I'm Still Around...

I don't know when exactly I'll have the time to come back on and post all the things I want to review, but I will most certainly try.

I don't really have an agenda laid out at the moment, but I have a few anime titles I just have to review, like:

• One-Punch Man
• Gakkou Gurashi
• The World Without Me (aka:ERASED)
• Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun
• Assassination Classroom
• Dimension W
• Gangsta
• The Perfect Insider (Everything is F)
• GODEATER
• Seraph of the End

And that's only the ones I could think of off the top of my head, not including recent developments in ongoing manga and/or manhwa releases I regularly keep up with.

I appreciate you all for continuing to visit, in hopes that I will soon post something again. I will make ends meet to provide that simple service; I intend to start out with easier goals, perhaps 1 or 2 reviews a week, since I'm still quite busy with writing and recording music on a regular basis.

I should have a new review up for Sunday morning, next week. I hope you will come back to check it out!

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

I had enough spare time this weekend to start writing a review for the FUNimation series Tokyo Ghoul, but because of how much I love the series, I've gotten a little carried away and it kind of turned into a mini novel, of sorts.

I (unfortunately) won't have the time to finish writing it until Wednesday night, but will post it as soon as I finish. You can expect Tokyo Ghoul sometime on Wednesday night, followed by Hellsing: Ultimate on Thursday afternoon/night. I'll also be starting on God(?) Save Our King!, Fate/Stay Night**, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Crystal reviews next weekend. If those reviews don't get posted next weekend, they will all be available by Monday night next week at the absolute latest.

Check back over the next couple days for an update on recent chapter releases of my favourite manga, and the review for Tokyo Ghoul!

**It will be a review that is broken down into it's own parts, consisting of the original series Fate/Stay Night, the prequel series Fate/Zero, and the alternative storyline to the original series Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks.

What's the Difference, Anyway?

All too often I hear about how not to do an anime or manga series. I get complaints about too much fanservice, or not enough fanservice in a series. I hear about how an anime series that differs from it's source material is inferior. I hear about how watching too much harem anime can make you go blind. That last one? I always thought it was a joke, like how too much masturbation gives you hairy palms, or whatever. I was a true non-believer that harem anime will make you go blind, until I watched Love Hina. That shit will restore sight to a blind person, only to have them gouge out their eyes moments after glancing at the screen. Regardless, let's take a brief look at some popular titles that were remade, and why they were chosen to be remade.

HELLSING/HELLSING: ULTIMATE
Hellsing: Ultimate is an OVA series consisting of 10 episodes which aired from February 2006 until December 2012. The Hellsing: Ultimate series can often be, but really shouldn't be confused with it's earlier running series of the same name, Hellsing. Both the Hellsing & Hellsing: Ultimate series are based off the manga Hellsing, with the differences between the two anime series being that the running series, Hellsing (October 2001-January 2002) consisted of 13 episodes and contained a different ending than the manga. Hellsing: Ultimate followed more closely to the storyline provided in the manga series. For those of you who are a little less familiar with anime productions and the anime vs. manga arguments, the simplest way to phrase the situation is to say that production of the original anime series, Hellsing, caught up to the manga too fast and ran out of predetermined story. A few things got tweaked towards the tail end that changed how the series ended, and some people got upset. Once the manga had finished it's run, the Hellsing: Ultimate OVA began airing, and since they had an actual written ending this time, it was ended more appropriately. It happens quite frequently, to be honest. I can think of 3 specific and completely opposite examples that instantly come to mind when I think of similar situations; Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Claymore suffered the same fate. Well... there is still hope for Attack on Titan. Continue reading!

CLAYMORE
Claymore's anime (based off the manga series of the same name) aired from April 2007 - September 2007, and had practically the same scenario as Hellsing's original running anime series (not plot-wise, I mean production-wise). They began the anime series while the manga was still in production, and they simply caught up to the manga storyline too fast. Rather than dragging/delaying the anime series from going forward, they (FUNimation) ended the series prematurely, in what is without a doubt the most sensible way they could have thought possible. In retrospect, however, if FUNimation had (at the time) been aware of how the creators of Claymore were actually going to end the series, they'd have seen how terribly they performed their jobs by prematurely ending the anime series after 26 episodes. The manga itself contains closer to 45 episodes of material, removing unnecessary filler content. I've been praying since the manga wrapped up that we'd have a remake of the series see the light of day, but nothing that I've heard of yet.

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST/FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD
Fullmetal Alchemist, one of my favourite manga and anime series to-date, suffered an almost identical crisis when production of the original running anime series caught up with the story of the manga, which was still regularly publishing chapters. Personally, after watching Fullmetal Alchemist, I found that I enjoyed the manga far greater, but as was the case with Claymore, they didn't know how it was going to end... so they made that shit up. Of course, they spoke with the creators and made fairly educated guess-work regarding the ending, but it wasn't as faithful to the characters, and was commonly dismissed by fans as a weak attempt, or even irrational when compared to the ending found in the manga. Once production of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga was finished, production began on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a remake of the anime series that held true(r) to the manga than the original series did. Sound familiar? It should, that's precisely what happened with Hellsing and Hellsing: Ultimate.

ATTACK ON TITAN
If I could talk about this series forever, I would. But I won't. I have a point to make, so I'll get right to it: Attack on Titan's manga series was akin to an instant K.O. when it came to how widely received it was by both fans and critics alike. In the rush to capitalize on the series, they allowed production to begin on a TV series of the same name, as well as video game and merchandising rights. The series inevitably caught up to the storyline of the manga, and they were forced to halt production of the anime. They held incredibly true to the story provided in the manga, and I had no real issues with the series compared to the manga. So... why bother including this title? Because the original authors and TV production team who work on Attack on Titan put a little more thought into it than the other companies ever considered. When production of the anime caught up the the manga storyline, they stopped making episodes. They didn't make up an ending or cancel the series, they just stopped airing it. They instead decided to focus on producing the manga, which is still impressive, with each additional chapter getting better and better. Attack on Titan hasn't seen a new episode since it began in 2013 - that's a long time for a series to stop airing, considering that September 2015 will mark 2 years since the series  has released a (non-OVA) episode. For those of you already immersed in Attack on Titan news, you will already know of the animated films Crimson Bow & Arrow, and On Wings of Freedom, which break down the TV series into 2 half seasons and reassembles them as 2 feature-length animated films. Also, the highly anticipated Attack on Titan live-action film is coming to Japanese theatres this summer. There is so much hype surrounding the live-action film, Crimson Bow & Arrow, and On Wings of Freedom that by the time it all subsides, January 2016 will be upon us, and they've already announced the anime series will resume where it left off sometime around February - April, 2016. Now that is how you do it.

Naturally, I'll be posting a proper review on Hellsing: Ultimate later in the week, but thought I'd take a few moments to just... talk.
Forgive any mistakes, I'm typing this up on a tablet and it is being mega difficult with me right now.

My current to-do list, and what to expect

To those of you who will read this, a few words:

I will get reviews up this weekend, as well as updated chapter listings. I've had some personal issues this week, which involved both leaving town to visit family, and working extra long hours at the job. Once this week is through, what you can expect is to see reviews for several series coming your way, including Tokyo Ghoul (I'm totally excited to talk about this one!), Hellsing Ultimate (OVA), God(?) Save Our King!, Twelve Kingdoms, and a few others for anime. I'll be doing a review on the manga for The Resurrection of F for all you DBZ fans out there, and while I'm still working on the layout behind the scenes, Im trying to find a way to incorporate an online manga viewer into the site somehow. Every script I find for one is .php, and naturally Blogger doesnt allow .php scripting. I'm looking into Javascript options at the moment.

Please do continue checking back, morr content to come!

Dear Universe...

I'm still alive!

I took an extended leave of absence, where I was writing and recording music locally for the last year and a bit. If you are someone who was disappointed I stopped posting, I have a buttload of new reviews coming. I know I said over a year ago that the next review was coming in a couple days, but I actually mean it, this time.

A new review (or two) will be available by Tuesday morning, and I'll be going back to posting about chapter releases for any series I read frequently. I'm unsure at this time whether I'll be keeping or tossing the review template. I want to keep it, because it gives me a way to put a set of numbers to how much I enjoyed a series, but at the same time it doesn't allow me to freely talk about a series as much.

