Quote of the Week

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." - Barry LePatner

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This is the last Quote of the Week post. From now on,  I will be posting quotes on a monthly basis or so.

Quote of the Week

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

Psycho-Pass Review

     O-M-G, how can I describe this anime?? It was brilliant, amazing, awesome, and extremely disturbing! Psycho Pass takes place in a utopia or dystopia depending on your point of view. In an effort to create a Japan without crime, the Sybil system was implemented. The system scans people and can determine their aptitude for certain careers. It also determines their mental and emotional stability levels. This as described as your “hue” or “color”. From this information, Sybil computes your crime coefficient. If this number is high, you will be imprisoned for “rehabilitation”. If it’s outrageously high, you will be terminated. If you are borderline, your “pass is cloudy” and you need rehab. 

     Here we meet Shin'ya Kougami and Tomomi Masaoka. These men were police officers before the Sybil system. Due to the stress of their jobs and all the carnage they’ve witnessed, their crime coefficients became too high for rehab. So they were locked away. However, those who have aptitude for law enforcement are allowed to work as investigators. They must do so under supervision though.

     Well it turns out that there are psycho’s in the world, who aren’t bothered at all by violence, stress, etc. No matter what heinous things they do or see, their crime coefficient remains low.  Shougo Makishima is one of these people and he hates the Sybil system. He thinks everyone should do as they please, even if it involves taking other’s lives. Apparently he’s not alone, because soon he gathers others to help him overthrow the Sybil system. How? By exposing how flawed the system is. After all, it lets a maniac like him go free right? Also, it seems a lot of people have blind faith in the Sybil system. Without resisting, they just accept it when Sybil says they are only suited for manual labor, or that they are too crazy to walk the streets freely. This kind of thing is the beginning of the end of humanity as far as Makishima is concerned and he’s not about to take it lying down.

At this point, the violence becomes really graphic. What’s that you say? It’s animated though?? I know!! That’s just how well done it was! Now I love action...car chases, shoot-outs, explosions, brawls – all of it. However, the violence in this anime was disturbing at times. There were a few instances where I literally had to put my hands over my eyes!  I remember one scene that I found particularly extreme – the image stayed in my mind weeks after I’d watched that particular episode. And of course they had to flashback to it later..........ugh.

I must say that this anime gave me a lot to think about. Nobody wants to be a crime victim, but would we go so far as to let some unknown machine determine the course of all of our entire lives? Would we really cease thinking for ourselves and hand everything over? We are so dependent on computerized gadgets today that I really wonder if we aren't heading in this direction.

As Psycho Pass nears its end, we learn what Sybil really is and all I can say is wow. It was not what I expected at all. I think even Makishima wasn’t prepared for what he learned about the Sybil system.

Bottomline? I loved this anime. It is firmly in my top 10 list (no, I don’t have a top 10 list. There’s no way I could confine my favorites to only 10 silly - for more on that click here). I highly suggest you check it out if you like action, intrigue, and/or thought provoking subjects. On a scale of 1 through 10, 10 being the best - I gave it a 9.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Review

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Chuunibyou! 12 episodes just wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, things wrapped up nicely at the end, so a second season is highly unlikely. Impossible? No – but I won’t hold my breath.

Chuunibyou is basically about a phenomenon referred to as “8^th grader syndrome” and how it affects the lives of these characters. Yuuta Togashi and Shinka Nibutani are 3^rd years (9^th graders) who suffered quite astoundingly with 8^th grader syndrome the previous year. Yuuta called himself “Dark Flame Master” and used a variety of weapons and magic to accomplish various……things in a universe that only he seemed to be aware of. Shinka did much of the same and even went so far as to create a large book of spells. Now, a year later they are so embarrassed by their previous behavior, that they have tried to leave it all behind by attending a school as far away as possible from their middle school. But as I’m sure you can guess, these two aren’t as successful as they’d hoped. For Yuuta, it turns out Rikka Takanashi was his upstairs neighbor and observed him in Dark Flame Master mode many times. For Shinka, instead of burning her book of spells, she donated it and it was purchase by an 8^th grader, Sanae Dekomori who became friends with Rikka  – of course. Now that I think about it,Yuuta kept all his Dark Flame Master stuff too. So maybe they weren’t as embarrassed as they pretended to be? Or maybe those things just have too much sentimental value that they can't bring themselves to destroy the items. 

