Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

The second, long awaited FMA movie finally makes its Canadian theatrical debut in Canada.

Debuted on Jan. 15, and will be back on the 19th for an encore viewing

Yesterday marked the Canadian debut of FMA: The Sacred Star of Milos (excluding the "private" subbed viewing in 2011). For those of you that missed it yesterday, certain cineplex theaters will have an encore viewing on Jan. 19. The movie made its first appearance in Japan during June of 2011.
     Well yesterday, the anime club at UTSC went out and watched this movie, and being the FMA fan that I am, I also tagged along. The movie seems to take place before the finale of FMA:B, but also taking place in its own universe thus having no real continuity with FMA:B. The movie plays more like a side-plot to the main story of FMA. Most of the animation seems to follow the same style with the main series, although the eyes seemed to be much more defined and coloured a bit differently in the movie. We watched this movie dubbed, and as usual, Mignogna and Dismuke did an amazing job. However, the voice actor for the leader of the "Black Bats", Miranda (done by Shelley Calene Black) felt very monotone and scripted, offering no flow with her delivery. Now I'm not sure if that was the intended effect, but for me, it wasn't too appealing.
     As always, no spoilers will be given with any anime-related post I write up. The movie revolves around a fugitive that has broken out of an Amestris prison, even through this prisoner's sentence was due soon. The fugitive also seems to be able to use some new type of alchemy. Ed and Al are assigned to track down the fugitive. Ed and Al's search lead them to Table City, Creta where they meet Julia who reveals the story behind Creta and Milos.
     My synopsis ends there, much shorter than I'd like it to be, mostly because if I say anymore, it will detract from the movie. Not because it's suspenseful, but because it was very predictable. The felt more like an OVA and had no reason to really be on the big screens. It's also disappointing that Hiromu Arakawa did not take part as a staff member in the movie (she did the manga for FMA). If you're also expecting lots of Mustang, Hawkeye and Armstrong action, you'll also be fairly disappointed as their screen time is next to nothing. Now I'm not saying this was a terrible movie; the movie just felt underwhelming when compared to the animated tv series.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images & videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched the movie yet? If so, what do you think of it? For those that watched it but haven't seen the original series, what did you think of it? What do you think of FMA in general? Let me know in the comments below!

Witch Hunt!

Hopefully everyone's winter break went well and year got off to a good start. Hopefully, I can find my groove after by first semester of school so I can make regular blog posts again. (School starts on the 9th!)
Well, back to your regular programming and a promised post (from 2 posts back), an anime related post.

A "childhood" anime for me

    For all the local readers, you might have heard of YTV (a Canadian youth entertainment TV channel) that used to (and still does to some extent) broadcast many cartoons, teen targeted comedy shows and at one point, anime. Let's go back to late 2002, which is when Witch Hunter Robin ran (for 26 episodes). Well back then, YTV used to have a late night anime focused programming which included: Zatch Bell, GIST: SAC, Reboot, Samurai Jack, Witch Hunter Robin and much more. I remembered that I had to stay up to the wee hours of the night (well, it was late for me back then) just to catch a glimpse of these shows. I was much more young back then and I don't think I understood anything that was going on when I was watching Witch Hunter Robin but what I do remember was that YTV was notorious for airing older episodes. Sometimes, they would do reruns, and other times, out of no where, they just air a random episode which made it near impossible for me to follow any series. Before actually being able to watch it, this "Witch Hunter Robin" show always remained a mystery to me, almost like a show characterized by "the one that got away".
     Well, let's skip to 2011/2012 where I finally watched the series. The first thing I noticed was the unique character design and the art style of the show. The style truly held up, and aged very well. Now veering off topic a bit, I am not the biggest fan of episodic/"monster of the week" shows. I might complete a series that runs like this, but it is very unlikely that I would watch a sequel that would follow this format. But Witch Hunter Robin did follow a "monster of the week" format, but strangely enough, I wasn't bothered at all by it. The show had a nice flow to  it (almost like a CSI style, where every episodes they work on a new case and there are small segments where we get to see relationships and drama between the main characters develop).
     Well, Witch Hunter Robin initially revolves around Robin, a "craft-user" (who is a person that can utilize special powers) who is sent to STN-J the Japanese child branch organization of SOLOMAN. We don't learn much about either of the organizations except that STN-J focuses on monitoring "seeds" (which are people that have dormant witch/craft powers) and on hunting witches that actively utilize their powers. Note that the existance of witches is kept from the general public, thus the operations of STN-J appear unknown/mysterious to the general population.
    The hunters that work for STN-J mainly include: Robin Sena, Amon, Haruto Sakaki, Michael Lee, Miho Karasuma and Yurkio Dojima. I won't really discuss about each character as they're pretty much cut and paste characters (at least for the first half of the series). As mentioned before, the series takes on a case each episodes, for about the first half of the series. We get little character development until after the first half where we find out the motives of each character and of the organizations (which I will not spoil).
     All in all, this show felt very satisfying, even if I didn't have the urge to dig this series up just to see what it was about. The art style, and surprising plot (although other may disagree) really made it for me.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images & videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

