Fruits Basket Manga - Late to the Party

I was late to the party on this, but managed to get them all without overpaying. Sadly, this is the end of these nice hardcover editions since Tokyopop is no more. At least the whole series came out on paperback, so I can start getting the paperbacks with volume 13. This is the furthest I have read into the series, and I regret not reading it back when it was first being published. At that time, I had dismissed it as so similar to the anime, word for word, that it would hardly be worth reading. The amount of material they didn't put into the anime, even from the stories that were included, is astounding. Also, while the Kyo story that was used as the climax for the anime made an appropriate climax, having it happen early in the story creates much more tension, as well as interesting dialogue. In the end, I would love to see a season 2 of the anime, but more than anything, I'd like to see a director's cut version of the already released series, with scenes that were not included inserted, and stories juggled back into proper order. It's really better with the Kyo true form story out of the way early on. It leaves much more room for Kyo to grow, as well as Yuki and Tohru. It also removes the need to rewrite later scenes to explain away certain differences the anime had as far as character motivations... I supposed when you look at it like this, it becomes apparent that they never intended to make more than one season, regardless of how popular it was.

First Impressions - Mawaru Penguindrum

IMAGINE!

This is a review I have been looking forward to doing ever since I started this blog. I've been watching this show every week since the 3rd episode aired, and it is a big high point of my week. It has been, without a doubt, the strongest show this season that I have seen so far. The fact that it is so amazing is why I just wonder what in the heck websites like Chrunchyroll are thinking by not licensing it for simulcast! That being said, this show is not available for simulcast anywhere, so if you want to watch it, you are going to have to track down a fansub, which isn't actually too hard to do. I'd imagine most anime fans are familiar with where to look for them, and I won't be going into that on this blog. If you want to watch Mawaru Penguindrum, you'll need to find it yourself.

The show starts out introducing you to the girl on the left here, Himari, and her two brothers, Kanba and Shoma. During the first episode, you find out that Himari has an unspecified terminal illness (We can assume from the x-rays they are looking at that it's something in her brain, my guess is brain cancer.), and that she doesn't have long to live. Her brothers decide to help her live her life as fully as she can. They decide one day to taker her to the local aquarium to see the penguins, but she ends up dropping dead right there after picking out a penguin hat at the gift shop. After a tearful scene in the morgue, she suddenly rises up from the dead with the penguin hat on, her eyes glowing, and possessed by something.

The thing possessing her says it is going to extend her life, but in return, the brothers must locate a magical item known as the Penguin Drum. Himari will die if they can not find the Penguin Drum, but as long as they are searching, her life will be extended, and presumably once the drum is found, her life will be saved completely. The hat falls off, and then she returns to normal, unaware that she had been dead. The doctor later confirms that it's a miracle, and that her condition has been completely reversed, saying that there is no sign of her illness at all.

As the show progresses, we also meet three strange little penguins with numbers on their backs that no one but the three siblings can see, as well as Ringo, who I affectionately refer to as "Creepy Stalker Girl," and a few other characters of varying importance. What is important is that the penguin hat tells the brothers that Ringo either has, or has a clue to, the Penguin Drum. While we're not sure whether she does have it or not, what she does have is a mysterious diary, in which is written her fate. The diary seems to literally have the ability to predict what will happen to Ringo. Each day is already written out, and is fulfilled by her each day. The problem is that the destiny she is chasing with the help of this item is the creepy stalking of a teacher from Kanba and Shoma's school, Tabuki-Sensei. Without spoiling anything further, it seems Ringo is obsessed with something called Project M, which the diary is leading her on, and at the end of which she says "All the things she holds dear will become eternal." though we are not sure, at first, what she even means by this. It's also too bad for her that Tabuki-Sensei has a beautiful and popular stage actress girlfriend. Shoma ends up getting mixed up in her schemes, eventually admitting that he wants to see her strange diary, and she agrees as long as he helps her get hooked up with Tabuki-Sensei. I find it rather amusing that her diary, if you look at it in a vague sense, is having her fulfill her destiny with Shoma rather than Tabuki, but she is too blinded to see this.

Last, as far as Kanba is concerned, he is doing what appears to be some sort of illegal activity to fund the house they live in, as well as doing what appears to be dangerous things in his search for the Penguin Drum. He has close scrapes with a woman named Natsume Masako, who wields a slingshot with a laser sight that fires strange balls with a penguin mark on them, and have the ability to erase the memory of whoever gets hit. She also has a penguin just like the three siblings, but it's a black-colored emperor penguin, resembling the hat that resurrected Himari. Her goals so far are unclear, but she is presented as the show's antagonist, along with, perhaps, the Penguin Hat which torments our heroic brothers as they try to save their poor sis.

First impressions of
Mawaru Penguindrum
A really amazing show that gives me the same kind of feelings that Fruits Basket or Haruhi did. It has an air of mysteriousness, and you can never tell what's going to happen next. It also has funny moments, action, and drama. It's a really amazing show, and if it is done right for its whole run, could be one of the greatest of all time. It's also worth noting that it's an anime with no manga. It was created to be an anime from the beginning, and that may be part of why it seems to move along at a very good pace, not too fast and skipping details, and not too slow so as to drag on.

It should definitely be noted that the show is being co-written and directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara, who was the director of the first four seasons of Sailor Moon before leaving that show and helping to create Revolutionary Girl Utena. This is his return after a bit of a hiatus from anime, and I must say, he is not disappointing! The anime is also, notably, being produced by Brain's Base, the animation studio responsible for other great shows of recent years, including Durarara!, Spice and Wolf II, Baccano!, and Natsume Yuujinchou. This team up had to produce something great, and it has so far!

First Impressions - Usagi Drop

I was sort of attracted to this show's premise when I first heard about it. It's about a man named Daikichi who learns that his grandfather had an illegitimate daughter, Rin, late in his life. Rin, who is now six years old, has lost her elderly father, and her mother has run out on her. At the funeral, the family is discussing what to do about Rin, and everyone is reluctant to take her in for various reasons, including their own prejudices since the child was born under questionable circumstances. Daikichi, disgusted by his family members' attitudes, announces that he will take the child in, even though he is a single 30-year-old office worker living in a one bedroom apartment.

In a way, the "single 30-year-old office worker" part really strikes a chord with me, because that's how I'd classify myself, except that I am a year older, and probably wouldn't take in a child... but the idea of being noble and proving something to your family really sounds cool, doesn't it? I think Daikichi is a pretty awesome guy.

Unfortunately, being awesome doesn't take care of the kid. He quickly learns there's a lot involved, even though his new family member is pretty mature for her age. He has to buy her clothes, take her to a nursery school while he is at work, somehow juggle his full-time job with taking care of her, and give up some things such as going out to get a drink with his co-workers. His struggles really express the kind of situation you can relate to if you're someone who has too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it in.

So, I think apart from the fact that Rin is probably a bit too mature for her age, which is a bit of a stereotype used in this kind of anime a lot (The "little adult"), but probably rarely manifested in actual children this age, the show has great promise to develop into a family life drama with lots of tender moments, and also I am predicting that somehow down the line, Rin's mother will re-appear and cause some sort of problem for the two of them, perhaps even the whole family. That's mere speculation on my part, though, but it seems like the kind of thing this type of story likes to do. It's like in Sand Chronicles when Ann's father suddenly appears in volume 2 just as she'd gotten used to her new life, and asks her to go to Tokyo with him. Or like in Kodomo no Omocha when Sana's mother comes back, and she's faced with the choice of her mother or her adopted mother.

In closing, I will say that I went into this anime expected something like "Aishiteruze Baby" but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be nothing like it. Not that Aishiteruze Baby is bad, I am just glad Usagi Drop can stand apart from other stories of child adoption. So far, it definitely deserves your attention.



First Impression of Usagi Drop: It seems very good, and I look forward to watching more episodes. If you like Josei manga/anime (For those unfamiliar, this is the term used for more mature "shojo" manga, much like "seinen" is the more mature version of "shonen" - example Josei manga/anime would be Paradise Kiss or Nana.) with a touching feel, this is a good one so far!

Been very busy, new reviews tomorrow!

Just an update, as if anyone's reading this thing... but yeah, I had a heck of a day yesterday moving the last of my furniture from my ex-apartment, and then today I hung out with a friend and we watched the first two episodes of AO NO EKUSORSIIIIIIIISUTOOOOO... Blue Exorcist... and then I came home and found out MY XBOX LIVE ACCOUNT IS UNBLOCKED finally. (It was undergoing a fraud investigation because some mean people stole money from me by hacking the account.) so yeah I had to deal with that...

Fun fun, but tomorrow, I will do reviews on TWO shows!

The first review will be for Usagi Drop, and then...

The second will be for Mawaru Penguindrum!

BE EXCITED! :o

EDIT! Today was once again hectic! Moving takes a lot out of ya... but I am done now, and just getting everything situated. Spent too much money at Borders going out of business sale... got all of Sand Chronicles manga, some Bleach manga, some Trigun manga, and some out of print Tokyopop swag, woot! Ultimate Editions, Battle Royale and Furuba! Tomorrow I will do my best to bring you at least a review of SOMETHING I mentioned above...

First Impressions - Blue Exorcist

Okay, wow. So I went into this with a sort of closed mind. This is one of the top voted shows on Crunchyroll, along with Bleach and Naruto, among others. I am a fan of Bleach, I don't like Naruto all that much, and furthermore, other shows that are ranked highly on Crunchyroll include Reborn, which I can't stand, and yet Gintama which I think is great. So it's hit-and-miss with me as far as beloved anime, but I think I just read the premise for this show and thought it was going to be terrible...

From Wikipedia: "The story revolves arround Rin Okumura, a teenager posessing abnormal strength and endurance who was raised by Father Shiro Fujimoto along his younger twin brother Yukio. Soon after Yukio departs to study at the prestigious True Cross Academy, Rin learns that both he and his brother are sons of Satan, though Yukio did not inherit the demon blood."

I was just sitting there thinking "Really? The sons of Satan?" and I had a little facepalm moment, not even thinking that Christian mythology can make for some very awesome material. I am a huge fan of Hellsing and have been watching the OVA series ever since it started being released in Japan, so for me to just write off this show due to the fact that it's Christian mythos was not the best idea, because it kept me away from the show until just yesterday. Further, a comment I read on a forum somewhere induced more facepalm when a user said that they were so glad as a Christian that a show that wasn't so atheistic or anti-god had come around, and I honestly sat there and tried to think of shows that were anti-god or atheistic, and there's a few, but most of the time it's just that they sort of don't comment on the subject. I must admit, I sort of cheer when someone like Zoro from One Piece says he doesn't believe in any god or devil, only the power of man, but I am generally not antagonistic to those of faith, so I am a little upset at myself for letting the user's comment get to me in such a way that I further avoided the show since I had painted a picture of it in my mind as being some sort of overly religious shonen drivel. Think Naruto or Bleach mixed with that '80s cartoon "The Magic Book." That's how I pictured it. And yeah, Bleach is shonen drivel, but it's my shonen drivel, damn it! Oh, and also One Piece. Damn it!

Anyway.

I finally decided to check the show out so I could do a first impressions review, thinking that I would end up watching a couple episodes and then write up a report on how it's an overrated steaming pile. It is anything but that. The show starts out simple enough, introducing the characters. Rin has no idea that he is the son of Satan, but by the end of the first episode, he is aware of the fact and being chased by demons, led by Astaroth himself, who has possessed another boy that Rin knows. So suddenly, he barely has time to come to grips with it, Rin is told that he is not a human, and that he is the son of Satan, born of a human mother. He is also told that his brother Yukio is his twin, but did not inherit any of the demonic powers. A short time after this, due to a circumstance I won't go into too much or it would spoil the fun, Rin has to leave the church where he lived with Father Shiro. He is given a cell phone with a single contact in it, and that contact is Johan Faust, who is actually Mephisto Pheles, and is the chairman of True Cross Academy, which is a prestigious private school to which Rin's brother Yukio is going to be attending. Rin is told he can either kill Mephisto and run, or he can allow Mephisto to kill him, because leaving him alive is not an option. Rin proclaims that he wants to be an Exorcist, and that he is a human in heart, and wants nothing more than to "Beat the shit out of Satan." which is understandable since his life was pretty good and normal until recently, broken to shambles by Satan, and his own Satanic powers.

Mephisto, shocked by this, agrees to bring Rin to True Cross Academy, where he will learn to be an Exorcist. This is only the beginning of Rin's journey.

I am now three episodes in to the show, and plan to watch more, as in all of it. This review barely scratches the surface, and only gives a general plot summary, leaving out a lot of great details. The show's voice acting is good, the animation is fairly good, but lacks some quality in places, and the soundtrack is nice. You should go watch the show on Crunchyroll right away! You won't regret it!

First Impressions - YuruYuri

Despite the name of the show, it's hardly what I'd call a "Yuri" anime, although it does have some aspects of that genre, but mostly used for comedic purposes rather than romantic or dramatic purposes. The main character, Akari, with the red hair, is the subject of a running gag that she is very plain and easy to forget. She is, in fact, so underused that you wouldn't think she's the "main" character at all. But I suppose when it comes to these slice-of-life shows, there isn't really a main character, per se. Of the four main characters, there is blond-haired Kyouko who somehow has the best grades in the school, but is otherwise a ditzy and obtuse girl who makes perverted jokes. Then there is Yui, on the far left with the dark purple hair, who is more mature, and even lives on her own, which seems pretty weird for a middle school girl. She, Akari, and Kyouko have been friends for a long time, and seem a lot more like sisters than friends. The girl on the far right, Chinatsu, is in the same grade as Akari (The two of them are younger) and became friends with the three of them because she thought they were members of the Tea Club at school, which brings us to...

They have a club at the school called the "Amusement Club" where they are basically sitting around doing nothing, or whatever they want. Think the SOS Club from Haruhi, but way less interesting, with less aliens and such. And that's just the beginning of the amount of "not interesting" this show piles on.

The slice of life genre is becoming very crowded ever since hits like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star popularized the genre, and there seems to be a very bad sort of formula brewing. Four characters who have various personality traits go to school, have some sort of activity together, or are friends somehow, live out their lives in front of us, with often exaggerated situations happening. Bonus points if they are cute girls, can evoke some sort of moé reaction, and then extra bonus points if any of them hit on each other or make panty jokes. This show is sadly falling right into this horrible new cliche, and it's sad to see, because some of the jokes are actually quite good. Unfortunately, though, the show will probably fail to catch the attention of most fans out there, especially ones who have already seen Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, or any of the other copy/paste jobs that have hit this genre in the past several years.

So, in closing...
First Impression of YuruYuri: Not impressed, but with some good moments. Completely average. In other words, only watch this if you really have nothing else to watch.

First Impressions - Twin Angel: Twinkle Paradise

OK, so, I will have a full post when I get home from work around 7:30am tomorrow, but of the two shows I watched, one of them was "Twin Angel: Twinkle Paradise" and I really must recommend you keep away from it. It's like they took every cliche magical girl aspect, crammed them together with no storyline, and then added some ecchi in...

You know, I like Mahou Shoujo as a genre, even somewhat generic shows, and I am not against some ecchi content, but this shows does none of it well, and tries to do it all.

So yeah, I'll have a new and longer First Impressions post about the other show I watched, YuruYuri, which was better, later on... but right now, I just wanted to jot down how bad I thought Twin Angel was. I don't expect I will be watching any more of it, even though I have seen mention that it improves somewhat in the 4th or so episode, but still remains mediocre.