I may be a huge Sosuke Sagara fangirl (and a vehement SosukexChidori shipper), but one of my additional favorite parts of the Full Metal Panic Fummofu side stories is the opening theme "Sore ga Ai Deshou" by Shimokawa Mifuni. Though Sosuke and Chidori have an impossible time getting their feelings across, this song sums up the emotions they're dealing with simply and straightforwardly. If only we could all be so honest!
Time for a throwback! As a modern anime fan, it's a bit hard sometimes to get into super old series where the graphics are as simplistic as can be, but for some of these titles, the content is well-worth putting up with the drop in animation quality. 1980s comedy Patalliro is one of my favorite older pieces, and still manages to crack me up regularly. The theme is also a tongue-twisting gem, and taps into all the enjoyable moeness of Hatsune Miku's "Po pi po" a few decades ahead of its time. Even so, it's only my second favorite song from the series: nothing can beat the oft repeated "Who Killed Cock Robin?" in my book!
"Is this K-pop?" is the default question from my family whenever I play foreign music in my house. K-pop is always in heavy rotation on the Ipod of Quickand2thepointless, of course, as is J-pop and music from other languages (Belanova, my favorite Mexican pop group is somehow confused for K-pop as well by certain family members). But no matter what the genre is, be it r&b or rap or hard rock, the word "pop" is always thrown around as if people of Asian descent are only capable of singing songs of the bubblegum variety. Can we rethink that perception, please? Korean and Japanese performers make excellent rock, as evidenced by artists like Asian Kung-Fu Generation and L'Arc-en-ciel or the band behind this gem CNBLUE, who performs in both Japanese and Korean. And they also make excellent rap: give one of my favorite Korean groups Epik High a listen. Asian music is not all led by dancey and attractive ladies and gents (although I won't deny that those tracks and artists are among my favorites as well), but there is Asian music beyond the umbrella terms of "J-pop" and "K-pop." Rock, rap, r&b, jazz, enka, folk, techno, and pretty much everything you can think of is represented. Want something new in your head? Why not try exploring these genres!
Ever wish you could figure out where your mysteriously missing socks ended up in order to return them back to your freezing feet? Don't: the dryer probably ate them, and it will only take a few dollars out of your wallet to buy a new pair at the convenience store. But for those precious and valuable things you lose hold of, it can be a bit depressing to think that you may never see them again. But never fear! The Get Backers are here!
Meet the Get Backers: Ginji Amano and Ban Midou!
The Get Backers of the titular show are a recovery business with an (almost) 100% success rate at getting back what shouldn't be lost. For a fee, the surly and temperamental Ban Midou and his happy go lucky partner Ginji Amano will go all out to determine the location of your missing/stolen item, person, or thing, and get it back no matter the risk. Sounds fairly simple, right? Unfortunately, the people with the item don't always want to give it up, and more often than not, the requests for the Get Backers lead them through rather dangerous territory. Luckily, Ban and Ginji aren't just regular guys off the street who can't hold on to money to save their lives: they're high-skill fighters with special powers on their side.
Get Backers is a 49 episode series based off the manga title of the same name, and is one of those lucky few series where I actually greatly preferred the anime to the manga. The manga isn't bad, but as a slightly squeamish female reader who also doesn't like female characters to be boobs on legs, the anime did a much better job of keeping the violence and sexuality more at the Teen level while still delivering a great story. The character designs for Ban and Ginji are also more mature and crisp in the anime, which made my eyes very, very happy.
Now here's my kind of show!
The anime starts off episodic, but eventually develops two major arcs which take place in Ginji's home field, the mysterious and complex Limitless Fortress. At the beginning, we're introduced to Ban and Ginji as two penniless and goofy dudes who struggle to find work, mooch of their buddy at a small cafe called Honky Tonk, and engage in cheesy tricks like dressing up as pizza guys while working their investigations. However, when their first job of recovering a sentimental gift for high school student Natsumi gets a wee bit dangerous, they start manifesting their true powers which make them worthy opponents capable of beating even the baddest of bad guys. Ginji can conduct electricity through his body, electrocuting his opponents with high power volts, and Ban can make his enemies go into a dream like state for one minute using his evil eye called the 'Jagan.' When he uses Jagan, the bad guy thinks he's still awake and the actions in his dreams are reality, meaning that Ban and Ginji can use the time that he's dreaming to do pretty much whatever the hell they want without the bad guy realizing. It can only be used 3 times within 24 hours, however, and can't be used on the same person twice in a row.
