Anime Review: Highschool of the Dead 1-12

            The zombie apocalypse has begun hitting everywhere from Atlanta to Japan, atleast in media that is. Highschool of the Dead began as a Japanese Manga written and drawn by Shouji & Daisuke Satou. It’s just a normal day for Takashi Komuro at school when he notices that something peculiar is happening at the gate of his school. Shocked at seeing a teacher being attacked by someone at the gate, he runs into the classroom of his childhood friend Rei Miyamoto demanding that they both need to leave. That is when they realize that their school-mates are not only being killed, but their bodies are reanimating and attacking the living.  





STORY

            If you watched The Walking Dead or anything else zombie-like recently, you know what to expect. What you may not expect is that this is also a harem anime. The main protagonist Takashi goes from brooding and quite to bad ass zombie slayer. During this time it seems that each one of the females in his party of survivors likes him in one way or another. Also much like The Walking Dead, it’s not the zombies that are they major problem for our band of survivors – It’s the other survivors. Most of the people who have lost family and friends have been driven mad. Some where mad to begin with and now due to the lack of law enforcement are allowed to be the evil that they’ve always been. With a few twists here and there a majority of the series is predicable. Think if the Walking Dead fused with Love Hina or Girl’s Bravo and you’ll get the idea. It’s not as original as one would hope for a zombie related series. 2/5

CHARACTERS

            You have your basic harem anime set-up here: Takashi is the main hero of the story who goes from emo kid to bad-ass leader in just a few episodes, his childhood friends Rei and Saya, the gun-otaku Kohta, the swordswomen Saeko, the ditzy over-busty school nurse Shizuka, and young girl who just lost her father names Alice, and her dog Zero/Zeke. There is your harem ingredients – Main guy, friend who is a tomboy who he will most likely get with, brainy friend, nerd guy friend, samurai girl, large breasted ditz, and a loli with a puppy. Nothing overly original at first, but as the episodes go on you discover each character having a deeper story. Kohta’s weapon obsession allows him to go from nerdy shy kid to absolute bad-ass that even Rambo would avoid, just to have him turn around and be shy again. Saeko is a traditional Japanese women bound by honor and tradition and adept with a katana. She also enjoys using her katana against the dead with a satanic unforgiving killer who let a man think he was raping her just so she would have the excuse to cracker his spine. Sexy, no? My largest gripe here would be the lack of a serious antagonist. Shino starts out as an enemy, but then he gets pushed away. I hope he returns later as he has a lot of potential that I hope does not go unnoticed. 3/5

AUDIO

            The music is awesome. The intro is catchy and psyches you up every time. The ending changes at the end of each episode and it usually flows along with how the current episode ends. The soundtrack during the episode is also very good. You can feel the depth of the situation when times are bad, and you are psyched back up when a fight scene starts. There is a nice mix of bad-ass/emotional to keep you wanting more. 4/5

VISUAL

            Extremely smooth animation and well placed CG makes this anime a visual feast. Well placed bright colors and slick direction make this fun to watch. The blood splatter on the wall seems a little over-done, but really gets you in to how violent you can expect the series. The over abundance of ecchi scenes may turn some away. You’ll have scenes where you’ll have 50 panty shots and a couple of well placed objects to cover chests, but then there is full out nudity in the next episode. For the most part, it seems to be having fun with itself – I mean how many times do you see a boob-giggle/bullet dodge scene? 4/5





OVERALL

            Highschool of the Dead, at it’s core, is still a harem anime stuck in the zombie apocalypse. Tons of scenes that verge on the edge of hentai, mixed with comedy and a good bunch of action and blood. The series does suffer from the over-abundance of panty shots and side-boobs. When you can start to comment on things about how long a certain girl has been wearing her panties, then it’s becoming a little much. Then again, this could also be a way of the anime making fun of itself and anime like it. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but give it a try if you got time for 12 episodes. OVERALL – 3.25/5

If you're interested - Highschool of the Dead can be bought over at RightStuf.com or AnimeCornerStore.com. Both are great places to purchase from. ^^

TV Review: Adult Swim's Toonami Week 1

It has been gone for many years now, but fans have spoken: Toonami has returned. Now known as Adult Swim's Toonami has premiered last Saturday night replacing Adult Swim's Saturday Anime night. Here is my review for T.O.M.'s return to T.V.  Sense this is less of a review about a single T.V. series or movie, this review will cover the entire new Toonami block. I'll break it down by anime!
 (If the anime was previously on AS, it gets docked a point today.)

Me too, me too..