As the anime progresses, it seems that Rikka’s eighth grader syndrome is really her attempt to deny the reality of her father’s death. So, Yuuta and Shinka have to revisit their chuunibyou pasts to help Rikka accept reality. Oh and there’s a bit of romance between Yuuta and Rikka which was really cute. On a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8.

Quote of the Week

"It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final."  -Roger Babson

It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.
Roger Babson
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roger_babson.html#Zs95D5fOjkrxu5WM.99

It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.
Roger Babson
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roger_babson.html#Zs95D5fOjkrxu5WM.99

Fall 2013 Anime First Impression

It's fall again, which means new shows (yay!). There are a lot of anime coming out though. I try to watch at least the first ep of every new show, but I don't know if I can make it to all of them. Here's what I've watched so far (episode 1 anyway):

• Diabolik Lovers - A cute, human girl name Yui, is sent by her father to live in a particular mansion while he's away. He neglects to mention that all the current residents are vampires (gee, thanks dad!). Actually, blood-thirsty, abusive, vampire jerks would be more accurate. Anyway, it turns out that Yui has unusually tasty blood......what's that you say? You saw that coming a mile away? Yes I know. It's terrible....and yet I haven't stopped watching it. In fact, ep 4 just came out and I absolutely must watch it right now - so I will have to finish this post later............
• Coppelion - A post-apocalyptic anime. I don't remember if they gave the details of what actually transpired during the catastrophic event but 90% of Tokyo's population was killed. Regular people can't go near Tokyo now. Even wearing a special suit, they can only stay in or near Tokyo for a short amount of time without taking damage. However, we meet 3 teenage girls who can walk and breathe freely in Tokyo, thanks to a bit of genetic hanky panky. These girls travel through Tokyo looking for survivors. Adventure is sure to be had along the way as they meet new people (and feral animals - yikes!), struggle with their own humanity, and face the possibility that they may die. Quite interesting.
• Golden Time - So we have Banri and Mitsuo, two freshman law students learning their way around their new school after getting lost on the first day. They strike up a conversation about where they came from. Turns out Mitsuo could've went straight from a prestigious high school right into a prestigious college........so why didn't he? Well the answer suddenly shows up in the form of Koko - who repeatedly slaps Mitsuo across the face with a bouquet of roses and then leaves just as abruptly as she came. Who is Koko? An oujo (<--What's this? See my vocab post) who just happens to be Mitsuo's extremely possessive girlfriend. Aside from her stalker-ish tendencies, she exudes a calm and patient demeanor. She's also very stubborn. The first episode was pretty funny. I'm looking forward to the next episode.
• Kill La Kill -Takes place at this prison-like school, where those selected to receive a special uniform that may hold strength and power. Seems there is an oujo running the school and ruling over the students. One student was crazy enough to attempt to steal one of these coveted uniforms and he is immediately destroyed by the oujo's minions. A new girl, Ryuuko ,transfers in and immediately challenges the oujo. She brandishes half of a huge, red scissor at the oujo and accuses her of knowing who owned the scissor. The owner of the other half of the scissor may have killed Ryuuko's father. As expected, one of the oujo's minions beast her to a pulp. As she's limping away, a school teacher lurks in the shadows and springs a trap door that she's falls through. Underground, a black, talking school uniform forces itself on her (seriously!). She returns to school the next day with, you guessed it, strength and power. She defeats the minion who beat her up the previous day, but the other minions keep her from getting to the oujo. Will I tune in next time to see if Ryuuko ever finds who she's searching for? I'm not sure. The animation style doesn't appeal to me, but the story could get more interesting as time goes on.
• I couldn't become a hero, so I reluctantly decided to get a job (a.k.a Yuusha Ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku o Ketsui Shimashita -So there was an ongoing battle between demons and humans. We meet Raul who is in the process of taking a hero exam so he can join the battle. Unfortunately, no more heroes are needed, so Raul gets a job as a sales clerk. Raul is slowly resigning himself to his new career when his manager decides to hire the Demon King's obnoxious, yet cute child. This kid surprises Raul in more ways than one, while also destroying everything they touch. There was some amusing moments in this episode. There was also a lot of ecchiness which I could've done without. So far I'd say this anime is Haiyore! Nyaruko-san meets Hataraku Maou-sama. Good times.
• Strike the Blood - So we meet this typical high school guy named Kojou. It seems he's become a vampire-like creature....but he doesn't really want to broadcast this fact. A cute girl named Yukina starts following him one day because she's convinced that he's the "fourth progenitor"......which he is........but how she knows this we have yet to find out. She meets some obnoxious dudes who turn out to be demons. This starts a pretty intense battle between Yukina and the 2 demons. Yukina pulls out a weapon that looks like it might cause a huge explosion, but Kojou, who was lurking nearby jumps in to end the battle. We learn that Yukina was sent to observe him. There are a lot of details about his current state that he's not aware of so she decides to continue hanging out with him.........you know, for observation purposes. I did enjoy this first ep, though not much was really explained. There were enough hints to make me want to tune in next time though.
