Anime Review V: Paranoia Agent

[Plot summary, genres, themes, and objectionable content from animenewsnetwork.com]

Plot Summary: An elementary school kid dubbed with the title "shounen bat" or "lil slugger" has been going around attacking people with his bent, golden bat. Now, two detectives are investigating so they can stop this kid from making any more attacks, but they will find out soon enough... that this case is much more than they expected.

Genres: drama, horror, mystery, psychological, supernatural

Themes: dark comedy

Objectionable content: Intense

Review [contain little to no spoilers]:

Hello everyone. Sorry it took me forever to get another review up here. Hopefully you guys missed me xD. I was actually thinking about doing a video review for this show since I knew how I would outlay it... Pretear I kind of just winged.

Now I feel like I should give some valid excuse to why I haven't posted a review in two months. I have been busy with my summer job, anime conventions (I went to AnimeNext and Otakon), and--last but not least--college. Ahhh that dreaded word. I've been packing and shopping for it for a couple of days now but I was glad that I finally sat down and went through a WHOLE series (a pat on my back).

Now Now! Off to the review. I was actually so excited to re-watch this anime. It is one of the first ones I have ever seen. My excitement went away but that is for later.

Here is the intro to start off with:

[CLICK ON IT!!]

Paranoia Agent is a series based on multiple lives of people. The only reoccurring characters--per say--are two detectives. A lot of the other characters you see pop in sometimes but that is only because--and this is my FAVORITE part of the anime--every character has a connection with another character.

If you were a smart cookie and read the plot summary you would know that there were a string of street attacks by a little boy with a baseball bat...

This one to be precise:

And here is his first victim!

This is Tsukiko Sagi, a famous character creator who is on a strict deadline during a dry spell (not.... that kind of dry spell... the creative kind) and basically all of her co-workers hate her guts. So her life is very stressful and she feels like she is backed up into a corner... and to make things worse this little kid ends up attacking her leg with a baseball bat.

Police try to get more information but she is so traumatized she can barely talk. In this picture you can see the two detectives who end up being the main characters, trying to solve the "Lil' Slugger" case. One (aka the one sitting in the chair) doesn't believe her right of the bat (har-de-har-har, I can't believe I got a joke in there! xD) while his younger partner believes in her. The skeptic soon gets his mind changed when another incident like Tsukiko's happens.

This is when the show gets interesting. Granted, every episode you meet someone knew and have to sit through their whole life story but, trust me, most of them are very entertaining and interesting. But like I said before, soon the characters would start looking familiar because they were in other episodes, interacting with the main focus of the last episode or something along those lines.

Like this man. He is a creep but becomes important later and it is just fun pointing out all the connections between people.

See! They even pointed it out in the show

Another thing that might get fans a little ticked is that it is something like Monochrome Factor in which basically the same thing happens in every episode. You meet someone new--or someone who you've seen but don't know much about--

Let's say like her

and get a little joy ride into their life and how stressed and fucked up it is. They are so stressed out and just want to be free and then BAM!

Lil' Slugger gets them.

Sometimes you think that this little guy with a baseball bat is actually the stressed out people's way out. Like he is a hero... just think about it for a moment.

Or he is some deranged lunatic who likes hitting people... I dunno...

But in this series you really get the excitement of how people react to certain situations.

And don't forget the gossip around moms!

One thing I have to point out that I didn't like was the fact that it got a little... fantasy-ish. See the whole beginning of the series was dark, creepy, and sort of like a thriller. I was very creeped out while watching it. But then it got... video game like. Very cartoon-y

This is what made me highly disappointed at the end. It wasn't realistic at all (unlike the beginning).

Stuff like this... -sigh-

The end of the series made me feel like they went: "oh crap... this show is supposed to end in three episodes... well I guess we can just make this thing up and hope that the public would understand and still enjoy the show". Well I didn't. I would only recommend people watching the first half of the series and just looking up online or go to a friend to find out what happens in the end. It is very disappointing... I seem to not be able to stress that out enough.

And since endings mean everything to me, I had to give this anime a 7/10. 7 is actually really good--sorry to say again but I thought that ending was horrible!--and it got this good score due to the fast paced, shocking plot twists that went throughout the show. Ahhh those plot twists. They always get me.

Well that is all I can think of right now~
Till next time!

Anime Review IV: Pretear

Hello everyone! This time I decided to do a video review! Hope you enjoy it. I SWEAR I'M ONLY HIGH ON LIFE xD

I apologize for the audio and video. It's usually NEVER like that. I didn't want to re-record it... again.

