Since the current amount of shows I am following is only around 2 or 3, I thought that mabye there are some of interest to people that have been missed, or not heard of. I’ll try to go by genre to help speed things along.

Action

Claymore – A show that is based around female demon hunters who are themselves half demon. Plenty of action, awesome fight scenes coupled with some very pretty visuals and a nice style to top it all off. As you can see from the picture below when the women use their demon powers their eyes turn yellow and cat like. The more power the use, the closer they become to turning into a demon themselves. Interesting no? If you’re a fan of this genre then this should be the first to check out on your list

Illena, Noel & Sophia fighting Terasa of the Faint Smile; my favorite character

Hellsing Ultimate – Hellsing has had a rather akward past when it comes to its animated version. While the original series was rather… ok… it was just so different from the manga that it never really sat well with me. Even back when I had never read any of the story and the final “villian” was as interchangable as a pair of clean underwear. Hellsing Ultimate fixed this and attempts to follow the manga a tad more closely. By which I mean sticks pretty damn close to (I assume, I only have the first 3 manga) Anyway each new OVA, 2 of which are apparently released each yeah, seems to condense roughly 2 books worth of material so It moves rather fast which is good. Again it has greaty quality, wonderful voice acting (japanese I mean of course) and a very distinct style to it that should be seen by all. Only thing is that it has a fair bit of blood in it so may not be suitable for youngens. 

Rather big visual upgrade from when this was in the first series huh?

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As some of you may remember 1 of my first posts was a write up about the Visual Novel/game Clannad. Since then i’ve made a few other posts about random mechandise from the show, a new series has come out and have never really watched it again. That new series of course being the After Story which follows the tales of the same characters straight away after the end of Clannad, and continuing for rougly 10 years (at least in the game).  I’ve avoided the new series of After Story because like my original reason for not finishing the 1st series, I know how it ends and…

• I don’t want to watch anymore epic sad shows. Clannad is full of them, especialy the after story
• Having finished the VN, I don’t want the endings ruined by the show. 

Don’t get me wrong though, despite the arguably wierd character looks, Kyoto Animation are pretty damn true to the story and have done a phenominal job with the series. So after avoiding close to 22 episodes of content I heard that Episode 16 is the turning point in the show. Boy were they right. This episode was the reason I never played the After Story in the game. What is the big deal you may ask? Well if you’re a softie like me then it’s just very upsetting to see such a good character die. 

“Bwahaha, you wuss, whats the big deal? People die in anime all the time” That is true. Well done stating the obvious but that isn’t what I mean. Usualy in those shows she characters are not really likable, or they are murdered by someone; be it by fighting or what not. No. Nagisa dies a very rare death in anime, and that is a very emotional one due to her character always being rather weak and having an illness. Add that to her dying while giving birth and you have a maelstrom of of emotion and touching tv. Good thing I never followed the series more of I would of cried during this scene. Whats the bet it made many people do exactly that?

Sorry for the whiteness of the caps. That whole part of the episode is very light and the quality of the show itself isn’t exactly high def.

Kyoto Animation are just brilliant and displaying emotion in their characters

Little baby Ushio

Nagisa fading

Tomoya Notices Nagisa has died

R.I.P Nagisa

When I first heard about this needless to say I was quite extatic as this is quite possibly my favorite anime i’ve seen. It’s cute as hell, real funny, has lolis and a perv of an older character. What more could you want? Well judging from the look of these pictures that I capped, a new production crew. They have managed to take the most simplistic and loveable art work and turn it arse up.

 Yeah, I know what you’re thinking

 Trying to force out a poo?

While Chika and Miu look downright wrong, at least Matsuri (my fav) and Nobue look somewhat decent still. I’m really not a fan of this new style but i’ll take whatever they want to make because I love the series. Oh and incase you’re wondering, no I don’t like Ana 1 bit as her voice is like nails on a chalk board to me so I can’t be bothered capping a picture of her. She is more or less the same as she was in the 1st series.

 Aww she’s just so damn cute!

 Yeah, the internet will make you do that occasionaly

Really? They ditched Barasui’s wonderful style infavor of a Manabi Straight approach? Seriously, when something has been proven to work why do people immedialy think “LETS CHANGE IT“. IT WORKED THE FIRST TIME, DON’T ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE WHAT IS BRILLIANT.

Thankfully these pictures are just a few from the 30 min show and thank GOD they aren’t all like that. See? Nobue looks almost exactly the same as she did in her first appearance.

At least it isn’t all bad and there are 2 more episodes to come yet. Now if Barasui can just disown this company and go back to the original we’ll be all set

Even though I no longer watch television…except at the gas station or grocery mart where they force me to, I know people who watch such media and it seems one thing holds true. The anime and manga industry doesn’t advertise often or well. Sure their’s pay per click ads on sites (along with manga viewers and streaming sites) and magazine adverts, but there really isn’t that much. Most of it is likely because the companies who publish anime and manga are small, so they don’t have the resources. That’s where arguments that those companies have enough money or are just in existance for money fall, but it’s possible. Video game companies were able to back when they were much smaller.

If ADV and others did advertise to larger audiences, what shows would they put their commercials with? You could have them with anime, but then how would you get people new into it? There isn’t exactly many kinds of media that would fit well. Clearly the Super Bowl would be out of their budget for Eyeshield 21. Perhaps they can get smart with smarter adverts with wide appeal, which would get people linking to it and uploading it to social media sites like Youtube. Nintendo, Apple, and others are prime examples of companies that can drive buzz without deep pockets or when pushed in a corner. That’s how many websites advertise. They don’t. The say, offer, do, or show something that creates buzz. Buzz on the Internet means people will link to you and show you to others. Easier said than done.

In Japan anime is shown on television so illegal downloading and sharing is less needed. Of course that’s not saying that it’s not done. Here in the US and the rest of the world we have to pay for it more often than not. One can say there should be more anime on television, but then that wouldn’t help the unlicensed and new. Not many newer series I’m into are licensed, minus Oh! Edo Rocket by FUNimation.

I’m not againts downloading anime, but just the only download movement that seems to be the norm when watching something the legal way should be. One is not supporting something they enjoy by downloading and companies don’t need to sit around watching torrent numbers all day to see what should be licensed. A good watch or read of the product is good enough. Then there’s also ratings and sales numbers in Japan. Advertising and buzz will help change that. There’s still people wandering around about how dubs are so awful, yet they haven’t bought a DVD in years. Dubs have improved, the DVDs do have subtitles, and that there is more anime out now that is released sooner and without dubbing at all. Maybe showing them otherwise would help.
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On a semi-related note, a manga trading link directory has been added.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has started something new to help drive up donations. American comic artist Peter Kuper (of Spy vs. Spy fame) will be make a special piece of art that donators can have upon donating. If you haven’t heard, there a man in the US being charged with having obscene manga. You know, stuff with characters that look young but may not be. Either way the poor guy had people following him home after he picked up his package. Apparently manga is series stuff and requires people with guns and uniforms. If this is something you support, go check them out. It might be you next them they find someone to defend and you don’t want to face 20 years in prison like this guy.

I’ve heard about this game before while browsing certain crevices on the internet and never really understood or took the time to learn about this game. Yes this is another Visual Novel write up much like my old Clannad one. However unlike clannad, the whole story is pretty devoid of any humor and fun to make way of a pretty dark theme along with a few adult scenes. If you are disturbed eaisly then this isn’t the review or even game for you as there are some images within that may be creepy to younger viewers. I’ll give you a moment to see if you really want to read on or not…

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There’s this anime called Windy Tales from 2004-05. It’s about a small town where there’s of wind handlers and each episode shows the various characters who have such power. The animation is of its own style and the series is fairly mellow at times. Junji Nishimura of Kyo kara Maoh, Soul Hunter, Ranma 1/2, and True Tears is the director. I was not a previous fan of his, but after this I’ll have to consider it.

Taking pictures of the clouds is taking pictures of the wind. Clouds move with the wind, you see? That town really is odd with floating cats who know where to go to have such a windy event. The young school girl in the first episode (Nao) tries taking pictures of the cats floating in the wind, but falls to into the bush bellow after a short while. She leaves the ones without wind abilities thinking is was a suicide attempt. It turns out she was saved by her math teach Mr. Taiki (Taiki-sensei). Windy Tales is a good head trip, but also very light and mellow.

On an unrelated note about for those apart of the community, there are a couple contests on the forums. One is an avatar contest and the other is for manga reviews. Check it out if interested.