A new layout will be introduced to the site Monday or Tuesday, as well; do check back shortly.

I encourage you to contact me if you have an idea for a review, or if there is a problem with the layout that prevents proper viewing (eg. it looks good on desktop but not on mobile, broken picture links, typos, incorrect information in plot summaries, etc). If you want to post your own review on here, let me know!

Until next time!

Chapter Releases, Chapter Releases...

Hello everyone! It's me again!

Chapter releases this week include Noblesse (Chapter 323 - awesome!), Crepuscule (Chapter 154), God of Highschool (Chapter 161 - better than the new Noblesse, this week), and two - that's right - two new chapters of Bleach (Chapter 581 and Chapter 582).

Sadly, there are no new releases for Attack on Titan, Tower of God, Kingdom, Carnaval Glare, Trace 2.0, or Until Death Do Us Part as of yet. You should expect further delays from Tower of God, since the author is still on hiatus due to health setbacks, but the other titles you should see in the near future, with exception to Trace 2.0 because I honestly have no idea why the release schedule for Trace is so sporadic and messed up.

On that lovely note, I unfortunately won't have the time I need to complete a review this weekend, but I will most assuredly have a new one available this coming week. I would imagine it will be ready to go for Wednesday, so please check back for the newest review at that time.

As always, if you have any suggestions and/or comments, you know what to do.

Updated!

Hey everyone!

New review is up (see post below) for Kingdom, a pretty awesome manga series that's been ongoing since 2006.

To coincide with this review, the two newest chapters were released yesterday and today, respectively.
You should go ahead and read Chapter 388 and Chapter 389 if you haven't already. If this series is new to you, check out the review and maybe you'll be interested? If you are, your journey begins here: Kingdom.

Kingdom

Title: Kingdom
Year of Release: 2006-Present
Status: Ongoing (currently 389 chapters)
Story: Hara Yasuhisa
Art: Hara Yasuhisa

Kingdom is a manga series that is set in the Warring States period of ancient China's history. The series focuses mainly on the militaristic aspect of China's states at the time, and the obstacles the armies needed to overcome to achieve their goal of a complete unification of China. While the series takes many liberties with characters and scenarios, it is still based on historical fact. The geographical locations of many of the battles, as well as the tactics used by the armies at this time is also quite valid. Someone certainly did their research.

ART SECTION: 9/10

General Artwork & Backgrounds 3/4: The general artwork and backgrounds are very well done. While the frames often leave quite a bit of blank space, it is still utilized to some degree; Where the artist leaves blank space it is often used as a contrasting technique, since the character shading (see below) is so detailed. I would likely say that because there is so much blank space, it lacks detail in background and/or general artwork, but this is not the case at all - since this is a manga about warfare, you bet your ass there's tons of people dying, being ripped to pieces, and getting their armor shattered into oblivion in the backgrounds.

Character Figures 2/2: While the characters aren't exactly outstanding in terms of detail, the artwork is still done in a way that keeps your eyes glued to each panel. The use of shading by the artist is far more noticeable on characters than on the general artwork or backgrounds.

Frame/Panel Flow 4/4: I initially thought of giving this a 3/4 rating, because sometimes it's a really hard series to follow. But then, I realized that the only reason I'm having trouble following the series is because some of the groups that scan it have retarded staff when it comes to proof reading and quality checking their material. Nothing is worse (in my opinion) than sitting there looking at the same frame for 4 minutes trying to figure out what word was supposed to be there, instead of the one they mistakenly entered in.

STORY SECTION: 7/10 
 
General Scenario 2/2: Love it!

Pacing 2/2: I haven't even once felt that it was rushed, or that the story was progressing too slowly for me. I was a little overwhelmed with the sheer number of chapters when I started reading it a few weeks ago, but once I started reading, I kind of wished I could never catch up, no matter how much I read.

Side Stories/Character Development 2/2: Kyou Kai's side story is my favourite thus far, although there are quite a few side stories mixed in to both the main story and the bonus manga at the end of certain chapters and/or volumes. The character development is astonishingly well done.

Plausibility 1/2: This series is completely believable, with the exception to one thing: some of the characters are just freaking ridiculous. Take for example General Ou Ki, or Hou Ken - while they may have been actual people, or based off of actual people, the fact remains that there is no way in hell that someone that awesome could have existed. They'd have been more on par with say... Duke Hyou, or General Ou Sen Massive exaggeration, while fun and entertaining, nets this a -1 point for plausibility. And yes, I understand that from the protagonist's viewpoint, the enemies probably look far more intimidating than normal, hence the visual of them being like monsters, in a way. But still, this is a reality-based section.

Conclusion 0/2: While I would enjoy giving this a 2/2 for conclusion, I would be quite mistaken in doing so, since the series hasn't finished it's run yet. I will definitely be revisiting this review for updating once the series has completed, but honestly, who can even say when that will be?

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 10/10
I'm a pretty easy guy to please. All you have to do is give me an anime or manga that will entertain me for a few hours and I'm good to go. This is one of those. I'll be honest with you - I had heard of the manga before, but wasn't very interested in it at first. It wasn't until someone recommended it that I decided to read it, because it was recommended not by 1 person, but by at least 6 people at the same time. Thank you all for your recommendations, this one was definitely worth it.

VERDICT: 26/30
I sentence this manga to never stop being awesome. Also, you should read it. I tried watching the first few episodes of the anime and it was nowhere near as good as the manga.

SUGGESTION LIST
Threads of Time
Feng Shen Ji
Blood & Steel
Vinland Saga

Chapter Releases & Other Related News

Hello everyone!

As you can likely tell already, I haven't come to any conclusions on which changes I want to make to the layout as of yet. I do have a review ready to go, but I won't be posting it until tomorrow night.

It's been a pretty busy week for manga lovers. New chapters have been released for Noblesse, Crepuscule, and God of Highschool.

There's a relatively new manga series out right now that I've talked about before, called Carnaval Glare. After about a month of inactivity on this particular title (because the group that scans it was having trouble recruiting Japanese translators for the project) they've finally managed to release Chapter 3 of the series, which I've been anticipating. Unfortunately, because it's still so early into the series, nothing major has developed in the story yet that would keep my interest personally, but because it has much potential to evolve into a better series than it currently is, I'm holding out hope - also, chapter 3 of Carnaval Glare was left on a cliffhanger, so if you've started reading the series by now, you'll likely want to keep an eye out for when chapter 4 is released because I have a feeling shit is about to go down. Big time.

As always, I'm open to suggestions for some new anime series to read and/or watch so I can bolster my review catalog, so feel free to drop me a line if you would like to see a particular title reviewed on here. Additionally, I am also open to having guest reviews on the site, if anyone is interested in posting their own reviews. Please message me if you are interested in this, and I can arrange.

If you weren't aware, and are a relatively large fan of the Tower of God series, the author (SIU) is currently taking a short break for health-related reasons, so none of us will be seeing any new content for the ToG series until about a month from now, or possibly a little longer.

There is no new news related to the Trace 2.0 series, which I've been patiently waiting for a new chapter release for. I hope it will be soon. It was just getting so, so good, too :(

That's about all from me, for the moment. Check back later tomorrow for a new review.

An Update on Updates

Hello, everyone!

Just a quick update to let you know what's going on over here on my end of things:
I still haven't been able to decide how to modify the layout of the site. Because of this, I have made the decision to postpone the 3rd review I was going to post this weekend. I intend to still post that review, but I think that in the event that it takes me all week to either decide/actually change around the layout I'll at least have a review available to post later in the week, or next weekend at the very least. My concern at this point is that I will take too much time to make up my mind, and then not have enough time to do up a new review for the upcoming weekend.

Provided I can get the layout preparations in place by Thursday, I should have that 3rd review up on Thursday night, and 1 or 2 new reviews over the weekend. Worst case scenario, you'll have the 3rd review available for reading next weekend. I should have enough time to do 2 next weekend, though.

Unfortunately, there are currently no new chapters released for series that I follow regularly since I already updated yesterday morning. If you haven't already read the newest chapter for Until Death Do Us Part (which I mentioned in my last update), I suggest you do so right now. If you haven't actually read the series up to this point, you're missing out on a great story. That is all.

Now I'm off to play some Kingdom Hearts. Keep your eyes peeled for the changes to site coming later this week.