I'M NOT CRAZY!!

Finally! The next Studio Ghibli film has been released to America in theaters! I just went to see it today with my friends from the Anime and Manga club and all of us enjoyed it.

The Secret World of Arrietty is based on a novel series by Mary Norton called The Borrowers. In these novels, it follows the adventures of a group of small people about 10 cm tall who live in the floorboards of a human household. They survive off of going in the house at night and taking small items like sugar cubes and cookies so they can eat. Y'know, things humans won't miss if they're gone. Borrowers aren't meant to be seen by "human beans" as it sparks their curiosity negatively.

We begin with a 12-year-old boy named Sho (Shawn in English dub) who goes to live in the house his mother grew up in while he awaits for a heart operation. He's been told stories of Borrowers who have been believed to be seen by his grandparents much to the extent where they built a dollhouse just for the Borrowers with working lights and a stove.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Arrietty lives in the floors of this house with her father and mother, Pod and Homily. She gets to experience her first borrowing with her father, but it turns for what seems to be the worse when Sho sees them. Arrietty's parents are sent into a panic and suggest moving out, yet Sho doesn't want to hurt them. Sho and Arrietty become the most unlikely pair of friends even as Sho's caretaker Haru (Hara in English) becomes suspicious of Sho's actions and the stories of the Borrowers.

When we went to the theater, I saw a lot of families with their kids so this is a very kid friendly movie. Yet if you enjoy Miyazaki's masterpieces, add this to your "must watch" list. The characters are funny and amazing while the artwork is breathtakingly beautiful. Everything's drawn to scale from a Borrower's point of view down to the details of the insects; it is just amazing! The friendship of Sho and Arrietty and how it develops really touches you and teaches that no friendship is ever too small and I really appreciate that a movie like this is being released in theaters because it's not everyday you get an animated (anime so no one goes Nazi on me) film these days. Another masterpiece by the great Hayao Miyazaki himself.

Definitely a movie you have to see if you're not doing anything this weekend or to purchase as a DVD if you wish to see it in its original Japanese format.

To Shamballa!

~SPOILERS!!~

After the completion of the first anime series, a movie for the continuation of Fullmetal Alchemist was released a year later. And thus, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa premiered!

Two years have passed since Edward Elric was dragged from his world to ours in the year 1923 in Munich, Germany. All his powers involving alchemy are gone, yet he continues to research in the field of science as a rocket engineer with friend Alfons Heiderich, who coincidentally resembles Edward's younger brother while sharing the same name. Edward still has hopes on returning to his home where his family and friends are.

His average life on Earth turns around when he becomes involved in the Thule Society as they try to open a portal into Edward's world, believing it to be a utopia known as Shamballa.

While the Thule Society transports soldiers right into Edward's world, in the city of Liore where his brother Alphonse finally sees a chance to see his older brother again, yet still has memory loss after Edward sacrificed himself to bring Al back to life. Alphonse gets into contact with the homonculus Wrath to open the Gate of Alchemy to reunite with Edward just as Edward does the same on Earth as the Thule Society plans to launch a revolution in Germany.

In anime film history, I personally think that this is the best anime movie based off of a series. Unlike other anime movies based off the series, you don't have to guess what time in the anime it would take place; you know it's after the first series! It's just a thing I don't like to think about when I watch that stuff with other animes like Naruto or Bleach.

I love the returning characters and the new ones like Alfons Heiderich and the gypsy Noah. Some of the fighting scenes can be kinda graphic and a bit scary such as *spoiler* the deformed Gluttony when he's fighting Wrath *spoiler* but they're really good fight scenes. There are some pretty cool graphics too and I love the historical goodies they give us about Germany at the time. Overall, damn good movie.

I wanna be a human too!

And thus my ongoing reviewing continues with another anime film from Studio Ghibli called Ponyo.

Ponyo is based of Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale The Little Mermaid with of course a Japanese twist.

Originally named Brunhilde (no clue why...), our title character is a goldfish who lives in an underwater castle with her father and wizard, Fujimoto, and her many little sisters. One day she sneaks away from her father to explore the human world. She is discovered by a 5-year-old boy named Sosuke who keeps her in a green bucket of water and gives her the name Ponyo and promises to love and protect her forever. Sosuke immediately notices that Ponyo isn't like any other fish; she can heal cuts instantly, has a love for ham and can talk!

Believing his daughter was kidnapped, Fujimoto takes back Ponyo, much to her dislike as she has a sudden interest to become a human like Sosuke. But as she tries to escape, she accidentally messes around with a huge amount of magic which makes the ocean overpowering with tsunamis and storms that throw the world out of its natural balance.

The plot itself is really simple to a story everyone knows so I guess you can say it's predictable. But c'mon, Sosuke and Ponyo are the most adorable 5-year-olds in the universe! For Miyazaki, everything is bright and colorful throughout the whole entire film. I guess this was intended more for a younger audience but even though I'm a teenager I really enjoy this film a lot. The characters are cute and the animation is beautiful, including the underwater life that is shown. Another amazing film.

I DON'T COOK! I'M A SCARY AND POWERFUL FIRE DEMON!

The title is a quote from the next anime movie I'm reviewing. This is Howl's Moving Castle.

Another Studio Ghibli film, based off a fantasy novel made in 1986 by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

We follow Sophie Hatter, a young woman who doesn't see herself as pretty and spends most of her time making hats while her co-workers love to go out and have fun. While going out to visit her little sister, she comes across a young wizard who saves her after a mysterious attack by black blobs.

Later that night, a woman visits her shop, only to be the infamous Witch of the Waste and curse her, transforming 18-year-old Sophie into a 90-year-old woman. Trying to look for a way to lift the curse, Sophie leaves her home going into the Land of the Wastes. Along the way, she meets a cursed scarecrow with a turnip for a head (naming it Turnip-head) who finds her a place to stay: The mobile "castle" of the infamous wizard Howl who she later discovers is the same person who saved her earlier in the movie.

Upon entering the castle, Sophie meets the fire demon who helps move the castle, Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal in English [Mike from Monster's Inc]). He lets her stay as cleaning lady under the condition to help him break the spell between him and Howl; in return, Calcifer will break the curse on Sophie. As she lives with Howl and his 8-year-old apprentice Markl, she embarks on an adventure grander than she's ever dreamed even as the country plunges into a war.

Now if anyone's actually read the original book, the film doesn't follow the novel's original plot. While Jones didn't have any input in the movie, she enjoyed it and knew it was going to be different. Mixed with Hayao Miyazaki's style of animation, it displays a beautiful presentation of a world of magic combined with warfare similar to that of the World Wars. It's very bright and colorful but also has its dark moments too. The cast of characters are dynamic while facing their own conflicts. Another success by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Going on to anime movies~

So with nothing else to do and once again my lack to watch anime, I'll start doing anime movies. They'll be based off of popular animes or they'll be Studio Ghibli films that people probably haven't heard about.

For those who have no clue what Studio Ghibli is, it's pretty much what Disney is to us Americans. With the great Hayao Miyazaki making great anime films for years, it's hard for any otaku to not know any of the films. Let's start off with Spirited Away.

We begin our story with 10-year-old Chihiro Ogino who is unenthusiastic about moving with her parents. On their way to their new house, they get lost and end up exploring an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro wanders off as her parents begin eating at a buffet and discovers a bathhouse. She also finds a mysterious boy who warns her to leave before nightfall. But as she goes back to her parents, she finds that they have been transformed into pigs and she cannot escape as spirits enter the park.

Chihiro runs into the boy again, whose name is Haku, and he tells her that her family has been trapped in the spirit world and she must work at the bathhouse to be able to return to her world. Eventually, she is granted a job at the bathhouse by the witch Yubaba and is forced to change her name to Sen. She must endure many challenges in this coming of age film if she is to return to reality.

This is one of the earliest anime films I was exposed to when I was four. I freaked out when her parents turned into pigs because as a child it's really pretty scary! But the animation and story line are beautiful with the rich amount of Japanese culture. The characters are memorable and very lovable too. By far one of the best anime masterpieces of all time.

