Archive for Japanese Anime

Corpse Princess, Shikabane Hime

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 10, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Shikabane Hime (Anime) (2008-2009) AKA Corpse Princess
Season Aka (Red) and Season Kuro (Black)
Based on the Manga Shikabane Hime

Doing reviews on anime for me is hard. These amazing shows don’t have a singular anything, so trying to explain to you a series is as easy as herding raptors. It looks dangerous and fun, but I’m sure as shit am not Chris Pratt.

SH/CP is a very well done anime. Of course my beloved J. Michael Tatum is one of the many amazing voice actors on cast for the dubbed version. This, however, was my first anime before I began to fall in love with voice actors at all. I have no idea why I chose this one to start, something about the name jumped out at me and I don’t regret it for a second. It just expanded my love of horror into a new form, anime.

So, what is it actually about? A young woman (Makina Hoshimura) is murdered and asked to be brought back as a corpse princess so that she can fight other Shikabane (corpses) to keep humanity safe. Shikabane Hime have to kill 108 Shikabane to win their rightful place in heaven. They are paired with Contracted Monks. Contracted Monks are there to be protected, help kill Shikabane and ensure their Hime make it into heaven. Fast forward to Ouri Kagami, our protagonist. He is a child in an orphanage. There is a Contracted Monk (Keisei Tagami) that checks on him and calls him little brother. Kagami moves out, meets Hoshimura by accident, becomes a little obsessed and way down the road becomes a Contracted Monk like his big brother.

I love this series. It was an exciting way to start my anime adventure. It is full of secrets and lore, mystery, impossible love and blood. Lots of blood, and death. However, I only had to watch it the once. This isn’t a series I see myself watching over and over again like Soul Eater or Black Butler.

WintersOver4

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Black Blood Brothers

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Black Blood Brothers (anime series) (2006-2007)208503-aliya06
Based on the Black Blood Brothers (BBB) Manga

On my third instance of watching Black Blood Brothers, I was just as excited as the first. It’s a wonderful anime (which, unfortunately, only has one season) and it is all about my favorite movie monsters, Vampires! We follow Jirou Mochizuki (voice by J. Michael Tatum *I love you*) in his desperate attempt to keep his little brother, Kotaro Mochizuki, out of harm’s way. But, naturally, not everything is as it seems.

In this world, Vampires are not only known by certain people, but there is also a special zone in which they can live fairly freely. This zone is where our main characters are headed when they are attacked and meet the lovely Mimiko Katsuragi, who helps them in so many ways.

It is deemed horror due to its graphic nature (I.E lots of blood). Jirou is definitely the romanticized vampire that we are all used to hearing about, but the Kowloon Children are the real horrors, and villains, of this story. I don’t want to give too much away.

This too-short series is not only exciting to watch but the barely-touched back story is also intriguing enough that I may read the manga. The vampire powers are vast and changing. I love the concept and wish there was more to watch.

Would you be a vampire? Because I certainly would.

WintersOver4

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Black Butler (Anime Series) (2008-2009)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Black Butler (Anime Series) (2008-2009)

Based on the Kuroshitsuji Manga

Oh, Black Butler, my beloved Black Butler. This was one of the first animes I watched that got me absolutely hooked.

Just one name, Sebastian, voiced by the oh, so pleasant J. Michael Tatum, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several times and acquiring his autograph.

Black Butler is much darker than it seems. The main character is Ciel Phantomhive (Brina Palencia is also lovely in person), a young boy (12, I think) who is now Lord of his manor with Sebastian as, simply, one hell of a butler. Ciel has sold his soul to a demon for some very specific revenge that he doesn’t know the half of. It is set in Victorian England, surrounding the life of our young Lord and his odd, yet loveable servants.

If you like dark, morbid stories with odd twists and the supernatural woven in, then you will love Black Butler. It broke my heart on more than one occasion and kept proving wrong what my very heart wanted to happen. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I was sadly mistaken.

Now, as much as I love the series and am even reading the manga, I am not a huge fan of the second season and I feel it might very well have been just the introduction of our new characters and where they lead us. That doesn’t mean it was bad and I enjoyed the extreme twist ending, but did not love the entire Season 2 story. Claude is a motherfucker.

This is another short anime that is great for a binge watch… or several.

So tell me, what would you sell your soul for?

WintersOver4

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Soul Eater (Anime Series) (2008-2009)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 1, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Soul Eater (Anime Series) (2008-2009)

Based on Soul Eater Manga

I’m a bit surprised to see Soul Eater on the list of Horror Anime, though now that I sit here and think about it, I am sure that it has a bit of a horror tone. It just never comes off as horror or scary to me. It is a light-hearted anime about some rather creepy events.

So a short intro: there are two different types of warriors for Death, the weapons and the meisters. Weapons are people that can turn into weapons, a scythe, guns, swords, crossbows, just about anything. Meisters can wield those weapons. So each team is made up of a weapon and a Meister, unless you’re Death the Kid who has two weapons. These teams usually come out of DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Academy), which is basically a school to teach you how to use your abilities. That is where we find our main characters.

When spirits start attacking humans and eating their souls, they become kishin (evil) and the teams must go out and kill the kishin souls. The goal of the team is to eat 99 kishin souls and 1 witch soul (I literally have a shirt that reads ‘I’ve got 99 souls but a witch ain’t one.’ I love that shirt). Once the weapon eats all the souls it needs, it can become a Death Scythe, a tool for Death to use. You follow the adventures of Maka, Soul, Death the Kid, Liz & Patty, Black Star and Tsubaki. There are many more to keep straight, but these are the main characters.

I can’t love this anime enough. It has everything I need. I have lost count of how many times I’ve watched the series. It was followed up by Soul Eater Not, which I have yet to watch, but it is on my list. Soul Eater is witty, funny, complex, full of twists and characters you both love and hate. Tons of emotion and fighting.

Plus Excalibur. You either love or hate Excalibur. For most people, it’s hate (feel free to tell me your feelings in the comments). And poor Crona, who can’t seem to deal with anything.

So, if you’re into anime or interested in anime, I think this is a great place to start. It’s only 4 seasons and the episodes are 24 minutes long. It’s a great binge watch (unless you’re Xander, who sucks and won’t watch it).

So would you be a weapon or a meister?

WintersOver4

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