Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance - S1EP1

Name: Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance (Spirit Elementalist's Blade Dance)
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Romance, Harem, Supernatural
Type: Seinen


After working on my article on Endless Legend for a few hours, I decided I wanted to watch a bit of anime to change things up. So, I began browsing on one of my favorite anime sites and noticed Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance and thought, "What the hell" and decided to give it a try. It's based on a series of Light Novels of the same name, and a manga was produced based on the story as well.

Usually, I absolutely cannot stand harem anime - especially when it's combined with the "comedy" and "ecchi" tags. The story always seems to be second in these series and every episode seems to be nothing but filler. I honestly have no high hopes for this series and I'm sure I will end up dropping it after the first few episodes. But, I'm bored and don't want to work on my review of Aldnoah.Zero just yet.

I think I've figured out the format I want to use for these review now, so I'll be using what I consider the "standard format" from now on - including in this review.


Description

Only a pure maiden can have the privilege to contract with a spirit. In here, Areishia Spirit Academy, trained maidens of noble families are gathered and given an elite's education to become spirit contractors. A boy, Kamito, peeped by accident at a girl, Clair, while she was taking a bath and he ended up making a contract with the spirit she wanted. Yes, Kamito is an irregular boy spirit contractor whose existence was thought impossible until now. "You stole...my spirit...you have to take responsibility for it!" "Huh?" "You have to become my contracted spirit!" What will Kamito's destiny lead to?

Fairly standard harem story. A boy comes across a cute girl and somehow becomes connected with her, and then is thrown into a female-heavy school setting. The only thing about this description that captures my interest is the mention of "Spirit contractors" as that's a theme that I often enjoy in fiction - semi-regular humans being attached to spirits in some form or another. I loved the theme in Bartimaeus Triology (however, in that story it's wizards summoning and contracting demons), and I'm hoping the spirit contracting in this series will be similar in nature.



Artwork & Sound
The first episode opened up with a battle scene that seemed to be severely lacking. I felt that the music, while exciting and certainly "epic," did not fit well with the scene. The artwork in the scene honestly was not that good, either. While there was some good parts, there was a lot of staring and floating in place. This should be the place where the animators are showing off their stuff and it should have been movie quality, in my opinion. But, they fell short and while I can tell they were trying, it failed to leave a good impression. If this is the best they've got, the battle scenes in this anime are sure to be sub-par.

For example, here she just floats in air for a moment before zooming down to stab the suit of armor and float for another few seconds and somehow winning the fight. 

The character designs seem to be fairly simple. Simple shading, lots of simple colors, and very plain faces. Heck, most of the time the characters don't have their noses drawn on (though I admit that's a valid art style for anime/manga... I mean noses just look weird most of the time). While there are some moments where the artists go above and beyond, a large majority of the first episode was nothing but simple suggestions of cute, rather than anything substantial.

I am pleased that a lot of the backgrounds seem to have had some thought put into them. A lot of the time in anime and manga, it seems like the background is forgotten and you're lucky to have something even remotely interesting put in. Most of the time, at least in this first episode, there's some interesting background designs thrown in to give you something nice to look at besides the fan-service.



Protagonist
Kamito seems to be a bit more capable than your typical harem protagonist. He's intelligent and isn't afraid to play with Claire's naive feelings a bit. You learn early on that he's pretty strong when it comes to his abilities as a spirit contractor, as well as in the strength and reflexes department. He seems to be a decent guy at his core, but there are hints at a dark past of some sort. He also seems to be the only sane person in the anime.


Other Characters
Claire Rouge is your typical klutzy, self-important Tsundere-type female lead. She gets in a slightly awkward or embarrasing situation, and she reacts with violence that ends up putting her own life in danger. And, when she gets saved, she gets even more pissed off and backstabs the person that helped her by further attacking them when they're in a vulnerable state (from helping here). That's my initial impressions, at least. I'm hoping she matures fast, because I don't think I can take twenty-three minutes of her stupidity each episode.

