Axis Powers Hetalia Season 1 Review

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. I can’t believe I just realized I should do a review of Axis Powers Hetalia. In fact it totally slipped my mind, until I was on the bus yesterday thinking “Hey, I should do a new blog post! What have I been watching lately?”

DING DING DING HETALIA DUH?

So I guess I’ll start off by telling you what it is about, and before you laugh, let me tell you it’s adorable and brilliant and just wonderful.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn Season 4 Review

Finished with KHR, season 4. Again, I LOVED IT!

This time I have more nitpicks than I did with season two, but this idea is just so original. Epic wuv. I’ll outline the plot now:

So Reborn is hit with Lambo’s 10-Year Bazooka. And uh oh…well…no one appears in his place. So to try and get answers, Tsuna accidentally gets blasted into the future and finds out two things. One: In 10 years, Sawada Tsunayoshi will have lost his life. Two: The 10-Year Bazooka is malfunctioning. He’s going to be staying a while.

Animazement In Review – ‘08 and ‘09

So with Comic Con so recently gone by (if you don’t know what Comic Con is……) I decided I should probably mention Animazement, which is North Caroline’s smaller but still epic Anime Convention. Well, clearly Comic Con isn’t all about the anime, but it’s still got a good portion devoted! But anyway, back to Animazement…

Can I just state this now? I look forward the entire year to that thing. Why? BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING. It was more fun than the state fair with the same friends that went to AZ. It was more fun than going out of the country. Is it because I am a total anime dork? Probably. But it doesn’t make it any less fun. Even my non-anime-devoted friends went and they liked it. The people there were so nice, and absolutely rocked. This passing AZ (‘09) was my second ever Animazement.

So let’s go back a little in time. Whenever AZ ‘08 was, I was pretty lonely at AZ because…well, I was planning to go with two friends and I couldn’t find them. Yes, I did find them eventually though, and we had a blast. Being obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist at the time, I went and saw the panel and got autographs from the ever amazing American Seiyuus. (VIC MIGNOGNA WAS THERE WITH CAITLIN GLASS AND KYLE HEBERT AND -takes deep breath- KARA EDWARDS) But because of bad planning…:( I only got to go Sunday cause it was cheap. Of course. Thus, only the winding down stuff. I walked through Artist’s Alley, but I didn’t look at anything. I went into the Dealer’s Room- and anyone who knew me at AZ ‘09 will never believe this- but I didn’t buy anything.

So I didn’t expect anything new from this AZ.

I was so, so wrong. For one, I went on Friday and Saturday. Saturday is the biggest day of AZ because…because…it just is. More people, more excitement, omg. I got picked up from school with my friends Yang and Sunny, and we met up with our friends after a registration line. (I got my 3-day pass! ) and we met up with Jackie, who I’d never met before in person even though she goes to kungfu with Kevin and I. She’s a freaking amazing artist (iyagi.deviantart.com if you don’t believe me) and so is Sunny (thecamcafe.deviantart.com … my friends are ridiculously talented >>) so they set up a booth with someone who was an Axel cosplayer in Artist’s Alley…so it ended up becoming our hangout. XD If you ever got lost, head to Jackie’s booth! SOMEONE will end up there eventually. And even though I didn’t attend any events this year (no appeal…) it was still awesome. I went insane in the Dealer’s Room- I had no idea there was so much cool merchandise. And I actually had money to spend that time. I bought art. I found my best friend in the Dealer’s Room…now, check out photos and see JUST how improbable that is. XD

Oh yes. Friday was amazing.

THENTHEREWASSATURDAY. I ended up convincing a bunch of my kungfu friends to go with me to AZ that year: that being Mark, Timothy, Ed, and Kevin. (Haha, Kevin.) So we went, and ended up standing in line for like, a million hours. Now, they went and signed up for the Brawl tournament. Which was not smart. But there was much combing of Artist’s Alley to do (I loved the pins. I adored the pins.) and merchandise to get in the Dealer’s Room that day. (I WANTED A HAT SO BADLY!) And at the end of the day, we played Red Rover.

Let me say it plainly here: You. Do. Not. Mess. Around. In. Red. Rover. I can literally say it’s like a battle. People plan strategies. It sounds stupid and really, really pointless now, but wait until you see a line of people in cosplay duking it out and you may get it. A little. xD I remember hearing that one guy, between two of my friends, complain because they always, always go for the little asian girls. That being me and a couple of my friends. I nearly squeezed the arm off the lady next to me when they barelled towards me, but I’m proud to say I actually didn’t give. XD (To the woman in red next to the small asian girl with star earrings and the leaves in her hair, I am really, really sorry about that…)

I’m not even going to speak about what amazing, beautiful cosplays there were. They can speak for themself. I put a photo slideshow at the bottom with commentary, so just check that out if you’re interested.

