Nisemonogatari - Episode 1

Nisemonogatari kicks off with Araragi chained to what appears to be a melting-pot of chairs. Araragi isn't sure where he is. He can only recount the length he's been there. It's at this point that we're visited by our star heroine, Senjougahara. If you can remember how eerie she was from the previous series, then brace yourself, she's gotten eerier. Even with Senjou's odd, yet monotonous behavior, her interactions with Araragi always manages to rise a smile out of me. Having Araragi struggle to taste but a drop of H2O from her finger, expressing her "love" for Araragi through the words, "I love you, Araragi-kun...even if you were entirely covered in feces"; congratulations, Araragi, you've sure got yourself a catch.

But this little introduction is only momentary, as the series fixes itself into a more grounded reality, if such a thing exists in the world of Monogatari. Araragi is bored; his tutor for the day, Hanekawa, can't tutor him, and with a schedule devoid of activity, he's left to trudge his house, looking for any and all activities (ACTIVITIES). Little does Araragi know that Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki - Episode 1 was just released today, and he could easily satiate three minutes of his boredom watching that wonderful, sexy cat bounce around a poorly drawn city (shame on you, Japanese artists). Instead, Araragi ventures into the living room, where his sex-appeal-filled sister is watching television. Woe is you, Araragi. You can't touch that.

In the end, Araragi finds his calling for the day with an old acquaintance, Nadeko. She was the one who did this stuff in the previous series, which resulted in lots of other stuff happening... Yeah, she wasn't important, and still isn't. Rather, Nadeko is Araragi's catalyst for the day, spurring him into the sunshine filled streets, where the real episode can begin. An episode fraught with Hachikuji, a favorite of mine. Like always, Araragi introduces himself to her like a true gentleman, grabbing her and then throwing her repeatedly in the air, kissing her all over her body (chest not excluded), and screaming his pent up woes, "I missed you!" D'awww, they make such a cute couple < 3

This fated reunion between two friends, Hachikuji and Araragi, remains for the rest of the episode. Most of their encounter is expressed through silly randomness, but their encounter does serve a purpose, in the end. It's revealed that Araragi's been contemplating, for some time, on revealing to his family the true identity of his ego, his vampiric side. Actually, this contemplation was hinted earlier in the episode (nice foreshadowing there), but it isn't until Araragi nears the end of his encounter with Hachikuji that he reveals the whole effect of this consideration. And it's received in a pretty mature manner, which is surprising, because she's a 10 year old. In order to explain her side of the issue, Hachikuji juxtaposes the supernatural with the scenes behind a curtain. "Normally, you only need to see what's happening on stage, that's how reality works." Very true. What's behind the stage will only result in more questions. If Araragi's family is ever to discover what's behind the curtain, it's Araragi's job to guide them out, "but until then, the answer is to do nothing." ~slow clap~

Much like the previous series, the artistry and animation is top-notch, and used very effectively. Its avant-garde style, I feel, connects the viewer with the estranged voices on screen, leaving sanity to miscarry, and surrealism to flicker larger and larger. An excellent start to a series I have high hopes for.

Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki - Episode 1

Note: So these blogs will be quite short due to the episodes only being 3 minutes long.

When I first head of of this anime, I was instantly reminded of Natsume Soseki's book, I Am a Cat. The synopsis for Poyopoyo lead me to believe we'd see everything through the eyes of a cat and be lead about his every whim. Maybe I was adding some unneeded pieces to that synopsis in order to liken it more to Natsume's book... Either way, this is nothing like the book.

