Steins;Gate 2nd Half
Let’s rewind time a bit and go back into Steins;Gate for the second half of the best series of 2011 so far, in my opinion. This part of the series deals with the consequences Okabe and his group must face, all caused by their meddling with time. Most of the wonder and exploration that is central to the first part is gone, replaced with a sense of desperation as Okabe works with the Future Gadget Lab members to undo all the changes they made to save one of their own.
Chaos;Head Review
After getting halfway through Steins;Gate, I had to play the waiting game for the final 12 episodes to be released. In the meantime I decided to watch Chaos;Head, a series based off a visual novel game by the same company that put out Steins;Gate. Though the character designs for Chaos;Head were a bit more blasé, in line with more stereotypical anime fare, added with seemingly heavy harem tones, the story at least sounded interesting, focusing on delusions similar to Steins;Gate time travel. Yet, like many ideas that sound good on paper, Chaos;Head suffers from bad implementation of an interesting concept.
Steins;Gate 1st Half
I haven’t seen many animes that come from visual novels. Most anime that is released is either adapted from manga, video games or light novels. The only series I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve watched that came from visual novels are the Higurashi and Umineko series, both by the same company. Steins;Gate, made the by the same companies that made Chaos;Head (which I have yet to see), is a visual novel dealing with time travel on a very minor scale. This quirky, slow paced series is now on my list for completely original animes, with very cleverly written characters and a story that kept me coming back episode after episode, just to try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Catherine
It should go without saying that someone like me, who watches a lot of anime, also plays a lot of video games. I’m much lazier about beating a game than I am about burning through a series, but I do attempt to complete what I have. Sometimes, I get a game that I just speed through right after I buy it; either because it’s fun, it’s easy or I’m just in the right mood to play it. Catherine fell into all three of these categories. At its core, Catherine is a puzzle game where you push and pull block to get to the top of a tower as fast as possible. On a deeper level, the game is a well thought out story of a man trying to figure out who he is and what to do with his life, all revolving around the choices you make.
Short Hiatus
Sorry for the short hiatus on the reviews peoples. I’ve been dealing with some personal things, but I can assure you there will be a new review up of the 1st half of Steins;Gate by the end of the week. I will also likely be putting up a review of Catherine, since I’ve just recently beat that game and it’s heavily anime influenced. Keep any eye out!
Blue Exorcist Part 1
Sometimes there are series that come out of the gate strong with great paced storytelling, promising a large build up of narrative till the climactic finale, but end up switching over to lighthearted, episodic adventures that hint at an overall arc that has yet to be introduced. Enter Blue Exocist, which opens with a bunch of priest dying, being burned alive by blue flames. It isn’t explained till later what is happening in the opening sequence, but talk about hitting a home run off the bat. The series continues at a good pace, until around episode six, when things become mundane and the story is derailed from its tracks.
Deadman Wonderland
I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching Deadman Wonderland. The manga is written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou, who wrote and illustrated the Eureka Seven manga together. Other than that, I prepared myself for a standard shōnen action series that had a hot albino girl in it. What I got was a series that should be classified as seinen, with brutal fights and high levels gore, on par with such series like Gantz. Deadman Wonderland is fast paced in its story progression right off the bat, but slows down to bring more action to the series as it builds to its finale. An amusement park festival for one’s senses, the series runs its 12 episodes hot and fast, making me hope there are more on the way.
All caught up
With my last review I’m finally caught up on the series I’ve watched. I’d like to blame Acen and the post-con fatigue/catch up as the reason I’ve been so behind.
Next up will be Deadman Wonderland, which I am currently watching, followed by a yet to be determined series. I have a huge list of stuff to watch, but I try to stay with what has just recently aired. I will not usually start an incomplete series, but will on occasion if the series seems interesting, hence the reason Gosick was split into two parts.
If you have any suggestions on what I should watch next, go ahead and hit the inquires link to the right and I’ll take it into consideration. Remember, you best hope is if the series is recent and finished. If it is on my list of “To Watch” I may just pick it next. If it’s not on my list, sorry. I usually research what I want to see and add them to my list, so if it’s not there it’s unlikely I’ll watch it. Maybe I’ll post that list on here at some point for reference.
Also, I’ll be at Anime Iowa coming up in a little over a week, so no new reviews will be posted then. I do promise to be more diligent after the con then I was after Acen though. In the meantime, stay out of the heat. Maybe watch Durarara on Adult Swim, because we need more people watching main stream anime if we want it to survive. Plus, it’s a good series, so you’ll thank me later for recommending it.
The World God Only Knows
The World God Only Knows has a pretty epic title, considering the series is about a kid obsessed with video games, specifically dating sims. I watched the first season a few months before I started this blog, and found it entertaining with a few good laughs here and there. The great part about this series is you don’t have to watch the first season to get into this series, but it is always advised. Anyway, if you like parodies of tropes, then you might be in for some fun with this series.
Gosick Review (2nd half)
The second half of Gosick goes further in depth on many pieces that are brought up in the first half, tying most of them together to make a single story. If you haven’t read my first review, I would recommend doing so because I’m not going to backtrack on the minor details. Everything that is mentioned regarding Victorique’s past, her mother, her father, Brian Roscoe, the Village of Gray Wolves, WWI and predictions relating to WWII all come into play in the second half. Because of this, the series could have ended very messily, but instead manages to wrap itself up decently, except for an extremely rushed ending.
I watch a lot of anime. On average I watch one to two series per week (two 13 episode series or one 26 episode series).I have a hard time remembering what I've seen since I go through series so fast. I lose track of what series I thought were good and the things I liked about them, so I decide to start this blog.
From old school anime to the most recent releases, I'm going to share my thoughts and opinions on each show I watch and let you readers have a chance to weigh in your own two cents.
