Ghouls; a merciless species of monsters that devour humans while masking their identity as they walk among clueless citizens in broad daylight. There is but one aspect of the Ghouls that differentiate them from your average everyday person, their inability to consume anything other than human flesh.
Tokyo Ghoul is an ominous dark horror fantasy as we follow ordinary college student Ken Kaneki. Kaneki is introduced as a total bookworm, his personality is weak as he seems to only have a single friend who is the polar opposite of himself. Kaneki also seems to have lost both his parents and lives alone, which doesn't really build up much character or helps make Kaneki all that interesting. Thankfully Tokyo Ghoul looks to capitalize on taking advantage of Kaneki's loneliness as his nightmarish new lifestyle is further emphasized by his isolation, creating a broader appeal of fear as he has no one to turn to for help.
Kaneki and his friend don't seem to care all that much about the Ghoul problem, in fact it seems that people are doing their best to live their normal lives without living in fear of the unknown. However this ignorant bliss can only last for so long as these Ghouls continue to haunt Tokyo. One day Kaneki encounters one of these ghouls and survives, but at the cost of potentially loosing his humanity as he is thrown into a living nightmare.
Ghouls need only eat once every few months to survive, raising the possible idea of whether or not there is a chance of co-existence, but as always there seems to be a chain of command of various factions in the Ghoul society as well as strong individuals who compete over territory. Tokyo Ghoul promises a dark atmosphere with a wonderful trip into the realm of true nightmares.
The first episode appears to promise plenty of blood and gore and looks to tell a story of a dark downward spiral that questions one's sense of being human. The pacing is packed with interesting events that concludes the introduction and gets set to reveal some psychological and action heavy encounters in the coming episodes.
Mekaku City Actors does an exceptional job of introducing a wide range of likable characters that weave an interesting and unique story that is sure to grip your attention as mysteries unfold. A key aspect of the show is how it will excite your visual senses among the bright vibrant colours and background settings.
Mekaku City Actors is an offbeat story about a complex timeline of supernatural events that brings the lives of 10 characters hosting a bizarre range of abilities together. You might be familiar with the Kagerou Project, a series of popular vocaloid music story tracks created by 23 year old Jin (Shizen no Teki-P), who has additionally spawned 4 light novels, and a manga adaption of his work. Mekaku City Actors is also animated by Shaft, which is a huge selling point as the studio is very well known for their wonderful art in producing the Monogatari series and several other highly regarded works.
Here is a list of the main characters who become part of the Blindfold Gang in Mekaku City Actors, they are also the main reason to watch the show since the plot is a bit convoluted towards the end in a rushed manner.
Member Number 07. The shut-in Shintaro
Shintaro is a genius with social issues who refuses to leave his room, until one day where a cyber girl called Ene appears on his computer screen and bothers him to no end. Shintaro has a special connection to a girl called Ayano and her past. Shintaro becomes involved with the Blindfold Gang as various individuals with red eyes and special powers start to gather, overturning his quiet lifestyle.
Number 00: The big sister Ayano
Introduced as a mysterious person with a red scarf, Ayano slowly comes into play as an important character connected to the events surrounding the current Blindfold Gang. Ayano has a special connection to Shintaro's past.
Member Number 06. The cyber girl Ene
Ene suddenly appeared on Shintaro's computer screen one day as a cute cyber girl with mischievous behaviour who loves playing pranks to mess with Shintaro. She can transfer between devices and is often trying to get Shintaro to leave his shut-in lifestyle as he refuses to leave his room. Ene is almost an exact copy of Nyaruko from Haiyori! Nyaruko-san in terms of her personality as well as voice actor.
Member Number 05. The idol Momo
Shintaro's sister, Momo is a popular idol who is always at the center of attention wherever she goes. Her energetic and upbeat behaviour stands out from everyone else as she has trouble trying to re-connect with her brother.
Member Number 01. The leader Kido
The Blindfold Gang's leader, Kido lives with Seto and Kano as a group learning to control their powers and recruit those who gain powers from having red eyes. Her ability allows her to completely hide her presence to those around her. She is often hiding her face and provides for some light comedy whenever Kano points out her inner personality.
Member Number 02. The nice guy Seto
Seto is an average nice guy who gets a long with everyone. His ability allows him to see into the minds of others, but he would prefer not to use his powers as he finds it might destroy the need to communicate with his friends.
Member Number 03. The eccentric Kano
Kano is one of the most entertaining characters due to his outgoing and deceitful personality. He shoulders a burden of his past and has the ability to alter his appearance to those around him. Kano decided that Kido should be their leader for their Blindfold Gang.
Member Number 04. The princess Mary
Mary is a cheerful girl who is often very shy around strangers. She is the first member to join the Blindfold Gang thanks to Seto and has the ability to capture anyone who meets her gaze and paralyze them in place.
Number 08. The youth Hibiya
The youngest member of the gang who is always picking fights with Momo. Hibiya is introduced early on but doesn't get involved with the Blindfold Gang until the end where he has very little use.
Number 09. The towering silent Konoha
There isn't much to say about Konoha, he is introduced towards the end of the show and appears as an emotionless husk containing vast physical strength. His ties with his past provide an interesting twist on his life before acquiring abilities, but he is essentially shafted at the end and only briefly explained as to who he really is.
If I had one word to describe Mekaku City Actors, it would be "fun". The characters are extremely fun to watch as they interact and work together to solve their dilemmas, while helping their new recruits control their mysterious power and unravel the mysteries of the power's origin. The show was a hit with fans both new and those experienced with Jin's work, but unfortunately the anime doesn't do enough justice for Jin's Kagerou Project which depicts a much more complex and intertwining tale between all the characters. The animation suffers at certain points, especially at the end, but overall the bright vibrant style of Mekaku City Actors is a joy to watch.
The soundtrack for the show is an awesome J-Rock track list which is entirely composed by Jin himself, and provides a real sense of rock that will get you off your feet. Another thing to note on the show is the small ending clips depicting the story of the monster who finds love with a human, which ends up providing some important background information to the origins of the overall story and plot; a nice little segment that adds some charm.
The final 2 episodes of this 12 episode series were extremely rushed with poor quality on the animation, leaving a massive amount of confusion and uncertainty that betrays the wonderful build up of the first 10 episodes to fans. It's a big let down whenever a strong series falls flat at the end, but overall Mekaku City Actors was a treat to watch. Mekaku City Actors doesn't compare that well to the Monogatari series, but despite it's flaws, it's still an interesting story to take in. The basic plot is there, but unfortunately the show is wrapped up far too quickly.
I haven't written anything in a long time so I thought I'd do so for the only spring 2014 anime that I followed this past season. There will probably be some spoilers if you want to proceed.
Nanana is a light novel adaption in the noitaminA timeslot for one cour so it only had 11 episodes. After watching the first few episodes, I thought it had the potential for a decent story. Many weeks later, I was severely underwhelmed. There exists different types of treasures on the island which different people seek out for their own goals. Perhaps the main plot line was to find the person who murdered Nanana. However, not much has changed at end of the 11th episode, except that the main cast is slightly closer and that the main character is more resolved to accomplish said main goal. Even the final scene after the ED only teases what happened with the Ikusaba and Yun-chan business.
There were some interesting characters introduced, but nothing really happened. Juugo kind of reminded me of Touma from the Index series, but with a more interesting background. However, not much of his family's organization was further explored. One could see that there were some intertwining relationships between several background characters that weren't made entirely clear either. The most fun character to watch was definitely Tensai. Her mannerisms and unflappable genius pretty much carried the show for me.
Overall, this was a short anime with some decent production that doesn't accomplish a whole lot. It honestly felt like a teaser for the light novels or perhaps a second season. I highly doubt the latter will come into fruition because the sales numbers for the show don't look too good. If you are considering watching this, but haven't yet, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Tensai's greatness alone doesn't make this worth watching.
Black Bullet was one of the few shows I put on my "must watch" list for the 2014 spring season, and while it's definitely not the next big hit out there like previous shows, Black Bullet is definitely one of the better shows as of late.
The plot isn't all that interesting but it's something like the Attack on Titan setting, but filled with loli and a typical independent "high school" lifestyle with monsters and whatnot. Humanity has been pushed back to Tokyo where large structured barriers made out of a certain material are used to repel Gastre monsters from entering the city and bringing mankind to extinction. The Gastrea virus can take over humans and creatures, turning them into giant bug monsters typical of your fantasy Japan. A special squad made up of talented Promoters battle alongside cursed children (Initiators) against possible epidemics and removing any Gastrea that enter the city.
At first I was skeptical on the cuteness/humour side of things with the loli-ness and silly antics between protagonist Rentarou and his Initiator Enju which reminds me of Unbreakable Machine Doll, however it seems to just be an early introduction that helps make the second episode more effective as things prove to be anything but sugar and rainbows for the two.
Black Bullet does well in striking up some more serious themes with the discrimination towards the "cursed children"; children who are born with the Gastrea virus and yet they are the most effective means to destroying the Gastrea creatures to protect humanity from this parasitic mutation that seems to cause bugs and other monsters to grow to ridiculous sizes.
Rentarou's own personal dilemma is also somewhat developed as he tries to make a living while balancing out his ideals with the cursed children, showing us that despite humanity's last stand hangs on the shoulders of these cursed children, everyone seems to regard them as tools and are looked down upon as freaks.
Black Bullet has also piqued my interest with an actual Antagonist, something that I have missed since Guilty Crown. Kagetane Hiruko is an elusive man of many skills for appearing unexpectedly while carrying out some rather distasteful massacres of those around him for no real reason other than to show how he shouldn't be taken lightly. This proper, yet insane person is the main factor of the show who seems interested in destroying Tokyo and mankind, or perhaps he just wants to show everyone the hard truths of their ignorant lives as they live in fear of the Gastrea.
Not much can be said about the rest of the crew thus far, but Rentarou and Hiruko will keep you preoccupied for the time being as for once our protagonist isn't a whiny little bitch, but someone with a clear head and underdog attitude that challenges the norms of his lifestyle, while our antagonist is a mysterious butler-esqe psycho who wants to shake things up.
Episode 02
The "cursed children" discrimination issues surrounding Enju and Rentarou was enjoyable and I'm glad it took things to a deeper, more serious tone. Seeing the police officers take away one of the Lost Children (cursed child from outside the city) off to be killed was quite unexpected, but overall I felt the issues were well developed from Rentarou's and Enju's point of view.
We get a good sense of character development as Enju and Rentarou deal with the discrimination differently and not only that but our antagonist Hiruko even rises to the occasion to tear down the walls of their fake peaceful lives of keeping Enju's true identity a secret so she can act like a normal girl in school. Hiruko looks to be the deciding factor of the show with his potential to wreak havoc.
Hiruko unveils his own "daughter", Kohina, who appears to be a gifted Cursed Child who dual wields swords with murderous intent towards anyone. Hiruko shows off that he is a mechanical being who is part of a New Humanity Creation Plan, showing off a possibility that his goal is to wipe everyone out and usher in a new dawn of mankind.
Hiruko's sick twisted demeanor and Rentarou's own growth looks be the staple of the show and is definitely going to keep me returning for me.
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, has seen the mental models steadily progress and develop human nature into their personalities as they diverge from the Admiralty Code and drift away from Kongo and the Fleet of Fog. The show has done an excellent job of showing the steady changes of these AI weapons as they turn towards Captain Gunzo and Iona to discover a meaning to their existence beyond that of being a pawn of the Admiralty Code.
Episode 10 serves as the pinnacle of character progression for Takao and Iona, as they begin to understand their feelings and take action based how they feel rather than logical courses of action.
After being attacked by Iona's twin sibling submarines I-402 and I-400, they slowly drift towards the bottom of the ocean with no means of recovery as their oxygen supply and temperatures continue to drop. The conversation between Gunzo and Iona show just how much Iona has changed since Gunzo first met her. Her speech and body language is less stoic as she becomes more human after her emotions conflict with her program instincts telling her to abandon Gunzo, she expresses worry, sadness, and desperation as she looks for a way to save the young captain despite his orders to give up on him.
Everything about this episode was saddening and emotional as the mental models awaken to their newly established sense of humanity. Iona shows that she is not bound to her own Admiralty Code of obeying Gunzo, and while she was ordered to abandon the captain, she could not bear the thought of forsaking him, her decision to keep him safe is own not only of loyalty, but shows her desire to be with Gunzo.
Takao's connection with Gunzo was unrequited, and unfortunately they never had any moments together aside from some humourous encounters where Takao is too shy to approach Gunzo head on. Takao's scene was almost too sad to bear, the music playing in the background as Takao dives to find the I-401 was just heart wrenching as she finds Gunzo barely alive thanks to Iona's effort. Seeing Gunzo and Iona's core together in the pod saddens Takao as she realizes she probably doesn't have a place by his side, and in turn she sacrifices her nano-materials that make up her physical form for Iona to recover in what is one of the best scenes of the show.
The result was a super bad-ass combination of Takao and Iona to create a new battleship. Takao will be missed, she was my favourite character, but alas, the new I-401 submarine will serve as a reminder to her. One of Takao's better moments was in episode 9 where she changes her colours from red to blue in defiance of Kongo but also as a statement that she belongs to Gunzo's fleet.
Before the episode ended, Kongo shows her own progression as her deep desire to fight Iona and kill Gunzo comes crashing down on her as she is betrayed by own kind, with Maya being revealed as an empty surveillance unit meant to keep tabs on Kongo. I-400 and I-402 submarines are shown as Iona's twin sisters who are fully under command of the Admiralty Act and seal Kongo away as she is seen as defected, how ironic.
I was rather surprised by Kongo's expression towards Maya's sudden exposure as a fake. It seems pretty obvious that Kongo was about to call Maya her friend before being sealed up by the submarine twins. I do hope Maya comes back, as her cheerfulness and happy personality will be missed, especially whenever she would shout " it's a Carnival!" I wonder if Kongo will end up joining Gunzo's side, as the real enemy is yet to be revealed, but all I can say is I hope Haruna, Kirishima and Hyuga reclaim their battleships and duke it out with the submarine twins I-400 and I402.
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova, thrives on two factors which makes the show incredibly entertaining; tactical naval combat and entertaining battle ships that manifest into living female dolls built from nano-technology; its awesome.
When I first started watching Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio, I was quite skeptical and quite honestly turned off by various factors. The characters were boring, the plot appeared weak, the notion of mankind being cut off from electronic communications was "meh", and I really did not care for the 3D animation. While Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio had a slow start, it picked up speed and quickly turned into the most entertaining show for myself.
The naval fire fights are half the reason to watch
The naval battles are both tactically surprising and visually awesome. I can't think of any other show that has naval battle, so I guess Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio gets a +1 for that. What makes the naval fights so entertaining is the fact that these battleships are alive and super beefed-up on steroids, they manifest themselves into a female "doll" called "mental-models". These "mental models" are weapons set out to push mankind out of the sea in order to slowly wipe them out. Each of the mental model characters have different personalities and have awesome character development that are essential to the conflicts and growth of the show.
The battleships are visually amazing, with all the crazy firepower of a Gundam except on the more modern and realistic naval warships. Unlike most shows were the battles are determined by fire power and a will to fight, Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio uses tactics and the human factor of protagonist Chihaya Gunzo as he always finds a way to not only turn the tides of battle against the other mental models, but also spares them and teaches them about what it means to exist, simultaneously converting them, he kinda reminds me of Lelouch.
While the "main" cast includes captain Gunzo and his submarine mental model Iona, the rest of the crew are introduced early and easily forgotten, in fact they are pretty much swept under the rug and only serve to inform us of the situation during fights or panic during some of the tense moments. I would consider the human crew members to be "seat warmers" as all they do is hold the front until the mental model characters step in and take the stage.
Heavy Cruiser Takao is the first Fleet of Fog member to engage Iona in battle, and as a result grows a desire to have Gunzo as her captain, she becomes more girlish towards Gunzo and is easily one of my favourite characters.
Submarine Iona is an emotionless little girl mental model that obeys Gunzo and slowly begins to experience human characteristics.
Battleship Haruna is somewhat of a database that collectively stores human terms and ideals, while she is always calm and collected, she looses all composure if her coat is taken off. She begins to change and devote herself to protecting Maki, an artificial child created by humans who refers to Haruna as Haru-haru. Haruna is easily the most popular of the mental models.
Battleship Kirishima is uncertain of what to do and tends to just follow Haruna. She is excited and overjoyed during her battle with Iona as her boredom of the Fleet of Fog becomes apaprent when she finds herself "alive" when dueling with the submarine. I tend to forget what Kirishima looks like. Since her destruction after battling with Iona she takes over a stuffed teddy bear until she can gather nano-machines to rebuild her body, which is sorta funny but I grow tired of seeing her as a teddy bear attached to Maki.
Battleship Hyuga is the more technical of the other mental models, taking on a scientific apparel and becomes infatuated with Iona. Her unrequited affection to Iona along with Takao's desire to have Gunzo makes for some light, enjoyable comedy.
Head Battleship Kongo serves as a pillar of the Fleet of Fog as she sees Iona's actions as a mutation that must be vaporized. While she is at the head of The Fog, she begins to develop human emotion, but only of hatred and develops a desire to kill Gunzo to restore the Fleet of Fog to its power and wipe out humans.
Heavy Cruiser Maya is a cheery energetic mental model that finds pleasure in everything she does as a weapon. She follows Kongo and is always chanting "It's a Carnival!"
Submarine I-402 is one of the twin sisters of Iona and is fully under the Fleet of Fog's Admiralty Code with no emotion or personality.
Submarine I-400 is the other twin sister of Iona and I402, like her sister I-402 she is fully under the Fleet of Fog's Admiralty Code with no emotion or personality.
Since the rest of the human characters are pretty much ignored, this leaves plenty of screen time for the battleship mental models to take the stage and deliver and awesome combination of epic naval fights and personal conflict and development. Each mental model has their own motive for existing, and while they are not exactly on each others side, they create a diverse and entertaining series of events as they each learn different meanings of existence, whether it be love, desire, family, or simply doing what they want to.
The mental model characters all start off with the notion of being a "weapon" and nothing more, while they certainly have a personalized appearance and different attitudes, they are quite set on being nothing more than AI that follow the "will of The Fog" rules. The Fog is what the battleships belong to, it is their identity as a sudden alien attack on humans, they refer to themselves as The Fog and operate only to follow a set of rules they have (Admiralty Code). Iona is the one exception to this, as she has a different set of rules that outline an existence to follow Gunzo's orders and nothing more.
I really love this show and how it deviated immensely from it's original setting and turned into an awesome conflict of interests between Gunzo and the mental models.
As far as post-apocalyptic worlds go, we've seen a lot of them; nuclear bombs causing human extinction, random weird viruses, and the fan favourite zombie infestation. I've always liked the notion of a post-apocalyptic setting, but most of the time I feel like its used as a stereotypical setting with really shallow excuses as to how the world become so fk'd up.
Coppelion has a realistic and relevant reason for its apocalyptic city. A nuclear accident occurs and ends up contaminating the city of Tokyo in radioactive waste, forcing most of the population to flee, however plenty of people were left behind and forced to live in hazmat suites awaiting rescue from the outside. Whats interesting is how the actual nuclear destruction in Japan back in 2011 is still a concern and shows relevance to the story of Coppelion, kinda showing a "what-if" scenario, even though the manga was released back in 08.
Coppelion is actually the group of high school students who were genetically modified to be immune to the radioactivity, and serve as government workers to rescue those who are still trapped in the contaminated city, as well as clean up the large amount of waste. We follow the rescue team of Ibara, the fearless leader and perhaps the only interesting person in the show; Aoki who is only ever used as a humour scapegoat as we spend more time laughing at her than with her; and then there's Taeko, the girl who can talk to animals and is completely invisible to the show.
The show is 10 episodes in, and so far my opinion has changed about three times. When I first started watching the show I thought it was going to be about humanity and our lack of care for the world. The beauty and melancholic environments gave me an impression of how beautiful our world can be without mankind. The background art and setting of this contaminated city is wonderful and the OST is very fitting and somehow reminds me of Virtues Last Reward. A few episodes in and it becomes apparent that we're merely following Ibara, Aoki, and Taeko as they aimlessly rescue small groups of survivors with no actual plot or deeper understanding for the environment. I started getting bored relatively quickly with the characters, as they weren't really doing anything interesting.
The show started throwing in some government involvement in regards to how the whole city was contaminated and closed while people were still inside. I liked the idea that the remainder of the survivors were mainly criminals who weren't evacuated from their prison, as well as the 1st division government army that was tasked with the evacuation but were left behind and has since turned towards revenge. I started to enjoy the show once more with the whole survival theme as Ibara, Aoki and Taeko have to hold out against an army while their government has to get past a summit meeting before rescuing the remaining survivors.
The first division army ends up being the antagonist that was missing for most of intro, but it was worth the wait as their plan to contaminate the rest of Japan and the world is quite a feat.
After becoming interested once again while enjoying the show a bit more as a casual watch, a few random characters are added into the mix to take the current theme and push it a little to far to the point where I'm just sitting along for the ride and don't really care. It's unfortunate the show kept degrading itself to a more casual watch that has shallow meaning, but it's still fun to see how the cast manages to make everything entertaining a midst the somewhat serious events; it's worth the watch.
