Anime vs Disney.

Some people say anime sucks, is of low quality, blablabla. This people clearly don't know what they're talking about.

Let me refer you to: 15 reasons why you should never pause a disney movie.
http://www.tickld.com/x/15-reasons-why-you-should-never-pause-a-disney-movie-12-is-priceless

From 2 episodes of Sword art online season 2, we can clearly see how much better anime producers are than disney. And really, they do it every week.

From episode 2,

Quite Simple, but effective graphics. 

 And the facial expressions. Maybe you can't see it here. Wait for the next section, I took even more. 150 actually (Won't post them all lah)

That fake blood, blasted off limb, fantasy style.

Unfocused shot. Good choice.

Just look at it. You'll never see this in any disney movie. Just some shimmering stars, ice, and plastic faces, dish eyes. Like the recent Frozen movie.

I took 58 screenshots of episode 2.

From episode 3,

Kirito enters Gun Gale Online, and Lo and Behold, he gets a really pretty avatar. Watch his/her reaction.

Kawaii desu yo ne??

Without enough money, Kirito enters a "arcade game" of sorts. The goal is to run down a lane, avoiding the NPC's bullets.

Ready, GO!

Guess the fluidity and the dynamics speak for themself. Is there really much to elaborate on?

Want one more? Sure, here goes.



(Not too sure what she meant there, probably just cheering herself on.)






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Don't really know about you, but as I was doing this, the faces and the motion just drew me in. This weekly series, costing a mere fraction of one disney movie, keeps me deeply engrossed, coming back week after week after week. Perhaps most disney animation, like most western CARTOONS out there, are made mainly humour in mind. That might explain the lower quality in the artwork and designs. Or maybe they just like that style, and this is just personal bias. But hey, it certainly isn't personal, cos, millions of people out there LOVE japanese anime. And really, look at the queues at anime festivals, the amount of merchandise, and all those cosplayers.

Conclusion. Disney has more money, greater publicity, greater base(USA). BUT. visual arts&design-wise, anyone who's really watched enough of both will tell you, anime wins hands down.

P.S. Oh, just in case anyone disagrees, thinking I made an unfair comparison by choosing an anime with stunning visuals, Sword art online doesn't have the BEST visual effects or art out there. It's great, and certainly is one of the draws for me at least. But there are many others I like more. Like say, Psycho-pass. The futuristic designs really bring out the utopian-become-dystopian futuristic society of the anime, and the visual effects seemed to me rather effective in guiding the thoughts and feelings of the viewer.

Ruler of the Land Manga

Need to get this out fast

Okay so i started on this manga on a friend's recommendation, apparently he said it was good.

So far, I've had multiple issues with it.

1. Too many characters, some unmemorable, makes things too confusing. In the span of just 60 chapters, we've had 5 women, 4 antagonists, 4 overpowered old farts, and a billion lackeys surrounding the main character.

2. Simplistic thinking, repetitive lines. Maybe it's a translation problem?

3. Excessive focus on humour. The humour isn't even funny, and has gotten dry. Especially when they drag the non-serious problem out for too long.

4. Colour schematics not consistent.

5. Main character is fucked up. Overpowered in the sense that he can randomly learns any move, uses moves unconsciously, monstrous chi, etc. Fucked up in that he gets afflicted with all sorts of rubbish status conditions, and still acts perfectly normal.

It's getting abit irritating the way they keep dragging it out though. Either go deeper into the story, characters, or GET THE BLOODY FUCK ON.

Kingdom

I thought I'd never get down to writing my next post, being so busy with work these few weeks after all. And I probably will be, until December, but I'll try to update once in a while.

So anyway, the last manga I read was Kingdom. Set in the Great Warring States era of ancient China, the manga follows the adventures of this boy named Shin. For many who enjoyed the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or some other Chinese classics, I really do believe you should give this one a try. It generally follows the historical timeline, and magnificently weaves in strategy, action, and the little touch that make all shounen mangas that are worth reading worth reading.

Initially, I thought this was going to be some lame, typical shounen manga, battle after battle with no development. I kept going on, wanting to see how the first conflict would end, and if the King managed to take back his throne. The manga soon hooked me, as I read up till chapter 48, where the main character begins his first major battle as a soldier.

Brilliantly weaving history and engaging story telling, the battles are full of strategy, but also courage, and the balls to take risks. Shin starts off weak and cocky, with no sense for strategy, but in the midst of battle, really proves his worth. And one of the best protagonist traits in shounen manga seems to be that stupid goofiness, although in some cases it really becomes over-done. Yet in Kingdom, the stupidity is clearly balanced out by instinct, and this becomes a common theme in the conflicts between the generals, between strategic planning, and a sixth sense for opportunities. 

