aka The Hero Who Gets Harassed By Everyone And Saves No One

Title: 戦勇、Senyuu
Type: Anime
Status: Currently streaming
Where it can be found: Crunchyroll
Keywords: RPGs, parodies, MC-getting-butt-kicked-by-allies, snarky partners, anime

The blurb:

Long ago, there lived an evil being who reigned over the world through fear, called Satan Rchimedes. He invaded the human world with his many demon underlings, spreading madness and chaos everywhere. One thousand years ago, this menace was sealed by the hero Creation, and peace returned to the world.

Then, one day, a great hole suddenly appeared on the surface of the world, and a vast number of demons appeared. The king discerned that the menace Satan had returned after being sealed away for a thousand years, and decided to send the hero’s descendants to battle him. He found 75 men. As one thousand years had passed, you see, it was difficult to tell who the hero’s descendants were.

So the king declared that he would grant the title of “true hero” and great fortune to the one who defeated Satan, and ordered the new hero, Alba, and his warrior attendant, Ross, on a quest to bring down the evil Satan.

Though he struggles with lesser monsters and is even nearly killed by his partner Ross, Alba’s quest to polish his fighting skills leads him to new places and new meetings that he had never expected. Battles, laughter, and emotional moments enhance this adventure tale of an incompetent hero and a sadistic warrior!

Honestly, by the time you finish reading the summary you would be halfway through an episode of Senyuu since an episode is only 5 minutes total, including the intro and ending theme song. This show really is a hilarious gem though; any RPG gamer or anyone who knows their basic fantasy/hero setting can instantly catch the jokes of this show. Senyuu is one of those shows that doesn’t take itself and the genre it portrays seriously. I feel bad for the hero since he has to survive not being killed by his own partner, Ross (who is the most amazing snarkiest anime character I’ve seen in a while) and is surrounded by weird characters like the old knight who’s a proud lover of lolicon. Not only is it *really* funny, but it’s just relaxing to just watch a show and not have to pay too close attention to the plot. Plus it’s only *5* minutes!

Best moment yet: Ross, the hero’s partner cutting down the other hero/enemy while he yells out his super move and the hero being horrified that Ross did that. I’m pretty sure all RPG gamers have wanted to do this while the boss/enemy charges up for a move that might possibly kill you.

I believe anyone who has 5 minutes to spare and have a laugh should take a look at Senyuu. And by anyone, I mean everyone because everyone should have 5 minutes to spare, right?

Source: Crunchyroll

When Ciel and Sebastian went undercover to pursue the Viscount of Druitt, they didn’t realize that Ciel’s fianc , Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Middleford would also be attending the summer ball. As the pair tried their best avoid Lizzy, Ciel’s (or rather “Robin’s”)beautiful dress caught her eye. Lizzy tried to catch up to Ciel but was distracted by Sebastian’s quick-change, pretending to be a magician as the ball’s entertainer.

Ciel’s attractive features and small frame does let him pass as a girl, but I suppose the proper term for this would be a “trap”! Thanks again to Jenny for sending this in!

del.icio.us Tags: cosplay, cosplayer, cosplay holic, role, play, roleplay, costume, anime, manga, game, series, character, photographer, photo, photography, feature, kuroshitsuji, black butler, ciel phantomhive, robin phantomhive, sebastian michaelis, crunchyroll, attractive features, ciel, viscount, lizzy, cordelia, magician, jenny, blogspot, smile, , , , ,

The streams will be available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and South and Central America.

Well.. this is the whole review. Honestly, I’m just really lazy, and this pretty much sums up the whole episode. Ill link to the episode on Crunchyroll.com.
I promise to make a full review of the Episode next week!

The title will be available worldwide outside of Japan.

When Kasumi was 17, her uncle, the rogue ninja Raidou returned to their village in order to obtain a ninpo spell used by the clan’s leaders known as the “Torn Sky Blast” technique. After managing to defeat Ayane, Raidou eventually mimicked the technique from Hayate, and rendered him both comatose and paraplegic before escaping. Kasumi was unfortunately not present during the attack and since no one told her about what had transpired between Hayate and Raidou, she did not know who attacked her brother until much later in the game.

Another amazing cosplay by Arisa Mizuhara! She sure has a lot of cosplays of different characters. I wonder how many costumes she now owns and keeps in her closet? Thanks to Jasmine for sending this in!

del.icio.us Tags: cosplay, cosplayer, cosplay holic, role, play, roleplay, costume, anime, manga, game, series, character, photographer, photo, photography, feature, dead or alive, doa, kasumi, cosplay kasumi, dead or alive ayane, dead or alive kasumi, crunchyroll, torn sky, raidou, target, hayate, arisa mizuhara, cosplays, paraplegic, comatose, cellpadding, table border, jasmine, ninja, costumes, blogspot, img, brother, , , , ,

Thank you for accepting the invitation to do this interview for us at JustCosplay! And Congratulations on becoming a Crunchyroll Ambassador. Can you first please tell the readers a little about yourself, for those who are not already following your page.