This anime focuses on a cat known as Sato Puffy, who was discovered lying in the middle of a street by a drunkard. He's round. Lightning fast. Can jump high, but always falls afterwards. Is good natured, and can endure teasing, though he's not too good about it behind closed doors. He doesn't mind taking baths (this is like an oxymoron for cats). Is incredibly charming. So round and cute people often can't tell what kind of animal he is. Has big claws, and is well-mannered with them, except when it comes to the older brother, whose arms he uses as a scratching post. Sato's sadistic behavior towards the brother is odd, though, as he prefers the company of the older brother over the sister at night. Maybe he's just tsundere. Oh gosh. This, in turn, embroils the sister, throwing her into a jealous frenzy of fire with a hair style reminiscent of Goku. Baawww, Sato. No... If you treat Poyopoyo like any other anime, you'll be sorely disappointed. I can tell this small series is meant as filler in-between commercials in Japan land. It's supposed to be fun.

Shakugan No Shana III (Final) - Episode 13

As the foot-soldiers of both respective army's continue brawling it out, we're brought to the attention of Sophie, and her team of who the fuck knows, nor cares. Sophie, along with the other two men, express concern over The God of Creation's revival, with one of the men, Centerhill, even sensing the beast's presence within the dimensional portal. And his senses are correct, as the beast is nearing its debut into the real world, with Shana and Yuji riding upon the God itself.

The series moves on with the start of Sabrac and Khamsin's battle. As Carmel and Rebecca are both injured and vulnerable, due to Sabrac's unrestricted spell, Stigma, which swells whatever wounds inflicted, they've left Khamsin to take on Sabrac. Personally, Khamsin is my favorite flame haze. His cool, yet aloof demeanor brings about a certain air of mystery. Not to mention, his abilities are quite something; being able to turn into a giant made of rock with, above all, rocket feet. If that doesn't qualify as badass, then you don't know what badass is, because that IS badass. Getting back on track, Khamsin and Sabrac begin to go at it, with Khamsin appearing as if he's in the lead. As he swings his mighty rod about, slapping Sabrac all over, you can just tell Khamsin knows his shit. However, Sabrac doesn't take kindly to Khamsin flaunting his badassery around, and explodes in a fiery rage, pushing Khamsin further down his territory. Little does he know that this entire time, Khamsin's been goading Sabrac into attacking him. Doing so has allowed Khamsin to separate some of the territory's rock — Sabrac's body — from Sabrac himself, ensuring Khamsin an opportunity to collect the leftover boulders, and form a giant made of them. It's unfortunate that this clever plan of dear Khamsin doesn't work. Sabrac isn't an opponent you can defeat with rocks, regardless of how badass the proponent of those rocks is. Sabrac easily blows the rock giant down to size and manages to land a blow upon Khamsin's left hand, downsizing Khamsin to the same level as his two partner's, Rebecca and Carmel. Of course, these kinds of conditions, even if fatal, won't pressure a flame haze into giving up. The two women return to the battlefield in order to now aid an equally injured Khamsin. Alas, their efforts are of no use to Sabrac, who appears to never receive any long-standing injury.

As The God of Creation swims through the devoid space, breathing in the O2 foreign, barren dimensions not related to humans in any way possess, Sabrac's palace of rock begins to chip away. Sabrac, who's in utter awe at the presence of this god, has begun falling deep into this dimensional hole. You could say he purposely allowed himself to, since the flame haze's were successfully able to latch upon The God of Creation's body. Sabrac's motive for letting himself fall is revealed soon after, though. The thought of Mare, the Tomogara/Mystes girl who we saw in the beginning of the second Shakugan No Shana series, someone who seemingly meant a lot to Sabrac, races through his mind. Mare left Sabrac to obtain the Reiji Meigo... to increase her small existence; to stand on a more equal footing to Sabrac, whose existence utterly drowned hers. An episode ago we saw Sabrac reminiscing Mare, questioning her motive to strive for something such as that. But now, in the presence of a god, Sabrac finally realizes why she left, why she couldn't stand being so inferior. Sabrac's thoughts burn away with his body (earlier, Rebecca threw her own flame at him). Sad as this scene is, we're straddled right back into action.

