Tekken: The Motion Picture

Gosh, this movie is so ridiculous!I can totally understand why it's on Anime News Network's worst rated anime!! It has no plot and more than half of the film was still animation!! I don't even know the characters names!!
The film is only an hour long and I would say that they just wanted to put a load of fights scenes together with a bit of blood and girls. But that would only work if there was any good animation or art. So basically the whole movie is an hour of wasted time!!
Basically, the main guy is the son of some great fighting guy. So his father throws him off a cliff and orders him to climb back up. Once the little 8 year old (some how) manages to climb up the cliff he vows to take revenge against his father.He then ages a lot and comes back as an overly muscular man with bad hair. Instead of fighting his father in a normal context they decide to draw the plot out a bit more by have the man enter his fathers fighting competition. While this goes on there's a number of pointless sub-plots to distract you...  I mean ....er entertain you!

Lady Death

This movie is easily the worst thing I've reviewed since the invention of pie! I found it through a trailer on one of my animes but it isn't even an anime!!It an american animated film based of an american comic! So may be it just doesn't belong on my blog?
Anyway. Lady death is a film that tried to pull in all the aspects of the comics into an 80 minute film. Because of this the plot has ended up a bit dodgy and rushed. Apparently it's set in 15th Centuary Sweden but there isn't really an way of noticing! But it's obviously set in the olden days during a time of war.
Basically they have a really bad Kings who is sending the country into constant wars thus killing most the men of the country. The king has a daughter, Hope, who is madly in love with a young chap named Niccolo, who recently quite med school in hopes of  running away with Hope.

SHINee - Lucifer

I've never reviewed a CD before... But I thought it was worth a go! If it doesn't go well I'll just never do it again! If you actually read it all please tell me if I should do it again!

My friend, Tamzin, got a SHINee CD for her birthday. For those who don't know, SHINee is an all-boy, five member idol group under the SM ent. label. Which basically means they sing dance and look good. So I insisted she lend it to me.
As with most Kpop CD's it came with a decent size book with lots of good pictures in it. They all had similar effects (light leaks, doodles and ink splodges) but they where all done differently! Some of the photos have been made to look quite grainy, I think this was to go with the almost rustic look of the whole album, but I didn't like it! Most the photos were fine though. My favourites were the group photos as their outfits worked better as a group and the placing was well thought out!
So, now we actually get to talking about the music!

Zatoichi

Zatoichi is a classic in Japan. Starting as a minor character in a book he was soon brought a live in 1962. After that Zatoichi had a total of 26 films and a T.V. series with 100 episodes! This particular Zatoichi film is a remake from 2003.
Zatoichi is a blind old man who makes his living from giving massages and gambling. His pronounced sense of hearing helps him win all the gambles by being able to hear whether the dice landed even or odd. But underneath his old guy cover, Zatoichi is an amazingly skilled swords men. Using his uncanny sense of smell and hearing he defeats the oppressive Yakuza gangs.
The plot of this Zatoichi is made up of three main components. The first: On his journey, Zatoichi stumbles upon a village run by an abusive Yakuza gang. As Zatoichi takes up residence with an lonely lady he soon decides to demolish the gang and set the village free. The second part of the story resolves around a skilled Samurai whoses wife is very ill and needs money to cure her. Despite his wives hatred of killing, he takes up work as a body guard for the Yakuza. But whose the more skilled swordsman: Zatoichi or the Samurai?

Full Metal Panic!

My friend reccomened this to me aaaaaages ago but I only just picked it up. As the name suggests, it's a Shonen mecha. The very opening scene is a couple of soldiers in 'arms slaves' (Robot suits) blasting tanks apart to save a pretty girl. Is their anything more Mecha than that?
But it seems to then lose it's mecha title for the next 4 or 5 episodes. Sousuke, one of the Mithrils top soldiers, is set an important misson: secretly guard Kaname Chidori, the seemingly ordinary High School girl. To do this, Sagara Sousuke must transfer to Chidori's High School, while his comrades - Kurz Webber and Melissa Mao - follow her around in slightly more invisible methods. But the problem is, Sousuke has never attended High School. How was he supposed to know that carrying guns around school is against the rules? As such he becomes known as the military geek.
However, when Mithril defeat the enemy base does Kaname need her body guard any more? But Sousuke still has a school trip to attend and it's a good thing he does as well becasue as it turns out the enemy ended up hi-jacking the plane to kidnap Kaname. The Mecha returns, tanks everywhere, Slave arms fighting face-to-face and explosions EVERYWHERE! Sousuke has been ordered to protect the hostages over Kaname, but what about all those memories of Kaname? It's a heartwarming tale of over-coming challenges for your friends/lovers/mission objective.

Buso Renkin

This anime is quite curious. It starts with a really interesting opening scene which made me immediately look forward to the episode (it's not often that the main character dies within the first 5 minutes of an anime), and the whole episode was just very well planned out. They inserted plenty of humour and just the right amount of cheesy-ness to complement well drawn scenes of monsters and fighting.
It's based around the concept of Alchemy and Homunculus (insert full metal alchemist reference her), in this particular plot Homunculus are the result of attempts at artificial life resulting in a man-eating beast and Alchemy is a special power used to fight of the Homunculus.
When Kazuki tries to save the seemingly defenceless girl, Tokiko, from one of theses deadly Homunculus he very quickly ends up dead. But, Tokiko decides to revive her saviour by giving him the power of alchemy.

Akira

The six giant Akira books my dad left for me in my room did originally appear rather intimidating, but I got through them in just a few days so I am now writing a review of it just as my dad requested! But I must warn you, it''s NOT getting the six pie that my dad said it should!

The start is rather uninteresting. Biker gangs and gang rivalry don't really entertain me, I found myself skim reading the boring parts where they're just taking drugs and racing about. But then the crippled children come along and things get really weird. It was all a bit misty, things just happened because they did. Nothing was really explained! Even after six giant books, I didn't really gt why any of it happened!! But maybe that's just me.... Maybe I'm just slow.
For one thing, why did Kaneda get so heavily involved with Kei and all the other strange things? It just didn't make sense to me!
But the action scenes with the bikes and the guns and the lasers were pretty impressive!!
Who cares if the plot made no sense to me and I kept forgetting the characters names? Half of them died in impressive looking fight scenes or some psychic brain crushing! I never really grew attached to any of the characters because I was expecting them to die as soon as I turned the page! Not that that's necessarily a bad thing!
I was impressed with the art! Not for cute eyes and delicate clothing though. In fact, not for the people at all. The people all looked rather average to me with their short black hair and casual clothing! But it was their back grounds and panels that I liked!

Elfen Lied

Sorry this review isn't very good... I really didn't get my own thoughts.... And I've been busy.... So apologies!

This series is hard.... Not that I didn't like it.... But to explain why I like is difficult.....
After watching episode one I almost stopped watching it completely! It's full of blood and nudity!!
The opening scene consists of a lady, who is chained up with nothing but a helmet on her head! After escaping her chains, she starts pulling the guards apart - limb from limb - with her telekinetic powers! Through out the lab guards try to stop her, but she just pulls of their heads, arms and legs.... And those sound effects! The crunching bones the squelching blood.... they made my skin-crawl! Then she, Lucy, got shot and fell in to the ocean and gets washed up at a beach with Kouta and his cousin, Mayu. It's so ecchi!!
But after the shocking first episode, it becomes highly entertaining! Nyuu starts living with Kouta and Mayu, then they pick up the little runaway girl, and they are all living happily! It's so cute! Nyuu is so adorable, a bit freaky at times... but adorable! But her character has much more depth, her split personality Lucy and her connection to Kouta has yet to be thoroughly explained, and I'm looking forward to it!!

Kuro Shitsuji (Black Butler)

I've been meaning to watch this anime for AGES!!! Loads of my friends have watched it, and everyone of them loved it. Well I can't blame them. It is a good anime!!
It covers a whole range of genres making it hard to pinpoint specific pros and cons, but it still has a fairly distinguished plot. Although the opening scene is very strange and confusing, it does explain itself as the anime moves on. It's based in England, which makes a change because instead of referencing strange sounding Japanese culture and traditions, it clearly portrays England in the Victorian times. It is very accurate as well, and includes lots of tea and cakes and all the cakes are clearly named with a picture of them (of course).
Ciel Phantomhive, a young boy who found himself as head of his family after his house burnt down with his parents still inside. Now he's an Earl with two 'jobs': head of the Phantomhive toy company and 'guard dog' for Queen Victoria. However, he does not do this alone, he gets Sebastian -the 'Black Butler'- to do all the hard work. Sebastian is everything you could ever ask for in a butler. He cooks, he cleans, he prepares his masters schedule, and of course he fights like a ninja! No flaws appear in Sebastian' duties, he really is "one hell of a Butler". Or you can just call him Ciel's personal Demon.

