Steins Gate anime review

Steins Gate was originally a video game for the Xbox 360, developed by Nitroplus and 5pb. that got turned into a manga, and eventually the anime series premiered this year.

The quality of the animation is consistent and top-notch, and the story is, according to its creators, a hypothetical science ADV.

The story revolves around mad scientist Okabe Rintarou, a paranoic obsessed with time travelling experiments with a cellphone and a microwave, and calling himself Hyouin Kyouma. He is supported by a hacker named Daru and a girl named Mayuri.

Okabe and Daru live in a small rented room in Akihabara district in Tokyo.

Everything begins when he meets Makise Kurisu, a genius 17 year old girl scientist at a seminar, and a satellite that crashed with a building the moment she got murdered.

The main problem that this anime had was that the first two episodes, the key to introduce the story, were incoherent and didn't depict exactly what happened that Okabe Rintarou was able to save Makise Kurisu and Mayuri at the same time.

The antagonist is an organization named SERN, a fictionalized version of CERN, which are the developers of the particle accelerator that would recreate a black hole through one microparticle. Of course, in this story they are an evil behind the scenes organization that have been able to discover time travel and use it for their best interests, and Hyouin Kyouma gets in their way.

The story and the pacing of the episodes picks up after episodes 3 and 4, that finally give light to what the series is about.

The characters are unique and funny in their own way. Okabe Rintarou (Hyouin Kyouma) has this tick of talking to an imaginary voice over his cellphone, Makise Kurisu has her unique style of clothing, Mayuri is a sweet and moe girl that makes this 'tururu' sound everytime she enters. Daru the hacker has this inferiority complex about being fat.

There is an important presence of female characters, such as Shining Finger, a beautiful 30 year old woman that only speaks through text messages, rather than her own voice.

The opening and ending are memorable with the songs Hacking to the Gate by Itou Kanako and Tokitsukasadoru Jūni no Meiyaku by Yui Sakakibara.

I really hope that this anime is given a chance for more than 26 episodes!

Blue Exorcist anime review

This highly anticipated anime spawned happiness and worries over if the manga was too short and over if announcing the anime series was just too early.

Based on the series by Kazue Kato, originally known as 'Ao no Exorcist', the fact that it is a monthly series (published on JumpSQ by Shueisha) instead of weekly ones like Bleach or Naruto give more room to expand its contents and situations on the anime.

As we know, this is the story of Rin Okumura, a 16 year old orphan kid that discovers he's the son of Satan, pretty much in line with The Omen movie theme.

Damien in The Omen, 1976, directed by the great Richard Donner

The use of colors in The Omen

As an interesting fact, Tensai Okamura (Darker than BLACK, Wolf's Rain, Kikaider) is directing off scripts supervised by Ryota Yamaguchi (Cutey Honey Flash, Digimon: Data Squad, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars).

For starters, the soundtrack is what really stands out, from the popular opening song Core Pride by UVERworld, which is currently in top of Japanese charts. There is an unique, ecclectic sound that mixes Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll that creates the atmosphere for each scene.

You'd think that given the theme, the characters would wear obscure red, gray and black gothic colors, just like readers originally thought in the manga, but instead the author and the directors decided to avoid the cliche by dressing them in pastel colors that made contrast with darker ones, and it creates this supernatural, ethereal effect.

Just look at Amaimon, sure, he does come from Hell, but Hell seems to be a funky pimp dark place.

Credit to Axis33 from Deviantart

Girls in the academy wear mainly magenta and pale yellow.

Rin Okumura, the protagonist, wears dark colors with a touch of primary colors such as red and blue.

Father Fujimoto reminded me of a mix between Elton John and Father Merrin (of the Exorcist movie) the first time I saw him, both in the manga and the anime, because of the glasses, the use of accessories and demeanor.

As for the story itself, there have been complaints that the pacing was just too slow, but that was cleared out as this is a monthly manga, so yes, all episodes so far have contained filler material to some extent, either by adding more comedy or more exposition of a character.

The animation is superb quality, similar to Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, however it's too early to judge the fight scenes as there have been few since this series is taking its time with the development of situations and characters, which also breaks a bit the shonen genre cliche in that there must be endless fights all the time. In that sense, this can actually be one of the few shonen series that take special note of character development rather than the constant fights.

So, this series feels like the fondly missed D.Grayman series, whose author hasn't recovered of
a problem in her hand that hasn't let her continue :(

As for the characters, Rin Okumura really stands out as a charismatic character just like Naruto is. The theme of being orphan and rejected, with a cursed legacy upon him makes you relate since you can see that he actually aims to do the right thing.

(by the way, I just can't wait to see Rin fight for real!!)

However, it isn't the same story with Yukio since he seems more aloof and even more arrogant than in the manga.