Bleach:

Inherited from Adult Swim's anime night. Bleach has been about the ongoing adventures of the substitute soul reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends battling various other Soul Reapers, Hallows (Undead evil spirits), or something in-between. The first episode to appear on Toonami wrapped up the most recent arc of the T.V. series where Ichigo and his friends/slight rivals battled against the spirits of their own weapons. Neat idea, but it really didn't need to last thing long. 

Bleach started out as an amazing series but has been pushed and stretched out far enough to loose most of it's original audience. Here is hoping the next arc will be the last. Before you start to flame me with hate-mail, remember that this is only my opinion. Bleach, like Naruto and Dragon Ball before it, has gone on for too long. There is anime that last forever (Doremon, Detective Conan) and then there is anime that often writes itself into a corner and drags on for too long. I wouldn't mind them even starting the series over again seeing how I originally missed most of it.  

2/5.

I love me a women in mittens.

 Deadman Wonderland:

Ganta is framed for the murder of everyone in his classroom, but he claims innocence. He in tossed into a new type of privately ran prison known as Deadman Wonderland along with other hard time criminals. There he meets the enigmatic Shiro, a young girl who apparently already knows him and considers him a good friend.  Ganta also discovers that he can now manipulate his own blood to become a weapon to defend himself. 

An interesting series that for some reason feels like a mix of FMA, Eureka 7, and Durarara. All great series of course, but will this series be able to keep out of the shadows? It seems like it is a little confusing at first, so I hope this series goes somewhere soon. First episode down, 12 more to go~

3/5

Episode 1: Check out the little android girl's panties.

Casshern Sins:

A reboot of the original Casshern, Casshern Sins brings us back to the world where the human race has been destroyed. It seems to of ended this way due to Casshern himself, who is now wanted dead by all robots on the surface. I tried to watch this series some time ago in it's original Japanese language, but honestly it bore me and I never got passed episode 2. Watching it again for a second time reminded me that it wasn't as bad as I originally remembered but then again that may change when I watch episode 2 tonight. Hopefully this series will go somewhere good and fast, because it needs to.  

2/5

We are the brothers who stand for love & justice!

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

The second series based on the manga Full Metal Alchemist, Brother hood follows the storyline of the manga much closer then the original T.V. series. New animation of our favorite characters with slight changes to the voice crew. (Roy's Japanese Voice & Al's English are different.) I'm pretty sure all of this series has already played previously on Adult Swim, but I would not mind watching it again. The Elric Brothers are about to make their way to the north where we will be introduced to new characters such as Gen. Armstrong's sister and the new Sloth. Even though this series was inherited from AS's original lineup, it does seem like a perfect match for Toonami.

 4/5

"Dude, you're on my eyes!"

GitS: Stand Alone Complex Second Gig:

The second season of the Ghost in the Shell T.V. series. I honestly love both of these seasons more then I do the original movie. The episode that premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami brought back some good memories. I do love this series, but I've already seen it enough to know the best lines in the episode as soon as it started.

"When you become a prosthetic, can you still have sex?" 

"Want to find out?"

4/5

The Bepop Crew.

Cowboy Bepop:

The classic series about bounty hunters who travel between planets just to make a little cash so they can have beef in their sauteed peppers. This is an anime everyone needs to see at-least once. Great action, fighting, comedy, and even a enough eye-candy for both the sexes. Again though, we would of been watching this anime with or without Toonami.

4/5

Overview: Toonami is just now returning. Remember when Lord Voldemort came back and he started a little weak, or when you die in FFXI you are weakend for a short period before regaining your strength. That is the idea here:

Toonami is reborn, but it still needs people to push it. You want more anime? Demand it and watch Toonami either way. You want more time slots? Then watch it every week! Even though rival channels have taken shows such as DBZ and Naruto, doesn't mean we can't bring back some of the other classic anime. I'm hoping the future will bring a nice lineup such as this:

Long Anime: Bleach is perfect, replace it with One Piece once it is over. Keep the Funimation curse words and blood too! Hell, even Ranma 1/2 would be a great anime to play in this slot.

Hour of new anime: Once Deadman and Casshern are over, maybe another newer anime or lesser known anime could hit this time slot. Air Gear, Fairy Tail, My Bride is a Mermaid, or Vandred would be great for new viewers. 

Hour and a Half of the classics: Kenshin, Evangelion, Gundam, or Tenchi. Keep a rotation of all the classic anime that has been played. After Bepop maybe replay Big O? Then after GitS perhaps run Durarara again? A good mix of old and new would seal the deal. 

I'd like to give you a higher score T.O.M., and here is hoping I can in the near future. 3.4/5

Welcome Back T.O.M. Glad you have you here.

Edit: Something I wanted to mention to everyone:

Remember that Adult Swim became what it was because of Toonami's Midnight Run. Just keep that in mind when you start your complaining. ^.~

TV Series Review: The Walking Dead Season 2

After a very impressive first season of The Walking Dead, AMC's new hit show returns for a second season to remind us that during the zombie apocalypse you should be more concerned with the living then the dead. There be spoilers ahead, so read on with caution. Dead men may tell no tales, but the undead sure make a fun story.

STORY: The first episode started with something we haven't seen sense the first episode of season 1. A herd of walkers taking a walk though the highway that our protaganists just so happen to be stopping at. During this, Carol's daughter Sophia decides to get aggro and take a run into the nearby woods. (In the MMO world, we call this "Training." Training as in the one that goes "Chochoo", not the one that Goku seems to do every season of DB.) Two walkers give chase as Rick peruses opening up Season 2 with a little panic. This sets up what I call "Season 2 Part 1: Hershel's Farm & Finding Sophia Arc." The story slows down a little after the first few episodes. We get a few wow factor's from Shane and a great part with Daryl being completely delusional. Moving onto the 3 month gap "Rick & Shane's Relationship Issues Arc", the story blossoms out as Rick's relationship with Shane starts to turn from best friends to rival's for Lori's heart. Unfortunately, neither of them seem to realize that Lori is a bitch and the show would probably be better off if they worked together and ignored Lori. Despite the slow slump near the end of the mid-season the story picks up nicely giving us a season I was ready to watch again as soon as it was over. 4.5/5

DIRECTION: I've always stood by the idea of following the original story perfectly, but I find myself saying the opposite with The Walking Dead.
They took the basics of the comic and used new twists and turns to toss off the readers of the comic. Some character have lived longer then there comic counterpart, and some have died quicker. Like I stated earlier, usually I'm the guy that can tell you what they changed from the book/novel/manga to the movie/series and why they should of kept it. This, like the Death Note movies, is a great exception. You never know who's going to be bit next, shot accidentally, or have sexual intercourse. Even introducing characters that are not from the comic have been benefiting the show. (Google Dixon Chicks, and you'll see why.) 5/5

CHARACTERS: Character development has come along way from season one. Rick is starting to change to suit this new world. Characters such as Shane and Carol are seeking deeper in a darkness while newly introduced characters such as Hershel and Maggie are making the story even sweeter. One of my favorite developments in this season character wise is Shane. We did not get to see him this far into the comics. Rick's best friend also is the mirror image of Rick himself. Where Rick is holding onto his humanity, Shane believes that the time to be humane is over. The only thing this season suffers from is the "red shirts." People who where introduced early in the season who you knew would be dead by the end. I guess everyone needs a little fodder, but let's hope the impact of their deaths lasts intro season 3. Even if it's only a little. 4.5/5

AUDIO: The music is nothing short of perfect to the tone of this series. It's nothing I'd run out and buy in a CD form, but still fits the series extremely well. 5/5

VISUAL: Even though there was less money to be spent per episode, Season 2's special effect department was on the ball here. All of the walkers looked like they would walk right though the TV. Some of the CG blood from head shots looked a little to CG, but then again I've never seen anyone take a bullet to the head in real life to compare. Know a few people who I woulden't mind practicing on. j/k 5/5

OVERALL: This season was a thrill ride. If they can keep things interesting as they have been, season 3 will be nothing short of eye-popping, jaw-dropping, underpants-accidenting excitement. From the moment the credits rolled and a commercial came on for "The Talking Dead," I popped right over to Amazon.com to preorder season 2 on DVD. 4.8/5


SPOILERS AHOY!!!!!!!

BEST MOMENTS:
Best Line: "I can't profess to understand God's plan, but when Christ promised a resurrection of the dead, I just thought he had something a little different in mind."
Best Scene: Shane & Rick Finally Settle Things. The moon setting while they stand on the hill. Fantastic!
Best Surprise: A Wild Michonne Appears! Could not of asked for a better way to introduce a new character.

WORST MOMENTS:
Worst Line: "Where's Carl?" Carl became the kid who never listens this season. Whenever he's told to stay put, he sneaks away. I blame his mom. :D
Worst Scene: Lori's Car Accident. Seriously? You could not look at the map BEFORE you started driving?
Worst Surprise: "What the hell do you mean, February?!" 6 episodes. 6 episodes after waiting almost a year. We where promised 12 season 2 episodes, and we eventually got it after the 3 month gap between the mid-season finale. Way to keep me wanting.

End of Spoilers!!