And hey- go to AZ ‘10! It’s their 13th Animazement and it’s going to be amazing. Say hi to me, if you see a small asian girl walking around in red chinese clothes- I’m going to be I-Pin from KHR with a bunch of friends. COSPLAY GROUP~! (Kevin WILL be Tsuna, Kevin WILL be Tsuna. xD_

Cheers!

Vanessa

So with Comic Con so recently gone by (if you don’t know what Comic Con is……) I decided I should probably mention Animazement, which is North Carolina’s smaller but still epic Anime Convention. Well, clearly Comic Con isn’t all about the anime, but it’s still got a good portion devoted! But anyway, back to Animazement…

Can I just state this now? I look forward the entire year to that thing. Why? BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING.

Places to Get Anime- Legally, Of Course.

So there are a lot of places to get manga: A local library, a store, it’s pretty easy to find manga. But where do you find anime? I have several places I get mine, so I’ll list off a couple of good, legal places right here.

Well…the most well known place is probably Youtube. And I’m not talking about the illegally put up videos either. xD I mean the ones legally put up on Youtube by companies. That’s where I’m currently watching Ouran HSHC, where I watched Code Geass and Ghost Hunt, but it’s generally not the greatest source. Youtube is reliable, but the selection they have isn’t too great. They do have some really good ones though. You can find them http://www.youtube.com/shows

Crunchyroll.com is another legal place to get them, though I find it’s a little irritating that if you’re watching an ongoing anime (…KHR……) they’ll place the first couple episodes, the most recently subbed, and then the ones in the middle are gone. Bam. Poof. Yay. Thanks. I watch the most recent episodes of Katekyo Hitman Reborn there, and I know they have many other ones. A lot of the series are only for paying members though, which makes me go ):<. Like the original Naruto. WHAT? Dx The site is here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/

Another site is Hulu, great site since it’s still legal. I mean, it’s not the greatest source (so few anime T_____T) but it’s not terrible either. Still, not the greatest place to go but when it has the anime, it has pretty much every single episode, which is epically awesome. (Contrary to paying for Naruto at Crunchyroll, you can find the entire original anime there as far as I can tell) Find them at http://www.hulu.com/

Of course, you could always just tap them at the source. Funimation puts up new episodes for people to watch at their site, and I know a lot of other places do the same. I watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood at the Funimation site, and it works fine. x3 And I’ve heard they have the whole xxxHolic there, and several others.

Some places you can actually rent anime from are Blockbusters, Netflix…those usual places. The problem I have with this though, is that you generally cannot get an anime unless it’s been dubbed already and then released. Makes it a bit more difficult, but it still works. You can rent an entire season from Blockbusters, though only generally through mail…I tried searching Naruto and none of the stores in my area carried it. Dx Thus I’m not sure about prices. I’m quite sure it would probably be the regular price.

http://www.rentanime.com/ Rent Anime seems to be a good site to get it from. You get a flat rate of about $20 a month, and you can rent as many anime as you like. Of course, if you’re going to be busy I wouldn’t suggest this method, but if you’re going to have lots of spare time maybe you could try it out. The selection looks really good and they have a 2 week trial period.

I would also like to mention I once went to a really great store (perhaps a year ago) at the Cary Towne Center full of anime and manga paraphernalia and lots of anime and manga selection. It was amazing. I never caught the name though, and I haven’t been able to go back and look for it, so I’m not sure if it was shut down or not. You could purchase anime from them, however, so I would just like to get that out there. It was awesome. (There was Ramune. If you aren’t spazzing out, you must not have read that last line correctly. THEREWASRAMUNE. *_____*)

And just a note, you can even get some titles on Itunes. You heard me right. Itunes. This was news to me. o______o;;; though of course, it costs money.

So there are a lot of places to get manga: A local library, a store . . . it’s pretty easy to find. But where do you find anime? I have several places I get mine, so I’ll list off a couple of good, legal places right here.

Naruto: Introduction and Land of Waves Review

OK, so I’ve gotten off my KHR obsession for a moment so I can tell you about an extremely popular shonen manga I really don’t need to recommend to anyone (since you’ve probably heard about it anyway): Naruto! Since the anime annoyed the mess out of me (English. Dub. Does. Not. WORK.) I’m reverting back to good old manga, because this is one of the occasions where I believe the manga did work better than the anime. I’m reviewing arcs one and two of the manga, the Introduction and the Land of Waves arcs.

So let’s get started with a summary of the Introduction:

Anime Vs. Manga: Pro-Anime

Hey! So it’s Vanessa here again, and it’s time for a debate!

…If you can imagine evil music playing in the background, please do.