So here is the review! Enjoy ~ :

Pretear Opening (as mentioned in the review above):

Till next time <3

Anime Review III: Yami No Matsuei [Descendants of Darkness]

[Top picture, plot summary, genres, themes, and objective content all go to animenewsnetwork.com]

Plot Summary: Even after death, life is full of paperwork and criminals. Tsuzuki Asato is a 26 year old, happy-go-lucky, and dorky shinigami (god of death) whose job is to makes sure that those who are dead remain dead and stay in their proper realms. Even though he's had this job for over 70 years, he is in the worst division with horrible pay. He also has a knack for not keeping partners (since shinigami work in pairs), but now he seems to have one that will stick around; stubborn, smart-mouthed, serious and defensive 16 year old, Kurosaki Hisoka. With each case they investigate, they come closer to the conspiracies of the serial killer Dr. Muraki Kazutaka. Tsuzuki's relationship with Hisoka is growing stronger and closer...but there is a dark past to how Tsuzuki died that will not give him peace.

Genres: comedy, horror, mystery, psychological, supernatural

Themes: bishounen, shinigami, yaoi

Objectionable content: Significant (bloody violence and/or swearing and/or nudity)

Review [Contains little to no spoilers]:

As I was shifting through my anime list, I came across an old favorite that people keep telling me to watch. I looked at the description and the actor's list and.... wait for it...  DAN GREEN voices in it. I just had to watch the dubbed version because of that (don't worry anime fans, I went back and watched the subbed. Watch the subbed, i liked the dubbed but that is because I'm in love with some of the voice actors. I would recommend subbed for anyone though). As I watched this I thought to myself: "way to go Ion, pick another innuendo filled yaoi show". I realized that my last two reviews contained that material. I swear I don't only watch yaoi/shounen-ai!

Err... okay! Now on to the review!

I loved this series because it was in arks so it's much easier to explain it to you guys without spoiling much.

The first thing that pops up every time is the opening. This one to be exact:

Does it make you want to watch it now?

Anyway! The first thing you really see is this guy:

This is fun-loving Tsuzuki. He has many faces that are just to die for

He can be an goof ball at times and has an extreme sweet tooth but he isn't all that bad (he is voiced by Dan Green)... well... maybe you should ask all his old partners... you know, the ones who left because they couldn't stand being with him?

Everything seemed to look bad for Tsuzuki until...

Well.. er... that wasn't exactly what I was thinking of.
Oh! Meet his new partner, Hisoka

He has a knack for trying to act like the "cool guy" (thinking of Sasuke from Naruto: you are in the ballpark) which caused Tsuzuki and him some tension for a while. (He is voiced by the same guy who did Gaara in the English version, doesn't even sound remotely the same but just telling you as a fun fact)
Oh... and failed to mention about Hisoka's "little" gift

He is somewhat like an empath and when people touch him he usually feels the emotions--and sometimes sees their past--of whomever dared to touch the guy. Then with his shinigami powers Hisoka would hurt them. TAKE THAT PEDOPHILE!

Er.... okay. Went a little too far there.

Anyway!

This ark is called "Vampire's Lure". I didn't make this one up. The DVD clearly says that. See, right here... oh wait... this is text. Oopies.

In this ark you see this girl:

And this ark is called Vampire's Lure so I'll leave you to your imagination.
And don't forget this guy:

Stare at him long and hard kids, this man is mucho important.

And with that the ark is pretty much done.

Oh wait... failed to mention a little detail. See there are 3 episodes per ark and usually the whole point of the ark gets done in the first episode. The rest, well, I wouldn't call it "filler" but this is were you get to learn about the two main character's personalities and background.

Oh and blood

And rape

Yeahhhh see... not so bad.

Well! I think I should head into the next ark~ This one is called "Devil's Song". This has all to do with a boy who just happens to stick around for the whole ark (good for him!).

Now this guy may look scary but he isn't all that bad

Well....... um....
But to all of my shounen-ai fans that go "uh, so where is the fluffy?", you've come to the right ark. But it isn't who you would think my friends.

Oopies. Wrong picture. ... What? Did you really think that was the romance? ... Hmm.... Can't really picture it... maybe if I squint--

That's the picture I am looking for! Okay. So see this? Ha. You thought it would be Hisoka and Tsuzuki. Nope. Tsuzuki is still channeling his pedo-ness but at the wrong boy. Come on now Tsuzuki get in the game!

Still this boy sticks around, kind of falling for Tsuzuki in the mean time (I wonder if Hisoka ever expressed rage. I would have punched that boy in the face and went: HISOKA RAGE! oh and this about "Tsuzuki is min blah blah blah blah")

Aw. Cute. Gag.
Anyway! The next ark! It's called "Tarot Curse" and it wouldn't be complete with out, oh, let's say TAROT CARDS!

