Sailor Moon Crystal

So all of you should know that I am a massive Sailor Moon fan, or 'Moonie' as we're called, and you should of heard that Sailor Moon recently passed its 20th anniversary! To celebrate this momentous occasion there's been lots of knew merchandise being released, a new musical and even a new dub on of the anime. But more important than that is the news of the new series 'Sailor Moon Crystal'. It was supposed to be aired last year but after set back and set back it didn't start until the 5th July. Its only airing fortnightly so the second episode only aired yesterday (19th July), even so, I'm going to do my best to review this new Sailor Moon anime!

First, let me clear something up. Sailor Moon Crystal is not a re-make of the original series! Its actually a new series based more on the manga because the original anime overtook the manga so ended up having a lots of differences. For those familiar with the Fullmetal Alchemist series, it's very similar to the Brotherhood series compared to the original series. But this puts me in a bit of an awkward position because being honest with you, I've never read the Sailor Moon manga. So don't expect me to compare this anime to its manga counterpart, however I will be able to compare it to the original anime and various other magical girl animes!

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

The big thing in this season's anime: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Full of swimming and pretty boys. I was hesitant to review this one despite all the fuss it's kicked up but I have succumbed to peer pressure! The plot is very straight forward: pretty boys swim togethers and never wear tops.
Ok, so it's not that straight forward. Haruka, Nagisa, Rin and Makoto all have two things in common: they all have feminine names and love to swim. In fact the four were very close in their elementary swim club and won a relay race in a tournament before the four went their seperate ways. Makoto and Haruka stay together in highschool but later meet up with Rin and Nagisa. But Rin's cold nature towards his three friends convince the boys to set up a new swim club at their school: the Iwatobi Swim Club. With new recruit Rei (another boy with a feminine name) they decide to enter a swimming tournament to be able to swim alongside Rin. But actually it's just an excuse to have lots of pretty shirtless boys.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

If you haven't heard of Sailor Moon then I advise you stop living under a rock! She's the most iconic girl in the magical girl world and the anime is such a classic! But I'm not here to tell you about the amazing 200 episode long anime that EVERY ONE should watch, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is the live action sailor moon. All the characters that you know (or should know) and love but as real people! The plot is obviously very similar to the anime but there is still a lot of difference. After Usagi Tsukino finds the magically talking cat plush named Luna (yes, it's a plush and not a real cat) she's transformed into sailor moon to fight the evil youma. She quickly finds Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and Minako Aino to fight along side her as Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter. Now they fight together as the Sailor Soldiers of Justice. Although the first few episodes seem almost identical to the anime it's after Sailor Jupiter joins in that the there are some major plot difference. They have to find the Mystical Silver Crystal before the enemy and the story place a lot more importance on this crystal than the anime does. And also, it's more character based then the anime so there is a lot more depth to the characters. There's lots of extra stories for friendship bonding and character development which were definitely missing in the anime. It;s really interesting and every episode gives you something new: about the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, the even more mysterious Sailor V or about the origin of the Sailor Soldiers. Although the whole plot is a lot more condensed (only 51 episodes!) it somehow feels like there's a lot more in it! But then, it is only the first story arc.

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!