Spoiler Rating: This is a Series Analysis, which attempts to analyze the series and present the author’s likes and dislikes of the series. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being very high spoilers, the spoiler level is 5. Short episode summaries are presented for several episodes as well as thoughts about the ending. However, nothing in this post would be considered a major spoiler that would lower the enjoyment of the reader.

Summary and Personal Thoughts

When I first watched Sora no Manimani, it was really just an okay anime. At first, it was really cheesy. Two childhood friends meet in high school after being away for so long and now they will probably fall in love or something. I was seriously rolling my eyes at this point because I do not want another Love Hina, Tonagura!, Princess Lover, or Yotsunoha. It comes off as a bit shallow that is almost slapstick but not quite, since Mihoshi, the female lead, does tackle Saku, the male lead, whenever possible. But there were some good things. First of all, it was pretty funny and enjoyable. Secondly, Mihoshi is really cute.

But most importantly, the selling point of Sora no Manimani, was Mihoshi telling Saku that her dream is to show everyone the beauty of the night sky. Just in the first episode, we get a glimpse of Mihoshi’s character: She is hyper and fun, determinedly seeking out her childhood friend without caring about anything else. She cares about the memories of their past, becoming way more angry than I expected when Saku feigns amnesia, which is the last thing I would expect from her. And finally, she shows herself as not just some random girl who likes astronomy and wants to make trouble. She really loves it, and despite her ruining the astronomy club’s reputation by runnning around looking for Saku, she really wants it to be successful.

“Mii-chan’s always smiling. What exactly can I do for her right now?”

In epsisodes 2-5, we are treated to more romance cliche. Hime, someone who likes Saku, decides to randomly join the club just so she could get closer to him. Wow, amazing. But the key difference here is that Hime is not annoying like others of her type in romantic comedies, and Saku is definitely not perverted. We got to see more of the astronomy, which was absolutely stunning. I feel that, up until this point, the main selling point of the anime is comedy and “slice of life” in lack of a better term. The astronomy holds the story together, and it does so very well. Every activity or event is centered around astronomy somehow so that the comedy and fun are not random and have substance. Read the rest of this entry »

Spoiler Rating: This is a Movie Analysis, which attempts to analyze the movie and present the author’s likes and dislikes of the movie. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being very high spoilers, the spoiler level is 10. A summary of the entire movie will be presented at the beginning of the post, followed by analysis then personal opinion.

Background

My Neighbor Totoro is a lighthearted movie by Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli. It had a theatrical release in 1988 along with Grave of the Fireflies, probably to counteract the depressing mood of the latter. Comparing all of Miyazaki’s movies, My Neighbor Totoro is probably the most “Japanese,” since the setting is very similar to a Japanese setting, unlike other Miyazaki movies with European or Western settings. In terms of genre and style, it is most like Spirited Away because it focuses less on plot and more on fantasy and character portrayal. My Neighbor Totoro succeeds at exploring children’s highly imaginative minds through blurring the lines of fantasy and reality.

Summary

The movie starts with a father and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, driving through the countryside with their truck loaded. Because Satsuki and Mei’s mother is in the hospital, the family wants to move closer, which in this case is a decrepit house in the rural area. The girls are seen as very energetic and playful, running around the new house, which is very old and supposedly haunted, to explore the different rooms and possible animal inhabitants. They soon find little soot-covered dust bunnies that like dark places. According to stories, these soot sprites will leave once the family is settled in and is comfortable. And that is what happens.

While playing outside, Mei, the younger daughter, finds an intriguing creature walking in the grass and follows it. Soon, she finds herself crawling through the forest tunnels, finding another world that exists in the forest. Mei eventually comes to the center of the forest where she meets a large creature that she calls Totoro. When she tells the story to Satsuki and his father, they do not believe Mei. Satsuki tries to crawl through the tunnels like Mei did but just comes out of another hole. After a while, though, they both believe the tale, and her father thought that Mei met the keeper of the forest. Read the rest of this entry »

Spoiler Rating: This is a Series Analysis, which attempts to analyze the series and present the author’s likes and dislikes of the series. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being very high spoilers, the spoiler level is 6. Short episode summaries are presented for episodes 1-4, 5, 12, and 13, as well as thoughts about the ending. However, nothing in this post would be considered a major spoiler that would lower the enjoyment of the reader.

Ah, K-ON!, the show everyone was looking forward to watching. Before it aired, it had already gathered lovers and haters alike, and moreso after. K-ON! is a twelve-episode anime adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation, maybe the least prolific anime to receive such popularity. The title comes from the word けいおん, or keion, meaning light music. In this anime, light music refers to popular music, which resembles the J-pop songs played in anime opening and ending sequences. In other words, K-ON! is an anime that features a band playing J-pop; what could go wrong, right? Read the rest of this entry »

So…Pokemon. Chances are, we have all watched and enjoyed Pokemon some time in our past. I was lucky enough to start watching Pokemon from its very beginning, when it was first aired and Ash got his first Pokemon. The show was basically the hype of the school and among my friends. It became so distracting that Gameboys were banned from school, and Pokemon Trading Cards quickly followed suit. Many people remember vividly some memorable hype when they grew up, such as The Beatles, Vietnam War protests, or the iPod. For me, someone who grew up ignorant of Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon, this hype was Pokemon. I never got as far as keeping rare Pokemon cards worth thousands of dollars, but I got bought of the games, books, and became very obsessed. Now that it is ten years later, what has become of my obsession?

Just like yo-yo’s and the SNES, Pokemon went out of popularity while we move on to bigger and better things. I don’t quite remember when I stopped watching the shows, but like many fans, I still play the games. However, my competitive battling skills stopped during the third generation because there were simply too many Pokemon to remember, too many more skills to keep track of, and too many more abilities, natures, and other additions to learn. I changed my approach to playing Pokemon games not to be “the very best” but rather just to have fun, like I would for any other game. But in some ways, I was glad to see Pokemon retaining is popularity in games. Pokemon still dominates handheld systems, getting top ranks at GameFAQs.com for Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS at the time of this post. In fact, I have seen Pokemon dominate 7 spots in the top 10 list, boasting over games such as Zelda and Final Fantasy.

To me, Pokemon is just something I can’t let go off, at least not yet. Eventually, I decided to pick up the show where I last stopped. It was interesting going through episode summaries to determine the exact episode where I stopped, but I finally found it, an episode in Season 6, the start of the Hoenn journey. This was the second series, the Advanced Generation, and the start of Ash’s journey with May. (It should be noted that no one fansubs Pokemon, so I am following the dubbed version.) Interestingly, I found that watching Pokemon again is very exciting. I ended up marathoning season through season of Pokemon during a time when marathoning anime was very difficult and boring to me. It seems as if I found some new, exciting anime that I really love.

There were many factors that made continuing Pokemon so fascinating. The first was that I am emotionally attached to the series and its hype, so I could recall the first five seasons…very well. The second factor is a very important factor, which made me glad that I continued from Season 6. In the Hoenn region, there is a new addition to Ash’s repetitive gym battles, and that is Pokemon Contests. Suddenly, Pokemon becomes some new anime that is very refreshing and thrilling. Watching May perform as a Pokemon Coordinator was very exciting while watching Ash’s gym battles was very nostalgic. The mix between the old and the new was excellent, but that’s not all. It seems to me that some hints of romance were added in this season, mostly centered around May. This makes the anime that much more interesting, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Seasons 6-8.

Aside from being new and exciting, the Advanced Generation produced some excellent stand-alone episodes that I would like to bring into attention. First is Episode 386: Do I Hear A Ralts? I loved this episode because it was very emotional in a way, derailing from the usual gym battles/contests and focusing on Pokemon-human relationships. Also, Max was, for quite a while, useless and annoying, and this episode gave me a much better opinion of him. The episode starts with Max finding an injured Ralts, which he then convinces to let him help. Max brings Ralts back to the group and let it join in for lunch while Max takes care of Ralts. Because of his age, Max cannot yet be a trainer so this is one of his first times he could interact with a Pokemon like it was his own.

As usual, Team Rocket comes and attempts to steal Ash and company’s Pokemon. Now, typically, they would fail horribly and blast off. But not this time! Actually, the battle was really good, almost on par with the average gym battle as far as excitement goes. I mean, Wobbuffett actually uses Mirror Coat and Seviper strategically uses Haze. All in all, it was an unexpectedly damn good battle. During the battle, Max discovers that Ralts was still sick and hid behind a tree. The group decides that Max should run to the Pokemon Center, taking Ash’s Snorunt with him, while everyone is still battling. Read the rest of this entry »