It didn't work

Okay, I thought I had lots of visitors, but the application I was using was broken. Big time.

Anyhow, I'll be going off on winter vacation for a week, so I'll be holding back on posting for a while.

But before that, here's a short review on "Blue Dragon."

From what I saw, I was slightly impressed with Akira Toriyama's characters. However, the English dub is horrible.

Honestly, I thought that VIZ Media would at least keep the original Japanese audio track, but they didn't. They thought only kids would watch it.

But this isn't a good kids dub. This is completely censored and completely awful. If anything, watch this series online. This series is a waste to release on DVD without good audio.

I know this was a pretty sad review, but hey, I wrote what I saw. And what I saw wasn't impressive.

With that said, happy holidays!

I got visitors!

Visitors may have noticed that I put in a cool little stat box on the bottom which shows how many people have visited my blog.

It's the coolest addition, because it proves that I actually have visitors! Yay! Now I should figure out how to keep people here.

So for next year's redesign, expect to definitely see a slide show on my blog, with plenty of sweet pictures.

DVD Review - Twin sister goes on a killing spree

Mion adds spectacular excitement to the anime "When They Cry" with her maniacal killing spree in the second volume.

As we recall from previous episodes, "When They Cry" focuses on Keiichi, a new transfer student in Hinamizawa who likes to hang out with four girls, Rena, Satoko, Rika and Shion. Shion was the tall girl with the green hair.

But who is Mion? Well, Mion is actually Shion's twin sister. And to add confusion in the second story arc, she looks almost exactly like Shion.

Without giving too much away, Mion takes the male lead character, Keiichi, to an ancient shrine during the Watanagashi (Cotton-drifting) festival. They meet up with a photographer named Jiro Tomitake and a nurse named Miyo Takano, who break into the shrine to see the statue of Oyashiro. Oyashiro is the ogre god who could be spiritually killing off people each year after the Watanagashi festival.

In the second story arc, we are introduced to the photographer Tomitake, who also appeared int the previous story arc, before he stabbed his throat with his fingernails. In this story arc, Tomitake once again dies after the festival, and Miyo is missing. Soon Keiichi's elementary school friends wind up missing. After investigating the scene, Keiichi and his friend, Rena, suspect that Shion murdered them all.

Keiichi also discovers that Shion imprisoned her sister, Mion, in a dungeon and was ready to kill her with state-of-the-art torture tools. Shion almost kills Keiichi through a nasty execution procedure, but after some negotiation, Shion turns herself over to the police and Mion is saved. All is well, until the police officer says that Mion is the real killer.

This is a brilliant chapter with some of the most perplexing character twists. Now we know that Shion has an identical twin sister, and we may never know whether Shion is actually Mion, or Mion is actually Shion! This is one of the most shocking plot twists in the series.

And just when things couldn't get worse in Hinamizawa, the third story arc of "When They Cry" features child abuse. Satoko, the elementary school girl, comes with her friend, Rika, to cook for Keiichi. We learn that Satoko used to cook for her brother, Satoshi, who mysteriously disappeared.

But we also learn that Satoko suffers from child abuse. After her parents died, she and her brother lived with her evil uncle, Teppei Hojo. Teppei bosses Satoko around and beats her all the time. Keiichi hears from her doctor, Irie, that Satoko believes that her brother will come back if she goes through this suffering.

Poor Satoko. I wouldn't have even thought that she was as messed up in the head as Rena or Mion. At this point of the series, the blue-haired elementary school girl, Rika, might actually be the only sane character in this series.

Admittedly, this is a brutal anime to watch. However, it plays out like a strange soap opera. In every scenario, lots of people die. However, each story arc is even more fascinating, revealing the tortured past of the girls of Hinamizawa. And I never thought I would say this, but it's entertaining to see how insane all of the children get. This anime features the most unforgettable characters in anime history. Hopefully these kids get a hug after they're finished with this, because they could use some emotional relief.

Image courtesy of radda.wordpress.com

DVD Review - Bodyguard superstar

Sometimes I miss out on some of the best anime around, and Anime Insider magazine gave a good recommendation for this sleeper hit.

"Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit" may be set in ancient Japan, but the action and drama make this one of the coolest samurai anime of this decade.

Morobito begins with Balsa, a tough female warrior with a big spear, returning to Yogo to meet one of her friends. Along the way, Prince Chagum travel on a nearby bridge in a norimono (palanquin carried by four men). However, when the palanquin tips over and Chagum falls into the river, Balsa saves him.

As Balsa continues into the city of Yogo, four samurai encounter her. After fighting with them for a while, the samurai ask for her forgiveness. The samurai actually work for Prince Chagum. Chagum's mother wanted to thank Balsa properly.

Chagum doesn't just give Balsa a good meal and a place to sleep for the night, though. She asks if she could act as the bodyguard for Prince Chagum. The prince was sick, and nothing could cure him, so his mother called on a stargazer to help him. However, Chagum's mother suspects that the stargazer is also hiring other samurai to assassinate Chagum. Long story short, Balsa agrees to protect him.

However, there is more to this drama than it appears. The stargazer has found a water spirit within Chagum. The stargazer predicts that the water spirit could destroy Chagum's father's kingdom. Ironically, according to the legend, only Chagum's father, Emperor Mikado, can kill him. But is the spirit as dangerous as the legend proclaims?

This samurai drama is one of the coolest anime that I have seen this year. At the same time, too many people may pass this up as just another samurai drama. However, the epic scale of the animation, produced by Gonzo, is filled with easily the fastest and most intense samurai battle I have ever seen. The intensity literally rivals that of another samurai series, "Rurouni Kenshin."

Balsa almost dies after her first encounter with assassins, but she manages to rest up at the house of one of her doctor friends. The doctor also lives with a cool-headed priest, who shows off his own warrior skills in the beginning of episode four. The priest is shocked at finding the prince at his home.

The big question is where the story will go next. With an anime as exciting as this, I'm looking forward to watching how this series unfolds.

Image courtesy of haibra.wordpress.com

Slight delay

My anime blog was on vacation temporarily, but don't worry, I'm still watching anime.

Soon I'll review "Morobito: Guardian of the Spirit" and "Higurashi" volume two. So don't worry, I'm still blogging.

...I'm just really stressed out right now.