Seconds later she cuts a massive tree in half and it almost crushes her.

Story
The story begins with Kamito journeying to the famous Spirit Academy at the summons of the Academy's headmaster. On his way there, he happens across a bathing Claire. After a bit of fighting, Claire learns Kamito's true reason for being at the lake, and begins leading him to the school. Or so you think. Turns out she is leading him to some cave with some super-powerful spirit she wants to contract. She even asks why he is following her, but I would think the obvious answer is, "Because you have my damn letter in your hand. The real question is, why the hell are you leading me here and why haven't you given me back my letter?"

Here, let me have your letter and follow me.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like an extremely weak plot point to have Claire holding his letter in his hand while leading him around, and then suddenly leading him into this cave. Oh yeah, Claire needs power for some sort of revenge, I guess. And in the process of her stupidly planned grab for power, she (seemingly at least) gets her primary spirit, called Scarlet - which takes the form of a flaming cat, killed. She also almost gets herself killed (again) and Kamitor (again) when he tries to save her (again). If you haven't noticed yet, I'm starting to hate Claire.

Where's your "I'm a badass and need more power" attitude now? 

Kamito proves himself to be the true badass and forms a contract with the spirit in the sword while saving Claire. Yet, dumbass Claire somehow figures that she should be upset that she was saved and demands that Kamito "take responsibility" for capturing the spirit and become her slave - I mean Contract Spirit. Which I'm not sure how that works (and I don't think Kamito gets it either).

After getting away from Claire's incompetent attempt at capturing him, Kamito makes his way to the Headmasters office. However, he is confronted by yet another angry, self-important girl whose first response is violence. However, after realizing it's a man she's kicking in the stomach and about to stab in the throat, she gets embarrassed and jumps up... only to try and kill him. This brilliant chick is called "Ellis Fahrengart." 

After learning that the Headmaster is a former acquaintance of Kamito's who has a bit of information he wants, Kamito becomes a student at the academy. He's given a sub-par dwelling and told to use the toilet with the horses (so I guess that means shitting out in the field or in a stall in the stable?), and is put into "Raven Class" which is apparently made-up of problem children. Of course, Claire is in the class (and I honestly think Ellis should be, too). 

After some class-room shenanigans, the episode comes to a close. The last couple of scenes are of Kamito thinking back on the day while he's in bed. We learn that he is to participate in the Dance of Blades, which I'm guessing in the competition in the arena we saw in the opening scenes of the anime. We also learn that he's apparently participate in the Blade Dance in the past.

Conclusion
I'm kinda mixed about this anime. On the one hand, the female leads all seem like arrogant, dumb bitches. On the other hand, I kinda like the way the story (the actual story, not the harem shit), is going. I think, like I said, I will end up continuing on for another few episodes but will end up dropping it. Only time will tell. Thanks for reading.

Ore to Kawazu-san no Isekai Hourouki - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

So this chapter starts immediately after the first ended. Tarou and the old wizard (now the old frog) are arguing about his new body. There's a bit of funny back-and-forth banter (I'm starting to see that this will be one of the key elements in this series' "comedy"). The artwork is still on the simple side - there's not really any backgrounds in this chapter, just foreground with the characters.

Artwork
 As I said, the artwork still quite simple. There's next to no detail - heck, Tarou doesn't have a nose 99.99999% of the time. I know it's just a personal gripe, but it's still a bit annoying. But, the story does make up for it (at least so far).

Simple and no detail, unfortunately.

Tarou
 Tarou is still being himself. He wants to get home, wants nothing to do with the magic (or so he gives the initial impression), and is has constant conflicts with Old Frog. No real new developments, except we do get to see a taste of Tarou's super-mega-ultra-uber power in this chapter. Two tastes, actually. One - bringing Old Frog back from the dead, and two - blowing a hole through a mountain on accident. He does have neat looking robes now, though.

Old Frog/Other Characters
 Old Wizard is now an Old Frog, but that's about all we get from this chapter. We don't see him use any magic (except to "correct" his translation magic that allows Tarou and him to communicate). There's more back-and-forth banter between him and Tarou - some of it leading to violence - but nothing really new.

Story
This chapter begins with Tarou and the Old Frog arguing about the new body Tarou gave him. After a bit of wrestling, they decide to act like men, shake hands, and put it behind them.From there, Tarou immediately wants to put this new magical ability behind him and return to his old life. To be honest, I never understood that attitude, and I'm not sure if that's the stance that someone would take in that sort of situation in reality. I mean, who could pass up near god-like power just to spend some time in your old life where your life will consist of going to school, then work, eating, and sleeping. It's boring and depressing in comparison. Yeah, leaving family behind is tough, but it'll happen at some-point (everyone dies). But perhaps that's just me.

About the Old Frog - in this chapter Tarou and the Old Frog formally introduce themselves. Yet, when the Old Frog says his name - surprise, surprise - it's censored.

 Excuse me while I go rage. 

Apparently, the issue is that the magic translation that the Old Frog originally used was flawed and names aren't translated, so the first attempt for them to hear each others name is just garbled. After a quick fix, the Old Frog can hear Tarou's name (Kouno Tarou, by the way). BUT Tarou still can't understand the Old Frog's name. This seems like a flawed plot point, as I feel like this will just get annoying if other characters are introduced in later chapter - I just don't get why the mangaka doesn't want to give Old Frog a name. However, he (or rather Tarou) does give Old Frog a nickname - Kawazu (Frog). This causes the Old Frog to become a bit annoyed - and me too. I'm just going to keep calling him Old Frog.

The next panel shows both Tarou and Old Frog noticeably bruised and hurt.

After they, once again, decide to put things behind them like real men, they sit down for some tea and discuss what they should do from here. Old Frog is quick to suggest seeing the king - he seems a bit hard for the king to be honest. But Tarou immediately rejects it due to the possibility that he'll be put in a situation - as an almost infinitely powerful wizard - where he might be put in danger by fighting monsters or demons and whatnot.

 After obliterating the Old Frogs house (and half the forest, plus a huge chunk of a mountain) in an attempt to throw off anyone who may pursue the Old Frog (and Tarou), they head off in search for more magical training for Tarou. Personally, I don't see a point to it. I feel like the Mangaka just wanted an excuse to show off Tarou's uber-power. I mean, who cares if someone happens by the Old Frogs house in the woods? And how would they be able to use that to find wherever the Old Frog and Tarou went?

Right after that is where the chapter ends. 


Conclusion
Ore to Kawazu-san is shaping up into something quite interesting. The comedy seems to be in good taste and doesn't interfere with the story telling. Hopefully it stays that way. No improvements in the art, unfortunately. We do get to see a bit of just how powerful Tarou is. With just one of the seven spells left to him by the Old Frog, we find that he can do almost any kind of magic he can imagine. I'm definitely hooked and look forward to reading a lot more of this series.

Ore to Kawazu-san no Isekai Hourouki - Chapter 1 (New series!)

Just noticed this manga popping up. There's not much chatter about it (from what I can tell), so I'm guessing not many people have read it yet. Looks pretty interesting - has a fantasy feeling to it. Anyways, here's the description;

Tarou was an ordinary universary student until a strange old magician summoned him to another world, upon learning that his magical power is 8 million, he uses that abnormally powerful magic to revive the old man that caused all this... In the form of a frog. Thus begin the strange adventures of a boy with ridiculous magical power and Kawazu, the former strongest magician, now revived as a frog.

Chapter 1 Review

The Artwork
Right off the bat, you can see that the artwork in this manga will be simple. I'm not really surprised, as most comedy mangas don't focus much on the quality of the art. The laughs make up for it, I guess. What annoys me about it, though, is we're lucky to get one character with any sort of detail in a panel - everything else is as simple as can be. I know a lot of the background stuff isn't "important" to the story, but if I just wanted story I would be reading a book.

