Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger Review: It Seems Weird To Put Two Colons

The first review is for Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger.

Yepp, the anime. I mentioned before that for manga such as HNI, the anime would be more ideal. The fast action is just too boring too read on paper. You immediately get a feel of how different it is after you've watched the first match in the anime!

Let's skip the details here, talk more about the storyline. Well, the storyline is the same as the manga, so it's more or less congruent in details.

But I must say, the anime was awesome. The part which touched me the most was Takamura's world title match against Bryan Hawk. The mangaka put one badass against another and the battle was amazing. What was more amazing was the emotional aspect of the battle. Bryan Hawk did all he could to punk Takamura before the title match, punching Takamura's aged coach and insulting Japanese pride (which, from what we saw in WWII, isn't something to really joke about).

I almost cried when I saw Takamura's fellow boxers all cheering him on. Even the Japanese champions from every weight class came to support him because Hawk was such a bastard. Shit, I don't want to say this, but that was camaraderie.

If you've read the manga, I really recommend that you watch New Challenger as well. It might seem like DJV, but I guarantee the feel is absolutely different.
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Kino No Tabi Review: Deep Shit

Kino No Tabi (Kino's Journey) is an anime I recently finished watching. This anime makes David Hume's works seem like a kindergarten colouring book. (Either that or I'm reading too much into the anime)

Kino No Tabi is an anime brought over from several volumes of light novels, regarding a female child traveller by the name of Kino riding her talking motorcycle Hermes around the world to different countries. (Holy cow, that's a long sentence!)

These different countries have very different cultures and traditions, mostly weird, but also very disturbing because these traditions seem so logical but yet neglect the personal needs of the human conscience.

For example, in one country which was constantly in war with its neighbour found the perfect solution to their 50 year conflict- instead of killing each other, they would hold military events to see who can kill the most village people near their borders. On first sight, this seems ridiculous to the max. On second thought, this is simply a "rather them than us" situation. It seems so logical, yet so inhumane.

This anime, with merely 13 episodes, is rather short. But how it can be so thought provoking is a wonder. The stories provided are very true and applicable to our lives in ways we never thought it would. This is the one anime which hopes to directly affect our lives in a thought provoking manner.

And it has.
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Freezing Review: As Craig Ferguson Puts It..

"A good movie has to have a good script, a good actor and boobies.... Okay maybe the first two aren't necessary."

Same goes for manga. To a certain extent, at least.

You know those manga which jump at every opportunity to do an upskirt/feeling of boobies/ripping of dresses?

Yepp, Freezing's one of them now.

Freezing is about an academy of females known as Pandoras who are in charge of killing Novas, demon-like stuff. Reminds me of Claymore, though.

These Pandoras have sidekicks who are mostly(or all, I'm not sure) male. These males have the power to Freeze and Unfreeze. Novas have the ability to freeze everything around them, and therefore Pandoras require these sidekicks to dispel such effects.

The concept of specialized weapons appearing out of nowhere and activating some special kick ass mode has been used time and over. That being said, no one will complain if it's used in an elegant manner.

So what sets one combat manga apart from another?

Its characters' skill sets, that's what. The battles have to flow, they have to make sense. Tactics must be used. Reasons for winning/losing must be given.

And Freezing somehow fulfils this requirement. The plot might be a little draggy and (I can't believe I'm going to say this) the boobies a little unnecessary, but the battles are definitely not sleep inducing. I mean, that's the most important factor right?

I must say, despite being a manga fan, watch the anime for battle manga is better than reading. Especially for Hajime No Ippo. You won't get it till you read HNI. Hoo boy, the boxing matches last for chapters on end and all you see are two men beating each other up to a pulp. (And you won't like it, of course, unless you're a sadistic gay pervert)

HOWEVER, for Freezing, I'd say I prefer the manga to the anime, even though the latter is non existant. But I'm sure I'd prefer the manga because the battles are fast paced enough to keep you occupied but not so fast it ends before you get your kick. The pace is the most amazing thing Freezing has to offer.

