Think Out Loud #9

Think Out Loud.

This is a weekly meme used for bloggers

to post something they would normally not post.

So, post whatever YOU want!

Free falling back into Aniiimeee

I don't remember when I got into anime. Rough estimation is 5 years ago when I watched one episode of Bleach and I was hooked. Before that I had seen other shows like Dragon Balls and Saiyuki on TV. After bleach I was introduced to Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto. When Bleach was on hiatus for awhile I went digging for the mangas. Then I discovered D.Grayman, Hitman Reborn, Dengenki daisy, Personant, Hana Yori Dango. I read all these on one site onemanga.com The site was taken down and hasn't been the same since. So I was put off of the anime world some how.

Then I was watching this video by wongfuproductions where they were at a anime convention and everybody on the floor recommended this anime...So I checked it out. I was hooked by the first episode. You might have heard of it because it seems everybody has been watching it except me! Shingenki no Kyojin! It's amazing!

I still have mixed feelings because I just went into it head first and didn't see that there were only 16 episodes out at the time. I went through them like potato chips. After that desperate for more I went in search of the manga and again  went through them fast and IT'S SO GOOD! 

The characters have great background stories and many strong female leads. Mikasa is one awesome bad ass chick but somehow I find myself liking Sasha Braus more. She's not the best soldier but tries. This anime/manga has great characterization  AS for the plot it's alive: so many twists. Then there's the psychology of the characters: both humans and humans that can turn into titans: I'm still not sure about who's the bad guy and what the titans motive is. This is probably one of the reasons people get hooked on the show.

In episode 3 when Eren get's killed I was shocked because isn't he the main character.  For a moment I thought GRRM was involved following me everywhere after the Red Wedding. 

This show is amazing and full of surprises and scary ugly titans and a bit gory. People die easily. At the end of this goodness you end up thinking two things about the further development of the anime/manga:

1.it's only going to get better or 2. with all the titans in the survey corps and the identities of the Colossal and Armored Titan already known the author,Hajime Isayama, might end up writing himself into a corner. or maybe this is just my irrational fear..I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Now I'm in a state of withdrawal and anticipation. I want the anime to get to where the manga is and I wanna know whats going to happen  next! so many questions need to be answered.

The hope of mankind

Do Do you watch anime?

This anime?

What do you think?

Vampire Hunter D volume 3 by Hideyuki Kikuchi , adapted and illustrated by Saiko Takaki

The third volume of the popular Japanese series comes to America in Vampire Hunter D: Demon Deathchase. The vampire hunter known only as D has been hired by a wealthy, dying man to find his daughter, who was kidnapped by the powerful vampire Lord Meierlink. Though humans speak well of Meierlink, the price on his head is too high for D to ignore and he sets out to save her before she can be turned into an undead creature of the night. In the nightmare world of 12090 A.D., finding Meierlink before he reaches the spaceport in the Clayborn States and gets off the planet will be hard enough, but D has more than just Meierlink to worry about. The dying man is taking no chances, and has also enlisted the Marcus family, a renegade clan of four brothers and a sister who don't care who they kill as long as they get paid. Beautiful illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano complement the post-apocalyptic plot, filled with chilling twists. Co-Published with Digital Manga Publishing.GOODREADS

* the description of the manga belongs to another edition. The edition being reviewed is adapted and illustrated by Saiko Takaki.

First off, I'm not familiar with the other two volumes or the story arc. This is my introduction to this manga. Not knowing certain things did bother me: like why the hell does D have a face or an ugly speaking face on his hand or why he's so mysterious and why the old guy seemed to know him. I guess being ignorant of D's background made this less impressive but it doesn't really ruin the plot,  it just makes a person curious so it's safe to read this as a stand alone. Then again I don't know why you would start at 3 when you should start with one.

The plot is predictable , I mean vampire falls in love with human, they run away, dad is disgusted, hires hunters,  girl hunter sympathizes because she likes D, a dramatic scene where the Meierlink gets killed and then human girl impales herself because she can't live without him. Predictable. 

What made it interesting was the characters and the illustrations. D's mysterious and I don't get him. Then there's the Marcus clan ( a bunch of morons, moron clan) and the Noble vampire who kidnaps the damsel. Then there's the 3 assassins from some village. They all die and the way they kept coming back was surprising and frustrating. I mean die already!

As for the illustrations. Lets see: the body of the characters ,their cloths (in this case I mean the men's cloths) are done really well and are amazing. But the faces aren't as attractive as the clothes . The faces are weird looking in my opinion but the expressions are unique and eye-catching. 

There are three female characters in this manga. I hated them all.  There's the damsel; who almost gets raped then saved by this guy who then tries to rape her and again gets rescued by a Marcus brother . Then there's the female Marcus member: she's suppose to be bad ass but is being sexually abused by her "brothers" and one of the assassins who's in this really skimpy outfit (how do you fight in that?!). The word "sexist' is swimming around in my head, but I'm not sure if I should use it. It is what it is. The assassin used her body as a weapon, the Marcus girl's a reasonable fighter but kind of weak and the damsel's too kind and naive. plus the other two aforementioned ones have these huge boobs. Maybe not extremely huge ones, but they're very apparent, noticeable. like they'd poke you in the eye or something. how do you fight with those?!

Predictable plot and crappy female characters aside, it's still a fun manga to read . I didn't know it was set in the year 12090 A.D and that this was also a science fiction manga, that wasn't as apparent in this volume as the boobs ,but one of the reasons I'd give it a try if ever I come across another volume.