See? And you thought I was lying. xD

And death

That is a ripped up body hanging from the ceiling... gross right?

And, wait for it....

THIS GUY!

BUM BUM BUMMMMM~

(Okay, seriously, what am I on?)

And in this ark you meet even more random people that no one cares about. And if all of you were upset that Tsuzuki got a little action in the last ark, leaving are young Hisoka hanging well then you guys are in luck. In this ark Hisoka seems to get a little close to someone

A girl?!?! HUBFKSJFKWJEFBWEKJFBWKJFB okay! Whatever Hisoka. Stay straight!

A lot of death, blood, cards, money and mystery gets swirled into this ark making it one of my favorites.

In this ark, though Hisoka is having a little romance with a girl, Tsuzuki and him get closer, making for one crying "aw" moment.

Not as good as a Kodak moment but still pretty nice.

Next ark, the last one!, is "Demon's Reckoning". Now I can't even explain this ark to you guys. Not in the least. I will ruin basically the whole ending. There is a few hints I could give you though:

There is something with this creep.

And this one.

And what is with this picture?

Wait what? Is that a... head floating there?

As you can see I can't really say much. Me showing you these pictures is pure blasphemy already. I just have to warn you that I cried twice during this ark and it takes a lot to make me cry.

There are explosions and death (?)

With the closing moments of the show I sobbed, getting really upset at what might be the outcome. When the anime was all said and done, I turned towards the manga since the anime was a little open ended... alright A LOT open ended. It just so happens that the manga stopped. I believed the artist got into a car accident and broke their wrist, they tried drawing again but they just couldn't draw the same. I cry on the inside when I think about it, never knowing the end, but then my mind just makes one up and I'm a little happy.

Now, in conclusion, Yami No Matsuei is an original anime that isn't as famous as it should be. I felt like even if the art was a little poor this anime was top notch.

It had a lot of action:

A lot of blood

And of course implied shounen-ai

Im... plied....?

Uh! Well. I should just... leave.... *cough*

All in all I give this anime a 9 out of 10. Such a nice, new, refreshing plot and very nice voices for the Japanese version.

The blondie in the anime also voiced James from the original Pokemon series

Till next time!

Anime Review II: Monochrome Factor

[Plot summary, genres, and themes from animenewsnetwork.com]

Plot Summary: The story revolves around high school student Akira Nikaido, a typical slacker living a normal life. That is, until he meets the mysterious Shirogane, a man who suddenly appears and tells him to meet him at the school that night. Though he is skeptical, he goes anyway, and subsequently gets attacked by a shadow monster. Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted, and that Akira must become a "shin", which is a creature of the shadow world, in order to help restore the balance.

Genres: action, comedy, fantasy

Themes: shounen-ai

Review [contains little to no spoliers]

So I was skimming through anime lists and came across Monochrome Factor. The year it came out was 2008 yet I have never heard of such an anime before. I decided to go to my usual place (animenewsnetwork) and look up what I have been missing. That's when I saw it: shounen-ai.

Me: Huh? How come I've never seen this before?

Being somewhat of a fan of everything and anything that is anime, I was unsure to why I skipped over this one (especially since my friends are fangirls of shounen-ai and yaoi) so I click 'watch'.

The first thing you see is water, and voices, and this guy with brown hair that suspiciously looks like mine and an obnoxious orange shirt. Then, opening theme.

Now let me tell you. This! This is beautiful. You have to see for yourself: (CLICK THE BOX!)

Now I believe that the art is the opening is different compared to the art out of the whole anime. But that is just me. See for yourself.

In this 'kid-show-gone-semi-adult-show', you meet this guy:

Meet number one cool guy Akira Nikaido. His hobbies are doing nothing and not going to class. His dislikes are... well... if you are a guy who thinks everything is boring what don't you dislike?

Now he doesn't have many friends. When you find everything boring and like to be a loner who has time for friends?

Especially with her:

She's not a happy camper. He name is Aya and she is the school disciplinary, otherwise known as a "Perfect". Who wants a friend who always yells and beats up on you?

Or this annoying guy:

I like to call him "foreign friend" since I could never remember his name when talking to my friends about the show and he had to be the odd one out with the obnoxious blonde hair. He is loud, annoying, never shuts up, obnoxious Kengo. Does anyone really want a friend who just wouldn't shut up and shouts "AKIRA~" and tries to hug you all the time?

Or him...

Shirogane. The guy who wears lips gloss. Would you really want a friend that molests you?

....

Right. I didn't think so.

And the mysterious little kid who wouldn't leave you alone.

