Working!! - Episode 1 - Review/Summary

Summary:

It beings with the main character Poplar Taneshima greeting two customers. In the kitchen we find out that they need to hire and new cook. They send Taneshima  out to do the work. She asked all her friends at school but they all turn her down and she posted an ad but noone responded. While she was running through the street she bumps into the other main Character Souta Takenashi who Taneshima often calls Katanashi. He mistakes her for a grade schooler and ask where her parents are, she tells him and begins to tell him the family business, the resturant, needs a part time worker. He thinks it's a make beleive resturant. Taneshima pulls out her school ID which shows her as 17 and makes her Takenashi's sempai. Takenashi seems bothered at first that she's oldedr than him but so small. He thinks whether it's acceptable for him to like her being that she looks 12 but is really 17. He decides it is and begins work

At his first day of work he introduces himself to Taneshima and Shirafuji Kyouko (the assistant manager who's scary looking). Taneshima begins to train him but because she is so small she has to ask for help from others. When placing cups and trying to pick up dishes to put in the wash she's quite pathetic.

While in the back one day the other workers and the assistant manager tell him that if he has a love affair she'll have to schedule them so they don't work together.  Takanashi denies that it will ever happen because he simply love small things and he rather would think of himself as Taneshima's father. He then starts naming small things and equates Taneshima to a Daphinia, they decide he's really weird.

While Takanashi and Kyouko are in the kitchen he ask her how old she is. When she says 28 he says she's quite old. Kyouko gets pissed and makes sure he works 7 days a week. She teases him saying "you're quite young". Takanashi doesn't understand why she's doing this to him until he beings to speak to Taneshima who points it out. During that conversation we find out that anything above 12 is too old.  Later in the episode a couple boys are picking on Taneshima, Kyouko kicks one them in the chest. One of the cooks passes Takanashi her cell phone so he can bring it to her. She makes a call tellling whoever she is talking to, to take all their money.

The episode ends when Takanashi gets to work with Inami Mahiru, whose androphobic. She attacks Takanashi instantly. The whole time they never met because Kyouko tried to keep them separate but she apparently messed up.

Review:

Love it so far. It's funny funny and airy. It's been a while since I've watched an anime like this. I guess it's like chobits without the supernatural stuff. At least that's my first impression. It was a fun watch and I really look forward to watching more.

Character thoughts:

Taneshima: Funny, cute, oblivious, and naive.  It's just fun to watch her interactions with the other characters.

Takanashi is fun. He seems very kind hearted and seems to have a loli fetish. Since apparently anything above 12 is too old .

jun satou and Hiroomi Souma: Jun Satou seems the cool type and Hiroomi Souma seems fun and talkative. Didn't seem much of them in this episode so not much to say.

Kyouko: Easily one of my favorite characters right now.

Bleach 404 - Deicide 6 - Review/Summary

Summary:

Aizen starts speaking to Yoruichi, Urahara, and Isshin, about how he's going to kill them pretty much. There is some mild comedy about Yoruichi's shoe which dissapeared wich much have been special because her whole leg didn't get cut off when Aizen countered in the last chapter.  Yoruichi waits for Aizen to attack and when he does she is surprised by it. A huge pillar of whatever happens when he hits her and we cut to Ichigo and Gin.

Gin comes up behind Ichigo telling him that he's open but that he should just relax and watch the fight, saying that since Aizen gone all hyogoku there is no hope.  Ichigo says that he doesn't know what'll happen to him with Aizen like that. Gin taunts him saying he's admitted he'll be dead and has given up.

Gin begins to attack Ichigo with his uber long sword which goes back to normal size in at instant. He uses a new attack which, if we go by it's name, extends multiple swords. This prompts Ichigo to go hollow. We then see Kira lying on the ground and Rangiku running to see gin.

Thoughts:

Slow moving but good chapter. Aizen didn't really say anything exciting or new to really justify the lack of action but it was still a good chapter. I'd like to point out that in my last post about the bleach manga, the last picture showed Aizen fused together with his sword. Exactly what happened this week? He's suddenly unfused with it with no explanation as to what just happened? Gin and Ichigo's fight was okay for me. I really love Gin and I'm happy to see him fight now. His personality is just fun. Kira in this chapter I don't mind but Rangiku I don't like very much. I haven't been much of a Rangiku fan since I first started watching bleach. I don't know what it is about her, but I don't get why she's so high rank when she really doesn't seem to be that strong. Then again I haven't seen many strong people from Toshiro's squad except for Toshiro himself.

Oh well. Next week I feel it's going to be a talk chapter with Aizen and Isshins crew, and Rangiku and Gin. Not really looking forward to it, unless there are some new revalations. Hopefully Rangiku doesn't go there and go all. "we were friends!" That'll really get to me.

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Bleach - Deicide 5 - Chapter 403

Summary:

This chapters starts with the massive explosion of Aizen's own reiatsu. Everyone is shocked by the attack but Urahara tells them basically that, that's not all it'll take. Aizen comes back in his new weird alien looking fully Hogyoku and says that if  he wasn't his new self that he would have been defeated. Urahara draws his sword and Isshin attacks Aizen, who by the way, is of course very fast. They manage to get chains around his and race to either side. Aizen takes this as childs play saying "what mockery is this"! This made way for the entrance of YORUICHI!!! Who lands on top of him blasting him with what looks to be her signature, shunko. Awesome explosion, probably the best entrance I've seen. Of course nothing is over because this is Aizen we're talking about. He comes back and attacks Yoruichi taking some of the frabric off her foot. it ends with Aizen saying he's going to crush each one of them. Also he's still evolving, on the last page his sword is merged with him.

Thoughts:

Lovely chapter, love the action, and I loved Yoruichi's entrance. Easily one of my favorite entrances, and I'm not just saying that because I love Yoruichi. It was a very entertaining chapter. I'm just wondering when is Aizen going to stop evolving. Can't wait till next week.

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Doubt - Chapter 2 - Game Start

Summary:

It starts with Rei's dead body staked to the wall, just how it ended in chapter 1. The boy with the glasses they figure out is Hajime. He was suppose to show up to the meeting in chapter 1 but the location was changed and he missed them, so he said. Haruka comes into the room and meets the group. She was behind a locked door in the dark, thanks to her fumbling around she managed to somehow scan her barcode, which was placed there by whoever took them, and opened the door. They all find their barcodes and figure out they're used to open doors. Yuu asked about everyones memories but no one remembers anything.

Yuu and Hajime decide to go explore a bit and run into a dark room with some stairs. As they go down they run into a very creepy looking Eiji who was holding a flashlight. Eiji was already down there and just happened to find the flashlight at the same time Yuu was looking for one. They attacked Eiji and ran out of the room. Once they were back in the room Eiji showed up. Who also didn't remember anything.

A text message comes in on Rei's phone and Yuu goes to get it, Eiji snatches the phone away from him saying he wants to make a call, but there is no signal. He opens the text message which says "game start". They argue for a moment with Hajime about whether this is really rabbit doubt or not and then the chapter ends with a very Sawish picture.

Thoughts:

I liked this chapter. I thought there would be more action but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed it and looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Bleach - Deicide 4 - Chapter 402

So I loved this chapter. I love Kisuke, he's one of my favorite characters if not my favorite character. I've been dieing to see him fight and finally he has!

Kisuke appears and after a short talk Aizen stabs him. Kisuke; however, used his balloon replacement which Aizen thought he wouldn't use since it's a "cheap trick". Whatever Aizen! Being able to control all aspects of a persons senses is probably a cheap but deadly trick.

From here on we get to see some cool kido techniques from Kisuke. I really enjoy when characters fight like this. It's a nice little break from "BANKAI! SLASH SLASH"  It was pretty fun to watch.

Kisuke binds Aizen then attacks him. I really do enjoy fights where no draw of the sword is necessary! After the smoke clears we see a new Aizen! Doesn't seem to be fully complete. Aizen gives Kisuke one hell of a slap when he gets back. Kisuke tells Aizen that he's become careless because of his new power, and Aizen agrees. Kisuke surprises him informing him that he's just sealed off the reiatsu that flows out of his palms. Meaning he will be attacked by his own reiatsu. Overall great chapter, I can't wait until next week. Aizen will be alive and hopefully we get to see a bankai out of Kisuke, that would be quite cool.

Ichigo and Gin made no advancements but both seem taken aback by Kisuke's strength. Hopefully next week doesn't focus back on Ichigo and Gin I want to see more of Kisuke and Aizen! Aizens new form looks like some weird hollow by the way.

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Azumana Daioh Review

I came upon this book one day when I was in borders looking for a new manga to read. I didn’t intend to read a comedy but I picked up Azumanga Daioh when I saw it. It stood out from the other books. It was much taller and wider than the others. The cover showed several girls displayed happily in school uniforms. One looking very serious, another looking confused, and two smiling and laughing as they walked towards their high school.

The Story

Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life story about several girls who go to the same High School. Much of the story takes place around:

Chiyo Mihama: A very intelligent girl who is very young and should be in middle school but advanced onto High School. In the manga and anime you never see her parents. Unless you count “Chiyo Chichi” or “Chiyo’s Dad”, which is a cat type creature that appeared in first in Sakaki’s dream claiming to be Chiyo’s father.

Her family is wealthy and live in a sizeable house. They also have a summer home where all the girls, and two of their teachers, stayed. She is very friendly and despite her being in High School she does act her age.

Tomo Takino:

Tomo was never one of my favorite characters. Overall she is energetic and obnoxious. She seems to go out of her way to annoy others. She seems rather daft throughout, which is why some of her classmates have no idea how she made it into the school She later explained she has the capability of doing whatever it is she wants if she only concentrates and studies hard.

Koyomi “Yomi” Mizuhara:

She is commonly referred to as just “Yomi”. She is the more serious of the characters but not too serious to the point where you don’t like her. She and Tomo have been friends for years and she was the inspiration for Tomo to “buckle down” and work to get into the High School. She is one of the more intelligent characters and despite that she failed her entrance exam (an exam taken to determine what college you go to).

Sakaki:

Sakaki is one of my favorite characters. She is why and soft spoken and hardly speaks to anyone but manages to befriends everyone. She is seen as very cool and everyone wishes they were more like her. She has quite the chest that all the girls envied and she is amazing in sports beating out most of the guys. She has a love for cats and cute things that can’t go unnoticed. There are just some problems. Cats hate her. Several times throughout the whole series she was attacked, bitten, scratched, and ganged up on, by cats. Which led to her brandishing band aids over her fingers much of the time, and her parents don’t allow cats for her mother is allergic She became great friends with Chiyo once Chiyo got a dog whose name is Mr. Tadakichi. To Sakaki’s (and my) amazement, the dog let her pet him, and that was the beginning of a relationship. Soon Sakaki was able to find love in a cat on a school trip she took down to Okinawa. She befriended an iromoto cat which she was sad to leave, but when the mother died due to a car accident the cat found it’s way to her.

Ayumu “Osaka” Kasuga:

Commonly known as Osaka, is a spaced out girl who can never seem to get things right. When she first arrived to the school she constantly said to herself that she had to “get it together” so much so that she’d get lost in her own chants and not pay attention. Somehow she manages to scrape on by to my amazement. She is one of the funniest characters, often very random and spontaneous making for great laughs. Within two pages of her introduction I was laughing. Without Osaka, Azumanga Daioh just wouldn’t be as funny.

Kagura:

Kagura is Sakaki’s was Sakakis rival, until she joined her class. They are both athletically talented and popular. Kagura has some of Tomo’s traits. She seems daft as times and is quite comedic.

Kaori:

Kaori isn’t a major character but she is worth mentioning. She has a huge crush on Sakaki which Sakaki is totally oblivious to for the most part. She goes crazy over anything that has anything to do with Sakaki and it if funny to read and watch.

There are two main teachers Yukari Tanizaki who is their English and homeroom teacher who is lazy and doesn’t really care about her students, and Minamo/Nyamo Kurosawa, who is a gym teacher and seems to care.

Yukari has a habit of saying and doing things she just isn’t suppose to. In the first episode of the anime, she was running late so she stole a students bike who stopped by to help her when hers broke. She invites herself to the girls vacations and is a bad driver who almost kills people. She is hilarious. She is pushy and bossy and likes to put people in uncomfortable situations for her enjoyment, which is evident in a few episodes where she is out with Nyamo. There is one more teacher, Kimura. He is the only regular male in the series, with the exception of the cat creature that claims to be Chiyo’s father. He is a pervert, plain and simple. He tries to sneak into the girls swimming classes and even requested a cup of pool water during a school festival when a cafe was set up.

There is no real storyline. All the characters simply co-exist and go to school and clash. There are four volumes and each one is amazing.

Manga or Anime, which is better?

I am an avid manga reader so my opinions on this may be a bit bias but I prefer the manga to the anime. There are many times in the manga where there are pauses which are comedic they usually take up 2-3 panels and never more. In the anime; however, these pauses can last from one to two minutes, which is just annoying. There was one episode that If I recall correctly only took up eight to ten pages but somehow took up 25 minutes in anime form. Whilst there are moments that do not convey well from manga to anime, there are some that do. There are also hilarious moments that do not show up in the manga but do in the anime, like when Kaori was dancing with Sakaki. It was tremendously hilarious and made me tear up with laughter. Something like that could not convey well in the manga. I recommend both reading and watching the anime, you’ll get the best of both.

Azumanga Daioh is a great coming of age story of several high school girls. It is amazingly funny and is one of my favorite manga to read if I am in the mood for a good laugh. I love the randomness that is the anime and manga series. I constantly smiled and laughed throughout. I highly recommend reading it and watching it. Or else!

5/5 for the story 

5/5 for the characters even though I don't like one, tomo.

5/5 for the settings

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