Bleach - Ichigo and Uryuu, bonded back to back

First off, I don't get the title. They were not fighting side by side or back to back. They were in two separate but close areas. For the majority of the episode I was wondering when is the real fight going to begin. When?! Ishida's fighting with Yammy was lack luster. I don't like Ishida that much, he's relativly weak, but he uses strategy which redeems him. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to just see a bunch of strong characters with absolutely no strategy, that gets tiring, but I do wish Ishida was just a little more powerful.

Okay so the episode starts off with where it left off, with Ishida making his entrance and shooting Yammy in the shoulder. Yammy is imensely strong as seen in current manga, albeit in his released form, still I feel it's not sufficent enough of an excuse to pardon his expression. Really it was that painful? Ishida's arrows aren't that powerful. He relies more on strategy, placing, and multitude. Why this arrow has left Yammy in pain surprises me. Maybe it's surprise I'm seeing.



Ishida fightings with him on a floor below Ichigo and Ulq. and beats yammy by luring him into sprenger. The large explosion leaves Yammy in a beaten but not out state. Ishida warns him to not move, but he does anyway and steps on a mine and is sent down through several levels to the basement.

Rukia is still fighting forever multiplying guy and is having a very hard time.  She got easily tired out but luckily for her and us, because we all love Rukia, she gets help. From Renji and Sado. That's all that we really see of this fight. I would have prefered to see more of this and less of Ishida vs Yammy. It was just frustrating for me.  I probably could have done without Inoue too. She didn't do much this episode besides say. "Ishida-kun" and "Kurosaki-kun" It seems to be the only things she knows to say. Is she like two years old? I can't take with KT is doing with her in the anime or the manga. She's so powerful yet so emotionally weak not to mention she has an inferiority complex. Get over it! Unleash your true power, and move on from Ichigo!! Is all I can think. I yell at my screen sometimes.

Anyway, the real highlight of the show came and went rather quickly, it was enough for me though. I was happy. Ichigo finally went hollow, and began to really go for it. Ulq relized it was time to break the ceiling and release. Espadas 4 and up can't release within Las Noches. Then we got some kickass fighting. Not really, more like kickass Ulq's release, which was enough for me.

The green and black weird freaky rain was a nice effect and when it was over. BAM ULQ.
And that's how it ended. Now lets see some pictures of Inoue throughout the episode. One of them within two minutes of it starting and the other in like 10-15.

Why this weird expression of Huh and what? The second one is when she's watching Kurosaki. I can't stand it! She could go around and reject something ever existed. Reject ulq and he's gone, but whatever, hopefully KT makes her more interesting or makes her not so emotionally pathetic.




That's all

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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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Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao - Episode 1

I started this anime today. It's really good, funny, and interesting. I just watched the first episode and I'm going to watch the other 3 today. So far I like it very much. 

At the start of the series we see a woman dropping off a covered baby in what seems to be a church. I'm not sure who the baby is as of yet but I think it's safe to assume it's Akuto Sai

The main character of the series is Akuto Sai a young man whose just transferred to Konstantin Magical Academy. Transfer students are rare as the series says and for Akuto Sai to be part of the school must mean he's exceptional. 

He meets a girl, Junko Hattori while he is on his way to the train that goes to the school. He begins helping an old woman who dropped her things and while he is helping her Hattori appears and attacks him thinking he is trying to harass her grandmother. The grandmother explains then Hattori apologize although it isn't a very heartfelt one. 

While on the train they swear that they will make the world a better place. Akuto Sai's ambition is to be a high priest, A popeish figure in the series. Hattori is taken aback and first and tells him he can't make a single mistake, even littering is enough to disqualify him, but he is determined. When they arrive at school they hope Akuto Sai is in homeroom 1-a, the same as Junko Hattori and they go their separate ways. Akuto is met by Mitsuko Torii, the doctor and researcher of the school, who also happens to be the teacher of homeroom 1-a.

Akuto is sent into another room where other transferred students are located and a magical mechanical bird that tells students what their future occupations are to be. The bird has a great track record and always picks to correct job and the job the student has always wanted; however, that is not the case for poor Akuto Sai

He is chosen to be the demon lord! Poor Akuto Sai who wanted to be a high priest is destined to become the second coming of the demon lord, the man who caused much destruction 100 years ago. From then on, as you can see from the picture above, everyone becomes terrified, except for one boy. Hiroshi Miwa, Akuto's self proclaimed minion. 

An annoyed Junko challenges Akuto to a duel. She felt betrayed and fooled and believes Akuto's real aim wasn't to be a high priest but to be the demon lord. While they are fighting Akuto releases a powerful explosion which destroys the classroom despite Mitsuko creating a type of barrier around them. Junko beaten is laying on the floor unconscious.

