When the Cicadas Cry

For my next anime review, it will be on an anime called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni or When They Cry in English dub.

Set in a fictional village of Hinamizawa in June 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves there and befriends his classmates Rena Ryugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Houjou. As he hangs out with them in their after school activities, he sees Hinamizawa as a peaceful rural village. That is until the annual Watanagashi(Cotton-Drifting) Festival passes, in which the villagers pay their respects to their local god, Oyashiro-sama.

He finds out that each year at the night of the festival, a person dies and another person goes missing. Eventually, Keiichi's drawn into the strange mysteries of the Watanagashi Festival, Oyashiro-sama, and the mysterious pasts of his new friends.

Now there are different story arcs in this series where different scenarios of these events occur. Now why this happens is further explain in the sequel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai where it focuses around the character Rika Furude and a mysterious spirit named Hanyuu, and it explains why different story arcs occur.

Unlike most of the other animes I've reviewed, this anime is very brutal and violent, showing very graphic violence. I only had one scene out of the entire series make me flinch, but if you're very squeamish with blood and violence in anime then you may wanna steer clear of this anime.

Despite the violence displayed, the plot's great to follow and keeps you wanting to watch more.

~Liz~

Pastaaaaa

So I have a couple animes I can still do reviews on before I need to get watching more anime again. So for today's review, it's on Hetalia: Axis Powers.

The entire series and its sequel series, World Series, shows comedic interpretations of political and historical events, mostly on World War II. The countries are represented by stereotyped anthropomorphic characters and its main characters are the same countries that were a part of the Axis Powers and the Allies of WWII: Italy, Germany, Japan, America, England, France, Russia, and China. All historical, political, and military interaction between countries is represented as social and/or romantic interaction between characters.

The thing with this series is that fact that each episode is literally five minutes long and can probably irritate someone, but despite this, Hetalia is a very hilarious anime to get hooked on. It has some mature themes such as France trying to be romantic with other characters but the stereotyping is funny as well.

For anyone who's in need of a good laugh, I recommend Hetalia.

~Liz~

Welcome Poor Man to Our World of Beauty~!

So I feel like I should watch more anime so I can have more reviews on here and to kill some time other than drawing on my tablet. So anyway here's my review on the anime, Ouran High School Host Club.

This series starts off with scholar student, Haruhi Fujioka looking for a place to study. However, Haruhi happens to come across a club with six male students where they gather female clients to entertain, or to put it in short a host club. In their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over and breaks an 8 million yen vase(Roughly 80 thousand dollars in US dollars) and now has to work for the host club to pay off the debt. However, here's the shocker. Haruhi is a girl mistaken as a male student for her short hair and attire. Despite the fact that she's female, the host club keeps her real gender a secret and no one's able to tell. As the story progresses, Haruhi learns more about the members of the host club.

Tamaki Suoh, the "king" of the host club, is a second year narcissitic princely type who entertains clients with his etiquette and flattery.

Kyoya Ootori, the vice president, is a second year like Tamaki and is the secretive and intelligent "cool" type who's the real mastermind, planning vacations and even making magazines with the pictures of the hosts.

Twins Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin are first year mischevious young men who constantly play around with their classmates, Haruhi especially. In the host club, they use acts of "forbidden brotherly love" to attract their clients (Unclear if they're bi or not).

Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka is a third year student despite his childish appearance which attracts many clients. Although he has a great love for cake and his stuffed bunny, Usa-chan, he has legendary fighting skills.

Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka is a tall and silent type third year student who's protective of his cousin, Hunny-senpai. Much like his cousin, Mori-senpai is skilled in fighting, taking a specialty in kendo.

And, of course, new member Haruhi Fujioka is the intelligent, "natural" type who doesn't come from a rich family like the rest of the hosts but got in Ouran through a scholarship.

I think that was longer than I intended.. Hahahaha.

This is a very popular shojo manga that lots of girls get hooked on. With a decent amount of comedic relief, I highly recommend it.

~Liz~

Simply One Hell of a Butler

For my next review, it is on the widely known anime, Black Butler(more commonly known as Kuroshitsuji).

After the death of his parents that burned down his home, Ciel Phantomhive became a sacrifice for a cult and his hate for the torturers caught the attention of a demon named Sebastian. Ciel formed a contract with Sebastian escaping the torturers, making Sebastian his butler. Now Ciel seeks revenge on those who killed his parents, disgraced the Phantomhive name, and tortured him in exchange for his own soul.

This anime caught my attention thanks to my friends obsessed with it and its obvious popularity it has grown in the past couple years. I swear I go onto DeviantART and see tons of cosplay from this anime. But anyway, this anime is a bit scary, but has a great story line and, of course, plenty of comedic relief. If you haven't seen this yet, check it out now and see what you're missing out on.