The episodic parts of the story are quite fun and fairly lighthearted, with my personal favorite being "Get Backers vs. High School Girl." The episode features Ban and Ginji attempting to recover a client's briefcase from a catty teenage girl who prefers to talk on her cell phone rather than lend them a hand, and who also gives them lip whenever they try to get information out of her. When armed and dangerous criminals show up on the scene, the self-centered juvenile even goes so far as to yell at them for getting in her way and being rude. Forget moe comedies which show high school girls as the cutest most darling things on the planet. As a former high school girl, I'm much more in favor of the Get Backers version being closer to the real thing.
Angry high school girl for the win!
However, the real meat of the story comes with the introduction of the Limitless Fortress. This massive mish-mash of high rise buildings- an abandoned construction project gone feral- serves as a not-so-safe-haven for the outcasts and homeless of society. Formerly controlled by Ginji's gang of talented fighters VOLTS, the Fortress fell into the hands of one of his former sidekicks, a computer whiz kid and prodigy named MakubeX. While picking up the pieces of the VOLTS which Ginji was forced to abandon, MakubeX discovers a terrible secret about the Fortress and the group of people who quietly rule from on high in the Bablyon areas of the tower, manipulating and shaping the lives of its citizens. However, his violent and dangerous solution to the threat brings him into conflict with Ban, Ginji, Ban's friend/foe Himiko (talent: poisons or debilitates enemies with perfumes), Ginji's former right hand men Shido (talent: can call upon animals for assistance, and can make his body take on the powers of certain animals) and Kazuki (talent: attacks using thread to bind people and cut through their skin), and Akabane (talent: fights using magnetic needles and a specialized sword, and is also a backstabbing creeper badass).
Kazuki, Ban, Ginji, and Shido. Akabane is lurking in the back, being awesome.
This is the main arc of the Get Backers, and is a bit on the long side, so those watching for the episodic goodies might not be too thrilled. I personally found it to be pretty gripping, and I also loved how it introduced some fantastic new characters to the plot: Emishi and Juubei, former members of VOLTS, MakubeX himself, his "henchwoman" Sakura, and the kindly medics Gen and Ren. The action in this arc is highly reminiscent of Bleach during the Soul Society sequence: each of the "good guys" encounter an enemy, fight them off individually or in teams, get their butts kicked for awhile before figuring out a winning strategy, and then proceed onwards with their mission.
The truly beautiful part of the arc is near its conclusion when Ban uses a Jagan on MakubeX during their fight. I was nearly in tears at the vision Ban took him through of what is meant by an ideal, happy life, and what needs to be done to obtain that reality. Overall, it does a great job as the show's main arc, and is rife with fascinating plot points and battle scenes.
MakubeX, my new brooding bishie!
The second main arc is fairly similar in content, and introduces an additional crop of former VOLTS members, as well as more shady figures from the Babylon division of the Limitless Fortress. This arc was decent, but not as good as the first, mainly because I spent the whole time a little bit baffled by Ren's behavior. She's depressed because she can't leave the tower due to her nature as a person created by "data," and is led to work for the side of the invading forces seemingly because she has a crush on Kazuki (sorry, sweets, but I'm pretty sure that guy is gay for Juubei) and can't be with him... even though the guys she is working for are trying to kill Kazuki and the others. Huh, Ren? I'm hoping I missed some dialogue during those scenes, because it comes across as Toshiki noticing she likes Kazuki and recruiting her because he likes Kazuki, too (and wants to kill him!)
The characters are by far and away what makesGet Backers a great title. Ban and Ginji are hilarious (Ginji spends half of his time in chibi mode when acting childish or terrified at the creepiness of Akabane), but can also be deadly serious when threatened or taunted. The former members of VOLTS are also enjoyable and diverse (Kazuki and MakubeX are my favorites), and everyone luckily follows the "grey" principle rather than the "black and white," meaning that very few characters, even the "bad guys" in the Limitless Fortress arcs, are outright evil, but rather have complex and intriguing systems of morals.
Kazuki! Yup, he's a dude!
As I said earlier, the anime is a much tamer version of the manga, but doesn't reach the full span of the volumes released in Japan. The characters are fairly true to their manga originals, however, and I found the anime to be more appealing to a male/female audience, while the manga seemed to aim more at males. That being said, both anime and manga do have treats for both genders: there is heaps upon heaps of fanservice for the dudes, and a cute romance between Shido and Madoka plus subtle homoerotic subtext between Juubei and Kazuki (if you add Toshiki, it makes a love triangle!) for the ladies.