Kingdom does not neglect the other supporting characters as well, in fact they are as well-loved, if not even more so than Shin. Kyoukai, the female assassin, Sei, the young King, random foot soldiers in his squad, and especially the great generals Ouki and Duke Hyou. 

Ouki especially seems to be a villian, but is simply fiercely loyal to the old king 2 generations ago. (The next king died in a few days after ascending the throne.) In that age of backstabbing and assassinations, Ouki remained steadfast to his beliefs. And as Shin and Sei proves themselves, Ouki becomes a powerful ally and mentor, cunning in the ways of strategy, and sensitive to traps. The manga cleverly builds up Ouki, making him one of the most loved characters of all time.

The fans also deified his gorgeous lips, with at least 30 tonnes of paper just dedicated to his magnificence.

It's always about the Lips.

Each of them have their real brilliant moments, and the manga was such a joy to read, putting you through such intense cliffhangers, that you just end up hoping that some miracle will happen, as long as those great men don't die.

#Spoiler alert, 

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After all that intense build up and the legends surronding Ouki, he died.  FUCK DAMN HE DIED, BUT HE DIED A LEGENDARY DEATH

After some REALLY INTENSE fighting, Ouki brings his troops out of the trap.

(I'm selecting just a few pages to show here)

BACKSTABBED, BUT HE COMES BACK FROM THE BRINK OF DEATH.

And then.. Final words

R.I.P. Ouki

Date-a-live (& rants)

(-_-|||)

The crappy love comedy between Yatogami Tohka and Tobichii Origami is starting to get seriously annoying.

Date-a-live is a seriously whacky show with a somewhat messed up plot. It somewhat tries to emulate a dating sim game, similar to "The World God Only Knows". (Although it's done pretty stupidly).

A dedicated team of (Otakus, other people with failed relationships, etc) help decide the "best" course of action for Shido to take in his Dates. 

Still, the anime is rather attractive, with the cute character designs, and personalities that stand out, to boot.

  (Images taken from InternationalSaimoeLeague.com contestants roster)


While the story itself isn't particularly well done, Date-a-live succeeds pretty well based on its Harem appeal, and light hearted comedy. At least for the most part.

Starting on season 2, after finishing 13 episodes, the same old plot device hits me again, as Tohka horribly misunderstands protagonist Itsuka Shido. From what this time? Some silly soapy romance drama she watched on television.

Now i know that Tohka has been set up as an insecure damsel, who's forever in distress, new to the ways of the human world. But still, it's really high time someone smacks her on the head, and tells her to learn to control her emotions. Every few scenes, Tohka bursts out crying, because she spilled something, or destroyed something, and is worried that playboy protag Shido will hate her. Now, if this happened a few times, I guess that would be fine. However, this lame plot device has been repeated at least 20 times over 10 episodes. It is really getting dull.

So as always, in this kind of harem genre, there always has to be some sort of misunderstanding (Yeah I get that, I hated it at first, but have gotten used to it. And it certainly is one of the easiest ways to make things happen for these kind of shows).

Scene from drama

What Tohka sees

In the drama, the man is cheating on the wife, and has packed his luggage, ready to go on a "trip". Tohka then sees Shido leaving with a packed luggage, and starts suspecting that he is leaving her.

She chases after him, and ooh guess what, meets him with Origami.

Well, what really happened was this...

Shido just wanted to send it for repairs.

Okay, enough about Tohka. Even worse than Tohka, Origami is an even crazier psychotic screw-up. She goes totally own tempo, disregarding organisational rules. Not only is she anti-social, but stuck in her own world.

As a member of the peace-keeping force, protocol required her to wait for orders before opening fire against the spirits. In her single minded drive for revenge for her parents, she disregarded all rules, stole a top-secret military weapon, and operated it in the amusement park, without evacuating any civilians. Against a spirit who did not intend harm in the first place.

On to the shitty relationship between her and Shido. In the first place, Shido doesn't even like her, only seeing her as a friend. And really, she's a burden. (She killed Shido in the third episode too)

I guess there are two types of "girlfriends" I really dislike. First is the absolute useless type, like I mentioned in the previous post. Next is the really sticky type. Most of them are Yanderes, which is probably why I dislike Yanderes.

Anyway, in episode 13 of season 1, Shido got forced onto a date with Origami. Well, his plan was to do horrible things, so that she would hate him and break up with him (Everyone knows that in harem genre animes, those things don't work).

Even he feels guilty saying it...

