Top Anime Moments We Can Relate To Part 2 – Our Second Choice~

Greetings, this is Chungky, and welcome to part 2 of our Top 3 Anime Moments – presenting our second  choices. Our first foray was unexpected entitled “Nah’ mean Nah’ mean” by arawr if y’all haven’t noticed. Check that out, it had our 3rd choices in it.

Please find my 2nd choice below:

Tonari no Kaibutsukun – Episode 2 | When Shizuku questions Asako’s life on the internet.

Okay, this is a bit of a personal kind of a relation but I think many people have kind-of experienced this sometime in their lives, especially when we’re all caught up with the internet. Of all the characters in Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, I associate myself with Natsume Asako the most, mainly because of the fact that she loves her internet life just as much as I love mine. It’s really like those times where I’m like, really, really enjoying myself online and like, someone just doesn’t get it.

Summer Anime 2013 – Summaries, PVs, Links and Rants

So it’s not quite the end of the Spring Anime yet, but it’s getting quite close.Out of curiosity, I went off to see what’s on for this Summer, and thought I’d share it here on Manga Weekend (It’s been a long, long while since I’ve done on of these posts!) I’ve pretty much got all the summaries from MyAnimeList, and as usual I’ve got the anime listing from The Fansub Wiki. Both really good websites, so o check them out! =D

I’ll just be splitting it up into anime I’ll definitely be following, anime I might be following, and anime that I’ve already ditched before even giving it a chance (Honestly I think that I’ve put wayyy too much into the first category). If you think that there’s any in the last category that shouldn’t be there, convince me in the comments below!

^_^ ANIME: I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO! ^_^

Gin no Saji: Silver Spoon by A-1 Pictures

Yugo Hachiken dreams of life separated from his family, so he takes the initiative by enrolling in an agriculture school. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problems will arise no matter what kind of school he attends. He is proven wrong very quickly. Raised as a city boy, he is forced to uncover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he tries to keep up with his new friends, farmers’ heirs, who are already accustomed to the harsh world of farming. With no clear goals or understanding of farming life, how will Hachiken survive this new, cruel reality? The story of a sweat, tear, and mud-stained youth begins!

Website

Gin no Saji is an original work by Arakawa Hiromu, the manga-ka for Full Metal Alchemist. From the summary, you’d probably notice that it’s got nothing to do with alchemy or philosopher stones – in fact, it’s got to do with pretty much a high school farm. On top of it being very far from the usual high-school life setting, it’s gives this very warm slice-of-life feeling, but at the same time retaining the fun from a shounen/comedy genre. Definite recommendation!

RDG: Red Data Girl – All the WTHs from Episode 8

So one of the anime that I’ve been following this spring (Spring. Haha. What a joke) is Red Data Girl (RDG). It was one of the earliest to come out, and I’ve been underwhelmed by it from the very beginning. For some reason however, I just stuck to watching it anyway. It’s quite mean, but it’s the sort of anime I watch just to hate on. I mean it’s just so – well – tweeny.

Anyway usually I’d just go on about how ridiculous it is to chungky, but after episode 8, not even my trusty partner was enough. Apart from all the ongoing teen angst, everything in the episode suddenly seemed abrupt and unnecessary. I don’t know if it’s just this episode in particular, or if I’ve already had enough of the story that I’m paying attention to other things that have been quite random from the beginning. Anyway, here’s my thoughts of this week’s episode, starting with the OP!

‘Nah mean? ‘Nah mean??

Ever felt like there was a certain moment in some anime/manga that you could completely relate to?

There’s a lot in the anime/manga universe that seems completely out of this world – naturally, a part of its appeal. It delivers something separate from reality, bringing you away from your own life for a moment. It is in these moments where we are soaking up all these fictional moments when suddenly

SNAP!

It doesn’t seem so fictional anymore. Maybe it was a character, a scene or even just a line that made you shoot out from your seat and go “I KNOW THAT FEEL BRO!!” There are instances in anime/manga where the audience have felt that they could relate to the fictional characters or scenarios that no longer seem as fictional as before (btw I completely understand what it feels like to be randomly swept to another galaxy with me giant mecha).

Both chungky and I have experienced this – and we’ve decided to share our Top 3 Anime Moments We Can Relate To! =D

So as the one who instigated this post, I’ll go first!

“As my love first came to realization, Word had already spread.”

