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ファイト／ステイナイト 
In case you haven't seen it, here is the extended trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城). As expected, the film looks fantastic like other Ghibli's productions. I also like the music that Joe Hisashi has composed for the movie. The voice talent for the movie includes the famous SMAP member, Takuya Kimura. Akihiro Miwa, whose resume includes another famous Hayao Miyazaki's movie, Princess Mononoke is another voice talent who contributes to the movie. From what I've read thus far, the film is about an 18 year old girl whose body somehow turn into that of an old woman's.
When I started this blog, I knew I couldn't possibly keep this up for a very long time because I tend to get bored very quickly and because I knew that real life commitments will catch up quickly. Well, it looks like the time is getting closer. I want to do a 3D animation course and that will be impossible to do on top of my daily 9 to 5 job if I keep this site up. At the same time, I still enjoy doing this and don't want to stop it completely. In the end, I decided that a compromise is in order. I'll still continue the site but it'll be a trimmed down version of what it was. Because of this, I've decided to stop doing full summary for all of the upcoming and continuing shows. This include anime, manga, live action, etc. Examples of this include titles such as Monster and Sensei no Ojikan. The reason is mostly because these summaries often takes hours (or sometimes days in the case of live action films) to write and in most cases end up making it impossible for me to do other things that I want to do.
In other words, from now on, these shows and other upcoming shows I may decide to watch will have a rather short summary, possibly no more than 2-3 paragraphs + some impression. However, I will try to continue writing full summary of things that have completed its run such as Last Exile, Ultra Maniac, and GTO Live Action, just for the sake of completion. The other changes will be the reduction of the number of images and scans. The images, along with the long-winded paragraphs, turned out to be quite a bandwidth eater. With the reduction of the number of paragraphs that I write, it's only natural that the number of images should decrease as well. Otherwise, the whole summary/review will look as if it's just composed of images. It's also a good way to keep down the bandwidth-usage from going overboard especially since I don't have that much money to afford extra bandwidth. Anyway, I'm really sorry for these changes but it's something that needs to be done for myself.
Well, I may as well write about the latest two episodes in this entry in case the site does go down very soon. I'm glad to see that unlike the last episode, these two episodes are well-written and tightly directed. These episodes have so many hints of future plots and at the same time, they still managed to make me care about the peripheral characters that appear in both episodes. I am always delighted by this series' ability to startle me with a particular scene or revelation. And as usual, the series does this by showing the sort of unspeakable acts that humans can do to others or to themselves. It's good to be reminded from time to time that when humans do this kind of acts, they indeed become quite similar to monsters in fairy or horror tales.
I wrote this just in case the site/blog goes down between today to the 30th of June. For some reason that I have yet to figure out, there have been an increase in the amount of bandwidth-usage this month. I'll probably have to come up with ways to ensure that this does not happen again in the future. But I can deal with that once this is over and done with.
Anyway, the site will resume as usual on the 1st of July in case it does go down between now and the end of this month. But hopefully this is enough to inform you all about it. I'll try to post a recap/review of Monster episode 10 and 11 before the bandwidth is completely depleted but I can't guarantee that most of you will be able to access it before the downtime.
Update: Pheww. I don't have to close the site after all. My web host just told me that they'll up the server space+bandwidth limit for all of their old customers since their new customers already got the new space+bandwidth limit. Having said that, I still intend on reducing the bandwidth-usage on this site so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
Yes! What a perfect ending for a good series. Please don't kill me! :P I can't help but feeling happy about the ending. I watched this series with certain expectations and that expectations were precisely met and I am sorry if it wasn't for some of you, I really do. This episode also confirms once and for all that a second season is out of the question. Not surprising really, especially after the previous episode. The manga itself is near to the point of completion so it'll be interesting to see how that one resolves the storyline as well. Anyway, unfortunately this means my credit card is going to suffer more damage since I'll definitely order the R2 DVD over the net. Oh well, I really like the story and the offer of getting a soundtrack on top of the DVD is an incentive.
I've been wondering lately if this series has lost its ability to deliver a good laugh or two. Apart from the first and second episodes, the rest of this series has been quite mediocre so far. So I'm glad to see this episode finally return to the form of the first two episodes. Admittedly, the same juvenile comedy and the usual character's repertoires are still in place. But thankfully, the repertoires are actually used in a more interesting scenarios in the episode. In addition, this episode benefits from the introduction of a new girl character called Nakayama. After seeing the role that she's been given, I hope that she will at least make Watabe a bit more interesting.
