Bakemonogatari [ep.1&2]

Bakemonogatari is the product of SHAFT.

~Episode 1~ [screencaps]

Episode 1 of Bakemonogatari definantly made me want to continue on with the series not only because of the interesting story of a girl who had her weight stolen by a crab (which is later revealed to be a "god"), but also because of the animation approach which reminds me of the Ef series! The episode ended on a note that made me want to watch the second one ASAP.

~Episode 2~

The second episode solved the problem the first one presented, and also made it look like the anime was over with only two episodes. If it was not for the next episode preview, I probably would have mistake this series for an OVA anime (it's actually scheduled for 12 episodes). I warn people who plan to watch this that episode 2 deals with the topic of rape; it gets pretty deep.

[3/50] Chasing Yesterday #1: Awakening (review)

[book 3 out of the 50 books in a year challenge 2009/2010]

[this book was checked out from a library]

***

"At first, there was nothing but the pain. It began as a low rumble, background noise. It was almost soothing, the way it folded around her like a blanket. It made her mind dull, gave her a place to hide. It throbbed. It hummed. It came in waves, tossing her up, dragging her under, washing over her, carrying her away from herself, from everything." Awakening; pg. 1

Awakening opens up with a girl laying on the ground in the aftermath of major explosion. She is without memories... yet she knows how to move her eyes, how to speak, how to function. Once the girl is found and taken to the hospital, her story is show on the news and she is now known as "little girl lost." This girl does not like being called this, nor the name she has been given by the media- Jane Doe. She, instead, wishes to be called J.D. J.D. is soon shipped to a home for kids no one wants any longer. Here she meets a boy named David. At first the two don't hit it off, but eventually she ends up telling her the few days worth of a life story she has....

I ended up reading this 207 page book in a few hours. It is a book for those 8 years of age and older, but I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the second book (which I checked out from the library when checked this one out). Overall, the book had a story that kept me interested- made me want to read untill I finished.

50 bk Challenge [2009/2010]

I originally started this challenge back in Febuary but never really got around to reading books as I had planned... so I've decided to restart the challenge this month (july) and go to next year, this month (july 2010). The rules are simple. I can't read how-to books, non-chapter books for this challenge. The book has to be AT LEAST 250 PAGES IN LENGTH. That is all. If you're going to participate in this, let me know :]

I'll do my best to review most of the books I complete.

I'm counting books I read last month as ones towards the challenge... yep.

Completed books in the challenge (in order of being completed):
1- Skinned [review]
2- Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside
3- Chasing Yesteray #1: Awakening [review]

Gattaca [1997] [dvd rental] (mini-movie review)

****

My anatomy teacher had her students (the ones who weren't seniors or seniors who had finished checking out of high school) start to watch Gattaca. I was still checking out that day, so I missed the first part of the movie. The chunk I did get to see made me want to run off and rent the movie. I did the same day (after school of course) and really enjoyed this movie. What surprised me the most was that Gattaca was realeased in 1997. If you're looking for a different kind of science movie, then this is a really good watch.

Cyborg She [2008] [download] (Japanese movie)

****

-Summary-

On November 22, 2007 Jirou Kitamura spends his birthday alone with no girlfriend to even speak of. This has been the occuarnce for quite a few of his birthdays. He goes to a department store to by him self a present. As he is doing this, Kitamura notices a 'cute' girl following him.
After buying himself a present, Kitamura goes to a resturant to eat his birthday meal. Before he is able to finish eating, the girl appears before him only to say it is her birthday as well. The two eat together, but Kitamura realizes he can't pay for both meals. The girl, in responce, drags him out of the resturant. The two end up runing around town only to end up at Kiramura's house. Soon after, Kitamura ends up realizing this girl knows him somehow but before he can ask, she tells him that she is a time travelr before dissapering for a year.
On his 21st birthday, the girl comes back- or so it seems... turns out this time the girl is a cyborg sent to prevent Kitamura from dieing in a tragic earthquake!
-Initial Impressions-
If you've known me long enough, you'd know I adore anime and movies of this type- ones involving cyborgs. The first part of the movie really got me excited, but did not work on my emotions as much as when the cyborg version of the girl came. It was most definantly a thrill ride and one that worked on my emotions. I can't really say 89% of what I want to say on this movie because it'll be spoiler-rific!!
-The Music-
I don't really remember the music very well... thusly leaving me unable to review the music!
-Film-
The way this movie was shot is impressive (but I do have to admit that the graphics during the earth quake were a bit cheesy). There is something about the way Japanese shoot their movies that really make me feel like I'm experiencing the movie first hand. I do have to say that the fiture shots are abnormal feeling, which is probably the way it should feel because the future is not something I'm used to or have experienced.

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 =)