If you watched Witch Hunter Robin, what was your opinion of it? Any childhood shows you'd like to revisit today? How was your New Years? Let me know in the comments below!

Hello World!

So I finally finished my final exams and then someone reminds me...midterms in 2 months.

Me, during every exam

     Well to be exact, I finished my exams last week and I've been procrastinating to make a new post (heh, procrastinating). I also started getting some of my marks back, and for the time being, I'm pleased with them so far, but I think to most important thing for me during the break right now is to pace and change my lifestyle that would be suitable for a university student.
     I find myself time and time again gaming. It's a really bad lifestyle that I've kept since high school, thinking I can still get away with it in university. I think I game so much that I barely have time to watch anime. D: So I think the most effective way for me to really focus is to simply not start my steam (I mostly play games on steam) because those pop-ups towards the bottom right corner that shows who is playing what really distracts me. But for the duration of the break...I'll be gaming =).
     Now off to the anime issue, oh how I've missed you. At least I've finally found a susatinable way to keep this hobby. My morning commute to school is about 25 mins (by car, it's an hour by public transit) and you know what that time is perfect for? Perfect for just an episode of any anime. So that means going to school and coming back, I'm still able to watch 2 episodes, yay!

Anyways, I'll be back next week to make an anime related post and hopefully, I'll be able to make weekly posts when school resumes! Thanks for reading!
    
I do not own or take credit for all of the above images & videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

So what are you guys doing during your winter breaks? How did your exams go? Let me know in the comment section below!

Nodame Cantabile

Gyabo! Classical music and anime? All in one?

Chiaki and Nodame

After putting off this series for so long, and with many recommendations from a bunch of friends, I finally watched Nodame Cantabile (I'm getting to the sequels =/).

Nodame Cantabile mostly takes place at Momogaoka College of Music where our main characters, Megumi Noda and Shinichi Chiaki study. Nodame is a talented piano player, who can play music by ear (and prefers it) instead of reading the score. She also brings in her own style when playing the music, such as adding or subtracting notes, ignoring the score altogether. Chiaki is also a talented piano player (who also plays the violin) and was born in to a musical family. He has a secret ambition of pursuing a career in conducting, but is obstructed to study oversees (he resides in Japan) because of his child phobia of flying and the ocean.

The two of them accidentally meet and Nodame install falls in love with Chiaki. Chiaki discovers Nodame's talent and the series displays the lessons of music and life they give each other while encountering many other students and teachers of the college.

This series is definately a must for any anime and classical music fans (as you may be sitting through half an episode of classical music). Nodame Cantabile is a 23 episode series and was aired in 2007, produced by J.C. Staff. There is a sequel to Nodame Cantabile, which is Nodame Catabile: Paris, which continues right where the prequel left off. The whole franchise then concludes with Nodame Cantabile: Finale.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched this series? Have you seen any music oriented series? Did you watch the dramas or live action movies of Nodame Cantabile?

Usagi Drop

Looks like grandpa has got it going on, but not for long...

Rin and Daikichi

And not for long because he's dead. Usagi Drop is an 11-episode, slice of life series done by the studio, Production I.G., which is known for high-quality animation, and has produced work such as GIST (Ghost in the Shell). It starts off with the funeral of Daikichi's grandpa, where we find out that his grandpa had an illegitimate love child (who is 6 at the time of his death). The child, who's name is Rin, was kept a secret to everyone up until now. Daikichi's family and relatives try to figure out what to do with her when someone suggests to send her to an orphanage. This is when Daikichi steps up, and chooses to raise Rin himself.

Daikichi is just a plain 30 years old bachelor, who works as a typical Japanese salaryman. When he actualy experiences what it takes to raise a child, he quickly understands the sacrifices and efforts needed. The series pretty much follows Daikichi and the development of Rin while Daikichi finds out more about parenting, especially from others, such as single moms.