As the previous episode strongly hinted, Yuji and Shana have now begun swinging their swords at each other. It's at this point that I can take an encounter of the two seriously. There's no unrestricted spell known as "love" on this battlefield, but a fierce determination to stop the other from succeeding with their plan. Even though Yuji has repeatedly informed Shana, and us viewers ~blushes~, that he's serious, I still have a strong suspicion that Yuji's consciousness was, in some way, warped. The Yuji we were introduced to in the first two Shakugan No Shana series' didn't appear to share the same mentality this Yuji does. What this Yuji is striving for may be of a philanthropist nature, but it's eerie, and depends far too much on destruction to achieve its fruition. Not to mention, Yuji was fiercely dependent on Shana in the previous series', as if her every thought on Tomogara, on the world, was from a philosophical God itself. And I'm not ignoring Yuji's issues with Shana's social behavior; I'm talking about Yuji's admiration of Shana's life behavior, her thoughts and actions in general. And to now see Yuji rebel against Shana, to continue to mock her with the plight of walking along his gait; it doesn't seem like the Yuji I came to know prior to this final series. Shana and Yuji's fight continues until both obtain injury's from the other; Shana with a gash on the right side of her torso, Yuji with a gash in the middle of his forehead. And it's at this point that the fighting stops. Shana informs Yuji that she'll never follow him in the state he's in; that she'll defeat him and The God of Creation, helping Yuji search for a path more appropriate afterwards.

Since the other anime's I planned to blog haven't aired yet, I decided to start now. Like right nao. And with a series I've been watching from the getgo. Whether I continue to blog this series depends on how much time other series' take out of my life.

So, what's this?

Well, hello there. My name is lucjan (it's actually not), and I'm going to begin blogging anime and manga here. And... Well, I guess anyone who manages to find this blog (possibly from my MAL account?) will be asking: why? Why, lucjan, why waste your time on a blog that'll never achieve any form of popularity or recognition? Well, it's not that I'm necessarily creating a blog for recognition, or even acknowledgement, but that I'm interested in the prospect of blogging, or more specifically, reviewing the many interests of this world, and in this particular case, anime. I have absolutely no experience in reviewing anything, let alone blogging, but my English skills are good enough for this kind of hobby. I'm hoping that by blogging/reviewing episodes/chapters of anime/manga (lul at all muh dashes), I can sharpen my skills in reviewing interests of mine. I'm also trying to achieve a more consistent track record with watching anime. I'll start an anime, such as Guilty Crown, and the minute I begin to lose even a sliver of interest (well, it's Guilty Crown, come on), I immediately drop the anime. That can't go on. So I'd like to correct that habit of mine.

As for my style, well, you should have been able to identify my style from what I just wrote. I can tell I'll develop a habit of commentating my own writing, and through parenthesis. Maybe that's a bad thing, maybe it's a good thing; maybe this development will work to my advantage in capturing the reader's attention.

As for what I'll be covering, you shouldn't expect very much from me, especially since I'm a newbie. I'll begin reviewing individual episodes soon; that is, as soon as the few anime's I'm looking forward to air. The anime's I'll be covering this season are:

- Another

- Nisemonogatari

- Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki (the speed in my episodic reviews of this anime will depend on how easily I can obtain each episode. It's not popular, and is receiving little coverage, with mega blogs, such as randomc, not even including it in their Winter 2012 preview)

As for manga's:

- Naruto

- Deadman Wonderland

So that about sums it up. "Another" will be airing tomorrow, and should show up online by the next day, so depending on the other two anime's release dates, I should be starting around Saturday.

Edit: So apparently "Another" airs January 9th, not January 6th, so I'll be covering that starting Monday or Tuesday, depending on how fast it's subbed. In that regard, my first post should still be around the 7th, with Nisemonogatari. Either the 7th or 8th because, again, I have no clue on how long it'll take for it to show up online.

You can find me at MAL: http://myanimelist.net/profile/lucjan