Yuri on Ice - Anime Review

Let's look back at 2016. Besides Re: Zero, there's one more anime that people just won't stop talking about on the internet. Yes, you guessed that right! It's "Yuri!! on Ice". Its misleading title fool every anime fan out there. Everybody thought that "Oh my god, girls on girls doing it on ice??", but apparently, it was Yaoi on ice! #originaljoke 

It's a phenomenal anime of 2016! Even the real figure skating athlete watched this anime too! Personally, I'm not into sports anime, I'll watch sports anime if it's as good as Slam Dunk or Ping Pong The Animation. So I was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy this anime, since I thought it was a sports fujobait anime just like "Free!" couple years ago. But man, I was wrong. 

So today I'm going to talk about Yuri on Ice! How was the anime? Let's just jump into the review!

Story

Yuri Katsuki is a figure skating athlete from Japan, he went back to Japan after 5 years of international competition. He ranked at the last place on his previous international tournament. He feels like a failure when he got back home. And then he remembers why did he become a figure skater at the first place. He saw Viktor Nikiforov's performance back then when he was a kid. A globally well known figure skating genius. One day, he tries to copy a figure skating program by Viktor, and then someone records it and upload it into the internet. And people are amazed by Yuri's ice skating performance. Every figure skater in the world also amazed by him. And then Viktor saw Yuri's performance. 

Later on, Viktor decides to come to Japan and train Yuri Katsuki so he can win the international figure skating competition. Will Yuri be able to win that competition?

My thoughts on the series

1. I am quite skeptical about this series at first, but surprisingly, I'm enjoying the hell out of it! Story wise, there's nothing ground breaking or new. But what makes me entertained with this series is seeing how someone develop from zero to hero. It has genuinely fun and hilarious scenes! 
2. This anime is obviously a sports anime with obvious shounen ai element in it. For me (as a normal hetero man ^_^;), it's still a good show if you ignored the shounen ai elements in it. and fortunately, it's not shown often. For you fujoshi out there, you will be pleased with this anime. If you are a normal hetero man and wondering "how gay it is?" it's twice as gay as Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari on Neon Genesis Evangelion. ^__^;
3. Speaking of shounen ai, the fanservice (or manservice should I say, right, ladies? ^_^;) in this anime is not the main dish of this series. I must say the this show has like 10% of fanservice in the whole 12 episodes. So it's not distracting at all. Because mainly the anime shows about the figure skating program. 
4. And now we're talking about the main dish! The ice skating animation! My god, it's so stunningly beautiful! It's so detail and smooth, It really is describing how graceful and elegant they are when performing the figure skate program. Even though, later on the quality suffers. But that is understandable since animating figure skating is hard. And in 1 episode they almost have 5-6 figure skating program to be animated! I also noticed that there are a lot of repeated and also recycled background and key animations (that includes the figure skating program but that is to be expected since they are performing the same program over and over again). But again, that's still acceptable. Because they have to finish the series weekly. Just imagine how hard would it be for the animator to keep up with that pace. And hopefully that "quarity" would be fixed later on in BD. I must give props to Mappa studio! Great job!
5. Personally, I didn't know anything about how figure skating competition works, and this anime did a great job of explaining the rule and how scoring system works. I appreciate that. 
6. I think this series should have been at least 22/24 episodes long for a better pacing. Because the formula is almost similar to Hajime no Ippo anime, (training, build up to the competition, competition, after match, and then train again and rinse and repeat). But the main difference is Hajime no Ippo is a long running series compared to Yuri on Ice. The story feels a little bit too rushed and too condensed. And in the later episodes, somewhat it's a bit underwhelming even though the previous episodes have a great build up to it. 
7. Okay let's talk about the characters! The characters are enjoyable to watch and feels like a real human that we can totally relate to. I really like how relatable Yuri Katsuki is when he tries to get back up from his failure. He feels depressed, broken, and sad. But when he overcomes it, it's really paying off! But, I prefer Yuri Plisetsky character arc. He's an ambitious person and he thinks that he is the best of all figure skater. But later on he learns that there's someone better out there in the world and he grows even better! He is a rival character to Yuri Katsuki and they are the exact opposite. Yuri Plisetsky's character arc somehow reminds me of Bakugo's character arc from My Hero Academia, which I personally liked too
8. Another thing that I really enjoyed from this anime series is the soundtrack. I think this anime has the best soundtrack in 2016. I really love every BGM in this anime especially the figure skating program songs. "Yuri on Ice" is my favorite track of all. But all of them are really good! Even if you are not into anime, I think you should at least listen to this soundtrack. 

This anime is great but it has its issues (besides the plot that I mentioned in point 6) for example, some of the characters are underdeveloped. They suddenly appears but we don't know anything about them. So it's hard to root for them. Unlike Ping Pong The Animation that really excels on their characters development. Every character have their own clear motivation to win that ping pong match. While in Yuri on Ice, we barely see all of their motivations. But JJ have a great characterization even though he only have like 2-3 episodes of screentime But they didn't do that to Otabek who shares the same screentime as JJ. And this may sounds like a bias, but normally I'd hate character like JJ since he is a narcissistic and obnoxious bastard, but since he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano, his character just works and epic! XD

Another thing that really bothers me is, at the first episode there's Yuuko, Yuri's childhood friend, and it's heavily hinted/implied that Yuri has some romantic feelings for her. I know it's just me being nitpicky, but her character was just vanished after Yuri went back for international championship. I think that could have been explored better.

So here comes the final verdict, should you watch Yuri on Ice? If you are a sports anime fan, you should watch it! And if you are a fan of "Animation" in general, you should totally watch it, you will see a beautifully animated skating scenes. It's a great anime but it has its flaws. Despite of the obvious shounen ai theme in this anime, this anime is really entertaining to watch. If you are "I don't want to watch this anime because it's gay" kind of person, well. you are missing out one of the great anime that comes out on 2016. And personally speaking, I enjoyed watching this series more than Re: Zero. 

Okay guys, so those are my thoughts on Yuri on Ice, I hope you will find this review useful. This is Reikichi, signing out! XD

Best Anime in 2016

Happy new years guys! It's finally that time of the year!.
And it's time to look back at things that happened in 2016, and honestly, mostly sucks...
Tragedy happens, A lot of famous celebrity passed away (David Bowie, George Michael, Prince, Mohammad Ali, Alan Rickman, and recently, Carrie Fisher). May their soul rest in peace. Ars longa vita brevis

Anyway, we're here talking about anime, and here are my personal favorite picks on Anime that released on 2016! But first I must state some ground rules first for this list:

1) I have to watched the anime series until the end and it has to be finished airing before 2016 ends. I really want to include the currently airing, Sangatsu no Lion by studio SHAFT, but it's still airing, so I can't put it here in the list. Let's save it for 2017! haha
2) I want to include movie anime too this year, But keep in mind that not all of them are released in my local theater, so sadly I didn't have the chance to watch them all including Koe no Katachi.
3) Speaking of "didn't have the chance to watch them all", yes, that includes series as well. And I'm quite picky when it comes to anime series lately. I haven't finished watching 91 Days, and I'm planning to watch Drifters since it's made by the same person who made Hellsing.
4) This list is not a ranking, I enjoyed all of them. So you can see this list as the anime that you should probably check it out.

So are we clear on this? Good! I think it's time we blow this thing, Get everybody and the stuff together, Ok! 3, 2, 1! Let's jam!

1) Girls und Panzer Der Film

Girls und Panzer Der Film is a continuation from Girls und Panzer series. You know what to expect from a movie anime like this, just another episode of anime but with movie budget! The animation in this movie is just really awesome and beautiful. The tank fights are much more smoother compared to the series. And they really deliver the intensity of the tank fights even better than the series. If you love GuP, you must watch this movie!

2) Kono Subarashii sekai ni shkufuku wo

I honestly kinda skeptical about any anime based on Light Novel and it's all about "isekai" genre. But this anime caught me surprised (I already reviewed this anime here in this blog). It has a good world building, genuinely funny scenes. If you are a fan of Isekai genre, you should watch this!

3) Love Live Sunshine!!

Love Live Sunshine, is the continuation of Love Live! well kind of, It has different characters from the first Love Live. The story is not about µ’s. This time we're looking at Aquors. They are group of girls who aspired to be Idol group just like µ’s. Animation wise it's much better looking than the first Love Live. And character wise, they are all loveable compared to µ’s. (because µ’s has Nico, who is pretty much obnoxious in my opinion, sorry Nico fans ^_^;). I have a lot of things to say about this anime, but that is another post for another day. But overall, I love Aquors! You Watanabe is best girl! XD

4) Mob Psycho

Mob Psycho 100 is done by studio Bones. This is based on manga by ONE, the one who made One Punch Man. And honestly this anime has great characters in it. And also have some really great and rather unique "Sakuga" animation. I know humor is quite subjective, but the humor in this anime didn't really hit me. *since I prefer absurd humor*, But overall, it's a good show and has some interesting character and story in it.

5) Flying Witch

I'm always a fan of "Iyashikei" (healing) anime just like Non Non Biyori, Azumanga Daioh. And I also enjoyed reading Yotsuba&!(manga). And this year we have Flying Witch that is done by JC Staff. Their animation is really awesome and relaxing to be looked at. If you are looking for something relaxing to be watched after you are done with your activities, I highly recommend this anime for you! XD 

6) Joker Game

Joker Game is a series about Japanese spies back in WW II. This anime is done by Production I.G who was responsible for great titles such as Ghost in the Shell and Psycho Pass (and also absurd comedy like Cromartie High School). If you are looking for an intense and thrilling spy action, go watch this anime! 

7) Boku no Hero Academia (Season 1)

This anime also caught me surprised. Honestly speaking, It's been awhile that I watch a shounen anime. And this anime have interesting fights and setting in it. I've already reviewed this anime in this blog here. If you want to have some good and refreshing shounen anime, this one is worth checking out!

8) Sakamoto desu ga?

I've read the manga long ago before this anime is announced. So I was pretty hyped on this anime! And my god, they did it! It's done by Studio DEEN, If you love absurd comedy, you'll love this! 

9) Saiki Kusuo Psi-nan

I honestly didn't know anything about this series, but my friend posted a screenshot of this anime, and that made me laughed out loud. This anime is about Saiki Kusuo who has psychic powers and he tries to live his life as a normal person. It's genuinely funny and entertaining. If you love Kamiya Hiroshi doing monologue just like Bakemonogatari, you'll love this anime. And if you love comedy in general, this anime is for you! 

10) Garo : Divine Flame 

Garo Divine Flame is a movie anime which is a continuation of Garo Honoo no Kokuin. Just like I said before, it's just like another episode of anime but with movie budget! And my god, in my opinion they have the best fight scenes in 2016. "Sakuga"-fest movie. Beautifully rendered 3DCG compared to the series. And just genuinely entertaining fight scenes. If you have watched the anime series, I highly recommend you watch this movie! It's awesome!  

11) ReLife

This year we have a lot of great drama anime. This time we're talking about ReLife. It's about a 27 year old NEET who is looking for a job but suddenly a person from ReLife lab offers him a job to experience his current life as a high school. This anime is really interesting, it has great characters, great setting, and more importantly, a great story that can be related by both mature and teenager audiences. I highly recommend you to watch this anime! I've already write the review of this anime in here if you want to know my thoughts about it XD

12) Mobile Suit Gundam : Iron-Blooded Orphans (season 1)

I really wanted to put this anime last year, but since the first season didn't finish at 2015, so here we are! I'm a big fan of Gundam series, and this Gundam series is really awesome! It's all about some group of orphans who works for PMC (Private Military Company). We never saw Gundam with this setting before, usually we saw both of strong political views, but this time, we saw it from a PMC which usually goes like "You pay me, I'll protect you". So money is the strong driving force in that kind of company. And this time. they are hired by Mars Politician. It has some great animation, great themes, interesting characters, awesome soundtrack and also great fight scenes! The second season is currently airing. I haven't watched it yet because I want to marathon it when it finished airing. 

13) Kimi no Nawa

Kimi no Nawa is another Makoto Shinkai movie, if you know anything about anime community, you probably have heard about this anime. And it's a mega-hit in Japan! And finally I have the chance of watching it in my local theater. And my god, I can see why this movie anime is booming. I've already review this anime here in this blog. If you have the chance to watch this anime, just watch it! 

14) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable

What a beautiful, DUWANG! It's the best part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, guys! Part 4 : Diamond is Unbreakable! It's done by David Production, and I'm really happy how faithful they are when they are adapting the manga (even though some scenes are not included in the anime). But overall, I'm really satisfied with this anime! This anime sets on 1999 in a town called Duwang Morioh. And there's a serial killer who lives in that town. and it's up to Josuke Higashikata and his friends to uncover the identity of the serial killer. What? A group of teenagers who have supernatural powers that comes from within themselves and hunting down a serial killer? It sounds familiar doesn't it? Yes, Persona 4 has the same setting with Part 4. But since Part 4 was made first (1992-1995). So, there you go! Part 4 has some great characters, great Stand, amazing soundtrack, great setting, great story, and also they have the best villain ever, Kira Yoshikage! Someday I will review this anime, but I have to review Part 3: Stardust Crusaders first XP.  I highly recommend you watch this anime if you are JoJo fan! The last thing that I can say that this anime is GREAT! 

15) Shouwa Genraku Rakugo Shinjuu

And finally, One of the best anime that come out at 2016, Shouwa Genraku Rakugo shinjuu! It's a great historical drama that touches upon the Japanese traditional verbal entertainment called Rakugo. It's a slow burner, but you will enjoy this anime! I highly recommend this anime. if you want to hear my complete thoughts about it, you can read it here!

You might be asking, "where's  Re: Zero?", If you read my after thoughts, you know I won't put it here because honestly didn't really enjoy that anime. Boku dake ga inai machi was supposedly to be in this list, but unfortunately the manga is 200% times better and A-1 didn't really make a good job on hiding the identity of the killer by making some unnecessary foreshadowing which pretty much uncovers the true identity of the killer. While the manga didn't do that. SO! If you want a better experience on Boku dake ga inai machi, go read the manga! I highly recommend that! ^_^

Some honorable mentions (since I haven't watched it yet, but a lot of my friends recommended it) are Amaama to Inazuma (another slice of life anime), Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Drifters, Fune wo Amu, and also 91 Days!

So those are the anime of 2016 that is worth checking out, in my opinion. I hope that you will find this list to be useful! And here's a hope for a better year in 2017!

This is Reikichi! Signing out! XD

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - Anime Review

People are always hungry for entertainment, that's why I want to entertain as many people as I can!

I've been always a sucker for any anime that touches the cultural aspect of Japan. From yokai, Japanese folklore, their history especially in Sengoku era, and many more! We have a lot of anime with that touches upon that themes like Gegege no Kitaro on yokai, Sengoku Basara on Sengoku war (well, it's fun and epic), Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin and any other anime like that. You got the point.

And today, I'm going to talk about Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. This anime is all about Rakugo. And honestly, I never heard of Rakugo before watching this anime series. "What is Rakugo?" you asked? To put it simply, it's a form of verbal entertainment in Japan where there's one person sitting on a stage who tells a long and complicated comical story and the Rakugoka (the person who tells Rakugo) plays a lot of role and you can easily distinguish it because they have a different pitch and tone for every role that the Rakugoka plays. It's almost similar with Stand up comedy, kind of.  But it's different on the way how it's delivered. They don't use the rule-of-third just like the regular stand up comedy punch line (as far as I know, because I learned how to be a stand up comedian once, but it was hard so I stopped doing so haha). 

Rakugo usually takes it sweet time for the punchline. But when it hit, it hit so hard! And sometimes it's not about the comedy, but sometimes it's all about the moral story. And the other main differences between Stand up comedy and Rakugo is Stand up comedy brought their own story and materials, while Rakugo's story is already existed and the entertainment comes from how it was told and delivered by the performer. 

So, enough talking about Rakugo, how was the anime? Let's just dive into the review shall we?

Story

The story starts off with Yotarou, a former yakuza who just get out from jail. After released from the jail, he went to the Rakugoka that he admires, Yakumo, and asked Kikuhiko to make him his apprentice. Yakumo is a highly talented Rakugoka and never had an apprentice before. After convincing Yakumo, finally he became the apprentice. And this makes the whole person who knows Yakumo feels odd about him taking on an apprentice. In the first episode which is a 50 minutes long episode, we will understand the what actually a Rakugo is. In this first episode, we will have the main conflict which spans throughout the series, which is the clashing ideals between the old and new generation. The old generation wanted to keep Rakugo as it is, a sacred traditional entertainment. While the new encourages Rakugo to be updated time to time so it catches on with today's generation. After the prologue, we jump back in time to see the Rakugo from Yakumo's era back then when Yakumo learned how to be a Rakugoka with his best friend, Sukeroku since they are children. 

My thoughts in the series

1. This anime is beautifully directed. From start to finish, the animation quality is really good, and I cannot believe it myself that this anime is done by Studio DEEN, and I think this is their finest work in anime. 
2. This anime series is all about Rakugo, and they show us literally the full Rakugo story in almost every episode. When I say, "beautifully directed" I mean, the animation when the rakugouka tells the story, it's really engaging to see. We don't see only one angle of a person who is sitting on the stage in front of us viewers. But we will see various angles, emphasized expression, sometimes Rakugoka sweat drop, audiences' reaction to the Rakugoka performance and so on! The direction makes a whole length Rakugo story seems engaging and interesting and makes me as a person who was oblivious about rakugo before feel entertained! We will see a lot of Rakugoka do their Rakugo from the apprentice until the master of Rakugoka and we will be able to see "the differences" of how polished they are when performing their Rakugo which is heavily emphasized on the first double length episode.
3. This anime really tells us that "Rakugo is not popular form of entertainment in this modern days". And the anime gave us how entertaining and fun a Rakugo can be. It feels like that the anime is telling us "This is how we appreciate our culture, and we want you, dear audiences, to appreciate it as well". 
4. Let's talk about the BGM, the music in this anime consists of two things, the first one is traditional shamisen that is usually used for "entry" song of the Rakugoka. And the second one is Jazz, which is really fitting the mood and theme. And the opening is really good too.
5. At the end of the first double length episode, the show tells us how the story will end in Yakumo's flashback since the series is mainly talking about Yakumo's past. Personally, I really enjoyed watching Yakumo grew from a helpless little boy to someone who is earned the title of Rakugoka master. It's not about the destination, but it's all about the journey how he get there to the end.

Personally, I don't have any problem with this anime, And it definitely needs season 2, and this January 2017, the second season starts! But I see people might not be interested in this anime and didn't find the comedy in this anime to be funny because of culture differences. Since they have a very different comedic timing if it's compared to the western comedy. But if you are like me, you'll enjoy this series like I do!

So here comes the final verdict. Should you watch Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu? Yes! I highly recommend this anime! It's a moving story from zero to hero. From no one to someone respectful. And it's really entertaining to see and learn about Japanese culture through anime. It's only 12 episode long, and the first one is a double length episode. It's the diamond in the rough in 2016's anime and personally I consider this as the anime of the year!

So that's it from me guys, I hope that you will find this review useful. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everybody who celebrates! 

This is Reikichi, Signing out! XD

The Tatami Galaxy - Anime Review

What would happen if I didn't meet this person? I think my life would be better
What would happen if I didn't do this? My life would be much easier
What would happen if I....
What would happen....

At some point in your life, these "what if" questions will pop up in your mind someday. Usually these questions popped up when you regret doing something in your life and you want to "undo" it in order to make it better. But reality is different than that.We don't have "undo button" in our life. (thankfully we have that on this blog's editor's viewer lol). Everything happens for a reason. We can't undo everything that we have done because time waits for no one and it always moves forward. But not in this anime tho. Today I'm going to talk about one of the best anime series that I've watched. The Tatami Galaxy (Japanese title: Yojouhan Shinwa Takei). This show is 11 episode long with normal length episode (24 mins). So how was it? Let's just jump into the review!

Story
The story is actually simple, the nameless protagonist (let's refer him as "Watashi" since that how he refer himself) is starting a college life. He wishes to have a "rose colored" college life. So he chose a certain circle (or club). He joined that circle for 2 years, he regrets it, and he thought to himself "If only I didn't choose this circle, I wish I can redo this!" and then in the next episode, he joined a different circle. and then he regrets that decision again. and everything looped just like that.