I actually first started watching this series after hearing a podcast review of this. The reviewer is an American, who currently lives in Japan with his wife and they both admire this series for accurately portraying how life is for salarymen and housewives when they have children (as Japan has more defined gender roles).

The series thus far (I'm on episode 8) is very lighthearted and heartwarming. All the animation and choice of colour gives off a "warm" feeling. Production I.G also includes about a 1 minute intro at the beginning of each episode where the animation is in a totally different style, almost like a "roughly coloured-manga" feel (Yes, I just made that up). Bleh, I can't describe it, so just see the image below.

I've heard from others that the series will leap to Rin when she is older, so I'm pretty exicited to see how it goes as there are only a few episodes remaining.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.
  What are your favourite slice of life shows? For those that have seen this, how do you think this portrays life with children?

Daft Punk the Movie?

Yep, there is a Daft Punk "movie", but at the same time, not quite.

Interstella 555

Interstella 555 is a film produced by Daft Punk in collabortion of Toei Animation.

The plot of the film is simple, 4 band members (pictured above) are abducted from an alien planet to Earth. They are then brainwashed of their alien memories and made to look like humans. Back home, an alien strives to bring back the band members back to their home country.

I know that wasn't a too detailed of a plot, but I do not want to focus on it as there is a deeper meaning of the story. I'd rather have you experience the whole film yourselves. The full movie can be found on Youtube. I've embedded the video here in case you really wanted to watch it right now.



But what makes this whole film unique is that the whole film, is a "musical", where Daft Punk's album, "Discovery" is played throughout the whole film. In addition, there is no dialog whatsoever within the film, and besides the album being played, occasional sound effects can be heard.

The animation itself is done by Toei Animation. It features an 80's style of animation, but a very refined version. (Note, this film was released in 2003)

Nevertheless, this film should be a real treat, especially to Daft Punk fans.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images and videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you seen this film? Do you like Daft Punk? Any similar films out there?

Shaft Inc.

But wait there's more!

The logo of Shaft Inc.

To those that may have been expecting a non-anime post, please accept my sincere apologies as today is no different.

I'd like to introduce today, Shaft. An animation studio that has either done the animation for many series or at least had their hands deep in others.

The main ones I want to bring up are: Sayonara Zetusubou Sensei (Finished the first series) and Bakemonotargai (I'm currently on episode 10).

If you've read some of my anime related posts, you know that animation quality is a huge factor for me when watching anime and material done by Shaft never disappoints, but aside from quality is their style.

The most prominent feature is that Shaft may use "real life" images for effect such as someone's face or body part. You can see this below, which is a screencap from Bakemonogatari.

The use of "RL"

Another technique they use is written words/kanji. Sometimes it is used in conjuncture with images or it is simply written out as is. Screenshot is from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Kanji used in conjuncture with other images

Another method, although common within many anime series is references to animes or known products.
Another screenshot from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Haruhi referenced in the top right.

The last thing, although I don't have pics for it is the opening sequences of Bakemonogatari. For many shows (not just anime) you'll hear a theme song and a sequence of pictures or video clips that go along with it and for most series, the song and clips only change once or twice. But for Bakemonogatari, these things change for every story arc. The opening sequence will be directly related to the main character of the arc the anime is currently focusing on.

So for that, I applaud Shaft for their quality and effort of animation.


I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

 Any animes done by Shaft you enjoy? What cool techniques have you seen done in animes or tv series?

Steins;Gate

But summer hasn't ended yet and I still have another series to share.

The main cast of Steins;Gate

This one was a close one. When I say that, I meant that I was close to dropping this one due to the animation quality (see previous post). During the first few episodes of this anime, the quality of how the characters (mostly the face and eyes) were drawn were done very poorly but what kept me going was the concept of the plot.

Steins;Gate the anime came out in April and is still ongoing (set for 23 episodes which mark the finale on Sept. 7).  It features: Okabe, a self-proclaimed mad scientist, Mayuri, a girl who is portrayed as innocent and pure, and Itaru, an otaku and a "Super Hacker". The three of them (but mainly Okabe and Itaru) work on quirky inventions. They eventually create a microwave into a device that can send text messages to the past (dubbed D-Mail). As they explore the their device, they discover SERN, an organization that researches time travel, but SERN doesn't want anyone else to have time travel capabilities so Okabe and friends must avoid capture.

While trying not to spoil anything while explaining the plot, I've pretty much summed up the first 10 episodes or so. During those 10 episodes, we see Okabe recruit new members and trying out more experiments. But more importantly, those 10 episodes help develop each character into deep and possible likable characters.

I really can't guess how this will end as the series up until now has been full of twists and turns so I await the finale (and thankfully, it ends before school starts).

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched this series yet? How do you think this is going to end? Any animes you liked and want to share?

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

It was inevitable, keeping with my namesake I had to go through a few anime series before summer ended.

The main characters of Ano Hi.

This series came out in April and finished airing in June by A-1 Studios. During the last few months of high school, a lot of my friends were talking about this one and given my free time over the summer, I gave it a try.

So why didn't I jump onto this series earlier? Well, I essentially stopped watching anime for 1 or 2 years just due to the quality of material that was coming out. Most animes were either just full of fan service (w/o a good plot) or had poor animation.

Luckily, a few episodes into Ano Hi, I was amazed by the animation quality and the tight story line. The plot is fairly simple. A group of 6 childhood friends drift apart over the years after Menma, who used to be in the group dies from an accident. Jintan (in the red t-shirt in the above picture) is a shut in (essentially a NEET as he hasn't been in school for a semester) when one day, Menma (the girl in the one piece white dress in the picture) appears to Jintan. Menma supposedly appears because she has a wish that needs to be fulfilled before she can rest in peace.

As Jintan tries to find out what her wish is, the 5 childhood friends get back together. As we witness the 5 friends interact with each other and deal with the re-appearance of Menma (although only Jintan can see and hear Menma) the true emotions and characteristics of the 5 other friends are revealed.

This is an 11 episode series and has a satisfying conclusion. This anime is filled with drama and deals with multiple love triangles. All I can say is get some tissues ready because it gets emotional at times.

One of my favourite tracks from the anime

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images or videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched this series yet? If you have, what's your opinion of Yukiatsu? (I personally hate his guts")
Any of the upcoming anime series of Fall 2011 look interesting?

Welcome to the NHK

As some of you may or may not know the meaning of NEET as my blog title, I can certainly tell you where I came up with it.

Well let's go back to the blog title. It's not just a play on words, but NEET actually stands for "Not Employed, Educated or in Training" and that is exactly what this anime revolves around.

Released back in 2006 for a running of 24 episodes, follows Tatsuhiro Sato. He is a hikikomori (someone that has withdrawn from social life and lives in a degree of confinement) and has been unemployed for several years. In addition, he is a university drop out.

Luckily for Sato, he meets a myserious girl, Misaki Nakahara who says she can cure Sato of his ways. She makes Sato sign a contract which obligates Sato to meet Nakahara every evening in a park for a discussion/lecture on his lifestyle.

I probably made this anime sound boring but you have to watch this. I think I actually finished the series all in one day because I found this so touching.

And as with other animes I recommend, this one also has a fantastic OST.
You can check out the OP of this anime in the video below.

Round Table does some fantastic music

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images and wideos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Anyways, if you've watched it, what's your opinion on it? How long can you watch something in one sitting?

Brain's Base Studio (2 of 2) - Durarara

Finally, the follow up and concluding post for the two part series on Brain's Base Studio brings us to Durarara. The anime is also based on the same writer for Baccano, Ryogo Narita and obviously the animation studio was the same, so I was expecting some quality material, and this did not disappoint.

A few of  many characters of Durarara
shown here

The plot, much like Baccano, revolves around a simple person or event, but we also get to view the adventures or misadventures of many other characters. The anime first premiered in January of 2010 and ended in August 2010 on a 26 episode series. Durarara revolves around Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who always longed for life in the big city and is given the chance to, in Ikebukura, Tokyo. He also meets up with his childhood friend Kida Masomi. Kida, already familiar with Ikebukura, shows Mikado around the city and some people such as the violent bartender, and the owner of the sushi shop. There is also an urban legend called the "Black Rider" within Ikebukura, and Mikado witnesses this legend the first day he arrives in the city.


Many more characters and plot elements come into play and in a way, all these events and characters will come together and intersect, forming a larger plot. As you can probably guess, I was very pleased with this series, much like Baccano.


I do not own or take credit for all of the above images , if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.


If you watched Durarara, what is your opinion on it? Any more anime by Brain's Base Studio or Ryogo Narita you can recommend?

Brain's Base Studio (1 of 2) - Baccano

For the next two posts, I'll be doing reviews of anime done by Brain's Base (and have manga counterparts, done by the same author, Ryohgo Nariita). To my best recollection, Baccano is revolves around an elixir that makes one immortal. A group of alchemists summon a demon, which the demon gives them an exlixir. The demon also tells the alchemists the only way of ending each other's lives. This can only be done by immortals devouring each other. The alchemists drink this elixir but promise to keep this a secret, but one of the alchemists starts devouring the others. The alchemists then disband realizing the danger of staying together.