~Liz~

Ten-Thousand Miles to See You

So for my first anime review in forever I'm writing about an anime called Mushishi.

In this anime, there are ghostlike creatures called Mushi who possess various supernatural powers. They aren't exactly evil, but are said to be trying to survive like us humans. Certain people are able to see Mushi and can even interact with them though sometimes leading to unimaginable consequences.

The main character, Ginko, is a Mushi master (Translated from Mushishi, the title, and is sometimes translated as Bug master), and travels across Japan researching Mushi and aiding to people suffering from them. He began attracting Mushi at a young age when he encountered a Mushi that caused his hair to turn white, turn his eyes green, and lose one eye. He never stays in one place for too long cause he'll attract too many Mushi and endanger others.

While there is no overall story plot, this is a very beautiful anime and is really good to get hooked on. I completely reccomend it for anyone.

~Liz~

Who are you calling a pipsqueak midget?!

So while I wait for my new Yosemite photos being uploaded to Facebook, I'll do another review on Fullmetal Alchemist.

Alchemy is the science of understanding matter, breaking it down, and then reconstructing it into something else. It can even turn lead into gold. However, it's not an all powerful science. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That's what the Elric brother, Edward and Alphonse, learned the night they attempted to bring their mother back from the dead.

Born in a small town of Resembool in the country Amestris, Edward and his younger brother, Alphonse, live with their mother and developed an aptitude for alchemy at a young age. Their father, Hohenheim, left home for an unknown reason when they were little and their mother, Trisha Elric, died years later of a terminal illness.

Distressed by their mother's death, Edward and Alphonse began researching human transmutation, an forbidden alchemy where one attempts to create or modify a human being. After a year of training alchemy, they attempt to bring their mother back, but this attempt failed. Not only what they created wasn't human, but Edward lost his left leg while Alphonse lost his entire body. Desperate to save the only family he had left, Edward sacrificed his right arm, putting Alphonse's soul into a suit of armor.

Some days later, a state alchemist named Roy Mustang visited the brothers, discovering their attempt at human transmutation. Impressed by how Edward was able to survive, he suggests to him to become a state alchemist to help him and Alphonse recover their bodies. The next day, close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako replace Edward's arm and leg with automail, a type of prosthetic limb. After a year of therapy, Edward becomes the youngest state alchemist ever.

After becoming a state alchemist, Edward and Alphonse leave their home to search for the Philosopher's Stone(For Harry Potter fans, yes it's the same thing as the Sorcerer's Stone), a legendary substance that ignores the laws of alchemy, making the brothers able to bring their normal bodies back.

Another mainstream anime that's really great. A mix of comedy, action and some drama, this anime has broken another scale of anime rating.

Now, there are actually two Fullmetal Alchemist series: Fullmetal Alchemist and FMA: Brotherhood. Here's the difference of the two so you know which ones you're watching.

The original Fullmetal Alchemist series follows the manga until about halfway through the series where it begins to run on a totally different story and it ends with a movie called Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa. In FMA: Brotherhood, it follows all of the manga and this summer there is going to be a release of a movie called Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos. I still have yet to finish Brotherhood but so far it's really good and the original anime series is really great to watch too.

~Liz~

I am God!

So my ongoing streak of posts continues with Death Note.

This series follows Light Yagami (Literally his name is Light), a very intelligent high school student who hates the world of crimes and corruptions he lives in. One day he discovers a mysterious notebook labeled "Death Note" lying in the grass on his school campus. Inside he finds instructions for it that say if he writes a person's name in it then that person will die and a few various other rules. Curious and bored, Light takes the Death Note home and experiments it on a couple criminals. Realizing it actually works he begins killing more criminals until he meets the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (God of death[not to be confused with the soul reapers from Bleach]) named Ryuk, who purposely dropped the Death Note to Earth out of boredom. Light plans to become a hero to rid the world of criminals and anyone who gets in his way to create a clean utopia. He gains popular support throughout Japan under the name Kira as he continues killing criminals.

However, his plan backfires when the killings come to an excess and catch the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known as "L". With L's intelligence, they get closer and closer to Kira even to the extent where they put cameras in the suspect's home. Will Light be caught and arrested or is he just a step ahead of the police and L?

This is a pretty mainstream anime, so it's very popular among many anime fans. It's actually a really good series to watch with its many twists and turns. On my broken scale of awesomeness, this anime's around a sixteen. It's a great anime to watch if you have just begun watching it or you need something a little scary and thrilling to watch.

~Liz~