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

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

Rogue One - A Star Wars Story - Movie Review

I'm a big Star Wars fan since I was a little. Eps IV was amazing, and I still held up to this day that Eps V is the best Star Wars among them all. I personally loved Star Wars Eps VII. (Which I already write the review of it last year in here). So here we are, another year, another Star Wars movie! And this time is a spin off movie. It takes place between Eps III and Eps IV. Or should I call it, it's Star Wars Eps 3.8 Final Chapter Prologue (HD ver)? (I'm sorry, Kingdom Hearts fans, I can't help it. The similarities are uncanny XP)
So jokes aside, This movie is directed by Gareth Edwards, the one who is responsible for Godzilla (2014) which honestly let me dissapointed. When I watch this movie, I was kinda worried about that. But my god, I was wrong. So how was the movie? Let's just jump into the review, shall we?

Story
In Eps IV, there's Death Star, the weapon of mass destruction that could destroy a planet in one shot! And in this movie, it's the story about how that Death Star's plan got stolen. You know. that title crawl at the beginning of Eps IV.

I just have to put it here, to make sure that we are in the same page. 

 My thoughts on the movie

1. First of all, this movie is a breath of fresh air for me. It feels like "different" Star Wars movie that I'm already familiar with. In this movie, it feels like that we see a "different" side of War on that galaxy far far away. The wars seems more realistic and gritty this time. Of all times, we see that the Rebellion is the good guy and the Empire is the bad one. And Rebellion seems "clean". But it's different in this movie. We will see a morally ambiguous moments from the Rebellion side which make them have to "dirty" their hands because they have to make the call for it. 
2. I must say, this movie is the PREQUEL that we deserve and we need! It added a new layer to the plot. And that layer added a new perspective on how we see this universe in a whole. And it answers the BIG question if you watched Eps IV. 
3. Just like any other Star Wars movies (prequels are not included). This movie has some witty and quirky dialogue. And every humor in this movie doesn't feel forced at all. *pun intended
4. In my opinion, the main characters in this movie are very likeable. They have their own role in this movie, and they serve a purpose until the end of movie. They are there for a reason. K-2SO is the best character! Somehow I feel that he is Sheldon (from The Big Bang Theory) in Star Wars Universe! 
5. For those who expect to see a lot of Darth Vader in this movie, well, He's not in this movie that much. But when he do, OH MY GOD! I feel like that Darth Vader finally redeemed his image from the Prequel Trilogy. From a whiny teenager who used "I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere." as a pick up line to the most badass and menacing villain in the movie ever!
6. This movie has the most intense battle of all Star Wars battle ever! The stakes are high! And also there are some brilliant moments in the battle. It was really engaging, fun, and intense!
7. The soundtrack is done by Michael Giacchino, and maybe it's just me, the soundtrack doesn't really stood out to me. But it's still atmospheric and suits the tone of the movie.

One of the problem with this movie is just I wish we got more a background story on the main characters. Like Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus. They seem that they have been friends for a very long time. But we don't get a glimpse of their past in this movie unfortunately. The other problem in this movie is the pacing on the first act. It was really fast and it goes all over the place to introduce the characters and so on. But that doesn't take my overall enjoyment to this movie

So here comes the final verdict. Should you watch Rogue One : A Star Wars Story? If you are a long time Star Wars fan, You SHOULD watch this movie! For a new comer, this is not the best way to start your Star Wars experience. My recommendation to the new comer is at least you have to watch Eps IV first before you watch this movie. That'd make you have a better understanding of the overall movie! XD. Rogue one is an awesome movie, It is very entertaining. It feels like a "different" Star Wars movie, but it's still a Star Wars movie. And this is the prequel that we deserve! As a long time Star Wars fan, I'm satisfied with this movie!

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

Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name) - Movie Anime Review

First of all, I apologize that I didn't post any review last week because finally I got to play Pokemon Moon. And it's really, really, really a great game! It's been awhile I'm this hooked with pokemon games. So, please understand.  ^_^;

Finally, I've got the chance to watch this movie screening. Thank god, our local theater finally managed to get this "phenomenal" movie so early instead of, I dunno, SHIN GODZILLA *cough*. sorry.

I've read a lot of article about this movie. It's number 1 "top selling movie anime" for more than 9 weeks straight, Even "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki has been dethroned from "the most successful movie anime" by this movie. When I was reading that article I was like. "whoa, this movie sells more than my all time favorite childhood movie, it must be something, right?". 

Makoto Shinkai's name as a anime director is always been on my radar. Just like Mamoru Hosoda, Gen Urobuchi, Mamoru Oshii, and of course the legend, Hayao Miyazaki. They usually deliver in their movie. Makoto Shinkai's work is a piece of art, and deliver "realism" to his anime. And he also great at toying your emotions with the medium. Yes, I know, if you are a fan of his movies, at the end of the movie, it always left you hanging with 

The first Makoto Shinkai's movie that I watched was Byousoku 5 cm/s. It was a painful yet enjoyable experience. And then I watched all of his past works like "Hoshi no Koe/Voice of the Distant Star", "Kono Kanojo to kanojo no neko/She and her cat",  and also his latest work before this movie, "Kotonoha no Niwa/Garden of Words". Personally, I enjoyed all of his movies, with all of "dem feels" ending. I think it's safe to say if you are "I'm a man, and I don't shed tears on anything at all. Feelings are only for p*ssies!" kind of person. Welp, his movies are not for you. We have to realize that not every genre is for everyone. hahahaha

Anyway, how was the movie? Is it that good? So let's just jump into the review shall we? XD

Story

This movie starts up with our main character, Mitsuha who lives in a village, waking up from her sleep, touching herself, (how to write this without sounding so inappropriate) and she realizes that "Oh my god, I have female parts!?". Meanwhile in Tokyo, there's Taki who wakes up, and touching himself and he was like "Oh my god, I have male parts?!". 

Yes, Taki and Mitsuha swapped bodies. 

This movie is about both of the characters randomly wakes up as each other. And both of them have to figure out how they will live their other side's body during that day, why this is happened to them, and they eventually began to appreciate one and another while learning about each other's life in a very unique manner. 

My thoughts on the movie

1. Makoto Shinkai delivers! Story wise is not really a new thing actually, Swapping bodies is not a new concept (Silver Chariot Requiem, anyone? XD). But the way how everything is directed, the stunningly beautiful visuals, great animations, and also "camera work" makes this movie very enjoyable and entertaining to watch. Seeing this movie in the theater was totally worth it! I got chills so many times when watching this movies because the background are so beautiful! That is to be expected from Makoto Shinkai's movie! XD
2. The soundtrack fits in so much with the movie! The songs are delivered by Radwimps from the opening, ending, and also insert song. Since 5 cm/s, with "One More Time, One More Chance" and Kotonoha no Niwa "Rain", I can really say that Makoto Shinkai really knows how to pick a good soundtrack for his movies. 
3. Every character in this anime feels so human and real. I really like how both of the main characters learn about each other's life by actual being THAT person for a day. So they can know more about that person even better. Which is a really interesting way to tell a romance story. 
4. This is the most lighthearted Makoto Shinkai movie ever made. Usually the tone of his movie is rather gloomy, depressing, and serious. But this movie is different from his previous works. It's colorful, more fun, hilarious, and emotionally powerful! And the transition from comedy slice of life to a more serious tone doesn't feel forced at all. It flows naturally. 
5. This movie is quite fast paced. If you are familiar to his works, I think you are already used to his pacing. This movie have only 107 minutes to tell the whole story. A lot of things suddenly happened. They've been swapping bodies for weeks. But for us viewers it could be 10 mins. Yeah, it's that fast.

As for the problems, I don't really have one actually. The ending caught me off guard. But overall, I'm really satisfied with Kimi no Na Wa! Probably my all time favorite Makoto Shinkai's movie right now! And I'm excited to watch his next movie! 

So, should you watch Kimi no Na Wa? Yes! Moreover if you are a fan of Makoto Shinkai's work, you'll be pleased! and PSA, go watch it on the theater! 

I can understand why this movie was hyped by a lot of person. But personally, I think both of Spirited Away and Kimi no Na Wa are great animated movie. We can't just compare Hayao Miyazaki with Makoto Shinkai because both of them are great on their own! ^_^

So that's it from me. I hope that you will find this review useful. This is Reikichi, signing out! XD

Fantastic beasts and where to find them - Movie Review

I have a lot of fond memories with Harry Potter franchise. I read the books when I was a kid back then.Everything about Harry Potter is magical and wondrous.  Unfortunately I can only afford to buy the first 4 books of it at the time. So the rest of the series, I decided to watch the movie instead. But honestly speaking, I'm really interested to buy the rest of the books right now, hahaha!

So back then I read "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them" and it was a book which contains a lot of information about the magical creatures on the Harry Potter's universe. It was more like a "encyclopedia" rather than a novel book. So when I heard that there's going to be a movie about it. I was expecting a "documentary" kind of movie about the magical creatures on this Harry Potter's world. But it wasn't. This movie actually have a story in it. This movie is directed by David Yates (who was also directing the Harry Potter movies since The Order of the Phoenix) and written by JK Rowling herself. Without further ado. Let's just dive into the review, shall we?

Story

The story takes place 70 years before Harry Potter enters the Hogwarts. Our main character, Newt Scamander (he is the one who wrote the "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them" book) is going to New York and he brought his suitcase that is filled with a lot of magical creatures. Some of them manages to escape by accident. He goes around collecting this feared magical creatures which most of the people wants to exterminate immediately, because he believe that he can take care of them , nurture them and study them. So most of the wizard can learn about the creatures on that era that those creatures are actually harmless at all. So it's up to him to "capture" back those magical creatures without any non-magic people knowing about it. So basically Newt is just like a Pokemon Professor, and his book is basically a PokeDex, (I'm sorry I brought in Pokemon since this movie came out at the same week as Pokemon Sun and Moon and I tried to buy one copy of it but it sold out TvT b) Anyway, will he be able to retrieve all of his magical creatures back? 

My thoughts on the movie

1. If you are a hardcore Harry Potter fan, this is going to be your first time watching a movie without knowing actually what will going to happen since the book is actually a catalog about mystical creatures on Harry Potter Universe. This is JK Rowling's original screenplay and she really is an imaginative writer. Everything on this movie feels magical (pun intended). And watching this movie will make you smile because of its magic.
2. This also will be the first time for us to see the how adult's life in Harry Potter's universe. I mean, in the original source, mostly we see Harry in the school. And now we can experience it in this movie. 
3. This movie is actually quite accessible by someone who didn't really know about Harry Potter at all. Since this movie is kind of a prequel to Harry Potter but you can't really say that since there's no Harry Potter relatives in this movie. Except for the well-known wizard character and one of the key character to the finale of Harry Potter (which I won't spoil it for you).
4. I really, really, really liked those magical creatures in this movie. They are so adorable and cute! When I watch this movie, my inner-child was like "AAAAAAA! I WANT NIFFLER TO BE MY PET!" yeah seriously. Niffler is the cutest and smartest creature in this movie. That creature is really mischievous though. But still. adorable as hell! And other creatures are really unique and have their own special traits and characters. They are indeed fun to watch
5. David Yates is the one who directed this movie, I think it's really understandable why he is chosen to direct this movie since he really understand how the world of Harry Potter Universe works. And he manages to make a great "prequel" without relying too much on fanservice or our knowledge on the franchise in general to appreciate this movie. Because there are a lot of prequels or spin off, or even sequels that really rely so much on those two things which pander the fandom a lot. Because they just want to milk the franchise and fandom. *cough* Digimon Adventures Tri *cough*. 
6. The characters are actually really interesting in this movie. Newt Scamander is a socially awkward but he is really good handling magical creatures rather than people. He is a likeable character and he is the type of character that hid his past pain really well. 
7. Continuing from the last point, Jacob Kowalski the No-Maj (Muggles in America are called No-Maj, it means a non-magic person), is really a magical character (pun intended). I was afraid that he is going to be an annoying comic relief side character on this movie. But thankfully he wasn't. He got caught up in this situation but he is not being annoying or intervening everything that is happening in the movie. This guy is just a pure comedic act without being a nuisance to the plot. Heck, he DOES matter in the plot! I just love it that he is as oblivious as us the audience. When some kind of magical term just showed up and he was like "Erm, what was that mean?" and then Newt explain it to him. 

The minor problem that I had it's just some minor plot hole in this movie which is hard to say for a non-spoiler review in here. But don't worry about it. It's just a minor thing anyway XD

But one of the problem that might turn some people off on this movie is that this movie is quite exposition heavy. 

So, here comes the final verdict, Should you watch Fantastic Beasts and where to find them!? Yes! I think people will have a lot of fun with this movie. It has great visuals, interesting story, adorable magical creatures, entertaining characters and so on! For you hardcore Harry Potter fans, this movie is a MUST watch list for you! I heard that they want to make 5 of this movie. Well I'm honestly happy to hear that! Can't wait to watch the sequel! XD

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

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! - Anime Review

Hey guys! This time I'm going to talk about an anime which airs on Winter 2016, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! or KonoSuba for short. I watched this anime after I finished with Re:Zero (which I already wrote here). I heard that this anime is a parody of Isekai genre itself. So I think watching this series is perfect for me who feels "meh" after watching Re; Zero. So how was it? Let's just dive into it!

Story
The story starts on our real world, where we meet our main protagonist, Satou Kazuma, He is a hikkikomori. But on that day, he went outside to buy some game. On the way home, he saw a girl and a vehicle is rushing to her. Seeing that, Kazuma tried to save her. And then he woke up in the "after life". Enter Aqua, the goddess who told Kazuma that he is already dead. Kazuma thought that he died heroically. But apparently he didn't. He died horribly and pathetically. Aqua laughs when telling him that, even the doctor who tried to save him laughed at his corpse (seriously tho ^__^;). So Aqua offers Kazuma two options. Sending him off to the heaven, or reincarnate once again in a different world while keeping his current memories on his life. She gave a little heads up that if he chose heaven, it'll be boring because everyone in the heaven doesn't have any physical body and just wandering around the heaven for eternity. Listening to that, Kazuma chose to be reincarnated in the other world instead. And then Aqua told him that if he manages to kill the Devil King in this other world, he will be granted one wish. Anything will do. So before he goes to the other world, he must chose anything that he must bring something to that other world in order to defeat that devil king (it could be weapons or anything). Since Aqua is being a jerk to Kazuma by laughing to his death and so on, Kazuma chose to bring her to the other world. So Aqua must live together with Kazuma in that other world. And of course that pissed Aqua off. And thus began their life at the other world living their lives in order to defeat the devil king. Will Kazuma and Aqua be able to defeat the Devil King and get out from that other world?


My thoughts on the series 

1. We all know that anime with isekai genre is quite popular these days, and this anime is a perfect parody of that genre. This anime is genuinely funny and enjoyable for those who are really familiar with that kind of genre. 
2. Even though it's a parody, their world building on the first episode caught me off guard. They really nailed it on the world building, And yet again, this anime only have 10 episodes. Unlike the other isekai anime that I just review couple of weeks ago. *cough* Re:Zero *Cough*. The mechanics of this other world is just like mostly MMORPG where there's some stats. And I can see some "Monster Hunter" like system. Where there's a guild, and they posted some quests for the adventurer's to take. And then they report back and get some rewards. But it's different from MH of course since it tackles the "Exp" system and it has various jobs like any other MMORPG would have. 
3. What makes this show entertaining are the casts. Aqua is a stupid goddess. She is a arch-priest who has good healing abilities, but as she levels up, she spent her skill points for cheap party tricks. While Kazuma, he learns a lot of type of skills from thievery and dark magics. At first, he used thief skill and accidentally become panty thief. Everything gets even more interesting when Kazuma and Aqua finally starts recruiting other members to the party for some quests, But all of the party member (just like Kazuma and Aqua), are good for nothing characters (for comedic purposes). Like Megumin, a crimson demon who can only use one type of spell, Explosion. But after she used it, she will be out cold since it took all of her magic power. She only master that kind of magic because she believes that kind of magic that is important other than other skills and she refuses to learn other magic skills without thinking about her survival after she casts that magic. And the other party member is Darkness, a crusader, but she constantly misses when she attacks, but she loves to take damage from enemy and enjoys being a tank in the team since she is a masochist (^_^;)
4. Continuing from last point, every flaw of all of the party members are exploited brilliantly for comedic purposes. This is a stupid show with stupid characters and they are self aware of it. It's not trying to be so serious about it which is good for this kind of parody. Every ordeal that they overcome are because of sheer dumb luck, since that's what Kazuma is good at. His luck is the best stats among other party member. 
5. However, among other characters, Darkness' character trope is gets old quite fast. And she didn't really have some meaningful act on this series (in the anime, so far).
6. The voice actor are great, they really deliver the emotion and the comedic value of the series.

Minor Problems that I had with this series

1. The animation is done by studio DEEN, and they have this kind of reputation of "standard" and "quarity" anime studio. The quality is are good at the first 7 episodes even though there are a lot of repeated animation scenes. but episode 8 is the worst looking episode among them all. But I must say, whenever Megumin cast the spell, the animation looks pretty. I think this series' budget went there ^_^;
2. Speaking of animation, the fanservice animation on this anime is quite distracting. Every time a boobie woman moves, it has some intense boobie shake. For me, it's an unnecessary fanservice animation. It feels like the animator was like "What kind of animation to make it more interesting? I know! JIGGLE DEM BOOBIES EVERYTIME A BOOBIE CHARACTER MOVES!" ^_^; 
3. The pacing are actually good until we reach eps 8. Where there are some context that we don't get to see and the anime decided to tell us on a quick flash back and skipped it. IF they manage to tell us the story, this anime could have been 12-13 eps long rather than 10 eps

So here comes the final verdict, should you watch KonoSuba? If you are a fan of isekai genre or at least familiar with it and need some good laughs, you should check it out. They announced the 2nd season of this anime. But it worries me if they will be as good as the first season if they don't add some characters or new party members to the plate. 

So that's it from me, I hope that you'll find this review helpful, this is Reikichi, signing out! XD

Kamen Rider Amazons - Review

This is the first time I review a Tokusatsu Series,
so bear with me and please let me know if I got something wrong hahaha!
My friend, Visito, recommended me this show and asked me to write a review out of it. Thank you, mate! It was a thrilling show! Okay! Now Onto the review!

Kamen Rider Amazons is a Kamen Rider web-series that is based on Kamen Rider Amazon (1974). They adapted the "Amazon" concept (well not entirely, mostly they adapted the design and the name as well). it's 13 episodes long, with, some inconsistency of run time. (the first one was 50 minutes, the 2nd one 40 mins, and some of the episodes are 26 mins long. and the finale was 39 mins).
I'm not really familiar with Showa Rider except for Kamen Rider Black and RX, since those two shows are my childhood, But my 5 year old brain couldn't grasp the story, so I don't really know what happened but it was an awesome childhood! (as long as I remember lol).
So how was it? Let's just dive right into it!

Story

The story took place in a city where there are a lot of monsters named Amazon, a monster who feeds on humans. Nozama Pharmaceutical company hired an Extermination team to hunt down and eliminate every single Amazon. One day, the extermination team found a special kind of Amazon who interferes their hunt, an Amazon Rider, or as the belt call it, Amazon Alpha. This Amazon Rider didn't hunt humans but instead, he hunts Amazons and killed it.
At the same time, Haruka Mizusawa, a person who was sick all the time and quarantined, decides to stop consuming the medicine that is given to him. and later on it was revealed that the medicine is used to oppress the Amazon cells on his body. Since he decided to stop the medication. His amazon cells has awaken, and he went berserk and interferes with Amazon Alpha and the extermination team's hunt. .

Amazon Alpha's true Identity is Takayama Jin, a man who only have one purpose, to eliminate every Amazon. Seeing Haruka went berserk like that, he brought Haruka to his house and oppress his amazon cells using a special bracelet. Later on, he revealed that Nozama pharmaceutical was behind all of this, the main reason of why Amazon exist. Apparently there's an accident on that company that leaks the amazons cell to the whole city 2 years ago. And it is estimated around 4000 people infected with Amazon cell. After that, Jin's girlfriend, Nanaha Izumi gave Haruka a belt, the same belt that Jin used in order to transform into Amazon Alpha. and she let him decide whether to use his power for his own good or just live the same live in a quarantine just like he usually does. Later on, he decided to use it, and he became Amazon Omega. What will happen to Haruka next? Will Jin be able to achieve his goals to eradicate every Amazon?


My thoughts on the Series

1. This show contains a lot of graphic violence, blood, gore, cannibalism, and body dismemberment. If you can't stand watching this kind of series, well this series is not for you. I (honestly) was quite shocked to see a lot of gore in a Kamen Rider series, usually when Kamen Rider fights a monster, when they deal damage to the monster (damn, I played too much Monster Hunter), there's some fire sparks coming out from their suits. But it's different for this series, blood splattered everywhere! Monster's body cut into half and the body fell down the cliff, head crushed. and many more! So, Viewer discretion advised!
2. Continuing from point number 1, this series' theme is really dark and definitely not a kids' show. Watching this series will make you question your own humanity and what is humanity itself. 
3. The color tone in the whole series is dark as well. It gives an unsettling and thrilling atmosphere when you watch it. 
4. I really like how different the two main characters, Jin and Haruka, both of them have a very distinct character and principles. Their fighting style are also different, Jin is more calm and collected when he fights the monster while Haruka fights brutally. Even though Haruka fights like an animal, his personality is rather naive, (and sometimes irritates me). While Jin is way cooler and more laid back compared to Haruka. It goes without saying, Jin is my favorite character in this series! 
5. Jin and Nanaha is the true OTP (One True Pairing). Probably the best couple I've ever seen in Kamen Rider series. 
6. Each of the characters are very memorable. This goes especially for  the extermination team. Every single personnel have different personalities and character traits. Usually when I watch Kamen Rider, I don't really care about the side character at all. But this show manages to make me care for them. So props for the scriptwriter! XD
7. The soundtrack is fitting with the series. When it's a scene about tactical team operation, the soundtrack goes jazzy, when the battle goes intense, the soundtrack makes you excited and thrilled with the amazonian battle cry (i'm not really sure what kind of cry it is, but it sounds awesome). I'm currently looking for the soundtrack, but I can't find it. 
8. This show is a slow burner. On the first episode, the viewer would be as clueless as the extermination team. But don't worry! Everything would be cleared up and it gets better as the story moves forward. So be a patient viewer and enjoy the show. 

The problems that I have with the series

Some minor plot holes that needs to be covered but when I write this review, I read that the second season of this show is already confirmed to be aired at 2017. So we can only hope that plot hole will be answered. Even though personally I think the ending for this series is still great even if the series didn't continue any further. 

Here comes the final verdict, should you watch Kamen Rider Amazons? If you can handle gore, and you love watching Kamen Rider series, this series is definitely worth your time!  

I hope that you find this review useful for you, thanks for reading! This is Reikichi, signing out!