The Protagonist
I got the impression that Tarou is your average, ever-day slacked college student, just barely getting by in his studies. At this point, I could be wrong. Anyways, apparently Tarou is the best possible successor to the old wizards magic. Not for any particular reason - he just is. He's quicky resistent to the old mans tale - immediately asking to go back, shrugging of whatever he says. This is kinda annoying - I mean, if he acts like that in what he thinks is a dream, how is he in real life? Of course, we find that out later on in the chapter.

Well, despite being a degenerate, Tarou seems to be taking his new role as super-wizard extraordinaire in stride. That's one plus for him, I suppose - he hasn't lost his head in a crisis.  Oh, and he's apparently eight-million times stronger (in terms of magic) than the old wizard.


Other Characters

Other than Tarou, the old wizard is the only other character in this chapter. The old wizard, who comes back as a frog-man, has about the same personality as Tarou. Because of this, they have a lot of back-and-forth banter. It's a bit funny, but it only got a few chuckles from me.

Story
First off, I have a basic complaint. I find it really annoying how often "a certain" is used in manga/anime. "A certain" kingdom, "A certain" person, etc... I know the "a certain" part is a product of translation, but the concept is brought over from the original. I hate how often that is used as an excuse to be lazy with certain plot elements. Especially in this manga where we'll end up (at least I'm guessing) running into that "a certain" kingdom and get to know it by name.

ANYWAYS!

The story is pretty simple yet interesting. An old, powerful, 500 year old magician casts a final spell that allows him to pull the person within the multi-verse with the most magical potential into his world. This happens to be Tarou, our protagonist (whom you are familiar with). The first chapter is used to explain the basics of this worlds magic system, as well as the seven starting spells that Tarou is given from the old man. Speaking of that, we aren't given the old mans name in the first chapter. I'm not sure why, but then again I guess it isn't important - I think the author wanted us to feel like it was a throw-away character, but then again it could just be that he was to lazy to write it in. Or maybe he/she thought the manga would become to serious if he gave much detail in a single chapter? Dunno.

As the tags/labels suggest, this is a combination comedy/mystery/supernatural manga. So there is a lot of small gags. Nothing big - it's definitely not a gag manga. It's a nice balance (at least so far) of humor and seriousness. But, like I said, most of the jokes only got a few chuckles out of me.

The chapter ends with Tarou using his super-mega-uber-powerful magic to bring the old wizard back to life - with a unique vessel. There's a conversation where Tarou explains how he could do something that requires so much power such as reviving someone. The wizard insinuates that doing such a feat would require a ton of sacrifices. I found that a bit funny but, again, not so much. The last panel of the chapter shows the old wizard looking into a mirror and being shocked by his new frog-man body.


Conclusion
I find the concept of Ore to Kawazu-san (don't want to type out the whole thing... you know what I'm talking about by now) quite interesting. It's kind of in the same boat as The Gamer and World Customize Creator - normal people being thrown into a situation where they're given interesting powers. Though I suppose it's closer to World Customize Creator (god-like powers, thrown into a different universe/world). The art was simple to the point that I was slightly annoyed, but it wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying the manga. Tarou and the old wizards (he still needs a name) personalities make for some fun back-and-forth banter, too. Overall, this first chapter was nice and I look forward to continuing the series.

Shintetsu no Agartha - Chapter 1

Usually, if I see something interesting (and I check almost every day), I read it immediately. Yet, somehow Shintetsu No Agartha got passed by. Even though it's been getting monthly updates since April, I somehow never saw it. Or, if I did, I decided to pass it up for some reason. Which I can understand, as the description did put me off a bit - it gave the impression that I would be coming into the story with the "group" already being established and the main character already being powerful. I much prefer a story where I progress along with the protagonist - that is, he starts normal and then gains power or whatnot as the story comes along.