Honestly, I get confused by Narita's works and story lines. But I enjoyed the anime a lot. Another complement goes to the background music of Baccano. I obtained a copy of the OST and I love it. Lots of that jazzy style of music, much like Cowboy Bebop. If anyone else knows the OST, definitely check out "In the Speak Easy", probably my favourite track (mostly because of my background in piano).

The opening theme to Baccano

Full length episodes of Baccano! can also be found on youtube on Funamation's channel.

I do not own or take credit for the above picture and video, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Any OST you enjoy? What's the best soundtrack you've heard? Any other anime's from Brain's Base or Narita you'd like to share?

Monster Rancher

A cool show I watched as a kid, Monster Rancher

I still have very faint memories of this show. After coming home from elementary school, I'd watch some guy place a disk with a dinosuar like fossil within it and it would spin and some monster would come out.

Based on my above description, you can probably tell that I barely remember anything from it. So I'll just give you the story, as it appears on wiki.

From Wikipedia, 

"Before the world's continents broke up into pieces, a huge disaster hit the world. People prayed to God for help, and God created new life forms. However, new life forms brought new troubles, so God became exasperated and sealed them in "disc stones". Many years have passed since then and God entrusted the humans with the secret of "disc stones". Today people still continue searching for these missing "disc stones" to unlock the lifeforms within.

It is said that the "disc stones" are almost impossible to find among the ancient ruins. It is said that one monster is trapped inside each one. One day a group of workers excavating the ancient ruins happened to dig up one of these mythical disc stones. The worker who first discovered a disc stone took the disc to the Monsters' Temple. There the priests, using the ancient methods, unlocked the monster inside the disc stone. In a place where ranchers and monsters coexisted peacefully, the battle of the monsters began! As time passed these monster battles became extremely popular, and monster breeding became the standard pastime of the land. Eventually disc stones were found around the entire world. Now ranchers across the globe come together and enter unto battle!"

"Monster Rancher." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 June 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Rancher>.

I do not own or take credit for the above picture and synopsis of Monster Rancher, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched monster rancher before? Any childhood shows you'd like to share?

Laws of Alchemy

      Full Metal Alchemist, another show that I've stuck by for awhile. I haven't watched the original series but I finished FMA:B awhile back and I loved it. I went on to watch the movie too. The show also inspired me to make an Edward Elric cosplay (just the red robe and inside black dress shirt with white trim).

But what I remember most are the laws of alchemy from the show (Funny thing that I'm remembering all this weird things from different shows). 

Probably the most prominent one is the concept of Equivalent Exchange.
This states that, in order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed.
This is then divided into two parts.
The Law of Conservation of Mass & The Law of Natural Providence.


The Law of Conservation which states that  which states that energy and matter can neither be created from nothing nor destroyed to the point of elemental nonexistence. In other words, to create an object weighing one kilogram, at least one kilogram of material is necessary and destroying an object weighing one kilogram would reduce it to a set of parts, the sum of which would weigh one kilogram.


The Law of Natural Providence  which states that an object or material made of a particular substance or element can only be transmuted into another object with the same basic makeup and properties of that initial material. In other words, an object or material made mostly of water can only be transmuted into another object with the attributes of water. 

I think that with the mindset I obtained from the book Ishmael (see my older blog post for that) I've started to see things from a different perspective. I've also been connecting many fictional things to real life. 
When I really think about it, the concept Equivalent Exchange can really apply to everyday life.
Personally, I'm a student so when I think about my work, I'm really working towards a career, so the way I see it, the work I put in during my studies will equate or be lesser then my future career.

I think this is something that society today lacks as most people today are regarded to as the "generation of instant gratification". Some people just think that things will just happen to them, without their own input. Others expect to see results immediately and end up with nothing because of their lack of patience.


I do not own the rights to the above image(s) nor do I take credit for it.

.What do you think about the "generation of instant gratification"?
And on the topic of FMA, any recommended animes for the summer season?

Anime North 2011?

Sadly, this year I will not be attending Anime North 2011.
I don't know if it is because I've already gone 3 years in a row and that I've pretty much seen everything at it, or if it is because I just don't fit in.
I mean, I'm not your full blown otaku and I'm not the narutard out there, I'm sort of the middle mush at there.

I do promise myself though that I will attend AN2012 and grab some cool pics.


Just a few Valve related pics from AN2010.