Well, here's how she handles it. 

She does it  (((( ;°Д°))))

That's not all... By her own initiative, she goes on further to...

Remove his belt...

And wear it like a collar. Woof!

If anything, she's as messed up as they go. I would even say that if she had the chance, she'd be as messed up as Gasai Yuno.

Finished Clannad VN!

After a long delay of over a year, I finally finished the Clannad visual novel I started last June.

Clannad title screen

Clannad is a Visual Novel, developed by Key. Key also produced various other VNs, such as Kanon, Rewrite, etc.

Clannad's soundtrack was everything I could ask for. Really soothing at times, while upbeat and energising at others, the music helped set the mood for the various scenes. Most memorable for me were Kyou, Fuuko, and especially Tomoyo's routes. Just listening to the music, without having to read the words, could induce tears into my eyes, and a strong feeling welling up in my chest. The ending song provided a resounding conclusion to each story, and after all that, going back to the title screen, the calm, relaxing music entranced me. I still remember how, after playing Tomoyo's route, laughing at Sunohara getting bullied, Tomoya's flirting, etc, crying at their break-up, and after that, when they got together again. After finishing her route, I just stared at the title screen, for almost a 15 minutes, just listening to the music.

I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm a Tomoyo fan. 

Clannad introduces a large variety of backstories for each character, and develops them quite nicely. Just that, this being the kind of game it is, naturally, each of them has to get together with Tomoya(most at least).

Unfortunately, I just could not stand some of them, particularly Nagisa.

I would probably attribute this to personal bias, as various friends of mine really like Nagisa. Well, she's just this really useless main heroine (somehow, favoured heroines recently tend to be portrayed as weak and useless. *Think Orihime [Bleach], Lucy [Fairy Tail], Onodera [Nisekoi]). Nagisa is physically weak, and frail, getting sick easily. She has no confidence, and is pretty much oblivious and dull to what people say. She also has this stupid obsession of sorts with "The Big Dango Family", some show she watched as a kid. And with all the irritating helpless heroines so far, she is caring and self-sacrificing, always quick to sacrifice her own interests for others. Unfortunately she is the main heroine of the Visual Novel, and I spent half the time on her routes, holding down the control button, to skip the text.

At least, the visual novel offers different routes, and there are many routes that totally ignore Nagisa altogether. The worst part about the Clannad Anime was that they forced everyone's stories into the plot, as side-acts to Nagisa and Tomoyo's final romance. So irritating. 

I have opted not to delve into the after story, because it basically ends off with reviving Nagisa for a fairy tale like ending where everything is happily ever after. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Nagisa should remain dead because I dislike her. In a bid to connect up everything in the story, and give it some purpose, they turned it into an unnatural means to revive Nagisa. The story would have been complete, as Tomoya tries to find a sense of normalcy in his life again.

Happy endings are nice, but the story became too unrealistic. Compare that with Kyou's story. Fujibayashi Kyou, and twin sister Fujibayashi Ryou are both romantically interested in Tomoya.

Ryou (Left) and Kyou (Right)

Aware of her sister's feelings for Tomoya, Kyou tries to hide her own feelings, and tries to bring Tomoya and her little sister together. After various twists and turns, Kyou also realises how hard it was for her to hide her own feelings, and all 3 of them are very conflicted on this issue. Near the end, Kyou dresses up as Ryou, and even cuts her hair short, to "test" Tomoya's feelings, leading to a very sad/happy(I can't decide. I like Kyou more, but feel bad for Ryou), touching end. 

Or Tomoyo. (FAVOURITEEEEEE ) hahaha fanboy mode on.

Tomoyo is a strong girl, with big dreams, and the determination and ability to pursue them. With a shady history as a famous delinquent, Tomoyo starts afresh at this school. Sunohara, however, being the idiot that he is, keeps challenging Tomoyo to fights, unaware of her past. As a bystander to the one-sided thrashing of Sunohara by Tomoyo, Tomoya catches Tomoyo's attention, and she gradually opens up to him.

Scene from Anime

Scenes from VN. 

Tomoyo had a dream to save the cherry blossom trees in the school area, and to do that, she had to become the student council president. Tomoya assists her in her campaign, and after much effort, she takes on the role. However, her relationship with Tomoya puts her under close watch by the teachers, Tomoya being a well-known, incorrigible delinquent in the school. Tomoyo was very unwilling to sacrifice her relationship with Tomoya, just because of pressure from teachers and other schoolmates. 

                                          

Just before they broke up.

However, Tomoya knew that if this continued, Tomoyo would not be able to fulfill her dream of saving the cherry blossom trees. So as to allow her to fulfill her dream, Tomoya decided to break up with her. 