Thank you for the opportunity to have a chat with you guys! And thank you very much for the congratulations, it was amazing to be accepted as a Crunchyroll Ambassador! Ah yes, so about me… Well let me start off by introducing myself! My name is Skylar and I go by the cosplay alias Lyeric! I am a 20 year old Cosplayer from Saskatchewan, Canada! I have been Cosplaying for 2 and a half years now. I don’t know how to sew very well so I prefer to create and construct big armour sets and props! I started Cosplaying in late 2010 and began with a genderbend Arthas from the Warcraft universe to cosplay at Blizzcon! At the time, I was stunned by all the amazing costumes at Blizzcon. In embarrassment I left my Arthas costume in the hotel and did not wear it to the convention. Later on in the month, I debuted the costume at C4 Comic Convention in Winnipeg. It was the most amazing experience to have your pictures taken in the armour set that you’ve procrastinated over, stressed over, cried over, but then finished last minute in the hotel room. It is such a satisfying feeling. Since then I have been hooked to this hobby, and loving every moment of it!

Can you tell us what Cosplay is like in Canada, do you think it differs in anyway to that anywhere else in the world? Are the general public open to the idea?

Well to start off- THERE IS A LOT OF SNOW. It is awesome for taking pictures in! I live in a very small, seemingly forgotten part of Canada, the province of Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan we just had our first convention a couple years back. The whole convention scene here is still very small, but growing rapidly! I usually travel to my neighbouring provinces to attend conventions, and the cosplay scene is really great! I will say it is not as big as it is in the United States, that’s for sure! I feel as people are still dipping their toes into the water of actually going to a convention, but once they go I know people will get the urge to cosplay more! At the moment, I am trying to get groups together for the province of Saskatchewan and try to introduce people to the world of cosplay. This year I will be attending the Saskatoon Blitz which takes place in June. I will be hosting a panel to introduce and help people start the addicting hobby! I have only been to one American convention, and that would be Blizzcon. And I do have to say the cosplay there is next level amazing. Being a CMV (Cosplay Music Video) addict, I have seen the high level of cosplay in America, but I think that is only because of the amount of conventions going on over there. Off the top of my head I can name about 8 Canadian conventions I know of, and about 30 American conventions… So that shows how there is such an abundance of cons there. More conventions = more cosplayers!

Everyone I know locally knows that I cosplay and I get a lot of mixed reactions  To the general public, most people think I’m crazy. Even a few of my family members have now stopped contact with me thinking I am a crazy woman. I feel as if some people just don’t take the time to understand what cosplay really is. Cosplaying is the art of dressing up as ones favourite characters. As cosplayers, we are the dedicated ones! It involves blood, sweat and many, many tears, and I don’t think a lot of people take the time to understand that. To me Cosplaying is the art of the brave and the art of self expression. Cosplaying means taking chances and risks one would not normally take, and trying new things with each costuming venture. It is about doing your best and really having fun! Not many people can say that they are a crazy, sword wielding barbarian on weekends!

Your costumes are amazing, How did you first hear about Cosplay? What got you started in making your own costumes?

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A NOVEL OF TEXT! Anyways- Whenever I see this question answered, it usually starts off with ‘I LOVE HALLOWEEN’. So here we go again, I love Halloween! I counted down the days to it each year, every year. It was the one day of the year you could be someone else and detach yourself from the world. I lurked the Internet for most of my adolescent years, and stumbled across pretty ladies dressed up as anime characters. I thought this was very cool, and super cute! Then I saw that people actually gathered together, dressed up and went to these big events! I made it my goal to attend a convention! When I was 16 I attended Animethon in Edmonton, Alberta. It was amazing. It was the first time in my life I felt accepted. I went, bought myself an art table and dressed up as my persona, Lyru-chan. She was just me, drawn out in a pink hoodie with a yellow bow. I seen all these wonderful people walk by my art table wearing costumes they made by hand. They would stop and tell me all the work that they had put into it and I admired that so much. That weekend I bought so much merchandise, and picked out a super cute pair of kitty ears! The following Monday, I got back into town and decided that I had gained enough confidence to wear these to my high school. This did not go over well, and I ended up being beaten up on the way to my car for being a ‘freak’. This didn’t settle well with me, and I decided to keep my fandom a secret from then on.
Later on that year, in December to be exact, I attended a midnight release to the new World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King! Being in the northern part of Canada, it was freezing cold. I stood in line with a couple of friends of mine, when I saw something I thought I would never see. This crazy boy, dressed up in a furry suit with feathers, antlers on his head and a staff in his hand. This boy was Cosplaying as a Moonkin! Holy crap! This was the first time that I had ever seen anyone from where I live dressed up. I approached him, told him I liked the costume, and he mumbled a thank you and brushed me off! I understood though, being in the town we live in I’m sure he thought I was being sarcastic. Otherwise the response he got from the small gathering of freezing geeks was amazing. If he could do it, I knew from then on I could do this, and do this confidently.
In October of 2010 I made my first costume, and have not looked back since!
By some crazy chance, I ended up with that crazy Moonkin boy a few years later. I had no idea that the love of my life was always there all along! Talk about crazy coincidence, right?

What was your first Cosplay? And what’s your favourite Cosplay you have done so far?

As mentioned, my first cosplay was my Arthas Menethil genderbend costume. I created this for Blizzcon 2010, and was this ever a learning process! I used craft foam, newspaper, and glue. A LOT of glue. It was very fun to cosplay, and I think my most well received costumes I have ever done. I wish I knew some of the techniques and materials I know of now to make this costume, but hey! That’s how you learn!
I will say that my Barbarian has been my most favoured cosplay out of the few I have done. It was so fun to wear a costume that I felt super comfortable in, even if I felt uncomfortable wearing it at first. It is the most revealing costume I have ever done. This was a huge deal to me, I didn’t want to over step anything I should not do. My arms, legs and chest where very much exposed. To be honest I wanted to play it safe. I didn’t want fat/ugly comments, which was stupid of me to worry about in the first place. Cosplay for fun, not for anyone else! I think this costume means the most to me because it really boosted my confidence, and really gave me the ‘YOU CAN DO IT’ attitude. This costume really means a lot of me for that merit.

Have you ever taken part in any competitions? Or ever wanted to take part in any competitions on a large scale such as The World Cosplay Summit?

I do like to preach that cosplay is just for fun, yada yada yada, but I LOVE to compete in costume contests. It is a great way to meet other cosplayers who are there to show off their stuff. It helps you improve quite a bit, and helps you do your very, very best! When you have a panel of judges looking at every little detail you have put into your costume. It also encourages you to not cut any corners, and finish everything off quite cleanly. Just make sure that the competition doesn’t go to your head, and make you mean! HAVE FUN WITH IT!
My dream is to compete in the World Cosplay Summit. It would be such an amazing and life changing experience. To me, WCS is pretty much the Olympics of the cosplay world. I patiently await the day when Canada will be able to compete in it.

You are currently working on some more armour projects including the glorious Orrian armour from GuildWars2. What is the hardest thing you find to make when making such costumes? And what do you find the easiest?

For me, and I’m sure many other prop and armour makers out there will agree, the most difficult part of making armour sets is the lovely pair of female anatomy, BOOBS. So I would have to say chest armour is my costume nemesis, and of course that’s usually the focal part of the costume. They are difficult to construct, you have to consider how comfortable it has to be, how much mobility you will have in it and how it will attach it to yourself.
I always start my costumes with making the bracer armour  It is usually the easiest to make, and it gives you a taste of how the rest of the costume will be to make. I will say that the Orrian armour will be the biggest and most complex costume I have ever made.

Do you ever consider dropping the heavy armour for a big frilly dress?

You know I love to cosplay big, bulky armoured characters. I get asked quite a bit why I cosplay these big, armoured girls, why not something more dainty or elegant? Well the truth is, I don’t consider myself a strong person in real life. I am not brave, I’m not strong, nor am I someone who stands up for them self. I really have never been that person. I was greatly bullied in school, cast aside, and I allowed that to happen because I could not stand up for myself. I want to be a strong person, and I want that side to show of me when I cosplay. I want to be seen as that strong barbarian girl, the Queen of the Undead, warrior donned in Orrian armour  So I try my best to cosplay that, and by Cosplaying that I hope to achieve being a stronger person in the process. I think the quote that really hit close to home was this quote from Game of Thrones:, “Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armour  and it can never be used to hurt you. – Tyrion” At the same time though, I would love to throw on a big frilly dress. I don’t think I would be able to get up though, I would most likely be on the ground dizzy from spinning around in it for too long!

What is your favourite materials to use? Do you tend to spend more money on materials or do you try to find a cheaper yet just as effective way? And have you found a great money saver you repeatedly use?

You are talking to the most frugal Cosplayer around! I try my best with every costume to make it very cost efficient. I look at it this way, spend all that money on materials or have more spending money at the convention? I like to get sheets of big name cosplay materials like Wonderflex and Worblas Finest, but I think the biggest money saver I have found is using Sintra (PVC sheeting). I paid around $68 on a 8’x11’ sheet that has lasted me two costumes so far! And I have only used around half of it! Also craft foam is very inexpensive, and you can paint it to look really awesome!
I love using Sintra for armour  It is very sturdy, smooth and you can take paintball bullets in it and you will be protected! I also have really loved working with Wonderflex in the past, and really cannot wait to start working with Worblas Finest Art! I just know I won’t be using newspaper ever again!

Do you prefer Cosplaying at conventions Or going out for photoshoots?

I have never really had a professional shoot done. I usually get my mother or my friends just to snap shots of me when they can. But this year it’s a goal of mine to work with some cosplay photographers and organize some shoots! I love cosplaying at conventions, and I will say that is my preference.

Do you have any tips for posing for photos in either situation? Do you have a favourite location for your photoshoots?

DO NOT LOOK DOWNWARDS AT THE CAMERA. OH, I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. It will make you look awful, and look like you have 1000 chins. FEAR THE WRATH OF 1000 CHINS! In all seriousness, just be relaxed, look in character. Don’t be afraid to look silly, those are usually the best organic photos. Try to pick a location that is relevant to your costume. I really like forest scenes, or snow shoots. Desert scenes are very, very cool too!

Thank you for your time, before we finish off, do you have anything else you would like to add? Anyone you would like to give a special mention to?

If you are scared to cosplay, don’t be! Just have fun with it! I promise you, it will be the time of your life!

And I just want to take a moment to thank my boyfriend. He doesn’t get any of the spotlight, and if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be Cosplaying  So this is for you! Thank you Jared, for being the best cosplay handler and boyfriend in the world! You rock. I would not be able to wear these armour sets without you taking care of me . Love you, hunnybuns!

Thank you again Lyeric for you time doing this interview for us and giving some amazing detailed answers it was great to talk to you x

Don’t forget you can visit Lyeric, and see more of her pictures and progress on her own facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LyericCosplay 

This is our mid season review. We are on episode #14 now and just wanted to talk about what we think of the anime so far.  We are watching this anime of Crunchyroll.com which is a perfect place to watch simulcast anime as well as older anime. So without any spoilers (if you haven’t seen it so far) here we go.

Story

The story centers around mainly 3 people: Alone (reincarnation of the God Hades), Tenma (The Sliver Pegasus Saint) and Sasha (reincarnation of the Goddess Athena). This is happening during the first Holy War in the 18th century, I believe around 200 to 250 years before the original Saint Seiya storyline.

So far we had drama from the 1st episode, with Alone realizing, thanks to Pandora, that he’s the the “perfect vessel’ for Hades. With Temna, he unlocks his power known as Cosmo, and saves his village from a flood and sets off to become a Saint of Athena. Flash forward 2 years and everyone is in their rightful place….which bring us to the other Saints.

There are 88 different Saints in this anime however, we have not seem them all…as of yet. So far the Saint that I like the most is Pisces Albafica and Virgo Asmita. Pisces and his Blood Rose move is amazing.  But anyway,I won’t go into any more details on the story without spoiling anything. The spoilers and recaps will come after the the overall review of this anime.

The animation is wonderful. I love the coloring and backgrounds when the Saints uses their powers, very Sailor Moon transforming. The music is so fitting to the anime and really sets the mood for each scene. The opening title sequence is sung in English and is VERY catchy lol and the ending sequence is very calming for the action and drama that is in the anime.

Well, back to the anime. I will be back to do a full review of this anime. Until then…later!! (Mike)

Crunchyroll is Bringing in the Anime!

Crunchyroll has been on a little bit of a streak this week with bringing series to its viewers. Tuesday they acquired the rights to stream both seasons of “Arakawa Under the Bridge” and Wednesday they acquired the streaming rights to “Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up”. They still have more open slots and are announcing a new series daily, so let’s hope for something good. Personally I’m excited about watching Arakawa on my television finally.

Arakawa Under the Bridge follows the life Kou Ichinomiya who follows the code, “never be indebted to anyone”. But one day, on the Arakawa Bridge, his life is saved by a woman named Nino (who is homeless and supposedly an alien). In order to pay her back Kou promises to be her boyfriend, and then all the crazy antics ensue. Arakawa Under the Bridge aired in the spring of 2010 and the second series aired in the fall of 2010.

Both seasons of Arakawa Under the Bridge can be found on Hulu and Crunchyroll (free for premium users).

Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up is set in the 1970s and follows the adventures of the “Youkai Patrol” (which consists of Prince Enma, Princess Yukiko, Kapaeru and Grandpa Shappo). Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up aired in the spring of 2011 and is a remake of Dororon Enma-kun.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/lineup

Xseed Strikes Gold and Brings 5 New Games to American Shores.

Xseed is just full of surprises; a little over two weeks ago they surprised the Wii users when they announced that they have acquired Pandora’s Tower. Thursday morning they announced 5 more games, one of them being SUDA 51’s ‘Killer is Dead’.

Below is the press release.

KILLER IS DEAD

PS3™/Xbox 360®, Summer 2013 – Created by game legend SUDA51, this highly anticipated original game is set in a not-so-distant future similar to (but not the same as) the world we know now. The player takes control of an executioner named Mondo Zappa who wields a Japanese sword in his right hand and brandishes interchangeable weapons in his left artificial arm. His ultimate goal is to execute various heinous criminalsscattered around the world and beyond.

Completely unique visuals and outstanding stylish action come together to deliver an unprecedented gaming experience in KILLER IS DEAD. This brand-new action title is being jointly developed by KADOKAWA GAMES and GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE, with SUDA51 lending his trademark sense of style at the helm. Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, will bring the title to the countries of Europe and Oceania.

Rune Factory 4
Nintendo 3DS, Summer 2013 – The first game in the Rune Factory simulation/role-playing series to be released on the Nintendo 3DS, Rune Factory 4 adds new romance options, the ability to select a male or female character at the game’s start, and has endless crafting, farming and cooking opportunities. The player becomes Selphia’s prince or princess and can manage the village, explore the countryside with townsfolk, or tame monsters in the wild to aid them in battle or help out in the fields.

Valhalla Knights 3
PS Vita, Fall 2013 – The fourth title published by XSEED Games in the popular Valhalla Knights action RPG series, Valhalla Knights 3 features a robust character creation system and brings intense seven-on-seven party-based combat to the PS Vita. Players can select from one of seven races and one of twenty job classes such as Fighter, Mage, Thief, Priest, Akatoki or Archer, while also equipping two sub-jobs. Players can adventure with a party of their own making or brave the wilds alone and seamlessly engage in real-time combat to earn skill points for upgrading and unlocking abilities unique to each job class.

Ys: Memories of Celceta
PS Vita, Fall 2013 – An extensive reimagining of (and pseudo-sequel to) Ys IV, one of the only Ys games never before released in the west, this title puts more enemies on screen than ever before and features the largest, most non-linear overworld in Ys history, boasting superlative graphics and a triumphant evolution of the fast-paced gameplay that has made this series a timeless action RPG mainstay. As the game opens, long-time protagonist Adol Christin finds himself alone, dazed and confused in a strange land, and must piece together his memories of how he got here and why, all the while struggling to determine whom he can trust.

Ys I & II Chronicles+
Windows PC (Steam), February – XSEED Games has delighted RPG fans for years by publishing multiple Ys titles from legendary RPG developer Nihon Falcom for handheld platforms and Windows PC, and now Ys fans can celebrate once more as an enhanced remake of the classic first two games in the Ys franchise comes to Steam for the first time. Including both Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen and Ancient Ys Vanished: The Final Chapter, this action RPG tells of red-haired swordsman Adol Christin’s inaugural adventure to defeat the evil forces blighting the isle of Esteria and uncover the mysteries of the eponymous lost land of Ys.

Personally, I’m excited for Killer is Dead. SUDA’s titles have always been enjoyable and off the wall, so I’m curious to see how this one is going to play out. I’m also glad to see more life in the Ys, series. I’m beginning to like Xseed more and more because they care for the fans. If an obscure series comes out in Japan and no other company wants it then Xseed is usually there to scoop it up. I also like how they brought life back into the Wii when they acquired the publishing rights to ‘Xenoblade’ and ‘The Last Story’ (you know you agree with me). Kudos guys, you’re doing great!

http://kotaku.com/5980454/xseed-bonanza-killer-is-dead-rune-factory-4-ys-celceta-all-coming-to-america

Media Blasters is ‘Still Alive’.

Media Blasters announced on Monday that they licensed the ‘Fight Ippatsu! Juden-chan!!” TV anime series. The company added on their facebook page that they are not planning on an English dub, but details are still to come. The anime series revolves around woman (named Plug) who came to our world from a parallel world to ‘charge up’ depressed people and make them feel ‘revitalized’.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-01-28/media-blasters-adds-fight-ippatsu-juden-chan-tv-anime

Now each week, on top of bringing the latest news, I will review an anime series to give this column variety and whatnot. Most of the time I will review the newer series that have come out and occasionally I’ll be reviewing the more obscure series that not a lot of people have heard of. The rating system consists of the good ol’ letters (A-D).

Anime Review: K (2012)

K or the ‘K Project’ was a mystery for quite awhile. In March, Starchild revealed that a K anime was in the works, and that it would come from the “GoRa Project” group. And then they would periodically release trailers that show off the characters fighting, but nothing was revealed on the story. So I assumed that it was top secret and this series was going to be top-notch. The anime began airing in October and that same day it was revealed that a slew of famous Japanese novelists, most important one being Yashichiro Takahashi (creator of Shakugan no Shana), were involved with this project.

The end result was, a catastrophe…worse than a train-wreck.

I really shouldn’t call it a Project because that would be misleading and a complete lie. Projects are supposed to be successful, this however…was not.

Best way to describe K; It has the ambition Guilty Crown did, and you throw in some DRRR!! and X into the mix. It’s as if Guilty Crown had intense ‘throws of passion’ with Durarara!! and somehow X joined in.  K is part murder mystery(?) and part action (?). There’s a fan service character thrown into the mix as well. K has so many intertwining stories though and it eventually becomes bogged down under its own weight. The series has way too many characters and it tries to focus on every one of them to the point where the really important bits get swept under the rug and they’re eventually long forgotten.

I would be more forgiving if this were based on a fighting game. The viewer is just thrown violently into this world where stuff happens and NOTHING GETS EXPLAINED!!! The story starts off with a fight between the Blue and Red clans (with elements that never truly get explained) then it switches to a boy named Shiro who is a student at this high school. You find out that Shiro killed a member of the Red clan and now everyone is after him, including a member from some independent clan. The series then switches to Shiro trying to prove his innocence while, in the background, the Red and Blue clans are fighting it out because Red clan’s King was captured by the Blue clan’s King. Oh yeah, and they’re also after Shiro.w

Simple enough? After about episode 4 the series realizes “Oh shit, there’s too much stuff going on, what do we do? Let’s throw in some fights to distract the viewer from noticing the glaring plot hole(s).”

I noticed the plot holes and they were not pretty.

One of the most obvious ones were the clans themselves. K made a point to say that there were 7 clans but only 5 get explained. They explain how the King system in each clan works but when the Colorless king gets thrown into the mix so many of the rules get broken, which in turn breaks the series.  Also every time you think the series is getting somewhere; every time it shows a little hint of improvement, it switches to a different character and the rhythm is thrown off completely. But that’s enough about the story, let us talk about the art and the music.

Art: If the money didn’t go to plot, then it went to the animation because Project K is a beautiful series to look at. Also the opening was pretty, and so were the fighting animations from the opening. I even liked it when those animations were recycled into the actual fights.

Music: The soundtrack was also considered a saving grace. The piano bits during the fights were nice. And the techno soundtrack was ‘kickin’.

Now, I mentioned plot-holes and hopefully the ‘proposed’ second season of K can fix that.

But I really don’t care.

Pros: Pretty animation, soundtrack was good, characters were pretty to look at. Side characters who stayed away from the train wreck were memorable

Cons: Where to begin…everything was disjointed.

K gets a ‘D‘.

So threw the whole show – its more or less Shin and the main heroine figuring out there relationship. Step by step. Orion is still no were to be seen. We do learn what really happened that night of the accident – Shin was forceful and caused our heroine to run away and tumble down the cliff? Dosent match up to what our heroine remembers. So this show is just one big mindfuck after another. When there walking home – our heroine gets hit by a car! She wakes up in her room – and the date is reset back to August 1st.

Higurashi anyone? (No seriously – the going back to a certain date thing. This feels exactally like Higurashi)

Feng, who last year sold his social content startup Erly to Airtime and is now an entrepreneur in residence at Kleiner Perkins, says he is joining Crunchyroll’s advisory board because he believes the “online video backlash” is coming to an end. The backlash came, Feng says, when content rights holders realized that their traditional businesses were holding up unexpectedly well even as services like Hulu and Netflix posed a challenge to their core businesses, such as DVD sales, syndication, and movie ticket sales. However, thanks to the advent of social sharing and the proliferaton of smart mobile devices, which are liberating content from both TV screens and desktop browsers, he believes the backlash is dying out.

“The online video backlash is subsiding and we’re seeing a lot of innovation now driven in part by mobile and social,” Feng says.

Eric Feng, former Hulu CTO

Feng experienced up close the struggles Hulu faced in getting content owners on board, with CBS being a notable holdout. The broadcaster only agreed to license its content to Hulu in November. Netflix has endured similar licensing difficulties, which is one of the reasons it has been so eager to commission original shows, the first of which, “House of Cards,” will be released on February 1.

Crunchyroll, which has been around since 2006 and faced early criticism for hosting pirated content on its site, gets around licensing issues by only chasing verticals in which it is relatively easy to secure rights. In the case of its tentpole, anime, that is possible because Crunchyroll is broadcasting the video to an audience outside its core Asian markets, mainly Japan and South Korea. Some of the shows are available on Crunchyroll only one hour after they screen on Japanese TV. So any revenue returned to the content owners is additional to its main, domestic sources of income.

Crunchyroll will apply that model to other forms of content from overseas markets that can attract a strong audience in North America, according to Feng. Sports is one area the company will likely target. Feng, pulling at my Kiwi heartstrings, suggested cricket would be an obvious candidate. While Crunchyroll’s strongest ties are to Asia, its ambitions reach beyond the continent, says Feng, who has also served as a tech advisor to former Vice President Al Gore.

Much of the content hosted on Crunchyroll is available free, but some shows are only available to paid-up subscribers. Feng is confident that the company has finally struck on the right model after years of being in what he calls “exploration mode.” He knows from his experience with Hulu that people are willing to pay for video content. “Consumers are willing to pay,” Feng says, “it’s just that for many many years even if they were willing to pay they had no option other than piracy.”

Crunchyroll is backed by $4.8 million in venture capital, with Venrock and TV Tokyo among the investors. Its advisory board boars numerous Valley bigshots, including Hot Or Not founders James Hong and Jim Young, AngelList’s Naval Ravikant, David Chao of DCM, and Max Levchin of Slide and Paypal. The site claims more than 9 million registered users.

[Lead image from "Hiiro no Kakera," a show that can be found on Crunchyroll. And yeah, that is kind of gratuitous. And yeah, it doesn't really resemble Feng. But, you know, close enough!]

I knew that the anime was available on the free online anime streaming site Crunchyroll but, seeing as it is free, there are a ton of commercials in each episode and they are placed in random spots of the anime. When I watch anything online that isn’t a television show, I hate having to stop for commercials. Then one day as I was starting up my Xbox 360, I noticed on the homescreen that Crunchyroll had an app that would allow you to stream anime through your Xbox. Similar to Netflix and Hulu, streaming Crunchyroll through your Xbox isn’t free and requires a membership. Seeing as Netflix has some anime available on it, I was quite hesitant to sign up for a $14.99/month premiere membership. However, at the time there was a deal where you could try a premiere account for 30 days for free. Having a premiere account would allow you to stream Crunchyroll to your Xbox or PS3 and it would also eliminate all advertisements that would otherwise be shown in the anime.

Okay, so, obviously I got the premiere Crunchyroll account since it was free. After adding a few anime to my queue (which I will write about later, don’t worry), I grabbed my husband and we started watching Sword Art Online.

Sword Art Online is probably one of the best anime I have seen in a really long time. Aside from being based off of an MMORPG as stated above, it is written very well and you really get attached to the characters.

The anime follows a gamer named Kirito and his adventures in Sword Art Online. He started as a Beta tester and when the game went live, thousands of people purchased the game. Why did people purchase the game? Well, who wouldn’t want to actually be inside of the game! Yes, readers, you are actually inside of the game. The gamers purchase what is called a Nerve Gear and they place that on their head while laying down on a bed. The Nerve Gear does a full body scan and puts you to sleep while you play the game. The players in the game move around as though they are actually moving around in the real world but they have some extra specs such as not running out of breath while running.

Kirito, being a Beta tester, doesn’t want people to know that he is a Beta tester since he has an upper-hand in playing than most of the other players. Right off the bat, he meets a few people and everyone is called to a stadium for an opening ceremony. That’s where things get interesting. At the opening ceremony, the creator of the game talks to the players and informs them that the game is no longer a game; it is now reality. What does that mean? That means that if the character dies in the game that they will die in real life as well. If they die, the Nerve Gear will shock their bodies until they die and the only way to get out of the game alive is to beat all 100 levels of the game.

With all of the players in panic mode, you see several jump to their deaths while Kirito remains calm and, being a Beta tester, he runs to the area where he can grind to level up as fast as possible.

We follow Kirito on his adventure to beat the game and along the way we meet many wonderful characters and even lose some of those characters. It is a heart-warming, heart-wrenching, adrenaline inducing, absolutely amazing and well done anime. Currently my husband and I are on the second season of the show and are eager to watch more. Every night while we eat dinner, we will watch an episode or two. If we don’t work or have school in the morning, we will watch until we pass out. I would highly recommend this anime to gamers and anime lovers alike. Even if you’re not a huge fan of anime, so long as you like sci-fi and fantasy you will fall in love with Sword Art Online.

An anime stylized eye. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Genre: Shoujo / Comedy / Romance / Drama / School Life

Language: Japanese (English sub on Crunchyroll)

Episodes: 12

GIST

Shizuku Mizutani’s existence revolves around study. Her life is put into utter chaos when she agrees to take study materials to a boy that hasn’t gone to school for years. Meet Haru Yoshida, a violent and somewhat naive delinquent with more than his share of mental problems. After a brief misunderstanding is cleared up, he starts following her around and declaring that she is his friend, much to Shizuku’s chagrin. Things get even more complicated when he also indicates that he has feelings for her.

CONCLUSION

I really adored the cast in this anime adaptation of one of my favorite manga series. Shizuku and Haru have a lot of depth to them as well, making it easy for a viewer such as myself to understand some of their bizarre behavior. These two protagonists are often forced into making attachments to other people by circumstance, which offers them chances to grow by slowly making them deal with various issues.  Having two crazy protagonists also makes this story enjoyable because it offers up funny sequences in droves. The writer gives distinct voices for each character, making the dialogue easy to follow.

The supporting cast often help move the story along in a big way. A good example of this is Natsume Asako, a socially-inept student that asks Shizuku to help her study for an exam. This results in an eventual friendship with Haru and Shizuku. This is also an example of an outside force instigating growth on the part of Shizuku and Haru. The story moves along nicely, with numerous detours along the way. Like all anime and manga, it somewhat exaggerates the tendency for people to over-complicate things. However, the writer makes it palatable using humor and rather cool dialogue.

One of the ongoing elements of this story is the question: How do two people in love manage a relationship when they’ve never been in one before? For Shizuku and Haru the road is often rocky, but in spite of the numerous road blocks along the way we can see them growing up slowly but surely. It is easy to adore the characters in Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, even the arrogant Kenji Yamaguchi because there is always some redeeming factor to give the audience something to connect with.

In conclusion, this series is for anyone that can appreciate a story about relationships starting from scratch, that long road to discovering who we are and what we truly want in life. It is also for anyone that has ever had to negotiate the weird behavior of crazy people. It is silly at times, but well worth watching at least one episode to see if you like the two main characters.

Synopsis

This story takes place in a fictional town, in a fictional country, in a fictional world. One morning, a young lady awakens to find that she has lost all her memories prior to that morning. Her life, her relationships, her very name—all gone. All that’s left is a cell phone with numbers and names she doesn’t recognize and Orion, a young boy that only she appears to be able to see. With Olion’s guidance, she struggles to make sense of herself, a boyfriend she doesn’t know and the thousand and one little things that make up a daily life. But with no memories left, the only alternative is to forge new ones, even if that means leaving old loves behind.

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

My first review.. ever! Let’s get this show on the road.

In the beginning, it takes it at a slow pace. Through out this time, we see that Shin is beginning to notice something peculiar about (Ill call her the heroine) the heroine. They keep panning to his face every time he would notice something off – actually kinda bugged me. She goes to prepare some refreshments, and ends up making a mess. Well, shes clumsy! 

Shin is really starting to notice somethings wrong now. He tricks her by lying – saying the amount of time they dated has been a year when its really been 3 months – and goes on the see threw her lie. She confesses, and they go on a “trip threw memory”. 

Apparently she goes to college! (did I miss something in the last 2 eps..)

And she also sings……. okay, can anyone imagine her singing? Her voice is super quiet. I just cant imagine it at all. The way Shin made her character out to be sounded like a completely different person. And then – when there in the band room, Shin tries to kiss her! That scene just seemed forced.

After all that, they go out to lunch with Toma. Shin told him before hand that the heroine’s memory is messed up. Okay – that guy is the opposite of Shin. Completely the opposite. It’s like your average case of Dark Vs. Light. It’s pretty common in alot of anime’s, but I guess it works here. Then they walk home .. sleep.. 

She’s late for work! They hurry over; he apparently doesn’t have to work anymore. Everyone was excited to see her back, all came up and greeted her. Then the scene shifts to the Woman’s Dressing Room (DONT GET ANY WRONG THOUGHT HERE). Heroine ask’s them about what happened the night of the accident. Apparently, there story doesn’t match up with her’s. The girls tell it as “they were all at the house when Shin came back all calm; they went out to look for her with some mysterious photographer” WHO COULD HE BE?! This doesn’t seem to match up to the heroines story.

My speculation is this is some kind of parallel dimension thing – and she switched dimensions when she fell? That’s all I could gather for the episode

Anyway, the episode finish’s with them sitting on a park bench, Shin and the heroine. He doesn’t want to talk about the accident when she asks her. I believe he to be hiding something (well no duh). At the last moment, the heroine here’s Orion’s voice distantly away. Were could he be? I seriously have no idea.. parallel dimension theory!

Meh.. I guess the episode was okay. Slow at parts, but it did reveal some things. Like why didn’t there story’s connect? If you have any other interesting theory’s, I’d love to hear them!

AND WHAT IS THIS GUY’S DEAL?!

Watch “AMNESIA” at http://www.crunchyroll.com/

MY LITTLE MONSTER

Watched via Crunchyroll

They gave me two gold tickets for AMC that hopefully I will be able to take Daney to. So a few things that have happened through out the days that I have not posted. Well I started looking at a new college called the “Dave School”. Which stands for Digital Animation Visual Effects. The great thing about it, it’s on Universal property and literally 5 minutes from where I work, very convenient. So as of a few days ago I am looking to relocate.

I need somewhere to live that will be cheap, and close to work. No longer can I be dishing out 900+$ at my current place, i will never save money or get anywhere that way. Not to mention it’s about a 40-45min drive to work.

Here is a quick link to the Dave school:

http://www.daveschool.com

I had to turn quite a bit of my art work to see if I get accepted, I haven’t gotten an acceptance letter yet, though the admissions rep told me I shouldn’t have any problem. Let’s talk about the admissions rep really quickly, have you ever been to a college that your admissions rep did not know lick of what he was talking about? Well Alvin, was amazing, best experience I’ve ever had with an admissions rep. He was nice, concerning and a Dave school graduate himself. As he sat me down and spoke of the school he was talking about animation, modeling and all kinds of CG stuff. It was awesome.

So here is a quick model I made last weekend that I submitted to the Dave school, it’s just a quick base model, no texturing or anything so let me know what you think, although I think it could be better.

Ak47

So there you are. There are two more things that i want to talk about, first would be an anime I started watching this morning. It is a great looking anime and so far an awesome plot. It is called Maoyu, I won’t give you a description though I will leave you a screenshot, if you like the look of it, you should check it out. It has a nice new anime feel to it, though all the background and landscaping looks as if it was painted so it has this unique feel to it. It is an ongoing anime and only has two episodes out. You can watch on Crunchyroll if you like.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/maoyu

Last thing was a personal issue and some advice. Things happen everyday and we sometimes beat ourselves up about it. Yesterday the very first day after getting Champion of the month, I was late. I thought I was supposed to be at work at 12:30 and apparently it was at 12. I beat myself up almost all day until I noticed I shouldn’t have been worried, I was there at 11:45 and I knew I wasn’t late, it’s just things that happen in life. Things that happen to the most perfect person. My advice, don’t beat yourself up over the small things, and honestly nor the big things. Things happen for a reason, let things slide of your shoulders, accept your mistakes and learn from them. It’s what makes us human and ultimately what makes us better.

I hope everyone has a great day and once again I apologize for being a loser and not posting!

http://www.crunchyroll.com/guest_pass?code=E58AEZBK3ZK

http://www.crunchyroll.com/guest_pass?code=ZUUAGXVGY4S

http://www.crunchyroll.com/guest_pass?code=GX6MRXNN7N4 

Enjoy!

Edit: All three passes have been taken. More Crunchyroll guest passes will come in a few months.

Every week, there is always an episode of something that sticks out in my mind for one reason or another. It could be for a good reason or a bad reason, but it always happens. So here’s how it’s going to work. At the end of every week (it should be Sunday, but two/three of the shows I’m watching air on Sunday, so no promises), I’ll pick the episode that had the biggest impact on me for whatever reason, and just talk about it. It will probably focus on a specific thing the episode did well or poorly rather than be an episode summary like I did when I started this blog, because that’s what stays stuck in my mind at the end of the week. There may sometimes be more than one episode that has a big impact, and in such cases, I’ll do two posts – one on Sunday and one on Monday. I don’t envisage three episodes having an equally strong impression in one week, but I guess if it happens, you’ll know. If two episodes tackle something similar in a week, maybe I’ll do a vs.-style showdown (I might have done Kokoro Connect vs. Sword Art Online on how they dealt with love back in Summer 2012 had I been going with this model then, for example).

Because of this, I have no idea which show or shows I’ll be talking about in the coming weeks. Hopefully, everything will make a strong enough impression for me to talk about it at one point or another. Here’s what I plan on watching on Crunchyroll in Winter 2013:

• Chihayafuru 2
• From the New World
• Hunter x Hunter
• Kotoura-San
• Little Busters! (but only after Crunchyroll have streamed the first 13 episodes)
• Space Brothers

The next post will be on Sunday, and it’ll discuss an episode of one of the above shows!