• Log Horizon - So we meet gamer Shiroe who has logged into to play Elder Tale and quickly finds that he can't log out. He meets up his old pal Naotsugu who is loveable, proud pervert and together, they run into Akatsuki, an assassin. So at first I thought this was going to be a Sword Art Online wanna-be and I thought I'd hate it. I'm glad to report that I was wrong. I didn't hate it at all. True, the premise (so far) is just like SAO's, but I really, really enjoyed it. My hope is that Log Horizon will be different enough to set itself apart from SAO. It's really too early to tell. One thing I thought was cool was how Shiroe, our hero, keeps falling flat on his face. Why? Because his game character is taller than he is in  real life" and so he has to adapt. It's like his brain was put into someone else's body. Akatsuki is actually a small girl and can't deal with the tall, muscular, male body her character has. With some help from a special item Shiroe had, she is able to change into a much smaller, female body that she is comfortable in. Ep 1 was really just an introduction to the situation and the main characters. I really liked the interaction between the characters. They are all very different, but they've come together in an attempt to make the best of a bad situation. I'm really looking forward to seeing some great fight scenes, intrigue, romance, fun times, and maybe some bad times too. Hmmm, I wonder what happens if they die in the game...Is there more to see outside the town they're in now (Akihabara)??  Guess I'll have to keep watching to find out - and that's exactly what I intend to do.
• BlazBlue Alter Memory - Well let me begin by stating that I am not familiar with the fighting game this anime is based on. The anime began with a character by the name of Ragna the bloodedge. He's also referred to as the Grim Reaper. Episode 1 begins with Ragna fighting a mechanical girl. Ragna seems annoyed by her because she is trying to kill him. I, however, found her annoying because she talked in a cutesy voice and professed her love for him.........while trying to kill him. Unfortunately for Ragna, he ends up getting impaled by her multi-bladed weapon. Hazama, a suspicious green-haired character who is observing nearby wonders how many times this scenario will continue to repeat. So does that mean Ragna is immortal?? His right arm seems to have the mysterious power referred to as the Azure Grimoire  I'm not sure where he got it, but we do find out that his own brother cut off his arm when he was much younger. Most details are explained in this episode so some may find it confusing. Ragna is a total frau. He brought to my mind one of my favorite frau's - Dante from Devil May Cry. White hair? Check! Long Red Coat? Check! Long Sword? Check! Painful past? Check! and DMC is also both a game and anime as well. There was also another interesting character - Noel Vermillion. She's got a soft spot for Ragna though she doesn't realize it. She belongs to a military type organization called the NOL and Ragna's brother Jin just happens to be her superior. Noel seems to always know Ragna's general direction and his habits.........though she's not sure why. She seems to think they're strangers. Hazama on the other hand, expects her to know where Ragna was, but he also seems aware that Noel doesn't know why.  All in all I found it quite interesting. The fight scenes were fun to watch too. I'd like to continue watching how the anime unfolds. I don't mind waiting an episode or two for explanations..........as long as it's only an ep or 2, lol.
• Kyoukai no Kanata - It was weird, but interesting and it had a decent OP/ED. Episode 1 begins with Akihito Kanbara who is heading home when he sees a girl standing on the ledge of the school's roof. Instead of pretending he didn't see her, he races to the roof to tell her she shouldn't jump because of profound reasons such as,  a girl who is cute in glasses shouldn't die. Well she leaps.........but wait, no..........she's leaps and flips until she in front of him. Before he can say anything else, she stabs him............he cries out in pain and blood spreads over his chest. Moments later he asks if she could remove the sword............she looks surprised. I guess she didn't know he was immortal. Anyway, turns out he's half "youmu" and half human - a rare thing. The girl, Mirai Kuriyama, is a Spirit World Warrior - so she fights youmu. Youmu are basically demons. Well Mirai is rare too. Turns out she can manipulate her blood and turn it into a weapon. Seems she's cursed to battle youmu for the rest of her life whether she wants to or not. She doesn't want to, but since she must - might as well practice on someone who won't die like..............Akihito! Poor Akihito - even though he's immortal, he still feels the pain of being stabbed and he'd really rather not experiencing that, but Mirai starts stalking and attacking him on a daily basis. And Mirai is absolutely adorable with her clumsiness, glasses, and pigeon-toed stance - how is Akihito supposed to resist that??? Akihito's friend Mitsuki, also a spirit worlder, wants Akihito to stay away from Mirai two times. It would've been nice if she was just jealous over Akihito's new friend, but I get the feeling that the warning had everything to do with some nasty plans that someone has in store for Mirai. Only time will tell what will become of these three, so I plan to check out more episodes in the future.
• Nagi No Asukara -  I really liked the first episode of this anime. It is truly a pleasure to behold. The colors are so vibrant, as I've come to expect from P.A. Works. I thought the same thing when I watched Angel Beats! and Hanasaku Iroha. The anime begins with the loveable brat Hikari who is a pretty good cook! Hikari looks to be around middle school age....13 or 14 I'd guess. He takes off to meet his friends so they can all go to school together. He's running through town, then swimming............what???? Haha, yeah I had noticed some fish "flying" around so now it all made sense. They live in a village at the bottom of the sea! Hikari was racing to get to Manaka, a girl he thinks can't live without his helping her. Well, maybe he's right because on that day, she accidentally gets caught in a fishing net by an old fisherman and a cute boy named Tsumugu. Turns out that the school in the sea closed and now they will be attending school above sea level with the other humans. Seems everyone lived in the ocean in the distant past, but some decided to live above. After a certain amount of time outside of water, the protective shell over their skin dries and cracks. The rebels of long ago, shed that shell and their offspring remain above, without the ability to breathe in the water. So, Hikari, who not-so-secretly loves Manaka, Chisaki, a girl who somewhat secretly loves Hikari, and Kaname a boy who supports Chisaki in her crush, all report to school. They are greeted with some hostility though. The other kids think of them as a different species and treat them like objects. It's kind of sad, but not unrealistic. Manaka is grabbed by the girls who want to examine her skin. She gets embarrassed and runs off. While running, she stumbles, falls down a hill and loses consciousness. Her skin starts cracking. Hikari is frantic and runs all over town looking for her. But who finds her? Tsumugu! He takes her home and puts her in a salt-water bath and they have a very nice conversation. Tsumugu has no problem telling Manaka that he thinks she's beautiful....unlike Hikari who seethes with jealousy when he finally catches up to them. Nice! A very interesting and different story. Reminds me a bit of mermaids, except these kids remain in human form at all times. I look forward to watching more.
• Samurai Flamenco - It was pretty silly, but I like silly anime when they are done right. We have two main characters: Masayoshi - a young guy (maybe 19-21 years old )works as a model. But what he really wants to be is a super hero like in his favorite childhood show: Harakiri Sunshine. So he gets a super hero suit made and goes into the night in pursuit of justice. He decides to begin with a drunken jaywalker smoking in a non-smoking zone. But somehow he ends up naked in an ally. He's found by Gouto - a police officer (mid-twenties), and regular guy. He takes Masayoshi home to get his clothes and finds out about Masayoshi's superhero obsession. Aside from his over-zealousness, Gouto thinks he's a cute kid. They end up watching some Harakiri Sunshine episodes. Gouto tells Masayoshi that he should quit the superhero thing...............but of course he doesn't listen. He spots a group of delinquents and makes them his next target for justice...........but it doesn't go well and he has to call Gouto for help, lol. This anime reminded me of Tiger & Bunny for some reason. Maybe it's his superhero suit?? *Shrug*. Anyway, it was pretty amusing - I plan to check out the rest of this anime.
• Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai - how did I miss this one?? Well I'm really glad that I heard about it today because I really liked this! This anime is hard to describe. I've only seen one episode so I don't have all the details yet, but it takes place in realm where magic and technology combine to create amazing things. Raishin Akabane is a self-proclaimed puppeteer and his puppet would be the lovely Yaya - she looks and acts like an adorable teenage girl.... until Raishin goes into battle-mode. Then she becomes the deadliest of weapons. In the first moments of the anime we see her stop a train with her bare hands!.............and why was it an old-fashioned looking "choo-choo" train with steam coming out the top?? Surely an era that could create a machine doll would have sleek bullet trains by now, right??? *Sigh, but I digress. Raishin and Akabane are headed to the Royal Academy - a place where the best magicians battle to the death for 1st place. From what we see initially, it seems Raishin is pretty spectacular, but somehow he ends up ranking 2nd to last at the Academy. Raishin is slightly annoyed by this but not really concerned. Why? Because he's only there from revenge. If getting the top of his class is the only way to get it, then that's what he's determined to do. Why does he want revenge and on who?? We see a glimpse of the answer at the end of the first episode but I'm looking forward to finding out the whole story as I keep watching.
• Ore No Nounai Sentakushi Ga, Gakuen Lovecome O Zenryoku De Jama Shiteiru or My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy - This anime is about Kanade, a teenage boy who is forced to make weird choices. He's minding his own business when a voice in his head tells him to "CHOOSE". There are usually two choices that pop into his mind and look like a game menu. There are usually two embarrassing choices, and he'd rather not do either one. For instance, he sees a dirty magazine discarded on the ground and the voice tells him to eat it or press it to his face and smell it.......and of course someone sees him acting out the option he chose. What's that you say? Why doesn't he just not choose? Because if he doesn't, he gets a horrible pain in his head. I feel kinda bad for Kanade. This mental choice situation is ruining his high school life - but he does have a few friends who accept him anyway. Episode 1 is a must see if only for the part where they show humanity's choices over time. It was hilarious..........you just have to watch it for yourself to know what I mean. The anime is funny, but it's also a bit ecchi so watch at your own discretion.
  
