Anime Review: Land of the Lustrous

Along with literally everybody else in the anime community, my 'appreciation' for DGI in anime (or in general matter of factually) is tentative at best. A lot of the times, CGI takes away from the enjoyment of a series because o its jarring, in your face rigidity that takes a good bit to look past. Not to mention those often awkward CGI incorporation to regular 2D animated shows. But with the end of the 207 anime year (over two months ago, I know) CGI is getting its own kind of recognition in the form of an amazing show!

Housei no Kuni, Kingdom of Gems, or Land of the Lustrous is a great big fat ol step in the right direction for CGI animes in the future. The lst best on being compared to maybe Ajima which, while a good show, its animation left much to be desired. Housei no Kuni the anime is an adaptation of a manga of the same name that aired in the fall of the 2017 anime season. The anime is a thought provoking drama/action with character conflicts similar to Girls Last Tour and Rakugo season 2. All three of these shows were contenders for anime of the year, by the way, so let it be known that its a good show.

For a brief summary, Land of the Lustrous is about 28 immortal anthropomorphic agender gems and their guardian of sorts named Kongou sensei (also Adaminte meaning literally unbreakable) as they live on the last  piece land left on Earth, a small secluded island in the middle of the ocean, fighting off the moon people, or lunarians, who try to come down and steal away the gems. Our main character is the youngest gem of about 78 years named Phosphophylite, or Phos. All the gems have an assignment given to them to help assist in their life on the island. Many are fighters due to their high hardness, while others are doctors, sewers, carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. Phos, however, is too clumsy to create and too brittle, with only a hardness of 3, to fight. And thus, our story begins with little eager but lazy Phos receiving her assignment. To make an encyclopedia.

This is the premise of the show, a post apocalyptic world with only nonhumans left. The gems rely solely on one another and their sensei, and though they can't die, they can break. When the gems break they can be put back together but if they loose any part of themselves, they loose memories and most of the time, cannot be fixed. They can try to add on other gems or try to find a gem to add on, but this is usually lucky for it to be compatible with their bodies. Some gems that were stolen to the moon left behind shards and pieces of them like this.

As the show follows Phos and her journey to find herself a better purpose than to make an exyclopedia about a place they know virtually everything about, we delve into her psyche and the way she thinks as well as enter into some of the turmoils of the other gems. Phos begins as a naive and smartmouth youngster with no real idea about her world. As she searches more and more, she notices more, and she changes. A recurring problem with all of the gems, not just her, is finding there place on their small island. None of them wish to be useless and all of them want to protect each other. Many gems live on the island with the guilt of having let one of their partners die. They each find their own purpose, a lot of the times in loss, or suffer in their search for one to be helpful. Phos exemplifies the insecurities of the others as she herself changes and suffers in result of her search.

With such a large cast of characters, this could be expected to be one of the lower parts of the show, but most of the characters are given some sort of imitative. Their are many that are far more prominent than others, of course, but all of them have a personality of some kind. The ones with the least are shown the least. No problem of the gems is ever immedianlty solved and can really only be solved by the gems themselves and changing who they are, and how they think.

Some might be put off because of the show being entirely in CGI, but I implore EVERYONE to watch at least one episode so that you'll be able to see what CGI can do when used right. I was actually really turned off with the idea of a CGI show but was bored one night and watched it. I didn't stop until I finished. With the use of CGI, the camera angles are utilized and used as a major point of animation in the show. The fight scenes are easy to follow and very clear because of CGI as well. While fight scenes in well animated shows are usually fast, artistic and articulate, fight scenes in Land of the Lustrous are clear and vivid. Originally the show was going to be in 2D, but because of the refraction of the hair and eyes of the gems, it would've taken a long time. This problem is fixed amazingly well in the CGI because now the hair is programmed to be all unique, in place, and shiny.

The music in the show is quite nice as well. The entire show is religiously influenced by Buddhism and this theme is also apparent in the music of the series. Its all quite nice and fits the atmosphere of the show. Songs played during fight scenes fit while songs played during slow, thought thinking scenes fit as well.

Manga Review: Helter Skelter

As I begin to slowly lose touch with everything that used to mean the world to me, I searched for something to rekindle the obsession. I ended up finding a josei award winning manga titled Helter Skelter, art and story by Kyoko Okazaki. While I've found other manga to read since my natural hiatus from watching anime the last couple months this one stood out as being a physiological thriller that analyzes the pressure of society and its possible repercussions of giving into them.

While I'd love to create a post analyzing Okazaki's most renowned work in her hayday of manga making leading to a research assignment on Japanese social society in the 90's, for now I'm just going to review her manga.

The overall summary is that it's a manga about a famous woman named Ririko. Ririko is at the top of her career and is considered one of the most, if not the most, beautiful woman in Japan. Little does the world know, it's all fake. Multiple, full body plastic surgeries, led to her beauty but also her body's decay. In order to maintain her appearance and her body, multiple touch up procedures and additional surgeries are necessary. Her deteriorating mental and physical state because of this leads her  manipulative personality, controlling and using those around her.

Upfront you can tell that it's going to be social commentary about Japan in the time period it was made. The main idea, beauty is only skin deep. This ideal is rampade through the story. It exists in Ririko who suffers in her pursuit to prettiness, in her assistant who suffers because she was dazzled by a beautiful woman who leads her down a path of destruction, and through Ririko's replacement when she is becoming more and more irrelevant. The story is character driven rather than plot driven.

