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Detective Conan

STATUS: 

SUB: Ongoing as of Dec. 18, 2018 with 925 episodes DUB: Is being weird but officially there’s 130 episodes as of Dec. 18, 2018

SYNOPSIS:

Shinichi Kudo is a high school detective who sometimes works with the police to solve cases. During an investigation, he is attacked by members of a crime group known as the Black Organization. They force him to ingest an experimental poison, but instead of killing him, the poison transforms him into a child. Adopting the fake name Conan Edogawa and keeping his true identity a secret, Kudo lives with his childhood friend Ran Mori and her father Kogoro Mori, who is a private detective. Throughout the series, he tags along on Kogoro Mori's cases, but when he is able to solve one, he uses a tranquilizer needle to put Kogoro Mori to sleep, and impersonates his voice using a voice changer to reveal the solution to the case. He also enrolls in a local elementary school where he makes friends with a group of classmates who form their own Junior Detective club (Detective Boys). While he continues to dig deeper into the Black Organization, he frequently interacts with a variety of characters, including his professor friend Dr. Agasa, Ran's friend Sonoko, a fellow teenage detective Heiji Hattori, various police detectives from different regions, and Kaito Kid.

REVIEW:

Detective Conan is a great series if you’re into detectives, mysteries, and police. It has that Sherlock Holmes feel to it. Each episode consist of one mystery or sometimes takes up 2 to 3 episodes to complete. Though it does have a lot of filler and the plot is sort of there.   If you just want to get mysteries and solving murders this is the anime for you. Or you can just skip all the fillers for the plot.

Tabitha N.

[tokeinow-blog]

Hunter X Hunter

STATUS:

SUB: Completed with 148 episodes

DUB: Ongoing as of Dec. 18, 2018 with 122

SYNOPSIS:

Drawn to the mystique of the unknown, Hunters travel the world in search of terrifying creatures, incredible riches, and unexplored lands. Gon Freecss is a naive-yet-determined young boy who aspires to join the ranks of these individuals, in order to find his missing father Ging - a master of the profession himself. To reach his goal, he partakes in the formidable Hunter Exam, a series of tests that push the participants to their physical and mental limits, with a Hunter License as the prize. During the exam Gon befriends vengeful Kurapika, doctor-to-be Leorio, and skilled assassin Killua, who have entered for their own reasons. But with the sinister Hisoka standing in their way, will Gon and his friends be able to succeed in obtaining their reward, or even escaping with their lives?

REVIEW:

There are two versions of Hunter X Hunter you have the 1999 which is the original but then it was remade into 2011. They have their differences. I have seen the 2011 version at least four times. It’s one of my favorite anime it just sucks you in. You can get emotionally attached to the characters and you’re just rooting for Gon to go find his father. It’s happy and bubbly anime which has its tense fight moments. This anime is about friendship the up and downs, the fight to become stronger, and overall just fun anime to experience.

Tabitha N.

[tokeinow-blog]

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

STATUS:

SUB: Completed with 12 episodes

DUB: Completed with 12 episodes

SYNOPSIS:

29-year-old programmer Suzuki Ichirou finds himself transported into a fantasy RPG. Within the game, he's a 15-year-old named Satou. At first he thinks he's dreaming, but his experiences seem very real. Due to a powerful ability he possesses with limited use, he ends up wiping out an army of lizard men and becomes a high leveled adventurer. Satou decides to hide his level, and plans to live peacefully and meet new people. However, developments in the game's story, such as the return of a demon king, may cause a nuisance to Satou's plans.

REVIEW:

It’s one of your typical isekai animes although it does have its typical trope with the harem but in this anime he doesn’t love them or lead them on. He is more like a parent or a mentor. He’s an overpowered character who gets skills very easily. The art style is a bit wonky I don’t know what they did but it feels like I’m watching something that’s a low-quality it’s something weird with the colors. Of course it they have the 3D modeling animation that doesn’t look like it has any texture on it so it just looks bad. I did have a good moments though. If you’re into isekai or like have an overpowered character going through their life.  I think you would enjoy it, but I’ll be sticking to the manga.

Tabitha N.

[tokeinow-blog]

Baki the Grappler

Synopsis:

Baki Hanma is raised by his wealthy and money-obsessive mother, Emi Akezawa, who also funds his training in the hopes that he can be a powerful warrior like his father, Yujiro Hanma. Around the start of the series, Baki outgrows traditional training and heads out to follow the path of his ruthless father's training and meets many powerful fighters along the way. Eventually, Baki fights his father and is beaten without a challenge.

After being beaten, Baki travels around the world continuing his training. Years down the road he finds an underground fighting arena where he fights some of the most powerful fighters of various styles of martial arts. It is here he truly begins to hone his martial arts skills.

Review:

This was not as I expected out of a fighting anime. Usually, I see that characters have special powers that have elements to them. However, these crazy heavily muscled characters just have raw power and are differentiated in their unique martial arts. Definitely, not for the faint of heart as there is extreme violence and gore like when a guy's intestines are blown out from his ear.

Artistic Contribution:

A head portrait of Baki himself.

-Jon D.

[tokeinow-blog]

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Synopsis:

When thirty-seven-year-old Satoru Mikami gets stabbed saving his friend, he hears a voice granting him requests for his next life—only to wake up in a new incarnation as a particularly overpowered slime. After befriending a dragon and learning how to manifest his awesome new powers, Satoru, now going by Rimuru Tempest, finds himself hailed as one of the strongest monsters around.

Review:

As an avid fan of the fantasy subgenre of “Isekai” (Different World) where a normal character is transported to a world, I was excited to start watching this anime. This story does something different in that the main character being turned from a human into a slime monster, he tries to change how monsters and humans co-exist. It gives a moral where despite having differences, people and beasts can be at peace.