Ouran High School Host Club (Live-Action)

Once I heard that they were going to release a live-action of OHSHC I got quite excited! I already have the manga and the anime, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. So, now I also have the live-action to enjoy!!
The plot is the same as in the manga and anime. But it's not boring because having real people give it a entirely different feel. It's actually rather refreshing.
Basically, Ouran high school is one of a few elite schools in Japan. But 6 good-looking boys get bored with to much free time, so they make a host club to entertain the also bored lady's. But when Haruhi, the poor scholarship student, breaks an 8 million yen vase she's forced to pay with her body. So, against the lady's knowledge Haruhi cross-dresses and performs host activities. The whole anime is about all the trouble the host club causes Haruhi.

Pink Lady

This about a Korean manga, not apples.

Well, I call it a manga, but it's not really. It's called a webtoon (thank wiki for that!), so not only is it in full colour, it's not really manga art-style. It's not westernised enough to bee called a comic, but it's definitely unlike any manga I've read.
The plot is relatively unique aswell! Winter meets David at collage; David and Winter are actually childhood friends; David and Winter love each other and fight all the challenges they encounter together! Okay, I admit, I've read plenty of Romances where that happens, but this one really stands out! For a start, it's not just set in a normal high school, it's very obviously set in an art school. Now that probably sounds rather insignificant, but it actually changes the whole manga because everything has that artistic feel behind it. Everything just works because they're in art school!

Perfect Blue

I hope you appreciate how much effort I put in for you guys! I spent HOURS filling in 'labels' on ALL of my reviews! Just so that you can chose what reviews to look at. Be it reviews with a high rating, Korean reviews or romance reviews just please use the label feature by clicking on one of the categories under the review! I even found out the directors and companies and stuff for ALL my articles!!

Perfect Blue is an animated movie. I was sort of craving one, so my trusty google lead me towards this blog, which was really good. I recommend you take a quick look at it! So Tim Maughan lead me towards Perfect Blue as a psychotic film with a shocking ending. Well all kinds of psychotic fantasies and warped realities were portrayed through out the film. But, shocking ending? I'll come back to that one.
The film tells the tale of little Mima Kirigoe who loved being a member of the fantasy Japanese pop idol group 'CHAM!'. However, with CHAM! not even making it into the top 100, her manager pressures her into becoming a full-time actress. Some of her fans find this very displeasing, especially Me-Mania who was always watching over Mima. As her job as an actress gets greater, so does her fear. Her first main acting part is being raped at a strip club. This is NOT a film for kids.

Death Note (Live Action)

I have actually  had this for a long time... And I thought I had already watched it (probably because my sister talked about it so much). But I put it on last night and realised, "Ah, I haven't actually seen any of this.". So, I think it's a good thing to blog about.

The basic plot is, obviously, like the original manga. But there are definitely a lot of differences in how they done things. For those who have not read the manga: first, go by the manga NOW, it's brilliant; second, I'll be nice and tell you the basic plot.

Light Yagami [Tatsuya Fujiwara], the genius son of a police officer. He's studying law and feels VERY strongly about justice, but his bored. So he hacks into his dad's computer to see whether criminals are being punished fairly. To his horror, he see loads of criminals avoid punishment in one way or another! 

And that's when he finds: the death note. "The human whose name is written in this note shall die.". So light takes matters in to his own hands, killing those who are unfit to live in the world. As criminal upon criminal die of unexplained heart attacks, the world starts work out that this is all the works of some kind of God, or saint, or (on the flip-side) a devil.

The Girl Who Leapt Through time.

I bought this anime from HMV recently (only £5!!), I had already heard it mentioned before; mainly because of Nizo Yamamoto's (from studio Ghibli) presence as Art director. And so I was expecting the 'stunning visuals' that they promise on the back of the DVD. I was mistaken.
I absolutely LOVED the plot! It was so sweet! Ok, the opening scene was a bit odd and only vaguely related.... But after that it got better!
After having a little accident in a science room Makoto Konno found herself with the power to leap through time. So, of course, she went about making her own little school life a whole lot better. Avoiding accidents, passing tests, all those annoying day-to-day things. However, she soon finds out that it's not all good. Every bad thing Makoto avoids backfires onto someone else. In the end, she needs to put things right for her, and her love interest. The ending fails. Just let me get that out of the way. She could of had such a picture perfect ending. But no, she has to open her mouth! But other than the ending and the beginning, I thought the plot was absolutely hilarious! I was laughing so much! Then, about half way through it started to be a bit more serious (not much, just a little) and became absolutely adorable! It really tugged on the heartstrings.

Boys Over Flowers

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This is a complete Asian review now, so, bring on the Korean Drama!