Also, people act more condescending towards Rin in the anime than in the manga.

But you probably wonder, well, are the differences between the anime and the manga relevant? And it's true, anime series often take their liberties and licenses since not everything can be exactly in the manga, but noticing the subtle differences makes you appreciate the same storyline in different mediums.

I once wrote a sorta review of the manga titled 'Is Ao no Exorcist the next Bleach?', which you can find here: http://myanimemangafix.blogspot.com/2010/06/ao-no-exorxist-next-bleach.html

And looking back, I think that remains to be seen. Both series can't really be compared despite some similarities, but we can see that the anime is having great success in spite of the slow development. In that sense, the pacing of the first Bleach episodes were like a punch to your stomach, and both Tite Kubo and Kazue Kato have very different approaches to their craft, so I think it was adventurous of me to jump ahead and say 'it's the next Bleach', when it's obvious that Blue Exorcist can pretty much become its own thing. :-)

Weekly Review: Karakuridoji Ultimo manga

Commonly known as Ultimo, it's a story by Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee. It began to be serialized in 2009 in Jump Square magazine.

It was originally thought that the story wouldn't have much success since colaborations between Japanese authors and American authors never turned out well because of the differences in style. As we know, Western comics tend to exaggerate everything, the muscles, the looks of the characters, the plots are too simple, whereas manga displays characters with the stylized look we are used to and there's always an emphasis in a solid plot that has nothing to envy to academic novels.

But Ultimo is definitely the exception to this rule. If you wanted to read a good old-school Marvel-type story without compromising the proper Japanese manga style, this is it.

Stan Lee's signature is all over this manga in terms of story. He gets to the basics: there always must be a conflict between good and evil, but what can be deemed 'good' and what can be deemed 'evil'?

We find out with the story of Yamato Agari, a 16 year old high school student who just wants to get by on his life and buy his girlfriend Sayama-san a present for her birthday.

Until he goes to an antique shop and when he sees a mysterious ancient doll (doji) from the 12th century, he suddenly begins to remember everything about his previous life as a samurai bandit, and how he met this doll that turns into a super battle robot that represents Ultimate Good and has the ability to twist time at the will of its master.

The robot was created by an old man called 'Dunstan', presumably a space-time traveller criminal from the 30th century who created all these machines so he could have the ultimate conflict between 'good' and 'evil'.

So there you have it, Stan Lee's persona was shoehorned in the story and it wasn't a bad idea after all. He's the supreme author experimenting with all the concepts.

The story is really fascinating but there's still a lot to reveal about the characters. I read all the way through chapter 16 and couldn't get enough.

Weekly review: Bakuman anime

I've started noticing it lately but there are some quite subtle differences between the anime and its manga. Don't get me wrong, the Bakuman anime is great and all episodes so far have been handled very well, it has great pacing, the animation team knows how to build momentum, and the quality can't be better.

In the manga's art, you can see the 'nasty' looks the main characters have, as the signature style of the creators of Death Note

But I feel that the anime is more targeted to female? audiences, making too much emphasis on the romantic theme and the comedic moments.

The manga definitely makes more emphasis on the 'wanting to be a mangaka no matter what' story. And of course this was a decision of the studio that I'm not going to criticize much.

While the anime softens up a bit, and shows us cute protagonists with a dream 

Bakuman is the story of two high school students who, against all odds of choosing a 'normal, successful' office career, decide to become mangakas at their own risk of failing. Slowly we see how they struggle but also how they will achieve their objectives: to have their first story published in Shonen Jack (lol!) before graduating.

Saiko being handed over the keys of his uncle's studio

Moritaka Mashiro (Saiko) is the typical student who doesn't know what to really do with his life, he's really good at drawing but he's undecided whether he wants to take his uncle's steps. He has had this crush on Miho since he was a little kid, but never dared to confess until he achieved something truly important in his life that would make him worthy of her.

He meets Takito Akagi (Shuujin) because he discovered through his notebook drawings that he left in the classroom that he has a crush on her. In exchange for not telling anyone, Shujin offers him to team up to create manga. Shujin is the number 1 student at his school, and basically has the world laid out before him, because he can choose where to go to prepare for a prestigious college, thus land a first-rate job, etc.

But interestingly enough, Shujin doesn't want that, despite his talents as a writer and the fact that he could become a traditional novelist. He chooses to work with Saiko because he believes in him and the work they can achieve together, thus he's a key piece in Saiko wanting to become a mangaka.

Shujin has a creepy, explosive temper when provoked, despite being a nerd

As you can see, this series has great characters with depth and I find that it's a refreshing break from all the fight-to-death style anime/manga we are used to see. Sometimes a good slice-of-life story is a nice change of pace, even for the creators of Death Note :)

Weekly review: Beelzebub manga

I can't wait till this awesome series premieres as an anime next year.

Just like Ao no Exorcist, it is quite an alternative take on the 'son of the Devil' theme that we are used to see in classic movies like The Exorcist or The Prophecy.

We are used to think that the son of a demon is supposed to be the cusp of everything that is evil, but what if it really isn't so? That's the challenge that these stories present, with imperfect, human characters, yet with a sense of what is right.

Beelzebub is the story of Oga Tatsumi, a high-school freshman punk, pretty much like Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach, who constantly fights and gets in trouble with gangs and social clichés in his high school, considered one of the worst in Japan, Ishiyama High.

Ishiyama High is more like the scenery of power struggles between gangs and its leaders, and we never see a teacher there, meaning that its students are all on their own in their perfect anarchy experiment.

One day Oga was kicking the living crap out of a group that defied him, and took them to the river to 'do the laundry', drowning them repeatedly in order to wash their blood stained clothes. (Erm, bear in mind that this is a dark comedy)

Until he sees a corpse emerging out of the river. Everyone is scared the hell out and runs, except Oga. The corpse splits in half like a capsule and reveals a really cute naked baby, who 'falls in love' with Oga's cruelty and dark aura.

He doesn't know what's going on and accepts to take care of the baby, who will be attached to his back until he finds someone darker and more cruel than him.

The baby is the son of the Devil in Earth, and to meet his true destiny, he must be raised in the worst enviroment possible in order to ensure the destruction of humanity. That's why Hilda, a Gothic-lolita caregiver and warrior from Hell, meets Oga to ensure that objective.

Thus the trouble and fun ensues :-)

Weekly review: Sailor Moon anime

This classic anime, adapted from the manga by Naoko Takeuchi in 1992, is probably one of the series with more dubs available in the world due to its success, and yet it is probably one of the most censored and cut apart ever.

And even the anime as we know it differs greatly from the manga, that it could be well worth it to remake this anime in the future.  With quality we see today in most animes, why not?

It is actually a shojo, 'magical girl' type of story with sentai (squad) elements, but it definitely became popular with male audiences ever since its publication in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine.

Sailor Moon is the story of 9 girls that are progressively introduced as they team up to fight the forces of evil that are constantly a menace to the world, and ultimately, the galaxy.

The protagonist, Usagi Tsukino (known as 'Bunny' in Spain and 'Serena' in Latin American dubs), is a 14-year old girl that is introduced as lazy and a drama queen, crying all the time over everything. Until she meets a mysterious black cat named 'Luna', who tells her of her true destiny. Thus she becomes Sailor Moon, a warrior of love and justice.



She then meets Amy (Sailor Mercury), Rei (Sailor Mars), Makoto (Sailor Jupiter) and Minako (Sailor Venus) to conform the Inner Sailor Squad for the first two seasons.



Then, the Outer Sailor Squad, formed by Haruka (Sailor Uranus), Michiru (Sailor Neptune), Setsuna (Sailor Plut) and lastly, Hotaru (Sailor Saturn), who is originally thought to be an evil sailor with enough power to destroy a planet by herself.





The series caused a lot of controversy when it started being licensed and distributed worldwide, due to its relatively mature content in regards to how relationships were depicted, especially in the case of Haruka (a cross-dressing girl) and Michiru (a yuri relationship). It's actually a perfect example of how in Japanese culture, sex and homoeroticism isn't such a great and uptight deal as in Western culture.

Ao no Exorxist: the next Bleach?

This is an interesting but little known manga that I'm sure it won't take long to eventually take the big step into anime.

Also known as Blue Exorcist, its author is Kazue Kato and it began to be published by Shueisha in April 2009.

With the visual style of D-Grayman, its premise is simple but it hits you on the face on the first pages: Rin is the typical boy who lives fighting in the streets, is an orphan and lives in a monastery.  

His protector, father Fujimoto, constantly fights with him so he can finally get a job, because when he reaches 16, he can't stay at the shelter anymore.
His twin brother, Yukio, is more reserved, shy and a pacifist. Yukio is accepted into the True Cross Academy for his medicine studies.
 
In a fight with an enemy of his neighborhood, Rin discovers he can see demons and also has supernatural powers to combat them.
 
When father Fujimoto comes to exorcise the demon that was hounding Rin, he reveals the thing he least imagined in his short and difficult life: he is the son of Satan with a human woman.
 
This manga definitely has the potential to be the next Bleach in terms of a supernatural theme. The Saint Seiya style fights are there, the drama of being half-human half-demon is there, too. The tone is also very similar to Death Note, in the Gothic look of the panels and the characters.
 
You can get this manga on scanlation sites, it's currently 15 chapters and 3 volumes long but well worth it!
 
Here's a preview: