Beat Of The Week: Βασιλευζ (Basileus)

August 26, 2012
Posted by DarrenW

So, this week, its my turn! (Though I'm not supposed to be here XD)

And no, no K-Pop, or J-Pop or Vocaloid for that matter.

I will be doing one of my personal favourite tracks from one of my favourite OSTs. Yes, Basileus.

And it is an orchestral piece.

A lot of you might not heard of this song before, but it comes from a very controversial anime, "Guilty Crown / ギルティクラウン"

Although not famed for a very captivating or proper plot structure, having loopholes, filled with setting problems and a sad ending, the anime did have ONE AWESOME fact to it. THE MUSIC.

Hiroyuki Sawano

Well, the OP & EDs were made by Supercell (Another time), but the OST was mainly composed by Hiroyuki Sawano / 澤野弘之, who also composed many other masterpieces for this anime, like Krone, ge19, omega and Genesis.

Basileus was not used a lot in the anime, but was used for the parts in the anime right before the climax, of which, I have to contend, was skillfully executed. This piece really was well made for its purpose.

The orchestral piece, consists of two parts, Starting at 0:00 and around 2:07. The first part has a slow relaxing pace to it, which then comes in with the chorus, which is just eargasmic. Then at 2:07 the beat comes in. I like to call them "war-drums", where the beat really gets you going, then the wind instruments come in and really make it sound so good.

The problem I found was, not many people know about this piece. Is it that bad? Okay maybe the target audience for orchestra pieces are small, but, this is real nice! And so I chose this for today.

And come on, who did not just feel the impact at 3:20?



Will be back on thursday. Hold ON till then!
DarrenW

Initial Impressions: Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru! / この中に１人、妹がいる！

*The following review contains scenes of partial nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.

This review has been updated. To see Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru! Final Impressions, click here.

August 24, 2012
Posted by MedusaS

Yes! So today I will reviewing an ECCHI anime!!
... I'm starting to wonder whether I'm weird because I'm a girl and watching all this things...

Anyway! Today I'll be giving you guys a peek into "Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru! / この中に１人、妹がいる！/ My Little Sister Is Among Them!"

So the story starts off with a funeral (quite surprising), when the CEO of a large corporation passes away. We are then introduced to our main character, Shougo Mikadono, the heir of his father who has just passed. Just before attending the funeral though, he hears a strange voice.



1. A girl, claiming to be his long-lost sister, wanting to marry him.
WHAT?
Yea. So the girl vanishes. Now the next problem is wit regards to what his father asks him to do in his will.

2. Go transfer to this school and find a wife.
Ok... Well, quite far-fetched, but understandable from somebody belonging to a large corporation, who eventually needs a successor.

3. Pick one out of the five girls.
Well, that's all fine and dandy. So Shougo transfers to Miryuuin Academy, where he meets 5 GIRLS (Quite the ladies man) due to his looks and status.

Unfortunately for him, on the night of his birthday. He receieves a weird call. Its that "self-claimed" SISTER AGAIN. This time, she shows evidence that she is actually his sister. And for every night, she will call Shougo, saying that she had done things with him. Problem is

3. One of the five girls is his sister.

OH THE PLOT THICKENS, EH?

And that, is the main idea behind the anime. Shougo has to fall in love, and at the same time, discover which one of the 5 girls is his sister, before its too late! FYI: If he marries one of them and it IS the sister, he's screwed because the corporation image will take a plunge.

I find this anime very enjoyable, NOT BECAUSE OF THE BATHROOM SCENES (B3wbs), and the SRSLY  (Super Random & Sudden LuckY) scenes but the fact that this anime has quite a unique plot. Falling in love, intertwined with the fact that one of them is supposed to get rejected because of being blood related.

So, try and guesss, WHO IS THE IMOUTO??

First thing in the ED. ASS.

Creative and original ECCHI anime? Well, let's wait and see!

Some clarification.
1. He can't remember his sister because he banged his head in an accident, losing his memory.
2. He cannot differentiate the sister from the phone call because the voice is faked.

OH MY GAWD

Kono Naka ni Hitori Imouto ga Iru! is a Summer 2012 anime, and is fansubbed by Doki, UTW, and is available in Simulcast on Crunchyroll, though that is 1.5 days late. It will have 12 episodes.



Have fun guessing!
Hint: Sweets? Pastries?
MedusaS
Edited by FayeA

Beat Of The Week: GANGNAM STYLE

August 17, 2012
Posted by MedusaS

Okay so recently I was told to be the FIRST ONE to start off this new posting type, so I said, why not?

It was a hard decision, since I have A LOT of different music genres i could choose from, but I HAD TO DO IT, this popular one that's been almost EVERYWHERE I GO RECENTLY.

So Gangnam Style is a song which has been created by this South-Korean rapper called PSY, who has created many singles, but I strongly believe this is his masterpiece.

The name for the song? It depicts the Gangnam District in his country, the affluent and trendiest place to be in S.Korea.

Why is it so? Well for starters, the beat is awesome. (For dancing that is).
Secondly, for some UNKNOWN REASON, its HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. I can't even stop pressing the repeat button until the song has been replayed for 3 or 4 times. OMG.
Third, the chorus is well crafted and catchy.

I don't normally tend to listen to Korean Rap, but when I do, it becomes like THIS.

The music video, which depicts PSY and many many beautiful girls dancing with him, is very unforgettable due to the moves he makes. They are quite awesome and difficult, since he's on the plump side, and also, erm... 1:56 of the video. If you know what I mean.

Released on July 15 this year, it has over 34 MILLION VIEWS ON YOUTUBE (another million by the time I finish typing this), and has literally flooded radio networks around the world (mine included).

Go watch it! I'm sure you'd like it! Just try not to get hooked. Hahaha.



For now, I'll see you guys for the next review!
MedusaS

Initial Impressions: Tari Tari

13 August, 2012
Posted by DarrenW & MedusaS

Hey readers,

As promised, I will be reviewing a new season anime, Tari Tari today!

Though it is an anime that follows the same school-life / real-life setting, it has some interesting points to note, which is very different from otehr animes with the same background.

So what happens when you are in a performing arts club, but your teacher-in-charge tells you: "No, you can't participate in this year's recital? No doubt you'll get pissed, but what about setting up ANOTHER club that suits your liking?

And there and there is the main introduction for our anime, Tari Tari, where the unfortunate Konantsu Miyamoto has her dreams dashed, when her teacher-in-charge (AKA Vice Principal), assigns her to page flipping in the up and coming recital, due to the mishap the previous year, when she gave an outburst when singing a part she shouldn't have.

Recruiting her friend Sawa Okita and her classmate Wakana Sanai, she manages to blackmail her brother and gets more recruits.

I like how Commie Subs did the subbing.

And so, the choir club was formed! Having about 10 members, they manage to make it to the recital. But their advisor, the principal (who is a damn nice guy and supports them) gets into an accident and is unable to supervise them.

In the end, only Konantsu, Sawa, and Wakana make it to the recital, where Konantsu finally managed to sing to her hearts content. Yay!

The only problem. After the recital. Members begin to leave as they find no more purpose to be in the club. In the end, only three are left. With the irritating vice-principal asking them to close down due to insufficient members, what will our main characters do? Will Konantsu be able to live her ambition of singing professionally, what about Sawa, Wakana, Wien and Taichi?

Btw, Wien is a foreign exchange student from Austria and Taichi Tanaka is the only badminton sports club member in the school.

YEA, WE SEE THAT ITS A FOUL.

DarrenW

Tari Tari initially, was not appealing as an anime because I was already quite tired with the standard-school-setting and all that, but once again, I was proven wrong.

Tari Tari embodies the deep sense of the importance of music in everybody's life. Though not evidently shown yet, I believe all the five characters will have their lives changed when they encounter music, the most serious one being Wakana, who suffered greatly from the death of her mother.

The characters are very cute (just fyi, my favourite character is Sawa...), and it is interesting, because all  characters are from different backgrounds, have different personalities (Hell, one is not even from Japan!), much like Kokoro Connect actually.

As the main characters strive to let people enjoy their music, lets give it up for Tari Tari!

------------------------>

Anime producers and their jokes...

MedusaS

Weird Hairstyle is Weird

Frankly I have to say, great job there Evergreen! I was really captivated by the art and the songs, and most of all the character development is awesome! I like to see how each character matures as the anime progeresses (Love that kind of development).

I love it that the theme clearly expressed is determination and perseverance. Sometimes some anime such as this can be very inspring from a lot of perpectives.

Still, I have to admit, the vice-principal is a serious;y annoying BITCH. Its probably the first time I've truly hated somebody in a school-type anime. However, with her presence, the real-life setting is really apparent I guess. I mean, it can't be good news all the time can it?

SISTER USES "TELL ABOUT PORN STASH." IT IS SUPER EFFECTIVE!

The OP for Tari Tari is Dreamer by AiRI, which has a nice tune, and the ED is "Sea Breeze's Harmony" by a lot of artists.

Tari Tari is a Summer 2012 Anime, which premiered on July 1, and will have 13 episodes in total. It is a P.A. Works animation and is currently being fansubbed by Commie, AnimeTL-Broken, Doki, Hatsuyuki, Sopranos, Underwater, and is available on Simulcast by Crunchyroll, although that is half a day late.