  
   
   

Vocabulary Lesson (How to read this blog)

So, my brother has the best sense of humor. Growing up he'd come up with the craziest nicknames for people. Since he also likes anime, those characters have also received some interesting moniker's that have stuck with me. Some of these nicknames come from me, but most are from him. Please note that this list is by no means definitive.

*Frau - noun or adjective. Meaning: A beautiful male. Derivation: Name of character from the 07-Ghost anime. Symptoms: Bishounen. (ex. just about any character in Hakkenden or Hakuouki)

*Sakura - noun or verb. Meaning: A traitor or low-life scum. Something or someone I loathe. To eliminate or  a character I would like to eliminate. Derivation: Name of character from the anime Naruto. Her name received this definition in the episode where she told Naruto she loved him when she really did not. Since she knew that he really loved her, it was too cruel. I'm glad he didn't believe her..........but I digress.

*Limabean - noun or adjective. Someone (or describes someone) who is a bit annoying or does something foolish.

*Uchida - adjective - glasses wearing guy who often strikes a pose of using a finger or two to push up his glasses. Derivation: Last name of characters from the anime Bleach.

*Aizen - adjective - particularly evil character. So sly that he may have even made you think he was a good guy at first. Derivation: Also from Bleach.

*Blond-headed - adjective - A male character with blond hair. This character is typically easy-going, fun loving, happy, and can be bit of an air head at times. This character tends to show up a lot in school anime. (ex. Chizuru Tachibana from Kimi to Boku, Haru from Tsuritama, Nagisa Hazuki from Free)

*Ojou - noun - a beautiful princess-like girl who is usually very wealthy as well. She may have a very distinctive laugh ("OH ho ho ho!"). She may be sweet and kind or she may be an obnoxious snobby brat. (ex. Hime from Kaibutsu Oujo)

Quote of the Week

"Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret." - Laurence J. Peter

Quote of the Week

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't ... you're right." -Henry Ford

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Bernard Baruch
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bernard_baruch.html#fCptPMSVGMc380GB.99

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Bernard Baruch
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bernard_baruch.html#fCptPMSVGMc380GB.99