Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods [Anime Review]

First of all, I want to say that Dragon Ball and all its franchise are my childhood favorite anime, I don't feel like criticizing it. Unfortunately, after I watched the latest installment of Dragon Ball series that is; Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, I had to. I don't know if it was the hype surrounding the movie or my expectation was too high. I'll break it down then. Spoilers ahead.

Where do I begin? There was this the strongest god called Bills also known by the god of destruction. One day he woke up from his slumber and got bored. Out of blue, Bills jumped into conclusion this so called Super Saiyan god was a formidable opponent to him. Thus, he, along with his assistant Whis, wanted to find Super Saiyan god whereabouts. Of course being a god of destruction Bills should be evil, yet his motivation on destroying earth was because Majin Buu not willing to share his pudding. Yes, it's freaking pudding! I can take conclusion that his silly reasoning to destroy earth was ridiculous. Moreover, there was no further explanation nor development, it was as shallow as that. Enough said.

Let's have a look about the animation. Usually I couldn't care less about the art, but seeing all the characters of Dragon Balls 'shiny and modernized' was really refreshing comparing to older Dragon Ball Z movies. Some people probably didn't feel that way, it is a matter of personal preference I guess. The combat scenes, although the CG used can not be considered the best, they were well animated. 3D effects here and there were pleasing on the eye. But again, the final fight was too short. It lacked of explosions and you know.. 'kamehame' thing. if it's not intense.

As for the characters. This movie is not a spin-off, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is specifically set during the "lost decade" of story time after the end of the battle with Majin Buu. Kuririn, Piccolo, Vegeta, and other familiar characters will appear in the film. The movie doesn't introduce the characters to newbie watchers, so those who haven't followed Dragon Ball series, you need to catch up till Majiin Buu's arc so you can fully grasp the plot.

I'm going to end this with rant. Instead of fill the movie up with epic combat scenes just like previous movies, it's full of fillers. The fighting was rushed and the outcome of its final duel was really disappointing. Yes, it has its moments, the comedy was fun but too much. I'm quite dissapointed. That's it! I don't want to spoil much more.

Story 5/10

Art 7/10

Sound 7/10

Character 6/10

Enjoyment 5/10

Overall 6/10

Ketsuekigata-kun! [Anime Review]

Holidays are here! Finally I have time to go back to my little hobby that is; writing reviews. Again, I'm not ready yet to write manga reviews, so now I'm going to write a brief review about an anime called Ketsuekigata-kun! which means 'Blood Type' in English.

Before I start, you may wondering why is a brief review? Because Ketsuekigata-kun! can be included into a short anime series. But it has many episodes!?? You're not wrong. Although it has 12 episodes, each episode takes only 2 minutes including the opening and ending theme songs. So I guess I'm not going to deep for this one.

The main characters are O-Gata (blood type O), A-Gata (blood type A), AB-Gata (blood type AB) and B-Gata (blood type B). This show tries to categorize people based on solely their blood type in comedy. It shows how the blood type O, A, AB and B react in certain situations and describes the personality each blood type represents. I suggest you not to take it seriously, because there is no scientific evidence that blood type affects a person's personality. But surprisingly, it's more accurate than I thought, at least for me. For example, my blood type O and it is described as a little bit analytical and forceful. I won't deny that.

I had quite fun watching Ketsuekigata-kun! One thing I want to complain is the duration. 2 minutes per episode was too short, if it's longer it could have been better. Well, it took no more than 30 minutes to finish a whole series. Thus, it didn't leave much impression.  The characters were ok, its design was simple yet adorable. The comedy cracked me up and sometime made me smile whenever the O-Gata described me correctly. Have a watch the first episode of Ketsuekigata-kun! It's probably your cup of tea.

I almost forgot. Happy New Year!

Mononoke [Anime Review]

This review can also be found on my profile at myanimelist.net/profile/Wadezig

I have to start off by saying that I'm a fan of surrealism art animation with unique presentation and storytelling. So when I decided to give Mononoke a try, I already knew what to expect. Mononoke; easily exceeded my expectations and become one of my favourite anime. So here I go.

I'm going start with the story (may contain minor spoilers); Mononoke is basically an episodic anime which consists of several story arcs and takes only about 2 or 3 episodes.The story itself takes place during Edo period in Japan. Our main character is an unnamed medicine seller who wanders thoroughly the land, exorcising every "mononoke" (evil spirits that linger the human world) he encountered. It sounds pretty simple, isn't it? But this is when thing's getting intriguing. In order to exorcise these spirits, the medicine seller has to discover its Form (Katachi), Truth (Makoto) and Regret (Kotowari) before he can unsheathe his sword and exorcise the spirit. Every story arc is interesting and pretty twisted. As it's tagged seinen, there is lots of blood and violence although there won't be many action scenes.

Ohh.. The art style of Mononoke isn't normal drawing for sure. For some people, the art can be either the weakest or the strongest point of this series. 

I'm included to the latter of course. I could argue, there are only few anime

series that as distinctive as Mononoke. The colors style and textures are impressive, it reminds me of "Kuuchuu Buranko" and "Gankutsuou" art style. I'd say the movement of the characters is rather slow, so watching Mononoke is like reading a full colors of children story book. Overall presentation is unique, it has eye candy static background filled with so much visual information and symbolism and the looks of the characters are distinct and unique in their own way. The unusual animation style of this series always strikes me.

The medicine seller in action

The ending is a ballad song which I prefer more than the opening Latin song with Japanese lyric. It somewhat puts me off. Then, it lacks of background sound; there are mostly just noises and sounds except when the action scenes but somehow that makes it more creepy and intense. For the voice acting, I give credit to the voice actors thou. They did a remarkable job. Especially, the medicine seller's voice because his voice fits perfectly with the character. It's so cool and is memorable.

For the characters; this is one man show. The medicine seller is practically the only main character of the series because all the story arcs are not connected and each arc has its own casts. There's only less development in characters, like I'm not even told the medicine seller background, he has elf-like ears, is he a human(?). He appears as simply as a nameless medicine seller. But I somehow like the way he acts so mysterious and cool when everyone's panicking. He is easily the only likeable character in the series.

Mononoke is not everyone's taste, it is a kind of anime that you will either love or hate it. If you're willing to open your mind and think the style appeals to you, I'd suggest you to watch it at least 2 arcs, because the first arc is rather weak. You won't regret it. Mononoke is definitely worth my time. What are you waiting for?

Here is the trailer: