Jump to content

Mars Terra

AF Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    335

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Mars Terra

  1. Mars Terra
    Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko, or simply Toji no Miko in japanese, would be easy to label as a magical girl series, however, even though all the characters are girls, I would say that it is aligned more closely with a regular action series. Monsters know as Aratama appear in the world and run rampant and it's up to individuals known Toji to defeat them. The characters fight by first channeling spirital energy known as utsushi which grants them a layer of armor that I would compare to trion bodies in World Trigger.
    Kanami Etou seems to have a more tomboy personality, she's really into fighting and is the main thing she talks about in this episode, which is a bit boring when you factor in the fact that the first episode centers around them traveling to another city to fight in a tournament. But it would be misguided to call her one dimensional, as she does have a air of innocence around her. She is pretty good friends with Mai Yanase, a timid but kind girl who is also more than capable of fighting. They're really friendly with each other, but considering the lack of male presence in this show, it would only make sense that any relationship would be between two female characters. Hoyori Juujuu is a bit of a mystery, we are give bit and pieces of her backstory before she encounters Kanami. Kanami asks if she is also participating in the competition to which she simply walks past her, but midway through they both sense something and turn their swords toward eachother, but after a short while Hoyori simply walks away again. I couldn't help but find this scene to be laughable. The action presented is pretty well executed, it is animated better with the fights between human beings more so then ones against monsters, but it's clear the team knows how great fight scenes are done. Things get interesting when Hoyori suddenly breaks from the final match of the tournament and attempts to execute Yukari Origami, who is the heir of the family entrusted to look after the very power that is granted to the Toji, the divine swords, the okatana. After failing, Hoyori is saved from being killed herself by Kanami and the two run off together. This is the first anime of the season I've seen that has fanservice in it, it's only moderate and mainly suggestive, but I find it a bit disturbing considering that the characters are all middle schoolers, which is underaged even by japanese standards. That being said, I'm still excited to see where the story goes and how the relationships develop.
    That is all for this post, but be sure to check out my impressions on Ito Junji: Collection, and tomorrow I will be taking a look at Hataraku Onii-san!, Grancrest Senki and Citrus and Sanrio Danshi. Until then, have a wonderful day.
  2. Mars Terra
    Salutations, and hello once again.
    The title I'll be giving my impressions on today is Ito Junji: Collection which, as the name implies, is a collection of short stories by popular horror mangaka Ito Junji. The first episode is based upon Souichi's Convenient Curse, which is surprisingly not the first story to feature this character, were the previous ones not seen as worthy? Or perhaps they are simply saving the others for later? Either way it does strike me as odd but as long as it doesn't disrupt the flow of the series, I'll be willing to overlook it.
    The episode begins with Souichi nailing a voodoo doll to a tree which causes pain for one of his classmate to the point of them being hospitalized. The next day it is shown how mentally disturbed Souichi really is with him talking to himself, going on about how great his voodoo powers are and how he was responsible for what happened to his classmate, which one would have to question why he would let that slip, not that anyone is going to believe any of it is true. In fact, all of his classmates think he's a weirdo and don't talk to him. Because of this, he probably spends a lot of time just listening to what his classmates are talking about which is how he makes the connection the change in atmosphere around a group of three friends and leads him to believe there is tension Ishikawa and Kawai, which is not only reading too deeply into it, he also jumps straight to Ishikawa wanting Kawai to die. After cursing Kawai he reveals to Ishikawa that he was the culprit and despite his words it is clear that he wants some sort of compensation for his "good deeds" from him, but instead is rebuked by him. He also has a brother and sister who, despite them seeming like good people, he hates probably because they're more good-looking then he is. There is also a old man who owns the forest area where Souichi plants all of his voodoo dolls, much to the old man's dismay and it would appear to me that he is just as if not more crazy then our protagonist is. Late in the episode, when Souichi is pulling a prank on Ishikawa for revenge, he gets caught in one of the old man's traps and is left by Ishikawa to be dealt with by the old man, who tries to kills Souichi and would of if not from his brother showing up to save the day, which is a bit plot conventional, I mean it's never explained what he was doing there. In the end Souichi still hates his brother and does not realize how he himself is wrong. The story did not contain a whole lot of scary moments but it was interesting to see a story from the perspective of someone who is disturbed. There is another short story at the end which manages to be much more disturbing then the entirety of the first one in about a tenth of the time, it doesn't give much in the way of a introduction and the lack of a reason behind the context both add to the creepiness. In conclusion, if all the stories are to be like Souichi's Convenient Curse then this won't be a very scary series overall which would not be good, on the other hand if they are more aligned with the other story I mentioned and are only a few minutes long each, then this will be a very good horror work of fiction as I felt that it was worth watching until the end if only to see that story.
    I'll leave it to you to decide whether it is worth your own time or not. That is all for this post, but be sure to check out my impressions on Toji no Miko , and tomorrow I will be taking a look at Hataraku Onii-san!, Grancrest Senki and Citrus and Sanrio Danshi. Until then, have a wonderful day.
  3. Mars Terra
    Nice to see you again, and hello.
    The anime I will be looking at today is one by the name of Yuru Camp△.
    At the very beginning you see all of the girls together around a campfire enjoying marshmallows together talking about nothing in particular which not only feels more or less pointless but probably is.
    After the opening plays we are shown one of the girls driving along the highway with scenery like a painting, which could of been problematic since the painting-like background do not mesh very well with the rest of the world when in motion and two trees look awkward as they're pulled away from the audience's vision to create a effect of them passing the camera by. When you focus on the scenery people are bound to notice this, thankfully for most of the episode the camera remained still and it does look pretty stunning otherwise.
    The girl traveling is Rin Shima who is camping during the winter in order to take in the surrounding nature alone. At first I was going to praise this show for showing her setting up a tent instead of having her tell us the process of doing so by way of monologue, as this should be reserved for a more natural opportunity, this remains true however it does something even worse in that it explains some basic tips of how to start a campfire by way of narration. To be fair it is crucial to show what the anime is about in the very first episode so something like this should be expected. But considering they already had narration once then it's very unlikely that they won't drop this in substantial episodes, meaning that even if more natural ways to explain different aspects camping presets themselves, at least a few will still be left to narration. Rin comes across Nadeshiko Kagamihara several times sleeping on the steps of the public restroom, when she finally does wake up she comes to Rin for help and explains she has become lost after moving to a new city and has misplaced her cellphone and is unaware of her new phone number. This is a more smoothing moment as the two girls enjoy a cup of ramen together under the brilliant moonlight, allowing for the two to bond and befriend one another. Nadeshiko realizes that while she doesn't know her phone number, she remembers her sister's. While I could complain about the issue presented being easily resolved I don't really think they could of dragged it on very much longer, not in a way that would be interesting anyways. I said a lot of negative things about this anime, but I was simply looking at it from a objective standpoint as to point out the things it could of done and executed in a better manner, overall I think it was a enjoyable experience, I see the potential in it and will likely continue watching it until the end and would recommend this title to fans of the slice of life genre. That's it for this post, but if you haven't already then please check out my impressions of Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san. And tomorrow I will take a look at Ito Junji: Collection as well as Toji no Miko , until then I hope you have a wonderful day.
  4. Mars Terra
    Nice to see you again, and hello.
    The anime this time around is Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san, which translate into Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles. Before I delve into it I would like to recommend that you watch the first episode yourself as this is a slapstick comedy, these types of anime unfortunately tend to repeat the same joke over and over again and can get old very quickly and considering I'll be focusing on the comedic elements I will spoil what few jokes this anime has to offer as a result. With that in mind I feel you should watch at least worth checking out a single episode before reading any further.
    So the series is written in about as basic of a manner as the name would imply, since the jokes come across as equally barebone it's a shame not much effort seems to have been put into the writing, not just in the scenarios but also the characters as a whole and I can likely summarize their personalities in a few short sentences.
    Koizumi-san loves to eat and is very passionate about the ramen she eats at ramen shops, but ignores everyone around her.
    Yuu Oosawa wants to hang out with Koizumi, and even though she is constantly turned down she looks at whatever positive thing one could when she is.
    Misa Nakamura doesn't like Koizumi, probably because she's afraid she'll take Yuu away from her.
    Jun Takahashi didn't really leave a impression on me.
    The main thing is that Koizumi-san loves her ramen and eats them incredibly fast and smiles, then is immediately back to her old self afterwards. The problem with this is that Yuu reacts in a predictable manner every time. If you preset the same joke every time and the characters reacts the same every time then the audience is going to see it coming for a mile away. There is actually a bit of a lesbian undertone to this anime with Yuu seemingly falling in love with Koizumi the first time she sees her to the point of calling her cute and continues to chase after her to the point of becoming a stalker, furthermore, Misa is jealous of Yuu calling Koizumi cute instead of her.
    As I mentioned before, Yuu is constantly rejected by Koizumi and the thing she says may be different each time but it is essentially the same joke as five minutes ago, there are a few unique ones here and there but I feel as if this series will overstay it's welcome long before it ends. One other thing is a melody that plays which I first thought was the intermission but it actually plays every time the scenario changes and I found it to be a bit jarring.
    In conclusion it's simply another series based off of one joke with little variety beyond it, I personally think that my time would be best spent elsewhere but I don't think slapstick comedy is necessarily a bad thing, it would work well if there was more to it then a single concept being repeated time and again as no matter how absurd it may be it's still just a single concept. That's it for this post, but if you haven't already then please check out my impressions of Yuru Camp△. And tomorrow I will take a look at Ito Junji: Collection as well as Toji no Miko, until then I hope you have a wonderful day.
  5. Mars Terra
    Nice to meet you, and hello!
    Today I am giving my impressions of the first episode of A Place Further Than The Universe, otherwise known as Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, the basic premise of which is four highschool girls embarking on a journey to search for Shirase Kobuchizawa's, one of the girls', mother who went missing somewhere in antarctica.
    The main character is Mari Tamaki, an airheaded girl who oversleeps and stumbles upon a old notebook of her's that mentions all of her plans for once she entered highschool which includes keeping a diary, skipping a day of school, going on a trip without a plan and getting the most out of her youth. Much to her dismay she has accomplished none of these things and tells her friend that she usually talks herself out of trying new things, which isn't something someone would just straight up say but it does offer insight into her character. Megumi Takahashi is Mari's friend, she doesn't think of Shirase as weird for wanting to make good on the plans she made before she entered highschool and instead simply encourages to do those things, telling her there is nothing wrong with skipping school. I think she's a very good friend for these reasons. And then there's Shirase Kobuchizawa, the last character to be introduced in this episode. Mari notices her drop a envelope on the ground while Shirase rushes to check and train, after Mari loses her and she looks inside the envelope, she realizes it contains ¥1,000,000. The next day she sees her entering the bathroom at her school and after a probably unintended jumpscare, she returns the money to her and Shirase explains why she has that much. She has been working a part-time job in order to earn enough money to travel to antarctica to search for her mother, it's all she talks about and everyone at school makes fun of her for it, but that just fuels her drive. She asks Mari to come with her, she has people about it before and their friends talked them out of it or they got scared, so she wants to make sure that Mari is serious so she asks her to come with her to look at a boat she's been looking it on the weekend. Thus begins Mari's journey to both fulfill her own wishes and to become stronger as a person. So far it has been presented in a cute way, but also written in a beautiful manner. So expect to see a anime with plently of laughs but also some more warm, touching moments. The right balance between a light-hearted and serious tone. That's it for now, please join me next time when I take a look at Yuru Camp△, have a wonderful day. = )

Anime Forums

A unique community of fans from around the world, who gather to share their fandom and love of anime, manga, gaming, fanart and at the cornerstone of it all, Japanese culture!

Take a moment to join us today and you'll have access to our member clubs and events too. Come join in the fun and become a part of our community.

Partners

×
×
  • Create New...