Onemanga currently has 25 chapters up.

Read it!
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Hey.

Blogging from my Blackberry.

Sorry for the lack of updates, too many things happened at the same time.

I'll be doing a couple of short reviews for the manga I read recently!

Gon:

People who know manga know that Gon is ranked within one of the top few shounen manga in Japan. But few should have read it, considering how the publishers of Gon made a copyrights call and banned it from Onemanga. I chanced upon the manga in a bookstore in Malaysia, so I bought Volume 1 and 2.

Gon is a manga with not a single letter in it. No one talks. After all, dinosaurs and animals don't talk. Gon is about this tiny but tough dinosaur known as Gon, who seeks to conquer our present animal kingdom. He goes on adventure after adventure with much zest.

The experience of reading Gon is unlike any other. The fact that there aren't any words ought to be a handicap, but is transformed into an advantage with the artist's genius visual storytelling.

Dance In The Vampire Bund:

A story about vampires. You've heard plenty- from Twilight to Shiki.

But in DITVB, guess what?

Vampires are VAMPIRES. REAL VAMPIRES. They suck blood. They kill. They have kick ass super vampire strength. They have a queen. They have sexual connotations. They die when they have a stake driven into their hearts. They burn when they go under the sun. (Take THAT, Edward Cullen)

Using the classic vampire as the basis for the vampires in DITVB, the mangaka builds a storyline using vampires with the same characteristics in the present world.

The concept of the queen building an entire Bund to house the world's vampires is awesome. FYI, the queen is the good gal here. She wishes to allow vampires to coexist with humans. The bad guys are naturally those who oppose her, vampires and humans alike.

That's not all. Even the bad guys are awesome. The Vampire Queen might be the one with the greatest authority, but behind her are three of her retainers, the last three male vampires with noble blood. Politics follow. These three vampires are nobility from all over the world. You see the classic vampire on one page and the Chinese hopping vampire with a silly talisman stuck on his forehead on another.

Things get messier when the queen's bodyguard is a werewolf, who's actually the protagonist of the story I almost forgot to mention. The battles in the manga are made more interesting with his presence.

Read it!

Soul Eater:

I can't believe I haven't noticed this manga for such a long time!

This is what I call the Classic Shounen Manga. It consists of awesome fighting scenes and ranks. It speaks of Soul Technicians using their Souls to do battle Witches. It's a little like a modern Shaman King. Technicians can transform their Souls into weapons to fight. The story is about three such young Technicians in the Soul Academy having to battle on the frontlines against an ancient witch. (Now that I write it out, I realise it actually resembles Harry Potter.)

Many things happen and the kids grow stronger, faster, better, acquiring new skills while the power of darkness relentlessly beckons them to join the dark side.

The bad thing about Soul Eater is how the battle routines get boring after awhile. These battles are too common, and the kids always have to get beaten half dead before winning. I know child abuse is fun to watch (I'm not going to get sued for saying this right? I'm, uh, joking) but putting one video on replay makes it bland.

That being said. People who follow any of the Big Three ought to give Soul Eater a go!

There you go. Three reviews at once. That (kinda) makes up for three weeks.

Hope I can be on time for the next update!
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Mission 5061: Japan

Got back from Japan early morning yesterday!

Anyone can tell, even if you haven’t been there before, that Japan is a country like no other. Its people are so damn distinguishable even from their fellow fair skinned Asians.

On second thought, I’m not going to blog about my experience in Japan here. Many of my exploits there are too personal to mention here. I wanted to write about the country’s culture and interesting sights. But I doubt it would appeal to many of the readers here, so I’ll skip it.

Oh alright alright. I’m only mentioning this Japan trip to ask for your forgiveness for not blogging for the past week. More likely than not, I won’t be blogging for the next 2 weeks or so either.

Just gimme a month’s break, will ya? I’m off to China, Yun Nan next week and Malaysia, Genting a day after I return.

Who knows whether I might even come back here to blog? *shrugs*

But keep checking this space! Pleeeeease?