Relocation

Just a heads up to anyone who stumbles upon this blog while it's up, I've migrated to http://valahuir.wordpress.com/ for the increased customisation, handy for the nature of the blog I am attempting to make.

This seasons first impressions

I've finally gotten around to scoping out some of these seasons new titles and sadly, I'm a bit disappointed. While I'll admit romantic comedies are not my first choice, I am also aware their are plenty out their that even a horror series fan like myself finds quite entertaining.

One such example is as with my last review, Baka to Test had some quite enjoyable part to it, even if the unrequited romance was a significant factor, I'm no elitist who will "only watch genre X or product from publisher Y" after all. I am just aware of my preferences.

Yes I also know a large amount of series seem to have some level of romance to them, I have no problem with this, I just prefer there to be more too it. For example "Koutora-san" caught my eye possibly due to the fact the series namesake is telepathic and it detailed VERY well, the hardships it has caused her up to the present day.

I, and I would imagine anyone who reads this blog, would prefer to review a new series over hitting series in my anime backlog. Unfortunately the next game on my list is in March so unless I plan to review older games, again something I'd rather avoid doing, I don't really have anything on that list either.

Although publishing those sketches I mentioned might be a viable way to have a regular update without random babble like this post or reviewing old series for the sake of regular updates.

Although I will not promise I will not review older stuff. Sometimes need something to watch while waiting for the current series to update.

Baka To Test

Or Baka and Test as it is also known is set in a school, Fumizuki Academy, that has undergone some reforms in it's education system; where the students who score well in tests get the best facilities whereas the people who score the lowest are forced to content with a ramshackle room with broken windows and coffee tables in the place of desks.

The basic premise is that the members of class F are using the battle system introduced where the characters can summon a creature whose power is relative to the points they scored in their last test in a bid to usurp the facilities from class A and their road they take to do so.

My opinion on this series is largely positive, it doesn't give the impression of being serious and act all goofy, or vice versa, the level of fan service is low for the most part and as it's purely school biased rather than a series where the character just so happen to be school kids; very little time is wasted on irrelevant school activities as the activities are primary the point.

That said the main character "Bro-con" elder sister constantly trying to steal his first kiss and the fact 90 - 95% of the fan service were actually from a bishonen are more an acquired taste. Although bonus points for them being forward about him being a guy rather than them dropping that on the viewer later. even if non of the other characters believe it, leading to a lot of jokes about him being given girls clothes when asking for "a normal pair of X".

The characters are a bit of a failing grade so far but that's largely down to their not being a whole lot of character development, so they are all what they say on the tin, which isn't necessary bad for a light hearted series where you don't want to be weighed down by the complex plots of character baggage to much.

Theirs the main character, Akihisa Yoshii, whom is the series "Idiot" as implied in the name and is very quickly proven to be worth that title.
Mizuki Himeji, whom is very early on shown to have a romantic interest in Akihisa is actually of class A intellect but due to illness and having to leave the test early scored a 0 on the placement test and as such is a key fighter in the battles.
Yūji Sakamoto is the class rep and the instigator for a lot of the trouble. Seemingly quite intelligent but sadly does poorly on tests. Shown by his very skilled tactical prowess, and even the mention later on of him being a prodigy.
Hideyoshi Kinoshita  is the fomentioned bishonen, who's main role is as an antagonist for his sister in class A and the recipient of the classic jokes about being mistaken for a woman, to the extent that Akihisa considers him more feminine than Minami who IS female.
is the classic and obligatory pervy character, who sells pictures he's taken to Akihisa for profit and is quite open about his perversions.
And finally Minami Shimada whom is the token Tsundere with a crush on Akihisa, but won't admit it causing him to consider her unfeminine and violent.

Regrettably it has a lot of unanswered questions, in hindsight this is likely due to the second season but at the time of release that could have been a source of annoyance for a fan. Sure the answers may be available now but teasing the audience with a question and not even touching on an answer in the series if bad form I feel. Akihisa's meeting on Minami's younger sister for example is a prime example where the series actually said it will answer at a later time.

So to sum it up I'd give it a 7 I feel. Unless you dislike high school anime or want something more serious, it's an easy watch and many would enjoy it. Because of the unanswered questions I docked it from an 8.

Gad guard

For my first attempt at a review I'll be reviewing a series I've had on my backlog pile for a while and just got around to watching as it's fresh in my mind.

Gad Guard is a mecha anime that revolves around a teenage boy who works as a courier in a rough neighbourhood, (night town) in a bid to be able to earn enough money to buy back his family home in daytown. It is never stated outright how it was lost but presumably after their father’s death they could no longer afford it/had to sell it to pay off debts.

The series starts very much as you’d expect, Hajiki is in school and one of the main characters transfers in and being from daytown is fairly naive of how things are in that area, to the extent of being shocked when her belongings get raided when left on the street. Due to fates hand, or perhaps misfortune he comes into the possession of a GAD that transforms into a “Techode” he names Lightning after his father’s plane and winds up over the course of the series being coerced into using it to find more Gads for a mysterious woman named Catherine and fight mechanical monsters called A-Techodes which are the manifestations of human greed which are also created from a GAD

Along the way he encounters other users of Techodes, Arashi a martial art’s dojo owners daughter and the for mentioned transfer student, Takumi a self-proclaimed defender of justice, Aiko the daughter of the richest man in the sector and Katana who seems to bounce between an anti-hero and the series antagonist.

My views of the series are a bit tepid at best, I wouldn’t say the series is bad by any means but I wasn’t enthralled either.

This is probably because I didn’t particularly care for the characters or find them that interesting. Hajiki came off as too obedient and simply followed orders most of the time, even stupid ones that put him in harm’s way for no real reason other than GAD hunting, which isn’t even his job.

Arashi is air headed to the extent that common sense like leaving your belongings on the street will get them stolen is a shock to her. He’s the main love interest for Hajiki but ends up being ignored for half the series and treat as a pest for another quarter to a third, and is only implied until the last few episodes.
Takumi is a loud and opinionated self-proclaimed defender of justice, probably just me but I hate those characters, so I’ll admit, that’s probably just my bias.

Aiko simply lacks much character development, but she is practically a minor character who’s there to tie plot together with her father being a primary GAD collector.

And Katana, so much potential and so much waste, he’s the typical character with a tragic past, but the problem is his motives and actions clash when he’s not just being a dick for seemingly its own sake. He finally seems to understand companionship by the end but that’s the way these series always seem to go. But sadly he’s just a trope with little to no uniqueness.

The GADs themselves are your typical plot device with unknown origins, a small rock or ore that is believed to fall from space and has mystical powers, a basic idea is given on what they are but there isn’t an in-depth explanation. While this is a commonly used trope it needs to be done very well for it to be that interesting whereas in this case it’s unfortunately more a plot hook than a key point and is never really explained until the final episode, and that wasn’t even reason Hajiki was there which detracted from it a bit.

The plot itself is again not bad, but hardly ground breaking; it primarily consists of people trying to acquisition GADs by whatever means necessary, which is what fuels the plot for about the first 18 episodes. It wasn’t until the series finale that things got particularly good, yes, it defiantly wins points for actually having an ending that wraps things up well without killing everyone, but I happen to think that a series that doesn’t really get particularly great until ten hours in is lacking.

Other than the characters being bland once I got past the slow first episodes I didn’t find myself wanting to just turn it off so all in all I’d give it a 6 or 7 out of 10, it’s fairly average for the most part and doesn’t really have anything memorable but the finale played out well which earns it some points. Far too often do anime fail to wrap things up in a bid to leave it open for another series, but loses some on it being slow to take off.

Oh as a side note I'm open to pointers to improve my reviews. After all the better they are the more helpful they are.

The pilot episode

Well I'm a bit new at this whole online bloging lark but I basicaly plan to use this blog to share and discuss my hobbies.

As such I plan to reveiw and/or discuss anime, manga and video games I read/watch/play.

I may not limit it to that but thats my main goal. I also intend to share any of my sketches that I don't find abhorrent.

I'll try not to bore anyone by making it into an online public diary. I'm sure nobody cares what I had for dinner or about that cute girl on the bus on the way home.

Well, maybe the girl.....