Henry Poole is Here [2008] [dvd rental] (movie mini-review)

****

[Movie Information]

After watching Race to Witch Mountain earlier in the day, I was ready for a movie that does not rely on effects to make it a watchable movie. Henry Poole is Here was the movie I was looking for, to an extent. While watching the movie, I could pretty much predict what would happen but I wasn't too upset by this because the story was what the movie relied on rather then effects (this is in no way an effects movie! In fact, it's more of an independent film because there were many creative shots rather than computer effects). This movie is well worth the watch =)

H2O: Footprints in the Sand [2008] [download] (anime review)

*** Image copyright goes out to Zexcs.

I’m actually typing this at around 12:15am on March 14 2009- right after I finished the last episode of H2O: Footprints in the Sand. I was watching this mainly to pass the time while waiting for someone to log on to Yahoo IM (but due to a two hour time difference and their friend visiting before a major event later this morning, this person I was waiting to log back on probably ended up crashing before they remembered to logg back on to Yahoo) but ended up continuing not because the anime was “interesting” but because I honestly had nothing better to do because ToraDora is on the computer at the moment which my sister is using. Oh, and the reason this is being typed before posted is because my hand me down laptop sometimes doesn’t connect to the internet. *le sighhhh*

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H2O: Footprints in the Sand is based on a Japanese adult visual novel by Makura that was released on June 23 2006. The anime was released from January 4 2008 through March 21 2008 spanning a total of 12 episodes. Even though there is a sequel to the visual novel called Root After and Another, there is currently no second season scheduled. There was a manga adaptation released before the anime adaptation. The anime is licensed for an English language release by Kodokawa Shoten.

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The anime opens with the male lead, Takuma Hirose a blind middle school student, reciting part of an adaptation of the poem Footprints (a Christian faith based poem where a human is asking God why there is only one set of footprints in the sand if God said he would always be there). At one point in the anime, towards the beginning, he meets a girl who calls herself Otoha. Otoha tells Hirose that she is a spirit and he is the fabled Chosen One. In order to prove she is a spirit, Otoha takes Hirose’s blindness away. This, in turn, opens up a lot of new possibilities for Hirose’s life and also opens up old wounds.

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I’ll warn you right here, this is a very cruel anime as well as very perverted (I know, it’s an odd combination). One of the female leads, Hayami Kohinata, is constantly picked on an beat up. Other female leads end up tripping onto Hirose’s face to the point where he gets to see their underwear but he always says he saw nothing (this is, of course, after he is given the ability to see). Yui Tabata, another one of the female leads, is the leader of the cruel insults aimed at Kohinata. As the anime goes on, things go from bad to worse to good to magical girl to even worse to time-to-throw-up-from-all-the-drama. Usually I do not mind drama, but this anime did get a tad too far on the drama meter. The first episode had a girl getting beat up and she didn’t put up any sort of fight. Everyone knows this does not happen to such an extent in real life.

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That being said, this anime did have really good moments. I especially loved episode 8, the magical Otoha episode! This and some interesting plot twists did save this anime from getting a two star rating rather than a three. I would have given the anime another half star, but the animation was not that good- especially for a visual novel based anime. Usually, visual novel based anime have excellent animation, but H2O’s was a little below average especially for an anime released in 2008. Also, another saving quality of this anime, was the lack of every girl chasing the male lead. Even though most of the girls seemed interested in Hirose, this was not what controlled the anime’s plot. A really nice breather!

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I’m not jumping up the pick up the OST because, in all honesty, the background music was a bit overused. I found myself tired of the same track being used but the ending theme was very nice while the opening was annoying.

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All in all, H2O: Footprints in the Sand was not too long nor too short of an anime (even though the first few episodes did seem to drag on). The 12 episode length was very suitable for a story of this magnitude. I recommend this anime to fans of visual novel based anime and fans of drama, especially the cheesy kind =)

Yakuza Girl [2008/09] [read online] (Mini-manga review)

**

[link to read online]

... at yesterdays I-studios meeting Shadow brought up a good point- this manga is aimed at mature shounens (boys). I'm a shoujo (girl) but I like shounen series' such as Bleach, Naruto, One Piece and more recently Letter B. Apparently, this manga does follow the typical shounen style... but with a much darker and mature way of doing things. I personally did not like this approach because such an approach makes a manga seem like it's only real point is to please the sexual desires of the Japanese male. Of course, there is nothing really wrong with that (ok, there is, but in Japan some manga artists draw to sell to this type of audiance). I'm not a Japanese male, nor am I a pervy girl (ok, I take that back. I am, but I don't really like overtly perverted manga *sigh*). Yakuza Girl could have been really good, but it was rushed and the story was too perverted (on mainly one females part, but you can find that out by reading this manga when you have nothing else to read). I do not reccomend this manga at all... hardly an "if you're bored read" at that. You're better off reading something else. GO READ SOMETHING ELSE!!

NOTE: A "mini-manga review" is a review where I just give my opinions rather than a full fleged review of a series. I hope you are ok with this but if you would like me to make a full review, let me know and I will.

Blindness [2008] [dvd rental] (movie review)

**

"The only thing more terrifying than being blind is being the only one who can see," The doctors wife.

I was really excited about seeing this film because I had been waiting to see it for over a year! To my surprize, the reviews on the internet were spot on. This movie is a very painful watch; not the good kind.

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The movie starts out with a japanese man who mysteriously goes blind while driving. He ends up stopping traffic. In order to get traffic moving again, a set of men rush over to help; one of the men volenteers to drive the Japanese dude home. Well, this man ends up being called The Theif because after dropping off the japanese man at home, he steals the car. Soon after this man goes blind, people around the world also start going blind. This blindness is not your ordinary kind. In fact, people can still somewhat see through a milky white haze. Due to this, this special type of contagious blindess ends up being called a disease. Once the blindess is seen as a disease, the people who have this desease are put into a sych ward in order to issolate them from the rest of the world. They end up having to fend for theirselfs because even doctors won't see them. Eventually, the guards who were making sure the blind people were staying in the building end up dying........

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Story wise, this movie is brilliant. I really wanted to buy the book, but could not find it. Before I could easily find it! Oh well. I'll still be on the hunt for that book because I keep hearing the book is brilliant and that's why people who have read the book hate the movies guts! Visually, the milky white haze was done really well. Other than that,this movie was VERY LACKING. I don't care how good the "story" was because that did not save the watchability of this movie.

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You're better off watching a different movie. Don't give this one the time of day unless your into women getting rapped in order to provide food... even that would not happen in real life.

.... I honestly don't know what to say about this movie. It's that bad!

Ergo Proxy [2006] [dvd rentals] (anime review)

****

Have you ever watched one episode of an anime and knew that said anime was going to be all sorts of epically awsome-amazing? Well, Ergo Proxy did just that (at least for me)! Not because of the studio Manglobe and not because of the art; because of the epic story. I'll explaine more in my review. Read on, readdddd onnnnnnnn.

ALSO, there is a new feature for these reviews- the AkiaDex! It's a dictionary that explaines various words and concepts found in any of my blogs (mostly for reviews).
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-Summary-
Romdo is a domed city built to protect it's citizens from an global ecological dissaster that made the outside world a place that life could not thrive on. Romdo houses all sorts of citizens- humans, androids known as AutoReives, companion type androids, and sepical types of citizens (who had to earn citizenship) called Fellow Citizens. One day the Cogito virus began affecting androids causing them to murder people and commit crimes they otherwise wouldn't even attempt to commit. Re-L Mayer is then assigned to investigate the Cogito virus. During her investigation she comes into contact with a Fellow Citizen who is connected to the creation of Romdo in a way that Re-L could not even imagine.....
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-Credit(s)/Disclaimer(s)-
All opinions expressed here are that of their individual owners and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Goggle Blogger nor that of their partners. The above image belongs to Manglobe Studios and FUNimation. I claim no ownership to any images used in my blogs unless stated otherwise, nor do I claim all these opinions as my own; just the ones that have Akia and/or Akia Tomiyo beside them (unless I'm the only one reviewing because then all the opinions are mine unless stated otherwise).
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-Initial Impression(s)-
I already knew I was going to love this anime because of the company that produced it. I had been wanting to watch this anime for about two years now; I would have watched it sooner, but I wasn't "old enough" when I saw the trailer on a FUNimation DVD. Initially, the anime really provoked my emotions =) I seriously love anime with robots who have minds of their own. I don't know where this fascination comes from, all I know is that it's there to stay for a long time.

