First Top Ten List: Anime Men

So I'm doing my first top ten list just because I'm bored and have absolutely nothing better to do with myself besides slack on watching anime because other people are in the room. Hopefully people can find this enjoyable ^^ Now this is going to be based off of some of my opinions and off the anime I myself have seen. So if you don't see certain characters, it's because I haven't seen the anime or enough of it to judge characters. Also, beware of spoilers.

So welcome to...

<3 Liz's Top Ten Anime Men <3

10. Yuki Sohma (Fruits Basket)

Yeah sorry for Yuki fans that he's low on the list, but hey, at least he's on it. 

Obviously, Yuki displays a very handsome high school student and every girl's fantasy of a "prince". Violet eyes seem to be a fascination with me, and it's just really appealing. Along with his good looks, he is polite and gentleman-like to his peers (excluding Kyo), but can be kinda quiet at times. Yet, he has proved that in a given situation, he can speak up and take action to what is going on. He's really caring while secretly strong. I don't really remember too much else catching my eye about him, which is why he's at the bottom. Again, sorry Yuki fans but he doesn't strike my fancy too much. ^^;

9. Simon (Gurren Lagann)

 Simon still remains to be my all time favorite character in Gurren Lagann and one of the top anime boys I like. Apart from being extremely cute as a kid and extremely sexy as an adult, he is so full of determination to help lead a rebellion group and to come out as the conqueror. No matter what robots or creatures are thrown in his way, he won't stop fighting until he achieves freedom for not himself, but for everyone. Even though the tragic death of his "older brother", Kamina, leaves him devastated, he finds the strength to pull through and accomplish what Kamina wanted. Although when he's put in action with a very serious game face, outside of fighting, Simon is a very wide-eyed and sweet boy. He's very energetic and can have very silly moments, and also is very caring and sweet for his friends, especially his future love interest, Nia. Even as an adult, Simon still maintains his determined and confident spirit and his loving character.

8. L (Death Note)

In the great battle of L vs. Light, it'll be L every time no questions asked. Sorry but by the time the series comes to its close, Light becomes kind of a jerk.

Yeah so L probably isn't the most "attractive" male character in the history of anime. He has those famous huge eyes with bags under them, slouches and can make some weird faces. But honestly, that just fascinates me. When I saw Death Note, I was head over heels with L. I found him just really cute and attractive. And of course not to mention that hair, which of course, spiky hair is a plus just cause it looks cool. Now outside of his looks, what else is there about L? Well there is the obvious fact that he is highly intelligent and a world famous detective. Who doesn't want a smart man in their life? Even when he's serious about the cases he takes, L still has an odd sense of humor and his funny moments just make him cuter. What's actually surprising about L is how somehow he's always a step ahead of Kira (Light). Even when he dies, he's still ahead of Light when his successor is brought into action. Remember the ending where you see L standing over Light's body as he's dying? I believe that symbolizes that L knew all along who Light really was and is like "Yeah, guess I really won in the end". That's really amazing in a some what eerie way. Even if he looked like he was behind, L was always in someway a step ahead of Light. Okay I'm kinda going off on my own thing now ^^; Anyway, overall, L is a smart and oddly attractive man. That is all lol.

7. Sebastian Michaelis (Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji)

One hell of a butler and one hell of a very sexy one at that. I'd hire him any day (insert picture of me drooling in fangirl-dom).

Indeed, Sebastian is the eye candy of every single Kuroshitsuji fangirl. He's dark and slightly mysterious and you're not really sure what's on his mind, yet it's that darkness about him that's just oh so luring. He's a strong demon and able to fight solely using kitchen utensils or sometimes nothing at all and just let out his true form. While he appears scary, Sebastian is actually really caring and willing to do anything to keep his master safe (Dammit Ciel. You're so lucky!!). When not using acts of violence to protect what matters to him, he's very polite like the butler he is and knows how to have a home well-kept. On top of that, he's a cat lover. How great is that? Could grow old and become one of those weird old couples with a crap ton of cats! XD lol All jokes aside, Sebastian is the great choice of a man with a dark side yet is secretly sweet and a great protector.