Grade:

Bleach volume 37 by Tite kubo

Beauty Is So Solitary: Soul Reaper captain Shinji Hirako has uncovered Aizen's betrayal, but it may be too late. As some of the Soul Society's greatest Soul Reapers transform into Hollows, it will be up to Kisuke Urahara to save them. And back in the present time, the grand battle between the Thirteen Court Guard Companies and the remaining Espada finally begins!

Volume 37 continues where we left off in volume 36. Aizen reveals himself to Shinji as the person responsible for kidnapping some of the soul reapers and also reveals he's been experimenting on them. He then goads Shinji into getting angry speeding up his hollowfication process. 

Gin and Kaname are also aiding Aizen in his "crazy experiment".

Urahara and Tessai then show  up and . They save  Shinji and Co take them to Urahara's barracks and try to reverse what Aizen did.  Now we now where Tessai and Urahara's friendship began and how. We also learn more about the Hogyoku.

Aizen then rats on Urahara and Tessai to the Council of 46. He comes up with this story that Urahara has been the one kidnapping and experimenting on the soul reapers which of course the old farts believe. Yoroichi comes to save Urahara and the rest. Now we know why Yoroichi is also banned from Soul Society

The pendulum stops now and we go back to the confrontation with the soul reapers and Aizen over karakura town.

This volume has 10 chapters in it , the first 3 are the last chapters of the pendulum arc. The rest goes back to the Fight with the Espada. The first fight is between Ayegawa and Charlotte . This is a funny and annoying fight. We also learn more about Ayegawa's zanpakuto

We get glimpses of Ichigo and his friends in Las Noches trying to save Orihime. There's also a scene in Las Noches between Ulquiorra and Orihime.  This really emo scene with Ulquiorra and Orihime. He asks her " what is a heart ? can it be seen if I rip open this chest of yours? If I crush  you're skull will I find it there?

<- emooooo

 Alright prince of darkness YOU are in serious need of a happy meal. Then enters Ichigo . The fight between Ichigo and Ulquiorra is really awesome so I might be contemplating buying the next issue just for that fight. 

As for the Espada's I like the use of spanish for naming their attacks. It's a nice touch to things.

Charlotte's  uses one of his attacks "blanca rosas" to surround Ayegawa and Charlotte where no one can see them. This gives Ayegawa the opportunity to use his zanpakuto's true form which he keeps secret from everybody.

As for Charlotte . Man I hate the guy. He's loud, sparkly and conceited. I know Ayegawa is as well but at least his aesthetic standers don't border on Ugly!

<- this guy ....just really.....*facepalm

Grade:  O

The Dark-Hunters, vol 4 by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I finely got my hands on one of the
Dark-Hunter manga's , although I had to let the person borrow my Bleach manga. This way I'm going to have to give him his book back( not that I had any bad/criminal/thieving intentions)

Dark-hunter,vol 4 is the second part of Talon and Sunshine's story. Based on book 2 from the dark-hunter novels (Night Embrace). I've read all the dark-hunter novels  and enjoyed them immensely. They're funny,action packed and have great memorable characters.So it was a different experience for me to read Talon's story in manga form, with him saying lines from the book and seeing facial expressions from him , Sunshine and other characters. 

Talon's depiction in the manga is pretty young looking. Although when he's angry he has a more mature facial expression.

Acheron's depiction is great. It's dark and brooding ,just like it's suppose to be.

Further they got Fang's personality down right and Zarek's. Although Zarek is missing his goatee. Zarek!! I love that psycho and Nick's sarcasm. Vane's expression when he sees Bride for the first time. 

The manga is for ages 13  and up. 
This is an actual manga and not a comic. The pages of this book were created in the traditional japanese right to left manga format but don't worry Simi' will help you if you'r new to reading manga's.
Sexual content : kissing scenes. 

I'm happy that they didn't include sex scenes from the book because it would make me feel like I'm reading one of those smut manga's. Dark-hunter is so much more. *my opinion

Minus points would be when some of the character's go "gah". Yeah they actually say that "gah". I freaking hate that! even in the books. It ruins the effect of things. Some of the scenes depicted were weird for me, like bad acting. Sunshine gets kidnapped ,Talon's pissed but then he's calm.

I really loved this, although it's the second half of the book. I think each book is split into two parts.If that's the case then I can't wait to read Zarek's story in manga form.

Grade: 

O

Review: Bleach vol 36 by Tite Kubo

Bleach: volume 36 Turn Back The Pendulum by Tite Kubo

I love Bleach. It's my first anime and favorite anime. Maybe not my absolute first but it tops the list. I had been reading the manga online up till the vizards kicked Aizen's butt, then there  was this new thing about fullbring, but since my favorite manga site went down . I've stopped reading and I'm well behind on whats happening.

Although I've already read The Pendulum arc.  I still bought the manga because it's my favorite arc. I really like the vizards. Compared to the soul reapers they're more badass, they're like delinquents you can't help but love. and they're badass.

This volume goes back 110 years into Soul Society history, when Shinji was captain, and the other vizards were apart of  Soul Society. It tells the story about them before and how they became vizards. And how Aizen was even then conspiring against Soul Society . Shinji was always suspicious about Aizen. So was kyoraku. I love this arc because you also get to see the other characters like a young hotheaded Byakuya different from the cold and calm one we know, also Urahara as captain of squad 5 and his relationship with Hiyori, and how Mayuri becomes head of his division, the origin of the 69 tattoo Hisagi has. This edison  of the manga (or maybe all editions ), I wouldn't know, this is the first manga  I've ever bought. I love how it's backwards (the manga binding) true to manga style reading you have to start at the "back" and read from right to left. Things I didn't like is the fact that it ended too quickly and this volume doesn't contain the whole pendulum arc, the rest of the story continues in volume 37, guess I have some saving up to do.


Grade: O