It’s kind of amazing how you look at something differently after watching it the second time. I spent yesterday and a bit of today re-watching the first season of Chihayafuru (and unbeknownst to me so was chungky). For those of you who don’t know it, Chihayafuru is a manga/anime about a bunch of high-school kids playing karuta. Karuta’s basically a game based around the hyakunin isshu, a collection of 100 poems by 100 poets.

Chihayafuru really changed for me when I re-watched it; most probably because my understanding of karuta was a lot better, but now that I knew some things were going to happen, I could pay attention to others instead. For example, there are times in the story where they use the poetry from the hyakunin isshu to illustrate the relationships between the characters; before I thought they were just pretty words that relate really well to the situation. But my second experience with Chihayafuru found the description to be so beautiful, I’ve quoted some of them in this post!

Let’s start!

I read the Chihayafuru manga before the anime came out, and I’ve been captured by it from the very beginning. Maybe it’s my own bias for stories that use the ‘childhood friends’ card; I always feel that the relationship between children are a lot more direct, honest and simple (e.g. not manipulated by hormones yet). So anyway, the three main characters are 1, the heroine (Chihaya), 2, the transfer student who introduces her to karuta (Arata) and 3, the bully/friend (Taichi). I’ll be going off on my own rant about it from here on, so spoilers will follow. But if you’re like chungky who went all “Well, don’t mean to spoil it for you, but looks like the bully’s gonna get her,” when I’d only explained what characters were in the story and nothing about storyline, then we all never had to worry about what ultimately would or would not happen.

BUT THAT’S THE THING!!

Shingeki no Kyojin – Chew on it Bro

Shingeki no Kyojin (進撃の巨人) / Attack on Titan

Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by titans. Titans are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, and devour human beings. A small percentage of humanity survived by locking themselves in a city surrounded by 50m walls. Flash forward to the present; the city has not seen a titan in over 100 years. However, this all changes when a colossal titan appears and breaches the wall that had protected them for a century.

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Shounen, Tragedy

Status: Currently airing, planned for 25 episodes

Original work by Isayama Hajime, directed by Araki Tetsurou and produced by like a massive bunch of companies including Production I.G.,  FUNimation Entertainment, Mainichi Broascasting, etc. etc.

Rated  R17; and like guys, pay attention to that rating because I (and I think a lot of other people) really got the shock of their lives from watching this anime. Speaking of which, I’m wondering why none of the genres mention ‘psychological’ considering the fact that watching this probably leaves you with some mental scars.

Let’s start!

———

What do you mean you haven’t watched it?!

I think it’s pretty solid to say that the anime of the season right now is Shingeki no Kyojin; I know it’s not much of a reference but whenever I read comments off 9gag, there’s always someone putting in  some titan joke or yo’ momma is a titan or whatever. Even chungky who doesn’t usually watch anime (much less one that is quite graphic, to say the least) has got a bit of an unhealthy obsession with it,as mentioned previously, “following the anime religiously and even re-watching it like a cow regurgitating grass,”.

Anyway if you haven’t watched Shingeki no Kyojin by now, you have no idea what you’re missing out. I cannot remember the last time I’ve been this floored by an anime; there’s something very brutally blunt about the way the story is executed. This post does contain spoilers, but nothing beyond like the 4^th episode. The basic premise is that humanity has been hiding behind 50m walls for the past 100 years to hide away from the titans, who are these humanoid creatures that come in assorted sizes (usually larger than yo’ momma) and have pretty much been snacking their way through the human race. This post shall henceforth primarily focus on the aforementioned snackers.

Found ya

Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin – The Primal State of Being

Indeed.

This post contains spoilers.

A few weeks ago, if you had asked me what Attack on Titan was, I’d be like – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, WHATEVER. MOVING ON.

Ahem, that would’ve been an extremely annoying response. But who cares now!? Few weeks in, I’m following the anime religiously and even re-watching it like a cow regurgitating grass. Horrible imaginary, true; but very much like the grotesque portrayal of the Titans themselves no(ok, I suppose that imagery was more gross than grotesque.)? I’m not sure about depiction of titans is in the manga, (arawr does though, so ask her what she thinks) but I nearly fainted when I saw it animated. The whole nature of the anime is quite unforgiving.

A little bit like this:

And showing how a titan chomps down the protagonist’s mother.

So hey, what was my initial response? Well, dear reader, you shouldn’t need to ask since I’m about to tell you anyway!