Artistic Contribution: 

The slime form of the main character.

-Jon D.

[tokeinow-blog]

Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Synopsis: Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (LUPIN the Third -峰不二子という女- Rupan za Saado Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna) is a Japanese anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment. It is the fourth anime adaptation of the Lupin III series created by Monkey Punch. Directed by Sayo Yamamoto, it aired on Nippon TV from April 4, 2012 to June 27, 2012. It focuses on the franchise's heroine, Fujiko Mine, as she undergoes various missions and encounters the rest of the Lupin III cast for the first time. Unlike the franchise's previous three televised anime, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is more sexually oriented in order to capture the "sensuality" present in the original manga as well as darker and more serious. It is also the only installment in the franchise to be directed by a woman and the first in which Lupin is not the protagonist.

Review:

I was originally going to re-watch the original Lupin The Third for this review, but The Woman Called Fujiko Mine caught my eye with a more focus on her rather than Lupin. The femme fatale’s spinoff features plenty of comedy, violence, drama, and action.

Artistic Contribution: 

A head portrait of Fujiko Mine herself.

-Jon D.

[tokeinow-blog]

Bungou Stray Dogs

SYNOPSIS:

For weeks, Atsushi Nakajima's orphanage has been attacked by a mystical tiger that only he seems to know about. Suspected to be behind the strange incidents, the 18-year-old is kicked out of the orphanage and left hungry, homeless, and wandering through the city. While starving on a riverbank, Atsushi saves a man named Osamu Dazai from drowning. Obsessed to try to commit suicide and supernatural detective, Dazai has been investigating the same magical tiger that has been terrorizing the orphanage. Together with Dazai's partner Doppo Kunikida, they solve the mystery leaving Atsushi in a tight spot. As more and odder events take place, Atsushi is pushed into joining their firm of supernatural investigators, taking on cases the police cannot handle, alongside his weirder co-workers.

REVIEW:

Bungou Stray Dogs is a very weird but fun anime. The series is about detective work but with a magical twist but doesn't really dwell it. It has supernatural, action and comedy elements all over the place, making each episode exciting and fresh. Each detective has their own flavor, making you always on the edge of your seat.

 Artistic Contribution:

HipHop and detective show always went together very nicely so instead of sampling I wanted to recreate the theme song.

https://soundcloud.com/user-342304383/bsdd

-Diego P

[tokeinow-blog]

Megalo Box

SYNOPSIS:

Megalo box takes place in a futuristic world where licensed citizens live in a wealthy city while the unlicensed live in a slum town. Megalo Boxing is a popular sport in this world similar to boxing except for the boxers fight while wearing a metal frame which makes their attacks much more powerful. Junk Dog is a young man who fights in underground rings in fights that have a fixed result where his coach Gansaku Nanbu directs him on when to lose a fight. One evening he almost crashes his motorcycle into Yukiko Shirato, who is the head of the wealthy Shirato Group which oversees the Megalonia tournament. Junk Dog picks a fight with her bodyguard Yuri who is also the top-ranked Megalo Boxer. Yukiko stops the fight but Yuri looks for Junk Dog and meets him in the underground ring where he easily beats the less-experienced fighter and tells him to fight him again in Megalonia, which Junk Dog would need a place at the top of the official Megalo Box rankings to qualify for, as well as a proper citizenship ID to enter the rankings in the first place. After Nanbu persuades the mob boss Fujimaki to forge Junk Dog an ID under the name Joe, the two are given 3 months to achieve their goal of working their way to the top of the Megalo Box rankings in order to have a chance of fighting in Megalonia.

REVIEW:

Megalo box is a great memorable fighting series. You take part of Junk Dog to rise to the top ranks using his primitive robot like skeleton while his opponents use much more advanced technology. Its the classic tale of the underdog trying to prove the world how great he truly is. The steampunk like animation and industrial soundtrack raps you around the notion of a tough dirty future. Personally, I think this is one of the top fighting animes I’ve watched

Artistic Contribution:

For this beat, I wanted to create more of an ambient approach, I wanted to let you know the tone of the series and dirtiness Junk Dog has to go through

https://soundcloud.com/user-342304383/megalo

-Diego P.

[tokeinow-blog]

KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World

SYNOPSIS:

After experiencing a pathetic death, Kazuma Sato, a Japanese teenager with no social life, meets a goddess named Aqua, who offers to reincarnate him in a universe with RPG elements, where he must go on adventures and battle monsters to defeat the Devil King. Despite being offered a superpowered item or ability to use in this new world, Kazuma chooses to drag Aqua to this new universe for making fun of his death. If they defeat the Devil King, Kazuma can return to Earth and Aqua to her job as a goddess in the afterlife. The two quickly form a party and recruit two other members, an explosion-obsessed magician named Megumi and a masochistic crusader called Darkness. Due to the party's dysfunctional abilities, Kazuma quickly gives up on the idea of defeating the Devil King and tries to live a luxurious lifestyle, only to find the circumstances of his daily life are forcing him and his party to encounter and battle the Devil King's generals and minions.

REVIEW:

Konosuba is one of my top 5 animes of all time. Hilarious scenarios are scattered throughout the series, the characters are unforgettable and everyone has a particular quirk that helps or in most cases, is another handicap they must struggle with. In today's age, animes like to picture the protagonist as some macho alfa 16-year-old kid who is overpowered but Konsuba gave the middle finger to that and presented us a kid who just wants to live comfortably since he gave up the dream of defeating the Devil King because of the helpless party.

ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION:

Throughout Konosuba there is a little adorable melody that plays whenever they are enjoying themselves so I decided to sample that and throw some fat 808, thick kicks and a crispy snare on top of the sample.

https://soundcloud.com/user-342304383/001-scene-1

-Diego P