Anyway…so Kevin Zhu (a new blogger) and I are going to do a debate that animetards and mangatards have been fighting tooth and nail about for freaking ages: Which is better? Anime or Manga? I’m defending Anime, and I’m going to tell you guys why Anime is >>>>> Manga.

So. Why?

Well for one, anime is in full color. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m superficial, but I happen to like that. I think anime is prettier, the art is cleaner, and it makes it more fun for me to watch. It’s sometimes hard to see what’s going on, especially in fighting scenes in manga, and anime doesn’t have as much of a problem as it for the second reason: It’s animated. Instead of being just pictures that can occasionally have problems conveying actions and what on earth is going on, in anime things are just generally easier to see and figure out.

On top of that, there are different dubs and subs of anime just as there are different translations of manga. If I’m super busy- say, I want to watch some Code Geass or something while I’m working- then I can just pick up an English dub and listen. I know this can make you sound lazy though…”Oh, you don’t want to read, you just want to watch TV, psh. : P” But it can make multitasking easier. The key reason I watch anime is so I can continue to multitask.

Truly seeing characters interact, hearing a voice put to a face and personality being wrought into them, is also better. I find I get far more attached to characters when I can hear the emotion in their voice, see their expressions change, and really listen to what they say. You did say, Kevin, that a picture was worth a thousand words, and so a video must be worth way too many words and math. So doesn’t that apply to anime and manga as well? ; )

People generally complain about filler arcs in anime. I certainly know I do >.<;; but it’s not as though manga is without fillers either. Granted, they tend to be shorter and more to the point, unlike the animes where it can take up to 20 or more episodes, but I just want to point out that manga too does have fillers. Pace in anime tends to be slower as well, but I often find sometimes  that manga moves too fast for me. I’ve done a fast read of Naruto before…and I came out blinking, rubbing my eyes, and saying something along the lines of:

“…So…____ fought _____ and then ____ got punted into a wall, so ____ had a flashback and…ugh, what just happened?”

Anime also has an added bonus of epic music. ; )

So that’s my first debate post. It’s all up to opinion most of all, I think, so no one should feel pressured to make a choice over which one they like best. I read manga and watch anime, I just prefer watching anime. Kevin will post his response to mine soon, so tune in. And hey, post a comment down there saying which one you prefer too. x 3

Cheers,

- Vanessa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_RPZcSZWJo&fmt=18

Isn’t it cute? Don’t get that in manga? >:D

Hey! So it’s Vanessa here again, and it’s time for a debate!

…If you can imagine evil music playing in the background, please do.

Anyway…so Kevin Zhu (a new blogger) and I are going to do a debate that animetards and mangatards have been fighting tooth and nail about for freaking ages: Which is better? Anime or Manga? I’m defending Anime, and I’m going to tell you guys why Anime is better than Manga.

So. Why?

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Season 3 Review

Mmm…Season 3 was ok.

So I did just watch Season 3 of KHR for your sakes (whoever is out there) and its a little sad…because they’re all mini-episodes. As I mentioned before, filler. Kind of a letdown from the super intense last season, but its a good time to cool down before the next super intense season…which I’m about to watch! Excited…

Ah…totally unnecesary, but since KHR is such a good anime, I’ll overlook it. They were boring to me, just because I know the Future arc is NEXT. So I’m clearly excited. I do dislike fillers, because they are extraneous to the plot and overall something of a nuisance to me. I’m sure next season will make up for it. : )

No change in openings this season either. I should be glad though, its only 8 episodes. If they’d changed it I would’ve been like “…and the point of this was…?”

I was surprised that they went straight back to using regular Dying Will bullets, but I suppose that makes sense since it’s all about comedy. The very last episode of the season had me a little shocked though: Reborn reminds Tsuna that he “can’t stay around forever”, and those words seemed a little too ominous.

I don’t recommend people watch Season 3, unless they truly enjoy the mini-episodes that make KHR what it is. The episodes were very funny, and are classic KHR, but it’s really not something you HAVE to see. Do watch episode 70 though, otherwise you’ll miss a huge reference in the future arc. Like, major major reference that punches you in the face to get you to notice it. XD

By the way, if you want to know, the song I gave you in my first KHR review (in the Opening Theme) is called “Boys & Girls – LM.C” while the second is “Dive to World – CHERRYBLOSSOM”. Just to let you know! : D

-Vanessa

Mmm…Season 3 was ok.

So I did just watch Season 3 of KHR for your sakes (whoever is out there), and I’m a little sad…because they’re all mini-episodes. As I mentioned before, filler. Kind of a letdown from the super intense last season, but it’s a good time to cool down before the next super intense season…which I’m about to watch! Excited…

10 Reasons to Get Into Animanga

So I realized (more of reminded) that a lot of people still don’t watch anime, even if a bunch of people already do, and unless I give some reasons, my “WATCH THIS IT’S GOOD OMG” is probably not going to cut it with people. So I’m going to give you 10 reasons to start watching anime, or at least 10 reasons anime and manga are good.