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

These were the ingredients chosen to-

Wait a second... This isn't the original!

This isn't fake. There is literally an anime version of the popular American cartoon, Powerpuff Girls. I heard about this a few years ago and saw a couple videos and started watching the anime, but never got around to finishing. Now my spark of interest for this anime has come back and here I am reviewing it! Say hello to Powerpuff Girls Z!

Powerpuff Girls Z is set in Tokyo City (New Townsville) where Professor Utonium and his son, Ken, live. By accident, Ken creates Chemical Z, a new form of the Professor's original substance, Chemical X. A sudden worldwide ecological disaster brings in Chemical Z as it is shot into a glacier in Tokyo City's bay and restoring the weather back to normal... That is of course with some after effects like, oh I don't know, rays of light and dark scattering about Tokyo City.

As a result, three 13-year-old girls (who in this Japanese spin-off are unrelated to each other) are hit by rays of light and turn into Powerpuff Girls Z! However, the rays of dark hit people as well and turn them into the villains you know and love such as Mojo Jojo, Sedusa, the Gangreen Gang, Princess Morbucks, and many others!

Momoko is (Hyper) Blossom and the ecstatic leader of the team with a yo-yo for her weapon. She has a great love for sweets and snacks and her constant crushes on various boys.

Miyako is (Rolling) Bubbles and is very happy and "bubbly" yet a complete ditz. Her choice of weapon is a giant bubble wand. She's very oblivious to the many boys who have crushes on her yet is aware of her adoration for fashion and cute clothes.

And last but not least is Kaoru or (Powered) Buttercup. Unlike the other two, she's a total tomboy and favors sports over "girly" things. She's very reluctant to be a part of the team due to the fact her transformation forces her to wear a skirt, yet she wields a giant hammer for her weapon.

So as you can probably analyze from all of this, the Japanese took the original American cartoon and turned it into a magical girl anime. And damn did they do a helluva good job!

It's very bright and colorful and it's quite hilarious, including their version of Mojo. Though my only downside for this is the English dub they made that's only aired in the Philippines. Honestly, it sucks. So if you really want to check this out, go for the Japanese because it's so much better. I really enjoy this anime and hope others will too!

~Liz~

God... I was so obsessed with this

When I started gaining my interests in manga and anime as a young girl, I used to read Shonen Jump. A manga called One Piece caught my attention one day when I was seven, so I began to read it and never stopped. When I heard the anime was gonna be released on TV I just had to watch it.

It starts off with a small prologue of the execution of Gold Roger, a man who was known as the King of the Pirates. Just before his death, he announces that his treasure, the One Piece, is up for anyone's taking. Thus began the Great Pirate Era as numerous pirates set out to the Grand Line for Gold Roger's treasure.

Twenty years later, a young 17-year-old pirate named Monkey D. Luffy sets out on his journey in search for the One Piece. Ten years prior to his adventure, he was inspired by the pirate "Red-Haired" Shanks to start off his own crew and one day become the next King of the Pirates. However, at that same time, he accidentally ate what's known as a Devil Fruit which allows his body to stretch in outrageous ways, but takes away his ability to swim.

It doesn't matter to him though as he slowly builds up his crew such as bounty hunter swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, navigator and thief, Nami, and many other interesting characters. Along the way however, he faces many enemies such as Buggy the Clown, the Black Cat Pirates, and many others including the Marines who eventually put a bounty on Luffy's head. Yet Luffy won't stop until he gets to the Grand Line and becomes the King of the Pirates.

Okay, I know this sounds like a cool anime, but here's the truth: It goes nowhere fast! The original Japanese is STILL running with over 500 episodes! I mean, at first it's okay, you can get through most of the extra filler stuff that gets a bit annoying, but after a while I got bored with it and was kind of an on-and-off status with it for a small time. Then after a while I thought, "This has turned into such a boring show." I still like some of the characters like Zoro and Sanji but everyone else gets really annoying. I'm still surprised I have friends who actually still like it. But I guess it depends on preferences in anime. It's not totally bad since there is a good intended story line with great characters, but it's slow in delivering the actual story. Just my opinion.

~Liz~