Remember? The one who does all that dark magic?

....
Yeah, I don't want to get on his bad side...

But I guess being with a crowd like that is okay for Akira when he has this up his tail:

These gross looking things are called Kokuchi. And this is what we do to Kokuchi we don't like:

Yeah, that happens to be all of them.

The whole invasion started when Akira bumped into Shirogane one the street one day. Shirogane--out of no where--asks for Akira to go somewhere with him but because Shirogane's direct approach, Akira refuses and basically runs away.

While Kengo and him are at an arcade and saves a little kids from being bullied

Creepers. I know, right? Pay close attention to the young boy, he becomes important later.

Aya soon catches them and tries to beat them up for being out so late on a school night. As the boys try to run away, Aya soon strikes a deal with them: "come with me back to the school and be my bodyguards". Even though she is the most violent one in the school and didn't need bodyguards, Akira and Kengo join her.

You find out that she just left her plushie at school (why she brings her stuff animal to school is beyond me) and as they walk, everything gets creepy as if someone turned up the notch on the "creeper scale".

With strange noises, Aya freaks out and beats up Kengo (she thought he was a ghost).

And out of nowhere Aya gets attacked by these shadows.

Or her plushie. This causes her to faint.

Now Akira is all alone with these monster... I feel slightly bad for him. But don't fret my anime fans, he is saved by none other than creeper number one Shirogane.

Shirogane tells Akira weird things like Shirogane is a shin and that the balance between light and dark is crumbling and these things called Kokuchi are from the shadow world and must be destroyed.

Akira runs away and in doing so he made one big uh-oh. Akira gets soon swept into darkness and in order to save him Shirogane turns him also in the shin... by... kissing him.

Don't ask me how that worked out.

So now you realize that the boy in light brown hair from before is now this guy:

And the fighting is fast, somewhat dizzy, and fuzzy,

Like honestly, how can I get a good still frame when I have THIS to work with

But even this serious sounded anime has it's light hearted moments. Seriously, a lot of light hearted moments. I mean in the middle of a battle you have a chibi sequence

I believe this is what the anime is most famous for

With most of the comedy your receive from this show it couldn't be complete without on fan girl. This is where Kengo's older sister Mayu jumps in.

She is in love with hot boys no matter what age. She even has a "hot guy radar".

You find out for yourself whether you will be able to stand this character or not.

Akira surely doesn't.

Now if you think a fan girl is bad, try dealing with a fan boy.

He is not as annoying and gets drunk every night like Mayu. Kou-nii just flirts... with everything that moves.

"You can call me onii-chan"

AYA RAGE!

As I watched the 24 episode series I noticed something. I kept trying to think of an anime it reminded me of but I couldn't think of it nor could any of my friends think of it. We all just came up with one answer: Sailor Moon. The anime reminded us of Sailor Moon. Don't believe me? Watch for yourself... or I can explain it right now.

In almost every episode you have this:

First step: meeting a character you've never seen before

Second Step: getting to know that character

Third Step: He or she comes along and screws things up

Fourth Step: the character you've come to know and love in less than one episode gets possessed by a Kokuchi

Fifth step: Some ass kicking time with the same transforming sequence every time

Sixth Step: Parasite Kokuchi extracted and killed

End. ... And you never see that random character ever again.

For some time I was getting bored of it and I felt like I could pick out any random episode and watch it and still know what was going on. But boy was I wrong. At one point episodes string together and you get confused about who is who.

Like who is this guy?

And who is she? I want to say that she is bad but...

There is actual plot after a while and it gets very intense, suspenseful, and interesting without loosing much of it's light comedy charm.

There is still a lot of action and A LOT of twists

This is another anime that I strongly advise not to get close to any of them (I make them sound like real people).

There is a lot of implied in this anime, especially since it's a shonen-ai.

You have Akira and Shirogane (unrequited love)

Akira and Kengo (implied -- just a really strong friendship or something more? xD)

Akira and Aya (implied)

In the end, Monochrome Factor is a light hearted comedy with an original plot that will take your breath away. And if you still stomached through this shounen-ai filled review and find it interesting but don't want to see boys flirting with each other than I would totally read the manga. There is no hint of BL what so ever. Why they placed it in the anime is beyond me but I'm not complaining.

It has loads of action

Romance (uh, implied romance xP)

Though is this still considered implied?

And comedy.

Just slightly inappropriate xD

All in all I give this anime a 6 out of 10. The constant repetitiveness of the episodes annoyed me but when they got somewhere with the plot it was fantastic!

That is all I can think of at the moment.

Till next time!

Oh and if you want to see the first episode:

This is part one, go onto my youtube channel to see the rest! :)