So.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Season Two review

I literally moments ago just finished watching KHR season two, and it totally beat season one. As in, landslide epic win.

So first season, as I mentioned before, had little plot. Sadly. But this season had a REALLY AMAZING PLOT! Which I’ll outline now:

So there’s an elite assasin team in the Vongola, and they’re called the Varia. And their leader is a power-hungry man,  son of the 9th Vongola leader, called Xanxus, who wants to be the Juudaime. Hey, wait, wasn’t that Tsuna’s position? Ohhh snap. You can imagine.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Season One review

Oh my.

So I just finished watching KHR (That stands for Katekyo Hitman Reborn). First season. What are my thoughts?

*_______________* I absolutely adored it.

Of course, I have my nitpicks, but I’ll adress those in a moment. First off, let me give a basic explanation of the plot.

So Mr. Sawada Tsunayoshi (Known as Tsuna and “No-Good Tsuna”) is pretty much this first year middle schooler who’s a complete loser. He’s a wimp and crybaby, bad grades, no friends, but he’s really sweet at heart and has a crush on a girl named Kyoko. Then he finds out he’s to become the 10th boss of an Italian mafia called the Vongola Family from an infant hitman named Reborn. Uhhh. What? And of course, being Tsuna, he freaks out. Like, “WTF LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE!!!” freakout. But he gets friends, and he slowly matures through the first season. Kind of.

Sounds pretty blah, right? That’s what I thought. And the characters- whew. I won’t describe them because I’m afraid of scaring people off…hearing about them is never a good thing, only seeing them and giving them a chance. Honestly, its amazing. Because anyone who can take that random a gathering of characters and make an anime that can honestly be considered “woahmygosh that’s freaking awesome”, is a mangaka god.

I won’t lie, I was a little put off at first, but once you get through maybe 15 episodes- I mean really, most of it is introductory, boring, and repetitive. What’s new? But then you get to honest to goodness PLOTLINE, and that’s where it starts to get good. Really, you should give it a chance. Sadly KHR is not english dubbed, but I couldn’t watch it even if it was. I’m too attached to the japanese VA’s (Voice Actors, for those not forum-inclined).

My small little nitpicks of season one? One: After the Mukuro arc,what was the point of the small little episodes that sort of gave a lame ending to the season? They really should have stopped right after the Mukuro arc and just continued to the second season from there. I thought I’d gotten to season two because they changed the opening (second. opening. is. amazing.) and ending themes. But apparently not, according to Wikipedia. And two: A little too many mini episodes. Like, those little episodes that just don’t advance the plot at all. I’m totally fine with that, they’re hilarious, but they’re sometimes a little boring. Mmm. And Tsuna does fantasize about hanging out with Kyoko, her giggling gets a little annoying sometimes. I usually just fast-forward through the sparkly bits and then its all good. =_________=” Plus, no girls in Tsuna’s mafia family! And the only girls he hangs out with are really naive. I-Pin doesn’t really count much, she’s more of a nuisance a lot of the time. It kind of bothers me that there are no really cool girl characters in Tsuna’s family D:

I can’t let you go without a little enticement though! I need to recruit more KHR fans! I mean it, the fanbase is just too small compared to Naruto and Bleach and things. Not saying those are bad animangas, but seriously! When you find gems like these, you want other people to turn away from their Naruto fanfictions and appreciate something else for a moment! D:

Second Opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhk_xUpF5fE&fmt=18

h o m g.

If you don’t lurve this, then…wah.

Oh my.

So I just finished watching KHR (That stands for Katekyo Hitman Reborn). First season. What are my thoughts?

*_______________* I absolutely adored it.

Of course, I have my nitpicks, but I’ll address those in a moment. First off, let me give a basic explanation of the plot.

So Mr. Sawada Tsunayoshi (Known as Tsuna and “No-Good Tsuna”) is pretty much this first year middle schooler who’s a complete loser. He’s a wimp and crybaby, bad grades, no friends, but he’s really sweet at heart and has a crush on a girl named Kyoko. Then he finds out he’s to become the 10th boss of an Italian mafia called the Vongola Family from an infant hitman named Reborn. Uhhh. What?

New Blogger: Vanessa’s Introduction

Hellooooo~ to everyone out there! I’m Vanessa. I’m 14 years old, I’m obsessed with a lot of different things, and I really, really like to write. Oh yeah, and I’m a rising freshman, and a new blogger here.

…Ok, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “Uh…why do I care? >>”

Well if you’re a fan of anime or manga, (I’m lazy, so I usually abbreviate that “animanga” when I refer to both) then you should care, because I’m going to be doing reviews of different anime and manga series.