Get Backers is a title I would recommend to both male and female anime fans. The plot does a good job of appealing to both, as do the characters. The cast is dominantly male (1 point for bishounen fans), but the female cast hits on all of the male favorites: busty (Hevn), innocent (Madoka), action/Tsundere (Himiko), cute (Natsumi), androgynous (Ren), and could-potentially-fight-but-prefers-to-sit-around-doing-nothing-at-the-side-of-a-dude (Sakura). The idea of a recovery service perfectly lends itself to the episodic parts of the show, and the recurring cast of likable characters makes it effortless to stretch it out to a full 49 episodes. I breezed through it in three days, and still didn't want to stop watching!
Get Backers is chibi Ginji's favorite show!
Surprisingly, my least favorite parts were the themes, most of which weren't all that interesting compared to the show itself. The score and OST are amazing, though, and I highly recommend tracks like "Gymnopedie" for your anime playlist!
Time for another 30 day challenge! This time I'll be exploring the many characters of my favorite anime/games/manga, the ones I've loved, the ones I've hated, and the ones who give me nosebleeds all over the place. Once again, I'll be squeezing all 30 days in one post so you have all the questions at your disposal, but feel free to do it at whatever pace you want. Maybe one day I'll actually do one over the span of 30 days, too! 1. A character from your current favorite fandom Kurogane from Tsubasa: Fai and Yuuko are technically my two favorite characters from the series, but Kurogane continually amazes me with the depths of the heart he keeps so well hidden. Even when the other characters fracture and fall apart around him, he always has his eyes open to what is making them suffer- particularly with Fai and Syaoran- and tries to get them to see the light and work through their difficulties. He really is Team Dad of the group. He may act gruff and distant, but more than anyone else, he cares about what happens to them.
2. A character from a previous favorite fandom Ranulf from Fire Emblem: Still love him, in fact. He's a cheeky little scamp, but he really does get the short end of the stick when it comes to having to deal with people who are a lot bigger, stronger, and more idiotic than he is. Luckily, Ike proves to be a good pal, and he's got two very devoted followers in Lyre and Kyza- and me!
3. A character who looks like you Hermione from most doujinshi of Harry Potter: Most Japanese anime characters don't have big 'ol curly hair, so I'll go with the Japanese fan art versions I've seen of Hermione Granger. My hair is a wee bit blonder, but it's voluminous and hard to tame!
4. A character who acts like you Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: I consider myself as having aspects to me that are both feminine and masculine, and I prefer to be independent, even though I don't mind having a small number of people around me that I can sincerely trust. I also give the guys in my life a hard time on a regular basis. It's how I show them I care- just like Winry!
5. A group of characters who is most like you and your friends The main cast of Natsume Yuujinchou! We can get a bit odd and excitable at times, but when it comes down to it, we're there for each other, try to talk each other through our problems, and even when we don't understand each other's viewpoints and experiences perfectly, we try to put ourselves in each other's shoes.
6. The most annoying character I'm tolerant towards most characters, but Shirley from Code Geass drives me crazy, as do Amarti from Spice & Wolf, Delphine from Last Exile, Van from Tales of the Abyss, and Ruka from Vampire Knight.
7. The hottest character Sebastian from Black Butler. A picture is worth a thousand words.
8. The funniest character Nodame from Nodame Cantabile. She never fails to crack me up! One of my favorite moments is when she's practicing French in a restaurant and works on a phrase to call for help against a rapist, making everyone believe her date Chiaki is the culprit! I also love Father Kanae from Maria Holic
9. A character who could be your best friend if they were real For a guy friend, I want Ginji Amano from Get Backers (because as long as I'm cute, he'll put up with ANYTHING). For a gal pal, I'll take Ruki Kuchiki from Bleach because she's blunt and awesome and tries to explain complicated concepts with horrible pictures.
10. A character who taught you something about real life Richter from Tales of Symphonia: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality."
11. A character who taught you something about love <3 Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica: "Even though I've lost my way, I will save you." And oh, how she does...
12. A character with the best quotes
Yuuko from xxxHolic: "Sincerity with respect to yourself! No matter what your objective…no matter who you are…if you are going to do something or not do something, that is a promise to yourself. And the one who keeps the promise, or breaks the promise, is you." 13. A boring character Centers of harems or reverse harems can run into this problem if everyone loves them with little provocation. I had this problem with Yuki from Uragiri wa Boku and Touma from A Certain Magical Index among others.
14. A character you wish was never introduced Chii in the anime version of Tsubasa: Because Bee Train took her charming existence and forced it upon Fai in a filler episode even though it goes against one of the most beautiful CANON pairings of all time, Chii/Hideki, and not to mention the implied canon KuroFai. She's fine in the manga, though.
15. The smartest character Holo from Spice & Wolf: Of course, being an ancient deity may have something to do with it, but she's absolutely running circles around Lawrence at the beginning of the series. He catches up with her in the second half, but she puts her feminine wiles, natural smarts, and craftiness to good use.
16. The dumbest character Chiaki from Sekaiichi Hatsukoi: Your best friend hints that he has someone he loves. He asks to draw you nude. He gets all up in your personal space when talking about love. He practically tries to kiss you. He constantly puts down his rival for your love to your face. He confesses to you, asks you to take him seriously, and eventually pushes you down when you don't give him a clear answer. HOW DO YOU NOT REALIZE HE SERIOUSLY LOVES YOU?!?
17. The most awful, mean, evil character you know Ni Jianyi from Saiyuki: A jerk of all trades. He was a jerk as a monk, a jerk scientist, and a jerk as one of the bad guys. Kami-sama and Kougaiji among others should deck that loser in the face for having not a single redeeming quality to him.
18. An animal character you like Nyanko-sensei from Natsume Yuujinchou. A fat, butt ugly cat who doubles as a badass youkai who loves to get drunk? Oh, heck yes!
19. A sci fi character you like (alien, robot, etc.) Ichika from Ano Natsu de Matteru: She may be an alien, but she's a beautiful, warm hearted individual above all else. And that's the way I'd like to think of anyone who may exist in this universe other than us.
20. A fantasy character you like (elves, dwarves, etc.) Dirk from Tales of Symphonia: Not only is he an avid over-sharer of inspiration advice like myself, but he's a dwarf cool enough to raise a human child bigger than him and still send him sailing across the room whenever he acts like an idiot.
21. A paranormal character you like (vampire, werewolf, etc.) Touda/Mokkun from Shounen Onmyouji: My favorite Shikigami! He has a lot of guts to align himself with Masahiro and serve as his defender, even though he struggles fiercely with his volatile nature and past betrayal of someone who trusted him.
22. The best singer Mio from K-on!: Sorry, Yui! I love Mio's lower range voice, especially on the rock based closing themes of the show. I also love Shuichi (vocals by Kinya) from Gravitation, since every song on that OST is AMAZING.
23. The best dancer Tiger/Bunny/Blue Rose from Tiger and Bunny: Even if Tiger was off by a beat, that dance routine they practice together is great. Especially when Kotetsu and Barnaby perform the whole thing in their hero suits, including the sexy head throw at the end!
24. The character with the best laugh Light from Death Note: That laugh when he finally reveals he's Kira... it is the stuff of legends.
25. The character who makes you cry when they cry Subaru from X: Because nothing is sadder than when he is forced to kill Seishirou in the same manner his sister was killed. In fact, everything about Subaru makes me want to cry. And give him a tight, never ending hug.
26. An underrated character Sakura from Tsubasa: After kicking ass in Cardcaptor Sakura, she's rendered pretty ineffective through the majority of Tsubasa, and gets a bit of grief for being in a coma or told to stay out of the way when anything major happens. Let it be known that this dramatically changes after she wakes up in the Tokyo arc. That girl goes on a suicidal mission all by herself in Tokyo, and then becomes tougher than nails in Infinity to prepare for the future she wants to unfold. Even though she comes off as cold during these events, it's not at all without reason.
27. An overrated character Hmmm, tricky. I'm going to say Misaka from A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index, not because I dislike her per se, but because her sisters and Last Order are a million times cooler AND way more honest. 28. A character you absolutely hate Ruka from Vampire Knight, as mentioned earlier. She does improve with time, but I don't know how many times I screamed at my TV because she was acting like a bitch because of Kaname when the perfectly amazing Kain was around and more worth her notice.
29. A character that makes you flashback to your childhood Little Sam and Max after you drink from the fountain of youth in Moai Better Blues: The things they say... I love how they suddenly start calling everything stupid and dumb, just like I did when I was little. 30. A character you will love and remember for the rest of your life Fai from Tsubasa: I really could go on and on and on about why I love him, but to keep it simple... I'm inspired by his growth as an individual, and how Kurogane, Syaoran, and Sakura take him from a person willing to treat his life like nothing into someone who can see the value not only in others, but most importantly in himself.