The art reflects the world she wants to show. In the manga even the beautiful characters are overexaggerateed. The features in the characters aren't made to be super pretty and hyped up like in most shoujos where even the regular girls are the prettiest people you could imagine, but like in Flower of Evil and in other joesi and seinen comics where everyone just looks vaguely normal. Maybe slightly more appealing than others but essential they all had the same thing. Distinguishing features exist on characters by themselves while Ririko has everything. She has a small, round nose, long, slim arms and legs,  is bony and is tall. She looks fake and altered.

Ririko is pegged as a beautiful, innocent person but she is deeply manipulative and strangely strong while being a bit pathetic. While having very evident breakdowns throughout the story, she also tends to be the strongest person, only second to the woman who catered to her personality and wish to be beautiful. It's interesting because she calls her mother, which she is not. But she calls her mother to signify that she is her creator. But we'll paddle back to her in a little bit. Ririko controls the weak willed people around her easily. She brings her assistant on board to her almost immediately just by showing her attention. Her stylists all cater to every whim and her producers refuse to upset for fear of her falling apart. It doesn't help of course. Ririko is already too far gone at the beginning of the manga and at the end. Her one fear is disappearing, becoming unimportant. So she manipulates the people around her so that she is the center of their attention. In the end, she got what she wanted, she became an enigma, and a myth. But I won't get into that for fear of spoilers.

Now onto the other characters! Two of the most interesting second to Ririko is mother and the assistant. While originally, the assistant was a upfront girl with her life controlled, once she started working for Ririko it all of sudden unravelled. She became weak, and in complete control of Ririko to do as she wanted. This ultimatley led to Ririko's downfall, but it was interesting to watch a person succumb to something that they originally did not believe in or believed to be taboo. Mother, Ririko's caretaker and producer, is also interesting. She uses Ririko the way Ririko uses others. She matches Ririko's personality in the way that she treats people showing that that's where she got it from. It's also later shown that Ririko wasn't always a terrible person in the pursuit of being pretty when her innocent and chubby little sister is brought it.

Altogether, the manga showcases a lot of different plot elements through the characters. The characters show how manipulative things can be and how superficiality is useless. Overall, it's a great manga and worth the read.

Anime Review: Princess Tutu

Wow, have I misjudged this show.

As much as this generation is very much pro everything and all no book cover judging, we all do it. A lot. Its what we do as human beings. And me, being a human begining, am very much no immune to this. Thus, when someone said you should watch Princess Tutu with no context behind it I dismissed it as being nothing more than pretty pretty Pre-Cure reboot, original gen. And boy, just like in real life with judging the cover, I was proven veeeerry wrong when curiosity finally hit me one faithful Hulu searching day.

Princess Tutu, contrary to popular nonwatcher beliefs, is not a ballerina magical girl show..... well actually, that's exactly what it is. But it's not as bad as the title would have you believe.

Princess Tutu is a fairytale spin of character struggles in a failing story. Literally, the characters are in the middle of a tragedy where the strings are being pulled from behind reality.

Once upon a time there was a man who could weave stories into reality. His final story was left unfinished. The story of a brave, loving and courageous prince who was fighting a deadly, villainous raven. But before the writer could finish his tale, he died. The characters of his tale were distraught. "I'm tired of this" they thought. Before long, the evil Raven had jumped into reality, followed by the prince to stop it. The jump caused a change in the town they landed in however. Fairytales and reality became intermingled, and the impossible was possible. The prince was forced to use a forbidden spell to seal the Raven. By spearing his heart and shattering it into pieces across the town they had arrived in, the Raven was sealed away, and the Prince reduced to an emotionless husk. Little to anyone's knowledge however, the writer was pulling the strings of his story all along, even while dead.

Thus the stage is set for our main heroine to come in. A little duck, entranced by the sad, dancing prince, wishes to be able to help him. In comes Drosselmeyer, the writer, who offers her the ability to become a real girl and also the ability to help restore the princes heart and emotions by turning into Princess Tutu. The little duck, accepts, posing as a normal girl in the art academy he attends. But she is left with a warning. If ever she proclaims her love to the prince, Mytho now, she would turn into light and vanish. Much to her dismay she also has many people trying to prevent her from returning the poor prince's heart.

The story quickly transitions from scene to scene with each new found heart shard of the prince's missing heart. Despite it's episodic tendencies with one character for one story episodes, somehow they intermingle the continuation of the main plot as well. Though particularly tedious in the second half of the show, the first half is done well.

The characters themselves are a trip. I love the main quartet a lot. Beginning with Duck, or Ahiru for the Japanese, she's a quirky girl with only one wish. She's a one track duck in the beginning of the show, but her wish is continually challenged by the other cast members. I don't want to spoil so I can't say much more, but quickly Duck is changing from the simple black and white of her original plan. Fakir undergoes some amazing development as well, transiting from a cold hearted asshole to my favorite character in the entire show. In fact, all of the character undergo a sort of metamorphosis following the end of the first half finale.

While I won't particularly get into too many of the other characters, just out of sheer laziness, I will talk about the syntax of the show. The first half was my favorite part. It retained it's innocence and mystery while still having a clear and dangerous overall outcome. A classic Grimm like fairytale described the first half of the show. As already mentioned, it had an episodic nature while still managing to further the plot without a problem. The second half however contained a lot of twists. It changed the focal point of all of the characters set in the story and while I can say this was good, it was also bad for the plot. It laddened down the plot, causing it to drag on without any clear plot progression in the episodes. While the Grimm fairytale charm was also lost, it was replaced with something just as good. The only downside were the filler episodes. In my opinion, a 26 episode series really shouldn't have any filler episodes. If it has enough story to tell, it should fit into that space. Rather easily too, since 26 episodes isn't too long.