6. Tamaki Suoh (Ouran High School Host Club)

Yeah who saw this coming? Someone from OHSHC had to pop up sometime and Tamaki did.

Another "princely type", Tamaki Suoh is probably the most handsome blonde haired, blue eyed Japanese/French boy to ever walk the face of the universe. And being voiced by the great Vic Mignogna adds a plus to the sexiness. Though I guess you could argue the burden is that he is handsome and can be pretty narcissistic very often. But hey, he's gorgeous! I'd have him speak sexily to me any day. Oh, and of course another plus is that he is very gentlemen like and sweet to all the girls he's with. On top of which, he can play the piano. I don't know what it is with me and anime boys playing piano but just something about them making beautiful music is just really beautiful imagery. Anyway, another downside is that he is pretty oblivious to the surrounding world outside of his luxuries, but isn't most of the rich kids at Ouran? His reactions to little things are over the top but sometimes he can just be so hilarious, you don't want to tell him to knock it off. Although he may seem a bit unintelligent and hysterically silly at times, Tamaki is overall really sweet, kind, romantic and the ideal "prince" of any girl's dreams.

5. Edward and Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist/FMA: Brotherhood)

Yeah, I know I'm cheating having two people on the same ranking slot, but I love both Elric brothers as much and it's hard to decide between the two. Besides, from the same anime(s) so what the hell? Also I put the two in the middle of the list because both balance each other out. Let's start with Edward.

Edward is ambitious, tough, intelligent, and an overall bad boy. Oh, and again, voiced by Vic Mignogna. God I love his voice so much ^^ Anyway, it's awkward with him being a little under 5 feet and the fact he'll have better hair than any girl in the universe, but he's still a really sweet and caring soul. He's willing to do anything to protect the ones he loves, even if it means being in harm's way. It's good that he's tough but the burden is that he is tough and can get cocky, resulting in getting himself into too many fights and gaining quite a few enemies. Yet he still prevails as a strong kid who won't stop fighting until he gets back the body of not only himself but of his brother too. Truly a sweet and caring older brother.

Speaking of brothers, let's talk about Alphonse. Compared to his older brother, Al is more of a pacifist and tries to avoid fights as much as he can, but will resort to violence if he deems it necessary. He's a very kind and very sweet boy, but is also very smart and strong and a talented alchemist just like Ed. Al is also more positive than Ed and tries to think situations through before doing something rash, even if it doesn't always work. And just overall, Alphonse is so adorable!! Also, I'm just gonna throw this out there, I didn't really like Maxey Whitehead as the voice of all for FMA: Brotherhood. I know she does well in other roles in other animes like when she was Crona from Soul Eater but personally, I preferred Aaron Dismuke when he was Al. Why did you have to hit puberty Aaron?! Why?! Anyway, yeah, I just didn't like Al's voice in Brotherhood. Kinda high pitched and a bit annoying. But again, just a personal opinion.

Okay so if I had to pick between the two, it'd have to be Alphonse, but I'm glad I included Edward here too. Also I think it's kinda obvious that I like them better in the original anime series simply cause they looked better with the different style of animation. Maybe I'm just being nit-picky but I just like how they look better in the original anime than in Brotherhood. Anyway, next one!

 4. Allen Walker (D. Gray-man)

Good God, do I love Allen! <3

The obvious aspect about Allen is that he just looks cool. Love the silver/white hair and love his weapon. Though you better be good at and love cooking cause this boy sure does have a big appetite lol. Like most everyone else on the list, he's kind and friendly and always thinks about his friends before himself. And also, he's smart and a great fighter and at times can just have clumsy and silly moments. What I really like about him that really stands out is that he never looks back on his horrid past. Something I noticed about some characters (male mostly) is that they always dwell on the past and hold grudges against the tragedies and their mistakes they made. With Allen, he's totally optimistic and positive. He knows he never had an easy childhood and for the most part it was pretty shitty. He was abandoned by his parents because of his left arm, he almost got himself killed when he was tricked into trying to bring back his surrogate father from the dead, and God knows how many time he's seen people, close friends for that matter, be turned into Akuma that he has to kill. Yet he never looks back on those tragedies. Allen was taught to just keep walking forward no matter what. His positive attitude does really stand out and truly makes him a great person.

 3. Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket)

Yeah, I prefer Kyo to Yuki. So I put Kyo on this list too.

Unlike Yuki, Kyo's just a bad boy. Bad boys just seem to be much more of a turn on to anime girls. They like it when they're bad asses, tough, loud, and have pasts too complex to understand. And it's why I like Kyo over Yuki. Though I guess the problem with that is that he is a bad boy and can be really cocky, irrational and a hard ass most of the time, which gets him into quite a few fights with his family. But on the inside, he's just a poor kid tortured by rejection by his own family solely because of being the cursed cat and having a demon inside him and fearing rejection by the ones he cares about because of that demon. On the inside, Kyo is a really caring person even if he doesn't want to admit it and he shows his caring in a very odd way. He still does have a heart even if it's not fully shown all the time. Hard on the outside, sweet and fluffy on the inside. And not to mention totally cute proving that gingers do have souls.

2. Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass)

If you want a man with complexities, then look no further than Lelouch!

Other than being completely handsome and a total womanizer, Lulu is another smarty even if he chooses to slack in school and gamble on chess. He's pretty bent on revenge for the death of his mother, but also fights for his blind and crippled sister, Nunnally. Talk about a loving brother huh? He knows that innocent people will probably get in the way and die, but he won't stop until he makes the world a better place for everyone, including Nunnally. He can go from a nice and polite school boy to a harsh ex-prince so easily that it's hard for others to believe he could be Zero. He always keeps his enemies guessing and always has a plan. Even if it's a flawed plan or he's just making it up as he goes along, Lelouch always seems to know what he's doing up until the very end. And he's not always perfect. Loved ones always seem to get in the way and die. But it's not like he just forgets about it; he carries his failures with him just to get that perfect world all for his little sister. He's so complex and keeps you guessing until the end, yet still gives off a vibe of sexiness that attracts fans. All hail Lelouch!

And Liz's number one anime man is...

1. Tomoya Okazaki (Clannad)

Oh God, yes. It's Tomoya!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

He is probably one of the best characters in the entire Clannad series. Everything about him makes him stand out among everyone else that makes me and my friend Kelly crush so hard on him <3

Yeah, another sexy bad boy. Why is it such a turn on to see boys like Tomoya tortured? I have no clue. At first he starts that way, but slowly over time, Tomoya becomes a caring soul willing to help his friends no matter what the cost. He's another complex character with a crappy past involving a distant father because of the death of his mother. He becomes a delinquent instead of falling into depression and often gets in trouble, yet he slowly learns to get over the past and move on with his life and finds purpose in it, along with being able to make friends who really matter to him. Tomoya's tough and sarcastic but sweet and protective too. He can be angry, but also light-hearted and funny. He truly does care about the ones he loves and does anything to help and never gives up until a solution is made. Nothing matters more to him than the people he loves.


I like seeing how dynamic he is as the series progresses from him not caring about anything to valuing his friends and family. He has bumps in that road of his life, but learns to overcome those obstacles to just ultimately live a happy life. Goes from negative to positive from the people he has met and unknowingly helped him to that epiphany of how much family and friends mean in one's life. And I've never seen a guy cry so much as I've seen Tomoya cry. Most times I see a guy in an anime cry is never or in private. This really changes it cause it shows that Tomoya's not always tough. He can be weak and show that emotion too. He'll say what's on his mind and not care what anyone says and to get people to get over their issues.


And that makes Tomoya Okazaki the sexiest anime man alive! <3


Well I hope you enjoyed my first top ten list. Sorry if these don't match your opinions of what anime guys you consider hot. Give me your opinions of what characters you consider to be hotties or add on to a character mentioned above. Adios! <3

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.