Twilight Review

(Yeah, I know, not anime or manga)

Twilight. If I didn’t want to see this movie, my sister would have tied me up and made me watch it anyway. So I went quietly, and actually found it to be a pretty entertaining film. It definitely was not the best vampire story I’ve ever seen, and it wasn’t exactly perfect, but it was a fun watch.

Characters: Main character, Bella Swan, is blah. I don’t really have any reason to understand her actions…. She just doesn’t make sense. She’s way too trusting of people… like right after a vampire admits he’s the perfect hunter, with every tool to bring down a human from super seduction to super speed, she COMPLETELY trusts the guy. What the hell? Other than that, she’s the standard teenager. Kinda boring. Then we have Edward, Mr. Sexy guy who’s in every movie. He’s handsome, strong, smells nice, so dreamy he makes me wanna vomit. Also, he’s a vampire…. Which is AWESOME… but he doesn’t suck human’s blood, which makes him a bit less awesome. He has some funny moments. Then we have Bella’s dad, who is pretty cool, thanks to the shotgun scene. Other than that, he’s a police sheriff and a single father, in a small town. Other characters are mainly minor, like the vampire family. There’s the really hawt girl with the short hair, the awkward guy, the incredibly handsome fatherly figure, and the mother.

The movie has an okay cast, aside from the main character. They have nice chemistry, and they make the scenes flow very nicely. Vampires in this universe aren’t really like the vampires in other universes. They don’t sleep at all, (no coffins) they don’t get killed by daylight (something happens to make them avoid daylight, but it’s facepalm-worthy at best) The only way to kill them is to tear them to shreds and burn the pieces. Also, they have super speed and strength, giving them enough super powers to make superman blush. On top of all that, their all total sex magnets, with perfect bodies, and hair that looks like they’re getting ready for an anime convention (seriously, it’s always spiked just right, in ways that defy gravity.) At least they suck blood…. But none of the main characters suck human blood, and the evil vampires don’t do it onscreen. I only saw one neck get bitten during this entire movie, and it was a minor flash. GAH! Definitely not my favorite vampire mythology.

Plot: Eh, I’ve seen this done in SO many anime it’s ridiculous. It’s a love story about Bella Swan falling in love with the irresistible Edward, who’s eyes glow and has sparkles coming off his skin. Edward, as a vampire, thinks she’s really hot and wants to suck her blood. But he can’t, because he’ll lose control, and won’t be able to stop sucking until it’s too late. Also, he’s a creepy stalker who follows her around. However, he’s so fabulously uber sexy that she finds it charming. It had some extremely funny moments (I’m not sure if they were intentional) and it was fun to watch. I guess it’s like the mindless action movie of chick flicks. You’re exited by it. But when you really analyze it, it looks a little dumb.

Conclusion: Go ahead and watch it (Actually, most people already have) Don’t take it as seriously as the fangirls are taking it and you may enjoy yourself. Also, it’s a GREAT movie for a date. Seriously, what else are you doing right now that’s so important?

Fruits Basket 21 review

Well, I’ve been really busy studying and playing NeverWinter Nights, so I haven’t been able to update this blogue. Fear not, for Winter Break is coming up, and I should not only have more Manga and Anime reviews, and I may even find the time and inspiration to write some Dungeons and Dragons stuff… YAY!

SPOILERS for Fruits Basket 1-20 YE HATH BEEN WARNED

Well, actually you should have read those if you we’re planning on buying this one. Not that I’d be able to stop you from buying it. Anyhow, Fruits basket is getting closer to it’s climax, as made obvious by such signs as the curse weakening, and Akito going bat-**** crazy about it. Its getting good, although I would like a good reason for the curse weakening

This one’s been pretty exiting, but really, it’s been picking up speed ever since Haru attacked Akito. Shigure’s proving himself to be evil to the core, Akito has been getting actual DEVELOPMENT, rather than being a malevolent force, Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru all grew spines, and Haru wants pizza. Rin has sadly been contributing NOTHING to the plot, which is a shame, because I liked her character. She seemed kind of relevant, but she’s in the background doing nothing. I guess that happens when you have a cast that’s only second in size to Negima. Well, that is if you spend as much time developing them as Fruits Basket does.

In this volume in particular, we get more development for Tohru and Akito. Also, we get a bit of backstory between Kyoko and Kyo, and Yuki has a discussion with Kyo about their relationship. No Yaoi though, obviously.

Well, I like Fruits Basket, and this is definitely not a good starting point, and really if you’ve come this far in a series, might as go all the way, right? I’ll have more to write about for the climax when it comes out, and if it keeps going like this, it should be quite good.

Overview: Good, but everybody who has come this far will read it no matter what, so who cares what I say?

XXXHolic Volume 1

Wow, I’m broke. Well, not really broke, cuz I can still pay the bills, and buying people Christmas presents shouldn’t be much of a problem. Actually, I just don’t have enough spare money to go blow on a ton of Manga. However, since I AM the guy who wrote “Dude, you’re paying too much for anime”, I really shouldn’t make a fuss about this. No, instead I used my massive resourcefulness to conjure up manga from nowhere. Nowhere, in this case meaning a library I normally don’t borrow from, and some stuff I have lying around I haven’t got to watching.

Bringing us to the title of this post, XXXHolic. I picked this up from ye local library, and am currently at the mercy of whoever is borrowing it if I want more. They only had the first volume, and if they actually carry the second, it is probably in the hands of some creepy CLAMP fangirl/boy. *shudders*

Which may force me to go borrow the next few volumes, because this looks like it could go somewhere. Maybe. As a first volume, not much happens, we start with a plot, introduce some characters, yada yada yada. Our lead appears to be spineless boy #3012, who has a crush on cute girl #7123. Spineless boy has the unique feature of being able to see spirits, who bother him greatly. He really wants to get rid of them , leading him to Yuko, the hawt hermit/witch. She claims to be capable of removing his little curse, but it will cost him… HIS SOUL! MWAHAHAHAHA!

After selling his soul to our hawt creepy witch, he gets to endure the strenuous torture of working for her as an assistant. Now he is forced to help her in her shop where she grants people favors in exchange for things that they find valuable. This could lead somewhere interesting, as we have one interesting cast member, and the potential for a great deal of interesting stuff to happen. Alas, my library only had volume 1, so I can’t tell you any farther. Tune in tomorrow for my views on Fruits Basket 21!

Opinion: Might go somewhere, might not.

Related stuff:
X (another project by CLAMP)

What have I been doing

Well, been busy for a bit, so I’ll post a bit for while I hope more people show up to read this. Y’know, to show you all that I’m still alive. May even post some more stuff in my Dungoens and Dragons blog, or in my Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting. Real stats will have to wait until I have my manuals in front of me, but I can do a little now. I've also been reading Lord of The Rings alot, because I wouldn't be a proper dork if I didn't. I'm up to about the middle of "the Two Towers."

More to the point: Been loving Chibi Vampire, but I ran out of money, and I’m too lazy to search for a torrent (I really should, this is pretty good stuff)

SPOILERS up to volume 8

Volume 8 has been kind of eh, because it’s obviously setting up for the next arc. However, the conclusion to the previous arc was more than enough to keep me interested. Hehehe, nothing like a long drawn out bite scene. Loved every panel, watching Karin sink her fangs into Usui. And he told her “bite me” *giggles* which was great. Also, the other stuff was pretty good. The rest of ths book was about wrapping up the arc with Usui’s family, which had a twisty conclusion, which was pretty cool. I liked the way it wrapped up, and now the main character has voices in his head… Nothing to drive a plot forward like voices in your head. I really hope this series keeps up the pace, as at this rate it may earn a rank among my favorites.

Next post should be an overview of MY favorite manga (Ones that I've completed, at least. Only manga that I've finished qualify for this category.)

Vegeta, what does the Scouter say about how many episodes it has?

Sorry, still don’t have the money to get new stuff to review. I may dig into my archives, but I don’t have any really recent stuff. I’m currently pretty addicted to Chibi Vampire, but they took that off of OneManga… >_> meanies at Tokyopop.

So, instead of writing about the fine details of what I’m reading (don’t feel like that yet, I want that to be GOOD) I’m going to rant about something that bothers me about anime. Going way too far. Some series just don’t know when to quit, and by the time they DO quit, their core fan base has already lost interest. It drives me mad how so many anime do this. Although it may seem like a smart business move to keep going as long as it makes money, it ruins a show’s memorability if it stays beyond its welcome. For example, Pokemon. That’s been going on for as long as the energizer bunny. And it keeps going and going and going and going…..

Seriously, I prefer to think of a series as “dude, that was awesome, I want more” than “meh, it was going downhill since the third season.” Case in point: I always talk about how freaking awesome the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya is, and that was only fourteen episodes… of AWESOME! If a series leaves a lasting impression on you, you don’t need to make it last forever. Also, if you need more episodes, don’t put in 100+ filler… just go on hiatus for crying out loud! Build some hype!

Be a Man, Read Shoujo

Let’s get down to business…you’re a sad pathetic lot, and you haven’t’ got a clue…

-Li Shang, Mulan.

In today’s society, men hang on to being a man just for the sake of it. This is however, quite pointless, as in this day and age, the traits we associate with “manliness” are quite worthless. So why do we hang onto them? I believe the reason is that most men are under the impression that their reproductive organs will shrink off and disappear if they perform an act they consider “unmanly” Pitiful, really.

However, I think it takes a high degree of manliness to read Shoujo comics. True, the term pretty much translates to “girl’s comics,” however, that should not stop anybody. A true man cannot be brought down, and would be invulnerable to the damage it would cause lesser men. Many will run in an attempt to preserve their manliness, however, I find it much more effective to plow right through them, and assimilate all of the wonderful, uber-cute goodness. Why, the only reason I’m writing this is because I ran out of shoujo to read. Trust me, you’ll still be a man afterwards. Actually, you’ll have proven yourself to be more of a man. Really, what better way to prove your manliness than to retain it through a great amount of girliness?

But wait, before you go delve into the uber-cute world of shoujo, please understand that there is more to it than proving youre manliness. Indeed, it is more important that you ENJOY this. Ah yes, the important part, and the main reason we read manga. So how do you enjoy this? Well, you start slowly…. You can’t just dive into the most cutesy shoujo first! You have to build up your defenses, acquire taste. A great place to start would be Vampire Knight, a story about a school… that is hiding a den of Vampires. Because, as we all know, everything is better with vampires, and shoujo is no exception. Then you can work you’re way in, and try some less masculine stuff. Eventually, you’ll be reading through Fruits Basket and everything Shoujo Beat puts out like it’s nothing. And you’ll still be a man. I do this, and I’m still capable of weight lifting and other manly activities. Also, I still enjoy manly stuff like GTO and Claymore. You’ll have an entire new terrain to explore, and you may even enjoy it!

In conclusion, if you want to prove that you’re a real man, go pick up some Shoujo.

Dude, you're paying too much for anime

I’m sure we’ve all noticed how overpriced anime seems. But what can you do about it? PLENTY! You see, the prices are only like this because this model of sales is working. And that’s the beauty of democracy. If the people do not like something, they can change it. However, all of the people have to band together to change it.

People wonder where I got my freaking MASSIVE anime/manga collection. This is there for two reasons. One, because I used to be a retailer, and got massive discounts. The other is because I am resourceful. Even before I was a retailer, I KNEW where to get the best prices. And that’s what I am going to share today. How YOU can get the right prices for your anime/manga.

Stall Tactics: One of my personal favorites. To do this, I go to RightStuf and look at their sales. And I only buy stuff that is on sale. Thanks to my membership, I get an additional 10% off, plus their 30-40% off sale price. One week, Tokyopop’s stuff is on sale. So I ONLY buy Tokyopop’s stuff. I got like, 8 books for 55$ That’d cost you about 88$ at Borders normally, thanks to tax. With that 33$, you could buy MORE MANGA! You can even do this at Borders if you’d like. Just buy tons of Manga when their stuff is discounted. Often Borders does buy 4 get one free sales. So, instead of going berserk every week, try saving your money, and going berserk once per month or so. You’ll be amazed at how much stuff you’ll get. This leads me to my next tactic, often used in conjunction with this one.

MASSIVE COMBOS: Y’know when you play an RPG, how effective it is when you stack status effects on your opponents? Like in Pokemon, if you use Toxic and then Confuse Ray? This concept also applies to real life. For example, when I’m shopping at Rightstuff, I’ll only buy things that are discounted, and then use my membership to get an extra 10% off. However, I also get free shipping when I buy 50$ or more…. So I always do that! It’s awesome, and you should be doing it too. Another example is, when Borders holds a buy 4 get 1 free sale, that’s when I go in with my stack of coupons. I once got two volumes of Death note for six dollars! What does this tell us? Don’t just use one discount source; pull as many as you can together.

You don’t need a PhD in Economics to pull this off. Heck, you can do this with money you made mowing the lawn, if that’s your thing. However, if all you do is go berserk on the manga section, you’ll never get all the manga you want. Stay back, and plan a massive combo, and watch as you get all the manga you want. I do it, you should do it, and if we al did it, we could increase demand for anime/manga, and force the prices down a bit. Hey, I don’t want “too expensive” to be a valid excuse for ANYBODY!

Related articles:
Obtaining  anime for good prices (legally)
Obtaining anime cheap and legal Part II
Anime Companies are a bunch of Whiners (I'm looking at you Bang! Zoom)