Chungky’s Mini Fall/Winter Anime Rant – Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun | Kamisama Hajimemashita | Suki-tte Ii Na Yo

Welcome to my short winter anime rant post! Why a mini and not a thorough cover of winter anime? Because first of all, I’ve always been a more manga-oriented person. Second, I don’t watch anime as extensively even though I love it(kind of overlaps with point one but oh well…). Third, I only watch what I like, as in, I don’t really bother to check up on things that I don’t normally venture into(which is kind of hypocritical, unless people HIGHLY recommend it). Fourth point is unnecessary, but watching everything is a bit insane.

【企画】ポフィンをどうぞ【ぴくトレ】 by patty

If you found the top part of this post pointless(which probably is) please read on!

The one thing in common between these three anime(besides being romance & shoujo) is that I followed all three of the manga series right from when they were serialised. When it was announced that all three were getting an anime this winter season, I had this hipster moment and obviously I couldn’t help but cry out to people that “I TOLD YOU SO.” It’s quite satisfying to know that manga that I’ve followed from the beginning(back when no one even heard of them) managed to receive anime adaptations. I guess in that sense it kind of tells us avid manga readers that they’ve made the cut(shallow comment).

Now to the anime. Only one was impressive. The other two were pretty disappointing and I’m kind of holding back a nasty word to describe them. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun exceeded my expectations. Kamisama Hajimemashita was average though it did have it’s little bright moments(nevertheless disappointing). As for Suki-tte Ii Na Yo, don’t even get me started. Pardon my French, but I thought this was absolutely horrid to put quite bluntly. At one point I saw a glimmer of light at the middle but boo…

I initially written a more comprehensive post but I decided to give each of these series an individual post since I was going way over the limit of a rant.

I’ll start from my absolutely favourite to the the absolute hated.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun | The Monster Seated Next to Me

So let’s start with Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.

Kimi ni Mune Kyun! (plus a mini Winter Anime update!)

There’s just something about the exam season where I always end up re-reading Eyeshield 21. Just finished reading my #1 favourite match this morning – Deimon vs. Shinryuuji!! The last 58 seconds of the match…!! @_@

This is not good for studying.

But that’s not why I’m posting today. I am a massive fan of School Food Punishment – if it does/not sound familiar, they’re the geniuses responsible for ‘Futuristic Imagination’ and ‘light prayer’ for Higashi no Eden. Last season, they sang ‘How to Go’ for Un-Go (I KNEW it was them the moment the song started!! XD) and before that, RPG for [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control.

If you haven’t listened to them, do so. Like. NOW.

In any case, a song that I’ve been addicted to lately from their How to Go single is Kimi ni, Mune Kyun -Uwaki no Vacanses-. It’s a really, really cute song with their own blend of the electrical techno thingy they do with a keyboard/guitar/synthesiser/whatever (you may notice I know zilch about music from my description) along with the calming, sweet vocals of Ichimura Yumi .

Curtain Close for The iDOLM@STER

The iDOLM@STER ( アイドルマスター)

Based on the XBOX 360 game The iDOLM@STER 2, The iDOLM@STER follows 13 aspiring idols aiming to reach their goals

Genre: Comedy, Music, Slice-of-life

Status: Completed at 25 episodes

Co-directed by Takao Touko and Nishigori Atsushi. Produced by Aniplex and A-1 Pictures.

———

First of all, we wish you a rather belated MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone as well as a HAPPY NEW YEAR! MW just turned one year old a few months back, and the stark difference in the amount of things going on in our life compare to back then is.. @_@

A year ago we had so much plans with how far we could take MW (or at least Chungky did, while I gave my pessimistic input) but now we’re simply too busy to execute it even when we have the platform to do so. Writing it down in solid form reminds me of the ending of The Idolmaster, actually. That said, this post does contain spoilers, but in general what I think is appealing about this anime isn’t it’s story as much as the characters themselves so go ahead and read on =D

After not writing anything up for so long, I’ve chosen to do a post for The Idolmaster as compared to something else like maybe Mawaru Penguindrum. When I thought about it, I did look forward to Mawaru Penguindrum a lot more and I did enjoy it a lot more, but since I know that there’s a much larger fan base for it, and time constraints are only gonna let me do a single post for now, I’ll leave it to the other fans to do it justice =D Most of all though, I’m hoping this review would encourage those people who were turned off by the whole ‘yet another harem’ label attached to The Idolmaster to see that it’s an anime about the idols rather the male protagonist – after all, it’s not exactly a dating sim.