From DarrenW: I will see you guys in 2~3 weeks!
From MedusaS: Reviews coming up! Hinto: B3wbs.

DarrenW
MedusaS
Edited by FayeA

Upgrades!!

Posted by DarrenW

August 12, 2012

So to all the readers out there, you might have noticed a few changes in the past few weeks. Yes, after a long discussion with some of the authors & editors, we have came up with the conclusion that upgrading was necessary so as we can fully bring awesome posts to you all.

Personally, I'm not against changes, and I think that i the only way we can progress. Thank you for your feedback. Looking back at this very website 4 years ago, IT HAS CERTAINLY CHANGED, for the better!

So what on Earth ARE the changes?

Well...

1. New Headers

Yes, since it is our speciality, I'm taking some time off reviewing to design new headers for everyone to see! But this time, instead of making them on random genres, I've decided to make 1 or 2 banners per anime/manga that we have previously reviewed!

2. New Background

Well, what of it? I hope it is to your liking! It is a collage of 50 different anime title cards that I personally use to label my anime. It never crossed my mind to use it as a background picture. It was about time since our old background has been used waaay to long.

3. New Width [ 450 --> 640 ] 

The MOST IMPORTANT innovation we come up with, an expanded width! Tell you the truth, this was necessary because the blogger editor was getting on our nerves. The default width size (unchangable) of the editor is what you guys are viewing now. Trust me, it takes more time to move the images last time, that to actually write the review. 

4. New Scoring System

As you might have also noticed, we have changed the scoring system to suit your preferences. Firstly, the old one was: 1) The font was too small!! , 2) What if its 13 or 15? What's the difference?

Well, now with the new scoring system, you would be able to see what the score means for each category, as well as being able to see it on a new design template which soothes the eyes. LOL

5. New Postings

From next week onwards, we will be introducing some new type of postings, to keep up with the frequency. Pretty boring to have just reviews eh?

6. Google Translate.

Yes, the new translate function will help readers who do not wish to read the website in english, to read it in any language as they wish. Warning though, some translations might not be accurate!

7. Japanese Title

We now have a Japanese title! It is called: WWHカレント!  Also, we would from now on, include the Japanese title of the things we are reviewing!

8. New Anime & Manga List Page

We also updated the website to make it easier for you to select the reviews that you wish to see. The old format was pretty annoying with all the unwanted spaces.

9. New Menu [Pending]

We will be arranging anime to their originated seasons as well! Please watch out for that

10. Personalised Signatures For Authors [Pending]

On behalf of the team, I would like to thank you for visiting our website. It really means a lot to us that there are people reading our posts and gaining knowledge and insights about which animes to watch.

Please feel free to drop me a pm about any improvements you wish to see, or any anime you think we've missed out!

Like I always say, why not share, when the anime you know are so awesome?

PS: On the sad note though, we would most probably be seizing operations the from next week onwards. A lot of us, have exams coming up. So I would like to apologize for the inconveniences caused beforehand!

Tari Tari would be the last review I'll be doing before I sign off for two weeks!

DarrenW

Oh Hyouka...

August 10, 2012

Posted by DarrenW

Initial Impressions: Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita

August 8, 2012
Posted by DarrenW

Yosh,

As you might have noticed, we have a new scoring image, that is more appeasing for the eyes, I hope you guys like it.

Also, our editors are working around the clock to make sure that the reviews you see fit to the blog's new dimensions. So enjoy! (EDITOR NOTE: THE BOSS IS KILLING US WITH THE ASDFJLSDGLKAJLKJG-I mean, ahem, the boss is giving us an appropriate workload that we can properly handle. ^_^ -aaronsine)

So today I'll be reviewing a new anime of this season I took up after deciding for a long time. Yes, Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita, otherwise known as Mankind has Declined!

It's Official...

ANIME HAS DECLINED

So the first thing that would pop up in your face, isn't the beginning of the story, but the ART. YES, the art is different from your normal anime.




For me, its weird because this is the very first time I've ever seen an anime with this sort of artwork. It was annoying initially because I was not used to it, but in the end I really liked the art. So, where does our story really begin, well, in a village of course. What? What about mankind? Well, it has declined. It's a bit difficult to explain to you guys... er... here goes...

Protagonist (IDK HER NAME)

So it begins when our main heroine, WHOSE NAME IS NOT MENTIONED. Omg, how am I going to explain it. Let's call her the UN Mediator. She arrives in a nearby farm, after following a request that the village is running out of supplies. The hunters (food gatherers) explain to her that since supplies are low, kill the chickens.

And the setting is based in an old medieval village. From the setting and explanations, the world has regressed in its development and has went back to olden times, due to the lack of natural resources.

