2015 December 18ᵗʰ. The End, For Now!

おはよう!

People! People! I'm out of here!
(I won't be posting for a few weeks o3o)

今日

Review of this year:

1. Mekakucity Actors
2. Chaika —The Coffin Princess—
3. Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka De
4. Avatar the Last Airbender
5. No Game No Life
6. Sword Art Online
7. Utawarerumono: The False Faces
8. Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon
9. Gintama
10. Kaizoku F no Shouzou
11. Kill la Kill

And so ends it. Once per week, with a few exceptions for announcements and changes.
I'd love to see you back here next year! And while you're here, which of these anime/songs did you end up watching/listening to? Let me know in the comments!
And for old time's sake, here's the link to Crunchyroll.
And here Kissanime; here Animehaven.
Good day, and good night.

2015 December 11ᵗʰ. Kill La Kill!

おはよう!

Hello hello again, may your day've been good and your filet have been wood. Wait, what?

I don't think this is what they meant when they said "Wooden Stake"

今日

Kyou—yes, today—I speak of Kill la Kill. From the creators of Gurren Lagann, what a wonderful show.
I say, this anime is not for the faint of heart. Or children for that matter.
Mainly just not for children. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I loved this show's beginning because of its goofy animation, and, uh, some other things. <insert lennies>
Like the plot. Yes, definitely the plot.
Anywho, I really should not talk about this show for too long. Because reasons.
So just go watch it if you're old enough. Go. Now. You have to. Trust me. You perv.
Here is the link on Crunchyroll.
And here is the link on Viewster, seemingly a nice site for these sorts of things.

2015 December 4ᵗʰ. Kaizoku F no Shouzou!

おはよう!

Heya. Y'know, some schools in the U.S. are soon to finish with their classes for the year. What an exciting prospect:
Sleep.

Also, trying out a new feature. Text in my posts in red will give extra information on mouseover!

今日

So this post is about a song, referenced in the previous post on this blog, named Kaizoku F no Shouzou. In English, Portrait of the Pirate F.
To reiterate, this is a Vocaloid song sung by five Vocaloids: Luka, Meiko, Rin/Len, and Kaito. This list is… Far, far larger than on most songs. In fact, it has the highest number of singers of any (decent) Vocaloid song that I've ever heard (in my memory). And boy, it is decent.
This song is really quite nice, it has a duet of Kagamine Rin and Len—who were literally made to harmonize with each other—along with a whole lot of other Vocaloids and their own unique characters within the song's story.

As for the story, it is, of course, mainly a part of this song's promotional video (PV). It tells a new take on the otherwise familiar tale of Peter Pan through the wonderful world of Vocaloid.
Of course, Len (the male Kagamine twin) is to be "Pitā" while Rin is his friendly fairy familiar. Now, here's something to try and notice in the song:
Rin (Tinkerbell) takes Peter to their Neverland, seemingly to save the inhabitants from Captain Hook (Kaito)—but, later in the video it is also hinted at that Rin took Hook there to begin with!
Furthermore, in the scenes that flash by within the final scene (while I attempt my best to avoid spoilers) it seems highly likely the she has continued her scheme; her endless cycle.
If you want to know what I mean by all that (unless you could already extrapolate it yourself) what you need to now do—and I implore you to such—is to watch and listen through this great song.
I have, for you, a link here, on YouTube.
Additionally, if you have an account for this (really quite great) site Nico Nico Douga, here's the link for that as well.
Do note that while the YouTube broadcast does have subtitles, they are limited to the Japanese originals. For a translation and transliteration (as well as additional information) wander over to the ever-helpful Vocaloid Wiki page for Kaizoku F no Shouzou.
Thank you ever so much for being here today. Have a good week. Farewell!

2015 November 23ʳᵈ. ~Intro to Vocaloid!~

おはよう!

Hiya, people. Hola. Halo. Apparently, this blog's had a few views in Chile, as well as Australia and Indonesia. Just... Thanks for being here. Really.

C–I–A

今日

Well, today's a succinct post for succinct material!

I'll be trying to explain the Vocaloid... Stuff... from the most factual standpoint I can.
Next week I'll be talking about a certain song pertaining to this in particular: Kaizoku F no Shouzou.

The singers of Kaizoku F no Shouzou—Left-to-right: Megurine Luka, MEIKO, Kagamine Rin & Len, and KAITO.

Now, I suppose, would be a good time to also explain what a Vocaloid is.
VOCALOID is a series of computer software products developed by Yamaha Corporation—a Japanese company—intended to synthesize a Japanese singing voice with user inputs.
They were wildly successful (most well known is Hatsune Miku), and sound fantastic (in my opinion). On top of that, after purchasing a license to one (and hiring a few musicians for a backing track), anyone can become a music producer!

A limited list of (well-known) official "Vocaloids," as the characters are called, is as follows:

• IA (Pronounced Ee-aah)
• Hatsune Miku
• Kasane Teto
• Kagamine Len & Kagamine Rin (Kind of one character)
• KAITO
• MEIKO
• Megurine Luka
• Gumi
• Kamui Gakupo
• OLIVER.

And, with that out of the way, I hope to see you again next week for another installment of...

Random Stuff With This Random Person! Until then! Bye!

2015 November 20ᵗʰ. Ratings!

おはよう!

Are you mature? Am I mature? Abatteur de jours?

Which one are you?

今日

There are quite a few things that I've not been able to show on this blog because I felt it was not age-appropriate. I recall, that back at the first post on this blog, I had mentioned that this was intended for “Teenage+” audiences, which had been at the time entirely logical in my head. However, now that I have been adding content to this blog for some time, I have encountered a problem:
The initiates of the “Teenage+” demographic and the upper echelons are disparate. There are many, many great anime and other things* that I have been unable to review or talk about, since they would not allow for people of age, say, thirteen. However, I am just about ready to throw away this policy and head for a new one entirely; intended for slightly more mature audiences (since you actual readers are definitely mature enough for that).
What I have in mind is just much less limiting in what I can do on here, and I am sure it will be appreciated in the long run in terms of this blog's quality of writing as well as content.

Latching onto their pitiful souls…
Embedding in their eyes…

Thus, I enact this new rating of my content. No longer Parental-Guidance-13! It is now... Something more.

*There is, also, another thing that I have always been interested in exploring for the content of this blog. It is not a very common thing and may require a large grouping together... But I was wondering about (Vocaloid) song reviews. I've always liked (strange) Japanese music, although most people have not tried to find any interesting songs, and brush it off. There has been a hint of this in what was the first Anime Review post, as well—Wherein I had made suggestions to an anime, although strongly suggested listening to—and researching—the songs behind it—what I had truly disported.
The two images shown in the body of this post are from some songs that I was highly, highly interested in talking about. The first is of Calne Ca from the incredibly horrifying and somewhat inappropriate music video of Bacterial Contamination (細菌汚染);
The second is a short clip from Outer Science, a part of the Kagerou Project series of songs with an incredibly in-depth and confusing story—One character dies twice, is forced to kill his best friend, and then has to do it all over again...
Alas, it is time for me to go. Have a good day, and see you all next time.
Ostensibly.
I won't actually see you.
I'm not that close with the NSA.

2015 November 13ᵗʰ. Gintama!

おはよう!

Hey there. Nisemono here again with another one of those newfangled "Impressions."

Kids these days and their impressions,
(Back in my day we had to live the anime before we wrote of it!)

今日

This was so, so strange.

Gintama, I can't even. Seriously odd.

So odd, in fact, that that first 3 lines became of this became a haiku.

But back to some facts:
From what I know, this anime is known as Gintama, it was first aired in 2006, and it is very highly recommended.

What I gathered from what I watched:

 That is to say, nothing whatsoever.

What is going on? Who are these people? Just a general "Why?"

It's just... Seriously?
This anime has 10440 5-star and some 400 four-star on Crunchyroll, what am I missing?

Is this some kind of massive inside joke that I'm not getting? Oh gosh, please help me.

I mean come on

I just
I don't understand

So please, please help me understand this. Watch it and leave a comment/reply to this post.

So, here it is on Crunchyroll.

You can also find it here on Kissanime, and on Animehaven.

2015 November 6ᵗʰ. Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon!

おはよう!

Hello again, we're back this time for another installment of Impressions With NnoAnime! Woohoo!

I like this post type. How about you?

今日

    Today, the anime I've watched for you strange, strange people is "Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon."
This is, as the extent of my research has shown, an anime based on a light novel. The anime came out just this October (2015), and has not yet even finished its first season at this point.
The general reaction to this show has been mixed, because of its copious amounts of fanservice.

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition.

Moving on to how I felt about it, it was quite, quite alright. Of course, there was quite a bit of fanservice (which did get old), but in general the show was quite humorous—both on purpose and sometimes as an unintentional byproduct of its absurdity. And of course, again, it has combat.
Not only combat, but the best kind of combat.
Sword combat.
...Kind of
As of the first episode, the (seemingly) main character does not get to strike at any being with his sword, although he does end up slicing through several bullets in self-defence. And it is totally awe-inspiring.

Another thing I quite like about this anime is its protagonist, as he is not dissimilar to me; a sword-wielding long-haired innocent.

…Although that last point could be challenged.

Just a bit longer, darker hair, and voila!

One thing I expect may happen, from my limited viewing of this anime, is that Ōtori may end up having a dramatic internal struggle regarding her platoon by the end of the season. Anyhow, the show should be formidable to all of its viewers (as long as you are sufficiently mature).

It's got action, humour, fanservice (if you're into that sort of thing), and fabulous, fabulous characters.

I hereby formally, aggressively suggest that you take this show onto your list of anime to watch at some point. It is alright with me.

And so, you can find the show here, on Crunchyroll.

You can also find it here, on Animehaven; and here, on Kissanime.

2015 October 30ᵗʰ. Utawarerumono: The False Faces!

おはよう!

Hiya. Time for exactly what you expected.
The first first look!
..That came out strangely.

今日

Today's anime is Utawarerumono: The False Faces. From what I've heard, it is based on a game. It sounded good, and definitely has lived up to my expectations from what I've seen.
It started with a man—some man, he seems to be in scrubs—walking through the snow, in the forest. (Innocent, I guess. The anime will start slow...)
When suddenly
WHAM!
BAM!
Monsters
(Action! Hurrah! Part of the dual-pronged Anime Success Plan)
Running, chasing, oh god, how will he ever escape?!

BAM. HOLE EX MACHINA.

And when you thought that was it, BAM, more monsters.

So this... "Curse," they call it, says to the (amnesiac) protagonist "Umakeko."
What I think, is that this Curse could be an—as an idea—a link to real life. Umakeko being a comatose man, somewhere in a Japanese hospital, dreaming of an empty, snowy forest.
Doctors hook up equipment, and begin any treatments for the possible injury-related cause to his condition; pain, fear, a monster in a dream, eh? As soon as he's in a stable, regulated condition, perhaps a friend comes up to his shell. Concernedly, he says Umakeko's name...
But I am getting carried away (although I do think the Curse could be a blessing in disguise). A girl comes, Kuon.
"Don't worry about that... They'll almost never attack you" Kuon says. How nice, a knowledgeable person for this world?
Although, not a girl... Not just a girl... A...

It's true, you know.

A CATGIRL?!
This anime has executed the Dual-Pronged Anime Success Plan flawlessly.
So much good stuff. This anime is fit to be just pervy enough, its plot seems interesting, it has the action-catgirl megacombo, I love it.
But it's not over yet! There's more to the episode!
But I need you to watch this. It'd better get you hooked.
So, then, here is the link on Crunchyroll.
And here is the link on Kissanime.

2015 October 23ʳᵈ. New post style?!

おはよう!

Hello hello hello!
...Hello.
Hello.

I've just finished reading The Shattering yesterday~

Today I have been thinking;
Would it be a good idea, to have a style of post other than Review—applicable to both anime and manga?
After some deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that the best idea for this style—as to keep the blog's content interesting—is a first impression theme!
What I'll do is watch the first 1–2 episodes of an anime, or first chapter of a manga, and do my best to explain what I thought was going on as well as what I think happen later on!

Seeing as how most anime have notoriously vague and confusing openings, this sounded like an absolutely hilarious idea for those who actually have watched the full series; I can be facepalmed at and incite disappointed head-shaking and everything!
As a bonus, I can take any anime request in a much more timely manner (if you happen to have any).
So what do all of you think? I'm going to go with... Good idea! If any of you do happen to see an anime that you want some others to hear about, let me know in the comments to this post!
That's all for today, apologies; see you next week!

P.S., The two anime I already have in mind to possibly choose from next week are:
Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, and Utawarerumono: The False Faces.

2015 October 16ᵗʰ. Sword Art Online!

おはよう!

Am I a sellout? Weak-willed? Do I succumb too easily to the opinions of the masses? Find out next time on N No Anime!
(In other words, prepare for a anime review of a "Mainstream" anime. Ya' gosh dang hipsters).

With your fancy scarves and such. Sickening.

今日

Today, we will be looking at an anime loved by thousands and hated by hundreds. This anime is—*Dramatic fanfare*—Sword Art Online.

So, I've read the light novel of this, and--

Oh wait

Oh god

I'm becoming one of /them/

HYAAAAAAA~!

*Vomits out plaid*

But anyways, this anime is quite fun. I liked it for its action, although there is a larger amount of romance. But, the action is so dramatically concentrated you can feel your chair crinkling as you watch the scenes.
Sword Art Online's story prompts some of the most satisfying methods of combat—Swordfights.

I would like to know: Have you watched SAO? Did you hate it; or love it? Leave a comment!
I definitely would not call this anime the best, but it is definitely high in my regards. It was one of the first I'd ever watched and it was very associable to me as the main character—Slight spoiler/foreshadowing alert—is quite asocial, and would rather do things alone even if it would harm them significantly.
The anime is a good medium-high length, at about 50 episodes, and I would recommend anyone to watch the first 10-12, at least.
But, alas, the time is up. It is time to go, and now I leave you with this.
Here is the link on Crunchyroll.
Here are the links on sao-episodes.net—a specialised site—and on Animehaven.

2015 October 9ᵗʰ. No Game No Life!

おはよう!

Hello, hello my humans. I am Sir Lateral Path, fancy meeting you this day! People say fancy in a context such as that so often, I wonder what the connotation is! Speaking of that, wondering is a statement, and should not end in a question mark. Fun fact: question marks and exclamation points often have their second-words transposed! i.e. question points and exclamation marks, when people do not have to dictate too often! People like to make innuendos with words like dictate, it seems...

*Three hours later*

...Which leads me to another thing: Today, we'll be looking at yet another anime! How neat!

今日

This is a very popular anime, known as No Game No Life. It was praised by virtually everyone who watched it (and in my opinion, rightfully so).

There was some controversy on the manga this was based on, however, in that the artist was accused of 'tracing' poses almost exactly from other manga scenes. (Which doesn't really change the quality of any part of the anime, though). But, alas, it most likely ruined the future of the show. So sad.

Moving on, the anime itself is just amazing. It is funny, it is clever, it is adorable, and it is beautiful (and some other things are, too ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ). The anime just makes you feel great the entire time you watch it, which is always great—unless you are an anime-masochist, that is.

This anime is also so amazingly and stereotypically strange, as the west usually expects from Japan.
But besides all of that, it is getting late. You are tired of listening to me ramble, and I want you to get on with it, so here is the link on Crunchyroll.
Here are the links on The Anime Network, and Animehaven.

2015 October 2ⁿᵈ. Avatar the Last Airbender?!

おはよう!

How is everyone today? Good, right?

*Crickets*

Well fine, I didn't want a response anyway.

But besides that, today, we get to look at a show that is more-or-less an anime, although I'd tend towards saying that it is not.
So here, today, is a sub-anime* review!
_{*Note, sub-anime is not actually subtitled. Also, ha-ha-ha, Mr. Elmore! I'll use .gifs if I want to!} 

You lost me.

今日

Now, this is an sub-anime (Let's just call it a sanime for now) that I first watched when I was very young. Back then, it was absolutely great. However, I recently watched it again, and...
It was still great.

What were you expecting? ...To be honest, you were probably still expecting that. It wasn't too big a of plot twist, or anything. But that's beside the point.

Very, very young.

 This sanime is fun, it's silly, it is just fantastic.
Some would consider it overrated, and that also holds truth; this sanime isn't the best thing in the world, either. But it has good memories with me, so the bias is palpable.
So let's get off of the terrible job I am doing of explaining any-and-everything, and go back to the "Sanime" part.
I consider this a sub-anime in that it is not really from Japan (ｱﾆﾒ) but it still carries a similar style.
This show is moreso a cartoon; it was created by a pair of Americans, and aired on the network Nickelodeon. It is also based on a Chinese setting. All of the text in the show is in Chinese hanzi and it follows more along Hinduism and non-Zen Buddhism types of themes.
Furthermore, it has Chinese architecture and names. But I don't really think that I need to prove it's Chinese-ity to you any more than I already have (i.e. far too much).

Some things to consider while watching through this sanime are:

1. This show was made for children.
2. This show is, as of the time of this post, 10 years old.
3. You probably don't need to believe everything you hear about this show; just watch it.

Also, expanding on 1., Avatar was made for children, so it will have puns, no mature language, etc. However, it does have an increased element of maturity in the nature of the final episodes.

Onto point 3., some people love this show to death, and would wish it to be raised to the heavens and venerated. Some people don't feel too much for it. And some people are the usual hipsters; those people who are always trying to hate something much beloved to be different (We all know those people). And some people just plainly dislike it (But don't really say much else). So many theatrical opinions just cloud the actual quality of the show—which, again, I find to be exceptional—and will usually cause just some general augur to it.

Now, as you've been expecting, here is the link on Crunchyroll--
Oh, wait, this show isn't on Crunchyroll. Because it's a sanime and all.
So, you can find it here, on Animehaven.
Here's the show on this strange site, "Legend of Korra TV", and I'm not providing a link on Nick because of its debilitatingly terrible webpage design.

2015 September 21ˢᵗ. Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka De!

おはよう!

Everyone'd better be having a good day today!   ...Or else.

Today it'll be an anime review yet again. I'm really slacking on reading manga for this.

An NNoAnime post?!

今日

 This time, the anime I'll be grinning at is called Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de, which has quite a few translations that are very different – so I'll go ahead and list them all.

• Crunchyroll calls the anime When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
• Nearly everyone else calls it Inou Battle Within Everyday Life
• I have heard whispers elsewhere of it being called Inou-Battle in the Usually Daze.*

Since these are so inconsistent, and the last one just sounds awful, I'll just go by the untranslated Japanese name.

*This title, however, more often is referring to the light novel version of this anime.

 Despite the imposing and flashy titles that would make you think of explosions and magic,

And though there are both explosions and magic

the most focused-on and important part of this anime is actually friendship.
-Cough- A.K.A., a harem. -Cough-

This is what you'll be seeing a lot of.

 Surprisingly, even though that style of a plot was entirely not-what-I-had-signed-up-for, I thought the anime was alright. Quite good, even. It was fairly intriguing to watch through, especially with the explosions and whatnot every once in a while to keep my unsophisticated mind entertained.

Oooh, look at the pretty wind.

 I'm sure to someone with different tastes than I it could be an even better time than I would know.

If it sounds like I am being pessimistic about the quality of this, trust me, I don't mean to. I like this anime a lot – it's great.

 If this sounds like an anime you would be interested in, (or even if it doesn't,) you can check it out

Here, on Crunchyroll.

Also here, on Kissanime; and here, on Animehaven.

2015 September 18ᵗʰ. Chaika –The Coffin Princess–

おはよう!

Joy-filled dawn, (noon, or dusk), everyone!

This day will have the second evaluation of an anime. How wonderfully consistent!

今日

 Today, I will be evilly cackling at calmly evaluating an anime called Hitsugi no Chaika; translated most commonly as Chaika, the Coffin Princess.Hitsugi no Chaika is based off of a manga, that was based off of a light novel, that was in turn based on Ichirō Sakaki's imagination, which was based off of his brain chemistry, which was based off of his genetic makeup, which...

*Three hours later*

...But that's besides the point.

 This anime has a lot of magic! It has so much magic in fact, that the entire plot revolves around finding magical items of great power (though not in the way you'd think!)

However, I love this anime mostly because of its characters.

Delicious fish.

They are quite strange, but that makes them very unique! I can honestly say I've never seen a character quite so bizarre as Frederica (above), or as silly as Chaika herself.

I would like the chance to play poker with her.

 But wait, did I mention there is also a cat?

I agree, Chaika. I agree.

 That's right. Now go. Watch it. You know you want to.

 I liked this anime quite a bit. It was fun to watch, and I've not even had the time to watch its second season! I'm looking forward to watching it soon, though. But, alas, now you try.
Link to Chaika the Coffin Princess on Crunchyroll
Links on Kissanime, and Animehaven.