I can call myself tough now

That was one of the few things I was thinking today as I finished this anime. I finally got the balls to watch it when I saw it on my dad's Netflix and decided "What the hell". I originally wanted to wait until I was older, but whatever, I saw it and I don't regret it. So let's get the title out of the way: Elfen Lied.

If anyone is at least familiar with the title then it should be known that this is notorious for being one of the most gory animes ever. Despite this obvious fact, it's impressing for other aspects of this 13 episode series like its themes and story.

There is a big focus in this anime about a new kind of human race called "Diclonius". In appearance, they're exactly like human beings with small horns sticking out of their heads. They have a special ability using invisible arms called "vectors" that can grasp and impact anything, can reach out various meters and is commonly used to kill by slicing up their human victims. They're very prone to violence against the human race (whether it's in their nature or from abuse by humans as children) and seek to destroy it and repopulate the world with Diclonii.

The main character, Lucy, is a Diclonius held at a facility where she and others like her are experimented on. She manages to escape while leaving behind almost two dozen bodies dead by her hands. However, she receives a head injury during her escape and loses her memory.

Lucy is found at a beach in Kamakura, Japan by two locals, Kohta and his cousin Yuka. Because of her injury and memory loss, Lucy developed a child-like personality called Nyu and is clueless to her surroundings and lacks speaking skills other than the word "nyu". Assuming she's a runaway teenager, Kohta and Yuka take her in as she has no place to go. Little do these cousins know that they're getting themselves in over their heads than they could possibly imagine as people seek out to hunt for Lucy/Nyu and Lucy's split personality makes her unpredictable of what she'll do next.

I'll address this again: this is the most graphic and violent anime ever, which I feel is kinda unnecessary because the story itself is great and so are the various themes. Decapitation, limbs being torn apart, you name it, likely chance Elfen Lied has it. And I'm just gonna throw this spoiler out there just to say "Don't say I didn't warn you": There is one scene that involves animal abuse and just one. There is also a great amount of nudity and other mature content so if this kind of stuff  will give you nightmares for the rest of your mortal life, you may want to avoid this.

But if you got guts like me and are able to get through the extreme violence, everything else about this anime is just amazing and beautiful. There are definitely plenty of parts that are complete tearjerkers, such as back stories of some of the characters and the actions these characters take. I let out a few tears at the ending which I will not spoil. It's also interesting to hear about this fictional species, Diclonius, and their psychological and physical struggles with these harsh experiments. And of course, the themes really stand out as well.

There are various messages in Elfen Lied revolving around social outcasting, prejudice, revenge, abuse, regret, and simply the value of humanity. I don't think I've seen an anime press issues like this as much as Elfen Lied did and it does it really well. And again, a lot of scenes revolving around these themes brought tears to my eyes. I truly loved it.

Now I did hear that the manga is completely different in plot because the anime was being made before the manga was finished so now I'm interested in seeing how big it differs. But for what the anime is and what it has to offer, despite the mature content, it truly is a great anime if you're able to stomach the violence.

A brand name? Like Louis CK?

Yeah this is awkward. It's been a couple months and solely cause I haven't gotten around to watching any anime with all my school work. Luckily it's summer time and I will definitely have more free time on my hands.

Therefore, welcome me back with a new review of an anime called Princess Jellyfish.

Our story focuses around an apartment building in Tokyo called Amamizukan where the tenants are all otaku women that have created a "nunnery" where no men are allowed. Each female has their own otaku fixation.

Our main protaganist, Tsukimi Kurashita, is an awkward 18 year old jellyfish fanatic with the ambition to become an illustrator. Chieko, the building manager, is obsessed with traditional Japanese clothing and collects traditional Japanese dolls. Mayaya is an overly excited woman with an obsession for Records of Three Kingdoms. Banba is an eight year old (in leap years) who loves trains. And Jiji is an extremely shy girl obsessed with mature, old men.  All five of them live secluded with each other and are socially awkward when it comes to leaving their "sacred nunnery", away from their fellow otaku friends.

We follow Tsukimi as she's been living her new life in Tokyo for the past three months. Her life suddenly takes a huge turn when the unexpected happened: she met a boy. Unintentionally, she made friends with Kuranosuke Koibuchi, the illegitimate son of a famous politician. Luckily the other tenants are unaware because Kuranosuke cross-dresses under the alias "Kurako" when around the male-hating otakus. Despite Tsukimi's attempts to have Kuranosuke out of her life, he always comes back, fascinated by their lives. He becomes even more interested when he finds out that Amamizukan and the surrounding areas are in danger of being demolished and replaced with hotels and what not.

I'm really fascinated with this anime not solely on the characters and some of its extremely hilarious moments (The title for example. Literally quoted from the anime.), but for its theme. Princess Jellyfish's central message is about trying new things that you probably never would do cause you might find that you'll actually enjoy it. All of the otaku characters are extremely socially awkward when it comes to "stylish" people, yet Kuranosuke urges them to dress in girly clothes and go out to eat at cafes and just surround themselves with stuff outside of their norm. Sure it's really weird and awkward at first, but you eventually to grow to like yourself with your new surroundings.

Every woman has a beautiful princess inside her, and that same woman has the power in herself to let out that princess.

Overall, it's kinda obvious the intended audience is for girls, so it may not be a cup of tea for the male audience, but it depends on what you like. The humor is very enjoyable and I wouldn't mind watching the whole series again just to see the comedy. My only complaint? It's too damn short. Personally, 11 episodes just isn't enough for this anime. But for what it is, I love and enjoy it a lot.

I am justice!

Okay I KNOW that this isn't an anime, but it is a movie based of a manga/anime series with the same name. And since I haven't been catching up on any anime once again, I thought I'd give myself a reason to give this blog some TLC. This is the first Death Note movie.

~Some spoilers~

The film adaptation follows the same basic plot as its original manga/anime form with slight differences. We follow college student Light Yagami who has an interest in being in the Police Academy like his father, yet he finds the legal system not doing its job to the criminals who got off and are living free as a bird. One rainy night, he finds a notebook (obviously) named "Death Note". He reads the instructions and is a bit doubtful with its ability to kill people by simply writing down their name. Yet he is proven wrong when two names of two different criminals he writes down die of heart attacks and a Shinigami named Ryuk appears before him and accompanies him.

Over the next few months, the crime rate drops as the killings increase, creating a global phenomenon as an anonymous Light is granted the title "Kira" by his supporters and one day hopes to create a peaceful world without crime and corruption. However, the police know that these deaths aren't natural in any way. With the help of the famous detective L, they set out an investigation to capture Kira and bring him to justice while Light fights back to avoid being arrested.

So yeah, same plot but of course not exactly like the original. Also they can't fit a 37 episode anime into one movie so it was split into two movies that only go to about episode 26 in the anime so the films don't include the madness with the time skip and introduction to characters like Near, Mello, Mikami Teru, and others.

The film itself is much darker than the manga/anime series and I got pretty scared every time Ryuk popped out of no where. Kudos to the creators for creating a CGI god of death to scare the crap out of the audience. We also see a character special to the film named Shiori Akino who is portrayed as Light's girlfriend who is against Kira's killings.

Overall, the film is super dark and super scary which by the way I recommend to not watch if you have family around. But again, it's a very good film that any Death Note fan should enjoy.

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.