Ramble On, Youngin’, Ramble On.

Contrary to what this picture suggests, this post won’t be about drugs or anime characters on drugs (unfortunate, I know).

The “What if” Question

For the first few years, at least, the Natsume household goes about its day to day life peacefully. The house is small, but it’s warm. Though his mother passed away soon after he was born, Takashi is happy living with his father. Throughout his childhood they often sit on the porch admiring the flowers his mother planted before she died; they bloom year after year, lighting up the garden with their color, a constant reminder of the love of the person they both lost. Sometimes he misses her presence, but keeps it to himself, silently treasuring the picture of his parents his father gave him.

As Takashi grows older, he starts taking greater notice of the small monsters that have been a constant part of his childhood. His father doesn’t doubt him when he tells him about them; if he does, he doesn’t let on. When Takashi goes to school, his father helps him learn to keep his ability a secret so he can try to live a normal school life; it’s not always easy, but Takashi is content with someone believing in what he sees. Though his father worries when he sometimes sees Takashi come home with his clothes dirtied or when he startles at something only he can see, he always welcomes him back with a smile, no questions asked. Eventually, Takashi’s father tells him Reiko, Takashi’s grandmother, and about her own ability to see what Takashi can. Sometimes, when he feels particularly alone, Takashi will think back to her, wishing that he had had the chance to meet the person who could understand him the most.

Despite his small bouts of loneliness, Takashi has learned kindness and is happy with the people he has come to know, friends and family alike. He doesn’t hate the monsters he sees and will sometimes try to help out the ones that approach him, though he’s also learned to be weary having been attacked more than once. He’s not the strongest person, so he lives his life quietly, treasuring the memories he makes with others, knowing that there may come a day where he won’t come home. He’s afraid of hurting those around if that day comes, but, until then, he’ll try to live happily and return the happiness he has been given.

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Kyoko’s Despair

I’ve always been strangely fascinated by the emotion of despair or depression in characters. I think it’s one of the most interesting emotions because it’s one that can absolutely cripple a person, yet it’s one that can provide the grounds for change. The angst, the drama, I drink it all up (not a fan of tragedies though, go figure). Although I know you’re all absolutely enthralled reading about by my love of the depressed, I promise am actually going somewhere with this.

Like All the Cool Kids (Fall Preview)

*Insert Pretty Picture to Draw People In*

As the curtain begins to fall on the summer season, the time has come to eagerly await  the upcoming fall season.

Since I’ve always admired them from afar, now that I have my own blow I thought I’d try out those cool looking “Season Preview” posts that I’ve seen other bloggers diligently put together. Even though it was a lot of work and took me forever, putting this together was pretty fun and I enjoyed doing it. Even though I was planning to put these in some sort of order, getting this out as soon as possibly trumps that, so everything’s pretty jumbled up. To be honest, though, since I have a pretty hopeful outlook regarding most shows a ranking probably would have been a pain in the butt. I tried my hardest to include all the shows on the season preview chart and to give some thoughts on each.

As for this upcoming fall season in general, I think it has a lot of potential. There are a few shows that have potential to set themselves a part from the rest, and few that look like they’ll by, at the least, an entertaining watch. Personally, though, I’m pretty excited for the shoujo adaptations coming out because I don’t think that enough good ones have been adapted. Overall, I have pretty high hopes for this season and I think it could possibly churn out a a few gems…and perhaps a few train wrecks.

While it may not be the best preview ever, I hope you enjoy skimming  reading through it.

Ancient Books of Ys II (OVA) Final Thoughts

First season review: HERE

Ancient Books of Ys II  follows our young hero, Adol, as he is whisked away from Esteria and up to the floating land of Ys where the Black Pearl, the source of evil that spawns monsters, is located. Those on Ys are a hopeless and down trodden people whose lives are ruled by fear. The monsters on Ys are more powerful and intelligent than the brainless beings seen on Esteria in Ancient Books of Ys and terrorize the people by arbitrarily taking sacrifices from the small villages that dot the land. As a result, the people have become submissive and willing to appease the monsters with their sacrifices in return for being allowed to live. The situation is bleak and begins to look worse as the monsters begin to demand and take more sacrifices with the villagers helpless to do anything but look on and hope they are not next.

Three Broken Bones and Ten Knee Staples Later

Scroll on past if you don’t like sentimental posts (;__; sorry guys)

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You see, I have atrocious luck, especially when it comes to walking and stupidly thinking I can finish annotating novels the day before they are due. I’ve broken three bones (elbow twice leaving a beautiful scar going up the length of my left arm and my right wrist once) throughout my sixteen years of life. I’ve once had a nosebleed so bad my teacher called me the next day to ask me if my nose was broken (it wasn’t). Oh, and this this past May I slipped down a dirt hill and jumped a mini wall, landing gracefully on my knee and earning me a glorious prize of ten staples. As for the annotating bit, I always end up thinking I finish annotating books the day before they are due, and then this year I realized that I can’t when I was up all night and still didn’t finish. Overall, my luck sucks…mainly due to my own stupidity, but that’s another topic all together.

Well, I think the Guy Upstairs realizes this sometimes and bestows me with amazing instances of luck and happiness. Examples would be that I am in a surrounded by people now who I can relate to and who can put up with me in my more…ungraceful moments, I have anime in my life (completely serious which probably says too much about my life in general T_T), and I actually have followers for this blog (;D). More recently, I was offered to join a blog by the name of Organization Anti-Social Geniuses as an anime reviewer, and I accepted. I almost feel like now I have something really terrible coming up to cancel out such an amazing stroke of luck. Aha…let’s hope not.

I started reading aniblogs a few years ago and always thought that having a blog was super cool because it looked cool, hence the eventual creation of this blog and my realization that it’s not all daisies and roses. Even now, though, I love reading aniblogs and creeping through browsing through their old posts since I think that I can learn something from reading their posts that will help me improve my writing. I’m also a simple person and like to read about people’s opinions. Honestly speaking, when I started this blog I would have been happy to have one like on one post, and maybe, if I’m super lucky, a follower or two. Well, now I have several liked posts and a few followers which is something that I’m super grateful for (Big thank-you to the people who follow me and read a post every now and then). Being a part of OASG now (and I am desperately hoping no one from there is reading this), is one of those things that I would never think to happen to someone like me, but oddly enough has. To not jinx it, I’ll just say that I’m really happy to be there and I hope that I can be a useful member.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though my luck sucks, I guess it pays off sometimes. All the blood, sweat, and tears were totally worth it, guys! T_T

So, on a quick note about posting from now on, my posts here will probably be fewer and more far in between than before since I’m going to try to pump out a review a week and be a good team blogger. However, I’m also planning to “spice” things up with a few more general posts that won’t be a “Final Thoughts” post or update post because I need to work on my sense of Internet humor, as you can all see.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Final Thoughts

OP, ED

And so it ends.

Two years after finishing Natsume Yuujinchou, I have finally caught myself up completely with this amazing series that, when I think about it, was one the first series I watched that ignited my passion for anime. Looking at the series as a whole, I have to say that it is definitely up there in terms of my favorite series. Natsume is a character I grew to really like because of how well done his development is. He is an amazingly well-thought out character who is given a past that is filled with a lot of pain and sadness, a present that is full of love and acceptance, and a future that, though uncertain, looks bright and promising in terms of how he will continue to grow and open up. The stories are pretty slice of life, but manage to convey a wide range of emotion in a subtle way that makes for episodes ranging from heartwarming to heartbreaking. Yes, the show can get repetitive with a lot of the same story format going on, but I didn’t really mind because I was always more interested in how, even though many of the stories follow a similar format, they still manage to be heartwarming. I’m a little sad to finally be done with the series, but it took me on a great ride and I have nothing but fond memories of it. Also, even though while watching the end of the third season and thinking that it had more of a final feeling to it, I think that the ending to Natsume Yuujinchou Shi is a much better since it packs more of an emotional punch with the last few minutes providing a touching and, I think, satisfying end.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi is, from what I’ve been hearing, most likely the last installment of the Natsume Yuujinchou series which follows around Mr. Takashi Natsume as he continues along his path of self-acceptance, learning to trust others, and coming to terms with his past. He has the inconvenient ability of being able to see these monsters called Youkai and this ability has come to be the root of a lot of suffering he has endured since he was a child. He is also followed around by a Youkai, Nyanko-Sensei, who acts as his bodyguard, protecting him from other Youkai in return for being guaranteed what is left of a book of Youkai’s names called the Book of Friends created by the infamous Reiko, Natsume’s grandmother who had the same ability as him.