Since the last four or five chapters have been spent on developing the back story of Tohru, Kyou, and Kyoko, it's not surprising to see this chapter focusing exclusively on Yuki and his development. This chapter, however, is quite interesting because we get to see Yuki from the perspective of another student who reminds me of Yuki from a couple of years ago. Just like Yuki, Machi seems to suffer from a self-confidence problem, mostly thanks to her patronising mother. But when you see Machi and Yuki side by side right now, you can easily tell how far Yuki has changed as a person. He definitely has opened up a lot more these days. I attribute this mostly to his determination to find friends outside the Sohma family.
Well, the final episode didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would be. Never the less, cliche and reuse of Evangelion imageries and themes can be found within every inch of this episode. What is worse is the fact that they were done poorly. The only part of the story that was borderline interesting was Ryo and Kimi's storyline. I find that at the very least, I can finally sympathise with two characters on this show. Well, three if you include Akari in there. Overall, I'm disappointed with this series. It doesn't make me feel as if I've wasted time watching it but at the same time I will always feel that this series missed so many good opportunities to tell a good story. I have no choice but to blame this on the decision of the writers to spend the first half of the series on useless fan service which doesn't get the story anywhere.
Wow, I sure picked the wrong time to take a break from watching anime because I just realised now that I have a lot of titles to go through before the end of the week. Anyway, I'll just start with this episode of Midori no Hibi. I find that this episode has all of the important elements that a penultimate episode should have. I am, however, disappointed with the writers' decision to alter the last half of Days 11 and their attempt to include stories that are similar to Days 54 and the current manga chapter (Days 81). As someone who has read the manga, I feel as if the writers cut half of the materials that were in the manga and just jump straight to the conclusion. I also wonder if this means that second season is out of the question. Now that everything is out in the open, there is a big likelihood that everything is going to be resolved in the next episode.
Well, once again I reached my anime saturation point and suddenly felt the need to watch something creepy. I kept hearing how Ju-On: The Grudge is one of the scariest films that people have seen. That in itself, was enough to pique my interest. Then I heard that there is actually a remake in the making at the moment. The remake will actually be directed by the original director, Takashi Shimizu, but with some US casts like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Bill Pullman. While I'll probably check out the remake when it is released later on, I'd much prefer to see the original first and foremost since after all, this is the film that impresses the people that decided to do the remake. As usual, anything below this paragraph will be spoilery although I'll try my best not to reveal all of the plot details.
I never expected Monster to present a filler story but this episode is a proof that even this series is not immune from fillers. Admittedly, in comparison to other series, the story in this filler episode is actually rather good. Never the less, I'd prefer it if this series stay away from any kind of filler in the future. I understand that the series need to remind the viewers from time to time that Tenma is a kind person but I think they can easily show this even when the episode is full of important storylines. I just hope that the 70+ episodes planned for this series are not composed of mostly fillers where Tenma gets to help random people that he encounters. I think the reason I don't like this idea is because I've seen it so many times on other television shows such as The Nowhere Man or The Fugitive.
With only one more episode to go, this episode tries to squeeze in as many resolution and action scenes as possible. The result is not bad at all, but it is nothing to write home about either. For a penultimate episode, this one sure lacks the urgency and the tension that other series with this kind of story present in their penultimate episodes. I never even find myself worrying much about the lives of the characters in this episode. This is mostly because there doesn't seem to be anything which suggests that their life could be in jeopardy. And if there are, the episode seems to imply that somehow everything will be returned to the way they were before the end of the series. Hell, even the crimson butterflies that fill up the sky actually make the show prettier instead of providing some kind of danger to the characters.
Updated - see Comments. It looks like the series is going to be a 13-episodes series for now. This is actually one of those times where I wish that I'm wrong because the manga shows all signs of wrapping up its storylines. So if this had been a 26-episodes series, I think it'll be possible to end the series neatly. Oh well, I hope there will be episode 14 or at least a second season in the near future. But judging from Animage TV series listing, it does look like this is one of the few series which haven't got any schedule beyond the 13th episode which will be aired on 27th of this month. Other shows such as Tenjou Tenge, Kyou Kara Mao, Monster, and even Madlax have been confirmed to have their 14th or 15th episode which runs all the way to July.