The show was filled with great soundtracks as well. A lot of them were ballets and the original music was reminiscent of the same type. All of the songs were orchestral and each song fit the mood of the scene incredibly well. The show itself was like watching a very long ballet, which I'm sure was the intent. I completely misjudged the show and it's now one of my favorites. In fact, I'm probably going to go re watch it soon.

Anime Review: Koe no Katachi

This movie has been taking the anime community by storm since it's movie release in Japan in the late fall last year. Finally, it's making its way over to the west and I was finally able to watch it. While I watched Kore no Namae Wa awhile ago last year, I was most excited for  Koe no Katachi. 

While I personally like Koe no Katachi more than I liked Kore no Namae Wa, I'll do a different review for that show later.

Koe no Katachi is based off a manga series by the same name written by (blank). The plot revolves around a cast of interacting high schoolers that all attendees the same elementary school. The issues here is that in elementary school they had a bit of a bullying issue. The main character, (something) when he was in the stupid impressionable age of 11, bullied a classmate with the sort of help of his other friends. She was deaf and they continually ridiculed her for that fact. Later on he was put under fire when the mother found out and complained to the school. Quickly hewas ostracized   from the class while ( blank ) transferred school. This was the tale from his childhood that haunted him all the way to present time. From then on it cursed his life with anxiety and a fear of people that he could never shake. He stopped looking st people in the eyes and hid himself as much as possible. The show begins, with him attempting suicide. It's a failed attempt and goes home. I media fly we are introduced to the main theme of the movie. The feeling of uselessness. That feeling to the point where you only feel a burden to those around you. The feeling of wanting to die. 

Eventually he meets ( blank ) again, which begins the reintroduction of all the characters from elementary school now in different high schools respectively. The story revolves around these older children, who now understand what had transpired, and how they choose to solve their rocky relationship. Mostly they do a shitty job of it because no one really grows up on their own or by ignoring the issues as people tend to do.

Ah yes. Social anxiety is a bitch.

I could honestly go on and on about the themes in this movie, but for now I'll switch over to the obviously superb animation that Kyoto Ani doesn't play with. They bring out there cute one style once more, but it's more than that. The backgrounds are breathtaking and feel alive. Everything moved smoothly and nothing ever jerks. This one helps the movie maintain its, for lack of better word, dreamlike. Really it feels more isolated. As if it is purposely only from one persons view, which it is. I can't explain it better really. But the animation very much reflects the main characters sense of out of world ness.

The music itself is light and airy for the most part but strengthens whenever something dramatic happens. Not really heavy but almost just gets louder or more determined. Frankly I'm mostly judging this by its original views. 

The show is very much a social messag, works like this being the ones I tend to enjoy the most. 

But let me get into the characters. I briefly mentioned the main character and how everything in the show feels like it's his thoughts and how he sees things, but I'll go into a little more depth. The main character is very flawed, as many of the characters are, but his are very subtle compared to the issues of the rest of them. Well actually the main two together, but let's focus on ( blank ) for now. He's hated himself for years and when he finds a chance at redemption, he guilts himself we over whether it's pity or actual sincere feelings he's doing it. It's a struggle for him as he tries to discern himself from that hatred of himself and that guilt getting to now Kyoko once again. The characters around him however, hate him for it. Deem him irredeemable and not worthy of anything. Kyoko sees differently however. She blames herself for his pain. Then and now. If only she wasn't different, if only she could communicated better. If only she didn't burden anyone. As much as ( main character ) tried to separate his problems from her all together, she's no idiot.

Animation...So pretty...

And over to the side characters. With clearly less time to delve as deep into their character flaws and drives, they do a fairly good job. They make it evident as children the problems that they create. At one point they clearly say it, but in a way that makes it pasable. I won't bother saying it because I'd like everyone to make their own opinions about these people. Despite not being fleshed out, they easily resemble real people. Actually, even to me, people that I know.

Overall it's a great show of growing up and accepting things as they are. Accepting yourself and accepting mistakes. Just a whole lot of acceptance. I know Tumblr wants to make it out to be this is what it's like to have depression, this is great representation of suicide, but I don't think that was the issue. It wasn't trying to shed light on suicide, it was trying to say that we all feel like shit. And being alone, is never the answer to those problems.

And one last thing. I like this show better, because it represents something. Kore no Namae Wa is just another love story. A good one at that, but none the last that's it at its core. Koe no Katachi is more than that, which is why I like it more. And such, that's my review. Yayayayaya

Little Witch Academia Episodes 1-13 Reaction

The new year has begun thus signaling a new year of anime as well. As great as that can be, it was anything but exciting for us after the whollup of a year we had just a few months ago.

The anime awards was an actual debate last year among reviewers. Fans raved over every new season, and animation, music, and overall quality was at one of the highest it has been net worth wise in a long time. So how to do we compete with the new winter season of anime??

Well, since I'm far, far behind with my other priorities, I do actually know the result of the winter season. Strangely enough, Rakugo the second season hasn't been talked about as much as I thought it would be. Especially considering what an all around contender for best anime of the year last year. But what we did get was a two delightful shows, a disappointment of a new season, a weird angry chick whose actually and old guy giving an interesting premise to a show, and a beautifully animated series with better source material than the actual show.