I probably would have passed it up once again if I hadn't been bored. It's another sleepless night (going on 7am now), and I needed something to pass the time. So I decided to give Shintestu No Agartha a go.


Chapter 1 review

The Artwork
It's nice, but not quite detailed. Seems kinda simple. I would have liked more detail and some better shading, but meh. It's good enough that I can deal with and can even be pleasing at some points. But it does give the impression that the Mangaka is probably working solo on the art. Especially if he/she is using the quality that they are for this first chapter - most of the time, the artwork peaks at the first chapter, when the mangaka is trying to grab your attention so you'll want to continue reading. I really hope that isn't the case here, because if it gets any worse from this point, I'll just drop it. Personally, I'm hoping that the mangaka will be able to invest into some better art if this series becomes popular enough - though I know it's not very likely.

Not much in the way of shadowing, and the background is pretty vague as well.

The Protagonist
Trying to figure out who the protagonist was was a bit fuzzy in the beginning. At first you think it'll be Alma, like the description suggests. However, you're introduced to Tenkou pretty early on. I want to say that it'll be a dual-protagonist story, with a group of strong supporting characters, but I'm thinking the story will learn a lot more heavily on Tenkou. I mean, he's the vehicle we're learning about this world through, right? We're being introduced to the harsh reality of this plague and the horrible world it's created through him.

Tenkou himself is portrayed as a very caring person. Heck, he broke rules and traveled in this harsh world just to save a few of his fellow villagers from another disease. And, to pound in how much of a risk this was, he witnesses the slaughter of a whole village because of it. He even willing accepts his exile without any fuss, because he knows that it's for the best. And, despite those villagers who he was trying to save having already died, he still wants to give them the medicine he got from the slaughtered village. Tenkou is a cool guy, yeah.



Other Characters
Besides Alma, none of the other members of Shintetsu stand out. Dio is the only memorable one, but that's only because the name is used more frequently than the others. I know the author wants us to care about these characters, but we've yet to have a reason to do so. They're all strangers at this point. The only one that actually gets any real attention is Alma (at least in this first chapter).

Alma (check out the screen cap under "The Artwork" to see how he looks from a distance) is a pretty odd guy. But it's understandable. Right off the bat, he's seen doing a mercy killing of an infected person, and that sets his personality for the rest of the chapter (and perhaps the story) - someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of the Megane, even if it means slaughtering villages. It actually feels odd that Alma did what he did for Tenkou. I had the initial impression that he wouldn't take chances, no matter if Tenkou was having a "slow progression" of the disease. But that's probably due to me not knowing all the "rules" of this Megane plague.


Of yeah, he rocks some headphones as well. Or maybe they're ear muffs? Either way, they seem highly out of place with the setting of the manga (At least so far). I mean, it's kind of hinted that some previous civilization (perhaps ours?) fell because of the Megane plague, so maybe it's a relic from that. But when you're introduced to Tenkou's village with its ancient tree, it just seems even more wrong. It seems like the mangaka designed Alma with them just so he could be stylish. That's just personal opinion, I guess.

The Story
The story revolves around the "Megane" - humans who succumb to some sort of disease that turns them into "Corroding black iron" monster that live to consume humans. This is what made me think the story was interesting. It's an not a concept overly used and it's something that has to be a bit on the mature side. And honestly, I wasn't far off on that assumption, as right away you're introduced to a "Harsh Reality" type setting where people are dying in horrible ways.

Thankfully, the description was as misleading as I hoped it would be. Sure, the story does introduce you to Alma and his group of super-powered friends who are seemingly the only ones who can stand up to the horrid Megane. But, within the first 10 pages you are introduced to someone who is infected with the Megane curse, yet lives. Tenkou is the saving grace of this manga that allows us to grow with the story, by growing with him as he finds himself in group called "Agartha of Shintetsu."