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-The Music/ English Dub-
The dub! It. Is. A-ma-zing. This is one of those rare anime where the dub surpasses the Japanese version! And the music! I'll just say I got my hands on both OSTs =)
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-The Visuals-
I don't have much to say about the visuals because if you know how Manglobe's anime looks, you know how this one looks. Excellent animation that hardley ever failed. Even side episodes were brilliantly animated =D

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-The Story-
The story incorperates (probably not on purpose) the Jesus Christ story, but in a twisted way. I adored this! I was watching every episodes wondering where they would turn (some dragged on a bit, but that's expected from an anime such as this). There were a few moments where I wanted to skip an episode, which is enterially ok to do with this anime because it's not an overly confusing one. I do not reccomend skipping because each episode has some nice tid bits of information that others did not have. You'll notice a tone change once you're half way through the series, but please don't let this turn you away from such an amazing anime!

AHHHHH! [#2] Dangggg FUNimation 0_o ((I loveee Ergo Proxy))

I'm still working on summaries and my opinions for this list! ~Akia [2/20/2009]

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FUNimation is taking over the anime world by storm!

They have been aquiring rights to anime that Geneon

had before and bunches of anime from Japan that

have become popular thanks to fan subbing 0__0

FUNi, you rule!

Just to name a few of the aquirements

(ones that I am most definantly looking forward to):

1] D.Gray-man [3.31.09]

2] Dragonaut [2009]

3] Gakutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo [2009]

4] Kaze no Stigma [summer 2009]

5] Nabari No Ou [2009]

6] Romeo & Juliet [spring 2009]

7] Sgt. Frog [coming soon]

8] Soul Eater [coming soon]

9] Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ [coming soon]

10] Blasreiter [coming soon]

11] Bamboo Blade [late 2009]

And some more

(not looking forward to these as much):

12] Evangelion 1.01: You Are (not) Alone [AFI Film Festival 2009]

13] Heroic Age [spring 2009]

14] Ikki Tousen [coming soon]

15] OH! Edo Rocket [2009]

16] Shinguri: Death Frenzy [comign soon]

17] The Tower of Druaga [coming soon]

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1] Allen Walker was a homeless boy who made a choice that gave him the power to see the Akuma - skeletons in people. He also has an alchemists arm. Today, Allen Walker has decided to become part of a group that fights Akuma with the power of Innocence (Allen's arm is made with Innocence) and to find the person who trained him in the ways of fighting Akuma. [[this anime is based on the Jump manga of the same name]]

2] The International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA) in Japan has started creating "dragons" (mecha) in order to combat the threat of an asteroid only to find out that this asteroid is not their ownly trouble- dragon like creatured begin to cause chaos on Earth! [[this is an original anime produced by Gonzo]]

3] Albert had one goal in mind- to escape the reality that was his life. During his attempt to fufill this goal, Albert meats a count who seems to have a luxurious life. Intriged by this count, Albert ends up inviting him to paris to experience the Pari right life. [[loosley based on the book Le Comte de Monte-Cristo]]

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Did I ever mention that I loveeeee the FUNi dub of Ergo Proxy? I didn't! How silly of me!

[2/50] >.< Ughhh and OH YAH!!

I turned in Skin two days ago not only because it was due, but because I could not get into that book! It's just one of those books that gives you the end at the begining then goes to the past to lead up to the end. *sigh* First fail of the challenge!

BUT I picked back up Med Center: Virus and Flood =D

It's an omnibus.

I'm on the Virus part.