Classic Anime: Gundam Wing

This is where I began.  I saw DBZ on TV first but it was merely fun to watch, this however is what truly opened my heart to anime and manga both.  Gundam Wing is not the first series to hold the title Gundam, but by God it is probably the most loved by its fans.

There is a quality similar in every Gundam series, themes and characters that are reborn or recast depending on writers and so forth.  This version however I think is probably one of the longest and most layered stories I have encountered in anime up until I dived into Railgun and Index.

We start with a time of tremulous peace after mankind has finally colonized space with artificial structures that mimic earth conditions for the humans there.  Earth is under a United Alliance of nations, currently under fairly direct military control.  The Colonies are being treated as colonies of old usually were, sources of income, supplies, and generally secondary citizens.

It is into this era that we meet our first MC, Relena Darlian.  She is of course a teenager, but is traveling with her father on diplomatic missions from the Colonies to Earth.  While looking out a window, she sees a shooting star, that is actually a meteorite to her.

We of course follow this and join a military tracking unit led by a young Zechs Marquis, who wears a mask almost the entire first half of the series.  He and his men are suspicious of this lone meteor and 4 other detected UFOs on incoming trajectories.  Of course they are not natural.

We are explosively introduced to Heero Yui in the Wing Gunam, codenamed 01 by Earth.  It is 1 of 5 Gundam mobile suits, so named because of the alloy they are made from and because of their technological level.  The Alliance is not without recourse to combat the suits however, they have Leos as well, but as we quickly see they are no match for a Gundam.

Heero surprisingly wins the fight but at the cost of his ability to land.  We quickly have Relena and him meet up at her school where she begins to learn he is not the student he seems, especially after he tries to destroy his own suit.

It is not long after that we jump to our other Gundam pilots:

Trowa Barton of Heavy Arms
Quatre Winner of Sand Rock
Duo Maxwell of Deathscythe
Chang Wufei of Shenlong

Each of them are young men and each Gundam is different in ability and technique, Heavy Arms for example is gun happy.

Their enemy is not actually the Earth Alliance, but an organization that has been behind the Colonial policies and creation of the mobile battle suits, Oz.

Zechs is actually from Oz and is often at odds with the Gundams.  Oz itself is later revealed to be much older and nefarious organization that has been leading mankind to a more "enlightened" rule.  Even though there have been advocates for peace that were welcomed, they felt things were not going in the right direction at the time and had them eliminated.

The last main character I will bring up is Treize Khusherenada, the leader of Oz for most of the series beginning, then sent into exile when he did not like the creation of Mobile Doll system into mobile suits.

Of all the characters he will be the one that surprises you most.

The series touchs on an array of themes but most of them deal with warfare and how it should be approached and eventually completely removed from humanity.  We see massive emotional choices of each character and it is never clear cut or easy as some series may have portrayed it.  The characters are very human in how they approach their failures and even their successes.

This is a very political heavy anime but it has plenty of action to complement it.  Even when we settle down into the flow of the series it takes a dark turn with the introduction of machines that seem to look into the future, the Wing Zero Gundam and the Epyon.  Each are fearsome machines and we see an epic battle between them that is well worth it.

In the end however we stay with Relena's battle through the confusion of war and Heero through the confusion of his heart.  It is not as straight forward as it might seem at first, but in the end you are left with an ending that does go back to its beginning with a perfect tone in my opinion.

If there is any Gundam series I would recommend, or any anime series, it is this one.

Additional Note:  There is an OVA after the series timeline called Gundam Wing Endless Waltz...bit over dramatic but still pitch perfect moments for all our MCs and some answers that were left in the air after the end of Gundam Wing.

Anime: Attack on Titan Ep 13: Attack on Trost pt 9

YES!  So after forcing Eren to wake up, Armin desperately informs the elite troops that if the boulder gets placed they win.  Eren is barely moving with the boulder, his regeneration causing steam to constantly stream from him as body is being strained beyond breaking point.

He is forced to watch at the desperate gambles of his friends and comrades as they sacrifice themselves to give him a clear path.  He also gives us a beautiful clarity about why he wants to leave the walls and why what the Titans have done to him is not only tragic to him personally but has always made him angry.

The simple freedom to see the world is denied to mankind and far too many have accepted that to Eren's mind.  They have accepted living in a walled cage and never seeing the outside again.  Eren does not accept this and demands that all must fight for all to be free once again.

This episode is another nail biter, never mind the obvious progress for Eren in his Titan body, but we see soldiers fight desperately for their first victory in 107 years against the Titans.  The after action report gives a full cost of this battle and I was left a little numb that even with a Titan, mankind had a horrifying war ahead of them.

We are left with Eren waking up in an underground cell and chained facing the Commander and Captain of the Recon Corps, the very group Eren wishes to join.  They ask his intentions, with Capt. Levi demanding an answer to their questions.

