Category Archives: Anime

It has been a couple weeks since I last wrote an Anime Talk post, and I wanted to thank you all for your patience. So now that I have managed to pull myself together and set down to write I have decided to take a look how Manga heavily inspires Anime. Here in the west we do see many tv shows and cartoons that have been inspired by comics, but Anime seems to be  much MUCH more influenced by the Japanese version of comics, "Manga".

Myself I am not a huge fan of Manga as I have mentioned before on the blog but I have to admit that a great deal of my favorite Anime shows were originally Manga titles though often times the show has only a passing resemblance to the source material. So all this being said, our topic of discussion is simply, do you prefer reading Manga, or watching Anime ? A simple question, but one I do not think will be easily answered by most but I could be wrong. Myself as I said I don't care for manga and much prefer Anime which is odd as I tend to prefer reading any a book then watching the movie based on that book ( or book based on the movie ) as the written format usually is more detailed and thus more enjoyable for me, just not in this case.

So what are your thoughts on the subject ? Let us know in the comments below and hopefully we can get a good discussion going.

Due to time constraints this week I haven't watched any anime to review ( I won't review a series I watched in the past without at least watching an episode of two again to refresh the memory). So with no review this week I find myself frankly coming up blank on a non-review topic thus I turn to you the Heromachine community Anime fans for suggestions on future Anime Talk topics.  Leave a suggestion below in the comments and lets see how many good topics you guys can come up with!

"Eyes as blue as the azure sky. That is the symbol of the 'Contractor'. Entrusted by the Spirit King of the Wind with the powers of his domain. I bear this mark: the Stigma of the Wind."

This week's Anime Talk I will be doing a mini review of the Anime series Kaze no Stigma, or Stigma of the Wind, which follows the exploits of Kazuma Yagami ( formerly Kazuma Kannagi) and his cousin Ayano Kannagi.

A little back story on the series; Ayano is the Heir of the Kannagi clan, which are all powerful fire magic users, and Kazuma is the black sheep of the family completely unable to use fire magic at all and was disowned by the clan when he lost a battle against Ayano for the place of Heir exiled from the family and unofficially exiled from Japan.  Now four years have passed since that fateful battle and Kazuma has returned to Japan now a master of wind magic and selling his mystical service to the highest bidder.

Around the same time of Kazuma's return the Kannagi clan is plagued by a round of murders caused by an unknown Wind Master which of course brings him into conflict with his former clan and his cousin Ayano which of course assume he is the culprit out for revenge for his exile. Even after it is proven that Kazuma was not involved in the murders he and Ayano continue to have an adversarial love/hate relationship throughout the entire series.

I really love this series, and the elemental magic system displayed within it. I especially found this series giving me a new respect for the power of Wind control as Kazuma pulls off some fairly spectacular effects with his powers! I found this action packed anime to be very good and I listed it among my top 5 Anime series. The Artwork is very well drawn, the story of series kept me entertained and involved and the character interactions especially between the wise arse snarky Kazuma, and the fiery tempered and rash Ayano really enhanced my enjoyment of the show.

Hi everyone, JR here. As Kaldath is taking some time off from the blog, I'm going to fill in for him for his Wednesday posts this week (we'll see what's going on next week before I completely take over). I apologise about the following post, I haven't watched as much anime as Kaldath so some of my examples may seem a bit different to what he usually puts.

This week we'll talk about something that's loosely related to what Kaldath was talking about last week; Shipping. In basic terms, Shipping is a fan term for the belief that two characters are/ should/ could be in a relationship (the term coming from the ship in relationship). The term was originally used for Mulder and Scully from X-Files, but has migrated to the world of anime, and also to other serials (the Harry Potter series for example).

The names of ships can vary, with there being lots of different ways to name a ship. You can have the names of the two characters with a / between (character1/character2), a word followed by the word shipping (e.g. Rocketshipping from the Pokemon franchise), portmanteau combinations of the two characters (e.g. Narusaku- Naruto and Sakura from Naruto) being the main ones used.

Of course, not all ships are canon, and many spring up through casual (sometimes unintentional or even dub edited) hints or through pure fan fantasy. Shipping is especially prevalent in series with multiple lead characters (often when there is one lead male and many female leads like in the harem genre), and often leads to rivalries between supporters of the different ships, especially if the issue of romance in the series isn't resolved.

Now that we know a little bit more about it, what are your opinions on shipping? Any ships you support? Discussion below.

This week on Anime Talk I want to examine the "Harem Genre" of anime. Let us begin by first explaining what the Harem Genre is. The basic concept of harem anime is a protagonist who is the center of romantic attention of at least two  or more members of the opposite gender whom are actively competing for the protagonists attention. The most typical combination is a male protagonist surrounded by a harem of ladies, but there does exist harems with a female protagonist with an all male harem though they are rare in comparison and are often referred to as a reverse harem. Most of these anime fall into the romantic comedy category however they are often mixed with main other classic anime genre such as mecha, martial arts,  Sci-fi, supernatural etc.