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Final Thoughts

OP, ED (can’t believe I forgot to put these)

Yay, another season down. Two more to go.

I wasted no time in getting into this series and went right into this after re-watching the first season, finally relieving it of it’s place near the bottom of my plan to watch list. I have to say that my feelings about this installment are pretty much the same as the ones regarding the first season. This season built more on Natsume’s character and also started going more into his feelings about himself, the people around him, and youkai. Although lonliness remained a prevelant theme throughout the show, it was sort of balanced out by the generally happier and more uplifting spirit of the season. One of my favorite things about this season was seeing the introduction of youkai that were pretty menacing in their own right and really put Natsume in a tight spot. Overall, I would have to say that I loved this part of Natsume’s story just as much, if not more, than the first part.

The story follows pretty much the same kind of format as the first season, meaning it was pretty episodic. Though, this season there were one or two mini-arcs that a nice change-up and usually allowed for more Natsume development. Despite remaining epsidoic, as with the first season, every episode was pretty effective in building Natsume up as a character even more. There was a lot more focus, I think, this season on both Natsume’s feelings about his relationships with youkai and humans. We continue to see snipets of his past that show he didn’t exactly have a stellar childhood, but we also see how his current family makes an effort to let him know that he belongs and that they love him.

Spa Island Arc ~ Finished

Well, this arc actually wasn’t as bad as I initially thought it as going to be. I thought the main foe would be Foxy, who I honestly don’t really care that much for. However, I was really happy to see that he was defeated pretty quickly and without too much of a hassle. Same went for the main villain. Although he was pretty obvious and not overly exciting, his bit wasn’t dragged out and he was defeated in a timely fashion.

As for the filler characters, I thought that the two sisters were pretty likable. I thought that their back story did a good job of showing how they loved their dad, yet at the same time were sometimes frustrated with him because of his absentmindedness and constant absence due to his research. The end to their story was cute, too.

Overall, I enjoyed the Spa Island Arc because it was a good example of what filler arcs should be: short and sweet. I actually ended up enjoying it a great deal more than I thought I would and am glad that it didn’t turn out too bad.

In addition to the Spa Island Arc, there was also an episode on Brook and his insecurities about being a part of the Straw Hat crew after reading about their many adventures around the Grand Line.

Computer Kakumei (OVA)

Another OVA guys!

So, I basically just watched this because I was procrastinating on Bakuman again and saw this under AnimeSeason’s Recently Added Anime Section. Although the synopsis didn’t really help me when it came to figuring out what it would be about, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad use of ten minutes. Although the beginning of the OVA had me thinking it would be a little boring and unexpectedly slice of life, I found myself pleasantly surprised by it. I’ll admit it and say that I was thinking that this OVA would be focusing on a society dominated by computers in a negative way because I see that a lot when it comes to a society that has a large computer influence. However, this OVA had a pretty uplifting story. The technology talked about was being used for the good of humanity and in a way that would help people around the world. Heck, even the little food robots were cute and friendly looking. The only thing, I suppose that kind of creeped me out a little was that human service in places like fast food restaurants was almost, if not completely, eliminated. That just weirded me out a little. I also didn’t really understand the point of creating a computer/robot thing (?) that would go to school. Maybe to make a more human computer? Who knows. Anyhow, seeing the computer/robot guy at the end made me wish that there was more to the OVA so that I could find out more about him as well as what exactly the point of him was.