Eren flashed through all he has been through and we see the above eyes with a simple wish:

"I wish to join the Recon Corps and kill as many Titans as I can!"

Levi seems to like this answer and offers to take responsibility for Eren, including killing him if needed, and the higher ups should be happy with that.

Awesome episode and damned happy to see it.  It does have a summary of episodes 11-12 I found at first annoying, but then it culminates in a lovely result right before the opening starts.  This series is going to suck up my time forever!

[Initial Reaction] To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 1

Or A Certain Scientific Railgun

Why this? Well, they're currently airing season two and I haven't seen any of it. I guess I technically should be starting with A Certain Magical Index? Not quite sure how this works. Way to be super confusing.

Episode 1: Electromaster

This anime takes place in a mythical place called Academy City, where the technology is extra advanced and most everyone is a student. Some of the inhabitents are espers, with more elemental based abilities instead of   the usual things we'd think to attribute to ESP.

Kuroko Shirai belongs to Judgement, apparently those who enforce the rules of Academy City. She is hot on the tail of some hooligans only to find them taken care of by Mikoto Misaka. This initially upsets her, but she gets over it quickly, dogging behind the elder girl.

On their way to school, Mikoto decides to assault a vending machine, not for any reason I can fathom. Just for the lulz.

At school there's a bit of bickering about esper class during gym. Turns out Kuroko is only a Level 1 and Mikoto, exploding things in a pool some distance away but causing a mighty uproar, is a Level 5.

There's some fanservice lesbonic moments in the shower after gym class.

No really.

The point of this is?

There was also a really weird scene in a diner in which Kuroko climbs in Ruiko's lap. It was another one of those throw away scenes that didn't really need to be there, like the earlier one with the vending machine.

They are joined on a trip to a crepe making food truck/park by Kazari Uiharu and her friend Ruiko Saten.

There doesn't seem to be any male protagonists. Where is their Tuxedo Mask?

Kuroko becomes upset at Mikoto and Ruiko's easy friendship (over frog cell phone jiggly things?), jealous even, making the anime even more lesbonic than before with shower groping.

While the other girls are espers of some sort, Ruiko doesn't have any magical ability.

Suddenly there's a bank robbery and a lost child. The bad guys are stopped, but Ruiko gets hit by a car in the process. But, everyone's fine. No one finished their pastries. Best friends forever.

I don't know about this show you guys, I just don't know.

Classic Anime: Yu Yu Hakusho

Ah the classic shows, whether they introduced us long ago to this wonderful myriad of worlds called anime, or simply looking for what the blazes everyone is talking about.  This one I recommend to anyone looking for just a good time but some progressive story as well.

We start with archetype anti-hero Yusuke Urameshi, rebellious teenager, I think they like to use the world ruffian.  Only in a unique take, he is starting out dead.  Yes you read that right, main character starts out dead off the bat.  Fortunately this is only a minor issue, well more or less.  Botan, the "Grim" Reaper, shows up and is of course a cute lass floating in air and a bit of an air head in her speech patterns.  This unusual beginning leads to hilarious introductions to the main cast humans and the leader of the Spirit World, Koenma in baby form is truly hilarious.

The tone of the show from the outset is tongue in cheek, and Yusuke is a bit blunt with both words, and fists.  Even so you start to pull for him because it is obvious he just likes the world simple, and in striking distance.  After a short arc of trials, he is returned to life, but of course he is now gifted to be doing a new job, what with all his free time from skipping class, to be Spirit Detective.

At first it all seems about enjoying the fighting and expanding our view of this world, but it quickly takes a serious turn when we meet Kurama, a demon in a human body, merger not possession.  He steals an artifact that he wants to use to save his human mother at the cost of his life, but Yusuke quickly steps in to offer his own after seeing his family and friends deal with his first death.

That contradiction of loving fights, but putting his life on the line for something more noble goes on through out the series as it begins to become far more serious.  The involvement of Genkai as his teacher and role model, see smart ass old lady that kicks demon ass, and the massive arc of the Dark Tournament that revealed far deeper relations between the main and supporting cast.

We also of course see Yusuke develop into an older smart aleck that becomes insanely powerful only after facing true monsters that just wanted to kill for the fun of it or for their own twisted motives.  That is one thing about this series I liked a lot, there was honest to goodness evil of both monster and human, and often the humans were worse.  Our heroes are not perfect or innocent at all, they have done cruel things and good things, and often they do things that seem to contradict what we expect, but somehow it all weaves well together.

The last arcs deal with two aspects most show skirt around.  Fighting and killing monsters to protect people seems just fine, but what if a group of people are the enemy and the only way to stop them is to kill them?  Up to this point it was a pure monster brawl, demons galore and only demons killing humans.  Some truly twisted story points here but massive progress for our characters culminating in an all out brawl in Demon World between Yusuke and his predecessor Sensui.