After a failed attempt to capture the chickens, they escape into the fields. Then, after attempting to recover the chickens, this happens:

WTF DID I JUST SEE?

So the plot goes on... and our UN Mediator introduces us to fairies, an existence that is only known today. Sent to help the humans from their pitall, the fairies, (idk what they do yet), provide guidance... I guess.

Then food arrives to the starving villagers in the form we all know too well, processed factory-produced goods. It is then discovered that they are products of the nearby Fairy Co, one of the remnants of the old human world.

One thing led to another, and we realize that the factory is once again in operation, and then...

So the story focuses on... not really sure what it focuses on anymore, but the setting is that of humankind that has went past its prime period.

It is an interesting show to watch, but the fact that it is so random really makes me super confused with what is going on. Perhaps, it might all have some symbolism in it, or its just meant to be
utterly confusing and does not make any sense.

Personally, I enjoy the show because it is unique and does not follow the mainstream plot developments. I've been watching WAY too many school-type animes the past two seasons, with Natsuiro Kiseki, Hyouka, Tari Tari, etc.

Still though, WTF is with the headless chickens and bleeding bread?? And I'm quite sure this is not the end of it. The OP for this anime was sung by nano.RIPE! YAY! So its a nice-sounding OP, though the dance is pretty weird.

Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita premiered on the 1st of July, and is currently fansubbed by Commie, Asenshi and Doki. It will have 12 episodes. It is also available in Simulcast on Crunchyroll.

DarrenW
Edited by aaronsine

Initial Impressions: Sword Art Online

August 2, 2012
Posted by DarrenW

Yo readers!

As you might have noticed, we have increased the width of the website! Woohoo!!!

On the sad note though, all of the headers will have to be redesigned by myself and reposted. So pardon for the lack of variety!

And there will be 80 new headers of your favourite animes on their way, hooray!

Today I will be doing one of my most anticipated animes of the season: SAO!! "Sword Art Online"

Point of no Return

The story starts off in 2022, when a game developer by the name of Akihiko Kayaba, creates the first most perfected virtual reality MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, to those non-gamers). 10, 000 queue up for the game and enter perfected virtual reality for the first time.

Hooked with a device in the shape of a helmet that connects itself to the brain, the NerveGear reads off the five senses and provides the user with perfect simulation of the in-game environment.

With perfect graphics, real-feel of the environment, and live-action scenes as a first person, it seems like the perfect dream of any online gamer. Or is it?

Then comes our main protagonist, Kazuto Kirigaya (Kirito), who is your typical gamer, but in real life, is alone (from what I observe in the anime). Entering the world the second time in his life (previously beta tester), he meets all the new players, including our other character, "Klien" or Ryotaro Tsuboi.

Then comes the deadly discovery. HEY WHERE DID THE LOGOUT BUTTON GO?

The truth is, IT'S GONE.

As all the players are teleported to the main square, it suddenly erupts into a volcano of warning labels, painting the sky red, and a mysterious huge figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was Akihiko Kayaba. Announcing that the game everybody was in is now a very different one from what they thought. The players are no longer allowed to leave, and they must play the game to the end.

Only problem, its no longer unlimited lives they'll be playing with, but their own, single life.

Rules of the game:
1. If the player dies during the game, his real-life body will be destroyed, and he/she will die. The NerveGear will technically fry your brain.
2. If the NerveGear is removed by force, it will electrocute the person and he/she will die.
3. To win, a player must reach floor 100, (level 100) of the game, and will be permitted to exit.
4. Players play with their own bodies.


In the first month of the game, over 2000 people die.

Kirito later meets Asuna Yuuki (Asuna), the main heroine of the anime. Cold and alone as well, they team up, to battle with the rest against the Level 1 Boss.

That is the gist of it. Technically, play for life, a real-life MMORPG with real-life repercussions.

Personally, this anime is strongly recommended by me, for it is rare for an anime to feature an online game, specifically and MMORPG. And the anime features it to such an extent that I personally think its flawless. It DOES NOT get better than this. What you are watching, in my opinion is the best so far.

There will also be numerous actions scenes, all of which are well developed, as expected of an mmorpg-based anime.

Also, your basic anime structure will be different because this anime does not fall into the same categories as others, be it shooting action, magic or etc. Like Accel World, both animes show a much different development due to the presence of technology.

The OP, by LiSa, is awesome, and I love it as well.

There are also themes going on as the game progresses (won't mention yet)

Sword Art Online premiered on the 7th of July, and will have 25 episodes. It is currently being fansubbed by Derp, Cynic, Commie, EC-Sigh, Hadena, Hatsuyuki, NyanTaku, UTW-GotWoot (A LOT), and is available in simulcast on Crunchyroll.



Hint: Man ___ fallen
DarrenW
Edited by Myself, LOL