Attempted suicide! Feeling of abandonment! Horror! It seems this chapter almost has it all. And yet somehow the chapter still manages to tell a harrowing story that I think only Fruits Basket can do so well. It's amazing how one little drawing of a character in this manga is more than enough to describe the situation and feeling that the character feels at that time. Anyway, this particular chapter continues the story of Kyoko's life after Katsuya's death and it is finally confirmed that Kyoko has not always been the model mother that we've been lead to believe. The chapter also adds a rather new subplot, depending on how one looks at it. This means that it doesn't look as if the series is going to end anytime soon.
Sometimes I get the impression that this series aspires to be Evangelion and now it looks like the writers have finally crossed the obsessive line. There are at least 5 Evangelion references in this episode, beginning with Jennifer similarity to Ritsuko/Misato, Ritsuko's "Liar" line which is now delivered by Hikari, the monster of the week, the psychology talk about the ability of a person to love another, and Hikari's Rei Ayanami-like rejection of the person who supposedly 'love' her. The problem is, these references end up drawing comparison to the famous show and make it hard for this series to stand up on its own merit. Oh well, at the very least these references make for one interesting episode. And I have to admit that the events that happened in this episode are very exciting. Plus, I get to see the look on Mari's face when she realises that she indirectly responsible for causing the end of the world. That in itself makes this episode worth a lot. :P
Hmm, nothing much happened in this episode. I think this one is meant to be a recap/bridging episode that sets up the story and the narrative structure for future episodes. And from the look of things, it seems the show is about to take a direction similar to The Fugitive, which is not a bad way to go as far as the storyline is concerned. I think this set-up will allow the writers to ratchet up the suspense and the speed of the story, both of which are important assets to this series. Besides, given the fact that Detective Lunge has been kind of keen to blame Tenma right from the beginning, it is expected that sooner or later Tenma will have to do something in order to prevent himself from being sent to jail.
If I ask nicely, will someone please restrain me? :) I just had this sudden urge to strangle Mari, despite knowing the fact that she's a fictional character. I think it's bad enough that her character is completely pathetic throughout the series. But she reaches a new low this time when she interrupts an interesting discussion between two of the more interesting characters in the show with her whiny, annoying voice. I know that I probably have an intense dislike for the character more than what is considered healthy. Having said that, there's nothing that I'd like to see more than the expression on her face when she realises that she has single-handedly become the cause for the world's destruction. Well, some death tolls will also be nice in addition to this. Because when things are said and done, I really don't care for any of the characters on this show. Therefore, their possibly small survival chance will not bother me in the slightest.
Well, I was obviously wrong when I said that Days 21 would never be incorporated into the anime because the writers finally decide to squeeze it in this episode along with Days 10 and 20. And it's about time they do this because this chapter contains the character development that Midori sorely needs right from the very beginning. But my guess is, they intentionally wait until this episode in order to create a mini-arc which will probably lead the series to its season finale. Speaking of the finale, it seems to me that unless there'll be another season, the series will end up pretty much the way Fruits Basket ended. I don't think it'll have to make up an ending like that series since there are already four good manga chapters that they can use to end the season. Never the less, it'll have the same 'not much is resolved, but life must goes on' feeling to it.
I can't believe it's been months since I saw this series. The DVD release schedule is really lousy to the point that sometimes I have to stop on a particular non-cliffhanger episode in the DVD so that I don't drive myself crazy with anticipation for the next episode. Well, that and because I find it hard lately to cram more than 3 episodes into one recap. The problem is, by doing this I seem to have lost the motivation to get back watching the show. Especially since I have not been watching it for a while now. Thankfully, the storyline in some of these episodes somehow manages to make me interested in the show again. I am especially glad to see the series giving the Disith nation a bit more focus. Before these episodes, they seem to be a mysterious, unknown threat to the Anatoray nation. However, thanks to these episodes, the series manages to show that in truth, Disith is not very different from Anatoray. It is also interesting to see the series finally coming full circle in regards to the characters' past and their relationship with one another.
I'm a bit bored with anime lately and feel like watching something that is a bit different. Since I've heard many good things about the live action version of GTO, I decided to give this series a try. After watching the first two episodes, I have to agree that this is a very interesting take on the GTO story. I originally had reservation about Takashi Sorimachi's version of Onizuka but eventually grew to like his interpretation of the character. I also think that the live action features a more interesting Fuyutsuki. I feel that in the anime she's a rather boring character and doesn't get as much exposure. In here, however, she has a rather large role right from the start and her personality is a standout thanks to an excellent performance from Nanako Matsushima (Ringu, Ringu 2).