This part really hit me. Tomoya had changed for the better during the time they were in a relationship, attending his classes on time, doing his work. He had gotten used to that lifestyle, and found energy in living, and working hard. After he left her, he struggled to find himself again, trying to get back into the destructive lifestyle he had before, to distance himself from her. Often, he would find himself waking up early, instead of sleeping in like he would have, and reminiscing the times when Tomoyo came over to wake him for school.

8 months passed. Tomoya had settled back into his original lifestyle. Tomoyo had succeeded in convincing whoever needed convincing of the importance of preserving the cherry blossom trees, and had since stepped down from her position as a student council president. Meanwhile, Tomoya had left school, taking a simple job, with a meager salary, working at a petrol kiosk.

Tomoyo approaches Tomoya

After some time, Tomoyo approached Tomoya. While she managed to fulfill her goal of saving the cherry blossom trees, she lost precious time with him. Once she achieved that however, she left everything behind her as she sought him out. Throwing away her future, with her perfect grades and reputation, she sought out the guy she once loved. 

Teary reunion

And that's all that is needed to be said. 

For me, Tomoyo's story felt more real, more powerful. I could somehow "relate" to the story, or at least, feel the intensity and emotions from Tomoyo and Tomoya. It really is my favourite part in all of Clannad.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to starting on the sequel, Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life! soon.

                                          

No Game No Life episode 9

For those who know of the anime "No Game No Life", you would probably have enjoyed the comedy, twists and turns, as Sora & Shiro outwit their opponents, breaking through impossible odds, taking advantage of all the loopholes, winning their games in outrageous ways. I certainly enjoy this series very much, and look forward to the latest episode every week.

However, the most recent episode was horrible, in my opinion.

SPOILER ALERT
Sora plays a game of Othello with another human, Kurami. In this game, he bets his existence, on each seed that is placed. I.e. for every seed he loses, he loses some part of his memory, or disappears from others' memories. The idea is an interesting one, and I would concede that it is hard to pull off such a plot, without letting out the strategy prematurely. BUT. if that's the case, why not just use a different strategy?

Episode 9 starts off with Shiro, having a nightmare, recounting her first meeting with her brother, and for the next 10 + minutes, frantically searching for her brother, trying to figure out what could have happened to him, while everyone else can't seem to remember his existence at all. The first time I watched it, I thought that maybe the episode was not uploaded properly, and went back to the start, and even re-watch the ending of the previous episode. They didn't even play the opening song! What a way to kill viewer interest, by going on a monotonous and confusing flashback.

After realising what it was supposed to achieve -- I guess they were too successful, cos it left me utterly confused -- I watched the rest of the episode, waiting to see how the game would be resolved.

Well... I never found out. What I did learn, was (And I quote) that "nobody else could figure this out".

Players of Othello would know that othello, like most board games, is a turn taking game. Meaning, under no circumstances does one player get to play 3 moves consecutively. THAT is exactly what Shiro did, after realising "how to win the game".

While the games in the No Game No Life universe do not always follow common sense, and normal rules, whatever rules they have still apply. In the first major game they played, Chess, it was clear that the standard rules didn't apply. It was not simply moving pieces, but moving men. In the second major game, Shiratori, all rules of Physics and common sense are broken, as Sora WRONGLY names concepts such as "Lithosphere", "Coulomb's force". When the air (except oxygen) in the space was removed, the sudden decrease in pressure would already cause them to explode, and not simply result in difficulties breathing. 

However, in all those games, standard turn taking, and whatever rules were created were agreed to, and adhered to by both players. In other words, this game is bullshit.

That's not all. Did anyone ever realise that the show never did show us the final arrangement of the board? Nor did they show us the process leading to the final 3 seeds that Shiro put down? Nope! All they did was "Wow brother you're amazing, nobody would have figured that out", BAM BAM BAM and suddenly they win.

This is the last glimpse we have of the board, as Shiro sets down the last piece. Any one familiar with the rules of othello would recognise that white has not yet achieve a majority of seeds. There was no way for white to win.

What they basically did was very subtly hide how they could not think of a way to create such a scenario, and simply named it as... and you got it, something only Blank can do. We did not see the process, nor did we see the final product. Really, all they showed us was the mind games being

Afterword
My sincere apologies to those who think I hate this show... I just find it insulting when the anime doesn't make sense in itself. I'm very accepting of anime bending the laws of physics or whatever, but if they break the rules they set themselves, that is total bullcrap.

And just so you know, I really enjoy this series very much.