Like I said, this is definitely a mature story. I'm wondering if this tone will stay with the whole series, or is just being pushed for this first chapter to set the mood. To early to tell for sure. But you are slammed with harsh reality left-and-right. Tenkou is the only survivor of the Megane invasion of the village - the rest being slaughtered by Alma and his buds.

From the start, Tenkou rejects the idea of having to be a part of Alma's group. So, instead of arguing the issue, Alma lets him return to his village - even accompanies him. However, this isn't as benevolent as it seems - Alma knows how Tenkou's fellow villagers will react. I've got to say that this bit seemed a bit forced. Instead of welcoming him back and celebrating those that fight the Megane, they treat them as diseased and threaten them.

It's around that time that Tenkou manifests his power, given to him by surviving the Megane plague. As you might expect, being a male protagonist, his power is OP and has to do with dragons. He "sees" a red dragon of flame. And, surprise surprise, the "Kouen" (Red Flame) are a well known thing and, judging by the sweat drops on the others faces, you can tell that it's some uber powerful thing that means Tenkou will end up kicking ass. It's at this point that I begin to realize just how much the mangaka loves foreshadowing in this manga. He's not really subtle about it, though. Just a few mumblings and ellipsis.

Towards the end of the chapter (And, like most first chapters, it's a long one with 40+ pages), the one who exiled Tenkou turns around and sacrifices himself. So, you get the sense that even though he exiled Tenkou, he really did it for the "greater good" and not to save his own skin or something cold hearted like you originally get the impression of. The last page is pretty ominious and is a pretty big cliffhanger. We're left with Alma musing, while holding an unconscious Tenkou, how they might have "finally found it" with "it" being the "Rajan" (or king), a guardian of the "Five Elements." So it seems my initial impression that Tenkou would be super powerful dude was right. Turns out he's the avatar - or so I think. Wont know until I read further.



Conclusion
First, I want to say that I was really surprised by the genre of the manga - Josei. Basically the female-equivalent of seinen. That is, mature content meant for older women. So I'm worried that the story will get into some boy-on-boy action. But, after reading some other user reviews, it seems like there's nothing to deep - definitely no sex or whatnot, just some boys getting close and some hinting. It's not that I'm against homosexual relationships - I just don't swing that way so it's kind of hard for me to relate, though not impossible.

The story itself is promising. I'm quite glad that my initial impression from reading the description was wrong. I do hope the artwork improves, although I wont stop reading if it doesn't. There are a few weak plot points, and some stuff seems forced. I mean, the mangaka could be a bit more subtle with foreshadowing and what not - I like to think when reading a manga. But all-in-all, it was interesting and I look forward to reading chapter 2.

Koe No Kitachi Chapter 043

Koe No Kitachi is one of my all-time favorite mangas. It's relatively new compared to some of my other favorites, but I've been in love with it since I read the original one-shot the series is based off of. I wont go into much more detail than that, but I definitely recommend it to anyone. It's not a fantasy manga or anything. It's about a deaf girl and her bully and how they grow up, to put it simply.


Anyways, onto the chapter itself! HOLY FUCKING SHIT. It's been a long time since a manga has made me feel this way. I was literally lost in the moment and even though a part of my knew the author wouldn't do that (or at least I hoped >.>) I was still holding my breath and frantically flipping to the next pages to see the outcome. This is something I definitely do not want to spoil for people as it's a major (no, massive!) plot point. Needless to say, this was one of the best chapters in the series and also one of the biggest cliffhanger (or should I say balconyhanger...?)

Next chapter I will put more detail into the post and discuss the story itself. But I just can't bring myself to discuss it anymore as I definitely do not want to spoil this for anyone, even by accident.

Death Note - Episode 1

I've been avoiding Death Note for quite some time. It was originally released back when I was in my first or second year of High School, and I was just then getting into the "deep end" of anime. Before I entered High School, I was like most anime fans, watching only the mainstream stuff that showed up on adult swim and what-not. Honestly, I always like the premise of Death Note and I event got up to fifteen or so episodes before I quit. So you're probably wondering why I ended up stopping, right?

Well, to put it bluntly, it was because everyone else was watching it. At the time, anyone who said they liked anime was obsessed with Death Note. Heck, I imagine any sort of anime convention had a thousand L's and Light's swarming around. But to be clear, it's not the fact that so many people liked it that I ended up quitting. No... it was because everyone who talked about it acted like they were doing me a favor by introducing it to me, or did their best to show they were a bigger fan, or other crap like that. I just got sick of it before I could really get into it due to the culture (at least in NA) that formed around it.

A small sample from Google.

So, what was my reason for starting again? I was looking through Netflix and saw it. Simple as that. I was bored and needed something to pass the time (I could have decided to play Dragon's Prophet but I figured it'd be better to wait til tomorrow - pace myself, y'know). Anyways, on to my thoughts about the episode itself.

The Atmosphere

Immediately after the opening sequence my first thought was, "Oh no..." Simply because of the music. Not particularly because it was bad (It isn't, I guess), but because I knew that music would be setting the ton for the rest of the anime. Gloomy, yet with religious/utopian undertones. Through the artwork, music, and dialogue, the anime presents a gloomy and horrible world (I guess much like our own) that focuses in on the bad. Yes, I know what the anime is about and I knew it wouldn't be a happy thing, but it still felt a bit oppressive. 

The Story

The protagonist is Light, a super-student who gets perfect grades and always comes in first place at whatever he does. Or that's how he's introduced, anyways. We haven't met Lights father yet in episode 1, but from what I remember he was a detective. Anyways, Light happens across the Death Note and he initially reacts like any serious and intelligent person would - he shrugs it off as some sort of hoax or chain letter prank.

Yet, he can't help but go back and pick it up. And then once home, he decides to try it out. Just to put his mind at ease. Light later describes this as a super-natural power that the Note has, but I would say it's just the mind of a teenager. No matter how intelligent or diligent Light is, he's still a teen and teens are the type of people to come up with a Death Note chain letter. I mean, what teen wouldn't like a notebook that could kill anyone they didn't like with no consequence? I honestly just feel like that bit of the plot was a bit weak. Perhaps the manga portrays it better, but it felt like the writers just wanted a quick and easy way to get into the good part of the story. But forget that, I'm getting off topic.

After a few initial tests, Light becomes a killing addict and begins causing a mass-extension of "evil people" before the Shinigami Ryuk shows up. Much to Light's surprise (though he covers it up quite well), the Shinigami had purposely "lost" the Death Note in the human world and Light wasn't really the "Chosen One" he apparently hoped he would be. That doesn't stop Light, however. He lays down his Big Plan for Ryuk and, with a bit of an insane look in his eyes, proclaims he will become the new god of the world he is creating - one without evil people. 

With the introduction of Ryuk, I've actually come to be quite interested in the supernatural world behind the "real world" in Death Note. It seems like there are a pretty large number of Shinigami besides Ryuk and a Heaven and Hell are mentioned. So I'm wondering how all that works out. Apparently it's possible for a Shinigami to have more than one Death Note, too. And we already know it's possible for a human to become in possession of a Death Note (either by purpose or accident). So that's some pretty obvious foreshadowing that Light will run into someone else with a Death Note later on (at least I think).

The episode ended after that. I can definitely tell I'll enjoy the series (at least for a while). The art work is nice (if gloomy and dark), the story is interesting, and the voice acting is superb. My only real complaint at this point is a couple of weak plot points (nothing major or annoying) and I feel the artwork could have been a bit better. I feel it's a bit on the simple side, even if it is nice. Thanks for reading and I'll probably post the second episode here in an hour or so.

Dragon Collection - Season 1 Episode 1

Earlier I was browsing through anime as I felt like watching something but wasn't sure what. I had seen Dragon Collection on various lists a few times, but always passed it over for obvious reasons (like it being a children's show). However, this time I decided "what the hell" and decide to start watching. I figured that, at a minimum, it would be interesting to see how it compared to Pokemon and Digimon of my childhood. So here we are.