Later in the episode Akuto uses Hiroshi's advice and sneaks around the back of the girls dorm and climbs up to Junko's window so he can apologize. This doesn't go over well as other students yell that they heard they tried to commit suicide together and other ridiculous accusations. Junko jumps out and begins to attack him again. He runs into the forest and is met by Keena Soga　who apparently loves his body. The episode ends with Junko in a murderous frenzy launching an attack and Keena jumping to protect Akuto. As she holds on to Akuto's body he releashes another explosion, this one, massive since it's not held back by a barrier like the first one. Again we see Junko laying unconscious. When another girl, Korone, a observer, appears.

From what I've seen this anime holds great promise. The story is fun and engaging and if you like harem, this seems to be the way to go. If you don't like harem  but like magic and comedies, you should consider watching it.

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Akira - 1988 - Movie Mondays

I told my friend that I started a blog about my anime and manga adventures. She told me that I couldn't start a blog of this kind without having seen Akira, and so I have watched Akira.

I haven't seen many animated movies but I can say without a doubt, Akira is one of the best  I've seen. From the start to the end there is a great deal of action, and I love action! The whole movie I was like “oooo, ahhh, hmmm, cool, COOL, hmm, ooo, OOOOO, OOOOOH, WHAT?!!!!, DUDE OH MY GOD AWESOME, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!, OMG IT'S GROWING, aww.”

The Story.

Akira is centered in an alternate universe where everyone has innate special abilities, teleportation, strength, telekinesis, telepathy, and so on. At the start of the movie we see Tokyo enveloped in a white light, which destroys everything in its area. Soon we’re introduced to Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang, The Capsules. During a fight with a rival gang, The Clowns, hell breaks loose. A child possessing a severely aged face, white hair and sickly skin is walking with a man who is seems to be  trying to protect him, the man is gunned down by the government’s army leaving the elderly looking boy to scream, creating a wave of destruction. Kaneda decides it is best to leave and starts off with his gang in toe. Tetsuo gets separated and runs into the special elderly looking child. The child does something and there is an explosion. Tetsuo, wounded and weak, lays on the floor as another similarly aged child, but this one fat, appears and takes the other child. Tetsuo is taken away and whisked into testing. He manages to get out and steals Kaneda's bike, taking Kaori with him. Kaori likes Tetsuo and appears shy. Tetsuo; however, doesn’t feel the same and often tells her to shut up and go away. While Tetsuo and Kaori are making their escape to wherever they encounter some clowns, the rival gang. Kanade in bravado style swoops in with some of his mates and rescues Tetsuo. This is the first time we get to see the sadistic side of Tetsuo as he pummels one of the captured clowns relentlessly. He would have killed him if Kanade didn't interject. Tetsuo begins to have memories which don't seem to be his, clutching his head he falls to the ground, soon the government comes in and takes him back to the testing facility.

Tetsuo is soon provoked whilst sleeping by several Espers, (elderly looking men/women children with grey/green/purplish skinned children things that were experimented on at a young age) at the end of this Tetsuo unleashes his power killing everyone who is in sight to make it to the baby room where #25, who can tell the future, is.

From here on the story progresses. We find out more about Akira and what Akira is and what his energy can do and such. It's very interesting and highly action packed. The fights were engaging and the abilities were fun to watch.

Let's talk characters for a brief moment.

Akira: Not much to say about this one. One very very very very very powerful boy. He doesn't have much background story or much present story in the movie.

Kaneda is the  main character and leader of the biker gang, capsules. He's pretty tough, as most biker gang leaders tend to be, and he's a nice character. I liked him. He seems just like a normal person making the best of the bad situation.

Tetsuo is the supporting character. In the beginning he's introverted and has an inferiority complex. Later in the movie he becomes an all out maniac! Love it. Disliked him until the end. He didn't care at all about friends or loyalty and only wanted power, but I loved what was done with him.  He's the cause of the majority of action.

The Espers are other kids who along with Akira were being tested. They are stuck in child like form but their faces and body age normally which means they look like elderly children. Often with white/pale hair and pale skin that's covered in wrinkles.

Like I said I'm keeping the list short, I don't see the point in talking about all the other roles.

Rating:

5/5

Big blob alone is worth 5/5

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Welcome

Okay so this is my first post. YAY!!!

Okay so, yeah, this blog is going to be mostly about anime and manga that I've come across. I like all types of anime and manga so there is going to be a lot for me to say, hopefully

I'm also very big on music, mostly Japanese alternative, pop, and rock with a bit of dance trance and techno. I will be posting music reviews and recommendations sometime in the future.

So that's all for now and I'll start blogging seriously later this week, or maybe tomorrow!