Now while I myself am a fan of many harem anime series, there are a few things about many of them I have watched that I find I am less then thrilled about. First is the excessive amount of "Fan Service" that is typical of the average harem series. I'd be lying if I said that I did not enjoy fan service however as I mentioned in a previous Anime Talk I think too much of it distracts from the show. In other words I want some story with my T&A.  Next on my list is there seems to be an ever growing popularity in having a  "Pervert Protagonist". I do not enjoy this character type myself and though I know it is a work of fiction I find it hard to believe one girl let alone a harem of them would be attracted to this type of personality. The Perverted protagonist stories also tends to be the worst offenders of the fan service issue.

These types of anime are hard pressed most of the time to even remain in the "ecchi" end of the harem spectrum and just barely fall short of being full blown hentai.

Lastly I HATE when an anime series ends without resolving the story. Though any anime genre can and has fallen prey to this  I find that Harem Anime is the worst offender. Often time a promising series is ruined for me by ending before the protagonist selects the girl he want to be with. Even in those series where the protagonist selects ALL the girls, or rejects them all are better then the open end we never know endings! When I finish watching a series like when I finish reading a good book, I want all the loose ends tied up and know that outcome of all the main plots. When a series ends without a proper ending I just feel cheated.

Well those are some of my thoughts on Harem Anime, what are yours ? DO you watch them?, Do you have a favorite Harem series? do you have any nitpicks about the genre you want you express ? Leave a comment below with you thoughts and lets get a discussion started.

This weeks "Anime Talk" is a mini review of Blassreiter a 2008 series which ran for 24 episodes is a very dark and violent Anime. The story takes place in Germany and revolves around what at least in the dubbed version of the show are called Amalgams which are reanimated human corps that have mysteriously contracted a condition that turn them into monstrous humanoid bio-mechanical creatures that go on mindless killing sprees once they transform.  The Amalgams are opposed by the members of the XAT ( Xenogenesis Assault Team) and a mysterious man named Joseph who himself is able to transform into an Amalgam. As the plot thickens and the causes of the Amalgams is discovered the real action begins and chaos over takes all of Germany and threatens to spread throughout the world.

Blassreiter as I mentioned before is very violent anime with tons of action and plenty of blood shed, however it also contains a very compelling  story, a number of interesting and entertaining plot twists as well as TONS of character development where even the motives of the "good guys" are questionable. The  animation I my opinion was very well drawn to the point I found myself really drawn into the dark and moody setting of the story. The characters are really well fleshed out to the point I found myself careing about what would happen to some of them. In the end I rate Blassreiter a 8 1/2 on the scale of 1-10 and If you are not opposed to extreme violence I highly recommend this series and think you will enjoy it.

This week on Anime Talk I am going to be doing a mini review of the 1987 anime series "Red Photon Zillion", the anime that got me hooked! Zillion takes place on the year 2387 on the planet Maris ( which humanity had apparently colonized at some point) which is under attack by a alien race called the Nozas whom wish to destroy all human life and claim the planet for themselves. The Nozas as practically immune to all normal human weapon systems, and the last line of defense against this threat are three human teens, JJ, Champ, and Apple known collectively as the "White Knights".

The White Knights are able to stand against this alien threat because they have been entrusted white the Zillion weapons systems, three mysterious guns that had recently be discovered on the plant and that run on a extremely rare power source ( Zillion ). Anything that is shot by the Zillion guns is instantly disintegrated, things just seem to wink out of existence when hit.  Now on the surface the premise of this show may sound a but silly, three teens fighting an alien army on there own with three magic guns but if you can get past that little difficulty of suspension of  disbelief I found Zillion to be a fun show to watch.

The show has as much action as anyone could want, as well a a nice helping of humor due to the interactions between the three main characters. The show is clean with no gratuitous sexuality to worry about and while having its fair share of violence since it is about an alien invasion after all, it is not over the top is that regard. The animation work being from 1987  looks a little dated style wise compared to more modern anime but still looks fairly good at least in my opinion. In conclusion I would say that If you are looking for a light, non-complex, fun PG rated anime that you can watch with the family then I suggest you give Red Photon Zillion a try.

This weeks Anime Talk is all about you! That's right YOU! I want to know how you got into watching anime? What was your very first anime movie or series you watched? and do you have a personal all time number favorite anime? Leave a comment below giving us the scoop and why you like anime or why you hate it!

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This weeks "Anime Talk" I am actually turning to you for some suggestions on what to watch! So I am going to ask you all to give me your top five anime series and or movies. If I end up watching and liking something from your top 5 list it just may end up on Anime Talk as a mini review! I'll start off below with my top 5 after the jump

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