 Oh, I forgot to mention. This series is also based on a manga series which is quite a bit different than this anime. The biggest difference being that the protagonist from the manga is a high schooler and the themes are a bit more mature compared to the anime. Both the anime and the manga protagonist share the same name (Arata) and they both have the same redeeming quality - being lucky. I'm honestly not sure if they're supposed to be the same person (probably not, as from what I remember of the manga, that Arata was just being introduced to the game and it didn't mention anything about him playing as a child).

The other major difference is that, at least for the first fifteen or so chapter, the manga focuses on the story happening in a "Real life" setting, rather than in an alternate world. Later on, the manga does transition to taking place in an alternate world, though. However, Arata in the anime is thrown into this alternate world immediately (which is where the shortness of the episode is kind of annoying - there is next to no build-up to Arata being thrown into the alternate world and it seems very rushed).

The first thing that stuck out to me was the relatively short episode length. At this point I'm not sure if it'll continue like this, but the episode lasted just eleven minutes. This is half of the average twenty-four minutes that most anime episodes last. I've been noticing stuff like this a lot in anime the past couple of years - series being released with relatively short episodes varying from three minutes to ten minutes. I personally dislike this a great deal - it just feels like I'm getting short-changed on content. However, I can understand the appeal of shorter episodes, especially in a show meant for children.

Yep, that is our Protagonist, smashing his chin into a grown mans balls.

The artwork is typical of this type of anime. Simple colors with simple shading/lighting. Not to complex, yet it still looks good. It actually reminds me a lot of the various Digimon TV series. Not just in art style, but in design, too. I wont do a side-by-side comparison, but with a simple google search you can see how they're alike. 

Our Protagonist, Arata the elementary schooler, is your typical shonen protagonist. He has wild hair, a cool outfit, and is energetic and up-beat. He also has typical leader qualities found in these types of stories. His companion is also typical - starts of cute, has a dragon-shape, is infinitely strong (as in, he's always strong enough to get the job done, no matter what). Like I said, typical protagonist.

And this is where the similarities with Digimon really start to show for me. Arata looks like he could be one of the protagonist from the Digimon series. He looks about the same (just needs goggles), his companion has the dinosaur/dragon looks. He's even been thrown into an alternate world (although not the "digital" world). Heck, the whole show and game seem kind of like rip-offs of Digimon so far. But I admit I've only seen one episode and it's still to early to tell.

The episode itself
The show starts off with Arata being introduced. Then, in the rushed fashion that the whole episode has, Arata rushes off to participate in Dragon Collection, or "DraColle" has he calls it. He was supposed to go to the arcade with his dad, but he's impatient and goes ahead. He is then sucked into the world of Dragon Collection, right in the middle of the store. His dad appears right after, just in time to notice the "Arata" card in the Dragon Collection machines card slot.

Right away we're introduced to some villains. It's your typical to-dumb-to-realize-how-bad-they-really-are bad guy group, the Green Pepper Gang (which consists of two young kids and an old dude). The screencap earlier in the article is of Arata smashing his chin into the leaders nuts. This is because Arata happens to land on the fire drake pup that the Gang was trying to capture, accidentally helping them capture it. Arata feels bad about this, and so he helps it escape.

During the last three minutes of the episode, the real meat of the series comes out. The monster battling featuring the game system that the series is based on. Basically, Arata notices a book that contains his monster cards thanks to the help of the fire drake pup he helps at the start of the episode. The pup enters the book and is transformed into a card that Arata can then summon, which he does, and thus a massive and powerful fire drake that can save the day. But only after he shouts, "guts!" and helps the drake along with his own resolve. Simple, easy, and the good guys come out on top.

That's where the episode ended and I probably wont watch the next episode until tomorrow. It's getting late (almost 2am).