you will ever see Elizabeth Midford. It's pretty incredible to watch.
So, rating: 10/10
Why: The animation is stellar. While it's not on the level of Madoka Magica (I don't know if anything could be on par with Madoka Magica's animation), it's truly incredible. You can ignore the random bits of CGI scattered around the movie. They're not necessary.
The fight scenes are some of the best parts of the film, and FUNimation did an amazing job of keeping the characters in character in the English dub. The voice acting is great, which I would expect nothing less from the original actors returning to their roles.
The other thing that I liked was that even if you weren't familiar with the anime, this was still something you could enjoy. I saw it with someone who wasn't familiar with the anime at all, and I think she liked it more than she cares to admit. Think Titanic meets zombies. It's surprisingly a pretty good combo.
With the way the film ends, you would expect a sequel. I'm hopeful there will be one. If it's not Black Butler's fourth season, maybe an OVA? Or another movie?
Next Anime Monday: Thoughts on the Second Half of Attack on Titan
Hey guys, kanna here. This was originally going to be a video, but I don't think my "thoughts on" videos have been doing that well (if I'm wrong, please tell me), so this will be a blog post instead. I would also like to apologize for my insane schedule this summer. I'm taking three classes and volunteering 5 out of 7 days of the week. So it's more than a little busy here.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the season that kept us waiting over a year: Attack on Titan Season 2!
So, to start things off, this season is short. I mean REALLY short. Short as in...HALF THE LENGTH OF THE FIRST SEASON! WHAT WERE THE WRITERS THINKING? WERE THEY THINKING, "Hey, let's just pack a bunch of stuff from the manga into twelve episodes! The fans won't care, as long as they get to see some Titan action!" Well, that's REALLY FREAKING STUPID! WE WANT A NICE, LONG, WELL-WRITTEN, WELL-ANIMATED SEASON! NOT A NICE, WELL-WRITTEN, WELL-ANIMATED TWELVE EPISODE SEASON!
Heck, they should have called this season Attack on Titan: Half the Maximum Effort for Half as Many Episodes!
Ok, maybe I'm being more than a little harsh. The animators have really gone all out so far in this season, as have the writers. As someone who read the manga arc that this is following (so I basically know what's going to happen, who's who, etc.), I still freak out over the plot twists. I mean...well, let's talk about the arc that this follows.
This season follows the Beast Titan arc of the manga, and opens right where the first season ended (after the battle with the Female Titan, where we see a Titan inside of Wall Sina). And...holy frick, for a first episode, the first episode of Season 2 was pretty gory. I mean...HEADS WERE BEING RIPPED OFF! HORSES WERE BEING CRUSHED LIKE THEY WERE NOTHING! SO MUCH BLOOD!
And I know what you're thinking: for a series about giants eating people, a lot of blood is to be expected. Well, the first episode was just brutal.
Now, from here on out, it's going to be spoilers galore. If you want to be spoiled, read on. If not, then stop reading, go watch the first six episodes (or however many episodes you're behind on) to catch up, and then come back.
SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
In the first episode...aside from it being brutal, we learn that the Titans do have some intelligence (some more than others, but that's beside the point). We meet the Beast Titan, who can speak in full sentences, and...well, the short version is that Mike Zacharias (we're just going to refer to him as Mike) tries to divert the drunk Titans (okay, they're not drunk, but come on; they look drunk when they're walking or running. See drunk Titans running) and ultimately gets eaten. I'll get into the long version of what happened later.
These "drunk" Titans are classified as Abnormal Titans. Why? Because these Titans can possess an unusual amount of intelligence and their actions are unpredictable. Some of them are capable of speed-walking, running, and even human speech (some more than others, but again, beside the point). While a typical Titan eats people on sight, these Abnormal Titans may choose to ignore lone or isolated humans and exhibit unpredictable behavior; often resulting in them causing larger damage as they disrupt important strategic locations.
In other words: yikes...just yikes (I try not to use more...colorful language on my blog, so feel free to replace "yikes" with whatever you feel like)
Anyway, here's the long version of what happened to our good pal, Mike. He and tries to divert the Abnormal Titans' attention and succeeds. He's about to escape...until his horse gets crushed by the Beast Titan. Well, that's not good.
Mike falls from the roof of the house...building...whatever he's standing on, and is caught by a stray Abnormal Titan who quickly proceeds to begin to eat him. However, after biting off one of Mike's legs, the Beast Titan bends down tells the stray to wait. The stray ignores him, and bites Mike's other leg (poor guy), breaking it, before the Beast Titan literally squeezes one of the stray's eyes (it might have been both, but they only showed one eye going up into the air, and either way, that's pretty gross) out of its socket. Ew...
Anyway, Mike, with one leg gone and the ability to speak having left him due to fear, can do nothing but stare at the Beast Titan. He had never seen a Titan with fur before, or a Titan that was taller than 17 meters (convert that to whatever unit you want if you don't use meters). Nor have we, the audience. So this was new for us.
The Beast Titan asks about Mike's 3DM gear, and Mike can't reply at all. The Beast Titan thought that humans were capable of speech. After some more dialog and a flashback from Mike, he tries to attack the Beast Titan as it's walking away, only for the Beast Titan to tell the other Abnormal Titans that they can move. And...well, you can guess what happens from there. Mike gets eaten in the most grotesque way they can portray in an anime.
Anyway, look at the Beast Titan:
Not much happens in episodes 2 and 3, other than we get character development on Sasha (yay!!!). So, we'll skip straight to episode 4.
In episode 4, which is set two hours before the first events they show, the 104th trainees in the group (Connie, Krista, Ymir, Bertholdt, and Reiner) at Castle Utgard rest while their seniors keep watch. There's...a lot of violence on this episode, including Reiner getting his arm almost bitten off. It's not pretty. The seniors get killed off, and in order to protect everyone, Ymir (I promise, I couldn't make this up if I tried) jumps off the tower, cuts herself with a knife, and transforms into a Titan.
In episode 5, this group is reunited with Eren and co. Not much happens except for fight scenes, but we do get a bit of background on the relationship between Krista and Ymir (pronounced as Yumiru in the original Japanese). This also includes the fact that Krista is actually the illegitimate child of a nobleman's mistress, and was forced by the Wall Cult (a group of priests who refuse to give up any information on the Titans inside the walls...yeah, this was better explained in the manga) to join the army because she was unwanted by everyone. She took on a false name (Krista) and revealed to Ymir at the end of the episode that her real name is Historia.
Ok. Now we're at the halfway point in the season. Episode 6. This might be my favorite episode of the season so far. Let's go!
So in this episode, Bertholdt and Reiner take Eren aside as an unconscious and seriously beat-up Ymir is being tended to. Bertholdt and Reiner just casually reveal that they are the Armored and Colossal Titans, respectively. They tell Eren that their mission to wipe out humanity can be avoided if Eren goes with them to their "hometown."
Then, Eren realizes something.
In a flashback from 12 hours before all this started, we learn that the scroll that Sasha handed to Hange was a background report on Annie. It says that Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner were all from the same place. However, not a lot of background information was available on the three of them except for that. Hange asks the rest of the 104th cadets about the three, before they realize that while Annie had never been seen with Bertholdt and Reiner, the Female Titan somehow obtained the correct information on Eren's location within the formation during the 57th expedition from Reiner's team. Armin thinks that Reiner wrote a message to Annie when he attacked her with his blades, and when Reiner asked where Eren was prior, he unknowingly told Reiner the truth. Hange orders everyone to keep an eye on Bertholdt and Reiner without raising any undue suspicion.
Back to the present. Reiner realizes that he and Bertholdt are unable to convince Eren to come with them because he cares too much about his friends. He convinces Bertholdt that they need to finish their mission now and advances on Eren, before Mikasa quickly intervenes and cuts off Reiner's hand. She then attacks Bertholdt and is about to go in for the kill before she's pushed away by Reiner. The two shift into their respective Titan forms in what might be one of the best animated scenes in all of Attack on Titan.
Anyway, the Armored Titan grabs Eren, while the Colossal Titan grabs Ymir and the two begin to take Eren and Ymir away. Before this can happen, however, an angry Eren who feels betrayed transforms into his Titan form and begins battle with the Armored titan.
Thoughts: HOLY FRICK. I mean, I'm pissed that this season is only twelve episodes (no, I'm not going to get over it), but wow! This season...first off, talk about brutal! Just when you thought it couldn't get any more gory than that scene when that one Titan ate Eren's mom, we have a scene where our good buddy, Mike, gets ripped apart and eaten by at least four Titans.
Second, this is incredibly well-animated. Possibly better animated than the first season. The transformation scenes where Bertholdt, Reiner, and Eren all transform into Titans and when Ymir transforms into is incredible to watch. You can tell the animators really went all out.
Third, they got Linked Horizon back to do the music for this season. You can't imagine how happy I was. While I'm a little disappointed in the lack of German in the opening song, "Opfert eure Herzen" (note: I think that means "Dedicate Your Hearts," but I could be wrong) and the fact that it's not as good as "Crimson Bow and Arrow," it's still a really good song. I can't wait for the full version.
Fourth, I love the character development we're getting. Between Krista, Ymir, Sasha, and hopefully Bertholdt and Reiner, we are getting a lot of character development. If there's one thing I'm disappointed about, it's that we don't know Bertholdt and Reiner's reason(s) for wanting to wipe out all of humanity (they talked about it in the manga, but I forget).
Finally: Each episode leaves me with more and more questions. I mean, I know I read the manga and I'm currently way past this arc, but each plot twist still manages to make me jump. I find myself with more and more questions at the end of each episode. Like: What were Bertholdt and Reiner's reason(s) for wanting to wipe out all of humanity? What does Krista's background have to do with all of this? How are some Titans able to use human speech and not others? And lastly...WHO THE FLYING FRICK IS THE BEAST TITAN (they mentioned it in the manga, but I don't remember)?
Well, that's my review/thoughts on/whatever you want to call it of the first half of Attack on Titan Season 2. Hope you enjoyed! ~k
Anyway, here are my thoughts on the season that kept us waiting over a year: Attack on Titan Season 2!
So, to start things off, this season is short. I mean REALLY short. Short as in...HALF THE LENGTH OF THE FIRST SEASON! WHAT WERE THE WRITERS THINKING? WERE THEY THINKING, "Hey, let's just pack a bunch of stuff from the manga into twelve episodes! The fans won't care, as long as they get to see some Titan action!" Well, that's REALLY FREAKING STUPID! WE WANT A NICE, LONG, WELL-WRITTEN, WELL-ANIMATED SEASON! NOT A NICE, WELL-WRITTEN, WELL-ANIMATED TWELVE EPISODE SEASON!
Heck, they should have called this season Attack on Titan: Half the Maximum Effort for Half as Many Episodes!
Ok, maybe I'm being more than a little harsh. The animators have really gone all out so far in this season, as have the writers. As someone who read the manga arc that this is following (so I basically know what's going to happen, who's who, etc.), I still freak out over the plot twists. I mean...well, let's talk about the arc that this follows.
This season follows the Beast Titan arc of the manga, and opens right where the first season ended (after the battle with the Female Titan, where we see a Titan inside of Wall Sina). And...holy frick, for a first episode, the first episode of Season 2 was pretty gory. I mean...HEADS WERE BEING RIPPED OFF! HORSES WERE BEING CRUSHED LIKE THEY WERE NOTHING! SO MUCH BLOOD!
And I know what you're thinking: for a series about giants eating people, a lot of blood is to be expected. Well, the first episode was just brutal.
Now, from here on out, it's going to be spoilers galore. If you want to be spoiled, read on. If not, then stop reading, go watch the first six episodes (or however many episodes you're behind on) to catch up, and then come back.
SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
In the first episode...aside from it being brutal, we learn that the Titans do have some intelligence (some more than others, but that's beside the point). We meet the Beast Titan, who can speak in full sentences, and...well, the short version is that Mike Zacharias (we're just going to refer to him as Mike) tries to divert the drunk Titans (okay, they're not drunk, but come on; they look drunk when they're walking or running. See drunk Titans running) and ultimately gets eaten. I'll get into the long version of what happened later.
These "drunk" Titans are classified as Abnormal Titans. Why? Because these Titans can possess an unusual amount of intelligence and their actions are unpredictable. Some of them are capable of speed-walking, running, and even human speech (some more than others, but again, beside the point). While a typical Titan eats people on sight, these Abnormal Titans may choose to ignore lone or isolated humans and exhibit unpredictable behavior; often resulting in them causing larger damage as they disrupt important strategic locations.
In other words: yikes...just yikes (I try not to use more...colorful language on my blog, so feel free to replace "yikes" with whatever you feel like)
Anyway, here's the long version of what happened to our good pal, Mike. He and tries to divert the Abnormal Titans' attention and succeeds. He's about to escape...until his horse gets crushed by the Beast Titan. Well, that's not good.
Mike falls from the roof of the house...building...whatever he's standing on, and is caught by a stray Abnormal Titan who quickly proceeds to begin to eat him. However, after biting off one of Mike's legs, the Beast Titan bends down tells the stray to wait. The stray ignores him, and bites Mike's other leg (poor guy), breaking it, before the Beast Titan literally squeezes one of the stray's eyes (it might have been both, but they only showed one eye going up into the air, and either way, that's pretty gross) out of its socket. Ew...
Anyway, Mike, with one leg gone and the ability to speak having left him due to fear, can do nothing but stare at the Beast Titan. He had never seen a Titan with fur before, or a Titan that was taller than 17 meters (convert that to whatever unit you want if you don't use meters). Nor have we, the audience. So this was new for us.
The Beast Titan asks about Mike's 3DM gear, and Mike can't reply at all. The Beast Titan thought that humans were capable of speech. After some more dialog and a flashback from Mike, he tries to attack the Beast Titan as it's walking away, only for the Beast Titan to tell the other Abnormal Titans that they can move. And...well, you can guess what happens from there. Mike gets eaten in the most grotesque way they can portray in an anime.
Anyway, look at the Beast Titan:
 |
| I dare you to tell me that that's not even a little creepy looking |
Not much happens in episodes 2 and 3, other than we get character development on Sasha (yay!!!). So, we'll skip straight to episode 4.
In episode 4, which is set two hours before the first events they show, the 104th trainees in the group (Connie, Krista, Ymir, Bertholdt, and Reiner) at Castle Utgard rest while their seniors keep watch. There's...a lot of violence on this episode, including Reiner getting his arm almost bitten off. It's not pretty. The seniors get killed off, and in order to protect everyone, Ymir (I promise, I couldn't make this up if I tried) jumps off the tower, cuts herself with a knife, and transforms into a Titan.
In episode 5, this group is reunited with Eren and co. Not much happens except for fight scenes, but we do get a bit of background on the relationship between Krista and Ymir (pronounced as Yumiru in the original Japanese). This also includes the fact that Krista is actually the illegitimate child of a nobleman's mistress, and was forced by the Wall Cult (a group of priests who refuse to give up any information on the Titans inside the walls...yeah, this was better explained in the manga) to join the army because she was unwanted by everyone. She took on a false name (Krista) and revealed to Ymir at the end of the episode that her real name is Historia.
Ok. Now we're at the halfway point in the season. Episode 6. This might be my favorite episode of the season so far. Let's go!
So in this episode, Bertholdt and Reiner take Eren aside as an unconscious and seriously beat-up Ymir is being tended to. Bertholdt and Reiner just casually reveal that they are the Armored and Colossal Titans, respectively. They tell Eren that their mission to wipe out humanity can be avoided if Eren goes with them to their "hometown."
Then, Eren realizes something.
In a flashback from 12 hours before all this started, we learn that the scroll that Sasha handed to Hange was a background report on Annie. It says that Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner were all from the same place. However, not a lot of background information was available on the three of them except for that. Hange asks the rest of the 104th cadets about the three, before they realize that while Annie had never been seen with Bertholdt and Reiner, the Female Titan somehow obtained the correct information on Eren's location within the formation during the 57th expedition from Reiner's team. Armin thinks that Reiner wrote a message to Annie when he attacked her with his blades, and when Reiner asked where Eren was prior, he unknowingly told Reiner the truth. Hange orders everyone to keep an eye on Bertholdt and Reiner without raising any undue suspicion.
Back to the present. Reiner realizes that he and Bertholdt are unable to convince Eren to come with them because he cares too much about his friends. He convinces Bertholdt that they need to finish their mission now and advances on Eren, before Mikasa quickly intervenes and cuts off Reiner's hand. She then attacks Bertholdt and is about to go in for the kill before she's pushed away by Reiner. The two shift into their respective Titan forms in what might be one of the best animated scenes in all of Attack on Titan.
Anyway, the Armored Titan grabs Eren, while the Colossal Titan grabs Ymir and the two begin to take Eren and Ymir away. Before this can happen, however, an angry Eren who feels betrayed transforms into his Titan form and begins battle with the Armored titan.
Thoughts: HOLY FRICK. I mean, I'm pissed that this season is only twelve episodes (no, I'm not going to get over it), but wow! This season...first off, talk about brutal! Just when you thought it couldn't get any more gory than that scene when that one Titan ate Eren's mom, we have a scene where our good buddy, Mike, gets ripped apart and eaten by at least four Titans.
Second, this is incredibly well-animated. Possibly better animated than the first season. The transformation scenes where Bertholdt, Reiner, and Eren all transform into Titans and when Ymir transforms into is incredible to watch. You can tell the animators really went all out.
Third, they got Linked Horizon back to do the music for this season. You can't imagine how happy I was. While I'm a little disappointed in the lack of German in the opening song, "Opfert eure Herzen" (note: I think that means "Dedicate Your Hearts," but I could be wrong) and the fact that it's not as good as "Crimson Bow and Arrow," it's still a really good song. I can't wait for the full version.
Fourth, I love the character development we're getting. Between Krista, Ymir, Sasha, and hopefully Bertholdt and Reiner, we are getting a lot of character development. If there's one thing I'm disappointed about, it's that we don't know Bertholdt and Reiner's reason(s) for wanting to wipe out all of humanity (they talked about it in the manga, but I forget).
Finally: Each episode leaves me with more and more questions. I mean, I know I read the manga and I'm currently way past this arc, but each plot twist still manages to make me jump. I find myself with more and more questions at the end of each episode. Like: What were Bertholdt and Reiner's reason(s) for wanting to wipe out all of humanity? What does Krista's background have to do with all of this? How are some Titans able to use human speech and not others? And lastly...WHO THE FLYING FRICK IS THE BEAST TITAN (they mentioned it in the manga, but I don't remember)?
Well, that's my review/thoughts on/whatever you want to call it of the first half of Attack on Titan Season 2. Hope you enjoyed! ~k
Hey guys, kanna here. Well, you waited. And waited. And waited some more. But, finally...I GET TO REVIEW YU-GI-OH!: THE DARK SIDE OF DIMENSIONS! I FINALLY FOUND THE ENGLISH DUB (it's better than nothing) AND...well, where to begin? Well, get your duel disks on, because it's time to duel!
Ok, a little background.
This is the fourth film in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise to get a theatrical release (if you count the season 0 movie among those releases), and was released in US theaters on January 27, 2017. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see this movie in theaters, because the internet lied to me. It said the movie would be in theaters for two weeks, when it was really in theaters for only two days. TWO DAYS! NEITHER OF WHICH I COULD GO TO!
*ahem*
You can imagine how upset I was.
Anyway, this wasn't based off of anything in the manga (interesting), so there isn't really any background I can give on this. So...onto the general summary, I guess. There will be spoilers in this, so if you haven't seen the movie, go to this site to watch it, and then come back. Just make sure you're willing to make the time commitment.
Why?
This movie is TWO HOURS AND TEN MINUTES. I promise, I'm not kidding. Remember how the US release of Pyramid of Light was almost an hour and a half and how the US release of Bonds Beyond Time was only an hour (I think the Japanese version was less than that, I don't remember)? I'm not saying the length is a good or bad thing; I'm saying I'm really surprised by it. We'll get to what I think about the movie overall later.
The story is set six months after the main storyline ended. So six months after Yugi and co. said their goodbyes to Yami Yugi/the Pharaoh/Atem. After Yugi's duel against Atem, the seven Millennium Items (puzzle, ring, rod, eye, necklace, scale, and key) were buried underground, never to be seen again.
Or were they?
In the six months that passed, Seto Kaiba has become obsessed with bringing the Pharaoh back to duel against him and prove that he is the best. Because...that's just how Kaiba is. He observes an excavation from the Kaiba Corp. space station (don't ask, I don't get why Kaiba Corp. has a space station, either) as his employees (and Mokuba) look for the Millennium Puzzle.
After some pointlessness, we see Yugi and co. on the roof of their high school during lunch as they talk about their plans for after graduation.
Wait, what?
They're GRADUATING?
Um...okay...
Anyway, Tea is going to study abroad and become a professional dancer, Joey's plans are...undecided (for the most part), Tristan and Bakura's (oh, yeah, Barkura is in this movie) plans aren't really mentioned, and Yugi's plan is to work at his grandpa's game shop, but also design his own games.
Upon their return to class, they spot a new student who looks familiar, but no one can remember his name. They finally remember the student's name is Aigami, but were unsure of why they couldn't remember his name. Strange. I'd post a picture, but Blogger wants to be a pain and not let me.
After school, Yugi is walking with Joey and Tea and looking through his deck. He reminisces about Atem and grieves over the loss of his Egyptian buddy. This is actually kind of emotional, as we can see that after six months, Yugi is still grieving a loss of someone close to him. Closer than a brother. Even Yugi's friends are dealing with the loss. They're there to help him grieve and deal with the loss of his pal. It's actually kind of touching.
Too bad this is interrupted by Aigami getting the ever loving crap kicked out of him by some bullies. Joey jumps off the bridge (I kid you not) and runs to defend the guy. The bullies, aware of Joey's past gang membership, leave Aigami alone, but instruct him to meet them at the Kaiba Corp. construction site that night alone. Aigami tells Yugi and co. that he's fine, and they all go their separate ways.
The next day (I think it's the next day, it's a little hard to tell how much time goes by in this movie), Yugi and co. are at the mall with--holy frick, what happened to Duke Devlin? I mean, I knew the characters were getting redesigned, but Duke Devlin does NOT look like he used to. I can't really describe it.
Anyway, Yugi is reading an article about how a lot of people are mysteriously disappearing without a trace, and Bakura comments that the person responsible could be watching them right then and there. Tea thinks it's his paranoia of having been surrounded by girls constantly (Bakura thinks it's the accent), so he brushes it off. Aigami watches the group from the level above. Um...creepy, much?
Anyway, as Aigami watches the group, he reflects back on a time from where he was originally from, the Plana Realm. This was a realm above the clouds, where there were seven pillars that each depicted a Millennium Item. Children appear and disappear, while Aigami and his sister, Sera, are constantly present.
Aigami reflects further back to a time when he and Sera were in Egypt. They were alone and thirsty and struggling to stay hydrated. However (and you're going to laugh at this next part), Sera keeps calling Aigami "Diva."
*laughs*
I mean...I'm all for respecting names of different cultures, but if this is the name of our villain, then it's going to be really hard to take him seriously. REALLY hard. When I saw this movie, I couldn't help but laugh every time someone mentioned his name. I mean...Diva? Really? Writers, you had all these names you could choose from, and you went with Diva? What the frick were you thinking? Do you know how hard it is to take a villain with that name seriously?
*ahem*
Back in the present, someone named Mani appears and tells Aigami that Kaiba found the Millennium Puzzle. Mani tries to talk Aigami (who I shall now be referring to as Diva, even though it's really ridiculous that the writers gave him that name) out of revenge, but Diva isn't having it. Mani teleports away, while Diva teleports to meet Kaiba in Egypt.
At the mall, Kaiba appears on several screens and shows off his new duel disk. It actually looks pretty cool, but a little too techno for my taste. I liked the original duel disks more. And the duel disks used in season 4 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! by the guys who worked for Dartz. These...what was Kaiba thinking? I mean, it's one thing to take dueling to the next level. They did that in GX (which sucked, but at least the duel disks still looked like duel disks) and 5D's (where they took it to the extreme by attaching them to motorcycles). This is taking dueling to level infinity. They don't even look like duel disks.
Must. Stop. Criticism. There will be plenty of time for that in the rest of the review.
Back in Egypt, Kaiba arrives in his *laughs* Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet (that will never not be funny). Good to see he's still obsessed with that monster. Not that I don't like dragons, but his obsession is a little...much. Now, if the dragon were Critias (see season 4), I wouldn't have as big of a problem. Why? Because the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet doesn't look like the original Blue-Eyes White Dragon. That, and his obsession is just nuts.
Anyway, all the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle have been unearthed and are in a high-tech security system that will take 30 minutes to deactivate. Kaiba suggests a duel to pass the time and calls out Aiga--I mean, Diva (I still don't get it, but it's so funny) from the shadows.
Diva emerges and is impressed that Kaiba knew his real name. Kaiba asks how Diva got from Domino City to Egypt so fast, but that question goes unanswered, as a mysterious cube that Diva can control appears and tries to disintegrate Kaiba on the spot. Um...dark, much? I mean, this isn't "going to the Shadow Realm" or "your soul is mine" or anything like that. This is, for real, legit, I kid you not, 真的, someone trying to kill another person in a movie produced by 4kids.
I'll let that sink in for a minute.
Okay, it's been a minute. Has that sunk in? Yes? Ok, good. Let's keep going.
This doesn't work, so Kaiba and Aigami duel each other, and--HOLY FRICK WHAT THE FLYING FRICK HAPPENED TO THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON? It doesn't look ANYTHING like the original! I knew the monsters were going to get new designs, but...this? THIS? I'm not a fan of it. It doesn't look as badass as the original. I mean, I knew the monsters were going to get new designs. I just didn't think they'd look this...meh. I'm dreading to see what the Dark Magician looks like...
Anyway, this is a whole new style of dueling that I'm pretty sure wouldn't fly in tournaments called Dimension Dueling. Monsters can be summoned without sacrifices, the monsters' attack points can be manipulated by going Super Saiyan (technically, the duelist can manipulate their monsters' attack points by infusing their spirit energy to whatever amount, as long as it doesn't exceed the original attack points, but it seriously looks like they're going Super Saiyan), and there are a whole bunch of other things that basically screw the rules, but I'm not going to go into those. Kaiba uses his usual deck, while Diva uses a Cubic deck.
Well, at least they didn't turn the Rubik's cube into a monster, right?
Not funny? Ok, bad joke.
Anyway, the Cubic monsters look really interesting, and you can tell a lot of effort went into their designs. Their effects are pretty awesome, too. And this would be perfect for a villain whose name was Aigami...but his name isn't Aigami, it's Diva. *laughs*
Ok, enough of that. No more Aigami/Diva jokes. Intentionally, at any rate.
The duel is close, and I mean REALLY close. Diva (that will never not be funny) has Kaiba on the ropes, with only 1000 life points. Just as Diva is about to deal the finishing blow, the security system deactivates, and Mokuba takes the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle as a helicopter comes down and lifts the case into the sky, with Mokuba sitting on top. Diva sees this, and teleports on top of the case and reaches through the glass to grab some of the pieces, before Mokuba headbutts him off of the case. Kaiba says he has what he needs and flies away in his jet.
There's...a lot of other stuff that happens, and it's not that it's not pointless, it's more that I don't want it to take up the entire review. I'll cut to the chase:
Yugi duels Diva and wins, causing Diva to disappear. It's then...well...take a wild guess.
Yugi vs. Kaiba. Like we didn't see that coming. The two duel for the two remaining pieces of the Millennium Puzzle, and Yugi completes the puzzle. Nothing happens. Kaiba, however, refuses to accept that the Pharaoh is really gone for good.
The two continue to duel, and we see a bunch of lame monsters that got renamed and redesigned and don't look all that great. Even the Dark Magician doesn't look all that impressive. I mean, I get that the monsters were all redesigned for the anniversary, and their anniversary editions are being used, but...they don't look good. I mean, maybe they look good on the actual cards (I wouldn't know, I don't have the anniversary editions of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon or the Dark Magician), but in terms of animation, they don't look good.
Anyway, just as Yugi is about to deliver the finishing blow, he and Kaiba hear people screaming as people start disappearing from the audience. Diva returns, now affected by the evil of the Millennium Ring, and...ok, he actually looks pretty terrifying. Diva infused with the evil of the Millennium Ring actually looks pretty cool, and like a villain people would be able to take seriously. Look at this thing:
 |
| Diva infused with the evil of the Millennium Ring |
The duel has now become a Shadow Game, only this time, the duelists' bodies fade away as life points are lost. Again: dark, much? I mean...4kids...
Ok, save it for later.
Diva has reached a point in the duel where he can choose who he wants to defeat, and he chooses Yugi. However, Kaiba redirects the attack to himself, and he disappears. Before he disappears, he asks Yugi to call on the Pharaoh. Yugi puts on the Puzzle, the duel goes on, and eventually, Yugi's body can't take anymore. He can't draw his next card. Just as he collapses, he's suddenly engulfed in a beam of golden light, as Atem, dressed in Yugi's school uniform, appears. He defeats Diva, whose body returns to normal upon defeat.
The audience reappears and we see an unspoken moment between Yugi and Atem, before we cut back. Yugi tells his friends about how he saw Atem, and this piques Kaiba's interest. He acknowledges Yugi as a competent duelist, and Yugi thanks Kaiba for believing in him.
We then get the epilogue during the credits: Yugi gave the graduation speech, Tea left to go study abroad, Joey and Tristain...who knows, and then we get a post-credits scene.
In this scene, Kaiba is in space with a replica of the cube that belonged to Diva. Mokuba warns Kaiba that what he's attempting is dangerous and that the replica hasn't been fully tested yet. The safety precautions have not been ensured. Kaiba says that Mokuba is in charge before he activates the replica of the cube and is transported to the afterlife, where he sees Atem. Atem confidently smiles and they duel.
Rating: um...please don't hate me for this...7.5/10
Why: As we all know, I love Yu-Gi-Oh! as much as the next person. But this movie dragged on. And on. And on. AND ON. I feel like the writers just didn't know where to end the movie.
The redesigns of the monsters look AWFUL. I get that they're supposed to look different, but in terms of the animation, they don't look that great. I mean, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Dark Magician, two of the most iconic monsters in the series, just don't look that impressive.
And speaking of things that aren't impressive...did the writers just get lazy when they came up with some of the names for the monsters? I mean...Apple Magician Girl? Lemon Magician Girl? Marshmacaron? Seriously?!
And speaking of ridiculous names: like I said before, I'm all for respecting names of different cultures. But if your villain goes by the name "Diva," and uses a more villainous alias, like "Aigami," it's going to be pretty hard to take the villain seriously. The only time I actually took Diva seriously was when he was infused with the evil of the Millennium Ring. Other than that, though, that's it.
The animation in general is pretty good, and the storyline executes itself well, even though it goes on FOREVER. I wasn't bored watching the movie by any means, but some movies get to a point where you can't help but want them to end after an hour or an hour and a half.
As for 4kids...this was probably the darkest thing I have ever seen them produce. I mean, I don't think they cut anything out from the original Japanese (of course, I would have to see the original Japanese to find out if they did or not). We had death scenes, torture scenes...things you wouldn't normally get in a 4kids production. I was impressed that 4kids even went this route. Were they trying to appeal to an older demographic? Because if they were, it worked.
The nostalgia factor was definitely there, because they got all the original voice actors to come back. We had Dan Green, Wayne Grayson, Eric Stuart, etc. all come back to voice their characters. I can't help but wonder...what if Marik came back into the picture for this movie? I know Jonathan Todd Ross has retired from voice acting, but I think it would have been interesting to see Marik return in some form. He'd certainly make a better villain than Diva, that's for sure.
Well, that's my review of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions. Hope you enjoyed it!
I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22~
Happy birthday to me!
Hey guys kanna here. Welcome to the first Anime Monday of 2017! I would have put this up sooner, but I had no computer access, because I was out of town and couldn't take my laptop with me. If they still had the Blogger app for iPad, I would have used that, but they don't. Oy vey...
Anyway, I'm out of words. I mean...the last half of UtaPri was just explosive. I had no idea what to expect. I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't anything to brag about, the plot was...poorly executed, for lack of better phrasing, and do we need to COUNT the number of innuendos?
Look, UtaPri has good music. It hadn't let me down...until this season. The genres of songs weren't what their characters would usually sing (don't get me started on Ren's song...that was probably the worst one of this season), which can sometimes be a good thing. It's good to have singers try different genres of music every now and then. But...these changes have to make sense. I can't imagine Ren singing a song where his precious sax isn't the featured instrument, I can't imagine Otoya singing a song about stuff that isn't all sunshine and happiness, and I can't imagine QUARTET NIGHT singing a pop song about their bond. None. Of. It. FITS!
The three songs where it kind of works (in terms of the duet projects) are Mighty Aura (Tokiya and Eiiji), JUSTICE IMPULSE (Syo and Yamato), and LASTING ONENESS (Masato and Kira). Although that could be because the singers stuck to the genres they were good at and good for their characters.
Aside from that one song that QUARTET NIGHT did in the second episode of the season (it wasn't good enough for me to remember the name), QUARTET NIGHT did NOT disappoint. The song they sang at the Triple S Decisive concert, G-d's S.T.A.R, was AMAZING, and probably my favorite song of the three that were performed at the concert. Then again, QUARTET NIGHT is my favorite group of the three (HEAVENS, STARISH, and QUARTET NIGHT), so my opinion is a little biased.
This season was primarily HEAVENS focused, unlike last season, which focused more on QUARTET NIGHT. We really got to know the members of HEAVENS, which was great...to an extent. I couldn't stand Van Kiryuin or Eiichi Otori. The other members were just ok, except for Kira, who is officially my favorite member of HEAVENS. Anyway, the members of HEAVENS (now that I can name them all), are Yamato Hyuuga, Eiiji Otori, Shion Amakusa, Van Kiryuin, Eiichi Otori, Nagi Mikado, and Kira Sumeragi.
Music-wise, there really wasn't anything to brag about. They didn't play the good music until towards the end of the season, which really sucked and probably lost a good amount of viewers. I feel the people who did the music for this season were riding the popularity train from the previous seasons, got lazy, and by the time they realized they were producing crap, it was too late, so they could only give us 5 good songs in the second half of the season.
That's right, five. I'm thankful it wasn't zero. Those songs were (in order of appearance): Lasting Oneness (Masato and Kira), NEXT DOOR (Otoya and Eiichi), G-d's S.T.A.R (QUARTET NIGHT), Immortal Inferno (HEAVENS), and WE ARE STARISH!! (STARISH).
The interesting thing about the last episode was that unlike the previous seasons, the song that was performed in the big performance thing wasn't the ending song. It was an entirely new song, which was WE ARE STARISH!!. Don't get me wrong, they still sang the ending song (in its entirety) after they sang WE ARE STARISH!!, but I thought it was interesting that they did that.
The animation...don't get me started. It was awful. A lot of the characters' movements look like CGI. Which isn't always a bad thing...it just has to look good. This did NOT look good.
Lastly (and this is a spoiler, so if you want to be spoiled, read ahead; otherwise, go watch it), the ending. Good freaking G-d, the ending. It was...predictable. Granted, we got some great music out of it, but it was still predictable. STARISH won the opportunity to be the opening artist at the Triple S concert. Let's be honest: we all saw that coming.
After the credits of the last episode, they advertised a live concert featuring the voice actors from all three groups. But that's not the worst part. No. There's nothing wrong with advertising a live concert, and I'm kind of looking forward to this one. If I was in Japan and got tickets, I'd probably be one of the many screaming fans in the audience.
The worst part is when they tease us with a new anime project. We have no idea what it is, no rumors or anything to go off of, nothing. I don't understand why. They don't even get all cocky with a "see you next season" or anything like that. It makes no sense. I mean, it's great that they're starting a new animation project. Just tell us what it is for Pete's sake!
So, rating of Legend Star: um...wow, this is really tough. 5/10 (until someone has a legitimate argument for a different rating)?
Why: The first half of the season (or series, if it's just one season) of any anime is (in my opinion) the most important. It gives viewers an idea of what kind of anime to expect, and with musical anime like UtaPri, it tells us what kind of music to look forward to.
The first half of the anime did NOT deliver at all. I have a feeling that Legend Star lost a lot of viewers because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't good, the writing was laughable at best, and do we even need to count the innuendos?
The second half of the anime, however, delivered where the first half didn't. We had great music, great character development, and little to no innuendos. The only part that was a little lackluster for me was the animation, but I'm willing to let that slide a little.
The opening wasn't that great, and it took me multiple listens to the ending for me to say, "Wow, I like this song." It wasn't great, but it was a decent song.
Well, those are my final thoughts on UtaPri: Maji LOVE Legend Star. Look forward to next Anime Monday, where I review...oh, dear G-d, no.
No, no, no. I'm not subjecting myself to torture again. I'll lose my sanity. There has to be something here on my list of anime I'm planning on reviewing. Hm...well, it is January. And...that has absolutely nothing to do with anything! I can't even contact that one guy I kinda-sorta know (he's a friend of a relative of mine) for a live video chat! G-D WHY DO I HAVE TO SUBJECT MYSELF TO SUCH TORTURE?!
Happy birthday to me!
Hey guys kanna here. Welcome to the first Anime Monday of 2017! I would have put this up sooner, but I had no computer access, because I was out of town and couldn't take my laptop with me. If they still had the Blogger app for iPad, I would have used that, but they don't. Oy vey...
Anyway, I'm out of words. I mean...the last half of UtaPri was just explosive. I had no idea what to expect. I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't anything to brag about, the plot was...poorly executed, for lack of better phrasing, and do we need to COUNT the number of innuendos?
Look, UtaPri has good music. It hadn't let me down...until this season. The genres of songs weren't what their characters would usually sing (don't get me started on Ren's song...that was probably the worst one of this season), which can sometimes be a good thing. It's good to have singers try different genres of music every now and then. But...these changes have to make sense. I can't imagine Ren singing a song where his precious sax isn't the featured instrument, I can't imagine Otoya singing a song about stuff that isn't all sunshine and happiness, and I can't imagine QUARTET NIGHT singing a pop song about their bond. None. Of. It. FITS!
The three songs where it kind of works (in terms of the duet projects) are Mighty Aura (Tokiya and Eiiji), JUSTICE IMPULSE (Syo and Yamato), and LASTING ONENESS (Masato and Kira). Although that could be because the singers stuck to the genres they were good at and good for their characters.
Aside from that one song that QUARTET NIGHT did in the second episode of the season (it wasn't good enough for me to remember the name), QUARTET NIGHT did NOT disappoint. The song they sang at the Triple S Decisive concert, G-d's S.T.A.R, was AMAZING, and probably my favorite song of the three that were performed at the concert. Then again, QUARTET NIGHT is my favorite group of the three (HEAVENS, STARISH, and QUARTET NIGHT), so my opinion is a little biased.
This season was primarily HEAVENS focused, unlike last season, which focused more on QUARTET NIGHT. We really got to know the members of HEAVENS, which was great...to an extent. I couldn't stand Van Kiryuin or Eiichi Otori. The other members were just ok, except for Kira, who is officially my favorite member of HEAVENS. Anyway, the members of HEAVENS (now that I can name them all), are Yamato Hyuuga, Eiiji Otori, Shion Amakusa, Van Kiryuin, Eiichi Otori, Nagi Mikado, and Kira Sumeragi.
Music-wise, there really wasn't anything to brag about. They didn't play the good music until towards the end of the season, which really sucked and probably lost a good amount of viewers. I feel the people who did the music for this season were riding the popularity train from the previous seasons, got lazy, and by the time they realized they were producing crap, it was too late, so they could only give us 5 good songs in the second half of the season.
That's right, five. I'm thankful it wasn't zero. Those songs were (in order of appearance): Lasting Oneness (Masato and Kira), NEXT DOOR (Otoya and Eiichi), G-d's S.T.A.R (QUARTET NIGHT), Immortal Inferno (HEAVENS), and WE ARE STARISH!! (STARISH).
The interesting thing about the last episode was that unlike the previous seasons, the song that was performed in the big performance thing wasn't the ending song. It was an entirely new song, which was WE ARE STARISH!!. Don't get me wrong, they still sang the ending song (in its entirety) after they sang WE ARE STARISH!!, but I thought it was interesting that they did that.
The animation...don't get me started. It was awful. A lot of the characters' movements look like CGI. Which isn't always a bad thing...it just has to look good. This did NOT look good.
Lastly (and this is a spoiler, so if you want to be spoiled, read ahead; otherwise, go watch it), the ending. Good freaking G-d, the ending. It was...predictable. Granted, we got some great music out of it, but it was still predictable. STARISH won the opportunity to be the opening artist at the Triple S concert. Let's be honest: we all saw that coming.
After the credits of the last episode, they advertised a live concert featuring the voice actors from all three groups. But that's not the worst part. No. There's nothing wrong with advertising a live concert, and I'm kind of looking forward to this one. If I was in Japan and got tickets, I'd probably be one of the many screaming fans in the audience.
The worst part is when they tease us with a new anime project. We have no idea what it is, no rumors or anything to go off of, nothing. I don't understand why. They don't even get all cocky with a "see you next season" or anything like that. It makes no sense. I mean, it's great that they're starting a new animation project. Just tell us what it is for Pete's sake!
So, rating of Legend Star: um...wow, this is really tough. 5/10 (until someone has a legitimate argument for a different rating)?
Why: The first half of the season (or series, if it's just one season) of any anime is (in my opinion) the most important. It gives viewers an idea of what kind of anime to expect, and with musical anime like UtaPri, it tells us what kind of music to look forward to.
The first half of the anime did NOT deliver at all. I have a feeling that Legend Star lost a lot of viewers because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't good, the writing was laughable at best, and do we even need to count the innuendos?
The second half of the anime, however, delivered where the first half didn't. We had great music, great character development, and little to no innuendos. The only part that was a little lackluster for me was the animation, but I'm willing to let that slide a little.
The opening wasn't that great, and it took me multiple listens to the ending for me to say, "Wow, I like this song." It wasn't great, but it was a decent song.
Well, those are my final thoughts on UtaPri: Maji LOVE Legend Star. Look forward to next Anime Monday, where I review...oh, dear G-d, no.
No, no, no. I'm not subjecting myself to torture again. I'll lose my sanity. There has to be something here on my list of anime I'm planning on reviewing. Hm...well, it is January. And...that has absolutely nothing to do with anything! I can't even contact that one guy I kinda-sorta know (he's a friend of a relative of mine) for a live video chat! G-D WHY DO I HAVE TO SUBJECT MYSELF TO SUCH TORTURE?!
Hey guys, kanna here. This one is going to be relatively short. Final exams are coming up soon, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get more Anime Mondays out before my final exams. I'll do my best, but I make no promises.
Let's talk about songs from musical anime. More specifically, my personal Top Ten from UtaPri.
First off, I'd like to start by saying that David Letterman makes this look so easy. Then again, he has a team of writers working for him who go out and survey people. Here at kanna's Cafe, it's all me. I have no one to talk to or bounce things off of. It's not like I can go to someone and say, "Hey, what do you think of this?" and they'll say, "Oh, I think...". No, it's all me. I don't mind, but these Top Ten lists are hard when you don't have anyone to talk to or survey for their opinions. Just saying.
This list is will have an honorable mentions section, and there are some songs that I like that won't be included in the list (just like my last Top Ten list).
Additionally, some of the song titles will be in Japanese. What I'll do is put the Japanese title with the English title in parentheses, as well as the name of the singer or group that sings each song.
Two last things: This list is also based off of what I could find on YouTube and DailyMotion. The songs that I couldn't find but wanted to include will be in the Honorable Mentions section. Lastly, if I couldn't find the full version of a song you wanted, just comment below, and I'll look for it on another site and post the link for the song.
Let's get started!
#10: 七色のコンパス (Seven-Colored Compass) - Maji LOVE 1000% - Tokiya Ichinose
This song is sung by Tokiya Ichinose in Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 1000%. If you want to go by voice actor names, Tokiya's voice actor is Mamoru Miyano. This song was featured in episodes 1 and 7.
Why #10: I LOVE Mamoru Miyano. I'm a huge fan of his. But this song...just isn't one of my favorites from this season of UtaPri. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great (nothing less from Mamoru Miyano). But I feel that this just doesn't measure up to the other songs in the first season of UtaPri.
Speaking of the first season of UtaPri...
#9: マジLOVE1000% (Maji Love 1000%) - Maji LOVE 1000% - STARISH
Note: I'm pretty sure Maji means "serious" or "real," but I'm not 1000% (tee hee...1000%...and it's the name of the series...okay, bad joke) sure.
This song is sung by all the members of STARISH from the first season of UtaPri. In other words, this version was sung without Cecil, who (spoiler) doesn't join STARISH until the second season of the anime. We have Natsuki Shinomiya (Kishou Taniyama), Tokiya Ichinose (Mamoru Miyano), Ren Jinguji (Junichi Suwabe), Otoya Ittoki (Takuma Terashima), Syo Kurusu (Hiro Shimono) and Masato Hijirikawa (Kenichi Suzumura). I would have included the Rainbow version, which has all seven members, but that one sounds pretty much the same. The only difference is that Cecil is the one who introduces the song. Yeah. He only gets ONE LINE in the entire song. I understand why, but they couldn't have adapted the lyrics? Really?
Why #9: I wanted to put this higher on the list. Really, I did. But when you compare this to the songs from the other seasons that came out, I just felt that this song wasn't as good as the others. Not only that, but I feel that the lyrics are a little...lazy? I mean, each character literally names their character song in this song in the second half. It's like the writers couldn't think of anything and said, "Hey, let's just have them name their character songs. It doesn't matter how it fits in; we'll make it work!".
#8: マジLOVEレボリューションズ (Maji LOVE Revolutions) - Maji LOVE Revolutions - STARISH
#5: Original Resonance - Maji LOVE Revolutions - Masato Hijirikawa and Tokiya Ichinose
Sorry for the lack of video, guys. Blame YouTube.
#3: HE★VENS GATE - Maji LOVE 2000% - HEAVENS (as a 3-member group)
As you probably guessed, this isn't the full song. And, as you probably guessed again, I couldn't have this list all be songs by the members of STARISH. This song is sung by HE★VENS before they became a seven member group.
Why #3: THIS SONG IS FREAKING EXPLOSIVE. I don't think I can stress that enough. It's a kinda-sorta-rock-ish song that just leaves you breathless by the end. The voice actors are perfect (again, who knew Daisuke Ono could sing?) and the lyrics have great meaning. This is better than the seven-member version (in my opinion). But there are two songs that top this one.
#2: ポワゾンKISS (Poison KISS) Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000% - Quartet Night
Let's talk about songs from musical anime. More specifically, my personal Top Ten from UtaPri.
First off, I'd like to start by saying that David Letterman makes this look so easy. Then again, he has a team of writers working for him who go out and survey people. Here at kanna's Cafe, it's all me. I have no one to talk to or bounce things off of. It's not like I can go to someone and say, "Hey, what do you think of this?" and they'll say, "Oh, I think...". No, it's all me. I don't mind, but these Top Ten lists are hard when you don't have anyone to talk to or survey for their opinions. Just saying.
This list is will have an honorable mentions section, and there are some songs that I like that won't be included in the list (just like my last Top Ten list).
Additionally, some of the song titles will be in Japanese. What I'll do is put the Japanese title with the English title in parentheses, as well as the name of the singer or group that sings each song.
Two last things: This list is also based off of what I could find on YouTube and DailyMotion. The songs that I couldn't find but wanted to include will be in the Honorable Mentions section. Lastly, if I couldn't find the full version of a song you wanted, just comment below, and I'll look for it on another site and post the link for the song.
Let's get started!
#10: 七色のコンパス (Seven-Colored Compass) - Maji LOVE 1000% - Tokiya Ichinose
Why #10: I LOVE Mamoru Miyano. I'm a huge fan of his. But this song...just isn't one of my favorites from this season of UtaPri. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great (nothing less from Mamoru Miyano). But I feel that this just doesn't measure up to the other songs in the first season of UtaPri.
Speaking of the first season of UtaPri...
#9: マジLOVE1000% (Maji Love 1000%) - Maji LOVE 1000% - STARISH
Note: I'm pretty sure Maji means "serious" or "real," but I'm not 1000% (tee hee...1000%...and it's the name of the series...okay, bad joke) sure.
This song is sung by all the members of STARISH from the first season of UtaPri. In other words, this version was sung without Cecil, who (spoiler) doesn't join STARISH until the second season of the anime. We have Natsuki Shinomiya (Kishou Taniyama), Tokiya Ichinose (Mamoru Miyano), Ren Jinguji (Junichi Suwabe), Otoya Ittoki (Takuma Terashima), Syo Kurusu (Hiro Shimono) and Masato Hijirikawa (Kenichi Suzumura). I would have included the Rainbow version, which has all seven members, but that one sounds pretty much the same. The only difference is that Cecil is the one who introduces the song. Yeah. He only gets ONE LINE in the entire song. I understand why, but they couldn't have adapted the lyrics? Really?
Why #9: I wanted to put this higher on the list. Really, I did. But when you compare this to the songs from the other seasons that came out, I just felt that this song wasn't as good as the others. Not only that, but I feel that the lyrics are a little...lazy? I mean, each character literally names their character song in this song in the second half. It's like the writers couldn't think of anything and said, "Hey, let's just have them name their character songs. It doesn't matter how it fits in; we'll make it work!".
#8: マジLOVEレボリューションズ (Maji LOVE Revolutions) - Maji LOVE Revolutions - STARISH
This song, unlike "Maji Love 1000%" is sung by all the members of STARISH, plus Cecil, who joined STARISH in Maji Love 2000%. So our seven member group is finally complete. Cecil is voiced by Kosuke Toriumi.
Why #8: This song is actually pretty catchy, but they say "revolution" so many times, it makes you start thinking of that Beatles song, "Revolution." It's a good follow up to "Maji Love 2000%," which wasn't as catchy (actually, now that I think about it, "Maji Love 2000%" wasn't catchy at all). And as much as I want to put this higher on the list, the character songs from this season, as well as the other seasons, are better.
#7: 愛のREINCARNATION (Reincarnation of Love) - Maji LOVE 2000% - Cecil Aijima
Why #6: This is a kinda-sorta ballad. I think. I'm not sure what genre of music it falls under, so I'm going with ballad. This song was better than Tokiya's other song, "Seven-Colored Compass," in my opinion. Mamoru Miyano has a great voice, and I feel like it was being underused in "Seven-Colored Compass." However, Tokiya has other songs where he really shines. In fact, the other song where he really gets to show his stuff is #5 on this list.
#7: 愛のREINCARNATION (Reincarnation of Love) - Maji LOVE 2000% - Cecil Aijima
First off, I'd like to point out that this IS NOT the full song. However, it might as well be, because we barely hear the beginning part. Seriously, the beginning part is super faint...anyway, this song is sung by Cecil before he became a member of STARISH. I wouldn't call it his character song (that's a different song that may or may not be on this list, we'll see), though.
Why #7: I'm...not that big of a fan of ballads. Some I like, some I don't. I'm pretty picky about it. But this ballad somehow found its way into my heart on the first listen. I can't explain it. Maybe it was the meaning of the lyrics, maybe it was Kosuke Toriumi's voice (I still don't get how he could sound so good on this song and so bad on "Mr. Sadistic Night"), I don't know. However, there are better ballads in the series, and that's why this gets the #7 spot.
#6: Crystal Time - Maji LOVE 2000% - Tokiya Ichinose
#5: Original Resonance - Maji LOVE Revolutions - Masato Hijirikawa and Tokiya Ichinose
Sorry for the lack of video, guys. Blame YouTube.
This song was part of a cross-unit project that paired up Masato and Tokiya in Maji LOVE Revolutions.
Why #5: This is where Tokiya really gets to show his stuff. Mamoru Miyano and Kenichi Suzumura (Masato's voice actor), really shine together here. Their voices match up and they sound amazing together. Masato's songs are great, and while this isn't individually sung by him, it is one of my favorite songs from the series that has Masato in it.
And speaking of Masato...
#4: Lasting Oneness - Maji LOVE Legend Star - Masato Hijirikawa and Kira Sumeragi
This song was sung as part of the duet project that STARISH and HEAVENS had to take part in. It was one of the few songs from this season that I actually liked.
Why #4: Again, Kenichi Suzumura's voice matches up perfectly well with Daisuke Ono (Kira Sumeragi's voice actor). And if you recognize Daisuke Ono's name, you might be just as shocked as I was to find out that he was also the voice of Sebastian in Black Butler. Who knew he could sing? I sure didn't. Anyway, I feel that out of all the members of STARISH, Kenichi Suzumura's voice is the most versatile. He can sing almost anything. However, this is #4, because Revolutions, 2000%, and 1000% have better songs. Like I said, this was one of the few songs from this season that I actually liked (so far...the other episodes haven't aired yet).
#3: HE★VENS GATE - Maji LOVE 2000% - HEAVENS (as a 3-member group)
Why #3: THIS SONG IS FREAKING EXPLOSIVE. I don't think I can stress that enough. It's a kinda-sorta-rock-ish song that just leaves you breathless by the end. The voice actors are perfect (again, who knew Daisuke Ono could sing?) and the lyrics have great meaning. This is better than the seven-member version (in my opinion). But there are two songs that top this one.
#2: ポワゾンKISS (Poison KISS) Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000% - Quartet Night
Poison KISS (not the full version)
Why #2: It wouldn't feel right having this be all STARISH and HEAVENS. Quartet Night is my favorite group out of the three of them (STARISH, HEAVENS, Quartet Night). This song is actually our introduction to Quartet Night, and they sing it in the first episode of 2000%. The members of Quartet Night are Reiji Kotobuki (Morikubo Showtaro), Ai Mikaze (Aoi Shouta), Ranmaru Kurosaki (Tatsuhisa Suzuki), and Camus (Tomoaki Maeno). As far as introduction songs go, this one is probably my favorite.
Before we get to our #1 song, let's take a look at the honorable mentions. Please note I wasn't able to get the full versions for all the songs. Also note that the ones that have subtitles are subtitled in languages that aren't English. The important thing here is to listen to the songs and enjoy them.
- Orange Rhapsody - Maji LOVE 2000% - Ren Jinguji
- Knocking on the Mind - Maji LOVE 1000% - Masato Hijirikawa
- 夢追人へのSymphony (Dreamer's Symphony) - Maji LOVE 2000% - STARISH (7 members)
- 未来地図 (Map of the Future) - Maji LOVE 1000% - STARISH (6 members)
- マジLOVE1000% -RAINBOW STAR ver.- (Maji LOVE 1000% -RAINBOW STAR ver.) - STARISH (7 members)
- 男気全開Go! Fight!! (Full-Throttle Chivalrous Spirit Go! Fight!!) - Maji LOVE 1000% - Syo Kurusu
- 星のファンタジア (Fantasia of the Stars) - Maji LOVE 2000% - Cecil Aijima
- Only One - Maji LOVE Revolutions - Ranmaru Kurosaki
- Heavens Gate -Beginning of the Legend- - Maji LOVE Revolutions - HEAVENS (7 members)
- Smile Magic - Maji LOVE 2000% - Otoya Ittoki
And the #1 song from UtaPri is...
What, no drum roll? Seriously, guys? Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself? Fine. No drum roll. The #1 song from UtaPri is...
I would like to apologize once again for the lack of video. Blame YouTube.
Why #1: First off, I may or may not have a HUGE celebrity crush on the guy who sings this song, Shouta Aoi. Looks aside, his voice is AMAZING. As for the song itself, it grabs you right away from the beginning, and Shouta's voice keeps you hooked. The meaning behind the lyrics is great, too, and I feel like this is one of those songs that only Shouta could sing. I don't think any of the other voice actors from UtaPri could pull this off. Maybe Kenichi Suzumura, considering how versatile his voice is, but that's about it.
My favorite line in the song is "翼が欲しかった 冷たいハートじゃなくそんなボクへと 君は羽根(うた)を…" which roughly means "I’d wished for wings, not a frozen heart You gave feathers of song to someone like me…". But that's not even the best part of the song. The chorus is FANTASTIC and Shouta's voice really shines at the end when he sings, "「ありがとう、傍にいてくれて…」," which means "Thank you for being by my side." I mean, that high note just...I can't even put it into words. It really allows Shouta's voice to shine, because his high notes are what he's known for (among other aspects of his voice).
Well, those are my top ten songs from all four seasons of UtaPri. If I didn't mention your favorite, I'm sorry. I'm curious as to what your favorite songs from all four seasons of UtaPri are, however, so leave a comment telling me what some of them are!
As for which season has the best music...well...that's up for debate. Personally, I think it's a tie between Maji LOVE 1000% and Maji LOVE Revolutions. Guys who don't want to watch this anime but are curious about the music: listen to these songs. I think you'll really like "Only One" and "男気全開Go! Fight!!". Like I said in my reviews of Maji LOVE 1000% and Maji LOVE 2000%, guys should at least check out the music.
EDIT 12/19/16: Now that the twelfth episode of UtaPri: Maji LOVE Legend Star has aired, I would like to add two more songs to the honorable mentions list. They are:
