#headless for SIX DANG MONTHS

[tj-crochets]

Labrathor and Bucky Bear for my MTH auction winner from last year! This is not the Bucky Bear they won, but it’s looking like I won’t get the sewn Bucky Bear done before I move so this is their Bonus Bucky Bear as an apology for this taking so long lol

Extra picture of LabraThor because I love how his new cape looks

[meowsaidmayaanime]

What I'm Watching August 2016 as of 8/31

Natsume's Book of Friends 8/31 partial watch

This is an adorable anime, I started watching italmost right after Durarara, and if school hadnt just started this week, I would have been fully caught up. As of this post I have only watched seasons 1 and 2 fully, and a little bit of season 3. So in technicality I will write my opinion of it after I am all caught up on the September monthly watches, but because I got halfway through the series while still in August I decided to put this little note here, haha.

So yes, I have been watching this super cute, heartwarming, feel good anime. It's about a boy named Natsume who can see yokai. Often times I get very weary about plots (whether anime, tv show, movie, ect) where the main character can see something no one else can. However this anime does a good job focusing more on the stories rather than simply torturing the main character through ostracization. Well, I will pick this first impression review that I usually do in September when I finish the four season that have been released. So look forward to it!

Durarara 8/27 Addendum (see original post below Time of Eve)

I talked about this anime a little further down in this post after I finished the first season (so read that first if you haven't yet). I finished the entirety of the show last night and wow. It's an incredible story, so intricate and everything is woven together. It's one of those shows where because they switch between multiple characters and plot lines within the show, and because it is a mystery with new information and twists happening all the time, that you forget your own emotions about the characters sometimes.

Tons of things happen that make you feel for the characters and suddenly exclaim in reaction to something, but because your so constantly wrapped up in the story line, trying to figure out how this relates to that, and what this persons motives are, and whats going to happen next that you focus so much more on that than anything else. It constantly has you thinking, which I love about the show. A show that doesn't rely on pure emotion and shock to keep the audience in, but sheer curiosity. It's a good mystery, a really, really good one.

Though I can see why some people may not like it because it makes you think too much, or because there's less pure emotion, or because it's so intricate and you can't keep up, or even because the pacing is somewhat relatively slow. But I assure you, if you can get past all that, this is an amazing show. It's not one that I will gush over, and try to force you to watch, because that's not the kind of show it is. It's just well put together, as I assume the light novel is.

I've just starting reading the light novel, and there is so much more to it. I'm on chapter two and while the anime's first episode did a wonderful job capturing the events and feel of the light novel, the light novel has the intricate detail and thought of the characters that is impossible to convey through any other medium. I am really excited to be reading the source material, and I hope that it will be able to expand and close up some of the holes from the anime that the studio could not fill. When I finish, I'll definitely talk about it (when is the question since not all the novels have been translated...), so look forward to that, because I know I will.

Great show, good to watch if you like intricate, multi-character, multi-story, mystery, action, somewhat supernatural, 'semi-natural' anime. (p.s the dub is pretty dang good.)

Time of Eve 8/21

Yes, yes, I'm well aware that in this giant span of time I've only managed to watch one short 6 episode-er anime. I was on vacation and then fell down the rabbit hole which was the Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 game.

Anyway, I had seen this anime in passing a few times, but finally decided to give it a chance when one of my co-workers recommended it to me. It was definitely worth the watch. Time of Eve is a sci-fi anime taking place in the not quite as distant as you might think future, where androids are commonplace within the average family home. We follow Rikuo who, after reading the location log of his family andriod, discovers that the andriod visited a cafe of her own free will. Confused and concerned, he visits the cafe to find that its only rule is to treat humans and androids equally without discrimination. From here on he, and the audience discover that there is more to androids than just being a robot, and that they are, or have been steadily developing their own individuality.

Right off the bat I was immediately reminded of both Ghost in the Shell and Chobits. Mostly Ghost in the Shell for the political-socio topics the anime discuses. Its actually quite fascinating, not just the topics and themes, but the personalities of the characters as well whether or not they are human. Its a very realistic/natural anime, with a surprising amount of character development for being only six episodes long.

My only critiques would be about the animation itself. Its generally rather smooth, the art style included, however there are many moments where the movement of the camera and characters is very choppy and shaky. This happens mainly when there isn't much movement happening during the scene. Whereas scenes where characters are doing a large amount of movement are very smooth and well animated. I'm not sure how intentional the 'choppiness' of the animation was, but I can tell that the studio chose to focus its animation budget on certain areas more than others.

Regardless, the animation is easy to brush off considering how well the show drew me into the story, mentally and emotionally. I would recommend this to anyone interested in sci-fi, robots/androids, and those who like to question what it is to be 'human'. (It's also a good commentary on 21st century culture and what kinds of things our technology could lead to).

Durarara (season 1) 8/8

Its about a boy named Mikado who decides to go to a highschool in Ikebukuro to fulfill his longing for the excitement of city life in contrast to living in the country where nothing every happens. Here he hears about and witnesses strange rumors about the headless rider, gangs, and other odd phenomenon that are happening in the city. That's how it begins, but we learn very quickly that Mikado is not the only main character, and that there is a lot more going on in the city than just Mikado would know.

I actually decided to start watching this because of this shirt I got with my Akibento back in May featuring Celty the headless motercylcist from Durarara and Haruhi from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. (btw not my own image)

Yes this was back in May, and yes I did start watching it a few months ago only to now finish the first season. Its a very slow paced anime, like a slow burn, which is why it took so long for me to get through. Don't get me wrong its a good anime, and I did want to watch which is why I periodically came back to it after i finished binge watching a bunch of other anime. It's just slow paced, and not one that will hook you and chain you down to your seat for the next 6+ hours. Hell, I've binge watched anime that I've liked much less than this one.

That being said, its not just slow paced but it also has numerous stories happening at once. Which makes it hard to give a good synospis on. We immediately learn about or at least meet almost all the characters, and are introduced with a number of plots, topics and questions. All which seemingly have nothing to do with each other, but end up intertwining to create a complex and fascinating story. by the time I finally managed to get halfway through, I consistently watched the remaining episodes back to back. The fact that it was available in English dub on crunchyroll also really helped, that way I could do my packing for my vacation while watching it.

Its a great low key supernatural mystery anime. I say low key, because the supernatural aspect is sort of laid back? It's not an in your face over the top kind of supernatural, and it being supernatural is not even the main point of the show. Which is very nice. It's like a semi-natural action/mystery/supernatural anime. Further the characters and story lines are well put together.

All in all, I really like it and I'm going to keep watching. I don't know if it's something that I would necessarily be able to recommend, because that relies heavily on what kind of anime you would like. If you like semi-natural, complex, slow paced, laid back action/mystery/supernatural then you'll like this. But if you cant handle the slow pacing, or prefer more out of the above genres this is not one for you.

Dance in the Vampire Bund 8/6

I actually remember watching this anime, or at least i remember watching the first episode, back in middle school? Possibly? we either way, I loved the first episode, even re watching it now I still really enjoyed it, which was disappointing when the rest of the anime turned out to be so different.

In the show, vampires have just come out of hiding and declared their presence to the world. The princess of the vampires, and current ruler Mina, pays Japans debt and intends to use her political hold over the government to purchase an Island and have it become its own separate country designated only for vampires. Meanwhile Akira a highschooler who recently lost his memory finds out he and Mina have an important past that he cannot remember.

The problem that I have with this anime is that they try to mix a very 'young' or immature story line with a significantly more mature one. They try to mix a highschool vampire warewolf memory loss, basically everything that is the epitome of a bad pre-teen romance with mature themes such as the VERY heavy political aspect that takes up a good 50% of the anime. And not just government politics, but socio-historical political relations between different species and cultures. Don't get me wrong, its still a better love story than twilight, but the fact that it is a highschool love story pretty much ruins it for me.

I wouldn't recommend this, hell i didn't even have the will to finish the last few episodes. The political parts were great and fascinating, but the immaturity of how conflicts are resolved between the main characters is very disappointing. The show either tries too hard to appeal to an older audience, or tries too hard to appeal to a younger audience. Either way I didn't really like it.

Hyouka 8/2 TOP PICK FOR THIS MONTH!!

So the first thing i need to mention is that this show is first and foremost a slcie of life that happens to include a lot of mystery. Not a mystery that happens to be a slice of life. I originally thought it was the latter which was why I was disappointed that it didn't end the series with a mystery arc, but instead the way a slice of life would.When you acknowledge the show for what it really is, a natural slice of life, it is amazing. For numerous reasons.

First the artwork is so incredibly detailed and beautiful. Second the visuals are distinctly different for each thing ti tries to convey, and completely succeeds in doing so. The audio is amazing, the music is beautiful, the animation is so smooth and they even animate things that aren't necessary to the plot but are animated anyway to make it all feel so REAL. Not to mention the episodes and mysteries are so well written!

look at the incredible amount of detail they put into EVERY SINGLE SCENE.

even when the background is blurred!

even people who we never learn about or see again have details in their clothes, faces, and expressions. I checked, we NEVER see these people below actually interact with the main OR minor cast.

I almost forgot, this show is about Houtarou a high schooler that sees the world in 'gray'and whose motto is "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, I'll make it quick." Convinced by his already graduated sister, he joins the classics club which was endangered to be disbanded because there were no more members. He meets a girl named Eru who also joins the club and discovers that he has a knack for solving mysteries. That is, only when Eru earnestly goes to him and yearns for him to solve the mystery because her curiosity cannot be contained. From there they quickly discover that the classics club has a past shrouded in mystery.

Its incredibly well done, I love slow the pacing myself, because it fits the flow and nature of the anime. However I do have a number of issues with it myself (some reveal content spoilers so I won't state those here).  I admit that the way they ordered large mystery arch and single episode mysteries was not handled well at the very end. Don't get me wrong the ending fit the characters incredibly well and was very good and realistic, however considering the quality of the larger mysteries that were prevalent through the rest of the anime, I feel that they should have ended the series with a multi-episode arc and then one final single episode arc, rather than many single episode arcs strung together.  The anime was an adaptation of a light novel, which covered 4 out of the 5 published novels. I've taken a look at the titles of the chapters and it seems that the 5th book is quite the elaborate story. One I would have liked to have seen in the anime, though would clearly have gone over the 22 episodes the anime ended at. Perhaps since this write up for the episode is already so long, I will create a post just about this anime. It definitely deserves more talking about!

Anyway, I do recommend it to veteran-ed anime watchers. It has a wonderful pace that does not push by quickly, great character development and insight, and fascinating mysteries and dialogue regarding such. Its perfect for anyone who loves natural slice of life. Those who enjoy mysteries would also enjoy this, as long as they understand that it is mostly a slice of life, and thus will follow the format of slice of life and not the format of a mystery anime. Its a stunning anime.