The final wrap up takes us where we again have avoided for the most part, the depths of Demon World, as we learn Yusuke has an ancestor still kicking around and that blood has been allowed to reach its potential in him thanks to his training with Genkai.  It seems to become more serious with each arc, but in this we return to the simpler joy of bringing serious issues, like inter-world peace, to fist fights.

Surprisingly I have found that with rewatching this series I hardly ever skip an episode or arc, I watch it beginning to end and enjoy it all again.  Not always true of second or third rounds of a show.  The final episode makes a nice bookend and while not all questions are answered, it is pitch perfect for how we began, with a punch to the gut and lots of laughs.  Highly recommended once again for anyone and there are TONS of episodes so enjoy!

Manga: Bleach 543: Letters

Ok this will be short and sweet.  We went from the quite compelling reforging of Zangetsu and Ichigo....to a chapter I almost think you have to go WAY back and refer to the enemy all over again.

Basically Uryuu is the last LIVING Quincy, more or less, but is now joining the other side of the equation, the Sternritters.  I seriously had to go back and remind myself all that was going on after Ichigo's mini arc.  I would recommend it as well.

Basically we are seeing the introduction of many characters and the reaction to the announcement of Uryuu as the next leader, completely out of the blue.  No really, we are ALL surprised here. There is some unrest of course and references abound, but no huge milestones.

I assume we will go more in depth and again, I highly recommend backing up a few chapters to reacquaint yourself with our enemy up to this point.

Manga: Naruto 636: Kakashi vs Obito Continued

I swear to God too many long running series draw out battles to crazy lengths.  Not the case here.  Obito and Kakashi are still battling with genjutsu, but in this chapter they step out of that phase.

We are treated to some flashbacks to their time before the fateful mission that gave Kakashi is sharingan  eye.  Kakashi is clinging to his old friend's memory but accepting that to protect Naruto and his dream for Hokage and Sasuke's redemption, he must kill the man his friend has become.

The chapter does a very good job of mixing the flashback with the current action, a sparring fight plays an emotional counterpoint to the deadly battle on the pages.  The result of the fight is not a surprise after all "Tobi" has done up to now.

Kakashi lands the definitive blow, but Obito uses his eyes to slip away.

We flash back to the all out battle of the newly resurrected Kage and the Allied Force against Madera.  It appears the master mind behind all of the woes and tragedy of the world is tired of waiting for his new form.

We are left with Obito being betrayed by Madera and a last flash of the past for Obito of Rin as she was back then.  What lies in wait may FINALLY be the end of this war.  I hope the anime catches up to this because quite a bit of this I would love to see if it would translate well or not to animation.

I also really want to know if Sai's observation about Sakura means what I think it does...previous chapter.

[Initial Reaction] The "Hentai" Prince and the Stony Cat Ep 1

Also known as Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko and in shorthand HanNeko.

Episode 1: The Pervert and the Stony Cat

This anime is super pretty. Variegated shadows always pull me in. Like a shiny Deviantart spotlight, I couldn't stop staring at their hair.

Anyway,  the main character is a huge perv. In the first few seconds it is established that he pretty much only joined the track club in order to do squats in front of the swimming pool window and stare at girls. How this wasn't super suspicious, I can only guess. But, they attempt to reward him for his diligence to track and of course, he's not going to tell the truth about being a super lecher, so he accepts.

All this pretending not to be a creep has left him a void of emotions and he wants to be more expressive in order to get a girlfriend. Walking home, he expresses this to his friend, who immediately hands him a box of porn and tells him of the magical wish granting powers of the stone cat on the hill. His friend took an offering of his pervy body pillow and came back a changed man lacking perversions. His friend can now go Mother Theresa the world without impure thoughts for the natives.

And so he makes his way up the hill with his own body pillow, Barbra. As he's about to make his wish, a girl suddenly appears and they run around the hill and scream and then talk about their feelings. She feels as though she is too transparent and would love to be able to bottle up some of her feelings in order to appear more mature. And so they decide to make their cat wish together.

Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Wrong.

The stone cat takes their offerings and gives them what they wished for. The thing is, the stone cat takes what they no long want and gives it to someone else who could use it.

And so perv boy no longer has a mask to hide behind. At school the next day he makes a fool of himself, berating the attractive transfer student by calling her flat chested and totally perving it up at his track captain.

Dubbed 'Hentai Prince' by the entire school, he has some feelings in a room by himself. Until the girl from the hill shows up and complains about how she cannot make any expressions at all.  They go back tot he hill to ask the cat for their personality traits back, but the cat is silent and, dare I say, stoney?

So, after lengthy discussion on the significant plot points and the cat's magic, they discover that the new girl's collar necklace looks a lot like that belt the cat took as an offering. She needed his facade in order to deal with all of the passes made at her. Perv boy vows to get it back, subjugating himself and embarrassing everyone in the process.

He doesn't have it yet.

And so the episode ends.

I wasn't blown away, but it still might surprise me.