Yeah, that's the "dumbed down" plot of the series. In order to get the whole big picture. you have to watch it or I must say, you must experience it yourself!

My thoughts on the series
I should tell you guys from the start. If you can't handle a non-linear story telling with a lot of unique metaphorical things and symbolism in it which makes you think a lot. Welp, I'm sorry to say that this series is not for you. It's best that you stay away from this anime. But if you can handle this non-linearity and can enjoy some surreal things, oh boy, you are in for a great time! If we look at the story's premise, it doesn't look really interesting for some people. But here are the reasons why you should watch this series :

1. This anime seems episodic at first, but in the end, everything makes sense and it has a very satisfying ending which is quite rare to see in a slice of life or comedy series. And in the end, the title will make sense. You will understand why this is called "The Tatami Galaxy" at the end of the series
2. Unlike Re:Zero (which is already talked in this blog here), this series did the time reset perfectly! Every episode, Watashi choose a circle and he spends his life there. In the next episode, he choose a different circle. He still meet the same characters from the previous episode, but they met in a slightly altered situation and condition. At some of the episode, we learn more about side character's background story, This makes every episode feels different and unique even though it is the same base story all over again. It's not like the "legendary endless eight" from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu season 2 (which is the 8 episodes that is made by Satan himself) where the main characters stuck on a loop and everything feels the same (only the outfits and the angles are different) and the loop breaks because Kyon figured it out that Haruhi just want to make that goddamn summer homework TOGETHER WITH SOS BRIGADE! GODDAMMIT HARUHI! WHY YOU SO SELF-CENTERED! THERE! I JUST SAVED YOU 4 HOURS! YOU ARE WELCOME!
3. The narration is delivered in a very fast pace, I'm not kidding, it's really fast! It's like all of the exposition is explained by the Rap God himself. I doubt there will be a dubbed version for this (fyi, I'm sub > dub, since most of the dubs sucks). The exposition is really necessary to understand the whole thing that happen in there. Personally I was quite shocked when I watch this series, but as it goes on, I get used to the this speed narrating haha
4. The art style is very unique compared to your usual modern anime. You will see that the director really use "anime" as a medium to convey messages through the art and background images. The animation is done by studio Madhouse, the one who is responsible for One Punch Man. The animation feels great. consistent and surreal at times. 
5. The best thing of this anime is the metaphorical delivery, It has a lot of great messages like for example : "Time moves so fast in your life, especially in your college life, try to keep up!"
   "Your boner will get you in trouble, try to learn to contain your libido all together!"
   "Sometimes you just have to accept the reality"
   "Do not overthink of things too much"
   "History repeats itself" and you will watch this series repeat itself over and over again.
   and many more! This series will give you a lot of great messages without being too preachy.
6. The comedy is also delivered metaphorically. And personally I found it really funny (disclaimer, sense of humor are subjective). My favorite part is when Watashi is having a conversation with his boner. I'm not kidding, that was really surreal and epic! XD
7. All of the supporting characters are explained throughout the series. So you won't miss out because every character got their fair share of screen time and background stories. (fyi: Akashi is the best girl, she reminded me a lot of my girlfriend XD) 
   
   Akashi 
8. Watashi's character development is one of the charm of this series as well. It's really hard to explain it in detail since this is a non-spoiler review. But his character arc is relatable and awesome. To put it simply, he is Peter-Parker-without-Spider-Man-powers-level of relatable character. 
9. The soundtrack fits the tone of the anime, the opening and ending are good as well! The animation of the opening though, It combined the real life video with anime characters and really suits the theme of this anime.The ending animation shows the unique art style of this anime too.

So here comes the final verdict. Should you watch The Tatami Galaxy? Yes! This anime series is really unique and has great messages. Entertaining and fun to watch. A thought provoking anime. It's a coming of age story. It has quirky characters mixed up with Japanese myths. A simple story that is delivered in a very unique, brilliantly imaginative and will left you impressed. And at the end of the journey, you will be glad that you watched it until the end. This is what an anime should be like! I consider this anime to be a modern masterpiece that you shouldn't be missing out! 

That's it from me guys, I hope that you will find this review useful, This is Reikichi! Signing out! 

Kiznaiver - Anime Review

When people connected with each other, people can feel empathy towards others. 

"I know how you feel..."

"I understand that situation..."

Those kind of lines often spoken when you try to empathize with each other. 

If two people or more are emotionally connected, or in other words, in one wave-length. that'd make them understand each other even better. 

So, today I'm going to review an anime that used that concept and turned it into science-fictional setting. Let's just dive right into it!

Story
Kiznaiver takes place in a not-so-far future city named Sugomori. Enter the main character, Katsuhira Agata, he is a calm, collected, reserved and not so expressive person who can't feel any physical pain.

Katsuhira Agata

He is a loner but he has a childhood friend named Chidori Takashiro who always tagged along with him. (if you are familiar with childhood friend love interest, well you know how it will end lol).

Chidori Takashiro

Both of them are new students and classmates along with 6 other characters.
they are:

Red Haired Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann  Hajime Tenga, a delinquent kind of guy.