So far, I've been giving plenty of love to Korean and Japanese artists, but let's not forget the amazing artists from China! China's music scene is still evolving, but recently, K-pop and C-pop have been coming together and making some beautiful music. China has always been ace at ballads, but now they're perfecting their dance pop with a little help from experts on the K-pop scene. One of my favorite projects is EXO, which is divided into a Korean division EXO-K and a Chinese division EXO-M. And as much as I love my K-pop, I'm going to have to shout out to EXO-M for in many cases out performing EXO-K on their shared tracks. "Machine," for example, is all about the Chinese music and lyrics over the Korean, in my opinion. Whichever you prefer, it's clear these Chinese performers are taking a step in the right direction!
Valvrave the Liberator Early First Impressions: First of all- that theme song "Preserved Roses"? Mmmm, yes! I love T.M. Revolution and I love Nana Mizuki, so I was absolutely thrilled to hear them teaming up. Otherwise, this series has done a fairly good job of attracting my interest thus far. It may stray close to becoming another Code Geass rip-off, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. The interesting difference to this series is that Haruto chose to sacrifice his humanity in order to pilot Valvrave, and we're just beginning to see what the implications of that might be. Is he turning into a vampire/body snatcher? And will he ever be able to have a relationship with Shouko as a consequence? And what kind of a name is L-elf? So far, I'm definitely willing to find out more!
Suisei no Gargantia Early First Impressions: Solid opening theme by Minori Chihara. It's about on par with your average opening theme, but still pleasant to listen to every week. The show, however, is thus far my favorite of the season. I like action series that are balanced fairly with plot and character, and this one is doing a fantastic job of generating feels towards characters like Amy and Ledo while still providing a powerful conflict and battlegrounds. The landscape and art is beautiful, and I LOVE how they worked out the language difference so it doesn't come across that everyone magically speaks Japanese, even though they make it the language of the focus character for convenience. Can't wait to find out more and learn if Ledo will ever rejoin the fight against the Hideauze.
Mushibugyou Early First Impressions: Opening theme "Tomo yo" is good for an action/comedy series, but my favorite themes are generally the more serious ones. Not bad, though! The show itself is not something I'd usually watch, but I can't resist things set in Japan's historical era, and picked it up anyways. Luckily, the characters are pretty fun, and I love all the nut-job hair designs like crazy. Plotwise, it's fairly simple and not particularly cutting edge, but it gives me my Edo fix this season, so it's a nice break considering all the other titles I'm watching right now are fairly serious.
Attack on Titan Early First Impressions: "Guren no Yumiya" is by far my favorite theme of the season. Fantastic job by Linked Horizon. I was a little nervous when I started the show because of the violence. I can't tolerate excessive blood even in anime, and when I saw the Titan take a bite out of the townspeople, I thought I was going to be a little bit sick. Luckily, the plot has far outstripped my squeamishness, and I'm thoroughly enjoying this dark tale of survival and revenge. As a main character, Eren is a bit of a sourpuss, but his determination in living and trying to give others the chance to live is quite refreshing, even if he does enter jerkass mode from time to time (or the majority of the time). The cast of characters is probably my favorite of the season (although I really, really like Amy and Ledo from Gargantia) and I am convinced Potato Girl will become a legend.
Karneval Early First Impressions: "Henai no Rondo" already brought a smile to my face simply because it's a good male vocal, which we didn't get that much of last season. Great performance by GRANRODEO, and those instruments at the beginning are yummy. The plot at first was a bit confusing for me to unravel, but now that I'm starting to figure things out, I'm beginning to become quite the Karneval fan. As a josei series, it's aiming right at the heart of my bishounen, ho-yay laden tastes. There seems to be a lot of unresolved secrets introduced, and I'm itching to learn more (since I haven't read the manga), and hoping to see some character development with Nai, our shy main character. I'm already in love with Gareki though, so I'll be sure to watch the next episodes quite attentively!
Arata Kangatari
Early First Impressions: "Genesis Aria" by Sphere is not bad as an opening, but is easily beat out this season by better tracks
This series probably isn't high on most people's too watch list this season, but it hits at quite a bit of things I love, namely the historical fantasy genre with a dash of sword fighting, time travel, and character developing journeys. It follows a standard trading lives with a stranger trope, but I'm a sucker for the fantasy setting and political intrigue of Arata Hinohara's new life, and I'm eager to watch him become a better man for it. However, I can't be the only one wondering what's happening with the other Arata in Japan. Isn't Bully-kun going to notice the change in personality? And what's the deal with Bully-kun and Hinohara anyways? I'm fine waiting for now, but if the series doesn't answer these questions soon, I'm going to start breathing fire!
