2016 March 25ᵗʰ. Nanbaka!

おはよう!

Haha, I bet you forgot this blog was also for manga, didn't you? You should've read the fine print!
As said in my soulless and awkward first post: This blog is for "somewhat-vague reviews of anime series* [...]"
..."*And some manga, too. Maybe. Possibly."
So there you have it. Just don't ask why it took thirty weeks and a day for the first one to show up.
I'm serious. Don't.
I'm on to you.

Calne Ca sees you preparing to ask and does not approve.

今日

So, so, so! Our manga—oh what a world, to say that in a post—today is one known as Nanbaka.
As far as I am aware, only one volume of this manga exists, being volume #01.
It is, then, a relatively quick read. And I do recommend it.
It amused me considerably, and by the end left me wanting more. Please, let there be more ;-;
One thing that preoccupied me a bit through the--
Well, through the entire manga really, was the characters' genders.
Let me spare you the time. They are all male. All of them*. But, anyhow, they are still cute little prisoners, so have of it what you will.
(*) Except warden Momoko. And maybe the cat, Kuu.
Anyhow, as I had mentioned, they are prisoners. This manga is focused on four inmates by the names of Jyugo, Uno, Nico, and Rock, all being held in Nanba penitentiary.
Jyugo, I might add, is the only one of Japanese ethnicity among them, and has rather fabulous eyes.
But that's going off-track. The reasons this manga amused and entertained me were mainly because of the personalities of the characters, their massively inappropriate behaviour for the circumstances, and the book's great, colourful art style.
...Which I cannot exactly be generous with providing due to certain legal issues.

Some great hair. Sidenote, these characters all look very Japanese.
And remember:
All males.

I am not the wisest at the moment on where to look for manga viewing platforms, but for the best I can do:
If you'd like to read this manga, or at least try to read this manga,
Here it is on Crunchyroll. Yes, Crunchyroll has manga. Unfortunately, it requires a membership to view It seems to be perfectly accessible to all users, and Crunchyroll has exclusive licensing for this series.
For an eerily incomplete MyAnimeList page on this manga, go on to here.
That's the best I can do at this point. Apologies. When this manga is easier to find, definitely try it.
Now, see ya'!

2016 March 11ᵗʰ. Death Parade, Again!

おはよう!

Hi, humans. Just so you know in advance, I won't be posting next week, as I'm going to be away, visiting my girlfriend Acin, a distance of the length of Great Britain from my computer.

Oh well, see ya' on the 24^th or so.

Promise me you won't do anything horrible while I'm gone!

Oh, we promise!

今日

Just amazing. I should do typesetting.

Hello, hello. Here we have, again, Death Parade. You may remember this anime from a couple weeks ago—you may also remember I had said I would be doing a review of it.
Well, here I am.
But wait! There's more!
This review, (though really more like an impression post), will be split into two or three parts, this being the first.
This post will be over episodes 1–4. The following posts will be mainly over their sections, but may also tie back into these.
THAT BEING SAID,
This anime is pretty good.
At first, you see, I thought it was terrible. Mindless, slightly psychological-thriller gore or something. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked second episode came.
Well, the second episode still wasn't much. But the third episode was really nice.
This anime has, so far, brought me to some tears. Some of the themes of death by the fourth episode really hit me, for some reason.

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” –Edgar Allan Poe.

Ahem, well, anyways.

Aw, Decim, you do have a heart!

So far, the first and last predictions I made on the first post over this have kind of half come true. There seems to be a human, (Or, at least a former human.), though it is unclear as to whether or not there is yet any main character.
And for the first one, it seems as though some emotion is contained in Decim.
How cute.

But anyhow,
As far as themes go, this anime gets quite a bit of liberty with what they'd like to talk about. They can pull any character with any backstory out from the aether at any time, and it's totally appropriate. So far, the things they've touched on are, well, touching to me. If you have a heart, and/or an emotionally difficult life, you'll find something in this anime to be taken good, or bad. It's up to you.
This is confusing. I shouldn't be writing right before midnight, anyhow.
Anyhow, I'll see you next time with more Death Parade. Or not. Depends on what is posted next-next week. Either way, I wish you a good 10–15 days. Farewell!
Now, if you'd like to watch this anime yourself, it is not on Crunchyroll. So, below are three links to the show on other decent anime streaming sites.
Here is the link for Kissanime. Here for Animehaven, and here, Gogoanime.

Postscript:
I'm not even linking to Funimation for this anymore. They have some ridiculous member sign up with an age restriction for this. I just want to watch the dang show, people! I don't want to join your sh*t!

2016 March 4ᵗʰ. Anime Matsuri!

おはよう!

An interim post here, the next real one will be Death Parade. But this was too exciting! I needed to share this.

Excitement!

今日

As it happens, last weekend, the 27-28th of February, an anime convention was held in Houston, Texas. It also just so happens that I was attending said convention, and it sure was a great time!

Danganronpa's famous pink blood.
This scene was shown,
But the blood was blue. Things got weird.

First off, there were some great panels. Among them were some silly occurrences such as Funimation's projector breaking as to not show any red-- (Blue blood everywhere! Is this really Danganronpa?), someone accidentally dropping a set of incredibly intricate wooden laser-cut wheels onto the hard ground while being they were passed around for a prop-making panel, and one panel straight-up being about breakdancing. It was awesome.
Secondly, there was an amazing Cosplay Contest held; it was incredibly difficult to get any quality pictures of the contestants, however sadly. As such there'll be none. But, to the third thing, everyone was cosplaying! It was wonderful to just walk around the convention center, as you'd be sure to find someone who would bring joy to your eyes or laughter to your heart.
Among the attendees of this convention, some characters I managed to find count to be the following:

An entire clan of Naruto cosplayers! ...And a Sailor!

The famous cosplayers from Japan, Kaname and Goldy as Ichigo and Alphonse Elric respectively.

(You either know who this is supposed to be, or you don't.)

And, finally, a suspiciously pretty Kaito!

All in all, it was great fun for the whole time. I hope that I can convince you, now, to go to next year's Anime Matsuri celebration should you have the means. It will be fabulous.
Next year, (2017), the convention is to be held April 7-9, at the same venue in Houston. Find out more here, on their site, whenever it may be updated. 

2016 February 26ᵗʰ. Death Parade!

おはよう!

Well, I mean...
For next week I have planned to do this same anime again, but as a review. I had been told by my friend, who suggested this to me to begin with, that it is not, in fact, entirely about killing unborn children with darts. Plus, the first episode only had one of the several main-looking characters in the opening.
So, I'll get a chance to laugh at how wrong I am about something! Finally!

今日

Hello. Is it me you're looking for?
Ahem, I mean, *excited yet incredibly serious tone*, today's anime is Death Parade.

Decim, the boring.

Its name in Japanese is "Desu Pareedo," which is not incredibly exciting; just a transliteration into Japanese of the English title.
Anywho, what happened in this one episode I saw was that some couple unwittingly decided which of them could go to heaven and which to hell over a game of darts, with many dramatic plot twists and dead babies along the way. Obviously, if this was the whole show, I'd go straight to a 2/10 rating, (Didn't I used to do those? Ratings?) but luckily its true purpose is totally unestablished by the first episode. Hooray?
With knowing practically nothing about this show, then, I shall list off some predictions to hopefully correct later.

• Decim, the bartender arbiter-of-the-damned fellow, will probably have some sort of confrontation that changes how he feels about his patrons
• If he has coworkers, they must take turns or something with different sets of games.
• Rules of a game will be broken. At least once.
• There'd better be at least one human who stays in limbo with them, maybe they could be the main character.

Anyhow, this post is just terrible since I really don't want to talk about what actually happened in the episode, y'know, since I was warned it was irrelevant and all.
So, with all that, I'm out of here.
If you want to beat me to watching the rest of this, perhaps, here is the link on Crunchy--
Oh, wait, no it's not. Because Funimation took exclusive streaming rights in America. Again. God bleep it.
Here on Kissanime, and here on Animehaven.

2016 February 19ᵗʰ. No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys' Fault I’m Not Popular!

おはよう!

Whelp, I've exhausted my to-see anime list. That went by waaaay faster than I thought it would. Now, then, there was one anime I had really wanted to do an impression of, but held off since I had promised the others, but now...
...I forgot what it was.
Dang, I feel old. My last birthday was only a couple weeks ago; I'm already feeling the years piling on...

You whippersnappers get off my blog!

今日

This one, I thought I'd love this one.
Nooooope.
The protagonist's name is Tomoko. Kuroki Tomoko. I thought she looked like a fairly cute little loli in what pictures I'd seen of the show, but now that I've watched it, I am just... Disturbed. Yes.
Now, to business. This anime's full title in Japan is Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!, translated into English as No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! Which is quite a mouthful, no matter where you come from. In light of that, it has been given the wonderfully succinct nickname of Watamote. Thank dog.
This anime seems to be about the tribulations of one socially awkward girl, fresh into highschool, who struggles with the fact that she can't seem to get herself to become popular. I wouldn't say that the show is cringe-worthy, because that seems quite unfair. It's clearly hyperbole on modern asocial or introverted behaviour, which is actually quite severe in Japan. But, the anime did make me uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable. I, myself, used to be incredibly introverted, and still am to a good degreee; but the kind of humour used in the show reminds me of a few morally darker, real people that I know. It made me feel strange indeed.

Muttering out a tiny "Goodbye." Seems about right.

Including my slightly shifted perspective on it, I didn't really like Watamote much at all; though some parts did make me laugh, I think the humour just wasn't for me.

I, for one, have many a-times gone to check out something I've heard negative reviews of; simply because I know the large difference between the reviewer and I, and some of the things they hated just sound devilishly good to me. In this, I hope that some of you will check out this show as well; since I'm just being a strange, grumpy Cire over it.

There are parodied brands all over this anime, it's great.

Or, maybe, if you're sensitive or do not at all enjoy tongue-in-cheek humour, you won't check it out, and I may have saved you some time in your day.
Either way, I can hardly stop whatever your heart desires, so here's the link on Crunchyroll.
Here on Kissanime, and here on Animehaven.

2016 February 12ᵗʰ. Free!

おはよう!

Ah. Ha ha. I did not have this in mind back in October. Free!, of all things.
Though by this point I think my mind's already as shattered as Link's personalities, so nothing makes sense anymore.
On another note, I've been starting way too many sentences with the word "So" recently. I think I've been cursed.

今日

So!
...Dang it
Today's anime is the oh-so-popular and not-at-all controversial Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club, (as the first season is known). Watching this, I felt all sorts of perplexed. But let's not get into that; the anime seemed okay. From the first episode, all I can really say is that further testing is necessary. (Well, all I can say besides the rest of this). Rin, the purple-haired boy you see in the .gif yonder seems to be quite the dynamic character so far, leaving the largest gap between his childhood and the present. Presumably, further on in the anime, we'll learn all about his four-or-so years of sexual abuse by his Australian swim coach. I can't wait~!

Er, on another, more technical note, this show has nice graphics. And I don't just mean nice 'views,' (if you're into that), the show actually has a nice mix of good animation and the occasional computer-generated bit. It invoked intense feelings best described, ironically, as 'Not bad.' Honestly, it's 4:30 AM early on a Friday as I write this and I have no idea what I'm talking about anymore. I'm just going to end this here.
If you want to see this show, (I liked it oωo) here's the--
WAIT A MINUTE
I just... I entirely forgot to mention at all what this anime was about. Here's the rundown:
Some child swimming-prodigy, Nanase, seems to have a rivalry brewing with his friend and former grade school swimming-clubmate, Rin. Some neat stuff occurs and the entirety of Nanase and Rin's old club happens to meet up in a new, fancy highschool. about four years later. Fanservice-y shenanigans ensue. ...And swimming. Mostly swimming.
SO!
...Dang it
If you've any desire to see something that sounds even remotely like that, then here's the link on Crunchyroll.
Remember, the first season is Iwatobi Swim Club, at the bottom of the page on Crunchyroll. The second is called Eternal Summer. That being said, here's the link on Kissanime, and here on Animehaven. Have fun!

Postscript: Animehaven has started to use pop-up ads that open in new windows when you first get on the site, and I am just about ready to rip the [ᴇxᴘʟᴇᴛɪᴠᴇ] off of whoever originally thought that would be a good idea as an advertising mechanism.
...Now have a good day. See ya'.

2015 February 5ᵗʰ. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

おはよう!

*In monotone* "Hi, I'm Cire, and I'm addicted to anime…"
*Rest of group, in unison* "Hi Cire."

今日

So!
Today's anime happens to be the wonderfully succinctly-named Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka, known to most English speakers as Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, or simply abbreviated to DanMachi.
For the sake of the eyes and hearts of the people I hold dear, I will use in this the quick "DanMachi." Sound good?

I could have never seen this nice, pretty crystal!

Now! Onto the good stuff!
First things first: This post is a bit of a misnomer in its typing, Impression, as I have actually been exposed to this project before—when I read the light novels.
That said, I did only read the first two light novels. When I had heard there was an anime adaptation coming for it, I was quite excited. Though it did surprise me greatly that the entirety of the first two novels is covered in the first two episodes. So, of course, I stopped watching so I could catch up with the books before I continued.
Sliiiiiight problem with that: I never went back and read the rest.
Just to think—I may've never have seen the beautiful Loli goddess in GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR! The humanity!
But, I digress.

Bell: a name, befitting, that
strikes fear into the hearts of all.

DanMachi! This is an anime about the adventurer Bell Cranel, the sole member of the dirt-poor clan of the goddess Hestia.
His power is dubious at best. He likely could not be invited into any of the more established guilds, such as that of Loki…
It's not told in the books, to my memory, nor in the anime how he joined the "Familia"—guild—of Hestia. We can all come to our own conclusions on that. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
But, as it seems, he is quite attached to his rank. I can appreciate that loyalty. The story begins, however, with an encounter by Bell with a dangerous monster. Oh no, the horror!

This beastie, the Minotaur, is the first we see of the creatures of the Dungeon. And, presumably, for some, the last they see; as it seems to be far beyond the capabilities of Cranel to handle. Not that that's saying much, but still…
Luckily, some seemingly deus-ex-machina bullsh*t (No pun intended) happens, and Bell gets out of it mostly unscathed.
The story progresses nice and smoothly,

Magical crystals are collected, lolis are begrumped. The usual. Until, suddenly…

CATGIRLS?!

Not this scheisse again... Er, I mean, oh my gosh. Wonderful. Cue my imminent seizures of joy.

To save you from having to see or hear that, I now present you with an ultimatum:
Walk away now, or take this link, to watch the show on Crunchyroll.

Here are the links on Kissanime, and on Animehaven.