My friend recommended me this one for the fact that it has hot guys. Well, it does have hot guys but it has a lot of other great factors to! It's set around Shinhwa high school, a school for the rich and famous. There Gu Jun Pyo [Lee Minho], heir to the world renowned Shinhwa group, is a senior. With his friends Yun Ji Hoo [Kim Hyun Joong], So Yi Joong [Kim Bum] and Song Woo Bin [Kim Joon] they form an unstoppable group of Korea's rich and handsome: F4.

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Geum Jan Di [Ku Hye Sun] is the daughter of a dry cleaners who only just earns enough money to feed the family. When Jan Di goes to Shinhwa to deliver some laundry, she ends up rescuing her customer from suicide. Thus, Jan Di, the poor nobody, gets a scholarship to Shinhwa, the most elite school in all of Korea. Unlike everyone else who admires F4 and ignore the horrible things they do, Jan Di stands up to them. And so, the drama starts. Pushing and pulling. Mistakes and Misunderstandings. Bad timing and soppy romances. All the things needed in a drama.

Sky Blue

I think Sky Blue was amazing. It's an animated film set in a distant future after a catastrophic environmental disaster.  To escape from said disaster the 'elites' made a sanctuary named 'Ecoban'. Those who weren't elite where forced to live outside Ecoban and work hard to supply power to the city, as diggers. They were cruelly treated and over-worked, so, of course rebellion's would start.
The movie is based around one particular rebellion by an ex resident of Ecoban. The whole plot is actually quite long for an animated movie so you'll just have to watch it yourself if you want to know what happens. But I think it was quite good, there wasn't any particularly shocking parts. But it was entertaining.

Kingyo Used Books

Wow, I had this review done ages ago, just for some reason it hadn't posted! Oh well. You can read it now.

Based around a run-down second-hand manga store this book is surprisingly inspirational.
It's full of tales about why people read manga. It sounds pretty ridiculous, but it is extremely enjoyable. The employers are all pretty eccentric and the customers entirely believable!

The art style is very practical (it fits the genre of the book) but I much prefer shojo art so it's not very visually pleasing. Although some of the detail in the backgrounds is amazing!
In all it's a very good manga, but I think it's for fairly particular tastes. The chapters don't really link as such, there are various story arcs spanning over approximately 2 chapters. Personally, I prefer story's that develop more plot as the volumes go along, so this is not my preferred style. None of the characters are particularly interesting either. But the story's can really hit the spot; it really makes you want to get out there! This book definitely has something, I just can't put my finger on what.

Gilgamesh

This anime's been sitting around my room for a while now, It's about time I watched and reviewed it!

Gilgamesh is set in the strange world where the sky is a mirror and and computers don't work. It's all a bit weird and hard to explain, so bear with me.   The art.... is very odd. It's rather angular, and sometimes appears a bit warped. The noses are done a bit oddly and the eyes are a bit too wide in my opinion. But the eyes are very good for expressing emotion! And the animation is very nice, I'm quite impressed with their random fight scenes.                                           The characters are quite sweet. A brother and sister pair, orphaned and in massive debt. The girl's a snob at music and the boy pee's blood. Neither of them speak much, they look plain and rarely express emotion.  The other characters are more interesting, but there's so much mystery about them that I'm unsure of what to say about them.

Eden of The East

An extremely short but much loved anime that I borrowed from a friend. It's strange, funny and romantic. But it has it's fair share of negatives...
The world of Eden of the East isn't far off from our world; it includes things like terroism, NEETs and 9/11. Despite all that this show does not showcase the violence and explosions as a main part of the anime. It's full of misunderstandings, mysteries and unknown people which should bring you right to the edge of your seat. But I didn't really work for me; I felt more drawn to the romance between the two main characters. You'd think that with all that going on squeezing any jokes in would be an impossible task. But no, Eden of the East also pulls of a fairly exaggerated sense of humour between the scenes!
The pacing was great, especially as it only had 11 episodes. You slowly learn things: the Selecao game, Mr.Outside, the Eden of the East website and to climax this steady flow of information is Akira's past.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Oh, for to long I have neglected you, my avid readers. For too long have I left you blinded to what anime to watch. But fear no more, for I am back now. I return with anime and much anticipated reviews!

Once again my sister has pestered me, bugged me and then forced me to watch an anime just because she likes it. But why not? It was only 14 episodes, didn't take long and entertained me for a while.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a bit of a mouthful, so for convenience we shall call it Magica Madoka.
Magica Madoka looks sounds and has the op like that of your typical cute magical girl story, (think Tokyo Mew Mew or Cardcaptor Sakura) but it's misleading. This isn't a world where things always work out for our hero; we watch as tragedy upon tragedy befalls them. But to tell you about that would be giving spoilers!