Anime

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the currently popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.

Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
4 Stars

I got started on watching InuYasha from the television series and have just started watching the movies. The first of the four InuYasha movies was released in 2001, so it is a little older than most of the popular animes such as Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.
This movie does not require previous knowledge of the television series, but does deal with a lot of the same things the television series covers. All you really need to know is that the movie and the series for that matter are set in the feudal era, in ancient Japan where demons roam and are constantly trying to dominate everything in their world.  Everyone is in search of Shikon Jewel shards.  The Shikon Jewel is also known as the Sacred Jewel or the Jewel of Four Souls. The Shikon Jewel is extremely powerful and can easily make any demon the most powerful being. To know why the Jewel is split up you will have to watch the series, which I highly recommend.

 

The story starts out with an oversized scorpion demon and the gang defeats it easy. Soon after Sango’s faithful companion, Kirara begins to react from the scorpion’s poison that she was injured by. Kirara runs away underMenoumaru’s minions, Huri and Ruri’s spell. Kirara begins to fight against Sango. Sango continues to struggle throughout the entire movie with trying to save Kirara.
Miroku has problems of his own; Ruri uses her power to copy Miroku’s Wind Tunnel. She uses it against him until she is sucked into her own Wind Tunnel. Allowing Miroku to see what is in the future for him.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, and the son of Lord Hyoga. Lord Hyoga was defeated over 200 years ago by InuYasha’s father. Menoumaru’s moth minions bring souls of the near by villagers, increasing his strength, power and size. With the combination of absorbing the souls and Lord Hyoga’s powers, Menoumaru becomes strong enough to deflect InuYasha’s Wind Scar. InuYasha alone cannot defeat Menoumaru, but with Kagome and him working together, they stand a chance. Kagome and InuYasha team upand attempt to attack Menoumaru, but nothing seems to work since he is so strong. Eventually Kagome and InuYasha discover how to defeat him, with Kagome’s sacred arrows and InuYasha’s Back Lash their attack pierces through Menoumaru’s barrier.
A little background information to better understand the six main characters.
InuYasha is a half demon, which allows him to wield the Tessaiga. He has a short temper and a lack of common sense when it comes to dealing with Kagome’s feelings. He cares for Kagome, much like how he felt for Kikyou. His lack of patience and his hot head nature gets him
Kagome, a japanese junior high school girl who has the ability to travel back and forth between our time and the feudal era. Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyou, a priestess, who also inherited Kikyou’s exceptional archery skills.
Miroku is a monk who is cursed with the Wind Tunnel, a hole in his hand that sucks everything in its path into a void, which he inherited from his father.
Sango is a demon slayer who uses a Hikaikotsu made out of the bones of demons [it looks like a giant boomerang].
Shippou is a child fox demon who was orphaned and the others took him in. He tries to help, and sometimes succeeds but he really is too young to make much of a difference.
Kirara is a nekomata demon, a small two tailed cat that can transform into a large flying fire cat. When under the control of Huri Kirara breaks the spell and returns to Sango’s side.
This movie has three main antagonists, Menoumaru, Huri and Ruri.
Menoumaru is a moth demon, son of Lord Hyoga, he attemps to take revenge on InuYasha for his father’s downfall over 200 years ago.
Huri is one of Menoumaru’s minions, she uses her power of mind control to take Kirara from Sango.
Ruri is another one of Menoumaru’s minions, she has the ability to copy others powers. She uses her power to have a Wind Tunnel like Miroku’s.

InuYasha has been one of my favorite television series for a few years now, that might have something to do with it being aired on Cartoon Network’s AdultSwim over the past few years.  The movie is equally as good as the series.  I enjoyed the focus on one main antagonist.  In the series InuYasha and the others are trying to rid their world of a character called Naraku.  I was surprised to see that they did not even include Naraku in the movie, but glad none the less to see a different demon try to take on the team.  The love triangle between InuYasha, Kagome and the dead Kikyou is one that is entertaining.  Not to mention the love interest between Miroku and Sango, Miroku the lecher constantly flirts with any woman he meets while Sango punishes him with her jealousy.  This movie is one to check out, and hopefully it will turn you into a fan of InuYasha.

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
5 Stars

Here is another adventure into the world of Full Metal Panic! Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the true sequel to FMP!

This series takes you back to the military life of Sousuke.

In the first mission of the series, the person giving them aid in the tunnel betrays Sousuke and his team. Captain Vincent Blueno, who goes by Ogma-1, was responsible for the communications maintenance in the Yangtze River Tunnel hostage rescue operation in Nanjing. Captain Blueno betrayed his comrades by leaking all of the radio transmissions to Gates, allowing Gates to know every move they made before they made them.

Sousuke is constantly battling with enemies, but his biggest battle is trying to fit in with normal society. He is told in the end that he disrupted the life of Chidori and ultimately put her into more danger than she normally would have encountered.

Although Sousuke could not adapt to Tokyo and city life, Chidori adapted to Sousuke’s military way of life. After Sousuke is taken off the mission of protecting Chidori, she starts to notice things are wrong and begins to think like Sousuke. She becomes suspicious of everything and comes up with a plan to save her life. The events that take place after Sousuke leaves make Chidori realize that she needs Sousuke and actually admits to liking him.

Chidori is attacked by the younger of the twins while the other twin runs a rampage in Hong Kong. Chidori saved herself, and many of her techniques came from Sousuke’s methods.

After Sousuke leaves, he encounters several antagonists including some new and some old. Gates, even crazier than Gauron, is the major antagonist. Gates is a general leader to an organization called Amalgam; this organization’s one desire is to bring down Mithril. Gates has in his possession several Venom Arm Slaves and he and his followers attempt to take out Mithril. Gates only answers to one person inside the organization Amalgam, Mithril’s Captain Testarossa’s brother, Leonard Testarossa.

Leonard’s one weakness is Chidori; he confesses at the end that he loves her. Where Leonard lacks there he makes up with strength brought on by his human-sized Arm Slaves who obey his every command.

Leonard is also a Whispered, along with his sister Captain Tessa Testarossa of the Tuatha de Danaan and Chidori Kaname. Sousuke thought Gauron had died when he set his Arm Slave to self-destruct in FMP! I was even shocked to see Gauron had survived and as the infamous sensei of the twins.

When Gauron reappears in this story, he brings followers Xia Yu Lan and Xia Yu Fan. Gauron stays in hiding until he sends out the message saying, “To the son of Bdakshon’s Tiger. Meet Hamidra at Tsim Sha Tsui.” Gauron only expected one person to be able to decipher the message and expected Kashim, or better known as Sousuke, to find him. The plan was to lure Sousuke to Gauron’s bedside, where he lay crippled from the self-destruction of his Arm Slave in the final episode of FMP!

Gauron finally dies for good when Sousuke learns that Chidori was to be killed on his orders.  In attempts to kill Chidori, Gauron’s trained assistant, Xia Yu Lan died in battle by the hands of Leonard Testarossa. Her twin sister, Xia Yu Fan’s mission was to create commotion in the city of Hong Kong with her Arm Slave, which eventually lead her to death moments after hearing of Xia Yu Lan’s death.

After seeing all three of the series linked to Sousuke and Chidori, I really am saddened to be done with it all. I really enjoyed watching these characters and as many have said, I felt connected with them. The characters’ lines seemed well thought out and made the viewer connect with each character. The story line in the thirteen-episode show was exciting and shocking; I never would have guessed Gauron would survive from the explosion. I enjoyed the dark comical relief from Gates; he often would revert to his less sane side by hauling off and shooting his followers for no reason. Overall, each of the Full Metal Panic series are good to look into for those who like action, battle scenes, explosions, drama and love stories. Try not to be discouraged by the love story and drama part, not all battle/action animes can survive without a little drama.

So, I never really watched Anime and this is the first one I’ve ever sat down and watched. I was hooked by the first episode and really loved it! I couldn’t believe I’ve been missing out on such good story lines. With that, I bring to you my into into the world of anime.

*Editor’s note – RazorFine welcomes another new author to the site (yep, that’s two newbies in two weeks)!  What can we say, we need fresh and tasty, um I mean new and tasty, um I mean new, blood.  Welcome Jeff!

Blood+
4 & 1/2 Stars

A mysterious girl, Saya Otonashi, her adopted father George Miyagusuku and her two brothers, Kai and Riku, are living Post Vietnam (Date is never really given in context, but it is around 2000’s) Japan in Okinawa. One day after school, Saya forgets her track uniform and heads back to school to get it and is thrown into a whole new world of demonic creatures, and complex histories that changes her life forever.

Saya finds out she has actually “lived” previous lives and is followed by her guardian, named Haji. She is a human/creature set out to kill these beasts known as Chiropteras and their leader Diva. The Chiroptera recover from injuries and only her blood can kill them. She is teamed up with her Father, her brothers,  two FBI Agents David and Lewis. They travel all throughout the world searching for Chiropteras and Diva.

During their travels, Saya keeps on unlocking parts of her memory allowing her to know what she was in her previous lives, she then begins to hate herself for it. They search until they find Diva in Vietnam and accidentally wake her from her slumber. Diva and her Chevaliers run to Paris and hide out. Saya and her group travel to France trying to find the where Diva is hiding. Saya then unlocks all her past memories and now has to learn to accept what she is and has done, while trying to find and kill Diva.

Starting out, this show goes really slow. Not much happens and you lose confidence in it. The development of the story picks up about 6-8 episodes in and it will definitely hook you. The characters really develop in this story as well. All of the characters change extensively (for good and bad) and keep on getting better and better. Saya’s past seems to dominate her sometimes and cause her to be a reflection of everything she is against.

The storyline? Twists and turns every episode. Every so often you might get a episode and kind of doubt where the story is going. That is natural with any show, but they almost always come back and deliver a heart pounding episode filled with some new addition to the suspense or unlocking of a part of the past that will leave you dumbfounded.

I would definitely recommend this show to anyone that is looking for a amazing story line with unforgettable characters.  If you’re a veteran viewer or just beginning anime, Blood+ is a must see.

To carry on with last weeks post I decided to continue with the Full Metal Panic!  This week I enjoyed another adventure with these enchanting characters in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu.

Full Metal Panic?  Fumoffu involves the story of Sousuke and Chidori at Jindai High School.  This series takes you through the daily encounters of these two characters and their friends.  Sousuke is still struggling to fit in with ‘normal’ people.  He continues to make wrong observations and add dramatic comedy to the situations.  Chidori tries to help Sousuke act less like he would on the battlefield but it seems he might be hopeless, since he has only known the battlefield and nothing else for nearly a decade

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu
4 & 1/2 Stars

Full Metal Panic?  Fumoffu involves the story of Sousuke and Chidori at Jindai High School.  This series takes you through the daily encounters of these two characters and their friends.  Sousuke is still struggling to fit in with ‘normal’ people.  He continues to make wrong observations and add dramatic comedy to the situations.  Chidori tries to help Sousuke act less like he would on the battlefield but it seems he might be hopeless, since he has only known the battlefield and nothing else for nearly a decade.

In Fumoffu, you do not get to see the regular (Transformer like) Arm Slaves, but Sousuke uses a version he helped create that looks like a stuffed teddy bear, Bonta-kun.  Turns out his childish looking, Arm Slave comes in handy and is used in several episodes.  Although it says in the anime, only the United States bought the Bonta-kun Arm Slaves, so it turned out to be Sousuke’s job to figure out what to do with the extras.

The lives of the characters are shaken up daily with Sousuke’s constant military methods, Captain Tessa deciding to visit, and antagonists popping up here and there.  The majority of the problems around the school involve the school’s club organization and Chidori and Sousuke have to find a way for all the clubs cooperate peacefully.

When Captain Tessa comes to visit for two weeks, she upsets the life of everyone around.  Sousuke’s mission is to protect Captain Tessa by any means necessary.  Tessa puts herself and Sousuke into situations where he has to put his all in to save her, but she is not necessarily always in trouble.  It just so happens that when Captain Tessa decides to visit, Sousuke is incredibly exhausted but he still gives it his all.  Sousuke has a knack for turning something simple into an intricate process.

In the end, Sousuke causes a bacteriological scare at the school and makes everyone fear for their life.

If you want to know anything more you will have to watch it for yourself.  I highly recommend.  The major storyline is not twisted, sick or anything of that sort.  This anime is simply one for the dramatic folks out there.  However, do not let the drama discourage you; it still keeps you interested until the very last second, with a minor twist at the end.  Moreover, with only fourteen episodes, it is a breeze to get through.