Tsuguhito Yuta, a ladies man

Honoka Maki,an ice cold megane girl,

Nico Niiyama, Mako from Kill La Kill an eccentric genki girl,

Yoshiharu Hisomu, a masochistic pretty boy

and lastly Noriko Sonozaki, a mysterious expressionless girl.

All these characters hardly know each other since they have their own social circles, except for Nico, she's too eccentric to have friends at school. Right after the school announces that they will have Summer Break, Sonozaki kidnapped the other 7 characters and implant a device into each of them to carry on the city's secret experiment, the Kizna system. This system allows them to feel each other member's pain. The system itself is not meant to achieve something evil, it is meant to bring world's peace by letting people feel what other's feel so they can understand each other even better. The person who used this system is called Kiznaiver. How does this system works? For example, if someone in the group got hit by a Road Roller, Everybody in the group would feel the physical pain that the person got.

okay, I think Road Roller would be too painful.....

The physical pain is split equally to the group. For instance, this road roller won't kill that person since the pain is split into several people. (but I think Road Roller would kill him instantly, logically speaking)

So after given the explanation by Sonozaki about Kizna System (Road Roller's explanation was MY explanation, not hers, just to make sure lol), of course the group reacted negatively and asks to be released from this experiment since they don't like it to be treated as a guinea pig. Sonozaki gave them tasks and challenges throughout the summer. All of them must work together by overcoming their egos and putting aside their differences in other to finish a certain tasks or challenges from Sonozaki. So that's their bond right now. Or in other words, they are BOUNDED by their WOUND. (Kizna is a word play from Kizuna. which has two meanings, which is Wound and Bond). Thankfully the challenge is not for them to murder each other (welp if that's the case, that'd be contradicting with the system's goals hahaha). So what will happen to the group? Will they overcome their challenges and tasks together?

My overall thoughts on this series

1. This anime has a very unique concept and premise. I must say that this anime is one of the 2016 Spring Anime that you should check it out. The scriptwriter of this anime is Mari Okada, she is the one who also wrote script for Hanasaku Iroha (one of my favorite "soap opera" anime) and AnoHana. If you loved both of those series, I think you will love it as well. 
2. TRIGGER's animation is really really good in this series. The quality of the animation is consistent throughout the episodes. I won't compare it to their last work *cough* Ninja Slayer *cough*. Most of the people would think that this anime would be an action heavy series just like Kill La Kill or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. But nope, this is a sci-fi drama with some psychological elements on it. I heard that most of the people dropped this series because they hope that this series is an action like Kill La Kill. I also noticed a lot of callbacks to their previous works like TTGL (Tenga's character design), KLK (Nico's character design) and many more. 
3. The soundtrack doesn't really stand out to me. except for the OP. The opening song is "Lay your hands on me" by Boom Boom Satelites. And the animation fits in perfectly with the song in my opinion. I think it is one of the best opening in 2016 Anime so far (competing with Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town, JJBA part 4 OP, in my opinion)

The problem that I had with this series

1. They have a lot of interesting and standing out characters in this series. But unfortunately, some of the characters are not well developed. And I wished that I see a lot of their background stories. Not all of the characters have it. I want to know more about them!  
2. The last two episodes kinda bugged me, but don't worry, it's not as WTF as Gakkou Gurashi's ending (you can check it out for my thoughts on that series here), it's still in "okay" for an ending for this kind of anime. No, I won't get into spoiler area. hahaha

So here comes the final verdict. Should you watch Kiznaiver? If you loved sci-fi mixed with drama and psychological element in it, you should watch this anime.

That's it from me guys, I hope you find this review useful! This is Reikichi, signing out! XD

ReLIFE - Anime Review

This question is for you, adult readers, have you ever wondered what would happen if your appearance is a lot more younger than you are right now (let's say, your appearance looks like a High-schooler) but you got keep your experience and your adult-mind-like and you are thrown into the high school and living your life as a high schooler?

Of course, we would act and see differently compared to how we did back then in our high-school days.

So why did I ask about this question to you in the upper hand? Because that was the setting of this new Anime coming up on this Summer 2016. My friend on twitter recommend this anime, and my god, it was a ride! So what's it all about? Let's just dive into it!

The story starts with our main protagonist, Kaizaki Arata, a 27 year old man, who is currently a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or in Training) and struggling to get a new job. He left his previous job that he had working for 3 months, he left  that particular company because of reasons (which I won't spoil you). He tried to keep his image as a "working person" in front of his friends. At one fateful night, his mother called him and told him that she wouldn't support him financially any more. When he feel "oh dang, what should I do now? I want to look for jobs, but I can't get any right now", enter Ryo Yoake, a person from ReLIFE laboratory and asked Arata to be the experiment of ReLIFE. He is going to give Arata a medicine that'd make his appearance looks like a teenager, and he is asked to live his life on a high school for a year. If Arata did pretty good during that 1 year period, he will got a proper job. 

Arata hesitated at first, because everything seems too sketchy, added with Yoake claiming that he has been stalking Arata for a month. (yeah, I'd feel very suspicious too ^_^;).

But in the end Arata took the medicine and living his ReLIFE,  

How will it turn out for Arata? How was his school life? 

Just watch the anime. dude! XD

My thoughts on this series are : 

1. I didn't expect that I will enjoy this series so much! This series can be watched by either adult audience or teen audience. It has a very relatable story (for me, as an adult audience). 
2. The setting actually is not really something "breakthrough" it feels like me, playing Persona games (1 year period story, high school setting, etc). And that medicine feels like APTX 4869 from Detective Conan. Unlike Conan, in ReLIFE there's a medicine that'd make their appearance normal again.
3. The characters felt so real. It's been awhile that I watch anime that I can see a real person that would do the same thing as the characters in the anime! 
4. I'm glad that the main character is normal person (aka not an Otaku), so I can relate a lot to him as an adult (haha). I think the "otaku" main character is over used in the anime these days (yeah, seriously tho). Besides, it didn't really fit in this story (if you watched the anime, you'll understand why I say this)
5. There's no overarching conflict and misunderstanding throughout the series. Every conflict is resolved properly and it didn't carry out to the next episode. 
6.  The soundtrack! oh my god! I really love the BGM, and the opening & ending song (which changes on every episode) really fits in the anime! 
7. The only thing I complain about this anime is the animation it self, it feels "normal" like a middle budget animation. It reminds me of the first season of Oregairu. but in the second season, they improve the animation a lot. and hopefully ReLIFE will get a better looking season 2. Perhaps the budget of the anime went to the soundtrack, since there are a lot of awesome artist at the ending song, like Laruku, Brilliant Green, TM Revolution, Porno Grafitti, etc.
8. The ending! arghh! I can't say much about this since this is a non-spoiler review! but the ending makes me desperately asking for season 2! hahaha!
9. A friend of mine, who read the manga, told me that they skipped a lot of arcs, But so far I didn't see that many plotholes in this anime, probably I should start reading too ^_^;
10. Otoya An best girl (yes, I'm weak against megane 2D girls (^///^); )

asdafasdgasdgag!!!

And the final verdict, should you watch ReLIFE? Definitely yes! It's worth your time! Go watch it! You can marathon it right away! Thank god they release it 13 episodes at once!

So those are my thoughts on ReLIFE. I hope that you will find this review useful for you. This is Reikichi! Signing out! XD

Gundam Thunderbolt - First Impression

I'm a big fan of Gundam series, and watched almost every Gundam series. I haven't watched several Gundam series for instance: Turn A Gundam, V- Gundam, Gundam AGE, Gundam X and currently finishing the first season of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, 2 more episodes to go to be precise

I've been thinking to myself, what makes the first episode of Gundam so good? It's because in the first episode they established the main conflict, so we know what we will expect in the series. I shall called it the Gundam's first episode Formula!

So if we look back at the first original Gundam 0079, in the first episode, it is established that the main conflict of the series is between The Earth Federation and The Principality of Zeon. The Principality of Zeon wanted to realize Zeon Zum Deikun's goals, which is to make Spacenoids to be fully independent from Earth Federation. But the Earth Federation didn't agree to it, and finally, the Principality of Zeon proclaim their own independence and declare war as well to the Earth Federation by dropping Side 1, the first space colony that is build by humankind, to the Earth. Hence, starts the legendary One Year War between the 2 factions.

And so does the direct sequel to the Gundam series, Zeta Gundam, which established the main conflict of the story, Earth Federation becomes cocky because they won the One Year War (err, spoiler alert for Gundam 0079) and they assemble the team to wipe out the remnants of Zeon which is called Titans, and the spacenoids formed AEUG (Anti Earth Union Group) which have the remnants of the Zeon as well,

In Gundam 00, It is explained in the first episode that Earth has no fossil fuel anymore, so they made an orbital elevator in order to get the solar energy. And there are factions on Earth who wanted to monopolized the elevator for their own benefits. In this series, there's a group called Celestial Being that has one purpose only, to intervene every global conflict in the world by using Gundam.

Even the silliest Gundam series established the main conflict in the first episode of the series, G Gundam, (which is my guilty pleasure Gundam series)
Domon Kasshu is a Mobile suit Fighter, searching for his brother because his brother made Demon Gundam cells which is dangerous and has massive destruction power. And he looked for his brother by joining the Gundam Fight Tournament as a Neo Japan Colony representatives.

I could go on and on about this since most of the Gundam series that I watched followed the same first episode formula (8th MS Team, Stardust Memories, Gundam AGE, Iron Blooded Orphans, etc)
so yeah, I'll stop there

Unfortunately I can't found that formula on Gundam Recongista in G, I've watched the first two episodes and I still have no idea what is going on in there. Too much shit happen, but I don't understand what the hell did I just watch... and sadly it is made by the father of Gundam himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino. or maybe I'm just too dumb to understand it, I dunno hahaha


So
I have the same vibe when I watched Gundam Thunderbolt's first episode, the main conflict of the series is clearly established ! It's an UC series, and it takes place at One Year War timeline. just like The 8th MS Team (which is my favorite OVA Gundam series), MS Igloo and many others.

So we will see the battle between Earth Federation and Zeon in here.

In the first episode, we see our main protagonist, Ensign Io Flemmings of EFSF (Earth Federation Space Force), an ace pilot and a Jazz music enthusiast, and he always listen to it even when he go to the battlefield. He even has his catchphrase when he killed some of his enemy.

He is a badass and an asshole at the same time, A loveable asshole that is!

and on Zeon's side, there's a sniper named Daryl Lorenz, and he used prosthetic limbs because he lost it in the combat, and he loves pop music. Unlike Io, he is more calm and composed. But when he saw his teammates got killed by Io, he got triggered

The conflict of these two characters is foreshadowed in this first episode. and I can't wait to see them actually fight!

In the last minutes of the first episode, since Io is an Ace in their team, they let him to use Gundam prototype and then he went solo for the mission. He obliterated Zeon's troops so easily! Daryl saw the recording of his teammates last moments and he noticed that the Gundam has Jazz song played as his BGM, and he knows who pilot the Gundam, and then, the shows end.

when the show's first episode ends, I was like

Damn! I need more of this! Right now!

It feels nostalgic, finally another good UC series! 

For an ONA (Original Network Anime), the animation is really good! If you have watched other UC series, especially the original one, you can see that Gundam Thunderbolt's art style is modern but remains classic at the same time. 

And the soundtrack, my god, don't get me started on it! I can't believe that jazz music would fit in the Gundam series to be honest. It feels like Cowboy Bebop and Gundam has a child, a very beautiful child, a child that I want to protect. *wut* 

So, based on the first episode, if you love Gundam series, I'd say that you have to watch this series!
I really can't wait to watch the next episode of Gundam Thunderbolt! XD

First Impression of Spring Anime 2016

Since the new season has started and I've watched quite a bit anime this season. I'm going to share my thoughts which anime series that I'll be watching this season (despite of me haven't watched a lot of anime in previous seasons lol XP)

So. without further a due, let's jam!

Honestly this season has more diversity/variation of genre compared to the last season, last season we had a lot of your-typical-light-novel-anime-adaptation-that-has-an-OP-or-too-edgy-for-you-main-character-that-a-lot-of-the-female-character-on-that-anime-fall-for-him-for-absolutely-no-reason

and this season we have Hundred 

Hundred

Someone told me that there's a reason why it is called "Hundred", because there are hundreds of this kind of anime series. lol

nope, I won't watch this hahahaha

*starting up with a very bad joke XP

Flying Witch

Flying witch is on my watch list and I've watched the first episode of it, it's been a while that we have a very good slice of life anime since Non Non Biyori, this anime has the same vibe to it. The animation is stunningly beautiful! Props to J.C Staff! If you love Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba&, or Non Non Biyori, I think you should watch it! it's really tranquil, silly, and more importantly heart warming to watch!

Gyakuten Saiban/Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Have you ever played Phonix Wright : Ace Attorney games? This is the anime adaptation of the first game! I've watched the first episode and it was...ok.....I guess.. it's quite faithful to the first game and it might bring you nostalgia to those who've played it. But the animation is just so-so (that is to be expected from A-1 Pictures seriously ^_^;) and the opening song is just so meh, but the ending song is good though. I'm not really sure that I will continue watch this anime again.. I'd recommend you for those who haven't watched the anime or played the game, just watch the Live action movie! It's very hilarious! XD

Joker's Game

I haven't watched it, but since it's a seinen series, definitely going to watch it! It looks promising since Production I.G made this series!

Kiznaiver

Here's another anime by Studio TRIGGER! well the last anime they made is Ninja Slayer the animation which is quite........bizarre hahaha! But the premise is quite promising, *yes I haven't watched it yet XP. I've read the synopsis and there's a kizuna system where they share wounds....

that is very interesting. they made a pun between "Kizu" which means wound and "Kizuna" which means bonds. So yeah, I'm intrigued with that concept, so I'll definitely check this series out!

Sakamoto desu ga?/I'm Sakamoto. you know?

I've read the manga and it's very hilarious! And I've watched the first episode of the anime and it successfully made me laugh like a drunken seal. X'D

if you loved Nichijou or Danshi kokosei no Nichijou, you'd love this series as well!

Sakamoto is an epic swag fabulous student, and that draws attention from everybody at his school, and most of the male student hates him for it, but he always manages his way through the problem with style and cool attitude! a must watch this season! XD

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable

WHAT

A
BEAUTIFUL

DUWANG!

XD

Yes! It's finally here! The best part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! David Production is still handling this anime series and I'm very happy when they announced this anime! The art style is following the later arc in the manga, so it might surprise for those who didn't read the manga and just watched the anime.
"Why Jotaro suddenly looks so skinny? My god!"

Can I talk about the anime opening song? Yes, it's catchy as hell! 

again, it might bogged for those who only watched the anime

"Why is it so fun? It's not manly like it used to be! Urgh!"

dude please, Part 4 is way more fun than previous JoJo series. and it has interesting plot and intense action just like the usual! I can see that Hirohiko Araki-sensei (the author of JJBA) is trying to be explore what he can do to the series on this part, and he nailed it so hard!

and for the ending song is I Want You by Savage Garden and it fits the theme as well.

anyway, am I the only one who hears "Duwang" on the Reff of that song? lol

okay guys, that's all the list that I'm going to watch for this season, if you feel that there's another series that I should check it out, just let me know in the comments below!

This is Reikichi, signing out!