But this is about Little Witch Academia. A show whose first half was located in the winter season and that'll finish it's runtime in the spring season of anime. A surprisingly 25 episode long series running after two short films. Funnily enough, they did horribly in Japan. And yet, here we are. I'll of course have do more looking into the controversy behind this show, so I'll be back with that, but for now the first half of Little Witch.

Akko

The absolute cuteness and pure imagination and fun put into the two movies, the first one being my favorite of the two, really made me appreciate simple shows again. It was reminiscent of old time girly animes. With everything now a deconstruction, new and inventive, or remakes of modern manga, we've lost touch with the early ages of childhood anime. The wonder that touched all our hearts and the stupid power of believing in yourself. The fuck up main character with a heart of gold. I'm talking about Amu from Shugo Chara and Naruto from it's early days in the first season. Yusuke Uremeshi reminds me a lot of our new main character, Akko, as well. While Big Hero 6, mean My Hero Academia, brings back the times of old tournament shows for the oldies who remember the old days.

Little Witch Academia is about the story of Aktsuko Kagari. A girl, not from a line of witches who seeks out the witch academy Luna Nova and applies to attend. Outcasted for being of ill blood and her less than stellar ability to do magic, she competes with herself and her classmates to prove her worth. With the help of her idol Chariot, who inspired her as a child, Professor Ursula, and the magical shiny rod that was once owned by Chariot herself, it's a tale of pursuing your dreams and living life.

I was drawn to the absolute adorable art style that Trigger has given us, both in this series and in Kill la Kill. Not to mention countless others like something, something and something else. With Kill la Kill being it's biggest name for animation, of course they decide to live up to that name once more and make the colorful showcase of Little Witch Academia a true masterpiece. Of course, it does have some of it's downer sides, that being it's fluidity in animation has gone down a bit in the middle episodes I've noticed. About after episode 9 or 10. But I'm sure they'll pick it up again, especially with them showing off their skills in the ending credits sequence.

Lotte

With the end of episode 13, they changed the songs once more, and I will say that I much preferred the last one. For the animation of these sequences it matches the show perfectly. Frankly, the first opening wasn't even the best animation it had to give from the entire show all together. It was, well, rather banal in style and direction. The ending sequence I thought was where they really shined. Opening with a bright blue background followed by a colorful matching unlined sequence of mish mash goop that is just pleasant to look at. Though not meant to showcase Trigger's ability to animate things, it somehow struck me that they were doing a little bit of bragging. Funny, considering that the majority of the song is just slide show pictures of the normal school life of Luna Nova. In fact, it wasn't even directly pointed at the girls at all.

The song is reminiscent of how the show itself makes me feel. The singing voice of something and the band she's in always make great songs, I've found. It gives you that child like glow feeling. Everything in it is positive, but not forcing you to think it. It just makes you feel good. The ending reminds me of it being a slice of life almost, just set in a fantastical world. Something that the opening sequence and song failed to do. The second one hasn't done better. The second ending sequence focuses more on it's animation goop and less on the school of life of the girls. Sadly, it wasn't nearly as good as the first, but wasn't bad at all either.

Now onto the characters since we've already started to beat a dead horse. The characters and plot are nothing to be too notable. Considering the show is not done yet, I won't do any real damage to the character development but I shall note the plot line. As I said numerous time, this reminds me of a kid show that I watched when I was little. Like Shugo Chara or Tokyo Mew Mew or Cardcaptor Sakura, the plot is exactly what it says it is from the beginning. It progresses and moves but doesn't have bells and whistles as every other anime sees to beg for nowadays. I like it actually. Little Witch Academia is exactly what I thought'd it be, and I love it for it.

Buuuut, given that it is still a show, I will delve into the characters. The main character, Akko, does change a little throughout the course of the show. Some. She goes from a willy nilly girl a girl who dares to try reeeally hard despite the odds against her. Through her magic and through her actions she changes from someone who begs for help to attempting to do things herself. With the help of her friends (as cheesy as that sounds) she grows. There was one episode that showed her trying to pursue being a worthy witch. In the end she was told that she must work to be proved worthy, and it begins her trying to be a better witch instead of the best witch. Of course the best witch is her end goal, but she's more concerned about bettering herself at this point now instead.

Sucy

Her friends do the same. Sucy, a hardboiled fungus, has noticeable changes in her where she admits to being a little soft.  Lotte grows more bold with every one of Akko's escapades and together the trio shines. All in all, I can't wait to see what the rest of the show has to give me.

The Absolute Worst

To those of you who watch, read, indulge in literally any form of human entertainment or art consumption, understand that unbearably empty feeling that comes after you finish a good piece of.... whatever.

This is a problem that almost, if not every anime fan can relate to, as they run into this feeling so many times after finishing animes, mangas, and movies. I just finished watching Spirited Away, one of my most early encounters with good animation from Japan, and the first time I remember watching it I was maybe 9 or 10. I was watching in the summer during a boys and girls club day and I was absolutely entranced by the movie. The visuals were stunning, the voices were captivating, and the message made no sense to me then, but all I really remember about the movie after 8 or 9 years since then, was two things. That Haku and Chihiro never got to see each other again, and the horrible empty feeling that I think I felt the hardest for the first time.

I remember that so well. I remember wishing that the movie wasn't over, that it'd keep going, that Chihiro and Haku would meet again, that we'd see No Face again and mostly that Chihiro and the feeling the movie gave me wouldn't disappear. Rewatching the movie now, I feel the exact same way. I try to fill in that gap by looking up the meaning behind the movie, or reading fanfiction but it's not the same.

The pure joy, and passion, and emotion you feel coming from a movie or piece of art that flows into you is addictive and its the best kind of addictive. But when you're cut off, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. All you can think about is when it was still playing, when you were still feeling that emotion, that strange and intense attachment you had with this object.

The feeling is the same in short series, or really great anime series. And the worst of all of them, is when the movie has a wonderful sense of closure. It ends, and it ends well with everything tied up, and yet. You still feel it.

I've been thinking a lot about phone games and how annoyingly useless they are. Like Candy Crush. You beat a level to go to the next one, then the next one, then the next one with no end in sight. Sure it's fun for the initial amount of time, but there's no end and you lose that excitement. Not to mention you lose any meaning that you could've ever garnered from playing that game, unlike professional games with story lines and endings. It's mindless, and I hate it after awhile. It's the same with long running anime shows. After watching Naruto for awhile or One Piece all I think is, 'Wow, what's the point? It doesn't end, there isn't any over arcing goal. Just people going from one thing to the next, wandering with no purpose." Now I feel as if I could watch Naruto. Because it's finite. Because I can know that there's an end. But still that long trek in the middle with seemingly unimportant things with no relevance going on kills me every time.

As much as I hate endings, I also crave them to be able to enjoy a series. Any show loses it's charm as time goes on, quality gets lower and the attachment I had to it gets weaker and weaker. I don't want it to be over and leave me, but I don't want to watch it become bad and stray from it's original form either.

In the end, there's nothing we can do about this void feeling from the end of a series, and I suppose it just another part to life. A finite closing, with lingering emotions that remind you of a better time, but still it leaves a imprint of happiness on your heart of what used to be.

(lol, sorry for this sappy stuff, working on a review of last year's amazing season now!)

Shoujo Genre

One of the most popular genres in the anime/manga industry is shoujo.

Shoujo, translating to girl, is manga that is targeted towards a young female audience. Girls between the ages of 10-17ish is the target audience, which includes cutesy magical girl shows like the infamous PreCure or even just manga featuring main lead girls, like Akatsuki no Yona, are what is usually labeled under shoujo. Just to add on, josei is much like shoujo, it's just targeted more towards a mature audience of girls, labeling it as josei, translated to 'lady', than just younger girls.

Kaichou Wa Maid Sama

But I'm here to talk about  one of the most popular generic routes in a modern day shoujo manga. A tale of highschool romance revolving around a love obsessed, or eventually love orienitied, main girl. There are soooo many different branches of shoujo so I'll have to specify on this type specifically. For example, there is the reverse harem side of shoujo, the magical girl side, and even the occasional not romantic shoujo with just cute, perhaps even strong girls, going on adventures. By the way, I do not count moe shows as being apart of the shoujo genre. The reason being is that their target is not teenage girls or younger. There target is to shoot for the 'anime fans that like really cute girls doing really cute things and being little'. Like the moe boom back in 2007ish was not specifically aimed at young girls, but just anime fans in general.

But back to the specific type of shoujo that I mean. Recently I did a review on Lovely Complex which fits right into the realm of shoujo I'm talking about. This type of shoujo always opens on the girl, almost always on their way to the first day of highschool or they just recently became a highschool student/ start of the year. They are either pining for a boyfriend or are around/being suggested the idea of getting a boyfriend. There's a cool guy and the main girl gets a crush, or vice versa with the cool guy getting a crush on the girl. In this second form though, generally the main girl is at first, uninterested. It continues with the struggles of trying to get that boyfriend/girlfriend to like them, keep the boyfriend/girlfriend if they get together early, and the various side struggles that fluctuate in actual importance.

One other cliche trope in this type of manga is that the first love, or first introduced boy, always wins if there is ever a love triangle. This holds true for basically all of them discounting the few. Fruits Basket is one of them. However, Fruits Basket is a masterpiece all it's own and doesn't just fall into one simple category as shoujo anyway. Fruits Basket is a shoujo classic. If you haven't read it you really should.

Heroine Shikaku

But disregarding those classic few, if we're including josei  along with shoujo, Nana and Princess Jellyfish also fit into the category of classic shoujos, what makes this genre still popular even after the amount of times it's been done (seriously, Say I Love You, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Ao Haru Ride, Lovely Complex and Kaichou wa Maid-Sama all fit into the description above with slight differences in the characters personality and situations) is because it's entertaining as hell. Romance done like this is very character driven, and since characters can be whatever the author wants, the slot in this seemingly concrete formula meant for characters and character development is actually pretty flexible.

Let's take a step back again. There are two types of manga in this specific realm of shoujo. The mostly comedic one, and the mostly dramatic one. Both types involve each other regardless, but almost always focus on one or the other to add some fuel into the movement. Ouran is comedic with a dash of drama while Ao Haru Ride is drama with a dash of comedy. They balance each other out.

Going back to the character development, if the main girl has no personality and her entire existence is justified by her boyfriend without her having anything of her own, a lot of the times the series falls flat. Say I Love You, more dramatic than comedic, has the main girl acting like this. Thus, she wasn't the best of characters and I could've cared less about her relationship with the main dude until you add in a cute scene or two. Lovely Complex and Stardust Wink! are the same way, the main girl only being obsessed with this other person, or obsessed with love and having no other goals other than their significant other. In Stardust Wink! her personality is lacking, while in Lovely Complex Koizumi is lovable. Considering Lovely Complex is the one that's an anime you be the judge on which series did better than the other. Despite this, the main girl having no other interest than her love interest is still a pretty bad idea. It doesn't make for a bad series, in fact Stardust Wink! is pretty okay for an underground shoujo, but it makes the girls hard to relate to. All they have is their love for the main guy so all you have is how invested you are in their relationship as incentive to keep reading. Although I don't agree with it, the trope occurs a lot. In examples of dramatic shoujo manga, it works better if the couple has chemistry and has good pacing in getting together. Failed example of this done by Ookami-Shoujo to Kuro-Ouji. Popular, but not good.

Kyou and Tohru - Fruits Basket

In the comdeic version of shoujo is it better to have a character who has ambitions other than the main boy. Done so in Kaichou wa Maid-Sama and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, both lead girls strove for something before they met the main guy, and though the main guy did become apart of their lives, they weren't always (I say this respectively...) plaguing their mind. Another one that did this very well was Shirayukihime, where the main couple had lived outside of each other even while falling in love. Though I personally didn't get too into it, I cannot deny that it's a pretty good show.

What I really want to talk about now is the other side of this coin. The overly dramatic one with the main characters having nothing but romance in their heads and a boy to chase. Possibly while another one is chasing them. Right now I'm reading Omoi Omoware, Furi Furare and Heroine Shikkaku. I just finished reading Hirunaka no Ryussei. All three are really cute. OOFF is written and illustrated by the same mangaka who made Strobe Edge and Ao Haru Ride. Both are high on my list of favorite shoujo mangas. Hirunaka no Ryuusei's mangaka is Mika Yamamori. I haven't read any of her other works, limited to spin offs of HnR, an unpopular manga known as Sugars, and Tsubaka-Chou Lonely Planet, which is fairly popular. The other mangaka, Koda Momoko, I haven't read any nor heard of any of her other works. But there's alot.

Anyway, HnR, HS, and anything by Io Sakisaka, which includes OOFF, the main girl(s) is(are) always thinking about love. In HnR it's pulled off reasonably well. With two different love interests that both got a chance at the girl in 78 chapters, she'd have to be. HnR did okay with this type of thing. I was reasonably invested in the relationship options of the main girl and was kind of upset when she didn't end up choosing who I wanted her to. (cries) In HS, it's done a little less well. The main girl is a little obnoxious, but is growing despite her insistence on stealing someone else's boyfriend. I'm a little less invested in the relationship, one, because I didn't see it as a viable option to begin with. He just simple was never interested. But, the queen of this type of shoujo based on what I've read has to be Io Sakisaka.

Futabu from Ao Haru Ride

Strobe Edge was the first shoujo that I read and loved by Sakisaka. Still in the more dramatic, she followed the plan above exactly. The only reason it was still really investing was because of how hard it was to be in the relationship that the characters wanted. There were always too many obstacles, but unlike the annoying kind where the characters just don't understand the others feelings, Lovely Complex, Kimi ni Todoke, she makes them real issues that they have to get through to make it work. So far there has always been another guy that had absolutely no chance, but no one cares about them! She makes the characters develop and change despite chasing after something so simple. In a lot of shoujos, the main girl never changes. Or in some cases the mangaka says the main girl changed so she changed. In Io Sakisaka's works, you can see and feel the characters changing. Taking steps outside their comfort zone, make decisions for no regrets! It's inspiring and makes the main girls, saints or otherwise, worthy of being cheered on.

One last concept of shoujo manga because I know that this is getting really long. Naturally developing relationships. Shoujos are known for the tears, the overly dramaticness of not that big of a deal things, and relationships that either feel forced, idealized, or on a straight track. One that both does this, and doesn't do this is HnR. Spoilers if you are eventually going to read it. It's cute, so you can, but you could live without it as well.

Hirunaka no Ryuusei

Hirunaka no Ryuusei was a love triangle between a 16 year old girl, her first male friend in Tokyo named Mamura, and the girl, Suzume's, homeroom teacher with whom Suzume fell in love with, Shishio. He calls her ChunChun by the way. In this, the teacher is 24, but very obvious age difference and very obvious problem. At first Suzume sees Mamura only as a friend and rejects his feelings, while her feelings with sensei are being returned? The two gradually grow into an unclear relationship with blurred lines between teacher-student, friends, and lovers. They grow together, and it happened right under our noses being completely natural, especially considering it's a relationship between a student and teacher. Sadly though, it's cut short due to her uncle finding out. Thus, right when her sensei is figuring out that he does, in fact, daisuki this girl, he forces himself to say otherwise in order for Suzume to have an easier relationship with someone she can truly rely on at all times. Time passes and eventually, Suzume is starting to notice how Mamura is always there for her. She convinces herself it's love and through various circumstances the two begin dating. It's obvious very quickly that they don't match well together. They were great friends but the two clearly have issues what with sensei in the past. This is where Yamamori messed up something she did so well. The trope where the main girl fails in her love thus moves onto the other guy just to try to get over it, but ends up just replacing that love with the new guy happens alot. And it happened in this. It's pretty obvious as to why this is wrong. In the end though, apparently Suzume did actually like Mamura as himself. To be honest, I thought she was pretty selfish and they both seemed like they were unnecessarily forcing the relationship. It seemed like a bad idea on Mamura's side and sensei, who eventually did confess his feelings, would've been a better match for Suzume.

The basic idea is that Yamammori created an easy relationship that flowed, followed by a forced one that was hard on both parties. The idea of toxic relationships in shoujo manga is an idea that I think should be explored more. Not like this exmaple of course, but more so towards Shishio and Suzume's relationship. Or like the main relationship in Heroine Shikaku where the main girl is toyed with accidentally over and over again by her childhood friend and crush. More cases where couples actually break up in shoujo because of this, or at least are affected by the bad relationship that is going on in there lives.

Also from Hirunaka no Ryuusei but

she's really cool, because she added a

Japanese mixed girl (curly hair)

That's my one thing with this genre. Everything's always ends perfectly for the main two. A lot of the times the couples don't go through too many hardhsips other than I don't like you, sorry, oops now I do. That' it. In Io Sakisaka's works she at least adds in how the main girl affects someone else's feelings. This happens in the first relationship in Stardust Wink! as well. And something that I was really surprised at was how in Heroine Shikaku a cute, well going relationship between two characters that didn't include the main girl, was ending and falling apart and slowly turning into a bad one. More of this in shoujo would make me so much happier. Give me conflicts, give me characters who have outside interests and internal struggles that don't have to do with dying family members, and give me more natural relationships. Though this does sound like something meant more for josei manga, I want it either way. I did get this in Princess Jellyfish, Nana, and Paradise Kiss too, just to a lesser extent, but I just want so much more!!

This very well might be my longest post ever, and it's about shoujo. Whether you've reached the bottom or not, these are my opinions, thoughts and analysis on this relams of shoujo. Okie dokie! Bye for now!

Anime Review: Lovely Complex - Season 1

As a fellow tall girl, I can really relate to Koizumi.

Soooo, to continue on my spree of 'look I'm coming back but please don't see this as the new bar of expectations for me' I'm posting a review on a show that I watched moooonths ago called Lovely Complex. One of the original shoujos that every teenage anime girl fan who loved gushy stupid romance watched. Well, that and Shugo Chara, Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, and the infamous Ouran. Despite this show not being the most popular of it's type, which I will go into more detail about in a later post about the shoujo genre, it was still a fairly good show.

For the few who don't already get the premise behind this show, it's synopsis time! Risa Koizumi is a brand new highschool student, and by god is she going to get a boyfriend! The only problem here? She's as tall as a giraffe. Standing at 172 cm (5ft 8in for you none metric users....I am one) she's significantly taller than the average Japanese girl... or boy for that matter. She stands as tall or taller than most of the boys at school and no boy wants to date a tall girl. Everybody only sees her as the hilarious ape girl who does what she wants, when she wants. AKA, she's a little lacking in the femininity department. On the flip side of this unconventional coin is Atsushi Otani. The shortest guy ever. Standing at a measly 156 in (5ft 1in) he's smaller than some of the girls in his class. More so around the same height as them but that's so far from being manly he can't even. Always being hassled because of his height, mostly by Koizumi herself, he falls into a sort of routine with her, making friends with her but also being a huge contrasts. (About 7 inches of contrasts)

The two decide to make a pack a little later in the year. They each have set their sites on a person they like. For Koizumi it's some quiet handsome boy whose taller than her. For Otani it's a pretty shy girl that's friends with Koizumi. They decide to help each other out. And lose. For the two get together with each other because the two they like "only sees them as one of guys/girls"

Thus the devastated pair make a pact to do whatever the other says depending on who gets a boyfriend/girlfriend first. Totally platonic right? WRONG! Over the course of maybe a year or two, they get closer to each other and to Koizumi's dismay, she starts the catch some feelings. Otani on the other hand, only sees her as "one of the guys". Now what?

And then for the last 5 or so episodes they just go back and forth to try to get Koizumi to confess to Otani, and Otani not getting it, and then Otani gets then, then Otani saying he doesn't really see her that way, to Koizumi not being able to get over him, to Otani maybe starting to like her more in the future?? It' s just.... ugh.

Obviously that's where the show takes a turn for the worse. Making the same dog on mistake every shoujo of this type decides to make. (Trust me, on the shoujo post I am going to go iiiiiin on the types of shoujo mangas out there) This show is just like many animes that have come after it. Alhtough I must say, I do believe that this show maybe one of the first of it's types in the early times of 'early 2000s', but that doesn't stop it from being horribly annoying when the main couple just can't get passed the friend stage. When you know they eventually will.

I understand that there is a second season of the show, but it was released in 2014 and the animation style is just too different from the 1st season. Also known as, I won't be watching it. Sorry. But I might read the manga because I've become invested in the main couple and I've seen the art. It's so pretty.

But back to the show. This show really doesn't have much of a plot other than these 2 kids are going to be in a relationship... eventually. As most shoujos go, the first few episodes and the last few episodes are always the best. Despite the fact in this one where the last few episodes were just short of eye racking.

The best part about this show, as is again with most shoujos, is it's main characters. You know what makes Koizumi and Otani tick, and God bless, you don't need some tragic back story to do it. Otani is a short kid who has a complex about his height. He wants to play basketball and is fucking amazing at it. He works harder than anyone because he's overcompensating from being short. Koizumi helps him find out that it's just fine being short. Koizumi, on the other hand, is obsessed with finding love. As in most main girls in shoujos. She also feels grossly insecure because she's incessantly tall compared to all the other girls in her class. Being herself consists of legs open in a skirt, mouth full of food, and yelling all the time. Many traits that aren't really associated with being girly. When told to be girly, she does a full 180 and gets quiet, and shy or loud as hell saying back the fuck off. A strong willed girl because all people ever did was tell her who and how to be.

The two are nice matches for each other, and once again, shoujos do this immaculately well. There's a reason why there are so many shows that are basically the same and they are still amazing. The other characters aren't even worth mentioning, so I won't. They're just there to fill the highschool show quota of 'fun with friends'. (I bet you guys didn't believe me when I said that I was going to go ham on this shoujo genre post, just wait.)

The animation was pretty okay for its time. The facial expressions were the best part. The opening and ending sequences matched the show's atmosphere perfectly. The opening being really up beat and over the top with slow moments, and the ending just a short sequence of the two main characters walking. A simple idea that's been done a few times, but if it isn't broke, don't fix it!

The art I already mentioned that I prefer the old style just because there is always more character shown in the old style. That may just be a me opnion though. Not much else is to be said about the show so I'll leave it at that. If you want another generic shoujo with a twist. Watch this! But you could also watch Bokura ga Ita or Ao Haru Ride and you'd enjoy both shows just as much. I have yet to see His and Her Circumstances but I bet it's pretty similar as well. In the end, the age old question of what do tall girls get if short guys like short girls and tall guys like short girls? Otani. That is all.

Manwha Review: Cherry Boy, that Girl

So not too long ago I said that I would be leaving for awhile. I gave a few reasons as to why that was, but it's partly because I don't have nearly as much time as I used to, what with school, trying to get to college, working and everything else in between, I have less time to watch anime in general let alone blog about what I watch all the time.

Darin and Strawberry

I am back briefly to do only one thing, and that is put something in place of that old Manga Check-Up for Cherry Boy, That Girl. To this day, people are still commenting on the out of date reaction that was written over TWO YEARS AGO, and I thought it was about time to do an actual review of the series considering it ended about a month ago.

So let's get started shall we? And please stop trafficking that post. Please.

I've kept up with the Cherry Boy, That Girl series translations for almost 3 years now, and it's finally reached it's closing. It had it's ups and downs, but I overall enjoyed the series.

Cherry Boy, That Girl was written by South Ant, a Korean artist. Its 110 chapters long and complete. Put under the romance josei genre, the story opens with a pretty highschool girl, Strawberry, and her gorgeous boyfriend Darin. Strawberry is a vain little shit and Darin is even moreso. At the beginning, they both suck and you could stand to see less of them. I wish I was kidding. The two attend a highschool that had only recently become co-ed, making Strawberry one of the few girls. Lucky for her, none of the other girls were too pretty, leaving her with all the attention of the boys. Strawberry, feeling like the queen of the school, decides to try and go after her sunbae Pear. Eventually Darin finds out about the two and intervenes. This is where the cross dressing also comes in as a genre.

Darin makes the great decision of cross dressing as a girl named Cherry, and seducing Pear so that he'd drop Strawberry. The bad thing is, it worked. Strawberry, irritated to no end, breaks up with Darin, which was not what he had wanted to happen. And Strawberry, having abused the affections of the boys in the school and having no girl friends, is left alone.

Wally and Strawberry

So far this just sounds like a story about a bunch of jack-ass fruits. And well, that is pretty true. The plot synopsis for a bit makes you think that you'll hate the main characters.... Well you will, most likely. You will dislike Strawberry for a very long time, you won't be to keen on Pear, and Darin will only continue to get worse after the cross dressing incident. But that's also what makes it so enticing to begin with. What other manwha, (it's actually a webseries or webtoon) have you heard done that? A girl starts off already with a boyfriend, is super bratty and stuck up, and is overshadowed by her really good looking boyfriend who cross dresses to steal guys from her.

Its so crazy that you have to read it!
Not to mention the one thing that may not be appealing, the characters, changes as well. Most of the characters go through serious development, turning into almost completely different people by the end of the series. Some become insane, some are suddenly justified, and some gain a sense of morality. The main characters have complex back stories, (at the very least they aren't cut/copy) that had caused them to act the way they did within reason. But that never excuses the way they act later, making for a very realistic setting on changing, and making excuses for yourself.

Considering that the characters are a high point, they could also be taken as a low point. Don't get me wrong, everything I typed above is true its just that this only occurs to a small percentage of main characters. The characters that don't fit into the above category are left underdeveloped and are just kind of....there. Some even become unimportant as time goes on, yet they're still there for plot's sake of course. They just sort of stick around until the end of the series after their role is filled. They don't change from when they entered to when they left. They are only a few characters like this, but they appear too often in the story for that to even be an issue.

Another possible downfall of the series is how it progressed after about 2/3 of the way through. This does mean though that there was adequate amount of romance, character development, interactions, and the slightest bit of tasteful drama in that beginning 2/3rds, but its the last 1/3 that leaves people unsatisfied. Since I've followed this series for so long and got so many comments on the other post that I wrote while kind of drunk off of 'ohmygoddidyouseethatican'tbelievethisishappening' moment, I'll make a separate post that encompasses my feelings on the ending 1/3rd of the series.

Moving away from the characters for now, the art of the series is very bright and colorful. The actual design of the characters is nothing to seriously write home about, but they are distinguishable between each other and are not overly garish. Especially considering that the characters are named after fruits. I do love the way the artist draws Strawberry's lace up high tops though. Just, you know. They're cute.

Drama loving angsty Korean fruit students eating lunch

As a final verdict, considering the series is done, I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a good drama or a little realism in their shoujo romance. I am not able to, however,  in good conscious call this series realistic. This series is a good one, with nice buildup, avoidance of any annoying cliches that sometimes happen in stories such as this. It has good overall character development and even some psychological elements played into the story. The psychological element coming in when they are discovering out why they act the way they do and so much more. I really like the main pair the series overall was worth my 3 year's of attention.