Newest Post
Hey guys, kanna here. I know I promised Wolf Children this week, and rest assured, that is coming for the next Anime Monday. However, with me moving into my dorm in just under a week (the time just flies by, doesn't it?), I wanted to get a quick Anime Monday out. So, without further ado...
Yeah, those of you Pokemon fans out there had to know this was coming. It wouldn't be a complete list without it. This is, by far, my absolute favorite insert song (could change over time, but it hasn't yet). It's a beautiful song, the orchestra fits in great, and the ocarina by itself is just wonderful. Just when you think an orchestra wouldn't fit in, it does.
This version of the song is actually BETTER than the original Japanese version. Don't get me wrong, they both sound great. This one just sounds...sadder, but more hopeful at the same time. It's beautiful, perfect, and sets the tone for the end of the movie. A quote from the movie is, "The Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, but alone its song shall fail," and this definitely sets the mood.
I still get emotional when I hear this song, because Pokemon 2000 is my favorite Pokemon movie, because how much this reminds me of my childhood, and because it's just such a beautiful piece of music that only a genius could compose. If only I knew who this composing genius was...
Anyway, that's my Top Ten Anime Openings, Endings, Inserts, and Background Music! What are some of your favorite openings, endings, inserts, and background music? Leave them in the comments, and get ready for Anime Monday #24: Wolf Children! Bye for now! ~k
kanna's
TOP TEN
ANIME OPENINGS
ENDINGS
INSERTS
AND
BACKGROUND MUSIC
(could that title BE any bigger? hahaha...*ahem*)
My first Top Ten list! Yay! If this is well-received, I may do other Top Ten lists in the future. I'm open to requests, but this has to be well-received if you want other Top Ten lists.
My first Top Ten list! Yay! If this is well-received, I may do other Top Ten lists in the future. I'm open to requests, but this has to be well-received if you want other Top Ten lists.
This list WILL include the following:
- stuff from English dubs and stuff from the original Japanese
- stuff from anime I either haven't reviewed (yet) or won't review (ever)
- stuff from anime I may have given a bad rating but liked the music
- an honorable mentions section
This list WILL NOT include the following:
An insert song is basically a song within the body of the anime that is given more attention than the background music. You hear it in one or two episodes (usually one, sometimes two, three on a rare occasion), and pretty often throughout a movie. I'll point it out to you when we get to one.
Note: Please keep in mind that this is in order of my personal opinion. I have NOT taken a general census to determine what everyone's favorite anime openings, endings, inserts, and background music are (as of right now, I think my audience is too small for that).
Note 2: This list is noninclusive. Meaning that some of my favorites may not be listed here, but they are still my favorites.
With that said, let's get started!
- stuff from anime about music (i.e. UtaPri, Hibike! Euphonium, K-On!, AKB0048, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Love Live!, La Corda d'Oro, etc.)
- Why: This post would be waaaaaaay too long if I did that and it would consist ENTIRELY of songs from those anime. I might save that for another post. We'll have to wait and see.
- stuff by Joe Hisaishi
- Why: As awesome as Joe Hisaishi's music is (if you don't know who he is, he composed the music for almost all - if not all - of Hayao Miyazaki's movies), I feel I can't give a review of his music justice. I'd be totally and completely biased and list all of his stuff, making this post too long (again).
- my opinion of the animation sequence that goes with the song
- Why: While the animation sequences may or may not be nice, this review is about music, not the animation sequences that go with it.
An insert song is basically a song within the body of the anime that is given more attention than the background music. You hear it in one or two episodes (usually one, sometimes two, three on a rare occasion), and pretty often throughout a movie. I'll point it out to you when we get to one.
Note: Please keep in mind that this is in order of my personal opinion. I have NOT taken a general census to determine what everyone's favorite anime openings, endings, inserts, and background music are (as of right now, I think my audience is too small for that).
Note 2: This list is noninclusive. Meaning that some of my favorites may not be listed here, but they are still my favorites.
With that said, let's get started!
#10: Sailor Moon - English opening (no idea what the title is, but I think it's "She's the One Named Sailor Moon")
For most girls born in the 90s (not all, but most) who started watching anime in either the mid to late 90s or early 2000s, one of the first female-oriented anime we saw was Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, Revolutionary Girl Utena, or others that I might not have mentioned.
However, if you're a girl who lived in an English speaking country (or if you're a boy and you had a younger sister, who, at the time, forced you to watch Sailor Moon with her), and one of the first anime you saw was Sailor Moon, chances are they played this opening before every episode. And by G-d, was it catchy. Young girls (myself included) could often be heard singing this song at school, on the playground, at home...pretty much wherever. It got stuck in a lot of people's heads, and every week, most young girls would turn on the TV just to hear this song. It was pretty empowering and definitely set the tone for the anime.
Why #10: As catchy as this theme is, I feel that it doesn't hold up anymore. With the release of Sailor Moon Crystal, even though they use this theme as the opening for the English dub, I just feel that it's out of place. What I'm trying to say: what may have worked in the 90s doesn't really work now.
#9: Dragonball Z Movie 13: Wrath of the Dragon - Tapion's Theme (insert song) (it probably has a title, I just don't know what it is)
Let's take another trip down memory lane to the mid-2000s (or 1996, when the movie was released in Japan, if anyone who lived in Japan at the time is reading this). Dragonball Z: Wrath of the Dragon is one of my favorite movies out of the Dragonball Z movies that I've seen (I haven't seen all of them. One of these days, I'll have a Dragonball Z movie marathon - assuming I can find all of the movies online). While I won't go into a full on review of the movie (this post is about music from anime, not anime itself), I will talk about this insert song.
This song was played a number of times throughout the movie, and while there is a version that is sung, I prefer the instrumental and find the vocals too distracting. This song had a haunting melody that really seemed to fit Tapion's character in the movie, as well as the movie itself. It was a melody filled with mystery, suspense, and so much more. It's actually only somewhere between a few seconds to a minute long, but that amount of time is just enough to show that Tapion means business when he's fighting.
Unfortunately, this song wasn't featured in the English dub of the movie. Some guy played a different song (he actually learned ocarina for the movie), and they went with that instead. You can find English dubbed versions with this song edited in, but they're pitched due to copyright issues (or something). Additionally, you can find tons of covers of it on YouTube played on ocarina, recorder, piano, you name it. Personally, I prefer the piano covers (particularly this one: Tapion's theme - piano). I can actually play the right hand part on the piano, but I never learned the left hand part.
Why #9: As much as I could go on and on about how amazing this insert song is that's only somewhere between a few seconds and a minute (seriously, I could), I feel like most people have forgotten about this song. While I haven't forgotten about it (although that's probably because I've seen this movie at least ten times), the most recent comments on a lot of the videos I found were from a number of years ago. If you asked someone about Dragonball Z: Wrath of the Dragon today, chances are you wouldn't be able to find a lot of people who remember the song or the movie (I could be wrong about that, you never know).
#8: Fullmetal Alchemist - "Brothers/Bratja" (insert song) (please note that the second title is in Russian, which is a language I don't know and can't type in, so I typed the transliteration)
English version - "Brothers"
Russian version - "Bratja"
Ah, Fullmetal Alchemist. Where do I begin with you? Well, for starters, let's talk about the English version of the song. The English version is sung by legendary voice actor, Vic Mignogna (who's going to be at my local anime convention this year, yay!), and is probably one of my favorite insert songs from an English dub. It really sets the tone and not only talks about the general plot of the anime, but also shows how one brother is trying to ask for forgiveness from the other (if you want to know what for, watch the anime). It's really emotional and Vic Mignogna was truly the right person to sing the English version of the song. I don't think I could imagine the English version being sung by anyone else.
Now for the Russian version, "Bratja." This version is sung by Anastasia and Veronika Golovina. Keep in mind that I know next to zero Russian, so my opinion on this version is pretty limited. The two women have wonderful voices, and I think I actually like the Russian version more than I like the English version, even though the English version is sung by Vic Mignogna (who I'm a pretty big fan of). I just feel that the Russian version lends itself to the anime more and the way it's sung makes it sound more sad. Now, I don't know what exactly they're saying, because I don't know Russian, but I know I can safely say that both versions are great.
Why #8: To be honest, my reasons for putting this as #8 are pretty hard to explain. I'd have to compare and contrast the two versions, which I just did (sort of). I guess, if anything, I think this is more suited as an ending rather than an insert song.
#7: Zatch Bell - "Zatch Bell! Theme" (opening)
Only thirty seconds of pure awesomeness is all that's needed to give this seriously underrated anime the entrance it deserves. But, then I'd have to include all three of the Japanese openings, not to mention the endings, and you want me to have some variety and get to #1 sooner rather than later, right? -sigh-
This opening may only be thirty seconds, but it is pure awesomeness. It stuck around for all the episodes of the English dub (all 104 of them), despite the change in the animation sequence as it went from season to season. Sure, the lyrics seem a little Pokemon-esque, but it's pretty catchy and this song let you know who had the power in Zatch Bell.
Why #7: This song is ONLY 30 SECONDS LONG! I kinda wanted a little bit more. I mean, most anime openings are anywhere from a minute to two minutes, and sometimes a little over that (and those are only the ones that are TV-length). THIS IS JUST 30 SECONDS. The writers had to have more to say than just, "You know who's got the power." I mean, this is one of the cases where I actually prefer the Japanese openings over this one. Because the songwriters for those openings had a lot more to say.
#6: Tsubasa Chronicle - "You Are My Love" (insert song)
You didn't think I could have a music list and NOT include a song by the legendary anime composer, Yuki Kajiura, did you? If I didn't include her, this would be a pretty boring list.
This song is so beautiful, but so sad at the same time. It sets the tone for the characters and their struggles. We can see through this that our protagonist is trying hard to recover her memories of her loved ones and how much she misses them. It's beautiful perfection sung by Yui Makino and composed by Yuki Kajiura.
Why #6: This is a good song, it really is. However, as beautiful and sad as it is, it didn't really tug at my heartstrings like other songs from other anime. We'll get to those later.
Now we're really getting down to some of my top favorites, because here comes the top five!
#5: Naruto - "Sadness and Sorrow" (background music)
Dear freaking G-d, this has to be one of my favorite pieces of music from Naruto. While I can't necessarily call myself a fan of the anime, I love the music that goes with it, and this song is no exception. It's so beautiful and sad, it literally tugs at your heartstrings and gets you all emotional.
I love the use of the traditional Japanese instruments in this song. While I can't name every instrument that was used (I took a class on Asian music, so I should know this stuff, and I'm really angry with myself that I can't identify everything). It really gives it a unique, traditional spin.
We're shown how ninja funerals (yeah...we first hear this song during a funeral. I probably should have mentioned that...) work and we can connect with the characters' emotions through this song. This is a song that, when covered, sounds good on almost any instrument. Take my friend's video, for example, where he covers the song on a Chinese flute:
Why #5: Don't get me wrong, this song is great. However, Naruto has better songs, and this one just seems to go on for too long. They could trim it down to about two minutes, maybe three or four, tops. But seven minutes? Just for one background song? I don't get it. I mean, maybe that's how long the scene was? I honestly don't remember.
#4: Naruto - "The Raising Fighting Spirit" (background music)
Again, can't call myself a fan of the anime, but if they could just shut off all the voices and have the soundtrack play, then I could call myself a fan of the anime. This song plays during most fight scenes, and it's freaking awesome.
The use of traditional Japanese instruments is what gives this song its own unique style and allows it to sound different from other fight-themed songs in most anime. When you hear this song, it's empowering. If you hear this song and you're down about something, you want to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start over again. I think this is the ultimate motivational music.
Why #4: This song is better than "Sadness and Sorrow," for one (not to mention less depressing), but I feel that it's not as good as other songs from Naruto, such as "Naruto Main Theme." Sure, it gets you pumped up, and that's great, but like I said, it's not as good as some of the other songs from Naruto.
#3: Inuyasha - "Inuyasha Main Battle Theme" (background music)
Inuyasha was what launched me into the world of anime (well...that's if you don't count Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, etc., which I don't, because when I was little and watched those shows, I had no idea what anime was). I had to include SOMETHING from it on this list. It just wouldn't feel right if I didn't.
Sure, the openings and endings are great (most of them are; others, not so much), but what really got me addicted to this anime was the soundtrack. And as we all know, I am a sucker for a good soundtrack. This song really made you wonder what it meant to just give up, and it made you want to keep going ahead strong.
I love the flute solo towards the end of the song, and think it really adds something to the song as a whole. Kaoru Wada (the guy who composed the music for Inuyasha) is a genius, and I wish he got more recognition.
Why #3: While this is a FANTASTIC song, I can't help but feel it's not good enough to be #2 or #1. I can't really explain my reasons.
#2: Attack on Titan - "Crimson Bow and Arrow" (opening 1)
Yeah, you knew this was going to be on the list even before you read it. Why? Because this is the best music from all of Attack on Titan (okay, I will admit that the other opening is good and the songs from the anime movies are good, too).
It's so cool how they mix German and Japanese together into the song, especially because German isn't even the lead singer's first language. I don't speak German (I know a few words here and there, but not enough to form coherent sentences), so I don't know what they're saying in the middle part of the song that's ENTIRELY in German. I looked at the English translation for the first part of the song, though, and it definitely sets the tone for the anime. It's unique in that it's not the type of music that can be played over anything else.
Why #2: It would have been too obvious if this was #1, and you guys know it. It's good, and Linked Horizon (the group who did the music for Attack on Titan) is AMAZING. This is a great song to get you pumped for whatever is about to happen next. But this song isn't good enough to be #1.
And now for a few honorable mentions before we get to #1. I'm only going to post these as bullet points to keep this looking somewhat concise. The links will be there; feel free to click on them.
- Clannad - "Dango Daikazoku" (insert song)
- Clannad After Story - "Small Palms" (insert song)
- Pokemon - "Pokemon Theme" (opening 1), "XY&Z" (opening...who the heck is even counting anymore? Anyway, it's the third opening from the XY series from the original Japanese)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! - "Yu-Gi-Oh Theme" (English opening), "Warriors" (Japanese opening 4)
- Inuyasha - "Dearest" (violin ver.) (ending 3)
- Here's the real version (I just think the violin version is better, but Ayumi Hamasaki -- the singer of the original version -- has a wonderful voice and the original version is good, too)
- Diabolik Lovers - "Mr. Sadistic Night" (opening 1)
- OK, before you all think I'm 100% bonkers for putting this as an honorable mention, be thankful I didn't put it as #1. YES, this anime sucks (teehee, sucks...and it's about vampires...get it? OK, bad joke). YES, the anime is worse than Twilight. HOWEVER, this song is the ONE redeeming quality this anime has. It's dark and addictive. I'm actually listening to it while typing this bit. It's a rock song, which is even better for those of us who love rock (note that rock and metal are two separate genres). Hikaru Midorikawa and Kosuke Toriumi are great singers, and this song proves it. I was actually surprised when I found out that Kosuke Toriumi sang this. Why? Because before I saw Diabolik Lovers, I just finished the most recent season of UtaPri and was used to him singing ballad-y love songs. I get voice actors have a lot of different variety in their roles, but I was still surprised to hear him sing this and actually sound good. Overall, while the anime sucks, this song is still worth a listen.
And the #1 song is....what? No drum roll? Seriously, guys? Fine, I'll do it myself.
#1: Pokemon: The Movie 2000 - "Lugia's Song" (insert song)
Yeah, those of you Pokemon fans out there had to know this was coming. It wouldn't be a complete list without it. This is, by far, my absolute favorite insert song (could change over time, but it hasn't yet). It's a beautiful song, the orchestra fits in great, and the ocarina by itself is just wonderful. Just when you think an orchestra wouldn't fit in, it does.
This version of the song is actually BETTER than the original Japanese version. Don't get me wrong, they both sound great. This one just sounds...sadder, but more hopeful at the same time. It's beautiful, perfect, and sets the tone for the end of the movie. A quote from the movie is, "The Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, but alone its song shall fail," and this definitely sets the mood.
I still get emotional when I hear this song, because Pokemon 2000 is my favorite Pokemon movie, because how much this reminds me of my childhood, and because it's just such a beautiful piece of music that only a genius could compose. If only I knew who this composing genius was...
Anyway, that's my Top Ten Anime Openings, Endings, Inserts, and Background Music! What are some of your favorite openings, endings, inserts, and background music? Leave them in the comments, and get ready for Anime Monday #24: Wolf Children! Bye for now! ~k
Hey guys, kanna here. Because my writer's mind has decided to torture me and keep me in the realm of vampires (oh, joy), we're going to keep the theme going with...Vampire Knight.
You guys are lucky I still have my sanity after Diabolik Lovers. I could barely make it through the first season, let alone start the second. And if the rumors of making a third season are true, then I pray for EVERYONE'S sanity.
A bit of background.
Vampire Knight started out as a manga series by Matsuri Hino. You might recognize her from...actually, that's all you'll recognize her from. Vampire Knight is the manga that she's known for. She's done other work, but none of it is well-known. Kind of sucks for her, don't you think?
Anyway, aside from being known from only one manga, this manga was so popular that an anime adaptation was in the works thanks to Studio Deen, who produced some pretty popular anime, such as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Rurouni Kenshin. This anime had two seasons: Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight: Guilty. I'll get to which season was better later and why, but for now, let's talk about the plot of the first season.
The story is set at Cross Academy, a fictional school split up into two divisions: the Day Class and the Night Class. The twist: the Day Class consists entirely of humans, and the Night Class consists entirely of vampires.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "How is this possible?" Well, the headmaster, Kaien Cross, believes that humans and vampires can coexist without vampires feeding on humans. However, the Day Class doesn't know the secret of the Night Class, so the headmaster assigned two "guardians" to keep the secret at Cross Academy.
Our first "guardian" is Yuki Cross, Headmaster Cross's adopted daughter, and the overall protagonist of the anime. Yuki has no memories of her past. In fact, her earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter when she was attacked by a rogue vampire and then saved by Kaname Kuran (more on him later). She later became Headmaster Cross's adopted daughter and became friends with Kaname and eventually developed feelings for him.
Our second "guardian" is Zero Kiryuu, the lone survivor of a vampire attack that killed his entire family. Zero was taken in by Headmaster Cross after being bitten by a pureblood (more on that later) vampire, Shizuka Hio, who also killed his family. Due to the attack, Zero hated vampires and did not trust them. He believed they were all just blood-sucking monsters and did not share the belief that Headmaster Cross and Yuki shared of vampires and humans being able to coexist. He is a childhood friend/brother of Yuki's and it has been shown that he has feelings for her and often gets jealous when Kaname is around.
The first season basically shows the struggles that take place between vampires and humans coexisting, along with the struggle of keeping the Night Class's secret from the Day Class. We also learn a little bit more about vampires and the different "levels," and we get a lot of character development on Zero Kiryuu. It's kind of like a "day in the life of..." season, with a few twists and turns scattered throughout.
The second season shows Yuki trying to discover more about her past and why it was hidden from her. We get a lot of character development on Yuki's end, and learn something really shocking about her towards the end of the season. I'm doing my best to keep this review spoiler-free, but I will explain a few things.
Let's start with the different "levels" of vampires. There are five "levels" of vampires, which vary according to the purity of their blood.
The highest level, or level A, is the pureblood vampires, and there aren't many of them. They're the strongest and most powerful vampires out there, and their blood is known to have many different properties, so it is sought after by weaker vampires.
They have no human blood in their family line, so to reproduce, they often intermarry to reproduce. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that, for example, a brother will marry his sister so that they can keep the pureblood line pure, without a single trace of human blood. Disgusting, right? What sick mind would come up with this?
Additionally, a human bitten by a pureblood vampire will become a vampire.
Level B is the aristocrat vampires. They're the elite vampires with special abilities beyond normal vampires. They are also very powerful vampires, but are not as powerful as the purebloods, due to the small traces of human blood in their family lines. They also have super strength and speed.
Level C is just the commonplace vampires. They're not really that special and don't really make an appearance in the anime, so we're going to skip over them.
Levels D and E are the lowest levels. They are ex-humans who were bitten by pureblood vampires. While Level D vampires can be tamed by a vampire hunter, Level E stands for Level End, meaning that the end of that vampire's life is near and will be ended by the Hunter's Association.
We talked about Zero and Yuki already, so let's talk about Kaname. Kaname Kuran is a pureblood vampire, and as such, is in charge of the Night Class. He's the one who saved Yuki from the rogue vampire when she was young. He, too, has romantic feelings for Yuki.
So, rating: um...wow, this is tough. Let's just rate by season.
Vampire Knight: 8/10
Vampire Knight: Guilty: 5/10
Why (overall): This anime is actually pretty good, and the first season sets the second season up pretty well. The animation is great, as is the character development. There's comedy throughout thanks to Headmaster Cross, and the romance is actually somewhat believable. Keyword being somewhat. Why? Well, let's get back to what I said about pureblood vampires. It almost feels like their forcing the message of incest being okay (which it might be in some countries, I honestly don't know) down our throats.
As far as the characters go, this is basically the anime version of Twilight (minus the werewolves). Heck, this whole series is basically like this:
Yuki: Bella
Zero: Jacob (minus the werewolf bit)
Kaname: Edward
The only differences are that Yuki is a bigger dimwit than Bella (didn't think that was possible), Kaname is just a big abuser, and Zero isn't a werewolf.
What makes the series interesting is the different "levels" of vampires and the Vampire Hunters that are in the series. But that's all taken away from (and I'm going to spoil it here), the Team Kaname/Team Zero thing. Yuki chooses Team Kaname, decides to become a vampire, and we learn that not only is she a pureblood vampire, but she's Kaname's younger sister.
The music is probably the best part of the entire series. The openings for both seasons are sung by ON/OFF, and the endings for both seasons are sung by cellist and singer Kanon Wakeshima. The music videos for the songs are actually pretty cool to watch, too. I'd definitely check them out. The opening for Vampire Knight is "Two Beats and a Red Sin" (ふたつの鼓動と赤い罪), and the opening for Vampire Knight: Guilty is "Rinnie -Rondo-" (輪廻－ロンド－). The ending for Vampire Knight is "Still Doll," and the ending for Vampire Knight: Guilty is "Sand Castle" (砂のお城).
Well, that's my review of Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight: Guilty. I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to Anime Monday #23, which will be...I have no idea. I'm considering Akatsuki no Yona, among a couple others, but we shall see.
ALSO: I'm moving into my dorm in a couple of weeks, and that entails a lot of packing. So, naturally, I might have to go on a short hiatus. Sorry!!!
You guys are lucky I still have my sanity after Diabolik Lovers. I could barely make it through the first season, let alone start the second. And if the rumors of making a third season are true, then I pray for EVERYONE'S sanity.
A bit of background.
Vampire Knight started out as a manga series by Matsuri Hino. You might recognize her from...actually, that's all you'll recognize her from. Vampire Knight is the manga that she's known for. She's done other work, but none of it is well-known. Kind of sucks for her, don't you think?
Anyway, aside from being known from only one manga, this manga was so popular that an anime adaptation was in the works thanks to Studio Deen, who produced some pretty popular anime, such as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Rurouni Kenshin. This anime had two seasons: Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight: Guilty. I'll get to which season was better later and why, but for now, let's talk about the plot of the first season.
The story is set at Cross Academy, a fictional school split up into two divisions: the Day Class and the Night Class. The twist: the Day Class consists entirely of humans, and the Night Class consists entirely of vampires.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "How is this possible?" Well, the headmaster, Kaien Cross, believes that humans and vampires can coexist without vampires feeding on humans. However, the Day Class doesn't know the secret of the Night Class, so the headmaster assigned two "guardians" to keep the secret at Cross Academy.
Our first "guardian" is Yuki Cross, Headmaster Cross's adopted daughter, and the overall protagonist of the anime. Yuki has no memories of her past. In fact, her earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter when she was attacked by a rogue vampire and then saved by Kaname Kuran (more on him later). She later became Headmaster Cross's adopted daughter and became friends with Kaname and eventually developed feelings for him.
