She's a What Kind of Mental?!

If you're looking for an anime with the oddest set up possible that somehow turns out as a great series full of action and entertainment, then Samurai Champloo is for you. How odd are we talking about compared to all the weird shit I've seen through my years of watching anime? Try mixing the Edo period with hip hop references and styles. No joke, that's literally the set up of the anime. One would think this would be the worst possible thing to be made by the Japanese, but thank God that impression is one hundred percent wrong. Well let's get on with the story.

It all begins in a tea shop where clumsy waitress Fuu is harassed by a band of samurai. She is saved by a mysterious vagabond known as Mugen, yet it escalates into a huge fight between him and a ronin known as Jin in a fight to see who's the better swordsman. Their combat leads to the restaurant catching on fire and burning down, taking the life of the village prefect's son. They are arrested and sentenced to be executed, but with the help of Fuu, both Mugen and Jin manage to escape death. Fuu is also able to get the two to set aside their fighting and accompany her on a journey to find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers".

The whole series is this trio traveling through Japan, meeting interesting people and saving them from the corruption of lords, Christian persecution and foreign prejudice.

A small warning that this is a pretty mature anime. Contains blood, violence, swearing and sexual references. Just in case this isn't your cup of tea then you have been warned.

Despite how weird and silly the hip hop references are placed and displayed, none of it is entirely forced in your face and a lot of the time, it's just funny to watch how awkward some of these situations are made. There's one episode where they're playing baseball against Americans and it truly is hilarious and one of the best episodes of the series.

The culture seen from the Edo period is really interesting and you do get some history as to what Japan was like in that time. And of course, our three main characters are fun and interesting people you want to follow on their travels through Japan (even though I think Fuu is annoying as all hell).

A perfect anime full of adventure, action and comedy for historical junkies.

Sometimes God Cannot Forgive You Unless You Forgive Yourself

This is what I read on the back of the DVD case of a new anime I got for Christmas titled Haibane-Renmei. Unlike the Soul Eater DVDs I also got, I've never heard of this particular anime and the summary on the back sounded really interesting. So I popped the disc into my computer, watched it over a span of two nights, and I'm here to say it did not disappoint.

In a walled city known as Glie there exists people known as Haibane who are born from cocoons and resemble angels with small, nonfunctional, charcoal gray wings. Upon being born, they have no memory of any life prior to the current one and are given a new name based on the dream they had when they were in the cocoon.They now have and abide by certain rules such as being required to work and only own second-hand possessions.

Our story follows a new-born named Rakka after her dream of falling. She lives with a group of Haibane who live in a place known as "Old Home". As she bonds with her new friends, especially the kind and loving Reki, she searches through Glie in search of a job and learns the rules set by the Haibane-Renmei, an organization that looks over the lives of the Haibane. Rakka's curiosity of her surroundings grow, wondering what is beyond the walls of Glie that everyone is forbidden to cross over.

The first few episodes follows a slice of life sort of plot; just showing the lives of the characters and explaining about the Haibane at a slow and easy to understand pace. However over time, several questions crowd Rakka's mind of her existence, the purpose of the Haibane, and even the secret past of her closest friend, Reki.

Well...That's as much as I can give away without idly throwing out spoilers. This really was something different with a unique set up with interesting fantasy and traditions surrounding the Haibane. The only downside would be that nothing is really explained in a lot of detail, but it does allow you to reach your own conclusions about the Haibane and the world they live in. Again, I won't throw out spoilers, but I did make my own interpretations about the series, and they are very somber interpretations. Trust me, it'll become that way once you reach the last episode (By the way, this anime is only 13 episodes so it's short).

The animation is good, and I like how it never has characters have over-exaggerated expressions because it felt like this anime wanted to take itself seriously and not go off on any silly tangents. The backgrounds are really something to look at cause it's literally looking at water color paintings and I do appreciate how slow the series is so you can just breathe and enjoy the artwork someone took their time creating.

Check it out if you're looking for something not too long to watch with an intriguing set up and developed characters. It is most definitely worth your time.