Our second "guardian" is Zero Kiryuu, the lone survivor of a vampire attack that killed his entire family. Zero was taken in by Headmaster Cross after being bitten by a pureblood (more on that later) vampire, Shizuka Hio, who also killed his family. Due to the attack, Zero hated vampires and did not trust them. He believed they were all just blood-sucking monsters and did not share the belief that Headmaster Cross and Yuki shared of vampires and humans being able to coexist. He is a childhood friend/brother of Yuki's and it has been shown that he has feelings for her and often gets jealous when Kaname is around.
The first season basically shows the struggles that take place between vampires and humans coexisting, along with the struggle of keeping the Night Class's secret from the Day Class. We also learn a little bit more about vampires and the different "levels," and we get a lot of character development on Zero Kiryuu. It's kind of like a "day in the life of..." season, with a few twists and turns scattered throughout.
The second season shows Yuki trying to discover more about her past and why it was hidden from her. We get a lot of character development on Yuki's end, and learn something really shocking about her towards the end of the season. I'm doing my best to keep this review spoiler-free, but I will explain a few things.
Let's start with the different "levels" of vampires. There are five "levels" of vampires, which vary according to the purity of their blood.
The highest level, or level A, is the pureblood vampires, and there aren't many of them. They're the strongest and most powerful vampires out there, and their blood is known to have many different properties, so it is sought after by weaker vampires.
They have no human blood in their family line, so to reproduce, they often intermarry to reproduce. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that, for example, a brother will marry his sister so that they can keep the pureblood line pure, without a single trace of human blood. Disgusting, right? What sick mind would come up with this?
Additionally, a human bitten by a pureblood vampire will become a vampire.
Level B is the aristocrat vampires. They're the elite vampires with special abilities beyond normal vampires. They are also very powerful vampires, but are not as powerful as the purebloods, due to the small traces of human blood in their family lines. They also have super strength and speed.
Level C is just the commonplace vampires. They're not really that special and don't really make an appearance in the anime, so we're going to skip over them.
Levels D and E are the lowest levels. They are ex-humans who were bitten by pureblood vampires. While Level D vampires can be tamed by a vampire hunter, Level E stands for Level End, meaning that the end of that vampire's life is near and will be ended by the Hunter's Association.
We talked about Zero and Yuki already, so let's talk about Kaname. Kaname Kuran is a pureblood vampire, and as such, is in charge of the Night Class. He's the one who saved Yuki from the rogue vampire when she was young. He, too, has romantic feelings for Yuki.
So, rating: um...wow, this is tough. Let's just rate by season.
Vampire Knight: 8/10
Vampire Knight: Guilty: 5/10
Why (overall): This anime is actually pretty good, and the first season sets the second season up pretty well. The animation is great, as is the character development. There's comedy throughout thanks to Headmaster Cross, and the romance is actually somewhat believable. Keyword being somewhat. Why? Well, let's get back to what I said about pureblood vampires. It almost feels like their forcing the message of incest being okay (which it might be in some countries, I honestly don't know) down our throats.
As far as the characters go, this is basically the anime version of Twilight (minus the werewolves). Heck, this whole series is basically like this:
Yuki: Bella
Zero: Jacob (minus the werewolf bit)
Kaname: Edward
The only differences are that Yuki is a bigger dimwit than Bella (didn't think that was possible), Kaname is just a big abuser, and Zero isn't a werewolf.
What makes the series interesting is the different "levels" of vampires and the Vampire Hunters that are in the series. But that's all taken away from (and I'm going to spoil it here), the Team Kaname/Team Zero thing. Yuki chooses Team Kaname, decides to become a vampire, and we learn that not only is she a pureblood vampire, but she's Kaname's younger sister.
The music is probably the best part of the entire series. The openings for both seasons are sung by ON/OFF, and the endings for both seasons are sung by cellist and singer Kanon Wakeshima. The music videos for the songs are actually pretty cool to watch, too. I'd definitely check them out. The opening for Vampire Knight is "Two Beats and a Red Sin" (ふたつの鼓動と赤い罪), and the opening for Vampire Knight: Guilty is "Rinnie -Rondo-" (輪廻－ロンド－). The ending for Vampire Knight is "Still Doll," and the ending for Vampire Knight: Guilty is "Sand Castle" (砂のお城).
Well, that's my review of Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight: Guilty. I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to Anime Monday #23, which will be...I have no idea. I'm considering Akatsuki no Yona, among a couple others, but we shall see.
ALSO: I'm moving into my dorm in a couple of weeks, and that entails a lot of packing. So, naturally, I might have to go on a short hiatus. Sorry!!!
Good G-d...I promised myself I wouldn't review this. I really promised myself. Heck, if I chose to break that promise, I would have saved it for Halloween. But no...not this...anything but this.
All right, looks like I don't have a choice.
Hey guys, kanna here. Can I just start by saying I am NOT looking forward to this review? I mean...we're looking at one of the anime that's worse than...I can't even say it now. No, I'll say it at the end. Alas, here we are. Anime Monday #21 -- Diabolik Lovers.
G-d, I'm glad that's over...while I go give my brain a rest, please leave your suggestions for Anime Monday #23! I have #22 already picked out (and I'm not looking forward to it), so please pick something good! I don't want to give bad review after bad review...
All right, looks like I don't have a choice.
Hey guys, kanna here. Can I just start by saying I am NOT looking forward to this review? I mean...we're looking at one of the anime that's worse than...I can't even say it now. No, I'll say it at the end. Alas, here we are. Anime Monday #21 -- Diabolik Lovers.
Now before you ask, let me answer the question that's probably on everyone's mind: why is Diabolik Lovers spelled the way it is? And the answer is...I have no idea.
Diabolik Lovers started out as a visual novel franchise by Rejet. It was first released for the PSP in October 2012. As of now, five games have been released, and the first two have been remastered for the PS Vita. Those were released as "limited V editions."
Apparently, the games were so popular that it got an anime adaptation. Two, actually: Diabolik Lovers and Diabolik Lovers, More Blood. The first series aired from September 16, 2013 to December 9, 2013, and the second series aired from September 23, 2015 to December 9, 2015. I've heard rumors about a third season, but as far as I know, nothing has been confirmed.
Now keep in mind I've only seen the first season. This anime was so...I can't even. Let's just get started.
The series revolves around a girl named Yui Komori, a nice 17-year-old girl whose father, a priest, owns his own church. Once her father travels overseas for work, she gets sent to a mansion to live with six mysterious brothers. The twist: they're all vampires.
The first episode of the anime reveals that Yui is actually adopted and she starts to investigate into her past amidst all the supernatural stuff going on and struggling to survive among six vampires who hunger for her blood.
Let's move on to characters. I'll talk briefly about Yui, and then move on to the brothers.
Yui Komori: The "heroine" of the series. Please note I'm using this term as loosely as humanly possible. I'll have a tangent on it later.
The vampire brothers all have the same father, Karlheinz, but they're from different mothers.
The oldest sons, Shu and Reiji, were born to Karlheinz's second wife, Beatrix. The triplets, Ayato, Kanato, and Laito, were born to Karlheinz's first wife, Cordelia.
The youngest son, Subaru, was from Karlheinz's third wife, Christa. Clearly, Karlheinz got around.
Even though they're all brothers, they don't really get along with each other and seem quite distant from each other. Their personalities are all basically the same...with a few tiny differences, so they're not worth their own paragraphs.
Now, rating: 1/10
Why: Dear G-d, where do I begin? Let's start with Yui. I have four words for you about her: BIGGEST MARY-SUE EVER.
Seriously, this girl is worse than BELLA SWAN, from Twilight. Heck, I think this series is actually WORSE than Twilight. And I never thought I'd say that. I honestly never thought that anyone could top Bella in Mary-Sue-ness, but congratulations, Yui, you win. She is the most helpless, whiny, annoying character I have ever seen. More than Bella. And that's saying a lot.
The animation isn't that great, each episode is only about fifteen minutes long, and they try to pack so much into each episode that it gets confusing. This series is just hard to follow, especially when the characters all have similar personalities.
The brothers are too similar to each other, with only a few teeny, tiny differentiating characteristics, but you still have difficulty trying to figure out which one is which. There's no humor, no plot twists, no...nothing.
The ONE redeeming quality about this series is the opening theme, "Mr. Sadistic Night," sung by Kosuke Toriumi (you might recognize him from his role as Cecil Aijima in UtaPri) and Hikaru Midorikawa (you might recognize him from his role as Softon in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo). It's pretty catchy, and while the meaning of the song is kind of dark (what else would you expect from a song called "Mr. Sadistic Night"?), it's still a pretty good song. I'm actually listening to it while I write this. It's kind of a heavy rock song, but I wouldn't necessarily call it metal. I definitely recommend giving it a listen.
So, if I was on a deserted island, and the only way to get off was watching all the Twilight movies or all the episodes of both seasons of Diabolik Lovers (or get eaten by flesh-eating piranhas), I'd have to say...Twilight. It's bad (understatement), but nowhere near as bad as Diabolik Lovers.
G-d, I'm glad that's over...while I go give my brain a rest, please leave your suggestions for Anime Monday #23! I have #22 already picked out (and I'm not looking forward to it), so please pick something good! I don't want to give bad review after bad review...
Hey guys, kanna here. Knowing me, you know I'm obsessed with three things: anime, Harry Potter, and, of course, all things X-Men. So, when I found out there was an X-Men anime that aired in 2011, and I had no idea it existed until now, I wanted to beat myself up for not knowing about it, before I said, "Let's give it a watch." So I did. And now, without further ado...
So...this is technically a part of an anime series known as Marvel Anime, which was a series of four anime series and two direct to video films that were produced in collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and the studio that brought us One-Punch Man, Madhouse.
Each series was twelve episodes long. They followed the stories of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade, and went in that order. Each of these series is a stand-alone, meaning that you don't have to have seen the previous series in order to watch the next one. Which is great, because I couldn't find episodes of Wolverine anywhere. And believe me, I tried.
Additionally, each of the series was guided by writer Warren Ellis, who set the majority of each series in Japan. Does this make it count as anime? We shall see, my friends. We shall see.
So our story opens up where the third X-Men movie ended, with the death of Jean Grey. The writers and animators did take a few creative liberties with it, such as having Emma Frost appear behind Jean Grey, and instead of Jean Grey being controlled by Phoenix, she's controlled by a group known as the Inner Circle. So Jean Grey dies and the X-Men, which now consists of Storm, Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Prof. X, all go their separate ways.
The X-Men are later reassembled by Professor X and are asked to travel to Japan following the abduction of a mutant named Hisako Ichiki. They rescue her and Emma Frost, who both join the X-Men, but are also confronted by the U-Men and members of the Inner Circle.
And...that's basically it.
So, score: um...X-Men, I hate to do this, believe me, I do, but...1/10.
Why: Well, it's relatively simple, really. This can't call itself an anime. It's a cartoon, at best. The animation isn't great, the music is meh at best, and the storyline just doesn't seem to carry itself well. I honestly don't understand how this is called an anime. Is it because it was made in Japan? I honestly have no idea.
Look, this did look promising. It was an "anime" (I'm using that term very, very loosely) that didn't have anything to adapt from, which gave the writers a lot of room for creativity. But there were too many points where you had to have read the comics in order to know who some of the characters were. The movies never referenced the Inner Circle, or Hisako Ichiki, for that matter. So unless you read the comics, you'll have no idea who those characters are going into this.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as they do explain who everyone is in the anime. But is it really fair to the viewer to have it be expected of them to have read or watched the source material first? Not really.
The characters don't really look like themselves, either. I mean, maybe I've seen the movies too many times (which is a possibility), but they really don't look like they should. For example, Beast looks like an overgrown bear, and sounds like one when he growls. It's not very...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, threatening. Heck, they should have changed his codename to Bear in this. Because that would have made more sense than Beast in this.
There is little to no humor in this series. Which is really, really sad. I mean, it's X-Men. We have Wolverine in this, for Pete's sake. The least we could get is a classic one-liner. The writing just seems...lazy, like the voice acting. At least, that's how it seemed in the English dub. I couldn't find the original Japanese.
Heck, the only characters in this who are even remotely interesting are Hisako Ichiki and Beast. Hisako Ichiki has a unique power (she creates this armor made out of psionic energy and can manipulate it as she wants), and Beast is...well, Beast. He's probably my favorite character in all of this, and that's saying a lot.
I was expecting so much out of this, being the big X-Men fan I am, so I felt like I was punched in the gut when I watched this show. I think any X-Men fan would feel the same way.
Despite all this, though...I really am hopeful that if they do a second season (which they probably won't) or a remake of this, it will be much better. But as of right now, those seem pretty unlikely.
Well, that's X-Men: The Animated Series. Sorry it was short, but when there isn't really much to talk about, there isn't really much to talk about.
Get ready for Anime Monday #21!
So...this is technically a part of an anime series known as Marvel Anime, which was a series of four anime series and two direct to video films that were produced in collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and the studio that brought us One-Punch Man, Madhouse.
Each series was twelve episodes long. They followed the stories of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade, and went in that order. Each of these series is a stand-alone, meaning that you don't have to have seen the previous series in order to watch the next one. Which is great, because I couldn't find episodes of Wolverine anywhere. And believe me, I tried.
Additionally, each of the series was guided by writer Warren Ellis, who set the majority of each series in Japan. Does this make it count as anime? We shall see, my friends. We shall see.
So our story opens up where the third X-Men movie ended, with the death of Jean Grey. The writers and animators did take a few creative liberties with it, such as having Emma Frost appear behind Jean Grey, and instead of Jean Grey being controlled by Phoenix, she's controlled by a group known as the Inner Circle. So Jean Grey dies and the X-Men, which now consists of Storm, Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Prof. X, all go their separate ways.
The X-Men are later reassembled by Professor X and are asked to travel to Japan following the abduction of a mutant named Hisako Ichiki. They rescue her and Emma Frost, who both join the X-Men, but are also confronted by the U-Men and members of the Inner Circle.
And...that's basically it.
So, score: um...X-Men, I hate to do this, believe me, I do, but...1/10.
Why: Well, it's relatively simple, really. This can't call itself an anime. It's a cartoon, at best. The animation isn't great, the music is meh at best, and the storyline just doesn't seem to carry itself well. I honestly don't understand how this is called an anime. Is it because it was made in Japan? I honestly have no idea.
Look, this did look promising. It was an "anime" (I'm using that term very, very loosely) that didn't have anything to adapt from, which gave the writers a lot of room for creativity. But there were too many points where you had to have read the comics in order to know who some of the characters were. The movies never referenced the Inner Circle, or Hisako Ichiki, for that matter. So unless you read the comics, you'll have no idea who those characters are going into this.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as they do explain who everyone is in the anime. But is it really fair to the viewer to have it be expected of them to have read or watched the source material first? Not really.
The characters don't really look like themselves, either. I mean, maybe I've seen the movies too many times (which is a possibility), but they really don't look like they should. For example, Beast looks like an overgrown bear, and sounds like one when he growls. It's not very...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, threatening. Heck, they should have changed his codename to Bear in this. Because that would have made more sense than Beast in this.
There is little to no humor in this series. Which is really, really sad. I mean, it's X-Men. We have Wolverine in this, for Pete's sake. The least we could get is a classic one-liner. The writing just seems...lazy, like the voice acting. At least, that's how it seemed in the English dub. I couldn't find the original Japanese.
Heck, the only characters in this who are even remotely interesting are Hisako Ichiki and Beast. Hisako Ichiki has a unique power (she creates this armor made out of psionic energy and can manipulate it as she wants), and Beast is...well, Beast. He's probably my favorite character in all of this, and that's saying a lot.
I was expecting so much out of this, being the big X-Men fan I am, so I felt like I was punched in the gut when I watched this show. I think any X-Men fan would feel the same way.
Despite all this, though...I really am hopeful that if they do a second season (which they probably won't) or a remake of this, it will be much better. But as of right now, those seem pretty unlikely.
Well, that's X-Men: The Animated Series. Sorry it was short, but when there isn't really much to talk about, there isn't really much to talk about.
Get ready for Anime Monday #21!
Hey guys, kanna here.
Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Where do I begin with two of THE MOST EMOTIONAL ANIME to hit the planet? Well, let's start with a poster
and then move on to development.
Clannad started out as a visual novel by Key, a developer who started out making adult visual novels such as Kanon and Air that were later censored, before moving on to a marketing demographic for all ages. It was released in Japan in 2004, and got a worldwide release for computers with a software called Steam in 2015.
The anime follows the plot of the game. Our story follows Tomoya Okazaki, a high school delinquent who is bored with his life. His mother died when he was young, and his father turned to drinking and gambling, which left Tomoya to fend for himself. The two had frequent fights, one of which involved Tomoya's father dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. The injury healed, but Tomoya couldn't lift his arm up high enough to play basketball. Since then, the two didn't fight anymore, but they treat each other as distant strangers.
The story really opens up at the beginning of the school year, when Tomoya meets Nagisa Furukawa, a quiet girl that loves dangos (is the spelling right? Is it dangoes? Anyway, they're Japanese dumplings that later became a collection of plushies known as the Great Dango Family). She is a year older than Tomoya, but is repeating a grade because she got really sick during the previous year. Nagisa wanted to join the drama club, but couldn't, because of her sickness. The club disbanded because all the other members graduated. So, she enlists the reluctant help of Tomoya, as well as his friend, Youhei Sunohara, with bringing the drama club back to the school.
Along the way, Tomoya meets twins Ryou and Kyou Fujibayashi, student body president Tomoyo Sakagami, top student Kotomi Ichinose, cook Yukine Miyazawa, and first year student Fuko Ibuki. He also starts to develop romantic feelings for Nagisa, which she later returns.
I could go into After Story, but I really don't want to spoil the anime for you. I know that doing this makes for a short review, but I'll make up for it next week with a longer one. Promise.
Anyway, rating...10 out of 10
Why: The characters are developed wonderfully, and the development is done in such a way that you feel a connection with the characters. You understand and empathize with what's going on in their lives, and you can relate to them. Sure, it seems like a typical anime where a guy hangs out with a ton of girls and eventually develops feelings for one of them, but it's so much more than that. You can feel bad for the characters when they encounter a problem, and happy for them when things start going right for them.
The animation is stellar. The character designs are great, and you can easily tell the characters apart from each other (even the twins). I spent a good part of the anime wishing I could style my hair like half of the female characters, but my hair was (and still is) too short.
The music is pretty good, too. While the openings for both Clannad and Clannad: After Story aren't exactly my favorites, the endings of Clannad and Clannad: After Story are incredible. Clannad's ending is "Great Dango Family" by Chata. After Story had two endings. The first one, "Two Shadows," wasn't a particular favorite of mine, but the second one, "Small Palms," is probably my favorite song...after "Great Dango Family." And as we all know, I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. This anime did not disappoint.
While I won't give anymore or anything away, I will say this much: have a tissue box ready when you watch this anime. You'll need it. Trust me.
Well, that's it for #19! Stay tuned for Anime Monday #20 where I review...I'M NOT TELLING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can be evil sometimes, can't I?
*silence*
OK, whatever. But I'm really not telling. ~k
Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Where do I begin with two of THE MOST EMOTIONAL ANIME to hit the planet? Well, let's start with a poster
Clannad started out as a visual novel by Key, a developer who started out making adult visual novels such as Kanon and Air that were later censored, before moving on to a marketing demographic for all ages. It was released in Japan in 2004, and got a worldwide release for computers with a software called Steam in 2015.
The anime follows the plot of the game. Our story follows Tomoya Okazaki, a high school delinquent who is bored with his life. His mother died when he was young, and his father turned to drinking and gambling, which left Tomoya to fend for himself. The two had frequent fights, one of which involved Tomoya's father dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. The injury healed, but Tomoya couldn't lift his arm up high enough to play basketball. Since then, the two didn't fight anymore, but they treat each other as distant strangers.
The story really opens up at the beginning of the school year, when Tomoya meets Nagisa Furukawa, a quiet girl that loves dangos (is the spelling right? Is it dangoes? Anyway, they're Japanese dumplings that later became a collection of plushies known as the Great Dango Family). She is a year older than Tomoya, but is repeating a grade because she got really sick during the previous year. Nagisa wanted to join the drama club, but couldn't, because of her sickness. The club disbanded because all the other members graduated. So, she enlists the reluctant help of Tomoya, as well as his friend, Youhei Sunohara, with bringing the drama club back to the school.
Along the way, Tomoya meets twins Ryou and Kyou Fujibayashi, student body president Tomoyo Sakagami, top student Kotomi Ichinose, cook Yukine Miyazawa, and first year student Fuko Ibuki. He also starts to develop romantic feelings for Nagisa, which she later returns.
I could go into After Story, but I really don't want to spoil the anime for you. I know that doing this makes for a short review, but I'll make up for it next week with a longer one. Promise.
Anyway, rating...10 out of 10
Why: The characters are developed wonderfully, and the development is done in such a way that you feel a connection with the characters. You understand and empathize with what's going on in their lives, and you can relate to them. Sure, it seems like a typical anime where a guy hangs out with a ton of girls and eventually develops feelings for one of them, but it's so much more than that. You can feel bad for the characters when they encounter a problem, and happy for them when things start going right for them.
The animation is stellar. The character designs are great, and you can easily tell the characters apart from each other (even the twins). I spent a good part of the anime wishing I could style my hair like half of the female characters, but my hair was (and still is) too short.
The music is pretty good, too. While the openings for both Clannad and Clannad: After Story aren't exactly my favorites, the endings of Clannad and Clannad: After Story are incredible. Clannad's ending is "Great Dango Family" by Chata. After Story had two endings. The first one, "Two Shadows," wasn't a particular favorite of mine, but the second one, "Small Palms," is probably my favorite song...after "Great Dango Family." And as we all know, I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. This anime did not disappoint.
While I won't give anymore or anything away, I will say this much: have a tissue box ready when you watch this anime. You'll need it. Trust me.
Well, that's it for #19! Stay tuned for Anime Monday #20 where I review...I'M NOT TELLING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can be evil sometimes, can't I?
*silence*
OK, whatever. But I'm really not telling. ~k
OK, take two.
Hey guys, kanna here. I would have had this up sooner if it wasn't for the fact that I accidentally hit something and deleted EVERYTHING from this post. Not to mention I'll be traveling for a bit and won't have time to write. -sigh- Well, to apologize for the influx of Yu-Gi-Oh posts, as well as my lack of posting thereof, we're here to talk about a rather...interesting anime called Gunslinger Girl.
Hey guys, kanna here. I would have had this up sooner if it wasn't for the fact that I accidentally hit something and deleted EVERYTHING from this post. Not to mention I'll be traveling for a bit and won't have time to write. -sigh- Well, to apologize for the influx of Yu-Gi-Oh posts, as well as my lack of posting thereof, we're here to talk about a rather...interesting anime called Gunslinger Girl.
Gunslinger Girl started out as a manga written and illustrated by Yu Aida. The manga premiered in the magazine Dengeki Daioh on May 21, 2002, and concluded in the September 2012 issue. The anime was adapted into two seasons, each containing 13 episodes, based on the first two volumes of the manga. And...well, that's about it for development. While the first season was just titled Gunslinger Girl, the second season was titled Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-, which had different character designs from the first season. There were two OVA and several video games.
Plot:
The story takes place in modern Italy and follows the Social Welfare Agency (or just the Agency), a charitable institution sponsored by the Italian government. So it seems. In reality, the Agency is a military organization that specializes in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism.
The Agency is split into two sections: Section 1, the public safety division, and Section 2, which is Special Ops, the anti-terrorist division. Gunslinger Girl focuses more on Section 2. Section 2 is the branch that employs young girls who have experienced traumatic and near-death experiences and fits them with cybernetic implants, turning them into operatives for the agency. The implants result in heightened strength and reflexes, as well as high resilience to damage and pain. Basically, the implants create the ultimate assassin in the form of a young girl.
Each girl is paired with an adult male handler. Together, the two are fratello (siblings). Each handler is responsible for the training, welfare, and field performance of his charge. They are also free to use whatever methods they deem suitable to train their charge. While each method varies, a common part of the girls' regimen is a brainwashing process known as "conditioning." This erases the memories of the traumatic events that were experienced and provides unquestioning loyalty to the handler, but when used excessively, limits the girls' lifespan.
Each girl has a preferred weapon that they like to use, but I won't talk about those, considering I know next to nothing about guns, rifles, and the like. So, let's talk characters.
Henrietta: Henrietta was left for dead after the brutal murder of her family, during which she herself was assaulted. Through conditioning, she forgot about these events, and is completely devoted to her handler, Jose Croce. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has feelings for her handler and gets jealous when she sees him looking at other women.
Rico: Rico was confined to a hospital bed due to severe birth defects. Her parents signed her over to the Agency on her eleventh birthday. She seems to be the only one of the cyborgs who remembers her past. She loves her new body and views every day as a blessing, maintaining a happy disposition. Her handler is Jean Croce, Jose's older brother. Jean is generally apathetic towards Rico and treats her harshly when she makes a mistake. However, Rico accepts this treatment without question.
Triela: Triela was originally from Tunisia. However, she was kidnapped and smuggled to Amsterdam by the Mafia, where she was assaulted during the taping of a snuff film. She was rescued by Victor Hilshire, who took her to the Agency to treat her injuries. However, she was turned into a cyborg without his knowledge. Her handler is Victor Hilshire. She has a pragmatic personality with just a hint of rebellion, and she likes to wear masculine clothing. She maintains a realistic outlook on the situation and serves as a sort of mentor to the other girls. Triela is the second-oldest of the cyborgs.
Claes and Raballo: I'm mentioning these two together, because they kind of go together for a reason. Claes was born as Fleda Claes Johansson and was the daughter of a professor who gave her a love for books at an early age. It is unknown how she arrived at the Agency. At first, her handler, Captain Raballo of the military police, was pretty detached from her, before he realized that he needed to redesign her training. He later took her fishing and on other activities outside the Agency. While they worked at the Agency, they were simply a handler and his cyborg. Outside the Agency, however, it felt more like a family.
However, several incidents led Raballo to question the cyborg program, so he eventually quit the Agency. He was later killed in a hit-and-run accident. Because Claes had bonded with Raballo, the Agency couldn't assign her another handler, she was re-conditioned to forget Raballo and was used as a test subject for the cyborg program to test things like strength and understand the bodies better.
Raballo re-kindled Claes's love of reading and taught her patience. Claes even wears her glasses, even though her eyesight is the best it can possibly be without them, because she promised Raballo she would be gentle while she wore them, which is reflected in Claes's subconscious.
Angelica: Angelica was originally born as Angelina. She was nearly killed in a hit-and-run staged by her father to collect a life insurance policy he had on her. At first, she remembered her family, but was later to conditioned to forget them. She was the first cyborg. Her handler is Marco Toni. At first, the two were quite close. He even made up a story for her called Il Principe del Regno della Pasta (The Prince of Pasta), about a prince who only ate pasta. However, the conditioning process changed her personality and effectiveness in the field, and her memories would become random. Marco later distanced himself from her.
Rating: It's hard to rate this anime as a whole, so I'll just rate both seasons.
Gunslinger Girl: 10/10
Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-: 9.5/10
Why: This I can explain for both seasons. The animation in season 1 was incredible, whereas the animation in season 2 could have been better. They redesigned all of the characters, and while some of the designs look good, others look...a little meh.
Not only that, but the storyline in season 2 revolved primarily around Triela, and while I understand why, I feel like they should have given attention to some of the other characters. Then again, Claes got an episode, and Angelica kind of got an episode, but the second season revolved mainly around Triela. I wanted to see more of Henrietta and Rico.
The music for the series (as a whole) was great. In season 1, the opening was "The Light Before We Land" by The Delgados, for both the English dub and the original Japanese, and the ending was "Dopo Il Sogno - Yume no ato ni," which means "after the dream." It's by Opus (I can't find anything on him/her/them, so...yeah). The second season's opening was "Tatta Hitotsu Omoi," which means "Only But One Wish" by Koika, and the ending was "doll" by Lia. The only episode that had a different ending was episode 8 of Il Teatrino, and its ending was "Scarborough Fair" (an old folk song, later covered by Simon & Garfunkel).
Well, that's Anime Monday #18! Stay tuned for Anime Monday #19 and get your tissues ready for it, because we're looking at Clannad and Clannad: After Story! Until next time! ~k
Hey guys, kanna here.
Well, we all knew this was inevitable. Given my love for the world of X-Men, it was only a matter of time before this review came out. I know it's not an Anime Monday, but whatever. I'm working hard on that one. For now:
We have most of our favorite X-Men returning for this movie: James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique, Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok, Evan Peters as Peter (Pietro) Maximoff/Quicksilver (yeah, Quicksilver is back!!!), Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert (ugh...) and Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast.
We also get a lot of new cast members to play young versions of the X-Men from the trilogy, such as Sophie Turner (who you may recognize as Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones) as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III/Angel/Archangel, Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, Olivia Munn as Psylocke and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm. Our villain, Apocalypse, is played by Oscar Isaac, who you might recognize as Po Dameron from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Additionally, we get the return of Josh Helman as William Stryker, as well as a few cameos and other additions I'm not going to mention, because if I did, you'd be sitting here and reading this getting bored.
So if you remember the post-credits scene of Days of Future Past, you should remember a bunch of people saying "En Sabah Nur," which is apparently insert-language-here for "the first one," as En Sabah Nur was believed to be the first ever mutant.
Speaking of, after a narration from who I believe to be Oscar Isaac (which isn't as good as any of Patrick Stewart's narrations, but given that those narrations are on a whole other level, it's...decent, at best), our movie opens up in ancient Egypt with a bunch of people chanting, "En Sabah Nur," who I will now be referring to as Apocalypse for the duration of this review.
So, since the beginning of civilization, Apocalypse ruled the world from ancient Egypt, as he was believed to be the first and most powerful mutant. However, during a ceremony where they were trying to transfer his consciousness into another body (we find out why later in the movie), some of his followers betray him, killing the proverbial Four Horsemen and entombing Apocalypse for thousands of years.
We then jump to 1983 in Ohio, where we see Scott Summers finally discovering his mutant ability of being able to fire plasma rays from his eyes (sound similar to someone you may know?). His brother, Alex Summers/Havok, takes him to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where we see James McAvoy proudly sporting a mullet haircut. And may I say it actually looks good on him? I mean, he already looked good, the mullet just made him...okay, I can't obsess over James McAvoy in this. I won't. Promise.
After that, we cut to Berlin of the same year, where we see Angel fighting another mutant, Blob. After defeating the other mutant, we then see a young Nightcrawler, a mutant who can teleport, get thrust into the cage to fight against Angel. Raven has somehow made it inside, and she turns the voltage of the electric cage up as high as it can go. After Nightcrawler manages to put Angel up against the cage, frying his wings, Raven helps him escape and eventually brings him to the institute.
We return to Egypt, where we meet a young Storm, who is saved from four men by Apocalypse, who decapitates three of them and literally melts the last guy into a wall. I couldn't make that up if I tried. Storm returns to her house with Apocalypse in tow, and Apocalypse uses the TV to "learn." He becomes disgusted with what the world has become and decides to recreate the world in his own image, with only the strongest mutants and himself ruling. To start such an endeavor, he starts recruiting his Four Horsemen. Storm's powers are increased and her hair is turned white as she is recruited to be his first Horseman, Famine.
Oh, I should probably clarify. The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse are Famine, War, Death, and Pestilence. Back to the review.
We return to the Institute, where Alex has brought Scott to visit the professor and meets young Jean Grey. Scott receives glasses so that he can see without releasing the beams from his eyes, and is enrolled in the institute.
We cut to Poland, where we see Erik Lensherr has gotten married and had a daughter named Nina. Nina is also a mutant, and her ability is to communicate with and influence animals. Erik has renamed himself Henryk Gorzky, and works at some kind of factory with metal. He hadn't used his powers at the factory, until an earthquake happened, which caused something big to fall on one of the workers, which he stopped to save the worker's life.
Unfortunately for Erik, this means that he, his wife, and his daughter, have to leave Poland, for fear of Erik being exposed as Magneto. However, he's too late, as the Polish authorities have come, without metal, and kidnapped Nina. Erik agrees to turn himself in, but Nina, who was too young to be able to control her mutant powers, unleashes a flock of birds on the authorities who threatened to take her father away. An arrow was accidentally fired, however, and this killed both Erik's wife and Nina. Erik kills the men, and then goes to the factory to kill the workers for alerting the authorities.
Seeing as the earthquake was an anomaly, Hank, Alex, and Charles all go to Cerebro to see what happened with it. Thanks to Cerebro, we are reunited with Moira MacTaggert (ugh...), who Charles still has feelings for (ugh...). Alex and Charles visit Moira, who explains how she was investigating Apocalypse throughout history and learned that he would give his Horsemen special powers to aid in destroying whatever they wanted.
We then meet our next recruit, Psylocke, who becomes Pestilence of the Four Horsemen. Shortly after that, we are introduced to Angel, who becomes Archangel after receiving metal wings from Apocalypse and becoming the third horseman, Death.
Our last horseman (War) shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's Erik.
So now, our heroes are up against a super dangerous foe capable of hacking into Cerebro (which he does, and manipulates a bunch of government people to send their nuclear missiles into the air), along with his new followers.
What do I give this: 3 out of 5.
Why: First off, as much as I liked this movie, it wasn't as good as Days of Future Past or First Class. I felt like the writers were just riding the popularity train from those two movies and just got lazy. Apocalypse didn't get a ton of character development. In the trailer, and even in the post-credits scene from Days of Future Past, he was built up as the ultimate villain; someone on a whole other level than Trask or Shaw or any of the other X-Men villains. Here...I don't really know how to explain it, but it feels like his character wasn't developed enough.
The acting is pretty good, but the fight scenes were a little hard to follow, and the plot itself felt a little...cliche.
I am a sucker for a good soundtrack, though, and I will say that this movie did have the better soundtrack. And the scene where they slowed everything down for Quicksilver was pretty awesome, too.
We also get an after credits scene that builds up to the third (and possibly final) Wolverine movie, as well as the upcoming Gambit movie. But with Singer possibly stepping away from the franchise to work on other things...well, I'm not getting my hopes up for those movies.
Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my review of X-Men: Apocalypse! Stay tuned for Anime Monday #18, where I review Gunslinger Girl! ~k
Well, we all knew this was inevitable. Given my love for the world of X-Men, it was only a matter of time before this review came out. I know it's not an Anime Monday, but whatever. I'm working hard on that one. For now:
We have most of our favorite X-Men returning for this movie: James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique, Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok, Evan Peters as Peter (Pietro) Maximoff/Quicksilver (yeah, Quicksilver is back!!!), Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert (ugh...) and Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast.
We also get a lot of new cast members to play young versions of the X-Men from the trilogy, such as Sophie Turner (who you may recognize as Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones) as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III/Angel/Archangel, Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, Olivia Munn as Psylocke and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm. Our villain, Apocalypse, is played by Oscar Isaac, who you might recognize as Po Dameron from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Additionally, we get the return of Josh Helman as William Stryker, as well as a few cameos and other additions I'm not going to mention, because if I did, you'd be sitting here and reading this getting bored.
So if you remember the post-credits scene of Days of Future Past, you should remember a bunch of people saying "En Sabah Nur," which is apparently insert-language-here for "the first one," as En Sabah Nur was believed to be the first ever mutant.
Speaking of, after a narration from who I believe to be Oscar Isaac (which isn't as good as any of Patrick Stewart's narrations, but given that those narrations are on a whole other level, it's...decent, at best), our movie opens up in ancient Egypt with a bunch of people chanting, "En Sabah Nur," who I will now be referring to as Apocalypse for the duration of this review.
So, since the beginning of civilization, Apocalypse ruled the world from ancient Egypt, as he was believed to be the first and most powerful mutant. However, during a ceremony where they were trying to transfer his consciousness into another body (we find out why later in the movie), some of his followers betray him, killing the proverbial Four Horsemen and entombing Apocalypse for thousands of years.
We then jump to 1983 in Ohio, where we see Scott Summers finally discovering his mutant ability of being able to fire plasma rays from his eyes (sound similar to someone you may know?). His brother, Alex Summers/Havok, takes him to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where we see James McAvoy proudly sporting a mullet haircut. And may I say it actually looks good on him? I mean, he already looked good, the mullet just made him...okay, I can't obsess over James McAvoy in this. I won't. Promise.
After that, we cut to Berlin of the same year, where we see Angel fighting another mutant, Blob. After defeating the other mutant, we then see a young Nightcrawler, a mutant who can teleport, get thrust into the cage to fight against Angel. Raven has somehow made it inside, and she turns the voltage of the electric cage up as high as it can go. After Nightcrawler manages to put Angel up against the cage, frying his wings, Raven helps him escape and eventually brings him to the institute.
We return to Egypt, where we meet a young Storm, who is saved from four men by Apocalypse, who decapitates three of them and literally melts the last guy into a wall. I couldn't make that up if I tried. Storm returns to her house with Apocalypse in tow, and Apocalypse uses the TV to "learn." He becomes disgusted with what the world has become and decides to recreate the world in his own image, with only the strongest mutants and himself ruling. To start such an endeavor, he starts recruiting his Four Horsemen. Storm's powers are increased and her hair is turned white as she is recruited to be his first Horseman, Famine.
Oh, I should probably clarify. The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse are Famine, War, Death, and Pestilence. Back to the review.
We return to the Institute, where Alex has brought Scott to visit the professor and meets young Jean Grey. Scott receives glasses so that he can see without releasing the beams from his eyes, and is enrolled in the institute.
We cut to Poland, where we see Erik Lensherr has gotten married and had a daughter named Nina. Nina is also a mutant, and her ability is to communicate with and influence animals. Erik has renamed himself Henryk Gorzky, and works at some kind of factory with metal. He hadn't used his powers at the factory, until an earthquake happened, which caused something big to fall on one of the workers, which he stopped to save the worker's life.
Unfortunately for Erik, this means that he, his wife, and his daughter, have to leave Poland, for fear of Erik being exposed as Magneto. However, he's too late, as the Polish authorities have come, without metal, and kidnapped Nina. Erik agrees to turn himself in, but Nina, who was too young to be able to control her mutant powers, unleashes a flock of birds on the authorities who threatened to take her father away. An arrow was accidentally fired, however, and this killed both Erik's wife and Nina. Erik kills the men, and then goes to the factory to kill the workers for alerting the authorities.
Seeing as the earthquake was an anomaly, Hank, Alex, and Charles all go to Cerebro to see what happened with it. Thanks to Cerebro, we are reunited with Moira MacTaggert (ugh...), who Charles still has feelings for (ugh...). Alex and Charles visit Moira, who explains how she was investigating Apocalypse throughout history and learned that he would give his Horsemen special powers to aid in destroying whatever they wanted.
We then meet our next recruit, Psylocke, who becomes Pestilence of the Four Horsemen. Shortly after that, we are introduced to Angel, who becomes Archangel after receiving metal wings from Apocalypse and becoming the third horseman, Death.
Our last horseman (War) shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's Erik.
So now, our heroes are up against a super dangerous foe capable of hacking into Cerebro (which he does, and manipulates a bunch of government people to send their nuclear missiles into the air), along with his new followers.
What do I give this: 3 out of 5.
Why: First off, as much as I liked this movie, it wasn't as good as Days of Future Past or First Class. I felt like the writers were just riding the popularity train from those two movies and just got lazy. Apocalypse didn't get a ton of character development. In the trailer, and even in the post-credits scene from Days of Future Past, he was built up as the ultimate villain; someone on a whole other level than Trask or Shaw or any of the other X-Men villains. Here...I don't really know how to explain it, but it feels like his character wasn't developed enough.
The acting is pretty good, but the fight scenes were a little hard to follow, and the plot itself felt a little...cliche.
I am a sucker for a good soundtrack, though, and I will say that this movie did have the better soundtrack. And the scene where they slowed everything down for Quicksilver was pretty awesome, too.
We also get an after credits scene that builds up to the third (and possibly final) Wolverine movie, as well as the upcoming Gambit movie. But with Singer possibly stepping away from the franchise to work on other things...well, I'm not getting my hopes up for those movies.
Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my review of X-Men: Apocalypse! Stay tuned for Anime Monday #18, where I review Gunslinger Girl! ~k
